The Aerios
This is my first super-short story developed for Voyager. It takes place right around the end of season seven, and as you will see completely erases the 'endgame' timeline.
Enjoy!
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"Nexon, treleca dou handren utopq xiii yanarc dolon!"
Captain Janeway stood up from her chair as she listened to the speakers crackle on the bridge.
"We almost didn't pick it up, Captain," Harry looked down at her from his station. "its on a band that we don't normally monitor."
"Could it be a distress signal?" Chakotay stood up and walked next to the captain.
"We need to keep them talking for the universal translator to lock onto the syntax." Janeway narrowed her eyes and walked closer to the viewscreen, which was displaying a streaking starscape. She pointed up to Ensign Kim. "Put me through." He nodded at her. "This is captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager. Do you require assistance?"
The bridge fell silent again as they waited. The speakers activated a moment later.
"Nexon, tru yuix del xiii dolon!"
"That wasn't much difference from the first one." Chakotay commented. Janeway glanced at him, and back to Ensign Kim.
"Anything?"
"No Ma'am. The translator can't make anything of it."
"Janeway to Neelix, report to the bridge at once."
"On my way!"
She turned back to the viewscreen. "Our translator is having difficulty making sense of your language. What is your location? Do you require help?"
"Nexon, treleca dou handren utopq xiii yanarc dolon!"
She threw her hands up. "That's the same one as earlier."
"A recording perhaps?" Tuvok suggested.
"Captain, I'm inclined to believe it's a distress signal. I'm picking the broadcast up on a few more frequencies now that we are getting closer." Harry noted.
"Harry, track the source of the communication." She turned when the turbolift doors opened, and Neelix walked out. "Neelix, listen to this." She pointed back up at Harry, who replayed the first message. Neelix frowned, and shrugged his shoulders.
"I've never heard it before. What is it?" He asked.
"That's what we are trying to determine." Janeway replied to him.
"I've located the source of the signal. Its about five lightyears out." Ensign Kim looked down at her. Janeway glanced over to Chakotay.
"What do you think?"
"I'm just as curious as you, and if they are in trouble we owe it to them to see if we can help." He said to her.
"Agreed. Tom, alter our course to intercept. Increase speed to warp eight."
"Warp eight it is." He replied and tapped the engage button. Voyager trusted foreword.
Janeway and Chakotay sat down, as Janeway directed her attention to Mr. Neelix.
"What do you know about this region of space?"
"Well let me think. We passed the Regicx homeworld last week didn't we?" Janeway nodded her reply. "Ah. Well that would put us right around…" He stopped to think for a moment. "Oh my."
"What?" Tom swiveled his char around to face Neelix.
"Well its just that the region of space we are entering has been referred to as the "Black Layer" of space."
"The 'Black Layer?'" Janeway raised her eyebrows. "Why?"
"I don't really know." Neelix patted his belly in thought. "There are rumors of this space being under quarantine, although I've never heard the reason why."
As if on cue, Tuvoks computer panel started to beep. "Captain, sensors are picking up a small communications buoy in our path. It's hailing us."
"Put it up." Janeway nodded at him. The speakers on the bridge activated.
"Unidentified vessil, the space you are approaching has been deemed hazardous for all life by the Regicx Star Alliance. Alter your course away from this sector of space at once." The line went dead.
"It's a warning buoy." Chakotay remarked. Janeway glanced a frown at him.
"Run a full-spectrum scan with the long range sensor array. See if you can verify anything hazardous." She ordered Harry.
"We just went past the buoy." Tom watched his sensor readouts on the screen. "Do you want me to drop out of warp?"
"Not yet. Harry?" She turned up to him.
"This is odd. Sensors aren't picking up anything."
"Well that's good. No telling how old that thing…" She started to say, when Harry cut her off.
"No, that's not it. Captain… sensors aren't picking up anything at all. I'm not seeing any stellar mass, no stars, no particle radiation, no… nothing. Its like…"
"A black layer." Neelix finished Harrys thought. They all turned back to the viewscreen, when they started to notice the amount of stars on the screen decreasing. Finally it was pitch blank.
"What the…" Chakotay muttered to himself. The ship suddenly shuddered slightly.
"We just fell out of warp. It looks like the navigation computer cant lock onto anything for guidance." Tom said as he worked his panel.
"Harry, how much further is that signal?" Chakotay asked him.
"Five minutes away at warp five." He replied.
"It'll take a month to reach it at impulse." Janeway muttered. "Janeway to Engineering."
"Torres here."
"We need to reconfigure the navigation computer for manual input. How fast can you get it done?"
