Abandoned several hours after my birth I spent my childhood drifting between Foster Homes, by the just age of nine years old? I had lived with fourteen families as I seemed to fit in nowhere and I began to resent myself as such. By what I believed was my 10th birthday, I ran away from what would be my final Foster Home, even though I was loved and protected as much as their own natural born child. Slipping out of their home in the earlier hours of one Sunday morning, almost at dawn with a bag on my shoulder which contained what little clothing I had enjoyed to wear, I ran as fast and as far as I could even purchasing a ticket on public transport with the money I had stolen from my Foster Parents and never to be seen again, at least that is what the Police Incident Report on my disappearance had claimed.
What was not known by myself nor the authorities was which direction my life would take me, the path which I had chosen to follow was beyond anything of my wildest dreams as I was stopped by a Beautiful, tall dark haired woman whom knew my name, my date of birth and everything about me, more than I had even known. Her words to me where one of love and kindness, I don't know why I believed her but I did, nor do I know why I allowed her to take me with her, but I did and that is the moment that everything I thought I knew exploded around me in a fireball as I found myself somewhere that I had never before imagined, the distant future. I saw my own Police Record on my disappearance, that I was believed to have been abducted and possibly even dead, even though no evidence of a crime had been discovered by anyone, I simply vanished from my home with a bag full of clothes an $100 in cash, the only sighting of me was on the bus by the driver and nothing afterwards. I was told by the tall and beautiful woman whom had identified herself as named Sara that she was apart of an organisation from the distant future whom monitor and Police the timeline against incursions from hostile forces wanting to alter time itself for their own design and that I would be trained to be an Agent as she was and many others.
I knew fantasy and Sci-Fi novels. Movies and TV shows from my own time, but nothing had prepared me for the first sight of the planet Earth before me, I was on some form of Space Station, orbiting Earth and thousands of other spaceships orbiting the planet, many simply vanishing before my untrained eyes. I was sure that I was dreaming, but I wasn't at all, it was real.
Now, this is the unusual part of my tale and the tales of many others? I am just one of many throughout the timeline and from many different worlds and species whom had simply vanished from their home and their time, as recorded by history, many had believed that we where dead, not recruited from the very distant future to be trained as Agents of Time. Why was I selected specifically? The answer was far more shocking that my young mind at the time could have processed, even with the training I had received in the following years as I grew into a young woman. I was only permitted to see a small section of my own lengthy file and not one mention of why I was selected for recruitment, until almost ten years after I had left the last years of the 20th century. I had almost forgotten all about the woman named Sara, I could barely even remember what she had looked like, only her name which I had chosen as my own since I had no real given name, I simply called myself Sara Newman. No matter where I went on Earth and the surrounding systems for my training? I had the feeling that everyone knew who I was, even before they had known of my name or my less than unusual back story, I was simply looked at in awe and reverence until I met one man, mid to late twenties hybrid male decent of several worlds across what had once been known as the United Federation of Planets.
Everything seemed to come to me with ease during my training, I seemed to pick up my teachings with perfect recall from Temporal Mechanics to Engineering of the Timeships, I was even known as a pilot with expertise ranging from shuttles to Starships, hand-to-hand combat, weapons and explosives. Far beyond anything I could have imagined, my first assignment into the past was a simple one. Observe, record and report a simple moment in time, a moment several hours after my disappearance from the now distant past. After knowing the distant future for the majority of my life? Returning to my time of origin was difficult, as I remembered everyone, their names and their faces yet, I still had no idea of what the woman whom had recruited me had even looked like. I was told that there would be an asset in place in that timeframe whom would assist me if required, I was given period correct clothing, currency and identification of a Private Investigator working on a similar case in the event that I would be noticed.
Walking the streets of my childhood which I would still have been in that timeframe, yet as a grown woman was unusual, the sights, sounds and smells brought back so many memories but not the one that I had somehow forgotten, Sara's face. Who was she and why was I selected in the first place? I found myself before my former Foster Home and saw my Foster Parents through the window looking shocked, worried and in tears at my recent disappearance from their point of view. I can honestly say that it was the first time I had felt empathy for the two whom had tried to make me feel at home, a part of their family. It was at that moment, when I looked at the woman whom had tried to give me a home, that I heard my chosen name called out to me and I turned slowly to see the young man whom was my contact, an asset for those whom I had worked.
"Sara Newman? Jared Cane. A pleasure Ma'am"
"Do I know you, Mister Cane. You look familiar to me?"
