Chapter 26.
Maneuvers.
(Scott POV)
I was on the Bridge.
"Captain," Tuvok said.
"Yes, Tuvok," I said.
"We are being hailed," Tuvok said.
"By what," I said.
"By a Federation signal," Tuvok said.
"McCall to Chakotay," I said.
"Go ahead," Chakotay said.
"Chakotay, I know You and B'Elanna are off duty, But I need you 2 up here now," I said.
"On my way," Chakotay said.
When they get out there.
"You wants to see us Captain," Chakotay said.
"Yes, Commander," I said. "We've picked up an intriguing transmission,"
"I have a source on the signal," Tuvok said.
"A ship?" I said.
"Negative, it appears to be a beacon of some kind," Tuvok said.
"A beacon," Chakotay said.
"We are being hailed by someone using a Federation signal," Tuvok said.
"How could someone be transmitting a Federation signal from the Delta Quadrant," B'Elanna said.
"Maybe Starfleet found a way to get a probe here," Tom said. "Maybe they're looking for us,"
"No. As much as I'd like to believe that too, There's no way they would know we were out here, From the Badlands to here, No chance," I said.
"See if you can authenticate the signal," Chakotay said.
"The carrier wave frequency does correspond to standard Starfleet security codes," Tuvok said.
"From when?" I said.
"According to the encryption key, this particular code wasn't scheduled for implementation until Stardate 48423," Tuvok said.
"That's a month after we left Deep Space 9," Harry said. "They must be looking for us,"
"Your optimism may be premature, Harry," I said.
"Sorry Captain," Harry said.
"But it's also infectious. Tom, Alter course to intercept, Maximum warp," I said.
"Aye captain," Tom said.
XXX
"We're approaching the Beacon's coordinates, Captain," Tom said.
"It's drifted inside an Ionized hydrogen cloud," Harry said. "The cloud's interfering with our sensor readings,"
"Can you get any information from the beacon," I said.
"I'm afraid not, Should I beam it aboard," Harry said.
"I'd advise against bringing it on board before we've gotten a look at it," Chakotay said. "Even if it is emitting a Federation signal,"
"Agreed, But I don't like that it's in there. I don't want to fly blindly, into a hydrogen cloud either, Tuvok can we tractor the Probe into Sensor range," I said.
"Aye captain, Targeting scanners locked," Tuvok said.
"Sorry people but just in case Chakotay is right, and it's Fake. Red Alert," I said. As the klaxon went red.
"Initiating Tractor beam," Tuvok said.
"Report," I said.
Then we got hit.
"We are taking fire from inside the cloud," Tuvok said.
"Source," I said.
"Unknown," Tuvok said.
"Weapons signature," I said.
"Kazon," Tuvok said.
"Battle Stations," I said.
As we took 6 more shots.
"A Kazon raider is closing at 158 mark 9," Tuvok said.
"Hail them," I said.
"They're not responding, Captain," Harry said.
"Fire Phasers, Disable them," I said.
Then we got hit.
"Warp engines are off line Captain," Tom said.
"Evasion pattern Omega 3," I said
"Aye Captain," Tuvok said.
"The Kazon ship is in pursuit," Harry said.
"An opening in the Starboard shields 72 centimetres in diameter," Tuvok said.
"Chakotay, Close it up," I said. "Rotating shields harmonics,"
Then they got us again.
"They are continuously matching their weapons frequency to our shield frequency," Tuvok said.
"Seska," I said. "Torpedoes,"
"Can't get a lock," Tuvok said. "The opening has widened to approximately 2 meters,"
"Set the shield harmonics to rotate continuously," Chakotay said.
"Aye commander," Tuvok said as we got hit again. "It's 4 meters,"
"It's as if they know our access codes," Chakotay said.
"As I said. It's Seska, Only she would know them," I said.
"Captain, I am picking up a smaller vessel emerging from the hydrogen cloud, It's heading directly toward the opening in our shields," Tuvok said.
"Hull Plating," I said.
"Online," Harry said.
