Darkness. Just like the six other times she made the jumps through time, there was only darkness and no sound except for her breathing inside the time suit. 'We really need to make a better name for this suit. Maybe Spock and I could-' thought Michael Burnham, before she stopped herself. 'I can't think like that anymore, there is a high probability that I will never see Spock again, or Sarek, or Amanda, or Captain Pike, or Ash-'
"Commander Burnham do you read?" Commander Saru asked over the suits comm, reminding her that unlike before, she wasn't alone. She had a whole star ship of people that she cared about to get through this temporal void space.
"I hear you Saru," She replied, her voice still a little rough from the emotional farewell she shared with her brother and her short-lived panic attack, "Is everything okay aboard Discovery?"
"The ship, as well as her crew are a little worse for wear, but-' Saru began to say, but was interrupted by another voice.
"Saru is just trying to spare your feelings, Michael," said Philippa Georgiou, formerly Emperor Georgiou of the Terran Empire, "We are all either injured or dying on a ship that is flying on faith rather than dilithium, in a void that will give nightmares to all of the crew that's not me, while you daydream our lives away."
"I see you survived dealing with Leland." Michael said in deadpan but was secretly glad the Terran had survived. Even though she knew that this woman wasn't her Georgiou, she still couldn't reconcile the idea of losing her twice.
"Of course, I did." Georgiou replied as if it was obvious, "What do you take me for? One of your Federation officers?"
"Can we please get back to the issue of the void please?" asked Saru, sounding very exasperated. While he no longer had the mentality of a prey animal, he still did not like the look of this void.
"Yeah, voids are bad." Said the dry voice of Jett Renuo, the newest member of their little family, "I'm pretty sure that we're supposed to be in the future, and if this is it, then we are royally screwed."
"How many people are on this channel?" Asked Michael incredulously, annoyed but glad for the levity of the situation in the face of the all-consuming nothing before her.
"Oh, no we're just all on the bridge!" said Tilly quickly, "and Georgiou wasn't kidding about all of us being injured, she looks really bad- not that you look 'bad' bad, ma'am, you just look really hurt, Capt- I mean Emper- I'm sorry, it's been a weird couple of days, what exactly do I call you?"
"Are you sure that you're Killy's counterpart?" Asked the former Emperor, sounding both bewildered and disgusted at the same time.
"Ladies! Can we please focus?" Michael snapped, getting a little tired of the normalcy already, "I don't know why it's taking this long. Normally it just takes a few seconds and I'm already at my destination."
"Is it possible that since we are going to the future instead of the past, the journey is taking longer?" Saru asked, sounding like he was addressing the room at large instead of just her.
"That's not the most scientific way to put it but, yeah, that could be it." Replied Jett, "Another factor is that when the Commander made those jumps before, she was just taking herself and her suit and not a big-ass ship and everyone on it. This is still mostly new territory for all of us; we're almost literally flying blind." There was a short pause, where Michael imagined her looking out the ships front viewport, "Actually, make that completely blind."
Suddenly there was a flash of red light and Michael could feel herself being pulled somewhere. "Saru! It's starting!" If he responded, she did not hear it; she couldn't over the loud din of voices and sounds coming from all around her.
This is Captain James T. Kirk of the Federation Star Ship Enterprise
The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few
I have been, and always shall be your friend
'Spock?' Thought Michael before a loud roar of anger bombarded her ears.
KAAAHHHAAANN!
Second star to the right, straight on 'till morning
Make it so
It does not matter that we will never reach our ultimate goal. It is the effort that yields its own rewards
There are times, sir, when men of good conscience cannot blindly follow orders
I am Worf, Son of Mohg
Resistance is futile
Cardassian rule may have been oppressive, but at least it was simple
It is the unknown that defines our existence. We are constantly searching, not just for the answers to our questions, but for new questions. We are explorers.