"I can honestly say that we have never met until this moment. I have been apprised of your file by your Agency, you should not be here Sara. Observe and record, nothing more" He said as he stepped towards me, with a slight smile on his face.
"I am familiar with the T-P.D. I just felt as if I had to see them, make sure they are okay"
"As had I, after I was recruited. Follow me please? As I have been selected to complete your training and assess your final examination. This is your final test"
"Of course. Lead the way"
He looked more than familiar to me as I followed the man through the streets of what was once my home city, something that I could not shake that I knew him, somehow. My final training and examination was to last, as long as it would last. Be that days or weeks? It was to be my final test before I was authorised to become a fully activated Temporal Agent and if I failed? I would return to the distant future for either further training or to live out the rest of my life in the distant future. I was afraid for my own future, for the first time since I had arrived in my new time of origin? I was afraid of what may happen next.
My final training was difficult as with Jared at my side? I was finally granted the right to speak with my former Foster-Parents with the cover of my given identity. I can honestly say that I had never known how much they loved me when I was under their guardianship, even though I was a troubled child and often angered towards them and their authority over me.
"Please, Miss Newman? Find her… find Molly? I will pay anything, we both will" My Foster Mother asked me, with tears flowing from her eyes.
"I will do my best, Missus Tate. You have my word. You may have been asked this before, but is there anything that you may have forgotten about, no matter how insignificant it may have seemed at the time?"
"Nothing" My Foster Father replied, as he held her hand. "But, aren't you a little young to be a Private Investigator Miss Newman?"
"Jared here, is my mentor. We have been looking into similar cases for the past nine months. Unexplained disappearances, this is what we do Mister Tate"
"Have you ever found anyone of those missing?"
"Many times. However, they often show up on their own, seen elsewhere or simply make contact with their homes in time. I give you my word, I will do everything in my power to find Molly, no matter how long it takes"
I felt Jared's eyes on my the instant I finished my sentence with that one promise, he was almost shocked at what I had said, but I was not wrong, I had made contact with them, just many years later from my own perspective and if they had known whom I was? They would see that I am alive and well.
I had only been back in that time for nineteen hours and fourteen minutes when I was permitted to make contact with the Tate family, and upon our return to Jared's home, a temporal observatory on the outskirts of my once home city? Only after being scolded by him, yelled at? To use a term from the time? Was I permitted to open a file which he had placed on a small circular wooden coffee table before me in the form of a Temporal Agency Computer tablet, disguised as something native of the time frame, an old video cassette, VHS. I spent hours reading and rereading the file on myself from the distant future, I had no idea at the time that this, not the interview with my Foster Parents, was my final examination. The information before me was who and what I am and I was shocked beyond all reasoning as to what had been displayed before me.
"How accurate, is this file Jared? How accurate?"
"You, of all people… know that we make no mistakes Sara. I have no idea what is in that file, it is for your eyes only, I am not permitted to read what is written nor am I permitted to know"
"This isn't real. It can't be real! It's all bullshit!" I cried out, instantly.
"Sara, what is in that file? Is the truth. I saw my own file and I could barely believe what I read when my time came. It is simply the way of things for us, for Temporal Agents of our training"
"I don't care. I don't believe this SHIT! I am not what it says here…"
"Are you rejecting this truth Sara? Be aware, this is your final assessment and I have to report back to the Commission on your actions. If I do not find you to be fit to continue…?"
"I just, I just need to some time to process this information Jared"
"Time? Is all that we have Sara. I shouldn't be telling you this, but I feel that I have to do so, regardless of what may happen next. Throughout the history of Earth, the old Federation and it's Starfleet? A woman, matching your description has been recorded at many key events across time. Regardless of what you are thinking now Sara, you are important to the future, the history of the future. If you are not present? Then everything that we know may not happen" Jared said with a deep sigh as I looked on in shock.
"That's not what is written here Jared. I have read this several times over, it is a note to me… as written by… myself. Jared? I recruited myself as a child, nine years from now, in my own lifetime"
The shock which had resonated from Jared with such force that it could have destroyed the glass-like substance which had been used to construct the windows of the small home, as he could see that I was telling the truth about what I had read. He had not wanted to listen to me, as he continued to ignore me until I placed the computer tablet into his hands and forced him to sit in a chair to read the file for himself. But it was not what was written which had shocked me the most, it was what was not written when he read between the preverbal lines and remembered reading his own file which he had later shown to me, one hour later.
"How is this even possible, Jared? This is not possible" I called out, in shock.
