Bright and early was no exaggeration. My father and I went to San Francisco bright and early every day for nearly four months running simulations and perfecting specs.
During that time I did very little besides my work and spending time with Chakotay. My dad ended up postponing his alone time with Mother.
But after four months, the time has finally arrived for me to present the findings in front of the council of the Admiralty. If they feel it is warranted, I will accompany the head of the fleet and go before the Federation Council.
"Admiral. Lieutenant. Follow me." As the unknown security lieutenant leads us to council chambers, I can't help but think of the possible outcomes and whether or not they will believe me.
We silently enter the door and stand before the Admirals. My dad, as superior will be addressed until such a time as he makes it known that I will be speaking.
"Greetings Admirals. I thank you all for taking time out of your busy day to listen to what we have to say."
"Admiral Janeway, you were vague in your reasoning. Why exactly have we all given that time you are thanking us for?"
"For that, I'd like to turn things over to my daughter." With a resounding nod, I step forward.
"Nearly six months ago, as you all know, the Terra Nova crashed on Tau Ceti Prime. My father and I were fortunate enough to survive."
The Admirals peered down at me. They all understand the price of Starfleet and know what I have paid.
"When I awoke to find myself on that barren ice land I was shocked for a moment. In my mind, I was 15 years in the past."
"Excuse me." I could see that every Admiral had been thinking what Fleet Admiral Thomas verbalized.
"I can only describe it as a feeling where your life flashes before your eyes. Only this was my future."
"Hysteria?"
"My parents tried to downplay it as well, Admiral. And if all I had was what amounted to a deranged vision, I wouldn't have wasted your time. For the last four months, my father and I have been trying to compile evidence proving that what I viewed was at least a possible future."
"Did you find anything?"
"Quite a lot, sir. I checked the backgrounds of personnel who were serving on my ship. The bits that my future self was told, and every single instance has checked out."
"Every single instance."
"Every single one. Almost 150 personnel. But that's not all."
"That is enough to at least raise flags, but what else do you have?"
"Specs."
"Specs? What specs?"
"Specs for bioneural circuitry, alien technology my future self came across, and as I told my father when I explained it to him, the most important spec of all is Voyager herself."
"Voyager."
"An Intrepid class Starship. Maximum cruising velocity of 9.75. Runs on bioneural gel packs. She was under my command – or will be."
"And you have her specs?"
"For the last four months, my father and I have run countless scenarios on all of the specs I have. They check out. Voyager could fly today if she was built. The alien technology could be incorporated into every Starship in the fleet."
"Based on the evidence given today, I will agree that you most likely encountered some sort of temporal incursion. Do you have any clue what happened to send you back?"
"Precisely what happened. Or as precise as one can be when dealing with temporal mechanics. After a year of attacks by a Krenim vessel, I set a collision course and rammed Voyager into the heart of the vessel. The vessel was equipped with a technology that caused it to be out of temporal sync. It had weapons that could alter history. My deduction is that when I collided with the vessel, it reset history much farther than the one year I had anticipated. I also believe because I was so close to the temporal core I kept my memory of the intermittent time."
"Fifteen years of intermittent time." One of the lesser Admirals muttered.
"The Temporal Prime directive stands. With your father in his position, you could've just had him use your specs to build Starships. There must be something else. Why have you informed us exactly?"
"Because I know of major atrocities that allow me to bypass the Temporal Prime Directive."
The Admirals paled. They had been expecting it. Every Star Fleet officer understands the importance of the Temporal Prime Directive. To usurp it, means unmatched catastrophe.
"Tell us then. But I must warn you that if we find that the reasoning is not sound, you will be charged with breaking the Temporal Prime Directive. Is that understood, Lieutenant?"
Out of the corner of my eye, I see my father give a slight nod for me to continue.
"There are three foes that I need to address. One we know of. Two are currently either completely unknown or whispers that go unheeded. The known entity I need to bring up is the Cardassians."
The looks on the faces around the room show no surprise. Every deal made with the Cardassians is a deal with the devil.
"In 2370, the Federation will sign a treaty with the Cardassians. The treaty creates new border lines. Our concession is the Dorvan system. Without Federation protection, the Cardassians will annihilate the system. They will incinerate almost 100,000 people."
The disgusted looks of the Admirals, I know, will only get worse as I continue.
"Every citizen of that system who wasn't planet side at the time, as well as those who simply support the border colonies, will create a resistance movement called the Maquis. They will fight the Cardassians as well as any Starfleet vessel that tries to stop them. I left before war occurred, but the fighting was an almost certain prelude."
"What do you mean you left?"
I look slightly askance at the question. I completely forgot to tell them. "Voyager was pulled into the Delta Quadrant – 75,000 lightyears away. I was there for over three years when I encountered the Krenim."
"I'm assuming this is where the specs for the alien technology came from?"
"That as well as the other two foes. As deceitful and immoral as they are, the Cardassians have nothing on Species 8472 and the Borg."
"Borg."
"Yes, Admiral Thomas. I understand you are aware of a Temporal Incursion that involves the Borg and 21st century Earth. I also know that very little is known about it seeing as most of the information has technically not been logged yet. They are relatively unknown, correct?"
"Just that they are powerful and brutal."
"The Borg are a collection of drones. I won't dare call them a species. No, they are not that at all. Borg drones will stick tubules in your neck and assimilate you. All in the search for perfection. They have no problem with killing billions of people. A member of my Voyager crew was a rehabilitated drone. They assimilated her when she was six years old. She knew nothing but the hive mind. They work like bees, you see. Each drone follows the orders of the queen. They have transwarp capabilities. They are highly adaptable. One shot from a phaser, and that phaser will no longer affect any other Borg drones."
"How long do we have before they become a problem?"
"In my future, they attack Wolf 359 in 2367. We lose 37 ships and 11,000 people."
"Oh my God."
"After we encountered them, my senior staff started working on a way to combat the Borg. It won't be quick, but I feel like we will be relatively prepared if a team is assigned to work proactively."
"What did you come up with?"
"There were a few ideas tossed around. Two that I believe will have the greatest likelihood of success are transphasic torpedoes and a neurolytic pathogen. The first would be able to affectively be used more than once by continuously changing frequencies. The second would disrupt their hive mentality and disable the drones."
"The third, and potentially most brutal, enemy is a species designated by the Borg as Species 8472. When Voyager rescued our drone crewman, the Borg was at war with Species 8472. They belong to fluidic space. I believe if we thwart the Borg, they will not disturb Species 8472. Thus they will not come out of fluidic space. Failing that however, I must warn you. They have the ability to appear as human as you or I. They are literally one with their vessels. Because of this, they are almost impossible to destroy. In the war against the Borg, they were winning. With the help of the Borg, I do have the specs on a weapon that will destroy Species 8472, but I hope we never have cause to use it."
"I believe I speak on behalf of this council when I say that I highly doubt you will be brought up on charges. We will spend the next week in the holodeck looking over your simulations. I believe it is most likely that you will hear from me within the month about appearing before the Federation council."
"Good work, Lieutenant. Admiral. You are both dismissed."
