First Officer's log, Supplemental

Repairs to the warp core and the warp engines have finally been completed, and we are about to depart, a day late, from the Defense Perimeter. We're immediately heading out to the front, which is currently at a stalemate. The Defense Perimeter is advancing towards the stalemate, but it won't arrive there for another three days.

According to reports, we literally have half the amount of ships on the front than the Vorkalai. However, because of the superior firepower of the Britar battle cruisers, it's enough to hold them back. I regret to say that we lost forty-two ships.

So far, it has gone unexplained as to how our weapons can no longer immediately penetrate Vorkalai shields. We can take them down like any other normal shields, but it sure is making things a whole lot more difficult.

Preliminary reports indicate that we are only seven thousand light years from the Vorkalai home world. How we got this far this quickly is beyond me, though the bulk of the advancement took place after the destruction of the Destroyer, while the Dragon was still being repaired. It has given us a bit of a disadvantage, however. We are thousands of light years from the Hintaru home world. Though the base of operations for this war is at the Defense Base, we are now on our own. We get reinforcements occasionally when a new Britar or Hintaru ship has been constructed, but we don't even know ahead of time when we get them.

I wonder if Chris ever noted all of this in his log… I wonder how Chris is doing…



"Dock Master says we are clear for departure," Lieutenant Commander Vendar Perkins reported from ops.

"Good, let's get to that battle, then," Commander Sarah Caft replied, sitting in the command chair. "Clear all moorings."

"Way ahead of you, Commander," Lieutenant James Trikal commented. "Moorings cleared. All personnel are aboard."

"Then take us out, James," Sarah ordered, satisfied that he was starting to take the initiative. She would have to note that in her log…

The Dragon began to move through the secondary repair bay. It didn't have to go far, however, as it was only a secondary repair bay. It was very small, and actually could only accommodate maybe two Dragon class starships, if there were more than one.

In minutes, the Dragon was back out in the open space. "Helm, set course for the part of the front line that needs the most assistance, warp 15."

"Course laid in," James confirmed.

"Engage."



Chris thanked himself over and over for reading up on the game called Partaka. It was a card game, using cards somewhat similar to the cards used on Earth. Another fortune was that the game itself was similar to Five-Card Stud Poker. In fact, if Chris didn't know better, he would've thought that the Hintaru had copied it from the Federation.

"I'll call your ten, and raise thirty," Chek, the assistant to the pirate group's leader, said, throwing forty credits into the money pile.

Chris checked his cards one last time, acting like he was a bit nervous. He made it look like he wasn't sure about his hand, or the forty credits. After a moment of deliberate hesitation, he threw the forty credits, of which he had acquired from Falarr, the pirate group's leader, as a small pay.

The dealer of the current hand, a one-eyed Hintaru named Balkar, folded his cards, leaving it between Chek and Chris.

"Well, then, Jahkarr," Chek said, referring to the name Chris was currently known as in the group. "I guess it is between you and me."

Chris nodded and replied, "Yes, it is."

With an evil grin, Chek flipped up his first two cards, revealing that he had a hand that, if converted to poker terms, would be considered a full house.

Chris, wanting to have a bit of fun, slumped and let out an exasperated sigh. He had the equivalent of three of a kind showing, which had made everyone else sweat, except Chek.

Chek began to grab the credits, but Chris put up a stopping hand and said, "Wait a minute."

He flipped one of the cards over, showing that he still had only three of a kind. Chek frowned, curious as to what Chris was getting at.

Then, Chris flipped over his last hidden card. At seeing what it was, Chek stood up quickly in a fit of rage, sending the chair across the room. He yelled in anger, and glared as Chris scooped up all of the credits.

"There's an old proverb going around the military these days," Chris said as he continued to gather his winnings. "It goes, 'Whenever you gamble, eventually you'll lose.'"

Chek calmed himself down as Chris began to arrogantly organize his winning, then grabbed his chair and sat down.

