"Where the hell are my first and second officers, and my security chief?" The door to Ten Forward was still open when Ace and Jamie whirled around to see The Enterprise's captain march towards them with a look of fiery determination in his eyes.

"I give up. Where are they?" Ace replied, as flippantly as she could.

"They and your friend the Doctor have vanished. Your 'vessel has vanished, I am therefore forced to conclude that these events are connected."

"What? The TARDIS is gone? Oh crap! We're stuck here. Where would he have gone?" The final question was directed to Jamie who merely shrugged.

"Crusher to Picard." The voice came from a hidden speaker somewhere above Ace's head. "Q is awake and is as usual making demands, he... Oh never mind."

"Picard, we are in real trouble now." That voice came from a flash of light that quickly shaped itself in the form of a man, wearing the same uniform as Picard. "The whole fabric of reality is unravelling. This is a cataclysim on a glactic scale. We need to act now or perish."

"Q! What do you mean? A cataclysim? One that you're not involved in? I'm shocked." Picard not even trying to hide the disdain in his voice looked squarely at the new arrival, who Ace had just realised was the same person who had appeared, semi naked and battered, on the bridge.

"This isn't the time for flippancy Jean Luc. The Universe is collapsing under it's own weight as we speak, and you stand their making jokes. Maybe I should have gone to Kathy with this one, it may be too big for you. Ah, dear Kathy, she wanted to mate with me you know? I had to let her down gently though, that first officer of hers, Chuckie, or whatever, would have only gotten even more jealous, and she has bad hair days that go on for years."

"Q! What the hell are you talking about? Aren't you the one who said that time was short? Get on with it and then go away." Jean Luc's patience was wearing very thin by now and he had no inclination to listen to Q's reverie.

"Of course, you are right of course. Straight to the point. Well, something has arrived in our Universe that shouldn't be here. It's throwing the whole balance of the Universe out of kilter. and it's all connected to this ship. So what have you been up to?" Q looked fiercely at Picard.

Qu'O'Nos

"Well this is pretty isn't it? A nice fiery sky with energy weapons fire everywhere." The Doctor didn't feel as bright as his comment as he ducked for cover as another volley of weapons fire went over his head.

"You're seeing the Klingon homeworld on a good day Doctor." Riker half smiled as he also ran for cover. "Your ship couldn't have landed in the council chamber could it?"

"That wouldn't have been as much fun now would it?" Yet more weapons fire, it seemed closer this time though.

"This way." Worf shouted, "it is a little known secret tunnel leading directly to the council chambers. My brother Kurn told me of it."

Worf led the way down the darkened, narrow corridor and it ended in a stone wall, quickly removed by a blast from Worfs sidearm. The small band quickly found themselves surrounded by a dozen armed Klingons, who did not look in the mood for explainations as to how they had arrived there. They all raised their weapons to fire, "Stop!" The order had been shouted in the same voice the Doctor had heard in the distress call received in the TARDIS. "Most of these people are known to me. Worf, Though you're recent actions may have strained our friendship, I am glad to see you."

Worf grunted, "where is my brother?"

"He has been, reassigned. he now controls one of our colony worlds in the Gamma Eridon system. I am sorry Worf, but I believe it was one of the first to fall to the Borg. I know your brother would have died honourably, but now is not the time to stop and mourn, lest others mourn us also."

"Then come with us Mr Chancellor" The Doctor ushered Gowron to the now gaping hole in the chamber wall, "my ship awaits, a tactical withdrawal is our best bet for survival now."

Gowron nodded, even though he had never met this individual before, he spoke the truth, and as he travelled with Worf, he could not be too great a threat.

The Doctor led the way this time through the tunnel followed by the Enterprise crew and the surviving members of the Klingon High Council. He was the first to reach the other end of the tunnel and the first to fall into the trap.

The Doctor was wrenched from his feet by a bionic hand and felt something puncture his skin as two tubes entered his neck, then he began to scream, as millions of voices, speaking as on filled his mind at once... The voices spoke together and said simply, "Welcome Doctor, to the Borg/Dalek collective. Resistance is, as always, futile...

The Enterprise

Ten Forward.

"In approximately 1 hour the universe as we all know it will end."

"Q, How do you know? Is this another of your "tests"?"

