Star trek, p.1
Star Trek, page 1
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Dedicated to the memory of
Dave Galanter
We miss you, Deet. And we love you.
PREVIOUSLY…
2376
Captain Benjamin Sisko returns from his sojourn with the Bajoran Prophets, which began a year earlier following the conclusion of the Dominion War. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, “What You Leave Behind”)
Bajor joins the United Federation of Planets. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novel Unity)
2377
After being marooned in the Delta Quadrant seven years earlier, Captain Kathryn Janeway and the crew of the Starship Voyager complete their 70,000-light-year journey home to Earth. (Star Trek: Voyager, “Endgame”)
2378
Wesley Crusher accompanies the Traveler, with whom he’s been learning to grow and focus his emerging abilities, to his mentor’s home planet, Tau Alpha C. There, he is “reborn” and becomes a Traveler. (Star Trek: The Next Generation novel A Time to Be Born)
2379
Federation president Min Zife, guilty of selling to the independent world Tezwa illegal weapons that contribute to millions of deaths, is covertly removed from office by a group of Starfleet admirals with the assistance of Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Unknown to Picard, Zife is assassinated by Section 31. (Star Trek novels A Time to Kill and A Time to Heal)
Shinzon, a cloned duplicate of Picard originally created to replace the captain as a Romulan spy within Starfleet, seizes control of the Romulan Star Empire following a coup d’état. He launches a bold plan to attack Earth and cripple the Federation, but Picard and the Enterprise defeat him. Diplomatic relations are renewed between the Federation and the Romulans. (Star Trek Nemesis)
Captain William Riker takes command of U.S.S. Titan. His wife, Commander Deanna Troi, accompanies him as ship’s counselor and first-contact specialist. (Star Trek: Titan novel series)
2380
Picard marries Beverly Crusher. (Star Trek: The Next Generation novel Greater Than the Sum)
During an incursion by the Borg, Admiral Kathryn Janeway gives her life in defense of the Federation. (Star Trek: The Next Generation novel Before Dishonor)
2381
The Borg launch a massive invasion of the Federation, laying waste to numerous planets and billions of lives before Starfleet achieves final victory, forever ending the Collective’s persistent threat. (Star Trek: Destiny novel trilogy)
During the invasion, Ezri Dax, serving as U.S.S. Aventine’s second officer, takes command when her captain and first officer are killed.
Riker and Troi have a daughter, Natasha Miana Riker-Troi, named in memory of deceased Enterprise crewmember and friend Natasha Yar, and the deceased sister of Aili Lavena, a member of the Titan’s crew. (Star Trek: Titan novel series)
With the assistance of unlikely allies, Admiral Janeway’s death is reversed. She takes command of Project Full Circle, with U.S.S. Voyager and an entire fleet assigned to further explore the Delta Quadrant. (Star Trek: Voyager novel The Eternal Tide)
Picard and Crusher have a son, René Jacques Robert François Picard. The boy is named for Picard’s nephew, René, and older brother, Robert, and for Crusher’s first husband, Jack Crusher. (Star Trek: Destiny–Lost Souls novel, Star Trek: Typhon Pact novel Paths of Disharmony)
Following the Borg Invasion, Sisko assumes command of U.S.S. Robinson. (Star Trek: Typhon Pact novel Rough Beasts of Empire)
2382
Admiral Janeway, along with the crew of U.S.S. Voyager, agrees to help an alien race, the Edrehmaia, on their long journey out of our galaxy. They depart the Delta Quadrant for parts unknown. (Star Trek: Voyager novel To Lose the Earth)
Andor secedes from the Federation over issues related to the Andorians’ now-critical reproductive crisis. (Star Trek: Typhon Pact novel Paths of Disharmony)
2383
Breen and Tzenkethi forces attack and destroy Federation station Deep Space 9. Over a thousand lives are lost. (Star Trek: Typhon Pact novel Raise the Dawn)
2384
Years after sacrificing himself to save Picard, Data is “reincarnated” after his memories are removed from his brother, the android B-4, and transferred into the body of a new android created by Noonian Soong. His android daughter, Lal, is also repaired and reactivated. (Star Trek: Cold Equations novel trilogy)
2385
Federation station Deep Space 9 (II) is declared operational, positioned like its predecessor near the Bajoran wormhole. At its commemoration, Federation President Nanietta Bacco is assassinated. Federation Council member Ishan Anjar of Bajor is appointed president pro tempore. (Star Trek: The Fall, Book I: Revelation and Dust)
Julian Bashir defies Starfleet and President Pro Tempore Ishan to bring the Andorian people a cure for their reproductive crisis. He succeeds with help from Captain Dax. They are both imprisoned. (Star Trek: The Fall, Book III: A Ceremony of Losses)
President Pro Tempore Ishan is exposed as a criminal. Andor rejoins the Federation. An Andorian wins the Federation’s presidential election and pardons Bashir and Dax. (Star Trek: The Fall, Book V: Peaceable Kingdoms)
2386
