Chapter 2 (In Which We Learn the True Value of a Holo-Imager)
"Doctor to Tuvok. Could you please come to sickbay at the end of your shift?"
Taking a moment to find inner peace, Tuvok responded. "Yes Doctor," and promptly closed the channel. The Doctor tended to…prattle a bit, and Tuvok preferred to avoid him and his needless chatter. Unfortunately, in his current condition it was imperative that he maintain good relations with the chief medical officer.
Glancing down at the control panel at the side of the command chair, Tuvok saw that only 35 minutes remained before the Alpha shift reported for duty. The night shift had been uneventful, and he had been able to spend much of the time reviewing his crew evaluations in anticipation of his debriefing. He had also devoted a smaller portion of time to analyzing the ship's current situation. After considerable consideration, he was forced to admit that he could formulate no reasonable hypothesis for a journey to Starbase 4 with the information he currently possessed. Whatever had occurred between Captain Janeway and Admiral Hoya had evidently left her satisfied with the necessity of the detour. Until such time as she became dissatisfied with their treatment by Starfleet, he would continue to comply with the wishes of Admiral Hoya. He knew Janeway had the crew's best interests in mind, and thus is was logical to conclude that if she were not apprehensive about the Admiral's orders with her superior information, he need not be either.
Glancing again at the control panel, he noted that he would shortly have to depart for sickbay. He resigned himself to use his time with the Doctor as an exercise in tolerance, and awaited Captain Janeway's arrival.
*
Seven of Nine entered the cargo bay, intending to have the computer isolate all references to Admiral Janeway and the technology she'd provided, before beginning a regeneration cycle. As she approached the consol adjacent to her alcove, she noticed a young man standing across from her.
Adjusting her path, Seven strode toward him. As she did, she saw he was wearing the standard grey and black Starfleet uniform associated with personnel from the Alpha Quadrant. And he was armed with a compression phaser rifle.
Annoyed at his intrusion, she decided to confront him. She stopped directly in front of him and demanded: "Can I help you Ensign." This was quite clearly not a question, but an opportunity for him to explain his presence before she took action.
He did not respond.
Seven decided to try a different tactic. "Comply, or be assimilated." She remembered the way Voyager's crew had initially reacted to her presence, and assumed this stranger might be motivated by fear to respond.
Unfortunately, it wasn't the response she'd hoped for. He immediately levelled his weapon at her chest, and spoke into a communications device on his wrist, "Green one to Red one; I have encountered hostility. Request assistance."
Seven, for her part, was speechless. This unfamiliar officer had refused to respond to her initial inquiry, and responded with aggression when she attempted to elicit a response from him. Deciding not to wait for others to arrive to assist him, she snap-kicked his phaser from his hands.
The elite Starfleet security guard, veteran of the Dominion Front, didn't know what had hit him. Although he had experienced hand-to-hand combat with Jem'hadar soldiers, he hadn't expected the speed of this woman's attack. Before his mind could respond to the threat she posed, he was on his stomach, pinned by her knee in the small of his back.
Seven retrieved the phaser from where it had fallen before opening a channel to security. "Security, intruder alert." Satisfied that her own reinforcements were now on their way, she turned her attention back to the man below her. She pressed the muzzle of the phaser into the back of his neck and asked again, "Can I help you Ensign."
The doors chose that moment to open, admitting five more security officers clad in grey and black. They took defensive positions behind creates and canisters in the cargo bay. The doors had yet to close when three more security officers entered, these wearing the familiar black and gold of Voyager's security force. They saw Seven pinning the man in an Alpha Quadrant uniform, and decided to train their own weapons on the other grey and blacks. The interlopers, seeing their exposed position were in the process of surrendering when Admiral Hoya strode through the closing doors. Tuvok was immediately behind him, followed closely by Janeway and Chakotay.
"What the Hell are you doing?!" Admiral Hoya was livid at the sight of his special troops lowering their weapons. "Restrain her!"
"Belay that." Janeway didn't like the way he was treating her people, and Admiral or not, this was still her ship.
Hoya spun at the sound of Janeway's voice. "What are you doing? It's obvious she attacked my people."
"Admiral, what are your people doing on my ship without my knowledge?"
The Admiral did not like the way this conversation was going. Bad enough for the moral of his troops to be over-powered by this sorry excuse for a security force, but to have them witness such obvious disrespect would undermine his control over the rest of the operation. "Captain, perhaps this conversation should best be held elsewhere."
"I couldn't agree more. Tuvok, see that the 'intruders' are taken to the brig. Commander, please see to Seven."
Tuvok responded with a nod, before organizing his men and clearing out the cargo bay. Chakotay smiled gratefully at Janeway before moving to Seven's side.
"Admiral?" Janeway gestured toward the door and escorted Hoya to her ready room.
*
The doors to the Captain's ready room had barely closed when Janeway repeated her unanswered question. "Admiral, I ask you again, what are your people doing on my ship?"
"I had them beamed over to protect key areas in the event we are boarded by hostile forces."
