James Tiberius Kirk pawed at the ground in his insanity. 

Through the haze of his red madness he became dimly aware of a figure being dragged away from him by something huge and substantially horrible.  His mind wanted to recoil -- to seek shelter from the assault on his senses.  But in a faint recess of his psyche there still remained enough arrogance…the pride of someone who had cheated fate time and again…that his mind broke through the haze and he heard the last agonizing scream which the figure had shouted at him.

  "Fly you fool!"

  Gandalf!  The thought broke into Kirk's mind.  Gandalf, who had come to him in time of need.  Gandalf, the wandering wizard, who sought only to do good and do battle with evil in all forms.  Gandalf was in trouble!  These thoughts combined themselves with visions of Kirk's crew, slaughtered and spilled open like so much meat.  He could see the things, mindless atrocities of chaos and penultimate disorder, tearing into his crew…his ship.

  The memories flooding back to him pushed back the terrible despair which weighed so terribly upon him and a measure of the intrepidity that turned ordinary men into heroes, and starship captains, crept back into his soul.  Then Kirk did the unthinkable and it was more an act of complete and utter psychosis rather than one of any sane man.

  Kirk ran into R'lyeh.

  He crossed the threshold of those impossibly massive doors, to which a great deal of Great Cthulhu's substance still clung -- gelatinous and sublimating in the primordial atmosphere of Z'ha'dum.  The air within was rank and stale.  Kirk gagged on his first breath and choked as his rising gorge struggled with his instinct to breathe.

  He threw up, violently.  He sucked down another breath and dry-heaved.  Then he heard the shouts and horrible screams of the battle which was going below.  He felt, rather than heard, Cthulhu's responses.  Their basso-profound sounds reverberated in his core and made his teeth tingle. 

  His body reacted where his mind would not.  Kirk's sense of adventure and morbid curiosity had awoken.  He knew he would have to press on.  But the most primitive self-preservation instincts had firmly fixed his feet in place as surely as the strongest glue.  He fought with his own body for every inch he moved.  And soon, through the pitch thick air he began to catch glimpses of light.

  Brief bright flashes from the battle beneath.

  The bursts of light in the untouched gloom heralded the supernatural blows the wizard below was dealing and momentarily lit up the insane non-Euclidean angles of the great sunken city.  Kirk caught sights of mocking cuneiform hieroglyphs on the walls that he was sure would blast his soul were he not guarded by merciful ignorance.

Just then, just as Kirk felt he would come to view the terrible fray, an oppressive thought battered its way into his mind.  The simple words, "I AM HERE!" shouted into the mental ether, and Kirk could not have known how those massive cyclopean walls had protected him.  Many of the unprotected perished then…long before Azathoth would rend his way into their reality and bring it to a crashing end.

Kirk stumbled and fell.  He momentarily clawed at his eyes and began to foam at the mouth simply from that thought alone.  Then Cthulhu began to laugh.

Kirk heard one last sickening cry from Cthulhu's adversary and he instinctively knew that the wizard had died.  Then the fear began to creep back into Kirk as he heard Cthulhu begin the rituals of ageless R'lyeh and then snippets of passages he had read or heard returned to him.

They could plunge from world to world through the sky; but when the stars were wrong, They could not live.  But although They no longer lived, They would never really die.  They all lay in stone houses in Their great city of R'lyeh, preserved by the spells of mighty Cthulhu for a glorious resurrection when the stars and earth might once more be ready for Them. 

The walls began to take on a repugnant watery glow and Kirk peered into the inky blackness.  Outlined in the pale luminosity he could see innumerable crypts yawning open as Cthulhu set his brethren free!

  Kirk clenched his eyes as the chants increased  nd began to reach a fevered pace.  Over and over again, Cthulhu ftagn! Cthulhu ftagn! was shouted thought throughout the city.

  Kirk's moment of lucidity fled and he huddled in an unnatural corner and tried to wish himself away…to the only place he felt truly safe…the only place he knew order.

