Chapter 4
They met again in the transporter room. Janeway walked straight onto the platform. They beamed up in silence. As soon as they materialised aboard Voyager, Janeway stepped off the platform.
"Conference room, now."
She walked briskly through the corridors, leaving the rest of the crew to hurry after her. As she entered the turbolift, Chakotay caught up with her.
The other officers fell behind, letting Janeway and Chakotay take the first turbolift car. The doors closed and Chakotay turned to Janeway. His eyes where concerned, and he kept his voice low, trying to calm her.
"I take it things did not go well."
Janeway exploded. "The Admiral didn't even want to consider honouring your commissions. He said he would try to keep Starfleet from locking all Maquis up. He flat out refused to give any consideration to Leena or the Doctor. Has all of Starfleet gone mad?!"
Chakotay did not answer. He just held her, knowing she needed this outburst. After a moment, he felt her relax. As the turbolift stopped and they walked into the conference room, Janeway looked composed again. But Chakotay knew it was only a thin layer of composure and underneath it, she was seething.
The other officers arrived in the conference room, and everyone took their places. The crew filled Janeway in on what they had discovered from the newscasts, she told them about her briefing with the Admiral.
She kept her voice at a normal level all the way through, but no one could doubt that she was deeply disturbed by both her own briefing and the news the others had brought.
"Simonis will contact us with the Admiralty's decision, but it doesn't look good." she finished.
After the brief pause that followed, Chakotay was the first to speak.
"We knew we risked court when we agreed to go back to Federation space."
"Things were different then." B'Elanna said. "If they try us now, we'll never go out in space again."
"We can not completely rule out the chance that the Admiralty will rule in favor of granting the Captian's request." Tuvok put in.
Janeway gave him a sad smile. "Would you care to give us the odds on that?"
"Based on my observations of the Admiralty, and the combined news reports we have seen, I would estimate that chance at less than 2 percent."
"Not very good odds," Janeway said. "Oh, I agree it's possible. But once we hear from Starfleet Command it will be to late to think of other options. I want options, and I want them now."
"The Maquis will take us in," Chakotay said. "With Bajor, Deep Space 9 and the wormhole in their territory they have become a larger group, but another ship will still be welcome. And they are currently the only ones likely to welcome a mixed crew."
"May I remind you that we are in Earth orbit, in the heart of Federation space, with all systems on minimum power and the main engines off-line?" Tuvok stated.
"Spacedock will be on to us as soon as we power up the engines," Paris said.
"Remember the Waziki?" Chakotay said.
"Cold start on the engines and jump to maximum warp," Janeway said. "B'Elanna?"
"We can do it, Captain. We should be able to take less damage than we did that time, since we know what to expect. By the time they figure out we're gone, we'll be out of the system. Those warships are big, but they're also slow. If we get a head start, Voyager can outrun and outmanoeuvre them."
"Make the necessary preparations, but we won't do anything until we hear from Starfleet Command," Janeway decided.
Everyone got up and rushed out of the conference room, working on the problem as they had done all during the journey.
Barely two hours later, most of the crew was back on the bridge, as Tuvok received the signal from Starfleet.
"The Admiral is hailing us. Your eyes only."
"In the readyroom." Janeway said. "We'll take it there. This concerns everybody."
Everyone followed into the ready room, standing behind the viewscreen. They could not see the Admiral -he would see them as well- but they could hear him.
"Admiral."
"Captain," Simonis replied.
"You have reached a decision?" Janeway was not going to listen to any preamble if she could help it.
"The Admiralty has decided we can not grand your request for pardon of your crew. You will have the Maquis beam down to the Starbase, and also your...," his sarcasm was clear in his voice, "Science officer. The Starfleet crew will be briefed at Headquarters, as will the civilians you have on board. Oh, and leave that... Doctor of yours on, a team of programmers is on its way to study the way it developed."
Janeway had to use all her self-control not to look up at her crew as she listened. She kept her eyes on the screen.
"Give me one hour for my crew to get ready." she said.
Simonis gave a short shrug. "One hour."
Janeway cut transmission, not trusting herself to say anything else.
Chakotay was at her side as the viewscreen blanked, putting a hand on her shoulder. The rest of them simply waited. It was her decision now. She took a deep breath.
"Prepare for cold-start warp jump in 55 minutes. Everyone, inform your department of the situation. Anyone who wants to do so can beam down to Starbase."
"Anyone beaming to Starbase early would mean a significant risk Starfleet would catch on to us, Captain." Tuvok said.
Janeway nodded. "I know. But this is one decision I can not make for anyone else. Anyone wants to beam down, they can."
