Generations

When the Enterprise-B was launched in 2293 it was expected that the ship would conduct a minor journey around the solar system with the press and some visiting dignitaries - including Captain Kirk - in attendance. Unfortunately an emergency situation arose - distress calls were received from two El-Aurian transport vessels indicating that they were caught in a mysterious energy ribbon. With the ship unprepared and the inexperienced captain struggling to deal with the situation, Captain Kirk agreed to provide assistance. The Enterprise-B succeeded in rescuing the El-Aurians, but unfortunately the section of the ship which Kirk was in was destroyed during the attempt and he was thought lost. [1]

Seventy-eight years later, the senior officers of the Enterprise-D were celebrating the promotion of Lieutenant Worf when the ceremony was interrupted by a distress call from the Amargosa Observatory indicating that it was under attack. The Enterprise investigated, discovering that Romulans had boarded the station apparently searching for Trilithium - a fusion inhibitor capable of stopping all thermonuclear reactions in a star. Whilst the investigation was proceeding Dr. Tolian Soran, a scientist working at the Observatory, launched a probe containing trilithium into the Amargosa star, destroying it and producing a level 12 shockwave. Soran escaped on a Klingon Bird of Prey, forcing Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge. [1]

Guinan informed Captain Picard that both she and Soran had been amongst the El Aurians rescued by the Enterprise-B years before. The energy ribbon was a phenomenon known as "the nexus", a temporal anomaly inside which time and space have no meaning. The physical environment within the nexus is shaped by the thoughts of the individual within, allowing anybody there to experience whatever he or she wants, forever. Soran had been obsessed with returning to the nexus ever since his rescue. Unable to approach it in a ship because of the danger involved, Soran had finally resolved to destroy selected stars in order to alter the course of the nexus and bring it close to a habitable planet where he could await it. He had gained the support of the Duras sisters, Lursa and B'Etor, by promising them the technology for the trilithium weapon once he was inside the nexus. [1]

Captain Picard and Data were able to calculate the location of Soran's next target and intercepted the Duras sisters at the planet Veridian III. Captain Picard exchanged himself for La Forge, on the condition that he be beamed down to Soran's location to talk to him first. Whilst Picard convince Soran of the immorality of his actions, the Klingons attacked the Enterprise-D in orbit. Although their own ship was destroyed in the battle they were able to inflict fatal damage on the Starship thanks to a spy device which had been placed in La Forge's visor during his time on their ship. This allowed them to discover the Enterprise's shield frequencies and so penetrate the shields. [1]

Despite Picard's best efforts Soran's solar probe launched successfully, destroying the Veridian star. The nexus passed over the surface of the planet, picking up both Picard and Soran, moments before the resulting shockwave destroyed the planet. [1]

Picard found himself living out his own fantasy world - a world in which he had a wife and children, something he never had time for in the real world. Although sorely tempted to remain in this new life he struggled to tear himself away from it. And "echo" of Guinan which remained in the Nexus from her own visit informed him that he could indeed choose to leave, emerging at any time and place of his choosing. Realising that he could not stop Soran on his own, Picard decided to enlist the help of another Starfleet officer - none other than Captain James T. Kirk. Though he had long been thought to have been killed on the Enterprise-B, Kirk had in fact been swept into the nexus moments before the section of the ship that he was in was destroyed. From his own point of view he had only just arrived, and was living out his own fantasy life - meeting a former lover and preparing for a happy life without responsibility on the farm where he grew up. Picard tried to argue that as a Starfleet officer Kirk had a duty to stop Soran, but had little initial success. It was not until Kirk jumped a horse over a large gully that he began to realise the true nature of the nexus. For where he had always been afraid of that particular jump before, he was not now - because in the nexus there was no possibility of failure and so success itself was meaningless. [1]

Kirk agreed to leave the nexus with Picard, noting that a dangerous mission with little chance of success "sounds like fun." They exited on the mountaintop on Veridian III, hoping to stop Soran and so create an alternate timeline in which the star was not destroyed. The two worked together, Kirk fighting Soran whilst Picard tried to disable the launcher. Soran used a cloaking device to hide the launcher from view, but Kirk was able to retrieve it by climbing out onto an unstable bridge. He decloaked the launcher moments before the bridge collapsed with him still on it. Picard managed to sabotage the launcher, causing it to explode and killing Soran. [1]

Unfortunately, Kirk was mortally wounded by the bridge collapse and died shortly afterwards. Picard buried him in a simple stone cairn on Veridian III before returning to the wrecked Enterprise-D where the crew were being rescued by the U.S.S. Farragut. [1]

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