Disclaimer: Star Trek, and Voyager, belong to Paramount. I just play here!
Chapter 3, together.
On the first Voyager, Captain Janeway blinked for a moment as she saw herself on the viewscreen. She had spoken to herself, or to a slightly out of phase version of herself, once before, but that one time had not been enough to take away the feeling that whatever it was that caused this to happen was just really... weird.
She hesitated for a moment before launching in the usual greeting. "Captain Katherine Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager -but then I guess you know that," she added.
The other Janeway obviously had no more experience talking to herself. She took a moment before she nodded and answered, "Correct."
"From your reaction I take it you have no more idea what caused...," Janeway looked from her own bridge back to the viewscreen and the other Voyager, "...this, any more than we do."
Her counterpart shook her head. "Until our scanners picked you up, we had no idea there were two of us."
"Same here," Janeway answered. "Whatever it is, perhaps we can work together and find out."
"A good idea," the second Janeway agreed. "You are welcome on this ship, although I don't know that it makes much difference."
"Agreed," Janeway said. "We will beam over in ten minutes."
She looked around. "Chakotay, Tuvok, you're with me. B'Elanna, have you been monitoring our recent... meeting?"
"Aye, Captain. Carey alerted me as soon as he picked up on the other Voyager," B'Elanna's voice answered.
"Any ideas?" Janeway asked.
"None as of yet, we're working on it," the Chief Engineer told her.
"Tell Carey to keep on it, and meet me in the transporter room. I'ld like you to come with me to the other ship. Oh, and we should set our combadges to a modified frequence so we know we will be talking to members of our own crew unless we specify differently."
"Aye, Captain," B'Elanna acknowledged.
"Paris to the bridge," Janeway ordered next. She waited for the Lieutenant to arrive, briefed him in a few words, and left him the con. Then she took the turbolift with Tuvok and Chakotay.
-0-
Not much later they were on the other Voyager. They entered the conference room, where the full senior staff had already assembled. Janeway noticed Chakotay and B'Elanna looked slightly uneasy at seeing their counterparts. Of course, Tuvok didn't show any outward signs that anything out of the ordinary was happening. Neither of them did.
The four of them sat down at the conference table, and the other Captain took the word. It was her ship, after all.
"We seem to have two ships here, and the best we can come up with is that somehow, we have crossed over into a paralel universe," she said. "Not the alternate universe that Admiral Kirk, and not long before we left the Alpha Quadrant some members of Deep Space Nine, crossed to, but one which split off after we were already in this quadrant."
Captain Janeway nodded, agreeing with her counterpart.
"What we have to find out is when we split, and when one of us crossed over in the other ship's universe," her counterpart continued. "Once we know that, we will likely find a way to each go back to our own universe."
"Can we not stay together and combine our resources?" B'Elanna asked.
Tuvok -Tuvok from her own Voyager- answered. "While it might seem like a good idea to combine our resources and continue home together, that isn't possible. Even if we find we split just hours before we met, the very fact that there are two ships now means there was a split at some point, and staying with both ships and crews in one universe will almost certainly create paradoxes."
The other Tuvok continued as smooth as Janeway had seen twins do. But then, they were closer than twins, they were the same person.
"Apart from that, it would likely be impossible to cross back a long time from now, so we -or you- would be stuck here."
Janeway knew of the parallel universe theory. While each decision made, no matter how small, held the potential for an alternate timeline to be created, only those decisions that would, either immediately or at some much later time, lead to substantial changes in the universe as a whole would cause a split of timelines.
Theoretically, one person picking a flower far enough back in time could change the entire timeline. Theoretically; Starfleet had travelled through time as well as found evidence of other races doing so several times, and found that while some changes had indeed changed their present, many small decisions melted back into the main timeline, unnoticed by most people.
Whatever decision had been made here, and whatever its consequences would be, she thought the split was likely to be recent. The ship looked the same, they were in almost the same location, and looking at the senior staff of both crews, few other changes had occurred.
Then again, a split might occur years before the actual change was to happen. If someone's child would make an important invention in one universe, the split in the universes might occur on the night the child's (potential) mother either decides to marry the father, or slap his face and walk out of his life. The universes would run almost identical for many years, but the point the decision that set it all in motion would be the point the alternate timeline was created.
Janeway turned her attention back on to the matter at hand. Her ship had encountered the anomaly a little while back, the other Voyager had not encountered anything out of the ordinary for many days. Had that been where the crossover had taken place? It seemed likely, but was in no way certain. Space was full of anomalies and a slight difference in course and speed could well allow for one ship hitting the turbulence and the other ship missing it by many miles.
The things they needed to find out was when the crossover had occurred, when the split had occurred -it might help them pinpoint the time and cause of crossover- and a way to get back. If it had been them crossing over, she had little experience with alternate timelines and for all they knew the other ship had crossed over in the last anomaly they encountered.
It was quickly decided both B'Elanna's would go to Engineering, searching for records, and tell-tale difference in records, from there. Some of them would reconvene on the bridge, and compare records sent up from the departments of both ships. Various records were easier compiled on specific equipment in the various departments, but the bridge, with its many different consoles, would be the best place to put it all together.
She saw Chakotay agreed with her, and she was not surprised when he offered to go to the science labs and gather those reports which were quicker called up there.
As that was arranged, she and her counterpart of the other Voyager agreed to break up the meeting in the conference room.
