Disclaimer: You leave your things lying on the floor, Paramount, I play with them. You sue, you get nothing because I'm poor.
AN: This chapter follows the original episode pretty closely…others won't so much. I'm not changing the episode, so much as adding in extra scenes where I think a J/C relationship could take place (although I plan to change one big thing at the end…mwahahahaha:) ). Anyway, bear with me if you've more or less memorized this ep like I have, and big thanks to Chakoteya's website for the episode transcripts!
Year of Hell
"Now…how the hell does it work?"
Kathryn Janeway listened intently as Seven of Nine and Harry Kim explained their new mapping system. It'd been quite a blow, not having a trained stellar cartographer on board when they'd been unwillingly pulled into the Delta Quadrant, but who could've foreseen the need for one on a three-week mission to grab a Maquis ship?
"By my estimates this trajectory will eliminate five years from your journey," Seven concluded, emphasizing the number five. Despite her continuing struggle with being human again, she was eager to be useful to this ship and hoped Captain Janeway would be please with her work.
"Our journey. Nice work, Seven!" The perpetually happy little Talaxian embraced her shoulders with his hands and gave them a bit of a squeeze.
"That region of space we're about to enter," B'Elanna said after studying the map for a moment. "It looks like it has a lot of M-class planets."
"It does. Spatial grid zero zero five. Primary species the Zahl."
"What do we know about this species?" Tuvok inquired.
"Technologically advanced but nonconfrontational. Their resistance Quotient is quite low." Janeway bit her bottom lip a bit. Maybe she should explain to Seven again why others might not be particularly interested in hearing how resistant other species were to the Borg.
"Thank you all for coming," Chakotay said, pleased with the little groundbreaking ceremony he'd suggested. "We've got a lot of work to do, so-"
"I'd like to say a few words if I may." Everyone groaned inwardly a little as the Doctor began his prepared speech. The Emergency Medical Hologram should've been an Emergency Admiral Hologram, Kathryn thought wryly to herself, suppressing a chuckle. He's certainly long-winded enough to be one.
"Under the category of Best of Times I invite you all to recall the moment when I-"
The rocking of the ship cut the Doctor off and the attentive lieutenant on the bridge kept him quiet when he immediately called the captain.
Kathryn turned to Chakotay and mouthed, "Oh!" with wide eyes, sharing with him the briefest moment of joy at being rescued from listening to the Doctor prattle on before he told the lieutenant, "On our way," and gestured toward the door. Everyone eagerly followed suit, leaving the Doctor alone to reluctantly make his way to Sickbay.
The senior staff and Seven all shared a turbo lift to the bridge. It was a somewhat somber silence as each wondered what random alien was firing on them without provocation now.
"Well," Chakotay said, hoping to lighten the mood a bit, "I guess the downside is we'll still have to let the Doctor finish his speech later."
Harry snorted back laughter and Tom gave a mock groan. Tuvok raised a Vulcan eyebrow and Seven made a mental note to ask Captain Janeway later why everyone dreaded the Doctor's speech when free speech was one of their major values. However, Chakotay failed to notice all of this because he was lost in the broad smile and sparkling blue eyes he earned from Kathryn.
"They're firing on us, Captain," Ensign Lang reported as the senior staff shuffled out onto the bridge.
Tuvok reached his station almost immediately, as it was closest to the life. ": It's a small vessel, fifteen life forms aboard. Low warp capacity, limited armaments. They pose no threat."
" Open a channel," Kathryn said, standing front and center on her bridge. "Good day, sir. Have we offended you in some way?"
A very angry man appeared on the view screen. "You will reverse course immediately. This region is in dispute. You have no business in Krenim space."
Krenim? Why did that sound familiar? "I was under the impression we were entering Zahl territory."
The angry man became angrier. "The Zahl have no legitimate claim here. They have taken what is ours. Reverse course or be destroyed."
Kathryn raised an eyebrow to her first officer. "With all due respect, unless you've got something a little bigger in your torpedo tubes I'm not turning around. But I'm certainly willing to discuss this issue with you."
