General Krothos was racking his brain on the unknown minor temporal anomaly that their temporal scanners couldn't identify in the early 21st century Earth. He had command of Starbase Operations on the night shift as he stared at the console. Engineering had checked it out, it was working properly. There were no anomalies that would interfere with their scans, so he should be getting a clear view of what was going on. His theory was that the Timefleet even further in the future must have been jamming Starbase Karama's temporal sensors of this time from seeing an operation they were running in the early 21st century Earth.
The Starbase's red alert klaxons started sounding as Krothos heard an odd loud humming sound getting louder, quieter, louder, quieter, louder, quieter and so forth as a blue rectangular box faded into existence 10 feet from where Krothos was sitting as he shot up out of his seat. It had a flashing blue light on the top and it read, 'Police Phone Box.' Krothos barked as he tapped his communicator, “Intruder alert in Operations.”
“Blimey,” said a thin man in a light brown suit jacket with a pink shirt and a maroon bow tie and dark slacks topped off with a red fez hat. He pulled out a device not much bigger then a writing utensil from his inner jacket pocket. He waved it around as it made winding sounds. He looked at Krothos' angered face, “Your a Klingon... This is impossible. How did-”
“HOW DID YOU GET IN HERE?” Krothos roared, angry his security had been breached.
“Yes, exactly, thank you,” the man replied. He added, “By the way, “I'm The Doctor.”
“Dr. Who?” asked Krothos annoyed.
“No, just The Doctor. Who's on first,” The Doctor chuckled to himself.
Krothos grew impatient and grabbed The Doctor by the collars of his jacket, squeezing the jacket around his neck, “How did you get here?”
The Doctor used the sonic screwdriver above Krothos' ridges and caused him to get an excruciating headache. Krothos released The Doctor to grab at his head. The Doctor bolted back into the TARDIS and it's humming started up again.
“No you don't,” Krothos regained his composure and charged at the TARDIS. He jumped on it and gripped onto the flashing blue light on the top as Starbase Karma's operations room disappeared around them and they flew into a vortex of twirling clouds and lighting strikes. He clung onto the TARDIS for dear life. When a bolt struck him he jolted and the blue flashing light broke off in Krothos' hand. He fell off the TARDIS and into the clouds of the vortex. He popped out onto a planet and tumbled several meters across the surface, falling unconscious with the broken piece of the TARDIS in his hand.

Meanwhile sparks jetted out the center console of the TARDIS command center as it shook violently as it too fell out of the vortex and crash landed. The Doctor searched the rubble that was his TARDIS for his sonic screwdriver that went missing in the crash. Before he could find it he heard the engines of the planet's inhabitants military vehicles equivalent of 1950's Earth technology. The Doctor climbed out of the wreckage and abandoned the TARDIS to elude capture. If only he had his sonic screwdriver and the missing piece he could repair her. He ran for cover and watched from afar as the planet's military took custody of his ship. And without his Timelord technology for the first time he was helpless to stop them.

Meanwhile back on Starbase Karma, Lt. Jordan watched in shock as their Security Chief disappeared with the blue box. He scanned time and space trying to find Krothos and tapped his communicator, “Lt. Jordan to Admiral Fangali-Bast, you're needed in Operations...”

By julietm and yours truly. :)

Krothos growled deep in his throat as the Bloodthirst's phasers came to bear on the last Tarkan ship, easily a match for this outworld invader. One of his Klingon crew barked a message at him and Krothos' head snapped around in frustration. What did Mirabi mean by interrupting him now?

"Open Channel," he commanded in his native tongue.

"Krothos!" the Human engineer's voice sounded frantic even through the static. "Call off your attack! You won't make it. You don't remember!"

T'Ani threw a frantic glance back at Sil as the panel before her began to light up and sound off. "I hope you know what you're doing, Sil," she said through gritted teeth.

Professor Potts looked at her and shooed her away, "You're clearly distracted. Go...I'll keep an eye on the controls."

She shot him a grateful glance as she slipped away and moved closer to Sil. "Please be ok," she nearly prayed.

