"Star Trek: Shadows And Sunlight" - "A New Reality Arises"

2261 A.D.

Aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise, NCC-1701, orbiting Maranis III.

Christopher Pike had never moved faster to get off the transporter pad than he had just done a few seconds ago. Moving to the transporter console, he opened a channel to Bridge on the console's built-in intercom.

"Pike, to Bridge.", he said in a very serious tone of voice.

"Bridge. Orders, Captain?", replied his first officer, Commander Una-Chin Riley.

"Get us out of here, now. Maximum speed, Number One."

"Aye, Captain."

Pike began counting seconds in his head. At three, the all-call sounded throughout the ship, as Number One addressed the crew.

"All hands, secure for warp speed."

At five seconds, the Enterprise went to warp, leaving the Maranis system behind her, with its secret still unrevealed, something Pike was going to do his best to keep from changing, ever.

He turned to the transporter pad, where four of his most trusted officers were standing, silently.

"Landing party to my Ready Room, now. No one speaks so much as a single word until then."

Two minutes later, all five of them were seated around the conference table in Pike's ready room.

"Computer, initiate Omega Protocol.", Pike said, quietly.

"Acknowledged. Omega Protocol is now in effect.", came the verbal response from the ship's main computer.

Pike then looked at each member of the landing party in turn. Seated to his left was Spock, with Chapel across from him. Uhura on his right side, with Thelin across from her.

"Computer, begin visual recording. Add recording to the ship's archive when finished and transmit on a secured channel to Star Fleet Command as a Priority One message."

"Acknowledged."

"This is Captain Christopher Pike, commanding the U.S.S. Enterprise. The four officers present with me will now identify themselves."

"Lieutenant-Commander S'Chn T'Gai Spock, Science Officer, U.S.S. Enterprise."

"Lieutenant Christine Chapel, Assistant Chief Medical Officer, U.S.S. Enterprise."

"Lieutenant Nyota Uhura, Communications Chief, U.S.S. Enterprise."

"Lieutenant Cha'rla Thelin, Chief of Security, U.S.S. Enterprise."

With that being finished, Pike began to speak again.

"The current ship's time is seventeen hundred hours, Star Fleet standard. The star date is One-Nine-Seven-Five point Two-Five. The assembled officers and I constituted a landing party that has just returned from the surface of Maranis Three, approximately six minutes ago. The mission objective was to conduct and complete an initial survey of the planet, to determine possible suitability for colonization."

Pike paused for a few seconds to catch his breath and to collect his thoughts before speaking again.

"Maranis Three was once home to a humanoid civilization that perished approximately ten thousand years ago. Most of what that civilization designed and built has long ago reverted to a natural state. However, we did locate one intact structure. Said structure contains historical records preserved on something similar to old style micro-film. It also contains a device that must never fall into the wrong hands. It is, therefore, my formal recommendation that the entire Maranis star system be placed off-limits, with an appropriate amendment to General Order Seven being adopted. No officer present at this time, other than myself, is nor ever shall be duly authorized to speak of this matter. I personally will discuss it only with Commander, Star Fleet and, or, the President of the Federation Council. End, recording."

"Recording archived and transmitted, as ordered.", said the ship's computer.

"This is now a closed matter, people. Chapel, Uhura and Thelin, you are dismissed. Mister Spock, a word, please."

Spock remained seated as the others left the room. His expression unchanged, he spoke only when the doors slid closed.

"Captain."

It was both a question and a statement, all in that single word.

"What we saw on Maranis Three...well. Let's say that there are just four people in the known universe I would ever trust with that information. President Archer, Admiral Nogura, Number One, and yourself."

Spock calmly folded his hands before responding to Pike's statement.

"And should it ever become necessary to share that information with Commander Una, you would do so, and are unofficially authorizing me to so, as well?"

"Yes. And anyone else you feel can be trusted with it."

"At this moment in time, there is no such other person, nor can I conceive of there ever being one."

"Nonetheless, the authorization stands, Spock. Dismissed, and let's hope we never have to worry about this again."

Spock rose from his seat and left the room without speaking.

Pike himself said just four words before he left the room to take his place on the Bridge.

"Computer, clear Omega Protocol."

