Commander Salan had been near to death when they’d beamed him aboard the USS Jaxartes; but that was no reason to give up; whilst there was a spark of life, there was hope.  In Sickbay Doctor Andrianakis and the ships Emergency Medical Hologram raced to discover what poison had been used and formulate some form of cure to save the man’s life.  Thankfully it was something simple; a combination of a flower and the leaves of two plants native to Elas.  Had they not come to his aid, he would have been dead within the hour.  With the treatment administered, Commander Salan would live.

With the monitoring systems of the Bio-bed and the watchful eyes of the EMH to keep careful check on the Commanders progress; Doctor Andrianakis went to her office and sat down at her desk.  At some point she must have drifted off to sleep, and as she slept a voice echoed across the void.

“Come to me and I will show you what real power is like.”

Andrianakis sat bolt upright, eyes darting around the room to make sure she was alone and the entity hadn’t found a way of getting aboard the ship.  She checked the time; an hour had passed since she’d walking in.  Standing up, the doctor crossed to the other side of the room and replicated herself a cup of Raktajino.  Holding it in both hands, she went back into the main part of Sickbay.

The Vulcan lay there; looking calm and relaxed in his sleep, his breathing slow and steady.  The bed constantly monitored his heart rate, respiratory systems and brain activity.  Every figure being compared with those recorded during past physical evaluations to ascertain the Commanders level of health.   Most of the reading had returned to something much closer to what was considered normal.

Lieutenant Devron walked into the room a few minutes later.  “How is he?

“Stable.” The doctor gave just a one word answer. “We were lucky that the person who did this picked one of the most common forms of poison on the planet.”

“They didn’t expect anyone to reach him in time.” Devron Commented.

“No, even under normal circumstances without the blockade, the journey was going to take three days.” Andrianakis added.

“He has you to thank for that.” Jason smiled.  “How are you feeling?”

“A little tired, scared and.” She paused taking a long sip of her Raktajino.  “Hungry.”

Jason took her free hand.  “Well we can grab a bite to eat and maybe we can talk about it?”

“I take it we’re still in orbit?” Phoebe asked.

“Yes, for now, no one seems to be chasing after us.” Devron replied. “So we are looking for any suspicious activity that will give us a definite start point.”

“So we’re not heading for Vashran?”

“Nothing odd or out of the ordinary has been reported by them.”

“Nothing odd was reported happening here.  But someone tried to murder the Commander.”

The doctor had a point, just because the planet Vashran was close to one edge of the restricted zone, didn’t mean it wasn’t playing an important role in Helgeshran’s plans.  After all; his followers had made an attempt to kill them there.  Devron tapped his Comm-badge.  “Helm plot a course to Vashran and get us underway, warp 5.”  Lieutenant Stuart replied, confirming the instructions.

**********

High Chancellor Krevis slumped in his chair; he was exhausted after another hard day.  He hadn’t slept the last two nights, since witnessing the needless death of the gardener, right before his very eyes.  The image was still so sharp and vivid; it made Krevis sick, just to think of it.  He had no idea who out of his staff he could trust; Ikali his secretary was one Krevis knew to be under the control of Helgeshran; and she watched him like a Fraichra.  Those things could be deadly and were relentless in the pursuit of pray; he felt she was probably as dangerous, right now.  As for any of the others in his staff they had not revealed themselves to be under any outside influences; that meant nothing though..

Krevis studied the sharp letter opener on his desk; it was well within arm’s reach.  He could grab it and dive at Ikali, plunging the sharp point deep into her chest; or he could turn it on himself and end his own life.  If he was dead, he couldn’t be forced to do things against his will; if he was dead he wouldn’t have to witness the total enslavement of his planet.

Growing up and living through the Romulan occupation, had been bad enough; but that paled into insignificance when compared to what the Helgeshran was planning.  This God or whatever it was, wasn’t just taking this planet, not even a handful of planets or even a galaxy; no, he aimed to take them all, every last one of them.

The High Chancellor looked at the letter opener once more, before closing his eyes.  Was he a coward or a fool?  Either way, his heart hung heavy.

**********

The SRV James Binney was a relatively small ship; but one packed with the latest and most sophisticated scientific equipment the combined efforts of serval research establishment could lay their hands on.  She’d been launched less than five months ago, with much fanfare from the scientific community.  Over two hundred applicants had put their names forward to be part of the twelve crewmembers who would head out on its inaugural mission.  The selection process had been both through and challenging.  Not only would those picked be well regarded in their respected fields; they’d have to operate and maintain the ship themselves.

It was 2am, according to the ships chronometer; the bridge, such as it was, only occupied by one individual.  For Quantum physicist Aiden Scott; it was his turn to be on night watch, keeping an eye on everything, whilst the rest of the team slept.  Aiden’s main role beyond that of his academic skills was that of communications, an interesting choice for someone who’d been born deaf and had never heard sound in the conventional sense. The implants that he’d received, aged 9, did the work electronically that the inner ear should have done.  Before then, he’d lived in a totally silent world.

The ships current location was at the edge of Harpers Rift.  It hadn’t been part of their original mission to examine this anomaly; but after the collapse of Underspace, which the rift had been partly connected to, it had begun acting rather weirdly.  Unexplainable readings had been detected by various satellites and other sensors; so the James Binney had been sent to take a closer look.

So far they’d gathered a wealth of data that was going to take months to sift through and decipher.  Harpers Rift had always been a bit of an enigma to begin with.  Now it sat there; mocking the scientific community, as it kicked out energy reading that matched nothing ever recorded before.

A spike in neutrino levels and a shift in the gravimetric readings caught Aiden’s attention. He moved seats to take a closer look at the fresh data coming in.  The sensors indicated that the rift now possessed a greater mass than it had, only minutes before.  A sense of wonder and disbelief held his attention, as part of his brain tried to yell, that may be this was a good time to wake the others.  As oddly as Harpers Rift had been behaving so far, this was completely off the scale.

He need to of worried though; for a moment later, two of his colleagues stepped on to the bridge.  “What do you make of all this?”  Aiden asked them, pointing at the screen in front of him.

“All hail the Helgeshran, he of the light.” They both replied. “For his time is now.”

Aiden looked at the pair of them in bemusement, trying to fathom what kind of a weird joke this was and why they were playing it now, during what could be the greatest scientific moment in history.  They both pointed at the rift; the clouds of which had turned into a swirling maelstrom, and from the heart of the storm, emerged a planet.  A planet that by all accounts and previous attempts to scan the rift; should not have existed.

Harpers Rift had been more than just a link to the underspace corridors; it was a gateway to another universe, and the gateway was wide open!