“Trip…” “Trip, you’re alive, you’re really alive. How can this be? I saw your burned body, only your face was recognizable.”

T’Pol stumbled through her next words

well trying to hold down the emotions that were boiling up in her blood; demanding release. “Thinking you were dead; for I couldn’t even sense your thoughts through our mental and physical bond anymore, I started another relationship. I even had his child. I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright T’Pol, you’re forgive,” said Trip not at all angry as if he were suppressing his emotions like a Vulcan. “Who?”

“A friend,” replied T’Pol…

-STAR TREK-

ENTERPRISE

TIME’S MERGENCE

Based Upon: Star Trek & Star Trek The Next Generation

Created by: Gene Rodenberry,

Star Trek Deep Space Nine

Created by: Rick Berman & Michael Piller,

Star Trek Voyager

Created by: Rick Berman, Michael Piller, Jeri Taylor & Brannon Braga

Star Trek Vanguard

Created by: David Mack

Star Trek: Invasion

Created by: Diane Carrey

Star Trek Destiny

Written By: David Mack

&

Star Trek Enterprise

Created by: Rick Berman & Brandon Braga

Credit has to be given where credit is due so:

One Copy is allowed for a Private Project Only,

CBS Consumer Products

STAR TREK IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF POCKET BOOKS, PARARAMOUNT PICTURES, & CBS STUDIOS

© November 13, 2008.

Therefore, I don’t own the characters or even claim to. All Rights to this book are previously reserved to the above mentioned companies, thank James Terranova © 2008

Permission for this books publishing comes from Pocket Books for one copy only.

“Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combination’s (The IDIC) makes it clear that in Gene Roddenberry’s Federation’s society racial and sexual differences and all forms of biological diversity were seen as positive elements that should be celebrated. In the Federation’s ideal future, a future that we don’t see in today’s society, both racism and sexism are ‘things of the past’.” (Star Trek Parallel Narratives, Chris Gregory, 2000) These are the things we should strive for in today’s society, the world would be a better place without racism, sexism and believing in the fact that no matter whom we are, even though we’re all different, we’re all humans with the same feelings no matter what culture or side of the world you come from.

CONTENTS

Any chapter that has the following icon before it has to do with the starship Enterprise NX-01 and mostly occurs in the years 2161, 2163, 2164 & anything involving the year 2376. Most of the main story occurs during these years for PARTS ONE through FOUR.

********

Any chapter that has the following icon before it has to do with everything that takes place in the Andromeda Galaxy and mostly occurs in year 2179 & 2180. This will occur mostly in the FORWARD & AFTERWARD Sections of this book.

This Novel Is Dedicated to:

All My friends from other countries, that also include all my Japanese friends, new and old, I’m very thankful to have met you all, it is great to know people from all over this world of ours. So for all of you, this work of fiction is dedicated to you. I hope you “Live Long And Prosper” and also have “Peace And A Long Life”.

****

This novel is also dedicated to my beloved

dog Coober, may you rest in peace. You will always be missed, you were my best friend.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

The Forward and Afterward of this book has

the name of people the author knows as instrumental characters in an upcoming series, Star Trek Andromeda. Each name has been modified to look more alien with last names totally changes. Therefore, any names, places, or incidents that occur in the Forward and Afterward are entirely coincidental and has only been done so it’s possible to have more characters to tell the story. Also all names that aren’t official Star Trek characters were created by the author in the fall of 2007.

HISTORIAN’S NOTE

This story is mostly set in the Years 2161, 2163 and 2164 after the founding of the United Federation of Planets in that year (2161, Star Trek Enterprise “These Are The Voyages…”). Other parts, mostly in Part Three also go into the future to the year 2376 after The Dominion War and the fall of Praetor Shinzon of Romulus. The Forward and Afterward take place in 2379-2380 and introduce the mysterious aliens bent on destruction.

FORWARD

ONE

Starfleet Command, Earth Year: 2379 With the Dominion War finally being over for almost five years, Starfleet knew it was finally time to rebuild. They could finally replace all the ships they had lost through the long years of combat and get the Academy filled up again with new students wanting to join Starfleet to explore the vast unknowns of space. High above the planet, new spacedocks were being built. Meanwhile, the ones that survived the devastating Breen attack were being repaired so they could go and rejoin the fleet and once again explore the vast darkness of space. As the ships that were damaged were being repaired, the ones that were ready to be assembled could have their parts faired up from the surface into space by construction ships to begin welding them together into the mighty vessels they were destined to become.

High above Earth in one of the newer spacedocks

was Earth’s newest Miranda-class starship, the USS Alliance NCC 379891, the ship that would eventually become the test bed for testing new technologies to be developed for other existing ships and would also be added to the newer classes of vessels. Before that idea could even hit reality Starfleet Command came up with an even better one.

“There are at least two other galaxies out there besides ours,” said Admiral Kathryn Janeway to the other admirals at Starfleet Command. “All of which haven’t been explored by the Federation yet. There could be anything out there that we know nothing about. I propose that we start devising a way to get there and start exploring them too, that way we can further our knowledge about the universes and seek out more new life and civilizations and to truly boldly go off into the vast unknown of space.”

“Janeway’s right,” agreed Captain Jean-Luc Picard who was also sitting among the admirals. “We’ve ended the Dominion War, there’s peace in the Alpha Quadrant and the whole Milky Way Galaxy has mostly been explored thanks to Voyager miraculously returning home. Those other galaxies out there are a tempting prize to see. Who knows what could be out there. There could be another form of interstellar travel that we know nothing about, there could be potential new allies out there that we don’t know while there could be new

enemies. I agree with Janeway’s proposal of sending ships out there to explore them.

****

Andromeda Galaxy Year: 2379

“I call this gathering of the Votality Conclave to

order,” said the one and only President Grawl. “There are aliens from a far off galaxy that are going to eventually come into our galaxy if we don’t stop them and put fear into their hearts like we did to all the others who oppressed us for centuries.”

“Let the Furies deal with them,” said First Prime Naraw, “from what you’re saying this involves what they called Heaven. They should love to get their revenge.”

“There aren’t many Furies left, they have either been hunted down and killed by the beings that they’ve terrorized,” said Naraw, “or they just died out. All that’s left of them are their poppets that resemble them. We’re on our own I’m afraid. It’s time we go into the past with the remaining Furies, search for the Furies then declare war on the rest of the universe so we can rein supreme once again.”

****

Furies’ Space

2379 In the Epsilon Quadrant of the Andromeda

Galaxy, the Furies had finally received the transmission they had been waiting for more than two centuries since 2262 when one of the Furies ship was destroyed by both the USS Enterprise NCC 1701 and a Klingon battle cruiser. The message was from that ship, a dreadnought, whose commander was named Zennor. “The Battle of Garamanus is lost. We have not survived, but this is our rightful place. Try again.”

They had tried again, three more times each time they were stopped. One hundred some years after Kirk they encountered the USS Enterprise NCC 1701-D and this time with the ability to project fear into the hearts of their enemies, but again they were stopped. Years later, though a frozen-in-time version of the USS Defiant NX 74205 that was thrown back into the past proved to be the reason why the Furies were back and angry, the Defiant was the ship that drove them out of Heaven almost five thousand years in the past supposing saving their lives but they weren’t thankful for that at all because the Defiant had caused an energy blast in the past that drove them out banishing them from Heaven into the far-off reaches of the Delta Quadrant.

While trapped in the Delta Quadrant trying to get home to the Federation in the Alpha Quadrant that they may never have seen again, Captain Kathryn

Janeway and the crew of the USS Voyager NCC 7642 encountered a Federation distress call coming from a shuttle craft that was originally attached to the USS Enterprise NCC 1701-D being crewed by one person, a Lieutenant Samuel Redbay who had left the Enterprise to seal the rift the Furies had formed sacrificing himself to do so had emerged safely on the other side just to be captured and tortured by the Furies who hated humans and the other beings from the Alpha Quadrant. Even though Voyager couldn’t save Redbay, they did manage to stop the newest Furies Invasion of the Alpha Quadrant from happening, unknown to them or the rest of the Federation, the Furies left the Milky Way Galaxy behind them and headed to the Andromeda Galaxy joining the Non-Corporal Votality beings.

With their new alliance formed the Furies vowed to return to Heaven one day, even if it meant going into the past with the Votality and reclaiming Heaven once and for all…

****

“The Shedai Sector” Taurus Reach 2379

The Maker of all the Shedai was so made; the

beings that they had once ruled had all turned against them. Their Conduits that made it easier for

them to travel and to mount their attacks had been destroyed. To the beings they once ruled all was good, but for the Shedai they wanted everything back way it used to be back during the years prior to 2263 when the United Federation of Planets discovered the strange signal originating from the Jinoteur System and constructing the Watchtower-class Starbase 47 nicknamed Vanguard. Because each event led to the next, eventually many Klingon and Federation colonists were forced to be killed when the Shedai awoke to reek their vengeance.

The only smart ones were the Tholians who were really the descendants of one of the Shedai groups that didn’t end up hibernating for centuries. The Kollotaans as they were called now had evolved from what the Maker had created and called the Kollotuul. The Tholians didn’t want their suppressors to come back and claim everything that was once theirs and use them again; so to stop the Federation from awakening something they could never imagine they went and destroyed the Miranda-class vessel USS Bombay NCC 1865 with six of their battle cruisers while the starship was on a resupply mission orbiting Ravanar IV.

Now almost one hundred sixteen years later, the Shedai and the Maker returned after managing to survive the destruction of their self-engineered solar system, the Jinoteur System. When it was destroyed by being “blinked out of existence” by the Apostate when it decided to destroy it against the Makers will.

During its time leading an opposition movement against that very Maker that created it and the entire system along with the Shedai. Presumably he was destroyed along with the entire system when it vanished out of normal space-time, but he to would have no choice but to return for the Shedai were back yet again this time also in the Andromeda Galaxy forming an alliance with the Votality…

TWO

Year: 2380 At The City on the Edge of Forever

Captain Sa’Kia Kobayashi of the Federation

starship USS Alliance NCC 379891, a Refit Miranda-class vessel, found herself standing at the one outpost that she never expected to be at. On the Edge of Forever, she was standing at the one and only guardian that still existed besides the Preserver Obelisks that were scattered throughout the galaxy, the Guardian of Forever, and she had a question to ask it. The one thing the Guardian had been waiting for decades if not millennia was for someone to ask it a question, and now it was ready to assist her in any possible way.

Meanwhile high above the still unnamed planet commanding the orbiting Alliance was Sa’Kia’s First Officer, Commander Ja’meS TerranoK with his Second in Command Lieutenant Carlos Wallrason who was also the ship’s Tactical Officer were discussing what they knew about Sa’Kia’s secret

mission, but Commander TerranoK wouldn’t dare think about even mentioning to Lieutenant Wallrason that he secretly had a crush on their attractive captain who instead of wearing the traditional Starfleet uniform wore a miniskirt and a matching red shirt as her duty uniform. The uniform TerranoK had to admit made Captain Kobayashi have a nice bum. Of course those thoughts though would get him locked in the brig unless the Captain didn’t mind them and found her First Officer a good looking and attractive man.

Lieutenant Wallrason speaking brought TerranoK out of his romantic trance and back to reality. “Commander, it is my opinion that our Commanding Officer only wanted to come here to ask that mysterious Guardian thing down there a question. A question that I no doubt believe to be against our orders from Starfleet Command and Admiral Kathryn Janeway; and if I’m right, then she might already know what you’re not telling me…

“What the hell do you mean?” stuttered TerranoK well his face was starting to turn red.

“That you have slight feelings for Captain Sa’Kia Kobayashi,” said Wallrason. “You can’t lie to me Ja’meS, I’m your best friend and I’ve seen how you’ve looked at her. Heck, the whole crew I think can see it, what is it with you and these Japanese officers in the United Earth and United Federation of Planets’ Starfleet?”

“Their just more attractive and cute, anyways,

she’s lucky with me being part Klingon I could easily not take her as a mate for Klingons don’t pursue a relationship, they…we that which we desire; and I do desire her.” Answered Ja’meS. He took a deep breath and continued, “anyways, when it comes down to it, haven’t you also seen the historical files on Ensign Hoshi Sato of the starship Enterprise NX-01 and how her first husband wasn’t truly recorded into history?”

“No,” started Carlos, “but I do remember from the Academy that she died with her husband Takashi Kimura and children of Tarsus IV by the hands of Governor Kodos who we all have come to know as Kodos the Executioner. That was one terrible event in history.”

“Agreed,” replied Ja’meS, “but there are so many things that still go wrong in the galaxy. Look at Sa’Kia; she’s all alone on the surface. I shouldn’t have let her go down alone.”

“Are you saying that as someone who loves her Ja’meS,” asked Carlos, “or as her First Officer?”

“Both I guess,” said Ja’meS. “She’s just a pretty good woman and commanding officer, Starfleet will have my head if something happens to her since I’m not following regulations right now. That might even prevent me from getting a command of my own.”

“What are you are you going to do then?” asked Carlos, “I’m going down there, with you leading a

Security Detail. I’m not letting anything happen to our captain.”

Back beside the Guardian Captain Sa’Kia Kobayashi heard the familiar hum of the transporter and turned around to see her First Officer, her Second in Command and four security officers fully materializing about fourteen meters away from her. As she started to walk over to them she started to wonder “Is it true that my First Officer has feelings for me? I wonder how things like this were dealt with in the past during the time of the Coalition of Planets and in the early United Federation of Planets? That’s it… that will be my question to the Guardian of Forever after it shows me what I want to know, I’ll be able to decide what to do about Commander Ja’meS, even if it is against Starfleet regulations.”

Once Sa’Kia was right in front of Ja’meS she asked, “Who said you could come down here? I left you in charge of the ship.”

“I was worried about you,” replied Ja’meS, “I had to make sure you were alright. As your First Officer, it’s my duty to protect you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” replied Sa’Kia, “I bet it’s because…” She decided it would be better not to continue her train of thought out loud so she thought “…you’re partly in love with me.” In not voicing the rest of her thought, she made it seem that she didn’t want the exact same thing he wanted; so in doing that, he never knew what she felt about him deep down in

her heart. So she gave him an order, “Commander, accompany me to the Guardian for a second.”

“Aye sir,” replied Ja’meS as he stepped beside her and started walking towards the mysterious Guardian.

Once they were beside the Guardian, Sa’Kia touched the stone structure and even though she found it unbearably cold she asked her two questions. “Guardian, I want to know two things. One, what really happened in the era of the first starship Enterprise, the Enterprise NX-01? And two, how did they deal with relationships on starships from that era, or were they even allowed?”

Before either Sa’Kia could react, the Guardian’s time portal activated showing action packed images from the past as it began to tell its story that Starfleet Command and the United Federation of Planets had classified for they didn’t want it to ever be known to the public ever. Together Sa’Kia and Ja’meS looked into the Guardian with intrigued eyes as they watched an unforgettable story as it unfolded before their eyes as if they were really there…

PART ONE FRATERNIZATION

PROLOGUE-ONE

Year: 2161, Early Earth-Romulan War Enterprise NX-01, Near Romulan Space, Beta Quadrant

Captain Jonathan Archer was left with two

choices, both he didn’t like. But he had to decide on one or everything Starfleet had been working for the past year would be lost. Therefore if he did decide to act on the thoughts that were going through his head, he could take the Enterprise into Romulan space and risk her safety; or he could just allow the NX-02 Columbia to be destroyed. The latter he knew wasn’t an option for he wasn’t about to let another human vessel be destroyed by the merciless Romulans, not if he could help it. As he continued to think about what to do; he couldn’t help but think back to July 2155 when he ordered Enterprise to flee instead of rescuing Captain Kojiro Vance and the rest of the people aboard the J-Class Class-III Neutronic Fuel Carrier SS Kobayashi Maru after she struck a

Gravitic Mine in the Gamma Hydra Sector at Section Ten just so the Romulans wouldn’t be able to capture his ship like they had managed to do with many Klingon and Vulcan vessels. At the same time though, he also had another fact to consider, the safety of his crew and wife, Ensign Hoshi Sato.

Enterprise was following a zigzagging course under Starfleet’s orders: “for whenever a starship was near Romulan Space or in an area of space that was known to be under a strong Romulan influence, the Romulans wouldn’t be able to fully ever get a weapons lock onto any of Starfleet or Coalition ships.” The zigzagging did leave a few problems and vulnerabilities, especially with the cloaked gravitic mines still around from the time when the Romulans and Klingons were at war over the sector. If Enterprise hit one her hull would easily be penetrated even with her hull plating engaged. Taking a long breath Archer made his decision, “Ensign Mayweather,” he said in a strong somber tone, “take us into Romulan Space. Set a course for the last known position of Columbia, Warp Two.”

Knowing that he needed his ship to be fully at the ready in enemy territory, Archer continued with his orders. “Lieutenant Reed, arm the torpedoes tubes, keep the phase cannons ready to be deployed. I want both ready if we come into any hostilities with the Romulans. Scan for both Romulan and Klingon warships.”

“Aye sir,” replied Reed.

“Hoshi,” started her husband, “give me a direct

line to Trip in Engineering.” “Go ahead, captain,” replied Ensign Sato. “Bridge to Engineering,” said Archer into the

comm., “Commander Tucker respond.” “Go ahead captain,” replied Trip. “Batten down the hatches, give me as much

power from the engines as you can, we’re taking this ship into Romulan Space in search of Columbia,” said Archer. “just give me everything you got.”

****

“Unauthorized intrusion in Section Three One

Seven,” said Centurion Terix to Admiral Valdore in the Senate building in the palace at Romulus.

“Who,” demand to know Valdore. “The Earth vessel Enterprise,” replied Terix, “they

must be in search of the other Earth vessel we captured three days ago.”

“Release that vessel,” ordered Valdore, “but crew it with Romulans. We’ll use her to launch a surprise attack on Enterprise. The humans don’t stand a chance. Send a drone ship out a few minutes after the Earth vessel that way they won’t know we’re behind the attack until it arrives and executes its attack. The Romulan Empire will have its victory against these humans. Actually, dispatch every one of our drone ships, execute attack pattern alpha-one, and destroy both Earth ships. ”

“I have to object to this course of action admiral,”

started Terix, “we’re about to broker the peace treaty with Earth and its allies over subspace radio in a few days. The hostilities between our two peoples have ended.”

Valdore didn’t like his orders being questioned nor did he want the peace treaty to go through, a peace treaty he had been against from the very beginning. “Execute my orders,” he demanded, “or I will have you executed.”

Terix didn’t want to die, or he did, just not by the admiral’s hand or his Reman bodyguards. To him it would just be an honor to die in battle against one of the Earth ships, her allies or the Klingons. So having no choice he replied, “Understood, admiral.”

THREE

Enterprise NX-01 Coalition Space, 2161

Inside his Ready Room was the only place that Captain Jonathan Archer felt safe in. On the bridge of Earth’s first warp five starship there was chaos and paranoia all because Ensign Sato and even Commander T’Pol didn’t want to talk to him while he was out there. The worst part for him was the fact that he didn’t know why either of the two were mad at him, each other or a combination of the two. He didn’t know and part of him wanted to know. The other half of him decided the best thing to do would to be let things pass over, but that too may not be the best idea either. The Romulans are still up to hostile acts even though their attacks on Coalition vessels have ended and their about to sign the treaty and allow the Neutral Zone to be created; they are now turning their aggression towards the Klingons and with their Arrenhe’hwiua telecapture device they can even still attack our ships through controlling Klingon vessels and we’ll never know. So

many things had gone wrong recently, the Earth Cargo Service’s ship ECS Horizon had been destroyed six years ago in the photosphere of Sigma Iotia leaving Ensign Travis Mayweather in a total grieving state facing the fact that his whole family had been killed by the Romulans and he still suffered from the after effects of that trauma so he always seemed to be in a wreak but managed to hide those feelings pretty well, while on duty on the bridge at the helm at least.

Captain Archer knew that it fell upon to find away to help his helmsman to get past his grieving before it interfered with the ship’s crew or worse, got the Enterprise destroyed. Knowing that it might work Archer activated his intercom and said “Archer to Mayweather, I want you to join me in the Captain’s mess for dinner tonight at sixteen hundred hours.”

“Understood sir,” came the reply over the com system. Seconds later the whole ship was rocketed by a subspace eddy that almost tore off the port nacelle.

Archer stormed out of his Ready Room and on to the bridge in a quick run. As the door closed behind him, he yelled “Report.”

“We’re trapped in some sort of wake,” reported T’Pol, “I believe its from a ship of unknown configuration but I sensors don’t detect anything.”

“Could be cloaked.” Thought Archer, out loud he said, “Reed, deploy the beacons, full rotation, lets try to find any cloaked ship.”

As the beacons rotated around the grappler they

revealed that the Enterprise was trapped within a cloaked gravitic mine field with one Romulan Bird-of-Prey. Archer knew that there was only one way out of this whole situation that would leave Enterprise intact so he gave his orders to Hoshi even though she wasn’t talking to him, they were still on the bridge and she had a job to do and that was to follow her captain’s orders. “Ensign Sato, open a channel to that ship.”

“Channel open sir,” came Hoshi’s reply. “This is Captain Jonathan Archer of the United

Earth Coalition of Planets to the unidentified Romulan vessel, drop the charade, we can see you. You are violating Coalition Space turn back or be destroyed, awaiting your reply, Enterprise out.”

“Coalition vessel, this is the Romulan Bird-of-Prey Cha’ran, we are on a routine scout mission, leave this space at once.”

“Their charging weapons,” reported Lieutenant Reed.

“Polarize hull plating; deploy phase cannons, arm photonic torpedoes. Travis, evasive maneuvers” ordered Archer feeling the adrenaline from the moment taking over.

“Its to coincidental for a Bird-of-Prey to be out on a scouting mission,” thought Hoshi, “they have Scout ships for that.”

“Guess they perfected their cloaking device for large scale vessels since my undercover mission

ended,” said Trip who was already on the bridge speaking with the Captain.

“There’s another vessel coming in captain,” reported Reed. A few minutes later he spoke up again saying, “I think were in bigger trouble sir. One Klingon battle cruiser is on an intercept course, they’ll be within weapons range in five minutes.”

“The Klingons are hailing us sir,” reported an even more shocked Hoshi. “Opening channel.”

“This is Commander Bu’kaH of the battle cruiser NeresH, can we render assistance Enterprise.”

“Bu’kaH,” thought Archer, “she’s that Klingon that helped us rescue their Raptor-class scout ship the IKS Somraw. I’m a little surprised that she’s gotten her own command after assisting humans, maybe it has to do with the fact that my crew and I saved Admiral Krell’s butt and Qu’Vat colony during the mutated augment virus affair almost eight years earlier.” Out loud he said “Assistance?” Sure you aren’t here for my head?”

“As much as your head would be a great prize in the empire captain, I’m acting on orders directly from Admiral Krell,” stormed Bu’kaH in a loud feminine voice that could only belong to a Klingon woman. “You’re to assist us in reinforcing our boarders from the Romulans. Do this and your head is safe and you’ll gain even more honor than you already have within the empire.”

“Get us out of this mine field,” growled Archer in what he hoped would sound intimidating to the

Klingon woman, “and also assist us in destroying this Romulan Bird-of-Prey and you have a deal. After all, we share a common enemy, the RomuluSngan.”

A little shocked that Archer used the Klingon word for Romulan Bu’kaH took a few seconds to reply. She did know about the Draylax situation six years ago that the Coalition of Planets faced and how the RomuluSngan managed to take control of Klingon warships by remote control and use them against the Coalition, the Earth Cargo Service, and even the Klingon Empire. “Lets get to work then Captain.”

FOUR

Under the guidance of Bu’kaH and the NeresH’s advanced sensors the Enterprise managed to transverse her way out of the mine field and towards the battle that had already started between the NeresH and the Cha’ran. Coming in closer towards the Romulan Bird-of-Prey, Reed launched a volley of photonic torpedoes towards the Cha’ran’s aft section as he had the three phase cannons and also the pulse cannons graze the top section of the Bird-of-Prey.

At the helm of the NeresH the Klingon helmsman brought the ship into a downward dive around the Enterprise’s aft section and reappeared at her bow firing directly at the Bird-of-Prey directly in front of her while at the same time receiving the attack that was about to hit the Enterprise. Both the Romulan and Klingon warships managed to enter an upward spinning maneuver allowing Reed to lock Enterprise’s forward pulse cannons onto the deflecting Bird-of-Prey and launching another counter attack damaging the ship’s port nacelle. As the Romulan’s port nacelle

exploded and sheared off the Bird-of-Prey the Romulan manning the helm tried to get their ship stabilized while their inertial dampeners tried to compensate for the spin the nacelle’s destruction sent he ship into. As the seconds turned into minutes the Klingons moved in closer to the Bird-of-Prey and launched three torpedoes towards the remaining nacelle and watched as it to exploded sending the remaining warp plasma into the black void of space.

With the Romulan Bird-of-Prey disabled, they still had one thing they could do besides activating their ship’s self-destruct sequences and committing a ritual suicide with their Dathe’anofv-sens as the timer counted down to their ship’s doom or they could still use their weapons and hope to destroy or disable the Coalition and Klingon ships. At least that was their options when two more ships warped into the system to assist, the NX-02 Columbia and a Klingon Bird-of-Prey, both firing their weapons at the disabled Romulan Bird-of-Prey. At the same time the blasts from the new arrivals hit the Romulan ship, Enterprise and the NeresH also launched an attack, with all four hitting their marks on the weakened Romulan hull causing it to explode sending wreckage hurtling in every direction.

After the battle the Klingon Bird-of-Prey that dropped out of warp with Columbia followed her into warp and escorted her to Qo’noS where they would stay in reserve getting orders from both Starfleet Command and the Klingon High Council

while Enterprise and the NeresH headed off in the opposite direction towards the battles still going on along the Klingon-Romulan Boarder that would eventually someday become the Klingon-Romulan Neutral Zone. The temporary alliance had been born but still anything could set it off or even solidify it indefinitely. All of which was part of Bu’kaH’s true mission.

“Hoshi, open a channel directly to Bu’kaH,” ordered Archer.

“You can speak now Captain,” said Hoshi, “the channel’s open.”

“Bu’kaH, I would like to invite you over to the Enterprise as our guest while we travel to rendezvous with your fleet,” offered Archer.

“I’ll be delighted,” replied Bu’kaH, “I’ll transport right over.” She then thought to herself, “Time to truthfully begin and complete my mission. It should be easier aboard his ship anyways.”

FIVE

The bridge was silent, not the companionable silence of previous times, but an uncomfortable one. One where no one spoke on the bridge unless it was duty related. This was the new norm. Ensign Hoshi Sato was madder than she looked. True, her appearance that day was more than a norm for her, her hair undone and no make up on her face along with her eyelashes looking unnaturally curly. No; Hoshi wasn’t in a good mood at all and because of this, it was affecting everyone’s attitude all over the bridge, everyone that is except for Commander T’Pol whose attention seemed to be also in a daze. Something had to happen to get both in such an uproar and it couldn’t have been that they had a female Klingon passenger on board while her ship was traveling along side the Enterprise.

In Hoshi’s case, she wasn’t getting much sleep and when she did manage to get to sleep, that’s when the dreams would come. Dreams that were so terrible that she wished that she didn’t really live through the experience she went through with the

Xindi Reptilians almost six years ago when they beamed her off the bridge of the Enterprise, tampered with her brain and forced her to decipher the Aquatics launch codes so they could activate the weapon. She knew she was lucky that Lieutenant Malcolm Reed and the MACOs were able to rescue her; but to be used like that by the Captain to destroy the weapon made her mad. She had no known reason why she even hugged the man the moment he stepped of the bridge after being transported aboard from an altered World War II where Germany successfully invaded the United States. In her mind there had to be something wrong, something wrong with her mind, her brain. But Doctor Phlox had said there wasn’t. Now she thought that the doctor had to be in allegiance with Captain Archer for some reason.

Hoshi hated deception and if her captain had deceived her, she wanted off the Enterprise and out of Starfleet for good. The truth railed through her head though, to get to the bottom of the whole thing she would either have to question the Captain or Phlox. Only at the moment she wasn’t sure if she could trust them. At least she decided to try…

Ensign Hoshi Sato stormed into Sickbay in an angry rage that right away Dr. Phlox knew something was wrong. “Ensign,” he said showing off his big grin, “what can I do for you?”

“I demand the truth,” she shouted at him. “What the hell have you and the Captain done to me?”

“Nothing,” stated Phlox most convincingly. “What

do you mean Ensign, is something wrong?” “Hell yes,” she screamed getting angrier. “You

and the Captain have been conspiring against me for sometime now. WHY?”

“We haven’t done anything to you,” said Phlox. “If anything, we’re trying to help you; you’ve been in this angry rage for a few months now, ever since Starfleet and the Captain came clean about Trip’s undercover mission into Romulan space. It’s like you can’t handle it that the Captain, Reed, Harris and I decided it would be best to fake his death.”

“That is not my problem,” Hoshi stammered, “I don’t even like Trip like that, I’m not T’Pol, anyways those two should get a room, I wish that Trip really was dead, he never let the women aboard this ship ever have a romance movie for Movie Night, it was always something with gore and action, not one chick flick for the three quarters women aboard this ship.”

“Maybe you should go talk to the Captain about your suspicions,” said Phlox as he got a hypo-spray that he was hiding behind his back as he stepped to her side and pressed it to her neck. Seconds later, she collapsed sedated. Phlox walked to the intercom mounted on the wall next to the Imaging Chamber and said “Captain Archer, please report to Sickbay I got a situation down here.”

About ten minutes later Archer walked into Sickbay with the last person Phlox expected to see at

his side, the Klingon woman that they had invited onboard the Enterprise while on course towards the Klingon-Romulan Boarder, Commander Bu’kaH of the battle cruiser NeresH. “Captain, Commander,” he said bowing his head. He then pointed towards Hoshi laying on the bio-bed and said “I had to sedate her; she came in here in an angry rage thinking that you and I were in some sort of conspiracy against her.”

“You told her we weren’t; right?” asked Archer. My exact words were “That we didn’t do anything

to her and that we were trying to help her but she didn’t believe me. That’s when I had no choice but to sedate her.”

“Thanks for letting me know doctor,” said Archer. “Let me know when she wakes up.”

“Will do captain,” said Phlox showing off his grin again.

After Archer and Bu’kaH left she said “Can I give you some advice captain? If you and her were Klingon and this was a ship in the Imperial Fleet, you would have two choices with a woman like her… I’m not sure how they would make you feel but you could kill her or…”

“Well I’m not going to kill her,” said Archer, “so what’s the next one?”

“…mate with her,” replied Bu’kaH, “that’s what I would do if you were in that Sickbay and you were acting that way, then again, I do find you attractive… for a human.”

“Don’t think about it Bu’kaH,” said Jonathan not

even liking the picture that she had put into his mind, “its never going to happen between us… NEVER.”

“Don’t knock it before you try it Archer,” said Bu’kaH, “it could loosen the wedge between our two peoples and terminate that bounty on your head.”

“Tempting,” said Archer, “but the answer is still no, I won’t even start a relationship with a Vulcan, unlike some members of my crew, I may have thought T’Pol attractive once but my Engineer has made her spoiled goods way his mind has blended with hers because of his dam sister dying in that Xindi attack back in 2155.”

“I can kill them both,” thought Bu’kaH, “then he’ll have no choice but to be mine, and why the hell do I even want a human mate? Oh that’s right, it’s part of my mission to seduce this human captain so he’ll help in our plans of conquest over Earth. For a woman I’m not doing well at getting him into my bedchamber aboard my ship… YET, but it will happen, just get it a matter of time, and I got all the time in the universe.”

SIX

Hours later as Ensign Hoshi Sato began to come-

to in Sickbay; Doctor Phlox remembered his orders and contacted the Captain. “Phlox to Archer, she’s beginning to regain consciousness. I suggest you report to Sickbay now.”

Moments later like before Archer strolled into Sickbay with Bu’kaH right behind him again. Seeing the Klingon woman with him again Phlox pulled Archer aside and asked, “Why is she with you again?” nodding towards the Klingon.

“Under my orders she’s not to leave my site,” said Archer, “but between you and me Doctor, I think she’s trying to get me to mate with her to unify our two peoples. It’s not going to happen though, never with a Klingon woman at least.”

“I would count something out before you try it captain,” started Phlox, “especially when a Klingon is involved, consider the honor you’re being offered if she’s chosen you.”

“I don’t care Phlox, I don’t want to and that’s my final answer. I’ve already told her no anyways.”

Archer took a breath and exhaled loudly. “Now about Hoshi, how is she?”

“Now I get it,” said Phlox almost whispering, “first you liked T’Pol, but now Trip has her and since you can’t kill him since you need his expertise, you must have feelings for Hoshi, that’s the only reason why you wouldn’t take the glorious honor of mating with Bu’kaH.”

“Hoshi is an officer under my command, nothing more Doctor,” stuttered Archer, “Bu’kaH is a Klingon and anyways, I don’t love her, I just tolerate her enough to have her by my side sometimes.”

“Alright, have it your way,” thought Phlox. He then started speaking more professionally. “As for Ensign Sato, I can’t find anything wrong with her, whatever it is that’s bothering her is all in her head. Therefore captain, there is nothing I can do for her. What I would prescribe is nothing but time for her to realize that we’re not conspiring against her and that we do most heartedly care about her.”

Over at Hoshi’s bio-bed she and Bu’kaH were talking about something in a mild form of English that the Klingon woman could understand. “MEN,” said Hoshi, “they drive me mad.”

“Want me to kill some of them?” asked Bu’kaH, “it would be an honor if not a glorious battle.”

“You could start by killing the Captain and Phlox then,” replied Hoshi.

“The doctor helped our people with the metagenic virus,” said Bu’kaH, “and your captain is

an attractive male as far as your species goes. I will not kill him.”

“Dam,” thought Hoshi, “what the hell is going through this Klingon woman’s mind? I thought they hated Tera’ngans; but she sure as in hell or in Gre’thor as she’d call it; doesn’t seem too at all. Wish it could be that easy for me to see whatever it is that she sees in him or maybe she has a hidden agenda that none of us know anything about. I’m sure as hell going to get down to the bottom of it for if the Captain really isn’t conspiring against me and really does heartedly care about me, he must have some sort of feelings for me even if they are just that of a very strong friendship… after all, he was the one that got me to join Starfleet saying that I’d have a knack at translating alien languages.”

Looking towards Bu’kaH Hoshi gave an evil grin and a light laugh. Smiling a little she managed to chuck out the words, “lets go make some trouble for the Captain, take me off this ship for a while, lets see what he does. Maybe a small incursion into Romulan Space with your shuttle craft will be the best idea… as long as we don’t run into any Romulans that is.”

“Dam Tera’ngan,” said Bu’kaH, “I love how you think. Lets go before they notice.” Then she added to herself “…and hopefully we find an honorable battle to fight and win.”

SEVEN

Klingon-Romulan Boarder Klingon Attack Shuttle: Bek

Hoshi and Bu’kaH couldn’t believe how easily they

had escaped Sickbay or that they were even able to get out of the Launch Bay so easily, but before they knew it, the fifteen meter long cramped Attack Shuttle Bek had managed to sneak across the boarder into Romulan Space. Once inside the forbidden realm of the Romulan Star Empire, the two deserters came a crossed another tiny ship. From inside the atmosphere of a gas giant the Romulan Scout Ship Dro’mal detected the incursion of the tiny Klingon Attack Shuttle and figured that they could take it on their own so they didn’t report their find back to Admiral Valdore on Romulus or to Praetor D’deridex, instead they headed off to engage the Klingon ship.

Both the Dro’mal and the Bek were only armed with one weapon, a forward mounted disrupter cannon that could fire only one blast per minute

because they needed the time to recharge their firing coils. So therefore, both ships were evenly matched. That was at least true until another Klingon ship crossed the boarder and joined the fray. The new arrival was a Bird-of-Prey and using its disruptor cannons and torpedoes firing in a rapid pattern ended up blanketing the path of the Romulan scout ship Dro’mal. Surprisingly, the assault only disabled the Dro’mal and the Klingons were able to capture their first Romulan ship. The only problem was that ship wasn’t equipped with the Arrenhe’hwiua Telecapture System that they so badly needed to study so they could finally put a stop to the Klingons remotely stealing their warships and other crafts right from under their noses.

Both Hoshi and Bu’kaH were about to be in for a surprise; one that they weren’t ready to face. With the RomuluSngan Scout Ship secured in the grappler of the Klingon Bird-of-Prey, Bu’kaH lowered the shields of the Bek allowing the one thing they didn’t want to happen to happen. They were boarded, not by any RomuluSngan but by a Tera’ngan. As the humming of the transporter stopped Bu’kaH and Hoshi turned around to see Captain Jonathan Archer standing there very angry with a Bat’leth in his hands.

In a gesture of peace and sincerity Bu’kaH got out of her pilot’s chair and walked over to the Tera’ngan captain to apologize for betraying him and taking his communications officer but as soon as she was

within sticking distance he slapped her across her face drawing blood from her upper lip…

Standing strong Bu’kaH wiped the blood away from her lip and spit the rest to the deck of the ship. She then pointed her finger into Archer’s chest digging her nail into chest puncturing a hole into the fabric of his uniform and into his skin drawing some of his blood. Once she was satisfied with that she raised that finger up to her mouth and liked the read Tera’ngan blood saying “tasty”. She ten pulled Archer in for a kiss on the lips as she almost crushed his ribs.

After holding the kiss for almost four and a half minutes she released Archer and said, “You better be initiating a Mating Ritual with me right now” as she dragged him by his arm towards the Attack Shuttle’s bed chamber where she pushed him down onto one of the beds and sat on top of him ready to take him and complete the second half of her mission…

Back in the now sealed off cockpit section of the Attack Shuttle Hoshi found herself alone and confused. While at the same time she thought she could hear screams and something rocking in the back of the shuttle. From what she was hearing she didn’t even want to imagine what was going on. She only hoped that it would be over soon so she could return to Enterprise and to her own better smelling quarters and bed. Getting lost in that thought Hoshi was forced back to reality as the Bird-of-Prey launched its second grappler onto the IKS Bek and

jumping into warp taking both ships with it back into Klingon Space and a rendezvous with Enterprise.

EIGHT

As the ships returned to Enterprise Hoshi could tell that the screaming in the back of the Attack Shuttle had stopped. For a few seconds she thought her captain and friend Jonathan Archer was dead, killed at the hand of that Klingon woman who thought he was attractive and seemed to want to have his children. “Gross,” she thought, “hate to see the outcome of that coupling.” All she could finally think about was that she was in love; Jonathan had saved her life once or twice and had even helped her through everything when she Thought Space travel wasn’t for her. She couldn’t imagine what she would do without him, but when the doors to the back of the shuttle opened and he walked out she felt relieved to see that he was alive. Together the two of them returned to Enterprise and didn’t say a word until they were rubbing Decon Gel onto each other’s back in the Decontamination Chamber.

“What happened in the back of the shuttle Captain, “she asked a little curious hoping it wasn’t what she thought it was.

“She tried to get me to mate with her,” replied

Archer, “she even pressed her provocative dressed chest into my face; but I wouldn’t comply with any of her demands. We got into a fight as I think you could see by the way we both look and the last thing she said was that ‘I should have been born Klingon, that I would have made a great warrior, mate and father.”

“Oh,” said Hoshi, “glad it wasn’t what I thought it was…”

“…if you’re referring to interspecies physical relations, its never going to happen Ensign, any ways Starfleet I bet would never allow it anyways, they already frown upon fraternization which us being alone in here could easily lead too not to mention what’s already happening between Trip and T’Pol should be and should have been reported since we returned from the Delphic Expanse six years ago,” said Archer. “ but then again, there’s one other thing Bu’kaH said,” stated Archer as Hoshi started to rub the gel into his back even harder and started with the back of his legs while he tried to take care of her back and legs, well all the while it seemed she was either getting hotter or mad, or both. “Someday you’re going to want me Archer… as a mate; I’ll make the experience something that you’ll never forget as a male, nor will you ever want any other woman after that. I just laughed to that because it isn’t going to happen.”

*****

Meanwhile on the bridge, no one knew what was

transpiring between Archer and Hoshi in Decon nor did they know what had transpired on the Klingon Attack Shuttle; all they did know was that something was heating up between T’Pol and Trip, and it was driving everybody crazy yet again.

Therefore the bridge was silent, not the companionable silence of previous times, but an uncomfortable one. One where no one spoke on the bridge unless it was duty related. This was the new norm at least it was for everyone else around her except for Commander T’Pol. She had the one person in her life that could end that for her, Commander Charles “Trip” Tucker III. The problem with that though was the fact that the commander was always to cocky, some of which had managed to rub off on to T’Pol that night in the Expanse when she choose to run her mating experiment with him. Ever since that day their minds were bonded together. A bond that they didn’t realize they had until he transferred to the NX-02 Columbia just to hide and to end what they had.

Things like relationships wouldn’t stay dead though. They always had some way of coming back and haunting the people involved. Like it did to Trip and T’Pol when the radical faction known solely as Terra Prime got a hold of their DNA and cloned it together to create their infant daughter, Elizabeth; an alien-human hybrid. Even though Elizabeth had

died, her existence had brought Trip and T’Pol close together again. Together they grieved for their daughter as they had her interred at the T’Karath Sanctuary on Vulcan.

Sending a thought to Trip through their mental bond T’Pol said “Meet in my quarters when the shift ends.”

“For some neuropressure?” Trip thought back, “or….”

“You’ll see,” came the reply over the bond’s mental channels. Now Trip wanted to hurry through everything that needed to be done, rushing the shift’s ending.

Eight hours later when the shift ended Trip was so glad that he ran to T’Pol’s quarters and pushed the button to open the door without even knocking. As the door opened, it revealed T’Pol standing there in only the bottom half of her Vulcan robe with it slightly left open. Seeing his lover that way Trip lost control of himself and gathered her in his arms and kissed her all over.

Gaining a little control of emotions and hormonal state, Trip took his lover’s hand and led her to her bed where he planned on taking her once again like she did six years ago when she choose him as a mate to try out human sexuality, only now each time somehow it had gotten so much better that she couldn’t bear it. To bad she knew they could never have any children no matter how badly he wanted it. Vulcan science just didn’t care or want it possible for

the species to breed outside their species barrier even though Doctor Phlox thought he could make it possible to happen.

NINE

Romulan-Earth War Ends Chartering of the United Federation of Planets 2161

Inside the Captain’s mess Captain Archer and Trip

had so much to celebrate while at the same time they had something to dread. The good thing was that the Romulan War had ended and a Neutral Zone between Coalition and Romulan Space had been created. The rules for the Neutral Zone stated that no ship from either side could cross over to the other side; to do so would be considered an act of war and would plunge the two galactic powers back into an armed conflict that could and would end in the total destruction of someone’s homeworld and entire fleet of starships. To ensure the peace the Romulans had unmanned sensor stations on their side while the Coalition did the same on their side.

Besides the Sensor Stations Starfleet decided that a few of their new Daedalus-class starships would also be patrolling the Neutral Zone boarder to keep a

Starfleet presence in the area since their Warp Five starships were about to be decommissioned and set into mothballs to make room for the newer and faster Warp Seven beauties that they had just started commissioning during the ending months of the war. One of those ships was to be the Enterprise NX-01 who at that very moment was going on a wild goose chase to help the long thought dead, now retired Andorian Shran get his daughter back from people who kidnapped her so he’d return something they thought he stole.

*****

Rigel X

Rarely did shuttle pods one and two leave the

Enterprise at the same time but this time they were. Inside one pod was Trip, T’Pol and a few MACOs while inside the other were Archer, Shran, Mayweather and a few more MACOs. In total, the ten man team was planning on ambushing the aliens who kidnapped Shran’s daughter and rescue her. A mission not everyone was going to return from alive to witness the signing of the charter that would turn the Coalition of Planets into a Federation of Planets.

Once on the surface of Rigel X everything seemed to go as planned. Shran’s daughter was rescued and was taken back to a shuttlepod by T’Pol while the rest of the team got caught in a fire fight that almost

claimed Trip’s life but he was lucky that the Captain was fighting by his side to save his life. Little did Trip know that in a few hours he would get the chance to return the favor and become a hero.

About four hours after returning to Enterprise the aliens that kidnapped Shran’s daughter managed to mysteriously catch up to the Enterprise when their ship were only supposed to be able to hit a maximum travel speed of Warp Two. Knowing this directly from Shran Archer had Mayweather increase speed to Warp Three but that didn’t help matters. The aliens continued to gain speed reaching Warp Three Point Five and regaining on the Enterprise. Archer was getting tired of it so he decided it was time to put the petal to the metal so to speak and to push the warp engine to its limits. “Travis,” he ordered, “increase speed to Warp Five Point Two.”

“Their still gaining,” reported Reed, “Warp Five Point Six and closing, but their engines are starting to over heat. They can’t keep this up for long.”

Seeming to be reading Reed’s mind at the Engineering Station on the bridge Trip said “We can’t keep this up for long either captain.”

“We’ve been boarded,” reported Hoshi, “near the launch bay.”

“Reed, assemble a Security Detail and get some MACOs,” ordered Archer. He then turned to Trip and said “Trip will assist me until the Security Detail is ready?”

“It’d be my pleasure,” replied Trip as they headed

towards the turbolift together. Only this time as Trip left, T’Pol had got a strange feeling deep down in her gut. Trip was going to do something foolish and drastically reckless and something terrible would come out of it. She just knew it, and hoped she was wrong.

Near the launch bay Archer and Trip found themselves face to face with the same kidnappers they had faced hours earlier this time though they wanted Shran, most likely to kill him; but there just was no way Archer was going to hand over the Andorian. So the kidnappers started to threaten his life forcing Trip’s hand even though Archer was ordering him not too. Trip started to speak to the kidnappers saying “This man’s the Captain, I’m going to disobey his order, I’ll bring Shran to us.” One of the kidnappers couldn’t take Archer ranting against Trip anymore so he hit him in the face with the butt of his phase rifle.

Trip led the kidnappers, except for one who was guarding the Captain with orders to kill him if he moved while they were gone, to a station that he called a Communications Port but it wasn’t and on the contrary it was going to cause a big bang instead. The lead kidnapper had one of his men check for a weapon after Trip opened the compartment and when they found it all clear they let Trip go about his work. The handy engineer disconnected one set of

wires and just before he connected them to another set he said “I got one thing to say.”

“What,” demanded to know the lead kidnapper. “You can all go straight to hell,” said Trip as he

connected the two wires together causing a massive explosion that tore a hole right into the corridor beyond. The resulting explosion Trip created killed the kidnappers and badly injured him. Something T’Pol knew right away.

Smelling smoke when he came to Archer got up and managed to over take the one guard rendering him unconscious and went to investigate the acidic smell. He ended up finding the kidnappers dead and Trip…

“Trip” he yelled but nothing happened, so Archer yelled again “Trip you idiot.”

When Reed and the Security Detail got down to the launch bay deck, they helped Archer get Trip to Sickbay where Doctor Phlox tried everything he could only nothing helped. The explosion Trip had caused badly burned his body except for most of his face and sealed up the tubes in his lungs. There was nothing Phlox could do, before T’Pol could even get down to Sickbay, as the doors to the Imaging Chamber closed Trip drew his last breath and died.

EPILOGUE-ONE

Two Days Earlier Earth

As the ink on the treaty ending the Romulan-

Earth War was still drying and almost every alien race on Earth was gathering for the signing of a new charter to create an even bigger alliance, something drastic was happening at the North Pole all because of a single giant asteroid. As the asteroid got closer to Earth the planets magnetic pull managed to turn it into a shooting star headed directly for the top of the planet and its frozen ice. Nothing, not even torpedoes from the orbiting two Daedalus-class starships, the USS Archon NCC- 189 and the USS Essex NCC-173 could destroy it so they let it go since it couldn’t do that much damage crashing into solid three hundred meters thick ice, but they were wrong…

Below the ice that never got excavated eight years ago was one remaining Borg drone. As the asteroid flew by its projector brought it on a course

forty-four meters from the still active but frozen drone. As the asteroid crashed into the ice, it caused massive ice melts that brought the drone out of its hibernation and also revealing part of a shuttle.

Slowly the Borg drone started to get readjusted to its surroundings then got its footing back and realized that it was the only one of the four hundred drones left it started to begin anew. Able to move once again it made its way to the shuttle where he started to assimilate it to serve his purposes. Once he was ready he would begin the mission the rest of his fellow drones had started when their ship was destroyed. Total assimilation and conquering of the human race and Earth…

PART TWO THE FIRST INCURSION

PROLOGUE-TWO

Year: 2161 After The Founding of the United Federation of Planets

The Borg Collective in the Delta Quadrant may

not have received the message sent by the assimilated Arctic Transport yet, but that didn’t mean a Borg ship hadn’t detected the message; that on the contrary is exactly what happened near the Rigelian Badlands. One Borg ship that dropped out of transwarp sooner than it was supposed because it was attacked picked up the communiqué from a ship built by a species called humans; a species that hadn’t yet been catalogued and added to the collective. Disregarding everything but the relevant information, the Borg drones aboard the cube learned that of the four drones that survived the crash only three were unfrozen at the time by the Arctic Research Team. Those drones were the ones that sent the signal just before the transport ship they assimilated was destroyed by the Enterprise NX-

01. There was one that still needed rescuing so the Borg used their ship to take an asteroid out of the Rigelian Badlands and set on an erratic course towards Earth. That would make sure it would get caught in the planet’s magnetic pull forcing it to crash into the North Pole. While that drone was to get its life back alone on the surface; the cube would head towards Earth to re-assimilate the missing drone back into the collective…

*****

Year: 2063 Almost One Hundred Years Earlier

As the USS Enterprise NCC 1701-E exited the

temporal vortex the Borg Sphere had created Picard gave his orders. “Report.”

“Shields are down, long range sensors are offline,” reported Mr. Hawk at the helm.

Data looked up at the view screen and said “Sir.” Everyone on the bridge looked up to see the Borg

Sphere that they just followed into the past firing onto the surface of Earth. Looking around his whole crew then back at the view screen Picard said, “their firing on the surface. Location.”

Commander William Riker was the first to speak. “North American continent, it appears to be a missile complex in central Montana.”

“Data,” stuttered Picard, “I need to know the

exact date.” “April 1st 2063,” reported Data. “The day before First Contact,” stated Riker. “That’s what they came here to do,” started

Picard, “stop First Contact.” He then thought to himself, “to change history so they can easily assimilate Earth and the entire Federation will never have existed.”

“Then the missile complex is where Zefram Cochrane is building his warp ship,” said Doctor Beverly Crusher.

“Mr. Worf,” said Picard making his decision on how to stop them and to check to make sure the Phoenix was fine and still intact so First Contact would happen as it was supposed to, “Quantum Torpedoes… FIRE.”

Four quantum torpedoes raced from the Enterprise towards the sphere and hit their mark. Seconds later, the sphere exploded into a bright green ball of burning plasma.

“Now we have to go down there and see what ever damage they’ve done,” ordered Picard. “Data, Beverly, you’re with me. Computer, mid twenty-first century clothing.”

TEN

Earth Year: 2161 North Pole

Without its regeneration unit the Borg drone had

to work quickly if it was going to survive the harsh climate it found itself in. At least the nanoprobes he injected into the remnants of the ship were starting to take affect rebuilding and reshaping the craft into something that would be space worthy even though it would be small. For the drone knew that all it had to do was to make contact with a cube ship that was from this era but lost on this side of the galaxy. With the knowledge the drone posed from the future the drone knew it would help the drones aboard the cube turn the tables on humanity and assimilate Earth and the entire Alpha Quadrant once and for all.

The only Borg drone on Earth didn’t have to care that it couldn’t find anything to assimilate to start its own collective so it could hear more than one voice again for the ship he was having rebuilt by the

nanoprobes had detected the cube ship traveling towards the planet at high warp. It knew that the ship would arrive by the next morning. By that time though, the drone hadn’t planned that its assimilated ship would be ready to leave the planet, but after a while when it was, the drone made the decision to leave Earth and head out to meet the cube halfway.

At about Earth’s midnight, the Borg drone was ready to leave the homeworld of the human race. At that moment, the cube ship that he needed to rendezvous with was about to enter the Sol System but they detected that their objective was on the approach from the third planet in the system so they decided to stop and wait.

*****

Elsewhere in deep space the United Earth’s

United Federation of Planets’ starship Enterprise was taking its final cruise around the allied worlds of the former Coalition of Planets from Draylax to Deneva, Alpha Centauri to Ceti Alpha and the Altair System to Tau Ceti. Every where the historical first Warp Five starship of United Earth’s Starfleet went, everyone that had access to a starship came to get a glance at the ship. This action started to make many admirals back at Starfleet Command a little worry that the ship could be in danger from many of the enemies that they had quickly lined up during their short six

year existence as the Coalition of Planets, among them the Klingons and the Romulans. All of the enemies of the Coalition and the newly formed Federation had their hands tied though not knowing that they were all facing the same mysterious enemy.

*****

Klingon Space Qam-Chee, the First City, Qo’noS

Chancellor M’Rek and Admiral Krell weren’t at all

in the best moods lately. Both had read the reports coming from their boarder patrol ships that had detected a mysterious perfect cube shaped vessel that had always managed to destroy their ships but the beings crewing them would always first board the Klingon ships and attack the crews. From seeing video transmissions sent back to Qo’noS by the destroyed ships M’Rek and Krell watched as many of their loyal warriors were either killed or changed.

Showing the videos to the many warriors that gathered around to get a brief preview about what they faced. The first thing they learned was that each one of the mysterious beings after awhile weren’t affected by their hand disruptors for some kind of personal individual shield would activate around them protecting them. The only weapons that seemed to work were their Bat’leths since they were

sharp enough to get through the beings organic parts that were more vulnerable but to close combat method that worked also proved to be the downfall to the Klingon warriors for they put themselves into range of the beings cybernetic arms and were able to be held in place while tubules came out of their wrists towards their necks injecting nanoprobes into their bloodstreams turning them into the very thing they were trying to fight to no prevail.

Once almost five some videos of the same thing occurring over and over again, Krell stud up to address the High Council. “We have to do something about these mysterious half-mechanical half-organic beings that have the power to turn other fully organic beings into their kind erasing all but a little of their previous identities to all who encountered them.”

“Admiral Krell is right,” said Chancellor M’Rek as he stood up to address the High Council he presided over. “We have to defeat this scourge, even if we have to ally ourselves with our worst enemies. The newly formed Federation hasn’t had to face this scourge yet but they did encounter these beings before, in fact that was only because their own Arctic Transport craft was taken by these beings for three of them were frozen in the Tera’ngans’ homeworld’s icecaps. The Earth vessel Enterprise NX-01 managed to destroy that ship that these beings had modified to suit their needs. Before that ship was destroyed though, it sent a message to what the

Enterprise’s Science Officer, the Vulcan female, thought was their homeworld in the Delta Quadrant. A message that must have been intercepted for it didn’t take the estimated seventy-five years to get there. Therefore I propose we let the Tera’ngans know what they have released upon the quadrant by declaring war on them.”

“I object,” said a female voice in the crowd, “First, I’m Commander Bu’kaH of the IRS NeresH and the humans assisted us enough times for us not to warrant going to war with them over this threat. We should ally ourselves with them since they faced this scourge already.”

*****

Romulan Space Dartha City, Romulus Romulan Imperial Senate

Praetor D’deridex wasn’t at all happy with the

Senate nor the fleet he was fully in charge of. He was also mad at Admiral Valdore for losing the war with the humans and their allies. They should have had victory in their grasp with the Drone Ships that failed because the Enterprise NX-01 had destroyed one and damaged the other with the help of the alliance formed with the Andorian, Tellarite and Vulcan fleets that grew into the United Coalition of Planets and then into the now newly formed United Federation

of Planets, and then again through the Arrenhe’hwiua Telecapture System that should have gained control of their ships and the Klingons so easily but somehow turned out to be another one of the empire’s busts. Valdore knew that he had to do something fast to get back on Praetor D’deridex’s good side, so to do that he decided the best idea would be to destroy the one thing that was now disgracing the empire. The same culprit that even the Klingons were having to deal with… the mysterious cybernetic beings and their cube shaped starship.

Being in charge of the whole Romulan fleet seemed to have its perks for Admiral Valdore had an idea that her was hoping would turn out to be a good one. He was going to dispatch half the fleet’s Bird-of-Preys to patrol the newly formed Neutral Zone boarder on the pretense of keeping an eye out for Federation starships that might accidentally cross it but the truth of their mission was to find and eliminate the mysterious cube ship.

*****

Enterprise NX-01 Somewhere in Deep Space

Captain Archer while going over the newly

completed Duty Rooster that Commander T’Pol had just given took a quick glance over towards the

Communications Station at the attractive and intelligent woman sitting there, Ensign Hoshi Sato. Looking at her he could tell that she wasn’t in a good state of mind. He knew that sometimes she couldn’t help but think that she had suffered some sort of brain damage at the hands of the Xindi-Reptilians who injected her with parasites. Now she sometimes thought she had lost her ability to synthesize knowledge and to do her best as Chief Translator that she could possibly be but now that all seemed to be going downhill lately. Now she wanted off of Enterprise and she hadn’t decided how she was going to break the news to Captain Jonathan Archer. Little did she know that he was soon going to need her expertise now more than ever before.

Archer’s paying more attention to Hoshi than to his duties as ship’s captain almost surprised him when Ensign Travis Mayweather spoke up from the helm. “Captain, there’s a mysterious ship in out path.”

“It’s a perfect cube,” reported T’Pol a little shocked.

“I can’t tell if their weapons are armed or not,” reported Reed, “but we have encountered the metal type around it before.”

“True,” said T’Pol, “about seven years ago when we encountered the upgraded Arctic Transport and the mysterious cybernetic beings that crewed it. I would hate to say it captain, but we’re in trouble.”

“They’re blocking our path,” reported Ensign

Mayweather at the helm. “Every maneuver I try to use to get around them they counter.”

“We’re being hailed,” reported Hoshi, “audio only.”

“We are the Borg, depolarize your hull plating and prepare to be boarded. Resistance is futile. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own, your culture will adapt to serve us. Resistance is futile. We are the Borg.”

“Reed get those weapons back,” ordered Archer, “Travis, keep trying to get us out of here. Hoshi, contact Starfleet Command or any ship within range able to render assistance.”

“I’ve managed to get through to Starfleet, their sending three MACOs warships to intercept us along with the Daedalus-class starships USS Carolina NCC 160 and the USS Horizon NCC 176, they’ll be here within thirty minutes,” reported Hoshi, “the closest ship is a Klingon battle cruiser, the IKS Nasha’raK, and she’s only ten minutes away. They could be here within a few seconds at maximum warp their commander says. Their on a recon mission searching for this cube ship that’s been destroying their ships left and right.”

As much as Archer didn’t want any help from the Klingon Empire two ships would stand a better chance at surviving a fire fight while waiting for his reinforcements to arrive. So he went over to Hoshi and whispered in her ear, “tell them that we’ll

accept an offer of assistance.” Three seconds later a Klingon battle cruiser dropped out of warp flanked by two escort ships that immediately opened fire on the alien cube ship inhabited by the beings calling themselves the Borg.

ELEVEN

Aboard the Borg ship the drones weren’t yet ready for a firefight that might lead to their destruction even if it was by primitive beings. So as the reinforcement Federation starships joined the battle, they activated their transwarp-drive and fled the system back towards the Rigelian Badlands.

With the cube ship gone, the five Federation starships and the three Klingon battle cruisers flanked around Enterprise into a pattern that put the historic Earth vessel in the center of the formation. All ships set a course for Earth in a defensive posture just in case their forward was ever blocked again.

*****

Back in the Rigelian Badlands, the Borg cube ship

finally was able to get the information they needed out of the drone they had rescued in the Sol System. A drone that seemed to possess information about a future that couldn’t be, a future that needed changing. “These beings you’ve encountered all

called humans and they’ve managed to stand up to use and prevent assimilation since the day we first encountered them. I’m from the future and I got here because we launched a temporal invasion to prevent their historic event of First Contact, but one of their ships followed us back and stopped us. I survived the destruction of the sphere ship I was aboard when the USS Enterprise NCC 1701-E, a distant cousin of the NX-class vessel you’ve encountered earlier. Since you have re-assimilated me into the collective, I suggestion we continue my original mission and enslave this entire quadrant for the greater existence of the collective and change many future events while we’re at it.”

“Agreed,” thought the collective as one. In unison the collective aboard the cube started going about the business of getting the matcheration chambers ready to bring the new drones they were about to create to full maturity as one mind, one consciousness in the collective. Their own personal vendetta had begun again. Only this time they hoped nothing would stand in their way. Except, as long as there was a ship around bearing the name Enterprise there would always be opposition. Therefore it was decide that Earth would be their first target. A fact that the fledgling United Federation of Planets figured was coming along with Captain Archer and they had a plan to stop it.

*****

Inside Hoshi Sato’s quarters Captain Archer sat

beside her talking to her about the assignment he wanted her to undertake but she kept hesitating on it. “I can’t do it captain,” she said for the sixth time, “I just don’t feel up to it and I also think I’m still suffering from the Xindi parasites.”

“Hoshi,” Archer said trying to calm her down, “you’re the only woman on board this ship that can do this for me, as my Communications and Protocol Officer, I need you to do this. If you don’t think about it this way, Earth and the entire Alpha Quadrant won’t exist as we know it now. You’re the only woman that can do this for me; even Captain Hernandez has her Communications/Protocol Officer doing this.”

“Alright captain,” started Ensign Hoshi Sato, “what do I need to do?”

“We encountered these beings before, roughly eight years ago,” said Archer, “back then I mentioned a so called story that Zefram Cochrane told about telling exactly what happened during First Contact in 2063, I need you to dig up that information on these cybernetic beings the group of humans from the future came back to stop from enslaving the human race.”

*****

At the Rigelian Badlands, the Borg collective was

quickly learning about the future. As one consciousness they communicated with the re-assimilated drone from the future, “So you’re saying besides enslaving all the races of this quadrant, we should also be bent on the total annihilation of one ship, one crew, a ship bearing the name ‘Enterprise’.”

“You could have told us this earlier,” said the collective as one, “the NX-class starship we encountered earlier boor the name ‘Enterprise’, we could have destroyed her then.”

“We’ll get another chance,” thought the newly assimilated drone, “set a course for Earth, I would suggest Warp Two Point Five. Take us through the Asteroid Field. We need the element of surprise on our hands if we’re going to be able to successfully assimilate the human race into the collective.”

TWELVE

Alpha Centauri III “Our relay stations have picked up something

massive heading this way sir,” said Captain Chris Wan to Commodore Shari Trevor, “it’s on a direct course for Earth.”

“Warn them,” ordered Commodore Trevor, “keep me apprised on the situation.”

………

Admiral Gardner wasn’t at all happy to learn that

Earth might be in danger for a second time within weeks. The only good news he had was that the Klingons were actually patrolling the boarder for once without crossing over and staging raids on Federation planets, colonies, starbases and convoy ships. The actions of the Klingons for once would seem that they were searching for something more that conquest and bloodshed. For once in its short existence, the Federation didn’t have anything to

fear from its closest warrior like neighbors for the Klingons were on the warpath…yet and the Romulans were still tucked safely behind the Neutral Zone with their partially defeated fleet slowly coming back into existence.

High in Earth orbit onboard the Enterprise, Hoshi was staying in her quarters doing all that she could to meet Archer’s request for she didn’t want to disappoint him. Surprisingly even though she wasn’t feeling that well and her mind was racing out of control, she had found a lot of information on First Contact, more than she expected to. Plus she thought it was good that most of it was written by Zefram Cochrane himself. After transferring the data to her hand held data pad she started to search for the words “future”, “cybernetic beings”, and “enslaving the human race”. All of which she got hits on so she went to work trying to find their weakness but she couldn’t find one only the sentence “their ability adapt to any particle beam weapon is magnificent. This counter-defense easily prevents their destruction as a group for when one adapts, they all seem to adapt, this information from an eye witness account given to me by my assistant Lilly Sloan who spent some time on the ship from the future.”

Reading further, Hoshi learned that one of the ways the future ship which ironically was called Enterprise destroyed the beings that took over their ship by liquefying their organic components with

warp plasma from their warp core. This attack totally killed their Queen and deactivated the remaining drones while parts of them exploded into sparks. “This is the information Jon needs,” Hoshi thought to herself so she quickly scanned it and sent it over to Archer’s computer terminal in both his Ready Room and quarters so he would get it quickly.

Inside his quarters Jonathan was a little surprised to hear his computer terminal blink in the middle of the night, especially when the ship was only in Earth orbit. No one would really need to contact him at that hour of the night so he sadly got up and went over to his desk almost waking Porthos. Activating his terminal he noticed that he had an incoming data transmission from Hoshi. He opened the file and first read her note. “Captain, I’m sorry if I woke you, but this is the information that you wanted that involves what really happened during First Contact, written by Cochrane himself but you did say he did rebuke this all years later saying he was very drunk when he wrote it and it wasn’t really the truth so history doesn’t believe it. Well with that said, I’ve also set this report to your Ready Room’s terminal too just in case your still in there. While these cybernetic beings cannot be destroyed because they adapt to everything that can be thrown at them. Hand to hand combat is a bad idea because they can easily inject you with their nanoprobes, as Phlox learned eight years ago, and transform you into one of them. The only thing that kills them is warp plasma since it

liquefies their organic components but to destroy the whole group at the same time, you need to locate and destroy the Queen, the rest will either slightly explode or just be deactivated until a new Queen is created. Well I hope you find this useful Jon, good night.”

After reading Hoshi’s report Jonathan didn’t know what came over him but he wanted her to know how grateful he was that she had gotten him the information. “Archer to Hoshi,” he said into his wall mounted inter-ship communicator that he tied in directly to her quarters, “please come to my quarters, thank you.”

A few moments later Hoshi arrived at his quarter’s door wearing only her night clothes which got Jonathan just a little more in a good mood. He swept her into his quarters and before he could think better of it kissed her right on her lovely lips, at that very moment it hit him that she really was a woman and not just some officer on his ship. “How the hell did I not fully notice that before?”

Hoshi was a little shocked that the Captain had just pulled him towards her and started to kiss her but she actually quickly realized that she loved the feel of his lips touching hers. She didn’t want this kiss to end ever but when Jonathan pulled away she got sad but didn’t show it. Instead she looked up into his eyes as he said “I’m sorry Hoshi, I didn’t mean to kiss you like that, I was only planning on kissing your cheek… sorry I did that.”

Instead of replying Hoshi decided that the best

bet would to do what her heart was telling her and not her brain. She grabbed Jonathan and pulled him back towards her and repressed her lips to his and felt the same spark she had felt only moments earlier. At that moment Jonathan realized the passion that was flowing through Hoshi’s veins. The moment her lips left his Jonathan made his decision, he wasn’t going to live aboard a starship without companionship, fraternization regulations be dammed, “for if Trip could do it, so can I,” he thought as he said “Hoshi, will you marry me?”

“Yes, Jonathan,” replied Hoshi happily, “I’ll marry you, but I’ll need time to get ready, say in about a year?”

“Agreed,” said Jonathan, “we’ve been through so much already and we still got the threat being brought by these cybernetic beings to deal with.”

THIRTEEN

Enterprise NX-01 Two Days Later, Deep Space

After learning about the cube ship heading

directly for Earth, Captain Archer and the brass headed admirals at Starfleet Command decided to mobilize a task force of the Enterprise and all the nearest Daedalus-class starships and go engage and hopefully destroy the alien cube ship before it could reach Earth and conquer the human homeworld. After all that was done Jonathan and the rest of his crew knew that the Enterprise NX-01 was about to be decommissioned and added to the mothball fleet and there was nothing Archer or anyone could do about it, an era was about to come to an end and a new group of explorers would take up the reins.

*****

Massing around the asteroid belt was twelve Daedalus-class starships, three NX-class starships

including the Enterprise NX-01 and five MACOs warships. Forming an attack formation that would become known as Attack Pattern Alpha-One the twenty Federation starships and one Klingon cruiser got ready to mount their offensive against the still mysterious cybernetic beings. Back while the fleet was still mobilizing at Earth, Admiral Gardner gave Archer full command of their forces and even the Klingons aboard the Bird-of-Prey IKS Jotara agreed to take orders from a Tera’ngan. “All ships, this is Captain Archer, the cybernetic beings cube ship will be here soon. Whenever you get a weapons lock fire at will. MACOs standby to transport aboard with the warp plasma in the storage containers, everyone you know what to do; this ship doesn’t get to leave here as long as there’s one of our ships left. Give it everything you got to destroy it; hopefully we’ll gain a glorious victory and lots of honor today. Then for the Klingons he added… today is a good day to die.”

Seconds later as the cube ship entered weapons range every one of the twenty ships let lose a barrage of phaser or disruptor fire along with a full spread of photonic torpedoes. Every single blast hit their mark and bearly penetrated the cube’s hull, but it did make the newly activated futuristic shields flutter. “More blasts like that one,” ordered Archer, “then the shields should collapse and we’ll be able to transport aboard. According to Hoshi and NX-02 Columbia’s Chief Communications officer, Ensign Sidra Valerian’s research, once were aboard their

ship, the Borg as they call themselves will ignore us until they consider us a threat. We have to planet the Warp Plasma bombs before that happens. This mission is dangerous, that’s why I’ll be leading it along with my Chief Tactical Officer, Lieutenant Malcolm Reed. Let’s get this over with, all ships open fire and don’t stop even if those shields collapse. That’s an order.”

The attacks on the Borg ship took longer than Archer would have liked but their outcome was the same. The shields to the Borg cube collapsed. Seconds later, the team consisting of twenty MACOs, Reed and himself transported aboard the cube to plant their Warp Plasma explosives. Little did they know that the Borg Queen herself wasn’t on that ship but still inside the Unicomplex in the Delta Quadrant that they still knew nothing about, nor did the Borg yet know about humanity.

Inside the Borg cube ship everything looked as familiar as it had aboard the Arctic Transport eight years ago only this time, the vessel was clearly more dreary and warmer with a temperature at Thirty-Two Point Six degrees Celsius. As the humans made their way towards the center of the cube they found that Archer was right, the Borg drones hadn’t considered them a threat yet but after they completed planting the bombs, that could quickly turn out to be a different story.

It didn’t take that long to get to the core of the cube, it only seemed to Archer and the rest of his

team that they were on the move for about thirty minutes. Thirty minutes that would mean they would have to get back to their extraction point undetected before the explosives were to go off and if that didn’t happen the results would be disastrous if their actions were discovered. The humans didn’t care though, what they were doing was to save humanity and their homeworld, they went about their task and managed to get back to their extraction point just as the explosives went off destroying the Borg cube and all the drones aboard her.

EPILOGUE-TWO

One Year Later Deep Space

The only ships still traveling in space from the

former Enterprise NX-01 were her shuttle pods and the newly commissioned Daedalus-class starships that the United Federation of Planets had just recently launched. Archer was right all a long, a new generation of explorers was being born. He and his now pregnant wife, Ensign Hoshi Sato found themselves sitting behind separate desks at Starfleet Command Headquarters waiting for the day they would be able to travel the stars again.

Out lurking in the galaxy though was a new evil, an evil that wasn’t going to stop for anyone. To these unknown aliens, it was time for the Votality to strike a blow to humanity and to claim what was rightfully theirs…

PART THREE TOTAL WAR

PRELUDE

Year: 2153, Almost Ten Years Earlier Enterprise NX-01 Coridan

“I’m sorry Trip,” started Captain Archer, “but I

have to take T’Pol on this one.” “Now I know you’re kidding Capt’,” replied Trip. “Not this time Trip,” replied Captain Archer,

“T’Pol’s being transferred, or should I say removed, a Vulcan ship is coming to get her; the Ni’Var, it’ll be here in four days. I just want to take her on one more away mission with her captain before she leaves.”

“Why is she being removed Capt’?” asked Trip thinking it had something to do with the humans and their mission.

“The Vulcan Monastery at P’Jem was destroyed by the Andorians earlier in the week,” started Jonathan, “T’Pol’s being recalled because the Vulcans blame her for it. They can’t blame me so their taking it out on my Science Officer, all their looking for is a scapegoat and she’s it. Those logical

bastards, I need my Science Officer and I bet their going to be wanting their dam Star charts back too, while they can have them for if it wasn’t for those damn star charts we wouldn’t have ever found P’Jem and this whole damn thing wouldn’t be happening.”

“Sounds like he has a thing for T’Pol, or is getting emotional about her,” said Trip to himself, out loud he said, “I understand Capt.’, you want some alone time with T’Pol, it’s understandable.”

Later that morning, Captain Jonathan Archer sat at the helm of Shuttlepod One with Sub-Commander T’Pol in the co-pilot’s chair. For part of the journey to the planet Coridan from the orbiting Enterprise, T’Pol was quite but just as the shuttle entered the atmosphere she said, “Captain, I don’t understand why I was chosen for this mission, Ensign Sato or Commander Tucker would have made a better choice.”

“I thought you would enjoy one final mission with your captain before you left,” replied Archer, “or we could just return to the ship and drop you off and I could take Hoshi instead.”

“No,” said T’Pol, “anyways returning to the ship now would be a waste of fuel, we should just continue on course to the capital city.”

That’s when the alarms on the shuttlepod went off and two fixed wing aircrafts came up behind her. “Did the chancellor say anything about sending an escort?” asked Captain Archer.

“I don’t believe they’re an escort,” answered

T’Pol as the fixed wing aircrafts fired on the shuttle forcing it down miles away from the capital city. With the shuttle down, it was forcefully entered by three unknown aliens who knocked out T’Pol and her captain and kidnapping them bring them to their militant base and leader who interrogates them and also recognizes T’Pol as a Vulcan but has never seen the Captain’s species before.

When the Coridan rebels hit Archer for saying that Enterprise’s protein resequencer can make chicken sandwiches T’Pol says, “he doesn’t know anything, he’s the ship’s Steward.”

“Now I see,” said the rebel leader to T’Pol, “you’re the Captain.”

“Perhaps,” replied T’Pol. The rebel leader then gets mad at T’Pol saying

“Your people support this government that is trying to eradicate us for our beliefs.”

“You’re terrorists,” replied T’Pol, “their doing what is needed to protect their city and people.”

“While there are nearly as many people living in the city as there is outside it,” said the rebel leader, “it’s no emerald city if you get my drift.”

Once the guard left Archer looked at T’Pol with one not so happy look and said, “A Steward, that’s the best you come up with?”

“Well it’s the best I could come up with that quickly,” answered T’Pol.

Back on Enterprise, Commander Tucker got a

communication from Chancellor Kalev in the capital city asking him, “have your Captain and Sub-Commander left the ship yet?”

“Yes,” answered Trip, “is there a problem?” “Then yes there is,” replied Chancellor Kalev,

“their shuttle was shot down by a radical group of fundamentalists.”

“You could have told us you were in the middle of a civil war,” replied Trip.

“We don’t consider this a civil war, Commander,” replied Chancellor Kalev.

“While these fundamentalists have most likely kidnapped your Captain and the Sub-Commander,” replied Chancellor Kalev, “they won’t kill them, but it’s important that you don’t give into their demands, we’ll deal with this situation.”

“Sir the Vulcan ship Ni’Var is here, and her commander, a Commander Sopek is hailing us,” said Hoshi, “their asking to speak with Captain Archer and to have Sub-Commander T’Pol ready for transport.”

Once the guards left Archer and T’Pol alone, they managed to stand up shift out of their bonds, after falling on top of each other about three times with Archer finding his head in her chest with his nose planted right between her cleavage before they finally got them off.

Once they were free a guard walked in so they tried to subdue him but another guard coming into the shanty shack caught them off guard knocked

them out and rebound them, this time even tighter than before.

………

Back aboard Enterprise Trip realized he had no

choice for Sopek had been nagging and nagging the commander about where Captain Archer and T’Pol were. Finally he decided to give in. “We have a problem, the Captain and Sub-Commander went down to the capital city in a shuttlepod but on their way there, they were shot down and kidnapped. The kidnappers want us to give them forty phase pistols. Even if we were going to give them to them, we only have fifteen.”

“We’ll handle this,” said Sopek, “anyways, I’m the senior Vulcan in this sector; it’s my call on what we do. We’ll take it from here.”

Trip turned to Malcolm and after Hoshi closed the communication channel on Sopek asked “Is your rescue plan all set to go?”

“Yes,” answered Malcolm, “All I’m waiting for is your order.”

“Go,” replied Trip, “find the Captain and T’Pol before those Vulcans decide to do something that gets both the Captain and Sub-Commander killed.” So together Trip and Malcolm headed to the launch bay to take shuttlepod two and launch their mission.

A minute or two after the shuttle left Enterprise; Sopek got suspicious and re-contacted the

Enterprise. Once the channel was open he asked Hoshi “Where was that shuttlepod going?”

“What shuttle pod?” asked Hoshi. “The one that just left your launch bay a few

minutes ago,” answered Sopek. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said

Hoshi, she started to make the communications channel crackle up, “we get shuttle pods coming and going, it’s a lot like Union Station around here. Your breaking up…” she closed the channel on him making it really sound like there was static interfering with the transmission.

………

On the surface, Trip and Malcolm were going

about their business trying to locate their Captain and Sub-Commander/Science Officer but they too were kidnapped, but this time it wasn’t by the rebels. Instead it was four Andorians, one of which believed he owed Captain Archer a favor and by rescuing him he would repay his debt in full and finally be able to get some sleep. That Andorian was no other that Commander Shran of the Andorian Imperial Guard, the exact same Andorian who Archer and T’Pol helped discover the Vulcan listening post at the P’Jem Monastery, the same listening post that ended up getting the place destroyed.

Shran looked at Trip and said “Pinkskin, what do you think you’re doing here? And don’t say you’re

hare to get your Captain and the Vulcan back because you’re terribly outgunned and outmanned, you’d never succeed, but you can help us do the exact same thing and it will make your odds that much better.”

Trip looked at Malcolm then back at Shran and asked, “Why are you trying to help us? The last time we met, you tried to kill us. Oh, that’s right without he Captain’s help you would have never found the Vulcan listening post on P’Jem.”

“I’m only doing this for one reason,” replied Shran, “to get a good night sleep and to repay my debt to your Captain, after this, we’re even.”

Agreeing to help each other, the two humans and four Andorians with the help of an inside man got into the rebels’ compound and were able to mount their rescue until the Vulcans crashed the party and a bloodbath ensued. There was no way they were going to get out alive but luck seemed to be on their side when together the Vulcans, Andorians, and humans subdued the rebels and freed the Captain and T’Pol. While talking to Sopek though, one of the rebels came to and aimed his plasma rifle at Sopek. Before the rebel could fire, T’Pol stepped in the line of fire and took the bullet directly in her thigh. Archer ran over to her motionless body, picked her up and tried to leave but Sopek stopped him saying “She’s one of my people, we’ll take her.”

Archer wasn’t in the mood for listening to Sopek nor did he want to give T’Pol up without a fight so he

replied angrily, “She’s still my Science Officer.” He and his fellow humans then left returning to the two shuttle pods and Enterprise.

As the humans left Shran and his fellow Andorians also walked out but as Shran past Sopek he said, “It should be you dying, not her.”

*****

Back aboard Enterprise, Captain Archer was

standing over a bio-bed with an unconscious naked T’Pol covered only in a medical blanket laying on it. He looked to Doctor Phlox and asked “Will she live?”

“I believe so, but I don’t recommend moving her or reawakening her yet.”

“Alright thank you doctor,” replied Archer. With that said, the Doctor turned and left the curtained off area of Sickbay just as Sopek and a Vulcan guard walked in. Sopek past through the curtain and asked the Captain “Will she live?”

“Yes,” answered Archer, “but taking her back to Vulcan like this will be a disgrace to her.”

“What she did at the monastery cannot just be excused,” replied Sopek.

“But what if a highly dedicated Vulcan like yourself went before the High Command on her behalf, would they rethink this transfer?”

“I don’t know,’ replied Sopek, “but I am going before the High Command in three days, if there’s time Captain, I’ll bring up this matter.”

“Thank you Sopek,” replied Archer. Sopek then turned and left Sickbay with the

Vulcan guard following right behind. As he walked back to the airlock and his ship, he thought to himself, “Does this human captain have a thing for T’Pol, a Vulcan female? Yea right, he doesn’t even trust Vulcans, like he even rally likes this one, but then again he did seem really upset about parting with her. Maybe he does have some sort of feelings for her, well I bet on her part, their not returned. Or are they?”

Meanwhile back in Sickbay, Sub-Commander T’Pol was regaining consciousness thanks to the fact that the only reason she was unconscious in the first place was because Doctor Phlox had given her a sedative to keep her asleep because Archer knew Sopek would show up and he wanted T’Pol to look like she was in bad shape so she would be able to stay aboard the Enterprise. Once she had come too, T’Pol looked at Archer tried to lie up as he caught the blanket covering her before it revealed too much and she asked “Commander Sopek?”

“He’s alright because of you,” answered Archer, “you’re a very brave Vulcan like that for taking a plasma bullet like that, but I remember you did the same thing for me once on Rigel during our first mission.”

“True,” is all T’Pol would say to that. “And one other thing T’Pol,” started Jonathan, “I

think Sopek is going to make a case to the High

Command about you staying here, I think you made quit an impression on him.”

“You should have consulted me first,” replied T’Pol.

“You can still leave if you want to,” countered Archer.

“Doing so would be against my doctor’s orders,” said T’Pol. “And yours,” she added in a thought knowing that he couldn’t hear her.

*****

Almost Eight Years Later Year: 2161 After The Founding of the United Federation of Planets Lieutenant Charles “Trip” Tucker III’s Funeral Earth, Miami, Florida

No one member of the crew of the starship Enterprise NX-01 were ready for what they were about to face. First they had witnessed the makings of a historic moment during the signing of the charter that gave birth to an alliance that future generations would come to know as the United Federation of Planets. This was to be a happy time, their ship may have been decommissioned and joined the slowly forming Mothball Fleet but they all had good memories aboard that ship; a ship that served both Earth and Starfleet so well for if it wasn’t

for her, Earth would have been a pile of ruble six to seven years earlier during the Xindi crisis. There was so much to celebrate but a member of that crew was no longer among the living for he gave his life to save his captain and the ship he loved so much, now the crew and many other members of Starfleet found themselves on their way to the sate of Florida to a little cemetery in Miami for Trip’s funeral.

Captain Jonathan Archer took one look outside his hotel window and saw the rain coming down in buckets; he didn’t care though, rain or no rain, nothing was going to stop him from going to his friend’s funeral. For some reason without a care in the world Captain Archer walked out of the hotel without an umbrella and started to walk the fifteen blocks to the cemetery and the funeral, all he was wearing was his black trench coat that he decided to turn up the collar as he walked to protect his neck from the cold rain. The streaks that ran down his face and clung to his hair felt good and he was too lost in his thoughts, regretting the day, regretting the loss of his friend, to notice his clothes had become completely soaked.

When he made it to the cemetery; filled with banyan trees, crumbling tombstones and Spanish moss; he shoved his hands in his pockets, bowed his head and headed for the Tucker plot. Each step took him past deceased Florida dignitaries (Spanish explorers, colonists, governors, congressman, warriors and judges) and finally to a hero, a hero,

that children may not hear about in their history class. He spotted the gravesite… mainly because the crowd of people who’d gathered despite the torrential downpour.

Mrs. Mayzie Tucker, a slim woman in her sixties with a black dress and shining white pearls draped around her neck, buried her gray hair into her husband’s shoulder. Mr. Charles Tucker II, a lean man with a thinning blonde head of hair, merely bowed his head to keep his eyes trained on the casket… the one his son occupied. The umbrella in his hand was black.

Archer eyes danced over other people gathered at this event. He caught Admiral Jeffries in the crowd, trying to blend in rather than use his rank and name to come closer; he wasn’t wearing his uniform; just a black suit. A grimace worried his tan face and his thick frame slouched. Admiral Gardner was there, his form straight, legs spread bearly apart and his hands behind his back like a soldier. There was Black, Smith ….

All of Starfleet’s top brass were there. All of them. And so was everyone from Enterprise. Archer saw

Hoshi, crying, locked arm in arm with both Reed and Mayweather. Reed’s stiff upper lip trembled and he fished into his gray suit pocket to pull out a handkerchief for the woman next to him. Mayweather’s head was bent and he took shallow breaths.

There was a slight woman with auburn hair and a

black dress holding a large purple umbrella, as if it was the only one her hotel could provide, that protected her from the rain. Her face, although stoic, was sad as if she’d wrestled difficult and painful emotions and let them win. The glow that typically radiated around her was dampened and the sparkle in her eyes was gone. He noticed she clutched something in her hand, her thumb worrying over it.

Slipping beside her, he gave her a sad smile and then watched the ground.

“Dearly beloved, we’re gathered here today…” The pastor, a man with a wide-Irish face and

round glasses, looked across the crowd and then down at his Bible. Even he had trouble getting the words out, as if he knew the commander and his sacrifice.

“To honor Commander Charles Tucker III as God welcomes him with open arms and takes him to his bosom.”

At those words, T’Pol scooted closer to Archer and shared her umbrella with him.

One of the guests then started to speak on the behalf of Trip’s parents. The speaker, a relative of Trip’s started to tell a story that at the time that it happened made Trip’s father very upset, but now ironically it was more like something he could laugh at.“We remember Trip, the man; he was gentle, caring, funny, sweet… a SCUBA diver. Mayzie and Charlie asked me to tell a story about their son. A

boy of only nine years old, he managed to take apart the motor to their vehicle. When his father, upset and annoyed, came to talk to Trip, the boy smiled brilliantly…”

As a reflex because he thought the story was funny and he also remembered Trip telling him exactly the same thing years ago, Archer just nodded and smiled, and at the same time out of the corner of his eye, he saw that T’Pol bobbed her head, too. It made him wrap his hand around hers. She didn’t protest, instead, she held his grip a little firmer just needing to be comforted after loosing her ex-lover, even though it was her choice to end their relationship years earlier, it had become a mutual decision and that had made it easier for her and Trip to stay friends; but now she had lost her friend. Now she only had one true friend, one true companion left that she knew she could un-doubtfully trust without a doubt; that friend was no other than her captain, Jonathan Archer.

