Star Trek: Intrepid
Pre Emptive Maneuvers - Part 6
by Galen Holcomb
(intrepidlogs@hotmail.com)

Pre Emptive Maneuvers - Part 6

Forward from the author:
This tale is the second part of a story arc that began with "The Double Edge." This story, and the preceding one, take place during the Dominion War. The final chapter will be chronicled in "Inevitability."

Chapter 7

They fell.

On the ship's forward viewscreen, an endless tunnel stretched before them. It seemed to wind in every direction and through every dimension. It was not what Captain Hiroko had expected. The transwarp corridors she had read about had seemed like they might be an exhilarating journey. Instead, this felt like a rollercoaster ride through purgatory. The ship bounced and shook and every time they passed an interconnecting passage, they were nearly pulled off course. Hiroko didn't want to consider where they might end up if that happened.

"Report." She ordered. It was true that she needed the report, but equally true that she needed the sound of her own voice.

Ensign Manta could no longer look at the vortex in front of him. He kept his eyes stubbornly on his board. "Structural integrity holding at 87%. Sensors are blind."

"Subspace distortions are stable, but engineering reports that stress is increasing to a dangerous level." Sully said from tactical.

"How long can we stay in here?" the captain asked.

"Less than ten minutes." She replied. "The superstructure has taken too much damage recently. It can't handle these stress levels much longer."

Hiroko tapped her armrest. "Engineering divert remaining power into structural integrity."

The viewscreen flashed brightly before she heard the response. There was a burst of light, and then the blackness of space greeted them.

Just like that, the journey had ended.

Manta grinned openly. "What a relief." He said.

Hiroko sat up just a little straighter in her chair. "CON officer, I need to know our position."

"Scanning, captain," the helm officer replied as she began calling up starcharts and locator buoys.

Hiroko stood and walked around to the forward part of the bridge. Not long ago, she had commanded a Galaxy Class starship. She was still getting used to the confines of Sentry's smaller control room.

A moment later, her answer came.

"Captain, we've arrived in the Kokala system!"

Hiroko nodded, unfazed by the announcement. "And the Intrepid?"

Manta inclined his head towards the forward screen. "Directly ahead. Distance 521 Kilometers. We're both traveling at one half impulse."

It was then that the blood seemed to drain from Ensign Manta's face. The young OPS officer stared at his instruments. His mouth opened, then closed.

Captain Hiroko, ever alert to new trouble, noticed his reaction and she looked at him in alarm. After everything this crew had just been through, what new threat could provoke such a reaction?

And then she saw it. On the main screen, an enormous cloud was racing forward to engulf the ship.

No, that wasn't right, she realized. Not a cloud. A shower. A monstrous shower of asteroids that were so numerous, they filled every corner of the cosmos.

It was upon them in the blink of an eye.

The Sentry was passing through what was unquestionably the largest field of rocks and debris Hiroko had ever seen. Stunned, she watched a small moon spin precariously close to the ship.

She absorbed it all in less than a second. "Deflectors to maximum! Helm, evasive maneuvers."

Something crashed into the hull with enough force to make her bones rattle. This was not the impact of torpedoes or phasers, but the physical attack that only the galaxy herself could unleash. Asteroids hammered the shields like old-fashioned bullets. The ship heaved one way, then another. Alarms shrieked to life. The crew, already bruised and battered, was once again tossed from their chairs to an unforgiving deck.

The helm officer regained her seat quickly. Then she began to look wildly at her navigational screen. "Captain, I-----there's too many, I don't-----"

"Switch to computer control!" Hiroko snapped.

Relived, the helm officer tapped out a quick command.

Then, as if by magic, the ship began to dance of her own accord. Sentry moved with the agility that only a computer could provide. Using a hundred trillion calculations per nano-second, the ship began to navigate the deadly obstacle course, suffering only glancing blows as she darted and weaved between rocks.

"Damage report?" Hiroko asked, taking advantage of the respite.

Manta looked over his shoulder at her. She was surprised by his expression.

He was furious.

"Ma'am, we've been holed." He growled. "One of those rocks punched right through our starboard side. Sections 14c through 19f are a complete loss. 13 crewmen who were in those sections are missing. Engineering reports our power reserves are now down to 48 %."

She knew why he was angry. At this point, it seemed the galaxy was against them. Manta was starting to take each new assault on the ship personally. But there were arguably bigger concerns. According to her CON officer, they were back in the Kokala system, which was three light years from Betazed. (With a shudder, she reminded herself that this was now enemy space. The fall of Betazed was finally starting to register.)

But something was very wrong. The Kokala system was a desolate region that harbored five planetoids, which orbited a white dwarf star. On the outskirts sat the Kokala nebula, where Aubrey had his fateful encounter with the Inth.

There had never been an asteroid field here-----certainly not one of this size. And where the hell was the nebula?

Ensign Sully seemed to read her thoughts. "Captain, I have a long range scan of the system. Switching to tactical view."

The main screen showed a computer-generated image. It was an enormous shell of debris that twisted about like a whirlpool in space. Two flashing red dots were slowly moving through the lower right side of the cloud. They represented Sentry and Intrepid. They were both moving through the shell and heading toward the inner circle of space inside. Within the shell, circles rippled away into space.

"Ensign, can you confirm our position?" Hiroko asked.

"Yes ma'am," Sully answered. "We're definitely in the Kokala system."

Hiroko shook her head. "This isn't how I remember it. What's all this debris? And where are the Planetoids? And the Kokala Nebula for that matter?"

Sully's voice was both regretful and excited at the same time. "Ma'am, this debris field is what's left of the five planetoids in this system." As shocked faces turned to her, she continued. "And that anomaly that we're flying towards was once the Kokala Nebula."

The CON officer was having none of it. "That's impossible!" She blurted. "What could destroy five planets and a nebula?"

Hiroko repressed a smile at the young woman's naive view of the galaxy. If she only knew how strange the universe really was...

"That accounts for the debris. But can you tell me about this so-called 'anomaly' ahead of us?" She pointed at the rippling circles that were speeding away from the graphic like waves in a pool.

"Sensors can't identify the anomaly's interior. But it's generating powerful gravimetric waves. The waves are propagating away from the epicenter and destroying everything in their path. Subspace distortions are also beyond our ability to measure." Manta bit his lower lip. "I'm sure that's what caused the destruction we see here."

And then the obvious occurred to them as the crew exchanged looks.

Sully said it first. "Wait a minute. Why aren't the waves destroying us, too?"

"Detailed scan of our immediate area, now." Hiroko ordered.

A moment later Manta reported back. "Our proximity to the Intrepid is protecting us from the chaos. The other ship is creating some kind of nullifying counterforce that's canceling out the subspace and gravimetric distortions. The effect is surrounding the Intrepid and extending backward. We're traveling in their wake. But if we leave this area we'd be torn to pieces."

It was good news that seemed suspiciously like bad news. While Hiroko was grateful that her ship was safe for the moment, they were also trapped. And once again, forced along for the ride.

* * * * *

Jellico hurried into the corridor that led to Starbase 323's Command Room. The station's Yellow Alert klaxon had roused him from the clutches of a fitful sleep. He reasoned that the situation had grown worse.

He tightened the belt of his admiral's uniform, and then took a moment to run his hands over his hair before presenting himself.

The room was buzzing with activity. High-ranking officers from every division of Starfleet were crowded into the room. Admirals Blackwell, Paris, Ross and Vice Admiral Nechayev were standing with Starfleet Commander Quetzalxochit around a situation table. A holographic image was projected on the table, depicting an unrecognizable sector of space. Quetzalxochit motioned Jellico over without looking up.

