Time for a Change
By Les Bonser
This is a work of non-commercial fan fiction. The characters used in this story remain the trademarked property of their respective owners. No trademark infringement is intended and no profits are made by the author for writing or distribution of this work.
No permission is given to anyone other than the author to archive this on any website. No permission is given to anyone other than the author to repost this on any newsgroup.
Chapter 6
The 24th Century, aboard the USS Enterprise, United Federation of Planets Starfleet registration number 1701-E
"Captain's Log, First Officer William T. Riker, recording. The Enterprise is engaged in a stellar mapping survey of the Maronda system. Although the Stellar Cartography department is staying busy with the survey, the remainder of the crew was enjoying the lack of excitement. Engineering used the 'downtime' to perform routine power system maintenance and Medical was conducting crew physicals.
Riker looked up as Captain Picard stepped from his ready room off the bridge. Riker stood to relinquish the captain's chair to Picard, but paused as Picard motioned for him to remain seated. Picard stood on the side of the bridge and looked at the holographic display of the main monitor. The monitor showed the interstellar void between stars. The Enterprise was proceeding between star systems at warp one.
"Status, Number One?" Picard casually asked.
"Everything's nominal, sir. Engineering reported about 30 minutes ago that they had completed the maintenance on decks 15, 16, and 17. They are estimating that decks 18 and 19 will be completed by the end of second shift. All other systems are active and working above specifications. Weapons status is ready, as is defensive systems."
"Good," Picard said.
"Everyone is enjoying the quiet," Riker continued. "There's a concert planned for 1830 this evening in the arboretum."
"Yes, Will," Picard said. "I know."
The two men stood casually looking at each other. Around them, the background sounds of the ship continued, but the skeleton crew on the bridge remained silent.
Riker finally broke the silence. "To be honest, Jean-Luc, everyone's a bit bored."
Captain Picard nodded. He understood exactly what his first officer meant. The last couple of years had been, well, exciting. The lose of the Enterprise-D and the discovery of the legendary Captain James T. Kirk and Kirk's heroic death, the launch of the Enterprise-E, the war with the Dominion and the associated problems with the Klingon Empire, and the trip back in time to fight the Borg yet again had kept Picard and his crew busy. To have such a routine mission was untypical for the crew of the Federation's flagship.
"Enjoy it while it lasts," Picard said. "You know as well as I do that it can all change in an instant."
Just then, a bright flash of light filled the bridge. Picard turned to look at the source of the light. "Ah, mon captaine," Q said.
Merde, Picard said to himself. Just like Q to pop in at exactly *this* moment. I've really got to be more careful how I phrase things. "Q!" Picard said. "Get off my ship!"
Q held up his hands in a gesture of submission. "I come as a friend." He paused. "Really, I do," he said as he saw the look on Picard's face. "But the concert will have to wait. We have more important matters to deal with."
"What sort of matters?" Riker asked. He motioned for the security officer at the back of the bridge to cover Q with her phaser; although with Q, it probably won't matter.
Q turned to the first officer. "If you'd have kept my little 'present,' you'd already know, wouldn't you?" Q was obviously referring to the time eight years ago when he had given Riker the powers of the Q Continuum.
"What are you talking about?" Picard demanded.
"Oh, it's not going to be that easy," Q said, wagging his finger at the Captain. "You'll have to figure it out as you go."
"Q!" Picard exclaimed. "Explain yourself, or get off my bridge." He paused. "No, explain yourself *and* then get off my ship!"
Q shook his head. "No can do," he teased. "But I will leave you with this tiny bit of advice."
Just then a security team burst onto the bridge, following a split second later by Commander Data and Chief Engineer La Forge.
Q turned to see the two veteran officers. "Ah, good, the gang's all here. Well, almost all here. But after the problems you had with your last ship, I suppose Troy is banned from the bridge."
"Q," Picard prompted.
"Okay. Okay. Remember this: 'Think outside the box.'" And with a flash of bright white light, the troublesome being known only as "Q" was gone.