"Should only take a second, hold on."
Janeway walked down to Toms station. "Assuming this will work, I want you to keep your finger on the emergency stop. I'm not sure how reliable sensors are going to be in here."
"Not a problem." He replied.
"Torres to bridge, you should have warp power now. Just put your heading in and go."
"Thanks B'Elanna, Bridge out." Janeway turned to Tom. "Warp nine, engage."
She sat back down, nervously. Chakotay leaned over to her.
"I hate flying blind."
"I know, me too."
The bridge fell silent for a few minutes, as the felt the push of the warp drive below them. Janeway felt her nerves jump when Harrys computer panel started a shrill beep.
"Stop the ship!" He screamed at the top of his lungs.
Tom reacted with remarkable speed and slammed his fist down on the emergency stop button. Voyager fired reverse thrusters, and the ship came to an abrupt halt – throwing everyone out of their seats and to the floor.
Janeway was the first to her feet, and she helped Chakotay up. "What happened?" She fired her question up to the ops station.
Harry groaned and picked himself up off of his panel. After a quick tap of the board he looked up. "My forward proximity alert went off. If we had stayed at warp we would have collided with…" He stopped when a new readout appeared on the screen.
"With what?" Chakotay asked him. Harry tapped a key, and the view screen re-focused. The bridge crew turned to look at the forward viewer. Janeway gasped slightly under her breath. They were staring at a massive field of half-destroyed ships that were aimlessly floating throughout the sector.
"A great battle took place here." Chakotay murmured. The two command officers walked slowly closer to the view screen.
"Tuvok, how many ships are there? And scan for survivors." Janeway said softly.
"Scanning… Captain, sensors are detecting no life signs. And as for the ships…" He stopped after reading his panel. Janeway turned around to face him.
"Tuvok?"
"Captain, none of these ships are in our database. I cannot identify a single one of them. And judging by these readings, this… graveyard… has been here for a long time. I would estimate several hundred years."
"You can't identify any of them? Where did they all come from?" She spoke softly.
"My God!" Harry suddenly gasped from his panel. They all directed their attention to him.
"Ensign?" Janeway asked as she started walking to his station.
"Captain… I think I found a Federation ship!"
Janeway raised her eyebrows. "Can you get a visual?"
"I'm diverting extra power to the sensor array… standby!" He replied quickly. After punching a few keys, the viewscreen changed its focus. They were staring at what appeared to be a Starfleet ship.
"USS Aerios, NCC-22221" Chakotay read from hull
Janeway stood there staring at it for a moment. Finally she spoke. "It's a sleek hull design." She said softly. "Tuvok, you said that these ships have been here for hundreds of years. That ship on the viewscreen looks a lot newer than Voyager. Could this entire graveyard of ships be from the future?"
"It's a distinct possibility." He replied.
"What is the condition of the Aerios?" Chakotay asked him.
"Scanning. It's got charring on the hull… starboard side. Curious… I'm not detecting any active power sources… however life support systems seem to be on-line. There is atmosphere on all decks."
"Tuvok, Paris, you are with me. We're going to see if we can get some answers." Tuvok nodded, and walked to the turbolift. Tom headed up to join him. Janeway started to turn around when Chakotay stopped her.
"Are you sure it's a good idea to board that ship so soon?" He asked quietly.
"Something brought that Starfleet ship here. Something brought all these ships here… and I intend to find out what it was. Don't worry, keep an active transporter lock on us, and beam us out at the first sign of trouble." He nodded and stepped aside. "Harry, see if you can pinpoint the ship where that distress signal is coming from and start working on a language translation."
Ensign Kim nodded at her. Janeway patted Chakotay on the shoulder, and then started walking to the turbolift. "You have the bridge commander."
--
Janeway, Tuvok, and Paris materialized in a brightly lit room.
"Would you look at this." Tom said softly as he looked around the room. "This is one hell of a design" They all took a moment to study the bridge design. There were four massive wrap-around view screens that covered all four walls. The helm station at the front of the room was several steps down from the rest of the bridge, and the two seats were recessed into the floor pointing up at the control panels. The captain's chair was in the dead center of the room with a wrap-around computer terminal surrounding it. There were other panels scattered throughout the room, most of them lit up bright.
Upon further inspection however, they realized that the ship had taken damage. Several panels were cracked, and there were burn marks all over the walls.
"I wonder what happened to the crew." Tom thought aloud.
