Title: The Truth Will Set You Free
Author: Zappy Zaps
Category: Drama/Action/Adventure
Summary: After four years in the DQ the crew of Voyager makes it home but the homecoming doesn't go as smoothly as they would have hoped. The Alpha Quadrant is in a state of up rest and the Maquis contingent of the crew face jail time unless….
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: P, All
Disclaimer: All the Star Trek characters are Paramount's. I don't own them (yet). ;)
Archiving: Please do, but tell me! note: Meh….
June03
Chapter 1 The Journey's End.
"Come on Seven, pick a card," Commander Chakotay encouraged the reluctant woman. She glanced at him and then at Lt. Paris who held out a fan of many cards, nineteen by her count. She thought that it was unusual, the Commander encouraging Lt. Paris' frivolous activities –it must be an impressive trick. She huffed out her breath and reached to take a card both men looking on eagerly. She picked an arbitrary card looked at the number and suit and then waited for further instructions.
"Okay," Tom said as he stacked the cards in his hand. He held out the deck telling Seven to "place the card back in but remember what it is." She did so. Paris handed the deck to the commander. "If you would please shuffle the deck commander," Tom said with the flare of a true magician." With gracious grin the Commander obliged and handed the deck back to Paris. "Now for the good part," Tom said with a wink at Seven as he reached for the top card on the deck. He noticed that a few more crewmembers were gathering around to witness the trick. He lifted the top card from the deck and faced it to Seven. "Is this your card?" he asked.
"No," she responded not seeing the amusement that the others were drawing from this activity.
"Just wait Seven, it gets better," Chakotay said.
Tom placed the card into the middle of the deck and then, in a move that Seven wasn't expecting he reached near her face, just behind her ear and with a quick motion of his hand a card appeared. "Is this your card?" he asked trying to keep a straight face.
"Yes," she said in confusion. She took the card and looked at it as though it held the key to solving the trick. She chanced a glance at her two companions and they were both grinning. "I do not understand. The card was placed in the deck. The deck was shuffled."
"And yet somehow it managed to get behind your ear," Tom said.
"Explain," she demanded handing the card back to Tom who only laughed at her demand.
"Seven, the mystery of the trick is also its allure. If you knew how it worked then it wouldn't be fun anymore," Chakotay explained to the former Borg.
"You are amused by your ignorance?"
Tom laughed. "That's one way of putting it, but you know what's even better?" he asked her. "Figuring out the trick," he reached behind the ear of a woman who stood near him and another card appeared, "on your own." He said with a smile and handed the new card to Seven. She examined the card as some understanding dawned on her.
Suddenly, the Captain's voice called over the comm. system. "All senior officers to the bridge."
"Duty calls," Chakotay said to Tom as they exited the mess hall. In the turbolift Tom finished arranging the cards into a neat deck before stuffing them in his pocket. "How did you make those cards appear?" Chakotay asked.
Tom's only response was a smug smile. He leaned casually against the wall of the turbolift, the Captain's summon not bothering him in the least. Chakotay watched the younger man's motions and noticed, not for the first time, that Paris' sardonic deportment didn't raise the dour dislike that it did when this journey began. He almost hated admit it to himself but the pilot had slowly become one of his favourite people to relax with. He remembered a time when Paris' smug grin would make him want to punch it off his face but now it only irked him in an amusing way.
Shaking his head at his reflective mood the Commander watched the doors slide open to reveal the bridge. They took their respective places and it was all business. The jovial mood that they had been enjoying was pushed aside for their duties.
"Neutrino emissions?" The Commander asked knowing he was interpreting the sensor reading correctly but still wanting conformation.
"Yes, Ensign Kim noticed them on the enhanced sensors but their origin is still unknown," The Captian informed him. She stood in the middle of the bridge, hands on her hips and staring at the viewscreen. She was in her nothing-can-stop-me mode. "Mr. Paris, slow to half impulse. Whatever's out there I don't want to pass it by."
"Yes Ma'am. Half impulse," Tom announced as he entered the appropriate commands.
"Anything interesting on sensors?" Chakotay asked Harry who was at the Operations station.
