Toldol was sitting in the pilots seat at the fore of the bridge, overseeing the Bird of Preys transit at warp speed. D'jalel, in the meantime, sat in the captains chair, located at the center of the bridge. Suddenly, a console at a station began to give off an alarm, together with a flashing red light. Toldol quickly hurried over to check what was wrong.
"What is going on?" D'jalel inquired.
"A fusion-relay has burst" Toldol said. "We're alright now, but given time, it will rupture and then we risk a major plasma-fire. One that could melt its way through the ship."
"Surely this barge has systems to counter such an event" D'jalel said, realizing the danger they where in.
"This is a klingon warship, commander" Toldol informed his superior officer. "It has thick armor and powerful guns, but not much else."
"Filthy barbarians" D'jalel sneered. "Get back there and repair that breach, now!"
"At once" Toldol said and left the bridge.
D'jalel cursed her luck of being stuck on a klingon vessel, but then went back to checking their surroundings with the ships sensors; so far there were no hostiles close by. At least that was something. She was surprised to hear the door to the bridge open so soon and turned around to ask Toldol what was wrong. D'jalel was quite surprised to find Emelie, Curzon and a vulcan stepping onto the bridge, armed with klingon disruptor-pistols.
"It is over, commander" Emelie said with a stern face. "This ends now."
Tuvok was next to gain D'jalels attention. "As acting chief science officer of the USS Excelsior, I am placing you under arrest on charges of conspiracy, espionage, sabotage, theft and murder. You are now to be considered a prisoner of Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets."
Curzon couldn't hold back the smile. "Stings, doesn't it?"
D'jalel placed her hands behind her bald and tattooed head and stepped away from the captains chair. Emelie and Curzon kept their guns aimed at their captive, while Tuvok instantly moved on over to the pilots seat and sat down.
"Taking us out of warp, deactivating cloak" Tuvok said as he managed the controls that would make the ship behave accordingly.
"I'll inform Starfleet of our location" Curzon said and moved on over to the station in control of communications.
It was all that D'jalel needed. In an instant she had disarmed Emelie and struck her to the floor. Curzon threw himself to the side as D'jalel opened fire, the deadly bolt of plasma missing the trill with mere inches, obliterating the communications-console in the process. Tuvok was quick to draw his weapon and open fire, but D'jalel was just as quick to duck and get out of the way; in turn, her return fire forced the vulcan to seek cover by throwing himself flat on the floor. Emelie got back on her feet and hurried over to wrestle the gun out of D'jalels hands, but the Tal Shiar agent kicked the Starfleet Intelligence officer to the side with ease. Curzon took a poorly aimed shot and hit nothing but the bulkhead, himself forced to duck into cover behind a chair as D'jalel discharged her weapon twice his way, destroying the science-station as a consequence.
Tuvok moved in at speed, trying to stab the Romulan with the blade attached to his klingon pistol, but D'jalel, being an experienced agent of the Romulan Star Empire, easily deflected the strike, and instead cut the vulcan across the abdomen with her own pistol-attached blade. Emelie grabbed hold of D'jalel from behind with a neck-lock, but it did not prevent the Romulan from sending Tuvok flying with a powerful kick; the vulcan crashing into a chair and station. Curzon got back on his feet and watched as Emelie desperately tried to hold on to the Tal Shiar agent. Emelie was smashed up against the bulkhead, and D'jalel then violently pulled Emelie over her shoulder and flung her hard onto the floor. Curzon saw his chance and opened fire, sending three bolts at the Romulan.
The sparks that erupted as the bolts struck the wall of the bridge showered down over Emelie and D'jalel, the Romulan having ducked at the last moment. Emelie kicked D'jalel over the head, sending her onto her back, and then threw herself over D'jalels pistol and managed to wrestle it from her grip while the Tal Shiar agent was still groggy from the kick to the head. But D'jalel found herself quickly enough, and as Emelie pointed the weapon at her, D'jalel kicked it out of the Starfleet officers hand. Emelie, in turn, delivered a punch to D'jalels face. Soon enough, they were both tangled in a wrestling match, trying various grips and locks to gain the upper hand. But in the end, D'jalels superior strength would decide the outcome, as she twisted Emelies one arm behind her back and then gripped Emelies throat with her fingers, pressing as hard as she could to cut off her windpipe. It did not take long before Emelie was turning blue, unable to breathe, panic screaming in her desperate eyes.
"This is it, Emelie" D'jalel almost snarled. "This is when you die!"
D'jalel suddenly let go, surprise ablaze across her face. Emelie filled her lungs with air as she fell over, hands shielding her throat. Curzon pulled the klingon pistol free from D'jalels back, the blade attached to it covered in green blood. D'jalel turned and was confused, astonished that her career ended here and now. And then, she fell over. Emelie crawled on over the Romulan and searched for a pulse.
