Star Trek: Phoenix-X
Temporal Doom! Part III
The U.S.S. Phoenix-X spins aimlessly back out into normal space. After losing a locked tractor beam against the Atlantis during its time-jump, the crew find both vessels dropped out in an unknown time frame.
Rave: “UGGHH!!!”
He gets up.
Rave: “Now that was a crazy ride.”
Sayjan: “Perhaps, but was it as crazy as this???”
The other guy, Sayjan, gets up from being unconscious and stands there.
Rave: “Nooooooo! You’re awake??”
Sayjan: “That’s right-- and there’s nothing you can do to stop me!”
Rave: “How about if I knock you out again?”
The Agent uses his mind to control the ship so that an electric current shoots out and hits Sayjan. The disguised Na’khul is knocked unconscious again.
Rave: “Hah! I bet you didn’t see that coming.”
Meanwhile, the Phoenix-X tries to get their temporal drive back online.
RaeLuna: “It is no use. The drive will not work anymore.”
Kugo: “It is like some sort of non-working drive thing.”
Cell: “What’s the status of the Atlantis?”
RaeLuna: “Hmm. The Phoenix-X’s scans can barely penetrate their hull, but I assume their drive is offline. I mean, why not? It’s a free galaxy.”
Cell: “Then I’m heading over there... I have a score to settle with Agent Rave.”
Seifer: “Captain, no! You remember what happened last time you went there?”
LAST TIME...
Cell: “Grr--”
Rave: “Ahh!”
Cell: “Heh, heh.”
Rave: “Grrr!”
Cell: “Ahh!”
PRESENT.
Seifer: “And that’s what happened.”
Cell: “Your writing skills are beyond amazement.”
Seifer: “Thanks.”
Back in Engineering, Lieutenant Commander Kugo walks through the doors and tries to figure out a way to get the temporal drive back online.
Gewdeque: “Ma’am, our temporal reserves seem to be in tact. The problem lies in the drive itself. We think the temporal field generator is malfunctioning.”
Kugo: “Well, Section 31 did say we shouldn’t touch it. But that’s all the more reason to.”
She walks over to the temporal drive.
Kugo: “Are the time crystals anywhere linked to the field generators?”
Gewdeque: “Yeah, they’re jammed right into them. Kind of like squished grape-fruit in someone’s face.”
Kugo: “I believe resetting the generator will give us at least one more boost of temporal power from the Crystals. If I’m right, it will allow us to make one last time-jump.”
Gewdeque: “We’d better make it an important one then.”
Kugo: “Hey, that won’t be my decision.”
Commander Seifer sits on the bridge of the Phoenix-X, looking out through the view-screen to the stars. The other ship is partially viewable on-screen as-well.
Amp: “Sir? Did the Captain beam over to the Atlantis?”
Seifer: “Yeah... like a manchurian candidate.”
Amp: “We have to get him back!”
Seifer: “Why? Didn’t he always not give you respect for being a copy of our previous senior officer?”
Amp: “Oh yeah. Screw him!”
Meanwhile, the Captain beams over to the Atlantis and begins walking through the corridors.
Cell: “Now, where is that Bridge? Hmm...”
#Rave: “Greetings, Captain. That’s my voice you’re hearing over the communications systems. A little 29th century Technology.”
Cell: “But we have that in the 24th century. In fact intercoms were used since the 20th Century.”
#Rave: “Yes but were they in Dolby Digital? Were they??”
Cell: “Not to my knowledge.”
#Rave: “Well then. --Unfortunately, there will have to be a series of obstacles for you to pass before you can reach me. Each one more mind-numbingly difficult than the other! Oh, one more thing. If you don’t survive them... you’ll be dead. Hahahahaha!”
The comm cuts out, as Captain Cell just stands there.
Cell: “Hey, I think I heard an echo coming from this room.”
He walks over and steps through the doors to a Tech Room, where Agent Rave is sitting at a desk and a 29th century-microphone.
Rave: “Huh? Oh crap!”
Cell: “I’ve had enough of your games, Rave. It’s time to end this.”
