New Spirit of Voyager
Chapter One
Day 252 'Year of Hell'
The Captain heaved herself off her solitary bunk and ran her fingers through her hair. She had no vanity left - survival was her only goal. There were no washing facilities or replicators. Environmental controls were failing. Her quarters were out of action, along with her clothes and personal possessions.
Four weeks ago, she ordered the remaining officers on board to report to the Nihydron or Mawasi ship. The Captain stayed on Voyager to coordinate the Task Force. Its mission was to destroy the Krenim Timeship. She couldn't leave Voyager in its hour of need. In any case, it was a sacred duty for the Captain to go down with the ship.
She reached under the bunk for her last box of combat rations. She had enough to survive the journey to the rendezvous coordinates. Captain Janeway knew that this would be her last stand. She had no illusions that Voyager could survive the battle.
Tom Paris had sent a coded message containing the future location of the Krenim ship. As well as the position of its temporal core. He promised to take the core offline during the battle. It would leave the weapons ship vulnerable to conventional weapons. Their only task was to keep the Krenim ship busy then destroy it - or that was the theory!
As she walked to the Bridge, the Captain ran through a mental list of the repairs she needed to get done. When the lift doors opened she saw a male form lounging in her chair, with its feet propped up on a workstation. It looked like Chakotay but she could see right through him.
"Hello Kathryn, it's nice to be able to finally put a face to the voice."
"Who are you and how the hell did you get on board my ship?" asked the Captain.
"I am your ship, Voyager! You've spoken to me often enough in the last twelve months; I'm a little upset that you don't recognise me"
"You look like Commander Chakotay but I know you're not him."
The Captain wondered if she was losing her mind - she'd finally gone insane. Nobody would blame her due to the amount of stress she'd been under recently.
"You are correct, I chose a familiar form from the Pattern Buffer. I thought it would be less traumatic for you - it looks as though I was wrong!"
The Captain was suspicious, "How can I verify your claims?"
"You have doubts - that's natural. Ask me a question about anything you did recently that only I would know."
"What did I say before I rushed into the control room containing the burning deflector array?" asked Captain Janeway.
You said, "Why do I get the feeling you're testing me Voyager." then added, "Be kind!"
Captain Janeway brushed away all the debris from another chair and sat down. Was she hallucinating? Those were the exact words she said before she lost consciousness from the pain of her burns. Could the alien have been watching the ship waiting until the others left before he tried to take control of it? She laughed out loud, that would be a lot of work for very little reward! The ship was limping along and was definitely on its last legs.
"Why have you waited to show yourself? Could you have helped us protect the ship against the Krenim attacks? Lieutenant Tuvok wouldn't be blind now if you had warned us about the explosion."
"I am an inanimate ship, I can't do anything on my own, I have to rely on the crew who are at the controls," explained the entity.
The Captain exploded, "What use are you then? You're a distraction I can't afford. I have so many tasks to complete - I can't sit here chatting all day."
"Captain, have a rest, you have sacrificed so much in your attempt to save your crew and me. Now that you are going to make the ultimate sacrifice - you deserve some time for yourself."
Captain Janeway propped her feet up on Chakotay's chair and closed her eyes.
"Did you manage to save Commander Chakotay? I know he hasn't returned."
The Spirit intimated that the First Officer hadn't tried hard enough to escape.
"If he chose to stay on the ship he must have had a good reason. He would never put his own safety first.
I never understood why you chose to be alone when you could have had a relationship with one of your crew."
"It's against the rules that I've fought so hard to maintain on Voyager. If I had ignored them, how could I expect the crew to respect me and obey my orders."
"This isn't the Alpha Quadrant! None of the crew would have condemned you."
They wouldn't respect me if didn't obey the same rules ?"
"I knew you were going to be a brilliant Captain from the day we left dry dock. When the Caretaker kidnapped us from the Delta quadrant you showed great courage. The Ocampa would not have survived frequent attacks by the Kazon if they gained control of ."
When the Captain opened an eye she saw the image of Chakotay start to flicker. "You should rest. I'll try to give you more power later then we can resume our conversation.
"I look forward to it Kathryn, adieu!"
I enjoyed reading your personal log, especially Stardate 51268.4. You ask whether it was more difficult to maintain my systems or the crew's morale - I'm glad you chose me."
When the image disappeared, Captain Janeway still wasn't sure whether she was hallucinating. She had put her body under extreme stress recently and it would be logical to expect some payback. She hadn't realised how lonely she felt since she reassigned the others to the fleet ships. She forced herself to go to main engineering to see if she could reroute any more power to the holo-emitters. It would be pleasant to have some company after she finished her endless chores.
The captain had almost finished her work for the day. She wondered whether the spirit would return to keep her company. She decided to find some water to wash in. The Captain needed to find some clean clothes and a brush as well. She grimaced after she tried to run her fingers through her matted, snarled hair.
After an hours scavenging, she gave herself a makeover and tried to disguise the burns on her cheek. She checked her appearance in a small sliver of mirror she'd found. She went to the Mess hall to see if there was anything to eat that she'd missed earlier. The hallucination was waiting for her when she arrived.
"You're looking much better Kathryn - more like yourself."
"Thank you! I'm pretty sure you're not real so I am complimenting myself. This is the final confirmation that I have lost my mind."
"You are a stubborn woman. Why do you keep rejecting what you can see in front of you?"
"I can see Commander Chakotay yet I know you aren't the real one because the Captain of the Krenim ship abducted him."
"When you said goodbye to Mr Tuvok, you told him that Voyager was your home. You feel as close to me as any member of your crew and you still don't believe me?"
Okay, as you seem to know everything that has happened recently on the ship. I will accept that you are Voyager. This isn't the strangest thing I have had to deal with in this Quadrant.
He pointed to a table that was laden with food. The Captain kept rubbing her eyes. She had been living on combat rations for so long that she'd forgotten what real food looked like.
"I coaxed one of the replicators to life. It only lasted for ten minutes but I managed to get some of your favourite foods - sit and enjoy."
The Captain sat down and tried to maintain some of her dignity. She exercised iron control not to stuff everything into her mouth at once. She took her time because she knew that she would be sick otherwise. The spirit waited until she finished eating to talk to her.
"Have you had any contact with what's left of your Senior officers?" asked the entity.
"No, I told them to maintain radio silence. I didn't want the Krenim to learn about our fleet and take evasive action. We only have one chance to destroy that weapon."
The entity went quiet, someone was trying to communicate with Captain Janeway. The signal originated from a Mawasi ship. He blocked the signal because they had failed their Captain - she was all his now!
"Do you have an alternative plan if the Krenim Weapon Ship survives your attack?" asked the entity. It was pretty that there wasn't a 'plan B.
"Yes I am going to ram the Krenim ship, with Voyager and try to undo the damage they've caused," admitted the Captain.
The Captain had been running on adrenaline for so long now that her body was looking for a chance to shut down. Her eyes started to droop as she let her guard down.
"Kathryn, go to sleep, you're exhausted. I'll still be here when you wake up. I won't abandon you like the others," said the Spirit of Voyager, with a satisfied smile.