"All hand Brace for impact," I said.
Which it hit us hard, Very hard.
"Warning Hull breach on Deck 4 Cargo bay 2," Computer said.
"Structural integrity is at 50% and dropping," Tuvok said. "The hull is starting to buckle,"
We're losing life support on Deck 4," I said.
"I'm trying to initiate an emergency containment field However the Collison has caused a power failure on Deck 4," Tuvok said.
"Rerouting power to compensate," Harry said.
"Containment field activated," Tuvok said.
"Warning, Intruder alert in Cargo Bay 2," Computer said.
"Tuvok," I said.
"Tuvok to Security Meet me outside Cargo bay 2," Tuvok said Leaving the Bridge.
"Captain, we can't keep going like this, We have to Stop," Tom said.
"Do it, All Stop," I said.
"It's no use, We're can't go anywhere with that shuttle sticking out of our side," Tom said. "It's completely destabilizing our Warp field,"
"Mr. Kim did you reroute power to Transporter room 2," Chakotay said.
"No Sir," Harry said.
"McCall to Tuvok," I said.
"Tuvok here," Tuvok said.
"Tuvok, get to Transporter Room 2 There may be intruders there," I said.
"I'm on my way," Tuvok said.
"Tuvok to Bridge," Tuvok said.
"Go ahead," I said.
"The Kazon have beamed away captain," Tuvok said. "and they've taken one of our transporter modules with them,"
"Beam it back now," I said.
"Can't do that, Captain, As soon as the Kazon dematerialized we lost all Transporter power," Tuvok said.
"Chakotay try Tractor beam them," I said.
"Aye Captain," Chakotay said.
"The Kazon are powering their warp engines, Captain," Harry said.
"Chakotay," I said.
"Engaging tractor beam," Chakotay said. "I've got them Captain,"
"The Kazon ship is hailing us," Harry said.
"Now they want to Talk, Armed Torpedoes, Maximum yield," I said.
"Captain," Chakotay said
"Do it," I said. "On screen,"
The Culluh showed up.
"Captain McCall, First maje Culluh of the Kazon Nistrim," Culluh said.
"I remember you, Culluh, Now return that transporter module you just stole now," I said. "You will never get it working for your ship or it's system,"
"I've had some help updating our technology since we last met," Culluh said.
"Let Me guess, Seska," I said.
"That's right Captain," Seska said. "As you can see I'm in the process of restoring my Cardassian physiology, hello Chakotay,"
"I knew it," I said.
"Just like I knew you'd try to stop us with a tractor beam," Seska said.
"Captain, their deflector shields are creating a feedback loop," Harry said. "It's neutralizing the Tractor emitter,"
"Attempting to compensate," Chakotay said.
"Good bye Chakotay," Seska said. "Lovely to see you again,"
"It's too late, They've got to warp," Tom said.
"Can we get after them yet," I said.
"No that ship is still stuck in us," Tom said.
XXX
Then we went down there.
"They modified the bow to puncture our hull," B'Elanna said.
"I've never seen the Kazon do anything like this before," Neelix said.
"Until now, The Kazon have never had an advisor with Cardassian, Maquis and Starfleet tactical experience," Tuvok said.
"The question is how do we dislodge it, without losing structural integrity?" Harry said. "With power down our containment fields already extremely unstable,"
"We'll have to reroute addition power to the containment field and tow their shuttle out with one of our own," B'Elanna said. "Then we can repair the Breach, The shield and the warp drive will have to wait,"
"Warp drive isn't going to do us much good with this knife stuck in our belly get it out fast, Then get the Warp Drive back. I don't want the Kazon to put too much distance between us," I said.
"Forgive me, Captain but are you sure going after the Nistrim is the wisest course of action?" Neelix said. "After what they've already done to us?"
"Let me make something very clear the Nistrim are in possession of Federation technology. I will not let them get away with it," I said.
"Even though all they've stolen is a small computer component?" Neelix said.
"That small component has the potential to cause vast problems in this quadrant, You're our resident expert on the Kazon What do you think the other sects will do when they realize the Nistrim have transporter capabilities," I said.
