Prologue
Zareb stood in front of the glowing portal, the light making strange shadows in the gloomy landscape around him.
A hand clasped his shoulder and gave him a squeeze. He turned to see his friend and mentor, a sad smile on his face. "I'm both happy and sad that you will go on this mission; happy that you will right the timelines and sad that I will probably never see you again."
Zareb reached out his own hand to clasp his mentor's shoulder. "I'm honored to have been chosen. I have prepared my whole life for this mission, and I'm grateful to you for guiding me through my training. I will miss you Master."
The two men regarded each other with sad smiles and then before the last of the sun sunk behind the distant mountains, Zareb turned and strode into the portal. The light flickered and whorled and with the last ray of the sun sinking below the horizon the Master was left standing alone. The last of his kind, the last of a ruined future.
One
USCM Arcturus Troop Transport – Arcadia Sector – January 2036
Corporal Riley 1627 tried not to think of how his commanding officer had bent down and picked up the small human in his arms. It was a strange thing to do and it made no sense to willingly touch the small child.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see his commander and the boy quietly looking through the porthole at the M8 Nebula. Though he made sure to focus on his task of plotting the quickest course through the sector to the Trinity Moons colonies while avoiding any USCM patrol ships, a part of his mind worked on the puzzle of the commander and his time with the colonists on Arcadia 234.
Before he could continue his train of thought, Andrew 1412 called out that telemetry was picking up a strange signal emanating from the nebula. As he turned to verify the readings, the proximity klaxon blared as all systems went to full alert. The commander strode back to the cockpit with the child in his arms. "Report."
Riley tried not to look at the boy who held on to the commander's neck. "Sir, we have detected unusual readings from the nebula. The ships sensors are detecting something approaching the ship at high velocity but we have no visual confirmation."
As they turned to go over the readings, the ship shuddered from an impact of some kind. The last thing Riley noticed was that even as they fell and tumbled about, the commander used his own body to protect the small child in his arms even to his own detriment. How odd was Riley's last thought before the world around him went black.
Enterprise NX-01 – Alpha Quadrant – January 2155
The bridge was quiet, there wasn't anything exciting going on. It was two weeks after Elizabeth's funeral and all the senior officers were aboard. It was most likely because of this that Starfleet had given them an easy mission to observe stellar activity in the Lagoon Nebula.
Captain Archer didn't have much to do on the bridge, as T'Pol and Malcolm went through the data from the sensors. He was thinking to retire to his ready room when Travis called out that they were picking up strange readings coming from the nebula.
"Captain, I'm reading an object traveling at near Warp heading directly towards us." T'Pol said from her station.
"Shields up! Evasive maneuvers! Can we hail them?"
"Something's affecting our communication, Captain." Hoshi called out.
"Captain!" Travis called out, "The object is still picking up speed, it's on a collision course!"
"Get us to Warp Ensign!"
"Captain! There is no time." Jonathan looked at his first officer, and noticed not for the first time in the last few days at how diminished she looked. At another time, her eyes would be alive with emotion, but now facing certain death, there was nothing there, except maybe resignation.
In that split second before impact he wondered if Vulcans believed in an afterlife. Would T'Pol and Trip see their daughter there? And with that last thought Captain Archer knew no more.
Moya – Uncharted Territories – Earth Year 2007
Aeryn tried not to shake her head in fond exasperation at her husband. He was currently zooming a cranky Deke through the mess hall while the rest of them tried to eat John's Anniversary/Remembrance Dinner. They had all made it back to Moya, even Rygel though he'd had to leave the throne under a regent so soon after Bishan's overthrow, which was a testament to how much they all cared for her annoying husband, even Rygel who swore he only came to eat and show them how kingly he is.
Aeryn, the newly promoted Commandant of the Peacekeeper Armada was only there because her command carrier was just on the other side of the Nebula, within an easy distance. Unfortunately as soon as she returned she had to deal with Scorpius and the few hundred Grennij survivors aboard, which gave her a headache to think about and she resolved to enjoy these next few hours aboard Moya remembering happier times and the crew and friends they'd made and lost aboard her.
She was about to lift a piece of something John had called "cornbread" to her mouth when Pilot urgently called out that something odd was coming towards them from the nebula.
Just like old times they dropped everything and ran up to the bridge, John carrying a suddenly quiet Deke behind her. As soon as they crowded together they all fell into their usual stations, John handing Deke to Chiana while they looked at the nebula and the object hurtling towards them.
"Pilot, contact my command carrier and have them help us intercept whatever is heading towards us."
"I'm sorry Aeryn, but the signal coming from this object is disrupting communications. The object is continuing to accelerate. It is still on a collision course."
