9: STEALING TIME

It was a quiet night in the Edison. I was alone in my mana-less universe, heading core wards. It's amazing how quickly the world can go from bad to total shit storm, I thought, quoting from Zombieland. And I didn't even do it! I was set up! I really was!

Unfortunately I couldn't prove it at the time, but I think I have all the events sorted out. It was that Golgari bastard Endara. It all started out three weeks ago, when that Lyran cruiser came to Ravnica, carrying, of all things, a Kzinti ambassador! Although both feline species, and related to Caitians, they were mutual enemies in my time. During the First General War, the Kzin sided with the Federation and her allies, the Gorn, Hydrans, and the reluctant Tholians. The Lyrans then immediately sided with the Klingons and Romulans. They apparently have been antagonistic to each other ever since. That meant only one thing: The ship was from the WYN star cluster. That little cluster known to humans as the star cluster Stock-2, housed refugees from the Klingon, Lyran and Kzin worlds as well as others. Protected from the outside by a radiation field from a recent supernova (in the 27th century) it was now an open little amalgamation of worlds. Apparently they were in trouble, but through the subspace 'net came a story of a hero…

That would be me. There was a knock at the doors of Sunhome, and a request. Razia denied the request, as she perceived it as not legitimate. Case closed or so I thought. It was a week later when the incident happened. Apparently I entered Sunhome and placed a horned halo on an angel! Like that would ever happen. The angel was Reia, so I could understand the misunderstanding, but at least Razia wasn't affected. But for my sake that wasn't enough. Razia tried to read my thoughts to confirm events but couldn't. So she did what she had to do, however regrettable it was. The last thing before being kicked out of the Legion was the admonishment, "I can sense your new black aura! Go! And enjoy the final gift from us. A long life! May it be the punishment you deserve!" Apparently Endara has a new version of his weapon!

Apparently the life-links can't be broken, so I now faced 5 millennia of loneliness. Punishment indeed! But what to do but carry on? I decided to visit a world I hadn't seen in a couple of millennia, Earth. I some sense I was going home. But I didn't know what awaited me there. The biggest disappointment (as far as I was concerned) was the fact that Sara abandoned me as well! Sara had been with me for 15 years, and the Ravnicans for almost 10. But what was a decade or two to an ageless angel? Sara was almost three millennia old, while Razia was over twelve. Since most of my other companions were bonded to their angels, I was truly alone for the first time in two decades.

And it sucked! It's only been 10 days since I was cast out, and even at warp 12 this trip will take over three more weeks to get to Earth. This runabout seemed emptier than the 7th Sister, after Razia left the first time. It was smaller than the 'Sister, but had the same shielding, speed and firepower. I had come full circle. I was back to the condition that I started this journey. I did vow to return to Ravnica, to prove it wasn't my fault. Buy how to do that? Fly through the rift, collect mana crystals, and jump to Alara! Perhaps I can enlist Candela's help? But there are Battlegrace angels on Ravnica, so she probably wouldn't give me the time of day. It still might be worth a shot.


I was slowly entering the solar system. It was all quiet on the subspace bands – too quiet! It felt like Antares all over again. So I was inbound really quietly, as in doggo with only passive scanners. As I slid by Jupiter there was no sign of Jupiter station. A little maneuvering in the asteroid belt and I slid past Mars un-noticed. But then again there was nobody to notice, anyway. The Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards were simply missing. Damn! This was the Federation's third largest shipyards…

Mars itself was barren. The planet was bombed into uninhabitability during the Second General War. What if Earth suffered the same fate?

I found out 6 hours later. Dodging some of the debris still in Earth orbit, I found no signs of human life. All of the cities were ruins, and the 4th and 5th largest shipyards were dust as well. In fact there were few surviving animal species, and most of them were in the oceans. At least the cetatians made it. Apparently the meek shall inherit the Earth…


I awoke aboard the Edison, in orbit around a dead world. I was truly homeless for the first time in my existence. I decided to have coffee and bagels for breakfast, even if both were synthetic. This meal was symbolic. I had no past, and no future. My home world no longer existed; my current family had abandoned me, so the doomsday breakfast was fitting. The big question was … what do I do now?

I decided to land on Earth. The place I chose was a small town in Southwestern Ontario. It was Exeter, the town that I called my home before I died the first time. I landed where the town hall used to be. There was nothing here but the regrowth of meadows, and the deciduous forest the used to be here before humans started farming the region. Nature had reclaimed the town of my first life, just as it had to my second on New Psychonia. Earth was dead. Not as dead as the war-world in the Orion sector, but for me it might s well be. Humanity lived on, but not here. It has abandoned its home, and lives among the stars. Perhaps that is what my fate is as well.


