Episode 1: Val Jean

"Damage report!" Chakotay looked out the viewscreen worriedly at the massive Cardassian vessel.

"Shields at sixty percent," said the Vulcan, Tuvok.

There was no way they were going to make it. The much smaller Maquis ship, Val Jean, was no match for the Cardassians. Their only hope was to escape into the Badlands. Would they be able to make it? If anyone could make it happen, B'Elanna Torres could. Chakotay couldn't count how many times the half-Klingon woman's engineering expertise had saved them.

The Badlands loomed ahead, plasma fields swirling dangerously. Just a little further. They had to take down their weapon systems to do it, but they made it, the old impulse engines straining all the while. Chakotay would have been more relieved about it if the Cardassians didn't keep pursuing. That was awfully bold of them. Normally they weren't quite this persistent.

And then, unexpectedly, a strange wave of energy struck the ship, and everything faded to white for a moment. The ship lurched, sending the crew tumbling as the inertial dampeners struggled to compensate.

Once things settled down, Chakotay stared at the viewscreen. They were not in the Badlands anymore. There was an alien space station of some sort nearby, sending off energy pulses in one direction.

"Where the hell are we?" Chakotay wondered.

"If these sensor readings are accurate, we are currently seventy thousand lightyears away from our previous position," Tuvok said. "It is, however, entirely possible that they have been damaged."

"Wherever we are, we're not in Kansas any longer," Ayala commented.

"We were not initially in Kansas regardless," Tuvok replied.

"Damn Vulcans," Ayala muttered.

"The array appears to be scanning us," Tuvok said.

And then, the ship around them vanished. They found themselves standing in what appeared to be a farm, with corn growing tall and ponies grazing.

Ayala blinked in puzzlement. "Okay, maybe we are in Kansas after all."

"No, Ayala," Tuvok said, checking a tricorder. "We are inside the array."

The illusion was welcoming, and the people were friendly, but none of it was real. Something was wrong here. Something was very wrong.

Janeway paced about her ready room on board Voyager worriedly. Her old friend and current security chief, Tuvok, hadn't reported in from his undercover assignment with the Maquis. Had they caught him out and executed him as a Starfleet spy?

The Maquis were troublesome. She had some sympathy for them, but still considered them to be criminals and terrorists. It wasn't like she was overly fond of the Cardassians herself, but the Maquis simply went too far.

And now she'd just recruited another criminal, Tom Paris, to try to help find the ship Tuvok had been on. It takes a thief to catch a thief, she supposed. She had fond memories of his father, Owen Paris, from the ship she had first served on. She didn't really trust Tom, though. Still, she felt like she owed it to his father to give the son a chance at atonement.

She smiled fondly at the memory of the conversation she'd just had with her fiance, Mark, about her pregnant dog. With any luck, she could get this mission done and be home before the puppies were born.

Tom Paris took his lunch and went over to sit next to Harry Kim. Good kid, even if he seemed a little in over his head. He wondered how long it would take stories about what a bad person he was to get back to the kid. Eh, so long as he didn't have to tell the story again, it was just as well, he supposed.

"Is it true?" Kim asked.

Paris grimaced as he tasted the replicated bowl of tomato soup. Couldn't the replicators ever get anything right? Oh well.

He confirmed the stories for Kim. He lied. He falsified reports. And then he was so haunted with guilt over the deaths of three crewmen that he couldn't live with himself over it. Did that make him a bad person? A good person? Did any of it really matter? When it all boiled down to it, he was a convict, and his admiral father was ashamed to have him as a son.

"They told you to stay away from me, I'm sure," Paris said. "Maybe you should listen to them. I'm not exactly a good luck charm."

"I can choose my friends for myself," Kim replied.

Stubborn kid. Well, if that's the way he wanted it, Paris wasn't about to argue. He certainly had few enough friends at the moment, and the only people who were at all friendly were the ones who wanted something from him.

