Chapter 70.

Hunters.

(Scott POV)

I was on the Bridge as Something was happening.

"What Happened?" I said As the Message was garbled bad.

"I'm not sure, The Transmission just stopped," Harry said.

"Locate the course," I said. "See if you can get it back,"

"It looks like Captain the transmission was sent along the same network of alien relay stations we used to send the Doctor to the Alpha Quadrant," Harry said.

"Starfleet Command must be using them just like we did," Chakotay said.

"Harry, Can you clear the interference from that message?" I said.

"Yes, Sir," Harry said.

"They said they wouldn't stop until they found a way to get us home," Tom said.

"Nonetheless, we can't assume they've been able to devise a plan this quickly," Tuvok said.

"They're communicating with us, That's a big step," I said.

"Okay, I've reprocessed everything we received, I've cleared out most of the interference, here it is," Harry said.

"This is Starfleet command to the USS Voyager, If you are receiving this message, Please study it carefully, We have information," It said.

"That's all we got," Harry said. "It looks like the bulk of the transmission is lodged in one of the relay stations,"

"Where," I said.

"It's about 3.8 lightyears from us, on a heading of 274 mark 13," Harry said.

"Set a course Tom, Maximum Warp," I said.

"Last time we used one of those stations, the people who built it weren't too happy," Chakotay said.

"We'll deal with that if we have to, But I'm not going to lose this opportunity, We're going to find out what the rest of that message says," I said.

"Maybe they've figured out a way to get us home," Harry said.

"How could they get us home from 60,000 lightyears away," Tom said.

"Who knows what Technological advances Starfleet has come up with since we've been gone," Harry said. "They might have developed a whole new way of travelling through space,"

"Since it was technology that brought us to the Delta Quadrant in the first place, It's a reasonable assumption," Tuvok said. "Technology could bring us back again,"

"Starfleet found a stable wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant," Chakotay said.

"Bajorian Wormhole," I said.

"Maybe they've discovered one that leads here," Chakotay said.

"Captain for all we know, They could of found a gate," Harry said.

"That is only big enough for us to go through. Not Voyager, We can't leave her here," I said. "This kind of speculation can be intriguing, but be careful about setting yourselves up to be disappointed,"

"I'm just happy my folks know I'm alive," Harry said.

"I imagine there were quite a few celebrations when people got the news," I said.

"Probably but I can see where it might make things more difficult for some, I'd guess a lot of people had given up on us, Done their mourning, gone on with their lives, Found some kind of resolution, Now they get word that we're alive, But so far away that we might as well be dead," Chakotay said.

"Thanks for darkening the mood," I said.

"Some people might feel that way, But not my mom and Dad," Harry said.

"At the very least, We know the relay station extend almost all the way to the Alpha quadrant, If Starfleet has found a way to use them to transmit messages, We'll be able to stay in Constant Contact with people at home," I said. "That has to be comforting,"

"Sure it is, Bit I think it's more comforting to think that Starfleet is going to get us home," Harry said. "If no one objects that's what I'm going to do,"

"Don't blame you," I said.

"What if they have found a gate out here," Harry said.

"Then we head for it and Get Starfleet to send more supplies through, Weapons, Everything we can use out here," I said. Then We started to rumble. "Report,"

"We're encountering some kind of gravimetric forces," Harry said.

"Source," Chakotay said.

"Looks like it's coming from the relay station we're heading for," Harry said.

"That station is still 2 lightyears away," I said. "How could it project a gravimetric field this far?"

"It's have to have an incredibly powerful energy source," Chakotay said.

"Can't be ZPM's They store Vacuum energy," I said.

"I've compensated for the disturbance, We should be all right at least until we get closer," Harry said.

"I'm detecting a ship, Captain, 800,000 kilometers off the port bow," Tuvok said.

"On screen," I said.

"It's adrift," Tuvok said. "No propulsion systems, no weapons, no life support,"

"I'm picking up one male humanoid aboard, He's dead," Harry said.

"As soon as we're close enough beam the body to sickbay, I want to know how he died," I said. "Tuvok keep scanning for any other ships,"

XXX

"What's happened to him?" I said.

"he appears to have suffered a complete osteotomy, He's been gutted, Apparently some king of surgical procedure was used to remove the entire skeleton, As well as the musculature, the ligaments and tendons and the Internal organs," Doc said.

