“So, were just walking into a clear trap?” Jessica protested.

“No, trying to get in ahead of the trap before they can recall the additional 9 ships parked outside 74.” Michael corrected as they walked back to the conference room.

“We’re still receiving sensor data from Starbase 80, we confirmed the Klingon flotilla’s arrival, and the three squadrons’ departures. All that remains is one ship.” Pi added.

“What are we dealing with?” Michael said as he motioned for the awaiting Orlok Ken to take a seat.

“Negh’Var-class, Warship.” Zachary confirmed, taking his seat at the table.

“That’s going to be the Klingon’s Flagship. Sir, this doesn’t happen, a Hive Lord never comes out in the open like this!” Orlok included.

“Why the hell is it like that anyway? I thought you said they remained hidden inside hosts?” Michael snapped as everyone settled in around the conference room.

“Hive-Lords are too large to infect most species, and for the most part, they do remain hidden and deeply protected, but with the Klingons, the parasites latched onto the mythos of Gre’thor and the Fek’Ihri. This one took over from the Hive-mother that infected Gowron. Kahless is the only parasite we know of that has had an actual name.” Orlok explained.

“More importantly, why does it want you?” Jessica asked, turning her attention back to the captain.

“I have a theory on that.” V’era chimed in. “If they’re using time crystals to glimpse into the future, then they’re only getting partial information, and not the whole picture. I think they are aware the portal is only going to open with someone outside our universe, but they might not know they need our Quantum State Vector, which is why they want the captain.” The science officer extrapolated.

“That and holding a starship’s captain hostage is a textbook bargaining chip to not fire on said enemy vessel.” Pi corroborated.

“So they hold the station hostage till they have Angelus, then what? How do we know they won’t fire on it as soon as they have him? They’re not Klingon, so it’s foolish to think they would negotiate with any semblance of honor.” Roptojmey interjected.

“Use me…” Orlok blurted out.

“What do you mean?” Michael asked.

“Offer me, tell them if they depart the station in peace, they can have me too. They want me dead, they think I’m dead…they find out I’m still alive, they’ll put two and two together and figure I was the reason Starbase 74 fell.” Orlok explained.

“Ken, that’s suicide.” Clara stated.

“I’m already dead…I can’t go back with you guys, and I can’t leave this body without killing this Orlok. You all may be displaced in this universe, but I’m a paradox. You said it yourself; the Loom hates a paradox. Best if I were on the other ship than yours if they show up. Plus, I can’t pass up the opportunity to kill a Hive Lord.” Orlok affirmed.

“Killing a hive mother also kills every drone associated with it. But killing a hive lord kills every associated hive mother…and they are linked to thousands of mothers across the quadrant. We could free the entire Klingon empire in one fell swoop.” Miranda added.

“Records do indicate the Loom prioritizes paradoxes and temporal distortion over other targets, so the logic is sound. No offence…” V’era expressed, turning to apologize to the Trill.

Orlok shook his head, indicating he took no offence to the Vulcan’s assessment.

“Why do they have the Time Crystal affixed to their Warp Core?” Michael asked.

“Probably to give their ship some form of Temporal Shielding from the Loom’s time-dilation effects.” Kiff answered. Michael turned to look at the Bolian, who nodded and pushed his chair away from the table. “Yeah…I’ll head down to Engineering and start working on that.”

“I still don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go over there.” Jessica affirmed.

“What choice do we have? Worst case, I can wear an ETU and beam back over once things get hairy.” Michael shrugged.

Miranda cleared her throat, drawing the attention of the senior staff at the table. As all eyes locked onto the Chameloid, her skin rippled and reshaped, taking on the form of the Captain across from the table. “You think I’m just going to let Ken go over there by himself?” she asked, in Michael’s tone of voice.

————————————
USS Dragon – Contaminated Universe: Starbase 80
————————————

The ship was already at Red Alert before they dropped out of warp. The Dragon crawled to a stop, 20,000km away from her target. The Negh’Var-class Klingon warship, the IKS Grethor, was there waiting, maintaining her position just to the side of the abandoned Starbase.