Speaking of which, there was Janeway calling him up to the bridge now. So much for lunch. Eh, it was crappy soup anyway. He dumped the half-eaten bowl off to be recycled and headed up top. Voyager was approaching the Badlands, and he was the closest thing they had to an expert on the place. If only they'd just let him fly. Expert on the Maquis? Not really. He was just a damned good pilot. If he got himself into less trouble, he might be getting medals thrown at him rather than prison sentences.

The Badlands. Plasma storms, spatial anomalies, what-have-you. A lovely place to get lost forever in. And no sign whatsoever of the Maquis ship that they were looking for, no debris, not even a warp signature. Paris thought the chances of finding Voyager's security chief alive were slim at best, but he knew Chakotay was competent enough not to die quite so readily from a trip into the Badlands.

And then a strange wave came out of nowhere and engulfed the ship. The deck shuddered, and Tom braced himself even as the first officer was thrown across the room. Consoles exploded all around the bridge.

What in the hell was that? That was no plasma storm!

But at least they'd found the Maquis ship. There it was, next to a large space station of some alien design that Paris didn't recognize. And the sensors must be malfunctioning, since they claimed Voyager was on the other side of the galaxy. That couldn't be right.

People were dead all over the ship. And the only clue as to what just happened was that strange space station.

Chakotay suddenly found himself back on board the Val Jean. According to the ship's chronometers, they'd been over there for many days. But it hadn't seemed like nearly that long. And now there was a Starfleet ship out there, too. Damn it! Had they really been tracked down by Starfleet all the way out here?

"Is everyone accounted for?" Chakotay asked.

"B'Elanna is still missing," Ayala said. "Everyone else who is still known to be alive is on board."

"Captain, the Starfleet vessel is hailing us," Tuvok said.

"Let's see what air they're going to blow at us," Chakotay said.

The image of a human woman came on the viewscreen. Captain Kathryn Janeway, and she addressed him by name as well. How did she know his name? Damn, she must have been looking specifically for him. One of their crew members was missing also, and they agreed for the moment to work together to retrieve them. He didn't trust Starfleet, but they were a long way from home, and their ship wasn't really in any shape to fight.

Once aboard the Starfleet ship, Tuvok said to Chakotay, "I must inform you that I was assigned to infiltrate your crew."

Chakotay stared at him for a moment. No wonder Janeway had been led straight to him. And there was Tom Paris, helping them too. Wonderful. Chakotay thought he was more angry at Paris than he was at Tuvok. At least the Vulcan was just doing his duty. What price had bought Paris's help? At least the man seemed to be genuinely concerned about Harry Kim.

Janeway paced about the bridge in frustration. The last foray onto the array hadn't been particularly helpful. The being there would tell them little, but that he had a debt that he could never repay. So, back aboard Voyager, the crew had traced the energy pulses the array was sending off to a planet in a neighboring system, and traveled there in hopes of finding their missing crew members.

Sensors detected a ship nearby, and she spoke briefly with its occupant, who was able to shed a little light on things. A little, at least. The Caretaker, as he was called, was, well, taking care of an alien race called the Ocampa, who lived on the fifth planet. Why he wanted their crew members was still a mystery, however, but it apparently wasn't the first time it had happened.

And then, down on the surface of the planet, they encountered another alien race called the Kazon. They reminded Janeway of the Klingons, but without their redeeming qualities. No, that was probably just unfair prejudice. Still, she couldn't bring herself to be too fond of anyone that abused and enslaved other races, and the way they were disdainful of the Ocampa for being poor servants because they lived only nine years? That wasn't going to make Janeway their friend anytime soon.

Apparently, the Ocampa lived underground, because the surface wasn't very hospitable. One by the name of Kes had wandered to the surface. Then Neelix rashly threatened the Kazon leader, forcing the entire group to beam out quickly. Janeway was a little annoyed at that, but couldn't really blame him too much for it.

After another trip down to the surface, they managed to rescue Ensign Kim and B'Elanna Torres. They got them checked up by the doctor and back to their respective ships. Then, it was back to the array. When they arrived, however, they found a small Kazon fleet already present.