He drew up next to Admiral Paris.

The Starfleet Commander began to summarize at once for Jellico.

"The Kokala Nebula has ceased to exist. It has now collapsed into a massive singularity that's sending out waves of spatial turbulence."

Jellico looked at the holoimage before him. The planetary fragments were clearly circling the anomaly as a massive sphere.

Quetzalxochit continued. "The waves of chaos are now causing severe damage to Betazed. There are reports of tremendous ground quakes. The overall ocean temperature has risen by four degrees. Several planetary bodies in the Betazed system are beginning to shift their orbits. There are also signs that Betazed's sun is destabilizing."

Quetzalxochit touched a panel and the holographic map pulled away to reveal a section of space four parsecs in diameter. "The gravimetric waves are increasing in intensity every few minutes." Six hexagons on the map began to flash red. "The effects are being felt as far away as Denoba Prime and the Klingon Empire. Subspace interference is beginning to disrupt COMM traffic all over the quadrant. We've already lost contact with Deep Space Seven and the Ninth Fleet."

Admiral Paris looked at Quetzalxochit, who nodded in consent. Paris turned to Jellico. "According to our scientists, it's going to get worse. Within the next twenty minutes, a catastrophic episode will take place." Paris spread his hand over the map. "Something that could be considered an extinction level event."

Jellico eyed him sharply. "'Extinction' as in an end to the Federation?"

"More like this part of the galaxy." Quetzalxochit said, as though discussing who might win the next Paresi Squares tournament. "The energy we're registering, even from this distance is greater than the total output of energy in our galaxy. It unbalances every energy equation known."

Nechayev offered her own dark words. "Ed, this thing-----it isn't a run of the mill anomaly that's going to stay localized. It's spreading shockwaves through space-time. Eventually, the physical laws that allow matter and energy to exist could break down."

Jellico's mind whirled-----and for the first time, he understood what that expression truly meant. There were concepts that the human brain could cope with just fine-----so long as they remained theoretical.

Then there was this. When outlandish and implausible concepts grew legs and walked onto your lap, it was too much.

Jellico gripped the edges of the display table very hard, fending off the threat of vertigo. "I don't understand. How could such a thing exist?"

"According to our scientists, it can't. No anomaly, no matter how chaotic could produce these effects."

Jellico looked around at the faces before him. "Because it's not an anomaly as we understand it. It's those damned creatures."

Nechayev sighed. "The Inth? No creatures could cause this level of destruction to our universe."

But Admiral Blackwell challenged her comment. "Is it that so hard to believe? We've encountered other beings that seem omnipotent by our standards. The Q, the Organians, the Metrons just to name a few. They all seem to have an infinite amount of energy at their command. What if that power were to run out of control?"

Admiral Ross cleared his throat. "Ma'am, with all due respect, I don't think any of this is helpful. We need to do something before it's too late."

"What about Captain Hiroko and the Sentry?" Jellico cut in. "Any word?"

For the first time since the conversation had begun, Jellico noticed emotion on Quetzalxochit's face. It was regret.

"Our last contact with the Sentry was from the Archer system." Quetzalxochit said. "Hiroko said something about the Intrepid entering a transwarp aperture just before we lost contact. She intended to pursue."

"Any idea on where they're at now?"

Quetzalxochit nodded at the map below her.

Jellico scowled. "The Kokala system?"

"It makes sense. According to Aubrey's story, the Inth needed to return there so they could evolve."

Jellico regarded the turbulent image before him. "The spatial tidal forces are enough to shatter planets. No ship could survive in that region right now."

Nechayev caught Jellico's mournful eyes and held them with her own. "Ed, we have to assume that the Sentry's been lost. And as for the Intrepid," She sighed heavily. "for all practical purposes, she isn't even a Federation starship anymore."

Jellico evaluated the admirals around him, who now fell strangely quiet, despite the frantic activity within the command room. He didn't like what he was seeing. It was almost as if they had resigned themselves to what was happening.

As he watched the holographic map of Kokala he saw the circles of chaos expand their reach before his very eyes. They passed through sector after sector of space.

An officer ran up behind Quetzalxochit with a PADD. "Ma'am," He said in low voice, "Spatial turbulence is now being felt all over the Federation. There are scattered reports of destruction taking place to all Starbases within a 100 light year radius of the event."

The holographic map of the Kokala System began to dissolve into static.

"We just lost contact with our probe." Admiral Paris grumbled.

Quetzalxochit walked over to Jellico. "Do you think Aubrey was right about this? Maybe there's a chance to stop this if he made it back to Kokala."

Jellico couldn't meet her eyes. "I don't know anymore." He said honestly. "According to his story, he was going to prevent this."

"Then something's definitely gone wrong." Vice Admiral Nechayev said.

The deck began to vibrate beneath them. Then the station itself started to shake.

A voice came over Quetzalxochit's combadge. "Ma'am, we're experiencing gravimetric turbulence. One to the tenth power and increasing."

"Modulate our shields to compensate." She ordered.

"Acknowledged."

The shaking subsided, but the change was marginal

"Red alert!" Quetzalxochit said to the computer. "To all station personnel, take battle stations. Docking teams, cancel incoming flights. Secure all tethers." .

Jellico balled a fist. "We have to do something!"

Quetzalxochit nodded. "We are. We're going to see to the safety of the Starbase personnel. There are over 500 civilians that live here. I want each of you to oversee a department."

"And the chaos that's taking place?" He challenged.

Quetzalxochit's lips were a thin line. "Pray," she said grimly.

The room suddenly convulsed, and two control panels exploded.

"Damage teams to the Command Room." Nechayev said at once.

The lights flickered, and then went out. Auxiliary power switched in, and the lights returned as a dim glow.

"Warning: shield output has been reduced to 42 %." The computer announced.

Jellico felt the deck beneath him start to shake once more. He fell into the nearest chair to avoid falling down.

People cried out in surprise as the room began to heave violently. Panels began to spark from sudden power surges.

Jellico gazed about him in disbelief.

Starbase 323 was being destroyed.

* * * * *

The Kokala singularity was a gaping hole in the universe. However, unlike a conventional gravity well, this anomaly drew nothing to it. Rather, waves of chaos spread outward, propagating through all domains of subspace. Gravity distortions inexplicably rode these shockwaves, traversing interstellar distances that ordinarily would have been beyond their reach. Everywhere that chaos touched, time and space contorted at the quantum level. There was no defense against the destruction that began to touch even the most distant corners of the Alpha Quadrant.

The shell of debris surrounding the Kokala singularity parted like a curtain. Intrepid emerged through that part and shot towards the anomaly before her. Any resemblance to a man made structure was now gone. She was a roughly rectangular object composed of living tissue. Tentacles covered her like a shroud while energy arced and crackled across her alien body.

Only seconds later, another object emerged from the ring of planetary fragments. It was the battered shape of a Nebula class starship. USS Sentry pushed her engines to the limit, trying desperately to stay within the safety zone created by the Intrepid.

At a mere 300, 000 kilometers from the anomaly, the Intrepid-object stopped. The living skin on the ship began to twist and pull in different directions, as if moving in rhythm to the waves of chaos around it.

Then, ever so slowly, a pulsing orb of light surfaced from the ship's interior. It sped towards the vortex and was immediately swallowed up. Another followed shortly thereafter. Then another. A mass exodus began as hundreds of spheres emerged and sailed into the anomaly.

It was a rebirth of sorts, for the Intrepid. Gradually, as the transference continued, the starship began to shed her alien skin. Slowly, the living cocoon around her began to melt and dwindle. The sleek warp nacelles became visible. Then the secondary hull. Whiffs of organic material spiraled away into space. Even the dirty blue and green discoloration began to fade from the hull. Window lights began to wink on, one by one. The slender warp engines came to life once more, flickering a blue flame.

