USS Enterprise NCC-1701,

Monday 24th January 1994

Making his way to the bridge, Spock seated himself at his usual place and got to work. The task was a complicated one. In itself, scanning for Vulcan life-signs was not difficult – Enterprise's scanners could easily distinguish between various species. The challenge was to carry out the scans without being detected by the Klingons.

It had been immediately after the prison raid that the Klingon security teams had begun an aggressive surveillance schedule, significantly stepping up the frequency and intensity of their scans. With the clarity of hindsight, it had been a mistake for the Enterprise team to use phasers. In Spock's opinion, that mission had not been successful. While they had achieved their goal of rescuing the imprisoned medical team, they had also put the Klingons on notice that there was twenty-third century involvement. Spock had suggested at the time that it would be better to use period specific weapons, but he had been overruled by the captain.

Kaiidth, Spock thought. What is, is. It could not be changed now. The result, however, was that carrying out anything other than the most basic of passive scans was going to get them detected… unless he could predict the surveillance and work with it.

Carefully, Spock studied the information coming in from the ship's sensors and began study the Klingon sensor sweeps, looking for his opportunity. No system was truly random and slowly, as the hours crept past, a pattern began to emerge.

Sometime just before midnight, ship's time – and Spock's innate time sense informed him that it was 23:48, twelve minutes before beta shift ended and gamma shift began – the turbolift doors slid open and Uhura stepped out onto the bridge.

"You're up late," she commented, crossing the bridge to join him.

Spock glanced up from his work. "So are you. I do not believe you are scheduled for duty at this time."

"I've been playing chess with Scotty in the rec room," she told him. "McCoy and the captain were there as well. You were supposed to have joined us, remember?"

"I have been busy," Spock said. "If we are to successfully scan the planet without being detected, then I must first find a way to avoid the Klingon security protocols."

"Let me look." Uhura pulled up a chair and settled herself next to him, leaning over to study the data on his console.

Working with Uhura was always agreeable. "I would value your thoughts," Spock admitted, shifting to make room for her. Uhura was an expert in xeno-linguistics and communications. Patterns were an important part of translation and cryptography protocols and this was not so very different to her field of interest.

"I wonder…" she said after a moment. "Obviously, our sensors need to avoid their scans, but what if we could piggyback them and gain access to their data?"

Spock raised an eyebrow. "Your idea has merit. If we can decode their encryption algorithms, then monitoring their communications would be a useful source of intelligence."

Uhura nodded. "Exactly. Right, let's get to work then."

A few minutes before 06:00 hours, ship's time, Captain Kirk made his way to the bridge. Technically, his shift did not start for a couple more hours, but with the mission weighing heavy on his mind, he'd been unable to sleep and fed up of tossing and turning, he'd decided to just give up and go and get some work done.

Stepping onto the bridge, he was greeted by the sight of the gamma shift going quietly about their duties and over at the back, by the science station, he saw Spock and Uhura. Had they been working all night, he wondered, as they turned to face him? He remembered Uhura leaving the rec room shortly before midnight, saying that she was calling in on the bridge and then heading to bed. Spock at least didn't need as much sleep as a human, but Uhura looked exhausted. Kirk frowned; he needed his senior staff at their best and that included them getting enough sleep to function.

"Captain," Uhura greeted him, "You're up early. Couldn't sleep?"

Kirk shook his head. "I'm guessing you couldn't either. Or have you even tried?"

"Guilty as charged," Uhura said, hiding a yawn. "It was worth it though; we've got a lot done."

"We have established a scanning regime and have initiated a combination of active scans focussed on the North American continent and passive sensor sweeps piggybacking on the Klingon network," Spock informed the captain. "Progress is necessarily slow due to the constraints of working with the Klingon security systems. Provided the Klingons do not change their protocols, I estimate we will have results in the next twelve hours."

"Twelve hours?" Kirk repeated. "That's a long time for scan results."

"We have a very narrow window of opportunity," Uhura explained. "The Klingon security teams have significantly increased the frequency of their sensor sweeps. We are having to restrict our active scans to the gaps in their system."

Kirk nodded, understanding. "That makes sense.

