Episode 1x04:

Beyond Eden

 

Chapter One

 

He felt the usual movement of the ship as it traversed the great ocean of space and realised that he was awake early again. For the seventh night running he was awake at least two hours before the computer was due to wake him. Rubbing his eyes, he decided to start his day early instead of trying to go back to sleep. He climbed out of bed and walked through to the shower, setting the temperature of the water to ten degrees Celsius, always preferring a cold shower to wake him up. As the cold water cascaded down his body he thought about the day ahead. Captain Astor hadn’t suggested that they would be slowing to explore any nearby system so he felt he could spend some time on his personal project. Commander Aaron Wright stepped out of the shower, put a towel around himself and strode to his personal computer terminal. Switching it on he entered his access code granting him access to the astrometrics laboratory and uploaded the latest modifications to his project into the massive astrometrics database.

He was dry by the time the computer had uploaded and accepted the modifications. Putting on his uniform, affixing the three pips to his collar and clasping the communicator to his left breast, Wright combed his hair back and left his quarters. He was usually waylaid on his way to the astrometrics lab on deck seven because there were usually several dozen people on duty but at this time of the morning there was almost nobody around. The gamma shift chief engineer nodded a greeting as he ducked into a Jeffries tube and Wright returned the nod as he continued toward the turbolift. It opened as he approached and he called out deck seven as the doors closed on him. It sped the three decks in seconds and the doors opened again to reveal three people waiting to get on. Wright exited the turbolift and turned right, heading down the corridor which was the most direct route to the astrometrics laboratory. There was no one about when he reached the door.

‘Command level authorisation to enter required,’ the computer voice intoned in its peculiar feminine voice.

‘Authorisation Wright-Epsilon-4-5-1.’

‘Authorisation accepted. Enter when ready.’

As Wright entered he thought about removing the security lockout. It was new technology and stellar cartography didn’t even have access to it, only the three most senior officers did, the captain, executive officer and chief of security. He decided to discuss it with Astor later.

‘Computer, bring up programme Wright-9.’

The image of a starship appeared on the large astrometric screen. It looked similar to the Steamrunner-class but was substantially bigger. Wright was designing it to be a troop carrier in wartime and a colony ship in peacetime, but there was a lot of work that needed doing to it and he had only been working on it for about a month, shortly after they had entered the Serik sector. Wright was adjusting the size and shape of the nacelles when the astrometrics computer bleeped at him. He saved the changes and brought up the astrometrics schematic of the local area. There was a familiar energy signature coming from what was supposed to be an uninhabited M-class planet. The computer identified the signature and Wright looked in astonishment.

‘Astrometrics to Captain Astor,’ Wright said, tapping his combadge.

It took a moment but Astor replied. ‘Go ahead, Commander.’

‘I think you should come down here. I’ve found something that shouldn’t be here.’

‘Can you be more specific?’

‘Not over the comm.’

‘Very well,’ he heard Astor sigh. ‘I’ll be there in a few minutes.’

He didn’t like waking her up but this couldn’t wait. It could well be important. She was as good as her word and three minutes later strode into the astrometrics laboratory looking every inch the Starfleet captain.

‘What have you got, Commander, that you can’t talk about?’

He brought up the image on the astrometrics massive screen. ‘This planet is class-M, the only one in the system.’

‘Nothing unusual there.’

‘But I detected a power signature emanating from the planet’s surface and the computer identified it,’ Wright continued. The image changed to that of a very old craft that she didn’t recognise, but Wright clearly did.

‘Well?’

‘It is a DY500-class sleeper ship,’ Wright answered. ‘This type—bigger than the nuclear-powered DY100 sleeper ships—only had ion propulsion drives and was last built in the early twenty-second century, a good thirty-years before the SS Enterprise NX-01 launched.’

‘Any idea which one it is?’ Astor asked, recalling the days of Captain Kirk and the DY100 SS Botany Bay.

‘Not yet, we’ll need to get closer to identify it.’

‘You think it’s worth investigating?’ Astor asked.

Wright looked at her askance. ‘The crew could still be alive. We owe it to them to investigate. They may want to go back to Earth and it will take them a long time.’

Astor rubbed her eyes and looked thoughtful. ‘Very well. Wake the senior staff. I want you to brief them in twenty minutes.’

‘Yes ma’am,’ Wright replied as Astor strode from the room, yawning.

He shook his head and tapped his combadge. ‘All senior staff report to the situation room in twenty minutes.’ He now had to provide a full briefing on the class of ship, what it was used for, and if possible the identity of this particular ship. All of which should be available in the LCARS database.

Twenty minutes later Wright was in the situation room, with Astor sitting beside him, as the others walked in. Lieutenant Commander Xeris and Doctor Solian Brex entered first closely followed by Lieutenant Commander Sheena Gonzales and Ensign Daniel Lawson. Wright looked around and noticed that Lieutenant Talen wasn’t there. He was about to call the Andorian but quickly remembered that he was still in sickbay recovering from the massive heatstroke he suffered on the Calyso II mission.

‘Commander, would you like to get started?’ Astor asked him.

He looked up and cleared his throat. ‘Sorry to wake you all,’ he began. ‘But I think that you’ll find this interesting.’

The holographic display lit up with the image of the class-M planet and a flashing red light appeared in the northern hemisphere.

‘What is that light?’ Gonzales asked, forever the chief of security.

‘That is an old Earth ship,’ Wright answered.

‘Huh?’ Larson asked.

‘A DY500 sleeper ship.’

‘Which century?’ Larson asked. ‘Twenty-first or twenty-second?’

‘I wasn’t sure when I first spotted it but we are now close enough to identify it,’ Wright answered. ‘Computer, can you identify the vessel on the class-M planet.’

‘Sensors identify the vessel as the SS Garden of Eden, launched May 17^th 2052,’ the computer replied.

‘Three months before the third world war,’ Larson added.

‘How long ago did it get here?’ Gonzales asked.

‘I don’t know. It shouldn’t be here. The ship doesn’t have impulse engines, only two type-VI ion propulsion drives, which would have run out long before it got anywhere close.’

‘But it would have taken a long time to decelerate,’ Larson said.

‘There is another energy signal emanating from the craft that neither I or the computer has been able to identify. We’ll need to see it in order to determine how a DY500 managed to get this far away from Earth.’

Wright changed the image to that of a typical DY500 and then produced an image of what this DY500 looked like. ‘Both of these are the Garden of Eden. As you can see, the second image is vastly different to that of the first. At some point the sleeper ship has undergone a massive refit. I want to know why.’

Astor glared at him but she admitted to herself that this was now officially strange and should be investigated. After the disastrous complement she picked for the last away team she thought carefully about who to assign for this one. Wright was the obvious choice to command the away team and Larson was a history buff. There should be two historians on the away team and a security detail as well.

‘As do I,’ Astor told them. ‘Commander, you’ll lead the away team. Ensign, I want you on the team as well, you obviously know quite a bit about ships from that era. Do you know if any of the historians on the ship have expertise in this area?’

‘Ensign Talina Stern and Chief Petty Officer Marie Casanova,’ Larson answered. ‘Both are experts in twentieth and twenty-first century space vehicles.’

‘Excellent. Commander Gonzales, I want you to assign a three-person security detail to accompany the away team, but not yourself. I want you here to keep an eye on the situation.’

‘Yes ma’am. I know just who to send.’

‘Good. The Mauna Loa launches in six hours. Dismissed.’

Everyone got up and left, Wright and Astor were the last to leave. Astor knew that Xeris would prep the Flyer and Wright would be brushing up on the layout of the ship. Gonzales would head down to security and pick her team, then drill them mercilessly until shortly before launch time.

 

Captain’s log, stardate 58305.6:

Commander Wright has discovered unusual evidence of a DY500 sleeper ship from the twenty-first century and an equally unusual power emanation from the ship. The Osiris is investigating and an away team will be despatched to make a detailed survey of the ship. It has been identified as the SS Garden of Eden, launched three months before the start of the World War Three. Though Wright insists on investigating, and I do agree.

I also think that this ship should be left to its own devices and I am mindful of the events of the SS Botany Bay incident that resulted in the crew being stranded on a dead world and the eventual destruction of the USS Enterprise, under Kirk’s command. But I have made a judgement and all such anomalies as we have found with this ship will be investigated to the best of our abilities. The Mauna Loa will be launching in just under six hours to take the away team to the surface of what the crew have taken to calling New Tehran

 

The Tactical Operations room was on deck two and Lieutenant Commander Gonzales entered the room to be greeted by her third in command, Lieutenant Serena Young. She was busy trying to fix a phaser rifle that had been mangled somehow. Gonzales knew all of her officers’ names and abilities by heart and knew exactly who to send down but she needed to know where they were. She used the internal sensors and located all three in seconds. A walkabout would be good exercise for her and she could tell them they had been assigned to the away team in person. Ensign Mark Jenson was patrolling deck six, section thirty-two, chatting with his partner-on-patrol, Lieutenant Emmanuel Fargas.

‘Gentlemen,’ Gonzales said as she strode up to them.

Both men turned and stood to attention. ‘Commander.’

‘I’ve got an assignment for both of you,’ she told them and held out padds.

They took them and read them.

‘At least it gets me off the ship,’ Jenson replied.

‘Yeah, the corridors all start to look the same after a while,’ Fargas added. ‘But we’re still alert.’

‘I don’t doubt that. The Mauna Loa launches at 1300 hours.’

‘Yes ma’am,’ they said in unison as she walked off.

‘Wonder what all the hubbub’s about. I heard that its just an old ship that they found,’ Fargas told his friend.

‘Where did you hear that? I haven’t heard a thing.’

‘Come on, we’d better get ourselves sorted out. You know she’s gonna drill us hard,’ Fargas continued.

‘There are three of us joining the away team,’ Jenson said, looking at the padd. ‘But it doesn’t say who the other one is. Any ideas?’

‘Probably Maria,’ Fargas replied dreamily.

‘She’s not interested, when are you gonna learn?’

‘In me, or in men?’

‘Oh, she’s interested in men,’ Jenson smiled conspiratorially. ‘You should hear the stories about her exploits on the Newbolt.’

‘Meaning?’ Fargas pressed.

Jenson looked at him. ‘She supposedly slept her way through the ship, its why she transferred.’

‘Damn, if that’s true then why can’t I get anywhere with her?’

Jenson started laughing hard, clutching his sides. ‘You are so easy to wind up.’

Fargas grimaced and chased his friend through the corridors to the tactical operations room. Gonzales had taken the turbolift from the Comedy Twins to deck seventeen where Lieutenant Fiona Chen was questioning two people over something seemingly insignificant.

‘Lieutenant?’ Gonzales asked as she got close.

‘Sir,’ Chen replied. ‘Just dealing with a dispute.’

‘Over?’

‘A holonovel,’ Chen answered disdainfully.

‘Which one?’ Gonzales asked the two men.

‘The Hologram’s Trials,’ one crewman answered.

‘What are you arguing about?’

‘I was saying that Hollow Causes was better,’ the second crewman added.

‘Both were written by Voyager’s EMH,’ they said in unison.

‘I’m aware of that,’ Chen replied, having watched them both. ‘And my personal opinion is that neither is very good.’

‘I would say that Hollow Causes is better because it was written later and writers normally get better,’ Gonzales told them. ‘But why argue over it?’

They shrugged.

‘Off with you, get back to your duty stations,’ Chen said. ‘I’ll write this up and maybe put it in my official log.’

‘Thank you, sir,’ they replied and strode off, laughing with each other.

‘Sir?’ Chen asked. ‘Did you want to see me about anything?’

‘As a matter of fact, I did,’ Gonzales answered, handing Chen a padd.

‘Who’s leading the away team, and who’s leading the security detail?’ Chen asked after reading the contents.

‘Commander Wright is leading the away team and you will be in command of the security detail.’

‘Who’s coming with me?’

Gonzales sighed. ‘The Comedy Twins.’

Chen grimaced but recovered quickly. ‘Yes sir.’

‘Get to tactical operations and give them a real workout.’

‘Yes ma’am,’ Chen replied and hurried off.

While Gonzales was rushing around the ship, Lieutenant Commander Xeris had been replacing parts on the Mauna Loa that had gone missing. He made a mental note to mention it to the captain but ran through the pre-flight checks and noticed more discrepancies than there had been before. Something was definitely wrong with this ship and he was about to run a level one diagnostic when an idea struck him. He lifted up the panel that provided access to the port nacelle and rummaged around until he found what he was looking for, a loose connector.