To Captain Hiroko, the orbs receding away looked like bubbles blowing in the breeze-----or like dandelion spores, flying on the wind. She had loved both activities as a little girl.

"Captain, the organic sheath around Intrepid has almost completely dissolved."

"What about the anomaly? Any change so far?" She queried.

"Not yet." He turned his haggard face towards her. "But captain, the safe area around the Intrepid is shrinking in direct proportion to how fast the sheath is dissolving. We should move closer. If we get caught outside, the shockwaves will blow us apart."

"Understood." Hiroko replied. "Manta, constant data feed to navigation. Helm, keep us well within the zone of safety." She took a steadying breath. "Sully, hail them."

The tactical officer played a musical chime on her board. "No response." She said disappointedly.

"Manta, life signs?"

"I am showing intermittent humanoid readings again. But with all the subspace and gravimetric soup around us, I can't be sure. We'll have to wait until we're closer."

Hiroko was astonished. Had some of Aubrey's crew survived?

On the main screen, the computer rendered image of the anomaly looked stunning-----a vast whirlpool made of every color in the spectrum-----almost as if God had put his finger in a rainbow and swirled it over the canvas of space.

"14 minutes, 23 seconds until the safe zone collapses."

"Captain, I'm reading no more Inth life signs aboard Intrepid." Even as Manta said it, they watched a last orb emerge from the other ship like a willow the wisp. It floated upward, and then drifted lazily towards the anomaly.

"Keep scanning the Intrepid." Hiroko began. "I need to know if we can-----"

She stopped in mid sentence. Something was wrong. The last orb was not proceeding into the vortex like the others. It just hung there, pulsing like an angry red sun.

And deep within her mind, Hiroko heard them. The Inth, shrieking in anguish.

She shook her head.

This was all wrong. She could feel it in her bones.

Ensign Sully spoke from tactical, her dark African features bathed in sweat. "Ma'am, the chaotic phenomenon around us has just increased by a factor of ten."

"This isn't right." Manta said. "The Inth are together now, they should be evolving. But instead, everything's getting worse."

The crew rang their hands helplessly. Seeing this kind of destruction taking place and being powerless to stop it was agonizing.

But Hiroko was a Starfleet captain-----and Armageddon or not, she would have her answers.

"It's that last orb." She stated with a confidence that surprised her. "Without it, the Inth are losing control."

"Why doesn't if just go in?" Sully demanded. "It's only a few thousand kilometers away."

The captain rose on shaky legs. "They can't. It's too late. Aubrey didn't make it in time."

"But it's right there!" Sully retorted in exasperation.

And again Hiroko answered with speculation that resonated with truth. "They've passed a critical threshold. The Inth can no longer control their actions. They're caught halfway between our universe and someplace else. Maybe a place that all evolving creatures must pass through to reach a new existence."

"You mean they can't even reach out and take in that last orb themselves?" The helm officer pondered skeptically.

Hiroko's mouth drooped with a sadness that seemed to have physical weight. "No. And without that last population of Inth, none of them will be able to evolve." She studied at the bulkhead, as if seeing through it. "The energy they've been trying to contain is now beyond anyone's control."

There are times when only the ignorance of youth can face down hopelessness. It is the young who often refuse to quit-----it is they who have not yet learned to humble themselves before a capricious universe. A youth is oblivious to just how heavily the cards are stacked against him in any given situation and will often keep trying to win, even when the game is over.

Thus, ensign Manta's exuberant spirit led him to consult the computer's database. Armed with a flimsy theory, he went to work on convincing his captain to execute it.

* * * * *

Chief Engineer Cal Benjamin fought to disentangle himself from shadows that clung to him like a spider web. His eyes finally crept open. What a hangover he had! His head felt as though an explosive decompression had occurred within his skull.

At least the dreams were over. He had experienced one whopper of a nightmare. He didn't remember all of it, but he did recall facing down a vicious Cardassian. And then there were some kind of vile aliens that had been crawling though his body, invading his very thoughts.

The sight of Gul Balog a few meters away and the realization that he had awoken on the deck in engineering were two facts that brought back his memories.

He liked it better when it had been a nightmare.

His mind had trouble putting the pieces together. Gul Balog had a phaser set to overload. Benjamin had charged him out of desperation...

And then? If the phaser had exploded he shouldn't be here. Gul Balog appeared unconscious. So did the group of engineers he had been holding hostage.

But there was no trace of the phaser.

With a start, he looked at the warp core. Recently, the life force of the Inth had enveloped it like a tornado but now there was no sign of them, either.

The aliens and their berserk power were gone. There had been no phaser explosion. The ship seemed in one piece. And for an extra stocking stuffer, Gul Balog was out of commission.

The young engineer suddenly felt the urge to spread his hands before him and say: "And then a miracle occurred."

Now on his feet and wobbling from dizziness, Benjamin tried for the master system's display table. He would assess the ship's status and location, and then contact the rest of the crew.

A faint shimmering noise gained his attention.

Transporter!

He turned slowly to see a blue column of energy forming just behind him. It ejected the figure of a woman.

Benjamin squinted through blurry vision at the mirage; Asian features with shoulder length dark hair-----her uniform was torn and bloody. The woman looked like the sole survivor of a shuttle crash. But he could make out her rank pips. Four of them-----Starfleet captain for sure.

His mind, still working in slow motion, finally supplied the name.

"Captain Hiroko!" He croaked hoarsely.

She took only a second to absorb her surroundings before striding over to him. As she neared, the fire that burned in her eyes transfixed Benjamin.

She took him by the shoulders and gazed intently at him. "Your pupils are dilated. I think you have a concussion."

"I guess so." He agreed. "That Cardassian down there knocked me for a loop. I'm glad you're here. We need-----"

"Where's the chief engineer?" She interrupted urgently.

It was difficult to appear indignant while suffering from a concussion, but Benjamin gave it a shot. "I'M the chief engineer." He proclaimed thickly.

Hiroko was momentarily speechless. Another junior officer in charge! What she needed would require experience. But she did recall a comment from Aubrey about how his chief engineer was one of the best in Starfleet. She hadn't given his remark much credence at the time. Most captains said their crews were 'the best'. But God help them if this junior grade lieutenant didn't live up to his press.

She took him by the arm and nearly dragged him to the master system's display.

"Ma'am, we should contact the captain."

"Later." She took a quick glance at the data screens. Based on her limited knowledge, the core seemed to have full power. That was good. "I need you to create a static warp field. And right now."

To Benjamin, she might as well have asked him to pull a white rabbit from the EPS grid.

"But, uh, create what?"

"Static warp field!" She shot back. "Can you do it, or not?"

He put a hand to his temple. "Yeah, yeah. I did that back at Kokala. But-----"

"Do it now! That's an order, lieutenant!"

His body jerked into motion, automatically responding to her tone.

Around them, people were beginning to stir. Engineers were sitting up or crawling to their feet. Hiroko nearly lifted one off the deck and shoved him over to a bank of consoles.

"You, reconfigure that panel for helm control. And give us full thrusters when I order it."

The engineer opened his mouth to object, noticed her command pips, took another look at her face, and then thought better of it.

"Sentry to Hiroko."

She tapped her combadge while helping another crewman to her feet. "Go ahead, Manta."

"Captain, we have seven minutes left before the zone of safety leaves us out in the cold. We're now just 400 meters from Intrepid's secondary hull."

"Understood. Stand by, we're setting up that warp field in-----" She looked at Benjamin. "How long, mister?"

