Janeway stared out the window of her ready room at the planet below, her lips in a tight line and her arms crossed. She wanted to believe that they had actually made it to the Alpha Quadrant. It had been nearly seven years since they were thrust into the Delta Quadrant by a powerful being known as the Caretaker. But this wormhole, the temporal eddies, the Normandy? Something just doesn't add up.

The door beeped and Janeway jolted from her thoughts. "Come in," she said sternly.

Her first officer, Chakotay, appeared, smiling but obviously concerned. "Captain," he started, his smile fading slightly. "Well, which would you like first, the good news or the bad?"

"I've always been a pragmatist. Give me the bad," smiled Janeway in return.

"Those temporal eddies were more concerning than we could have known. We've been thrown back nearly 200 years."

"200 years?" The captain's hand flew to her forehead. "How can we get back to our own time? We don't belong here, and we certainly can't help these people…not with our technology. This flies in the face of the temporal Prime Directive." Pursing her lips again, she looked back at Chakotay. "What's the good news?"

"The wormhole that brought us here is still open. Tuvok says there is still no sign of the temporal eddies that brought us here inside, but we don't know where it, or I should say, when it will take us, if we go back in."

"That's the good news? Commander, remind me never to have you work as morale officer." She sighed loudly and rubbed her hands over her face. "We should have asked questions first then made contact." Tapping her fingers together, she faced her first officer. "Well…it looks like we have a ship to help. Get B'Elanna and Harry. We'll beam down first, see what we have to work with, then see what we can replicate up here without tipping them off that we're from the future. Maybe we can get out of this mess yet."

"Aye, Captain." Chakotay turned to leave, and then stopped. "Are you taking the away team?"

"Well," winked Janeway, "I think our resident anthropologist would probably like a chance to meet some of our ancestors, don't you think?"

"Indeed, he would," grinned Chakotay.

"I'm hoping it's an asari ship," said Lt. James Vega. "I mean, I know we have woman captains, like Shepard's mom, but…" He stopped short as he saw a pained expression cross Kaidan Alenko's face. "Uh, sorry, sir."

Kaidan bit his lower lip and hardened his countenance. "It's fine, Vega. She's fine. I'm sure of it. We just have to get back to Earth."

"Yes, sir." The muscle-bound soldier blanched, but quickly recovered, joking with their companion to lighten the mood. "So Garrus, what species is your money on?"

"I've got my money on how long it takes Kaidan to warp your ass off that ledge," Garrus Vakarian, a turian, chuckled. "Joker said 10 minutes. I said 5."

After Vega cleared his throat uncomfortably, the trio stood outside the ship for several minutes watching in silence for the shuttle from Voyager.

"Where are they going to land?" Kaidan wondered aloud. "This terrain is rough and the Normandy seems to be taking up…"

Kaidan stopped as three silhouettes appeared in front of them. Vega drew his gun. Kaidan put his hand up, but a faint blue corona began to appear around it. As the forms solidified, the group from the Normandy stood face to face with Chakotay, Harry Kim, and B'Elanna Torres. All six faces registered surprised expressions. Kaidan took the first step forward, his hand out.

"I'm Major Kaidan Alenko, acting CO of the Normandy. Lt. James Vega and Garrus Vakarian."

Chakotay took his hand in a firm shake. "I'm Commander Chakotay, first officer of Voyager. It's good to see some friendly faces." Gesturing toward the pair with him, he said, "This is Ensign Harry Kim, and Lt. B'Elanna Torres. She's our chief engineer, so she should be able to figure out how to repair your ship. Shall we go in and take a look?"

Kaidan ushered Chakotay through the open airlock into the decontamination bay, while the others trailed behind. Vega and Garrus both looked curiously at B'Elanna's ridged forehead, while Harry and B'Elanna eyed the turian.

"Never seen a turian before?" Garrus said slowly.

"No, and I suppose you've never seen a Klingon before," said B'Elanna, matter-of-factly.

"Actually, I was going to ask if you were a human/turian hybrid. Your forehead ridges look almost turian."

"Nope, but I am half human/half Klingon. What's your homeworld?"

"Palaven. Not that it's much to look at right now."

"Palaven?" asked Harry. "Where's that?"

"Ensign," said Chakotay harshly. "Questions later. We have work to do."

