With her right hand, Tejara picked up one of the plates and placed it on her upturned left forearm. She repeated this process again but this time placed the plate in her left hand before picking up the third and final plate with her right hand before moving towards the table. One by one she set the plates down on the dining table, first the one in her right hand, then the one in her left hand using her now free right hand and finally the one balancing on her forearm.

“What’s this?” Her son, Antos, asked. He studied the food in front of him, unsure of what to make of it. It definitely wasn’t what he was expecting.

Tejara settled herself in her chair and reached for her glass, taking a sip of the spring wine her husband had poured for the two of them. “It’s something Captain Forrester made for me when we were on the Trafalgar; Lasagne al forno with steamed vegetables on the side. The replicated version isn’t quite as good as the captain’s but I thought it would be nice to try something different.”

“Oh wow. If the replicated version tastes like this, you have to talk the captain into making his version for us sometime.” Hejol, who’d been in Starfleet long enough to have become accustomed to trying new foods from a variety of worlds, was already digging into his dinner.

Antos still looked unsure and poked gently at the food. Eventually he brought a forkful of lasagne to his mouth and carefully caught a small proportion of it between his teeth. He chewed for a moment, considering the flavours he was tasting. His eyes lit up when he realised that he liked what he was eating and cleaned the fork of the remainder of the lasagne before going back to his plate for more.

“I think he likes it.” Tejara said, chuckling when Antos nodded his head enthusiastically.

Thirty minutes later Tejara and Hejol were cuddled up on the couch with a glass of spring wine each while Antos was in his room working on his homework. Hejol was the first to break the comfortable silence. “I’m so glad to be back in the Alpha Quadrant. I was tense the entire time we were in the Gamma Quadrant.”

“It may only be temporary.” Tejara pointed out. “Once Starfleet gets through with reevaluating it’s Gamma Quadrant operations, we could be straight back there.”

Hejol sighed and took a sip of his wine. “I guess we’ll have to enjoy our time in the Alpha Quadrant while we can then. The Captain’s given you some leave once we reach Starbase 86, hasn’t he?”

“A week. Not enough time for us to get back to Bajor but we might be able to escape for a few days on Risa. That resort we went to a few years ago was great.” She suggested.

Before he could agree or disagree, the bosun’s whistle sounded through the comm followed by the voice of Captain Forrester. “Senior Officers report to the observation lounge.”

“Well, there goes shoreleave.” Hejol muttered as Tejara quickly switched back into Executive Officer mode.

***

Though his original intention had been to have a one on one round of golf with Zarbrun, AJ was glad that Bennett and Miller agreed to join them; the more the merrier. He watched as Bennett pushed her tea into the ground and placed the small white ball on top of it. For a few seconds she looked off into the distance, silently watching. 

“Have you played much golf?” AJ asked.

Bennett adjusted her stance and held the face of the driver beside the ball. “Once or twice.” She pulled the club back and took her swing, sending the ball sailing down the fairway. 

“Once or twice, huh?” It was an impressive shot and it suggested a lot more experience on a golf course than ‘once or twice’.

If her satisfied smile hadn’t confirmed his suspicion, what she said next did. “I may have forgotten to mention that I was captain of the Academy golf team.”

“Probably just slipped your mind.” He mused with a lopsided smile before turning to Zarbrun. “Nexani, you’re up.”

The ops chief stepped forward and quickly set up her shot. When she swung her club, the ball flew straight and true down the fairway but not nearly as far as Bennett’s had. AJ went next. He was happy with his shot and the ball came to lie just short of Bennett’s. Finally it was Miller’s turn. His stance was good and he swung the club well but he sliced the ball and it went sailing off to the right and wound up in the rough.

“I thought you told me that ‘golf has been the pastime of Doctors for centuries’?” AJ asked.

Miller offered a shrug in response. “But I didn’t say it was my pastime.”

“Idiot.” AJ muttered as he watched Miller put his club away.

The group began pulling their golf trolleys towards where their shots had landed. “How’s the captain?” Bennett asked.

AJ shot her a confused look. “He’s fine. Didn’t he seem okay when you were on the bridge earlier?”

“I’m not going to pretend that I know him well, but he’s seemed a little withdrawn since…the past few months.” She said and AJ instantly got her meaning.

He let out a sigh. “He misses him, though he’s too much of a stubborn jackhole to admit it.” Miller split off from the rest of the group to go hunting for his ball in the rough. “Their relationship was brief but intense and Tom hasn’t felt things like that for anyone in more than a decade.”

“I hope they’ll be able to find their way back to each other.” Bennett said.

That was a sentiment AJ shared but he knew Tom well enough not to get his hopes up. “Well, they’re still in touch but there’s a lot for them to overcome. I think we should all just keep our fingers crossed.”

The three came to a stop to watch Miller take his next shot, as the furthest back he was first to take his second stroke. They watched as he swung the club and the ball went sailing high into the air…and straight into a bunker on the right of the green.

“Poor Josh.” Zarbrun’s tone was sympathetic.. “He’s not having a good time.”

That, AJ thought, was an understatement. “Yeah, it’s a good thing we’re not playing the full eighteen. At this rate, just playing this front nine’s gonna test his sanity to destruction.”

By the time they reached Zarbrun’s ball, Miller had rejoined the group. “Bad luck old chap.” AJ said in an exaggerated posh English accent.

“Muzzle it.” Miller shot back sourly as Zarbrun prepared to take her next shot. With a swing of her club, she managed to make the green in two. AJ followed her example a few minutes later, though his ball was a little further from the pin. Finally Bennett took her shot and wound up only a few feet from the pin.

The group continued on towards the green, with Miller once more breaking off to the right. Selecting a sand wedge, he moved into the bunker and studied his situation for a moment. “Things can only get better, right?” He chipped the ball straight into a bunker on the other side of the green.

“Yeah.” AJ drew out the vowels of the word. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that, Doc.”

Miller opened his mouth to reply but was drowned out by the computer sounding the bosun’s whistle. “Senior officers report to the observation lounge.”

“Computer, save program and end.” AJ ordered.

The computer beeped in response. “Yeah, cause I wouldn’t wanna lose my progress.” Miller quipped as their surroundings dissolved and were replaced by the hologrid.

***

He slowly, gingerly pulled the block clear. The tower swayed slightly but quickly settled. Gently he placed the block on top of the tower. It swayed again, this time more precariously, but it continued to remain standing. Rafael da Costa sat back with a satisfied grin on his face, his twinkling eyes meeting those of his opponent. “Your move.”

“You seem pretty confident.” Jackson commented as he studied the tower of wooden blocks and considered his next move. The Endeavour lounge, one of four smaller lounges located throughout the Challenger; wasn’t particularly busy this evening.

Rafael took a sip of his drink. “Because I’m a Jenga Master.”

“How do you get to be a Jenga Master?” Jackson asked as he finally began pulling a block away from the tower. When he placed it on top and was satisfied it wasn’t going to collapse, he continued. “Is there a Jenga Council that has to grant you the rank or is it more of a self appointed title?”

Rafael smirked as he quickly made his move. “It’s more of a self appointed title.” He said as the tower wobbled slowly before finally settling. “I figure I’ve earned it after all the Saturday nights I spent playing it at the Academy.” If only he could feel as confident in other parts of his life, Rafael mused silently.

“Saturday nights spent playing Jenga. You guys were real party people.” Jackson’s deep brown eyes met Rafael’s briefly before they returned to studying the tower.

A chuckle escaped from Rafael. “Oh yeah. You have no idea.” He replied in an exaggerated tone. “Games night could get pretty wild. Sometimes, we’d even drink alcohol.”

“Total party animals.” Jackson joked as he reached for another block. The moment he’d pulled it clear, the tower collapsed. “Dammit!”

Rafael smiled triumphantly. “Better luck next time.”

“If there is a next time.” Jackson muttered as he picked up his glass and raised it to his lips. As he did, a familiar figure approached the table and flopped down into the free chair to Jackson’s left. “Hey Coop. Long day?”

The exhausted counselor nodded. “I’m really looking forward to getting some shoreleave.”

“You wanna take on the Jenga Master?” Jackson asked.

Cooper chuckled at the suggestion. “You mean the Jenga hustler?” He asked rhetorically. “No thank you. I had that privilege a few weeks ago. We played best of five and I lost three straight games.”

“There’s gotta be someone who can beat him.” Jackson grumbled.

The smug smirk on Rafael’s face would probably only make them more determined to find someone who could beat him. “Good luck finding them.”

“What about Thalev?” Cooper suggested, causing Jackson’s eyes to light up. Rafael’s smirk faltered momentarily and it didn’t go unnoticed. “Ohhhhh. What’s wrong Rafa? Worried that Thalv could school you?” Copper asked, sitting up straighter in his chair. “What d’you think, Chris? Could we convince the ice queen to take him on?”

Jackson nodded his head slowly and pursed his lips, thinking about it for a few seconds. “I heard she thrashed a few of the other senior officers when they went bowling back on Earth. It was the first time she’d played. I think she might be just the person to knock our cocky young Lieutenant down a peg or two.”

The sound of the bosun’s whistle interrupted their conversation and the lounge fell silent as everyone waited to hear the announcement. “Senior Officers report to the observation lounge.”

Cooper let out a groan before he pushed himself out of his chair. Jackson followed suit. “I’ll see how the Lieutenant feels about a heads up game sometime.” He told Rafael, patting the younger man on the shoulder as he left.

***

Even though his duty shift was over, Captain Forrester was still on the bridge. He wanted to personally oversee the Challenger’s docking at Starbase 86 before clocking off. Their unexpected return to the Alpha Quadrant had been very welcome and spending at least the next week docked to the Challenger’s homeport would allow him to grant the crew some well deserved extended downtime.

“Captain,” the duty ops officer’s voice interrupted his thoughts, “we’re being hailed by Commodore Vega.”

Tom could feel the muscles in his shoulders tense. He couldn’t imagine the Commodore was contacting them with good news. Pushing himself to his feet, Tom absently wiped his hands on his pants leg and stepped forwards until he was standing between the ops and helm officers. “Onscreen.” 

When the Commodore’s face appeared seconds later, his suspicion was all but confirmed. She looked worried. “Captain Forrester, three hours ago we lost all contact with the Coltar IV colony.” Vega paused for a few seconds. She’d read his service jacket and no doubt knew that Coltar was Tom’s homeworld. “I’m ordering the Challenger to proceed with all due haste to investigate.”

“Understood.” Tom replied, trying to keep his voice even. He cleared his throat before speaking again. “Do you believe this has anything to do with the Century Storm plaguing the Paulson Nebula?” Just a few days ago a Federation colony in the nebula had been hit by the storm. Whatever way it had interacted with the atmosphere, the planet became toxic in just a few short days. Thousands had lost their lives. Had the same thing happened to Coltar? Were his parents…he pushed the thought down; he needed to focus.

Judging by the look on Vega’s face, the answer to that question was ‘probably’. “We believe that interference from the storm is preventing communications. Challenger’s task is to investigate and provide whatever assistance is necessary.”

“We’ll get underway immediately.” Tom said with a confident nod.

