Into the Night
A Below Decks Story
By Christina
Jenny continued to tap her foot as she again debated starting her shoreleave without Megan. She smiled as her sister entered the docking bay.
"Sorry, rehearsal went a bit late. Janeway stopped by."
"How'd it go?"
"Great. We're going to be ready. Janeway loved the bath song by the way." They both stopped at the Vordai security table and handed them their shoreleave passes. The officer didn't look up as he took them. "Hugh was pleased."
"Have a good stay," the officer said as he handed their passes back. "Please remember the rules." He barely looked up as they turned to walk away. "Teramon!"
"Teramon?" Jenny whispered as they continued walking. "What's that?"
"Probably the other officer's name." Megan shrugged as they turned the corner and entered the bazaar. "We weren't introduced."
"Funny, Meg, real funny. He's not your type anyway.
Jenny grimaced when Megan jabbed her elbow into her ribs. "Stop horsing around-" she whispered, "-they're staring at us." Jenny glanced around warily. "Is there a large hole or spot on my back?" She stopped. "Megan?"
Her sister shook her head. "No, impeccable as always. Ignore them. Maybe they're still not used to seeing humans. Over here." Jenny followed quietly. There were fewer of the merchants and other visitors staring at them.
Megan held up a solid navy blue cloth with gold strands woven in it. "Here, Jenny."
"Perfect." She reached over and felt it. "A good weight. But the red piece will look better on you." Jenny nodded toward another bolt. Megan grinned as she reached for it.
"How much?" Megan asked the merchant. The older Vordai female turned and stared.
"Teramon!"
"Teramon, twins?" Jenny whispered into Megan's ear.
"Yes, we're twins," Megan replied. The Vordai merchant reached out and touched them.
"For Teramon, twenty a'stapa." The merchant pulled the bolt off the shelf and began to measure, while Megan showed how much she wanted. "And the same for your other?"
Jenny shook her head as she politely thanked the merchant. Megan paid, then pulled her away. "Sis, that was quite a bargain."
"I know. From what the others had said, I was left with the impression..."
"Teramon," someone shouted. Several merchants rushed over to show their wares. Jenny was beginning to feel claustrophobic, so left for the edges of the market. Once there she took several deep breaths of air.
Lora Jenkins and Jaime McMinn joined her. "What's that about?" Jaime whispered. "Half the time the merchants are extremely rude."
"I have no clue," Jenny replied. "Unless it's because we're twins."
"Could be, I've seen stranger things, like the Captain and Commander are on leave, together," Lora said. "Least they were when we passed them a few minutes ago."
"I'm surprised they managed to get shoreleave together," Jamie added.
"Good for them," Jenny replied, "but I do need to rescue my sister." She walked back into the crowd that was gathering around Megan. The Vordai parted, whispering something the Universal Translator wasn't translating well.
"I don't get it," Lora whispered. They'd followed her into the crowd.
"Teramon, please..." A small child held out a well woven basket. Jenny took it to look, but the child vanished in the crowd.
"That's too much," Jamie said. "I can't get the merchants to assist us, and they're giving you stuff."
Jenny blushed and quickly looked around to find the child, then gave up. "Megan!"
Megan waved. The merchants stepped back as she made her way through the crowd.
"Hi Lora, Jaime. Jen, I can't do this. I'm going to spend my shoreleave on the ship." Megan handed Jenny the small bag with their Vordai currency. "Perhaps I'll finish the monthly reports early."
"We'll go with you," Jaime said. "Our time is almost up. Good luck Jenny."
"Meg. I'll tell you what," Jenny cut in. "We'll take our leave separately. I'll spend a couple of hours, then return, then you can go. Maybe if we're not together..."
"Deal. See you in two hours?" Jenny nodded. She would try another section of the bazaar-someplace where no one knew of she was Teramon. She wasn't even sure if that was good or bad.
She noticed a small cafe, and the captain sitting alone, sipping something. Jenny wondered where Chakotay was as she said hello.
"Hello, Lieutenant," Janeway said with a smile.
"Captain." Jenny took a deep breath. "Please tell me that's a cup of real coffee."
Janeway cocked her head, then laughed. "I'm afraid not. It's some sort of tea."
"Oh. Captain, do you know what Teramon means?"
"No. Is it important?"
"I hope not. Captain, have a good shoreleave." She beat a hasty retreat, as she spotted Commander Chakotay returning.
Joe had checked the data four times, then had rechecked his calculations another three before convincing himself that he was ready for this. Even knowing it was just a simulation did nothing to calm his nerves. "Well, I'm ready," he announced to the assembled participants. Harry nodded as he sat in the simulated command chair. Tom turned, waiting for the necessary commands.
"Well then," Harry said. "Let's do it."
"Slipstream drive is in stand-bye mode," Joe said. "Tom, anytime."
"Great," the chief pilot said. "Course plotted." He touched his console and the image shifted to the streaming view of stars. "Will disengage in eighty-nine seconds."
"Drive temperature is climbing," Joe called out. He glanced at B'Elanna who nodded. "Shields are holding."
"Sixty seconds," Tom called. "Looks good, so far."
"Benamite crystals are starting to destabilize," B'Elanna said. "We're still within the safety range."
"Critical temperature will be reached in two minutes," Joe added. "Shields are down to ninety-one percent and falling." He frowned. They were falling one percent faster than expected. He would need to track down the source of the error. But this test was also to prove to Harry that a worst case scenario wasn't so bad. He quickly hit a key. The ship lurched.
