I was watching an episode of TNG the other day called conundrum and I thought to myself, what if that had been Voyager. Anyway I decided I would have a go at writing it. If you are unfamiliar with that episode then here is a brief outline: The crew get their memories erased by an alien weapon, and almost coerced into destroying another race.
Here is my somewhat more humorous take on that episode. Ps I take some serious liberties with the time line here. Seven is not yet on board, but the episode Tinker, Tylor, doctor spy has just occurred. Happy reading.
Captain, Crewman, Doctor pilot?
"You know Doctor after all that has happened, you are lucky the Captain did not confine you to sick bay. Let alone allow you to take command of the night shift." Harry said from his console behind the command deck. The Doctor turned to him slowly, his four pips flashing slightly as he did so. The light from the stars flashing past on the view screen highlighting them just so.
"I understand your reservations Mr Kim, but I do have all the knowledge and experiences of over five hundred star fleet Captains, I am more than qualified to guide this ship home, if not overly so." The Doctor replied with his usual arrogance, and yet all Harry Kim could do was smile. He had gotten used to the Doctors way's over the years.
"Report Mr Kim?" The Doctor then said into the silence as Voyager hummed beneath them.
"Nothing sir, everything is the same as it was ten minutes ago, your doing a wonderful job." Harry replied dead pan and for a moment the Doctor smiled until he heard the Ensign at the helm snigger.
"Carry on." The Doctor said between clenched teeth.
B'Elanna was not looking forward to this evening, she had been waiting for Chacotay in the mess hall for twenty minutes now and she was almost through her second cup of coffee. 'careful B'Elanna you're starting to turn into the Captain.' She silently admonished herself and quickly put down the cup. Thinking she should change her beverage for a nice calming cup of camomile, she stood up and went to the galley. Not seeing any sign of Neelix she went behind the counter and got the tea. As she waited for the water to come to the boil she spotted Chacotay walk in. signalling to him, he came over. His face looked warn, the lines around his eyes had grown deeper since she last saw him, and a wave of guilt washed over her. She knew that recently she had not been helping with Chacotay's frame of mind.
"Can I get you some Tea Chacotay?" B'Elanna offered, awarding her old friend with a genuine smile.
"Yes please its been a rough day?" Chacotay replied as B'Elanna took down another cup and began making the tea.
Tom Paris sat nervously on the edge of the Captain's sofa. It was rare indeed that he should be in her quarters, rearer after hours and also out of uniform. She had called him to her quarter twenty minutes ago. Tom was slightly worried that Janeway had discovered his clandestine activities on the holodeck, the betting pool was once again going strong, and Tom had been enjoying the benefits of his extra rations. Luckily she had wanted to discuss the upcoming away mission to the Wexan home world. They were scheduled to leave first thing in the morning and their itinerary had been changed.
"I am sorry to have brought you here in your free time Tom, but Tuvok was only just made aware of the Wexan rules for male and females serving together on the same ship. I realise that posing as my mate may be a little awkward and I can take Ensign Bennett if this will in anyway have an ill effect on the negotiations." Janeway continued, as Tom sat there looking at the colour in her cheeks rise. He noticed that he was in fact, not the only one who was slightly uncomfortable at this situation.
"No I think it will be fine, plus you don't want Bennett piloting you though those plasma storms, you want me." Tom said now enjoying seeing his Capitan squirm at seeing the acceptable attire she would have to wear, if she wanted to conduct negotiations with the Wexan.
"True, but boy do I wish I didn't have to wear this, I even had Tuvok scan for another world within a hundred parsec's hoping we could negotiate for Dilithium there, but Wexan is the only M class world for light years." Janeway said placing the Padd on the table and standing up.
"Can I get you a drink Tom?" Janeway offered as she smoothed down her hair and walked to the replicator.
"Sure why not." Tom replied as the ship jolted to the side and Janeway was thrown backwards into Toms chest. A stark white light made them both close their eyes for a moment, squinting as the room came back into focus. Janeway moved first, jumping away from Tom like a scalded Cat.
