A/N: This story takes place during Discovery Season 2. It is a sequel to previous story in this series, That Night and Morning on Discovery. The origin of this story is in a series of codas in That Night and Morning on Discovery titled Spock's Escape as well as a Chapter 3 from Deleted Scenes, Codas, and Other Stuff (Brother: The Day Before.) As I continued writing, I realized it was a bigger tale than a few codas, so I've promoted it. The material from those short pieces has been enhanced. If you wish to avoid rereading, chapter 3 of this entry is the beginning of entirely new material.


Scientists, theologians, and politicians would be debating for decades the reason 'Control got Out-of-Control' (a phrase coined by the Mayan ambassador that, unfortunately, stuck.). A higher power at work? Destiny? An unsupervised Section 31, led by the obsessed and paranoid, developing increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence applications?

Or dangers inherent in time travel itself? While there were many assumptions and guesses regarding the capability and effects of time travel, few qualified as theories and none were tested via practical experimentation. Except for the Section 31 project code-named Daedalus, though now only five people remained with the clearance to view that data.

Was the timeline linear? Unalterable? Did each decision spawn a discrete set of possible timelines? Was time a loop? Multiple loops? Or a jumble of events that touched and interacted with one another?

Did a desperate mother's impulsive time jump to save her family alter Control's trajectory? Did each of that same woman's jumps through time battling Control instead increase its abilities exponentially? Did analysis of the red bursts by Section 31's threat assessment program set in motion the catastrophe? Can the effect trigger the cause?

Or is time itself sentient? Manipulating events in what appears to be coincidence? Perhaps cruel, perhaps benign, but always with an agenda of its own?

ooooo

Simultaneously, seven federation sensors spread over a vast distance came online and called home. The watch commander on duty in Starfleet Command's Operations Center compared the reports, paled, and called his commanding officer. The comms specialist who had received the reports, an agent (secret) for Section 31, called her handler.

One Hour Later

"How bad can it be?" Number One said aloud to herself as the turbolift climbed to the bridge. "They said please." Delta shift was at its midpoint when the call came for her to please come and advise. Arriving at the bridge, she put on her most stern expression as reminder high-ranking officers were not called out at 3:00am for trivial problems. Most of the junior bridge crew were huddled around the communication station, engaged in a vigorous discussion. "Report," she ordered. It was bad.

Captain Leland was conferring with Patar when an aide rushed into the Admiral's office and whispered in her ear. Patar nodded, dismissed the aide, returned her attention to Leland and ordered, "Report to Section 31 headquarters, best speed plus. You have a new mission."

ooooo

Though it seems an oxymoron, Dr. Gabrielle Burnham had learned through trial and error when you initiated a jump into the past mattered. Pick the wrong moment and the eddies of the timestream remained undisturbed altering nothing.

Her next plan was a Hail Mary, but after hundreds of attempts and failures to neutralize Control, it remained her only option. Her previous attempt – revealing the outcome of the current timeline to Spock, who as a child understood her words when his sister was in danger – held promise but those hopes faded when Spock committed himself to a mental health facility. Unsure if his illness was an unrelated happenstance or stemmed from the side effects of atemporal dysplasia which was, so far, an unsurmountable obstacle when communicating directly with anyone in the past, she decided to risk this unusual and potentially dangerous approach.

The jump had to be initiated soon and final preparations remained.

ooooo

Number One reread the message, '… Chris, drinks on you when you arrive as you lost the bet … signed WJ Abbott.' As she was reading the lieutenant with conn duty this shift continued explaining, "Sir, the message doesn't appear urgent but it's from a four-star admiral. We were unsure if it could wait until morning or should be sent to the Captain immediately. Nicola and then Mann were called but neither have checked in yet."

Nicola, the chief communications officer, and Mann, the senior operations officer, arrived in the next turbolift and exchanged sheepish looks. Enterprise was on its way home following the cease-fire with the Klingon Empire carrying a Captain and crew exasperated with being ordered to wait out the conflict outside the boundary of Federation space. The crew spent the wait mapping the rarely traveled, little know sector and fine-tuning the ship's systems. The department heads spent the wait managing the crew's morale and voicing to their superior officers strong objections regarding the illogicof keeping Enterprise out of the fight. Nicola and Mann had discussed a few theories of their own regarding the real reason Enterprise was ordered to stay away and none involved the time and distance required for warping home.