About an hour and ten minutes later the funeral came to an end, as each went up to the casket to say their last goodbyes, T’Pol made her decision. A decision that wasn’t to hard to make for she was finally free, she would never have to hear Trip’s thoughts again, she was finally free to choose a new bondmate, someone she would truly want to be with. So she threw her IDIC onto the coffin as it was lowered into the ground and dirt was thrown on it. With both weights gone, she had no choice but to

run to catch up with Jonathan, Hoshi, Malcolm, Travis, and Doctor Phlox. Once she was with them, she took Archer’s hand again and said “I need to talk to you.”

“Come to dinner tonight with me, I’ll pick you up at six,” replied Jonathan, “we’ll talk then.”

“Alright, I’m staying at the Sapphire Hotel,” said T’Pol, “Room 305, Floor 3.”

“Alright T’Pol, then it’s a date” said Jonathan chuckling to himself wondering how the female Vulcan would take it; thinking that she’s shrug it off as a human emotion, “I’ll see you then.”

As Jonathan left her side, T’Pol started to wonder what he had meant by “then it’s a date” for she not being human didn’t know anything much about the human concept of dating. “Maybe it’s time to try another experiment,” she thought but then she remembered that that was how her relationship with Commander Tucker had started and she didn’t want to end up in that type of boat just yet. She wasn’t ready for love again.

…. Hours Later Dinner at a Fancy Restaurant in Miami

After leaving his hotel and heading to the hotel T’Pol was at for their dinner date, a date that they had planned after the funeral, Archer found himself

with his hand in midair frozen. He wanted to bring himself to knock on T’Pol’s door, to get her attention but something hit him like a ton of bricks, six years earlier, Trip and T’Pol were in a relationship, the whole crew knew it but said nothing, a relationship that she choose to end after they find out that their DNA was cloned by Terra Prime into a faulty Vulcan-Human hybrid baby girl that they named Elizabeth after Trip’s sister who died in the Xindi attack. Only that child died because of a flaw in the cloning process. It was a death neither of the two unready parents were ready for, so as a result T’Pol couldn’t bear to keep the relationship going so she ended way back in 2155.

Even after that thought, the August Miami heat brought Jonathan back to reality as his white shirt started to get soaked with his sweat he decided on just knocking on T’Pol’s hotel door. As she opened the door, he noticed that she was wearing something that resembled a cross between a cocktail dress and a Vulcan robe. It had a Nehru collar, with short sleeves, but instead of the hem flowing to the ground; it hit her at the ankles. The color was a deep blue, like the name of the hotel, and shiny.

It was the most unVulcan he’d ever seen her wear, but fit in with the atmosphere of the restaurant. Realizing this must be what Vulcans called informal wear, he stopped in front of her.

“Thank you for coming,” she said. “My pleasure. You look…,” started Jonathan.

She waited. “Nice,” he said. “I have few clothing left that are unsoiled,” said

T’Pol looking at his totally sweat soaked shirt. “I know the feeling,” said Jonathan, pulling a fast

one on her. After Jonathan changed into one of the cleaner

shirts T’Pol just happened to have, the two of them headed to the restaurant only twenty paces away in silence. The waiter, detecting their somber mood, put them at a table in the corner of the room figuring they would rather be alone in a secluded area.

Once they sat down, both grabbed their menus, picked out the foods they wanted and ordered. Unlike most women, Archer mused; T’Pol always knew what she wanted without reservations or a change of mind. It was part of what he’d always admired about her and was also one of the reasons why he was attracted to her but never voiced his feelings. Something he wished he had done so many times since he found out that Trip and her were a couple, now he could get his chance he thought as he took a sip of his wine.

“I spent some time with Mr. and Mrs. Tucker this afternoon, after the ceremony,” said T’Pol, “I figured I should since while you know.”

Jonathan exhaled sadly, but managed to make it look like he was undergoing regular breathing and drank another sip of his wine.

Since he didn’t respond to her, T’Pol just decided

to continue speaking. “They were … pleased … about the number of people at the ceremony.”

He put down his wine, and finally spoke to her. “I was happy to see everyone there, too,” he said. “I spoke with Admiral Gardner just two days ago. I had no idea he was coming.”

“I assumed you’d asked him to come,” thought T’Pol only she ended up saying it out loud instead.

“I did,” started Jonathan thinking out his next words carefully for he didn’t want to leak out any classified information, “but… well, he’s been busy lately.”

T’Pol tucked a strand of hair behind her ear while at the same time knew what Jonathan was trying to hide. “I heard about the attacks.”

From across the table, Jonathan’s eyebrows lifted. “I didn’t think you had that kinda security clearance.” He then said to her in a whisper so no one else nearby would hear, “three cargo ships attacked by an unknown ship and for unknown reasons, leaving Starfleet more questions than answers. I myself didn’t even find out until two days ago, before I left for Miami.”

After the words were out of his mouth, it hit him. He sat back, holding the drink in his hand with a strange smile spreading across his face. Pride.

“Gardner offered you your own command, didn’t he?” he asked.

“Yes,” she answered.

Placing his elbows on the table, he leaned

forward. “Congratulations, T’Pol. That’s great.” Her eyes fell on the water in front of her, and she

lifted it to her lips. “You’re going to accept it, aren’t you?” he asked. She remained quiet. “T’Pol?” After taking a long sip and setting it neatly back

down, she finally lifted her eyes and stared at him. “No,” she finally answered, “NO, and its because I’m… uncertain about my feelings for Starfleet.” She paused. “And I have been thinking about returning Vulcan.”

Jonathan thought he knew why that was her answer so he said, “Listen, during times like these it’s difficult…. You shouldn’t make rash decisions about your life after a traumatic event.”

“I see. Like your decision to turn down a promotion?” she asked.

“That’s different.” Archer squirmed in his seat. “I can’t see myself as admiral. I mean, I can’t see myself behind a desk, pushing papers, telling captains what and where to explore. That’s just not me.”

“I didn’t realize filing papers and giving orders were the only things Admiral Gardner did,” said T’Pol a little surprised for she thought that the admiral did a lot more than that.

He narrowed his eyes and smirked at his drink; she had him, but he’d be damned if he’d admit it. So,

he switched gears. “What are you going to do on Vulcan?”

“Consider my options. Did I tell you I received a communiqué from Minister T’Pau?”

“No,” answered Jonathan “She asked me to meet with her next Tuesday,”

said T’Pol wondering why she never told him earlier. She had never kept secrets from him before; she was his first officer, his confidante.

“Did she say what the meeting was about?” asked Jonathan starting to get very curious why she would have kept something like this from him knowing she had never done so before… except for her relationship of course, and that he had to learn the hard way like the rest of the crew did.

“No,” she responded. “You’re not going to meet with her… are you?”

asked Jonathan thinking he already knew the answer and it was that she wasn’t.

“Captain?” she said. “You are?” She didn’t respond, so he asked again.

“I guess you are. And… I think you can call me by my name, T’Pol.”

Squinting her eyes, he could tell she wondered after all these years what he’d want to be called.

“Jonathan is fine,” he said. “Very well…,”she still couldn’t bring herself to say

his name to him for all these years she knew he liked her and didn’t act on it, all the while wishing he would’ve, then she wouldn’t have chosen Trip for

her experiment in human sexuality, she would have chosen him. Finally giving herself the courage she said her last word, “… Jonathan.”

He smiled at the sound of her voice finally saying his name. something he longed to hear her say since the moment he met her way back during Enterprise’s first mission, to bring Klaang back to his homeworld of Qo’noS.

“Yes,” answered T’Pol, “she’s arranged for us to talk next week.”

“That’s why you’re going to Vulcan?” asked Jonathan hoping that was the only reason. Only her next words proved him wrong.

“Not entirely,” she replied. Trying to imagine what the minister would want,

he threw down the rest of his drink. Half-lidded eyes watched as she explained the cryptic note she received and what she planned on doing while on the planet. Her explanation was vague, a Vulcan ritual that is renewed as necessary… like the one given on P’Jem, but his brain echoed a word: Kolinahr.

Images of Vulcans wearing restraints, cloaked in black robes, prostrated themselves in front of priests. Their teeth gnashed, their cheeks flushed with emotion, they sometimes cried out to purge whatever remained… inner demons. It was an ancient practice Vulcans underwent to seek logic and reason… to suppress emotions. He wasn’t sure how he knew that information, she certainly didn’t

mention it. And yet it flittered in his brain like a candle being lit for meditation.

Stopping her, he said the name of the ritual. “The Kolinahr,” he whispered.

Rather than answer, an eyebrow prodded up against her forehead and she slowly returned a few words. “I sometimes find it… troubling what knowledge you retained from Surak’s katra. After all, you know more about my people from before the Time of Awakening than I do, and its supposed to be my history, my culture.”

Tightly, he grinned. “Me too, I find it troubling too.” Then ducking his head, his fingers knotted his cloth napkin. “You know, we’ve always appreciated you just the way you are.”

Her eyes fell back on the tablecloth. She didn’t really understand what he meant by “we”; and part of her didn’t want to know while the other part did; but she decided it would be best not to ask. She knew deep down in her heart that he would tell her when he was good and ready.

“Why the sudden decision to do it?” asked Jonathan not wanting T’Pol to have to go undergo something painful if she really didn’t need to.

“The decision is hardly sudden,” she countered. She didn’t want to have to justify herself to him. No matter who he was to her or how much she cared about him. Some things she figured were just best to remain to herself. She had no idea that someday in

the near future she would be sharing her inner most thoughts with him… and much more.

“You’ve been thinking about this for a while?” asked Jonathan hoping she would answer him. He knew eventually she would want to put a stop to this conversation. Most likely by somehow changing the subject.

“Yes,” she replied still wondering why she was letting this conversation continue. To her, it was starting to feel like an interrogation, an interrogation she didn’t want to undergo. One she felt she didn’t have to undergo; so she decided if the conversation was to get anymore personal she would have no choice but to end it.

“And it’s not just because Trip died?” asked Jonathan thinking that had to be the answer. “Her relationship with him has left scars deep down that she’s trying to hide. Scars that I would never have let her have if she and I were together.”

Her eyes leveled on him, and under the weight he rested his chin on his chest. Part of him knowing that she wasn’t comfortable talking about her undergoing the Kolinahr. He still didn’t want her to have to undergo some pain just for whatever her reasons were. “If it is,” he began, “there’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

She sighed. “Jonathan, Trip and I had a… relationship.”

“I know,” replied Jonathan, “to tell you the truth, everyone on Enterprise knew that, and I bet you

know it broke my heart to find out. I’ve never told you, but I’ve had feelings for you since the first day you came aboard Enterprise.”

She nodded. “It took place many years ago, but….”

You’re confused?” asked Jonathan. “Yes. In numerous ways. I’ve been planning to

return to Vulcan and begin this ritual for some time…,” she said almost bringing tears to her eyes, for part of her knew she was hurting him. Only if she could tell him that she was only planning on undergoing the ritual just to forget everything about her time with Trip and to prepare herself for the relationship she really wanted to have.

He knew when it probably started. “Since your mother died during the bombing of the Syrrannites’ compound, back when we were in The Forge together?”

“Yes,” she answered him trying to draw strength from him to help her go on.

“I’m sure this funeral has brought up painful memories about her,” said Jonathan trying to comfort her; but no matter what he did, he couldn’t. He wasn’t a Vulcan; maybe if she underwent the Kolinahr Ritual she would feel better and confide in him once more.

“I would hypothesize you do know,” she said. “After all you just admitted you have feelings for me,” she thought. Then out loud she added “you have to know as someone who loves me.”

He sighed. “Yeah.” Giving a sad smile, as he

crossed his legs. “There was a torrential rain the day of Dad’s funeral. But, it didn’t stop everyone from coming.”

T’Pol was silent, and he leaned over. “You’ll get through this.”

“I was wondering about you,” she said. Smirking slightly, he agreed. “We’ll get through

this together, just you and I, as one, I’m always here if you need me T’Pol.”

Dinner wore on and the two talked about everything… old times, his speech and the press’ glowing write-ups, the Federation and how the organization was going to change politics. They talked about Trip, how much he meant to them, including stories regaling exactly how much they cared for the engineer.

And they discussed the future: what would happen to everyone from Enterprise. Phlox had already accepted a position on Earth to lead Starfleet Medical. Hoshi agreed to an assignment to Starfleet Central Command to decipher languages. Reed was drafted by Starfleet Security to assist with tactical procedures, like perfecting his “tactical alert.” Travis was still hedging between running his own cargo ship and accepting an assignment aboard the USS Apollo NX-12. The only future they knew nothing about was theirs or that the whole crew would be given the chance to return to the Enterprise one last time.

Only one thing was for sure, life wasn’t standing still. Everything was moving on, whether Trip died or not.

“It’s 0115,” he said. His eyes apologetically met their waiter’s, who obviously were on the verge of kicking them out.

“I didn’t realize it was so late,” she said, “it seems they met what they said when they said time flies.”

He stood up and set his napkin on the table, long having paid the bill. When his mouth opened to make his exit, she stopped him.

“I have something for you,” she said. “Come upstairs with me.” A little taken aback, he scratched the back of his neck and she reiterated, “Jonathan, come upstairs. I have something for you.”

The two walked in comfortable silence to her room. When they walked in, Archer took it in; it had the same Mission style décor, several cathedral-like candles to light up the room which she had set up the day she got the room and a small meditation nook.

After taking a few minutes to light every single one in the room and unveil a balcony behind a thick layer of tan curtains, she took his arm and led him to the balcony. When they walked out, he looked up at the stars. On Miami Beach, hotel signs were illegal, and the night lit up under the moonless sky, speckled with the constellations and celestial bodies he’d been gazing at since he was a child.

Orion, Cassiopeia, Ursa Major and Minor, Venus,

Mars, and as his eyes scanned the sky, he thought about traveling among them.

“It’s beautiful.” She put a small box into his hand. “You presented

something to me on my promotion. I wanted you to have this when you accept the admiralty.”

“I’m not…,” he said, “I enjoy being a captain, and that’s what I still want to be.” She knew he had to be pulling her leg, it had to be a joke for she remembered the astronomy book he had that he had written the words ‘from the desk of Jonny Archer’. So she said, “I believe you will.” Her eyes focused back on the sky.

He opened the box and withdrew the item: a golden telescope, made probably in the 1800’s, with an expanding lens like the ones he’d seen in old pirate movies while aboard Enterprise. Like an accordion, he brought it out to its fullest length and watched the heavens with a large grin. Then, contracting it to its smallest shape, he looked at her. “This is…. I don’t know what to say.”

“You once told me that one of the reasons you enjoyed being captain was…, you liked to show others the ‘wonders of the universe.’”

“But, being admiral…,” started Jonathan, “I don’t know about being able to do that…”

“As admiral, Jonathan, you would have that opportunity on a daily basis,” said T’Pol in her own

way trying to convince him to except the promotion and become admiral.

“T’Pol…,” he said not knowing how to complete his sentence.

“Change is inevitable. Things cannot… and will not remain constant. You have an obligation to the future, to those who want to explore. I believe you will realize that and accept the position.” Turning her head to face him, she reiterated. “It’s only logical.”

He was quiet. Instead of speaking, he fingered the instrument in his hand.

T’Pol continued; her voice hushed and reflective. “Enterprise’s decommission; Trip’s death…. Change is the only constant in the universe, whether it is hoist upon us or is something we contribute to.”

The blue material in her dress blanketed in darkness, yet her face shone; as it always did.

“Will I see you again?” he asked. She turned back to the balcony and leaned on it,

facing the heavens. “I doubt we will ever lose touch.” “The Kolinahr can take months. Years,” said

Jonathan deep down hoping she would decide against taking it and confide in him as her lover and friend.

“Yes. It has been known to take as many as twenty years,” replied T’Pol. Only she didn’t speak what was now going through her head.

“I know. I know you won’t be able to communicate with anyone during that time,” said Jonathan totally sad. “Yes,” said T’Pol, “I know that.”

“Our life spans…,” started Jonathan, for part of

him thought he’d be dead time she finished the ritual.

“As my friend, you will always be in my thoughts,” said T’Pol. She then added in her thoughts, “and as my lover, you’ll always be in my heart.”

”I’ll miss you, too.” Licking his lips, he admitted to her with a soft chuckle, one meant purely for himself. “I’ll miss you a lot.”

She stared at him and he lowered his head. “Listen, I better…. I have a flight tomorrow,” he

said. “As do I,” she said. “Let me know when you’re on Vulcan before the

ritual,” said Jonathan, “I mean, I… I hope you’ll contact me.”

“Of course I will Jonathan,” said T’Pol, as she thought her final words instead of speaking them, “you’re my lover.”

He nodded. Wondering whether to hug her in a bear embrace, T’Pol held up her hand. “Live long and prosper, Jonathan Archer.”

He returned the gesture. “Peace and long life.” When both lowered their hands, he leaned over

and kissed her cheek. And on righting his posture, he whispered to her. “I’ll talk with you soon.” With those final words said, he broke their embrace and walked out the door towards the stairs and left the hotel to return to his. Meanwhile, T’Pol headed to

her bed and fell into a long dreamful sleep, dreaming of what she hoped would be her possible future.

***** One Year Later Year: 2162

Jonathon stared out of the porthole of his old ready room aboard the decommissioned starship Enterprise NX-01, his crew was right; he had been tapped for admiral and as much as she thought he would accept it, T’Pol had been wrong only she wasn’t there to witness it. He wanted to be alone to sort out the thoughts and emotions that were swelling inside of him, but he wasn’t Enterprise had already started to receive visitors as a museum ship orbiting Utopia Colony inside a new specially designed spacedock orbiting Mars. So many things were going through his head even though he was a happily married man. Or so he thought, only instead of thinking about his wife, his thoughts were on another woman. “Is T’Pol going to be okay? Did she survive the Kolinahr Ritual? Hell, am I going to be okay? I just… damn… I can’t believe this!” He didn’t know why he cared for her so deeply. I mean, yeah, they were friends and he was a married man, a married man that he knew she knew nothing about back on Vulcan. Maybe that was why. Whatever it was, Jonathon didn’t know. He hated this, these

emotions, thoughts, questions that couldn’t be answered, all nagging in the back of his head like a bad toothache.

“Unless… oh no. No, no, no, no, NO! I… I can’t love my first office… science officer… my friend. When did this happen, oh, yeah… on that ‘fateful’ visit to P’Jem, the night they slept beside each other sharing one blanket and then again on the ‘fateful’ day on Coridan when they were kidnapped by terrorists and tied together, the moment he fell on her chest had surely done him in. Look at me, I can’t think like this, what about my wife? Could I be using her just to ignore my feelings for T’Pol? No it can’t be, I wouldn’t do that to her, she’s a good woman, young, but a good woman. A very good woman.”

Jonathan’s thoughts were interrupted with the chirping of his communicator, an immediate return to reality, a reality he wasn’t ready for. He took his communicator out of his uniforms breast pocket and put it to his face and said “Archer.”

From the other ended he heard the familiar voice of Admiral Gardner. “Captain, I got some bad news for you, but part of it isn’t that bad. You need to return to Earth immediately.”

“I’ll take the next transport leaving Utopia Colony,” replied Archer.

“That won’t be until later tonight,” said Gardner, “and this can’t wait. I know you’re aboard Enterprise, you’re always there during your off duty hours, take

one of the shuttle pods in the launch bay, we can have it returned later. You’re needed not though.”

“Understood Admiral, I’ll be on my way. Archer out.” He put his communicator back into his breast pocket, left his old Ready Room and headed towards the turbolift then to the launch bay all the while wondering what could be up that he would be called back to Earth on what was to be his day off. His first day off that he had gotten in almost seven years since the Romulan-Earth War had begun and now a year since it ended. Something was up.

………

Earth Half a Day Later

Captain Jonathan Archer strolled in to Admiral Gardner’s office like there was nothing wrong while at the same time trying to hide the new found feelings he was feeling. Feelings of love for not one but two women, women that met the world to him. One was his wife the other he finally realized he thought of more than a friend. Once again getting this out of his mind he said “Reporting as ordered Admiral” as he strolled into Fleet Admiral William Gardner’s office. Breaking out of his at ease posture and preparing to sit down he added, “what is this about? I have a dinner appoint with Hoshi at Mama Chan’s Restaurant.”

“This will be quick Jonathan, I just need you to sit

down and listen carefully. One of our new Daedalus-class vessels has been destroyed,” answered Admiral Gardner. “It was the USS Rosetta NCC 015, and she was destroyed on a routine resupply mission to Alpha Centauri. Half way there though her warp core malfunctioned, her crew shut it down and continued on course at full impulse. Next thing we knew, a mysterious hip just appeared out of no where and opened fire. Within the span of two minutes, the Rosetta exploded after countless weapons fire hit her from an unknown weapon.”

“What can I do about it?” asked Archer, “I have no ship. Send Captain Hernandez and NX-02 Columbia out to investigate.”

“I would but their about fifty light years away patrolling the Romulan Neutral Zone boarder, I want to know if they had anything to do with this and we can’t find that out with only our unmanned sensor probes and relay stations out there, we need a ship and that ship is the Columbia.” Gardner took a breath and then continued, “I’m ordering you to investigate the situation captain. For this mission, your taking the Enterprise. I’ve already ordered the ship to be ready for her re-launch, as of right now, the Enterprise isn’t decommissioned just try to keep her in one piece though, that ship is still going to be a museum for future generations to learn about your crew and your historic adventures and how you saved Earth and were instrumental in forming this

new alliance. This mission might continue for a few years captain, but its officially off the record… classified.”

“Alright admiral,” replied Archer, “I’ll try to make sure she returns in one piece, but I’m not promising anything. If it was the Romulans, we might just be the target of their next attack. Second though, I want all my original crew, pull them from their other assignments if you have to, and to replace Trip, I want Commander Charles Thomason, Admiral Jake Thomason’s son. If this mission lasts years, I’m alright with that, the Enterprise is a good ship; I’d be the first among my crew to say that. She’s taken so much and has given more than any of us could ask for. As for the classified part of this mission, I think I understand that sir, the Enterprise was the first ever of the warp five starships ever put into service. We don’t want our enemies to know that she’s rejoined the fleet in active service. Its best to make them believe that she’s still a museum ship with that in mind, I’m declaring ‘total war’ on any ship that opens fire on her, they must be destroyed to maintain the charade that she’s still safely orbiting Mars in that spacedock.”

“I already assigned him to the Enterprise as Chief Engineer before I called you back,” said Gardner, “also, your original crew are on their way to Enterprise as we speak. As much as I disagree with the idea of ‘Total War’, it’s the best possible way to protect the Enterprise while she’s out there in this

limited form of service, if she’s destroyed, we just can’t build another one and pass her off as the original for anyone would be able to figure out what happened. That’s part of the reason why this whole mission is classified, it will be as if the mission was never sanctioned by Starfleet Command or the Federation, consider yourself on your own captain, but unofficially, you’ve got all of Starfleet, our ships and the rest of this young Federation of Planets on your side. Therefore, you’re dismissed Captain, and Archer, Godspeed.”

………

Back on Vulcan; T’Pol couldn’t do it, going

through with the Kolinahr Ritual wasn’t what she needed and she knew it. What she needed was someone to tell her that her relationship with Trip was a mistake that it was just an experiment that he alone thought was something more and because of that, he wanted to continue it. So because of her Trellium addiction and her Pa’Nar Syndrome, she was being bombarded with emotions she wasn’t ready for. Emotions she used Trip as an outlet for but now she knew that he was the wrong outlet. She needed a person that would treat her perfectly, she needed a person like Captain Jonathan Archer, but during a years time things change. A change that she wasn’t ready for, for Captain Jonathan Archer found himself with a wife, a woman from Enterprise that

during a mission that brought the Enterprise back into service to stop a ship filled with cybernetic beings from assimilating the Enterprise and all of humanity. That woman, the Captain’s new wife was Ensign Hoshi Sato.

Knowing that Jonathan was married, T’Pol still took the assignment Starfleet’s new assignment. Her position once again was Science Officer/First Officer to the starship Enterprise NX-01. Unbeknownst to her or the rest of the crew, her wish was about to come true because more mysterious aliens were attacking once again, this time throughout all of time.

PROLOGUE-THREE

Year: 2162 Andromeda Galaxy

“There is a new force rising in the universe,”

stated First Prime Naraw, “their species is called ‘human’ and they’re from inside the Milky Way Galaxy from the Sol Sector, commonly known as the Center of the United Federation of Planets…”

“Why do we give a care?” interrupted Gawn. “Because they have Warp Five capable starships

and are also building Warp Seven capable ships as we speak,” answered Naraw, “and in the future they will destroy us. Wait, this is starting to sound familiar, while we were in the future we had this very same discussion but I feel a different outcome about to form. This time we’re going to be able to defend ourselves and wipe out this United Federation of Planets”

“Then it’s time to awaken the rest of the Votality

and strike first while we still have the chance and the element of surprise on our side,” declared President Grawl.

“That’s a mistake, you know that as members of the Votality, we will be forced to strike all generations throughout time of what will be known as this United Federation of Planets,” said Naraw, “and that’s why we’ll lose the war for in the year 2376 a man named Archer will destroy us.”

“Then we’ll have to destroy him first,” decided the Council of the Elite.

With the council’s decision made, the underlings of the elite headed to the fifth planet deep within the Clinar System where the Votality lived and were in a deep slumber underneath the planet’s surface. As their ship of all obsidian metal entered orbit they were bombarded by planetary defense artillery from the surface that was over three thousand five hundred years old with damaged sensors couldn’t tell that one of their ships had entered orbit so it opened fire. Before their ship was destroyed, the twelve crewmembers used their molecular transporter and beamed downed to the surface where they would try to find away to wake the Votality.

On the surface the twelve alien beings found themselves on a world with little vegetation but lots of sand and a water like substance. About fifty-five point seven nine meters away was a mountain with a

cave leading downward into the depths of the planet, that was where they would have to get to the catacombs were the Votality were hibernating.

Walking under the extreme heat of the binary suns made the twelve beings even more tired than their race was used too, only if they gave in and fell asleep because of their biology’s physical structure they would be dead and all hope of saving their race from the Human threat would be gone forever. With that in mind, they continued on. Almost two and a half hours later, the twelve reached the entrance to the catacombs to find it partially blocked by a mysterious glass like structure. They could see the tunnel they had to travel through but they couldn’t penetrate its opening.

The oldest of the twelve alien beings had the only idea how to penetrate the mysterious glass structure so he told the others. “We can turn our hands into spears and ram the structure till we break through.”

“Yea, nice plan,” said one of the other beings, “but we have one problem we all don’t have the same abilities as you gifted by the creator.”

“We all have a special ability,” said another, “we should just combine into one immense being and travel like that.”

The twelve tried the idea and formed a massive giant of obsidian glass only in the form of a humanoid, a humanoid that almost looked like the distant cousin of the Tholians. The immense Tholian like being rammed and slashed at the mysterious

glass barrier, and after a few minutes their combined power destroyed the glass barrier. Once again the immense Tholian like being was starting down the passageway into the bowls of the planet heading straight for the planets mantel heading for the home of the Votality.

The journey to the planets mantel took more than the rest of the day but when the Tholian like being arrived, the twelve beings returned to their separate forms and went do twelve different corners of the immense cavern. From their separate areas the beings used their telepathic thought patterns to communicate with the beings of the Votality waking each one up individually and giving them new orders: “Seek and destroy all beings called humans. Annihilate them and all their allies.”

“Your will is our command,” replied the beings of the Votality as they fled the planet heading to other worlds through a space domain known only as ‘Thought Space’.

*****

Enterprise NX-01 0600 May 10, 2163

Captain Jonathan Archer didn’t want to get up

and other times he did, but today he was dreading. For today was the day he and his bridge officers

would witness a star die, something no human had ever seen happen before. The Enterprise had been orbiting the star Paisley-315 for two days and now she was about to go nova. The death of the star was one thing his Vulcan Science Officer / First Officer Commander T’Pol said would be a marvelous site for the ships sensors to record for further studying because it would be the first G-type star humans would see die since leaving their solar system almost one hundred years earlier with their pre-warp ships that were built after First Contact with the Vulcans on April 2, 2063. That thought didn’t make it any easier on Jonathan, but either way he knew he had to get out of bed, get ready, and head to the bridge so he did just that leaving his wife Ensign Hoshi Sato Archer still asleep peacefully unfazed by his leaving.

On his way towards the turbolift on the deck his quarters were on and while in the lift heading up to the bridge, Captain Archer took that moment of time to record his log that he had been putting off for a few days now. “Captain’s Starlog May 10, 2163, I guess were lucky that Enterprise has been returned to the fleet after being decommissioned two years ago after the founding of the Coalition of Planets, or as it’s already being called, The United Federation of Planets; or should I say when the charter was signed. As of right now, the Enterprise is finally taking a break from searching for this unknown enemy that destroyed the

USS Rosetta NCC 013 a week ago. As of right now, the Enterprise is orbiting the star Paisley-315 which is about to go nova. We’re here to witness this event even though my Science Officer objects to it. She believes that we should still be looking for the culprits who destroyed the Rosetta while I believe the crew deserves a little change of pace, or at least Hoshi does for now. End log.”

As Archer stepped off the turbolift onto the bridge, T’Pol rose from the center chair as he got closer and said, “Everything is operating under normal parameters captain. Also Paisley-315’s diameter has slightly increased a few hours ago. I had Ensign Mayweather adjust our orbit to compensate.”

“Very good commander,” said Archer, “thank you, you may return to your station now.” Commander T’Pol did as she was told reluctantly not saying anything about the fact that she could pick up on Hoshi scent all over the Captain’s uniform. She figured it was normal though, they were married. Then again she didn’t know if it was normal for she wasn’t married to Koss anymore and she wasn’t the one with the Captain.

With the Enterprise orbiting Paisley-315 at less than fifty feet in distance, the tiny ship was already being violently rocked by the plasma blasts from the dying star; that if she didn’t withdraw to a safer distance, surely soon she would be destroyed. On

the bridge that exact thought was going through Commander T’Pol’s head as she looked through her viewer and took a second glance at her readings, seconds later she looked up and said “Captain, I recommend we withdraw to about two-hundred and fifty-five meters of the star and observe its imploding from there.”

“I agree Captain,” said Lieutenant Malcolm Reed at Tactical, “the Hull Plating is already starting to overheat.”

With two of his officers agreeing Captain Archer decided to take their advice as he said “Ensign Mayweather, take us out to a position two hundred and fifty-five meters away from Paisley-315.”

“Aye sir,” replied Ensign Travis Mayweather as he tried to execute the order but it was too late; as a few plasma plumes reached out and grazed the ship bearly missing her nacelles.

All of a sudden as if right on queue the Vulcan vessel T’Mer arrived and tractored Enterprise pulling her to safety just as a second plasma plume took out her impulse manifold and port nacelle.

At her station Ensign Hoshi Sato Archer looked up from her Communications Station and said “Captain, we’re being hailed by the Vulcan ship.”

“Put it on screen,” ordered Captain Archer. On the forward viewer a young male Vulcan

appeared and said “You’re lucky we were in the area Enterprise, I’m Captain Sovik of the Vulcan ship T’Mer.”

“Well Captain, you can release my ship from your

tractor beam and let us go on our way,” said Archer. “No can do,” replied Sovik, “your ship is severely

damaged, I’m towing you back to Vulcan to the shipyards since that’s where we’re heading, there your ship will be repaired and slightly upgraded with the latest scientific technology and weapons. ”

“Ok then Captain,” started Archer, “but first we have to continue our readings on Paisley-315. We’re sending data back to Earth about its destruction for further studying after all, it’s the first star humanity has ever seen die.”

“Understood Captain,” replied Sovik, “we’ll stay until the star has gone completely nova or something else happens to either your ship or the star does something completely unexpected.”

While continuing to gather information on Paisley-315, another plasma plume shot out from the star, dissipated into a less intense beam and continued to shoot out. This time farther than the other sixty beams before it and ended up hitting Enterprise again. This time the stress of the second shock sent tiny fractures through the hull causing minor explosions on the outer rim of the ship. From the bridge Reed reported, “Just minor injuries Captain, they have been taken to Sickbay; but we have sustained multiple hull breaches on decks Three, Five, and Six. They have been sealed off and Damage Control Teams are standing by.”

“Incoming message from the T’Mer Captain,” said

Hoshi, “they say we’re leaving now and there’s no buts about it and our sensor readings be damned, there are plenty of stars we can study as they die, from afar.”

“Whatever,” replied Archer, “helm get ready for the T’Mer to jump to warp with us in tow.”

“Aye, sir,” replied Ensign Mayweather.

FOURTEEN

Vulcan Standard Orbit - Vulcan Earth Embassy

Days later, as Enterprise reached Vulcan still

within the strong grasp of the T’Mer’s tractor beam; the micro-hull fractures from the explosion at Paisley-315 left Archer’s ship virtually disabled and useless. “At least I can go down to the surface to the Vulcan Earth Embassy,” thought Archer to himself as he materialized from the transporter effect outside the embassy. Once he took a short breather to get adjusted to the gravity and the temperature of the Vulcan homeworld, Archer started the long climb up the stairs.

Just as Archer reached the third step out of one hundred, the embassy exploded. Right away he knew that everyone inside the embassy was dead including Starfleet’s Admiral Gardner. With the embassy gone Archer took his communicator out of his uniform pocket, popped it open and said, “Archer to Enterprise.”

“T’Pol here, go ahead Captain,” replied the

female Vulcan Science Officer/ Commander / First Officer.

“Get a Security Team down here right now,” ordered Archer, “the Vulcan Earth Embassy just exploded.”

“Understood Captain,” said T’Pol, “Enterprise out.”

………

One Hour Earlier Vulcan Earth Embassy

“Admiral,” started Ensign Riley, “the Enterprise

under tow by the Vulcan vessel T’Mer will be arriving within the hour.”

“Thanks Ensign,” said Admiral Gardner, “and by the way, how’s the trials of the new warp engine going?”

“Well sir, we’re getting some very strange but Commander Charles Thomason of the starship Enterprise believes they’ll pass,” reported Riley.

“While they better because that engine type is for our newer warp seven vessels,” said the admiral.

Inside Engineering Lab- 2 Commander Thomason didn’t like what he was seeing. All the readings for the new warp engine were in the red. Something was terribly wrong with the new engine especially when it was fifteen minutes from going critical. With

all the help he could possibly get from his team, Thomason couldn’t manually shut down the engine that now had black sparks coming out of it.

As the engine exploded, Thomason thought he saw two things. The first was a being of Light coming out of the engine. The second thing was his dead sister coming to get him. That’s when the plasma flames hit and vaporized him and his fellow engineers.

With that explosion, the Votality claimed its first twelve victims then the next two hundred and fifty were claimed when the rest of the embassy exploded. The war that Starfleet knew nothing about was officially on.

………

Vulcan Earth Embassy – Disaster Site Fifteen Minutes Later

Ambassador Soval walked over to Archer and

said, “Today is a sad day for both our people.” “True, and for my crew too,” said Archer sadly,

“my new Chief Engineer, the one that took Trip’s place when he died, was in there at the source of the explosion.”

“Just know that my people are already searching for those responsible for this destruction and we will bring them to justice,” said Soval.

“Let my crew help then,” said Archer.

“Sorry but you can’t,” said Soval, “Enterprise has

been recalled to Sector 001 and Earth.” “Under who’s orders?” asked Archer. “An Admiral Carson Black”, replied Soval, “and

he’s waiting for Enterprise at the San Francisco shipyards.”

“While then keep me informed,” said Archer. He then took out his communicator and said “Archer to Enterprise, one to beam up.”

“Standby Captain,” said T’Pol, “we had to polarize the hull plating; an unknown alien vessel has entered the system. To tell you the truth, it’s a very ugly ship.”

………

Votality Warship – Grag

First Prime Kolana watched from his command

chair as the strange alien vessel continued to move around Vulcan unaware of their advance into the sector. That was at least until the alien ship completed another orbit around the planet not designated in the Votality’s main computer database.

“The alien vessel is heading this way First Prime,” said Second Millitia Glenara, “it’s in range enough to scan it and to have a visual of the vessel’s name.” He then magnified the ships forward section and read aloud “Enterprise NX-01, and its crew is composed of

seventy-nine humans and two aliens. One is unknown but the other has the same genetic code as the beings on the planet.”

“The vessel is a human ship then,” stated Kolana, “so arm weapons and open fire.”

“The human vessel has fully detected us and the fact that we’ve armed weapons,” said Glenara, “they have done the same, and it should be noted since we’re in a three-hundred year old warship, the Grag would survive to be upgraded to our latest technology if we leave here now.”

“Helmsman Natara, take the Grag out of the system,” ordered Kolana, “Thought Space vector 215.5.”

“Aye, aye First Prime,” replied Natara as she executed her orders turning the Grag completely around and fleeing the human vessel at a speed equivalent to warp eight on normal warp capable starships.

FIFTEEN

Realm of Light Votality Homeworld Andromeda Galaxy Year: 2161

Beings of sparkling matter were drifting

everywhere. These alien beings were not from this universe but instead they were from a parallel universe. A universe made from pockets of Dark Matter near very bright stars. While they existed in that universe near the stars, they had no corporeal body instead they were like vapor clouds with a conscious mind. Only when they were on their homeworld did they become corporeal beings with arms and other limbs.

In this universe, whenever a starship entered orbit around these stars, some of these mysterious alien beings would die a slow painful death. A death their fellow beings could do nothing to prevent.

Each death that occurred among the beings of

light they ended up considering an act of aggression against them so they readied themselves for war, a war they knew they could win because their race was actually god like.

Around the quadrants of the Andromeda Galaxy many alien races were forced to go nomadic because of the Votality. All these alien beings knew that there was life past the Great Barrier for even though no ship had past through it yet from the other galaxy, one of the more advanced alien cultures in Andromeda was able to send a phase cloaked starship through the barrier and do a little exploration. Unfortunately for them, they made first contact with the Klingons in the Beta Quadrant. After managing to escape with their lives, they entered the Delta Quadrant on their way home and encountered the Borg and even though they were never heard from again; they did manage to send a distress call back to their homeworld and warn them of the Borg threat and of the Klingons. The homeworld of the Drewians wasn’t able to send a rescue ship though for they had problems of their own, problems from a new race that called themselves The Votality and they wanted full domination of the whole galaxy and the next ones over.

Not carrying if they over extended their reach throughout all the know quadrants and galaxies, The Votality started to build their massive warships by

taking on corporeal form thus starting off on their venturing into the vast unknown of space, space that for centuries they had been bent on conquering for their own rulers the Totality but before they could, the Totality decided to leave the Alpha Quadrant and relocate to the a more pleasing realm, a realm that was part of the Milky Way Galaxy.

Being left alone, the Votality finally felt that they weren’t being held back by their rulers anymore. So with the Totality gone, the Votality looked towards the stars wondering how they could build starships to explore the stars. Little did they know that underneath their planet’s crust was the primary component, a component that the Totality realized was there and

………

Enterprise NX-01

Captain Jonathan Archer knew something wasn’t

right after all there really was no legitimate reason for his ship to be recalled home. All except the death of an admiral and over two hundred Starfleet officers and Vulcans, there really was no reason for Enterprise to have to return home so Captain Archer decided to contact Starfleet Command and find out exactly why.

From inside his Ready Room, Captain Archer opened a secure communications channel through

echoes one and two right to Starfleet Command straight to Admiral Black and asked “Why do you want Enterprise to come home?”

“I don’t,” answered Admiral Black, “the engineers and designers of your ship at the San Francisco shipyards want to upgrade your ship and install a prototype failsafe protocols sort of like Lieutenant Reed’s Tactical Alert Protocols.”

“Oh great,” said Archer, “more klaxons. We don’t need them yet; we’re going to return to Vulcan to help with the investigation.”

“Alright,” replied Admiral Black, “just keep sending regular progress reports every two hours or as soon as there’s vital information. Starfleet Command out.”

With the channel closed Archer returned to the bridge and said “Mr. Mayweather, change course, take us back to Vulcan, warp four.”

Mayweather plotted the course then said, “Course laid in Captain, we’ll be back at Vulcan in about two hours.”

*****

Votality Homeworld Andromeda Galaxy

Orbiting the third planet in what would appear to

have been a hollowed out moon was berthed the Grag. Umbilical mechanical arms were fastening

metal plating and wing like structures to her hull. The Votality knew it would take days to complete the upgrades to the Grag but when she was ready to depart, the Grag would be a heavily armed and shield vessel, the first of her class.

With the plans for the Destroyer-class in hand First Prime Kolana went to see President Grawl. She knew that on the planet First Prime Naraw had informed Grawl that Kolana wanted to see him, the only question floating through her mind was “would he see me after I killed our son because of defects? Then again if he tries, I guess I’m lucky our laws will allow me to kill him.”

President Grawl wasn’t really glad that his ex-mate wanted to see him; of course he knew it was about her ship and its upgrades. “She better like those upgrades,” he thought, “because if she doesn’t I will really enjoy killing her and hanging her corpse for all to see when they walk into this office.”

His office door’s chime going off brought him back to reality. He tapped a button and watched as Kolana seemed to glide through the doorway without touching the ground until she reached his desk. Once in front of his desk, she pulled a data padd from her tunic and handed it to him. After Grawl pushed the activation switch on the padd, it exploded taking his arms and head with it.

Seeing that her mission was complete Kolana declared herself president of the Votality and returned to her Flagship to have her own upgrades

added to it. The Grawl was about o be transformed from a tiny warship to a massive Juggernaut-class ship with multi-transphasic shielding and ablative weaponry. “To destroy the human threat,” she told her crew and subjects, “all I will need is this one ship and an army that at the moment is asleep deep inside the Taurus Reach at the Jinoteur System, who will help wake the Shedai earlier than their planned awakening?”

All her crew and subjects kneeled before her and in unison shouted “We will.”

“Then lets mobilize the biggest fleet the likes of the Andromeda Galaxy has never seen,” replied President Kolana “and head deep into the Sol System towards the Taurus Reach and the Jinoteur System and wake them. Then we will use them to help eliminate the human threat once and for all.”

*****

Shedai Homeworld- The First World Jinoteur System, Taurus Reach

The god like beings of the Shedai were asleep,

only it was more like a deep hibernation, the century of their planned return was still decades away. Only the Wanderer remained awake yet she to would too be in a form of sleep, half watching the stars for intruders and half hibernating like her people. She was in this state when the Telinaruul vessel entered

the system. She could tell right away that it was on course for the fourth world, their planet, home to the First Conduit.

To protect the First World the Wanderer entered Thought Space and projected herself to the orbiting moon that housed a weapon of immense power, a weapon that she could use to attack the unidentified Telinaruul vessel. Projecting her thoughts ahead of her to the weapon it began a massive power buildup that it would have to cycle through each time she wanted it to fire. Usually all the weapon needed was one shot to obliterate an enemy vessel but that was almost one-thousand-five hundred years ago, now the Wanderer didn’t know if the weapon would be that powerful. Only time would tell and that time was quickly approaching for the Telinaruul vessel was gaining on the fourth planet quickly.

Once the weapon was fully charged it automatically targeted and fired at the Telinaruul vessel only they kept advancing with no damage to their hull at all. All the Wanderer could she was a sparkle of light as the immense energy beam hit the Telinaruul vessel’s shields. The Wanderer knew she had to give it one more try to destroy the Telinaruul once and for all or she would have to do it a different way, a way that would mean she would have to board the Telinaruul vessel and use her sword like appendages on her arms and massacre the crew.

With the weapon fully charged again, the Wanderer ordered it to fire only this time it had the

same effect on the Telinaruul vessel’s shields except only this time as the Telinaruul vessel’s forward shields began to collapse, the vessel fired a volley of torpedoes at the surface damaging the weapon but luckily not destroying it, only looking at it the Wanderer knew that it would be useless for a couple of days until its repairing apparatuses fully repaired it. “While then,” she thought, “I’ll have to do this the hard way.” So she projected herself into Thought Space and boarded the Telinaruul vessel.

What the Wanderer found aboard the vessel shocked her, she was among beings of her own people, or at least they were close resemblance to a group of her people, the Kollotuul meaning “The Voice” in her language. The Kollotuul aboard this ship weren’t really of her race though, they weren’t Shedai but they did hold a genetic connection to the Shedai. What the Wanderer was seeing was a crew of Tholians, or in her language, the Kollotaan meaning “new voices”.

The Tholians hated the Shedai, they considered the Taurus Reach to be taboo, a place they weren’t supposed to be, that was because the unspeakable had happened to their race decades ago, they were slaves to the Shedai and they were used to further the power of the massive First Conduit and the weaponry it supported. Of all places this is where they were not to be. Only this time, the crew of the Vola’Tholiana had a mission to do. They were ordered by the Ruling Conclave to destroy a ship that

they detected heading towards the fourth planet in the Jinoteur System, the home of the Shedai and under no circumstances did the Tholians want their once feared oppressors to wake up and reclaim what was once theirs.

Thinking the beings on the Telinaruul vessel were really the Kollotuul, the Wanderer returned to the surface of the fourth planet to resume watching for intruders to the domain of the Shedai. So the Kollotaans, or Tholians as they had everyone call them because they didn’t want to remember their oppression by the evil god like Shedai, continued on their mission towards the fourth planet and entered orbit around its second moon so the ship they were ordered to destroy entered the system. Once in orbit, the Tholians used their telepathic link called “thoughtwave” to establish communications with the “Lattice”.

Within minutes the Tholians had a response from the Lattice, their orders weren’t changed but the tone of the demand had changed. Yet again the Tholians aboard the Vola’Tholiana had a mission that was about to be asked of them, one that normally brought about the death of the Tholians that were brave enough to undertake it. Usually though, they never had a choice, they had to answer to the Ruling Conclave or die, that was the way of their people. within seconds their new orders arrived and felt as if they were cold as ice when they touched their minds. “Under no circumstances are the Shedai

allowed to reawaken. Is that clear, if you allow them to awaken, you and your crew will be executed. The Shedai Sector must remain clear of any interlopers.”

“Understood,” replied Cluga [the Bronze] of the Tholian Assembly through the thoughtwave link he had managed to establish with the ruling conclave back on his homeworld of Tholia, “the Shedai Sector will remain as is, my crew and I will see to that until our deaths.”

“See that you do,” replied the Ruling Conclave through their Thoughtwave link, “that is all.”

SIXTEEN

USS Enterprise NCC 1701-E & Deep Space Nine Alpha Quadrant, Bajoran Sector Year: 2376

Captain Benjamin Sisko was on the holodeck with his teenage son Jack when his combadge chirped. From Ops Lieutenant Commander Ezri Dax said “Sorry to disturb you Captain, but the Enterprise is requesting permission to dock.”

“Ok they’re cleared for docking at pylon four,” replied Sisko, “I’m on my way to Ops.”

“Understood,” replied Dax, “Ops out.” On the holodeck Sisko turned to his son and said,

“Sorry Jake, we’re going to have to cut this short, I’ll see you later to night in our quarters, and I don’t want you trying to hang out with Nog. Is that clear?”

“Yes father,” replied Jake, “anyways thanks to Nog being an ensign and not a civilian anymore, there’s never any time to hang out with him anyways.”

“Exactly,” said Sisko, “that’s why he was assigned to DS9.”

When Sisko stepped onto the Ops deck, Dax

walked up to him and said “Commander Worf aboard the Defiant in the Gamma Quadrant reports that they have come across a damaged Jem’Hadar warship and it appears their warp core has breached.”

“Contact Captain Picard and the Enterprise, tell them to cancel their docking procedures,” ordered Sisko, “then let them know to enter the wormhole and investigate the situation with the Jem’Hadar. After you close the channel with the Enterprise, contact the Defiant and order them to return to the station and to dock at pylon one.”

“Aye Captain,” replied Dax as she headed back to her station and executed her orders.

………

Once Dax gave Captain Picard his orders, Picard

left his Ready Room and took the short trip to the bridge. Before he sat down though, he gave his orders. “Helmsman, set a course for the wormhole, take the ship into the Gamma Quadrant.”

Once the Enterprise exited the wormhole her long range sensors detected the Defiant and the damaged Jem’Hadar warship only they were still an hour away from the older Starfleet vessel.

When the Enterprise arrived an hour later, the Jem’Hadar noticed the two Starfleet vessels, the Jem’Hadar soldiers aboard the damaged warship

thought that the United Federation of Planets had attacked them in turn breaking the treaty with the Dominion. So they acted under that thought and opened fire on the Enterprise and the Defiant.

Within twenty-five minutes, the already damaged Jem’Hadar warship was even more damaged, this time without shields and weapons and her gravitational and lateral thrusters were down. Without her thrusters, the warship started tumbling out of control towards the Defiant. As the warship hit the Defiant’s shields, it exploded obliterating the Starfleet vessel’s shields. With the Jem’Hadar vessel gone, the now damaged Defiant and Enterprise set a course for the wormhole and DS9.

………

All over the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Quadrants

starships were being destroyed. Each time the explosions began in the Engineering Section of the ship right at the warp core when bright light shone from them. Even the Romulan warbirds powered by micro-singularities were infected. Interstellar trade and exploration was being infected everywhere on every alien world.

*****

Realm of Light 2376

“Our first few attacks have been successful,”

stated Naraw, “we even destroyed a human vessel by bringing the warp core of another alien vessel to critical mass. We may have destroyed an innocent bystander or another alley of the humans by doing so, so I would say it’s a win, win situation.”

“We knew we’d be successful Naraw especially when it was your plan replied President Kolana.

“Then we’ll continue these mighty attacks on these strange organic beings called humans,” said Second Prime Slen, “and we’ll still be successful because we are god like.”

“An armada has already been prepared and is about to be launched in about two hours,” stated Kimara, “it will be heading to what the humans and their allies call Deep Space Nine in the year 2376 to take control of the station and the wormhole.”

“Then from there we can stage our attack on the United Federation of Planets and all her alleys along with all other inhabitants of the Alpha Quadrant and linear space.”

*****

USS Enterprise NCC 1701 Year: 2266 Deep Space

Captain Ja’meS Tiberius Kirk sat on the edge of his

command chair aboard the USS Enterprise NCC 1701 in a tense moment; one that truthfully he wasn’t ready to face, one that no one was really ever ready to face. On the forward viewer was a massive planet hat only moments earlier had over fifty forms of sentient life, life that he and the Captain of the USS Marika NCC- 1694 had no choice but to annihilate to save both ships from some sort of mysterious beam that was being shot at them from the planet’s surface. With the mysterious beam weapon destroyed thanks to Kirk’s executive decision both ships were saved from total destruction but the planet’s surface had been glassed.

Still looking at the carnage he had cost on the view screen Kirk gave his next orders with his head down. “Mr. Sulu, set a course for Starbase 347, maximum warp.”

“Course plotted and laid in sir,” replied Sulu. “Engage,” said Kirk. He then turned to Spock and

said “I’ll be in my quarters, you have the bridge.” When Kirk entered his quarters he went to his

computer terminal, opened secure channel to Commodore Decker and said, “For defense purposes and to save both my ship and the Marika, I’ve initiated and carried out General Order 24 on Telnar VI. It has been “Glassed”, I’m afraid as you would know because of that, there is no more life and the planet is uninhabitable; I had to make a quick decision and turning the planet into a twirling ball of

radioactive and volcanic glass seemed to be the only plausible action and my Science Officer agreed .”

“Don’t think that because Spock thought it was the plausible action that it was the right one Captain,” started Decker, “but we’re at war with some unknown alien race and sometimes the ethics of glassing a planet or not have to be thrown out the window; so you’ve taken the right action. Now we at Starfleet Command here at Jupiter Station have decided we have no choice but to take this war to the time the aliens really started it, that way we can end it sooner than history has had it written, you’re going to lead a fleet into the past to the year 2163 to put us on the offensive only since that’s the year the Federation was founded, you’re to stay away from and not make contact with earlier Earth vessels including the Enterprise NX-01. Your new fleet of one hundred ships will rendezvous at Starbase 47 or as you already know since you’ve been there recently, Vanguard.”

“Understood Commodore,” replied Kirk, “I’ll re-contact you from Vanguard or I’ll have Commodore Reyes contact you for me; Kirk out.”

Knowing he couldn’t feel sorry for himself about wiping out an entire planet and its ecosystem, Kirk decided to return to the bridge and retake command from Spock, so he exited his quarters and headed for the turbolift. Once inside the turbolift he said “bridge” and the turbo car began to move up the turboshaft towards the bridge where it opened and

deposited Kirk. After exiting the lift Kirk headed towards his command chair. As he got to the center of the bridge, he said “Sulu, change course again and take us to the Taurus Reach and Vanguard.”

“But sir,” started Sulu, “we’re expected at Starbase 347 in the next three hours, can I ask why the course change?”

“Just change course,” replied Kirk, “anyways that information is classified.”

Hours Later Kirk’s Quarters

Kirk like always shared everything with Spock,

McCoy, and Scotty and anyways they deserved to know what was going on and because they had security clearance he invited them to his quarters after the shift ended to tell them everything. When the three men entered Kirk’s quarters, he handed McCoy and Scotty a cup full of scotch and Spock a tea cup of Vulcan green tea, and then pointed to the couch saying, “sit.”

Once everyone was settled down Scotty asked “What the bloody hell is going on Captain, why are we going back to Vanguard? The last time we were there, the Tholians ambushed and destroyed the USS Endeavour.”

“I remember,” replied Kirk. He then continued by saying “Do you remember the Taurus Meta-

genome? It has a connection with what we are facing now.”

“I remember it had something to do with the Shedai,” replied McCoy, “but I also remember we were sworn to secrecy about that whole matter.”

“Exactly,” said Kirk, “but even with the Jinoteur System destroyed, the Shedai are still out here, and not just in the Taurus Reach anymore it would seem. Someone or something has helped them get this far out and that power is responsible for this war that we can’t win. So the brutes at Starfleet Command have decided to take the fight to where it started, in to the year 2163 and the point of time travel will happen at Vanguard. On one final note with that, Enterprise will be leading one hundred ships into the past.”

“This is crazy,” said Scotty, “what about the Temporal Prime Directive, or does it not apply anymore?

“It does still apply,” answered Kirk, “we’re not to make contact with any Starfleet vessels from that time unless they contact us, then we are not allowed to let them come aboard our ship or give them any information than they already know.”

“Alright, so let me see if I got this right,” started McCoy, “we’re going into the past, but the ships with us and us cannot contact say the earlier Enterprise.”

“Exactly,” replied Kirk, “we’re leaving Vanguard in two weeks to do a slingshot maneuver into the past to find a good staging ground out of early ships’

sensor range, and then we’re to return to Vanguard and lead the fleet to that area.”

“Understood Captain,” said Spock, “and the orders do seem logical in the light of the new intelligence information we’ve received.”

SEVENTEEN

Enterprise NX-01 2163

Ensign Hoshi Sato Archer was in the quarters that

she shared with her husband Captain Jonathan Archer when the Red Alert went off. Two seconds later Jonathan’s voice came over the intercom saying “All hands report to stations.”

Hoshi went to the intercom in her quarters tapped it and said, “Ensign Archer to bridge.”

“Go ahead Hoshi,” replied Jonathan as he thought out his next orders.

“What’s going on up there?” she asked. “Three Klingon ships have dropped out of warp

and are on an intercept course for us,” answered Archer, “and Reed reports that their weapons are armed and ready.”

“I’ll be up in a second,” said Hoshi and closed the com channel. As Hoshi continued to get ready for her duty shift, she kept wondering “Why are the Klingons coming at us after all these years? There

haven’t been any hostilities with the empire for almost nearly a year.”

As soon as Hoshi had her uniform top on, she ran out of her quarters towards the turbolift. Just as she reached the lift, the Klingon ships began barraging Enterprise with disrupter fire.

………

On the bridge of the Enterprise, Captain Archer

orders to his Tactical Officer, Lieutenant Reed, “Target their forward disrupter cannons and torpedo bays. Fire when ready.”

As Reed pushed the button to fire the Enterprise’s three phase cannons, the turbolift doors opened and Hoshi stepped out and headed to her communications station. As the Japanese officer born in 2159 in Kyoto Japan walked towards her station Archer walked over to her and said, “You didn’t have to hurry to get here honey; your shift doesn’t official start until half an hour.”

“While you did call everyone to their stations,” replied Hoshi whispering in his ear so the rest of the bridge officers wouldn’t hear, “I don’t want any special treatment because I’m your wife Captain.”

“Alright,” said Jonathan, “then get to your station and get to work ensign, I want to know if those Klingons out there are receiving orders from Qo’noS or are in communiqué with someone.”

“Aye Captain,” replied Hoshi as she sat down in

front of her station. While Archer was just starting to talk to Hoshi,

the Enterprise’s port nacelle was hit by disrupter fire but managed not to explode even though the hull plating had somehow almost been depleted.

“Hull plating on the port nacelle is holding at ten percent Captain,” said Reed but he didn’t hear it, but he sure felt it; for he stopped talking to Hoshi for s split second and said “Report.”

“The port nacelle has been damaged, hull plating holding at ten percent,” repeated Reed, “we can’t take another hit like that.”

“Travis, evasive maneuvers,” ordered Archer, “keep our nacelles out of the Klingons’ crosshairs. “

Jonathan knew his ship was going to need a miracle to survive and on the forward viewscreen he saw it, a big planetary system was less that a second away. Knowing the Klingons would have a hard time maneuvering in there he gave the one order he figured would be the best. “Travis, set a course for that planetary system, bring us into the second asteroid field.”

Instead of saying “Aye sir”, Travis just decided to execute his newest orders, a fact that Archer was just slightly shocked to see the young helmsman do as he noticed the planetary system starting to get bigger on the viewer. As the Enterprise continued to get closer to the asteroid fields, Archer could see that they were going to be a tight fit but the Klingons

would have a harder time maneuvering than Travis would so he decided they should take the offensive so he said, “Mayweather, prepare to do an L-4 maneuver put us behind the three Klingon ships. Reed, I have a feeling that their heavier shielding is in front, so as soon as we’re behind them, fire a volley of torpedoes at their aft sections, hopefully that will rid us of these pests, if not; fire at their sterns.”

“Gladly Captain,” replied Reed wanting to take the Klingons on. “Now let them make their move,” he thought to himself as he quickly aligned the targeting scanners.

………

Klingon Battle Cruiser Jotara

As the Earth vessel came about and did a strange

unpredictable maneuver the Weapon’s Officer of the Imperial Klingon Ship Jotara had a perfect lock on the tiny circular section of the Earth vessel’s aft side between her twin warp nacelles; only as he was about to push the button to fire the ships main disrupters the Earth vessel veered upward and out of his weapons range. He could tell he wasn’t alone in his anger as he looked around him, he saw the other Klingon warriors slam their fists down on their consoles. In the center of the bridge, the Captain

with his hands reaching for his Jo’Kaga dagger said “where are those joku?”

He went to his Sensory Officer and put his dagger at the warrior manning the station’s throat and demanded “FIND THEM NOW”.

“I’m trying,” replied the Sensory Officer, “but they just seem to have vanished.”

“GET THEM BACK NOW,” demanded the Captain, “or I’ll feed you to my Targ for dinner, and the crew will feast on your entrails along with a bowl of Gagh tonight.”

The Sensory Officer reeked at that thought and got back to his duty just giving a little growl and whispering under his breath as he thought about how to get his revenge on his no good commanding officer and assume command of the Jotara, “Ohhhrag.”

Minutes later his station went beeping as every single warning light went off. “What in Stovokor is that?” demanded to know the Captain, and then he corrected himself and said, “better yet, what in Gre’thor is that?”

“The Earth vessel,” replied the Sensory Officer, “she’s right behind us and firing at our weakened shields, shields that you ordered to be added to the front so their only holding at ten percent.”

Just then the phase cannon blast and torpedo volley hit the weakened shields and past right through them hitting their mark on the vulnerable hull of the IKS Jotara. Seconds later explosions

rippled through the ship as she broke apart into a massive fireball and field of debris.

………

Enterprise NX-01

As soon as Mayweather completed the L-4

maneuver and the Enterprise was directly behind the Klingon battle cruiser Reed did what he had been wanting to do and pushed the firing button and watched on the main view screen as the phase cannon blasts and torpedo volley hit and passed through the battle cruiser’s shields followed by a very quick explosion. With the first Klingon cruiser gone, Reed targeted and quickly fired on the next closed of the three ships before they could realign their shields to the aft section and charge their aft weapon ports. The only problem was the firing button was jammed, and what had to be done couldn’t be done from the bridge with the main firing controls, he would have to go to the armory. So he said, “Captain, the firing part of the Tactical System is fried, I’ll have to take care of the other two ships manually from the Armory. I suggested when I send the command you order Travis to do another L-4 and put us back in front of them because their realigning their shields so their stronger in back again.” With that said Reed left the bridge.

Inside the Armory Reed had no choice he had to

have the on duty Armory Officers do different tasks to make what he needed to do go even faster. So he said, “Ensign Clark, align the manual targeting scanners for a barrage of both phase cannon fire and torpedoes at the same time. Dyson, load torpedo tubes one, three, and five and put tubes two and four on standby. Carpenter, help me get the tactical system ready for manual fire, we have less than five minutes to get this done, mark and move.”

Under two and a half minutes, Reed and his men had completed their task, and now they could only pray that fate favored them and their jury-rigged firing system would work. Knowing that time was up, Reed went to the communications port on the wall tapped it and said, “Bridge, NOW.”

With that command Travis didn’t need any other order from the Captain, for once again he brought the Enterprise into an L-4 doing a half circle around the tops of the Klingon cruisers putting the Enterprise right in front of them again. Archer hit the comm. panel on his chair and said, “Armory, NOW.”

A two second delay occurred then on the forward view screen Archer saw the familiar form of his ship’s phase cannon beams leaving their ports along with torpedoes close behind finding their mark on both Klingon ships, hitting what he could only hope was their bridges. As the phase cannon beams ripped a hole through the Klingon shields, the torpedoes followed suit and went through the newly

created hole finding their mark on the cruisers’ hulls. As the explosion happened, Archer had to slightly shield his eyes to protect them from the big bright fireball formed from the combination of both ships being destroyed at the same time, only one exploded on its own without any help from Enterprise thanks to a problem inside the ship.

………

Qo’noS Klingon Council Chambers, Qam-Chee, the First City

In the palace once occupied by Kahless the

Unforgettable, the founder of the Klingon Empire and its first Emperor, the Klingon Chancellor and the High Council sat waiting for the messenger to come. It had been days since they sent covert battle cruiser groups out each consisting of three ships; the main ship was the battle cruiser with two escort ships. The one ship he and the council really wanted to know about was the IKS Jotara for that ship had a few council members on it working in the field gathering intelligence on the newly formed Federation and the location of Captain Jonathan Archer for the Empire still wanted his head for all the crimes he had committed against their massive empire.

Before the messenger could arrive, the council chamber’s view screen activated with the face of Commander Kirag appearing in what seemed it was

about to turn into a distress call. Remembering the face quickly the Chancellor remembered that he was the Commander of the IKS I’Raga, one of the Jotara’s escort ships. “Report Kirag,” ordered the Chancellor.

“We’ve found the Earth vessel,” replied Kirag, “we’ve….”

“Tell me you’ve destroyed her,” said the Chancellor, “scan the wreckage and bring us the body of her Captain.”

“Not exactly Chancellor,” replied Kirag, “in fact this is a plea for assistance, the Jotara has been destroyed, the Earth vessels is using some strange maneuver putting themselves in back of us then firing at our weakened shields. After one of our ships explodes they repeat the maneuver and do the same thing.” Just then a volley of torpedoes past through the IKS I’Raga’s shields and the Chancellor and Council Members watched in horror as the I’Raga exploded turning the transmission to nothing but static on the screen.

“That’s it,” said the Chancellor as he slammed his fist onto the table in front of him, “order the escort ship IKS Karaga to destroy the Earth vessel then to have the crew self-destruct the ship. Or if their already destroyed, then we’re mobilizing a fleet here and were taking the Enterprise and Earth by force, but either way, we’re taking Earth.”

From the Council Chambers the Klingon at the interspace communications port tried to open a channel to the Karaga but every channel and

frequency she tried didn’t work. Continuing by trying to contact other Imperial Warships she could tell that the channels were working and that the two-way communications were loud and clear. She turned towards the Chancellor and said “I cannot raise the Karaga; my best estimated guess is that the Earth vessel has destroyed her.”

“That dammed Earth vessel,” screamed the Chancellor, “that would mean that the Enterprise as the humans call her is actually either more powerful than our initial encounters have shown or she’s been upgraded for some reason. The question is why she is still in service, they were going to decommission and mothball her right after the charter was signed that formed that dam United Federation of Planets.”

“Unknown Chancellor,” replied the Klingon female, “but I have recalled a few battle cruisers and more escort ships and am starting to mobilize a fleet to take Earth and destroy the human homeworld.”

“I don’t want Earth destroyed,” started the Chancellor, “I want it occupied by our best warriors. Is that understood, and as for the Enterprise, capturing her and adding her to our armada would be great. Qapla!”

With that said the Chancellor put an end to the council’s meeting and said, “I’ll be in my chambers, have my Gagh, sent to me at in about ten minutes or so.”

“Aye Chancellor,” replied his aid. She then turned

and left the council chambers with the others of the warrior caste.

………

IKS Jokara & IKS Jota Klingon – Federation Boarder

“Sensors have picked up some sort of vessel

traveling on a perfect parallel course with the boarder,” said Sensory Officer Kraal of the IKS Jokara, “the Jota has detected it to and reports that the vessel is not an Earth vessel.”

“Then what in Gre’thor is it?” asked Commander Turagus.

“Don’t know,” replied Kraal, “but we have visual contact.”

“Put it on screen,” ordered Turagus, as the new ship appeared on the viewer in front of him. After a second of staring at the strange vessel he said “what ever it is, it’s as ugly as my mother, plus it looks to be organic.”

All of a sudden, strange pitches like sound emanated from the communications station. Second Officer Heran looked up from his station and said, “I think the alien ship is hailing us.”

“Put it up on audio,” Turagus replied. Three point seven six seconds later a voice was heard over audio clerking and crackling.”

“Trying to translate and compensate now,” said

Heran as he worked a few buttons on his consol. Five minutes later he said, “We have a translation, and the aliens aboard that ship call themselves the Sernaix.”

“Sernaix?” asked Turagus, “never heard of them.” He looked towards Heran and asked “is two-way communications open?”

“Affirmative Commander,” replied Heran. Turagus lifted himself out of his command chair

and stood in the center of the bridge and started to speak. “Sernaix vessel, this Commander Turagus of the Imperial Klingon Battle Cruiser Jokara, you are traveling a long a restricted area of space. Stand down and prepare to be boarded. If you resist you will be destroyed.”

“Their replying,” replied Heran, “and I think something is wrong with that ship out there, it seems to be out of phase with this reality. Tactical is even picking up something they think resembles tachyon particles, if I had to guess they’re from the future.”

“Jokara, we are the Sernaix warship Po’to’shia and we are servants to the Votality, you are to be destroyed. You are no match for this warship; we have multi-phasic shielding, ablative armor, Energized Tachyon Pulse Cannons, Phased Energy Beams, and Polyphasic Disintegration Torpedoes. SURRENDER!!”

“We are Klingons,” replied Turagus, “and

KLINGONS NEVER SURRENDER! Prepare for battle.” With the Sernaix now knew the Klingons wouldn’t

surrender, they knew that they had no choice but to destroy the Klingons and their very weak looking ships. So the Sernaix Commander turned to his First Lieutenant and gave his primary attack order. “First target the lead Klingon ship with our Energized Tachyon Pulse Cannons, after a shot volley from them, switch to our Polyphasic Disintegration Torpedoes and show them whose boss.”

Aboard the IKS Jokara, the crew could feel the ship rock violently and veer downward and to the side as the artificial gravity tried to compensate. Through the screaming and roaring of the ship her engineers knew she couldn’t hold, for some reason her hull’s pressure was rising as its structural integrity dropped like a rock. “It has to be those torpedoes,” said the Tactical Officer as an alarm sounded signaling a hull breach on the lower decks.

Below decks in the long neck like structure of the ship a Polyphasic Disintegration Torpedo hit and passed right through the shields as if they didn’t exist then right through the hull and right out the other side of the ship cutting the forward half of the ship from the aft half. At that major breach an explosion began that headed in the direction of the bridge while at the same time headed straight for the warp core.

On the bridge of the IKS Jota, the crew watched

as their comrade ship was being battered every which way in space. They watched as their weapons had no effects on the Sernaix warship and came so the bridge officers came up with the most dishonorable and worst thing a Klingon warrior could ever do, they decided to flee from the scene of battle and return to Qo’noS to alert the empire to the existence of this powerful new threat and face their dishonor with courage.

Aboard the IKS Jokara, the crew watched as the IKS Jota stopped firing on the Sernaix vessel and warped out of the system and the scene of battle. The would be the last time they would ever see the Jota for as soon as the Jota fled the IKS Jokara took three more direct hits from the Polyphasic Disintegration Torpedoes to her bridge, her neck like structure and her engineering hull only this time the neck like structure snapped off the ship as the rest of their vessel exploded. As the IKS Jokara met its doom, the Sernaix warship sent an encrypted computer signal to the Klingon vessels main computer and downloaded the entire Klingon Database within seconds. With that information now in their database, the Sernaix knew the location of every single Klingon vessel and exactly where to find Qo’noS, so the Sernaix Commander made the most important decision of his career, “Set a course for Qo’noS, we’re going to erase that planet off the

starcharts. TODAY IS A GREAT DAY FOR THE KLINGON EMPIRE TO DIE”

………

Enterprise NX-01 and the IKS Karaga

There was finally only one Klingon battle cruiser

remaining, Enterprise under Reed’s export firing was able to destroy the other two, but now this one had witnessed the tactics that destroyed its other two companion ships and now this one was determined to stop Enterprise at all costs. For that would be the honorable thing for them to do, to avenge their comrades’ deaths, so the decision was made to engage Enterprise as recklessly as possible so the humans wouldn’t get lucky and manage to pull off another one of those mysterious maneuvers that both the IKS Jotara and the IKS I’Raga had fallen victim to, except this time the Klingons noticed something different coming from their ship just as Enterprise phase cannon blast disabled them.

From her science station, Sub-Commander T’Pol detected the problem that the Klingons were having only she knew what it was and she spoke up. “Captain, I’m detecting an overload in the Klingon cruiser’s warp reactor.”

Before Archer could even speak Reed said “It wasn’t me sir, I didn’t target their reactor.”

“I wasn’t going…” started Archer but he was

interrupted when the last of the three Klingon warships exploded. As the shockwave from the explosion reached the Enterprise, Ensign Mayweather pivoted the ship in space and set the only course he quickly could think of, a course for Earth.

As the Enterprise headed to Earth at warp two point five Hoshi’s communications station without warning lit up like a Christmas tree. After reviewing the information that she had that was quickly coming over her station, she turned to her husband and said “We’ve been boarded on decks C, D, and E. The Bio-signature is Klingon and they must have transported aboard just before their ship was destroyed.”

Archer turned to Reed and ordered “Send a Security Team and some MACOs to detain them. Put them into the brig even if you have to put more than two per each holding cell. We have to complete our mission.”

“But sir,” started Reed then stopped thinking out his next words carefully so he wouldn’t be Court Marshaled, “the brig was only designed for two prisoners.”

“Alright, then if you need too, lock them up in crew quarters under guard,” replied Archer.

“Understood Captain,” said Reed as he headed to the turbolift.

………

On C-Deck a team of MACOS were fighting a group of Klingon warriors trying to fight their way to what seemed to be the Communications Lab; just maybe to send a message to their homeworld saying they captured Enterprise. Each Klingon warrior was wearing full body armor and at their sides were their Joka Daggers. In their hands each Klingon held a fully charged disrupter making them a formidable opponent in both a firefight and in hand to hand combat.

Corporal Amada Cole and he MACOS unit found themselves over whelmed by the soupier Klingon Warriors. Realizing this Cole ordered her unit to fall back to the turbolift. Meanwhile from the other end of the corridor, Reed and his Security Detail made their way towards the unsuspecting Klingons.

As the three groups converged at the turbolift, a fierce firefight escalated. After the brief but fierce firefight ended, all the Klingons lay stunned on the deck. Among the casualties of the fight was Corporal Amanda Cole, dead with a Joka Dagger through her heart.

Once all the Klingons were captured and they were placed in the brig and the rest were locked in crew quarters under heavy guard in the unused quarters on D-Deck Section 3 Junction 2. While the Klingons were being secured Captain Archer headed to Sickbay to get Doctor Phlox’s report. “We have

ten injuries and besides Corporal Cole we have two other fatalities.” They’re Ensign Mark Mitchell and Commander Thomas Triton.”

“They both led Security Details on Decks D & E,” said Archer sadly, “they were good officers and they didn’t deserve to die but lately we’ve lost too many great people to the Xindi and the Romulans. I don’t think its ever going to end, there is always going to be some alien culture that wants to kill us, because just beyond the next planet, just beyond the next star there’s going to be something miraculous but at the same time those planets, those new worlds there’s always going to be some precious little life forms out there.”

“I agree Captain,” replied Doctor Phlox, “but all life forms are precious.”

“That they are doctor,” said Archer as he turned and left sickbay all the while angry and confused, as he passed through the doors, he repeated what he had told Phlox during their discussion about life forms, “That they are.”

………

USS Enterprise NCC 1701 & Starbase 47 A.K.A Vanguard

“Commodore, I’m picking up a Constitution-class

starship entering the system,” said Commander Jon

Cooper, “it’s the Enterprise and she’ll be here within the hour.”

“Notify me when she arrives, I’ll be in my quarters,” said Commodore Diega Reyes, “You have Ops, Cooper.”

As Enterprise traveled through the Taurus Reach her sensors were on heightened alert set to the Shedai signal scanning for not just the Shedai but for any active conduits on their route to Vanguard.”

“Got something,” shouted Spock from the Science Station, “a Shedai signal on course zero one mark three seven one, about two point three light years away.”

“Uhura, send an encrypted transmission to Vanguard,” ordered Kirk, “tell them we’ve picked up a Shedai signal and are going to investigate. Sulu, set a course for zero one mark three seven one.”

“Course plotted and laid in sir,” replied Sulu. “Engage,” ordered Kirk as his ship jumped to warp

under Sulu’s guidance. Transversing between charted and uncharted

sections of the Taurus Reach the Enterprise made her way to what the Shedai called the Second Sector. The Second Sector was where many of the Shedai that were loyal to the Maker were massing their forces to attack the forces of the Apostate. Even though the Apostate was no more since destroying the Jinoteur System, his loyal Shedai followers were still around to continue the fight, and they wanted full control of the Shedai and to destroy the Maker

but if any Shedai touched the Maker, they would immediately be unmade. This all Shedai knew so they knew that they had to get something else to do just that, but with the Apostate dead no one in the Shedai Resistance could choose.

Continuing on course for the source of the Shedai signal, the Enterprise’s recalibrated sensors all of a sudden lost the signal. Minutes later, the same signal was picked up on the move as if it was a ship heading directly towards Vanguard. “Set a course for Vanguard, Warp Eight Point Five. ENGAGE.” Ordered Kirk. The Enterprise pivoted on her central access and jumped to warp so fast that her inertial dampeners took point five seconds to recalibrate and steady the ship.

EIGHTEEN

The Year of Kahless 787 (Earth Standard Year: 2163) Klingon Empire

Chancellor M’Rek and the members of the Klingon High Council couldn’t stand the fact that their ships were falling to some unknown enemy. They were even angrier because they figured someone among them had to give away the facts about their ships so this could happen. Speaking up Chancellor M’Rek said to the warriors gathered around the meeting table, “their destroying our ships one by one, if this continues, soon we won’t have a fleet. That will leave us vulnerable to the un-honorable humans and RomuluSngan. We have to act now to defend ourselves from both of them. It is time we do what we should have done years ago and go to war with both of them.”

“I have to object to this,” said Fleet Admiral Krell, commander of the whole Klingon Imperial Empire’s war fleet. “Our enemy could easily be those beings that we encountered almost a year ago from the far off Andromeda Galaxy. Before we drove them from

our space they did tell us about a powerful enemy that they called the Votality and they were lead by a more powerful group called the Totality. Both the Totality and the Votality inhabit a realm called the Realm of Light and that they can cause warp reactors to go haywire like ours have been doing. Also rumors have it that the same thing is affected the fledgling United Federation of Planets and also the RomuluSngan Empire’s ships. If there is anything we should do, we should join with them to eliminate this common threat then go back to being hostile enemies after the Votality has been neutralized.”

“Bad idea,” said Chancellor M’Rek, “the humans will never allow us to dissolve that alliance after its formed. Also, I don’t trust the RomuluSngans. They also did try taking our ships back in 2155 with their Arrenhe’hwiua Telecapture System as I operatives have learned its called. They even managed to succeed and we were forced to destroy our own ships over Draylax thus assisting the Coalition of Planets in protecting their unallied world. Luckily our attack fleet managed to leave before they were hailed and questioned about their involvement. To this day the Coalition, now the Federations still doesn’t know why we did what we did. We cannot let them see our weakness, therefore the best course of action is to join the Votality and their allies but only if they or one of their allies makes contact with us, here.”

No one spoke they were all taking in the

chancellor’s words. They all knew that when the chancellor made up his mind that there was no questioning it but this time though many of the Klingon warriors gathered around thought his idea was recklessly suicidal. The Klingon people had survived for generations following Kahless’ lead. Now to ally themselves with a vigilant enemy would be an outrage and a dishonorable act. One many of the Klingons weren’t ready to take but the only way to prevent it from happening would be to kill Chancellor M’Rek and the one who would do that would become the new chancellor. Only one among them thought he was ready to becoming the chancellor of the empire, a warrior named Gr’ag.

Not wanting to give any part of his plan away Gr’ag decided to speak up, so standing he asked “Permission to address the council?”

“Granted,” replied M’Rek who didn’t expect the middle-aged warrior to stand and want to address anyone. To M’Rek, Gr’ag was to much of a noble warrior who followed the chain of command to want to go against the chancellor in any way. Now though since Gr’ag asked for permission to speak, M’Rek made a mental note to keep a watchful eye on the warrior before him and to kill him with his Bat’leth at the first sign of treachery and betrayal.

“I believe the best course of action for our people to take is to follow Chancellor M’Rek’s plan,” said Gr’ag, in a magnificently convincing voice that even

M’Rek believed. “But I also don’t think we should burn all our bridges. In that I mean we should also form an alliance of our own just in case the Votality doesn’t come here to enlist us to join them but if they come here to destroy us instead. That’s why I propose that we form an alliance with the RomuluSngan but when we form this alliance we add in a clause that says its dissolved as soon as our common threats are eliminated or just when the Votality is beaten. Truthfully I prefer the latter with the Votality being defeated so we don’t lose the chance to conquer other worlds and enlarged our empire. For now I propose we send a delegation to Romulus to inform them of our proposal and see what comes out of it.”

“Nice plan Gr’ag,” said M’Rek, “it could work; I say we should execute it right now as a contingency plan if the Votality does attack us. You’re in charge of implementing it and going to Romulus as part of our delegation. Everyone, you’re dismissed.” As everyone started to leave the council chambers M’Rek said to himself, “that Gr’ag is a threat to my power as chancellor. I sure hope the RomuluSngan kill him and all his delegation. We do not need those petaQ to help us any more than we need to run to Starfleet.”

………

Dartha City

Romulus Year: 2163

Three weeks after leaving Qo’noS, Gr’ag and his

delegation were finally granted permission to come to Romulus’ capital city and granted an audience with Praetor D’deridex in the great hall of Romulus. Still though they had to wait and it was making Gr’ag even more impatient, what he would give for a bottle of Blood Wine and his Bat’leth to kill some of these RomuluSngan who had the guts to make him wait. “Maybe it’s a trap and a mistake in coming here. My whole plan was to kill Chancellor M’Rek and take control of the empire myself. Oh wait; I can still do that by getting Praetor D’deridex to help me out. He should be sympathetic to my cause… hopefully.”

As soon as Gr’ag reached Romulus, he asked to speak to Praetor D’deridex but the praetor didn’t want to see him. “These RomuluSngan,” thought Gr’ag, “the best thing to do here is to go to war against them. Maybe we should do so again, and maybe once I’m chancellor, I’ll make that my first act of business and conquer this worthless rat hole of an empire and make all the RomuluSngan and their subjects bow down to the might of the Klingon Empire..”

Gr’ag never got his chance though. From behind him he felt the sting of a disruptor blast as it burrowed into his back charring the flesh. Just

before he fell down dead, he turned to see two Remans standing behind, the smoke still steaming off their disruptor pistols that they had just used on him. Gr’ag shut his eyes and let death claim his very existence hoping his soul was bound for the internal Sto-Vo-Cor by means of the Barge of the Dead.

“It is done my praetor,” said one of the Reman guards to Praetor D’deridex, “that ridiculous Klingon warrior is dead.”

“Good,” said D’deridex, “now my plans against the Klingon Empire and the United Federation of Planets can begin. They would work better though if the scientists could get that cloak working on not just our gravitic mines but also our Bird-of-Preys; then the fledgling Federation will never know that we’ve violated the Neutral Zone boarder until its to late and when they can’t stop us.”

NINETEEN

Tholian Conclave Tholia 2163

The Leader of the Tholian Assembly or Conclave --

as the Tholians’ liked calling it, was a wise old being, he had commanded his forces with vigilance, and he would even kill his officers if they disobeyed him. With the help of those loyal officers he rose through the ranks in the conclave. Now for twenty years Fallnar [The Crimson] was the one Tholian to rule the Conclave. Now his orders were getting to be that of to colonize the long thought forbidden section of space, known only to his people as the Shedai Sector, a sector of space that for their history to come would still never be a place for them to be, it was forbidden, it was taboo for them to be there; they would not return to the life of slavery serving the ruthless Shedai.

Alone in the Conclave Fallnar made his decision, “we should advance into the Shedai Sector at least to

make our presence known and to prevent any interloping there, but the Shedai could also catch us. While rumor has it, they’re all hibernating anyways. I’ll just send one or two ships, they’ll be fine.”

Hours after making his decision in private he knew he would have to tell the rest of the Conclave. That he knew wasn’t going to go so well, after all not everyone shared his idea about the Shedai Sector. Not to mention not anyone knew that he was thinking that because he wasn’t connecting to the great link of Thought Space. “Well its time to face all the ooh’s and boo’s,” Fallnar thought as he headed back towards the Conclave to face the rest of the Tholian Government that answered to him alone and did all of his bidding.

The Tholian warship Prax-Theliana ventured slowly and cautiously into the Shedai Sector all the while keeping a sensor lookout for the power build up to a conduit or a planet-based weapon. All of which seemed to be idol. None of them even powered up near the First World or the other nearby planets. All was quiet, too quiet; something had to be up, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

………

Deep Space Nine 2376

To fight the Votality, Starfleet Command decided

to use DS9 as a staging ground to send some of their forces into the past. The only problem with that plan was to find a way not to contaminate the timeline while at the same time saving it. As Captain Sisko and his crew tried to devise a way to get to the past without being noticed, the answer decloaked off the station’s port bow in the form of one-hundred fifty Klingon Bird-of-Preys and one Negh’Var.

As soon as the Negh’Var decloaked its Commander hailed DS9’s Operation’s Deck so he could talk to Captain Sisko, only the Captain wasn’t around so he had to start his conversation with a lovely female who was actually a Joined Trill, that female was Ezri Dax. When Dax saw the Klingon’s face appear on the viewer she said, “I’ll get the Captain.” She then tapped her comm. badge and said “Dax to Sisko.”

“Go ahead ‘Old Man’,” replied Sisko. “Chancellor Martok’s Negh’Var and a massive

Klingon fleet of Bird-of-Preys have just decloaked near the station. Also, Martok wants to speak with you and Worf,” said Dax through the comm. badge. She then quickly added “Ops out.” As soon as she said that, she tapped her comm. badge again turning it off.

“She sure signed off the channel pretty fast, sir,” noted Worf.

“True and we have our answer on how to get to the past, all we need is cloakable ships,” said Sisko,

“and we happen to have the Defiant and the Klingon ships.”

“We also got the Romulans and their D’deridex-class warbirds along with their newer warbirds, if they’ll help,” noted Worf.

As they walked out of the Situation Room, Sisko said “They should want to help; their ships are being destroyed too. It would be suicide for them not too.”

“But your forgetting Captain,” started Worf, “it’s just not the Romulan way to come to the aid of others.”

………

On the bridge of Chancellor Martok’s Negh’Var,

the chancellor was getting very impatient and angry. He didn’t like it one bit that the Starfleet Captain was making him wait. As the chancellor’s anger grew, in the back of his bridge the transporter hummed to life and the figures of three humanoids materialized; one human, one Trill female and a Klingon.

After Martok noticed Captain Sisko, Ezri, and Worf on his bridge, he welcomed them aboard his Negh’Var with the words “Welcome aboard the Clo’va.”

He then turned to Worf and said “It’s been a long time Worf son of Mogh.”

“Agreed Chancellor,” replied Worf. “I think the last time I was here was after the Dominion War ended last year.”

“I believe so,” replied Martok, “or it was while

you were the Federation Ambassador to the Klingon Empire.”

“It doesn’t matter,” said Worf, “there are more important things going on in the quadrant theses days; things that require the upmost attention of the Federation, the Klingon Empire and the Romulan Star Empire, so there is lots to discuss.”

“First, I’m going to dispatch five Klingon Bird-of-Preys to Romulus to try and convince the Romulans to join us in whatever we decide to do,” said Martok, “then if we can’t get them, maybe we should force their hand again.”

“Don’t remind me of that,” said Sisko, “deceiving the Romulans into thinking the Dominion was planning on attacking them was hard, but the result of them joining our forces brought the best result in the form of a great victory for the Federation; but then what they did in luring the Enterprise-E into a trap was a bad idea. At least Shinzon is dead and the Enterprise wasn’t seriously damaged.”

“Yea,” said Worf, “but what about Data, he’s destroyed because he saved Captain Picard’s life.”

“Starfleet should train the B-4 to take Data’s place,” suggested Martok, “just because it’s a different android and less advanced as Data doesn’t mean he can’t do the same jobs as Data did.”

“Starfleet wants to study him,” replied Worf, “Data wouldn’t allow it for him so Geordi convinced the B-4 to help science out so they could design and

build more androids so ships can have one just in case something happens to the crews.”

“We can’t let all this side talk get in the way why we’re really here,” started Sisko, “so can we speak in private about the recent Votality attacks and what we’re going to do about them?”

