Chapter Seven – Strain
The Federation Starship Voyager rocketed through space, as it made a jump from warp five to warp nine. Janeway felt a slight pull on her body against her chair, as the internal dampeners strained to keep up with the ships velocity.
"Tom…" She said as she looked at the main viewscreen, which was displaying behind the ship.
"I can't get any more out of them without compromising structural integrity, Captain." Tom Paris said from the helm as he continuously pressed buttons, keeping the flight path in check.
"Tuvok, route all available power to structural integrity. Tom, give us all you have." Janeway said as she nervously tapped her fingers on her armrest. She herd Paris sigh, and then he keyed in some commands. The ship surged foreword, and leveled out at warp 9.979. The bridge started to shake violently.
"B'Elanna to Janeway, we can't keep this up! What the hell are we running from?" Torres voice crackled through the Janeways comm badge.
"Just keep my engines from falling apart, ok? Janeway out."
"Captain, the gaseous anomaly is accelerating to warp 9.988. It will be on us in approximately thirty seconds." Tuvok announced.
"Captain, the nacelles are getting extreme subspace pressure. I don't think we can keep this speed that long, without ripping the ship apart!" Harry added.
"Damn! I need options, people!" Janeway yelled to the room.
-Warning, multiple micro fractures have been detected along the port and starboard nacelle pylons. The computer announced.
"Tuvok, photon torpedos, full spread, fire." Janeway said, left with no other option. Tuvok nodded.
"Torpedos away." He replied. They watched the viewscreen as four glowing orange balls darted away from Voyager, and came in contact with the gas. They detonated, and the gas disappeared.
"Tom, take us out of warp. Harry, full sensor sweep." Janeway held on to her armrest as Voyager gratefully dropped to impulse. All eyes were on Harry Kim as he called up a full sensor sweep. He frowned, looked up at Captain Janeway, and slapped his comm badge.
"Kim to Seven of Nine."
"Seven here."
"Seven, can you check your sensors? What just happened to that gas?
--
Janeway, Chakotay, Kim, and Tuvok were all gathered around Seven of Nine in the Astrometrics lab, as they watched her key in several commands. The jumbo Astrometrics viewscreen came to life, and displayed a small graphic of Voyager, flying at high warp. Behind the starship, was a green blinking graphic, representing the gas.
"I would like to start by saying, that when starships are at such a high rate of warp, the subspace flux is extreme in the wake of the ship." Seven was saying.
"What?" Kim interrupted. "We did not learn of anything like that in the Academy."
"The Borg know of things like this, Ensign. It is likely that they did not teach it at the Academy."
"Well still, how…" Janeway held up her hand for him to stop.
"I don't care how, just tell me where it went, and what the problem is." She calmly said to both Seven and Harry. Seven inhaled, and Harry looked down at a spot on his shoe.
"Anyway, since Voyager was traveling at a very high rate of speed, we were leaving a very unstable wake of subspace behind us. Normally, it corrects itself over a period of a few minutes, but since the anomaly was traveling so close behind us, it was in the wake of unstable subspace. Normally, this would not present a problem, but since we fired a very large volley of torpedoes at it…" Seven stopped talking, and pressed a button on her panel. The graphic on the screen sprang to life. Voyager streaked through the screen, and fired a round of torpedoes at the gas. When they detonated, a momentary flash of blue light struck in front of the gas, and then it simply disappeared. "…we forced it into subspace."
"What?" Janeway abruptly said. "That is not possible, are you sure?"
"Quite. When the torpedoes detonated within already unstable subspace, it formed a tear right in front of the gas. It went in, and the tear closed."
"So what happened to it?" Tuvok spoke up.
"I do not know. I cannot detect it anywhere, and most likely I will not be able to until it re-emerges into regular space."
"I still have a problem with something." Janway said, as she walked up the stairs next to the viewer. She pointed her finger at the gas, as Sevens animation replayed itself. "How the hell can it travel at warp? How can it move at all? Its gas! Particles of microscopic stuff, not equipment advanced enough to travel at faster than light velocities!" She crossed her arms, and looked at the convoy of people. Everyone blankly stared at each other, including Seven- who for once seemed at a loss for words.
--
Admiral Janeway blinked a few times, and looked around her. She briefly forgot she was standing in the transporter room in Starfleet Headquarters. The room doors opened, as the Doctor walked in, carrying a small briefcase.
"Doctor! How great to see you again!" Admiral Janeway smiled, and hugged her old friend.
"Admiral!" He retuned the hug, and then stepped back. "I was sure looking foreword to this. I'm so glad you could make it."
"I wouldn't miss it for all of the tea in China, Doctor. Shall we depart?"
"Ready when you are, Admiral." They walked up to the platform.
"And Doctor, drop the formalities. On this trip, I'm Kathryn, not Admiral." She smiled, looked up at the ensign manning the unit, and said "Energize."
--
The two friends departed from Earth in a blink of an eye, and re-materialized on the Spacedock transporter pad. Janeway looked up at the ensign manning the transporter, and said "Ensign, route us to the USS Voyager." The young woman tapped in a few commands to her console, and nodded. Janeway and the Doctors bodies decompiled again, and went flying out of the Spacedock computer system. When they rematerialized, they were standing in an empty transporter room. Janeway skimmed the room with her eyes. The pad that they were standing on was not much different from the one on her ship, but that was where the similarities stopped. The doors were a slicked down metal, as well as the floor. The transporter control console was to the left of the pad, and the door to the right. Looking out of the transport pad, she also saw a very large LCARS panel embedded in a wall, although it looked to have no power.
"Lovely welcoming party, don't you think?" The Doctor muttered, as he stepped down off of the pad. "Where is everyone?"
"Looks like the transporter room is set up to receive people by automation." Janeway commented, as she stepped down off the pad and stood next to the Doctor. "Computer, verify ship." Janeway spoke to the ships computer.
-Federation Starship Voyager, Starfleet Registry Number NCC-74656-A, Verified. The computer system responded.
"Well, we are on the right ship." The Doctor commented. Suddenly, the doors to the room swished open, revealing a young Captain. Brian Tracy. Janeway bit her tongue, forcing back the nausea. There was something about standing in his presence that made her uneasy. He felt powerful… not like any human she had ever met. She glanced down, and saw a green fog-like substance fade away from his feet. She snapped her eyes back at him.
"Captain Tracy." She muttered, as her mouth went dry. She turned and gestured to the Doctor. "This was my Chief Medical Officer aboard my Voyager, and one of my best friends now. Doctor, Captain Tracy." She shot the Doctor her 'be careful' glance, hoping he would see it, but he did not. Tracy stood there a second, and then his ice-cold gaze melted into a warm smile.
"Its great to have you two here. I'm delighted that we are able to render our services to transport you to Risa. I'm sure you will be wanting a tour of the ship"
"Certainly!" The Doctor chimed in, and started to walk out of the room.
"That would be great." Janeway said, and followed him out. Tracy fell in step beside Janeway, letting the Doctor lead into the unknown.
As Captain Tracy walked Janeway and the Doctor to the turbolift, a terrified crewman many decks down ran to a weapons locker. He barely reached it in time, and pulled out a compression rifle. Making sure it was set to kill, he turned and fired it at his massive enemy. It had no effect; the crewman's last words were pleas for help, all of which came unanswered.
--
Its going to start getting more tense now.. and scarry. Woooooo. Like I say on every chapter, I don't have a beta so its probably got some grammer/spelling issues. And, im going to be starting school again soon, so my updates will probably be farther apart. Sorry! Feedback appreciated!