Chapter 2
Was this really happening? Was it this easy? Voyager had been pulled inside of the mysterious anomaly & now, they found themselves nearly 50,000 light years from where they once were. They had returned to the Alpha Quadrant, they had come home.
Janeway wanted to believe it, but, she had learned in her years aboard Voyager that if something was to good to be true, it probably was. All eyes on the bridge were now glued to Harry Kim, who had just made the announcement.
"Can you confirm that, Mr. Kim?" Janeway asked.
"Yes, ma'am, sensors identify this area of space as being Federation, sector 1045 to be exact." Harry replied.
"On screen." Janeway ordered, letting her curiosity get the better of her.
The viewscreen changed from the standard starscape simulation to a diagram on the region. Not Earth, but the closest anyone aboard had seen in quite some time. It was true, after five long years in the Delta Quadrant, Voyager had finally made it back home. Janeway allowed a slight smile to pierce her stern, cautious exterior. They had been in situations before where they had been within reach of home, yet something always happened to take it all away.
"Mr. Kim, confirm the stardate, i want to make sure this isn't another trip through time."
"Confirmed, Captain, we are in the present." Harry replied.
"Do you detect any Federation ships in the area?" Janeway asked, anxious to let someone know they were home.
"None in scanning range, but sensors aren't fully repaired yet & our range is limited."
"Can you get a signal through to Starfleet command?" Janeway asked.
"Negative, Captain, the bassen rift is nearby, it effects all long range communications, we'll have to get beyond it before we can hope to get a signal through."
"Understood, do what you can." Janeway said, as she turned her eyes back to the viewscreen, to the scan of sector 1045, the first scan of Federation space the ship had taken in five long years.
They were finally going home.
****
Several hours later as Janeway stood before her senior officers in the briefing room she felt a sense of pride knowing what the crew had been through over the past few years. Now that they were home, she realized she would miss her crew once they all went there separate ways. Unless Starfleet decided to keep the ship the way it was, which was doubtful.
"Report." Janeway said, hoping for the best.
"Warp drive is back online, though we're limited to warp eight for the time being, I'll have it back to full operational status within a few hours." B'Elanna said.
"Weapons are online as well." Tuvok noted.
"What about the sensors, Harry?" Janeway asked.
"Long range sensors are back online, though i can't seem to locate any Federation vessel's within scanning range."
"None?" Janeway asked, confused by the fact.
"No, ma'am, not one." Harry replied.
"Well then, we'll have to locate one, set a course....." She stopped for a moment, letting what she was about to say sink in.
"Set a course for Earth, Tom, warp seven."
"Eye, Captain." Tom replied.
"Dismissed." Said Janeway & the room began to clear out.
****
"Federation? Can you confirm?" came a cool, calm, & yet somewhat surprised voice.
"Certain of it, sir." came another voice.
"But, how can that be?"
"I don't know, Captain, but it's defiantly a Starfleet ship, Intrepid class, registry NCC-74656"
"It's the U.S.S. Voyager."
"But that's not possible."
"Possible or not, sir, it's them, what should i do?"
"Set an intercept course, maximum speed."
****
"We've cleared the rift, Captain." Harry Kim noted.
"Understood, can you get a signal through to Starfleet?" Janeway asked.
"I've been attempting to do just that, but I'm getting no response."
"No response?"
"Not on standard frequencies, Captain."
This was odd indeed. Why would Starfleet command not be responding to hails. Had they changed their frequencies? Or was there some other reason. Janeway decided to proceed with caution, she had been Captain long enough to learn to trust her instincts & right now they were sounding red alert.
"Let's try sending out a standard hail in all directions, on Starfleet frequency 1426, it's a classified frequency, any ship that picks it up would no doubt be Federation." She said.
"Why the caution, Captain?" Tom asked from the helm.
"You never know, Mr. Paris, something doesn't seem right here, i want to be careful." she replied.
"Ready, Captain." Harry said.
"This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation starship Voyager to any Federation vessel in range, please respond."
She looked to Harry.
"No response." he said.
If she was at red alert before, she was near panic now. A sinking feeling had come over her & was beginning to spread throughout the bridge. Why couldn't they locate any Federation vessels? Why was Earth not answering their hails?