It was another day aboard the Edison. The question is what to do? Then it hit me … the archives. There was Memory Alpha, the main repository of all the Federation's knowledge, but what of Earth's? The repository that I remembered from my section 31 training was that an old cold war command center, in Cheyenne Mountain, had been converted into a data repository. Could it still be there? Only one way to find out…

I landed the Edison outside one of the tunnel entrances to that facility. It was a long walk in. Eventually I found the "main doors" which were naturally, sealed. But that's what a phaser rifle was for. The doors were still the plain steel doors, slowly rusting in the tunnel. It didn't take long to blast my way inside. Now the big question … what to look for. But what was I really looking for? A new quest…

It was serendipity. I came across the "dimensional traveler's files", and actually found myself. I was listed as 12th of about 247 groups that traveled through an inter-dimensional rift. Apparently I was not the only rift runner! So I had a few days of reading ahead of me. I was in search of a home, or at least a mission. Something I could do, if not just to take my mind off of current affairs. My current mission was to sift through the data.


Then it happened. The 173rd rift runner had found something. That artifact contained, as part of it, a statue of a 4-winged angel! That got my undivided attention. I had to backtrack the data to make sure! But sure enough, there was an artifact that had distinct Boros characteristics. But the data was puzzling. According to the database, this object was located in my mana-less universe. Of the videography of it, the inscriptions were in old Ravi, a dead language. But that was all the information that this archive held. I needed an up to date information list!

That meant a trip to one of the centers of civilization left in the galaxy. I chose Ferasa, the home world of the Caitians. Another month at warp 12 to get there. It was an eye opener! I was sure that Memory Alpha and Beta were destroyed by now (or the Federation would have rebuilt) so that left the few bastions of civilization to go to. I landed the Edison on the planet and headed to the university in the capitol. This was one of the major repositories of knowledge from the Federation. Most of the important species' home worlds had a database almost as good as Memory Alpha…


Five days of research later (and I was spending 14 hour days here to keep my mind off of things) I found an entry on the artifact. It was simply called "the Unknown Energy Producing Artifact". Nobody knew what it did, or where it was, just that it existed. It was an enigma wrapped in a scavenger hunt. All I knew as the fact that I needed to find it.


A disruptor bolt lashed out as I was returning to my ship. That was rather stupid, I thought. But then again how many people here knew Phaser Kata? It was all over in a few seconds. Then I had a prisoner to deal with.

When she came to, she found herself in my airlock. After the initial panic settled down, it was time to ask questions.

"Who are you?" was the first question.

"Jennifer! Please don't kill me, I was only following orders!" She answered.

"So why take a shot at me?"

"You were researching Ben's artifact, and he sent me to stop you!" She exclaimed.

"What Artifact?" I demanded.

"The energy producing one! Ben has been looking for it for over thirty years!"

"OK. Who is this Ben character? I asked.

"My captain! His family has been looking for this artifact for generations! But there are another eight families also looking. We thought you were from one of those other families!" Jennifer claimed.

"So how do I get a hold of your captain?" I finally asked


I called up a ship. "I need to speak to Ben Hammerfield." I stated.

"Who is calling?" The communication officer asked.

"The person holding your helmsman", I replied.

There was a pregnant pause then this guy's face appeared on the screen. "Who are you and what do you want?" He asked.

"Possibly the same thing as you," I replied. "I have your helmsman here and I know what you are after. Do you know what it is? " I asked.

"Perhaps this open channel isn't the venue to discuss this. Can we meet?"

"The Crazy Cat Lounge in one hour," I stated.

"See you there." Ben signed off with.


I was in the Crazy Cat Lounge, the favorite stopover for non-Caitians in the major spaceport. A Caitian family ran it, and you could tell that they had a sense of humor. Ben and one of his officers entered the lounge. They came over to our booth. I planted my tricorder on the able and activated one of its features.

"What's that going to do?" Ben asked.

"It blocks all eavesdropping attempts." I replied

"Now way!" Ben exclaimed.

"It's a Section 31 tricorder. It has a few optional extras," I explained.

"You're Section 31? I thought that died with the Federation!"

"It might have, but I'm older than I look," I stated.

"OK, I'll bite. How old are you?" He asked.

"Just over 2000 years." I stated as matter of fact-ly.

"But…"

"Let's just say that it's a long story and leave it at that. It seems that we both are looking for the same artifact, even if it is for different reasons." I explained.

"What do you mean, different reasons? What are you looking for?" He asked

"Redemption. Another long story. Let's just say I want all the information contained in that artifact."

"But nobody can decipher the language of the scripts! It doesn't conform to any other script found so far…"

"I can decode it." I stated.

"HOW?"

"The language is Old Ravi. I can at least translate it, given time…"

"You know this language?" Ben sounded incredulous.

"In part. It comes from another universe, Ravnica. Lets just say that I spent some time there." I concluded.