Exploring the Odyssean Pass, Picard and the Enterprise encounter an immense weapon, reverse-engineered by an alien race from a prototype “planet killer” device and sent back in time from the late twenty-fifth century. Investigating the weapon’s onboard computer systems, Lieutenant Commander Taurik discovers information about future events he is not permitted to disclose. Taurik is debriefed by the Department of Temporal Investigations and sworn to secrecy in accordance with the Temporal Prime Directive. (Star Trek: The Next Generation novel Armageddon’s Arrow)
Picard and the Enterprise discover a rogue planet locked into a series of random jumps across multiple dimensions and points in time. They meet an alternate version of U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D from a reality in which Picard did not survive his capture and assimilation by the Borg. (Star Trek: The Next Generation novel Headlong Flight)
Journalist Ozla Graniv, with the assistance of Bashir and Data, exposes Section 31’s entire history and lengthy list of illegal activities spanning more than two centuries. All known Section 31 operatives are pursued and arrested, and Picard is implicated in the organization’s assassination of Federation president Min Zife in 2379. (Star Trek: Section 31 novel Control)
2387
Exonerated from the fallout relating to the revelations about Section 31, Captain Picard prepares to return with the Enterprise to the Odyssean Pass to continue its exploration mission. (Star Trek: The Next Generation novel Collateral Damage)
AND NOW…
PART I TIME’S SCYTHE
1
Like so many others he had seen in his travels, this was a dead world. Once, it teemed with life, but all of that ended uncounted millennia ago.
While much younger and learning to control his still burgeoning abilities, the Traveler had come to this planet to observe the civilization that called it home. Theirs was a society of peace, of arts and science, of wonder and awe. Using the same passion with which they scrutinized the stars above them, they also studied and learned about the world around them and—indeed—within each of them. He never discovered what ultimately had doomed this world, or even when that downfall had occurred. Like so much else about this planet, the final fate of its people remained shrouded in mystery, defying all efforts to draw the truth from darkness into the light.
Though the people were no more, long dead and gone, there was still life here. He could sense it—the faintest hints tugged at the very limit of his perceptions—but it existed. Life in its most basic, primeval form thrived. Perhaps over time, the simple amino acids struggling to survive long enough to form the first microscopic proteins would continue to evolve and advance toward other, higher-order forms of life. In another several billion years, a new civilization might well assert its dominance on this world. Then, the Traveler imagined, the cycle might even repeat itself all over again, just as it had on uncounted worlds throughout this universe and beyond.
Such was the nature of life, and of time.
Doing his best to battle the mounting fatigue weighing on him, he knew this was but a temporary respite. Sooner or later, his pursuers—whoever or whatever they were—would find him. Whatever rest he managed to collect here would be at best fleeting, before the fight resumed once again. Even now and in this place, the Traveler did not possess the luxury of time. In point of fact and in so many ways, time was the true enemy.
The ground on wh ich he stood was the very picture of desolation, doubtless unchanged to any meaningful degree since the previous civilization had long ago died and gone to dust. He could see where millennia of wind-driven sand had smoothed rock formations and other outcroppings littering the landscape in all directions. Snowcapped mountains in the distance suggested water was still in abundance. Heightened senses detected the presence of a nearby underground spring. Adjusting the strap of his worn leather satchel—itself an unnecessary affectation, a tangible reminder of a past life—so that it rested higher on his right shoulder, the Traveler walked toward the sound.
Water filled a depression near the base of a large rock formation jutting from the soil. Kneeling next to the pool, he cupped his hands and collected some of the water, noting how cold it was as he brought it to his lips. He knew before he tasted it that it was safe to drink, and savored its refreshing effects. The last of the ripples he had created began to subside and he bent closer to examine his reflection in the pool’s surface. When had he last seen his own features?
Wesley Crusher stared at the deep lines in his face; at least, those portions of his face that were not covered by the full beard that was more gray than the brown he recalled from further in the past than he could easily remember. The same was true for his hair, which fell over his ears and forehead and rested atop the shoulders of his worn dark-leather jacket. Without thinking, he ran one hand through the thick locks, the pale color of which only served to make him appear far older than his actual age. Whatever that was anymore.
