Disclaimer: The usual stuff…yatta yatta…Paramount/Viacom own everything, I own
nothing…yatta yatta ya…no financial things intended..no infrictions…only fun
Background: This story is partly based on the DS9 episode 'Sacrifice of Angels' . Once
again it plays (surprise surprise!) in an alternate timeline and reality, after 'Day of Honour'.
But in THIS reality the 'Day of Honour' incident never happened the way it did on TV.
The warp-core was dumped allright, but the Cataati didn't srew up the rescue mission.
Tom and B'Elanna had a long talk about *some* of their feelings (in a shuttle, not in EVA-
suits), but no great revelations were made. The rest is basically in agreement with the
universe displayed in DS9 and Voyager on telly. If you see some flaws in the logic, or a
contradiction, use the magic word 'Alternate Universe'.
Author's Note: I know! This story started as a short P/T story. In a way, it still is. There's
some P/T in Part 4. I know it's not enough, but when writing this, I had this idea that I
wanted to change the whole thing. Unsatisfied with the development on telly, I wanted to
alter the entire course of the story, and the universe. In short, I wanted to create a more
sinister picture, because I think that's more realistic than the Happy-Endings-are-best
philosophy on TV. Besides, a good story is made by unexpected plot twists. I think,
succeeded in doing so. Well, I hope, anyway.
And don't worry, you'll get your P/T!(
Feedback will be appreciated, enshrined, and carefully read! Feel free to write. You liked
it? You hated it? You survived it? Tell me about it ( Everything, from praise to scorn, goes to:
zenstolch@hotmail.com
Dedicated to Gene Roddenberry, for having invented Star Trek and making us believe in a better future.
Sacrifice of Angels
By ChrisTR
************************************************
"O for a muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention!
A kingdom for a stage, princes to act,
And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!
Then should the warlike Harry, like himself,
Assume the ports of Mars; and at his heels,
Leash'd in like hounds, should famine, sword and fire
Crouch for employment!
But, pardon, gentles all,
The flat, unraised spirit that hath dared
On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth
So great an object. [...]
Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them
Printing their proud hoof i' the receiving earth
For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings,
Carry them here and there; jumping o'er times,
Turning the accomplishment of many years,
Into an hourglass: for the wich supply,
Admit me, Chorus to this history;
Who, prologue-like your humble patience pray,
Gently to hear, kindly to judge our play."
-William Shakespeare, Henry V.
************************************************
Part 1 – Home
FOR the moment all was well aboard the Federation Starship Voyager.
While there were repairs being made, and they were, as always, short-handed, there was no life-threatening emergencies at the moment. The engines were working well, life-support was functioning, the mess-hall and holo-decks were almost constantly in use and the hydroponic gardens were flourishing. For the time being, even Neelix' cooking skills had improved, partly because he finally had run out of leota roots. In short, life was easy and everyone was enjoying himself. That is, almost everyone...
Thomas Eugene Paris was sitting at the conn, his thoughts wandering
back to what happened last evening. It has been 4 days now, since the incident with the Cataati, and Tom and B'Elanna hadn't said a word to each other ever since. He
remembered the talk they had in the shuttle-craft after they had found the dumped Warp-Core. He had tried to explain her how he felt, how he had felt when the transwarp experiment had gone wrong, and she had been too damn stubborn to leave engineering. He had stayed there, knowing it was suicide to try to stop the chain-reaction in the core, but unwilling to let her face that alone. The radiation would have killed both of them if they had stayed there any longer. He had tried to figure out why she kept pushing him away. He wanted her to talk to him. Finally they had ended up arguing and shouting at each other. Tom didn't know what to do now. He didn't want to force the issue because his friendship with B'Elanna meant very much to him. *Man, you're stuck Paris*
He reached out to check the sensor readings again, hoping for something that would
disctract him, something new...anything new! But no, everything was still as quiet as is had been. He let out a sad sigh and turned to the view-screen, watching the stars flashing past Voyager.
Captain Katherine Janeway noticed the deep sigh of her navigator and was just about to ask what was wrong, when Ensign Kim interrupted her.
'Sir, I'm picking up some strange energy readings, half a lightyear to port.'
Now fully awake, Tom sat up to check his sensor logs.
'Harry's right captain. I'm picking up elevated tetryon radiation.'
'Any idea what it is Harry?'
'No sir. We're still too far away to determine what it is yet.'
'Allright then. Mr Paris, take us in, half impulse'
'Yes ma´am.' Tom replied, relieved that at last something was about to happen.
Janeway smiled lightly, noticing the relieved look on Paris' face.
'Captain, I'm detecting some unusual readings here.' she heard Harry's voice.
'I'd appreciate some more detailed information, Ensign'
She had to fight hard to hold back a grin as she saw Harry's stiffening body. *He's going to get a cramp if he keeps doing that* She could not help it but smile, when she imagined the sickbay-scene if such a thing would really happen, the un-evitable sarcastic comments the Doctor would undoubtly make. 'Just how did you manage to get a cramp at your station, Ensign? I'm a doctor, not a Masseur!' Janeway had to bite her lip, and could not face Kim's face, fearing that she'd burst out in laughter.
Kim saw the Captain's smile and immediately turned a dark shade of pink.
Chakotay looked up at his Captain, and gave her a warm smile. *Poor Harry* he thought. *I hope he doesn't take it too hard*.
When Janeway finally managed to regain control of her facial expression, she turned to Harry, who blushed instantly as he saw his Captain's barely supressed grin. Janeway smiled at him and said
'It's okay, Harry. Next time just remember the details.'
'Yes, ma'am'
Janeway nodded and changed the subject.
'So, what's the origin of these 'unusual readings'? '
'I don't know, Captain, they seem to be coming from...'
Harry's voice trailed off, and he stared at his reading.
'You were saying, Ensign?' she said calmly, and put the emphasis on his rank, reminding him where and who he was. *Now what?* she thought.
Harry gulped and nodded.