Commodore Vega nodded in response. “Very well, Captain. Good luck. Vega out.” The image of the Commodore was replaced briefly with the Starfleet Command seal before that too disappeared and they were looking at Starbase 86 growing closer on the viewscreen.

“Helm, bring us about. Lay in a course for Coltar Four and prepare to engage at maximum warp.” Tom returned to the command chair and settled himself into it. Holding down a control on the LCARS terminal built into the armrest, the bosun’s whistle sounded. “Senior Officers report to the observation lounge.”

The lyrics of an ancient song that his father was fond of occurred to him and they seemed appropriate at that moment. “Take me home, country roads.” He muttered before turning his attention to the task at hand “Helm, engage.”

As the senior officers filed out of the observation lounge, Forrester and Mitchell remained seated. It wasn’t until the last person had left the room that the pregnant silence was finally broken by Mitchell. “You’re worried about them.” It was a statement, not a question.

“I can’t help but think that we’ll get there to discover they’ve been hit by an ion storm and the atmosphere’s on fire or…” Forrester trailed off. His mind had been reaching for the worst case scenarios ever since his conversation with Commodore Vega.

There was little Mitchell could do but to offer a reassuring smile. “I guess it’s no good telling you that everything’ll be fine? That it’s just interference from the Century Storm?”

“I’d like to believe that but until I see it for myself, I don’t think I can relax.” Forrester replied. He let out a sigh and glanced down at his hands, his leg bouncing nervously under the table. “I just need to know they’re okay.”

Mitchell studied the captain silently for a moment. “Are you going to visit them while we’re there? Assuming, of course, that I’m right and that it’s just interference.”

“Dad made it clear that if I left for the Academy, I wouldn’t be welcome on the farm ever again.” Forrester could remember clearly the last time he saw his father. Trying to say goodbye before leaving, not wanting to leave on a sour note, only to be rewarded with stony silence. It still stung, twenty six years later. “I don’t intend to put that threat to the test.”

Letting out a sigh, Mitchell leaned forward and placed his palms flat on the table. “You can’t come all this way and not try to speak to him.”

“He made his position clear.” Forrester shot back, a little more heatedly than he’d intended.

The frustration that Mitchell was feeling was becoming increasingly visible on his face. “Tom, you haven’t seen your mom or your brother in more than a quarter of a century. You have a sister-in-law, a niece and a nephew that you’ve never met. You have to see them while we’re in orbit.” Mitchell held Forrester’s gaze for a few seconds before asking, “When was the last time you tried reaching out to him?”

“Why would I do that?” Forrester asked, his head tilting to one side and brow furrowing. “He left me in no doubt that if I left for the Academy, I would no longer be welcome on his farm. I made my decision, fully aware of the consequences, and I’ve made peace with it.”

Sitting back in his chair, Mitchell scoffed. “You might be able to fool others with that bullshit but this is me you’re talking to. You’ve always struggled with that decision. Hell, you probably struggle with it more now that you’ve achieved your goal of commanding a starship.”

“He’s had twenty six years to reach out to me if he wanted to. He hasn’t. He clearly feels the same now as he did then.” Sometimes Forrester hated just how well his best friend knew him but he wasn’t about to admit that.

Mitchell shrugged. “Maybe he wants to reach out but is afraid, given how you both left things, that you don’t want him to. Maybe he’s just a stubborn jackhole. I mean you must’ve gotten that delightful personality trait from somewhere.” He sat forward and lowered his voice. “Tom, your dad’s not getting any younger. If you don’t take this chance to try and mend your relationship now, you’re gonna wake up someday and find it’s too late. Don’t let that happen.”

With every passing day, Forrester was becoming more and more aware of his parents’ mortality and that time was running out. Did he really want to lose the few years he might have left with them, especially when so much time had already been lost? 

“Any other pearls of wisdom for me?” Forrester asked with a lopsided smile pulling at the corner of his lips. 

Pushing himself to his feet, Mitchell met his friend’s eyes. “Yeah. Tell Matt you miss him, beg his forgiveness for being a dick, get over your aversion to long distance relationships and promise him you’ll do whatever it takes to make things work.” With everything said that he wanted to, Mitchell walked wordlessly around the head of the table and out the port door.

“I had to ask.” Forrester muttered regretfully as the door closed with a soft hiss and he was left alone to chew over his best friend’s advice.

***

On the edge of the Coltar system, the mighty starship Challenger slowed to sublight speed and began the final phase of her journey, pushed forward by her main impulse engine. It had been thirteen hours since the crew received their new orders and in a matter of minutes, as they neared the fourth planet of the system, they would finally start to get some answers.

“Any response to our hails?” Forrester asked. He’d taken to pacing back and forth across the bridge some five minutes before the Challenger arrived in system. The action had drawn glares from Kailir but he was too full of nervous energy to sit still in his chair.

Despite this being the third time the captain had asked in as many minutes, Lieutenant Commander Zarbrun managed to keep any hint of annoyance out of her voice. “No, sir.” 

“Anything on sensors?” By this time he was standing on the starboard side of the command area, holding his hands behind his back.

Bennett didn’t answer right away. She continued studying the sensor data, typing commands into her console. “There’s a lot of subspace interference around the planet.” She eventually replied. “I can’t pinpoint the source of it yet.”

“Not an ion storm?” Forrester asked.

The chief science officer shook her head. “No,” she fell silent for a moment, swiping away one sensor feed and bringing up another, “but there is one out there and it’s heading this way.”

“Shit.” Forrester muttered under his breath. “How far out?”

Bennett studied the data again. “It’ll make planetfall in about thirty hours.”

“Bridge to engineering. There’s an ion storm headed this way. It’ll reach us in about thirty hours. I need you to come up with a plan for protecting the planet.” Forrester instructed.

The voice of Lieutenant Commander Jackson returned through the comm. “That’s not a lot of time,” that was an understatement, “but we’ll put our heads together down here and see what we can come up with.”

“Prepare to brief me on what you have in an hour.” He would’ve liked to be able to give the engineering team more time to come up with a plan but time was of the essence. “Forrester out.”

The captain turned his attention back to Commander Bennet in time for her to announce, “I’ve located the source of the subspace interference.” She swiped the holographic display in the direction of the viewscreen, transferring her display. It showed a representation of the planet with what looked like a misshapen O above it. “A subspace rift has opened above the planet.” She explained. “It’s flooding the atmosphere with tachyons.”

“Tachyons.” Forrester repeated. He knew little of tachyons, except that they could be used to detect cloaked ships and were often involved in temporal events. “What effect is that having on the planet?” Bennett’s brow was furrowed in concentration as she worked her console, studying the sensor data before furiously typing again. Forrester allowed her to work for what felt like minutes, but he was sure wasn’t anything close, before he prodded for an answer. “Commander?”

A few more seconds ticked by before the chief science officer spoke. “It looks like the planet is experiencing time at an accelerated rate compared to the rest of the galaxy.”

“How much faster?” Forrester’s heart leapt into his throat as panic surged through his body. Had the people on Coltar experienced days in the hours it had taken the Challenger to arrive? Months? Years? His mind immediately returned to his conversation with Mitchell.

All eyes on the bridge were on Bennett, waiting to see what her answer would be. “Based on my observations, I believe that they’re experiencing an hour and a half for every minute the rest of us experience.”

“So from our perspective, we lost contact with them sixteen hours ago,” Forrester did some quick mental arithmetic, “from theirs it’s been two months?”

Bennett nodded. “I’ll need more time to examine the data but based on my initial observations, yes.”

The panic seeped from Forrester’s body but tension remained in his neck and shoulders. There was still plenty for him to be worried about. “Be ready to give me a full briefing in an hour.”

The Challenger’s senior officers gathered in the observation lounge for the second time in 14 hours, but this time they would receive some solid answers instead of the vague two minute briefing that Forrester had given them last time. Floating in the air above the surface of the conference table was a holographic representation of Cotar IV, with the subspace rift visible above it.

“I’ve confirmed my initial findings; Coltar is experiencing time at a rate of one point five hours for every minute the rest of us experience.” Commander Bennett told the assembled group. “Since contact was lost, the people on the planet have lived through almost sixty four days.” She tapped at her PADD and a bracket appeared around the rift. “The temporal differential is a result of this subspace rift, which is flooding the planet’s atmosphere with tachyons.”

“Can we close the rift?” Commander Kailir asked.

Sitting across from the XO, Bennett’s eyes flicked from the hologram to Kailir.. “I have a team working on answering that question right now, but we may not want to close it right away.”

“Why the hell not?” Forrester’s nostrils flared and his hazel eyes hardened, fixing his chief science officer with an intense glare.

Bennett understood the captain’s reaction and indeed expected it so she was able to school her features when others around the table looked taken aback.  Calmly she told him, “We may need the extra time the differential provides to deploy what Commander Jackson’s come up with to protect the planet from the ion storm.”

“What’ve you come up with?” Forrester turned his attention to the chief engineer.

Jackson sat forward, placing his right elbow on the conference table, and met the captain’s gaze. “We plan to install a weather control system on the planet.”

“That’s it?” Forrester asked. His brow knitted together and his eyes narrowed as he looked from Jackson to Bennett and back again. “You’re telling me that if Coronal had a weather control system that it would’ve survived that ion storm?”

Bennett shook her head. “No, sir. The two situations aren’t comparable.” She tapped her PADD again, changing the hologram to show a comparison of both planets. “The concentration of dust and gas around Coltar is much lower, because of its position on the edge of the Paulson Nebula. It won’t be rendered uninhabitable but we believe it will be subject to freak weather events.

“How bad?” Forrester asked, his earlier intensity no longer present. His eyes had softened and Bennett could see the fear buried deep within them.

It would’ve been easy to lie to him, to tell him it wouldn’t be bad and that he didn’t have anything to worry about, but Bennett’s job wasn’t to tell the captain what he wanted to hear. That wouldn’t do either of them any good. She would be straightforward and honest with the captain. “It’ll be bad.” She told him. “Our current projections suggest a death toll in the thousands, possibly tens of thousands.”

“Shit.” The captain muttered under his breath as he let his head drop forward momentarily. When he raised it again, he found all eyes on him. Clearing his throat, Forrester adjusted himself in his chair, straightening his posture. “A weather control system isn’t going to work.”

Bennett glanced around at the others, pleased to see them as confused as she was. “Why not?”

“The Governor of Coltar will never allow a weather control system to be installed on the planet.” Forrester told them. “It goes against everything the colony and its people stand for. They see any attempt to control the weather as playing god.” Forrester looked to his chief engineer again. “Do you have an alternative plan?”

Jackson and Bennett shared a look. “We tossed around the idea of installing shield generators around the population centres to protect them from the weather. It would take longer and we’d have to simultaneously reinforce the planetary power grid to handle the additional power requirements.”

“How long?” Forrester asked.

The chief engineer let out a sigh. “We think it can be done in a month and a half.”

“Gives us plenty of time to get the rift closed before that ion storm reaches us. The question is, can we travel to the planet and integrate into their rate of time safely?” He turned to Miller. “Doctor?”

