DTI Headquarters, Greenwich, London
15th September 2268 - A Tuesday
Two Klingon males circled, their snarling faces filled with anger and hate. One feinted to the side and seeing an opening, the other lunged towards his opponent. Sparks flew as knife clashed against knife, the side blades of the weapons tangling together as each struggled for supremacy. They drew apart, each of them settling into a defensive stance as they looked for the next opportunity to strike. One of them spoke, taunting the other who responded with renewed violence. Blades clashed again, this time drawing blood….
The Department of Temporal Investigation's most senior agent and instigator of this particular meeting, Gariff Lucsly studied the group. He'd watched this scene more times than he cared to remember, and his attention was on his fellow agents rather than the fight playing out on the screen.
It was very rare that agents from across time met in this way, but the current situation was dangerous enough that it had been deemed necessary. A child of the twenty-fourth century, Lucsly was out of time himself, but not as far out of time as Jena Noi, visiting from the far distant future… and she'd never told him exactly how far in the future.
George Nerskin on the other hand, was from the hosting time period, Earth's so called twenty-third century. Technically he was not a DTI agent as that organisation was still a year or two from being founded, but for all that, he was good at his job and a valued team member.
"This is the key moment, the pivotal point," Lucsly told his fellow agents, his eyes still on the screen. "Everything depends on this."
His partner, Marion Dulmur, consulted his notes before speaking. "Information from the Guardian shows that if the one in black wins the fight, then the timeline will repair itself to an acceptable level with only minimal interference from the Enterprise crew."
"And the other one?" Teresa Garcia asked. An ex-Starfleet officer, she was a temporal refugee, who had ended up joining the DTI as an investigator. "The one in grey. What happens if he wins?"
Dulmur scowled. "Then we have a serious problem on our hands. With him in charge of Earth, the Klingon High Council will get what they want – the destruction of the United Federation of Planets."
"We've had the Guardian replay the scene a hundred times," Lucsly said. "The temporal computers have analysed the data and it's coming out with a fifty/fifty split."
"So, there are two possible outcomes," Ranjea said thoughtfully. The bald Deltan frowned as he spoke. "I don't like the uncertainty – this could still go either way."
Ranjea was genuinely worried, Garcia realised, and that scared her. For once, the Deltan agent was, intentionally or not, putting out absolutely no pheromones. Still more than half in love with him, even after the years they had worked together, she was in a position to notice. With the exception of Lucsly, he was one of the most experienced agents the DTI had available to them. If he was worried, then so was she. "I assume someone has checked the shielded records?" she asked. "What do they indicate?"
"It wasn't supposed to have happened at all," Lucsly snapped. "The Klingons are not supposed to be on Earth in this time period… or any time period for that matter, until Klaang arrives at Broken Bow in 2151."
"Well apart from that," Garcia persisted. Lucsly was not known for being polite and friendly and she ignored his bad temper.
The senior agent gave an exaggerated sigh. "There are no records. Almost everything from that period was destroyed during the Eugenics War. Which means…" and his scowl deepened, "that we just don't know. All we have to go on are these scenes from the Guardian."
"But in that case," Ranjea said, "we can't know for certain that this wasn't meant to happen… that it didn't always happen that way."
"True," Lucsly conceded, giving the Deltan an irritated glare. Predestined temporal paradox was not a good enough excuse as far as he was concerned. "And since Enterprise arrived one year, nine months and fourteen days too late to prevent the incursion, we are stuck with this as our point of reference. The question is, what do we do next?"
Jena Noi considered the question carefully. She had remained quiet so far, listening to her fellow agents and gathering all the information available. As the future-most agent present, she had the greatest overall knowledge of the timeline and it was she who would have the final say as to what action was taken. "Do we have an I.D. on the combatants?"
"We do," Dulmur said, pulling up two images on his padd and transferring them side by side to the main screen. "The one on the left has been identified as Security Captain Krang. He's the senior officer in charge of the Klingon forces. The planetary governor if you like. He's an officer of Klingon Imperial Intelligence as you can tell from the uniform. The other, the one in grey, is his second in command, Colonel Karg."