'I'm detecting a large displacement wave heading towards us'
Janeway almost gasped for air 'What?' she recovered quickly and added 'Do you detect any form of coherent tetryon beam scanning us?' Hope flared in her voice.
Once before, Voyager had been hit by a displacement wave, after being scanned by a coherent tetryon beam, emitted by a huge space array, the Caretaker. The wave had hurled them across space, leaving the crew scattered and the ship badly damaged. It had been a tough ride, and what's more, it had left them here, stranded in the Delta-Quadrant, tens of thousands of lightyears away from Federation space.
*A 60-year journey still ahead of us* she thought *This wave could either be a blessing or a curse.*
*Stop it Katherine! Keep focused on your work* she heard a small voice say in her mind.
*Now what? I am focused! Be quiet and let me do my work, OK?* she replied, angrily
Harry's reply interrupted her thoughts, and she was at least a bit grateful for it.
'Negative, Captain,' Kim said after having scanned several panels 'No sign of other
unusual phenomena. Apart from the fact of course, that this wave is heading directly at us at an incredible speed. We better get out of here sir!'
'Lt. Paris, full stop! Bring us about and go to full impulse! Quickly!' she added, practically yelling at him, unable to control her voice.
'Yes, ma'am!' Tom replied. But soon after he cursed under his breath and after a few more seconds of silence he had to add 'Sir, the wave is simply too big. And too fast! I can't clear away...
'Captain! The wave is closing up. 45 seconds to impact.' Harry yelled, the anguish in his voice evident to the entire bridge.
'Janeway to Engineering. B'Elanna, transfer all available energy to the shields.'
'Aye Captain!' In the background, Tom could hear the muffled voices in Engineering, as B'Elanna yelled at her staff who already fought to accomply the order. For one moment, he thought he heard an angry groan. *She's probably giving them a hell of a terrible time* he thought, and, in spite of the imminent danger, he felt a huge grin crawl to his mouth. *Good It's not me down there right now...*
Opening a comm-channel, Janeway thought *What the hell is so funny about all this, Paris?*Her pilot didn't seem quite focused on work lately. She let out a small sigh. She would have to have a little talk with her Lieutenant after all this. *Provided that we're going to survive this* she added sadly.
'Janeway to all hands: Brace for impact!'
Only seconds later, Voyager was struck by the wave, being hurled across space. The floor was trembling, and Tom had to cling to his station. He could hear the sound of exploding displays and muffled screams. He saw Janeway fall to ground, and was horrified when he saw a panel explode right in front of Tuvok, hurling the Vulcan to the ground. *B'Elanna* All of sudden, his thought ran to B'Elanna Torrea, Voyager's Chief Engineer. He intensively hoped she was alright.
***
Down in Engineering, B'Elanna Torres was far from being allright. *Dammit Paris,
you're going to pay for this!* She was infuriated! Why hadn't he avoided that bloody wave? Certainly that wouldn't have been that difficult! If only Paris had...*oh hell!* She growled angrily.
'Pig!' she said, the word directed to a certain fair-haired, blue-eyed conn-officer *Pig...* she repeated *a big, hairy, arrogant, self-absorbed pig with...big blue eyes, exactly the same colour as the...*
'Whoa! Stop it Torres!' she muttered to herself 'There are more serious problem right now than your love life...'
The nasty little voice in her head turned up once more *Love life? And exactly what love life would that be, Lieutenant?* it said.
Torres just growled in response. 'Stuff it!' she said.
'Sir?' Joe Carey's head jerked up in surprise. Had he just heard something like 'love
life'?...from Lieutenant *Torres*?
'Sorry, I didn't quite catch that Lt. Torres' he repeated
B'Elanna blushed, but recovered quickly'I said: Why don't you try to get some energy to those shields Lt. Carey?'
Maybe Carey was not as talented as B'Elanna when it came to engineering and Warp-Technology, but he was no fool. And he was bright enough to get a hint...especially when it was snarled out in such a tone, and accompanied by a death-glare, wich would even have made the Captain stop and stare. He bit of the sarcastic retort he was about to spit out, annoyed by her bad mood lately, but then he saw the expression on his commanding officer's face, gulped and simply nodded.
'Aye sir!' he said, turned away and beat a hasty retreat.
That was exactly the time when all hell broke loose, down there in engineeering
***
A blinding white light flashed to the bridge, making everyone lift their hands to their eyes for protection. Tom was hunched over his station and suddenly found himself lying on the floor, in front of the view-screen. He fought to control his anguish, and silently moaned as a wave of pain swept through his right arm.
*I never got to tell B'Elanna I love her* was his last thought before he was overwhelmed by his pain and slid into darkness.
***
A violent explosion shook Engineering. Totally without warning, the ship jerked to the right, and Torres could feel the deck slipping away under her feet. The last thing she saw was the explosion of the display she had just been working at. She was slammed to the deck, the impact sending an agonizing wave of pain through her whole body.
Her head hit something hard, and the pain was simply too big for her.
The last thing she saw before she fainted was Joe Carey, grabbing an emergency-kit and scanning her with his tricorder.
*It must have hit me harder than I thought. I never saw Carey this worried before.*
The pain overwhelmed her, and she let herself slide into comforting darkness. *No! I can't die now! There's still something I have to...* Then she fainted.
***
When he saw the explosion, out of the corner of his eye, Joe Carey jumped up from his seat, and lept to the motionless figure of B'Elanna Torres. The display had exploded right in front of her face. *She was far too close. She can't possibly have surv...* He raised his eyebrows, surprised to see that she still was alive. The tricorder registered a major concussion, her right arm was broken badly, and there were signs of inner injuries as well.
*Tough woman* he thought *..guess her klingon side saved her once again.*
He slapped his comm-badge 'Carey to sickbay'
No response. 'Doctor can you hear me?' he inquired. Still, no response. He began
worrying bit, but, pushing is pessimistic thougths aside, he started to treat B'Elanna with the Med-Kit.
The engines could wait a bit.
