"Report" Janeway hissed at Tom as she entered the Bridge.
He was frantically tapping buttons on the pilot console, "It's some kind of energy beam," said Tom hurriedly, "A shockwave weapon or field of some kind. I'm trying to break us free….but it's not working," he added, fear starting to seep into his voice.
"Seven's done something to the shields already from Astrometrics," said Harry from his console, "It's helping to keep us stabilized, but I don't know how long it will work."
Another intense push rocked the ship, and Janeway found herself thrown to the floor again. She crawled towards her Captain's chair, and sat down firmly, staring at her console as the ship continued to vibrate dangerously.
Gretchen became aware, she could not tell where she was, but her brain was on fire.
Her thoughts were slow and hazy, but then out of the fog she heard a voice, her mother's voice, speaking repeatedly in her head.
"Take care of Voyager"
The last words Gretchen's mother had ever spoken to her. She hated those words, even as they defined her life.
It repeated again.
"Take care of Voyager"
She still did not understand.
As the pain became excruciating, she felt herself pulled down, down deep into a very old, and hated memory. Perhaps the most hated memory of all.
"Take care of Voyager" echoed her mother's voice.
Why did she say that? 12-year-old Gretchen paced in her darkened family quarters, remembering her mother's words. Gretchen had been so angry half an hour ago, so cold, so cool, as her mother had told her goodbye. Had set off for something….some ship business again, as always.
Why did the words feel final somehow now, as she recalled them in the darkness?
Her mother had left their quarters, and minutes later lights and systems had gone out all over Voyager. That had happened before, but never when she was alone. But she was sick, and her mother had been watching over her, until she had left suddenly. The only good thing about having some odd alien illness, was that she had finally had her mother's attention. But now she had lost it yet again.
Why did it seem strange this time?
Gretchen sighed in the darkness, still pacing. She had not heard from or seen anyone since then. Her mother had ordered her not to leave the deck but as the time dragged on she peeked out of her quarters. It was dark, but she put one hand on the wall and guided herself quickly down to the Mess Hall.
There was almost no starlight, and she bumped and tripped over furniture as she searched and called out in the darkness. There was no response. A chill went through Gretchen as she reached the kitchen. Still no lights, still no crewmen. Nothing made sense.
Things are always going wrong on Voyager. But Neelix is always here, someone's always here.
If only communications were working and I could ask Thomas. B'Elanna tells him more than my parents tell me. He'll know what's going on. Wait…..
Gretchen raced back to her quarter, making it to her room, and diving under her bed, fumbling in the darkness for several minutes, but finally grabbing the searched for item. It was a rarely used direct line communicator Thomas had made for her as an experiment three years ago.
She crossed her fingers and hoped that it, unlike the lights, replicators, and normal communication lines, would work.
"Thomas," said Gretchen, trying to dial into his, or any, combadge, "Thomas, mom disappeared somewhere. And the deck is deserted. Do you know what's going on? Thomas!"
After a long moment, where Gretchen listened intently, she heard a female laugh. She fell backwards at the sound, it was bitter and had a nastiness to it that Gretchen had never heard before.
L'Naal's a bully but she would never, she could never sound like that, rang a voice inside Gretchen's head, one she desperately wanted to be wrong.
The laugh continued, and Gretchen made herself quiet and small, hugging her legs to her chest, hoping the danger would pass somehow.
"Your mother's here," said the nasty voice, "What's left of her."
Gretchen's blood went cold.
It's just L'Naal, it's just L'Naal, repeated Gretchen in her mind, Then why is mom gone? Could she really do all this?
"Can you contact anyone?" said Gretchen, voice breaking, "Can you transport her to Sickbay?"
"That won't help," continued the voice, and it laughed, "But she's in the shuttlebay."
"I'm coming," squeaked Gretchen, "Keep her stable…..please…..I'll come and help….."
Gretchen shook violently as she stood up. Moving into the living room, she looked around hopelessly. She hit button after button again on the replicator and communications, but it was futile. Hurrying, she slung her family's emergency medical kit over her shoulder and fumbled with a flashlight, clicking it on as she left the room.
Maybe it is L'Naal, said her brain comfortingly, She's gotten so hateful since her father died and she's a great engineer. She made all the lights go off on the ship, and she's having her fun. B'Elanna is going to kill her for this. Gretchen smiled despite herself. She'll be grounded for years.
The turbolift wasn't working, and Gretchen resigned herself to crawling through the dark Jeffries Tubes, panicking as the trip took much longer than expected. She spoke to the communicator, explaining her delay, but the voice did not return.
She passed no one as she arrived on Deck 10. She tried her communicator again, and one other console, but nothing worked.
How did L'Naal get rid of everyone on the ship? Did she lock them somewhere? Would she dare do that? She'll be sent to the Brig.
Gretchen took a deep breath and went through the doors to the large room, finding crates stacked high in all directions so that she couldn't see beyond.
