DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction based upon Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry. It uses characters and ideas specificly from Star Trek: Voyager, all of which belong to their respective owners. I do not claim any ownership over them, or the universe itself. This story was created for entertainment purposes only, I do not make a dime on it.

Author's Note: My story takes place nearly 5 years into Voyager's journey back to Earth. This is my first attempt at writing a fanfic or even anything considerable, I hope you enjoy...

A sharply painted vessel is speeding across the darkness of space in its own little bubble of subspace. Its design is slick, exorbitant, almost as if it was meant to fly in an atmosphere. Its top and bottom sides are protected by an identical layer of thick armor. A crescent shape is dominating the ship's look, its bridge protected by its arms. Two large and four smaller barrels are protruding from each side of the heart of the ship, indicating immense firepower. Both ends of the crescent are painted as they were tentacles of a large beast, the bridge area's darker hull is splattered with a vibrant red, as if it was blood. While its looks are mean and almost frightening, its overall size is not. It probably can't hold more than a dozen crew members, however its curved belly grants substantial cargo space and enough room for engines to power its oversized weapons, and equally oversized V-shaped impulse thrusters on the stern.

It is flying toward an area of space regarded as the Coveted Expanse. In the center, a vast nebula, remarkable for its unremarkable haze of grey clouds seemingly stretching into infinity. Nebulae are usually brightly colored with intricate shapes, this one just looks like a colorless deep fog in the middle of the black of space. One wonders if the bottomless darkness is more unsettling, or a treacherous opaque cloud like "The Grey" as the locals call it. Locals in this case is a very wide term. The Grey is incredibly vast, spanning several sectors of space, and nearly every habitable star system around it belongs to a different state or empire or confederacy. All of them attracted by the Grey. Apparently it contains countless planetary bodies, nodules of gas rich in some of the rarest elements and compounds any space faring race strives for. The battle for its control has been ongoing for hundreds of years now, while a simple fact hasn't really changed: it is almost impossible for any kind of vessel to survive inside it, empires have fallen on the notion that there is in fact nothing inside, and battling for territorial control is pointless. Stories and tales of successful incursions however are much catchier, keeping entire interplanetary realms at each other's throats for control over the nebula.

The current situation is quieter than usual, most of the warring forces are at a temporary truce, no doubt trying out new technologies to exploit the riches inside the wedge of the Grey they currently control, and massing forces for the next round of bloodletting. To some locals, this may be the most exciting of times, the time for stealth, infiltration and espionage, trying to catch a glimpse of what others are doing near or inside the nebula, while preventing everyone else from doing the same to them. The Coveted Expanse is home to a different kind of locals as well, a kind, which respects no flag or cause but their own: bandits and pirates. Over time, it was inevitable for some of the warring states to forge alliances and create factions, giving incentive for trade of practically everything one can think of, from basic alloys and resources to precious artifacts from far away planets, not to mention workforce, as in slavery. The astounding amount of soldiers stationed in the region need establishments to relax and blow off steam, this need sprouted a large number of more or less shady space stations throughout the Expanse. Stations, where even people who are enemies on the fronts can share the happy fun times of adultery and drinking, where traders can strike deals between even the most hostile factions. Pirating is not the easiest of jobs, even with trade ships filled with plunder available in abundance, as there are just as many warships around, and nobody likes pirates. Privateering is the favorite past time of old military captains, they can at least enjoy the support of their own faction. But no self-respecting pirate would ever make a deal with any power, as far as they are concerned privateers are worse than buccaneers, the ships tasked with specifically targeting pirate vessels to protect traders and honest citizens, regardless of their home state.

The crescent-shaped starship is currently quite far away from The Grey, flying towards it at faster than light speeds. The mood seems to be sleepy and calm on the bridge, the female in the center seat has her feet up on the panels in front of her, very busy clicking and swiping the small handheld console in her lap. Quiescent music is playing, the others are either lost in looking at their displays, or chatting, or sleeping, laying about in their chairs, hands locked in front and their mouths open. They are all wearing very stylish, richly decorated plugsuits complete with armor-like shoulderplates, belts and panels. Most of the attires are different from one another, but each follows a similar theme of black base with orange and red ornaments. They all seem to be quite the characters, different races, different knick-knacks on or around their station. The interior design sports a slick and high-tech look as well, with holographic displays and touchscreens all around, however luxurious extras can be found too: compartments for snacks and drinks, over sized chairs with large plush puffs for perfect comfort at every station. The woman playing in the center is wearing a delicately painted blindfold over her eyes, while at the same time seems to be staring intently at the small gadget in her hands. A young fellow wearing headphones with a holographic near-eye display is about to break the idyll.

