Sacrifice
"Janeway to Kim, is everyone alright?"
"I...I don't know, Captain. Tuvok was trying to minimize the damage. I...I'll go see if I can find him."
"Be careful Mr. Kim. I'm sending Seven of Nine to assist you."
"Understood."
Harry's heart raced as he slowly opened the hatch. The deck had completely been blow apart. He looked up and saw the floor of the deck above them. It sent shivers down his spine.
"Ensign Kim," Seven of Nine called.
He turned his head to the left to see her approaching. He maneuvered out of the small space and they started their search. They made it five or six meters before Harry's comm. badge crackled to life.
"Tuvok to Ensign Kim."
"We're coming Tuvok. Just hang on."
Seven glanced down at her tricorder. "This way."
Another meter and they stumbled upon a badly injured Tuvok. Together, they got him to his feet and dragged him out of harms way, debris falling behind them.
Several hours later, the Doctor had managed to turn the Mess Hall into a makeshift Sickbay. He had treated most of Tuvok's injuries.
"I'm sorry, Lieutenant. There's nothing else I can do," the hologram said, folding his tricorder up.
"I understand. Thank you for your efforts, Doctor."
The doors to their right opened and Kathryn walked in. The Doctor headed her off.
"How is he?"
"I've managed to stabilize him and treat most of his injuries but there's nothing I'm going to be able to do for his eyesight. I'm afraid he's completely blind."
"I see. Thank you."
She slowly made her way to the Vulcan's side, taking his hand in hers.
"Do not concern yourself with my condition, Captain. Logic dictates that you should focus your efforts on maintaining the ship's functions."
"I'll take it under advisement. I'm sorry this happened. If I hadn't sent your team down there-"
He cut her off. "If you had not sent the team down, there would have been great injury and loss of life."
She nodded even though he could no longer see the movement. Kathryn gave his hand a squeeze before turning to address the Doctor.
"I want you to do what you can for the rest of the crew."
"Of course, Captain."
With that, Kathryn returned to her Ready Room. It had taken quite a beating in the last few days. Bits of debris lay strewn on the floor and a thick layer of dust and grime covered every surface in the room. She walked in to find Q trying his best to bring some order to the chaos.
"Thank you," she said softly, catching him by surprise.
"Oh...I didn't think you'd be back for a while."
"Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. You don't have to clean this mess up. It will only get thrown around during the next attack."
"Well Junior likes it in here and we can't have him crawling around in dirt and broken components."
"You're probably right."
She turned her attention to clearing off her desk, tossing her now broken computer on the desk.
"That's broken," she sighed. She looked around the room and shook her head. How had she let everything get so out of control?
"Where is Quinten?" she asked abruptly.
"He's in Engineering. I think he likes it down there. He misses it."
"As long as he's safe."
Just as they managed to clear a little floor space, alarms began to blare and ship began to shake again.
"This is getting ridiculous," Q muttered as he followed Kathryn back on to the bridge.
"Report," Kathryn ordered, sitting down in her chair.
"Two Krenim war ships. Weapons are charging."
"Evasive maneuvers, Mr. Paris."
"Aye, Captain."
Tom did his best to try and out swerve the Krenim but it did little good. The Krenim torpedoes managed to hit them wherever they went.
"Sorry, Captain. I just can't shake them."
"Return fire."
"A lot of good that will do," Q grumbled.
Kathryn glared at him. "Q, if you aren't going to be useful, then get the hell off my bridge."
Q looked at her for a moment before disappearing in flash. Chakotay shook his head. He didn't know how the Captain could put up with him every day.
"Captain...we've got another spatial wave coming towards us," Harry announced.
"Can you track it's origin?"
"It's...it's almost like it's out of phase with Voyager." He looked down at the sensors. "Fifteen seconds until impact."
"Hold on!" Kathryn shouted.
The ship shook violently as the wave passed over them. It took several minutes for the ship to stabilize.
"Report. Any damage?"
"Negative. It looks like we came out of this without any more problems than we had before," Chakotay answered.
Tom's eyes widened as the image on the view screen changed. "Please tell me I'm seeing what I think I'm seeing," he murmured in disbelief.