"I didn't call you here tonight so you could beat me in Partaka, Jahkarr," Chek stated. "I called you, all of you," he added gesturing to the other two guests. "To ask you to join me."

"Join you in what?" Chris asked as he arrogantly examined a forty-credit piece. He evidently got the effect from Chek that he had hoped, for Chek growled at him.

Chris smiled sheepishly, then set the credit down in his ever-growing stacks of credits.

"Join me in taking back our rightful rule over our organization," Chek said quietly. "As in, killing Falarr."

Chris, who had been reaching to start re-examining his forty-credit piece, stopped in mid-motion. He stared wide-eyed at Chek.

"Never!" came some-one's response. Chris looked over to the person, trying to remember her name. "She brought this much-needed alliance together, and she's run this group well!"

"Run us right into the ground, you mean," the second person, a man Chris remembered was named Puralan, shot back.

"We'd be in shambles if it hadn't been for her!" the woman replied.

Chek put up a hand calmly to stop the two. "Well, I know where you two stand." He looked to Chris and asked, "Where do you stand in this matter, Jahkarr?"

Chris looked at Chek nervously, his mind working for a way to get out of this. No doubt that woman would be killed before they left this room so that she wouldn't report the rebelling pirates.

However, Chris couldn't get involved like this. At least, not yet. He'd barely been here a few days…which is why he wondered why Chek had even approached Chris…

Then an idea sprung into his head. If he could get out of this with out being killed, he could gain Falarr's trust by reporting the pirate group… He could just join the rebelling group and get inside information, but there was far too much risk. They could always just Interrogate Chek for information on the rebel group…

"I've only been here for less than a week," Chris said slowly. "I'm not in a position to make this decision yet." He acted like he was thinking about it further, then finished, "I work pretty close to Falarr. With in a week I should know what kind of a leader she is. You'll have my answer then," Chris finished confidently.

Chek nodded and said, "Fair enough." With lightning speed, Chek pulled out a hand phaser and aimed it at the woman. She was so surprised that she never had a chance to react. The next thing Chris knew, she was lying on the ground with a smoking hole in her chest.

He was shocked, and let it show. "Perhaps that'll be incentive for you to join us," Chek said as he put away his phaser. "You have one week to decide."

Chek then stood and left the room, followed by Puralan. Chris sat there, staring at the woman. In a few minutes, some people, no doubt part of the rebel group, came in and disposed of her body by simply disintegrating it.

Finally, Chris was left completely alone with his thoughts…

"Commander," Lieutenant Commander Tom Halkrat suddenly spoke up from the science station. "I think you better come take a look at this."

Sarah immediately stopped looking at the tactical readout of the current front line situation and looked to him. "Something wrong?"

Tom swiveled his chair at the science station around to look at Sarah. "As I said, I think you should take a look at these readings."

Sarah frowned and stood. Tom was usually quiet about an anomaly and only brought it to the Captain's attention if it was really important. Otherwise, he would just log the anomaly and submit it for report later.

He swiveled the chair back to face the science station as Sarah approached. She rested her hand on the chair and leaned on it as she examined the readouts.

"That almost looks like a temporal anomaly," Sarah commented in a quiet voice.

"Exactly," Tom replied. "What I don't understand is how it seems localized on one planet. I've never seen anything like this before."

"Any ideas on its cause?" Sarah asked, contemplating the thought herself. It had been far too long since she had really concentrated on science. In actuality, it had been almost a year since her promotion to First Officer, and she could already tell it was wearing on her. She couldn't make heads or tails of the anomaly.

"None," Tom replied after a moment.

Sarah stood straight as she thought of a course of action. "Is it possible you could figure out a cause if we took a closer look?" she asked.

"Most likely," Tom replied. "Though I'm not sure we could unless we actually took up an orbit."

"Commander!" Lieutenant Ada Marquet said in an alarmed voice. Sarah turned around to face Ada as Ada simply remained at tactical. "We have a duty to help enforce the front lines!"

