E²

*** (3 stars out of 5)

You know what they say. If you travel far enough, you eventually meet yourself.
More "Children of Time" turn up in Enterprise-2. Commander Lorian, son of T'Pol and Tucker is every inch a Tolkien elf. Karyn Archer is Jon's great-granddaughter. And probably 80% of everyone else aboard is named Ensign Phlox. The man is nothing if not prolific.

They were thrown back 117 years while under attack from some foreheads called the Kovaalans. Unwilling to interfere in their own timeline, Enterprise became a generational ship in a perpetual holding pattern. And even with eleven decades of planning, they somehow crapped up when it came to stopping the probe attack on Earth. Or even sending an evacuation warning?

But like Admiral Janeway and her shuttle full of Future Tricks, they bring techniques for tractor beams and Warp 6 speed. But they haven't got a cure for Reed- fated to be a bachelor all his days. (It's only because he and Major Hayes never admitted their gay love.)

Lorian couldn't give the order to collide with the probe at the cost of his crew. He blames his emotions for this tragic hesitation. His mother, however, tells her younger self "Follow Your Heart". So whaddya gonna do? And I guess if you run out of ideas again they could still show up somewhen shouting "Hi! What did we miss?"

"E²" is the shortest Star Trek title to date. Maybe there's a story out there about the grandson of Q: the lower case q. It's a well-performed tale with keen effects whose greatest sin is like all late-stage Trek: it's not boldly going where no one has gone before anymore.