Temporal aperture

A temporal aperture is a breach in the spacetime continuum which can have the effect of disrupting the flow of time.

Such a phenomemon was encountered by the crew of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) in 2369. The aperture had formed as a result of a power transfer beam interacting with a Romulan Warbird's artificial quantum singularity, which itself was being used as a nest by a race of aliens from another time continuum. This aperture had the effect of disrupting spacetime around the ships, resulting in the formation of a series of temporal fragments in which time progressed at a relatively accelerated or decelerated rate. The fragments were later eliminated when Commander Data was able to manipulate the aperture by remodulating his tricorder's delta-band emissions, making time run backwards. This gave the Enterprise crew a chance to disrupt the transfer beam before it fragmented spacetime.