The IKS Klothos flew straight through the anomaly, heavy lightning bouncing off its hull and leaving scorch-marks in the form of vicious burns. But the Klothos made it through and found itself all on its own; no sign of the IKS HaH'vat or the USS Excalibur or USS Farragut.

Emelie sat silent for a while, just breathing, as she waited to see what would happen. Nothing did happen. Nothing indicated that another ship was in the vicinity or even close proximity of the system. She got out of the pilots seat and hurried over to the station right next to the chair where the dead body of Curzon Dax was still secured and chained in place. Emelie operated the controls of the station and had the ships long range sensors analyze the stars. It only took a moment but it felt like a lifetime, but in the end the sensors had located what she was searching for. A planet in orbit of a distant star. As Emelie saw the klingon glyphs naming the planet, at first she could hardly believe it. Then, her face split in a massive smile.

vulqan.

Vulcan. It was not destroyed. It was right there, where it was supposed to be.

"Sybok, you crazy son of a bitch, you did it… You actually did it" Emelie said aloud, smiling and shaking her head. "Now" she said and glanced at Curzon's body, "we head back to Korvat."

Emelie crossed the bridge to man the helm, but halted as the doors leading to the bridge slid open. She froze and watched in disbelief as a severely wounded and barely alive klingon came stumbling onto the bridge, leaning with one arm against the bulkhead and holding on to his d'k tahg with the other. Kors chest was covered in blood, as was his chin and beard after coughing up mouthfuls of it.

"SoHvaD yuD nuch… taHqeq… petaQ" Kor hissed through his bloodied fangs and then ran towards Emelie with a growl.

Emelie placed another harpoon in Kors chest, but it did not stop the enraged warrior. Kor jumped and slammed into Emelie, sending both crashing up against the pilots station. Kor grabbed the young female by the throat and roared with untamed fury. His dagger struck her face with such force that her head cracked open and blood and brains spilled out onto the pilots controls. Kor howled, ripped his weapon from the dead body of Emelie Marcus-Kirk and pummeled the bloody face with his ridged forehead three times with all the strength he could muster, utterly disfiguring what remained of Emelie's features. Stepping back, Kor watched the body slide down in a heap on the floor. He stood there for a brief moment, then his strength could no longer carry him and he too fell over. As life was finally draining from him, Kor smiled.

"vIbejDI'-batlh-qor, tagha' Ha' jIH…"

And the great warrior faded, his last breath leaving his body. No life-signs remained onboard the IKS Klothos.

XXX XXX

The klingon Bird-of-Prey was wierdly damaged, showing signs of taking hits from torpedoes, but also klingon disruptors and Starfleet phasers. And then there were the strange scorch-marks all across the hull. Standing on the bridge of the USS Excelsior, Curzon Dax stood with arms folded over his chest as he watched the damaged klingon vessel up on the main viewscreen.

"Ambassador."

Curzon turned as a blonde human female walked up to her, wearing the red jacket of Starfleet. "Lieutenant Rand?" Curzon said, knowing the female officer well after a week onboard the Excelsior.

"The captain would like that you joined him in sickbay" lieutenant Rand said.

The trill did find it a bit odd. "Right away" Curzon replied nontheless and headed for the turbo-lifts.

Five minutes later, Curzon set foot in the sickbay of the USS Excelsior and there several high-ranking officers stood waiting, all wearing the red jacket of Starfleet, including the ships captain; the famous Hikaru Sulu.

"Well, captain?" Dax said. "How can I help?"

Captain Sulu turned to face the ambassador. "We seem to have stumbled upon something of a mystery, ambassador" he said. "The away-team discovered not only dead members of the klingon crew, but also bodies of romulans and remans."

Curzon Dax nodded at the information. "A klingon Bird-of-Prey does not end up in Federation space for no reason. Especially hours after a peace-summit between the Klingon Empire and the Federation. A romulan presence could indicate a plot to sabotage the talks we've had with the klingons."

Sulu nodded. "Quite so, ambassador. However, that is not the most intrigueing part of this whole mystery." Hikaru then turned to his fellow officers, "Ensign."