Sil was aware, in a distant way, of the bi-play between Ops and the Bloodthirst. She tried again to reach the Tarkan vessel, but it was too far away and adrenalin rushed over her as she almost lost hold of all the events she had so carefully arranged. She stopped where she was.

Pulling back into her body, she realized how weak it had become. Awareness of the room and her cramped limbs stole over her. Someone was near. T'Ani? Potts? If she couldn't reach the Tarkan ship, she needed to at least get to Krothos, somehow tell him to stop. The thought of losing her old Klingon friend after all this time filled her with despair. But Deltans were not telepathic, even with their great power over the fabric of space.

If only I was Vulcan, she thought.

As T'Ani reached out for her friend to support her, a jolt was sent through her. Sil's thoughts rushed through her and T'Ani urged her, "Rest in me, Sil....use me."

Immediately she connected with her friend and let go of all control, completely turning herself over to whatever she might need. Now, she was merely a vessel, a conduit, providing energy and whatever else Sil might need to be able to finish this. Having felt helpless through most of the situation, this was the least she could do.

The familiar, bright intelligence of T'Ani's strong mind bolstered her, and Sil found what needed to send to Krothos:

Do not attack. That's an order, Krothos. Return and cloak the Base.

Then, shaking herself out of the link, she called hoarsely aloud:

"Ops, this is Sil. I think you'll find weapons are online. Get that ship!"

"But Admiral," came back Tony's voice. "Won't we be discovered if we fire?"

"Just do it!" she commanded. "I'll explain later."

T'Ani wasn't affected at all by Sil's use of her mind, however, her abrupt pull from her nearly caused her to waiver. As she got herself together, she listened to Sil's instructions and called to Potts to bring her some water.

"Sil, are you all right? Shall I call a medical team?"

Aboard Bloodthirst, Krothos reflexively dug at his ears, although he knew the voice in his head hadn't come over the ship to ship. "Veer off!" he commanded in Klingon. His crew groaned and he cursed them. "Back to the 'Base--now!"

The Tarkan ship swept on toward Earth, unhindered...

In SBK Ops, Hockley squared his shoulders, looked at Mirabi. "Weapons status?"

Tony and Parsis punched buttons, checked their readouts. "Online," Mirabi said incredulously. "And we've got stuff we never had before! You should see this arsenal!"

Hockley's answering gaze was grim. "You heard the Admiral, Mr. Parsis--take that ship out!"

The young Vulcan's eyes lit, a smile not quite forming on his lips. "Yes sir," he responded, and fired.

The Tarkan ship went up in a huge blast. And a moment later the entire 'base shook like a leaf.

"Yes!" Mirabi exclaimed, then looked toward where Chekov and Sulu had been standing, only to frown in puzzlement. "Where did they go?"

T'Ani felt the base shake just as Potts brought over some water. She handed it to her friend and watched as she weakly moved to take a drink. Not wanting to bombard her with questions, but needing to know what to do next, T'Ani asked, "Do you need to rest here? Can you move? Do we need to get someone in here to check you out?"

Sil gratefully sipped at the cup, then struggled to her feet. "I just think I need to sleep for about a week." She looked at her friend, put a hand to her shoulder. "But, T--I need to tell you. Pavel is gone."

The Vulcan woman hesitated for a moment before she hesitantly asked, "What do you mean...gone?"

"The young one," she said, "I sent him back--along with Sulu. I just wanted to make everything right at one time. You know?"

Relief swept over T'Ani and she nodded, "Of course. I'm glad he's back where he belongs. Now, let's get you to your quarters. I can only imagine how exhausted you must be."

She looked over her shoulder, "Professor Potts, could you please let Mr. Mirabi know that I'm taking Sil back to their quarters? I'm sure he will want to come and check on her himself."

"Oh, yes, when he gets time," Potts replied. "And it looks like we have all the time we need, right here." He smiled his hideously crooked smile.

T'Ani flashed him a smile of her own and a nod of thanks before she wrapped her arm around her friend and led her out into the corridor and towards the lift. "Are you sure you don't want to stop by sickbay? Tony will kill me himself if something happens to you."

