USS POLARIS (USS HORIZON): finding the source of the disturbance

Because of the difficulty of finding a landing space large enough to accomodate the Bird of Prey, they had walked almost a kilometer among ruins so diverse, so ancient and so numerous that they took a moment to even register what was before them as they reached their destination.

"There it is, Commander; the source of the disturbance."

S'Tron's hand holding his screeching tricorder rose to encompass the entire shape that was looming above and in front of them. It was a good hundred meters away and yet it felt as if it was right next to them, so enormous it was. And as they slowly walked nearer, it,s colossal proportions almost crushed them as much as what it was.

The thing looked like a massive rock formation, donught-shaped with athird of it buried underground and yet looking as if it had literally sprouted and grown out of the very rock. It was smooth with sharp edges all along it's irregularly curved lenght, easily a kilometer high and twice as wide, with a varying thickness of several dozen meters. It shined like metal yet was the color of eroded stone and pulsed with a dull inner light like a jellyfish. Some kingd of distant, eerie moaning seemed to come from it through the hot, humid wind that passed through it, something between the exhaust fumes ofd an antique combustion engine and the breath of some monstrous, invisible living thing.

They were a few meter from it when Carmillia Julian, phaser in hand, pointed to it with a frown.

"What is it?"

"I AM THE GUARDIAN OF FOREVER."

The deep, resonant, echoing voice boomed from the massive object, the lights within it brightening with every syllable as it spoke.

" It's a machine!" exclaimed Jheonghun awestruck.

"No, it's alive!! Doctor Osaro-Lyth protested.

"I AM BOTH... AND NEITHER. I AM MY OWN BEGINNING AND MY OWN ENDING.

"Commander Redding, S'tron said then; "this object corresponds precisely to the one found on Gateway in Federation Space by the USS Enterprise of Captain James T. Kirk, during the twenty-third century. According to our data, it differs only in one aspect; this one is large enough to even let a starship as large as the Horizon go through."

As if it was listening to them, the huge circular formation lighted up again as it spoke.

"SINCE BEFORE YOUR SUN STARTED TO BURN, I STOOD HERE, WITNESSING ALL EVENTS WITHIN TIME AND SPACE. THROUGH ME, ALL JOURNEYS ARE POSSIBLE. LET ME BE YOUR GATEWAY."

Redding gave out a low whistle "Chatty thing isn't it?"

He took a few steps closer to it looking it over.

"You say Kirk found something like this? did he figure out how it works? It could explain both the Klingons and the temporal ripples."

It was clear Redding knew nothing about the device.

At that moment, a fog lifted, confined inside the immense opening under the living stone arch. Through the haze, everyone could discern images, like snatches from multiple holorecords, showing in precise chronological order the events of history, startting with the Big Bang, then the formation of matter and energy, stars and planets. It then seemed to focus on several different worlds in succession, most unrecognizable at first. The passage of time was incredibly fast so that they only perceived snips of moments of History as it unfolded.

"This... Guardian of Forever is a space-time portal, Commander. By stepping through it at the precise moment it displays a specific segment of time in a particular spatial frame, you can transport yourself instantly to that place and that period in time. Captain Kirk experienced it with his first officer Spock to retrieve his chief medical officer when, temporarily rendered insane by an accidental overdose of cordrazine, he had  stepped through and changed the course of Earth's history. Kirk corrected the timeline and brought him back. It was after this incident that the Gateway system was declared a quarantine area and the  knowledge of the portal's existence was classified, restricted to Starfleet officers only. It brought about the very first draft of the Temporal Prime Directive."

While S'tron answered, Redding set his men out in a defensive perimeter. The Vulcan shook his head while looking at the immense display of history unfolding before his eyes.

"It is unfortunate the interference does not allow any recordings; we could gather invaluable information about the history of any world in this universe, even the universe itself. The scientific benefits alone are incalculable."

"And so is the potential danger," Chief Julian added, shaking her head. "Those 23rd century Klingons must have come out of it with their three ships. Who knows what else could emerge at any moment."

