"I know this has been said all throughout this process, Captain, but I'm really not sure about this."
"None of us are, Admiral, but at this point, the Tygoethans have forced our hand."
Two men stood in the ascending lift, looking out into the cavernous shipyard. In many of its various berths, warships sat docked in various states of disrepair. The war had taken its toll on the Imperial Navy.
"I know. Who'd've thought they could've united so quickly?"
"Oh, it's happened before - one charismatic leader in the right place at the time. But to unify all the clans like this is unprecedented. And it's bad news for the Empire."
The lift continued up into the heights of the shipyard. Among all the battered and scarred starships, a different vessel came into view suspended in the central gantry - even without the advanced materials its hull was comprised of, it would have looked much cleaner and newer than its brethren; with them, it positively gleamed.
"Bad enough that we're forced to resort to using the Science Institute's experiments to try to hold things together?" the Admiral muttered half to himself.
"Evidently, yes," his companion answered bluntly. "We really don't have a choice about this. Between the demand from the front and existing damage to the fleet, the Foresight is the only ship really capable of this mission."
As the Captain said this, he spread his arm to gesture in the direction of the shipyard. The Admiral's eye followed the gesture and was caught by one particular berth, where the recovered fragments of the cruiser Aeneas were being carefully pieced back together - so many ships came back in this state, and some didn't come back at all.
"I see your point, Captain, but I'm still uneasy about what the ship was used for. I assume you've been briefed on her history?"
"I have indeed, sir. Pretty interesting stuff, I'd say."
"Interesting but dangerous - in my experience, that sort of thing rarely goes well. As the commanding officer it'll be at your discretion, but I would advise you not to touch those systems if you can possibly avoid it."
The lift finally reached its destination and the pair disembarked to board a small shuttlepod, which quickly took off and headed for the Foresight. Aside from its much cleaner hull, the design of the ship was also something of a departure from the naval norm. Built over the long standard destroyer frame was an outer hull shaped like a cross between a knight's visor and an aquiline beak, sweeping back across the sides of the ship into the engine modules, from which a pair of outriggers extended, each bearing clusters of thin spires.
The shuttlepod gently glid into the Foresight's upper hangar, where the Captain and the Admiral disembarked and made their way to the bridge. All around them, crew worked feverishly on the last few tasks needed to get the ship up and running.
"Well, here we are," the Admiral said, spreading his arms out at the bridge. "I know assuming command of a Naval ship usually involves a bit more pomp and circumstance than this, but the faster you can get underway the better." He fished a golden rectangular badge out of a pocket. "Still, we might as well make this official. You remember the oath, I take it?"
The Captain nodded and stood to attention before the Admiral. The Admiral held the badge out to him.
"I, Grand Admiral Alexander Rigel Pietas, by the authority granted me by the Imperial Navy, hereby confer upon you captaincy of his Imperial Majesty's vessel Foresight and all the powers of that office, that you may assiduously defend the territories and citizens of the Third Terran Empire."
"I, Captain Hiram George Theodoric, accept command of this vessel and all the duties thereof, and promise to uphold the rights and freedoms of the Empire, with all the diligence and dignity befitting an officer of the Imperial Navy."
With this hasty abbreviation of the ceremony conducted, the Admiral reached forward to fasten the badge onto Theodoric's uniform.
"Congratulations, Captain," Admiral Rigel said as he exchanged a salute with the Captain. "I'm sure you'll do the Empire proud. Incidentally, we recently received word from the ambassador. His transport just set off, he'll meet you en route to Apollo."
"Very good, thank you Admiral. We'll set off as soon as we're ready," Theodoric answered.
The Admiral nodded in acknowledgement and made for the lift to leave the bridge. As the doors opened, he turned back to the Captain.
"I'm sure I don't need to tell you how vital this mission could be to the Empire, and what the Tygoethans might resort to. You've proved yourself in this war and before, but... well, stay safe out there, Captain."
*	*	*
"Is it usual Tygoethan behaviour to keep us waiting like this?"
"Yes, Captain, it is. It makes the other party tense and out-of-sorts, apparently."
"Well, it's working."
