CHAPTER ONE:
DUCK BLIND
Captain's Log Stardate 58959.9
There's no mistaking where this transmission originated from. It came from the Voyager from the timeline that Chad and I came from. I do not begin to understand how this is possible but I intend to find out. Senator Donatra has assured me that she will cooperate fully in our investigation. She hasn't shed any light on what our investigation may uncover as of yet.
"How did the Romulan Empire receive this transmission?" Jim asked, looking at Senator Donatra with shocked eyes.
"That is a long and difficult conversation, Captain," she replied, tapping the stack of data pads that she'd brought along. "The explanations are in these." She slid them over to him.
He read the first data pad in silent shock. The Romulans had been working on a device they believed would make time travel possible without creating a temporal vortex. According to the data on the pad they believed they had created one. It was through this device that they received the transmission from Voyager. He couldn't believe what he was reading.
He passed that pad along to Alex and read through the second. According to the data on the second pad only one device had been created and the scientist who had created it had died in an explosion at the very lab he'd been testing the device in that had killed him along with his entire team and erased his research. However the device had survived.
The third pad told that the Empire planned to use the device to travel back in time to change the outcome of the Romulan - Earth war. The Warbird Terix would be conducting the experiment on Stardate 58968.6. That was three days away.
"Senator, I'll need to keep these," he said slowly, watching the Romulan for a reaction to his words.
"Of course," she said. "Captain, I would not like to see this experiment succeed. The consequences of altering time . . ."
"Understood," he said, smiling.
"In that case I'd like be granted Asylum," she said. "My return to Romulus after having committed treason would not be pleasant."
"Granted," he said without a second thought. If she was willing to help then it would be best for her to remain on Lexus. She could help more in that case.
* * *
"You must stop that experiment from happening, Captain Kirk," said Admiral Hays when Jim had contacted him with his report. "The Romulans can not be allowed to meddle with the past."
"Understood and agreed, Admiral," he replied. "Senator Donatra has given us very valuable information about the Terix's weaknesses and I believe that with her help we can stop this from happening."
"See that you stop it, Captain," said Hays. "Any means necessary."
"Mr. Dodds, notify the station that we are ready to depart," he said as he came out of his ready room and walked to his seat.
"Station notified," said Chad. "Umbilical is retracting. We'll be cleared for depart in five."
"Very well," said Jim.
He waited while Chad went through the departure procedures with the station and thought about what this new mission entailed. He'd said he was bored and cursed them with it. He was sure that was what Quinn would say when he found out. He just hoped that they were up to this. It had been a while.
"Captain, we've cleared the docking ports," Chad advised.
"Very good, Mr. Dodds," he said. "Take us into the Neutral Zone to the following coordinates." He entered the coordinates into his console and then turned to Telsia. "Deploy armor."
"Aye, Captain," said Telsia. "Armor deployed."
"Full impulse, Mr. Dodds," he said.
"Aye, Captain, full impulse," replied Chad.
"Commander, Senator," he said, standing. "Please join me in the conference room. Telsia, Juliet, I think you'd better join us." He tapped his comm badge. "Kirk to Janeway."
"Go ahead," came Quinn's voice.
"I'd like you to join me in the Senior Conference Room," he said.
"On my way," replied Quinn.
As an after thought he tapped his badge again. "Kirk to Chang."
"Chang here, Captain," came Austin's voice.
"Report to the Senior Conference room, and please alert Annika and Axum as well," he said, walking with the group to the conference room door.
"Aye, Captain," said Chang.
Twenty minutes later they were all assembled around the conference table in the Senior Conference Room. Jim sat at the head of the table, fingers steepled, his chin resting on them as he thought about how to tell them about their mission. They deserved to know all of it. The admiral had been very clear. Stop the experiment even if it meant destroying the Terix. They had the means to do just that. Transphasic torpedoes and hyperphasers set to just the right frequency could slip through the Terix's shields. Proper coordinates and the ship would be destroyed. All of this information would have to be given by Donatra. Would the senator readily help them destroy a ship from her home world?
