Emissions :The Parable
"That's the way life is. It's like a free radical reaction- you never know what you're gonna get, you won't know when it's gonna end. The only thing that's certain is that our fate lies in our hands."
--June Yang
Chakotay was wondering if attending this conference had been the right thing to do in the first place. He was seated beside the captain in an enormous chamber, in one of the antigrav units that lined the vast circular chamber walls. In the center of the chamber were a small group of dedicated scientists, presenting their case with the aid of a three-dimensional holographic projector.
He could tell that Janeway was worried. This conference was unprecedented in the history of the Delta Quadrant. For the first time in eons, the consolidated powers across the quadrant sat side by side, contemplating their future. The conference had been organized by the Atari, a group of technologically-advanced beings whose system of subspace tunnels to bring all these warp cultures to one central place. He thought he saw several familiar faces, including the Kazon, the Viidians, the Hirogen… people whom they thought they'd long left behind.
The Atari had called all these spacefaring cultures together to draw them to the conclusions of the studies they'd made of matter-antimatter propulsed travel. After years of extensive research, they'd concluded that the volatile plasma effluents of warp travel was disrupting the fabric of space-time and would ultimately lead to its collapse. As Chakotay watched the marching procession of figures, statistics and scenarios unfolding before him, he felt more and more uneasy as well. How were they ever going to undo such serious damage done?
The Atari finished off by saying that the only way to remedy it at the present was to sign a pact that restricted warp travel within to warp two within the quadrant, the maximum speed at which the damage done to the fabric of space-time was reversible.
This immediately caused a major uproar in the chamber. People stood up, protesting, while others burst into laughter, proclaiming that the Atari were insane. Janeway shot Chakotay a worried look, both thinking, warp two?
*******
"No, Chakotay, I'm not doing it." the captain was walking briskly along the corridors of the Voyager. "Warp two- that's crazy. By the time we reach home all of us are going to be more than a hundred years old."
Chakotay was silent, thinking. "I don't know, Captain," he said at length, shrugging as they stepped into the turbolift. "You can't ignore everything that the Atari have said."
Janeway pursed her lips together. "There's not much else I can do, Chakotay. I refuse to restrict our travel to warp two. We've been doing nothing but trying to develop a faster way to get home all these years, and along come a bunch of precocious bumpkins trying to tell us to move slower? I find it unacceptable."
"The Atari are much more advanced than Starfleet and they've done a lot of research into this area," countered Chakotay as the turbolift arrived on Deck One. "It took them long enough to realize that high speed warp travel was causing compression waves tearing apart the fabric of spacetime.'
"And a long enough time to come up with a way to remedy it," she responded as they stepped into the briefing room. She stopped and faced him squarely. "Regardless of what they say, I'm not going to do anything which will decrease our average travel speed. Because, first things first, are the needs of the crew of my ship. That's my priority."
The crew glanced up at the two of them as they entered. "What was that all about?" asked Torres.
Janeway headed her for seat at the head of the oval table. "I'm going to make a decision which some of you are undoubtedly going to find unpopular," she said heavily, "but that's not going to change my mind." She then went on to describe the situation they'd found themselves in. There was silence from the crew as she finished.
The first to speak was Paris. "So that's it? We're not signing onto the pact?" he asked, spreading his hands wide. "And continue wrecking the fabric of space-time?"
"Are you nuts?" countered Kim. "Signing onto the pact will put another fifty years onto the length of our journey at least! Some of us might not even survive until that long!"
Paris frowned, thinking. "Surely there must be some other way to dispose of this plasma effluent which is so harmful," he ruminated. "After all, we did managed to get past the problem of destabilizing subspace with a new warp-core design… Given time, we might actually be able to modify our warp core to stop producing these pollutants. Right, B'Elanna?"
Torres shrugged. "I don't know. Until I get a closer look at the problem I won't be able to gauge the required magnitude of the solution. Off-hand, though, I'd say we don't have enough resources and the equipment to come up with such a drastic measure. I mean, yes, we can modify the warp core, but our energy resources are strained, and I've yet to devise new means of coping with that problem. The only way as I see it now is to travel at higher velocities because the nature of the matter-antimatter reaction makes it more efficient at speeds of warp five and beyond... and that happens to contravene with what the Atari are suggesting."
Janeway shook her head. "The Atari have done years of research on this and failed to come up with anything. I'm afraid our options are pretty much limited now."
Neelix shook his head slowly. "It sounds pretty serious… Captain, you can't just ignore the fact that our warp drive is causing damage to the environment around us!"
"I'm not ignoring the fact, Mr. Neelix… it's just that I can't do anything about it." Janeway sighed heavily. "We have enough problems to handle as it is… the Viidians, for example, are in the vicinity, and they still remember that incident with the Delta Flyer."
"You're kidding!" exclaimed Paris, straightening up in his chair. "How many times do we have to tell them that it wasn't our fault?"
"The Viidian ambassador still seems to think so," replied Chakotay. "And is still demanding a public apology."
"We weren't anywhere near Viidian space when the two shuttles collided-" protested the Doctor, but Janeway cut off his complaints with a wave of her hand, calling for silence.
"I understand and appreciate all your concerns," she said heavily, "but as I have mentioned before, reaching Earth is our first priority. And presently there are one too many things waiting for our attention." She glanced steadily around the crew. "Your objections will all be noted in my log. Dismissed."