It wasn't entirely a surprise to Captain Theodoric, sitting bored in the Foresight's ambassadorial boardroom, that the Tygoethan delegation wouldn't keep to the meeting's schedule. The martial clans that dominated their civilisation didn't pay much heed to rules of war when it wasn't to their convenience. Why should diplomacy be any different?
"Thargil, are there any Tygoethans on sensors?" Theodoric asked his frst officer.
"Negative, sir," came word from the bridge, "no change in local sensor reports."
Captain Theodoric let out a sigh, and even the well-trained ambassador rolled his eyes. The Foresight had been waiting in orbit over the planet Apollo, along with the minimal warship escort the Navy could spare, for just over an hour past the scheduled time, and there had been nary a glimmer of the Tygoethans, not even a scout probe.
"Wait..." Thargil continued suddenly. "Sir, we have a ship on sensors, a Tygoethan cruiser... looks like the UCNS Sorgorath. Looks like the ambassador has finally arrived."
"Oh, finally. Route all communication down here, please."
With news that things were finally moving forward the Captain picked up a remote and activated the boardroom's large screen.
"Looks like you're up, Ambassador," he remarked.
The ambassador straightened out his uniform, just as an image appeared on the screen, of a tall and broad creature that resembled a cross between a komodo dragon and a bear wearing an ornate suit of armour.
"Ambassador Jarrow," the Tygoethan said by way of greeting, "I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long?"
"Longer than I might like, Commander Moruk'Kassan, but I suppose this war must make scheduling difficult," the ambassador answered smoothly.
Moruk'Kassan grinned like a crocodile. "Perhaps. Conquest is a busy pursuit."
"Well, in any case, we're here to negotiate terms for a ceasefire with the Clans."
The Tygoethan commander scoffed in amusement. "The mighty Terran Empire wishes to give up and admit defeat? And I thought your species was made of sterner stuff. For all the Clanmaster's promises that Humanity would fall before us, I had thought you might put up more of a fight than this!"
"Be that as it may, Commander, we are willing to negogiate generous terms in exchange for peace, so that the Empire might at least catch their breath."
Moruk'Kassan's face adopted the Tygoethan equivalent of a skeptical look. "Catch your breath, is it? Rather rebuild and rearm your fleet. No terms of yours could be so generous that I might trade victory for them."
The ambassador shuffled nervously in his seat. "Please, Commander, I implore you to consider this proposal. Is there nothing you would accept?"
The Tygoethan grinned nastily. "Nothing we cannot take for ourselves. Thank you for your... kind offer, Ambassador, but I must decline. End transmission."
Theodoric and Jarrow were left gazing awkwardly at the blank screen.
"Well... that, erm... that might have gone better..." the ambassador mumbled half to himself.
Captain Theodoric tried to think of something encouraging to say to fill the awkward silence, but was spared the necessity of doing so when the ship gave a sudden lurch.
"Bridge to captain, the Tygoethans have opened fire on us! We need you up here now!"
Captain Theodoric was out of the boardroom before his first officer had even finished his sentence. Sprinting for the bridge, he arrived in record time to see the Tygoethan cruiser bearing down on them. Missiles arced out and energy weapons flared from the arrowhead-shaped warship, hammering the Foresight's shields.
"Red alert! Hard to starboard, all batteries open fire!" Theodoric ordered, scrambling into his seat. "Is there any word from Apollo's defense grid?"
"Negative, Captain," the comm officer reported, "the Sorgorath's cyberwarfare suite has it shut down--"
"Captain! We have multiple inbound signals!" the sensors officer interrupted. "Looks like more Tyogoethan ships... a lot more."
"Oh, bloody Hell," Theodoric muttered, as the new ships started taking up formation over the planet - and before the Foresight. "A planetary invasion force. Can we get a message out to the fleet?"
"No sir, the Tygoethans are jamming out-system communications. And at last report, there aren't enough Naval ships within 50 lightyears to make a difference in time."
As if to punctuate this grim report, the Foresight began shaking harder as the Sorgorath's assault was bolstered by the newly arrived flotilla. Even with its history as a military ship, the Foresight was vastly outmatched.
"Port and dorsal shields are down, we're taking fire directly to armour! We're not going to last much longer!"
