Into the Night
A Below Decks Story
By Christina

Prologue
New Hope
almost 6 months after the crash landing

Hugh Murphy motioned to his right and then controlled the urge to pull his hair out when the actor tripped and fell. "Kashimuro!"

"Sorry, boss. I'll do better once I have the lines memorized," Kashimuro Nozawa said.

"That's all right." Hugh stepped on to the stage they'd made in cargo bay 2. "We're going to start act two again. Let's get set." He turned as the cargo bay doors slid open. He'd posted a large sign, asking for visitors to stay away, but of course the many diplomats, and other government officials here to see Voyager's departure, didn't read English. "I'm sorry, you...Oh Captain Janeway." The constant motion around him ceased as the sixteen actors and ten tech staff noticed the captain and the six Minenne government officials with her. "I didn't know you would be coming."

"Minister Perut here wanted to see how we put on a play," Janeway said.

"I'm not sure right now is the best time...We still are just learning our parts."

Perut, the Minenne minister stepped forward and bowed. "Drama in our culture is for holy occasions: a truly profound moment. What play are you are doing?"

"Twelfth Night, Mr. Minister," Hugh replied. "It's by one of Earth's greatest playwrights." He glanced at Janeway and shrugged. "The title refers to an early religious day."

"Ahh," Perut said. "Most excellent." He bowed again. "Thank you for letting me visit. It was a privilege." Hugh managed to maintain a neutral expression until Janeway and her entourage had departed.

"What were you thinking?" Megan asked. "A religious play?"

"It was all I could think of," Hugh replied,

"Whatever," she retorted. "He's in one for major culture shock if he ever gets a chance to see it."

"I don't know," Kashimuro said from the floor. "The scene with Toby and Marie has definite possibilities."

The cast and crew laughed. Hugh smiled. "Well, at this point we're not ready for any revelations. Kashimuro, stand up, and let's get going. We have-" he glanced at his chrono, "-fifteen minutes." Squeezing in rehearsals these last few days on New Hope had been hard. Everyone was running in circles. "And I want to thank everyone again for taking the time to be here."

"Good evening, Lieutenant," Susan Nicolleti said as Michael Ayala entered the transporter room. "I hope there's not much more of this."

"They'll be leaving soon." Ayala glanced around warily, wondering if he would find another missing representative under the console. "There seem to be hundreds of them on board."

"There are only fifty-five."

"It still seems like five-hundred." He leaned against the console. "The Gunrath'u representatives have managed to *get lost* twice. Commander Tuvok has doubled their escort."

"They'll all be leaving soon, and I can finally return to engineering."

"The sooner they're gone the better." He took a deep breath, wondering if he was just being paranoid about those Gunrath'u excursions. "I guess they are all just happy that we're leaving the treaty planet."

"We're leaving in approximately one hour. I can't wait." She leaned closer. "So, have you heard how today's tests with the Delta Flyer went?"

"I don't know," Ayala started to shake his head. It had taken a lot of subterfuge to conduct the slipstream tests, he started to leave, but a beep from the transporter console stopped him. "Maybe the dignitaries are ready to leave?" Ayala asked, his voice not full of much optimism.

"It's incoming." Susan opened the comm. "This is Susan Nicolletti of the Starship Voyager."

"Well, it's about time," a feminine voice said. "I am Captain Laral from the Vordai Space Defense. I believe I'm expected. I am transmitting my coordinates. Please beam me aboard, now." Susan glanced at Ayala.

"I haven't heard anything," he whispered. He tapped his combadge to contact Commander Tuvok, while Susan asked Laral to wait.

"Lieutenant Ayala," Tuvok said. "I have just received confirmation from Captain Janeway. Indeed, Captain Laral is expected. Please escort her to deck-three-section-two guest quarters. She'll be with us for our trip to the Vordai Space Docks."

Ayala wanted to ask more questions, but nodded to Susan. A second later the Vordai female appeared, dressed in the brown uniform of the Vordai military. At her feet were two small duffel bags. As Ayala stepped forward to greet her, she stepped off the platform.

"Finally. I may assume you are Captain Janeway and Lieutenant Paris?"

"No, ma'am. I'm Lieutenant Ayala, this is Lieutenant Nicolleti. Captain Janeway sends her apologies," he explained-a white lie. "We still have a number of dignitaries on board. I'll show you to your quarters."