Doctor Miller was sitting on the opposite side of the table and one seat right of Bennett. “I’ve discussed it with Commanders Bennett and Jackson.” He told his fellow senior officers. “We think we can use the phase discriminator on the transporter to integrate people into the planet’s rate of time before rematerialisation. The transporter chief and I have completed several successful transports using test cylinders but we won’t know if it works properly until…” Everyone knew how that sentence ended.

“Until you have a live test subject.” Forrester finished for him, causing Miller and Jackson to nod in agreement. “Any potential side effects?”

The CMO nodded. “Headache, nausea and dizziness. Temporal narcosis could be a more severe side effect.”

“Will we be able to communicate with whoever’s on the ground?” Kailir asked, looking to the chief engineer for the answer.

Jackson’s eyes met Kailir’s. “Live two way communication won’t be possible but we’ll be able to send data bursts via non-subspace frequencies and the computer will be able to compensate for the temporal differential.”

“Good.” Forrester said. “I’ll beam down and discuss the situation with Governor Wells. Once she agrees to our plan, I’ll send a data burst back instructing Commander Jackson and his team to begin beaming down.”

Kailir’s head snapped round. “You can’t.”

“Why not?” Forrester asked, confusion visible on his features.

The XO’s tone suggested that the answer to that question was obvious. “You’re the Captain. We have no idea what will happen when you beam down. It could kill you. We should test it on-”

“Who?” Forrester quickly cut across his first officer. “Someone less important? I can’t ask an officer under my command to do anything that I’m not willing to do myself. I’ll beam down and send a data burst to let you know I’ve beamed down and what, if any, side effects I experience.”

Not that she would admit it, but Bennett was glad she wasn’t going to be beaming down to the surface. She’d prefer to remain on the Challenger, monitor the ion storm and figure out a way to close the rift. 

“Commander Jackson,” the captain began, “assemble your team and gather whatever equipment you’ll need.” His eyes moved from the chief engineer to the CMO. “Doctor Miller, I want a few medical officers to beam down so they can monitor our people. Make sure anyone who beams down knows that they’ll be down there for a month and a half.” He looked to his left, where the XO was seated. “Commander, the Challenger is yours.” 

He pushed himself to his feet and looked around them once more. “Alright, let’s get to work.”

In the twenty six years since joining Starfleet, Captain Forrester had never hesitated before stepping onto a transporter pad, but now he stood rooted to the spot, unable to take the first step. Although he was confident the transporter chief would be able to successfully deliver him to the surface, a niggling voice in the back of his mind, which grew louder with every passing minute, was working hard to convince him otherwise.

“What’re you more nervous about?” Mitchell asked, standing to the captain’s left. “Beaming down or coming face to face with the Governor?”

On Forrester’s right, Doctor Miller chimed in. “Why would he be afraid of meeting Governor Wells?”

“Our captain has become something of a local celebrity on Coltar.” Mitchell answered in place of Forrester. “Governor Wells wants to give him the Freedom of Coltar. He’s been ignoring her messages for months.”

Forrester finally pushed forward with a sigh, stepping up onto the transporter pad and turning to face the three people in the room. “Death would be preferable to standing here listening to you two hens clucking.” He quickly followed this statement by the order to the transporter chief. “Energise.”

Mitchell managed to wish the captain luck before Forrester felt the familiar pull of the transporter. Typically the time taken for the transport to be complete was just a few seconds but that wasn’t the case here. It felt like he was spinning endlessly for what seemed like minutes. Eventually he rematerialised in the office of Governor Wells’ executive assistant and was immediately hit by a power wave of nausea.

“Uhhhhhhh.” Forrester moaned and immediately hinged forward at the waist, placing his right hand on his hip as he fought the urge to revisit his breakfast.  “Uhhhhhhh.” 

So focused on not throwing up, Forrester didn’t notice the Governor’s assistant rise from his desk nor was he aware of the Governor joining them. It was only when Wells spoke that Forrester became aware of her. “Are you okay?”

“Give me a minute.” Forrester said through gritted teeth before taking a deep breath and then another. As the nausea began to pass, he straightened and leaned back slightly, tilting his head towards the ceiling before taking another deep breath. “Sorry about that, Governor. That wasn’t particularly becoming but I have never experienced a beam down as rough as that.”

Forrester quickly typed a message in the large PADD in his left hand and sent the databurst back to the Challenger. “What’s going on, Captain?” Governor Wells asked. “Why has it taken Starfleet two months to reach us?”

“I think,” Forrester cast a sideways glance at Wells’ assistant, “that we should speak in your office.”

Wells nodded and motioned towards her office before turning to her assistant. “Have Connie step in and join us, would you?” She followed Forrester into the office and announced, “I’ve asked my Chief of Staff to join us.” The pair fell into an awkward silence until Wells spoke again. “You’re a difficult man to get hold of, Captain.” Forrester gave her a tightlipped smile and could feel the flush rising on his cheeks. Before he could respond, the Governor’s Chief of Staff stormed in.

“Jake says there’s a Starfleet Officer here?” The woman Forrrester could only identify as ‘Connie’ asked before catching sight of the captain. “And not just any Starfleet Officer but Coltar’s favourite son. A pleasure to finally meet you, Captain Forrester.” She extended a hand, “Constance Forsyth, Governor Wells’ Chief of Staff.”

Forrester gasped her hand firmly. “Good to meet you, Miss Forsyth.”

“So,” Forsyth began as she flopped down on one of the couches while Wells and Forrester sat on a pair of armchairs, “why has it taken Starfleet two months to investigate losing contact with Coltar?”

There was an edge to her voice that betrayed a feeling of anger directed at Starfleet. Coltar had often felt forgotten or overlooked by the Federation Council, no doubt this experience only reinforced that belief. “This is gonna sound a little crazy.” Forester said, crossing his leg. “The Federation only lost contact with Coltar roughly eighteen hours ago.”

“You’re right, Captain.” Wells replied evenly. “That does sound crazy. It’s been two months.”

Forrester set the PADD down on the nearby coffee table and activated it, tapping a command into it. The holographic representation of Coltar that he’d viewed during the briefing on the Challenger appeared above the device. “No, it hasn’t. The subspace rift that’s opened above the planet is emitting tachyons directly into the planet’s atmosphere.”

“We know.” Forsyth’s tone was defensive. “We’re not as backward as Starfleet thinks we are. The rift is responsible for our loss of communications. But you still haven’t explained how it’s supposedly only been eighteen hours since you lost contact with us and not two months.”

The urge to roll his eyes was strong but somehow, Forrester managed to resist and replied instead with a single nod. “Actually, it’s been both. The tachyons have caused a temporal differential to occur.” The politicians shared a confused look so Forrester continued. “Time is passing faster on Coltar than for the rest of the galaxy. We’ve calculated that for every hour experienced by the rest of the galaxy, Coltar is experiencing three point seven five days. So, while it has been two months for you, it’s only been about eighteen hours for the rest of the galaxy”

Both women were visibly shocked and Wells pushed herself to her feet and stepped towards her desk. “I can’t believe it.” Silence fell and Forrester allowed the two politicians time to process the news. “If the rift is closed, will time return to normal?” Forsyth asked.

“We believe so, yes.” Forrester replied. “My science officers are working on a way to close the rift right now.” He paused for a moment, knowing that the response he would receive was bound to be worse than his own response less than an hour earlier. “But we’re proposing to hold off on closing the rift for now.”

Governor Wells spun round, her eyes wide while Forsyth’s eyes burned with an intense anger. “Why?” Forsyth asked sharply. “What possible reason could you possibly have to ask us to endure this situation any longer than we absolutely have to?” 

“Because there’s an ion storm bearing down on the planet,” Forrester told her calmly, “and the temporal differential buys us the time we need to put into place the necessary protection against freak weather events the planet will experience when the storm hits.”

Wells returned to the armchair she had originally occupied. “Bad news piled atop bad news.” The Governor let out a sigh as she sat back down. “This job used to be fun.”

“Heavy lies the head that wears the crown.” Forrester mused, knowing full well just how heavy that crown could be.

The comment drew a small smile from Wells. “It would at least be some compensation if I had an actual crown.” She quickly moved back to the pending issue. “What have you come up with to protect the colony?”

“My chief engineer first suggested installing a weather control system,” both women opened their mouths to object but, anticipating their reaction, Forrester held up a hand and continued, “but I made it clear that was a non-starter. So instead, we’re going to install shield generators around the population centres and upgrade the planetary power grid as necessary.”

A wry smile crossed Forsyth’s lips. “I’m glad to see you haven’t entirely forgotten where you come from, Captain. How long will this work take?”

“About a month and a half.” Forrester told her. “The ion storm is due to hit the planet in about twenty eight hours, that’s just over three months, so we have plenty of time to get the work done and close the rift.”

Wells and Forsyth shared a look and, from Forrester’s perspective, seemed to be able to communicate a lot of information in that one look. “The resources of Coltar are at your disposal, Captain.”

“I appreciate that, Governor. To start, I’ll need somewhere to house my people. I have about a hundred and fifty people beaming down to work on this project. A gymnasium where we can set up bunk beds would be ideal.” Forrester reached forward and picked up the PADD, quickly typing out orders for Jackson and his team to begin beaming down.

Wells nodded as she stood up, causing Forrester and Forsyth to follow suit. “Connie will see to it.”

“If you’ll come with me, Captain, I’ll see what we can find.” Forsyth said as she moved towards the door.

Forrester bowed slightly. “Thank you, Governor.” He followed Forsyth but stopped at the threshold at the sound of Wells’ voice.

“I look forward to discussing the Freedom of Coltar with you while you’re here, Captain. Welcome home.” Forrester turned to find Wells watching him with a devious smile. He was quickly coming to the conclusion that she was a very capable politician.

***

It took less than an hour for Forsyth to find a large gymnasium near the centre of the largest town on the planet and she accompanied Forrester to view it. He quickly agreed that it would fit their needs and sent another data burst to the Challenger providing instructions to beam directly to the gymnasium and begin setting up a barracks. It was another half hour before he received a reply to both of his communiques at the same time. The temporal differential was already beginning to annoy him, even more when he discovered that the half hour it would take for Jackson’s team to be ready to beam down meant that the captain had about forty five hours to kill.

Deciding it was best to just get it over with, Forrester made his way back to his hometown. He was surprised by just how little he recognised. In his mind, he’d imagined he would find the place exactly as he left it, frozen in time, but very little was as it had been. Trees that had been small back then were considerably larger, new trees had been planted and others had been removed, restaurants and cafes had updated signage, houses had been extended, repainted or torn down and replaced with something newer.

Moving beyond the edge of the town, he walked for a further ten minutes before finding a familiar dirt track leading away from the main road. Even it had changed. New trees had been planted along it but this was definitely the lane that led to his family’s farm. He stood looking down the lane, the house just visible around the curve near the end. With one final deep breath, Forrester placed one foot in front of the other and started down the track

The lane led to the farm’s yard. There, a familiar figure was hunched over a piece of machinery. Forrester steeled himself against what the next few minutes would bring. The figure looked up and at first didn’t recognise the Starfleet Officer standing in front of him. Forrester used those few seconds to study his father. His hair had receded and turned grey, the beard he’d once worn was now gone and replaced by a few days of stubble, the lines that he remembered were deeper and had been joined by new ones. He could see the moment recognition struck him and his features clouded over.