All eyes were on the screen as the Krenim war ships were replaced by freighters with limited fire power.
"Do we have access to the astrometrics lab?" Kathryn asked.
"I think so," Chakotay said.
"Janeway to Seven of Nine. I want you to meet me in the astrometrics lab."
"Understood, Captain."
Kathryn stood up, looking around her. "I'll be in astrometrics if you need me. I'm going to find out what the hell is going on."
An hour later, Seven and Kathryn had managed to get the lab running as best they could to analyze what had happened.
"I want to see the data for this region when we first scanned it."
Seven hit a series of buttons and a stellar map appeared. Krenim space was vast, encompassing nearly nine hundred planets, thousands of species.
"Run a scan of the region now. I want to see what happened."
"It will take several minutes."
Kathryn just nodded, pacing back and forth while the new scan ran. Seven tried to ignore the Captain's pacing. It made the former drone anxious and uncomfortable.
"The scan is complete."
"Good. Let's see it."
The image appeared before them and both women looked surprised.
"The Krenim Imperium has virtually disappeared," Kathryn breathed.
"It would appear so."
"This has to be connected to the spatial shockwaves that have hit us."
"I will continue to analyze the data."
"Keep me informed."
As Kathryn made her way through the ship she couldn't help but wonder if they would ever get out of this situation. When she reached the turbolift she stood silent for a moment.
"Deck Eleven."
The device whirred to life and sent her several decks down. By the time she reached Main Engineering she could tell B'Elanna was in need of rescuing from the infant.
"Oh thank God you're here," she gasped as the Captain walked in.
"Giving you trouble?"
"Not exactly...I just...can't watch a baby and try to keep the ship from breaking at the same time."
"I figured as much. For now I think we're safe. The Krenim Imperium has disappeared. Seven's looking into it."
She scooped the child up from the floor, holding him close. He squirmed in his mother's arms, tugging on the collar of her uniform.
"I'll be in my Ready Room if you need me," Kathryn told B'Elanna before she left Main Engineering.
She had just enough time to reach a turbolift before Harry's voice came over the comm. system.
"Captain, we've found the origin of the shockwaves."
"What is it, Harry?"
"It seems to be coming from a ship. It's out of phase...and it's getting closer."
"I'm on my way."
"Captain, I'd recommend not using the turbolifts; they've been a little iffy lately."
"Thank you, Ensign."
She began to look around when a hand grazed her elbow. She looked up to see Q standing beside.
"Going somewhere?"
She couldn't hide a smile. "Deck One, please."
They appeared moments later, just in time to see a massive ship approach.
"They're hailing," Harry reported.
"Open a channel."
A man bearing a striking resemblance to the Krenim appeared on screen.
"My name is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager. Are you the ones responsible for the shockwaves through this region?"
"I know who you are, Captain. It seems we're in a bit of a similar dilemma. We're both trying to get home. Unfortunately, only one of us is going to make it."
"What are you talking about?"
"In order for me to return home, you have to disappear. Forever."
"Captain, he's initiated a shockwave. It's coming from the ship. They don't seem to be effected," Chakotay said, his voice unnaturally high.
"He's trying to push us out of the space-time continuum."
"Not if I have anything to say about it," Kathryn grunted.
"Captain, their ship can only reach Warp Six. I think if we can manage to go to Warp Seven even just for a few seconds, we can break free."
"Do it, Mr. Kim."
Some painstaking five minutes later, Voyager was out of the shockwave and the Krenim ship had not followed. Kathryn looked at her crew and let out a long breath. She hated having to make this decision but it was the right one to keep her crew safe.
"All hands, this is the Captain. Please assemble in the Mess hall."
By the time everyone had arrived, Kathryn was beginning to regret her decision.
"This is a decision I never wanted to make and one I had hoped to avoid in this situation. However, I realize now that it is the only logical decision to make. You're going to leave Voyager. Everyone, take shuttles and escape pods. Set courses for the Alpha Quadrant. Make allies when you can."
She paused to collect herself. "Each vessel is equipped with a homing beacon. We'll keep track of you that way. We will find each other again. And when we do, I expect to hear a lot of interesting stories."