"By the Great Forest, I was told that Captain Janeway would meet me on my arrival not seedlings. Please bring my luggage." She glanced around, then walked out the door. Ayala grumbled as he grabbed her bags.

"I'm not a porter..." But at least Captain Laral had packed light.

The door to the guest quarters closed and again, Ayala grumbled. Who did this woman think she was?

"Is that her?" Tom said from behind him.

"If you are asking if she is Captain Laral, the Vordai hotshot pilot, the answer is yes. She wants to meet with you and Janeway, seven minutes ago."

Tom rolled his eyes. "I can't believe the Vordai government won't let me fly Voyager. What's she like?"

"I think that is something you will have to experience for yourself." A sudden thought struck Ayala. "Tom, is that why she's here, to pilot our ship?" Tom didn't seem happy at her presence.

"The Vordai Space Defense is has said that no one but a port-licensed Vordai captain can fly a ship into their space docks. I have six days to teach her to fly Voyager. SIX DAYS. Gees...I'm sure I could pass the board tests to be qualified-and it wouldn't take me six days."

Ayala grinned. "Have fun, Tom, but right now I need to start rounding up all those dignitaries."

"I'll try. By the way, I hear Tuvok found one of the Gunrath'u representatives attempting to access Jeffries tube 4."

Ayala frowned. Most of the crew had not been happy with the inclusion of the large Gunrath'u party today. He also suspected a few of the Gunrath'u were very bad spies trying to find out something about Voyager's technology. It was quite possible all the visiting dignitaries were.

"I believe the Minenne delegation has already departed. I need to get to the bridge." Tom grinned. "It's been a while since I've been able to fly Voyager, might as well make the most of the time I've got now." The door opened and the Vordai Captain exited.

"These rooms are drab. Lieutenant Tom Paris? Please take me to the bridge."

Ayala smiled at Tom's frustrated look. He turned to depart, before being asked to help carry something else.

"If you wish to use the Vordai Space Defense dock facilities," Laral said loudly, "I need to learn about this ship. Unless you are not capable to teach? Perhaps someone better qualified..." Fortunately for Ayala, the lift arrived before he had to listen to anymore. Poor Tom.

Joe Carey picked up the PADD containing the data from the most recent slipstream test with the Delta Flyer. Tom had given it to him earlier. He'd been too busy all day to look at it, but he had a few minutes right now. He skimmed through the numbers and data, stopping to read an occasional paragraph. The data looked good. He would use the information to update his simulation program.

"Excellent," he whispered. They'd never managed to fix the energy drain, and there were some navigation problems-but both were manageable, if they only used the technology for a couple of minutes. He glanced up. They'd started to process the second batch of benamite ore. The first batch had taught them a lot: like the length of the exposure to the dilithium wasn't critical, but storage temperature after the conversion was.

He motioned Vorik over. "The latest results," Joe said as he handed Vorik the PADD. He waited for Vorik to glance through it.

"Critical temperature starts to rise at three minutes. We will have to keep our time in the slipstream to a minimum..." His voice trailed off as several of the Grevel-Ash delegation passed. Joe waited until they'd left, then took the PADD. The various governments wanted Voyager off the planet. Anything not directly related to repairing the ship had been frowned upon. It sometimes seemed that included sleep. So working on the slipstream technology had taken some subterfuge. The test flights with the Delta Flyer had to have an excuse too. Tom had suggested that they just say the pilots needed the practice time. They'd had to travel out of the system to avoid detection, but it had worked.

The increase in activity indicated the brief lull was over. Indeed, as he placed the pad on the console, Commander Chakotay's voice made a ship wide announcement.

"Would the Gunrath'u delegation please report to transporter room two. We wish to thank you for your presence today." Joe had to smile. He'd found two of Gunrath'u delegates trying to enter B'Elanna's office earlier.

"Heads-up," Joe shouted. "They're leaving. And so are we." He glanced around. B'Elanna must still be with the Grevel-Ash engineering delegation.

There was a cheer. "Prepare for Blue alert," he ordered. "And congratulations. You all did a great job."

"We had to, Lieutenant. Torres inspected everything six times," someone shouted. This brought laughter, as everyone settled into their routines.

After nearly six months on New Hope, Voyager was once again heading where she belonged-sort of.

Their first stop was the Vordai Space Defense docking facility, where they could finish repairs and conduct space-worthiness tests.