Mission 24

Guardian Angel (Part 2)Prologue

 Time: To most, an unchanging constant—something that is taken

for granted. Humanity relies upon its steady flow for stability and structure.

However, this is all an illusion. Time is not so straightforward and secure as man would like to

think. From our limited sensory perspective, reality cannot be changed, and what has gone before remains immutable. Temporal law is more unyielding than the word of a god.

When that comforting falsehood is shattered, though, and one realizes that time is not linear, this is no longer true; its flow can be altered, and past events reshaped, to produce a hybrid—a new reality.

But for the instigator of the change, their past is still just that, even if reality no longer reflects this.

It is a paradox... and, for some, a harsh reality. 

Stardate: 48525The blackness had enveloped her, consumed her, but ultimately its control over her slipped away and consciousness began to return. Kara Lex realised she had no idea how long she’d been unconscious for, as she slowly pulled herself off the console that she'd ended up slumped over. Her whole body ached with the effort, but at least the pounding in her head let her know she was alive. She gradually opened her eyes, adjusting to the dim lights, before taking in the state of her small ship. Several of the consoles were dark, the faint smell of burnt wiring hung in the air, and the dull emergency lighting was on – but otherwise the little timeship was intact. Its location, however, was a different matter. Out of the cockpit window, Kara could clearly make out stars, which was certainly a good start. When she'd lost consciousness, the last thing she’d seen was the swirling energies of the timestream, but the stars she now saw meant that she wasn't lost in those energies, and therefore had a good chance of both completing her mission and getting home. "Computer, access temporal positioning system and locate current time and location." "Accessing," replied the automated male voice. "Current Stardate: 48525. Location: Alpha Quadrant, Tirus sector." The Tirus sector… Kara was certain she knew that name from somewhere and tried to think back to where she knew it from – but the effects of the concussion had still not subsided, which was making it hard to recall the required information, especially as it affected the communication between host and symbiont. In the end, the universe decided to give her a hint. The console started to sound an alarm as a large blue/white anomaly formed in front of her shuttle, its swirling tendrils growing with every rotation. Kara was slammed back into the chair as she was overwhelmed by a wave of temporal energies. Images flashed across her mind at the speed of thought, as the universe realigned itself to accommodate the intrusion into the normal flow of its space/time continuum. Kara screamed as she watched five years of history unfold in her mind in a matter of nanoseconds – as she saw the Dominion relentlessly

overrun the quadrant, before the Federation and Klingons valiantly fought back, only to be finally and totally defeated within a stone's throw of their goal. But as suddenly as it had begun, the vision abruptly ended. Kara fell forward into her chair, gasping for breath as the spiral arms of the anomaly continued the swirl, but no longer increased. The ship’s proximity alarm started to sound again, snapping Kara back to the present. She quickly started to work her console, attempting to get some distance between her small ship and the anomaly. "Computer," she ordered, "back us off, full impulse." As the timeship began to reverse away, another ship silently emerged from the anomaly, giving Kara an exceptionally good view of its hull as it passed within a few meters of her cockpit. Dark phaser burns and torpedo scars crisscrossed her hull, and in a few places the outer plating was breached and Kara could see small fires burning in the rooms behind several windows. This ship had obviously been in one hell of a fight – and it looked like she'd lost it, too. After drifting a few thousand kilometres using just her existing momentum, she finally came to a rest as her thrusters fired – something that Kara recognized as an automatic emergency procedure when a starship is out of control. "Computer, identify starship." "Starship identified as USS Argus, NCC-75124." Hello, old friend, Kara thought to herself, before realising the implications of their discovery of her timeship. "Computer, is the cloak functioning?" "Affirmative," the male voice intoned. "Stealth systems functioning within normal parameters." Satisfied that she was still hidden from their twenty-fourth century sensors, Kara turned her attention back to the anomaly, and found it collapsing quickly. Desperately trying to gather as much information as possible before it disappeared, her hands began to fly over the console in a blur of motion. Moments later, it was on the verge of blinking out of existence entirely – when suddenly it flared to life again, larger and brighter this time, forcing Kara to shield her eyes from its glare. "Computer, initiate a full scan of the anomaly." The computer chirped in acknowledgement, and Kara carefully unshielded her eyes to see a small ship emerging from the reopened temporal fissure. The Delta Flyer, she realised, as she saw it exit from the anomaly. Carefully, Kara reached out with her mind to check on the status of the craft's occupant, Kate Sheridan. That's not right, Kara thought to herself as she telepathically brushed over Kate's recent memories. She should be helping them get home, not… Waves of temporal energy rocked the ship once more, disrupting the telepathic link. Kara felt an intense wave of nausea pass over her, and realised that the previously unconscious Sheridan had been woken by the jolt from the anomaly. Kara immediately broke the telepathic connection to avoid detection, and started to scan the anomaly for the source of the new surge. It didn't take long for the reason to present itself – as another Sovereign-class ship burst out from the anomaly at speed. Kara was still in a good position to see its registry displayed across the top of the saucer … NCC-71524, ISS Argus, the Mirror ship. A second later, the anomaly finally collapsed completely, and the universe seemed to hold its breath for an eternity – or at least, Kara realised that she was – waiting for the newcomer to make a move. A second later she did – in spectacular fashion. From the ISS Argus' phaser arrays erupted powerful streams of deadly phaser fire, which desperately attempted to land a shot on the now evasive Delta Flyer, after their first strike had only missed the small ship by a few meters. Kate's manoeuvres were impressive, and it almost

seemed as if she knew where the attacking ship would fire next. But it was a lucky set of guesses and, like all luck, Kate’s was about to run out. The I.S.S Argus finally managed a shot that grazed the hull of the large shuttlecraft and sent it spinning out of control – making it an easy target for a second kill-shot. Kara looked on in horror as she saw that Kate was unable to recover control of her ship, which now tumbled on its axis through space. Images of a previous failure to act, and of the nightmarish reality it had created flashed uncontrollably through her mind. She remembered the horror of watching the fiery demise of the small ship, when her final decision to act came too late and only succeeding in transmitting Kate's dying thoughts to any telepath within range. "Computer," she ordered, knowing that she had to act, no matter what the temporal consequences. "Charge weapons and prepare to drop cloak on my mark.” But before she was able to give her next command, the Terran-Empire Argus was unexpectedly pummelled by a barrage of phaser fire. From behind Kara's small timeship, the cavalry arrived in the form of the first Argus to arrive through the rift.  She soared majestically towards the ISS Argus, her weapons throwing everything they had at the Terran ship, taking it completely by surprise – and within moments, they had punched through her shields and disabled her weapons. However, the ISS Argus only took a second to recover, and the next few impacts on her shields were harmlessly dissipated. Her commander, however, understood that this wasn't a battle that he could win without weapons, and turned in retreat. Suddenly, the Lex symbiont’s memories of the impending Mirror War came to the forefront of Kara's mind, and although her training warned her against interfering in the timeline, she knew she couldn’t let this destructive force loose upon the universe. Without hesitation, Kara moved her ship into position to fire. "Warning – warp core breach detected in close proximity to this vessel," the computer announced suddenly. "It is recommended that this vessel is moved to a safe distance." Kara took a second to check her instruments, and to her surprise found that it was the USS Argus – not the Delta Flyer – whose warp core was about to destroy it and everything near it. This pause, however, gave the ISS Argus her opportunity to escape. "Damn!" Kara spat in annoyance. "Why the hell is the USS Argus’ warp core going critical when the other ship didn't fire a shot at them. Unless…" Kara reached out with her mind again, trying to find the evidence that proved her theory. Emotions flooded her senses, as the terror of over 600 people washed through her mind, each dealing with their impending death in a different way. Then she found it – a mind so cold and calculating, so satisfied that its work was complete, that it shone out like a beacon in the sea of chaos. She started to focus in on it, and as soon as she did, she knew there was no longer any doubt that they were responsible for the destruction of the ship. There was a traitor aboard the Argus. No, she sensed it was more than that – there was an Empire officer aboard the Argus! "Warp core breach in immediate vicinity in 30 seconds," the computer reminded her, bringing her back from her telepathic search. If she was going to escape and stop the Terran-Empire's Argus, she would have to go now – she knew that if they'd placed one of their officers aboard once, they might very well do it again, and she may be the only one able to warn anyone in time. "Computer, lock tractor beam onto the Delta Flyer and engage at full impulse." The timeship complied and pulled away as fast as her impulse engines would allow, picking up the Flyer with a jolt when the tractor beam engaged. Seconds later, the USS Argus from the temporal rift exploded in the all consuming fire of an uncontrolled matter/antimatter explosion.