She paused for a long moment, clutching the flashlight hard, and shuddering in the darkness. She could make out little, and she was still alone.
Finally she forced herself to move.
Maybe….maybe the prank went wrong. I'll help…I'll help L'Naal get things back up….I'll….I won't even say anything if I can help it….I promise, if things are all right I won't even be mad…..L'Naal where are you?
Gretchen turned left, and there were lights and metal steps in front of her. It finally looked as if she were getting somewhere. She went up the steps quickly. There was a walkway in front of her….and there was a woman on the ground.
She knew, somehow she knew, before her conscious brain could analyze the situation, somewhere deep in her being, she knew.
"MOMMY!"
"Do we know who's attacking us?" Captain Janeway yelled urgently at Harry, clicking through data on her console intently as she spoke.
"There's….something out there Captain," said Harry quickly, buttons beeping, "I think they're ships….with signatures I've never seen."
"Have we tried hailing them?"
"They're not responding to standard messages Captain."
"Put me through on screen if you can Mr. Kim," ordered Janeway.
"Yes, ma'am."
The viewscreen showed nothing but a gleaming darkness, but the Captain faced it and spoke commandingly, "This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager. We have no quarrel with you. Identify yourselves and break off your attack."
There was no response. Janeway felt the ship tremble underneath her again. She held on tightly to her chair and continued speaking. Her voice was sure and even, though her heart was pounding in her chest, "Identify yourselves. We have no quarrel with your people. We only seek safe passage through your territory."
"No response," said Harry, shaking his head as the second message clicked off.
"Do we have any idea what caused this?" said Janeway.
"We made somebody mad, that's for sure," said Tom, as the ship started to vibrate and did not stop.
"Maybe it's the wormhole," said Harry, "Maybe they claim it, or it could even be sacred to them…. It doesn't make sense to us. But it's the only thing we've done in this part of space."
The Bridge turbolift doors opened and Tuvok and Chakotay entered.
"Or they're pirates…..or just plain mean," said Tom from his pilot's chair.
"Seven," said Janeway to her combadge, nodding to Chakotay as he sat down, and despite herself feeling a little better with him beside her, "Seven, can you get us out of here?"
"Negative Captain," said Seven, "I am using Borg technology to offset the effects of the unknown weapon that is assaulting Voyager's shields. However," said Seven, pausing for the briefest instance, "It is a temporary measure. I estimate the shields will fail within 7 minutes. Unless they then pause the assault, Voyager will quickly be destroyed."
"Can we fire phasers?" she asked Tuvok, "Or photon torpedos?"
"Yes," he stated calmly from the Security console, "But it is inadvisable, there is a strong possibility they will ricochet back on Voyager due to the energy weapon they have us in. It is something similar to a tractor beam, but also bears similarities to a force field, and a phaser."
"Ideas," said Janeway quickly, looking urgently at her Bridge staff.
"We could apologize for using their sacred wormhole," said Tom sarcastically.
"We already tried talking," said Janeway, "Are there any other ideas?"
"Perhaps an apology is in order Captain," said Tuvok dispassionately, "Comm lines are one of our only remaining options. The violence of this attack does suggest they intend to destroy us. And as it stands at this moment, unless they break off their attack, we will be destroyed."
"Alright," said Janeway, "Put me on again Harry."
"This is the Federation Starship Voyager," said Janeway's firm voice, "We would like to apologize for encroaching on your territory….And using your wormhole," she added.
There was a pause, and Janeway softened her tone, making her voice cajoling, "We really are very sorry, we're only trying to get home."
A brutal shockwave hit the ship suddenly, pushing Janeway's upper half forward violently.
She quickly pushed herself back and gestured at Harry, who had managed to stay standing, while about half of the Bridge crew was on the floor. He cut the signal as ordered.
"Well," said Janeway, "If anything that made them madder. I don't think they like the soft touch."
"Maybe we should threaten them," said Chakotay, "They don't know we're the only Federation ship in the quadrant. And if they've never met our species before, they won't know what we're capable of."
"I think they've cut channels, Captain," said Harry urgently, "The comm. signals seem to be blocked."
"Shields will fail in two minutes," came Seven's cool voice from Janeway's combadge.
"We don't have a choice," said Janeway firmly, nodding at Tuvok, "Pick the most vulnerable spot and divert all possible power to the forward shields. We'll blast our way out of here if we can. Prepare to attack their ships if the force field drops. If there's an opening get us out of here as soon as possible Mr. Paris."
"Aye, aye, ma'am," voiced Tom as Tuvok nodded.
Tuvok fired the phasers and almost immediately they flew back in the direction of Voyager. The ship rocked violently.
"Damage to Decks 5 and 7," said Harry.
"Repolarize the shields and weapons," ordered Janeway urgently, suddenly stopping as a nasal female voice echoed throughout the Bridge.
"Are the nasty Jen Hadar giving you trouble?" said the alien voice from nowhere.
"I'm receiving a…..hail…..from somewhere Captain," said Harry's confused voice.