Intuition

A/N: Originally posted in May 2014. No J/C! What a shocker!

Original A/N: This was written for my first VAMB 'Secret Spring Drabble' exchange as a present to Froot, who provided the excellent first line, and wanted Tuvok included somehow.

Suddenly, everyone died.

If not for the violence, it would have seemed almost balletic to Tuvok. He watched from his post as the first attack ripped into the hull. The energy from the blast tore through Voyager's conduits, venting its rage through every console until the recycled air around him was full of fume and fury.

Commander Chakotay was the first to die. It would have been the Captain, but her first officer saw the burst of energy coming for her just a second before it hit. He lunged in her direction, dragging her out of her chair and to the floor, taking the strike in the small of his back so that she did not take it full in the chest. The smell of his burning flesh added to the acrid odour in the room. Tuvok saw Janeway roll Chakotay's weight off her, turning him over, knowing already that he was gone.

Lieutenant Paris was next, as helm was reduced to a twist of splintered, smouldering wreckage that cut him to pieces with its unforgiving shrapnel. Voyager mourned her pilot's death by plunging herself into a nosedive, surging forward at impulse towards nothing and beyond.

Ensign Kim was next to the grave. Tuvok had the sense that the young man had been shouting across the bridge at him, but whatever words Harry had been trying to form were engulfed by the noise of their ship coming apart at the seams. Kim was caught a glancing blow by one of the bridge's power lines. It crashed from the ceiling, torn asunder by the last blast, sparking and cartwheeling like a firework. It sliced through Harry like a knife through butter, and then died itself, taking with it every illumination except the emergency lighting.

Janeway was still on her feet, staggering toward the secondary helm, which had been abandoned by the death of the Ensign whose post it had previously been. She spun the chair, planting herself in it, her whole body shuddering with the force of Voyager's death throes. She turned her head to look at him, shouting, shouting, shouting, but he couldn't hear her. He watched, silent, unmoving, as another crackle of energy exploded out of her console. It skewered the Captain through her midsection with enough force to lift her out of her seat and deposit her, lifeless, halfway back to her command chair.

It had taken less than two minutes for everyone around him to die in an attack that none of them had seen coming.

"Tuvok?"

The Vulcan blinked. Captain Janeway was sitting at her post, twisted around so she could face him from where she sat. Tom Paris was doing the same, as was Commander Chakotay. The security chief glanced towards Ops and saw Harry Kim looking at him with raised eyebrows.

Tuvok had the sense that he'd been asked a question, but about what he could not have said if his life had depended on the answer.

"Tuvok?" the Captain asked again, a frown on her face. "Everything all right?"

He looked down at his console. There were no alarms going off, no lights blinking. Everything was normal. Except that it wasn't. It couldn't be.

He'd just watched them all die.

Janeway was on her feet now, walking up the steps towards him. Behind her on the viewscreen was a large spatial anomaly and this sight of it sparked a memory. It had appeared on sensors some time ago and the Captain had decided to investigate. They were holding position while they waited for Astrometrics to complete their various scans.

How had he forgotten that?

Janeway was now standing directly in front of him, looking at him over his console with her face full of concern.

"Tuvok?" she asked, again. "Are you unwell?"

He cleared his throat. "Apologies, Captain," he said. "I was simply… distracted for a moment."

Janeway looked doubtful. "If so, it'd be a first," she observed.

Tuvok glanced down at the readings on his screen. According to every sweep Voyager's sensors had conducted, the anomaly did not exist.

"Our scans are not detecting the anomaly, Captain," he reported, in a steadier voice than he was expecting. "It is possible that its composition is unknown to our sensors."

Janeway turned, leaning her back against his console as she regarded the large, dark mass on the screen in front of them. "Well," she said, in a tone of voice that told Tuvok exactly what was coming next, "I don't know about the rest of you, but that just made me a whole lot more curious. Mr Paris, take us a little closer. One half impulse."

"One half impulse, aye Captain," Paris acknowledged, keying the commands into helm. Voyager edged forwards.

Nausea swept through Tuvok like a wave. He gripped the edge of his post. "Captain-" he began, and then stopped.

Janeway turned. "Yes, Tuvok?"

"I do not believe we should take the ship any closer to the anomaly."

"Oh? Why not?" she asked, moving around the console to stand at his side, where she is able to see exactly the same readings that he can. "There doesn't seem to be anything to worry about."

The Vulcan remained silent, unsure how to respond. For a moment he struggled to verbalise his concerns, but failed. Janeway placed a hand on his forearm, and he looked down into his friend's worried eyes.

"You're scaring me, Tuvok," she said, her words low enough that only he could hear. "What is it, old friend?"

What could he say? That he'd had some kind of premonition? That for some reason, he had a bad feeling about the anomaly? He was Vulcan. Such an admission was anathema to his very being. He didn't have this kind of experience.

"I… have no scientific basis for this, Captain…"

She put one hand on her hip, watching him intently, her head tipped to one side. "But?"

He swallowed. "I do not believe we should remain in the vicinity of this anomaly. I certainly do not believe that we should… explore it."

Janeway regarded him for what seemed like an age. She glanced at his console again, which still showed no cause for alarm. Then she nodded, flashing him a brief smile.

"All right. Let's skip this one, shall we?" She stepped away from him and turned toward the viewscreen, on which the anomaly was looming, slowly growing larger and larger in their sights. "Full stop, Mr Paris." Voyager gracefully slid to a standstill. "Resume our course to the Alpha Quadrant, Warp Four," Janeway ordered. "When you're ready, Tom."

As Voyager jumped to warp, Tuvok saw Paris glance towards the secondary helm, sharing a brief look with the Ensign seated there. The Ensign that, Tuvok somehow believed, would have been dead had they got any closer to whatever that anomaly was successfully hiding.

When he shifted his gaze again, he realised Janeway was watching him carefully.

"All right?" she asked, quietly.

The nausea had passed. "Yes, Captain. Thank you."

She held up a hand, dismissing his thanks. "No need, Tuvok. Why don't you join me for dinner later? We'll talk then."

He nodded. Janeway smiled and patted his arm before adding, quietly, "Intuition, Tuvok. It's saved me more than once. I'd be a fool to dismiss yours."

He appreciated her reassurance. More than that, he appreciated her trust.

[END]