Author's Note: Due to the demands of my adoring fans, this chapter is a bit longer than the last few. Thanks for the reviews and interest, keep it coming!

-RedSharkBait

Tom's pulse pounded in his skull. I hate Hirogen, he thought bitterly, banking the Flyer rapidly once more, forcing a near-miss. Gotta catch me before you can gut me…

"Where are our weapons, Vorik?" He demanded.

"Completely offline with no possibility of repair."

"That's nice, do the Hirogen know that?"

"Negative, masking field still functioning."

"Outstanding." Tom entered another command as he glanced towards the back of the Flyer. "How's Seven, Kes?"

"Not good!" The Ocampan nurse said concernedly. "Her nanoprobes are still attacking her immune system and they're not slowing down anymore!" The former drone was doing an admirable job of fighting the pain, but a brief glance at her contorted, tear-stained face told Tom it was a losing battle. "I need help, Tom!" Kes said as she scanned Seven with a tricorder.

"I'm a little busy, Kes! Vorik, you should help her."

"I am not a medical expert, Ensign. I can pilot the ship, however."

"Not as well as I can!" Tom snapped, wishing the other pilot on board wasn't catatonic.

"B'Elanna, what is the status of the influx drive?" Vorik enquired while the Flyer shook with weapons fire.

"It certainly can't take another hit like that!" B'Elanna shouted from the extreme rear of the Flyer.

"Two minutes is all we need." Harry, ever the optimist, tempered B'Elanna's outburst.

"Take the controls, Vorik!" Tom made a fast decision, practically leaping from his chair and almost tripping over a motionless Betazoid.

"What are we doing?" Tom asked as he grabbed Seven's hand and let her squeeze with all her considerable strength.

"A low-energy disruption pulse to temporarily shut down her nanoprobes, take this and hold her still." She passed him a cortical stimulator control and helped Seven sit up as Tom released her hand and put an arm around her shoulders. Kes unzipped the back of Seven's catsuit halfway down her patient's back, placing two cortical stimulators directly on the other woman's spine. "Activate them as soon as I inject this, Tom." Kes instructed, the ship lurching once more as she grabbed a hypospray.. "Seven, this will hurt a lot. Now, Tom."

Tom did as instructed when Kes pressed the hypospray against Seven's spine. Seven screamed out loud, her back arched, and she squeezed Tom even harder.

Meanwhile, B'Elanna made one final adjustment and rushed to the front of the Flyer, slamming her hand down on a modified engineering console and activating the newly repaired Influx Drive.

"Turn them off!" Kes shouted over Seven's scream and Tom obeyed, sighing with relief when the woman in his arms relaxed and stopped screaming.

An arc of electricity erupted from Kim's console and struck him full in the chest as a strange glow enveloped the Flyer and its crew felt the strange sensation of being pulled through the fabric of space.

*******

"Their ship has exploded!" a particularly emotional Epsilon shouted.

"What?" the Alpha demanded. "I told you to cripple the ship, not destroy it!"

"Wait a moment, Alpha." His Beta interjected. "I detect no fragments, only something similar to an ion trail. They have fled."

"How? I have never seen such a means of transportation."

"It matters not. I believe we can track the radiation trail."

"Pursue the scent, Ikroth. I will not be denied my relics!"

*******

"The influx drive creates a rift in subspace somewhat similar to a stable wormhole, however, the rift is not permanent and collapses as soon as the ship reaches its destination. Certain instabilities in the rift sometimes result in…adding another dimension to the vessel's path, in this case, crossing the barrier between parallel universes."

"You knew of this flaw and still used this so-called 'influx drive'?" Tuvok inquired, eyebrow raised in typical Vulcan skepticism.

"How would you like to be gutted?" Tom snapped. He hadn't thought it possible, but this Tuvok was even more annoying than the one he knew.

"We used the drive only as a last resort." Vorik said. "Parallel universes are not always as…hospitable as this one."

"You have crossed into others?" Tuvok asked.

"Once before. We were captured by the Hirogen soon after returning to our own universe."

"It was good to be home." Tom muttered darkly. "The Hirogen were actually a bit of a relief."

"What exactly did you encounter?"

"You don't want to know." Tom said, hoping Tuvok didn't press the issue. His fears were allayed when two half-Klingon engineers and an Ocampan nurse walked into the shuttlebay.

"How are they?" Tom asked Kes. She shook her head slightly and told him quietly.

"Harry only suffered electrical burns, he'll be fine. Seven's being kept in a containment field for now and Stadi's still catatonic…I don't know what to do, but maybe their Doctor can help."

"I'm sure he can."

"Vorik, your hand is still bleeding!" B'Elanna said suddenly and touched the Vulcan's arm. Tom no longer had to wonder which B'Elanna was which.

"Convincing Commander Tuvok of the veracity of our claims is more important than my physical well-being at the moment." Vorik replied dryly.

"The Captain wants to see the two of you now, actually." The other B'Elanna spoke now. "And she wants you to submit to genetic scans, so you should go to Sickbay anyways."

"She already had the rest of us scanned." Kes said.

"Let's take a look." The other B'Elanna said to her counterpart, and the two moved towards the Flyer.

"Don't get in any trouble, Vorik." B'Elanna said over her shoulder, prompting a strange look from the other B'Elanna and from Tuvok.

Tom smirked and followed Kes out of the shuttlebay. She's gonna be surprised, isn't she?

Kes glanced at him, the slightest hint of a smirk on her face as well.