The Kabreigny Object loomed large on the view-screen. It was all that Albert Calevicchi could think about. Since he had opened the letter from the legendary James Watt two years previously, he had waited for this moment. Now, with the galaxy in turmoil, carrying out his task would be even more difficult.
Calevicchi was not the only one watching the strange black hole. In the command chair, Pendragon sat, watching not only the object but the Admiral. A sixth sense inside Pendragon told him that something was about to happen.
And it was. Suddenly Greenleaf's sensor panel came to life.
“Captain, I'm picking up a life-form.”
Pendragon sprang to his feet and faced Greenleaf. The Admiral was soon by his side.
“In what sort of vessel?” Pendragon asked.
“Not in any sort of ship, sir,” said Greenleaf. “He's just floating there, in space!”
“Quickly!” said the Admiral. “Beam him directly to Sickbay!”
Pendragon confirmed the order.
In Sickbay, Doctor Pulaski watched as a man dressed in a white bodysuit appeared on the examination table before her. She began her work as soon as he arrived. Moments later, Pendragon and the Admiral entered Sickbay. The Admiral raced over to the table and looked down at the patient.
“He's alive,” said Pulaski. “But barely! How long was he in open space?”
“It's hard to tell,” said Pendragon. “Probably just a few minutes.”
Pendragon then looked at the Admiral. He was staring intently down at the patient's face.
“Is it him?” Pendragon asked.
“It's him. It's Sam Beckett.”
It wasn't long before Beckett was revived and sitting upright on a bed. He seemed intrigued by his surroundings and by his appearance. Pulaski had taken Pendragon to one side. She began to whisper to him.
“I think it's wise not to tell him what year he is in—well, not yet anyway.”
“I know what year I'm in.”
They turned to see Beckett getting to his feet. He seemed a bit unsteady at first but soon regained his composure.
“I'm in the 24th century,” Beckett continued. “And from the looks of it, I'm aboard a Federation starship. But why am I here as myself? Why didn't I leap into anyone?”
“I can answer that question.”
Beckett looked up to see Admiral Calevicchi enter. Beckett smiled. Although he knew that his best friend Al was not alive in this year, his descendant looked almost identical to him.
The Admiral walked over to Beckett and handed him an old-style envelope. Beckett looked at the front. It was addressed to the direct descendant of Admiral Albert Calevicchi, to be opened in the Earth year 2370.
Beckett began to read the letter. It detailed the events that had happened nearly four hundred years previously. As he read the letter, things began to get very clear for him.
“So where is Magus now?” Beckett asked. “Is he trying to find a way of sending me back to my own time?”
Pendragon hesitated before he answered. He knew that what he was about to tell Beckett could upset him.
“Magus has gone missing. We haven't seen him since he entered the temporal wormhole. We've heard nothing from him since.”
Having clocked up almost fifty years in Imperial service, Gilan Palleon had learned the art of waiting. With long-range sensors locked onto the nearby Kabreigny Object, all Palleon had to do was wait for the return of his commanding officer. The crew of the Imperial Star Destroyer Chimaera would not have much longer to wait. In a blaze of temporal energy, two battered Imperial transport ships suddenly appeared before them.
“Lock on tractor beams,” Palleon ordered. “Ferry them into hangar bay six.”
“Captain, I'm picking up a Federation transport,” the tactical officer reported. “And we're being hailed.”
“On main viewer.”
Palleon looked as the image of a woman dressed in a Starfleet uniform appeared before him. Behind her, a man with a broad smile on his face.
“This is Captain Zoe Evella of Starfleet. This is Commander Thames. We've been assigned temporary command of the Chimaera, effective as of now.”
“Who gave those orders?” asked Palleon. “It is unusual for a Starfleet officer to be assigned command of an Imperial ship.”
“Not anymore,” said Zoe. “Haven't you heard? We're one big happy family now!”
“Grand Admiral Thrawn authorized this himself before he left for the Euphrates sector. Everything is in order.”
Palleon looked down at his screen as Zoe transmitted the orders to him. Everything appeared to be in order.
“Very well. Prepare to be tractored in.”
Suddenly, Beckett felt alone, totally alone. Here he was, one of the 20th century's greatest minds, proclaimed the new Einstein by his peers, totally alone, a man nearly four hundred years out of his time. Everything, everyone that he knew and loved were long gone. Project Quantum Leap, Gushie, Ziggy, Al, Donna, were all gone. He was alone in the universe.
“You are not alone, Doctor. You never have been.”
Beckett looked across the darkened room at the doorway, and the small statured man that stood in that doorway. Beckett recognized his voice. It was the voice of the man he had been longing to see.
Moments later, Phineas Magus stepped into the room. Beckett shook him warmly by the hand.
“What happened?” asked Beckett. “Why was I brought here? What happened to Daniel? Did he revive the project?”
“Funding was withdrawn from your project two days after the Jem'Hadar incident,” Magus replied. “Daniel Reid vanished without a trace in the year 2010.”
Before Magus could continue, the ship rocked. It was as if something huge had just blasted into the side of the ship. However, it was something far worse than that.
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