“Yes,” replied Martok as he led the Starfleet Officers into what could only be described as his small Ready Room.

After entering Klingon version of a Ready Room, the first thing Sisko noticed was the smell. The smell was coming from underneath the deck where the live Targs were kept. Other than the smell, the other thing Sisko noticed was the many different weapons, skins and relics from previous ‘great’ victories of battles the Clo’va and her former commanding officers had been in.

Once the doors closed behind them, Sisko said “There’s no simple way to say this Martok, but Starfleet needs all your cloakable warships to fight the Votality in the past and we’re prepared to take them by force if we need to.”

After thinking for a few minutes Martok spoke but he didn’t seem angry, it was the total opposite he seemed to still be his normal tempered Klingon self. “You can have them, but no human or other alien will command them. They will all be commanded by Klingon warriors.”

“That’s acceptable Chancellor,” replied Sisko,

“because you will allow humans and other aliens aboard as crewmen. Right?”

“Yes,” answered Martok, “the non-Klingons will only be crewmen, I just don’t some Klingons would like taking orders from a non-Klingon that’s why they can’t command the vessels.”

“That’s actually understandable Chancellor,” said Worf, “after all former trials of just that never worked out and mostly ended with the death of the alien in command when the warrior staged a mutiny.”

“I guess our business here is done then?” Asked Martok.

“Yes,” replied Sisko. “Then Qapla,” said Martok as he led them back

out onto the bridge. As they emerged onto the bridge, a Klingon officer walked up to them and said “Chancellor, your new Negh’Var flagship has arrived.”

“Transport all crew and supplies over to her,” order Martok, “then use her to destroy the Clo’va.”

While the two Klingons conversed, Sisko, Worf, and Dax headed back to the transporter and returned to DS9. Once they were back in Ops, Sisko said, “Dax, I want you to monitor all incoming and out going communications between the Klingon vessels and Qo’noS.”

“Understood sir,” replied Dax. On her way back to her Science and Operations Station Dax started

thinking “I wonder why the Captain doesn’t trust the Klingons.”

………

Ten minutes after returning to DS9, Worf and

Sisko decided that instead of using Deep Space Nine as the staging ground, that Starfleet should use Empok Nor as their staging grounds for the war and time traveling into the past instead. After thinking about it for awhile Sisko agreed that the abandoned Cardassian station would be the best staging grounds because if it was attacked, it wasn’t as strategic as Deep Space Nine was. Even with the point of time travel decided, there was still one question still going through Sisko’s head. “How do we get into the past?”

Somehow knowing what was going through the Captain’s head, Worf said “Starfleet Command can think about the time traveling aspects, all we have to do is dispatch some Starfleet vessels to Empok Nor so we can secure the old station, and at least Starfleet will gain control of this station’s sister station.”

“Agreed,” replied Sisko, “and if you can get to work on it now, that would be good.”

“Understood,” replied Worf, “I’ll start that right now.” He then turned and left the briefing room.

TWENTY

Romulan Star Empire 2376

On the planet Romulus the Romulan Imperial

Senate was called into an emergency session by the Praetor because she wanted to find away to stop the Votality and their deadly allies the Sernaix. As the Praetor sat on her throne in the Senate Chamber, the twelve Romulan senators walked in taking their seats. After all the senators were seated Praetor Tal’Aura stud up and started to speak.

“Members of the senate, as you know many of our warbirds and other ships have been destroyed by the Votality and the Sernaix. We have to stop this and I propose we declare war.”

With the Praetor’s declaration said one of the senators spoke up saying, “One of your warbirds, the IRW Talon has picked up a lot of transmissions from Deep Space Nine, Starfleet Command on Earth and many of their ships. Most of the transmissions

mention massing a fleet at Empok Nor in the next few days.”

I want a fleet of cloaked warbirds dispatched and sent to Empok Nor to investigate,” ordered Tal’Aura.

“Will do,” replied her Reman Viceroy. Just as Praetor Tal’Aura was about to end the

meeting and return to her bedchamber, another senator decided to speak only this time he should have kept his mouth shut. For his next words would be his last. “Praetor, your Excellency, you should know that Empress Donatra of the Imperial Romulan State has contacted the Federation and has dispatched at least fifty warbirds to Empok Nor to join the forming Starfleet Armada.”

Praetor Tal’Aura turned to her Viceroy and only said two words, “Kill Him.”

As the Reman shot the senator, the praetor looked to the still sitting senators and said “Does Any One Else Want to Mention That Traitor?”

Since the room was silent Tal’Aura decided that the senate meeting had indeed come to an end, so she turned and left with her Reman Viceroy. Once the Praetor and Viceroy left, the twelve senators started talking about defecting to the Imperial Romulan State. A defection that would give more strength to Empress Donatra’s forming empire while at the same time could result in their deaths if caught; but the way they were planning their defection, that was highly unlikely.

………

Aboard the Imperial Romulan State Warbird (IRSW) Valdore, Empress Donatra completing who to take as a mate, as her husband or the new empire she created would no longer exist when she died. For if she didn’t have any children and soon, she would be out of her childbearing years and then she would have to choose her successor.

“Bridge to Empress Donatra, a cloaked Warbird has entered the system, it’s the IRW Talon and her entry trajectory puts her on a course for Empok Nor and it would appear she came from Romulus.”

“I’m on my way to the bridge,” replied Donatra, “have the helmsman put us behind Empok Nor.”

Hours later three more Romulan Warbirds entered the system and also took up hidden positions around the nearby M-Class planet. Each ship had come from Romulus with orders to attack the Federation fleet as soon as they were to drop out of warp. Knowing this could be the case, Donatra sent one of her newer warbirds into position with the ones from Romulus, only the Commanders aboard the other warbirds didn’t know that there was an enemy in their mist when the newer warbird joined them because they had ones of the same class with them, except like the warbird Donatra sent, they were still cloaked.

………

Six hours later three Federation starships dropped

out of warp heading straight for Empok Nor’s docking pylons preparing to dock. As they drew closer to the station; half the Romulan fleet decloaked and headed for the lead ship, a Steamrunner-class cruiser called the USS Apollo NCC 52135 and opened fire, seconds later the rest of the Romulan fleet also decloaked and opened fire on the Apollo and the two Nebula-class starships with her.

Just before the battle began, the Andorian Tactical Officer aboard the Apollo got jumpy when the first half of the Romulan fleet decloaked. That’s when his commanding officer named Captain Lisa Glen said “Relax Tral-mixi, they’re just from the Imperial Romulan State and their here to protect us and the station.”

Then the Apollo was rocked by the first wave of disrupter fire as Donatra’s fleet decloaked and opened fire on the Romulans.

Back on the Apollo, Tral-mixi turned and said, “That felt like disrupter fire, those Romulans aren’t here to protect us, it’s an ambush… they’re here to destroy us.”

In her command chair Glen turned towards her left and yelled at Tactical, “Shields up, charge weapons. Helm, evasive maneuvers, bring us about bearing three two mark two one nine.”

As Tral-mixi brought the ship to that course a warbird fired its disrupters at one of the Nebula-class

cruisers and since the Apollo was now in-between the two, her shields took the blast. “Shields starting to buckle Captain,” said Tral-mixi.

“Helm, change course,” ordered Glen, “bring us to course two one two, and put our port shields into their line of fire, their still holding at seventy percent.”

“Acknowledged,” replied Elgin-mixi as he worked the consol in front of him.

Aboard one of the Nebula-class cruisers, the Tactical officer was finding it easy to stop the incoming torpedo bursts thanks to the ship’s Point Defense Phaser. Along with that defense she was finding it easy to get through the shields of the enemy Romulan warbirds with the Nebula-class’ Shield Disrupter. With all their efforts working to try and survive, the three Federation starships were still out numbered but the Nebula-class cruisers still had one technology up their sleeve they could try, so even though it would be dangerous and wouldn’t last that long, they activated what is called their Gemini Effect, so both Nebula-class starships formed an exact copy of themselves near the entrance to the sector and those two ships sped into the scene of battle firing on the stunned Romulans. Only as the Romulans turned to some of their weapons onto the new arrivals, the ships seemed to dodge the fire and get hit in the opposite area that was targeted. About five to ten minutes later the Gemini Effect wore off and the extra Nebula-class ships vanished. The three

Federation vessels were out numbered again, only this time, they stated taking heavier damage as their shipboard systems started to malfunction and shut down, starting with the gravitational thrusters and their Inertial Dampers.

As the Apollo tumbled and turned in space along with the two Nebula-class cruisers with her, the warbirds from Donatra’s fleet decloaked along with the one within the mist of the enemy and opened fire on the ships of their once comrades in arms. “Well, now were’ dead for sure, more Romulans,” said Tral-mixi as the Apollo was rocked once again and almost right into one of the Nebula-class cruisers, except that’s when a tractor beam latched onto the Apollo from the Valdore and a communications channel opened up, “Valdore to Apollo, this is Empress Donatra.”

“Go ahead Donatra, this is Captain Lisa Glen; captain of the Apollo, what can I do for you?”

“Sorry we didn’t join you sooner,” answered Donatra, “we thought two more of your ships had entered the system to join you, we didn’t know about the Gemini Effect so we didn’t know why they just vanished; we just completed our research and can also see that your getting pretty banged up out there, my fleet and I are ready to assist you.” With that said the Valdore closed the channel and disengaged her tractor beam as she got to work on the enemy warbirds.

As the new Romulan warbirds opened fire on the

Romulans attacking the Starfleet ships, Tral-mixi aboard the Apollo said, “About time, those have to be from the Imperial Romulan State. Now they decloak after we’ve been getting our asses kicked for the past fifteen minutes.”

“We were holding our own pretty well for a while when the Nebula-class cruisers activated their Gemini Effect,” stated Glen, “but now I think we’re in major trouble.” Just as those words left her mouth the Apollo was violently hit as sparks erupted from the communications station slightly burning the hand of the young Vulcan woman sitting there; but she managed to say through the pain, “the Com is down.”

“Correct Captain,” replied Tral-mixi, “shields have failed and we have a hull breach on deck seven, emergency force fields are holding.”

“Hold the Repair Teams for now,” ordered Glen, “we might find that were going to receive worse damage than a hull breach.”

………

Inside the unexpected battle zone was a cloaked

Federation starship, the USS Relentless NCC 50634 was a Defiant-class starship commanded by a two hundred fourteen year old Vulcan-Human hybrid named T’Lin Archer. T’Lin was an extremely smart commanding officer for after her birth she spent lots

of time with her parents on the bridge of the Starfleet vessel Enterprise NX-01 then a year later the Daedalus-class USS IDIC NCC 203. While seeing the battle escalating in front of her, T’Lin decided it was time to intervene so she gave her orders to her bridge officers as fast as she could come up with them.

“Tactical, deactivate the cloak, target the nearest warbird, FIRE.”

“Helm; bring us about and put us between the Apollo and one of the D’deridex-class warbirds protecting her.”

As the Relentless maneuvered into position next to the Apollo, both the D’deridex-class warbird and the Relentless both got shot by a spread of Photon Torpedoes heavily damaging both vessels. With both vessels on the urge of exploding; T’Lin gave her last orders ever aboard the Relentless. “All hands to Escape Pods, abandon ship. Head for Empok Nor. Ready the station for combat.”

“Aye Captain,” was the only response she got from her bridge officers as they and the rest of her crew got ready to evacuate the Relentless. Once main systems were locked T’Lin followed her fellow bridge officers to the nearest Escape Pods closest to the bridge.

As the Relentless drifted on an erratic course, twenty Escape Pods lifted off from her top hull flying upward and away as their maneuvering thrusters activated and helped them maneuver through the

warbirds and Federation ships still in the fierce battle. Surprisingly as the pods made it closer and closer to the derelict tilted station, they were never hit by any stray torpedo or disrupter blast; on the contrary the pods and Empok Nor were miraculously never hit in the rest of the battle. Making T’Lin thinking either the spirits of her parents or some higher power was looking out for her and her crew, but who and why was what she wanted to know.

*****

DS9 Two Days Later

Ezri Dax woke up beside Doctor Julian Bashir at

about 0600 and left his quarters without him even disturbing him and returned to hers feeling a little guilty for she was being haunted by the memories of Dax’s past host, Jadiza who was married to Worf for almost a year before she was killed by the Pawraiths and their Emissary, the Cardassian Gul Dukat. So even though she wasn’t really married to Worf; sometimes Ezri thought she was cheating on him somehow and the second thought to that was the fact it wasn’t easy for either of them to see each other because they both had memories of Jadiza and worst of all was that everyone called her “Dax” instead of Ezri or Ensign. Once safely in her quarters without being seen by anyone, especially Worf, Dax

refreshed herself and put on a clean uniform then continued getting ready for her shift, a shift that was going to begin sooner than she expected.

At DS9’s Ops desk Captain Sisko was not in the best of moods. He was shocked to learn about the Battle of Empok Nor and the destruction of the four Federation starships including T’Lin’s cloaked vessel. Wanting answers that only his Counselor/Science Office could give him, he contacted Dax ordering her to report to Ops early.

When Dax got to Ops, she went directly to her station to begin some temporal research for Starfleet and its allies so they would be able to send their invasion fleets into the past to assist the Enterprise NX-01 in fighting the Votality. During her research about the Votality, Dax found out that they had made contact with an alien race called Sernaix and now the two equally unknown races were allies. With her findings in hand, Dax headed to Sisko’s Ready Room to give the Captain her report.

Once the doors closed behind Ezri as she walked into his office, Sisko asked “What do you got “Old Man”?”

“I have discovered an alliance between a race called the Sernaix and the Votality,” reported Dax, “but the Sernaix also have alliances with the Borg, the Dominion and the long feared Furies.”

“Great so the Dominion is our enemy again?” asked Sisko.

“Not exactly,” replied Dax, “Odo’s groups of

Jem’Hadar soldiers are still loyal to him, but I’m not sure about the rest of the Dominion.”

“I’ll have to let Starfleet Command know about this,” said Sisko. “Dismissed.”

Once Dax left his Ready Room, Sisko said “Computer, open an encrypted channel to Starfleet Command, Alpha Priority Code Red.”

“Channel open,” came the reply of the computer’s female voice.

Once the channel was open, on his computer view screen the image of Admiral Kathryn Janeway appeared and she said “What can I do for you Captain?”

“I got news,” answered Sisko, “The Votality are not alone, they have an ally called the Sernaix, but the Sernaix also have an ally that also poses a threat. Those would be the Borg, the Dominion and the Furies.”

“The Borg don’t pose a threat anymore Ben,” said Janeway.

“Not everyone shares that assessment Admiral,” replied Sisko.

“You’ve been talking to Picard,” replied Janeway, “he just says that because of his experiences as Locutus.”

“Please don’t mention that,” said Sisko, “I’ve already forgiven the Captain for the crimes he committed as that drone and the death of my wife Jennifer.”

“Well if the Borg are involved and really are a

threat, Starfleet needs to keep a big enough force here in this time to protect Earth incase they decide to launch a third invasion against Earth,” decided Janeway.

“If the Borg do attack,” started Sisko, “they’ll do it in the past along with their allies because it’ll be easier to conquer and enslave Earth by assimilating it in the past to assimilate the future.”

“Picard’s words,” replied Janeway, “I did read his report after the Enterprise returned from preventing them from stopping First Contact, and that also means that the Borg Queen has been destroyed three times. There is no way the Borg Collective still exists, maybe there is a few drones left but there is no chance that they’ll ever return to their formerly threatening glory and pose a threat to the Alpha Quadrant and the Federation.”

“You’re making a mistake Admiral,” countered Sisko, “the Borg always will be a threat; just because Voyager destroyed the Unicomplex through the pathogen, doesn’t mean they’re coming for revenge against the Federation. They want to enslave the human race; and they won’t stop until they’ve achieved that goal, you’re putting the Federation in danger over your beliefs. I should take this to the Command Council.”

“Go ahead;” said Janeway, “they agree with me, the Borg are not a threat.”

“We’ll see about that,” said Sisko, “especially

when I let them know that their allied with the Votality, the Sernaix and the Dominion and the Furies.”

“TRY IT,” shouted Janeway, “That’s it Captain, you’re lucky I’m not bringing you up on charges for subordination.” She then closed the channel to DS9 and headed to see Admiral Owen Paris.

With the channel closed Sisco started to do some more thinking. There was just no way Admiral Kathryn Janeway had become so cocky, after what she been through in the Delta Quadrant, what her and her whole crew went through at the hands of the Borg, the Hirogen, Species 8472, the Kazon, and even the Caretaker himself; there just was no way she had pushed all that out of her memory. The only thing that had to be true was that the admiral was indeed putting the whole United Federation of Planets at stake with an agenda of her own. Sisco intended to find out what that agenda was even if it meant losing his career for if there was no Federation, he didn’t have a career. To do this though, I’m going to need to know more about the Borg and the only one that knows that much besides Admiral Janeway is both Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Seven-of-Nine since they were both assimilated and linked to the hive mind. Picard might help me but Seven answers directly to Janeway. I’ll just have to get around that.

Heading towards DS9’s holodecks near Quark’s

Bar Sisco decided to run any program he could find on the Borg. Any program that would tell of any weakness they had and if lucky how the Queen could have been remade so many times. To him, it was like they came off an assembly line every time one was destroyed for each one always looked like the last so perfectly like the last with no hint of a difference as if they were cloned.

TWENTY-ONE

Enterprise NX-01, somewhere in Deep Space 2163

At lunch with her husband, Hoshi started to think

about how they could save Enterprise from the mysterious events plaguing her. The only thing was none of the ideas she could think of seem humane. After all, if they were to do something to Enterprise, Archer and T’Pol would be the ones to get in trouble by Command since they were the ones in command of the first warp five/seven starship Earth had; and she didn’t want to see them court marshaled, especially her husband. Unknown to Hoshi, Jonathan was thinking the same thing only he voiced his opinion. “I think we should destroy Enterprise,” he said, “that way Hoshi, we can save the crew and the unborn baby inside you”

Hoshi knew Jon was right but instead of just saying that, she totally changed her tone and said “That’s nonsense Jon. This ship has your father’s engine, you dreamed of commanding her.”

“That’s true Hoshi,” replied Jonathan; “but I

rather destroy this ship myself than have the Votality destroy her.”

“I see,” said Hoshi as she finished her lunch.

………

Fifteen minutes later both Jonathan and Hoshi were on the bridge when everything turned chaotic. Knowing that it was an attack that could only be by the Votality, Archer tapped the communications button on his command chair and said “Tactical Alert, all hands to battle stations.”

With his order given, Captain Archer went over to Hoshi at the Communications Station and asked her, “What do you think we should do now.”

“We destroy the ship,” answered Hoshi, “anyways it was your idea earlier and I’ve been thinking about it since yesterday at breakfast. It’s your decision if we destroy Enterprise though.”

“It’s truthfully the only option,” said Jonathan, “that’s what we have to do, destroy Enterprise.” He then walked back to his chair as he mumbled “Sorry dad, I would have tried any other option if it would save the ship, but there doesn’t seem to be a way.”

Once the decision was made, Archer went over to the only Vulcan on board and said “T’Pol, we’re going to destroy the ship.”

“There’s a Starfleet vessel dropping out of warp Captain,” interrupted Lieutenant Malcolm Reed.

“What ship?” asked Archer. “It’s the NX-02 Columbia,” answered Reed. As Enterprise’s bridge officers turned towards

their ship’s main viewer to watch the Columbia approach, their sister ship out of no apparent reason exploded. All they could tell was that the explosion initiated in the Engineering section at the warp core.

Before the explosion’s fireball went out, Hoshi spoke up at her station. “I need to go out there in a shuttlepod and find her black box before we leave this area.”

“No!” objected Jonathan, “I won’t let you go.” “Regulations say I have to go out here Captain,”

replied Hoshi in anger. Knowing she was right, Jonathan let her go but he

ordered a MACOS Officer to go with her. Little did he know was that this would be the last time he’d see his wife alive.

*****

Shuttlepod One

As Ensign Archer and Major Laura got closer to

Columbia’s wreckage, the shuttle started to act strange. At the helm Major Laura looked to Hoshi and said “Ensign Archer, I’ve lost helm control and we’re in the middle of the Columbia wreckage field.”

“Then forget about the helm for now,” ordered Hoshi, “start scanning for Columbia’s black box.”

“Aye sir,” replied the major as she started her

scans. Not long after the major and Hoshi started their

scans, the shuttle pod’s new experimental warp engine that was just installed while at Vulcan started to fluctuate. Fearing the worst Major Laura tried to take the engine offline to save the shuttle but it wasn’t working. All her efforts proved to be fateful, because in the end; she hadn’t had any Starfleet training at the Academy so she knew nothing about warp engines or how they were designed or operated, so she turned to Hoshi and asked, “Do you know how to take this dam engine offline?”

“Sorry but I don’t,” replied Hoshi, “I’m a Communications Officer not an Engineer, I’ve never even learned about the warp engine or its mechanics.”

“Then we are going to die,” said Laura sadly, “and there’s nothing you, Enterprise or your husband can do about it; the Votality is about to claim this shuttle and us along with it.”

“Don’t be unoptimistic major,” replied Hoshi, “you don’t know Captain Archer like I do, I bet right now he can tell something is wrong with the shuttle and he’s devising a plan with T’Pol’s help to save us.”

From the bridge of the starship Enterprise, the bridge officers and especially the Captain kept a close eye on the shuttlepod among the wreckage. As they watched the shuttle getting closer to what their sensors showed was Columbia’s black box, the

bridge officers watched in shock and horror as the shuttlepod exploded killing both passengers instantly. What Hoshi had thought about the Enterprise knowing that the shuttle was in distress wasn’t true; from what they could see, everything was fine with the shuttle until it exploded. They had no idea of the problems going on aboard the shuttle, problems that Hoshi herself should have contacted the Enterprise about instead of hoping Archer’s intuition would tell him that something was wrong.

TWENTY-TWO

Aboard the Enterprise, Captain Jonathan Archer stud in shock looking at the main viewer where he had just witnessed his wife and unborn child die. From her Science Station Commander T’Pol observed that her Captain was getting emotional so she left her station and went down to him to try and comfort him, only he didn’t want it. Instead he turned to her and said almost in a yell “I’ll be in my quarters, you have the bridge Commander.”

“Now wouldn’t be the time for that Captain,” argued T’Pol, “your place is here on the bridge, especially during a crisis like this one.”

“I don’t care,” replied Archer, “it’s my ship and I’m the Captain, so in a way I can do whatever I want, whatever is within Starfleet Regulations that is.”

“I don’t know what you mean Captain,” replied T’Pol, “but if you want to go to your quarters, go, I’ll be on the bridge if you need me.”

“Good,” replied Archer as he headed to the turbolift.

………

Inside his quarters, Jonathan sat on his bed with his head in his hands. He couldn’t stop crying and feeling sorry for himself. Thinking for a long time, he decided that the feelings he was feeling now were why Starfleet didn’t allow fraternization between crewmembers. “I should have been court marshaled for even being with Hoshi, but no one let Starfleet Command know, worst of all, she was only 34 years old, I should have been fraternizing with T’Pol, and anyways she does have a hot ass.”

Just as he got that thought out of his head, his door buzzer went off so even though he didn’t want to be disturbed he said “Enter.”

The door opened and Doctor Phlox walked in and said “Captain, Commander T’Pol sent me down to check you out, she’s worried about you. I think you should see her tonight for a treatment of Vulcan Nero Pressure, it will help you get some rest and get rid of that tension you’re having.”

“I don’t have any tension Doc and I’m not tired,” countered Jonathan clearly showing the doctor that he was right.

“Doctor’s orders,” replied Phlox, “go to her quarters when her shift ends, or have her come here.”

“I rather have her come here to my quarters,” decided Jonathan, “anyways, Crewman Taylor is just

too nosy, she’ll notice me entering T’Pol’s quarters and then she’ll blabber and tomorrow it’ll be all over the ship that I was with T’Pol for a long time. I can’t have that happen.”

“I’ll let her know to come here when her shift ends then Captain,” said Phlox as he left the Captain’s quarters.

Once the doctor left his quarters, Jonathan decided to do a little research about Vulcan Nero Pressure so he activated his computer terminal to access the Vulcan database they so willingly gave the ship years ago on its first mission when they brought the Klingon Klaang back to his homeworld of Qo’noS alive unlike them who wanted to send him back in a box. Once the computer was active and showing the Starfleet Delta he said “Computer, tap into the Vulcan Database and give me all the information on Vulcan Nero Pressure.”

As the computer got to work, he then let his memory go back to years ago back to Enterprise’s first mission, a mission that to complete needed the Vulcan starcharts that were within the database to find the Qo’noS; so in exchange for the database, the Vulcans put an observer aboard his ship, an observer that her invited to stay as Science Officer, that Vulcan was Sub-Commander T’Pol, and he did have to admit that sometimes she could have been a pain in the ass, no wonder he couldn’t happen but not notice her ass especially in the clothes and uniform she choose to wear. No one sometimes well no one

was looking he sneaked a glance her way towards the science station, even while he was married to Hoshi. While he was recalling all that from his memory, the computer started searching for his request, once it found the information on Vulcan Nero Pressure, it beeped alerting him once again to reality.

When the data appeared on Archer’s screen, the first thing Archer noticed was that Vulcan Nero Pressure was an intimate practice. “Great,” he thought, “now Doctor Phlox is trying to set me up with T’Pol. I see a Court-Martial coming up and this time the Vulcans’ are going to have their reason to boot me out of command.”

………

On the bridge of the Enterprise Commander T’Pol

didn’t feel well. In fact she was finding it harder to control her emotions. From her symptoms T’Pol knew what was wrong. It was her Pon’ Farr. Not feeling well she turned to Lieutenant Reed and said, “You have the bridge Lieutenant. I’ll be in Sickbay.”

Well in the turbolift heading to the deck Sickbay was on, T’Pol started to contemplating about who she was going to mate with because if she didn’t mate within twenty-four hours to seven days she would surly die. “At least any male will do, he doesn’t have to be a Vulcan,” thought T’Pol.

T’Pol was still thinking that when she walked into

Sickbay. Looking up and seeing T’Pol, Phlox said “Commander, I want you to give the Captain a Nero Pressure treatment after your shift.”

“Not now Doctor,” replied T’Pol, “I got my Pon’ Farr, I need to mate within seven days or I’m going to die. I’ve already chosen who I want to mate with, it’s the Captain. Tell him for me, and let him know that it will save my life.” She then collapsed to the deck feeling so much fatigue and emotions coming up to the surface, all of which were causing her blood to boil well all the while demanding to be released into the open. T’Pol knew though that she wouldn’t want them out in the open for anyone to see, that is any one but Captain Jonathan Archer she decided.

Understanding what T’Pol needed and not wanting to see her suffering anymore than he just had, Phlox returned to the Captain’s quarters at a full run with a message he was hoping he wouldn’t outright refuse. When Archer saw Phlox at his door again he asked, “Now what is it Phlox?”

“T’Pol,” answered Phlox, “she’s taken ill and she needs your help to survive.”

“What do you mean, Phlox?” asked Jonathan concerned.

“Captain, T’Pol needs you or she’ll die,” stammered Phlox.

“What’s wrong with her?” asked Jonathan as he started to realize in his heart that he was worried

about her and actually really did have feelings for her, and for a long time since he first saw her maybe or it was from the time they were captured when the Vulcans tried recalling her for what happened at P’Jem and while they were tied up to each other they fell with his face right in her chest, an action that she didn’t seem to mind but actually enjoy, an action that may have got her interested in him physical, at least before the incident with Trip in the Delphic Expanse. That only occurred because he couldn’t sleep after his sister’s death in the Xindi attack and Phlox sent him to her which started an accidental physical relationship that she herself only considered an experiment into human sexuality, an experiment she realized she chose the wrong partner for right away.

“It’s her mating cycle, the Pon’ Farr, it’s begun,” started Phlox, “every seven years a Vulcan needs to mate or die. This is her very first Pon’ Farr and she’s acting irrational and emotional, but through her emotional state, her feelings have emerged, she wants you Captain and she managed to choke out your name just before she collapsed. I would say even though she doesn’t show her emotions, she’s in love with you and has been for sometime it would seem.”

“Well what am I supposed to do about it?” asked Archer still with the thoughts of easily facing a Court-Martial on his mind.

“Mate with her Captain,” answered Phlox, “out of

all the humans on Enterprise she chose you, she wants you to love her Captain, like she loves you; she wants you to help her survive. Don’t let her down, if you do, she’ll die and you’ll never forgive yourself.”

“Send her here Doctor,” replied Jonathan, “I don’t want her to die, and the truth is; I do love her, have for along time. I only married Hoshi because she was human and I couldn’t think of a way to fully get her to stay here on Enterprise during the Borg crisis three years ago, I need her skills as a Linguists so I married her out of love yes, but mostly so I could keep her here aboard this ship.”

“Oh,” said Phlox. “Sometimes that’s what I thought because I’ve noticed how you’ve always looked at T’Pol, especially when you’re with her in Sickbay and when she was naked under that surgical blanket after she got shot in the thigh on Coridan.” Flashing back to that moment in his mind, Phlox almost forgot why he had come to see the Captain again, but after a minute or two of retuning back to reality, he started to speak again, “I’ll send her here, you just make sure you take good care of her, this is her moment of need… and she needs and wants you.” He then turned and headed back to Sickbay.

As soon as Phlox returned to Sickbay, he got a hypospray and filled it with medication to get T’Pol back on her feet so she could get to Jonathan in his quarters. Once the hypospray was ready, Phlox touched it to the unconscious Vulcan woman’s neck

injecting the medicine into her bloodstream. After a few minutes T’Pol was back on her feet only she was still feeling the drastic urge to mate getting stronger and stronger and ready to overwhelm her, she needed to get to Jonathan and fast only she didn’t know yet that he had agreed to mate with her and save her life. So she decided she had to know, she turned to Phlox and asked “Did you talk to Jonathan? What did he say? Will he mate with me or let me die?”

Phlox looked at her in the eyes and said sincerely “Yes T’Pol, I talked to Jonathan, and he said he’s willing to help you, I told him you’re in love with him and the surprising thing is he’s in love with you too T’Pol, he has been for along time now, so he said “Yes, he will mate with you”. He’s waiting for you in his quarters.”

“Thanks Doctor,” said T’Pol, “and…., he’s been in love with me for sometime? Then why did he marry Hoshi?”

“You should ask him that once your Pon’ Farr’s ended,” answered Phlox.

“Thanks again Doctor,” said T’Pol as she turned and left Sickbay running all the way to Jonathan’s quarters.

When she got to Jonathan’s quarters, she didn’t even ring the door chime, instead she touched the button that would open the door, allowed it to open and walked. Meanwhile, in another end of his quarters, near the shower, Jon thought he heard the

door open so he returned to that room and when he saw T’Pol standing there he said “I thought it was you.”

She didn’t even answer him but instead she walked closer to him and let her Pon’ Farr fever take full control of her body and her actions as she tore Jonathan’s uniform off and almost to threads, she then did the same to herself fully giving into the mating fever that Vulcans before her had always done when they successfully found their mate, only for them those mates were mostly other Vulcans for Vulcans rarely mated outside their race for mating led to Bondmates and Bondmates led to children.

With T’Pol fully wrapped in her mating fever, Jonathan wrapped his arms around her into a strong embracing hug and held her close to him feeling each other’s warmth. As T’Pol felt Jonathan’s warmth and his hands touching her Vulcan body, it sent shivers down her spine. Once Jonathan had T’Pol in his arms, he planted his lips to hers and gave her first real passionate kiss, an act that was never done on Vulcan for instead they kissed by pressing two fingers to their mate’s two fingers on their right hands in an embrace like gesture. T’Pol’s first kiss that she had truly had was with Trip years earlier but she tried to forget that for that guy was the worst jerk that she could have ever had, at least this time this kiss sent more shivers and even ripples down her spine as it continued.

Being so close to her lover, her mate, T’Pol felt

the urges from her Pon’ Farr getting even stronger than they had been just minutes earlier. She was totally ready to mate; her only thought was “Would Jonathan want to be with me after my Pon’ Farr has ended?” In the back of her mind, she somehow knew that the answer to that question was “yes”, but she couldn’t allow that to happen because she knew that if it did, her lover would be court marshaled and would also lose Enterprise, his father’s engine, his legacy.

Breaking their embrace T’Pol looked Jonathan in the eyes and said “I hate to break our contact, but I think its time for you to take me to bed Jon, make love to me, mate with me, my Pon’ Farr fever is getting even stronger, I can’t hold back these urges any longer, they need release, I feel them boiling in my blood; and you’re the only one that will be able to help me through it… you’re my lover.”

“Maybe your right,” said Jon leading her to the bedroom thinking she was right about what should be done. Once they were near the bed, T’Pol decided it was time to give herself freely to her lover, to give into all her urges and desires, to allow him to get even closer to her being.. to her essence. So she allowed him to take full control as he helped her out of her Vulcan robes and carefully laid her down…

*****

Hours later after awakening from along sleep,

T’Pol looked to her left side at her lover and said “I’m going to need you everyday for the next six days until my Pon’ Farr ends.”

“I thought that,” replied Jonathan as his lover rolled onto her side and tried to get some more sleep since her lover’s snoring kept her awake for some parts of the night, but even with that little flaw; she still loved him no matter what. “Just too bad we can’t be together forever,” she thought, “then again maybe he’ll think of something so we can, either way, I do love him even if I don’t show it emotionally .”

As T’Pol was thinking that, Jonathan had something similar going through his head. “Why didn’t I act on these feelings for T’Pol? Look at her, she clearly wants me and I’ve been blind to it because of being in command, I’m her superior but she is also my Second in Command, she reports to me directly, but even if she didn’t it would still be considered fraternization. Well to hell with those regulations, I want to be with her and that‘s what I’m going to do, if she’ll let me that is.”

TWENTY-THREE

USS Enterprise NCC 1701-E at Empok Nor 2376

Aboard the Romulan Warbird Hidden Talon the

invasion’s commander sat in the briefing room listening to his crews’ nonsense. From every word they said he knew they wanted to leave Empok Nor before the Federation’s bigger fleets arrived. As he was thinking about giving the order to retreat, his second in command contacted him from the bridge and said “Commander, a Federation starship has entered the system, it’s the USS Enterprise NCC 1701-E and she’s n course for Empok Nor.”

“Order our ships to follow us out of the system before the Enterprise detects us,” ordered Commander C’Lar.

“Understood Commander,” replied the Romulan Sub-Commander. Once he ended his communication with C’Lar, he past the information onto the ship’s helmsman and the commanders of the other vessels.

After about fifteen point seven minutes, the

Romulan fleet left the meters of the Enterprise without being detected. Since the crew aboard Enterprise didn’t detect the Romulans, they continued onto and docked with Empok Nor. Once Enterprise docked, some of her crewmembers went aboard the station to get her ready for more ships to arrive, all the while Empress Donatra’s fleet of now uncloaked warbirds stayed in constant orbit around the station on heightened alert and constant vigilance. So finally the mission that began two days earlier and cost the life of the crews of three Federation starships, the station was secured and the true mission could now begin.

Aboard Empok Nor Captain Picard got a report about the attack from Captain T’Lin, the only surviving captain to be in the battle. He learned that T’Lin’s vessel was only destroyed because she had it intercept the Apollo so the weaker ship would be more protected. She then said “I should have remembered what my father and mother taught me well on the first Enterprise in 2163 after I was born, but I let my emotional human side get in the way of my logic.”

“It’s not your fault T’Lin,” replied Picard, “you were just doing your duty as a Starfleet Officer.”

“Tell that to the dead,” replied T’Lin, “my parents would be disappointed in me.”

“They would be proud of you T’Lin,” replied Picard, “anyways you’ll be able to ask them, your

orders are to remain aboard Enterprise, we’re one of the first ships to enter the temporal rift and go to the year 2163.”

“I shouldn’t tell them anything,” said T’Lin, “it could ruin the future; it might even prevent me from being born.”

“I don’t think that will happen T’Lin, because weren’t you conceived before the Votality threat?” asked Picard.

“No, NX-02 Columbia was destroyed, then Hoshi died, then days later my mother T’Pol had her first Pon’ Farr and days later after my father was Court-Martialled they were married and on their wedding night, I was unexpectedly conceived,” answered T’Lin.

“Then we should set our time traveling date to be at least three months after your conception, that way nothing will change involving your birth,” decided Picard. “You’re dismissed Captain.”

………

At Deep Space Nine, a massive fleet was being

formed. From all over the Federation and Klingon space hundreds of starships were massing at almost every operational starbase. Once each fleet was fully formed, they all set a rendezvous course at Deep Space Nine.

Inside the Gamma Quadrant the Dominion that wasn’t loyal to Odo were massing a two hundred

thousand five hundred fifty ship fleet with the fleets that he Votality and the Sernaix were massing. After about four point nine-nine hours a fleet of over ten billion ships were on the move heading straight for the wormhole and Deep Space Nine.

At the end of the wormhole on the Bajoran/Alpha Quadrant side near DS9, the wormhole started to fluctuate opening and closing over a dozen times, an effect that wasn’t normal and would mean that there was high traffic of vessels passing through it from the Gamma Quadrant side, but nothing to indicate that as the reason appeared on DS9’s sensors.

Seeing all this on her sensors then running a few unconventional scans and tests, Dax looked up from her station and said “There’s definitely vessels coming through, but their exiting the wormhole in 2163 and also one hundred years later in Kirk’s time in 2263, but sir, there are many Jem’Hadar warships with the Votality and Sernaix vessels. No sign of any Borg or Fury ships yet, but that’s just a matter of time.”

“Alert Worf to ready the Defiant for immediate departure,” ordered Sisko, “we’re going to meet the rest of the fleets and head straight for Empok Nor now.”

“Understood Captain,” replied Dax sending the alert through out the station.

“Oh one other thing Old Man,” started Sisko, “you’re going to the Defiant too.”

“I’ll be there soon,” replied Dax as she got up

from her station heading towards the turbolift to the Habitat Ring and the crew’s quarters where she decided to change into a newer and cleaner Starfleet Uniform. Only first after all her clothes were off, she decided to massage her spots from the top of her head all the way past her neck and thighs to her end of her long legs.

TWENTY-FOUR

Empok Nor “Sirs, the Defiant and over six hundred ships are

entering the system, all from Deep Space Nine,” said Ensign Balard to Captains T’Lin and Picard, “they appear to be the second, fifth and ninth fleets. Also the first, third, sixth, eighth and tenth fleets are being detected on long range sensors, they have the same number of ships as the fleets that have just arrived.”

“Is the Koval and Construction Ships with them?” asked Picard curiously and hoping that they were there or the mission would still have to be delayed.

“Yes,” answered Balard. “Order them to begin constructing a Temporal

Research Facility,” ordered Picard, “and send a message to Sisko telling him to have the Defiant dock at pylon four next to the Enterprise.”

“Aye sir,” replied Balard as he went about his assigned duties all the while getting angry at receiving so much orders because his species wasn’t

used to it and also his hairy back was aggravating him, it wasn’t his fault though that he was a Tellarite. So to complete his latest orders he first opened a channel to the Defiant and told Sisko to dock by the Enterprise, he then opened a channel to the fifty-nine construction ships and gave them the order to start constructing the Temporal Research Facility.

As the construction ships got to work on the Temporal Research Facility, the many Starfleet Captains had a secret meeting discussing what to do with the Enterprise NX-01 when they were to find her. Each captain had their own idea. Picard thought the Enterprise should protect the NX-01. Sisko thought the Defiant should be around the NX-01 well cloaked and only decloak whenever the historical ship was under attack. The final voiced idea came from Captain T’Lin who suggested, “How about we just bring my parents’ ship here to our time line after we find her.”

“To risky,” said Picard and Sisko together, and then Sisko continued “the NX-01 wasn’t designed to withstand the stress of time travel through a rift or portal. She has done it before through intervention through Daniels and that ended the Temporal Cold War when Enterprise stopped Vosk in 1944.”

“That’s why one of our bigger ships tractors her into their shuttle bay then returns through the temporal rift were going to make and brings the NX-01 to DS9 where she’ll be released and docked to the station,” stated T’Lin.

“Still no,” rebuked Picard, “and that’s because her

crew will get to see the future and if that happens when they return it will contaminate the time line that will result in a drastic change that will affect the future and may even prevent this conversation and this mission from happening. Anyways, Starfleet of 2163 will notice the Enterprise is missing and presume she has been destroyed, then when she miraculously reappears when the war ends, it would just be to confusing how she has returned undamaged.”

“The time line will be contaminated either way Jean-Luc,” said Sisko, “that’s because no matter what we do to hid them, some of our ships will be seen.”

“That problem can easily be remedied,” said Picard, “we can erase their ships’ main computers with an encrypted pulse wave so everything regarding our ships and the future is erased forever.”

“That’s true,” regarded the other captains, “but what about the crewmembers that see our ships or even crewmembers with their own eyes?”

“Doctor Beverly Crusher is working on a way to erase their memories in the Enterprise Sickbay as we speak,” said Picard, “I’m hopefully that by the time this all over, she will have succeeded in that mission.”

After all their discussions and rebuking ideas, the Captains finally came up with a plan that they would follow, a plan when weighing it out among all the

others was actually truthfully the best plan to save the Enterprise NX-01 and to make sure she became a museum ship like she was supposed to. “We’ll follow Captain Picard’s suggestion, but both the Enterprise and the Defiant will protect the Enterprise NX-01. That way she’ll have two strong vessels protecting her and we will have to let her crew know that we’re there to protect her and that we are from the Federation in the future that of which we will have to prove and that’s why we’re going to have T’Lin devise how to do that, but we can show them some of our historical databases and information from classified covert operations before the founding of the fledgling Coalition of Planets in 2155 and of your father, Captain Jonathan Archer’s assistance in forming the United Federation of Planets in 2161.”

*****

With fifty-nine construction ships building one

Temporal Research Facility, the job that would have taken anywhere’s from months to years to build was totally complete in five weeks and two days. After testing the facility by jumping a cloaked Defiant five weeks into the past, the Starfleet Officers at Empok Nor knew their facility worked and was fully operational, it was deemed fully operational and was commissioned as Starbase 0010-A with Empok Nor

becoming a Federation space station deemed Deep Space Ten.

Three weeks after the commissioning ceremonies, over twenty-four hundred Starfleet vessels, two thousand Klingon warships, and five hundred Imperial Romulan State Warbirds were ready to use the Temporal Research Facility to create the temporal rift and time travel to the year 2163 and assist the Enterprise NX-01 in what would hopefully become a major victory for the United Federation of Planets and their allies.

INTERLUDE

Enterprise NX-01 2163

“Captain’s Starlog May 12, 2163, I guess were lucky that Enterprise wasn’t destroyed by the Klingons earlier. We’re going to have to keep up a better guard now that they know that we’re back in service. If their in allegiance with the Romulans and if the Klingons and Romulans are involved in the destruction of both the Rosetta and Columbia then we’re already in more danger than I’m comfortable for. I’ve already lost one wife; I’m not going to lose my new girlfriend too. As of right now, the Enterprise is on course for Jupiter Station for a small Weaponry Systems Refit. The upgrades will be over seen by my Tactical Officer Lieutenant Malcolm Reed, my Chief Weapons Officer. I can only hope that these upgrades don’t take that long. If they do, the Klingons could easily spread word that we’re back in service and if that news gets out to the Romulans, well lets just say that the treaty that created the Neutral Zone be damned, they’ll be coming for this

ships first for we alone executed the terrible attack on their fleet of drone ships with assistance from Columbia now with her destroyed we’re down to only the NX-07 Poseidon and the NX-Yon Interceptor. I hate to admit it, but we’re out numbered now. End log.”

In his Ready Room Captain Jonathan Archer

wasn’t his normal self. T’Pol’s Pon’ Farr had ended earlier that morning and she had told him that she had felt the urge to mate fading. Now he wasn’t sure if she would want to continue the relationship that had begun seven days earlier, a relationship that had totally evolved into full fledged feelings for each other. Feelings that meant there was no going back now, or at least he thought. All he wanted was to continue their relationship but he wasn’t sure if she would or if she would rather transfer. Looking over at his desk he noticed the chronometer on it read that it was almost noon “ship’s time” so he headed back to the bridge to be in his rightful place.

Once on the bridge, he went over to T’Pol at her station and asked “Commander, will you join me for lunch?”

“I’d be delighted,” answered T’Pol with a hint of happiness in her voice as she left her station and headed to the turbolift with Jonathan at her side.

Well inside the turbolift, T’Pol spoke up knowing that what Jonathan was thinking needed an answer, so she voiced her concern. “Jon, we need to talk.”

“About what?” Jonathan almost yelled at her

seeming like he was very angry at her, but then again she wasn’t sure.

“About if I transfer or we go back to being just friends,” answered T’Pol, “for you know we can’t continue our relationship, you’ll lose your command.”

“I don’t care,” replied Jonathan, he then thought the rest not wanting to voice it because deep down he knew that if T’Pol knew it she would definitely continue to say no to continuing their relationship. “So I’ll just not make Admiral, it doesn’t matter that my Starfleet career ends early; I’ve already completed my first dream, commanding Earth’s first warp five starship, the starship with my father’s engine.”

Moments later, the two of them walked into the Captain’s mess where the Steward took their orders then headed back to Chef so the meals could be prepared. After he was gone, Jonathan and T’Pol continued their discussion, but during that time while the Steward was around, T’Pol couldn’t believe what she had just heard her lover say, “He’s willing to give up Enterprise to keep me, but our two governments probably won’t allow it,” she thought.

To Jonathan’s mind he could hear what T’Pol was thinking as if she was speaking it. She could hear his thoughts and she knew he was confused as “hell” as he would put it. She would have to explain.

“Jon,” she started, “I know you can hear my

thoughts, I can hear yours too. That’s because Vulcans mate for life and because you were able to satisfy my Pon’ Farr, we are compatible, that’s why we hear each others’ thoughts. It’s because when Vulcans mate, they form a physic bond with their partner, they become what we call Bondmates. When I told Phlox that I choose you, I never told him that you would become my Bondmate for life because he might have decided it would be a bad idea for you to hear my thoughts and also make executive command decisions, for he could think that it would interfere with you making decisions dealing with mine, yours, ours, or the ship’s safety.”

“I don’t think I fully understand T’Pol,” replied Jonathan, “but even though I don’t, I don’t think Phlox would ever have done that.”

“I know,” said T’Pol. “I will have to help you Aisha,” thought T’Pol.

“Aisha?” thought Jonathan. “Beloved, my adored one,’ replied T’Pol this time

saying it out loud instead of thinking it. Just as T’Pol was about to add more to her Aisha

definition, the Steward came back and placed her Plomeek Broth soup in front of her and Jonathan’s steak in front of him, a food that made T’Pol’s stomach twirl. So since they had their food, together they decided to continue their conversation through their mental bond that Jon still needed to get used to, so Jonathan decided to send a thought to T’Pol

first thinking “T'Pol, are you willing to continue our relationship or will you end it just because of regulations and my possible loss of command?”

“I’ll continue it Jon,” thought T’Pol, “after all I realize from hearing your thoughts on our way her that you’re willing to give up Enterprise and your career for me.”

“I heard you thinking that T’Pol, but I didn’t understand it then, I thought I was just wishing you were thinking that or something,” thought Jon. He then realized something else and sent it to her as a thought too, “I will have to let Admiral Black know about us; hopefully he’ll let me stay in command of Enterprise.”

“Let’s finish our lunch and worry about that later,” thought T’Pol, “and anyways, I feel we should take it slow when it comes to talking to Admiral Black, because if I remember correctly, he’s Admiral Carson Black and he didn’t even think you should have been put in command of Enterprise, he thought Captain A.G. Robinson should have been given command.”

“You’re right T’Pol,” thought Jonathan, “anyways, A.G. died in a mountain climbing accident years ago, if you remember, you and I were alone in a shuttle searching for a Dark Matter Nebula after I got that news.”

“I remember,” thought T’Pol, “and I loved being alone with you in that shuttle, it was very peaceful and scientific at the same time.”

“I’m glad you feel that way T’Pol,” thought Jon,

“because I felt the same way, only I also just wanted to kiss you and hold you close in my arms.”

“Well what’s stopping you from sweeping me off my feet into your arms right now Jon?” thought T’Pol.

“One, your sitting and eating,” thought Jon, “but we’re also in the Mess hull, anyone can see. Two, I wish you were in my quarters right now so I could carry you to…”

“…the bed,” T’Pol finished his thought for him by thinking it herself well looking at him directly in the eyes and wishing the same thing he was.

………

Captain Archer’s Ready Room Later That Day

After a while of pacing back and forth in his office not wanting to do what he knew had to, Jon sat down in front of his desk and prepared to open the channel to Starfleet Command but he then hesitated. From the bridge; T’Pol projected a thought to Jonathan’s mind saying “Don’t be afraid Jon, I’m with you even when I’m not next to you, so don’t be afraid. Just contact the admiral, all will be fine.”

With that little confidence from T’Pol, Jonathan said, “Computer tap into Echo One and open a

secure channel to Admiral Black at Starfleet Command.”

When the admiral’s face appeared on his computer view screen, Archer said “Admiral.”

“Your report isn’t due for the next four days,” said Admiral Black, “this must be a social call.”

“I’m romantically involved with a member of my crew,” replied Jonathan.

“Who is it Jon?” The Admiral demanded to know. “I’d like this to remain confidential,” replied

Archer. “I can’t honor that request,” Black said. “It’s important that you do,” countered Jonathan. “You’ll have to tell me first,” said Black, “then

we’ll see.” Archer gave a sigh and said “Commander T’Pol.” “What did you say?” asked Black not fully

believing what he heard. “Commander T’Pol,” repeated Jonathan. Black looked like a bomb had been dropped on

him. “Your Vulcan First Officer?” He asked. “Yes sir,” answered Archer. “Was she willing?” asked Black. Again Archer replied “Yes sir.” “You know both the Vulcans and the Humans are

prejudice and that will interfere with your relationship.”

“T’Pol isn’t going to tell the Vulcans,” said Jon, “anyways, they don’t have the same rules regarding fraternization.”

“It could raise diplomatic issues Captain,” said the

Admiral. “Maybe, maybe not, T’Pol and I are prepared for

that,” said Jon, “if that happens, we’ll leave Starfleet.”

“How did this happen?” asked Black. “Well I’ve always have been attracted to T’Pol

since the Vulcans assigned her to Enterprise,” said Jon. “An opportunity presented itself to me through her mating cycle, she chose me and I accepted.”

“Is this mating cycle over?” “Yes Admiral.” “But you want to continue the relationship?” “Yes sir, both of us do.” “Does your crew know about you two or did it

happen discreetly?” “Only the Doctor knows; he’s the one who help

set us together.” “I haven’t decided what to do yet Jon,” started

Black. He took a breath then continued, “That’s because I got a few questions that could most likely effect my decision depending on your answers.”

“Understood,” replied Jonathan, “just ask them, and I’ll try to answer them as best as possible.”

“First, what if a dangerous situation arises? Would you be able to send her into the fray?” asked Black.

Archer knew these questions would come up. “I’ve thought about that, I would, but it wouldn’t be easy.”

“Would you sacrifice her life to save the crew?”

asked Black hoping the answer to this question would be the one he didn’t want to hear so he could have an excuse to remove Jonathan from command.

“I don’t know if I could make that decision. But I know her well enough to understand she would do it of her own volition,” answered Archer.

“Dam,” thought Admiral Black, “not the answer I was hoping for, he got me there. T’Pol’s the type of woman who will give up her life without being ordered to, Dam.” Then he thought of another question that he could trap Archer with, “Would you ask another crewman to sacrifice themselves for her?”

Jonathan shifted uncomfortably in his chair and at the same time in the back of his mind, he heard a thought from T’Pol thinking, “It’s ok Aisha, just answer the question.” So he said, “It depends on the situation. If I thought it was in the best for the ship and the crew, then yes. I certainly would give my life for hers.”

“Would she have more of a sway on your judgment, Jon?” asked the Admiral, but he think he already knew the answer.

Jon knew the answer to that and he didn’t want to lie so he said, “probably.”

“Would she affect your job performance?” “No,” answered Jon, “neither she nor I will let

that happen.”

“How would your crew take the news about you

and her being in a relationship?” “Some might be happy for us like my bridge

officers, well others because of their prejudice towards Vulcans will not be,” answered Jon. Well from the bridge T’Pol sent another thought to him, “You’re right about the bridge officers being happy for us, but there are some on other decks too that would be, like Doctor Phlox for example.”

“What if I asked you to stop seeing her?” asked Admiral Black.

Archer’s face fell as he tried to hold back the tears, “Is that your decision?”

“Not yet.” “I’d probably leave Starfleet,” said Jon, “because I

love her and I would want to be with her.” “Do you think the Commander and you will have

children?” asked Admiral Black who didn’t even think it was possible for an interspecies relationship to produce offspring.

“I don’t even know if that’s possible,” answered Jonathan. He then sent a thought to T’Pol asking “Is it?”

T’Pol replied within seconds thinking “The Vulcan Science Directorate has done extensive research on that topic and they give it a 99.1% chance that a Cooper-based and an Iron-based life form can even mate, that leaves a .9% chance that the genes from our two species can combine into a child. So I’d have to say it’s impossible, but possible with low odds of

success for a Vulcan and a human to ever get pregnant. Sorry Jon, I know you wanted to have children and I do too, but it just physically isn’t possible.”

Admiral Black speaking again got Jonathan’s mind back onto the topic at hand. “If I let you continue your relationship, it could get into the media, the Vulcans will find out and most likely want you removed, her removed or both. That could mean that you and T’Pol would have no planet to call home, I hope that doesn’t happen because it could also lead to the scrapping of the NX Program, something we both don’t want to see happening because we now actually got a fleet forming out there, Starfleet isn’t just a name anymore, it’s a reality and we’re even almost ready to launch a few more new Daedalus-class ships soon. This is going to be so bad Archer, there’s a fleet slowly forming out there and its all because of everything you and your crew has done throughout the years since you first launched in 2155, and that goes for your Vulcan and Denobulan crewmembers too.”

“I don’t want to see that happen Admiral,” replied Jonathan, “but T’Pol’s government might not even want that. They might be fine with this whole thing anyways, it’s a way to draw our two species closer together, maybe in a way no one ever thought possible. I’m fully willing to go for it as is T’Pol.”

“Well I can remove you from command right now Jon and prevent this from getting out so that doesn't

happen, but I’m not,” started Admiral Black, “but don’t let your crew find out either and that goes for your ship’s doctor too. Keep him out of it even though he brought you two together, you and T’Pol can continue your relationship, but if any of your crew finds out, re-contact me immediately.”

“Yes sir,” replied Jon. “And Jon, would your father approve of your

relationship with a Vulcan if he was alive?” asked Black.

“I think he would,” answered Jon, “If he knew I was in love and was happy.”

The Admiral nodded then said, “Well then Jon, good luck to the two of you, Admiral Black out.” The channel and Archer’s screen then went blank.

Jon sat back in his chair and expelled more air. At the same time, a thought came across his mind from T’Pol, “Don’t worry Aisha, all will be well.”

………

Two days later on the bridge as Archer was sitting

in his command chair, he could sense T’Pol hard at work at her Science Station taking readings on the nearby nebula. Sending a thought to her mind he said “We can take a shuttlepod and get closer if you wish.”

“Thank you,” thought T’Pol, “but I’m getting some strange readings here. I don’t think it would be wise.”

“Could it be a ship?” thought Jonathan.

“Possibly,” thought T’Pol, “but I’ve never seen

anything like this before.” “Then we’re taking a closer look, but we’re taking

Enterprise in just to be safe,” thought Jonathan. Out loud he said “Ensign Mayweather, set a course for that nebula, but don’t take us in, keep us on its outer rim.”

“Aye sir,” replied Ensign Mayweather all the while wondering why they weren’t going into the nebula.

“Lieutenant Reed, once we’re at the nebula’s outer rim, fire a Sensor Probe into it,” ordered Archer.

“Aye sir,” replied Lieutenant Reed wondering why they were heading for the nebula when T’Pol didn’t even mention it except for hours earlier in the Situation Room during that mornings daily briefing. Even though he didn’t really understand his orders, Reed readied the Sensor Probe for launch.

Ten minutes later the Enterprise was next to the nebula and after the Sensor Probe was launched, all hell broke lose within the nebula. First the hiding Jem’Hadar warship that came through the wormhole in 2376 with the massive combined fleet of the Totality, the Sernaix, the Dominion, and the Furies couldn’t be discovered so they destroyed the Sensor Probe and came at Enterprise.

At tactical Reed said “Vessel approaching, I’m detecting an energy build up, I think it’s a power up sequence for their weapons. They might be getting ready to fire, I’m not sure though.”

“On screen,” ordered Archer as he leaned

forward in his command chair in the center of the bridge as the Enterprise’s main viewer switched from the starfield directly in front of her to that of the approaching ship coming out of the nebula at high impulse.

On the main viewer appeared a very strange looking starship that all the bridge officers could tell was a heavily armed battle cruiser. Jonathan looked over at T’Pol to see if she recognized it or if her people had ever come across anything like it.

“I’m sorry Captain,” said T’Pol, “there is no record of a vessel like that in the Vulcan Database.”

“Polarize the hull plating,” ordered Archer preparing for the worst.

All of a sudden Reed spoke up with the worst possible news, “Their firing, both an energy beam weapon and torpedoes.”

As the energy beam weapon and torpedoes hit Enterprise, her hull plating failed. “Hull plating down,” screamed Reed over the explosions. “If we’re hit again, we’ll be destroyed for sure.”

“Send out a distress call,” ordered Archer before he remembered that the Communications Station hadn’t been manned since Hoshi’s untimely death, so he had no choice but to go to the comm. and do it himself because he didn’t want anyone else to be taken away from their regular duties just to save his ship.

“This is the Federation starship Enterprise, we’re

under attack by an unknown alien vessel, and are requesting emergency assistance. Repeat, we’re under attack, requesting assistance.”

Seconds later Reed spoke again saying “Incoming vessel on a course from this system’s sun. Their targeting the vessel firing on us.”

T’Pol looked into her viewfinder and what she saw shocked her. She enhanced the ships forward section and magnified it then put her findings on the main view screen saying the other vessel is called the USS Enterprise NCC 1701 and she has a Federation insignia on her secondary hull.”

The other Enterprise continued firing on the Jem’Hadar vessel as the NX-01 pivoted around and returned fire scoring a direct phase cannon blast on the enemy vessels forward hull but because the NX-01’s phase cannons had a minimal yield fire power it had little effect on the Jem’Hadar’s shields as they only rippled into view as the beams hit their mark. As the two Federation starships continued their barrage, it became apparently clear that the two ships would have to combine their firing targets into one target. On both ships, both Spock and Reed came to the same conclusion, and they both told their respective captains, “Captain, if we can get the other Federation ship to target their weapons in the same spot as us, then I believe we can destroy this sonuvabitch of a ship.” Their respective captains both replied “Let’s hope they’ll cooperate with us,

get to it.” Together with minimal fire power and primitive weapons the two Enterprises managed to pull off the joint maneuver without contacting the other ship, destroying their first Jem’Hadar warship of the war. With the Jem’Hadar destroyed; the USS Enterprise NCC 1701 set a course and returned to that system’s star and vanished using what would eventually be called a Slingshot Maneuver returning to 2253.

………

“Damage report,” ordered Archer. “Minor damage to the saucer section,” said Reed,

“but the Engineering Section did sustain major damage. We won’t be able to go to warp for a few days, maybe even a week or more.”

Jonathan turned to T’Pol and said “Get down to Engineering and assist Lieutenant Kelby in repairing the engines, I have a feeling we should leave this area fast, we don’t want to get caught by another one of those vessels and I don’t think we’re going to get any help this time if we do.”

“Aye Captain,” replied T’Pol, as she thought “I hate engineering; my area is science not engines.”

“I know,” thought Jonathan back to her, “but sometimes science comes in handy when involving the matter antimatter reaction.”

………

When T’Pol entered Engineering, Lieutenant

Kelby wasn’t happy to see her at all. He especially hated it when the Captain sent her down to assist in the repairs. This was because Kelby was the type of engineer that liked to do the engine repairs on his own or with the rest of his team, and on the top of the list of people and beings he didn’t want to work with was Vulcans. That was because he blamed them for the problems humanity faced with the Warp Five Program after First Contact almost one hundred years earlier.

………

Commander T’Pol was standing next to the Warp

Seven Engine when Engineering was rocked by an explosion, an explosion that turned the railing into jagged shards, one of which flew at her and penetrated one of her Vulcan hearts almost killing her. Up on the bridge, Jonathan couldn’t hear T’Pol’s thoughts anymore. Then Reed said, “Explosion in Engineering, one major injury, the rest are just minor cuts, scraps and burns.”

Jon didn’t want to hear the next words fearing the worst but he asked anyways, “Who’s the major injury?”

“Commander T’Pol,” answered Reed, “she’s been taken to Sickbay along with the others.”

“You have the bridge Mr. Reed,” said Archer, “I’ll

be in Sickbay.”

………

Sickbay 1300 Hours

When Jonathan walked into Sickbay, everyone

down there that was injured in Engineering was surprised to see him, for none of them had ever seen him come down to Sickbay before when crewmembers were injured because it was a normal part of Command for crewmen to get injured and die. The only one not surprised to see Archer was Doctor Phlox who walked up to him and said “She’s alive, but the rod penetrated one of her hearts. I’ll need your bond with her to help remove it.”

As Jonathan walked over to the curtained off Bio-bed that the unconscious bearly alive T’Pol was on, he felt relieved when he could hear her weakened thoughts. Hearing these weakened thoughts gave Jonathan hope because he knew T’Pol was going to fight to survive. So to her mind he projected the thought, “I’m here T’Pol, I’m going to help you, you’ll be alright. Hang in there, for me, for us.”

Archer then turned to Phlox and said “I can hear her thoughts Doctor, but their weak. Let’s get this rod out of her.”

“I’ll pull,” said Phlox, “you tell me what she’s

feeling.” “Alright Doctor,” nodded Jonathan. Phlox moved his hand towards the rod and bearly

touched when Jonathan gave a wince and yelled “STOP!” apparently in lots of pain.

Phlox looked at him and asked “How bad was it?” “Not that bad, it was just a sharp pain,” answered

Jon, “but it’s gone now, and the rod isn’t in her heart from what I’m feeling, its just grazed the outer edge of it.”

“Let’s try this again,” said Phlox as he attempted to put his hands on the rod for a second time. This time Jonathan winced again but didn’t show any other signs of pain meaning T’Pol wasn’t in that much pain this time. So this time, without any problems Doctor Phlox was able to pull the rod out of T’Pol without anymore problems.

Miraculously after the rod was removed from T’Pol’s chest near her grazed heart, her second heart took up the work of pumping blood and oxygen throughout her body keeping her alive. Luckily within minutes the part of her heart that did get punctured stopped gushing green blood and the wound was ready for Phlox’s Osmotic Ell to cartelize making even her damaged heart would be as good as new, as if she was just born.

With T’Pol semiconscious and still behind the curtained off area, Jonathan leaned in towards her face and kissed her on her lips, only after he finished

kissing her he realized that even with the curtain the other injured crewmen in Sickbay could see what he had just down. “Well,” he thought to himself, “I don’t care if they saw, I’ll have to let Admiral Black know but even I do get Court-Martialled, T’Pol and I will leave Starfleet so we can stay together.” With that on his mind, he leaned back towards T’Pol and kissed her again and thought “I love you Aisha. Hang in there, everything will be alright. I’ll be back later.” He then left Sickbay heading to his Ready Room to contact Admiral Black or the second time that day since earlier he sent him his weekly report.

As Jon left Sickbay, T’Pol sent him a thought, “I cherish thee, don’t keep what Admiral Black tells you secret from me.” Hearing that in the back of his mind, Jonathan felt happy, but at the same time, he knew T’Pol was in no condition to deal with what ever Black was to decide so he decided to conceal that from his thoughts so she would never pick up on it; he would just tell her when he felt she was well enough to handle it.

………

When Jonathan arrived in his Ready Room he

quickly sat down at his desk and activated his communications computer with a direct secured channel to Admiral Black and got ready for the worst. Once the Admiral’s face appeared on the view screen Jon said, “I got some bad news Admiral.”

“What?” asked Black. “I just came from Sickbay,” said Archer. “Don’t tell me, your Vulcan is pregnant?” asked

Black. “No,” replied Jon, “there was an explosion in

Engineering, T’Pol was down there assisting with some damage repairs from an attack that we were in by an unknown vessel, and she was injured. I went to Sickbay to see her, and while there and behind a curtain, I kissed her twice even though I knew the others that were injured could easily see through the curtain.”

“So your crew knows about you two?” asked Black.

“Yes,” replied Jon. “You’re relieved of command, let Lieutenant Reed

know he’s in command, then go to your quarters,” said Black, “and before you do that, order Mayweather to set a course for Earth. I’ll have to take this to the Command Council to see if you’re to be brought up on charges. Admiral Black out.”

Once the Admiral gave his orders, Archer went to the bridge and said, “Ensign Mayweather, turn us around, set a course for Earth, maximum warp.”

Mayweather did as told and didn’t even get a chance to ask why they were going back because the Captain turned to Reed and said, “You are in command Lieutenant, until we get to Earth, Admiral Black will be contacting you soon, but right now your to confine me to my quarters.”

“Why do both of these things have to be done?”

asked Reed. “To see if I’m drummed out of Starfleet or not,”

said ex-Captain Archer under his breath but low enough that no one around him heard.

Reed hearing his Captain’s orders contacted a Security Detail who escorted Archer to his quarters but first they let him take a quick trip to Sickbay first. There he asked Phlox if T’Pol could be brought to his quarters on a stretcher because since he was going to be spending a lot of time there, he could look after her allowing the Bio-bed to be freed up. Phlox agreed and said “She’ll be readied and brought up in two hours Captain.

With that decision made, Jon went over to T’Pol and said, “When I kissed you earlier, the other injured crewmen saw me, I contacted Admiral Black, we’re on course for Earth, I’ve been confined to quarters, I’ve asked Phlox to send you there, I’ll be taking care of you.”

“I’m sorry I’ve been trouble,” said T’Pol, “if I didn’t get injured, this wouldn’t be happening, it’s my fault.”

“Don’t blame yourself T’Pol,” said Jonathan, “it’s my fault, I’m the one who kissed you when others could see.”

“Well ok,” said T’Pol, “but can I have a data pad?” “Yes, dear,” said Jonathan, he then got her one

from Phlox’s office and handed it to her wondering what she could want it for but decided not to ask

thinking it was just for research. “I’ll see you later when you’re brought to my quarters.” He then turned and was escorted out of Sickbay to his quarters by the Security Detail.

*****

T’Pol’s Plan Sickbay

Once Jonathan left her side and was confined to

his quarters, T’Pol wasn’t about to let him lose his command without a fight. She knew there had to be someone she could contact to help her out. She knew many ambassadors of many different species owned a lot to Jonathan and she was going to get them to help her somehow, someway. Of all the people she knew owed Jonathan a favor was Shran, but he had been retired from the Andorian Imperial Guard for sometime, but she knew she could contact him, along with the Tellarite Ambassador to Earth, but would they help her?

It was easy to contact Shran for even though the Andorians weren’t found of the Vulcans, they were both members of the Federation and anyways of all the Vulcans he had met, Shran didn’t mind T’Pol, maybe that was because she didn’t share the same views as her people and she served with Pink Skins instead of with her own people. Shran talking to T’Pol through the pad Jonathan gave her said, “I’ll

help you, but I hope you know this means Archer owes me now, we’re not even anymore.”

“Thanks Shran,” said T’Pol, “see you at Earth. T’Pol out.”

Next T’Pol knew she needed to contact the Tellarite Ambassador but there was going to be a problem with that, for the Tellarites only responded to violence and aggression. How could she as a Vulcan do that? Then she remembered what Archer told he Ambassador when Enterprise was taking the Tellarite Delegation to Babel for the Andorian-Tellarite Peace Talks, talks that were interrupted by the Romulans and their drone ships attacking vessels through camouflage making it look like someone else was responsible for the attacks and led to the beginnings of the Coalition of Planets when the alliance was formed between humans, Vulcans, Andorians and the Tellarites. That sentence she remembered Archer saying to that Ambassador was, “You’re even uglier than I remember, welcome aboard the Enterprise.” Knowing that because of her weakened state, T’Pol knew that Jonathan couldn’t hear her what was going through her head for all her thoughts had turned fussy to him since her injury and as a result had become harder to read at to far of a distance, so she thought to herself “I could use the same sentence Jon used to the Ambassador, but I can change it enough to fit my situation. It could work.”

So using the data pad in her hand, T’Pol opened a

channel to the Tellarite homeworld directly to the Ambassador Gral and said “Aga-klo-nash.”

Gral just smiled at the insult knowing Vulcan then he said “What do you want Vulcan?”

“Your help,” answered T’Pol, “it’s a matter of importance for the Federation not to mention maybe its very survival.”

“How?” asked Gral. “Captain Archer is about to be Court-Martialled,”

answered T’Pol, “he’s the one that said to you years ago “You’re even uglier than I remember, welcome aboard the Enterprise” when we brought you to Babel and the whole incident with the marauder ship.”

“Oh him,” replied Gral, “our people owe him for how he stopped the bickering between the Andorians and us.”

“Then help him please,” said T’Pol. “Why does he need help?” asked Gral. “He was fraternizing with a fellow crewmember,

an officer on this ship,” answered T’Pol, “I was that officer, and when I got injured, he kissed me in Sickbay well others could see. He had to tell the Admiral and now he’s about to be Court-Martialled and lose his command because of it. Please help us.”

“I’ll help,” replied Gral, “I'll threaten your Starfleet Command by saying that if Captain Archer doesn’t remain in Starfleet and in command of the

Enterprise; the Tellarite race will drop out of their precious Federation.”

“That will be great,” said T’Pol, “and that should work. Thank You Ambassador, see you at Earth then in about three days. Commander T’Pol out.”

“Well,” thought T’Pol to herself, “Jonathan should still be in command with what I just done. I should be proud of myself; I can be a sneaky Vulcan when I want to be.”

*****

Inside his quarters, Jonathan Archer stood looking

out his window watching the stars go by at warp. He knew that this might very well be the last time he ever even saw the stars like this, but he didn’t regret falling in love with T’Pol, nor did he regret mating with her to save her life, his only regret was that she and him wouldn’t be able to serve in Starfleet anymore aboard any starship unless they built their own and got their own crew. The one thing that was for sure was the fact that he would soon be Court-Martialled, The Command Council might find him guilty of fraternization or he could easily be found innocent and allowed to stay in command of Enterprise. He knew no matter what the outcome was going to be, the stars would always be calling out to him; calling him home into space and to boldly go where no human had gone before.

Hours past like days before Jonathan heard his

door chime and Doctor Phlox say into the door-comm “Captain, T’Pol is ready to be brought in, we’re at the door.”

Jonathan ran to the door and quickly pushed the unlocking button allowing the door to open to reveal Phlox and two nurses holding an anti-grav stretcher with T’Pol laying on it, he stepped aside and allowed them to enter. T’Pol was transferred to the bed in Archer’s quarters by the two nurses then they left, but Phlox stayed a while saying, “Captain, and I still mean Captain; no matter what they decide, you did the right thing, you saved her life, twice, and T’Pol’s grateful for that. I’m going to testify to that at your Court-Martial Captain, with any hope you’ll be back on the bridge of the Enterprise before too long.”

“Thanks Doctor,” said Archer, “I hope you’re right, but I should just face it, I broke regulations when I started fraternizing with T’Pol, it doesn’t matter that I saved her life, Command is just going to look at it as still fraternizing with another officer, they don’t care about the facts even if it involves the differences between our two species.”

From the bedroom T’Pol yelled “I can hear you two, or at least one side of your conversation, I’m trying to get some sleep here.”

“Sorry Aisha,” thought Jonathan, “I didn’t want to disturb you.”

“It’s my fault Captain,” said Phlox, “I’ll leave.” He then handed Jon a hypospray and said “give this to

her every three hours, its medicine to help her heal and this one’s her Nasal Agent.” He then handed Jon a different colored hypospray and left.

Once Phlox left, Jonathan went to T’Pol’s side and kissed her lips and asked “How do you feel?”

She replied “You tell me, you can hear my thoughts Aisha.”

“While you’re still in pain, tired and you want me to hold you while you sleep in my arms,” thought Jonathan back to her reading her thoughts.

T’Pol smiled at him and thought “You know me well, no wonder I’m still an emotional Vulcan.”

“Sure it’s not your exposure to Trellium-D?” thought Jon.

“No,” thought T’Pol back, “Now hold me and let me fall asleep Aisha.”

………

Sol System En Route to Earth Three Days Later

On the bridge of the starship Enterprise

Lieutenant Malcolm Reed didn’t like sitting in the Captain’s chair one bit. It wasn’t his place, no matter what it would always be Captain Archer’s place and he hoped that what ever it was that had gotten the Captain confined to quarters and put him in temporary command would hopefully truly be temporary. Then from his old station an alarm went

off, the officer now manning the station said, “Vessels approaching, Tellarite and also an Andorian warship, we’re being hailed by both.”

“Wonder what they want?” thought Reed as he said to the crewmen now manning the Communications’ Station, “Open to channel, put it on screen.”

“Where’s Captain Archer,” demanded to know both the Tellarite and the Andorian Captain.

“He’s indisposed at the moment,” answered Reed, “can I take a message?”

“Just put us through to him now,” demanded both Captains.

“Alright,” said Reed, he turned to the new Communications Officer and said, “reroute he transmission to Archer’s quarters, but monitor it.”

Once the Tellarite and Andorian noticed Archer’s face on their respective view screens, the Andorian stepped aside and another Andorian took center stage, that Andorian was Shran. He said “What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into now Pinkskin? I hear you’ve got a lover, a Vulcan, I may not fully like the species, but the little bird that told me this I can tolerate, and now because of it you could lose command, I want to see that not happen, so I’ve come to help.”

Jonathan looked at T’Pol who was sitting next to him and asked “What have you done?”

“I knew you could use a little help Jon,” started T’Pol, “so I got you some.”

“You sneaky Vulcan,” replied Jon, he then turned

back to the view screen on his desk’s computer and asked “How can you help Shran?”

“You’ll see Pinkskin,” replied Shran, “we’ll escort Enterprise to Earth. See you there Captain.”

Once Shran’s face vanished, the face of Tellarite Ambassador Gral appeared on the screen. He looked at Archer and said, “Captain Archer, a little Vulcan told me that you are about to lose command of your fine little Enterprise because you saved her life and are her lover. This cannot be aloud to happen, you’ve done so much for this Federation, your Starfleet and for many species throughout the sector, and I’m going to launch a protest to your government and Starfleet. See you at Earth; my ship will also escort Enterprise to Earth.”

“Thanks Gral,” said Archer. He then looked to T’Pol and said “You’re a very sneaky Vulcan, there’s more to you than I know, you’ve must of did this while you were in Sickbay when your thoughts were cloudy and murky, making them too hard for me to read.”

“Exactly,” said T’Pol, “it’s why I wanted the data pad.”

“Well thank you T’Pol,” said Jon, “I appreciate it; I hope all your hard work gets rewarded.”

Back on the bridge the officer manning Tactical for Reed said “The Andorian and Tellarite vessels have taken up flanking positions beside us.”

“Now why would they do that?” asked Reed.

“Don’t know,” said the new Communications

Officer, “but I do have something from those communications you asked me to monitor, you aught to hear these sir.”

“Transfer them to a data pad then bring them to the Ready Room, Commander,” ordered Reed. He then left the bridge and headed to Archer’s old Ready Room leaving Mayweather in command on the bridge for his first time and hopefully the last for the young helmsman’s place at the helm and not in the center chair, at least for now.

“The Captain is involved with T’Pol!” said the acting Communications Officer once they were in the Ready Room and the doors were closed behind them.

“Impossible,” said Reed, “Captain Archer would never do that, I don’t even think he’ll ever start another relationship after losing Hoshi so drastically like that by watching her shuttlepod explode like that and being unable to do anything about it. He’ll never marry again or get into another relationship.”

“He would when it would save her life,” said the acting Communications Officer, “whatever that means.”

“Well he has been looking at her bum a lot,” said Reed, “and he also knew about something being in that nebula three days ago before any of us did, nor did he and T’Pol look surprised when that alien vessel attacked us that same day.”

“That is the same day she got injured,” replied the

acting Communications Officer, “and I think the relationship was kept secret except Admiral Black must have known and didn’t want it discovered and somehow someone on this ship found out so Jonathan is about to be Court-Martialled and that’s why we’re heading to Earth, so he can be handed over to Starfleet Command’s Authorities.”

“Maybe,” replied Reed, “while we’ll find out soon, we’re almost home.”

The two of them then turned and headed towards the door returning to the bridge not giving their discussion another thought for they didn’t really think it was true. For Reed or the acting Communications Officer didn’t know that at that very moment T’Pol was with Jonathan in his quarters recovering, nor did they know that T’Pol was about to have some of her stuff moved to her lover’s quarters. Stuff that she considered private and personal like her IDIC that her mother gave her when she and Jonathan went into the Forge to find the Syrrannites because the Vulcan leader said they were responsible for the bombing of the Vulcan Earth Embassy in 2155, that attack killed Admiral Maxwell Forrest while he managed to save Vulcan Ambassador Soval’s life. T’Pol also wanted her robe and meditation candle so she could be more comfortable and also calm her mind of all the thoughts and emotions that were building up. Thoughts that she knew weren’t just her own but

Jonathan’s too, knowing that made her realize that she also teach Jonathan how to meditate and clear his mind sometimes, so together for their sake, their relationship would workout.

Somehow knowing what his Bondmate was thinking without even listening to her thoughts, Jonathan looked at her and thought “I’ll learn to meditate if it’ll make you feel better, but it is harder for humans to suppress their thoughts and their emotions, which you know they are usually closer to the surface.”

“I know,” thought T’Pol back to Jonathan, “anyways, I don’t want to change you, I love you just the way you are.”

………

Earth Orbit Hours Later

When the Enterprise reached Earth, Reed had no

choice his next orders were to have both Jonathan and T’Pol brought down to Starfleet Command Headquarters in a shuttlepod escorted by two armed Security Officers. Well Reed was escorting Jonathan and T’Pol to the launch bay, Archer asked, “Are the phase pistols really necessary?”

“Orders,” replied Reed.

“Well whoever gave those orders should know

that T’Pol and I aren’t going to resist,” replied Archer.

“Well just enter the shuttlepod captain,” said Reed, “I don’t like this anymore than you do.”

………

When the shuttlepod landed at the landing pads

behind Starfleet Command, two armed Security Officers were there waiting for them. They took Archer and T’Pol to another shuttlepod and said, “We’re taking you to your apartment sir, Admiral Black wants to see you tomorrow around 1000 hours. We’ll be here to get you and only you fifteen minutes before then.”

“Understood,” said Archer. Then he thought “I wonder why Admiral Black wants to see me before I’m Court-Martialled?”

“I don’t know,” thought T’Pol back. As Jon and T’Pol continued their thought

conversation, the shuttlepod lifted off and flew through lots of civilian traffic on its way to the residential buildings and the high-rise with Archer’s apartment. It took over thirty minutes to get there weaving around civilian vessels, visitor ships, and all the tall buildings. Then out of no where appeared a Klingon battle cruiser as if it materialized from thin air, only it dropped its Sernaix cloak and opened fire on the nearest vessel, a civilian craft. Archer and

T’Pol were the only ones with experience in the shuttle with combat experience, so knowing it was against their orders the Security Officers released the two fraternizing officers and gave them full command of the shuttle.

Jonathan looked over to T’Pol and said “Bring the plasma cannons online, polarize the hull plating, I’m taking evasive maneuvers.”

Aboard the Klingon/Sernaix cruiser May’anA the Klingon warriors figured they were just about to destroy a few civilian crafts but then a Federation shuttlepod appeared; their residual scans showed that it wasn’t that well armored or armed, easy pickings for this ships test flight they thought. They had no idea that their major adversaries were aboard her and now about to send the May’anA through a set of tumbling, twisting a spinning maneuvers through the San Francisco skyline.

Archer quickly brought the shuttlepod up into a sharp maneuver that almost knocked the Security Officers out of their seats. As the shuttle climbed T’Pol tried her best to power up the weapons consol but her injuries were still getting the best of her, with the help of Jonathan’s calm thinking she calmed her thoughts and got the weapons fully armed and ready with a target locked onto the Klingon cruiser and ready to fire. Still Jonathan brought the ship higher into the atmosphere trying to get the Klingons away from all the buildings and civilian ships so there wouldn’t be any unwanted casualties but also so the

Enterprise’s sensors could detect the fire fight and come down into the atmosphere to assist the shuttle in a fight that it would surely lose against a heavily armed Klingon battle cruiser for since the Klingons loved when the fight involved close combat so they were going to come within a meter of the shuttlepod before they began their attack.

High above Earth over the North American Continent the Enterprise NX-01 picked up a peculiar signal coming from the atmosphere, a signal that was only put out by Klingon warships, but Reed knew that was impossible, no Klingon warship would have made it to Earth without being detected. “Scan the planet, look for any Klingon signature, warship, life signs, anything. Mayweather, bring us into the atmosphere over San Francisco where that signal originated, tactical, polarize the hull plating, deploy phase cannons and arm torpedo tubes one through three.”

“Got something,” shouted Mayweather, “bearing three one mark three seven five. We’re in visual range.”

“On screen,” ordered Reed. As soon as he gave the order a Klingon battle

cruiser chasing a Starfleet shuttlepod appeared on the screen. From the Science Station the crewman there said, “Four people aboard the pod, three humans and one Vulcan, the bio signatures for one of the humans reads that its Captain Archer and the Vulcan bio-sign is that of Commander T’Pol, for some

reason they’re the ones who are piloting the shuttlepod.”

“While they must have been released from their bonds by the Security Officers,” said Reed, “I bet they’ll be Court-Martialled too just for disobeying a direct order and releasing their prisoners unless Archer and T’Pol freed themselves and commandeered the pod.”

“Well Captain Archer and T’Pol are about to be killed if we don’t intervene,” said the officer at manning the Tactical Station for Reed while he sat in the center chair.

“Bring us in closer Mayweather,” ordered Reed, “get the shuttlepod underneath us and bring us about.”

Inside the shuttlepod T’Pol looked at Jonathan and said “There’s a starship coming down into the atmosphere, it’s the Enterprise, and they have their weapons looked on the Klingons.”

“Target the Klingon cruiser and fire our plasma cannons,” ordered Jonathan, “we don’t want them to notice Enterprise until she’s right above them.”

“Impossible Jon,” said T’Pol, “Enterprise’s course will put her above us, not the Klingons.”

“Just fire the plasma cannons,” replied Jon, “I’ll worry about the flying.”

From the forward section of the shuttle flew the plasma beams, both of the beams hitting their mark and leaving a dent in the Klingon ship’s armor. When he saw the beams hit their mark scorching the

Klingon’s hull, Jonathan said to T’Pol “Did you see that, no shields, just polarized armor, arm our spatial torpedoes and fire.”

As the spatial torpedoes flew from their launchers, the Enterprise veered into the fight and launched two photonic torpedoes at the Klingon ship too. The four torpedoes hit the Klingon cruiser in four separate places but all their explosions did was dent the armor some more. “Contact Archer aboard the shuttle pod,” ordered Reed.

“Enterprise is hailing us,” said T’Pol, “should I reply”

“Reply, but put them on audio only,” answered Jonathan.

“Go ahead Enterprise,” said T’Pol. “First Captain, we know about you and T’Pol, and

no matter what happens, we support you both,” said Reed, “now I believe we should target the same area of the Klingon cruiser and fire together.”

“Maybe you’re right,” replied Jonathan, and with the channel open he turned to T’Pol and said “tap into Enterprise’s targeting scanners and fire both spatial torpedoes and the plasma cannons again, this time at full yield.”

Reed looked shocked, “How can they tap into Enterprise’s targeting scanners? That’s just impossible unless the newer Starfleet shuttle pods are designed with some sort of new technology I know nothing about.”

Sure enough though, the shuttlepod tapped into

Enterprise’s targeting scanners, but the ship’s sensors managed to note the intrusion just as the shuttlepod launched their weapons firing at the same target the acting Tactical Officer aboard the Enterprise was targeting and firing at that very moment. Yet again though, the result was the same, another dent in the Klingon cruiser’s armor; only this dent seemed to have a few cracks and was deeper into the hull. Reed couldn’t tell for sure but he was positive that the Klingon ship was losing atmosphere at some very slow rate that its crew would barley notice for awhile until they returned to space or were destroyed.

From the shuttlepod T’Pol knew what kinds of scans to run to asses the damage they had inflicted on the cruiser. Having the sensors take readings from the crater in the armor that was just formed, T’Pol found micro fractures mostly in and around the crater. From those fractures was escaping atmosphere at point three microns per second. “At the rate their losing atmosphere Jon, the Klingons will be dead within the hour, my suggestion is we keep targeting the crater we’ve formed and use that as the area to destroy them.”

On the Enterprise Reed heard what T’Pol said since the communications channel was still open, so he replied, “ready when you are Captain, we’ll fire on your command.”

“Fire,” ordered Archer and both the Enterprise

and the shuttlepod let lose a volley that lit up the San Francisco skyline as if it were the Forth of July or a major thunder storm. Down below on the ground and in the air, everyone in San Francisco and the southern half of California saw the show as the Klingon battle cruiser May’anA exploded.

With the Klingons gone, Enterprise continued through the atmosphere, did a flyby around the tallest Earth building in San Francisco and returned to her original position high above Earth. At the same time, the two Security Officers re-put the bounds on Jonathan and T’Pol and reset a course for Archer’s apartment were they would lock them in his home and stand guard outside so they wouldn’t be able to escape even if they tried until Admiral Black called for them.

When the shuttlepod arrived at the apartment complex, they landed on its roof and with a Security Officer in front of and behind Jonathan and T’Pol; they made their way down to the seventh floor and to Archer’s apartment. Once the two fraternizers were in the apartment one of the Security Officers looked at Jonathan and said “We’ll be right outside the door if you two need anything.”

“Alright,” replied Archer. Before the officers left, the other one looked at

Jonathan and asked “One question sir, WHY THE VULCAN?”

