Note: This is a sequel to all the tales leading up to it and, of course, contains many spoilers for them. They and this tale form one long, continuous saga so you really should read those others first. See profile for list.
Prologue:
Three billion miles out from the Sun, the light and heat that made it as far as Neptune and Pluto were pale and feeble things. Life as we know it could not exist unprotected on those icy worlds. Yet in the cold, dark space between the sun's most distant children, something stirred. It began as a point of light that became a disk, a circle of space outlined by a glowing rim. It grew rapidly until it was more than a kilometre across, forming a window into another universe.
Then something monstrous came through that window, slowly exuding itself into the Federation's universe, pointed at Pluto's moon Charon. Even though it was half a million miles distant, the interloper's arrival already had alarms sounding at Charon Base, a small Starfleet research station clinging doggedly to that barren rock. These in turn should have triggered an automatic transmission to Earth, but that transmission was blocked by the subspace interference generated by the interloper.
"Do we know what it is!" said Base Commander Bruce Adebeyor, shouting to be heard over the alarms.
"Negative, sir," replied Lieutenant Marianne Dorleac as she tried to steady the dancing, static-degraded image on the screen before her, "only that it's huge and it's headed straight for us. The amount of interference it's giving out is playing merry hell with all our scanners."
"Okay, no point taking any chances, we have to evacuate. Give the order for everyone to get to the life pods. There are seventeen people on this base and we need..."
Adebeyor never got to finish his sentence. At that precise instant a half-kilometre wide energy beam from the intruder sliced through the base cutting him and it in half as it bored deep into the moon itself. Charon started shaking, chunks flying off as it tore itself apart, until finally it exploded.
Once more a point of light appeared, this time directly in front of the planet-killer. That point became a disk, a circle of space outlined by a glowing rim, then grew rapidly until it was more than a kilometre across, forming a window to that other universe.
The killer slid back through the circle, which then closed behind it leaving nothing to show it had ever been there. Only rocks that had once been a world, and the bodies of the dead.
- 1 -
According to my credentials, my name is Naomi Martin and I'm a colonel in Starfleet Intelligence. This is a lie. My real name is Janice Lester, and I'm not a colonel nor even an actual officer of Starfleet in any capacity. Yet in its way even that's a lie. I was born James Tiberius Kirk, and I was captain of the starship Enterprise until that day three decades ago when the original Janice Lester stole my body and switched lives with me. She then continued my career while I, unaware of who I had been thanks to a brainwashing device, became a wife and a mother, giving birth to two children. They're adults now with lives of their own and my own wife, Janice Rand, is a Starfleet reservist currently on a milk run on board the USS Trafalgar having been temporarily called back to duty. This was very convenient. It meant I didn't have to explain my own absence which, since I was illegally impersonating a Starfleet officer, I couldn't do without lying to her. And having always kept the secret of who I used to be from her, I wouldn't lie to Janice about anything.
"Status, Mr Satok," said Captain Forrest.
"Sensors show several small craft in orbit around the planet, but no other starships," said his Vulcan helmsman.
"Then take us into orbit."
"Aye, aye, Captain."
We were on board the USS Spencer and in front of us lay Camus II. Unusually, the planet was less than a day from Earth at maximum warp, but because it was the only object of any interest in that direction and so far from any shipping routes it had been discovered a lot later than habitable worlds much more distant. Ordinarily such a world would have been a prime candidate for colonisation, even with its isolation, but Camus II held secrets that had led to it being declared off-limits for decades.
Standing there on the bridge, seeing the planet where the original Janice Lester had stolen my body for the first time in three decades, I felt a surge of excitement. This was it. My forged credentials had got me here. Now my true mission could finally begin.
Captain Forrest swivelled his chair to face me. Mid-thirties, handsome, and bearded, he had an easy way with his crew that reminded me of someone I used to be. Jill Finn, his personal yeoman, brought him a PADD to sign off on the completion of orbital insertion, just as Janice Rand would have brought an electronic clipboard to me in our days aboard the Enterprise. Blonde, bubbly, pretty, highly competent, and so very young; Jill Finn reminded me a lot of Janice, too.