Victory is life
You Starfleet types are too dependent on gadgets and gizmos. You lose your natural instincts for survival
Please state the nature of the medical emergency
You can use logic to justify anything. That's it's power –and it's flaw
We're Starfleet officers, weird is part of the job
How would you like a trip out the airlock?
The Weak shall perish
We do this for our friends, our family, our homes, and for the galaxy at large. I am honored to serve with everyone in this fleet that shares that goal, regardless of their affiliation
Then it was over. They were floating in space, and below them was Terra Elysium, presumably a thousand years in the future. "Computer, what's the stardate?" she asked a little breathlessly.
"Working," said the computer's monotone voice, "The current stardate is 1001051.7."
"Holy shit we did it!" came the shout, or rather the squeal, of Ensign Tilly followed by the weighty silence of Saru giving her a disapproving look, "Sorry, sorry! Just slipped out, but we're in the future guys!"
"Okay, super cool that we're here," Jett said sardonically, but no less dry than usual, "But now what? Do we head to the surface and become farmers?"
"I tolerated being forced into this universe and joining Starfleet," Said Georgiou, voice sounding very annoyed, "I am not going to stand for becoming a farmer on a primitive backwater planet. I say we become pirates."
Before anyone could veto that idea, an alert showed up on her HUD right before a wormhole opened up in front of them and a ship flew through. It was sleek, long, had a red hull, and looked sinister. Without warning or trying to hail them, the ship fired a barrage of green and black energy beams at Discovery, hitting them hard.
"Shields down!" Michael heard Rhys shout over the com.
"Engines are unresponsive!" Shouted Tilly in a panic.
"Weapons too!" Shouted Keyla
'No,' Michael thought, 'after we've been through so much, we can't die now, not like this!'
As if hearing her prayers, another wormhole opened up and expelling a large white streamlined ship with large round blue nodes on the hull. A moment later, her HUD system lit up with an incoming hail from the newcomer.
"U.S.S. Discovery, this is Captain T'raas of the Galactic Union Star Ship Whitaker." said a female voice on the other end of the hail, "Permission to send a repair team while we deal with the Na'kuhl?"
"Permission granted Captain." Saru acquiesced before speaking to Michael, "Commander Burnham, I suggest you make your way to the shuttle bay."
"That won't be necessary. Commander Burnham, transporting you directly to your bridge now." T'raas told them as Michael's view was obscured by blue energy and she found herself on the bridge of the Discovery with a group of officers, presumably from the future Federation ship.
"Chief Skavin reporting for duty, Commander Saru." Said a blonde Tellarite at the head of the group, all of whom were dressed in black uniforms with metallic orange covering their right arm in a diamond pattern. "I have teams transporting into the areas that need the most attention, but I thought I would see to the bridge myself."
"Most appreciated, Chief Skavin." Nodded Saru, "I ask that you work quickly so we can aid your captain against these… Na'kuhl I believe is what your captain called them?"
"That's them, sir, but I'm more concerned keeping this museum piece floating." Skavin said, the typical Tellarite antagonism showing in his voice as he and his people got to work, "But you don't need to worry about the Captain, she and the Whitaker have a few tricks up their sleeves."
As the Tellarite said this, the front of the ship opened up and six fighter ships, similar in design to the Whitaker, shot out and fired red and black energy beams at the Na'kuhl vessel as the Whitaker shot beams that seemed to have every color in the rainbow in them.
"I've never seen weapons fire like that before." Keyla observed from her place at the helm.
"The red beams look like they might be antiproton, but I have no idea what others are." Michael said as she went to her station, having stepped out of her suit and attempted to use the ships scanners to figure out what they were.
"Whatever they are, they sure are pretty." Said Tilly earning her incredulous looks and raised eyebrows from everyone around them. Tilly looked around them a little self consciously, "What? They are!" she defended, earning her a smile from Michael.
