[ Act One ]

Admiral Yadav was walking at a brisk pace, almost running, towards the transporter room. With her right hand she was holding a PADD, carrying the simple device as if it was the most treasured thing in the world. It was early morning and the corridors of Starfleet Command were quite empty. While SC was always staffed , most activity was scheduled during daylight hours. On her way she only encountered a handful of junior officers who briefly greeted her and immediately made space in the corridors. No sane Ensign or Lieutenant wanted to be in the way of a flag officer coming hurrying along.

After a few minutes Hannah reached the transporter room. As she rushed through the door the Andorian CPO at the console looked at her surprised, but before he could say anything the elderly woman had already given her order. “Good morning, Chief! One to ESD, on the double please. And if you can, put me directly in the port master office lounge.”

“Aye, Sir!” The Andorian replied with his deep voice and quickly went to work on the console. After a short moment of calibrating the target scanners, he initiated the transport and Admiral Yadav was showered with sparkling energy. A few seconds later she rematerialized in the extensive lounge in front of Earth Space Dock’s port master office. Lieutenant Jackson looked up from his screen, where he was managing his superior’s schedule. When he noticed who had dropped by so unannounced, the dark-skinned Human let out a sigh. He clearly remembered the last time.

“Good morning, Admiral.” He greeted the unexpected visitor. “What can I do for you?”

“Good morning! I urgently need to see Rear Admiral Gallagher. Is she available?” Hannah replied with a warm voice.

Lieutenant Jackson raised his eyebrows. Another unannounced and urgent flag officer visit? He wondered silently what had happened this time, while tapping away at the scheduling interface. “Sorry, Sir. The port master is currently busy, but her current visitor should leave in a few minutes. Do you wish to wait, or shall I call her?”

“No, it’s fine. Let her finish, I’ll quickly squeeze in before her next appointment.” Hannah replied softly and walked over to the waiting area. She sat on one of the luxurious lounging chairs, watching the shuttles and transport vessels buzzing by outside the tall panorama windows. The Admiral looked at the PADD in her hands and tenderly held it against her chest.

The news had hit her like lightning when she read the report less than two hours ago. She still could barely believe it and her thoughts were still racing. Now she could undo that terrible evening sixteen months ago that had shattered not only her own, but also her best friend’s world. She could give back the hope and joy that she was forced to take away almost one and a half years ago when she had delivered the news of the Sidereal’s disappearance.

“So, what is so urgent that you couldn’t send a message?”

Hannah was abruptly pulled out of her train of thoughts. She looked up and saw Rear Admiral Gallagher standing in front of her with a wry grin on her lips. “Neila!”

“Hannah! Oh, come here!” Neila called out and gave her friend a close hug. “You know, you chose a really inconvenient morning to pay me a visit. It feels as if all Captains in in the Core Defense Fleet wanted something from me today.”

Admiral Yadav returned the hug, laughing at her friend’s comment. “Well, I know that it’s never a good moment to see a port or station master. Those kinds of people are notoriously busy all the damn time, but I’m sure you’ll forgive me once I told you why I’m here.”

“Don’t tease me like that, Hannah! What is it?” Neila inquired curiously, quirking her brows.

The elderly flag officer pulled her long jacket straight and shook the PADD in her hand. “It’s sort of personal, we should talk in your office.”

The port master shrugged her shoulders and gestured towards the doors to her office. A few moments later the two women were standing in the office. Neila leaned against the large desk and smirked at the Admiral in front of her, her arms folded in front of her chest. “So, what’s up?”

“Sina is alive!” Hannah said without hesitation.

“What?” The Rear Admiral’s arms dropped, and her grin disappeared almost instantly.

“Tonight at 0317 hours the night shift in Starfleet Command Communications Center received a transmission on emergency frequency 6841. At first, they thought it was some kind of joke or prank, but the sender of the message insisted on an authentication challenge. The response to the challenge was valid and confirmed the sender’s identity. It was Sina. She’s alive!”

A sob escaped Neila’s throat and she flung her arms around Hannah, holding on to her friend. Overwhelmed by her emotions she was crying tears of happiness when she heard that her little girl was still alive. “Where… where is she? What happened to her?” She sniffled in between her sobs.

Admiral Yadav held her friend tightly. “We’re still going through the reports and logs she sent us, so the details are a bit wonky. But I promise that we’ll get there. For now, what we can say with certainty is that after the accident the Sidereal was stranded in a different quantum reality and mere minutes away from a core breach. A ship of the dominant galactic power in that reality was nearby and provided support, preventing the breach and evacuating the wounded. That empire calls itself the Synergy and…”

Neila pulled back and looked at her friend, still holding her shoulders. “…and what?”

“Please don’t freak out about what I’m going to say now, okay? The Synergy is the successor of the Collective.”

“The Borg?!” The port master stared at the Admiral. “What do you mean?”

“As far as we can tell, there was a civil war or some other major conflict within the Collective. And the Collective lost. The remnants of the Borg reorganized themselves into the Synergy, a much more democratic structure focused on exploration, research, and cooperation. They rescued our people, treated their wounded, and even rebuilt the Sidereal with their technology. We don’t know much about that technology yet, since the critical pieces have been redacted in the reports.”

Hannah smiled at Neila. “But what we know is that Sina and her crew are doing an incredible job. They’ve established a positive diplomatic relationship with the Synergy and their leader, a certain Matriarch Chiaxi. They’ve managed to get their ship back and are exploring a whole new galaxy completely unlike our own.”

“Can she come back home?” Neila asked, her voice a hoarse whisper.

Admiral Yadav took a deep breath. She had known that this question would come. “Not yet. The Synergy is still working on a way to send them back, but that seems to be much more complicated than anyone could imagine. They built superstructures around Cygnus X-1 and fed parts of the companion star into the black hole to be able to create a tiny fissure just above the event horizon for sending the message. No ship could possibly survive going through that fissure.”

Now Neila took a deep breath and nodded her head. “But they haven’t given up?”

“No, they haven’t.” Hannah replied reassuringly. “It might take a while, but I’m sure they will come home. I have the original transmission and some log entries and reports here on the PADD, as well as something else. A secured personal message to you.”

“A message?” Neila asked, blinking the last tears away. “From Sina?”

Her friend nodded. “Yes. The transmission contained a lot of personal messages.”

“Then let’s hear it!” The Rear Admiral said, her eyes glistening, as she grabbed the PADD out of Hannah’s hand. While she was busy calling up the tablet’s interface, Admiral Yadav turned around and quietly made her way towards the door. But before she could leave the office, she heard her friend call out to her. “Hey, where do you think you’re going? Don’t you want to see the message, too?”

“Neila, it’s a personal message from your daughter. I don’t think I have the right to-”

“Don’t be silly!” Neila interrupted her as she wiped her cheeks dry. “You’re part of this family whether you like it or not. So, sit your butt down on the couch and watch this with me! I won’t let you quietly sneak out a after giving me such good news!”

“Yes, Sir!” Hannah responded, laughing happily, and walked over to the couch. A moment later Neila joined her and together they watched the large display behind the port master’s desk as the playback started. Sina was sitting at a metallic desk. She wore her captain’s duty uniform with the white shoulders and smiled nervously into the camera. The view behind her opened into what appeared to be a crew quarter, with light gray walls and large windows revealing the star speckled darkness of space.