Kara brought the timeship to a stop a short distance away. She knew this was where Kate had been found – or was going to be found – by the USS Constitution, and the pseudo-memories of the horrific possible-reality that came to be without Kate Sheridan's influence, compelled her to ensure that history ran the course it was meant to. "Computer, scan and report system status of the Delta Flyer." The screen in front of her changed to display the status of the little ship that had, until moments ago, been held tightly in her ship's tractor beam. Kara studied it for a moment, before noticing something worrying. "Computer, is the emergency beacon transmitting?" "Negative." "Access the Delta Flyer's systems and activate the beacon." "Unable to comply," the computer replied. "Emergency beacon has already been activated." "Then why isn’t it transmitting?" "The communications array has sustained damage. A manual re-calibration is required." Damn, Kara thought to herself. In order to preserve the timeline, she'd have to beam aboard the Flyer – there was no other solution. She quickly scanned the Flyer again to ascertain Kate Sheridan's status. Good, she’s still unconscious. Kara grabbed her beacon, phaser and tricorder from the panel to her right. "Computer, beam me aboard the Delta Flyer, rear section." Kara materialized in the dark rear section of the Flyer. Power levels were at a minimum and only a few, isolated screens were active. She scanned the room with her beacon before finally settling on the door to the cockpit. Carefully, she walked up the stairs and slowly pushed open the now powerless door. Once inside, she quickly removed the panel from the wall opposite the doorway and began to recalibrate the communications array, only stopping work to occasionally check on Sheridan, who was still slumped over the pilot's console. Once she'd finished re-calibrating the array, she moved over to the operations console and reset the emergency beacon. She scanned it with her tricorder to check that the system was now working correctly, before finally tapping her commbadge. "Computer, report on status of Flyer’s emergency beacon." "Beacon transmitting within normal parameters." "Excellent," Kara said with a sigh of relief, as she moved over to check on Kate. Sheridan had a deep cut on her head which had now clotted, and the blood from it had dried down the side of her face and soaked into her solid yellow tunic. Her hair, which was drawn back into a ponytail – a hairstyle that Lex had forgotten she had ever worn – was slightly pulled out and matted with blood. Kara ran her tricorder over her and detected a mild concussion, but nothing life threatening for the moment. She lowered her mental defences and scanned Kate's mind to ensure that no damage had been done. "Computer, has anyone responded to the emergency beacon?" Kara asked a few moments later. "Affirmative," the male voice replied. "The starship Constitution has respond and is en-route. ETA is 25 minutes." With 25 minutes before history caught up with her, Kara set to work covering her tracks and making sure that history followed the course that had been laid out for it. Kara Lex watched patiently as the Ambassador-class USS Constitution activated her tractor beam and began to draw the Flyer into her shuttlebay. When the small ship was safely docked, Kara turned her attention back to her instruments and began to analyse what the computer had recorded about the anomaly that had deposited her here. But try as she might to concentrate on the data, her mind was elsewhere. The events of the past few hours weighed heavily on her mind, but she was adamant that she had done what needed to be done in order to preserve the timeline.

She just hoped that one day, Kate would learn her true origins… "Computer, set target; April 10th 2151, Alpha Quadrant, Rigel X." "Unable to comply," the ship replied emotionlessly. "Temporal impeller irreparably damaged." With that news, Kara swore in a way that would make a Klingon blush. Now she knew there was no means by which to warn the Relativity about the catastrophic result of their attempt to repair the timeline. Presented with no other viable alternative, Kara decided that if she couldn't prevent the coming apocalypse in the past, she'd have to prevent it in the present – and there was only one way she knew to do that … she had to prevent the traitor aboard the Argus from completing their mission. She'd have to watch over the ship like a guardian angel…

Act 1Five and a half years later: Stardate 53999.1 Kate Sheridan watched Arkin Jora from the centre chair, as the young Lieutenant’s hand yet again reached up to her collar, as if she still couldn't believe that she'd been given her promotion. It invoked her own memories of receiving her first promotion aboard Voyager, and a smile crossing her face as she recalled standing proudly in front of her extended family, as her father placed the new black centred pip on her collar. If only her mother had been there to see it… Kate suddenly had a memory her mother standing beside her father, her hair light with grey. Then she remembered something else – and as she saw her father step back in her mind’s eye, she noticed an extra pip on his collar.When was my father a captain? she asked herself, but the memory rolled on. "Congratulations, Kate," said Captain Katherine Janeway, "on behalf of the crew of the USS Voyager…" "…And the USS Sato," finished her father. What the? "Kate?" Sheridan suddenly turned to T’Kare at the tactical station, a dumbfounded expression on her face as she began to try and separate reality from memory. The Avian was clearly concerned. “Are you alright, Commander?” “Yes … fine, thank you,” she replied without much conviction. Truth be told, her lapse had her very worried – mainly because it was the latest in a string of them that had begun after her collapse on the bridge several months ago. As with all the other ‘memories’ – if that’s what they were – she remembered something that was inconsistent with what she knew, and each lapse was making her question what she remembered about her past more and more. But she was beginning to get frustrated with her lack of any answers.”Continue, Lieutenant.” “Yes, sir,” T’Kare responded, as Kate felt a gentle breeze on the back of her neck for the first time, an indication of a higher level of alertness in the ship’s Avian security chief. Why didn’t I feel it before? Kate wondered. “I’ve just detected a chronoton flux of 0.003,” T’Kare reported. “0.003?” repeated Kate, quickly rising from the seat and joining T’Kare. “Where?” “Deck 14, section 32.” “Have a security team meet me there,” she ordered, heading for the turbolift. “Captain Lex to the bridge.” But when Lex exited the ready room a moment later to find out why his first officer had summoned him, the only reply he got from T’Kare was a puzzled shrug of her shoulders. Kara Lex materialised in the Jeffries tube junction on deck 14, section 32 and immediately scanned her surroundings, acutely aware that she had very little time to ensure that events didn't repeat themselves as she had seen earlier. Detecting someone towards the port side of the ship from her current position, she opened the hatch in that direction and began to crawl towards the reading.