"Captain, we are being hailed," Tuvok said.

"On screen," Janeway said.

"So, have you also come to investigate the strange happenings here?" the Kazon on the viewscreen asked.

"All we care about is getting home," Janeway said. "We're about to return to the array to see about finding a way to do so."

"I'm afraid I cannot allow that. Do not challenge us, or attempt to steal this technology for yourselves."

"We have no intention of challenging you-" Janeway protested, but the connection was cut.

"Captain, they are powering weapons," Tuvok said.

"Damn it," Janeway uttered quietly.

They were badly outnumbered, and there was a massive vessel among the enemy ships. Voyager fought back as best as it could, but it was taking heavy fire. There was no way it could survive this. The shields were ripped apart, and the ship was starting to break apart around them.

"All hands, abandon ship!" Janeway announced over the comm. "Repeat, all hands abandon ship!"

Consoles were exploding all over the bridge. Voyager was doomed, Janeway could see that quite clearly. The captain was supposed to go down with the ship. But what purpose would that serve? That wouldn't save anyone. And there were civilians on board. If she could at least get them safely away, then this might not have all been in vain.

"Come on!" Janeway called to the survivors on the bridge. Tom Paris, Ensign Kim, Tuvok, Neelix and Kes.

They raced toward the turbolift, which creaked a little as it brought them down to deck four, and to the transporter room. When they reached it, the door whooshed open with a burst of heat. The entire transporter room was on fire. There was no getting out that way.

"No go!" Kim said.

"To the shuttle bay!" Janeway said.

Janeway turned back for the lift. It would not descend any further, however. The shuttle bay was two decks down, and they needed to hurry. A panel exploded, catching Kes on the side.

"Kes!" Janeway said. "Are you alright?"

"It stings..." Kes said. She was badly burned along her side and face, but there was no time to stop for first aid now. "I can still run. We've got to get out of here!"

Tuvok opened up an access tube, and they climbed down as quickly as possible. The ship rocked around them, and Ensign Kim lost his grip and went sliding down almost a full deck.

"I think I might have sprained something," Kim said once the others made it down to deck six.

Paris put his arm around Kim and half-dragged him into the shuttle bay. It looked like some other crew members had gotten into shuttlecraft, as several of them were missing. The six of them got into one of the remaining ones.

"Paris, get us out of here!" Janeway cried.

Paris didn't need to be told twice. He took the helm of the shuttle and flew them out of the ship, narrowly escaping the shuttle by being engulfed in fire.

The damaged remnants of Voyager, parts of it still exploding, crashed into the array as Janeway looked on in horror from the relative safety of the shuttle. Both of them were destroyed as they collide, exploding into a field of debris. Some of the Kazon ships were caught in the shockwave or struck by debris, and were destroyed or damaged themselves.

Under Paris's guidance, the shuttle weaved and dodged incoming fire. One shot clipped the shuttlecraft, and something burst in back into a shower of sparks.

"We've lost the starboard engine!" Paris said, still attempting to pilot the crippled shuttlecraft. Then, miraculously, the Maquis ship swooped in out of nowhere to save them. "They're tractoring us in."

As the shuttlecraft was docked in the ship's small shuttle bay, the Kazon were still attacking. The already-damaged Maquis ship was desperately doing all it could to avoid being destroyed itself.

Piling out of the shuttlecraft, the six of them rushed toward the bridge. They weren't out of this yet. Seeing Chakotay at the helm, Paris ran up to him.

"Let me take control," Paris said. "I can get us out of here!"

"You?" Chakotay said dubiously.

"Not much time to argue," Janeway pointed out. "He's a damned good pilot, whatever else might be said of him."

"If you get us killed, I'll kill you," Chakotay said, stepping aside for Paris to take the helm.

Paris took control, and skillfully evaded the Kazon vessels. "I don't know how long I can keep this up, though. We need to get to warp and get out of here!"

Chakotay got on the comm and said, "B'Elanna, how are those repairs coming?"