***
Some minutes later, Carey absent-mindly noticed the EMH kneeling besides Torres.
Doc slapped his comm-badge 'Beam Lt. Torres and me directly to the sickbay' Seconds later, the two of them were gone.
Carey sighed. He grabbed his tool-kit and walked towards the plasma relays.
*This is going to be a long day Joe* he thought.
***
'TOM! Tom, wake up!' The urge in the familiar voice brought him back to reality. It took him some time to realize that he was lying face-first in front of the view-screen. He turned over and saw Harry's concerned face hovering above him.
'I'm fine, Harry, I'm fine. How's the captain?' he asked
'The captain, Chakotay and Tuvok are unconscious but they're not seriously injured. They'll make it. Now, come on, get up. You have to do something!'
'Me?' Tom asked, confused *Why me? Why does this always happen to me?*
'Yes you! You're the highest-ranking officer right now, so get up and do something!' The ensign's voice was trembling with nervousity.
*Yeah. Sure. Nothing easier then that* Tom thought. *This is ridiculous! One moment I wish for some action to happen, the next moment I'm in command of Voyager! And I don't even know what happened*
'Allright, allright.' He finally managed to say 'Find out what happened, will you?'
Harry got up, and returned to his now-demolished station, trying to get it operational again.
'Paris to sickbay. Doctor, would you mind coming up here? The captain and Chakotay have been wounded.'
'I'm on my way, Lieutenant.' The doc's voice sounded as neutral as always, showing no sign of nervousity what so ever.
'You!' Tom pointed at a Security officer, Lt.Cooper 'Take over tactical! You!' Tom
pointed at another Ensign, unhappy enough to cross Tom's field of vision at that specific moment 'Make yourself useful and take the conn!'
The young man, Ensign Hawkes, sat down at the conn and began working. Tom knew the man; a former Maquis. *He's gonna be fine Tom. He can handle the ship.* Letting someone else fly Voyager right now wasn't exactly a very comforting idea to him.
'Harry, Status report.'
'Shields are off-line, as well as the weapons and the warp-engines. Sensors working at 35% of usual. We've had some heavy injuries in Engineering. . .'
A terrible thought flashed through Tom's mind *B'Elanna...*
'. . . and a hull-breach on deck 11; the repair-teams are on it. So far no deaths.' Tom
sighed 'We're in a pretty bad shape, but at least we're alive'
'I couldn't agree more Harry' he said 'Paris to Engineering.'
No reponse. 'B'Elanna, you hearme?' *B'Elanna! Answer me, please!*
Finally there was a weak, muffled voice.
'Carey here, sir. A panel exploded right in front of Lt. Torres. She's unconcious and we treated her with an Emergency-MedKit, but I think the doc should have a look at her.'
Tom heard the *woosh* of the turbolift doors and he saw the Doctor stepping out of it. Absent-mindly he nodded to the hologramme. Doc saw the captain lying on the floor and began treating her, moving a tricorder across her motionless body.
'Understood ' Tom said, trying to keep his tone neutral, in spite of the knot forming in his stomach *B'Elanna. . .* 'Lt. Carey, what's our status? When can you get the Warp-drive back online? We could need them soon.'
'We're working on it sir. But it looks pretty bad; nearly all the energy-relais are fried, and we have a leak in the plasma-coolant systems.'
'Acknowledged. I'll send the doc to you to look after B'El...after Lt.Torres as soon as he's finished here, Try and get these engines on-line as soon as possible.'
'Aye sir!'
Forcing down the urge of looking after B'Elanna, he simply turned to the doc and told him to go down to engineering when he'd be finished here. The doctor only nodded, acknowledgind the order. Paris sighed, then turned to the tactical station.
'Lt.Cooper, status? Any ships in sensor range?'
'No sir. We seem to be alone' came the reply
Tom nodded 'Allright. Harry, where the hell are we? and get the view-screen working again, will you?'
'Aye sir' Harry acknowledged in a purely profesional tone.
Tom allowed himself a weak smile. His best friend was no longer the naïve Ensign he was when he boarded Voyager. When he first met him, on Deep Space Nine, Tom had to rescue him from a Ferengi who was trying to sell him some 'souvenirs'. Tom grinned when he remembered Harry's face. *Didn't they warn you about Ferengis at the Academy?*
Static cracked when the viewscreen flared into life again. It showed only empty space, no trace of a planet or a ship. *The Nebula..*the Nebula they had been flying through just a few minutes ago,…it's gone* Tom swallowed hard, trying to keep his expression neutral and professional.
'Primary systems coming back on-line' Harry reported 'apart from the warp-drive that is. But. . .I think I got the sensors finally working normally again. According to these datas we. . . ' His voice trailed of and he gazed at Tom, unable to finish the sentence...
Tom was starting to loose patience 'You were saying, Ensign?'
Harry blushed and finally found his voice again '..according to sensors we...we're deep inside Cardassian space...'
Tom gazed at him in disbelief. That couldn't be true...
'What? We're where?' Even Tom could hear his voice tremble.
'...we're in the Alpha Quadrant' Harry stuttered
For a few moment there was a shocked silence. Even the doctor temporarily stopped
working. Barely audible, Harry whispered 'We're back home'
Eventually some of the younger crew-members began cheering, Soon everybody on the bridge was yelling in pleasure...everybody but LT. Thomas Paris, who had an odd feeling about this, which neither he could deny nor explain.
***
The joyride on the bridge was interrupted by Cooper's alerted voice
'Sir, I detect a vessel closing in on us, bearing three-point-five mark zero. It's...Cardassian sir. Galor-class. Weapons are powered up, target locks are engaged.'
Tom gasped for air *OH great! just great!*
'Open a channel' he ordered
'They're not responding to our hails'
'Go to Red Alert' Instantly the Alert-Klaxon sounded and the crew was called to battle stations.
'Keep on hailing them. Paris to Engineering. What's the status of our shields? and
weapons?'