Janeway decided not to mention that in her mind they had already been boarded by hostile forces, and cut right to the heart of the matter. "Admiral, I appreciate your concern, but aside from the fact that this ship has weapons superior to anyone in the Alpha Quadrant, as Captain, I should have been notified before any extra personnel were brought onboard."
"I apologize for that oversight, Captain. However, the necessity of their presence remains. We cannot be too careful with this ship. Your borg overreacted."
"Admiral, that may be the case, but your men invaded what is for all intents and purposes, her quarters. As for the allegation that she attacked your Lieutenant, my crewmembers don't generally carry phasers; yours do. Considering I had not informed her of extra personnel coming aboard, I'd say she acted appropriately."
Clearly annoyed, Hoya responded, "Captain, I refuse to be goaded into an argument over this. My security people will continue to guard key areas of this ship. I expect my crew to be released from your brig right away, and that you will do whatever is required to ensure there are no more 'incidents.'" Having made his position clear, Hoya stormed from the room.
Janeway slowly slide into her chair and rested her head in her hands. Sighing, she felt the beginnings of a pounding headache, and realized that these may well be the longest 78 hours of her life.
*
As soon as they were alone Chakotay placed his hand on Seven's shoulder. "Hey, how are you doing?"
Seven smiled slightly and looked down, what the Doctor had told her was classic flirting behaviour. "He did not injure me."
Chakotay smiled back at her, and moved closer. "That's good, 'cause if he did, I'd have to injure him back."
"That will not be necessary, Commander."
Sighing, Chakotay took a step back. "Back on duty, eh?"
Seven of Nine took her own step away before replying, "Yes. I have a task I must complete immediately. I do not expect it to occupy the rest of the day however."
Chakotay recognized an invitation when he saw one. "Stop by my quarters when you're done?"
"Of course Commander."
Chakotay nodded before exiting the cargo bay. He couldn't help being frustrated that events seemed to be conspiring against him and Seven. Putting those thoughts out of mind, he headed back to the bridge.
Seven watched his departure, then moved briskly to the consol beside her alcove. With a few deft movements, she set the computer to erase all record of the future technology on Voyager. She then set up a second mole program to follow the first, filling in the newly emptied space with junk data, preventing any possibility of recovering the lost information. She would not be notified of the program's completion, but trusted the computer to fulfill its programming. Returning the screen to its neutral position, she entered her alcove for regeneration. She was aware of the arrival of another black and grey security guard before entering unconsciousness.
*
B'Elanna Torres hesitated before entering Engineering. It bothered her to think that a stranger had been near her engines. It was even more troubling to think a designer had been poking around. Engineers had a strong dislike for designers; they were critical, arrogant, and coddled. B'Elanna could feel her blood pressure start to rise at the thought of the obtuse questions about to be asked of her.
B'Elanna considered turning around, going back to her quarters and Tom and Miral. Two things stopped her and forced her to press onward. First, the importance of her mission. She had made a commitment to see help get this crew home, and she intended to see it through. She also had Miral's future to consider, and she would not have her daughter grow up in some kind of Starfleet created nether-world.
The second, unconscious reason was the need to see the Engines. In many ways they were her children. Nowhere near as important to her as Miral now was, but important nonetheless. Even without the urgency of Voyager's situation, she would have stolen away to see them regardless. It may have taken longer, but her visit was inevitable.
Stealing herself for the coming confrontation, B'Elanna entered her office. Behind her desk, unsurprisingly, was Dr. Leah Brahms.
Dr. Brahms saw her enter, and stood immediately. "You must be Lieutenant Torres. I've been expecting you. I hope you don't mind me borrowing your office, but I was looking for some old engine efficiency reports." Seeming to suddenly realize she'd forgotten something, she did something B'Elanna had never expected her to do; she extended her hand. "Sorry, I'm Dr. Leah Brahms."
Recovering from the shock of the gesture, Torres took the offered hand, and replied, "B'Elanna Torres."
Smiling widely, Brahms indicated the seat across from her and continued, "I'm amazed with some of the modifications you've made," Here we go, Torres thought, "they're light years ahead of anything we've come up with at Utopia Planitia. I'd like to adapt your ideas to the rest of the fleet."
Startled, B'Elanna finally stuttered, "Uh, of course. What can I help you with?"
Smiling again, Dr. Brahms started asking questions.
*
While B'Elanna was on her fact-finding mission with Dr. Brahms, Harry and Seven of Nine were crawling through the Jeffery's tubes just below the 'top' of the saucer. It had taken them four tries to find an unguarded entrance to the tubes, and as a result, they'd had to climb through several hundred meters, starting in Nelix's kitchen.
Harry checked his tricorder again. They were only 10 meters from the juncture that contained the controls for armour deployment, and he wanted to be sure they didn't have any problems this close to their goal. Unfortunately, his tricorder readings suggested otherwise.
"Seven," Harry's voice was barely above a whisper. "I'm detecting two life signs beyond the next set of doors. It looks like Hoya beat us here."
Sitting awkwardly in the confined space, Seven opened a channel to Sickbay. "Seven of Nine to the Doctor."