Rave, gets up: “End it? Oh but I doubt you even remember why you want to end ‘it’ for me.”
Cell: “Stop talking. It’s clobbering time!”
Rave: “Hahahaha. You’ve been so obsessed with taking me out, that you’ve completely missed the point as to what I did to you in the past that drives your anger!”
Cell: “It was... uhh... You sold us out on the Hellonesian mission. You killed one of them!”
Rave: “Because that’s what Section 31 does.”
Cell: “That’s right. An organization you’ve left for your own personal pursuits. Your own desire to live here in the future.”
Rave: “That’s even more right!”
He uses his neural implant connection to the ship to allow currents of energy to flow along the walls.
Rave: “After jumping so far ahead, who would even want to live in their own time? Seeing the future impresses upon me my present a sad out-of-date broken carousel! The 24th Century is nothing like this ship. Here in the future everything is better, and being involved in the Temporal Cold War’s is a new life! It’s a new age for the Federation!”
He walks toward Cell.
Rave: “...It’s especially a new age for Section 31.”
Cell: “That book-keeping Section of Starfleet? I don’t think so!”
Rave gets the walls to blast a pulse of energy at Cell, who immediately jumps up into the air to dodge it.
While suspended above Rave, the Captain shoots out his own currents of omni-energy down at the Agent. Rave is hit and knocked back, but not before bolts of energy from all four walls counter-attack Cell, converging upon him!
Seifer: “What’s all that flashing coming from those windows?”
Back on the Phoenix-X, the Commander looks at the Atlantis on the view-screen which has flashing windows all of a sudden.
RaeLuna: “It is probably a broken light source.”
Seifer: “Dang. I hate when that happens.”
Elsewhen, more specifically - the 29th century; the battle’s continue between the Starfleet, Na’Khul, Vorgon, and miscellaneous vessels. Now the Borg are involved.
Tulian: “Hey, look, it’s the Borg.”
Goustas: “Oh yeah. That is them.”
Tulian: “What the heck? It appears as if a Vorgon vessel from the future is arriving in time for the battle!”
Goustas: “Those pink weird aliens?”
#Uulan: “Transmission to all warring ships. We are the Vorgon Starship Yelzimi, from the 31st Century. We have scanned the timeline and found that a great many of our ancestors are destroyed here. Our intention now is to use our advanced technology and over-take this battle!”
Tulian: “Hmm. Scans indicate that these Vorgons have okay weapons, but terrible shields.”
Goustas: “They never should have been so obsessed with the Tox Uthat. Now they have powerful destructive capability but no protective capability.”
They look on screen, at a Na’Khul ship that suddenly flashes in and destroys that future Vorgon Yelzimi.
#Charv: “We are the Na’Khul timeship Mulakai, from the past— the 28th century to be exact. We have scanned the timeline and found a big battle here, that inevitably ceases all our Na’Khul time-capabilities to exist! Our intention now is to stop you!”
Tulian: “Oh my gosh. What is going on? People from all different time-frames are now beaming into this battle!”
Goustas: “Would you even say that this Temporal Cold War has gone hot?”
Tulian: “Well no. I wouldn’t go that far.”
Goustas: “Then I guess it’s time to divulge in temporal confusion. Something tells me all this chaos will provide potential for some excellent time-travel stories. Time travel paradoxes for the whole family to enjoy!”
Kugo paces through Engineering as her whole team is working on the Drive.
Gewdeque: “Ma’am, you’re making everyone nervous with the constant pacing.”
Kugo: “Then I’ll make them nervous! This pacing is the only thing keeping me from falling into a coffee addiction.”
Matt: “We’re just about ready.”
Kugo: “Very well then... Contact the Bridge.”
On the bridge, the crew place bets on how many watts the light-bulb is on the Atlantis that keeps flickering.
Seifer: “I bet 40!”
Amp: “80!”
#Gewdeque: “Gewdeque to bridge. The Chief Engineer would like to speak with you.”
Seifer: “Why didn’t she just contact me herself?”
#Kugo: “Commander, it’s Kugo here.”
