Author's Notes: We now begin the next stop on the journey that is Alain Desrochers training regimen; for you readers just joining us fret not, you don't have to have read any of the Xena: Warrior Princess stories to understand what's going on, references may be made in the future, but they will most often involve lengthy explanation dialogue.
If you aren't even familiar with my work; or I should say, don't know what I'm yammering on about, allow me to explain... This is Chapter Four; Sub-Chapter One in a grand novel I've created titled Chrysalis. It involves the exploits of one man; Alain Desrochers, who has been sent into the Omniverse for training in the mastery of a gift that was given to him by the God of his home reality. (If you think that's confusing don't worry; I wrote this and even I get confused at times.)
If you're wondering why I even bothered to choose the Voyager series to set this in, well I have my reasons; and if you're a fanatical follower of the series then let me inform you that this story begins roughly three to four weeks before the Season Two Episode titled, Lifesigns.

As this is the first chapter I shall make the usual disclaimer message here; I make no claims to owning Star Trek Voyager or any of the characters from the Star Trek universe who may also be mentioned. Alain Desrochers is my property; as is any other Original Characters that may crop up through the course of this story. I believe that covers all my bases; I hope you Star Trek people will enjoy my story, and like I said don't worry if you've never read any of my previous Xena works, they aren't truly necessary to enjoy the series from this jumping on point.

Prologue

My mind raced at infinite speeds as I traveled through the vortex back home, my trials with Xena and Hercules graciously at an end; I looked forward to once again sleeping in my own bed, eating something other then what Gabrielle had served… That's when I felt the sudden gut wrenching cessation of my forward momentum; for at least about four point six seconds of real time. I found myself flying out of the conduit between realities and hurtling through the air in a room that somehow felt too large to be my own.
I felt my body connecting with something hard and unyielding; I heard the distinct smacking sound of a human body colliding at impossible speeds with a metal wall, I felt intense pain as my head snapped upward and my arm twisted broken as it became pinned behind my back.
I hung suspended for the briefest of instances after coming in contact with the cool metal surface; next I knew I was slumped upon the ground, which was also cool and metallic in origin my head swimming in and out of focus. Terrific; another damn concussion, why do these landings always have to be so hard?
I heard a clatter to my left and forced my eyes to focus long enough to notice that my broadsword had slipped from its sheath and now lay bare inches from my broken left hand. Thank God it wasn't the right; I do everything with my right hand, it's my way of life…
Voices swam about me as I slowly began to lose consciousness; I could tell that there would be a need to explain my sudden presence here, mainly because I knew I could not be in my own home, but then where was I?

"Get him to sickbay." I briefly heard a commanding female voice order before the darkness claimed me entirely; though not before I felt a strange tingling sensation all over my body.

Space… Some would call it, the final frontier… I can't exactly argue the point with them; for indeed it is a grand place to explore.
These are the voyages of the Starship, Voyager. Her secondary mission; to seek out new life forms and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before… But her primary mission; is to find a way back home, to Earth…
These are my adventures aboard Voyager; the adventures of one man thrown into the Omniverse to meet his destiny head on, or die trying… My name is Alain Desrochers; and I am one man lost in the sea of space, time and realities… My primary mission is also to find my way home; however so far it hasn't worked out that way, welcome to the universe of…

