Alone in his quarters, laying on his bed, Kira is feeling detached from the world around him. Contemplating his thoughts of home as the darkness of space and the stars around the ship go whizzing by at speeds much faster than light he stops to think about his family and friends that didn't survive. He was told today of the tragedy of Bajor. He wasn't taking it well. Bajor was his second home in a time that never quite made sense to him. At this moment he was experiencing loss on multiple levels. Not only the loss of his adopted homeworld, but the loss of numerous other systems that had been destroyed as the Kelvan battle planet methodically made it's way towards Earth bringing with it death and destruction along it's path.
Why are they doing this? Why?
After the incident with Tyran Nige, Commodore Pike decided to give some of the crew that had experienced loss in the battle a brief rest to gather their thoughts and deal with their grief prior to the coming confrontation. Kira was among that group.
As the hours passed and the time for battle approached, Kira was in the process of hatching a plan. He was going to need some help to complete it, and he knew who to ask. With determination Kira dressed himself in his usual brown and light green Bajoran clothing that he wore when he wasn't on duty. After all, he didn't want to act like he was in Starfleet for the moment. This was his plan, and Pike probably would not approve.
Exiting his quarters he stops for a moment and taps on his communicator badge. "Computer, where are Tyran Nige's quarters located?"
<Tyran Nige's quarters are located on deck 10 section 9.> responded the computer in it's usual matter of fact tone.
"Take me there."
As Kira followed the computer panels that indicated where he was to go, he pondered how to approach Nige with his plan. It may not be easy. The only thing that the two had in common was the loss of their homeworld. Other than that, the two were nearly like night and day.
Rounding the final corner in the corridor leading to Nige's quarters Kira taps on the door chime to announce his presence.
"Enter." Says a muffled voice from somewhere behind the closed doors.
As the doors open, a familiar scene greets Kira. The only light in Nige's quarters is coming from the open doorway where Kira is standing.
"Are you going to come in, or just stand there?" asks a somewhat belligerent voice from within the darkness.
In response to the voice Kira enters Nige's quarters and allows the door to close behind him. As he tries to let his eyes focus to the darkness around him, Kira opens his eyes wide in order to try to discern which shadowy shape belongs to the inhabitant of the room.
"Nige, where are you?" asks Kira as he carefully steps across the young Lieutenant's quarters.
"Over here." Responds a voice from only a few feet away from where Kira stands. "Who is it?"
In response to Nige's question, Kira allows some of his stored up energy to be changed into a low grade swirling light that dances across his body in blue and green hues. "It's me Tyran.'
"Markos." Says Tyran as he rises to his feet to embrace his guest in a gesture that surprises Kira. Slowly returning Nige's embrace, Kira is reminded of how much Tyran reminds him of his Cousin Paul on Bajor. From the pale light emanating from his body Markos can see that Nige was crying.
"I know, Tyran, I know." Utters Markos as he allows Tyran to cry on his shoulder for a little while. After a few moments Markos slowly disengages Nige from himself and moves both of them towards a couch nearby.
"None of my family escaped. None of them. We're scattered all over the galaxy now. Where were the prophets when we needed them? Where were they, Markos?"
"I wish I knew, Tyran." Markos wished he could say something more, but he didn't want to sound trite. During his lifetime he had heard nearly every pat answer to why bad things happen to good people, and he had always hated those hollow words uttered from people who didn't know what they were talking about.
"Did any of your family survive?" asks Tyran as he wipes his eyes of his newly formed tears.
"Only my cousin Nerys. She helped evacuate Deep Space Nine prior to the Kelvans destroying Bajor. She's all I have left. What about you?"
"None of my family survived. The only one I know that is alive from the planet is an old acquaintance. After this mission I'm resigning, I want to find this person and try to start my life over again."
Realizing that he was still illuminating the room, Markos decides to try to take some of the attention away from him. Slowly lifting his hand in the air Markos causes the light that envelops his body to coalesce and move towards his outstretched arm. As the last piece of energy moves to envelop his hand, Markos transforms it into a small swirling green ball of light.
"I always wondered how you did that," says Tyran as the small glowing ball moves to hover between the two slightly above their heads.