"I'm sorry but do I know you?" She said then looking down at herself confused. Tom looked back at her as she looked from herself back to him.
"I don't know who am I?" Tom replied as Janeway shook her head in confusion.
=/\=
"What happened!" The Doctor said as he bolted upright from the Captain's chair and looked around at a room of unfamiliar faces.
"I don't know, I don't even know what I am doing here." Harry replied equally confused as Ensign Bennett turned from the helm and looked at the two men standing behind her. They both looked at her in hope that she would be able to explain this situation.
"I don't know either, I guess this is a ship and I am the pilot." She said now looking down at the control panel in front of her, and realising that she understood what it was showing her.
"Umm I can read this, we are travelling at Warp four on a heading of 104.5 mark 6." She said as Harry and the Doctor came to stand behind her.
"I suggest we stop until we can figure out what is going on here." The Doctor said looking at his uniform, then to the others who had gathered around them.
"Agreed." A smooth voice came from the turbo lift behind them. All on the deck turned to look as Tuvok stepped off the lift and entered the bridge.
"Do you know who you are?" Harry asked as Tuvok looked around, as if he was assessing the configuration of the room.
"I do not, neither do I recognise this vessel, but I do seem to possess the knowledge of how everything works." He replied looking from the Doctor to Harry, then at the rest of the crew.
"Ok first things first we should see where we are and if we can access the computer, maybe that will let us know who we are." The Doctor said, feeling like he should say something, for some reason he felt like he should be in command. Looking around no one else seemed to fit that description.
"I can do that sir." A tall dark haired man said, he was standing behind the railing that separated the bridge. He quickly turned to one of the consoles and began tapping away at the computer.
"I am sorry, but the computer is not responding, it seems like half the files have been corrupted, and the other half have encryption codes."
"Does anyone remember the codes?" The Doctor said as he looked around but no one replied.
"Ok there are probably more people on this ship, we need to find out if they are in the same condition as we are, if so they will be confused and frightened. If not then they can help us, do we have a means of contacting the rest of the ship?" The Doctor continued as Harry walked over to his console and got to work.
"We do now." He said after a few moments and the Doctor smiled at him.
"Good ok, umm this is, this is the bridge please remain calm, we need to know if anyone has any memory of who they are. Please contact us as soon as possible, if you don't, remain calm and try to stay in a group, we will be working on the problem."
B'Elanna slammed the cup down that she had been holding.
"Well that was helpful." She hissed as the man on the comm link finished and all eyes looked up to her.
"What?" She growled back, looking around her and wondering what the hell she was doing.
"I guess we wait here then, maybe send out a party of people to gather anyone alone into this room." Chacotay said as he watched the woman behind the counter start to pace.
"Yeah sounds like a good idea, I would like to know what in gods name I am doing behind here. Surely I am not the cook?" B'Elanna replied looking around at the various pots and pans in the galley.
"Who knows, but for now, you should stay here, this room is probably going to fill up with a lot of scared people, maybe a friendly face would be a good thing." Chacotay said trying to smile at B'Elanna but she simply folded her arms across her chest and looked over at him.
"I have a feeling I am not the smiling type." She replied as Chacotay went around the room looking for volunteers to search the ship. Once he had enough people they left what seemed to be the mess hall and walked along the corridor. Realising that a few people must have remained in their rooms, they began knocking on doors.
Tom and Kathryn looked at one another for a long time after they heard the message, neither of them wanted to point out that they were alone, and in what seemed to be a relaxed setting.
"Ok so we aren't the only ones, that's good, or maybe not." Kathryn said, quickly moving around the room and looking for any clue as to which one of them lived here.
"Yeah I mean if no one knows who they are, then who is flying this thing?" Tom said finally spotting something on the floor in the corner and going over to pick it up. Looking at it he froze, holding the item up to eye level he was shocked as a hand came out and snatched the bra off him. Tom's mouth snapped closed, as Kathryn threw the item in some kind of basket.