"Two minutes. I think. Ma'am, what's going on?"

"Manta, we're looking at two minutes. Stand by." She trotted over to Benjamin. "We're back at Kokala. When you generate the warp field, make sure it encompasses a sphere of life energy that's about 1000 meters above your starboard bow."

"Okay. I mean, yes captain. But I wish I knew why."

"No time. Just do it."

Hiroko was momentarily surprised at how fast the engineer was working. He seemed to be doing three tasks at once. His hands were like those of a skilled surgeon-----and all this with a head injury, no less. Maybe Aubrey wasn't exaggerating about this young man after all.

"Hey, get down from there!" An engineer was shouting angrily at someone behind her. Hiroko and Benjamin turned to see what was causing the commotion.

She was dumfounded. Before her, a ragged Cardassian was standing on a protrusion about half way up the warp core. He was holding on to the surface behind him with one hand to steady himself.

"I should have died!" He roared at them. "Why do you cheat me again and again? Why?"

"Who are you?" Hiroko shouted up at him. "What do you want?"

The question caused Gul Balog to giggle shrilly. "An end." He finally said when he got control of his mirth. "Just an end, Captain."

She calmly drew her phaser and trained it on Balog. "Benjamin, finish what your doing." She told the wide-eyed engineer.

She walked over to stand beneath him. "What do you hope to accomplish up there?"

"I'm standing in front of the dilithium chamber." He replied merrily. "Believe me when I say that I have devices in my body that can send a power surge though the chamber and destroy this ship."

Hiroko frowned. "Benjamin, where are we?"

"I'm ready to activate the field." He threw back.

"Wrong!" Balog shouted victoriously. "It ends now!" A puff of smoke billowed through his uniform. He yelled out in torment as his hands burst into flame.

A finger of iridescent light stabbed from Hiroko's phaser and hit Balog in the back. He tumbled from his perch and hit the lower deck with a thud.

A nearby crewmember shook his fist in the air. "Good shot, ma'am! You got him before he blew up the ship."

Hiroko holstered the phaser and began to walk away. "No, he wasn't going to blow up the ship. If he could have done it, he would have. Whatever he had in his body wasn't powerful enough for that."

"But, then, why?" The crewman called after her.

She turned and regarded him over her shoulder. "Isn't it obvious?" She asked. "He wanted me to kill him."

Chapter 8

On Sentry's bridge, Ensign Angelica Sully sat in the command chair. The main viewscreen showed a graphic of the two ships, Sentry just under Intrepid. They both occupied a wire frame sphere that was slowly shrinking. When it finally collapsed, they would all be dead. Data call outs near the image gave them less than four minutes to live.

This was hardly the first time she had felt the Grim Reaper's scrutiny. But there was always a last time and this situation had all the earmarks of finality. It was much worse than that because a good portion of the Alpha Quadrant would soon be joining them.

So she decided to think of something else, instead.

"Ensign Manta," She said, "I thought you weren't a science specialist."

He wiped a sleeve across a sweaty face. "I'm not."

She leaned forward. "Then how did you come up with that static warp field idea?"

Manta actually chuckled. "It wasn't me, Angelica. That was the computer's idea."

"Well, don't tell the captain. You might blow your promotion."

He laughed nervously. "Good idea."

The CON officer turned in her chair. "Ma'am, if Intrepid doesn't start forward in the next 40 seconds, we won't make it inside the anomaly before the safe zone collapses."

Sully tapped her armrest intending to contact Hiroko, but Manta's excited voice halted her.

"The warp field is forming! They did it!"

Sully checked the tactical data on the screen. She saw the bubble of warp energy grow from the other ship until it encompassed both vessels. More importantly, the warp field also enclosed the sphere of life force just beyond both ships.

"I show Intrepid moving forward at full thrusters. 500 KPH and accelerating." The CON officer reported. "Matching speed and trajectory."

"Time to penetration?" Sully asked.

"One minute, 12 seconds."

"I wonder what will happen to us in there. I wonder what we'll find if we survive." The CON officer said in a low whisper.

Manta gripped the edges of his console. "The Inth," he said simply.

"Entering outer perimeter of the anomaly."

"Massive life form readings dead ahead!" Manta said. "Sensors can't identify anything else about the interior."

The viewscreen became a violent swirl of light. Sully ordered it switched off before they were all blinded. "Is the sphere still with us?" Sully called out blindly.

"The last reading I had showed it with us." Manta called back. "But the sensors are too confused for accurate data."

"All decks brace for impact." Sully said over the intercom. Under her breath she muttered, "Luck be a lady tonight."

The CON officer counted down through clenched teeth. "Impact in five, four, three, two, one."

The unknown swallowed them.

* * * * *

There had been no time. Starbase 323 was being annihilated so swiftly that saving any civilians was out of the question. Mingled with terror was disbelief. The Starfleet officers within the Command Room simply could not accept what was happening. That a fortress this size could be literally shaken apart was mind-boggling.

Jellico had shoved Admiral Nechayev under a control desk and then had taken refuge there himself. All power had failed on the Starbase. Life support, structural integrity, artificial gravity, even the lights were gone. The room was a dark hell of quaking destruction. Intermittent flashes of illumination briefly rendered everything in yellow light as panels blew out from energy surges. Smoke began to fill the chamber.

And still it would not end. In fact, the violence seemed to actually increase.

Somewhere below them, perhaps in the lower part of the base, a tremendous rending noise came through the deck. To Jellico, it sounded as if a part of the Starbase had broken away.

Was that possible?

Oh yes. He knew it was. And if the waves of chaos had grown that severe, then all of them had only minutes left. Perhaps seconds.

They waited for the end.

The Starbase began to crumble under the onslaught of gravimetric pressure. Outside, layers of the structure were being peeled away like an onion's skin.

Gravity swells rippled across the Alpha Quadrant, pummeling starships and planets like a cosmic storm surge.

Jellico crawled to Admiral Nechayev and covered her body with his own. He would give those nearest him every last second of life that he could.

"Jellico, I don't need your protection! Watch after yourself!" Nechayev yelled from under him.

"No disrespect intended!" He growled back. "Keep your eyes closed." He could only hope it would end soon.

"Jellico, dammit,"

"I said stay down!" He snapped at her. The deck felt like a bucking bronco. "I'll cover you as long as I-----"

Silence. The gravity quakes disappeared instantly, as if someone had shut them off by pressing a button. The sudden stillness was jarring. He heard people gasp in surprise around him.

It was several minutes before the shell-shocked occupants crawled out from their shelter to inspect the damage and lend support to one another.

* * * * *

Hundreds of light years away, others were also in shock.

They were shocked to still be alive.

Within Intrepid's engineering room, Hiroko and Benjamin hunched over a data screen. Benjamin looked up at her.

"That safety zone that was surrounding us is now gone." He said quietly.

"What's our position?"

He shook his head in wonder. "Dead center of the anomaly."

She didn't reply at first. When they crossed the threshold and entered the rift, she had fully prepared to be obliterated. After all, they were within the epicenter of destruction that was now devastating one quarter of the galaxy.

Instead, it was more like the eye of a hurricane. There was no gravimetric waves, no subspace distortions; even the radiation was within tolerance levels.

"What do you show out there?" She finally asked.

"Life readings. The most powerful life readings ever recorded." He replied in a low voice. "Nothing else registers so far."

"Did we bring in the sphere? Are they in here with us?"

"As far as I know, we did."

Hiroko tapped out a few commands on the sensor panel. "I read a large body directly astern."

He looked over her shoulder. "The Sentry." He announced. After another moment, he looked back at her. "What happens now?"

"We hope they evolve into peaceful creatures. If not..."