"Why, so the EMH can look me over? I think not," Sil replied.

T'Ani laughed, "As you wish. It would seem you still have that spark of fire so I can't be too worried."

She looked at her friend knowingly as the lift started moving, "You nearly pushed yourself too far this time."

"We never know how far we can go...until we try?" Sil replied.

But privately, she wondered. Had she gone too far? Moved too many people and events? Only time would tell.

Time.

She just had to hope it was still on their side...

REEL READ:  BLADE RUNNER
 Because LiveJournal was down this morning, the Reel Read discussion was moved to the Starbase Karma FACEBOOK page.
Please post your comments at that site.

thanks!

Greetings, Crew! :)

Many things are happening right now--but I wanted to give you a heads up on the two most important:

1) The SBK website has moved to http://www.starbasekarma.org/ and julietm and I are piecing it back together. Long story, but our old hosts turned out to be Ferengi and we went with someone who was asking less latinum. ;) Anyway, we expect to have everything working soon.

2) USS Aquila has invited us to an event! I think it would be a good idea for as many as possible to attend so that negotiations continue to combine our clubs. Here is Stephanie's e-mail:

Dear all,

I am planning to host a video party at 628 Roberts Street, Newport, KY
41071, open house style, to include dinner and snacks, IF and ONLY IF
I receive at least 5 positive responses for a date I am available to
hold it.

Potential date categories are:
A. Nov. 26th, 2011 1 PM-10 PM
B. Sometime in December, to be determined
C. Neither of these will work, but I am interested in coming to this event.

If you are interested, please either respond to this message or call
(859) 261-4380 and leave a message there. If possible, the response
should include the following:
1. which date category you prefer
2. how many people are interested in attending
3. any special requests for videos or snacks/drinks

Based on the responses I receive, I will decide if and when to hold
the party. I will
let everyone know as soon as possible. If the party is to be on Nov.
26th, an announcement will go out by 6 PM on Nov. 18th at the very
latest.

Hope to see you soon,
Stephanie Rechtin
wreckedin@gmail.com


Please respond to me also if you can attend so I know where our crew stands. Dave and I are planning on attending Nov 26th.


(Non local members we know you can't attend--but do check out the website--thanks!)

Written by mirabi, julietm and yours truly. :)

Chekov and Sulu arrived in the Vortex room just as the Mars craft was lifting off.

“Trust me,” said Chekov as he kept Mirabi from activating the tractor beam that would have stopped the flight. “Use the tractor beam to push the craft to Mars.”

Mirabi hesitated, and looked to Parsis and Hockley for support. Parsis was absorbed in his tasks, but Hockley offered, “Go with it, old man. If he’s wrong, we can go back in time and give it another go.”

Mirabi shook his head. “Only so many times we can change the timeline. Parsis, beam out the ion capacitor once they reach orbit.” Then he called to the Klingon ship, “Krothos. Give the craft the push they need to get them to Mars.”

“Aye,” replied Krothos.

“So,” said Mirabi. “All is set and they are on the way.”

* * * * *

T'Ani and Sil skidded to a halt as they approached the Vortex room. Sil ran inside, yelling and T'Ani moved forward to help her get Tony's attention. She called out along with her friend, frantic to stop all of this in time.

Sil ran over and grabbed Tony's arm. "What happened? Did you stop it?" She looked over at Chekov and Sulu, distracted by their presence. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that Chekov had moved closer to T'Ani...

“No,” said Mirabi, “Anton said…”

“Pavel,” Parsis corrected him.

Mirabi looked at Parsis, unable to make sense of the comment. “This geek suggested we allow the craft to launch.”

“Yes,” said Chekov. “You will need the craft to reach Mars in order to restore the timeline.”

T'Ani looked from Sil to Chekov, who was now standing right next to her. Knowing the work they had done together the night before, she was inclined to listen to what he had to say. However, if Sil said this all had to be stopped... She looked over at her friend, "Sil?"

Sil stared at the young Russian for a moment. But she spoke to Mirabi.

"Tony...concentrate...what do you remember about your mission to mars, right before you arrived at SBK?"
“I remember it like it was next week, which it will be, technically,” Mirabi joked, but Sil did not smile.

