=/\=
Stardate 52136
I was afraid we'd meet them again someday, although I hoped we wouldn't. It may not be the end of the galaxy after all, even though Kes thought that's what they'd sent to her telepathically.
We'd picked up strange energy readings on long-range sensors, which were consistent with those found on Earth. As we grew closer, we saw a space station in orbit around a yellow star, with what looked like Starfleet Headquarters and Starfleet Academy plopped onto it. The chemical composition of the environment and the topography of the section was astonishingly detailed and true to life. The captain asked for volunteers to infiltrate the station, to investigate the situation. While Voyager hung in space some distance away, Commander Chakotay and Father were carried towards the station by Tom and Harry on the Delta Flyer and transported down to the station. Tom pulled the shuttle behind a moon and waited for the call to pick them up, once they'd obtained enough information to satisfy our captain's - and our crew's - curiosity.
When the two commanders decided they needed to leave, a young ensign tried to stop them. Tom and Harry transported him up to the Flyer with them in order to avoid breaking their cover. Once the captain began to question the ensign, he suddenly fell to the deck, dead. In Sickbay, the corpse reverted to his natural form: Species 8472.
Commander Chakotay went back to the station for a prearranged date with a Valerie Archer. While there, she obtained a sample of his DNA and discovered he really was a human. The beings took the commander into custody, and Captain Janeway had to demand they return him. She had to threaten the species with nanoprobes before they would consent to a meeting.
I accompanied the replicants of Boothby, Admiral Bullock, and Valerie Archer when they traveled from the transporter room to the conference room on Voyager. Father stationed me just inside the door while they met with our senior officers. The Admiral Bullock replicant was just as pugnacious as the "real" Admiral Bullock. Father had never met the human Valerie Archer, so other than the fact that she was a descendant of Jonathan Archer, the captain of the first starship called Enterprise, I had no basis for comparison with her replicant. The Boothby was so much like the Academy gardener, however, I was shocked. According to Commander Chakotay, the station was just as accurately recreated. Where did they obtain the detailed knowledge necessary to depict buildings, places, books, and actual people like this? It's very upsetting to contemplate.
The Boothby told the senior staff that they'd presumed we were just like the Borg, and that the "people of Dry Space" were planning to invade their Fluidic Space. They'd built this station to prepare for such an eventuality, so they would know how to defend themselves. He said they'd been observing us for some time. By shape-shifting into the images of people who actually live in the Alpha Quadrant and living like we do, they've been learning about our capabilities. As Valerie Archer explained, their motto on the station was, "Speak human, think human, be human." Boothby, claimed they have twelve "training facilities," some in other quadrants.
Captain Janeway explained that Voyager's short term alliance was based upon the Borg's lies. She was quite open about why we were here in the Delta Quadrant and the main reason "that misguided alliance with the Borg" came about: we had no idea the Borg had invaded Fluidic Space first, and we were just trying to get home. She shared log entries she'd kept at the time of the alliance, so they could understand what we were told - and not told - about their species.
The Boothby replicant admitted their observations had yet to reveal Starfleet had intentions of invading them. They'd discovered most people didn't even know Fluidic Space existed - other than for a few upper-level Starfleet commanding officers (and how they knew that was also quite upsetting). The captain reassured them that other than a very brief contact we made with the Alpha Quadrant when our Doctor traveled to the Prometheus, through a means that no longer exists, we haven't had contact with Starfleet Command. While the Doctor was in the Alpha Quadrant, he'd mentioned contact with their people as part of the history he related about Voyager's survival. He hadn't gone into great detail about their species, since they'd already withdrawn into their own realm by that time. Headquarters was more interested in finding out which officers and crew had survived the journey into the Delta Quadrant. The Doctor reported the crew's composition, which included over four dozen Maquis, a former Borg, a native of the Delta Quadrant, and a hybrid who was half Vulcan and half Talaxian.
After the meeting, the captain brought our visitors around to see our vessel. I was included in the party, and not only as a guard. Valerie Archer was very interested in meeting me and discussing the circumstances of my hybridization. Their species is the only one they've ever discovered in Fluidic Space. They "grow" their bioships using particle synthesis. I was very interested how they did this, since the physics of their realm is so different from ours, but we didn't have the time to go into as much detail as I'd have liked.
When we arrived at Astrometrics, they met Seven, who appeared as uneasy as they did until she explained she was no longer linked with the Collective and regretted her role in the Borg's deceptions. She admitted she was the one to blame for Voyager's entry into their realm and apologized for that, too. She told them that the captain would not have fired the nanoprobe weapon on their bioships if their ships had not attacked Voyager, and that the captain discovered the truth about which species was the first to invade the other's space only after that occurred. She gave them a quick view of our galaxy, which didn't seem to surprise them. They'd obviously gained a lot of data about "Dry Space" through their "training facility" observations.
When we arrived in Sickbay, the Doctor shared information about the multitude of species which live in "Dry Space." They returned the favor by providing data about their own species' biology with him. The Doctor returned the body of their young colleague to them, so they could perform whatever customs they had for their dead. He expressed great regret over his inability to save his life. The Boothby replicant told us they were under the impression that our people, when captured, would use a similar toxin to prevent being held prisoner. The captain explained that was not at all our custom. When the group returned to their station, they brought "Ensign Gentry" back with them, promising to take him "home" in the next day or so, when they returned to Fluidic Space.
Afterwards, the captain went to the station for a visit before Voyager left the area. Boothby said he would go to their leaders to ask if they could continue their observations longer, while still practicing to "be us." He said they were "reconsidering" how dangerous we really were to them. Then he surprised our captain with a gift, which showed her, in a way nothing else could, just how well they'd done their research. Just as the "real" Boothby did when she was Cadet Kathryn Janeway at Starfleet Academy, this Boothby handed her a lovely rose.
It appears we've 'redone' our First Contact with Species 8472. I hope this "Second Contact" will be the charm. By the end of our encounter, I found a rather liked them.
Addendum
The Doctor was thrilled to discover that Species 8472 may have as many as five genders. He loves exploring the reproductive habits of various species, and this little tidbit fascinated him. While I understand the appeal, I was much happier to discover they seem quite nice. If and when we meet with them again, I have many other topics I'd prefer to discuss with them other than sex. The Doctor, now . . .
=/\=