Rumble on Voyager. Written by enterprise1701_d
The sleek form of the Federation starship USS Voyager was flying at high warp speeds through the star-speckled expanse of the Delta Quadrant. They had started out 70,000 light-years from the Federation, but thanks to a few helping hands under way, they now only faced another twenty to thirty thousand light-years. The trip would take another twenty years.
As usual, there weren't many people present in the mess hall on Deck 2 as Jack came off-duty. He had short, brown hair and gray eyes. He was of medium height, at about 1.7 meters. He entered the mess, only to find it empty. He turned to the three people who had come off-duty with him. Of course, this was one of the perks of being in the beta shift.
Beta shift ran from 1500 hours to 2300 hours, and when they came off-duty, the nightshift provided all the peace and quiet one could ever want. More than often, though, the peace and quiet was more a burden than a blessing.
Jack sat down at a table, and his three friends joined him as he expertly fished a deck of cards from his pocket. One of the benefits of this late hour, it had just turned 2315, was the fact that there was no Tuvok to reprimand them for playing cards in a public space. The Vulcan chief of security, who also doubled for tactical officer, was just the person to hold on to those petty little rules.
"The game is five-card draw. Nothing wild," Jack said, shuffling the cards like a professional card shark. Jack looked around the small band of people. Paul was a little shorter than Jack was, and sported jet-black hair. Janet was shorter than Paul was, and had long blonde hair, falling all the way down to her shoulders if she didn't keep it in her usual ponytail. And finally, there was David. David was tall, and towered over his friends with a height of over 2 meters. Jack also knew the possibilities of David's body. He had seen it work out often enough.
Jack got a cut from Paul, and dealt the cards. His poker face slid in place by instinct as he looked at his cards.
The three men and the woman played cards, and generally had a good time, until it was nearly 0300, and they decided to call it a night. Bidding goodnight to his friends, Jack walked down to the ship's workout area. He entered, to find the place deserted. Sighing, he went ahead with his business. He loved peace and quiet during his workouts.
It was nearly 0700, the start of the alpha shift, as he returned to his quarters. Being only an ensign in security had earned him the privilege of being stuck in shared quarters. If Jack believed in a deity, he would have thanked him, her, or it, long ago for his roommate. His roommate only used the quarters for sleeping. The rest of the day, he was gone, hanging out who-knows-where.
"Good old Chris," Jack muttered as he entered the quarters, to find his roommate fast asleep. Jack tiptoed to his own room, locked the door, and changed for his 'night'.
The time is 1400 hours. Wake up, Jack Dupré. The time is 1400 hours.
"Thank you, computer," Jack woke up quickly, and walked into the shared living room. Chris, who also worked the beta shift, was already gone. Jack went to the replicator, and ordered a bowl of cereal, with milk at a temperature of 5° Celsius, and a cup of coffee. The breakfast disappeared easily, and Jack brought the dishes back to the replicator, which turned them back into energy.
"Computer, time?" Jack asked as he left his quarters.
The time is 1450.
"Thank you," Jack replied, and ran for a turbolift. Five minutes before his shift was to start, he entered Security.
It was an uneventful beta shift, with very little but the obligatory security patrols to relieve the boredom.
"Hey, Jack, wanna go for a repeat performance of last night?" Paul asked him about one hour before the shift ended. Last night, Jack was in really good shape during the poker game. They didn't actually play for anything, but the game was more a matter of honor between them. More often than not, the ones who hadn't won wanted to get even.
"Sorry, man," Jack grinned, and fished something out of his pocket. Showing it to his friend, he said: "I've got myself a holodeck for after the shift."
"Maybe tomorrow, then?"
"Sure, tomorrow's fine," Jack said to his friends as Janet and David joined the talk between Paul and Jack.
"Good, I want to get even with you for last night," Janet said. "And have fun during your holodeck time." Janet's grin was so mischievous it made Paul and David grin as well.
"Come on, guys. It's nothing like that," Jack grunted.
"Sure. I believe ya," David said with an expression on his face telling exactly the opposite. The good-hearted banter continued until the shift ended, and Jack left for the holodeck.
"Empty holodeck," Jack said to the computer as he walked up to the large, sealed, double doors. The computer confirmed, and opened the holodeck. The large doors closed immediately after his entrance.
"Computer, lock doors with personal encryption code. Emergencies only."
Encryption in place.
Jack dropped to his knees next to the door, and pried open an access panel. He took a small container that he had hidden in his vest, opened it, and removed an isolinear chip. Inputting it into an empty slot, he resealed the access panel.
"Computer, access training programs under 'Section 31'."
Training programs accessed.
"Get me Section 31, T'Pu's meditation chamber," Jack asked, and received after the computer acknowledged. Even though he no longer needed his Vulcan teacher's guidance, Jack found T'Pu's presence a helpful fact. He meditated for about an hour, granting his mind the release it needed from the continuous act it had to keep up. You see, Jack was not actually an ensign in Security.
He was a deep-cover specialist for Section 31, a covert Starfleet intelligence agency. No one knew of its existence, given a few exceptions. Jack had been sent to investigate the possible funding that certain top brass of Starfleet would be giving the Maquis. Jack had gone undercover in the Maquis, trying to find out about the allegations.
For two years, he drifted from cell to cell, his tremendous knowledge of covert operations helping him stay in favor with the Maquis, without giving out too much information, or raising suspicion as to where he got his knowledge.