"The Doctor here. What can I do for you Seven?"
"I have a personal matter I wish to discuss with you, Doctor. Are you available for an immediate consultation?"
Recognizing the prearranged code phrase, the Doctor checked on the guards at the entrance to Sickbay before moving into his office. "I am indeed available for a consultation."
Seven took a breath before answering. "Harry and I have reached a roadblock in our relationship. There are people who do not wish us to become involved. I require direction."
Another coded phrase. "I understand your conundrum, Seven, however I'm afraid you and Ensign Kim will have to put your relationship on the back-burner until I have assisted another couple. Once their relationship is accepted, yours may be also."
"Thank you Doctor. I will wait for your signal to resume my relations with Mr. Kim. Seven of Nine out."
In the Jeffrey's tube, Kim sighed. "So we wait for Tuvok and B'Elanna. I hope they hurry…"
"As do I Ensign." It appeared once again she would not be spending the evening with Commander Chakotay.
*
Back in Sickbay, the Doctor had just again requested the presence on Commander Tuvok in Sickbay at the end of his shift.
Beside the door, Lieutenant Mertois listened intently. Since the end of the Dominion War, there hadn't been much for him to do. There wasn't nearly the call for Starfleet ground troops anymore. He'd been at a crossroads of sorts, deciding whether to become a ship-based security guard, or move into private security business, when Commander Sonya Gomez had approached him about this mission. He'd met her onboard the Excelsior after his Squadron had been over run by Jem'Hadar on some moon near the Cardassian boarder. Gomez had been the engineer on board the runabout that had been sent to pick them up. The Excelsior had been in a firefight with a Jem'Hadar ship, and hadn't been able to drop shields to beam them up. The runabout had been a last ditch effort to get them out.
Unfortunately, the Dominion troops on the surface had seen their approach, and fired with a captured Federation phaser cannon. Mertois, the only remaining officer of the decimated 41st artillery squadron, had found Gomez in the runabout after it had crashed. The pilot and medic had been killed in the first blast, but Gomez was tearing out pieces of the warp core by hand to scavenge for parts. In 30 minutes she'd had the ship running again.
Mertois had taken the co pilot's position, but he didn't do much more than shout warnings to Gomez. She strafed the Jem'Hadar position, taking out the phaser cannon before heading out of the atmosphere. She'd then taken the runabout into battle, firing a photon torpedo into the Jem'Hadar's exhaust port, destroying it.
Mertois stayed on the Excelsior only as far as Deep Space 9 after that, but he and Gomez had become good friends on the ride back to Federation territory. He'd been transferred to the 34th infantry squad, given a commendation and promoted to Lieutenant JG. A successful raid on a Jem'Hadar weapons depot three months later got him the full second pip.
His encounter with Gomez on the Excelsior, however brief, had evidently stuck in her mind; he was her first choice to head up the security force Admiral Hoya was putting together. He'd agreed immediately, partly so he could work with Gomez, and partly to see if he still felt the fire that had originally sent him to join the fleet.
He'd been surprised to see one of his troopers get pasted by Seven of Nine. He'd been worried that he wasn't training his people hard enough, until he'd heard about her enhanced reflexes and strength. As a result, he was now taking shifts as a guard, trying to get a better understanding of his enemy, the crew of the starship Voyager.
When he heard Seven talking to the Doctor about her personal problems, his ears perked right up. Not usually the type to partake in gossip, guarding sickbay left him with little else to occupy his mind. So he'd been thinking about what the Doctor had said, trying to figure out what he was talking about, when he remembered the way the Commander had been looking at her when he came into the cargo bay.
So, Mertois thought, the Commander doesn't want her involved with Ensign Kim. Interesting. Now all he had to do was figure out the other couple. Seemed like deep space really did work better than a dating service.
*
Tuvok arrived in sickbay as per the Doctor's request. He seated himself on a bio-bed, as the Doctor retrieved a scanning device from one of the tables.
The Doctor began speaking as he scanned Tuvok. "Tuvok, I'm worried about your relationship with B'Elanna. I don't think you're progressing as quickly as you could be."
"Oh?" this peaked Tuvok's interest. The Doctor was only to allude to a slow progression between himself and B'Elanna if speed were vital to the completion of the mission.
"It's unfair to torment your colleges this way. They should know where you two stand on this issue. You should also make your intentions clearer to Lieutenant Torres. If you love her, tell her."
Standing, Tuvok resolved to find B'Elanna as quickly as possible. "Thank you for your advice, Doctor. I believe you may be correct." Tuvok nodded once before leaving sickbay. If the Doctor was right, Ensign Kim and Seven of Nine were both in danger.
*
Mertois mulled over this new bit of information. This didn't sit well with him. He knew B'Elanna was the half-Klingon chief Engineer. He also knew she had just delivered a child by her husband, Admiral Paris' son. That she would now get involved in a relationship with a Vulcan seemed completely unreasonable. Deciding he had to report this, he pushed a small button beside his wrist-mounted communicator, summoning relief. His partner on the other side of the door was also notified by way of a slight vibration in his own wrist.