Ensign Tuvok took a step forward. "Thank you, captain. Besides klingons, romulans and remans, we found two other bodies onboard, as well as blood-stains of vulcan origin. To be more precise, my blood."

Curzon had trouble connecting the dots. "What? How is that possible?"

"A good question, ambassador" Tuvok said. "Since my crewmembers and the ships computer can testify that I have remained onboard the Excelsior throughout this mission, it is highly remarkable that my blood and my DNA has stained the bridge of a klingon warship. It gets all more confusing after we did a DNA scan on the human we found on the bridge. A young female whom by all accounts is the daughter of the famed molecular biologist Carol Marcus and the infamous Starfleet admiral, James Tiberius Kirk."

"If Kirk had a daughter I would know about it" Sulu cut in. "So who is this woman?" Sulu added as he walked up to a biobed where a body lay, completely covered by a white sheet. "And why was she so violently killed by the klingons?" Sulu sighed heavily. "And now I must tell a friend that his daughter… if that is who she is… is dead. That he has lost two children to the brutality of the klingons." Sulu shook his head and then turned to Curzon, "Is she a clone? A romulan agent? Why was she on a klingon ship?" Eventually, Sulu snapped, "Tell Me!"

Curzon could not grasp why the captain so suddenly aimed his frustration at him. "I don't know, captain. I had no part in this, I assure you."

"Really?" Sulu frowned.

"Ambassador" Tuvok continued, "we believe this woman was a romulan agent whose mission was to sabotage the peace-efforts at Korvat. A substantial security-check was done by lieutenant commanders Gambon and Valtane to verify that I am indeed not a clone or romulan agent. One person remains whom has not been cleared beyond reasonable doubt."

Slowly, it dawned on the trill what was being said, what he was accused of. Curzon looked over his shoulder as liuetenant commander Gambon and three security-officers, with phasers drawn, entered the sickbay. Turning back to face captain Sulu, Curzon Dax slowly raised his hands in an effort to ease the situation.

"Captain… I assure you, I am not a romulan agent."

Hikaru Sulu studied the trill for a brief moment and then nodded. "If so, then who is this?"

Sulu moved over to another biobed and pulled back the sheet, revealing the dead corpse of a trill; a trill looking exactly like Curzon Dax. Curzon could not believe his eyes, his mouth agape as he saw himself dead and covered in blood on the bed.

"I regret to inform" Tuvok cut in, "that the symbiont is also dead."

Curzon shook his head. "What the hell is going on?"

Sulu looked grim. "Who ever you are, ambassador, this will surely end with war with the Romulan Star Empire. The klingons will respond in the only way they know to such treachery, and the Federation will most likely form an alliance with the klingons against a common enemy. There is a good chance that these mysterious bodies will ensure an alliance between the Federation and the klingons. Congratulations, ambassador… your mission to Korvat was a success." Sulu then turned to his chief of security, "Secure the ambassador in the brig until we can verify his identity, or until we hand him over to Starfleet Intelligence."

"Yes, captain" lieutenant commander Gambon said and grabbed Dax by the arm and escorted the trill out of sickbay.

Sulu then turned to his fellow officers. "Get me Starfleet command on subspace… Somehow we need to avoid this war."

"Yes, captain" a lieutenant said and hurried to comply with the orders given.

Augustus Eckenwald, the Excelsiors chief medical officer, stepped over to his captain. "A damned peculiar situation" he said as he glanced at the dead body of Curzon Dax. "What now?" he added and turned his focus back to his commanding officer.

"Now?" Sulu said and sighed. "Now, like Columbus, we set our course for the horizon and see what the future holds."

Eckenwald shook his head with a sigh. "And a dark horizon it is."

THE END

So that's that. Not sure if there will be a rewrite to this; I have ideas to do changes here and there, especially when Emelie and Sybok are on the surface of Korvat. But other changes as well, including swapping the special torpedo into being of romulan design instead of klingon. But all in all, this is it, the end of this story, ending with another alternative universe where the klingons and the Federation end up as allies in a war with the romulans. The moral of the story is I suppose that it is never a good idea to time-travel and change things. Hope you enjoyed the read.