Captain’s log, stardate 59080.6:

The Dauntless has been assigned star mapping duty in the Archanis sector, a quiet and peaceful change compared to the events of the past year. We expect this assignment to take about three weeks to complete before we move on to our next mission.

Koester, commanding Dauntless, out.

Captain Peter J. Koester, commanding officer of the Sovereign-class starship Dauntless, stepped out of his ready room and up to the woman who currently occupied the center seat.

“Everything going well, Carrie?” he asked.

“Commander (Carrie) K’danz, the starship’s first officer, smiled a contented smile as she answered, “Wonderfully quiet, Peter. I can’t remember the last time we had such an easy, quiet assignment. I just hope it lasts.”

“Shhh!!” Koester scolded mockingly, placing his finger in front of his lips. “Don’t jinx us!” Both officers glanced around the entire bridge, half expecting some alarm to sound or a crew member to alert them to some strange anomaly. The only sound, however, was a standard report from Lt Commander Alasdair Wallace at the science console.

“We have completed mapping section 151, Commander. Now enterin’ section 152.” Both Koester and K’danz exchanged smiles.

“Very good, Exec. Carry on,” Koester said as he started stepping toward one of the turbolift alcoves. “I’ll be down in 10-Forward. Call me if you need me.”

“Aye, Skipper,” K’danz replied just as the turbolift doors swished open. However, before the captain could step inside, an alert signal from the ops console drew his attention.

“Commanderrr, long rrrange sensorrrs arrre detecting a vessel, bearrring 227 marrrk 9, rrrange fifty-thousand kilometerrrs. By all indications it is adrrrift. Minimal powerrr rrreadings,” reported the Caitian officer at ops, Lt(JG) M’nday.

“You just had to say something, didn’t you?” Koester said to K’danz with a foul glare as he returned to the center of the bridge. K’danz shrugged with a sheepish expression on her face, then looked toward the main viewscreen.

“Helm, intercept course. Full impulse,” the first officer ordered, then once again exchanged looks with her commanding officer, both of whom now wore expressions of worry.

Space, the Final Frontier...

These are the voyages of the starship Dauntless!

Her ongoing mission; to seek, to chart, to explore...

Slipping the surly bonds of Earth,

Going where none have been before!

Star Trek: Dauntless

“Paradox” By PJK

The Dauntless slowed as it neared the tumbling, drifting spaceship.

“That’s a Federation starship!” K’danz exclaimed, standing up from the command chair to stand next to Koester near the helm console.

“Yes, ma’am,” reported Wallace as he reported what his sensors were reading. “Miranda-class. An’ based on the hull degradation, I estimate she’s been adrift for close to a century now.”

“Can you identify it?” Captain Koester asked as he turned toward Wallace.

“Markin’s are hard t’ read,” Wallace reported. “Lots o’ micro-meteor damage. Bu’ it seems t’ be USS Independence NCC-1863.”

“And what do our records have on that ship?” K’danz asked. “When did she go missing?”

“That’s the truly strange part, Commander. There is no record of such a ship in Starfleet.”

“What?” K’danz asked. “How can that be?”

“Commander, there’s more. I’m registerin’ life form readings. They’re verra faint, most likely in some form o’ stasis, but there are at least thirty people over there... alive!”

The captain exchanged another glance with K’danz before asking, “Recommendations?”

“Rrrecommend we firrrst halt the ship’s tumble and momentum using the trrractor beam,” suggested M’nday.

“Once we get the ship stopped, I’ll lead an away team over there and evaluate the situation,” said K’danz.

“Very well. Inform me when you’re ready to beam over. In the meantime, I’m going to contact Starfleet and see what they might know about this ship,” said Koester as he started back toward his ready room.

“Aye, Skipper. Lt Commander Dar, Dr Rasa, Major McIntyre, meet me in transporter room two in ten minutes. Mister Wallace, you’re with me too.”

* * * *

“I’m sorry, Peter. I dug through the records as deeply as I could and there is no record anywhere of a Federation starship with the hull number of NCC-1863,” Rear Admiral Kathryn Janeway replied on the desktop viewer in Koester’s ready room. “It appears to be one of the hull numbers that was cancelled shortly after it was authorized, so the number was never used. I’m afraid I have no other helpful information for you.”

Captain Koester sipped his coffee before putting the cup down on his deck and saying, “Thanks, Kate. I had just hoped maybe there was something in the records at HQ that we don’t have. Some sort of secret mission perhaps.”

“If it were, it’s so secret even Starfleet Command doesn’t know about it. I wish I could have been more help. What’s your next step?” Janeway asked.

Koester sipped from his mug again before saying, “Commander K’danz is leading an away team over there right now to survey the situation. She reported the vessel’s systems were all still operational, but on a reduced power level. The most remarkable thing so far, however, was that a number of staterooms have been jury-rigged into crude yet workable cryogenic stasis chambers and that apparently there are thirty people still alive over there. If we’re lucky and they can be revived, hopefully they can answer some of these questions for us? The last report I received about ten minutes ago, Dr Rasa said they were going to reactivate the vessel’s sickbay, then try and revive the crew.”