"Nothing yet, sir," Harry responded. They were reluctant to say they were searching for a wormhole. They had been met with disappointment too many times before to get their hopes up too high.
After two hours of searching with no results Seven's voice called the Captain to Astrometrics. "On my way," Janeway answered taking one last look at the expanse of stars on the screen before heading to the lift.
Seven refined her search parameters and there was a slight variation from her original results. Promising, she thought to herself and was again assailed with the strange reality that it was only her voice in her head. It had been over a year since she was liberated from the Borg but her rediscovered humanity still gave pause every now and then. In the collective she was never alone. The voices of millions were her constant companions, but now she was only one. She was getting used to the quiet, she was coping with the loss, but even better, she was embracing what had been taken from her as a child.
The doors swished open and then closed and Seven knew that it was the Captain. She greeted her in her usual clipped manner before diving into her findings. "There was a wormhole in this area approximately twenty-nine hours ago but it has moved. What Ensign Kim detected was the residual neutrino emissions."
"Could it come back here?" Janeway inquired looking at the screen and not at Seven.
"Highly unlikely, however, using the Borg enhanced sensors I was able to discern other points where a wormhole had appeared." Her silver lined fingers entered a long string of commands swiftly into the console. The screen changed to a larger view and Janeway watched as a complicated pattern of dots connected with a single blue line appeared in chronological order going back as far as eight months. After eight months the neutrinos had fully dissipated and there was nothing left for the sensors to find.
"Is there a pattern to the appearances?" Janeway asked hopefully.
"I have not been able to determine one, yet," Seven admitted but she was not about to give up either. "I have an algorithm in place to interpret that data we have obtained."
"Good work Seven," Janeway praised. She took one last glance at the information and turned to leave. "Keep me informed."
"Captain," Seven called before Janeway was too far away, "I require the assistance of Lieutenant Paris."
Kathryn turned to the statuesque blonde. "Tom? Why?"
"The lieutenant has an abstract thought process. Usually it is a hindrance however in this instance I believe and different perspective would be advantageous." There was a pause. "He also has a knack for solving puzzles."
"Abstract? How did you come to that conclusion?" Kathryn asked stepping closer to Seven.
"Observation. I have noticed that Lieutenant Paris does not take well to sciences that require linear thinking, such as temporal mechanics, however he is proficient in areas such as physics and mathematics where leaps of understanding allow one to advance."
"You observed this?" Janeway asked.
"Yes," Seven answered as though it was the only possibility. Maybe the Captain required further explanation –so she explained. "I have seen him order his thoughts so that he may present them to others in a fashion that they would understand. He is the most illogical individual I have met, yet he plays kalto as well as Tuvok if not better-"
Kathryn put up her hand to forestall any further observations that Seven had. "I'll tell Tom to join you here immediately," she said before exiting. It had surprised her that Seven realised through only observation, what had taken Starfleet complicated tests to confirm. Tom was an abstract thinker. On her ship she knew of only two people who were confirmed abstract thinkers and one other that she suspected. She had read Tom's file before he came onto her ship and that fact had not slipped her mind. It was apparent when she watched how he worked. Flying was natural for him, requiring more instinct and quick (sometimes hasty) decisions to keep that ship safe, especially in battle. It is one of the reasons why, though piloting was not always difficult, it is stressful and tiring and why sometimes pilots made the best Captain –they have plenty of practice making split second decisions that may cost lives.
Her thoughts about the enigmatic pilot lasted until she made it back to the bridge that last being the she didn't know that Tom played kalto. She nodded at Tuvok as she passed his console and headed to the set of stairs that would take her to the mid level of the bridge. "Mr. Paris," she got his attention, "Seven requires your help in Astrometrics."
"Really," Tom said swivelling around in his chair to face her while raising a sceptical eyebrow. It was hard to imagine Seven requiring anybody's help.
She held back the smile that threatened and answered. "Really." Chakotay gestured for the Ensign at Mission Ops 1 to take the helm until a replacement pilot arrived. Tom logged out and handed the controls over.
He walked to the turbolift shrugging at Harry who was as confused as he was.