Her thoughts were broken by Harry Kim's voice.
"Captain, I'm detecting a vessel nearing our position."
"Federation?" She asked.
"No ma'am, the computer identifies it as Jem'Hadar."
"Jem'Hadar?" Janeway replied.
"It's approaching fast, their weapons are online."
"How far are we from Earth?" Janeway inquired.
"Almost an hour." Harry said, grimacing.
"What's the nearest Federation starbase? Or planet?" She asked.
"Starbase 950 is less than ten minutes away at maximum warp." He replied.
"Will we get there in time?"
"Barely, but yes."
"Set a course, maximum warp, Tuvok, bring weapons online, just in case." Janeway ordered as her mind began to race.
Janeway thought back, upon his return from the Prometheus, the Doctor had brought with him news of a conflict the Federation was currently involved in with the Dominion. She recalled a briefing she attended shortly before Voyager was launched on them, from what she remembered the Jam'Hadar were Dominion soldiers. Though the details were sketchy, Starfleet had informed the Doctor on the basics of the situation before his leaving. She had felt some optimism about the situation, however, when the Doctor had reported that Starfleet had mentioned a "conflict" & not a full fledged war, but still, a little more information would have been nice & she couldn't understand why Starfleet hadn't given them more. If the Federation was at war, the crew of Voyager deserved to know.
This could explain a great many things, if the Federation was indeed at war with the Dominion, then that would explain why there were no Federation ships in range, they could all be at the front. Earth could very well be operating under subspace radio silence, which was not unheard of during times of war. Janeway was thankful for her caution when sending out the hail on a classified Starfleet frequency. But, still, if this part of space had been taken by the Dominion then Voyager was in quite the situation. A situation that was looking more & more likely all the time.
****
Several minutes later with the Jam'Hadar vessel still in pursuit, Harry Kim finally spoke up with the news everyone wanted to hear.
"We're approaching Starbase 950."
"Drop out of warp, hail them." Janeway ordered.
"Captain, we have a problem." Came his response. Not what Janeway wanted to hear.
"What is it, Harry?"
"The Starbase....it's gone." He said.
"Gone? What do you mean it's gone?" She asked.
"Take a look for yourself." he said as the viewscreen turned to a shot of debris -- the rubble of Starbase 950.
"It's been completely destroyed, from the looks of things, I'd say at least a year ago."
"One year? Why wouldn't the debris have been retrieved yet?" Janeway asked, but suddenly he thoughts were once again cut off, this time by the sudden jolting of the ship -- they were under attack. The Jem'Hadar had finally arrived.
"Shields up!" Janeway shouted.
"Shields are online, Captain." Said Tuvok, "However, they are having no effect."
The ship once again jolted with weapons fire, this time was much worse than the last. Janeway often found herself wondering how much good shields really did, now she knew.
"Return fire, all weapons!" she ordered.
"Firing all weapons." Tuvok said calmly.
With that Voyager let loose with a barrage of phaser fire, as well as a steady stream of photon torpedoes.
"Their shields are holding." reported Tuvok.
"Not good" thought Janeway, Voyager had just let loose with everything in their arsenal & yet the Jam'Hadar shields were only slightly affected.
The bridge once again jolted, this time more violently than the previous two shots & quite possibly more violently than ever before. As Janeway braced for what was sure to be the final impact there was a loud explosion, the ship shook, but not from weapons fire. The explosion had occurred from outside the ship.
"What was that?" Janeway asked.
"The Jam'Hadar ship, Captain." Harry answered, "It was just destroyed."
"How?" She asked.
"Unknown, sensors recorded a large energy spike just before the explosion, it came from what appears to be their engine core."
"Maybe their warp drive overloaded?" Chakotay theorized.
"Maybe, but it doesn't matter." Janeway said, "Something strange is going on here & i intend to find out what."
"Seven Of Nine to the Bridge." Came the voice of Seven.
"Go ahead" replied Janeway.
"Captain, report to astrometrics at once, there is something you should see."
****
Minutes later, Janeway entered Astrometrics & found Seven Of Nine tirelessly pouring over data regarding the surrounding space.