“I thought I told you never to come back here.” The elder Forrester said as he approached his son.

His stomach fell as he anticipated where this was going and it was nowhere good. The captain nodded. “You did.”

“And yet here you are.” Derry Forrester let out a single humourless chuckle. “I shouldn’t be surprised. You disobeyed me before, I should’ve expected you’d do it again.”

Forrester sighed. “Dad-”

“Go back to your starship, Captain.” Forrester’s father cut in, disdain dripping from his voice. “You’re not welcome here and I’d hate to see those fancy pyjamas of yours get dirty.” Forrester senior cast a disparaging look over his son’s uniform before brushing past his son without another word.

Letting out a heavy breath, Forrester’s head dropped forward. “Good to see you too.” He muttered.

A high pitched scream from inside the house drew his attention and within seconds the form of his mother appeared at the back door. Tears filled his eyes and a genuine smile brightened his features. She moved slower now but his mother walked towards him. Like his father, her brown hair had turned grey and the lines on her face were deeper and more numerous. But her warm smile was unchanged as was the twinkle in her eye.

“Thomas.” She said breathlessly as she reached out and enveloped her son in a warm embrace. Forrester’s arms immediately snaked around his mother, gently rubbing her back. Their tears fell silently, save for the occasional sob or sniffle that escaped them.

When they pulled back, their eyes were red and neither could stop smiling. “Welcome home, son.”

Forrester’s smile faltered as he looked over his shoulder after his father. “I’m not so sure if I’m welcome here.”

“Oh, don’t worry about him.” Joyce Forrester waved away her son’s concern. “This is your home. It always will be, no matter what your father says.” She hooked her arm around his and led him towards the house. “Come inside and I’ll make you some lunch. I’m sure you haven’t eaten real food in a long time.”

As much as he was soothed by his mother’s words and presence, he knew that trouble was brewing on the horizon and it had nothing to do with a subspace rift or an ion storm.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve had food that good.” Forrester announced as brought the last bite of his mother’s homemade steak sandwich to his mouth. His mother beamed warmly and rubbed his arm before lifting his plate and taking it to the sink. The captain washed the food down with a sip from his glass of wine. Mrs Forrester had insisted on opening a bottle to celebrate the homecoming of her son.

There was no part of the kitchen that he recognised. It must’ve been remodelled a number of times in the past quarter century. There was no doubt that this was the kitchen he sat in to do his homework and eat meals but it looked nothing like he remembered.

Mrs Forrester turned as she dried the plate. “It’s good to have you home, Thomas.” Her warm smile became sad. “I just wish you hadn’t stayed away for so long.”

“I know.” Forrester said with a sigh. “But dad made it clear that if I left, I wasn’t going to be welcomed home.”

Having put the plate back in the cupboard, Mrs Forrester placed the drying cloth on the counter and turned to face her son. “It wasn’t just your father you left behind when you went off to the Academy.” She reminded him in a soft, sad tone. “Your father may not have welcomed you back with open arms, but I would have. So would George.”

“I know.” Forrester said, repeating himself as he focused intently on his fingernails, unable to meet his mother’s gaze. 

A heavy feeling, a mixture of guilt and regret, settled in his chest. Of course he’d wanted to see his family, wanted to visit them and tell them about his latest adventures. But fear had kept him away. The idea of facing his father, seeing the anger and disappointment in his eyes, had terrified him and it had been easier to stay away.

“I’m sorry.” His voice wasn’t much above a whisper. 

The kitchen door was flung open seconds later and Forester’s younger brother, George, barged in. “Dad told me you were here.” He said breathing heavily. Apparently he’d run from wherever he was working to the house.

“In the flesh.” Forrester stood and turned to his brother with an uneven, guarded smile.

The younger Forrester slowly approached his brother, the captain unable to read his expression. Out of nowhere, he landed a punch on Forrester’s left shoulder. “Oww” He groaned, his right hand instinctively moving to the punch site.

“That was for leaving.” George told his brother seriously. When his older brother moved his hand, he landed a second punch. “And that was for never visiting.”

Captain Forrester rubbed his left shoulder. “I’m not sure what’s worse; your punches or,” he jerked his head in his mother’s direction, “mom’s guilt.”

“Mom’s guilt.” The brothers announced simultaneously before launching themselves into each other’s arms.

“Welcome home, Tommy.” George whispered 

Forrester patted his brother on the back and pulled away. He clapped a hand on George’s shoulder. “It’s good to be home.”

The door opened again and Forrester’s father entered the house, shooting a glare in his eldest son’s direction.

“So, how come it’s taken Starfleet two months to send someone to figure out why we went quiet?” George asked. 

Forrester’s eyes flicked towards his father and could see the ghost of a satisfied smile, apparently pleased that George was giving his older brother a hard time.

“Yeah,” Forrester said, drawing the vowels out, “about that.” For the second time that day, Forrester launched into the explanation for what was happening with Coltar. He was careful not to talk down to his family, his father would’ve jumped all over him for that. Mrs Forrester and George gave him their full attention while his father moved around the kitchen, making himself a cup of tea and pretending not to listen.

When he was done, the group sat for a few silent moments. “We’d heard about the Century Storm on the news feeds and,” Mrs Forrester’s voice faltered, “what happened to Coronal.” Her eyes sought out her eldest’s sons. “You’re saying that won’t happen here?”

Forrester shook his head. “No. Like I said, my chief science officer,” his father snorted, “believes that the planet will suffer some freak weather events but with the shield generators we’re going to install around the population centres there won’t be much damage to infrastructure and no loss of life.

“Population centres.” His father had picked that small phrase out and repeated it. “What about the individual farms away from the towns and villages? Are you just gonna let them  be washed away?”

The suggestion that Forrester would have forgotten about remote farms was  risible but was no doubt just his father’s attempt to needle him. “Our intention is to install smaller shield generators on the remote farms. It may not cover their outlying fields so they could lose crops but their livestock will be able to remain within the shield.”

“We don’t need a Starfleet engineer to install a shield generator.” Forrester’s father announced. “I’m more than capable of installing it myself.”

Forrester shared a look with his brother. “Dad,” the younger Forrester said wearily, “just let Tommy’s people handle the installation.”

“I don’t want Starfleet engineers crawling all over my farm. We can install it ourselves.” Forrester’s father replied firmly.

The captain shook his head. “Fine, we’ll provide the shield generator and you can set it up yourself.” Under his breath he muttered, “Stubborn old fool.”

“What did you say?” The sound of chair legs scraping against the tiles of the kitchen floor filled the room as Forrester’s father pushed himself to his feet.

Forrester snapped. “I said you’re a stubborn old fool.” His mother said his name, a vain attempt to gently persuade the Starfleet Officer to back down. “The only reason you won’t let my engineers do the work is because I suggested it.”

“You haven’t changed a bit.” His father bit back. “You still think that you’re better than the rest of us, that you were ‘made for more than being a farmer’, you look down on us.”

It felt as if his father had just plunged a knife into the middle of his chest and twisted it. “I never,” his voice broke and tears pricked his eyes, “never thought I was better than you. I just didn’t want the life you’d chosen for me. I wanted to choose my own path.”

A pregnant silence filled the room as father and son stared each other down.

“Thomas,” Mrs Forrester said, gently breaking the silence, “why don’t you and I take a walk. I’ll show you some of the changes we’ve made over the years.”

Forrester shook his head, his eyes never leaving his father’s. “I have to get back to the capital. Governor Wells’ office is setting up a facility to house my officers while they’re planetside and I need to oversee that.”

“Can’t you let the Governor’s people handle it for a few more hours?” Mrs Forrester asked, the disappointment in her voice cutting deep into her son’s heart. “You only just got here.”

Derry Forrester beat his son to speak first. “Let him go.” He glowered at his eldest son. “He’s doing what he does best; walking away from this family.”

Forrester said nothing for a few moments, still holding his father’s gaze. Eventually he turned to his mother. “I’ll see you later.” He kissed his mother gently on the cheek and gave her an apologetic smile. As he passed his brother, he patted George on the arm before continuing out the door.

Striding across the yard, the captain muttered to himself, “That went well.”

Chris Jackson winced as the cold nozzle of a hypospray was pressed against his neck. The young medical officer quickly administered the anti-nausea medication before moving onto the next person. “You sure this is necessary Doc?” Jackson asked as he rubbed his neck where the hypospray had been seconds earlier.

“The captain experienced severe nausea when he beamed down.” Miller replied as he injected the medication into Lieutenant Commander Mitchell. “It’s not foolproof so we may still feel a little nauseous upon materialisation but it shouldn’t be nearly as bad.”

Jackson nodded as he typed a message into his PADD informing the captain that they would be beaming down to the coordinates he’d provided in just a few seconds. He leaned over, stuffed the PADD haphazardly into his go bag and picked it up in one hand and his engineering toolkit in the other. “We all good?” The chief engineer glanced around the room at the officers who were beaming down from transporter room one. “Alright, let’s go.”

The group moved onto the transporter pad. In addition to Jackson there were three of his engineers, Doctor Miller and Lieutenant Commander Mitchell. Each of them had a go bag and a kit relevant to their job. Jackson took a deep breath, steeling himself against what would normally be as easy as stepping from one room to another. He met the gaze of the transporter chief and gave them a nod. “Energise.”

The transport sequence began as normal and ended a few seconds later. As the captain reported it took a few seconds longer than usual and by the end of it, it felt like he’d been on a rollercoaster. His stomach churned for the few seconds after materialising but the sensation quickly passed, no doubt thanks to Miller’s injection.

“Welcome to Coltar.” Forrester greeted them with a smile. “You guys have first choice of the bunks.” He motioned to row after row of bunk beds that would be home for the Challenger’s contingent for the next month and a half. “What are you doing here?” He asked Mitchell.

Mitchell was stowing his go bag on the top bunk of a nearby bed. “My engineering knowledge makes me more useful down here than sitting at the helm of a starship that’s going nowhere. I have no doubt that da Costa can handle things.”

“Doctor Miller, how’d group one hold up?” Forrester asked, turning to his chief medical officer. 

Miller, who was pointing a medical tricorder at one of the engineers, studied the device silently for a few seconds before deactivating it and turning to face the captain. “Pretty well. A few reported momentary nausea upon materialising and Ensign Hezat,” he motioned towards the Benzite engineer, “had a headache but I’ve given her something for it and that seems to have done the trick.”

“Good.” Forrester nodded and turned to Jackson. “Signal the rest of the teams to begin beaming down. Once your team is settled, you and I will go to planetary power operations and devise a plan for upgrading the power grid.”

Jackson was already typing another message on his PADD, instructing the remaining engineers and the few other medical officers to beam down. “I’ve already had a look at what the Federation database had on Coltar’s power grid.” He said as he transmitted the databurst. “The last major upgrade was carried out about half a century ago. Since then there’s been a few patches and upgrades but it’s still largely fifty years old.”

“I was afraid you were going to say that.” Forrester sighed. “Will that affect the timeline of your work?”