"You and the rest of Starfleet medical." Replies Markos with a slight smile. "Tyran, I didn't just come here to mourn, I came here because I need your help."
At this comment Tyran's expression changed from grief to curiosity as he stops to ponder the words that he just heard. "Whatever it is, I can help."
"Do you know how I came to live on Bajor, Tyran?" says Markos in a slow methodical manner.
"No one on board is clear on how you arrived on Bajor, and I know that no one on board except the Captain and Commodore know everything about you. Why?"
"Tyran, what I'm going to tell you can not pass beyond these doors, understand?"
"Perfectly."
"My ability to control different forms of energy is not limited to conventional electricity and magnetic fields. I'm able to manipulate both time and space if I have enough energy at my disposal."
"I know you aren't from Bajor, but where are you from." Asks Tyran as he shifts his position to get more comfortable.
"Not only where, but when is a better question. I grew up on 20th century Earth. My transportation to Bajor was completely unplanned and unexpected. I had barely begun to learn to control my abilities when I decided to try an experiment. In the process of this experiment I opened a rift in time and space that brought me to Bajor, nearly 300 years in the future and hundreds of light-years away from my original home."
"Did your parents on Bajor know where you came from?"
"No, I didn't want to tell them. I was in shock when I woke up. In my time the people of Earth had not yet made first contact, so I wasn't expecting a Bajoran face when I awoke after my trip through time and space. Since that time I have learned how to control my abilities in ways that I didn't think were possible. I think that I can attempt to bring us back in time to prevent the destruction of Bajor."
"Please tell me you are serious. I'm not in the mood for a joke."
"I'm serious, Tyran. I can bring back the entire ship to the moment where the Kelvans dropped out of transwarp to destroy Cardassia Prime. With our new shielding we should be able to hit the planet before it knows what happened. By destroying them before they destroy Cardassia we can save countless lives."
"Why don't you tell Pike about your plan? I'm sure that he would agree to it."
"No, Pike would talk to Neil, and the Captain knows first hand how unstable my version of space travel can be. During the last year I've been tested and forced to try to stretch the limits of my abilities, and I think that I can safely transport us back in time and space without much injury."
"What do you need from me?" asks Tyran. "I'm no engineer."
"I know. What I need from you is a distraction. Something to draw the attention of the bridge crew away from what I'll be attempting."
"The Commodore was more than forgiving about the first incident on the bridge, he won't put up with a second altercation."
"That's not what I had in mind, Tyran. I need you to assume your post again prior to our scheduled meeting with the Kelvans and program false sensor reading of an attacking ship, or unknown spatial anomaly, something to make the crew's attention waver long enough for me to open the space-time rift into the ship's computer. You can put it on a timer, and when it activates I'll place us just outside of Cardassian space between Bajor and Cardassia, with enough time for the crew to assess the situation and realize that they could stop a catastrophe before it happens."
"Are you sure that you don't want to tell Pike? He may approve of the plan." Asks Tyran one more time.
"I don't want anyone to know what we're going to attempt. I want it to look like a cosmic twist of fate, a stroke of luck. I don't want to make a habit of trying to fix the mistakes of the past. Just this one, and I'll be done."
"When do we begin?"
"Whenever you're ready."
Fortunately for Nige and Kira, the Commodore allowed Nige to return to duty without a lot of persuasion on Nige's part. According to the plan laid out by Starfleet Command, the Knight was to engage the Kelvans in a little less than two hours. Time was running out, and Kira and Nige knew it.
As Nige assumed his post on the bridge beside the newly acquired tactical officer, Lieutenant James Taylor, Commodore Pike turned around to face the two officers.
"Glad to see you join us, Nige."
"Glad to be back, Sir." Said Nige as he moves away from Taylor to monitor the short range sensors. It's now or never. Finally deciding on a plan to scramble the short range sensors by tricking them into thinking that the ship was in danger of entering an area of space with high amounts of temporal distortion, Nige simultaneously begins to create the false sensor readings needed for the deception. After the false program is entered, Nige sets the timer to execute his deception shortly after the final battle was expected to begin.