Calebras: I am NOW... I can't just go correct that, and diminish the comedic quality of your comment, now can I.
Well I can, and eventually will, but I have a loooong list of corrections to make elsewhere too.
The story of life has many volumes, and infinite authors. It is written and rewritten by the hands of prophet, and lord, jester, and teacher, emissary, and thief. The speaker becomes the listener, the guest becomes the host. It is the same story told by different voices, heard through different ears, seen through different eyes, all facets of the same.
Where one story might end, another might go on, and another may begin anew. Life sings a symphony of stories, One and many told over, and over again.
The Book Of Sisko
At the edge of basin surrounding a deceptively innocent lake, Octavia emerged from a thick tangle of underbrush concealing a cave, near a steep-running, rocky stream, sloshing into it, as above her, on a natural berm around a lake, and quite nearby, a monster turned. At least eight feet tall, and saurian in appearance, it wore a breathing mask over its lizard face, and it wore heavy armor. Even with a sword strapped to her back, pistol in hand and several knives, she felt decidedly unprepared to confront the creature. It swivelled it's rifle, pausing in surprise.
"You are not my prey." It hissed at her, "Nor are you the Kirk." a sudden explosion of water from the lake behind it heralded the escape of a federation shuttle, hurdling away with a whine.
"Yeah that's probably him now. " She called as she stepped up onto a rock overlooking a steep sloping decline in the river, and turned.
The Hirogen began to raise it's weapon at the shuttle, when suddenly it's hide was peppered by bullets from Octavia's pistol. The shuttle vanished into the clouds as it turned slowly back to Octavia. Her gun clicked, so she holstered it, a hunting knife already in her hand. She hurled it at the hunter who simply took a hand off his rifle and caught it.
"Got your attention now, I take it." Octavia said. "But you were right. I'm not your prey. I'll see you soon." She turned and hopped into the waterfall, sliding down a narrow watery chute
The Hirogen hissed as he raised his weapon, with his free arm, but another shimmered into view beside him.
"She is prey now." He told the other. "Her weapon would not have hurt me, but those traps we encountered interfered with our hunt. She hides our quarry."
"No, young one. She could not have set those traps, it was the Kirk. We may have flushed her out, but we have more formidable quarry." The other said. It had replaced the section of armor that was damaged, but moved stiffly. "It is rare for prey to earn the respect of other clans. We were warned that hunters have died here."
"The hunt claims the unwary." The younger one scoffed, and then paused. It looked at the blade, noticing a sticky substance that was moat likely poison. The other nodded. "So we must be wary." It acknowledged. It slid rhe blade into its belt.
"And what is the greater prize?" The older Hunter prompted.
"The Kirk." The younger replied, earning a nod, "We are the first to flush him from his lair."
"These are HIS hunting grounds and as I have said, other hunters have been lost. Their prey remains." The older pointed out. He gestured to the stream. "She wishes to distract us."
"So the Kirk can esc-" The young one paused and then turned, "So the Kirk can hunt?" The older one nodded.
"The Kirk will attempt to free our other prey, and marshall them against us. The day where the prey becomes too bold has come. We must make our way back to our ship, but with caution, and so we must warn the others." It raised a communicator to it's lips.
. *. *.
"I've got a signal, trying to isolate it..." Raven reported. She was seated in the co-pilot's seat of the shuttle, with the young Voth leaning over her shoulder. at her prompting, Raven adjust a control. "Got it, signal jamming now."
"Good." Kirk said encouragingly.
"Will that not prevent us from contacting the shape shifter and the other humans?" Mogh asked, Raven shook her head and Lara explained,
"The communicators Kirk gave them are less sophisticated than what the Hirogen use." Kirk snorted, "We can use that to mask our jamming as a carrier signal."
"Instead of static, we're sending a busy signal." Kirk told him as he adjusted course. "Lara's been studying their technology, monitoring them passively as they come and go, and Raven's a very quick study." He nodded at raven and turned to watch the horizon. "And if Lara's modifications hold, this ship would look like an ordinary patch of space until we are out of range."
"I would rather be fighting the enemy." Mogh growled. Kirk stayed focused on the viewport.
"I'm sure you would." He told the Klingon, "But you're likely to be more familiar with federation technology than any of them, we'll need you to power up the ship, and get her into orbit." He glanced at Raven. "I'll have to man the transporter once we're in place. Thats too tricky to learn on the fly, but you can patch me in from the bridge, when you get to engineering."