“Because I love her,” answered Archer, “because I

love her.” The two officers looked at each other, laughed

then said in a whisper as they left, “he deserves to lose his command and everything else he gets.”

“Archer deserves to stay in command of Enterprise, all he did wrong was starting a physical relationship with the Vulcan, one that she’s all for it seems,” said the other officer, “and anyways, the Captain’s a hero, he saved Earth from the Xindi, he instrumentally helped form the Federation and he was a strategic reason why we won the Romulan-Earth War. You want to disgrace a great man like that?”

“Well no,” replied the other officer, “but he broke regulations and he should be punished for it. If he isn’t, others might think they can get away with doing the same thing, this Federation will not survive if that happens.”

“I don’t think that will happen,” said the other Officer, “anyways if this turns out way I think it will, Captain Archer will be back on the bridge of the Enterprise in no time and Starfleet will be rewriting the regulations book to allow interspecies relationships and for crewmen to date one another.”

“I hate to see that day,” said the other Security Officer.

………

1000 Hours, the Next Day Two Hours before Captain Archer’s Court-Martial

When T’Pol woke him up earlier that morning at

0700 hours, Jonathan was just wishing that the decision about what would happen would be made without a Court-Martial after all he knew he served Starfleet with his upmost pride, pride that he would now have to see go in shame if he wasn’t still in command of Enterprise. As Jonathan went about getting ready, T’Pol went rummaging through the kitchen cabinets trying to scavenge up something to cook for their breakfast, but all she found was a bag of coffee, bread and using the protein resequencer she made some orange juice and milk, all for his breakfast, of which she decided she would only eat some of the toast because she would only eat grains but she also decided to try the orange juice. By 0845 hours, T’Pol had almost had breakfast all made, all she had to do was wait for Jonathan to come to the table.

When Jonathan was fully dressed in his Starfleet uniform, a uniform that he might never wear again, he went into the kitchen and right away smelt the coffee. He looked at T’Pol and said “I didn’t know you knew how to make coffee.”

“Well I knew you like it with your breakfast and I found the ground up beans and I followed the instructions on how to prepare it,” said T’Pol, “I was right, you did want some?”

“Yes,” replied Jon, “I was thinking about it.” “I know you can’t hide your thoughts from me,”

replied T’Pol. Forty-five minutes later, the two of them were

finished with their breakfast when the Security Officers came in to escort Archer to Admiral Black’s office, but first they had to return to the shuttlepod on the roof. As Archer walked out of his apartment; he was surprised that the Security Officers didn’t bind him up and that they let him lead the way to the roof top towards the waiting shuttle pod. He was even more shocked when they sat in the two co-pilot chairs and said, “Captain, take the helm, you know the destination.”

“What?” asked Archer shocked. “Set a course for Starfleet Command

Headquarters,” replied one of the Security Officers. Archer decided to do as he was told so he got into

the pilot’s seat and powered up the shuttlepod through its pre-ignition sequence. Once the shuttlepod was ready to take off, Archer slowly fired the maneuvering thrusters allowing the shuttle to lift off and move towards the other traffic for a journey to headquarters that would take less than twenty minutes.

Outside of Starfleet Command a mob of aliens was forming, they all had heard about the Court-Martial of Starfleet’s greatest hero to date. Some were there to support him others were there to testify against him well others were there just to see

what would happen. Even other Starfleet Officers were there, only they supported Jonathan and T’Pol, for in the field, they could tell that something had be going on between them even well Commander Charles “Trip” Tucker III was still alive, for T’Pol brought that relationship to a halt after Terra Prime did what they did, then she felt it good that he died just before the Enterprise returned to Earth for the signing of the charter that started the United Federation of Planets. Even during the Romulan-Earth War crews from other ships noticed something going on between Jonathan and T’Pol while they were fighting in the field or on the surface of a planet, that usually was when he was fighting next to her or had a keen eye on her never losing site of her, not even for a second for he was ready to give his life to protect hers if he had to.

………

Inside his office, Admiral Carson Black was pacing

back and forth wearing his carpet down even further, looking out his window he could see the crowds massing down below, he also knew that they were all there for one thing, the Court-Martial of Captain Jonathan Archer that he would be presiding over in the next two hours along with the Federation’s Command Council.

Admiral Black’s pacing was interrupted by a knock at his office’s door. When he went to open it, he

found waiting for him Captain Jonathan Archer escorted by two Security Officers. Black ushered Archer into his office then told the Security Officers “You’re dismissed.”

Returning to his desk, Black pointed to the chair in front of it and said, “Take a seat Jon.”

Jon did as he was told and sat down then got ready to listen to what the Admiral had to say knowing that it would either give a small clue to if he’d remain in command or if his Starfleet Career was over. Instead Black said “Well Forrest was admiral, I sometimes strongly opposed his decision to put you in command of Enterprise, but now I see from all the good you’ve down out there that he made the right choice. So when it comes to this trial, I’m going to listen to everything everyone has to say, but right now I strongly feel that you should remain in command of Enterprise. That’s because space is big, and having to swear to remaining to celibacy is a hard thing to do. After all, we’re only human and we just can’t go with out the comfort of company ship that a woman can offer, even if that woman is a member of a different species. So I understand how you felt and what may have been going through your head at the time, which I don’t know what that could have been because I don’t know much about Vulcan physiology.”

“Thank you sir,” replied Jonathan. He then asked, “can I take the stand in my own defense at the trail?”

“I’m planning on calling on you,” answered Black,

“and I’m going to ask you the same questions that I asked you earlier when you first told me about this relationship, and I’m also going to show the recorded conversation as evidence, I’m obligated to do so.”

“Understood sir,” replied Jonathan. “You’re dismissed Jon,” said Black, “I’ll let you

leave unescorted, go and wait in the briefing room; I’ll send Lieutenant Reed to escort you into the courtroom.”

“Thanks sir,” said Jonathan, he then turned and left.

………

The Court-Martial

To Jonathan, the hour he was inside the briefing

room seemed to pass like days. To him, he thought he was going to be dying of old age before anyone even remembered he was in there, then the door opened and Reed was standing in the entrance way. He interrupted Archer’s train of thought while he was looking out the window by saying, “Captain, its time to go.”

Coming out of his trance like state, Jonathan turned to Reed and said “I know Malcolm.”

“I’m sorry this is happening to you sir,” replied Reed, “the crew is behind you. Right now Enterprise

is being manned by a skeleton crew since most of the crew is here to support you and T’Pol. Good luck to you both.”

“Thanks Malcolm,” replied Archer, “now lets get this over with, I’m either returning to Enterprise or to my apartment.”

With that, Reed walked out of the briefing room with Archer right behind him, they turned towards their left and headed down the corridor towards the last room, Starfleet’s only courtroom. As they got closer to the room, Jonathan could hear people’s voices, some he could recognize others he couldn’t, but from the sound of it, he knew the courtroom was packed. All the noise made him think, “Am I that popular?”

“Yes I think you are,” thought T’Pol picking up what Jonathan was thinking. “And I’m in the courtroom too Jon, Soval came and got me.”

“Oh great, Soval,” thought Jonathan, “what does he want to do, throw me on my ass?”

“Actually no, he’s a member of my extended family and he’s here to support you and me,” thought T’Pol back, “he thinks we should proceed with our bond and go through the Kal’i’farr Ceremony.”

“What?” thought Jonathan as he went to where he was supposed to stand, and surprisingly he had council given to him from Starfleet Security.

“Well Jonathan, Kal'i'farr in your language means marriage,” T’Pol thought back.

“He thinks we should get married!” thought

Jonathan, “When?” “In the next few days Jon,” T’Pol thought back,

“but after your trial of course.” Jonathan and T’Pol couldn’t continue their

thought conversation no more because Admiral Black spoke up. “This Court-Martial is now in session, Captain Jonathan Archer of the United Earth and United Federation of Planets’ starship Enterprise; you are hereby charged with the fraternization of another officer under your command, your Vulcan First Officer/Science Officer Commander T’Pol. This trial will determine if you’re to remain in command of Enterprise or if you’re to be removed from Starfleet. Do you understand the charges?”

“I understand sir,” replied Captain Archer. “To understand what brought about this, I like to

call Doctor Phlox of the Enterprise NX-01 to the stand,” said Admiral Black.

Phlox walked up and was ordered to tell the truth or he would be terminated from his medical services in both Starfleet and the Interspecies Medical Exchange. He then began his statement: “Commander T’Pol is as we all know a Vulcan, and her biology is way different than that of a human, with that in mind, they get things that humans never get. The one that started all this was called the Pon’ Farr, in Vulcan, that means the time of mating, and when hers started a few weeks ago and because of the nature of how the Pon’ Farr works, if she didn’t

mate within a week, she would die. She choose Captain Archer as her mate and he willingly accepted knowing it would save her life and also because he has had feelings for her for sometime but because of regulations, he didn’t act on them.”

“Is that all doctor?” asked Admiral Black. “Yes admiral,” replied Phlox. “You may step down from the stand then,” said

Black, he then said “Commander T’Pol, I like you to testify right now, tell the court more about this Pon’ Farr.”

T’Pol went to the stand and said “Sir, Vulcans don’t like discussing this with outsiders, it is a private matter, and I would rather not have to say anything.”

Black gave it a little thought before he made his decision for what T’Pol just said didn’t just affect her views; it was the views of the Vulcan people, and those views he had to respect no matter what. “Ok then Commander T’Pol, you don’t have to testify about the Pon’ Farr,” he said, “but just answer this, do you love Captain Jonathan Archer?”

“Love is an emotion,” replied T’Pol, “but when it comes to Jonathan, I do cherish thee.”

“What did she say,” asked Black, because the Universal Translator translated it exactly as she said it.

Jonathan then said “Can I speak? I know what she said means.”

“Speak,” ordered Black.

“I cherish thee is Vulcan for I love you,” said

Jonathan, “and since she said my name before that whole sentence, she said she loves me.”

“Ok,” said Black, “next person I like to call to the stand is Captain Jonathan Archer himself, but first I like to play back a recorded conversation the Captain and I had on this matter a few days ago when he decided to tell me that he and T’Pol had started a relationship, in it I told him not to let any member of his crew find out. That has happened or this Court-Martial wouldn’t be happening right now.”

The room’s lights then went out and the big view screen activated then the video stated playing, the first thing to appear on the big view screen was the face of Admiral Black, he then said before he let the tap play, “I always record all conversations that I get in my office, so they can be viewed later or set aside as records for the future, as you watch the tape, you can see who is saying what.”

………

All eyes in the courtroom turned to the

viewscreen as everyone started to watch the tape. All knew that this was going to tell them everything they could possibly want to know about that got the Captain into the predicament he was now in.

“Admiral.” “Your report isn’t due for the next four days; this

must be a social call.”

“I’m romantically involved with a member of my

crew.” “Who is it Jon?” “I’d like this to remain confidential.” “I can’t honor that request.” “It’s important that you do.” “You’ll have to tell me first, then we’ll see.” “Commander T’Pol.” “What did you say?” “Commander T’Pol.” “Your Vulcan First Officer?” “Yes sir.” “Was she willing?” “Yes sir.” “You know both the Vulcans and the Humans are

prejudice and that will interfere with your relationship.”

“T’Pol isn’t going to tell the Vulcans, anyways, they don’t have the same rules regarding fraternization.”

“It could raise diplomatic issues Captain.” “Maybe, maybe not, T’Pol and I are prepared for

that, if that happens, we’ll leave Starfleet.” “How did this happen?” “Well I’ve always have been attracted to T’Pol

since the Vulcans assigned her to Enterprise, an opportunity presented itself to me through her mating cycle, she chose me and I accepted.”

“Is this mating cycle over?” “Yes Admiral.”

“But you want to continue the relationship?” “Yes sir, both of us do.” “Does your crew know about you two or did it

happen discreetly?” “Only the Doctor knows; he’s the one who help

set us together.” “I haven’t decided what to do yet Jon. That’s

because I got a few questions that could most likely effect my decision depending on your answers.”

“Understood, just ask them, and I’ll try to answer them as best as possible.”

“First, what if a dangerous situation arises? Would you be able to send her into the fray?”

“I’ve thought about that, I would, but it wouldn’t be easy.”

“Would you sacrifice her life to save the crew?” “I don’t know if I could make that decision. But I

know her well enough to understand she would do it of her own volition.”

“Would you ask another crewman to sacrifice themselves for her?”

“It depends on the situation. If I thought it was in the best for the ship and the crew, then yes. I certainly would give my life for hers.”

“Would she have more of a sway on your judgment, Jon?”

“Probably.” “Would she affect your job performance?” “No, neither she nor I will let that happen.”

“How would your crew take the news about you

and her being in a relationship?” “Some might be happy for us like my bridge

officers, well others because of their prejudice towards Vulcans will not be.”

“What if I asked you to stop seeing her?” “Is that your decision?” “Not yet.” “I’d probably leave Starfleet, because I love her

and I would want to be with her.” “Do you think the Commander and you will have

children?” “I don’t even know if that’s possible.” “If I let you continue your relationship, it could

get into the media, the Vulcans will find out and most likely want you removed, her removed or both. That could mean that you and T’Pol would have no planet to call home, I hope that doesn’t happen because it could also lead to the scrapping of the NX Program, something we both don’t want to see happening because we now actually got a fleet forming out there, Starfleet isn’t just a name anymore, it’s a reality and we’re even almost ready to launch a few Daedalus-class ships soon.”

“I don’t want to see that happen Admiral, but T’Pol’s government might not even want that.”

“Well I can remove you from command right now Jon and prevent this from getting out so that doesn't happen, but I’m not, but don’t let your crew find out either and that goes for your ship’s doctor too. Keep

him out of it even though he brought you two together, you and T’Pol can continue your relationship, but if any of your crew finds out, re-contact me immediately.”

“Yes sir.” “And Jon, would your father approve of your

relationship with a Vulcan if he was alive?” “I think he would, if he knew I was in love and was

happy.” “Well then Jon, good luck to the two of you,

Admiral Black out.”

………

Once the screen went black, Admiral Black stopped the tape, he looked at Jonathan and said “Instead of asking you those questions again today, I want to know, would all your answers be the same?”

“Yes,” replied Archer. “Then there is one more tape I want you all to

view,” said Admiral Black. This one was recorded about four days ago when I learned from Archer that some of his crew had found out about his relationship with T’Pol. “If you would all watch this one.” He then put the second tape into the computer and had it projected onto the viewer.

………

As everyone’s eyes fell on the viewer for a second

time, they all wanted to know what happened to get this whole Court-Martial started and Captain Archer on the urge of losing his command.

I got some bad news Admiral.” “What?” “I just came from Sickbay.” “Don’t tell me, your Vulcan is pregnant?” “No, there was an explosion in Engineering, T’Pol

was down there assisting with some damage repairs from an attack that we were in by an unknown vessel, and she was injured. I went to Sickbay to see her, and while there and behind a curtain, I kissed her twice even though I knew the others that were injured could easily see through the curtain.”

“So your crew knows about you two?” “Yes.” “You’re relieved of command, let Lieutenant Reed

know he’s in command, then go to your quarters, and before you do that, order Mayweather to set a course for Earth. I’ll have to take this to the Command Council to see if you’re to be brought up on charges. Admiral Black out.”

………

Once the screen went black for a second time,

Admiral Black stopped that tape, he looked at Jonathan for a second time and said “This is the first time anyone has seen that tape, I didn’t let the

Command Council see it then, I only told them bits and pieces of what happened. That’s because I want to know what led up to that explosion in Engineering, because that could also put some light onto what we’re facing now.”

“We were attacked by an unknown alien vessel as you heard in the tape, it was apparent that Enterprise was going to be destroyed,” started Archer, “I sent out a distress call and miraculously we got some help. I say miraculously because according to T’Pol, the ship that assisted us was from the future, its name and registration was USS Enterprise NCC 1701 and it had a Starfleet insignia on its secondary hull. Even though the Vulcans don’t believe in time travel, T’Pol and I have experienced it before and she believes the ship was from the future. The explosion in engineering happen hours after the futuristic ship and we destroyed the unknown alien cruiser and our help disappeared. The explosion was because of some damage to the engineering section. T’Pol was only down there because I asked her to assist with the repairs, that’s when debris from the explosion penetrated her near her heart. It’s a miracle she survived.”

“Definitely nothing to do with our present situation with these unknown alien attacks,” said Black, “and your report about Columbia being destroyed, you made a small mistake, that ship that exploded was the NX-05 Republic, she was sent out to find Enterprise, but we’ve lost contact with the

NX-02 Columbia about the same time your ship was almost destroyed, but that has nothing to do with this Court-Martial, so lets get back to the matter at hand; next I would like to call upon Ambassador Soval so we can here the views of the Vulcan people regarding this matter.”

Hearing his name, Soval left the area he was sitting with a few other Vulcans and T’Pol and headed up to the stand. Once he got there he said “The Vulcan people know that sometimes when they get their Pon’ Farr among non-Vulcans that they might have to mate with them unless they rather die, T’Pol made the choice she wanted, and because she did, the Vulcan people feel that she and Jonathan should go through the Kal’i’farr Ceremony, which in the human language of English, means we feel they should undergo a marriage ceremony as soon as possible so they can become full Bondmates, it is the Vulcan way after all.”

“That ceremony will take place after this Court-Martial is over,” said Admiral Black, “right now though; I like to say that Starfleet and Earth owe Captain Archer a lot. If it wasn’t for him and his crew, years ago Earth would have been destroyed by the Xindi, but now Xindi Primates, Arboreal, and Aquatics sit on this council, all as members of the United Federation of Planets, which we thank you for joining us, we know it wasn’t easy to except humanity but we have a lot to offer. So with that in

mind, would you want to say anything on Archer’s behalf?”

“Yes,” replied a Xindi-Primate, “My name is Depac, I served with Degra and assisted Archer and his boarding party in destroying the Superweapon above Earth in 2154, I thought he died there like most of his crew because he never made it off before it exploded, but because of Enterprise being thrown into an alternate 1944 where the Germans had launched a successful invasion of your United States, he ended up there and was also instrumental in preserving your timeline. Well what I’m getting at, is that Captain Archer has proven himself to be an excellent commander and a carrying passionate officer, he didn’t deceive the Xindi people when turning us against the Sphere Builders even though that’s what the Reptilians and the Insectoids thought. I say it would be ludicrous to remove him from command of Enterprise and to send him out of Starfleet in disgrace.”

“Well our first Ambassador to come out and say that directly,” said Black, “we’ll considerate Depac.”

The next Xindi to stand up was a Xindi-Arboreal named Jannar. He walked up to the stand as Depac left and said “My name is Ambassador Jannar, I’m a Xindi-Arboreal, I also agree with Ambassador Depac and I know that if Degra was still alive, he would also say the same thing, and that’s why I say that we are all thankful that Archer avenged Degra’s murder by killing the Xindi-Reptilian Commander Dolim aboard

the Superweapon when he did because Dolim vowed to hunt down and kill Degra’s family after Earth was destroyed. Luckily both didn’t happen.”

“We’ll also hold what you said in consideration Ambassador Jannar,” said Black, “and I’ve also been told by my aids that the Tellarite Ambassador wants to speak and so does retired Commander Shran of the Andorian Imperial Guard. First up is the Tellarite Ambassador.”

Ambassador Gral stood up and walked to the stand and said in his loud demanding voice accustom to his species “My people and I demand that Archer remains in Starfleet and in command of Enterprise or we’ll drop out of the Federation.”

“Oh bold words,” said Black, “is that one of your usual threats or is that sincere?”

“As sincere as can be,” replied Gral, “and I mean that.” After saying all that, Gral returned to his seat totally thinking proud thoughts about what he had just threatened to do. There was no way the humans would ignore him.

“You’re next Shran,” said Black not knowing that the Andorian and Archer had been playing a little game of returning favors to each other since the first day they met back at the P’Jem Sanctuary.

“I’m a little surprised by this,” started Shran, “because what I’m about to say has also been decided by my government back on Andoria, and it happens to be just like the Tellarites. If Archer doesn’t remain in Starfleet and in command of

Enterprise, the Andorian people will also dropout of the newly formed Federation.”

“You too Shran,” replied Black, “this newly formed Federation is going to die before it gets underway if we don’t keep Captain Archer in command and in Starfleet so it’s the decision of the Command Council and this Court-Martial to allow Captain Archer to stay in command of the Enterprise and to remain in Starfleet. Also effective immediately he will marry Commander T’Pol of Vulcan and completely become her bondmate by undergoing the Kal’i’farr Ceremony. You’re free to go captain, this trial is over, and Jon, I’m happy to tell you Enterprise is yours.”

………

In the back of the courtroom was members of the

two Xindi species you wouldn’t have expected to see on Earth or even in a Starfleet building, but there in the back were three Xindi-Insectoids and five Xindi-Reptilians. All of them were hoping that Archer and the Vulcan woman would be booed out of Starfleet and the new Federation not to mention lose command of the Enterprise NX-01, but when they weren’t; their biological flaw went on overload. Deep inside their bodies behind their lungs a growth started to form, only this growth was more than that, it was actually an exploding tumor and for decades, it was part of the natural defense for the

Insectoids and Reptilians whenever they were about to be killed or corner. Only with time some of their species in their evolution lost its genetic makeup and never developed one. These Xindi though were over one hundred-fifty years old, evolution hadn’t changed them, so like it or not one way or another they were going to explode and they planned on taking as many lives as possible with them when they were to go.

As the anger in the eight Xindi grew stronger and stronger, so did their tumors. Seconds past into minutes, but the Xindi knew what was going on within them and they didn’t care since they still hated humans they could deal a blow to their species if they stayed and let their explosives go off in public, so they continued to sit in their seats without moving a muscle.

About two and a half minutes after Jonathan walked off the stand towards T’Pol, the explosive tumors in the Xindi sitting in back went off. Everyone sitting in the back eight rows was immediately incinerated along with the six Xindi. As the survivors heard the explosion and saw the flames all turned and asked each other, “How did a bomb go off here and how did it even get past security?”

Ambassador Depac had the answer and he quickly said it, “There were six Xindi back there, three Insectoids and two Reptilians, very old and because of that, there genetic code carries a gene for Explosive Tumors. They’re mostly a physical defense

thing that vanished one hundred years ago just before the Avians were wiped out. These tumors go off if they get very angry and its something they can’t control. Knowing them, I know for a fact that the result of the trial is what got them so mad that their tumors went off. Is everyone that was near them dead?”

“Yes,” replied Phlox, “their bodies are to badly burned to be recognized, they will have to be most likely identified by their dental records.”

“Dam,” said Archer, “and I guess you’re trying to say you want to be the one to identify the victims Doctor, aren’t you.”

“I thought I said that captain,” replied Phlox. “Then go ahead Doctor,” ordered Admiral Black,

“just get this over with, there’s a wedding to have. Jonathan, T’Pol; go get ready for your wedding and for your return to Enterprise, you’re going to be getting married on the bridge of the Enterprise.”

For the first time in along time Jonathan let T’Pol speak for him as she said, “We thank you Admiral. We would love to be married on the bridge of the Enterprise, it’s our home.”

………

One Week Later, 1200 Hrs., Enterprise Time Bridge of the Enterprise NX-01

In a small room Archer never even knew existed

on the Enterprise, Jonathan and Reed were sitting and talking. Both men were dressed in black collarless Starfleet jackets, in Archer’s lapel was a small rose like flower native to Vulcan. As they sat together, Archer mumbled something in Vulcan that Reed couldn’t understand at all but he figured it was Archer’s vows that he was rehearsing so Reed said “You worry too much sir, you’ll be able to say your vows to her in Vulcan. You’ve been practicing with our new Communications/Linguists Officer for a week. Besides you got that thing in your head…”

“You mean our mental bond?” asked Archer. “Yea, that’s it,” said Reed, “I thought you said it

helps you understand Vulcan.” “Yes, I understand it,” started Archer, “but I don’t

know how to say many of the words.” “You’ll do fine captain,” replied Reed, “she’ll

know what you mean.” Jon looked at Malcolm and asked “You got the

ring?” “Yes sir,” answered Malcolm, “right here in my

pocket.” “I do look okay, right Malcolm?” asked Reed. Malcolm looked at him and smiled then said, “For

someone’s that’s about to get hitched- yes.” Together Jonathan and Malcolm walked out of

the room and headed towards the bridge, only for the first time in their careers they took the long way heading all around the ship, deck by deck stopping to

talk to almost every crewmember that wasn’t busy. After what seemed like hours, but really was half an hour, they reached the bridge where many people were around well other’s were watching the ceremony on viewers throughout the ship and on Earth. As he walked up to the center he past a large golden Vulcan gong with symbols on a frame, and lit candles that smelt like nutmeg, T’Pol’s favorite scent stood in the back of the room. In front of the gong stood Soval, he took a large mallet and rang the gong, Jonathan turned and walked towards it, from another room, T’Pol walked out dresses in a traditional Vulcan wedding gown, it was a red satin color with Vulcan runes written on it. Jonathan grinned when he saw T’Pol as she walked towards him, then together as one they turned to face Soval.

Soval started to speak, first in Vulcan, then repeating it in English. “T’Pol of Vulcan, you have chosen Kal’i’farr, marriage, to Jonathan Archer.”

“I have,” she said with determination, she then exchanged glances with her soon to be husband.

“His thoughts are yours, you speak as one?” Soval asked.

“Yes,” replied T’Pol. Soval turned to Jonathan and asked “And you

hear her voice in your head? Your thoughts are one, you speak as one?”

Jonathan nodded and replied “Yes.” Soval looked at Jonathan then added “Jonathan,

you wish to say something?”

Jonathan cleared his throat and started to speak

in what seemed to be flawless Vulcan. “Kol-Ut-Shan si un terish. T’Pol sa’vaya teun, Humans sa’vaya Vulcans di veh kaunsh’es. Natayan ka’lan wi karik’sin. Tes-sh-un teun my’tyezti, T’Pol, sa’vaya ni ashaya. Ta’san shoonan. Ta’san vas, aisha, ni pa to-go svi-un ashaya.”

After finishing speaking, Jonathan wasn’t about to say that again in English so he let the Universal Translator takeover and repeat his words.

[IDIC- Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. T’Pol and I, Humans and Vulcans are diverse and yet we’ve reached unity. This unity between us makes me stronger. My unity with you completes me. And I am someone who thought I would never like or love a Vulcan. You have taught me much. Beloved, you have taught me there are no rules in love.]

T’Pol looked Jonathan in the eyes and said “Aisha, teun vas s’sayaha ti terish ni pa svinish teun.”

Once again, only this time for T’Pol, the Universal Translator took over and translated what she had just said into perfect English so she wouldn’t have to.

[Beloved, I am blessed to join with you.] T’Pol placed her hands on the mallet, as

Jonathan’s hands encircled hers. Together they hit the gong once, making a deep sound resonate throughout the bridge.

With the Vulcan ceremony complete, Admiral Carson Black got ready to start the human version of the wedding ceremony. So Malcolm stepped up

beside Jonathan as Black started to speak. “A captain’s greatest privilege is marrying two people aboard a ship; I haven’t had the privilege of performing a wedding ceremony in many years.” He cleared his throat then started to speak again. “Marriage is a unity, the union of two people in love. Jon, do you take T’Pol to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have, hold and love from this day forward? In sickness and health, until death do you part?”

Jonathan nodded and said “I do.” “And T’Pol, do you take Jon to be your lawfully

wedded husband, to have, hold and love from this day forward? In sickness and health, until death do you part?”

“Yes,” replied T’Pol. Jon smiled and grabbed T’Pol’s hands and faced

her, mean while, Black looked at Reed as he dug into his pocket and fished out a ring. He gave the ring to Black who gave it to Archer and said, “Jon repeat after me, with this ring I thee wed.”

Jon slipped the small silver ring over T’Pol’s ring finger and said “With this ring, I thee wed.”

Soval handed Black another ring with strange Vulcan runes on it. Black turned the ring over in his fingers taking a look at it then handed it to T’Pol saying, “T’Pol, repeat after me, with this ring I thee wed.”

“With this ring, I thee wed,” said T’Pol to Jonathan as she slipped the ring on his ring finger.

“By the power vested in me, Earth recognizes

your union,” said Black. Soval then added “You are joined in thought and are recognized by Vulcan.”

Jonathan turned to T’Pol, she placed two fingers into the air and he met them eagerly with his own. After a moment, he gathered her in his arms and placed his lips on hers to the delight of the crew. That’s when applause broke out all over the bridge.

All around the bridge, Vulcan bells that looked a lot like tiny cymbals on a washboard began shaking as if by magic. The tiny music was overpowered by the sound of the last gong as Soval took the mallet and hit it twice.

………

Enterprise NX-01 Wedding Reception, Mess Hull

All that were invited aboard the Enterprise to

attend Jonathan and T’Pol’s wedding knew about the wedding reception that the ship’s chef had prepared in the Mess Hull so after the ceremony ended on the bridge, everyone headed towards the mess hull.

During the reception Reed stood up to make a toast,” When I first heard about T’Pol coming aboard Enterprise from Captain Archer, he threatened to knock her on her ass.”

Jonathan gave a wince and took a drink from his third glass of champagne well his new wife was still

on her first, Reed did the same, taking a sip from his glass then continued “I think that was the first, but definitely not the last time Jon was interested in her ass.”

As Reed sat down he continued speaking knowing what he had to say would be good for everyone to hear, especially the Vulcan guests. “Working with them on a regular basis gave me an appreciation for both of them. Jon has zest, determination, curiosity, passion and courage. T’Pol is wise, refined, logical and noble. Together, they make not only a great team aboard a starship, but a team in marriage. I have respect for both of them.”

Soval figured he had to say something, after all he was the Vulcan Ambassador to Earth and the bride was a Vulcan so it was only logical for him to speak. So he stood up and said, “I understand it is customary for the best man and a couple friends to say something about the couple. I wish to congratulate the couple. Live long and prosper.”

“Peace and long life Soval,” replied T’Pol and Jonathan together, showing everyone present just how close and tight their bond was, only some of the Vulcans didn’t think a human and a Vulcan saying that one line together in unison could really prove their union, some were thinking about kidnapping one and having the other find the taken one through clues given through the mental bond; those Vulcan’s decided taking Jonathan would be best because they

could observe him and T’Pol’s actions at the same time.

“Same to you too,” said Soval interrupting the other Vulcans train-of-thought, their plans would have to wait.

Doctor Phlox also decided to make his own toast, so after Soval sat down, he stood up tapped his glass with a spoon and said “I like to think that I played a hand in getting the Captain and the commander together. There was a time years ago when the Captain’s dog Porthos was sick and he spent the night in Sickbay, that was when the Captain asked me “What T’Pol thought about him?”, that’s when he admitted to me that he had feelings for her. Feelings that I suggested he should pursue, but he said it was against regulations for him or any member of Starfleet to have a relationship, now here we are today, after their wedding.”

As Phlox spoke, Jonathan sank into his chair for he knew something terrible would eventually be uttered from the good doctor’s mouth, something that would most likely embarrass him and or T’Pol.

“Jonathan had a strange dream that he told me about from that night involving lots of rain, it was a dream that I believe Dr. Freud would be very interested in because with this rain like thing, Freud likens it to that of the male’s release during sex.”

Jonathan sank further in his chair, at the same time; T’Pol took his hand and spoke loud enough so Phlox would hear her, “Doctor, perhaps your

fascinating interpretation of my husband’s dream can be recounted at another time. Besides, I wouldn’t want you to recall that I initiated this relationship with Jon.”

Jonathan looked like she had saved him and kissed her on the lips to thank her passionately. Well at the same time, the Vulcans sitting at the table with them were shocked to hear that T’Pol, a Vulcan, initiated the relationship with a human. All were shocked except for Soval who stood, raised his glass of champagne and said “To Their Union.”

Jonathan polished off his fifth glass of champagne, and feeling drunk and queasy, he was hanging on to his new bride slightly, gazing at her radiant beauty. She could that his affection was deep and profound. “Lets dance,” she thought to him, not sure if he would in his drunken state, but to her surprise he thought back “Love too Aisha.”

T’Pol led Jonathan out onto the dance floor as the others around them took their queue and did the same. Except the other Vulcans who didn’t understand the art of dance just continued to mingle with one another.

*****

Enterprise NX-01, Some Where’s in Deep Space Three Months Later

Captain Jonathan Archer sat in his command chair

twirling his wedding ring on his finger all the while trying not to disturb T’Pol who was hard at work at her station. Unbeknownst to the two of them, something miraculous had happened, but they wouldn’t know it. The strange thing was because of this miracle, Jonathan was picking up stronger mental thoughts from T’Pol and at the same time, he had started a bond with someone who physically didn’t even exist yet. A bond that T’Pol couldn’t detect yet herself but soon would. For the new bond Jonathan was feeling would eventually be felt by his wife too, and the reason why Jon was feeling sick a lot was about to be known.

Sitting in his chair, Captain Archer started to feel queasy for the third time that day, in fact; he thought he was going to barf only he hadn’t eaten anything all day so that was physically impossible, or at least he thought it was. “Maybe you should go to Sickbay Aisha,” thought T’Pol to her husband, “I’ll take command for now.”

“Alright Aisha,” thought Jonathan as he switched the command chair over to his wife and headed towards the turbo lift towards Sickbay.

Inside Sickbay, Doctor Phlox could tell something was wrong with Captain Archer but all his scans came back saying the Captain was nothing but healthy. Very healthy to be precise, but he also couldn’t deny the fact that Archer didn’t look well and that he was also still queasy, barfing almost

every five to ten minutes. Not being able to take it anymore, Phlox prepared a sedative and sedated the Captain and made him lay down on the nearest bio-bed. “Now I can run my scans in peace and try and figure out what’s ailing the Captain, and hopefully come up with a cure or his wife will never forgive me if he dies.”

To start his research, Phlox put all the symptoms Archer was feeling into the computer so the computer could triangulate the results. Within minutes the results came back, but they put all of the Captain’s symptoms to something human women went through. “Strange,” thought Phlox, “I think T’Pol will need to be examined.” So he went to the communication panel on the wall next to the Imaging Chamber and said “Sickbay to bridge, Commander T’Pol, will you come down here for a minute?”

“Is something wrong with Jon?” asked T’Pol, “I’ll be right down.” She turned to Reed and said, “Lieutenant, you have the bridge.”

As T’Pol walked into Sickbay, Doctor Phlox looked at her and said “I’m going to need a blood sample.”

“Why?” asked T’Pol a little shocked, “does this have something to do with Jonathan?”

“Yes,” answered Phlox, “but truthfully, it affects both of you.”

“Oh,” said T’Pol, “I don’t understand.” “You might soon,” replied Phlox starting to think

that the Captain and T’Pol were pregnant and that

they wouldn’t be prepared for the news for to them, they had been acting under the assumption that she would never get pregnant because of the point nine percent chance that it could happen. The two of them should have paid more attention to Jonathan’s gut feeling.

It only took Doctor Phlox a few minutes to draw the blood from T’Pol and to run some tests on it. All the while, T’Pol anxiously awaited the news of what ever the doctor was trying to find out and how her blood could have a connection to how the Captain was feeling and how she had been also feeling queasy but as a Vulcan she suppressed those feelings unknowingly she was accidentally transferring them to Archer without even meaning too or even thinking that he was getting sick because of her actions.

As the test finished, T’Pol could notice that Phlox looked happy about the results, so she knew something was up for he could be happy because he was right or that the test proved that there wasn’t a connection to her husband being sick and her blood. “I should wake the Captain up before I let you know my findings.”

Phlox touched a hypospray to Jonathan’s neck and the sleeping captain, as her husband woke up, T’Pol asked “Is there an antidote for what he’s contracted or not?”

“Not for this one,” replied Phlox. “Then what has he contracted?” asked T’Pol

getting more and more curious.

“A pregnant wife,” answered Phlox. “Impossible,” said T’Pol, “it was highly unlikely I

would ever conceive a child through Jonathan, for carbon-based life forms like Vulcans, can’t have offspring with an iron-based life form like humans, its just physically impossible, our blood and DNA aren’t compatible enough to join together to even form a child.”

“It’s possible,” said Phlox, “you two are living proof to that.”

T’Pol reached for the nearest chair and sank into it thinking, “I’m..., Jonathan and I are pregnant. There has to be some mistake.”

“I don’t think there is,” said Jonathan, “and I actually like it.” That’s when he ran to the bathroom and barfed again. That’s when T’Pol realized that she was feeing nauseas and was suppressing the feelings, so she was the reason why her husband was sick.

“Maybe you should let those feelings overwhelm you and release them yourself T’Pol,” suggested Phlox, “at least Jonathan would feel a little better.”

T’Pol gave a wince and said “Gross, that is un-Vulcan like.” Then she picked up a thought from Jonathan, “That would make me feel better T’Pol.”

“But nausea isn’t a symptom of pregnancy,” thought T’Pol.

“But it is for humans,” replied Jonathan back to her as a thought.

“Well I think you’ve already formed a physic bond

with our child like Vulcan father’s do before their born,” thought T’Pol, “our bond is great, we are going to be a great family.”

“One thing T’Pol,” started Phlox, “Conceiving for you two might have been the easy part, for if your child is iron-based, I’ll have to put you on vitamins to replicate the nourishment from meat.”

T’Pol winced at the thought of animal parts for as a Vulcan, she was a vegetarian. “Oh great, you know I hate meat doctor,” she said.

“Sorry,” said Phlox, “but you have no choice in the matter if you want to have this child.”

“Alright,” replied T’Pol, but deep down in her twirling stomach hating the thought of meat, she was regretting getting pregnant even though she knew Jonathan was happy, but then she heard his thought, “Don’t worry Aisha, I’m here for you always, I’ll help you through this.”

“Come down here tomorrow morning then T’Pol,” said Phlox, “and Jonathan, she’s going to need a stronger Nasal Agent, this pregnancy is going to heighten her sense of smell more than what her present Nasal Agent can handle, and you know how tolerant Vulcans are to certain smells. You’re lucky she’s alright with you.”

“Alright Doctor,” said Jonathan, he then turned to T’Pol and planted a big kiss on her lips as he thought “I love you Aisha.”

“My family,” thought Jonathan as he twirled his

wedding ring around his finger the next morning in their quarters, he still couldn’t believe that he was going to be a father with a Vulcan-Human hybrid child.

*****

Early the next morning T’Pol woke up beside her

husband feeling as nauseous as she had been the day before, still though she wanted to suppress and hold down the urge to throw up but at the same time she knew how much it made her husband sick to his stomach, so sick that he couldn’t hold it down. Not wanting to fight the urge again, T’Pol jumped out of the bed and headed towards the only bathroom in their newly shared quarters.

As Jonathan started to slowly get accumulated to being up early, he could hear his wife emptying her belly and felt relieved that she hadn’t pushed down the feeling and set it on to him instead. As he heard her start clearing her stomach for a third time he started to wince and joined her in the bathroom to clear his stomach too. “I’m sorry Aisha,” thought T’Pol as she felt Jonathan lay his hand on her back as he started to rub her spine and putting his hand up into her nightshirt as she shivered slightly to his touch.

Well rubbing her protruding out Vulcan spine, Jonathan kissed her neck and slightly nibbled on the

tips at the top of her ears causing her to give a small whimper for all the love that she had for him that she felt starting to boil to the surface in through her blood. Removing his hand from her shirt she turned to face him and said “We can’t right now,” knowing that he was thinking about making love to her again as passionately as he did during her Pon’ Farr. Turning her back to him and starting to leave the bathroom she thought, “There’ll be time for that later, but now I’m not up to that right now. Maybe tonight I’ll give you the chance, its just right now I’m dreading the tests that Doctor Phlox’s wants to run on me soon.”

“If you want me to, I’ll go down to Sickbay with you to give you the moral support you might need, especially if you find out you need to eat some foods that resemble meat,” thought Jonathan as he headed out of the bathroom behind her patting her butt as he walked by, a thing that T’Pol still didn’t understand why he did it; she still didn’t know why people were so found of her ass even though she knew she wiggled it a lot as she walked, it was just something she couldn’t help but do.

“I’ll go by myself Jon,” said T’Pol, “I should be fine, if I need you, I’ll let you know through our metal bond. Anyways, there’s nothing I can do if I end up needing to take supplements to replicate the nutrients in meat. I guess this is what I get for marrying a human and proving everyone wrong by getting pregnant with your child.”

“Are you regretting conceiving T’Pol?” asked

Jonathan fearing that she didn’t want to have the child she was carrying, a child he was deep down hoping that they would end up having together.

“I know what your thinking Aisha,” started T’Pol, “and no, I am not planning on ending this pregnancy. This child I conceived is a miracle for the both of us, I remember that you had a gut feeling that I was going to conceive the night we made love after our wedding. I know how badly you want to be a father; I’m planning on seeing this pregnancy to term, even if it kills me just so you know.”

“If comes down to your life or the child’s T’Pol,” started Jonathan, “I’m going to have you terminate the pregnancy, I don’t want to lose you… ever.”

“I know Aisha,” thought T’Pol as she started stripping out of her Vulcan silk pajamas and into her more comfortable Vulcan-style under clothes and then final her uniform that for the moment she left un-zippered in the front revealing her chest a little better to her unsuspecting husband.

*****

Sickbay One Hour Later

After leaving her husband after eating breakfast

in the Captain’s mess, T’Pol found herself about to walk through the Sickbay doors alone even though

she knew that Jonathan was with her in spirit, she felt she might end up getting hurt by the news that she somehow knew was coming. As she past through the Sickbay doors she said “I’m here as ordered doctor, lets get these tests done so I can get to the bridge.”

“You’re in a hurry today commander,” said Phlox as he walked out of his office towards the main bio-bed and imaging chamber. “Have a seat commander” he said as he pointed towards the bio-bed connected to the imaging chamber.

“All I need to do is draw some blood, and take some bio-scans of you and the developing child inside the imaging chamber,” said Phlox. He took a breath as he picked up a hypospray with an empty canister attached to it that he pressed to the Vulcan woman’s neck and pressed the button.

Moments later green-copper based blood started to fill the canister. Seeing the sight of her blood pooling in the container, she ended up almost fainting but she suppressed that feeling. Meanwhile on the bridge though looking towards the view screen and the message also rolling a crossed his chair’s screen Jonathan ended up leaning forward and fell out of his center chair feeling the effects T’Pol was going through.

Seeing the Captain fall out of his chair Lieutenant Reed jumped out of his chair at the tactical station and ran to the Captain’s side. First he tried to shake his commanding officer awake but when that didn’t

work he activated the Captain’s personal communicator on the chair, then spoke. “Reed to Sickbay, Medical Emergency; Captain Archer has fainted.”

With the message sent to Sickbay, Reed sat down in the center chair assuming command and saw the message scrolling a crossed the Captain’s screen:

ROMULAN STAR EMPIRE VIOLIATES NEUTRAL ZONE TREATY. A FLEET CONSISTING OF FIVE BIRD-OF-PREYS HAVE BEEN SEEN AT THE TEZEL-OROKO SYSTEM. THE FEDERATION HAS NO CHOICE BUT TO DECLARE WAR ON THE ROMULAN STAR EMPIRE AGAIN UNLESS WE CAN FIND PROOF THAT SOMEONE ELSE MIGHT BE CONTROLING ROMULAN SHIPS LIKE THEY WERE ABLE TO DO AGAINST US EIGHT YEARS AGO BEFORE AND DURING THE ROMULAN-EARTH WAR.

Reed couldn’t believe it, he figured that the

Captain had just fainted because of what he had just read but if that was the case, then “what would have gotten Archer so wound up?” thought Reed. “Is there something I don’t know about, something that Admiral Black told him before we left Earth again or is something wrong with T’Pol that he just couldn’t take both the news involving the Romulans and what’s going on with his wife too?”

Well still pondering his thoughts, Reed didn’t hear the turbolift doors open nor did he see the two aides

from Sickbay come over to the bridge with the anti-grave stretcher and take Archer’s unconscious body away with them to Sickbay. Still with the message scrolling a crossed the screen he turned towards the helm and said “Ensign Mayweather, set a course for the Tezel-Oroko System, Warp Five. Engage.”

“Changing course and jumping to warp now,” replied Mayweather from the helm knowing wholeheartedly where they were going for they had been there before for eight years ago the Enterprise almost fell victim to the Romulan’s Arrenhe’hwiua Telecapture System well trying to rescue the Earth Cargo Ship SS Kobayashi Maru, that system was where that ship was lost with all hands aboard while the Captain Archer ordered the Enterprise to flee the system so the Romulan’s wouldn’t get her.

*****

Back in Sickbay, T’Pol wanted to move when she

saw her unconscious husband brought in. “What’s wrong with him?” she asked trying to get off the bio-bed but Phlox wouldn’t let her go.

“He fainted on the bridge a few minutes ago,” replied one of the aides. “We still don’t know why.”

“It could be because of his bond with T’Pol,” started Phlox, “she fainted a few minutes ago well I was drawing some of her blood. I think the two incidents are connected. So just put him over there on the bio-bed closest to his wife, he should wake up

again soon being this close to his woman and the mother of his child.”

Once Jonathan was settled in on the bio-bed, the two aides went back to their other duties that were in their offices closest to the Decon Chamber where they were at the moment preparing some new Decon-gel for any microbes that any landing party might encounter the next time they found a new planet to explore that humanity hadn’t encountered yet.

Back in Sickbay Phlox had gotten all the tests performed on T’Pol and the unborn child that he would need to get his research done. Putting a sample of the unborn baby’s DNA into a Denobulan medical scanner that would somewhat be able to sift between the human and Vulcan genetic material and make it possible for him to see what there was more of. Almost forty-five and a half minutes later, Phlox had his results. Results that he could T’Pol wasn’t going to be happy about for the child seemed to have just a tad more human DNA than Vulcan by point five percent. Knowing the information he went back into the main room of his Sickbay where he found out that the Captain was back to full consciousness again and talking to his wife.

“Pardon me for interrupting you two love birds,” interrupted Phlox, “but I got some news for you, news that you might want to brace yourselves for.”

“T’Pol, Jonathan, when it comes to your guys’ child, it has point five percent more human DNA

than it does Vulcan, “said Phlox, “so that means that I’m afraid your going to have to start eating meat products or take these supplements that will replicate the iron that a human needs in its blood.” Phlox handed Jonathan the bottle of supplements he had just recently created with a tad of a match to the child’s DNA. He then said “Jon, make sure she takes one of these with breakfast and also one before she goes to bed at night. If she doesn’t she’ll lose the child I’m afraid since her physiology is more different than yours.”

T’Pol looked at Jonathan and then thought sadly “I’ll take the supplements Aisha. I know how much you want me to have this child. It is against the teachings of Surak to eat meat or any form of animal flesh but since our child is part human, I know its required.” She then looked at Phlox and asked “is it possible for you to make it so that after the child is born that it doesn’t have to eat meat?”

“He or she will also be able to take the same supplements,” said Phlox, “and eventually according to my research the child will lose that point five percent by consuming your breast milk T’Pol since your milk will have more Vulcan DNA to it since you posses no human DNA at all, so a few months after he or she is born, you won’t have to give it the supplements anymore.”

“Thank you doctor,” said Jonathan looking at his wife and seeing the hint of a smile starting to show up but also knowing she was trying her hardest to

suppress them from rising up but being pregnant had begun to affect her in that department so he projected a thought to her mind. “It’s alright that you’re having trouble suppressing your emotions, you can go ahead and show them to me. I’m not going to tell any Vulcan… or anyone else… that you’re giving in and showing them.”

“Thank you Aisha,” thought T’Pol, “but if I do that, I give up what makes me Vulcan and I’m not going to give up on my heritage and culture, so thanks for the offer but no, I’ll continue suppressing my emotions except when we make love.”

“Alright T’Pol,” thought Jonathan. “I want you to be happy and if suppressing your emotions make you happy, then I want you to continue doing that.”

“Thanks again Aisha,” T’Pol thought giving off a small bearly noticeable smile and a very deep exhale. “I cherish thee.”

“I love you too T’Pol,” thought Jonathan. He then turned to the doctor and asked “can she go back on duty?”

“I don’t see why not,” replied Phlox, “that is unless you don’t want her to captain.”

“Let’s go T’Pol,” thought Jonathan, “a quick trip to our quarters, then we’re off to the bridge, there’s trouble with the Romulans again. They might be about to raid the Federation again… or someone is using their Bird-of-Preys to trick us and are invading Federation Space for they are back in the Tezel-Oroko System as of right now.”

“Whom,” thought T’Pol, “we got a mystery or

another war on our hands, I wonder who the culprits are this time? Could it be…”

TWENTY-FIVE

Enterprise NX-01 “Why do you think its the Klingons T’Pol?” thought Jonathan to his wife as he held her hand leading her to their quarters. “I truly would believe its the Romulans who are in the Tezel-Oroko System for their empire is closer to that area than the Klingons are even though they both find that area disputed.” “True,” thought T’Pol, “but the Klingons are more likely to something right now for their fleets aren’t crippled like the Romulans are and I would think they may have captured some of the Bird-of-Preys that we disabled during the war.” “It could easily be someone else too,” thought Jonathan as they arrived at their quarters and he pushed the button on the panel next to it so it would open for them. As the door swooshed open, he picked up his wife in his arms and carried her into their quarters directly to their bed where she almost turned into an animal and tore off his clothes along with hers.

Little did Jonathan and T’Pol know as they got a little more intimate for the first time in a long time, that Jonathan was right about another enemy controlling Romulan Bird-of-Preys. Of the ten that they were controlling, five were remaining at the Tezel-Oroko Sector to try and ambush the Enterprise or any other Earth vessel they could lure in while the remaining five were among the rest of the Sernaix armada heading into Klingon Space for a rendezvous no one was expecting…

***** Qam-Chee, The First City, Qo’noS The Year of Kahless 790

Chancellor M’Rek wasn’t at all angry at the crew

of the IKS Jota when they returned to Qo’noS without even one victory against the Sernaix warship they encountered. Instead he was glad to learn of this new threat, for he figured it could be used to the Empire’s advantage against the United Federation of Planets. “We should form an alliance with these Sernaix, and crush Starfleet.” He suggested to the Council.

“Agreed,” said the highest members of the Klingon Imperial Defense Council, “we will absolutely send a few representatives as a Peace Delegation to meet with them immediately. Hopefully they will reply.”

“No need Chancellor M’Rek,” said Duras of the

House of Duras, “three Sernaix warships have just entered orbit, we’re being hailed.”

“Attention Klingon Empire, we are the Sernaix, you will join us or die. Awaiting your reply.” That transmission blared from the speakers in the Imperial Palace on Qo’noS’ First City Qam-Chee along with every other building all over the planet that was part of the government. After it played through once, it repeated for a second time but it wasn’t an audio playback, it was the same alien speaking this time sealing the threat showing that this was no laughing matter. “Attention Klingon Empire, we are the Sernaix, you will join us or die. Awaiting your reply. You have ten minutes fifteen second before we start leveling your cities starting with Qam-Chee.”

“Open a channel to the lead Sernaix vessel,” ordered M’Rek, “Sernaix, this is Chancellor M’Rek of the Klingon Empire; we would like to negotiate a peace treaty and join your forces in hopefully over whelming and conquering the United Federation of Planets and the rest of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. Please do not level our cities, we willingly join you.”

“Your decision is the right one,” replied the Sernaix Commander, “Your empire will be deeply reworded through the blood of all the species of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants that are not of the Great Order, the Sernaix, The Votality, The Shedai,

The New Dominion, The Borg and now the Klingon Empire.”

“We don’t know all those races and don’t want to,” said M’Rek, “but we are honored to join you and them. Our capital is yours along with our cities. You’re free to use our ship yards and starbases.”

“Excellent,” boomed the voice of the Sernaix Commander, “we will transport some of our warriors down to fortify your defenses and take part in the ruling of the empire. May all our hands be drenched in blood when we achieve our greatest victory.”

“Perfect,” replied M’Rek, “all of Qo’noS stands with you and your other allies. Qo’noS and the Imperial First City out.”

Aboard the lead Sernaix warship the Po’to’shia, the second in command looked at its commanding officer and said “You said hours ago: “Set a course for Qo’noS, we’re going to erase that planet off the starcharts. TODAY IS A GREAT DAY FOR THE KLINGON EMPIRE TO DIE.” Don’t you remember? You seemed as if you wanted to obliterate the Klingon Empire, I thought it was in revenge for the attack they started on us; so now why are we forming an alliance with them?”

“Silent underling,” said The Commander, “I have my reasons, the Klingons can be useful to a means, and I promise you; this alliance will end with the destruction of their fleets and Qo’noS. Does that please you?”

“For the moment,” replied The Second, “but I

would enjoy it better if we were to destroy them NOW!”

“Wouldn’t we all,” replied The Commander, “but all good things come to those who wait, and that will make the destruction of the Klingons all the better!”

“Agreed Commander, pardon me for questioning your orders,” replied The Second.

“When it comes to the Klingon fleet, I want one of our ships to join with a few of theirs,” ordered The First, “this way their Bird-of-preys will also be able to cloak allowing us to launch a surprise attack on Earth and wipe every major government and military contingency.”

“Right away sir,” replied The Second, “I’ll contact the Klingons to inform them that our ships will be physically joined with theirs so they can utilize our technology and launch a surprise attack on their worst enemy, the humans.”

*****

Borg Unicomplex Delta Quadrant, 2376

The Borg Queen herself hated the United

Federation of Planets, three times they in-a-way killed her. Once when she and her drones captured and assimilated Captain Jean Luc Picard in to Locutus

of Borg and used him to try and conquer the human race at the Battle of Wolf 3579, but he was rescued by his crew aboard the USS Enterprise NCC 1701-D, years later she was killed again when the USS Enterprise NCC 1701-E followed her sphere into the past and stopped them from preventing Earth’s First Contact with the Vulcans; and the final time she was killed was by Captain Kathryn Janeway herself when a future form of Janeway, an admiral, helped Voyager get home through the use of her many transwarp networks, destroying both the network and the Unicomplex. Because of all these attacks, the new and improved Borg Queen knew that the Federation didn’t consider the Borg a threat anymore, but now they were ready to return and claim their prize and destroy humanity. To do this if I have to form an unholy alliance with the powers overwhelming the Federation right now, so be it. To do that, she sent out dozens of cubes and spheres to hunt down the New Dominion, the Votality, the Shedai, and the Sernaix.

Cube 3179 followed the Queen’s orders exactly and within four hours after leaving the Delta Quadrant through one of the new Transwarp Hubs exiting into the Alpha Quadrant undetected and made their way towards the home of Species 90912, the Votality. At the doorstep of the Votality’s homeworld, the Cube 3179 sent out its transmission, ‘Votality, we are the Borg; resistance is futile, you will be assimilated if you don’t let us join you;

resistance is futile. If you choose to resist, we will add your biological and technological distinctness to our own, your culture will adapt to serve us; resistance is futile.”

Eight of Thirty replied in thought to the rest of the collective, “they’re responding, Borg, you can join our alliance on one condition, you don’t assimilate our people or the rest of our allies, do this and we will help you crush the Federation.”

From her perch safely in the Delta Quadrant and the Unicomplex, the Queen gave her orders to the collective, “Tell them we’ll accept their terms for our alliance if they’ll allow us to assimilate one of each of their allies into the collective as representatives.”

The Votality knew that they couldn’t resist the Borg’s offer, to do so would be suicide. So they sent a data burst to Cube 3179 replying that they agreed. The Votality’s Alliance was now complete; their plan had come together perfectly. There was no way United Earth’s United Federation of Planets would survive their onslaught.

………

USS Enterprise NCC 1701-E, Deep Space Ten, & the Temporal Research Facility

Aboard the USS Enterprise NCC 1701-E, Captain

Jean-Luc Picard and the rest of his Senior Staff were getting the rest of the crew ready for the ship to

time travel into 2163 and begin what they would hope would be a short search for the Enterprise NX-01. On the bridge in his center chair Picard prepared his log.

“Captain’s Log, Supplemental, the Enterprise and the rest of the fleet is finally ready to use the Temporal Research Facility to jump into the past. I’m filled with both awe and fright at the same time knowing that we’re about to make history, but at the same time, I feel that what we’re about to do is wrong on so many accounts. If we slightly interfere with the timeline, we could ruin our own future; and possibly destroy the Federation. A lot weighs on this mission, but I can’t help but dread the fact that the reason we’re doing this is to make war on another species, war that they started but somehow ignited throughout all of time. Computer, end log.”

The researchers aboard the Temporal Research

Facility knew they had to generate a stable time portal to allow the twelve hundred ships to pass through together along with the Enterprise, the Defiant and the Koval. From the facility Dr. Kerasha Nagarui contacted the Enterprise and said, “Nagarui to Picard, the temporal portal is ready to use, the Romulans have agreed to stay behind and protect it and Deep Space Ten. God speed on your mission, Nagarui out.”

“Contact the fleet,” ordered Picard, “You all heard

the lady, the temporal portal is set and set to the year 2163, you have your orders, so let’s get to it. See you all on the other side; let’s find the NX-01.”

*****

Enterprise NX-01 Tenzel-Oroko System

As the Enterprise NX-01 dropped out of warp

returning to her normal Sub-light velocities, her long range sensors picked up on two things right away. The first was the five Romulan Bird-of-Preys that Starfleet knew were in the system that had crossed the Neutral Zone, but at the same time there were more Bird-of-Preys nearby, all on the other side of the Neutral Zone but they were truly being crewed by Romulans and they weren’t ready to violate the treaty yet, at least not until they perfected their onboard ship cloaks.

At tactical Reed quickly noticed the other Bird-of-Preys that were on the other side and started to wonder why everything was going wrong, so he decided to speak up. “Sir, there are more Romulan ships, they’re on their side of the Neutral Zone, the thing is there might be a reason for this whole strange situation that we are seeing right now.”

“Explain Reed,” replied Archer going back into what he sometimes called ‘his command mode’

when he was thinking of everyone around him as his crew- not as family- and even T’Pol knew that when he did this it was for her safety and the safety of the crew.

Reed spoke up again knowing that what he was about to say would be hard for everyone to believe. “I believe we aren’t facing Romulans on this side at all. These five ships might have been stolen by some unknown alien culture who are trying to trick us. I say this because there are at least ten more Bird-of-Preys on the Romulan side of the Neutral Zone and they all have all their weapons locked on to the five Bird-of-Preys on this side of the Neutral Zone.”

“Target the lead Bird-of-Prey on this side of the Neutral Zone Mr. Reed,” ordered Archer.

“Target locked,” replied Reed, “Phase cannons, Photonic Torpedoes and Pulse Cannons are charged and ready.”

“FIRE,” ordered Archer. At once all Enterprise’s weapons raced out of

their corresponding weapon ports and raced towards the forward Bird-of-Prey as inside the Neutral Zone the other Romulan ships did the same thing as one D’deridex-class Warbird decloaked and also fired on the Sernaix controlled Bird-of-Prey. Within seconds, the Sernaix controlled Romulan Bird-of-Prey that was being fired upon exploded well at the same time, the D’deridex-class Warbird recloaked, jumped to warp and left the system

leaving the ship they truly came into the past to rescue.

*****

Earth & Orbiting San Francisco Shipyards 2163

Enterprise NX-01 was finally fully retrofitted and

ready for her eighth launch ceremony since her first launch in 2153, the spacedock’s docking umbilical’s were released and the ship under Ensign Mayweather’s expert helmsmanship slowly maneuvered out into open space on impulse power preparing to jump to warp. “You know what to do ensign, just don’t scratch the paint,” said Archer as he watched on the view screen his ship flying out of the spacedock.

“I know sir,” replied Mayweather, “ten seconds to open space.”

“Continue on course ensign,” ordered Archer. “Once we’ve cleared spacedock, set a course for Alpha Theta Six.”

“Understood sir,” replied Mayweather, “course laid in and ready to go once we’re clear.” As Enterprise cleared spacedock, Mayweather kept the ship at impulse until they past Mars and the Asteroid Belt then before they hit Jupiter and Jupiter Station, he waited for the next order but had his finger on the button and ready to press it knowing

what it would be. “Warp two point five,” ordered Archer. With those four words out of the Captain’s mouth, Mayweather presses the button and the ship jumped to warp and bolted out of the Sol System into open space under the watchful eye of every sensor probe, unmanned research facilities from New Berlin colony on the Moon to the domed cities on Mars along with its orbital platforms, and Yosemite Station halfway between Earth and her moon, but also under the eyes and sensors of a combined Klingon-Sernaix warship, cloaked through Sernaix technology. With the Enterprise gone, they could execute their devastating mission that would not only cripple Earth, but also bring the new United Federation of Planets to its knees.

……… Klingon-Sernaix Offensive Earth

As the joint Klingon-Sernaix warriors watched on their combined ships’ view screen the Enterprise leaving the system, they began to coordinate their attack on Earth. “There are many inhabited landmasses out on that watery globe. Each one has many different countries, and each one of those countries has a capital, where their central governments are located; I say that we attack everyone of this planet’s countries and kill as many

humans as physically possible before our weapons overload, we’re discovered or until we literally destroy this miserable planet,” said the Sernaix Commander.

“Agreed,” replied the Klingon Commander, Commander Durak of the House of Klarg.

“Then let’s begin our attack in about forty-six hours, Sernaix time,” said the Sernaix Commander, “or one Earth day in human terms. That way the Enterprise will be long gone and any other nearby Earth vessel will not be able to arrive to render any aid for at least three and a quarter hours.”

“My crew will be ready to beam down to the surface after our initial bombardment to take care of any residual resistance or crush any that start to form,” replied Commander Durak.

“That will not be needed Durak,” decided Supreme Commander Ho’la’gath of the Elite Sernaix warship Bara’gth. “But then again, your ground troops could serve as our occupying force on the surface, so yes, after the bombardment, send your troops.”

“Will do Ho’la’gath,” replied Durak as he went about his duties and picking the best men he had for the Occupying Force that he wished he was commanding but as a Klingon General in the Imperial Forces, his place was on the bridge of his war fleet’s flagship.

The Sernaix warship Bara’gth that was combined with the IKS Jota continued to orbit Earth with their

weapons locked on over two hundred capitals while the next attack coordinates were also locked into the main computer and set to go whenever the first targets were completely devastated.

………

Earth and the Unmanned Orbital Satellites

“Admiral Black, sir,” started Ensign Nathanial

Markson, “something has entered the system and is just entered a dead stop near the asteroid belt, what ever it is, the satellites can’t see it. They only know something is there because whatever it is sent out a disruption wave moving a few of the asteroids as it stopped. That’s what the satellites detected.”

“Dispatch a MACO’s ship to investigate,” ordered Black, “keep me notified of anything else no matter how minor it is, anything could be about to happen, we can’t allow Earth to be attacked again; we do not want to re-experience what the Xindi did nine years ago.”

“That exactly right sir,” said Markson, “but the Xindi attack was different, we didn’t think it could happen or even know it would. Now we know there’s a ship or something out there that’s powerful enough to move an asteroid as it stops; meaning it must be big, extremely big.”

“Or a combination of more than one starship,” suggested Admiral Black, “but as of right now,

Starfleet doesn’t know of any race that could build a monstrosity like that and also be able to turn it invisible by some unknown means.”

“The unknown vessel is moving again sir,” reported Markson, “asteroids are scattering as their hit by the invisible ship’s magnetic field or what ever they’re using to get them out of the way. According to the movements the satellites can detect, the ship is heading this way, but since it’s about to leave the asteroid field, we’re going to lose all means of tracking it; I’m sorry.”

“Get me the president in Paris,” ordered Black, “I want him to know about the situation.”

“Something is blocking all communication channels, planetwide and interspace are both out,” said Markson, “I can’t even contact the Enterprise or any other ship; and its like Echoes one, two and three have been destroyed but satellites report that their still intact and broadcasting.”

“If planetwide alert statuses aren’t down, go to Tactical Alert,” ordered Black, “send this message by radio if you have to: “Attention all Starfleet personnel, civilians, and alien visitors, this is not a drill, report to your nearest disaster relief facility. As of an hour ago, an unknown alien vessel has been detected in this system, it’s invisible to all sensors and satellites and was only detected because it was able to somehow move an asteroid, it has now past the asteroid field and because it has we have lost the capability to track it. This unknown vessel could be

hostile or could easily want nothing to do with Earth, but we don’t know this. It is best to act on the assumption that this alien vessel contact is hostile and is on an attack vector for Earth. It will take to long to evacuate the planet and communications are down so there is no way to contact the Enterprise and have her return here since she is the only closest ship since she left spacedock early this morning. We are on our own and therefore we have to defend our home planet ourselves. MACOS teams have been mobilized in every country and are there to render any assistance and protection you shall need. Starfleet Command and Admiral Carson Black out.” Translate that into every known language then rebroadcast it to every nation.”

“Aye sir,” replied Markson as he started his new delegated task knowing it wouldn’t be easy. Only it turned out to be an easy task because he had access to the Universal translator programmed with every known language to date, including all Earth languages. Within twenty minutes the alerts were out and being rebroadcasted in one hundred different languages.

………

About two thousand meters away from Earth the

Sernaix warship Bara’gth final came to a complete stop in front of Earth’s moon after an hour of drastic planning that also involved building a second Sernaix

cloaking device. Once fully stopped, the mixed crew of Sernaix and Klingon warriors each went about separate duties. The Klingons got ready to separate the ship into its two separate vessels, the Klingon battle cruiser Jota and the Sernaix warship Bara’gth. Both ships once separated would still remained cloaked through the means of an extra cloaking device installed onto the Jota, for if the Jota was seen the mission surely would fail, and that’s one thing the Sernaix didn’t want to happen for they wanted to be the dominate race in the new empire the Votality was forming, but they didn’t know that they were nothing but pawns in the Votality’s plans; therefore the Sernaix race was going to become nothing but foot soldiers, the Votality’s “Enforcers” and would be considered slaves by their masters.

“Jota, come about on course Zero, Zero Mark Zulu Zero, Recloak and set a course for the islands near the biggest continent on Earth, destroy all their cities, leave none alive, that would be the western half of the planet, we’ll take care of the eastern half. Remember our mission is to wipe out as many puny humans as possible and destroy all their major cities so when our ground troops materialize on the planet’s surface, they’ll encounter little to no resistance.”

“Acknowledged, Commander Ho’la’gath,” replied Commander Durak, “We’re cloaked and ready to launch our attack on Earth and her Pacific Islander inhabitants.”

“Excellent,” replied Commander Ho’la’gath, “my

warriors and I’ll will take our ship towards the United States and wipe out San Francisco and then we’ll head to Paris, France to obliterate the United Federation of Planet’s President’s residency and complex. May this be a glorious victory for both our peoples!”

“When this is over and we are victorious,” started Commander Durak, “I owe you a barrel of blood wine.”

“I look forward to it,” growled Commander Ho’la’gath, “but if we aren’t victorious, it will be your blood and the blood of your crew that I will drink of, so it is best you do not fail me, for if I taste Klingon blood, I might just want to kill your entire race to have it bottled for my people.”

“Is that a threat?” asked Commander Durak not even fearing if it was for he knew to be Klingon was to be a warrior and not a coward so he would take any threat standing tall even if it came from this Sernaix Patok.

“It is not a threat,” replied Commander Ho’la’gath, “it is a promise and you best not make me have to make good on it for I promise you, I’ll make your death slow and painful that you’ll beg for me to end your miserable life before I am done torturing you allowing your blood to drip slowly into my drinking cup then containing barrel. I promise you this Durak, I will enjoy killing you.”

“Then today is a good day to die,” replied

Commander Durak, “I do not fear death in fact I welcome it with open arms for I am Klingon.”

“Then lets get this over with,” said Commander Ho’la’gath, “that way sooner one or both of us will be able to feast on blood.”

………

As the Bara’gth and the Jota maneuvered about

getting closer and closer to Earth, the Sernaix warship had within its launch bay fifty Sernaix Death-class fighters powered up, cloaked and ready for launch and to initiate a stealth attack on minor Earth targets. With ten meters of Earth, these cloaked fighters left their bays and entered the atmosphere five minutes before their mother ship and the Klingon Bird-of-Prey could even initiate a descent vector towards their respective targets. Aboard the Bara’gth and the Jota both commanders realized that their respective ships were entering the atmosphere at too steep of a vector so both gave their helmsman the order to level their descents by two point seven five microns per second. Within that margin of error being formed both ships leveled off and continued on their own courses, one towards California and the other towards the Asian mainland.

Not that far above San Francisco California and Hong Kong China both the Bara’gth and the Jota decloaked and fired on their targets. From the Jota’s

torpedo launcher came just a regular torpedo but from the launch tube of the Bara’gth came a Polyphasic Disintegration Torpedo that literally hit the first building near Starfleet Command tearing a hole right through it and causing massive disintegration through the rest of the buildings ventral wall. As the damage spread, it continued to a power junction and caused an explosion, the whole building went up in blazing fireball but no one was killed, for as soon as the torpedo hit, its occupants realized they were under attack and used the transporters and transported directly to the main building that housed all major operations and intelligence officers. Know that all of Starfleet Command was under attack everyone present was transported from the facilities directly to the orbiting spacedocks and emergency command facilities. Once Starfleet Command itself was evacuated, the president and remaining Starfleet Officers in Paris France were transported off the planets surface to be on the safe side. At the same time, they witnessed a fleet of Sernaix fighters decloak and open fire on the president’s residency. Earth was in a State Of Emergency and no one knew about what was happening at the Asian countries or deep within Russia, yet.

From the orbital spacedocks’ view screens the once peaceful Starfleet Command officers watched as United Earth was ransacked, attacked and entire communities set a blaze by some unknown enemy

and its ships all over North America. Only that was just the beginning, for Ensign Nathanial Markson reported from his new Operations Station, “Admiral Black sir, incoming communication and visual from the Hoshi Sato Institute in Kyoto Japan, and our offices outside the Tokyo Japan Vulcan Earth Embassy.”

“On screen,” ordered Admiral Black, “put the transmission on audio.”

“This is Commander Hideo Yamamoto at the Hoshi Sato Institute for Linguists in Kyoto, Japan named after Hoshi Sato of the Enterprise NX-01; while we’re under attack, by an unknown alien warship. Sending you visual now.”

As the visual came in clear aboard the spacedock, Admiral Black said, “That’s a Klingon Bird-of-Prey, read about them from one of Enterprise’s mission files, but it seems to be falling in and out of phase… maybe using a Suliban cloak to conceal it just before it launches its attack; and it seems like its about to attack Commander Yamamoto’s building, transport him and all its occupants out now.”

“Energizing,” came the voice of the transporter technician, “we have them all, all fifty teachers, the commander and thirty students. Their on three different spacedocks, the commander is here and on his way to Ops.”

“Sir,” said Markson, “the institute has been destroyed, the Bird-of-Prey has recloaked, but before it did, it seems to have set a course for Tokyo

and also launched something towards the Euro-Asia mainland heading towards Moscow, Russia at high speeds.”

“Get everyone out of Tokyo that will be possible to transport before that ship gets there,” ordered Black, “make sure you get the Vulcans too.”

“Understood sir,” replied the transporter technician who then redistributed his orders to the transporter rooms on the other spacedocks before they began a coordinated evacuation of Tokyo.

………

In Russia, the Russian army was ready to face

what ever it was heading towards them at high enough speeds that none of their planes or other military vehicles could intercept it had no choice but to evacuate their cities, so they brought out of storage their old space shuttles that helped build the International Space Station, now the main orbital station in high Earth orbit that served as an observation posts, a research facility and a dock for space going vessels.

The president of Russia knew that no matter what his people did, there just wasn’t going to be enough time to evacuate everyone for his government-section was to protect all the nearby countries including all of Asia, the Middle East and India, almost a total of 25,931,888 people because there was no way they could launch a rescue attempt in

Japan except for the outer lying islands since the attacking aliens only seemed to be interested in Tokyo and Kyoto. Either way, the president knew they had to try, so he told his aid, “Contact Starfleet Command.”

“San Francisco and Paris have both been destroyed sir,” replied the aid, “whatever you were hoping for isn’t going to happen sir, we’re on our own.”

“Try the orbital facilities, try the International Space Station or spacedocks; someone still has to be there.”

Before the aid could even try her Communications board went off, “Sir, incoming transmission from Admiral Black aboard one of the San Francisco Planitia Shipyard spacedocks.”

“Admiral, we’re in trouble down here,” said the Russian President, “I have so many people to evacuate and too little time to do it.”

“Forget it, we’ve begun transporting survivors out of Japan, Korea, and China and there is surprisingly a lot, the attacks are only on government and Starfleet facilities, we’re about to begin transporting your people to the International Space Station, standby.”

“Admiral, the Klingon Bird-of-Prey has left Japan,” reported Markson, “it’s now heading towards Russia, following what I believe now was a probe they launched, an armed probe; I believe it’s intended to take out the main nuclear reactor. The resulting explosion will take out Moscow, and half of Europe.”

“We need to get MACO cruiser launched now to

protect the rest of our Earth based facilities and alien embassy, Earth is in a State of Emergency and its up to us to bring order to all this chaos and to do that; we’ll need the MACOs,” ordered Black, “General Casey to Ops.”

Twenty minutes later, General Casey stepped off the turbo lift and said, “You called for me admiral, what do you need? Starfleet’s never turned to the military except for Captain Archer keeping a team aboard the Enterprise since the Xindi incident.”

“We need you to get your ships into the air down there and take out those alien ships terrorizing Asia, Russia, and the United States,” ordered Black.

“Would if we could admiral,” replied General Casey, “this is the only spacedock with a MACOs ship, all the rest were down at Starfleet Command’s Military Facility and were destroyed in the attack. There’s no way one ship can take care of this problem, I suggest you recall Enterprise and the rest of your ships in deep space and handle this problem.”

“All the ships are too far out,” replied Black, “Enterprise is by far the closest and that would only be because of the Captain’s and T’Pol’s wedding being held here at Earth, they’re at the Pearl Nebula.”

“That’s not good with her being the only closest ship,” sighed General Casey, “but call her back

anyways, and do the same with all your other ships too.”

“Ensign Markson, contact the Enterprise,” ordered Black, “put the transmission through from my office directly to Archer’s Ready Room. I got some bad news to deliver.”

*****

As the Sernaix warship Bara’gth got closer to

Starfleet Command, Commander Ho’la’gath went over to his Tactical Officer and said “Arm our Polyphasic Disintegration Torpedoes, once we’re in weapons range of Starfleet Command Headquarters, decloak and open fire, then recloak and set a course for their landing pads for their shuttle pods and MACOs’ warships. We have to destroy them before we can move on to Paris and wipe out the United Federation of Planets’ president. Once those three things are done, we’ll return to North America and continue to barrage each one of their major cities until there is nothing left.”

“Course for Paris, France laid in commander,” replied the helmsman of the Bara’gth, “we can open a minor vortex and be there within ten minutes or we can just continue on impulse and take about an hour to get there.”

“Open the portal,” ordered Commander Ho’la’gath, “take us to Paris.” He then continued his orders, “tactical, rearm our Polyphasic Disintegration

Torpedoes, have them ready for firing as soon as we emerged from the vortex.”

“Acknowledged,” replied the Tactical Officer, “your will is my command Commander.”

Within seconds, the Bara’gth opened up a portal and vanished from both optical and sensor view, just to reappear to sensors right in front of the United Federation of Planets’ President’s residency. Right after the portal closed, the Bara’gth opened up a massive burst of three Polyphasic Disintegration Torpedoes wiping out the mansion and three city blocks leaving nothing but a crater in its wake. With her final mission done, the Bara’gth reopened the portal and returned to the United States only this time to its capital before the third world war, Washington D.C., for that’s when the nation’s capital fell to the Eugenics War’s pre-augments causing Earth’s first Atomic Horror.

The first target of the Sernaix in the once proud United States capital was the remnants of the white house and the Lincoln Memorial, within a few moments both became ruble. Their next target was Gettysburg, Pennsylvania because they were sticking with the plan of attacking historical American sites, places that would surely make humans mad to see literally destroyed with nothing but craters left in their wake. “This is why we’ll be victorious my warriors,” started Commander Ho’la’gath, “these humans don’t think they’re vulnerable here, but we’ll show them that we can strike fear into the

hearts of our enemies, even on their own homeworld. We have destroyed enough on this side of this planet, let’s go assist the Klingons in the Pacific half, on to Russia my warriors.”

When the Sernaix warship Bara’gth exited its portal in Russia all they found was a crater. Moscow was in total ruins along with all the rest of the nearby cities, even Siberia was totaled, all its forests leveled and all the ice melted in a nuclear explosion forming an acidic lake. Towards Western Europe the damage from the nuclear reactor explosion was immense. Everything as far as the eye could see was ruble; even the ash from the atomic cloud was still spreading right towards England, luckily, all of Earth had been evacuated to all the bigger orbital facilities orbiting Earth, the Moon and Mars.

*****

Aboard the main orbital spacedock, Admiral

Maxwell Black sat in solitude in his temporally Ready Room contemplating what he had just witnessed happening on his home planet. Earth lay in shambles, of course everything could be rebuilt, and maybe it would be better. Coming out of his ready room, he walked over to Ensign Markson and said “Contact Captain Archer aboard the Enterprise for me, put the communication through to his Ready Room directly from mine, I’ve got some bad news to deliver.”

TWENTY-SIX

Year: 2367 Temporal Research Facility/ Empok Nor

“Empress Donatra, long range sensors have

picked up a fleet of Borg ships entering the system, their on course for the Temporal Research Facility,” said Tactical Officer Dhael aboard the warbird Valdore.

“Have they even detected or sent a wave towards the station?” demanded to know Empress Donatra.

“I would believe they have detected Empok Nor Empress,” informed Dhael, “but their interests seem to be more into the Temporal Research Facility; and also now that they have gotten closer our sensors detect 5000 Borg ships with another 10000 and a Diamond on the way.”

“The Borg Queen is known to travel in a diamond-shaped ship,” stated Donatra, “I would presume that she’s coming to personally witness the destruction or assimilation of both the research facility and the station. There’s nothing we can do here, we’re

largely outnumbered, order the fleet to cloak and stand-by, we’ll try to mount a defense but we might have to escape with the rest of the Federation fleet through the time portal to 2163 and warn Captain Picard of what’s happened here. Empok Nor and the Temporal Research Facility are lost.”

Minutes later, “Borg fleet now within one hundred meters of the research facility, their firing,” reported Dhael, “if this borage continues the facility will lose shields in less than two minutes, at that time the Borg will board and assimilate both the crew and the facility. I suggest we leave through the portal now while we still have the chance.”

“Agreed,” replied Donatra, “the fleet will have to de-cloak to travel through the portal, we have no choice but to leave behind ten vessels to protect the rest while we make our escape and form a distraction for the Borg, they can join us later if they manage to survive.”

“Donatra to all vessels, de-cloak and head for the time portal, also I need the last ten ships to de-cloak first and slowly orbit the fleet as we leave and fire at the Borg ships to distract them so we can leave and warn the USS Enterprise NCC 1701-E and Captain Jean-Luc Picard of what’s happened here. Donatra out.”

On the main view screen of the Valdore, Donatra watched as ten warbirds de-cloaked and started flying around the fleet firing on the advancing Borg ships but the Borg didn’t fire back for they didn’t

consider the Romulans a threat… yet, for their mission only involved the Temporal Research Facility and to assist the New Dominion. Surprised at what she was seeing, Donatra turned to the helmsman and ordered, “Don’t take us through the portal yet, we’ll take up the middle, we should see why these Borg ships aren’t retaliating on our forces yet.”

Twenty minutes into the evacuation of the Romulan forces the Borg made their move just as Dhael reported “The Temporal Research Facility’s shields have failed, they’ve been boarded, and the Borg have turned their attention to us and the station, only the station’s shields were hit by an anti-graviton emitter that one of the warbirds fired at a Borg cube only it missed disabling the stations shields instead making it so much easier for the Borg to finish it off and the Romulans to watch in horror as the shields flickered out of existence. Seconds after the shields failed, Empok Nor exploded killing all Starfleet and Romulan personnel aboard. Only the Romulan fleet was left to defend a weakened and almost fully assimilated Temporal Research Facility, in all their effort to protect it, the Romulans had failed.

“GET US OUT OF HERE, TAKE US INTO THE PORTAL NOW,” ordered Donatra. With that order, the remaining two hundred out of five hundred Romulan warbirds headed through the time portal together only the last ship through followed Picard’s last order before he left almost a day earlier, “IF YOU

HAVE TO ABANDEN THE RESEARCH FACILITY, DON’T LET IT FALL INTO ENEMY HANDS; DESTROY IT YOURSELF”, so knowing that was his final order given by the Mission’s Commanding Officer, that warbird’s Tactical Officer fired two Tricovalt Explosives directly at the facility destroying it and three of the closest Borg cube ships and sphere.

*****

Year: 2163 Pearl Nebula

“Captain Picard,” reported Lieutenant

Commander Sulu at the Operations Station, “I’m picking up activity from the exit aperture for the time portal, a fleet of Romulan Warbirds has emerged and their broadcasting a priority distress call on Federation channels.”

“Romulan?” said Picard, “but we left them in 2367 to protect the Temporal Research Facility, something terrible must have happened for Donatra, if it’s her, to send her whole fleet here into the past, but what?”

At the Communications Station, Commander Ruiana looks up from her data screen and says, “Captain, the lead Romulan warbird is hailing us, it’s the Valdore.”

“Open to channel,” ordered Picard, “put it on screen.”

In less than three seconds, the face of Empress

Donatra appeared on the Enterprise-E’s main view screen, and then she spoke. “Captain Picard, I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news. The Temporal Research Facility has been engaged by the Borg, we had no choice but to come here. The facility was in the process of being assimilated when we left, our last warbird through the portal launched two Tricovalt explosives at it destroying it and three Borg cubes. Also Empok Nor/Deep Space Ten has also been destroyed. To save my fleet, we had no choice but to come here, can we be of any assistance?”

“Have your ships re-cloak and join us in the search for the Enterprise NX-01,” ordered Picard, “she’s out there somewhere and we have to find her before the New Dominion does or it could be disastrous for the timeline,” said Picard.

“What the Captain means,” started T’Lin, “is that my parents are aboard that ship and I haven’t been born yet. Therefore if their ship is destroyed, I would never have existed and that would in turn prevent my heroics at The Battle of Empok Nor from ever happening, meaning a terrible defeat would have be the outcome for both the United Federation of Planets and the Imperial Romulan State.”

“Understood Captain,” replied Donatra, “each one of my ship’s commanding officers know what the Enterprise NX-01 looks like so if it’s ok with you, my ships can remain cloaked and spread out and

search this sector and the nearby sectors much quicker thus making your search that much faster.”

“Make it so,” ordered Picard, “just tell your ships to remain cloaked at all times and to relay their coordinates once they’ve found the NX-01.”

“Acknowledged Captain, Valdore out,” replied Donatra. She then relayed Picard’s orders to the remaining 500 ships in her fleet, and then watched as they cloaked and departed in opposite directions leaving her warbird uncloaked and waiting to rendezvous with the USS Enterprise NCC 1701-E.

TWENTY-SEVEN

Elsewhere in the Alpha Quadrant light years away

from the future Federation and Romulan vessels was in a dead stop the Enterprise NX-01, she had just entered a system that seconds earlier had two uncloaked Sernaix warships running some kind of classified experiment. An experiment that brought forth the newest Sernaix warship from a point three hundred years into the future, a ship that utilized Human, Vulcan, Andorian, Tellarite, Klingon, Romulan, Trill, Bajoran, Cardassian, Breen, Jem’Hadar, Borg and Tholian technologies to create a massive warship. Because of this ships existence Starfleet would presume that sometime in the far off future the war came to an end and the New Dominion had won. Thus both Starfleet and the Federation itself suffered a drastic defeat or some sort of unholy treaty came about, a treaty that either joined allies of the Federation with the New Dominion or… Now that didn’t matter for the New Dominion had finally built a warship that would bring about their victory quicker through the means of the

ship’s time-traveling device, the Federation would be crushed.

Commander Tresa’ra Dex of the New Dominion warship Broga’Na’Goxa found himself on the bridge of the most powerful starship ever imagined, one that no intelligent mind would have ever conceived, for it possessed the good and the bad of ever alien culture that went into its design. From the Federation it inherited Shield Enhancers, Anti-Matter Mines, an Engine Overload Weapon, a Chain Reaction Pulsar, a Shield Disruptor, the Gemini Effect, two banks of Point Defense Phasers and a Corbomite Reflector.

With those Federation technologies it was designed with, it had the reasons why the United Federation of Planets became a major power in the universe, so to make it even deadlier the designers all said “Why not make her even deadlier and add those weapons counter parts from the Klingons, the Romulans, the Cardassians and the Borg?” All the present decided that it would be a great idea so they went to work gathering the materials from their conquered subjects. From the Klingon Empire they got a Tachyon Detection Grid, the Klingon version of Anti-Matter Mines known as Gravity Mines, a Weapons Enhancer, a Polaron Torpedo, the Klingon version of the Federations’ Chain Reaction Pulsar, and an Ion Cannon dissected directly from Chancellor Martok’s Negh’Var.

“We need more weapons,” cried one of the

designers of the Broga’Na’Goxa, “let’s get them from the Romulans next. Knowing them though, we might have to kill their Praetor first and for good measure, a few of their Senators.”

“Agreed,” replied the other designers, so they took their most intimidating Sernaix warship to Romulus to obtain the next weapons they wanted. Once there, they gathered up a Cloak Enhancer so their new warship wouldn’t have to decloak to fire its mighty weapons, a Myotronic Inhibitor to help prevent the ship from being destroyed before it could unleash its deadly attacks, a Sensor Jammer to disable all sensors of enemy vessels in its wake, a Phase Cloak (an Interphase Generator) which would alter the warship’s molecular structure so it could pass right through physical structures unseen and a Shield Inversion Beam to disable enemy shields while strengthening their own.

“Now on to Cardassia and their vessels special weapons,” said the head New Dominion Designer, “we almost have the most powerful warship ever constructed in over… well since the beginning of space travels recorded history.”

At Cardassia, the Sernaix designers realized they had already gathered many weapons that did the same thing but by different means. So all they needed to gather was a Flux Wave to send any ship in range into a dangerous spin that would make it easier to destroy while its Inertial Dampeners were

trying to compensate, next Remotely Piloted Drones were gathered that would be extremely hard for an enemy vessel to evade, a Plasma Cannon for planetary bombardment, and a Impulse Engine Booster to boost the speed of its impulse engines.