Suddenly she stopped – she could hear voices coming from just ahead of her, and decided to try to discover whether the voices were related to the prevention of the coming disaster, or just belonged to a couple of crewmembers who she needed to avoid. "…startled me," finished the first voice. "I wish I had not," replied the second, followed quickly by the unmistakably sound of a phaser firing and a thud as something hit the deck. Kara hurled herself along the Jeffries tube as fast as she could, desperate to catch up to her target. Unfortunately, her sudden burst of speed was at the expense of subtlety, as trying to move quickly down a cramped Jeffries tube inevitably made a lot of noise. As she continued down the conduit, Kara suddenly had to hold herself as flat against the floor as possible, as a phaser blast lashed out, lancing through the air only centimetres above her head. She remained pinned down by the assailant’s fire for several seconds before the barrage paused and she could carefully rise from her flattened position. Despite the fact the phaser shots had come dangerously close to striking her, Kara knew that killing her hadn’t been the attacker’s priority – the shots were far too random. A delaying tactic, she realised angrily, as she began moving along the confined passage quickly again, to try to catch up with her assailant before they got too far away from her. She reached the end of the tube and carefully extracted herself from it, making sure that her weapon covered all the possible directions of attack as best as she was able. Slumped on the deck in the middle of the junction was the face down, limp body of Ensign Fisher, a dark patch just visible on her left side, indicating where she'd been shot. Kara cautiously moved over and checked for the young woman's pulse, while still staying alert for possible attack. After discovering a very weak – but detectable – pulse, she carefully took a look at the phaser burn. Close range, low power, she surmised. Someone who knows their security protocols - anything higher would have set off the internal sensors. Still, she thought, the ensign was lucky. Even on such a low setting, a phaser can easily kill at such… "Don't move," someone said suddenly from behind, as they placed the business end of a phaser into her back.Kate wasted no time getting down to deck 14, beating the security team by several minutes, even though they had had an eight-deck head start. Must be a new record, she thought wryly to herself as she opened the Jeffries tube access hatch. As far as she knew, the last time someone had detected a chronoton flux with such a specific variance, it had nearly caused the destruction of the ship along with her entire crew. Voyager's near miss with temporal terrorism, averted thanks to the work of Seven of Nine and Kate's mother, Captain Janeway, had been part of Kate's classes growing up – so she knew that if someone from the future had come aboard this ship surreptitiously, it was certainly bad news, either directly or indirectly. Kate had to admit she wasn't quite sure which one she was hoping for, as she began to crawl through the Jeffries tube. She reached the junction at section 32 to find it empty, and immediately scanned for any evidence of tampering or temporally displaced weapons. On finding nothing, she scanned the hatches to see which, if any, was the most recently accessed – it was, of course, possible that the intruder could have been beaming off the ship instead of onto it. But even if that were the case, it would help to know where they had come from, and thereby give Kate some idea of why they were on her ship. After a few moments, she concluded that the hatch leading to the port side of the ship was the most recently accessed and quickly set off in that direction. When she nearer the next junction, she suddenly heard someone making a lot of noise, as if they were attempting to move quickly through the cramped space of the Jeffries tubes.

They know I'm on to them, Kate realised, and moved to enter the Jeffries tube in pursuit. Immediately, the sound from the tube ceased, replaced by the whine of phaser fire. Kate tried to quickly move out of the way, but a shot caught her left arm, making it go numb as she landed heavily against the bulkhead.Lower power … so that it won't set off the internal sensors, she though, as she picked herself up. Smart. She was about to return fire, but the quick movement in the tube ahead of her had started up again. Maybe they think they'd managed to stun me. Good – that’ll give me the element of surprise. Moving slowly to make as little noise as possible, she made her way down the Jeffries tube before finally reaching the far end and finding her target leaning over the motionless body of Ensign Fisher. Murderer! she thought, seeing the wound on the ensign’s side. "Don't move," she ordered, placing the muzzle of her phaser into the middle of their back.  At this range, and with Kate’s training, there was no way the temporal killer would be escaping now. It was then that the lights went out. Lex was uncomfortable. There was something going on onboard his ship, and he had no idea what it was. Kate's quick retreat from the bridge was unsettling – as if remaining here long enough to tell him what was happening was time that she couldn't afford. The fact that she'd gone into the Jeffries tubes before the security team had arrived tended to support this theory too.I hope you know what you're doing, Kate. To the casual observer, the bridge was no different than at any other time that the ship was travelling at warp. Lex had Arkin monitoring the ship’s systems for anything out of the ordinary, but since T'Kare had detected the chronoton flux, there had not been anything else of note. Lex noticed Arkin's hand go to her collar again, "If you keep that up, Lieutenant, you'll wear it out." He said with a chuckle, despite himself. Arkin's hand immediately shot down from her collar as if she just been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. A grin began to encroach on Lex face, but it quickly disappeared again as the lights flickered and died along with the rest of the ships systems. "What the?" exclaimed Lex, as the emergency lights activated.Arkin was desperately attempting to glean information from her dying console."We're losing all primary systems – backup's are offline," she reported urgently. "We've lost communications, weapons and…" "Propulsion," announced Ensign Yass, the Bolian at the helm. "We've lost all warp capability, impulse engines and thrusters – I've got nothing." "In other words," said Lex ominously, "we're dead in space." "What the hell did you do?" demanded Kate Sheridan, her phaser still firmly in Kara's back as the emergency lights came on."I haven't done anything," she replied, her voice hard. "Although your handiwork is obvious. What did Ensign Fisher disturb you doing?" "What?" said Kate, looking at the motionless ensign. "I didn't kill her, you did. Now what have you done to my ship?""I couldn't kill one of the Argus' crew, Kate," she replied, more softly this time. "This is my family." "What do you mean?" questioned the first officer.

Without making any sudden moves, Kara turned slowly and Kate recognized her for the first time. The face was years younger and the hair was auburn with no indication of the grey that would invade it in later life, but the eyes were unmistakable. "Kara Lex," Kate said with a false smile, taking a good look at her. "At least I outrank you this time." "Pardon?" Kara's question went unanswered, as Lieutenant Richards came out of the tube behind Sheridan. "Are you alright, Commander?" he asked, looking at the torn arm of her uniform. For the first time in a while, Kate remembered her numb arm. "I'll be fine," she replied, "check on Ensign Fisher." "She’s alive," stated Kara, "but she needs medical attention. "Listen to me, Kate – for you to have been hit by the phaser fire, you must have been behind me. Someone else is responsible for this – just check my phaser, it hasn't been discharged." Kate didn't take her phaser from Kara, but nodded to Richards to check it out. The lieutenant quickly checked over the 29th century weapon. "The powercell’s are still at full," he confirmed. "This hasn't been fired – low power or otherwise." "Lieutenant, get Ensign Fisher to sickbay," ordered Kate, lowering her phaser. "Kara and I are going to stop our saboteur before they do anymore damage." If that's possible, she added, as she disappeared with Kara into the tube that was the saboteur's most likely escape route.One of the reasons that Starfleet vessels were rarely disabled by sabotage or mechanical failure was the number of backup systems that they carried. While it was easy to disable the backup centrally from main engineering, in order for a saboteur to completely disable the ship, they would have to take out all of the backups manually at each of their decentralised locations, after they'd disabled the primary system and taken main power offline. It was, therefore, far easier to destroy the ship than to disable it … but then in this case, the plan had never been to destroy the ship, and straying from the plan even slightly usually meant a stint in the agony booth. Even after all this time, he still remembered the intense pain that those chambers of horrors caused. It was enough to make even the most emotionally detached Vulcan cry out in pain – although he'd heard that Spock had never cried out during the entire time that Emperor Tiberius tortured him to death for his betrayal. He quickly turned his attention back to the job at hand, his motivation re-ignited by the memory of the agony booth. He opened the panel and pulled out his phaser, aiming it at the systems inside. "That's far enough," said Kara sternly, as she stepped from around the corner, phaser levelled. Despite the weapon trained on him, he began to move anyway – but Kate Sheridan suddenly appeared to the other side of him, her phaser also levelled."It's over… Simok."