"What was that all about?" Riker asked.
Picard rubbed his bald forehead. "I don't know, but I'm sure we'll find out soon enough."
Picard sat in his ready room, pondering this latest visit from Q. Q was a seemingly omnipotent alien super-being. On the maiden voyage of the Enterprise-D, Picard and some of his current crew had been "charged" by Q with the crimes of humanity. The Q entity had apparently taken some sort of interest in Picard personally, and had bedeviled Picard every since.
Jean-Luc likened Q to the Coyote, the trickster of American Aboriginal mythology. Picard was something of an amateur archeologist. He'd encountered descriptions of similar beings in some of the mythologies of other civilizations he'd studied.
What did Q want this time? Picard asked himself.
Q usually had some obscure agenda nearly every time he visited. Regardless of Q's real agenda, Picard often suspected that the true reasons for the visits was simply to torment him. Picard had been tormented by his own actions as Locutus of Borg. He'd also been captured by the Cardassians and had been tortured by Gul Madred. He'd been tormented, as every captain was, by the deaths of members of the crew under his command. He was tormented by the deaths of his brother and nephew. But he sometimes felt that those incidents were picnics compared to the subtle mechanizations of Q.
"Captain," the intercom said. It was Riker's voice.
"Yes, Number One?"
"We just received new orders from Starfleet."
"Thank you, Number One, I'll be right there."
Picard stood from his desk, tugged his uniform top down into position, and walked out of the ready room and onto the bridge.
Riker was in the center chair, the command chair. When Picard walked onto the bridge, Riker stood and moved the next chair to the right. He remained standing until the Captain took his position in the center chair.
"Number One, let's see our new orders."
"Yes, sir," Riker said. He touched a control on his chair arm and the main viewscreen at the front of the bridge switched from the standard star field view to a communications banner.
The message was fairly short as command assignment messages went. It ordered Picard to change course and head to Bajor as quickly as possible. There, they were to consult with Starfleet science experts regarding anomalous readings from a recent long range scan of the Beta Quadrant.
No explanations were given why the Enterprise or Picard's crew was required on this assignment. Given that the fleet was still rebuilding from the war with the Dominion, it was just possible that theirs was the only ship with an experienced crew that was in the general area and available.
No orders were given to override the standing order to avoid speeds higher than warp five. Commander Data indicated that trip would take a little over one week.
Picard assumed the assignment was simply a routine change. Starfleet had a standing policy of rotating ships and crews through various assignments to increase overall experience. Regardless of any given ship's specialty, the experience gained on a variety of missions meant that each and every ship could be called on to handle whatever might come up across the vast reaches of the Federation and beyond.
Every ship in the fleet eventually participating in all of the different types of missions: defense, exploration, science, and diplomatic. This mission seemed to fall into the science category.
Picard knew that additional briefings regarding this mission would arrive as the ship continued on-route to Bajor.
"It'll be good to see Commander Worf again," Riker commented. "Too bad about his wife."
Commander Worf had served with distinction as the Security Chief on the Enterprise-D. After the destruction of the previous Enterprise on Veridian III, Worf had accepted an assignment aboard Deep Space Nine, the Starfleet outpost near Bajor and the Bajoran wormhole.
The wormhole was the only stable wormhole discovered in the Federation. It opened into the Beta Quadrant. The wormhole provided a shortcut to the Beta Quadrant; instead of Warp 8 for nearly twenty years, a ship could jump to the Beta Quadrant in mere moments.
"Yes," Picard agreed. "It will be good to see Worf again," he said. He wondered how the proud Klingon warrior was dealing with the lost of Jadzia, his Trill wife.
The trip to Bajor and Deep Space Nine was markedly uneventful.
Engineering continued their maintenance schedule and Medical continued their crew physicals.
One day out from Bajor, the Enterprise received a mission briefing from Starfleet Command. As was normal procedure, the various components of the briefing was distributed to the various ship department heads for distribution to the crew. The mission briefing contained a number of science attachments.