  The thought screaming stopped.  Kirk felt warm.  Hot even.  He could smell the acrid ozone stench of burning wiring and insulation.  He opened his eyes.  The harsh light of fires greeted them.  He stood stunned.  Through a thin haze of smoke he recognized his surroundings.  He was on the bridge of the Enterprise.  He took a quick survey.  The bridge was smashed; the computer inoperative.  The viewscreen flickered and an image crackled through the static.  Even in his confused state, Kirk recognized him instantly.

  "Khan."

  "Ah.  You still remember, Admiral.  I cannot help but be touched.  I, of course, remember you."

  Kirk's instincts kicked in and he continued almost on automatic.

  "What is the meaning of this attack?  Where is the crew of the Reliant?"

  Khan stared back.  Larger than life on the central viewscreen, he grinned smugly.

  "Surely I have made my meaning plain Admiral.  I mean to avenge myself upon you.  I have deprived your ship of power and when I swing around, I mean to deprive you of your life." Khan leaned forward, gloating, "But I wanted you to know first, who it was who had beaten you."

  Kirk was almost on autopilot now.  He knew this had already happened.  Knew what he had to say, what he had to do.  His brain was on overdrive…the prefix code… but that still got a lot of people killed… including David, Kirk's own son.  Kirk thought, If I'm really reliving this, there might be a better way.  But is this just a delusion? He'd have to buy more time.  Spock was good.  But if he remembered right this was a training cruise.  These people were cadets.

  "Khan…If it's me you want I'll have myself beamed aboard. Spare my crew."

  If only he had an experienced crew…he could make short work of Khan this time.  Or if I had a couple of dozen androids like Lieutenant Commander Data.

  "I make a counter-proposal.  I will agree to your conditions, if…if in addition to yourself, you hand over to me all data and material regarding a project called Genesis."  

* * *

"Genesis?  What's that?"  Kirk asked in a deadpan voice.

"It would help a great deal if I knew what Genesis was, beyond a Biblical reference of course."  Data stared back at Captain Kirk, as did the rest of the Enterprise NCC-1701-D bridge crew.

Kirk’s mind somersaulted while he tried to figure out what was going on.  He'd heard that phrase before.  But he had been somewhere else just seconds ago, he could not remember, it was fading quickly.  Captain Picard rushed to his side.

"Captain Kirk.  How did you arrive here?"

"Where am I?"

"You're on the bridge of my Enterprise.  You're obviously disoriented.  Get Dr. Crusher up here."

"Captain," Counselor Troi interrupted.  "You were speaking about Genesis.  You feel as though that were very significant."

Kirk looked puzzled, "Genesis?  That's a classified project…was a classified project.  It was a failure."

Data's fingers were already flying over the relays to the library computer, "I have it.  Genesis.  Project Leader: Dr. Carol Marcus.  Interesting.  An attempt to create artificial planets, the project met with limited success in the Motara sector but failed when the planet failed to stabilize.  Ah, it appears unstable proto-matter was used to solve some of the problems."

Kirk thought back to that time.  He had been there.  The planet falling apart all around him.  It was as close to hell as he'd ever want to be. 

* * *  

The air was almost searing his lungs it was so hot and the acrid burning sulphurous fumes were everywhere.  An earthquake almost knocked him off of his feet.  Then he noticed that he wasn't alone.  There was another man here.  No…not a man.  A Klingon!  He heard himself call out with reason, "We'll die here!" 

The Klingon responded, "Perfect!  Then that's the way it shall be!"

  The Klingon was on him.  Kirk fell back on his Judo skills and threw him.  But the Klingon was stronger, more adapted to harsh environments, the heat and atmosphere would have little effect on him. 

* * *

  He rolled to the side barely dodging the sling-like bola Spock slung at him.  He jumped to his feet.  Vulcan's oppressive heat and thin atmosphere were beginning to take its toll.  T’Pau sat there, emotionless.  Sitting in judgment, watching the spectacle as the two friends tried to kill each other.  

“Spock!  Damn it!  I need your help!”  