Having studied the planet’s power grid prior to the mission briefing, Jackson had already factored it into his timing. “No, sir.”

“Alright. Good work.” Forrester nodded, seemingly pleased by that answer. “Get yourselves settled in. It’ll be a while before the rest of the team arrives.”

Jackson’s brow knitted together and his eyes narrowed. “They’re standing by, ready to go. It’ll take them 30 seconds, maximum to start beaming down.”

“Commander, you’re about to find,” a wry smile pulled on the captain’s lips, “that thirty seconds is a looong time on Coltar right now.”

***

It took roughly two hours for all the engineers to beam down. While they settled into their new home for the next month or two, Forrester and Jackson travelled to the planet’s power generation facility to discuss the plans with its chief administrator and chief engineer.

“The current fusion reactor was installed fifty years ago and the old one was decommissioned and dismantled soon after.” The facilities chief engineer, Derek Pottinger, told them. “This facility was originally built to house up to four fusion reactors, the idea being that as the colony expanded then further reactors would be built.”

Jackson studied the schematics displayed on the screen in front of him. There were no holographic computer displays here, the LCARS version the facility used was one that the engineer had only encountered a handful of times; it was mainly green and blue and hadn’t been used onboard Federation starships in more than half a century. “Why weren’t the other fusion reactors built?”

“Because the Federation doesn’t care about Coltar.” An unfamiliar female voice announced from behind them. The group turned to find two women standing there. Jackson didn’t recognise either of them but the captain seemed to.

Forrester offered them a tight smile that held little warmth. “Governor Wells, Ms Forsyth. It’s good to see you again.” He turned towards Jackson. “I’d like to introduce my chief engineer, Lieutenant Commander Christopher Jackson.”

“It’s a pleasure, Commander.” Governor Wells reached out a hand and flashed him the easy, well practised smile of a career politician. 

Jackson shook her hand and offered a polite smile of his own. He turned towards Forsyth, the woman who’d declared the ‘Federation didn’t care about Coltar’, and offered his hand. She took it lightly and gave it a single shake, her features carefully schooled to give nothing away. “It’s a pleasure to meet you both.” He said.

“The Commander was just about to lay out his plan for us.” Forrester raised his eyebrows, a silent instruction for Jackson to take the floor.

Being caught off guard, Jackson’s start was a little unsure. “Uh, yeah. I…um…our plan is in two stages. The first involves upgrading the planetary power grid to meet our additional power needs. We’ll build a secondary fusion reactor to supplement the current one while at the same time we’ll upgrade the grid itself to be able to handle the extra power. Once that’s done, we’ll begin constructing the shield generators and installing them in each of the towns, with smaller units installed in remote farms and settlements.”

“And you can do all of that in less than two months?” The governor asked, sounding sceptical.

Jackson nodded once in reply. “Yes, ma’am. With the industrial replicators we brought with us, I estimate it should take us no more than six weeks to complete our work.”

“How much additional power will this new reactor provide?” Forsyth asked, her steely eyes meeting Jackson’s.

Shifting his weight from one foot to the other under her intense gaze, Jackson replied, “Enough to handle the extra power draw from the shield generators while ensuring that there’ll be no loss of power for your citizens.”

“Typical.” Forsyth folded her arms and turned her head to address the governor. “We’ve been begging the Federation for a new fusion reactor for fifteen years, begging for the additional power we need to be able to grow and it takes some once in a century storm for us to get a new reactor. And when we do get one it won’t help with our growth plans at all” She turned her steely gaze back on Jackson. “Like I said, the Federation doesn’t care about Coltar.”

Jackson bristled at the suggestion and was quickly winding up to shoot back but the captain beat him to the punch. “If that were true, Ms Forsyth, we wouldn’t be here.” Forrester told her smoothly. “Coltar was only out of contact for three hours before the Challenger was sent to investigate.”

“So why has it taken fifteen year for us to get a new fusion reactor?” Forsyth asked tartly. “And when we do it’s a half measure in an emergency situation?”

Jackson was unaccustomed to hearing a Federation citizen being so openly hostile towards it. “Even the Federation’s resources are finite.” He told her hotly, jabbing an angry finger towards the ground. “Decisions have to be made and Coltar is…” The engineer trailed off quickly as he realised what he was about to say would only feed into her negative opinion of the Federation.

“Coltar is what, Commander Jackson?” Forsyth asked with a satisfied smile on her face. “Unimportant?”

A glance at the captain confirmed he would be no help; Forrester was suppressing a smile but the twinkle of amusement at watching Jackson walk straight into her trap was clear in his eyes. “A low priority.” He finished weakly before immediately turning to Forrester. “You agree with her?”

“Kinda.” Forrester replied with a shrug after a moment’s deliberation. “I don’t agree that the Federation doesn’t care about Coltar, but we’re a small fish in a big pond and the big fish are a lot more powerful. The founding member worlds hold a lot more sway over the council than a small agricultural colony like Coltar.”

Jackson couldn’t believe what he was hearing. It was one thing coming from someone like Forsyth but to hear the captain, a man who’d devoted his entire adult life to Starfleet and the Federation, was stunning. “With all due respect sir, all worlds in the Federation are equal.”

Forsyth scoffed but said nothing. A smile crept slowly onto Forrester’s features. “Some more equal than others.” Jackson thought he recognised the captain’s words but he couldn’t place them.

“We seem to have gotten slightly off topic.” Governor Wells said, making her presence known once again. “What timescale are we looking at before this ion storm arrives?”

Jackson was glad of the chance to return to the matter at hand. “We should have a little over three months.”

“And how long would it take for you to construct a full size fusion reactor?” The Governor asked, the hope shining brightly in her eyes..

Although he wished that he could give the governor the answer she wanted, he had to disappoint her. “Longer than we have.” He watched her features fall. “If you don’t mind me asking, have you thought about financing a private endeavour?”

“Three years ago, my predecessor tried that.” Wells replied. “He managed to raise the capital necessary to start construction on a new fusion reactor only to have the Tellarite businessman we were dealing with disappear with all that latinum. It led to his resignation and the special election that landed me in this job.”

A thought struck Jackson and without putting too much thought into it, he announced, “We’ll get you a new full scale fusion reactor to allow your colony to grow.” Out of the corner of his eye he could see Forrester’s head turn slowly towards him, eyes wide. Not wanting to meet his captain’s gaze at that moment, Jackson kept his eyes locked on the Governor. “Once this crisis has passed.”

“Do I have your word on that?” Governor Wells asked casting sceptical glances at Forrester and Jackson. Obviously she and her people had been burned before so he didn’t blame her for being sceptical.

The Challenger’s chief engineer nodded. “Yes ma’am.”

“I’ll hold you both to that.” Wells told them as Forsyth made a gesture that meant nothing to Jackson but was obviously some predetermined signal the governor had worked out with her Chief of Staff. “If you’ll excuse me, I have another engagement to attend to.”

Forrester and Jackson said their goodbyes and as soon as Wells and Forsyth were out of earshot, the captain rounded on his chief engineer. “What the hell was that?!”

“I just thought-”

Forrester quickly caught him off. “No, no, no, no, no.” He said quickly. “You weren’t thinking, that’s the problem. How in the hell are we supposed to get these people a fusion reactor? The Challenger can’t stay in orbit for the months it would take to build it.”

“I’ll come up with something.” Jackson tried to reassure his captain. It would have been more convincing if he believed it himself.

Scrubbing his face roughly with his hand, Forrester let out a sigh. “You’d better. If we don’t follow through on what you’ve just promised them, neither one of us will be able to set foot on this planet ever again.”

The captain walked away, leaving Jackson to consider the weight of what he’d just committed them to.

Commander Bennett lifted the steaming cup of tea from the replicator. She’d never been much of a tea drinker but since breakfast, Bennett had worked her way through four mugs of raktajino. If she continued at that rate, she wouldn’t sleep for days. The tea was a herbal blend that Captain Forrester had introduced her to; spiced camomile, vanilla and chicory root. According to Forrester, it was meant to be calming.

Moving back to the master systems display table in the middle of engineering, Bennett took a small sip of her tea as she studied the hologram that was being projected above the table’s surface. It was a simulation involving the Challenger and the subspace rift. At a nearby wall mounted display, Lieutenants Armstrong and da Costa were discussing making modifications to the warp field that would allow the Challenger to maintain her warp field in the face of the coming storm.

“What do you have?” Commander Kailir asked as she strode into engineering.

Out of the corner of her eye, Bennett could see Armstrong joining them. “Lieutenant Armstrong and I have discussed the proposal from Starfleet Research.”

“Turning the deflector dish into a dekyon beam is fairly easy.” Armstrong told the XO. “But, like a snowflake, no two subspace rifts are alike. What works for one, won’t necessarily work for another.”

Kailir looked from Armstrong to Bennett. “Are you saying that the dekyon beam won’t work?”

“That’s right.” Bennett shook her head. “Based on the data we’ve collected, a dekyon beam won’t have any effect on this rift but Lieutenant Armstrong had an idea.”

The young lieutenant, acting as chief engineer with Jackson on the surface, typed a command into the msd table. “A properly calibrated anti-graviton beam should be sufficient to close the rift.” The hologram of the Challenger fired a beam from it’s deflector directed at the rift. Instantly the rift began to shrink until it disappeared completely.

“Good work, Lieutenant.” The XO’s praise brought a smile to Armstrong’s face and caused a flush to creep up his cheeks. Kailir’s eyes were drawn to the figure over Armstrong’s shoulder. “Lieutenant da Costa, what are you doing here?”

Bennett fought to suppress a smile at Armstrong’s panicked expression. “I suggested the Lieutenant consult with Mister da Costa. I thought he might have some interesting insights into the warp field modifications.” She told the XO. Armstrong’s eyes met Bennett’s and he gave a slight, thankful nod.

“I see.” Kailir replied, studying the chief science officer sceptically. “Very well,” she said, turning her attention back to Armstrong, “carry on.”

When Kailir turned and began walking out of engineering, Bennett quickly fell into step beside her. “What was that?” The XO asked when they were halfway down the corridor.

“What was what?” Bennett asked innocently, unable to keep a smirk from pulling at her lips.

With an exasperated look, Kailir stopped at the turbolift and reached out to press the call button. “You know what I’m talking about.”

“It seems that Lieutenant Armstrong has a crush on our Mister da Costa.” Bennett admitted quietly as the turbolift arrived and the door opened with a soft hiss.

Rolling her eyes, Kailir walked into the turbolift. “Prophets preserve me from horny junior officers.” Once they were both inside, Kailir ordered the turbolift to the bridge.

“Oh sush.” Bennett scolded the XO, unable to hide her annoyance at the Commander’s response. Judging by the look on her face, Kailir hadn’t been expecting Bennett to be quite so forceful. “It’s not like that.”

An awkward silence filled the small space of the turbolift for a few seconds before Kailiar announced, “Well, as long as it doesn’t affect their duties, I don’t care what they get up to.”

Bennett didn’t reply, beyond an agreeing nod.  That awkward silence between them returned and remained until the turbolift door opened, revealing the bridge. Commander Kailir was first out, walking down the ramp and around the horseshoe rail to the command area while Bennett crossed the back of the bridge and relieved the officer at the forward facing science station.

