A Light in the Darkness
by Joan Powers
Summary: Voyager is in major trouble when it finds itself in the middle of a war zone with no allies. Will an earlier quest for enlightenment help them? Alt series ending, Mentions C/7, Janeway/Chakotay
Timeline: Season 7
Rating: K+
A/N: As always, thanks to Suzj1 and Tracy for their wonderful suggestions and support! This story has already been completely written and I'll post a chapter per day.
Chapter 1
Janeway stared at the officers seated around the table in the briefing room. The anxious looks on their faces reflected the seriousness of their situation.
"Captain" B'Elanna seemed reluctant to speak. She could barely meet Janeway's steady gaze. "The warp core is still down. I've got engineering teams working on it around the clock. But at this stage the situation is… not hopeful."
During the last battle, an alien vessel had hit them with a phaser blast that somehow sliced through their shields, like an unexpected dagger into flesh, and took out half of deck 11. B'Elanna had valiantly gotten everyone out of engineering, herding the walking and aiding the wounded. Then she turned around and made her way back through the hot debris, sparks, spot fires and gaseous leaks to try and shut down the warp core which was at serious risk of overloading.
Now teams of engineering personnel, all wearing environmental suits, were attempting to make repairs and bring the warp core back online.
Janeway watched B'Elanna absently fingering the loose dressing on her forearm, one of her many injuries needing more than a dermal regenerator and saw her wince as an obvious jolt of pain laced through her.
The captain sighed, wondering how to inspire her people when they were already so battle fatigued. The briefing room suddenly lit up with intermittent bursts of fluorescent light before the light dimmed again and she glanced around the room at the somber, weary faces of the other senior staff.
"I know you're all doing your best. Keep at it. Don't give up." It was the best she could offer.
Although Janeway was also feeling discouraged, she was loathe to admit defeat. It went against her pride. Even though the odds were steadily climbing against them. She felt for poor B'Elanna, who was accustomed to being the miracle worker who discovered magical fixes at the last hour.
But she hadn't given up hope. If there was a way, she was confident that B'Elanna would figure it out.
Exhausted and with a smudge of grime on her cheek, Janeway bent to rub her temple with her fingers. They'd also sustained heavy damage on decks 8 and 14, which had to be sealed off until repairs could be completed. Shields were down to forty percent. There was an erratic glitch in the Doctor's programing, while twenty additional injured crew members languished in sickbay.
Their photon torpedo stock was nearly depleted, with the replicators running on fumes. They'd started rationing replicator use immediately when they anticipated that maintaining their armory and ship repairs would become imperative.
Last week, they started rationing food.
As of today, none of the nearby planets they'd scanned were promising sources of food, minerals, or other resources. And even if there were resources, given the reception they'd garnered thus far in this region of space, it wasn't likely that the inhabitants would be hospitable or amenable to forging trade agreements.
Several weeks ago, they hadn't realized that they'd inadvertently stumbled into a war zone. The initial attack had taken them completely by surprise. Even though Voyager was a highly advanced vessel and commandeered superior fire power, they'd been overwhelmed by the alien ships, due to their sheer numbers. There'd been no warning. No attempt at communication. Just the launch of a full assault.
Ever since that first encounter, they'd been limping and on the run. Repairs performed one day were destroyed after the next incursion.
Janeway sent messages to the ships, conveying that Voyager was neutral and they just wanted safe passage through their star system. None of the aliens responded.
They had no knowledge of what the conflict involved or even the precise alien races participating.
Currently Voyager was hiding in a nebula, trying to mask their presence to buy valuable time for repairs. A non-functioning warp core was a serious blow. Rather than continuing their journey home through this treacherous segment of space, Janeway was willing to move Voyager out of range of the war, backtrack even, regardless of whatever time might be added on to their decades long trip, just so they could recoup their losses and move on.
With no warp drive and dwindling supplies, they were extremely vulnerable.
After the first week of being trapped in battles they'd wanted no part in, one of the alien ships finally responded to Janeway's hails. They'd provided limited information regarding the alien races involved in the conflict and had suggested a temporary alliance between them. Even though she didn't understand the nature of this conflict or balance of power in this region of space, Voyager was in poor shape. Badly needing supplies and repairs, Janeway had agreed to their terms, as a last resort, though it had gone against her better judgement.
That situation had turned ugly, fast. Once Voyager had fired on an enemy ship to take out its weapons targeting system, completing their part of the agreement, the aliens from the alliance immediately backed out. Not only did they provide poor quality supplies, they also abandoned them, leaving Voyager vulnerable to attack by other alien ships.
At this point, after nearly a month of skirmishes, Voyager was just trying to survive.
The klaxons went off, signaling a red alert.
With a feeling of dread, the senior staff hurried to their battle stations.
Janeway felt ill as she rushed towards the bridge. They weren't ready for another battle. And if they were forced to surrender, what would be their fate? Prison? Enforced labor? Or would they simply be killed, and their ship gutted for its advanced technology? She still didn't understand what motivated these aliens.
Sometimes it felt as if the aliens were testing them, trying to learn their grasp of battle tactics and understand the capabilities and vulnerabilities of Voyager, while other times it felt as if their ship was merely serving as target practice.
"It's several of the massive battle cruisers." Harry said. "Captain, they've detected us."
"Shields?"
"Only thirty percent, Captain." Tuvok said.
"Weapons?"
"We have five photon torpedoes left," Chakotay replied, seated by her side.
"What about the phasers?" Janeway asked.
"Fifty percent capacity." Tuvok responded.
At least it was something. It wouldn't buy them much time. And with the wrap drive down, they were incapable of retreating. There was no place left to hide.
What were they going to do?
With limited weapons and no warp capability, they were sitting ducks in this hostile region of space. How could she best protect her people? Call for an evacuation and have a skeleton crew run interference while the pods escaped? Yet they would be vulnerable that way too and the nearby planets weren't promising sites to settle.
Running out of options, she'd discussed that scenario with Chakotay earlier in day.
"Three of the other alien ships just appeared," A nervous Harry said. They'd only seen those recently. While they were smaller, they had formidable firepower.
"Evasive maneuvers."
Janeway sighed, hoping the two different alien races might engage each other and simply avoid them, though this wasn't likely.
"Captain! They're targeting us with their torpedoes." Harry said.
"Maintain those shields. Try to put more space between us." Janeway said. She would delay firing the photon torpedoes, fully aware they were nearly depleted. She'd wait for a moment when she could take out as many of the enemy as possible.
If the self-destruct mechanism had been functional, she would've seriously contemplated using it. She wasn't about to let her ship fall into enemy hands.
"Incoming! Brace for impact," Tuvok said.
They all reeled forward with the intense impact. The lighting flickered as the bridge shook and the crew grabbed railings to steady themselves.
"Damage report."
"Decks four and ten are damaged." Harry reported. "Hull integrity is compromised."
"Captain, there's a new small fleet of unknown vessels hailing us."
"On screen."
After their last alliance, Janeway wasn't optimistic. In fact, she fully expected this communication to be one in which the aliens made demands regarding their surrender. She exchanged a quick glance with Chakotay, silently letting him know she was okaying the evacuation plan. He nodded his understanding. Once this exchange started going south, she trusted that he would put the crew into motion. He would look after them while she stayed with the ship.
Maybe she and Tom could take out several ships with their remaining photon torpedoes and then pound the biggest battle cruiser using Voyager as a battering ram to buy her people maximum escape time.
If it had to end this way, at least it would be with her kicking and screaming.
When the aliens appeared on the viewscreen, Janeway and Chakotay were stunned to discover that they recognized them.