Game was 4/30/20; sadly, we didn’t have a Heidi. Although very heavy at times, the players seemed to have fun.

Mel lets her officers continue work on the N’Dari issue, and Ssleestak asks if the N’Dari are carnivores. Zivan confirms they are omnivores, but Mel then frets about the members of the away team that abstained from food; chiefly Phillip, K'tral, and Threy’shaan. The officers also observe as the Dai’Loq escort the refugee ships to port and begin offloading the N’Dari; they are efficient but not friendly. The other server arrives with cups of raktajino and the Tizit attempt to replicate Terran coffee; Fal praises the young man and grabs a cup of raktajino.

A few minutes later, MacDougal hails Mel in a soft voice, “MacDougal to Deline.” Mel steps away from the table and to the door of the pleasure room before she taps her combadge and replies, “Deline here.” MacDougal says softly, “Ma’am… sir… ma’am,” and Mel states, “Ma’am is fine.” MacDougal breathes a sigh of relief before continuing, “Ma’am, ever since we’ve returned to orbit, all available millicochrane of power is being funneled into auxiliary power and the emergency batteries. However, the power generation and transfer are fifty percent over our maximums, and the batteries will be at 100% in five minutes, and will explode in fourteen minutes if this rate continues.”

Mel demands, “What are you doing now?” MacDougal retorts, “Trying not to piss myself? I’ve tracked down what appears to be a power transfer from another ship to us, but I want to send my findings to you and Lieutenant Ssleestak for confirmation.” Mel agrees, so MacDougal immediately transfers his readings to the away team. Work stops as most of the officers immediately refocus and Mel returns to the table. Working together, the officers discover the source of the power transfer: the NCC-72409-A, USS Solstice! There is a moment of stunned silence, and then Mel grouses, “What is she doing up there?” Ssleestak taps his combadge and says, “Ssleestak to Sola. Can you communicate with the crew of the Solstice-A?” The AI replies, “Working on it.”

Mel hails the Solstice and Saval responds; the away team sees their junior officers working hard trying to keep the power levels from overloading the ship. Mel looks directly at Jen and demands “Why are you juicing up my ship? She’s going to explode!” The Jen-Prophet sighs again and replies flatly, “Battery overload will occur in 12 minutes and 48 seconds. In 10 minutes and 16 seconds, they will appear in the system and attack, and then we will need every available millicochrane.” Mel curses but realizes she’s not going to get much else, while Ssleestak hails MacDougal and attempts to give him a pep talk – and a warning about this assault in under ten minutes – as he calmly sips his raktajino.

Zivan eyes the Starfleet officers warily and Mel bluntly tells her, “Activate your planetary defenses, and be ready for something to happen down here.” Ssleestak instinctively checks his phaser while Zivan snaps, “From an attack from the future? Captain, time travel is a myth.” Mel retorts, “Yes, until it happens to you.” Zivan stares at her and then, with dawning horror, realizes Mel is completely serious. She turns to her son and snaps, “Alert status green, now! And what happened to that Wabai ship?” Zug frowns as he checks and then replies, “It came down hard into the jungle below us. Security is prepping specialized search teams now, although there’s a good chance the natives will get them first.”

Mel asks curiously, “Is green your highest alert level?” Zivan nods distractedly and replies, “Green is the highest, followed by blue and then red, which is normal status.” Mel muses, “Interesting, ours is red, yellow, green, and blue is for landing.” Ssleestak checks the time and realizes the attack is in four minutes, so he informs MacDougal, “Red alert in T-2 minutes.” He notes the batteries are at 117% capacity and still climbing, so he pulls up the master systems display. Fal records everything on his tricorder and then helps Sola with the communications system. To their mutual surprise, a signal gets through and a rough female voice growls, “Lieutenant Thon.”

Everyone looks over in surprise as Fal replies slowly, “This is Lieutenant Commander Fal Marik from the Solstice.” Thon snaps, “Wait, which Solstice?” Ssleestak cracks, “The no-letter Solstice you’re pumping power into.” There is a sudden stream of Trill profanity before Thon growls, “I am not dealing with this. Here, talk to yourself.” They all hear Fal’s voice through the signal reply, “Wait, what?” Fal identifies himself again, this time to his future self and gives his current stardate and location. Future-Fal responds immediately and Fal muses, “This is weird.” Future-Fal agrees, but Jessa cuts in with, “This isn’t anything new, talking to yourself.”

Fal concedes, “I suppose I do,” and his future counterpart reluctantly agrees. They start discussing temporal mechanics until Mel interjects, “Would you two?” Chastened, both Fals agree, but future-Fal slips and calls her ‘admiral.’ They start discussing synchronizing sensor grids and the like, but future-Fal admits, “There is the Temporal Prime Directive in play, although we are technically violating it by transferring power.” Mel demands, “Do you have a good tactical officer?” The female Thon retorts hotly, “You bet your ass I am!” Recalling her brief sojourn into the Borg-rules 2386, Mel asks, “Jenya?” Startled, Thon replies, “Yes?” Mel nods and declares, “Never mind. Yeah, she’s good."

