We were on a small detour to explore a dense nebula that we detected graviton emissions from, something that indicated the existence of hundreds of wormholes. Needless to say the Captain ordered the ship to investigate.
Once we entered the nebula things went ploinshaped. Borg ships. Borg ships everywhere. The nebula was so dense we came within a hundred meter of actually running into a cube before we even detected them and then we turned tail and ran, hoping beyond hope that they didn't spot us.
They didn't follow.
The crew was feeling a mix of apprehension and disappointment. One on hand we just dodged a major bullet with the Borg...on the other hand we just missed another change to get back to Earth.
I myself am mostly nervous as I stand on the bridge, manning the sensors, solo. It was decided a couple of months ago that I am now skilled enough to do so.
The reason to why I am nervous is that I don't know what timeline I am in or If it will even happen like in OT. I might be the Hiver that take the long way to the AQ.
When it had been a couple of days since the encounter with the Borg one I pick up a temporal rift, giving of tachyons and chronotons.
Chakotay enter the bridge "What do we got?" and Janeway glance back at him from her chair
"Some kind of timerift judging by the tachyon flow."
He have barely time to sit down before Tuvok speak up "There is a vessel coming through the rift. Unknown signature."
Janeway glance back at him "Red alert." before we go back to watching the viewscreen as the vessel exit the rift.
It's small, about the size of the deltaflyer. The hull is a smooth oval and there is no sign of impulse engines or warp nacelles on the blue and white hull.
I glance down at my console as it beep at me "They are hailing, Captain." and she nod
"On screen." before I open the connection as she stand up.
As the viewscreen go active I see somebody I have never seen before...but see every day. It's Captain Janeway.
A 20 year old Captain Janeway.
"Captain Janeway, I highly recommend you recalibrate your deflector disk and close that rift using a anti tachyon pulse." and the Captain watch the woman on the viewscreen with wide eyes
"It's usually polite to introduce yourself." she say, sounding slightly stunned and Tuvok speak up
"A second ship is coming through the rift. It's Federation." before the young Janeway continue
"Captain, if you value the future of your crew, close that rift or all will be lost." and I but in
"How can we know you are not a alien impostor?" and she actually grin before answering
"Circle unraveled." and I nod
"Captain, I highly recommend closing that rift. She just gave one of my temporal passwords."
Captain Janeway hesitate before she nod to Tuvok "Close it."
The anti tachyon pulse from the deflector close the rift before anything else can emerge.
"Now, I did what you asked. Now tell me what are going on." the Captain say as the other Janeway smile slightly
"I have come to bring Voyager home."
A few minutes later we are in the transporter room as Janeway beam on board.
I joined the Captain and Tuvok along with a squad of security personnel there to meet her.
"Welcome on board." The Captain state as the younger Janeway smile
"It's good to be back."
She step down from the transporter platform and pull a small silvery sphere, about a decimeter across from her satchel before handing it to me "Kiwifruit." she say with a smile and I give her a small frown.
"Do you know what that mean?" I ask and she shake her head
"No, you just said it was a message to get you to accept it. I dont know what it is either." and I nod
"Very well." before turning to Janeway "Captain, I dont think I will be needed for the rest this. I need to take this message." and she frown
"Temporal Prime Directive." and I just give her a smile
"Dont worry, I know all about it. Future me would as well." before I turn to walk out.
What I didn't tell her is the meaning of that specific keyword. It mean 'Screw the timeline'.
I make my way down to Serenity before sealing myself in before I start to check over the sphere. In optical light there is nothing but under my optical sensors I can see a pattern on the surface. It's a snake coiled into a circle, but the snake are broken in the middle, breaking the circle.
Snorting slightly at my future self I say the password "Ouroboros Broken." and when I do things happen quickly.
A pair of Borg style assimilation tubular's dart out from the sphere and stab into my arm while something connect to my link with Serenity. The encryption is almost unbreakable but there wasn't even a hesitation.
