Focus

The Temporal Integrity Commission exists in canon. I love the name of this organization. It makes perfect sense to me.
A focus (unlike a spotlight) is an in-depth look at a Star Trek fanfiction canon item and my twist(s) on it.

Of course, all of fan fiction is like that, but the idea here is to provide a window into how a single canon concept can be used in fan fiction.

Background

The Temporal Integrity Commission is a 29th century agency tasked with maintaining proper timelines.

Clockworks

There is no canon evidence that it exists in the following centuries, or that time traveler Daniels belongs to such an agency.

But canon doesn’t give Daniels a first name, either. Canon is maddeningly incomplete in a lot of areas.

So why not here?

As a result, I have decided that Daniels, who I name Richard, works for the Commission.

Canon and Fanfiction Intertwine

The Commission, to me, would have to be a fairly secretive organization. Otherwise, they could very well find themselves with people selfishly trying to use time travel for their own ends. They could be, maybe, seeking to make their ancestors more wealthy, or have them survive wars or plagues in order to, presumably, reproduce more, in order to make a family larger. Or they might go about things in a more sinister fashion, by trying to ensure that the ancestors of their enemies never reproduce.

Therefore, I have decided that their workings would be pretty secret, including the location of headquarters. Rather than put them on a planet, they’re on a ship. In order to not give things away too much, the ship’s name is wholly unrelated to time travel. It’s called the USS Adrenaline.

The Deep Future

Given the fact that this is the very deep future, I don’t expect people to behave precisely the way that we do now (after all, we engage in behaviors that are absolutely alien to people from a millennium ago). This is how it should be. Dress, language, religion (if any) and education will all be radically different, just to mention a few dissimilarities. And lest we think we are so modern, consider this – less than ten years ago, there was no need to refer to home telephones as ‘land lines’. Phones were phones, and you rarely carried them around.

Furthermore, behavior might seem odd to us. After all, we currently live in a far less formal society than we did even five years ago. Hence the TIC in my fanfiction has become a rather informal place. No one is called by their title unless they are being introduced. Admiral Calavicci, who is in charge of the Human Unit, often calls her employees children (out of affection and not malice). And people are dressed in all sorts of ways, rarely wearing uniforms unless they are expected to stay in. However, that last part is to be expected, as travelers would need to be suited up for the specific time periods they were visiting.

Temporal Integrity Commission Occurrences

The Commission and its dealings are, of course, at the center of the doings in the Times of the HG Wells series, but the reader’s first glimpse of my vision of the TIC is in Temper.

Upshot

At some point, Star Trek might broadcast a series covering pretty much only time travel. The trick is to make it different from the myriad of other series on the same subject. It is a compelling subject, to be able to either get a sneak peek ahead at the future, or fix the past. I don’t delude myself into thinking that such a series would be a lot like I handle the Commission, but I like to think I’m on the right track with my thinking.