"Possible, Lieutenant," S'tron objected. As far as we know, only what came through from this side can come out from it; there is no receiving two-way portal we know of from our data regarding the original Guardian. The portal must usually provide temporal adjustment to atoms of a given subject to track and retrieve it at the point of entry, preventing accidental spilling out of temporal anomalies back here. I recall reading something about a device called an atavachron that had been built on a planet doomed by a supernova, which the population used to find refuge in the past; voyagers had to be prepared on the subatomic level for them to remain alive in that past. This must do something similar... usually. But look around us; there are debris of innumerable cultures from innumerable worlds and time periods around us. Evidence seems to indicate that elements from the past do emerge here from time to time."

"Then," chief engineer Jheonghun understood, "it means that this device is somehow defective?"

"A logical assumption," S'tron answered. "In view of the size of this portal, we could eventually have something much more worrisome than a few Klingons; something truly catastrophic could connect from some other time frame to the here and now... like the Hobus supernova... a Borg vessel.... or even a flare of the former wild Azimuth Horizon anomaly..."

"Of which the current one is presently no more than a light year away from here," estimated Sheeneea their pilot. "If such a wild flare would connect to the one we have here..."

"It could re-ignite it... and not only resume the cosmic devastation through this time and universe, but through all time and universes."

The silence that followed the Vulcan's conclusions was deafening.

Redding had the look of someone lost in the technobabble.

"So.. I'm hearing blow it up?"

S'tron lifted an eyebrow.

"Surely not, Commander; not only would this be a crime against science, and murder of an obviously sentient being, but this object's outer shell has all the properties of solid neutronium. It would take the power of a supernova to even hope to affect it. Moreover, we do not know the consequences of trying to cause damage to something linked to the full breath of time and space itself."

"And I'm sure the Klingons thought about it if not tried it already," commented Doctor Osaro-Lyth with a smirk.

"Maybe we can try and use it?" proposed Jheonghun in typical engineering interest.

"Okay then, how about we ask it what's wrong? S'tron, it seems to like you, ask it to do a self-diagnostic or something."

S'Tron lifted an eyebrow again at the remark but said nothing.

He glanced at the doctor.

"Or how it feels, does it need some chicken soup? Whatever it wants."

"That is a most logical option," agreed the ops chief, moving nearer to the immense arch.

"Since it states to be more or less alive, I sure can try my wits and charms, the Deltan chief medical officer added, moving in step behind the Vulcan.

S'Tron stood before the base of the nearest pillar of the arch, looking up at it,s immense curve disapearing hundreds of meters away. he spoke loudly and slowly.

"Guardian; is there anything wrong with you or or your workings?"

"THERE IS MUCH TURMOIL IN THE FLOW OF TIME. THERE WAS A DISTURBANCE OF SPACE THAT CAUSED IT TO SWIRL, EBB AND FLOW ERRATICALLY. I WAS... INOPERATIVE AND NOW I AM ADJUSTING. TIME IS STRUGGLING TO RETURN TO IT'S NORMAL FLOW SINCE THE DISTURBANCE WAS CONTAINED WITHIN ITSLEF."

"I don't understand why it has to speak in riddles," grumbles the doctor.

"I GIVE THE BEST ANSWER THAT CAN BE UNDERSTOOD BY YOUR LIMITED INTELLIGENCE."

Both the Deltan woman and the Vulcan exchanged an almost hurt look.

Something was odd to Redding. How was it no one else seemed unaware of this 'Guardian's existence? Was it just him? He was sure he knew every time related case in the Federation data base, restricted or otherwise.

The thought also occurred to him that this thing might not have existed before they came to this planet, but was part of a fracturing of reality that he alone might be immune to.

Redding stopped to look around at the various debris, he seemed to be running a thought through his head.

"What if Julian is right? The BoPs did come from the gate. What IF this IS an exit point? Fractures in time and space that had nowhere else to go after the time line had been reestablished? That might explain why I don't remember any thing about it."

"A valid hypothesis, considering the proximity of the Azimuth Horizon anomaly which is known to disrupt the normal flow of time," S'tron acknowledged. "The Guardian we know of could only send and retrieve, not act as a point of exit. We need further study to understand this."

"The Dominion's knowledge of this...Guardian is limited to what was gained from the Federation database while Deep Space Nine was occupied." Aron'Son stated "I cannot offer any additional information, however in the past the Guardian has facilitated corrections to errors in time as it did with Kirk."

