DISCLAIMER: You all know the drill - Paramount is God.  All hail Paramount.  They own everything in the Star Trek Universe - I'm just using my overactive imagination to take their characters where they refuse to go.  All in the name of fun, not profit (I wish).

CAUSALITY

CHAPTER FOUR: REDEMPTION

Captain's Log, Stardate 54435.7  We've received a distress call from a nearby planet and have altered course.  We have yet to establish visual or audio contact, but we should be within range shortly.

Captain Janeway left her ready room and strode onto the bridge.  "Report."

"We've got a visual on that automated distress call, Captain."

"Let's see it, Mr. Kim." she ordered, standing in the middle of the bridge with her hands on her hips.

"Mallor Prime to any vessel within range," said an alien urgently.  "We are in critical need of assistance.  Our tachyon reactor is in danger of an overload.  It is the only source of power for our planet.  Please, help us."

The signal ended abruptly.

"Lieutenant," ordered Janeway as she took her seat.  "Take us up to warp 9."

*

"We're in range," announced Harry.

"Open a channel," she ordered.

"Channel open."

"This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager.  We're responding to your distress call."

"They're responding."

"This is the first Prelate's office," said a Mallorian.  "If you'll wait one moment I'll transfer you to the main energy complex."

After a few seconds, Taman appeared on the screen.   He regarded Janeway suspiciously for several seconds before he answered.  "I am chief engineer Taman."

"You said you were having a problem with your tachyon reactor," said the Captain.  "Can we be of assistance?"

"We haven't been able to do anything other than control some of the radiation, I'm afraid.  The reactor could go critical at any moment."

"Can you shut it down?" asked Chakotay.

"That would have an extremely detrimental effect on our society.  Our people are completely dependent on this reactor.  We used sources of energy that polluted our planet until we converted all our power systems to this new tachyon reactor.  Everything on our planet is powered by this facility."

"I didn't even think constructing a tachyon reactor was feasible," said Ensign Kim.

"Tachyon reactors have been considered in theory by many races," said Seven.  "Just because the Federation has made little progress does not mean it is impossible."

"I'll beam down with some of my engineers to assist you," said Janeway.

"Thank you, Captain."

The transmission ended, and Janeway rose from her chair and hit her commbadge.  "Janeway to Torres."

Go ahead, Captain.

"Assemble a team and meet me in transporter room two."

Yes, ma'am.

She turned to Chakotay.  "Commander, the bridge is yours."

"Aye, Captain."

"Seven, you're with me," she said as she headed for the turbolift.

*

The group of officers materialized in the atrium of the main power facility and were immediately approached by Taman, the chief engineer.

"Thank you again for your assistance, Captain.  This is Afren, one of my engineers.  Perhaps he could show your team to the main reactor core?"

"I'd like to get a look at the specifications, too," said B'Elanna.

"Certainly," nodded Taman.

B'Elanna and her team followed the Mallorian while Janeway stayed behind with Taman.

"I'm curious," said the Captain.  "How long have you been using a tachyon reactor?"

"Just over five years,"  he said, looking over her shoulder.  "Forgive me, Captain -- there's something that requires my attention."

She nodded, and he stepped around her, grabbing one of the passing engineers roughly by the shoulder.

"Morat," he hissed, glancing over his shoulder at the Captain to make sure her attention was elsewhere.  "I thought our scientists determined what that woman said was impossible."

"Th-they, did," stammered the Mallorian, quivering under his superior's icy glare.  "They…uh…concluded that it was extremely improbable that a reactor overload could cause any kind of temporal disturbance."

"Am I seeing things, Morat?"

"N-n-no, sir.  I see her too."

Taman grunted and released his subordinate.  "Get me the head of tachyon research.  He's going to want to see this for himself.  And tell him to track down the woman, too."

Morat nodded and started to move off, but Taman grabbed him by the arm again.  "And in the name of K'tar make sure everyone knows to keep her away from the reactor without raising her suspicions.  For all we know she was the one responsible for the overload in the first place."

"Yes, sir," mumbled Morat, and he scurried off before Taman had another chance to speak.

"Humph," grunted Taman.  He took a deep breath to calm down before turning back to the Captain.  "I apologize, Captain…" he began, but frowned.  He looked around the atrium, but there was no sign of her.

*

The Captain struggled against the arm around her shoulders as she was dragged backwards along the empty corridor, her attempt to yell for help hindered by the hand over her mouth.  She heard a door slide open behind her, and she was pulled backwards through it.  The door cut off the light from the hallway as it slid shut in front of her, leaving her and her assailant in almost complete darkness. 

She attempted to reach her commbadge.  A wrist grabbed her hand, stopping it just before she managed to hit the commbadge.

"You're not going anywhere until we've had a little chat, Captain," hissed a voice in her ear. 

A familiar voice.

She stopped struggling, and her abductor stopped walking as well.  The hand over her mouth was released, and she immediately whirled around to face the hooded figure that had grabbed her near the edge of the atrium.

