Noticing that Tomaz was not talking to him, Duncan looked down at his former first officer as they climbed a ladder from one deck to the next in one of the many jeffery tubes the ship had. “Tomaz, I can tell you’re annoyed. Talk to me.”

Looking up at his superior, Tomaz sighed and just shook his head. “It’s nothing, sir.”

Pausing on the climbing front, Duncan held himself to the bars and looked down. “Ouch, ‘sir’, really? You rarely call me that in private.”

Stopping his climbing efforts as well, Odyssey’s Barzan captain looked upwards. “What do you want me to say then?” Tomaz queried. “You’re the senior officer here, you’ve planned a large bulk of this mission, why does it matter what I think?” 

Duncan continued climbing to the next intersection and replied back as he did so. “Damn it Tomaz, don’t you think this is difficult enough for us all?” 

“I’m not disputing that sir, I’m just frustrated that this is something that you, me, Alfie and Jorgeh have prepared ourselves to undertake and now that we’re at this moment…”

“Do you think I’ve betrayed you for not sharing my orders with Alfie?” Duncan questioned back as he got through the hatch and took himself out off the ladder and into the small compartment that had a main access door leading them out onto the deck they needed to go into or two entrances either side down more horizontal access tunnels. 

As Tomaz pulled himself up he looked at Duncan. “Alfie is my first officer. I’ve mentored that guy pretty much for most of his career, the same goes for Jorgeh, your own son.” He paused as he placed his hands on his hips. “So finding out you ordered something about this mission, when it was made explicitly clear to us by D-T-I that everything we did had to be out in the open, makes me wonder what else you’ve got planned.”

“Nothing else!” Duncan answered honestly. “That was it.”

“I get why you did it.” Tomaz replied. “But it just adds another variable to this delicate matter we’re in.”

“It’s a calculated risk.” Duncan said with conviction. “And I alone will face the consequences alone if we ever get out of this temporal paradox.”

“You’re really prepared to throw away your career on this technicality?” Tomaz asked with sincerity. 

Pausing for a second, the admiral just nodded before speaking up. “If it means protecting the captain’s sons, including the careers of my son, my former first officer and Alfie’s then yes I will.”

Groaning somewhat, Tomaz shook his head. “Why is there always one crazy-ass admiral who thinks he can get away with something on these types of missions?” He commented before smirking at his superior. “Who’s to say that D-T-I need to know about any of this?”

Appreciating the suggestion, Duncan slapped Tomaz on the left shoulder and thanked him. “I promise Tomaz, once this is all done we can finally get back to exploring the galaxy and being with our loved ones.”

“Yeah don’t remind me that Tobias made me promise him to have you back in one piece.” Tomaz stated as he pulled out the emergency hand actuator and magnetized it against the door they were able to use.  

“And I made a similar promise to that wife of yours too.” Duncan replied as he helped his comrade push open the door so they could move onto their next destination. 

Almost half an hour later they had completed the next set of work quickly, thanks in large to the existence of the conduits that were already installed. Just bringing them online and making the final adjustments was all that was needed. Eventually they reached their final room before they crossed over to another time frame.

Thankfully this time the door sensor was working and the entrance to The Lion Gate parted wide. Both men stepped in and were greeted by two individuals they were expecting to see.

“Ambassador Horin, Commander Samris, it’s good to see you both.” Duncan said, greeting them.

The Betazoid woman of whom he had trained with at Starfleet Academy had been sitting on one of the spiral shaped sofas, sipping on what looked like a hot chocolate while the Romulan man had been standing by one of the long windows. Both of them looked over to the admiral and captain. 

“And there was me thinking that trying to get the Annari and Kraylor to agree to peace was a mad idea, but here you both are just as we were told.” Horin remarked. The Betazoid woman placed her mug down and smiled at them both. “It’s good to see the future Max Duncan and future Tomaz.” She walked over to give them both a hug, Duncan first and followed by Tomaz. 

In this time frame, twenty-four-oh-six, Horin had moved on with her lift after the death of Tremt Hunsen. She remained with the Odyssey for a bit longer before leaving the ship and allowing Samris to return to his position as its counsellor. Though they had been briefed about this moment, Horin had wanted to do more before she knew she had returned to the ship at some point. After a few more years in the uniform, she had left Starfleet and had taken up a position joining her mother as a diplomat. Being assigned to the Odyssey as it resumed its work in the Delta Quadrant, she had become the face of the Federation government as the vessel went on its way to make in-roads in forming long-term relations with the natives.     

 Samris followed her and walked over to greet them both with a handshake. “I genuinely thought when Admiral McCallister-I mean Captain McCallister briefed us about this incident he was pulling our leg.”

Tomaz smirked and nodded his head. “Yeah, we’re not surprised to hear that.”

“Tobias said the same thing after he saw Lukiz before our wedding.” Duncan stated. “Nevertheless, here we are. Can we count on your help with finishing off with these upgrades?”

Both Samris and Horin looked at one another before turning back to their visitors. 

“Once again we find ourselves performing another crazy mission on the Odyssey. Is anything around here ever normal?” Horin questioned. “And if it means bringing back Tremt, then I’m all for it.”

“Agreed.” Samris supported his former academy professor. The two of them had a close bond that had grown over the years since her appointment to the Odyssey prior to its mission to deal with the Century Storm. She made him a better counsellor with their time together. The loss of Tremt had been significant for her and when she had finally felt she had to leave, Samris had taken over, becoming one Duncan’s closest advisors when he took on the role of Odyssey’s captain. “What do we need to do?”

Tomaz answered him. “Samris, we need you to help us carry on with bringing the rest of the conduits online in the other time frames near to us. Louwanna needs to remain on this deck and do those we’ve not got our hands on to.”

“And you’re sure that by not injecting me with that serum-stuff that I won’t be dragged into some paradox where none of us exist?” Horin checked with concern as she pointed to the vials that Duncan and Tomaz had strapped around their chests. “I mean, are we sure this is going to work?”

Nodding with confidence, Duncan relieved her fears. “Lou, you need to remain unaffected by the changes so when James and Lukiz activate the field you can pull Tremt out of danger. So that means the moment the chroniton field is activated and something goes wrong-”

“Not that we are expecting anything to go wrong.” Tomaz quickly interjected.

Appreciating the support, Duncan nodded before resuming. “Then we need to make sure that past you is in the right place and not affected by the changes in the timeframe. Does that make sense?”

Shaking her head the Betazoid told him simply: “No.” She breathed in through her nose and shrugged her shoulders, “but I’ve got over six years of experience that tells me I have to trust you that this is right. As I said earlier, anything to get Tremt back.” 

Duncan nodded in appreciation of her concerns and then looked around the room. “Did you two clean up after that diplomatic event?”

Samris and Horin looked around the room and then proceeded to nod in answer. 

“Hosting a bunch of drunk Delta Quadrant delegates is messy, don’t you remember sir?” Samris asked.

Chuckling somewhat, Duncan shared that he remembered how well this diplomatic event went but knew it was one of the many important missions that the Odyssey would undertake. “Oh I remember well.” 

The four of them then went on with what needed to be done. When it was just them alone, Tomaz turned to Duncan after they said goodbye and good luck to Samris and Horin. “You honestly think this is going to work and Horin will be available to save Tremt?”

“I hope so, otherwise getting the Krenim drunk for no reason was a waste of their time for us wanting their help to deal with all of this and using their calculations to help get this right.” Duncan said before they stepped through the next time barrier.