"No Jean Luc, this is quite, horribly, gruesomely real. Some time in the next hour the borg will bring about the destruction of the Universe."

"But how?" The voice came from behind Picard, he reccognised it so did not even turn to face Deanna Troi.

"The Borg will soon discover how to assimilate a Q! They will invade the Continuum, then conquer what is left of the Galaxy. But in destroying the Continuum, they will have allowed Entropy to run unchecked and the Cosmos will implode under it's own weight. Does that answer your question?" Q, usually always with a smile or grin on his face, looked deadly earnest, a fierce anger that made the ships captain and counsellor back away from him slightly.

"But you have the power to stop them? Don't you?" Picard asked through his shock. Any thought that Q could be lying evaporated with Q's last statement.

"I don't know Picard, but I have been sent back to find out."

Q'O'Nos

"Doctor, are you alright?" Riker asked as he shot the Borg looming over the Doctor's prone form."

"We are Borg." Was the Doctor's only reply.

"We must kill it Commander." Worf immediately pointed his phaser at the Doctors head.

"Resistance is futile" The Doctor said as he got to his feet. Worf prepared to fire. "That's got to be the best one I've heard in a long time." The Doctor laughed. He looked up at Worf. "You can point that somewhere else right this instant or I'll get cross."

Riker looked amazed as Borg implants burst forth from the Doctors cheek and spread spider like tendrils. "But... How?"

"Oh this, " The Doctor said, "simple really, they may be speaking with billions of voices, but I've got the voices of 14 past lives in here as well, " the doctor tapped his temple, "so It's easy enough to keep them out. Let's get back to the Tardis."

The Enterprise

"Mr La Forge, how are the repairs going, we need to be underway as soon as possible."

"The device that Doctor gave us, has not only stopped the borg modifications, it's actually brought them under our control. I'd say we're good to go right now, as long as I can keep the borg bits and pieces under control."

Picard looked around Engineering, he didn't like the green glow that had developed, too many bad memories. "Very well Mr La Forge, we'll need warp speed by the time I get back to the Bridge." Picard turned and hurried to the turbolift.

"You'll have it sir" came La Forge's echoed reply as the lift doors closed.

"Why the hell are we being kept here?" Ace stared directly in the face of one of the security officers guarding Jamie and herself.

"Captains orders."

"That's helpfull, isn't it Jamie?" Before Jamie could reply Ace continued, "If we knew where your crewmates were, we'd tell you. Our friend is gone as well but you don't see us holding you prisoner till we got him back do you?" The security guard smiled as though Ace were joking, his smile evaporated as he saw her fist heading straight for his face. The other guard raised his phaser to shoot. He was blasted from behind by a strange coloured beam.

"You didn't see me do that, right?" Was all Guinan could say. Ace smiled as she grabbed the weapon of the guard she had just knocked out.

"Now what do we do?" Jamie was already at the door of Ten Forward looking out for any unwanted visitors.

"We stay put. When the Doctor comes back, we need to be here."

Q'O'Nos

"There's the Tardis, come on."

"You will be exterminated." The voice came from behind the Tardis, and a shape moved from around one of it's corners. Something the Doctor had never seen before. A Dalek, with what appeared to be a Klingon head where the upper portion of the dome should be. It had arm like robotic apendages as well and one massive cannon like weapon in it's mid section. "You have been deemed unworthy of assimilation. All who are unworthy will be exterminated. You threaten the purity of perfection." There was a loud humming noise as the Dalek/borg's weapon powered up, aimed squarely at the Doctor.

"Unworthy? Don't make me laugh." The Doctor stared at the Dalek/Borg/Klingon hybrid with great intensity. His companions could almost see sparks fly between them. "I am the Doctor! Elected three times to the post of President of Gallifrey. I am one of only three beings in all creation to have held the key to time. I have spoken with Rassilon, beaten Omega, and you call me unworthy?"

The Dalek stopped in it's tracks, a look of confusion crossed it's face. "You will be... You will be, you will make a cup of tea." Commander Riker almost laughed, "I am a little tea pot, short and stout, here's my handle, here's my spout..."

"Come on everyone, it probably won't be long till the collective manages to regain control of it, and by the looks of that gun, I don't want to be here when that happens." The Doctor opened the TARDIS door and walked in.