"Just give me a few more minutes," came the reply.

Paris continued to keep the ship from taking too much fire. Shortly, the warp engines came back online.

"Set a course for anywhere," Chakotay said. "Get us out of here!"

The stars streaked by as the ship went to warp, leaving their pursues behind. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. They'd gotten away.

"Too damned close," Chakotay muttered.

"Damn those Kazon," Neelix said.

"Thanks for the rescue," Janeway said, sighing and pressing her fingers to the bridge of her nose. "What a disaster. My ship destroyed on its first mission. Almost a hundred and fifty crew members dead."

"Some of the might have made it out of the ship safely," Ensign Kim said.

"And some might have been captured by the Kazon," Tuvok added helpfully.

"There's not much that can be done about it now," Chakotay said.

"Is there anything good about today?" Janeway said in exasperation.

"We're still alive," Ensign Kim said.

"Thank you, Mr. Optimism," Janeway said. "Although I suppose being alive and on board a ship that's not about to blow up is indeed a good thing."

"You're on board a ship that you were trying to capture so that you could arrest us all," Chakotay pointed out.

"Because those were my orders, and that was my duty," Janeway replied. "Now, it's my duty to get you all safely home. To stand trial for your crimes."

"Bold words, considering that you only have three people on your side," Chakotay said. "Four, if you bribed Paris enough."

"Well, I'm hardly going to attack you now or anything," Janeway said. "But at least we could be back home in seventy or so years."

Chakotay snorted. "That was with your brand-new top-of-the-line Starfleet drive. The Val Jean's engines are almost as old as I am. Do you have any idea how long it would take this ship to get us home?"

"No, I don't," Janeway said. As if seventy years wasn't bad enough. Was she ever going to see Mark again?

"Neither do I," Chakotay said. "Our best estimates were three to five centuries."

"We'd all be dead by that point!" Ensign Kim exclaimed.

"So whether or not you want to arrest us is irrelevent," Chakotay said, looking over the Starfleet officers, Tom Paris, and the two aliens. "We'll drop you lot off at the nearest Class M planet."

Janeway started in alarm, quickly hiding the sudden panic from her face. She didn't think Chakotay would really do it, not after they'd worked together to retrieve their crew members, for all the good that wound up doing. But she wasn't about to take the chance of being left alone somewhere, marooned in the middle of nowhere with no hope of ever seeing another human being again.

"I appreciate the offer," Neelix put in. "But Kes and I would like to continue on your journey with you."

"This isn't a passenger ship," Chakotay said. "Why should I take you along?"

"Well, you're deep into unfamiliar territory," Neelix said. "We could be valuable assets. Guide, cook, supply procurement..."

"Alright, you're in," Chakotay said, turning his attention to the others.

"And you've got to take me," Paris said. "I'm the best pilot you could hope for."

"And how long before you sell us out and betray us again?" Chakotay asked.

"Hey, I just saved all of your lives," Paris said. "That's got to count for something, right?"

"Fine," Chakotay said reluctantly.

"That just leaves us, doesn't it," Janeway said. "We can pull our own weight."

"I'll not have Starfleet that means to arrest us on my ship," Chakotay pointed out.

"You can't just leave us behind!" Ensign Kim protested.

"I can and I will," Chakotay said. "Just watch me."

"We could be competent crew members," Janeway said.

Chakotay stalked up to her. "You pursue me to the other side of the galaxy, talk about arresting me, and at the first sign of leaving you behind, you're begging to be a part of my crew? Why should I trust you?"

"I'm not begging," Janeway said.

"And you still haven't given me a good reason," Chakotay said. "If you want to be a part of this crew, you'd need to follow my orders. We're going to be looking for a way home by any means necessary. And we're not going to be following Starfleet regulations and protocol to do it, either."

"Your ship, your rules," Janeway said.

Chakotay turned to Tuvok and said, "And you. You were spying for her the whole time?"

"I was," Tuvok replied.