Act 2

"We should have propulsion restored within the next couple of hours, but our external communications systems are completely destroyed," reported Dulmis.  "There's no way we can get them up and running again without returning to a starbase." Lex sat at the head of the table in the observation lounge, taking in the operations officer’s report, yet was still having a problem grasping the reality of the situation. Simok. Had. Betrayed. Him. How was that possible? "Captain?" Kate asked, concerned. "Have we got anything useful out of the prisoner?" he asked. Simok! "Not yet, sir," T'Kare replied. "We don't even know if he was working alone or for someone else." "And Ensign Fisher?" "Is recovering well," said Frazier, happy to be the one bringing good news to the table. "Her phaser burns were quite severe, but she should be up and about in a day or two." "Good," said Lex, distractedly, as he felt himself becoming more and more distant as this meeting progressed. Come on, Jono, pull yourself together! he thought, giving himself a mental slap in the face. He decided it was time to take control of the situation – his crew were looking to him for guidance during this difficult and confusing time, and it was his responsibility to ensure that they could all pull through this together.  They’d be time for him, and everyone else, to analyse what had happened later – but now was the time for action, not reflection. "Lieutenant T'Kare – before we get under way, I want to know why he was attempting to sabotage the ship, and whether or not he has any accomplices. "Lieutenant Dulmis, I'm temporarily placing you in charge of engineering. I want those repairs completed as soon as possible, and then run a level two diagnostic on every system. He's had unlimited access to every inch of this ship and all the time in the world, so I don't want to take any chances. Sara, I you want to help him. "Kate, tell Kara that I want to see her in my ready room immediately after this. Then I want you to help T'Kare. "Dismissed." The Argus' senior officers filed out in silence, leaving Lex alone for a moment. Why in heaven’s name did you do it, Simok? But not for the first time since he’d been told, Lex had to ask himself why he wasn't more angry over this. Kate Sheridan was fuming. In her eyes, betrayal was one of the greatest evils that existed in the universe, and it wasn't something that she took lightly. When her security number two, Lieutenant Parsons, had turned out to be a Changeling three years ago, she'd taken it as a devastating blow. How was it that someone like that could have escaped her notice for so long? Now she found herself asking the same question again. How could Simok be a traitor right under her nose? How could they have worked side by side for years, without her picking up on some subtle clue as to what he had planned? How come it took the intervention of an outsider for her to even become aware of his betrayal? But then that was the nature of betrayal. Every member of this crew trusted every other member with their lives on a daily basis. If you started suspecting people of betrayal, then the ship would fall apart.

Beside Kate stood T'Kare, her wings twitching with rage as she instinctively flexed her talons. It was obvious to Kate that the same thoughts were going through T'Kare's mind. Kate had been in those shoes – was in those shoes. There was no other way a security chief could see this, other than a failure to do his or her duty. "Why?" Sheridan asked, taking a step closer to the forcefield. "Why did you do it, Simok?" The Vulcan chief engineer looked up calmly. He was sat on the side of the bunk, his elbows resting on the top half of his legs, and his hands interlaced with his index fingers touching at their tips. His face was completely emotionless. After a moment, he looked down again. "Do you have an accomplice?" asked T'Kare. Simok didn't move. "Look here, you son of a…" started T'Kare, but Kate touched her arm, stopping her in mid sentence."We're not going to get anywhere while we're like this, T'Kare. "Whatever it was he was attempting to accomplish, he's failed," Kate continued, heading for the door. "We'll be on our way again within a few hours, and whatever plan he had for us will fail completely." "Commander," Simok called out quietly, stopping her on the threshold. "I … I wish to speak with the captain." Kate and T'Kare looked at each other and then at Simok. But what Kate saw in the engineer's face chilled her to the bone. She'd had never seen fear in the eyes of a Vulcan before. Jonozia Lex placed the two cups of Earl Grey on his desk and took his seat opposite the woman who could best be described as his entire future. Kara Lex was both his daughter and the future host for the symbiont with which he shared his existence. He could see his wife in her features and himself in her soul. “I know what you're going to ask,” she stated simply. Jonozia smiled. “And what would that be?” “Why Kara Tarm?” she replied. Jonozia’s smile grew wider; “Actually, my first question would be ‘how’?” “Oh,” she said, slightly deflated. “I’m a telepath.” “Obviously on your mother’s side.” “Something like that,” she replied non-committally. “So why did you pose as Lieutenant Tarm?” “I thought that I … I mean you,” she corrected, “could do with another perspective. You weren’t ready…” She stopped herself mid-sentence, and Jonozia didn’t like it. “I wasn’t ready for what?” “I can’t say,” she back peddled. “I’ve said too much as it is. Suffice to say, that I’ve been keeping my eye on the Argus in general, and you in particular, for a while.” Something occurred to Jonozia suddenly. “You once told me that I could avoid the future I saw, and that I should watch Vulcan to do it.” Kara nodded silently in agreement. “With Vulcan being our current destination, I can help but think that what is happening now is connected?” “Next to Earth, Vulcan is the most important planet in the Federation,” replied Kara cryptically. “It’s always wise to keep an eye on it.” “That doesn’t really answer my question.” “Are you aware of Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle?” she asked. At Jonozia’s nod, she continued, “Something similar applies to time. Just by being here, I’ve already altered the

