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Gateway- Part 2

Author - Quills
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Gateway

By Quills

Contact:the_quill_pen@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13, angst, drama, romance, humor, action/adventure
Disclaimer in Part One

PART TWO (Chapters 4-6)

Chapter 4

**************
The Senior staff had assembled around the readyroom table. Archer looked at the faces of his officers and friends. They were friends. Each of them had managed to form a bond over the past year; even T'Pol. Archer took a deep breath and spoke. "What I'm about to tell you doesn't go beyond this room....ever."

The Enterprise officers looked at one another with apparent surprise. They were each loyal to the Captain and were each a little hurt they needed such a reminder.

"Is that clear?" said Archer, more a confirmation than a question.

Reed spoke up "Sir, there isn't an officer here that won't follow your orders to the letter."

"I know that Malcolm" Archer smiled "and I'm grateful. You’re a good crew."

"So what's the deal Cap'n?" asked Trip impatiently. "Why are they takin Enterprise from ya?"

"They aren't." said Archer flatly. "It's only temporary Trip."

There was a general sigh of relief around the conference table.

"I've been ordered to take part in a secret mission for Starfleet." said Archer, "while I'm gone I'll be temporally replaced."

"I don't get it, sir." said Mayweather. "T'Pol is first officer. When your gone she's next in command."

Archer looked at T'Pol, who remained silent, and then looked back at Mayweather "Normally, that's true and T'Pol...I want you to know that Starfleet's decision to supercede the chain of command aboard Enterprise has nothing to do with your performance as ship's first officer."

"Then why yank command from under T'Pol?" asked Trip as he gave the Vulcan a sympathetic look.

"Because Enterprise and her crew have their own secret mission to perform." said Archer "Starfleet has assigned an officer, who has experience in this area, to lead the mission."

Archer gave his officers a moment to digest what he had told them. Now came the hard part
he thought.

"For the past three years, Starfleet has been conducting a highly secret project using Starships to map and track Suliban movement within known space." he explained "This project was the creation of Starfleet Security under Intelligence Chief, Vice Admiral Norah Satie."

The bridge officers looked at one another in confusion.

"Captain, I was unaware that Starfleet had a Security & Intelligence division." said T'Pol.

"Yeah, I never heard of it either." said Tucker, "and who is this Vice Admiral Satie?"

Reed chimed in, "I'm familiar with Starfleet Brass, sir. I've never seen a mention of any Admiral named Satie."

"The reason you've never heard of them is because they don't exist...yet." said Archer.

"Sir..." said Trip uncertain he wanted to finish his question. "What do you mean by 'yet'."

"I mean that Starfleet Security and Admiral Satie both exist in the future." said Archer.

"The future?" said Tucker repeating his Captain.

"One hundred and fifty years to be exact." said Archer. "give or take a decade."

Once more the bridge officers stared at one another not sure what to make of the revelations they were being given.

"Let me explain." said Archer "Three years ago, The top Brass at Command were contacted by a future version of Starfleet. They were told that operatives in our century were working in conjunction with operatives in their own century to act against Earth and Starfleet."

"How?" asked Hoshi.

"They're not sure." said Archer. "All they're certain about is that a third faction is controlling the other two. The future Starfleet's report mentions a ...'temporal cold war'...I believe we have all heard that phrase before."

"Daniels." said Trip.

"Exactly." replied Archer "Starfleet has been aware of this 'temporal cold war' since we first encountered Daniels. It has been amassing information for the better part of 150 years. Their reports suggests that Daniels and his future organization are working for the benefit of the Federation."

Archer held up his hands when he saw questioned looks come across his officer's faces. "The United Federation of Planets is...or rather will be...an organization created by Earth as a peaceful body of intergalactic cultures that will grow to nearly 130 member planets in the next 150 years. It will be the largest collection of diverse cultures in history.Starfleet may feel that Daniel's is working to help the Federation but they don't feel comfortable sitting back hoping Daniel's and his organization win this cold war. So their taking matters into their own hands. The Federation Council instructed Starfleet to make limited contact with previous era Starfleet Command Officers. This would enable them to keep the time line from becoming too polluted with individuals knowing about their respective futures but would also allow Starfleet to monitor the 'cold war' in various time periods."


