DISCLAIMER: All references to Star Trek® or any of its characters are the copyright of Paramount, Inc. No copyright infringement is intended. The "Gauntlet" series of stories is a non-profit endeavor solely for entertainment purposes. The "Gauntlet" concept, which includes the Abrasite setting, 13 Portals, Map Keeper and other unique characters in the first three stories of the series, is the property of Karen Tomlinson. "The Second Portal" story and its unique milieu and characters are the property of this author.
RATING: PG-13
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story was originally written for "The Write Choice" website's Voyager Alternate Season 7 project. The website has since been taken down, with the series incomplete.
The internet is an amazing place, however, and I was able to find the three stories that precede "The Second Portal" archived, thus saving myself a massive rewrite before being able to publish this work.
The stories that precede "The Second Portal" are "The Gauntlet, Part 1," "The Gauntlet, Part 2," and "Gods of the Corn," and should be read in that order. Although this story can be read on its own, it will prove more enjoyable within the unique framework of the original premise.
To read the stories preceding this one, please go to an earlier version of "The Second Portal" at sky dot prohosting dot com/jsnexus/50of47/portal dot html for the links. Just replace the word "dot" with a period. The Author's Notes there contain links to the three stories which begin this series.
SUMMARY: The crew of Voyager find themselves in an unfamiliar dimension after passing through the first of a series of wormholes that would considerably shorten their journey home. They search for a way back to normal Delta Quadrant space.
The Second Portal
by 50of47
Last time on Star Trek:Voyager:
Kathryn Janeway groaned as she pulled herself up to a sitting position on the deck of the Bridge. Her head throbbed painfully as she closed her eyes and deepened her breathing to fight off waves of nausea. After a few moments, the throbbing began to subside, so she opened her eyes and took in her surroundings as best she could with blurred vision. There was little, if any, damage to the Bridge as far as she could tell, but her crew lay scattered where they had fallen when Harry Kim's First Portal song had driven them into unconsciousness. The countermeasure had apparently worked and gotten them through the First Portal relatively unscathed. Voyager was still in one piece, with stars visible on the viewscreen.
Janeway grabbed the arm of her command chair and shakily leveraged herself off the deck and into the chair. The nausea returned, so she closed her eyes again until the sensation passed and she felt her mental acuity returning.
When she opened her eyes this time, she found that her vision had improved, though everything remained slightly out of focus. Janeway saw Seven moving near the helm, where the thick fog that had surrounded Tom Paris from the moment he placed his hand on the First Portal map had dissipated. She watched the former Borg place a blanket around Paris's shoulders and then beam him to Sickbay.
Having heard the Captain's efforts to get herself back into her command chair, Seven then turned to face Janeway and asked, "Captain?"
"Yes. I'm okay. Status?"
Seven reported that the crew was all accounted for, that there was minimal damage to the hull, but that warp and impulse drive were offline, leaving Voyager adrift. As they spoke, Janeway checked the readings on the console next to her chair, and was gratified to see that downed systems were coming back online. She glanced up at the viewscreen, and did not recognize any of the star patterns. "Any idea where we are?"
Seven hesitated before replying, "Captain, the ship's chronometers and navigational devices are not functioning properly."
Great, just great, thought Janeway. We're an easy target. She stood and took a few steps toward the viewscreen. "An after effect of the Portal?"
"No, I can discern no such effect. We entered an energy field before passing through the Portal. The field had readings of severe spatial and temporal anomalies."
"A time warp?"
"It is more likely that we entered an area of space that is not part of our spatial continuum."
Janeway's head began to throb again, and for a brief moment, she felt overwhelmed. She sat down once more in her command chair. "You are saying that we have entered an alternative plane? Another dimension?"
"It is a logical assumption. It would explain why Icheb's skywall could not foresee what lay beyond the portal or why those that enter the portal can not return. It also explains how we can travel 35 thousand light years in six months. I suggest that we may be passing back and forth between our spatial and temporal plane and this one each time we enter a portal."
"How are we going to navigate to the next portal if we have no point of reference?"
"I believe I can adjust the Astrometrics sensors to accommodate our new environment. This plane must have a theoretical center just as our plane does. We can extrapolate from that."
Janeway closed her eyes again, and sighed heavily. She wondered briefly what they had gotten themselves into and if it was worth it, but then realized it was just the headache and lingering effects from the trip through the First Portal affecting her mood. She heard the Bridge crew beginning to stir, and shook off her pessimism. Opening her eyes, she stared at the viewscreen, studying her surroundings while Seven waited in silence.
A ship drifted into sight as Janeway continued to study the unfamiliar stars. "Those that followed us?"
Seven followed Janeway's line of sight and replied, "The Magol. They and two other ships were the only ones to enter the portal with us. The fate of the others is unknown."
"Life signs?"
"All crew components are alive. They are still unconscious."
"Seven, the priority is to get warp drive back on line. I want to be long gone before they wake up."