"It is said you once stole a starship, with but five men." Mogh commented. "Here we are only four."
"Raven is more than meets the eye, count her as worth at least a dozen." Kirk said wryly, but as he stared out at the screen, there was worry in his eyes, " I might eventually have been able to make it work with just her help, but that was never my purpose for coming here and every second we remain is paid for, in blood."
.*.*.
The older Hirogen tapped his wrist again as they moved cautiously through the forest.
"Still we are jammed." He said quietly. The younger Hirogen nodded as they moved carefully around the edge of a pit. He glared down at the carcass of a feline predator. "Our ship will not recieve our calls, and our camp is too far away."
"We will be at the ship soon." The younger told the older, "And we have disarmed the traps in our way. The female no doubt thought we would pursue her into more."
"We would have caught her quickly in the open." The older said thoughtfully. "Our prey lead us to the Kirk, pursuing the Kirk lead us into the caves, for the girl to have tried to lead us again seems foolish..." his eyes narrowed, the other turned.
"If they intended an ambush, I would have expected it in the cave." He told the older.
"That's why we didn't ambush you in the cave." They whirled, and found a human dressed in black reclining against a tree accross the pit from them carving a long wooden spear with a knife.
The younger turned again even as a an energy blast smashed against his side, superheating his armor and hurling him down into the pit. Bellamy Blake dropped the plasma cannon and dove as the elder fired in his direction even the Hirogen turned towards the sound. He felt a stabbing pain in the back of his leg, William had thrown his knife, the Horogen sank to one knee as he saw Bellamy rise with a pistol. Hissing, the lizard dropped its rifle and tore the knife from his leg, slapping his gauntlet as he did so. He hurled the knife towards Bellany as he disappeared.
Bellamy ducked the knife and fired where it had been, retreating as the under brush began to rustle.
William drew his pistol as the other Hirogen scrambled its feet and began to raise its rifle and fired, bullets blasting the rifle from the hirogen"s hand but ricocheting off its armor.
"Your weapons are primitive." It hissed up at William. William hirled the wooden spear at him. .Like Octavia's knife, hanging at it's belt, the Hirogen caught the spear, "You cannot hurt me with that!"
And then suddenly the spear began to transform, flowing over the Hirogen's arm. Above, William moved to help Bellamy. The Hirogen struggled as a dark gelatanous mass constricted around his neck, flowes between into the mask that covered its massive snout. It fumbled to rip the mask off, its arm encased in the writhing constrictive goo with the other hand at his belt. Lurching back against the endge of the pit, it managed to free a cylinder from its belt and sprayed its contents at the mass. A wailing sounded as the mass flowed violently away, reforming into the shape of Laas as he stumbled back over a feline carcass, falling, and clutching at the stump of an arm.
"Founder!" It hissed, "Your kind are scattered into legend. I will keep you in a jar on my trophy wall!"
"Hey." The Hirogen whirled away from the wall its tail swinging wildly as Octavia appeared almost underneath it. Close up, she came barely to it's chest. Cylinder in one hand, desicated goop in another, it acted on instinct, opening its mouth and diving down to bite. She jammed her sword up through its jaws and out back of its head. She ducked under it as it careened forward and stepped towarda La'as as it fell dead behind her.
"We just killed a dinosaur." She told La'as as he still held his arm. "Are you going to be alright?"
La'as grunted and then shrank somewhat noticeably as his arm regenerated.
"I will endure." He said, hia features rippling. "I will regenerate my mass over time, in my liquid form." He looked at Octavia, "Rarely does a solid show concern dor my kind."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Octavia told him. "You're one of the first non-humans I've met," She glanced at the dead Hirogen, "That hasn't tried to eat me."
"Quickly." La'as told her, "Given time, they can track your brother's weapon, now that it is active, we must help him."
. *. *.
Bellamy was in trouble, while he could certainly outmaneuver the large, injured Hirogen, in the densee forest, he couldn't see it. He crouched cautiously, holding the rifle, looking around.
"It's gone." William startled him, with his sudden announcement, even from a few dozen feet away, as he approached, "I tracked it when it scared you off, it made for the direction of it's ship." In the distance thunder rumbled warningly.
"We've got to help O." Bellamy said rising, "She's in the pit with that...thing."
"O..." William chuckled dryly at his pun, "Shes got some help."
Bellamy returned to rhe edge of the pit and found Octavia stepping off of a gelatinous pillar. La'as followed her up, contracting into his humanoid form.