"That's not all," Uhura said. "We've been able to listen in to some of their communications." She grinned, adding, "It does help that I speak fluent Klingon. Anyway, we've got several key pieces of information, probably the most important is that the Klingons are aware of the Vesaya's presence in the solar system. They don't seem concerned about it although they are wondering what the Vulcans are looking for."

"That's interesting and not completely surprising," Kirk acknowledged. "I think we are all guilty of underestimating their scientific capability. "Is there any indication that they have detected us?"

"Negative, captain," Spock said. "Their enhanced security protocols are a direct result of our involvement in the prison raid and…"

And that was about as obvious an 'I told you so, captain' as it was possible to get, Kirk thought wryly as he listened to his first officer's report. Some of the information was already known to them, courtesy of the DTI, but that was a second-hand source, viewed through the Guardian of Forever and Kirk knew from bitter experience how easily reality could change. The data being recorded by Spock and Uhura was straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak, and was therefore more accurate. The comm. chatter between the Klingon ship and the crews on the ground confirmed that Karg was under guard and had been replaced by someone called Koreth who was now speaking to the public on behalf of the empire.

The resistance had believed that Karg was in charge, although that had been contradicted by Chrissie's report about the black-uniformed security captain. Not that Krang was ever mentioned by name in the Klingon communications but there had been several references to 'the boss' or even 'the chief', all of which led to the inescapable conclusion that Krang was the one they were going to have to deal with.

The DTI had been insistent that the catalyst that would cause the change in the timeline was the fight to the death between Karg and Krang, a situation that seemed to have been avoided. How that would affect the outcome of the invasion, Kirk did not know. And now that the security captain had taken up with Chrissie, there was another complication. Kirk sighed. There was no way of knowing what effect their relationship would have.

The final piece of information involved Khan Noonien Singh who once again was stirring up rebellion against the Klingons in the east and who was coming very close to taking control of Australia. If it were not for his very strict orders to stay away from Khan, Kirk would have liked to offer his help and support. That of course, was impossible.

As he listened to Spock's summary of the situation, Kirk found himself regretting his handling of Khan and his augments. The genetically enhanced warlord was not quite the megalomaniacal tyrant that history made him out to be. Rather, he was fighting hard to protect his homeworld from the alien invaders. How much of all this was predestined, he wondered suddenly? If had had asked Khan, would the warlord have spoken of the fight against the Klingons? Were things happening as they had always happened or had history truly changed? Kirk gave himself a mental shake. There were no answers to those questions. He should carry out his mission as ordered, Kirk reminded himself, and leave the questions to the philosophers.

"You've both done well," Kirk said eventually. Not that there was any surprise there; these two, like all his crew, consistently performed their duties in an exemplary manner. He would expect nothing less of them. Even so, they deserved the praise and a note would be made on their records to that effect. "I think, though, it's time you both went and got some rest."

Uhura shook her head, trying to hide another yawn and not succeeding very well. "We need to monitor the scanners. They can't be left to run unattended. If the Klingons change their pattern we need to react quickly."

"You have a perfectly good team for that," Kirk pointed out. "Call Lieutenant Alden to take over. He's very competent, I am sure he can hold the fort for a few hours."

"Yes, sir," Uhura sighed, reluctantly acknowledging that the captain was right. Daniel Alden was an experienced officer who was actually overdue for promotion. It was only his desire to remain onboard Enterprise that was holding back his career. He might not appreciate being called on duty two hours early, but he was capable of dealing with any problems that might arise.

Putting a call through to the lieutenant, Uhura apologised for disturbing him so early and then explained the situation.

"On my way, Commander," the lieutenant responded immediately. "I was awake anyway so don't worry. I'll be there in five minutes."

Four minutes and fifty-five seconds went by before the bridge doors opened, disgorging Lieutenant Alden onto the bridge – and he looked disgustingly bright eyed and bushy tailed for so early in the morning, Uhura thought crossly, especially considering he had been singing karaoke in the rec room when she had left. Crossing the room to join them, he offered a cheery greeting before leaning over Uhura to study the information on the console.

