Divergence - epilogue

USS Eternity, the Old Neutral Zone, year 2247

Helmsman Anton Evgenievich Mysheva could be forgiven if his first response to the sight of the fluctuating glow in the twin warp nacelles of the USS Enterprise was a sound of pure delight. No one who had gone through Starfleet Academy or passed their first year in the Commission would mistake the ship for any other ancient space faring vessel. That the men aboard this particular ship and the vessel herself were in fact from an alternate timeline mattered very little to Anton. The ship was identical in every way to the one that would be built in their own universe, and for him, that was enough.

For everyone else, staring upon this particular ship directly up close was either a dream or a nightmare, and if they were honest, a little of both.

The standard preparatory dossier for all officers hoping to be made field agent included an in-depth uncensored recount of Rear Admiral James Tiberius Kirk's life, which began with the schism event – death of his father, Captain Robau plus dozens who didn't make it off the Kelvin – after the temporal incursion from POR-A-035-N, skipped to his kidnapping (with Ambassador Spock's child self) and his rescue by his 28 year-old alternate timeline counterpart from POR-A-012-M-005, then went on to summarize his Starfleet years (including shocking classified details of his many deaths – real deaths), how his death(s) had been prevented by direct intervention by Captain Spock from DIT-M-005-D-001 et cetera D-027, and that he had rescued his crew (and the Federation Council) from total destruction by travelling back in time, creating the next schism timeline POR-B-M005-D031. He may not have coined the name or signed the charter, but it was a common joke among officers with newly minted agent credentials that the man singlehandedly created the need for a Department of Temporal Affairs.

Before this week though, no one among the crew had ever really thought about why there had been no further mention of the visiting rescuers from POR-A-012-M-005 in the dossier, or where an entire Constitution-class ship and her crew from an alternate universe had disappeared to, never to be seen or heard from again. Some had glossed over it and presumed temporal integration had occurred, others had completely missed the detail, but a few had pondered the mystery. One of these people would obsess over it throughout the duration of her career and upon being advanced to director of the Temporal Continuance Commission, would launch an immediate investigation to ascertain the truth. Then having discovered the truth, promptly classified the entire affair for anything involving ontological paradoxes were extremely dangerous. An executive order would be left in place for the year 3196, to be carried out by USS Eternity.

"We're being hailed," announced operations officer T'Riss, looking from the Eternity's captain to their first officer and then back to the captain again, uncertain what to do.

Captain Ysa Rongcharoen raised a bemused eyebrow. It seemed even Vulcan composure could crack under the prospect of meeting such illustrious figures.

"Open a channel," she directed.

Clicking across the bridge to her captain's side, Commander S'k'lsk made excited buzzing noises through the universal translator strapped to one of her many limbs.

The 3D hologram of the ship dispersed and was replaced with a flat two-dimensional rendering of the other ship's bridge. And its inhabitants.

There was an almost audible intake of breath by the Eternity crew as they saw the faces of the long-dead stare back at them scattered across the bridge of the USS Enterprise, frozen in mid-motion. The man whom unbeknownst to himself created the circumstances that led to this exact confrontation slowly spun around in his chair to face the screen and lifted his chin, sizing up the petite captain of the very big, very advanced ship that had dragged his ship out of warp. She looked of Asian-descent but there was something vaguely non-Human to the curve of her brows.

"This is Captain James T Kirk of the USS Enterprise. To whom am I speaking?"

"Captain Kirk," Rongcharoen inclined her head in respect, hand upon her heart. "I apologise for the abruptness of our interception and any alarm you may have experienced. My crew and I are very pleased to have caught up with you."

There was a strange silence among the bridge crew of the Eternity as the young man's identity washed over them. That was James Tiberius Kirk, reverberated around the room as loudly as if it had been shouted, though no one so much as twitched a whisker.

Everyone stared.

Of course they did. Long before that life-changing, mind-blowing dossier had been declassified for their eyes, everyone had at least heard of him once. The man was a genuine war captain, product of the conflict with the Klingons and Romulans almost a thousand years ago; he was supposed to be a brilliant tactician, and had even helped pioneer applied temporal mechanics. Even T'Riss, the most reasonable member of the senior crew beside the captain, was almost beside herself and currently attempting to self-diagnose her blood pressure.

"Really," the flat reply couldn't have been more sceptical. There was an uncomfortable ripple among the bridge as the man history remembered to be fearsome when crossed studied them with intent, "You realize you haven't exactly answered my question."

