To Stand on the Edge of Forever, Chapter One

"My people have a saying. 'One Man Can Summon the Future.'
But what happens if that man dies before his time?"

-Commander T'Pol "United"

Betrayed by his own broken and bleeding body, trapped in his own mind, Alex Carver hangs in darkness.

He feels the pain of broken ribs stabbing him in the chest, shards of bone grating against his organs. Beyond that, the dull ache of the internal bleeding that slowly fills his body with blood. Yet above all else lies the shifting maelstrom of emotions that burn and roil.

Incapable of moving, every sense still reports to his brain.

He had heard the explosion that had thrown him across his bedroom, bulkheads tearing around him as his body shattered. Blinded, he had heard the support strut above him give way and felt the impact as it fell on him. He could taste the blood that specked his lips, smelling it's coppery tang.

Now, he hears Selene calling him, her voice weak and frail, a far cry from the joking tone she had possessed earlier.

Alex...

Unable to speak, he lies there, silent and still.

Can you hear me? Alex, don't leave me... please.

She coughs, a wet, hacking sound, grunting as she pulls herself towards him. Feeling the soft touch of her hand on his, he tries to respond, but fails.

I can feel your pulse, Alex. You're still there, I know it. Please say something. Let me know you can hear me.

Silence. Deathly, damning silence. He can hear her sob.

Oh, God, Alex. Are you even in there anymore? He can hear her crying, punctuated by sharp gasps of pain that tell him she is injured, and he struggles against the mental chains binding him, desperate to move, to save her, to ease her pain. Doesn't matter. The ship's in bad shape, Alex. The lights are out, and I can barely hear life support. It won't be long now.

They lay like this for a time, and he listens to her speak. Small remembrances of their lives together; stories she had told him thousands of times but which he cherishes all the more now because it means she's still there, that he is not alone.

After a time, her voice grows weaker, softer, the pauses between stories become longer. He throws himself against the walls of his dark prison, fighting to open his eyes, to help her, to scream at her to stay awake, to do something. He can feel her slowly shifting, pressing something into his palm.

I'll see you soon.

No.

I love you...

No!

Betrayed by his own broken and bleeding body, trapped in his own mind, Alex Carver fills his dark prison with his screams.

The USS Crichton approached the ruins of the Arneb system slowly, sensors reaching across the near empty space. Nearly three hours had passed since the distress signal had been received, the automated pulse crying for help in the night. On the bridge, Commander Jason Madden looked out at the expanse that had, until recently, been home to over seventeen billion sentients. Only a burned out star and chunks of rock remained, and somewhere within those rocks, a Federation starship in distress.

This was the fourth signal they had responded to within the last five hours, in three separate solar systems, each one displaying the same characteristics. A stable star which had gone nova with no warning, devastating the entire system and killing billions. Across the Federation, similar events were being reported. Uncounted trillions were dead, with more casualties becoming known every minute. Starfleet was in a panic, it's starships rushing to and from each devastated system in an attempt to save as many lives as possible.

So far, the Crichton had managed to save eighteen, eleven of whom were more than likely to die within the day. Some of the crew were beginning to whisper of Armageddon, of the End of Days, and though he had yet to say it out loud, he was beginning to agree with them.

"Positive contact!"

The shout was an explosion in the silence that had permeated the room, a sharp burst of sound that set everyone speaking at once. Sensors focused and the ship spun in her tracks and accelerated towards the source of the signal. Beside Jason, Captain Paul Devis stood, his tall and athletic frame towering over the rest of the crew, his deep voice refusing to be ignored. "Report!"

Ensign Chi'Thaihn concentrated on his sensor display, the swirling holographic codes shifting around him, constantly updating with new information. Antennae twitched above his mane of shock white hair as scanned the results. "Starfleet bioship, Sir. Appears to be the remains of a Verne class cruiser. She's taken heavy damage all over. We should be approaching visual range within twenty seconds, Captain."

Jason frowned, hanging his head. The Verne class cruisers were older ships, most having been in service for over thirty years, lacking the more powerful shielding newer bioships like his own Crichton possessed. They would be lucky to find anyone alive.