Arrival at Deep Space Nine was scheduled for just less than 6 hours when Commander William T. Riker reported on the bridge for his shift at 1400 hours.
The command chair was always manned by one of the senior staff. Normally, the Captain took Alpha shift, Riker took Beta shift, and Commander Data took Gamma shift. Depending upon mission activities and personal schedules, some of the other senior staff like Crusher, Troi, and La Forge sometimes rotated into the command chair.
Riker formally accepted the transfer of command from Picard and made the appropriate ship's log entries. The mission briefing was scheduled to begin at 1405 in the conference room adjacent to the bridge.
Exactly five minutes later, Riker entered the conference room at the back of the bridge. Geordi La Forge, Dr. Crusher, Counselor Troi, and Data were already here. Riker took his seat without saying anything. In over eight years of serving on the previous Enterprise and now on this new ship, everyone had fallen into a comfortable rhythm; everyone had met around this table numerous times before. A moment later Picard walked into the room.
Picard took his seat at the head of the table.
"Everyone's reviewed the mission briefing," he said. It was not a question, but a statement. He knew his officers were professional enough to have reviewed the materials immediately upon receipt.
"Data," Picard prompted.
As science officer for the Enterprise, Data was responsible for missions like this one.
"Yes, Captain," Data said. He stood and moved to the viewer at the end of the room. He activated the viewer as the rest of the officers turned to watch the screen comfortably.
"As you know," Data began, "A Vulcan long range science probe has recently discovered a 'distortion' in the Beta Quadrant. Although traveling to the Beta Quadrant is extremely dangerous due to potential lingering Dominion ships, Starfleet is recommending that the Enterprise investigate this phenomena."
"Distortion?" Geordi asked. "What sort of distortion?"
"As best as the Vulcan probe could detect, the distortion is similar to a temporal displacement."
"Temporal," Dr. Crusher said. "You mean like time travel?"
"Yes, Doctor," Data said.
"You said, 'similar to'," Riker said. "How is it different?"
Data explained, "The Vulcan probe returned sensor readings that are consistent with a localized temporal anomaly, but it also found evidence of an interdimensional interphase."
Picard jumped in, "Due to the danger, Starfleet is assigning the Defiant to join us. They feel that this crew, and some of the Deep Space Nine crew, have enough scientific experience to handle the study of the distortion. They also feel that the Enterprise and Defiant are powerful enough and fast enough to deal with any Dominion interference."
"I'm not up on current quantum and temporal theories," Dr. Crusher said. She scrolled through the data display on the PADD in her hand, but the look on her face told everyone in the room that she was perplexed by what she was reading. "Can someone explain this distortion in plain terms?"
Data continued, "This distortion seems to be coming from one of the adjoining universes."
The existence of multiple universes had been an accepted concept in the Federation for at least the last two hundred years. The crew of the original Enterprise had proved the existence of at least one "mirror" universe nearly a hundred years ago. Captain James T. Kirk and several of his crew accidentally transferred into the mirror universe while transporting during an ion storm. Since then, the transfer had been duplicated several times using transporter technology.
Likewise, the existence of temporal distortions and time travel had been known for almost the same amount of time.
"But not ours?" Picard asked.
"No."
"How can a temporal displacement in one universe cause problems in another?" Dr. Crusher asked.
"Normally, it shouldn't," Geordi said.
"Right," Data agreed. "That's what worried Starfleet Science."
"Data, could you provide us a brief synopsis on current temporal theory?" Riker asked. He hoped that the redundant use of 'brief' and 'synopsis' would clue Data into being concise. Riker looked at Picard and smiled, expectedly.
"Yes, Commander," Picard said. "A refresher course might benefit us all."
Data nodded awkwardly. Although he had progressed over the years in his attempts to mimic human behavior, he sometimes still had problems with common mannerisms. Data paused for a moment, motionless. It seemed obvious to everyone around the table that temporal theory was complex enough to require even Data a moment or two to collect his thoughts regarding the matter.