"What do you want?" she demanded.

"Just to talk, Captain.  I'm not going to hurt you."

That voice…it sounded so familiar…

Her captor reached up and slowly pushed back the hood.  It took a few seconds for her to make out the features in the shadows, but as her eyes adjusted to the darkness they widened in shock.

"What the hell…"  she said, taking a step backwards.  It was her, but…not her.  The woman standing before her looked identical except for the fact that she was several years older and had a large disfiguring scar on her right cheek.  It had an unusual shape, almost like a hand print.

"This?" said her double, noticing her scrutiny and turning her head to give her a better view of the scar.  "It's from a radiation burn.  This is what I'm here to prevent."

Janeway's eyes narrowed.  "What are you talking about?"

"We're trapped in some kind of temporal loop.  Five years ago, my timeline, Voyager received a distress call from the Mallorians.  We tried to stop their reactor from overloading.  We didn't.  The chronoton surge opened a fracture in subspace, and I was pulled through.  When I woke up, it was five years earlier.  And I had this," she added, pointing to her cheek.  "It appears I was closer to the reactor than my predecessor."

"Your predecessor?"

"The Kathryn Janeway that was caught in the loop before me."

She closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose with her fingers.  "I hate temporal paradoxes," she muttered.

"She was also thrown back in time, and tried to warn me after spending five years stranded here," continued the elder Janeway, undaunted.  "Now I'm trying to warn you."

"Now that you have, we should be able to stop it."

Her counterpart smiled sadly.  "That's what I thought, and look where it got me."

"I'm sure if B'Elanna and her team know…"

"I didn't spend five years waiting for this to make the same mistake twice," snapped her double.  "Don't you think I tried to prevent the overload?  It didn't work.  After I woke up here, I tried to convince the Mallorians that I was telling the truth, but they wouldn't believe me.  I enhanced their sensors so they would catch the malfunction, something my predecessor came up with, but they couldn't fix it in time.  You won't be able to either, but at least this won't happen again."

She crossed her arms.  "I'm listening."

Her elder companion smiled slightly.  "Good.  If you flood the reactor with anti-chronotons, the surge will be prevented.  It's a simple enough solution…although Taman may take a little convincing."

"Oh?"

"Flooding the reactor with anti-chronotons will stop the overload, but it will also shut down the core.  Permanently."

"Their planet would be entirely without power," objected the Captain.  "There has to be another option."

"I've had five years to consider all the options," she snapped back.  "This is the only way.  It may inconvenience the Mallorians, but it's better than the alternative."

"Maybe if we --"

The elder Janeway stepped forward, eyes blazing.  "Are you prepared to leave Voyager without a Captain for the Mallorians' convenience?"

When she returned the her stare with cold determination, her double took another step closer and lowered her voice.

"Are you prepared to let B'Elanna die?"

She looked at her incredulously.  "What?"

"She was standing near me when the chronoton surge occurred, but she was closer to the reactor.  She…"  Her voice faltered, and the emotion showed on her face.  She blinked and looked up at the ceiling to try and conceal the tears that were filling her eyes.  "The radiation levels were too high.  Her tissue damage was severe.   There was nothing the Mallorians could do." 

The Captain watched her companion with quiet sympathy.

"Tom…he had been thrown back in the previous loop.  He was so devastated…he wanted me to stop it from happening so he and B'Elanna wouldn't be separated...and I got her killed." 

"I'm sure it wasn't your fault."

Her double closed her eyes.  "She's pregnant," she said softly.  "Did you know that?"

Her eyes widened. "B'Elanna?"

"The Mallorians told me after they performed the…the autopsy.  They said she was six or seven weeks along.  It was a girl."

She stared at her elder self with compassion.  "I'm sorry."

"Don't let it happen again," she said emotionally.

"It won't.  I promise you."

*

"Have you seen the Captain?"

B'Elanna turned around in surprise.  "Chakotay.  What are you doing here?"

He frowned in concern.  "Lieutenant Mulcahey said he thought he saw somebody grab the Captain in the atrium, and she's not answering hails.  Have you seen her?"

"No," said B'Elanna, her expression of concern matching Chakotay's.  "I haven't.  Have you tried scanning for her?"

"The radiation level's too high.  Sensors can't penetrate it."  His frown deepened.  "I have a bad feeling about this."

"There she is," said B'Elanna, looking over his shoulder. She leaned over the railing of the catwalk as the Captain entered the main reactor core.  "Captain!" she called.

Janeway stopped and looked up.  "Any progress?"

B'Elanna walked over to the railing and began climbing down, followed by Chakotay.  "I'm afraid not.  We know that the problem isn't in the power flow regulators or the power matrix."  She stepped off the ladder and turned around to face the Captain.  "The radiation levels are rising, and Seven thinks there could be a tachyon cascade at any moment."  She paused and frowned, noticing the odd expression on her Captain's face.  "Is everything all right, Captain?"