There was more than that, though. Something about the Verne class was itching at the back of his mind, a detail hovering at the border of recollection and just out of reach. What was it?

Chi'Thaihn's voice broke him out of his reverie. "Entering visual range, Sir. Feeding display to holo."

The bridge lights dimmed and a large holographic display shimmered into being. Before him now lay an asteroid field, which sensor codes marked as the remains of Arneb VI. A pang of sorrow shot through him at the notation. A population of nine and a half billion, all gone. It was wearing on the crew, all of this death. All of it unexplained. It wouldn't be too much longer before someone cracked under the pressure. Pinching the bridge of his nose between his index finger and his thumb, he wondered briefly if it would be him.

Opening his eyes again, he saw it. Chi'Thaihn had been right to call them the remains of the ship. Nearly unrecognizable chunks of debris floated among the wreckage of the devastated planet, burning plasma leaking from ruptured conduits as they spun slowly in space. Lights flickered within the brutalized pieces as independent power cells struggled to continue operating. His voice was a whisper as he looked over his shoulder at the Andorian ensign. "Life signs?"

Chi'Thaihn's lips were set in a grim line as he answered. "Three. Two Human and one Romulan. The Humans on this piece..." A large chunk was highlighted on the display, "... and the Romulan here." A second, smaller piece was illuminated.

Captain Devis turned to look at Jason. "Commander."

Jason nodded, familiar with what would come next after three previous rescues. Spinning on his heel, he made for the turbolift. "Security and Medical teams to shuttlebay two." Subspace would be heavily distorted in the wake of the disaster, it would be safer to take a shuttle than the transporter. The risk of losing a signal lock with the subspace transporter in the energy maelstrom that was the Arneb system was too great. A perfect lock at the time of energizing could be shifted in transport, leading to re-materialization inside a bulkhead, or, even worse, in a vacuum. A shuttlecraft had been deemed safer, even if it did consume more precious time.

At the door to the lift, he stopped, frozen in his tracks as the elusive detail about the Verne class entered the forefront of his mind with brutal force. His voice shook as panic rose. "The ship. Do we know what ship it is?"

Chi'Thaihn consulted his display. "Transponder is weak but I believe that I can make it out. NCV-477924. USS Albion."

Selene... Alex... Thoughts of his friends spurred him to motion and he ran from the bridge, heart pounding in his chest.

Crimson light spilled dully across the damaged corridor, casting deep shadows over the pressure-suited boarding party. Jason Madden stood before the others, readouts flashing across his retinas as the Starfleet-issue nanites embedded in his brainstem linked with his suit's sensors and fed the data directly into his brain. The nanites had been a gift of sorts from the Borg Co-operative upon joining the Federation several centuries back. They were injected into every Starfleet officer upon graduation from the Academy and allowed them to carry the Starfleet computer database with them at all times for easy access. Yet now, as he stared in shock at ruins of what had once been a Federation ship, he wished that they would be less thorough with their readouts. He didn't want to know the science of what had happened here, the sight was enough in his mind. Bodies lay strewn before him, resting where they had fallen when the ship had been damaged.

Not damaged, Jason, he thought sourly to himself, destroyed. Let's face it.

He looked back over his shoulder at the gaping hole his team had cut through the hull to gain access to the wreckage, and beyond that, their shuttlecraft.

Movement at his side drew Jason's attention as the boarding team's engineer discarded his helmet, nodding. "Atmosphere is thin, but breathable, Commander."

"Thank you, Lieutenant." Shaking off his shock, he touched the side of his helmet, depressing the small touchpad just behind his ear. With a small whir of mechanics, the entire upper half of his suit retracted away from him, leaving only the jumpsuit that had been hidden beneath. Immediately, the smell of death assaulted him, the metallic tang of blood mixing with the acrid smoke of burnt circuits. Cautiously, he pushed an exposed plasma vein out of his way. The conduit pulsed slowly, still struggling to supply power to a slipstream core that was no longer there. A heart, still beating slowly as the body died. "Engineering team, see if you can salvage any sensor logs from the computer. Everyone else, see if you can find any survivors the Crichton couldn't pick up. Everyone make sure that you're in constant contact. I don't want to lose anyone." Heads nodded all around and the team broke up down different corridors, leaving Jason and a medic to find the lifesigns which had been detected earlier.

