CHAPTER 9: Day 223
Ensigns Log, Stardate 51816.69. Our escape pod came across a damaged ship this morning and we have negotiated with them to beam us aboard to help them with repairs. They call themselves the Nihydron, and I'm glad to report that this species are a lot more congenial than our previous encounters.
Completing her personal log, she tapped the data padd off and put it back on the shelf over the bench. Her excitement was struggling to remain under control and at the same time she didn't want to get her hopes up too high. The last time they came across strangers, they wanted to kill her and Lee after accusing them of lying about the Krenim weapon. With the Nihydron however, who was to know if they would be any different? Pulling on her yellow and black jacket, she fastened the comm badge on her chest and ran her hands over her sleeves to smooth out the creases. It had been a while since she'd worn it and putting it back on made her feel a little strange, like she wasn't sure who she was in that uniform anymore. Shaking that thought quickly out of her head, (y/n) walked over to the helm to sit next to Lee who was watching the view screen critically as the damaged ship came into view.
"What do you make of it?" she asked him as the large dark ship grew closer with every second.
"It looks advanced enough for sufficient weapons power, and going by these scans I ran earlier they also have warp engines," the security officer remarked as he read out the results.
"How many on board?" she asked further, hoping they weren't going to be ridiculously outnumbered again. "Scans picked up ten lifeforms. That's not too bad," he let out a sigh of relief.
"Not bad at all, maybe with just the ten of them we might be able to come to a more civilised agreement," she rolled her eyes, folding her arms defensively. Abruptly, a crackle of static came through the comm and the Ensigns leaned forward to listen more intently. It was a muffled voice not yet audible enough to recognise. The young engineer moved her fingers over the screen to adjust the frequency of their communication until it came through clearly.
"Please identify."
"We are the Starfleet Officers Ensign Lee and Ensign (y/n). We've come to help with repairs," Lee replied clearly and eventually the voice responded.
"Prepare to be transported."
With barely enough time to rise to their feet, the Ensigns found themselves engulfed in a strange light, followed by the familiar sensation of beaming through space tingling through their bones. The escape pod dissolved in front of their eyes and when the beam light subsided, they found themselves on a completely different ship. They were in a cargo bay and two aliens stood in front of them. The first thing she noticed were the small, translucent eyes staring back at her, their waxy flesh and wide noses prominent features as their thin-lipped mouths remained silent. She gulped nervously as those small eyes observed her cautiously. Finally, the alien wearing a silver band on his right arm approached them and raised his non-existent eyebrows that made the two large protrusions on his forehead seem larger than before.
"We are Nihydron. I am Forhn," he spoke, voice surprisingly soft and mellow, "We thank you for answering us. Your vessel will dock here. Please, this way." The short, simple way they formed sentences intrigued her and as they were lead down a hallway, they arrived at what could only be the Engineering room. A flame kindled back to life in her stomach as she found herself back in her natural habitat, not wanting to waste another second on formalities.
"You are an engineer?" the alien asked, pointing to Ensign Lee and the tall man let out a light laugh and waved his hands defensively.
"No-no! Here is the person you need. This is Ensign (y/n). She is a first class engineer and I would trust her to fix anything," Lee smiled down at her and she looked away as her cheeks flushed pink. The alien smiled a thin smile and summoned his friend behind him to join them.
"Officer Orbin. Please show Ensign Lee to Tactical," he ordered and the alien called Orbin guided Lee towards an exit, quickly walking away to start on one of the many jobs they had agreed to do. The remaining alien called Forhn looked down at the girl and blinked several times, his small eyes a peculiar grey and white colour like clouds forming on a rainy day.
"You are female?" he asked.
"I am," she replied, holding in a bemused smile as he observed her again, brow raised in surprise.
"Female engineers are rare, pleased to acquaint with you," he bowed as if he had just met royalty and she stared back in bafflement.
"Likewise, Forhn," she replied, pronouncing his name like you would say fawn. Coughing away the awkwardness she felt, she clasped her hands behind her back and asked, "So, what can I help with first?" The Nihydron nodded and gestured behind her towards a round station in the middle of the room. Turning on her heels, she walked over to it and looked over the screens. She bit her lip; of course it was going to be in an alien language!
"Warp drive offline, coolant leak, impulse power offline. We cannot move," Forhn explained as he pointed to the unfamiliar scribbles on the terminal screen. Chuckling to herself, she listed the jobs she knew how to fix already and straightened her jacket.