- "Captain!" - he says in a quiet tone. Since there is no answer he tries again after a few seconds, slightly louder - "Captain!" - Some of the others are now turning their heads curiously, but the captain is still lost in her game. The man tries again, this time even the ones asleep wake up - "CAPTAIN!?"

- "What?" - arrives the much anticipated answer from the woman in the center seat without her shifting at all.

- "The Eye is detecting an unidentified vessel in Sector 12-delta-10." - after a few moments of pause another answer from the still very disinterested woman in the center.

- "So identify it..."

- "I can't Captain, its configuration doesn't match anything in the database, it isn't even similar." - The captain pulls her eyebrows up, but remains focused on the handheld device.

- "What's it like?"

- "It's a small vessel, like a shuttlecraft, the hull seems to be made mostly of tetrabrunium" - at this point the eyebrows go even further up - "the vessel is quite far away from the Eye but according to sensory data; several of its systems have Borg signatures present." - the woman's hands seem to be slowing down and her brows lift even further.

- "But it's not a Borg ship?" - the man shakes his head, scratches his forehead, and stares upward in wonder all at the same time then says:

- "I don't think so, it looks way too small and well drawn for that." - the woman is still captivated by the handheld console.

- "Are you suggesting that Borg vessels are ugly?" - she says with a faint smile.

- "Not ugly per se, but certainly n..." - the woman tilts her head backwards letting out an enormous sigh while all her fingers stop moving. After a pause she throws the tablet on the console in front of her, rests her elbows on it too, adjusts her blindfold and stares at the large viewport at the front of the room while resting her head on her hands.

- "Put it on screen." - she says with some contempt in her voice.

The man presses a few buttons on the panels in front of him. The ship that appears on the central screen is the Delta Flyer - the one-of-a-kind shuttlecraft of Voyager; designed here in the delta quadrant.

- "Tetrabrunium is ineffective against the effects of the Grey" - says the woman, as if she would just be thinking out loud, staring at the display through her blindfold - "It certainly isn't Borg though." - Everyone on the bridge enunciates in agreement, some of them seem quite indifferent, some of them intrigued, all of them staring. The captain breaks the short silence:

- "Have the Eye perform a pinpointed high reso..." - she is interrupted by our man with the headphones.

- "Already done, Captain." - the woman is apparently less than amused by getting interrupted.

- "And?" - she mutters dryly. The man starts while scratching his stubble:

- "Parametallic hull plating, definitely Borg inspired shield systems, and weapons as well... The warp nacelles are retractable..."

- "That's very useful indeed.." - adds the woman with a sneer.

- "The ship's navigation and sensor systems could be quite advanced, and overall, I have to say, it seems nothing like..." -

- "The rusty garbage barges the Kiridians call starships, or the bulky hunks of metal the Hukits design.." - fills in the man in the frontal seat closest to the display smirking.

- "How far are we?" - the Captain asks.

- "Given their trajectory and speed, we could approach them within two hours." - answers the man at the helm again.

After a short pause, the captain gives her orders:

- "We will take a closer look, Tinman, adjust course to intercept, engage at maximum warp. Blondie," - our man with the headphones is blond - "deploy a subspace dispersion field in front of us, but keep us at full power output, I don't want our precious cargo to spoil" - her tone would suggest the cargo is not food - "switch all sensors to passive. Sly, advise the mothership of our delay, I'm not interested in their reply."

- "You hear that Tinman? Passive sensors won't detect we are flying straight into a rock at these speeds in time!" - Blondie remarks while smiling wickedly.

- "Maybe I should've double checked my calculations then..." - says the man with a wide grin on his face, as the unmistakeable roar of the twin warp engines fill the room again, after the course change.

