Chapter 3
The Temporal Agents had restored power to one of the turbolifts, making travel around the base much easier. Unfortunately, it wasn't the express turbolift, so, to while away the time until they reached Level 101, Zarah had been updating North on the events immediately following his abduction to the future.
"History records that you died in the attack," she told him nonchalantly. This was quite a jarring statement, and she gave North a moment to process it before continuing. "The new history. No one in your time ever found out who was responsible, obviously. Everybody from the Orions to the Klingons was blamed, but nothing ever came of it.
"A memorial service was held on Earth, Berengaria Seven was quarantined, and the investigation quietly closed. Starfleet eventually built more starbases, but never numbered any of them 'one' again, out of respect."
North tried to come to terms with the fact that there was probably a monument somewhere on Earth with his name on it, recording his death as 900 years ago. It wasn't really a concept the Human brain was designed for, he thought.
"The memorial service was held in Golden Gate Park," Zarah said. "President Vanderbilt himself gave the eulogy. Called you all heroes and pioneers."
"Oh." North found this small comfort.
"Admiral Gardner said a few words too, as did Councillor Cristofur Thorpe."
This also gave North pause for thought. The Councillor was the father of Captain Eric Thorpe, his first officer. Now long dead.
He wondered about the families and friends of all the others on the base, all long gone themselves, but for a while having to live with never knowing why their loved ones died. Commander Patel's parents and former shipmates from her freighter. McQueen's brothers back in Australia. Doctor T'Ling's children and grandchildren, grieving in their own Vulcan way.
And then there were the Draco – Berengaria's dragon-like natives – slumbering in their caves for their hibernation period. At least they'd have died in their sleep, blissfully unaware, but still an entire civilisation lost to history.
At least his aide, Rhys Vaughn, would have been safe, still on his honeymoon. That was some small comfort, even though Vaughn and his new wife Angie would probably have been devastated and felt some irrational survivor's guilt.
As if sensing his modicum of solace, Zarah disrupted it. "Of course, even that version of history could be undone, if the Seekers of Null continue their assault on the timeline."
The 'lift opened onto the starbase's top level, in just as much a state of disrepair as the rest of the place, adding to North's weary resolution. He felt as run down as his base, but knew it had to be put right.
Zarah led him into Ops, and North took a deep breath of stale air before entering. This was his former kingdom, the command centre, Starbase 1's "brain," where he spent most of his days.
The sight inside was depressing. Once a bustling hub of activity, now it was barren and quiet. A few of Zarah's fellow Agents milled around the three still-functional consoles, which made subdued noises over slow displays of information. The rest of the rows were silent. The main viewscreen, dominating one wall, was dark.
All eyes were on him, however, as Zarah led him to the command console, where another large male agent waited.
"Commodore, this is Agent Maxeus, my second-in-command," Zarah introduced the stony-faced man.
North nodded to him. He didn't feel much like making pleasantries.
"Tell him," Zarah said to her subordinate.
Maxeus spoke in a deep, growling voice. "Our intelligence has uncovered the Seekers' next target." He pressed a control and the console's monitor displayed a bird's-eye-view of Starfleet headquarters in San Francisco.
"Starfleet Command," Zarah said dramatically. "We believe they intend to use another bioweapon on the whole planet, but it's possible that, to avoid detection, they have a more surgical plan to target specific individuals in order to create innumerable paradoxes which will threaten the fabric of spacetime. Either way, any strike on Earth or key Starfleet personnel in your era will severely alter history, and not for the better."
Maxeus gruffly chimed in. "We don't have enough intel to prevent the Seekers entering the timestream, but we may be able to intercept them at their destination."
Zarah took over. "Then we can capture the Seekers before they strike, save Earth, and stop them once and for all. Based on what we learn from them, we may even be able to reverse all the damage they've done, including the destruction of this base."
This perked up North. If there was an opportunity to undo what had been done, to bring back those lost and return him to his rightful place in time, to see Daniel again, then he wanted to take it. But he was still in unfamiliar territory.
"Again, I'm wondering how I come into it?" he said. "All this futuristic talk is beyond me."
"Actually, Commodore, it's your contemporary knowledge we need," Zarah said.
Maxeus pressed another button and the displayed changed to a complex diagram of a straight green line, with several blue branches that broke off and reconnected at other points. The green line was randomly littered with red dots.
Maxeus pointed to some of the dots. "The Seekers have placed temporal mines at strategic points in sub-time…"
North rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Sub-time?"
Zarah sighed patiently. "Conventional physics says that time travel is impossible, correct? Just as it says that faster-than-light travel is impossible. But while subspace allows vessels to travel faster than light by accessing different laws of physics…"
"So sub-time is the medium through which one travels in time?" North asked. Zarah nodded. "And I assume 'temporal mines' work similar to regular mines?"
