"Entering Earth's orbit. Engaging transporter routine," Just as the computer stated it, Data found himself standing the middle of the Main Conference Room in Starfleet Headquarters. Now it was Data's turn to fix history.
"What! What are you doing here?" Admiral Wellsman replied surprised and defensivly.
"Data, you didn't have to beam in," Admiral Jean Luc Picard replied.
"I am not the Data of this Time," Data spoke.
"What?" Admiral Wellsman said, even more surprised.
Jean Luc on the other hand was used to having unexpected visitors drop in from the future.
"What brings you here Data?" Picard asked.
"To convince you not to give command of the Enterprise to Subee" Data answered.
"Why is that?" Wellsman spoke in calmer voice.
"The Temporal Directive prevents me from divulging any of the specifics," Data spoke, then paused. "All I can say is that when Subee takes command, temporal chaos will occur."
"Temporal chaos" Wellsman replied.
--Falbe
Data repeated, "Temporal chaos. You must trust me on this, Admirals."
Picard stated, "But aren't you violating the Temporal Prime Directive as we speak?"
Data responded by saying, "Discrepancies in the timeline occured, when Subee arrived in the Enterprise. That was when events became.... unusual."
"That's a understatement, Data," said Picard. "I trust you Data. That is why I am handing command of the U.S.S. Enterprise to you. My vote was for you anyways."
Wellsman could feel his fury building up, when he lashed out... literally. His body contorted into a gelatonous state and tendrils whipped all around his body. That was when the security team at Starfleet Headquarters entered, under the command of Captain Tuvok. They locked on their phasers and destroyed the Founder.
"Captain," Data said to the Vulcan. "Please place Captain Subee under arrest. Then, have blood tests on him. I have a feeling he may be not who he appears to be."
"Now, we have another mystery on our hands, Admiral. How did this Founder survive? The leaders of the Dominion all succumbed to the 31 virus decades ago."
"Unfortunately, Admiral Picard, I am in no position to assist you. I need to be going... to prevent the destruction of another ship named Enterprise."
Data tapped his communicator and beamed back to his shuttle, where he
set course back to his own time.
--Lee Jamilkowski
Data's shuttle hurtled back to his time in the correct timeline. The space that once held hulls of lost ships no longer floated seemingly forever; this was the first indication that time and been repaired. With such a change he wondered about the Predesignation Paradox and whether there would be a duplicate Data counterpart. The only way to know was to find out; if there happened to be another Data, all the more resources for the Federation. Data decided to convince the Federation to seal the weak area of subspace around Narendra III after the Khitomer Massacre to stop any other fool-hardy attempts to alter the time in the future.
The moment when the time changed now went to the path it should have, now that the Subee situation had been taken care of.
From Ops, Data noted a temporal rift forming directly ahead of the Enterprise E. "Sir, a vortex is being created; it is a temporal rift. It looks like it was created due to a weak area of subspace and the explosion." Data looked puzzled. Picard saw it in data.
"What is it?" Picard asked.
"I was detecting a weak area of subspace and a temporal rift. Now it seems to have just vanished sir," Data replied.
The Enterprise shook as a Jem'hadar disruptor blast hit the shields
"Shields?" Picard asked.
"68% and stable," Data stated.
"Incoming Message from the 43th fleet," an ensign called out.
"Onscreen" Picard requested.
The 43rd fleet commander appeared on the screen. "Where is the 101st task force?" Picard asked.
"The Dominion launched a new offensive and they were needed on the frontlines," the fleet commander responded.
As the rest of the 43rd fleet ships arrived out of warp a massive ship decloaked. "A ship decloaking to starboard, Dominion in design," Data replied.
"Are you registering this commander?" Picard asked.
"Yes," he answered then patched a message to the fleet. "Epsilon 119 Delta Evasive Manuevers."
The Enterprise joined the formation towards the rear. They still needed
to repair the damage. Four lead ships of the 43rd were destroyed with some
massive distruptor array, and Picard was forced assume command of the
fleet.
--Falbe
"Match course and speed. Inform the rest of the fleet to keep all weapons locked on. What is the status of the Dominion vessel's shields?" Picard asked.
"Non-operational," Data replied. "The ship is currently flooded with chroniton particles. Sir, I am detecting five nuclear warheads in the cargo hold, 3,000 quantum torpedos and 500 mines."
"My Lord," said Riker. "What's the destination, Data?" "The vessel is on a direct heading towards.... Cardassia Prime."
Troi got up and interjected. "We detected the temporal vortex, which disappeared after this Dominion vessel appeared. It has armaments that are enough to destroy major cities on any world, yet it is headed into Cardassian space. Trojan horse?"
Picard stated, "My thoughts exactly. It is probably from the future. And while the Dominion is our mortal enemy, we can not let this blatant massacre occur. Tell the fleet to travel far enough outside the blast radius."
After 30 seconds, Picard ordered, "Lock on all weapons. Fire."
The 43rd fleet destroyed the Dominion vessel. A small heavily shielded probe appeared out of the blast and came within the shields of the Enterprise. A beam shot out and hit the ship. On the bridge, a holographic projection faded into view. It was of a human, obviously descended from an Asian area of Earth, that the captain vaguely recognized. This man had scars all over his face and looked like he had been through a war zone.
It came to Picard. "Harry Kim."
Kim spoke. "This is to whoever destroyed the Dominion ship. You have condemned the future."
Suddenly, the hologram changed. "Thank you, whoever destroyed that vessel. It was a mistake I made, but now that the timeline has been repaired, a real possibility for the Federation to win the war has begun. I hope you understand, but the timeline has been violated such much as this point... this nexus... that I can not let anyone remember what happened." The probe exploded, unleashing an energy wave that traveled outward, throughout the sector, throughout the galaxy, throughout the universe. A wave that erased memories and computer files.
The Enterprise and the 43rd fleet were in the middle of a conflict with
three squadrons of Jem'Hadar vessel and three squadrons of Cardassian Galor class
vessels, in a major showdown at Narendra III...
--Lee Jamilkowski
