No distance is to far for Starfleet! Exploration and discovery are to be found around every dusky starlit corner. Space the final frontier. Boldly going where no man has gone before, but as the universe grew older, so too did Starfleet. The final frontier became nothing more than lop-sided fence which then crumbled away, with Starfleet by it's side; Hand in hand.
After only a century of neglect the head-quarters became dilapidated, rusted and dirty. Even the Starships docked in the bay were left floating and abandoned. A ghost of past spirits. High hopes for new skies, back when man traveled the stars. Memories of the great people serving as admirals, captains and crews, the hearts of these mighty vessels, began to fade into a grey blur of static images of the past.
How? Starfleet was strong.
Decisions were made and rules were broken, consequences followed, consequences which threw the Alpha Quadrant into chaos.
'Aunt Kathy what was your last job?' A young girl no more than seven sat playing with a tricorder in the fresh summer meadows of Indiana. Sunlight beamed down upon her like a waterfall of golden light making her strawberry blonde hair glow. '...Aunt Kathy?' she repeated. She was persistent and would never drop the matter, so her aunt answered her swiftly.
'Why do you ask Eliza?' she looked up at her aunt, her turquoise eyes shining.
'Mummy told me you explored. I like exploring too. Have you been in the big forest?' Sadness passed briefly across her Aunty's face; this quickly turned to a smile, but it never reached her eyes.
'Yes... I did once; I used that,' she said pointing at the tricorder 'to help me find my way. Have you been?
'No I haven't...' she remarked miserably, looking down and playing with the grass. 'Mummy says it's too dangerous but I promised I'd be careful...' she trailed off. She looked up once more, her eyes wide as her dreams raced in her head. 'When I grow up I want to be an explorer too!'
Beeping emitted from the abandoned tricorder as it lay upon the floor amongst the rubble. Dusty and forgotten, it remained unanswered; a reminder of the past, busy and bustling: now silenced.
BEEP! BEEP! Eliza scuttled backwards away from the artifact in a crab-like manner.
'Aunt Kathy what do I do it's making noises!' She exclaimed startled.
'It's okay you probably just pressed something.' The beeping was easily stopped but her aunt held on to the silent box. Clutching it close nostalgia swept over her; Interrupted by a persistent tugging at her jumper she looked down.
'Aunt Kathy, Mummy's back,' Silhouetted against the evening sun was an approaching figure 'That's not Mummy?' she observed puzzled.
'Get behind me.' The figure was at least a five inches taller than Eliza's mother, and appeared from a limited observation to be of a larger build. Male, possibly? With the blinding sun behind them, ones sight could not be expected to give a reliable image.
BEEP! BEEEEEEEP! Still pushing for the recognition of it's final results.
On a whim she opened the tricorder and began scanning in the direction of the stranger. Then the sun went out. Briefly blocked by a wispy cloud. It was all she needed. Chakotay.
'Why are you here?' The surprise shone through on her face brighter than the sun. Chakotay stood in equal surprise; almost as if she were the one that had appeared from nowhere. Several minutes later Eliza broke the silence.
'Aunt Kathy,' she whispered loudly, the way children often do. 'Who is he?' Chakotay smiled pretending not to hear her. Kathryn knelt down and turned to face her niece with a smile. This one reached her eyes.
'An old friend.' Eliza looked at the strange man who had walked up to them. His eyes were kind she thought, she pondered for a second, then faced her Aunt once more.
'Then maybe he could stay for the picnic!' she smiled.
'I suppose he could. Why don't you set it up for us all?' Waiting till Eliza had bounded off and was out of earshot she stated simply.
'Hello Chakotay.' Replying equally as plainly he said.
'Hello Kathryn.' It didn't take long before their composures broke down. Kathryn and Chakotay grinned joyously as they embraced each other in a warm heartfelt hug, as they brought the past to the present in a beautiful moment. In that moment, a moment neither wanted to leave, nothing could ever be bad. Reluctantly, minutes later, they let go. It lingered for a while as they gazed into each others eyes, letting the memories flow thick and fast.
'Picnic Time!' Eliza shouted joyfully, then she went silent. Eliza began to make a turtle with her hands realizing she'd interrupted them. Chakotay laughed.
'Awkward turtle you are dismissed.' He said and Eliza smiled at him and placed her hands by her side. 'So what have we got?' Eliza suddenly remembered she had never met this man before and found herself unable to answer. Scuffing her shoe on the in the only dusty patch in the entire meadow; she blushed. Again he just smiled at her and for some reason it made her blush more.