“Hi mom. I… I…” The Romulan pressed her lips together. “I’ve been thinking about what to say for so long, but now I… I don’t know where to begin. I guess I should start with saying sorry. I’m sorry, mom. I’m sorry for scaring you like this. It must have been terrible for you, thinking that I… that I wasn’t coming home again. Please believe me, if there had been a way to tell you sooner, I’d have done it. But we could only make contact now. I hope you understand.”

Neila’s gaze was glued to the screen, her eyes tearing up again. “Oh baby… don’t be sorry…” She whispered softly.

“Still, I hope you’re happy to know now that I’m okay. I’ll readily admit that it looked quite grim for some time. The people who saved us, the Synergy, they were terrifying at first. I’m not going to repeat the log entries you’re probably also reading, so I’ll just say that when they came to help us, we all thought the Borg had come for us. We were prepared to make our final stand. But now, all I can say is that I’m so incredibly glad they found us. They have done so much for us, more than we could have ever asked for.”

As Sina continued her message, her face lighted up with a warm and optimistic smile.

“They not only saved our lives; they also gave us hope and purpose in this galaxy. They healed our wounded, and they rebuilt our ship using their own systems and components. They taught us about their technology so we could control the upgraded Sidereal on our own and go where we wished to go. I’m not allowed to share any details with you, but their tech is incredible. They can easily do things that are utterly unfathomable to us. I wished you could see the superstructures they built to feed a star into a black hole to allow us to send our message.”

The Romulan took a deep breath before she continued.

“Not everyone survived crossing the fissure. We’ve lost fourteen people, but all my close friends made it. Niko, Rel, Shori, Visra, Jeffrey, Duncan, Noriko, Co-Yor… they’re all with me and found their places again. It’s often difficult to know whether I’m doing the right thing as their captain, making the right choices. But they help me and give me good feedback. Especially Niko and Jeffrey are not afraid to speak their minds we me, and I’m glad to have them with me to keep my feet on the ground.”

She folded her hands in front of her, entwining her fingers in a contemplative gesture and resting her chin on her hands. Her gaze was trailing off to some place outside the camera’s field of view.

“At times it’s challenging to get along with the Synergy, because we don’t fully understand each other. Their society, their whole culture, is completely different from ours. While we share several qualities - especially the desire for individuality, knowledge, and cooperation - they are connected to each other in a way that’s impossible to describe. That gap has caused us some troubling issues, but I found a way to work towards fixing it. Last week I was temporarily connected to their hive-mind. Like I said, it’s impossible to describe, but I now understand what makes the Synergy work and how their culture has developed. Speaking of development… there is also one other thing…”

Sina blushed a little and nervously bit her lip, smiling shyly at the camera.

“It will probably come as a complete surprise to you, but… I’m seeing someone. It’s a really crazy story how we found each other, but I’ll tell you another time. What I can already say is that we both know our feelings are genuine. So please don’t judge his appearance.” She turned her head and waved towards someone outside the camera’s field of view to come closer. “Come on, Tarik. Don’t be shy! My mom won’t bite you!”

“If you say so…” Spoke a powerful male voice from outside the visual screen.

Neila and Hannah looked at each other for a moment, both visibly surprised. After another moment they saw a slightly rugged middle-aged male Human enter the frame. Hannah’s eyes grew wide and Neila gasped as she saw the man’s ocular implant and cybernetic arm.

He smiled politely and waved at the camera. “Hello, Ms. Gallagher.”

“Mom, this is Tarik. His official designation is [email protected], Primary Engineering Adjunct of Sphere 272-Theta-8, currently assigned to the USS Sidereal as the Synergy’s official liaison. I know it’s a mouthful, so just call him Tarik. I almost vaporized his face while he was trying to stop our warp core from exploding, so you can guess it’s been a wild ride for us. We decided to start dating and giving it an honest shot just a few days ago, so we’re still kinda sorting things out. But we’re happy together. I hope you can understand.”

Neila wiped more tears away and nodded silently as she kept watching the message, noticing that her daughter had gently entwined her fingers with those of her boyfriend.

“We hope to send more messages soon. Maybe we’ll even manage to get a direct call through, but I can’t make any promises. Every time we open the fissure, we burn up a bit more of Cygnus’s companion star. There aren’t many black holes with suitable spacetime geometries and companion stars within range of the Federation, so we want to use what we have right now as efficiently as possible.”

Sina smiled warmly at the camera and let out a soft sigh.

“I hope this message makes you feel at least a little better. We’re still working on finding a way back home. But for now, don’t worry too much about me. We’re safe with the Synergy and I’ll be alright, I promise! I love you, mom. Goodbye.”

The screen briefly showed the Sidereal’s insignia before turning black. The two flag officers sat next to each other in silence for a long moment, before Hannah finally asked. “How do you feel, Neila?”

Her friend let out a happy sob and turned her head to look at her. “Wonderful. I know that my girl is alive and happy. That’s all I ever wished for.”

[ Act Two ]

Duncan closed and locked the door once T’Sai, Shrass, and Haroun were inside his quarters.

“What’s so important that you woke me up and called me here at this time? You know I have to get up in six and a half hours?” A visible annoyed Shrass asked with his deep and tired voice, barely suppressing a yawn. “Couldn’t this have waited?”

“I would like to know the reason for this unexpected convocation as well.” T’Sai added. Both she and Shrass were in civilian clothing, since they’d been off duty already for over eight hours. Haroun and Duncan were in uniform, since they just came out of their shift.

“I know, I know. And I’m sorry to wake you guys up, but we have a problem. A really serious problem.” Junior Lieutenant Clark explained while pacing back and forth in his living room. “The captain was recently linked to the Synergy hive-mind.”

The group stared at their colleague and nervously glanced at each other.

“What?” Haroun finally spat out. “Are you sure?”

“Yes!” The Scotsman answered, finally calming down a little. “Jeffrey dropped the bomb on me when we had dinner. We were just chatting about the captain and Tarik doing their couple thing, when he mentioned this tiny piece of information as if it was nothing.”

“Do you know more?” The Vulcan inquired as she closely observed her colleague.

“A bit, but not much. According to what Jeffrey told me, it happened already three weeks ago. Or about that, it was the 2nd or 3rd of June, don’t remember exactly which date. Apparently, the whole thing lasted just a few minutes, but to the CO it felt like half an hour. He wouldn’t tell me more because of his obligation of confidentiality, but I think it’s already more than enough.” Duncan finished, letting out a sigh.

“Hmmm…” The Andorian hummed for a moment. “…and you think that the captain started… dating… Tarik after this connection?”

“I don’t only think that, I know it.” The Human ops officer responded. “It’s pretty obvious that they haven’t been this close before. They only started being love birdies after the Synergy got their grubby digital fingers into her head. Well, so much for Tarik transferring off the ship soon. I fear we’re slowly running out of time.”

“It is indeed an alarming development. Especially since my scans confirmed my suspicion.” T’Sai paused for a moment before she continued with special emphasis on her findings. “The field strength was related to [email protected]’s presence. Since his retirement as chief engineer the field strengths on the bridge and in main engineering have dropped significantly, which follows his reduced stay in those sections. They are still at their originally detected levels on deck four.”

“Oh crap!” Duncan exclaimed, slowly rubbing his forehead. “So, it was him. Damn it, we should have gotten rid of him sooner.”

“What are we going to do now?” Crewman Al-Tammar asked, looking from one of his colleagues to the next.

“I don’t know. Not yet.” The Scotsman spoke while walking to the fabricator terminal. “We have to think of something else, because I doubt that Tarik will leave our ship on his own now.” He paused for a second, then ordered a shot of synthehol scotch which he downed in one gulp.