"Everything's fine."  She turned to Chakotay.  "I seem to recall leaving you the bridge."

He frowned.  "Lieutenant Mulcahey said he thought he saw somebody attack you in the atrium."

She waved her hand dismissively.  "It was just a misunderstanding." 

"You weren't answering to hails."

"The radiation must be interfering with communications."  She turned back to B'Elanna.  "You've had a look at their systems.  What do you recommend?"

B'Elanna sighed and put her hands on her hips.  "I'm not one to give up easily, Captain, but I don't see that there's anything we can do.  We could try boosting the containment field, but that would only buy us an hour.  Two at most.  And we may not be able to boost the field before the reactor goes critical."

"What if we bombarded the reactor with anti-chronotons?"

"Anti-chronotons?"

"Would it work?"

"It would probably stop the overload…but I doubt the Mallorians would ever get the reactor started again."

She nodded.  "See if you can boost the containment field to buy us some time.  I'll --"

She was interrupted as alarms went off around the room and one of the vents near the core began spouting smoke.

"What's going on?" yelled Taman, bursting into the room.

"I'm not sure, sir!"

"Well, find out!"

Janeway turned to B'Elanna.  "Get your people out of here, now!"

B'Elanna turned around.  "Everybody, let's move!  Now!  Now!"

The Voyager engineers ran past her and out the door as smoke continued to fill the room.  The Captain moved towards the reactor, looking at the readouts.  "I'll try and shut the core down."

B'Elanna moved to work at the console beside her.  "Looks like the safety protocols are offline.  There's some kind of chronoton surge building in the reactors.  We can try and --"

The Captain stepped in between her and the console.  "B'Elanna, I want you out of here."

She frowned.  "With all due respect, Captain, I'm the best chance you've got at --"

"That's an order, Lieutenant.  Go."

Reluctantly, B'Elanna turned and followed the rest of her team out the doors.  The Captain watched her go for a few seconds, then noticed Chakotay approaching her.  "I want everybody out.  That includes you."

He stepped closer to her.  "I'm not leaving, Kathryn."

"Get out of here," she said, strain slipping into her voice.  "That's an order, Commander."

"Throw me in the brig for insubordination if you want.  I'm not going anywhere."

She stared him down for a few seconds as the alarms sounded before she finally nodded.  "See if you can keep the containment field stable while I shut down the core."

He moved over to one of the consoles on the far side of the room.  "The containment field's at 74 percent and falling."

"What's going on?" yelled Taman, moving towards the Captain.

"There's a chronoton surge in the reactor," she told him.

He looked over her shoulder.  "What are you doing?"

"I don't have time to explain," she said, her fingers flying over the console in front of her.

He stepped around her, looking over her other shoulder.   His eyes widened in anger and he grabbed her roughly by the arm, spinning her around to face him.  "You're flooding the reactor with anti-chronotons!"

She glared at him.  "It's the only way to prevent the overload!"

"No!" he yelled, hitting the console with his fist.

"We don't have a choice, Taman!"

"NO!"  He still had a firm grip on her arm, and he turned around and threw her across the room.  She hit the wall hard, striking the back of her head, and she slumped to the floor disoriented.

Chakotay ran towards Taman.  "Get away from there!" he yelled.  "We're trying to help!"

Taman swung a punch at him, which he ducked.

"We're trying to help you," he repeated, trying to reason with the engineer.

"No!" yelled Taman, taking another swing at him.  Chakotay retaliated, punching Taman in the jaw.  He stumbled backwards, then ran at Chakotay again.

Captain Janeway slowly pushed herself off the floor, shaking her head to clear her vision.  She could see Chakotay and Taman scuffling near the other side of the room.  She used the console to pull herself into a standing position, then moved towards the reactor to examine the panel she had been working at.

Her eyes widened when she saw the readouts.  She pushed away from the console and started towards the other side of the room.  "Chakotay!" she yelled.  "There's a tachyon cascade!  We have to get out of --"

Before she reached him, the reactor exploded in a bright flash of light.

*

Coughing from the smoke, Chakotay rolled over on the floor with a groan.  He slowly pried his eyelids open, but he couldn't see anything in the haze.  He could hear Taman regaining consciousness beside him.

He gingerly pushed himself into a sitting position, wondering what had happened.

He remembered the Captain yelling at him…something about…a tachyon cascade.

"Captain?"  he said, looking around.  There was debris scattered around the floor, but there was no sign of her.  There were definite signs of an explosion -- the reactor must have overloaded.  He frowned in concern.

He slowly climbed to his feet, and moved around the reactor to the panel where she had been working.  When he saw nothing, he quickened his pace around the reactor, trying to ignore the knot in the pit of his stomach.  "Kathryn!"

His steps slowed when he completed his circuit of the reactor.

Except for himself and Taman, the room was empty.