"Good guess with the Antiproton beams, Commander." Said Skavin as he came over to Michael's station and placed a silver disk the size of an old earth coin onto it. As soon as the coin touched the surface, it seemed to disintegrate into nanites that scurried all over the console and disappeared inside it. "The 'pretty' ones are chroniton beams, temporal weapons that'll teach those pale bastards that they're on the wrong side of this war. How's it looking in there, Tempus?"
"All subsystems will soon be operational, Chief Skavin." Said a deep voice from the console, shocking the 23rd century officers. "I can also report that the repair team in Sickbay are 93.8% finished and the team in Engineering is 47.29% finished but they are having difficulties with the spore drive. Dr. Dumax has revived Lieutenant Commander Stamets to assist them. The Lieutenant Commander requests that Ensign Tilly and 'that infuriating Luddite engineer' come and help him, however I do not see that name anywhere in the ships manifest."
"It's okay, he means me." Said Jett as she and Tilly moved quickly into the turbolift, "At least I'm not a mushroom crazed control freak with a stick up his-" the rest of her very dry insult was cut off by the turbolift doors closing.
"Who was that Chief Skavin?" Asked Michael as she looked at her console uneasily, the memory of the nanites that Control tried to use on her still fresh in her mind.
"I am Commander Tempus, Chief Science Officer for the U.S.S. Whitaker." Said the voice from the console, "I am an android and I am speaking to you through my connection to the nanites that we are using to repair your ship."
"I'd keep them away from Engineering," Warned Georgiou as she glared at the console, "There's a corpse filled with nanites infected by malicious AI in the spore drives reaction cube."
"I have detected and quarantined the remains of former Captain Leland until they can be properly disposed of." Said Tempus, "You have nothing to fear, Emperor Georgiou."
"Your robot, or whatever it is, is faulty Tellarite." Georgiou sneered as she turned to Skavin, "He seems to have me confused with someone I am not."
"Oh, he's not faulty, 'your majesty'." Skavin said, angry sarcasm coloring the title, "We were briefed on your whole crew, and you can thank the former Director of Section Thirty-One, Ash Tyler, for including your true identity."
"Ash became the director of Section Thirty-One?" Asked Michael, surprised. She knew that Ash believed in Section Thirty One's mission, but she didn't think he would have been made the director of the whole organization.
"Yup," Said Skavin as he went over to another console and waved some kind of tool over it, "a pretty good one before he retired, and they turned it into a bunch of homicidal extremists."
"This is what I hate about time travel." Griped Georgiou petulantly, "You miss all the fun parts."
Michael was about to ask another question when a wormhole opened up and the Na'kuhl flew through it. "Commander Saru," said Bryce, "the Whitaker is hailing us."
"Onscreen." Came the Kelpiens reply and the screen changed from space to the inside of a ship and a Vulcan woman's face in the middle of it. Her black hair was cut short like most Vulcan's and she had bright blue eyes.
"A pleasure to meet you face to face, Captain Saru," Said the Vulcan with a smile, which surprised most of the crew. "I'm Captain T'raas."
"It's nice to meet you as well, captain." Saru said with a slight nod of his head, internally shaking the oddity of a Vulcan smiling from his mind, "We appreciate the rescue. We were not expecting any kind of attack; this was supposed to be a safe harbor in this time."
"And it was supposed to be," the Vulcan captain told him, a frown spreading on her face, "but the Na'kuhl and their allies had other plans, but that's a conversation to have in person. Permission for my first officer and I to come aboard?"
"Permission granted, Captain, we'll meet you in the transporter room…provided it still works?" That last part was directed to Skavin, who was using another tool on the same console.
"Yup, everything is working like it should. Just be careful when you transport over, cap. No idea what this ancient tech will do to you." He said, not even looking up from his work, completely missing the glares from the Discovery's crew and the eye roll from his crew, which included his captain.
"I'm sure I'll be fine, Skavin, but thanks for the warning. Whitaker out."
As the view screen went back to the scene outside, Saru stood up, "Commander Burnham and Specialist Georgiou with me, Lieutenant Detmer, you have the Conn." He ordered and the two women followed him into the Turbolift as the cyborg took the Captain's chair.