Chapter 3, together.
On the first Voyager, Captain Janeway blinked for a moment as she saw herself on the viewscreen. She had spoken to herself, or to a slightly out of phase version of herself, once before, but that one time had not been enough to take away the feeling that whatever it was that caused this to happen was just really... weird.
She hesitated for a moment before launching in the usual greeting. "Captain Katherine Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager -but then I guess you know that," she added.
The other Janeway obviously had no more experience talking to herself. She took a moment before she nodded and answered, "Correct."
"From your reaction I take it you have no more idea what caused...," Janeway looked from her own bridge back to the viewscreen and the other Voyager, "...this, any more than we do."
Her counterpart shook her head. "Until our scanners picked you up, we had no idea there were two of us."
"Same here," Janeway answered. "Whatever it is, perhaps we can work together and find out."
"A good idea," the second Janeway agreed. "You are welcome on this ship, although I don't know that it makes much difference."
"Agreed," Janeway said. "We will beam over in ten minutes."
She looked around. "Chakotay, Tuvok, you're with me. B'Elanna, have you been monitoring our recent... meeting?"
"Aye, Captain. Carey alerted me as soon as he picked up on the other Voyager," B'Elanna's voice answered.
"Any ideas?" Janeway asked.
"None as of yet, we're working on it," the Chief Engineer told her.
"Tell Carey to keep on it, and meet me in the transporter room. I'ld like you to come with me to the other ship. Oh, and we should set our combadges to a modified frequence so we know we will be talking to members of our own crew unless we specify differently."
"Aye, Captain," B'Elanna acknowledged.
"Paris to the bridge," Janeway ordered next. She waited for the Lieutenant to arrive, briefed him in a few words, and left him the con. Then she took the turbolift with Tuvok and Chakotay.
-0-
Not much later they were on the other Voyager. They entered the conference room, where the full senior staff had already assembled. Janeway noticed Chakotay and B'Elanna looked slightly uneasy at seeing their counterparts. Of course, Tuvok didn't show any outward signs that anything out of the ordinary was happening. Neither of them did.
The four of them sat down at the conference table, and the other Captain took the word. It was her ship, after all.
"We seem to have two ships here, and the best we can come up with is that somehow, we have crossed over into a paralel universe," she said. "Not the alternate universe that Admiral Kirk, and not long before we left the Alpha Quadrant some members of Deep Space Nine, crossed to, but one which split off after we were already in this quadrant."
Captain Janeway nodded, agreeing with her counterpart.
"What we have to find out is when we split, and when one of us crossed over in the other ship's universe," her counterpart continued. "Once we know that, we will likely find a way to each go back to our own universe."
"Can we not stay together and combine our resources?" B'Elanna asked.
Tuvok -Tuvok from her own Voyager- answered. "While it might seem like a good idea to combine our resources and continue home together, that isn't possible. Even if we find we split just hours before we met, the very fact that there are two ships now means there was a split at some point, and staying with both ships and crews in one universe will almost certainly create paradoxes."
The other Tuvok continued as smooth as Janeway had seen twins do. But then, they were closer than twins, they were the same person.
"Apart from that, it would likely be impossible to cross back a long time from now, so we -or you- would be stuck here."
Janeway knew of the parallel universe theory. While each decision made, no matter how small, held the potential for an alternate timeline to be created, only those decisions that would, either immediately or at some much later time, lead to substantial changes in the universe as a whole would cause a split of timelines.
Theoretically, one person picking a flower far enough back in time could change the entire timeline. Theoretically; Starfleet had travelled through time as well as found evidence of other races doing so several times, and found that while some changes had indeed changed their present, many small decisions melted back into the main timeline, unnoticed by most people.
Whatever decision had been made here, and whatever its consequences would be, she thought the split was likely to be recent. The ship looked the same, they were in almost the same location, and looking at the senior staff of both crews, few other changes had occurred.
Then again, a split might occur years before the actual change was to happen. If someone's child would make an important invention in one universe, the split in the universes might occur on the night the child's (potential) mother either decides to marry the father, or slap his face and walk out of his life. The universes would run almost identical for many years, but the point the decision that set it all in motion would be the point the alternate timeline was created.
Janeway turned her attention back on to the matter at hand. Her ship had encountered the anomaly a little while back, the other Voyager had not encountered anything out of the ordinary for many days. Had that been where the crossover had taken place? It seemed likely, but was in no way certain. Space was full of anomalies and a slight difference in course and speed could well allow for one ship hitting the turbulence and the other ship missing it by many miles.
The things they needed to find out was when the crossover had occurred, when the split had occurred -it might help them pinpoint the time and cause of crossover- and a way to get back. If it had been them crossing over, she had little experience with alternate timelines and for all they knew the other ship had crossed over in the last anomaly they encountered.
It was quickly decided both B'Elanna's would go to Engineering, searching for records, and tell-tale difference in records, from there. Some of them would reconvene on the bridge, and compare records sent up from the departments of both ships. Various records were easier compiled on specific equipment in the various departments, but the bridge, with its many different consoles, would be the best place to put it all together.
She saw Chakotay agreed with her, and she was not surprised when he offered to go to the science labs and gather those reports which were quicker called up there.
As that was arranged, she and her counterpart of the other Voyager agreed to break up the meeting in the conference room.