The Ensign turned his head slightly and raised an eyebrow. Mertois shook his head slightly, letting him know there was no cause for alarm. The Ensign shrugged and continued his surveillance of sickbay. Mertois' replacement arrived a few moments later, allowing him to head to the transporter room, and from there to the Pearson.
*
Tuvok found B'Elanna in her quarters with Tom and Miral. They immediately headed toward the armoury; speaking only once they arrived at their destination. They were only 50 hours away from Starbase 4, and quickly approaching the deadline Captain Janeway had imposed on them.
Tuvok broke the silence, once they had secured the area. "It seems Ensign Kim and Seven of Nine have encountered difficulty in completing their part of the mission. We must move quickly with our task to ensure their safety."
B'Elanna nodded. "After speaking with Dr. Brahms, I'm fairly sure she has no idea what Starfleet's plan is for us. It seems she was the closest engineer with level 7 security clearance. She was ordered to evaluate the modifications made to Voyager's systems for possible integration into other ship designs. It looks like she's starting from the beginning and going over all the engineering logs. Right now she's up to the point where we destroyed the caretaker's array"
Tuvok accepted her evaluation. "That is consistent with a civilian on a Starfleet mission."
B'Elanna took a look at the new torpedoes. "Shall we get started then?"
Tuvok started toward the torpedoes. "Indeed."
*
Captain Janeway sat in her chair on the bridge and fiddled with the consol at her right hand for the thousandth time. She was all too aware that her deadline was looming overhead. She should have gone to her ready room, paced a rut in the rug, but she wanted to be on the bridge in case something happened at the eleventh hour. Something made the hair on the back of her neck stand up, and forced her out of her reverie. Looking around, she noticed the entire crew had their eyes on her, and her hand, which she'd been unconsciously drumming on the arm of her chair.
Realizing that this kind of behaviour in a Captain was bad for moral, she headed for her ready room to find something to occupy her mind.
*
Lieutenant DeSoto was serving as helmsman during Captain Janeway's abrupt departure. He sensed something unusual about her behaviour. She seemed keyed up, more than she had been since he'd come on board. Commander Chakotay also appeared to be…off. The normally placid first officer seemed to be anticipating something.
DeSoto had learned to trust his instincts as a pilot. Right now those same instincts were telling him that something strange was going on. Pushing a small button on his console, DeSoto alerted Admiral Hoya that he was needed on the bridge.
*
Having finally completed the modifications on all of the new torpedoes, B'Elanna sat back and whipped her brow. It had taken them 3 hours, but they'd finally finished the delicate work of removing the warheads from 37 of the remaining weapons. They'd also pulled the guidance, and fuel components out of seven, and then repacked the remaining warheads into the extra space. That left them with seven very volatile slabs of duranium, with only enough propellant left to get them 100,000 km away from the ship. One of the remaining torpedoes was earmarked as the catalyst to ignite the remaining weapons components; the other two were to be used to destroy the shield mechanism, once Harry and Seven had released it from the ship. A pretty plan, on she hoped like Hell worked.
"Tuvok to Doctor." Tuvok was also glad to be finished the tedious work. With his lapses in concentration growing worse, he'd been unsure how much longer he would have been able to continue working.
"Doctor here. Go ahead Tuvok."
"I wish to thank you for your advice, Doctor. My relationship with Lieutenant Torres is now more to my satisfaction."
"That's wonderful, Tuvok. Please keep me posted. It's always nice know my expertise has benefited the crew."
Tuvok raised an eyebrow. "Indeed, Doctor. Tuvok out."
"So now we wait for Harry and Seven to do their part, eh?"
Tuvok nodded.
*
Inside the Pearson's security office, Lieutenant Mertois and Commander Gomez had spent the past three hours going over the reports and logs from Voyager, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Their search had as yet yielded nothing.
Sighing in frustration, Mertois set down the PADD he was holding. "Maybe we're going about this the wrong way."
"What do you mean?" Gomez was looking for another angle. She trusted Mertois' opinions, but 3 hours of searching had only gotten them both headaches.
"Sonya, why don't we just ask them about it?"
Gomez didn't understand. "Ask them how they're planning on sabotaging Voyager? Um…Patrick, wouldn't that tip our hand just a little?"
Mertois smiled and shook his head. "No, I mean ask them about the relationships. Confront them about their cheating. Maybe then they'll let something slip."
"I don't know Patrick, that sounds like an awfully weak plan…. but given our options, I don't see that we have a whole lot to loose." Gomez raised her hands in defeat before tapping her communicator. "Computer, locate Seven of Nine on Voyager."
The computer's response was the last thing either of them had expected. "Seven of Nine is not on Voyager."
Gomez and Mertois exchanged glances. "Computer, locate Ensign Kim."
"Ensign Kim is not within sensor range."
Mertois was out the door, running toward the transporter room before the computer had finished its report. Gomez remained only long enough to press a button on her console, alerting all units to prepare for transport. Then she too, ran toward the transporter room.
Neither of them had noticed the small flashing light on the other end of the panel, activated by DeSoto on the Bridge.
