Luckily for the unlucky cadet, Starbase 236 has exhaustive medical facilities. The doctors had his leg fixed in a few hours.

Admiral Kiler, in charge of the station's medical facilities, frowned as she entered. "Julian, were you playing James Bond in the holodeck with the fail-safes off again?"

The cadet groaned. "If that's your bedside manner, Admiral, you're better off behind a desk."

The admiral shook her head. "I don't know why you were in the tavern any way. You were supposed to be studying for your exams next week." The cadet flinched under her icy stare. I remember the look from when I was a cadet—Admiral Paris would use it when he suspected I wasn't doing my best. Except I never flinched.

Then the admiral turned to me. She looked me over, then nodded. "You just had a few cuts and scrapes. The doctors healed you up all right. Any idea why she was chasing you?" She gestured towards a biobed with the unconscious form of my mysterious attacker on it.

I shook my head. "No idea," I said. Then, curious, I asked, "What is she?"

She looked toward the cadet. "Julian?" I could tell that she had just given him a pop quiz. She turned to me to give an introduction. "Lieutenant Commander Janeway, this is Cadet Bashir—a very gifted pupil of mine, if a bit frivolous." He shrugged.

He got up from his biobed, however, and inspected the diagrams on the screen. "Odd," he said. "Very odd. Definitely not human—some type of cyborg, perhaps—there are some mechanic parts." He enhanced the magnification, then pressed a few more commands. A picture of the woman's cells was called up. "These nanoprobes," he said, pointing and tiny silver specks in the picture, "I've heard of rumors of a race that uses technology like this."

"The Borg," I said. I'd heard the rumors as well. In fact, two respected scientists had recently left the quadrant looking for them—but the scientific community as a whole claimed that the rumors were unfounded. Of course, something had destroyed the El-Aurian homeworld.

He nodded. "Of course, this is all speculation," he said, under the watchful eye of the admiral. Then he pushed a few more controls, and a chart of some sort appeared. "Gods," he said, then turned to Admiral Kiler. She nodded.

I looked at the chart, and realized what was on the chart that was so important. The chronoton levels were extremely high. "She traveled through time to kill me?"

The admiral nodded. "It seems you're going to make a rather large enemy in the future."

The cadet cleared his throat. "She seems to be some type of cyborg—but of a type I've never seen before."

The admiral nodded. "I've run some tests—she's totally artificial. Synthetic flesh over a metal armature. She actually has part of a brain, but is completely controlled by some artificial intelligence program. And if there was any doubt of her being from the future, she also has this." She called up a diagram of the woman's (or, rather, cyborg's) skull, and in the center was a blinking spot indicating some type of device.


"What is it?" I asked.

"I'm not sure," the admiral admitted. "In fact, there is a lot of technology here I don't understand—technology centuries beyond our own. I was hoping that since you have had some experience as a ship's science officer, though, you might be able to figure some of it out. I'm only a doctor. If you can't figure it out, I'll have to submit it to Command, and I could get wrapped up in red tape for weeks—years, considering its function."

A shiver went down my spine as I remembered that it was programmed to kill me. From what I had seen, it was the perfect assassin.

I nodded, and went to work at the console when the biobed suddenly beeped. The admiral looked at it, her face ashen. "She's coming to," she said. "I've already given her six doses of hydrocortazine—I don't think another will work." She stepped away from the biobed. "Computer, erect a level twelve force field around biobed twenty-six," she ordered.

I watched as bed seemed to flicker as the force field sprang to life around it. And almost seconds later, the woman was conscious. She looked at me, tried to get through the force field. When she couldn't, she stretched out her arm and began to use her energy beam to break down the force field.

"It won't hold long against that thing," Kiler said. "Kiler to Admiral Jones."

There was a pause, and then the admiral came on. "Jones here. Are we having difficulty with the intruder?"

"Yes, sir. Seal off Section 82-C. And have us beamed directly to the U.S.S. Chapel. I'll try to get Lieutenant Commander Janeway away from the station. Perhaps it'll keep it from hurting anybody else."

"Understood, Kiler," responded Admiral Jones. I could tell by his tone that he didn't exactly approve of her plan, but realized there was no time for argument. I looked at the controls next to the biobed force field—the integrity was already down to 47%. Within moments, the force field would be down and we would be sitting ducks. She reached out her hand, ready to fire. She did.

The blast went through us as we demolecularized in the transporter beam.

We were not alone on the bridge. There was a young lieutenant commander there, waiting for someone, perhaps. I had met him before, perhaps while I was in the Academy. The admiral seemed to recognize him, too, and was not thrilled by the fact.

"What are you doing here, Wil?" she asked him.

"That is classified beyond your level." While I was sure he was lying, he gave no indication of falsity. He would be a great poker player.

"Yeah right. I see classified information you won't see for eighty years. More like you were expecting a romantic liaison. Nonetheless, there's no time to call your bluff. Get at the helm and get us out."

He smiled. "Aye, aye, sir. Where are we going?"

She considered. "As far from the heart of Federation space as we can get. Maximum warp."

He pushed some buttons. "Maximum warp is somewhere in the area of six-point-two, Admiral. The warp engines aren't exactly in perfect condition."

The admiral looked at me. I nodded. I had just became chief engineer for the U.S.S. Chapel, a ship that was scheduled for a desperately-needed refit. Of course, it wasn't going to get that refit now. I would do what I could.