Shadow of the Past

by Antonio Cabañas

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Star Trek in all its incarnations and all related characters are property of Paramount Pictures. Tony Castro and the USS Corsair were created by me, other adventures of her can be found in my site

E-mail: borg31de777yahoo.es.

Spoilers: Star Trek VI, Star Trek: Generations, and to Deep Space Nine season 5.

Author Note: some parts of this story are inspired by "Chekov's Enterprise", a serial story that I read in the net some years ago. I don't remember the name of the author, but that story was one of the reasons because I started to write fanfic.

I wish to thank my beta-reader Carycomix for his help and support

Answer to Reviewers: Please, review!

Summary: An space anomaly prompts captain Tony Castro of the USS Corsair to tell a story of the past.

Stardate 50795.0

USS Corsair, NCC-1721-C, in patrol of the Romulan Neutral zone

Commander Korg Ramirez, first officer of the USS Corsair was leaving of the holodeck where he just have had a heavy workout, when he almost bumped into his commanding officer, Captain Antonia Castro.

- Sorry, Korg. I didn't see you - Said the Captain, excusing herself

- I should have paid more attention, Tony. -

- Well, at least I can talk with you about something that is worrying me. -

- I'm going to my quarters, so if you want to walk with me. - As they proceeded through the corridor, he asked - What is the matter that is worrying you? -

- Khalev. He doesn't want to be your replacement, even temporarily. -

- Why? He is a goddamned good officer. -

- He says that he is not ready for command. The problem is that Amia backs him and I have agreed reluctantly that he is not captaincy material... yet. -

- So who are you going to select? -

- I don't have any idea, Korg. If I don't provide Starfleet Command with a viable candidate, we are going to have to nurse the useless son of some admiral or politician. -

- Nepotism in Starfleet? Hold the presses!. - said Korg, sarcastically.

- Yes, great news. - then her smirking face become serious, almost sad. - Changing the subject, I have approved K'aylha as Wing Commander of our fighter squadron. -

- Thanks, Tony. That means a lot for me. -

- I realized that we must move on. We had our moment, but some things just can't be. -

Korg didn't know what to say, he hadn't expected her to admit, so frankly than their relationship was impossible. Then, suddenly, the ship rocked and they fell. Instinctively Korg had tried to protect Tony embracing her, so they ended together on the ground, their faces almost touching, and their eyes meeting.
Slowly, their faces neared each other, when their lips where about to meet the commbadge chirped. That seemed to get them back to reality. Tony pressed her commbadge as they started to get back on their feet.

- Captain, we have come out of warp! - said the voice of Karl Grünning, the OPS officer.

- Who is in charge of the bridge? - asked Korg to Tony.

- Khalev, although I don't think this is his fault. - said Tony looking at a viewport, where they could see a pulsating light located very close to the Corsair.

Captain's log.

Stardate 50975.1

In the course of a routine patrol of the Romulan Neutral Zone, we were pulled out of warp by some kind of space anomaly. We are analyzing the phenomenon to determine its nature.

They were now in the conference room adjacent to the bridge. Tony was trying to not think that Korg and her had almost kissed an hour ago focusing on the job at hand. She looked at the half-Klingon Commander, trying to know what he was thinking, but his expression was unreadable, and she had sworn a long time ago that she wouldn't intrude on anyone's mind without permission.

Counselor Amia Darla was intrigued by the body language of Captain Castro and Commander Ramirez. Something had happened between them. They were still attracted to each other, that was obvious even without her empathic powers, but she thought that they had managed to put that behind them. She automatically contained her impulse to ask them directly. "The humans are a lot more repressed than us, Deltans." she thought, for the umpteenth time since she had become counselor of the Corsair, more than six years ago. The sudden entrance of Lieutenant Commander Khalev, the Andorian science officer of the ship interrupted her thoughts.

- Mr. Khalev, can you shed some light on this subject? - said the captain, pointing to the pulsating light that was visible through the windows in the conference room, while Khalev was sitting.

- It's a multilayered subspace bubble, not unlike our warp fields. I think that the anomaly was in a latent state until we passed near at warp, and our warp field activated it. - said Khalev - And we can't leave. -

- Why? - asked Commander Ramirez.

- If we try to go to warp, the anomaly will follow us, ripping the space-time fabric in the process. The anomaly will dissipate by itself in a year. -

- We can't wait that long!. - said Commander Ramirez.

- Mr. Khalev, can we cancel the anomaly with a subspace pulse? -

- I was going to suggest that option, captain. But we must do it in the next eight hours. - seeing the blank expression on everyone's faces, he elaborated. - The anomaly was moving when our warp field impacted on it, and now it's linked to our warp nacelles, but it's as if the anomaly was trying to break free. I estimate that in eight hours it would break free, starting to rip the space-time fabric. -

- Moving under its own power? How is that possible? - asked Commander Ramirez.

- Khalev, at what speed it was moving? And how do you know that? -

- I revised our sensor logs previous to the incident. There was some faint indications of the presence of the anomaly, but you can see them only if you know what you were searching for. And answering your first question, captain, the anomaly was moving at warp 1. -

- Khalev, could a warp drive overload had generated the anomaly?. -

- Theoretically it is possible...-

- Captain, even the earliest warp drive models have enough safeguards to avoid that kind of overload. - said commander Sokal, the vulcan chief engineer.