"That is going to be interesting," Chakotay said to Kathryn as she sat in her seat. "Logic and perfection versus illogic and fun."
"Not 'illogic' Commander," she countered with a smile, "Abstract. I once heard a colleague remark that 'abstract is as close to pure logic as a humans will ever get.'"
Mentally Chakotay compared Tom to Tuvok and laughed quietly, so that he didn't draw attention to himself. "I don't see Tom as a very good Vulcan," except when he's really troubled, then you can't tell what he's feeling, he added silently.
Six hours later Voyager was still creeping along the same sector of space at half impulse. The Captain wanted a full analysis of this area before they left it behind which was beginning to look more and more like they were going to do. Seven had not contacted the Captain with any new information and they had to assume that no news meant bad news.
"It's been over six hours, Harry, I think they're ready for a break," B'Elanna said with a yawn. It was getting late but she –along with many others- was anxious for the results and thus refused to sleep for as long as she could still function.
"They'll be busy," Harry said but continued down the corridor with B'Elanna. They had been off duty for the past two and a half hours and they had not seen or heard from Tom.
"Too busy to eat, apparently," B'Elanna said disdainfully and Harry grinned. They had waited in the mess hall looking for Tom but he never showed up. A quick check of the computer told them that Tom had not left Astrometrics since he arrived there. "You know how Tom is," B'Elanna gestured wildly, her affection for the pilot coming through as irritation. Harry wondered why they had broken up in the first place. They had been so good together, Harry thought. Though even now, when they were no longer intimate, their friendship was better. The three of them, Harry, Tom and B'Elanna, where now like a little family. Harry couldn't imagine what he would have done on this long trip, without them.
They finally came to the main entrance of Astrometrics and walked in. It was quiet. The only people inside were Tom and Seven. Tom was slouched in a chair, obviously tired but Seven stood ramrod straight at her console not appearing at all fatigued. Having heard the sound of the doors swishing, both blondes turned to see who had entered. While Seven was annoyed with the interruption, Tom was grateful for it. He sprang up from his chair suddenly infused with more energy.
He grinned at them asking, "Are you here to rescue me?"
"You do not need rescuing, Lieutenant," Seven said walking to the trio. "We still have work to do."
"Seven," Tom whined, "I'm not doing you any good here."
"That is not true-"
"Have we found anything useful?" Tom interrupted her with his question. He folded his arms as he waited for Seven to answer.
"Not yet," She replied, still hopeful. "You are bored," she inferred. Without waiting for Tom to admit or deny her statement she retrieved a padd and loaded some information on it. She handed it to Tom.
"What's that?" Harry asked taking a glance at the padd.
"It is a puzzle," She told them. "Figure it out."
B'Elanna looked up at the Borg woman. "That's it? 'Figure it out'? Aren't you going to help at all?"
"Figuring out the trick on one's own is part of the fun." Seven twisted Tom's earlier statement. B'Elanna looked away from Seven to Tom who was enthralled by the information on the padd. She knew Tom liked puzzles. She had seen him do pads full of brain teasers and work through more magic and card tricks than she knew existed. Seven, it seemed knew this too and used it to her advantage.
During Seven and B'Elanna's little spat Harry and Tom had moved to a console and were attempting to decipher the pattern in the data Seven had given him. B'Elanna strode over to them. How could they both so easily be snared into Seven's trick to get Tom to work. Harry was looking at the list of data when B'Elanna grabbed it from him and looked at it herself. It was just a bunch of numbers listed in four columns: X, Y, Z, and 't'. B'Elanna guessed that they were Cartesian coordinated in three dimensions and a time index.
"Do you see a pattern?" Harry asked. B'Elanna was one of the smartest people he knew. Maybe she saw something that he didn't. Tom was just a blur of activity at the moment. He obviously saw something that Harry didn't but when asked to explain, Tom had trouble putting it into words. His ideas weren't coherent. They jumped around and while Tom seemed to understand what he was saying Harry didn't.
"It looks pretty random to me," B'Elanna said. She turned to Seven who had also gone back to work. "What makes you think that there is a pattern in here at all?"