"We think the other one is headed to his ship." Bellamy told them.
"I can probably track him, at least until the rain picks up." William said, putting a hand out to feel a light sprinkle, "but without knowing where their ship is, we can't cut them off." La'as began to shift, transforming into a bird-like shape. He took off as others began to follow William.
. *. *.
Doors parted with a whoosh and Kirk stepped onto the bridge. Lights came on around him as Mogh followed. A rail separated workstations aft from the Captain's chair and two consoles fore. A third console was placed in front of the view screen.
"You can fly a ship?" Kirk asked Mogh, the Klingon considered and then nodded. Kirk gestured to the starboard side console. "Helm's that one, I'll take Ops." He indicated the foremost station. "Tactical, if we need it." He flipped a switch at his console. "Engineering?"
"We're here." Raven's voice replied. "Lara's got a technical manual up and she looks like she knows what she is doing with the warp core start up, I'm just figuring out the computer interface and prioritizing system oversight demands to work out a protocol."
"...I'm at Ops." Kirk told her after a pause, "I'm bringing the impulse reactors online now. That will power sunlight, transporters and shields if we need them. Lara should initialize the warp core as soon as she's ready, we'll need that to make our escape," He glanced at Mogh who was carefully picking at his console. "Stand by," He turned to the Klingon, Mogh had examined the icons and placed his hands on the navigation controls. He made an experimental swipe at a slider and the ship lurched forward. He turned back to his board. "We have maneuvering thrusters, I'll transfer power to the impulse engines, we should be in orbit in a few minutes. When I brought the ship in, I cannibalized a dirty comet in a nearby orbit to hide her in. It does a decent job of scrambling their sensors. I can adjust our orbit to intersect the planet. It won't fool them for long but if they didn't think to check for meteor strikes, it might escape their notice, and either way, it won't be what they are looking for when we start transporting people up. Hopefully I can finish before we have to raise shields which will burn off the rest."
"This "camouflage" interferes with our scanners, as well as theirs." Mogh warned, "If there are more ships nearby we will not see them."
"Oh we'll know when they are here." Kirk predicted. The ship lurched again as Mogh engaged impulse. "Raven, what's Lara's estimate?"
"six minutes for start up Captain, she's inspecting the dilithium chamber now." Raven answered, "I'm reading green accross the board on this monster, it's like she's brand new?"
"She was when I found her." Kirk answered, "That's a story for another day, there should be a bank of propulsion systems that are offline?" He glanced at a plaque on the wall that read U.S.S. Monroe NCC 26505, his eyes fell to the quote at the bottom, 'Let us, then, look to the great cause, and endeavor to preserve it in full force'
At Raven's confirmation, he continued, "This ship had an experimental transwarp drive.They had to abandon her during her trial runs. Those systems are to remain offline, repeat, those systems are to remain offline."
"That did not take long to tell." Mogh noted. Kirk shot him a look.
"There's more to it." He assured the Klingon, "ETA to orbit?" Mogh worked his controls carefully.
"Two minutes to transporter range." Mogh replied, "Will we not need the sensors to locate the survivors of my ship, and your friends?" Kirk swore, as he finished transferring the transporter controls only to realize the Klingon was right, but Might continued.
"There is another way to burn off the ice encasing this vessel." Mogh pointed out, "If they think we are a comet, perhaps we should appear as one."
Kirk started to grin.
. *. *.
Octavia felt her lungs beginning to burn as she tore through the woods, Bellamy close behind, William still further back. They were following La'as now, instead of the Hirogen. He had spotted the ship, despite it's cloak, because the soaking rain rebounded off of it. She paused approaching the clearing and drew up as she saw the unnatural shape outlined faintly before her. She dropped to a squat and put up a fist. Bellamy slowed and came up behind her, William not far behind.
"It's a trap." She warned quietly. "He's already here, waiting for us to reveal ourselves." La'as landed quietly nearby. There was a crack of thunder.
"I can attempt to approach from the ground." The shape shifter offered, "Try to create a distraction."
"I think that's probably distracting enough." William said pointing. Above then a fiery streak broke through the clouds. As one, the communicators that she, Bella y and William carried chirped. Bellamy whipped his out, flipping it open.
"-Kirk to strike team, do you copy?" Kirk spoke as a massive ship hurdled over head. "We've got your signal, stand by for transport!"