"Even more deadly," said Maxeus. "They destroy local spacetime."
"Meaning we can't safely travel to periods and places that are mined," Zarah explained. "That's also why we couldn't prevent the attack on Starbase One."
Now North sighed, getting frustrated. "Right. So, what can we do?"
Maxeus zoomed in on the diagram, showing a cluster of red dots around one point on the green line. "The entire Sol System in the 2160s is mined, so we cannot travel there directly."
"But," Zarah continued, "we can travel to just outside the system, right before the Seekers' themselves arrive, then reach Earth through conventional means to lie in wait."
"Reach Earth through conventional means," North repeated. "You mean in a ship? You can transport a vessel through time?"
Zarah smiled, and North felt like a caveman amazed by fire. "It's a small, primitive ship, to avoid detection, but yes."
"That is where you come in," Maxeus said.
Finally, North thought, eager to put this all behind him. Or was it in front? His head hurt too much to think about it.
Zarah began pacing. "As I said, we need to avoid detection. From both the Seekers and 22nd century Starfleet. Hence why we're not bringing any advanced technology, except what we need to find and detain the Seekers. We can't risk any interference, as this could be our only chance to stop them."
She stopped pacing and turned to face North. "So, to bypass Starfleet's defences and reach Earth safely, without being noticed, we will need your expertise."
Maxeus stepped closer to North, his broad features intense. "As a flag officer, you possess knowledge of defence codes, headquarters' layout, orbital weapons platforms, sensor satellites."
"You can tell us what to expect and how to avoid it," Zarah said.
"That's… a lot of sensitive information," North said.
Maxeus grunted and looked away. The other Temporal Agents in Ops also seemed to tense up, but Zarah calmly approached him.
"I understand your instinct is to protect such classified data, Commodore," she said, sounding reassuring with a hint of concern. "But your info is 900 years out of date. It's of no importance to anyone in this time, but we can still use it to save the past. To save all of creation."
North frowned. Despite everything he'd seen, part of him still wanted it all to be untrue, to wake up in his nice, clean quarters back in 2161. "Surely this information is available in some historical database?"
"Remember what I told you?" Zarah said. "The Seekers struck us hard. We have no access to any of our databases anymore. And the computer core on this base is badly degraded by the environmental damage. We'd have taken another flag officer, but the admiralty in your time were all on Earth except you."
North rubbed his face, conflicted. If this was all some sort of elaborate deception, could he be handing over the secrets of Earth's defences to an enemy? But what if it was true, and that the fate of the world – of the Universe – depended on him?
Zarah put a large hand on his shoulder. "Take some time, Commodore. I know this is difficult for you. Maybe sitting in your old office will help settle you."
As she led him to the rear exit, Maxeus scowled at her. "Zarah…"
"Further discussion can wait," she snapped at him. This silenced Maxeus, and the other agents hastily resumed their work.
As Zarah escorted him to his office, North couldn't help thinking of his father's final days. The poor man had been so confused, bewildered by what was once so simple to him. On the occasions where North had to ask him for things such as his bank details or where his important documents were kept, his father treated him with anger and suspicion, as if he were a con artist trying to trick the old man. North sympathised with his father now, unsure of who was really trying to help him.
His office was as dilapidated as the rest of the base, but much as he had left it this morning. This morning 900 years ago, he reminded himself. The pictures and awards he'd had on the wall had fallen to the floor, along with the general detritus, long deteriorated, and the thick fog outside pressed against the external window. North was quietly thankful that the window had been replaced so quickly after the pane had been ejected during that fiasco the day before Federation Day.
So long ago…
He sat at his desk and wrapped himself in thought and memory.
Zarah had remained in the doorway. "I'll leave you be. But don't take too long to come to a decision, Commodore. It may seem like we have all the time in the world, but eventually the Seekers will find us here. Time is running out, in every sense."
Then he was alone.
There was much truth to what the agents had told him. He probably was the only officer above captain rank to be stationed offworld in his time. And if Starfleet detected an unfamiliar, undeclared ship entering the Sol System, they would naturally investigate. Then there was the decidedly inclement weather outside, under what was unmistakably the Berengarian night sky. That could not be faked.
Yet something still nagged at him not to ignore his instincts and give up Earth's secrets.
He sighed and wiped some of the dust from his desk, hoping it would also clear his thoughts.
Then he saw something. Something that would not have been significant any other day of the week, but here, now, it was of startling importance, as it proved one thing to him beyond the shadow of a doubt…
That everything Zarah had told him was a lie.