Kaidan dismissed Vega and Garrus to their regular assignments on the ship, then brought the Voyager team down to engineering. As the door opened, B'Elanna's eyebrows raised as she saw the spherical engine. "I've never seen anything like this before. What does this engine run on?"

Tali'Zorah, a quarian, stood near the engine, which was cold and lifeless. "It runs on element zero, like every other FTL capable ship," the helmeted woman replied in a frustrated tone. "But where can we get more eezo here? Unless we squeeze Kaidan and Liara," she joked.

Harry looked at B'Elanna and said quietly, "Eezo? These engines don't run on deuterium?"

"Chakotay should have let us bring our tricorders," growled the woman quietly. "We could have at least gotten an idea of its components."

Harry opened his case slightly, showing a working tricorder packed inside. "Harry, you little sneak, you," smirked B'Elanna.

Chakotay was oblivious to the side conversation, focusing rather on the quarian woman as she explained the Normandy's engine trouble. "The fix could be very easy, if we had more eezo. Basically we just kind of need a jump start. Once we get the engine running again, we should have no problem getting back to Earth. But it may take a while without the mass relays."

Chakotay's ears perked up. "Mass relays?"

Tali cocked her head to the side in confusion.

Chakotay cleared his throat. "I think we've seen all we need to. We'll go back up to our ship and come back with a plan and any help we can give. Do you need food, medical supplies?"

"No, we are fine," Kaidan said. "We'll await your next visit. Let me show you out."

"No need," said Chakotay, tapping his badge. "Voyager, away team to beam up."

As the trio faded from sight, Tali grabbed Kaidan's shoulder in shock. "Are these humans? Ghosts? Who fades away like that? They don't know what eezo is? Or mass relays?"

Kaidan shifted his weight. "I can't answer that, but it's the best we've got right now. If they're ghosts, I hope they have access to eezo, even if they don't know what it is. For now, just make sure everything else is working properly and ready for launch as soon as we can get this engine up and running."

"Sure thing, Kaidan," Tali said skeptically.

"Come on, Tali. Don't you want to get back to Shep…" He stopped himself quickly, clearing his throat. "I mean, to Earth? We could really be needed right now," he added lamely.

Tali laid a sympathetic hand on Kaidan's arm. "Yeah, we owe it to her. I'm with you."

"Thanks."

Back on Voyager, the away team gathered with Janeway in the bridge meeting room.

"Their ship was definitely ancient, but not in the way I expected," said B'Elanna. "The engine configuration was nothing like I had learned in the Academy. I couldn't get past whatever this eezo, or element zero, is that the…what was she, a … quarian … talked about?"

"Right, and she said something about mass relays," said Chakotay, scratching his head. "Computer, pull up any relevant information on element zero and mass relays."

"Unable to comply," the computer voice replied. "Information has been redacted."

Janeway looked up from her padd. "Redacted? That's an answer I've never heard before. Computer, is there any information on the Normandy?"

"Please specify."

"The Normandy, SR-2," interjected Chakotay.

"Unable to comply. Information has been redacted."

"Well, the plot thickens," joked Janeway, laying down her padd on the table. "Harry, B'Elanna, do what you can to find some element zero. I trust you have the information?"

Harry pulled out his tricorder. "Yes, Captain, we took the readings you asked for."

Chakotay was aghast. "Captain, with all due respect, I specifically ordered no tricorders. What about the temporal Prime Directive?"

Janeway held her hands up calmingly. "Relax, Chakotay, we didn't disrupt anything on their ship or with their people. I just wanted some concrete information to work with. Harry, what did you find?"

"Well, it looks as if element zero has the same molecular configuration as deuterium. I wonder how the name got changed? Amazing!" Harry suddenly exclaimed as he perused the tricorder's findings. "The major…Major Alenko has deuter- … I mean, this eezo is in his body! What does this mean?"

"Another set of mysteries for another day," said Janeway, pinching the bridge of her nose. "B'Elanna, do we have any deuterium to spare?"

"A little, Captain, but it was what we were saving for a rainy day. I'm not sure if it's a good idea." B'Elanna's voice was tight with concern. "If we don't know where these people are supposed to end up, we might be messing our own timeline up by helping them."