"Truly random acts act are very rare. Everything is a prisoner of causality. The effects are obvious, but the causes are often more difficult to locate and even more difficult to understand."
B'Elanna wasn't impressed. She handed the padd back to Harry thinking that it was a waste of time. "Well, good luck." She yawned. Checking the chronometer it was nearly 0100 ship's time. "I'm going to bed," she stated. It had been a long day and the next one was looking even longer. "Starfleet, you coming?"
Harry nodded. He had Alpha shift in the morning and there was a meeting of the senior staff before that. He wanted to be alert for it. Who knows what discoveries might be made in the next few hours.
"Tom you coming?" B'Elanna asked.
"Lieutenant Paris is required here," Seven stated before Tom could answer. B'Elanna turned to the pushy woman ready for a fight.
"Lieutenant Paris requires rest," she said hotly. If Tom wouldn't look out for his health then somebody would have to do it for him and she wasn't about to let this hussy push anybody around.
"Ladies, ladies," Tom interrupted. "You don't need to fight over me." He said smiling. "There's plenty to go around."
His voice was innocent but B'Elanna could almost hear the innuendo. She rolled her eyes. "Pig."
"Oink."
She couldn't help but laugh. "Well we're leaving. I suppose we'll see you two later."
"I suppose you will. Goodnight," Tom said to both of them as they left and then headed back to his puzzle. Now where was I?
The next morning the Senior staff assembled in the conference room, minus their chief pilot. Tom and Seven were still in Astrometrics as far as the Captain new. She had stopped by briefly that morning and found Tom and Seven still at work. They seemed to be on the eve of a discovery but they had both been too busy to provide her with any details.
They were halfway through the meeting when the door slid open and Seven strode in followed more slowly by Lt. Paris. Seven greeted them curtly and Tom yawned a good morning. He headed over to his usual seat and slumped down, barely able to keep his eyes open. Harry who was in the seat next to Tom leaned over slightly.
"Did you sleep well?" Harry asked with a soft laugh. "Ow!" he said suddenly and rubbed the place on his leg that Tom's foot had connected with. He glared at his best-friend who only gave him a sleepy smile in return. "Cranky," Harry said and turned his attention back to the meeting. Tom only laughed.
"I take it that you've found something," Janeway said to Seven. She glanced to Tom and noticed his fatigue. They must have been up all night working on this, Kathryn thought to herself. Even Seven wasn't in her usual pristine form. Her hair was no longer in a flawless bun and her movements seemed more sluggish, though you could hardly notice.
"We've uncovered what appears to be a 'pattern' to the appearances of the wormhole," Seven said. She handed the Captain a padd with the information on it.
"Good work," Janeway praised. She skimmed through the information. "When do you believe the next event will take place?"
"According to our calculations," Seven began and threw a quick glance at Tom who had his eyes closed and looked to be sleeping, "another wormhole will form in twenty-one hours."
"Give or take a few minutes," Tom added, opening his eyes and trying to appear awake and alert.
Frankly, Janeway was amazed that both of them were still coherent. She had pulled some all-nighters in the Academy but what these two had been up to was more difficult than writing and essay just for the sake of getting it done. What they did required active analysis and constant thought which, after so many hours, is mentally exhaustive.
"How did you manage to figure it out?" Chakotay asked.
"It took eighty-three recursive algorithms, twelve giga-quads of computer memory, projections of astronomical motions and phenomena, three complete subspace scans and a whole lot of trial and error." Tom yawned. "Oh yeah, and the loss of seven hours of quality sleeping time….but it was worth it."
"Agreed," Seven nodded.
"We'll move Voyager to the location and wait. Ensign Kim, ready two class three probes. If a wormhole opens I want to know where it goes."
"Aye Captain," Harry said nodding.
"While we wait I want all sections to run full diagnostics of all key systems and implement any repairs that we've been putting off." The orders were met with nods from all the officers. "Dismissed." As they vacated there chairs the Captain asked to Seven and Tom to stay behind. Tom flopped back into his chair and waited. Seven remained standing.
When it was just the three of them Janeway began. "I'm impressed." She looked at both of them. "You've both done very well. This she said, skimming over the information again. "Do you know what's causing the wormholes?" she asked.