"Let's start with the coolant leak shall we?" she smiled, a part of her old self resurfacing again. Forhn blinked a few times and smiled thinly before stating,
"We shall."
...
Time flew by and just as five hours had passed, the young Engineer got up off her knees after double checking some results on her tricorder.
"It all seems good to me," she sighed with satisfaction as Forhn walked over to her to gaze interestedly at the tricorder for the hundredth time that day. After a brief silence, he ordered her to follow him and as she flipped the tricorder shut, she followed him out and down a short corridor to another room.
The view screen was twice the size as the escape pod's but much smaller than Voyager's had been. Peering around, the engineer noticed that everyone else had been working in this room, quietly tapping away at terminals and talking to each other in short, softly spoken voices. Forhn had carried on over to where another Nihydron was sitting at the helm so she quickly observed the rest of the crew; they all looked similar, wearing grey heavy woollen like robes matching their grey skin tone and eyes.
"(Y/n)! Your just in time," Ensign Lee waved from the Tactical station across the room and she hurried over, two other Nihydron's giving her rather curious expressions as she passed by.
"In time for what?" she asked, joining Lee and Orbin at the terminal. The alien placed his longer fingers over the screen and tapped some form of code into the computer. They both looked up and suddenly a light blue hue flooded the view screen. All the Nihydron stopped to watch and mumbled quietly to themselves.
"We've managed to successfully transfer the temporal shielding after a bit of technological confusion," Lee smiled at Orbin who expressed his humorous response with a slow chortle from within his throat, "So if a wave hits," Lee whispered lowly to her, "they'll be ready for it."
"That's excellent," she replied trying but failing to sound optimistic, "Lee, can I speak to you for a moment?" Lee nodded curiously and excused himself from his station, following the light footed girl out of the Bridge area and down a hallway.
The Ensigns huddled quietly together in the corridor just down from the command room and faced each other in apprehension.
"When do you think we should ask them?" she asked quietly, folding her arms over her chest. Lee shook his head, his eyes not looking too hopeful.
"We could try after all the repairs are done, that way they'll see that we truly intended to help them in the first place," he suggested in a low voice, glancing down the corridor to check no one was listening. Nerves pulled at her chest. What if they refuse? Lee placed his hands on her shoulders and squeezed them gently.
"Hey, there's still a chance they might say yes."
Biting her lip she nodded slowly and looked down at her boots. To come this close and have no for an answer would break her soul entirely, and she wasn't sure she would be able to move on after that.
...
The workload continued late into the night and gradually into the hours of the following morning. The Starfleet officers barely had the chance to stop, the Nihydrons always finding them something else to do. They were a respectable race and their knowledge of ship functions and repairs were equal to what Voyager's crew had been. But were they a charge-into-battle-with-no-hope-of-survival type of people?
Initiating a trial run on the impulse engines, she listened and waited as the ship gradually began to buzz beneath their feet, a low humming sound elevating in pitch as she exchanged smiles with the Nihydrons in front of her.
"Impulse engines back online," she grinned and the two grey aliens chortled in response, small eyes blinking excitedly.
"Many thanks," Forhn bowed again. She raised her hands and cringed through her smile, wishing he wouldn't do that every time she did something right, "It's okay, really, we did this together so give yourselves some credit too!" she laughed and they glanced at each other for a moment. Then they bowed to each other, repeating their thanks. Marvelling at their social habits, she waited to hear further instructions from the leader. Instead, they were all summoned to follow Forhn out of Engineering until they reached another room. Inside there was a long table with a bench either side, along with two replicators on the wall. Lining up, the Nihydrons replicated themselves a bowl of something orange and a cup of water, each one replicating the same meal. When it got to her, she stalled not knowing what to ask for; they wouldn't exactly have Earth's cuisine programmed into their replicator system now would they?
"Please choose," Orbin encouraged her from behind and she span around to see the Nihydron standing next to Lee. Awkwardly, she shrugged her shoulders lightly,
"I wouldn't know what to try, your programme will be slightly different to ours."
"Off course," Orbin blinked thoughtfully before stepping forward and replicating three portions of the same meal as the other crewmen had done; a bowl of orange stew with a glass of water. Picking up their lunch, they sat down at the long table and all ate in silence.