*
"Doctor to Seven of Nine, proceed." There was no need to keep up the pretence of secrecy anymore; it would all be over in a matter of minutes.
Seven and Harry sighed with relief. Spending three hours in a Jeffery's tube wasn't their idea of fun. Drawing their weapons, Seven responded, "Acknowledged." She looked at Harry. Seeing him nod, she activated the door between them and their objective.
The door slid open and revealed two black and grey security guards. Seven's borg reflexes made short work of them, as she fired two stun bolts from her phaser. The guards didn't even see her, before falling to the ground.
"Nice shot." Harry Kim wasn't at all unhappy to be with Seven right now. Her shooting meant he could concentrate on ejecting the shielding, and not worry about spending the next few minutes in a distracting firefight.
"I am initiating a shut down of the new armour and shield technology. Prepare for detachment." Seven never was good at dealing with praise.
"All systems read ready. Kim to Tuvok: standby." Harry looked at Seven for conformation. She nodded once. "Ejecting all shield and armour components…now." That was the one drawback to the plan; not only would the new technology go, so would some of Voyager's main shield components, leaving them without even navigational shields until they could replace them, or jury rig an alternative. Given their options, however, a collapsed warp field, and a few micrometeorite impacts seemed preferable.
"Ejection successful." Seven's report was punctuated by a lurch as the ship's sudden drop from warp overcame the inertial dampeners.
*
Admiral Hoya arrived on the bridge just in time for the shields to fail. He stumbled out of the turbolift, cursing himself for not moving faster in answer to DeSoto's summons.
Janeway was already calling out orders when Hoya got his bearings. She'd brought the ship to a full stop as soon as she realized Voyager's shields had failed. She had called down to Engineering to get a report of the situation, but as expected, Dr. Brahms had no idea about what had happened.
As soon as Hoya had assimilated this information, he knew only one recourse, "Hoya to all hands, condition black." The computer instantly transmitted his orders to the three other ships in range. Transporter beams appeared on the bridge, leaving black and grey security guards in their wake.
"Computer, initiate ship wide lockdown." Janeway's order sealed all the doors and hatchways on the ship, and erected force-fields around every major system and vital area. Her ship had been taken over one too many times for her taste, and this seemed like a good defence.
Janeway dodged to the side as one of the security guards trained his weapon on her. They had beamed onto the bridge in pairs, two in each corner, allowing them to catch all of Voyager's crew in their crossfire. Chakotay saw another guard raising his weapon, and threw himself at the Captain as the phaser fired. They landed in a heap at the foot of her Captain's chair. Chakotay had been hit by a beam, and was clearly unconscious. Janeway could still see the viewscreen out of the corner of her eye. She thought she saw an explosion near the Indomitable before another bolt was fired at her, this time turning her world black.
*
B'Elanna and Tuvok heard the lockdown order as they launched the mass of modified torpedoes. Their work was uninterrupted as a result of their location; the armoury was already shielded against transporters by molecularly dense bulkheads. Three meters of plating surrounded the area, making it exceptionally difficult to pass the transporter's confinement beam into the room without scrambling it, and whatever it carried. A very talented transporter chief could do it, if given enough time, but the addition of the forcefield with Janeway's order made it near impossible.
The chief on the Pearson had resorted to the next best thing; she'd beamed the security detail into the corridor. They had come prepared, armed with Starfleet security's new hand-held phased-energy cutting tool, and had started on the door immediately. They joined the two guards already posted outside, unable to enter as only the Captain and security chief had authorization that would open the doors.
Inside, Tuvok armed the remaining torpedoes. "Firing torpedo one…direct hit. Shield grid destroyed. Firing torpedo two…torpedo detonation confirmed. Weapons destroyed. Setting torpedo three for self-destruct." Tuvok's hands played over the controls, adjusting the weapons' trajectory. "Firing torpedo three. Self-destruction confirmed."
B'Elanna let her hands drop away from the console. "Then we did it."
Tuvok almost seemed to breath a sigh of relief. "Yes Lieutenant, we did." No longer needing privacy to complete their work, Tuvok decided to save their adversaries on the other side of the door some trouble. "Computer, open Armoury door, authorization Tuvok alpha omega 675."
"Authorization confirmed." The doors slide open, revealing the four security guards, surprised to see the door open without force.
"There is no need to damage the door further. We surrender." Tuvok's calm voice helped convince the guards not to shoot, letting B'Elanna and Tuvok move under their own power to the transporter room.
*
Janeway came to slowly. Her head was pounding, and her left shoulder was stiff and sore. She blinked at the bright overhead lights, and struggled into a sitting position, her head rushing.
"Captain? Are you all right?"
The voice was distant, but she could tell it was Chakotay's. "Chakotay? Where are you?"
His voice was full of concern as he answered. He'd been unconscious when she'd been hurt, and he had no idea what her condition was. "I'm over here Captain. Can you see me?" He cursed the guards who'd dragged her in here unconscious.