"There he is!" Octavia shouted, she raised the gun she had reloaded, as William did the same and they opened fire. the figure in the distance fired back as it's shield sparked. Bellamy's cannon barked and as the world around them dissolved Octavia saw the ball of fire strike the lizard shaped silhouette atop the Hirogen ship.
When the world returned around her she gasped and shook off the slight buzzing in her ears.
"Where-" She began.
"Clear the pad!" Kirk's voice ordered, and suddenly the world lurched. Octavia stumbled down stairs she barely had time to notice, grabbing the edge of a console in front of her. She caught a glimpse of La'as beside her, Bellamy and William stumbling off, when six more columns of light lit up.
"What the hell?" A woman cried out, as another woman beside her answered calmly,
"This is a federation starship, I suggest we clear the pad."
"Saavik's right, let's clear the pad." A dark haired man in a battered grey jumpsuit declared. He hopped off the pad as the others followed. "Lieutenant Richard Castille, are you..." The ship shuddered and Kirk made another announcement.
"Attention all personnel." He declared, "We're here to rescue you, but the ship is badly undermanned. All Starfleet personnel, you are ordered to report to bridge, or engineering. Anyone else, brace yourself and stay where you are."
Octavia noted that Saavik had already moved to the other side of the console and tapped a key.
"Bridge, this is Transporter room one, Commander Saavik reporting. Captain, I can assume transporter operations, I am sending Lieutenants Castille and Yar to the bridge, I believe they are quite familiar with this class of vessel."
"We are?" The blond woman, Yar was confused but Castille grabbed her by the arm.
"Its the same class as the Enterprise, and I think I'm familiar with that voice, too, from the history tapes."
"James Kirk." A glowering figure said darkly, "I would know it anywhere."
"Maltz." Saavik ordered, "Proceed to engineering.. I believe that you and Commander Marcus can be of most help there."
The ship shuddered.again. As the others left, Saavik turned to Octavia.
"We have not been introduced, have we you to thank in part, for our rescue?"
"We did our part, my name is Octavia, this is Bellamy." Octavia replied as Saavik manipulated the controls. More columns appeared, more people arrived.
"If you could assist in clearing the platform, and relaying the Captain's orders?" Bellamy nodded and turned to speak with the new arrivals. Saavik raised an eye brow.
"Something wrong?" She asked the woman, she started as she noticed her pointed ears.
"I am receiving sensors locks on over 24 additional signals." She looked up, "Their biometrics are synthetic."
"Ah." William replied, "Well those would be my people. I think I'll have to welcome them myself."
. *. *.
Mogh surrendered the helm to Castille as Yar took the tactical station to the fore. He turned as the turbolift opened again and another officer arrived.
"Ro Laren, reporting for duty." She stood at attention. Kirk looked up as he sent a final series of signals to Saavik.
"Rank, if you please?" He inquired quirking an eyebrow. Her jaw worked, and she replied,
"Former Captain of the Val Jean, sir." She explained, "Bu my highest rank in Starfleet is Lieutenant, I am a skilled pilot, capable at ops and trained in advanced tactical strategy." Yar stepped back, but Kirk intervened.
""We took some pot shots from ships on the ground, but they'll be airborne in moments so we'll sort this all out later, Lieutenants, for now, Ms. Laren, I need you at Ops." He moved to the Captain's chair, sat down and punched the com. "Saavik, if you find someone who can take over beaming, I could use you up here." He punched it again.
"Engineering, do we have a crew yet Raven?"
"We've got some more heads down here Kirk. Lara has the warp core online, Commander Marcus and a big scary dude named Maltz are checking everything over now."
Kirk made a pained expression. Mogh came to stand beside him.
"He was captured at Khitomer." Mogh explained.
"Maltz?" Kirk asked. A sullen voice replied.
"You did not keep your word, James T. Kirk."
"Your first name is James?" Raven interjected, "I literally thought it was Kirk this whole time."
"Captain will do for now, Raven, get the warp core on line. Maltz, I'll get to you when there's time, but don't be in such a hurry."
"I will live to regain my honor Captain." The Klingon replied, "Even if I must do so, by serving you." Kirk glanced at Mogh as he thumbed the switch.
"Maybe I should have stayed dead." He commented. Saavik arrived on the bridge.
"Commander Saavik, reporting for duty." She declared. Kirk rose. He looked uncertain exactly how to greet her. Saavik graciously stepped down and allowed him to embrace her.