"What have you got?" Janeway asked.
"I'm afraid it's what i haven't got that is of interest, Captain." Seven replied.
"What do you mean?"
Seven walked over to the main computer console & brought up a large diagram of the surrounding space.
"I have made several scans of this area of space & have been unable to locate any Federation starbases or vessels."
"I wonder...could the Federation be at war?" Janeway asked.
"It would explain a great many things, however there should be some sign of a Federation presence in the area." Seven replied.
"What are your sensors reading?" Janeway asked.
"Thus far i have been able to locate several small fleets of alien vessel's matching the design of the Jem'Hadar vessel that attacked us, a number of Cardassian warships, several Breen cruisers."
"Any Starbase's?"
"Negative, however i have detected one outpost that is designated as Federation in the ship's database." Seven noted.
"Which outpost?" Janeway asked.
"Station Deep space nine."
Janeway mused for a moment. If the Federation was indeed at war with the Dominion then DS9 would have been one of the first outpost's to be attacked, being so close to the Bajoran wormhole. The Dominion had no other means of getting to the Alpha Quadrant, & control of DS9 would be crucial. Her mind began to race. Should they set a course to DS9 & hope it was still under Federation control? Or should they keep searching for Federation vessel's & hope to find a way out of Dominion occupied space?
"Should we attempt to hail them?" Janeway asked.
"That would not be advisable -- if the Jem'Hadar detect our transmission it is likely they will pursue." Seven said.
Janeway nodded & tapped her comm badge.
"Janeway to Bridge -- Tom, set a course for coordinates 3465 mark 2, engage at maximum warp."
"Understood." Came the voice of Tom Paris.
"Keep running scans, let me know if you find anything of interest." Janeway ordered.
"Understood." Seven replied.
****
"They've set course for DS9, E.T.A. 3 hours 4 minutes." said a voice.
"Maintain pursuit, we can't allow them to reach the station." came another.
"Should we hail them?"
"No -- i want to make certain they are what they appear to be."
"Understood"
To Be Continued..............
Was this really happening? Was it this easy? Voyager had been pulled inside of the mysterious anomaly & now, they found themselves nearly 50,000 light years from where they once were. They had returned to the Alpha Quadrant, they had come home.
Janeway wanted to believe it, but, she had learned in her years aboard Voyager that if something was to good to be true, it probably was. All eyes on the bridge were now glued to Harry Kim, who had just made the announcement.
"Can you confirm that, Mr. Kim?" Janeway asked.
"Yes, ma'am, sensors identify this area of space as being Federation, sector 1045 to be exact." Harry replied.
"On screen." Janeway ordered, letting her curiosity get the better of her.
The viewscreen changed from the standard starscape simulation to a diagram on the region. Not Earth, but the closest anyone aboard had seen in quite some time. It was true, after five long years in the Delta Quadrant, Voyager had finally made it back home. Janeway allowed a slight smile to pierce her stern, cautious exterior. They had been in situations before where they had been within reach of home, yet something always happened to take it all away.
"Mr. Kim, confirm the stardate, i want to make sure this isn't another trip through time."
"Confirmed, Captain, we are in the present." Harry replied.
"Do you detect any Federation ships in the area?" Janeway asked, anxious to let someone know they were home.
"None in scanning range, but sensors aren't fully repaired yet & our range is limited."
"Can you get a signal through to Starfleet command?" Janeway asked.
"Negative, Captain, the bassen rift is nearby, it effects all long range communications, we'll have to get beyond it before we can hope to get a signal through."
"Understood, do what you can." Janeway said, as she turned her eyes back to the viewscreen, to the scan of sector 1045, the first scan of Federation space the ship had taken in five long years.
They were finally going home.
****
Several hours later as Janeway stood before her senior officers in the briefing room she felt a sense of pride knowing what the crew had been through over the past few years. Now that they were home, she realized she would miss her crew once they all went there separate ways. Unless Starfleet decided to keep the ship the way it was, which was doubtful.
"Report." Janeway said, hoping for the best.
