The next day, over in the corner of the bridge where a few steps formed a small stairway down to the captain's ready room, the air wavered. No one noticed the small curl of mist that formed, smoky, twisting and elongating, stretching out to brush against the sides. It billowed out, thickening, and when it dispersed, it left a small, unsteady form behind. The figure managed to remain upright for a few seconds, looking around disoriented as it perceived its surroundings.
It was not as it should be. What had gone wrong?
Taking a step forward, the form stumbled against the foot of the brief stairway and fell, alerting the bridge officers to the stranger's presence. Janeway was the first to reach the alien's side, tricorder out and scanning. She could not detect anything dangerous that the alien may have been concealing to harm her crew- it wouldn't be the first time an alien race had decided to declare hostilities with the crew of Voyager for no apparent reason- and rocked back on her heels, frowning at the puzzle.
The alien's eyes opened and regarded her with difficulty. Then a filmy layer slid down over the eyes when it twisted, as though in pain. Shivers began to work their way down the alien's body, muscles and limbs twitching. Janeway's reaction was immediate; she ordered an emergency medical transport.
When the Doctor confirmed the transport had been received, she nodded, cut the link and began issuing orders to discover exactly how the alien had appeared on board, where it had come from and to scan the surrounding space for hostile ships. Leaving the situation in her Vulcan Security Chief's capable hands, Janeway hesitated for a moment before calling her First Officer to accompany her to Sickbay. They headed for the turbolift, body language declaring them to be ill at ease with each other, and Tom Paris shook his head after them before returning his attention to his duties. The atmosphere had been thick enough to cut with a knife, that shift.
"Well, Doctor?" Janeway prompted as she entered Sickbay. The hologram shrugged.
"The alien has been stabilized, however, her condition is degenerating. I do not believe that she has long to live, but without more information on her species, I cannot give you a more precise estimate."
Chakotay moved closer to study the alien, apparently unconscious from the effects of sedation. "Have you found anything that would explain her appearance on the bridge? Sensors didn't detect any sort of transporter beam that could have deposited her, yet…"
"Are you suggesting teleportation?" the Doctor suggested acidly. He paused. "Actually, there may some merit to that idea."
"How is this possible?" Janeway asked, eyebrow raised.
The Doctor sniffed. "I merely stated that my offhand comment has merit. I do not have any conclusive evidence, other than what appears to be the telepathic centre of her brain seems overstimulated and producing toxins that are slowly corroding her system," he stared at them significantly. "I do not know much about her species; I have extrapolated from my knowledge of over three thousand life forms, many possessing telepathic abilities. About the only concrete fact I can give you is that this toxin is fatal and I cannot suppress it without risking further damage. It appears to have a narcotic effect on her; she is in no pain at the moment. I doubt she'll wake before she dies."
"Understood," Janeway said wearily. "Investigate further, see if you can dig up any more concrete facts, but don't be too discouraged if you can't. I imagine this will go down as simply another of the mysteries of the Delta Quadrant."
"We should have Tuvok post a security team here," Chakotay said aside to Janeway. "This alien just appears out of nowhere and collapses on the bridge- it seems highly suspicious. Til we know more, we should be cautious."
"Agreed," Janeway said. She looked at the Doctor. "If there's nothing else…"
"Actually, I was wondering about that physical you've rescheduled yet again," the Doctor began, but Janeway cut him off.
"Yes, Doctor, thank you for your concern, I'll have to get back to you later."
"Why?" the hologram asked, affronted. "Now is as good a time as any-"
Just then the floor tilted, causing the three of them to stumble.
"Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay, please report to the bridge immediately," Tuvok's voice came over the comm.
"Red alert. Shields up. Evasive manoeuvres," Janeway was already heading for the door.
"Later, Doctor…"
He sighed.
After impatiently waiting for the turbolift to reach its destination, the command team finally arrived at the bridge.
"Report," Janeway asked, but then a particularly vicious volley knocked her off balance and straight into the rail that divided the command section from the rest of the bridge, hitting her head solidly. Immediately, Chakotay was next to her, helping her stand as she shook off the dizziness. "Report!" she called again.
"Captain, you're bleeding, you should-"
Janeway detached herself from his concerned grasp and said coldly, "Your help was appreciated, Commander, however, I am fine. Sickbay can wait."
His face turned blank at her words, and she momentarily regretted the harshness of her response, however, she could not waste time during an emergency to salve her First Officer's hurt feelings.
"Shields are down thirty four percent," Tuvok stated. "We are under attack by two vessels; configurations unknown. They were undetected by sensors until too late."
"What's with sensors this morning anyway?" Paris muttered, inaudible to Janeway who was only just making her way to her seat.