Benjamin leaned against the table, looking at the bulkheads apprehensively. "I know, " He finished for her. "If not, then we'll wish we had all died right here and now."

One of the panels caught Hiroko's attention. She looked at the data screen sharply.

Benjamin turned around in time to hear small alerts beeping from the display table.

"What's going on?" He asked as his gaze swept over various readouts.

Even as she answered, Hiroko felt a growing presence in her mind, like the hoof beats of an advancing army.

"They're coming." She whispered.

* * * * *

It was left to Jellico to monitor the anomaly for further activity. When the Starbase had auxiliary power levels restored, the other admirals went immediately to work coordinating rescue teams to hunt for survivors. A few like Admiral Ross directed emergency repair crews. Quetzalxochit oversaw the entire operation while giving first aid to those in the Command Room.

Jellico was not pleased at having to perform such a chore when people were literally dying around him. But it was necessary. After contact had been reestablished with the sensor probe, it was imperative that the anomaly be watched carefully for further signs of activity. Quetzalxochit had ordered the immediate evacuation of the Starbase and they would all need to know if the anomaly was about to roar back to life.

Admiral Paris approached and sat next to him, breathing heavily from the exertion of tending to the injured.

"Any more activity?" He panted.

"No more energy spikes. The rupture is generating zero power." Jellico said absently, his eyes still locked to the display screen. His elbow was upon the console and he was resting his chin in his hand-----but the pose was not the casual position that it appeared to be at first glance.

Paris looked at him, noticing that he seemed mesmerized by the data screen.

"Something seems to have your interest." Paris observed. "Are we in trouble again?"

Jellico toggled the control panels with on hand. "I honestly don't know." He said distractedly.

It was that tone that put Paris on alert. He had never worked with Jellico before, but he was starting to understand that when Jellico sounded distracted, it meant he was worried.

"Anything could be important right now." Paris prompted.

Jellico nodded gravely. He enhanced the data he was looking at. A dull orange globe appeared on the screen. It looked like a setting sun.

"The Kokala anomaly is getting brighter. Its luminosity has already doubled."

Paris chewed his lower lip. "But you said there's no more power signatures."

"True. Frankly, I have no idea what this means."

Paris scanned the console with his eyes. "Is the probe searching for life signs?" He asked.

Jellico creased his forehead. "No, I don't think so. I can readjust for that, though."

The orange globe doubled in size again.

"I've now reset the probe's sensors to scan for life readings."

Instantly, the computer flashed an urgent message on the screen. It read:

WARNING:

Life reading indicators: Positive

Type: Unknown

Quantity: Unable to tally

Energy classification: Tenth power emanations.

Recommendation: AVOID CONTACT.

"Now it tells us." Paris commented wirily.

"What is that?" Jellico blurted.

Paris slapped his combadge so hard it actually stung. "Paris to Quetzalxochit. Ma'am, you'd better take a look at this."

A crowd of injured personnel soon began to gather behind them, engrossed by the scene that was being played out on the central viewer. The remaining admirals, including the Starfleet Commander were among them.

After tense moments of silence, Quetzalxochit said, "Ok, I'm open to ideas."

"Some kind of debris?" Someone offered hopefully. "There are five broken planets in the Kokala system."

"No," Jellico answered sullenly, "these objects appear uniform in size and are moving forward at very close to the speed of light. At least, that's what our probe is telling us."

No one said anything else. They all studied the queer spectacle in silence, not really afraid yet, but definitely uneasy.

The orange globe, now three times its former size, seemed to have black slivers crawling over it. With each second that passed, the black mass of specks became denser. The globe of light was already partially obscured.

"Can we get a more detailed picture?" Admiral Ross asked.

Jellico tapped out some more commands. "I might. At the speed those objects are moving, they'll be in detailed visual range within seconds."

Admiral Blackwell stepped forward. "Wait a minute. Let's compute their growth rate."

Ross began to call up figures on a nearby panel. He had an answer almost immediately. "According to the probe's visual logs, those black slivers would be multiplying at a rate of one hundred trillion per second. But the growth is accelerating even beyond that." He looked up at the offending screen. "It must be some kind of optical illusion."

"I have a detailed picture of one of those slivers now." Jellico interrupted. "There. I have full magnification." He made a final adjustment, then nodded up at the large viewer on the wall.

Something barely inside the probe's visual range was moving. Then it came into detailed view.

Admiral Ross clambered to his feet, unconsciously backing away from the screen.

It was a serpent.

There was no other was to describe it. It was hard to gauge its size by looking, but if the sensors were to be believed, the creature was at least a hundred kilometers long. It swam through the vacuum of space as though it were an ocean; its oily dark body coiling and uncoiling as it slithered forward. The snake's head had no mouth or nostrils-----Its face was punctuated only by searing blue eyes that held no pupils or irises.

The creature was one of trillions that was swarming out of the anomaly and into the galaxy at relativistic speeds.

"Impossible." Admiral Ross said flatly, as if he could somehow invalidate the creatures' existence by refusing to acknowledge them.

"The population has now quadrupled." Jellico stoically reported. "And whatever they are, they're increasing speed, shifting into warp velocities."

Admiral Blackwell stepped closer to see the sensor displays for herself. She paled. "If they keep multiplying at this rate, those things out there could spread over Betazed in less than a day."

Quetzalxochit turned to a Bolian officer beside her. "Send a priority One message to Starfleet headquarters and the Federation president. Include all of our logs."

The Bolian officer nodded curtly then ran to a console on the room's far side.

Jellico looked at the abominations that were pouring out of the anomaly. He hated the way they made him feel. They sparked a primitive terror that had been born early in man's evolution-----the kind of panic that an animal feels when cornered by a predator. Such a feeling certainly had no place within a decorated Starfleet Admiral.

But there it was-----and he couldn't help his next thought.

They're coming for us, he mused. They're coming for us the same way they came for those other civilizations 6,000 years ago-----and when this is done, they'll be nothing to show that the Federation ever existed.

"Damn you, Aubrey." He murmured under this breath. "What have you DONE?"

* * * * *

The snake-like beings began to spread themselves into the Betazed system just as the gravimetric waves had done a short time before. Their population continued to increase as they swarmed out of the Kokala region. Their torment and rage resonated within the minds of all who had come in contact with them. They were a relentless wave that seethed and grew by the second.

They were in agony. Sorrow had quite literally driven them mad. They howled in fury as they thought of how the Federation humanoids had failed them. They roared over the unfairness of it. They had been denied their future simply because the remainder of their population had not joined them in time.

When the last of their race arrived, they had been surprised at first. One of the Federation vessels had unexpectedly delivered the last group of their species, nestled within a static warp field. The dreadful power within them had stabilized-----and they had dared to hope.

But that hope died quickly. For although the creation-matrix within them dwindled to a controllable level, the Inth realized that they had lost their ability to evolve. Perhaps forever.

Their anguish took on a life of its own. The Inth looked out across the unfamiliar landscape of space and beheld the numerous civilizations and empires that now littered the galaxy. It was a prison from which there was no escape. Forced back into a desolate existence, they were sentenced to spend eternity with the objectionable life that had once more infested the cosmos.

It was intolerable.

All thoughts of a noble future were now discarded.

In their torment, the Inth looked for a target to unleash their rage upon. They quickly became aware of a nearby star system-----planets that were crawling with the very type of life they detested.

They fell towards it, a nest of black serpents with flaming blue eyes.

Betazed would be the fist world in 6,000 years to know the fury of the Inth.