Finally her vision cleared, and Janeway took in her surroundings. She was in the brig of a Starship, not Voyager, but something larger. The Churchill, if the colour scheme was any indication. She could see Chakotay in the cell directly across from her, practically touching his force field, as he strained to see how she was doing.
Smiling to herself at his concern, she stood from the bed she'd been put on, and walked toward her own force field. "I'm as good as can be expected, considering my first officer used me to break his fall."
Chakotay started to answer, when he discovered he had no idea what she was talking about.
Holding up her hand Janeway explained, "next time our ship is boarded, I'll be sure to take the first phaser hit."
Smiling in return when he realized she was okay, he quipped, "I thought we'd left boarding parties in the Delta Quadrant."
"So had I," she responded dryly. Rubbing at her shoulder a little, she wondered out loud, "I wonder what they've done with the rest of the crew. Do you know if they were successful?"
"I'm afraid I have no idea, I was knocked out first, as you've so carefully pointed out," she laughed slightly at that, "and the security guards that brought you weren't interested in answering questions."
They were interrupted from any further musings by the door opening. Tuvok and Torres were escorted into the brig by three grey and black security guards. Torres was put into the cell next to Janeway, Tuvok beside Chakotay. Once their charges were secured, the troops turned on their heels and left.
As soon as the doors closed, Janeway was asking questions. "Report."
Tuvok's dispassionately replied, "we were successful."
Janeway broke into a grin that matched B'Elanna's. "Everything's gone?"
This time Torres responded. "Yes Captain, the shields and torpedoes were removed from Voyager and detonated. All the computer records were purged. There's nothing left."
Sobered, Janeway nodded. "Good. And the crew, what's happening to them?"
B'Elanna shrugged, "as far as we can tell, the whole crew's being moved off ship. Where they're being transported, I have no idea."
The doors opened again, admitting four security guards, Admiral Hoya and Commander Gomez. A semi-conscious Harry Kim was being helped along by Seven of Nine and Tom Paris. Seven had a large welt on her right cheek. Tom Paris was nursing his left shoulder, and limping heavily.
At the sight of their injured comrades, Janeway, Chakotay, Tuvok, and Torres were on their feet. Torres got a little too close to the force field in her hast to get to her husband, getting a nasty shock for her trouble. Chakotay restrained himself when he saw Seven, but Janeway could see the way his eyes burned in anger. He's her angry warrior now. She shook off the thought. It was both unworthy of her first officer, and unhelpful in their present situation.
Once Seven, Kim, and Paris were shown into cells, Hoya stepped forward and addressed the captive crew. "Captain Kathryn Janeway, Commander Chakotay, Commander Tuvok, Lieutenant Tom Paris, Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres, Ensign Harry Kim and Seven of Nine. You are all charged with destruction of Federation Property, Conspiracy to destroy Federation property, and attacking a Federation Starship. You will remain in solitary confinement until we arrive at Starbase 4. A court martial will be convened, and you will be provided with legal counsel should you desire it. Are there any questions?"
"Where's my Daughter?" B'Elanna's concern was obvious and understandable. She'd left Miral with Tom, and now seeing him in this condition, she assumed the worst.
"You Daughter is in the custody of your EMH." Hoya turned toward Gomez, "Commander?"
Gomez touched the control panel, bringing down heavy doors in place of the force fields, cutting the crew members off from each other, and leaving them alone with their thoughts.
*
Janeway, for once wasn't plagued by insomnia. After the door had been lower to her cell, she'd lain down on the bed, and fallen asleep. Seemed stress and an untreated phaser wound worked better than warm milk. When she'd woken up (she had no idea how long she'd slept; there was no chronometer in her cell), she'd gone to the replicator to find something to do. She asked for a copy of the Federation News Service's latest report, and was told by the computer that she did not have proper authorization. Several questions later Janeway determined the replicator would only provide her with food, specifically water and Starfleet emergency rations. If this was supposed to demoralize her, then they obviously hadn't read her reports. Rations were a dream compared to Leola root anything.
Deciding she wasn't hungry, she began some callisthenics. She started with push-ups, and quickly discovered that putting off exercise on board Voyager had left her in a less that perfect physical shape. Tom and Harry might have played Hockey, and Chakotay may have been a boxer, but for Janeway, her precious holodeck time was spent diverting her mind, not exercising her body. As she reached number ten, she resolved to fix that now that she was back in the Alpha Quadrant. Besides, she reasoned, if she was going to be spending any length of time in a Federation Penal colony, she'd have lots of time, and the extra muscle might come in handy.
She'd just reached 15 when the door at the front of her cell began to open. Grateful for the interruption, Janeway stood to see Lieutenant Mertois with two of his security people.
"Captain Janeway, we've reached Starbase 4. I'm here to transfer you to the Starbase."
"Of course. Lieutenant?" Janeway may have been under lock and key, but she'd accomplished her goals, bringing her crew back to the Alpha Quadrant, and destroying the technology that would see them forever removed from their families. Plus, as far as she was concerned, there was nothing more infuriating than a gracious winner.
"Lieutenant Mertois, Captain. Shall we?" He extended one arm toward the door. The other held a pair of restraints.