The captain grabs her handheld console, smiling as she leans back in her chair, as the rest of the crew return to what they were doing before, although more of them seem to be busy with their stations than before.

- "Captain, long range sensors indicate a vast nebula stretching directly across our path." - Tuvok breaks the silence on Voyager's bridge.

- "What kind of nebula?" - Janeway replies.

- "Sensory data is inconclusive" - Harry joins the conversation from the science station - "We are still very far away."

- "How far away?"

- "Depending on our activities, and whether we rendezvous with the Delta Flyer on schedule" - Tuvok puts a suggestive emphasis on those words - "about a week. The reason I mention this now captain, is that sensory data is not just inconclusive, it is highly inconsistent as well. Given the apparent size of the phenomena, I believe we should make every effort to study it before we get too much closer."

- "How is Seven coming along with the maintenance of the astrometrics laboratory?" - asks the Captain, since the astrometric sensors would be the only thing capable of thoroughly studying the nebula from this distance.

- "According to her latest report," - Commander Chakotay interjects - "the work is delayed due to unforeseen incompatibilities arising with several other ship systems, she's been putting off her regeneration cycle for 20 straight hours, so I ordered her to sleep about an hour ago. Aaand..." - Chakotay continues with a more suggestive tone - "B'Elanna and half the engineering crew are none too pleased with the projected changes to said systems."

Captain Janeway shuts her eyes in sympathy - "Well if you think this nebula is so interesting you are both welcome to help them getting astrometrics back online as soon as possible, but please," - Janeway raises her head with her eyes opening wide - "let's not have the whole ship rewired for a few extra performance percentages this time."

- "I understand Captain." - says Harry laughing, as he walks to join Tuvok in the turbolift.

Laughter fills the cockpit of the Delta Flyer as they are making their way toward the next inhabited star system they were supposed to seek out. Their ship is already full of all kinds of goods and resources from the quite successful trades they have completed on their mission so far. The ones responsible can't help but boast about their obviously considerable talent at trading and making a good impression on all kinds of alien races. They've just finished reciting a story of one of their earlier exploits to the third crew member on board, Ensign Gates. She was a young officer fresh out of Starfleet Academy when she was posted on Voyager. Instead of going back to the Academy after her first assignment was completed, she is now stuck in the Delta Quadrant with everyone else. She aspired to become an expert on gaseous formations in space, precisely why she was thrilled to have her application accepted to a mission to the Badlands. It is a region of space known for its intense plasma storms and gravitational anomalies, created by the various gases and their energy fields in the Alpha Quadrant. Voyager was originally sent there to flush out the Maquis resistance from the plethora of hiding places the Badlands offered by its very nature, while at the same time studying the wide range of phenomena occurring within. Things got off to a good start, until a massive energy wave abducted both the USS Voyager, and the Val Jean, a maquis raider, transporting them to the Delta Quadrant. Jennifer Gates was among the crew members hardest hit by the Captain's decision to destroy the array. The original mission wasn't without its risks either, but it was on the border of Federation space, close to home. It would've been a shorter assignment as well, not one leaving her a very old woman at the end of it, if she is lucky enough to witness its conclusion at all. Over the years she learned to cope with the situation - not that she had much choice - and fair's fair the Delta Quadrant has its share of exciting gaseous formations, ones that no other human has ever layed eyes on. She tagged along with Tom Paris and Neelix on this trading adventure with the Delta Flyer as their projected trajectory would take them close to an unusually small nebula, and several supermassive gas giants, which for some reason have foregone becoming a star. Seven, who helped design the shuttle was pleased, that the ship will be used for something scientific as well even if she is not there on this excursion, instead of only serving as a bro-cave for Paris and Neelix and their antics.

Gates tried to laugh at the appropiate times during the endless storytelling, but most of her attention was fixated on the readings of the 'Gascanner' the newest addition to the Delta Flyer's sensor array. Although few appreciated the name she has given her own design, the capabilities of it certainly merited praise. The scanner was capable of mapping the exact movements and states of different atoms and molecules within a gas cloud, allowing for a much more in-depth analysis of the different quantum and energy fields projected by them. In practice this would help locating any element or compound within a nebula, even if its only present in minuscule amounts, and would also help traversing nebulae, which have dangerous or even critical effects to the vessel inside by providing the best possible approximation of the relatively safest path across. Her creation was too small for proper testing in Voyager's array, but it is proving to be a perfect addition to the Delta Flyer.

