Chapter 49


The Planet Glanau 2366

Wesley Crusher lay flat on his belly behind a small sand dune. His elbow had been bent holding his small phaser at the ready for hours now, and consequently his hand and entire forearm were asleep. From this vantage point he had used his tricorder to map out all six temporal points that Mayer had previously used to travel through; and from here all were within phaser range. Now all he had to do was stay awake and aim correctly once Mayer arrived.

Wesley was exhausted and if he hadn't been so on edge and freezing cold he would have fallen asleep. But it was the pressure of having the entire outcome riding on his shoulders that kept him awake. It was nearly dawn which meant the black night was turning dark blue on the horizon, and soon he would actually be able to see something.

He had dozed off, waking to a popping sound. One he had heard before. Mayer was back, and was in front of him before he could say a word. Mayer picked Wesley up by his collar and shook him. "You want to know why I keep coming back here, don't you, boy?" His eyes narrowed as he tightened his grip on Wesley's coat. "Picard killed me once, and disrupted my Singularity Net in the process. My only consolation is that he is now dead and unlike me, won't be coming back."

He threw Wesley to the ground violently and took a step to the side. "It took me some time, young man, but as you can see I have my strength back. And Picard is still dead!" He kicked Wesley in the side with the toe of his boot, but the teenager was able to roll away, avoiding the full impact of the blow. Clutching his broken wrist underneath him, Wesley crawled further away to gain some distance.

Mayer pursued him, still gloating. He pulled a long knife from under his coat, waving it at Wesley. "I have seen our future Wesley, and it doesn't turn out well for me young man. Do you really think I would let you live now, so that you can do away with me in the future?"

"I think you're going to regret coming back here," Wesley said lifting himself up to fire the phaser at Mayer, hitting him in the knee just inches above the neutralizer he wore around his ankle. Mayer fell to the ground, and Wesley grabbed for the neutralizer with his bad arm, wrapping his fingers around the device tightly. The force of Mayer's backwards momentum caused the bracelet to rip free into Wesley's palm. Rolling away quickly, he got to his feet, with the phaser still trained on his enemy.

Still on the ground, Mayer began to laugh. "After Picard killed us both in 2355, I fashioned a new and improved neutralizer, so that I can now wield my singularity technology even more powerfully. And this version should prove a bit harder to steal from me," he said pulling his coat away to reveal a glowing blue and metallic circle implanted in his pale chest.

"It doesn't matter," Wesley said, still determined yet horrified at the mutilating lengths Mayer was willing to go to retain his grip on the future...and the past. "Because if I'm right, I only need one of these." Wesley held up the neutralizer. "And you're not going anywhere."


The Bridge

Riker sat back in his command chair but he was anything but relaxed. Now the only organic life form left on the bridge of the Aldrin, he kept his eyes alternatively on the view screen and the console on the arm of the chair. A diagram of the Aldrin on his personal console indicated that most decks had now been completely evacuated with emergency craft already safely departed the failing ship. The forward view screen showed a flotilla of small craft spreading out in front of the dying ship.

They would rendezvous with the Enterprise Stardrive and the other remaining ships which, at the time of the Aldrin's collision with the Malkatan ship, had been well outside of transporter range. Now while the remaining ships in the fleet were certainly within just seconds of warping back to assist the Aldrin, the former battle zone was still a disaster area with Malkatan vessels careening into one another and generally spinning wildly in every direction. There was no point in bringing what was left of the fleet back here just to have the same thing happen to ships that were already wounded.

Riker turned his attention back to the ship diagram. All of the decks below deck 20 were glowing red on the screen, having been completely overcome by fire. And still the plasma fire continued to spread upward eating away the hull.

Commander Obi's disembodied voice kept him updated from deck 10, where he continued to coordinate the evacuation with Lieutenant Commander Data. Riker anxiously tapped his fingertips on the armrest in between reports. "Captain, all three shuttle bays are now clear, and we've evacuated all decks below Deck 20."

"And decks 19 and up?"

"The fire is spreading quickly throughout the secondary hull. The ship is a total loss, Captain."

"How many dead?" Riker asked.

"Fifteen reported deaths, Captain," Obi reported. "I'm sorry sir."

"Understood," Riker acknowledged heavily. "Continue with the evacuation procedures and inform me when the last life pods are away."

"Yes sir...is the Captain's Boat functional, sir?"

Riker glanced over at an auxiliary doorway, on the other side of which lay an emergency life pod. He got up and walked over quickly, inputting a code which opened the inner door. Immediately facing him was the outer hatch of a small life pod, big enough for several people, but commonly known in Starfleet circles as the "Captain's Boat" because it was the Captain who would be the last to leave the ship and usually escaped from the bridge-if the captain escaped at all. "The life boat appears to be working," Will confirmed with Obi, noting the green blinking light on the hatch door. "Just like from days of old," he murmured.

"Good thing, sir. I anticipate the remaining pods will be away within the next few minutes."

"Keep me informed, Commander...and be careful."

"Yes sir. You too"

Riker paced back to the center of the bridge and stood there. His stomach was in knots, and it was nearly impossible for him to see beyond the next few minutes. Until the crew was safely away he would be unable to think of anything else.

"Worf to Captain Riker."

"Riker here." His heart leaped a little bit, hoping he would hear good news about Deanna, Beverly and Captain Picard.

"Captain we are now receiving the second wave of occupants from the shuttles and escape pods," said Worf.

Riker took a deep breath. "Good. Is Deanna aboard then?"

"Sir?"

His heart, once leaping with hope, now dropped into the pit of his stomach. "What about Beverly?" he said dully.