"Thank you Dulmur." Her decision made, Jena issued her orders in a crisp, no-nonsense tone. "George, this is your time period, so it falls to you to act. You will send an urgent, Priority One message to the Enterprise via the Guardian. Inform Captain Kirk that we have identified the catalyst. There must be no interference until the outcome of this fight is decided. Indications are that it will take place approximately four days plus or minus one day from the current date. If Krang wins, Enterprise is to sit back and wait. If on the other hand Karg wins, they are authorised to do everything possible to restore the timeline, up to and including, opening fire on all Klingon bases and destroying them from orbit."
News Studio, London
Afternoon, Saturday 22nd January 1994
Standing in the doorway of the studio, Koreth was inexplicably nervous as he gazed at the stage. This was the part of his job that he was not looking forward to. He was a warrior, not an actor and speaking to the cameras was way out of his comfort zone. "Kahless," he muttered, "this is ridiculous." Klingons were not supposed to get stage fright. All he had to do was walk up there, wait for the signal and then deliver the pre-prepared speech.
Kell raised a bushy eyebrow. The Way of Kahless was by no means illegal but nor was it popular, especially in the military and it was unusual to hear a soldier, even an officer, invoke that name. "Kahless? Since when were you religious, Koreth?"
"What…?" Concentrating on what was to come and not realising he had spoken out loud, Koreth was momentarily confused. "Oh… that. No, I'm not really. The boss says it sometimes; I guess I've just picked it up from him."
"I'm not a believer either," Kell said. "But I did read his teachings a couple of years ago, just before we were assigned here. There's some interesting stuff in there."
Koreth nodded. "I agree. I particularly like the way he speaks of honour."
The studio director beckoned to Koreth, interrupting their discussion and bringing their attention back to the matter at hand. "Everything is set up and ready for you, sir."
Taking a deep breath, Koreth straightened his uniform jacket. "I am ready." That was a lie; he was not at all ready for this.
Glad that it was not him having to appear on camera, Kell grinned at his colleague's obvious discomfort. "Qapla' Koreth. Break a leg!"
Outraged, Koreth turned back, his hand going to his knife. "What did you just say? I do not expect nice from you, but that is just… nasty!"
"It's apparently a traditional Terragnan expression," Kell laughed, not at all fazed by his superior's threatening posture. "It means good luck."
Koreth glanced at the nearest camera technician. "Is that true?"
Nervous at being singled out by a high-ranking Klingon, the technician nodded. "Yes, sir. Nobody really knows the origin of it, but it's considered bad luck to wish an actor good luck."
Koreth shook his head in bemused disbelief. Oddly, he found, he was no longer nervous, which in needling him in such a way, was no doubt exactly what Kell had intended. "You Terrans are strange." Straightening his jacket again, he strode forward to take his place in front of the waiting cameras.
"I am Brigadier Koreth of the Imperial Klingon Defence Force. It is my duty today to inform you we have carried out a full review of the events surrounding the terrorist attack on the London Detention centre a few days ago.
"The Klingon Empire is founded on the principles of Duty, Honour and Loyalty and we are pledged to uphold those ideals. Justice will be served even against one of our own. It is our judgement that Colonel Karg has overstepped his authority and disobeyed his orders. As a result, he has been relieved of duty for offences against the Terran people and is awaiting deportation.
"It is our decision that the current curfew will remain in place for a further period of one week although medical and emergency personnel will be allowed an exemption. If at the end of that time, there has been no further trouble, we will relax the curfew. Further updates will be given at that time.
"Honour to the Empire!"
Vulcan Survey Ship Vesaya, Sol system
Monday 24th January 1994
The Vulcan ship quietly slid through the cold darkness of space towards its destination, the planet known to the people who lived there as Earth. Vesaya was a Surak class survey ship which, under the command of Captain Sevek, had been covertly monitoring this sector of space for several years. This would be the final stop on their route before returning to Vulcan.
Sevek was fascinated by the Terrans. They were a young race, violent and illogical, much as the Vulcans themselves had once been and in recent years, they had more than once come very close to total annihilation. It had been hoped that as they continued to progress, they would undergo their own age of enlightenment, moving towards a more peaceful society. Their technology, however, was progressing at a much faster rate than their morals and they were showing signs of eventually developing warp drive. When they came out into space, the Vulcans needed to be ready.