While Duncan was occupied with his drink, T’Sai suggested simply to follow her original proposal. “I say we continue with our previously discussed course of action. I could already see Co-Yor again with my updated results. While I would have liked a few more weeks to ascertain the results with greater accuracy, I think I do have enough data to prompt the CMO to action. Maybe he already is also preparing a plan, since I doubt the captain would have performed that procedure without Co-Yor’s supervision. I even suspect he has significantly more data about Tarik’s implants at this point than we do.”

“Yeah, that might be our best bet…” Duncan mused while he came back to the couch. “…we need to get Co-Yor to relieve the captain and put the XO in charge. I don’t give a toss about whatever Sina and Tarik are doing when confined to quarters, as long as they don’t hold any positions of power on this ship any longer.”

“And how do we do that?” Shrass asked, this time failing to suppress the following yawn.

“Well, we just need to give Co-Yor enough data and reason to act.” The Scottish ops officer explained. “T’Sai and I are still keeping a protocol on all command decisions. So far, we’ve got a nice list of decisions that are uncharacteristic for Commander D’raxis given her official record and could serve as proof of outside influence. She handed over our computer core to the Synergy, invited one of their agents into a key position on the ship without further review, subjected herself to an unknown extremely invasive neural procedure, and now started fraternizing with one of their agents.”

“Indeed.” The Vulcan Junior Lieutenant confirmed. “However, there is one element we must consider. We must proceed carefully, since we under no circumstances can afford rousing any suspicion about our intentions. I suggest we do not ask Co-Yor to act, but rather allow him to come to that conclusion on his own. This will not only protect us from premature detection, but also lend weight to any decision he makes.”

The Scotsman nodded. “Sounds good. But there’s one more topic we need to discuss. What do we do if Co-Yor is also compromised? If push comes to shove, we might need more than tricorder readings, sensor logs, and words.”

The Andorian furrowed his brow and his antennae pointed straight at his Human colleague. “What do you have in mind?”

Without a word Duncan walked over to his desk and removed several PADDs from a well-covered place within one of its drawers. He returned and handed each co-conspirator on of the tablets. “These are several insurrection and mutiny scenarios Starfleet and other institutions have been training with. I’ve-”

“Wait wait wait, what?” Haroun interrupted. “Are you serious?”

“Haroun, we’re on our own out here. If this goes south, there’s no other ship coming to rescue us. We need to have a fallback plan in case everything else fails.” The ops officer explained with dangerous calmness. “This is only the last resort when we’ve exhausted all other options. It’s either this or surrendering to whatever will then happen to us at the hands of an unknown entity.”

Shrass stared at the PADD in his hand, visibly upset. “You’re not suggesting…”

“We would need weapons for our own safety and as leverage, but I don’t think we would have to use them. There’s one new ship system that’s much more powerful and important that we can use for own advantage, and which would take care of most problems already.”

T’Sai raised an eyebrow. “And which would that be?”

Duncan grinned. “The intrusion containment system. We take control of main engineering and trigger the ICS for that section. The reinforced walls and seals created by the ICS would prevent any attempt to engage us. And we would have control of the Omega core in addition to whatever crew we captured.”

“And then?” The Andorian astrophysicist asked in a more than suspicious tone. “We’d be trapped. There’s no way out of an ICS sealed section.”

“Not quite.” The ops officer revealed with an even wider grin. “The ICS is a last-ditch effort with the goal to contain otherwise uncontainable boarding parties in a specific section, prevent them from gaining access to other parts and systems of the ship, and allow allied forces to secure the intruders under controlled conditions, right? Okay, I did some reading on that mechanism. Turns out the Synergy is building those things with slightly different concepts in mind.”

“To them ‘controlled condition’ means actually being docked in a shipyard that has the equipment to disassemble the seals without unnecessary force. The image of that is quite hilarious. Some random guys board your ship but get locked up in an evacuated section. Then they have to sit there for a day or two before they are cut out again but are then outnumbered fifty to one and are immediately hauled to the brig.” Duncan briefly laughed at the image he pictured in his mind before he continued.

“Anyway, they have given this system quite some thought, and it’s an admittedly neat idea. But I think I found a weakness specific to the Sidereal. The ICS creates thinner walls on the outward facing sides of sections directly adjacent to the hull. In theory that’s not really a problem, since the hull’s armor plating already provides a massive obstacle. So why waste additional matter on making an already thick wall even thicker? But, and that’s the big deal here, the Jefferies tubes around main engineering are still in the same section. Which means we could take control of main engineering, negotiate our terms, and then leave via Jefferies tube seventeen-beta which leads to one of the ventral external maintenance hatches.”

The Vulcan looked slightly suspicious. “That sounds extremely… ambitious. Assuming for a moment we could get that far, and all wore environmental suits suitable for that endeavor, how do you suggest we penetrate the lower ICS seal?”

“We borrow the warhead of a micro-torpedo and turn it into a shaped charge. That should be more than enough to blast a hole into the seal without damaging the core.”

Haroun shook his head. “That’s insane! You’re crazy! Detonating a warhead that close to the core would kill everyo-”

“Hey, chill! It was just an idea.” Duncan interrupted, shrugging his shoulders before he dropped onto the couch. “But if you have a better idea let’s hear it.”

Crewman Al-Tammar pressed his lips together and let out a resigned sigh.

“And what exactly do you expect us to do with these… scenarios?” T’Sai inquired with her typically flat tone after following the brief exchange between the two Humans.

“Study them, of course! What else would I give them to you for? If we find ourselves with the back against the wall, we must know how to pull it off. We must know all the typical actions and reactions, countermeasures, negotiation strategies, and so on.” The Scotsman replied, shaking his head slightly. “Obviously the main idea is still to not let it get to that point. We must keep the game up with Co-Yor. But if that doesn’t work, we must have a Plan-B, or we’re screwed.”

“I still don’t like the idea…” Shrass spoke, audibly unconvinced of the suggested course of action.

“Neither do I.” Haroun quickly added, but he kept the PADD in his hand anyway.

“Man, can you calm down? You guys act as if I told you to storm the bridge! It’s just a bunch of training scenarios I picked from our computer, nothing more. And like I already explained, it’s only our backup plan. Just try to study them over the next couple of weeks so that we’re on the same page. But don’t yet do anything about them or talk about them. And especially don’t tell any of the others. I trust you to be able to watch your mouths, but I’m not so sure about the rest. One screw up about this and we spend the remainder of our time here in the brig.”

The Andorian and Vulcan officers nodded in agreement, as did the other Human officer eventually as well.

“If it ever gets to the point where we have to enact one of those…” Duncan pointed at the PADD in Haroun’s hand. “…we’ll tell the others on a short notice and only once we figured out a detailed plan. But for now, there’s no need for getting anyone worked up unnecessarily.”

“Good. Is there anything else? I really need to get back to bed.” Ensign Th’akianas asked, with a tinge of impatience in his voice.

“No, that’s all from my side.” Junior Lieutenant Clark responded as he stood from his seat on the couch. “Good night. And stay vigilant!”

[ Act Three ]

Rel had just picked up his tray with a large bowl of sem’hal stew with extra spicy yamok sauce from the fabricator terminal. The Cardassian officer enjoyed spending his lunch break in Eleven-Forward mingling with the crew. He enjoyed having a direct wire to the rumor warp core, since it gave him a good impression of the crew’s mood and the current hot topics.

The current hot topic was the same as last week’s: the captain dating the Synergy liaison. Sina and Tarik becoming a couple had sent the rumors into overdrive and created quite a buzz. While most of the crew didn’t seem to particularly mind the new couple and some were even supportive of their relationship, a few voices had spoken up regarding potential conflicts of interest.