"Disengaging drive," Tom shouted. The streaming starlines slowed. "We're off course. Engaging reverse thrusters in five seconds." Harry glanced back at Joe.
"Drive temperature is falling. Shields are holding at eighty-nine percent," Joe said They waited until the stars were once again single dots of light.
"Excellent," Harry said. "Now, where are we?"
Joe grinned. "B'Elanna"
"We are seven-hundred and three point two-five light years off from our expected exit point."
"Harry?" Joe smiled. Not too bad.
"And what if there had been some obstacle? Like a planet," Harry asked.
"I am able to maneuver the ship," Tom replied. He stood. "It's sluggish, but acceptable. There was one minor asteroid, but it was successfully deflected. Harry, it works. B'Elanna is satisfied. And trust me, she wouldn't have given her approval if she wasn't."
"Helmboy, I'm right here. But he's correct, Harry. I wouldn't have approved it if I didn't believe Joe hadn't done his research."
Harry nodded. "Good. Oh. Wait, I forgot. Lieutenant Kim to the Emergency Medical Hologram."
"I see you decided to remember me," The Doctor's voice said. "I monitored the simulation. For the two minutes, simulated-radiation levels remained minimal for the humanoids on board."
"Doctor, are you trying to tell me we have some stowaways?"
"Of course not, Lieutenant. There are no rats on this ship. I am referring to the plants in the airponic and hydroponic gardens. The levels of radiation contamination will be cumulative to them. Lieutenant Carey was correct in his assessment. Our two cadets are working on the problem.
"I hope you are at more at ease," Joe said as he sat on his stool.
"I hope so too," Harry replied.
"We did it. And it works."
"Well, it works fine, as long as no one wants to eat, play, or take a shower afterwards," Tom said with a grin.
"Tom, you know how much power this takes," B'Elanna retorted.
"Devours is more like it," Tom retorted. "But yes, I do know. And we can live with smelly crewmates for a couple of days that is. In four more days, we'll know how much odor we can truly take."
"Speak for yourself," Harry said. "You drink blood wine."
"It provides protein..." Tom grin grew. ""But just think-it works! I know Miral is looking forward to meeting her grandparents."
"Translation," Joe said, "Her grandparents are anxious to meet her."
"You win. But if she was older..."
"Next you'll be telling me that she said her first sentence yesterday," Harry said.
"Not quite, but I'm sure I heard her say da-da." Tom stood.
"He's delusional," B'Elanna said.
"No I'm not. I'm sure she did." He laughed, "I suspect every father says that."
Harry laughed, "I do believe Joe has reports to prepare."
"Spoil sport. Just wait until you have a daughter," Tom said with a laugh as he hugged his wife. "Come on, sweetheart. Happy writing."
Joe waved them out of the room, then turned to pick up his PADD. He needed to check on a couple of things before he could write the report.
Joe glanced about the holodeck. "Okay. Computer display data from sixty seconds advance forward one second on my command."
"Parameters set," the computer's voice said. The holodeck image shifted slightly.
Act 4
Space
20 days after leaving New Hope
Ayala rubbed his eyes. A last-minute meeting had kept Captain Janeway and Commander Tuvok on the station. Janeway had decided to not delay the testing of all the repairs, so Ayala had found himself doing a double-shift. He turned his attention to the helm. Voyager had arrived at the test flight site, and Captain Laral stood. Tom smiled as he reclaimed his helm seat. Captain Laral started to walk away. "Thanks for agreeing to do this," Tom said
"I had no choice. No one else is licensed to pilot Voyager within the station defense perimeter, and you needed to complete your tests."
Ayala shook his head. Tom had tried to be pleasant to the captain ever since her arrival three hours earlier. Voyager's test flight would now begin.
"I know it must be hard to take time from your busy schedule to do this," Tom said as he banked Voyager to starboard and engaged the warp drive.
"By the Great Forest, I have enjoyed the privilege," Laral said. "Voyager is one of only a dozen non VSD ships ever allowed access Piramontoy Station. I know the repair crews enjoyed the challenge too."
Ayala glanced at Harry and shrugged. Harry looked as puzzled as he did. Was Tom really trying to talk with the Vordai Captain?
"We're at Warp 9.6, Commander," Tom said.
"Excellent," Chakotay said. "Reduce speed to warp 5."
Ayala turned his attention back to the tactical station. They would continue to run a series of maneuvers for the next five hours. So far the incoming data showed everything was going well.
"So," Tom continued. "Why did you become a pilot?"
Laral's shoulders stiffened. "We were at war." She moved to the back of the bridge.
Ayala shook his head as she left. So much for socializing with her. "Shields are holding at 99.9 percent," Ayala said.
"Excellent," Chakotay said. "Tom reduce speed to warp one and start a slow spiral."
"Sir..." Tom was grinning. "Really?"
"Sure, let's see if these Vordai technicians really did a good job."
Ayala knew that Tom would enjoy this. And while the spiral wasn't on the test, it would definitely put a lot of stress on the ship.
"Shields are still holding. Hull stress has increased five percent," Ayala said after a minute.
"Maintain current speed and spiral for three minutes, then break out at warp three." There was a soft hiss from Laral.
"Not bad," she said with a smile.