"Judging from the evidence collected around the ship, I theorize we may be caught in a temporal causality loop," said Spock.
"See, I knew he was going to say that, Jim," said McCoy.
"As I knew you would say that, Doctor."
"Well," said Kirk, deep in thought, "what c-"
"Caused it? Likely, an explosion that --"
"...'created a tear in space-time,'" Sulu said, without even looking up.
"Indeed. We --"
"...'collided, exploded, then were sent back to the beginning of the loop'," said Uhura, one finger up like she was reciting a poem, "'there to replay the'..."
"...'entire scenario from the wery beginning, ad nauseum.'"
"Thank you, Ensign. As you can doubtless tell, Captain, we must have repeated this cycle many times -- perhaps for months, even years, judging by how well the crew has memorized my explanation."
"Hmm." Kirk looked unconvinced.
"Have you not been experiencing what humans call 'déjà vu'?"
Kirk grinned. "Didn't you just --"
"Ask me that?" the entire bridge crew grumbled in unison.
Kirk looked crestfallen.
Just then the red alert proximity klaxons started to wail.
"Captain!" shouted Chekov. "I'm picking up a huge spacial distortion, five thousand kilometers off the port bow!"
"Full reverse, Mr. Sulu," said Kirk, gripping the arms of his chair.
"The helm's not responding, Captain!"
"Impact imminent! In three, two, one --"
Chekov's voice would be the last thing any of them ever heard.
Until the lights came back on.
The engines thrummed to life again around a bridge crew that was frozen in various states of last-second panic.
"Uh," mumbled Kirk after a second, both his hands still raised. "Status?"
"All systems online, sir," said Sulu, cautiously raising his head.
"All decks reporting in, no casualties," said Spock.
"The distortion is, ah, gone, sir," said Chekov. His voice kept switching octaves. "It seems we were knocked away from impact by... some kind of tractor beam."
"Whose?"
"I'm not sure, I --"
"Captain, sensors are picking up a vessel off the port bow. Signature is... Starfleet..." Spock looked uncharacteristically confused as he stared at his monitor.
"Hail them," said Kirk, exactly at the same time Uhura said "They're hailing us."
"Um. Open a channel," said Kirk, standing.
"This is Captain James T. Kirk of the Federation st--" he began, before the sight of a Klingon in some kind of Federation uniform made him stop in mid-sentence.
The other captain had started talking at the same time as Kirk. "... Picard of the Federation starship Enterprise..."
The other captain stopped.
"Did you say, 'Kirk'?"
"Did you say 'Enterprise'?"
Spock and the gold-skinned ops officer on the other ship remarked on this development at exactly the same time.
"Intriguing."
-*-STAR TREK-*-
GENERATIONS GAPS
Starring
Commanding Officers Captain James T. Kirk and Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Chief Science Officers Spock and Data OTP
Chief Medical Officers Leonard McCoy and Beverly Howard Crusher
Chief Engineers Montgomery Scott and Geordi La Forge
Chief Gettin'-Some Officers William Thomas Riker and James T. Kirk
Chief Communications Officers Nyota Uhura and... the Computer
Kickass Pilots Hikaru Sulu and Ro Laren OTP
Excitable Ensigns Pavel Andreivich Chekov and Wesley Crusher
Lonely Klingon Worf Rozhenko, son of Mogh
Chief Eye-Candy Officers Deanna Troi and James T. Kirk
[Commercial Sign]