“Away team to Captain Koester,” interrupted the anxious sounding voice of Commander K’danz.

“Can I call you back later, Kate? The away team is checking in.”

“Of course,” Janeway replied. “Keep me up to date. Starfleet, out.”

As the viewer turned off, Koester touched his intercom and said, “Koester here. Go ahead, Exec.”

“Captain, we have... Well... Captain, we need you over here right away!”

“Why? What’s the matter?” Koester asked with concern.

“I... I really can’t explain it over comm. channels. You need to come over here.”

“Alright, Exec. I’m on my way. Koester, out.”

The captain deactivated the intercom and gulped the remainder of his coffee, sticking the empty mug back into his replicator before rushing out onto the bridge, stopping for a moment near Commander Kevin Fry, who occupied the command chair.

“The Exec has requested my presence aboard the Independence. Have transporter room one stand by to beam me over. You have the conn, Mister Fry.”

As Fry acknowledged the order and contacted the transporter room, Koester entered the turbolift, wondering what had occurred aboard the mysterious derelict to so rattle his normally rock-steady first officer.

Minutes later, Captain Koester materialized in a corridor aboard the Independence, where he was met by Major Sean Elliot McIntyre, the Dauntless’ Security Chief and commander of the embarked Marine contingent.

“What did you find?” Koester asked the Marine major with concern.

“You have to see this with your own eyes, Captain,” McIntyre replied as he escorted Koester to the derelict vessel’s sickbay. A moment later the two officers entered the medical facility, where the captain saw K’danz and Dr Rasa standing over a patient laying on one of the old biobeds. The monitor above the bed beeped a rhythmic beat, indicating near normal life readings.

“Exec, what is so important that you needed...”

The captain’s voice caught in his throat as Dr Rasa stepped away from the bed and Koester finally saw the face of the person laying there, his jaw dropping.

There, on the biobed in front of him, a look of shock covering his own face, was... Peter Koester?

* * * *

Captain’s log, supplemental:

I’ve just had what has to be the biggest shock of my life, and for someone who has faced the Borg, the Kairn and the Dominion and survived them all, that’s saying quite a bit.

The thirty crew members our away team discovered frozen in stasis aboard the Independence all turned out to be members of the Dauntless crew, all crew members who are present and accounted for aboard our own vessel, including myself and Commander K’danz. We are at a complete loss to explain this situation.

The Dauntless has now taken the Independence under tow and we have transported our apparent counterparts aboard, where they will be kept in isolation until we can determine who or what they really are. I know what they look like, but there are any number of logical explanations as to where they came from.

* * * *

Captain Peter Koester neared the stateroom where his twin was being quartered, rounding the corner of the corridor in time to see the starship’s Bajoran Chief Medical Officer exiting the cabin.

“What is your opinion, Doctor?” Koester asked. “Is he an alien in disguise? Somehow projecting an illusion? Perhaps a clone of some kind?”

Dr Rasa Palin shook his head as he aimed his medical scanner at he captain, double checking his readings as he said, “All my scans of the patient match your readings exactly. Complete DNA match. If he were some kind of disguised alien, there would be no way he could disguise his DNA so perfectly. And even a clone would have some minimal gene sequence deficiencies. No, Captain, that man is you.”

Koester stared at the closed stateroom doors, guarded by two of McIntyre’s Marines, his eyebrows knitted in annoyance as the situation grew ever more complicated while Rasa continued his report.

“The same goes for the other K’danz, Dar, Kelly, Windsor and the other twenty-five people we found over on that ship. They are all the exact same people as our ship mates. The only thing that doesn’t match exactly are their ages.” Koester looked back at Rasa, his expression curious.

“I can’t pin it down to exact days, minutes and seconds, but based on the calcium degradation in their skeletal tissue along with other factors, I’ve determined all of our new passengers are somewhere between two and twelve months older then our regular crew.”

Koester thought about what the doctor was saying for a moment, his confused expression returning.

“You’re saying they came from the future? Then how did he... I mean I... I mean... Oh hell, I hate time travel! How will I get stuck aboard a century-old starship a year from now?”

“Sorry, Captain,” Rasa said with a slight grin. “I’m a doctor, not a fortune teller.”

The captain groaned, shaking his head at his Chief Medical Officer’s attempt at humor, before asking, “Do you think it would be alright if I spoke with him for a little while? Or will the universe blow up if I do?”

Rasa glanced at the closed door as he said, “From what I can tell, he’s very confused himself. But I don’t see any harm in talking to him.” And with a final nod, the doctor returned his tricorder to his medikit and headed back toward sickbay. Koester watched him round the corner, then took one final deep breath before nodding to the two guards and pressing the door chime.

