You can't have my life,
I'm not your sacrifice.
You can try, but I'm free,
And you won't conquer me.

I won't crawl,
Most of all,
I won't fall,
For you.

-Sacrifice, Casey Lee Williams

I was bored.

The Redemption had been assigned to patrolling the Romulan Star Empire border, and so far, nothing had happened.

For the past twenty days.

Now, you must understand, on this ship, unusual things happened. A lot. It was both weird and welcome.

But so far, nothing, nothing, had so much as breathed in the ship's direction. No ship, no celestial being, nothing.

Frankly, I was surprised the crew hadn't mutinied yet. Holodeck use had risen fifty percent, pranks and practical jokes between people and departments had risen twenty percent, and we already had two separate altercations.

Hell, even Thrum, the ship's AI, was bored!

Sighing, I stood up and walked to the turbolift. I didn't need to say anything to Tallasa, she knew what to do.

I made my way down to Engineering to begin my rounds.

"What going on, Thorin?" I asked my Chief engineer, watching the warp core pulse and thrum.

"Same old, same old." The Andorian reported. "Everything's the same as it's been for the past twenty days." His antennae curled in irritation.

"How's the engineering crew?"

Thorin sighed. "Bored. I've had to disarm a couple pranks here and there, and I'm pretty sure Jayden and Matt are fucking each other for fun..." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jayden duck back towards her console, trying to hide her blush. "...but other than that, nothing to compromise the ship."

"What about you?" I asked.

Thorin smirked. "I've been mostly studying the Furling technology Thrum has on memory, seeing if it can be adapted to our tech and ships. Granted, I'm far from the most qualified to figure that stuff out. Pinkerton is probably the one you want to go to."

"What about the Unigate?" I asked, referring to the massive, universe-crossing portal that we had encountered a couple months ago.

Thorin laughed, antennae curling outward in mirth. "Sir, Ronald Pinkerton, the man who can upgrade or make anything, is having trouble understanding that ring. I'm not gonna do a thing."

I chuckled. "Forget I asked." I patted him on the shoulder and turned to leave the cavernous room, making my way into another turbolift. "Deck two, phaser cannon control."

I hummed out a tuneless beat, and without thinking stepped out of the lift when it came to a stop.

I blinked as I realized where I was, then slouched. "What do you want, Daniels?"

Temporal Agent Daniels stepped out of a hologram in the temporal briefing room. "We need your help, Admiral."

I sighed. "I know that, you wouldn't be here if you didn't. Why do you need me?"

Daniels smiled, but the effect was diminished by the strange, burn-like scars marring his face that had appeared last time we saw each other. "On point, as ever." He waved a hand and the constant flow of holograms faded back and several new ones moved to the fore.

"We have discovered that the Sphere Builders have been conducting operations in other universes." Images of the Spheres flashed across the hologram. "They aren't looking to make changes to time, but to other timelines as well."

I crossed my arms. The Sphere Builders were a race of trans-dimensional aliens that were incapable of living in our own realm of space. Back in the 22nd century, the Builders had attempted to destroy Earth by proxy of the Xindi, after which they would use the spheres they had built in the Delphic Expanse to make a bubble of space in our dimension that they could live in - at the expense of every other living being in bubble.

Many had speculated that if that Expanse formed completely, the Builders could have even converted the entire galaxy into their own space. Were it not for the valiant acts of courage and sacrifice of the NX-01 Enterprise and her crew, that may have very well happened.

"So why does this affect us?" I asked.

"The techniques they find in these universes will allow them to build more spheres in our universe. It's something we have to stop."

I sighed and thought about it. Really, some action would be good for the crew, and I was never one to deny help to others, even if they weren't asking for it.

"So, how are we getting there?"

Daniels smiled. "Shortly, a device should be appearing in Engineering. It's a Unigate generator, and, when tuned to your temporal matrix, should take us back to the temporal incursion."

I really shouldn't be surprised that universe-crossing technology had been developed in the future, but it was nice to know.

I nodded. "I'll get Thorin on it. Anything I should know about this universe?"

The agent grimaced. "This timeline is a variant of our own timeline, with one crucial difference. When Ambassador Spock used red matter to stop the Hobus supernova, he was attacked by a Romulan named Nero and his ship, the Narada. Both ships were drawn into the black hole, but the Narada went first. When she came out on the other side, she encountered the USS Kelvin. The Kelvin was destroyed when she rammed the Narada to buy time for the escape vessels." Daniels sighed. "On board the Kelvin at the time was Commander George Kirk. He died saving the crew and his newborn son."

"James T. Kirk." I finished.

He nodded. "Without the guidance of his father, Kirk turned out much differently. That, the continued presence of the Narada, and Ambassador Spock led to many major changes, including the destruction of Vulcan. While following a rough outline, this universe is very different compared to ours."

I sighed, thinking things over. "I'll inform the crew. We should be ready by tomorrow."

The Next Day

Bridge

"Time matrix stable." Thrum, the ship's Furling AI, reported. "Unigate generator ready."

I nodded. "Straa, ship status?"

The Caitian female started listing off. "Phaser cannons ready, phaser banks charged. Torpedo tubes loaded with quantum torpedoes. VATA tubes loaded. Shields ready at one hundred percent. Redeemer and Liberator wing report standby ready." Straa turned to face me. "All departments report ready."

"Good." I keyed the intercom. "Thorin, activate the generators."

The background noise of the ship increased in pitch, before a wave much like the activation of a Stargate formed in front of the ship and washed over the battlecruiser, sending her across time and universes.

Author's Notes: Welp, another one that came out of nowhere. A bit of surprise, (curse my muse!) even for myself, but this will lay out some groundwork for future fics, not only mine, but HeartofFyrwinde's as well.

I do hope that you will enjoy my personal take of the STO mission 'Terminal Expanse.' It's been awhile since I've done a novelization of a game mission, so I do hope you enjoy it.