It only took a few minutes to find the first. A human ensign about twenty, probably fresh from the Academy, lay barely conscious against the bulkhead, her head bleeding profusely from a laceration across her forehead. The medic immediately began to treat the wound, attempting to seal it with a dermal regenerator as Jason continued down the corridor towards the second survivor.

The hair on the back of his neck prickled as he made his way slowly down the hall, pushing debris out of his way, or climbing over it if it was too heavy to move. Lights flickered from burnt out conduits and computer panels, creating a strobe effect that played havoc with his eyes. A headache was forming, the pain blossoming from the afterimage of the lights. He welcomed the pain, clung to it like a lifeline. The pain kept him distracted from the unpleasant truth he wanted to avoid since the moment they had found the first survivor.

One, if not both, of his best friends was dead.

He had known Alex Carver for years. They had grown up together on stories of the great Starfleet officers of times past: Archer, Kirk, Picard, Sisko. They had even secretly idolized Cross the renegade. When he had been eight, and Alex six, they had sworn to each other that they would become captains of their own ships by the age of thirty.

He was now thirty-six.His nanites began sending new information to his brain. His suit's sensors had located the second survivor less than twenty feet away. Slowly lifting his hand, he looked up at the door before him and wiped away the scoring on the ID panel.

CARVER, A.
CARVER, S.

A fit of panic seized him as he dug his fingers into the split between the doors, scrabbling for purchase. Gritting his teeth, he pulled one door far enough aside that he could creep through into the darkness beyond. Catching his leg on a sharp piece of wreckage, he cursed as he pushed through the door and collapsed on the other side. A faint light filled the room, starlight from the viewports on the wall. The smell in the room filled his nostrils, coppery and dank. Shining his light around him, he saw nothing except wreckage. The survivor must have been in the adjacent room.

"Selene? Alex? Can you hear me?" He crept into the bedroom, his heart nearly stopping at the sight which greeted him.

Alex lay facedown on the deck, brown hair matted with blood, a support column across his back. Selene lay on her side, sightless brown eyes glazed and open, her arm outstretched, hand resting gently on Alex's.

Dead.

Eyes burning with unshed tears, he checked her pulse and found nothing. Selene was gone forever, and had been for a while. Quietly, he moved over to Alex. A pulse, weak, but there. A thought opened a comm. line to the medic he had left down the hall. "Help me!"

Grasping the support column across his friend's back, he pulled with everything he had, struggling to move it off of Alex. His arms screamed in protest, but the support finally moved, freeing his friend just as the medic walked in, medkit already out and scanning.

"How is he?" His breath was coming in ragged gasps, the effect of both his recent strain and the thin atmosphere. The medic looked up sadly.

"I'm sorry, Commander. There's too much damage. Even if I bring him back to the Crichton, he probably wouldn't last the night."

"There's nothing…?"

The medic sighed, pointing to the tricorder's readout. "This man has three broken ribs, four fractured, a broken pelvis, massive internal bleeding, and brain damage. To be blunt, Commander, he's lucky he's in a coma."

Jason slumped down on the floor. Nothing... Squeezing his eyes shut, he swallowed the pain and felt his expression harden. Jason Madden had stepped aside. Commander Madden, First Officer of the USS Crichton, had taken his place. "He's still a survivor, Doctor. We'll bring him back to the ship. Him and his wife."

He had known Alex and Selene Carver for years. The least he could do for them was to bring them home for a decent burial.

Alex Carver sits, silent and still, trapped inside the darkest reaches of his own mind. He had felt Selene die, had felt a piece of himself ripped away at that moment, and had screamed, thrashing futilely against his prison.

Now, mind and soul exhausted, he simply prays for death.

He can feel his body being moved, can hear Jason speaking above him, and wishes for an end.

Suddenly, he is no longer alone in the darkness.

Not yet.

The voice echoes inside his mind, weak, but filled with purpose.

It is not over yet.

The light explodes inside his mind and takes him.

Unnoticed by anyone, his body begins to heal.