'Shield are at 43%. The phaser's are still off-line, as is the warp-core. The torpedoe-
launchers are malfunctioning. I can get you one or two torpedoes, not more. '
'Damn!' he muttered under his breath 'What about the Impulse-Engines?'
'Running, but only at 75%. We got the problems here under control...so far...we're
working on the warp-engines'
'Keep it up Carey, we need Warp-capability!'
'Aye sir'
'Cooper' Tom turned to look at him 'prepare the photon torpedoes and target their warp-core' Without waiting for an acknowledgement, he turned to Harry 'Have they responded yet?'
'No. They are still heading towards us at warp...'
He was interrupted as the face of an angry-looking Cardassian showed itself on the view-screen.
'This is Gul Lemor, from the Cardassian Warship Natek. Surrender your vessel to the Dominion or be destroyed.'
'What?' Tom asked, unable to stop himself, with a puzzled look on his face 'What are you talking about? What's the Dominion? anyway there still is a treaty between our governements...' seeing the expression on the Gul's face, he slowly added '...is there?'
'Where have you been for the last year? On the other side of the Galaxy?'
*Well, actually. . .* Tom thought, biting his lip in an attempt not to smile wryly. It failed. *Paris! Stop it! That's not at all funny!*
'If you do not surrender, you will be destroyed. You have 60 seconds to comply!'
'Hang on!' Tom shrieked ' Why would you want to destroy us?'
The Gul looked at him with an odd expression on his face
'A strange question to ask in a war don't you think? Yield or be destroyed! This is your last warning; you have 45 seconds to comply!' With that he terminated the communication.
'Oh gods! Perfect! just perfect' he kept muttering
Once again he turned to Kim 'Shields?'
'65%. We won't be able to hold up long if it comes to a fight. Phasers are still down.'
Tom grimaced in disgust and slapped his comm-badge 'Paris to Carey'
'Carey here'
'You better get moving on those engines…we need them..NOW!!'
'Lt., you must give me at least half an hour…'
'We don't have that much time. I need the engines and I n...'
Lt. Cooper interrupted him suddenly 'Sir, I detect elevated tachyon emissions. Probabéy a de-cloaking ship, 500000 km starboard of the Cardassian vessel. I read one..no, two vessels.. '
*Great! My first command and I screw it up totally.. as usual*
*No time for self-pity Paris! Do something*
'Sir!' Cooper's voice sounded shocked 'Those are Federation ships..'
'WHAT?' *Federation ships with cloaking devices..what's going on here?*
'Powering up their weapons'
'Harry, open a...' He didn't have time to finish the sentence. Bursts of yellow energy
rocked through space, hitting the Cardassian vessel's right side. A weak flicker appeared on the view-screen as the Cardassian shields tried to deflect the phaser energy.
The two unknown ships were now fully engaged in a fire-fight with the much bigger
Cardassian Destroyer. He wondered wether he should join them in attacking the
Cardassians or not. *I don't know whats going on her. Are we in war? Well, it certainly seems so.*
*But what if tose ships are not really Starfleet? StarFleet hasn't got any cloakable ships.*
Then it happened. It was so fast, Tom couldn't quite catch it. All he saw, were two photon torpedoes racing towards the Natek. They hit, exactly were the bridge of the ship would be. There was a flash of light, and Voyager started vibrating again. The view-screen went black.
*Those photon torpedoes..they appeared *blue*!* he thought *A new kind of weapon? Besides, I haven't seen this type of ship before, either.*
'Harry, what the hell happened now?' he demanded 'Are they firing on ustoo?'
'No sir, but the Cardassian ship..it's been destroyed!'
For a few seconds, there was a shocked silence on the bridge. Then Tom decided he was ought to do something.
'Hail our benefactors' he commanded, unable to keep a certain bitterness out of his tone.
'Channel open.'
'Voyager to unknown ship. Do you read me?'
An expressionless face appeared on the view-screen. Tom noticed they did not wear the same uniform. Even though it looked StarFleet-like, the coulours had changed. The new model was black and blue, with a turtleneck bearing the colours of the respective command-group.
*This is typical. You are away for a few years, and they change everything.* he thought cynically.
'This is Captain Jonathan Lorca, from the Federation Starship 'Agammemnon'. Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?'
Tom's face clearly showed his confusion.
'I am Lt. Thomas Paris, acting commander of the Federation ship Voyager.'
Captain Lorca's face darkened with anger and disbelief. Tom hesitated, but decided to continue.
'And I could ask you the same, Captain. Why are you that deep inside Cardassian space? And why did they try to destroy us?'
To Tom's surprise, Captain Lorca got even angrier.
'Your deception will fail. Voyager has been destroyed 4 years ago. Who are you?'
'As I said, this is the Voyager. We were not destroyed, and it's a long story. An alien
device transported us against our will to the Delta-Quadrant. We've been trying to get home for 4 years now.' Tom's voice was trembling. This was not going the way he wanted it to. *A nice welcome home...* Just what was going on here?
'That is an highly un-likely story. Do you really believe me that stupid? Why should I believe this..nonsense?'
Tom could hardly control his temper. 'Why should you not? Why would I want to deceive you? Our ship hardly is a match for yours.' he said, in a tone that could have melten through the ships hull.
Lorca was taken aback by his opponents infuriating reply.
His eyes narrowed dangerously. Finally he took his decision.
'Allright, *Lieutenant* Paris, if that's really your name, you will surrender your weapons and accompany us back to StarBase 89. Admiral Haze will be eager to learn what *really* happened to Voyager.' He said, his voice dripping with sarcasm and distrust.
Tom put on his most innocent smile and said'I'm afraid I can't do that sir.'
'WHAT!'
Inwardly, Tom grinned.
'We are experiencing some problems with our warp core. If you could spare any of your men, we could use some help here. And I'm certain it would greatly speed the repairs. You don't want to stay too long here neither, I suppose.'
Lorca's eyes narrowed even further, and examined the picture on his view-screen. Finally he said 'I'll see what I can do. Lorca out.'