"So let me get this straight." said Tucker "A future Starfleet has been in contact with the Starfleet ofnow about the 'temporal cold war' Daniels has mentioned."

"That's right." said Archer.

"How has the future Starfleet been in contact with the one from this era?" asked T'Pol.

"I don't know." said Archer "I'm afraid we have not been brought into the loop. It's a need to know situation. I've been given just enough information to get us by."

"Assuming that what you are saying is correct." said T'Pol. "Though I must reiterate that …"

"I know." said Archer holding his hand with a smile. "The Vulcan Science Council has determined that time travel is impossible."

"Yes." replied T'Pol flatly.

"Do you still believe that?" asked Archer. "Even after all we've been through in the past year?"

"The events of the past 13 months have..." she began.

"Just a straight yes or no T'Pol." said Archer.

T'Pol looked at Archer for a moment before answering. "No."

Archer smiled, "That's reassuring, because Starfleet has ordered me to travel 150 years into the future."

"How!?" Trip exclaimed.

Archer activated the monitor "With that." he said pointing at the image on the screen.

The image was a structure that looked very much like a slanted stone obelisk with an archway passing through the middle.

"It calls itself 'The Guardian of forever' " said Archer. "It's a sentient time portal discovered on this planet...codenamed 'Gateway'...about a hundred years from now by a Starfleet vessel. The crew of that ship discovered that this portal had been dormant for thousands of years. They accidentally 'awakened' it and discovered that it had the ability to send them anywhere and any when. It was of course immediately classified and it's existence is still a secret from the general population even a hundred and fifty years from now."

"So...you’re just going to step though this...thing and travel to the future?" said Reed clearly concerned.

"That's right Mr. Reed." answered Archer "And my replacement will be doing the same thing in his century."

"Cap'n, how do you know it's safe." said Tucker.

"I must agree with Mr. Tucker Captain." agreed T'Pol. "This is an unknown structure. We cannot be certain what will happen to you if you enter it...beyond the implication that you will crossa gulf of 150 years."

"I'm afraid, I don't have a choice." said Archer. "Starfleet has ordered me to assist them in the future. Apparently, I have experience they need and I can't just write down the information for them. So I've got to go."

"What about your replacement." said Tucker. "Can ya tell us anything about him?"

"Actually, that was the one thing his era Starfleet gave us pretty good information on." said Archer as he clicked the display panel control again.

"Captain Soma" said Archer.

The image changed to a man in a red tunic with an arrow like insignia on his chest. The man had dark set eyes which stood out against his olive skin and sandy hair. Though he had a penetrating stare, his eyes did not have as much of an impact on the Enterprise crew as his ears.

"That's a Vulcan!" said Tucker.

"Actually, according to his Starfleet Record he's half Vulcan." said Archer. "The other half is human."

"A human and Vulcan parent" said Phlox. "That would interesting to study."

"Yeah, from a distance." chided Tucker.

"A Vulcan in Starfleet?" said Hoshi incredulously and then remembered T'pol. "No offense T'Pol."

"None taken, I assure you." she replied.

"From my conversation with Admiral Forrester, I got the impression that although Starfleet is still primarily populated by humans, there is a considerably large percentage of Academy graduates from a number of the many cultures that make up the Federation...of which Starfleet is the defensive and exploratory arm." explained Archer.

"Defensive?" questioned Reed

Archer smiled at Reed. He thought he'd like the sound of that. "Yes, it would seem Starfleet's purpose is going to get more and more complex as the years go by."

"Captain Soma, has quite a record." said Travis reading the screen. "Diplomat, explorer, scientist...not to mention he's been in his share of scrapes. His record says he's one of the most highly decorated starship Captain's in Starfleet history. He's also one of the longest in grade. His record says he joined Starfleet in 2173!"