The Vulcan was too far-gone to hear him.  His blood was burning, his body too far into the Plak-Tow, the Vulcan blood fever, for his mental disciplines to avail him.  He had reverted to a more primitive state and if what Spock had theorized on another occasion was true, then he was more like a Romulan than a Vulcan now.  With that thought firmly in his mind, Kirk turned and leapt at his opponent.  

* * *

  His skull collided with the digital astrolabe of the helm console. 

  “Captain!  Are you all right!” The bridge crew was as dazed as he was.  He was back on the Enterprise! But she hadn’t even been refit yet.  She was still so new she didn’t smell like a starship yet. 

  “I’m okay.  I just...tripped.” The crew went back to work.  Kirk noticed they were at red alert.  He struggled for clue of what was happening.  The viewscreen showed a plain starfield.  Kirk leaned over and surreptitiously glanced at the helm console.  He recognized the coordinates.  They were on the neutral zone, the infamous treaty-made barrier across which the United Federation of Planets and the Romulan Star Empire had maintained a Balance of Terror for so long.  But doing what?

  Kirk decided to try a ploy.  He sat back down in his seat and acted impatient.  “Anything, Mr. Spock?”

  “No sign of the Romulan ship Captain.  She must have engaged her cloaking device again.”

  Ah! Of course.  They’d been sent here to investigate attacks on Federation Outposts.  But why here?  Why now?

  Then a curious thought struck the Captain.  I had been thinking of Romulans...so here I am.  And before that Vulcan....and before that...the Genesis planet...could it be that whatever I think about I go there? He HAD seen stranger things happen.  He decided that no harm could come of it.  He thought.  

* * *  

He couldn’t remember when a sunrise on the farm had looked so beautiful.  Kirk looked around puzzled.  It was his farm in Iowa.  But it couldn’t be.  He was either dead or delusional (which amounted to about the same thing considering where he had chosen to go insane...if that was in fact the case).  Kirk ran into the fields, letting the leaves of new crops brush the palms of his hands as he ran through them.  Everything felt so real! He closed his eyes tightly and began to spin.  He had truly fallen off his rocker this time!  Bones had warned him.  With that thought Kirk laughed and laughed.  He shouted as loud as he could, “Bones!  I did it!  I’ve finally gone nuts!”  

* * *  

“Oh Captain, and I thought you were on the verge of grasping it.  I’m so disappointed in you.  My fault really for having faith in your pathetic race.” 

Kirk’s eyes snapped open....to see nothing.  He reacted as his experience dictated.  Cautious.  Inquisitive.  “Who’s there?”

  “Not yet....maybe soon.”

  “What?”

  The voice answered, haughty and mocking, “Come now Captain, you really have to try harder I can’t give you all the answers.”

  The voice was coming from everywhere and at the same time, Kirk couldn’t be entirely sure he wasn’t imagining it.  He decided to try a different tact.

  “Where am I?”

  “The same place you’ve always been.  The more correct question should have been ‘When am I?’”

  Kirk obliged, “When am I?”

  “Before everything....or after everything really you can take your pick.  It hardly matters.  I can see this is disorienting to your ape-descended brain.  Perhaps this will be better.”  

* * *  

In the time it took Kirk to blink, he was standing near a stylish corner bistro in what appeared to be a European city.  Everything was deathly quiet.  The streets were empty but for a strange wind which blew hollowly through them.  There were no people.  Kirk stepped around the corner and saw a man sitting at one of the tables.  The man appeared to be eating slices of cheese while enjoying a glass of wine.  He was reading a tattered leather bound book.

  Kirk stepped closer.  The man lowered the book.

  “Q!”

  “Who else! Please Captain, sit down before you fall down.  You look a little the worse for the wear.  Some wine?” A full glass materialized before the captain.  Kirk didn’t let it phase him.  He decided that non-chalance would probably get him further in this situation.  He sipped at the wine.

  “A good vintage Q.”

  “Yes, I was a bit surprised myself.  It came from Picard’s own vineyard you know.  Some cheese?”