Janeway stared out the window. All departments would be busy making preparations, and the crew knew its job -for the next 45 minutes there was little to do for her but wait. She wondered who would choose to stay on Earth and go home, if there was any home left for any of them to go to.
"Maybe we have tried to find something that was here all along," Chakotay said behind her.
Janeway jumped. She hadn't realised she had spoken aloud. She turned and looked around. A space ship was never meant to be a permanent home, not one the size of Voyager. Even after remodelling, their quarters were small for a family of three. So much space of the ship had gone into adjustments made for their long journey. The hydroponics bay, the kitchen, the nursery, the classroom... Still, it was comfortable. She took in the Delta Quadrant artefacts they had collected on their journey, the Dreamcatcher Chakotay had made, the almost-finished model of a dilithium molecule Tanita was building for her science class, laying on the small table next to the couch.
Tanita was not there; she would be in the classroom or the nursery, watching the younger children, freeing the adults for their duties, as they had done in every emergency ever since the first children had been old enough to watch their younger shipmates.
"For all these years we have tried so hard to uphold Starfleet protocol and Federation ideals. Only to find that the Federation itself has abandoned almost everything it once stood for," she said softly. "Chakotay... Have I been wrong putting so much effort into going home?"
Chakotay had followed her gaze around the room. He shook his head. "I think we had to see our old home to fully realise what we have here. Without seeing it, even if someone had been able to tell us everything that has happened here, we would still not have been able to let go."
Janeway looked at her First Officer and husband. "Thank you," she said.
Chakotay held her hands for a moment. He knew the decision she had made up in her Readyroom could well be the hardest she had made on their whole journey, after all they had done to run Voyager as a Starfleet vessel in a Quadrant far from Federation space. He hadn't said anything she hadn't known, or wouldn't have been able to come up with herself, but she'd needed the reassurance.
For a few moments they held on, then Janeway let go. There was one more thing she had to do before going back to the bridge. She turned toward her clothes closet and took out a green sweater. She hesitated only a moment before discarding her uniform top. *I discarded this when I gave the order for the warp jump, half an hour ago* she thought. Chakotay followed her lead, pulling on a brown shirt he often wore after hours on the holodeck.
Down in Engineering, B'Elanna looked at her staff gathered around her. "I want you to understand that anyone who wants to get off, is free to leave. All original Starfleet crew will be able to go to their homes on Earth, after debriefing. We leave in 45 minutes, you have until then to decide."
For a moment it was quiet, then the first crew members spoke up.
"I'm staying," Garth said.
Mika and Lan looked at each other and nodded. "We're with you."
The younger crew, who'd been raised on Voyager, stayed as well.
Carey heard the voices of his colleagues as if they were a long way off. He stared at the wall, and through it, in the direction Earth lay. He'd had a communication from his wife and sons. Martin had a son of his own, now, and they'd talked about how he could see his little grandson grow up and perhaps catch some of the moments he had missed with his own boys.
Carey was one of the few crew members who had never started a new relation aboard Voyager. Really, only he and Tuvok had waited all this time for their return home. *But he's a Vulcan. He still has years.*
From the edges of his vision he noticed B'Elanna looking at him. He snapped back to Voyager's engine room and looked around. All others had returned to their stations and were busy getting ready for the warp jump they were going to make. He looked at the crew, his friends and colleagues, the warpcore, barely glowing with the power on minimum, the place he had worked and lived in for 26 years.
"No one will hold it against you if you decide to beam down," B'Elanna said, softly. "We know you got your family."
*Do I? I haven't seen them for so long. Do I even know them anymore?* He looked at B'Elanna and made a decision.
"You're gonna pull this off, you're gonna need every hand you got. I stay."
B'Elanna put her hand on his arm for a moment, then they both turned to the emitter relays. If they were going to leave in 45 minutes, there was a lot that needed to be done.
Janeway and Chakotay entered the bridge together. No one could possibly miss the fact that they were both out of uniform, but while everyone glanced at them, no one commented. They were minutes from the arranged time, and everyone was busy with their own panels.
Janeway asked for reports from all departments. Everyone reported ready. Even with everything she had seen, here on the bridge and in the hallways, she'd felt anxious hearing who would stay and who would not. As department after department reported all of the crew had decided to stay on board, she felt herself relax again. Now, they only needed to get out of the heart of Federation space, without getting stopped.
The chronometer pointed at exactly the arranged time, 5 minutes before they were supposed to beam down to the Starbase. Every station on the bridge was ready. Janeway glanced once more at the viewscreen, showing the space station and beyond, Earth. Then she nodded to Paris and B'Elanna, who waited for her order.
"Take her out."
