Redemption
Chapter 8
Disclaimer - Paramount and Viacom own the characters from Voyager, although they didn't often treat them right. The story line belongs to me.
A special thanks to: My friend and editor of all my stories, Mill3rs.
"No! That will never work." The frustrated voice rang out as the doors to engineering slid open. Captain Janeway had come down to see if any progress had been made with trying to boost the engines. She took in the scene before her. Lieutenant Joe Carey stood toe to toe with the fiery half-Klingon, B'Elanna Torres. Janeway had given B'Elanna the rank of Lieutenant and promoted her to Chief Engineer, taking the advice of her First Officer. She had already proven herself in the three weeks since they had been pulled into the Delta Quadrant. Although, extremely competent with the engines, her temper had made it difficult for members of the two crews to work together smoothly. Before the end of the first week, she had broken Joe Carey's nose over a disagreement.
"Lieutenants, what is the problem here?" Janeway asked her tone of voice clear that she would not tolerate anymore fighting among the crewmembers. "I was under the impression that you were working on a means of boosting the engines to Warp 3."
Joe backed away from B'Elanna and looked at Janeway. "Captain, Lieutenant Torres feels that if we can clear out the starboard plasma manifolds that it will give the engines enough extra power." Janeway could hear the disbelief in his voice.
"Look! I've worked with enough engines to know that if the manifolds are blocked, even partially; it impacts on the engines performance." B'Elanna burst out not waiting for Joe to finish his side of their argument.
Janeway raised her hands to stop the argument and indicated that the two Lieutenants should follow her into the Chief's office. When they had entered, she closed the door and sat on the edge of the desk. They could see, through the glass wall, that the other crewmembers were returning to their engineering stations. "I know that there was quite a bit of damage to our systems from the Kazon attack and that you are both working hard to find a solution. But I need you to work together and keep your tempers to yourselves." The Captain said in a steady voice although the tension in the room was affecting her as well as the two Lieutenants. "Is that understood?" She looked from one to the other.
"Yes, Captain." Joe answered. "But I still feel that we can tweak the Shield Harmonics and get the same output from the engines without spending the time clearing the plasma manifolds. It would also use fewer crewmembers and could be accomplished in a shorter amount of time."
Janeway trusted Carey's judgment but something about B'Elanna's innate feel for the mechanical appealed to the captain. Janeway had been a science officer on her first posting and toying with the engines and consoles always intrigued her. "Lieutenant, what are your feelings regarding the Shield Harmonics?" She gave B'Elanna a slight grin, letting her know that she respected her opinion.
"Captain, I know that remodulating the Shield Harmonics would improve our aerodynamics but they were also damaged and I don't believe Lieutenant Carey realizes how long it would take to repair them before we could even start the remodulation process. It would not take long to clear the plasma manifolds, if four crewmen were assigned to the task." B'Elanna's temper had decreased as she spoke to the captain. She appreciated Janeway's scientific knowledge and felt comfortable explaining the technical reasons behind her decisions although she still wasn't sure how much the captain trusted her judgment. "Perhaps, Lieutenant Carey could work on the Shield Harmonics while I take a crew down to the starboard manifolds. We might even gain enough power to boost the engines to Warp 4." She looked away momentarily and then, turning back to the captain, stated. "Captain, I didn't mean any disrespect for the Starfleet crew. It's just that I spent enough time fixing the engines on the Liberty that I look for the quickest solution. Chakotay and Ayala are on that shuttle and they're the only family I have now. If anything was to happen to them, I don't know how I would handle it. I just want to get to the planet as fast as possible."
Janeway smiled at the young woman. "I know how you feel. All of the crew is important and I don't want to lose anyone else on this journey. I believe if we follow your suggestions, we can get there safely and expediently. I'd like to be included in Lieutenant Carey's crew if you don't mind."
"Of course, Captain." B'Elanna smiled at the thought of Janeway actually working in her department. "I'd like Kurt Bendera to assist me with the plasma manifolds. He also has experience working with them." B'Elanna sighed in relief that not only was she not in trouble again but the captain actually approved of her idea. It's going to take some getting used to and a lot of adjusting on my part but I think this might work out. Janeway does seem fair after all. Chakotay might be right about her. Kahless! Chakotay you and Ayala have to get back. I need your calming influence.