"Not yet. We'll work on it," Tom said looking at Seven. She nodded.
"You can work on it later. First I want both of you to get some rest." She saw that Tom was about to protest. "No buts, Mr. Paris. I'll have Ensign Culhane handle the diagnostic of the navigation systems." Tom obviously wasn't pleased with the idea. He didn't like shirking his responsibilities to Voyager and his duties. While he didn't make as big a deal of it as some of her other officers, she knew that Tom did not take his position as Chief Helmsman lightly. "I want you bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, for Beta shift."
"Yes, Ma'am."
Twenty one hours and eleven minutes later, the event finally occurred. At the predicted co-ordinates a wormhole appeared. It was on sensors but they could not see it. The probe was launched towards the phenomena and just as it passed the event horizon, the wormhole became visible. It spiralled open, sucked in the probe and then vanished. A few minutes after that the wormhole itself vanished from sensors.
The analysis of the data showed that even though the wormhole was not on sensors it still existed, possibly in subspace. The probe was still sending some faint telemetry, most of which didn't make any sense until it encountered another piece of matter at the core of the quantum distortion.
"Best guess is that it's some sort of generator…or something," Harry said to the Captain. They were both at his console on the bridge reviewing the data. "It's steadily releasing some sort of energy. It's off the charts but eventually it degrades into graviton emissions, which stabilizes the wormhole."
"But who built it? and where does it lead?" Janeway asked.
"I can't tell you who built it but I can tell you were it leads," Harry said and left the statement ended. Kathryn looked up at him hoping to for the answer but instead he showed it to her. The display on a screen behind him that usually monitored energy emissions changed to a diagram. In the middle was a circle that indicated the core of the wormhole and from it were many arms vanishing and appearing continuously. "Theoretically, the wormholes can go anywhere that isn't occupied by matter or antimatter." His voice was controlled but it was also hopeful. They could go home.
Kathryn Janeway sat at the desk in her Ready Room, sipping on some now cold coffee and trying to put everything that had happened in the last week into order. They had found a wormhole, actually a web of wormholes, they'd discovered how it works (even if they didn't quite understand it), and they manipulated it to work for them. Using the first probe that they had launched they ran tests on the device in the web. Sending commands to the probe required that they move Voyager near the location of the wormhole opening. Sometimes it was days between wormhole appearances, sometime it was only minutes.
Using their probe they managed to briefly open up a stable wormhole to the Alpha
Quadrant and they sent a probe which relayed the telemetry back through the wormhole to the probe that was still inside and then back to Voyager. They had tried it four more times, each one a success. Now the crew was wondering when the Captain was going to give the word that Voyager would be the next through. Excitement was gathering and for some, so was the tension.
She placed her cup of coffee of the desk and rubbed her eyes. They only had two more probes that could be sent and what was the point of anymore tests. Seven, B'Elanna and Harry assured her that all the tests with the probes would continue to be successful and for Voyager to get through it only required that the passage be large enough and that they emit and reverse graviton field to prevent the wormhole from collapsing on them. It all seemed so simple yet she hesitated.
The chime at her door interrupted her musings and she called for the person to enter. Her second in command walked in with a smile. His apparently good mood, lifting her spirits somewhat as well. "I have a surprise for you," he said.
"It better not be another report," she smiled her warning.
"Sorry." He apologized and handed her a report. She grimaced and accepted it. That was the problem with Starfleet, superfluous reports. "It's a short one," he told her hoping to put her in a better mood. She only grumbled. Taking a swig of her coffee she began reading only to pull a sour face when the cold liquid touched her taste buds. Chakotay tried to stifle his laughter but the Captain heard him anyway.
"You're in a good mood," she commented as she went to the replicator.
"I've been talking to Harry," he told her and that was all the explanation that she needed. The young ensign was still as eager as ever to get home. It was hard not to let his good mood rub off on you.
"Coffee, black," she ordered only to have the computer tell her that she was out of rations.
"I'll buy you a cup, but I think you should cut back a little. That'll be your' sixth cup today."