2404 A.D.

Maranis III

Though she would never admit it to anyone, Saavik felt old. Not "ready to die" old, or even "ready to retire" old, but old, nonetheless. These days she was officially listed as "Special Advisor to Commander, Starfleet", with the rank of Captain. On paper, that looked important, but rarely ever was. In reality, her duties, until a year prior, had consisted mostly of attending meetings and teaching a single class every semester at Starfleet Academy.

But all that had changed. The last stand of the U.S.S. Enterprise, NCC-1701-D, against the Borg, had been both heroic and trans-formative. Jean-Luc Picard and his senior crew had, however improbably, saved the day, as it were, one last time.

That had been just a little less than three years ago, during which time both the Klingon Timekeepers serving in the monastery on Boreth and the Vulcan Science Academy had reached the same conclusion, independently of each other. The one person that both of those organizations trusted was Saavik.

Therefore, they had, also independently of each other, discreetly approached her.

The conclusion was both shocking and irrefutable. The conclusion was that, due to multiple factors, including but by no means confined to, the erased, restored and again erased Temporal Wars, that the timeline of the known universe was, as the Vulcans put it, "permanently damaged beyond repair". The Timekeepers had used a more colorful phrase, which more or less translated as the same thing the Vulcans had said.

After learning of this, Saavik had wasted no time in using her personal shuttle craft to reach "Gateway Four", which was the last confirmed location of the Guardian of Forever. The Guardian confirmed that the situation was as bad as thought to be. It/he also advised her to use what had been found on Maranis III.

The secret of Maranis III had been kept among a handful of people, ever since its discovery in the year 2261. Captain Pike had, as a matter of duty, told both President Archer and Admiral Nogura, both of whom never told anyone else, nor had never recorded it in any form.

Christine Chapel and Nyota Uhura had, one time, both come close to telling James T. Kirk, but never had to, and took the secret to their respective graves. Cha'rla Thelin had never even considered telling it to anyone the day he died.

Kirk had learned of the secret when Spock had feared the worst and decided to take the act of sharing it with his captain. The situation in question had arisen during what the two officers referred to only as "the mission to Aleph Prime". Kirk never told anyone the secret, taking it to his final resting place.

Saavik had been told it by Spock, the last time the two of them ever met in person, a few days before his death.

And now, here she was, alone on a lifeless planet, seated at a control console. She knew herself well enough to know that she was tempted to abandon the mission, to let forces beyond her control see things out for another two or three thousand years.

She resisted the temptation and activated what had been referred to only as "The Device".

And a great wave of temporal energy began to build, spreading across the planet, and then into space itself. It spread across the galaxy and beyond, and when it finally receded, all that had been known since the very dawn of time, was no more.

It had been replaced by a reality much like its predecessor, but with many differences, as well.

Author's Notes

The full names of Spock and Number One are taken from "Strange New Worlds", which takes Spock's name from the novel "Ishmael". That's a 1985 novel written by Barbara Hambly. It's a completely unauthorized cross-over between "Star Trek" and the series "Here Come The Brides". I've read it just once, back in 1985. It was interesting to read, but I've never felt a need to revisit it.

Spock's rank is advanced one level beyond what has been established thus far on-screen in "Strange New Worlds". I've taken the liberty of making Christine Chapel an officer. Thelin's first name is my own creation, but the character first appeared in "Yesteryear", an animated episode written by the late, great, D.C. Fontana. In my own personal and completely unofficial version of canon, he replaced La'an Noonien-Singh, in the year 2259 when she gave her life in the line of duty, saving the ship and crew.

In my version of "Strange New Worlds", Jonathan Archer is alive and well in the year 2261. Admiral Nogura is Commander, Star Fleet.

The reference to "Aleph Prime", is from "The Entropy Effect", written by the late Vonda N. McIntrye, which tells a well-written tale of a rogue scientist conducting unauthorized time travel experiments.

I have no idea whether Saavik is alive or not in 2404, in the Prime Universe. I believe that in non-canonical reality, she retired as a captain. The novel "Star Trek: Titan- Taking Wing", (written by Michael A. Martin and Andy Mangels in 2005), has Saavik sending a message to her husband, Spock, through Tuvok. I've never read any of the books in the "Titan" series, so I have no idea if they're any good or not. My version of Saavik will be a bit different from what was filmed in "The Wrath Of Khan" and "The Search For Spock".

I have already begun writing a rough draft of the second story in this series.