"They'll try to get it from themselves, Anyway they can," Neelix said.
"Exactly, as far as I'm concerned we are either going to get that back or destroy it," I said.
"You can count on me, Captain," Neelix said.
"From the look of these sensor readings, Seska wants us to come after her," Chakotay said.
"Chakotay," I said.
"I think Seska's leading us into another trap, She mastermind a precision raid that made us look like first year academy students, but she left a warp trail for us to follow," Chakotay said. "After such a flawless performance, Why would she suddenly make that kind of mistake?"
"She wants more than the transporter, She want's Voyager, but she also knows that we will come after her," I said.
"Conventional tactics aren't going to work with Seska," Chakotay said. "We'll need to come at her with a few surprises of our own,"
"Get to work, I don't don't care if they follow Starfleet rules or not," I said.
"Aye captain," Chakotay said.
Then I left.
XXX
When we got Warp drive back we started to follow the trail at low warp.
"Captain, I'm picking up a gap in the Nistrim's Warp trail," Tom said.
"All stop, Let's take a look," I said.
"Captain, I've got some floating debris at bearing 319,4," Harry said.
"On screen," I said. "What is it?"
"Not sure yet," Harry said.
"Magnify," I said. Where it showed up to 2 Kazon. "Beam them to Sickbay, Commander, McCall to Neelix, Meet us in sickbay,"
"Aye Captain," Neelix said.
Once we got there.
"Doc, Report," I said.
"I'm detecting a residual transporter signature, there is no doubt that this man and his unfortunate companion were beamed into space," Doc said.
"And According to these readings, they were alive at the time, Captain," Kes said.
"It looks like Seska's already adapted the Transporter module into the Kazon systems, and started experimenting with it," I said.
"Her early trails appear to have been less than successful," Doc said.
"Neelix do you recognise these," I said.
"These men didn't die by accident captain, You see this green band he's wearing? It means he was the First Maje of the Kazon Relora," Neelix said.
"Relora?" I said.
"Sworn enemies of the Nistrim It's conceivable that Seska and Culluh used the transporter to execute these men," Neelix said.
XXX
"Captain's log, Stardate 49208.5 I have convened a meeting of the senior staff to determine how we can get close enough to the Nistrim ship to deploy the anti-proton beam, End log," I said. Then went in but Chakotay wasn't there? "Where's Chakotay?"
"He was in engineering helping me modify the coil scanner, he said he'd be right up," B'Elanna said.
"No, He didn't Computer, Locate Commander Chakotay," I said.
"Commander Chakotay is not onboard the ship," Computer said.
"Son of a bitch, He's going after them himself," I said. "Tom, Find Chakotay Ion trail. He couldn't have got far,"
"Aye Captain," Tom said Leaving.
"Tuvok Find out when and how he managed to launch without us knowing about it," I said.
"Aye Captain," Tuvok said Leaving.
"Rest of you, Stations now," I said.
Then I left and found Tuvok in the corridor.
"Tuvok How was he able to get a shuttle off this ship without either of us knowing about it," I said.
"Apparently, he was able to override the lockout command," Tuvok said.
"I guess Seska's not the only one who knows how to compromise our security systems," I said.
"I assure you, Captain, it will not happen again," Tuvok said.
"See that it doesn't," I said. Then we entered Engineering. "Did Chakotay leave any clue about what he was up to?"
"I have accessed his personal logs, But there is no reference to his leaving Voyager," Tuvok said.
"Didn't even left a note," I said.
"The coil scanner was right here," B'Elanna said. "He must have taken it with him,"
"Knew it, He gone after Seska," I said.
"Looks like that," B'Elanna said.
"You were working with him, Did he say anything to you?" I said.
"Just that he felt responsible for Seska, and was determined to stop her, But I never thought he would try to do this alone," B'Elanna said.
"He big of a head start does he have?" I said.
"Approximately 3 hours," Tuvok said.
"McCall to Conn," I said.
"Paris here, Captain," Tom said.