The whole topic of Federation and Synergy members dating had sparked some challenging thoughts for himself. After all, he was greatly enjoying the company of Hiora and had already contemplated whether she would be interested in spending time with him outside their competitions. Since his accident in the holodeck half a year ago they had made it a regular event to meet and compete in various sports, including but not limited to velocity, racquetball, parisses squares, and springball.

In all sports they had tried Hiora proved to be more than a match for Rel, even without her cybernetic enhancements. He had come to admire her strength, agility, reflexes, and ruthlessness in their competitions. When she told him that Sphere 272-Theta-8 had been reassigned and they wouldn’t be able to continue their weekly matches, Rel had been visibly disappointed. Disappointed, but also more upset than he was ready to admit to himself. And he was even less ready to admit that he sort of missed [email protected]

Right now, Eleven-Forward was sparsely populated, with only a few crew members spending their break here. A few small groups had formed on three tables and a couple of officers and crewmen were sitting by themselves. Rel put his tray down on one of the free tables near the panorama windows, but before he sat down, he noticed he had forgotten his drink. With quick steps he made his way back to the fabricator, and soon returned with a large glass of water.

Finally sitting, the Cardassian hungrily dug into his stew. Halfway done with the bowl he noticed the tingling burn on his tongue from the added yamok sauce. He drew in a deep breath and downed a big gulp from his drink. Suddenly a voice spoke up from behind him.

“Are you alright, Lieutenant?” Tarik inquired with a hint of concern in his tone. “You look distressed.”

Rel looked up from his meal to find [email protected] standing next to him with a slightly puzzled expression on his face and a tray of his own in hands. The engineer’s visor attachment glimmered gently, reflecting the highlights of the lounge on its polished surface. The chief tactical officer cleared his throat. “Yes, yes, I’m fine. I just might have ordered my food a little too spicy. Didn’t know the fabricator would take ‘extra spicy’ so literally when applied to yamok sauce.”

“I take it you’re also having lunch. Want to join me?” The Cardassian asked politely, gesturing to the opposite seat at the table.

“Thank you.” Tarik replied and sat down opposite of Rel, still grinning at his remark about the sauce.

With great curiosity the CTO noticed that his colleague was having a thin chicken broth with vegetables. “How come you eat normal food anyway? Didn’t you say you get all you need during your regeneration cycle?”

[email protected] sampled the soup with his spoon before answering. “Correct. But Sina suggested I should try to accustom my body for this type of nutrient consumption. I understand from her explanation, and from subsequent review of your database, that eating together is an important part of socializing for you.”

“Absolutely.” Rel replied between spoons of his own stew. “We’re already proving her point. Without our meals we wouldn’t be talking to each other right now.”

[email protected] chuckled while he carefully and with mechanical precision ate some more of his soup. “I think the actual reason for her request is that my body was so unaccustomed to eating regular food that I got sick during our first date and we had to visit sickbay. Apparently having a chocolate milkshake isn’t the proper way to reintroduce your stomach to food after only using regeneration for over eighteen years.”

Rel cut a grimace. “Sounds painful. Are you okay again?”

“Yes, don’t worry. Thank you for asking.” Tarik replied, while still methodically working on his chicken broth. “Co-Yor suggested a few supplements and to start with more tolerable and less processed food. Honestly, I am extremely irritated that his advice even applies to me. Humans from this reality, especially members of the Synergy, are distinctly different from the ones you’re used to, and yet his suggestions worked perfectly.”

“Well, some things probably never change.” The Cardassian remarked with a grin, finishing the last bits of his sem’hal stew. “But speaking of change… I have one question I wanted to ask you for a long time. It’s the type of question it’s never a good time asking. When would you have a moment?”

Tarik gulped down the last spoonful of his soup. “I am currently available, so why not right now?”

“If that’s fine with you?” Rel asked to be certain, quickly reassured by Tarik’s nod. “My question is, how do your people deal with the knowledge of what your ancestors have done?”

[email protected] raised his brows and looked at the Cardassian inquisitively. “You were right, it’s difficult to find a suitable moment to ask such a question.”

“I’m sorry if I-”

Tarik raised his hand. “Don’t. There’s no need to apologize. It’s a valid question. How can you deal with the shock, the regret, and the guilt over the terrors your ancestors have brought upon others while your conscience is torturing you?”

The engineer took a deep breath. “The answer is you can, but it’s not easy. The most important aspect you must remember and truly make your own is that it wasn’t you. Whatever atrocities your ancestors have committed were theirs and theirs alone. If you forget that, the guilt can consume you inside out. But you can never be held responsible for things that happened while you were a child, or even before your birth. Does that take away the regret or guilt? Hardly.”

[email protected] leaned back in his seat before he continued. “It’s impossible to forget when you can recall that horror at a moment’s notice. You may ask what’s the point? And that’s also a good question. Why keep those memories if you can’t do anything about it and they hurt so much? Because responsibility has two sides. I did say that you can’t be held responsible for what happened before you. But you are responsible for what happens after you.”

“We’ve made it our task to ensure that the horrors of the Collective will never happen again. Not to us, not to anyone. Remembering the past is what allows us to prevent those terrible mistakes being committed again. That’s our duty and our burden. That is what we can take away from the past, making a better future for all of us.”

Tarik noticed how attentively Rel had followed his words. The engineer had a hunch that this topic was personal to the CTO for a special reason, but so far, the Cardassian had not explained his motivation.

“There is one thing above all else that the Synergy tries to do whenever and wherever possible. To undo the damage assimilation has caused to people and their homeworlds. You’ve seen Earth. You’ve seen images of Andor, Qo’noS, and Romulus. We still have a long way to go, but we’re confident that eventually we will be able to restore all worlds within our territory once more to a hospitable and livable state.”

Rel silently nodded as Tarik finished. “I see. Thank you. I hope I didn’t make you too uncomfortable talking about this issue.”

“You’re welcome. Well, it is a difficult topic, but not talking about it doesn’t help it either. Why did you want to know, anyway? It hasn’t escaped my attention that this question does seem to have a quite personal meaning for you.” The Human engineer inquired, leaning forward as he pushed his tray aside.

The Cardassian swallowed and took a deep breath. “My grandfather was a soldier who served during the occupation of Bajor. He was a guard, stationed at the Gallitep labor camp. I only learned about his deeds when I was eleven. He was a killer. A murderer. He took great pleasure in executing prisoners and gleefully helped selecting suspects for interrogation. I remember how I always looked up to him as a child. He’d always seemed to be so strong, so steadfast, so… honest.”

The disappointment and burden in Rel’s voice was obvious. He let out a depressed sigh as he continued. “Once I had learned the truth it was as if my grandfather had died. The man I thought I knew was gone and would never come back. I was only a child. I couldn’t understand how the man I admired, respected, and loved so much could have been this cruel. A little later I learned how much misery and suffering he had created and helped spread.”

“My condolences.” Tarik replied. “Believe me when I say that we know how much more difficult it is to deal with such a situation when you are involved to such a personal degree.”

A weak smile raced over the CTO’s lips and he nodded softly. Suddenly another voice cut through the tender silence between Rel and Tarik.

“Hey, what are you two up to? You both look as miserable as sin. Did something happen?” Niko asked as he walked up next to their table, casually munching away at a raw carrot with loud crunching bites.

“Lieutenant Commander!” Tarik spoke first. “No, we were merely discussing the sins of our forefathers.”