A quick and thankfully uneventful ride, the three exited the lift and walked toward the transporter room. "I didn't see Nahn on the bridge, is she alright?" Ask Michael, worried for the new security chief.
"Leland did some damage to her, but it's nothing the doctors in sick bay can't fix." Georgiou told her, before she smirked, "She did well, for an alien."
"High praise coming from you." Saru observed as they walked into the transporter just as the blue light of the 32nd century transporters faded revealing their guests, one of which was a female Kelpien, much to the surprise of both Michael and Saru.
"Captain Saru!" Greeted T'raas, with an exuberance that would put Tilly to shame, as she stepped down from the transporter pad, followed by her Kelpien first officer. "This is such an honor!"
"Thank you, Captain." Saru said, tearing his gaze away from the other Kelpien, frowning when his brain caught up with the Captains words. "However, while I am in command of Discovery, I am not her captain."
"Actually, you are." Said the Kelpien woman, gracefully tilting her head in greeting when everyone turned to her, "Forgive me for speaking out of turn, I am Commander Renara, First Officer of the Whitaker. After your disappearance a thousand years ago, you were promoted posthumously before all files and reports of Discovery and her crew were sealed."
"I'm Captain?" Asked Saru in mild disbelief, feeling both elated and terrified despite his altered brain chemistry. This was something he had always wanted, but the feeling was bittersweet given how he received his promotion.
"You are focusing on the wrong part of that statement, Kelpien." Georgiou sneered as she leveled a glare at the time agents, "What do you mean 'sealed'?"
"It was because of the time traveling element of our mission." Michael stated, not even bothering to phrase it as a question, "Starfleet most likely needed to keep all information of the nature of our last mission secret and the only way to do that completely was to seal all our files and reports."
Michael swallowed thickly "Possibly even putting gag orders on our friends and family." She wasn't going to lie to herself, it hurt to know that her family wasn't allowed to talk about her outside of their home or to mourn the loss of her out in the open, but she needed to focus on the task at hand.
"That's correct, Commander Burnham." Said T'raas looking at her with sympathy, which was still a little odd, "Starfleet didn't want to risk anyone using your research to meddle with time." It was then that Michael noticed something about the Captain: her features, while unmistakably Vulcan, were softer than an average Vulcan, just like her brother.
"You're half Vulcan." Michael stated in surprised wonder, a slight smile on her face. While not uncommon, Vulcan hybrids were few and far between, especially Human/Vulcan hybrids.
"I am." T'raas said with a smile of her own at the Vulcan raised human, "Which is why I can show emotion on my face and in my voice without it being awkward."
"By the Gods, I see this universe's obsession with needless pleasantries is still intact." Georgiou scoffed, "Can we please get to the task at hand before I fling myself out the airlock?"
"No one's stopping you." Saru commented dryly.
"I'll push the button to launch you into space myself." T'raas said with an unfriendly glare towards the Terran.
"Shall we take this discussion to your conference room?" asked Renara, forestalling whatever venomous thing Georgiou was about to say to the Vulcan Hybrid.
"Of course, right this way." Saru said and led the way. As they walked Saru couldn't help but steal a few glances at the other Kelpien, but kept his thoughts to himself, now was not the time for personal questions.
Once inside the conference room and after taking their seats, T'raas began their debriefing. "Like Commander Burnham surmised earlier, Discovery, her crew, and all their records and scientific findings were sealed, and gag orders were placed on your family and your friends that remained behind."
"This is sounding a little too familiar." Saru said dryly, his eyes cutting to Georgiou instinctively.
"You're not wrong." Renara told him, "If someone learned of your successful excursions through time, they would undoubtedly try and alter the past, which would lead to disastrous consequences."
"Consequences that are being willfully ignored for greater control of the galaxy." Georgiou observed with a cruel twist of her lips. "Has the Federation learned a little ruthlessness in a thousand years?"