'Why don't you come and see?' Eliza glanced gratefully at her Aunt. 'Follow me.' The man followed her and Eliza trailed behind staring at her shoes. Brown and dusty now, but they used to be white. Petite pink flowers surrounding the dust patch were now also coated by a thin layer of dust which remained trapped between the petals as they shook gently in the evening breeze. They made they way up to a large tree and Eliza fell further behind. Thinking. Kathryn and Chakotay sat down under the majestic oak where Eliza had set up.
'Come on Eliza, aren't you hungry?' Speeding up her pace and forgetting her thoughts, Eliza skipped over to join them. On the blanket they sat and enjoyed the delicious food; told stories. Funny memories sparked laughter which spread via the wind and filled the surrounding area.
Silence.
Curled up under a blanket the young girl lay sleeping; deeply immersed in her dreams. The open starlit sky made a perfect setting. All the universe was in her reach. No distance was too far.
'Eliza sweetie, time to wake up!' Eliza rubbed her eyes and sat up. Her mother stood over her with a warm smile. 'Aunt Kathy brought you in.' She said answering the question forming on her daughters tongue. Eliza looked around her room as the soft light poured through the translucent curtain fabric. Her mother opened the curtains and the light flooded the room; it was only then that Eliza noticed a small box on the little plastic chair by her desk. Noticing her daughters gaze her mother turned to face the box. She smiled.
'Looks like Aunt Kathy left you a present.' Eliza's eyes lit up with excitement.
'Mummy can I open it?'
'Of course you can sweet-heart.' With the permission of her mother she leapt out of bed and took the package from her desk. It was beautifully wrapped in a flowery paper with a well tied ribbon to round it off but Eliza's impatience destroyed that and it ended up covering her floor. It was the tricorder. Phoebe smiled at her daughter's delight. Eliza's incoherent babbling portrayed her excitement better than any sentence could of. Finally managing to form a full sentence she exclaimed,
'Now I can be an explorer too!'
Kathryn Janeway had carried her all the way home, her excitable niece had worn herself out with her own imagination. Stories of the Delta Quadrant and it's dangers. She had listened for hours her eyes wide with wonder till at last she took off in her starship to find them herself.
Early that morning when her mother had returned, at last, from her business meeting which had gone on far longer than anyone had expected, Kathryn and Chakotay set off in a shuttle to discover the truth. To visit the site which had begun it all.
''So what happened, what are we up against Chakotay?'' Kathryn Janeway had been drinking black coffee all morning and now with a determined sparkle in her bright blue eyes she looked to Chakotay to give her the many, much needed answers she required. Chakotay on the other hand sat calmly at the helm gazing occasionally into his former captain's eyes, almost disappointed with the fact he would be unable to supply them. As she always had done she sensed his disappointment and with a caring look she reworded. 'Why don't you fill me in.' she smiled. A smile Chakotay returned, he set the shuttle to autopilot, hardly anyone flew now so it wouldn't have to do much, and went and sat down with her.
''Well it wasn't easy Captain, the highest level of clearance had been put on every document with anything to do with this and no one really likes to talk about it but...'' Chakotay looked up and paused as Kathryn looked at him with a warm smile planted on her face and her eyebrow raised questioningly, it took him a while but he realized soon enough. ''Sorry Capt... Kathryn'' he stumbled but she still she smiled.
''Don't worry, I've had to stop myself too. You know - I never thought I'd miss the Delta Quadrant as much as I do now.'' sadness tainted her smile briefly. ''I've missed them all, our crew, our friends, our family.''
''I know how you feel. Sometimes I even miss Neelix's cooking!'' Janeway laughed again her eyebrow raised.
''Oh I don't know, I don't think Neelix's coffee substitute is quite what we need now; and I'm good without his leola root stew!'' Chakotay joined in her laughter till it faded out once more. ''Though the Earth could certainly use a moral officer.'' Chakotay nodded sincerely.
''I wonder how Neelix and his family are? it's been years... I wonder what he thought had happened.'' A contemplative silence filled the shuttle. Kathryn looked directly into his eyes.
''We will ask him.'' she stated matter of factly, a smile tugged at the corner of Chakotay's mouth as he saw the burning passion in her sapphire eyes, he had missed her. He opened his mouth to speak but words escaped him as the smile grew on his face until out of the corner of his eye Chakotay caught sight of their destination. They had arrived.