Tom sighed and glanced at Harry. He only shrugged. *This is going to be a long day..* he thought.
nothing…yatta yatta ya…no financial things intended..no infrictions…only fun
Background: This story is partly based on the DS9 episode 'Sacrifice of Angels' . Once
again it plays (surprise surprise!) in an alternate timeline and reality, after 'Day of Honour'.
But in THIS reality the 'Day of Honour' incident never happened the way it did on TV.
The warp-core was dumped allright, but the Cataati didn't srew up the rescue mission.
Tom and B'Elanna had a long talk about *some* of their feelings (in a shuttle, not in EVA-
suits), but no great revelations were made. The rest is basically in agreement with the
universe displayed in DS9 and Voyager on telly. If you see some flaws in the logic, or a
contradiction, use the magic word 'Alternate Universe'.
Author's Note: I know! This story started as a short P/T story. In a way, it still is. There's
some P/T in Part 4. I know it's not enough, but when writing this, I had this idea that I
wanted to change the whole thing. Unsatisfied with the development on telly, I wanted to
alter the entire course of the story, and the universe. In short, I wanted to create a more
sinister picture, because I think that's more realistic than the Happy-Endings-are-best
philosophy on TV. Besides, a good story is made by unexpected plot twists. I think,
succeeded in doing so. Well, I hope, anyway.
And don't worry, you'll get your P/T!(
Feedback will be appreciated, enshrined, and carefully read! Feel free to write. You liked
it? You hated it? You survived it? Tell me about it ( Everything, from praise to scorn, goes to:
zenstolch@hotmail.com
Dedicated to Gene Roddenberry, for having invented Star Trek and making us believe in a better future.
Sacrifice of Angels
By ChrisTR
************************************************
"O for a muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention!
A kingdom for a stage, princes to act,
And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!
Then should the warlike Harry, like himself,
Assume the ports of Mars; and at his heels,
Leash'd in like hounds, should famine, sword and fire
Crouch for employment!
But, pardon, gentles all,
The flat, unraised spirit that hath dared
On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth
So great an object. [...]
Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them
Printing their proud hoof i' the receiving earth
For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings,
Carry them here and there; jumping o'er times,
Turning the accomplishment of many years,
Into an hourglass: for the wich supply,
Admit me, Chorus to this history;
Who, prologue-like your humble patience pray,
Gently to hear, kindly to judge our play."
-William Shakespeare, Henry V.
************************************************
Part 1 – Home
FOR the moment all was well aboard the Federation Starship Voyager.
While there were repairs being made, and they were, as always, short-handed, there was no life-threatening emergencies at the moment. The engines were working well, life-support was functioning, the mess-hall and holo-decks were almost constantly in use and the hydroponic gardens were flourishing. For the time being, even Neelix' cooking skills had improved, partly because he finally had run out of leota roots. In short, life was easy and everyone was enjoying himself. That is, almost everyone...
Thomas Eugene Paris was sitting at the conn, his thoughts wandering
back to what happened last evening. It has been 4 days now, since the incident with the Cataati, and Tom and B'Elanna hadn't said a word to each other ever since. He
remembered the talk they had in the shuttle-craft after they had found the dumped Warp-Core. He had tried to explain her how he felt, how he had felt when the transwarp experiment had gone wrong, and she had been too damn stubborn to leave engineering. He had stayed there, knowing it was suicide to try to stop the chain-reaction in the core, but unwilling to let her face that alone. The radiation would have killed both of them if they had stayed there any longer. He had tried to figure out why she kept pushing him away. He wanted her to talk to him. Finally they had ended up arguing and shouting at each other. Tom didn't know what to do now. He didn't want to force the issue because his friendship with B'Elanna meant very much to him. *Man, you're stuck Paris*
He reached out to check the sensor readings again, hoping for something that would
disctract him, something new...anything new! But no, everything was still as quiet as is had been. He let out a sad sigh and turned to the view-screen, watching the stars flashing past Voyager.
Captain Katherine Janeway noticed the deep sigh of her navigator and was just about to ask what was wrong, when Ensign Kim interrupted her.
'Sir, I'm picking up some strange energy readings, half a lightyear to port.'
Now fully awake, Tom sat up to check his sensor logs.
'Harry's right captain. I'm picking up elevated tetryon radiation.'
'Any idea what it is Harry?'
'No sir. We're still too far away to determine what it is yet.'
'Allright then. Mr Paris, take us in, half impulse'
'Yes ma´am.' Tom replied, relieved that at last something was about to happen.
Janeway smiled lightly, noticing the relieved look on Paris' face.
'Captain, I'm detecting some unusual readings here.' she heard Harry's voice.
'I'd appreciate some more detailed information, Ensign'
She had to fight hard to hold back a grin as she saw Harry's stiffening body. *He's going to get a cramp if he keeps doing that* She could not help it but smile, when she imagined the sickbay-scene if such a thing would really happen, the un-evitable sarcastic comments the Doctor would undoubtly make. 'Just how did you manage to get a cramp at your station, Ensign? I'm a doctor, not a Masseur!' Janeway had to bite her lip, and could not face Kim's face, fearing that she'd burst out in laughter.
Kim saw the Captain's smile and immediately turned a dark shade of pink.
Chakotay looked up at his Captain, and gave her a warm smile. *Poor Harry* he thought. *I hope he doesn't take it too hard*.
When Janeway finally managed to regain control of her facial expression, she turned to Harry, who blushed instantly as he saw his Captain's barely supressed grin. Janeway smiled at him and said
'It's okay, Harry. Next time just remember the details.'
'Yes, ma'am'
Janeway nodded and changed the subject.
'So, what's the origin of these 'unusual readings'? '
'I don't know, Captain, they seem to be coming from...'
Harry's voice trailed off, and he stared at his reading.
'You were saying, Ensign?' she said calmly, and put the emphasis on his rank, reminding him where and who he was. *Now what?* she thought.
Harry gulped and nodded.
