This was a huge surprise to Eric. He expected them to say that they had arrived here on accident.

“What year do you come from,” Eric asked.

“I’ll explain every thing to you in person along the way, Captain,” Chris stated. “By now I’m sure you’ve detected another temporal anomaly not far from here. We need to head for that anomaly immediately. Also, we are sending you information on how to upgrade you weaponry and shields, and also a way to modify your shields so that the warships won’t detect us. Another thing, send some one out in a shuttle with a message for as many starships to converge on Deep Space Nine as possible. We have very little time, Captain, so let’s get moving. Follow us into warp.”

“Captain,” Eric interjected. “How do we know we can trust you?”

“Look in your records,” Chris stated. “You’ll find that not long ago I was promoted to first officer aboard the USS Dragon NCC-27749. Right now, they are patrolling the Romulan Neutral zone because, for some reason, Starfleet doesn’t want that ship out on the front lines.”

Eric already knew all of this was true. He had heard a helmsman aboard the Dragon had recently been promoted to first officer and that the Dragon was patrolling the neutral zone. It was a huge waist of resources, as the Dragon was almost advanced as a sovereign class vessel, completely refitted with every thing, including bio-neural gel packs in the computer system as well as two additional nacelles.

“Very well, Captain, we’re on our way,” Eric stated.

As the channel closed, Eric ordered, “Helm set a course for that other anomaly, maximum warp!”

Now Eric had to decide who would go. He already thought of some one. “T’ranna, feel up to the task,” Eric asked the ship’s science officer.

T’ranna looked at Eric with a surprised look and stated, “With all due respect, sir, I’d rather stay here.”

“Maybe so,” Eric replied. “But it seems like we are going into a situation where we won’t need a science officer. And some one needs to keep a record of these events in case we are destroyed.”

“But sir…”

“No buts, Ensign,” Eric interrupted. “I’m giving you an order. Take the Merlin and get some ships to DS9 fast!”

She hesitated for a moment, then replied, “Yes, sir.”

She left the bridge in an angry stride, a look of great anger on her face. As she entered the turbo lift, she stated, “Shuttle bay.”


USS Furious secondary briefing room



Captain Harriman sat down at the other end of the table. Sarah sat to his left while Tom sat to his right. The rest of his crew sat along the table, as did the rest of the Furious’ crew. It was a larger room with a larger table than in the primary briefing room on deck one. All ships had a larger briefing room to accommodate a second ship’s senior officers.

“So, what’s with this story of forty warships coming to destroy Deep Space Nine,” Eric asked.

“I’ll let you read it yourself,” Chris stated. “We sent some files to your ship, which I’m sure you are aware of, under security lock out Delta. I trust you waited to unlock these files,” Chris asked.

“Of course,” Eric stated. “Oh and before I forget, we’ve begun all modifications, even though it goes against the temporal prime directive.”

“Not in this case,” Chris stated. “If we succeed, time will reset itself. If we do not, then we will all be destroyed.”

“I see,” Eric replied in a disturbed voice.

“Any way, I recommend you all read it,” Chris said.

“Computer,” Eric began. “Unlock the battle of DS9 file, authorization: Sanders 224 Beta Echo. Display on all screens.”

Chris watched Eric’s face as he read the report. He saw many looks of surprise, sorrow, anger, and fear come across his face. Chris wondered if that’s how he looked, but knew he wasn’t, as this was telling Eric what his future would have been. Nothing can prepare you or compare to the feelings of finding out you are supposed to be dead in about a day or two.

“This is unbelievable,” Karen suddenly said out loud.