“Finally our mighty warship is complete, our New Dominion leaders will be very happy to find that they have one powerful warship to do the job of an entire assault fleet without having to be escorted or protected by other vessels,” said the head designer. “The only problem is their obviously going to want us to mass produce these vessels and that my friends is going to be extremely hard no matter how we try it for we’re now out of dilithium, metal, and anti-matter to even build a small shuttle for this ship, but then again it hardly even needs one for it can even survive flying into the chromospheres of any star.

“Sir our long range sensors are picking up a single Borg cube escorting a Diamond towards this planet,” said the ensign manning the sensory station.

“Relax,” ordered the head designer, “the Borg are our allies, there is nothing to fear, maybe they have something to contribute to our warship, it just better not be technology that will require the ship to be assimilated or to house drones aboard. This ship wasn’t designed for the need of drones for commanding, there isn’t even room for a regeneration chamber.”

“Incoming transmission from the diamond,” reported the ensign.

“On viewer,” ordered the designer. Within moments the ugly face of the Borg Queen

herself appeared on the viewer and as she spoke her voice sent shivers down the spines of the organic beings listening to her. “I have brought a weapon like a tractor beam but better for your massive New Dominion warship, this weapon will allow you to capture and hold in place an enemy vessel as you destroy it while preventing it from retaliating, it’s the same beam that we use to capture vessels we’re about to assimilate, it makes resistance futile. I present you with a Holding Beam and a Technology Assimilating Beam. The Holding Beam does as it says, holds and immobilizes vessels, the Technology Assimilating Beam will allow you to take and assimilate new technologies to your ship that it doesn’t already possess.”

“Thank you, your Excellency,” said the head designer, “your weapons will make our New Dominion warship the best in all four quadrants.”

“You’re welcome,” said the Borg Queen, “I suggest you send this ship into the past now to destroy the Enterprise NX-01 in 2163 before Captain Picard’s fleet finds her like they originally did which prolonged the war. If you destroy her then you’ll create a time paradox where Captain T’Lin Archer was never born and then the Federation forces will be defeated at Empok Nor by the Romulans loyal to Praetor Tal’Aura. When that happens they will never time travel to save the NX-01 and we’ll have wiped

out the United Federation of Planets in its infancy. No one will be able to stop us and the New Dominion. Long lived our empires.”

*****

Year: 2163 Enterprise NX-01 Alpha Quadrant

“Captain,” spoke Lieutenant Malcolm Reed, “I got

some bad news, sensors have just picked up two enemy vessels in this system, whatever their doing, it’s just opened a portal and a vessel is emerging. Whatever it is, it’s designed just like our two buddies out there and it’s big, extremely big, I’d estimate that its over five hundred meters long, with at most one hundred decks. Unless these readings are wrong, I’d believe we’re dealing with a massive dreadnought with enough fire power to take out our hull-plating and destroy us with one shot not to mention to annialate an entire planet. This thing makes the Xindi Super Weapon look like child’s play; we’re in trouble if we don’t get out of here NOW.”

“I agree with Reed Aisha,” thought T’Pol to her husband, “if we don’t get out of here, not only is Enterprise going to be destroyed but our child will be killed before he or she even takes its first breath.”

“We don’t want that now do we sweetheart,” thought Jonathan back to her. He then turned his

attention to giving his orders. “Reed, have they detected us?”

“I don’t believe so sir,” answered Reed. “Then polarize the hull-plating,” ordered Archer,

“hopefully that will displace their scans. Mayweather, get us out of here now, Warp Seven. Engage.”

****

USS Enterprise NCC-1701-E & IRS Valdore Pearl Nebula

Both aboard the Enterprise and the Valdore

sensors started going off, mostly the long range sensors and the tachyon detection sensors. “Pin point where that’s coming from,” ordered Donatra to her Tactical Officer, “Communications, get me Captain Picard.”

On the Enterprise Picard was giving the same orders as Donatra had, “Mr. Worf, pin point the area of that disturbance, Commander Ruiana, get me Empress Donatra now, I need to know if their detecting the same thing?”

“She’s hailing us,” replied Commander Ruiana, “putting it on screen.”

“Captain Picard, our sensors are picking up tachyon particles in a nearby system, according to our scans, there’s a portal that connects to the future, about three hundred years from now so I’d

say to the year 2463, while there’s something coming through that portal, and whatever it is, it’s massive.”

“I’m picking up the same readings captain,” reported Worf.

“Also there’s something else Empress… Captain,” reported The Valdore’s Tactical Officer and Worf at the same time well on the bridges of their respective ships.

“What?” asked Picard and Donatra at the same time.

“Sensors have locked onto a NX-class vessel pretty close to those coordinates, it could be the Enterprise NX-01,” reported the Tactical Officer and Worf at the same time again.

“Engage the cloak and wrap it around the Enterprise too,” ordered Donatra, “helm set a course for those coordinates, warp eight.”

Once the Enterprise was safely in the Valdore’s shields and the cloak was concealing both ships Donatra gave her next order, “Engage.” Both the Valdore and the Enterprise jumped to warp to the rescue of the Enterprise NX-01.

As both the Enterprise and the Valdore got closer and closer to the coordinates, their sensors started to tell that whatever ship the NX-class vessel was it was retreating from the system at warp seven while at the same time the two ships at the portal and the massive thing coming through that sensors now identified as a ship weren’t in pursuit at all. For some

reason they were still remaining stationary at their last known coordinates. “Contact the other Romulan warbirds, give them the coordinates of the NX-class vessels and its projected course, have them intercept it and while remaining cloaked stay with it.”

“Not a good idea Captain,” said T’Lin, “my father designed beacons that can detect cloaked ships, mostly cloaked Suliban ships, but they worked on a Klingon ship before and a Romulan ship. So if he suspects that their being followed by anything, he might end up deploying those beacons, their connected to the ship’s grappler making it easy to deploy and retract them. I suggest that the Romulans just keep the NX-class ship within sensor range at all times until we can get there.”

“Alright, T’Lin,” said Picard, “it’s most likely your parents’ ship anyways, so we’ll do this your way for now.”

THE VOID

Realm of Light Votality Homeworld/ Votality Space

Ensign Hoshi Sato Archer couldn’t remember her

young life nor did she know who the father of the new life inside her was, all she could remember was that she and her soul companion in whatever realm she was in were both swallowed up by some sort of light when the shuttlepod they were in exploded. “I must be dead,” she thought, “that’s the only way to explain what I’m feeling and what I’m in; but where are all the souls of my family, where is God?”

“You are not dead,” came a voice, “you are in our realm now. All the lives we claim in this war come here as long as we alone killed them, not our mortal allies.”

“If I’m not dead,” started Hoshi, “then how can you say ‘killed’?”

“To the humans and other beings of your realm, your reality, they witnessed you die in some way,” said the voice, “to them you are dead. There for no

matter what the outcome of this war, you are stuck here forever.”

“You cannot keep me here against my will,” screamed Hoshi, “I will fight you if I have to regain my freedom.”

“You will fail,” replied the voice, “your existence was doomed from the very beginning Ensign Hoshi Sato Archer.”

“What?” asked Hoshi, “who is this Ensign Hoshi Sato Archer?”

“You,” replied the mysterious voice, “you are Ensign Hoshi Sato Archer, once married to Captain Jonathan Archer of the starship Enterprise NX-01.”

“What do you mean once married,” demanded Hoshi, “I’m still married to him then.”

“No you are not,” replied the voice, “your ex-husband thinks you’re dead, therefore he remarried, and his new wife is his Vulcan Science Officer/First Officer, a Commander T’Pol.”

“That name sounds familiar,” thought Hoshi, “and so does the word Enterprise, I was her Communications Officer.” Out loud she asked “How long have I been dead?”

“In human terms, three months, four weeks and three days,” replied the voice.

“While then,” started Hoshi, “my life is over as I knew it, but I still want to return to my reality. I will fight you, I will escape.”

“As I said you cannot escape,” said the voice this

time in a more demanding louder tone, “anyways I thought you said you couldn’t remember anything.”

“My memory is starting to come back,” replied Hoshi, “and because it is, soon somehow I’ll think of a way to escape this god forsaken realm.”

“We are gods,” replied the voice, “just not our gods, and anyways you must as well start getting used to this realm because when we win this war, all your realms species will be joining you here, at least the ones that aren’t killed that is.”

Then that was that, Hoshi had nothing else to say, the realm she was in was to be her prison, there was no going home, her future and the future of her child was bleak. So she started to drift around the void not knowing what to do or who’d she drift into. There was just no place for her to go that she started thinking “only if I could just curl up and die, then at least this horrible nightmare would end unless it isn’t a nightmare. Well maybe I should just pinch myself to find out.” Pinching first her right arm then her left arm proved to be fruitless, all her pinching caused was a red mark to form on her skin, this nightmare she realized wasn’t a horrible dream, but a very horrible reality. “I wish I did die in that shuttlepod explosion,” she shouted.

“Don’t say that,” said her only soul companion, Major Laura, “anyways I also remember something, the wreckage that we were investigating when we ‘died’ wasn’t from the NX-02 Columbia, it was

actually from the NX-05 Republic, Enterprise’s sensors must still have been out of alignment along with the view screen or everything happened so quickly that T’Pol nor your husband couldn’t get any of the important information before she met her doom.”

“First don’t call Captain Archer my husband anymore, after we died, he went and married Commander T’Pol anyways, he did always have feelings for her, I knew that from the beginning. Anyways, even since the first day she came aboard the ship and while we were married he would look at her ass as it she had something that I just never would have,” said Hoshi, “so its not important anyways, he saw the shuttlepod explode and watched us die, he had a right to move on. I forgive him for marrying that attractive Vulcan female.”

“Truthfully then,” started Major Laura, “we should stay here, not escape and be thankful that were not really dead.”

“Do that by yourself,” said Hoshi, “I’m going back and killing Jonathan and T’Pol before they can have children.”

“If you really want them dead,” started Major Laura, “help the Votality destroy the Enterprise, don’t go back and do it yourself, that would just be plain awkward.”

“Help the enemy?” asked Hoshi, “are you crazy or just insane? If I go back and kill them myself, many

innocent people won’t die unlike if I just help these aliens destroy the whole ship.”

“Well that way you could have your revenge on not just your ex-husband and T’Pol, but also on the whole crew that supported them in getting married,” replied Major Laura.

“Well maybe you’re right,” said Hoshi, she then started thinking about how to form an alliance with the race that the mysterious voice belonged to.

TWENTY-EIGHT

Enterprise NX-01 En Route out of the Pearl Nebula

“Captain whatever it was coming through that

portal back there is almost fully through,” said Lieutenant Reed, “we’re not going to be able to out run it.”

“Understood Lieutenant,” replied Captain Archer, “but we can sure as hell try.”

“Course Captain?” asked Mayweather. “Set a course for…” started Archer, “anywhere’s

but here.” “Strange order,” thought Mayweather, but he

executed it anyways forcing the Enterprise to pivot in space and turn towards the Neutral Zone, the Romulan Neutral Zone and the unmanned Federation Sensor Probes built within asteroids to monitor Romulan activity and to make sure the Romulans stayed behind the neutral zone that was formed by treaty to end the Earth-Romulan War that

lead up to the founding of the United Federation of Planets.

“Sir we’re picking up a distress call from a Soudan vessel,” said the lady at the Communications Station, “their inside the Romulan Neutral Zone and they’re under attack. They’re requesting assistance.”

“Open to channel,” ordered Archer. “Channel open sir,” replied the Comm. Officer. “This is Captain Jonathan Archer of the Federation

starship Enterprise, by treaty we cannot enter the Neutral Zone, but we will give you a tactical advantage,” replied Archer. “Target the Bird-of-Prey’s nacelles then her auxiliary shield grid. Lastly wipe out her bridge. Either she’ll explode or be disabled, once you’re clear, set a rendezvous with us, we’ll stay here with our sensors locked on you.”

“Thank you Enterprise,” replied the Soudanian Captain, “see you soon.”

Pushing the sensors and residual scanners to their limits, T’Pol was able to get the battle that was happening near the border of the Neutral Zone onto Enterprise’s forward view screen allowing the bridge officers to watch as the tiny Soudanian vessels was rocked back and forth by disrupter fire as she got lucky shot after lucky shot off at the Romulan Bird-of-Prey. Jonathan couldn’t take it though he wanted to take his ship into the Neutral Zone and finish off the Romulans but he also knew doing so would violate the new treaty. He knew though that T’Pol wouldn’t have thought anything about it unless she

had some idea on assisting them without threatening Enterprise and endangering the whole ship and the fledgling Federation.

“We do still have the Suliban cell ship that we used to infiltrate the Romulan base during the war,” thought T’Pol to him, “it has weapons, you and I can take that and go and assist the Soudanian vessel without the Romulans knowing that we got involved.”

“We could do that T’Pol,” thought Jonathan to his wife, “but you’re not going, if you’ve forgotten, your pregnant.”

“This is exactly what Admiral Black meet I bet,” thought T’Pol, “you don’t want to send me into the fray because you’re afraid something will happen to me, and you yourself told him that you would be able to send me into the fray but it would be hard. Just because I’m pregnant now doesn’t mean that the same doesn’t apply.”

“Alright,” thought Jonathan, “if you put it like that Aisha, let’s go, but I want you to stay close to me, understood?”

“Yes,” thought T’Pol, “it’s understood Aisha, you’re just trying to look out for my safety and the safety of our unborn child, I can accept that.”

With that one thought understood and acknowledged, Jonathan got out of his chair as T’Pol did the same and headed towards the turbolift meeting each other halfway. Just before they entered the lift Jonathan turned back around and

said, “Malcolm, you have the bridge, T’Pol and I are going to take the Suliban cell ship and assist the Soudanians.”

“Alright Captain,” replied Malcolm as he left his Tactical Station and took the Captain’s chair, “you two just be careful, I don’ want to have to take this ship into the Neutral Zone after you.”

“You won’t have to,” replied Archer, “just set a course for two light years from here. After we’ve assisted the Soudanians, we’ll rendezvous with you along with them.”

“See you soon Captain,” replied Malcolm. “The Enterprise is yours for the time being,” said

Archer as he entered the turbolift, “I expect her back in one piece.” The turbolift doors then closed and it descended down to the launch bay deck.

***** Romulan Neutral Zone Soudanian vessel/Suliban Cell ship Offensive

“Jonathan, we’ll be in range of the Soudanian and

Romulan Bird-of-Prey in about ten minutes,” reported T’Pol.

“Bring the weapons online dear,” ordered Jonathan, “prepare to disengage the cloak.”

As the tiny Suliban ship got closer and closer towards the Soudanian and Romulan vessel, Jonathan and T’Pol could tell that the Romulan ship

was designed exactly like the Bird-of-Prey’s that they were facing during the Earth-Romulan War, in fact, it was one of the ships Enterprise herself had severely damaged except now she was back with enhanced systems and weapons. Studying what her sensors were reading, T’Pol almost never noticed that they had gotten within a meter of the Romulan ship’s underbelly. “Decloak now and fire,” ordered Jonathan.

T’Pol hit the targeting controls quickly decloaked the cell ship and fired their disrupters then recloaked as quickly before the Romulans could get a weapons lock. Jonathan brought the tiny ship to another set of coordinates underneath the Bird-of-Prey and ordered T’Pol to repeat her procedure as before. Both shots hit their mark but only scorching the underbelly of the enemy ship.

“I knew this would happen,” thought Jonathan, “Suliban weapons aren’t that powerful to damage Romulan vessels, but they were able to damage Enterprise.”

“Targeting their warp reactor might work,” suggested T’Pol in a thought knowing so well that Jonathan would like her idea.

“I love how you think T’Pol,” said Jonathan deciding to start speaking again so he could concentrate more on piloting the cramped cell ship into enemy territory, “but to do that we’d have to get a lucky shot off from where we are now and also get through their energy shield.”

“Have the Soudanians target the reactor from up

above as we do so from below,” said T’Pol, “there’s no way the Romulan shields will hold.”

“We can try,” replied Jonathan, “open a channel to the Soudanians and tell them your plan.”

T’Pol did as she was told but also added in some ideas that she hadn’t voiced yet. Seconds later, she said “The Soudanians have replied Jon, they’ll follow our lead, but they feel that they should start the attack first on the upper half of the ship before we begin ours on the under half.”

“Agreed T’Pol,” said Jonathan, “let me know when they’ve initiated their attack.”

Before T’Pol could even say ok or even think it the Soudanian vessel targeted the main reactor of the Romulan Bird-of-Prey and fired. Neither Jonathan nor T’Pol had time to react and lock onto their target before the Soudanians flew in towards the top half of the reactor and opened fire, only that would have been the case though if T’Pol wasn’t a Vulcan, lucky for her and her husband, T’Pol was quicker than the Soudanians and opened fire just as the Soudanian vessel got into weapons range of the reactor.

“Why’d you fire before the Soudanians?” thought Jonathan.

“I just remembered something,” T’Pol thought back, “about the Soudanians.” She then gave Jonathan full access to her thoughts.

“I see,” thought Jonathan, “they’re a deceitful race and even though their ship looks weak they

have a weapon that would have incinerated the Romulans and us along with them. They didn’t need our help, it was a trap.”

“Fire again T’Pol,” ordered Jonathan, “target the Romulans’ primary reactor again and also tap into their ships computer and use it to destroy the Soudanian vessel, if they have one of the Arrenhe’hwiua Telecapture System and use it as long as they have it for we have no choice but to destroy those traitors. The Soudanians did this to get us into this predicament so they could kill us and our unborn child before he or she ever gets to see the light of day.”

“Wait,” thought T’Pol as she watched the Soudanian vessel fire a regular disruptor blast at the Romulan Bird-of-Prey’s reactor at the same time she hit her firing controls and returned fire on the underbelly of the same reactor causing, the combined attack causing an explosion to begin deep within the bowels of the Bird-of-Prey tearing through the rest of the ship splitting it in half before causing an anti-matter containment breach.

*****

Earth

Admiral Black wasn’t in the best of moods, earlier

he couldn’t get in contact with Enterprise at the Pearl Nebula and now long rang sensors had

detected a fleet of Klingon Bird-of-Preys entering the Sol System but just sitting there waiting by Pluto. From their actions the admiral knew something was up, that they were waiting for something. As the hours past he started to think that the Klingons were waiting to ambush Enterprise whenever he was able to get a communication to her and recall her home. That way right under Earth’s nose the Klingons would destroy Earth’s first warp five/seven starship and the prize of Starfleet.

“Have we detected Enterprise in the Pearl Nebula yet?” asked Admiral Black to the Andorian now manning the sensor station aboard the orbital command facility.

“Nai, sir,” replied the Andorian, “there’s no sign of her but there is a fleet of ships there of unknown origin and class. Well let me know if Enterprise returns to the Nebula or if those ships out there do anything. Also keep trying to contact the Enterprise wherever she is, if you do manage to get a channel open to her, patch it through to my office.”

“Understood Admiral,” replied the Andorian, “I’ll do that.”

“Great,” though Black as he headed back to his office not hearing the Andorian’s reply, “more problems, this day is just getting worse every minute.”

*****

Enterprise NX-01, Soudanian Vessel & Suliban Cell Ship

On the bridge of the Enterprise Lieutenant

Malcolm Reed was glad to see the cell ship and the Soudanian vessel coming towards the Enterprise, now he wouldn’t have to take the ship into the Neutral Zone to mount his own rescue mission. As the cell ship got closer, Reed returned to his tactical station, from there he opened the launch bay doors and fired the ship’s grappler towards the cell ship latching onto it and dragging it back into the launch bay for the cell ship wasn’t like a shuttlepod that could maneuver itself back into its docking clamps.

Returning to the bridge Jonathan headed directly to his center chair as his wife returned to her science station. After a short conversation using their mental link, Jonathan turned back into being the Captain and said, “Mayweather, once the Soudanian vessel docks with us, prepare to jump to warp, we’re heading back to the Pearl Nebula, Starfleet still thinks we’re there and I think we’ve given the Sernaix enough time to leave.”

“The Soudanians are docked sir,” reported Reed. “Course set and warp engines ready to go sir,”

reported Mayweather. “Engage,” ordered Archer. As quickly as he said

the words, the Enterprise pivoted in space and headed straight for the Pearl Nebula at warp seven.

*****

Pearl Nebula USS Enterprise NCC 1701-E & IRS Valdore

Remaining cloaked the Enterprise and the Valdore

raced towards the coordinates of the emerging Sernaix dreadnought, a dreadnought that they knew nothing about except that it could wholeheartedly destroy them with possibly one shot and end the war and gain The New Dominion with a victory within a week. The dreadnought was a ship that they had to destroy at all costs no matter what because all hope would be lost if that ship ever came in contact with the Enterprise NX-01. So Captain Picard and Empress Donatra decided that they had no choice but to get detailed scans of that very dreadnought before she left the system, so they brought both their vessels in closer to do just that.

Within seconds of the Enterprise and Valdore entering the system and gaining distance on the dreadnought, the dreadnought’s Tachyon Detection Grid detected the presence of the two cloaked vessels only she wasn’t fully operational yet to launch any sort of an attack so her bridge officers relayed the coordinates of the cloaked enemy vessels to her escort cruisers and those two cruisers went to engage the Federation and Romulan vessels. Thirty seconds after the cloaked vessels were detected, the two escort cruisers were in firing range

of them, but there was a problem, they couldn’t detect them so their weapons couldn’t get a targeting lock on them giving the cruisers no choice but to return to their defensive positions beside their only dreadnought, the only one the Sernaix fleet would ever be able to have. All they could do was watch without even seeing a thing as the Enterprise and Valdore’s sensors locked onto the dreadnought and took highly magnified and detailed scans; scans that revealed no weakness to the massive Sernaix dreadnought.

“We have to regroup,” said Picard to his senior officers, “we have to find the NX-01 and protect her as I’ve been saying at all costs; but now we have no choice but to make contact with this century’s Starfleet and Federation, let them know we’re here to assist them and we’re also going to have to launch a coordinated strike against this Sernaix dreadnought-class vessel to destroy and hope that the Votality, the Sernaix, the Furies, the Shedai, and the New Dominion don’t have another ship like it or we’re going to be doomed for we’re going to lose many ships to destroy this one.”

“I agree Captain,” said Worf during the briefing, “but we also have to get some more allies to assist in this fight, the Starfleet vessels of this time are… while weak, they don’t even have shields yet.”

“We know that Worf,” said Geordi La Forge, “that’s why during the Earth-Romulan War many early Starfleet vessels were destroyed, but even

though some Romulan ships did cloak, they too didn’t have shields. The only race with shields at this time are the Andorians. Eventually they’ll share that technology with Earth and the other members of the Federation but mostly with Earth because Captain Archer will eventually become Earth’s Ambassador to Andoria so they will trust humans more than they would Vulcans even though his wife is a Vulcan.”

“I don’t need a history lesson on my parents,” said T’Lin, “lets get on with this briefing so we can find them before something terrible happens to them. My life is at stake her people.”

“T’Lin right,” said Picard, “we should get on with this, Worf, any weaknesses to that dreadnought out there?”

“Captain I hate to say it,” started Worf thinking out his next words carefully for he didn’t want to sound like a coward for he was a Klingon and Klingons lived for the chance to die in a glorious battle, “but there is none that I can find. It seems to be designed with the best of every alien culture we’ve ever come in contact with. On one final note sir, since that ship came from the future, further than where we came from in 2367, I’d have to report that there is also Federation technology incorporated into that ship, therefore I would presume that sometime in the near future we have lost this war and are conquered by the Sernaix.”

“We’ll Mr. Worf, we cannot allow that to happen,” said Picard. He then hit the

communications button on the front of the briefing room’s table and said “Helmsman, set a course out of the Pearl Nebula, make sure we stay within the cloaking field of the Valdore. Set a course for Earth, warp six.” Picard turned to the Senior Officers still sitting around the table and said “You have your orders, dismissed.”

*****

Klingon Neutral Zone, Near the Pearl Nebula IKS Jotara-2

“Captain, there’s a transwarp aperture opening,

there are also chronometric particles emanating from it,” reported the Jotara-2’s tactical officer.

“A Borg ship must be coming here from the future,” replied Captain Zurak, “decloak, raise shields, charge disruptors. Prepare to target whatever the Borg send through.”

“Weapons armed and ready,” reported the Tactical Officer, “but one ship against the Borg doesn’t stand chance.”

“Then today is a good day to die,” stated Captain Zurak then he hit the intercom nearest the spot where he was standing and said, “All decks, prepare for battle.”

Moments later, three Borg cubes and two spheres emerged from the transwarp aperture unexpectedly encountering the Klingons for they thought they

would only find a fleet of Federation starships to wipeout they weren’t ready to face the warrior race in battle, but the collective would adapt.

As the aperture sealed itself shut, the Klingon Bird-of-Prey Jotara-2 engaged the five Borg ships in a fierce firefight ensued. None of the Borg ships were making their emendable destruction at all easy. Carrying their adaptive knowledge from the future, the Borg ships were already immune to the Jotara-2’s disrupters and torpedoes. The only thing they weren’t adaptive to yet were their new Gravity Mines that had just recently been put into service to compliment the cloaked gravitic mines the Romulans had designed. Mines that if the Borg ships were in range would fly towards them and explode damaging or destroying them. To launch them though would require the Jotara-2 traveling at impulse uncloaked deploying them as she traveled. Too bad for her, at this moment she was under fire but her helmsman had already set a course for Sector 3175, deep within Klingon Space. Pulling off a maneuver to get out of the line of fire gave the helmsman the moment he needed to launch the ship forward into full impulse on a course directly for Sector 3175. From the center of the bridge, the helmsman could hear the Captain giving his next orders to the Tactical Officer while he concentrated on getting the ship out of the Borg’s weapons range, a feat that proved to be harder than he expected.

“Tactical, now that we have some maneuvering

distance, start deploying our Gravity Mines,” ordered Captain Zurak, “we just need to disable those ships so we can destroy them with our other weapons.”

“Acknowledged Captain,” replied the Tactical Officer, “deploying mines now.” On the secondary view screen on Zurak’s chair, the Captain could see that from the back of the ship the Jotara-2’s bomb bay doors had been opened and every few seconds two to three Gravity Mines launched from the Bird-of-Prey’s underbelly and started floating in space and because of their preprogrammed features stated to replicate forming more and more mines until many groups of them were clumped together in the advancing Borg fleets path.

Getting about three meters away from the Borg ships, Zurak watched as the first group of launched mines advanced forward towards the closest cube, hit it and exploded leaving a gaping hole in the center ship giving him the opportunity to see the conduits inside its massive murky hull as fifteen drones floated out into the vacuum of space. Those drones though managed to latch onto another mine and as they tried to get their footing on it, it to exploded vaporizing the drones before their organic parts fully succumb to the effects of oxygen deprivation.

“The damaged cube is still advancing on us,” reported the tactical officer, “and the others are

taking up flanking positions around it. Our mines aren’t going to damage one ship at a time anymore; they’re going to hit each ship in the group closest to them. The mines are useless now if they stay in that formation.”

“Never say that Ba’la,” ordered Zurak, “you are a Klingon and there is no honor in what you have said.”

At the Auxiliary Tactical Station, the female Klingon there said “Two vessels are approaching from further in Klingon space, they are Klingon and one is a D7-class battle cruiser the other is a Vor’cha- class attack cruiser, and we’re being hailed by the lead ship, it’s the battle cruiser IKS Gr’oth-2 escorting the Vor’cha-class IKS Vor’nak. They’ll be in weapons range within five minutes; they’ll be meeting us at Sector 3175. There’s also a D5-class battle cruiser from this era half an hour away, it’s the IKS Kr’oth. ”

“We have to destroy these Borg ships before the Klingons from this era get here, Captain Picard’s orders were not to get discovered,” stated Zurak, “after this is done, we’ll recloak and stay here and watch what the Kr’oth does, we might have to protect that ship for awhile, or if they seem to be aligned with the Sernaix, the New Dominion, the Votality, or the Furies, we’ll have to destroy them.”

“They are Klingons sir,” interrupted Ba’la, “we can’t destroy them.”

“They are,” said Zurak, “but there are things in our history from this era that never got recorded. It

could be because of this war that we are here to stop from destroying our century and our peoples in the future. We have to protect our interests as Klingons and whatever happened here in this century never got recorded for a reason, and I believe that reason is an unholy alliance with the demons, the Furies or the Sernaix. Whichever one of the two we’re going to find ourselves facing will regret the day they ever met a Klingon.”

“Coming up on Sector 3175,” reported the helmsman, “the IKS Gr’oth-2 and the IKS Vor’nak are already there and are taking up flanking positions on both sides of us.”

“They better know it’s the Borg we’re facing,” said Zurak, “therefore I want to have room to maneuver.”

“They know sir,” replied Ba’la, “they’re just making sure the Borg don’t get any lucky shots on our weakened hull.”

As the Klingon ships finished moving into position around each other, the five Borg ships entered weapons range and opened fire. The first blast hit the IKS Gr’oth-2 right in the neck between the bridge and primary hull, the pint where the shields were the weakest and the most vulnerable area on the whole ship. The shields rippled and dropped down to fifty percent efficiency but held.

“Zurak sir,” started Ba’la, “the Gr’oth-2 isn’t going to be able to take another blast like that, not in her shields weakened strength.”

“Then her crew will die a glorious death,” said

Zurak, “there’s nothing we can do for them.” The rest of the Klingon ships in the mini-fleet

including the weakened IKS Gr’oth-2 locked their weapons onto the nearest Borg cube and let lose a volley of disrupter fire as at the same time they fired two torpedoes each. The volley of disrupter fire and torpedoes hit the damaged cube right in the crater the mines formed, a crater that was clearly being regenerated but not fast enough. The blasts formed by the explosion and secondary explosions rocketed through the cube making their way to the power core. As the explosions all over the ship converged at the core, massive primary explosions erupted destroying the entire ship and sending debris rocketing towards the other Borg ships and Klingon vessels. None of the ships though got damaged that had strong shields, as for the IKS Gr’oth-2, her shield strength dropped to thirty percent efficiency just as a Borg sphere fired on her again targeting her neck again.

The blast hit dead center on the IKS Gr’oth-2’s neck obliterating the shields and at full strength continued through the ship’s hull and right through the other side. The bridge module of the ship dropped forward into the vacuum of space as the primary hull was rocked by explosions as her EPS Conduits erupted; on both halves emergency force fields tried to compensate and prevent the ship’s remaining atmosphere from pouring out into the

darkness of space only to ripple out of existence because the whole EPS Conduit System was fried. The remains of the IKS Gr’oth-2 started to drift in space as lifeless bodies of Klingon warriors drifted out of the twisted hulk of metal along with the remaining atmosphere; the IKS Gr’oth-2 was no more meeting the same fate as her predecessor.

Angry the remaining Klingon officers and commanders let lose the mighty power of their ships targeting each Borg ship one at a time with everything they had. From the torpedo bay of the Vor’cha-class IKS Vor’nak a Polaron Torpedo left heading straight towards the lead Borg cube. It borrowed its way through the ship’s metal hull towards the power core driving right through it and out of the other side of the hull towards the next ship, a Borg Sphere. A sphere that also was destroyed by the torpedo but as that torpedo continued onto the next Borg ship, a cube, the remnants of the sphere that it just destroyed managed to send the data it collected just before it exploded. Data that allowed the remaining cubes and spheres to adapt to the Polaron Torpedoes the Vor’cha-class attack cruisers had become useless to the Klingon Imperial Empire. As the Vor’cha-class attack cruiser’s Polaron Torpedo became useless, the crew on the bridge of the IKS Vor’nak could only watch in horror as their last line of defense was targeted by the Borg cube’s holding beams and hit with a plasma beam blast destroying it. The resulting

explosion damaged the cube enough to disable its regenerative properties and to rock the IKS Vor’nak and the IKS Jotar-2 slightly into each other since they were still too close to properly maneuver. While the two ships tried to recover, another ship started to ripple into existence.

“Sir, you’re not going to believe this…,” started Tactical Officer Ba’la almost stuttering, “but Chancellor Martok’s Negh’Var is decloaking off the port bow, they’re firing their Ion Cannon directly on to the newest leading Borg Sphere…” It took a moment for Ba’la to regain his composure from the shock he was reading on his sensors for what he was about to report would make no sense for only Martok’s Negh’Var was equipped with a cloaking device. “Sir, there’s a whole fleet of Negh’Vars decloaking out there.”

“Open a channel to Chancellor Martok,” ordered Zurak.

“Commander Zurak,” started Martok as the commander of the Jotar-2 appeared on his view screen, “we detected your plight while you were in the Pearl Nebula, Captain Sisco sent us to assist you, looks like we got here just in time to save your Sa’Hut. Fall into formation with this fleet, those orders also go for all the ships in your mini-fleet. Also, scan for any survivors from the Gr’oth-2; transport them aboard your ship. ”

“My fleet is not mini,” growled Zurak, “and two didn’t you see what happened to the Gr’oth-2?

There isn’t going to be any survivors, and sensors already confirm that.”

“Then join this fleet now,” demanded Martok, “or suffer the consequences.”

As the Zurak’s mini-fleet moved into formation to join Martok’s fleet of Negh’Vars, the remaining three Borg ships regrouped and in the process joined into one massive ship, a Tactical-Fusion ship. This new Borg ship advanced quickly towards the fleet of Negh’Vars and then dropped off all their sensors as she rippled out of existence to reform in the middle of the fleet. By the means of quantum slip stream travel, the Tactical-Fusion ship brought herself into weapons range of the whole Klingon fleet while also putting herself in the position to annialate the entire fleet while only losing the spheres when she would separate back into their regular forms.

………

Also deep within Sector 3175 was a cloaked

Federation starship, a ship Chancellor Martok didn’t know had followed his fleet of Negh’Vars into the system, a cloaked Federation starship commanded by Captain Benjamin Sisco, the USS Defiant NCC 74205. Captain Sisco hadn’t decided to follow Martok and his fleet to Sector 3175 because he didn’t trust the Klingon, on the contrary it was because he did trust Martok and figured the aging Klingon chancellor would need some assistance from

a ship designated as an escort vessel but was unofficially a battleship specially designed to take on and defeat the Borg.

Sisco turned to Lieutenant Commander Evanovich and said “prepare to decloak, raise shields and target that Borg ship, at its primary connective joints. Fire at will.”

“Aye captain,” replied Evanovich, “decloaking now, shields are up, weapons are armed and ready. Targeting the closest connecting joints and firing.”

Aboard Martok’s Negh’Var the tactical officer didn’t look happy. “Sir the Defiant is here and she’s firing on the Borg ship.”

“Martok too wasn’t happy, he slammed his fist down on his chair’s armrest and said “that dam human and that dam ship, she’s unofficially a battleship that Sisco helped design, a ship who’s primary function is to deal a crippling blow to the Borg, but I think he’s just after revenge for the destruction of the USS Saratoga and the death of his wife Jennifer Sisco by the Borg at the Battle of Wolf 359.”

On the view screen Martok and his officers watched as the Defiant continued to fire on the connective joints of the Borg Tactical-Fusion ship. Each blast the ship took seemed to dent the joints to the urge of collapsing in on themselves to the point where the ship began to re-separate back into its separate ships used to form it. Once separation was complete, the sphere ships used in its construction

exploded leaving two heavily damaged and dented cube ships.

“Tactical, recloak,” ordered Sisco, “helm, prepare to jump to warp, take us back to the Enterprise and the Valdore. Communications, Nog, open a channel to Chancellor Martok.”

“Martok, pardon the fact that we followed you here,” started Captain Sisco, “but as allies we figured it would be best. Now that that strange Borg ship has been destroyed back to its forming pieces and destroying it destroyed the sphere ships, I’ll leave you and the rest of your ships to finish off the remaining two cubes. We’ll rendezvous with later at the Enterprise-E’s coordinates, Defiant out.”

“You’re forgiven then captain,” replied Martok, “we’ll see you later, but first I’m going to be giving Commander Zurak of the IKS Jotara-2 and Commander Narg of the IKS Vor’nak their new orders, which is going to be to stay here cloaked and to monitor the approaching D5-class Battle Cruiser.”

“Don’t get discovered,” replied Sisco then the view screen went black switching to a view of the Defiant as she jumped to warp and left the system. The Klingons were on their own again.

With the Defiant gone Martok said, “lets end this once and for all. Target all weapons on the advancing Borg cubes and fire at will.” With that order the whole fleet let lose a barrage of Ion Cannon and disrupter fire. Each blast rocketed the leading Borg cube so much that even its adaption

units didn’t have time to kick in and make the attack useless, the ship took the full force and started to break apart so fast that the pieces turned out to be big chunks of jagged rubble. As the first cube exploded, the IKS Jotara-2 moved in close to the next cube and surrounded it in a field of Gravity Mines and jumped to warp heading all the way around the Klingon fleet to tits rear.

Not being able to see that the Jotara-2 put mines in their path and behind them, the second Borg cube advanced forward to take up the space vacated by the first cube and ran right into four gravity mines as the rest of the mines converged on all sides of it. Multiple explosions causing multiple hull breaches resulted and the second cube exploded into pieces the size of an asteroid propelling outward into the wreckage of the first cube making it extremely dangerous for any ship to pass through, especially for the third and final cube. Having no choice, that remaining cube opened a transwarp aperture and headed back to the Delta Quadrant to alert the Queen and to get reinforcements. The Battle of Sector 3175 had been a glorious victory for the Klingon Defense Forces.

*****

Enterprise NX-01 Pearl Nebula

“The Earth vessel is entering the nebula, sir,” said

Commander Duras to the Emperor of the Klingon Empire, “shall I destroy her?”

“NO,” shouted the Emperor, “you are not to destroy her but to capture and board her, lock the crew in their courters; then take the ship to Earth and launch another attack using their pride and joy. Make sure you have fifty Bird-of-Preys escorting her; we’ll dispatch some D5-class Battle Cruisers to assist you. You’ll all meet up at the Pearl Nebula and surprise the Gre’thor out of them.”

“Maybe you should use the human word for hell,” suggested Duras, “our word makes them sound Klingon, which they’re not, they’re puny and weak, we’ll crush so bad that they’ll be wishing they never took to the stars or that they stayed in their own little sector of space.”

“Approaching the Pearl Nebula captain,” reported Ensign Mayweather as the ship got within one hundred meters of it.

“Take us in,” ordered Archer. The Enterprise continued on course at full impulse

into the nebula then dropped down to one quarter impulse then finally to a dead stop in the middle of the nebula. There she waited. Fifteen minutes later, she was rocketed by disrupter fire that wasn’t at full strength, disrupter fire that was only targeting her hull plating generators and her weapons. Before Archer could give the order and Reed could execute

it, the Enterprise lost hull plating and her weapons. She had become defenseless.

On the bridge Reed gave the next terrible news. “We’ve been boarded; Engineering, Deck 5, Deck 7, and Deck 9, the bio-signs of the boarding party are Klingon.” Seconds later Reed spoke up again, “we’ve also been board on Deck 2 and…”

Before he could say the last word Commander Duras and seven other Klingon warriors materialized on the bridge. One warrior went and shoved Mayweather out of his chair at the helm with his disrupter rifle, Duras himself went up to the Captain and held his dagger to his face and said, ‘The price on your head captain has been quadrupled, but I’m not turning you in yet, you and I have some unfinished business, but for now; your bridge, your ship are under my command. Don’t try anything foolish or that Vulcan female of yours is going to die.” With that said the Klingon warrior standing behind T’Pol lifted his dagger to her throat then thought better of and instead hit her in the head with the back of his disrupter rifle knocking her out.

Duras turned to that warrior and said “you weren’t told to do anything to her, make sure she’s still alive then call for the ship’s doctor.” Duras turned towards another warrior pointed at him and said “YOU, lock these humans into their quarters, put the Vulcan with the Captain after the doctor checks her out, we wouldn’t want any harm to come to her or her unborn child, now do we?”

“How do you know about me and her?”

demanded to know Jonathan, “and also that she’s pregnant?”

“Lets just say we have spies everywhere nowadays,” answered Duras.

“A spy in Starfleet?” asked Jonathan shocked, “impossible, we would have detected the Klingon bio-sign if he or she was genetically altered, but you don’t have anymore Augments even though all the Klingons that were infected with the disease they had lost their cranial ridges.”

“One we do have a spy in Starfleet,” said Duras, “and two, its not a Klingon, its one of your own people, a human. Because of that one human, my people and our Sernaix allies were able to launch a devastating attack on your homeworld.”

“You lie Duras,” said Jonathan as he watched the turbolift doors open and Doctor Phlox step out onto the bridge and run over to T’Pol’s unconscious body, but Jonathan knew she was fine, he could still hear her thoughts and she was angry. “If there was an attack on my homeworld, Starfleet would have contacted me and would have let me know. I have received no such communiqué.”

“Well if you stayed in this nebula you would have gotten the news sooner and not from me,” said Duras, “for your Starfleet has been trying to contact Enterprise since yesterday night without any luck. I’ll let you go to your Ready Room, to wait for Admiral Black to contact you; he is your admiral still, right?”

“Yes,” replied Jonathan, “then I’ll know your lying.

I’ll go to my Ready Room, but T’Pol comes with me.” “The Vulcan can go too,” replied Duras, “but

there will be two Klingon warriors in there with you as guards.”

“Understood,” replied Archer, “in other words, no heroics and trying to tell Admiral Black that we’ve been boarded. I get the picture; I’m just to wait for the information regarding the attack on my homeworld, if it really did happen.”

On his way towards his Ready Room, Jonathan stopped next to Doctor Phlox and knelt down at his wife’s side. “Will she make it Doctor?” he asked.

“She’ll be fine,” answered Phlox, “just a nasty bump on her head and she’ll probably have a headache when she comes too. So its fine to move her into your Ready Room Captain.” So together, Phlox and Jonathan picked up the unconscious T’Pol and carried her very slowly into the Captain’s Ready Room. Phlox then had no choice but to return to Sickbay and tend to the crewmembers that tried to resist the Klingons’ takeover of the ship.

*****

Earth & Enterprise NX-01

“Sir I’ve finally detected the Enterprise inside the

Pearl Nebula,” reported Ensign Markson, “but she’s been joined by several alien vessels.”

“What kind of vessels?” asked Admiral Black. “Unknown,” answered Markson, “I’m opening a

secured channel directly to Captain Archer’s Ready Room like you requested earlier when I first tried contacting her.”

“There’s a transmission from Earth being routed to Captain Archer’s terminal in his Ready Room Commander Duras,” said the Klingon warrior manning the communications station, “its Admiral Black as you thought it would be.”

Back in Jonathan’s Ready Room, Jonathan was kneeling beside T’Pol who was finally conscious so he started to rub her back to comfort her. As he was doing that, she thought “what are you doing Aisha?”

“I’m rubbing your back darling,” thought back Jonathan, “don’t Vulcans give backrubs?”

“Yes,” thought T’Pol, “but they’re only used as a technique in the birthing process, and that’s only because Vulcan physiology is different than that of a human, even my heart as you know from experience is in a different place than yours.”

Before Jonathan could answer her, his computer terminal beeped twice and the United Earth Starfleet Emblem appeared on the screen. “I better get this Aisha,” he thought, “most likely Duras was right or Admiral Black just wants a status report.”

As Archer moved towards his desk, one of the two Klingon guards said, “If you tell the admiral about us or even hint that your ship has been

boarded, and I’ll kill you and the Vulcan right after you end that transmission.”

“I know,” replied Archer, “I won’t even hint it.” He then went to the terminal and activated it with his personal identification code, seconds later the familiar image of Admiral Carson Black’s face appeared on the screen.

“Captain,” started Black not knowing how to break the news that he had no choice but to do, “there’s no easy way to say this, but Earth is in a State of Emergency, we have just suffered a devastating attack. Every country from the United States to Japan and England to Russia. From Canada to Peru, Germany to South Africa. Many have died, mostly people within Starfleet and government facilities, the rest have been evacuated to orbital facilities. Your mission has been scrubbed; your new orders are to remain in orbit of Earth and to protect the planet from any further attacks.”

“Who did it admiral?” asked Archer knowing and fearing the answer at the same time.

“Klingons and this unknown enemy you’ve faced, the Sernaix,” answered Black, “I want you to be careful taking your ship back home, you’re pretty close to Klingon space, so hopefully who ever have joined your ship are friendly.”

“We’re in a middle of some negotiations with the Soudanians,” replied Archer thinking of a good lie to tell the admiral that he wouldn’t be able to see through, “they’ve been stealing Klingon warships to

use to attack the Klingon homeworld in retaliation for an attack on Soudan.”

“Finish up with your negotiations then set a course for home quickly,” ordered Black, “San Francisco Planitia Shipyards out.”

Turning off his computer terminal Jonathan thought to himself “I wonder if the admiral got my point when I said Klingon warships?”

“Don’t think so,” thought T’Pol, “at least you thought of something to say when asked why we’ve been joined by other ships.”

“Good lie human,” said one of the Klingon guards, “for we’re at war with the Soudanians too, but they haven’t stolen any of our ships but no one knows that. You’ve saved both yourself and your Vulcan.”

Back on the orbital facilities orbiting Earth Admiral Carson Black had managed to read between the lines. He had figured out that Archer meet that the Enterprise had been captured by Klingons when he said that the Soudanians had stolen Klingon ships and rendezvous with them to negotiate a peace treaty. For no second did Black believe that so he had no choice but to contact the Utopia Planitia Shipyards and get the new MACO’s warships into service to assist the Enterprise before they lost their pride of Starfleet. Once he had a channel open to the fleet yards orbiting Mars he said into the comm. “Enterprise has been joined by several Klingon warships and possibly boarded, I’m ordering you to send a fleet of the new MACOs warships to intercept

her in the Pearl Nebula, get rid of the Klingons and escort her home.”

“We’ll get them into space right away sir,” said the commander of Utopia Planitia Shipyards, “but I’m not sure how combat ready they are; they were just finished and commissioned last night, if they were ready sooner, they would have been sent to Earth to defend the planet during the attack two days ago.”

“What happened to Earth wasn’t your fault,” replied Black, “nor is it Starfleet’s, but now we must join forces and make sure it never happens again and punish the Klingons and their Sernaix allies. We didn’t start this war but we’ll sure as hell finish it.”

“Yea, we’ll sure as hell finish this war,” said the Commander of the Utopia Planitia Shipyards, “but you may want to be careful who you blame for the attack on Earth for ever since the Xindi attack nine years ago, there are many xenophobic humans around who would want nothing more than to abolish Starfleet, to stop telling aliens how to and where to find Earth, and to blame us and the Enterprise for what happened to Earth. We’re their scapegoat and they really don’t care if they have to use violence to get what they want, like Terra Prime.”

“Terra Prime has been abolished,” said Black, “there’s not a single human around that is a member of that organization, and if there was, we would

have either heard about it or caught them trying to blow up a Starfleet building or something.”

“Or they could have gotten the Sernaix and the Klingons to do it for them,” said Commander Drake Mason at the Utopia Planitia Shipyards, “but that’s highly unlikely since it would mean contacting an alien culture, which they despise anyways.”

*****

Back on Enterprise, the Klingon warriors who had

finally managed to learn how to control the human designed systems and to read the unknown language managed to get the ship moving again on an erratic course towards Earth, then all of a sudden on a zigzagging course towards Qo’noS.

*****

MACOs’ Warships Approaching Pearl Nebula

“She’s definitely not here anymore,” said

Corporal Hawkins madder than hell, “but there is definitely a warp trail, more than one. One is clearly Enterprise and the rest belong to Klingon warships, their all heading towards the Klingon homeworld, what did Starfleet call it? Oh yea, Qo’noS. Helmsman set a course for Qo’noS, warp two, or a course that

will quickly intercept the Enterprise; Starfleet wants that ship back at all costs.”

“Understood sir,” replied the MACOs on the bridge, they were ready for a fight even if it meant they were going to die and going up against a race of warriors, warriors who sharpened their teeth before going into battle, they were truly about to die unless a miracle could save them. That miracle that they would need to save them could pretty much happen for there was still a futuristic Klingon and Starfleet presence in the system, Martok’s fleet and three cloaked Federation Attack Fighters and five Iwo-Jima-class Battle Cruisers specially equipped with Romulan cloaking devices just like the Defiant only this time it wasn’t for securing the defense of the Alpha Quadrant but all of time.

As the MACOs’ ships raced towards the Enterprise at their fastest speed, the Klingon warships surrounding Enterprise and escorting her to Qo’noS detected them and veered around along with the Enterprise to face them. The humans wanted to fight, then they we’re going to get one thought the Klingon warriors as they headed into battle.

As one massive group the MACOs warships veered two degrees to starboard and targeted Enterprise’s warp nacelles erupting sparks from them as the ship dropped out of warp to impulse along with her Klingon escorts. As soon as they dropped of warp, the Klingon warships veered to their left and surrounded the attack MACOs cruisers and began to

fire on the tiny ships they trapped by encircling. Feeling doomed with a hopeless situation, the Commanding Officer of the whole MACOs attack force gave the order to initiate their ships’ self-destruct sequence but before he could finish giving the order, she was interrupted by her young Tactical Officer, “Madam, there’s something happening out there.” Within seconds of saying those words, a fleet of Klingon Negh’Vars and Federation Iwo Jima-class vessels decloaked and locked their weapons onto the attacking Klingon ships, with Martok’s Negh’Var’s Ion Cannon aimed directly at the IKS Kr’oth.

“Open a channel to the IKS Kr’oth,” ordered Martok.

“Channel open chancellor,” replied the warrior at the communications station.

“This is a Klingon warship,” started Martok, “surrender the Enterprise NX-01 to us and you won’t be destroyed.”

“Klingons don’t threaten Klingons,” replied the Captain of the Kr’oth, “there for you’re not Klingon and so prepare to die.”

“We do if we’re in a superior futuristic warship,” said Martok, then he whispered, “and if we’re from the future.” A little louder he added; “the Federation are our allies to prove it...,” Martok gave a signal to the Iwo Jima-class vessels and as they decloaked he continued, “these are Federation escort ships. We’re from the future to protect the Enterprise NX-01.”

“You are not Klingon,” replied the Captain of the

Kr’oth, “if you are, show your face, if your really are Klingon and are from the future as you say, then your cranial ridges should be back by now… show me and I’ll believe an release the Enterprise to you, but you’ll join us in attacking Earth.”

Martok put the communication onto the main view screen so both warriors could see each other. Once the Captain saw that he really was talking to another Klingon, he had his warriors turn over the Enterprise to Martok’s command. Turning away from his viewer just for a second, the Klingon watched in horror as the warriors stationed aboard Enterprise were beamed into space and started to suffocate, at the same time; Martok’s Negh’Var fired its Ion Cannon at the Kr’oth and watched as the ship exploded.

Seeing what happened to the warriors aboard Enterprise and their commander’s ship, the remaining Klingon vessels left the system but didn’t head to Qo’noS for they would be dishonored if they returned without the Earth vessel so they headed to the Briar Patch to hatch up a new plan that involved the destruction of Earth, Enterprise, and the future Klingon fleet.

Back aboard Enterprise, still inside his Ready Room, Jonathan and T’Pol were still getting over the shock they had just witnessed. One second there was two Klingon warriors in the room with them guarding them, the next second in a shimmering

beam of light they were gone, and with a look out the ship’s viewport, they saw them drifting lifelessly in space. “I think we can get the crew out of their quarters now; I think all the Klingons are gone for there are many bodies drifting outside of the ship,” thought Jonathan, “it seems to be all of them.”

“First check the bridge Aisha,” thought T’Pol, “there were many of them there trying to gain full control of the Enterprise, if there are no Klingons there, we should free the crew starting with the bridge officers. We have to get out of Klingon space and fast and with them at their duty stations, we can do just that.”

Cautiously by himself well T’Pol was crouched down behind his desk in as safest of a spot she could get Jonathan made his way towards the door and the bridge. As he got closer, it automatically opened, looking out onto the bridge, Jonathan found it all clear, totally disserted; there was no Klingon warrior anywhere. He looked back into his Ready Room and thought back to his wife, “its all clear T’Pol, you can come out.”

Together on the bridge Jonathan and T’Pol quickly set the ship on a new course out of Klingon space and then put the ship onto its autopilot feature and activated Reed’s Tactical Alert program. With the bridge secured and operational, they went to free the rest of the crew.

*****

Aboard Chancellor Martok’s Negh’Var, Martok

was strolling back and forth on his bridge, as he moved; his crew could hear the creaking of the deck plating below him because of his weight, they could tell he was deep in thought so they didn’t voice the fact that they were being distracted by his movement, movement that was also making the Targs go wild below decks. Finally one of the female warriors couldn’t take it anymore; she got up from her station and hit him right in the nose. Martok as a man and a warrior took her and threw against the wall and snarled at her saying, “Female, respect your chancellor, I should have you killed for your insolence.”

“Forgive me sir,” said the female, “but your distracting the entire crew with your pacing. Quit it now and just contact Captain Picard and tell him we’ve found the Enterprise NX-01.”

“Contact Picard then,” ordered Martok, “I got better things to do, like checking out our historical databases and finding out why our past ancestors tried taking the Enterprise NX-01 in the first place.”

“You’ll find nothing chancellor,” said the First Officer, “I’ve already checked and its like this whole war never happened, I think they took it for their new allies.”

From the communications station a warrior spoke up and said, “I got Captain Picard on the comm., and the Enterprise NX-01 is also hailing us, its an

automated hail though, I’ll ignore it for now, but she is moving on a course out of this system. Sensors register no life signs on her bridge, she’s on auto-pilot and on her present course, and she’ll leave Klingon space in just over twenty-five minutes forty-two seconds.”

“Helm; follow her,” ordered Martok, “communications, tell the fleet to do the same. Tactical, recloak us.” Martok watched as the warriors he had just given orders to execute them then returned his attention back to his forward viewer and the Enterprise NX-01. “How easy it would be to destroy that primitive Earth vessel,” he thought, “but then again, that would be a bad idea; anyways its easy to think that when I command a futuristic battle ship armed to the teeth, the Klingons of this era are evenly matched with the Enterprise.”

*****

Back aboard the Enterprise NX-01 Jonathan and

T’Pol had managed to free both the other Bridge officers and most of Reed’s Security Team and a few of the MACOs stationed aboard Enterprise since the Xindi incident nearly nine years ago when Jonathan made the decision to always have a MACOs contiguity always aboard the Enterprise, for he could never know if they would need them again. With just over thirty crewmembers and MACOs combined free, they went about the ship freeing the rest of the

crew as the bridge officers returned to the bridge for a briefing Jonathan wasn’t fully ready nor prepared to deliver, even if it was to his Senior Officers. Lucky for him, because he and his wife could share their thoughts, she already knew what he was about to tell the crew and she knew it would shock them as much as it shocked her.

Once the group arrived on the bridge, they started to head towards their duty stations but Archer wasn’t ready for them to return to their duties yet. Instead he pointed to the Briefing Room and said, “in there.”

As they piled into the room, the Senior Officers started to get the picture that something was up, something terrible, something far worse than being in the middle of Klingon Space. With everyone finally sitting around the Briefing Room’s large table; the only table, Archer stood up and began to speak almost in tears. “There’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to say it; the mission’s been scrubbed, we’ve been recalled.”

Lieutenant Reed was the only one with the courage to speak for the shock hadn’t hit him yet for there surely had to be a reason, Starfleet wouldn’t just recall the Enterprise after she’d served the fleet for nearly twelve years since her launch back on April 16, 2151. With that thought rolling through his head he asked the one question that was gnawing at his mind, “why?”

Jonathan didn’t want to answer that question,

and T’Pol knew. For she knew that her husband wanted their mission to go on indefinitely, for he felt at home among the stars, stars that his father worked so hard to make it possible for humanity to go to, now that dream was coming to an end, a drastic end. With the mental courage from his wife, Jonathan found the strength to answer Reed’s question. “There’s been an attack on Earth, this one is far more worse than when the Xindi probe wiped out seven billion humans and cut a swath from Venezuela to Florida,” he said. Taking a long deep breath he continued, “the attack has wiped out every capital of every government on the planet, Earth is in a state of emergency, we’ve been recalled to protect the planet from any further attacks.”

Now everyone was shocked, they were hoping it was something different than something involving Earth, Enterprise being decommissioned, now that would have been much easier to take, but that wasn’t the case. Now even Reed was shocked, he was bearly able to chock out his next question. “How many died?”

That question was the one that both Jonathan and T’Pol were dreading to answer. They knew their crew had the right to know but with every country suffering from the attack, the death toll was higher than anything Earth had ever gone through. Not even the Third World War killed that many people, nor did the Battle of Gettysburg or the attack on

Pearl Harbor or the dropping of the Atom Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki could compare to the death toll that the attack on Earth racked up. Together Jonathan and T’Pol gave that answer saying, “seven hundred billion, five hundred thousand, ninety nine hundred.”

Now it was T’Pol’s turn to say something or think it, Jonathan couldn’t tell. He only knew that she already knew this since he’d been thinking about it for hours, so to him he figured she had said it out loud, “Nearly half of Earth’s population is dead then?”

“Exactly, half of Earth’s population is dead,” her husband answered her out loud so everyone could hear since she had to be speaking her question for all to hear anyways.

Among the other Senior Officers, Reed seemed to be the only one who really could still manage to speak and ask more questions. Only they were more questions Jonathan didn’t want to have to answer. “Where were the attacks?”

“So he wants to know what countries were attacked,” thought Jonathan, “it would be so much easier to tell him which ones weren’t attacked, that list is way shorter.” So he started to say the list of places destroyed or nearly destroyed, “San Francisco, London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Moscow, Tokyo, Kyoto, Australia…”

“Enough, we get it, every country, every

continent, was hit,” said Reed, “most likely all our loved ones are dead or dying.”

“Not exactly,” stated Archer, “they only attacked government and Starfleet facilities, civilians are mostly still alive except where there were explosions.”

“Who did the attacking?” asked Reed finally angry. He really wanted to take out his anger on some alien culture and make them pay for what they had done to Earth.

“The Klingons and their Sernaix allies,” answered Archer, “worse the Sernaix have upgraded the Klingon ships with cloaking devices, cloaking devices that rival that of both the Suliban and the ones the Romulans use to cloak their Gravitic Mines, but the grappler’s beacon should still work to detect them.”

“So,” started Reed, “we’re just going to run back to Earth and wait for them to come and get us? We should take the fight to them. I don’t think this is the right course of action.”

“Your objection Mr. Reed will be noted in my log,” said Archer, “but we have our orders directly from Admiral Black and I plan on obeying them. So with that, Mr. Mayweather, take this ship off of Auto-Pilot and set a course for Earth, we should be out of Klingon space by now.”

“Aye sir,” replied Mayweather as he headed out of the Briefing Room as Archer turned to the other Senior Officers and said “the rest of you, you’re

dismissed. Mr. Reed, may I see you in my Ready Room. T’Pol, you have bridge.”

Once Archer and Reed entered his Ready Room, Jonathan walked around to the other side of the desk as he pointed to the chair in front of it and said “Sit down Mr. Reed.”

Reed did as he was told and took a seat in the chair all the while not liking how the Captain had ordered him to sit down. He knew something was up and that he was about to get a mouthful. Feeling the worst, Reed braced him for whatever the Captain was about to say.

“Mr. Reed, you seem like you’re very interested in what happened on Earth,” started Archer, “so I’m putting you in charge of the investigation team when we get back. I want this crisis over fast so we can get back to our true mission. Enterprise as your remember once was a ship of exploration but ever since the Xindi incident, we haven’t been doing much exploring.”

“True,” said Reed, “first was the Xindi incident, the Augments, then the Serenities attacking the Earth Embassy on Vulcan exploding and them almost going to war with the Andorians, the Klingon infection, then there was Terra Prime and final the worst of all the Earth Romulan War. You’re right sir; we haven’t been doing much exploring, so I’d be happy to be in charge of the Investigation Team.”

“Your dismissed then Mr. Reed,” said Archer as he watched the lieutenant turn and return to the

bridge. Once Reed left the room Jonathan turned in his chair and took a look out his port window and where there should have been stars he saw a ripple effect. A ripple effect that made him jump out of his chair and run on to the bridge.

“Ensign Mayweather, take us out of warp,” he ordered as his Ready Room doors closed behind him. “Mr. Reed, deploy the grappler and activate the beacon.”

“What’s going on Aisha,” asked T’Pol out loud. “I think we’re being followed by something or

someone,” answered Jonathan. “Then aye sir,” replied Reed as the Enterprise

dropped out of warp and her shuttle bay’s Bomb Bay Doors opened and the grappler with the beacons attached was lowered into space then turned so they were pointing behind the ship. As the beacons activated they revealed that Archer was right, for directly behind the Enterprise were fifty unknown alien vessels.

“Open to channel,” ordered Archer. “Channel open,” replied the Communications

Officer. “This is Captain Jonathan Archer of the Federation

Starship Enterprise; we can see you, drop your cloaks and identify yourselves.”

All around the Enterprise vessels decloaked, T’Pol couldn’t count them all, but her best estimate was that there were at least five hundred ships, all of

different class. “Their hailing us,” reported the acting Comm. Officer, “audio only.”

“This is Chancellor Martok, of the Klingon Empire, before you start shooting at us, we’re from the future, we came to this century with our Federation Starfleet allies, we’re under orders from Captain Jean Luc Picard of the Federation Starship USS Enterprise NCC 1701-E to locate you and to protect your ship. You may not know this but the enemy you face is attacking throughout all of time, the future is in danger as much as your era, this conflict started here, so we came to this center to end it. There is a massive Sernaix dreadnought ship out there and it has enough fire power to destroy your ship. I suggest that you let us escort you to Earth where we’ll rendezvous with the Enterprise-E.”

“First you’re Klingons and therefore I don’t trust you,” started Jonathan, “but your ships don’t look anything like what the Klingons have now, so you could be right. Maybe you re from the future, but that still remains to be proven, that’s something my Science Officer can determine. T’Pol?”

“My readings are unspecific Jonathan,” said T’Pol, “but I am detecting chrometric particles which could indicate time travel, they're from the 23rd century.”

“T’Pol’s never lied to me with her expertise in science, Martok, so I believe you,” said Jonathan, “so recloak your ships and I’ll allow you to escort us to Earth and your century’s Enterprise.” “Then again,” he thought, “she’s always said that the Vulcan

Science Directory has determined that Time Travel is impossible.”

“That was until you and I time traveled to the year 2004 to stop the Xindi from building a bio-weapon to wipeout your entire race,” thought back T’Pol, “now I’ve been thinking that anything’s possible, now look at us, we’re pregnant, I’m starting to go by my ‘gut’s instinct’ as you call it Aisha.”

“Good,” replied Martok. Martok had the channel to the Enterprise closed and ordered his fleet to recloak, but if the Enterprise was to come under attack they were to decloak and quickly use their Ion Cannons on the enemy. As for the Bird-of-Preys in the fleet, their orders were to stay back and deploy Gravity Mines to slow down any Klingon or other alien vessels that would be in pursuit.

Together the Enterprise NX-01 and the Klingon armada turned on another course away from the remainder of Klingon space and the Beta Quadrant and finally entered the Alpha Quadrant near the Pearl Nebula. Earth was still days away, right through the sector of space where the Sernaix dreadnought was in the process of becoming battle ready.

Heading away from the Pearl Nebula at maximum warp the Enterprise and her cloaked escorts entered the Drewax System, the exact system were the Sernaix dreadnought was stationed at a secret starbase built within a heavily fortified asteroid. An asteroid that was so fortified that sensors couldn’t detect the base buried deep within it nor the

weapons built inside the smaller asteroids, no ship, starbase, or inhabited planet in the system was safe. Now the Enterprise NX-01 was within striking distance for the orbital defense facilities and with her hull plating not even polarized one shoot would seriously damage or destroy her.

“A heavily armed NX-class vessel has entered the system,” reported one of the Sernaix officers that accompanied the dreadnought from the future. “She’s already within weapons range of our orbital facilities, the asteroids, if we act now, we can easily destroy her.”

“What ship is it?” asked Commander Tresa’ra Dex over the Comm. from the Auxiliary Command Center aboard the New Dominion warship Broga’Na’Goxa.

From the Primary Bridge First Officer Frizer Grota replied “it’s the Enterprise NX-01. I think its best if we destroy her now; that Captain Archer has been a pain in our side, he and his crew are better of dead and that ship is better off as a pile of dust and debris. Who is with me?”

None of the Sernaix warriors spoke up. All of them would follow their commander to the death if they had too, this was no different. Instead they readied themselves for battle and heading to their designated battle stations. It didn’t take long for the Sernaix warriors to get ready for the fight. From deep within the asteroid field, the Sernaix base powered up its weapons, slowly reaching their full potential of strength. More than enough strength to

wipeout the Enterprise and leave no trace of her existence in that sector of space.

As the weapons energy output reached one hundred percent, the warrior in charge of activating the firing controls and recording the devastation went about her duty. As the energy beam left the asteroid’s weapon ports and converged moments later into a single multiphasic energy disruption beam aimed perfectly at the Enterprise’s engineering section. If the beam was to hit Enterprise’s warp core nothing would be able to save her, the blast would ultimately destroy her.

From inside the asteroid the weapons officer watched effortlessly with anticipation as the energy beam he just fired sped towards its target half the speed of light. Just before the beam hit Enterprise, it dissipated as if it had hit something. Looking closer at her screens the weapons officer noticed that whatever the beam hit caused a rippling effect that revealed…

The Klingon Negh’Var Tre’car was the Klingon ship closest to the Enterprise and her engineering section as the energy beam sped towards them. The Klingons nor the crew of Enterprise saw the beam coming but they did feel its effects. Luckily for the Enterprise, the Klingons were just too close to them.

…that there was a cloaked ship next to the Enterprise. The beam hit the Tre’car directly in the middle corridors of the ship rippling its cloak and revealing the ship as the cloak failed. Contacting the

Auxiliary Command Center, the female warrior had no choice but to say “Sir, there are cloaked Klingon Negh’Vars or at least one Negh’Var escorting the Earth vessel. Our weapon managed to disable its cloak and put a gapping hole inside its hull. What are your orders sir?”

“Continue firing the weapon,” ordered the commander, “fire the weapon around the Enterprise. That way we should reveal how many Klingon vessels are escorting her and possibly dwindle down their fleet size until we can directly target the Enterprise herself.”

Around the Enterprise were also the cloaked Bird-of-Preys; they were closer to the Enterprise with a set of them set also around the Negh’Vars. These Bird-of-Preys commanders knew that to protect Enterprise and the safety of the rest of the Negh’Vars, they would have to set a course towards where the beam weapon’s fire originated. They would have to set a course into the asteroid field and engage on of those drifting rocks in battle. So remaining cloaked, the Bird-of-Preys broke formation and headed towards the field at full impulse.

Gaining ground on the asteroid field and the source of the mysterious energy beam weapon that already disabled their most powerful warship, the Klingons’ plan was to remain cloaked until they were right on top of the asteroid that there sensors detected shot the blast. Once on top of the asteroid,

they would decloak and open fire before whoever they were could launch an attack on them and give there a surprise attack its doom before it even begun.

“Target two hundred meters away and closing,” reported one of the tactical officers aboard one of the Bird-of-Preys, “one hundred meters, sixty meters, thirty meters, ten meters, we’re right on top of it. It’s the moment to decloak and initiate the attack.”

Together the one hundred Bird-of-Preys decloaked and launched their surprise attack. It wasn’t much of a surprise though for the Sernaix weren’t at all shocked, they were ready for the attack. Inside the asteroid the Sernaix warriors activated their base’s automated defenses bringing full power to the complex’s shields and activating their Point-Defense Phasers targeting the incoming Bird-of-Preys. The whole Klingon fleet of Bird-of-Preys was maneuvering in such an erratic position that the Sernaix base couldn’t even get a weapons lock. The Klingons could though get a weapons lock managing to penetrate the bases shields. Blast after blast rocketed the facility as her shields failed. Within seconds the base’s shields were totally depleted and one more blast would penetrate the rock structure of the asteroid allowing the atmosphere within to escape into the vacuum of space. With the base disabled and finally breached,

the Negh’Vars decloaked and headed towards the facility with the Enterprise.

With the base damaged outside the Klingons transported aboard to finish off the rest of the Sernaix warriors. Hours of hand to hand combat ensued but in the end, the Klingon forces were victorious. They captured the Sernaix base gaining their first foothold in 2163 and a beachhead for the Federation/Klingon/Romulan forces. One enemy base was down, there was only three hundred more like it elsewhere in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants with an extra one hundred fifty stronger ones located deep within the Gamma Quadrant. The New Dominion still had a strong foothold within the system and 2163. The Klingons may have one a battle but not the war.

TWENTY-NINE

USS Enterprise NCC 1701-E & IRS Valdore Cloaked Around Earth’s Moon Year: 2163

Captain Jean-Luc Picard didn’t know how to

explain it but he knew something was wrong, more than one something. First the Enterprise NX-01 and her Klingon escorts were late, as bad as that was, that wasn’t the worst thing on Picard’s mind. He could hear the song of the Borg Collective again. The Borg Queen or a fleet of Borg ships were nearby. Thanks to the Romulans he now realized that the Borg were allied with The New Dominion, and to make that worse, it seemed the Borg were up to their old habit, to conquer Earth and enslave the human race. “Now we’re in very bad trouble, we can’t do this alone.”

After debating for an hour with Sisco, T’Lin and Worf; Picard’s opinion out done them all as the Commander of the Invasion Forces he got to make the final decision. “We’re going to make contact with the Enterprise NX-01 directly and the Starfleet of this

era once the Klingons get back here with the Enterprise. We have no choice, to hell with the Temporal Prime Directive, if we don’t let them no we’re on their side we won’t be able to launch any attack against the Votality or the New Dominion remaining cloaked, its not like we have a vessel at our disposal like Shinzon’s Scimitar that was able to fire through its cloak. Anyways, the Romulans loyal to Praetor Tal’Aura don’t have a ship like it nor does Empress Donotra or her flagship for her new empire would be that kind of ship instead of the Valdore.”

****

Qo’noS, Klingon Empire Year: 2376

Blu’cok was sitting in the Chancellor’s chair in the

Great Palace in the stead for Chancellor Martok. The warriors around him didn’t at all like him, he was the youngest among them, he was the type of Klingon who lived only for the victory. Now, when he felt ready to fight and to prove his worth his family betrayed him and went to Martok behind his back to make their son not have to fight in any war none less to be in the past where he could easily die a painful honorable death or return home as a hero. Blu’cok wasn’t going to take it though; he wasn’t the kind of person that would site around on a chair, he was a warrior and to live a warriors’ life meant to live and

die on the field of battle. That he decided would be exactly what he would do, to do it though he would need a ship, a ship so great that nothing in the quadrant could match, a ship that not even the Federation, Romulans or Cardassians would be able to stand against. Wanting this ship to be a Klingon dreadnought, he ordered parts to be cannibalized off of old decommissioned warships and Bird-of-Preys along with parts from Negh’Vars that were still in active service to protect the empire while the main fleet was in the past.

The warriors around Blu’cok knew he was a mad man, they also knew that what he was ordering to be done; what he was ordering to be built; was a mistake. A mistake that Chancellor Martok would take personally and thus have everyone executed that participated in the project. They couldn’t do anything about it though, Blu’cok was the one in the thrown chair and that made him in charge of the whole Empire, they had to do what he commanded even if they knew it was wrong. Therefore, construction on the IKS Cau’casus, the Klingon Imperial Empire’s first and only dreadnought begun.

Groups of Klingon designers went into the empire’s earliest archives and dug out files on old Bird-of-Preys, ones from the time of the warrior Klaang who help the empire discover a plot by the Suliban Cartel in 2151. From those old primitive Bird-of-Preys the warriors removed the wing mounted disruptor cannons and put them on the new ship’s

newer wings. The next part of the arming stage of the new ship was to build a secondary pair of wings, ones that spanned further out than the disruptor cannon mounted ones, these wings were to hold a special kind of weapon. The forward part of the mounted weapon was the firing part while the back part that spanned further out acted as the ship’s nacelles.

Under strict orders from Blu’cok, the builders of the Cau’casus put a Quantum Singularity Device on the far back of the ship. This device would allow the ship to travel through time without the use of a Temporal Research Facility. With the weapons and the back of the ship complete, it was time for the warriors to get to work on the forward section. This stage didn’t require much work though for all they had to do was cannibalize the bridge modules from two Negh’Vars and connect them to each other. Fastening a deflector dish to the front and then connect one more weapon that pointed further out than the defector, this forward mounted weapon was more than one device combined together. Around a disruptor cannon was put an Ion Cannon, between the Ion Cannon and the disruptor cannon was installed a torpedo launcher.

Once the separate sections were complete, it was time to connect them. To do this, the crew at the main Klingon starbase in the system built the same type of neck booms that connected the D-7-class Battle Cruisers’ bridge to its primary hull and

engineering section. With the booms in place the warriors were able to install the Main Bridge, the Battle Bridge and high above the ship in the engineering section, a Secondary bridge module complete with its own command chair, tactical station, helm control and engineering station. Because of this third bridge, the Cau’casus could separate into two warships, one that could cloak while another that was so heavily armored multiple warships would be needed while firing simultaneous blasts just to destroy her.

*****

Year: 2266 USS Enterprise NCC 1701-A

Captain Ja’meS T. Kirk wasn’t ready to except that

the time traveling apparatus that he and his crew tested for Starfleet worked. Because it worked he and his crew were able to go into the past so easily and encountered the Enterprise NX-01, the very first warp five starship of Starfleet and also prevent its destruction, or so he thought. Now walking through the corridors of Starbase 47; or Vanguard as Starfleet called it; on his way towards Commodore Reyes’ office.

Reyes wasn’t surprised to see Kirk walk into his office but he was also not prepared to inform the Captain of the horrible news that he only recently

found in the historical records. News that he had use his Apha-5 Security Clearance to access, information that was far worse than what Vanguard’s primary mission in the Taurus Reach. “Captain sit down,” ordered Commodore Reyes.

Kirk abided by the commodore’s order and sat down in the chair in front of his desk. “What is it commodore?”

“The Enterprise NX-01 has been destroyed,” reported Reyes, “three days after you returned to this era from testing the device and saving her from the unknown enemy ship you encountered. Intelligence reports say she was destroyed traveling through an asteroid field, an asteroid that seemed to be an enemy base launched a devastating attack on her and obliterated the ship, all hands aboard were killed.”

“Three days after we left,” repeated Kirk, “we could go back in force to the time she was destroyed and prevent all changes in the timeline by preventing her destruction.”

“Starfleet will have to sanction the mission,” said Commodore Reyes. “There’s no reason they shouldn’t allow it though, without the Enterprise NX-01 the United Federation of Planets will fall apart. It’s already started, the Tholians and even the Klingons smell the stench of weakness on the Federation, both have already started to advance towards many of the outlying starbases and other

facilities that it will take hours to a few days to get any ships and other reinforcements there.”

“The Federation has always been on the verge of collapsing commodore,” said Kirk, “there’s always been someone trying to bring about its doom. The Klingons, the Romulans, Khan, the Tholians; their just the beginning. The Federation’s collapse is now inedible with the NX-01 destroyed. During that ship’s time, the Federation was just taking foot, within those short one hundred some years, every member world of the Federation, and the Coalition of Planets that gave birth to it only stayed because of one man, that man was Captain Archer. With his death and the death of his crew, all the things that we learned back at the Academy are useless; half of them were set by Archer and his crew. With them gone, we didn’t really learn anything. We have to prevent there destruction so the Federation as we know, as its supposed to be doesn’t stop existing. Without it, Earth will be a sitting duck in a galaxy with hostile threats everywhere we turn.”

“You make a convincing argument Kirk,” started Reyes, “I only hope Starfleet Command see’s it that way, but you did forget on one thing. Earth will still have an ally, the Vulcans did make First Contact with us before the Enterprise NX-01 existed, because of them it did exist, they should still be their for Earth even if the Federation is gone and never happened, even though Earth’s future will then be blink and your Enterprise will never exist. That will mean your

five year mission hadn’t happened and nor will you have become friends with Spock, Scotty and McCoy.”

“That’s all true commodore,” said Kirk, “but I’m not going to let any of that happen. If Starfleet doesn’t sanction the mission, my crew and I’ll just go against Starfleet’s orders and undertake the mission ourselves to do what we feel is right.”

“I guess Command has been right all along about you Kirk,” started Reyes, “you’re a reckless insane commander who will always do what he thinks is right even if it goes against orders or the chain of command.”

“It’s the only way to survive out here,” said Kirk, “its impossible to contact Starfleet when you’re this far out when you have a problem, time they get news, make a decision and get back to you, you’ve had to make a decision and hope that they sanction it later. I’ve had to do that, my crew has had to do that and eventually you are too, if you haven’t already.”

“If you’re talking about me recently being removed from command of this station and the court-martial I’ve faced, Captain Rana Desai has dropped all the charges under the technicality that I had no choice but to initiate General Order 24 against Gamma Tauri IV glassing the planet’s surface and killing the rest of the human and Klingon colonists. It was an attack Captain Gerzhog of the Klingon battle cruiser HovQaw’wI’ sanctioned and also participated in, both the USS Endeavour and his

ship had no choice but to glass the surface when the Shedai attacked and also used the Conduit based weapon on the surface to launch an attack on the USS Lovell, the USS Endeavour and the Klingon battle cruiser IKS HovQaw’wI’. Because of my orders all three ships survived. I did though let classified information leak out to the public through the press but that was for I deeply believed the public deserved to know what Vanguard’s true mission here in the Taurus Reach was and to also protect the Federation citizens living in here in this system.”

“I would say you get my point then commodore,” said Kirk, “I expect that you’ll allow me to take my ship into the past again?”

“If I allow this,” started Reyes, “you’re not going to be having any reinforcements going with you; you’re on your own.”

“I’ll take that as a yes then,” said Kirk. “Yes Kirk,” said Reyes, “but I’ll let Starfleet know

what you’re doing so they can decide to send reinforcements.”

“Thanks commodore,” said Kirk, “I’ll keep my hopes high on getting those reinforcements. The Enterprise will leave in about six and a half hours.”

*****

Year: 2163 Enterprise NX-01

Captain Jonathan Archer had never expected to

witness many different unexplainable things in his Starfleet career, one of those things was to see aliens from the future that would actually assist him and his crew especially when those very aliens were of the same race that wanted him dead…, on the contrary, they wanted to capture him alive so they could kill him very slowly. Now he was agreeing to let those very aliens escort his ship back to Earth under the pretence of protecting it from being destroyed. Jonathan knew that thinking all this wasn’t good especially when his wife could sense his thoughts, and in her pregnant condition, it could hurt the baby, their love child.

Held up in her quarters for her safety Commander T’Pol could feel Jonathan’s thoughts and knew that he couldn’t understand these Klingons from the future. She too thought they were hiding something, hiding something that she thought could not be, something that couldn’t be at least in this moment in this day, something, someone that shouldn’t yet be alive for another nine months or so. T’Pol somehow knew that the person was her and Jonathan’s child. A child that she was hoping to meet in the flesh soon for she figured her child should and would want to come back to save her parents so his or her birth would surely take place. It would be the logical thing for any child to do, even if that child happened to be half Vulcan and half Human.

………

Back at Earth, high in orbit still remaining undetected by the orbital facilities and Starfleet Command in San Francisco was the cloaked USS Enterprise NCC 1701-E through the means of the cloaked Romulan Warbird Valdore, the USS Defiant NCC 74205, and the rest of the Romulan fleet belonging to the Imperial Romulan State. Aboard the Enterprise-E Captain Picard couldn’t seem to stop pacing back and forth on his bridge. It wasn’t because he wasn’t in a good mood or anything like that; it only had to do with the Enterprise NX-01 and her Klingon escorts. They were overdue for arriving at Earth now for fifteen minutes. He was about ready to send out a search party for them but that would have to mean sending out the smaller cloaked Romulan scout ships and Talon-class cruisers. Both ships would be able to get the job done quickly but if they managed to get caught or forced into a battle, they would easily be destroyed for they didn’t carry many weapons, for their only armaments were one forward disrupter cannon. Finally with a lot of debating in his mind going on, Picard had Empress Donotra send out the Romulan scout ships and three of the Talon-class cruisers.

Joining the Romulan scout ships and the Talon-class cruisers under Picard’s orders was the USS Defiant NCC 74205 with three Danube-class Runabouts secured in her shuttle bay. The USS Rio

Grande NCC 72452, the USS Tiberius NCC 72458, and the USS Amazon NCC 85621 were all standing by and ready to launch. Captain Sisco had other plans though, especially for the USS Rio Grande NCC 72452, he was going to personally oversee the transfer of that ship from the Defiant to the Enterprise NX-01 when they found her. He figured that would be a good idea for that ship could be used by any of her crew instead of their shuttle pods on away missions as long as the futuristic fleet was still in the past. Even though he knew it was a good idea, he knew that he would still have to approve it with Captain Picard before he could implement it. Knowing how Picard was though, Sisco knew that Picard would think of it as a good idea. Only time and the Prophets knew if it would be the right decision.

*****

Mirror Universe Year: 2163 ISS Defiant NCC 1764 & Mirror Earth

Empress Hoshi Sato of the Terran Empire had no plans to let the Vulcan rebel T’Pol get away. She would kill the Vulcan if she had to and no one would be able to stop her or question her. As Empress of the Terran Empire, her orders were final. Once T’Pol was dead Hoshi would be able to carry out her plans of destroying Vulcan with her invincible starship, the

ship from the future and the parallel universe that had brought disgrace to Earth and all humans by forming an interstellar alliance called the Federation instead of going out into space creating a vast feared empire. For that very reason besides the fact of wanting to gain power, she murdered Captain Jonathan Archer and threatened to destroy Earth if retaliated on, with her demands being meant, she declared herself empress of the Terran Empire hoping all would tremble before her.

Hoshi found her thoughts drifting away more quickly though towards the direction of her Alternate Universe counterpart, the Hoshi Sato that had created the Linguistics Translation Matrix in her late thirties. Through reverse engineering the technology found aboard the Constitution-class USS Defiant her subjects were able to create a signal gathering like device that was able to intercept communications and other transmissions from the Alternate Universe at the point where the Defiant managed to enter their universe. Gathering this secret information Empress Hoshi Sato hoped to gain an advantage and launch an invasion to take over the United Federation of Planets. It was because of this information gathering that she had found out that her counterpart had prematurely died, died before she could improve the Linguistics Translation Matrix, a death by a mysterious enemy. With her counterpart dead Hoshi came up with her idea: “I’ll take my forces into the Alternate Universe and offer

my assistance then when their not expecting it, launch my attack and claim the Federation as part of the Terran Empire.”

Leaving her thrown room, Empress Sato headed towards the command officers chambers where all the admirals and all the other brass headed leaders waited for her orders before acting on anything. When they saw her walk into the room they all stud up and saluted her and waited for her to sit down before they sat down again but she didn’t. Instead she kept standing and started to pace the room, speaking as she moved. “I want you to ready the Defiant for an incursion into the Alternate Universe. We are going to launch an invasion to drastically increase the size of our empire.”

“This is will never work empress,” said her personal bodyguard the MACOS Officer Travis Mayweather. “There is just no way that universe’s Starfleet is going to let us stroll into their universe and takeover. Its just plain impossible.”

“Its not impossible when they don’t know that our universe exists,” countered Hoshi, “they still believe that there is only one possible universe, theirs. They don’t expect that that kind of thinking is wrong. Anyways their under attack by an unknown group of races that have banned to together to wipe out their young United Federation of Planets. If there was a perfect time to strike, it would surely be now.”

“Advice taken, Empress,” Travis Mayweather said stricken down in defeat. “When do we leave?”

“Not soon enough,” answered Hoshi angrily. “We

leave in half an hour. The vessels Defiant, Interceptor, and Orina will consist of our war fleet along with twenty escort cruisers. We’re going to head to the point where the Tholians discovered and captured the Defiant. I believe that spot to be weakest to Temporal Incursions into the alternate universe, we just have to set our ships chrometric particles to emanate particles matching to our timeline and era exactly so we can end up in the Alternate Universe’s year 2163.”

Two hours later the Terran Empire vessels Defiant, Interceptor, the Orina and their twenty escort ships rendezvous with one other Terran Empire warship. That vessel was an Intrepid-class vessel under the command of Captain Kathryn Janeway of the ISS Voyager NCC 7642 that was also displaced in time during the same time the USS Voyager NCC 7642 was thrown into the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker in the Alternate Universe. Only unlike that Voyager being able to get home, the ISS Voyager became one of the strongest ships in the Terran Empire’s Starfleet of the 2163 so they wouldn’t allow her to leave; she too became one of the only two strongest ships in the whole Empire. None of the Resistance ships stud a chance against her and the Defiant. The Age of the Empress had truly begun.

“Contact the fleet,” ordered Empress Sato, “order them to follow us and Voyager into what ever

phenomena that is. See you on the other side in the Alternate Universe; make sure none of your ships are seen on the other side unless I order it. Lets go expand our empire.”

THE VOID

Hoshi Sato and Major Laura weren’t doing so well being held captive by the Votality. They didn’t know why but they could see many different ships that they couldn’t recognize being destroyed left and right. “Those ships are from your future,” said the voice that kept annoying Hoshi when ever it got the chance or she didn’t expect it.

“How the hell do you know,” she demanded to know. After all she had no way of knowing if the voice was telling her the truth or not. To her she wondered “why the hell would they even tell one of their prisoners the truth?” either way she didn’t care about the answer; it wouldn’t change anything, she was still their prisoner and that would never change.

“Just believe us,” said the voice, “those ships are from your distant future and what your seeing is from the future anyways at a space station called Empok Nor where the Federation is facing the Romulans trying to defend their incursion point to enter the past and save your beloved Enterprise NX-01 but they’ll fail. There is no one out there in any reality that can stop us. Therefore I suggest you take

a look at what’s happening aboard your former starship with your ex-husband and his new Vulcan wife.

Hoshi did as she was told even though she didn’t want to see Jonathan. What she did see though was a few weeks pregnant Vulcan arguing with her husband. No matter what Jonathan could do she observed Jonathan couldn’t seem to get through to T’Pol. “Good they both deserve it, he more than her for he didn’t save my life and the life of his unborn child the day I “died” in that lousy shuttle pod.”