She'd defected but did that defection mean she would turn on her own? Jim wasn't so sure. The admiral had seemed to think that she would but Jim wasn't so blind. He knew nothing about Donatra. He knew only what he'd read in the academy about Romulans. Still he wasn't so sure that Donatra would turn on a ship filled with Romulans just because she agreed that the experiment had to be stopped.
"The transmission I received was from Admiral Hays," he told his waiting people. "He had just analyzed the data I sent in my report and was very disturbed."
"Captain," said Juliet. "What's wrong?"
"I'm afraid that our orders aren't sitting well with me, Juliet," he said.
"And what are our orders?" asked Alex.
"We have been ordered to stop this experiment using any means necessary," he said flatly, looking at each of them in turn.
"You don't mean he ordered us to destroy the Terix," said Juliet, her face pale.
"If necessary, yes," he said, looking at Donatra.
The Romulan woman showed no emotion as she stared back at him. He'd read that Romulans were a hard people. How hard was Donatra? Was she hard enough to give him the information he needed? He could only hope the admiral was right in his assessment of her.
"You'll need information," she said, drawing the attention of every person at the table. "Coordinates and shield harmonic frequencies."
"Yes," he replied, swallowing. He was aware that Quinn was looking at him with a hard look in his eyes but he ignored it for the time being.
"You'll have them," said Donatra. He stared at her for a moment. Then she continued. "I said I would help you stop this experiment. Do you think that I didn't imagine that it could mean the destruction of the Terix?"
"I'll appreciate any help you can give us, Senator," he said. She really was a hard woman.
"Please don't call me Senator, Captain," she said, smiling sadly. "I'm committing treason against the Empire. I don't think they'd allow me to hold my post any longer if they knew."
For the next hour she told them everything she knew about both the time travel project and the Terix. She told them when and where it would be when the test was supposed to commence, what weapons were on the ship, shield harmonics, cloaking protocols and all of the weaknesses. In effect she'd just given Starfleet an edge they'd never had against the Romulans before.
"You asked for this," said Quinn when they were in their quarters that evening. "You said this mission was boring."
"I know," sighed Jim. "In Andromeda it was always a survival mission. This time I'm about to destroy a vessel that hasn't actually done anything to us. It's just strange."
"When you think about it they are going to do something to us if we don't stop this experiment," said Quinn. "You can't possibly think that just because it's an experiment they won't have crew ready and waiting to turn the tables in the past if they're successful."
"I've considered that," replied Jim. "It doesn't make having Donatra commit treason feel any better."
"You didn't make her do it, Jim," argued Quinn. "She made that decision all on her own."
"I know that but I still feel responsible," he said.
"Why?" demanded Quinn. "Admiral Hays sent us here. This wasn't your decision. You didn't ask for this. It was placed in front of you."
"I know," he sighed.
"Stop beating yourself up about this," Quinn said, coming to stand behind him and massage his shoulders. "You're tense again."
"I love you, Quinn," he said.
"I love you, too," replied Quinn. "You need to relax and stop beating yourself up over things you couldn't control."
"When this is over let's move to Alta Venus and get married," he said softly.
"That's the plan, lover," said Quinn, leaning close to kiss his neck. "Until then let's go to bed so you can love me."
They arrived at their destination the next morning. Jim sat in his seat watching the main viewer and seeing nothing but empty space. With their armor deployed they were invisible. Sensors couldn't even penetrate it. They were completely safe.
The Terix wasn't out there yet but then it wasn't supposed to be. They still had another day before the ship would arrive to conduct the experiment that, if successful, would be the undoing of the entire Federation. It would be the undoing of life as everyone knew it. Nothing would be the same under a Romulan guard.
Jim knew he had to stop it from happening. His talk with Quinn had settled his conscience a bit. He was likely about to destroy a ship full of people. Consoling himself with the fact that those people would destroy him and his crew if they knew they were out there only worked to quash half the guilt he felt.
"Maintain a full sensor sweep of the area," he said, getting to his feet. "I want to know the moment the Terix enters the Neutral Zone."
"Aye, Captain," said Telsia.
"You have the bridge, Number One," he said and walked to his ready room.