"I'm game of you are," she whispered to Lee who had hesitantly grabbed his spoon and hovered it over the orange food. He half smiled back as they both scooped up a spoonful and ate it. Her eyes widened in surprise and the Ensigns stared at each other simultaneously. It tasted like sweet vegetables floating in a citrus soup so refreshing that she'd almost forgotten the taste of exotic foods. Taking another spoonful, she couldn't help but remember the wild concoctions Neelix would cook up for them daily, his Leola Root soup something she had not minded after a few months of continuous portions. Her spoon halted inside the orange stew as she found herself glaring down into the bowl. Guilt plagued her again, this time stronger than ever. Here she was eating heartily and injury free when her superior officers were still out there, weeks gone by without a decent meal to give them strength. A numbness enveloped her as she let the spoon sink into the food, her hand clenched on the table beside the bowl. It was then she noticed that the Nihydrons had stopped eating and were watching her.
"Disliking the food?" Forhn asked quietly, pointing at her portion.
"On the contrary, this is one of the best dishes I've ever tasted," she tried to smile but she couldn't fully hide her despair. Noticing her saddened mood, Lee placed his spoon down and clasped his hands together, his face solemn
"There is a matter that we must discuss with you," he started, the engineer's heart beating faster as the moment had finally arrived.
"Proceed," Forhn nodded. It took Lee five minutes to briefly relate their disastrous journey to the alien crew, from their first encounter with the Krenim Imperial all the way through to the aliens who were erased from reality, and finally receiving the distress call from the Nihydrons themselves. (Y/n) stayed silent throughout the whole tale, her hands clenched in her lap and eyes down as she couldn't bring herself to look at their searching faces. Voyager's fate seemed unalterable and after listening to Lee's narrative, she was convinced that the Nihydrons wouldn't dare risk facing the Krenim now. It suddenly felt like her story was over.
"I know the risks are exceedingly high and we wouldn't want to force you into an immediate decision. However, the fate that awaits Voyager may spread throughout this Quadrant unless we bring an end to their ruthless initiative," Ensign Lee explained calmly with a slight hint of desperation. The Nihydron crewmen remained unmoved and as silent as the grave, small eyes blinking occasionally at each other as they pondered over the human's dangerous proposition. Glancing up slowly, the young Engineer frowned sadly at Forhn and met his small grey eyes with visible anguish on her face.
"The Krenim Imperial will not stop to negotiate or even consider your lives as meaningful. That applies to your home world as well," she said quietly. The grey aliens twitched at this statement, a shared uneasiness rising into the atmosphere as she continued her tale,
"During our last few months on Voyager, the Krenim mercilessly erased a planet from the space time continuum, billions of lives gone in an instant like they'd never even existed. Our Captain and command crew may be the only ones who can stop them and if we join them together, we're giving them a greater chance of succeeding." She stopped and looked at each Nihydron intently, searching for any signs of confidence or fear that could sway there decision.
Several moments passed when Forhn eventually leaned forward, "There are only ten Nihydron here. We are no army and the Krenim are strong," he began and she felt her heart falter, anxiety pounding at her chest as she forced herself to listen.
"Yet," Forhn continued in a lighter tone, "This is a galactic threat, it affects us all. There may be no tomorrow or Nihydron home world to return to. My brothers and I understand the deadly cost of war, we have seen it many a time within our region of space. But if what you say is true?" Forhn squinted his small eyes at Lee and the man looked back assuredly,
"I give you my word."
Clasping his hands together, the tall grey alien stood up and so did the rest of the Nihydron crewmen whilst stating, "We will send for reinforcements. We fight with Voyager."
Both Ensigns looked up at them in shock, finding it difficult not to shout out in disbelief at his answer. Walking around the table they shook hands with each one of the Nihydron and thanked them greatly, the aliens glad to return aid to the lost wanderers after their selfless labouring.
"We will contact vessels close by, soon they will join the fight," Orbin shook Lee's hand strongly before taking a more gentle approach to the female Ensign by taking her hand and patting it softly. She held in a laugh at this slightly belittling gesture but she smiled back nonetheless. A meeting was held as the evening grew on, and a base plan was decided for the following day; they would bring the Warp engines online then presumably a few hours later they would be joined by two more Nihydron ships. And the next step; make their way back to the last known coordinates of the U.S.S. Starship Voyager.