Seifer: “Oh hey, pointy-eared woman.”
#Kugo: “We’re ready to use the Temporal Engine.”
Seifer: “That’s great. Because I was hoping we could go visit this Era in history I found on the Timeline map; it’s when the Disney Planet took over almost all of the Alpha Quadrant.”
#Kugo: “No, sir. Unfortunately, we’ll only be able to use it once. We reset the field generators, enabling one last surge to the time crystals.”
Seifer: “Damn. Then we’re going to have to wait until Captain Cell is back. He beamed over to the Atlantis nearly the exact same time flashes of light started happening on their ship.”
#Kugo: “Understood, sir.”
#Matt: “Well our work here is done. I’m just going to lean against this console.”
#Kugo: “No, Matt, don’t!!”
Just then, the Phoenix-X starts rumbling...
Seifer: “Huh? Hey what’s going on down there? Kugo? Anyone?”
There’s no response as they hear a chaos of Engineers trying to fix a fatal error.
Amp: “Commander! The Phoenix-X is creating a temporal-wake bubble! --We’re going to time-jump!!”
Seifer: “Oh crap! We didn’t even specify a destination. We could be destroyed!”
He runs up to the Helm.
Seifer: “Amp! Specify a time-frame!”
Amp: “I’m trying to, sir! But the codes aren’t being accepted as we’re falling into the time-stream!”
Seifer: “Aaaaaaaahhhhh!”
Amp: “Perfect. Something goes wrong and you panic.”
Suddenly, the Phoenix-X time-jumps out of there. They flash back in, hovering within the atmosphere of an ancient planet. Down on the rocky surface below, is a gate of some sort. The crew look down in curiosity.
Seifer: “We’re alive? We’re alive!”
Amp: “Please take your arms off me, sir.”
#Kugo: “Kugo to the Bridge! Is everything alright?”
Seifer: “Yes, Chief. But we seem to be hovering close to the surface of some deranged planet.”
RaeLuna: “A big rock with a hole in it, is glowing.”
Seifer: “Wow. I’ve never seen a glowing rock before. We’d better go down and investigate.”
Amp: “That’s the lamest excuse for an Away Team I have ever heard.”
Seifer: “Fine then, you’re not coming.”
Amp: “Good. I didn’t want to anyway. So neeeaaaaah!”
Seifer: “Oh a wise guy, eh? Nyuck! Nyuck!”
Amp: “Woopwoop woopwoopwoopwoopwoop!”
#Kugo: “That’s enough you two! We have a serious problem here, and an unknown reason we appeared on this planet.”
Seifer: “It was your fault we got here in the first place!”
#Kugo: “You couldn’t survive on this ship without my Engineering skills! Jerk!”
Seifer: “I guess you’re right. Thanks, Kugo.”
#Kugo: “Oh, no problem.”
A group of Starfleet officers and a token Klingon beam down to the surface. Not too far above them, is the Phoenix-X hovering in the sky.
Seifer: “We really should have landed that thing to save power.”
Kugo: “Uhh, we don’t have landing gear.”
Amos: “What am I doing here? The Klingon always gets killed first!”
Lox: “I think you mean, the Klingon always makes the first kill.”
Amos: “Oh yes, that’s right.”
Just then, the giant glowing rock starts talking to them.
GUARDIAN: “I am the Guardian of Forever!”
The whole Team jumps back in shock. They then attempt to reason with this talking rock-gate.
Seifer: “Uhh... I’m Commander Seifer of the Federation Starship Phoenix-X. We come in peace. Take us to your leader.”
GUARDIAN: “I am my own leader. Neither machine, nor creature.”
Seifer: “Oh crap! We’re on the Time Planet.”
Kugo, checks tricorder: “You’re right, we’re in the System UFC-465537. The one Starfleet doesn’t allow access to.... Ever since that one time-travel incident, long ago.”
Seifer: “Well, it’s been great talking to you, Guardian. But we have to be going now.”
GUARDIAN: “Your ship has come here like a magnet to my portal. You use no time-direction in your machine.”
Seifer: “That’s us in a nutshell.”