Quickly and efficiently, she briefed him on what needed to be done and he nodded his understanding. "No problem, Commander. I can handle this."

"Go and get some sleep," Kirk reminded his seniors. "That's an order. I don't want to see you two back on duty until lunchtime at the earliest, am I understood?"

"Yes, sir." Giving in gracefully, Uhura pushed back her chair and stood up, no longer bothering to hide the next yawn. "Goodnight then."

"Spock?" Now that Uhura had capitulated, Kirk turned his attention to his first officer who so far had made no effort to move from his station. "That means you as well."

Spock rose to his feet. "I do not require as much sleep as a human. Nevertheless, if you insist, Captain, I will go off duty as ordered."

"I do insist," Kirk said. "I want my team alert and at full capacity. I don't need you fighting both fatigue and the Klingons. Now scram!"

Exchanging a look of disgust, both Uhura and Spock obeyed their orders and scrammed.

Vulcan Survey Ship Vesaya

Tuesday 25th January 1994

It was a fact, Sevek discovered, however illogical it might be, that time appeared to pass more slowly when one was waiting for something. They had been waiting for several hours now, several long hours.

The update they had received from Enterprise that morning had been informative but also disconcerting. Sevek did not know why he was so surprised that the Klingons were aware of his ship. But like Enterprise, they were from the future and their technology was more advanced than he had realised. He would not make the mistake of underestimating them again.

That awareness did, however, give the Vulcan ship a certain degree of freedom. They no longer had to hide and provided they appeared to follow their usual routine and did nothing to arouse suspicion, it was likely that the Klingon policy of ignoring them would continue.

As he understood it, Spock and a human female named Uhura, whom he had been informed was their communications officer, had spent the night analysing the Klingon search patterns and the actual scanning had begun in the early morning under the supervision of Lieutenant Alden.

The human lieutenant had used his initiative and made a slight alteration to the Enterprise's sensors, adding a Vulcan signature to them. It was a clever move, Sevek acknowledged. If their scans were detected by the Klingons, they would appear to originate from the Vesaya. Humans were, he reflected, stubborn, illogical and unpredictable, traits that to Vulcan eyes were negative but that sometimes, combined with their adaptability and flexibility, made them formidable opponents – and would also, he suspected, make them valuable allies to his own people when the time came. Would he live to see that time, he wondered? Emotional as it undoubtedly was, Sevek found that he very much hoped so.

It was almost 16:30 as Enterprise kept time, significantly later than they had estimated having results, when the Terran ship hailed them. Kirk had kept them informed of their progress and Sevek was aware while the delay was inconvenient, it was also unavoidable. The Klingon security forces had changed their search patterns several times, forcing Enterprise to do likewise if they were to remain unnoticed.

As before, the call was audio only and much as he would have liked a good look at their bridge and their technology, or for that matter, any of their ship other than the corridors and the observation lounge, Sevek understood the need for secrecy.

"Greetings, Captain." The voice was that of Enterprise's Vulcan officer.

"Commander Spock." Sevek wasted no time in asking for the required information. "Have you found our missing survey team?"

"Affirmative, Captain," Spock responded. "We have located four Vulcan life-signs in the area of North America."

"Four?" Sevek frowned slightly. That did not make sense. "There were only three missing team members. Are you sure that the results are accurate?"

"I am certain," Enterprise's first officer said calmly. "I have double checked the data and can confirm that there are four Vulcan life-signs."

Sevek carefully considered the information. There were several reasons he could think of that would allow for the anomalous life-sign. Pon Farr could have resulted in one of the missing females bearing a child. The technology blocking their bio-signals could be causing an anomalous reading. Or… there could be a fourth, unauthorised Vulcan living on Earth. That was of concern and Sevek needed to know more. "What are their locations?"

"The first three are all located within the city of Boston, Massachusetts."

Since they were clustered together, it was logical to assume that those three were the missing team. "And the other one?" Sevek asked tensely. "Where is that?"

"The fourth life-sign is located four hundred miles south west of Boston, in Pennsylvania. A small town named Carbon Creek."

Again, a big thank you to JDC0 and RobertScottBruce for your continued support and reviews.