"That is a ship?" Gowron asked?

"Yes it is..." Came the Doctors voice from what seemed to be quite some distance away. Everyone entered the ship and the doors closed immediately behind them. "Back to the Enterprise I think. I need time to work out exactly what's going on here. Your reality is becoming merged with mine, and not in a good way." The rotor began moving and the TARDIS was in flight.

The Enterprise

"Sir we are receiving multiple distress calls, from Klingon, Romulan and Cardassian space. It seems the Borg have launched attacks on all three fronts. Klingon reports indicate that their outer colonies fell within minutes. That's impossible. Isn't it?"

Picard looked at Ensign York standing at the tactical console, "No ensign, unfortunately anything is possible where the Borg are concerned. What is the reaction of the Klingon fleet?"

"Moving to intercept, they say that there appears to be only 1 Borg ship in Klingon space. The Klingons have mobilised almost their entire fleet to meet it, 184 ships in total. That ought to be enough don't you think?" The ensign looked more hopefull than sure of his question.

Picard gave no answer he just turned to the view screen to see a "work bee" fly past, on it's way to repair some part of the ship or other, McKinley station had reported that the repairs were still some hours from completion, not that it mattered, Starfleet had recalled 90 of the fleet, now there were 329 ships in close patrolling orbit of sector 001. The Borg would have a surprise waiting for them if they tried to attack again.

"Sir, an update from the Klingons! Their entire fleet has been destroyed or assimilated. Sir, one Borg ship did that, and it's still taking out star system after star system as it heads to the Klingon homeworld." Now Picard could hear the fear in the young mans voice. Not that he needed to, he could feel it radiate from the man. "Reports from Romulan space read almost identical to the Klingon situation, one Borg vessel, 100 casualties on the Romulan side. Long range scans of Dominion controlled Cardassian territory shows much the same thing. What are we going to do sir?"

The TARDIS

"How were you able to accomplish that sir?" Data looked at the Doctor in earnest fascination.

"Do what commander?" The Doctor didn't even look around as he spoke.

"You controlled that Borg. I have never seen that done before, how did you achieve it?"

"Well, it's a side effect of them trying to link me to their collective. I don't think they expected ME to be around long enough to work out how to use it against them. All I did was isolate that borg from the collective and then feed him my own commands."

"Fascinating. Assimilation is almost instantaneous in all species, your resilience is outstanding."

"Why Thank you commander Data, that is kind, but another species is able to hold their own with the Borg. The Denobulans, their heightened immune system can delay the progress of the nanoprobes for up to 36 hours without too much discomfort or need for assistance."

"Denobulans? I do not think I am familiar with that species."

"What do you mean you don't know the Denobulans? The medical officer aboard the first starship called Enterprise was a Denobulan."

"You are incorrect Doctor, the first Doctor of the First Enterprise was a Doctor Phillip Boyce, he was succeeded by Dr Leonard McCoy, then in the year 2286 Dr Christine Chapel served briefly as ships physician during an extensive refit, until she was replaced by the more experienced Dr McCoy, who returned at the request of Admiral Kirk."

"You have no record of a Denobulan named Phlox, serving aboard a starship Enterprise registry NX-01?"

"To my knowledge there has never been a Starship bearing that registry or name."

The Doctor looked flustered. But I have a memory of that ship. I don't know how I have it, or how I now remember everything else that has or should have or will happen. I think I'm losing my mind"

Elsewhere

"Yes Doctor. You are. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ..."

The Enterprise.

"Picard, you have to listen to me. Time is unravelling. This moment will not exist in an hour. This entire timeline is being erased, and you have to stop it." Q looked exasperated, and perhaps even, genuinely scared as he spoke to the captain of the Enterprise. "How many times do I have to tell you this?"

"Q. I believe you. I just don't know what we can do to prevent a total collapse of time. It's a mindboggling event. What are we supposed to do?" Picard sat in his chair, with his tea cup in hand. Though he looked the image of calm he was secretly worried. "If this catastrophe has you worried, and I am forced to admit that you are far more powerfull than I, what do you expect of us?"

"There is someone who can help. He was here when I first arrived, I could sense it. He's on his way back now, with Riker and Worf. The ripples his Tardis cause in time, make him pretty easy to track. When he gets here, he'll be able to explain it all to you. It's all too much."