At Janeway's command, B'Elanna punched the final command to start the warp engines on the control panel on the bridge. She would prefer to be in Engineering for any manoeuvre that put such a strain on the engines, but in this case it was more important to co-ordinate with Paris at the helm. Carey and the rest of the crew would have to hold things together down below.
The very moment Paris saw the power indicators come to life, he hit warp. The engines screamed, never meant to be started in this manner, and a shudder ran through the ship as the inertial dampeners strained to keep up.
In Starbase Ops a red light flashed on the control panel. The officer on duty turned. The energy readings from Voyager raised to maximum in a matter of seconds, then disappeared. Thinking of a malfunction, the officer re-checked the panel. As it did not respond, he tuned another panel to Voyager's position. Only when it did not give any readings, either, did he check the visual scanners. Voyager was gone.
Minutes passed with the bridge crew working, hardly exchanging a word. After working closely for so long, a simple look, sometimes with a few words, was enough to be understood. B'Elanna and Paris worked to keep the ship running and on course, Kim monitored the internal sensors and subspace communications, and Tuvok ran long-range sensors to look for any sign of pursuit.
They were well out of the Sol system before Kim reported, "They're on to us, Captain."
Tuvok confirmed almost immediately three of the large warships had left Earth orbit.
"Any chance they will catch up to us?" Janeway asked.
"They are well behind us.", Tuvok reported, "And they will not be able to match Voyager's top speed. However, it is questionable how long we can keep this speed after the cold jump start we made."
Captain Janeway nodded. That confirmed what she had thought. Actually, it'd taken the Starfleet vessels longer than she had calculated to catch on to their disappearance. If no more ships were in front of them, where they could cut them off, they should be able to outrun these ships until they reached Maquis space, even after the strain they put on the engines.
On the bridge of the Unity, Julie sat in the Captain's chair, going over the crew rosters for the various vessels. She made one minor adjustment -it was a Bolian holiday next Sunday, and Tre'Vore would like to be off that day. Everything else looked good. She got up to file the rosters in the main computer at an Ops panel. She could've asked someone else to do that, but she had been sitting around checking reports and rosters all shift, and she didn't mind getting up and walking a few steps. The border with the Federation was quiet, as it had been most days lately.
"Long-range sensors are picking up a vessel approaching at high warp," Zeno reported from tactical.
Julie immediately returned to her seat. "On screen," she said as she sat down. "Can you identify it?"
"Not yet," the young Cardassian said. "Ma'am, sensors just picked up three more vessels, they appear to be in pursuit."
*Three vessels* Julie thought. That had to be an important ship or person they were chasing. The Federation seldom sent more than one ship in pursuit of any vessel that tried to join the Maquis. Would they be eager enough to keep it from joining them to enter Maquis space? She'd better prepare for it.
"Go to yellow alert. Hail the Defiant and tell them to get over here. Hail Dukat and appraise him of the situation. There is no reason yet to pull the Bara'Tra from their patrol area, but leave a channel open so they can follow what is going on. Can you identify the approaching vessel yet?"
Zeno complied with her orders as fast as she could give them. He was a good officer, almost as quick at tactical as she was.
"It's a Federaton vessel, but I have no identification. Coming into communication range now."
"Hail them."
Janeway stood on the bridge of Voyager and looked at the forward viewscreen. Long-range sensors had picked up a ship, and it appeared to be a Cardassian vessel. One look at the rear sensor array told her the three Warships send in pursuit were too close to come to a full stop, or to turn about. There, yet another ship on forward viewer. There was only one ship made like that, as far as she knew -the Defiant. Would it come after them, too?
"The Cardassian ship is hailing us," Kim reported from Ops.
"On screen," Janeway said.
"This is Julie Barnards of the Maquis vessel Unity to the unidentified vessel approaching us. You have three bandits on your tail, do you need assistance?"
Janeway looked in surprise at the slight woman sitting in the center chair of the Cardassian ship. That had not been what she'd expected.
Chakotay was surprised, as well. Of course he knew the Maquis had always bought, stolen, and salvaged any ship they could get, but he hadn't expected to find a Cardassian Keldan Class among them. And from the position the Defiant took, it was under Maquis control, as well.
"This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of... Voyager."
There was no one on the bridge who did not notice the slight hesitation as Janeway spoke. She had said 'Federation Starship' for so many years, in places where no one had ever heard of the Federation, that now the omission seemed extra clear.
"Request permission to enter Maquis space," Janeway finished.
Julie blinked. "Voyager?" She looked at Zeno.
"The computer confirms it. That is Voyager," he reported.
"Alright." Julie needed no explanation. The three pursuing ships were enough. "Keep her on her current course and come to a position behind the Defiant and the Unity," she instructed Janeway.