******
B'Elanna Torres was working frantically in Engineering when Chakotay approached her. She stopped work for a moment, eyeing the first Officer warily. "What now'?" she asked cautiously. "I'm not done with the realignment of the dilithium matrix yet. Tell the captain to give me another half-hour, and I'll be finished with it. I promise."
Chakotay shook his head slightly. "The captain didn't send me. I just needed to talk. To get your professional opinion."
"What on?" She seemed mystified for a moment, then it struck her. "Oh. The pollution problem…"
"Is the captain right?" he asked. "Is there no other way out of this situation?"
B'Elanna shrugged helplessly and furiously. "Look at us, Chakotay, just look!" She gestured around Engineering. "It's all very well to talk about saving the universe and playing our part, but can't you see the reality of the situation? We're barely capable of producing enough power to support ourselves. The designer of this ship obviously never thought to proof it for years of overuse… and as a result we're facing a major energy crisis right now. I have so much to do as it is… there's no time to do the modifications you're asking!" She smacked her fist softly on the nearest console, gritting her teeth. "It's not that we're apathetic to the situation, Chakotay. Most of the crew are aware of the fact that we should be doing something about our emissions. We recognize the sobriety of the situation. But the main problem is that less than half of us are willing to spend the rest of the trip in warp two. The captain is right, Chakotay… it's liability we aren't willing to risk."
"If you were given the time and the resources to modify our warp core, could you do it?"
B'Elanna frowned. "I'd say it isn't beyond our capability… it is an engine design problem, after all… I might not be able to eliminate all our byproducts, but at least I'll be able to cut down our emissions." She sighed deeply. "But it's impossible, Chakotay. I think the captain will veto it… she has too many things on her hands to handle."
"Don't worry about that part." Chakotay assured her. "I'll talk to the captain."
******
She was teleconferencing with the Viidian ambassador when Chakotay arrived. He politely stood at attention in front of her desk while she completed the call.
Finally the Viidian signed off, and she glanced up at Chakotay, one hand rubbing her temple in exhaustion. "This is turning out to be a diplomatic disaster. The Vidiians are lodging one official protest after another, the Atari continually pressure us to sign the pact, I have complaints coming in from malcontents in every quarter…" She drew in a breath and released it in a deep sigh. "I wonder what everyone thinks of us right now? Some stubborn, uncooperative group of antisocial misanthropes?"
He considered her, hating to see her like this, berating herself. She was obviously uncomfortable with the decision she had to make, yet unable to do anything about it. He was here to change that. "We don't have to do it that way…"
She exhaled a short, sharp breath, knowing what he was going to say and not liking it. She held up a hand. "Commander, please…" She pushed her chair out, preparing to leave.
"Captain," he said, grabbing her arm to stop her. "Listen to me! I've spoken to B'Elanna. She thinks she can modify the warp core to suit the demands set down by the Atari. All she needs is the time to do it. It can be done, Kathryn, and you know it. You're the scientist, not me. We're just not trying hard enough."
She glared at him, hard and flinty, but he didn't flinch. "I'm not going to let you sweet-talk me into this, Chakotay. I've already said no to the Atari, and I'm not rescinding my decision."
Chakotay spread his hands in earnest disbelief. "I don't believe this! Captain, can't you see that this extends beyond the needs of our crew? Our decision not only affects our crew, it affects the whole universe. The repercussions of our decision can never be fully measured!"
Her features tightened. "I'm not giving up everything we've worked so hard for all these years just based on an unsubstantiated report which merely grasps at straws! We're alone in this quadrant, Chakotay! Every day we spend here is a risk. We wouldn't last a journey at warp two even if we tried." Her small hand clenched into a tight fist. "I'm not putting our lives at stake. I made a pledge to take this crew back to their homes, and that's what I'm going to do."
"Surely there must be some other way to circumvent this… the Atari have developed their system of tunnels. We could traverse light-years at sublight in a matter of days."
"A tunnel like that wouldn't extend all the way to the Alpha Quadrant and you know it! It's too uneconomical."
"But there must be other avenues! Others have done it-"
"What do you want me to do, Chakotay, steal transwarp technology from the Borg and destroy ourselves in the process? Don't you think that if there was another way to get back to the Alpha Quadrant we'd have already tried it? And we failed every time. Do you think I like my decision? I don't, I really don't. I'd prefer it so much if we could do it some other way. But we can't, not now. The Voyager is going through a crisis now, Chakotay… please don't make it any harder for me than it already is."
"We can't only because of the way you're thinking! If you can convince yourself to ascribe to the pact, I have absolute faith that this crew can pull through."
"But ninety years…."
"Please, Kathryn, just think of this. So maybe we'll be inconvenienced. We'll take longer to get home. Don't you think I want to get back to the Alpha Quadrant? We all do. The decision would gall me as well. Maybe ninety more years of separation may seem like hell to you… but at least we doing permanent damage to our universe, and our children and our children's children won't have to deal with the mess we left behind. This universe is the only home everyone knows. How could our suffering compare to the suffering of the whole cosmos?"
"We're small," Janeway agreed softly.
"And the world is big. And we might have to go through myriad hardships and sacrifices, but at least we'll still be here for each other. We'll still be alive, Kathryn. And it feels terribly good to be alive."
She gazed distantly out of the observation port. "It feels terribly good to be alive."
They said nothing for a moment, silently contemplating the universe as they spun in it. Then she broke out of her hushed reverie and started for the door. "I'll think about it, Chakotay, and I'll let you know."
He nodded. It was a start. A good start. "Kathryn… I'm glad we had this talk."
End the Parable