"Too much? Q, what happened?" Picard sat forward in his chair. Again he saw a glimmer of something in Q that hadn't been there before, was it, sadness?

"The Borg invaded the continuum in exactly 45 minutes time. My wife and my son were amongst the first to fall. They were assimilated. Jean Luc, my family is gone." Now Q could hold his pain in no longer and he collapsed onto the sofa in Picard's ready room. "We have to stop this before it happens. You have to help me save my family." Q looked almost piteous as he said the words.

Picard was stunned. He rested his cup on the table and stood, "Q. I never knew that you had a family. I'm sorry, I assure you we will do whatever we can to stop the borg and prevent this catastrophe. Is there no way that you can warn the Q, now, before the Borg invasion occurs?"

"No Jean Luc, what we are doing right now is too important, we need to keep it going for as long as we can. If I warn them about the attack, then everything stops in the blink of your eye. You see, Jean Luc, I am stuck between the rock and the proverbial hard place, and even with my powers, I can move neither."

The Tardis.

"So Doctor, you are telling us that there are whole segments of human history that we don't remember happening? That is just preposterous." Riker stared at the Doctor, who was picking at one of his newly acquired borg implants."

"That is exactly what I'm telling you commander. For some reason, you have no memory of the founding of your Federation, and I have no idea as to why you can't remember. But working it out is definitely on my to do list." The Doctor moved to the Console, "we'll be arriving onboard the Enterprise shortly. Tell me mr Data, what exactly can you remember as regards the foundation of the Federation?" The Doctor turned and looked in askance at the android.

"Since this conversation began, I have been attempting to access any memory files regarding those events. I can find none. It is most puzzling."

"It's worse than puzzling Data, it's giving me a splitting headache. I hate this kind of thing. People tampering with time, with no regard for the consequences of their actions, it's just very, very, irresponsible of them."

There was a loud wheezing sound as the rotor at the core of the Console came to a stop. "Ah, we've landed, come on." The Doctor hit the switch responsible for the opening and closing of the ships main doors and headed out. Only to be faced with starfleet phasers. "Oh come on, I thought we had progressed past this. Commander?" He called in to the Tardis.

Riker appeared and smiled slightly as the security details surprised looks. "Stand down, he's with me. Kind of." The security team did as the ships first officer ordered and lowered their weapons. "Not bad Doctor, you managed to land us right in the aft section of the bridge. Now how the hell are we supposed to move around?"

"Oh I'll take care of that." The Doctor disappeared back into the Tardis and the door closed, the groaning noise returned and then faded along with the ship itself. The noise restarted almost immediately, but a short distance away. Riker could tell immediately, where the Doctor had materialised this time, another wry smile crossed his face.

"What the hell..." Was the bellow that came from the captains ready room. Followed by the sounds of the doctor trying to apologise for the intrusion. Riker could swear he also heard Q's voice in there. The doors to the ready room opened amd from the relatively small room came in rapic succession, The Doctor, Data, Worf, Gowron, Q and finally Picard. "I want this man taken to the brig. he has been assimilated." Picard pointed at the Doctor, and the guards, still slightly confused by the comings and goings of the strange little man snapped to carry out their new orders.

"It's all right captain, The Doctor is somehow able to resist the collective. In fact he was able to influence one of the drones we encountered on Qu'O'nos." Picard looked at his first officer, then back to the Doctor who stood still with an apologetic look on his face.

"Doctor, we have to stop them. They are destroying time itself. You are the one who can stop them." The bridge crew were taken aback by the near hysteria in Q's voice as he spoke. "We have very little time left, quite literally in fact."

"I wish, I could help, I really do, but I still can't quite understand what's going on here myself." The Doctor placed his hand on Q's shoulder as he spoke. "I just need some time to find out exactly what needs to be done and..." The doctors sentence went unfinished as a bright flash occured behind him, he spun around to see a figure, an old figure, standing before him. Directly in front of the Enterprise's view screen.

"As Q told you Doctor, time is short. You have the power to correct this corruption to the timeline. You must act."

"And you would be?" The Doctor asked.

"You do not recognise me? I am surprised, I thought I had at least given you eyes to see."