THIRTY

Enterprise NX-01, Klingon Escort Fleet & Earth, USS Enterprise NCC 1701-E & IRS Valdore Year: 2163

Sitting at his new station B-4 looked up from the

computer terminal he was using and while continuing his work gave his report. “Captain, the Enterprise NX-01 and the Klingon fleet is entering the system. They’ll be in range in about fifteen to twenty minutes. Do you want me to contact them?”

“No,” decided Picard, “instead contact Captain Sisco aboard the Defiant and the Romulan scout ships and the Talon-class cruisers that I sent out earlier to locate the Enterprise and the Klingons and alert them that their on their way here. Tell them that they are hereby ordered to return to Earth at once.”

“Aye sir,” replied the B-4, “executing your orders.”

………

Aboard the Enterprise NX-01 there was trouble in paradise. The paradise of Jonathan and T’Pol’s relationship was being rocketed. T’Pol didn’t want Jonathan to know what was making her so upset so she put a lot of her mental energy into blocking her thoughts from him. On the bridge everyone around them could tell something was wrong and they too couldn’t take it.

Way things were going Jonathan and T’Pol’s relationship and marriage seemed to be heading towards one outcome… ending in a nasty divorce. The first ever divorce that any Vulcan would ever go through. T’Pol deep down in her mind knew that could happen since Jonathan was only a human and didn’t really fully understand her culture. The only time she ever chose to end a marriage was mutual and it was annulled by her ex-Vulcan-husband Koss back in 2155. No way was T’Pol going to let that happen but she wasn’t ready to admit it to Jon or to the rest of the crew. Being a Vulcan, T’Pol was going to continue suppressing her emotional problem so it wouldn’t be able to affect her or her pregnancy.

………

When the Enterprise NX-01, her Klingon escorts,

the Defiant, the Romulan scout ships and the Talon-class cruisers returned to Earth, the futuristic

Federation fleet and its allies decloaked and revealed itself to the sensors of the past and the eyes of anyone that was able to see them.

Once all was visible Captain Picard had B-4 open a channel to all the starships in range of Earth and to Starfleet Command on the planet. Once all was quiet he said, “This is Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the United Federation of Planets’ starship USS Enterprise NCC 1701-E and this is our combined Federation-Allied Fleet. We’re from the future in the year 2376. Please respond.”

“Enterprise, this Admiral Carson Black of Starfleet Command, if you’re from the future, why are you here?”

“To protect Earth and the Enterprise NX-01 from the enemy you now face,” replied Picard. “This enemy is called the New Dominion and its mostly composed of aliens and ships from the future and sent into the past by their Temporal Traveling allies the Votality.”

“Say I believe you,” started Black, “how is this your problem. Aren’t they attacking you in your century too?”

“Yes they are,” started Picard, “we left our Reserve Fleets in our time to fight the battle there but we came here when history was drastically altered with the destruction of the Enterprise NX-01 preventing the birth of an instrumental Vulcan-Human hybrid that becomes a hero in 2376.”

“Alright I believe you,” said Black, “Captain

Archer, I believe you’ve been listening in to this?” “Yes Admiral,” replied Archer, “I’m not sure what

to think but their Klingon allies did lose a few ships just to protect the Enterprise on our way back here while passing through an asteroid field taken to be a base by an ally of the Votality that the Klingons called the Sernaix. If they weren’t here to protect us, they could have allowed us to be destroyed but as you can see they didn’t. Therefore yes, I do believe them.”

“This is Captain Benjamin Sisco of the Federation starship USS Defiant NCC 74205, as a measure of good faith, one my officers, a joined Trill named Ezri Dax is piloting a shuttle like craft over to your ship that’s capable of traveling up to warp two. It’s a Danube-class Runabout called the USS Rio Grande NCC 72452. This ship is armed and is yours to use while our forces are here in this century. Defiant out.”

“We’re also sending you a member of my crew that can replace your deceased Communications Officer,” said Picard. “I think she’s some one you might want to get to meet a lot better. Her name is T’Lin Archer, former Captain of the Federation starship USS Relentless NCC 50634.”

“T’Lin Archer,” thought T’Pol to Jonathan even though she was mad at him. “Could that be our daughter, our unborn child?”

“Possibly,” thought Jonathan back to his wife.

“We’ll have to ask her to find out.”

*****

Two Days Later Earth Orbit, San Francisco Shipyards

Orbiting Earth there was so many starships that

Starfleet Command had no choice but to put the Enterprise NX-01 into a spacedock high above San Francisco to give her a quick refit and repairs that she desperately needed since her first battle with the Klingons before she encountered the Klingons from the future. In the next spacedock over, the fourth of the NX-class starships to be built was almost complete and ready to be christened and launched. That ship was the NX-04 Challenger under the command of Captain Rui Joo.

Captain Joo’s ship was ready to be launched in the next few days for only some finishing touches were being added to her interior and outer hulls. Since the NX-04 Challenger was ready for launch Starfleet Command had an idea that they knew would be kind of reckless and extremely dangerous but they had no choice. They were going to launch the Challenger at the same time they re-launched the Enterprise NX-01 and let them travel together with Enterprise underneath the Challenger that way the futuristic ships will never see Enterprise leave

and we’ll be able to send Captain Archer and his crew out to locate the Sernaix and their homeworld and negotiate a peaceful ending to these hostilities like he managed to do with the Xindi. Of course Captain Picard is going to be furious but we don’t answer to him all the admirals at Starfleet Command knew this and didn’t even give a dam.

………

Inside the Enterprise NX-01’s launch bay Jonathan

was going through the USS Rio Grande NCC 72452’s main computer trying to get some information on this new found enemy he faced and was also trying to learn all about his and T’Pol’s daughter, T’Lin Archer, before she came aboard Enterprise in a few hours. First thing he found in her biographical overview was the day she was born, a day that was still nine months off meaning T’Pol was going to be pregnant for a total of almost just over a year meaning that the human and Vulcan DNA weren’t going to clash affecting the pregnancy… nor her. “That’s’ enough about T’Lin for now,” he thought, especially when T’Pol can read what I’m reading through our shared mental bond, “don’t want to know something that could ruin my relationship with her before she’s even born. Instead, I think its time to learn how to pilot this craft and to power up its shields and weapons.”

“Archer to the bridge,” said Archer into the Rio

Grande’s communications system, “permission to launch the Rio Grande for a little shakedown cruise to Neptune.”

“Permission granted,” came Reed’s voice over the intercom, “Godspeed Archer.”

Jonathan put the new runabout under his command to full impulse and flew through the opening launch bay doors into open space and away from the Enterprise and her spacedock almost hitting the aft portion of the dock as he left.

Once clear of the primary shipping lanes and other incoming and outgoing ships, Jonathan brought the Rio Grande’s warp core online and set the ship to warp one point five on a course out of the system. As the Rio Grande got closer to Neptune proximity alarms went off all over the ship as the tiny vessel automatically dropped out of warp switching to impulse. Seconds later a tactical display popped up over the helm controls displaying the solute of a cloaked vessel. Checking the scanners for any errors and not finding a single one Jonathan decided the safest bet would be to raise shields and to arm the forward torpedo tubes just incase he had to defend himself. For no matter how much T’Pol was mad at him, he planned on returning home to his wife and unborn child and not joining Hoshi in the afterlife yet.

Not wanting to give away his position, Jonathan set a course towards Neptune fully going around the

unknown vessel surprisingly without being detected by the other vessel’s primitive scanners. Once out of range of the alien vessel Jonathan fired one micro-torpedo towards the cloaked vessel to try and find out what ship it was and maybe forcefully get it to decloak. As the micro-torpedo hit its mark, the alien vessel’s cloak rippled and failed under the small futuristic Runabout’s weaponry revealing a Suliban cell ship.

Seeing the cell ship didn’t at all surprise Jonathan, he had automatically figured the Suliban were part of the enemy alliance by orders of the mysterious man from the twenty-fourth century. What he had to do now was to let Starfleet know, so he armed the Runabout’s phasers and locked them onto the cell ship and fired. A small explosion rocketed through the tiny cell ship killing the sol Suliban occupant but also disabling the tiny craft so it wouldn’t recloak ever again or during the return trip back to Earth and Enterprise. With the Suliban cell ship disabled Jonathan activated the tractor beam on it and headed back into warp.

………

“Suliban?” asked Admiral Carson Black. The

admiral still couldn’t believe what he was hearing. It had been an hour since Jonathan had returned from his little incursion to Neptune with the cell ship and still no one could even believe that he had really

discovered the cell ship. “What the hell do they want?” demanded to know Black.

“Unknown,” replied Jonathan looking into his desktop’s viewer back in his Ready Room on Enterprise. “They might just be here spying on us for the New Dominion or they could even have their own agenda. We just don’t know, but I have T’Pol and Reed going over the ship’s logs to find out since the occupant is dead because of my attack. I’ll have to get back to you admiral once we know more. Enterprise out.”

As the screen went black Jonathan could only think about what was yet to come. Knowing that whatever was to happen next would change his life one way or another. The ‘Temporal War’ as his Starfleet had started calling was taking its toll on him, his family, his crew and all the his other fellow Starfleet Officers on the other ships scattered throughout the Alpha Quadrant from the original Coalition of Planets. No matter what was about to happen the events that set it in motion would never be able to be undone. The full fledged war was about to begin and many brave and loyal Starfleet Officers were going to die.

THIRTY-ONE

Qo’noS Year: 2376

Acting Klingon Chancellor Blu’cok felt better since

he had left the Imperial Palace and was on his way to the Klingon dreadnought IKS Cau’casus. As his transport craft got within visual range of his creation he could tell that she truly was a massive warship. He could only hope that she was as strong as how wicked she looked with all her weapons tubes. Just looking at her, Blu’cok knew that she was ready to be launched he could only hope that her Quantum Singularity Device would work and bring her into the past to the year 2162 so he could win the war and all the glory that it would bring him in the empire. Today to him was a good day to become a hero so as soon as he got aboard to the ship and to the bridge he gave his first important order ever, “activate the Quantum Singularity Device, take us into the past, just forget about warpdrive for now.”

Lights flickered and flashed on board the ship

while on the outside it started to light up the skies above Qo’noS as if another sun had appeared. Seconds later though, the second sun was gone and reappeared above Qo’noS to be seen by some unsuspecting Klingon inhabitants of the planet in 2163.

****

Qo’noS Year: 2163

Chancellor M’Rek right away saw the new star as

it appeared above Qo’noS since he was looking out side from his private room’s window looking towards the skies of his homeworld and the center of his empire. He called to one of his aides who came into the room running asking “What is it my Lord?”

“What is that?” asked M’Rek, “it wasn’t there a second ago.”

Admiral Krell walked into the room and over heard the chancellor’s question. “It’s a star sir,” he answered.

“It just appeared.” Said M’Rek as the new star simmered out and died. “Now its gone if you didn’t notice.”

“It’s a ship my Lord,” came the screams of one of the admirals from another room. “According to my readings its come from the future I would say for it

just appeared and has now left leaving at warp two towards Federation space. According to our initial scans, all bio-signatures aboard belong to Klingons.”

“Send some ships after them,” ordered M’Rek, “I want to know who they are, and now.”

“Sorry sir we can’t do that,” reported Krell, “they activated something that’s made them invisible to all kinds of scanners. We’ve lost them sir.”

“I demand that you keep an eye on and all our sensors trained on Federation Space for whenever that ship returns we know who they make contact with. You’re all dismissed.” Chancellor M’Rek turned and left the room heading to his thrown room.

**** Earth

Aboard the Enterprise NX-01 tensions were rising

and it wasn’t because of the secret launch coming up. No, the tensions were high because everything between Jonathan and T’Pol was still going wrong. She had even stopped sleeping in his quarters and decided to return to her old quarters until things passed over; if they ever would. It was getting so out of hand that even though no one knew what the problem was, it was starting to effect everyday life onboard the Enterprise.

“Incoming message from Starfleet Command,” said Jonathan’s computer terminal on his desk in his

quarters. He went over to it, input his authorization code and waited as the screen shifted from the ship’s status screen to the Starfleet emblem then to the image of Admiral Black. Seeing Jonathan’s face the admiral asked, “Catch you at a bad time captain.”

“No admiral,” replied Jonathan, “its just T’Pol, she’s not talking to me at the moment, I think it has something to do with the pregnancy. Hopefully it will pass, she’s staying in her own quarters lately so its just me and Porthos. So what do you need?”

“Captain you might want to gather up your Senior Officers and pass this on directly to them after we end this conversation,” Black said.

“Understood sir,” Jonathan replied in a questioning voice. “Now what is this all about?”

“You’re taking Enterprise out… alone… to search for the Sernaix homeworld. I want you to do what you did during the Xindi incident and try to convince them not to attack us, that we’re not the enemy, but the Votality is. You’re to consider Enterprise expendable if you get into any situation you can’t get out of. This is war Jon; I don’t have to tell you what it will mean if you fail.”

“No sir you don’t.” “Good and Godspeed Jon, Admiral Black out.” The

computer screen went black then returned to the Starfleet emblem and seconds later back to Enterprise’s status screen. Jonathan activated his terminals inter-ship communications system and

said, “All Senior Officers, report to the Situation Room in thirty minutes. Archer out.”

Thirty minutes later Jonathan and the rest of the Senior Officers including T’Lin watched as Commander T’Pol walked in three minutes late and took her seat beside the Captain/her husband.

As his wife sat down, Jonathan started to speak. He knew that what he was about to say would surprise everyone present including T’Lin but he had no choice for he had his orders. So he spoke up and said “Now that we’re all here, I want you to know Starfleet Command’s new mission for us. We’re going to be leaving spacedock at the same time as the NX-04 Challenger and set a course to start searching for the Sernaix homeworld. Here’s how our mission will work, we’ll be leaving with her, hugging her belly all the way out of spacedock. That’s where we’ll stay until she goes to warp, then we’ll mask our warp field to match hers and hitch a ride all the way to Kental, which we believe to be the Sernaix homeworld; right under the noses of the Votality, the Shedai, the Sernaix, the New Dominion, the Furies and the futuristic Federation forces. I’m sorry T’Lin, but we have to do this, so as your father, I’m ordering you to keep our mission under raps and to join this crew as our Communications Officer.”

“I’ll be delighted father,” replied the futuristic form of his unborn daughter. T’Lin looked down at her futuristic Starfleet insignia and combadge and removed it from her uniform doing what she was

about to do as her father’s child and not as a Starfleet Officer. She stud up went to her father’s side and hugged him showing that she didn’t fully follow all Vulcan traditions that her mother obviously was going to teach her. Then looking towards her mother she raised her left hand and spread her fingers forming a “V” and said “Live long and prosper mother.”

“T’Pol returned the traditional Vulcan salute and reply “Peace and long life my beloved daughter.”

Looking over at his wife and the adult form of the very daughter still within her womb Jonathan said, “This meeting is over, you’re all dismissed. Travis, get to work masking out warp signature at the helm, Burch, you get to work on our warp reactor so the plasma flows match precisely. We need this to work right or we’re not going to be fooling anybody.”

“We’ll get right on that,” they both said in unison. As they walked back towards the bridge they said “keep in touch through the com, we have to get this done right.”

Back on the bridge as the work was progressing to get the ship ready for her new mission, something else was progressing that was already getting the tensions to boil and even T’Lin saw it and she knew she had never seen anything like it before. Something that was starting to get worse and worse for the bridge officers but they figured it would pass when they were to launch and their new mission was to begin.

*****

Picard felt uneasy in his quarters trying to sleep. He just had this feeling that something was going to happen but he couldn’t put his finger on it. All he knew that what ever it was the fate of the United Federation of Planets and the future lied in the balance. To put his suspicions at ease he contacted Chancellor Martok who set the Klingon Vor’cha-class battle cruiser IKS Kinken out onto patrol of the Sol System. Only she never found anything to report back, all was quite, too quite. Still Picard couldn’t sleep easily.

THIRTY-TWO

Earth Enterprise NX-01’s Re-launch Day

Jonathan so badly wanted to make things right

with T’Pol even though he didn’t know what he had done wrong for she had been keeping it blocked from their shared consciousness. Of course she knew this whole thing was killing him inside and really taking its toll but she didn’t seem to care yet. Jon was hoping that her Vulcan heart would eventually show some compassion but each day that idea seemed to become less and less of a reality of happening. He was ready to cry and he knew that no matter what she could feel that that she was doing to him was drastically hurting his feelings.

“Father, will you join me for lunch?” asked T’Lin at about ship’s noon, “I think we have more to discuss.”

“I’d be delighted,” replied Jonathan, “I’ll meet you in the Captain’s mess in ten minutes. You can go down now if you wish, have the Steward let you in.”

“I’ll wait,” replied T’Lin to her father.

About ten minutes later, Jonathan looked up at

his wife at her station and said “You have the bridge T’Pol.” Only she didn’t acknowledge him or anything, instead as soon as he and their futuristic daughter entered the turbolift, she rose from her seat and took the center chair.

At lunch with her father T’Lin wanted to tell him that what was going on between him and his wife wasn’t supposed to be happening. In fact there were so many things going wrong with the timeline that she had no idea how drastically her future would change. History of the twenty-third century was about to drastically be rewritten at the hands of the Sernaix and the rest of the New Dominion. “Father, things aren’t as they are supposed to be. The recorded history from my era is being changed some how, you and my mother never had this argument, Enterprise never even was ordered to go into the Beta Quadrant, but the fact that this ship was destroyed with all hands aboard still exists, but with one extra causality… me.”

“My daughter,” started Jonathan, “my crew and I have been through a lot like this before. Especially while in the Delphic Expanse hunting down the Xindi and preventing them from destroying Earth. We’ll be fine, you’re with the best crew Starfleet has to offer, and that’s the truth even if your mother and I are arguing, because we still love you no matter what even though your mother doesn’t show it in her suppressed emotions.”

“Alright father,” replied T’Lin, “of course I believe

you but we have to at least make sure my timeline returns to normal. I hope you and my mother can work things out before I’m truly born. Now lets enjoy our lunches so we can relieve mom from command so she can get something to eat too.”

………

Hours Later

Life on the bridge of the Enterprise hadn’t

returned to its usual norm that had graced the ship during their prior missions. Tension hadn’t been this high since the Xindi mission or the Romulan crisis back in 2161 near the ending of the Romulan-Earth War. At least then everyone knew why the tensions were high and why Trip and T’Pol weren’t affected. Now though things were different, almost every relationship going on aboard the ship seemed that they were about to tare themselves apart. It was time some of the bridge officers thought to put a stop to the whole thing once and for all for it was getting to the point that everyone that wasn’t involved in the tension wanted off the bridge but their duties wouldn’t warrant it.

Sometimes from her Communications Station T’Lin would steal a glance over towards her father and then her mother. When she looked at her father, she could tell that he was unhappy; he hadn’t even

smiled at her or anyone else anymore. Things were definitely getting bad for him even though he wouldn’t admit it.

When the shift finally ended T’Lin decided to do the same thing everyone else was doing, to get away from the bridge and her parents, so she headed down to the Mess hull with the rest of the bridge officers. That’s when she got caught up in their discussion involving her parents, a discussion that she knew she shouldn’t but deep down inside her gut she knew she had no choice but to do so if there was someway of setting things right once and for all. So she put her own two senses into their conversation.

Hearing the last words that Ensign Mayweather had said T’Lin decided to add: “he’s frowning almost constantly these days and when he looks at Commander T’Pol, I mean my mother, whoosh. He looks like he wants to do something to her, and I’m not going to even try to guess what that could be, I know he won’t try to hurt her or kill her, he loves her too much to ever bring any harm to her, its just I would say he so hurt by this that it hurts to even look at her none less say anything to her without tearing up..”

Tilting her head back, she took a quick glance at her mother and said “Yep, she’s still ignoring him, all she does lately is keeps her head in her work like she’s doing now.”

She thought back to the first time when the

Captain had snapped at her mother during this voyages and started to cry just because it was all over her not providing him information immediately when he wanted it.

“Commander, I asked you if there was anything on that planet to assist us with our mission.”

T’Pol arched an eyebrow and replied coldly unemotional, “Captain, the Nebula Cloud is still preventing long, range scanning in this area, and until this ship can get close enough to the planet for the sensors to be functional again, I cannot provide answers to your questions, I’m sorry.”

“Are you telling me to be patient?” He was angry and everyone was glad he was taking it out on T’Pol.

Without any expression in her face or voice, “I cannot run planetary scans until we are closer to the planet.”

“That’s not good enough, Commander, I want that data.”

“Captain, I cannot change the physical laws of the universe to accommodate your wants.”

They had a fight on the bridge! A fight! The bridge crew didn’t know what to do. After initially looking up in surprise, they had quickly looked down at their consoles. Pretending not to notice. Right, not notice. They hadn’t fought like that since the beginning of the ship’s voyage. Now if it didn’t happen it was a good day.

She didn’t know what was going on with them

and neither did Malcolm nor Travis. She even tried talking to Burch and he didn’t know anything either. She thought about Burch and Malcolm, they were almost out of the dog house, but Archer and T’Pol still watched them.

“Burch,” she just shook her head as she worked her console, “he’s getting weirder and weirder. One minute he’s fine, then bang, he’s goes weird again. I don’t have any idea what to do about him.”

Now we have this problem with Captain Archer and Commander T’Pol. It’s affecting us on the bridge. We’re afraid to talk about anything. The Captain won’t yell at you, but you can tell he’s making an effort to be calm with everyone.”

And T’Pol, of course, she won’t yell at anyone either, but that biting Vulcan logic is firmly back in place. She’s tempered it with everyone else, but when the Captain’s on the bridge. She shook her head again. “What happened?”

After shift change, she’d go and see Phlox. He had called her earlier asking that she come down when her shift was over. Maybe he knew what was going on. Something had to be done before the ship mutinied in frustration. Joe said that even the Sergeant Major just shook his head at this situation. Everyone saw it, but no one knew what to do.

Finally! Its shift change! The last few hours, even after T’Pol had been able to run the scans for the Captain, were strained almost to the breaking point.

This shouldn’t be happening, not on the bridge, not on this ship.

They all waited for Archer and T’Pol to hand, off their duties and they quickly followed them off the bridge. Some got in the “lift with the Captain and the others waited for the one with T’Pol. Archer and T’Pol didn’t even share the same “lift anymore if they could help it.

T’Lin entered Sickbay and found Phlox, Reed, Travis, the Sergeant Major, and Layne already there.

Burch barreled in after her. “Okay, I’m here. What’s the emergency?” He demanded as he looked around the room, “What’s going on? Why are we here?”

Phlox took a few steps into the middle of the room. “Computer, secure Sickbay doors.” He looked around, “I took that precaution because we don’t want the Captain or the Commander to walk into this discussion.”

He looked at T’Lin then Reed and Travis, “I understand that things have gotten very tense on the bridge lately.”

T’Lin nodded, “Tense is the nice way to describe it. It’s awful. It used to be fun and I enjoyed being there. But now, its just...awful.” She looked around, “Does anyone know why?”

Sergeant Major Snowden stepped up, “I may have caused some problems when I suggested to the Captain that he make his move on the Commander.”

Layne turned around to look at him in surprise,

“Sergeant Major?” Snowden shrugged. Reed and Travis looked at each other, and then

Reed said, “No, that wouldn’t have done it. It’s just been recently that things have changed.”

Travis nodded, “Remember a couple of years ago, when he said that he trusted her guesses over most people’s facts?”

Everyone nodded, “it happened while we were in the Delphic Expanse trying to find the Xindi when he said that,” said Reed. Only it was something T’Lin had never heard about her parents, she remembered them talking about the expanse but not much because that’s was the time while her mother was still with that jerk that they realized was better off dead, or in the hands of the Romulans, Commander Tucker. Even Burch being the newest member of the crew and Trip’s replacement didn’t know anything about the whole dam thing and still felt that if the Captain and his wife were fighting that they shouldn’t be together then and to just let them breakup

He shrugged, “I noticed how crappy it’s been whenever they’re around. I tried to talk to Jon about it, but he’s not talking and he just ordered me to drop it.”

He looked around, “And, I’m not even going to try to talk with T’Pol. She took out a Ranger team.”

Snowden nodded, “She probably wouldn’t talk anyway. Vulcan is a very private culture.”

He looked around, “We need to manufacture a

situation that makes them talk with each other. If they get together, there’s a good chance that they’ll work this out. If we don’t do something, I really believe this mission could be in danger.”

This time Reed shook his head, “No, Sergeant Major, that’s not true. They wouldn’t let any personal problems affect their performance. We’ve already gone through this.”

Frowning in confusion, “What do you mean?” Burch grimaced, “When the Commander first

came onboard, the Captain hated her, hated all Vulcans. Blamed them for his father’s failure to get to space and he took it out on T’Pol.”

He glanced at Reed, Travis, and T’Lin, “But they put all the difficulties behind them when they were on, duty, well maybe only a few snide comments from the Captain until they got used to each other and us to her.”

Phlox asked, “If we put them together, say for a night, are we assuming that they would talk about whatever happened? Because they might not.”

They looked “almost” positive, and then T’Lin asked the question they all thought, “Where?”

Phlox answered, “I don’t want them in Sickbay. If the Commander gets angry again, well, I can’t loose this equipment.”

Burch shook his head, “Not in Engineering. They could blow up the ship.”

Reed asked, “What about one of their cabins?”

Travis said, “No, they need a neutral area. And

Porthos would need to be taken care of.” They looked at Snowden, “No, not in our area

either. I think we need a smaller place that we can monitor and make sure no one gets hurt.”

Burch nodded, “But not watch.” They all nodded, “Definitely not watch.” Reed asked, “What about the brig?” With surprised expressions, they all looked at

each other. The brig? Burch stared at everyone, “So, we’re saying that

we’re going to lock the Captain and T’Pol in the brig together and hope for the best?”

Phlox nodded, “That’s what it sounds like.” “That’s crazy. If they don’t kill each other, they’re

going to kill us. You know, they’ll figure it out in two seconds.”

T’Lin shot back, “Do you have a better idea?” Rolling his eyes, Burch sighed, “No.” He looked at

them, “I guess at this point, anything would be better than it is now. At least we could get our minds back on why were out here.”

He pointed at them, “But when they lock us in the brig and throw away the key, I’m going to blame it all on you guys.”

Phlox stepped forward, “How are we going to get them there?” He looked specifically at Snowden and Reed.

Snowden nodded, “I can get Captain Archer there.”

Reed sighed, “Yes, I can probably get the

Commander there, too.” Travis added, “We’ll need to have this timed

down to the second. T’Pol’s fast. She could escape before we can close

the doors to lock them in. You’ll also need some good excuse to get them in there in the first place.”

Snowden nodded, “We’ll tell them that its about a training exercise.” That got a little chuckle out of everyone.

Reed, “When do we do this?” “Tonight after dinner? Let’s let them eat and let

the Captain take Porthos for his walk.” T’Lin looked at everyone and they nodded.

Burch took a deep breath and shook his head, “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but we’ll need to keep them under surveillance. T’Lin, can you and Joe go to dinner and take a long time? That way you can watch them. Let us know when they arrive and leave. We also need to coordinate the time to put them in the brig.”

Reed shook his head, “Well, I can’t believe I’m putting my own Captain in the brig so he can talk with his First Officer.”

Burch stared at everyone and said very seriously, almost like the Commander he used to be, “We all need to understand that if this doesn’t work, he’ll never trust any of us again.”

He paused to ensure they understood their

personal risk, “Even if it does work, he may still not be happy.”

Phlox agreed, “You’re right, Commander, this whole “training exercise” is a risk. But we can’t ignore it the situation any longer. It’s affecting the bridge now and will soon spread to the rest of the ship. Everyone notices that they don’t see them together anymore. I’m hoping that this will correct whatever went wrong, and that they understand we did it only out of respect and our friendship for them.”

Everyone nodded in concurrence. Throwing his hands up in surrender, Burch said,

“All right, all right. Jon will probably go to the Mess at nineteen hundred hours and T’Pol will be finished by then and go back to her quarters.”

Everybody stared at him, “What? I can’t notice what’s going on around me?” He continued, “If you time it right, you can catch them either as T’Pol goes to gym and Jon returns to his cabin to change or about an hour later, when T’Pol leaves the gym and Jon will goes there.”

They all stared at him in amazement, “What? I had to think about something else or go crazy.”

Snowden stifled a laugh, “I’ll have to mention that to my MACOs. They never noticed.”

With another beleaguered sigh, Burch continued, “Let’s do this when T’Pol leaves the gym and the

Captain goes. That way less of the crew will know what’s happening.”

He stared fiercely at Snowden, “I don’t want all of the MACOs knowing either. Do you understand me, Sergeant Major?”

For awhile it was a staring contest, but Snowden finally gave in, “All right, I agree. I wouldn’t want my crew or MACOs to know about this if it was about me.”

Snowden knew that Archer’s crew respected and trusted him. In fact, most of the crew was surprised, and possibly chagrined, when Archer and T’Pol agreed with his many of “requests.” They did only because they were logical and necessary.

But he also knew that if either one of them thought any of his requests affected the safety of the ship, its crew or the mission, they’d override him. He’d expected them to do so if and when they thought it was necessary. After all, there is only one captain and on this ship it’s Jonathon Archer. He’s got the final responsibility, the final authority, for the ship and its mission.

Snowden thought about what could be going through Archer’s mind, as he had since he had been ordered to join the Enterprise’s crew. He had researched him, his methods, and his personality, even his past friendships and relationships. He needed to understand how Archer thought, how he handled his command responsibilities, and the crew.

That let Snowden know how to interact with Archer to accomplish the Ranger mission.

What really surprised Snowden was that the responsibility, and the burden, was something Archer shared with a Vulcan. He knew some would have concerns taking orders from her. Shaking his head at himself, well probably not the Starfleet crew, but some of his MACOs would. She’s proven her worth, though, and he respected her. He could appreciate what Archer saw in her. While he didn’t have the same faith in Burch that he had in Archer and T’Pol, in this particular instance he’d go along with him.

T’Lin said, “Let’s use a code word, something they won’t figure out too soon. How about ‘strain?’”

They all looked strained, but agreed. Burch made another decision, “All right, twenty-thirty hours, Reed will start towards T’Pol’s quarters and Snowden will end up in the gym. That’s on different decks, so you shouldn’t cross each other paths’. Get them into the brig cell at twenty-forty-five and I’ll snap the force field down on them.”

Phlox added, “Commander, I think it may be more appropriate if I monitor the Captain and the Commander.”

Taking a breath in relief, “Yeah, absolutely. There are some things you just don’t want to know about your Captain and First Officer.”

Everyone nodded. “Okay, T’Lin, you and Joe go have a really long dinner tonight. Travis, you have

this intense need to work out tonight. The rest of us will go about our normal business until twenty-twenty-five hours and then get into position. Got it?”

At their agreement, “All right, people, let’s go stop this “strain”.”

Inside The Brig A Few Minutes Later

Reed escorted T’Pol in the brig and to the cell,

“Ma’am, if you’ll wait right here, I’ll notify the MACOs and start the exercise in about 30 seconds.”

With both eyebrows arched, she finally nodded. “SHIT. She’s already suspicious.”

Snowden came in with Archer. “Captain, the scenario begins in the brig cell. If you would wait there, I’ll send the MACOs in.”

Archer walked into the cell and froze when he saw T’Pol on the far side.

Swoosh, the door slammed into place! T’Pol looked at the door, then Archer. With calm Vulcan composure, “Captain, the door

has been closed on us and we are locked in this cell.” “Yeah, I noticed, Commander.” Standing at ease with her hands behind her back,

“Why would we be locked together in the brig, Captain? This could not have been an accident.”

He studied her and slowly nodded, “True.” Archer didn’t move, “Sergeant Major Snowden

told me there was a training exercise that needed

either you or me to participate in, but that you couldn’t as you were in the shower.”

She looked down at her clothes, “As you can see, I have not been in the shower.”

She paused a moment, “Lt Reed came to me, requesting that I monitor a training exercise in the brig as you were exercising in the gym.”

“That was true, I was in the gym. But I don’t think there’s an exercise in the brig this evening. I think we got locked in here on purpose.”

“Agreed.” Just standing there not saying anything but

starring at each other, T’Pol and Archer thought about the predicament they found themselves in. for five minutes no one said anything.

Archer finally broke the silence, “Don’t you want to know why?”

“Yes.” In frustration, “Is that all you’re going to say?” More Minutes Passed In Silence. Before long they

had just managed to say nothing for fifteen minutes. The whole predicament was turning the situation worse or so it seemed.

Phlox watched the monitors, shaking his head. They were so hardheaded, but the Captain seemed more amenable than T’Pol. What did he do to T’Pol to make her back away as much as she had? He and Archer had talked; even he and T’Pol had spoken. Yes, there’s some emotional friction, cultural issues, and command problems, but something that could

cause this was never mentioned. What else had happened?

Archer moved to sit on one of the benches affixed to the wall. T’Pol slowly moved to the bench furthest from him.

Archer sighed to himself, he knew that he would have to be extra careful or this could all go up in flames and they’d never be able to work together again.

He knew, hell they both knew, that this whole brig thing was the crew. They decided to take matters, not to mention their careers, in their own hands and force them together. To try to work out what was wrong between them. He was going to try his hardest to take this opportunity and make it work. If she didn’t kill him first.

“Commander, I believe that our crew decided to help us work through our problem, even though they don’t know what it is.”

She stared at him, and then nodded. “How does that make you feel? “ Phlox cringed.

Archer regrouped, “I mean, what do you think of their actions?”

She weighed her answer, then shooting him a cold glance

“Interfering.” She paused a moment, “But with good intentions.”

Sighing to himself, “It’s going to be a long night.” He nodded, “Yeah, I agree. The atmosphere on the bridge must be really bad to make them do this.

We’re not setting a good example with our behavior.”

She shot him a freezing look. “Okay. Gently Jon, gently. Don’t piss her off any

more.” As another thirty more minutes passed in silence,

Phlox thought, “Captain, you can’t outwait a Vulcan. Just tread carefully.”But that only turned out to be fruitless since the Captain wouldn’t hear him anyways.

Burch came in and looked in at Phlox, but not the monitors, and whispered, “How’s it going in there?”

Shrugging, “Well, I now believe that the Captain did something to instigate this. He’s trying to talk, but it’s not easy with a Vulcan who won’t.”

Snorting, “I bet. I’m going back to the bridge, then my quarters to catch some sleep. Call me if you need me.”

Phlox nodded and went back to watching. They were still sitting on opposite sides of the room.

Archer was staring at T’Pol and she was staring at the floor.

He broke the silence, “T’Pol, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

She looked up at him, then away. He laid the back of his head against the wall, and

took a breath, “T’Pol, I mean it. I really am, but I’m not sure what I did.”

She looked at him, “I know, Captain. You have

said that before. I have tried to tell you what is wrong and you always stop me.”

He stopped, again, right there. This is where it usually turned into him shouting and she staring holes through him and storming out the door. Once he had gotten in her way and she practically threw him into the wall. Of course, she had come back in to make sure he was alright, but then left again when she saw he was.

Archer couldn’t take it anymore. For thirty minutes neither he nor T’Pol said a signal word. So sighing, he made his decision. One that, for some reason, he had been fiercely fighting against making every day, “T’Pol, I give up. I won’t fight you anymore. Tell me what I need to do, what you need to do.”

He had her attention now. In a gruff voice, laden with emotion, he continued, “We’re losing our friendship. I hate that. I want that back, I want our command relationship back. I want to go back to where we were a month ago.”

She continued to stare at him, not saying a word. Phlox was intrigued, okay, he was nosey. No one

could figure out what happened, now he was about to find out.

He sighed sadly, “No, I won’t. If T’Pol responds, I’ll turn down the audio and just watch them. If they wanted someone to know they would have told someone.”

She nodded once. She continued to watch him.

She had thought long and hard through many nights about what he had done. She had to acknowledge that he did not understand what he had done. But when she tried to tell him about the consequences of his actions, he would not even discuss it. That she could not understand. He always wanted her to tell him things in the past.

While she knew that he really did not know what he did, the consequences of it were slowly driving her insane. And the consequences were the very thing he wouldn’t discuss. Meditation was almost useless, causing her to become more inflexible as she over, controlled to compensate. She had to do something to take back control.

Her internal conversation took another 30 minutes, a silent 30 minutes.

Archer was getting frustrated. He thought she was ignoring him again. So he decided to try honesty, “T’Pol, I’m feeling hurt and angry with this silence.”

Her head snapped up and she replied, “I know.” He ground his jaws together so he wouldn’t say

what he was thinking. It wouldn’t help matters. Still staring at him, “I know that, too.” Phlox’s jaw dropped, “What does that mean?” Archer surged up from the bench, “Alright,

Commander, if you want to argue about this for the fifteenth time, let’s go for it. Give me your best shot; you’ve done it enough so it should be easy for you!”

She flowed up from her bench with silent, feline

grace. They stared at each other; Phlox could feel the intensity through the view screen. His hand hovered over the button that would release crowd control gases into the cell.

They both could see T’Pol was trying to control; finally she pushed her hands behind her back and assumed her “at ease” stance. What Phlox could see, and Archer couldn’t, was that she had clenched her hands together so tightly that they were yellow with tension.

In a gravelly voice, “You do not know what you are doing to me. I am trying very hard to keep control.”

That was the first time she had ever said that to him. Frowning in confusion, “Explain, I don’t understand.”

He studied how she stood there, the stiff tension in her body, and how she seemed to hold herself back from something.

He shook his head to clear that thought from his mind. He was getting angry that she wasn’t answering him again. Suddenly she whipped around to face the wall. Her shoulders rigid with the effort of controlling an inner struggle.

In a voice he could bearly hear, “This is the consequences of what you did in Sickbay when we first found out that I, we, were pregnant, but have not allowed me to explain to you yet.”

He fought through the fear and shock that shot

through him and he saw her shudder. “Oh, shit.” Some instinct said that this was so significant it would affect him forever.

Again, in a low voice, “Do you not think that I am concerned about this, also?”

A thought raced across his mind and he took chance. He took a deep breath and tried to relax. He watched T’Pol. After a moment, her shoulders relaxed and dropped a centimeter. Another moment passed and she looked over her shoulder at him.

“Yes, you are correct.” In response to that Archer froze in mid-breathe.

She then said, “Breathe, Captain.” Another thought crossed his mind, and she

replied, “No, I cannot tell you that everything will be all right.”

He took a couple of breaths, and then asked in an amazed voice, “I did this, didn’t I? When you were in Sickbay, being effected by this space. I knew that you were a touch telepath “

“Am.” He squinted at her, “Yeah, you’re a touch

telepath. So, exactly what did I do?” She slowly turned back to face him, watching him.

“During your conversation with Dr. Phlox, he said that he could not help me because I was not calm enough, yet he did not want to give me any sedatives because that would have an affect on the scans.”

Confused, “How do you know that?” “Because you think about it.” She was still not

relaxed, the tension still held her body taut as he thought about everything.

Phlox nodded as he listened. He knew that soon he’d have to turn off the audio and just watch. But he thought that they may be past the danger point.

Archer still frowned, but was quickly adapting, “Please, go on.”

“You wanted to somehow comfort me and calm my fears and violence.” Both Phlox and Archer were stunned at how calmly she spoke of her violent behavior.

He nodded. “You did what you would do to a human. But

instead you touched a telepath by placing your hand on my shoulder and another on the side of my face touching my Katra points.” She studied him, “you made me feel more of what I didn’t know you felt.”

With dispassion she continued to relay this very personal information, “Under normal circumstances I would shield myself, and you, from me knowing your thoughts and feelings. However, that has turned harder lately.”

“My mental shielding was down. Everyone’s thoughts and feelings were storming into me. My control of myself and my emotions was shredded and I could not re-erect them. Too much was flooding into me all because of this pregnancy, I even ended up sending my symptoms on to you.”

Realizing what happened, “You calmed down

when I touched your hand and held you after you found out though, I remember feeling it coming from you.”

She nodded, “Yes, I did. When you touched my face you... somehow touched the exact meld locations that provide a direct linkage between my mind and yours.”

She straightened her shoulders and took a breathe, “You wanted me to be calm. Your thoughts came sweeping into my mind, pushing out everything else. Sharing your strength with me. Because of that, I was able to rebuild control, with the peace of mind you brought. You were protecting me from the emotions. You focused on what you wanted for me, and what you felt for me also came through.”

She looked at the floor and continued, “my mind touched yours...linked to yours... even stronger than it did the day we first made love during my Pon’ Farr.”

He stared at her, “Then what?” “You had given me the time to rest in the eye of

the storm. The ship was moving out of the nebula and I was growing stronger with my mental control. I could not have done it without your help.”

He asked softly, “Then what, T’Pol?” She tilted her head to the side, “When my mind

touched yours back...” She stopped and considered him, “Did you feel any pain during that time?”

Shaking his head, still frowning, “No. Should I

have?” “No. A successful bond between two willing

partners should not hurt, but I have been feeling a little pain from my pregnancy Jon, I think its because of the fact that our child is a hybrid of our two species.”

She nodded. Phlox’s jaw dropped for the second time. “Of course! That’s why she’s been unusually withdrawn, and so very tired looking, and why they’ve been fighting!”

“Why didn’t you tell me!” Burst out from Jonathon. T’Pol tensed and arched any eyebrow at him.

“I have been trying to do that for two weeks.” He shook his head, and said more calmly, “Sorry.

But why did you stop?” “To take a thought from your mind, “You can lead

a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink.” Phlox smiled sadly. He would have wanted to hurt

him a little bit himself. She must have a very strong mind to be able to control their combined emotions for so long. No wonder things had been going wrong for the past few weeks. He reached over to turn off the audio, leaving only the video hookup. Now that he knew what the problem was, he didn’t need to listen to their personal confessions any longer. He hoped that they could rectify this between themselves.

Archer nodded thoughtfully. “But why have we

been fighting so much? What went wrong? If our minds are linked why we couldn’t, I, have seen this?”

T’Pol sat back down on the bench and said a word that she had never called him for a long time, “Captain...”

At a snort from him and a thought that she knew was coming right after she let the word slip, but then she heard him project a thought to her “T’Pol, you’re in my mind, call me Jonathon like you usually do.”

She nodded and started speaking again, “Jonathon, do not take offense, but have you not been afraid of something these last two weeks? A shadow you could not identify; a feeling that you weren’t alone? You even thought it was me I know you did”

“Truthfully, yes. I thought because of our bond that the nebula was affecting me too. Was that really you all this time?”

“Yes. But there is more you should know. Every feeling that you have had since we were in Sickbay has found its way into my mind.”

Stunned into silence, “You’re not kidding, are you?” thought Jonathan as Phlox almost turned the audio back on at Jonathon’s expression but then he thought better of it thinking whatever the look was for was obviously because of something she had thought..

She shook her head.

“So, every emotion...every time I was happy, sad,

angry, frustrated, hungry, tired, exhausted...” he thought, “and thinking sexual thoughts about you.”

At an arched eyebrow, he stopped. “Yes, Jonathon.” She replied out loud.

“Great,” started Jonathan, “but in the beginning I felt great, and now I don’t. What happened?”

“In the beginning, I took the emotions and managed them away. I felt very embarrassed at knowing your thoughts and feelings. You did not know and when I tried to discuss this with you, you pushed me away. Both in the physical world, in the mental world. Then I tried to break the link, I tried to limit its access; all without success just till you would realize I was missing from your thoughts then I was going to let it come back to us at full force.”

Archer really looked at her and saw how tired she was, “T’Pol, you look exhausted. Why?”

She took a moment to gather her thoughts, “Jonathon, it is difficult to manage the thoughts for two people for long periods of time. I have never shared or tried to control the thoughts and feelings with anyone like this before, Vulcan or Human.”

His gut clenched, “T’Pol, my thoughts have been running over you without control. Just like Tolaris’ did those many years ago when he almost raped you?”

She thought about that, “No, you were not trying to takeover my thoughts. Tolaris was intentional, with malicious forethought, he wanted to hurt me

and because of you he didn’t succeed, you showed then that you had feelings for me without knowing it. Your intentions were anything but malicious. I also already knew your thoughts about me from the original touch.”

“But you still haven’t said why we’re always fighting now. Why is that?” thought Jonathan.

She sighed and started speaking again, “Jonathon, I am very tired. I have not been able to meditate for almost two weeks. I sleep only when you do, and then only if you do not have any nightmares, they affect me and make it hard for me to sleep, especially the ones where something terrible happens to me, you or both.”

He jerked at that then sent her another thought, “Wait a minute. My nightmares have been stopping and they’ve been turning into good dreams. Was that you?”

She leaned back against the wall, tipping her head against the wall. Jonathon tried not to clench with this posture of defeat, “Do not worry, Jonathon. I am merely tired. I am not defeated,” she thought.

He didn’t even address that he knew so he said out loud this time, “my nightmares?”

“I am sorry, but I needed to rest. I modified the events so you were in charge,” she thought, “that way we could both get some sleep each night.”

“So, now you know all my fears,” he said to her sadly but part of him didn’t care.

“I do not know that I know all of your fears. I did

not look into your mind. I have been trying to build shields in my mind against yours.”

She stretched her neck, “I believe that the building of these shields, and the fact that I have been trying to push your thoughts and feelings back to you, is what has been causing us to have... problems. I can no longer accept your emotions like this, Jonathon.”

She contemplated him, “I do not understand why you rebuffed my earlier attempts to address this problem.”

“Let me think about that for a minute. But, before I do, is there anything we can do to stop this flood from me to you?” Asked Jonathan never wanting to send her through this whole pain again.

“Yes,” she thought, “I can teach you to shield your thoughts, but I believe we will always be linked forever and I don’t want it any other way.”

He squinted at her, “I’m thinking this has deeper repercussions than I understand right now, like I should have known all this before we got married. You didn’t think about it though, maybe you were hoping it wouldn’t happen. That’s it, I can see it now, you wanted everything to be perfect for us.”

He watched her look down and saw the dark green circles under her eyes. “You’ve exhausted yourself trying to block or control my thoughts so they wouldn’t bother you; haven’t you?”

She nodded, “Yes. Sometimes I am able to sleep

or meditate if you are asleep or focusing on something or you weren’t interested in anything and just drifting along. Other times the stronger you felt about something, the more I felt it.”

He whispered, “Damn, T’Pol. I’m so sorry. Can you show me how to shield, so you can get to rest?”

She almost smiled, she was so relieved. She nodded, “May I come over to you?”

He nodded sadly, “Yes, of course, T’Pol, anytime, anyplace. But let me come over there.”

Walking over to her, he sat down, “Now what?” “I will enter your mind. You will feel it, but it will

not hurt. Then I will show you how a mental shield feels. After that, you will build a force field, visually in your mind, and you will keep reinforcing it until it feels the way I showed you.”

He reached out to touch her, something he hadn’t done since Sickbay. But he stopped midway, not knowing if he should or not.

She gazed at him and gently took his hand with her left, then placed her right hand on his meld points.

“Jonathon?” he could hear being whispered into his mind.

“T’Pol?” he replied. “Yes, Aisha,” she thought, “How do you feel?” “I’m not sure.” He felt her presence in his mind.

He could feel her strength, determination, and courage in everything she had started to do before,

but now he felt her power, her emotions, and her quicksilver mind. Her presence felt like a hot sun to him, possible the hot sun of Vulcan. It felt like one that would burn away all the untruths and accept only the truth. He also saw how her logic overlaid every part of her; it was something that was integral to her being. Then he saw how hard won that logic was. He felt ashamed at how he had thought all Vulcans were just naturally logical and emotionless, but now he saw how hard it really it was to control their emotions and how that control and their logic were paramount to their very selves, it was something that he had never felt from her since the day they were married.

“Jonathon, do not be ashamed,” she projected as a thought. “How could I have explained that to you? You would not have understood, that’s why I’ve kept it from you for so long now. I’m sorry but I thought you would understand, but I know your love for me will help us through this and keep us together… forever.”

“How do you see me?” he thought to her. He felt amusement. “T’Pol, are you laughing?” “I am not laughing at you. Your question is

legitimate. I am pleased that you are comfortable in the newest form of the mental link that you have with me to be able to ask these questions. Any amusement I feel is with you and your desire to understand. You can see how I feel.”

“Just wanted to be sure. Now will you please

answer my question.” He thought. “Yes, Aisha.” This time he laughed, at both of

them. “I see you as two things,” she started as she

continued to project her thoughts. “Both of them are images of your planet. Your great blue oceans, deep, always moving, but always there. Hiding secrets from those who will not take the time to search. The second is the wind, your presence comes in and chases away stagnant thoughts and ideas. You have caused me much self, analysis, Jonathon; my Aisha, to ensure what I believe is not stagnant, but valid.”

After a few moments of sharing silence, Jonathan started to speak again for just in case anyone was listening in they would hear them speaking together again, “thank you, Aisha, you know how much that means to me, or at least I hope you do.”

“Indeed,” said T’Pol, “you also know what your thoughts mean to me.” And he did know what she meant; he was so much in love with her that he never wanted to lose her and hoped that she would be by his side until the day that he was to die.

“Let me show you how a shield feels.” She did, and then she showed him how to push it out so it would encompass him pushing her emotions out of his view for a few seconds to teach him a little more that would eventually be useful to him someday he hoped, but at the same time she knew that he wouldn’t ever need to use it for he would never ever

hide anything from her at all or their child for she deep down in her heart knew that his bond with their baby was also going to last indefinitely.

He felt her slip away, feeling empty and alone. She tightened her physical hold on his hand. “Go ahead, Jonathon. Build your shield, try to hide your thoughts from me for now, you need to know this, especially if something was ever to happen to one of us during any battle where we got seriously hurt or worse. You need to be able to use this type of mental shield to block those troubling thoughts from your mind so they don’t ever affect you or your duties as captain.”

He did, he tried to build his own mental shield and then he understood her amusement, it was a lot more difficult than it sounded. But he had finally achieved it and set up his shield blocking everything for a few seconds from T’Pol but he didn’t like it at all, he was more happier when he could touch her mind with his mind.

He opened his eyes to look at T’Pol, but found she had fallen asleep. With her head just bearly touching his shoulder and her legs tucked up under her. With a smile, he gazed at her without feeling all the anger, fear, and frustration that he had colored his thoughts. He felt the rush of emotions he normally felt with her. Respect, friendship, and... Love, all the love in the world and in his heart that he had belonged to her only, he couldn’t even understand why he had married Hoshi anymore. His life was

meant to be with T’Pol and would always be that way.

He found himself still holding tightly to her hand. Chuckling at that, his self, conscious definitely knew a good thing when it found it, and that good thing he had finally found was his true love, his one and only woman, his Vulcan, his T’Pol.

Looking around the cell, he found where the camera was situated. He started to talk to it and Phlox quickly turned up the audio.

Whispering, “Now would be a good time to turn off the audio, video, and unlock the door. We’re going to stay a little longer. T’Pol needs a couple of hours of rest before we return to our quarters together for the first time in a long time.”

He looked down at her, “I’ll say this for both of us, thank you for getting us back together, we’ve both realized that we need each other to survive, that we’re not complete without each other.”

He stared at camera again, “But don’t ever do this again for we’ll never need it; and that’s an order for if you do, you will all end up in the brig yourselves or locked in your quarters for a very long time.”

Glancing down at T’Pol, then back up at the camera, “Please ensure that we’re up and out of here around 0430, goodnight.”

Phlox dimmed the lights in the cell from his remote monitoring place and decided it would be best to give the two lovebirds their privacy. He watched for a few minutes longer and saw Jonathon

let go of T’Pol’s hand. He gently pulled her down until her head rested on his thigh. She was so exhausted she didn’t even make a sound. Archer gently brushed his fingers through her hair. Phlox turned off the video feed headed back to Sickbay.

Phlox got comfortable in his chair, “Computer, please set the alarm for oh four hundred fifteen hours.” He would stand watch over them for the rest of the night.

Jonathon smiled at how everything turned out. Just for now he would take time out from trying to find the Sernaix’s homeworld and enjoy being there with T’Pol, even though she was asleep. ‘And as for their relationship?’, he knew it would continue on perfectly as if their little argument had never happened for Jonathan thought wherever their relationship would take them, he wanted it. He rested his hand on her shoulder and leaned his head back against the wall, closing his eyes and went to sleep knowing that tomorrow would come soon enough with all its problems...

*****

The next night inside the quarters he shared with

his wife, Jonathan looked over towards his sleeping wife and unborn child and thought to himself not caring if she’d pick up on it “At least she’s back with me in my quarters and in my bed.” His thoughts though were interrupted by the beeping of his

computer terminal again with another Priority One Communiqué from Starfleet Command and Admiral Black…

THIRTY-THREE

Beta Quadrant Enterprise NX-01

…having no other choice Jonathan got out of bed

leaving his lovely wife’s side and walked over to his desk and being careful not to wake T’Pol or his Beagle dog Porthos who was fast asleep at the foot of the bed on the floor, he manually put his authorization code into the computer instead of giving it by voice and waited for the screen to turn to the image of Admiral Black’s face. As it did the admiral said, “Sorry to disturb you Jonathan, hope I didn’t wake you but this is just to urgent to wait till morning.”

“What is it?” asked Jonathan very sleepily. “I haven’t gotten much sleep lately, one because of my pregnant wife and two because of this dam Temporal War that were involved in. Dam, this makes me miss the Temporal Cold War, at least we weren’t fully drastically involved in that except for when we ended it in alternate 1945 during World War II when Adolf Hitler successfully launched an

invasion of the United States because the timeline was changed. To bad we can’t end this little war by destroying Vosk’s Compound again in New York City and battling those German P53 over the New York skyline. At least then because of Daniels help we stud a chance and everything retuned to normal, now it just plain old sucks.”

“True that is Jonathan,” started Admiral Black, but what I have to say, that isn’t going to help you even if it could. We’ve just received word that Vulcan might be in danger from the Sernaix. Our intelligence sources have detected a fleet of fifty Sernaix battleships and cruisers on a direct course for Vulcan. They’ll be arriving in about four to six days. I’ve dispatched the NX-03 Avenger to assist them, but since Vulcan is T’Pol’s homeworld, I want you and her to take that futuristic Runabout you were given, the Rio Grande and meet up with them at Vulcan. I don’t think I need to tell you that if Vulcan falls, the Sernaix and the New Dominion gain a beechnut that puts them right on a direct course for Earth. This mission is important to the safety and the survival of the Federation. Hopefully you’ll succeed, Godspeed, Admiral Black out.”

Yet again Jonathan found himself starring at a black computer screen that quickly switched to the ship’s status screen as he sat there pondering what to do next. Deciding the best thing to do was to tell T’Pol now so he went over to her and gently woke her up. As she stirred back to consciousness he said

“Aisha dear, I just got a disturbing communiqué from Admiral Black. An armada of fifty Sernaix ships is on a direct course for Vulcan, he’s dispatched the NX-03 Avenger to assist them and we’re to rendezvous with them taking the Rio Grande. We’ll leave in the morning after informing the crew. T’Lin is going to be in charge of continuing the mission of finding the Sernaix homeworld if it isn’t too late. Now go back to sleep, we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow.”

At oh-six-hundred hours later, Jonathan watched as his wife gave a little yawn and started to get out of bed. He could easily tell that knowing her homeworld was in danger that she hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep. Sadly though, he knew they had to go alert the Senior Officers and the rest of the crew about their new mission then they would quickly have to leave. They had no other choice.

About half an hour after getting out of bed, eating breakfast for the first time in a long time in their quarters, then getting dressed, Jonathan and T’Pol were on the bridge with their Senior Officers gathered around them while the ship’s intercom was broadcasting what Jonathan was about to say throughout the rest of the Enterprise. “All hands listen up, this is Captain Archer. At about midnight last night, ship’s time, Admiral Black contacted me directly from Starfleet Command with some disturbing news. The Sernaix are on the move against us again; this time their sending an armada of fifty ships toward Vulcan. You all know that if

Vulcan falls the next closest planet is Earth, and being that close to an occupied world would mean a danger to the whole Federation. The admiral has dispatched the starship NX-03 Avenger to Vulcan to put up a stand but she’s only one ship therefore Commander T’Pol and I have been ordered to take the Runabout Rio Grande to Vulcan and assist them in any possible way. Until we get back, Captain T’Lin is in command of the Enterprise. You’re orders are still the same, to find the Sernaix homeworld and try to negotiate peace between our two worlds. Godspeed to both of us, we’ll see you when we get back. That is all.”

Jonathan turned towards T’Lin and said “The Bridge is yours. You have your orders. Hopefully we’ll see you soon, but your mother and I better get going right now if were to make our rendezvous on time.”

Just before her parents turned to leave T’Lin raised her hand into the traditional Vulcan salute and said “Live long and prosper my parents.”

T’Pol raised her hand into the same gesture and said “Peace and long life my daughter.” As she lowered her hand T’Pol couldn’t help but looked down at her protruding womb and shiver. To her still seeing the older form of her unborn child and even calling her ‘her daughter’ was still hard when she could already feel the child kicking her. Instead of saying any other words though, she turned and headed towards the turbolift and then to the launch bay with her husband following her.

*****

Rio Grande Leaving the Beta Quadrant

Ever since they left Enterprise almost five hours

earlier Jonathan had noticed that his wife was still really tired, something that he didn’t like seeing at all while at the same time knowing that she hated it more than he did decided that he should order her to take some rest after all. So looking at her directly in the eyes he said, “Aisha, I know I promised I’d never order you to something that you could do on your own free will, but I think the best thing for you right now since you look tired is to get some rest. Anyways, we won’t arrive at Vulcan for another two days or so.”

“Guess your right Aisha,” T’Pol thought back as she headed to the back of the ship towards the tiny living quarters, but she was stopped in her tracks when the runabout’s com system started beeping with yet another message from Starfleet Command and Admiral Black, only this one was also being sent to the Enterprise to.

“Rio Grande, Enterprise, you both have new orders,” reported Admiral Black over the com system. “Enterprise, you’re being diverted to assist NX-04 Challenger at Vulcan. Rio Grande, you’re hereby ordered to head to the Alpha Centauri

System to pick up an important package and Admiral Mitchell at Alpha Centauri III. Once that’s done, you’re to report to Earth to drop off the admiral and the important package he’s carrying. Admiral Black out.”

Both T’Lin aboard the Enterprise and Jonathan were surprised that the admiral had closed the channel before the two captains could acknowledge their orders. Thinking something was up but not knowing if they were right or wrong both ships diverted their courses to begin their new missions. Little did anyone know that the Rio Grande’s mission wasn’t written in the stars like the one Enterprise was about to go one was. Unknown forces were about to come into play to change events drastically once again…

*****

NX-02 Columbia Gamma Quadrant Year: 2163

“I want to know how we’ve ended up over seventy-five years away from our home in the Sol Sector,” demanded Captain Erica Hernandez “and I want to know now. I would also like to know how can we still be missing when we disappeared eight years ago back in 2155, therefore Starfleet should

have sent a ship or another member of the Coalition out to find us.”

“It had to be these aliens that forced us here,” reported her Executive Officer Commander Veronica Fletcher, “and just as we crashed, I could swear our sensors picked up another NX-class vessel leaving here that appeared to say ‘NX-02 Columbia’ on it. Something must have duplicated us, that’s the only reason Starfleet or the rest of the Coalition didn’t send out a rescue ship when we disappeared.”

“We did pass through some sort of energy field just before we crashed onto this planet,” reported the Tactical Officer Lieutenant Kiona Thayer, “that could have been the thing that duplicated us… and I guess it did the same with our bio-signatures creating an exact copy of the crew; impossible I know but it’s the only explanation I got.”

“That could have been my fault,” said ex-helmsman Lieutenant Reiko Akagi, “I was attempting to level our erratic decent as we passed through the field just before we crashed. But I an say this, I did notice that identical ship too, and it left this area on the same trajectory that we came here on. I bet that ship took our place so we were never reported missing.”

“Agreed,” said Hernandez, “that has to be the only possible explanation why we’re still here and not back home. The possibilities are high that we’re going to die here on this planet. I’m sorry, it has been an honor serving with you though.”

*****

Alpha Centauri III Alpha Quadrant

Admiral Mitchell couldn’t believe what the sensor

satellites guarding the Alpha Centauri System had detected. An NX-class vessel had entered the system that wasn’t supposed to even be in that sector at the moment. The ship he could tell was the NX-02 Columbia for the sensors were able to magnify the ship so its name and registration number was visible. Wanting to know more about why the Columbia was in the system, the admiral dispatched the Daedalus-class starship USS Carolina NCC 160 to investigate the situation and to report back its finding as quick as possible.

The USS Carolina NCC 160 only got within a light-year of the NX-02 Columbia before the ship just vanished. But to all the sensor satellites and even the Carolina itself that wasn’t the case at all. Instead, the NX-02 Columbia started to disintegrate starting in the front of the saucer section and ending at the nacelles. All that remained of the ship drifting in the cold vacuum of space was crystalline dust fragments with no sign of metal or the matter and anti-matter from the ship’s warp engine. There was just nothing left of the Columbia and that pointed to one fact that kept going through Admiral Mitchell’s mind when he

got the report from Captain Kim Shizen, “the NX-02 Columbia must have really went missing in 2155 when we first got the report that she may have been taken over by the Romulans and their Arrenhe’hwiua Telecapture System. That ship out there that we just lost had to be a duplicate, and a dam good one at that for whom ever captured her was even able to duplicate the crew perfectly. I have to let Admiral Black know, the real Columbia could be out there somewhere and in need of our help.”

Running to his office at the Starfleet Bureau Building inside the colonies judicial building Admiral Mitchell knew that what he had discovered would need the proof that the Carolina was bringing back at that very moment, he would have to hitch a ride to Earth or have some vessel diverted. He knew that part could be dealt with later, instead he activated his computer terminal and opened a channel to Starfleet Command directly to Admiral Black. After the admiral’s face appeared on the screen, Admiral Mitchell said “Sir, I got some news that you’re totally not going to believe. NX-02 Columbia really is missing; I just witnessed a long with the crew of the USS Carolina NCC 160 the ship we thought was Columbia totally disintegrated with only a crystalline substance left. The real Columbia I believe really did go missing in 2155 and someone has been tricking us all along. I can bring you the proof that I’m right, but since the Carolina can’t leave this system, I need you to divert a ship here.”

“Alright Mitchell,” said Black, “I want to see the

proof you have and get to the bottom of this mystery as much as you do. I’ll order Captain Archer and Commander T’Pol divert from their planned course to Vulcan in the runabout Rio Grande and pick you up. The Enterprise can go the Vulcan and assist the NX-03 Avenger there.”

“Understood sir,” replied Mitchell, “I’ll be waiting. Admiral Mitchell and Alpha Centauri III out.”

*****

Three Days Later Alpha Centauri III

“Rio Grande to Alpha Centauri III starbase, this is

Captain Jonathan Archer. Please respond.” “This is Admiral Mitchell, Rio Grande prepare to

transport me aboard.” “Standby,” replied Jonathan, “activating the

transporter.” Seconds later T’Pol said “Transport confirmed, we

have him Jon, but there is also a Jem’Hadar warship on approach.”

“We’re leaving now,” replied Jonathan as Admiral Mitchell stepped into the cockpit. “Taking us into warp on a course for Earth, it will take about a week to arrive; this ship’s top speed is only Warp Two.”

………

About two and a half days later, the Rio Grande

was contacted by another Federation starship. The cloaked USS Defiant NCC 74205 decloaked and guided the runabout into their shuttle bay using their tractor-beams. Once the Rio Grande was safely secured, the Defiant jumped into warp heading towards the future Federation’s base of operations, the asteroid base the Klingons had conquered from the Sernaix. After about eight hours, the Defiant arrived and released the Rio Grande to allow her to continue her journey on to Earth that would now only take a few hours at Warp Two.

A day earlier on their way towards the old Sernaix controlled and built asteroid starbase, the Defiant encountered the last kind of fleet they wanted to find. For blocking the Defiant’s path was the ISS Defiant NCC 1764, the ISS Voyager NCC 7642, and the rest of Empress Hoshi Sato’s Terran Empire fleet. Not wanting a fire fight with the futuristic ships that Hoshi knew nothing about she obeyed the orders Captain Sisco gave her, to return to her universe and to never come back. Hoshi knew complying was best but she knew she wanted to leave one ship in this Alternate Universe too so she ordered Captain Kathryn Janeway to take the ISS Voyager NCC 7642 into the Badlands and to wait for her further orders, but to try to return to their era if possible but staying in the Federation’s reality.

Once the Mirror Universe’s fleet was gone, Sisco

decided the best thing to do was not to let Captain Archer know about the Alternate Reality version of his ex-wife since his was dead while the other was clearly alive and kicking. He knew how he felt seeing his dead wife’s Mirror Universe counter part years ago and he didn’t want to put Archer through that for if Jonathan was to think about Hoshi, those thoughts would be based onto T’Pol through their mental bond which could easily interfere with T’Pol’s pregnancy since the conception of their child was already a miracle.

*****

Rio Grande Enroute to Earth

Aboard the Runabout USS Rio Grande NCC 72452

Captain Jonathan Archer and his wife Commander T’Pol were on course for Earth following Admiral Black’s orders with Admiral Mitchell and his unbelievable data involving the destruction of the NX-02 Columbia and the fact that the true Columbia was out there some place missing when they picked up a communiqué from the USS Avenger NX-04 near Vulcan. The Communiqué was urgent and said, “We are under attack by an unknown enemy, our weapons are having no effect, they’ve disabled our ship and are on course for Vulcan. What sensors we

have left are detecting that their firing on the surface. VULCAN IS UNDER ATTACK ALONG WITH THE USS AVENGER, REQUESTING EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE.”

Jonathan knew his orders and couldn’t break them but also he could hear his wife’s thoughts and her homeworld was under attack. So he said, “I know, changing course for Vulcan, Warp Two, we’ll be there within five hours.” T’Pol gave her husband a look that he knew perfectly why, but he wasn’t ready to try the secondary warp engine that Sisco had installed aboard the Rio Grande while the ship was being held up at the Former Sernaix controlled Starbase that the future Federation fleet and its allies decided to us as a base since it was close to both Earth and the areas where the Enterprise NX-01 would be sent out to.

An hour after setting course for Vulcan another Federation starship came a crossed the Rio Grande and it was no other than the Enterprise NX-01 being commanded for the moment by Lieutenant Malcolm Reed. The Enterprise crew knew of Archer and T’Pol’s mission and also knew that they couldn’t resist going to Vulcan, so they snared the runabout in their grappler and continued at high warp towards the Vulcan homeworld. Only the Rio Grande’s warp engine could go faster so Archer put the tiny ship to maximum thrust and broke the grappler as he forced the Rio Grande to jump to Warp Eight Point Five testing the new engine that Sisco had installed at the

former Sernaix starbase when he still didn’t feel safe about using it with his pregnant wife near him.

THIRTY-FOUR

VULCAN NX-03 AVENGER, ENTERPRISE NX-01, & USS RIO GRANDE NCC 72452 THE FINAL OFFENSIVE

Neither the futuristic United Federation of

Planets’ fleet and its allies were willing to admit defeat nor was the fledgling United Federation of Planets of 2163 going to do it either. Instead working together they quickly deployed multiplying Anti-matter Mines around the planet and all over the entire system to Earth and the rest of the member worlds of the Federation. No matter what the outcome was going to be, the Votality and its New Dominion Allies were going to lose this war. There was no other option open to them.

The only problem the Federation faced was the fact that they didn’t have enough ships to guard the Vulcan and to patrol all the systems. So they had no choice but to use everyone of Defiant’s runabouts including the USS Rio Grande NCC 72452 but this time she was being commanded by Captain T’Lin

Archer. Little did anyone know that the Votality and its allies had it in for the Rio Grande and T’Lin Archer…

Constantly around every mine the Federation starships had to pull off one maneuver so they wouldn’t disturb the delicate mines and set them off. To the future Federation forces, the maneuver was outdated and forgot but to Travis Mayweather he knew exactly what he had to do to keep the Enterprise NX-01 safe for the required maneuver was no other than the one that Captain Archer had him execute eight years nine years earlier while trying to evade the Klingon Duras when he was trying to destroy the Enterprise for Archer ruining his honor in the empire. At that time Mayweather had to pull off an L4 maneuver that got the Enterprise behind Duras’ ship where the shielding was weakest giving Reed the chance to destroy the Bird-of-Prey and for Mayweather to get the ship safely into the Delphic Expanse. Now Mayweather had to do that very same maneuver again and again if he didn’t want to get the Enterprise destroyed.

Dodging about among the mines was the USS Rio Grande NCC 72452 at the careful guidance of Captain T’Lin Archer. She knew that the tiny runabout was maneuverable enough to get around the gaps in the field that other ships couldn’t utilize. Knowing this on her own free will T’Lin decided to defy her orders and to do some recon to find out where the Votality and New Dominion fleet was at that very moment.

Before anyone knew it, she set a course for Deneva where she decided she would engage the Warp Eight Stardrive Engine and head to Bajor on a hunch she was feeling.

*****

At that very same moment near Bajor the Votality

and New Dominion fleet found themselves engaged in a massive all-out battle with one Federation Alliance starship that could stand up to their whole onslaught, at least for a while. The Klingon Dreadnought IKS Cau’casus for a big mighty warship was able to maneuver pretty quickly to dodge almost every blast that she was taking but her shields had already dropped to fifty percent capacity and were still draining quickly. Acting Chancellor Blu’cok knew that his ship could take the attacks being dished onto it but he also didn’t know how long it would be before their shields failed and they could easily be destroyed.

Not wanting the worst to happen Blu’cok ordered his helmsman to take the ship directly at the Sernaix dreadnought that was currently firing the heaviest barrage onto his ship’s hull. The Cau’casus headed towards the Broga’Na’Goxa at full ramming speed for Blu’cok decided that if his ship was going to be destroyed it was surely going to leave a big dent in the hull of the Sernaix dreadnought making them never forget the day they messed with a Klingon and

his mighty ship. The Sernaix though weren’t about ready to lose their massive ship that easily. They saw the Cau’casus coming at them at full speed and opened up every weapons tube they had on the approaching Klingon ship…

“Reroute all defensive power to the forward shields,” ordered Blu’cok as he noticed the front end of his ship was receiving way to much fire. “Helm, increase speed to Warp Nine Point Nine, bring us into weapons range while you’re also trying to get us towards that ship at as much possible speed you can get out of our warp core; it’s up to you to help us deal the most damage as possible to that menacing Sernaix ship.” With his orders given to the bridge officers, Blu’cok activated his ship’s inter-ship communications system and said in a calm sturdy warriors’ voice, “all hands brace yourselves we’re on a collusion course.”

Below decks, the Klingons warriors were still going about their duties as if they didn’t care about their commanding officer’s orders. They didn’t know that Blu’cok was willing to commit suicide to leave a dent on the Sernaix’s hull. Nor did they know that he wasn’t going to retreat if the Cau’casus’ shields were to fail for even though they had the best ship in the fleet, they were Klingons and to be Klingons meant to die with honor in a glorious battle. That glorious battle was exactly what they had found.

…torpedo after torpedo exploded on the weakened shields of the IKS Cau’casus as she took

even heavier disruptor fire. Within three seconds after engaging the Sernaix dreadnought on a collusion course, the Cau’caus’ shields went and failed as half a second later she exploded into a massive orange fireball as her anti-matter ignited engulfing the Broga’Na’Goxa in the flames. As soon as the flames dissipated, the Sernaix dreadnought continued on her planned course unscathed from the close encounter with the burning warp plasma.

Seeing what happened to their leader’s ship, the remaining Klingon forces that weren’t even supposed to be in the past, the support crafts that the Cau’casus had carried with her into the past self-destructed. With nothing else to face, the remaining Votality and New Dominion forces set a course for Vulcan to rejoin the rest of their waiting armada.

*****

Back at Vulcan T’Lin had made it back to the

planet in time for her runabout’s long range sensors to pick up an explosion on the farthest off sector of the system. The main Votality and New Dominion fleet had entered the system losing almost fifty ships. “Their here,” warned T’Lin, “all ships either raise shields or polarize hull plating, arm weapons and prepare to fire. We’re going in, there’s about five hundred ships entering the system, I can’t tell how many more after that.”

T’Lin had always found it hard to suppress her

human side including the reckless impulse of going out on her own to do some exploring while she was a child. It was a problem that almost caused her to break her left leg when she fell into a Sehlat’s den while she and her parents were on Vulcan when she was six years old. If it wasn’t for the quick thinking of her father, she would have died that day, now though she felt those reckless tendencies taking over her human half again. Only this time, she wanted to go out on another reckon mission while the whole enemy fleet was within striking range.

As Jonathan realized what the older form of his unborn daughter was about to do, he decided he had to put a stop to it before she did something that could harm her. Seeing the look in her husband’s eyes, T’Pol could see that he was acting on his newly forming parental instincts and that he would make a good father when the time was to come. Still at her station, T’Pol watched as Jonathan went to the empty Communications station and opened a channel directly to the Rio Grande, “Enterprise NX-01 to Rio Grande, T’Lin, this is your father and I’m ordering you back here this instant.”

T’Lin thought about closing the channel but thought better of it and decided to speak her mind. “You’re not my father, my father died decades ago. I may have your blood in me but you’re true child hasn’t been born yet, order her around not me. T’Lin out.”

Jonathan nor T’Pol couldn’t believe what they

were hearing; neither could the bridge officers gathered around them. T’Pol looked down at her very pregnant belly then projected a thought to he husband, “How could our daughter say that to us? We’re hear real parents even though she’s from two hundred thirteen years into the future.” T’Pol just couldn’t hold back her emotions any longer, maybe it was the pregnancy affecting her everyone thought but the truth was T’Pol was just too sad; she wanted to love her daughter and teach her about their shared culture.

From his Tactical Station Lieutenant Reed started to scrutinize the long range sensor readings hoping to find some good news in them. All of a sudden the sensors recorded ore mines exploding and enemy ships vanishing as if they were destroyed while others seem to turn and flee. “Sir,” he reported, “the mines have taken out at least one hundred more Votality and New Dominion warships, a few Jem’Hadar and Cardassian ships have turned and left this system. The Sernaix dreadnought is still on approach.”

Finding a way around the mines ten Cardassian attack cruisers made their way towards the advancing Rio Grande and two Miranda-class vessels escorting her along with one Excelsior-class starship, the USS Excelsior NCC 2000, but a Breen warship was on its way towards her. Closing the gap between the Excelsior and their warship the Breen deployed a saw

like weapon from underneath their ship and flew over the Excelsior-class starship and destroyed her by sawing her in half from the front of the saucer section to the very ended of her engineering section. Once the Breen ship was clear, they retracted their saw as the USS Excelsior NCC 2000’s newly created parallel sections started to drift apart as lifeless bodies drifted into the vacuum of space.

Unknown to the Votality and the New Dominion was that the future Federation fleet had brought with them into the past orbital weapons facilities that were mostly unmanned phaser and quantum torpedo turrets that at the moment the Romulans had cloaked to keep the element of surprise. Now the Romulans decided it was time to decloak them and launch some devastating attacks of their own.

As the weapons turrets became visible, the unthinkable happened; three Jem’Hadar warships and two Sernaix cruisers darted at the Rio Grande. All the approaching ships took T’Lin by surprise and no ship was close enough to save her, as her runabout’s shields failed, her port nacelle was hit by three different disruptor blasts as her main deflector also took a hit. Before anyone could react on other ships around her, nor before T’Lin could get to the tiny cramped escape pod, the USS Rio Grande NCC 72452 exploded taking T’Lin Archer’s life with it.

Elsewhere in the mined Alpha Quadrant, the Votality and New Dominion fleet was trying to get around the Anti-matter mines but it wasn’t working.

Many times they were able to get ships through but a mine would replicate and attach to their ships’ hulls then explode. Before they knew it half their assault fleets were obliterated. The beings of the Votality themselves could see that the war in the Milky Way Galaxy was turning into an unwinnable conflict so they fled back to their homeworld in the Andromeda Galaxy leaving their allies to suffer and die for a lost cause.

After the Votality left the Borg decided to take a hint and figured it was the best of the collective to return back to the future. Setting a course for their temporal facility the Borg headed back to the year 2376 to get back in the habit of assimilating other defenseless alien cultures and bringing all closer to perfection. Time everyone was gone, the only beings left to continue the fighting were the Sernaix, Shedai, the Furies and the Jem’Hadar along with a few Cardassians.

As the battles near Vulcan and Andoria continued, the Federation forces realized that they weren’t going to have to fire many shots to win. The Sernaix and their remaining allies were easily managing to destroy themselves by trying to so the fruitless thing of getting around the still replicating mines. To the commanders of their forces, the Sernaix and their remaining allies decided that their only idea was to surrender to the United Federation of Planets and its allies but Commander Tresa’ra Dex of the Broga’Na’Goxa and his First Officer Frizer Grota

didn’t want to. Instead he wanted to continue fighting till they had a victory or no ships at all and to get his remaining forces to do so; he destroyed his retreating ships without thinking twice. In the end out of a full forces of almost two thousand ships, he only had one hundred left willing to fight; he didn’t fear thought he knew reinforcement s would be on the way sooner or later, but then again surrendering would mean that no more of their forces would have to die so Tresa’ra Dex and Frizer Grota sat down with the Jem’Hadar, Furies, and Shedai commanders to make their decision…

EPILOGUE-THREE

Year: 2164 Enterprise NX-01

Captain Jonathan Archer was torn between two

things, one was the fact that his ship was in the middle of what he was hoping would be the final battle in war, while at the same time, he wanted to be in Sickbay at his wife’s side helping, giving her support giving birth to their first child, a Vulcan-Human hybrid little girl that because of circumstances unforeseen they had already known what kind of person she was going to be. They knew that she was going to be a girl only because months earlier they were introduced to a 209 year old Vulcan female whose genetics proved her parentage linked to that of Captain Jonathan Archer and Commander T’Pol Archer. This daughter even though she was very old, they witnessed die in an explosion when the starship she was commanding was destroyed by a Sernaix dreadnought before any of her crew or her could get to the escape pods and

abandon ship, because of that incident, T’Pol was scared about giving birth to her daughter, witnessing her die before her birth was hard to handle even for a Vulcan, that’s why she sent a thought to her husband, “I need you down here with me by my side Jon if I’m going to give birth to this child easily, put Lieutenant Reed in temporarily command and come down here for me.”

“My place is on the bridge Aisha,” thought Jonathan back to her.

“Your place is beside me to assist in the birth of our child,” thought T’Pol, “anyways I need you to assist me by rubbing my back, remember its aids a Vulcan female in the birthing process, and only her husband, the baby’s father has that type of intimate connection to the mother.”

“I’ll be down in a second,” thought Jonathan back to her. He then said out loud, “Reed, you’re in command I’ll be in Sickbay with my wife. Mr. Mayweather, set a course out of this system, let the futuristic Starfleet vessels deal with this enemy, set a course for Vulcan. Whoever takes over at tactical for you Reed, have them fire at any enemy ship that follows us.”

*****

USS Enterprise NCC 1701-E Year: 2164

As the battle with the only remaining Sernaix ship

raged, Captain Picard couldn’t help but notice on the view screen as the Enterprise NX-01 turned away from the battle and warped out of the system. Wondering why he turned to B-4 and asked “what is today’s exact date?”

“March 13th, 2164 sir,” replied B-4, “why do you ask?”

“Did any historical events happen today that would be recorded in our library computers?” asked Picard, “events that only pertain to this era?”

B-4 quickly scanned the ship’s library computers and gave the Captain his answer, “One an unknown war ends today, and I’d presume this is that war. Also aboard the Enterprise NX-01, Commander T’Pol is in labor giving birth to the unofficially first Vulcan-Human hybrid baby girl, T’Lin Archer. It’s a child that Starfleet decides not to record in history for they fear what she could represent. It’s a decision that T’Pol and Jonathan agree with because they don’t want their child to be the subject of ridicule and prejudice.”

“While we don’t fully know that the Sernaix dreadnought is the only enemy ship left,” started Picard, “so I feel we should still send a ship to protect the NX-01.”

“That’s easier said than done,” replied Worf, “we are losing ships fast against that dreadnought, and it’s a miracle that the Enterprise NX-01 hasn’t been

destroyed. In my opinion we can’t spare any ship to protect them, their on their own.”

“Worf, your opinion will be noted in my log,” said Picard, “but our original mission in this era was to protect the Enterprise NX-01 while fighting the Votality, the Sernaix, the Shedai, the New Dominion, the Borg, and the Furies, which we’ve done with many ships being destroyed as you said and many people paying for it with their blood.”

“Send the Defiant,” suggested Worf, “as much as she’s an escort/battleship, she is the only ship in Starfleet that can actually cloak and follow the Enterprise without the enemy knowing.”

“You’re right Mr. Worf,” said Picard, “the Defiant is the only ship we can spare; I’ll let Captain Sisco know.”

*****

USS Defiant NCC 74205 Year: 2164

Captain Sisco really hoped that Picard was right

and that there was no more enemy ships except the dreadnought for the Defiant bearly survived her last encounter with a Sernaix battle cruiser that was being escorted by a Breen warship. The Captain surely didn’t want to come across another Breen warship after what happened to the original USS Defiant NX 74205 when she was destroyed in 2375

at the Second Battle of Chin’toka during the Dominion War.

“I know what you’re thinking Captain,” said Ezri Dax, “you’re afraid we’re going to encounter another Breen ship and that this Defiant is going to meet the same fate as this ship’s predecessor, but that won’t happen, all the Breen in this era have been destroyed… unless more have time traveled, but that would mean that the whole military force of the Votality, the Sernaix, the Shedai, the New Dominion, the Borg, and the Furies will also be here. That there would be something to be afraid of.”

That’s when the one thing Sisco feared came true that Dax had just assured wouldn’t happen, a fleet of six hundred new Dominion warships entered sensor range with one hundred Cardassian Galor-class destroyers and one hundred fifty Cardassian Keldon-class battle cruises.

“Alright Captain,” said Dax, “you can be afraid now, very afraid, we’re out numbered and out gunned. Those ships have to have come from the future through their own temporal facility, a facility that we have to destroy or this war will never be over.”

“Keep us cloaked and take us through them,” ordered Sisco, “switch our heading to the way they have come from, maybe we’ll find out how they got here.”

*****

The Badlands Year: 2376

Gul Macet of the Cardassian Second Order and

Operative Norak of the Obsidian Order were aboard one of the new Keldon-class battle cruisers heading for the Cardassians Temporal Facility that also housed a reactor that powered a beam called Quantum Singularity Beam. The whole facility as one was called the Quantum Research Facility, using the technology that allowed the Cardassians to bring Species 8472 from Fluidic Space into our normal space was reversed to make it possible to time travel to the past. Aboard Gul Macet’s flagship was a being he didn’t rust at all, but this being was a strong ally that would be able to help bring the Federation to their knees for only one ship one crew had ever faced them, the crew of the starship USS Voyager NCC 7642 who had just recently came home after being trapped in the Delta Quadrant for seven years, and the worst part was the one woman captain with the knowledge to stop these beings was now an admiral, Admiral Kathryn Janeway. No matter whatever Janeway would be able to get Starfleet to do, the United Federation of Planets would have no choice but to add Species 8472 to their list of hostile enemies they now faced.

Inside the facilities war room, the three leaders got ready to discuss their plans to get into the past

and wipe out the Federation once and for all. Luckily for the Cardassians, even though the Dominion had decimated Cardassian near the closing moments of the Dominion War, Macet had reformed an alliance with them and now the one facility that was sending the New Dominion forces into the past was ready to send in its reinforcement fleet of six hundred additional ships, ships that the Federation and its allies would know nothing about until it was to late.

*****

The Badlands Year: 2164

Gul Macet and Operative Norak couldn’t believe

how different the stars and space was different than the one from the same sector they had left was. The asteroids that blocked the badlands’ border and the metallic gas clouds and nebulas looked dark and had an even worse effect on their fleet’s ships’ shields. They had no choice but quickly leave the nebula and the safety of the Badlands heading for the safety of the nearby Metaphasic nebula surrounded by the even safer Tachyon Nebulas.

Unknown to the Cardassians there was another ship among them, Federation in origin, cloaked and ready to launch an attack if it wasn’t for the fact that she was heavily outnumbered and out gunned, but that one ship could still make a difference and also

bring reinforcements into the past with the discovery of the new temporal facility. “Nog take us into the Cardassian temporal facility, once we have reemerged in 2376, set a course for Deep Space Nine, we need to get reinforcements and fast if we expect to destroy that Sernaix dreadnought and also the new reinforcements they have just gotten; even though they are Cardassians, they can easily be massing a massive fleet of Jem’Hadar, Breen and Sernaix warships someplace that we know nothing about.”

*****

The Badlands Year: 2376

The USS Defiant NCC 74205 had managed to

make it through the Badlands in 2164 and utilize the Cardassians’ temporal facility to return to the future, only what they found surprised the crew halfway back to the past; for right in front of them inside the Badlands was a ship, a Starfleet ship with an emblem that could only mean trouble. The ship was the USS Voyager NCC 7642 and on her forward hull was the imprint of Earth with a sword through it; the ship was from the Mirror Universe. “Great,” thought Sisco, “twice we’ve encountered this ship, once in the past and now here. I bet she’s still commanded by Captain Kathryn Janeway.”

“Their hailing us,” reported Ezri at the Comm.,

“they want to know why we’re here.” “Don’t answer then,” ordered Sisco, “make them

believe that we can receive messages but we can’t send any.”

“I don’t think they’re buying,” said Doctor Julian Bashir.

“The Doctor’s right,” said Dax, “they’re charging weapons.”

“Nog, we are in the right universe… right?” asked Sisco.

“All starcharts match what our navigational sensors are picking up,” reported Nog, “then again that could mean that we’re in the Mirror Universe but I’d say...”

“Two ships approaching sir,” interrupted Lieutenant Commander Hansen at the Auxiliary Tactical Station, “they’re Starfleet and these ones don’t have the Mirror Universe emblem. They're in visual range; I’d say we’re in the right universe and that the Mirror Voyager is also here for a reason, obviously not a good one, Empress Hoshi Sato must have sent her here for an unknown reason, the United Federation of Planets might be facing another danger.”

At that moment, the Federation starships USS Hood and the USS Excelsior NCC 2000’s sister ship, the USS Norana NCC 2001, both Excelsior-class; entered sensor range and hailed the Defiant. “We

didn’t think you’ make it back, where’s the rest of the fleet?”

“Still in the past,” answered Sisco, “the war is almost one but were down to a few ships with a massive Sernaix Dreadnought left to destroy and to make things worse, the New Dominion has sent more ships into the past.”

