Zofchak and his engineering crew occupied various areas of the NX-01. The chief engineer himself was underneath the communication station, repairing the console. He wasn't used to the old technology of the NX class starships. Old was a relative term, it was old for him but current for the Enterprise crew. He had to bring over a portable replicator to replicate parts for various consoles. There was no way they had any parts that would have been compatible with a two hundred-year-old starship.
He was also a bit excited to be on the historic Enterprise with its famous crew. Of course, this ship and its crew were from an alternate universe but it was them nonetheless.
"How is the console coming along?" a female voice asked. Zofchak slid out to see the Enterprise comm officers, Lieutenant Commander Hoshi Sato standing over him. He was captivated by her.
"It's…uh, almost finished," Dustin said.
"I'm impressed," she said. "Usually this type of damage would take weeks or even months to repair." Zofchak attached a few more relays and heard the console power up.
"That should do it," he said. A smile appeared on Sato's face.
"Very nice," she said. "I think this thing works better than it did when it was first created." She extended a hand to help the engineer to his feet.
"It is very surreal to be on the actual bridge of the NX-01 with the actual crew that isn't on a holodeck."
"Holodeck?"
A grin appeared on Zofchak's face. "Just one of many things on starships now."
"Commander," Fulks said. Zofchak looked over to see the security chief standing nearby with a look on his face. "Do you have a moment?"
"Excuse me for a moment," Zofchak said to Sato before stepping over to Fulks. "What do you got?"
"I was going over the Enterprise's sensor logs to see if they picked up anything from when we entered this time and I came across the name of this system. It's the Ceti Alpha system and the planet they're on is Ceti Alpha Five."
Zofchak's eyes widened. He tapped his comm badge. "Zofchak to Commander Sparhawk."
"Come in," Allensworth said as he set his PADD to the side. The doors parted to reveal Commander Sparhawk. Allensworth could tell that something was bothering his first officer. "What can I do for you?"
Sparhawk stepped into the ready room with the doors closing behind him. "Sir, what is our plan for the Enterprise crew?"
"I've been wondering that myself," Allensworth said. "Do we let them carry on their own lives regardless of the Xindi threat or do we take them with us? My training would tell me to leave them here but my ethics and morals tell me the opposite. We put them all on the ship and bring them back to our time."
"Some of the senior officers have been asking me this question and they believe we should take them with us, especially since humanity will not survive. They're always going to be on the run from the Xindi and they know they're here. Even if they were to survive against the Xindi, they'll get wiped out when Ceti Alpha Six explodes. This is a divergent timeline so it wouldn't affect our history."
"Yes, but bringing in new people into our timeline is frowned upon," Allensworth said. "While we are already involved in driving off the Xindi for now, we can't make any hasty decisions yet. We will treat their wounded, repair their ship and treat them as guests as we would anyone else while at the same time trying to figure out how to get back to our own time. We will cross those bridges when we come to them."
Zofchak and Hoshi walked through the corridors of the Alexandria. Dustin was concerned about the fate of the Enterprise crew. He wanted to give them some sort of respite from the horrors of this timeline. Judging by the condition of their ship, he could only imagine just how bad it had been for them. Even during the worst parts of the Dominion War, it probably didn't come close to facing extinction.
Hoshi was in awe ever since she stepped off the transporter pad. Dustin felt a little proud to be showing off the ship. His next task would be showing Captain Tucker the engine room.
"So where are we going?" Hoshi asked.
"Well first, I have to meet someone and then we will go to another place so that you can relax," Dustin said. Hoshi noticed a smirk on his face.
They arrived at a set of doors that Hoshi assumed were someone's quarters. Dustin pressed a button on the panel next to the door. The doors swished open and Dustin stepped through. Hoshi stopped at the threshold.
"You can come in," he said. "These are my quarters." Hoshi stepped in but not too far from the door. She heard another set of doors open. She turned around and saw young girl come running out and wrapped her arms around Dustin's waist.
"You're back," Kennedy said. "What happened? Where are we?"
"It's going to take some time to explain?" Dustin said. "Anyway, do you know who this is?"
Kennedy looked past Dustin to their guest, who waved to her. "It looks like Hoshi Sato of the NX-01."
Hoshi looked to Dustin. "She knows her stuff."
"Papa, didn't you say Hoshi was very cute and wished you lived in her time?" Kennedy asked. Dustin blushed and Hoshi laughed.
"So…Kennedy," Dustin said trying to change the subject. "Do you want to visit Kyoto?" He could feel Hoshi staring at him. He turned his head and smiled.
"What do you mean?" she asked. "We're in the Ceti Alpha system and Earth was destroyed."
"Wait what?" Kennedy asked. "Earth was destroyed? And how are we in the Ceti Alpha system? We were in the Gamma Quadrant."
Dustin chuckled. "Okay, we ended up in some alternate timeline where Earth was destroyed and we're in the past as you can see." He turned to Hoshi. "And you'll just have to see what I mean."
Counselor Nycz walked through the colony on Ceti Alpha V. She wanted to get an idea of the mentality of the populace and see if there was anything she could do to help. Many people stared at her as she walked through the grounds. This, the last human colony in existence, housed the remaining 6,000 humans. She had a hard time wrapping her head around that fact. Earth, the colonies on the moon, the Martian colonies, every single location that housed humans were destroyed, except for this one but the Xindi knew they were here. This was a reality she did not want to experience. She was from New Berlin and to even think that no longer existed stirred feelings inside her, even though she knew her New Berlin was safe. She figured they might as well evacuate everyone and take them back to the 24th century. If she was captain this wouldn't be an issue. She'd take the survivors back with her. A Sovereign class starship could house a little over 10,000 refugees. All she could do now is trust her captain to make the decision. Regardless of which one he'd make, she'd have to follow it.
She looked around at the people and while some of them looked happy on the surface, it didn't take a Betazoid to feel that these people were incredibly frightened. She couldn't blame them. They've lost everything and they're just one step away from total annihilation, whether it's by the Xindi or Ceti Alpha VI exploding in about a hundred years from now.