timeline. It makes such predictions…" she paused for a moment, searching for the right word, " …unreliable, at best.” “In other words, you’re not going to tell me.” “I could, Captain,” she said, taking a sip of her, until now, untouched tea, and hiding a wry smile behind it, “but then I’d have to kill you, and that opens up a whole other set of problems.” “Huh,” commented Lex, treating her reply with the disbelief it deserved as he too picked up his cup and began to drink the contents. "However, Captain," she continued. "There is something you need to know…" Kate Sheridan entered the turbolift to find Sara Parker waiting there and she nodded politely. "Deck one," ordered Kate as the doors closed. "On your way to see the captain?" asked the science officer. "Yep." "So Simok's told something?" "No," replied Kate, her shoulders sagging. "He hasn't given us any new information." Kate thought she saw Sara relax ever so slightly, but dismissed it as her own paranoia. If she wasn’t careful, she’d soon start suspecting everyone on the ship because of that one traitor. "He’s scared of something though, and he wants to see the captain," she added. "Maybe he'll tell Lex something we can use." "Or maybe the captain is another intruder, or a replacement, or is being controlled…" "Computer, halt turbo lift." Kate looked hard at the science officer, before continuing. "Are you suggesting that the commanding officer of this ship – not to mention your husband – is not…" Sara put her hand up to stop Kate. "Not at all," she said quickly. "But I don’t think we should assume that Simok was necessarily working alone – and if he did have an accomplice, it could very easily be anyone onboard, including the captain.  After all, if we can’t trust our chief engineer, who can we trust? All I'm suggesting is that you should be open to the idea." Kate was convinced and she saw that Sara knew it. "Someone doesn't want us going anywhere, or us telling anyone we’re unable to go anywhere – and I doubt very much that Simok is their only means of doing that. The captain could do it all without being questioned by anyone. Hell, Simok may have been acting under his orders and not understand why he's been branded a traitor. "After all, I’ve noticed that Lex doesn’t seem particularly angry at Simok’s betrayal – haven’t you?" "Until I have proof otherwise, I'm not going to suspect anyone else aboard this ship," Kate said carefully. "Simok's actions only reflect on him, as far as I’m concerned. "Computer, resume turbolift." "I hope for the sake of this crew that you’re right, Commander," said Sara cautiously, as the turbolift reached her destination and she stepped out. "If not, who knows how far-reaching the consequences might be." The doors closed, but as Kate continued on to the bridge, she couldn't shake the feeling that Sara's last comment had sounded almost like a threat. Maybe it was just her imagination, especially as the conversion had introduced doubt into her mind, something she was very uncomfortable with, given the current circumstances onboard.Lex turned in his chair as Kate Sheridan exited the turbolift."The prisoner has asked to see you, Captain," she said, getting straight to the point. "I think you may have a better chance of getting him to tell you something than the rest of us have." "Very well," the captain replied uncomfortably, as he rose from his seat and headed towards the turbolift. The idea of interrogating his own chief engineer just didn’t seem right, no matter

what the facts before him said.  But if Simok was ready to talk, Lex had to do all he could to find out what was really going on onboard his ship. As he neared the turbolift doors, his commbadge unexpectedly chirped, and Lex paused on the upper level tapping his badge before replying. "Lex here." "Captain, I'm on my way up to give you a report on our system’s status," reported Dulmis, "but I thought you might like to know that we've got propulsion back. However, with things as they are, we'll be restricted to a maximum of warp 6 for the time being." "Understood, James, and well done – warp 6 is a lot better than nothing. Meet me in my ready room in thirty minutes – I have something to attend to first." "Aye, sir. Dulmis out." "Ensign Yass, set course for Vulcan and engage at warp 6." "Aye, sir." "Lieutenant Arkin, you have the bridge," Lex finished, as he finally followed Sheridan into the turbolift. Until now, Lex hadn't been able to feel angry at Simok's betrayal – it had seemed too unbelievable to be real, like it was something that had happened to someone else, or it was just a dream from which he’d soon awaken. But now, as he stood in the ship's brig on deck 8, looking down at his trusted veteran engineer, Lex could feel his anger rise. What had given Simok the right to jeopardise his ship and crew? What could have possibly motivated him to do such a thing? Kate Sheridan stood silently beside Lex, and it seemed to him that his first officer was being a little over protective – or possibly overly suspicious – when she refused to leave him alone with Simok when the Vulcan had requested it. Whatever it was that Simok had to say to him would now have to be said to the both of them – and given the unacknowledged air of mistrust that had descended upon the crew since Simok’s capture, Lex actually preferred to have an audience. Simok was maintaining his meditative position behind the brig's forcefield and he hadn't moved since the captain and first officer's arrival, except to request that he speak to the captain alone.  Calmly looking up, the Vulcan finally broke his silence. "I wish to request asylum." Lex and Sheridan looked at each other in confusion, before Kate asked the obvious question. "From who?" "I have much information that may be of interest to you, if you grant my request," he continued, ignoring the question, "as well as information that would be ‘interesting’ to your superiors, should you refuse it." At this remark, Kate looked at Lex suspiciously, wondering what Simok could be referring to so threateningly. Lex too was surprised and bemused – what could Simok have had access to that would be of ‘interest’ to Lex’s superiors. Suddenly, Lex felt his blood begin to boil, as he realised that Simok had to be alluding to the circumstances of Lex’s 'resurrection' a year ago… "You want to escape Federation justice," he shouted, "and you're blackmailing me to do it! What kind of Vulcan are you!" "I am a Vulcan who is attempting to ensure his survival," Simok replied flatly. "And I said that I wanted asylum, not escape from Federation justice. "I have failed in my mission, and for that, the punishment can be only death," he continued. "Without your protection, I will die." For the first time, Lex saw the fear in Simok's eyes, behind the emotional control. But he also realised that the Vulcan wasn't afraid that he was going to die –he seemed to have accepted that as inevitable. No, he was afraid of how he was going to die…

"I'll consider your request," Lex replied, knowing that there was a lot he needed to consider before making a decision. "But first…" "Captain!" interjected Sheridan, horrified. Lex raised his hand to silence his X-O. "But first," he repeated, "I want to know who is responsible for this. Who is it that you need protecting from?" Simok appeared to open his mouth to begin to speak, but he made no sound. He seemed to try again, but this time he began gasping for air and clutching his throat. A fraction of a second later, and Simok's face had turned white, as he let out a strangled gurgle and slumped to the floor. "I'll disengage the forcefield," Sheridan said, rushing for the control desk. "No," ordered Lex quickly. "Whatever killed him is airborne. "Lex to transporter room 1," he said, tapping his commbadge. "Emergency medical beam out to sickbay quarantine from the brig." As Simok disappeared in the shower of the transporter effect, he weakly answered Lex's final question. "The…. Empire…"

Act 3Captain Alyson Foxton carefully sipped at her recently replicated Raktajino, as she looked over the Sentinel's systems status reports. The Akira-class' ready room was quite spacious, with a large forward facing set of windows underlined by a comfortable couch. The Sovereign-class may be the most advanced ship of the fleet, but Foxton always though that its ready room simply couldn't compare to the luxury of the Akira-class. Alyson was currently in high spirits. It had been a good year for her and her crew, and she was looking forward to congratulating them on a job well done at the ship's New Year’s party in a few short hours. Her concentration broken, she placed the PADD she'd been reading on the coffee table and turned to look out the giant windows. Despite the fact that the Sentinel was the only active ship currently docked there, the interior of Starbase Two was bustling with activity, as small craft of various types ferried people about. There was even word on the grapevine that the Venture was hosting a party in its great hall, which was likely to be a riot if Captain Giltesh's last birthday was anything to go by. "Bridge to Captain Foxton," came Lieutenant Parn's voice over the comm. Foxton turned from the view and addressed the room. "Foxton here." "Captain, we're receiving a transmission from Admiral Hayes at Starfleet Headquarters. He says it's urgent." Foxton rose from her seat and headed for her desk. "Put it through here, Lieutenant," she instructed, taking her seat. A moment later, the admiral's face filled the screen on her desk monitor. "How can I help you, Admiral?" she asked curiously. "We have something of a situation developing, Captain," Hayes began, getting straight down to business. "I need you to intercept the USS Argus and prevent her from accessing the MIDAS Array."

