AN: Here we are, another chapter here.
I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!
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Kathryn's head had almost immediately started pounding in response to the general sense of "unknown" that surrounded everything. She'd gathered, into her ready room to keep from embarrassing anyone or stirring up too much concern, those that had been most closely studying the problem since they became aware that there was, in fact, a problem.
Harry Kim and Jolene McMahon stood somewhat at attention while Chakotay, a little more relaxed, stood to the side as an extra pair of ears and an extra mind to help Kathryn think.
"You tried shutting it down?" Kathryn asked again. Luckily, as captain, she was allowed to ask the same question more than once and, sometimes, it was necessary. She had a great crew, but the truth of the matter was that some of them were a little green. Their mission on Voyager had been their first mission—they were practically babies—and they were still learning.
"The program is not responding," Harry said.
Kathryn nodded her understanding.
"Have we made contact with B'Elanna and the others?"
"Communication devices are not responding, either," Jolene supplied. "None of them—neither through combadges nor through the holodeck. It's almost as if there's some sort of dampening field around Holodeck two. It doesn't appear that communications are getting in or out. One possible explanation is that the program has been a special project for Lieutenant Torres and Mr. Dixon. It was meant to allow Mr. Dixon to practice with some of the more complicated codes and programs."
"You're saying it's too hard for you to dismantle it?" Kathryn asked.
Jolene nodded. She was young. She was barely older than Harry. Fresh out of the academy, she'd returned to her home planet of Rigeria VI—a human who was adopted and raised among Rigerians her whole life—to serve a traditional Rigerian year of service. It was something every Rigerian was expected to complete after a major milestone in their lives. It was a way of showing thanks and appreciation for the good things that happened in one's life by serving others.
Jolene had come on Voyager with no experience outside of the Academy and, while she was a very quick study and B'Elanna had a lot of faith in her, she was still young. She was, however, also dedicated and very thorough—otherwise, Kathryn wouldn't have wanted her here.
"Lieutenant Torres was using the program to teach Mr. Dixon some of her more complicated codes. She introduced a few unusual twists into the programming."
Kathryn closed her eyes for a moment. B'Elanna was an amazing engineer. They were lucky to have her on the ship. She was, in Kathryn's opinion, truly one of the greatest in Starfleet. There wasn't any other engineer with which she'd want to be lost in the Delta Quadrant. And B'Elanna's tricks and twists—her amazing ingenuity and willingness to experiment—was part of what had gotten them this far, and was also a great deal of what would get them home in relative comfort. Kathryn was sure of that.
She was also sure that, in situations like this, that very same thing that made B'Elanna incredible also made her dangerous to some degree.
"You can't break her code," Kathryn said.
"Not enough of it," Jolene said.
"Who else could do it?" Kathryn asked.
"A lot of this program is wholly experimental," Jolene said. "I've been watching it while they've worked on it. It was for entertainment, but B'Elanna was adamant that nobody else could get into the program until she was sure that all the bugs were worked out. It was even protected so that it couldn't be accessed by anyone else. I had to break in, in a sense, just to realize that I couldn't get past all the protective locks that she put in place."
Kathryn sucked in a breath and considered everything.
"What about—the safeties?" Kathryn asked. "Are they functioning on the holodeck? Are B'Elanna and the others at least protected from danger?"
"We can't tell, Captain," Harry said. "B'Elanna put a lock on the program that's written with her own personal code. We can't tell if it's functioning within normal safety parameters."
Kathryn looked at Chakotay. He was looking at her expectantly, as were Harry and Jolene. He would offer her all the advice and opinions she wanted, but he wouldn't do it unsolicited.
"We're not busy," Kathryn said, "and it wouldn't cause too much of a disruption. Warn the crew. Cut power entirely to that part of the ship and send a crew to open the doors manually. Once B'Elanna and Daryl are outside, they can repair their own program."
"There's one more problem, Captain," Harry said with some hesitation.
Kathryn's chest tightened. She laughed, not feeling any great humor and, really, only feeling slightly amused by the passing thought of how many times she'd heard those words just as she arrived at what she thought was an acceptable solution to a problem.