"Captain," a figure behind James Kirk stood, "I believe that demanding proof of identity will be unproductive. One only needs to examine the current sensor readings and consult a visual of the vessel's outer hull to arrive at a reasonably accurate conclusion."

Unknown to her fellow non-Vulcan colleagues, T'Riss experienced a further jump in her blood pressure when the unmistakable Vulcanoid figure stepped down from the upper bridge.

"And that would be?"

The Vulcan officer came to a stop by the central chair, "The ship is from the future."

This Spock had not attained his latter notoriety and was not a captain yet, much less an ambassador; but she studied him anyway, fascinated. She was not alone; her second and oft substitute at the operations terminal, Esara Trewla, was bewildered that Admiral Uhura of Starfleet Intelligence, who had been her case study in first year history classes, had ever been so young; while Ensign Otek on the tertiary temporal monitoring station in the bowels of the Eternity watched the entire exchange via holographic intercoms, riveted because the nineteenth Starfleet Commander in Chief had once been a lowly ensign plotting course corrections for his livelihood.

"Commander Spock is correct, Captain Kirk," Rongchareon stood, "If you'll allow, I'd like to offer my assistance in returning you to the correct time and place to which your crew belongs."

There was an inaudible exchange between every member of the senior Enterprise crew.

"Okay," Captain Kirk blinked confounded. "While I appreciate the offer, you understand that if I don't trust you or anything you say, it's not personal."

She grinned widely, "I understand perfectly, Captain. But shouldn't the fact we haven't fire weapons or raised shields be enough to show that at least we're not hostile?"

"That remains debatable," Commander Spock refuted, "Your ship's outward signage aside, we cannot verify your ship registry, and your advanced technology eclipses our sensor capabilities. According to our latest readings, your ship materials cannot be identified, and the closest match deemed plausible is that the construction is entirely organic."

"Then perhaps you will consider a leap of faith, Commander, that we are what we claim to be," the first officer of the Eternity stepped closer, clapping all twelve eyes eagerly upon Spock of Vulcan. If she were Human, she would dare to say that her eyes grew misty with nostalgia. Oh how bittersweet to see him once more, so many years later; her sixth incarnation had adored him so.

The commander stared at the Hamalki, silenced by the reference she had made. No one knew the conversation outside of Uhura, whom he knew would not break his confidence. How did she know? But of course, he knew – if one believed she had come back in time then her past was his future.

"Allow me to explain and give my credentials in person," Captain Rongcharoen offered, sensing an impasse.

Captain Kirk had no sooner gestured his reluctant acceptance and closed the channel, before she touched the neural node attached to her temple and projected herself onto the bridge of the Enterprise along with her first officer, startling everyone and making the young captain jump up from his chair and back away, almost tripping over his Vulcan first officer.

"MY GOD," a man in 23rd century Science-blue exclaimed, edging closer to examine her, "How are you doing that! I know you guys aren't really there, cos I saw that flicker, but you're so real!"

Smiling at the reaction, the time traveler offered a hand in greeting, "Doctor McCoy, what an honor and privilege, sir."

Looking rather dumbfound, the doctor who would author the seminal texts of Starfleet Medical for a century reached out with great trepidation and shook her hand. It felt like a normal flesh and blood hand, he thought to himself, flabbergasted – soft, warm, and a little dry.

"Well, be still my heart," he exhaled after it was over, and true to tales, promptly whipped out his medical tricorder and started scanning the new arrivals.

Having been told to expect this, she bore it gracefully and turned to face the captain.

The edge of Jim Kirk's mouth twitched and she knew it had been the right decision to show off a little.

"Captain Kirk, on behalf of the Federation, it's an honour to be here – I've come at the behest of the Department of Temporal Investigations. Here are your new orders, courtesy of the Archer Division," She handed him the positively ancient (from her point of view) handheld containing the orders and necessary security codes to prove that it wasn't a fake.

Kirk took it delicately and looked it over before gesturing to the turbolift. "Why don't we step into the conference room?"

"Of course," she smiled.

USS Quaver, tracking subject USS Enterprise, the Old Neutral Zone, year 2247

Special Agent V'Kess drummed her claws nervously on her monitoring console as she watched the two ships facing one another, riveted as the truth behind a mystery that had been on her mind since she first graduated from the Temporal Affair's general office pool became clear. It had been an unexpected boon to be granted such an important mission so soon after being made an agent, but now she was certain that they'd made a grave mistake in picking her and her partner; dealing with the past was one thing, but dealing with future agents in the past?

