By the time Cambil and her team beamed back up to the Themis, the ship was already at red alert. Swiftly, Cambil led everyone to the bridge via the nearest turbolift after leaving transporter room one. The crew were all rushing to their stations, and handheld weapons were being handed out while security officers were moving to secure vital areas of the ship. The second Cambil stepped out onto the bridge, the boatswain whistle was played, and Lieutenant Commander Jines spoke up.

“Captain on the bridge.”

Waving off the formality, Cambil proceeded to the middle of the room where her chief engineer stood. “Report, Ramona.” 

“The entire Kyanna Prime defence force just went to high alert, and their orbital weapons are activating too,” Perez shared. “We’ve been asked to break orbit and move away from the system while they deal with this issue.”

“Obviously, this timeship means something to them,” Samris commented as he took his chair beside the captain’s chair. 

Not wasting any more time, Cambil took her seat at the same time as T’Rani. “Number One, I believe it’s time we departed.”

T’Rani agreed and looked at the helm station. “Lieutenant Andar, take us out, half impulse until we are at least five thousand kilometres from the planet and then increase to full impulse on a heading of two-one-eight mark one-six-nine.”

“Aye, ma’am,” Andar said as their vines tapped away on the console.  

“Do we have the new temporal shielding operational?” Cambil asked Lenjir, who was now stationed at tactical behind her.

“We do, captain,” He replied courteously after checking his console for a brief second.

“Then bring it online,” Cambil ordered. “I don’t want a stray Krenim weapon hitting us as we retreat.”

 “Captain, that timeship appears quite powerful,” Abbej reported from the science station.

Looking over at the Boslic officer, Cambil was intrigued by the statement made by her chief science officer. “Clarify, commander.”

“For a ship of its size, it’s emitting a high amount of tachyokinetic energy,” Abbej replied.

“Put it up on the main viewer,” Cambil was intrigued to see this prototype timeship that the Krenim were scared of being in the hands of these radicals. 

The timeship did not share the same design lineage as the other Krenim ships that were present. Instead of sharing in the bronze armour plating on its hull, the timeship looked more like a Federation ship with its dark grey hull configuration. Its elongated, sleek form gave it a strikingly streamlined silhouette with a broad, almost spherical main body that tapered into a narrower aft section – wing-like structures jutted from either side, containing the ship’s warp nacelles. In contrast, the forward section was pointed towards what appeared to contain the ship’s main deflector dish.

“From what I can tell, that main deflector is connected to whatever is producing the tachyokinetic energy,” Perez stated. “I’m no temporal mechanic, but I would say that was what made it a timeship.”

“And we want to be friends with the Krenim when they have such technology?” Abbej remarked.

“Better to have them on outside than using that technology against us,” Lenjir responded.

In a few seconds, the other Krenim ships started to fire their weapons against the stolen timeship, but something appeared to activate on it that changed its hull configuration resulting in the weapons passing right through them. 

“Did that ship just phase itself?” Cambil asked as she stood up, alarmed at its capabilities. 

“The ship is now in a state of temporal flux,” Abbej confirmed. “It’s phasing out of the normal space-time continuum.”

“Captain, it’s powering up its engines,” Perez reported. “And it’s heading straight for us.”

“The timeship is hailing us,” Jines announced.

Baffled by this action, Cambil looked to T’Rani, who shared a similar Vulcan response. Turning back to look at her operations officer, Cambil nodded. “Open a channel.”

The main viewer changed to show the image of Doctor Irlina in the small, cramped cockpit with other scientists that Cambil knew. They were all on Onitha when they rescued them from their Paradox Machine. “Doctor Irlina, this is a surprise.”

“I’m sorry we’re meeting again like this captain,” Irlina stated. Her tone sounded desperate and sincere. “However, after our last encounter, I spent some time reviewing what the Paradox Machine showed us, and even though I am convinced my people need to be more meticulous in our approaches to temporal mechanics, there is one force threatening our existence.”