"It's good to see a familiar face." He told her.
"Indeed. Captain." She replied, then continued, "we have completed transport. The new arrivals require... orientation. Your associates are escorting them to Sickbay with Antaak and another survivor from Khitomer."
"Antaak is a skilled physician, and a formidable warrior." Mogh stated, "They will be safe there."
"Detecting three Hirogen ships rising from the planet surface." Ro announced.
"Saavik take the science station." Kirk ordered. Saavik complied. "We need to rig the ship's sensors to maintain orientation via thruster readouts."
"Sir?" Castille asked, then he blinked at his controls. Kirk answered his question for the others.
"Sensors rely on 6 points to chart a course through space. This planet is in a vast magnetic void, within a pocket of subspace that extends well beyond our sensor range." He explained leaning over Saavik at the science station aft. "Gravitational Eddie's, cosmic radiation storms, a ship is tossed around, unable navigate."
"Yet the Hirogens do so." Saavik noted. Kirk moved around the bridge rail and down to Castille's station and checked it's readings.
"They know the way in, and the planet's adjusted orbit. They can proceed from the entrance to the void in a straight line, and track their course with the readouts from their own thrusters."
"Like a zen archer shooting blindfold." Castille replied, doesn't matter if you can see the target if you have perfect form." Kirk clapped him on the shoulder and then returned to Saavik, entering coordinates into her console. She nodded and began to make some corrections.
"But we do not need to get in." Mogh said, "We need to get out." Kirk nodded as he turned and leaned on the rail to the lower bridge.
"There's a time dialation anomaly originating nearby that moves time faster the closer you get. If we use the ecliptic plane of that phenomenon as a reference, and account for the orbital location of the planet at the time of the Hirogen's arrivals-"
"I have identified a course, Captain, cross verified with the readings taken by your shuttle." Saavik replied. "Transferring coordinates to helm."
"There's your compass Mr. Castile." Kirk declared coming back around the rail. "Lieutenant Ro, implement sensor calibration using hull pressure sensors and thruster emission calculations."
"The Hirogen will be in weapons range in one minute Captain." Yar warned.
"Captain." Ro spoke, "recommend a full spread of torpedoes just before we go to warp. If the Hirogen are using a similar process..."
"Then we play havok with their sense of direction." Kirk finished, "Tactical-"
"Torpedoes programmed and ready Captain." Yar replied. Kirk heard a rising and familiar thrum, as though for the first time in ages, his heart had begun to beat.
"Engineering." He called, "I take it we have warp power?"
"Warp power is online, Captain." Raven said formally, then added, "and to hell with physics, I guess."
Kirk mouth twitched.
"Helm at my command, engage at war factor 6." He commanded, as he seated himself."Tactical prepare to fire... Now. Fire torpedoes, engage warp drive."
Three torpedoes fired and arches off in different directions. The Monroe Stretched forward into warp as each exploded one by one. The pursuing Hirogen paused wavering and then leaped to warp in three different directions.
.*.*.
"How's my ship holding up?" Kirk asked as he strode into engineering. Octavia and Mogh accompanied him. The complex was much larger than any he had seen before, but he found Raven, and Lara at a large table in front of a master systems display. A number of stations were positioned at it's ends, one of which Raven made adjustments too, with a glance at Lara, who nodded. She looked up at Kirk.
"All things considered, I'd say pretty good." She replied. She tapped her head. "Although even with the extra help in my head, and months of study I am still only half sure of what does what around here. Lara and I are working on managing automation, while the big scary guy and Commander Marcus keep an eye on the things that could blow us up. They'd got two other guys who look like they know what they are doing, but I wouldn't mind a few more bodies to flip the switches down here, and there's all these substations throughout the ship that we should..." she trailed off as she realized Kirk was distracted.
"Yes.. Commander Marcus..." Kirk was scanning the large chamber intently. "Commander Saavik mentioned I should meet her, do you know..."
"Up here Captain." A voice spoke a lift ascending slowly from another level. Kirk caught sight of a blond haired woman in her early forties, just fastening on the jacket of a Starfleet uniform. He couldn't help but stare as she approached.
"Or should I say great Grandfather?" she asked as she approached, she extended a hand but he seemed to have stepped forward for a hug and they fumbled awkwardly into the handshake with Kirk gripping her upper arm as well, at a loss for words, Raven and Lara seemed confused so Octavia explained.