Star Trek Voyager:
Learning Curve, A New Frontier

An indeterminate amount of time later my eyes fluttered open to behold a strange sight indeed; and my body was devoid of all pain, despite how serious I knew those injuries had to be. Levering myself into a position that would afford me a better view from the plain ordinary looking ceiling of the room I was forced back down rather unceremoniously by a tall balding man in a strange looking green and black jumpsuit. He also wore a small stylized looking pin above his left breast; it was somewhat triangular in design, though not entirely.
He didn't say a word merely began running a very small compact cylinder above my body; the small rectangular device in his other hand beeped and blipped and made any number of curious noises as he took what I presumed to be readings of my person.
I sighed as I glanced to my left; the bed I was laying on was fairly comfortable and had a soft cushiony feel to it, there was one other in my immediate view and as I focused now on detecting the sounds I could hear a strange though lulling thrum constantly resonating about the room.
I found it to be to quiet however; there were no sounds of natural habitats, no wildlife at all and a small part of my warrior skilled person couldn't help, but jump inwardly at the belief that any moment we would come under attack. A sudden movement startled me from my examination of the room and I reached out with finely honed reflexes grasping the slender arm of the woman who had approached my left side as silently as Xena might have. Her surprise was clear in her eyes; and yet there was no fear there only a deep curiosity and profound happiness I could not quite detect.
She was no human woman and I wondered if perhaps she was a demi-god as Hercules was, but that thought quickly vanished from my mind for I was no longer in that reality. Her form was quite pleasing to the eye however; despite her odd manner of dress and hair style, for the most part she appeared human only her ears, which were pointed at the end and possessed strange additional folds of skin betrayed her un-earthly nature.

"Doctor shouldn't we inform the Captain that he's awake?" She asked in a soft and gentle tone.

"In due course." The balding man snapped his tone indicative that he was not truly angry with the woman for speaking, apparently it was the way he always spoke or so I gathered from the small smile on the woman's face. "I will see that this patient has fully recovered before he is interrogated by security." He added snapping the small device closed with a well practice flick of his wrist. "You were quite fortunate you didn't break your neck." He chastised moving aside and retrieving another strange looking device.

"Who?" I tried to ask only to find my voice catching on the extreme dryness of my throat; how long had I been out?

"My name is Kes." The pleasant young woman replied smiling bemusedly at the Doctor. "And this is the Doctor." She added as if the man's title was his name; surely he had to have a true name.

"The Captain has now been notified." He revealed holding the strange looking apparatus to my neck and depressing one end; there was a soft hissing sound and suddenly my mind began to feel clearer. "I have given you a light stimulant to ensure that you are fully aware for your meeting with the Captain; however I would insist that she let you get some rest, you did suffer a concussion after all and there may be unknown side-effects." This man was a very arrogant sounding man; my teeth ground with sudden anger at the hostility I was detecting in his tone; Kes seemed to sense my sudden distrust and gently took my hand squeezing it.

"Doctor." She scolded glancing up at the man. "You'll have to forgive him…His bedside manner hasn't been improved upon yet." She explained now looking back at me with a friendly stare; it was then that I noticed the sudden feeling of a cool breeze striking my upper thighs. I glanced down in sudden bafflement to discover that I was completely naked; every article of clothing had been removed.

"By the Gods; I'm indecent!" I exclaimed feeling it would be inappropriate to curse more colorfully as I had strongly desired; the Doctor returned from wherever he'd been and handed me a pile of clothes. Upon closer inspection they appeared to be my own; I quickly climbed to my feet and took them mindful of the fact that there was a lady present.

"Your clothing was permeated with a very odd energy that disrupted our equipment and prevented me from healing you." He explained haughtily as I hastened to cover my body. "If we hadn't stripped you, you wouldn't have been healed and you'd most likely be experiencing quite the agonizing pain at this moment." He added an indifferent expression upon his features. Kes noticed my blush and smiled warmly at me bowing her head slightly before she chose to speak up.

"Relax; I wasn't on duty when you arrived. Mister Paris was." She revealed.

"You still saw me just now." I pointed out eliciting a blush from her. "Well it doesn't matter; at least the Captain won't be inconvenienced by the Doctors indiscretion." I added with a low snarl as I finished placing my scabbard around my person; the sword was not present, but that didn't bother me too much. As I turned my back on both Kes and the Doctor examining my surroundings fully and marveling at the massive amount of technological sophistication I was seeing before me. I detected the telltale swishing sound of automatic doors almost silently opening and I turned to find both people adopting a more formal stance and assuming a straight back pose; apparently the Captain had arrived.

Captain Kathryn Janeway was many things, but she prided herself on her scientific knowledge; still she had never before encountered such a strange and yet beauteous phenomena as the one that brought the stranger to her ship. As she entered the sickbay with Tuvok and a small contingent of security officers she quickly donned a gentle smile.

"Well Doctor how's our wayward patient?" She asked taking care to keep her voice as non-aggressive as possible.