"So you don't actually need the artifact itself…"

"Nope. Just the information it contains. If we work together, you can have the artifact as long as I get the translations of the script's it contains. You never know, I might be able to give you a user's manual for it…"

"Then welcome aboard the Narcissus. Shall we join forces and finally hunt down this artifact?"

"Works for me," I finally concluded.


The Narcissus was a gen-4 privateer, built by the Orion Syndicate. I became its navigator. The crew was family based. It looked like there were less than a dozen families after this artifact. But it was an important artifact to the families that were looking for it; one they were willing to kill for. His grateful helmsman returned to her station. But I had absolutely no knowledge of where the artifact was. I said as much to Ben.

"From our research here, we need to head core-ward. Apparently there is a Vulcan outpost, which might have that data… " Ben trailed off

"You're not talking about P'Jem, are you?" I had to ask.

"The one and only," Ben replied

"Course laid in," this was an easy one.

"Jennifer, hit it," Ben commanded.

Jennifer touched the controls and the Narcissus leapt to warp.


Another couple of lonely months passed by on the trip to P'Jem, at the stately pace of warp 6. When we got there we were in for a surprise. In the form of a pair of disruptor bolts that slammed into the Narcissus. A K'Tinga class cruiser was in orbit, and opened fire on the Narcissus.

"I think we're outgunned," Ben stated.

"Let me fix that," I replied before pressing a button on my wrist computer. I then disappeared in a transporter field. Shortly after, there was a runabout planting a pair of torpedoes into the Klingon warship. It wasn't expecting an attack from two sides and quickly left the system. I returned the Edison to the Narcissus shuttle bay, and returned to the bridge.

"Remind me not to piss you off," Ben stated.

"I get that a lot…"

"No surprise there…" Ben trailed off. We beamed down to the planet. The monastery was still intact, but they didn't want to let us in. A couple of stunned Vulcans later and we were granted access. I wasn't joking around and was willing to hose out the phaser blasts when necessary. According to the records here the artifact wasn't in the mana-less universe, but it was in a pocket universe containing mana. That made me the instant expert in mana-verses. "You know where we are going?"

"Actually, no. But I do know how to get there…" I trailed off. That universe had cropped up during our check on Ravnica. It meant a trip to the rim.


it was another long and lonely trip back to the Iconian world. I did not look forward to returning there this time. Too many memories. When we arrived I told Ben about the building and how to get in. Ben, Jennifer, and myself were headed down to the planet.

"How precise does your landing have to be?" Jennifer asked.

"Very. We need to hit a cone about 4 degrees wide. Therefore we have to land in the exact spot."

"And that is?" Ben interjected.

"That is right where … that other runabout is sitting …" I trailed off. I landed besides the other runabout. I could read its name through the cockpit window. It was the Newton. "Oh, that's not good," I muttered.

"You know who owns that ship?" Ben asked.

"Yeah. I do. It's my other runabout." I walked over to a weapons locker and got out a phaser rifle with grenade launcher. "The question is who is onboard?" I started loading grenades into the launcher. "Lets just say that the angels with phaser kata would toast us all, if they decide to," I finished.

"Did you just say 'angels'?" Jennifer was amazed as I handed her the phaser rifle and got another one out.

"Yes, angels. Winged humanoids that are much faster, stronger and tougher than us humans," I answered.

"And why would they be hostile to us if they are flying in your ship?"

"That's that long story with the 'Redemption' bit in it," I concluded.

I cracked the airlock. My tricorder said that there was no one in the vicinity. The Newton's airlock was closed. I opened it, and much to my relief was empty. Cycle the airlock; shove the tricorder into the corridor … and nobody's home.

"That doesn't leave many other places to be," I muttered as we headed to the transporter. "That's odd, no return trip is programmed in …"

I fired up the scanner and took a look inside the building. It held no occupants. Now I was puzzled. "OK, I'll bite. Where's the pilot?"

"Maybe left the ship and is outside somewhere," Jennifer mentioned. "And will be returning soon."

"Not good. I can program a two-way trip but I would prefer someone to be here just in case."

"I'll stay. Both you and Jenny need to be in there. I don't," Ben stated.

"If that airlock opens you yank us back!"

We beamed over to the structure and I did a map reset. And we did our usual two-hour wait.

"There it is!" It wasn't Ravnica, Lorwyn or Alara. Not quite sure where it goes but here are the rift coordinates. We beamed back to the Newton, and conspicuously absent was Ben. I unlimbered my phaser rifle.

