The jump from their timeframe in the future to the past didn’t make McCallister ill one bit, so as Duncan and he made their way into engineering their disguises were not interrupted by any infliction or sign of them feeling nauseated one bit. 

“Captain Kargarth!” bellowed one of the many Klingon warriors who were on guard in engineering. “We were not expected to see you.”

Puffing out his chest and pushing his shoulders back, Duncan, who was in disguise as Kargarth, answered the warrior who spoke his alias’ name. “I do not report to you lieutenant, if I hear a tone of distrust from you again then I will slit that tongue out of your mouth, wear it as a belt while at the same time demoting you to the rank of Bekk!”

The warrior bowed his head for forgiveness. “I am sorry sir, but when we saw that Druvanna was lost and we heard Commander Shaniath’s call to move to the next phase of our mission, I assumed you had joined the honoured dead in Sto-vo-kor!”

“Sto-vo-kor does not await anyone from the House of D’Ghor. We will have to fight our way from Gre’thor before we are able to reach the honoured halls.” Duncan spat out as Kargarth. “Now, tell me what is our situation here?”

“Our boarding teams were able to penetrate the Federation defences easily, but after we attempted to secure ourselves we encountered some unusual anomalies.” The D’Ghor hunter answered. 

Looking to McCallister, who appeared as the second mate of the Druvanna, Duncan commanded him to investigate. It was their cover-up for McCallister to begin working on their plan. Thanks to Starfleet Intelligence they had known a lot after the attack the Odyssey had sustained during the Archanis Campaign. The Druvanna, which had been one of the Klingon ships owned by the Hunters of D’Ghor, had rammed them in a bold attempt to give their crew the chance to split up. Some boarded the Odyssey while others took shuttles and took refuge to prepare for another assault to prevent the construction of the Archanis Array. The exchange after the campaign with the Klingon Defence Force meant that those who were responsible for the attack were identified, as a result the Odyssey had their files on board allowing for the future version of the crew to create holographic disguises to get them past the enemy. 

For now. 

While Duncan distracted the Klingons and used some elaborate lie that the barriers they encountered were some form of new Federation technology, McCallister was able to make the final modifications without being disturbed. For someone who was more of a pacifist than war-like, Duncan appeared to be enjoying his performance of being a blood thirty Klingon a bit too much. He truly knew his stuff when it came to Klingon culture too. Once his work was complete, he covertly took out his tricorder and tapped the button to call for their reinforcements to come in. McCallister then gave Duncan the nod just as more beings appeared from above through the other time barrier on the upper level. 

“See my warriors, more of our brave brothers and sisters have stepped through!” Duncan exclaimed. “There is nothing to fear!”

Those that had just appeared all grunted or cheered. McCallister joined in with them.

“But sir, when I sent a scouting group through the same doors you and Commander Lukan came through, our men disappeared and we detected high amounts of tachyon radiation!” The lieutenant stated.

“As I said, Federation defence technology is smart but is not strong enough to hold our mightiest hunters down!” Duncan remarked. “We survived, perhaps your group was able to overpower it with their warrior souls before we entered. Did you not just see your fellow brothers and sisters enter from a similar fashion from up above?”

Unsure of what to do, the Klingon lieutenant looked at his own group and then back to Duncan in his disguise as well as the others that had just arrived. “With our limited number, we should attempt to find a different escape route and detonate their warp drive.” He said pointing at the warp core that sat in the middle of engineering. 

“Escape? What are you an honourless Ferengi petaQ?” Duncan chastised the Klingon with. “We will find another way by overriding their command features and taking control of their vessel from here!”

“Capture the Odyssey, sir?” Once again the lieutenant challenged. “Our orders were to board and to destroy it from the inside.”

“I have changed my mind!” Duncan answered back.

The Klingon lieutenant growled before smacking Duncan in the face with the back of his hand. “There is no glory with that!” He looked down as Duncan fell backwards onto the floor. “You are not fit to command us!” 

As Duncan hit the floor his holo-emitter was damaged and straight away his disguise was lost and his true identity was revealed. Before any of the Klingons could respond, everyone else had taken out their phasers and opened fire. Taking shelter behind consoles and bulkheads, the Starfleet team deactivated their disguises as the Klingons, who had yet to be hit, started to open fire on them. The Klingon lieutenant, who had hit Duncan, had taken out his mek’leth and was making his way over to Duncan who was trying to get back on his feet. Before he could attack the fallen admiral, both Tomaz and McCallister had launched themselves at the Klingon and tackled him to the floor. Tomaz had kicked the bladed weapons out of his hand while McCallister struggled to hold the large warrior down. Being stronger than him, the Klingon had been able to push McCallister off of him and had been able to overpower him. He grabbed McCallister by the neck and pushed him up against the bulkhead, almost strangling him. McCallister was fighting for his breath when Duncan had got up, aimed his phaser at the Klingon and shot him in the back. Instantly he fell to the ground. Thanking the future version of his first officer, McCallister looked around and saw everyone taking down the last of the Klingons while securing engineering. 