* * * * *

It was the red alert siren that finally roused Captain Aubrey. He pushed himself off the deck; rose to his feet, then gazed about the bridge in bewilderment. What was this place? It looked like something out of a science fiction movie. The chairs and display screens seemed so futuristic-----it almost felt like he was on a spaceship or something. And was that a blue dude over their with antennas? Funny costume, he chuckled to himself. It kinda made him think of that old TV show, My Favorite Martian. This was either some cool new exhibit, or-----

"Engineering to bridge." Benjamin called over the intercom. "Captain, Commander? Is anyone there?"

The befuddled spell broke at once. Aubrey was once again a full-grown man, a starship captain. But for a second or two, he had been someone else. A child. The kid he had once been, long ago and in another century.

Another century?

Memories threatened to present themselves-----memories he had never know before.

He shook them away. No time. Right now his ship and crew needed him.

"Report, Mr. Benjamin." He said as he began to count bodies around him. He was grateful to find no one missing or incapacitated. Adol and Shantok were staggering back to their posts but seemed unharmed. Lieutenant Pal was also climbing back to into his seat at OPS.

Benjamin quickly recapped their situation, including the arrival of Captain Hiroko. He even managed to give an overview of the ship's condition, which was amazingly good. By the time he had finished talking, Hiroko herself arrived on the bridge.

Shantok looked up from her science board long enough to nod respectfully to her. "Captain." She said.

"Permission to come aboard." Hiroko asked.

"I'll think about it." Aubrey replied, deadpan. He then offered his well-know abbreviated smile, which had more than once been compared to the Mona Lisa's. Addressing his first officer he said, "Commander, complete sensor scan of this anomaly Benjamin said we're inside of."

Shantok spent a few seconds adjusting her panel. "Sensors are identifying life forms readings that are on a tremendous scale."

"That's not all," Pal said from OPS. "The life forms within this anomaly are enormous. And they're everywhere. If we don't begin evasive maneuvers soon, we could get stepped on." This last remark earned him a few questioning looks from the crew. "Well, figuratively speaking." He amended.

"Captain." Adol seemed agitated. "Something else: according to sensors, the number of life forms is multiplying by a factor of 1000 every second. The volume of space around us will be filled in a matter of minutes."

Hiroko let out a tired sigh. "OPS, can you tell if the gravimetric waves have stopped?"

"No Ma'am. We can't scan outside of the anomaly."

Aubrey caught her attention with a subtle glance. She evaluated his expression, looking for signs of disapproval. Had he objected to her asking his bridge officers for information?

What she got from his eyes was something that said, 'no offense taken. But watch it.'

Warning alerts began to chirp from several different stations around the bridge.

Adol was now definitely concerned. "Captain, the number of Inth have increased to the point where all of our exits are blocked. We're trapped in here with them."

Commander Shantok stepped down to the command deck. "Sir, if the Inth keep multiplying at this rate, both of our ships will be crushed by the mass of bodies in less than two minutes."

On the main viewer, black sea serpents were intertwining around one another and snapping across the viewer's field of vision.

The two starship captains exchanged a long, meaningful look.

* * * * *

The black things were now visible in the skies over Betazed. Sunny days rapidly became the dim of twilight. But as the snakes entered the upper stratosphere, they were fired upon. Betazed's planetary disruptor banks, now in the hands of the Dominion, stabbed desperately at the invaders.

The attack against the creatures was unfortunate for two reasons; one, it was ineffective. And two, it was ill received.

The Inth lashed back in anger.

Taforus Peak was the highest mountain on the planet and housed one of Betazed's biggest disruptor banks. The first Inth to retaliate did so there.

The top of the mountain was sheared away as if hit by a giant sickle. The mountaintop blew apart, raining boulders and dust across half the region.

Then the creature, all one hundred kilometers of it, hit the ground with such force that the cities shook.

Billions more of them swarmed through the Betazed system.

Even as the Vorta cringed in terror, they ordered their Jem'Hadar ships into battle-----only to watch in fascination as they were annihilated. Some of the Inth appeared to grow squid-like tentacles-----the fighters were ensnared, and then ripped in half.

More of the immense creatures began to set down on the planet's surface.

Very soon, Betazed's sky was engulfed in a twisting blackness.

* * * * *

"Shields are overloading!" Adol warned.

"Mr. Pal, keep our shields in symmetrical alignment with the Sentry's." Aubrey ordered. "Bridge to engineering. Mr. Benjamin, we need reserve banks at full output. Divert power from every system on the ship!"

"Allocating all reserves captain." Benjamin replied. "But we won't last under this type of pressure. The shields are best at deflecting energy, not mass."

Hiroko took a step closer to the command chair. "Jason, you realize that with both our ships combining their shield outputs..."

"If one of us loses shields, we both will." He completed for her. "Yes, I know. But this will buy us a few more minutes. And until you get Sentry's emergency warp core on line, you'll need the Intrepid's power for protection."

Optimistic to the end, she observed silently. Both their ships were about to be crushed and he was acting like this was another day at the office.

"The Inth still haven't responded to our hails." Adol said from behind her.

In the next moment, Benjamin reported again. "Captain, we have full reserves on line but we're losing shields quickly. Estimating total collapse in three minutes."

Hiroko tapped her combadge. "Hiroko to Sentry. Get all hands to the emergency escape pods. Prepare to abandon ship." She looked at Aubrey. "Recommend we do the same here, Captain."

He frowned at her, but the expression melted quickly as he realized that she was right.

Shantok nodded slowly. "The pods are small enough to escape being crushed. At least, there's an opportunity to survive."

Fighting an unpleasant sense of déjà vu, Aubrey immediately gave the order to abandon ship, just as he had done a few hours ago. Despite the ordeal that the Inth had put them all through, somehow these bizarre creatures had always spared the crew from death, even when destruction seemed unavoidable.

But this time it was different. The mission, such as it was, had ended. They had failed. And the Inth were through with them. There would be no last minute miracle to save them. No super weapons, no safety zone about the ship, and no sudden acts of mercy to shelter the crews.

Fate would soon make its intentions known.

"Clear the bridge." Aubrey ordered. "Captain Hiroko, please assist-----" And that was as far as he got before halting in mid sentence. "What the hell?"

The bridge railing he had been grasping was glowing like a phaser beam. In fact, other parts of the bridge were also glowing, giving off an unearthly golden light.

"Report!"

Lieutenant Pal was clearly struggling with how to phrase what he was seeing. "Captain, life force readings around us are...different than they were a minute ago."

"What's happening to the ship?" Hiroko insisted as she looked around her in awe. The entire room resembled a blast furnace of golden fire. Even the people around her seemed to be radiating light. As Aubrey walked over to his operations officer, he appeared to have an aura surrounding him.

Pal made out a final bit of data on his board before it became an illuminated haze. "The ship is shifting into a phased state!" He exclaimed. "Life force readings are now permeating all decks."

Not again, Aubrey grumbled silently. Would these creatures ever be through with them? Hadn't they done enough?

Hiroko started for the exit but stopped when she noticed that Aubrey's first officer was not moving. Commander Shantok was just standing there with her back turned to the bridge.

"Commander? We need to go. Now." She touched her shoulder when she didn't reply right away. When Shantok finally turned, her face was like a waxen dummy.

Her eyes were shining with a blue light that actually over powered the luminescence around her. Hiroko was forced to look away.

"Aubrey!" Hiroko shouted.

"ACCESSION." Shantok said in a booming voice.

Aubrey threw his forearm over his face, reaching out blindly through the brilliance. "Hiroko! Get away from her!"

It was then that everything and everyone around him dissolved into the most beautiful hue he had ever seen. And what was more, he FELT it-----felt it sink into his skin, his bones, his organs. It was he and he was it.