The lateral sensors were still focused on the rift, but a glance at the data told her that nothing had changed. So, she turned her focus to the models that were being developed that would give them some idea of the kind of freak weather Coltar would experience when the ion storm hit and where the worst affected areas would be.

When Lieutenant da Costa stepped off the turbolift forty minutes later, Bennett managed to catch his eye as he walked towards the helm. She gave him a knowing smile that got a confused look from da Costa in return. Bennett shook her head; maybe Armstrong hadn’t managed to ask him out yet. She made a mental note to have a word with the engineer when she got the chance before returning to her work.

It was another hour of studying the weather models for Coltar before an alarm sounded, drawing her attention away. Bennett’s fingers began dancing across the surface of her console, her eyes were locked on the display and her fingers moved entirely from memory.

“Commander, we have a problem.” Bennett announced.

Kailir shot out of the centre chair and moved towards the science console. “What is it?”

“The ion storm is accelerating.” Bennett worked her console silently for a few moments, gathering more data.

The XO’s eyes went wide. “Accelerating? How’s that possible?”

“I don’t know.” Bennett replied with a shake of her head. “I’ll need more data before I can determine the cause but it is accelerating and if it continues at this rate, it’ll hit the planet in ten hours, not twenty five.”

Bennett could see Commander Kailir doing the maths in her head. “So instead of three months the captain’s team only has one?” With a simple nod, Bennett confirmed the XO’s workings. “I’ll prepare a data burst to send to the captain.”

“Two and a half days behind.” Mitchell mused. “Even with that delay, we’ll still have about six or seven weeks between project completion and the ion storm hitting.” The Challenger’s engineers had been on Coltar for just over a week. While one team worked on construction of the fusion reactor, a second was working on upgrading the planetary power grid, while a third smaller team was fabricating the shield generators.

Forrester nodded as he chewed his salmon pasta. The two friends were sitting at the small mess area that had been set up in one corner of the gymnasium that was doubling up as their home away from home. Most of the crew preferred to avail themselves of the capital’s many restaurants and cafes so the mess was quiet this evening. “One benefit of this whole temporal craziness is that it gives us plenty of time to do what we need to.”

“Excuse me, Captain.” A voice to his left said. “This woman says she’s your-”

Forrester shot out of his chair when he noticed the person standing over Ensign Mazz’s shoulder. “Mom. What are you doing here?” He brushed past the Bolian ensign and hugged his mother.

“Well since you haven’t been home since,” she trailed off and skipped over any mention of what had happened during his visit, “I thought I’d come to visit you instead.”

Ushering his mother into a chair opposite Mitchell, Forrester thanked the ensign and dismissed him before turning to his mother.  “Mom, this is AJ.”

“The famous Alexander Mitchell.” Mrs Forrester beamed with delight. “I finally get to meet my son’s boyfriend.”

While Mitchell choked on the water he’d been sipping, Forrester groaned. “Oh my god.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “AJ’s not my boyfriend, mom.” 

“Oh.” Mrs Forrester’s confusion was written on her face. “The way you talk about him, I’ve always assumed that you boys were together.”

Forrester and Mitchell both shook their heads vigorously. “We’re just friends. Best friends.”

“I see.” Mrs Forrester was guided into the chair opposite Mitchell by her son. “Well if you two aren’t a couple, is there someone special? Because you seemed so much happier in your last letter.” Mrs Forrester asked, referring to a letter her son wrote shortly after taking command of the Challenger.

Before Mitchell could jump in, Forrester asked, “Can I get you something to eat or drink?” His mother opened her mouth to speak but stopped herself when she spied the replicator behind him. 

“I’ll just have a cup of tea. Milk and two sugars.” She told him. Once her son was out of earshot, Mrs Forrester spun towards Mitchell. “Is he happy?” She asked conspiratorially.

Caught off by the question, Mitchell stumbled over himself in answering. “Um…he…I guess so?

“I guess so.” Mrs Forrester repeated with disappointment in her voice. “That’s not particularly reassuring.” 

Forrester returned at that moment and placed a cup of tea in front of his mother. She eyed it warily for a moment before lifting it and bringing it to her lips. The way her nose wrinkled as soon as the hot liquid touched her tongue brought a smile to Mitchell’s lips. Her dislike for replicated food and drink was apparently unchanged by this latest experience. 

“So,” Mrs Forrester began as she set the cup back down and pushed it away, “you were just about to tell me if there was someone special.”

Forrester answered ‘no’ at the same time that Mitchell answered ‘yes’. “His name’s Matthias Bentley.” Mitchell ploughed ahead before Tom had a chance to object. “He’s a former Starfleet Officer turned college professor at Kings College, London.”

“AJ.” Forrester whined in a manner that Mitchell thought wasn’t becoming a Starfleet Captain. “Enough.”

Bringing his palm down on the surface of the table, Mitchell could see Mrs Forrester’s shock out of the corner of his eye but his gaze was firmly locked on his friend. “No, I’m gonna keep banging on about this as long as I need to.” Mrs Forrester watched him intently but remained silent. She seemed eager to hear what Mitchell had to say. “What the hell’s wrong with you?  There’s a great guy out there who likes you and wants to be with you and who you want to be with and you’re not even considering trying.”

“It’s not as easy as that, AJ.” Forrester complained. “It’s complicated.”

Mitchell leaned forward. “Bullshit.” He looked straight in his friend’s hazel eyes. They were guarded, they always were. “Bull. Shit. You spent twenty years chasing a dream, not letting anything stand in your way. And you achieved that dream. And now there’s something else out there that you want.” He quickly corrected himself. “Someone. And instead of going after him in that same single minded way you pursued command of a starship, you’re making bullshit excuses.”

“Thomas.” Mrs Forrester’s gentle tone stood in stark contrast to Mitchell’s harsher, combative tone. She took her son’s hand in hers as their eyes met. “Do you like him?” Forrester’s reaction wasn’t immediate. Eventually he nodded. “Then you should go after him.” He opened his mouth but was cut off by his mother. “And you may be right, it may be complicated. But you can find a way to make it work.” She smiled softly. “Tomorrow isn’t promised to any of us so make sure the people you care about know how much.”

A screeching from his PADD tore everyone’s attention away. Forrester reached for the device and activated it, his eyes moving back and forth along the lines of text. As they did, his brow slowly furrowed deeper and deeper. “Shit.”

“What is it?” Mitchell asked, concern etched on his features.

Forrester looked up from the PADD. “Message from the Challenger. The ion storm’s accelerating. We only have a month until it gets here.”

“You and your big mouth.” Mitchell muttered as he pushed his chair back.

Turning to his mother with an apologetic look, he opened his mouth to apologise but she spoke first. “It’s okay. I understand. Go.”

“Thanks.” He leaned in and planted a kiss on her cheek. “I love you.”  After instructing a nearby ensign to escort his mother to the transport hub, Forrester and Mitchell left the mess area behind. They had a lot of work ahead of them and not nearly as much time as they thought they did.

***

The next four weeks were a rush of 18-20 hour days as the Challenger’s engineers raced to complete their work before the ion storm reached Coltar. Jackson led the reactor construction, Forrester commanded the power grid upgrades and Mitchell was placed in charge of the shield generator construction and installation project. With only two days to spare, the fusion reactor was installed and ready to be activated, the power grid had been upgraded and the new shield generators installed. 

Captain Forrester stood at a large window in the power facility’s control room and watched as the drizzle fell from grey clouds. This was just the beginning of the ion stom’s effect on the planet’s weather. In the next few hours the wind would begin to pick up and the rain would grow steadily heavier. By tomorrow there would be hurricanes lashing the coastal towns, tornados sweeping through the inland region, accompanied by torrential rain, thunderstorms and howling winds.

Even though free time had been scarce, Forrester had managed to spend a little time with his mother, meet his sister in law and meet her and George’s children, who asked when they would get to see the Challenger every time he saw them. The memory brought a small smile to his face as he continued watching the drizzle fall. “The calm before the storm.” Forrester muttered.

“Sir?” Forrester turned to find Jackson looking at him expectantly.

The captain hadn’t realised that he’d spoken out loud. “Never mind.” He said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Where are we?”

“We’re almost ready to activate the new reactor, sir. Just running a few final diagnostics.” Jackson reported as his fingers moved rapidly across the console in front of him.

Forrester’s PADD chirped, drawing his attention. Carrying the device around had become second nature while on Coltar since it was the only way they could communicate with the Challenger. A few taps brought up the message that Commander Kailir had just sent. He could sense Mitchell sidle up next to him while he read the message.

“More bad news?” Mitchell asked, craning his neck to try and get a look at the message.

Deactivating the PADD’s display before Mitchell could get a good look at it, Forrester lowered it to his side again. “Just the opposite. The Challenger’s getting ready to activate their anti-graviton beam. They should have the rift closed soon.”

“And the flow of time on the planet will slow and sync with the rest of the galaxy?” Mitchell asked. 

Miller, who’d been standing nearby and overheard their conversation, joined them. “It’ll take a little while for the tachyons in the atmosphere to disperse but gradually, yeah.”

“There were reports of headaches and nausea around the time the rift opened, probably a result of the widening temporal differential.” Miller reported. “We should be prepared for more of the same as the temporal differential shrinks.

Forrester nodded in agreement. “Make sure our people are protected from the effects and work with the health authorities down here to prepare as best you can.”

“Captain, we’re ready to bring the new reactor online.” Jackson announced.

Stepping up beside the engineer, Forrester gave the order, “Proceed.”

Jackson’s fingers danced nimbly across the surface of the console. “Bringing the reactor online at five percent of full capacity.” A new hum reverberated through the facility as the generator came to life and began creating power for the planet. After a few seconds Jackson announced, “Everything looks good. Increasing to ten percent….fifteen…twenty. Holding steady as twenty percent.”

“Commander,” Valentina, one of the facilities engineers, shouted urgently as an alarm started blaring, “there’s feedback building in one of the power converters. It’s going to-” The console Valentina was working at exploded, catching her in the face.

Miller immediately rushed to the wounded woman’s side and Mitchell grabbed a nearby handheld fire suppressor pointing it at the flames flicking out from the console. Jackson’s nimble fingers turned frantic as he worked to shut the reactor down. The new hum ceased as quickly as it started. “What happened?” Forrester asked.

“A feedback pulse.” Jackson replied, the shock he felt evident in his voice. “It built up in the converter and fed back to the console.” He continued working his console as he searched for an answer to the only question on anyone’s mind; why?

Giving his chief engineer a few moments to collect himself and gather information, Forrester moved to where Miller was treating Valentina. “How is she?”

“Stable.” Miller replied. “But I need to get her to a medical facility now.”

Forrester motioned to Mitchell. “Help him get her to a hospital.” With Miller and Mitchell lifting Valentina out of the control room, Forrester turned his attention back to Jackson. “Report, Commander.”

“I still don’t know why there was feedback.” Jackson replied, still working his console. “There shouldn’t have been.”

That wasn’t the answer he wanted to hear. “How long until you can try again?” He asked impatiently.