"That means he's been in Starfleet almost 130 years." said Hoshi. "How is that possible?"

"Need I remind you Ensign that Vulcans live a much longer life span than do humans." said Phlox.

"But his record says he's only half Vulcan." responded Trip.

"I'm sure that factor would reduce his life span in comparison to a full Vulcan, but he would still have a much longer lifespan than if he were fully human." answered Phlox "Based on the available picture...assuming the Starfleet of Captain Soma's era still keeps up to date personel records..I would say the Captain has the physical appearance of a 55 year old human male."

"He also hast more time in Starfleet than all of us combined." said Mayweather.

"I don't believe it." said Hoshi as she scanned the record on the smaller monitor in front of her.

"What?" asked Archer.

"Sir, Have you read his Starship assignments?" asked Hoshi.

Archer smiled "I assume your referring to the Captain's current assignment."

"What's so special about it?" asked Mayweather.

Hoshi wasn't sure how to put it..so she just said it. "It's the Enterprise. Starfleet Registry
NCC-1701-C."

"What?" said Trip.

"Captain Soma is the commanding officer of the Enterprise in his era." explained Archer "There was some technical information on her, but I'm not at liberty to discuss it. However, I can tell you that she's the fifth Starfleet Vessel to carry the name and like our own Enterprise, she's Starfleet's Flag ship."

He could see a slight smile come over his officers...all except T'Pol of course...but he was willing to wager she was smiling on the inside. Starfleet didn't need to include that information, but he was willing to bet they had in order to forge a connection. This Captain Soma was a total unknown...A Vulcan and from another time...but he was' Enterprise' and somehow that made him more acceptable.

"I'm afraid that's all I have for you." said Archer "The rest you'll find out from Captain Soma."

He stood up and turned to Lt. Reed "Is the Shuttle pod ready?"

"Standing by sir." replied Reed.

"Good." said Archer "You, Hoshi and Travis will accompany me to the surface. Trip, I want you have the Engines completely checked from top to bottom. We put her through the paces getting here and I have the feeling Captain Soma isn't going to be traveling on impulse. I want them ready by the time he takes command."

"Aye, sir" smiled the engineer.

"T'Pol, your in command until Soma comes aboard." Archer told her. "I want you to address the crew. Inform them of the change over, but under no circumstances are they to know about the 'cold war' or the future Starfleet...that includes Captain Soma. Tell them he's a special Starfleet operative assigned to command this mission. My advice....stick as close to the truth without telling it."

"Understood" said T'Pol

"All right, then let's do it." said Archer.

**************

Chapter 5


150 years later and 23 hours ago....

"Report!" screamed the Captain from his command chair. Sparks flew all around him as he coughed from the thick acrid smoke that filled the bridge of the freighter ship 'Venture'.

"Warp drive is offline....shields are failing and our weapons are gone." screamed the helmsman over the alarms and crackling of exposed wiring.

"Situation normal." came a female voice at the back of the smokey bridge. The woman was a dark skin human with long curley hair she pushed out off her face as she used an extinguisher to suppress the fire at her communications panel. "It's looks bad Dad!"

"We've come through scrapes like this before Rory." said the Captain reassuringly. "Eddie, divert power to the impulse engines, lets try to make a run for the Altier system. We might be able to lose them in the high subspace ionization."

The Helmsman adjusted the power yield to the impulse drive of the 'Venture'. "No good sir, the relays are burnt out. I'm not getting anything."

The Captain swung around to the aft engineering section "Kort, can you do a manual relay?"

The Klingon engineer manipulated his control panel attempting to make the manual relay that would divert power to the Venture's impulse drive. His results were clearly evident when he smashed his fists on the control board "Perhaps today IS a good day to die!"

"Dammit Kort!" spat the Captain "You know I hate it when you say that."