He had long ago quit bothering to keep track of such things, as they had ceased to have any real meaning with respect to his current existence. In one aspect, it had been over a quarter of a century since he began his travels. From another viewpoint, the years since leaving behind his life as a mere human mortal had passed within the blink of an eye. Both were true, along with the immutable fact that his journeys had traversed millions of years, both to the past and the future. No matter how keenly one might examine the span of his life or how small the unit of time used to measure it, he remembered its every aspect. He felt as young and full of hope and enthusiasm as he had at the beginning, while at the same time every particle of his being ached with the weight of time’s passage. With force of thought he could push away the latter sensations, but Wesley had become acutely conscious of how much effort it seemed to take.
Was time finally catching up with him? How much longer might his travels continue? There was no way to be certain, and now more than ever there were factors in play that cast even greater weight upon his questions. Despite the abilities he had honed over the course of his strange yet extraordinary life, the only insight into future events he possessed was what he acquired during his travels. As he knew from lessons taught to him by his mentor as well as the Starfleet Academy instructors from a life forsaken long ago, that knowledge was dangerous for countless reasons. Wesley had always taken care not to allow the lure of foresight to influence his decisions or actions. To do so was too great a risk on a scale almost too massive for him to comprehend. The rules of temporal travel that he had respected in his former life, though almost naïve as observed by beings wholly incapable of fully understanding the ramifications at stake, at least were guided by a desire to do no harm. An element of that reasoning carried forward into the guidelines by which he now moved through the universe.
Precious little of that sentiment seemed to matter.
Moving along the desolate terrain, Wesley noticed that the rock formations flanking him seemed to grow in size as well as proximity. Even though he knew where he was going, he could not help feeling as though the outcroppings to either side of him seemed to guide him in a particular direction. He recalled experiencing similar sensations during his previous visits to this world, wondering each time if it was more than simply a fluke of nature or the result of deliberate design. It was just another of the many questions about this place for which he had never been able to obtain an answer.
A gap appeared among the rocks ahead, and with every step Wesley became more aware of the low, teasing, and almost musical whine permeating the air. By the time he emerged into another expanse of flat terrain, the drone was impossible to ignore. Was it his imagination, or was it even more pervasive and intense than he remembered from his last visit?
Doing his best to ignore the now quite omnipresent hum, Wesley directed his gaze to the ruins of the dead city sprawling in all directions into the distance across the austere plain. His point of arrival had placed him near the center of this ancient, deserted metropolis, allowing him to marvel at the tantalizing blend of form and function, of technical skill and artistic boldness, that had contributed to the city’s construction. It never failed to amaze him that a people so skilled and capable of building such a thing of wonder had for reasons unknown allowed themselves to be swept from the face of this world. All that remained of their accomplishments was what had not yet succumbed to the elements as well as the relentless passage of time. Yet, what lingered here stood as mute testament to skill and beauty.
Then, there was the artifact.
Shrouded in a veil of mystery far more opaque than the fate suffered by this planet’s extinct inhabitants, the odd construct seemed at home neither here nor anywhere else Wesley had visited. Couched among the ruins near the center of the dead city, it sat alone. Remnants of ancient architecture stood guard around it, indicating the artifact was an object of attention, not admiration. An asymmetrical ellipsoid perched on its edge as it sat atop the arid, dead soil, it appeared to be carved from stone, though Wesley could not identify its exact composition even with the powers he commanded. Attempts to define its age had also met with resistance. Records from Starfleet’s initial encounter with the object indicated its construction or placement preceded the emergence of life on this world by billions of years. That meant it likely had been here long before life evolved on worlds throughout this galaxy, but all subsequent efforts to investigate and understand the artifact met with the same lack of progress. Standing before it, Wesley peered through its central opening, which for the moment allowed him to see more of the surrounding city ruins. Aside from Federation scientists and researchers using it to observe past events—and those even rarer occasions when someone had actually stepped through it to take advantage of its staggering abilities—it stood here, silent.
As it had for most of its entire existence, the Guardian of Forever awaited a question.
“Guardian,” said Wesley, his eyes narrowing as he regarded the time portal. “Can you hear me?”
In response to his simple query, the ellipsoid began to glow and pulse from within, the effect generated by minerals or other materials that defied all attempts to scan or classify them. Its aperture became blurred and indistinct, awash in a tumult of swirling colors. Now that it was active, Wesley sensed the distress that had drawn him here in the first place, along with an increase in the waves of temporal-displacement energy that accompanied the time portal’s activation.
“I am the Guardian,” said a deep, baritone voice that seemed to echo off the nearby ruins and rock formations. “I hear you, as I hear all.”
Wesley felt a new instability in the energy the artifact now generated. These were far more powerful than had been recorded by scientists studying its operation, and instinct told him they were in response to something it perceived as a threat. Outside stimuli, assaulting the Guardian from… elsewhere.
“You’re under attack.” It was a statement, rather than a question. Wesley could feel surges of power escalating as they pushed against the portal. “Do you know by whom? Or what?”
The Guardian replied, “By all that was. By all that will be.”