“OK, we had repaired the ship, and were just about all ready to go. We were deep inside Mars, working our way through an underground cavern to get back to the ship. The others went through the main passage, but I had detoured off because some lights had caught my attention. I called to the others, then the next thing I knew, I was here.”

T'Ani remembered all too well a similar incident when a vortex had brought her here. She looked over at Pavel and then at Sulu to see if they had experienced something similar. She could tell from the looks on their faces that they had. She hadn't ever asked how Tony had arrived here. He had always been here for as long as she remembered. Was it possible he missed his own time and wanted to go back? Her chest tightened as she looked to Sil and wondered if she had been thinking the same thing.

"Tony, T'Ani...Hockley...do the names Mully and Sculder mean anything to you?" Sil asked, her gaze intent. Parsis lifted a brow but volunteered nothing. Chekov and Sulu just looked at one another.

"Those names," Hockley said slowly, "I do know them--but I'm not sure from where..."

“Wait a minute,” said Tony, “you mean those dudes who questioned me after I had arrived on the station. But, they didn’t really want anything. Why do you bring that up?”

Sulu and Chekov smiled. Now she was getting it.

Suddenly in the midst of everything that was going on, her mind cleared and T'Ani knew exactly where Sil was going with this. That's why she had said none of this was supposed to happen! Their memories of an event had been erased and somehow they were starting to remember. She looked over at Pavel, remembering how her own Pavel's memories of her had been erased before.

"Tony," Sil said then, "You'd better brace yourself. Don't you remember what was in that cavern you found? It was a TIME MACHINE--a very special one. The Vortex!"

“The Vortex? On Mars? No way!” gasped Mirabi. “I would remember something like that. Especially since we have one right here.”

T'Ani finally spoke up, "Not if your memories of that event were erased..."

"Exactly," Sil said, "and that's what Starfleet's Temporal Investigations specialized in before there was a Starbase Karma--clean ups and erasures. After all, what better way to keep the core crew of the new base safe and unable to reveal to an enemy the location in time of the Vortex?"

“That’s what the flashy thing did,” laughed Mirabi. “That was great! I do understand why they had to do that. They wouldn’t want anyone knowing where to find such a powerful tool.”

"I've never known of a case until now where a subject has actually started to regain memories that were erased, unless prompted, of course. Now, it would seem as if both you and Sil are experiencing this,” T’Ani said.

She looked to Pavel and part of her wanted to tell him that her Pavel had been one of those people who had been prompted to remember, but decided to keep that to herself for now.

"They're not the only ones," Hockley said then, leaning on the Vortex console and looking a little green. "I remember there were FOUR LIGHTS." He held his head in both hands.

"I suspect," Parsis added calmly, "that the reason this has happened is that when Misters Chekov and Sulu arrived they created an eddy in the timestream. Essentially, what you are experiencing is a ripple in your memories."

"And that's not even the most important thing," Sil cut in. "Chekov was right--Tony's old ship HAS to crash on Mars in order for the Vortex to exist. But by being aware of past events, we have already changed what will happen once it is discovered.

“Four lights. Mr. Hockley, are you tracking this?” asked Parsis.

“I was referring to a Romulan incident…” started Hockley.

“There are four lights being tracked by our long range sensors. What do you make of it?”

Hockley turned back to his sensor array. “I’ve got it, but they can’t be coming this way.”

“What is it?” asked Sil.

“They are indeed coming this way,” said Parsis.

“What is it?” Sil demanded this time.

“The Tarkans? They are still coming this way,” replied Parsis.

“That can’t be,” cried Sil

“We did this for nothing?” gasped Mirabi.

“The ion trail wasn’t what attracted them,” said Hockley.

“This wasn’t in our timeline, either,” said Sil.

“This is vhat you are here to prevent,” said Chekov.

T'Ani turned to look at Chekov, her eyes wide.
"How do you know this?"

"He knows," Sil smiled at the Russian boy, "because he knows nothing like this happens in his timeline." She turned to Parsis. "You are familiar with Deltan abilities, Mister?"

