Note to readers- This story is my first fanfic, so keep that in mind  Also, I have listed this as a J/7, but my intention is for it to be a mainly J/Ellie story, at least in the first chapters, and that's not an option to select. I thought these characters would be great together and would make for a fun storyline, but who knows who may end up together as I continue to write…….Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters depicted in the below story, nor the storylines they were created from, I just enjoy writing about them!

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"Future Perfect" Ch1

Elanore Arroway sat in her favorite evening spot, perched at the rim of a desert canyon in the shadow of the VLA in New Mexico. Her eyes half closed, listing passively to the radio waves pouring in from the stars, millions of miles away. She was a slender woman, her thick, blonde hair plated down her back, though by this time in the day it was starting to come undone, tendrils falling around her face and shoulders.

Ellie took off her headphones, placing them around her neck and looked up at the sky, the starlight reflected in her vibrant blue eyes. Every now and then she liked to stop listening and just gaze upwards.... and remember.

It didn't ever matter to her so much anymore the chaos that had erupted after "The Message Incident" as the media now referred to it, that all seemed far in the past. But her memories of the miraculous journey were still as vivid as the day four years ago when she had walked on the beach at "Pensacola" and the sky had rang as she passed her hand through it. The words of her "Father" still rang in her ears,

"You're an interesting species. An interesting mix. You're capable of such beautiful dreams, and such horrible nightmares. You feel so lost, so cut off, so alone, only you're not. See, in all our searching, the only thing we've found that makes the emptiness bearable, is each other."

"Each other," she thought, and gazed at the star Vega.... she knew they weren't there, necessarily, but it was the place she always looked at before going in..... but it had yet to speak to her again.

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"Report."

Captain Kathryn Janeway marched onto the bridge for the start of Alpha Shift. Ensign Kim stood quickly and snapped to attention, as he did every morning, as if he wasn't allowed to sit in "the big chair" and was caught in the act. Janeway smiled warmly,

"At ease Ensign, how was Gamma shift?"

"A slight irregularity with the internal sensor array, but it's been realigned and hasn't given us any more trouble." Harry looked back at the Crewman Jones now manning Harry's usual station at Ops,

"And we're getting some interesting readings from the nebula approximately 1 light year ahead, it's too far to get precise readings but I left a message for Seven to have a look when she gets to Astrometrics."

"Thank you Ensign, you're relieved." Janeway always smiled a little on the inside when Harry went into "Starfleet Mode" in the normal course of business, and she liked to play along.

Janeway relaxed into her command chair as Harry and the rest of Gamma Shift headed for the turbolift as their replacements entered. It had been a slow week, but the nebula they were approaching should be of some interest, and hopefully, some energy reserves.

Five minutes into Alpha shift, Lt. Paris strode onto the bridge. He looked a bit ragged, and didn't meet Janeway's gaze as he hurried to his post to take over from the young ensign now at the con. As he turned to sit, Janeway noticed a telltale red half circle at his Jaw line.... he really should tell B'Lanna to be careful, or at least get up early enough to see the Doctor before he went on duty. She smirked to herself,

"Oversleep Mr. Paris?"

"Uh.... yes, recovering from a challenging game of paresis squares yesterday, I think I'm still a little sore..."

Janeway smirked again... "tell B'lanna to take it easy on the court next time Tom, I need my best pilot in one piece."

The Captain glanced at her first officer, who now also had a slight smile, she guessed they were thinking alike. Really she shouldn't pry.. but sometimes way out in the Delta Quadrant the few bits of gossip managed to keep life interesting on a ship this size.

After going over the reports routed to her station, and instructing Lt. Paris to maintain course for the Nebula, the Captain rose, turned over command to her 1st officer, and headed for her ready room. She wanted to look at the scans of the nebula and head to Astrometrics to ask Seven's opinion.

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"0600 hours, regeneration cycle complete," the computer chimed.

Seven's eyes opened, and she stepped down from her alcove, her mind already prepared for the day ahead. She turned and placed her hand to the Borg console attached to the alcoves and tapped her fingers across the panel,

"Personal log, Seven of Nine. Today I am scheduled to review the data concerning the nebula in sector 127.6547, then continue my review of the chemical spectra from comet 8902Y that we catalogued on sensors last week. Tom has 'named' the object 'The Wishful Thinking Comet' as it did not contain the reserves of trilithium we had expected. I believe this is what the Doctor termed 'sarcastic humor.' End personal log."

The tall blond strode out of the cargo bay in her tight blue biosuit, her features coolly perfect as usual, ready for another organized and efficient day.

What confronted her in Astrometrics was a different matter entirely. Upon pulling up the latest continual scans of the nebula, she was struck by the speed at which the usually passive gasses were churning and spinning, wildly inconsistent behavior for this size and composition of a nebula. Continuing to scan, she tapped her combadge,

"Seven of Nine to Captain Janeway."

"Janeway here" came the reply.

"I require your presence in Astrometrics."