Data began, "Current Federation theory is based largely on the work of Vulcan and Andorian scientists in the last century. And our best theories are continually updated when new information comes to light. No doubt that is why Starfleet wants the Enterprise and the Defiant on this mission."
He didn't have to explain any further. Everyone already the table understood that Data was referencing their own recent journey into the past as well as the Defiant's recent encounter with the Bajoran Orb of Time. Captain Sisko and his crew had traveled back in time almost one hundred years and had prevented a plot by a rouge Klingon to kill the legendary Captain Kirk.
"The flow of time is complex and not well understood. Common thought is that time proceeds 'forward,' much like the water in a river or stream flows downstream. For this reason, many temporal theorists refer to the flow of time as the 'timestream.' If you throw a stone into the river, it may cause a splash, but basically does not interfere with the flow of water downstream. There are some 'ripples' in the immediate vicinity of the splash, but generally the flow of the river is not disturbed."
Data paused to look around the room. Everyone was listening intently.
"However, if you throw a large boulder into the river, it may displace enough water to cause the river to overflow its banks. In some cases, the entire course of the river may change. In the 'timestream' any action might cause a similar disturbance. This is the reason Federation scientific and Starfleet policy is so strict about time displacement. There have been previous incidents involving Starfleet personnel that showed the possible impact of even 'innocent' intervention with the timestream."
"Because of the obvious effects on current history, all of the incidents are highly classified."
"Needless to say, we all have the necessary security clearances," Riker pointed out. They had the clearances because of their own temporal experiences.
Data continued. "The most famous incident occurred nearly one hundred years ago when Captain Kirk and two members of his crew, including Ambassador Spock, then Commander Spock, traveled into Earth's past. Dr. Leonard McCoy, Kirk's chief medical officer, prevented the death of a woman. In our history, this woman died and had no apparent effect on subsequent events. However, in the alternate history that resulted from that action, Nazi Germany won World War II and dominated the post-war era."
"How did they travel back?" Geordi asked.
"Even I don't know that. The exact circumstances of the incident are classified at an even higher security level," Data explained.
Although he didn't say anything, Picard was the only person on the Enterprise that knew the answer to that question. He had been privy to the information about the so-called "Guardian of Forever." Kirk and his crew on the original Enterprise had discovered the remains of an impossibly ancient race. Amidst the ruins, a large stone torus still stood intact. Although Starfleet had studied the artifact for the last century, the brightest minds in the Federation were still at a lose to explain how the Guardian worked or who built it, or even if it was a machine or a being.
Even though time travel was available to almost any Star Fleet vessel through a controlled, but risky, manipulation of the space-time continuum around a star by the ship's warp engines, the highest levels of Starfleet Command insisted that the Guardian remain a closely guarded secret. Travel to any point in time and any point in the universe was available simply by asking the Guardian. Command determined that it was just too easy to alter history by this means and continued to quarantine the Guardian Planet.
The discussion continued. "How would a single woman's death cause such a change?" Troi asked.
"This is where the analogy with the river changes. A stone thrown into the river causes ripples that gradually dissipate. An event in the timestream may cause subsequent changes. Changes that in turn cause other changes. A possible analogy would be multiple diverging Klingon 'ta peq' sticks. Ta peq sticks are similar to the ancient Earth game of dominoes. As each stick falls, it knocks down one or more adjacent sticks."
"In the instance Kirk and his crew encountered, the woman was a key figure in the isolationist movement that was present in the United States of America at that time. This movement advocated the political and economic isolation of that country at that point in history. The woman's influence apparently was enough to delay the United States' entry in the war. Without the military power of the United States, Germany won the war and changed history from that point forward."
"Okay, I can see how a change in the timestream could occur," Riker said. "But how could a disruption in one universe effect another universe?"
"As most of us are aware from personal experience, the changes in the timestream can cause alternate 'realities' within the universe. Same universe, but different circumstances, different events. Similar to what happened with Lt. Worf when his shuttle collided with the temporal rift and we encountered multiple versions of this ship," Data continued.