Janeway stood, signifying that the meeting was over. She approached the door to the office and stepped into the main engineering section. B'Elanna assigned the two crews and moved out with three other engineers including Crewman Bendera. Janeway and Carey climbed the stairs to the upper level of engineering and began working on repairing the Shield Harmonics.
* * * * *
Several hours later, the doors to the turbolift slid open and a visibly tired captain entered the bridge and moved to the tactical station. "Mr. Tuvok, have we had any contact with the away team?" She asked as she brushed some strands of hair out of her face.
Tuvok looked at the flushed face of his captain and realized that although tired, she had thoroughly enjoyed her stint in engineering. "No, Captain. There have been no signs of the shuttle or any contact from the away team. Were the modifications to engineering successful?"
Smiling at her old friend, she replied. "I believe so, Mr. Tuvok. We should know within the next half hour. I'll be in my ready room." She moved across the bridge but was stopped when Crewman Hamilton suddenly exclaimed from the helm. "Captain, I'm getting some strange readings. I believe it's our shuttle but they are not heading for either us or the rendezvous coordinates."
"Try hailing them." Janeway turned to the Ops station.
"There's no answer, Captain." The ensign at Ops answered.
"Captain, they're charging weapons." Tuvok announced with a measure of surprise evident even in his calm Vulcan manner.
"Raise shields!" Janeway ordered.
Phaser fire rocked the bridge and Tuvok announced. "Captain, shields are at 63% and scanners have failed."
What the hell is going on? Janeway thought. Why would the away team fire on us? She gulped quickly as she moved to sit in the command chair. Chakotay wouldn't dare be trying a mutiny. "Try hailing them again."
Again, there was no answer and after firing several phaser bursts at Voyager, the shuttle suddenly turned and moved away from the ship. They watched as the shuttle disappeared from view.
"Captain, I've lost helm control." Hamilton said as he fought with the controls.
"Janeway to engineering. We need someone up here immediately. The helm controls are not responding."
"Aye, Captain." B'Elanna's voice came over the comm system. "I'll be up there myself."
* * * * *
B'Elanna crawled out from under the helm station and wiped her hands on her uniform pants. Her face was streaked with sweat and grease but she calmly announced that there should be no further difficulties with the helm. Hamilton resumed his seat and the captain gave the order to set a course towards the path the shuttle had taken.
"Captain, I believe I've picked up signals from a subspace beacon." Tuvok stated.
"Let's hear it." Janeway ordered.
Tuvok punched in a few buttons and Tom Paris's voice came over the comm system. "Voyager, this is the away team. We've crashed on the third planet of the system. Neither our communications array nor environmental controls are functional at the moment. Commander Chakotay sustained a concussion and may have further injuries. I've sedated him for now. He sent Lieutenant Ayala and Ensign Kim to gather the Dilithium Crystals. Upon their return and if the Commander is medically able to travel through the ion storms, we plan to proceed to the rendezvous coordinates at impulse power. We should be leaving in two days and be near the coordinates at the estimated rendezvous time unless unforeseen events occur. Paris out."
"If they did not plan on leaving for another day, I do not believe that the away team was on the shuttle." Tuvok stated looking down at Captain Janeway.
Janeway had risen from her seat at the announcement of a message from the away team. She had been quite surprised to hear Lieutenant Paris on the recorded message but when he had mentioned that the commander was injured and sedated, she knew why he had sent the message. Paris has had enough survival training in his fleet background to know that you send a message for help as soon as possible. But that does not explain the actions of whoever was on the shuttle. "Lieutenant Tuvok, why do you believe it was not the away team on the shuttle?"
"First, Captain, their firing on us and not returning our hail. Second, Mr. Paris stated that they would not be leaving the planet for two days. They would not have left without the dilithium crystals if the Commander had sent two crewmen to gather them. He knows how much we need them for Voyager's engines. Also, I believe that the other crew members would not risk further injury to the Commander by leaving before he was medically stable." Tuvok responded in his perfect Vulcan logic.
"Then who the hell was flying the shuttle?" Janeway demanded.
to be continued….