"I do not know. Yet, it is here… written before us both"
"You are barely in your late twenties and in this timeframe…"
"Evidently, not for much longer?" He replied with a sigh, as he paced up and down the small room slowly. "When I first arrived here, in this home? It seemed to be decorated to my own tastes after laying empty for many years. I felt at home, Sara"
"Terrible decorating choices, by the way. I hate the carpets. This is real, isn't it? You are or from your perspective will be, my Father?"
"We should not speak of this, any longer. Temporal…"
"Yes, I know all about the T-P.D. Jared? This is a lot to take in for me, and no doubt for you also. I have seen and done things that I could never have imagined, but meeting my own father, before I was even conceived? Is just… wrong. Damn it, I feel sick right now, as I was attracted to you the moment I saw you Jared" I said with an almost violent shiver.
"I… had, the same… yeah! The Commission, knows what they are doing Sara, and you have a future ahead of you, a future you most continue with as must I…? I will say this now to you, while I have the chance. I am sorry, but I am proud of what my future daughter will become one day"
I have no idea how often it is that one meets their own parent, before their conception, nor realises that they had in essence, abducted themselves as a child? But I was in that moment which seemed to last for weeks and even months after I had returned to my second time of origin and I can only imagine how Jared, my Father felt? Once had seen the truth about whom we are to each other. One thing I do know? The report from Jared to our superiors had not been as perfect as I had wanted, it had almost destroyed my career as I was seen by those of the graduation board to be barely fit to continue, however I did make the passing grade, barely, to become a registered Temporal Agent.
My first assignment however, my first official assignment as an Agent was nothing special at first? But it would be a ceremony which would eventually shape the future of the galaxy. I was sent to observe the 'Ground Breaking Ceremony' of Earth's first Warp Five Complex and Zephram Cochrane's speech after installing myself as a reporter, three months earlier. Many of my travels back through time, had been less than ceremonial, observing less than key moments in history of the galaxy yet, I could not get past what I had learned of my biological father and had always wanted to know the identity of the woman whom had given birth to me, it seemed to me at least? As if that was a secret which had been hidden from me for the five years I had worked with the Temporal Commission.
Twenty-Six years old and with numerous exploits throughout time beneath my preverbal belt, I had become known as a passable yet, almost unstable element in the history of the galaxy by my peers. I had not yet been granted what I knew was rightfully mine for the taking, the life of which I should have, according to the history texts which had suddenly become sealed off to me, but for the few files which I had duplicated and hidden for my own reference. I had to know the truth about myself, can you blame me? In those five years since I had become known as a Temporal Agent, I had been assigned to work with a young Betazoid woman and like myself? from her own planet's distant past, I had even referred to her as a close friend, one of my few true friends in my life but I had never spoken to her about what I had discovered, even though our personal pasts had been almost identical as like myself? she was also an orphan on her home world and taken from the same timeframe on her own planet.
More unusual about Selena, was that the iris of her eyes was a pale gray and not black, as with the majority of her species in that time and her telepathic abilities where limited, almost to that of a half Betazoid by comparison which had worked in our favour on numerous of our Back-Trips through time, as we called them? Which was mainly observing Earth and Humans, or similar looking species. We had even spent two months recording and observing Earth's Ancient West under the cover as Sisters, due to our similar appearance during a pivotal and historical moment, Arizona in the year 1881. That time and yes, we met them, all of those involved in the conflict and one in particular whom I shall not state. I was never so relieved as to return to our new time of origin for the very, very lengthy debriefing into the incident we had been dispatched to observe and record in exquisite detail down to the last bullet fired, it's direction and impact in the 30 second conflict. Finally returning to the home which myself and Selena had shared, in the ancient city of Los Angeles, California. It was almost as if a new assignment had been awaiting our return as the moment we arrived at our apartment? Our supervising case officer had made contact with us for one more assignment, but not for observation as was our usual assignment? Something else as we had both been ordered before the Commander of the Temporal Commission, herself. A tall and beautiful middle aged woman of descent of the once separate species known as Romulan and Vulcan, before the Reunification of the two species, centuries earlier.
"Sara Newman, Selena Tallis? Welcome back to the 31st century. I had read your rather, lengthy report into your last assignment, very complete"
"Thank you, Madam Commissioner. It was a very… difficult assignment, knowing the outcome of such a Historical conflict" My Agency Partner, Selena said with a polite smile and nod of respect.
"Please ladies, I have asked you both on countless occasions to call me Saavel. I have followed both of your careers with satisfaction, I can see you both becoming valuable assets to this Organisation in the coming years. If I may ask, what do you know about a Starfleet Officer named, James Tiberius Kirk?"