Data paused, finished with his briefing, but waiting for questions. Picard looked around the table. He was sure they all had lots of questions, but the questions could wait. "Thank you, Commander," Picard said.
He sat up straight and tugged at his uniform tunic. "Our mission orders are to approach the distortion and study it," he said. "Currently, the distortion appears stable, but Starfleet Science is concerned with potential treats the distortion might cause galaxy-wide. If it expands, it could disrupt sub-space transmissions, interfere with shipping, and destroy planetary ecologies."
"Obviously, this is something critical," Picard said. He turned to Data. "If I understand the mission briefing, there's concern amongst some of Starfleet Science that the distortion may have originated in another universe."
"Yes," Data replied. "If current theory is correct, a massive enough event in an adjacent universe might cause something like this."
"You mean this sort of thing could happen?" Geordi couldn't believe what he was hearing. As Chief Engineer for the Enterprise, Lt. Commander La Forge was well versed in matter/anti-matter reactions, warp field theory, and sub-space. He thought he understood some of the most destructive forces in the universe. His mind boggled at the thought of any force powerful enough to destroy entire universes.
Data nodded grimly.
Riker broke the silence that enveloped the table as the officers considered what they'd just heard. "And what does Q have to do with this?"
Wayne Manor, just outside Gotham City
Alfred went about his normal morning routine. The master of the house hadn't returned from last night's excursion, but Alfred wasn't too worried. There were many times Master Bruce hadn't returned before sunrise. Sometimes, he was just too tired to make it home and he'd crash for a couple hours at one of several "safe houses" he maintained around the city. Other times, he had early morning meetings at Wayne Enterprises and went directly to the office.
The dedicated butler retrieved the stack of area newspapers from the front gate of the mansion. On the way into the house, he glanced at the front page of each to see if anything required Master Bruce's attention.
He flipped through the Gotham and Metropolis newspapers and stopped at the New York Times. One the front page of the Old Grey Lady, there was a story about the Lion's Soul gem being stolen. Again.
Well, Alfred told himself, that no doubt explains why Master Bruce hasn't arrived home yet. He's still chasing Catwoman.
In the mansion, Alfred sat at the kitchen table with a cup of tea and began a more leisurely perusal of the newspapers. He was through most of the papers when he picked up the New York Herald. Alfred didn't consider the Herald as a newspaper in the same class as the Daily Planet or the New York Times, but it sometimes covered stories, seedy stories, that the other newspapers wouldn't cover. Stories that had meaning the Master Bruce.
Alfred stopped on page 38. Tucked in a corner of the page, hidden beneath a number of advertisements was a brief article about a mysterious explosion that occurred near Sotheby's. Sotheby's was the auction house from where the gem had been stolen.
He didn't have his employer's knack for detective work, but something about the article gave Alfred a bad feeling. Somehow, the explosion was connected to the gem being stolen. He didn't know why he knew this; he just did.
The butler went back through the other New York newspapers. Nothing about this explosion. It must have either occurred too late for the story to have made the editorial deadline, or it was considered just to sensational for the other, more respectable newspapers.
He went into the great hall of the mansion. An antique grandfather clock stood against the far wall. Alfred walked resolutely walked to the clock and opened it's glass face. He then moved the hands to 11:05. The time was significant--it was at 11:05 pm that Master Bruce's parents had been killed.
When the hands of the clock were set to 11:05, a hidden mechanism was tripped and the clock slide out on coasters to reveal a likewise hidden entrance. The butler walked through the entrance and once inside, the clock resumed it's position.
The entrance lead through a solid rock stairwell to the series of caves deep under the mansion. This was were Master Bruce kept all his equipment and from which he headquartered his night time activities.
Alfred went to his own office. He often assisted Master Bruce in organizing the various information and had his own office space in the cave. The office was decorated in tasteful wood paneling and antique brass; the room looked like a British gentleman's club.