Number One threw them an 'I'll deal with you later' look as they took their posts; she won the pool betting when the two lieutenants would act on their mutual attraction. "Everyone back to your stations," Una ordered and then continued, "Full stop. Call the Captain to the bridge. Someone wake up Connelly, I want him manning the science station before the Captain arrives. Comm, setup a secure channel to Command and prepare for additional encrypted messages. Nicola, you need to review clear text emergency message protocols with your staff."

Amid the chorus of "Aye sirs," the junior comms office whispered to Nicola, "What did I miss?"

"It's a rarely used heads-up message for an emergency situation, one unexpected and developing rapidly. The message body is irrelevant; the clue is the sender, a high-ranking admiral who, though he or she doesn't exist, will have a full bio record in our databases."

ooooo

Leland accepted the universe is brutal. This supported his justification of tactics many viewed as over the line, and his assumption the unknown invariably is dangerous, riddled with perils only his organization can neutralize. Section 31 existed to defeat chaos, a mission to which he devoted his life. Yes, Section 31 was powerful, but it had to be, it wielded that power for the greater good.

Tuning out the rehash of the limited information available regarding the red bursts recorded by Federation sensors, Leland ticked through possibilities. Perhaps they were synchronization signals for a vast force preparing to invade. Super-novae weaponized. Intentional tears in the fabric of space-time. Mass extinction events speeding toward the Federation.

He tuned into the conversation once Patar began speaking, "… a task force is being assembled; Johnson ensure our assets, the Xryllian ambassador and the astrophysics dean of the Vulcan Science Academy, are assigned. Do we have any agents on Enterprise?"

"No," Johnson confirmed.

She continued, "Leland, Enterprise has been assigned to investigate. Find it, shadow it, and report everything they learn. Intervention is authorized when you deem necessary. Your history with Captain Pike will be an asset."

Leland nodded and went to ready his ship for departure. He agreed this was not a situation which should left in the hands of a man who would invariably err on the side of ideals rather than practicalities.

ooooo

Everything was ready. The jump window opened in 30 minutes. Dr. Gabrielle Burnham activated her time travel suit and readied the transmission. If she couldn't communicate directly with anyone in the past, perhaps she could plant a message in a ship's communication system with her instructions for defeating Control.

Her failed dialogue with Spock had had two objectives. First, disseminate her knowledge about Control. Second, urge Spock to brief Captain Pike, who she judged possessed the openness to listen and the clout necessary for forcing change in Section 31 and to Control.

There was about to be a solar flare near Enterprise's trajectory. It would conceal her from the ship's sensors while she transmitted her message encoded as a computer worm.

ooooo

Pike emerged from his ready room and the latest conference with Starfleet's senior admiralty. He muttered, "Damn holograms," before asking, "any change?"

"One of the phenomena may be stabilizing," Connelly answered.

Amin added, "Trying to get a navigation fix now."

Pike nodded his acknowledgement and motioned for Number One to join him at the empty engineering station. Softly he told her, "Command remains divided as to whether the bursts are malevolent or benign. Thoughts?"

"I find it premature to assign motive with so little data."

Before he could respond Amin said, "We have it sir."

"Very well. Set course, Warp 5. Head out when ready. Nicola, inform fleet operations," he ordered. Then to Una he said, "Stay here and continue coordinating the analysis. Go to Yellow Alert when we're thirty minutes from dropping out of warp." She nodded and returned to her station.

When the worm's transmission completed, the anchor pulled Dr. Burnham back to Terralysium.

Designs which delight theoretical engineers sometimes clash with the realities of solo missions in deep space where assistance or rescue can be months away or, more likely, not an option. Once on board, a ship's chief engineer often 'enhanced' the equipment and its programming. One of those enhancements, in this case automatically isolating life support systems based on specific event triggers, saved the Enterprise crew. As Dr. Burnham's message worm burrowed into the comm system's code, it hit an undetected bug in a little used subroutine of the new holographic application. The bug rewrote the invasive code rendering it more virulent and then started replicating it across all primary systems.

