Title: Into The Future
Author: Twiki99
Date Posted: January 2012
Rating: K
Codes: T. Paris
Archive: Here anywhere else. Please ask first
Disclaimer: Paramount and Viacom own Star Trek and all Characters of Star Trek. The story is mine. I am not making a dime on this. I am doing this and other stories for purely mine and others enjoyment.
Summary: When Voyager discovers a wormhole that might lead them home, They find that there is more to the wormhole than they expected. Feedback is welcome.

Chapter One

The Alpha shift had been quite boring and all who were on the bridge were very quiet. Even Tom had been silent over the last hour, not even cracking one joke. It was just so unusual. The Captain had retired to her ready room over two hours ago and now Chakotay was wishing he could find an excuse to join her. He sat there in the big chair and watched the back of Tom's head as he flew the grand lady. He turned his head and looked over to Harry, who was busy checking the long range sensors. The only one on the bridge that seem normal was Tuvok, who was obviously enjoying the absence of Tom's banter. Chakotay realized that he missed the lively chatter on the bridge. It made for a much better day. This somber atmosphere was for the gamma shift, he decided.

They had been traveling through an uneventful part of space and had not so much as met any space faring race in over six months. They hadn't even come upon any inhabited planet for so long he was beginning to think they were the only people in this sector. He turned back to the front and watched the stars that were streaking by. He sighed and continued to look at the view screen.

Suddenly, Harry spoke up

"Commander, long range sensors have picked up an anomaly bearing 354 mark 12 . It may be a wormhole."

Chakotay perked up and turned to Ensign Kim and said

"Can you verify it is a wormhole?"

Harry was busy with the readings and didn't immediately answer but then he looked up and said

"Not at this distance, we would need to get closer to it."

Chakotay nodded and then tapped his communicator and said

"Chakotay to the Captain, we have picked up reading on long range sensors that may be a wormhole."

Within seconds, the Captain came out of her ready room and joined them on the bridge. Chakotay got up from the big chair and moved to his own as the Captain came up behind Tom and gently laid her hand on his shoulder. It was something she did when she was concentrating on the issue at hand. He was use to it and derived a sense of comfort from the gesture. She stood for a moment without moving, just staring out the view port before she turned and said to Harry

"Mr Kim, what do we have?"

"It's an anomaly that could be a wormhole, but at this distance, the sensors are not giving out much information on it."

She turned and looked at Chakotay and a mutual understanding passed between them. After a moment, she again turned towards Tom and said

"Mr Paris, change course towards the anomaly warp six, lets see what's out there."

"Yes ma'am"

The anticipation on the bridge jump a thousand fold as they knew they were on their way to see something new. Tom gracefully banked Voyager to the new course and she smoothly gained speed as he upped the engines to warp six.

It had been three hours since they had changed course and Tom estimated that it would be another half hour till they reached the co-ordinates of the anomaly. As he sat at the Conn, he let his mind drift a bit. Was it a stable wormhole and where did it lead? They had come across several ones since they were in the DQ, but either they were not stable,or lead no where near home. Not that he really wanted to get back to the AQ, he had nothing to go home to, but he knew the crew were missing their families and friends. But his home was here, on Voyager, and even though he considered the crew his family, he hoped this wormhole prove to be stable and lead to the AQ for the crew's sake.

He turned slightly in his chair and looked at his best friend. Harry, whom he thought of as his little brother. He knew that he wanted to get home very badly and now he was very intent on his readings. He hoped for Harry's sake, they would. His thoughts turned to the Captain and Chakotay and wondered what they were thinking. If they got home, would they finally act on their feeling for each other? The whole crew knew that they had a special relationship and Tom wondered when they would admit it to themselves. He smiled to himself and moved his thoughts to their stoic resident Vulcan. Was Tuvok looking forward to getting back home? He knew the Vulcan missed his family. He then shifted to B'Elanna and he got a warm feeling in his chest as he thought about the chief engineer. Their friendship had come a long way since this voyage had begun. Some of the crew had begun to call B'Elanna, Harry and himself the three Musketeers as they seemed to spend a lot of their off duty time together in Sandrine's.

His thoughts were interrupted when Harry said

"Captain, we should be close enough to send out a probe."

Kathryn turned to Harry and said

"Launch the probe, Mr Kim"

His fingers played over his console and then he announced

"The probe has been launch, and we should have the readings back in three minutes."

They all waited for the first readings and when they came, it took Harry only a few moments to get an idea of what they were approaching.

"Captain it is indeed a wormhole, but..."

He paused a moment to look intently at the readouts. When he looked up again he said

"I can't determined where it leads from the data the probe is sending back, we need to get closer to send a probe through it to see where it leads."

Kathryn nodded and turned to Tom and said

"Mr Paris how long till we get there?"

Tom checked his console and then turned in his seat and said

"At this speed we should be there in twelve minutes."

She nodded and said

"Drop us to impulse just before we arrive."

xxx

The senior staff were all assembled in the conference room as they went over the data they had gathered about the wormhole over the last three days. Voyager had hung in space ten thousand kilometers from the wormhole and in that time, it had seemed stable, but they had discovered its other end had opened up still in the DQ. It seemed that it was a sort of shortcut, the other end approximately ten years further on. It would only cut ten years off their journey. But that was ten years closer to home. Their biggest problem was the opening on this side was too small for a ship the size of Voyager to fit through. They were now trying to figure out a way to enlarge it, but every idea they had come up with had been discarded as not feasible.

Now Tom was sitting in his usual seat listening to Tuvok and Chakotay go over for the hundredth time a plan that he knew would work.