"Understood, Captain."
In the four days prior tothe events of "The Second Portal":
Torres, Seven, and the Engineering staff were able to restore warp and impulse power within a few hours, which allowed Voyager to leave the sector before the other three vessels that had followed them through the First Portal could begin pursuit. The Magol ship and two others of undetermined origin remained in the area near the Portal, adrift in space.
Voyager's communications array picked up a faint signal from the Natra system that promised facilities for shore leave, ship repair, and restock. However, Janeway decided not to alter course for Natra, since she wanted to put as much distance between Voyager and their Magol pursuers as possible.
Unknown to the crew, the region around the now-sealed First Portal resembled normal space only for enough distance to allow any ship carrying the map to get safely away. As Voyager traveled deeper into unfamiliar territory, its technology gradually began to behave erratically. Torres placed a dampening field around the external sensors to compensate for the higher than normal ambient anti-neutrino and chroniton particle density levels found in Second Portal space, but the modification had little effect. The navigational sensor array in particular grew increasingly unreliable, making warp travel unsafe.
Repeated tachyon bursts were unable to disperse the dense temporal distortions and spatial anomalies that were characteristic of this alternate dimension. It was still unclear whether passage through the energy barrier at the entrance to the First Portal or the temporal and spatial distortions of Second Portal space itself was the trigger for the technological failures; since there was insufficient reliable data to make a clear-cut determination. Tuvok was deep in meditation over the now-inactive First Portal map, but had not yet derived any information that might explain what was happening to their technology.
The star systems of Second Portal space were totally unfamiliar to the crew. With the growing series of malfunctions, astrometrics sensors were unable to get more than a transitory fix on Voyager's position relative to the alternate dimension's theoretical center. Seven had managed to run a complete deep-level scan before the malfunctions rendered the astrometrics sensors useless. She was able to derive enough additional data from the stellar cartography department's initial scans of the region taken when Voyager's systems came back online to start building a theoretical construct. Unfortunately, nothing about the construct matched any known stellar model in the ship's database.
Finally, by the end of the first day in Second Portal space, the system malfunctions had reached levels so dangerous that Tom Paris expressed his professional opinion that piloting a ship as large as Voyager any further was unsafe, even at impulse. Navigational sensors could not maintain readings long enough for Paris to establish course headings. Additionally, relays had started to overload and burn out nearly as quickly as repair teams could replace them. Although the ship still had impulse power, neither it nor the Delta Flyer could form a stable warp field.
The Captain's greatest concern was the shield malfunctions. Despite Second Portal space's temporal and spatial anomalies, the shields worked reasonably well for short periods of time. Past a certain duration, however, entire vectors would unexpectedly phase from functioning within Starfleet tolerances to either pronounced weakness or total failure.
Janeway was also greatly concerned about depleting Engineering's supply of spare parts and raw materials for fabricating replacements so soon into Second Portal space. She authorized Chakotay, Tuvok, Tom Paris, and Neelix to take the Delta Flyer and travel to the Natra system, roughly 10 hours away at impulse. Sensors had collected enough data before the worst of the malfunctions to allow Seven and stellar cartography to create star charts for the away team to use in navigating a course to Natra the old-fashioned way -- by relying on what they could see outside of the Flyer's viewport. After Torres placed a dampening field around the shuttle's optical scanners, they functioned with enough reliability to serve as a backup to visual navigation.
The away team was gone for nearly two days. A Natran ship attacked the Delta Flyer, taking them prisoner as they were returning to Voyager with replacement parts and supplies. An alien insect bit Chakotay while he was a captive, infecting him with a plague virus that caused a life-threatening allergic reaction. The away team was forced by their captors to undergo a maze challenge to save Chakotay's life.
When the away team finally returned, all four were sent to Sickbay for treatment. Tom Paris, Neelix, and Tuvok recovered fairly rapidly, and were debriefed while still in Sickbay. The Doctor discharged them to their quarters with orders to rest until the following day, when they were scheduled to return for reexamination to determine their fitness for duty.
Morale Officer Neelix spent his enforced "vacation" from the galley planning how he would mark Voyager's safe passage through the First Portal. Since B'Elanna was tied up with trying to solve the systems malfunctions, Tom decided this was a good time to program a few more chapters of "Captain Proton" to surprise his buddy Harry Kim. Once Tuvok returned to his quarters, he resumed his interrupted meditation over the inactive First Portal map.
Chakotay remained in Sickbay for over a day and a half, as the Doctor had serious reservations about the First Officer's health. Chakotay had not been able to fully rest and recover from a beating he received while a captive on Gunlag's ship before he was tapped for the emergency away mission to Natra. The severe anaphylactic shock he had suffered while a Natran prisoner had further weakened his condition. The Doctor was concerned about lingering residual effects from the toxin, including any possible delayed reactions that might take a few days to surface.
Four days altogether have passed since Voyager went through the First Portal.