"Hey, babe." Dana kissed Stephen gently on the forehead. "You have to go to work."
Stephen opened his eyes to see his wife sleeping next to him. "Good morning."
Dana smiled and kissed him on the lips. "You know, it wasn't even half as scary as I imagined it." She paused. "I am so glad you were the one."
Stephen smiled and returned the kiss. "I am too." He got up and headed for the sonic shower.
Dana got up and enveloped herself with a bed sheet. She walked to the replicator. "Two Maruu-A breakfasts."
Two plates appeared which Dana quickly grabbed and placed on the table. She sat down drinking a cup of coffee.
Stephen walked out of the shower fully dressed and putting on his pips. "I've been thinking," he said as he sat down across from Dana, "You should move in with me."
Dana smiled. "Are you serious?"
"Of course," he said. "It is the best suite on the ship. Plus, we are, like, the only married couple in the galaxy that isn't living together."
"Well, you have a busy job, taking care of a starship and all," she excused the fact that they were not living together. "I'd love too. Plus, it's a nice, big room. I'm sure all my stuff will fit perfectly."
"Great," said Stephen as he finished his breakfast. He got up to leave. "We'll start moving tomorrow. I'll ask Jon if he can take a few hours of my shift so I can focus on the move."
"Good." They kissed on the lips.
"Besides, you have to get ready for work too."
Dana smiled. "Exactly."
Stephen headed to the door. "See ya this afternoon."
He headed out the door as Dana headed in to take her own shower.
Stephen walked onto the bridge as Jon got up. "Good morning, Stephen."
"Morning, Jon. How are things here?" Stephen asked, happily.
"Everything's great." He paused. "You seem cheerful this morning."
"I had an excellent night."
"Well, I'm glad."
"Thanks, Jon."
K'Lara stepped into the conversation. "I'm sorry to interrupt your wonderful conversation, but I think I have something on scanners."
Jon and Stephen sat down in their respective seats to inspect their computers. "What is it?" asked Jon.
"I don't know; neither do the scanners. But it's huge. It's an area of space which is about three light years wide and five light years high."
"How about across?" asked Stephen.
"About one light year."
"I guess we can go across then." Stephen turned to his first officer. "What do you think, Jon?" He smiled. "I know, I am way too happy this morning."
Jon smiled. "You took the words right out of my mouth."
Stephen turned to K'Lara. "Take us through."
The ship started to move into the unknown anomaly. Suddenly, the lights flashed.
Benton, standing at tactical, announced, "There was a fluctuation in the power grid. It has corrected itself."
K'Lara then said, "Captain, the ship isn't moving. We seem to be stuck."
"Engineering," began Stephen, "what's going on?"
Jennifer answered hurriedly, [The warp core is working at peak efficiency. Impulse, warp, and transwarp systems are online and operational.]
"It's kind of like being trapped in mud."
Jennifer paused for a second. [Exactly, sir. The ship's wheels are moving, but we aren't going anywhere.]
"If we go to warp we may get out because this anomaly may not exist in subspace."
[It's worth a try. I've done all I can on my end.]
"K'Lara, take us to warp one." He was about to second guess his own order, but chose to ignore his sixth sense.
"Aye." She pressed the button for warp one.
Suddenly the ship shook horribly. Consoles exploded. K'Lara flew off the helm and landed in an awkward position on the floor in from of Jon, who fell off of his seat. A beam came down and hit Stephen on the head knocking him out. Benton fell to the floor behind his console and landed against the console behind him which shielded him from a falling bulkhead. When the commotion was over, Benton ran to the front of the bridge to help. He ran to K'Lara and felt her pulse.
"How is she?" asked Jon.
"She's dead, sir."
"She is not dead," he retorted. "You're probably checking the wrong area." He crawled to her and checked her pulse. "She is not dead," he said again as he started CPR.
Benton tried holding him back. "Her neck is snapped; nothing is going to bring her back."
"Shut up!" Jon said as he kept trying to save his wife.
Benton let him be and went to the captain. After assessing the captain's condition, he yelled at Jon, "Commander, Captain Maruu is seriously injured. You can help me save a man who is still alive, or you can keep trying to save a dead loved one while we watch the captain die."
Jon thought for a moment, tears coming from his eyes. He touched K'Lara's cheek one last time. "I love you." He closed her eyes with his hand. "I always will." Then, he helped carry Stephen to sickbay.
"Ninety-seven dead," Stephen began reading the damage report. "One hundred twenty-one wounded. Hull breaches on decks five, six, seven, 12, 13, 15, and 19. Force fields did not activate so those decks are depressurized and inaccessible. Engineering flooded with plasma, no survivors." Stephen laid back on his bio bed in pain. "I really messed up."
"You couldn't have known this would have happened," Dana said as she tended to a man's wound.
"How's Jon? He must feel horrible now that K'Lara and T'Lan are both dead."
"T'Lan is dead?!"