“I don’t understand, doctor,” Cambil was worried why Irlina was sharing this with her. On the other hand, she was annoyed not to know from the Krenim delegation that Irlina was here at Kyanna Prime. “What is it we can help you with?”

“There’s nothing you can help us with,” Irlina responded. “For the Krenim people to survive, we must stop you and your people.”

“Stop us?” Cambil repeated. “Stop us from what?”

“For what will happen,” Irlina answered before taking a breath, appearing quite upset now. “I am sorry.” She cut the channel with a press of a button and was gone.

“Captain, the timeship is firing at the other Krenim ships,” Lenjir reported. The viewscreen had reverted to its previous imagery of the timeship. A number of purple dots flew from all angles of the timeship, all aimed at the Krenim ships that surrounded them. In a matter of seconds, its weapons had knocked each Krenim out. They were disabled. 

The timeship then spun on its axis as it continued to chase after the Themis; it then fired its weapons against them. Shuddering from the external force, the Themis remained in one piece.

“Temporal shielding is holding,” Lenjir reported. “Do I return fire, ma’am?”

Cambil had turned on her heels and looked over at Abbej. “Are they still in a state of phase?”

Abbej nodded after checking the sensors. “There’s no way our weapons will hit their target.”

“What if we fire a full spread of quantum torpedoes and have them detonate the moment they pass through the ship?” T’Rani suggested. “Their point-zero reaction may be enough to force the timeship out of phase.”

“It’s the best idea we have—” Cambil started to reply when Andar interrupted her.

“Captain, sensors show tachyon and chronometric particles emanating from the timeship.”

“They’re trying to create a temporal vortex,” Abbej added. “And it’s aimed in our direction.”

“Captain, if that surge of energy hits us, we will be destroyed!” Lenjir announced. 

“Get us out here, Andar, any course and heading, maximum warp!” Cambil commanded as she sat back down in her chair.

“The particles have collapsed the warp drive,” Andar replied.

Perez shook her head in discomfort as she tried to work out what was happening but couldn’t do so quickly. “The timeship is preventing us from creating a stable warp bubble.”

“Then load up those torpedoes, Cline,” Cambil ordered as she tightly grabbed her chair’s arms.

Before Lenjir could announce the torpedoes were loaded, the time ship’s forward deflector came to life as it fired a beam of chronitons and tachyons ahead of it. The beam hit the Themis, causing it to roll off its axis, and a vortex was created beside it. The timeship flew right into it.

 “Inertial dampeners are offline,” Perez announced over the commotion as the Themis lost control. 

The bridge crew had been pushed out of their seats and stations. T’Rani, who had been on the floor, got up, struggling to fight against the ship’s spin. Slowly, she pushed herself across the bridge towards the helm. She could see their Phylosian pilot struggling to get a grip on his chair. Without hesitation, she found the strength to push him back into it before activating the chair’s brace to keep him strapped in. “Andar, use thrusters to reset our pitch,” She ordered.

 “Thrusters cannot compensate against the extreme gravimetric surge; we’re being pulled into the vortex,” Andar declared. 

Cambil, who had been pushed out of her chair, swore to the Prophets as she looked at the state of her ship, bathed in its emergency lighting as it dragged into the rift. Like water emptying from a sink, it was flushed away with everything, and then the rift closed behind them. 

It took several more seconds before the Themis was ejected back into normal space. 

“We’re okay; I’ve got helm control back,” Andar said from the conn. “We’re out of the vortex.”

“The vortex has closed behind us,” Abbej added.

Pulling herself back into her chair, Cambil took a breath as she realised her hair was now a mess. Quickly, she tidied it up and asked for a damage report.

Perez was the first to answer. “Temporal shields are down. There’s some buckling in the secondary hull. Main power is down. Warp drive is offline.”

“Auxiliary and emergency generators are coming online,” Jines stated. 