  “No thank you.”

  Kirk finished his wine and for a moment forced himself to enjoy the peaceful setting.  He closed his eyes letting the cool afternoon air soothe him.  He looked at Q again.  Q was again engrossed in the book.

  “Mind if I ask what you’re reading?”

  “Not at all.  Malleus Maleficarum a troublesome little book which seemed to have caused much unrest on your tiny planet.  I’ll give you humans one thing, you know how to be savages...almost better than any other beings in the galaxy....well except for....”  

Kirk had enough, “All right Q.  I give.  What’s your game?”

  “Jim! That’s why I picked you! Curious, to the last.  Picard would’ve played by the rules and not appreciated what I had given him.  But you just grasped the situation and enjoyed it.  Positively excellent! But, I assure you this is no game!”  

“All right then.  What is it?” Kirk was getting annoyed and it was getting harder not to let it show.

  “Oh Captain....surely you are joking.  No.  I can see you’re serious.  You really don’t know what is going on do you?  Oh...and the multiverse depends on....” Q cut himself off.

  “Depends on me?  To do what?”

  “The Arrogance!  No not you...you’re just the agent.”

  Kirk saw that Q was becoming impatient and agitated.  He decided to turn the tables.

  “You know what Q?  I think I will have some cheese after all.” He took a slice of cheese.  He held up his empty glass.  “Mind topping me off?”

  Q laughed.  “Oh Captain!  You had me there!  I actually thought you had no idea what was happening?  See!  That’s exactly what I’m talking about.  Picard would never have that sense of levity!” He refilled the glass.  Kirk sipped at it, needing to keep his wits about him.  He decided to play his gambit a little further.

  “Do I have you to thank for this?”

  “Who else?”

  “That’s true...but still...there are risks right?” Kirk tried to be as vague as he could while still trying to maintain the illusion that he knew what he was talking about.

  “I could be in a great deal of trouble if anyone in the continuum even found out we were talking!  And really, now that I know you understand, I need to be on my way.”

  Kirk didn’t move.  He reached for another slice of cheese.  Q was puzzled.

  “Captain?  You intend to remain here?”

  “Oh only for a short time.  I have a lot of work ahead of me as well.  Thought I’d relax a bit first.”

  “Of course.  Good luck Captain!”

  Q vanished in a flash and hundreds of people re-appeared in the streets going about their daily lives.  Kirk listened, trying to figure out where and when he was.  He was sure it was in England somewhere, perhaps towards the end of the twenty-first century.

  “Oh my, but Tiberius is a curious name isn’t it?”

  Kirk craned his neck to see who was addressing him.  He saw a tall oddly dressed man with bright bushy hair and a long scarf that ran down both sides of his front, almost all the way to the ground.

  So many strange things had happened that Kirk decided just to go along with it and not try to figure anything out.  “A curious name but not that odd really, and you are?”

  “I am the Doctor,” the man lowered his voice, “I am a Time-Lord.  We can’t speak here.  Follow me.”

  He led Kirk down the street and moved right up to a large red telephone kiosk with a large “Out of Order” placard pasted across it.  He stepped inside and beckoned the captain to follow.

  “Welcome aboard the Tardis Captain!”

  Kirk was momentarily confused.  The dimensions within were quite large, at least as big as the rec deck on the Enterprise.  The Doctor moved about and pulled a series of levers.  The door closed and following a brief hum, Kirk could sense they were somehow moving.

  “Ah.  There, we’re safe now....well in a manner of speaking.”

  “You’re a Time-Lord, can you tell me what the hell is happening?”

  “Of course, Captain.  That’s why I’m here.  Your ruse may have momentarily fooled the Q, but you have allies on the Time-Council watching you.  We realized you did not know what was happening.  And so I was sent.”

  “Well...what’s going on?”