Then came that fateful day. His ship had been transported to the Delta Quadrant, and he had subsequently been transferred on board Voyager. For the first time, he was glad that Section 31 was the best in the business. His undercover record had been implemented not only in Starfleet's personnel records, but it had also been transferred into the actual Starfleet records.
So, when Jack had transported on board Voyager, it didn't take long for Tuvok to find out that Jack had been a mediocre Starfleet academy student, with an equally unimpressive Security record. So, Jack was stuck. For 6 years now, had he played his role of mediocre Security officer. He had made mistakes, he had blundered, and he had made faulty assumptions. Basically, he had used every trick taught to him by Section 31 to avoid blowing his cover.
But, the continuous strain took its toll: Jack needed this peaceful time to calm his mind, to lower his cover, even if it was just for an hour. Jack couldn't completely discard his cover though. That would take too long, and it would create problems with getting it back up.
Standing up, he thanked the T'Pu hologram for its assistance, a leftover from his Section 31 training. The T'Pu hologram responded with a manner that was identical to the real T'Pu.
"Computer, switch to Master Barwan's physical training," Jack asked, after leaving the simulated T'Pu's meditation chamber. The scene changed to a Klingon version of a fitness center. Jack had slaved for hours each day here, building his strength, while trying to keep his muscle mass down. Right now, Master Barwan was standing in the sparring ring.
Jack got out of his uniform, down to his boxers. He jumped into the ring.
Immediately, Barwan attacked. For a good ten minutes, the Barwan hologram gave Jack a workout. The best thing about learning martial arts from a Klingon was that it taught Jack to use his Human body to its limit. Where Klingons were strong and could take a lot of pounding, Jack's body was fast, could avoid blows quickly, and could do a lot of damage if used correctly.
Basically, it was an almost even match. No matter how good Jack was, it was just not physically possible for him to overcome the evolutionary facts that were in the Klingon's advantage all the time.
After the first ten minutes, Jack ordered the computer to go to full training, and the Barwan hologram attacked vigorously. Jack responded with equal vigor, letting his body react naturally, just as he had been taught. He avoided two blows, and landed a hard blow in Barwan's stomach. The Klingon nodded in approval, and renewed the attacks.
After thirty minutes of intense physical work, Jack ended the training. He was pleased his skills were still up to his normal standards, and showered in the simulated fitness center.
He spent the last 15 minutes of his holodeck time talking to T'Pu. Jack found an inner peace and calm roll over him, as calm as the demeanor of the Vulcan hologram talking to him. It was like he was back at Section 31, going over his problems with his Vulcan teacher to find a logical answer to them.
Jack ended his training by removing the data chip, and leaving the holodeck. He walked to deck 9, and entered his quarters, only to find that Chris hadn't returned yet. He spent some of his time reading up on some classified Section 31 manuals in his room, knowing very well that Chris never came into his room. And just in case, Jack had placed a security seal on his bedroom door.
After a good 'night's' rest, Jack woke up and went to his duties as always. He was ten minutes early, as were his three friends. They talked about stuff in general before starting their duties. Again, the beta shift was uneventful, but all four were looking forward to their off-duty rotation, coming up in a couple of days. Their 8-hour shift seemed to crawl. Generally, not much happened during the beta shift, and this day was no exception.
After the shift, the group of four snuck into the mess hall. Some other people of the beta shift were also present, but it didn't take long for the spacious mess to be devoid of people, except for the four security officers. Again, Jack's cards did their service, as the four friends played until it was at least 0300, and they decided to call it a night.
Gamma shift ran from 2300 to 0700, and found the bridge manned by those officers who never would have gotten a chance for bridge duty otherwise. Contrary to the alpha shift, gamma shift was loose, and friendly. The late hours made for light cruising, without too many problems. Of course, there were the obligatory course corrections, but for the rest, the shift was passed by talking, and joking.
"Sir, a cloud just appeared on sensors," the ensign at operations suddenly said.
"Can't we go around it?"
"That will add at least one month to our journey!"
"And through it?"
"The cloud will disrupt sensors, and I think our shields won't like that cloud either. The journey through will only take about a week."
"Damn. Computer, time?"
The time is 0300.
The officer on duty made a brave decision. "Bridge to Captain."
What is it? Captain Janeway's voice sounded…disturbed, to say the least. Although physically not impressive, she was surrounded by an aura of command, and it radiated even through her voice.
"We have encountered a cloud, captain." Everyone knew that Captain Janeway preferred 'captain' to 'sir', or 'ma'am'.
So? Fly around it!
"Captain, that will add a month to our journey!" The officer's palms were sweating, and the rest of the officers felt sorry for the poor guy squirming in the command chair.
Can we go through? Her voice has softened considerably. The officer sighed in relief.
"Yes, captain. The trip will be down to a week, but sensors will be limited to almost useless and our shields will probably be down as well."
Go through it. The captain decided. You did well to contact me.
"Thank you, captain. Good night captain." The connection broke, and the officer sunk in the command chair, his shoulders slumped.
"Are you alright?" the young woman at the conn asked.
"Yeah. Take us through, Melinda. Plot the fastest course, and get us through."
The young woman nodded, and tapped her console. With a sign of the officer on duty, the main viewer showed the magenta cloud, stretching out before them. Then, they were all surrounded by the magenta and ochre colors, which seemed almost liquid when the ship traveled through it.