Chapter Twelve

"Now what's going on Jpak?" asked Debbing, "What's wrong with him?" Debbing heard her draw in a deep breath.

"Commander Watkins has some major neural problems," Jpak told him.

"What kind of problems?" Debbing asked her.
"Commander Watkins is what could be considered... a psychopath," Jpak informed him.

"What?!" Debbing exclaimed.

"Commander Watkins is psychopathic," repeated Jpak.

"How long as he been like this?" Debbing asked her.

"I'm not sure, days, weeks, maybe years," said Jpak.

"Is he fit for duty?" Debbing asked her.

"It doesn't seem to be affecting what causes violence if that is what you are meaning," said Jpak.

"At least that part of the brain isn't affected. How long until he is no longer fit for duty?" asked Debbing.

"Days, weeks, maybe years," answered Jpak.

Debbing felt the ship rock a few moments later, "What the hell was that?!" he exclaimed. He heard the buzzing of the comm. in the ready room.

"We're approaching the rendezvous, sir," said the voice of Robert. "The fleet has been annihilated!"

"Damn," muttered Debbing.

***
"What? The fleet is gone?" yelled a puzzled Martok.

"Yes sir," said Tamekh, "And the Premonition is under attack by two Borg spheres". Martok heard a buzzing. Martok saw the tactician, Ko'mah, turn to him.

"A Borg cube has just dropped from warp," Ko'mah reported.

***
"Sir, the cube is attacking the Klingons!" yelled Robert. He looked at the viewscreen just in time to see the Negh'Var class ship explode. "They're, they're gone sir".

"The cube is headed away, back into transwarp," said Watkins. "The spheres are pursuing us".

A phaser strike made the bridge shake, "Shields are down sir!" yelled Robert. Robert saw Watkins turn to Debbing out of the corner of his eye.

"Sir, we should use the Temporal Vortex and warn the Federation," Watkins yelled.

Robert looked at the control panel in front of him, "Weapons are offline".

"If we go back in time the Federation might still lose!" yelled Debbing.

Robert turned to Debbing, "Sir, we would have a better chance if the Federation knew what was going to happen".

Debbing slammed his fist on his chair just as a phaser volley hit once again. "The Borg have a huge fleet, even if we knew what was going to happen, we might still lose the battle!"

Watkins stood up and grabbed a phaser, "Sir, I no longer wish to live in this time line." He brought the phaser up to his head. "Goodbye sir". Watkins then pulled the trigger of the phaser, his body evaporated into small particles. Robert watch as his friend went out of existence.

***
"No!" shouted Debbing, "No!" Debbing felt tears swell up in his eyes; his good friend had killed himself. He wiped his eyes and looked up, "Activate the Temporal Vortex, set the date for eleven years seven months and fourteen days in the past. We're going to fix this".

We're going to fix this, thought Debbing, not for Jack, but the entire galaxy. "Things will be different, I swear they will".

***
A thought occurred to Robert, this meant that he would never see Jpak again. Or perhaps, he would. They both had thought of careers as diplomats.

***
The Premonition lurched into the blue, swirling vortex, with the two Borg spheres close behind.

Epilogue

Author's Note: Those who have played Armada all the way through will know what happens between Chapter Twelve and this point.

Eleven years after the battle and defeat of the Borg...

Junior Ambassador Robert James Kirk had just finished a nice discussion with Junior Ambassador Jpak, of the Romulan Star Empire. She was a lovely girl, with jet black hair and green eyes. Robert hoped that he would be seeing her again.