The captain nodded slowly. "It is something to consider, and I am. I just want you to have some ready. We're not bringing it to them yet. I think it is time I paid the Normandy a visit. Maybe I can do a little personal digging." Janeway stood and paced back and forth at the head of the table. "Harry, I want you to see what you and Tuvok can do with the computer's memory core. Try to root out these redacted pieces."

"Yes, ma'am," said the ensign eagerly.

After a quick swig of coffee from her mug, Janeway declared, "I'm headed to transporter room 2 in about 15. Dismissed."

Kaidan sat in the captain's quarters, staring at the bed. All of her things were still here. Her little personal effects that she used to decorate the room. The fish were still alive, thanks to him. She always forgot to feed them. The space hamster was cheerful, squeaking away in its cage. The chess board she gotten, that creepy husk head, all things that screamed Dana Shepard. But she wasn't here. He wasn't even sure where here was.

He wanted to get back. He knew her chances of survival were next to nothing. He cursed the shrapnel that had been in his face, making him look a lot more injured than he actually was. He never should have let her go off alone. He should have biotically thrown Vega to the back of the shuttle bay. "I'm trying to get back," he whispered to no one but the Shepard in his thoughts. "I don't know who these people are, but by God, I told you I'd fight like hell to hold you again. Even if all I find is corpse, I'm coming back to you, and I'm using any means necessary."

Kaidan's fist tightened in his lap as emotion started to overcome him. Only after biting his own tongue until it nearly bled did he stop the tears in his eyes from falling. He wouldn't be weak for her. He couldn't be weak. As he stood and headed to the head to throw some water on his face, Joker's voice piped in. "Hey Major, the captain from Voyager is here to see you. She's in decon right now."

"I'll be right down, Joker. Thanks." Kaidan walked through the doorway and left the room and his memories behind him.

As Kaidan walked across the CIC, he could see the figure that didn't fit the picture. A shorter woman, trim, with medium-length reddish hair stood in the walkway just behind the cockpit. Her confident manner as she observed her surroundings intently reminded him of Shepard and his heart ached at the thought. She wore regular clothes like a civilian, but was wearing that same strange insignia pin on her chest. Kaidan guessed it was some kind of communication device, as he had seen the commander tap it to before his team left. As he approached, the woman turned to face him and a smile broke across her face.

"Major Alenko, I'm Captain Kathryn Janeway. I'm so pleased to meet you." The two shook hands firmly.

"Captain, thank you and likewise," Kaidan replied, smiling in kind. "I assume you've come to see the Normandy for yourself?"

"Indeed, this is a fascinating ship." Janeway couldn't help but admire things of antiquity when she saw them. "I can't wait to learn more."

"Well, then let me give you the tour," said Kaidan. "There are five decks, but the top one is just the captain's quarters, so we'll skip that. Not much to see there." His voice held an undercurrent of sadness.

"Say no more," Janeway acknowledged, holding her hand up. "The captain's quarters is her…well, in your case, his sanctuary."

The pair started up the deck, toward the elevator. As they passed the galaxy map, Janeway stopped to examine it. "Is this where you navigate?"

"Yes and no, it's interactive, we can see where the mass relays are located when it is brought out to full galaxy view and we can zoom in to individual planets as needed for scans and mining and such. We don't set our course here, but it does let us see where to tell Joker … Lt. Moreau, rather, where to pilot us. Our assignments overlay with the chart and let us prioritize."

Janeway's eyes lit up. "Mass relays. My first officer mentioned something about these. We aren't familiar with them. Could you explain how they work?"

Kaidan thought this was strange coming from a human. How had they gotten out here so far without using the mass relays? Was Voyager some kind of generational ship sent out years ago before the relays had been discovered? "It sounds like your ship has been away from Earth for a while," he said in a controlled manner, but there was no hiding the slight narrowing of his eyes.

"You could say that," Janeway confirmed carefully. She could tell Kaidan was somewhat suspicious. "It's been a good long while since we've seen Earth. Tell me, what brought you here? How did you get into this situation?"

Kaidan relaxed a little and suddenly felt sorry for the woman standing in front of him. She seemed to have no idea of the Reaper War, but if they had been travelling out here, they likely wouldn't. Ushering her to the elevator, Kaidan started at the beginning with the SR-1 and Commander Dana Shepard.