Amos: “Commander, we must use this Guardian to send us back in time!”
Seifer: “Will the Phoenix-X fit through this thing?”
Lox: “Let’s try it.”
Kugo: “No! Obviously we can’t fit the ship through that hole. Look how small it is!”
Lox: “I heard the Guardian can only send you to the past, though.”
Kugo: “Depending on what time-frame we’re in, even the future to us could be the past to the Guardian.”
GUARDIAN: “I am the Guardian of Forever!”
Seifer: “Yes, we know that.”
GUARDIAN: “Forever!”
Seifer: “We know.”
GUARDIAN: “Forever!!!!!”
Back in another unknown time-frame and on the Atlantis; walls are broken down. The Captain continues to battle the ship itself, which is blasting energies and now replicated material at him.
Cell: “Ugh! You won’t get away with this, Rave!!”
He blows apart a thick black material which had shot at him. In the corridors, with broken walls all around, making the area seem much bigger, the Captain notices another two black globs heading for him. Cell uses not only his Omni powers, but also his Changeling abilities to dodge the attacks. He liquiefies his mid-body as to fit between the two black globs which in-turn miss him.
Rave: “Hey! No conjoining powers!”
Cell lands on his feet, returning his mid-shape to normal. He outstretches both his arms in opposite directions and blasts’ Omni-pulses at the globs and obliterates them.
Rave: “We’ve been destroying this ship for hours! Can’t you see that it repairs itself! Hahahahahah!”
#Computer: “Warning. Ship destruction level beyond repair range. Self destruction immanent.”
Just then, the other guy Sayjan gets up and wanders down to their Deck.
Sayjan: “Ugh. That was a nasty blow to my head. Hey what’s going on down here?”
He then notices that half the place is destroyed.
Sayjan: “You fools! If you destroy us, then what? Huh? Then what???”
Rave: “Cell has nothing to worry about, because he’s an Omni - one of many mortals bestowed a near immortality and power from the now extinct X-Continuum. He can survive this ship’s destruction, whereas we cannot.”
The Agent points.
Rave: “He is the true evil one here, because he wants me dead!!!”
Agent Rave runs over broken walls to Engineering. A surge of energy flows from out the Temporal Drive and into his head and body.
Cell: “Rave no!!”
The ship begins to get torn apart, and Rave turns into a complete white-entity as he and the ship are caught into a shattered time-wake!
Commander Seifer takes a step towards the Guardian of Forever.
Seifer: “I said... We get it!”
Kugo: “Wait, Seifer! Let’s ask it a question.”
GUARDIAN: “A question. Since before your sun burned hot in space, and before your race was born, I have awaited a question.”
Kugo: “Can you take us to Captain Cell before anything bad happens to him??”
GUARDIAN: “Your Cell is diffused upon a place of great time-energy. No mortal of consistent time existence could possibly go where he is.”
Seifer: “What about ‘before’ that place he’s in right now?? What about ‘before’???”
GUARDIAN: “Forever!!!!!!!”
Seifer: “We’ve established that.”
Lox: “Hey wait! Commander, your cellular structure is still out of sync with the rest of us. Remember the experimentation that made you have super speed?”
Seifer: “Oh yeah! I can rescue him. But why can’t I go to a time ‘before’ he is in peril?”
GUARDIAN: “I am the Guardian of Forever!!!!!!!!!!”
Seifer: “...Never-mind.”
The Commander runs and jumps through the gate. He disappears in a slow-motion misty fog-machine-like haze.
He leaps onto the ruined Deck aboard the Atlantis, where his temporal-cells cause a disruption to the Atlantis’ sub-subspace connection with every other Starfleet Starship in the 29th Century.
During the immense Temporal Cold War battle, the people on the Jenova lose all defensive systems.
Tulian: “Oh no! We’re open to sudden attack!”
Goustas: “Don’t worry - the Enterprise, the Blue Nose, and the Dropzone have all got our backs.”
Tulian: “You fool; they’ve lost their defensives too!”
Goustas: “My word. How did this happen??”