"Any luck," I said.
"I've got his Ion trail Captain," Tom said.
"Then let's go, Full Impulse," I said
"Acknowledged," Tom said.
"Tuvok I want a complete review of all protocols on this ship by 2200 hours," I said.
"Aye Captain," Tuvok said.
Then I left and went to my Ready room.
XXX
I was back in my Ready room when the doorbell went.
"Come in," I said.
Then B'Elanna came in.
"Do you have a minute Captain?" B'Elanna said. "It's about Chakotay,"
"That's not exactly my favourite subject right now, B'Elanna," I said.
"Well, I thought that maybe I could explain," B'Elanna said.
"Explain what? Why my first officer publicly defied my authority by commandeering a shuttle without permission?" I said.
"I know it was never his intention to defy you, he respects your authority," B'Elanna said.
"But," I said.
"But he's a very proud man, and he's been embarrassed by Seska," B'Elanna said.
"What Seska did, She did to all of us," I said. "Frankly I find it more than a little self indulgent of Chakotay to assure this is all about him,"
"He never said it to me directly, but I think he was in love with her, and then he found out that everything he knew about her was a lie," B'Elanna said. "You said that he publicly defied your authority, Can you imagine what it must have been like for someone as private as Chakotay to be Publicly humiliated by someone he loved, and then as if that weren't enough, She came back to taunt him in front of the entire bridge crew,"
"I know how painfully that could be, I've been there, But you saying that he's got a personal score to settle, which we could of got close enough in a Jumper and and do it, while she was cloaked," I said.
"That's only part of it," B'Elanna said. "I know Chakotay, this is his way of taking responsibility. In his mind, he's trying to protect the rest of us from a dangerous situation which he created,"
"Maybe, But that doesn't give him the privilege of ignoring this ship's chain of Command," I said.
"I know that It's just that Chakotay would never tell you any of this himself," B'Elanna said.
"And Assuming we get him back in one piece, you want to make sure I take his personal feelings into account before I decide how to discipline him," I said.
"I know that you are well within your rights, to throw him into the brig, but," B'Elanna said.
"Chakotay is lucky to have such a good friend, I'll tell you what, Why don't we deal with getting him back in one piece first, We can worry about the discipline later," I said.
"Thank you," B'Elanna said.
"Is the chair ready to go," I said.
"Yes," B'Elanna said.
"Good, Just in case we need it," I said.
Then we were on the bridge.
"Captain, I'm detecting a Federation Beacon At bearing 059 mark 72." Tuvok said.
"Red alert," I said Then the Klaxon went red.
"Captain, Wait, This one's definitely ours Starfleet issue," Harry said.
"All stop, Stand down Red alert," I said.
"The Beacon is transmitting an automated message, It is from Commander Chakotay," Tuvok said.
"On screen," I said.
"To Voyager, If this signal has been activated, it means that I have destroyed the Nistrim's Transporter capabilities, Captain, I apologize for acting without authorization, But I ask you not to put the ship or crew in further jeopardy by attempting to rescue me, it's unlikely that I'm still alive," Chakotay said. Then repeated.
"Turn it off," I said. "Senior staff meeting in 5 minutes," Then went in.
XXX
5 minutes later.
"The message appears to be authentic, Captain, "Tuvok said.
"We've got to go get him," B'Elanna said.
"Commander Chakotay has expressly requested that we not attempt to do so," Tuvok said.
"We don't have to honor that request," B'Elanna said. "Captain,"
"If a rescue attempt forces us to engage the Kazon there is always a possibility that more of our technology will fall into their hands," Tuvok said.
"Kim to the Captain," Harry said. "I'm picking up several vessels converging on the Nistrim's location,"
"My gut tells me we should go after Chakotay, But my better judgement tells me we should honor his request," I said.
"I would never want you to ignore your judgement, Captain, But let me ask you this, In your judgment how would the loss of our first officer affect this crew? What would it do to the Moral on this ship?" B'Elanna said. "Maybe this is an instance when you gut is giving you better advice,"
"McCall to Conn," I said.
