Time Test (Star Trek: Dragon episode)

"Time Test" was the first episode of Season 2 of Star Trek: Dragon, written by Jon Wasik. It was never included in the episode numbering system as it was originally meant to stand alone as a single story into itself. The rewrite, completed and posted on April 2nd, 2007, precluded this separation and now acts as just another episode, albeit the Season 2 premier.

Overview
While in search of allies in the Kalium Galaxy, the crew discover an inhabited world with an advanced alien space station in orbit. Upon making first contact with one of the inhabitants, Kailar, who look suspiciously like Bajorans, they discover that these beings were not the original inhabitants of the world, and the space station is not of their making. It is called the Millennium Gate, and has the ability to send a vessel to any point in space and any point in time. The station's systems are extremely advanced, and are capable of determining whether a ship and crew have previously used the device, regardless of any resulting changes in the timeline. It then prevents anyone from using the gate more than once. Kailar agrees to allow the Dragon crew to use the gate, however he cautions that changing any part of history could have disastrous results, and the Dragon would not be able to go back in time to fix any mistakes a second time.

Captain Harriman initially prepares the ship to jump back to Earth, but to not use the time travel part of the station. His science officer, Lieutenant Commander Halkrat, proposes a different course of action. Deep Space Nine was destroyed in 2375 by unusually advanced Jem Hadar vessels, and many have speculated that the ships had been sent from the future to alter events. Many also believe that had these ships not destroyed DS9 and its defending ships, the war would have ended in 2375. For Tom Halkrat this holds a particular meaning to him, as during these additional two years of the war, he was tried for the needless destruction of a Federation starship, which he claimed was under the control of the Dominion, but never could prove. His career was essentially stunted at that point.

Despite the personal nature of Tom Halkrat's request, Captain Harriman considers the course of action and, after his staff supports the idea, follows through with it. The crew use the gate to travel back to 2375, exactly one day before the final battle of Deep Space Nine is supposed to take place. They set course for the station and communicate their purpose to Captain Sisko, who is skeptical but eventually accepts.

After preparations are made and a fleet is rallied, the battle begins. Although the battle begins well, it quickly turns bad, as more Federation starships are destroyed or disabled, and DS9 takes heavy fire. In less than ten minutes, the fierce battle comes to a close with all defending ships destroyed or disable, and one remaining Dominion Battleship. Knowing it would mean a warp core breach, Captain Harriman orders a collision course. Both the Dominion ship and the Dragon are destroyed.

Captain Harriman then finds himself aboard an empty DS9, and is soon confronted by Q. Harriman learns that although Q was not responsible for the Dominion ships traveling from the future, he was responsible for the Dragon finding the Millennium Gate. In fact Harriman was indirectly responsible for the Dominion ships traveling to the past, as he had pulled Lieutenant Marquet off of her mission before she could discover and find a way to stop the ships in the present. Q then explains that although they had succeeded in breaking a predestination paradox, thanks to his help anyway, the Dragon's crew was in a unique position in the Kalium Galaxy. They will continue to hold their memories of the altered timeline rather than the restored, and should they ever return to the Milky Way, Q wished to observe how the crew would cope with the changes in the timeline.

Harriman is then returned to the USS Dragon, still stranded in the Kalium Galaxy, and almost exactly where the ship had been when it first detected the planet with the Gate. However, the planet is no where in sensor range this time. Harriman orders them to continue their search for allies against the Vorkalai.