'I'm detecting a large displacement wave heading towards us'
Janeway almost gasped for air 'What?' she recovered quickly and added 'Do you detect any form of coherent tetryon beam scanning us?' Hope flared in her voice.
Once before, Voyager had been hit by a displacement wave, after being scanned by a coherent tetryon beam, emitted by a huge space array, the Caretaker. The wave had hurled them across space, leaving the crew scattered and the ship badly damaged. It had been a tough ride, and what's more, it had left them here, stranded in the Delta-Quadrant, tens of thousands of lightyears away from Federation space.
*A 60-year journey still ahead of us* she thought *This wave could either be a blessing or a curse.*
*Stop it Katherine! Keep focused on your work* she heard a small voice say in her mind.
*Now what? I am focused! Be quiet and let me do my work, OK?* she replied, angrily
Harry's reply interrupted her thoughts, and she was at least a bit grateful for it.
'Negative, Captain,' Kim said after having scanned several panels 'No sign of other
unusual phenomena. Apart from the fact of course, that this wave is heading directly at us at an incredible speed. We better get out of here sir!'
'Lt. Paris, full stop! Bring us about and go to full impulse! Quickly!' she added, practically yelling at him, unable to control her voice.
'Yes, ma'am!' Tom replied. But soon after he cursed under his breath and after a few more seconds of silence he had to add 'Sir, the wave is simply too big. And too fast! I can't clear away...
'Captain! The wave is closing up. 45 seconds to impact.' Harry yelled, the anguish in his voice evident to the entire bridge.
'Janeway to Engineering. B'Elanna, transfer all available energy to the shields.'
'Aye Captain!' In the background, Tom could hear the muffled voices in Engineering, as B'Elanna yelled at her staff who already fought to accomply the order. For one moment, he thought he heard an angry groan. *She's probably giving them a hell of a terrible time* he thought, and, in spite of the imminent danger, he felt a huge grin crawl to his mouth. *Good It's not me down there right now...*
Opening a comm-channel, Janeway thought *What the hell is so funny about all this, Paris?*Her pilot didn't seem quite focused on work lately. She let out a small sigh. She would have to have a little talk with her Lieutenant after all this. *Provided that we're going to survive this* she added sadly.
'Janeway to all hands: Brace for impact!'
Only seconds later, Voyager was struck by the wave, being hurled across space. The floor was trembling, and Tom had to cling to his station. He could hear the sound of exploding displays and muffled screams. He saw Janeway fall to ground, and was horrified when he saw a panel explode right in front of Tuvok, hurling the Vulcan to the ground. *B'Elanna* All of sudden, his thought ran to B'Elanna Torrea, Voyager's Chief Engineer. He intensively hoped she was alright.
***
Down in Engineering, B'Elanna Torres was far from being allright. *Dammit Paris,
you're going to pay for this!* She was infuriated! Why hadn't he avoided that bloody wave? Certainly that wouldn't have been that difficult! If only Paris had...*oh hell!* She growled angrily.
'Pig!' she said, the word directed to a certain fair-haired, blue-eyed conn-officer *Pig...* she repeated *a big, hairy, arrogant, self-absorbed pig with...big blue eyes, exactly the same colour as the...*
'Whoa! Stop it Torres!' she muttered to herself 'There are more serious problem right now than your love life...'
The nasty little voice in her head turned up once more *Love life? And exactly what love life would that be, Lieutenant?* it said.
Torres just growled in response. 'Stuff it!' she said.
'Sir?' Joe Carey's head jerked up in surprise. Had he just heard something like 'love
life'?...from Lieutenant *Torres*?
'Sorry, I didn't quite catch that Lt. Torres' he repeated
B'Elanna blushed, but recovered quickly'I said: Why don't you try to get some energy to those shields Lt. Carey?'
Maybe Carey was not as talented as B'Elanna when it came to engineering and Warp-Technology, but he was no fool. And he was bright enough to get a hint...especially when it was snarled out in such a tone, and accompanied by a death-glare, wich would even have made the Captain stop and stare. He bit of the sarcastic retort he was about to spit out, annoyed by her bad mood lately, but then he saw the expression on his commanding officer's face, gulped and simply nodded.
'Aye sir!' he said, turned away and beat a hasty retreat.
That was exactly the time when all hell broke loose, down there in engineeering
***
A blinding white light flashed to the bridge, making everyone lift their hands to their eyes for protection. Tom was hunched over his station and suddenly found himself lying on the floor, in front of the view-screen. He fought to control his anguish, and silently moaned as a wave of pain swept through his right arm.
*I never got to tell B'Elanna I love her* was his last thought before he was overwhelmed by his pain and slid into darkness.
***
A violent explosion shook Engineering. Totally without warning, the ship jerked to the right, and Torres could feel the deck slipping away under her feet. The last thing she saw was the explosion of the display she had just been working at. She was slammed to the deck, the impact sending an agonizing wave of pain through her whole body.
Her head hit something hard, and the pain was simply too big for her.
The last thing she saw before she fainted was Joe Carey, grabbing an emergency-kit and scanning her with his tricorder.
*It must have hit me harder than I thought. I never saw Carey this worried before.*
The pain overwhelmed her, and she let herself slide into comforting darkness. *No! I can't die now! There's still something I have to...* Then she fainted.
***
When he saw the explosion, out of the corner of his eye, Joe Carey jumped up from his seat, and lept to the motionless figure of B'Elanna Torres. The display had exploded right in front of her face. *She was far too close. She can't possibly have surv...* He raised his eyebrows, surprised to see that she still was alive. The tricorder registered a major concussion, her right arm was broken badly, and there were signs of inner injuries as well.
*Tough woman* he thought *..guess her klingon side saved her once again.*
He slapped his comm-badge 'Carey to sickbay'
No response. 'Doctor can you hear me?' he inquired. Still, no response. He began
worrying bit, but, pushing is pessimistic thougths aside, he started to treat B'Elanna with the Med-Kit.
The engines could wait a bit.
***
Some minutes later, Carey absent-mindly noticed the EMH kneeling besides Torres.