The arrival of the Klingons had changed all that. Vulcan High Command had been disappointed to learn that Earth had been annexed by Klingon forces. They had, however, decreed that there was to be no interference, something that Vesaya's captain found disappointing, although it had not escaped his notice that the two species had much in common. But the Klingon conquest of Terra was legitimate and since High Command did not want to go to war with the Klingons, there was nothing to be done except watch.
"Captain, we are approaching the Sol system."
"Initiate long-range passive scans." Vesaya's captain did not take his eyes from his console as he spoke.
"Yes, Captain." Commander Solkar, Vesaya's first officer, had anticipated his captain's order and was already carrying out the scans. "There appear to be no changes since our last visit. The Klingon troop transport ship remains in position in geosynchronous orbit over the city of Washington DC."
"Bring us to half impulse," Sevek instructed. "Set a course to our usual position in high lunar orbit."
"Course set in and engaged," the helm officer reported.
Solkar's console lit up and he frowned very slightly as he studied it. "Captain, I am picking up scans from the Klingon ship. It appears that since our last visit they have increased their level of alert. However, they are not yet aware of our presence."
"Shut down all non-essential systems as per standard procedure. I would prefer that we remain undetected by the Klingons."
"Captain." The tactical officer spoke up.
Sevek raised an eyebrow at the hint of tension in the young woman's voice.
"There is another ship in lunar orbit," T'Lin responded to her captain's unspoken query, carefully schooling herself to calm as she spoke. "I have never seen anything like it and it matches nothing in our databases."
"On screen."
The ship that appeared on screen was sleek and elegant, its design flawlessly logical, although obviously based on different principals to Vulcan ships. Studying it, Sevek decided that his tactical officer's display of emotion was warranted.
"Tactical alert! Be prepared to raise shields and bring all weapons online at the slightest sign of hostility." Sevek would not fire first, but if the other ship attacked, it was only logical to be ready. "Scan that ship."
The captain's order was not unexpected and Solkar had already initiated the scans. "Fascinating. I am reading four hundred and thirty life-signs on board the ship. Ninety percent of them are human. Two percent are unidentifiable. The remaining eight percent consist of Andorian, Caitian, Tellarite… and one Vulcan. My scans also show a significant amount of chroniton radiation indicating that the ship does not belong in this time period."
"Your results are in error," Sevek said severely. "The Vulcan Science Institute has already proven that time travel is not possible."
"The data suggests that the Science Institute is wrong," Solkar argued. "Our equipment is accurately calibrated and working correctly. You have already acknowledged that the ship is of no known design and it is also a fact that humans do not yet have space travel. Yet the vessel has lettering on its hull in Terran English. All the evidence points to a time incursion."
Try as he might, Sevek could see no illogic in his first officer's statement. Solkar's summation of the situation was accurate. The chroniton emissions clearly demonstrated that this vessel did not belong in the current time period, nor was it from any empire or power that was familiar to Sevek. That there were both human and Vulcan life signs on board was disturbing. He would need to report this to High Command. First however, he needed more information. "Communications officer," Sevek ordered, "Open a channel to the ship, audio only."
"Channel open, Captain."
"Unknown ship, this is captain Sevek of the Vulcan ship Vesaya. Identify yourself."
First, more thanks to RobertBruceScott and JDC0 for their continued support of this story. If you havent read their novels here, go and read them!
Right... credits: Dulmur and Lucsly are canon characters, appearing in DS9 and in the DTI series of novels. Jena Noi, Teresea Garcia and Ranjea are also from those novels. Nerskin however was created by my good friend and Beta reader Teima Joel.
The Vesaya's name comes from the Memory Beta site which states that according to the Last Unicorn RPG module "The way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans" Vesaya was the name of the ship that made first contact. Obviously that's outdated now. T'Plana Hath was the ship, under the command of Solkar that made first contact (officially) but it was not launched until 2053. Hence I chose to make use of Vesaya as the ship that was surveying the area previously. It's also been suggested that T'Plana Hath might have been stationed on board the Vesaya.