Stepping up to him, with a phaser rifle from her era, Commander Cambil approached McCallister. “That was for the artificial heart they gave me.” She cursed at the stunned warriors before turning back to the captain. “I take it that’s my final mission as Odyssey’s first officer?”

Nodding solemnly at her, McCallister spoke up. “Bexa, listen I know we ended on a bad note, but it wasn’t because I didn’t trust you. There are some secrets a captain must keep.”

“Including ones belonging to the temporal prime directive.” She stated before sighing. “I suppose I’ll have to keep this quiet to you until you return to your correct time frame.”

“I suppose so.” McCallister said. He was starting to feel like he was getting some closure on the friendship he lost with her.

“Then when you do, call me up and I’ll have a bottle of Bajoran spring wine ready for us to share.” Cambil said before smiling at him and placing the phaser rifle over her shoulder and going in to hug him.

Embracing her for a few seconds, McCallister felt a sense of relief wash over him. “Thanks Bexa.”

Walking over to join them was his other first officer, Commander Zack Hawkins. “So I take it that in this future if Commander Cambil becomes my successor then I must go on to greater things?”

Cambil and McCallister exchanged looks at one another and she nodded. “You’re going to grow to such great heights Zack. You’ll get to command this ship for a while too.”

Grinning at hearing that, Hawkins bobbed his head in approval. “I like the sound of that. Sounds like our future together is going to be interesting.”

“Eventful, sir.” spoke Hunsen as he made his way over with everyone else.

Standing around in front of the warp core, everyone appeared satisfied at their accomplishment.  Jen spoke up after he took one more look over the nearest display. “The chroniton field has almost finished charging. We should consider returning to our own original time frames.”

“And I need to go rescue my brothers from one time frame to another.” Alfie commented.

“You know they’ll never let you hear the end of this when you return back to your time frame?” Jorgeh teased his friend.

“I can’t wait to hear what Henri and Theo have stored up all of this time.” Alfie sarcastically stated. 

“Sir, what do you want us to do with the Klingons here?” Cline asked as he gestured towards the dazed warriors that were lying on the deck flooring. 

“We can’t just leave them here.” Slyvex said. “Though I feel there may be some justice in throwing them across one of the time barriers.”

“We may end up erasing them from the timeline, that may cause another paradox.” T’Rani stated. 

“In that time frame the Federation invades Qo’noS and Captain McCallister slays Chancellor Martok!” Flemen joked with a few others chuckling.

“And the Borg make an alliance with the Q Continuum to wipe us all out!” Horin added as she crossed her arms against her chest and sighed. “But seriously, what can we do with the Hunters of D’Ghor?”

“I believe the jeffrey tubes are still in this timeframe.” Samris answered. “Can we not lock them in there for now?”

“Let’s hope they don’t wake up before we activate the field.” Court stated. “Can we do this sooner as I have a wedding to get to!” He looked over at the older version of his husband. “I’d like to get down the altar before my husband-to-be thinks I’ve changed my mind.”

“Don’t worry dad, you’ll get there first before him.” Wylem quipped. “Let’s just make sure you don’t go back smelling like a Klingon.”

“Yeah, I’d like my husband to look handsome and not turn up in Klingon attire.” Duncan remarked. 

“That’s saved for the honeymoon!” McCallister teased before he looked at everyone. “Before we do that, I just want to thank you all for your efforts today. Once again you’ve all proven to me that this crew is incredible and I am honoured to have serve with you all.” He looked at Duncan and Tomaz, “Admiral, captain, shall we store our Klingon visitors and then move to our last phase?”

Duncan and Tomaz both nodded in agreement. The crew then worked together to lug the stunned and heavy Klingons into the nearby access tunnels. Once the last one was pushed in, the door was locked. Saying their last goodbyes to one another, the crew all began their walks back to their timeframes. 

McCallister stopped Alfie in his tracks. “Alf, a word before we finish up here.”

“Sure dad, what’s up?” Alfie said as he looked at his father as they stood by the warp core. 

Sighing out, McCallister opened up to his son. “There’s one thing I truly have hated about all of this mess.” He gestured to the room around them. “I hate the fact that this has been something that has interfered with your life, that you’ve had to remain here on the Odyssey to see it through. So will you do me a favour and indulge your old man for one more piece of advice?”

Smirking, Alfie just nodded. “Sure, dad.”

“Go and enjoy the rest of your life and don’t look back.” McCallister suggested as he placed his hand on his son’s right shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Please.”

“I will.” Alfie said with a nod. “Will you indulge me with some advice?”

“Sure.” McCallister smirked. 

“Don’t let what’s about to happen make you think you didn’t do everything in your power. I promise everything will turn out okay in the end.” Alfie said in a lower tone, indicating he was sharing more than he should. “Just give it time. Ironically enough.”

Unsure what his son was implying, McCallister agreed to keep that at the forefront of his mind as Jen approached him. 

“Ready to return back to the bridge, sir?” Jen asked. 

Nodding, McCallister agreed. “Let’s go home Lukiz.”

As the last ones to leave, they activated the chroniton field and by the time they reached the bridge it was close to being fully powered and ready to do its magic and sync the ship back to its original time frame. Their time frame.