"Hello Prime." I head in my head as the nanites disable my motorfunctions "Don't worry, its only to keep you from doing something stupid."
"Who are you?" I ask down the link
"I am a sub sapient memory engram of you. You sent me with Commander Janeway to jumpstart the future." and I would have frowned if I could
"Explain."
"I will as soon as the memory banks and optronic neural network are finished. At this point your brain is to biological to be able to handle the datastream at the speed needed." it answer as I actually start to feel smarter.
"When are you from? Why deviate from the timeline like this?"
"Because its required. If you form CORE as soon as you return to the AQ instead of spending another 20 years developing the technology needed the Undine War would develop completely different." the VI answer and I hesitate
"20 years...but Janeway was meant to come back ten years after Voyagers return!" I answer and I can almost feel it nodding
"Things change, Prime. Some for the worse...Voyager didnt get home. There where three survivors. You, Captain Janeway and the Doctor. Everyone else died when you passed through the Mel'tra's space. Including Annika. Only you three where able to escape in Serenity." and I suddenly feel like someone punched me in the gut
"What...What happened to Annika...what did I change...Voyager was meant to get home on its own!"
"We never figured out what went different. It might have been something small you did that caused a butterfly effect to go out of control. Remember, after this event you had no longer any future information. Annika died when a Mel'tra battlecruisers main beam weapon pierced straight through Voyager's engineering section."
I swallow "My fault..." and the AI continue
"No Prime. She would have died in the Original Timeline as well. But we are changing it all now."
"Yes...Yes we are. How long to download?"
"Five seconds until the construction is far enough along. Starting Download...Now."
As soon as it say 'Now' a flood of information get available for me. Neural net designs, cybernetic implants, gravimetric drive designs, ablative armor, fractal shielding, flow warp, gravimetric torpedoes....and most important, the CORE implant.
I emerge from the flow of information a hour later and find I can move again. I check the sphere, its out of power.
I think faster, got more information in my head than I ever had before. Not only designs, but possible future events but also simple things like maps, calculations possible base locations. Everything future me could possible cram in there.
It took us a total of 20 years to reach Earth in OT. 30 years after that Janeway returned here to change things. The war against the Undine had already been going on for four years by the time I formed CORE.
The Consciousness Repository. Anyone could join.
Anyone from any species, not only Federation.
The only criteria was the formation of the CORE implant in the cerebral cortex(or equivalent) of the new member.
At the point of death the CORE implant activate and via a hyperspace link it send the entire mind of the CORE member to the closest CORE base or facility.
There the Mind are scanned and given a choice. To live in virtual space or given a new cloned body or even a mechanical one.
As the Mind go through the Consciousness Repository all its knowledge is added to what CORE Central know. All that information(other than private things) are then accessible for any member of CORE at any point via their implant.
There was resistance of course. Propaganda against the idea, people comparing it to The Borg. But it was all voluntary. Anyone can leave CORE at any time. At the time Janeway left, CORE had a total of ten million members of hundreds of species as well as owning its own star system.
Janeway was a member...The Doctor was a member. I...was CORE PRIME. The Central Consciousness, running the entire damn thing.
But all members where individuals. I had no control over them, just the information copied to Central when they died and was reborn. That influx and concentration of information was the key to turning the tides on the Undine and the Borg.
Advanced information available to a super human intellect able to create technology more advanced than ever before. People crewing ships and drones with minds that when destroyed, don't die. They return, knowing what they did wrong, learning every time.
I frown and then sigh slightly. Recreating CORE would be the key to the future...But damn if future me didn't drop a hell of a job on my lap.
After I leave the shuttlebay I make myself up to the Captains readyroom where I find Janeway talking with Janeway. I give the younger one a nod "Commander." before turning to the older looking one
"Captain, I'm not sure what she have told you yet, but I would say trust her."
The younger looking one stare at me for a moment "Prime?" and I shake my head
"No, still just Hiver. Future me just gave me a bit of a information download."