Tulian: “It looks like some petaQ in another time-frame has somehow connected to our sub-subspace database!”
Goustas: “You always get the crazies on Christmas Eve.”
Tulian: “Goustas... you remembered?”
Goustas: “Yes my friend. This is for you.”
He hands him a gift-wrapped present.
Tulian: “Oh thank you!”
Back on the Atlantis, the Changeling known as Captain Cell takes a notice to the glowing Rave’s sudden pain.
Rave: “AAAAAHHHHH!!!”
...Rave screams as Commander Seifer walks over to work out the situation.
Seifer: “Oh my gosh. What have I done??”
Cell: “I don’t know. You got here and he started yelling. Have you altered your cellular structure in any way lately? Because that usually has an affect on time-diffused maniacs.”
Seifer: “Actually, yeah. But according to this console, he’s connected himself to that sub-subspace database in the 29th Century. Do you think my speed cells had anything to do with it?”
Cell: “Only time will tell.”
Rave then dissipates from the timeline, never to be seen again.
Seifer: “Time can be such a bitch.”
Cell: “No time for that. The ship’s coming apart!”
He points at the bulkheads, at when the entire ship shakes like crazy. Support beams and energy bolts fall out everywhere, prompting the two to dodge and jump out of the way.
Seifer uses his speed ability to quickly duck an incoming bolt of energy, and lead Cell to the invisible portal that leads back to The Guardian of Forever. As they have retreated, so have the Section 31 Ship’s at the Temporal Cold War battle.
Tulian: “Aauuhh! They’re gone!”
Goustas: “Good riddens to bad rubbish. We would have beaten them if our defenses weren’t knocked down so easily!”
Both men lie under a pile of rubble on the Bridge of their 29th Century Starfleet ship.
Tulian: “Hey, it wasn’t my idea to have all the ship’s systems of the Fleet’s based in that ‘real-time’ space database-- you know, the sub-sub one.”
Goustas: “It was a good idea at the time! Having a computer network spanning the Quadrants was a real big step for Humanity.”
Tulian: “Yeah, a step into crap! We were just asking to be ruined with that kind of connectivity. Why not link our independent thoughts together with cybernetics and call us Burg?”
Goustas: “That’s preposterous. There are no species with independent thoughts linked together by cybernetics even remotely close to a name resembling ‘Burg’.”
Tulian: “Alright fine! But what do we do now? Starfleet is ruined.”
Goustas: “I just don’t know. At least the Temporal Cold War never turned ‘hot’.”
Tulian: “True. But we’ve gotten the rise of that annoying Section 31 back into power.”
Goustas: “It was a good run for Starfleet while it lasted.”
Meanwhile, Seifer and Cell appear back on the Time Planet, slow-motion leaping through the misty fog-machine-like haze.
Amos: “It appears as if you did not need the Klingon after all.”
Cell: “Where are we?”
Seifer: “Heh. We’re in the city at the edge of forever... Meet the guardian of Forever: The Guardian of Forever!”
GUARDIAN: “Right has been made in the timeline once again. Including your Phoenix-X, welcome back to 2382.”
Cell: “Guardian, that Agent... his name, Agent Rave; he’s going to die isn’t he?”
GUARDIAN: “The Guardian does not make small chat. Please insert coin to Play Again. Do not pass Go. Do not collect two-hundred dollars.”
Cell: “It’s just that... Please, can you direct him to a place he’s meant to be? Whence last we left him, he was caught in a time-stream. I once had it in for him, but now I realize that I had become what I hated. I know now that he was just trying to find the time-line he was meant to live in... a place to belong.”
GUARDIAN: “Very well. This has been an encounter with the Guardian of Forever!”
Ensign Dan: “Who?”
GUARDIAN: “The Guardian of Forever relieves you!!!!!!!!!!”
Thunder crackles in the background as the crew take a step back in awe.
Over in the 29th Century, the Na’khul starship, Nakul, sits in the midst’s of the battle after having received a new guest.
Ghrath: “Report!!”
His lackeys catch up to him as he walks the hallways of his ship.