She sighed. "I know, it's just…there's so much to think of and so much that we need to plan for….." She faced him and smiled slightly. She was lucky to have him as her second in command. She knew that and she hoped that Starfleet would see that as well. There was so much uncertainty. The Alpha Quadrant may as well be one big question mark. It had been four years since they were thrown across the galaxy. Undoubtedly things had changed as much in the Alpha Quadrant as they had on Voyager. How would they fit in now? What would happen to the Maquis, Tom, Seven and the Doctor?
"I can't say I have a lot of faith in Starfleet," Chakotay started as he rose from the chair, "but this crew will stick together and we'll take whatever the Alpha Quadrant throws at us. Roll with the punches, as Tom would say."
Kathyrn laughed briefly. It wouldn't be so bad, with Chakotay and the rest of her crew with her. She swore to herself that she would to everything possible to protect them. It was her duty, to all of them.
That night Sandrine's was packed. All the holographic characters except Sandrine herself were removed to make room for all the crewmembers that were looking to unwind or work off some nervous energy with a game of pool. Tonight, as with most nights, Tom was running the table. He'd beaten six different people already and some of them had even come back for rematches, only to be schooled once again. Thankfully for them Tom wasn't interested in betting, so nobody lost any replicator rations. Even though his game was dead on, Tom's mind was elsewhere. He paid little mind to the conversations that flowed around him and only managed to pick up bits and pieces of what his excited best friend was saying.
"Tom! Tom!" Harry tried to get his friend's attentions.
"Pardon," Tom said as he sunk the eight-ball with a beautiful bank-shot. Harry had been saying something, apparently directed at him but he hadn't heard it. "Another game?" Tom asked Carson who had just lost with flying colours. The other man shook his head.
"I'm done loosing for today, Tom." Carson put his cue away and went to join another table of crewmembers. Tom only shrugged and began racking the balls up again. "What were you saying, Har?"
Harry crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, annoyed. How could Tom be so…indifferent? It's not everyday that you get to real chance at going home after more than four years on the other side of the galaxy. "Aren't you the least bit excited about going home?"
Tom's hands paused while he thought about it. "Nope." He continued to place the balls in position.
"I don't believe that."
Tom shrugged. He lined up his break. "Believe what you will," he said. He struck the cue-ball solidly and it hit the other balls with a resounding crack. They both watched as the balls rolled around the felt table, a few of them dropping into the pockets. "Don't get your hopes up too high though, Har," Tom warned.
Harry's expression became darker. "Thanks for the advice, but it's not necessary." Tom didn't respond. He sunk three balls in rapid succession before lining up a tricky bank shot to get the green, striped ball in the corner pocket. "It's home Tom. You have to be a little enthused."
Tom wished Harry would drop the subject. "I'm not. Why should I be? I have nothing back there to look forward too."
"What about you're familiy? Don't you want to show your father what you've accomplished?" Harry asked. Tom missed his shot.
He stood up slowly. "He won't care Harry. He doesn't have a son anymore, remember?"
"It's been four years-"
"What will he have discovered in four years that he didn't know before?" Tom questioned. His face was blank, his eyes were bland and his voice was even. Not a trace of real emotion was exposed.
"People change. Just give him a chance," Harry suggested but Tom only shook his head and went back to his solitary game of pool.
"There's nothing left to say between us." Tom easily sunk a blue ball.
"So going home doesn't matter to you at all?" Harry asked, his voice that of a man who had been disillusioned.
"Voyager is my home, Harry. The Alpha Quadrant, Earth, they're just more uncertainty that I can do without." Tom cleared the table until there was only the eight-ball left.
"So you'd rather be out here? In the middle of absolutely nowhere?"
"Location, location, location." Tom said shaking his head. He raised his eyes from the pool table to look at the friend who was beginning to get on his nerves. "It's all the same to me."
"I don't believe that. What about your sisters?"
"What about them?" Tom asked. He leaned against his cue.
"Don't you want to see them?"
"They won't want to see me," Tom replied and walked around the table to get in position for his shot. "Look Harry, the Alpha Quadrant, to me, is just like any quadrant of this galaxy, the only difference is that there's a whole slew of enemies and jail cell waiting for me."