It was the only flaw he had found in Lieutenant Paris’ designs and had mentioned it in a letter to Voyager’s helmsman months ago. The Flyer was fully operational and ready to go, but Xeris still wasn’t happy. He was a perfectionist and there was something that he was missing, something else that was wrong. He rubbed his right earlobe in thought and paced around the perimeter of the craft. His sharp ears caught a sound that shouldn’t be there but he couldn’t place it and he continued pacing.

‘Is she ready?’ Commander Wright asked, entering the shuttlebay.

‘Yes and no,’ Xeris replied as he poked his head external cut-off panel.

‘Meaning?’

‘There’s something I can’t quite place, something that shouldn’t be there.’

Wright looked at the craft a moment. ‘Like this?’ he asked, holding up an active instrument.

‘Where did you find that?’ Xeris asked.

‘Nestled between the port nacelle housing and the primary hull.’

Xeris sighed and caught the instrument after Wright tossed it to him. He switched it off and put it away in his kit. ‘She’s ready.’

‘Good. I want you to have a look at this and tell me what you think,’ Wright said, handing the engineer a padd with an encrypted signature.

‘What is it?’

‘You’ll see. Your authorisation code will decrypt it.’

Xeris nodded.

‘I want your opinion when I get back,’ Wright said and left the shuttlebay.

Xeris glanced at the padd and left the shuttlebay himself. He returned to engineering and secured the padd in the weapons locker under his desk and then went to check on the warp drive. Because of the time he spent prepping the Flyer his rounds were late.

‘Hu’fret, get yourself over here and check out the impulse reactors. I thought I told you to purge them. There’s a problem.’

‘Sorry sir,’ the Machari junior engineer replied. ‘I’m running late.’

‘We won’t have a ship unless you keep up. Get on with it now and then get back to what you were doing.’

‘Yes sir.’

 

Chapter Two

 

Captain Elizabeth Astor stood in front of the full-length mirror in her quarters and made sure that her uniform fitted securely where it should. She neglected to wear the Bajoran earring because it felt uncomfortable and wished once again that she had opted to have cosmetic surgery on her face to remove the nose ridges that marked her Bajoran heritage. She thought to herself that while she didn’t dislike her people she felt their religious leanings were a weakness. No matter how much Colonel Kira tried to tell her that it was their “religious leanings” that made them fight so hard, she couldn’t bring herself to admit it, not that she wanted to. Seeing that her uniform was fitted on her lithe frame as best it could be she exited her quarters and made her way to the bridge for the launch of the Mauna Loa toward New Tehran.

As she emerged on the bridge she glanced at the dedication plaque for the first time since leaving spacedock months ago. “Who think them brave,” she muttered under her breath, thinking of the words’ author, Henry Vaughn, a seventeenth century Terran poet. Who indeed? She took her seat and noticed that Lieutenant Talen, her Andorian operations officer, had still not been released from sickbay. His replacement was an unjoined Trill female, Lieutenant Kiza Pol. She settled herself in the chair and then nodded toward the Trill.

‘Lieutenant Pol to Mauna Loa, you are cleared for departure.’

Astor had transferred flight operations control to the Operations department because it made sense, rather than herself or Commander Wright having the responsibility.

‘Acknowledged, Lieutenant. Mauna Loa departing, Wright out.’

Astor tapped her combadge. ‘This is just a reconnaissance mission, Commander. I don’t want you to involve yourself in whatever is going on, regardless of the circumstances. Understood?’

‘Yes ma’am,’ Wright replied as he piloted the Flyer away from the Osiris.

‘Good, Astor out.’

Wright sighed audibly as his commanding officer cut the link. She was overbearing at times like this but then away missions were notoriously dangerous. In the mid twenty-second century most away missions ended with at least one dead crewmember. He had gotten used to piloting the largest auxiliary craft Starfleet had to offer and noticed that Lieutenant Chen was glancing at him to make he did nothing to damage the ship, after all, she was the first officer on board to fly her. The other two security personnel and the two historians were both in the rear compartment, leaving himself, Chen and Ensign Larson in the cockpit. Larson was manning the sensors, calibrating them to pick up the slightest variations in atmospheric conditions, natural or otherwise.

‘Ensign, please don’t give me a running commentary on our position,’ Wright told the Ensign when he started to speak. ‘I’m aware that it is standard procedure but it is unnecessary.’

‘Thank you, sir,’ Larson replied, clearly relieved at having to do such a mundane duty.

‘I wasn’t aware that others disliked it as much as I do.’

‘It is ridiculous,’ Chen added. ‘Technology is so much more sophisticated today than when that particular chore was added to the continually expanding list of SOPs.’

Wright grinned mischievously. ‘I take it there are others that you find unsuitable, Lieutenant?’

Chen coloured. ‘Sorry, sir, I didn’t mean it like that.’

‘I know, I was teasing you.’

‘“Captain on the bridge” is also unnecessary,’ Larson said.

‘I know several captains who actually have to order crewmen not to do it,’ Wright replied. ‘Captain Gold, on the SCE ship da Vinci in one of them.’

‘Good for him,’ Chen chimed in. ‘If more captains did that then maybe Starfleet would clear out some of that debris that has been cluttering up the charter for so long.’

‘Don’t let Lizzie hear you say that, she’ll go apoplectic,’ Wright replied, glancing at the security officer.

Her eyes goggled at his use of her hated nickname and he grinned again. ‘I wouldn’t dream of it, sir. Don’t want to be manually purging the waste filters for five years.’

‘Five years, what makes you say that?’ Larson asked. ‘Missions aren’t like that anymore. Not since Kirk’s era.’

‘Actually, it was Admiral Kirk that abolished the notion of a five year mission. Said exploration was continuous,’ Ensign Talina Stern said as she entered the cockpit. ‘One of the most interesting captains alive.’

‘Still,’ Larson piped.

‘How old is he, a hundred and fifty?’

‘Something like that,’ Stern answered. ‘I stopped counting after the Romulan incident.’

‘How’d you know so much about Kirk anyway?’ Wright asked.

‘I did my Academy dissertation on him. On his more, outrageous exploits.’

‘Some of which are still classified, I’ll bet.’

‘Yes sir, I managed to get access to some of them for research purposes, though I wasn’t actually allowed to put anything from them into the dissertation.’

‘Sir, we should slow down. We don’t want to alert the natives,’ Larson said, bringing them all back to the mission at hand.

‘Right, we’ll land a kilometre from the Garden of Eden and decide what to do,’ Wright replied and expertly landed the Mauna Loa in the clearing of a large copse with tall, dense trees.

Larson tapped out a sequence and the computer did a quick sensor sweep of the area. ‘The Eden will not be able to detect us. Their systems are too old.’

‘That’s good news,’ Wright replied and walked into the rear compartment. The others joined him seconds later and he activated the small screen set into the bulkhead. ‘Ensigns, I want you to circle your way toward the Eden going clockwise. Fargas, you’ll come with the rest of us as we make our way anticlockwise. Recce only. Okay, lets move out.’

As the officers spread out in the search pattern, on the bridge of the Osiris Astor was still in her chair, but she was paying only minimal attention to the activity around her. She was staring at the small retractable screen on her armrest. The full information on the Garden of Eden was slowly scrolling down and she read it intently. Sleeper ships had been used for two main purposes. The first was to send colonists on their way to new colonies before the advent of warp drive and the second was to get criminals off Earth, essentially banishing them. Astor wanted to know, for the sake of her away team, which of the two purposes the Eden had been used for. The crew manifest, cross-referenced with the major events in Earth’s history, told her everything that she needed to know, and the misfortune that could befall her officers.

The Garden of Eden had been used to send the most violent faction of a religious movement off-world. They were religious extremists, fanatics, and they thought nothing of using explosives to get what they wanted. They had killed hundreds and what had been the European Union asked for one of the sleeper ships so they could remove the threat. But, like the SS Botany Bay, the time had come to face up against a mistake made by a government of the past. Astor could not risk alerting the crew of the Eden to the fact that there was a ship nearby so she elected to stay silent until Wright contacted her or the Mauna Loa returned.

Ensign Larson led Ensign Talina Stern, the historian, and Ensign Mark Jenson, the only security officer assigned to their team, in a wide arc that brought them to the port section of the centuries-old sleeper ship. Stern used her tricorder to take atmospheric readings while Larson used his to scan the external bulkheads. Jenson’s eyes were like slits as he scanned the surrounding area looking for any signs of trouble. It usually found him and he didn’t need to go looking for it, he just hoped that this time was different.

‘Interesting,’ Stern said.

‘What have you got, Talina?’ Larson asked, deciding not to say “Ensign.”

‘According to these readings, this ship has been here for two hundred years. Ion propulsion would have run out a few billion kilometres outside the Sol system. There is no way it could have drifted this far.’

‘I was thinking the same thing,’ Larson replied. ‘Which means that somebody found them, brought them out of their deep freeze and left them on this planet.’

‘But why here, in the desert?’ Jenson asked. ‘Why not in the tropical zone?’

Larson shrugged. ‘Maybe they upset someone.’

‘Again,’ Stern added.

‘We’d better make ourselves scarce, we’ve no idea when these people are going to be back.’

‘What makes you think they’re still alive?’

‘There’re power emanations coming from the other side of the bulkhead which means that someone has been keeping up the maintenance of this bucket,’ Larson answered. ‘And I’m not detecting any lifesigns, so I know that they’re not here, at the moment.’

‘Look, over there!’ Jenson said, and pointed with his phaser.

‘Time to get out of here,’ Larson said and backtracked the way they came. They hadn’t gone to the front so he thought their tracks would be obscured, but even so he made them crouch low against the horizon as they made their back to the Flyer.

Commander Wright, Chief Petty Officer Marie Casanova and Lieutenants Emmanuel Fargas and Fiona Chen stepped toward the starboard side of the craft. Chen and Fargas kept their phasers in hand while Casanova and Wright used their tricorders to get some analyses. When Chen spotted a dust cloud approaching their position they also made their way back to the Flyer. Once the hatch was sealed and the tricorders’ data had been uploaded into the main computer, Wright activated the small screen in the aft compartment.

‘Well, it definitely looks like there are some people there, and have been for quite some time.’

‘That doesn’t explain why they are in the desert, there is plenty of land that is more habitable,’ Stern joined in.

‘I was thinking that they must have found something in the desert that made them stay, or that they crashed here,’ Casanova suggested.

‘They didn’t crash, there’s absolutely no evidence of that.’

‘Then they must have found something.’

‘We’ll wait here until they return. At the pace they are travelling at,’ Wright said, bringing up a schematic of the area, ‘they won’t reach the ship for at least two hours. I suggest we wait here until they return and then see what happens.’

‘If they catch us?’ Stern asked.

‘They won’t,’ Chen answered. ‘They’re returning from somewhere, not going somewhere. They’ve been alone on this planet for decades, it’s unlikely that they’ll even think of being watched or monitored.’

‘Lieutenant Chen is right,’ Wright told them. ‘We’ll wait and see what happens.’

None of the away team sat idle while they waited for the occupants of the sleeper ship to return. Wright and Larson sketched out a plan to get inside the ship if possible while Chen took her security detail, in the aft compartment, through plans to keep the others out of trouble whatever they might try and do, and knowing Starfleet command-line officers, it could be anything. The historians were busy at the rear of the cockpit, accessing the main computer to find out what they could about the SS Garden of Eden, its crew, and the DY500 class in particular. They followed the mantra that you never knew what could be helpful so you looked at everything – the opposite of Occam’s razor. Larson was manning the helm when the party arrived and called the others.

‘Magnify,’ Wright ordered.

The image on the main viewscreen changed to that of thirty or so people wearing a strange-looking uniform dragging about fifty more people behind them. The people being dragged were wearing rags and looked filthy. The chains that bound them looked old but Wright couldn’t tell much more from this distance.

‘Do you recognise those uniforms?’ Larson asked the historians.

‘Nope,’ Casanova shook her head.

‘Maybe,’ Stern said. ‘I need to check something.’

Larson followed her to the science station on the Flyer and Wright took the pilot’s seat, with Casanova and Chen standing over him. The Comedy Twins of Fargas and Jenson stood to one side, this wasn’t their area. Stern checked the Mauna Loa’s database, smaller than the Osiris’ but still comprehensive.

‘I’ve got it,’ she squealed and all eyes turned to her.

‘The uniforms are similar to that of the Old Earth religious faction of the early twenty-first century. Based on the similarity I would say that this was an offshoot.’

‘A splinter group,’ Larson clarified. ‘Probably an ultra-violent faction, hence the reason they ended up on the DY500.’

‘What was Old Earth’s mandate?’