"That is true," Sarah said as she began making her way back to the command chair. "But every time I've dealt with time distortions or anomalies, something bad turned up." As she stopped in front of the command chair, she looked back at Ada. "But leaving one alone always would've resulted in catastrophic events."

Ada stared at her for a moment, then nodded her approval. Sarah almost corrected Ada, for she was looking for Ada's approval on the matter. She then decided to note it in her log for later correction. For now, they had an anomaly to investigate.

As Sarah sat in the Command Chair, she ordered, "Helm, alter course to enter a high orbit."

"Altering course," James replied.

"I believe astrometrics would be better equipped for this type of observation," Tom stated as he headed for the turbolift.

Sarah thought about it for a moment, then decided it was time to brush up on her science skills. "I'll join you," she suddenly said as she stood. She made her way to the waiting turbolift with Tom in it.

"Deck ten," Tom ordered. The doors closed immediately and the turbolift began to move.

"Have you really encountered several temporal distortions before?" Tom asked.

Sarah looked at him, smiled, and replied, "When I was on the Enterprise, my bad luck came with me. The Enterprise discovered and cataloged eight temporal anomalies. Each time, we went through hell, and just barely made it back."

"That must have been amazing!" Tom exclaimed in awe.

Sarah shook her head as the turbolift stopped. "Discovering the anomalies was amazing. Dealing with them was a whole other thing."

The doors parted and allowed the two officers onto deck ten. They quickly made their way to astrometrics and immediately began full scans of the temporal anomaly.

"I'm getting a clearer picture of this anomaly the closer we get," Tom reported after a minute. "This is even more peculiar than I originally thought."

Sarah examined the readings a little closer and noticed what Tom no doubt noticed. She looked up at him, confusion on her face. "The anomaly is only in the planet's ionosphere!"

"Exactly!" Tom exclaimed. "Never have I encountered such an anomaly!"

Sarah looked back at the readings. "It appears to be changing the planet entirely…altering time."

"How can you tell?" Tom asked.

Sarah smiled and replied, "As I've said, I've dealt a lot with time. Though it's been a year since I've done any thing with science, it's all coming back to me."

They continued to study the anomaly as they approached. It didn't take either of them long to notice…

"The anomaly is…" Sarah began.

"Dissipating!" Tom finished.

They stared at the readings as all signs of the anomaly disappeared. Just then, Sarah started to get a bad feeling…

"Bridge to Commander Caft," Perkins' voice came over the comm system. "It looks like the anomaly is gone. Shall we continue on to the planet?"

Sarah thought about it for a moment, wondering what was going on. When it finally registered on her what Perkins was asking, she quickly replied, "Yes. There's something not right…"

"Will do, ma'am. Bridge out."

Sarah kept thinking about the anomaly. There was something familiar in the readings, as well. Something she had encountered before…but she couldn't place it.

She began to review the readings, finding the feeling of familiarity growing. However, she just couldn't place the feeling…

"I'm not picking up anything," Tom said in confusion.

"Huh?" Sarah asked.

"You said something's not right," Tom replied. "I'm no longer picking up anything unusual."

Sarah smiled, despite herself. "I meant I have a gut feeling that something's wrong."

A sensor alarm then sounded. This time, she let Tom examine the readings.

"I'm starting to get a clear picture of the surface again," Tom reported. He frowned then, and looked up at Sarah. "This is odd. In one sector of the planet, I'm picking up heavy Tritanium/Duranium concentrations, mixed with what appears to be ablative armor."

Sarah frowned and then examined the readings herself. The Dragon dropped out of warp just as she looked. "That's odd. That combination, here in the Kalium Galaxy, is only present on the Dragon. In fact, Tritanium is non-existent in this galaxy, from what we've seen."

Then, something she never had expected appeared on the sensors. She stared at it wide eyed, blinked several times to make sure she was seeing the readings correctly, then shook her head. Despite her efforts, the readings remained.

