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daibhidcI'm not sure where this story came from. It's my first non-crossover Trek fic, and probably my first unequivically non-comedic story of any type. The basic concept just occured to me, and I found myself writing it as I went along. I was quite surprised by the ending.
Reflections of the Future
Emperor Spock made his way to the dais of the Forum. The announcement he was about to make would mean the end of the Empire, but he was under no illusions the Terran Republic would last beyond his own death. He must make the people see that co-operation was better than control, and for that to happen the Republic must also be destroyed, lest it become the Empire under a different name.
As he prepared to speak, everything stopped. The Emperor was not aware of this, because he had stopped as well. Only two people were unaffected by the freezing of time.
One was a heavyset middle-aged man in an outfit that was just about recognisable as an Imperial Starfleet uniform. It was matt black, save for a diagonal swath of metallic blue over the right shoulder, and a yoke of the same colour that crossed the other shoulder. The Earth-and-sword Imperial crest had been stylised to be almost unrecognisable, becoming a pin of a horizontal sword in an ellipse. The pips on his collar showed him to be a captain. He held a phaser of advanced design, pointed at Emperor Spock.
The other was a tall, younger man in a Starfleet uniform from a hundred years earlier. The assignment patch on the left shoulder of the navy jumpsuit showed crossed swords in front of an NX-class vessel, the badge of the original ISS Enterprise, while the yoke was command red. According to the rank bars on his epaulettes he was a crewman. He had a phase pistol from the same period, pointed at the first man. Their gazes locked.
“Daniels!” snarled the man in the futuristic uniform.
“Braxton,” the man in the archaic uniform responded calmly.
“Why do you keep trying to interfere?” Braxton demanded. “I’m trying to put history back on course! This isn’t right; Spock was supposed to die decades ago, and even if I can’t do that, I’m damned sure not letting him hand us over to the Cardies and Klingons!”
“History’s doing just fine,” Daniels replied, “I’m trying to keep it that way.”
“Garbage! I’m an officer of the Imperial Timeforce in the 29th century! The Empire endured!”
“And I’m an agent of the Galactic Commonwealth’s Time Patrol in the 31st century,” and also not suffering from temporal psychosis, he added silently, “and according to our history, this is what happened. Spock reforms the Empire, it collapses, and this paves the way for Memory Omega to bring down the Alliance from within.”
“The Galactic Commonwealth?” Braxton sneered, “Spock’s reforms are weakness. A society based on them is doomed.”
Daniels felt his temper begin to fray. “Do you want to know a secret, Braxton? One I’ve kept from you for subjective years, every time we do this dance, because I wasn’t sure how you’d react?” He took a deep breath.
“You’re right. Your timeline is the original one.”
Braxton stared at him in shock. “What?”
“Kirk’s attempt at conquering the other universe; Spock’s assassination; the ISS Enterprise-D destroying the Ferengi; your command of the ISS Relativity. It all happened.”
Braxton’s expression was a mixture of triumph and anger. “I knew it. And then you people decided to...”
“We didn’t decide anything, Braxton! How could we? We didn’t exist yet.”
“So what happened? And why do you insist this timeline is ‘right’, when you know it isn’t?”
Daniels snapped. “You happened, Braxton! You and your Timeforce, travelling back and invading Andor in the 20th century, Q’onoS in the 19th! Serving an Empire that was so desperate for resources, it was prepared to violate causality and use the same materials it was destined to seize later! The timeline couldn’t handle it. So to prevent complete temporal meltdown, the universe itself had to change history and stop your band of time-travelling pirates from existing!”
He calmed slightly. “That’s why you can’t go back and ensure Spock’s assassination, Braxton. The timeline doesn’t want you to. Time is scarred over at that point, while it tries to heal.”
Braxton stared at him. “The destruction of the Empire ... is my fault?”
“I was trying to suggest something rather bigger than that, but if that’s the way you want to look at it, then yes. And that’s why I can’t let you stop Spock. Your history may be the original, but that doesn’t make it the right one.”
Braxton continued to stare at him for a few seconds. Then he rotated his 29th century phaser and fired.
Daniels looked at the cloud of vapour in shock. That hadn’t been what he was expecting at all.
“It’s for the best,” someone said behind him, “He couldn’t have coped with our universe, even without the temporal psychosis.”
“That seems a little cold, sir,“ Daniels replied, turning. Another Braxton, wearing a uniform similar to the version who had recently killed himself, although without all the braid and with an insignia that didn’t include a sword, had stepped up behind him.
“I know myself well enough to be cold, Daniels. Now, do you want to hear Consul Spock’s speech before we leave?”
“Certainly, sir. If you think we’ve got time.”