"Can I ask what this is about, Admiral?" she asked, clearly puzzled. "I thought that the Argus was currently on a mission to upgrade the array?" "She was," stated Hayes, "but for reasons that I can't discuss over subspace, I need you to prevent them from accessing it. The USS Discovery will arrive shortly and take over from you." "And if they resist?" Alyson Foxton could hardly believe that she was even contemplating such a thing, but she needed to know how far the admiral expected her to go. "We're not much of a match for a Sovereign-class ship." "Do what you can," replied Hayes gravely. "Use whatever means are necessary to stall them. Hell, if they succeed in activating the array – destroy it. Understood?" "Aye, sir." "Good luck to you, Captain," he finished abruptly. "Hayes out." "Computer," she began as soon as the screen returned to the spinning UFP seal. "Authenticate last transmission sent to this console." "The last transmission to this console originated from the office of Admiral Hayes at Starfleet Headquarters on Earth." "Okay..." she said to herself as she headed for the bridge, "now this is weird." Jonozia Lex sat listening carefully to his chief medical officer's report. He had known that he wasn't going to like it, but he wasn't sure exactly how bad it would be. "As near as I can tell," explained Simon Frazier, "Simok was killed by some sort of neural toxin that was introduced into the cell's air supply. It's probably the most deadly and fast acting agent I've ever seen – he was dead by the time the transport was completed." Frazier’s findings left Lex with only one conclusion … and it was something that he could barely bring himself to contemplate. Somewhere aboard his ship was a second saboteur, someone who obviously had a lot to lose if the identity of the real culprit behind this was revealed. Trouble was, Lex had absolutely no suspects. "Who has access to those environmental systems?" he asked, hoping for a lucky break. "Any one of a hundred people," replied Sheridan dejectedly. "And with engineering running diagnostics for further evidence of sabotage, it’ll be impossible to trace back to who accessed the systems at that time." "That will be all, thank you, Doctor," said Lex wearily, dismissing the CMO. Frazier nodded and left the ready room. "Any thoughts?" Lex asked his X-O, once they were alone. "His last words, Captain," she volunteered. "He said ‘the Empire’, as if they were behind all this." "But which one?" asked Lex rhetorically. "Romulan?" suggested Kate, hopefully. "He could easily have been a Romulan posing as a Vulcan – and this wouldn't be the first time that they've hijacked one of our ships." Lex shook his head. "No. He wasn't trying to hijack the ship, he wanted to disable it. The question is, why?" "He became scared when we started back en-route for Vulcan," Kate remembered. "But why would someone want to disable us out here?" "His first target onboard was the communications array," stated Lex. "It was the worst damaged area, and still hasn’t been repaired." Lex smiled to himself, slowly beginning to understand. "And if we can't communicate, we can't be located." "Someone wants us lost?" "I think it's worse than that," said the Trill Captain, as the final piece fell into place in his mind. "Someone wants to replace us.   

"The Empire we're looking for is Terran."“Red Alert! Shields Up!” ordered Captain Foxton, as the Argus armed its weapons, a second before the Sovereign-class starship unleashed its deadly arsenal against the Akira-class cruiser. On the bridge, crewmen were thrown from their positions as several control stations exploded. “Report!” shouted Foxton over the chaos, as she pulled herself back into the centre seat. “Shields at 26%,” Parn called out in reply. Somehow the Bolian operations officer had managed to stay in his chair. “We’ve got hull breaches on decks 4, 6 and 7 – emergency forcefields holding for now.” “Evasive manoeuvres, Ensign Wallace,” Foxton commanded. “Parn, return fire – all weapons.” The two officers didn’t acknowledge, but simply did their assigned tasks, and as the attacking ship fired again, the Sentinel began weaving in and out of the deadly energy streams, all the while firing her own weapons. It was a battle worthy of David and Goliath – but unfortunately, this time Goliath was wearing armour, and David could have been firing cotton wool from his catapult for all the effect the Sentinel’s weapons were having. As things stood, they were lucky just to be surviving. But their luck couldn’t last forever, and once again the Argus’ weapons found their target. The Sentinel’s shields collapsed under the first immense barrage, and one of her nacelles was hit hard, spewing out a stream of blue plasma that twisted across space as the Sentinel spun out of control, her power failing. On the bridge, Alyson Foxton gripped the arms of her chair, determined that she was going to go down in command of her ship if that's what it took. The Sentinel had never been a match for the awesome destructive power the Argus was capable of – but her ship and her crew had done their best to carry out the orders they had been given.  Fire quickly surrounded her, now the only source of light on the powerless bridge, and as she waited for the killing blow that would relieve her of both her command and her life, she simply had one question. Why, Kat … why? However, the expected final blow never came, and she was still waiting to die when the transporter beam took hold of her moments later.Alyson Foxton slowly began to regain consciousness, carefully attempting to open her eyes. When the light proved to be too bright for her to handle, she simply kept them closed. She felt weak, and a dull pain throbbed throughout her entire body. A short distance from her, or possibly just above her, she could hear two voices – but it took a moment for her to register what they were saying."I've repaired the worst of her injuries and healed her burns," said the first voice, a male. "But she'll need to rest for the next few days." "Good," replied the second voice, another male, but this time one she thought she recognized. "How long before she regains consciousness?" "Shouldn't be too long now," answered the first voice. "The sedative was only a mild one, so that I could work more easily to heal the injuries." "Let me know when she's awake," ordered Lex. Alarms rang in her head – the second voice was Lex! She immediately forgot her earlier weakness and lunged for him, trying to do as much damage as possible. But the reality of her injuries took over almost instantly, and before she got near him, she slumped back onto the bio-bed, her head spinning. She tried to focus her vision, and saw the horrified face of Jonozia Lex. "You bastard!" she cried, before she sank back and lost consciousness again. When consciousness returned to her again, Jonozia Lex was still there, waiting. Her outburst had clearly shaken him, especially after he'd rescued her from her failing ship, and saved both