"Pilot!" John called out, "Can Moya Starburst us out of here before that thing gets here?"
"Moya will try, but I do not think there will be enough time."
As they all braced for either impact or Starburst, Aeryn ran to John who had grabbed Deke from Chiana. As she held her family, Moya gave an almighty groan and a shudder that shook them all apart.
As she reached out towards her family, a blinding white light took over Aeryn's vision, her fingers just skimming over the tips of her husbands before the white light took over everything.
USS George Hammond – Border of the Milky Way Galaxy – 2010
Teal'c observed his friends in the colonel's private dining room. Daniel Jackson was reading a file and trying not to show his impatience to get back to Vala who had been unable to join them as she and Colonel Mitchell had been recruited to test pilot some new fighters to potentially take over for the 302s. Colonel Carter and General O'Neill were in a deep conversation, and Teal'c wondered when they were going to announce their news.
Daniel had just managed to knock over his glass of water when the general cleared his throat. "Uh, thanks guys for coming with us on this pleasure cruise around the galaxy, though I know you have better things to do than help us patrol and negotiate with Lucian holdouts, but uh, Sam and I have something to say…Sam?"
Colonel Carter gave the general a look that made him shift back a bit with a look on his face that Teal'c had come to know after many years meant that he felt uncomfortable at showing his feelings about what was going to be said next.
The colonel took a deep breath and turned to look at her friends, "What Jack meant to say is that we really appreciate you two coming out with us, getting the team back together though we're missing Vala and Cam. We also wanted to tell you in person that this will be my last mission as commander of the Hammond. As soon as we reach Earth I will resign my command and – "
"Resign! What do you mean Sam?" Teal'c raised his eyebrow and withheld a sigh as Daniel jumped up and interrupted Colonel Carter. "How can you give up the command of the Hammond? It's because of you and this ship that we defeated the Lucian Alliance. How – "
"Now, hold your horses Daniel! If you could just let us explain before you –" The general cut off Daniel and both men started to speak over each other when the colonel put her hands up and demanded both men to shut up and sit down. Looking chagrined both men quickly obeyed and Teal'c smirked to himself. After all these years, his friends would never change.
"What I meant to say, before I was so rudely interrupted," The colonel glared at both men who shifted guiltily, "is that it will be a temporary resignation because I will actually be going on maternity leave."
There was quiet in the room, before Daniel regained his voice and jumped out of his seat coming to embrace the colonel. "Oh wow, Sam! Jack! You two, finally…"
The general awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah, two little Carter-O'Neill's running around, wreaking havoc on the rest of us."
At this statement, even Teal'c was stunned, his famous eyebrow arching in surprise as Daniel sputtered out in shock, his eyeglasses sliding down his nose, "Two, t-twins?!"
The colonel reached out to steady a dazed looking Daniel, "Yes Daniel. We found out that we're having twins. I'm a little bit older than my doctor likes and so I've got to take it easy, so I'm going planet-side for awhile. I'll be staying with Jack in D.C."
Teal'c finally stood up and made his way to his friends. "Congratulations on your children, General O'Neill, Colonel Carter. You two will make singular parents to your offspring. I look forward to their havoc." His friends grinned at him, "Thanks T" the general said as he reached out to clasp Teal'c's arm.
The moment was cut short by a ship alarm, and Major Franklin on the comm asking for Colonel Carter to report to the bridge.
They all quickly made their way to the bridge, where Colonel Carter quickly took command. "Report Major."
"We've dropped out of hyperdrive, right next to this nebula. Looking at the coordinates, we must be near the M8 nebula."
"Do we know why we've dropped out of hyperspace? Is something wrong with the engines?"
"No Colonel, something knocked us off course. Engines are reporting as fine."
Suddenly everyone's attention was captured by an alarm going off on the bridge.
"Colonel!" Captain Chandler called out from the helm. "There's something coming out of the nebula towards us. It's coming fast, near hyperspeed."
"Bring us about Captain! Major Marks can you get a lock on that ship?"
"No captain, the nebula or the ship itself must be somehow affecting weapons lock and I have no visual confirmation at all."
The colonel turned to helm, "Can we engage the hyperdrive and get us out of here?"
Captain Chandler futilely pressed on his console to no avail, his voice was noticeably laced with fear, "That's a negative Colonel. We can't move at all, we're sitting ducks!"
As the proximity alarms started to blare, Teal'c saw the General come up behind the Colonel and wrap her up in his arms.
Just before impact, Teal'c observed his friends one last time. He felt sorry that his friends would never experience parenthood, but they were all together at least. Though it might be a bit selfish he couldn't help but feel comforted that he was with his friends at the end, his family. Then the world turned white and Teal'c felt nothing at all.
To Be Continued...