"Quit being so paranoid. He probably went to the lounge to grab a snack. I'll go get him. Jennifer walked to the back of the ship. Minutes passed by…

Great. Something's happened, and it's not good. I checked my grenade launcher and headed down the corridor to the back of the ship. Runabouts aren't that big. I noticed the airlock door was open. I had made sure to close it earlier. A quick glance in … and there were two phaser rifles stacked neatly against the wall. My tricorder still says nobody's home. A quick check of the lounge … empty. Back in the airlock I slung my rifle and checked out the other two. Both fully charged, not fired. Cycle the airlock doors … and find myself on the ground looking up into Sara's face. She gave me a smooch. "Paranoid fool, what were you expecting?"

"Considering recent events frankly I didn't know who or what to expect," I answered. "What are you doing here?"

"Waiting for you. I knew you would head here sooner or later. If it was going to be later, I planned on firing up the building until you eventually noticed. You can be thick-headed at times."

"I don't understand …"

SMOOCH. "Then don't! Just accept it that I will always be at your side."

"Then do you mind letting me up?"

"Right. Not in front of the kids huh." Sara nodded at Ben and Jennifer, both bound to the Edison's airlock stairs.

Sara helped me up and then untied Ben and Jennifer.

"When you said angel we actually didn't think you really meant ANGEL!" Ben exclaimed. He was still staring at Sara. Then he regained his composure. "The shuttle bay won't hold both runabouts."

"That's OK. We'll leave the Newton here and come back for it later."

I returned the Edison to the Narcissus shuttle bay, and watched her crew's reaction to our new arrival. Sara's introduction was always entertaining


For the first time in a long time I awoke in Sara's arms. It seems she missed me as much as I did her. "But what about Razia? She still loves you, you know. I think you should return. I don't detect this black aura, so something was amiss."

"I'm wiling to bet Endara has a new toy. Besides I don't plan on returning to Ravnica empty handed. That's why I am here. Check this out." I played back the recording of the artifact.

"Definitely a Boros angel…"

Both Sara and I entered the bridge, holding hands. "Noooo. You two aren't … so that's why you didn't need other quarters," Ben quipped. "So what was that about yesterday?"

"You've never had a lovers quarrel with someone who can swat you flat in a couple of seconds," I answered.

"True. You don't do anything in small measures, do you?" Jennifer asked.

"Nope. Remember how fast I took you out? She can do that to me!"

"How about you two continue to get reacquainted. I assume Sara can pilot a starship? See you tomorrow."

We headed back to 'my' quarters


We crossed through the rift. Within a minute Sara spoke up, "there's no mana here."

"You sure?"

"Absolutely," Sara answered. "This dimension has all the other characteristics of a mana-verse, but there's no mana here!"

"Then finding this artifact should be simple. Sara should be able to pick it up easily," Ben knew quite a bit about Sara by now.

We headed to the nearest system. Shortly we were in orbit around an H-class planet. The planet appears to be uninhabited, but there are structures on the surface.


What was once a city was now returning to the desert. Half buried buildings that may have one artifact…

"If it's here I'm not detecting it. This place is as mana-less as your universe," Sara stated.

Time to check out the buildings. A few hours later we had reached some sort of archive … and somebody has beaten us to it. Much of the records were burned and much was simply ash. The scorch marks of energy weapons marked he walls…

"What if they didn't notice the writing on the wall?" I asked.

"Well they sifted through a lot of data before destroying it."

"No, I mean literally. The writing on the wall," I restated.

Ben turned around to find me shining my light on the wall. What appeared to be a map was etched into the wall. "So how do we find out where that map leads to?"

"I know exactly where it leads to. Don't you recognize it?" I asked.

"Well, it looked kind of familiar…"

"I've seen that before. Somewhere," Jennifer trailed off.

"Of course you have, the Orion Syndicate. This leads to Rigel VII," I answered.

"Of course! That's why it's so familiar," Jennifer exclaimed.

"So, it's not here," Ben, concluded.

"Probably never was …"

We returned to the Narcissus. Now there was a race to Rigel, if the other ship saw the writing on the wall, literally.


We entered the Rigel system after crossing back to my own universe. Another month gone by, and it appeared that no other families had found their way here. But that didn't preclude the fact that someone had been here and left for parts unknown. But this was THE pirate planet. If any nefarious beings were hanging out this is where they would be.

We sent down a shuttle, as nondescript and as anonymous as it could be. No point in attracting attention to ourselves. The data collection went without a hitch, but the information was a problem. It was simply a string of letters in Hindu Arabic. MCMLXVIICCLVIIICLIV. That was it. What that meant was anybody's guess, then it hit me; roman numerals. The coordinates were right there in front of us. I had to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Ben had to ask.

"It's coordinates in roman numerals. 1967-258-154," I replied.

'You sure?" Ben was incredulous.

"As far as I can tell."

"Lay in a course," Ben ordered Jennifer.

"But that would put it out in ISC territory…" I commented.

"Well … nobody's heard from them since the Second General War. I don't think they are around anymore," Ben said.


This was going to be a long trip at warp 6. Three years about. Just getting there could be an adventure in itself.