"Guardian?..."

The explainations.

The Enterprise bridge

"You are the White guardian? Aren't you?" The Doctor asked after regaining his composure.

"I am the embodyment of that being that is indigenous to this universe, yes."

"Well it's about time you showed up. What the devil is going on? How did I get here? What do you want me to do? What is happening to the timeline here? I need answers." The Doctor's voice raised with each question, till he was almost shouting the last.

"Have a care Doctor, you are addressing the Guardian of time here. He is not to be spoken to in such a manner." Q was immediately in front of the Guardian facing the Doctor, genuine anger in his eyes and face.

"Be still young Q. He who is my representative in all things is entitled to his tantrums. My dear Doctor, What is going on is, this Universe is being destroyed. You were brought here by my will to correct the corruption. You are to use all the powers at your disposal to defeat your adversary. The timeline of this universe is being eroded from the past forward. All of your questions are now answered in the order they were asked." The Guardian stood looking calm and radiant.

"Well, yes, you answered the questions, but you just raised more. How is the timeline being eroded?" The Doctor was reeling, but he needed more to go on than the half answers provided by the Guardian thus far.

"This timeline is being erased. The crew of this ship defeated the Borg at their first attempt to assimilate Earth in the past. But the Borg tried again, with the help of new allies. Earth was assimilated, followed rapidly by Vulcan and all other worlds that constituted their Federation. The Q are doing the job they were created to do. Their power is creating a pocket of temporal grace around our current time frame. What is here, in this time, will remain here until such time as the Q have exhausted their powers. What will exist, still exists in potentia. But the Q are weakening even as I speak. You need to know it all. Come" The Guardian turned and vanished, followed rapidly by the inhabitants of the Enterprise bridge.

Guardians world

"Well that was disconcerting." Picard picked himself from the ground and immediately looked around him. "Oh my..."

The others clambered to their feet, the federation crew drew weapons and tricorders. Data carried out a cursory scan with his tricorder, "It is an M class planet." He turned and looked in the same direction as his captain, and stopped as his eyes focussed on, The Guardian of Forever.

The Doctor rose and dusted himself down and also turned to the Guardian, "OK. It's a stone ring, why is everyone looking so awestruck?"

"This is my form in this Universe Doctor. This is the form in which these creatures associate me." The voice, deep and resonating seemed to come from the stone ring. "In every Universe in existence, there is a guardian of time, but also there is an equal and opposite. That which you know as the Black Guardian. In this Universe he was imprisoned millenia ago at the heart of the Galaxy, by the inhabitants of the Q continuum. He has been freed by your opposite Doctor. The being chosen by the Black Guardian as his Avatar. With their combined power they have tipped the balance of power in their own favour. They have called forth allies from your home Universe, The Daleks. These events have resulted in the discordant events to which you have been witness."

"We of the Q, have been the Black Guardians cell keepers for an eternity. Only once before has his captivity been threatened, by your redoubtably predeccesor Jean Luc." Q's voice had regained a little of his haughty demeanor. "Since his escape, we have worked to counter what damage he has inflicted on the Cosmos. We are currently maintaining a stable timeframe here and now. It's purely damage limitation, and as soon as the continuum falls, well, the Universe is right on it's heels."

"You Doctor, have been granted the power needed to correct this. You may not realise it yet, but you will have unique insight into this Universe, you will see what has been, what should be and what will be. Combating these incongruities will be your primary task. All the powers available in each timeframe will be at your disposal. You must act Doctor."

"Why can't you do something?" The Doctor asked simply. "What have you been doing? Just sitting around like a lump of stone?" The Doctor looked at the Guardian, "well, OK, you are a lump of stone, but that's irrelevant. What have you been doing during this?"

"I brought you here."

"Oh of course, you always get others to do your dirty work don't you? The White Guardian, never a speck of dirt on him. Always detatche..."

Before the Doctor could finish his rant, he found himself again staring at the view screen on the Enterprise, "well. That was just rude." The Doctor staggered slightly as though he had been struck. "The Borg are coming. In force this time. We need to gather our forces." The Doctor walked to the aft station and began tapping the console. "I need to send out the call."

"What call? To whom?" Picard followed the Doctor.

"A call to arms captain. To everyone."