"Perfectly fine despite his hazardous arrival, I must insist that in the future you should use the transporters." The Doctor chastised in typical fashion as he moved aside from the biobed where the strange young man had just taken a seat; he smiled secretively so the EMH wouldn't catch it and shook his head briefly in bemusement.
The Captain took this opportunity to examine him, he stood roughly five foot seven inches approximately as tall as herself; he appeared to be in his early twenties, was a physically impressive specimen for a man of his height with dark brown hair flowing past his shoulders and a fairly thick beard and mustache, which she remembered as having been very scruffy and dust ridden. The Doctor or Kes must have cleaned it up for him; his eyes were a startlingly bright blue and the strange combination of leather and what might have been buckskin outfit he wore left little to the imagination.
One of her female security escort was actively sizing this man up with lustful eyes; Janeway chose to ignore it focusing more on the few light scars that pitted his arms. The maroon and dark brown ensemble was very ancient looking in retrospect as was the faded leather scabbard resting comfortably on his hip. She also noted that he was obviously disoriented; though doing his best not to fear these new surroundings, in fact he was beaming openly in a show of friendship, which left Janeway only briefly contemplating the nature of his sanity.

"Greetings; I am Captain Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager, and this is my chief of security Mister Tuvok." The shorter auburn haired woman in the red and black jumpsuit introduced as she indicated the gold and black clad dark skinned gentleman with the very clean cut hair style and pointed tipped ears. I chose to acknowledge her words with a polite nod and took the opportunity to observe the others; most of them wore similar uniforms to Tuvok; who as I drew slightly closer stiffened up noticeably and reached for an odd contraption attached to his hip.
He was noticeably taller than me; however the Captain and I were roughly eye level, she continued to smile as I took in these new beings startled when I caught sight of a blue skinned bald man standing amongst the relatively human group. I smiled openly at the woman who was eyeing me lustfully and she hastily averted her eyes resuming her stoic expression; everything about this new place was causing a nagging sensation in the back of my mind as if I should know it.

"I feel I should already know you Captain." I admitted addressing the woman for the first time; her face adopted a curious expression at that and turned to Tuvok.

"The universal translator had to decode that." She exclaimed; Tuvok quirked an eyebrow and seemed to nod.

"Highly perceptive of you Captain; he has been speaking a very ancient form of Earth language, I believe it was commonly employed in Greece." He explained; I shook my head once more something felt as if all of this was familiar and I switched now into English.

"Sorry; I forgot." I muttered. "My name is Alain Desrochers; and though you may not believe me, I come from an alternate reality." I revealed startled that these men and women seemed to take my words at face value.

"We already guessed that." The Captain returned with a genuine smile. "The question then is where do you come from and how did you get here?" She asked.

"I couldn't begin to tell you; one moment I was back home in my bedroom reading a book, it was the Earth year two thousand and three, September tenth… The next I found myself dragged off into another universe; an ancient one where I could neither communicate with the locals nor defend myself…" I paused a small wistful smile crossing my features for the barest of moments at the remembrance of home. "If not for my encountering of two very understanding and helpful people I might have been killed in that dangerous time. I had expected to be arriving at home when I was brought here." I admitted glancing back up to the Captain at last.

"Fascinating." Tuvok observed in typical fashion; now my memories had finally placed my current location and I fought to keep both the shock and joy from my features. "Then you do not control the vortex?"

"I am a mere mortal; it is beyond my capability." I returned with a nod of affirmation.

"In that case I believe you are stuck here aboard my vessel; considering the portal you came through closed up immediately upon your arrival." The Captain revealed with a small sigh; she quickly smiled once more recovering from her brief slip up and she approached me grasping my shoulder in a show of sympathy.
"I'll have Mister Tuvok escort you to guest quarters; you'll also need some help in learning how everything works so I believe I'll get B'Elanna Torres my chief engineer to lend a hand in that department." She continued moving off towards the location of the doors; I smiled gratefully at the Captain and bowed my head in a formal show of respect.

"Thank you Captain; I shall endeavor to be of assistance in whatever fashion I can…"I trailed off as she turned back to me one last time and shot me another smile; afterwards she strode from the sickbay and the security detachment was quick to follow leaving me staring at a closed door. "Everyone seems to have taken my words for truth and doesn't seem to mistrust me." I observed turning to the Vulcan science officer with a smile.