‘They believed that the nuclear age would destroy the world and that humanity should revert to a more simplistic lifestyle, similar to that of the middle ages, or further back,’ Stern answered. ‘There is no mention of the name of this splinter group of the Old Earth religious movement, only that they were exceptionally dangerous, responsible for killing hundreds.’

‘And now they’re here, doing who-knows-what to this primitive people,’ Wright mused.

‘All the people are aboard, sir,’ Chen said, still glancing at the image on the viewscreen.

All eyes faced and were all watching when a bright light flared around the Garden of Eden before it just vanished. Wright recovered first and took the pilot’s seat.

‘Train all sensors on that spot, I want to know what happened, what that light was, and where that ship went.’

Larson was already doing that and his brows furrowed as the information came through. He ran a diagnostic on the sensors, recalibrated them and tried again, getting the same result.

‘Sir, we have a problem,’ he said, facing Wright.

‘What have you got, Ensign?’

‘Sensors have detected massive amounts of chronoton particles, centred in the area where the ship was.’

‘What does that mean?’ Chen asked. ‘Don’t chronoton particles indicate—’

‘—Time travel,’ Wright finished her sentence, sighing as he did so. ‘I think this we need to report in.’

‘Don’t we just,’ Larson agreed. ‘Hailing the Osiris.’

Wright took a moment to compose himself before Astor’s came on screen.

‘You have something, Commander?’

‘Aye sir, and you’re not going to like it.’

‘Well?’ Astor asked impatiently, she preferred bad news not to be sugar coated.

Wright told her what they knew.

‘Chronotons?’ she asked, almost bellowing.

‘Yes ma’am,’ Larson answered.

‘Stay where you are and don’t activate a single thruster. I’m going to contact Starfleet Command and see what they have to say. We may need to leave this to somebody else.’

‘Aye sir.’

‘I’ll get back to you as quick as I can. Astor out.’

The Captain of the Osiris sighed and relaxed into her chair. Time travel had been the bane of starship captains for the last two hundred years and it would seem that while she had managed to avoid it and its implications up until now—which she was immensely thankful for—she was now right in the middle of it and needed some expert help. She knew only one place she could call but she needed to get to them through somebody else, but before that she needed to see exactly what she was dealing with. She went down to the astrometrics lab and scanned the surface. The computer easily picked up the chronoton particles and from their decay rate she deduced how far back they had gone, but not where. Having made a deduction as to where they might have gone, she thought that Starfleet should be informed. She needed advice.

‘Gonzales, open a channel to Starfleet Command and put it through to my ready room,’ told her security chief.

‘Aye sir,’ Gonzales replied and her hands flew across the console.

Astor’s computer was bleeping when she reached the ready room and she entered her security code. Admiral Janeway’s visage appeared on the screen.

‘I’m sorry, Admiral, have I interrupted something?’

‘Not really. In fact, I was hoping that something would come up. What can I do for you, Captain?’

Astor outlined what Wright had told her and Janeway’s face fell.

‘I spoke too soon. I take it that you would like to speak with Temporal Investigations?’

‘Please, they should know of this.’

‘And you hope that they might give you some direction in dealing with the situation?’

‘That’s just about it, Admiral.’

‘I’ll put you through,’ Janeway acquiesced, getting the matter out of her hair. ‘But I must warn you,’ she added. ‘They can be a little odd.’

Astor smiled. ‘I’m in Starfleet, Admiral, when isn’t it “odd?”’

Janeway returned the smile. ‘Indeed. Hope they give you what you need. Janeway out.’

 

Chapter Three

 

On Earth, in a small building in Oakland, California, on the other side of the Bay from San Francisco, a group of forty men and woman were pouring over hundreds of captains’ logs from across the Federation. They were Starfleet’s Temporal Investigation Division and made sure that anyone who accidentally, or deliberately, travelled through time was appropriately debriefed and if necessary, punished. The two most senior investigators no longer poured over the information coming in. They were sent across the galaxy to do the debriefing of senior officers and make their recommendations to the Director of Starfleet Operations, namely Admiral Kathryn Janeway at this present time. Investigator Lucsly was sitting at his station when the call came in. The broad-shouldered Dulmer joined him. The call was coming from sector 43654, the Serik sector, and rerouted through Starfleet Command. Lucsly activated the screen and saw a woman’s face coalesce. She was in her early forties, attractive, and the Bajoran nose ridges gave her a youthful quality. She looked at him in surprise for a moment and then smiled.

‘Temporal Investigations?’

Lucsly nodded, it was not often that captains contacted them directly. ‘I am Investigator Lucsly, Temporal Investigations. How may I assist you, Captain…?’

‘Astor. My crew have run across a DY500 sleeper ship out here, the SS Garden of Eden, and while investigating its appearance, the ship disappeared, leaving behind a temporal signature. I’m sending you the data now.’

Dulmer, sitting beside Lucsly, nodded as the information came through. ‘We’ve got it, Captain,’ he told her. ‘We’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Dulmer out.’

Lucsly scanned it quickly, looked at the information from the sensors and then consulted with Dulmer.

‘Well, they’ve definitely gone back several thousand years, but not to that planet otherwise there would be evidence.’

‘They must be somewhere,’ Dulmer replied and consulted the Starfleet database. ‘I think they might have travelled back to Earth.’

‘That’s a long distance. What type of drive could they be using and why Earth?’

‘The name of the ship could give us a clue. They are religious extremists after all.’

‘I don’t like where you’re thinking with this but I think you’re right. I’ll call Captain Astor back.’

‘Is it important?’ Astor asked.

‘Very,’ Lucsly answered. ‘You are to investigate the matter and to stop the activity of the ship no matter the cost. They cannot be allowed to contaminate the timeline anymore than they have already. Good luck, Lucsly out.’

Astor sat back in her chair and sighed. It would appear that she was right but she couldn’t tell her away team what they thought because it would colour their gathering of the evidence. She returned to the bridge from her ready room and took the chair that Gonzales relinquished.

‘Open a channel to the away team,’ she told Gonzales.

‘Channel open,’ the tactical officer replied from her station.

‘Commander, I have spoken with Starfleet and your orders are to investigate the ship and where those slaves came from and stop the ship if possible.’

‘Once we’ve got all the information we can,’ Wright replied.

‘Exactly, Commander. I’ll leave the precise details in your hands. Astor out.’

On the Mauna Loa, Wright rubbed his eyes and then stood up, tugging his uniform as he did so.

‘You heard the Captain. Same teams as last time. Larson, I want your team to wait here until the Eden returns, then get aboard somehow and download every scrap of information, relaying it back to the Mauna Loa and the Osiris on an open link just in case you’re caught. My team will find those slaves and see what we can do to stop them being used.’

‘Doesn’t the Prime Directive apply?’ Stern asked.

‘No,’ Wright replied. ‘These people may be indigenous but the Eden is not, and its crew is breaking the Prime Directive by using them. If the people are not native then it doesn’t apply anyway.’

Stern nodded.

‘We’ll leave immediately,’ Wright told them. ‘Get what you’ll need for a desert trek and move out.’

‘Aye sir,’ Chen replied and went into the aft compartment to collect supplies.

Three minutes later, after Wright, Casanova and Chen had changed into desert gear, they exited the Flyer and started the long trek across the desert landscape.

 

Three hours passed in what Larson would have described as completely boring. The sensors recorded everything automatically so there was actually very little for his team to do, but wait. Wright was regretting his decision to have his team check out the slaves, the walk had almost killed him. He hadn’t been keeping up with his own exercise regime and it was costing him. On the other hand, his two companions looked as fresh as they had several hours ago. Wright decided to keep radio silence just in case the Eden had had its other systems upgraded so if there was a problem, he, or Larson, would be on their own.

Wright’s team reached the slaves and noticed that they all wore civilian clothing (tattered as they were) reminiscent of the early twenty-first century. The slaves lived in mud huts and looked like they were well fed, but Wright was being careful not to be seen. Until they knew whether the slaves were natives or not they couldn’t reveal themselves. Chen was with Casanova who was taking readings with her tricorder. The former had her phaser pointed toward the village while the latter edged closer. Wright pulled her back when he returned.

‘They’re wearing old Earth clothing,’ Wright told them. ‘I want to wait to see if the occupants of the Eden converse with them. They look human.’

‘They are human, sir,’ Casanova replied. ‘I scanned some of them. They don’t suffer from malnutrition or dehydration, but they do seem to be slaves.’

‘We have to release them,’ Chen stated adamantly.

Wright turned to face her. ‘We do not. They are not our responsibility.’

Casanova joined in. ‘Yes, they are. They are human and they are slaves. It isn’t right.’

Wright sighed. ‘We have to wait until the Eden crew arrive and see what happens. They might not be indigenous but if they’ve lived here for years and the planet is otherwise uninhabited then they have as much right as anyone to stay here.’

The three Starfleet officers crouched down and made themselves comfortable while they waited for the Eden’s crew to reach them. None liked the waiting game and especially not when there was so much riding on this particular away mission. On the Mauna Loa Stern was watching the sensor displays when a bleeping startled her. Larson, Fargas and Jenson were there in seconds. The Eden had returned and looked no different to when it had left. They didn’t have to wait long before the crew of the sleeper ship left it unoccupied.

Getting into their own desert gear they left the Mauna Loa and circled round to the Eden. Larson, as the only senior officer, wanted to lead the team but Fargas and Jenson took the lead, citing the fact that they were security personnel and if anyone was to shoot they would be in an immediate position to shoot back. Larson reluctantly allowed to do so, realising that they would be the first to be killed if anyone started shooting which meant that he would have an extra second or two to find cover or shoot back. Larson, like Stern, had his tricorder out and was scanning the ship again.

‘There’s definitely no one in there,’ he said to Stern.

‘Let us be the judge of that, sir,’ Fargas replied and stepped forward, Jenson right beside him, both had their phasers out.

‘Make sure they’re set on stun,’ Larson told them. ‘We don’t want to kill anyone.’

‘Yet,’ Stern added.

Larson shot a glance at her and nodded to the security officers. ‘Go.’

Fargas took point and Jenson followed. They approached the Eden and pulled the door open, stepping inside quickly. Both fanned out and quickly cleared the ship. Jenson remained on guard inside and Fargas returned to Larson.

‘All clear, sir.’

‘Let’s go,’ Larson called Stern. ‘Take all the tricorder readings you can and download the ship’s database.’

‘Aye sir,’ Stern replied and she followed him and Fargas into the sleeper ship.

Inside was clean and as spacious as a ship that size could be. The forward section housed the simplistic bridge and environmental controls, the middle section housed what used to be the cryogenic suspension pods and the rear section held cargo containers and the nuclear engines. The bridge had far more instrumentation that the normal DY500-class ships had and Stern stepped to the science station to begin downloading the database and logs.

‘It’ll probably take some time to download everything. There’s an open link with the Mauna Loa and the Osiris so they’ll know everything that we do,’ Stern told Larson.

‘Excellent. Jenson, watch the tricorder and the entrance. Fargas, come with us. We’re going to check out the suspension pods.’

‘Sir?’

‘The bridge has far more than it should and I think that the pods might have been modified as well,’ Larson added.

‘Aye sir.’

The trio of officers made their way to the central section of the Eden and looked for the cryogenic suspension pods. They weren’t there. Instead of more than eighty pods where the crew would spend their time during the long spaceflight, there were hastily-constructed quarters that each housed about ten people. Stern took tricorder readings with Fargas’ tricorder and Larson noticed something unusual on his.

‘What the hell is this?’ he asked himself.

‘Sir?’ Stern asked.

‘There’s some kind of temporal signature coming from the aft section,’ Larson answered.

‘There are engines back there,’ Fargas replied.

‘There should be a nuclear engine, not a temporal signature.’

‘Let’s take a look,’ Stern said.

Larson led the way and they came to a locked door. A few key presses and the door slid open to reveal an engine room more fitting on a starship like the Osiris than an old sleeper ship. He waved his tricorder over the engine and sighed.

‘I knew it. This is a type-VII temporal displacement drive.’

‘Weren’t displacement drives banned by the Federation?’ Fargas asked.

‘In 2290, the Rigel Treaty,’ Larson answered. ‘But it would seem that somehow these people have gotten hold of one and upgraded every system on the ship as well. I’m detecting shields, phasers, even a photon torpedo launcher.’

‘What are we going to do about it?’ Fargas asked. ‘I suppose sabotaging the ship is out of the question?’

‘Most definitely,’ Larson regarded the security officer.

‘We should contact the Osiris,’ Jenson suggested.

