The Guardian of Forever story

"Captain's log, stardate 5745.6. The Enterprise has been dispatched to investigate disturbances emanating from the Guardian of Forever's planet. It seems that these disturbances are both spatial and temporal; Starfleet Command believes that if left untreated, they could perhaps rupture the fabric of space and time. I only wish that we had not been sent…"

James T. Kirk almost toppled from the transporter pad as tides of power rocked his ship. Glancing at the operator behind the controls, he spoke one curt word:

"Energize."

Shuddering sparks of light whisked them away with nary a sound to face the thing that Kirk had sworn never to see again-the Guardian of Forever. He still remembered his pain when he'd watched his beloved Edith Keeler die; but newly promoted Admiral Stone had insisted that the Enterprise investigate the strange disturbances emanating from the Guardian's planet-and Kirk had no choice but to obey.

Distracting himself from memory, Kirk glanced at the other members of his landing party: the ever-present Mr. Spock, irascible Dr. McCoy, security head Louis Giotto, and navigator Juri Wu Nien. He had no time to see anything else as a sudden violent wind whipped up dust and gravel into his eyes.

Spitting dirt and shielding his eyes with one hand, Kirk started forwards and waved the other hand to his landing party, summoning them. Slowly they made their way forwards until the wind abruptly died with a last mournful howl.

Nani ga atta n desu ka? thought Nien in Japanese, her dark eyes widening with shock. Aloud she gasped her silent words' translation: "What happened?" In that split second they saw what they had come to view-the Guardian.

Before them stood the same roughly circular shape that had towered there almost two years before; but now its very form was flickering, sometimes replaced for a millisecond by haunting phantoms of irregular contours. Some sort of storm was clearly racking the Guardian.

"Captain, I am picking up fluctuating readings from the Guardian," said Spock suddenly, studying his tricorder carefully. "It seems to be phasing in and out of our timeline."

Kirk considered the Guardian with slight doubt. After only a second he made his decision and strode forwards. "Guardian, can you hear me?"

"A-question-" stammered the being breathlessly. "Why-question? So many-wouldn't answer?"

"Guardian, do you understand?" Kirk stressed, ignoring the tenseness growing inside him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Spock still calmly taking readings.

"I-no-comprehend-leave this one-" The voice of the Guardian, once profound and tranquil, sounded almost panicked.

"My God, Jim, what's the matter with that thing?" McCoy demanded crossly.

"The Guardian appears to be confused, Captain," Spock pointed out evenly. "Perhaps you should cease questioning it."

Kirk sighed.

Up on the Enterprise, Scotty sat gravely in the captain's chair, leaning slightly forwards in his traditional pose. "I wonder what's goin' on down there," he mused. Even as he considered the planet on the viewscreen, its globular shape twisted in a ripple of disorder; even it was affected by the tempest raging in the Guardian.

Sulu watched the planet from the helm with worry in his dark eyes. "Things don't look too good from up here," he fretted nervously. "I hope Juri's doing all right."

Scotty couldn't help but smile. "Don't ya' worry, laddie," he encouraged. "With the captain down there, everything'll be right as rain."

The fairly light mood was shattered as instruments began to wail all across the bridge. Startled into action, Scotty rushed to the engineering console and bent over the controls intently.

"What's going on?" gasped Sulu, gaping at his wildly beeping controls in shock. "Our power-"

Without preamble Scotty strode back to the captain's chair and tapped the comm. button.

The Guardian's inane babble was drowned out by the insistent beep of Kirk's communicator. Resisting the urge to smash his device, he instead flipped it open and answered. "Kirk here."

"Scott here, Captain," crackled his engineer's tense voice. "Somethin' is drainin' our power! We must beam ya' up before it's too late!"

"Draining our power?" repeated Giotto incredulously. Before he could finish Kirk tersely cut him off.

"Very well, Mr. Scott, energize."

The disquieting image facing them was left behind as they transported. Soon surrounded by familiar bulkheads, Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Lieutenant Nien made their way to the bridge, not infrequently rocked by violent tremors.

Kirk sat down in his chair amid one of those quakes and turned to the science station where Spock leaned absorbedly over his scope. "Report."

"Intense power-consuming emissions appear to be radiating from the Guardian," Spock stated; as always, his voice betrayed no emotion. "They are depleting the dilithium crystals very rapidly."