"Warp drive is back online, though we're limited to warp eight for the time being, I'll have it back to full operational status within a few hours." B'Elanna said.
"Weapons are online as well." Tuvok noted.
"What about the sensors, Harry?" Janeway asked.
"Long range sensors are back online, though i can't seem to locate any Federation vessel's within scanning range."
"None?" Janeway asked, confused by the fact.
"No, ma'am, not one." Harry replied.
"Well then, we'll have to locate one, set a course....." She stopped for a moment, letting what she was about to say sink in.
"Set a course for Earth, Tom, warp seven."
"Eye, Captain." Tom replied.
"Dismissed." Said Janeway & the room began to clear out.
****
"Federation? Can you confirm?" came a cool, calm, & yet somewhat surprised voice.
"Certain of it, sir." came another voice.
"But, how can that be?"
"I don't know, Captain, but it's defiantly a Starfleet ship, Intrepid class, registry NCC-74656"
"It's the U.S.S. Voyager."
"But that's not possible."
"Possible or not, sir, it's them, what should i do?"
"Set an intercept course, maximum speed."
****
"We've cleared the rift, Captain." Harry Kim noted.
"Understood, can you get a signal through to Starfleet?" Janeway asked.
"I've been attempting to do just that, but I'm getting no response."
"No response?"
"Not on standard frequencies, Captain."
This was odd indeed. Why would Starfleet command not be responding to hails. Had they changed their frequencies? Or was there some other reason. Janeway decided to proceed with caution, she had been Captain long enough to learn to trust her instincts & right now they were sounding red alert.
"Let's try sending out a standard hail in all directions, on Starfleet frequency 1426, it's a classified frequency, any ship that picks it up would no doubt be Federation." She said.
"Why the caution, Captain?" Tom asked from the helm.
"You never know, Mr. Paris, something doesn't seem right here, i want to be careful." she replied.
"Ready, Captain." Harry said.
"This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation starship Voyager to any Federation vessel in range, please respond."
She looked to Harry.
"No response." he said.
If she was at red alert before, she was near panic now. A sinking feeling had come over her & was beginning to spread throughout the bridge. Why couldn't they locate any Federation vessels? Why was Earth not answering their hails?
Her thoughts were broken by Harry Kim's voice.
"Captain, I'm detecting a vessel nearing our position."
"Federation?" She asked.
"No ma'am, the computer identifies it as Jem'Hadar."
"Jem'Hadar?" Janeway replied.
"It's approaching fast, their weapons are online."
"How far are we from Earth?" Janeway inquired.
"Almost an hour." Harry said, grimacing.
"What's the nearest Federation starbase? Or planet?" She asked.
"Starbase 950 is less than ten minutes away at maximum warp." He replied.
"Will we get there in time?"
"Barely, but yes."
"Set a course, maximum warp, Tuvok, bring weapons online, just in case." Janeway ordered as her mind began to race.
Janeway thought back, upon his return from the Prometheus, the Doctor had brought with him news of a conflict the Federation was currently involved in with the Dominion. She recalled a briefing she attended shortly before Voyager was launched on them, from what she remembered the Jam'Hadar were Dominion soldiers. Though the details were sketchy, Starfleet had informed the Doctor on the basics of the situation before his leaving. She had felt some optimism about the situation, however, when the Doctor had reported that Starfleet had mentioned a "conflict" & not a full fledged war, but still, a little more information would have been nice & she couldn't understand why Starfleet hadn't given them more. If the Federation was at war, the crew of Voyager deserved to know.
This could explain a great many things, if the Federation was indeed at war with the Dominion, then that would explain why there were no Federation ships in range, they could all be at the front. Earth could very well be operating under subspace radio silence, which was not unheard of during times of war. Janeway was thankful for her caution when sending out the hail on a classified Starfleet frequency. But, still, if this part of space had been taken by the Dominion then Voyager was in quite the situation. A situation that was looking more & more likely all the time.
****
Several minutes later with the Jam'Hadar vessel still in pursuit, Harry Kim finally spoke up with the news everyone wanted to hear.
"We're approaching Starbase 950."
"Drop out of warp, hail them." Janeway ordered.