Janeway walked up to the nearest panel and glanced it over. "These panels are clear. The interface is nothing like any LCARS system I've seen before." She stopped and snapped out of her wonder. "I want to know why there is power to this ship. Three hundred years of no maintenance, the power should be depleted." She tapped a key on the panel, trying to access the systems.
Suddenly the room flashed bright green. She backed away from the panel quickly.
"Captain we were just scanned!" Tom said after consulting his tricorder. They glanced at each other nervously when the ships computer started to speak.
"Starfleet officers detected. Automatic recall to earth subroutine has been activated. Hyperdrive startup sequence initiated. Hyperspace slip will commence in sixty seconds."
Janeway felt herself turn white. The computer mentioned earth.
"Computer, cancel the countdown!" She said softly.
"Unable to comply."
"I recommend we vacate this vessel immediately." Tuvok said quickly, clearly out of his comfort zone.
"Hold on a second. Computer, how long will it take to reach earth using this… this 'hyperspace slip?'"
"From present location a hyperspace slip to earth will take twelve point four seconds." Janeway felt her knees buckle. She had dreamed of a moment like this ever since they had been trapped in the Delta Quadrant. Of course she knew there were so many risks involved with their present situation, however the thought of being home in twelve seconds just was too appealing. She turned to Tuvok.
"This ship is going to earth, and we are going with it." She slapped her comm badge as quick as she could. "Janeway to Voyager."
"Chakotay here."
"Chakotay…" She paused when the computer started to speak.
"Hyperspace slip will commence in forty-five seconds."
"Chakotay, use Voyagers emergency transporters and beam everyone over here to the Aerios at once."
"What?" She heard the surprise in his voice.
"Chakotay I can't explain now. Just do it, and have it done in thirty seconds!"
"Thirty- shit! Harry start emergency beam outs of all perso-" She heard him say before she cut the line. She looked around the room at all the unfamiliar systems.
"Computer, run a full systems scan. Will the ship even make it to earth with its present condition?" Tuvok took the initiative to ask. He could tell that the Captain wasn't thinking clearly.
"Affirmative. All propulsion and life support systems are fully operational." The computer responded. He looked down at her.
"Captain I beg you to reconsider. We know nothing about this ship, are you prepared to leave Voyager behind on such a short whim? Especially for a ship that has been dormant for years, relying on a technology that we know nothing about?
"If it means we are home in ten seconds? Damn right I am." She said quickly.
"Hyperspace slip will commence in thirty seconds." The computer announced.
Janeway slapped her comm badge. "Voyager, status report!"
"We've got over half. Just a few more seconds!" Chakotay replied.
"Hurry! And don't forget the Doctor!" Janeway said quickly, realizing how horrible she would feel if they had left him behind. A few seconds later, the bridge of the Aerios was filled with Voyagers command staff.
"That's everybody! Whats going on, Captain?" Chakotay asked her quickly.
"Hyperdrive reactor core at cascade potential. Hyperspace slip will commence in fifteen seconds."
"We are going home." She said softly. "Janeway to Voyager computer." She said into her comm badge. The system beeped its reply. "Initiate full systems lock down and grey mode, authorization Janeway pi one one zero."
"Lockdown initiated. All systems powering down." She tapped her badge and cut the channel.
"Here's hoping this works." She said to Chakotay. He looked nervously at her, still completely confused.
"Hyperspace slip will commence in ten… nine… eight…" The computer begin its count-down. Time seemed to slow down for Kathryn Janeway as she thought about what she was doing. She had no idea if this would work but the thought of the ship leaving to earth and being home in a mere heartbeat compared to the long journey at warp across quadrants was more for her to handle. This was the best chance she had seen for years of them getting home, and she took it.
"four… three… two…. Entering hyperspace slip."
--
Janeway sat up and forced the nausea down. It had been the longest twelve seconds she had ever experienced. She looked around the room and saw that a few of her officers had vomited on the floor. Tom rolled over onto his back and moaned loudly. The Doctor ran down to him and gave a quick visual inspection. Chakotay was bent over holding his head. They all looked like they went through hell. She suddenly remembered what they had just done.
"Comp…" She stopped when she realized she was out of breath. She took a moment and inhaled deeply. "Computer, activate the viewscreen."
The forward viewer activated. The few of her bridge personnel who were able to move around saw it. Harry was the first to speak.
"Oh my God. We're home."
The End
Please review. I really want to know what everyone thinks of this. Also- I'm up for thoughts on continuing this. Its obviously done, but I have ideas how to further the story and build upon the story of the Aerios before the Voyager crew found it. If you guys want me to continue on let me know. If you think it should be left as-is, let me know. Thanks!