"I am," the Vulcan nodded.

"Then you know that our physiology is such that we can fold space--effect changes in the fabric of space time itself. That's why we're often chosen as navigators. I have never used this ability--up until now. My talents have been employed elsewhere...but we all have them. I will go to Time Lab now and attempt to set things right...things that once went wrong." She turned to T'Ani. "Will you come?"

Without hesitation, the Vulcan woman nodded, "Of course. Whatever you need." She glanced at everyone in the room, her gaze lingering on the young Russian a moment longer than the others before she turned to follow Sil to the Time Lab.

Mirabi activated the com link with the Klingon vessel, "Krothos, are you still listening?"

"Yes."

"Can you take me to Mars so I can watch the landing? Crash, I should say. Just to make sure all turns out okay."

"Did the Admiral order that?" asked Krothos.

"I am sure she won't mind," said Mirabi.

* * * * *

As T'Ani followed Sil down the corridor, she asked, "How can I help with what you are about to do?”

"Help Potts monitor my vitals on the consoles there," Sil said. "I've never done this before..."

* * * * *

Hockley gasped, “Are you insane?! You can’t go to Mars now, with an alien attack imminent.”

Krothos piped in, “My ship is providing the cloak for Starbase Karma. If this ship leaves, the base will be visible.”

Mirabi mulled this over. “I suppose you are right. But if I can find a way….”


* * * * *

T'Ani quickly familiarized herself with the console as Sil prepared herself. She asked, "What am I to expect? Not as far as your vitals are concerned, but physically will there be any changes or anything I should be aware of?"

"My fear pheromones may elevate," Sil guessed. "So be prepared--I'm sure they'll give your Human side a fair fight." She tried to muster a brave smile for her friend as she settled into Lotus pose and prepared herself.

"Very well. Just know that I will be right here if you should need anything at all, all right? Are there any warning signs I should look for if something should go awry? I want to be prepared if I have to pull you out of this. I can...pull you out of this, can't I?"

"Honestly?" Sil asked. "I don't know. But here we go..."

She raced through the steps to bring herself into balance, ever aware that the Tarkans were speeding toward them--and an unprepared Earth. At last, Sil felt herself descend into the lowest level of conscious awareness...one she had last shared with a Q, in the rescue of Taylor Anderson.

But this wouldn't require the kind of power it took to pull someone across timelines--this would be more of a delicate maneuver, involving more sorting of events and people. Still, there were so many that had transpired in the timeline she'd lived. And, despite herself, Sil knew she would never be able to get them all straight.

So she concentrated first on pushing back against the one the Tarkans appeared in. If she could at least get them back where they came from they'd have a chance of straightening everything else out...

* * * * *

Parsis and Hockley both monitored the Tarkans approach. Hockley wondered if he had blinked and missed one of the ships taking a new course. But, no, Parsis confirmed that one of the ships had vanished.

“Admiral Fangali has started the process,” said Parsis
.
“Process?” asked Hockley.
“Folding time and space,” offered Mirabi.

“She is folding space around the Tarkan ships,” said Parsis.

“You mean like warp drive?” asked Hockley.

“Yes and no,” said Parsis. “The Tarkans have no control over where they will be sent.”

“Why didn’t we do this the first time?” asked Hockley.

“Maybe we did,” said Mirabi, “after all, there was only one ship the first time.”

* * * * *

T'Ani monitored Sil's vitals, but also kept watch on her friend. She looked just as still as she ever did when she went into a meditative state and so she let down her guard a bit. She soon realized that was a mistake. Just as Sil had predicted, panic washed over her. Her heart was racing and beads of sweat immediately formed on her forehead. She looked over to Potts, surprised to find that he seemed his normal self. She gasped, "You don't feel that?"

Potts looked up a bit surprised, "I'm a physicist, not a physician, dammit. Anyway, whatever she is doing seems to be working. Why worry?"

Despite herself, T'Ani couldn't help but smile through what she was feeling. Potts certainly did have a refreshing view on the life going on around them. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes and forced herself to force the fear back down. When she opened her eyes again she glanced over at Sil once more, ever in awe of the things she discovered about her each and every day.