“I don’t know.” Jackson snapped back, taking the captain by surprise. The regret was immediately visible on Jackson’s face. “I’ll need to figure out why it happened first before we even think about trying again.” He said, a tone of contrition in his voice. “That could take an hour, or a day.”

Forrester let out a sigh. “Alright, let me know when you have something.”

There was little point in standing over Jackson’s shoulder. His impatience would be on display for all to see and that would only set everyone on edge. Instead he found out from the facility’s administrator where Valentina had been taken and  followed Miller and Mitchel there.

“Data burst sent.” Nexani announced. The message in question had been to inform the captain that the Challenger was ready to begin closing the subspace rift.

From behind her, Commander Kailir’s voice gave the order. “Activate the antigraviton beam.” Within seconds an emerald green beam shot forth from the Challenger’s deflector aimed straight into the heart of the subspace rift.

A minute passed before Bennett broke the silence that had fallen on the bridge. “It’s working. The rift is beginning to close.” Nexani allowed herself a satisfied smile at the news but it was short lived. She could sense a rising feeling of panic washing over her. A glance to her right confirmed it was coming from Lieutenant da Costa, whose fingers were frantically tapping at his console.

“Commander. We’re being pulled towards the rift.” The young Lieutenant’s even tone gave away nothing of the panic and fear he was feeling. Nexani closed her mind to refocus on her own work and checked her console. It confirmed that their speed had increased to fifty kilometres per hour and was rapidly increasing.

Kailir shot out of her seat and turned to Commander Bennett. “What’s happening?”

“I don’t know.” As Bennett studied the sensor data, Nexani watched as the Challenger’s speed slowly ticked further upwards. “I think it may have something to do with the proximity of the ion storm.” She fell silent and studied her console carefully. “If Lieutenant da Costa uses the thrusters, that should  allow us to hold station while the rift closes.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Nexani could see da Costa inputting the necessary commands that would activate the bow thrusters to hold the Challenger in place. “Lieutenant da Costa, use the thrusters to hold station.”

Within seconds da Costa had engaged his pre-programmed thruster bursts. “Holding station, Commander.” She didn’t need to use her telepathic abilities to tell that da Costa’s fear and panic had subsided. Nexani didn’t know da Costa well, but she’d found him to be smart, charming, capable and his lack of ego was a breath of fresh air when compared with Mitchell.

“How long until the rift is closed?” Kailir asked as she sat back down in the captain’s chair.

Bennett consulted her sensor displays before replying, “About sixteen minutes, Commander.”

“Cutting it close.” Nexani heard the XO mutter and she was right. At that rate the ion storm would reach the planet’s atmosphere just over ten minutes after the rift closed.

The wait for the antigraviton beam to close the rift was interminable. Nexani had imagined it would take just a minute or two but apparently the rift had other ideas. She’d brought up a small window with the sensor display so she could watch their progress while still keeping an eye on her own work.

“Commander, we’re moving again.” Nexani could feel the panic radiating from him again, though he seemed to have it better controlled this time. “Thrusters are a maximum but we’re still being pulled towards the rift.”

By the time he finished speaking, Commander Kailir was already standing over da Costa’s shoulder. “Engage impulse engines, one quarter reverse.”

“One quarter reverse,” da Costa repeated, “aye.” He smoothly carried out the XO’s orders. After a few moments he reported, “Our speed has slowed but we’re still moving.”

Kailir folded her arms. “Apply whatever power is necessary to maintain our position.”

“Aye, Commander.” The young flight controller’s fingers danced lightly over his console as he increased power to the impulse engines. The seconds ticked by slowly until he announced, “Now reading full stop, Commander.”

The XO turned to Bennett. “How long until the rift is closed?”

“Five minutes.” Bennett replied quickly.

The wait for the rift to be completely closed continued and after another few minutes, da Costa announced, “I’ve had to increase the impulse engines to maximum but we’re still being pulled in.”

“How long until we reach the rift, Lieutenant?” Kailir asked.

Lieutenant da Costa consulted his console. “Two minutes.”

“Time until the rift is closed.” Kailir asked quickly, turning her head to look at the chief science officer.

The look on Commander Bennett’s face told her all she needed to know. “Two and a half minutes.”

“Can we disengage, reposition and finish the job?” Nexani envied Kailir’s calmness right now. Her own heart was thumping in her chest and her forehead beading with sweat but she could sense no fear coming from the Bajoran, just determination.

Bennett shook her head instantly. “If we disengage now, the rift will begin expanding again, feeding off the energy being generated by that ion storm. By the time we repositioned and started again, the rift would be bigger than when we started.”

“Commander Zarbrun, redirect power to the impulse engines.” Kailir ordered, immediately moving onto her next idea. “See if you can buy us the extra seconds we need.”

Nexani quickly went to work, grateful for something to focus on other than her fear. She started rerouting power from non-essential systems and directing it to the impulse engines. Within seconds the sound of the impulse engines beginning to strain could be heard throughout the ship.

“That’s bought us an extra twenty seconds,” Da Costa announced, “can you give me anything more?”

Oh there was plenty more power that Nexani could reroute. In a matter of seconds she’d boosted power to the impulse engines another fifteen percent. As the engines started using that power, the deck beneath them began to rumble.

“Rift closure in sixty seconds.” Commander Bennett announced over the din.

Commander Kailir took her seat. “Mister da Costa. Prepare to come to full stop the moment the rift is closed.”

“Aye, Commander.” The pilot’s fingers tapped out a string of commands as he readied himself to carry out the XO’s instruction.

Nexani reached out and gripped the edge of her console, bracing herself. From her position at science, Commander Bennett was continuing to provide a countdown. “Thirty seconds.”

The rumbling of the deck was getting worse as the Challenger continued to strain against the pull of the subspace rift.  “Twenty seconds.” Bennett shouted.

The sound of the hull groaning could be heard on the bridge. “Ten Seconds!”

With every passing second, the leading edge of the Challenger’s saucer section moved ever closer to what was left of the rift. The sensor display was overlaid on the screen and everyone watched as it finally closed completely. As soon as it did, the Challenger had nothing pulling it forward and the ship immediately shot backwards so fast the interial dampers struggled to keep up. Nexani was pushed against her console by the force, da Costa too, but he quickly pushed himself back and brought the Challenger to a complete stop.

“Drop anchor and raise the shields.” Commander Kailir ordered.

Their relief at surviving the closing of the rift was short lived because now they had to weather the ion storm. The plan was to generate an inverse warp field that would effectively keep them anchored as the storm passed while the shields protected the Challenger and her crew.

“Commander Zarbrun, prepare to send a databurst to the captain.”

***

“The rift is closed.” Tom announced, reading from his PADD. “Challenger’s hunkered down and dropped anchor. Commander Bennett says that the tachyons in the atmosphere are beginning to disperse. The temporal differential has already shrunk a little. She says that within an hour, it should be completely gone and time will be flowing normally again. She estimates that we should experience about twelve hours in that time.”

There were smiles all around as everyone realised that this was almost over. “Thank god for that.” Mitchell replied. “Coltar’s been nice and all but after a month I’m ready to get back to the Challenger.”

“Won’t be long now.” Tom assured him before turning to Jackson. “Where are we with the new reactor?”

Jackson studied the information on his console. “The reactor’s been generating power for twelve hours without a problem now. I’m satisfied that we’re ready to activate the shield generators.”

“Good.” The rain had gotten heavier over the past twenty four hours and the winds had picked up, gusting up to speeds of 45mph in places. In the next hour or two, things would continue to deteriorate. “Prepare to activate the shield generators.”

An Andorian ensign approached him. “Excuse me, Captain. Your mother is on the comm.”

“Thank you, Ensign.” Tom moved over to a nearby console where his mother’s comm channel had been placed on hold. “Mom,” he said after resuming the call, “now’s not a good time. We’re about to activate the shield generators.” It was only then that he noticed the distraught look on his mother’s face. “What’s wrong?”

Mrs Forrester let out an unsteady breath. “Your father’s missing.” She told him. “One of the horses bolted and he went out looking for it. That was three hours ago and we haven’t been able to contact him. George has gone out looking for him but he hasn’t found anything yet.”

“Alright, I’ll be there as soon as I can.” They quickly said their goodbyes.

Tom turned to find Mitchell watching him. “We can handle things here.” Mitchell told him. “Go, before the shields are activated.”

“Thanks, AJ.” Tom left the power facility’s control room and left the building. He needed to get to the transport hub before the ion storm hit and transporters were rendered inoperative.

“Any sign of him?” Tom asked after bursting into his mother’s kitchen. He’d made it to the farm in record time and found his mother kneading dough. This had always been her way of coping when she was worried about something and it brought him a moment’s delight amidst everything.

His mother shook her head and wiped her hands on a nearby towel. “Nothing. George and Ellie are still out looking and the weather’s getting worse. They won’t be able to stay out much longer.”

“Where are Beth and Rory?” Forrester asked, lowering his voice.

Mrs Forrester looked towards the lounge. “They’re doing their homework.”

“Do they know Dad’s missing?” His mother nodded as fresh tears welled in her eyes. “He’ll be fine. The old goat’s too stubborn to die. He’s probably just taking shelter somewhere.”

His mother diverted her gaze to the floor and Tom could see a few tears splashing on the tiles. “When it’s your time, there’s nothing anyone can do.”

“Maybe so,” Tom conceded, “but it’s not his time yet.”

The kitchen door opened again, the sound of the rain and wind becoming louder. George and Ellie blew in along with more than a few leaves. “Did you find him?” Mrs Forrester asked hopefully, but when George closed the door behind him, her hopeful face fell.

“No.” George replied as he removed his soaking wet coat. “We checked the entire farm. There was no sign of him.”

Tom placed an arm around his mother’s shoulder as a gentle sob escaped her. “What about the gully?” He asked.

“We didn’t make it that far, the weather…” George trailed off but it was obvious that it wasn’t safe to be venturing out with the weather as bad as it was and only due to get worse.

Giving his mother’s shoulder a squeeze, Tom decided that he would venture out. “I’ll go check the gully.”

“I’ll go too.” George quickly chipped in.

Tom shook his head. “You’re soaked to the skin, George. Stay here, change into some dry clothes and warm up. I’ll be fine on my own. I have my commbadge and my tricorder. Once I’m clear of the perimeter, I’ll activate the shield from my tricorder.”

“Be careful out there.” His mother told him, placing a hand on his cheek.

He leaned in and kissed her cheek. “I love you.”

Tom stepped out into the wind and rain, bracing himself against the cold air that rushed past him. By the time he left the farm’s yard, he was soaking wet. He soldiered on towards the gully that lay beyond the family’s land. The ground was muddy, making the going all the tougher. 

His tricorder beeped when he moved beyond the shield perimeter. Removing the device from its holster, Tom opened it and input the command to activate the Forrester’s shield generator. He watched as the shield bubble formed. Trees inside the bubble immediately calmed, no longer affected by the gusts of wind that continued to affect everything outside, Tom included.