“That explains how you’ve gotten back,” said the Captain of the USS Hood, “the Borg destroyed our Temporal Research Facility or that’s what it looks like with all the debris left from a fleet of Borg ships.”

“The Romulans destroyed it before the Borg could assimilate it,” stated Sisco, “Empress Donotra then sent her fleet of warbirds into the past to assist our fleet and the Klingons that came with us, they’ve been a big help, even assisting in cloaking the USS Enterprise NCC 1701-E. Now we’ll you escort us to DS9?”

“Alright,” replied the Excelsior’s captain, “we’ll escort you to DS9, but maybe we should destroy every enemy ship here except their temporal facility then put Anti-Matter Mines around the parameter so no more Cardassian, Jem’Hadar, Breen or Sernaix warship can get into their base. We can set the mines to deactivate only whenever the Defiant is near. That way if anyone tries to disable their replication units and deactivate them, they will explode taking the entire base with them.”

“It’s a good plan,” agreed Sisco, “but we could lose our only way back into the past then.”

“Not true,” said the Captain of the Hood, “we’ve

built a new Temporal Research Facilities in both the Klingon Neutral Zone and also in the part of the Romulan Neutral Zone closest to the planets controlled by Empress Donotra. We have more than enough ways to return into the past. Now let’s get to work, we have a war to win.”

*****

Deep Space Nine Year: 2376

“You have returned Emissary,” said the Bajoran

Kai, “your return was foreseen by the Prophets.” “The Prophets must have a hand in what’s going

on in the past,” thought Sisco. Out loud he said “the Prophets have kept my crew and I safe. They have allowed us to return here easily without being encountered by any Cardassian vessel after leaving the Badlands. But now I must go to Ops.”

At Ops Captain Sisco had Dax open a secured channel to Earth and Starfleet Command. Once Admiral Ross’ face appeared on the screen Sisco said plainly, “Sir the war in the past isn’t over; we’re facing down a massive Sernaix dreadnought. That dam ship has been destroying our ships left and right and were running out of forces. Also on our way to the only temporal facility, we came across a fleet of six hundred Cardassian Galor-class destroyers along

Keldon-class warships. The enemy has been massing a second fleet in the Badlands in 2164-64 and also here. Our lines are in danger of collapsing. Plainly said, we need reinforcements and now.”

“Take the Defiant and meet the 16th, 18th, and 20th Fleets at Starbase 375. Combined you’ll have one thousand fifty ships, some our old Miranda-class, Excelsior-class, and a few Ambassador-class starships. The rest are a few Intrepid-class, Galaxy-class, Sovereign-class and the remaining are Defiant-class. They’re the best ships we can muster at this short of a notice captain, but truthfully their commanders and crews are battle tested.”

“We’ll take them,” decided Sisco, “anyways; I think Captain Picard will take any ship he can get as long as they can fight.”

“You’ll also be joined by more Klingon and Romulan vessels,” said Ross, “the Romulan vessels are also from Empress Donotra’s fleet of Valdore-class Warbirds that she left in this era to defend her holdings in her newly forming Romulan Imperial State.”

“My crew and I will leave in two days,” said Sisco, “we just got home and are in need of some long rest before we go back into a past we may never return from, if we lose to that Sernaix Dreadnought.”

“I’ll meet you at Starbase 375 in two days,” said Ross, “see you then, I’ll make sure the rest of the ships are ready to go as soon as the Defiant arrives.

You’ll be leading the fleet to the Badlands, Admiral Ross out.”

****

Two Days Later

Captain Benjamin Sisco looked all around him on

the bridge of the Defiant, he made eye contact with every one of his bridge officers; lastly his eyes rested on the only Ferangi in Starfleet sitting at the helm, “Ensign Nog,” he said, “take us out, set a course for Starbase 375.”

“It’s the Dominion War all over again,” thought Doctor Bashir out loud, “its more like the last moments of the war leading up to the invasion of Cardassia and the surprising act of the Cardassians turning against the Dominion and joining the Federation Alliance in defeating their Dominion oppressors.”

“And now their allied with the Dominion again,” interrupted Sisco, “its definitely the Dominion war all over again, we’ve been losing as many ships and lives as we did then, and its only going to get worse.”

“Don’t think like that,” said Dax relying on the experiences of the Dax symbiont’s past hosts’ memories, “we’ll prevail at the end.”

“That wouldn’t have been the case during the Dominion War if the Cardassians didn’t switch sides when their cities were destroyed and hundreds

massacred,” replied Sisco, “and this time, I don’t think they’ll have a reason to switch sides again, they still want to crush the Federation and control the Alpha Quadrant.”

“True,” said Ezri at the Auxiliary Helm Control Station that also doubled as an Operations Station.

Hours later, the USS Defiant NCC 74205 arrived at Starbase 375 to find a lot more than the planned number of ships. For orbiting the station and the nearby planet were over two thousand extra Federation, Klingon, Romulan, Vulcan, Andorian and Suliban warships, all combat ready.

Aboard Starbase 375 Captain Benjamin Sisco and Admiral Ross had a secret meeting; a meeting that really wasn’t that secret but to the enemy forces still around in 2376 it was very secret for they thought the admiral was still on Earth for the starship flagged for him was still within a spacedock high above Earth. Looking out the stations viewport at the top of the Observation Deck, Admiral Ross started to tell Sisco everything that needed to be done before his new fleet of reinforcement ships could launch and head towards the Badlands and into the dangers of being deep inside Cardassian space. “Ben, I’m not going to lie to you, our forces are running thin, besides that, Earth is always on the danger of being attacked. With only the second fleet there to defend her, I fear we could lose the heart of the Federation, if the Breen come after us again like they did during the Dominion War, Earth will definitely not survive.”

“We have no choice sir,” started Sisco, “we have

to take most of our forces into the past to fight this war, the Sernaix dreadnought is stationed in the past and is reeking havoc there; but if she does return to this century, all our forces will return here even if that means dragging the Enterprise NX-01 with us.”

“And what about the Temporal Prime Directive?” asked Ross.

“To hell with it,” replied Sisco, “we’ve already violated it anyways by going into the past and making contact with the Federation of that timeline. What harm will it cost to bring them to the future anyways? We can just erase their ships database of everything that’s happened and our medical technology is good enough to erase their memories of what they see while here.”

“Then go,” ordered Ross, “take the ships you have and fight your way back to the Badlands, returned to the past and destroy that dreadnought. If that ship survives, we’ll have lost everything.”

*****

“Captain on the Bridge,” said Nog as Sisco

stepped onto the bridge of the USS Defiant NCC 74205. Sitting down in his chair Sisco spoke, “Ensign, alert all ships, were moving out, set a course for the Badlands, maximum warp.”

“All ships have responded, their ready to go,” reported Nog, “ahead one quarter impulse, once

we’re clear of the station, the whole fleet reports they’ll jump to warp.”

EPILOGUE-FOUR

Year: 2164 Badlands

Knowing that if they were to remain cloaked

inside the Badlands, Sisco sent the Defiant and all of the cloaked Romulan warbirds along with all the cloakable Klingon warships into the past first to asses the situation and if need to, to secure the Badlands by destroying all enemy ships within the nebula cloud and the asteroid fields. Many Cardassian, Jem’Hadar, Breen and Sernaix cruisers were still within the nebula cloud well hidden from sensors and probes. They had detected the cloaked Defiant when she entered the system days earlier and activated the Temporal Portal and were now lying in wait waiting for best moment to launch a strike against the Federation Reserve Forces and their allies. Now that moment had come, the Federation was weak and ready for the picking, why else would they send ships into the past that were put into service back in the year 2232?

Far from the view of the Defiant’s sensors, the

Cardassian, Jem’Hadar, Breen and Sernaix cruisers watched as the portal opened and a fleet of Federation attack fighters came whisking through. Nowhere the eye or sensors could see was the Defiant but the Founder knew she had to be somewhere among the fighters. As the fighters maneuvered into the Alpha-Theta Attack Pattern, a group of cloaked Klingon and Romulan ships emerged from the portal escorting fifty Vulcan and Andorian cruisers and command ships.

Out of the nebula, in the middle of nowhere; an unknown vessel fired her phasers towards the Federation Reinforcements Fleet. The unprovoked blast rocketed towards the only two Construction ships that were dispatched with the fleet to build new Starbases, shipyards, unmanned orbital platforms, phasers and torpedo torrents and a new Temporal Research Facility so once victorious the Federation forces and their allies would be able to return to the year 2376.

“In coming torpedo salvo,” shouted the tactical officer of one of the Romulan warbirds next to the two unshielded and unarmed Construction ships, “also there’s a phaser or disrupter burst heading towards the IKS Ga’roK. She’s moving to tale the attack head on, her shields are holding and their stronger at the moment in their forward section; she’ll survive.”

“Helm hard to port,” shouted Commander Trelak

of the Romulan warbird IRS Nijil, “move us in as close as possible towards that Federation Construction ship, we have to protect it at all costs.” The commander took a breath and exhaled it quickly out of his mouth then spoke again. “Tactical, divert unnecessary power to the shields, armed the disruptors and target the nearest enemy ship. Also, as soon as were close enough to the Construction ship, extend our shields around it, we cannot lose that ship or we’ll lose our opportunity to return home.”

“We’re in range,” reported the helmsman. As soon as those words left mouth of the female helmsman, the tactical officer, her husband said, “extending our shields around the Construction ship now.”

Around the Romulan, Klingon and Federation Construction ship the other starships maneuvered into position and flew right past them to engage the enemy fleet head-on. As the Federation Allied Fleet engaged the enemy, the IRS Nijil and the IKS Ga’roK both received a heavy disruptor blast to their forward sections. The shields on both ships rippled allowing the blast to slightly get through and find its mark on their hulls but only managed to scorch them leaving only burn marks but no damage to the hull. “Shields down to sixty percent,” reported the tactical officer of the IRS Nijil. Meanwhile on the IKS Ga’roK its tactical officer had to report a little more

disturbing news, “Commander, shields are down to fifty percent, aft shields have failed and our hull has started to buckle. We’ve taken more of the blast than the Romulans did. The Construction ship is secured and intact inside the shields of the IRS Nijil.”

“Return fire; target the ship that fired on us,” ordered the commander of the IKS Ga’roK, “all forward disruptors… FIRE.”

The combined assault from the whole Federation Allied Fleet and the IKS Ga’roK was far to much for the Cardassian Keldon-class warship Bokash to take. Her shields quickly imploded on themselves as her hull began to buckle. The buckling in the hull sent cracks through the un-sturdy metal forming the ships bulkheads causing them to shoot out from the ship’s hull creating multiple hull breaches. Seeing that one of their mightier comrade ships was in danger of exploding, one of the Cardassian Galor-class warship maneuvered next to the disabled Keldon and docked with it to try and rescue as much of the crew as possible. Only they weren’t ready for what was about to happen next for as the two ship’s airlocks pressurized, the force of the air accelerated the cracks in the hull causing them to race towards the airlocks. As the cracks met and converged in the airlock the resulting explosive decompression took out the Keldon-class warship and severally damaged the Galor-class warship.

Severally damaged the Galor-class warship started to limp out of the nebula under impulse

power right into the unsuspecting path of a waiting Klingon Negh’Var. Under the element of surprise, the Cardassians managed to launch an attack but both their weakened hull and their weak weapons weren’t enough to even dent the unshielded Klingon vessel. Without even bothering to raise their shields, the Klingons aboard the Negh’Var launched a counter strike and returned fire penetrating the weakened Galor-class warship’s hull directly on her bridge. As the bridge module exploded and disconnected from the ship, the rest of the Galor-class warship exploded sending lifeless Cardassian bodies drifting into the vacuum of space.

Aboard the Defiant, Nog was manning the Long Range Sensors station when the sensors picked up a large fleet of vessels coming in from the direction of the last known position of the Sernaix Dreadnought and the other Federation Allied Forces location. “Captain,” spoke Nog with a little shock and aw in his voice, “there’s a fleet of starships, their Federation and Allied ships and their being led by the USS Enterprise NCC 1701-E and the Enterprise NX-01. We’re being hailed.”

“Open to channel Dax,” ordered Sisco, “audio only.”

“Captain Sisco, this is Captain Picard. We were losing too many ships out there facing that dreadnought, I had no choice but to reform up our forces and launch an orderly retreat out of that system. Only we have a problem, that dreadnought

is right behind us traveling at warp seven pint five. She’ll be here within the next eight minutes; she’ll join these new reinforcements here and launch a very devastating attack on our forces. We have no choice but to return to Deep Space Nine and take the NX-01 with us. We should be able to launch some sort of counter strike in the future using the stations that we’ve left behind. I don’t see any other way out of this.”

“Captain, I don’t think these Cardassian and New Dominion reinforcements are going to let us leave,” said Sisco, “either into the future or out of this nebula. They launched this attack on our forces the moment we exited the temporal portal. Anyways we still have ships coming through and joining the battle. Time their all here; we’ll out number them twelve to one.”

“Then maybe we should try to launch out counter offensive here,” started Picard, “we could transport Federation, Klingon and Romulan marines over to their ships and try to take them over and use them against them.”

“The Cardassian ships are weaker in design and easier to destroy,” said Sisco, “and the Jem’Hadar are such a strong warrior race that many of our boarding parties will be killed before they can even make it to the bridge; and worst of all, the moment their boarder they might easily activate their ships’ auto-destruct sequence destroying their ship and also again killing our boarding parties. The

Jem’Hadar are unmerciful and ferocious killing machines who don’t give a care about ending their own lives as long as they take as much of the enemy with them. In that way, their almost like Klingons. Therefore, I believe that that plan is a bad idea.”

………

Just emerging from the temporal portal with her

shields fully raised was a Federation starship being commanded by and crewed by living legends. Legends from the distant past of Starfleet and the Federation, legends that should have been long dead but by drastic means they still lived. Aboard the USS Belle Rève Captain Ja’meS T. Kirk, Ambassador Spoke, Doctor McCoy, and Montgomery Scott had already faced the Totality and they knew that somehow the new enemy led by the Votality had to be connected to them in someway. Only that way still remained a mystery. Kirk wasn’t going to let that stop him though for fighting the Votality cost Kirk the life of his only son, Joseph and the life of his Romulan Klingon hybrid wife, Teilani. Now he had nothing else to lose, he couldn’t fear death for he had died twice already and only because of a Romulan Borg alliance he was once again alive thanks to the Romulans stealing his body from the makeshift grave Jean-Luc Picard created on Veridian III and with the assistance of the Borg and nanoprobes revived him hoping to use him in their

plans against the Federation, a plan that was forted by Captain Picard. After that, teaming up, Picard and Kirk managed to deal a crippling blow to the Borg, a blow that wasn’t crippling enough though for they came back in force. Now together, Kirk his crew and Picard and his crew had the chance to destroy all the oppressors of the Federation in one false swoop.

“Belle Rève to Enterprise,” said Captain Kirk into the comm.

“What are you doing here Kirk?” asked Picard. “What does it look like?” asked Kirk, “saving your

behind Picard along with these others you call allies.”

“Oh,” said Picard, “it doesn’t look like I need saving nor does anyone else here.”

“Not yet,” started Kirk, “but as soon as that Dreadnought gets here you might want to rephrase that statement.”

“There won’t be time for that,” said Spock looking at the sensors. “The Dreadnought has just dropped out of warp and is closing fast at full impulse power. She’ll be in weapons range within three seconds.”

Before anyone could act, the Sernaix Dreadnought entered weapons range and opened fire. From the primary weapon ports on the Dreadnought, both torpedoes and phaser blasts left the ship’s weapons ports and raced towards the Enterprise NX-01…

EPILOGUE-FIVE

No ship in the Federation Alliance was about to let the Enterprise NX-01 be destroyed, only the closest ship to her wasn’t a Federation starship but a cloaked Romulan warbird. That warbird maneuvered into position in front of the Enterprise and took the full force of the attack while still cloaked. Remaining cloaked while taking the blast, the Romulan warbird remained totally unprotected. All the beams of disrupter fire and torpedoes hit their mark and tore right through the warbird causing a massive explosion to happen throughout the whole ship. Every crew on every one of the nearby ships was surprised to see the explosion of the totally invisible ship right in front of the Enterprise and the bodies of the dead Romulans starting to freeze from the cold vacuum of space.

Because of the sacrifice of the one Romulan warbird, it gave the other Federation allied ships a chance to maneuver into position and for a defensive circle around the Enterprise NX-01 with the still closest ship being a Romulan warbird. A

warbird that extended its cloak around her and with the ship protected headed towards the Cardassian Temporal Portal and returned to the year 2367. Once again right under the enemy’s nose the Enterprise NX-01 had escaped, but only this time it was to the safety of the future. Back in 2367, the cloaked Romulan warbird guided the cloaked Enterprise NX-01 to Deep Space Nine where she was docked to one of the upper pylons and her crew given the chance to have shore leave aboard the futuristic Cardassian built Federation starbase.

As the Romulan warbird IRS Talon-2 led the cloaked Enterprise NX-01 towards Deep Space Nine, Captain Archer sat in his command chair lost in deep thought. There was no way he knew where his ship was about to arrive. Traveling at warp seven for this long he could hear the strain of the warp engines on the ship almost tearing themselves apart. Hours past and still they traveled at warp, all the while, Lieutenant Malcolm Reed kept constant watch on the sensors trying to detect any sign of enemy activity and to try and figure out where they were and where they were going.

After almost twenty-four hours the IRS Talon-2 and the Enterprise NX-01 arrived at their destination. While on approach, the Romulan warbird decloaked forcing the cloak around the Enterprise to vanish too. Onboard the station, Commander Kira Nerys was long since waiting the appearance of the legendary Earth vessel. “Open a channel to the Enterprise,” she

ordered. Around her in Ops though there was one small problem. That problem was that there was only a skeleton crew operating the station with its commanding officer away in the past.

“We’re being hailed,” said the Beta-shift officer at the communications station, “its coming from the station of our port bow.”

“Open to channel,” ordered Archer, “audio only, since we’re in the future we shall follow Captains Sisco and Picard’s orders and not see any of these peoples’ faces so we don’t contaminate our timeline.”

“This is Captain Jonathan Archer of the Federation starship Enterprise to the unidentified station off our port bow.”

“Welcome to Deep Space Nine and to Bajor to you captain and your crew,” started Commander Nerys. “I’m Commander Kira Nerys, commander of this station in the absence of Captain Sisco. You may dock your ship at the second upper pylon; we’ll meet you at the airlock. Commander Nerys out.”

Before he could even decline the officer, the channel closed bring their conversation to an abrupt end. “Very rude,” thought T’Pol, “you’d think she’d know about the risk of contaminating our timeline.”

“Maybe that doesn’t matter any more,” thought Jonathan back to her, “maybe our allies from the future have a way to erase our memories and the memories of our crew so they don’t know what happened.”

“Some of that stuff I wouldn’t want to forget,”

thought T’Pol back, “especially meeting the older version of our soon to be born daughter.”

“On that thought, are you alright from your bout of false labor earlier?” asked Jonathan in thought form.

“I’m fine Jon,” thought T’Pol back to him, “but I don’t want to feel that pain again. I do have this feeling that our baby is going to be born sooner than later.”

“That’s good to know Aisha,” thought Jonathan, “but false labor is a normal part of human pregnancies.”

“I’m not human,” thought T’Pol, “therefore I shouldn’t experience that.”

“Our child is half human,” thought Jonathan to remind her of the facts, “we don’t really know what’s normal for a Vulcan-Human pregnancy after all, you’re the first Vulcan female to even go through this.”

………

After discussing all the facts that they did know

about a Vulcan-Human pregnancy inside their quarters, they then got ready to head aboard Deep Space Nine and to the reception that was about to be held in their honor. Little could no one expect that the Sernaix were getting ready to launch a deadly attack on Deep Space Nine to gain full control

of the Gamma Quadrant wormhole. The war was coming to an all new front putting the Enterprise NX-01 yet again into the path of extreme danger. Only this time, Starfleet and the Bajorans had a surprise of their own about ready to be implemented. A surprise Jonathan and T’Pol would learn more about in the next hour after they boarded Deep Space Nine as ordered by Commander Kira Nerys, an order they had no choice but to obey.

Without warning as Jonathan and T’Pol stepped through the station’s airlock on the Promenade Deck and head towards Ops with Kira the Bajoran wormhole opened and the unexpected emerged, it wasn’t a ship though it was another station identical to Deep Space Nine in all ways except for the fact that this station was strictly built by Starfleet and the Bajorans with extra weapon ports and a certain device that was still illegal for Starfleet to even posses. This second station, Deep Space Alpha-Nine was equipped with a cloaking device. A cloak that was engaged the moment the station fully exited the wormhole. Any New Dominion, Furies, Shedai or Sernaix warships that came looking for trouble would get more than they bargained for.

Far away from Deep Space Nine in the Badlands the Votality fleet was lurking. They didn’t need their allies to wreck carnage all over the Alpha Quadrant or throughout time. The time had come for them to act.

**** The Third Battle for Deep Space Nine Year: 2376

Kira knew that it was coming, nothing could stop

it; it was just plain inedible, it just had to happen. The war was coming to her home front. Inside Captain Sisco’s office, her temporary office Kira kept a watchful eye on the computer displays and the advancing New Dominion fleet of over five hundred ships. As a Resistance Fighter in the Bajoran Militia she knew not to undermine the enemy but this time it truthfully looked hopeless. To many enemy ships were advancing towards the station, with no Federation starships in range DS9 had no choice but to defend herself until her reinforcements could make it back through the Temporal Portal from 2164. Kira, the Bajorans and the rest of the Starfleet personnel aboard the station could only hope that the Federation Reserve Fleet could get there in time; but they were still twenty light-years away back orbiting Earth.

Looking out the viewport towards the second upper pylon and the docked Enterprise NX-01 Kira could only think one thing, “Sisco sent that ship here so she wouldn’t be destroyed, so their mission wouldn’t fail and the timeline would be secured, now if I fail in protecting this station, I’m going to be the one who gets her destroyed. It might be best if

Enterprise left the station under cloak guarded by the IRS Talon-2 and maybe head towards Earth or the Romulan Star Empire. It is my call, its my time to give the orders until Sisco, the Emissary returns.”

****

Year: 2164

As the Defiant and the rest of the Federation fleet

continued to maneuver around the Badlands and the New Dominion fleet, they could seem to shake them. No matter how many ships they could destroy, the enemy fleet just kept advancing. Every one of the New Dominion warships were already getting close enough to scorch the little ‘escort’ ship’s hull if it wasn’t for her ablative armor still being active.

Flanking the Defiant on her left side was the Enterprise giving her just enough backup so she wouldn’t get destroyed while the rest of the Federation fleet along with her allies continued attacking the closest ship which happened to be the one currently firing on the Defiant. With the combined blasts of five hundred ships and the weakened shields on the Keldon-class warship causing a chain reaction effect towards the Cardassian cruiser behind it since it was sharing the Keldon’s shields since theirs had failed. Both ships exploded into a spectacular fireball that radiated out towards the Defiant and the Enterprise making the

metal on their hulls glow with a bright metallic orange.

With only one hundred remaining Keldon-class warships, the Cardassians warped out of the battle and headed back towards their Temporal Research Facility and returned to the year 2376 and back to Cardassia Prime. With the remaining Cardassian warships and cruisers gone from the battle, the Jem’Hadar, the Sernaix, the Shedai, and the Furies were on their own but were able to hold their own. After the Cardassians left, the remainder of the New Dominion forces started to realize that the Cardassians may have had the right idea after all in returning to the future so they too disengaged from the battle and also set a course for the Temporal Research Facility and returned to 2176 to assist the forces they left there in destroying Deep Space Nine.

As the New Dominion fleet started their retreat into the future, the Federation and their forces began to regroup so they to could return to the future and further fortify DS9 before the New Dominion could get there. To succeed in that part of their mission, Picard, Sisco, and Donotra decided to stay in the past for a few seconds to hopefully destroy the Sernaix dreadnought Broga’Na’Goxa so they headed towards the Temporal Research Facility to set up an ambush so the dreadnought wouldn’t be able to return to the future and quickly end this terribly long lasting war for the New Dominion and its members.

Hiding behind each one of the biggest asteroids in

the nebula and the surrounding Bad Lands, the Enterprise, Defiant and Valdore coordinated their attacks so that all three ships would be firing at the same time at the Sernaix dreadnought but unlike in earlier battles against other New Dominion warships; they wouldn’t be targeting the same section at once. With their communications encrypted and masked by all possible forms of scanning, the three ships’ respective crews sat at their duty stations; in the case of the Romulans except for Donotra, everyone aboard the Valdore were standing at their duty stations instead and waited for their trap to be sprung.

Aboard the Sernaix dreadnought Broga’Na’Goxa, all the senior staff including Commander Tresa’ra Dex knew something was up. As the Broga’Na’Goxa got closer and closer towards the battle with the Federation forces and their allies their sensors detected both war fleets fleeing the battle zone and leaving through the Temporal Research Facility’s time portal returning to the future. None of the crew knew why though. They could only think that both fleets had suffered sever casualties forcing them to retreat to the safety of the future and their homeports. Getting closer and closer towards the scene of carnage and mayhem, the Broga’Na’Goxa’s sensors picked up pieces of wreckage. Wanting to know what ships they were from, Tresa’ra Dex gave the order to have some of the bigger pieces of

wreckage beamed aboard to see if they could be identified.

Because of the lettering on four big pieces of wreckage beamed aboard, Commander Tresa’ra Dex figured that the Federation fleets’ three main powerful, heavily armed and shielded warships had been destroyed. Looking at the first peace of wreckage he saw part of the letters and the registry number of a Sovereign-class starship, reading it out loud to his First Officer he said “ this one reads: …prise NCC 17C.” Taking a breath he added, “with part of the ‘0’ cut out forming a ‘C’, I would presume that the Federation’s flagship, the USS Enterprise NCC 1701-E has been destroyed.”

Continuing on to the next peace of wreckage Tresa’ra Dex took a quick glance that the only writing he could see. All that he was able to see though were only the identification numbers of the ship it came from were visible. Taking a second longer glance at the twisted bulky peace of metal left from the hull he read “742, that’s part of the USS Defiant NCC 74205’s registration number. I believe she’s been destroyed too.”

Finally looking at the last peace of wreckage Tresa’ra Dex quickly said “This obviously came from a newer Romulan warbird, and the newer ones are of the Valdore-class. Also the IRS Valdore under the command of Empress Donotra of the Imperial Romulan State also joined the Federation fleet in this century after our Borg allies destroyed the

Federation’s Temporal Research Facility and Empok Nor in the Pearl Nebula, this could be part of that ship or it may not be, all the Valdore-class ships look the same especially since all we have here is a piece of one of those ships’ wings.”

“With all do respect sir,” started First Officer Frizer Grota, “but I think we should transport aboard some of our allies wreckage aboard to see what ships we’ve lost and to also determine why there is no wreckage out there belonging to the Shedai’s Tholian-like warships. For some reason they never seem to lose as many ships as we do and also seem to get aboard the enemies vessels undetected, kill their crews then take control of their ships. Its like their using the weapon designed by the Romulans during the Earth-Romulan War that allowed the Rihannsu people to take over both vessels belonging to the Klingon Empire and the United Coalition of Planets. This somewhat new Arrenhe’hwiua Telecapture System as they call it has only been developed by the Romulans and not even the Shedai of the year 2263. I would believe these Shedai that we call our allies are more that they seem to be, almost like the Breen who seem to be hiding a lot wearing their refrigeration suits.”

“The Shedai are not like the Breen at all,” said Tresa’ra Dex, “ in fact, if they’re like any alien beings in this quadrant, they share a lot more in common with the Tholians. That includes their crystalline like

appearance. I would say they are either a pre-Tholian or an offset of the Tholian species.”

Getting so carried away in their argument in the Auxiliary Transporter Room, Commander Tresa’ra Dex and First Officer Frizer Grota weren’t prepared for their dreadnought to be rocked by the triple blasts of phaser, disruptor and torpedo fire to hit their at the moment unshielded ship. Using his communicator that was implanted into his forearm Tresa’ra Dex shouted “Bridge Report.”

“The Federation starships Enterprise-E and the Defiant have opened fire on us along with the Romulan warbird Valdore,” reported the Tactical Officer of the Gamma Shift.

“Impossible,” shouted Tresa’ra Dex, “both of those Federation starships have been destroyed. We have the wreckage down here to prove it. Put the image of those ships on the main view screen down in the Auxiliary Transporter Room NOW.”

Flickering on, the images of the Enterprise, the Defiant and the Valdore appeared. Both Federation starships had significant damage in the exact areas the wreckage pieces had suggested. Even the Valdore was significantly damaged but able to launch an attack that was as strong as when she wasn’t damaged. Thinking of orders as fast as possible, Tresa’ra Dex said “raise shields, return fire. Target the hull breaches on each of those vessels. FIRE AT WILL.”

“Would do sir,” said the Tactical Officer, “but its

impossible to do so. They seem to know exactly where to hit us from our last encounters. They’ve taken out our shields and all our weapons in their first two shots each. Life Support is holding at half percent on all decks. We have hull breaches on decks three through seventeen, emergency force fields are not responding and we’re venting atmosphere. They’re requesting our unconditional surrender and to order the rest of the New Dominion and its allies to stand-down.”

“Reply,” ordered Tresa’ra Dex, “patch the communiqué down here; I want to speak to Captain Picard directly.”

“Acknowledged,” replied Tactical Officer since his station also had a secondary comm station tied into it. “Channel open sir.”

“Captain Picard, this is Commander Tresa’ra Dex of the Sernaix Dreadnought Broga’Na’Goxa, you have severally damaged my vessel and my crew is starting to die, we except your terms of surrender, but you’re going to have to tractor us back to the year 2376, our impulse and warp engines have failed. We’re dead in the water.”

“We’ll do that commander,” said Picard, “we’ll be taking you to Deep Space Nine where another battle has just begun. You will order those attacking forces to stand-down and bring an end to this war, even if that means you and your allies helping us to eliminate the Votality, their the true force behind

this war and they have to be stopped or they’ll just make this happen all over again but worse.”

Understood captain,” replied Commander Tresa’ra Dex he looked over to Frizer Grota and gave a unhappy somber nod and then added, “we’re awaiting your tractor beam. Broga’Na’Goxa out.”

**** The Third Battle for Deep Space Nine Year: 2376

“Decloak our sister station, charge her weapons,”

ordered Kira, “lets give the New Dominion a good run for their money.”

“I don’t think that will be necessary sir,” replied Commander Ellis, “The Enterprise, Defiant and the Valdore are on a high warp course to rendezvous with this station. The Enterprise is towing in her tractor beam a heavily disabled Sernaix dreadnought. I believe it’s the Broga’Na’Goxa since she’s the only dreadnought that we know of that the Sernaix have built.”

“According to Captain Jean-Luc Picard, there is a way to end this war and it all goes around the commander of the Broga’Na’Goxa, a Commander Tresa’ra Dex,” stated Commander Ellis. “He’s going to get the New Dominion and their allies to surrender and end this war then help in defeating the Votality. This war is almost officially over then,

the United Federation of Planets and its allies will be victorious.”

THE VOTALITY

Year: 2164 & 2376 Andromeda Galaxy United Federation of Planets Assault Fleet Alpha & Gamma

In two different centuries Starfleet Command was

massing two giant fleets to go to the final battle. In the year 2164 Starfleet managed to convince the Xindi Aquatics to use their starships that could travel through vortexes to fairy the fleet into the one place no human had ever gone to and would never want to go to again, the Andromeda Galaxy. Meanwhile in the year 2376 Starfleet Command was massing a second fleet to ultimately make sure that the Votality would never return to wreak a vengeance. To get to this galaxy even faster, they perfected their Transwarp-drives in their Excelsior-class starships and also used Transwarp coils that they managed to design accurately through the USS Voyager NCC 7642’s memory banks in her main computer. After a few weeks of corresponding communiqués, both

fleets were ready to go, the Votality was about to be destroyed once and for all.

Almost after a month and two weeks, the Federation forces in 2376 entered the Andromeda Galaxy and headed towards the Votality homeworld. As the fleet of just over fifteen thousand ships got to the planet, they found the one thing they didn’t expect to find. The Votality had left and headed off to another galaxy to start a whole new reign of terror.

“Unknown alien vessels, we are of a race called the Shakaians from the planet Shakai; if you’re looking for the race called the Votality, they have left this galaxy for the Pegasus Galaxy. They’ll never be back; we drove them out four weeks ago along with their Fury allies.”

“Thanks,” started Captain Picard, but we’re from the Milky Way galaxy and are part of the United Federation of Planets and we have o be sure though, so we’re just going to launch an attack on the surface of their homeworld from orbit to obliterate any trace of them.”

THE VOID

So many had been taken throughout the years since the Votality first gained control of the Andromeda Galaxy and now that they fought the races of the Milky Way Galaxy and lost the dwindled down numbers of the dying Votality had no need for their prisoners that they acquired through destroying the warp cores of many starships of countless space faring cultures. The time had come to release them back to their worlds; some though didn’t have worlds anymore thanks to the Votality totally obliterating them into fields of interstellar debris. All these beings had no choice but to become refugees and find other worlds that will except them and take them in. All hope was almost lost except in the Milky Way Galaxy or so they thought.

After the Votality left the Andromeda Galaxy they had no choice but to release their prisoners from the war. Rendering the unconscious they brought them back to the era that they were originally from. On a desolate planet inside the fledgling United Federation of Planets’ space, Ensign Hoshi Sato and

Major Laura found themselves alone with no clothes or anything to survive on. Even their communicators were gone.

All Hoshi and Major Laura could hope for was a ship would come by and pick up their bio-signatures and transport them aboard and take them back home to Earth. The only thing Hoshi didn’t want was to return to Enterprise for she didn’t want to see either her ex-husband or his new wife fully pregnant with their child. All the while though, she could still feel Archer’s child within and still alive; the Votality voice had lied to her about the child being dead. Now though she wished it was the truth.

“Don’t be scared Hoshi,” said Major Laura, “we’ll be rescue soon and if not, I’ll be here for you when you have your child.”

“You won’t be any help,” said Hoshi, “you don’t have a med kit to even bring him or her into this world where his or her father won’t even love it for he’s married to T’Pol if you’ve forgotten. I’m going to be a single mother unless I can find a man that doesn’t care that I’m already a mother to the child of a famous Starfleet captain.”

AFTERWARDS

Year: 2164 Enterprise NX-01, USS Enterprise NCC 1701-E @ Earth

Aboard the USS Enterprise NCC 1701-E inside the

mighty ship’s Briefing Room sat Captains Jean-Luc Picard, Benjamin Sisco and the Captains of the other ships that had survived the battle against the Sernaix dreadnought. Among the Federation captains were Commander Donotra and the commanding officers of the warbirds in her little empire that finally had proven that they could survive without the rest of the mightier Romulan Star Empire. Among the humans and aliens from the future sat the admirals of Starfleet from the twenty-second century along with Captain Archer and his fellow captains that were brought into the little secret of the future, a future that they would have to forget if they liked it or not.

With everyone seated, Picard stud up and said, “I’ve called you all here today because there is still

something that needs to be done, its something that my ship’s doctor will have to do and it has to be done to everyone that assist us or saw us during our time in the past. What I’m saying is we have to erase your minds so we can preserve our future and not change anything. This means that the main computers of all your ships that have gotten scans from vessels of the future will also have to be erased. I’m sorry that this has to be done, but you must all understand the importance of this, its our timeline that we now have to worry about. I’m sorry.”

“Just get on with it then,” said Captain Jonathan Archer.

Half an hour later, the whole crew of the Enterprise NX-01, the crews of all the Daedalus-class, MACOs warships and people in charge of Starfleet Command on Earth in 2163-64 were rendered unconscious by Doctor Beverly Crusher’s Nero-inhibitor as their memories were erased. The only thing that Crusher left in the memories of Jonathan and T’Pol was the fact that Hoshi had disappeared while pregnant with Jonathan’s child and the moments that happened during and after T’Pol’s Pon’ Farr and the memory of their unborn child’s miraculous conception. Even the memory of the time T’Pol and Jonathan’s fight occurred and the result of their crew throwing them into the brig together until they worked things out when she made her fears about the pregnancy known to him;

fears that he now would have no choice but remember for the rest of his life and every seven years when her Pon’ Farr would come around again giving them the chance to get pregnant again.

Once the memories of the people they could gather up were erased, the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-E headed off to the planet that Hoshi and Major Laura were marooned on and erased their memories except for Laura’s promise to help her give birth to her child, which little did they know would happen in about two days from then.

Once everyone’s memories were erased, the Enterprise went off to destroy all evidence that they had been in the past. Just before they used the portal to return back to the 24th century to the year 2376, they planted a try cobalt explosive like bomb to the Temporal Research Facility that they had to rebuild just to get home. Finally the war was over only everything had changed…

… for when the USS Enterprise NCC 1701-E exited the time portal in 2376, to find that the war in the past had never happened. There was only three battles against the Votality, one at Empok Nor, and two at Deep Space Nine where the war ended. Nothing had ever happened to the Enterprise for destroying the Votality and New Dominion fleet at DS9 had somehow preserved the timeline unless someone or something had had a hand in the whole thing; but the only race that could do that was mysteriously gone… The Preservers.

PART FOUR BONDMATE

PROLOGUE

Vulcan 4th Century AD- The Time of Awakening

Surak was transversing the fire plains, miles away

he could see the smoke of the latest bombardment. The Vulcan people were tearing themselves apart; logic had not yet come to his people. Surak knew that if all of Vulcan didn’t follow his teachings, all of Vulcan would die soon. No one though wanted to listen to his teaches of logic, no one wanted to take up the task of peace, all his people wanted was to kill one another. This was definitely a bad day on Vulcan, a day that had been like many others to the barrack Vulcan people. As he continued on his path, he thought to himself “The path to logic is going to be hard, filled with many paroles and hardships. Many I think the people aren’t ready for. See what embracing emotions can do to society?”

Even as the Atomic Bombs continued to go off nearby, Surak could feel his body succumbing to the effects of the sever radiation poisoning. He would die soon he knew it, but he also knew that his people

would soon want to embrace logic and leave behind their savage ways. The ways of their ancestors were going to be forgotten, their society would begin again, this time based on pure logic.

****

Earth 2063 – First Contact

Zefram Cochran didn’t want to make history, he

didn’t want to have his image made into a statue, no all he wanted when he built his warp ship the Phoenix, was money and the girls, that’s why he only turned an old nuclear missile leftover from the Third World War into his warp ship. He had no plans to usher in a new era for humanity, but when he launched his warp ship; he had no idea that there was an alien survey vessel nearby surveying Earth on a scientific mission studying its inhabitants when they detected the Phoenix jumping into warp and vanishing. The unknown alien ship continues on its course from the third planet in the Sol System, Earth in their language, until it reached the fourth planet in the system known only to this system’s inhabitants as Mars. As the Vulcans continued to watch the mysterious craft that left the third planet, Zefram throttled back on his control panel bringing the ship out of warp to turn it around then jumped back into warp heading back to Earth where he dropped out of

warp again, and brought the ship back into Earth’s atmosphere back to where he launched from the missile complex in central Montana.

After running scans and preliminary checks, the Vulcans aboard the survey vessel sent out a landing craft and headed towards Earth and also landed in central Montana where they made First Contact with the humans through all the people around Zefram Cochrane. For the next one hundred years while holding Earth back just enough to make the humans work for it, the Vulcans helped the humans, mostly Henry Archer and Zefram Cochrane build a warp five engine that would bring humanity to the stars with possible disastrous effects some Vulcans thought, they could easily get their homeworld attacked or worse destroyed.

****

Earth 2153

“Captain, we have no choice but to recall

Enterprise, Earth has just suffered a catastrophic attack and we don’t know who did it. The probe that did all the damage and took seven billion lives when it cut a swath from Venezuela to Florida crash-landed but the pilot was badly burned, so burned we can’t recognize the species,” said Admiral Maxwell Forrest.

“Understood Sir,” replied Captain Archer, “I’ll let

the crew know. Enterprise out.” Archer returned to the bridge with a sad face

knowing what he was about to tell his crew would devastate them all. “There’s no easy way to say this, but Earth has just been attacked by a mysterious alien probe, we’ve been recalled back, maybe indefinitely.”

“How many died?” asked Reed. “Seven billion,” replied Archer, “the probe cut a

swath from Venezuela to Florida, then burnt up in the atmosphere and crashed.”

En route back to Earth, the Suliban cornered Enterprise and Silik took Archer to see his leader, the mysterious figure from the future that gave the Suliban Cabal their orders. The mysterious “Future Guy” told Archer that the attack was carried out by the Xindi from the Delphic Expanse because they believe humanity will destroy their homeworld in the far off future and their trying to prevent that from happening. He told him to scan the wreckage when they get back to Earth for a piece from the future.

When Enterprise got back to Earth, the scans were run on the debris pieces and the future guy was right, one was from the future. So the Forrest asks “So this corps is a Xindi?”

“I sure as hell want to find out,” replied Archer. With that said, Enterprise is readied and refitted for her mission into the expanse to confront the Xindi and to convince them not to destroy Earth.

****

Delphic Expanse 2153 – 2154 The Xindi Council

Inside shuttlepod one, Mayweather, Reed, and a

few MACOS were just returning from the inside of one of the many spheres inside the expanse built by trans-dimensional beings trying to change the expanse from being suitable for our kind of life to being able to support theirs. As they got closer to the coordinates where they would rendezvous with Enterprise, Mayweather noticed something on his sensors and reported it to Reed right away. “There are several ships leaving the system, one of them is Enterprise.”

“Hail them,” ordered Reed. Mayweather did as he was told and said “What’s

going on Enterprise?” “The Insectoids and the Reptilians have stolen the

weapon,” answered Archer, “we’re going after them with our new Xindi allies. Sit tight, we’ll be back to get you when we can. Enterprise out.”

Inside the shuttlepod Travis and Malcolm weren’t enjoying sitting tight and waiting while their friends and shipmates were out there somewhere probably in a firefight with the Xindi and possibly dying. They both knew there was a great chance that they would

never see Enterprise again for their ship was already heavily damaged from being in many battles and suffering from the effects of the anomalies that were all over the Delphic Expanse, and there was no way they would be able to get the damage fixed until they were down with the Xindi and able to return home to Earth and home. A home that they had been away from for almost a year now, for almost a year they weren’t doing any exploration but on a drastic mission to prevent their homeworld from becoming a drifting pile rubble floating in space.

****

2162 Romulan-Earth War

For months the Romulans were dealing

devastating blows to the Coalition of Planets. Earth and her Vulcan, Andorian, and Tellarite allies weren’t doing so well in defending their space. The problem wasn’t because they couldn’t, they had the fire power to do what was needed, it was all because the second Romulan Drone-ship managed to escape from the alliance forces and make its way back to Admiral Valdore back safely on Romulus. With his ship back, the admiral was able to repair it and also refit a few more warbirds into automated drone-ships and equip them with more holo-emitters to make the ship look like any enemy ship and launch

their devastating attacks. It was because of this that the Coalition of Planets was losing the war. They needed a victory a decisive victory if they ever planned on winning the war.

At the Communications Station, the Captain’s wife Ensign Hoshi Sato Archer found herself staring at a computer terminal with intercepted Romulan communications that she had to translate. She found the work hard to do especially with her husband nearby in the ship’s center chair. Finally not able to take it anymore, she said “Ensign Carson, take the Comm. Captain, I’ll be in the Comm. Lab deciphering this communiqué.” Hoshi headed towards the turbolift and left the bridge.

Concentrating on the work at hand with some of his thoughts drifting back to his wife, Captain Jonathan Archer looked over at the Science Station at his Science Officer/First Officer T’Pol then a thought came to him, a thought that went back to the first day he met her and found out that she was being assigned to his ship, “one wrong move from her and I’ll push that Vulcan’s ass out the airlock, from then on he thought that for a Vulcan, T’Pol sure had a cute ass.” Thinking that Jonathan knew could get him in trouble for he was a married man and if his wife ever thought he was thinking about another woman, especially T’Pol, while he didn’t want to even think about it for he did love Hoshi the only thing was she was years younger than him while T’Pol in human years was only a few years older than

him, she was the logical choice for marriage but he chose Hoshi to keep her aboard Enterprise for he needed her expertise. For she was the best Linguist around that Starfleet could offer and he was also so very happy with what she had done during the Borg crisis years earlier.

THIRTY-FIVE

Year: 2164 Starfleet Command Headquarters, Earth

Captain Jonathan Archer couldn’t be happier, he

may have been without a command for weeks now, but that didn’t matter when he had a loving Vulcan wife and a three week old daughter. It may have felt strange to be on Earth instead of on a starship like the Enterprise but he knew that soon he and his family would be on the bridge of a brand new Daedalus-class starship, the USS IDIC NCC 203. The ship was definitely nothing like the Enterprise, right away anyone could see that since she didn’t have a saucer section, no, this ship even had a primary and secondary hull and could reach warp seven. The new Daedalus-class starships were truly a marvelous starship built especially for one mission, to explore the vast unknown, to boldly go where no man, no human had gone before, deep, deep space.

In Admiral Black’s office Archer found himself

passing in front of the big wooden desk not at all happy with what the admiral had just told him. “The USS IDIC NCC 203 will be finished in about another two weeks. There are some parts that haven’t been completed yet on Earth that still need to be brought to the Planitia Shipyards at Mars.”

“I’ll have to tell T’Pol this,” said Jonathan, “but she went to Vulcan to give birth to our child in the hands of her people’s physicians. She should be back within a few days. I’ve heard from her, she’s had the child, a daughter, she’s named her T’Lin Archer.”

****

Meanwhile on Vulcan, T’Pol was holding her new

born daughter when her ex-fiancé came to see her. “We’ll congratulations on your child,” he said.

T’Pol looked and saw Koss standing there and said “Its agreeable to see you again Koss, Jonathan is going to be so glad to see his daughter when I returned to Earth.”

“I wish you a safe journey,” said Koss, “but I came here to warn you, your life and the life of your child is in danger. There are some who will stop at nothing to kill your child for they fear what she is and represents.”

“Thanks for the warning Koss,” said T’Pol, “now will you help me acquire a ship so I can return home safely? Oh by the way, who wants to kill my child?”

“Both Xenophobists on Earth and Vulcan,” replied

Koss, “you and Jonathan might want to leave Earth as soon as possible. “

“Our new starship, his new command a Daedalus-class starship will be complete soon,” replied T’Pol.

“Most of that crews going to be humans and Vulcans,” replied Koss, “if I heard correctly, handpicked by you and your husband.”

Leaving the hospital T’Pol realized Koss could be a go between for her and Jonathan for anything that could happen to them. She was even then surprised when she realized Koss was serving on a Sh’Raan-class combat cruiser… the ship that would be taking her back to Earth and to her human lover, the love of her life.

As quickly as she got aboard, the Sh’Raan-class cruiser jumped to warp and left the system. After leaving Vulcan space on a direct course for Earth just to be corner by Vulcan Separatists ships bent on kidnapping baby T’Lin and T’Pol so the existence of the half-Vulcan half-human hybrid child would never get to see the light of day and would perish. And the Vulcan society would stay on the true path of Surak.

Koss knew who the ships belonged to and quickly without orders launched a salvo of torpedoes towards the incoming cruisers. Each cruiser got hit once right into their warp-propulsion ring disabling them. Koss commander wasn’t really happy with his tactical officer until he found out that the cruisers were part of the Separatist Movement, a fact the

commander quickly realized as they hailed them and returned fire.

The Vulcan commander then realized what the problem, “their after T’Pol and the child. Helm get us out of here Warp Eight Point Two. Engage.”

As the Sh’Raan-class cruiser broke off from the engagement and jumped into warp, the warp-propulsion rings of the disabled Separatist cruisers blew clean of the ships from receiving so much damage. Damage that has resulted from both the initial attack and the resulting explosions inside their anti-matter and matter casing that were already in a violable state from arriving in the system at high velocities and dropping out of warp so fast. It was a miracle and luck for the Vulcans inside the ships that it was only their propulsion system exploding, now though, they would be stuck in space waiting for a Vulcan cruiser to pick them up, but then they would be arrested and tried as terrorists.

****

Back on Earth, Jonathan was so happy to know

that his wife was returning home with their child. He knew that for his family if it came to it, just to protect them, he would die for them, he would even stand in front of T’Pol and take a phase pistol shot for her if someone was aiming one at her, even if the weapon was set to either stun or kill. No one knew this of course except for T’Pol through their mental

physic bond and that’s how he liked it to be, he knew that if the brass heads at Starfleet Command knew that he would do that, he wouldn’t get command of the IDIC soon. To T’Pol though, Jonathan’s thinking was logical for any loyal boyfriend Vulcan or human she thought would be willing to die for the person they loved.

Jonathan had gotten a communiqué from T’Pol right after the Separatists attacked her transport ship. She had wanted him to know that their child was already in danger and that they had an ally through Koss in protecting her. Little did Jonathan and T’Pol know that the Vulcan Separatist Movement wasn’t the only radical group that had it in for their little baby girl…

THIRTY-SIX

Qam-Chee, The First City, Qo’noS The Year of Kahless 790

Chancellor M’Rek wasn’t about ready to give the

remnants of Terra Prime what they wanted, but the thought of a Vulcan-Human hybrid child existing in the universe mad his bones shutter. He wasn’t at all ready for that kind of interspecies breeding, the best bet he knew was to capture the child and its parents then kill the child and her parents so they wouldn’t be able to bring another child like it into the world someday. After careful consideration, M’Rek made his decision and decided to go see the leader of Terra Prime, Mike Charana, the person who took over for John Frederick Paxton when the movement was forced to go underground back in 2155.

“Tera’ngan Charana, we will help you,” said M’Rek, “but we’re going to send a few cloaked warships into the Sol System and capture them while their on the bridge the night before their launch.

That’s not all we’re going to do though, we’re going to complete one more objective…”

Mike didn’t want to know what the other objective might be but he knew the Klingons and he would have to seal the deal but the Klingons did that through blood. Mike feared that he was about to die that night for the ritual involved in the deal sealing would involve slitting his hand open with a serrated knife and joining blooded hands with a Klingon warrior, Klingon warriors that just seemed to smell bad, almost like the live food that they ate. Just the thought of the Gagh wanted to make Mike throw up for he knew he was also going to have to eat some of the live worms Klingon delicacy.

Admiral Krell inside his office had known what the chancellor had promised and also what he didn’t say. Krell knew it fell upon him to put together the fleet that would end up attacking Earth to meet their objectives. He also knew that Bu’kaH wouldn’t want to participate in the invasion since what she had gone through with Archer and hoped to try and rectify one day if she was ever given the chance. So instead of selecting her for the mission, he selected his own daughter to take on the Tera’ngan captain, his wife, their child and their world, all to capture their thought after prize that was sitting in the mothball fleet yards with all the other Earth starships that the fledgling Federation didn’t want to use anymore.

****

Vulcan Sh’Raan-class Cruiser Enroute to Earth

“We’re almost back to your husband and new

home T’Pol,” said Koss to his old fiancée from almost eight years ago. “I’m so glad I annulled our marriage and found a new mate for myself, you’ve been so happy for yourself, even after Trip’s death, and it’s clear that that’s because of Jonathan’s love for you. I hope you; your child and your husband manage to be happy in life and stay safe always. I’ll be taking you to the transporter room soon.”

“Thank you Koss,” started T’Pol, “I’ll be ready, if you’re in contact with Jonathan between then and now, tell him that I love him and I’ll be home with someone he needs to meet very soon.”

“Will do,” replied Koss. “We’ll be at Earth in about half of its normal standard hours.” After the words left his month, Koss turned and walked out of the room and turned towards the turboshaft to return to the bridge.

****

Elsewhere in the Alpha Quadrant, the USS

Daedalus NCC 100, the namesake to the Daedalus-class was trying to get back to Earth in time for the launch of the new ship in its class. A task that would

have proved easier if it wasn’t for the resent damage she had received in an ion storm near the Beta Cluster around Tau Ceti. During that encounter, the ship was hit by a few plasma eddies while her shields were down partially damaging her Main Defector, without their Main Deflector or Deflector Dish, the Daedalus wouldn’t be able to go into warp or the tiniest pieces of space dust would end up tearing her apart.

Because of their distance from the newly created Federation-Klingon Neutral Zone boarder, the USS Daedalus was able to discover that the Klingon fleet was on the move but since they were still well on their side, they couldn’t figure out that the true destination was really inside Federation Space. Not knowing anything, the Daedalus continued on towards Earth at maximum impulse trying to make it home as fast as possible.

****

Klingon Attack Fleet

Commander D’na of the Klingon Imperial Battle

Cruiser Gor’Ka had noticed the Federation’s Daedalus-class starship flyby and continue on course to only Kahless knew where as if her fleet wasn’t there but all along, knowing that there had to be a chance that their position had been had. To protect the safety of the fleet she ordered all twenty-five of

the cruisers under her command to go to Warp Five and to stay behind the Neutral Zone for the time being.

THIRTY-SEVEN

Earth As soon as T’Pol got home, Jonathan walked right

up to her took their new born baby from her arms and looked their child in her eyes and said, “Hello, I’m your father, I promise to be the best dad I can possibly be to you.” As he said that her could her T’Pol saying in their mental bond, “I said the same thing to her after she was born except for I told her I was her mother and spoke it in all Vulcan.”

“That’s good Aisha,” thought Jonathan as he put their child down in the new crib that he had just set up and then went over to his wife to kiss her red lips.

Feeling her husband’s lips on hers again, T’Pol lost all control of her emotions so she let them all go into the kiss as she squeezed her husband close almost cracking his ribs. Lucky for him, he hadn’t gotten into a hand-to-hand fight with a Klingon warrior or admiral like he did in Qam-Chee on Qo’noS when he was trying to get the information that would prove that the Romulans were really behind the attack on Draylax and that the Klingons

didn’t really have anything to do with it but was forced to fight and almost kill Admiral Krell to get it but he only ended up cutting off Krell’s arm with the Bat’leth he was using. Now though as T’Pol released him, Jonathan gave a little wince of pain.

“I hurt you,” said T’Pol out loud. “I’m sorry; sometimes I forget that as a Vulcan I have a little stronger strength than humans do.”

“Its alright Aisha,” replied Jonathan, “it wasn’t you, I was just remembering the hand-to-hand combat fight I had to do with Admiral Krell back on Qo’noS while you and Lieutenant Reed stole shuttlepod two to go rescue Trip while he was undercover in Romulan Space.”

“Please don’t mention my ex-lover Jon,” said T’Pol, “I hated being with him, I should have chosen you all along but I was stupid and made so many mistakes back while we were in the expanse.”

“I’m sorry T’Pol my Aisha,” started Jonathan almost stuttering, “I didn’t mean to bring back all those sad memories.”

“It’s alright,” she said well hiding something that she figured wasn’t that important from his mind. “We all have our demons to live with. I’ll be back Jon.” She then turned and walked out the door to the shuttlepod he had left outside that he had used to get back home from Starfleet Command earlier that day.

T’Pol didn’t know why she was heading towards Florida with the shuttlepod but she just was. When

she arrived in the sunshine state, she brought the shuttlepod in for a landing next to the cemetery that Trip was buried in and headed off to his grave. Knowing that she was farther away than Jonathan was, she knew that her thoughts would turn out muffled of what she was about to do. So she headed off to Trip’s grave and knelt down in front of it, a few seconds later, she opened her mouth to speak as if she was about to speak to a person that was still alive.

“I know you were my first love Trip, but after your death, I just had to move on,” she stuttered well kneeling over his grave, with almost a tear coming to her eyes. “That’s why I started a relationship with the Captain. I’m not over you yet, just the mention of your name brings the memories pouring back, I may never be over you…”

As T’Pol tried to continue her thoughts, she was distracted by a momentary beam of light from inside the grave as the ground collapsed in on itself revealing that the coffin was gone…

****

USS IDIC NCC 203 Two Weeks Later

T’Pol for the past days knew that she couldn’t tell

Jonathan that she had went to Trip’s grave, she just wasn’t ready. Nor was she ready to tell him that she

was there when the coffin housing his body vanished while she was still standing there, a fact that she did still not believe really happened.

Near Mars coming from the back way into the system was the Klingon fleet on their way towards their first target, the mothballed Enterprise NX-01. To meet their two objectives at once, the fleet split up and headed into separate direction; one towards Mars and the other towards Earth. As the two fleets went their separate ways, the ones that went to get Enterprise found little opposition as they were able to launch a tractor beam onto the unpowered ship and jump to warp.

Back aboard the USS IDIC NCC 203 the new crew that was gathered around T’Pol and Jonathan learning about their former missions and the stories of how Enterprise was able to get out of every jam that she ever found herself in. As T’Pol started to tell another story with her husband holding her hand and their baby resting between their two laps, they were captured in a beam of greenish light and whisked away in the hum of a transporter as and Orion cruiser jumped to warp.

As the Klingon captured Orion cruiser jumped to warp the IDIC’s sensors detected the Klingon bio-signatures aboard, but no one on the crew knew why the Archer’s had just been taken by them. The news got worse when Starfleet Command learned that the Enterprise NX-01 was also stolen by a Klingon D-5 Battle Cruiser. Thinking the worst, the fledgling

United Federation of Planets prepared to get ready for war and to also stage a drastic rescue attempt on Qo’noS. At least that was their plan until Ambassador Soval made a surprising approach and said “let my people help with this, T’Pol is part of my people and also the child that was taken with them is half of my species also.”

“You can help,” replied Admiral Black, “get all of the Vulcan High Command on to the situation to.”

THIRTY-EIGHT

Qo’noS Qam-Chee, The First City Two Days Later

As the ship they were aboard came to a stop

orbiting the one world Jonathan didn’t want to see, he saw the one ship he knew shouldn’t be there, the Enterprise NX-01 was also in orbit but still dead with not even her running lights not on. Before he could think about what was happening though, the hatched opened to reveal a Klingon warrior walking over to them with a Bat’leth on his back for if they tried to escape.

Seeing the warrior Jonathan stud up and asked “what the hell do you want with us and my former command? Let us go.”

“NO,” said the warrior, “Chancellor M’Rek requests your presence in the Imperial Palace.”

“Great,” thought Jonathan, “this is going to be trouble.” Out loud he asked “Will M’Rek answer my

question why we were brought here against our will?”

“Everything will be explained,” replied the warrior, “as for your former command, we just want to study Tera’ngan technology. You’ll be leaving here in that ship by yourselves.”

Once inside the palace Jonathan was madder than hell on Earth. He always hated it when he entered the Klingon Empire’s Great Hull for it always smelled badly as if something had died inside it and there were always warriors around saying untranslatable stuff to them that was actually racial to the Tera’ngan people. When he saw M’Rek though he got angrier, “why the hell did you kidnap my wife, my child and I and also stole the Enterprise?”

“Pardon our actions Tera’ngan,” started M’Rek, “you’re wife and child can return to the Enterprise and get her powered up; as for you, you have some things to do for the empire’s survival and to bring peace to our world and yours.”

“Whatever it is I’ll do it,” started Jonathan but then started to regret it after M’Rek spoke again.

“You will be helping us at Rura Penthe Tera’ngan,” said M’Rek.

Jonathan gave a wince and then put his head down. Second later he looked up and said sadly “alright, I’ll do it.”

****

Rura Penthe

After being transported down to the frozen

tundra of the frozen dilithium mining planet that he was sent to years ago with Kolos who was actually his defense advocate while he was on trial for making Duras lose his honor but because Kolos put up a good fight for Jonathan, they were sentenced together for a year. Lucky for Jonathan, his crew rescued him using Enterprise but Kolos chose to stay for his full sentence.

Jonathan found himself getting very drunk as he tried to keep his eyes open. He knew it had to be either a drug or the blood wine the Klingon he was helping had given him. As the hang over got worse he felt someone tearing at his clothes but was too drunk to resist even though he tried to kick at whomever was trying to strip him down for he wasn’t about to be wearing those crummy Klingon mining clothes over his Starfleet uniform. Not being able to control himself, Jonathan just gave in…

…the next morning, Jonathan was shocked to find out who exactly he had just woken up beside. For lying naked beside him was a Klingon woman, but not any Klingon woman, it was Bu’kaH. She looked at him and said “the love making last night was so great, all six times. I think things will work out for the child I have…hopefully… with all the blood wine I had to get you to drink just to get you into this bed.”

“Child? Blood wine? What the hell did you do to

me Bu’kaH,” demanded to know Jonathan. “I got you into my bedchamber,” started Bu’kaH,

“like I was trying to do back in 2161 but you kept saying NO.”

“I should kill you now,” said Jonathan, “that way if there was a child, it’d die with you. T’Pol’s going to find out about this.” He started to reach for the Bat’leth he noticed was surprisingly still near the bed, just within his reach is he could just reach over the bulky Klingon woman’s massive body.

“No, she won’t,” said Bu’kaH, “the blood wine will have that effect on your mental bond with her since she’s your Bondmate, and I’ll make you forget before you leave.” Bu’kaH got off the bed and walked towards him with a Klingon version of a hypospray and put it to his neck rendering him unconscious meanwhile the shot she had just injected into him went about erasing his short and long term memory of the whole night of love making.

****

When Jonathan came to again, he couldn’t

remember nothing of his night with Bu’kaH, nor did he have any idea that she was trying to seduce him to get pregnant…nor did he know that it had worked, but no one would know that was the case with everything because of Bu’kaH’s plan.

T’Pol woke up to see Jonathan with a big blank

look on his face but she also knew that something terrible must have happened during his stay at the Imperial Palace. Looking at him up and down she said, “it looked like you’ve seen better days. Don’t tell me you had to face another Klingon in combat again or did they torture you for information?”

“Tortured,” replied Jonathan, “they wanted to know all about the Daedalus-class starships but I didn’t know anything about them and that’s what I said. I got tortured for that, but we can leave now so I want you to help me get this ship operational so we can leave; I bet Starfleet Command has sent out the IDIC to search for us. We should take this ship out to meet them.”

“Agreed,” said T’Pol, “I’ll go to Engineering as much as I hate going down there to get our warp reactor and impulse engines running along with power to the rest of the ship.”

“Yea,” started Jonathan, “you do that, I’ll be on the bridge at the helm.”

Down in Engineering as T’Pol stud on the stairs leading up towards the controls on the warp engine, she thought she was being watched and saw a shadow. A shadow that had pointed ears and almost resembled Trip while he was undercover on Romulus for Section 31 trying to prevent the Romulans from designing their Warp Seven stardrive before Starfleet had one so the Romulans wouldn’t be able to take control of the whole galaxy. Now the mysterious

figure moved out of the shadows and made his presence known.

““Trip…,” she said not sure if she was right or wrong.

“Trip, you’re alive, you’re really alive. How can this be? I saw your burned body, only your face was recognizable.”

T’Pol stumbled through her next words well trying to hold down the emotions that were boiling up in her blood; demanding release. “Thinking you were dead; for I couldn’t even sense your thoughts through our mental and physical bond anymore, I started another relationship. I even had his child. I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright T’Pol, you’re forgive,” said Trip not at all angry as if he were suppressing his emotions like a Vulcan. “Who?”

“A friend,” replied T’Pol… “Captain Archer.” “It doesn’t matter,” said Trip, “I’m only alive

because of a Romulan scientific experiment. They knew that I was a spy back in 2155 thanks to Sopek/Ch’uihv blowing my cover to Terix so now they are having me spy on this newly formed fledgling Federation of Planets so they can find a way around the Neutral Zone and get their revenge for their defeat in the war.”

“I have to tell Jonathan then,” said T’Pol, “and the rest of Starfleet.”

“No,” said Trip, “I’ll take care of it, I’ve been dead for three years to them and that truly is the truth,

I’m going to return to Romulus.” With that said Trip hit some sort of insignia he was wearing under his tunic and activated the transporter to the Romulan Scout ship Drolae-2 and left heading back to Romulus never to see T’Pol again, but he didn’t care for he could see that she was happy.

THIRTY-NINE

Dartha City, Romulus Technologist Cunaehr ir’Ra’tleihfi tr’Mandak, who

really was the Romulan spy once known as Commander Charles “Trip” Tucker III former of the starship Enterprise, the secret intelligence agency of Starfleet… Section 31…, and of course three years dead knew that Admiral Valdore had him brought back to life and kept alive for only one thing; to complete the late Doctor Ehrehin i’Ramnau tr’Avrak’s work creating a Warp Seven Propulsion Drive engine to equip to their fleet of warbirds. This device even thought it wasn’t perfect was already in production though for the fleet drastically needed it.

Cunaehr/Trip reported to Valdore as he was ordered to every hour wondering if his execution was finally at hand. All times it hadn’t been but now Cunaehr was worried for the admiral had only requested his presents half an hour ago then let him go after he gave a full report on the progress of the new Warp Seven stardrive he was designing, being

forced to design for he was the one who had been closest to Doctor Ehrehin before he was murdered by the Ejhoi Ormiin.

“The proto-type quantum singularity stardrive you sent us for testing aboard anyone of the Bird-of-Preys worked,” started Admiral Valdore, “but when the ship testing it dropped out of warp, they must have decelerated to fast and they broke apart. Any recommendations why this could have happened?”

“The pressure in the Intermix Chamber could have been off,” said Cunaehr, “but that error would have been on there end not mine, it could have happened to one of your other ships just as easily. It’s your Engineers faults not mine, but I might be able to find a way to stabilize the intermix ratios to adjust for any fluctuations in the warpfield.”

………

Almost an hour after learning about the failure of

the quantum singularity stardrive he had seen come into existence, Cunaehr found himself back at his private little room inside the residential districts of Dartha City. With the day ending, he decided that it would be best to record his daily log for Section 31 just incase they realized the Romulans were responsible for the disappearance of Commander Charles “Trip” Tucker III’s coffin almost two weeks earlier now. Deep down in his gut though he knew that they wouldn’t be sending anyone or even get his

log for even T’Pol wasn’t going to let it slip that he was really still alive; any ways why would she, he thought. After all, she’s happily married with a new born baby.

Cunaehr’s Personal Log, Day Forty-one, Month of

K’ri’Brax, Dartha City Romulus, the sabotage I managed to program into the program for the Quantum Singularity Stardrive has had the desired effect. The Bird-of-Prey Admiral Valdore used to test it has been destroyed. Hopefully this may set back their Warp Seven Program for awhile, but if they discover what I did, I’ll probably be executed by the hands of Praetor D’deridex with his dathe’anofv-sen when and if he ever finds out what I did to his pride and joy; but until then, I’m going to continue on with my work of designing that stardrive even if it eventually means the fall of the former Coalition of Planets...this new United Federation of Planets that my undercover work so much helped bring into existence.

As for the Romulans, their going to be getting those stardrives but each one might just have a different defect that can easily be blamed on the inexperience of any Romulan Engineer. Well I guess that’s all I got, so computer, End Log.

With his log recorded Cunaehr headed to his bedchamber just to be forced to the ground as an explosion rocked the building complex he and

several others called home. Crawling to his feet through the smoke and the falling ash and debris, Cunaehr managed to get towards the window in time to see a Remans’ ground ship making its way back into the low atmosphere of the planet, maybe on its way to a mother ship that would take it back to the safety of its nearby homeworld. No possible way were the Remans going to get away with what they had just done for the Rihannsu people weren’t going to let them get away with it, after all they may have been born a warrior race but they were still slaves to the Romulan Star Empire, thus subject to its rules and regulations.

Pondering how to get out of the burning rubble of his building Cunaehr wasn’t at all surprised when another transporter claimed him this time; only this time he was whisked away to an Remans’ warship where he found himself standing face-to-face with their leader who was aiming a disruptor pistol at his chest. Before he could react, the Remans leader pulled the trigger…

FORTY

Earth “I got bad news admiral,” Ambassador/Minister

Soval reported. “My people have found a link to who kidnapped the Captain Archer, T’Pol and their child and also stole the Enterprise. The strange thing is, they’re working with the Klingons but this group doesn’t normally work with any alien species…”

“Who Soval?” asked Admiral Black, “whose behind this whole thing?”

“The Klingon Empire and the Xenophobists of this world,” said Soval, “some were members of the former Terra Prime movement of 2155. Starfleet Security has rounded some of them up and are questioning them. Also the Separatists Movement on Vulcan was also involved but with their own plan that they hadn’t put into motion yet, they had tried but the Sh’Raan-class cruiser that transported T’Pol and the baby back here to Earth managed to disable the three that corner her; and a few days ago, six D’Kyr-type combat cruisers along with their two

Sh’Raan-class cruiser escorts encountered them and took the Separatists into custody.”

“There’s only one thing we can do then,” started Admiral Black, “we’re going to have to send the USS IDIC NCC 203 and an escort of five MACOs assault ships into Klingon Space and go to Qo’noS to rescue our people and to also get the Enterprise back.”

****

Hours later aboard the Enterprise NX-01 that was

getting closer and closer to passing by the Alpha Centauri Listening Post the former two commanding officers found their positions aboard the ships almost fully reversed, especially since they were the soul occupants aboard the ship. Everything felt reversed because T’Pol sat in her husband’s former command chair nursing their child as she watched him at the helm to no prevail. She was to far distracted by her daughter biting and sucking at her breast that she wanted to wince in pain but instead she just pushed it aside until she heard Jonathan wince instead. “Sorry dear,” thought T’Pol, “our daughter is just sucking to hard and it hurt, I was trying to push the pain away, not sending it to you.”

“It wasn’t you Aisha,” Jonathan thought back, “it was just a little left over pain from being tortured by the Klingons. I’ll be fine. As for you, try controlling how T’Lin sucks by adjusting how you’re holding her, I don’t know if that will work, but its worth a try for

you’re going to have to feed her a lot more than once a day.”

“Perhaps you’re right,” T’Pol thought as she tried Jonathan’s advice, “at least it seems to be working right now, I don’t feel as much pressure… yet.”

****

A few hours later, Admiral Black was getting

ready to order the Daedalus-class ships USS IDIC NCC 203, USS Essex NCC 173, the USS Carolina NCC 160, the USS Archon NCC 189, and the USS Horizon NCC 176 along with two MACOs ship per each Daedalus-class ship for a total of ten MACOs escort ships to go rescue Jonathan, T’Pol, T’Lin, bring back the Enterprise intact and to also tow the damaged USS Daedalus NCC 100 home. Just as he was about to tell them Godspeed and give them the order to leave the system, his aid interrupted him with the news of a lifetime.

“Sir, there another starship entering the system,” he said in shock, “it’s………………….the Enterprise and we’re being hailed by Captain Archer.”

“Open to channel to the fleet,” demanded Black, “intercept the Enterprise, escort her into the system. MACOs make sure there are no Klingons also entering the system.” Black turned back to his aid and said, “now open a channel directly to the Enterprise. Get me Captain Archer NOW.”

Before the aid could execute his orders, both the

approaching fleet and Starfleet Command were hailed themselves. “This is Captain Jonathan Archer of the Federation Starship Enterprise; please don’t shoot if that’s what you’re planning on doing. There are no Klingons aboard this ship or any about to enter the system, the Klingons let T’Pol, T’Lin and I go after they couldn’t get the information they wanted out of us. I would suggest that you prepare for a Klingon attack though, it may not come today or during our time, but some day it will. I would say today we’ve drastically made an enemy of the Klingon Empire, an enemy that at this moment is waiting for the right excuse to start a bloody war.”

Little did Archer and the brass headed command officers at Starfleet Command know, the Cold War with the Klingon Empire had begun. For now neither race would have to be on the look out for a drastic attack, only little scrimmage would occur whenever Klingon and Federation starships would cross each others paths. For now both the Alpha and Beta Quadrants would have a little peace for once... or so everyone hoped but that just wasn’t written in the stars for them yet…

…for on Qo’noS, the Klingons had decided under the leadership of Chancellor M’Rek to declare a Blood Oath on the Tera’ngan and also vowed that one day they would have no choice but to admit Doghjey and become jegh’pujwI. The first we’ll capture will be Captain Jonathan Archer so Bu’kaH’s

child will have its father in its miserable life after its born, to do this though; we have no choice but to kill his Vulcan wife and child. M’Rek knew this wholeheartedly had to be done but he wasn’t going to make it an order, no; we’ll just stick with the Blood Oath against all of the members of the United Federation of Planets.

EPILOGUE-SIX

Almost Ten Months Later Qam-Chee, The First City Qo’noS

“I want this dam thing out of me NOW,”

screamed a very pregnant Bu’kaH at the female Klingon doctor at her side. “Get this dam baby out of my womb now before I pop, or even better tear your ugly head off.”

“Where the hell is your baby’s father?” asked the Doctor curious now thinking that Bu’kaH may have killed the man sometime during the pregnancy.

“He left after he knocked me up like this,” answered Bu’kaH, “he didn’t even want to marry me or even perform any ritual with me. I’m to be an unwed mother, this is going to be worse and bring me no honor unlike if this child’s father had died in a glorious battle somewhere but he’s still alive somewhere in the Alpha Quadrant… with his wife.”

“Wait,” started the doctor, “I know who you are, you’re Bu’kaH, the Klingon woman who managed to bed the Tera’ngan captain, Jonathan Archer, you’re

pregnant with his child, you’re about to bring his hybrid child of our two races into the world. It will be the one to finally kill its father and lead out troops to victory against those honorless Tera’ngans. Congratulations.”

Almost twenty-four and forty-eight minutes later after a very painful birth process that Bu’kaH never wanted to go through again, she was holding a Klingon-Human hybrid child, lucky for her the child looked more Klingon than human with what seemed to be nice thick cranial ridges. Looking down at her daughter she thought “someday you’re going to kill your father, his wife and their Vulcan-Human hybrid daughter T’Lin… who I may say looked ugly the first time I laid eyes on her while you look very beautiful being mixed with human DNA. I shall call you Jura’kaH TerranoK.”

Bu’kaH was brought out of her little trance of talking to her newborn when the doctor spoke up again, “you might want to start pushing again for you’re having one more baby today… it would seem that you’re destined to be the mother to twins fathered by that legendary Tera’ngan captain.”

Bu’kaH didn’t like what the doctor was saying but she knew she had no choice so she did as she was asked. About six hours later, Bu’kaH brought her second child into the world, a son that at the first look she gave him she could see so much of a resemblance to Captain Jonathan Archer that she knew it was going to be to hard to hide part of his

parentage. I’ll have to leave Qo’noS then; I’ll go to some other planet that isn’t in the empire but maybe in the Alpha Quadrant on an unmarked ship. She took another look at her son and said “I’ll name you Jona’kaH, partially after your Tera’ngan father.”

Almost two and a half weeks later, Bu’kaH and her two children acquired a transport ship that wasn’t marked with any Klingon emblems, but was used by the fleet as a decoy ship ever since they captured it from the Tholians almost one year ago. Traveling into the Alpha Quadrant undetected the Klingon transport brought Bu’kaH and her family to a planet that would eventually become home to the Children of Heaven, the planet of Klingon-Romulan Hybrids, Chal the Romulan inhabitants would eventually call it; but for now Bu’kaH and her family would call it home; or at least until they decided to leave five years later just before the Romulan Klingon Alliance claimed it as a test bed for creating their genetically engineered hybrids like the future Teilani Kirk…

AFTERWARDS “Andromeda”

FORTY-ONE

Year: 2164

Ensign Hoshi Sato sat beside the only soul companion she had left in the world that wouldn’t leave her, at least until they were rescued from this godforsaken planet, Major Laura of the MACOs. Even though she was still carrying her former husband’s child and knew that her due date was quickly arriving she was being very optimistic about things. Every time Major Laura or her saw what looked a star moving across the horizon of the planet that would continuously change position, she would think they were about to be rescued but that rescue never came.

After two days past Hoshi became sure of it hat she was going to die on this planet she didn’t even know existed until the day the Votality let them go. Thinking that she had no idea if Starfleet even knew of this godforsaken rock. Little did she know that they were deep inside Vulcan Space, the last place she wanted to be since her former husband had remarried to a Vulcan, a Vulcan that she for years

thought was her friend. “Its funny,” she thought “how friends turn on you when you need them the most. Maybe I was better off on my own and unmarried, yea right, my grandmother wouldn’t want me to have thought like that. I guess I’ll meet somebody new, maybe Japanese like me, someday… that is if I get off this rock soon.”

Three days later after giving birth to her son Hoshi Sato became stricken with so much despair. She knew it was because her son kind of resembled his father, Jonathan Archer while the skin tone was clearly hers. Just looking at her son Hoshi started to cry. Major Laura tried her best to comfort the young ensign thinking that the only thing wrong was that she wanted to go home, she had no idea that this problem was being brought on by the child she was watching Hoshi hold and trying to feed for the first time to no prevail.

****

Being stranded on the desolate planet was

starting to become a norm for the now three companions. Hoshi had started getting used to being a mother well Major Laura was trying to figure out what to use to build a shelter for reality was starting to sit in, they were never going to be rescued, but their hope hadn’t been lost for it was a big universe, anyone, any species could come across the planet

and discover their life signs and transport them aboard.

****

USS Poseidon NCC 07

Starfleet Command had never planned on

decommissioning all of their NX-class cruisers in fact the newest one was refitted and put back into service under a different name, the USS Poseidon NCC 07 under the command of Captain Erica Stillwaters. As an untested captain commanding the first fully refitted ship Erica most of the time didn’t know really if she was the right person for the job, for from day one on the bridge, she had found command difficult for part of her crew were aliens but that was also starting to become a norm in the fleet.

“Captain,” started her Andorian Science Officer, “I’m picking up three bio-signs coming from the planet we just past by.”

“What kind of bio-signs?” asked Stillwaters, her curiosity getting the best of her.

“Human,” replied Talis Ar’nama, “it should also be noted that one is very faint and that there are no other life forms on the surface except for the three I’m detecting.”

“Helm,” ordered Stillwaters, “get us back there, Standard Orbit.” She then contacted Sickbay and

said “Doctor, join me and a Security Detail down at the transporter, we’re going down to the surface.”

Two kilometers away from her position Hoshi heard the hum of a transporter and looked to see one woman, human, two male Vulcans and three Tellarites along with an Andorian all wearing the standard blue Starfleet Uniform starting to fully materialize on the surface.

“I’m Ensign Hoshi Sato Archer of the Federation starship Enterprise NX-01,” said Hoshi.

“Impossible miss,” said Stillwaters, “first, I’m Captain Erica Stillwaters of the Federation Starship USS Poseidon NCC 07, and just to let you know, Ensign Archer has been dead for almost a year now.”

“I’ll be the judge of the that,” said the Doctor, an Andorian as he stepped up to scan Hoshi with his medical scanner and compare the results to the ship’s data on Hoshi. After about five beeps later he said, “this is Ensign Hoshi Sato Archer, but I don’t know how that can be.”

“I don’t,” said Hoshi, “but my baby boy, Jonathan Archer’s son and Major Laura of the MACOs are in that hut over there. Are you here to take us home?”

“We’ll you’re clearly human,” replied Stillwaters, “so yes, we’ll transport you aboard our ship and take you back to Earth, Starfleet Command might want to debrief you and the Major though, to find out what happened to you, Enterprise witnessed you’re shuttlepod explode.”

Hoshi returned to the hut and came back

carrying her son along with Major Laura walking beside her. The major still didn’t believe that there were really Starfleet Officers there to rescue them until she saw the blue uniforms too. “Stillwaters to Poseidon, ten to transport aboard; once we’re aboard set a course for Earth, Warp Seven.”

****

Dartha City, Romulus

“You’re the Reman that murdered Technologist

Cunaehr ir’Ra’tleihfi tr’Mandak,” demanded to know Praetor D’deridex well standing next to Admiral Valdore and the rest of the senators in the Imperial Senate Chamber. “Why the hell did you do that slave? We needed him for the Quantum Singularity Stardrive research he was conducting.”

“He was a Terran Spy,” replied the Reman, “he had to be terminated for the good of the entire empire.”

“Hell we knew that,” said Valdore, “we’re the ones who stole an unmarked ship and went to Earth and stole the body from his grave and brought him back to life to serve our needs. We did it once we can do it again.”

Valdore reached for his dathe’anofv-sen and as he did so said “Kneel you insulate Reman.” As the Reman complied with the admiral’s order, Valdore

drew his dathe’anofv-sen and chopped its head off and watching it roll away in one direction as the rest of the body toppled over… dead and bloody.

As D’deridex and the Valdore turned to leave D’deridex said “get one of the Remans to clean up that mess and get rid of that disgusting body. You senators carry on with your business in planning our revenge against the Federation.”

FORTY-TWO

Year: 2380 At The City on The Edge of Forever

Captain Sa’Kia Kobayashi couldn’t believe what

the Guardian had showed her. Even though she was given the chance to step through the Guardian’s time portal and witness the unfolding of her classified history she decided the best thing to do would be to keep herself safe in the long run. Knowing that they could easily die in the past in the unknown war and losing their command forever; which would have been a disaster if it happened; Sa’Kia and Commander Ja’meS TerranoK stayed outside the portal and watched everything unfold. It seemed like they were there for a few years but when the portal closed up and the story of the past was ended, they had only been standing in front of the Guardian of Forever for only half an hour of standard Earth time.

With the portal closed Sa’Kia turned to her First Officer and said “I’ve known something for a while

now. I also know that’s the true reason why you followed me down to the surface with that Security Detail. What I’m saying Ja’meS is that I know you have feelings for me. And if I learned anything from the Guardian, its that being on a starship you still need companionship, so I think if you’re willing we should just go for it.”

Hearing what his captain had just said Ja’meS wanted to take her and kiss her but he thought better of it since the Security Detail was still looking on, keeping a watchful eye on them for any sign that their lives were in danger. Only their lives weren’t in danger, their passions were rising to uncontrollable levels that not even a Vulcan could calm if they were in Pon’ Farr, the drive to mate would just be too powerful that they to would sub-come to it and the inner rage. So instead they reached for each other’s hands and returned to the Guardian and together asked the newest question that was just about to give them a headache if it wasn’t released. “Guardian, who will we marry?”

The Guardian’s time portal reactivated into a few months into the future, or at least it looked like a few months to the image of both Captain Sa’Kia and Commander Ja’meS standing before Admiral Kathryn Janeway in traditional twenty-fourth century wedding attire being married in the ways of their two customs, Japanese and American but the ceremonies aboard the Miranda-class vessel were interrupted when the ship was rocketed by a

subspace eddy as a Romulan D’deridex warbird’s cloaking device failed and singularity powered star drive explode damaging the ship bringing the Red Alert Klaxon on blaring over Janeway’s voice, but seconds later they stopped to reveal the last words to come out of Janeway’s mouth: “You may kiss the bride.”

Captain Kobayashi and Commander TerranoK watched as the few months into the future versions of themselves kissed for the first time as a married couple. As the kiss ended Captain Kobayashi whispered into her new husband’s ear, “I got a surprise for you.” The Guardian then went blank leaving the two to never know what that surprise would be until that day was to come.

Still holding his future wife’s hand Ja’meS tapped his combadge and said “Commander TerranoK to Alliance, transport the Security Team minus myself and the Captain back to the ship.”

“Acknowledged,” replied Lieutenant Wesley Crusher at the transporter.

Sa’Kia and Ja’meS looked on as their officers were claimed by the Alliance’s transporter and vanished. Once they were gone he pressed his lips to hers and kissed her passionately. Three minutes later she broke the kiss and he whispered in her ear “I love Sa’Kia of Kyoto.”

She pulled him close and said “I love you too Ja’meS TerranoK and that includes your one-third

Klingon side. I take it your Great, Great, Great Grandfather was a Klingon?”

“Not my Great, Great, Great Grandfather,” started Ja’meS. He took a breather knowing that what he was about to say would surprise her and tie him fully to the past that they had just witnessed and the affair Captain Jonathan Archer participated in while he was undercover on Qo’noS. “My Great, Great, Great Grandmother mated with a human back in 2164, that woman was Commander Bu’kaH. TerranoK was what last name she gave her son to start a new line for she didn’t want to use the name Archer and she thought the word Tera’ngan was way to Klingon and would give her child’s parentage away to easily.”

“You’re a descendant from the line of Captain Archer and Earth nor Qo’noS history records it,” said Sa’Kia , “look at me, I’m a pure human being from Japan and I’m going to be marrying a piece of living history. How the hell did I get so lucky?” She gathered her part Klingon future husband into her arms and pressed her lips to his again, only this time holding the kiss for almost three whole minutes but it seemed more like an entire lifetime to her as she thought “his cranial ridges don’t exist, that’s why he doesn’t look Klingon, being the fact that his family continued to be married to humans. I’m the woman who’s going to almost make his lineage full human again when we have children.”

When the kiss ended still holding his future wife’s

hand Ja’meS did the same thing as before and tapped his combadge again. “Ja’meS to Alliance, two to transport.” Together Sa’Kia and Ja’meS waited as the hum of the Alliance’s transporter claimed them again. Once they were aboard their ship, the USS Alliance warped out of the system allowing Captain Sa’Kia and Commander Ja’meS to begin their mission and their new adventure…

FORTY-THREE

Earth & Starfleet Command Headquarters USS Alliance NCC 379891 Year: 2380

No one at Starfleet Command cared about what

Captain Kobayashi or Commander TerranoK had found out from the Guardian of Forever at the City on the Edge of Forever. All the brass headed fools cared about was their new pride and joy, a new piece of technology they had managed to reverse engineer from the Borg’s Transwarp Network only this new technology didn’t need a transwarp portal to work. In fact, it needed a whole different power source. Now that almost the whole Alpha, Beta and Gamma Quadrants were part of the United Federation of Planets for they wanted to except the Olive Branch of peace that the humans and their allies were extending out to all aliens.

Because the unthinkable had happened and the Federation had grown, the only quadrant left that still hadn’t been fully explored was the Delta

Quadrant, and no one really wanted to go there for fear that the Borg might still be around re-massing and planning another invasion. An invasion that Earth knew it wasn’t ready for, for most of their ships had either been destroyed or damaged almost six years ago by the time the Dominion War had ended. No one was ready for or wanted another war, everyone wanted to go back to Starfleet’s primary mission, to explore the vast unknowns of space.

There was just nothing left to really explore in the whole Milky Way Galaxy anymore but beyond the Great Barrier there was still a vastly unknown galaxy just waiting to be explored but to get there would require a massive power drain on any starship possessing a warp core. Starfleet had no choice, they would need a new source of propulsion to continue their mission.