‘We need to get out of here first and return to the Mauna Loa,’ Larson replied.

Stern returned to the forward section and picked up the tricorder once it had finished downloading everything from the ship’s database and then they all left the ship and returned to the Flyer. Meanwhile, Commander Wright and his team were still hiding out. They heard one slave talk to another.

‘I would give anything to find a TV and see some show, doesn’t even have to be decent.’

‘I’d be happy with another set of clothes. These rags are falling to pieces.’

‘They’re talking Federation standard,’ Casanova said.

‘English,’ Wright agreed. ‘The Earth language spoken by the largest number of people. I’m betting that they do actually come from Earth.’

‘Listen,’ Casanova said. ‘They’re talking in at least fifteen different languages. These people come from all over Earth.’

‘No they don’t,’ Chen shot back. ‘The languages are all dialects of English among different groups of people.’

‘So where do they come from?’

‘Look at their clothing,’ Wright said. ‘Definitely Earth. When, is the question.’

‘And we need to find the answer to that pressing question,’ Chen replied. ‘The crew are also human, how can they do this to their fellow man?’

Casanova was staring at the distance. ‘They’re coming back, perhaps one of us should join the slaves and see where they go.’

‘Not yet,’ we need more information before we go undercover.’

‘Aye sir,’ Casanova replied dejectedly.

‘Will we be able to stay hidden when they get here?’ Chen asked, ever the cautious one.

‘Doubtful,’ Casanova answered. ‘This hiding place is not very secure.’

‘We’ll have to risk detection,’ Wright replied, tapping his combadge. ‘Wright to Mauna Loa, three to beam back.’

The three officers rematerialised in the aft compartment, standing beside Fargas and Jenson. Larson popped his head through the doorway to the cockpit and raised an eyebrow in an almost Vulcan exclamation of surprise.

‘Have you got something?’ Wright asked, looking at Larson and the padd he was holding.

‘Yes sir,’ the Ensign answered. ‘And you’re not going to like it.’

‘Cockpit,’ Wright said. ‘I want everyone in the cockpit, right now.’

Larson activated the viewscreen when they were all assembled and it showed internal images of the Eden, taken by the tricorders.

‘All the old technology from this ship has been removed,’ Larson told them. ‘The hull is the same configuration but the internal equipment is close to that of the Osiris. Instead of a nuclear engine and cryogenic suspension systems there is a type-VII temporal displacement drive that would allow the ship to travel anywhere, anywhen. In addition, the computer is as advanced as ours.’

‘Meaning?’

‘That they are probably aware of our presence on the planet and in the system.’

Wright muttered a Klingon curse. ‘Displacement drives were outlawed by the Federation, and we know that they are using it to transport slaves somewhere. We need to let the Captain know.’

‘I already do, Commander,’ Astor said over the comm. ‘There has been an open link all the time.’

‘Captain, what do we do?’

‘The ship is going to disappear in two hours,’ Stern told them all, ‘when the crew return with the slaves.’

‘You’re to make yourselves known to the crew of the Eden, Commander.’

‘Sir?’

‘Get all the information you can from them directly,’ Astor told him with clarification. ‘Try and go with them. Maybe then we’ll have a better understanding of who they are and what they’re doing.’

‘What if we’re captured?’ Chen asked.

‘Then take the Eden and return here. We’ll wait for three days. If you haven’t returned by then, I’ll call temporal investigations and Starfleet Command and ask for instructions. If you haven’t returned, I’ll assume that you’re missing in action and we’ll leave orbit.’

‘Aye sir,’ Wright replied, knowing that there was no point in arguing, She had already decided their fate.

‘You are to do whatever is necessary to stop them,’ Astor iterated.

‘Yes ma’am,’ Wright said, knowing exactly what she meant. His away team was expendable if that was the only way to stop the crew of the Eden from contaminating the timeline.

‘Good luck, Astor out.’

‘Can she do that?’ Fargas asked.

‘She just did,’ Jenson answered.

‘We’d better get ready,’ Wright told them. ‘Normal uniforms, tricorders and phasers. New combadges, just to make sure that all communications are open. Keep an open channel with our combadges and the Osiris as long as possible.’

‘Aye sir,’ Chen took the initiative and started programming the new combadges.

Slightly less than two hours passed before the crew of the Eden returned. Wright strode toward them first, flanked by Fargas and Jenson, with Larson, Stern, Casanova and Chen behind them. The leader of the crew, dressed in what looked like Bedouin desert dress, took of the mask and Wright saw that it was a woman. Before any of them could reach for their phasers the crew of the Eden had weapons trained on them. She nodded her head and Wright pulled his phaser, firing on stun. He got off two shots before he was hit. He turned to run as he collapsed and saw the others in his away team also falling, but they all had phasers and were firing as they went down.

‘Take them into the ship,’ Stern heard the woman say as she lost consciousness.

 

Chapter Four

 

Captain’s log, stardate 58307.8:

I have made a decision that could have disastrous consequences. Knowing that both Admiral Janeway and the team at temporal investigations would probably agree with it doesn’t make it any easier. I’ve just sent seven people, including two of my senior officers, to make a deal with the crew of a sleeper ship that has technology just as advanced as ours. I have got no idea what will happen but I’ve just been informed that we’ve lost contact with them.

I take this to mean that they have been captured and will be taken to somewhere, somewhen, where they are completely alone. Waiting is the hardest thing for a captain to do, and it is especially tense for me at this moment because if things go wrong there will be no way that I can even mount a rescue mission as I don’t have a ship capable of traversing time. I can only hope that my people make it back safe and sound and with the Eden’s crew in custody.

 

Astor ended the log and stood up. She mused that her ready room had become her haven whenever she sent her officers on an away mission and realised that it was not making her any friends in her crew. Knowing that her professors used to remind her keep herself on friendly terms with the crew she decided on a stroll around the ship. There were two motives, the first of which was to ease her anxiety about the away mission and the second was to become more friendly with her crew, to get to know them and to learn about their abilities, making her more able to pick away teams better.

She took the turbolift and emerged on deck thirty-five, the lowest deck of the Osiris. There was nothing particularly interesting down here but there were numerous crewmen on various tasks, most of whom were non-commissioned, the most populous members of a Starfleet crew. There was no one in sight so she just strolled through the corridors thinking about what it was like when the ship was still in dry-dock. As she came to a corner three crewmen came from the other direction carrying between them a quantum torpedo casing. They stopped when they saw her and put it down as she frowned.

‘Where are you going with that?’ she asked them.

‘An experiment,’ the lead man replied. ‘We’re going to replace the warhead with equipment to measure temporal signatures.’

‘Whose idea was it?’

‘Lieutenant Commander Xeris, sir,’ the man answered. ‘He ordered us to get to work on it immediately.’

‘When?’

‘As soon as the away team left.’

‘He’s always thinking ahead,’ Astor mused to herself. ‘As you were,’ she added and continued her walk back to the turbolift and then emerged on deck thirty-four.

She hadn’t planned to walk along every deck but felt that she might end up doing so, if only just to acquaint herself with the crew. As she strolled along the corridors she realised that she actually knew very little about the ship that she commanded, even though she should know a great deal about it after going through the specifications several times and giving the ship numerous full inspection tours. Deck thirty-four contained the ship’s waste management systems and very few people ever set foot down there. As she entered the turbolift she heard a voice shouting.

‘Captain,’ it was Lieutenant Commander Gonzales.

‘Yes, Commander?’

‘If you don’t mind my asking, sir, what are you doing down here?’

‘Shouldn’t be too hard to work out for a Betazoid,’ Astor replied, annoyed at the interruption.

Gonzales was taken aback and took a few steps back, feeling the negative vibes from her captain.

‘Sorry,’ Astor said. ‘I didn’t mean it like that.’

‘Sir, what are you doing down here?’

‘I wanted to take a stroll to clear my head.’

‘And your anxiousness about the away team’s mission,’ Gonzales added.

Astor lowered her head a little. ‘I guess so.’

‘Captain, you have no need to apologise,’ Gonzales told her. ‘I understand where you’re coming from. But you must have faith in your people to succeed in the face of adversity, that’s what being in Starfleet is all about.’

Astor snarled. ‘I’m well aware that that’s what Starfleet is all about. But that’s not what I’m about. I didn’t want to take command of a starship again, I wasn’t ready and I knew it. Unfortunately my grandmother and uncle overrode me and gave me this command. I’m doing the best I can but I’m still unsure whether I’m ready or not.’

‘Shouldn’t you have said something at the psychological evaluation?’

‘I did, but the psychologist decided that I didn’t mean it and put that in his report.’

‘So you got command after all?’ Gonzales asked.

‘Yes,’ Astor replied and then chuckled. ‘Come on, I should be getting back to the bridge.’

‘Sir, it’s nearly 0300.’

‘Already? I’d better get some sleep,’ Astor said. ‘What did you want to see me about anyway?’

Gonzales looked abashed. ‘I was just going to ask whether you wanted to join us in a game of poker.’

Astor smiled. ‘Thanks for the invitation, but I think I’m going to get some sleep.’

 

Wright struggled to open his eyes and regretted it the moment he did. Bright light assaulted his senses and when he tried to sit up he found that he was trussed up like a pig. After a few moments the lights dimmed to a more manageable level for his eyes and he tried to focus on the people around him. He realised that if he squinted he could see more and saw that all of his officers were nearby, and in a similar condition. Immediately to his right was Lieutenant Chen and she was making a little headway in freeing herself but he could tell that the bonds were cutting into her skin and that she was probably in a lot of pain from it.

He fought down the nausea and shook his head to clear the cobwebs but only succeeded in making himself feel worse. The lights became brighter again and he heard approaching footsteps. The footsteps, judging by the sound, were female and nervous, and Wright knew that he could get some leverage. He heard a low moaning sound and realised that at least two more of his crew were regaining consciousness. Thinking quickly he decided on a course of action that would probably save their lives.

‘I want all of you to stay quiet and say nothing, no matter what anyone says or does to you,’ Wright told them in the loudest voice he could muster in his condition, well aware that the woman whose footsteps he had heard was still in earshot.

‘I would suggest that you stay quiet too, Commander,’ a woman’s voice told him.

‘Who are you?’ Wright asked, quieter than before.

‘Let’s just say that I outrank you,’ the woman answered.

‘Well, Captain, I want to know where we are.’

‘You’re guests on the SS Garden of Eden, the flagship of the Old Earth Republic,’ the woman replied. ‘We’re on our way to our headquarters and you’ll be interrogated upon our arrival.’

‘Where exactly is your headquarters?’

‘I can’t reveal that to you,’ the woman replied and walked off.

‘That went well,’ Chen said.

‘You sound okay,’ Wright said, aware that his voice sounded hoarse.

‘I have a better immune system than you do, sir,’ Chen replied. ‘They stunned us with tranquiliser darts, not phasers.’

‘That makes sense,’ Wright replied. ‘But why tie us up?’

‘We’re not,’ Ensign Larson added. ‘It just feels like it because we were unconscious during the temporal displacement. It’s a common side effect, another one of the reasons why they were banned.’

‘Your voice sounds a hell of a lot better than mine does, Ensign.’

‘Yes sir,’ Larson replied. ‘Where are we?’

‘On the Eden,’ Chen answered.

‘Where are we going?’ Fargas asked.

‘That is the question,’ Jenson muttered a little louder than he had intended.

‘We’ll just have to wait until we arrive, and then find out what we can do to get ourselves free and take the ship back to our own time,’ Wright told them. ‘For now we should just get some sleep. We have no idea when we’ll get wherever we’re going, so it’s best to take advantage of the situation.’

‘I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep,’ Chen said. ‘I’m too wired.’

‘The adrenalin pumping through us will keep us awake,’ Fargas added.

‘Maybe it’ll keep you awake,’ Jenson chimed in. ‘I’ve been trained by the Vulcan adepts in suppressing emotions and bodily responses.’

‘When? You were assigned right out of the Academy,’ Chen replied. ‘I’ve seen your file.’

‘I chose to take my survival training in the Forge.’

There was stunned silence.

‘Were you nuts?’ Wright asked.

‘No, I felt it was the most inhospitable place I knew. The hardest.’

‘What about the ice fields of Andoria?’ Fargas asked, only now finding this out about his best friend.

‘Been there before, not too hard. Not as hard as the Forge.’

‘And after your survival training?’

‘I was still on Vulcan when I learned that my parents had died during a misunderstanding with the Cardassians over one of their planets. I took compassionate leave and stayed on Vulcan where I met T’Yun,’ Jenson told them.

‘Who?’