The XO quirked a brow and took another bite from the carrot. “Okay… even if that doesn’t strike me as a typical topic for lunch.”

“It was pure coincidence that we got talking.” The Cardassian explained, finally emptying his glass of water.

“I see. And what have you been talking about? Only if you want to tell, of course.”

Rel and Tarik exchanged quick looks, each judging whether the other would object. After a moment the Cardassian spoke up. “I asked Tarik how the Synergy dealt with the knowledge of what their ancestors have done. I was curious how they managed to stay sane while being burdened with their past.”

“Heh, that makes two of us.” Niko quipped as his gaze jumped between the others. “Mind if I join you? I’d be a perfect fit for the group, we can call ourselves the miserable three.”

“While I don’t mind your presence, Lieutenant Commander, I don’t understand your remark.” [email protected] inquired, watching patiently for the first officer to take a seat. “What do you mean? As far as I understand the Federation hasn’t committed significant atrocities or war crimes that could even closely resemble the occupation of Bajor, or the Borg.”

By now Niko had chewed up and swallowed the last bit of his carrot. He took a deep breath before he started. “I’m not referring to the Federation. How well do you guys know pre-contact Earth history?”

Rel shook his head. “I was glad I could get through the Academy with just the absolute minimum requirements in Federation history, so don’t look at me.”

“I must admit that your historical records haven’t been as interesting to me as your scientific and engineering data.” Tarik also declined. “But if you like I can recall that information momentarily.”

“No!” The XO quickly called out. “Wait. Let me explain first, you can then get all the terrible details later.”

“Pre-contact Earth was not united, and the political landscape was dominated by about 200 individual nations of varying size, influence, and military and economic power. At that time humankind had basically been permanently at war somewhere on the planet, with small to mid-sized conflicts flaring up regularly. In the early 20th century one of those nations, what would back then have been my homeland, fell prey to an incredibly destructive ideology that created nothing but misery and suffering.”

“Driven by the insane delusion of supposedly being superior to other humans, Germany started a devastating war that killed over eighty million people, including over fifty million civilians. Over three percent of the global population. But the war alone wasn’t enough.”

Niko’s voice started to tremble as he continued. “My people orchestrated an industrialized genocide of unprecedented scale. They built extra transport infrastructure and constructed extermination camps to most effectively and mercilessly butcher millions of people of different ethnicities, faiths, and identities, as well as those they simply considered inferior lifeforms. Men, women, children, elderly, disabled, nobody was spared.”

Niko placed his hand on the integrated control panel and summoned a holographic interface to access. With a few taps he brought up a badly grained black-and-white picture. It showed two soldiers with grim expressions standing next to a waist-high pile of corpses that were little more than bones and skin. “As you can see, my people were even more brutal, ruthless, and savage than Cardassia was during the Occupation.”

Rel stared at the holographic image with wide eyes. The image, while being obviously recorded by an ancient and primitive apparatus, struck an eerie resemblance to more recent pictures taken from labor camps the Cardassian Union had operated on Bajor. The CTO swallowed. “I… I didn’t know about that part of your history.”

“Today not many non-historians remember. It’s been over 450 years since those events and we have other problems today. And we’ve evolved. We’ve become better at… being human. The aftermath of World War Two was a total mess and barely a century later we still almost managed to wipe ourselves out. But the tragedies and atrocities my people committed served as a warning to all of us how thin the veil of civilization can be at times; how carefully and dutifully we must guard our values, unless we become beasts.”

The XO tapped a few buttons on the interface and the image changed. It showed a roughly hand-sized brass plate with a short text containing a name and two dates engraved on its surface, set into the ground as part of a cobblestone pavement.

“What is that?” Tarik asked curiously. “I understand it is some kind of memorial?”

“Yes, something like that.” Niko’s voice was breaking even more. “They are called Stolpersteine. Small, unremarkable pieces inscribed with names and dates, set into pavements or walls at their last known residence to commemorate those that had been abducted and murdered by my people. I’ve taken this picture on an excursion when I was fourteen. I didn’t know the meaning of those stones back then, I just found it curious that there were almost three dozen of them in one place.”

The first officer took a deep breath, trying to regain a bit of his composure.

“Back home I asked my father about them. He told me about their meaning. That night I cried like I had never cried before. The boy whose stone I shot in this picture died at age fourteen. And there were thirty-one stones in that place because… because the house at that address had been an orphanage.”

“I’m sorry, Lieutenant Commander.” [email protected] said softly once he realized the meaning behind the XO’s words.

“Don’t be. We all have our own demons to battle. All we can do is try to never become like them.” Niko replied, wiping a lone tear away with his sleeve.

[ Act Four ]

“Personal log, July 20th, 3518.

Today it’s been almost seven weeks now since Tarik and I started dating. Saying that at first it was a bit awkward would be the understatement of the century. I’ve been out of dating since I transferred off the Hierophant and Tarik’s been on his own for longer than I’ve been alive.

But after some days we were both slowly getting used to being in a relationship once more. While at first it was a little strange to be in someone else’s company again, I’m now greatly enjoying every single moment together with him. I guess it’s a result from our connection during the uplink, but he seems to always know the perfect thing to say or do to make me feel good.

I know I’ve already talked about this quite a bit in previous logs, but it just serves to emphasize how much has changed for us in merely a few weeks. Now it feels almost as if we’d been a couple for many years already. It’s so strange, but in a good way. I also realized that Tarik has changed somewhat. He’s started being more outgoing and socializes more with the crew. I don’t know if he’s done that for me, but as a result he’s become much more personable all around.

And I think the crew started liking him more, now that he’s given up his life as a solitary recluse. Junior Lieutenant Vossler, Niko, and Rel also commented in yesterday’s staff meeting that they noticed Tarik being more sociable and engaged with other crew members. I can’t help but be happy about the idea that we might slowly overcome our prejudices and concerns regarding the Synergy and their people and accept them as part of our little family on board.

Tarik has a unique way of making me smile and laugh when his dry pragmatism collides with my own or my crew’s fascination with this foreign galaxy. Whenever we encounter something that throws a wrench into the works of our methods or sparks our curiosity beyond the reasonable, he’s always around with the perfect quip to take away the tension or help us understand whatever we discovered. Working with him is not only interesting and educating, but also a lot of fun for everyone involved. And he seems to enjoy this just as much as we do.

But nevertheless, and that is still a little unnerving to me, Tarik manages to switch between his outgoing and casual personality and his focused and professional one at a moment’s notice, based on whatever the current situation requires. These sudden changes have taken me by surprise a couple of times, but I think I’m getting used to them. It’s just his way to stay concentrated and focused in tense or critical situations, and I appreciate his efforts to contribute to a professional work environment.

But he also knows how to be there for me when I’m feeling down or lost. When he holds me in his arms, I feel safe in a way I can’t describe. I know with absolute certainty that he’ll never abandon or hurt me, and that I can always trust him with my worries and problems. We spend almost every evening together, cuddling on the couch and watching the stars outside while talking about our day.

Even though we’re no longer linked together, I still know we’re making good progress. I think it’s even better for us to not be permanently linked. This way we’re forced to build trust and familiarity the old-fashioned way, without any technology doing it for us. I like the little surprises we have in store for each other and how we gradually discover more of each other’s personality and character. If someone had told me two years ago that I’d fall in love with an older man and enjoy a slow relationship, I’d have sent them to a counselor. And yet, here I am.