  “This may sound strange coming from a Time-Lord, but I have little time to explain it all now.  Know this and be sated.  Avalon has revealed himself as The Great Shadow, Sauron.  His lying tongue and tricks have divided the council.  The Avatar was released and allowed to move at will.  Beings once thought trapped and no longer a danger are resurging...some of this you have experienced.  The continuum, realizing the council was impotent, acted.  They have granted you a great boon.  You are unstuck in time.”

  “What exactly does that mean?”

  “It means you can go anywhen you want!” A small red button began flashing on the panel and the blood drained from the Doctor’s face.  “We’re being tracked.  Now listen....there is not enough time...you are in for the challenge of all your times...in many of them you won’t survive.  Would you go willingly to your death?”

  “I don’t believe in fate, Doctor.  As my friend, Spock would say, there are always possibilities.”

  “Very well.  I will let you off here and then attempt to lead the pursuers away.  In Lothlorien you can prepare yourself!” There was a sharp jolt and the door opened again.  “Go quickly!”

  Kirk dove out the door and landed face down deep in a bright forest.  He swung around and saw a ghost-image of the Tardis vanish behind him.

  He brought himself to his feet and took in his surroundings.  He was in a large peaceful forest on a Class M planet.  There would be an adequate food supply he hoped.  And he was alone.

  “You would be the Kirk.” A smiling tall man stood at his side.  Kirk jumped, lost his footing, and went down.  The man helped him up and Kirk noticed his wiry strength and pointed ears.

  “You’re a Vulcan?”

  “I am Noldor.  Findel is my name.  Come, we have much to show you.”

  The man ran off into the woods scarcely making a sound or moving a branch in his wake.  Grudgingly, Kirk ran after him.

  Lothlorien

  It seemed that they ran for hours.  Findel ran fleetingly and without effort while Kirk felt the weariness of all his adventures weighing upon him.  He followed the elf as he ducked and dodged between trees and under branches on an unending trail that apparently only elves could see.  They came to a clearing and Findel finally stopped.

  “You may rest here.  You men tire easily.”

  “Well, I’m not as young as I used to be.  Twenty years ago I would have given you a run for your money,” Kirk managed to heave out between labored breaths.

  “Age...yes.  That is not a problem for my kind.  But I fear all that will come to an end soon.  We will soon go West, past the havens, to the Great Havens.” The elf’s voice sounded lonely and distant.  His emotions rebounded instantly.  “Do you thirst?”

  Kirk nodded and the elf produced a flask.  “Waters from the Nimrodel!”

  Kirk sipped at it and swore that in all his years and all the planets he had been to, it was the cleanest, purest, most refreshing water he had ever tasted.  In fact, he felt much of his strength return to him.  He took a moment to glance around him.  He noticed trees, great and majestic, which were unlike anything he had ever seen. 

  Findel answered his unasked question, “Those are the mallorn trees.  They grow nowhere else.  There are rumors that they may grow across the sea, but I have heard no confirmed reports.  They are the heralds of Lothlorien’s borders.”

  “Tell me Findel.  How is it that we’ve been traveling for hours and the sun has not moved in the sky.  How long are the days here?"

  The elf looked puzzled at Kirk’s question.  “As long as anywhere else.  But some days are longer than others...we are coming under the influence of the Lady’s magic, that is what you must sense.”

  “The Lady?”

  “The Lady Galadriel of Lothlorien, High Queen of the Galadhrim.  I am taking you to meet her.  Now come, we’ve dawdled here long enough.  And we still have some time before we reach the city.”

  That said, Findel was off and resumed his break-neck course through the wood.  Kirk resigned himself and started off after the elf.  He yelled after him, “I am not running all the way to the city!”

  But he did.

  Suddenly, Findel stopped.  Kirk stumbled towards him.  “What’s wrong?  Why have we stopped?” A clean sharp voice from the trees cut him off.

  “Why Findel!  Your friend makes as much noise as a great beast!  Sleeping, I could guard against such as him.”

  “Come down from your flet Hadril!” Findel shouted back, “My friend is most important and needs immediate escort within to see the Lord and Lady.  He has seen better times.”