Starfleet Headquarters.
Though the plentiful reports had shown it nothing could have prepared Kathryn for the sight that beheld her. The building that represented her life long hopes and wishes to explore and discover coated the ground as dust beneath her feet. Surrounded by the shells of broken buildings, rubble and debris they looked like ancient ruins of Rome. Old door frames still stood in the empty space. A lone tear slid down her face into the dust causing a tiny plume to rise with petrichor. She wiped it away and looked out to the building wondering how things could have gone so wrong. Chakotay gently walked up beside; letting her mourn. Suddenly a glimpse of light caught his keen eye and a quiet beeping shattered the silence. A last desperate attempt alerted by failing proximity sensors. Kathryn immediately wiped her eyes not wanting to show weakness and leapt into action. The captain in her took over as she took the lead making her way through the ruins to the lonely tricorder. Chakotay followed his captain protecting her from harm; as he always would. Kathryn began to call to Chakotay but turning she saw him standing just an arms reach away. She placed her right hand on her hip and held the tricorder up with her left, her brown-red striped jumper grey with the amount of dust it now stored within its fibres. He looked to his own clothes to discover they had met with the same fate. Janeway looked down having only just noticed and laughed.
''I suppose your going to want a bath now?'' Chakotay asked rhetorically remembering with a laugh, her hatred of sonic showers. She nodded in agreement.
''I think you're going to need one two!'' he laughed. The tricorder started beeping as if to remind them why they had got this dusty. Holding a tricorder was such a normal behavior Kathryn found she had actually required it. ''I think the tricorder wants that to wait, it's battery is failing if it dies now we will lose the results, we have to get this back to the shuttle.''
Beeeeeep Beeeeep!
Phoebe Janeway sat leaning on the yellow wall of her bay window with a colourful notebook on her lap and a pencil in her hand. She had spent most of her morning watching Eliza running around with the tricorder in her hand, having adventures, saving the world. She flipped back through her notebook seeing her daughters smiling face look back at her. It was contagious and she found herself beaming at the joy in Eliza's eyes. She looked up once more to see her daughter running back to the house, she was no longer smiling. Phoebe met her daughter at the door. Talking so fast it was difficult for Phoebe to understand her babblings: she looked up to see a tall woman with a phaser tucked into her belt loop. Small dark eyes stared pressingly into her and the dull scratched metal armor instinctively led Phoebe's arm around her daughter, pulling her into safety. Putting a brave face for her daughter she addressed the approaching woman, and after all she should never judge by appearance she thought.
'Hello, can I help you?'
'Where is Chakotay?' There was no obvious tone of resentment or anger but something in her eyes made Phoebe know it was there so she continued the conversation calmly pretending not to have noticed it.
'I'm not sure, he left early this morning with my sister, I could pass on a message when I see him next?'
'Where did they go?' her voice was louder this time, more demanding.
'Something to do with Starfleet I'm not entirely sure, sorry.' Grunting she muttered something that sounded like a goodbye and stomped off down the dusty farm track. 'Goodbye.' Phoebe muttered with a gentle relief and gave her daughter a hug. 'Go on then sweetie you can get back to saving the world.' Eliza looked reluctantly after the large dark figure of the departing warrior, she waited a while then as the menacing shadow dissipated in the warm glow of the summertime once more and with the permission of her mother she sped back into the front garden to her favorite apple tree. Tricorder in hand. Beeping filled the countryside once more.
A couple of miles away a harsh grey metal lump scarred the landscape. It was a twisted shape distorted and dented by fierce battle some time in it's past. Rebuilt badly using scraps the pod like shuttle melted inwards adding to its uncomfortable presence in an otherwise ordinary landscape. Crudely carved into it's side were the words 'Dark Echo' presumably its name and as the dark figure lumbered over it was clear to see that she was this pod's pea. Beating the door open with a lump of metal which, presumably, used to be it's handle she was extremely strong and it was clear that this ship was no longer space worthy. She climbed into its rusted misshapen cockpit and hit random machinery angrily until a it produced a faint groaning as it's engine came to life, barely. Clumsily she entered the co-ordinates for the Starfleet headquarters and with a determined grimace the broken shuttle took off. It would take her longer to get there due to the state of the ruined engine but she wasn't going to let anything stand in her way.