Speaking of being… we haven’t been… well… intimate with each other yet. And after what he told me this evening when we kissed for the first time, I’m hesitating to think about it. An act that in the past seemed so simple, so casual, and so enticing suddenly became… quite serious and intimidating. Tarik told me that all bodily fluids of members of the Synergy are infused with their nanoprobes. This was part of their enhanced physiology and a requirement for the function and maintenance of their implants and augmented body parts.

Since the Synergy, unlike the Collective, doesn’t forcefully assimilate new members, they’ve developed other means which they offer to introduce volunteers into their society. Most people that weren’t born into the Synergy chose specifically prepared foods or drinks, a hypospray, or sexual contact with one of their members to receive the dose of nanites necessary for the transformation. I didn’t expect to hear that, and I think Tarik noticed my negative reaction and how I withdrew slightly from his embrace.

He quickly explained that kissing wasn’t a problem, because the nanites contained in saliva are mostly deactivated or damaged anyway, and their concentration was so low that my immune system could easily neutralize them. But if I ever slept with him, I’d start the process to become like him and grow all the implants they have by default. To say that this put a damper on my mood would be an understatement. I’d hate for him to think that I now was afraid or scared of him. I still want to be with him. I still eventually want to take that step… at least I hope I do. But…

The prospect of joining the Synergy is at the same time both seductive and terrifying. From the few glimpses I was able to take into their society it seems to be an amazing place to be, a wonderful community to be part of. But the necessary changes, and the finality of the decision, are scary. What about the things I’d have to sacrifice to be with Tarik? There are just so many uncertainties and I’m still bound to my duty as a Starfleet officer and acting captain.

If I joined the Synergy, would I have to give up the Sidereal? I know for sure that would hurt, especially after all we’ve been through. Would my crew still accept and respect me? Or would they think I betrayed them for my personal happiness? I don’t know. Niko is a capable officer and a good friend. I’m convinced he could take over the ship from me, especially since he now has all the command privileges necessary to replace me. It’s a difficult decision which I can’t yet make.

But there’s one thing I can decide right now. I’ll consult with Niko, Co-Yor, and Jeffrey again, and tell them I’m going to perform another uplink. I want to see what else there is to the Synergy before I can make a final decision regarding my future with Tarik and if I’ll ever be able to take the last step with him. I know they won’t be happy about it, but from the checkups Co-Yor and Jeffrey have been doing on me the last few weeks, so far there seem to be no negative side effects coming from the uplinking procedure.

Using the uplink seems to be perfectly safe, just as the Synergy assured. It would be stupid of me to not use this opportunity for research and exploration. And for as long Jeffrey and Co-Yor don’t have any concerns, maybe I could convince someone else to also give it a try. It would certainly help if I wasn’t the only officer with first-hand experience with and understanding of the Synergy’s social structure and their hive-mind.

But before that can happen, we’re supposed to meet with a Dominion representative in two weeks. The Matriarch sent us a message today that included a few, but not all, details about that meeting. It seems that a high-ranking Dominion ambassador took a personal interest in us and wanted to meet us in person. I’m not quite sure what to make of this, but at the same time I’m excited to have this chance for more diplomatic contact with other members of the Galactic Council.

I guess we can only wait and see how interesting this encounter will be. I know this Dominion is not like ours, but I’m still getting a bit nervous because of this apparently sudden interest in meeting us. I already started researching this Dominion a bit to prepare for the audience. Turns out they are quite different, more so than I had initially expected.

While their government is still not anywhere close to being democratic or egalitarian, it seems the Founders did remove the compulsory worshiping they had added to the Vorta and Jem’Hadar and provided their servitor species with much more personal liberties. They also appear to have gotten rid of using the White as a means of enforcing loyalty from their soldiers, which was a real surprise to read. It appears their war with the Borg and the resulting almost-extinction gave the Founders of this reality a new appreciation for life and liberties.

Besides the meeting with the Dominion ambassador, I’m also looking forward to tomorrow evening. We’ll be back in the Sol system and Tarik promised to take me out on a picnic in one of the annulus’s arboreta. Those parks come in vastly different sizes, ranging from twenty-five to several hundred square kilometers. I already know it’s going to be amazing. The holodeck is one thing but being around real trees and lakes is so much better.

I’m also happy to see that Tarik started taking some initiative when organizing our time together. So far, it’s been mostly me suggesting thing to do, but it seems I finally managed to lure him out of his shell. I’m absolutely satisfied with the way our unconventional relationship’s developing. It feels so much more sincere and mature than anything I’ve been involved with before.

End log.”

Sina let out a soft sigh and reached for the glass of water on the couch table. She took a sip on the drink and leaned back against the soft pillows, her gaze wandering to the tall windows above her as she watched the stars. Her thoughts inevitably went back to the prospect of joining the Synergy.

She felt a tinge of guilt gnawing at her consciousness, knowing that her reaction ruined the evening she and her companion had been looking forward to. The Romulan made a brief mental note to apologize to Tarik tomorrow. Still, the idea of being permanently linked to the hive-mind and having her body populated with various implants wouldn’t give her any peace.

“Why does everything have to be so complicated?” She muttered under her breath, barely suppressing a yawn. She’d been staying up way too late again to record the log entry, but she just needed to get these thoughts off her mind.

Yawning again, Sina finally rose from the couch and made her way to the bedroom. Peeling out of her duty uniform, she quickly jumped under the nucleonic radiation shower to swipe away all traces of the past day. In moments like this she sometimes regretted choosing the radiation shower over an actual water shower, but the convenience and quickness was hard to beat when you’re on a tight schedule.

After less than a minute the Commander returned to the bedroom and slipped into her pajamas. After crawling under the blankets, Sina quickly got comfortable and yawned again. She was sound asleep only a few minutes later.

[ Act Five ]

Agent Danlen stared at the holographic screen in front of him with a deeply furrowed brow, contemplating the incursion cascade diagram. The Sidereal had popped up again on the scanners of the FTA’s temporal sensor network, causing the timeline to shift again. The temporal agent had received the report just an hour ago, and since then he had been studying the resulting temporal disruptions across both the original timeline as well as the current timeline, which Q was so insistent of not changing.

In this version of reality, the Romulans had reunited with the Vulcans. What should have been a reason for celebration and to welcome the remnants of the fallen Romulan Star Empire into the Federation had instead caused a schism in the Federation Council. The opposition ran so deep, that in a terribly antagonistic decision over 190 of the 344 member worlds voted to deny membership to the Romulans. In response, Vulcan declared to withdraw its own membership and instead founded the Reunited Vulcan-Romulan Enclave.

Meanwhile, the Klingons had not conquered the Romulans but rather entered an impossibly fragile alliance with the Tholians. Diplomatic relations were somewhat stable, but a border dispute with the Breen had dragged the Klingon empire into a war on the other side of the quadrant. Their forces were spread incredibly thin due to the vast distances, and it seems that another Klingon Civil War was only months from breaking out.

During this chaos the Federation had stabilized. The loss of Vulcan was a heavy blow, but Earth, Tellar, and Andoria managed to keep the Federation from falling apart completely, mostly due to the Synergy’s diplomatic influence. Still, important technological developments were missing from this timeline. There was still no sign that subspace slipstream or any other propulsion technology enabling intergalactic travel would be developed, neither seemed the Synergy willing to share their technology with the now unstable Federation. Both scenarios were causing Agent Danlen some moderate degree of concern.

He was just leaning back in his chair, letting out a strained sigh, when suddenly an all too familiar voice quipped from right behind his chair. “Read anything interesting recently?”