“Where are we?” T’Rani asked as she smoothed her uniform.

“We’ve travelled over sixty-thousand light years,” Andar conveyed. They appeared to take a double look at the helm station. “We are in close orbit of Bajor.”

“Bajor?” Cambil repeated, astonished to hear they were this close to her homeworld.

Andard confirmed with a nod.

“When?” Cambil asked next.

“Checking,” Abbej said as she quickly pulled the sensors to run a scan of the local area. “According to our astrometric readings, I would say we’ve travelled almost a century into the past.”

T’Rani turned to Cambil. “Logically speaking, if Doctor Irlina is planning to attack the Federation, returning to its distant history where it cannot defend itself from a temporal incursion would be the best strategy.”

“But why head to Bajor?” Samris questioned. “Why not Earth? Or Vulcan? Or Andoria? Or Tellar Prime? Attacking one of the founding worlds seems more logical.”

“It does,” T’Rani considered the captain’s point momentarily. “I am unsure, counsellor.”

“And why so far back in Bajor’s past?” Cambil asked before she shook her head. “Where is the timeship?”

Abbej checked her sensors one more time, “I’ve got it. It’s close by in orbit of Bajor.”

“Andar, take us to them,” Cambil ordered without hesitation. 

“Captain,” Lenjir said, almost screaming. “The timeship is powering up again, and it appears to be targeting the planet.”

Standing up instantly, Cambil saw the image of the Krenim ship before her. Again, without thinking, she quickly ordered Lenjir to fire the quantum torpedoes they had prepared before their transit through the temporal rift. 

“I’ve got no power to the torpedo launchers,” Lenjir reported.

“Decter, transfer emergency power,” Cambil commanded.

The Rutian nodded as he rerouted power. As he did, the lights around them dimmed further as power was assigned to the tactical array.   

“Launchers online,” Lenjir announced.

“Fire!” Cambil said with determination. Watching with bated breath, Cambil hoped the torpedoes did as they were intended. They flew across the space between the Themis and the timeship. Seconds later, they exploded in and around the phased ship, and the shockwaves from their detonation gently caressed the Themis hull. The timeship was disabled and appeared to return to normal space. However, its sustained damage caused it to lose control and head down towards Bajor.

“Tractor beam,” Cambil ordered. “We can’t let it crash.”

“The tractor beam array is also damaged, ma’am,” Perez announced. 

“Can we launch runabouts too—” Cambil stopped mid-sentence as she saw the timeship quickly enter the upper atmosphere of Bajor and begin to burn up at an incredible rate. 

“Can we beam the crew out?” Cambil asked next. She was desperate to do something positive.

“There’s too much interference, ma’am,” Jines replied. “Also, I’m not detecting any life signs on the timeship now.”

“Captain, they’ve launched what appears to be an escape pod,” Andar shared. “It’s following the wreckage of the timeship. It will crashland into a large uninhabited valley.”

Before Cambil could ask for anything else, a massive explosion erupted on the Themis.

“Report!” Cambil asked over the further uproar.

“Seven EPS conduits have just overloaded from damage, ma’am. We’re losing more power,” Perez said as she got up from her station. “I’m heading down to engineering.”

“Decter, go with her!” Cambil ordered the operations officer. “Secure the power grid at all costs, commanders.”

Watching the two officers depart, Cambil looked back at her first officer. “Secure the ship, Number One and then get me a damage report.”

“Aye, ma’am,” T’Rani replied and started coordinating their efforts to repair the ship.

“Abbej, Andar, the Krenim were targeting a specific place on Bajor. Can you tell me where?” Cambil asked them.

Andar got out of the helm and slithered across the bridge towards the science station to help the science officer. Seconds later, they reported they had an answer. 

“Ma’am, it was the Kendra Province,” Andar reported.

The colour drained out of Cambil’s face immediately.

“Kendra?” Abbej echoed before looking at their captain. “Ma’am, aren’t you from Kendra?”