Both Tom and Harry were still. The pool table was forgotten. The other occupant of the bar were tuned out. It was only Tom, Harry, and the thought of home. After a minute Tom lined up his shot and quickly sunk the last ball. "I'm glad you're looking forward to going getting to Earth someday Harry –you haven't given up. I just don't want you to be disappointed if we don't get there anytime soon."
"I'm no that green Ensign who you saved from the Ferengi on DS9." Harry stated in irritation. "I don't need you to protect me anymore."
"I know that Harry," Tom said softly. He chuckled to himself as he recalled the early days. "The ironic thing is that as much as you thought you needed me back then, I needed you more," He looked into Harry's dark eyes for an instant before moving to put his cue away. "Still do." He glanced at Harry before moving to the exit. He'd had enough of this tonight.
When he was only a few steps from the doors, they opened and the chief engineer walked in. She noticed Tom right away and noticed that he was looking rather depressed. She thought he'd be happy. They were so close to getting home. Even she was getting excited.
Tom didn't seem to notice her as she entered. She stepped in front of him and placed a hand on his chest to halt his retreat. Finally his attention turned to her. He smiled a fake smile at her but she could see past it. It had taken her a while but she could read Tom pretty well. "What's wrong?" she asked.
Tom shook his head. "Nothing." He grasped the hand B'Elanna had on his chest and brought it to his lip for a brief kiss. "I'll see you tomorrow." He released her hand and smoothly slid by her. B'Elanna watched him go until the doors swung closed and he was out of sight. She looked around the establishment and found Harry sitting at the bar with only his thoughts for company. He didn't look to be in a very good mood either and B'Elanna wondered what she had missed.
The next day the Captain announced that Voyager would be the next through the wormhole once all repairs and preparations were complete. Teams went over every square inch of the ship looking for any problems that might arise during their trip through the wormhole. The pilots practiced and practiced some more. They had to be prepared for all contingencies. Once they were in the wormhole it was up to them to guide the ship down the right corridor. The simulations went well but the real test would be when they actually traversed the wormhole.
Engineering crews were busy getting the thrusters and impulse engines to one-hundred ten percent of normal output. If they wanted to make it through they wanted every spare iota of power at their fingertips. Final preparations were completed at 1445 the next day. In another two hours an opening would form and they would have forty-five seconds to enter before the opening collapsed.
The two hours went by very quickly and the wormhole appeared again. "Take us in, Tom," Janeway ordered from her command chair. The bridge was bathed in red lights but the accompanying sirens that were usually heard during red alert had been cancelled. They needed to concentrate and the siren was only distracting.
Despite his apprehension about returning 'home' Tom didn't hesitate moving Voyager into the wormhole. The interior of the conduit was swirls of blue, grey and every so often there was a burst of white. The shaking didn't start until they were about a third of the way through. Ensign Kim reported that it was just residual graviton turbulence from the deflector. There was nothing they could do about it but it wasn't causing much damage, so they ignored it the best they could. "How much longer?" Janeway asked.
Chakotay checked the console between their chairs. "Eighty-nine seconds. We've just passed the core and entered the last section of the wormhole."
Tom barely registered that they were even talking. All his concentration was focussed on keeping Voyager heading in the right direction. The change from normal space to this twisted version of space-time was tough on the thrusters. He was constantly compensating for the differences in the thrusters outputs. It was as though the thrusters were no longer aligned on both sides of the ship. Was it due to the wormhole environment? Probably, but he didn't have time to speculate. That could be done once they reached the other side.
Suddenly a warning sounded. "Report," Janeway shouted over the turbulence.
"Voyager's mass is destabilizing the conduit," Tuvok announced in his ever calm manner. Right now, Janeway was thankful for Vulcan stoicism. At least she knew he wouldn't panic. They all need to have clear heads right now.
"What about the graviton output from the deflector?" Chakotay asked.
"It is no longer effective."
"Why?"
"Unknown."
Janeway shook her head. "It doesn't matter why, what can we do to fix it?"