"There are breaches decks six through to eleven," Harry Kim volunteered.
"Dispatch a team to seal them," Chakotay called over his shoulder as he descended the ramp to his seat. Sparks showered from the console by Kim's, and a plume of smoke followed.
"Ah! Uh- I mean, yes, sir…"
"Hail them," Janeway said.
A brief pause. "No reply." Another round of fire hit Voyager, and the officers rocked at the impact. "Then again…"
"Shields at fifty nine percent."
"Broadcast on all subspace frequencies," Janeway said, tight-lipped with anger. Her voice reflected that anger as she forced out, "This is Captain Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager. We are on a peaceful mission of exploration- damnit!" The other ship had fired again. "All right, Tuvok, fire phasers!"
"Firing…direct hit."
One of the alien vessels shuddered, but the damage was not severe.
"Again. Mr Paris, prepare to go to warp. I hate to run but at least we'll 'live to fight another day'," there was irony in her tone as she paraphrased an Earth proverb.
Tuvok fired again, scoring another direct hit, but the shot in return took, not their weapons, but their warp engines off line. Janeway's nails dug into her skin at this predicament. Diplomatic attempts had failed, phasers would only keep the enemy at bay for so long and now their means of escape had been disabled. This was a bind.
"We've been through worse," Chakotay said so only she could hear. The encouragement was effective, making her lift her chin and sniff disdainfully.
"We haven't come this far to fall under the fire of some neighbourhood bullies," Janeway told him. "Tuvok, keep it up, fire again."
But their return fire wasn't doing as much damage as the alien ships were to Voyager. Nevertheless, Janeway kept a cool head despite her broiling anger at the unfairness of the situation.
"Captain," Tuvok said suddenly. "Three more ships approaching."
"Great," Janeway said grimly.
There was nothing more she could do. Janeway leant back in her seat, a rush of air escaping her lips as she struggled to come up with a plan of some sort, failed and tried again. She looked over at Chakotay, and their eyes held in a silent communication of support as they awaited destruction.
"The three new ships are powering weapons," Tuvok stated, but there was a slight confusion audible to Janeway, having been a long-time friend.
"What is it?" she asked, not breaking the eye contact with Chakotay, desperately hoping for something, anything.
"These ships do not have similar configurations as the enemy ships."
That was when the newcomers opened fire- and the ships attacking Voyager broke off their assault to deal with the new threat. The fight did not last long, with Voyager's attackers realizing they were outgunned and escaped while they could.
"Captain, the lead ship is hailing," Kim called.
Now Janeway looked away, at the viewscreen as she answered the hail.
"I'm Captain Kma'Davia Jatelson of the Krisnolste."
A humanoid, noted Janeway in a quick second of appraisal. The alien captain possessed features very similar to those of humans and, Janeway was briefly delighted to notice, relatively short, much as she. Jatelson's features were very delicate, gently rounded in what would have been youth in humans, but which she was loath to classify in an alien race. She saw with interest that Jatelson also possessed spots reminiscent to those of a Trill's.
"Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Starship Voyager. It's very good to see you," Janeway greeted her. "Thank you very much for your assistance; I'm afraid we were taking quite a beating just then," she said ruefully.
"As you notice, we don't have very friendly neighbours," Jatelson agreed. "However, my people, the Rian'chMuri would be delighted to have you dock at our main space station not many light years from our current position. You could repair the damage caused by the Natamuri there."
"I'd be delighted to accept your offer, but our propulsion systems were knocked offline during the attack," Janeway said.
Jatelson waved a dismissive hand. "Not a problem. We can tractor you there. You can't say no, Captain, it's a matter of pride now," she smiled at Janeway. "We pride ourselves on our hospitality."
"I won't argue with you then," Janeway accepted.
Jatelson nodded and cut the transmission. A blue beam shot out from her ship to Voyager.
Janeway bit her lip in thought.
"How fortuitous," she said out loud.
Chakotay chuckled beside her. "A little too fortuitous?" he offered.
"Perhaps," she shrugged. "But it's a little late in the game to become cynical and xenophobic now."
"Don't restrict yourself now," he teased. "As they say, it's never too late."
Responding to the warmth in his tone, the camaraderie that had been absent for a time, and some deeper emotion that she intuited from his tone and body language, her subconscious bade her reply, almost seriously, mostly in humour, "Is that another of your ancient legends, Chakotay?" But then reality kicked in and she paled, her eyes widening as did his at her reference to a time neither of them talked about. Ice set in her eyes as she replied tonelessly, "Yes, Commander, that's what they say indeed…"
A distinct chill set the tone for the rest of the journey to their new friends' space station, with only the bare minimum of dialogue necessary on the bridge being held.