Outside the anomaly, the snakes began to burn, exploding into bursts of energy. The effect spread outward from the rupture and across the Inth like wildfire. The snakes that had descended upon Betazed were now plumes of color-----fountains of light that knifed through the clouds and into the heavens.

For one instant frozen in time, the system was lit up with trillions of small stars. Every square kilometer of Betazed was awash in blazing light.

The universe seemed to be teetering upon an invisible axis-----as if scales were seesawing up and down as they sought equilibrium. Then, the star like orbs began to disappear. First just a few winked off, then hundreds, and then millions.

The Kokala anomaly shed itself into energy, erupting into something very much like a fireworks show as countless small orbs were hurled into space, vanishing before they had traveled even a short distance.

Riding that wave of energy spheres were two small, man-made specs of metal. The two Federations starships were swept away and into deep space like floatism dumped ashore by a stormy surf.

The Kokala anomaly had vanished. All of the orbs were also gone. The Alpha Quadrant once again returned to its normal shades of dark and light.

An intuitive person might almost have heard the universe sigh in relief.

* * * * *

Somewhere on a higher plain of reality, there are beings that have evolved to a point of near omnipotence. Many of them are known to humanoid life. Many more are not. Their ranks include the Q Continuum, the Organians and the Metrons. Some of these beings fancy themselves the caretakers of the universe, dabbling here and interfering there, while others are content to observe the trials of lesser beings with a removed curiosity.

The various super races usually don't interact with one another-----but that doesn't mean they never communicate, or share opinions. They are part of a loose association informally known as 'The Members'. The word is not a literal translation but the concept is accurate. For like it or not, the Members share many similarities with one another, and those similarities bind them in ways that not even they can undo.

What had taken place did not happen often. It is a significant and uncommon event when a new species joins their ranks. It is usually a time of joy when the Members take a new community into their fold, helping guide their first baby steps as a developing life form.

Usually.

But even as they had moved aside to make room for the Inth, had there not been the slightest feeling of trepidation from the Members?

Surely not. More likely, what they had felt was the past; thousands of years of terror and atrocities that still left an imprint on the galaxy. It was the cry of ghosts, echoing through the corridors of history-----potent signatures from the billions that came before.

Yes, they all agreed-----it had only been this that had caused their apprehension.

Only this, and nothing more...

* * * * *

Captains Log, Supplemental:

Our auxiliary warp core is on line and sustaining us at warp five. Not exactly a gallop, but enough to get the Sentry out of the Kokala System. We are on route to Starbase 323 to render assistance and give a more detailed report to the Starfleet Commander.

The Dominion forces at Betazed showed no interest in pursuing us. The events of the last few days have apparently taken their toll on both sides of the battlefield. Another unexpected benefit is that the Dominion fleet is still in disarray after what has occurred. Starfleet is talking about a counter-offensive to take advantage of the confusion. There may be an opportunity to retake Betazed.

Gul Balog, our Cardassian prisoner, is again confined. This time he'll remain sedated until we're sure he has no more tricks up his sleeve.

The survivors we rescued from Archer IV are in stable condition and repairs to the ship are proceeding.

The Intrepid is accompanying us, under her first officer, Commander Shantok.

Captain Hiroko dismissed the guard and pulled up a chair in front of Aubrey. Between them, a security field hummed.

"How are you?" she asked honestly.

The openness of her query seemed to surprise him. He leaned back on the small mattress and rested his head against the bulkhead.

He decided to respond with equal candor. "I'm relieved that this is over with."

"You know, you could have remained aboard the Intrepid."

"I know. You were very gracious about that. But I wanted this done by the book. My crew needs to see that I'm answering for my actions. Violating orders is a serous matter. The last thing I want is to romanticize my behavior. It would send the wrong message."

Hiroko chuckled.

Aubrey frowned. "Did you think I was trying to be funny?"

She raised her eyebrows. "I would hope not. No, it's just all this talk of violating orders. I was thinking that I should be in there with you."

He sat up. "I don't follow."

"I failed to stop you. What's more, I actually completed the mission for you. I don't think that's going to sit well with command."

"Whether I was right or wrong, you had no other choice. The Alpha Quadrant was being destroyed by gravimetric waves. Helping the Inth evolve was the only gamble left for you. It certainly couldn't have been worse."

Her almond eyes sparkled for a second. "You can defend me at MY court-martial."

The laughter between them was light, but sincere.

"So what happened?" She asked. "I thought you were too late. Then suddenly they seemed to evolve out of the blue."

He rubbed his chin then looked at the deck. "Not out of the blue. Forces were in motion. Even the Inth didn't know everything about their own processes." He looked up at her and smiled slightly. "You know, I sacrificed my career for them. It would have been nice if they had at least said 'thank you' on the way out."

And this time Hiroko smiled back. "Maybe they did."

He looked at her suspiciously. "That's a rather cryptic remark."

"You remember that the Kokala anomaly was causing damage all over the quadrant, right?"

"So I heard."

"Well, Betazed took the worst of it. They were the closest. The planet's core had been fractured, the oceans were starting to cook." She rose from the chair. "And worse, the Betazed sun was destabilizing. It had burned off all its main fuel and was actually about to nova."

He narrowed is eyes. "You're using the past tense."

She nodded. "That's because their sun is perfectly normal again. And the other damage to Betazed is-----well, our reconnaissance probes show the planet is healthy again. No signs of damage. Even the ecosystem is back. It's as though none of it had ever happened."

"A parting gift? I don't suppose they removed the Dominion while they were at it?"

"I'm afraid not."

After a few more pleasantries, Hiroko left him to the peace of the brig. He picked up the PADD that was for his use. Any kind of computer access was not usually allowed for prisoners. He was grateful that he retained some privileges.

He accessed the sensor logs and called up an image of his ship.

Intrepid. The first ship he had served on after graduating Starfleet Academy. Years later, they had been reunited. She was scarred and burned but still sailed proudly through space.

When he first saw her again, he had been under whelmed. She had been pulled from the scrap yard as a test vehicle and he was only aboard to run simulated missions. It had seemed a dead end assignment. Then the war came and she was re-instated. She had been past her prime, but then made new again, the latest technology bristling within her.

The Old Lady had grown on him. How many times had she been knocked down, only to regain her feet and fight another round?

He was actually going to miss her. Or maybe he was focusing on the ship to avoid thinking about how much he was going to miss his crew.

Or to avoid a head full of outlandish new memories. A stranger was now staring back at him from his childhood. How or why he had these new memories was unknown. But he would need to find out what they meant.

And if he didn't get help soon, he might very well go insane

* * * * *

"Thank you for all of your help."

The pleasant looking young Vulcan nodded at the smile that had been offered to him. "Not at all. Enjoy your trip." He lowered his head. "And thank you for the information."

The tourist, a middle-aged traveler from Mars Colony, winked. "My tip doesn't compare to what you've given me." He held out the PADD in front of him and looked enthralled by what he saw on the display screen. He was a child with unlimited replicator privileges and a sweet tooth. "I mean, I've seen unusual travel packages in my time, but what you've put together here is a masterpiece." The Vulcan inclined his head modestly. "It IS your second honeymoon."

The old tourist turned off the PADD and shook his head. "She wanted one of those fancy holosuite vacations you know." He grimaced at the idea. "Supposed to be one of those new extended programs that can run for over a month." He slipped the PADD into his coat pocket. "The hell with that." He proclaimed. "There's a whole damn galaxy out there and she wants a fantasy honeymoon. Can you believe it?"

The young man nodded in understanding, while keeping an eye on his watch. The tourist was his last customer for the day, and he was eager to close. "Damn holosuites," the tourist was grumbling. "Did you hear about the man who developed a full blown psychosis using one of those things?"