He sat at the desk and started up the PC. He checked several Internet news sources; nothing relating to the explosion. There were, however, a number of stories about the lost gemstone. The theft of the gemstone was obviously newsworthy due to its connection to Princess Diana. At least two of them indicated that a woman matching Catwoman's description was seen running from Sotheby's after the theft.
Several of the articles cited a missing British government official. The man, one James Bond, was supposed to have been overseeing the protection of the gemstone. But Mr. Bond was missing, as was the gemstone. Some news sources were speculating that Bond may have been involved with the theft.
Alfred frowned. This isn't good, he thought to himself. In a former life, he'd served in MI6, the British Secret Service. He still had friends in the successor organization, the Secret Intelligence Service. He didn't know Bond, but he'd heard stories. And everything he'd heard said that Bond wouldn't be involved in something like this.
First the gemstone is missing. Then Bond is missing. And still no word from Master Bruce. "Curiouser and curiouser," Alfred mumbled, quoting Lewis Carol.
He activated the instant message program on the PC and typed in a code known only to himself and Master Bruce. A moment later, a stylized picture appeared on the screen and a voice came over the PC's speaker.
"Hello, Oracle here," the disembodied voice said.
"Yes, Mistress Oracle, this is Batman's assistant," Alfred spoke into the microphone that rested in front of the PC screen. He didn't know the identify of the person at the other end, but Master Bruce did. All Alfred knew was that Oracle was part of the extended family of people that Master Bruce sometimes associated with in his life's mission. And if Master Bruce trusted this individual then so did Alfred.
"I recognized the voice," Oracle said. "What can I do for you?"
"I have reason to believe Batman may have come by some foul play in New York City. I was wondering if you have any additional information concerning the theft of the Lion's Soul gem from Sotheby's or a mysterious explosion that occurred in that general neighborhood shortly thereafter?" Alfred explained.
"Give me a few minutes," Oracle said and mysteriously disconnected the link.
Alfred waited. He considered calling Master Dick, now known as Nightwing, but thought better of it. No sense involving Dick Grayson in this whole mess until he knew more. He also thought about calling his friend Boothroyd. Surely the Armourer of the SIS would know what happened to one of their agents? Again, he decided not to call until he knew something.
The Oracle icon reappeared on the PC screen.
"I have some information," the voice said.
"Yes?" Alfred asked.
"There are reports of an explosion occurring in that neighborhood. The New York Metropolitan Police took a report from a number of people, including Metropolis Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane. They claimed to have seen Catwoman, Batman, and two other men disappear in a flash of light. The police are investigating, but so far have no evidence. Apparently this 'explosion' made a lot of noise, but no actual destruction. Mayor Giuliani has issued a statement disputing any terrorist acts."
"I see," Alfred said.
"There's also an unconfirmed report that one of the people missing is a low ranking British government assigned to guard the gemstone that was stolen last night from Sotheby's. There is considerable communications traffic between New York and London this morning. Although the SIS hasn't made a statement, I have it on good authority that they do not suspect their agent of being involved in the theft."
"Thank you," Alfred said, and he disconnected the link. He sat back in his chair and rubbed his temple with one hand. He thought for a minute and decided to go ahead and contact Nightwing. If nothing else, Master Dick could investigate directly.
A secret location, somewhere in Gotham City
Oracle terminated the link with Batman, or rather with Batman's assistant. All she knew about the link was that it had come in with Batman's ID code. But the voice wasn't his. It was the British voice that sometimes answered when she called.
Barbara Gordon, Oracle to many of the superheroes of the world, shifted in her wheelchair. What she hadn't told her recent caller was that both Batman and Superman had so far neglected to respond to a JLA signal. She didn't know if Superman was somehow involved in the explosion, but it wasn't like him to not respond to a signal.
Barbara activated her own JLA signal and was instantly connected with Jon Jonzz, the Martian Manhunter.
"Oracle," Jon said.
"Jon, I think we have a problem," Barbara, Oracle to her JLA companions, said.