‘The youngest of the adepts of Vulcan philosophy. She suggested that I could grieve properly by managing my emotions. I agreed and found it rather exhilarating.’

‘Isn’t that an emotion?’ Casanova quipped and Stern shushed her.

‘I didn’t go for the kohlinar, but I did learn a lot from the Vulcans. It’s the only reason that I actually returned from leave.’

‘You were ready to quit after just finishing the Academy?’ Fargas asked.

‘My parents were my only living relatives,’ Jenson answered. ‘Without them I didn’t know if I could go on. But after learning how to suppress my emotions and control my bodily responses I realised that I could actually make a difference and that was when I went to the Academy Headquarters on Vulcan and put myself back on the roster for assignments. I was assigned to the Osiris a month later.’

‘So get some sleep,’ Wright said after listening to the story.

‘I don’t actually need to sleep. Just to meditate.’

‘Huh?’ Stern asked.

‘A deep meditative state works just as well, better sometimes.’

‘How?’

‘Because when you go into a deep meditative state you can clear your mind completely, something that you can’t do when you sleep.’

Stern looked at him in admiration. ‘Just how did you survive your training in the Forge, no human has managed it in decades.’

‘Captain Archer made it in the 2150s but he had help from his science officer,’ Casanova said.

‘Well?’ Chen was interested now.

‘I got hyper-accurate maps of the terrain from a friend of mine and used them to plot the quickest way through the Forge.’

‘Isn’t that cheating?’

‘No, it’s using foresight.’

‘What did the brass think when you told them what you’d done?’ Wright asked, intrigued by the young Ensign.

‘They were impressed, well, the Vulcans weren’t. They just raised their eyebrows.’

‘That means they were impressed,’ Casanova told him.

‘I was given top marks and two days later got the message that my parents were dead.’

‘What did they do?’

‘My father was a diplomat and my mother was an engineer. They were assisting in the rebuilding of one of Cardassia’s outer worlds when a ship probably belonging to a remnant of the Obsidian Order attacked the vessel they were on and destroyed it.’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘Don’t be. They died fighting for what they believed in,’ Jenson told them. ‘Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to meditate.’

‘Unbelievable,’ Fargas said. ‘How come you never told me that?’

‘I didn’t think it mattered,’ Jenson answered.

His breathing slowed and the others knew that he had entered a meditative state. Wright lay on the floor and tried to sleep but the historians whispered amongst themselves. Fargas and Chen stayed awake, watching the only door to the room they were in, waiting for their captors to come for them. Whenever that would be.

Chen looked to her left and saw Fargas sleeping quietly and sighed. She was about to try and make Fargas wake up when she heard a slight hissing sound and looked up. There was a vapour coming through the air vents and she fell unconscious before she could call for help from any of her comrades. Ensign Mark Jenson could tell that something was happening but he dared not emerge from his deep meditation lest he give away the fact that he was still conscious when the others had been incapacitated. Using his Vulcan-enhanced abilities he could tell that the anesthezine gas had stopped flooding the chamber. Because he was not breathing as deeply as the others had been in sleep he was almost completely unaffected.

Without moving his body, Jenson opened his eyes and looked around, scanning the room and his compatriots. They were all unconscious and the woman that had been present before was present again. Unfortunately she was obviously well aware of Jenson’s abilities and fired another tranquiliser dart at him. This time he too fell unconscious.

 

On board the Osiris, Captain Astor was in her quarters trying to get some sleep but it wasn’t coming easily. She’d known that in certain situations sleep would be difficult, that much she’d learned from the numerous captains that she had served under, but it didn’t help one iota. For the tenth time in as many minutes she climbed out of bed and made her to the replicator for a beverage.

‘Computer, water, ten degrees Celsius.’

The drink materialised in front of her and she reached for it. It was cooling to the touch and she gratefully consumed the drink. Feeling somewhat relieved after the drink she went to the head and looked in the mirror above the sink. Her hair was somewhat unkempt and her face was etched with far too many lines from missions and people lost, from seeing many dead, but also from tiredness. By far the most lines came from tiredness and there was nothing that could be done about her tiredness. She grew up fighting against the Cardassians, joined Starfleet and faced the Dominion, then made captain and defeated the Dominion.

But this was the worst fate she had ever faced. She knew that she wasn’t ready to command a starship after her loss and at the moment only two people on board knew that, Commander Wright and Lieutenant Commander Gonzales. Neither would put that information into any log unless given reason to do so because of her actions or lack of same. But the fact didn’t sit well with her because she knew that her emotions were becoming somewhat unstable with regards to her actions when picking away teams and waiting for their return. Astor climbed back into bed and thought carefully about what to do. She decided to talk to Commander Wright upon his return, asking his opinion about her abilities as commander of the vessel and what she can do to improve them.

That was in the job description of the executive officer but Commander Wright had seemingly chosen to ignore them for whatever reason. The only other possibility  is that he was instead trying to complement her limited command ability with his own and therefore making her appear less incompetent than she actually was. It wasn’t what she really wanted to know, that he was saving her career in the fleet, but she had made some bad decisions recently and Lieutenant Talen was still in sickbay recovering from his ordeal on Calyso II. She drifted off to sleep knowing that she should have a long chat with her executive officer about the chain of command. What he was doing wasn’t acceptable, no matter the cost to her own career.

 

Chapter Five

 

On the bridge of the SS Garden of Eden, Commander Evelyn McIntyre watched the gauges showing their travel status. The temporal displacement drive was working at optimum efficiency, releasing only the precise amount of chronoton particles necessary for the time jump. The fact that they had guests from the twenty-fourth century was only a minor problem for her but for Captain Adam Husker it would be a major one. He had downloaded the entire database from a Federation ship a few years ago and found out all about them, including their insistence on preserving the timeline and the group of dedicated investigators that questioned everyone who deliberately or accidentally took a trip back. If she were a member of the Federation her crew would all be sent to the New Zealand penal colony for the rest of their lives.

The Eden suddenly dropped out of the temporal slipstream in the atmosphere of a lush planet with plenty of vegetation. She was the self-appointed executive officer and one of only two people capable of piloting the ship with its new technology. Taking the controls the angled the sleeper ship toward a clearing with an approximate circular shape, rough as it was. There was a crude landing pad that wouldn’t be visible several thousand years from now because it was constructed of biodegradable materials. The Eden landed on the pad with a slight jolt and McIntyre activated the communication system.

‘Eve to Adam. Cain and Abel are ready to unload the passengers.’

‘Acknowledged, Eve. Any problems?’

‘We picked up seven extra guests, Federation people by the look of their uniforms.’

‘I want to debrief you immediately. Transport to the usual coordinates. Unloading will begin immediately.’

As the Eden landed, Jenson was woken up. The anesthezine gas had worn off and the others were walking about the small chamber they were in. Chen helped him up.

‘We’ve landed,’ she told him.

‘Where?’ he asked.

‘That we don’t know,’ Fargas added. ‘We haven’t seen anyone since the gas flooded in.’

‘We will be,’ Wright said. ‘We’ve been brought here for a reason. Either to be disposed off where we’ll never be found or to be enslaved like the people held elsewhere on this ship.’

‘Where on this ship are we?’ Casanova asked.

‘This used to be a cargo section,’ Stern answered. ‘But it’s been divided up into rooms for people to sleep in or smaller bays to store cargo.’

‘Well, it looks like we got the sleep we needed,’ Casanova commented.

‘We’ll be ready for whatever they dish out. And we will return this ship to the twenty-fourth century,’ Wright told them.

‘Is that so?’ Chen asked. ‘How can you be so sure?’

‘Because we’re not going to be left here,’ Wright answered stubbornly.

‘What if we’re forced to destroy the ship?’

‘Then we leave a message that can be deciphered sometime.’

‘We don’t even know when we are, let alone where,’ Stern advised him.

‘So let’s get out of this room and find out, do something proactive,’ Jenson suggested. ‘We might not have our phasers or tricorders, but we’re all capable of defending ourselves.’

Wright looked at him and then at the others. ‘Fine, two teams. One to secure the ship and the other to find out where we are.’

‘That is unnecessary,’ a man’s voice told them.

‘And you are?’

‘Captain Adam Husker, commanding officer of the SS Garden of Eden and President of the Old Earth Republic.’

‘If you say so,’ Wright shot back. ‘Where are we?’

‘Haven’t you figured it out yet, Commander?’

Stern suddenly hit her forehead in comprehension. ‘Sir, we’re on Earth.’

Wright whirled to face her. ‘Explain.’

Stern turned to Husker but spoke to the other officers. ‘We’ve been taken back through time to the garden of Eden on Earth.’

Wright sighed as it dawned on him. ‘And you are Adam and Eve.’

‘He’s quick,’ Evelyn retorted.

‘Take them to the large tent and leave them there while we move the Descendents,’ Husker told one of the men in uniforms that accompanied him.

‘Yes, my Lord,’ the soldier obeyed, herding the Starfleet officers like cattle.

The soldier, with three more using their rifles to urge the Starfleet officers along, led them to a large tent, literally, which was fortified with a forcefield. Wright and the others were pushed into the tent and the forcefield was activated.

‘So much for getting out of here,’ Chen muttered.

‘At least we now know what they’re doing,’ Casanova said.

‘We do, do we?’ Fargas asked.

‘Yes,’ Stern and Jenson answered in unison.

‘Well?’ Wright asked.

Stern started the narration of what she thought was going on. ‘We’re in what our ancestors would have called the garden of Eden, which in the twenty-first century was in Tehran, in what we know today as the Middle East Coalition. The two senior terrorists in the ultra-dangerous faction of the Old Earth that were incarcerated on the SS Garden of Eden have become the Adam and Eve of old religious lore and are populating the Earth of our ancestors using the slaves from that other world.’

‘So we’re not the original humans and we really aren’t native to Earth?’

‘I’m not sure about that last part,’ Jenson added.

‘Meaning?’

‘I believe that these people, once they had their vessel outfitted with the modern technology, arrived on this planet in the past, possibly about three hundred years, and are populating our Earth with their descendents, hence the name they are given.’

Stern and Casanova, the historians, looked at him and thought about it. Neither was an expert on quantum mechanics but what Jenson was saying did make sense.

‘How do you know so much about quantum mechanics?’ Chen asked. She knew so little about this particular Ensign.

‘A hobby,’ Jenson answered cryptically.

‘Well, I tend to agree,’ Wright mused aloud.

‘Huh?’ Fargas asked.

‘These people are human, they might not be from Earth but if they are the descendents of these criminals then they should not be punished as such but returned to Earth as refugees.’

‘It is not our place to interfere,’ Chen said. ‘The Prime Directive does actually apply.’

‘For the second time,’ Wright replied, ‘it does not because these people are not native to that planet.’

‘They are, because they were born there.’

‘But they do not possess warp drive, therefore we are not supposed to interfere.’

‘They have temporal drive, it has warp capability.’

‘But they did not develop it themselves, they were given it.’

‘This is a problem. But the Directive does not apply and we should still find a way to get these people back to Earth.’

‘We need to get back to our own time first,’ Jenson reminded Wright.

‘Then let’s get out of here,’ Chen said and strode to the door. The her surprise it opened and there were no guards present.

‘Right,’ Fargas agreed and followed.

The others filed out of the room as well and quickly found that none of the Eden’s actual crew were on board. ‘Let’s find the slaves and get out of here,’ Wright ordered.

‘My thoughts exactly,’ Larson agreed.

Another door opened and several pairs of eyes stared in their direction. ‘We’re here to rescue you,’ Chen said.

‘Hah!’ one of the prisoners retorted. ‘Really, where are your weapons?’

‘Taken,’ Wright admitted.

‘Some rescue,’ the prisoner said.

‘Who are you?’ Larson asked.

‘My name is Jordan,’ the prisoner answered. ‘Where are you from?’

‘The year 2382, the starship Osiris.’

‘A time ship?’

‘No.’

‘Then how do you propose to rescue us?’ Jordan asked.

‘By retaking this ship and taking it back to the twenty-fourth century.’

The prisoners gasped. ‘That’s not possible!’

‘Anything is possible. None of us is supposed to be here,’ Larson told the prisoners. ‘With our help you can overthrow your oppressors and take control of your own destinies.’

‘That won’t be possible,’ a new voice told them.

Wright turned to face Adam Husker. ‘You are in violation of numerous Starfleet regulations and in breach of several articles of interstellar law. By the authority granted me by the United Federation of Planets, I am placing you under arrest for violation of the temporal prime directive.’