"Captain, the Orion ships are charging their weapons again." screamed the navigator "We can't take another direct hit!"

The Captain turned back to his engineer "Shields?"

The engineer looked down at his monitor for a moment...then looked up. "I don't think so." he said in resignation

The Captain looked back at the monitor. The snowy static masked the Orion pirate ship's that were closing fast.

"I'll see you all in Stovokor!" screamed the Klingon engineer.

"All hands brace for impact" yelled the Captain.

The Orion ships closed on the battered freighter, their weapons coming to bear on the unprotected ship which raced desperately away from the barrage of disrupter blasts. It would only take another volley of disrupter fire or torpedoes and the Venture would be finished. Fortunately, fate smiled kindly on the Venture today.

"Captain!" shouted the navigator "another ship is approaching."

The Captain snapped his head in the direction of his navigator. Was the new ship friend or foe?

"Captain..." the navigator started as he looked over his shoulder "It's the Enterprise!"

The Captain looked at the screen and a smile played on his lips. He turned back to his Klingon engineer "Kort, cancel that trip to Stovokor. The cavalry just arrived!"

The Orion pirate ships fired a volley of energy torpedoes on 'the Venture'. The torpedoes closed in on the defenseless ship. Making contact would spread the Venturehalfway across the sytem, but before they made contact a fast moving object intercepted the volley igniting them harmlessly away from 'The Venture'.

"Dad! The Enterprise, her shields destroyed the torpedoes!" shouted the Venture's communications officer.

"Captain, the Enterprise is coming about." reported the helmsman "The Orion ships are scattering!"

The tiny Orion Laska class corvettes were no match to the mammoth size Ambassador class starship. The Orions scattered in multiple directions as the starship charged it's multiple phaser mounts. Like a shark in the ocean, Enterprise cruised past the battered freighter 'Venture' making it known to the pirates that they were no longer welcome and would be dealt with if they chose not to head the starship's warning.

"The Orions are leaving!" cried the helmsman in relief. "Their turning tale!"

"Dad, we're receiving a message from the Enterprise." said the comm officer

"Put it on the screen." ordered the captain

"I'll try, but the Orions took out a lot of our systems." said the Venture's communications officer as she tried to relay the signal to the forward viewer. After a few moments she nodded to the Captain and the monitor flashed white as an image came into focus. Static lines crisscrossed the monitor and a jagged crack cut through the middle, but the Captain had no difficulty making out the man on the screen.

"Jonathan!" he rang out with a smile as he saw his Vulcan friend, Starfleet Captain Soma...who he affectionately called by his human name of Jonathan...standing in the middle of the Enterprise C's bridge. Next to him was another familiar face; Rachel Garrett the young officer Captain Soma had recently promoted to first officer." The crew of the 'Venture'send their thanks to the starship Enterprise!"

"Captain Mayweather" responded the Vulcan with an equal smile. "Are you and your crew alright? Do you require medical attention?"

Travis Mayweather looked off screen for a moment and then turned back "No, Rory says everyone is ok. It's the Venture that needs help. My crew can handle most of the damage ourselves, but there are gonna be a few things we'll need the facilities of a dry-dock for. I don't suppose we can get a tow?"

"We'll be happy to drop the 'Venture' off at Star base 211." said Captain Soma

"Great....now why don't you tell me what your doing all the way out on the frontier and how it involves us." Travis said smiling

Soma arched a brow and grinned as he looked at his First officer. "I can't keep anything from him."

"I may have retired from Starfleet Captain." said Mayweather "but I've put in enough years to know that the Enterprise has always been a front line vessel. Starfleet would have to have a pretty good reason to send you out to the ass end of space."

"Well Captain, if your crew can spare you for a bit, I'd like you to beam aboard and we can discuss it on our way to Star base 211." said Soma

"Sounds good, you've already peaked my curiosity." said Mayweather.

"Well Captain, let's just say it involves an old friend." said Soma "I'll fill you in when you beam aboard. Soma out."