Captain Theodoric seemed unable to respond, locked up with indecision for a few tense seconds, until an idea finally struck him. "Thargil, you remember those systems we weren't supposed to activate?"
"You want me to activate them, sir?" Thargil answered.
"Do it. Divert all available power to those systems," the Captain ordered, tapping something out on one of his chair's consoles. "Drain it from shields and life support if you have to."
Some of the bridge officers glanced up worriedly at the command, but made to carry it out.
"Systems are initialising, Captain... they're charging the lux capacitors. 18% and rising."
"We're getting strange distortion readings from the lux drive, sir. Should I abort?"
"Negative, keep the systems going."
"Capacitors at 37%, shields at 64."
"Hull breaches at almost all decks!"
"Keep at it, men. Those systems are our best hope."
"67%. Spatial distortions are getting stronger."
"Shields are almost gone! Life support is failing on decks 23 to 40!"
"Capacitors are charged, Captain!"
"Engage!!"
Surrounded by the circling Tygoethan warships, the Foresight's spires began glowing, their light warping under the spatial distortions they generated. With a sudden flash of light and exotic energy, the destroyer vanished into a realm beyond space...
*	*	*
As suddenly as it had departed, the Foresight arrived back in normal space.
"Status report?" Captain Theodoric asked as the bridge's light-shields retracted to reveal space free from Tygoethans.
His first officer called up the report on the main holoprojector. "Shields are down and most decks have breaches, but we're still in one piece. Minimal casualty reports, life support is running fine. Though I don't know yet where we've ended up - we're certainly nowhere near Apollo anymore."
Indeed, the space around the Foresight was empty not only of Tygoethan ships but also of the planet Apollo and its moons.
"We should be on the other side of the sun from it, if my calculations are correct," Theodoric supplied calmly.
The sensors officer arched an eyebrow and checked his console. "That's... exactly where we are. Captain, what's going on?"
"Potential, Jones. Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat in new and exciting ways," Theodoric answered, getting to his feet and straightening his uniform with a tug. "But I think I may have to remain frustratingly cryptic on the matter for now. Do what you can to repair the Foresight - I think we'll have plenty of time - but if you'll excuse me, I need to run some simulations."
With that, Theodoric departed the bridge. Thargil furrowed his brow and soon made to follow him. He found him in the briefing room, warming up the holoprojector. As its splash screen flickered into view, the Captain fished a datacell out of its pocket and slotted it into the projector. Loading from the datacell, numerous complex figures appeard in the projector arc. The Captain called up a holographic control panel, took it over to the first row of seating in the room and began running strange-looking calculations.
Thargil stepped down into the amphitheatre-like briefing room, staring at Theodoric's bizarre-looking simulations. Dates and times shuffled back and forth, along with diagrams of lines moving through differently-shaped tubes.
Captain Theodoric glanced up at the sound of Thargil's footsteps. "Ah, Thargil. I thought you might not be satisifed with my secrecy."
Thargil took a seat next to his captain. "Yes, I've always been a nosy bastard. So what exactly is going on, Captain?"
The Captain raised his wrist and tugged back his jacket's cuff to reveal his watch. "Well, if you examine all the facts, I'm sure you'll figure things out."
Thargil arched an eyebrow and checked his own watch. Even having been battered by the Unified Tygoethan Clans, the Third Terran Empire was a realm encompassing thousands of planets, each with their own orbital characteristics and thus their own calendars. To keep track of them all, most timekeeping devices were automatically adjusted between them as its wearer travelled through the galaxy. And indeed, Thargil's watch had been set to Apollo's calendar since the Foresight's arrival.
The date on Thargil's watch was exactly half an Apollonian year prior to the date of the failed conference.
"Huh... so that's what going on?"
Captain Theodoric nodded. "Yep. Thanks to the experiments of the Imperial Science Institute, the Foresight is a fully functional timeship. Quite the fancy party trick for a warship, wouldn't you say?"
Thargil nodded, intrigued. "I would say. So what do you plan to do with it?"
"I must admit, I don't quite know. On the one hand, we could do almost anything with a ship like this. But on the other hand, I'm worried that I might end up unravelling time or something. Even the people who worked on this tech don't quite understand the exact nature of time."