"We are nothing like the twisted fun house mirror of a universe you once ruled." T'raas said coldly, glaring at Georgiou for a moment before turning back to Michael and Saru. "We slowly and carefully learned how to monitor the time stream and travel through it with little to no ill effect to the time space continuum."
T'raas then told them how the Galactic Union, the interplanetary governing body that had been built upon the foundation of a coalition between the United Federation of Planets, Klingon Empire, and Romulan Republic, and how Starfleet's mission had grown to protect the timeline from incursions.
"The Klingons and the Romulans are part of Starfleet?" Asked Michael in disbelief. Growing up on Vulcan, she had come to share the Vulcans opinion of their separated cousins and her past with the Klingons spoke for itself, even if her hatred had died down because of Ash, she still could hardly believe what she was hearing.
"They're not the only ones." T'raas said as she turned her wrist, bringing a holographic interface into existence around her hand, hit a few keys, and holographic images of species that were opposed to the Federation appeared and all were wearing Starfleet uniforms. "Orions, Gorn, Ferasan and several other races that you have never seen before are now a part of the Union and Starfleet."
"Amazing as this is," Saru said as he turned away from the images to look at T'raas with a raised brow, "there is clearly an element within the galaxy that disagrees with the Union."
"The more things change." Georgiou snarked with a roll of her eyes.
"The more they stay the same." Michael finished the old saying, her tone exhausted instead of being sardonic like the former Emperor.
"Oh yeah, always someone out there with an axe to grind." T'raas said as she made a few motions with her hand and the images changed to a group of five humanoids. T'raas then told them of the Temporal Liberation Front and their shadowy leader, the Envoy, and his allies. Four of the five species were unfamiliar to the three 23nd century officers, but one was.
"My Empire is here?!" Georgiou asked in disbelief, shooting her feet but her eyes never leaving the image of 24th century Terran Officer.
"They're recent additions to the Front's forces, yes." T'raas said, her tone icy as she glared at Georgiou. The captain's attitude toward the Terran was now making much more sense to Michael and it seemed that Georgiou was catching on as well if the cruel smirk appearing on her face was any indication.
"They must be quite the problem for you, given your reaction towards me." Georgiou said, wicked cruelty lacing her voice, her smirk growing into a smile as the hybrid captain's glare intensified. "Did they take someone you cared about? Do you wish to kill me for vengeance on their behalf, half breed?"
"I think that's enough, Specialist Georgiou." Saru said in an authoritative voice, a warning clear in his voice.
"Relax, Kelpian," Georgiou said as she sat back down, smile still in place, "I only wanted to see if the little hybrid had teeth." She shifted her gaze to said hybrid, "And if you are worried about me rejoining them, don't. If I went back, I would be seen as a failure and either forced to start from the ground up or killed by the current Emperor."
"That is far from reassuring, but I will let my superiors know." T'raas told them, her glare only lessening a fraction before she turned a kinder gaze to Michael and Saru, "For now, you have a choice to make."
"A choice?" Asked Michael, more than a little confused.
"You and your crew have gone above and beyond the call of duty for Starfleet and the Federation. You've more than earned a rest." T'raas told them sincerely as she banished the holograms. "But I'm I've been given the authority to offer you and your crew a chance to rejoin Starfleet as temporal agents, like myself.
"It would require a reintegration course at the Academy, but you all would be reinstated to your ranks and would be welcome assets in our fight against the Front." T'raas gave them a hopeful smile. "So, what'll it be?"
AN: So, what do you think? I loved the Discovery series and the fact that it's now apart of the game is amazing, so of course I had to make a story about it in the LOZverse!
QN: He also wanted to use his little Spock wannabe.
AN: Who asked you!? The 32nd century officers that you see are OC's of mine from one of my other stories that's based on the Star Trek Online games. You don't need to read those or have played the game to know whats going down, but I would love it if you read my STO stories. Anyway, dear readers, please leave a review and let me know what you think, but till next time I bid adieu!