Seeing the cuffs for the first time Janeway was annoyed. "Are those really necessary?"
Feeling a little silly himself, but knowing it was in her best interests to be restrained, he shrugged and replied, "I'm afraid so."
Giving a long-suffering sigh, Janeway extended her wrists behind her back. Once the restraints were in place, the small party exited the brig, one security guard in front of Janeway, one in back, and Mertois beside her. Janeway tossed a quick look over her shoulder on the way out. All of the other cells were now empty. Hopefully the rest of her crew had been released.
The walk to her new cell was only about five minutes, all through unpopulated corridors. Janeway didn't understand why they didn't just beam her over, but given the opportunity to stretch her legs, she wasn't about to complain.
The new brig looked remarkably like the one onboard the Churchill. Mertois silently released Janeway's hands, and sealed her inside her new cell. With nothing better to do, Janeway started on her second repetition of push-ups. Perhaps she'd do crunches next.
*
Unbeknownst to Janeway, the corridors between the Churchill and the brig on Starbase 4 were not quite as deserted as she'd thought. Commander Gomez had been in one of the intersecting pathways, armed with a holoimager.
Gomez had been infuriated when she'd heard Commander Chakotay's version of the events that had transpired onboard Voyager. Admiral Hoya had been there to discharge the other prisoners. When Commander Chakotay had realized his Captain would still be held, his temper got the better of him. He accused Hoya of breaking the temporal Prime Directive, and holding Janeway on unfounded charges.
Gomez had seen the damage to the Indomitable caused by the detonation, but she was unsure what had caused the explosion. Only Voyager's warp drive should have been able to produce the kind of energy she'd seen. Gomez was all too aware that she was very much in the dark when it came to the mission she was responsible for. She didn't like it, but had come to accept secrecy during the Dominion war. This, however, set off alarms in her head.
As soon as she'd gone off duty, she'd decided to do a little computer hacking to see if she could figure out the real nature of their orders. The skills she'd learned onboard the Enterprise with Commanders LaForge and Data served her in good stead. She'd found and opened the orders in a few minutes. What they contained only confirmed Chakotay's accusations. Voyager had emerged from a borg transwarp conduit right in the Terran system. It had been inside a borg sphere that 15 Starships had been unable to stop. It seemed that Admiral Paris wasn't the only one interested in the return of Voyager. Fleet Admiral Jellico had issued the orders that had brought Gomez onboard Voyager. From what she was reading, it seemed Jellico had suspected future technology from the start, and had ordered Hoya to preserve it, jailing Voyager's crew if need be.
As she continued reading, it became more and more clear to Gomez that only Hoya knew the real nature of their mission. All the security troops were under her command through Mertois, and even Dr. Brahms hadn't been told what to search for. If she had, Voyager's crew may well have been unsuccessful in preventing further contamination of the time line.
After realizing how hard Jellico had worked to keep the true nature of the mission a secret, Gomez could come to only one conclusion; Jellico intended to exploit Voyager's technological superiority. The only way he could do that would be to make sure no one could ever reveal where it had come from. This meant that no one from Voyager could ever be allowed outside contact, and if Jellico were feeing especially paranoid (Gomez figured that was a given. As far as she could tell, the man was a loose cannon), he would have to sequester the crews of the Secord, Pearson, Indomitable, and Churchill, as well as Gomez, Dr. Brahms, and the security troops. Doing some quick math, she figured that added up to well over a thousand people and five Starships.
Infuriated, Gomez decided to be the monkey wrench in the Admiral's plans. She had left her quarters to find Mertois, and hatch a plan.
And now here she was, sitting with a holoimager, waiting for Janeway to walk by so she could snap a picture. Not for the first time she almost sighed at what they'd come up with to save Voyager, and their own skins. She hoped Voyager's crew could figure out something better. She hated to think of how many lives might be depending on her actions.
Approaching footsteps had interrupted her thoughts, and she'd gotten herself into position. As Captain Janeway had walked by, she'd managed to snap the picture and get away before being noticed.
Step one accomplished, she headed back to her quarters to finish her job.
*
It has long been known that gossip travels faster than anything else in the galaxy. Even the infinite existence of warp ten is sluggish compared to the speed of a good story. After the triumphant return of Voyager, some unknown person coined a phrase to crystallize this idea; "If Voyager had traveled at the speed of scuttlebutt, she would have been back in seven weeks, not seven years".
This saying held particular power with the crew of Voyager, since it was another seven weeks between their return to the Alpha Quadrant, and their touchdown on Earth. And in this case, the speed of gossip was the motivator that got them home.
*
Commander Geordi LaForge entered his quarters at the end of another shift in Engineering. The rest of the crew might find the refit tedious, but he loved the chance to go over his engines millimetre by millimetre. He got a great sense of satisfaction from knowing that his part of the ship was running as smoothly as it possibly could. Even though he had been working double shifts for the past two weeks, he felt energized.