Doc slapped his comm-badge 'Beam Lt. Torres and me directly to the sickbay' Seconds later, the two of them were gone.
Carey sighed. He grabbed his tool-kit and walked towards the plasma relays.
*This is going to be a long day Joe* he thought.
***
'TOM! Tom, wake up!' The urge in the familiar voice brought him back to reality. It took him some time to realize that he was lying face-first in front of the view-screen. He turned over and saw Harry's concerned face hovering above him.
'I'm fine, Harry, I'm fine. How's the captain?' he asked
'The captain, Chakotay and Tuvok are unconscious but they're not seriously injured. They'll make it. Now, come on, get up. You have to do something!'
'Me?' Tom asked, confused *Why me? Why does this always happen to me?*
'Yes you! You're the highest-ranking officer right now, so get up and do something!' The ensign's voice was trembling with nervousity.
*Yeah. Sure. Nothing easier then that* Tom thought. *This is ridiculous! One moment I wish for some action to happen, the next moment I'm in command of Voyager! And I don't even know what happened*
'Allright, allright.' He finally managed to say 'Find out what happened, will you?'
Harry got up, and returned to his now-demolished station, trying to get it operational again.
'Paris to sickbay. Doctor, would you mind coming up here? The captain and Chakotay have been wounded.'
'I'm on my way, Lieutenant.' The doc's voice sounded as neutral as always, showing no sign of nervousity what so ever.
'You!' Tom pointed at a Security officer, Lt.Cooper 'Take over tactical! You!' Tom
pointed at another Ensign, unhappy enough to cross Tom's field of vision at that specific moment 'Make yourself useful and take the conn!'
The young man, Ensign Hawkes, sat down at the conn and began working. Tom knew the man; a former Maquis. *He's gonna be fine Tom. He can handle the ship.* Letting someone else fly Voyager right now wasn't exactly a very comforting idea to him.
'Harry, Status report.'
'Shields are off-line, as well as the weapons and the warp-engines. Sensors working at 35% of usual. We've had some heavy injuries in Engineering. . .'
A terrible thought flashed through Tom's mind *B'Elanna...*
'. . . and a hull-breach on deck 11; the repair-teams are on it. So far no deaths.' Tom
sighed 'We're in a pretty bad shape, but at least we're alive'
'I couldn't agree more Harry' he said 'Paris to Engineering.'
No reponse. 'B'Elanna, you hearme?' *B'Elanna! Answer me, please!*
Finally there was a weak, muffled voice.
'Carey here, sir. A panel exploded right in front of Lt. Torres. She's unconcious and we treated her with an Emergency-MedKit, but I think the doc should have a look at her.'
Tom heard the *woosh* of the turbolift doors and he saw the Doctor stepping out of it. Absent-mindly he nodded to the hologramme. Doc saw the captain lying on the floor and began treating her, moving a tricorder across her motionless body.
'Understood ' Tom said, trying to keep his tone neutral, in spite of the knot forming in his stomach *B'Elanna. . .* 'Lt. Carey, what's our status? When can you get the Warp-drive back online? We could need them soon.'
'We're working on it sir. But it looks pretty bad; nearly all the energy-relais are fried, and we have a leak in the plasma-coolant systems.'
'Acknowledged. I'll send the doc to you to look after B'El...after Lt.Torres as soon as he's finished here, Try and get these engines on-line as soon as possible.'
'Aye sir!'
Forcing down the urge of looking after B'Elanna, he simply turned to the doc and told him to go down to engineering when he'd be finished here. The doctor only nodded, acknowledgind the order. Paris sighed, then turned to the tactical station.
'Lt.Cooper, status? Any ships in sensor range?'
'No sir. We seem to be alone' came the reply
Tom nodded 'Allright. Harry, where the hell are we? and get the view-screen working again, will you?'
'Aye sir' Harry acknowledged in a purely profesional tone.
Tom allowed himself a weak smile. His best friend was no longer the naïve Ensign he was when he boarded Voyager. When he first met him, on Deep Space Nine, Tom had to rescue him from a Ferengi who was trying to sell him some 'souvenirs'. Tom grinned when he remembered Harry's face. *Didn't they warn you about Ferengis at the Academy?*
Static cracked when the viewscreen flared into life again. It showed only empty space, no trace of a planet or a ship. *The Nebula..*the Nebula they had been flying through just a few minutes ago,…it's gone* Tom swallowed hard, trying to keep his expression neutral and professional.
'Primary systems coming back on-line' Harry reported 'apart from the warp-drive that is. But. . .I think I got the sensors finally working normally again. According to these datas we. . . ' His voice trailed of and he gazed at Tom, unable to finish the sentence...
Tom was starting to loose patience 'You were saying, Ensign?'
Harry blushed and finally found his voice again '..according to sensors we...we're deep inside Cardassian space...'
Tom gazed at him in disbelief. That couldn't be true...
'What? We're where?' Even Tom could hear his voice tremble.
'...we're in the Alpha Quadrant' Harry stuttered
For a few moment there was a shocked silence. Even the doctor temporarily stopped
working. Barely audible, Harry whispered 'We're back home'
Eventually some of the younger crew-members began cheering, Soon everybody on the bridge was yelling in pleasure...everybody but LT. Thomas Paris, who had an odd feeling about this, which neither he could deny nor explain.
***
The joyride on the bridge was interrupted by Cooper's alerted voice
'Sir, I detect a vessel closing in on us, bearing three-point-five mark zero. It's...Cardassian sir. Galor-class. Weapons are powered up, target locks are engaged.'
Tom gasped for air *OH great! just great!*
'Open a channel' he ordered
'They're not responding to our hails'
'Go to Red Alert' Instantly the Alert-Klaxon sounded and the crew was called to battle stations.
'Keep on hailing them. Paris to Engineering. What's the status of our shields? and
weapons?'
'Shield are at 43%. The phaser's are still off-line, as is the warp-core. The torpedoe-
launchers are malfunctioning. I can get you one or two torpedoes, not more. '
'Damn!' he muttered under his breath 'What about the Impulse-Engines?'
