Chapter Three- The Mistake
"Damn. I was just getting over my last headache, and then this?" Hogan grunted as he stood up. Emergency lights were flickering in the corridor where B'Elanna and Hogan had collapsed from the strange sensation in their bodies.
"That almost felt like we were held in a transporter buffer for too long." Torres said as she stood up with Hogans aide.
"Repair teams to deflector control, and weapons control, priority one." They heard Janeways ragged voice chime over the comm.
"We need to be on the bridge, and now." B'Elanna said quickly, as she started to regain her senses.
--
"What the hell was that?" Janeway spat as she stood up from the floor.
"Whatever it was, it came in direct contact with the coaxial shields, but they protected us. Every sensor scrambled when that thing hit us, I don't have any readings that make sense." Kim said.
"The Romulans!" Janeway quickly said, forgetting there was a fleet outside her ship. "Tuvok, scan for them."
"Captain…" Tuvok said gravely, "Sensors aren't detecting any Romulan ships at all. I can't even pick up our fleet." Janeway stopped and stared at him.
"Well what happened to them?" She replied, as she walked toward the main viewscreen. Suddenly, bridge sensor readouts went dead.
"Captain…" Cavit said as he looked at his panel. The main viewscreen blanked out, then displayed the Greek symbol: Omega.
--
"Bridge." Torres said as herself and Hogan entered the turbolift.
-Unable to comply. The computer responded as the doors shut. B'Elanna looked at Hogan and then to the doors.
"Clarify." She said, curious as to why they were being denied.
-Bridge access has been restricted momentarily to anyone without a level ten security clearance. Hogan coughed.
"What the hell?" B'Elanna exclaimed. "Why?" She said to the computer.
-That information is classified. B'Elanna threw her arms up in the air.
"What the hell do we do in the mean time? Who knows when this 'clearance' will be lifted."
-Bridge security lockout has been lifted. Resuming turbolift path to the bridge. The computer said, as if on cue. The lift surged up.
"Finally, something's going right." Torres said, wondering what the security restriction was all about.
--
"Computer, seal the doors to this room. No entry without my authorization." Janeway said as she briskly walked into her ready room and sat down at her desk.
-Doors are sealed. The computer responded.
"Access secure data file, Omega-one." Janeway said as she stared at her desk computer terminal.
-Voiceprint confirmed, state clearance code.
"Janeway two-four-nine-one red. Clearance level ten." She said, staring out into space. She had hoped this day would never come, as every Starfleet captain did. The Omega molecule was one of the most dangerous things known to exist, and if Voyagers sensors had picked it up, it meant trouble. Janeway hoped with all she had that the sensors had mistaken the molecule for something else.
-Confirmed. Sensors have detected the Omega phenomenon within 13.7 lightyears from this vessel. Implement the Omega Directive immediately. All other priorities have been rescinded. Janeways heart skipped when she heard it. It was true, the sensors hadn't mistaken it.
"Computer, display the collected sensor data concerning the wave."
-Sensors have detected a small-scale Omega explosion 13.7 lightyears away. Scans indicate that the subspace damage was minimal.
"Minimal?" Janeway said with disbelief. "Why only minimal?"
-In theory, the explosion could have been contained within a coaxial containment network. The computer responded. Janeway didn't know much about the coaxial containment network experiments, but according to rumor, it would be able to contain any type of explosion, no matter how large. Starfleet had only begun to experiment with it though, and since Omega hadn't been detected in this system before, she still wondered what either of them were doing here.
"Cavit to Janeway." Her first officers voice chimed over the comm.
"Janeway here." She said softly, still thinking about the recent discovery.
"Torres and Hogan are here to see you, they claim to have come from a different time frame."
--
"So you two are from my ship, in the Delta Quadrent, and somehow you got transported here?" Janeway said, staring at Torres and Hogan in the conference room. She couldn't get over how ugly their uniforms and comm badges were. "From a different time frame completely?"
"It would appear so." Torres responded, glancing at Hogan. Janeway sighed.
"What caused the computer core to lag in your time period? You said it happened on your Voyager, it happened here too."
"We didn't have enough time to fully investigate. Hogan and myself were on our way to computer control, when we stopped to check on an ODN relay. When I opened my tricorder, it detected an energy wave coming right for us, so I erected a forcefield around us from a portable generator I had in my kit. It seemed to protect us from the change." Janeway frowned.