“Weapons hot.” Michael ordered, as the Inquiry-class starship’s phaser banks began to light up with energy in a threatening posture. “Hail them.”

“Channel open.” V’era confirmed.

“Kahless, I’m here…and I have come to bargain.” Michael announced.

The screen lit up with the same horrific image as before, a slimy, armored worm creature with four appendages that hung off the Klingon captain’s chair. “Ahh, Michael. You speak as if I don’t already have everything I want. And once I have you, I’ll have everything I need to cross over into the next universe.”

“And tell me, what’s to stop me from coming over there and destroying that starship of yours?” Michael scowled.

“Oh yes, your starship is far more advanced. But you see, not only would it condemn your friends on Starbase 74, but I have on my ship a little something called a Temporal Abrasion Impulse. If I activate that, it will undoubtedly summon the Loom…and once they see you…well, you’re not -THAT- advanced.” The bug creature sneered.

“Call your ships off from Starbase 74…and I will come over. And to sweeten the deal, I’ll bring him.” Michael nodded off-screen, and a bound Orlok Ken was pushed into frame.

The creatures’ faces tilted some in confusion at seeing Orlok. “This is a trick. The trill terrorist was already executed upon his capture. That is his Chameloid companion!” it hissed.

“Scan the bridge then, see if I am lying. Lower Dorsal shielding.” Michael ordered.

Kahless was quiet for a moment. Michael could hear Klingonese being spoken in the background as the warship scanned the Dragon. “Impossible…” it finally spoke as the scans confirmed Orlok was indeed a joined Trill.

“You killed the Chameloid. We had to inject her with various chemicals for her to maintain my form after her death. It was the only way to get you to drop your guard.” Orlok growled.

“Well played, captain. I will enjoy ripping this one limb from limb and feasting upon his symbiote! I’ll indulge your request of good faith, for what little good it will do that pathetic resistance.” Kahless gargled, turning his head and hissing at someone off-screen.

“Sensors show the Klingon Squadrons are breaking off from Starbase 74, current course and speed indicate they’re headed back here. ETA, 3 hours.” Pi reported from his station.

“Sir, I am showing a buildup in the Negh’Var’s warp core.” Zach called out.

“Tik-tok, Captain. You didn’t buy yourself time with that little stunt, just your friends. I expect you on board my ship in the next 5 minutes with our friend, or we call in more immediate reinforcements.” The bug threatened.

“On our way…” Michael sneered, signaling for the channel to be closed.

Orlok dropped the ‘bindings’ that he was holding around his hands as Michael turned to face him. “Id wish you luck, but even if you succeed…” he started to say.

Orlok nodded. “Every mission is a potential suicide mission. Only defining factor is if the end results are worth the sacrifice.”

“I’m sorry we never got to know you better.” Michael admitted, shaking the Trill’s hand for the last time.

“I’d like to think you knew me at my best. But a life here on this ship would have been amazing.” Ken admitted, returning the Captain’s firm shake. “Good Luck getting home.”

————————————
(5 Minutes Later)
————————————

Michael sat on the bridge, watching the shuttlecraft cross the distance between the two starships. For a moment, he was concerned the Klingons would just open fire on them, but to his relief, the shuttle passed through the Klingons’ shields and rounded to their shuttle bay. Orlok and his lover were on their own. He didn’t know how long their ruse would have given them, so they needed to act fast.

“Bridge to Engineering, how are we on that temporal shielding?” Michael called out on the comms.

[Kiff: Engineering here, we managed to modify the ablative shielding with phase discriminators, but the phase generation is only going to last maybe 90 seconds before collapse! It was the best we could do in the short time we had!”]

“90 seconds clear. Going to have to activate it at the last second to get the most out of it.” Michael confirmed.

“Pi, do we still have telemetry from the shuttlecraft?” Jessica inquired.