  Hadril called back, “That much is apparent.  Half a moment!”

  Now Kirk’s eyes caught the slightest swaying in the branches of the tree directly in front of him that did not match the breeze, and he thought he could barely guess at a humanoid outline clambering swiftly down.

  “Hadril is a good sort.  He oftimes takes fun in the others, but he is one of the best guardsmen in the realm.  His shafts have been known to hit an orc’s eye in the dark at three hundred paces!”

  Kirk could now see Hadril lowering himself from the last branch.  He landed and was running towards them in the same motion.  He stopped in front of Kirk, his bright eyes taking in everything about the captain. 

  “Hadril, Chief Guardsman, at your service.” He bowed low and deep.  “You are come to Calas Galadhon, our city.  You are my charge now, come I will take you to the Lady!”  He ran off into the wood.

  Kirk groaned when he saw the speed at which the elf ran.

  Findel chuckled, “Ah Captain, I fear you fared better under my charge!”

  Hadril’s voice rang clearly from the distance, “Come Captain!  We are late!”

  Kirk sprinted trying to catch up.  He could hear Findel laughing behind him for a long time.

  Kirk passed within the great elf city.  They gave him a small satisfying meal of lembas and wine and some time to compose himself.  But before he knew it he was being led into the court of the Lord and Lady.  He was escorted just outside and told to wait until he was announced.  Kirk was well familiar with how important protocol could be to different races so he played along, though it seemed stupid to him that they had rushed all this way only to wait now.  He took the opportunity to rest.  And he listened.  Someone was speaking within.

  “...a great host of orcs passed within eyesight of our scouts in the northern border.  We fear that they will make their action soon.  There is no word of our kin to the west.  Any messengers who have returned never made it more than a day from our borders.  They report that the land has undergone a great change and the very ground is foul and evil.  It seems to some the time of Melkor has returned.”

  Kirk could hear a lot of reaction from that statement--sworn oaths, murmurs, and appeals echoed in the room.  Then he heard a clear commanding male voice speak above the others.

  “Do not speak that name so loudly.  These are indeed evil tidings you bring.  The most evil that have been spoken here in a long time.  Yet they bear no reflection of the messenger, only the message.  It is indeed as the mirror had predicted.  The time of the Ancient Ones is at hand.  The road West is closed.”

  There was a large gasp in the room.  The man who was speaking waited until the audience subsided.

  “All is not yet lost my friends, the mirror shows a great many things, some that have passed, some that will pass, and some which will never pass.  The mirror has shown us an ally as well.”  He addressed the herald, “Has our guest arrived?”

  “He has, my lord.”

  “Show him in.”

  The herald announced, “The Captain James Tiberius Kirk of StarFleet!”

  Kirk stepped into the room on his cue.  It was partially what he expected, except it was more open and well-lit than he had anticipated.  A throne room with two large thrones, one of which was vacant, at one end a variety of elven courtiers sat about the room.  In the occupied throne, Kirk saw a man who he swore couldn’t have been more than twenty-five.  But the man’s eyes (elf’s eyes...Kirk corrected himself) betrayed the experience of many innumerable years.  The man rose as Kirk walked in.

  “I am Celeborn, Lord of Lothlorien.  The Lady Galadriel is unavailable at this time.  She sends her regrets.  Our hopes lie with you Captain.”

  “I’m ready to serve.  But I’m not sure exactly what it is I need to do.  I’m a little out of my element.  I’ve lost my crew and my ship.  And from what it sounds like, my planet.”

  “Indeed you have.  Yet you may be the only one who can help regain it all.  Time does not come here Captain, my Lady’s magic prevents it.  But I know not for how long she may maintain her works.  For even now, the Dark Lord and his new allies are pressing in on all sides.  You must seize every moment.  All our lore is yours to peruse, all our arts at your command.  As the forces of darkness have their black avatar, so you are ours.  You are the chosen form...the incarnation of the Eternal Champion in this reality.  You shall be our Emissary.  All of Lothlorien stands to serve you.”

