Denouement
A Sort-of Star Trek: Voyager Story by jamelia
Captain's Personal Log, 51547.3
::: "The transwarp drive adapted to Voyager by Lieutenants Torres, Kim, and Paris, based on Borg technology shared by Seven of Nine, is finally on line. We're en route, finally, to Earth. At our current rate of progress the remaining journey-projected to require twenty-five years of travel at top conventional warp speeds-will take us less than two weeks, if all goes well.
:::The crew's spirits are high, but their professionalism impresses me, as always. They are performing their tasks efficiently, despite the distractions, even by Seven's stan . . . ":::
Kathryn Janeway's ready room floor fell out from under her. An unexpected jolt reverberated through the superstructure of the ship. With barely a missed beat, the captain firmly stated, "Pause," to the computer and marched onto the bridge. "Report!" she commanded before her ready room door had had the chance to close behind her.
The ship's Vulcan tactical officer Tuvok filled in the gap. "We are firing all weapons, Captain. The new transphasic torpedoes are having some effect, but for how long, we cannot tell. We are sustaining heavy damage from weapons fire.
Ensign Kim reported from Ops. "Shields are at 62% and weakening."
Kathryn shared a quick glance with her first officer. His face was stoic, but his dark brown eyes were eloquent as he stated, "The image on the viewscreen is to our rear, Captain."
A black cube, studded with machinery and weaponry, loomed behind Voyager, dwarfing the Starfleet vessel. The crew had fought battles against many Borg vessels: small scout ships, medium-sized spherical fighters, heavily armed cubes operated by hundreds of thousands of drones. This cube was four times larger than the largest they'd ever encountered.
They were so close, oh, so close to home. Two weeks away, that was all it would take to finally get home, and now this had to happen.
The lights on the bridge blinked rapidly. The cube disappeared from the screen. Instead, a visage as breathtakingly beautiful as it was frightening, highlighted as it was by clamps and mechanical attachments from the top of the skull to halfway down the torso. "So, Captain. We meet again, one last time. This time you will not escape me. Soon you and your entire crew will be one with me forever." Her lips distorted into the approximation of a smile, as hideous as any Kathryn Janeway had ever seen.
The image flickered away. The transwarp tunnel extended before them, so inviting, but the captain knew the Borg Queen's hatred would prevent them from reaching the end safely.
"Captain, do you want me to order the crew to abandon ship?"
"No Chakotay. Our evacuation pods would be destroyed if they tried to enter the transwarp tunnel. If we exit our ship, the Borg would find it even easier to capture all of us to turn us into drones. We'll keep on fighting . . ." Unspoken were the final words to accompany that sentence: 'until we have nothing left to fight with.'
They fought. Time stood still in some ways, in other ways it sped far too quickly. Tom Paris called out that he'd lost helm control. Tuvok announced when their weapons systems ceased to have any effect, after the cube's shielding had adapted to everything they had to throw at it. Harry Kim announced hull fractures on multiple decks.
The captain and commander turned to look at each other. This was it. Calmly, the captain stated, "Initiate Self-Destruct Sequence . . . "
Before the captain could give her code to the computer, Tuvok interrupted her. "Captain, a space-time rift is opening straight ahead. I detect a vessel of some sort, which I believe is creating the rift. It appears to have a Federation signature . . ."
A ship popped into view. The viewscreen crackled to life with a new image. "Captain Ralph McTavish of the Federation Time Ship Relativity to USS Voyager. Captain Janeway, we have come to rescue your crew and stop the Borg once and for all. Order your crew into escape pods. We will pick them up after you set your ship to self-destruct. Delay implementation of self-destruct until we have confirmed we have rescued your crew. Once your ship has been drawn into the cube, set it to explode."
"The Borg surely know your plan, Captain. They won't haul our ship inside!"
"They can't see or hear us, Captain Janeway. We have used a temporal shield to prevent them from detecting us, but we don't have much time."
"All hands, abandon ship!" Captain Janeway ordered. Sensors revealed that the crew had followed the order: all but three of the crew had left the ship.
"Tuvok, go! Your wife T'Pel and your family need you."
"Captain . . ."
"GO! That's an ORDER, Mister!"
Tuvok exited the bridge.
And then there were two.
"Kathryn, you need me to confirm your order for the self-destruct sequence."
"No, you don't have to stay, Chakotay. One of us must stay. You know the captain must go down with the ship."
"I was willing to serve as your first officer, because that was the way it has to be on a ship like this. One captain. But as of now, it's only the two of us. The Starfleet captain, and the Maquis captain. That's me. I'm pulling rank on you, Kathryn Janeway. And judging from that cube that's about to swallow us up, it's too late for me to leave, anyway."
She gazes at his face. The Angry Warrior once said he would always support her, and now he was proving it to her. "All right, Captain Chakotay. If that's the way you want it, that's the way it will be. Computer, initiate Self-Destruct sequence . . . "
They counted down together: "10, 9, 8, 7, . . ." The air around them was charged with a strange electricity. Was this what it felt like to die?
=/\=
The escape pods which had yet to be swept up by the Relativity had a first row seat as the Borg vessel swallowed up a Voyager which was dwarfed by the cube. Suddenly, all was obscured by a tremendous, million-mega-Braga explosion...
=/\=