“Yes, Ma’am, when they passed through the Negh’Var’s shields, we managed to isolate their shield frequency.” The Operations Chief informed.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, this next trick is brought to you by House Duras. Zach!” Michael called out.

“Modulating Quantum Torpedo spread to match shield harmonics. Ready to fire on your command.” The Andorian Tactical officer announced.

“Floor it!” Michael directed!

The Inquiry-class starship’s impulse engines roared to life, projecting the ship forward towards its prey. A volley of Phase fire was launched at the Klingon ship, despite being out of optimal weapons range. In response, the IKS Gre’thor pulled off to the side, in an evasive maneuver as a massive wave of energy escaped her hull. It sounded like a Gong in space, reverberating through the stars. For a moment, nothing more happened as the two ships continued on their course.

Then they appeared. Small apertures against the black veil of space were torn open as waves of blue/black creatures emerged from within. Four meters long, with large black bulbous heads, piercing yellow/green eyes, and long blue tendril-like appendages trailed off behind them, as the swarms seemingly ‘swam’ through space. At first, the creatures took no notice of either ship, but Michael did not want to wait to catch their ire.

“V’era!” the captain commanded.

The Science officer was quick to input the commands, as the deflector dish of the USS Dragon charged and fired a Graviton beam at the coordinates where the Quantum Fissure was supposed to be. The event horizon of the dimensional wormhole illuminated the void around them in response to the calibrated Quantum State Vector of the Prime universe.

“Activate Temporal Stabilizers, Max Impulse!” Michael ordered as the Dragon kicked into second gear and rushed towards the Portal. This action did not go unnoticed by the Loom that had amassed, as every entity turned to face the Inquiry-class starship and moved to intercept. Space around them seemed to crawl to a standstill, as the only things that moved were the Dragon, the Gre’thor, and the Loom.

“Firing Aft Torpedoes!” Zachary informed as the Dragon passed by the Klingon vessel. The Negh’Var was already moving to bring her fore weapons to bear as a volley of 6 torpedoes escaped the rear burst-fire launchers. The blue twinkles of quantum energy shimmered in space as they careened towards the Klingon vessel, passing through the shimmering red temporal shielding and colliding with the engineering section of the ship in a roaring explosion. The shielding of the Negh’Var flickered, and then the ship came to a dead stop in time along with the rest of the space around them.

With their shields down, the loom’s attention turned to the Klingon vessel, breaking off pursuit of the Dragon and turning to the much more appetizing target. The last Image the Dragon could capture was the Loom surrounding the Negh’Var vessel before they passed through the portal back into Prime Space.

————————————
Epilogue
————————————

Captain’s Log, Stardate 80266.2

Our mission into the contaminated universe has ended in apparent success. Lieutenant Junior Grade Donnavan Smith, Ensign Casey Jones, Chief Petty Officer A’vran, Petty Officers Miranda Cargos and Jonathan ch’Rimm, as well as Crewman Wailen Yotai, have all made a full recovery following the dispelling of the parasites they were originally infected with.

We have been cleared by Starbase 80 security, following standard quarantine protocols, where all crew have been checked and verified ‘the genuine articles’ of this universe. On a brighter note, several other starships have returned from their own missions from beyond the multiverse, and communication on missing loved ones are starting to pour in, revitalizing morale.

However, that does not make my next job any less difficult. The Dragon is enroute to the Trill home world, to deliver the remains of the Symbiote Ken, who did not survive our Endeavor. I have already prepared a formal apology to the Symbiosis commission, though our visiting Guardian Salmek suggests this was not our fault.

The crew is adapting well to the outcome of things, though there are obvious signs of unease at the many unknowns left to us. Did our displaced companions make it to safety? Did our intervention give them the edge they needed against the oppressive regime of the parasites? Are there still parasites waiting for us in the dark of our delta quadrant?

But personally, a more pressing question has been gnawing at my mind since we returned. Something I feel like I should know, something I feel almost ashamed and guilty over whenever the thought crosses my mind.

Who was Ken’s host? And why does no one remember them?

[The End]