He sat at his desk and sighed into his hands. He wished that Kathryn was there to advise him on this. Not the Kathryn Janeway of this timeline. He wanted the one who had been there for him in the previous one. This Kathryn was there for him a lot. They'd talked a lot about his family and his fears but it was the other that had been there for him first. She was the one he desperately wanted to turn to now.
He thought back to every conversation they'd had on Voyager before Q had sent them to Andromeda and she was reduced to a mentor program in the ship's computer. He thought of how she'd seemed so impenetrable and solid in her reasoning and advice. She'd been there when he'd nearly cried himself out over missing his family and friends from his own time. She'd been a constant source of strength for him in those days and he needed that strength now.
The Kathryn of this timeline was a lot like her alternate. She was strong and compassionate, her advice was sound. All of the traits were there but the initial bond was missing. Sure they'd developed one over the course of his time at the academy and he considered her his mother now that he was without one. He loved her.
It felt like a betrayal to wish for her alternate. He sighed again as he thought of that little piece of guilt that was now added to what was already weighing his shoulders. He'd wanted to be Captain for real. He'd wanted Starfleet to back him and let him command a ship. Now he had what he wanted and he was nearly crippled with guilt for what Starfleet wanted him to do.
Quinn came for him at the end of their shift. He took one look at him and immediately went to stand behind him and massage his tense, tired shoulders. Jim sighed as the tension was pulled from him by Quinn's magic fingers.
"Still beating yourself up over this, I see," said Quinn as he walked to the replicator. "Chili dogs with french fries. Two."
They ate in silence. Quinn wondered how deep the slump was that Jim was in. He wondered what he could do, if anything, to help him out of it. It wasn't hard to understand where it had come from. They'd been pushed through the academy as well as Command and Medical School. They'd been pushed through ranks and now he was Captain of the ship again. It was different this time. It wasn't an accident and he wasn't trying to get home. He was trying to be the best captain he could be and had been handed a rotten assignment.
Once the dishes were handled he walked with Jim to their quarters and drew a bath for the two of them. Jim stripped silently and got into the tub. Quinn watched him as he stripped out of his uniform and climbed in with him.
"Want to talk about it?" he asked as Jim started to wash his back.
"There's nothing left to talk about," Jim said simply. "Tomorrow we'll carry out our orders and that'll be the end of it."
"You sound so resigned," said Quinn.
"I've decided to just follow my orders and get on with it," replied Jim.
There was nothing more said about it that night. They slept curled in each other's arms and Quinn worried about Jim until he fell asleep holding him. Jim slept fitfully and was a bit cranky the next morning. He'd apologized for biting at Quinn seven times before they left for their stations.
Jim sat in his seat thinking about the scientist that would be on Terix with his device. Donatra's data pads had told him that he was a fifth generation scientist and named after a long dead ancestor who had been an ambassador to the Federation in the twenty-third century. Ambassador Nanclus had been charged with treason. From the pictures of both men Jim saw that they looked almost identical.
"Captain, sensors have picked up the Terix," said Telsia, breaking him out of his thoughts. "They're decloaking."
"On screen," he said and waited as the main viewer brought the scene to life. He entered coordinates into his command console. "Lock hyperphasers onto these coordinates and fire."
The effect was instant. A small explosion could be seen on the massive green ship and then Telsia was telling him that the Terix's shields were down and their weapons were off line. Before he could even think of what to do next the ship on the screen began to phase in and out of focus.
"Report," he said.
"Captain, they're slipping in and out of our timeline," said Telsia.
"Fire phasers," he cried.
They fired and then there was a transmission. It was very faint and hard to hear at first but then they heard it loud and clear for a few seconds. It was long enough for them to know that it was Captain Chakotay's distress call.
"Captain, we're being phased in and out of the timeline as well!" cried Telsia.
"Chad, get us out of here," he said, but it was too late.
The stars seemed to wink out and then they were back and the main viewer showed them a terrible sight. What they saw was Earth, but it was completely assimilated. Jim was stunned to silence as he looked at it. Then he heard a voice that made his blood run cold.
"We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ship. You will be assimilated. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."
THE LEXUS CHRONICLES