"TIME HAS BEEN ALTERED. IT CAN ONLY BE RESTORED THROUGH DIRECT INTERVENTION," boomed the archway in echo of the Jem'Hadar's words.

"How was it altered?" asked S'Tron then.

"BY DIRECT INTERVENTION."

"Meaning?" Osaro-Lyth insisted.

"THE FLOW OF TIME WAS DEVIATED. BEFORE THE DEVIATION COULD DRAIN TIME COMPLETELY INTO IT'S OWN FLOW, THE DISTURBANCE IN SPACE FURTHER DISTURBED TIME AND THE NEW FLOW WAS STEMMED. NOW THAT THE DISTURBANCE IS SELF-CONTAINED, TIME IS RETURNING TO IT'S PREVIOUS STATE BUT FOLLOWING THE NEWLY OPENED DEVIATION. THE ALTERATION OF TIME WILL REACH THIS POINT IN TIME AND EVERYTHING WILL BE FOREVER CHANGED."

"Can't you do something about it?" asked Jheonghun with alarm.

"I AM THE GUARDIAN OF FOREVER. . I CANNOT CHANGE TIME NOR THE MANNER IN WHICH IT FLOWS. MY PURPOSE IS TO BE THE WATCHER AND THE GATEWAY."

Redding glanced at his officers and frowned.

"Alright Gateway, If your looking for volunteers to fix the deviation, were here to help. What would you have us do?"

"I AM THE GATEWAY. THROUGH ME YOU MAY RETURN EVERYTHING AS IT ONCE WAS. ONCE THIS IS ACCOMPLISHED, YOU WILL BE BROUGHT BACK HERE  AND THINGS WILL RESUME AS IF THE FLOW OF TIME NEVER CHANGED."

Within the immese archway, images were continuing to flash at a dizzing speed, shwing moments of history from innumerable worlds. And then, it focused on certain events in  a certain point of space as time continued to flow. 

"BEHOLD WHAT NEVER WAS AND NOW IS."

For a moment, they saw what appeared toi be an old Starfleet vessel, then a wormhole where something distressingly Borg-looking emerged, followed by a planet collapsing onto itself.

"Guardian; the data flow is too fast for us to perceive adequately," S'tron said. "Can you show this again at a slower pace?"

"I WAS MADE TO DISPLAY TIME IN THIS MANNER. I CANNOT CHANGE."

The Vulcan nodded as if he had expected the answer then turned to face his superiror officer.

"Commander, despite it's high speed of delivery, I have recorded the entire event on my tricorder. But I will need a ship's computer to make it intelligible for us. Unfortunately, the one aboard the Bird of Prey is too primitive, too crude and focused on military data to be of any use... and we lost those of the Polaris. I recommend that we take the Klingon ship and return to rendez-vous with the Horizon. She should be well on her way to come here by now. Once there we will be able to decipher this data properly."

"We won't be going far without a warpcore," chief engineer Jheonghun remarked drily. "It would take us decades at impulse just to get back to the Eden system."

"Don't you ever read reports?" the Andorian pilot Sheeneea said with a smile.

"I have enough reading with technical journals, thnak you," the Edoan shot back. "But what are you suggesting?"

"Slingshot ourselves into warp."

The six-limbed alien almost did a double take.

"That's crazy!"

"I was aboard the Artemis when we did just that with the saucer section during Operation Horizon," Sheeneea assured him. "It's not a pleasant ride, I can assure you, especially when you are sensitive to EM variances like us Andorians... but this Klingon ship is very sturdy and already quite uncomfortable. We should be able to achieve the same result with a well controlled trajectory."

"But... even if you manage to fly in the perfect trajectory, close enough but not so much as too fall into it,  you would need something utterly massive for the gravitational forces to pull us hard enough to create a subspace field... like a black hole or at least a star..."

"Or this planet."

They both looked at S'tron as the Vulcan explained.