"Paris here," Tom said.
"Resume a course for Chakotay's shuttle," I said.
"Aye captain," Tom said.
"Get those ZPM's online and put them to the shields," I said.
"Aye Captain," B'Elanna said.
XXX
Back on the Bridge.
"I have located the Nistrim vessel on long range sensors, Distance .4 light years, However they are not alone, There are now at least 6 other Kazon ships in the immediate vicinity," Tuvok said.
"I didn't think Culluh had that many ships," I said.
"They must belong to enemy sects," Neelix said.
"They may be so, but the ships have not powered their weapons systems," Tuvok said.
"What do you make of it, Neelix," I said.
"It's Certainly unusual for a rival Kazon sects to congregate peacefully," Neelix said.
"Is it possible the Nistrim have formed an alliance with other sects?" I said.
"I've never known that the Kazon to do anything like that before," Neelix said.
"If the Nistrim have added 6 ships to their force, It would be tactically unwise to engage them," Tuvok said.
"Then we'll find a way of getting Chakotay out of there without picking a fight," I said. "Harry how's our shields,"
"They have at least tripled capacity," Harry said.
"We can transport him out," B'Elanna said.
"We would have to slow down once within transporter range, giving the Kazon ample time to open fire," Tuvok said.
"But gives us a chance to see what the Drones came do," I said.
"Not necessarily," B'Elanna said. "We could beam him out at Warp speed without even slowing down, The Kazon would never be able to catch us,"
"That's difficult enough when both ships are travelling at warp, The Kazon ship's not moving," Harry said.
"I can compensate for that?" B'Elanna said.
"How?" I said.
"By synchronizing the Transporters' annular confinement beam to the Warp core frequency," B'Elanna said.
"Maybe, but at a relative speed of 2 billion kilometers per second, it's pretty tough to get a lock on somebody," Harry said.
"Ensign Kim is correct," Tuvok said. "We would risk scrambling his transporter Signal and killing him, It would be a direct violation of Starfleet safety protocols,"
"Do you have a better Idea?" B'Elanna said. "Trust me captain, I can do it,"
"How can you be so sure?" I said.
"Because I've done it before," B'Elanna said. "When you are a Maquis, you don't always have the luxury of following protocols,"
"Get on it," I said.
Then B'Elanna left. As I went and sat down. The chair lit up.
"Yeah, she is working," I said.
"I've lost Engine control," Tom said.
"I've lost sensor data," Harry said.
"Drone are online, Wait I have just lost control over weapons," Tuvok said.
"Hold on," I said. Then got those things sent back to them.
"I've got them back," Tom said.
"Same here," Harry said.
"Weapon control's back," Tuvok said.
"Sorry, I had to send it back," I said. "How long,"
"60 seconds to transporter range, Captain," Tom said.
"Bridge to Torres, have you located Chakotay," I said.
"I'm reading Kazon life signs, but still no Chakotay, " B'Elanna said.
"Captain, I must reminder you that we have no direct evidence the Commander is still live or if he is, that he's still aboard the ship," Tuvok said.
"Tuvok, No offense but your timing bring this up is crap," I said. "But I'm not conceding that yet, B'Elanna,"
"I'm picking up some kind of localized dampening field, It's blocking our targeting scanners," B'Elanna said.
"Maybe Seska's found a way to hide Chakotay from us," I said.
"You may be right," B'Elanna said. "I've got to reinitialize the Targeting scanners to match the relative phase of the dampening field, I've found him Captain, He's still alive,"
"Can you get him out of there?" I said.
"the Dampening field is disrupting our transporter signal, I can't get a lock on him," B'Elanna said.
"Then we're going on," I said. "Red alert, Battle stations," As the Klaxon went red. "Tom take us out of warp," Then we got hit. "Tom Evasive Pattern Delta 4, Tuvok Fire at will," As I went and sat down.
"Firing Phasers," Tuvok said.
"Bridge to Torres, Can you Transport Chakotay?" I said.