Reflections of the Future
Emperor Spock made his way to the dais of the Forum. The announcement he was about to make would mean the end of the Empire, but he was under no illusions the Terran Republic would last beyond his own death. He must make the people see that co-operation was better than control, and for that to happen the Republic must also be destroyed, lest it become the Empire under a different name.
As he prepared to speak, everything stopped. The Emperor was not aware of this, because he had stopped as well. Only two people were unaffected by the freezing of time.
One was a heavyset middle-aged man in an outfit that was just about recognisable as an Imperial Starfleet uniform. It was matt black, save for a diagonal swath of metallic blue over the right shoulder, and a yoke of the same colour that crossed the other shoulder. The Earth-and-sword Imperial crest had been stylised to be almost unrecognisable, becoming a pin of a horizontal sword in an ellipse. The pips on his collar showed him to be a captain. He held a phaser of advanced design, pointed at Emperor Spock.
The other was a tall, younger man in a Starfleet uniform from a hundred years earlier. The assignment patch on the left shoulder of the navy jumpsuit showed crossed swords in front of an NX-class vessel, the badge of the original ISS Enterprise, while the yoke was command red. According to the rank bars on his epaulettes he was a crewman. He had a phase pistol from the same period, pointed at the first man. Their gazes locked.
“Daniels!” snarled the man in the futuristic uniform.
“Braxton,” the man in the archaic uniform responded calmly.
“Why do you keep trying to interfere?” Braxton demanded. “I’m trying to put history back on course! This isn’t right; Spock was supposed to die decades ago, and even if I can’t do that, I’m damned sure not letting him hand us over to the Cardies and Klingons!”
“History’s doing just fine,” Daniels replied, “I’m trying to keep it that way.”
“Garbage! I’m an officer of the Imperial Timeforce in the 29th century! The Empire endured!”
“And I’m an agent of the Galactic Commonwealth’s Time Patrol in the 31st century,” and also not suffering from temporal psychosis, he added silently, “and according to our history, this is what happened. Spock reforms the Empire, it collapses, and this paves the way for Memory Omega to bring down the Alliance from within.”
“The Galactic Commonwealth?” Braxton sneered, “Spock’s reforms are weakness. A society based on them is doomed.”
Daniels felt his temper begin to fray. “Do you want to know a secret, Braxton? One I’ve kept from you for subjective years, every time we do this dance, because I wasn’t sure how you’d react?” He took a deep breath.
“You’re right. Your timeline is the original one.”
Braxton stared at him in shock. “What?”
“Kirk’s attempt at conquering the other universe; Spock’s assassination; the ISS Enterprise-D destroying the Ferengi; your command of the ISS Relativity. It all happened.”
Braxton’s expression was a mixture of triumph and anger. “I knew it. And then you people decided to...”
“We didn’t decide anything, Braxton! How could we? We didn’t exist yet.”
“So what happened? And why do you insist this timeline is ‘right’, when you know it isn’t?”
Daniels snapped. “You happened, Braxton! You and your Timeforce, travelling back and invading Andor in the 20th century, Q’onoS in the 19th! Serving an Empire that was so desperate for resources, it was prepared to violate causality and use the same materials it was destined to seize later! The timeline couldn’t handle it. So to prevent complete temporal meltdown, the universe itself had to change history and stop your band of time-travelling pirates from existing!”
He calmed slightly. “That’s why you can’t go back and ensure Spock’s assassination, Braxton. The timeline doesn’t want you to. Time is scarred over at that point, while it tries to heal.”
Braxton stared at him. “The destruction of the Empire ... is my fault?”
“I was trying to suggest something rather bigger than that, but if that’s the way you want to look at it, then yes. And that’s why I can’t let you stop Spock. Your history may be the original, but that doesn’t make it the right one.”
Braxton continued to stare at him for a few seconds. Then he rotated his 29th century phaser and fired.
Daniels looked at the cloud of vapour in shock. That hadn’t been what he was expecting at all.
“It’s for the best,” someone said behind him, “He couldn’t have coped with our universe, even without the temporal psychosis.”
“That seems a little cold, sir,“ Daniels replied, turning. Another Braxton, wearing a uniform similar to the version who had recently killed himself, although without all the braid and with an insignia that didn’t include a sword, had stepped up behind him.
“I know myself well enough to be cold, Daniels. Now, do you want to hear Consul Spock’s speech before we leave?”
“Certainly, sir. If you think we’ve got time.”
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Date: 2009-09-23 11:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-25 04:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-24 12:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-25 04:54 pm (UTC)As Rob says above, Braxton (http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Braxton) is from VOY. As you can see from the linked article, he's no more stable than his MU counterpart...