"Open a channel to the Federation vessels," she ordered next.
"Open. They are not acknowledging," Zeno said.
"This is Julie Barnards of the Maquis to the vessels pursuing Voyager. Break off your pursuit immediately. Do not enter Maquis territory. I repeat, break off your pursuit," she said to the air.
She knew the Federation vessels would be able to hear her, even if they did not respond to her hail.
The ships did not break off their approach at her warning. Julie sighed. Fine, she'ld play it their way.
"Red alert. Arm all forward weapons systems." She toggled the line to the Federation ships open again.
"Any further approach of our space will not be tolerated. Break off your pursuit, this is your final warning."
After a few moments, the Federation vessels slowed down and swung around. Without even a word from any of them, they jumped back to warp, back into Federation space. Julie relaxed.
"The Federation vessels have broken off their pursuit and are retreating," Zeno said for the record.
Julie acknowledged. "Stand down red alert," she ordered.
Dukat came through on the open channel. "Did I hear that correctly -the new arrival is Voyager?"
"Yes it is...," Julie said. "I don't know all the details yet, either, but it's her alright."
As Julie had instructed them to take position behind the two Maquis vessels, Janeway had nodded to Paris, who had immediately complied.
Harry Kim had caught the Maquis' transmission to the Federation vessels. For a moment it had appeared as if the warships would continue their pursuit, and for a moment Janeway had thought she would have to order Tuvok to power up the weapons. Fortunately, at the last moment, the Federation ships turned and warped back to their own space. Likely some day she would have to give the order to fire on a Federation ship, now they were here joining the Maquis, but not today.
The Maquis Captain came back on the main viewer.
"So the rumors were true," she said. "You have returned, after all this time. I take it you didn't receive a warm welcome in the Federation."
Janeway explained in a few words what had happened since they met the Harrier and why they had come to Maquis space. "I wasn't going to let them lock up my crew for things that happened over 25 years ago. Or for a war that started while we were thousands of light years away from here." The last, of course, was about Leena.
Julie nodded. While not exactly the same, no one had ever been gone as far or as long as Voyager had, the story was similar to those of many officers who had left, sometimes fled, Starfleet, when their planet broke with the Federation, or after a changeling was unmasked on their ship or starbase. She told Janeway so.
"You are welcome here," she added. "If you dock at Deep Space 9, I am sure the Council would like to hear about your journey."
"Thank you.", Janeway acknowledged the first sincere words of welcome she'd heard since coming back to what had once been home.
As they approached the Space Station they had taken off from all those years ago, Janeway noticed the many vessels crowding the Station. The Cardassian vessel and the Defiant were the most powerful vessels she had seen, but there was a Ferengi Marauder, a Romulan scout, and even two Klingon Bird of Preys in the near vicinity of the Station and the wormhole.
As they approached the wormhole flared open, and a small vessel appeared.
"Why do they still allow traffic through the wormhole?" Paris wondered, as he noticed the little ship.
"As long as it can not be closed, it is better to know what is happening on the other side than to be surprised by an invasion force," Chakotay said.
That was exactly what Sisko told them later that evening, when the senior officers from Voyager met the Maquis council in the Station's conference room.
"We've tried many ways to close the wormhole, to negotiate with the Founders, to block traffic from either side. We've run out of ideas a long time ago," he explained. "Even if we could stop the Founders from infiltrating in this Quadrant right now, it'll take many years before there will be peace again, but as long as they can still come through they'll never allow the situation to stabilise."
"Have you been able to determine whether the Founders intend to invade the Alpha Quadrant, after sufficiently eliminating any organised opposition, or merely to keep us from launching a co-operative attack into their space?" Tuvok asked.
"We can't tell for certain. Although we can sent a single ship, or even two or three smaller vessels through, and no one will hamper their passage, we still have very little ideas of the Founders' intentions." Sisko said. "We have to assume they do mean to eventually invade, though."
"You are saying a single vessel is allowed to enter the Gamma Quadrant and return. Would that apply for a ship the size of Voyager?" Chakotay asked.
Janeway admired the way her crew jumped at the new problem. She, too, was thinking hard to come up with something to help stop these Founders. Not that she doubted the abilities of the people on the Maquis council, who had tried for many years to stop the infiltration, but she knew she, too, had to give it a try. And maybe, just maybe, there'd be something in their journey, some race met or discovery made, that'd give them the insight to deal with this particular problem at hand. Or maybe it would just help to have a fresh view on the matter, instead of one staring at it for 25 years.
She started to go over the contacts and missions they'd had since leaving this same station, and looking at her officers, she knew they were doing the same. If there was anything to be done, they would find it.