"I just made some quick calculations based on the formula first established by Ambasssador Spock when he was serving as first officer of the Enterprise. Since we are not aiming at creating an unstable timewarp with a standard-mass starship, I beleive that the altered gravity well of this planet, isolated and under the effects of the Guardian, could provide us just enough momentum at emergency impulse to achieve warp 1. Not much but enough to rendez-vous with the Horizon. The main problem will be navigation; because of the erratic fluctuations of the field of this planet caused by the Guardian, piloting will be a hazardous undertaking. I estimate a forty-seven percent chance of success."

"Well it's rather that... or we wait for the Klingons to run right over us," Carmilla Julian reminded them. "And I estimate that a hundred percent certainty."

Redding looked at him skeptically.

"Are you saying that we could break warp 1 without a warp drive? I'm no engineer but I was fairly sure that was impossible."

"It was... until the Artemis did just that," Sheeneea answered with antennae curved in the Andorian equivalent of a grin her rigid face could not do.

"They had a collapsed microsingularity from a destroyed Scimitar class Romulan dreadnought to help," reminded S'Tron. "But then, even just the saucer section of an Ambassador class starship is considerably more massive than this klingon scout vessel... and they were aiming for warp 9. The abnormally increased gravity field of this planet will suffice for this small craft at 95% of the speed of light to slingshot, not enough to create a timewarp, but just enough to break the warp barrier... if we can fly her around at the correct trajectory without crashing on the surface while erratic tides of gravitons try to do just that."

"Let's hope your calculations will be correct," Sheeneea said.

"They are; the real question is can we succeed in implementing them; in other words, your flying skills, Lieutenant Aron'Son's sensors expertise, Chief Jheonghun's ability to keep this ship running under gravitational stress and Commander Redding's instinct to break away at the right moment while we will be under time-dilation effect when approaching the speed of light."

Redding shrugged.

"I'm not one to argue science with a Vulcan, so we'll do it your way, even if I don't agree with your odds on defeating the Klingons, Lieutenant Julian... seventy-five, eighty percent tops.."

He looked slightly insulted by the woman's estimation of his tactical abilities. She smiled at him.

"I was not factoring our chances of fighting them off, Sir; just the odds of them charging and howling all the way here."

"Is there any chance to we could set up a few of the BoPs torpedoes to dissuade the remaining Klingons from attempting to use the gateway? seeing as the gateway itself is beyond our ability to harm."

"That would be for our stalwart Aron'son to answer," suggested Osaro-Lyth with a dazzling smile towards the Jem'Hadar.

Aron'Son's expression did not change as he answered.

"While I do not support the idea of reducing our weapon complement, the older design of these torpedoes will make that work a simple matter. The detonators could be linked together and then attached to a single activation source either proximity or what humans call a "trip-wire". With your permission, Commander, I will begin the work at once. I will need some assistance moving the torpedoes into place."

S'tron the Vulcan and Sheeneea the Andorian, being both the strongest among them, stepped forward to assist him.

"Dam it," Redding held a hand to his head; "can we do it in a way that wont set them off the moment something exits the gate? and we have to be able to remotely shut them down later."

The picture of a shuttlecraft flying happily through the gate blowing up as it came out flashed in his head.

"A wise precaution, Commander," S'Tron agreed. "I can link the triggering system with this tricorder and set it with a command code and a  Friend or Foe recognition program."

Redding smiled "Okay, lets get going. I need three teams again, Torpedo team is set, get moving." And he signaled for the team to move out.

"Most of you will set up a skirmish line to slow down the advancing Klingons, form defensive positions, buying time for torpedo team to do its thing."

He pointed at Jeonghun and Julian,.

"We three are back on BoP duty getting the ship prepared for takeoff, as much as I would rather be on the skirmish line, I'm the only one here who's ever actually prepped and piloted a bird of prey before so it looks like I'm stuck with the duty."

"I share the feeling, Sir," the muscular woman said. "But I understand where our priorities lie."

"Gray, you take command of the skirmish team. Remember, we just have to slow them down so don't take any chances. With any luck, we'll be gone before they get here anyway."

"May your luck still hold one more time, Sir," the strategic ops officer said before assembling the Polaris security personnel for the task at hand.

"Any questions? No, good. Everyone get to their job."

With that, he took off for the bird of prey. Julian and Jeonghun with his engineering team filed up behind him.

"Mind if I tag along?" the mesmerizing Deltan doctor asked Redding joining him in the lead.