"I'm matching the pattern Buffer frequency to the Kazon dampening field," B'Elanna said.
"Make it fast," I said.
"I've got a lock," B'Elanna said. "Initiating transport,"
"B'Elanna," I said.
"I had him for a second but they've re-modulated the Dampening field," B'Elanna said.
"Can you Compensate?" I said.
"I'm trying but I need more time," B'Elanna said.
"I'll get you that," I said. "But we don't have long, Tuvok Phasers to Maximum," Then Brought the chair online. "Firing Drones,"
"The Other Kazon Vessels have opened fire," Tuvok said.
"Tom, Evasion pattern Omega 2,"I said. "Bridge to Torres, You're going to have to hurry it up down there, we can't hold them off much longer,"
"I'm doing the best I can," B'Elanna said.
"I'm another set of Drones on each of there ships," I said. Launch another set at all 6.
"Aft shields down to 23% Captain," Tuvok said.
"Harry all ZPM on shields," I said.
"One is, Another powering the Chair as well as the drones," Harry said.
"Activate it and put it to the Aft shields," I said.
"Done," Harry said. "Aft Shields 60% and holding,"
"Bridge to Torres, Can you transport Chakotay out or not?" I said.
"They've put the Dampening field on some kind of randomly fluctuating modulation, It'll take me at least an hour to match the Phase Variances," B'Elanna said.
"Shields at 50%," Tuvok said. "Captain, we must retreat,"
"B'Elanna just how localized is that dampening field?" I said.
"A little more than 2 meters in Diameter," B'Elanna said. "Just enough to Isolate Chakotay, Why,"
"Beam all of the Kazon on that behind a forcefield, Tuvok get down there," I said.
"Aye Captain," Tuvok said.
"I've got Tactical," I said. Firing another set of Phasers and drones.
"Transport Complete," B'Elanna said.
"They have stopped firing Captain," Harry said.
XXX
"Captain log, Stardate 49211.5. Now that Commander Chakotay has made a full recovery, I'm faced with the difficult task of responding to his failure to follow procedure, End Log," I said.
"Just tell me one thing, What were you thinking?" I said. "We could of Easily used a Jumper for what we were planning to do,"
"About keeping out technology out of Kazon hands, I thought if I did it on my own, I could keep the rest of the crew out of danger," Chakotay said.
"That may be a very noble sentiment, But it wasn't your decision to make, Jesus, We've spent the last 10 months together on this ship, I thought we had an understanding, Why did you choose to ignore Procedure," I said.
"Seska was my problem, A problem I felt it was my duty to solve," Chakotay said.
"So you had a personal score to settle," I said.
"I thought I was doing the right thing," Chakotay said.
"Really? Tell me this, how do you expect me to keep order when the first officer takes it upon himself to run off like some Cowboy because he decides it's a good Idea? What you did was commendable, the way you did it was not," I said. "You set a terrible example and on a personal level you've made my job more difficult,"
"If that's so, I regret it," Chakotay said.
"I'm putting you on report, in case that means anything anymore," I said.
"It means something to me, Captain, It means I've let you down and for that I'm truly sorry," Chakotay said.
"Bridge to Ready room," Tuvok said.
"Go ahead," I said.
"I think you and Commander Chakotay should come in here," Tuvok said.
"On our way," I said.
"I have located an automated message beacon, Captain," Tuvok said.
"Another one," I said.
"It is a message to Commander Chakotay," Tuvok said. "From Seska,"
"Would you like Harry to put it through to your office?" I said.
"No, I think I've spent enough time alone with Seska," Chakotay said.
"Very well," I said. "On screen,"
"Hello, Chakotay, Congratulations on your victory," Seska said. "I look forward to our next meeting, And there's something you should know, While You were unconscious, I took the liberty of extracting a sample of your DNA, I impregnated myself with it, So I guess more Congratulations are in order, You're going to be a father," Then it went off.
We kept going the way we were. But what was next going to happen.
That's all for this Chapter.
More to follow.
Stay tuned and safe.
Love Y'all
PEACE!