"Captain, the diameter of the wormhole is shrinking," Harry stated, trying to keep his voice even. "It's only three hundred twenty-two meters."
"It'll hit the shields soon," Chakotay informed.
"Bridge to Engineering. Can you increase the deflector out put?" Janeway asked quickly.
"Output is already at max, Captain," B'Elanna replied in the same rushed manner. She was busy keeping the nimble little ship in one piece down there. The collapsing wormhole was somebody else's problem to fix.
"Captain, Voyager's not going to fit with shield raised," Tom said from the helm. His voice was tight with tension. The added area of the shields was making it hard to manoeuvre the ship. This was it. If they didn't lower the shields they wouldn't fit in the conduit but if they did they'd be at the mercy of any other damaging phenomena that might be present in the wormhole. The Captain made her decision.
"Tuvok, lower shields,"
"Aye Captain," He complied.
"Yes," Tom whispered to himself. There was now more clearance around the ship but the conduit was still shrinking.
"Diameter is two hundred ten meters," Harry announced. A few seconds later he updated them. "two hundred four meters,"
Voyager was widest from one nacelle to the other, with a girth of one hundred ninety-seven point five meters. Once the diameter of the wormhole was that or less, Voyager would be ripped to shreds and nothing would be left of them.
"Twenty-three seconds before wormhole reaches critical diameter," Harry announced. It would still take them twenty eight more seconds to reached the other end of the wormhole. They were already going as fast as they could. The subspace stress on the hull was at maximum load, they couldn't go any faster without destroying the ship.
"We'll make it," Tom said from the helm. He didn't have time to explain. He input the commands to take Voyager to warp. He knew this ship. Once the command was in the nacelles would be angled upwards and that would reduce the ship's width by ten to fifteen meters. Just as he had anticipated the nacelles moved ever so slightly closer to the Voyager and then Tom stalled the warp core. The lights dimmed momentarily before returning to one hundred percent illumination. The nacelles remained in the upright position while the conduit continued to shrink.
In the alpha quadrant just a few light years away from Starbase 621, it was quiet. It was a rarity in these parts, not having any conflict. Since they were so close to DS9 there was often Starfleet Vessels nearby or sometimes Cardassian ones. Today was different but the veritable peace was going to be interrupted by the sudden appearance of another Starfleet ship, one that had been presumed lost, along with all hands.
A flash of light accompanied the opening of the wormhole. As soon as it was fully opened it began to constrict as Voyager's mass upset the balance of forces in the phenomena. Just as it was nearly too late, Voyager darted out of the small opening, having only two meters clearance on either side of the nacelles. The conduit collapsed behind them and with another flash it winked out of existence.
The bridge was silent. The expanse of stars on the screen was a welcomed sight from the blue grey swirls of the conduit but they stars looked like all the other stars they had been passing by for the last four years. Had they finally made it?
"Location," Janeway asked softly into the stunned silence.
"Location is Sector 219. One parsec from Starbase 621," Harry announced. "Eighty-three light years from Sector 001." He read the information from his console and then looked toward the veiwscreen full of stars. "We're home."
The Captain stood up and moved to the center of the bridge. She looked around at the crew, taking in all the stunned faces. They had finally made it. After four years they were back. She smiled. Moving to the helm she place a hand on Tom's shoulder and was surprised to find that he was shaking slightly. She gave him a reassuring squeeze. They had come so close to not making it that she preferred not to think about it but for Tom, not making it through the wormhole would have been a failure of the worst kind. They had come so close to dying, all of them, and he couldn't help thinking that it would have been his fault again.
"Tom," Kathryn said softly to remove him from his inner turmoil. He looked at her, his eyes carefully hooded and his face uncharacteristically bland. "Set a course for the nearest Starfleet base." He nodded.
"Heading, 4-2 mark 8-5. Destination, Starbase 621," He announced to the quiet bridge crew. Janeway gave him a pat on the shoulder before moving to her seat.
Chakotay and Kathryn shared as smile as she sat back down. "Engage."
The small ship jumped to warp in a flash of white light and cheers of success and joy echoed throughout the hull of the ship, none originating from the helm.
Journey's End
Zappy Zaps…
