Disclaimer: Paramount owns the universe and all the regular characters, I just play here.
9. In their own time.
It had all seemed routine on Voyagers bridge. Chakotay had left the bridge moments before, together with Ensign Kim, and Captain Janeway had watched as the turbolift doors closed. Sure, it was obvious he hadn't been happy to include Leena on the Away team, but she was confident he would overcome his difficulties with the Cardassian once he had to work with her.
As the lift carried them away she'd turned back from the doors and sat down in her seat. Turning on the console set between the command chairs, she'd called up some routine reports -food and engineering supplies, energy usage charts... On reflection, she didn't know why she hadn't gone to her readyroom to review them. Could it have been she had a feeling something would go wrong? No, that was ridiculous.
She'd barely made it through the first report when the call came from the transporter room.
"Transporter room to the bridge." Ensign Davis' voice had been tight, and she had been instantly alert.
She carefully kept the worry she felt inside of her out of her voice as she answered. "Go ahead Ensign."
"Captain," the Ensign hesitated. "I've lost them."
She saw Paris twist around in his seat, looking at her, and she felt Tuvok's eyes on her back. She barely registered either, though.
"What happened?" She kept the worst snap out of her voice, not wanting to upset the Ensign when she needed him to think clearly.
"I don't know. I beamed them down, when suddenly they were gone. I tried to reverse the beam, but the according to the console the transport was already completed," the Ensign reported. He sounded shaken. Ensign Davis was one of the younger crew members of the ship, and, like many Ensigns, assigned to the transporter room on rotation to get experience in many different areas of shipboard operations. The kind of officer who would be on duty during a routine mission, like this one was supposed to have been.
Captain Janeway gave orders without pausing to take a breath.
"Tuvok, try to contact the Away team on all frequencies. Paris, check the scanners. Janeway to Engineering -B'Elanna, the Away team just disappeared while beaming down and I want to know what happened. Ensign, work with B'Elanna -we'll get them back."
"Yes Captain." Ensign Davis' voice sounded stronger already. B'Elanna acknowledged, sounding as if already on the run -which she no doubt was- and Paris turned back to his console, fingers flying over the touchpad. A short look over her shoulder confirmed Tuvok, too, was working to try and raise the missing team.
It didn't take Tuvok and Paris long to report back.
"There is no response from the Away team, Captain," the Vulcan reported moments before Paris confirmed the sensors could find no sign of humanoid life on the surface.
The new confidence she had felt when her crew responded quickly and capably to her orders was threatening to slip away. She glared at the planet on the main viewscreen. The lush vegetation that had seemed beautiful only a short time ago did not look near as pretty anymore. What was it that had caused her officers to disappear? She hated not knowing, having nothing to work with or fight against.
"Janeway to Engineering. B'Elanna, do you have anything yet?" she asked, even though she knew it wasn't long since she had first given her orders.
B'Elanna surprised her, though. "Captain, I was just about to call you. I can tell you what happened, but I don't know how to reverse the effect yet."
"Go ahead," Janeway said.
"The planet has a specific ion particle concentration. Our transporter effect caused a rupture in time. The Away team beamed right through it," B'Elanna explained.
"Is there any chance we can open this rupture in time and beam them back?" Captain Janeway asked.
"Not at this same location," B'Elanna reported. "Besides, the way our transporters work, they would only be beamed further into the future. I will try to find a way to reverse the process, but I don't know how long that will take."
"Do you have any idea how far into the future they have been transported?" Janeway asked.
"I can't tell yet, Captain. Too far to wait for them -years, maybe much more. When I find out what exactly causes the time shift I will know more."
That wasn't all good, but at least it was something to work with. "Good work, B'Elanna. Keep working on it. Paris, go down to Engineering and help B'Elanna."
Paris quickly got up and entered the turbolift. Captain Janeway watched him go. She knew B'Elanna and the rest of the crew were working hard to find out the details of the transporter incident. She had confidence in her crew, and this was hardly the first time an Away team had been missing, but still a mixture of anger and worry flowed through her. Anger at the planet, the ion particle concentration, that had turned this routine mission into a far more dangerous one, and worry, stemming from those times when Away team members had not made it back, no matter what her crew had done to help them. She turned to her console and tried to read more of the reports, but her eyes kept darting to the planet on the main viewscreen.
As he materialised, Chakotay strained to take in his surroundings. Transport was instantaneous, they said, but whenever he beamed to a tense situation, whether it was into a battle, an unknown hostile location, or 400 years into the past, he was sure he could feel the time it took to materialise and be able to move again.
They were standing in a large, grassy, open spot, but it was a natural open space, not made by any humanoid civilisation.
He hit his combadge. "Chakotay to Voyager."
Captain Janeway could not tell who she heard first, her First Officer calling the ship, or her Security officer's report that the sensors picked up humanoid life on the surface. She did know who she answered.
"Janeway here. Commander, are you alright?"
"We are fine, Captain. Glad to be back," Chakotay's voice came back. He sounded like he meant every bit of it.
"We had some transporter trouble, we will have to send a shuttle to get you. Stand by," Janeway told him. She knew she sounded relieved, too.
"We know. We have data to modify the transporters if we need any more use of them, but for now I think I prefer a shuttle," Chakotay replied.
"You know?" Janeway did not try to hide the puzzlement in her voice. "Commander, where have you been?"
"It's a long story. I'll tell you when we get back up to the ship," Chakotay said. "Oh, one thing... How long have we been gone?"
Janeway checked the chronometer, although she really didn't have to; she'd glanced at it often enough. "43 minutes."
On the planet surface, Harry let out a breath he hadn't noticed he was holding. "That must've been the longest 43 minutes of my life," he said, shaking his head.
And that comment triggered the tension they all three had been holding inside for all that time. Leena snickered, Chakotay looked at her and grinned, and moments later they all three laughed out loud.
Up on Voyager's bridge, Captain Janeway heard them laugh. She heard Leena make some comment and Chakotay's laughter in return -whatever had happened down there, she looked forward to hearing the report. As she turned off the comlink and walked to the briefing room to wait for them, she found that she was smiling, too.