"Indeed; please retrieve your final possession and follow me." He requested as he headed towards the exit; Kes quickly dashed up to my side startling me once again. She proved to be a hairs breadth shorter then me; she also happened to be cradling my blade in both hands mindful of its edge. I took the proffered item graciously and gallantly planted a kiss on the back of her hand.

"Thank you milady for your care of my most prized possession." I intoned graciously before slipping the broadsword back into its sheath and rushing to catch up with Tuvok.
He silently led the way through the relatively plain looking corridor until we reached a section with markings on it; these markings seemed to indicate a turbo lift, since the next instant the doors whooshed open and I found myself looking into a relatively tiny circular room.
Tuvok stepped in and waited patiently for me; I took a tentative step inside and wondered just what the slag this was going to feel like, would it be similar to a smooth elevator ride or something more akin to the feelings of a crazed roller coaster ride? My answer came after Tuvok told the computer what deck to take us to; my heart felt as if it had dived into my throat to get away from the sudden volcanic churning of my stomach and I was afraid I was going to get sick.

"Young man." Tuvok stated about three or four seconds later after the ride came to a complete stop; I opened my eyes to discover much to my surprise that somehow I had actually managed to find hand holds on the ceiling of the turbo lift and was clutching to it. It must have happened during that brief feeling of total weightlessness; I surmised… a young woman in a blue and black jumpsuit was standing in front of the entrance staring up at me with both incredulousness and amusement. With a sheepish smile directed towards Tuvok I landed lightly back to the ground and dusted myself off in a nonchalant manner typical of Autolycus.

"Sorry; that was a hell of a lot faster then the elevators we've got back home, I suppose it'll take a tad getting used to." I explained stepping out of the turbo lift on slightly shaky legs as Tuvok strode carefully down the corridor as if this sort of thing happened every day.

"Indeed." He remarked as I managed to catch up with him; at six foot three inches I was hard pressed to keep up with his long graceful strides. After a few short turns Tuvok halted in front of another section of wall that looked identical to all the other doorways I'd seen littering these seemingly endless hallways. He keyed in some kind of access code too fast for me to follow and the doors whisked open revealing a fairly spacious looking set of living quarters.
"These are the guest quarters; we reserve them for visiting dignitaries, however the Captain has placed you here because she felt it would not do to have you interacting with the crew. Especially until we are absolutely certain you mean no harm." He explained in a straight forward manner; I wasn't paying too much attention to him my eyes were drawn to the windows and the vast array of stellar bodies whizzing past us at Warp speeds. Tuvok bade me farewell though I failed to hear him and I examined in turn the rest of the quarters; there was a relatively large desk situated near the replicator console and an elegant though low to the ground spherical table and high backed couch near the center of the room closest to the small dining table and chairs. The bed was located in a sort of combination alcove/room that was to the left of the entrance and another doorway led into the refresher where I got my first glimpse of not only the sonic shower, but a large tub that reminded me of the one used by Mister Neelix in Caretaker and what I could only surmise to be a twenty-fourth century toilet. A small counter with a sink was attached to the wall near the right of the entrance into the refresher and a nice oval sized mirror rested in the wall; though slightly raised.

"Intrepid-class, U.S.S Voyager NCC-Seven Four Six Five Six." I whispered quoting from memories I didn't even know I'd had; I smiled openly as I lightly traced my hand over the smooth straight back metallic surface of the chair seated beside the desk. "A far cry up from the land of ancient Gods, Warlords and Kings." I added with a light chuckle before I began to experience a very familiar sensation in my loins; ah yes nature was calling.
Entering the refresher I moved over to what I perceived to be the toilet; always glossed over in the shows and movies this piece of technology, unlike a replicator or transporter was unfamiliar territory for me… This was definitely not a good time to try and figure out how things worked without so much as a manual; perhaps the computer data base could inform me as to the proper means of using this questionably designed apparatus.
"Computer…" I called out hesitantly.