Thargil puzzled over the issue with Theodoric for a moment. Eventually he spoke. "How old is this ship?"
"Well, if you mean as a timeship, I think it was retrofitted by the ISI about a year ago from today," Theodoric answered. "So somewhere out there, there's probably an almost identical Foresight, just flying under different colours. Funny thought, eh?"
"Mmm. So apparently history doesn't seem to mind there being two Foresights around..."
Theodoric considered his first officer's implication, a grin spreading across the face. "That is interesting, isn' it? Let's head back up to the bridge - I think we have a working plan now..."
*	*	*
"Red alert! Hard to starboard, all batteries open fire!" Theodoric ordered, scrambling into his seat. "Is there any word from Apollo's defense grid?"
"Negative, Captain," the comm officer reported, "the Sorgorath's cyberwarfare suite has it shut down--"
"Captain! We have multiple inbound signals!" the sensors officer interrupted. "Looks like more Tyogoethan ships... a lot more."
"Oh, bloody Hell," Theodoric muttered, as the new ships started taking up formation over the planet - and before the Foresight. "A planetary invasion force. Can we get a message out to the fleet?"
"No sir, the Tygoethans are jamming out-system communications. And at last report, there aren't enough Naval ships within-- wait, there's another ship coming in... it's the Foresight!"
Bewildered, Theodoric called up a sensor readout. True to the sensor officer's report, there was a second Imperial ship, identical to the Foresight, sitting in space alongside his own.
"Sir, we're receiving a message from the... other Foresight, Captain," the comm officer reported, just as confused as everyone else.
Captain Theodoric nodded for it to be put through, and above the holoprojector appeared the image of a second Captain Theodoric.
"Hello Captain," Theodoric's doppelganger greeted. "Call me Theodoric-A. I guess this must be a bit weird for you."
"Just a bit, yes. But I'll take all the help I can get, even from... well, me."
"Glad to hear it. While we're at it though, you know those restricted systems you're not supposed to use? I need you to program the following coordinates into them. If thing go south, engage the system and follow us through."
Theodoric-A tapped something out on one of his seat's control panels. Just as he finished, the same console on Theodoric-B's chair beeped to him as a message came through, containing a set of coordinates in four dimensions.
"Message received, Captain. Now what say we do something about the Tygoethans?"
"Just what I was thinking, Captain," Theodoric-A answered, before turning to his own crew. "Red alert! Hard to port, all batteries open fire!"
With two Foresights standing against the Tygoethan flotilla, the battle went rather better than it might have done with only one, effectively dividing their attention and splitting their combined firepower nearly in two. But even duplicated like this, the Foresight was a poor match for the Tygoethans. Even as a frigate went up in flames, the fight was clearly taking its toll on the two Imperial ships.
Theodoric-B hastily ordered a channel opened to his doppelganger. "Captain-A, I really don't think this plan of yours is working. We need to retreat right now!"
Theodoric-A nodded and turned to his crew, as did his counterpart.
"Engage the time drive!" both commanded as one. At their word, both Foresights turned away from the battle, spires glowing and warping space, and jumped out of time.
Half a year earlier, the two ships re-emerged in normal space.
"Damage report, Thargil?" Theodoric-B asked.
"We're rather scuffed but still in one piece, Captain. Shields are offline and armour is at 74%. Everything else is in good shape."
"Good. Open a channel to the other me, I think we need to discuss this whole scheme."
At this command, Theodoric-A's image appeared above the holoprojector and gave a salute. "Captain. How's your ship?"
"Still flying, Captain. But I think we need to formulate a more definite plan than just throwing more and more Foresights at the Tygoethans. I don't think this is going to get us anywhere soon."
"Right. How about this, then..."
*	*	*
The ambassador shuffled nervously in his seat. "Please, Commander, I implore you to consider this proposal. Is there nothing you would accept?"
The Tygoethan grinned nastily. "Nothing we cannot take for ourselves. Thank you for your... kind offer, Ambassador, but I must decline. End transmission."
Moruk'Kassan gestured dismissively with one four-fingered hand to an underling and the image of the humans before him vanished from the screen.
"Futility," the commander scoffed, before leaning forward to look down upon the crew working beneath the plinth of his seat. "Is the planet's defense grid down, Urek?"