"Captain, we have a problem." Came his response. Not what Janeway wanted to hear.
"What is it, Harry?"
"The Starbase....it's gone." He said.
"Gone? What do you mean it's gone?" She asked.
"Take a look for yourself." he said as the viewscreen turned to a shot of debris -- the rubble of Starbase 950.
"It's been completely destroyed, from the looks of things, I'd say at least a year ago."
"One year? Why wouldn't the debris have been retrieved yet?" Janeway asked, but suddenly he thoughts were once again cut off, this time by the sudden jolting of the ship -- they were under attack. The Jem'Hadar had finally arrived.
"Shields up!" Janeway shouted.
"Shields are online, Captain." Said Tuvok, "However, they are having no effect."
The ship once again jolted with weapons fire, this time was much worse than the last. Janeway often found herself wondering how much good shields really did, now she knew.
"Return fire, all weapons!" she ordered.
"Firing all weapons." Tuvok said calmly.
With that Voyager let loose with a barrage of phaser fire, as well as a steady stream of photon torpedoes.
"Their shields are holding." reported Tuvok.
"Not good" thought Janeway, Voyager had just let loose with everything in their arsenal & yet the Jam'Hadar shields were only slightly affected.
The bridge once again jolted, this time more violently than the previous two shots & quite possibly more violently than ever before. As Janeway braced for what was sure to be the final impact there was a loud explosion, the ship shook, but not from weapons fire. The explosion had occurred from outside the ship.
"What was that?" Janeway asked.
"The Jam'Hadar ship, Captain." Harry answered, "It was just destroyed."
"How?" She asked.
"Unknown, sensors recorded a large energy spike just before the explosion, it came from what appears to be their engine core."
"Maybe their warp drive overloaded?" Chakotay theorized.
"Maybe, but it doesn't matter." Janeway said, "Something strange is going on here & i intend to find out what."
"Seven Of Nine to the Bridge." Came the voice of Seven.
"Go ahead" replied Janeway.
"Captain, report to astrometrics at once, there is something you should see."
****
Minutes later, Janeway entered Astrometrics & found Seven Of Nine tirelessly pouring over data regarding the surrounding space.
"What have you got?" Janeway asked.
"I'm afraid it's what i haven't got that is of interest, Captain." Seven replied.
"What do you mean?"
Seven walked over to the main computer console & brought up a large diagram of the surrounding space.
"I have made several scans of this area of space & have been unable to locate any Federation starbases or vessels."
"I wonder...could the Federation be at war?" Janeway asked.
"It would explain a great many things, however there should be some sign of a Federation presence in the area." Seven replied.
"What are your sensors reading?" Janeway asked.
"Thus far i have been able to locate several small fleets of alien vessel's matching the design of the Jem'Hadar vessel that attacked us, a number of Cardassian warships, several Breen cruisers."
"Any Starbase's?"
"Negative, however i have detected one outpost that is designated as Federation in the ship's database." Seven noted.
"Which outpost?" Janeway asked.
"Station Deep space nine."
Janeway mused for a moment. If the Federation was indeed at war with the Dominion then DS9 would have been one of the first outpost's to be attacked, being so close to the Bajoran wormhole. The Dominion had no other means of getting to the Alpha Quadrant, & control of DS9 would be crucial. Her mind began to race. Should they set a course to DS9 & hope it was still under Federation control? Or should they keep searching for Federation vessel's & hope to find a way out of Dominion occupied space?
"Should we attempt to hail them?" Janeway asked.
"That would not be advisable -- if the Jem'Hadar detect our transmission it is likely they will pursue." Seven said.
Janeway nodded & tapped her comm badge.
"Janeway to Bridge -- Tom, set a course for coordinates 3465 mark 2, engage at maximum warp."
"Understood." Came the voice of Tom Paris.
"Keep running scans, let me know if you find anything of interest." Janeway ordered.
"Understood." Seven replied.
****
"They've set course for DS9, E.T.A. 3 hours 4 minutes." said a voice.
"Maintain pursuit, we can't allow them to reach the station." came another.
"Should we hail them?"
"No -- i want to make certain they are what they appear to be."
"Understood"
To Be Continued..............