Fal and Ssleestak work to find a loophole in the TPD to allow their future selves to help while keeping it vague, while Mel takes over talking to future-Fal, who once again calls her admiral. Jessa drags Mel, “No offense, but I don’t ever want to deal with you as an admiral!” Mel mutters an agreement while Phillip eyes everything and tries to keep up. Future-Fal says, “I apologize for being vague, captain, it’s not me trying to be a jerk. The problem is that the people coming for you can see the past, present, and future as one, so we must wait for them to commit before we can respond. That’s why the Prophet won’t say anything either.” Mel frowns as she processes that statement, but she says slowly, “Alright, I think I get it. So, tell me, does Captain Kras’s profanity increase by your time?”

Future-Fal admits, “Yes, but it’s more seasoned now. She deploys it as a weapon in specific circumstances. However, according to her, you should be receiving instructions very soon, from the 29th century?” Mel’s eyes light up as she growls to Jessa, “Talk to future-Fal.” She pulls out the 29th century data rod and sees the tip is blinking blue. She shakes it vigorously and yells, “Tell me something!” The tip shifts to a deeper blue and they hear Jonathan Archer’s voice reply, “Please hold. And stop shaking me!” Jessa talks with future-Fal for a few moments before he cuts out completely in mid-sentence! Ssleestak notes the time until the attack is two minutes exactly and announces, “Here we go!”

On the bridge of the Solstice, Jen suddenly moves swiftly to settle into the captain’s chair. She toggles an all-ship hail and announces, “All hands, all divisions. In less than two minutes, a foe called the Krenim Imperium will attack. Their mission is to erase this ship and all of Kordikar from history. These bastards rewrite history constantly to prevent any misfortune from befalling their bloody Imperium, and we have no choice but to fight. We fight for our right to exist free of temporal manipulations. We fight to save the three billion innocent lives below. And most importantly, we fight to buy the captain and the away team time to fix this. These are the oaths we swore when joining Starfleet, to defend those who can’t defend themselves. Here, now, we put those ideals to the test because we wear this uniform. All hands, red alert!”

As soon as the red alert klaxon goes off, multiple alarms wail from the Tizit sensors as well, as six ships suddenly appear in the inner system! Five are dun-colored cruisers, about three times the size of the Solstice, while the sixth ship is a massive cannon, ten times the size of their Nova-class starship! Mel’s data rod beeps, and she jabs down on the top! There is a split-second of dislocation, and then Phillip finds himself back on the bridge of the Solstice!¹⁾ Strangely, he’s alone at the conn station, which is configured for only one operator. He then registers the hamster ball attached to the conn station and a male voice calls out, “Attack pattern gamma!”

Phillip sees three larger, dark green 'scaled' ships that look like long daggers swing into view and he immediately conducts evasive maneuvers – and then realizes he has breasts! He ignores that for now and focuses on flying right up one enemy ship’s aft. He swings over and behind the first ship in a stomach-wrenching dive and the man behind him gurgles, “That was not attack pattern gamma!” He then hears Mel Deline call out, “Yeah, but this works too!” She fires a full brace of torpedoes at the exposed engines, and Phillip risks a glance back. He sees Armina and Saval in the right seats, Fal at Science I, and Mel at tactical. He recognizes the man in command as the previous captain, Alberic Selense, and swiftly realizes he’s in Daphne Hatfield’s body!

He continues evasive maneuvers and rolls out of the way as a second ship opens fire – and strikes the crippled first ship accidentally! The first ship explodes as Mel unleashes another brace of torpedoes and Alberic orders, “Hail that Tokari ship!” Both surviving ships bracket the Solstice with overlapping fire despite Phillip’s maneuvers, and consoles explode behind him and he smells smoke! Armina says suddenly, “Wait, that’s not Daphne!” Phillip suddenly fades out, the last thing he hears is Saval mutter, “I’m fine with that.”

The entire away team, with Zivan and Zug, suddenly reappear on an expansive bridge of a vessel rocking from enemy fire. They glance around and see several familiar species, and some not. However, what they do notice is the Dai’Loq woman in the center seat as she stands up – and they also realize she’s an Atavism! She wears no mask and no armor, but instead sports the same gray uniform that everyone else does, albeit with a quilted blue slash by her right shoulder. She looms over them but says sweetly, “Captain Mel Deline, I presume?” Mel nods and hazards, “Meridian?” The Dai’Loq smiles, nods, and says, “Welcome aboard the FCV-772409-G, UTS Solstice. Specifically, the 29th century by your calendar.”