Husker laughed. ‘You’re placing me under arrest? Commander, you are in no position to do anything of the sort. Now, if you’ll please come with me, I think it’s time that we left this ship and you can see what paradise really looked like.’

Wright meekly nodded and allowed himself and his officers to be taken peacefully. The hatch opened and bright historic sunlight greeted them as they strode from the ship. Pollution wouldn’t be invented for several thousand years so the sunlight was bright and unhindered.

‘So this is what Eden looks like,’ Casanova muttered.

‘You’ll get to explore it all you want,’ Husker told them. ‘Because you won’t be leaving anytime soon.’

Husker and the others with him returned to the ship and led out the prisoners. The Eden then vanished into the future.

‘They’ll return,’ Jordan told Wright. ‘They always do.’

‘How do you know that?’

‘I’ve escaped back onto the ship a few times, but I’ve had nowhere to go, until now.’

‘We have to come up with something, when the Eden returns I want to get aboard and remove the crew. We’ll then take the ship back to the future.’

‘What happened to all the other people that Husker has brought here over the last few years?’ Chen asked.

‘They were dropped off by the Eden in different areas on this godforsaken planet,’ Jordan answered.

‘This planet is the birthplace of the human race,’ Wright told him. ‘What Husker is doing is contaminating the timeline by bringing humans here from somewhere else.’

‘What if we were meant to be the forebears of the human race?’ Chen asked.

Stern harrumphed. ‘Nonsense, the predestination paradox has never been encountered, it’s a myth.’

‘Is there any way for us to create weapons from what we have here?’ Jenson asked.

‘Eden is supposed to be a paradise, should we create weapons within its boundaries?’

‘This is ridiculous,’ Wright replied, ‘We’ll fashion what weapons we can before the Eden returns and then do what we can. The Osiris will only wait for another two days before leaving without us.’

‘But we can take the ship to anywhen, so we’ll never be too late,’ Fargas chipped in.

Stern stared at him. ‘And further disrupt the timeline?’

‘It was only a suggestion,’ Fargas answered. ‘I’ll organise a weapons detail,’ he added and strolled off.

‘Sir, what do you intend to do with the crew, are you going to kill them?’ Larson asked.

‘Only if they force me to,’ Wright answered honestly. ‘Set up a perimeter, I want to know the second that the ship returns.’

‘Aye sir,’ Chen replied.

‘While we’re waiting, we can at least explore our own historical beginnings,’ Casanova suggested and Stern readily agreed.

‘Fargas, go with them,’ Wright said, refusing to even attempt to talk them out of it. ‘Make sure that nothing happens.’

‘Aye sir,’ Fargas replied and strode after them

The two historians find what they think is the very centre of the garden and look around. In the large tree, high up in the canopy, a snake slithers along a branch and knocks leaves to the garden floor. It drops to a lower branch and inadvertently dislodges an apple. The round ripe fruit plunges through the leafy branches and hits Stern on the head. She picks it up from the floor and turns it in her hands.

‘What do you think?’ Stern asks Casanova.

‘I wouldn’t eat it,’ Casanova suggests. ‘This is the garden of Eden.’

‘That’s a myth,’ Stern replied and took a bite.

As the masticated apple slid down her throat a ghostly image appeared her.

‘Fargas to Wright, you’d better get over here,’ the security officer tapped his combadge and whispered.

‘Who are you?’ Casanova asked.

‘I am what you would call an Ancient. Your species is not ready to learn about its past and future. Only those ready to join us may eat from the Tree of Knowledge.’

‘What’s going on?’ Wright asked.

‘She ate from the Tree of Knowledge,’ Fargas told Wright.

Wright sighed as the ghostly image turned to face him. ‘For her punishment she must be terminated. No one must be able to learn of their fate.’

‘I didn’t know it was the Tree of Knowledge, it was a mistake,’ Stern yelled.

The ghostly figure appeared to think carefully. ‘There is one alternative.’

‘What is it?’

‘The knowledge will kill you if it is allowed to continue working its way through your brain. I can implant a mental block. The block will not last forever but it may provide you with enough time to find one of our outposts and the Receptacle of All Knowledge where it will be taken from your head.’

‘I’ll do whatever it takes,’ Stern replied.

‘Wait,’ Wright called out. ‘Don’t I have a say in the matter as her commanding officer?’

‘No,’ the figure answered. ‘This is her decision.’

‘I’ll do it.’

The ghostly reached out and encircled Stern’s head with her hands. Stern yelled in pain and the ghostly figure vanished, leaving behind no evidence that she was even there. Casanova rushed over to her colleague and felt her pulse.

‘She’s alive, Commander,’ Casanova said. ‘But I would hazard a guess that she has severe neurological trauma. Her pulse is strong but she isn’t regaining consciousness.’

‘We need to find a way to retake the ship,’ Wright replied, glancing down at the unconscious Starfleet officer. ‘Chen, talk to everyone and create some weapons.’

‘Sir,’ Chen began.

‘Yes?’

‘The crew of the Eden missed this,’ she answered holding up a tricorder.

‘I’m not even going to ask where you hid it,’ Wright replied with a smile. ‘Let me know when the ship returns. There will be elevated chronoton particles moments before the ship arrives. We may only have seconds.’

‘We’ll be ready for them, sir.’

‘Good. Get to it, Lieutenant.’

 

The Eden emerged in orbit of the planet and Captain Astor stared at it.

‘Hail them,’ Astor ordered.

Gonzales complied and the image of a middle-aged man appeared on the viewscreen.

‘Who are you?’ the man asked.

‘I am Captain Astor of the Federation starship Osiris. Who are you?’

‘Captain Adam Husker of the SS Garden of Eden, flagship of the Old Earth Republic. You are trespassing.’

‘This is Federation territory,’ Astor replied. ‘You have no claim here.’

‘I have seven of your crewmen trapped in the past. If you want to see them again you will comply with my wishes. Stay in a high orbit until my mission is complete. If you attempt to interfere you’ll never see them again.’

‘Unacceptable.’

‘Captain, as we speak, I am beaming fifty people from the surface onto my ship. There are only a hundred more. I will bring your people back once these people are safely in the past.’

Astor nodded. ‘It does not appear that I have any other choice.’

Husker smiled. ‘You don’t.’

‘Put us into a high orbit, Ensign,’ Astor told Larson’s replacement.

The Osiris moved into a higher orbit and Astor watched with helplessness as the Eden disappeared once again. She returned to her ready room, which felt smaller every time she entered it, and walked over to the replicator.

‘Iced tea, lemon.’

The cup of tea materialised and Astor picked it up, carrying it to her desk. She sat down and called up the current crew roster. She’d neglected the reports and though she was anxious about the return of her officers she still had to fulfil her role as captain and deal with all the paperwork. Doctor Brex had revealed to her an hour or so before the Eden appeared that Talen would shortly be released from sickbay. Her current Operations officer wasn’t half as good but he would learn. She preferred the Andorian and it was thankful that her uncle had assigned him to her crew.

 

Chapter Six

 

‘Sir, I’m detecting elevated chronoton particles,’ Lieutenant Chen said, looking at the tricorder she found on the grass. The Eden’s crew obviously missed it when they frisked her.

‘Acknowledged, prepare attack pattern Wright-4.’

‘Aye sir,’ Chen replied. ‘Fargas, Jenson, take up flanking positions. Jordan, take the bow wings and prepare to fire on my order.’

Jordan nodded and pointed to several people, all carrying bows and arrows. They trotted off to find cover and Wright, with Larson, Stern and Casanova, found enough wood and metal to construct spears. They were primitive weapons but they were effective. All of the people present watched as the Eden suddenly appeared in the air and settled down to earth with a bump. The hatch opened and the crew filed out, expecting to see some of the people.

‘Hold it right there,’ Chen told them.

‘You’ve got no weapons,’ the lead man replied.

Chen hoisted the bow and arrow. ‘Really?’

The man laughed and fired his phaser. Chen rolled out of the way and then loosed the arrow. It whizzed through the air and struck true, right in the man’s heart. The other Eden crewmen fired and Chen whistled. Jordan appeared and fired his arrow. His people followed suit and a dozen arrows found their targets. Husker and McIntyre emerged from the ship with their phasers handy.

‘What the hell is going on?’ Husker asked.

‘The natives are fighting back,’ Wright answered, emerging from behind a large bush. ‘And its time for you to surrender.’

‘Never,’ Husker replied and fired at Wright.

The shot went wide and Wright threw his spear, it hit Husker in the thigh and he went down. McIntyre fired and other crewmen from the Eden fanned out, firing wildly.

‘Now,’ Wright yelled.

More than a hundred people appeared, carrying bows, spears and stakes. The Eden was surrounded and McIntyre surrendered. Husker accepted it and Stern provided him with medical assistance.

‘How do you work this thing?’ Larson asked of Husker.

‘You expect me to tell you?’

‘Yes, he does,’ McIntyre answered. ‘We’ll be back, Adam.’

‘I doubt it,’ Wright replied.

‘Just input the exact time you want to go back to, and engage.’

Larson did so. He sat in the pilot’s chair and took the Eden into orbit. Once they were clear of Earth he engaged the temporal displacement drive and the ship shuddered as it hurtled through time.

 

Astor was pacing the bridge when Gonzales reported the ship’s arrival.

‘Hail them.’

‘This is Commander Wright, aboard the Eden. Captain, it’s good to see you again.’

‘You too, Commander. Do you have the crew in custody?’

‘I do, sir, and we have wounded.’

‘Who? We’ll beam you over and tractor the ship.’

‘Aye sir, standing by.’

‘Astor out.’

She left the bridge and walked to the transporter room a deck below. Wright and the others beamed into the transporter room, all except one. Stern was beamed directly to sickbay.

‘Sir, the Mauna Loa?’ Wright asked.

‘Has been retrieved,’ Astor answered and clasped Wright’s hand. ‘I’m sure it will be an interesting debriefing. Clean yourself up and I’ll see you in my quarters in ten minutes. I would like know what happened to Stern.’

‘Aye sir.’

‘We have a lot to discuss, and not just about the mission.’

‘Yes ma’am,’ Wright replied, realising that she was being deadly serious. He wondered what had happened while he had been away.

Astor was in her ready room thinking about exactly what she was going to say to him about his behaviour. But she wanted to debrief him first so the dressing down would wait. She took a sip of tea and the door chimed.

‘Enter.’

Commander Aaron Wright, wearing a crisp new Starfleet uniform, entered the ready room and paused three steps into it. Astor looked up at him from the desk, put down the padd she was working on and beckoned for him to take the seat. Wright realised that this was to be his official debriefing. He took the seat and waited.

‘I want to know exactly what happened when the Eden reappeared forty hours ago. Leave nothing out.’

Wright related the events, including Stern’s encounter with the Ancient and the mental block imposed upon her memory. Astor listened and then nodded.

‘Now that that is over with, there is another matter that I wish to discuss with you.’

‘Sir?’

‘You’ve been helping me.’

‘I don’t understand,’ Wright implored.

‘I still believe that I am not ready for command, but that does not mean that you can deal with more than your duties, thereby taking much of the day-to-day workings out of my hands. I may not believe that I am ready, but I am still in command of this ship. I refuse to be a lame-duck captain, regardless of my belief in my own abilities.’

‘I am only fulfilling my duty as a Starfleet officer.’

‘No, what you’re doing is tantamount to mutiny. By authority granted me by Starfleet Command, I hereby relieve you of duty until further notice.’

Wright said nothing. He nodded, stood, and strode from the ready room, going directly to the turbolift. Once inside, he slumped against the bulkhead. He had believed that he was doing what was right, to allow her to keep her command without alerting Starfleet of the fact that she wasn’t ready to be in the centre chair.

‘Sickbay,’ he intoned and the turbolift began its descent.

As it did so he thought carefully about what he was planning to do. If it worked there would be nothing to worry about and he would be placed back on active duty, the incident expunged from his records. If it didn’t work he would be court-martialled for mutiny and probably drummed out of the fleet. The turbolift stopped and the doors opened. The Bolian doctor was standing right in front of him with a little smirk on his face.

‘She finally figured it out then?’ Solian Brex asked him.

Wright didn’t return the smile. He nodded.

‘And you want to put your backup plan into action?’

Wright nodded again. ‘I was expecting a little more time. But I suppose it is ironic that I have just returned from the garden of Eden.’

‘How so?’

‘The myth goes that woman was responsible for the fall of man. I don’t want her to bring me down, or the rest of the ship.’

‘With all due respect, Commander,’ Brex said. ‘She hasn’t made all that many mistakes.’

‘I’ve recorded every single one. Some are procedural, but the clinch came when she assigned Talen to the Calyso II mission.’