Jennifer is envisioning her glorious report about her tests and findings, how she will be standing in front of the entire senior crew, illustrating the finer points of her creation, however the good natured chatter takes a turn for the serious:

- "Lieutenant, I'm picking up something..." - Neelix is as professional at voicing his onboard activities as ever.

- "Care to elaborate on 'something' Neelix?" - asks Tom with a chuckle.

- "Sensors are detecting a wide range of directed energy radiation, but there's nothing around here that would be able to create them..." - Neelix says as he tilts his head and narrows his eyes, looking at his screens. The expression on the Lieutenants face changes to a more serious one, his tone is collected and lower as well:

- "Yeah, I see it too..." - he pauses to punch commands into the panels around him - "I can't pinpoint their source. Any ideas Gates?" - he turns to the Ensign at the ops station, trying to play off his complete cluelessness as a test for the Ensign.

- "I, uh..." - Jennifer is glancing through the sensory data after waking from her fantasy - "I think we are being scanned" - she guesses rather unsure of its validity.

- "Perhaps, but..." - Tom is interrupted by a massive shock on the shuttle throwing Neelix out of his chair, Gates and himself into their consoles. Several alarms go off as the unevenly stacked cargo hold causes the ship to roll, the force is too strong for the inertial dampeners to cancel the effect. After the first rush of dizziness goes away he hears the woman yelling:

- "We have been thrown out of warp!" - the Lieutenant shakes his head and forces himself to take in the data appearing on his screens before turning around to assess the situation of his crew. Neelix is apparently hurt and on the ground, Gates squatting next to him trying to help him back up.

- "Everyone alright?" - he yells out with a mixture of fright and worry on his face, as he tries to quickly determine the cause for the violent destruction of their subspace field, punching in commands on nearly every panel around him. Only a few seconds pass until his gaze gets fixated on the window in front of him. The sharp sound of the automatic proximity alerts go off at the same time, causing the two others to look out the window as well. They see a menacing vessel emerge from FTL speeds with the always astonishing effect of something flying faster than light suddenly slowing down, the ship appears out of nowhere, followed by a long trail of itself flying backwards in a blink of an eye. Every single automatic warning goes off in the flyer, the young Ensign has just enough time to lean up to Neelix's console and punch the controls for activating shields, just before the small energy bolts coming from the enemy vessel's bottom phaser array reach them.

- "Ten minutes from the unidentified shuttle Captain!" - Tinman shouts, waking everyone up on the bridge. This time the Captain doesn't waste a second, she puts down her gadget immediately activating all of her holographic displays and touchscreens in front of her. All other stations follow suit. They were unable to find out more about their target until now, since they wanted to come as a surprise, so things have continued to be quiet until these moments. Crewmates in the back of the room also shift to sit up straight in their seats, eager to take in whatever appears on their displays soon.

- "Reactivate the lateral sensor arrays, perform a full scan of the target!" - comes the order from the Captain in the center.

- "Should I deactivate the dispersal field?" - Blondie asks from the left. The Captain lets out a sigh and shifts in her chair as a means to project her annoyance at the man.

- "No, you should NOT deactivate the dispersal field, compensate for it!" - she barks harshly. Since her eyes are covered not much can be said about her facial expression, but she is obviously not appreciating the question. Blondie pulls his head in between his shoulders as much as he can and tries very hard to pretend he doesn't notice the Captain glaring at him.

- "It'll only take a moment.." - he says softly.

The Flyer appears on the center screen in a slightly distorted image, since both ships are at warp flying at each other, the computer has trouble compensating for the speed differential.