Timot almost jumped off his seat as he turned around in shock. “Q! Dammit, why can’t you just use the door like literally everyone else?” He now saw that his uninvited guest was again wearing a 31st century Fleet Admiral’s uniform, this time additionally adorned with a ridiculous number of medals and decorations.

“Because doors are so incredibly boring!” Q replied with a smirk. “But I haven’t come here to talk about doors with you.”

“Oh, is that so?” The tone of annoyance in the temporal agent’s voice was more than obvious.

“Yes, Daniels, really. I’m here to show you something.”

“If you plan on putting up another of your ‘school lessons’ you can just go right back to where you came from!” Timot shot back, standing from his chair. “I have no time for your games, Q! In case you haven’t noticed, I’m still somewhat busy trying to make any sense of the chaos you’ve created.”

“Mon agent temporel! What are you thinking?” Q responded with a mocking tone and an overly dramatic expression of indignation on his face. “Me? Playing games with you? What do you think of me? I’m here to help you!”

The agent looked at Q warily. “Helping me? With what?”

“Helping you understand what’s at stake. You’re still not taking this matter seriously. You’re still thinking that reverting the timeline to its original state would solve all your problems. Make no mistake, Daniels! Just because your precious little ships haven’t started exploding yet doesn’t mean the Federation is not in great peril.”

“We’ve gathered the most capable temporal scientists and engineers. We’ve thrown so many resources at our research that we’ve increased the accuracy and sensitivity of our temporal sensors by almost a whole order of magnitude. We’ve sent dozens of task forces to crucial events in the future. We still haven’t found any indication whatsoever that what you’ve told me would happen is actually going to happen.”

Q’s expression darkened and with two steps he was right up in Agent Danlen’s face. “Have you already forgotten what I told you? This enemy is beyond your capabilities. And if you improved your fancy sensors by a dozen orders of magnitude, you still wouldn’t find them! They are more terrifying than you could ever even begin to imagine.”

The temporal agent swallowed, his eyes wide as a shiver ran down his spine. “What do you mean with that?”

“You wouldn’t understand. Not yet. You still have a lot to learn.” Q took a few steps past Timot, then turned back to face him. “But we should go now, someone’s waiting to meet you.”

“Wait, where do you want to ta-” But before the Agent could finish his protest, Q had put on a sly smirk and snipped his fingers. With a blinding flash, Q and the hapless temporal agent appeared on the outer hull of a massive superstructure. The Human was gasping for air for a moment, before he realized he wasn’t succumbing to the hard vacuum. Gathering his composure and shooting an annoyed glare at Q, Daniels looked around. He was looking at Earth, but there was a massive annulus orbiting the blue planet above the equator. He swallowed as he realized the sheer size of the superstructure.

“Isn’t it quaint?” Q remarked flatly.

“Where are we? This looks like Earth, but its surface and atmosphere are quite different. And what is this ring?”

Q grinned and opened his arms in an encompassing gesture. “Welcome to Earth of quantum reality {⊃a0b70de2 ⍵ e534 ∨.∧ 416e ∘.⊖ 99bb ⌽ e43b1432d514 ⊂⍵}, Daniels! Population: a little bit above thirty-one billion, plus about fifteen billion on the annulus. Oh, and by the way, the year is 3518. Thought you should know that as well.”

“What the…” Agent Danlen just stared at the sight dumbfounded while his brain was still trying to make sense of how Q had pronounced the quantum signature. But before he had gathered and reorganized his sanity, there was another flash of light.

“So that’s this ‘Daniels’ you’ve mentioned? I have to admit he doesn’t appear to be that clever.”

The temporal agent’s head whipped around, only to be even more dumbfounded as he watched two Q standing right next to each other. Of course, they looked identical aside from the vastly different clothing. The Q that had brought him here still wore the ridiculously decorated Starfleet uniform, while the other Q was dressed in a simple white robe.

He furrowed his brow in frustration. “Oh great! Now there are two of them!” Timot exclaimed, already imagining the onset of a slight migraine.

Synergy Q quirked a brow and looked at his colleague. “See? His brain appears to be too limited to understand that the Continuum, and therefore both of us, exist in every possible reality. Are you sure you’ve got the right one, Q? You know how important this is!”

“Yes Q, I know he doesn’t impress you. But trust me.” Prime Q replied, both eying Daniels from head to toe. “Their species didn’t seem particularly interesting to me either at first. Believe me, those Humans can be so incredibly stubborn and shortsighted, and have been a source of ample frustration and headaches for me. But after some time and with a proper nudge here and there to guide them, they do show great potential. Of course, only if they eventually get their act together, that is.”

“Hmmm… if you say so, Q. I’ll believe you for now. Let’s see how much potential your Daniels is able to conjure during his stay here.”

“My stay? Would either of you have the dignity to tell me what the hell is going on here?” Timot exclaimed, his own frustration at being talked over so brazenly flaring up.

“Daniels, mind your manners!” Prime Q said. “We’re guests here, and you don’t want to offend our host, do you?”

The temporal agent just rolled his eyes and took a deep breath. “Why me?!” He whispered under his breath, catching a knowing glance from Prime Q.

“The answer is simple.” Synergy Q quipped. “Because you must understand. You must learn. And you must accept.”

“Understand what? Learn what? Accept what? Why can’t you just say what you mean like any other person and stop talking in riddles all the damn time?!” Daniels asked back, turning towards the other Q. His steps were still a bit unsure, given that we was standing on the outside of an unimaginably large superstructure without a space suit.

Synergy Q shrugged and looked at Prime Q. “He’s quite impatient. I guess that’s another trait of your ‘Humans’? Oh well…” He snipped with his fingers. A flash of light encompassed all three of them and an instant later they reappeared on the first ring of the gravimetric anchor array floating between Cygnus X-1 and its companion star.

Agent Danlen’s mouth stood open while his eyes followed the curve of the superstructure and beyond. “What…”

Prime Q walked up next to him. “Impressive, isn’t it? To think that puny little creatures like your kind could construct something of this size and power. Feeding a star into a black hole, just to make a call back home…”

Timot looked at Q. “This… this is the facility that enabled the Sidereal to communicate with Starfleet Command?” His tone was incredulous as it slowly dawned to him how powerful the Synergy really was if they could perform stellar engineering at this scale. Q simply nodded.

Synergy Q appeared on Daniel’s other side. “Not even the Federation from your original timeline and century could design or construct anything remotely as powerful as this. But for the Synergy, it was just a few weeks’ worth of effort. The same with Earth’s annulus. Despite originally having been built by the Borg as an orbital staging and construction facility, the Synergy managed to greatly expand it and turn it into something magnificent. For mortal creatures, that is.”

The temporal agent let out a frustrated sigh, nervously watching a couple of cubes and spheres whizzing in and out of Cygnus’s binary system in the distance. “Why are you showing and telling me this? You haven’t gone through the trouble of bringing me here just to boast about how much better your reality’s mortal beings were compared to ours, have you?”

Hearing that, Synergy Q’s head whipped around and he stared Timot right in the eye, a dangerous smirk on his lips. “Ah, we’re finally getting somewhere. You’re correct, there is purpose behind this that far exceeds mere… bragging. Behold, the price for failure.” He snipped again with his fingers and the inconspicuous group was again whisked away in a flash of light.

They had moved back to Earth, but the scene had changed. The annulus was broken and dark, its hull torn and shredded into a million pieces. It’s gray-white-blue exterior plating was scorched and charred, and nests of plasma fire were slowly consuming whatever material they could get a hold on. Adrift between the fragments of the devastated orbital ring were the remnants of hundreds, if not thousands, of cubes and spheres. An impossibly powerful armada, far beyond Starfleet’s wildest imagination, wiped out with apparent ease and turned into a cacophony of destruction.