from complete destruction. However, that didn't mean he didn't understand why she had reacted in such a way – after all, the ship that had attacked and nearly destroyed the Sentinel was the Terran Empire’s equivalent of his own. "How are you feeling, Ally?" She looked up at him, hatred boiling in her eyes. "Why'd you do it, Lex?" she asked through gritted teeth. "What's so damn important about that array, that you had to destroy my ship?" "We didn't attack you,” Lex replied calmly. "Right," she said, in a tone of bitter sarcasm, "who was it then, some evil counterpart from another dimension?" "Well, er … actually, yes," replied Lex, surprised. She looked at him harder for a moment, locking eyes with his, before realising that he was serious. "Oh." "Ally, I need to know what they were trying to do." "The admiral didn't tell me much," she replied, still taking it all in. "Only that I was to prevent the Argus from accessing the MIDAS Array at all costs." Lex's commbadge beeped, interrupting them. "Bridge to Captain." The Trill tapped the delta on his shirt. "Lex here." "Captain," came Sheridan's voice over the comm, "we've just received a distress call from Starbase Two. They say they're under attack." "Can you confirm it?" "We're getting intermittent sensor readings of a ship that could be Sovereign-class," answered Sara. "They could be doing cloaked strafing runs." "Set course for the starbase at full impulse,” ordered Lex, heading for the door.A few minutes later, Lex entered the bridge, just as the ship reached the starbase."I'm not detecting any evidence of battle, Captain," announced Arkin, who had replaced Dulmis at the ops station again. "There's nothing here, sir." "Nothing?" repeated Lex, puzzled. "What do you mean, nothing?" "There’s nothing here," she confirmed. Lex looked to his wife for an explanation. "Sara?" "I don't know, Captain," she replied. "There was something here a moment ago – now it's just gone." "And we've left the array unguarded," pointed out Sheridan. "You think it's a decoy?" "Wouldn't be the first time a saboteur has fooled a starship's sensors." "Captain,” injected Arkin. "I'm reading a subspace rift, bearing 180, mark 001." "The array," confirmed Sheridan. "Helm, reverse course, and engage at Warp 2!""Commander Vajar, shut down that array now!" ordered Thomas Patel. "Aye, sir," replied the Discovery's Kobliad tactical officer, immediately targeting, then firing, a full spread of torpedoes at the MIDAS Array. Captain Patel watched as the twinkling missiles leapt forth from his Galaxy-class ship, intent on taking out the source of their problems. However, at the last moment before impact, their path was blocked by a starship that seemed to come out of nowhere, and which easily absorbed their destructive force with its shields. "I thought you said they were behind us!" said Patel angrily to his tactical officer. "They are," he protested, and as if to prove his point, the ISS Argus rocked the Discovery with another barrage of phaser fire, before flying over their heads and turning its attention to the newcomer. "Who the hell's that then?" "That's our Argus," answered Kirby from the ops station.

"Hail them,” commanded Patel, a slight expression of relief flashing across his face. "I can't," Kirby replied. "It looks like their communications array is non-functional." "Lex must have stopped those torpedoes for a reason," Patel speculated aloud. "What if they're working with the other Argus?" Lisley asked from beside him. "Commander Vajar, any indication that their weapons are operating at anything less than full strength?""No, sir." "Then I’m sure they would have attacked by now and finished us off if they were working together," Patel reasoned. "With the USS Argus here, the odds look a little better for us. Vajar, see if you can keep the other Argus off them – it’s time to finish this once and for all."

Act 4 The bridge of the USS Argus shock violently as her shields absorbed the impact of the Discovery's torpedoes. Sara had only warned Lex what the disastrous consequences of destroying the array would be moments before the Discovery fired, but the Trill hadn't hesitated in ordering his ship between the torpedoes and the array. No sooner had the Argus weathered the storm from the Discovery, than the ship was rocked again – but this time she'd been targeted by her Empire Universe’s counterpart. "Shields at 46% and holding," reported T'Kare, as the ISS Argus’ weapons pounded away relentlessly. "Return fire," ordered Lex. T'Kare worked her console with her customary skill and scored several direct hits on the other ship, just as the Discovery came into range and did the same. "Okay, people – suggestions," requested Lex, during the brief lull. "There's not much we can do while the array is still feeding the rift," Sara reminded him. "But we can't turn off the array without destabilising the rift completely." "The rift is already destabilised," Arkin pointed out. "Kobiashi Maru," T'Kare observed. "The no-win scenario?" asked Lex rhetorically. "I don't believe in it. Few Captains do." "If we can't shut down the array, why don’t we try to re-channel the energy?" suggested Arkin. "Explain, Lieutenant," said Sheridan. "We could use our deflector and shields to re-channel the energy into closing the rift, using a static warp shell like we’ve done before." "Our shields won't stand that kind of battering," countered Sara. "The shield grid will overload in a matter of seconds. "We're better off trying to ride this thing out – let the cycle that's running on the array complete its programme and then sort it out from there." "That's insane," said Sheridan incredulously. "The situation could be infinitely worst by then." "You don't know that," retorted Parker. "We could end up being the cause of a disaster if we meddle with the array now." "No," said Lex, ending the discussion. "I'm glad you see sense, Captain," interjected Parker, satisfied. "We can't just ride this out,” Lex continued. “The Rift will become too unstable.”

"How can we stop it, then?" challenged Parker. "Our shields won't be able to stand up to that kind of punishment." "They're also not designed to re-channel energy like that," Lex calmly stated. "Then how…" "The Corbimite Reflector," explained Lex. "We know very little about that technology, Captain," reminded Sheridan. "It could destroy the ship." "You're right, Kate – but we know enough to try," Lex said, rising from his chair. "I have a plan, and I want to start by evacuating the ship…""Captain, the USS Argus is launching escape pods," reported Kirby, "and the ISS Argus is moving to intercept them." "Put us between those pods and the Empire ship," ordered Patel. "Open up the aft shields and begin beaming aboard survivors." "Aye, sir." The Discovery shuddered again, as the ISS Argus re-launched her attack. "All the pods are clear of the Argus," announced Kirby. "The Argus is now moving towards the rift." "ISS Argus moving to intercept," warned Vajar. "Are all the survivors aboard?" asked Patel hopefully. "Not yet," replied Vajar grimly. "Keep firing – but keep our open shield away from them." Unexpectedly, the turbolift doors opened and Kate Sheridan burst onto the bridge. "Kate?" said Patel in surprise. "Where's Captain Lex?" Kate paused for a second, and Patel almost wished he hadn’t asked the question. "He's taking the Argus in on his own.”Lex sat at the helm and adjusted the Argus' course as the ship took another battering from her Empire Universe’s counterpart. He didn't bother returning fire; instead he simply concentrated on guiding the ship into position. That was all that mattered now. "Step away from the console, Jono," ordered a voice from behind him. Lex didn't bother turning – he already knew who it was. "I expected you to make your move long before now, Sara," he replied calmly. "I won't hold it against you, though – but I'm not the one you've got to worry about, am I?" He finished programming the course into the helm and rose from his seat to face her, a phaser in her hand. "How…" she started. "…did I know?" he completed. "That's a bit of a clichéd response, isn't it?" Sara said nothing. "I had my suspicions ever since we ‘rescued’ you from the Vampri System," Lex continued. "Kara simply confirmed it." She continued to look at him in disbelief. "You'd have thought after 14 years together, I'd know my own wife," he said offended, before his expression became hard. "You are most defiantly not her." "You're right there," she replied, her features becoming equally hard. "I'd never sacrifice my life so pointlessly." Lex’s expression dropped as he silently repeated the word 'sacrifice', as if he couldn't comprehend its meaning. Sara watched with glee. "Didn't I mention that?" she said in mock surprise, then she continued harshly. "Your wife is dead, Lex! I killed her myself." Her face had corrupted into a sneer.