Brex’s face lost some of its vibrant blue colour. ‘I will concede that point, but he is alive, and I’m going to release him to his quarters this evening.’

‘Doctor, talk to her. You know the way she’s been acting is not conducive to a good relationship with her crew. Xeris told me that she was checking up on one of his projects late last night.’

‘There may be another explanation, Aaron. Don’t take everything you hear from Xeris as truth. He has his own reasons for being on board and acting the way he does,’ Brex replied. ‘But I will talk to Elizabeth. I was on my up to see her anyway.’

‘Then I won’t stand in your way,’ Wright said and stood aside, some of the anger dissipating from him.

Brex entered the turbolift and rode it straight to the bridge. Gonzales and Larson were both at their stations but Gonzales was nominally in command when Astor and Wright weren’t on the bridge. Gonzales gave him an odd look as he crossed the bridge and he returned it in kind, though his face showed a slight grin tugging at his lips. The Bolian pressed the door panel and waited.

‘Enter,’ the slightly angry voice came from within.

Brex walked in and saw Astor staring out of the viewport. ‘Sir.’

‘You have the report on Talina Stern?’ Astor asked.

‘Yes ma’am.’

‘Let me hear it.’

Brex had intended to just drop it off. ‘She had a lot of information in her head from the apple, though don’t ask me how that is, I have no idea. The mental block has been implanted in her hippocampus, preventing her from accessing specific long-term memories, which was where the information became stored.’

‘But?’

‘There is no way to prevent her remembering bits and pieces of those “memories.” We’ll have to keep an eye on her, just in case the block breaks down sooner than expected.’

‘How long will the block last?’

‘I can’t say for sure, it is advanced technology, but I would estimate about ten years, perhaps more.’

‘Is that certain?’

‘Unless Stern has some kind of breakdown or is hit in the head too often, it should last about ten years.’

‘Thank you, Doctor. Is there anything else?’

‘About Commander Wright.’

‘What about him. He’s been relieved of duty.’

‘Why?’

Astor sighed and spun round. ‘For mutiny, he’s trying to wrestle command from me,’ she answered.

Brex’s eyes narrowed and a slim vestige of anger broke through the usual calm demeanour. ‘Wrestle command? If you really think that, then maybe he’s right.’

‘What is that supposed to mean?’

‘He’s been trying to stop Starfleet taking your command away from you. He was contacted by your own uncle and asked to keep an eye on you. Admiral Janeway is waiting for a chance to relieve you because she believes that you’re not ready, but her predecessor, your grandmother, decided that you were.’

Astor’s anger dissipated as if she’d been slapped in the face with a phaser rifle. ‘She what?’

‘You heard,’ Brex answered.

Astor threw herself into the couch and muttered a curse in a language that Brex had never heard before. ‘I’ll reinstate him and purge it from his record.’

‘Captain to the bridge,’ Gonzales suddenly yelled.

Astor ran from the ready room with Brex on her heels and Astor didn’t need anyone to tell her what was going on. The tractor beam holding the Eden was fluctuating wildly and it suddenly cut out, sparks erupting from the tactical console. Brex moved to Gonzales but she was unhurt, just surprised.

‘Get that tractor beam back,’ Astor ordered.

‘Impossible, sir,’ Gonzales replied. ‘The relays have blown, will take nearly an hour to replace.’

‘Xeris to Astor.’

‘Go ahead, Commander.’

‘The temporal torpedo is ready.’

‘Good work, I think we’ll be needing it.’

‘Elevated chronoton emissions,’ Gonzales called out as a technician replaced one of the boards at the tactical console.

‘Fire the temporal torpedo,’ Astor ordered.

The torpedo streamed out the tube and sped on its way to the Eden’s exhaust plasma which was saturated with chronoton particles. It detonated on impact and the Eden shuddered under the shock.

‘Concentrate your fire on those engines, phasers only,’ Astor told Gonzales.

‘Yes ma’am,’ the tactical officer complied.

The Eden was hit six more times, shuddering each time, until the aft section suddenly sheared off. Astor smiled but it was short lived. Commander Wright arrived back on the bridge in time to see the aft section float free. Before their very eyes four warp nacelles emerged from what had become the new aft section and glowed with power.

‘Where the hell did they come from?’ Wright asked.

‘They’ve got no temporal drive anymore, so it’s just a case of speed,’ Astor told him.

‘They’re going to warp,’ Gonzales said.

‘Pursuit course, engage,’ Astor replied.

The Osiris sped to warp.

‘How is that possible?’ Gonzales muttered to herself.

‘Commander?’ Wright asked.

‘I’m showing a speed approaching warp eight from the Eden.’

‘Eight, from that?’ Larson asked from the helm.

Astor looked hard at the ship on the viewscreen. ‘Increase speed to match.’

‘Aye sir,’ Larson replied and increased speed.

The Osiris continued to gain on the Eden and Astor, now sitting in the centre chair, watched the two ships get closer.

‘Hail them,’ Astor ordered.

‘No response,’ Gonzales replied.

‘Open a channel,’ Astor said angrily.

‘Channel open.’

‘Captain Husker, this is Captain Astor on the Osiris. You can’t outrun us so I suggest you surrender. It will be easier for you if you do.’

‘Sorry, Captain. I don’t recognise your authority, and I think that I can outrun you. You see, I’m sure you didn’t know we had warp capability and I’m equally sure that don’t know we have another type of engine too.’

Astor looked at Wright, who shrugged.

‘What type of engine?’ Wright asked.

‘You’ll see. Husker out.’

‘Commander?’ Astor asked.

‘I don’t know what to say, sir,’ Wright answered. ‘There was no evidence of any other type of engine.’

‘Sir, look.’

All eyes turned to the viewscreen. The Eden’s warp nacelles retracted back into the fuselage and something else emerged. It was a type of impulse-style drive but obviously it was capable of much higher speeds.

‘Goodbye, Captain Astor.’

The Eden suddenly started to accelerate.

‘I’m detecting a power build-up,’ Gonzales said.

‘Fire torpedoes. We have to slow them down.’

‘Too late, sir,’ Gonzales replied as the Eden vanished.

‘I want every sensor analysed. Find out what type of propulsion drive that was and a way to counteract its effects. Commander, get down to astrometrics and scan for that ship. They can’t have got too far.’

‘Aye sir,’ Wright, Larson and Gonzales replied in unison.

 

On board the SS Garden of Eden, Commander McIntyre was sitting in the captain’s chair watching the stars streak by at a much faster speed that she had ever seen. Most of the ship’s systems were still offline after the pounding they received from the Osiris. Losing the temporal displacement drive had knocked out several of their systems and engaging the warp drive had knocked out more. Their final attempt at evading the Starfleet ship was an untested drive that could carry them through the galaxy in five months, but they didn’t have enough boronite ore to get them all the way. McIntyre was thinking about where to get more when Husker got to the bridge and sighed.

‘The closest place we can get the ore is thirty thousand light years away. Unfortunately, we’ve only got enough to get us twenty-three, give or take.’

‘So we’ll have to slow down at some point and use conventional warp technology.’

Husker nodded.

 

Chapter Seven

 

Gonzales had been trawling through the Starfleet databanks looking for any information about unconventional warp drives or such like but she found nothing. She was going through every listing one by one but one caught her eye. Quantum slipstream drive. The entire file was sealed by order of Starfleet Command, Pathfinder Project. Gonzales knew that that was Admiral Paris’ pet project and by association, Admiral Janeway. Janeway might have found or used the slipstream drive but it was probably Paris that sealed the information. When Voyager returned, Pathfinder was shelved, there was no need for it.

‘Captain, I think I’ve found something. Admiral Paris sealed the information.’

‘And you want to ask him to unseal it?’

‘Not all of it, just enough to make sure that it was the slipstream drive that the Eden are using, and provide the information to stop it.’

‘He might not agree. But its your case so you can run with it, in my presence.’

Gonzales nodded.

‘Let’s see what he says, get a secure channel.’

‘Aye sir.’

An hour later they were both sitting in Astor’s ready room waiting for Admiral Paris, one of the busiest men in Starfleet now that he was the Commander in Chief. The United Federation of Planets logo was replaced by the stern visage of the Admiral.

‘This had better be important,’ he said.

‘It is, Admiral,’ Astor said. ‘I am Captain Astor of the Osiris and this is my tactical officer, Lieutenant Commander Sheena Gonzales.’

‘I know who you are, Captain. What is it you want?’

‘Sir,’ Gonzales said. ‘We have encountered a vessel that escaped our custody at speeds much greater than even the highest warp.’

Paris looked at her and nodded. ‘You’re talking about the quantum slipstream drive?’

‘Yes sir,’ Gonzales replied.

‘What is it that you want to know.’

‘What speed it is capable of and how to detect and stop it.’

Paris went quiet for a moment. ‘I’ll send you the information immediately on the proviso that you purge it from the computer when you’re finished with it. We never had this conversation. Paris out.’

Gonzales looked at her commanding officer. ‘That went well.’

‘Better than I expected, he was quite forthcoming with the information,’ Astor replied. ‘You had better get Xeris to help you with finding a way to stop them. We’ll probably only get one shot.’

‘Yes sir.’

Xeris and Gonzales met later in engineering with all the information that Admiral Paris had on the quantum slipstream drive, which wasn’t all that much. All they now had was what the slipstream drive was and what it did. They were going to have to find a way to stop the Eden themselves and they didn’t have long, the Old Earth terrorists were getting further and further away from them.

‘What about this ore, is there any way to destabilise it?’ Gonzales asked the chief engineer.

‘Not that I can see,’ Xeris answered, looking over the padd. ‘But I think there might be a way to destabilise the slipstream.’

‘How?’

‘This report says that the slipstream is vulnerable to tachyon emissions. We can generate a coherent tachyon beam with the deflector dish, hopefully it will force the Eden out of the slipstream and into normal space.’

‘We’d have to find them first.’

‘Aaron’s working on it,’ Xeris said, uncharacteristically calling the executive officer by his first name.

‘Aaron?’ Gonzales picked up on it.

‘Commander Wright, then.’

Gonzales nodded. ‘How exactly is he doing that?’

‘I have no idea, but he did say that it had something to do with the particular type of energy that the slipstream generates.’

Gonzales nodded again, not quite understanding. While she assisted Xeris in coming up with a way to stop the Eden, Astor was in the centre chair on the bridge watching the stars slip by and decided that she should record another log entry as two days had passed. She preferred not to do supplemental logs because they served no real purpose and had been told to make them by superior officers who believed that they did serve a purpose.

 

Captain’s log, stardate 58312.7

After retrieving my officers and taking the SS Garden of Eden into custody I believed that this mission was at an end but events conspired against us. The crew of the Eden were far more expert in twenty-fourth century technology than we gave them credit for and their ship was far more powerful. They disrupted the tractor beam and we destroyed their temporal displacement drive. Warp nacelles emerged and they escaped at warp. The Osiris caught up to them and they used another propulsion drive the likes we have never seen before. We gathered enough telemetry from our sensors to be able to find a way of disrupting that propulsion system and my officers are working around the clock to stop them before they contaminate the timeline any further.

 

In the astrometrics lab Commander Wright was hunched over the large console checking out every energy spike that the extremely-long-range sensors of the astrometric laboratory were capable of finding. The furthest one was eleven light years away and showed several peculiarities that made Wright take notice of it. One of those irregularities is that it was moving fast, at a speed exceeding the highest warp factor that Starfleet ships could generate.

‘Wright to bridge.’

‘Do you have something, Commander?’ Astor asked.

‘I believe I’ve found them, eleven light years away.’

‘Send the coordinates to the helm. Ensign, set a course, maximum warp.’

‘Aye sir,’ Larson replied and entered the warp factor.

Astor’s mind whirred. ‘What is our maximum speed?’

‘Warp nine-point-nine-eight-nine,’ Larson answered.

‘Astor to engineering.’

‘Go ahead, Captain,’ Lieutenant Commander Xeris answered.

‘We’re going to need to catch up to the Eden to try whatever trick you’re working on. I need more speed than we’ve got.’

Xeris looked at Gonzales who smiled and shrugged. ‘I’ll do what I can, Captain. Xeris out.’

‘What does she expect me to do?’ Xeris asked.

‘Get out and push,’ Gonzales answered.

‘She can push,’ Xeris replied and moved to another console. ‘I can reroute power from the lower decks and the holodecks.’

‘Are the holodeck systems compatible?’

‘They are now,’ Xeris answered. ‘Xeris to bridge.’

‘Commander, you have some more power for me?’