The Starfleet crew and the two Tizit rear back, but then the ship rocks violently and an Andorian officer calls out, “The Krenim have broken through the Bajoran defense perimeter!” Meridian’s grin slips briefly into a grimace before she nods and asks Mel, “Pop quiz. What does Kordikar mean?” Mel blinks in confusion and replies, “I assumed that was the Tizit name for the planet?” Zivan looks startled and shakes her head, she supplies, “No, that was the only word the natives said to us when we first arrived in your 20th century. We assumed it was their name for their world and it stuck.”

Meridian smiles again and says, “Not exactly. The people below you aren’t actually native to Kordikar, they came with the original colonizers to serve them over 200,000 years ago. ‘Kordikar’ means ‘Outpost Seventeen’ in the colonizers' original tongue – Iconian.” Mel swears as the pieces fall into place and Meridian states, “There is an active Iconian Gate below the surface of Kordikar, although a more correct term would be ‘hub station.’ The Krenim would love to capture it, but they’re content on preventing us from using it. Your mission to save Kordikar is simple, captain. You must travel to the surface, to the temple directly below the city you are inhabiting. That’s the largest of the original structures. The natives will try to stop you, but if you stand your ground, point to the sky, and shout ‘Krenim!’ they should let you pass.”

Jessa retorts, “Should?” Meridian shrugs and responds, “Should. We’re working with seeds sown two hundred thousand years ago, Ensign Tyr.” Mel jokes, “Welcome to the Temporal Cold War, ensign,” to Jessa, who just shakes her head at the insanity of it all. Meridian snorts and continues, “Once you’ve breached the temple, you need to travel to the center of the structure. The hub station is there. The station requires a minimum of four people to activate it. Someone has to stand at each of the panels and input the following color sequence: blue-blue-green. Once that’s done, one of you needs to place you combadge on the dish on top. I’ve got two other Starfleet crews doing the same thing uptime and downtime relative to you, captain. Once all three combadges are active, that will send the temporal coordinates we need to bring the Timefleet to Kordikar. Unfortunately, the Krenim are attacking the UFP of today, trying to prevent us from helping you. That’s why we need the three signals.”

Phillip asks quietly, “So what was with the hamster then?” Everyone turns to stare at him blankly except for Meridian who steps closer and scans him with an unfamiliar handheld device. She grimaces and replies, “My apologies, Ensign Dade, you suffered a temporal disjunction and ended up in an alternate timeline for a few seconds before rematerializing here.” Mel demands, “Hamster?” and Phillip quickly explains what he experienced. Mel groans as she also realizes he jumped into Daphne’s body, although the attack he is describing never happened. She then registers ‘Tokari’ and Jessa asks, “I wonder if this has something to do with you dying multiple times?”

Phillip shrugs miserably, but Meridian interjects, “We’re working on ensuring Phillip Dade only dies once. Assuming that’s what you want?” Phillip nods forcefully, and Jessa lays a comforting hand on his arm and says softly, “Yeah, this is a little weird.” Mel asks Meridian, “So how do we ensure this Iconian hub won’t simply explode?” Meridian shrugs and retorts, “It won’t if you do this right. Also, shaking the rod makes Jonathan Archer mad, so stop doing that.” Incredulous, Meld demands, “Am I shaking him?” Meridian shrugs again and replies, “It’s complicated.” Fal adds, “The complexity of this cross-temporal communications matrix is beyond impressive!” Meridian replies, “Thanks. You helped build it.” The Andorian calls out, “Captain, the Krenim are making for the wormhole!” Meridian’s smile turns brittle as she says, “I have to protect Bajor, and you have to get to that damned temple. Bye!” She jabs a button on a command vambrace, and the away team vanishes!

Unfortunately, there are more temporal disjunctions,²⁾ and Ssleestak stumbles as he appears on an arid, mountainous planet. He takes a split-second to enjoy the view – and then Captain James T. Kirk hits him in the head with a rock! Ssleestak stumbles back and immediately realizes he’s in Captain S’slee S’alath’s body, and Kirk is trying to defeat him in their epic duel. He blocks Kirk’s next strike and pushes the human back, ripping open part of his shirt. He then moves very slowly to not hurt the human, until Kirk freezes mid-stride. There is a flash of light behind Ssleestak and a young male voice says, “Wait, this isn’t right!” Ssleestak shrugs and replies, “I wasn’t going to hurt him!” The voice behind him growls, “How… no. No, I do not want to know. Go back to your damned ship!” There is a flash of light, and Ssleestak is gone.³⁾

Fal rematerializes on Bajor, on a wide terrace overlooking a river! He looks around in confusion and notes no electrical lights or power sources of any kind. He thinks he’s somewhere in Hendrikspool Province, but then looks up – and realizes in shock that there are only four moons! The moon Endalla is missing! He looks around carefully, but the other people he sees don’t seem to notice the missing moon. With a start, Fal realizes he’s somewhere in Bajor’s First Republic, which existed ten thousand years before the 24th century!