- "Guys!" - the Captain turns around with her chair toward the back, snapping her fingers - "Get in gear!" - Few minutes pass until the scanning protocols are ready, time is spent by some of the crew putting on a few extra gadgets and pieces of armor. The Captain leans to the side to get a bottle out of the side compartment of her station and gulps down a few mouthfuls. She herself stands up and fastens a utility belt packed with tools and weapons around her waist. She is tall, and due to her exquisite armor presents a commanding presence. The bandana over her eyes warrants a certain mystique, one can never feel at ease around her, it's as if she would be watching everyone at the same time, constantly. She has long, deep dark red hair combed backwards ending in straight spikes from the back of her neck till the middle of her back, as all of her hairs seem to be the exact same length. Her plugsuit and pieces of armor seem more intricate than anyone else's, with bold plates and richly detailed engravings glowing with orange hue. Others have buttons and other types of interfaces on their mounted gadgets, the Captain's attire is slick and seamless, apart from the orange patterns running across it. As she sits back down, Blondie's sweating face finally adapts a more relaxed expression.

- "Ready, scanning..." - he breaks the barely audible murmur of some of the other crew. Everyone's dedication to their screens is reinforced, to the Captain's right, the man sitting at tactical, starts calling out the Delta Flyer's various features in a deep, awe-inspiring voice:

- "Borg Unimatrix shield-generators... Borg-inspired frequency rotating phaser arrays... Photonic missiles..." - he raises his eyebrows and turns his head with apparent disbelief in what the scanners are telling him.

- "Parametallic hull plating," - Blondie continues with the listing - "delicate sensor array, trilithium fueled warp drive with a, uh plasma recycling mechanism..." - whispers of wonder and perplexity are heard form every direction of the room, everyone is guessing where a ship like this could've come from.

- "I want that ship." - the Captain's confident words interrupt their rambling. - "Program the secondary phaser battery to a rapidfire sequence with frequency rotation pattern beta." - she commands firmly with a completely emotionless face - "Fire as soon as we are out of warp. Prepare the primary array with the Warpbuster charge. Tinman, you're up."

Tinman sits at the helm, it's his job now to determine the perfect timing for the Warpbuster, a high powered phaser discharge designed specifically to destabilize and collapse the subspace field starships use to travel at faster than light speeds. The primary array is apparently powerful enough to create the charge in front of their own subspace bubble, leaving it unharmed. Confident in her crew the Captain steps away from her console, to the elevated area behind it, grabbing onto the railing. 3 other crew members join around her.

- "Battlestations!" - She calls out, the entire room shifts to a darker, reddish color. The men next to her put on their helmets, adjust their armor-mounted gadgets. The Captain turns her head toward the right.

- "They have 3 crew onboard, 2 towards the back, stations on each side, the pilot is sitting in the front." - says the man on the right, fixated on his screens - "Niryelle, I'm putting you behind him." - the Captain nods - "Tank, Vega, left and right" - the two men acknowledge with a deep hum - "Sly, you go in the back of the room, take a rifle."

- "Awww, why you hate me Boss?" - grunts the woman with a lean figure as she turns around to grab a large, twin barrelled gun, its seams lighting up with a red light as she picks it up.

- "No killing, I will be asking them questions" - says the Captain while adjusting her gloves - "This shuttle obviously belongs to a ship, we have little idea about the surrounding space, our cargo can't permit a serious confrontation." - her serious but well constructed words are almost out of character looking at the rest of them, especially Tank, he is a Hirogen, twice the size of anyone else and armored to the teeth - "That means NO FUCKUPS, stun all three immediately, Tank and Vega gets them out of there, Sly and I will stay and commandeer the ship. We fly back to the Pool, warp 8. Blondie, you make sure no-one will track us." - she looks around the room as she finishes.

- "Yes Sir!" - Blondie is almost yelling, while nodding at his screens. Variations of "Aye Aye", "Hell yeah", "Let's go" come from the rest of the crew.

- "3!" - Tinman yells out - "2! ..." - everyone says '1' in their heads, a moment later the man at tactical calmly presses a button. The Captain squeezes the railing she is holding as Tinman brings their ship out of warp a few seconds later, the Delta Flyer is directly in front of them, drifting helplessly.

- "Fire!" - Niryelle yells her command.