"I may have. Wasn't he-----"

"Damn idiot created a fictional world in there. Extremely detailed. Made up all his own people. Got married, had kids, the works. Refused to come out. Then there was a malfunction or something-----his little world got erased. And guess what? He lost his mind completely. I think he's in a mental facility on Denoba now."

"I'd better start closing up-----"

"Or was it Rigel VII?"

The Vulcan travel agent walked around the counter to the front door. As he hoped, the tourist followed him. He bid the traveler a fond vacation, closing the door after him with satisfaction.

Once he locked the entrance, he went into a back room of the office. The room looked almost bare, but for some viewscreens built into the walls and holographic projectors that were concealed in the corners.

An elderly man with a salt and pepper beard occupied a small desk and chair that sat in the room's center.

The older man didn't bother to greet the younger one when he entered.

"I'm getting irritated with this masquerade." The Vulcan complained as he helped himself to a bottle of Saurian brandy that was sitting atop an antique liquor cabinet. "Pretending to have no emotions is tiresome."

"A necessary masquerade," the older man replied without looking up from his terminal. "An emotional Vulcan tends to stand out in one's memory. A dispassionate one blends in with the crowd and is easily forgotten."

The other man rolled his eyes. "I've heard your reasoning before. And I agree with it, or I wouldn't be here."

The two men did not own a travel agency, despite appearances to the contrary. Instead, they belonged to an espionage organization that stretched back to before the birth of the Federation. Those that knew of this agency were usually repulsed at its brutal tactics, its disregard for individual rights.

A few hailed the agency as a heroic institution, fighting the good fight against the enemies of the Federation. Whatever their true standing, the agency was committed to the survival of the Federation; a point that no one could debate.

The Vulcan took a long swig of brandy right from the bottle. "I have some unhappy news to report."

The other man didn't stop what he was doing right away. His experience taught him to never show surprise or telegraph his responses. He kept on working for nearly a minute before saying, "Go ahead."

"It's the Opposition."

The elder finally decided to give his full attention. "What about them?"

"They made contact with Aubrey. I have reason to believe his original memories have been restored."

"How?"

The younger agent let his breath out through pursed lips. Reaching into a pocket, he withdrew a small data chip and dropped it on the desk. "My sources tell me that the Opposition planted an operative aboard Aubrey's ship sometime prior to the battle of Betazed."

The other man picked up the chip and scanned it with a miniature device that was built into his wedding band.

"Go on."

"This operative infected Aubrey with nanites which immediately began to affect this long term memory. We're looking at a 90% restoration. Maybe more."

The elderly agent couldn't resist feeling a little admiration for their opponents. They were getting bolder and trickier all the time. The game was always an interesting one with them on the field.

"So, they made a pre-emptive strike." He drawled in his southern accent-----it was an accent that often put people at ease. He was the picture of a charming old southern gentleman from North America-----a façade that had proven useful more than once.

The Vulcan snorted with displeasure. "I don't see how they managed this. We've been watching Aubrey for years. How could the Opposition get an agent on board his ship without us knowing about it?"

The other agent pushed himself off the chair and walked over to the liquor cabinet. Instead of grabbing a bottle, he held his wedding ring before a martini shaker. The information within his ring was transmitted instantly to a secure database.

"Well now, if it were me, ah'd have used an existing crewmember. With a routine programming session, this officer could have been ordered to infect Aubrey without ever realizing it. The officer in question would have his memory wiped by the nanites in him. It would be impossible for him to ever recollect his abduction or programming. The nanites would then self-destruct. In essence, no evidence is left behind. Standard procedure when speed is required and there's no time to plant a mole."

The younger agent tried unsuccessfully to hide his surprise at the matter of fact statements that included mind control.

"With respect," he said, "I recommend that Aubrey be eliminated. He's too great a threat."

The man turned around at the statement. "Oh? Now why is that, exactly?"

The Vulcan slammed his glass down on the desk and then walked around it to tap out something on the small data board. On the screens around the room, images appeared. They were of a rubble-strewn city, a very old one. Corpses plugged the avenues. An angry red sky looked down upon a graveyard that went out as far as the eye could see.

"You know why! You've read his file like I have. He's a focal point in time. Look what he did to Earth in that other reality!"

Coolly, the older man walked around the desk without looking at the screens. He sat down, and took out a cigar form one of the drawers.

"That was another timeline. Ours is secure."

"For now!" the young agent persisted. "but as a focal point in time, Aubrey could still trigger some type of Armageddon. What just occurred with the Inth is an example. The Alpha Quadrant was nearly obliterated."

The other agent lit his cigar, and then puffed a few clouds into the air. Some of the smoke mysteriously went astray, 'accidentally' finding its way to the Vulcan. "He did have a hand in saving us from that destruction."

"Yes, from events that he himself set into motion." The Vulcan sneered. "Which only proves my point."

"Still, the destruction he would have caused didn't occur. He was removed from the 20th century before then."

The Vulcan raised both his eyebrows. "Destruction? An interesting understatement. This man exterminated humanity. And with them, the Federation."

"WOULD have exterminated humanity, my boy." The older man corrected. "Now, do you really believe he'll find some way of destroying the Federation simply by being here? That does sound suspiciously like pre-destiny, a belief, if I'm not mistaken, that's not popular on Vulcan." He hadn't been able to resist this last. He enjoyed playing devil's advocate. It allowed him to observe other people's passions, and to explore just how deep those veins of passion ran. He had been a psychiatrist in his other life, and he had to admit that studying an emotional Vulcan was proving irresistible. Besides, seeing how far he could be pushed was fun. Maybe he WAS a sadist at heart, just as his first wife had said. God rest her soul.

He was rewarded with a withering stare.

"It's not about what belief is popular." The other agent said coldly. "Destiny is a real phenomenon. I've seen it at work. Someone who's a focal point in time is dangerous enough already because destiny hangs over them at all times, like a dark cloud. A Starfleet captain who is a focal point is even more dangerous. They have too much influence in Federation activities-----too many resources, too much exposure to powerful technology. Do you see?"

What the older man saw was arrogance. The youth had been recruited because he had an unusual number of influential contacts throughout the Federation. Unfortunately, he was already overstating his importance by giving unsolicited advice.

Still...there was a certain amount of logic to his opinion. Their study of alternative timelines was in its infancy. Who was to really say what the relationship was between time and destiny?

"We'll see what our superiors think. If they agree, I'll handle the details of the affair. Do bear in mind that assassinating a Starfleet captain would require finesse. Especially one who's about to be in the public eye with a court-martial."

"It should be done now, before there's any publicly around him."

The elderly agent sighed good-naturedly. "As ah said, I'll take the matter under consideration."

The Vulcan regarded the devastated Earth on the screens around the room. "Perhaps I should pursue this with our superiors."

The man who stood from behind the desk was very different than the one who had been sitting. He was no longer a southern gentleman. He had become a vicious animal, one held barely in check by his own restraint. His words felt like solid objects.

"No you won't." It wasn't "I don't want you to." Or "You'd better not." What the older agent said was a fact, as irrefutable as saying that water was wet.

The stand off was short lived. The young recruit nodded in acceptance and shortly found an excuse to leave. But he seethed all the way out the door.

Alone again with his thoughts, the old man found his eyes drifting to the viewscreens. He drank in the death and destruction. Then he put out his cigar.

He activated his COMM unit and asked the computer to place a call.

As he did so, he thought about how much he detested Vulcans.

To be concluded in "Inevitability". If you'd like to be added to the mailing list for new story postings, please email the author. Commentary is also welcome.