Walking over to the replicator for a glass of water, he saw the message light blinking on his computer console. Reaching over he pressed the play button. He waited for a few seconds before the voice and video to begin, sipping at his water, thinking about what still needed to be done in Engineering. It was about 30 seconds before he realized nothing was playing. Looking down at the console, he saw that it was a text message. Now intrigued, he sat down to read the message.
Hello Geordi,
I apologize for sending a written message, but this was all I could get off the station. I am currently on Starbase 4, under complete communications and emissions blackout. Why, I can't figure out. The Admiral in charge here must have missed the class in Starfleet Academy that explains the near impossibility of blacking out a large installation. I would think that decreased emissions and zero traffic from a Starbase would raise more suspicions from the Romulans that a normally busy station.
Regardless, that's not what this message is about. I am in the middle of the most amazing event, and thought you might appreciate it. Voyager's back from the Delta Quadrant, and I'm doing the evaluation of its engines! I haven't done this kind of work in ten years, and it's exhilarating, especially to see this ship. It hasn't had a proper refit in seven years, and the Chief Engineer's made modifications that have never been tried before. She's a Maquis, and she pushed the limits of this ship like no one else I've ever seen, even you.
Anyway, don't bother to reply to this message, I doubt they're going to lift the blackout anytime soon, we've been here a week already, and I think we're being settled in for quite a while. I'll send another message when I get the chance.
Leah.
Geordi reread the message again in confusion, Voyager back from the Delta Quadrant? Voyager's disappearance, and subsequent discovery in the Delta Quadrant had become quite the story in the Federation. Every month, the Federation News Service posted new stories from the data stream. Although he was only passably interested, many of his Engineering crew were fascinated by their journey home. He found it odd that he hadn't heard anything about it. Shrugging he chalked it up to spending too much time in Engineering lately, and promised himself he'd take a bit of time off.
As he reached out to delete the message, he noticed the new message light was still blinking. Deciding to listen to the second message, he pressed the button again. A picture appeared on his screen of a woman in an old black and red uniform, hands restrained behind her. A security guard, in the standard black and grey uniform was at her side; another trailed behind, armed with a compression phaser rifle. There was a caption under the picture, reading: "she and her crew are being held indefinitely on Starbase 4 – Sonya".
Geordi saved both messages and got to his feet. "Computer, locate Commander Data."
"Commander Data is in his quarters."
LaForge was already halfway to the door.
*
Fifteen minutes later LaForge and Data walked into Ten Forward to find Commander Riker. He and Counsellor Troi were sitting at a table together, heads bent close, engrossed in conversation. Geordi hesitated before approaching. Fortunately, Troi sensed him and Data, and waved them over.
"What's on your mind Geordi?" Deanna knew he had something he wanted to discuss.
"Well, I just got two very disturbing messages. The first is from Dr. Leah Brahms." Riker took the PADD Geordi offered him.
"What's going on, Geordi?" Deanna could sense the apprehension in LaForge, and now confusion from Commander Riker. She decided to prod Will, reaching out gently with her mind. Imzadi? When he didn't seem to notice her, she grew more concerned.
Riker looked up from the PADD, his face a question mark. "Read the second message." LaForge prompted.
Riker drew a quick breath when he saw the picture. This time Deanna leaned over his shoulder, still not understanding what was going on. She recognized Captain Janeway right away. After spending so much time with Lieutenant Barcley, she'd looked up all the personnel files. Seeing Janeway bound and under heavy guard was quite disturbing for her. In a way, she felt like she knew the woman on some level.
Riker looked at the picture a moment longer before speaking, "we have to take this to Captain Picard. Maybe he knows something about this."
There was clear agreement around the table. As one, the four senior officers stood and left the room in search of their Captain.
*
Miles O'Brien walked into his home after a day of teaching at Starfleet Academy. It was exam time, and he'd spent the day grading papers, his least favourite duty. He didn't call out to his family as he entered, hoping instead to catch them unaware. What he found in their place was a note from Keiko on the kitchen table.
Miles,
You got a message from someone named Sonya today. Wasn't she an Engineer on the Enterprise? I took the kids to the beach, we'll be back around 19:00 hours.
Love Keiko.
Love Keiko. Miles smiled at that. Being back on Earth, in a stable environment had done wonders for his marriage. Just being able to spend time with his wife and kids on a regular basis was doing wonders for his emotional well being. Sure he missed being on DS9, missed being part of that crew, but now that the war was over, it was time to concentrate on his family.
Looking at his chronometer, he saw that he had about an hour before they got back. He went to the replicator and ordered a cup of coffee before settling in front of the view screen to see what Gomez had sent him.
As the picture and message came up on the screen, he set his coffee down and forgot about it. Just looking at the picture, he knew this was big. He sent off two quick messages, one to LaForge on the Enterprise, the other to Julian back on DS9, asking for confirmation of any kind. Although he didn't know anyone on board Voyager, its disappearance had become something of a myth, especially in his neck of the woods. Being the last port of call for a missing Starship made sure everyone on DS9 heard every rumour on the subject. He hoped LaForge or Bashir could shed some light on the matter; he hated to think they'd just won a war only to have Starfleet crews unlawfully detained.