'Running, but only at 75%. We got the problems here under control...so far...we're
working on the warp-engines'
'Keep it up Carey, we need Warp-capability!'
'Aye sir'
'Cooper' Tom turned to look at him 'prepare the photon torpedoes and target their warp-core' Without waiting for an acknowledgement, he turned to Harry 'Have they responded yet?'
'No. They are still heading towards us at warp...'
He was interrupted as the face of an angry-looking Cardassian showed itself on the view-screen.
'This is Gul Lemor, from the Cardassian Warship Natek. Surrender your vessel to the Dominion or be destroyed.'
'What?' Tom asked, unable to stop himself, with a puzzled look on his face 'What are you talking about? What's the Dominion? anyway there still is a treaty between our governements...' seeing the expression on the Gul's face, he slowly added '...is there?'
'Where have you been for the last year? On the other side of the Galaxy?'
*Well, actually. . .* Tom thought, biting his lip in an attempt not to smile wryly. It failed. *Paris! Stop it! That's not at all funny!*
'If you do not surrender, you will be destroyed. You have 60 seconds to comply!'
'Hang on!' Tom shrieked ' Why would you want to destroy us?'
The Gul looked at him with an odd expression on his face
'A strange question to ask in a war don't you think? Yield or be destroyed! This is your last warning; you have 45 seconds to comply!' With that he terminated the communication.
'Oh gods! Perfect! just perfect' he kept muttering
Once again he turned to Kim 'Shields?'
'65%. We won't be able to hold up long if it comes to a fight. Phasers are still down.'
Tom grimaced in disgust and slapped his comm-badge 'Paris to Carey'
'Carey here'
'You better get moving on those engines…we need them..NOW!!'
'Lt., you must give me at least half an hour…'
'We don't have that much time. I need the engines and I n...'
Lt. Cooper interrupted him suddenly 'Sir, I detect elevated tachyon emissions. Probabéy a de-cloaking ship, 500000 km starboard of the Cardassian vessel. I read one..no, two vessels.. '
*Great! My first command and I screw it up totally.. as usual*
*No time for self-pity Paris! Do something*
'Sir!' Cooper's voice sounded shocked 'Those are Federation ships..'
'WHAT?' *Federation ships with cloaking devices..what's going on here?*
'Powering up their weapons'
'Harry, open a...' He didn't have time to finish the sentence. Bursts of yellow energy
rocked through space, hitting the Cardassian vessel's right side. A weak flicker appeared on the view-screen as the Cardassian shields tried to deflect the phaser energy.
The two unknown ships were now fully engaged in a fire-fight with the much bigger
Cardassian Destroyer. He wondered wether he should join them in attacking the
Cardassians or not. *I don't know whats going on her. Are we in war? Well, it certainly seems so.*
*But what if tose ships are not really Starfleet? StarFleet hasn't got any cloakable ships.*
Then it happened. It was so fast, Tom couldn't quite catch it. All he saw, were two photon torpedoes racing towards the Natek. They hit, exactly were the bridge of the ship would be. There was a flash of light, and Voyager started vibrating again. The view-screen went black.
*Those photon torpedoes..they appeared *blue*!* he thought *A new kind of weapon? Besides, I haven't seen this type of ship before, either.*
'Harry, what the hell happened now?' he demanded 'Are they firing on ustoo?'
'No sir, but the Cardassian ship..it's been destroyed!'
For a few seconds, there was a shocked silence on the bridge. Then Tom decided he was ought to do something.
'Hail our benefactors' he commanded, unable to keep a certain bitterness out of his tone.
'Channel open.'
'Voyager to unknown ship. Do you read me?'
An expressionless face appeared on the view-screen. Tom noticed they did not wear the same uniform. Even though it looked StarFleet-like, the coulours had changed. The new model was black and blue, with a turtleneck bearing the colours of the respective command-group.
*This is typical. You are away for a few years, and they change everything.* he thought cynically.
'This is Captain Jonathan Lorca, from the Federation Starship 'Agammemnon'. Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?'
Tom's face clearly showed his confusion.
'I am Lt. Thomas Paris, acting commander of the Federation ship Voyager.'
Captain Lorca's face darkened with anger and disbelief. Tom hesitated, but decided to continue.
'And I could ask you the same, Captain. Why are you that deep inside Cardassian space? And why did they try to destroy us?'
To Tom's surprise, Captain Lorca got even angrier.
'Your deception will fail. Voyager has been destroyed 4 years ago. Who are you?'
'As I said, this is the Voyager. We were not destroyed, and it's a long story. An alien
device transported us against our will to the Delta-Quadrant. We've been trying to get home for 4 years now.' Tom's voice was trembling. This was not going the way he wanted it to. *A nice welcome home...* Just what was going on here?
'That is an highly un-likely story. Do you really believe me that stupid? Why should I believe this..nonsense?'
Tom could hardly control his temper. 'Why should you not? Why would I want to deceive you? Our ship hardly is a match for yours.' he said, in a tone that could have melten through the ships hull.
Lorca was taken aback by his opponents infuriating reply.
His eyes narrowed dangerously. Finally he took his decision.
'Allright, *Lieutenant* Paris, if that's really your name, you will surrender your weapons and accompany us back to StarBase 89. Admiral Haze will be eager to learn what *really* happened to Voyager.' He said, his voice dripping with sarcasm and distrust.
Tom put on his most innocent smile and said'I'm afraid I can't do that sir.'
'WHAT!'
Inwardly, Tom grinned.
'We are experiencing some problems with our warp core. If you could spare any of your men, we could use some help here. And I'm certain it would greatly speed the repairs. You don't want to stay too long here neither, I suppose.'
Lorca's eyes narrowed even further, and examined the picture on his view-screen. Finally he said 'I'll see what I can do. Lorca out.'
Tom sighed and glanced at Harry. He only shrugged. *This is going to be a long day..* he thought.