***************


Chapter 6


"Captain Archer?!" repeated Travis to make sure he had heard Captain Soma correctly.

"That's right Travis." the Vulcan replied. "Command has been in contact with Starfleet officers in prior time periods for some time now. They have transmitted a message to that era's Starfleet requesting Captain Archer travel to our time and spearhead a special assignment."

"What's the assignment?" asked Travis.

"I can't tell you that unless you agree to join us." Soma told him "Telling you this much is violating my orders, but I don't see any other way...and you do have the right to at least know why your needed."

Travis looked at Captain Soma. "How are you going to bring Captain Archer to our time period?"

"I can't tell you that either." replied Soma.

"What CAN you tell me?" asked Mayweather in frustration.

"That whether you join us or not, Captain Archer is coming forward." answered Soma. "He's going to be 150 years out of place Travis; he could use a familiar face. You’re the only one from his current time period that we can get, and you know exactly what the Captain will be going through...having the future suddenly thrust upon you and desperately looking for a familiar face."

Travis smiled at the Vulcan as he nodded in agreement. "All right, count me in."

"I knew I could count on you Travis." smiled the Vulcan.

"So you want to fill me in on why Starfleet is violating its own temporal incursion laws?" asked Travis.

Soma answered Travis' question with a question of his own. "You remember the Suliban?"

Travis perked up, "Of course, they gave the old NX-01 and her crew hell more times than I care to remember."

Travis Mayweather looked at Captain Soma with startling realization.

"Do you recall a "crewman" named Daniels?" asked Soma

"Yes" said Travis making the connection. "The Captain said he was from the 31st century and that he was part of an organization battling an unknown group threatening Earth's past. Is that was this is about? The temporal cold war?"

"Yes," replied Captain Soma as he stood up and walked over to the food replicator in his ready room. "Starfleet has been keeping files on the 'temporal cold war' that Captain Archer first reported in his ship's logs in 2151."

Soma stopped at the tiny alcoved wall unit and depressed a button.

"Computer, tea, jasmine," said the Captain. "Can I get you something?"

"Uh, coffee," replied Travis. "Make it black."

Soma smiled, "Computer, coffee, black."

The two cups on saucers materialized in the service slot. Soma picked up both saucers and walked back to his desk, stopping to hand Travis his coffee.

"Thanks." said Travis. He took a sip from the cup and turned his attention back to Soma.

"For the last 150 years, Starfleet has added a mountain of intelligence files and Captain's logs from over 40 Starships, to the logs Captain Archer first made." explained Soma. "They used this information to monitor and ,on occasions, actively confront agents working for the unknown organization that Daniels had eluded to and Starfleet Intelligence has confirmed. "

"Starfleet's been taking their own steps to fight the 'cold war'?" said Travis. It was less a question and more a statement.

"Right, Command Brass has apparently never been comfortable relying on an unknown group of individuals battling another unknown group of individuals over the history of Earth, Starfleet and the Federation." Soma explained further. "Starfleet's current intelligence information suggests the Suliban, who have been out of the picture for nearly 40 years, are once again receiving instructions from the future. Starfleet has assigned Enterprise to investigate."

"So what does this have to do with Captain Archer?" asked Travis.

"This man." said Soma pressing the button on his desk monitor. He turned the screen towards Travis. "Recognize him?"

Travis looked at the image for a moment. It had been a very long time, but the face on the screen could be only one person. "Silik!" replied Travis.

"Starfleet received these intelligence images last week." said Soma. "This video image
was taken at Deep Space 2."

"But that's impossible." said Travis. "Silik couldn't be alive after 150 years...could he?"

"The Suliban life cycle is roughly that of a human." replied Soma.

Travis looked at the Captain for a moment and then stood up and began to pace. He stopped abruptly turning to face Soma. "Is Starfleet certain this is Silik?"

"Yes, his identity has been confirmed by computer comparative analysis from Enterprise NX-01 files." answered Soma

"But if Silik is in this century..." Travis started and then paused.