"He had no idea he had descendants." She explained, "An old ship mate of his arrived with the others and just told him a few minutes ago when I was on the bridge. She's the one he's been waiting for all this time."
"Commander Samantha Marcus, reporting for duty Sir." She said formally, and then, "We were on a covert mission to investigate rumors of Starfleet officers held prisoner by the Romulans." The woman explained, as Kirk composed himself.
"You know I'm pretty sure he came back from the dead for you, when he found out you were still alive." Octavia told the commander, trying to sound nonchalant, "But he didn't have the exact time of your arrival so we spent a few months in hell for that. I figured you'd at least have kept the family name." Marcus shot Octavia a look that was discerning and Octavia stopped. As she turned, Kirk took note of a very pointed ear. She turned back to look at the Captain.
"My mother only found out about her father after your... 'death' sir. I'm sorry you never knew."
'I truly had no idea." He said still in wonder, he released her hand and then looking down with a deep sadness, "And I truly wish that your grandfather had." He clasped her shoulders in both hands, as though steadying himself, while looking at her "But I see David in you... and Carol..."
After a moment, he released her, clasping his hands behind his back and he gave a half smile, "I wonder about those ears though."
Samantha chuckled.
'My father is one quarter Romulans, three quarters Vulcan, and before you ask, I was raised among humans at the Khitomer embassy. Thats part of why I was chosen for this mission. That, and my grandmother."
"Saavik?" Kirk breathed, Marcus nodded. "Did she and..." he couldn't finish.
"She took maternity leave after returning from the Genesis planet, to raise my father." Samantha explained, "The... circumstances... were quite controversial at the time, so it was kept quiet."
"I.. spoke to Saavik before returning to Earth but.. he never said a word!" Kirk exclaimed, and then grinned fondly, "Although.. I suppose it wouldn't be the first time."
"Ambassador Spock was not himself, formally presented with his son until he had reached adulthood." Samantha explained, "Though he likely deduced the circumstances of Grandmother's leave, he respected her evident desire to raise him discretely."
"and his son later married.. my granddaughter..." Kirk spoke in wonder, "That's extraordinary."
"They did not bond officially, Captain, though they were close acquaintances from a young age I believe, in fact, they first encountered one another at your... service... sir." Samantha told him.
"If I may say so, sir, while I made it a point never to invoke my lineage, during my career in Starfleet, I have endeavored to honor it, and it is an honor, to meet you in person, sir." She saluted, and, suddenly aware of his own battered clothes, Kirk drew himself up and returned it. At last he said,
"Well engineering seems to be well in hand, Commander. " He nodded at the three of them. La'as approached to stand beside Lara.
"For the moment, Captain." Commander Marcus answered, "As they have said, we have only a portion of a single engineering shift, let alone a full departmentLara and Raven seemed to have an excellent grasp of computer systems, particularly for individuals with no practical experience with them."
"Lara is from a space faring culture, evidently a great deal advanced than our own. The Hirogen have hunted them, and scattered them." Kirk said grimly. Lara nodded. "Raven, and Octavia, here are from Earth's distant past, survivors of an apocalypse analogous to World War three."
"and survivors of a few apocalypses after that." Octavia added, she glanced at Raven, "we caused a couple, averted a couple, it's something of a long story."
"Particularly long, when you include the time spent in cryo sleep, living on a planet with time dilation, battling killer robots while trapped in a spaceship travelling at relativistic speed..." Raven started ticking off her fingers, but Samantha held up a hand and turned to Kirk.
"Describing them as 'analogous' implies we are outside either our native timeline, or our native quantum reality?" She asked Kirk, he nodded.
"I see you've been around the block a bit, in your time with Starfleet." Kirk replied. She returned his nod. "When you were fleeing the Romulans, you travelled through a wormhole that was flailing around through spacetime. I was trapped in a Multidimensional Nexus that spans a vast spectrum of reality. We are both now, in something of a parallel universe where history may in some ways have unfolded similarly, but subject to a very different sequence of temporal continuity."
"What?" Octavia asked, confused. "Temporal what?" She turned to Raven, "Are they talking about time travel? Is that really possible?"
"There are a number of technologies that are capable of interacting with space time, aboard this vessel." Lara observed, glancing at La'as she frowned, "although actually doing so is inexcusably reckless and highly unethical."