Red alert abruptly sounded, and shields raised automatically. Navigation went down first. Then helm, science, impulse and warp engines. Circuits overloaded all over the ship. Lights failed. Gravity generators switched to backup systems. Pike raced onto the bridge as Number One ordered a link established with command, Mercury protocol.

Damage reports flooded in. Pike held up his hand to stop the status details, "Make a list of what's still working, issue a priority one distress call and encrypt it," he ordered. Turning to Nicola he asked, "Can you route the comms channel you established to my ready room?" Nicola nodded. "Do it. Get Admiral Cornwell." As the Captain entered his ready room announcements continued, "Comms to Engineering just went down … Send a runner to get a status, send one to Medical too … Fire on deck 7, section A force fields are holding … Thrusters out, starboard side."

"This investigation is too important to leave entirely to another ship, a science ship with a battered crew and a caretaker captain," Kat Cornwell shot back as their argument continued, "if it's a military threat we need an experienced solider, if it's a first contact we need an experienced diplomat."

"But my crew," Pike began again.

"Will be in the excellent care of Commander Chin-Riley. And you know that," Cornwell finished.

Pike conceded her accurate point.

"Discovery will be in range of your distress call soon. Take command under Regulation 19, section C. The spore drive may prove an asset if this is a threat." The commination link failed just as the briefing materials for Discovery arrived.

Pike informed his first officer in private. They spent time planning emergency contingencies. Then he informed the bridge officers.

"Captain, we are receiving a message in Morse Code from the USS Discovery."

ooooo

Three Weeks Later

"Lieutenant Spock is one of the keys, perhaps the crucial key, for unraveling the mystery of these seven red bursts. I am certain of it," Leland reiterated to his commanding officer, Admiral Patar. "And if we control Spock, we control Chris Pike. He is particularly close with his young Vulcan science officer. Pull strings and have Spock transferred to a Section 31 medical facility."

"You have not carefully considered this plan and are overestimating the Captain's response. He may care for his officer, but threats are unlikely to elicit his cooperation," Patar responded. "And Sarek wields considerable influence on the Federation Council. We should not alienate him; we may need his support in the future."

"The family is not close, I doubt Sarek is aware his son is ill," Leland countered. "And he can be convinced we are Spock's best chance for successful treatment. Admiral, you ordered me to unravel the meaning of the bursts before Pike does. He has a head start and an unexpected asset in Discovery's spore drive. The timing of Spock's illness is too coincidental and undoubtedly related. Hell, Kat Cornwall said Spock was drawing these phenomena months before they appeared. If we can extract his memories …"

"Do we have an agent on Discovery?" Patar asked.

"No, Lorca may have been a son of a bitch, but he was a clever one. Our agents never lasted more than a week."

Patar steepled her fingers against her chin and considered. "Very well, proceed. Use Philippa Georgiou as a resource."

"There is one wrinkle. Pike sent a crewman from Enterprise to Starbase 5 as a caretaker for Spock. One with a direct link back to him."

"Your vagueness and misdirection are wasted on me," Patar scolded with that impassive, condescending look of hers. "You mean Pike's wife."

"Yes. She won't agree to place Spock under our care," Leland said.

"That matters little, she is a mere lieutenant, and you are a captain. Make the transfer an order, not a request," Patar replied in a dismissive tone. It came out as a sneer.

"She may be an insignificant junior officer; yet she has access to formidable resources. Through her Pike will block our plan."

"Pike is on a different ship and often out of communications range, Enterprise isn't space worthy, and its other senior officers are busy with its repairs. Those resources have dwindled," Patar said.

Leland shook his head, secretly pleased this arrogant Vulcan was wrong and he had the pleasure of correcting her. "Lieutenant Aalin Matthews Pike is the daughter of William Matthews, Esquire. The famed attorney and constitutional expert. He knows every favorable and unfavorable judge in the quadrant. And this is exactly the type of civil rights violation he crusades against. It will become his cause célèbre."

Patar looked nonplussed. "Then see to it the two problem lieutenants are separated and Mrs. Pike remains out of reach."