"Is she… Is she dead?" Curzon asked, trying to catch his breath.
"Yeah" Emelie said. "Nice stab."
Curzon nodded. "Benefits of spending too much time with klingons."
"I can imagine" Emelie said and got back on her feet and moved on over to Tuvok and made sure he was still alive. "The vulcan will live" she said. "We'll need to patch him up, but he'll live."
"Thank the gods" Curzon said with a sigh and got back on his feet, pistol still in hand. "So it's over?"
Emelie looked up from Tuvok and glanced at the trill. "Yeah" she said. "It's over."
XXX XXX
Curzon applied an autoinjector with antibiotics against Tuvoks neck, or the closest thing to antibiotics at least, having gone through what limited medical-supplies that could be found on a klingon vessel.
"You should be fine now" Curzon said, taking a step back from Tuvok where he sat in the executive officers chair on the bridge. "This dose is supposed to work on klingons. It will be double what you require."
"Thank you, ambassador" Tuvok said and then studied the bandages around his abdomen. "I must commend your medical skills, lieutenant Marcus-Kirk" he then said.
"Don't mention it" Emelie said, sitting in the captains chair and managing the computer attached to its armrest. "Will you live?" she then asked.
"Yes, I am confident I will, thank you, lieutenant."
"Good" Emelie said and pushed a button.
Curzon took a step back out of surprise as Tuvok suddenly dissolved into glowing sparks of energy.
Tuvok was equally surprised to find himself remateralizing inside of a klingon escape-pod.
Emelie hit another button.
Tuvok was thrown to the floor as the escape-pod was launched from the Bird of Prey. He quickly climbed back to his feet and found a view-port to look out through, watching the Klingon warship disappearing into the distance.
"This was unexpected" Tuvok simply concluded.
On the bridge of the Klothos, Emelie quickly repositioned herself to take control of the helm.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Curzon sharply demanded.
"I am engaging our cloak and setting a course for the Federation" Emelie explained, while doing exactly those things. "And now I am activating our warp-drive" she added and pulled a lever.
From his escape-pod, Tuvok could only watch as off in the distance, a ship broke the warp-barrier.
Curzon moved with determined strides over to Emelie. "What is this?! What are you doing?! What the hell are you up to?!"
Emelie left the helm once she was satisfied that they were heading in the right direction, and then moved on over to one of the stations still intact on the bridge, Curzon following closely behind.
"I'm talking to you, damn it!" the trill and hit the bulkhead to gain Emelies attention.
"I know you sent the schematics to Kor" Emelie replied as she started to search through the ships computer. "I was there, remember. Don't even deny it, Dax. I was there."
"So what?" Curzon said in turn. "I also told Kor what it could do and that he shouldn't put it together. And he didn't! Because it's too dangerous!"
Emelie was still searching through the computer-files. "But he still received that transmission" she said and punched a large key on the board, bringing up a file on the screen before them. "And here it is" she said. "The schematics for Syboks torpedo."
Curzon could hardly believe what he was seeing. But there was no denying it; there, on that screen, were the instructions on how to modify a modern klingon torpedo to be able to recreate an event that had not even taken place yet.
"Emelie" Dax said with a slow exhale. "What are you planning to do?"
"I will finish the mission" was her simple answer as her eyes were locked on the schematics.
"Have you lost your mind?!" Curzon backed off, placing his hand on the grip of the klingon pistol holstered by his thigh. "It is too dangerous! Sybok was a madman!"
Emelie slowly got out of the chair. "My father has been dead for four years, Dax. Four years! But do you know what? In the original timeline, he would still be alive… He wont die for another four years, Dax! He will live for four more years!"
Curzon could barely believe what he was hearing, slowly shaking his head. "Emelie… he is dead. You have to accept it. Your father is dead. This is not the way."
"It is the only way!" The words burst from Emelies mouth, a blast of emotion. "If your father was dying, but there was a cure that would grant him eight more years to live, wouldn't you give it to him? Wouldn't you do anything to keep him alive, if only for one more year?!"
"Kirk was not sick" Curzon countered, feeling his fingers slowly gripping the pistol. "Damn it Emelie, he was killed by a klingon. You are not talking about giving an old man some medicine, you are talking about altering the course of history to suit your own god damn needs! Emelie, please, listen to reason!"
Emelie glanced at the pistol by the trills thigh, and then looked Dax in the eyes. "Let go of the gun, Dax."
"I wont" Curzon replied, shaking his head slowly, gripping the weapon tighter still.
"It doesn't have to end like this."
"Correct me if I'm wrong" Curzon said, "but I think that is entirely up to you at this point."
Emelie smiled, looked down at her boots for a brief moment and then back up at Curzon, determination glowing in her eyes. "So be it."