"This is it," said the Captain, watching Yeoman Finn appreciatively as she walked away before turning back to me, "our final destination. We hope you enjoyed travelling with us. Please leave your seats in the upright position, and remember to take all luggage with you."
I chuckled at this.
"Yes, thank you, Lee," I said, "I'll be sure to recommend your service to all my friends. Looking forward to your own visit to Camus II?"
"Not really," he said, grimacing. "You just hitched a ride with us, but my entire crew, the command staff and I have to spend the next few days being put through our paces. I know we have to have periodic training sessions to keep our skills up to date, but I can't say they're my favorite part of the job. It's odd how Starfleet has been so gung ho about pushing them lately, though."
"How do you mean?"
"I mean that over the past few months pretty much every ship in the fleet has had to report here to Camus II for training."
"That is odd," I said, frowning.
"Something has to be up, but if so no one's saying anything. I don't suppose you know what's going on, or that you could tell me if you did?"
"Right," I said, "on both counts."
"Well, orders are orders. I'll have everyone start beaming down. A small caretaker crew will be sent up from the planet to look after the ship while we're all put through our paces."
Discovering Camus II was now a Starfleet training facility had come as a big surprise. The events that had led to my becoming Janice Lester had been officially classified soon after they occurred, and the existence of the mind-swapping machine was a closely guarded secret. The planet had then come under the control of Starfleet Intelligence, who had recently transferred Khan's brainwashing device there, too. And now Camus II was also a training facility? It made no sense. I had no idea what was going on down there, but the more I moved these facts around in my mind the less I liked the patterns they made. Something sinister was afoot, I was sure of it.
The beaming down of the entire crew of the USS Spencer proceeded in an orderly fashion over the next couple of hours until there were only five of us left. I was there in the transporter room when the caretaker crew came aboard. There were six of them. Their commanding officer stepped down from the platform and saluted Lee.
"Lieutenant Priyanka Patel. Permission to come aboard."
"Permission granted, lieutenant. Take good care of my ship while we're gone."
"We will, sir. You have my word."
Jill Finn, the helmsman Satok, Chief Tactical Officer Kate Shaw, the captain and myself took our places on the transporter pads while one of the men Priyanka Patel had brought with her operated the transporter controls. Seconds later we materialized on the surface of Camus II.
During my previous visit here as Jim Kirk I had beamed directly into the subterranean network of caves and tunnels that housed the bodyswap device. Today I found myself amid an encampment in the foothills of a large mountain, under a heavily overcast sky, a smattering of snow on the ground. It was windy here and I shivered, momentarily chilled by a sudden cold gust.
"Standard Starfleet planetary shelters," said Kate Shaw, looking at the rows of single level units covering the area around us, "assembled here from replicated components easy to beam down. Apart from the administrative building beyond them, this place all looks pretty makeshift."
"Which means it was established in a hurry," observed Lee Forrest.
Anything else he might have had to say was cut short by members of his crew emerging from the shelters and gathering before him. While this was going on I stared up the slope from us to a cave mouth. The administrative buildings would be staffed by regular Starfleet personnel, I was sure, and it would doubtless be they who ran the training program. The cave mouth, however, was guarded by armed men in Starfleet Intelligence uniforms. There was no doubt in my mind that this led to the cave where the bodyswap device lay, and to other things they'd rather we not see.
When Lee had finished giving a pep talk to his crew, Kate Shaw came over and stood beside me. Tall and athletic, her dark hair pulled back into a ponytail, she radiated strength and intelligence. She studied the cave mouth for a while, and frowned.
"Armed guards," she said, "I wonder what they have in those caves so important it requires armed guards?"
"Even if I knew I wouldn't be permitted to tell you."
"Did you hear that we're the second starship to pass through here this week? The other crew reboarded their ship and left Camus II only yesterday."
"Do you know the name of the ship?"
"Yeah, it was the USS Trafalgar"