- If it's the ship that I'm thinking, it wasn't an accident, it was a sabotage. - and turning to Khalev, she asked. - Compensating for the galactic rotation and movement, and the gravitational pull of the nearby stars, can you calculate the position of the anomaly on stardate 9591.2? -

- I'll need some time, captain. I haven't a computer for brain like the vulcans. No offense, Sokal. - said Khalev, while using a PADD to access the main computer and introduce the parameters.

- One moment, are you referring to the Pioneer? - asked Korg.

- Yes, Korg, the Pioneer. You have read Chekov's book about the incident. -

- Yes, although I never understood how both of you managed to flee the ship. The explanation that he gave in the book was... contrived, to say the least. -

- It was a contrived explanation, because it was false. I asked Pavel to silence some facts. - said Tony - To be totally honest, his escape from the Pioneer was almost as he said. It was my escape that was the lie. -

- The Kolharis system, captain. -

- Ah, yes. Well, it's the Pioneer then. We were in the Kolharis system when all happened. -

- What happened, captain? - said Lieutenant Commander Brigitte Ta-Bej, the half-Sajin scurity chief. - If there is some threat to the Corsair I would like to know it. -

- No, the old ship is harmless, Brigitte. I suppose that I have to start the story from the beginning. - said the captain - As you know, eighty-two years ago, after the explosion of the Praxis moon, Chancellor Gorkon of the Klingon Empire made peace overtures to the Federation. High echelons of both Starfleet and the Klingon military conspired to keep the status quo, but Captain Kirk managed to thwart their plans. Two years later, in the christening of the Enterprise-B Kirk was sucked by the Nexus ribbon and believed dead. -

- Yes, we all know the story. -

- I was telling it only to put you in perspective. In the funeral, the old crew of the Enterprise, and a few others, myself included, delivered a posthumous eulogy of Jim Kirk... -

Riverside, Iowa. 2293.

-... he died as he lived, making a difference, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, although this time, he couldn't save himself. Goodbye, Jim, wherever you are now. - ended Lieutenant Commander Antonia Castro and left the podium.

She was surprised to see the nest speaker: Colonel Kor, Kirk's old enemy. A few old enemies of Kirk had been accepted at the ceremony, only after lengthy and tense conversations between Starfleet Command and the Klingon High Command.

- What are you doing, Colonel? - whispered Tony when they meet at the base of the posium.

- I have something to say also, Commander. - and went up the stairs.

She sat where she had been, next to Chekov. She looked around for the first time, and was surprised to see John Harriman in one of the last rows of seats. She knew that he had been "advised" to stay out of the ceremony. Several old friends of Kirk were making him responsible for his death. A ridiculous idea, in her opinion. If somebody was to blame, it was the guy that had ordered the Enterprise to be christened so prematurely...

When Kor started to speak, Tony turned her attention to the podium. Kor started speaking of how, almost thirty years ago, in Organia, he had been impressed by the courage and determination of a young human captain, James T. Kirk. He resumed the Delta Triangle incident in a few words, and told the audience how, six years ago, they met again, in the Eternity incident. Tony remembered well the incident, as she had just been assigned to the Enterprise-A as Sulu's replacement at the Conn. Kor and Jim had been forced to work together in order to survive, and further encounters had developed the grudging mutual admiration that dated back from the Organian incident into something similar to friendship. Tony made a sad smile, because Kor was sparing the audience of the Leconte affair, and the K'sruk II battle, when Kirk had let his anti-Klingon bias cloud his judgement.

After Kor finished, only a few Starfleet top brass remained. After that, they proceeded to lower the empty coffin into the tomb, placed besides the tombs of the rest of Kirk's family, his brother, his sister-in-law, his father and his mother. While the coffin was being slowly lowered he heard somebody humming a familiar melody. She lasted a moment to locate the source, because it was Spock who was humming "Amazing Grace"...

USS Corsair. NCC-1721-C. 2373

- I have met Ambassador Spock several times over the years, Captain. And he had a strange fascination for that Terran song. - interrupted Sokal.

- It's something that goes back to the original Enterprise first five-year mission under Kirk, from what Spock told me. Some strange incident with one of the A.P.E.s that seem to appear every time that a Starfleet ship goes to deep space. -

- A.P.E.s? - asked Sokal.

- Oh, I forgot that you didn't pass through Starfleet Academy. A.P.E. is Starfleet Academy slang, an acronym for All Powerful Entity. But we are digressing. After the funeral, when I was about to return to Starfleet Headquarters, Scotty came to talk to me... -

Riverside, Iowa. 2293.

- ...as you see, the captain could have been sucked by the ribbon. And just now he could be in that Nexus thing. -

- Scotty, just now the ribbon is running toward the Great Barrier. Even at maximum warp with a Excelsior-class starship, we couldn't reach it. And you know that the intense gravimetric distortions can produce hallucina... -

Her words were interrupted by the sound of a very heated verbal exchange. She turned her head and was surprised to see Chekov, being restrained by Sulu, shouting names at Harriman. Before anyone could do anything, Chekov managed to break free from Sulu's grasp and hit Harriman.

To Be Continued...