"Not much…" I said with a slight sigh. "… I specialise in the Earth's 19th to 21st centuries, anything else is merely clutter. But, I am familiar with his name however? One of the most famous Starfleet Officers in the old Starfleet from the mid to late 23rd Century"
"I know of Kirk, Saavel. Once held the rank of a mid-level Admiral, before violating orders to steal his former command during the so called 'Genesis Incident' and as a result? Demoted to the permanent rank and position of Starfleet Captain which he attained until his eventual retirement and death, twice I might add, legally of course?"
"Exactly, Selena. It is of Kirk, of which I now speak directly with you both and your speciality in the time period in question Sara? Starfleet records dictate that the then Admiral James Kirk and his former command crew, whilst onboard of a captured Klingon vessel travelled through time to the late 1980s to recover two… Humpback whales and return them to Earth of his time, shortly after? A program of reintroduction was activated to repopulate Earth with such life forms, cloning"
"I am familiar with the file Saavel…" I said with smile and a polite nod.
"Excellent. This is more of a personal matter to myself, ladies? As my husband is a direct descendant of the 20th Century woman whom had been brought back to the late 23rd Century, along with Kirk and his crew"
"Doctor Gillian Taylor? Impressive pedigree. I read her file when I was granted clearance, she was the only known specialist in such creatures in the known galaxy at the time. So, what are our orders, to insure that she boards that captured vessel?"
"In a manner of speaking, yes. You are to travel back to the Earth year, 1986, San Francisco California. You will be given the usual credentials and equipment for this assignment, your assignment is as follows…"
Receiving an assignment directly from the Commissioner herself was unusual to say the least, but more so due to her further orders. As history had recorded during that timeframe, there was a large amount of interest in the disappearance of the Doctor in question as she had been seen several times with two unusually dressed males whom we had known to be James T. Kirk and the Vulcan Spock. More so was the reports of a male whom had been captured onboard of a United States Nuclear Aircraft Career, a believed Russian Spy of the time. Along with his disappearance from Mercy Hospital during surgery, and the reports which had also placed Doctor Gillian Taylor and two males matching the physical descriptions of James T. Kirk and Doctor Leonard H. McCoy at the hospital before his disappearance which had launched a nation wide Man-Hunt for the four in question, four suspected enemy spies.
"Saavel, as much as I honour you and owe you for your guidance? You are asking us to break with the regulations that we have sworn to uphold and protect, you are asking us to… derail those investigations?"
"Yes Sara, I am. As history has recorded your involvement in this Case…"
"One of many? I know that as a fact, Saavel. Who and what am I, why have you insisted on personally training us both against regulations? It's time we knew the truth or we simply walk"
"The truth it is, Ladies. Simply? We do not know, no one knows only that your path has only just begun. As I had said, you will observe Kirk and his party during their mission, do not interfere with what must happen, but you must find a way to put an end to the investigation. Our own History has recorded this to be a fact. After this assignment is complete? I will have one more assignment for you both, assignments which much be completed"
Selena and I knew that Saavel was right in her assessment of the situation, it was what must happen for history to continue as it should and I have never felt such trepidation for an assignment as the one placed before myself and my partner and I could feel Selena's own apprehension which had resonated from within her, for all to see as her face turned pale in the brief moment I looked towards her, as she stood at my side.
We had both never spoken of the messages that we had received during our final tasks, as I thought that my own was more than disturbing enough to explain to my closest friend in any century. I had yet to understand why Selena had requested to follow the path to the timeframe of ancient Earth, which I had followed and not her own planet's history but I knew that she had her own reasons why she had chosen such a path and perhaps someday? She would explain to me why she had chosen such a path.
Earth, San Francisco.
In the year… 1986.
I had only seen San Francisco once before in person, and it was much later that the current date when I was a child before I had returned to the City, a thousand years into the future for training as an Agent of Time. Although I had seen the City in Movies and Television during my childhood? Nothing could have prepared me for that moment when both Selena and myself stepped from a darkened alleyway onto the streets of the metropolis along with the sights, the sounds and the very smells of the city. It was almost like being back home once again for myself, although Selena had a very different view of the bustling and almost chaotic city.
Upon entering the city, we where met by a middle-aged woman, our contact and asset of the time whom had spent several weeks preparing for our arrival, establishing our so called back story, credentials and even our place of business. Something that was more than familiar to me, a Private Investigator whom had specialised in missing people? Why would that always follow me throughout my life…?