Everyone could clearly imagine the Krenim officer jumping up and down like a spoiled child when her doesn't get his way, as he shouted, "No discussion No compromise!" and cut the comm line."They are in retreat," Tuvok stated.
"His bark's obviously worse than his bite," Chakotay said, somewhat amused by what had just happened.
Kathryn still had the name Krenim nagging at her. Where have I heard of the Krenim before? "He seems rather intent. Let's go to yellow alert. Maintain our course. Maybe the Zahl can give us some answers." She headed for her ready room to do a little research.
"Krenim," Kathryn muttered out loud. "It took be a little bit to find, but I did. They're the species that caused Kes to jump back in time."
Chakotay blinked and nodded slowly. How could he forget? He'd had nightmares for a week straight after reading Kes's report that both B'Elanna and Kathryn were killed sometime in the future.
Voyager was on its way to rendezvous with the Zahl. Kathryn had spent the hour or so between the Krenim "attack" and contacting the Zahl in her ready room. After speaking briefly with the Zahl representative and establishing coordinates to meet at, she asked Chakotay to join her and left the bridge with Tuvok.
"But in that time line, Kes was still on board, we never encountered the Borg, and the Krenim had more powerful weapons, if this morning's incident was any indication. Guess that means B'Elanna and I are safe."
"Must've been your haircut that changed everything."
Kathryn laughed into her coffee as she picked the cup up. "Good. If that's settled, we can talk about something that gives me less of a headache. Like next week's duty roster." Chakotay knew Kathryn well enough to know she was referring to her near-infamous dislike for time travel.
"As long as you travel in Zahl territory you travel among friends. I apologize for your mishap with the Krenim." The Zahl ambassador was a very friendly and seemingly good-natured man. Kathryn had a feeling she was going to like him very much.
"It was hardly traumatic," she said, waving it off, "but I am curious. The Krenim claim this region as their own."
"The Krenim dominated this space many years ago," the ambassador explained. "They possessed deadly weapons based on temporal science, and it kept them in power for a long time. But a generation ago we fought the Krenim. We defeated them and took back the planets that they had annexed, dismantled their military forces." Chakotay felt the last bit of anxiety and fear for his friends' lives leave him as he heard this.
"Their ships still wander our territory making grandiose claims," the ambassador continued. "Don't let them trouble you. Now, tell me about Voyager. A single ship alone, half a galaxy from home. How exciting for you."
Kathryn smiled and opened her mouth to reply when Ensign Kim broke in over the comm.
"Bridge to Captain. Sorry to interrupt but the Krenim vessel is back. They're demanding to speak with you."
Kathryn gestured toward the door and they all filed out of the briefing room. The same angry man as before greeted them. "Hello again," Kathryn said politely."You've ignored our warnings, and now you consort with our enemy." Well wasn't this getting off to a nice start?
"Leave this space or I'll seize your vessel and send you home in a cargo container!" Kathryn's new friend shouted at her view screen before she could object.
"Gentlemen, please," she placed a reassuring hand on the Zahl's chest and gave him a calming, but firm look. She then turned back to the Krenim. "Believe me, we're not conspiring against you."
Harry suddenly saw something odd on his console. "Captain, there's a spatial distortion heading towards us. Whatever it is, it's huge. Five light years across and it's expanding."
The distortion had appeared on the tactical console almost the same time it had on ops. "Tracking its origin. A vessel near the Zahl home world."
"What!" Kathryn's calming gaze lost its effect on the Zahl.
"It appears to be a massive build-up of temporal energy. Some kind of space-time shock wave," Tuvok reported neutrally.
"Tom."
Tom Paris already knew what his captain would want, but he couldn't do that for her. "It's destabilizing our warp field. I've lost engines."
Kathryn looked over to her Zahl friend and then her first officer. "Shields to full. Secure primary systems," she said as she walked to the railing and grabbed tight. "All hands, brace for impact! "
Voyager barely rocked as the shockwave passed through them. No one noticed the Zahl ambassador vanish or the tiny Krenim ship grow into a powerful warship. In fact, no one could remember the Zahl or the smaller Krenim ship because there was no Zahl or weaker Krenim to remember – their timeline had just been altered in such a way that neither had ever existed.