Enterprise Shuttle Warrant
2:23 PM

The shuttle Warrant soared through space toward the tiny nearby ship. It might have been quicker
to simply beam aboard but both captains had decided against it. With the anomaly still close and
the possibility of more temporal entanglement, there was always the chance that beaming might scatter
one's atoms across infinite realities. At the very least they didn't want to risk any systems acting weird.

And so while Sulu and Chekov remained on the Enterprise, Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty and Uhura
were now flying toward the mysterious Saratoga.

"Remind me why we offered to go over to them?" McCoy asked. "And why I need to go at all?"

"Because we're on their turf," Kirk replied. "Because it seemed like the polite thing to do. And most
importantly because I want my Senior staff with me."

Up ahead Spock and Scotty were piloting the shuttle. Scotty chuckled as he looked back. "Tell the truth,
Captain! You can't wait to meet your other self! You're dying of curiosity just like the rest of us!"

"That too," Kirk admitted with a grin.

McCoy was silent for a moment. "So what can you tell us about Delphis class ships, Spock? The condensed version."

Spock readily began to provide. "The Delphis class is a science vessel designed for limited duration research missions,
such as planetary study, astronomical surveys and mapping newly discovered areas of space. They have a standard
complement of approximately one hundred crewmembers, making them the smallest class in the Fleet.

"In our reality there are four such ships within the Fleet at present: the USS Andaman, whose primary focus is the study
of astronomical phenomena, the USS Actium, whose focus is geology, the USS Adriatic, whose focus is biomedical
research and the USS Saratoga, whose focus is ecological studies and which is currently the oldest member of its class.
It is not surprising that you would be unfamiliar with them, Doctor, because they have attracted very little notice.
Indeed, their class is regarded as a…'joke'…by some."

"In our reality the USS Saratoga was launched on Stardate 2240.73 under the command of Captain Eric Martell.
Upon his retirement on Stardate 2258.295, command was switched to Captain M'ia P'Rel from Cait. Evidently
that was not the case in this reality."

Scotty snorted. "I'll say!" He glanced back at Kirk. "I'm certainly curious as to why any 'you' would be on that wee
little pod of a ship and not our Silver Lady!"

Spock put in his two cents. "If the anomaly is a disruption of space time that allows for one reality to interact with
another, and if there are by definition infinite realities, then there are an infinite number of reasons why the Captain
would be in command of another vessel."

"Maybe he was never assigned to the Enterprise in the first place," Uhura suggested.

"Unlikely. He mentioned that the Captain was 'still' in command of the Enterprise, which would indicate that he
himself once commanded it."

Kirk shot a Spock a wry glance. "Maybe after a certain incident at Nibiru, he was reassigned instead of being demoted."

"That is a possibility."

"Well, we can ask him all about it when we get there," Uhura replied. She smiled. "I'm sure it'll be an interesting story."