Cambil nodded when she realised what Irlina meant by stopping them. She didn’t just mean the Federation; she meant Cambil specifically. 

“The year,” Cambil said after a second. “Abbej, what’s the year?”

Abbej checked her readings one more time. “Twenty-three-nineteen.”

Cambil felt dizzy at hearing that. “Twenty-three-nineteen. The year the Cardassian occupation of Bajor started.”

Hearing this, Lenjir spoke up. “Ma’am, I’m not detecting any Cardassian ships or life signs on Bajor.”

“Not yet,” Cambil sighed heavily as she placed her hands on her hips.

“Why come back in time before the Cardassians invaded Bajor?” Samris asked aloud. 

“My father was born in Kendra before the Cardassian invasion,” Cambil said solemnly.

“Irlina was going to kill your father and stop you from existing,” Samris summarised. “With all due respect, ma’am, that seems quite extreme.”

“Maybe, but Doctor Irlina made that remark about what we’re going to do; obviously, I’m part of that,” Cambil stated.

“As is Bajor, as they were going to attack it from orbit,” Abbej stated. The others looked at her, confused by her reasoning. “Think about it. Why not just beam down to the planet and kill your father without much attention? That forward deflector of theirs is powerful. I think it can do more than just open a temporal vortex.”

“There are too many questions for us to answer here,” Cambil said. “We need to go down there and find out more.”

“That would be illogical, ma’am and against the temporal prime directive,” T’Rani reminded her as she finished her work on assigning repair teams. “We need to gather more data to help us determine the Krenim’s intentions.”

“Beg your pardon, commander, but that’s not Vulcan being attacked or your parents being targeted,” Cambil replied. “They launched an escape pod. We need to track it down and stop them from doing more damage. We also need to find the remains of that timeship and stop anyone down there from finding it. We can let a Krenim experimental ship fall into the hands of the Cardassians when they arrive.”

“Or the Bajorans,” Lenjir added, prompting a glare from Cambil. “No disrespect, ma’am, but we can’t let the Bajoran Resistance use it. The timeline will be affected.”

“You’re saying we allow over fifty million Bajorans perish, commander?” Cambil questioned with a serious tone.

“Temporal Prime Directive, ma’am,” Lenjir replied honestly.

Cambil took a deep breath. “Andar, place us into a low orbit of Derna, the fourth moon. Its para-magnetic core should mask our energy signature, just in case the Cardassians arrive.”

The pilot nodded and returned to the helm.

“Then T’Rani, Cline, Samris, you’re with me, and Cline, let’s have the Hazard Team meet us in sickbay for some surgical alterations,” Cambil ordered as she headed towards the turbolift. “Abbej, the bridge is yours.”

“Captain, what are you doing?” T’Rani confronted her in front of everyone.

Turning around, Cambil looked at her first officer. “Leading an away mission to find the Krenim escape pod and ship. Why?”

Stepping forward, T’Rani took in a breath. “It is inappropriate for you to lead such an away mission, ma’am. It will become complicated when there are personal attachments to the away team’s mission objectives.”

“Your objection is noted, commander,” Cambil replied. “But unless any of you have spent a considerable amount of time on Bajor that I’m unaware of, then I’m the best person to lead the away team. Are we clear?” 

T’Rani nodded, realising she could not argue with the captain’s logic. “Understood, captain, but I must insist that the temporal prime directive is followed.”

“Of course, and that’s why you’re coming with me to keep that in check, Number One,” Cambil said as she resumed her walk towards the turbolift. She called down to sickbay to inform Forbes that he would be having some visitors shortly so he could turn them into Bajorans. Cambil then ordered Jines to meet them in sickbay. If they were to find the crashed ship she would need someone with her that could secure its systems. The group entered the turbolift, and Cambil turned to look at Abbej. “Help Perez with repairs to the ship and make sure no one sees us, commander.”

Abbej nodded to her commanding officer before the lift doors closed on them.