The advanced vessel was obviously a temporal ship, giving off the familiar sensor readings of all ships with temporal drives plus a few strange oddities. V'Kess put them out of mind though, because she knew the regulations; the ship was from the future, and none of their business. But what was it going to do? Their information heading into this mission was that the Enterprise from the alternate (original?) timeline had been noted as heading towards the Old Neutral Zone, and then no more. Was this ship, this USS Eternity, going to destroy them? Surely not, V'Kess thought.

Suddenly, her partner Jackson jumped to his feet, almost knocking her head with his elbow. "They've activated their temporal drive!"

Just barely managing to save the veneer of her console from her automatic urge to scratch in distress, V'Kess made a growling cry and quickly flicked through the telemetry to confirm her partner's observations. The USS Eternity was leaving – and they were towing the USS Enterprise with them!

"They're gone! Initiating pursuit!" Jackson exclaimed, blue eyes blazing in excitement. He deflated a moment later when the ship's computer advised him that a pursuit course couldn't be laid in, due to inconsistent time coordinates.

"What's going on?"

"I don't know," She hissed, "There was a brief temporal window but –!"

But it hadn't been right. The dedicated sensors for sniffing out temporal fluctuations had been confused, flashing between stardates 2266.01 and 2245.03.17 and everything in between. V'Kess had never seen such a reaction from the sensors before in any of her previous missions, nor read about something like this in any of the missions reports she'd been given access to as a Special Agent. The only possibility she could think of was... It seemed too ridiculous to consider for every recorded instance so far had been accidental but perhaps in the future, the Temporal Continuance Commission would achieve it: controlled travel between parallel universes.

Keeping her thoughts to herself as Jackson cursed and slumped back in his seat dejected, V'Kess stared at the spot where the two ships had been a moment ago and allowed herself to imagine.

Location unknown: USS Enterprise, year 2266

The USS Enterprise arrived back in their supposed universe approximately five years after their disappearance, though only a year had passed for them. There had been scepticism, followed by disappointment as the stardate was announced which then morphed into desperate hope as further telemetry came in. Then, Lieutenant Uhura managed to get access to the Starfleet News Network and confirmed that up till the moment they had left for their mission, their ship records matched the network records.

Everyone around the ship cheered as news of their MIA was found within the archives, though really, being declared 'dead' shouldn't be something to sing about. They were back, it was real. And the universe hadn't ended without them.

"Mister Chekov."

The Russian swiveled in his seat.

"Aye, Keptain?"

"Lay in a course for HQ."

Chekov grinned, "Already laid in, sir."

Jim returned the grin. He expected as much. "Thank you, Mister Chekov."

He glanced over his shoulder at Spock. The Vulcan was seated at his usual post by the science station. He was lovely and Jim felt a thrill travel through him knowing that when they went off-duty in approximately five minutes, he was going to kiss this gorgeous creature. "All systems go, Mister Spock?"

"Go, sir?" asked Spock, his brows furrowing. "Is go not a verb?"

McCoy huffed with annoyance, but everyone could tell it was soft at the edges. "It's ancient terminology from the early days of manned flight. It means operative."

Spock arched an eyebrow, his dark eyes gleaming with gentle mirth. "In that case," he said, "all systems are indeed go."

Jim hid a laugh and shared a look with Uhura. The communications officer grinned back. It had taken him a while to know when Spock was truly perplexed by Human behavior and when he was only being a smartass.

"Mister Sulu?"

"Aye, sir." The helmsman grinned, awaiting orders with eagerness more suitable on a cadet.

"Take us out."

Take us home.

Far across the universes, James Kirk, nearly fourteen years of age, looked up at the night sky of his new home as a young Spock pointed out the speck of light that was Sol, his native sun.

THE END

Thank you to everyone who read my fic and enjoyed it, whether you left a comment or not. I know for those who read from the beginning - I don't expect for there to be many of you - thank you for continuing to have an interest and following my progress when I know that many people drift in and out of fandoms as casual readers, or leave fandoms completely after a time. I have been very ill for the last 6 years, starting from when I began writing this fic while waiting for brain surgery, and all the years in between where I'd write a chapter or several and then stop for 18 months and then do another two chapters and so on. Thank you for your patience. Knowing that though my health is frail and my body continues to frustrate me, that I can still create something, it's very meaningful to know it's being read and enjoyed.

Thank you.

Thank you so much to my encouragers and beta readers - karmicfic, Sharmaine, newaunty, you know who you are.