"Acknowledged; unknown vocal pattern, please state your name and rank or security will be alerted to intruder aboard." The computer ordered in its' soothing feminine tone; surprisingly it didn't sound as much like Majel Barrett as you might think, it was a little less grandiose though for some strange reason it did sound a little sultry, for a computer.

"Alain Desrochers; er, current rank Guest aboard USS Voyager." I offered figuring that it was one of those friendly access computers who would understand that I was no intruder.

"New voice pattern recognized; please state your request Guest Alain Desrochers." It stated sounding far too cheerful for a blasted computer.

"How do I use this; uh, refresher?" I asked uncertain as to what the actual name for the toilet might be; after all I hardly thought they'd still call it a toilet, but refresher struck me as being the name of the room and not the item in question.

"Unable to reply; insufficient information." The computer returned in the exact same tone and mannerisms as before; this resulted in eliciting a snarl from me as I began to feel my cheeks going slightly hot with embarrassed rage.

"How does one utilize this piece of slag suckin' trash one commonly calls a toilet." I growled my anger stemming from my incomprehensibility and slight resentment that I even needed help in figuring out how to use one of the most common advances of modern society.

"Unable to comprehend request; please rephrase the question." She stated driving me further to the brink; if this piece of junk wasn't careful it'd receive a nasty shock from a four quarter inch blade being shoved into its' mainframe.

"Hello, is someone here?" A stranger called from the next room, I decided to hold it in for a few minutes longer and see to this decidedly unwanted guest; now was not the time to be entertaining every curious crewmember. Standing in the doorway was a person I was both familiar and not familiar with; its one thing to see him on T-V it's an entirely different experience meeting the man in person. The odd style of clothing was as flamboyant as you would expect; coupled with his unusual skin markings and the whiskers sticking out on both sides of his jawbone area, as well as his strangely shaped ears I must say that meeting Mister Neelix up close was very surprising.
Especially since he was slightly taller then me; though by no more than a hairs breadth I'd wager. "Why hello there, my name is Neelix. Since you're new here I thought I'd introduce myself and perhaps help our Lieutenant Torres in tutoring you on the basics of twenty-fourth century living." He offered boldly stepping forward and grasping my hand before I could say or do anything else; he shook it vigorously and I nearly lost my hold on my bladder when he slapped me on the back.

"News travels fast." I observed gritting my teeth and flashing a fake smile.

"Well actually Kes and I are close friends; so to speak and she thought as the ships' morale officer I might be needed." He admitted that jovial smile never once leaving his face. "And she also felt that Torres alone would prove… Well shall we say rather daunting?"

"I suppose so." I muttered too low for him to hear. "But your arrival is most fortuitous; I'm afraid Mister Tuvok left before I could enquire as to a much needed living expense, so to speak." I revealed feeling less foolish speaking to the Talaxian about my particular problem; after all I felt he could be counted on to be far more discreet on the matter then if I'd waited around for Torres. "You see it's about the… Um, refresher." I added turning my head to regard the bathroom; I trailed off as a knowing smile crossed his features and he chuckled a little to help ease my nervousness, grasping me by the shoulder he gently led us both into the refresher to begin my first quick lesson.

"Relax Mister…Oh I'm sorry Kes didn't give me your name." He suddenly realized.

"Call me Al." I requested with a sheepish smile.

"Well then Mister Al; I had some trouble too when I first came aboard, these Humans' don't exactly build in how too manuals for these sorts of things after all." He continued as he moved over to the refresher and quickly though carefully showed me exactly how to expunge the waste products when I was finished to which I was eternally grateful.

To Be Continued: And so it begins; the next exciting chapter in the adventures featuring my own character Alain Desrochers, this chapter is quite long I trust and also serves as the perfect jumping on point. Alain will get to meet B'Elanna in the next chapter and his first true lessons shall begin; I suppose I could have just kept going, but we don't want chapters to be too long and it might get a tad boring reading all the customary introduction/exposition stuff in one mondo sized chapter.
Feel free to Read and Review if you please; and I trust you'll find this part of the story that is Chrysalis quite more interesting then my Xena works. (If you've read them, but take heart, you don't have to have in order to understand what's going on.)