Janeway slowly shook her head, Seven was the only person on this ship who would dare to "require" the Captain to do anything. But then again, the two had developed a unique relationship since Seven had been on Voyager. For some reason the informality didn't bother Janeway as much as she figured it should. Maybe it was a mutual respect for each other's considerable knowledge and experience.... or, admitted Janeway to herself, it could be those captivating sapphire eyes of hers....

"On my way Seven" She replied, shaking the previous thought from her head, and headed for the Turbolift.

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CQ....CQ this is W9GFO, come back? This is Elanore Airroway, broadcasting on 2.65 megahertz, ....... anyone..... do you read me.... come back?

Ellie woke to the dark bedroom, a light sweat covering her skin. The moonlight was beginning to wane outside her window, soon it would be replaced by the first rays of daylight. She had been having the dream again..... It had been happening every night for the past week, and she had yet to be able to sleep long enough to hear anyone answer her.

Her alarm clock went off at that moment, making her jump. 5:30 am- time for a run before the desert sun made such activities impossible. Besides, she had work to do. Some ..... well, most she guessed might not understand how she could spend every day listening for something that obstinately refused to happen again. She privately felt that the next message, or whatever it would be, wasn't scheduled until long after her time, but for some reason she couldn't stop searching. Ellie got that stomach-churning feeling that she had been born far ahead of her time, she wanted so badly to live in the future, away from the monotony of listening to politicians talk about "current issues" that never seemed to be resolved, and having to hear religious extremists talk about how science was unnatural and evil. She longed to see a society made up of beings that were past these short-sighted ideals and had found ways to understand the galaxy, and the vast spaces it represented.

She shook it off.... there was nothing she could do about it, not just at the moment anyway..... she'd put it on her "to do" list she thought sarcastically. Now about that run......

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"I believe the nebula is unique Captain, the gaseous forms are moving in a manner inconsistent with its internal gravity." Seven and Janeway watched the live scans of the phenomena on the forward screen of the Astrometirics lab.

"Any ideas Seven?" Janeway replied, eyes not leaving the image.

"It is likely that the distortions are due to some object within the nebula, but its size does not match the gravitational pull that seems to exist. I suggest we bring Voyager closer to perform a more thorough inspection." Seven began to re-program the Astrometrics sensors for a more thorough sweep at close range.

Janeway tapped her combadge, "Mr. Paris, take us closer.... carefully," she added.

Voyager came to a full stop just outside of the outer edges of the nebula as the Captain strode onto the bridge.

"Report."

Harry responded, "the nebula is composed of a variety of both heavy and light gasses, indicating it has a substantial mass. Most common elements are present, as well as a substantial quantity of trilithium in a plasma state."

"Excellent." Replied Janeway, who knew their stocks were running dangerously low. "Can we get close enough to use transporters?"

"I wouldn't recommend it, those outer clouds look dangerous," replied Tom.

"He's right Captain." Added Harry, "the outer edges are composed of highly radioactive components that would likely disable most of our systems. Voyager's too big to maneuver around them at the rate they're moving."

"A shuttle might have a better chance Captain." Tom injected.

"Sounds like a plan, are you volunteering then Tom?"

"Yes m'am"

"Then you're with me, I'm curious to see this thing up close, Ensign Waters, you too, You have the bridge Commander, we'll keep an open comlink and send scans back to Seven."

Ensign Waters trotted excitedly down the corridor behind the Captain and Tom. Janeway knew she had some experience with the chemical make-up of nebulae and thought it might be a good educational trip for the young science officer. Besides, someone had to laugh at Tom's jokes....

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The nebula was even more startling to see up-close. The swirling gasses and vapors rotated around its center of mass, creating wild color displays as they mixed and collapsed. Tom navigated fairly smoothly through the outer layers, avoiding encountering the heavier clouds. Janeway studied the readings, "The largest amounts of high-energy material appears to be located near the center of the cloud, how close can you safely get us Tom?"

"Close enough for a safe transport I think," he replied, glancing back at the rear of the shuttle where pattern enhancers had been set up behind a force-field.

"Good Mr. Paris, take us in."

Seconds later, the shuttle began to pitch violently, the forces overriding the inertial dampeners.

"Tom, report!" Janeway yelled over the computer's alarms.

"I don't know.... I can't get control back.... we're being pulled closer to the center of the nebula..."

"Janeway to Voyager"..... only static came through her combadge..... "Janeway to Voyager, three for emergency beam out!!" No response..... Janeway looked up just in time to see the center of the nebula hit them in the face, the next thing she experienced was like nothing she could have prepared herself for. The shuttle felt as if it tipped over the brink of a waterfall..... Janeway's stomach dropped to her feet as the entire universe seemed to rush past the little shuttle... all at once. Then she lost consciousness.

The shuttle careened out of the anomaly, entering Earth's orbit at a dizzying rate. All three occupants remained oblivious as the emergency autopilot arrested the free-fall and initiated a decent through the atmosphere, shooting through the night sky and coming to a rest in the middle of the New Mexico desert, some 60,000 light-years away, and 400 years into the past of its last recorded position.