Earth itself was a desolate lifeless husk. Its crust was broken, its tectonic plates shattered. The oceans had evaporated and what remained of the surface was consumed by an unimaginably expansive firestorm. As Daniels looked closer, he noticed the locations of weapon impacts on the planet. Nation-sized craters tearing into the landscape, but with an impact pattern unlike any weapon type he was familiar with.

“What is this?” Timot inquired shocked. “What happened?”

“This is our Earth in the year 3521. This is what will also happen to your Earth if the Sidereal fails.” Synergy Q answered with his lips pressed tightly together.

“Why? Who did this?”

Prime Q vanished in a flash of light and instantly reappeared wearing a Victorian era suit. “Have you already forgotten the lesson, Daniels? I’m quite disappointed!” He commented with his usual charming exaggeration.

Daniels stared back at him with eyes wide open, his mind racing to recall the information from that ridiculous display of Q’s power. “A lurking shadow… hiding in the dark between the galaxies. Weren’t those your words, Q?”

Prime Q nodded. “Indeed, they were. I hope you realize now what is at stake, because this…” He gestured to the devastation around them. “…is only the beginning. It’s not about our reality or their reality. It’s a battle for the future of all realities. Existence itself is under attack. And now think about this: if that enemy is capable of utterly decimating a civilization as advanced and powerful as the Synergy, what do you think will they be able to do to your precious Federation?”

Timot glanced back at the burning planet and swallowed.

“How could we ever hope to stand against such a powerful foe? The Synergy could easily overpower even 31st century Starfleet… and yet they were beaten so decisively.”

“Because you think in four-dimensional terms.” Synergy Q shook his head. “For a time-traveler you have surprisingly little imagination.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? Don’t you think an enemy this powerful can monitor the timeline against incursions?” Daniels countered with a tinge of sarcasm in his voice.

“Oh, of course. But how about the idea that this war could be steered into a direction where it can be won with words instead of weapons?” Prime Q interjected.

The temporal agent turned his head to face his own reality’s Continuum member. “Diplomacy? Against an enemy you called cruel and merciless? How would you even know that th-” Timot abruptly stopped in the middle of the sentence when something began to dawn on him. “You know them. You’ve fought them before. You… had contact with them! Didn’t you?”

Synergy Q smirked at his colleague. “Not bad. I’d have guessed he’d never come to that realization.”

“Yes, we had contact with them.” Prime Q continued. “It… didn’t work out as expected, but not for the reasons you think of now. They are unlike anything you ever have encountered and will encounter. You cannot even begin to comprehend their nature or mindset.”

“We can’t beat them with weapons, and we can’t understand them enough to talk to them. What else do you then want from me?” Agent Danlen let out a frustrated sigh.

“You can’t do that, but the crew of the Sidereal will be able to do so.” Synergy Q replied. “That is, if they succeed with their mission.”

The temporal agent faced Q’s indistinguishable mirror image. “How can you say that with that much conviction?”

Synergy Q let out a bellowing laughter. Irritated at this sudden outburst, Timot turned to Prime Q who was rubbing the root of his nose and shaking his head. “You’re not making a good impression, Daniels… I’d have thought you could at least have guessed as much, but neither future nor past hold any secrets from the Continuum. Either are like an open book to us.”

“If you know of a timeline where the enemy can be defeated, why don’t you just make sure that those events also happen in your own timelines? That shouldn’t be too difficult for you, should it?” Daniels taunted both Q.

“Do you really think we haven’t tried?” Synergy Q exclaimed, a clearly irritated expression on his face. “We have tried for eons longer than your pitiful species has even existed. But we learned the hard way that the more we tried forcing things, the faster the timeline would diverge from the required path. I think your scientists call that phenomenon ‘special chronometric entropy’ or something like that. The multiverse still has a few tricks up its sleeve that can stop even the Continuum.”

“Then what are we going to do now?” Timot inquired as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“We’ll wait and observe, and maybe give the timeline a tiny nudge whenever necessary. But nothing more, or this timeline will become like the hundreds of billions others where we… failed.” Prime Q lectured Daniels, eventually returning to wearing his familiar Starfleet uniform with the snap of his fingers.

Agent Danlen turned to face Synergy Q and ask a question, when he noticed something moving from the corner of his eye. The temporal agent looked up, and a heartbeat later his mouth hang open. “What the hell is that!?”

Both Q also looked up and quipped in unison. “Oh, that’s just one of their capital ships.”

The gigantic vessel looked like a crystalline interstellar feather starfish. Dozens of fuzzy tentacles were slowly swaying up and down in an intricate pattern, silently and effortlessly moving the massive ship through space. Its hull appeared both incredibly delicate and fragile as glass, yet at the same time as unyielding and dense as the crust of a neutron star. It looked as if spacetime itself had been folded into shape and was gently flowing wherever the titan wanted to go.

Timot stared at the beautiful and intimidating sight. “What is it doing here? Is it coming for us?” He asked with a frightened, almost fearful tone in his voice.

“Oh no!” Prime Q laughed and waved his hands. “They don’t bother with single targets like us. They have bigger fish to fry.”

As the ship slowly moved overhead, the temporal agent felt an inhuman presence glancing at him. For a split second it seemed to him as if all refractions of the starfish vessel had turned into monstrous eyes and were scrutinizing him with a cold, eldritch gaze. The Human’s neck hairs stood on ends even after the ship had already passed them.

Synergy Q eventually continued. “They merely returned to finish what they started here.” He had barely finished, when the enemy vessel suddenly threw all its tentacles forward to form an interwoven funnel. A split second later a black beam shot forth, encircled in a pale white halo, and lanced directly towards the sun.

“Just wait and observe…” Prime Q whispered in Daniels’ ear. The temporal agent simple nodded and stared at the sun hoping to catch a glimpse of the impact. A tiny part of his brain was still wondering how he could look directly at a star without going blind, but he quickly chalked that up to Q’s influence.

As the small gathering watched with bated breath, the gigantic starfish vessel started to fade. It simply vanished from sight, but it looked completely different than any cloaking device Timot was familiar with. The closest comparison he could muster was that of a fabric whose folds and creases were ironed out. The ship’s hull, or what Agent Danlen thought was its hull, flowed and appeared to merge with the surrounding spacetime, as if returning material which it had borrowed.

The minutes crawled by, and after exactly eight minutes and twenty seconds, Daniels saw the consequences of the starfish’s attack. A dark spot appeared where the star had been struck by the eldritch beam, and it rapidly started to grow. Agent Danlen could clearly see, again with Q’s help, how the sun died. The various layers of its atmosphere were rapidly converted into some exotic type of dead matter. The dark spot grew with insane speed, consuming the star like ravenous cancer.

The converted parts almost instantly began to clump up, falling in onto each other, and once a little over half the sun had been changed it collapsed completely. Daniels stared in total shock, as the last light of the dying sun rapidly red-shifted and faded away into nothingness, only to be swallowed by the newly formed black hole. After less than a minute the sun was gone, and the solar system was quickly getting darker and colder.

“Now you know why the Sidereal must succeed at all costs.” Synergy Q remarked.

And Prime Q quickly added. “All other concerns are secondary. Because if they fail, this will be the fate of all stars and all galaxies.” Before Daniels could rally a response, Q snipped his fingers and the temporal agent was back in his office, visible shaken by what he had witnessed in the last couple of minutes.