"Guilty." Kirk replied wryly. When the three of the stared, and Commander Marcus likewise shrugged, he explained, "Throughout the course of my career the federation discovered a number of unanticipated quirks inherent to combining the technologies of dozens of member races, including the ability to travel through time. We did so on accident a number of times, on orders a few others, and most recently to save the planet Earth from a probe investigating a formerly extinct species. It's a highly classified topic and measures were set in place to prevent it-" He looked at Commander Marcus, "We had instituted a number of starship redesigns meant to prevent accidental use or intentional misuse, that it seems this particular starship may not conform to, if memory serves."
"I cannot speak to that, Captain, as subsequently the Federation formed a bureau of temporal affairs, to manage such incidents and prevent future such occurrences, and I am not personally familiar with the design features of which you speak.Though I am well qualified as an engineer, they are no doubt classified beyond my clearance level."
"Saavik may recall some of the details of the Enterprise Refit." He told her, "Until we discuss it further, no one is to activate the transwarp singularity engine, is that understood?"
"Yes sir." She replied.
"Wait how do you even know about time travel if you changed your own history?" Octavia demanded. She looked at Raven, "If history changes, wouldn't we only remember the new history? Wait how does history change if we don't know we are supposed to go back in time and change it?"
"You are describing a number of paradoxical scenarios that do not take into account higher dimensional mechanics" Lara told her. "It is a truly fascinating, but complex field of study."
"Despite the Federation's efforts to regulate inquiry in potentially catastrophic areas, it is evident that even events in our own history were the likely result of temporal flux." Marcus told them, she looked at Kirk. "Specific instances of technological, or cultural advancement, essential figures in history experiencing inexplicable leaps in insight, or inexplicably navigating insurmountable circumstances to contribute to essential moments in history."
"Is that gonna happen in our universe?' Octavia asked, "I mean don't get me wrong, if you want to make our history more like yours, I'm not sure you'd get a lot of complaints from us, but wouldn't that be as dangerous as.." She floundered, unable to think of something as dangerous as rewriting time.
"As creating an AI to help mankind?" Raven said with the ghost of a smile, "or a second one that relies on the psyche of a human host, to counter the first?"
"Or activating an army of robots to fight an army of evil robots for the chance to raise a few thousand human embryos, when it wanted to do that in the first place?" Octavia asked, "We should probably use the time machine."
"Wait a minute, we don't even know how things turned out!" Raven objected, "A.L.I.E. used the hosts on Elegius II to kill off the rest of Elegius III, we couldn't have trusted her to raise the next iteration of humanity as her own. Clark and Echo escaped with the embryos, and the minute she found an artifact they would have travelled back to Earth. Even if I have the flame now, Clark and Madi held it once, and they had the others too. We brought back Bellamy, didn't we?"
"If all that had worked out the way you say it should, it would have been thousands if not hundreds of thousands of years ago." Octavia pointed out, "Why are there space dinosaurs running around everywhere, and the only other humans we've encountered are from another universe?"
"Many species rise and fall in that time." Lara told Raven quietly, "Not all endure. In such time frames, most civilizations develop a means to expand out of necessity. Though you are from a distant part of the galaxy, I do not believe my race has any record of you."
"In all of my travels, I believe you are the first of your kind I have encountered." La'as added. "Legends say that this region of space is desolate, laid waste long ago by a great doomsday weapon." Kirk shot him an alarmed glance and then declared,
"We have no intention of interfering with your native timeline." Kirk said firmly, "If we've learned anything from our own experiences, it is that once it begins to happen, even accidentally, incursions can become inextricably woven into the fabric of history. We don't know what happened here, to make things play out so differently, and we haven't even begun to understand our place in all of this." He put his hands on the table and looked up,
"What we do know is that we are free." He looked around at the others, "And we know we've got to work together." He looked at Lara and La'as, gaining nods from them "There's more than one way in and out of this void, but it's out best guess that we are heading towards an exit into what the federation star charts in my universe called the Alpha quadrant. That puts us in the vicinity of Earth, but I. this universe, we have no bases, no support of our own, and I have a feeling that a lot of our charts will be obsolete."
"One of the survivors of the Val Jean salvaged a portion of their database," Marcus told Kirk, "Their hope was that it might contain something they could use to return home."
"It just might." Kirk replied, "and we've got Starfleet officers from several different eras, and the resources of this ship, but even with your efforts at automation," He nodded at the table, "We have only a fraction of the crew this ship was designed for, and our supplies aren't inexhaustible. We'll need at the very least, a habitable port of call, and our best bet, is Earth. It may have the answers we need, and the supplies." He looked once more at La'as and Lara, "But you have my word that we will find a way to get you back to your perspective peoples." They looked at each other. Finally La'as said,
"We appreciate the sentiment Captain, but I do not know where my people are, and if they do not want to be found, they will not be."