"Of course there is," Kathryn said. She realized that, maybe, she'd been a touch harsher with her tone of voice than she'd meant to be—or maybe Harry was just jumpy. He recoiled slightly. "I'm sorry, Ensign," Kathryn assured him. "Please—what seems to be the problem?"
"We tried to cut power to the holodeck, but…it didn't work. It's some sort of—spatial anomaly," Harry said.
"What is it this time?" Kathryn asked.
"We're not sure," Harry said.
Kathryn didn't know if Harry was actually as annoying as she was finding him to be at the moment, or if she was simply overly sensitive.
"Well, what do you know, Mr. Kim?" Kathryn asked. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Chakotay make a move. He covered it over by pretending to cough into his hand, but she could tell that he was amused by something.
"Nothing has shown up on short- or long-range scanners, Captain," Harry said. "However, when we noticed the presence of what seemed like a dampening field, Ensign McMahon and I started exploring the program code to find out if the lack of communication was owing to the written code or if it was owing to something that was happening outside of that…"
"Mr. Kim," Kathryn said, sharper than she meant to. She took a breath and mentally tried to control her tone. "Harry—although I know that there was no viral component written into this code, if the safeties are off, some of my people are trapped in a program with photonic creatures that could, potentially, kill them and eat them or dismember them at best. If you could just…hit the high points, and I'll ask you for any background information I require."
Harry nodded.
"Something is affecting the program from outside the ship," Harry said. "Upon further exploration, it's affecting several systems, though none quite so dramatically as our holodeck technology."
"Is it alien technology or something that's naturally occurring?" Kathryn asked.
"We can't tell, Captain," Harry said, apologetically. "Not yet, at least."
"We've got people looking into it," Jolene said.
"What do you think?" Kathryn asked.
"It appears to be organic," Harry said. "Scans aren't picking up any lifeforms or alien technology."
"Unless we're dealing with cloaking devices beyond our detection abilities," Kathryn said. She got a nod in response. She sucked in a breath, held it, and considered her options, though she was starting to feel that there were considerably fewer options than she would have ever liked to have to work with.
"You said you can't communicate with them," Kathryn said. "What about transporters? Can you beam them out?"
"A systems scan shows that transporters appear to be working, Captain," Harry said, immediately seeming a little more upbeat now that he had something positive to report.
"Great!" Kathryn said, feeling Harry's sudden enthusiasm and doing her best to hide any irritation over the fact that it took them so long to get this rather obvious solution. "Then beam them out, Ensign Kim. That's an order."
"There's a problem, Captain."
Kathryn closed her eyes. She felt lightheaded for a moment, and she reminded herself that there were shifts in her body to which she was still becoming accustomed. Perhaps her little stowaway had a low tolerance for the sometimes-never-ending work of getting to the very, true, bottom of things.
"Yes, Mr. Kim?" Kathryn asked. "What is the problem?"
"Well, we tried to beam the whole group out earlier—as soon as we realized there might be a problem. It would appear that none of them are wearing their combadges. It's possible they took them off as part of the program or…it's possible that something has happened to take the combadges offline entirely. Either way, we're unable to know for sure."
"Can you beam somebody into the program?" Kathryn asked.
"We believe can, but we haven't tried," Harry said.
"We were afraid of getting someone else stuck in the program," Jolene supplied quickly. "Without the ability to study the program any more than we can, and without access to the codes…"
"And without more understanding of the anomaly and how it works…" Harry interrupted.
"We were afraid of sending someone in," Jolene finished, as though the two of them had practiced some sort of synchronized response. "We have no way of knowing where they would end up in the program, or where the others are located."
"It's possible that they're not even aware of the situation yet," Kathryn said. "They may not know that they're trapped in there. And if we're unable to control the program out here, thanks to the anomaly, then it's possible that they're unable to control it from within."
"Are you suggesting we should send someone else in?" Chakotay asked.
"If someone were able to take a PADD with access to control panels and some extra combadges," Kathryn said, "it's possible that B'Elanna could overwrite her own code and shut it down. At the very least, it's possible that we could beam everyone out until we're able to solve the issue."