  Kirk didn’t know how long it had been since he had first come to Lothlorien.  The passage of time was nearly impossible to detect.  He had recovered from his ordeals fully, physically and mentally.  He felt young again, as when the world was new.  And those who had seen him when he first arrived remarked that he had grown younger.

  Kirk spent the time well.  He learned the arts of the elves, concentrating on those that would help him in the ordeal to come.  He learned how to make himself nearly imperceptible in broad daylight.  To relax, he learned to fence and shoot a bow.  He learned the elven defensive magical arts and about how to defeat the deceits of the Enemy.  And eventually, he learned how to craft talismans of power and learned the lore of the silmarils, the palantir, and the rings of power.  In time he crafted a ring of his own, the twenty-first ring, and he kept its purpose hidden.  On the day he was about to learn the offensive magics, he noticed a change.

  The sunlight, by which he had been studying, changed.  Imperceptibly at first, but more definitely, soon afterwards, as the source passed behind a tree and cast the scroll into darkness.  Kirk started, and instinctively knew that something was wrong.

  He glanced upwards and saw a woman standing across the glade from him.  She was tall and fair, clothed in a all-white gown that flowed over her with its own will.  Her blonde hair made her seem that much paler and her eyes pierced at him in such a way that it made Kirk blush like a schoolboy.  In all his travels, he thought she was easily within the top five most beautiful women he had ever seen.

  She said nothing, but beckoned him to follow her.

She walked for some time, gliding between the trees, and even though she never quickened her pace, Kirk sometimes had to run to keep up with her.

At last she stopped in a small bounded garden with a large silver basin at one end.  When she spoke it sounded like the waters of a brook mingled with the songs of birds on a spring day.

“I am the Lady Galadriel.  I have so wanted to meet you Captain, but circumstances have not allowed it.  The Dark Lord and his allies have grown powerful, and it tolls me more and more to keep them at bay.  I see you have learned the craft of ringmaking.”

Kirk glanced self-consciously at the ring he had on a chain around his neck.  He slipped it under his tunic.  “I have.  It seemed to make sense to craft a ring to help us.”

“I wonder if such a thing is possible.  A ring to beat the Master Ring!  My mirror had shown no hints of this.” She seemed amused.  “Since you have crafted your own ring, you must know the lore of the rings.”  She stretched her arm forward, and for a moment it seemed to Kirk that a star had come from the heavens and landed on her finger.  “This is Nenya, the Ring of Adamant.  One of the Three for the Elf Kings.  Until now, I have kept the evil ones at bay.  But the Dark Lord has regained control of his Master Ring and has usurped the powers of all the others.  Lothlorien will now fade, and even now our northern borders are under assault.”

‘Then I have no more time.  Prepared or not, I will go forth.  I wish Gandalf were still alive.  I’m sure he could bring a lot to the fight.”

Galadriel looked puzzled, “But Mithrandir lives.  Although he has passed into shadow, he still walks this plane.”

“I glimpsed the Horror that got him in the end.  Not even he could have survived that, I nearly lost myself simply from catching sight of a part of it out of the corner of my eye.  It dragged him into an underground city and I heard the fight, I heard Gandalf die.”

A look of sadness passed over Galadriel’s impeccable features, “Radagast, rest well old friend.” She addressed Kirk again, “Who you saw was Radagast, another of Gandalf’s order, wearing the likeness of Gandalf for some purpose.  We know that Saruman the Traitor, beguiled the true Gandalf and placed a malicious sorcery upon him, the ethereal seisms of it were felt even here.  Gandalf lies under his power and does the work of our Enemy.”

“Can this be reversed?” Kirk asked.

“It can.  Saruman must be directly made to remove it, one way or another.”

“Then I know what I must do, I think we’ll need Gandalf to succeed.  And we’re not going to get any closer to winning just standing around.”

“The hope of all the Elves goes with you.  We hope we can count on you.”

“You can,” an edge of cockiness entered Kirk’s voice, “I don’t like to lose.”

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