"and I have yet to find my people." La'as added, "Yet the first time in many hundreds of years, I do not feel alone." He looked at Lara, "I will go where Lara goes, and if I can help your people, I will." He glanced around Engineering, "This is. remarkable vessel, and though I have never been much for technology, I am certain I could find a way to contribute."
"We'll have to assign shifts, for now." Kirk said, thinking aloud, he looked at Raven, "Assess skills, and altitudes."
'That cowboy and his friends helped us fight off A.L.I.E. and her drones." Octavia told Raven, "You think they could lend a hand?" Raven looked pensive, Kirk looked at her too.
"Maybe." She said, "They don't seem to like him, but Teddy put him in charge, and they'll listen to him." Samantha cleared her throat.
"Synthetic life forms, of a sort." Kirk explained, "Another relic from Earth."
"They aren't all ready." William said. They turned and found that he was seated on the floor turning one of his knives over in his hands. "Most of them were living in a virtual simulation of the old west, and they'll have no technical skills, even if they spoke English, the four or five that would even understand indoor plumbing, are still coming to grips with their reality." He leaned on the table opposite Kirk. "My own daughter among them, whose last living memory is of me killing her. Ford's little defense program didn't resurrect them to run the ship, it brought them back as cannon fodder."
"I helped him download them." Raven said, "There wasn't a lot of time, but Sizemore, Hale, your daughter, probably even Angela could be brought up to speed, and they are as alive as you are."
"They were brought online in the middle of a mutiny." William told her, "Then they were taken by aliens and hunted." He let the silence hang. "They may be as alive as I am, but they weren't as comfortable killing to survive, as I am. They're a mess."
"Saavik to Engineering" Saavik 's voice sounded from overhead "We will reach the aperture in ten minutes. Please report to the bridge."
Kirk looked at William.
"Your people are secure?" He asked, William answered,
"I brought them to sickbay." Kirk nodded.
"We'll sort that out next. Raven, when you have a moment, check in on them. Commander Marcus, for now, take command of engineering. Find that database from the Val Jean and get it into the ship's computer. The rest of you, meet me on the bridge, I have a stop to make."
. *. *.
"Commander, we are reaching the edge of the aperture." Ro announced.
"Acknowledged." Saavik said from the command chair. She looked back at Yar who was seated at the science station behind the Captain's chair.
"Still no sign of pursuit, Ma'am." Yar said, " evidently the Hirogen felt no need to post a guard."
"At least not this end of it." Lara said sadly. La'as offered a comforting arm around her shoulders.The two had arrived with William and Octavia. few moments ago, and Lara sat at an aft station with La'as beside her.
"First time their prey ever managed an escape." Kirk announced. He stood framed in the turbolift doorway, wearing a Starfleet uniform. To Saavik's eye, it was very similar enough to the one she had served with him but was the more recent version, from ship's stores. It lacked the insulating collar that Starfleet had required when it's ships were conditioned to accommodate crew members from cooler worlds. Having taken turns with Castille to change clothes herself, in the Captain's ready room, they wore the identical uniforms with more advanced textiles. Yar and Ro had both been evidently uncomfortable putting on a Starfleet uniform, but had elected to do so, rather than continue wearing the coveralls provided by the Romulans. Saavik relinquished the command seat to Kirk as he approached, and stood beside him.
"I'm reading stars ahead." Castille announced from his station, "Adjusting navigation."
"It will be good to see stars again." Bellamy commented.
"But these aren't our stars. We don't know what's out there." Octavia answered, "Except that it won't be home."
The comment uttered casually, resonated profoundly with everyone on the bridge.
Kirk rose, sending the uncertain mood, but as he opened his mouth to speak he heard another voice.
"Sail Forth." Said William quietly from where he slouched by the turbolift. " Steer for the deep waters only. Reckless O soul, exploring"
"For we are bound where-" Saavik began, then paused as Kirk stepped forward.
"Where no one has gone before." He finished. She looked at him and arched an eye brow.
NOTE: I'm using the original Andrew Probert design for the ambassador class. I definitely recommend checking out the Trek yards episode featuring it on YouTube, including the renderings by Tobias Richtor