Fal craves hasperat but has no Bajoran lita – until he shoves his hands into his pockets. With a start, he realizes he’s wearing traditional clothing and has a fair amount of currency handy. He heads to a nearby teahouse and orders hasperat. He passes the correct amount of coinage to a confused server and settles in to eat. The hasperat is nice and spicy, and then he hears a deep male voice call out, “Ota Verik?” The man repeats the name a few times before he clamps his hand on Fal’s shoulder. Fal looks up in confusion to see an elderly Bajoran with a thick beard and kind eyes. The man asks, “Verik, are you alright?”

Thinking quickly, Fal replies, “Yes, I was looking at the night sky. Did I miss something?” The man quirks his eyebrow and replies evenly, “Well, you are late for a date… with my daughter.” Fal stands up and apologizes profusely, and then notices the other man’s earring. He realizes the d’jarra caste system is in place, although they seem to be on an even social status. He claims, “Sorry, this street hasperat went to my head.” The entire teahouse goes silent, and then the man says carefully, “Verik, my friend, please allow this old man to give you a piece of advice. I’m going to bring you home, and tomorrow you should return and apologize to the cook for that remark. This is your establishment, after all.”

Fal blushes with shame and allows the old man to lead him outside. As they walk and talk, Fal apologizes again but notices this Ota Verik seems to be quite wealthy. He decides to go for broke and asks, “How many moons do you see?” The older man stops and stares at Fal before looking up and saying, “Four.” Fal squirms but asks, “And is that the normal amount?” Genuine concern flickers across the older man’s face and he says firmly, “Absolutely. Let’s get you home, and I shall pass on your apologies to my daughter. Luckily, the Fal family is very forgiving.” Fal is stunned, and meekly follows the man to his well-appointed home. As he settles into bed, he starts planning his next move, and to find out what happened to Endalla.

Phillip drives the knife into the other man’s chest and rips upward, eliciting a gasp of pain and a healthy spray of blood! The other man falls backwards, dead, and Phillip looks around in shock. He swiftly realizes he’s on Capella IV, he’s wearing pink leggings with feathers, and is still holding the bloody knife. Roughly forty people stand in front of him, and hundreds more lie dead behind them! Behind him, a crowd of over three hundred Capellans starts chanting, “High Teer! High Teer!” Phillip realizes he’s rematerialized into a Capellan clan dispute, and he just killed the enemy Teer – and apparently claimed rulership over the entire planet!

He quickly wracks his brain as he tries to remember what Peel did in similar holodeck simulations, and then he spits on the corpse with disdain and kicks it away! He loudly declares the dead Teer as a worthless, dishonorable dog, leading to more cheers behind him. Then a little girl screams in rage and charges at him! Phillip lashes out with his foot and clips the girl right in the head, dropping her into the dirt. She glares up at him with utter hatred as blood pours down her face, and then her mother races forward, screaming, “Peel! Peel! Please, spare my daughter!” Phillip groans – and then vanishes.

The entire away team rematerializes in the champagne room, although Ssleestak is still clutching a piece of Kirk’s shirt! He whoops with joy and immediately plans on framing the cloth in honor of his hero, Captain S’slee S’alath. Phillip holds a bloody Capellan knife and blood drips off his shoe! He drops the blade and sits down heavily, staring into space. As Ssleestak folds the wrecked shirt with the utmost care, Jessa picks up the blade and asks Phillip, “I don’t know what just happened to you, but I assume you don’t want this back?”

Fal stumbles as his hands are outstretched and he shrieks, “Where is she? Where is my granddaughter? Fal Luca!” Mel immediately demands, “What are you talking about?” Fal blinks as reality reasserts himself and he realizes he spent thirty years living Ota Verik’s life in the very distant past, long enough to marry, produce children, and then grandchildren! He was holding his granddaughter for the first time when he died of a brain aneurism – and then he was back here! Fal looks at Mel and says glibly, “I just spent thirty years in Bajor’s distant past. No big deal.” Mel gapes at him as Fal recalls Ota Verik’s restaurant empire and how the search for the fifth moon became a running joke within the family – one he marketed.

Zug exclaims suddenly, “Wait, I have a dropper! We can use it to get to the surface!” Zivan howls at her son, “You promised me you got rid of that thing! You know I hate how dangerous they are!” Ssleestak muses, “I bet it’s a wild ride,” as Zug turns on his mother and yells back, “We just went into the future! This is not the time for this conversation!” He pivots again and yells to the Starfleet officers, “Follow me!” as he bolts out of the room!