“Come,” the captain heard a very familiar voice say. The doors swished aside and Koester stepped through.

Inside the stateroom, which normally housed important guests visiting the Dauntless, the other Captain Peter Koester sat in one of the chairs, a steaming mug of tea sitting untouched on the table in front of him. The first Koester marveled at his counterpart for a moment, who stared back with the same intense gaze. The only outward difference in appearance the first captain could see was that it was evident this other Captain Koester had recently had his hair cut and he wore what looked almost like pastel pajamas, though Koester knew from the history texts that it was actually the short-lived Starfleet uniform that was in use in the early 2270’s.

“Good afternoon, Captain,” Koester said, feeling funny speaking to himself but offering his counterpart a handshake. “Can I assume you know who I am?”

The other Koester returned the handshake as he nodded, saying, “Yes. I wondered when you would get around to visiting with me. Unfortunately, aside from knowing you are me and that I’m back aboard the Dauntless, my mind is a bit hazy as to how I got here.”

The first Koester sat down in a chair opposite his counterpart and asked, “Can you tell me what you do remember?”

“My last clear memory is a mission to Adelphi. Everything after that is pretty much just bits and pieces,” said the second Koester, his expression displaying the frustration he was feeling as he tried to remember.

“Adelphi? The starship Adelphi?” the first Koester asked, trying to get some clarification.

“I… I don’t remember. The only other thing I can recall is a deep sense of urgency.”

“Urgency? Over what?” the first Koester inquired.

“Gem,” his counterpart answered, referring to his thirteen year old daughter. “I have to... to save Gem.”

“Save Gem from what?” the first Koester asked, now concerned himself.

“From...explosion? …I wish I could remember!”

Koester nodded in understanding. The two men exchanged concerned looks before the voice of Commander K’danz sounded from the first Koester’s combadge.

“Bridge to Captain Koester. We need you up here right away.”

“Acknowledged,” Koester said before looking again at his future (?) self. “I hope you understand why we need to keep you isolated from the crew?”

The other Koester nodded and replied, “I would do the same thing in your shoes. In fact, I believe I already have.”

The first Koester looked at his counterpart strangely for a moment before concluding, “If there’s anything you need, just let us know.” Then he quickly departed the stateroom.

* * * *

Moments later, Koester emerged from the turbolift and onto the bridge, where Chief Engineer Dar was standing talking to his wife, K’danz.

“What’s up, Exec?” Koester asked.

K’danz looked at her commanding officer as she said, “We’ve already debriefed half of the people who were aboard the Independence, and the story is pretty much the same all around. No one can remember the specifics of how or why they were aboard the Independence, except that it was an urgent mission to rescue the Dauntless.”

Koester nodded as he said, “My counterpart told me pretty much the same thing, except more specifically it was to save Gem. Any idea why they are all suffering from memory loss?”

“Dr Rasa surmises it may have something to do with their unorthodox stasis. The system they rigged slowed all their body functions with a mixture of oxygen, cryogen, ozone and methalon, which he says probably also affected the memory centers of their brains.”

“Those stasis systems were ingenious,” Lt Commander Dar commented. “Whoever jury-rigged the environmental system managed to cross connect the ship’s batteries with the stateroom environmental controls on a self-monitoring circuit, which ensure it would continue to function for at least 150 years. Whoever designed and put it all together was a real miracle worker.”

“Well, that still leaves the question of why and how did we go back in time? And when will it happen?” Koester commented.

“That brings me to my other report,” K’danz added. “We’ve received orders from the Office of Temporal Investigations. We are to keep the crew of the Independence isolated from the regular Dauntless crew and from each other and return both them and the USS Independence back to Earth for official debrief and investigation. They also request all logs and computer files relating to the discovery and recovery of the Independence.”

The captain sighed as he looked at the padd K’danz handed him.

“Do we have the Independence rigged for warp tow?”

“Tractor beams are locked on, capable of warp 7, Captain,” Dar replied as he walked over to the engineering console and rechecked Lt Commander Windsor’s readings.

Koester then looked toward the young Antican officer at the helm and said, “Mister G’Raff, lay in a course for sector 001. Ahead warp 7.”

“Course plotted and laid in, sir,” the canine-like conn officer replied. “Engaging warp drive.”

* * * *

Captain’s log, stardate 59099.8:

Almost the minute we entered Earth orbit, Agents Dulmer and Lucsly of the Office of Temporal Investigations came aboard to escort our future selves to an official debrief, while a crew from TI has taken command of the Independence, moving the ‘non-existent’ starship to an isolated slip inside spacedock.

I have made inquiries regarding how long the debrief will last and when we may hear the results, but all I’ve received in reply was, “When it is time.”

In the meantime (no pun intended), the Dauntless is continuing onto her next mission, though not without a strange sense of foreboding, almost like waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Koester, commanding Dauntless, out.

To Be Continued...

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