Jonozia's entire being was wracked with pain, and he was fighting back the tears welling up in his eyes. Damn it, Jono, fight it! shouted his inner voice. There'll be time to grieve later! "He wanted you to see the overwhelming force that will finally crush your Federation before you died, Captain," she continued, as she raised her phaser. "But I wasn’t to know that you’d try something foolish before then." Sara took aim for the centre of his chest – not that it really mattered where she aimed when her phaser was set at level 16. As long as it hit him, he wouldn't survive. Suddenly, a phaser beam lashed out, striking her hand and knocking the phaser from it.   "All that you'll accomplish," said Kara from the entrance to the observation lounge, "is the end of existence within this galaxy." Kara, keeping her phaser trained on Sara, carefully walked down and picked up the recently dropped weapon. "Jono, it's time." Lex, now almost zombie-like, returned to the seat at the helm. "Computer, activate program Lex Alpha." All around the Argus, the crimson webbed effect of the corbimite reflector flared to life as the ship entered the event horizon of the rift. Several of the consoles around the bridge exploded instantly, such was the huge level of energy that the ship was attempting to re-direct into repairing subspace. Sara tried to take advantage of the confusion that had quickly enveloped the bridge, lunging at Kara. But she never reached her, as she was suddenly enveloped in the blue energies of the rift. Something similar was happening to Kara, and a moment later the both of them disappeared as a bolt of blue energy shot out from the rift and connected the USS Argus to the ISS Argus. In the midst of all this chaos, Lex found himself sat alone on his ship, as the blue energy crackled across her hull, and her systems – both major and minor – exploded as the intense energy overloaded them all."What's happening!" demanded Captain Jonozia Lex in the captain's chair of the ISS Argus. "They're re-channelling the energy – using it to close the rift," explained Dulmis uneasily. "Stop them," ordered Lex sternly. This wasn't going at all the way he'd planned; he should have been about to lead his fleet to final victory over the Federation, not staring defeat in the face. What the hell was Sara doing? She was there to prevent exactly this! As if to answer his unspoken question, Sara suddenly appeared on the ISS Argus’ bridge, right in front of the viewscreen. But the really strange thing was that Lex was sure he'd seen a ship fly straight out of the rift, then pass straight through the USS Argus and his ship, only a moment before. But before he could work out what was going on, his ship began shaking violently as it was enveloped in blue energy. Lex raised his hands to cover his eyes from the unbearable brightness, as the ISS Argus disappeared from the Federation's universe."Kara's gone," reported Lieutenant Ducane on the bridge of the USS Relativity. "Then time should realign itself momentarily," assured Braxton. "No, sir – I mean she's gone. I don't think she made it to her destination … she simply disappeared into the timestream." "Captain, I'm detecting a change in the disruption," interrupted Varesh. "I think we might be able to break free." "Mr Ducane, pick a destination," Braxton invited. Ducane paused for a moment, before issuing orders, "Timeframe: Stardate 50998; Alpha Quadrant. Target: Wolf 359."

Just then, Kara Lex appeared at the back of the Relativity's bridge, just in time to hear their destination. "Engage," commanded Braxton, and as the USS Relativity jumped to another point in time, taking with it the spatial rift, Kara Lex's warning came as a surprise to everyone.Moments earlier on the Discovery, Kate Sheridan had finished filling Captain Patel in on Lex’s plan, and Arkin Jora, James Dulmis, T’Kare, Parn and Alyson Foxton had now joined her on the bridge, where all eyes were now glued to the viewscreen. The USS Argus could be seen at the centre of the swirling blue/white energies and the rapidly growing mists. The apparent inactivity of the Sovereign-class ship hid the battle that was currently going on aboard, but the rapid approach of the ISS Argus made her plans blatantly obvious. Patel turned to his tactical officer, “Commander Vajar, target the ISS Argus – full spread of torpedoes.” “Captain,” Kirby called out, “the USS Argus has activated her corbimite reflector.” On the viewscreen, the Argus was suddenly surrounded by the red web of the reflector, in stark contrast to the blue of the rift. “Belay that last order, Commander,” said Patel. “They can’t touch him now … and all we can do is watch.” On the screen before them, the rift began to shrink almost immediately, and not a single person on the bridge dared to even breathe for fear that it would disturb the process. Then suddenly, a blue streak shot out from the rift, engulfing the two Argus’ and collapsing the rift almost instantly. “Shut down that array,” ordered Patel without hesitation, not removing his eyes from the screen. Quickly and quietly, Kirby did as ordered and the stream of energy from the MIDAS Array ceased – but not the energy surround the two ships. Blue lightning crackled uncontrollably across their hulls – then the ISS Argus simply disappeared, there one minute and gone the next. In the same instant, the energy around the USS Argus dissipated, leaving the ship drifting and lifeless. “Lieutenant McKnight, take us to within transporter range – now,” ordered Patel, hoping that they weren’t already too late.

Epilogue Captains Log, Starship Discovery: Stardate 54002.5 

The USS Argus and USS Sentinel have been towed back to Starbase Two and the survivors have disembarked. The damage to the Sentinel is not as severe as Captain Foxton had feared, and despite the ship's total loss of power, she should be space-worthy again within the next four to six weeks. The Argus, however, is not in such good shape.

The energy discharge from the collapsing rift overloaded nearly every system aboard, destroying most of them, and leaving the ship in need of a complete refit of almost every major and minor system. I can’t help but think that other starships have been decommissioned while being in a far better state. I really don't rate her chances of ever seeing open space again as very high, but then again, only time will tell.

On a personal note, I'm also worried about Captain Lex. Since we returned to the starbase, he’s withdrawn to his quarters and nobody

has seen him more than once or twice. He's taking the loss of his command hard – as I would – but the added loss of his wife has pushed him to breaking point. Although several people have attempted to approach him since we’ve got back, he's pushed them all away, saying that he wants to be alone.

I only hope that he soon realises he's not alone, and that we're all here for him.

The Discovery is now heading back to Vampri III to help with the relief effect on that world, and to look for anything that the ISS Argus may have left behind. Although we know that Sara Parker's replacement began her infiltration of the Argus from there, we have little other information about what the ISS Argus was up to these past years, leaving many unanswered questions, the largest of these being how long Simok had been replaced for. With the length of time the Empire starship was in our universe, it's quite possible the ‘real’ Simok never reported for duty aboard the Argus four years ago in the first place.

 The room was almost completely dark, the only sources of light coming from Vulcan's distant star, which was almost completely filtered out by the windows, and the active viewscreen at one end of the room.Seated in front of the screen, Jonozia Lex stared at the images blankly. Through his haze of loss and pain, he'd gone looking for his mentor for support – but instead had found yet another tragedy that only increased his feeling of despair. Now he looked on numbly as the news reports cycled continuously, watching as the dry-dock at Utopia Planitia exploded again and again. "…Starfleet has confirmed the destruction of a number of starships in the tragedy, one of the worst to ever have occurred during peacetime," the Newscaster reported solemnly. "Among the ships lost were the Miranda-class USS Antietam, the Excelsior-class USS Lincoln and Sovereign-class USS Liberty. The final death toll is still unknown, but Vice-Admiral T'Kara, Vice-Admiral Alexander Pierce, retired Starfleet legend Admiral Leonard McCoy and veteran captain Luciano Mantovanni are believed to be among the dead. Starfleet's Commander-in-Chief, Fleet Admiral Alynna Nechyev had this to say…" "Computer, freeze," said Lex emotionlessly. "Rewind to time index 001 and play." "Tragedy struck in the heart of the Federation today, when an explosion killed hundreds of Starfleet personnel and civilians at the Utopia Planitia shipyards…" began the recording again, and as it did, Jonozia Lex placed his head in his hands and retreated deeper into the comforting darkness of his mind…  

 Created Stardate 10202.10© 2001 Alex Thompson