Sidd: “Sir, all the Na’Khul ships that arrived from the past have been destroyed by Section 31 ships. Not only was it due to our loss of all time-traveling ability, but my second Uncle on my mother’s side ceased to exist may have helped!”
Ghrath: “--Pitiful. I’ve just gotten word from Head Command. The time-fleet was stupid enough as to allow all our ships into the fight, and now no one will dare to enter the battle from any time-period!! Meh. At least Starfleet got hit bad.”
They come to a holding cell, where Agent Rave has been kept.
Sidd: “Not to mention our sudden ‘guest’ who appeared out of thin air.”
Ghrath smiles in agreement, making eye contact with Rave. They then make their way to the Bridge, where the Nakul witnesses a great many burning Starfleet ship’s in space.
Sidd: “But you’ll be glad to know, the Temporal Transporter is working enough to transport at least one single group of occupants. Unfortunately, the engineers expect the circuits to fuse out after that.”
They stop walking at a control panel.
Sidd: “It’s quite possible, we have the last time-traveling device in the fleet.”
Ghrath: “Contact our leader, Vosk. He may want to hear what these Earth people did...”
Later, in the 24th Century, Amp is at the Helm of the Phoenix-X as the Vorgon ship, Yolanda, from the future flashes before them.
>Ueun: “We’re sorry your Starfleet was taken out during the battle.”
Amp: “It was? Hey I thought you were on our side!”
>Ueun: “Oh we are. We just never said we were good at fighting. You know, just having an ally isn’t enough nowadays; you got to have a good one.”
Amp: “Ugghh.”
>Ueun: “Well if it’ll make you feel any better, we can try to stop that crazed Sayjan. Apparently he’s gone mad and is currently time-jumping in chaos.”
Amp: “Yeah, could you?”
>Ueun: “Consider it done, ally!”
The screen cuts out as the Yolanda flashes out of there.
In the Briefing Room, the Doctor is sitting at the big table going over Seifer’s bio-data when the view-screen suddenly clicks on - the callers being Section 31.
>Elena: “You fools!! Rave was critical to our secret plans of intrigue! Not to mention the Temporal Drive on your ship is completely unrecoverable!!”
Lox: “Well you should have thought of that before giving it to us. You know how we work.”
>Nelkast: “Unfortunately.”
>Elena: “Go to one of your Tech Site world’s and have it removed! The last thing we need are people boarding your ship and stealing the information.”
Lox: “I’ll let the Captain know.”
>Nelkast: “And one more thing... brush your teeth!”
The screen clicks off in anger, as Commander Cell enters the room.
Seifer: “Hey who was that?”
Lox: “No one.”
Seifer: “Well, what’s the verdict Doctor? Am I going to die from temporal poisoning? ...Poisoning that you poisoned me with!”
Lox: “My scans show that it should fade fairly quickly, as I had told you earlier. The resolution wasn’t meant to stay in your cells.”
Seifer: “Phew. Well that’s a relief. You know that sexy Security Officer from Deck 17? She and I have a date tonight, heh, heh.”
Lox: “You know, you haven’t completely rid yourself of the resolution. ...Never-mind.”
He shakes his head in disappointment, as Captain Cell enters the room.
Cell: “Hey what did you say to that Guardian to make him so mad?”
Seifer: “Uhh nothing.”
Cell: “Well, it was an interesting experience to say the least. The truth is, I don’t think I’ll ever forget that Guardian of Forever.”
Seifer: “But how did he return us to our proper time-frame without the ship passing through his portal?”
Lox: “Problem with continuity?”
Cell: “Perhaps. But then again, perhaps the Guardian has begun to evolve his power. He may have said he is the beginning and the end, but does that mean he can’t grow?”
Seifer: “Then our being returned may be an answer to that question... an answer to that question that’ll fix you two good!”
He clenches his fist in anger at them.
Seifer: “Oh sorry, that just came out. I’ll miss you guys.”
He hugs them and then walks away.
Little does Seifer realize, the great danger he has caused the future— by allowing Section 31 an opportunity to rise in power. Fear!
THE END
