The Alexandria came through the anomaly back into their universe. The Thunderchild and Challenger were there waiting. Allensworth was still not pleased with his decision but he had to make it. He also wasn't pleased with Starfleet sending him on this mission. It was damn near suicide to even attempt it.

"Sir," Hoshi said. "The Thunderchild is hailing us."

"On screen."

The screen switched over to the image of Captain Stork.

"Did you finish your mission already, Captain?"

"No. We had to abort and leave four crewmembers behind."

Stork let out a sigh. "I don't know what Starfleet is thinking in this one. I thought that we were to just stay on our side and fight them when they came over not invade their territory. We have no idea what the hell to even expect over there."

"I agree, Captain. That was the original order but for some reason, Admiral McKeen thought it would be a good idea to send only one ship over there to destroy a shipyard facility." Allensworth said.

Once he finished his conversation with Captain Stork, Allensworth glanced over and saw Hoshi listening very intently to something coming from her station. She pulled out a small device and attached it to her ear. Normally, ear pieces weren't used anymore but if there was a situation where the communications officer needed to listen closely, they could use it. Usually, communications were handled either by the Ops officer or the tactical officer but ever since Hoshi joined the crew, she was given the title of Contact Specialist and the responsibilities of a communications officer due to her expertise in exo-linguistics.

"What is it, Hoshi?" Allensworth asked.

"Sir, we're intercepting a scrambled transmission from an unknown source."

"Can you unscramble it?"

"Yeah, that won't be a problem. Just give me a few moments."

Hoshi went to work at her station and just as she said, only a few moments had passed when she looked back at Captain Allensworth.

"I unscrambled it, sir, but it's in another language."

"Which language?"

"Temarian."

"Temarian? There's no Temarian worlds out in this area nor are there any ships."

"The universal translator is translating into English but I don't understand the words."

"What's it saying?"

Hoshi pressed a button and now the audio could be heard all over the bridge.

Sato and Mayweather when Archer fell. Captain Forrest and the Tholians. Defiant against Starfleet armada.

"That's all of it, sir."

"What does that mean?"

"I'm not sure, sir. I heard my name in there along with a former crewmember by the name of Travis Mayweather but he was killed in a Xindi attack."

"I'm going to assume that Archer means Jonathan Archer."

"Captain Archer was suffering from parasites and he was killed by the Borg." Hoshi said.

"What about the Defiant against a Starfleet armada?" Sparhawk asked.

"None of this makes any sense." Allensworth said. "Sato and Mayweather when Archer fell. Captain Forrest and the Tholians and Defiant against Starfleet armada."

"The Temarians talk in instances. They refer to past events as their way of communication. If you don't know Temarian history then you won't be able to understand them." Nycz said.

"If they are talking in Temarian then they'd be talking about past events." Perim said.

"But none of these events ever happened." Allensworth said.

"Unless they did in the mirror universe." Sparhawk said.

Allensworth looked at his first officer in a somewhat surprised look.

"That's it."

"Hoshi, look up the subjects that were mentioned in that transmission. I know when Dustin came back from the other side he had copied their files and uploaded them into our databanks. Use them."

"Aye, sir."

"Perim, see if you can locate where that transmission is coming from and where it is going."

"Aye, sir." Perim said turning around in her chair.

"Sir, I found something." Hoshi said.

Allensworth turned back around to see what his contact specialist had uncovered.

"According to this, Captain Forrest was in command of the nx oh one Enterprise, who was killed in a battle with the Tholians. The rest of the crew abandoned ship and were rescued by the away team who were sent over to an Earth ship that was in the hands of the Tholians. That ship was called the Defiant and was from a hundred years in the future and from another timeline."

"Now we know what happened to the NCC-eighteen sixty-four Defiant." Allensworth said.

"Archer took command of Defiant and headed for Earth. However, before reaching Earth he was poisoned by Hoshi Sato who had conspired with Travis Mayweather to get control of the ship. When she arrived at Earth she fought a Starfleet armada and destroyed most of the ships before they surrendered to her and she had proclaimed herself Empress of the Terran Empire."

"Okay, so Mayweather and Sato means betrayal, I'm guessing that Captain Forrest and the Tholians would mean…"

"I'd say something along the lines of a suicide mission." Sparhawk said.

Allensworth nodded.

"All that leaves is the armada and the Defiant." Nycz said.

"Sir," Perim said turning around in her chair. "The transmission is being sent to a location within a few meters of here."

"Do you know where it s coming from?"

"Earth."

"Sato, contact the Thunderchild and Challenger and see if they're picking up this signal too. There must be cloaked ship nearby."

Night time had fallen and Lieutenant Commander Merriell and Ensign Stull marched through a grassy field on their way to the building that lay ahead of them. They stopped to rest by sitting on a fallen tree that was randomly in the middle of the field.

"So, what happens after we complete this mission?" Stull asked.

"I'm not sure, Ensign. If we fail, it would mean death but if we succeed then we get the prize of not going home, unless the Alexandria comes back."

The wind picked up giving them a nice cool feeling in comparison to the sweat they worked up while walking through the area.

"Well, I hope they do come back and…" The young Ensign was cut off by Merriell's hand going up.

She looked at him and noticed he was trying to hear for something. Then he quickly grabbed her and his rifle and ducked behind the log. He moved his head around the log just enough to see and hopefully not be seen. She too looked around the log to see a group of people emerge from the trees. They wore Starfleet uniforms. Michelle was about to stand up and call them over but then she saw the insignia of the Terran Empire on their uniforms. The soldiers were scanning the area for something but Merriell wasn't sure what they were looking for. He hoped it wasn't for them. He aimed his rifle at them as did Stull. There were about five imperial soldiers and with any luck, the two of them could take them out before they fired any shots. Merriell looked at Stull and nodded. After a few seconds of waiting for the right moment, both of them opened fire.

Even though the five soldiers were taken by surprise they were able to fire off a few shots before they were all killed. Once they were all down, Merriell stood up with a bit of victorious arrogance. He then heard a slight moan. A moan he had hoped came from the enemy. However, that was not the case. The moan had come from his partner, Ensign Stull. He rushed over to her and saw that she was holding the left side of her abdomen.

"Let me look at it." He said.

She took her arm away and there was a nasty, bloody wound underneath her palm. He slightly cringed at the sight not because he was disgusted by it but because it looked really bad.

"Are you able to stand?" He asked.

"I'm not sure." She replied.

He helped her to her feet but the second she let go of him she about dropped to the ground. Merriell caught her and set her down gently.

"Looks like you're not going anywhere." He said.

"Yeah but you need to."

"But…"

"You're a Starfleet officer. You have a duty to fulfill. There is still a mission to complete and we're not sure if Zofchak and Fulks are still alive. We need to make sure this mission succeeds."

Alex knew that she was right. His personal judgment told him to stay by her side while his professional judgment told him to go and complete the mission. Going with his professional judgment, he stood up and handed her one of the two phaser rifles and after a slight nod he marched off to complete the mission.

Merriell marched through the jungle like woods with his phaser rifle aimed in front of him, ready to shoot any imperial officer that appeared in front of him. However, he'd probably would've been further ahead if he didn't stop and look back every twenty seconds. He couldn't get the thought of Michelle being all alone in the middle of a field with a serious wound on her stomach. This time that he stopped he looked forward and then looked back. He did this same motion for about thirty seconds before turning around and running back to Michelle's side.