"Then someone brought him here." said Soma completing Travis Mayweathers statement.

"But why?" asked Travis.

"That's what Starfleet wants Enterprise to find out." said Soma. "No one is more familiar with Silik than Captain Archer. So Starfleet feels it's appropriate to temporarily suspend the temporal non-incursion rule and have Captain Archer travel forward to lead the hunt for Silik. Starfleet in the Captain's time period has been notified via temporal communications and have given the Captain his marching papers. We are to meet him in just over 22 hours. He'll take command of the Enterprise and hunt down Silik before he can complete whatever he's been sent to do."

"Captain Archer is taking command?" said Travis in surprise.

Soma nodded. "Right, you and Rachel will be his liaison. He's been supplied with basic 24th century starship technology specs so he should hold his own with the two of you assisting him."

"You talk like you’re not going to be here." said Travis.

"I won't." replied the Vulcan coolly "I've received my own orders. I'm to travel back and assume command of the Enterprise NX-01 during Captain Archer's absence."

"What?!" Travis said clearly surprised and obviously concerned.

"Starfleet has reasons to believe that whatever Silik is supposed to do will involve the past as well as the present." explained Soma "With Captain Archer pursuing Silik in our century they've decided to send a starship captain to temporarily take command of the NX-01 and pursue whatever avenues he can involving the Suliban faction assisting the temporal cold war adversaries of that time period. Since I have had prior experience with the temporal cold war I was selected as the most logical candidate."

Travis Mayweather looked at his long time friend trying to discern the man's thoughts from the emotions on his face. Unfortunately, Soma had done what he always did when faced with a difficult situation; he went into full Vulcan mode. Though he looked very much like a Vulcan...with the exception of his silver streaked sandy brown wavy hair…Captain Soma was a very uncommon Vulcan. As a hybrid Soma had made a study of both his Human & Vulcan heritages but chose to embrace his human one as the dominant of the two. However, he had taken advantage of his Vulcan studies, which allowed him to develop remarkable discipline and logic for a 'non Vulcan' or rather a 'non logical' Vulcan. He tended to rely heavily on his Vulcan discipline when dealing with tense situations.

"Jonathan..." started Travis.

"I know what you’re going to say Travis." said Soma interrupting. "I appreciate your concern, but I AM a Starfleet officer and I'm more than capable of handling the assignment."

"I never questioned your ability Jonathan." said Travis "But you’re gonna be isolated...alone...out of place. The Enterprise crew is loyal to Captain Archer. You’re gonna have a tough time earning their trust...especially...T'Pol."

Soma shook his head. "Yes, I imagine she won't view my heritage with much approval."

"Jonathan...I didn't..."

Soma held up his hand. "I know you didn't, but I've read her early bio." he said. "At this point in time she was young and clung to her Vulcan heritage with...almost human pride. Her early experience with emotional Vulcan's was...unfortunate. I would be an 'unpleasant' reminder of what would result when a Vulcan is tainted by humans."

The two men remained quiet for several moments. Both understood the situation all too well. Travis wished he could say something to put his old friend at ease, but he knew there wasn't anything. Jonathan would have to deal with the situation and complete the mission he was assigned.

The silence hung in the air for a moment longer until it was broken by the chirp of the comm panel on the Captain's desk. Soma tapped the panel. "Go."

A female voice responded. "Captain, we're approaching Star base 211."

"Notify the dock yard that we'll be transferring the 'Venture' and her crew to their dry dock facility." said Soma. "Captain Mayweather and I will join you on the bridge shortly."

"Travis, I'm sure you'd like to see your crew before we drop them off." said Soma

Travis looked at Soma. He realized that their prior conversation was over whether Travis wanted it to be or not. He smiled weakly. "I'll get my gear from the 'Venture' "

The two men stood and exited the ready room.


*****************
Continue to Part 3 (Chapters 7-9)

Back to Part 1 (Chapters 4-6)


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