"You might as well have not bothered blowing your cover," Paris put in.

"I know perfectly well that your loyalty is to her and not to me," Chakotay said. He then moved his attention to Harry Kim. "And what about you? What are you, some green recruit? Fresh out of the Academy?"

"Um... Yes, sir."

"So, would you just blindly follow Starfleet to wherever it leads you, or do you have a mind of your own?" Chakotay asked.

"I have a mind of my own, sir," Kim said. "And I'd prefer to stay with my friends, Tom and B'Elanna." He glanced to Janeway and added, "No offense."

"None taken," Janeway replied. It was good to see the young ensign stand up for himself.

Chakotay chuckled. "This one's got some spirit in him. Fine, you can stay, but don't call me 'sir'. This isn't Starfleet."

"Yes, s- Chakotay," Kim said. He looked to Tom and said, "Looks like you were my good luck charm after all. I'm still alive when everyone else is dead!"

"I'm not sure that I'd really call that 'good' luck," Tom replied.

He returned his attention to Janeway and Tuvok. "As for you two. I'm not actually going to strand anyone anywhere unless they really want to be left somewhere."

"I'm glad to hear that," Janeway said.

"We lost a number of hands ourselves," Chakotay said. "We'll take all the help we can get. Provided, of course, that you can be trusted."

"I don't care if you have me swabbing the deck," Janeway said.

"That would be a waste of your skills," Chakotay said. "But if I can't trust you with anything else, then that's what I will do." He shakes his head. "We're not going to decide anything right now. You lot can get some quarters and rest. It's been a rough time on all of us."

Janeway's new quarters were small, but more than she might have hoped for under the circumstances. She's even gotten a room to herself, after all. That wasn't necessarily an entirely good thing, however, as it left her alone to her thoughts.

Thankfully, she soon received a reprieve when the door chimed. "Enter."

The door whooshed open, and Tuvok came inside. Janeway gave a small smile. She was glad to see him. After everything that had happened today, she was in dire need of a friend, even if she was loath to admit it. And most of those she would have called a friend were now dead or very, very far away.

"Captain," Tuvok began.

"I'm not your captain anymore, Tuvok. Call me Kathryn."

"Kathryn," Tuvok said more softly. "What is our next plan of action?"

"For once, I honestly don't know," Janeway admitted. "Everything has gone wrong. We couldn't have planned for any of this. Voyager destroyed, everyone dead, and us stranded alone on a Maquis ship halfway across the galaxy. Where did I go so wrong? How did I fail them all so badly?"

"Blaming yourself for the events is emotional and illogical. You did everything you could. There was nothing more that you could have done."

"I know," Janeway said. "Logically, I know this. But humans are not always logical creatures."

"So I have noticed," Tuvok commented.

"And much as I dislike the situation, antagonizing the Maquis isn't going to help. By all rights, they have no reason to help us. And Starfleet is a long, long way away."

"Are you suggesting that we actually join them?" Tuvok asked.

"I don't see as how we have much choice, under the circumstances," Janeway said. "What are we going to do? Have them drop us off at the next civilized planet? Try to buy a new ship from some friendly aliens? No, I think our best chances of survival, never mind getting home, require sticking together."

"I will remain with you no matter what you choose to do," Tuvok said.

"I appreciate your loyalty. I just don't know that I still deserve it."

"What you think you deserve is irrelevent. I still think you do."

"You have more confidence in me than I feel at the moment," Janeway said. "Maybe I should get some rest."

"Perhaps you will be able to think more clearly after you get some sleep," Tuvok suggested.

After several hours of sleep, Janeway woke and went to get dressed. Her quarters already contained some civilian clothing, probably having formerly belonged to the room's previous occupant, who had been killed. Janeway felt a little uncomfortable wearing a dead woman's clothes, but there was no point in being wasteful, and even less in hanging around a Maquis vessel wearing a Starfleet uniform. Fortunately, the woman had been about the same size as Janeway, and the clothes were a good fit for her.