Once the first Tarkan ship was gone, Sil felt the effort she needed was less, and began to relax. One part of her began efficiently dispatching two more while at the same time inspecting events and people that had entered SBK since its conception. Most were easy: Hockley belonged, Tay Anderson, by her own choice, did not. Sil pushed past the final pain this decision invoked and moved on. But then there came the incident with Admiral Nick. This would take some maneuvering!

* * * * *

“She did it,” cried Hockley. “She rid the skies of all of the Tarkan ships.”

“Correction, Mr. Hockley,” said Parsis. “All but one.”

“That one is mine,” shouted Krothos.

“You did not have permission to…” started Parsis, but it was too late. The IKV Bloodthirst cleared its moorings and set course for the Tarkan ship.

“We have lost the cloak,” said Hockley.

Parsis confirmed, “This station is now visible to the Earth tracking systems.”

“Doesn’t he remember what happened in the previous timeline when he went after the Tarkan ships?” asked Mirabi.
Parsis reminded Mirabi of the physics involved, “He would have no memory of events that took place while he was outside the time bubble around Starbase Karma.”

“Sil,” cried Mirabi over the com. “Sil, can you vanquish that last ship. Sil?”

* * * * *

T’Ani answered the page, “I don’t think she can hear you, Tony. Sil is in some kind of meditative state.”

She looked to Potts, "Have you ever experienced this before? Is there a way we can reach her in this state?"

Potts shook his head frantically, and paced about the lab. “What she is doing is not possible, so it is not happening. One cannot control space and time with the mind……unless…….”

“Unless?”

“I am a physicist, but I do know a little bit about biology. It is possible that, over time, eons actually, this race evolved cerebrum, or… well, it would have to involve Broca’s area and the cerebellum.”

“That is all gibberish.”

“Not all all. Pay attention. If the axons were able to extend beyond the brain and control the atoms outside of her space, then she may be able to actually fold time…”

“No, no. Why can’t we wake her?”

“Oh, that. I have no idea.”

T'Ani wanted to take the man by the shoulders and shake him and yet she found herself amused at the same time. Many a time since she'd come back and during her endless hours in the Time Lab, he had always been there to bombard her with some sort of babbling brilliance that reminded her to step back and take a break from what she was doing. She surprised them both by stepping closer to him and kissing him on the cheek. "I'm glad you're here, Professor."

But Sil was sweating. Her strength was fading and no matter how she tried she couldn't quite catch that last vessel. That was up to Tony, Krothos and the others now... She turned her attention to arranging the last few time events she could reach and hoped T'Ani would understand that she dare not come out of her trance now.

This section written by abracadavey, julietm and trekwriter...

Sil slowly rose from her chair, stumbled a bit as her knees felt weak, but managed to make it to the door. There, she caught her breath. She needed somewhere to be alone...the observation deck, she thought. Quickly, she left her office, whipped down the stairs and out of Ops past her startled crew and into the turbolift.


T'Ani awoke and stretched, nearly startled when she realized she actually had slept. She wasn't sure if it was because Pavel, even if a younger version of himself, was near or because they had worked together on her calculations the night before and had made some headway. A fresh pair of eyes and a brilliant mind was just what she needed after having looked at those same calculations again and again for what had surely been months. She got up and showered and wondered what today would hold for her.

The moment that Sil entered the deck, with its overwhelming windows, she sank to her knees. How could this be happening to her? Everything that she had done as a commander flooded back to her in a rush: the battle in which she had defied Admiral Nick--the one that had resulted in his death and the rescue of Taylor Anderson. Had that been the moment when she had started making bad decisions? Surely they were the most momentous she had ever made...

No. No, it had been right to save Taylor--no matter the cost.

But Sil felt the devastation of so many losses at last wash over her: not just Taylor, but everything: her Starfleet commission, her career as a medico when she'd taken over Starbase Karma, so many friends in battles to save the timeline. And now would she lose Tony, too?

How could she bear it? How could she possibly?

