Picard arrived at the lift, thankful to be away from Q and back on task. He hoped he was back on task. That was the thing with Q. You might think the infernal arrogant omnipotent bastard was gone but he all the time seemed to show back up again in methods no one would ever expect. He could only pray that for once, Q would show at least a little respect and wait until after the solemn pilgrimage before showing his smug face again.

Riker was already at the lift waiting for Picard when he finally arrived. In the years after being first officer of the Enterprise, William Riker had had a good life and career. He had married Deanna Troi, become captain of the Titan, and had children. Retirement had not diminished the twinkle of his blue eyes even if his hair had gone gray and beard almost entirely white. It had not lessened his loyalties either which was why he had agreed to this favor for Picard. Although he wore an easy going smile internally he was dreading the look of confusion on his old friend’s face when he didn’t discover his daughter’s name on the stone sarcophagus. He loathed the inevitable confrontation that would come afterward.

Before opening the doors to the lift the old captain confided to Riker about the confrontation with Q and Will immediately suspected he knew the source of his friend’s confusion. Whatever game was being played, he was gonna have one hell of a mess to clean up when it was over. If nothing else, perhaps it would at least get Picard to accept that he was experiencing the effects of the disease rather than getting angry and denying it.

The doors of the lift opened and the two friends stepped inside and silently rode it up to the deck where the transporter was. Picard suspected that Will was only humoring him, but would soon show him the truth. They would all see the truth. He was not a sick old man with delusions. Will Riker would see the writing on the stone for himself. Geordi would never doubt the veracity of both men and would surely allow them access to the NX-01 under the circumstances. Yes, very soon they would all see the truth.

Picard could not have been more right in his assertions, but stepping from the lift they did not discover themselves standing in the corridor of a Starfleet cruiser. There was no transporter room, no twenty-fourth century uniforms on crewmen. No beige tufted walls, not even the soft hum of warp engines. The two men found themselves standing in the middle of what seemed to be a giant warehouse or perhaps a gigantic hanger. The smell of pungent chemicals wafted through the air and everywhere were parts of some sort of machine. The two men looked at each other in confusion.

“Where are we?” Riker asked. He reached out to some wiring that was hanging from a section of machinery and looked them over, but still couldn’t start to guess as to what it was. The two men began moving through the warehouse working their way past the colossal pieces of equipment while simultaneously looking for any markings or symbols that would tell them who’s technology this was and where they were. They found nothing except a metal door on the far side of the hanger.

With nowhere else to go they opened the door and found themselves inside a pitch black space and immediately began fumbling for a some sort of switch for light. Riker finally found one and as the lights came on they were in awe of what they saw. It looked like an engine room with all its inner workings turned off. Not only that but the configuration was similar to that of Warp-7 drive technology. This was archaic by their standards and the two began to wonder if they weren’t in a museum of some kind, although how they would have gotten there was anyone’s guess.

Both Riker and Picrd could remember studying the Warp-7 engine back during their academy days, but could not recall there ever being a mockup of one on display. That didn’t mean there wasn’t one somewhere and what a great idea for hands-on learning. They could both imagine kids walking through here and being allowed to touch buttons and pretend to be engineers themselves without worrying about any kind of danger.

“Now this brings back memories,” Riker smiled.

“Have you been here before?” Picard asked, hoping to finally know where he was exactly.

“No, but I recall studying this thing, although the final configuration was slightly different if I remember correctly.”

“Yes. Hard to imagine that this speed once seemed unfathomable. Now our ships travel at warp-10 and we think nothing of it.”

Still believing it to be little more than a museum piece devoid of any power or capabilities, Riker pressed the combination of switches he had once learned at the academy for engine calibration. In the flash of a second the entire section of warp drive lit up and began to pulsate as power surged through it. Alarms began to go off all over the space. The two men feverishly attempted to turn it off, but their unfamiliarity with such outdated technology had them at a disadvantage. Each argued over which was the correct button switch or combination to try but nothing worked. A moment later several MACO’s along with Starfleet personnel came bursting through the doors, their weapons drawn and pointed at Picard and Riker. One soldier yelled ‘freeze’ and immediately both men threw up their hands in surrender.

Looking at the soldiers, Picard immediately noticed that they were not wearing any uniforms he recognized, at least not from the twenty-fourth century. These were uniforms and weapons he had only seen in museums and right now, under such strenuous circumstances, he couldn’t recall what era they were from. Even the Starfleet personnel that were quickly getting the engine under control were dressed in old fashioned blue jumpsuits. More uncertain than ever about where and when they were, Picard turned to Riker in confusion.

“What year is this?” he asked softly, but before his friend could answer one of the MACO’s shouted at him to be silent then the two were led away.

Both men were taken to a confinement facility on the other side of Starfleet headquarters where they were photographed and placed in a cell together to be monitored until they could be questioned. What little they spoke to each other was simply to confirm what they both already knew: they were somewhere in the past. Here they had no rank, no serial numbers, and no one knew them. They were civilian nobodies dropped into the middle of Starfleet in the year twenty… god-only-knows-what. This had to be Q’s doing, of that they were sure, but why, for what purpose?

Throughout the night they were questioned repeatedly until they were both exhausted. Not once did they speak. They gave no names and when scans were taken of their fingerprints and faces no record was found. They were given ration bars to eat and bottled water to drink. Tired, they laid down on their cots and drifted off to sleep even as the rest of Earth was just beginning to wake up. Word of the intruders quickly made its way through the upper echelon of senior Starfleet officers. All wanted to know who these men were and what they were after. Sabotage? Theft?

During a morning briefing, the matter was brought to the attention of the newly promoted Admiral Jonathan Archer. He had returned to Earth a week and half before so he could be there for the birth of his son. He was supposed to be on a brief leave for the occasion, but Starfleet never seemed to be able to do without him for very long. This morning was no different. Admiral Gardner gave him all the up to date information about the incident, which was nothing, then handed Archer a PADD so he could see their mugshots.

The first picture showed a tall, burly man with a white beard and graying hair. His blue eyes stared at the camera in uncertainty and perhaps a touch of fear. His clothes were simple and basic and nothing about him seemed out of the normal. He didn’t have the look of a terrorist, spy, or efficient subversive, but then did they really look different? Facial recognition and fingerprints had turned up nothing but a dead end. When questioned, he refused to speak.

Archer swiped over to the next picture and almost instantly his jaw went slack. His deep green eyes stared at the elderly man before him in shock. He knew those deep, narrow but intelligent eyes and had seen that smooth noble crown before, although not in person. The years had etched his face in fine lines and he appeared to have lost a bit of weight, but it was him, he had no doubt of it. Recognizing him only brought up a lot more questions, starting with how to tell Danaë her father was here.