The ship's tech officer turned to the commander and gave a salute. "Aye, Commander. We may engage the humans at our will."
Moruk'Kassan nodded and grinned to himself. "Excellent. Commander to Weapons room, you are free to--"
"Commander! We have multiple anomalous sensor readings! They look like FTL signatures, but--"
"How many are there?"
"Over a hundred, Commander!"
Shocked, Moruk'Kassan looked out of the bridge's panoramic windows, where the Foresight hung before the Sorgorath. Among the Human ship were numerous flashes distinct to their faster-than-light travel, as more ships the same type joined the little destroyer... and more... and more... and more... Before long, Moruk'Kassan had lost count as the ships jumped in apace.
For a Tygoethan, especially a military one, to show fear or nervousness was considered unseemly, but Moruk'Kassan couldn't conceal every trace of fear at the massive fleet before them. "H-How... many Human ships are out there?"
"More than a hundred, Commander..."
"Ah... right..." Moruk'Kassan tapped his chair's arm nervously. "Deactivate weapons, now. Put me through to the Imperial ship, please."
"W-which one?"
"Just-- any one."
The comm officer opened the channel, and Captain Theodoric's image appeared on the screen. If Moruk'Kassan had known more about Human facial excursion, he might have noticed traces of shock and confusion on his face, but it was gone quickly, replaced with a look of superior confidence. "Commander Moruk'Kassan! Are you perhaps interested in continuing negotiations?"
"I-- yes, Human, I think perhaps that would be wise. Your bargaining position may be rather stronger than I thought..."
*	*	*
"I must admit, I've having trouble believing the situation myself." The Admiral paced around the boardroom, trying to puzzle through the situation. "Now, don't get me wrong, I'm certainly happy that the negotiations went well - much better than I'd thought they would, honestly - but reports fro Apollo are... incongruous, to say the least."
He leaned over to a datapad sitting on the table and consulted its information. "I sent you and Ambassador Jarrow out in a single destroyer, but the orbital defense grid of Apollo reports the presence of almost a hundred such ships. Would you mind explaining exactly why that might be, Captain?"
Sitting at the board table on the other side from the pacing Admiral, Captain Theodoric gave a shrug. "We simply used the resources that were available to us, Admiral."
"You used the prototype time drive, didn't you?"
"... well, yes."
The Admiral sank into the seat before Theodoric. "After I specifically advised you not to?"
"Yes, sir. It was either that, run away and abandon Apollo to the Tygoethans, or be destroyed."
"Right. Well, neither of those are terribly preferable options, but choosing to tie the timeline in a knot seems a bit extreme."
"I figured that it was safe, Admiral. I read the ISI experiment logs - they'd tested the thing  and its effect on time with a few observation missions, and they didn't end up unravelling time. I thought it was a valid gamble."
"Well, if your ship's logs are to be believed, then you saved a colony of five million people from Tygoethan invasion and prevented them from gaining a bigger foothold in the sector. And our spy reports tell us that the Tygoethans are rather rattled about the Human in the little warship who can make entire fleets appear from nowhere. Not a bad result."
"So, you don't have a problem with me taking a chance like this, then?" Theodoric asked.
"We all take chances in the Navy, Captain, it goes with the territory. Granted, most servicemen don't risk the spacetime continuum in the process..." the Admiral answered. He looked away thoughtfully, and slightly confused. "I still don't understand how this all works, anyway. I mean, if you went back and forward in time to duplicate the Foresight, then wouldn't that erase the single Foresight event from history and... or something?"
Captain Theodoric took a breath to offer an explanation. "Well, it might make more sense if you envision spacetime as a five-dimensional construct--"
The Admiral raised his hands to forestall Theodoric's theorising. "Please Hiram, it's too early in the morning to be calculating temporal mechanics. Just... I imagine you've aged a few days faster than the rest of us, so you're probably due for shore leave about now... subjectively, I guess. Why don't you and your crew go and take a vacation?" 
"Thank you, Admiral! I'm sure my crew will appreciate that, especially after what we've been through."
"Enjoy your well-earned break, Captain. Meanwhile, I have to figure out how the Hell I'm going to report this..."