T'Ani was heading down the corridor on the way to the mess hall when she passed the observation deck. As a habit, she glanced inside and what she saw stopped her in her tracks. Her heart began to race and she slowly moved towards the figure that was on the floor. Surprisingly, her presence had gone unnoticed and T'Ani sank down onto the floor and reached out her hand to touch her friend. "Sil....are you all right?"

Slowly, Sildya Fangali looked up at her friend. "No, T. I'm not. This is...all horribly wrong. And we have to change it. Come on." She grabbed at her arm and stood up. "Let's find Tony."

T'Ani had never seen her friend like this and she chided herself for not paying attention. Things had been happening all around them -- bad things, and T'Ani had been blind to it all in her quest to get back to Pavel. Her friends needed her and it was as though she were already gone. She knew every single moment counted, but right now, her friend came first.
Sil began pulling her toward the door, talking as she went. "Taylor came to my office. She said she talked to you."

Half blind with tears, she steered them in the direction of the nearest wall comm, punched the button with her fist. "Fangali to Mirabi. Tony, please respond." Sil hated the catch in her voice as she spoke his name. What was wrong with her to lose control this way?

As they were waiting for Tony to respond, T'Ani stated, "Yes, she did speak with me. Admittedly the entire conversation took me by surprise. Sil, I know I haven't made myself available much since I've been back, but I'm here now. Talk to me."

But talking was the last thing Sil had on her mind. Damn, why wasn't Tony responding? She turned to T'Ani with a frantic gaze. "He must already be working on the Vortex--we have to stop him!"

She turned and dashed down the corridor, T'Ani running to catch up. "We have to go back," Sil panted as she ran. "None of this was supposed to happen!"

As T'Ani ran after her friend, she gasped, "Go back to when?"

* * * *


Mirabi, Parsis, and Hockley made preparations to stop the Mars mission. Mirabi adjusted the controls of the vortex and Hockley ran the calculations on the station computer. Parsis monitored the events at the launch site, and the defense of the entire planet.

“Where is Tay?” asked Tony. “We need her to monitor the radio traffic at the launch site.”

Parsis pulled his head away from the computer hood, then adjusted sensors to locate Taylor Anderson. “Commander Anderson is no longer on the station.”

“No longer on the station? She knew what we were doing. Why in bloody blazes would she leave the station?” exclaimed Hockley.

“I cannot answer that Mr. Hockley. I have ordered Lt. Fraser to engineering to monitor communications,” said Parsis.

“Card?” asked Tony.

“Mr. Mirabi, I fail to understand why you have such a difficult time with names. Lt. Caed Fraser will monitor communications,” replied Parsis dryly. “I will begin a sweep to locate Commander Anderson.”

“Mr. Mirabi,” piped the voice of Professor Potts over the intercom. “We have a slight problem. A Mr. Chekov and a Mr. Sulu have arrived from the 23rd century.”

“The dweeb?” asked Mirabi.

“Huh?” said Potts.

“No,” offered Hockley, “the young Mr. Chekov arrived last night. The Nerd.”

“Your rampant abuse of the English language disturbs me, Mr. Hockley,” said Parsis. “Mr. Chekov is a geek.”

“Well, they can’t be here when we change the timeline. You have to send them back,” said Tony.

“They have an interesting theory about the timeline,” said Potts.

“Ve tink you have already changed the timeline,” said a young Russian voice. “Since you are here, you obviously vent to Mars, yet there is no such event in our timeline.”

“There is no such event because we have to stop it from happening,” said Mirabi.

“If you stop it from happening, then you will never arrive on this station,” said Sulu.

“Yes, yes,” said Mirabi, “and begin a cataclysm of events that will unravel the fabric of time. We discussed all of this and came to the conclusion that stopping the flight is the only way to prevent Earth from being attacked by the Tarkans.”

“There may be another vay,” said Chekov. “Ve disable the ion engines after lift off, then use the tractor beam to give dem a push to get dem to Mars.”

“That would be murder,” gasped Hockley. “They would either forever be in orbit around the planet, or they would crash on Mars.”

“Actually,” said Mirabi, “we did crash on Mars.”