‘I’ve rerouted power from decks 32 through 36 and taken power from the holodecks, but some of that has had to go to the structural integrity field.’

‘Why?’

‘To keep the ship from flying apart,’ Xeris answered offhandedly.

Gonzales held her hand to her mouth to keep from laughing. ‘Good work, Commander,’ Astor replied acerbically. ‘Now find a way to disrupt the slipstream.’

‘Yes ma’am. Xeris out.’

‘I swear that engineer has got something up his sleeve,’ Astor said to no one in particular.

‘He used to be in the Corps, sir,’ Larson replied. ‘Of course he’s got something up his sleeve.’

Astor smiled. ‘We might just need it.’

 

A little under five hours later, the Osiris had covered the gap between itself and the Eden and Xeris had almost finished the modifications to the deflector dish. For the first time in nearly a week the entire senior staff, including Doctor Solian Brex, were on the bridge at their stations waiting to see whether the chief engineer’s plan would work. Brex was keeping a close eye on Stern’s lifesigns from his bridge station. Xeris looked up from his console and nodded toward Gonzales.

‘Captain, we’re ready.’

‘Ensign, close the gap.’

‘Aye sir, forty thousand kilometres and closing.’

‘Any idea why we’re able to close the gap?’ Astor asked the bridge.

‘They’re probably running out of the boronite ore, it could be making them slow down,’ Gonzales suggested.

‘Any other possibilities?’ she asked, almost ignoring her tactical officer’s remark.

‘I would that Gonzales’ theory is quite plausible,’ Xeris answered. ‘Although it is also possible that this area of space is disrupting it.’

‘Fifteen thousand kilometres,’ Larson interrupted. ‘They must know we’re closing on them, sir.’

‘Gonzales, fire.’

The deflector charged up almost instantly and the coherent tachyon beam arced across the gap between the two ships. On the bridge of the Osiris the lights dimmed and the decks shook a little.

‘That’s a power drop off,’ Xeris spoke up. ‘We can’t maintain the beam for much longer and stay at high warp.’

‘Sir, the Eden,’ Larson interjected.

The green-hued slipstream suddenly petered out and the Eden was thrown back into normal space.

‘Slow to impulse, engage the tractor beam,’ Astor ordered.

The Osiris slowed and the inertial dampers strained with the effort. Astor wondered how the crew of the Eden fared. If the engineering section had been given that massive overhaul then the dampers might have too.

‘Hail them,’ Wright said, thinking the same as his commanding officer was.

‘No response,’ Gonzales replied.

‘Commander, send an away team over there. Doctor, you might want to go along, there could be wounded.’

‘Ensign, Doctor, Commander, you’re with me,’ Wright said, pointing at Larson, Brex and Gonzales.

They all got up and headed for the turbolift, their replacements moving from peripheral positions on the bridge.

The away team materialised on the Eden and Wright was immediately struck by the cloying smell of blood. Plenty of it. Brex pulled out his medical tricorder as Gonzales and Larson pulled out phasers.

‘I’m detecting thirteen bodies in this section,’ Brex said, glancing at the tricorder.

‘There are only sixty-one members of the crew and three sections,’ Wright replied.

‘Commander, many of the crewmembers might have just been turned into jam,’ Brex said unprofessionally.

‘Jam?’ Wright asked.

‘All that would be left would be a stain on the back wall,’ Brex answered.

‘I see,’ Wright replied, aware of what could happen to an unprotected crew during a ship’s sudden acceleration or deceleration. ‘Keep looking for any survivors.’

‘If there aren’t any?’

‘Then we’ll drop the ship into the nearest sun.’

‘Won’t Starfleet be interested in this ship, in particular the slipstream drive. Even Janeway couldn’t get it to work.’

‘We’ll see what the Captain says.’

Brex and Larson teamed up and walked to the rear section while Wright and Gonzales walked toward the forward compartment and the bridge. There were more bodies in the engineering section and on the bridge Wright found just two people. Gonzales checked out the main computer and cursed.

‘Commander?’

‘The bridge was the only section of the ship in which the inertial dampers were working properly. The rest of the ship only had the structural integrity field to keep them alive.’

‘So they died.’

‘They died.’

‘Wright to transporter room three.’

‘Go ahead, sir.’

‘There are two people here, unconscious. Beam them directly to sickbay.’

‘Aye sir.’

Brex and Larson joined them on the bridge. ‘Brex to sickbay.’

‘Go ahead, Doctor,’ Lieutenant Stryker answered.

‘Put up a maximum security shield around the two patients. I’ll return momentarily.’

‘Right away, Doctor,’ Stryker replied and signed off.

‘Wright to Astor.’

‘Go ahead, Commander.’

‘Husker and McIntyre are the only two alive here, sir.’

‘The rest are dead?’

‘Yes ma’am.’

‘Get yourselves back here,’ Astor replied. ‘We’ll drop the ship into the sun.’

‘Aye sir. Wright out.’

Moments later the away team returned to the Osiris and to the bridge.

‘Ensign, set a course for the nearest uninhabited solar system.’

‘Aye sir,’ Larson replied and delved through the starcharts to find one.

Larson found a star system just a few parsecs away and set the Osiris on a course for its primary. Meanwhile, in sickbay, Brex was watching the third generation emergency medical hologram programme examine the two patients. He would have dealt with it himself but as they were considered dangerous and behind a maximum security forcefield he decided to let the EMH examine them. The EMH Mark I, which had been in place on the USS Voyager, resembled the original programmer and was programmed with all the medical knowledge of the Federation.

It was considered too aloof and the Mark II was created. It was installed on the USS Prometheus, a classified vessel which the Romulans had captured and which had subsequently become known to every officer within the Federation. The EMH Mark II was too nervous, having little medical knowledge and needing an experienced doctor to guide him. After complaints the Mark III EMH was installed and this was found suitable. The Mark III had the experience of a third year medical student and learned quickly. Brex watched carefully, advising the EMH—which had yet to be given a name—on exactly what to do, but without being patronising.

‘What have you found?’ Brex asked the EMH when it paused.

‘The female patient has suffered a major concussion but there is no apparent brain damage. There should be a full recovery.’

‘Very good, and what of the male patient?’

‘The male patient has also suffered a concussion but there is also evidence of a weapon blast to his chest. It appears to have been a phaser blast at the minimum stun setting. There is also a wound from a primitive sharp-pointed weapon.’

‘What do these suggest to you?’

‘From the evidence of the wounds, and the known location of the patient, it suggests that the patient was in a fight with improvised weaponry and was hit.’

‘How do you know where the patient was?’

‘I have kept up with the events using the ship’s computer.’

‘Good work, that shows initiative.’

‘Thank you Doctor Brex.’

‘Will both patients make a full recovery and do they need medical treatment?’

‘Both patients will make a full recovery and they need whatever treatment is necessary to take down the swelling caused by the concussion.’

‘Astor to sickbay.’

‘Go ahead, Captain,’ Brex replied.

‘What is the condition of our patients?’

‘When they wake from their concussion-induced comas, which should be in a few days, they can be taken to the brig and require no further treatment.’

‘And what of Lieutenant Talen?’

‘He is now sleeping in his quarters and should be able to return to active duty within the next forty-eight hours.’

‘Excellent. Thank you, Doctor. Astor out.’

Astor looked around the bridge.

‘We’re approaching the star system, Captain,’ Larson advised her.

‘Set an approach vector and prepare to jettison the Eden.’

‘Yes ma’am.’

The Osiris approached the primary of the star system which on their charts was known as Omicron-Epsilon system. Larson and Gonzales timed their manoeuvres to the second and as the ship flew by the sun the tractor beam was disengaged and the Eden, along with all its advanced technology and the quantum slipstream drive, was sent directly into the sun. Astor kept the image on the viewscreen until she saw the flare created by the antimatter explosion.

‘We’re done here,’ she told Larson. ‘Get us out of here, warp five.’

‘Aye sir,’ Larson complied and the Osiris went to warp.

 

Epilogue

 

Lieutenant Commander Sheena Gonzales officially got off duty at 1800 hours, the end of the alpha shift, but instead of taking her free time in the holodeck, in her quarters, or even socialising with other officer, she had elected to head down to the brig to see how the two prisoners were doing. They had been released from sickbay three days before and were now languishing in the brig until such a time as they could be transferred to Earth for trial.

‘You can’t keep us in here forever,’ Adam Husker yelled at the security officer on duty.

‘Yes we can,’ Gonzales told him. ‘You are responsible for several violations of Starfleet’s temporal prime directive.’

‘But we’re not part of Starfleet.’

‘The Federation has laws that go back to a time when the Federation did not exist. Laws which were in force by the United States military, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.’

‘Oh,’ Husker replied.

‘So you see, you will remain here in the brig until we can return you to Earth for trial.’

‘What about me?’ McIntyre asked from another cell.

‘You are also being charged with disrupting the timeline.’

‘It was all his idea,’ she said.

‘We’re not holding you for trial. But if you wish representation, which is your right, then we do have the ability to try you on board this ship. But as you are not military personnel it would not be a fair trial.’

Husker and McIntyre looked at each other. ‘Just give us our ship back and we’ll leave. You destroyed our temporal drive anyway.’

Gonzales smiled evilly. ‘Your ship was dropped into a sun a week ago. It was engulfed.’

McIntyre yelled an obscenity. ‘I told you not to fight the Federation, you knew what they were about.’

Gonzales spared a look at the officer on duty. He nodded and she returned the nod. They both listened to the two prisoners yelling at each other. Neither had asked for representation or waived their right to silence—their rights had been read to them when they had been officially arrested three days—so everything they said was being recorded and would be used at their trial, whenever that would be held. Gonzales decided to let them argue and went to find Xeris, who was most likely on the holodeck. When she got to the holodeck and entered, she found Xeris walking around a holographic representation of a shuttlecraft, something that she had never seen before.

‘What is that?’

Xeris turned and smiled. ‘It’s a new design I’ve been working on.’

‘Looks good. I’ve just been down to the brig, our guests are still arguing.’

‘Did you expect anything else?’

‘Not really, but I remain optimistic.’

‘You are an idealist,’ Xeris told her. ‘If I’ve learned anything in Starfleet it’s that idealists are the first to die.’

‘Is that so?’ she asked.

‘Yeah.’

‘So how come I’m still alive?’

Xeris looked at her and smiled. ‘Because I keep coming up with ways to save your life.’

Gonzales looked at him fondly. ‘Are you trying to say something?’

Xeris nodded his head. ‘I’m not trying, I am saying something. I like you. I did since I first came on board.’

She smiled again and it lit her whole face. ‘I was wondering when you would say something.’

‘You knew?’ he asked incredulously.

‘I am an empath, and every time we’re near each other you give off enough interest that I’m surprised no one else has noticed it.’

Xeris smiled himself. ‘Shall we go and have a drink?’

‘Good idea.’

They strolled to the visible arch. ‘Computer, save programme Xeris-5 and end.’

The image of the ship disappeared and they walked out.

 

On deck fifteen, Ensign Talina Stern, having been released from sickbay, was in her quarters asleep. She dreamt of the garden of Eden, of Man’s fall from paradise, of the Ancients seeding life across the galaxy. She stirred and turned onto her side but the strange images kept coming. She suddenly woke up and found that she was sweating. Climbing out of bed and walking over to the head, she bathed her face in cool water and shook her head to clear the cobwebs that she felt were gathering.

She walked to her desk and switched on the screen.

 

Personal log, Ensign Talina Stern, stardate 58329.9:

Ever since my impromptu mission into Earth’s past and the garden of Eden, I have been having unusual dreams, both while awake and asleep. I inadvertently took a bite from an apple which had fallen from the so-called Tree of Knowledge. In these personal logs I will record what images I can remember in the hope that one day there will be a need for them. Because of the extremely sensitive nature of whatever is recorded here these logs will be classified.

The first images I received were of the garden of Eden and Man’s fall from paradise. These were when I was awake. I have just woken from a disturbing dream in which a great explosion occurred on an unknown planet and numerous vessels escaped. These vessels travelled through our galaxy seeding life on several different planets before travelling into a different galaxy to do the same as they were dying. For now that concludes the images. This log will now be classified.

 

‘Computer, classify the personal log. Authorisation Stern-4-4-Epsilon. Make the necessary preparations.’

‘Acknowledged,’ the computer replied.

Stern walked back to her bed and climbed into it. She drifted off to sleep hoping that she didn’t get any more images tonight. She desperately needed a dream-free sleep. If the images persisted she decided that she would go to Brex and the Captain and tell them everything, even though it went against her best judgement.

 

END