Kathryn stared out the window in the mess hall, her fingers loosely curled around her third cup of coffee. She absently tapped her fingers on the aluminum and wished for a normal ceramic mug, her mind conjuring her favorite cup from home: pale pink roses with vivid green vines twisted along the sides and handle. It was a gift from Boothby and damn, did she miss it. She forced her thoughts to the current moment and finished off her coffee, the mug returning to the table as her combadge chirped.
"Captain, we've reached the cloud."
"I'll be there shortly, Chakotay." She stood before she ended the connection, smiling gratefully when Neelix took her mug to recycle it. She would only replicate another once she reached the bridge.
The bridge was oddly silent when she stepped out of the turbolift; not even Chakotay glanced back to acknowledge her arrival. She didn't notice, her attention immediately grabbed by the same thing that held the focus of her crew: a beautiful display of blues, silvers, oranges, and reds danced millions of kilometers off the ship's bow.
"It looks like a planetary nebula," Harry commented, "but it's far bigger than normal."
"Scan for anything inside the cloud: a white dwarf or any type of star or body," Kathryn ordered as she took her seat, one leg crossed over the other.
"There's hydrogen, helium… sulfur, nitrogen… Typical things found in a planetary nebula." Chakotay tapped on their shared screen to retrieve more data. "Our sensors can't penetrate past a light year. There's something blocking them."
"Denser gas, maybe." Kathryn leaned over to see the screen better and glanced again at the cloud. "Tom, can we move closer?"
"I can get us right to the edge." He glanced over his shoulder at her, already inching Voyager toward the nebula.
"What are the chances we can see the inside of this thing? Find out how large it is?" Kathryn nudged her first officer's hand out of the way and took over reviewing the data, her brow furrowing at how little was displayed.
Without needing to be asked, Chakotay tapped his combadge and called for their chief engineer. "Will these gases affect the warp drive at all?"
"As long as we don't go too far in, we'll be fine," she answered immediately before pausing briefly. "If it does have an effect, it'll throw everything into a state of flux. I'll have a team ready."
Kathryn looked from her console to Chakotay and nodded after they made eye contact. "Take us in, Tom. Slowly," she emphasized, turning her gaze to the pilot. She waited for his confirmation before she settled back into her seat, unable to look away from the ever-growing cloud.
The engines stuttered as the ship passed the threshold of the nebula, but continued propelling forward until the only thing visible in any direction was clouds of gas. Kathryn leaned forward in her seat, her hands tightly grasped in her lap as she watched the ribbons of gas displaced by Voyager.
"Captain?" The tone of Tom's voice forced her eyes away from the nebula and to him, her eyebrow raising briefly. "The composition of the gas is changing."
"It's barium," Harry said before Kathryn could process Tom's words. "Everything we detected on the outside is merging, and the further inside we go, the more barium there is."
Kathryn looked at the cloud, finally noticing the thin strands of silver filling the colored gas around them. The further ahead she looked, the more and more silver she saw.
"Every cloud has a silver lining," she murmured, earning a light chuckle from Chakotay.
"Engineering to the bridge, we have a problem. We're losing impulse engines and the warp field is shutting down."
"Shutting down?" Kathryn echoed, rising from her seat to stand in front of the screen with a hand on her hip.
"The change in gas outside is negatively affecting the warp field and I don't know what's wrong with the engines yet. We need to get out of here now." B'Elanna's voice held enough urgency for Kathryn to immediately nod to her pilot.
"Reverse engines, three-quarters impulse."
Voyager shuddered and groaned as Tom reversed the engines, managing a few jerks back before the ship fell still. Tom tried again, but the lack of her normal hum and vibrations told the crew all they needed to know.
"We've lost all engines," B'Elanna finally said.
"I want them back as soon as you can, B'Elanna," Kathryn sighed.
"I'll try, but it's going to take at least four hours." The engineer's exasperation seeped into her voice and Kathryn shook her head.
"Just fix it." She ended the communication and glanced at the surrounding nebula which now held them in a deadlock. "Is there anything on scanners? Stars, planets, moons? Anything?"
"We still can't scan anything further than a couple million kilometers ahead of us," Harry answered, "but we have a clear view of the lack of something behind us and beside us."
"How wide is it?"
Harry hesitated. "We can't actually see the edges from here. As far out as our scanners can go, there's still gas."
"Boost them with the deflector dish. While we're stuck here, I want to know everything we possibly can about this thing. Work with Seven on it." Harry nodded and quickly retreated to the turbolift, a beta shift lieutenant taking his place.
Four hours later, Voyager had made no progress forward or backward, and their understanding of the cloud changed just as much. Kathryn found herself in the mess hall again with either her fifth or sixth cup of coffee and a hardly touched bowl of soup. Chakotay sat across from her with an empty bowl, but his eyes were focused over her shoulder and out the viewport. She took the opportunity to trace his tattoo with her eyes; she took a drink of coffee before resting her hand on top of his.
"B'Elanna says it's going to take a few days to get impulse engines back," he finally said, looking away from their problem to her. "She doesn't have an estimate on the warp drive yet; the gases keep collapsing the field before they can get it stabilized."
"Tell them to keep working, then. Worst case scenario, we can have Tom and Harry get out and push." She laughed softly and finished off her coffee.
"Oh, they'll love that," he laughed, his dimples flashing as he smiled.
"Captain Janeway." Her combadge interrupted their conversation.
Chakotay grinned at her. "Speak of the devil; it's our favorite son," he teased.
"Yes, Mr. Kim?"
"Sensors picked up a large ship headed toward us. It will be within hailing range in an hour."
"Thank you, Harry. I'll be there before they're in range." She shook her head and moved her spoon around her soup. "What do you think, friend or foe?"
"Hopefully friend. We could use a few alliances right now."
"We could," she agreed. "In general, and with getting out of this thing." She shook her head again and gathered her dishes as she stood up. "I want to check in with B'Elanna before meeting this ship."
"I'll go with you. I'm sure Tuvok can handle the bridge for a bit longer." He grabbed their dishes before she could lift them off the table, immediately crossing the room to recycle them. She rolled her eyes and followed him from the room.