As we've had some problems with our current web host doing this, julietm has devised a work around--go computer ops girl! :D

Once you visit the SBK website to hear songs, you can return here to vote for your fav using the following poll:

Poll #1753292 SBK Theme Music
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 5

Which is your fav selection for the Official SBK Theme Song?

Feel free to vote for more than one selection--I know I will! :D

Have fun with this!

Thought this would be on interest to the group. A geek like us talking to a female scientist about what 'Time' actually is.

Sil awakened groggily, instinctively reaching over for Tony--only to find he wasn't there, and that side of the bed was colder than space. This happened sometimes when he was working to resolve a troubling situation with station safety. Still, it chilled her to the bone, considering how upset she was already at the idea of him being so close to merging with his past. Trying to shake it off, she rose, showered and dressed. If she could just get to Ops life could resume a semblance of normalcy. Being around her crew would make the time until she saw him again go faster. Being with them--all of them--was what mattered most.

But as she got off the lift and stepped into Ops, the first thing she saw was a harried and exhausted Arwen at the communications post.

"What are you doing here?" Sil exclaimed. "Wasn't Anderson supposed to relieve you for Alpha?"

The half Betazoid woman looked uncomfortable. "We can't raise her. I don't know why."

Sil sighed, trying to suppress her irritation. "Get your assistant up here--or use the Emergency Communications Hologram if you need to. But get some sleep. You're going to need it in the next few days. And when Taylor Anderson does show up--send her to my office."

"Yes, Ma'am."

With that, Sil took the stairs up two at a time to get to her seat behind her desk. Coffee was in order!

It was less than twenty minutes later when her door buzzed.

"Come," the Deltan woman said irritably.

Tay Anderson stepped in, the most ferocious Klingon scowl Sil thought she'd ever seen plastered on her forehead. "I have something to say to you," she told Sil without preamble.

"Well, it better be good," Sil said, beginning to frown herself. "Because I want an explanation for why you deserted your shift and your department."

An expression that Sildya had never seen before then came over Anderson's face. "Oh you want an explanation, huh? You. The great Sildya Fangali wants me to explain. Well, you know, I think it's you that has some explaining to do." She folded her arms and stood there defiantly.

The base commander sat up straighter now, nonplussed. Something was very wrong for Taylor to get this angry. The Klingon woman had her full attention now.

"Go on."

"I just saw T'Ani. She tells me a younger version of her Pavel has come aboard."

"Yes," Sil said cautiously. "But what does that have to do with--"

"Oh," Anderson smirked, "now you're going to try and pretend you didn't have a hand in it, aren't you? Like these things just happen, right?"

Sil stared at her. "Taylor. What are you talking about?"

Anderson just stared at her for several moments, visibly trembling. "Why, Sil? Why is your crew something you play with like this? First T'Ani, then me--both at the same time, maybe, I dunno? Why are you experimenting with our lives?"

Sil's mouth was open. "What are you saying?"

Taylor Anderson held out a finger, pointing it right at her face. "You do this, somehow. You make it happen. You don't care about T, that she lost Pavel. You don't care that Trip was killed horribly. Oh, you didn't think I would find out about that timeline, did you? Did you have fun watching us squirm, Sil? SBK leaving Starfleet must have been the best thing that ever happened to you--because now you can do whatever you want with this crew!"

Sil thought if her chair hadn't been under her, her legs might have given way. "Wha--what...?"

"You don't care about Tony either do you? That he might be able to complete his mission to Mars after all--because then he might leave you! Isn't that right?"

"THAT IS ENOUGH."

The mention of Tony brought Sil to her feet. "Get out of my office. Now."

"Oh, I'll get out all right--I'll get all the way off the station and out of this service. You won't be able to control me any more. I wish T'Ani would come with me, but she refused."

"You asked T'Ani--?"

"Yes I did--and you should know she can find me if she ever wants to follow."

Sil sat back down, stunned.

"Get out, Taylor. Just go."

"Don't worry, I'm leaving. Goodbye, Sil. I hope I never see you again."

And with that, Taylor Anderson stormed out of her life, leaving SBK's commander numb and trembling...