"Commander, the entrance is too small for what you are proposing. If we tried to take Voyager through and it even touched the sides of the wormhole, it could collapse and we would be crushed."

Tuvok said in his calm tone. Chakotay brought his hand down hard on the conference table and said with frustration in his tone

"Damn it Tuvok, we need to try something! We've been sitting hear arguing things that may happen, we need a plan on how to increase the opening so we could take Voyager in!"

Tuvok was not taken aback by the commander's outburst, but the others were. Chakotay was always considered the voice of reason and now he seemed to be losing his patience with the stoic Vulcan. Tuvok just raised an eyebrow and continued

"We don't even know if the exit is larger or smaller. If smaller, it would be very dangerous to try."

The area of the entrance was emitting what seemed to be waves of energy that had started only two days ago and seemed to be increasing that made it unwise to take Voyager closer until it was determined exactly what the waves were. The Captain was not going to put her ship and crew in jeopardy. Kathryn was about to call a halt to the meeting and just continue on as this seemed to be a dead end when Tom spoke up

"Captain, I think I know how we can get close enough to check it out."

He looked up at her as she said

"What's your idea, Tom?"

"Well, I've been thinking about this since yesterday, Voyager can't get any closer till we figure out exactly what those energy waves are, but I think with a little modifications on the shields of the flyer, I could get close enough to get some readings and maybe get a good look at the wormhole and send back those readings to Voyager."

The entire room now focused on the pilot as he continued

"I believe that with the proper modifications to the shields that I can get close enough to the entrance to get some needed data. All we would need to do is boost the gain on the shield modulation and it would give the shields a sixty five percent boost in power."

Now B'Elanna was nodding in agreement and already the wheels were turning in her brain as she began to work on the problem. It could work. She looked at the Captain and waited for her reply. Captain Janeway looked at both her helmsman and chief engineer and saw the look of anticipation on both of their faces. She hoped this would work, because if not then they would be leaving and continuing on their way.

"How long would it take to modify the shields?"

Tom looked at B'Elanna and she thought for a moment

"At least two hours Captain...maybe less if Tom lends a hand."

Kathryn only paused for a moment before saying

"Okay get on it, we will try it, but if it doesn't work we will be continuing on our way."

They all knew that the captain had made up her mind.

XXX

Tom had just pulled himself out from under the console and stood to look at the readouts of the shield strength. They had been able to boost the strength by about fifty percent but no higher. It would just have to do.

"Well, I think that's about the best we can do with it"

Tom said as he wiped the sweat off his brow. B'Elanna nodded and replied

"They should protect the Flyer from those waves of energy, but I'm still worried about the aft sensors. They don't seem quiet right."

She looked at her friend and sighed as she continued

"Tom, be careful out there, don't do anything foolish, just get the data and get back here okay?"

He looked at her and grinned and said

"What... me foolish?"

She grinned back and playfully shoved him with her shoulder. They had been friends now for over a year and that friendship had started to develop into a deeper relationship. Tom had begun to think that maybe it could become something more.

"Don't worry Lanna, I'll be careful. Hopefully I can get some interesting data and we'll be able to find a way to use that little baby out there."

He tapped his communicator and said

"Paris to the bridge, Captain we're done and I'm getting ready to launch"

Kathryn Janeway's voice came back and said

"Very well, Mr Paris The energy waves are starting to increase so make this a quick trip."

He climbed into the Flyer and began his prelaunch as B'Elanna moved to the door of the shuttle bay. She was still worried about this and in the back of her mind, had a bad feeling that something was going to go bad. She finally, as the shuttle lifted off and cleared the bay doors, shook that feeling off. Tom was the best pilot and he seemed to have nine lives just like a cat.

Xxx

Tom was less than two hundred kilometers from the opening of the wormhole and was having trouble keeping his distance. The energy waves were buffeting the shuttle and he was having trouble holding it steady. But he was almost finished. He'd been out there for close to an hour and he had gotten a lot of readings that had automatically been sent to Voyager. He had just scanned the opening again when he heard a burst of static and the broken up transmission from Voyager. It was the Captain but he was finding it hard to filter out the static. Her words came in fragmented

"Big...coming...Tom... Voy..."

He wasn't sure what she was saying so he tried to boost the gain and he said

"Captain you're coming in but not clearly. I've just about finished. Will be done in a couple of minutes."

As he sent the message, he heard a loud blast of static. Her voice came back sounding very urgent, but the only thing he heard other than the static was Tom now. He quickly checked the sensor readings and saw the large wave of energy coming towards him. He check to see if the last data coming in to Voyager had been received and saw it would take just a few more moments to complete. He quickly decided to wait that extra few seconds to complete it and again said

"Captain just a few more moments almost done then I will be back... Open the doors for me"

He didn't know that what they heard was Cap...almost...back...doors... He checked the sensors and saw two things...his data was complete and a big...very big wave was almost upon him. He began scrabbling to get the Flying out of the way, but it was too late. The wave hit him with a jolt and knocked him out of his seat and onto the floor. Momentary he felt as if he was going to pass out, but he was able to regain his seat and what he saw was something he didn't expect. Swirling gasses and colors all around the shuttle and he had the feeling of speed. He defiantly was not where he had been only moments ago. What he didn't know was that everyone on the bridge stood and watched in horror as the mouth of the wormhole had literally open and had seem to swallow the flyer and Tom and then had completely dissipated. Tom was gone.

TBC

A/N Sorry I should have reviewed before I posted. I have corrected the mistakes and hope it makes better sense now. :)