"I think you're forgetting the anomaly," Chakotay said. "It's just as possible that the technology beamed into the holodeck, immediately upon being beamed into it, would simply cease to work. The person would be rendered as helpless as B'Elanna and the others."
"With the right equipment and scientific observation," Kathryn said, "it's possible that whoever's in there could gain some insight about the anomaly."
"It's risky. Whoever we send in there is going into a potentially hostile environment," Chakotay said.
Kathryn smiled at him. She swallowed against the fluttering feeling in her stomach. She wouldn't dare to let anyone know she was nervous—especially not Chakotay—because he was already going to fight her.
"That's why I'm going," she said.
"Kathryn…" Chakotay said, forgetting, for just a moment, that they were on-duty. Jolene and Harry didn't seem shocked by Chakotay's loud use of her first name instead of her rank. Rather, they seemed just as shocked as he did at her determination to enter the program.
"Chakotay," Kathryn said, before he could finish what he was thinking, "I am the captain."
"That's all the more reason for you not to put yourself in danger," Chakotay said.
Kathryn laughed to herself. She looked at Harry and Jolene.
"Would you excuse us, ensigns? I'll need you to set up teams to continue working to solve these problems. In the meantime, please arrange supplies for me. I'll need extra combadges, PADDS with direct access to controls, phasers with additional charge packs, and a tricorder for studying the anomaly."
"Aye, Captain," Harry said. Jolene echoed him. In the fashion of the species that raised her, she gave a somewhat dramatic bow meant to convey respect. Then, both of them quickly exited the ready room. Kathryn waited until the doors were closed before she made eye contact with Chakotay, thus making it clear to him that she was willing to hear whatever he might have to say about the situation.
"You and I both know that my duty, as captain, is to go first," Kathryn said. "Some of my crew is potentially in danger. Someone has to go in there and try to help them. I can't put more of my crew at risk if I'm not brave enough to go first."
"It's not about bravery, Kathryn," Chakotay said. "Nobody on this ship would doubt that you'd go in there. It's about your condition."
"My condition doesn't render me unable to perform my duties as captain," Kathryn said. "If it did…"
"What?" Chakotay asked.
"It doesn't matter," Kathryn said. "I was a scientist before I was a captain, Chakotay. If you put your feelings aside, you know I'm one of the best to go in there to help study the anomaly from within. If that's not enough to convince you, then simply consider this—I'm going in, Chakotay. I outrank you. I'm not asking for permission. Not this time."
"Then I'm going with you," Chakotay said. "If we're getting technical, Kathryn, then it's my duty as first officer to protect you. It's—also my right and my duty as your husband."
Kathryn laughed to herself.
"I don't remember reading that in any of my classes at the Academy," Kathryn teased. "You should stay out here. Protect the crew in case something unexpected should happen."
"They know about the anomaly and they're watching it," Chakotay said. "We haven't seen anything besides this in days. There's nothing showing up on scans. Tuvok will be able to handle what's going on out here. I'm going with you, if you're insisting on beaming yourself directly into the heart of the Millennium Plague."
"Fine," Kathryn said. Chakotay looked surprised that she'd ceded the point so quickly. "You're right. I'll need—support. Backup. I may need your expertise on survival, depending on how things go in there."
Chakotay nodded. He was clearly uncomfortable with the whole idea, but he was also evidently calmed a good bit by the thought that they would go in together.
"We should take a few more practical supplies with us," he said. "Just in case."
Kathryn smiled at him and nodded.
"I'll count on you to get together our supplies," Kathryn said. "I'll make arrangements on the duty rosters and take care of a few things so that everything runs smoothly in our absence."
"I'll replicate some clothing for you," Chakotay said. "It wouldn't hurt to have extra. We don't know how long we'll be in there, and we don't know how this program functions."
"I'll meet you outside the holodeck in half an hour," Kathryn told him. She crossed the room and quickly gave him a kiss. Rather than let her pull away too quickly, he held her. She let him have the kiss, and she smiled at him when it was done. "Thank you for not trying harder to stop me," she said.
"An exercise in futility," Chakotay teased. "Thank you for agreeing to let me accompany you, Captain."
Kathryn smiled at him.
"There's nobody else I'd rather have by my side in the middle of the Millennium Plague," she assured him.