Stardate 76511.4; July 06, 2399
EPISODE
109
Edited by Peter Bossley
Story by Chris Adamek and Shaun Hayes
Written by Chris Adamek
ADDITIONAL CHARACTERS
Illidan
Commander
Stephanie Kerrigan
Lieutenant
Commander Jayla Trinn
Previously…
Stardate 73591.7
After the Dark Star crashes on Ka’Tula Prime, Erin Keller
finds a small crystal in the grass high atop the mountains (“Rising Terrors”).
Stardate 73625.5
Analysis of the crystal reveals that it is Iconian in
origin. Alan Christopher uses the
crystal to gain access to the ancient Iconian ruins at Antha’nuel; he soon
discovers that someone recently had access to the ruins—and manually shut down
the Gateway inside (“Between Dark Places”).
Stardate 73631.3
Jayla Trinn seals the crystal inside a stasis chamber in the Starlight’s
science lab (“Monarch on the Shore”).
Stardate 75205.4
While vacationing on Earth, Erin Keller purchases another
crystal from a Rutanian merchant. When
Erin returns to the Starlight to compare crystals, Jayla Trinn discovers
the first crystal has vanished without a trace (“Monarch on the Shore”).
Stardate 75331.4
A future incarnation of Kendall Johnson briefly appears on the Starlight’s
bridge (“Twenty-Four Hours”).
Stardate 75488.2
An unknown entity scans the second crystal (“The Sands of
Time”).
Stardate 75489.8
A mysterious tachyon field develops in the Yaraka Sector. The future incarnation of Kendall Johnson
returns to the Starlight, this time with news of a time traveling
Iconian named Illidan. The Starlight
crew manages to destroy Illidan’s ship, but not before the Iconian can escape
into the past (“The Sands of Time”).
Stardate 75847.1
An Iconian ship is expelled from a spatial anomaly and crashes
on the desert world Dimovius (“Destinies of Flame and Sorrow”).
Stardate 76161.4
Kendall Johnson realizes that Alan Christopher is the source of
his many personal problems; he thusly decides to eliminate Christopher
(“Retribution”).
Stardate 76204.3
Alan Christopher and Talyere Rosat visit Dimovius to investigate
the crash site. While sorting through
the wreckage, they come upon an Iconian by the name of Illidan. He is captured (“Lost Worlds”).
Stardate 76478.3
The future incarnation of Kendall Johnson briefly appears on the
Starlight yet again. The
incident inspires the present version of Kendall Johnson to intensify the
development of his advanced temporal technology—but Christopher has Johnson
relieved of duty shortly thereafter (“Nature of the Beast”).
Prologue
Phaser
in hand, Kendall Johnson marched through a dimly lit corridor. Lieutenant Bator followed closely behind,
his heavy footfalls making a bit more noise than Johnson would have
preferred. This was supposed to be a
clandestine operation, after all. If
they were found out, things could turn very unpleasant, very
quickly.
Of
course, Johnson could tell that things were already unpleasant. The decking rumbled beneath his feet every
few seconds; the lights would occasionally flicker, and on more than one
occasion, sparks and debris dropped from the ceiling. Thankfully, none of the debris even threatened Johnson or his
team, because now was definitely not the time for an injury.
An
Iconian by the name of Illidan was on the loose—and he wasn’t just rampaging
through the darkened corridors of this ship… the man was on a dangerous quest
through the very annals of time. If
successful, Illidan had the potential to change every last bit of the Milky
Way’s history, and that simply could not be allowed to happen.
Unfortunately,
time was not on Johnson’s side. In a
matter of minutes, a wall of flame and debris was destined to roar through
these hallowed corridors. He knew not exactly when the fateful blow would come,
but it had happened once before, and no doubt, it would happen again. History might have been on the verge of
destruction, but it hadn’t changed just yet…
“We
have less than five minutes,” Bator whispered, gleaning the data from his
tricorder.
Johnson
would have preferred the Phobian keep his eyes on the lookout for Illidan—but
he was in no mood to contest Bator’s decisions. He just wanted to get this mission done and over with as quickly
as possible. “Any sign of Illidan?”
asked Johnson, hoping his inquiry might nudge Bator back into the proper
direction.
As
they came upon a four-way intersection, Bator pressed his back to the wall and
ran a more complete diagnostic of their surroundings. The ship shuddered a few times in the interim, but Bator was
undisturbed. “I am detecting a
bio-signature about thirty meters ahead,” he said, gesturing accordingly. “It might be Illidan.”
Though
time travel wasn’t even much of a consideration in this era, Johnson knew the
Federation still possessed some degree of temporal technology. And since the science lab was just up ahead,
it made sense for Illidan to seek out its many wonders. “That’s our destination,” he whispered. “Have Commander Reinbold’s team meet us
there…”
Bator
immediately tapped his communicator to send word of their plans to Megan
Reinbold, but he got no further than that—voices suddenly echoed in the
corridor up ahead…
“Two
security squads,” Bator whispered. “One
his headed for Illidan, the other is headed… directly for us.”
Johnson
readied his phaser. He didn’t really want
to open fire on Starfleet officers, but in this instance, he didn’t have much
of a choice. He couldn’t afford to be
detained by forces that knew absolutely nothing about the current
situation, nor could he afford to waste time explaining that situation. “We’re… we’re going to have to take them
out.”
Bator
nodded, and very quickly exchanged his tricorder for his weapon. “Set your phaser to level three,” he
stated. “That should be sufficient to
render the opposition unconscious long enough for us to reach Illidan.”
Johnson
decreased his phaser setting to level three—but he made absolutely certain that
he could restore the kill setting in a flash, because when it came to Illidan,
a mere stun would be insufficient. Even
though he was the last of his kind, Illidan could not be allowed to live—he was
simply too dangerous. Johnson just
hoped he could muster the courage to kill him…
If
he even had the chance.
In
the blink of an eye, a shadowy figure appeared in the smoke to Johnson’s
left. So quickly did this entity
appear, he barely had chance to raise his weapon, let alone fire it. Fearing it might be Illidan, Johnson tried
to run, but his feet didn’t seem to get the message. He simply stood and watched as his entire plan went down the
drain…
“What is going on here?” demanded the man as he stepped through
the smoke. Johnson recognized him
immediately—it was Alan Christopher…