Disclaimer: Paramount owns the universe and all the regular characters, I just play here.
8. Returning.
They worked hard to earn money for the power unit. They tried to think of other ways to make money, but there were not a lot of jobs to be found, and what there was was very lowly paid. Set explained the economy had been like this for years. Many people were out of work, living on the streets. When Kim asked if there was no social security or other help for people to fall back on, Set shook his head.
"People have to take care of themselves. Anyone who can't hold a job in society ends up in the streets. We take care of ourselves out here, in groups like the Pass. We have a safe place to sleep where no one bothers us, it works. Maybe if it didn't work, if we didn't have any place to go at all, people would help us back into the real society again."
"Maybe, but I wouldn't bet on it.", Chakotay said. "In many human societies there was no such thing as the Pass, and very little in the way of safety or shelter for the homeless, and it took till after the Bell Riots before a real solution was found."
Leena nodded. "It's the same on Cardassia. We still barely help any people who do not manage to stay within the main society –we keep them out of sight so most people don't know about them."
Set stared in the fire. "Our planets are not so different. If your Earth managed to take care of its people, perhaps our planet can too, some day."
The day they went with Set to pick up the power unit came. They looked it over, and everything checked out. On the way back, they made another surprising discovery.
The weather had been clearing up for some days, but this morning the wind had picked up and temperatures had dropped again. As they passed a cafe they went inside to warm up. They hadn't gone into any cafe or bar before, but with the power unit in their possession, they now had less financial concerns.
Most of the names of the drinks were unfamiliar, the universal translator had no context to place the single words, and most worlds had their own concoctions people preferred. As soon as the serving lady put the cups of warm liquid on the table, Chakotay smelled the aroma. He blinked as he looked at the cup. Across the table, he noticed Ensign Kim staring at his cup, as well. Slowly he picked it up, and tasted it. "Coffee. Real coffee."
He wondered how coffee had ever made it this far from the Federation. Was the Federation spread this far? Maybe crossing distances from here to the Alpha Quadrant on a regular basis? He cut off that line of thought. A coffee plant could have made it here a million other ways. Two hundred years since the Federation was founded in his timeline, and now four hundred years further in the future, was plenty of time for a coffee plant to cross 70,000 light years, and who-knows-how-many hands and cultures in between. Any information about the Federation in this time line, even just whether it still existed or not, could be dangerous to know this far into the future, and he wouldn't be able to take any information or technology back to Voyager. He could, however, take some coffee.
Two days later they were preparing to leave the Pass. Set and Elah insisted on coming with them to the museum. They had prepared the power unit as far as possible without actually hooking it up to the transporter. They wore nondescript clothes, carrying their uniforms in a bag with them. While no one had looked twice at them, they did stand out too much for sneaking around. Also in the bag were Harry's clay flute, and a pack of coffee. They even carried a few young shoots for the hydroponics bay. Chakotay had no idea where Set had procured live coffee plants from, in this climate and this time of the year, and he knew that when asked, the man would name a long string of connections no one from off-world could follow. He carefully set the plastic tray holding the shoots on top of the other belongings.
While at first Chakotay had tried to keep their mission to the Museum silent, over the last weeks the whole Pass had found out. They all said their goodbyes, wishing them luck on their way home. Although none of the people from the Pass, not even Set and Elah, knew any details about Voyager, all knew that they, at least, had a chance to get out of the Pass and make their way home.
Some they had hardly seen or spoken to in their time on the planet, others, like En and the young boy Kee who'd brought them the blankets when they first arrived, they had talked to frequently, at dinner or at night around the fire, after those first days when the calculations on the transporter had been done.
Chakotay looked at the small gathering, shaking hands and exchanging a few last words. Then he motioned for Harry and Leena.
"Time to go."
Set had arranged for a ride to the museum. A man Chakotay had never seen before had arrived in a vehicle so old Chakotay would not have thought it still moved, but he trusted Set.
A few blocks from the museum they parked the car and the man drove off without looking back. Chakotay picked up the power unit with Elah, Harry carried the bag with their uniforms and supplies, while Leena and Set scouted out the way.
The streets were quiet, even most of those who lived on the streets would be in shelters like the Pass at this time of the night. As they came to the back entrance of the building, Chakotay carefully openend the panel next to the door. Leena had volunteered for the job, claiming more recent engineering experience, but he had picked up a few skills as a Maquis. In less than a minute the door slid open, without a sound.
They slipped inside, carefully checking each inner door for security systems as they went along. There were none -this was a peaceful planet where no one had thought a museum needed heavy security.
Still, Chakotay kept watch at the back, and Set at the front entrance, while Leena, Harry and Elah hooked up the power unit and tuned the transporter.
"Commander?" Chakotay twisted around. He'd been concentrating on any movement or sound outside so much that Leena's voice, sounding loud through the empty halls even though she had spoken softly, startled him. "Yes, Leena?"
"We're ready," she reported.
He nodded in acknowledgement. Taking one more look outside -all was quiet- he followed her into the room where the transporter stood.
The ropes holding people back from touching the exhibit had been carefully curled up and laid to the side. The power unit hummed softly, and the main console of the transporter was lit up.
Chakotay looked at the readings programmed on the panel. This time Leena did not comment about him checking her work, or Harry's -this was far more delicate than anything they had done before. 416 years, and if they arrived a little too late, they might find Voyager gone and themselves stranded on this planet forever, without anyone due to arrive for many years. Arriving early was even worse; he did not claim to understand the details of time travel paradoxes, but he knew enough to avoid them at all cost.
They'd gone over the calculations many times in the Pass; now every one of them was precisely entered in the console. There was no way to test if their work was correct, no way to check if any test pod they send would indeed arrive in the narrow time frame they had. Chakotay nodded at Harry and Leena. They looked tense, and he wondered if the same was reflected in his face. He made himself relax, at least on the outside. They would have to be confident in their own abilities.
Set had also come in, although he still looked over his shoulder at the exhibit hall entrance, watchful for any sound or movement. They shook hands, and said their goodbyes. Set and Elah would dismantle the transporter once they were gone and bring it back to its old state. There would be no way for the two men to find out if they'd made it back safely.
After a few brief words of goodbye Chakotay walked over and took place on the transporter pad. Leena and Harry joined him. Elah took the controls of the transporter.
"Ready when you say so," Elah said.
Chakotay glanced at the two officers standing next to him and took a deep breath. "Energize."
He saw more then heard Elah's last "Good luck."