"I think we can safely say these quarters are mine." She said her tone slightly embarrassed as Tom, smiled slightly at her discomfort.
"Fine, then what am I doing here?" He said with a slight eyebrow waggle as Kathryn turned to him.
"I don't know, maybe we should go and find some other people. I mean standing here looking at one another isn't going to get us anywhere." Kathryn said not wanting to hurt his feelings, but also feeling uncomfortable about this entire situation. Tom opened his mouth to say something when a chime came at the door. Kathryn went to answer it, as the door slid back a tall dark skinned man with a tattoo over his eye looked down at her.
"Hi there, we are gathering people in the mess hall, it's two decks up, probably be better than being alone." He said his eyes taking in Kathryn's form as she stood there in what seemed to be the under garments of the uniform he was wearing.
"Actually she isn't alone." Tom said coming forwards and placing his hand on the door frame above Kathryn's head. Chacotay backed off quickly, allowing his hands to drop to his sides and then one to run through his hair.
"Well if you want to join us, you're more than welcome." He said quickly retreating down the corridor and away around the bend. Kathryn turned to Tom, not allowing the door to close the stood there back lit.
"Maybe we should do as he suggested, I would sure like to find out what the hell is going on here." Kathryn said quickly taking Tom by the elbow and pulling him along the corridor with her.
The Doctor sat in what seemed to be a conference room, he sat at the head of the table, no one having questioned his decision to take command, it seemed the most logical of choices. Around him sat the rest of the people who had been on the bridge.
"Ok so what do we know so far?" The Doctor asked looking from one face to another until the young man with the dark hair spoke up.
"We have established that our mission was to destroy a military command centre, controlled by the Lanterians. The Federation has been at war with these people for several years, but a new weapon created by the Lanterians has Star fleet worried." Harry said passing across his data, as Tuvok took over the explanation.
"It seems there new weapon causes memory loss, and computer shut down, we have lost many star ships to this weapon, in hindsight, we are lucky to not have been captured." Tuvok said pausing to look at the Doctor.
"Yes do we know why we were not boarded or destroyed?"
"I think I have an idea, maybe we went though some kind of net, protecting the Lanterians most sensitive regions, any ship that passes though may be rendered the same way." The tall dark haired man to the Doctors left said, he looked at the rest of the table and finally his eyes fell on Tuvok.
"I believe this could be a possible explanation, however I think we should proceed with caution, until we know who we are, we are in danger."
"How about those logs, have we managed to find out anything about this crew?" The Doctor said finally, but this time he was only met with silence.
"Not yet there was extensive damage to the computer, its going to take a while to repair it." Harry responded finally now looking down at the table.
"Ok for now we hold here, but I want the ships weapons and defensive systems back online as soon as possible." With that the meeting ended, the rest of the crew exited the room leaving the Doctor alone. He turned and looked out of the window, hoping to remember anything, but all he was getting was some puzzling images of what seemed to be programming data. Ignoring it he turned to the Padd that described there mission, it was something that he could only put off for so long.
Finding their way to the mess hall, Kathryn and Tom walked into a loud chorus of voices, many conversations over lapping one another, but all about the same subject. Who were they, and what had happened. Making their way over to the counter they found a small woman in a gold uniform behind it. She seemed to be a mix of species and was flustered at getting a bit pot of broth ready for the rest of the people gathered in the mess.
"Hello, have you had any word on what is happening yet?" Kathryn enquired as the woman turned to her, with a scowl on her face.
"Does it look like I am the comm panel, why don't you try him." B'Elanna said pointing over at Chacotay, who seemed to have several people standing around him.
"Well have to start somewhere I guess." Kathryn said but she felt Tom's hand on her arm.
"I am not sure about him, I didn't like the way he looked at you." Tom hissed under his breath, and Kathryn had to agree. She was however not going to voice that out loud, for all she knew, Tom had been in her quarters to borrow a cup of sugar.