"I am sorry, sir. No, they are not here. Perhaps they are on their way."

Something wasn't right and Riker could feel it. He slapped at his communicator. "Riker to Troi! Deanna...come in Troi." He stalked around the bridge, looking for something to throw. He hit his communicator again. Deanna and Beverly were on one of the upper decks in a holodeck when all of this fell apart. It should have been fairly easy for them to reach the life pods. "Obi, I thought the majority of the pods were away?"

"Yes sir, but not all...we may have a situation. Hold on sir," he said and Riker thought he heard Data speaking calmly but insistently in the background. When Obi came back on his tone was entirely different. "Captain, some of the pods are still on board. Oh no...they're full of passengers but haven't been able to jettison away!"

"What? Goddamn it, why haven't they deployed yet?"

"Data here, Captain. The inner docking latches in levels 19 through 14 have for lack of a better word, been fused shut by the high temperature of the plasma fires spread in through the hull. The pods cannot be deployed until the latches are freed and the overheated system has cooled down."

"Either get those people out of the pods and back onto the ship or find a way to jettison the pods before everyone in there is incinerated,"Riker shouted.

Warning. Primary and secondary hull failure is imminent. Immediate evacuation is required. Decks thirty-six through thirteen will decompress in five minutes. Warning.

"Deanna, where are you?"


Deck Sixteen

After the computer announced the five minute countdown, Picard carefully took the baby from Beverly, who looked as exhausted as he had ever seen her. He could also see for the first time that she appeared confused and unsure of her surroundings. He had never held a baby before now, because he had always had an excuse not to; and because he was afraid. But now he wanted nothing more than to feel his daughter next to him and the only thing he was truly afraid of was leaving her now that they had met.

"Is there another way off of the base?" She asked Jean-Luc.

Troi looked back at Picard worriedly. "We're still on the Aldrin, Beverly," she said.

"I know," said Beverly looking a bit clearer suddenly. They moved out of the way as a flood of people rushed by them and crammed into one of the last available pods. Frenzied hands reached out to pull the pod hatch shut with a clang. Soon that pod and the ten others on level sixteen would disembark the Aldrin for safety. Meanwhile Deanna, Beverly, Jean-Luc and the baby were left in the corridor on deck 16, quickly trying to assess their options.

"That's the only one pod left," Deanna yelled pointing down the corridor. "Let's go."

She rushed to the outer hatch and tried to activate the latch through the computer system. Picard put his arm around Beverly's shoulders and she leaned against him tiredly. She seemed thinner and yet her presence and that of the baby reminded him that he was alive. "We're going to get out of here," he said hugging Beverly around her shoulders.

She rested her head on his shoulder. Tears suddenly filled her eyes. "Where is Wesley?" she whispered. "I don't even know if my son is alive anymore, Jean-Luc."

He turned his head sharply to look at her. She seemed disoriented and unfortunately he knew why. She had traveled into the past to save a past version of himself and she now paid the price for it. And now, for the first time in just the last few minutes since reuniting with him, she was mentioning her son. He felt extreme guilt at not having asked before-but there had been so little time.

"He wasn't on board with you?" he questioned.

Her lips trembled, and she encircled her arm around his waist. "No. He left...he went into the past to try and fix this...all of this, when I was in surgery having the baby. I couldn't protect him."

Picard tightened his arm around her shoulders, not knowing what to say. He hadn't been there for young Wesley or Beverly and now it was too late. He had no idea where Wesley had gone or for that matter where the boy had been all this time. He had been so isolated from all of the people he cared about for so long that he almost could not remember another life-or rather he remembered too many other lives and not one seemed to belong to him anymore.

Troi left Jean-Luc and Beverly and attempted to open the door to the remaining empty escape pod, using the wall touch pad, but it just buzzed at her. She tried again with no better luck. "It's not working," she said in frustration.

"Try the command code 'E Pod 1'," Picard called to her. She did as he instructed but the door would not budge.

"There has to be a manual override," he said, coughing through the smoke.

"Got it." Deanna had found a red switch and yanked it down before grabbing the handle to the hatch and pulling to the side with all of her might. The hatch hardly moved. She glanced behind her at Picard who was now handing the baby back to Beverly. He jogged over to her side and they both pulled at the hatch, moving the outer door by little more than an inch.

"The handle's too warm," the captain said to Deanna with alarm. "It shouldn't be this warm," he repeated.

"We're not getting into that pod in less than three minutes," Beverly warned them. "You heard the computer, we're running out of time! There has to be another way." Having noticed that Deanna's communicator badge had popped off of her uniform at some point during all of the commotion, Beverly knelt down and picked it up with her free hand.

Picard grunted and shifted his feet on the deck, gaining leverage to push with all of his weight on the door. Suddenly he felt a wave shift through his body and he wondered for a moment if he had left his feet.

Beverly watched in horror as Jean-Luc disappeared from view momentarily. She ran to him and put her palm out just as he reappeared in place. "What's happening to you?"

"It doesn't matter, we have to get out of here," he said reinforcing his efforts against the door. The baby had begun to cry and he struggled to maintain any semblance of calm in the face of impossible odds.

Deanna suddenly dropped to the deck on her knees. "Those poor people are trapped!"

That was when they heard the screams.

"Those people...they're trapped in the life pods, they haven't deployed," Beverly confirmed pointing down the corridor. She moved to help, but didn't want to get too close while trying to shield the baby. They could hear fists and boots slamming into the inner hatches trying to get back into the corridor. Deanna and Jean-Luc ran to provide assistance as the screams grew more desperate.