The Starfleet Corps of Engineers quickly got behind a new project that would create a new power source that would be able to power a new kind a stardrive. Their two new inventions were a Zero Point Module, a ZPM for short and a Hyperspace Generator that would open a portal into another dimension of space known as Hyperspace. To get to hyperspace though, the Hyperspace Generator would have to create something called a Hyperspace Window. This new portal would shave decades off a long journey making it seem like a few minutes to a few hours. There was only one problem though; there was only one ship in the whole fleet that

would be able to hold this new device, a Miranda-class starship that was designed to be a test bed for new technologies, the USS Alliance NCC 379891.

On her way back from the Guardian of Forever, the Alliance picked up a communiqué coming from the Andromeda Galaxy. The transmission coming from an alien race calling themselves the Shakaians and they were in drier need of assistance. After reviewing the transmission three times, the Alliance’s Communications Officer a Trill female named Lieutenant Commander Trigana Gon, hosting the Gon symbiote said “Captain, I’ve managed to translate the transmission and because of the nature of it, I forwarded a copy of it to Starfleet Command.”

“Lets hear it,” replied Captain Kobayashi. Lieutenant Gon brought the transmission to audio

and raised the volume a little for everyone on the bridge to hear the jumbled voice as the Universal Translator tried to turn is as good as possible into pure English. “This is the Shakaians from the Andromeda Galaxy, we’re requesting a United Federation of Planets Ellison; the major reason for our communiqué is because our homeworld is under attack, requesting emergency assistance.”

No one aboard the Alliance knew who the Shakaians were but many of the officers at Starfleet Command remembered them from eight years earlier while they went to the Andromeda Galaxy to destroy the Votality once and for all but they had fled to the safety of the Pegasus Galaxy. Since they

knew who the beings were, Starfleet recalled the Alliance back to Earth to have her quickly refitted with their newest technology and to send her on her way to the Andromeda Galaxy knowing so well that they may never hear from her again.

After Alliance arrived at Earth, the crew was anxious to meet the new crewmembers that they would be getting, crew that were experts in the new technologies being installed. Among the new crew coming aboard was a full-blooded Romulan Observer, bearing the name Centurion Ry’anio Cu’marz’on who would be in charge of overseeing the use of the new Romulan cloaking device being installed on the ship so they could travel inside the Andromeda Galaxy undetected most of the time… or so they hoped. After the easiest technologies were installed, the specialists in the Hyperspace field came aboard the Alliance and headed towards Engineering taking with them big pieces of equipment on anti-grav lifts that made them glide all the way to their destination.

Inside Engineering, the Hyperspace Generator was put in the exact place where the Alliance’s warp core used to be but with the new Hyperdrive Generator, the generator would do the job of both engines since even though it was powered by the ZPM, it still had matter and anti-matter flowing through. Therefore all the ingredients needed to create a warp field were still present.

A two week shore leave was scheduled for the

crew after the ship was ready to leave so that everyone would be fully rested before they shipped out. At ten hundred hours that Thursday morning, the USS Alliance NCC 379891 left spacedock on a course directly for the Great Barrier. As everyone at Starfleet Command and the nearby starships watched her leave, everyone hoped she would return home intact with hopefully some new technologies and information on strange new worlds and their inhabitants. The Alliance was finally underway again, only this time into the very vast unknown…this time though with a newly married couple onboard.

FORTY-FOUR

Great Barrier & The Andromeda Galaxy Year: 2380

“Release log buoy,” ordered Commander Ja’meS

Terranok sitting in his command chair beside his fiancée Captain Sa’Kia Kobayashi who was standing by waiting to give her order. As he looked towards her and grabbed her hand, she stood and gave her order after she heard Gon reply to Ja’meS’ order.

“Log buoy away, its heading towards Federation Space.”

“Helm,” ordered Sa’Kia, “deactivate the warpdrive engine, bring the Hyperspace Generator online, open a Hyperspace Window and take us in.”

The trip through Hyperspace into the Andromeda Galaxy took less than a minute for a journey that should have taken closer to eighty years. Once the ship exited the Hyperspace Window intact, Ja’meS gave his next order, “set a course for the Shakaians’ homeworld, Warp Seven.”

“Engage,” ordered Sa’Kia.

****

Two Hours Later Shakaians’ Homeworld

As the Alliance dropped out of warp, they quickly

found another ship in the system with them, a ship that was actually from the Pegasus Galaxy but not hostile. The ship belonged to a race called the Progenitors or as some called them; the Ancient Ones and they were the protectors of the Shakaians’ homeworld for it had a special kind of circular device on the surface that also allowed interstellar travel from one world to another.

As quickly as she dropped out of warp, the Alliance was contacted by the Progenitors. “This is the Progenitor city-ship Garsara, please identify yourself or we will be forced to use deadly force. Please respond on this channel.”

Sa’Kia stood up as she began to speak. “This is Captain Kobayashi of the United Federation of Planets’ starship USS Alliance NCC 379891. We’re responding to a distress call sent out by the inhabitants of this world.”

“We’re the protectors of this world,” replied the leader of the Progenitors. “We had to bring our city-ship here instead of taking our Gate-ships through our Gateway to get here so if we encountered hostilities we could reply within ease.”

“Gateways? Gate-ships?” asked Sa’Kia, “I’m afraid

you have my crew and I confused, we’re from another galaxy, the Milky Way Galaxy to be precise. You’re going to have to explain this to us.”

“Come aboard our city-ship,” said the Progenitors’ leader, “we’ll explain everything.”

“You’re with me Ja’meS,” said Sa’Kia, “we’ll transport over together.”

“You’re not going Sa’Kia,” replied Ja’meS, “its my duty as First Officer to protect you and we’ve just met these people, I’m going alone.”

“Are you really talking as my First Officer…” started Sa’Kia “or as my husband?”

“You’re part Vulcan, and that makes you a touch telepath,” started Ja’meS, “touch me to find out.”

She pressed her hands to his Katra points and melded her mind with his then in his mind he heard her say, “both, you love me so much that you want to protect me, you’re my personal warrior, you’d die for me just to keep me safe. I still want to go though, there’s no foreseeable danger, plus you’ll be there if there was.”

“Alright you can go to,” thought Ja’meS, “but stay close to me at all times.”

“Deal,” thought back Sa’Kia as she broke the meld took her fiancée’s hand and walked towards the turbolift. Just before the doors to the turbolift closed shut behind him, Ja’meS said “Lieutenant Wallrason, the bridge is yours.”

**** Garsara

After transporting aboard the mysterious city-

ship, Captain Kobayashi and Commander TerranoK were led to the city’s central tower and control room. On their way up the stairs towards the Altarian leader’s office, Ja’meS noticed the circular device in the floor with strange symbols on it and a control consol with an officer stationed at it with the same symbols. He quickly pointed it out to Sa’Kia, “wonder what it is?”

“It’s the Gateway,” replied the Altarian leader at the top of the stairs, “and that station you just passed is the DHD, the device that allows us to dial other gate addresses and go off-world so to speak. We can give you one for your ship and as long as you’re in subspace when you use it and stationary you can go to other planets.”

“We’ll take one,” said Ja’meS thinking about all the places he could take Sa’Kia that were unexplored without the crew knowing at night.

“We’ll wait,” said Sa’Kia, “for now, lets first get to know you better.”

****

“There’s a Hyperspace Window opening,” replied

one of the Progenitors at what Sa’Kia thought was

the city-ship’s helm. “A Wraith Hive-ship is emerging, their launching dart-ships at us.”

“Contact the Chair Room,” ordered the leader, “get our drones into the air.” She then turned to the two Starfleet Officers and said “We’re at war with the Wraith; they feed on the humans and other aliens of this galaxy and also the Pegasus which we’re from. You might want to order your ship to leave or use your weapons to assist us.”

“Alliance, this is Sa’Kia, raise shields target the ship that just emerged from Hyperspace, their called the Wraith and their at war with our new friends, they feed of people.”

As the shields flickered into existence around Alliance and torpedoes left their launchers, two Romulan D’deridex-class warbirds decloaked on either side of her ad also opened fire. Ja’meS turned to her and said, “I should have told you we had a cloaked escort, it was Starfleet Commands idea…” but before he could add anything, the two warbirds exploded for their Quantum Singularity Stardrives were badly affected by the effects of hyperspace destabilizing its reaction.

From Garsara raced several bright colored torpedoes like things that both Ja’meS and Sa’Kia realized must be drones, as they lit up the sky, heading towards both the hive-ship and the darts. Surprisingly the Wraith were ignoring the torpedoes coming from the Alliance and concentrating on neutralizing the weapons from Garsara, before they

realized what was happening the hive-ship was damaged and had no choice but to recall their darts and jump back into Hyperspace.

****

With the hive-ship gone and the darts that it left

behind now fully destroyed, the Progenitors and the two commanding officers of the USS Alliance NCC 379891 started to talk about forming an alliance between each other. An alliance that was almost turning out to be a great idea for the Progenitors after checking the Alliance’s Hyperspace Generator realized that the crew would never be able to return to the Milky Way Galaxy but would be forced to live out the rest of their lives in ether the Andromeda or Pegasus Galaxies. Because of that little unforeseen development the Progenitors installed a Gateway like device in the Alliance’s cargo bay, a Gateway that could only be used while the ship remained stationary. “You can also call us anytime you need assistance,” said the leader of the Progenitors, “but since there’s so many of my race, just call us the Progenitors.”

With their new technologies and new friends and allies and even enemies, the crew of the USS Alliance NCC 379891 knew that they would never be alone. With that in mind they got ready to restart the normal Starfleet mission of seeking out new life and civilizations and to boldly go where no man, no

human, and no one from the whole Milky Way Galaxy had ever gone before… their mission had just begun…

FORTY-FIVE

USS Alliance NCC 379891 Deep Within The Andromeda Galaxy

Captain Sa’Kia of Alliance wasn’t at all ready for

what she was about to discover, nor was her husband for that matter, all they knew that whatever was about to come their way; they would face it together, good or bad. Of course they had finally come to terms with the fact that they were never going to return to the Milky Way Galaxy and see their homes again. Little did they know that there were beings from the Delta Quadrant of the Milky Way Galaxy among them. During the years the USS Voyager NCC 7642 was still trapped within the Delta Quadrant, they got caught up in the war that the Borg and Species 8472 were fighting.

Thanks to Voyager though the Borg were able to gain access to Fluidic Space, because of that one flaw in Janeway’s logic a Borg cube ship got trapped in the Andromeda Galaxy too when they exited Fluidic Space way to soon during their journey home to the

Unicomplex. Now since that cube was in the Andromeda Galaxy, the Borg drones that were crewing it were starting to assimilate and catalog the races of this galaxy as they turned them into drones too. With the Alliance also trapped there was a Federation presence in the system with the training and the technology to fight their fury they were setting on millions of countless races.

“Long range sensors are picking up something kind of strange,” reported Command Lieutenant Wallrason. “The configuration matches that of a Borg ship.”

Ja’meS jumped out of his chair beside Sa’Kia and ran to the tactical station before she could even say word. “Impossible,” he said as he got there, “they must have followed us from the Alpha Quadrant when we left.”

“Don’t think so,” replied Wallrason, “their trajectory indicates they came from the opposite direction not to mention they appear to be heavily damaged.”

“Helm, intercept course,” ordered Kobayashi, “we have to investigate this situation a little further. I predict there is more going on here than our sensors can detect.”

“I agree,” said Ja’meS returning to his chair beside her. He then gave his next orders, orders that added on to Sa’Kia’s. “Helm Warp Eight. Engage.”

****

At warp eight it didn’t take long for the Alliance to

arrive at the Borg ship’s coordinates, as the Federation starship dropped out of warp, her sensors locked onto and magnified on the forward view screen the image of one massive Borg cube drifting slowly in space apparently disabled but quickly becoming operational again.

“They’re heavily damaged,” Wallrason reported, “they do appear to be repairing the damage on their outer hull quickly though. If we’re going to do something about them captain, we have to do it now before they are able to adapt or detect us and send boarding parties.”

“If they board us Sa’Kia,” started Ja’meS, “they’ll start to assimilate both the ship and the crew. We have to do something now.”

“Helm move us within optimal torpedo range,” ordered Kobayashi. “Tactical, ready a volley of quantum torpedoes. Fire at will.”

Looking towards his wife Ja’meS thought to himself, “I can’t wait till I can hear her thoughts in my head as she thinking them. To bad her first Pon’ Farr is going to happen in a few days, if she didn’t want to wait till then to make love, we could fully be bonded. She’ll be ready soon though, I have faith in my wife, and I can except that she wants it to be special for her very first; but is she ready to handle those primal urges and emotions?”

Taking her husband’s hand Sa’Kia looked him in

the eyes and as if she knew what he was thinking leaned in towards his left ear and whispered “tomorrow night, my Pon’ Farr will start, then we’ll be fully bonded. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts in my head either, but if we’re strong, we can wait. For now, lets just hope we get out of this situation alive so there will be a tomorrow night.” Sadly just as their perfect private moment on the bridge was about to lead into a passionate kiss, the two love birds were interrupted by a klaxon going off and their communications officer speaking up. From her communications station, Lieutenant Commander Trigana Gon opened her mouth and said the worst possible news that turned Sa’Kia right back into her command mode.

“We’ve been boarded, at least eighteen drones on decks four and six.”

“Wallrason, Cu’marz’on, Ensign Carter and Security Detail One, you’re with me,” said Ja’meS as he got out of his chair. “Meet me on Deck Four near Defector Control.” He turned to his wife who he passionately kissed on the lips and then left.

“Be careful Aisha,” shouted Sa’Kia using her Vulcan family’s word for beloved as he entered the turbolift. Once the doors shut she thought “I wish we were bonded now, that way I’d know if something were to happen to him. Why did I even choose to wait till my Pon’ Farr? He’s my husband and he loves me.”

On deck four after the Security Team Ja’meS put

together was armed with Phaser Rifles they headed towards the drones that they knew were coming. As they moved, Ja’meS thought “I’m not letting you take my wife’s ship without a fight, and you’re going to have to kill me and her before you can even have this new Miranda-class vessel, but I’ll be giving my life to protect hers if I have to so all I’m fighting for is her safety. I don’t require the honor that my Klingon ancestors were always searching for on the field of battle. Today is not a good day to die.”

Getting closer and closer to the drones Ja’meS could see them trying to override the security protocols to the door locking controls for the room to Deflector Control. Obviously to no prevail since a whole group of them had resorted to trying to push the door down using their superior strength but that to wasn’t working. Seeing the group of mostly humans approaching them with rifles trained on them, the Borg gave up on the door and made their advance towards their new adversaries.

As the group got near to one of the Auxiliary Deflector Control Rooms, Cu’marz’on was captured by a drone that was hiding in the room who extend its assimilation tubules into the helpless Romulan’s neck. Before the assimilation process could complete one of the Andorians in the Security Team, the only alien in it actually, aimed his weapon at both the Romulan and the drone and fired. Both collapsed dead within seconds. Not giving the rest of the Borg

a chance to adapt, the whole Security Detail targeted the remaining drones and on Ja’meS’ command opened fire.

The corridor turned into a blaze of red from the phaser rifles energy output as it hit each drone. A few of the ten drones on Deck Four managed to adapt while more than half of their comrades fell down shaking about dying, their voices fading out of the Collective consciousness forever as if they never had existed.

Re-modulating their phaser rifles to another setting Ja’meS and the Security Detail made their way to the remaining eight drones on Deck Six, all of which weren’t stationed together like the other ones had been forcing the team to split up and hunt them down. Traveling alone down one of the maintenance corridors, Ja’meS came face to face with a drone and a partially assimilated crewmen. He raised his rifle took aim and found that the weapon wouldn’t fire. With no other choice Ja’meS reached behind his back and unfastened his Bat’leth and charged at the two drones. As he ran he raised the blunt edge of the weapon over his head and only brought it down when he was over the drone’s head slicing it in half right down deep into the creatures neck right towards it’s ribcage and heart. Satisfied with the sight he pulled at the Bat’leth forcing it out of the dead drones body dragging parts of the former unknown alien’s heart, lungs, stomach, entrails and a piece of bone right along with it.

Picking up his useless phaser rifle Ja’meS headed

off to the Armory where he cleaned off his Bat’leth then put it away again. Heading back out carrying a new rifle he made his way back to the bridge to be back at his wife’s side… his rightful place.

FORTY-SIX

One Day After Sa’Kia’s Pon’ Farr “I love hearing your thoughts in my head Aisha,”

thought Sa’Kia as she laid beside her husband who was just starting to wake up. “I don’t know why we waited so long to mate and get this more than physical connection.”

“It was your choice Aisha,” thought back Ja’meS. “I only did what you wanted me to do for I just want you to be happy. So I respected your wishes and waited as long as you wanted to, and if you changed your mind about waiting that would have also been alright with me for I love you.”

Getting out of bed and then helping his wife do the same Ja’meS looked at her semi-naked figure and said “You’re so cute.” Then he thought “I could say that to you in Vulcan, Japanese or English since I can understand each one with our minds bonded like this. The only one I wouldn’t say is the Klingon word for there isn’t one in their language that describes you so perfectly Aisha.”

“Thank,” she thought, “just speak to me in English

though but you can project thoughts to me in either Vulcan or Japanese, it doesn’t really matter to me.” Starting to dress she decided to start speaking regularly again so she took a deep breath and started to speak again, only this time it was business related. “You know I wish these repairs were finished already, I want to leave this godforsaken planet. There’s hardly no sun and the plants look so terrible. Its like a war was fought here, or some species went extinct here or something far worse has happened. I’d feel better if we could get our hyperdrive working and return to the Milky Way, to hell with our dam mission. I miss home.”

“I know you miss home Aisha,” said Ja’meS, “but as much as you hate our mission, our duty as Starfleet Officers comes first. Anyways I hate it too but that doesn’t mean I want to do something about it…unless…”

“You want to take this ship into Fluidic Space just like the way the Borg cube that we encountered and destroyed three days ago did,” thought Sa’Kia, “but you want to exit in the Delta Quadrant and settle down there and raise a family with me, that’s sweet but what about the crew?”

“They can make their own decision about if they want to join us or take this ship and leave us with one of the two Runabouts we’re carrying and use the hyperdrive to return to the Alpha Quadrant and the safety of the Federation,” thought Ja’meS, “I just

want to be alone with you Sa’Kia, even if that means on some desolate planet in the middle of Borg Territory in the Delta Quadrant or still in the Delta Quadrant but on a planet of your choosing; after all, all I want is for you to always be happy but also by my side. That’s why I’ll love you always my Aisha.”

Sa’Kia gave a little giggle that her husband thought sounded a little sexy then she got series again as she continued putting on her duty uniform and some makeup. “We should go get some breakfast and then head down to Engineering to see how Commander Samuel Wakimi-Nara is getting along with those repairs so we can try and make your idea come true or at least get us out of here.”

“Agreed,” said Ja’meS as he finished putting on his uniform and planting a kiss on her lovely lips.

****

One Day Earlier

“Helm, take us out of warp,” ordered Sa’Kia. She

then looked towards her husband to have him continue giving the orders since early that morning her Pon’ Farr had started and the urges to mate were just to strong for her to wait till that night for her to have her husband make love to her. “You know my thoughts Aisha, you continue with my orders.”

“Alright Aisha,” he thought as she opened up her

mind to him making her thoughts come through even more clear than they were before. “So crystal clear,” he thought. “Ensign O’Malley, take us into a standard orbit. Prepare to take us into the atmosphere on my command. Bring the Landing struts online, lets see what this ship can do when it comes to landing.”

“Landing struts are now extended,” reported O’Malley, “we’re entering the atmosphere now.”

As the USS Alliance NCC 379891 made her way towards the surface of the unnamed M-class planet, the ride started to get so bumpy that Sa’Kia was almost thrown from her seat. Lucky though for her, her husband was by her side and extend his arm out to hold her in place as she started forward.

Moments started to pass by slowly but after about ten or fifteen minutes, Ja’meS couldn’t be sure but he felt the ship lightly touch down onto the planet’s rocky surface. With the ship secured and everyone of the onboard systems being shutdown one-by-one, Sa’Kia, Ja’meS and the rest of the bridge crew grabbed hand held lights and waited for the ship’s lighting to go out like it was already doing so on the rest of the ship. Seconds later, the bridge lights flickered out as everyone activated their handheld lights that were attached to their wrists, as a group they all headed towards the only way off the bridge, the still working turbolift that they took to Deck Two then to finish their journey they headed to

the maintenance shafts that had only stairs that would lead further down into the belly of the dead ship.

With no power throughout the whole Alliance, it took Sa’Kia and Ja’meS almost an hour to find their way to Engineering to get a status report from Commander Wakimi-Nara. When he saw the Captain and the first officer walk in, he said, “I don’t have much news captain. It will take almost the rest of today and tomorrow to fix the hyperdrive system, tie it into the warp engine and then reactivate the whole stardrive system as one unit, but it can be done; I just don’t know if it will work or last long. When the work is complete though, this ship should have a working interstellar hyperdrive system that will get us back to the Federation or wherever else you want to go.”

“Carry on then commander,” said Ja’meS allowing him to get back to work as he took his wife’s hand and led her through the dark toward their quarters.

****

Forty-Eight Hours Later

Late into Gamma Shift’s time to be on duty on the

bridge were Sa’Kia and Ja’meS on the bridge of the USS Alliance NCC 379891 for way down below decks Commander Wakimi-Nara was about ready to bring everyone of the ship’s systems back online including

what everyone was hoping would be a new and approved hyperdrive system; one that would get them home again.

Ja’meS couldn’t believe his eyes when he looked towards his wife and found her sleeping right in her command chair. Since he didn’t want to wake her up knowing that she had had a tough day he decided the best thing for him to do was to take command of the Alliance himself. So he started to give his orders.

“Wallrason, ready the shields so they come online the moment we’re about to liftoff surface.”

“O’Malley, bring the engines online and prepare to retract the landing mechanisms. Also activate the hyperdrive and get ready to form a hyperspace window as soon as were clear from the planet.”

“Acknowledged,” replied both Wallrason and O’Malley as they executed the First Officer’s orders.

About two and a quarter minutes later, the ship started to rumble as she lifted off from the surface leaving the M-class planet behind her. As Alliance’s hull started to shake from her rapid increase of speed through the atmosphere, Sa’Kia was woke from her peaceful sleep not at all mad at her husband for taking command and giving the order to leave.

When the Alliance finally broke free of the planet’s atmosphere and gravity and entered a stable standard orbit, all hell started to brake lose, only no one aboard the ship knew it for somehow the ship’s safety protocols never reactivated when

the main computer was brought back online. The malfunction was with the intermix in the hyperdrive plasma chamber but since the system that would detect it wasn’t on, O’Malley at the helm was able to open a hyperspace window and guide the ship towards it but before she could enter it…

…the USS Alliance NCC 379891 exploded. As the fireball inside the ship’s hyperdrive engine escalated and consumed Engineering working its way up to the bridge through all the secondary explosions that were forming; Sa’Kia projected one final thought to her husband as they died hand in hand, lip to lip, “I’m pregnant Aisha, I only found out a few hours ago thanks to my Vulcan side, it happened during my Pon’ Farr. I’m sorry we’ll never see our child; but at least we're going to die together. The way its supposed to be. I’m just surprised we didn’t see this coming while we were looking through the Guardian of Forever, we could have requested a different assignment, maybe one in the Delta Quadrant aboard the USS Voyager NCC 7642-A.”

“I know Aisha,” thought Ja’meS, “at least we’re together in death too, I’ll always lo…” the rest of his words were cut off when the explosion claimed him and his wife’s life. Within seconds after that, the USS Alliance NCC 379891 was nothing more than a field of smoldering wreckage along with a few drifting bodies in the cold vacuum of space.

APPENDIXS

APPENDIX I Minipedia of Terms

Arrenhe’hwiua Telecapture Device- the device used by the Romulans to remotely take over and control an enemy vessel, they usual start be deactivating the life-support systems and jamming communications. B4- The android used to lure the Enterprise to Romulus in Star Trek Nemesis. Barge of the Dead- in Klingon mythology of the afterlife, this is the boat that takes you a crossed the River of Blood, its bound for the internal Sto’vo’kor. Bat’leth- a weapon that resembles a sword used by the Klingons, it has prongs on it and is almost shaped like a half circle. Blood Oath- when the Klingons or a Klingon declares you or a whole race their enemy. They’ll stop at nothing to kill you, destroy your fleets and conquer your homeworld. When this happens, the best thing for you to do is possibly surrender unconditionally. Breen Energy Disruption Weapon- the USS Defiant NX- 74205 was hit by this weapon at the Second

Battle of Chin’toka and since affected her shields and every other system, the Dominion was able to destroy her, but almost everyone survived by evacuating her through the escape pods. The United Federation of Planet’s adapted this technology into their Shield Disruptors. Bondmates- the Vulcan term for when a Vulcan mates and the two form a physic bond. Bondmates in Vulcan society exist to produce offspring. Coalition of Planets- the alien worlds united with Earth in 2155 – 2161 just before the founding of the United Federation of Planets in 2161 after the Romulan-Earth War. Conclave- the ruling body of the Tholian Government Danthe’anofv-sen- Honor Blade in Romulan. Doghjey- the word for unconditional surrender in the Klingon language Ejhoi Ormiin- Romulan descendancy group led by the rogue Vulcan turned Romulan native Sopek/Ch’uihv.

Empok Nor- A Cardassian built Station in the Trivas System; sister to Terok Nor (AKA: Deep Space Nine),

derelict and after the Dominion War, the Federation gained control of it and the area of space around it in treaty. First Contact- this event is when humans first learned they weren’t alone in the universe when Vulcans landed on the planet after detecting Zefram Cochrane’s historic warp flight of his ship the Phoenix. Furies- snake like beings that drive fear into the hearts of the enemy, driving them insane; they consider our space “Heaven” and once ruled us as slave masters. We banished them from “Heaven” to the Delta Quadrant and they survived in legend as “demons, devils, or in Klingon, the “Havoc”. They have returned to reclaim “Heaven” and drive us out. Gagh- a Klingon dish of live worms. Gemini Effect- this was created as a result of Dr. Paul Manheim’s temporal research in 2364. The effect creates a temporal disturbance in the space-time continuum, allowing two of the same ship to exist simultaneously in different locations (but not in time). Great Barrier, The- another name for the Galatic Barrier. This barrier separates the four quadrants of the Milky Way Galaxy (the Alpha, Beta, Gamma, &

Delta Quadrants) from all the quadrants of the little known Andromeda Galaxy. For a long time it was believed that no starship could penetrate it until the USS Enterprise NCC 1701 was hijacked from a group of aliens from the Andromeda Galaxy. Gre’thor- Klingon version of hell, a place for the dishonored and those who didn’t die in battle. “I cherish thee”- Vulcan for “I love you.” Inertial Dampers- a system used on almost all starships to counter the effects of rapid acceleration or deceleration of a vessel by sustaining and absorbing the natural inertia of a vessel as it either moves through space or if it’s under attack from another vessel. Jegh’pujwI- lawfully conquered alien prisoners of the Klingon Empire. Joined Trill- the Trill is a symbiont like life form that is implanted into the host’s stomach. They share thoughts and the memories of the symbionts’ past hosts. Ezri Dax is an example of a Trill joined with a symbiont. K’ri’Brax, Month of- Romulan word for the month of or around the Terran month of July.

Kal’i’farr- the Vulcan word for marriage. Klivam- Romulan for Klingon Lattice- the name given to the one in charge of the Tholian Conclave. M-class- Minshara Class planet- these planets support life and are Earth like planets, the term Minshara comes from Vulcan. Military Assault Command Operations (MACOs) - a group of soldiers not belonging to Starfleet, but working side by side with them. Nasal Agent or Nasal Inhibitor- something Vulcans use well on vessels that aren’t crewed by other Vulcans, for example, an Earth vessel like the Enterprise NX-01. It suppresses the smells and odors given off by others. They use this because their sense of smell is more heightened than that of humans. Old Man- Sisco called Jadiza “Old Man” and he also calls Ezri it because his old friend, a man named Curzon was a host to the Dax symbiont years ago. Pawraiths- the Anti-Prophets to the Bajoran people, they were almost released from the Fire Caves in Star Trek Deep Space Nine’s, final episode but the Emissary (Captain Benjamin Sisco) stopped them, but

was lost to the fire caves. (Star Trek Deep Space Nine “What You Leave Behind”) P’Jem- Vulcan sanctuary that was destroyed by Andorian Commandoes in 2151 after they found a Listening Post at the monastery that the Vulcans were using to spy on them, a listening post that Jonathan and T’Pol helped find. Point Defense Phaser (PDP) - destroys incoming torpedoes before they can do any damage Pon’ Farr- in Vulcan it means “Time of Mating”, it happens every seven years. Vulcans are required to mate or they will die. Some symptoms the Vulcan experiences cause him or her to act emotional and irrational. The cycle lasts only seven days. Rihannsu- the name that the Romulans call themselves, everyone else has ether translated it to Romulan in their own tongues.

RomuluSngan- the Klingon word for Romulan. Sa’Hut- Klingon word for ass Shield Disrupter- a weapon based on Breen Technology from the Dominion War; its function is to disable the shields of a group of enemy vessels so it’s

possible for the Starfleet vessels to inflict damage to the enemy’s hull and systems directly. Slingshot Maneuver- is when a starship using the gravimetric shear of a star (mostly a sun), to slingshot into the past. It’s a type of Time Travel maneuver that will only work in returning if the ship’s hull carries enough chrometric particles from its original time she came from. Soudan- a planet in the Beta Quadrant, its inhabitants are the Soudanians; they hate violence but have built powerful warships to defend their homeworld. Its also the Japanese word for consultation, discussion.

Sto’vo’kor- Klingon version of heaven, it’s a place for the warriors who have died in battle or had preformed some honorable task while they were alive.

Sub-Commander- Vulcan rank, this was T’Pol’s rank in the Vulcan High Command before she resigned her commission with them to join Enterprise on its mission into the Delphic Expanse, hence there return; she accepted a commission with Starfleet with the rank of Commander.

Targ- a type of Klingon dog, also a food source.

Temporal Research Facility- a place where the United Federation of Planets studies time, in direr need it could be used for time travel but truthfully the Federation is against that. Its other effect is to freeze time in a certain sector infecting only the enemies’ fleets and starbases for a given amount of time allowing the Federation fleet to gain a victory. Tera’ngans- the Klingon word for Terrans or humans

Terra Prime- the organization that tried to stop the founding of the Coalition of Planets and the signing of its charter back in 2155, it was run by John Fredrick Paxton. They created out of cloned DNA a Vulcan Human Hybrid child, the offspring of Commander’s T’Pol and Charles “Trip” Tucker III of Enterprise, the child Elizabeth Tucker eventually died because of flaws in the cloning process. This brought Tucker and T’Pol’s relationship to an end and a way for her and Jonathan to get closer. “Thought Space”- almost like interspace travel but faster than being in Subspace. The Votality uses this kind of high speed travel while many other alien cultures use warpdrive. The Shedai also use this to get around through the means of their Conduits. Thoughtwave- a telepathic link used by the Tholians to communicate non-verbally.

United Earth- was what Earth’s Governments united under after the Third World War. With Earth’s many governments striving for the same goal, a unified planet Earth, Starfleet in 2155 started that unification process that would have united Earth with several other alien planets forming the United Coalition of Planets was halted by Terra Prime but reconvened after Captain Archer and the crew of the Enterprise halted them.

APPENDIX II IMPORTANT STARFLEET OFFICERS

Enterprise NX-01

Captain Jonathan Archer (Human Male) Commanding Officer

Commander T’Pol (Archer) (Vulcan Female) First Officer/Science Officer

Ensign Hoshi Sato (Archer) (Human Female) Communications Officer

Commander Charles “Trip” Tucker III (Human Male) Chief Engineer

Lieutenant Burch (Human Male) Chief Engineer, after Trip’s death

Doctor Phlox (Denobulan Male) Chief Medical Officer

Lieutenant Malcolm Reed (Human Male) Tactical Officer & Chief of Security

Ensign Travis Mayweather

(Human Male) Helmsman NX-02 Columbia Captain Erica Hernandez (Human Female) Commanding Officer Commander Veronica Fletcher (Human Female) First Officer Lieutenant Reiko Akagi (Human Female) Helmsman Lieutenant Kiona Thayer (Human Female) Chief Tactical Officer Lieutenant Karl Graylock (Human Male) Chief Engineer Lieutenant Commander Kalil el-Rashad (Human Male) Second Officer & Science Officer

USS Enterprise NCC 1701

Captain James Tiberius Kirk (Human Male) Commanding Officer

Commander Spock (Vulcan-human Male) First Officer & Science Officer

Dr. Leonard McCoy, Bones

(Human Male) Chief Medical Officer

Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu (Human Male) Operations Officer, helmsman

Ensign Pavel Chekov (Human Male) Operations Officer, helmsman

Lieutenant Montgomery Scott (Human Male) Chief Engineer USS Enterprise NCC 1701-E

Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Human Male) Commanding Officer

Commander Worf (Klingon Male) First Officer

Commander Geordi La Forge (Human Male) Chief Engineer

Doctor Beverly Crusher (Human Female) Chief Medical Officer

B-4 (Android) Operations Officer & Science Officer

Lieutenant T’Rysssa Chen (Vulcan-Human Female) Helmsman

Deep Space Nine/USS Defiant NCC 74205 Captain Benjamin Sisco (Human Male) Commanding Officer Colonel Kira Nerys (Bajoran Female) First Officer

Lieutenant Ezri Dax (Trill Female, Joined) Executive Officer for Defiant, Science Officer USS Alliance NCC 379891

Captain Sa’Kia Kobayashi (Human-Vulcan, Female) Commanding Officer

Commander Ja’meS TerranoK (Human-Klingon Male) First Officer

Lieutenant Carlos Wallrason (Human-Romulan Male) Tactical Officer & Chief of Security

Lieutenant Commander Trigana Gon (Trill Female, joined) Communications Officer

Centurion Ry’anio Cu’marz’on (Romulan Male) Observer/Cloak Specialist

The Admiralty

Admiral Maxwell Forest (Human Male) 2151 – 2155

Admiral Gardner (Human Male) 2155- 2163

Admiral Gregory Black (Human Male) 2155 - ???? Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Human Female) 2376 – 2380 Extra

Captain T’Lin Archer (Vulcan-Human Female) Jonathan and T’Pol’s daughter and the former commanding officer of the USS Relentless NCC 50634 Cunaehr ir’Ra’tleihfi tr’Mandak- the Romulan name Trip assumed while a being a spy on Romulus during 2155. Originally he was a Romulan Scientist working for Doctor Ehrehin i'Ramnau tr'Avrak.

APPENDIX III IMPORTANT ALIEN CULTURES

Andorian - Planet: Andoria. Humanoid Federation members are blue-skinned in appearance, with bilateral antennae that reflect their emotional state, and characteristically white hair. Andorians are self-described as a violent and warlike species, although they do have great affinity for family. No members of this Federation race were aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D when Data's offspring, Lal, was "born." Lal rejected an Andorian female as one of four final choices for a racial type, instead opting to become a human female. Apparently, according to Data on Stardate 43657.0, Andorians engage in group marriages of four as a rule. However, most of what is known about this race is scattered. This Federation member-race was the subject of some kind of gender-swapping joke by Quark that Morn was slow to catch; the punch line was "and the Andorian says, 'Your brother? I thought it was your wife!'" Andoria is among the many planets providing a registry home to numerous ships that use Deep Space Nine. Their variety of silk is prized for its softness. Andorian jewelry is highly collectible and is not usually available on Deep Space Nine — one of Quark's would-be expanded sales items by inter-

station monitor. Historically, the first Vulcan-Andorian contact was encouraging, but the Vulcans felt the Andorians soon showed a duplicitous side in honoring only the self-beneficial agreements. The overall level of Andorian technology--including propulsion, weapons and sensors—is more advanced than Earth's in 2153. The military, if not society in general, is fully integrated to both males and females well before Federation membership. If Talas is any indication, Andorian women may use blue lipstick and eye shadow toned darker than their skin color. Like humans, natives show a tendency of monodexterity to either right or left. A celebratory drink of beverages, including those alcoholic, is a custom among Andorians as well as humans. Andorian ale is a favorite.

Andorian renegades in the Triangular system, it is said, once embarrassed a Starfleet admiral's supposed search when they hid their ship by dismantling it. An Andorian was present at Risa when Captain Picard vacationed there on Stardate 43745.2, and also an Andorian group bid for Tellurian spices offered by Kivas Fajo on Stardate 43872.2. Chirurgeon Ghee P'trell, an Andorian, was nominated for the Carrington Award in 2371.

Bajoran - Planet: Bajor. Humanoid race, distinguished outwardly only by extra wrinkles at the bridge of the nose, have wandered the galaxy and settled on various worlds ever since their homeland

was occupied by Cardassians 40 years previously (circa 2328).

By custom, their familial name is used before the individual name. The ancient Bajorans had a tremendously rich and developed civilization complete with architecture, art, philosophy and even some technology before human beings on Earth became bipedal. Many Bajorans have joined Starfleet despite their home planet of Bajor still being in recovery from the Cardassian occupation, while others prefer to work with the Federation from within the Bajoran system. Among their complex death rituals, Bajorans hold that a deceased soul should make peace with its former life and bid goodbye to those left behind before proceeding on to the afterlife. Their heart's internal arrangement is mirrored along a horizontal, not vertical axis; puncturing the lower ventricle of the heart brings immediate death, as discussed on Stardate 46982.1.

The depth and complexity of Bajoran spiritual beliefs has been at the core of their ability to survive 40 years of suffering at the hands of the Cardassians. To the Bajorans, the land and the people who live on it are one and the same. Bajorans are led by both a spiritual leader (Kai) and by a provisional government.

Since the discovery of the wormhole near the Bajoran homeworld on Stardate 46379.1, the Bajorans have enjoyed an increase in political power in their sector, but only after decades of

victimization during the Cardassian occupation of their planet. Some Bajorans have a unique and personal insignia designed for themselves. Major Kira knew the famed Linalis' on sight. School years are organized by age "levels," and perhaps even in the refugee camps they offered art to youngsters as young as age 4 — when Major Kira felt she was the worst finger painter. Bajor's tradition of art and architecture was strewn around countless planets before the occupation. Its science and space programs were back on track soon after the occupation: at least one probe was sent to scan planets and life signs in the Gamma Quadrant. Relations between Bajorans and their former oppressors can still be testy, as Professor Lang notes.

Borg - Origin: Delta Quadrant. A cybernetic life-form thousands of years old which is part organic, part artificial life. They have advanced well beyond Federation science, unknown prior to a confrontation with the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D arranged by the entity known as "Q" circa Stardate 42761 ( 2365) some 7,000 light-years past explored Federation space in the Delta Quadrant.

The Borg have a singular goal, namely the consumption of technology, rather than wealth or political expansion as most species seek.

According to their spokesman, in the form of an assimilated Captain Jean-Luc Picard, the Borg only want to "raise the quality of life" of the species they

"assimilate." (See "Best of Both Worlds") Androids, for example, they view as primitive and obsolete. Born humanoid, they are almost immediately implanted with bio-chips that link their brains to a collective consciousness via a unique subspace frequency emitted by each drone.

This collective consciousness is experienced by the Borg as "thousands" of voices — they are collectively aware, but not aware of themselves as separate individuals. Consequently, they never speak in singular pronouns, referring to themselves when required as merely "Third of Five," for instance.

The Borg ingest only energy to drive their technological system via an energy conduit port. Their bio-chips synthesize any organic nutrients needed. Among the many advantages their collective consciousness affords them, the Borg hive-mind allows for instantaneous adaptations to shield and phaser frequency modulations in combat; they are also able to regenerate and repair their massive cube ship with the power of their collective thoughts alone.

The hive-mind drones do not register as individual life-signs when scanned, only as a mass reading and then at a bear minimum. The sick and injured are not healed but "reabsorbed" by the removal of the receiver piece, which leads to self-destructive dissolve.

When shipboard during dormancy in their regenerative mode, power is minimal and the

vessel's EM field cuts off. They have a knock-out drug or procedure for humans, using a drill-tap placed behind the left ear, that works immediately but wears off in less than a minute.

Breen - Planet: name unspecified. A humanoid species from a cold planet who operate in a politically non-aligned manner and are reputed to be aggressive, with outposts in Sector 97. It is presumed that the Breen home system is in an adjacent sector. While the Federation has some knowledge of their ways, Betazoids are unable to detect the Breen empathically, and the Breen's use of cloaking technologies coupled with powerful disruptor-style weapons makes them both formidable and inaccessible to the Federation. The disruptor-type, close-range damage done to the Vico in the Black Cluster is consistent with their battle tactics and their level of technology — meaning the Federation has some knowledge of their ways. But a motive for the Breen to be inside the cluster is puzzling. A Breen pilot was sent to the palio hosted by Deep Space Three, accused of being bribed by Ferengi to throw the race. They have Type-III disruptors like both the Romulans and Klingons, but would not kill all victims.

Cardassians - Planet: Cardassia (or Cardassia Prime). Tall, long-necked, humanoid in appearance, marked by several bony protrusions and ridges: one from the shoulder to under the ears, whose bottom lobes in

turn are more pronounced forward to the jaw line, and from above the eyes and back over the head to the rear base of the skull, showing through hair. Other ridges run from the nose line to the forehead, and along the chin to define a sharp jaw line. Their skin type and hair vary from light purple to a greenish hue and near black. Predatory in large numbers, more cautious alone and instinctively searching out a dominant position in any social setting. Children may keep pets. Women as well as men are allowed to be Gul in ship command.

The occupiers of Bajor subjugated the people and mined its resources, annexing it outright some 19 years into its 60-year occupation (beginning 2309) and building Terok Nor, now known as Deep Space Nine, initially as a mining station in 235, perhaps using Romulan technology in some components. They then stripped the surface of Bajor and Deep Space Nine alike in vengeance when they withdrew less than two weeks before Stardate 46388, leaving everything from basic systems to religious areas in shambles. Some, who resisted, including four Promenade merchants, were killed.

The Cardassians also stole eight of the nine Bajoran prophets' orbs, causing a worried Kai Opaka to charge Commander Sisko with locating their Celestial Temple before the Cardassians found and destroyed it. Despite that, as a show of faith, Commander Sisko allows Dukat's crew aboard for shore leave. Their reputation for maltreatment of

prisoners is well known, but in the world of commerce they are known for paying their bills. Their officials and officers were not above taking bribes from lowly Bajorans.

Other cultures don't seem to share their taste in food, such as yamok sauce.

Their engineering standards tend to be lower than Starfleet specifications. Deep Space Nine's fusion power plant design considers a range of 20% in operating efficiency to be within normal. Cardassian genetic engineers are advanced enough to be well-known by their trademark use of monoclonal links in their DNA-building; whether by open exchange, captured record or espionage, the details are easily researched in Federation records.

They may have compulsory military service, at least for males. Death services are called "funerals" and they can be public occurrences, especially for major leaders. Military monuments line the planet, with some serving as burial sites.

One of their greatest characteristics is devotion to family; caring for parents as well as children. Families of up to four generations under one roof are not uncommon. Swearing the truth on the lives of one's children is tantamount to the highest honesty a Cardassian can attest to — as Dukat does to Commander Sisko. Parents are manipulated by state media in the name of their children, and the presumed-guilty justice system aims to impress children against anti-state lawlessness and chaos,

inviting some to the courtroom live and others to watch. The revelation that he abandoned a child on Bajor, even one thought dead, is enough to publicly and privately humiliate a politician like Pa'Dar, ruining his career. Despite that, true orphans have no status in society and are simply forgotten.

Another trait is an attention to detail. They taught record-keeping skills to many planets, including Bajor. Cardassians are famous for their photographic memories. When alleged that children at age 4 are put into intensive mind-training programs, it is acknowledged as the "unparalleled" educational system of the quadrant. Education is power and joy is vulnerability, Dukat asserts in Orwellian-like tones. The mental training can extend to enough discipline to deflect a Vulcan Mind Meld. Kovat says one old native saying is, "Confession is good for the soul."

Their physiology and constitution is much stouter than the human norm, or at least Garak's is. Showing immunity to the effects of depressants and anesthetics, neither two-plus bottles of Kanar nor 30cc's of Triptacederine had any effect on the Cardassian. The latter amount would knock out an Algorian Mammoth.

Similar to Humans, Cardassians celebrate birthdays, respect marriage, and use a given name before the family name. Cardassians also respect advanced age as a sign of power and dignity.

It was recently determined that Bajorans made

interstellar contact with Cardassians before they had the capability of spaceflight.

Dominion, The - Origin: Gamma Quadrant. A mighty planetary alliance or trading consortium in the Gamma Quadrant, at first unknown to most beyond the wormhole.

Composed of "hundreds" of dominated races, the major political, economic and military power in the Gamma Quadrant is led by the Changeling (shape shifting) Founders, administered by the cloned Vorta, and defended by the Jem’Hadar storm troops.

Its age is unknown, but a female shape shifter says her people began "many years ago" to impose order on their chaotic surroundings.

The Founders created the Dominion and command the genetically-bred Jem’Hadar armies —those who resist membership face elimination.

A toehold was gained in the Alpha Quadrant with Cardassia's joining, prompting a full-scale invasion in 2373-74 as the greatest threat to the Alpha Quadrant since the appearance of the Borg. The threat has since been met and subdued by the Federation.

Furies, The –are a collection of incredibly powerful, non-humanoid races from another galaxy. These

races, of which there are 666 make up a collective known as the Host.

The Furies are well-regarded by many species as one of the most terrifying races in existence and as one of the greatest threats to the galaxy. Furies appear horrifyingly ugly and as hideous demons or nightmarish creatures, although some Furies resemble mythological creatures from the myths and legends of other races; such as the Human Devil and Medusa, and the Klingon Fek'lhr. Furies are naturally adept at striking fear deep into other races and they use this to their advantage. Fury vessels wield powerful weapons and are constructed with extremely dense outer hulls, making them resilient to most conventional weaponry. In the Twenty-Fourth Century, the Furies developed basic shielding for their vessels and the devastating fear weapons.

As a race, Furies have a deep and complex culture, bound by loyalty, duty, pride, honor, and remembrance. Each Fury possesses a small doll made of strange fabrics, which they carry with them at all times. Within each doll, a Fury stores the memories they have accumulated over a lifetime. The Furies regard their dolls as their greatest artifacts and most important treasures, and will always place the safety of their dolls above their own lives. If a Fury ever lost their doll, their memory and all of their accomplishments would be lost and

forgotten. It is traditional for a defeated Vergo to destroy their vessel and place the dolls of their crew within an escape pod. Furies do not burn their dead as in some other cultures, but respect them and burn only the living.

The singular leader of the Hosts is known as the Autarch.

Exile

The Furies originally ruled the Milky Way Galaxy until they were defeated in a long war that took place in the Alpha Quadrant against the Unclean, an equally powerful, non-humanoid race. After their defeat, the Furies were driven and exiled from their territories in the Alpha Quadrant and Beta Quadrant, never to return. The Furies were banished to the Delta Quadrant region of the galaxy where they supposedly remained for millennia, developing a way to travel beyond the immense distances from their exiled home to return and reclaim their former territories.

Jem’Hadar - Planet: name unspecified. The feared, leathery-skinned storm troopers genetically bred for that task by the Dominion Founders are not motivated by any of the causes of the Alpha Quadrant such as glory, nobility, politics, intrigue or even money — though they do possess a chillingly detached mercenary quality that cannot be bribed.

They are not hive-mind automatons like the Borg

but are genetically bred to supreme strength and endurance, kept in line via an addiction to Ketracel-white — an enzymatic nutrient, dispensed with great ritual by each unit's Vorta, in vials which fit into the uniform and feed directly to the neck.

Military ranks are simply denoted as the First being unit leader, followed by the Second, Third, and so on; the First is answerable to the Vorta, who may reward and punish Jem’Hadar in the unit with on-the-spot promotions and demotions.

During the Dominion War a newer line dubbed "Alphans" have appeared, supplanting older Jem’Hadar types such as Gammas in being specifically bred for the Alpha Quadrant opponents while retaining the same physical appearance.

Jem’Hadar use the Dominion quick-shimmer transporter system, including an armband remote control and a personal cloaking device, or "shroud.” Their uniform also includes energy absorbing pads that can defeat a Starfleet Level 3 containment field, and a recessed collar-bone area to hold the Ketracel-white vial.

Only males are bred, gestated in birthing chambers and able to fight within three days of emergence; they mature rapidly, reaching the human equivalent

of age 8 or 9 in two weeks. They do not sleep, require no food or drink except the Ketracel-white, enjoy vicious fighting, and exude superiority over all creatures except the Founders.

Klingons - Planet: Qo’noS. The well-statured warrior race has a genetic predisposition to hostility and a well-known streak of fatalism. Lieutenant Worf says that Klingons do not like to be "probed" by empathic species. The culture's warrior ethic runs so deep that rivals in the civil war can meet and drink as equal fighters for periods of time before or after battles, thanks to the Capitol City's neutrality. During these get-togethers, a great deal of growling, wrestling, snarling and generally loud revelry takes place, Klingons seeming to derive tremendous satisfaction from drinking with their enemies on the night before a battle.

A beard is a symbol of courage; a hammer is a symbol of power. A true warrior fights to the death and would rather be killed than taken hostage — an act which brings dishonor on himself and his family for three generations. Their most important historic symbol of leadership, Kahless, said Klingons should fight not just to spill blood but to enrich the spirit. Their scientists are not highly regarded in the culture. Shattering the cranial exoskeleton at the tricipital lobe brings instant death.

In the traditional sense, the Klingon people hold

honor above life — although as with any culture, high-level politics and personal gain get in the way. In Klingon culture, lower-ranked officers consider it a duty to kill off a superior who is perceived as weak. Klingons notoriously neither surrender nor bluff, although Chief Engineer La Forge is skeptical of that based on Lieutenant Worf's seemingly impenetrable "poker face" during their poker games on board the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D.

The Klingon Klag on board the Pagh admits he does not speak to his father, who is slowly dying on the homeworld without honor after escaping from victorious Romulans who would not allow him to die as a Klingon should die — in battle.

Klingon language had no word for the concept of "peacemaker" until Ramatisian mediator Riva negotiated the early United Federation of Planets-Klingon treaties just decades ago.

Warriors and their families are responsible for each other's actions. A challenge to clear a family's name, such as Lieutenant Worf's, ends in death if unsuccessful. They believe that death is an experience best shared and view it as a joyful time for one who falls in the line of duty and earns a place among the honored dead, celebrating the release of a dead spirit rather than grieving over what they

consider to be the empty shell of the body. One of the most honorable deaths is a kamikaze-like suicide that takes an enemy's life with it. Viewed through their Spartan perspective, illness (especially terminal) is not honorable. One is not supposed to faint, at least as an adult, a bias that leads to a lack of both research and sympathy for such patients. Usually cases of paralysis such as Lieutenant Worf's are left to die — or to perform the ritual suicide Hegh'bat. Of course, half-human Federation emissary, K'Ehleyr thought it was just more "Klingon nonsense" and "dumb ideas about honor."

Lieutenant Worf says Earth and humanoid females like the Edo are too fragile for what his race considers love, although that would likely apply to a Klingon of either gender with a human mate. A roaring yell akin to the death wail is the Klingon female's mating call, Worf says, followed by their hurling of heavy objects and clawing. The male responds by reading love poetry — and ducking a lot. A form of dominance/submission is seen when he is given a Klingon female thanks to Commander Riker's temporary Q powers; she is donned in leather accessories and some armor, she seems jealous of Yar, takes a strong slap from Worf and comes back on her knees — definitely growling. The actual act of love can be intermingled with pain and include the Klingons' highly developed sense of smell. Once aroused, the combat as well as passion instinct

appears hard to quell; it takes a sharp command to snap Lieutenant Worf and later K'Ehleyr out of their blood rush.

Klingons usually mate for life, celebrated with a solemn Oath of Union, most often in private, rather than in a public ceremony like marriage; judging by Lieutenant Worf's initial issuance of the Oath of Union to K'Ehleyr, the Oath doesn't appear include much talking, and no dancing or crying as in human weddings. If Lieutenant Worf is any example, male chauvinism is much more pronounced in mainstream Klingon society than among humans.

Women cannot sit on the High Council, so even the powerful Duras sisters, Lursa and B'Etor, must find a puppet nephew to rule through.

Lieutenant Worf echoes the modern Klingon attitude toward Romulans when he says the enemy "considers humans and Klingons a waste of skin". Romulans and Klingons having been "blood enemies" for 75 years (or since about 2292), after an extremely brief alliance.

Klingons apparently hold the Ferengi with almost as much disdain as they do Romulans, thinking them loud of talk, yet weak in action. Klingon officers do not let their children live with them as a general rule, although "the son of a Klingon is a man the day he

can first hold a blade". Lieutenant Worf allows his son, Alexander, to stay with him on the Galaxy-class Enterprise when other options run out, though he says it is inappropriate for a Klingon to receive family while on duty and Klag says a Klingon "is his work, not his family."

Klingons are remarkably skilled hunters, relying on their keen olfactory senses to pick up and stalk their prey. They eat their meat raw, seasoned more strongly than humans prefer, and find the human tradition of "burning their meat" to be somewhat repulsive. If Lieutenant Worf is any clue, they regard swimming with as much disdain as they do bathing. At least once, Klingons use the United Federation of Planets' Earth-derived metric system. Lieutenant Worf contends that love poetry and the great novel both reached their height with the Klingons.

T'kar and Yeto were two more Klingons who had no respect for the Klingon Empire's current state of affairs. Kang fretted that the warrior ethic was lost among modern Klingons who would open restaurants and such. Science Officer Dax said that getting Kang angry at Curzon was the only way to begin to create a bond between the two — a Klingon truism, Kang agreed.

The custom of naming godparents or other relatives is practiced among Klingons as well as

humans. The Jem’Hadar, Third Talak'talan, expressed regret that his first experience with an Alpha Quadrant being was not with a Klingon warrior, but with Federation humans and a Ferengi instead, both of whom he considered weak.

Despite the disillusionment and disrespect of some Klingons, Klingon honor still counts among the peoples. D'Ghor was not allowed to claim the House of Kozak based on financial debts alone, and he was stopped and shamed while attacking the unarmed Quark before the High Council. Grilka and Gowron alike sneered at financial matters and normally considered them beneath a warrior's time and attention, charging D'Ghor with using "money to bring down a great house". Even so, Quark was able to resurrect a plenitude of complex financial records.

Challenges to personal honor are settled usually by personal combat, but Quark used numbers. Klingon females — banned from holding Council seats — are not even allowed to head their heirless dead husband's house, except in special cases. The Klingons must have some class system, as personal servants are used, usually among what appear to be the poor. Due to their rough nature, especially when drunk, Quark charged Klingons double for holosuite use, and then raised it to triple normal cost. The Klingons' profound hatred of Romulans continues.

Although they believe in an afterlife, Klingons

perform no burial ritual and dispose of the corpse by the most efficient means possible — although some archeological digs on Qo'noS revealed different customs at one time.

Kollotaan – Shedai term for the modern Tholians, translation means “New Voices” (SEE: Tholians)

Kollotuul – Shedai term for pre-sentient Tholians, translation means “The Voice”

Preservers, The –an ancient race of aliens. They are known for visiting planets, removing some humanoid specimens from it and then transplanting them on other planets.

The Preservers did this for several Native American tribes on Earth. It has also been theorized that the Preservers also seeded 892-IV, or Magna Roma with Earth Romans, who established a parallel Roman Empire which lasted at least 20 centuries.

Very little evidence exists as to the true identities of the Preservers’, although a Preserver space buoy was analyzed at Starbase 25 in the 23rd century.

In 2266, a month after the Romulans were visually identified as resembling Vulcans, the Vulcan Science

Academy issued a theory postulating the Preservers as responsible for the two races' shared heritage.

In 2376, Julian Bashir theorized that the Preservers, as well as the Founders, could have been responsible for the genetic changes to the Yrythny. Late in that same year, a Preserver device used to shrink a planet and save it from its primary's supernova was recovered by the USS da Vinci along with Araneus, the member of the planet's race entrusted with keeping it safe. Araneus reported that the individual from which they received the pyramid-shaped device resembled a member of their own race, the arachnid-like Koas, though this could merely have been an illusion in order to better blend in on their planet. He also reported their people had made a vow to the Koas six million years ago, and though the Preservers were almost gone in the present time, they still upheld their vow through saving their planet from destruction. The planet was successfully expanded at the star Mu Arae by Bart Faulwell, ship's linguist; it proceeded to reshape the entire star system as well, moving a number of gas giants into more stable orbits that would not negatively impact the Koa homeworld, quite blatantly demonstrating the level of their engineering achievements.

Progenitors, The- They are considered to be ancient humanoids are one of the oldest sentient species

and possibly the first humanoid species to evolve in the Milky Way Galaxy. They flourished some 4.5 billion years ago and explored the galaxy, but found no other lifeforms like themselves.

Knowing that the lifespan of a single species was finite, the ancient humanoids seeded the primordial environments of many planets with a DNA code that would direct the evolution of life on that planet towards a form similar to their own. At least Earth, Indri VIII, Loren III, Ruah IV and Vilmor II were directly seeded by the ancient race. Other species that likely originated from seeded primordial seas included Klingons, Vulcans, and Cardassians. Some of the fragments of DNA also contained parts of a computer program designed to display a holographic message from an ancient humanoid explaining its race and their actions. It was hoped that their descendant species would come together in the spirit of cooperation in order to assemble the program.

In the 2360s, the noted Federation archaeologist Professor Richard Galen discovered the existence of the program and began collecting the genetic samples. However, the Klingons and Cardassians also learned of the program and sent expeditions of their own to assemble it, each believing it to contain a great technological advance, while the Romulans observed all of them under cloak. After Galen's

death, Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise-D was able to convince the Klingons and the Cardassians to cooperate with them to finish the program.

The last part of the program was obtained on Vilmor II, and the message was played to the assembled members of each present party. The Klingons and Cardassians rejected the message due to their own prejudices, but the Romulan commander later expressed to Picard in confidence that perhaps their races were not as different as they had before believed.

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In this story, the Progenitors left the Milky Way Galaxy for the Andromeda Galaxy around or after they 4.5 Billion Years Ago. James T. Kirk’s son having no sex and no species is said to be of this race, therefore if Ja’meS’ and Sa’Kia’s child came to be, it too would have been of this race for the mixing of Vulcan, Human, and Klingon genes would have occurred. Prophets, The - Origin: Bajoran wormhole. According to Bajoran religious doctrines, the prophets are the spiritual protectors and guides to the Bajoran peoples.

Throughout Bajoran history, several unusual

objects referred to as "Orbs" have found their way to Bajor, where they are traditionally considered to be messages of wisdom from the prophets to the Bajoran people. There have been nine orbs total, each associated with a unique and important aspect of the Bajoran belief-system.

Remans - Humanoid, light-sensitive native species of Remus, the sister planet to Romulus, who evolved in their world's dark-side hemisphere and have largely remained subjugated by their more powerful neighbors. They've also been kept apart from the Empire's politics and military command. As fierce and towering foot soldiers, however, Remans won numerous battles during the Dominion War under Shinzon, a covert human clone of Starfleet's Jean-Luc Picard who was abandoned with them. They later made up the bulk of his fighting force during his short-lived takeover of the Romulan Star Empire and failed attack on the Enterprise-E in a bid to conquer Earth.

Romulans - Planets: Romulus and Remus. Until Stardate 1709.2 when the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 under the command of Captain James T. Kirk had an unfriendly run-in with a Romulan ship. Very little was known about the species in general, although theories did exist. Although descended

from the same ancestors as are Vulcans, the Romulans are surprisingly different from their distant cousins both in physiology and in behavioral customs. Romulan technology includes the "cloaking device" allowing them stealth and making them formidable opponents.

The physiology is subtly different from Vulcans, but enough so that surgery on a severely injured Romulan is difficult for Dr. Crusher. Romulan ribosomes’ apparently do not match those of humans or, surprisingly, Vulcans — but can match those of Klingons. The race still believes in discarding genetically or physically inferior infants, and that it will conquer the galaxy. They view the Federation as exploitative and short-sighted, according to Jarok. Their metabolism — or at least his — appears to be faster than human standard; the higher rate will help his treated skin burns heal faster. Throughout their long history of war, Romulans have rarely attacked first, opting instead to test their enemies' resolve — a chess game, Captain Picard calls it, this can be seen through how they started the Earth-Romulan War in 2155, they used their drone ships and the Arrenhe’hwiua Telecapture Device to start and escalate the war for humanity didn’t want to go to war nor did the Coalition of Planets, they wanted peace and a stable sector.

A very moral people with an absolute sense of

right and wrong, enemy and friend — a purposeful, passionate commitment a young Ensign DeSeve found attractive when he defected but lost faith with over time. Many ordinary Romulans, even those in the military, have horror stories about treatment by the Tal Shiar — a military service which appears to operate above the standard empire. Natives learn quickly to be secretive and not to volunteer information. Women as well as men can climb high in both the military and the Tal Shiar, as evidenced with Deanna Troi's capture on Stardate 46519.1 in which she posed as a Romulan from the Tal Shiar successfully. Its leaders had no information about Klingon dishonor in being captured, so Tokath thought he was being kind in letting the Khitomer survivors be kept alive. A Romulan ship was shadowing the competing Cardassians, Starfleet and Klingons all along in the race for the last clues in Galen's ancient DNA puzzle.

The Romulans' preference for waiting and observing while other make the first move would explain why they have never ventured into the Gamma Quadrant.

The species is made up of many varied skin tones, from a yellow tinged to a dark brown.

As a rule, they claim to have invented every

technological breakthrough before any other culture.

Sernaix - the primary threat to the United Federation of Planets after both the Borg and the Dominion were stopped. The Sernaix come from one of the Milky Way's Orbiting Galaxies, for this story, they are from the Andromeda Galaxy. Retaining their quest for destruction from the series, the Sernaix have destroyed all life that had ever co-existed with them in their area of space. Their desire for destruction however has not been filled so they set a course for the Milky Way using a method of space folding, the only one of its kind as they began their invasion of the Beta Quadrant. Over powering and driving the Klingon Empire into extinction within months, the Sernaix are perhaps the strongest race of beings ever met by the Federation to date. They started their invasion in 2379 when they met up with the Votality.

Shedai, The – an ancient and powerful civilization that flourished around one hundred thousand BCE, when they ruled over the area of space now known as the Taurus Reach.

The Shedai were not confined to a single body and transversed the space in-between worlds instantaneously by means of a technology known as "the Conduit". The Shedai apparently shared a

master/slave relationship with the Tholian species of that era, even to the point of direct mind-control over the Tholians due to certain similarities in their genetic structures.

At some point in the distant past, most of the Shedai went into a state of hibernation to await a new era where they could rule anew.

In 2265, Starfleet's discovery and investigation into the mysterious Taurus meta-genome, actually the remains of ancient Shedai technology, caught the attention of the Shedai known as the Shedai Wanderer. The Wanderer, in the form of black obsidian sentinels, massacred Starfleet forces at the worlds of Ravanar IV, and Erilon, and Klingon forces at Palgrenax before deciding she had to awaken the rest of her people in order to deal with the encroaching species.

Most of the awakened Shedai agreed that the aliens in the Taurus Reach must be destroyed, and on the word of the Shedai Maker launched an assault on the Human and Klingon colonists on Gamma Tauri IV in 2266. In order to contain the Shedai on Gamma Tauri, Starfleet Commodore Diego Reyes ordered the starship USS Endeavour to execute General Order 24 and destroy all life on the surface of the planet with a sustained photon torpedo bombardmant.

Meanwhile, on the Shedai home-world of Jinoteur IV, a Starfleet officer named Vanessa Theriault made first contact with the Shedai known as the Shedai Apostate. The Apostate disagreed with the course of action taken by his fellow Shedai, and destroyed the Shedai's Conduit system (causing the entire Jinoteur system to simply "blink" out of existence), robbing them of their means of interstellar travel, curtailing if not ending the Shedai threat. The Apostate was believed lost with the Jinoteur system.

Suliban - Humanoid species. Their distinguishing physical characteristic is their mottled, greenish-tinted skin. The Suliban are originally from Sector 3641, but their homeworld became unhabitable around the Earth year of 1851, and most of them became nomadic.

One faction of Suliban are members of the Cabal, an organization of soldiers somehow involved with the Temporal Cold War. The Cabal takes its orders from the future, and in exchange, are able to alter their DNA and restructure their skeletons, giving them unique chameleon-like, shape shifting abilities and enhanced senses.

The Cabal has caused trouble for some civilian Suliban who have assimilated into other cultures. For example, one group of peaceful Suliban was detained at a Tandaran internment camp.

Symbionts, Trill - Only 300 symbionts are available for hosting each year on average. If a host is weak, the personality of the symbiont will overwhelm it. Unless it’s current Joined Host objects, a prospective Host may request a specific symbiont.

Tellarites - Planet: Tellar. A humanoid species distinguished by a porcine-like snout, stout build, deep set eyes and a characteristically irascible disposition.

The long-time United Federation of Planets members, pig-faced in appearance and antagonistic by nature, have had freighters at space station Deep Space Nine as recent as Stardate 47603. Someone in the crew apparently was in league with Quark's wanted cousin Kono.

Trill - Planet: Trill. A unique "joined race" whose humanoid members have provided host bodies for small soft-bodied entities in a symbiotic relationship; Among the humanoid Trill joined species, apparently at least two races of hosts are used to house a symbiont: those of the ridged forehead, like Odan, and those like Jadiza, Curzon and Selin, with a narrow speckled band running along the hairline to the sides of the neck, then down along the body.

The symbiont body is a foot-long purplish lump of

cranial and exoskeletal tissue; some are susceptible to damage by transporter beam. At Peliar Zel, the Trill can have a replacement body on hand for Odan in 40 hours; he will last only 1-2 hours in stasis, and a human body makes a temporary but limited host.

Since the symbiont integrates each new host's personality with its own after joining, Trill relationships are often hard for single-unit species to deal with and sometimes don't survive the change. Aside from the exceptions like Curzon, Trills are usually very responsible and moderate or reserved in personality; the symbionts don't seek romance and try to adhere to a "higher plane," feeling it a nuisance and a weakness of the young — although the host body occasionally indulges, as Curzon and Odan did.

The symbiont does carry memories of time shared with each of its hosts, and each new combination — aside from gender, height and weight — carries a different blood type, metabolism, nervous system, and brain wave pattern. The complex brain carries two cerebral nuclei — one in each being, linked together — whose brain wave patterns can each be scanned separately as well as together. The two are biologically interdependent but at 93 hours after their joining, neither can survive without the other.

Legally, the joined race is a tangle for Science

Officer Dax's extradition arbiter Renora, since records of any legal and medical decisions regarding antecedent host culpability are almost nonexistent. A Trill host's hands feel cold-blooded to the touch; their more overtly developed senses include identifying a known individual only by the audible rhythm of footsteps.

Trill physiology may be the reason why Science Officer Dax is the first of the Deep Space Nine senior staff to show symptoms of the alien telepathic archival matrix. The humanoid host species' unruly children are not above throwing rocks at windows, just like their Human and Bajoran counterparts, at least. To others, Trill may seem on the arrogant side. Only one Trill in 10 is chosen to be joined to the "thousands" of symbionts, but those not joined still lead normal, productive lives. The brains of hosts produce endorphins as in the human brain.

Thousands of symbionts live on Trill. Joined Trills are allergic to insect bites, since the biochemical connections of the symbiont and host can't tolerate the toxins. As seen with Jadiza, they are more resistant to a noxious paralyzing volcanic gas found on planet LS VI than other humanoids such as Bajorans. Among outworlders, they have been in contact with Klingons at least since 2289.

Judging by the Belar brothers, a Trill's lineal or

family name follows the given name, as is done on Earth, but a host drops his lineal name in favor of the symbiont's. Renhol and others at the Symbiosis Commission worry that the symbionts would be bartered as commodities if the truth were known that half the population could be hosts, rather than the 1-in-1,000 ratio officially quoted and the reason behind the rigorous selection and training program. Social role equality seems apparent among the population, at least in medicine, with doctors and nurses of both genders.

Vulcans - Planet: Vulcan. A humanoid race, with copper-based blood, slightly green-tinted complexion and notably pointed ears, they are responsible in a large part for the founding of the Federation. Over the centuries, Vulcans have developed a culture dedicated to the complete mastery of logic, learning to suppress their once-violent emotions in nearly every aspect of their existence. In the mid-22nd century, Vulcans still carry remnants of their more emotional selves. The Captain of Enterprise NX-01, Jonathan Archer — who numbers amongst his crew a Vulcan science officer/observer named T'Pol — has frequent dealings with the Vulcan high command. In these dealings, it is evident

that some sense of emotion has been retained. At this period in their history, they are secretive and, according to the Andorians, perpetual liars. In the 23rd century a Vulcan, Commander Spock, served as Captain James T. Kirk's first officer and science officer aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 for many years. At least one Vulcan has served as Starfleet Academy superintendent, one who memorized every cadet's personal file, during all or part of Commander Riker's years in 2353-57. Ambassador Spock realized the irony of Data's search for humanity, and told him that many Vulcans try all their lives to gain Data's built-in lack of emotions.

In ancient times, Vulcans were a war-like race, leading to their near extinction. Its ancients believed in gods, such as war, peace and death, almost like many religions on Earth. Chief O'Brien quoted a phrase when meeting Tosk that he attributed to the logical, pointy-eared Federation race: "We're here to serve." Their honest and stoic nature made them a bad choice for Nog's lie about who "stole his homework." Commander Sisko's late captain on the U.S.S. Saratoga was a Vulcan. Before the Vantika incident, Vulcans were the only race Dr. Bashir knew of who had ever

performed a synaptic pattern displacement, or the transfer of one individual's consciousness into another: in their case, the transfer of the katra. An unspecified Vulcan ship was the first to make formal contact with a Gamma Quadrant civilization, the Wadi. As with other space-faring groups, the Vulcans used an easily identifiable subspace band frequency in communication. Over a hundred years ago, a Vulcan science mission responded to the Hanoli rift but was lost along with the Hanoli system when the rupture expanded while probing it. There were no reports of imagination manifestations, perhaps not too unusual considering their nature for they usually suppress everything and are secretive beings. Vulcans are typically stronger than Humans, though they do not boast of this strength. Dr. Bashir beat an otherwise unidentified Vulcan in the finals to lead the Starfleet Medical School team to the sector tennis championship his final year (2368-69). Vulcans were brewing wines at least 300 years ago circa 2070 — or since before the United Federation of Planets was founded. Sakonna's request for weapons blew away the pacifist Vulcan stereotype for Quark. She's not the only one in the Maquis: another was likely a settler on Volan III. Vulcan honesty is legendary, even to the Ferengi, but despite his crush on Sakonna, Quark agreed to count her Latinum payment for illegal Maquis arms anyway. Although Cardassian mental disciplines may be a match for the

Vulcans, they do not employ telepathy. Vulcan IDIC pins, highly collectible, were not usually available on Deep Space Nine — one of Quark's would-be expanded sales items by inter-station monitor. The Vulcan healer Senva was nominated for the Carrington Award in 2371. The species is made up of many varied skin tones, including a dark brown, this is almost makes them common to humans in the fact that humans’ skin tones differ.

Lieutenant Tuvok serving on the U.S.S. Voyager is a full Vulcan, while legendary Ambassador Spock is half Vulcan and half Human. The Romulans are an offshoot of the Vulcan species.

Votality, The – are Beings of Light close resembling The Totality, but hey want nothing more that total destruction of neighboring galaxies and worlds. They tend to want to rule as gods conquering other worlds to worship them. The beings that make of the Votality live in a Non-linear space-time called “The Void,” it’s where they send the beings from other species that they capture.

The Votality has formed many alliances in order to get what they want, each alliance isn’t that important to them so they tend to use their allies till they become useless.

Xindi - A mysterious group of related species located in the Delphic Expanse, all of whom evolved to space faring technological intelligence at the same time on the same homeworld, Xindus.

In 2153, the Xindi attacked Earth with a deadly probe, cutting a swath from Florida to Venezuela and killing 7 million — all because of false information fed them by the Guardians, one faction in the Temporal Cold War. The small-scale test was to be followed by a larger weapon to destroy the planet entirely — all to pre-empt what the Xindi are told will be an Earth attack on their own planet in 400 years. That "news" is in fact, however, a lie by the Guardians to further their position in the war, and is finally realized by a majority of the Xindi in time to bearly avoid the attack.

There are five distinct species of Xindi: Xindi-Primate (initially called "Xindi-Humanoid"), Xindi-Reptilian, Xindi-Arboreal (sometimes called "Xindi-Sloth"), Xindi-Aquatic and Xindi-Insectoid. A sixth species, the Xindi-Avians, are now extinct: they were killed off in a war that went on for nearly a hundred years, destroying Xindus and spreading the other species to nearby habitable planets. In the mid-22nd century the Xindi Council was formed to reunify the surviving races, but their attention was diverted from a peaceful agenda to an aggressive one in order

to address the alleged "human threat." Despite their varied forms and typical mistrust, they all share a common physicality: a short vent-like opening in the "cheek."

Xindi-Aquatic - The only one of the five Xindi sentient species who is not bipedal and existing in a standard Class-M atmosphere, they instead require the marine environment they have evolved within. On the secret Xindi Council world, they take part with the others from a giant water-filled tank in the room and tend to be pragmatic and slow to change positions. Like the Xindi-Insectoids, they speak in their own language though translators. The females of the species are slightly smaller, on average.

Xindi-Arboreal – Perhaps the most patient and reflective of the five Xindi species, they wish to adhere to the original timetable for developing their Earth attack weapon, in defiance of the rush of the Xindi-Insectoids and Xindi-Reptilians upon the appearance of the NX-01 in the Delphic Expanse.

Xindi-Avians - The sixth of multiple sentient Xindi species were completely wiped out when Xindus was imploded, due to their airborne nature. The planet's destruction was the last act in a century-

old civil war among the species some 120 years before their contact with humans. Xindi-Insectoids - The most excitable and reactionary of the five sentient Xindi species who are bound in a fractious alliance against their perceived enemy, Earth. The Insectoids imagine a huge invasion is underway at first word of the NX-01's presence. Unlike all but the Xindi-Aquatics — they use their native language a series of clicks and sounds — in Xindi Council meetings.

Xindi-Primate - The Xindi subspecies who, in Xindi Council debate, are among those acting as devil's advocate to the more militant Xindi-Reptilians and excitable Insectoids. The Superweapon project is under the leadership of scientist Degra, one of the two Xindi-Primates on the Council. Early in the Xindi mission, the species was sometimes referred to as "Xindi-Humanoid."

Xindi-Reptilians - One of the five sentient Xindi races bound in an imperfect alliance to launch a pre-emptive strike against their alleged future attacker, Earth. The Reptilians are among the most militant of the group and, with the Xindi-Insectoids, the most distrusting; they retain their own separate spy and military operations. A Xindi-Reptilian was the pilot of the probe that made the initial attack on Earth.

APPENDIX IV SHIPS

Bird-of-Prey, Klingon- a type of warship utilized by the Klingon Empire serving the Klingon Defense Forces from the late 23rd century into the late 24th century. This type of craft, initially descended from its counterpart from a century earlier, was one of the most versatile warships employed by the Empire, serving a variety of mission roles, including that of a scout, raider, patrol ship, and cruiser.

Bird-of-Prey, Romulan- In the 22nd century, the Romulan Star Empire fielded a warship known as a "Bird-of-Prey", so named for its distinctive bird-like hull form and for the bold pattern of an alien bird painted on its hull. The ships were equipped with advanced weaponry, as well as a cloaking device. The Bird-of-Prey was first encountered by Humans in mid-2152, when Enterprise accidentally entered a minefield surrounding a planet claimed by the Romulan Empire. At least two ships of this type were present in the system; both confronted Enterprise and forced it to leave.

Breen Warship- a vessel used by the Breen Confederacy in the late-24th century, and during the Dominion War, has an energy dampening weapon

that can disable all ship board power and systems on enemy vessels.

Borg, Cube- the primary vessel of the Borg Collective, used to destroy any unassimilated vessels and stations. They are usually equipped with high-yield energy torpedoes and energy beams.

Borg, Sphere- The Borg long-range tactical vessel, commonly referred to by the Federation as a Borg sphere, was a sphere-shaped starship used by the Borg Collective during the late 24th century. This vessel is mostly used to destroy any unassimilated vessels and stations. It is equipped with energy beams as its primary weapon.

D5 Battle Cruiser, Klingon –a type of warship in service with the Klingon Imperial Fleet during the mid-22nd century. In service as early as 2147, the D5-class Klingon battle cruiser was fully documented in the Vulcan database.

D7 Battle Cruiser, Klingon - was a 23rd century warship that was originally designed by the Klingons that was also utilized by the Romulans during the late-2260s

Daedalus-class- This class of ship was an early class of Starfleet vessel. The Daedalus-class was commissioned soon after the formation of the

United Federation of Planets in 2161 and decommissioned in 2196.

D’deridex-class Warbird- (also known as the B-type Warbird or Warbird class) was the backbone of the Romulan fleet during the mid to late 24th century

Deep Space Nine- One of the single most historically, politically, and strategically important space stations in the Alpha Quadrant, Deep Space Nine, originally known as Terok Nor, was an orbital space station constructed by the Cardassians in orbit of Bajor. Under Federation administration following the Cardassian withdrawal, DS9 became a vital commercial port and defensive outpost because of its strategic location near the mouth of the Bajoran wormhole. It later became a key tactical location in the Dominion War.

Defiant, NX- 74205- “She may have flaws, but she has teeth” Commander Sisco said this when the Defiant arrived at DS9.

The USS Defiant (NX-74205) was one of at least three Federation starships to bear the name, and the prototype of the Defiant-class vessel.

Designed in 2366, the Defiant was the first of what was to be a new class of heavily-armed Federation starship, and later reputed to be one of the most heavily-armed vessels in the entire Alpha Quadrant. Officially designated an escort, although

unofficially a warship, the Defiant-class was specifically designed to counter the Borg. Soon after the first vessel was completed however, a combination of a less urgent Borg threat and several design flaws caused Starfleet to suspend the project. Among the flaws was the fact that the Defiant's engines were overpowered relative to the size of the ship – so much so that the Defiant nearly "tore itself apart" during its shakedown cruise.

Benjamin Sisko became intimately involved with the project while stationed at the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards after the destruction of the USS Saratoga at Wolf 359. Early in 2371, as Federation-Dominion hostility escalated, the Defiant was taken out of storage and assigned to Deep Space Nine to protect the station from the Dominion, who had recently destroyed the USS Odyssey, a Galaxy-class starship.

The ship was granted special dispensation to carry a Romulan cloaking device. The Romulans loaned and allowed the limited supervised use of the cloaking device in the Gamma Quadrant only. In return, the Federation would provide the Romulans any and all intelligence data collected in the Gamma Quadrant about the Dominion.

The Defiant was destroyed in 2375, during the Second Battle of Chin'toka.

Enterprise NX-01 - One of the most important starships in interstellar history, Enterprise (NX-01) was the first NX-class starship, launched by the

Starfleet in 2151. Enterprise established United Earth as a legitimate interstellar power and caused a wholesale revolution in Alpha and Beta Quadrant politics, paving the way for the creation of the United Federation of Planets. She was the prize of Starfleet, United Earth, the Coalition of Planets and the United Federation of Planets.

Enterprise NCC 1701, USS - a Constitution-class heavy cruiser launched in 2245. In the course of her career, she became the most celebrated Federation Starfleet vessel of the 23rd century. In her forty years of service and discovery, through upgrades and at least two refits, she took part in numerous first contacts, military engagements, and time-travels. She achieved her most lasting fame from the five-year mission (2265-2270) under the command of James T. Kirk. The Enterprise was destroyed in 2285.

Enterprise NCC 1701-E, USS - was a Sovereign-class Federation starship operating in the late 24th century, and the sixth Federation starship to bear the name.

Galor-class, Cardassian- a class of cruisers that were the primary class of warship by the Cardassian Guard during the latter half of the 24th century.

Keldon-class, Cardassian - cruiser was a class of Cardassian warship utilized by the Cardassian Guard

during the 2370s. The Keldon hull was similar to the Galor-class spaceframe, with additions to the aft end and main body.

Miranda-class - were a type of cruiser introduced by Starfleet in the late 23rd century and remained in use through the late 24th century.

Nebula-class - was a type of Federation starship that was in service in Starfleet during the latter half of the 24th century. Designed originally for scientific research and exploration. Since the Dominion War, they have been refitted for combat with an extensive array of multi-purpose weaponry and technology at its disposal. It’s a great compliment to the Federation fleet.

Negh’Var, Klingon - was the largest class starship known to operate in the Klingon Defense Forces during the late 24th century.

In 2372, the IKS Negh'Var, which was a vessel of this type, was the flagship of the Klingon Imperial Fleet. While under the command of General Martok, she led the Klingon Empire's invasion of the Cardassian Union on Stardate 49011. She thereafter fought an action at Deep Space Nine, where she was able to breach the station's shields long enough to transport several troops.

In the mirror universe, the Klingon-Cardassian

Alliance utilized the same design in the construction of the Regent's flagship.

In an unknown, alternate future timeframe, these ships were slightly modified in configuration. They could easily outgun an Olympic-class hospital ship, yet were outgunned themselves by the Galaxy-class counterpart of the era. The USS Pasteur (An Olympic-class hospital ship) was attacked by two of these attack cruisers while in the Devron system. The crew of the Pasteur was saved by the USS Enterprise-D, after destroying one of the Klingon vessels.

In another alternate timeline, these vessels were again slightly modified by 2404, to yet another slightly different configuration. At that time, disruptor fire from one of these vessels was essentially ineffective against Starfleet ablative hull armor.

Runabout - In starship classification, a runabout is the designation of a type of vessel smaller than a starship but larger than a shuttlecraft. Runabouts are equipped with limited weapons and drive systems, but offer additional living space and the ability to be configured to mission-specific cargo capacities. They have a larger operational range and better weapons capability compared to shuttles, and are capable of speeds of up to warp 5. Runabouts are typically assigned to space stations or starships as auxiliary craft.

The Danube-class of runabouts entered service in

2368, with many being assigned to Deep Space Nine. Danube-class- was a type of Federation runabout in operation during the latter half of the 24th century. All runabouts assigned to Deep Space Nine were named after rivers on Earth, at the preference of Captain Benjamin Sisko.

Sernaix Warship - a feared vessel due to its nature of getting close and personal to its enemies.

Sernaix Dreadnought – Three times larger than the Federations’ Sovereign-class vessels and has enough destructive power to destroy a planet.

Valdore-class Warbird - was a preliminary designation for a Romulan warbird design active in the 24th century. This class of ship may have been named in honor of the Romulan Admiral Valdore, but that would have to mean that he got some sort of honor after being arrested for his part in the failure of the Remote Control Drone Ships not destabilizing the entire sector in the Alpha Quadrant that led to the formation of the fledgling Coalition of Planets in 2155.

Similar in design to the D'deridex-class warbird, the Valdore type was a large, fixed-wing vessel, ranging in color from dark-green to brown.

With a wingspan roughly 900 meters wide, the vessel featured a large section extending forward to

create a down-sloped head shape. Warp nacelles were connected at the end of each wing with impulse engines mounted aft. The hull was marked by distinctive "feather" shaped plating.

Vanguard – the name given to the Starfleet Starbase 47; it was a Watchtower-class station constructed between 2263 and 2265 in the Taurus Reach, a region beyond Federation space, between the Klingon Empire and the Tholian Assembly.

In 2270, the USS Enterprise was meant to be one of several Federation starships assigned to protect Starbase 47, following the rising tensions with the Klingons following the alleged attack by the Enterprise on the Klingon outpost on Tarnak II.

Vor’cha-class, Klingon – this cruiser compliments the Klingon Imperial Fleet with both its formidable phasers and cloaking capability. This ship has slowly replaced the Bird-of-Prey in the last fifty years as the abundant ship in the defense force. This class of ship is used for missions that require the use of stealth or offensive strength.

Voyager NCC 74656, USS - was an Intrepid-class Federation starship. It was launched in 2371 and was under the command of Captain Kathryn Janeway. The ship's maximum warp is 9.975, with warp nacelles that pivot upwards while in flight. Voyager featured improved computer systems in which some

traditional optical processors were replaced with bio-neural circuitry and was also equipped with conventional isolinear optical circuits. The central computer core operated at 575PHz. Voyager also had the capability of landing on the surface of a planet with landing struts.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

With this being my first Star Trek Enterprise novel and novel in general, I would like to thank the following people. Gene Roddenberry for creating Star Trek The Original Series and sending me into the universe of the Final Frontier, in thanking him, I would also like to thank the creators of the series Star Trek Enterprise, Rick Berman and Brannon Braga.

There are also many others that require thanking; those would be the contributors to many of the Fan Fiction sites such as The 602 Club, where the ideas for the Interlude came from. I like to thank Tammy Mathews who also contributed to one of the fan fiction sites who had the ideas that starts of the Prelude for Total War. Thank you all.

There are a few authors that also need to be thanked. For starters, I would like to thank Michael A. Martin and Andy Mangels as much as I’m not a fan of how they said Charles “Trip” Tucker III’s death in 2161 in the series episode “These Are The Voyages…” was hoax, they did write the book Star Trek Enterprise: Kobayashi Maru where I ended up getting some words, character names and a few ideas that I may not have thought of if it wasn’t for them. Thank you David Mack for creating the Shedai in your Star Trek Vanguard series, they made it possible to add an extra enemy for my story. Also

thanks again goes to David Mack for his just started Star Trek Destiny series that fully tells the story of the NX-02 Columbia. I also used some of the words that Diane Duane used in her Rihannsu: The Bloodwing Voyages.

The final source that needs to be acknowledged would be three major websites that I used to do my research. Those would be Memory Alpha for everything that fits canon set by each series, Memory Beta for everything that happened in other books that fits all non-canon aspects of Star Trek and last but not least the official Star Trek site, www.startrek.com.

Well I guess that’s all the thanks I need to give out, but if you find anything from your Fan Fiction posts on the world wide web, just know that I liked it enough that I figured that everyone should be able to enjoy it as much as I did so thank you very much.

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