Janeway headed out to find the mess hall and get some breakfast. She wasn't sure how she could think of food under the circumstances, but her stomach wasn't wanting to be argued with. Not sure where the mess hall was, she tried to stop a passing crew member.

"Excuse me, but could you point me toward the mess hall, please?"

The Maquis man kept walking without hardly casting a side glance toward her. Well, that was rude, but she could hardly blame him, she supposed. She continued on and approached a young woman, and repeated her question.

"If you're going to eat our food, Starfleet, you'd better pull your weight," the Maquis woman replied.

"I intend to do just that," Janeway assured her.

The woman sighed. "Fine, I suppose I should treat you like any other new recruit, then, but I still don't trust you, Starfleet. I'll show you to the mess hall. I'm heading that way myself."

"Thank you. And I do have a name, you know. Kathryn Janeway. What's your name?"

"Mariah Henley. But don't think this makes us friends, Janeway."

Henley showed her to the mess hall, and they went over to get some breakfast. The Val Jean's replicator was old and had only a limited selection of food available. Janeway got herself a cup of coffee and some oatmeal, and went over to find a place to sit. There was a spot available by Chakotay. Good, she wanted to talk to him anyway.

"Gave up the uniform already?" Chakotay said as she sat down next to him.

"I'm not on duty and I'm not on a Starfleet vessel," Janeway said, taking a sip of her coffee. It tasted like toxic sludge. "Ugh. And right now, I'd kill for a good cup of coffee."

Chakotay chuckled softly. "Get used to it. At least it's still caffeinated. And that the replicator is even still working, given how much damage we've taken."

"So, have you decided on what you're going to do with me?" Janeway asked.

"Well, that entirely depends upon you," Chakotay said. "And how much you're feeling like trying to cling to Starfleet."

"Let's see," Janeway said. "I failed in my mission. I abandoned my crew. I didn't go down with the ship. They might just court-martial me."

"I'd generally consider not going down with the ship to be the smart thing to do," Chakotay said.

"I still expected more people to get off of it alive," Janeway said.

"Still, what more could you have done? Hauled them all off of it yourself?"

"Maybe not have angered the Kazon in the first place."

"Now that's just crazy talk," Chakotay said, smirking.

"So, do you have a position for me?" Janeway asked.

"This isn't a Starfleet vessel. We aren't quite so big on formality around here. The crew aren't likely to trust you at first, but you helped save B'Elanna, so that's some points there. Still, if you want respect, you're going to have to earn it, rather than thinking that it's merely your due given your rank in Starfleet."

"Understood," Janeway said. "Well, I was a science officer once, back in the day. And I promise that if I ever have to realign any positronic relays, that I won't accidentally knock out power to six decks again."

Chakotay chuckled. "There's a lot of repairs that need to be made. And a lot of things just need to be replaced, period. We're going to need to set down somewhere and see what can be done. There's no way these old jury-rigged engines are going to get us very far."

"I'll see what I can do to help," Janeway said.

"I'm glad to hear it," Chakotay said. "We can use all the help we can get right now."

"What's the damage like?" Janeway asked.

"Life support and artificial gravity are fine, at least," Chakotay said. "Good thing they build those to last. We have one crappy replicator. A warp drive that might fall apart and strand us in deep space at any moment. The transporters and weapons systems are out. The shields took a real pounding."

"What about the people?" Janeway asked. "How many casualties?"

"We had a crew of fifty before this," Chakotay said. "Some dead by the Cardassians, others by being roughly ripped across the galaxy, still others from the Kazon. Now, counting the new additions, we have thirty-six."

"Thirty-six..." Janeway murmured.

She had always held some sympathies toward the Maquis, but she'd never considered actually joining them. Now, however, those distinctions were pretty irrelevent. This was the only ship she had at the moment. The only hope she had left. She wasn't about to let that slip away by holding onto petty grievances that now felt very far away.

"Well," Janeway said, finishing up her breakfast. "It sounds like there's a lot to be done, then. I'd best get to work."