The Delta Flyer only had an emergency forcefield active due to the abrupt collapse of the subspace field. As the bright red energy balls of the attacker's phasers begin shooting towards it the unimatrix shielding takes over with a greenish flash around the vessel. Frequency rotating is a common strategy when firing directed energy weapons at forcefields, as full absorption only occurs when the frequencies dissonate. Frequency rotation pattern beta is a cunningly designed algorithm, as it is aware of the projectiles being fired and the way the shield will try to compensate, it prepares the constant stream of rapidly firing phaser discharges so that they create the maximum resonance before being absorbed, quickly overloading the shieldgenerators. The trick is to make the bombardment strong enough, so the shields are wrecked before a skilled tactical officer most likely present on the other vessel can configure their defenses according to the pattern. Currently the tactical officer on the Delta Flyer is Neelix, who wouldn't be able to do this even in a Holodeck simulation he prepares for, let alone in a rapidly deteriorating and real situation, while trying to get up from the floor.

Tom tries to initiate the impulse thrusters to move out of the way, but the beastly vessel easily compensates. Neelix finally returns to his seat but is unable to change the situation, the warp disruption and this sudden attack caught them completely off-guard. Jennifer lets out a few desperate whines trying to get hold of the situation from her console, while the Talaxian only manages to yell out with despair and dread:

- "Our shields are gone!"

Just as they would try to start at least thinking about what to do next, 4 hazy red beams appear in the room, quickly revealing 4 figures. Tom has been in similar situations before, he tries to greet whoever is boarding his ship with a firm right hook, but the attackers have become quite adept at their profession, their matter-energy transport technology allows the ones teleporting to be aware of their surroundings even before they fully materialize, the female figure blocks his blow and delivers her own unhindered. The orange studs on her gauntlet deliver a stunning shockwave as well, to make sure his fate is sealed. The massive Hirogen, Tank grabs Ensign Gates by the neck lifting her easily before pressing the girl against the wall next to her console. Tank remembers the Captain's firm notion about no fuckups, so he grinds his teeth and uses the stun gun in his other hand to knock out the girl, instead of enjoying her frightened look and pointless struggle, lest she mutters a verbal command or kicks her panel activating some sort of safety mechanism. Talaxians are a peaceful people, Neelix is in shock, and can only frantically raise his arms as this is all happening, and as his assailant is leaning in towards him. He closes his eyes before being knocked out by Vega.

The ship is quickly taken over, Sly pulled up her rifle only to lower it straight after.

- "Clear." - she says, with an annoyed frown on her face and apparent dissatisfaction in her voice.

- "Get them!" - Niryelle points at her victim while looking at Tank and the woman hanging in the air. She turns her head slightly upwards - "The ship is ours, report!"

The idea of a subspace dispersal field is to make the ship behind it traveling in an actual subspace field invisible to sensors. With this trick an approaching ship is disguised as random noise, unless being specifically scanned, the fact that there is a ship there stays hidden without too much extra effort. Using active scans however, could reveal the ship through other means, so as the pirates were flying in they only had passive sensor readings, they knew where they were going and what planets or stars are around, but not much else.

- "We are clear within a billion clicks Captain!" - Blondie's voice comes back through the attackers comms. - "A Kiridian trade convoy is approaching, but we are still out of their sensor range."

- "Let's keep it that way..." - Niryelle says softly as she sits down at the helm console - "Eliminate whatever trail this baby is leaving and follow us." - the Captain continues as she takes in the looks of her newest acquistion with a wicked smile. Tank and Vega begin to dematerialize together with the crew of the Delta Flyer in the same red haze.

- "Understood, nicely done." - Boss' deep voice comes through the comms.

Niryelle looks around from the chair, running her fingers over the panels, before she abruptly stops.

- "The hell..." - the Captain mutters as she leans back a bit, so Sly can see what she is looking at as well. Some of the controls at the helm of the Flyer are based on the 'Adventures of Captain Proton' holodeck simulation, which in turn is based on an ancient sci-fi work created in Earth's 20th century. As a result the controls for the engines are knobs and switches, even rods instead of the usual colorful touchpanels.

Sly makes a wide grin as she looks at them - "Good luck!" - she chuckles.

After a few minutes the two women get a hang for the controls, they had to transport some of the stuff off to their vessel, so the slightly damaged Delta Flyer could clear a stable speed of Warp 8. The crescent-shaped ship is using its deflector dish to disperse their warp trail as they both fly off towards the Grey.

...