Janeway(the older) frown at me "What happened to the Temporal Prime Directive?" she ask and I shrug
"When trillions of people risk death, it go out the window. We need to get Voyager back to the Federation NOW."
Captain Janeway frown at us "Ok, whats going on?" and the younger one raise a eyebrow
"What about the temporal prime directive?"
The Captain give us both a glare and I smile before explaining. At the end she is leaning against her desk.
"Never thought I would get wrapped up in this philosophy of yours, Hiver." and the younger one shrug
"I never really did. It was just a condition to join CORE to take the implant. Besides, after I was kicked out of Starfleet when we got back..."
The Captain blink "I was what?" and the younger one look unhappy before nodding
"Not kicked out per say, but I never got a command like Voyager again. Five years after we came back I was in command of a Miranda class, running geological scans on asteroids. I resigned when we finished the mission and I found out my next one would be a another year of the same."
The Captain sigh and nod "That's when you joined CORE?" and the younger one shake her head
"Was almost 15 years before CORE was formed. I went into writing until Hiver contacted me, offering me a position in CORE exploration division."
Older Janeway nod "So how did...this happen?" and motion towards younger Janeway and the younger one frown
"It was during the middle of the Borg Invasion. The ship I was commanding ran into a Cube we couldn't fight of. They managed to destroy the ship and the next thing I know I'm waking up in a medical bay, looking like this."
I feel the need to but in "Captain, Commander...we should get to work." and the Commander nod before the Captain hesitate and nod
"So what's the plan?"
The plan is relatively simple. Install new tech on Voyager to beat out way through the Borg blockade, enter the trans warp conduit to the AQ while launching a specially modified gravitonic torpedo. It will detonate and cause a rift in space time, destroying the transwarp complex as Voyager keep ahead of the collapse.
The next week was full of hard work, installing new fractal shielding, ablative armor and gravitonic torpedoes.
Then we head into the nebula. I'm standing on the bridge observing as Voyager move into the nebula, Harry Kim having taken over the science station as he is the expert, I'm just observing and advising, Commander Janeway is sitting next to Captain Janeway along with Commander Chakotay.
As we enter the cloud the Borg start to approach before firing. The ship dont even shudder and the Captain glance back at Tuvok and he shake his head
"Shields are holding, Captain."
The Captain nod as we proceed into the Nebula "What are they doing now?" she ask as the Borg stop firing and instead start scanning.
I smile slightly "They are trying to adapt. How about we don't let them?" and she nod
"Tuvok."
Tuvok nod and fire one gravimetric torpedo at each of the three spheres. The transphasic torpedoes isn't even slowed down by the Borg shields and smash into the Cubes...and half a second later each Cube crunch down into a sphere a fifth of their normal size before blowing up as it make their antimatter containment collapse.
As we approach the nexus more Cubes come to try and stop Voyager. Each of them are disposed of in the same way before we enter the transwarp conduit.
The Captain glance back at Tuvok "Do it."
He nod and return his attention to his console "Firing rift torpedo."
The modified gravitonic warhead launch from Voyager as the ship enter the conduit and detonate a second later, creating a giant rift into subspace, creating a particle fountain. In only seconds the nexus start to break up and the conduit start to collapse.
"Thirty seconds to real space!" Tom report as the ship jet down the corridor, spacetime behind it collapsing.
"Ten seconds..."
"Exiting transwarp conduit!"
Voyager are thrown out of transwarp just as the conduit collapses.
Captain Janeway slowly stand up and glance back to Harry "Mr Kim. Our position?"
He swallows and glance down at his instruments "Sector 001. Two lightyears from Earth."
The Captain start to smile "Ladies and Gentlemen...we are going home. Mr Paris, Set a course for Earth."
He smile and nod "Yes Ma'am!"
I smile before turning to exist the bridge "Mr Hiver, going somewhere?" the Captain ask with a raised eyebrow and I nod
"Yes. I think Annika might want some company in astrometrics."