Tom forged ahead, checking his tricorder periodically for any sign of his father’s lifesigns. It was more than an hour between leaving the farm and reaching the gully. It was only when he was two hundred metres from it that he picked up human lifesigns. “Dad!” He shouted as he reached the edge and found his father lying waist deep in rising water at the bottom of it. Tom gingerly made his way down the sloped bank of the gully and was shin deep in water by the time he reached his father’s side. “What happened?”

“The ground shifted from under me up there.” Tom followed the direction his father’s finger was pointed and could see where the top of the gully had broken away, no doubt the result of the amount of water saturating the ground. “I think my leg is broken.”

Already scanning his father with his tricorder, Tom confirmed what his father suspected. “Yeah, your left leg is broken but it doesn’t look too bad.’

“Well it feels pretty bad.” Derry Forrester grumbled.

Tom ignored his father and studied his tricorder for a moment longer. “I’m gonna get you outta here.” He announced as he snapped his tricorder closed and replaced it in its holster.

“Even if I lean on you for support, I’ll never be able to make it to the top.” Forrester Sr pointed out.

Looking around, studying his surroundings, Tom quickly formulated a plan. “I’ll drag you up the banking. Once at the top I can get you on your good foot or I’ll throw you over my shoulder.”

“You just can’t help but be a big Starfleet hero.”

Tom rolled his eyes. “If you’d prefer, I can leave you here and you can drown when the water rises higher.”

“I’d like to see you explain that to your mother.” Derry braced himself as Tom placed his hands under his father’s arms. 

As Tom started dragging the older man up the banking, Derry let out a loud scream. “I forgot to mention that this is gonna hurt like hell.”

“Thanks for the warning.” Forrester spoke through gritted teeth.

Tom counted down to their second move up the banking, giving his father a chance to brace himself. As expected, his father screamed as he was dragged along the ground. Tom prepared to drag his father further but his foot slipped and he ended up on his back in the mud. 

“You okay?” His father asked, craning his neck to see his son.

Tom sighed and pushed himself out of the mud. “Yeah, I’m fine.” Once back on his feet, Tom prepared his father for another pull. It took great effort to drag his father to the top of the gully and by the time he did, Tom was breathing heavily and needed to take a break but time was not a luxury they had. The rain wasn’t taking its time to come down and the wind had already felled a number of trees.

“Alright, let’s get you up.” He reached down and helped his father up onto his good leg. Father and son looked off into the distance and Tom’s heart leapt into his throat. “Please, tell me that’s not a-”

Forrester Sr cut his son off to finish the sentence. “A tornado. And it looks like it’s heading this way.”

“We’ll never make it back inside the shield perimeter.” Tom announced as he once more visually scanned his surroundings and began to formulate a plan. The light was rapidly fading, and it was already darker than it should have been at this time of day because of the weather so it was difficult for Tom to get his bearings but once he did, he knew just where to go but he couldn’t afford to be slowed down by his father’s injury. “I have an idea.” He moved around in front of his father, bent down and threw the older man over his shoulder.

Tom set off at what would have been a gentle jog, but with the additional weight of his father was more like running at a sprint. “Where are we going?”

“Somewhere we can wait out this storm.” Tom replied amid heavy breaths. “George and I used to hide there from a different kind of storm.” He made his way carefully along the muddy trail, turning right when they came to a sheer cliff face. He followed the route he’d memorised as a boy and soon hit upon the familiar fissure.

Gingerly, he set his father down on his good foot. “What’s this?” Forrester Sr asked, clearly confused why they’d stopped here.

“There’s a cave in here.” Tom replied as he squeezed himself through the opening in the cliff. It was a tighter squeeze than he remembered, though he’d been shorter and scrawnier back then. His father would just about fit, or so he hoped. Reaching out as his father hopped towards the opening, he helped his father through and set him down on the ground..

Finally out of the rain and out of the way of the tornado, they could rest and wait for the ion storm to pass. He activated his tricorder and attempted to open a commlink to his mother, with little success. “The ion storm’s interfering with communications. I can’t contact mom yet.” Moving to his father’s side, he pointed the tricorder at the injured leg. “I’m gonna try and set your leg. There’s a branch over there I can use as a splint.”

“This is gonna hurt.” He told his father, meeting his gaze.

The elder Forrester nodded. “Do it.” In a swift, sharp move, Tom reset the broken bone. A glance at his tricorder, which lay on the ground beside his father’s leg, confirmed that he’d been successful. He collected the stick, which must’ve been about a metre and a half long, and ripped the sleeves from his uniform. He tied the splint against his father’s leg. 

The only thing left to do now was to wait.

They waited for an hour. One hour became two, two hours became three, three hours became four. It was well into hour five before either man said more than two words to each other. “I suppose once you’re finished here, you’ll be off again.”

“Yeah,” Tom replied with a nod, “I would imagine we’ll be moving on as soon as we’re done here.”

His father’s piercing eyes studied him for a moment. “Still quick to walk away from your family.”

“I didn’t walk away,” Tom shot back hotly, “you cast me out, remember?” His father’s eyes dropped to his lap. “You told me that if I went off to the Academy, I wouldn’t be welcome in your house anymore.”

Derry’s eyes darted sharply, meeting his son’s gaze again. “And you went anyway. You knew the price for disobeying me and you chose to leave.”

“You had no right to give me an ultimatum like that.” Tom jumped to his feet, an angry finger jabbing in his father’s direction.

Forrester Sr leaned towards his son. “I’m your father!” He shouted. “I had every right!”

“You should’ve been supporting me, not giving me ultimatums!” Tom thundered back.

Still seated on the ground, Forrester Sr immediately shot back, “I was trying to keep you safe.”

Tom opened his mouth to reply but quickly snapped it shut again as his father’s words registered. “Safe?” He asked softly, the confusion he felt written across his face. “How was giving me that ultimatum supposed to keep me safe?”

“I thought,” Derry began sadly, his eyes dropping to his lap again, “that it would make you think twice about going off to the Academy, that you would choose to stay if leaving meant losing your family. I wanted you to stay on Coltar where it was safe, even if it made you unhappy.” His father glanced at Tom’s face, seeing his eyebrows raise high in surprise. “I know how bad that sounds but that’s how I felt.”

Never taking his eyes off his father, Tom lowered himself slowly to the ground. “Keeping me on Coltar didn’t guarantee my security.” Tom told him. “The Dominion occupied Betazed and Benzar. They attacked Earth.” He let out a heavy sigh. “Even forgetting the war, life on Coltar isn’t completely safe. There are plenty of ways I could’ve been injured just working on the farm.” Silence fell for a few seconds. “Mom reminded me recently that tomorrow isn’t promised to any of us.”

“I didn’t want to lose you.”  Derry told his son, a lone tear falling down his cheek.

Tom reached out and placed a hand on his father’s forearm, causing the older man to meet his son’s eyes. “You lost me anyway.”

“I know.” He fidgeted absentmindedly with his trouser leg. “I couldn’t let go of my anger. I allowed it to fester.” 

Tom squeezed his father’s arm. “We both did. Two stubborn fools, neither willing to be the first to reach out.” His father nodded silently in agreement. “Look, what’s done is done. We’ll get nowhere dwelling on that. Instead, why don’t we work on repairing this and moving forward.”

“I’d like that.” Derry’s voice was thick with emotion when he spoke.

Tom leaned forward and wrapped his arms around his father’s neck, hugging him for the first time in more than a quarter of a century. His father wrapped his arms around his son in response. “I love you, dad.”

“I love you too, son.” His father mumbled. “I’m proud of you.”

Tears pricked at Tom’s eyes and fell freely within seconds. He’d waited what felt like a lifetime to hear those words coming from his father, convinced that it would never happen. The euphoria he felt at hearing them was tempered with sadness for the years that they’d lost but he’d meant what he said, he didn’t want to dwell on that.

The next few hours were spent in conversation as father and son caught up on twenty six years of each other’s lives. Derry regaled his son with tales from the farm while Tom would share stories of his adventures in Starfleet.

Neither of them had been keeping track of time so when Tom’s commbadge chirped, they were both taken by surprise. The voice of Commander Kailir emanated from the communicator. “Challenger to Forrester.”

“Forrester here.” He replied, breathing a sigh of relief. “Good to hear your voice, Commander. What’s your status?”

“The ion storm has dissipated, sir.” Kailir reported. “The weather on Coltar is beginning to calm but it’ll be a few hours until it returns to normal. Challenger is fully operational and ready to assist with any cleanup operations.”

Tom couldn’t help but feel pride in his crew. “Very good, Commander. Lock onto my signal and beam the two of us directly to Sickbay.”

“Are you okay, sir?” Kailir asked, a hint of worry creeping into her voice.

His XO’s concern was touching. “I’m fine, Commander. My father’s broken his leg.”

“Understood, sir. We’ll beam you up momentarily.” Kailir replied.

Derry moved to stand but Tom motioned for him to stay seated. Better to let the Challenger’s medical staff help move him. Within seconds the familiar pull of the transporter beam took hold and the cave they’d been taking cover in was replaced by the familiar surroundings of the Challenger’s sickbay.

Medics were immediately moving in, helping Derry to the nearest biobed. “I hear we have a broken leg.” Doctor Powell announced as he approached Derry’s beside. He scanned the elder Forrester with a medical tricorder and within seconds had confirmed the diagnosis. “We’ll have you patched up in no-time.” The Englishman assured his patient.

Derry looked to where his son was standing at the bottom of the bed. “You’d better go and let your mother know we’re safe.”

“Good thinking.” Tom agreed before turning to Powell. “Doc, any objection to me using Miller’s office?”

Powell shook his head. “Not at all, sir.”

Tom thanked him and made his way into Doctor Miller’s office. “Computer, open a communication channel to Joyce Forrester on Coltar IV.”  The computer beeped in response and within seconds his mother’s face appeared on the translucent holographic display.

“Thomas. Are you okay? Did you find your father? Is…is he alright?” Mrs Forrester peppered her son with rapid fire questions.

As he held his hand up, his brother appeared over his mother’s shoulder. “We’re fine. I found him at the bottom of the gully. He has a broken  leg and we’re both cold and hungry, but we’re fine.”

“Where are you?” She asked, the urgency still not leaving her voice.

Tom smiled. “We’re onboard the Challenger.”

“Can we-”

She didn’t need to finish her question for Tom to know what she was asking. “Of course. Let me know when you’re ready and I’ll have you beamed up.”

“Okay. We’ll be ready in a few minutes.” Mrs Forrester told him.

Tom smiled and nodded. “I’ll see you soon then.” They quickly said their goodbyes and cut the channel. Tom immediately instructed to prepare to beam his mother and brother up as soon as they signalled ready.

It took less than five minutes for Mrs Forrester to signal her readiness and she and George were promptly beamed onboard. Tom had taken a few minutes to pull on a clean uniform so Commander Kailir meet them in the transporter room and escorted them to Sickbay.

Joyce immediately fussed over her husband while Tom filled George in on the details of the circumstances that he’d found his father in. The two conversations quickly merged into one as the four Forresters chatted, oblivious to the people around them watching out of the corner of their eyes, for the first time in decades without the tensions that had plagued them or the same old arguments surfacing yet again.

Thomas Forrester had finally come home.