"My Torres and Jannison were on their way to computer control. I'm sorry Mister Hogan, I really have no clue who you are." Janeway snapped.
"And I have no clue who Jannison is." B'Elanna fired back, making Kathryn aware at her snappy mood.
"I'm sorry. I am dealing with at least three crises at once. B'Elanna, from my Voyager or not you are still the senior Engineer to this ship. We should try to figure out why the computer core froze, that might provide some answers. Use my engineering staff to their full potential if need be. You and…" she paused, looking at Hogan, "Hogan. You and Hogan go at it. Report your progress to either Commander Cavit or myself. Dismissed." She started out of the room, and then turned around. "Oh, and change uniforms. Those don't really suit you around here." With that, she turned and left them alone on a ship they would come to realize held as many secrets as the universe itself.
--
Torres and Hogan briskly waked into Engineering. Everyone in the room tuned and addressed their presence. Conahan walked up to them.
"I'm glad to see you got your uniforms back. We are back to full operating capacity. I have gotten everything repaired from our little fight with the Romulans."
"Wonderful." B'Elanna said dryly. "We have a new priority. We are going to take the computer core apart piece by piece." She said, as she walked toward the warp diagnostic panel. Conahan nearly choked.
"Why?" She asked quickly.
"Because it froze, for a few minutes. And that is not good on a ship that is ninety-nine percent dependent on the main computer core. We need to find out why it did that. You get four teams together, and assign them to isolinear control, EPS control, the computer processor room, and the backup processor room. I want everyone looking for anything abnormal." Conahan just stood there at her staring. "Move! B'Elanna said quickly, with an 'I'm not playing around' tone of voice.
"Yes sir!" Conahan said, and jumped away to start her assigned task. Hogan came up behind B'Elanna, as Conahan was leaving.
"Lieutenant…" He said, as he looked around the room.
"Yes?" She said, and then turned to look at him.
"Have you noticed how everyone is staring at me? Nobody knows who I am, and it makes them uneasy. To them, I just appeared out of thin air…" Torres sighed.
"That's something I haven't figured out," She started, "You and I were Maquis, and yet I still ended up the Chief Engineer on this ship. You obviously didn't end up on Voyager, because nobody recognizes you. Something just isn't quite right about this entire scenario." She finished, looking into his eyes, as he studied the crew.
"Your right." He paused. "I don't even recognize all of these people. This ship has led a completely different life than the Voyager we are used to. I guess we are stuck with this ship until we get back home." It struck B'Elanna like a bat'leth through her chest how he used the word 'home'. She smiled.
"We'll get back." She said softly, and turned back to the holographic panel. "If we can figure out how to work these things." She said, pointing to the completely foreign computer system. "Hey, will you run upstairs and get me about ten extra gel packs? We are going to need them if we start screwing around with the EPS grid."
"Sure, no problem." He replied, and went to the second level. He crouched next to locker gamma-five, and opened it. He counted off ten gel packs, and pulled them out. Setting them on the floor, he reached over and slid the locker shut.
When he turned back to get the gel packs, there was a man laying on his back, resting his head on the packs. Hogan jumped back up to his feet, and slapped at his comm badge, only to find the man laying there was holding it. Hogan studied him for a moment, mystified. The man was young, if Hogan had to estimate an age he would put him at about 25. The only thing he was wearing was black pants, nothing else. His skin seemed to fluctuate, almost sparkle between a deep and teal blue color. Hogan was impressed at how is skin changed colors, and the complexity of muscle the young man had.
The man arched his back, pushing his chest up toward the ceiling, and he looked back at Hogan.
"It wasn't supposed to happen this way." He whispered, so softly Hogan was barely able to hear him.
"What wasn't?" Hogan replied. The man, now completely teal, dropped his chest back down.
"Me, you, everything. One simple mistake, and it all gets messed up." He replied, in a whisper. He stood up slowly, and picked up one of the gel packs. As soon as his hand touched it, his body changed to the color of the pack. He started to sparkle, as he approached Hogan- who was backing away from him until he hit the wall. The young man came up as close as he could to Hogan without touching him, and slowly kissed him on the lips. "Don't tell Adrianna." He whispered into Hogans ear, as he stepped back. Stepping back further, he tossed Hogans communicator on the floor, and suddenly disappeared, as if he never had been there.