"Right now for all we know he is the Captain of this ship, and we are crew members, I think a little discretion is in order here." Kathryn said removing herself from Tom's grip and moving forward. She felt Tom follow her, she knew he would, and for a brief moment she was glad.
"So it's agreed, I will go to the bridge and see what they have found out." Chacotay finished as the petite woman he had met earlier approached. There was something about her, the way she carried herself maybe, or the look in her eyes, but something drew him to her. She looked up at him now and inclined her head.
"Would you mind some company, surely it would be safer than going alone." Kathryn asked as Tom also nodded his head from behind her and smiled sweetly at Chacotay. He wasn't especially pleased that the tall blonde haired man wanted to come along also, but Chacotay had no reason to forbid him to do so. This was a strange situation, none of them knew who, or why they were hear, and right now, having someone along for the journey would be prudent.
"Yes sure I think that would be a good idea." Chacotay finally replied as a sharp bang made them all jump.
"Damm it, stupid thing." B'Elanna exclaimed from behind the hatch as she picked up a tool kit from behind the counter and began fixing the broken burner.
"You know how to fix that?" Kathryn said running over to the woman and peering over the counter.
"Of course I, wait a minute. Yeah I just picked this up and began using it, didn't even occur to me." B'Elanna said now staring down at the instrument. She had no idea what it was called, or even her own name, but she knew what it did, and how to fix the burner.
"Very strange, we should report this." Kathryn said now moving towards the doors, followed by Chacotay and Tom, the three of them exited the mess hall and made their way to the turbo lift.
=/\=
Tuvok was monitoring the surrounding space while Harry worked on the computer. Nothing had come into sensor range so far, but Tuvok couldn't shake his uneasy feeling. It wasn't just the fact that none of them remembered who they were, but how it was so selective, they all possessed the knowledge of how the ship worked, they all could operate the systems, and yet they still had no idea who they were. His thoughts were interrupted by the Doctor coming back onto the bridge. He certainly seemed to be the Captain, his rank insignia also suggested this, the question now was who were the rest of them.
Getting on to the turbo lift Kathryn stood between the two men, she felt so small, they both stood almost a head taller than her, and yet she felt like she was the biggest person in the small lift. Silence had fallen among them, Kathryn's thoughts turned to how this had all started, she had been in the blonde man's arms, she was sure of it. She wondered about their relationship, wondered if she had forgotten something special, and felt a pang of regret. Looking at him now she offered him a smile before the turbo lift stopped and to doors opened. Stepping out on to the bridge Kathryn for the briefest of moments felt like she was coming home.
"Can I help you?" The Doctor said coming over to them as they spread out across the deck.
"We were hoping we could get some information, we have about fifty very confused people down in the mess hall." Chacotay said as the Doctor nodded and walked them over to the control panel Harry was working on.
"How is it going?" The Doctor asked as Harry turned to him.
"Computer please display crew manifest."
"The file is incomplete, only senior staff assignments are available." The computer replied as Harry turned to the Doctor and shrugged.
"Guess it's better than nothing." Harry said asking the computer to display manifest.
"Commanding officer, Captain Doc Roberto, Executive officer Commander Jeff Anderson, Second officer Lt Commander Chacotay, Third officer Lt Commander Kathryn Janeway. Chief tactical officer Lt Commander Tuvok, Chief engineer Lt B'Elanna Torres, chief medical officer, Lt Tomas Paris."
Everyone looked around, the Doctor looked at each member of his crew now and quickly familiarised himself with their names.
"Well at least we know who we are now, maybe I should bring you up to speed with the mission we are supposed to be on." The Doctor said turning to the three people who had just arrived on the bridge.
"Yes I think that would be a good idea, also I think there is something you should know." Kathryn said as she followed their Captain into what looked like some kind of private room.
"Yes what is it?" The Doctor said turning to Kathryn now, who was feeling a little awkward at being out of uniform.
"Umm your chief engineer, well she is currently cooking dinner in the mess hall."
TBC...
I am hoping to put some funny moments into this, please let me know if you would like for me to continue, all suggestions welcomed. Thanks for reading XxX