"I'm picking up Captain Harriman's bio signatures!" Tom exclaimed, confirming what Sarah saw.

She immediately tapped her comm badge. "Caft to Harriman!" No reply came. "Dragon to Captain Harriman, respond please!"

Tom shook his head and said, "I'm not picking up any signs of his communicator."

"Any other life signs?" she asked.

Tom examined the readings a little further, then shook his head. "None. At least, none that are humanoid."

Sarah, acting on a whim, began to leave astrometrics. As she did so, she said, "Tom, come with me." She then tapped her comm badge and said, "Caft to bridge. I want Ada, Doctor Tarkent, and a security detail to meet me in transporter room one."

"On our way," Ada replied.

The seven people materialized in a very small clearing in some sort of jungle. Sarah looked around, trying to get her bearings. The undergrowth in this area was so dense, she couldn't see beyond the ten meter clearing.

Tom immediately pulled out his tricorder and began scanning the area. He pointed in one direction and said, "Captain Harriman's bio signature is that way."

The seven people, lead by Sarah, began pushing their way through the undergrowth. The undergrowth was so dense that there was barely any light. As such, the seven people, almost in unison, activated the lights mounted on top of their pulse rifles.

Sarah brandished her rifle, not knowing what lay ahead. Was this all a result of the temporal anomaly? Would this Chris be a Chris from the future? Or was Chris somehow stranded here during his mission…

She heard someone fall down behind her, and she spun around, bringing her rifle to bear. It was Ada, who had stumbled over something. As Ada stood up, grumbling under her breath, Tom picked up the object she had tripped over.

"Congratulation, Ada," Tom said jokingly. "You managed to find the missing link to humanity's evolution."

Tom held up the object for all to examine. It was a novel, very thick. The title was Moby Dick. It was definitely degraded, but the cover was still very much intact. "Wait a minute…" Sarah thought. "I had the computer put a special cover on my copy so that it wouldn't be ruined…a very durable cover…"

Sarah quickly grabbed the book from Tom's hands, much to the crew's surprise. She flipped open the cover to the first page. Much of it was saturated with grime, but she could make out the last three letters she had been looking for… "aft"

She brushed away the grime, trying to get to the paper. A few other letters were uncovered, but it was enough… "S**ah *aft"

She nearly dropped the book when she read that, knowing that it was her signature…the very signature she had put on her book 6 months ago when she began to slowly read the very boring book.

She then noticed there was a small lump in the book, a sign of where her crystal bookmark was. She opened to it, which she noticed was roughly the same spot she had been. She brushed at the lower right hand of the book as the crystal fell to the ground. This part of the book wasn't as bad as the front, and so she could read the numbers. "425"

That was when she panicked and dropped the book. "Something wrong?" someone asked.

"425," she thought. "Only one page ahead of where I currently am…"

"Uh, nothing," Sarah stuttered. She dreaded what they might find up ahead. "Nothing, except that this may be a future version of this planet. A very horrible future that isn't too far off…"

She then began pushing through the undergrowth as fast as she could, making everyone hurry to catch up. She was very frightened by what she may find when they…

And then she pushed through to a huge clearing. The clearing was huge…but that wasn't what made Sarah stop dead in her tracks. The long procession of people behind her stumble through the growth and hit Sarah hard.

Everyone tripped over everyone, bringing the group down. That wasn't what concerned Sarah…

They all finally got back to their feet, and stared at the site. The clearing was by no means natural. Trees were knocked over all around the gigantic clearing. But what was more disconcerting what the debris all around it.

Bulkheads, pieces of ship's hull, chairs…everything reminiscent of a ship. "Please don't let me find anything that suggests it's the…" And then she found the evidence.

There, about three-quarters of a kilometer from the group, was part of a large nacelle. Specifically, the front of a nacelle. It was scorched and burned beyond salvage, but it had that unmistakable shape. It had the original, never before used nacelle design…of the Dragon.