"Yeah. Jon had another officer baby-sit T'Lan. That was on Deck 12."
"Oh no!" cried Dana. "No wonder he was so devastated! I had to get him a sedative. I've never seen anyone that way before." She paused. "But you woke up just a few minutes ago. How could you have known that?"
"I don't know. I just... well... I just knew. I've been having déjà vu all day today." He changed the subject. "How are you coping?"
"I've lost several best friends in my time," she said, unconvincingly. "I'll live."
Stephen groaned as he got up. "I can't stay here." He looked at Dana. "Is engineering vented?"
"Yes. Jon and Benton should be there."
"Okay." Dana helped him get up. Stephen took a good look around at the many people crowding sickbay. Then, he walked out the door.
Stephen walked into engineering to see two T'rais helping to fix the ship. He walked past them, perplexed. He noticed Jorial, the DTF Vorta who had allied with, and later betrayed, the Virgo during their war against the
Kirusans, tied up and unconscious with his head leaning against a bulkhead. Stephen then realized that the brig prisoners must have been freed after the anomaly.
Stephen noticed Benton hard at work near where Jennifer's office used to be. It had been crushed by a bulkhead. "What's going on?"
"We are attempting to bring the Virgo's primary systems back online."
"I mean with the T'rais."
"They have agreed to help us in return for their freedom. You see, sir, they were lied to by the Kelvans. That is why they attacked us. Until now, there had been no reason to cooperate. It is only now that each of us see that we were both fooled into entering an unnecessary conflict by the Kelvans."
"Huh." Stephen looked around. "Where's Jon?"
"Commander Lataro is attempting to scan the anomaly and see if we can find out what caused the accident." He paused. "We are using all the help we can get since we are at a loss of engineers; most of them were incinerated in here." He pointed at a corner where they had managed to accumulate the piles of skeletons and burnt flesh of alpha and delta shift engineers.
Stephen felt even worse after this. He made his way gloomily to Jon. "Can I help?"
"Oh, good. You're awake." He paused and faked a smile. "What a day, huh?"
"I'm sorry about K'Lara."
"That's okay. We're Starfleet. We both knew the risks." He fell to the floor in agony. Stephen managed to catch him just in time. Jon started sobbing.
Stephen held Jon, barely able to keep himself standing, let alone himself and Jon. "I am so sorry. I am so sorry."
Benton watched as Stephen approached him. "Sir, where's Commander..."
"I've relieved him. He needs his rest. No one deserves to go through something like that." Stephen slowly began to realize that he had said these things before. "Um... Benton... you keep working here. Make sure to keep me informed on your progress."
"Sure, sir." He paused, noticing Stephen's apprehension. "Is there something wrong, sir?"
"No, Benton." He forced a smile. "Just a little shaken up."
He nodded. "I think we all are, sir."
Stephen kneeled in front of an altar to the Prophets in his quarters. "I haven't prayed in a while, but I'm a bit lost."
There was only the quiet hum of the engines around him.
"I need help. Many of my crew are dead. The rest are wounded. I keep recognizing events as if they have happened before. Somehow I knew that going to warp would damage the ship and kill many of the crew. I have failed my crew. What's going on?"
Nothing.
"Kalmar, help me please!"
Suddenly, Stephen felt a warm wind pass by him. "You recognize these events because they have happened before."
Stephen turned around quickly to see Kalmar standing there in his admiral's uniform. "What?"
"I've been trying to communicate with you for months. For some reason, maybe because of the anomaly, I had been unable to speak with you unless you summoned me."
"Months? But the last time we saw each other was two days ago at the last senior staff meeting."
Kalmar laughed. "That's what you think. This anomaly has somehow caused this same day to repeat itself over and over. So, while you've been stuck on October 31, the rest of the universe has moved on to the next year. You've been here quite sometime. Every time, the same decisions are made, the same people die, you try to get the ship out the same way, and the ship explodes killing everyone. Then, the whole thing is repeated over again."
"So, why don't we remember anything. As far as I know, I'm the only one who notices that things have been repeating themselves."
"I have been trying to communicate with you, using all my energy to make you suspicious. It has taken me several months, but at last you summoned me." Kalmar looked at the chronometer on the wall. "By this time for the past few months, you have found a solution to the problem. In about two minutes, you will have managed to kill yourself and cause a warp breach which destroys the ship." He approached Stephen. "Your only way out is by not trying. Let the river guide you out."
"You mean just stay here and do nothing?"
"Interpret that as you will, but meditate on it, or you won't remember it tomorrow, or rather, today." Kalmar began to phase out. "I can no longer appear to you until you clear this anomaly. Good lu..." He disappeared.
Stephen looked at the chronometer. Thirty seconds left.
"Let the river guide you out," he began to tell himself as he watched the seconds tick. "Let the river guide you out. Let the river guide you out. Let the river guide you out. Let the river guide you out."
Then, there was a flash of blue light, and there was no USS Virgo.