"Under no circumstances must you enter the artifact!" a female voice commanded. Tumock, Nige, and Haakon turned around to see a Tanzaran woman wearing the rather beat-up remains of a Starfleet uniform pointing a phaser at the party.
Tumock froze, not knowing what would happen next. "And you are?" he asked.
"Commander Katianna Nadira, formerly of the research vessel Howard Carter. Please step away from the artifact!" she commanded as she waved the phaser at the three. Tumock, Haakon and Nige stepped away from the huge stone ring.
"And you are?" Katianna demanded.
"I am Lieutenant Commander Tumock, Chief of Operations and acting First Officer, USS Knight. My companions are Lieutenant Tyran Nige, Chief of Security, and Lieutenant Junior Grade Linn Haakon, Medical Officer. The Knight was sent by Starfleet Command in response to your distress signal."
Katianna relaxed and lowered the phaser. "Thank Tiadara! The signal actually made it through! We were afraid that the distortions from the cluster would have weakened it. Tell me one thing, though. Did another member of your crew arrive here yesterday?"
"Yes. Lieutenant Commander Lee Carter was sent ahead on a reconaissance of the area."
"Very good. That was the answer I was looking for. Come with me, please," Katianna ordered. Though she had relaxed significantly, Tumock noticed that she still kept her phaser out.
"Tumock to Knight--we've located a survivor from the Carter," Tumock reported.
[Very good. Keep us posted.]
"How fast can the Knight get us out of here?" Katianna asked.
"Depending on how quickly the Engineering personnel aboard the Knight can counter the interference generated in the vicinity of this artifact, we could conceiveably evacuate the entirety of the Howard Carter's complement in one hour's time," Tumock replied.
"Let's hope that your engineers are the best there are. Because that communications link just summoned the Protectors!"
Nobody knew for certain who had built the Guardian of Forever or its companion piece in the Zinak Cluster. But the crew of the Howard Carter had found out exactly who the Protectors were.
Untold millions of years earlier, the creators of the Guardian realized the danger the artifact posed if it should somehow come under the control of the wrong hands. So they created an elaborate defense mechanism to prevent undesired tampering with time. The distortions created in the Zinak Cluster were only partially attributable to the densely-packed star field. The artifact itself, and the mechanisms which generated and supported the Protectors also created spatial distortions making it nearly impossible for most vessels to venture near the Guardian. Such a spatial distortion was encountered by the Enterprise on Stardate 3245 and led to the incident which Starfleet had carefully kept under wraps for more than a century.
Should an entity be able to bypass this distortion field, the Protectors--artificially-created lifeforms generated by gigantic factory complexes far beneath the surface of the planet--would then intervene. The Protectors can best be described as what might result if the Borg were to assimilate the Jem'Hadar; in fact, both races have their ultimate genesis from abandonned Protector complexes at various points in the galaxy. Part biological, part technological, and completely ruthless, the mission of the Protectors is to eliminate any real or perceived threat to the Guardians of Forever. Over 600,000 years prior to Kirk and Spock's journey through time, the Tkon Empire had waged a savage war against the Protector complex for that particular Guardian. At great loss to the Empire, the Protectors were defeated, but the Tkon Empire was destroyed before they could gain control of that particular Guardian of Forever.
The Guardian of Forever in the Zinak Cluster, however, remained unmolested until the present day. So when the Howard Carter, with its complement heavy in scientific and support staff and relatively light in security forces or Marines, arrived on the scene six months earlier they were entirely unprepared for what awaited them...
"There are thirty of us remaining from the Howard Carter," Katianna explained as she led the trio into the survivors' encampment. While every effort had been made by the survivors to keep the site orderly, signs that things were beginning to break down were evident. Tumock observed that most of the survivors were clothed in rags of what had been Starfleet uniforms, and most of the technology available to the survivors had been jury-rigged from salvaged parts. "It hasn't been easy, between the lack of supplies and the periodic raids by the Protectors, but we've held our own." She led the group to a small hut which served as the camp's medical facility. Inside, Dr. Akira Brown labored over an unconscious Lee Carter with a tricorder.
"How is Ms. Carter's condition?" Tumock inquired.
"Not good. The fact that she made it from her wrecked vessel to the artifact is alone incredible. She's had a severe concussion and has lost at least a liter of blood," the doctor replied. "I've done what I could for her, but that has mainly been keeping her sedated while her system recovers on its own. Very dangerous, especially with a head injury, but without full medical facilities there's not much else I can do. Even when everything was working I would have had to beam someone in her condition up to the Carter for treatment. We just weren't set up to handle heavy trauma cases to begin with." Haakon immediately joined Brown and the two physicians commenced treating Carter with Haakon's full medical kit.
"So what happened to the Carter?" Nige asked.
"Less than a week after we arrived, the Protectors decided we were a nuisance. The Howard Carter was only an unarmed research vessel--it didn't stand a chance. In less than ten minutes the ship and all aboard were lost. And we were left here on the planet's surface," Katianna answered.
Just then an energy bolt struck outside the encampment, followed by a loud scream!
Tumock tapped his combadge. "Tumock to Knight--we are under attack! Thirty-four to beam out immediately if at all possible!
["Acknowledged. Prepare for transport,"] Osagawa's voice resounded through the comlink. Moments later the beleagured survivors were beamed aboard the comparative safety of a Galaxy-class starship.
"Captain, I'm getting some sort of interference in the transporter signal," the ensign operating the controls in Transporter Room 3 reported.
"Is it interfering with the transporter function?" Osagawa asked.
"No; in fact it appears to be boosting the signal!"
"Ensign, there's an old engineer's adage--'if it ain't broke, don't fix it!' Just get these people on board. Notify Sickbay once they've been beamed aboard. I'm on my way."
It took four beam-out cycles, but eventually all the survivors were safely aboard the Knight. Captain Osagawa gave the order for the ship to leave the Zinak Cluster and return to the Alpha Quadrant. For the most part, the survivors were in comparatively good health, although the services of the new ship's counselor would certainly be called upon. Most, if not all, were experiencing post-traumatic stress syndrome. Not surprising, Osagawa thought as he recognized the symptoms he once saw in himself. Even combat-trained personnel would have cracked under these conditions. These people were scientists, not soldiers! Katianna's young daughter Laurissa was probably the worst off. The laughter and antics expected even of Vulcan two-year-olds were nowhere to be found in the Tanzaran child. Osagawa thought back to his own daughter, Machiko, who had been taken by the Borg at nearly that same age so many years ago. She'd be entering Starfleet herself by now, had she survived, he thought. The sole consolation Osagawa had was that his daughter was not a Borg drone--Rear Admiral William Riker, then a commander and first officer of the Enterprise-D, had made sure of that with his quick actions just before the Borg cube had reached Earth. All Kenji could do now was offer homage to Amida Buddha and hope that Machiko would do better in her next life. Perhaps Laurissa was Machiko's next life.
No sooner than the ensign in Transporter Room 3 left his watch then the chaos began. The transporter activated, and six newly-replicated Protectors appeared on the transporter pads, fully-armed and ready to eliminate those who would dare to interfere with the Guardian...