"How long ago did this happen?" I said.

"It's difficult to say, Somewhere between a week and a month," Doc said.

"I've seen this before," 7 said. "The Borg encountered a small ship of Species 5174, They were also destroyed in this fashion,"

"Did you ever determine who did it and why?" Doc said.

"No, it was irrelevant," 7 said.

"At the time," I said. "Return the body to his ship, his people may be able to retrieve him,"

"Very well," Doc said.

"When we get closer to the station, We can use the data processors in Astrometrics to download the message," I said.

"Yes Captain," 7 said.

XXX

"Captain's Log Stardate 51501.4. After 2 days at high warp, We're close enough to the relay station to see it on long range visual sensors, End log," I said.

"Not exactly what I expected," Tom said. "It looks ancient,"

"Radiometric decay ratios indicate it's at least 100,000 years old," Harry said.

"Scan for lifeforms," Chakotay said.

"Negative, sir," Harry said. "Looks like there's nobody home,"

"Well that's good news," Chakotay said. Then we rumbled again. "Here we go again,"

"The Gravimetric field" Tuvok said.

"Commander, if my sensors are right, That station is using a quantum singularity as a power source," Harry said.

"A black hole," Tom said.

"It's a tiny one, probably about a centimeter in diameter, But it's putting out almost 4 terawatts of energy," Harry said.

"Then someone has managed to contain a singularity, construct a space station around it and tap it's power," Chakotay said. "That's fascinating,"

"Can we take this ship any closer," Tom said.

"I wouldn't recommend it, Voyager would take a beating from the gravimetric eddies," Harry said.

"All right Tom, Back us off," Chakotay said. "Captain, We are a close as we are going to get,"

"Okay, We'll see if we can download the message from here," I said.

"The Datastream degraded during transmission, Elements have been dislocated, rearranged, Its going to require some time to decompress the message and rearrange it in the proper sequence," 7 said.

"Don't worry about the sequence, Get it out in bits and pieces if you have to, We can put it together later," I said.

"I've accessed a block of data, I'm downloading the text," 7 said.

"How much we miss you, We talk about you often, wondering about your day, It sounds awfully personal from Starfleet command," I said. "The Children have grown so much you wouldn't. These are letters, These are letters from home,"

Then Got Neelix down here.

"You'll be the official mail carrier, Neelix, We'll get you the letters as quickly as we can download them," I said.

"A task I'm happy to perform Captain," Neelix said. "I can tell you, I've never seen the crew this excited,"

"This is as close as they've come to their families in almost 4 years," I said.

"I promise to treat these like gemstones," Neelix said.

"By the time you've delivered them, we should have more," I said.

"Captain," 7 said. "I've discovered something odd, There seems to be more here than just letters,"

"What do you mean?" I said.

"There's a latent datastream buried under the message, It's heavily encrypted," 7 said.

"Encrypted?" I said.

"It appears to contain a large block of text and what may be maps," 7 said.

"Can you retrieve any of it?" I said.

"Not immediately," 7 said. "When more of the letters have been cleared out, I should be able to access the coded message,"

"Well, I might just hope that it contains a plan for bringing us back to the Alpha Quadrant," I said. "I'm curious, 7, What do you think about all this? Messages, the possibility of getting home?"

"It lacks any emotional resonance for me, I've never even been to Earth," 7 said.

"You realize you may have family there," I said.

"That had not occurred to me," 7 said.

"You could have cousins, Grandparents, There might be more emotional resonance than you think," I said.

"Captain got one for you here," 7 said.

"Thanks, I'll be in my ready room," I said headed out and up. It was from Phoebe. As I got to the bridge.

"Is that a letter for you, Captain," Harry said.

"Yes, 7 just downloaded it, I'll be in my ready room," I said.

"Yes sir," Tom said.

As I went in and started to read it.

Hi Scott,

I can't believe I can finally talk with you, I would have liked to talk with Kathryn But I already know what happened. I can't believe she is gone. At least I know you are still alive. Kathryn's Mum and Dad isn't taking the news well. But they're glad you are still alive. I know that chances are you won't get back in my lifetime. But I would loved to see you again once you get back. At least I still have that little brother of mine. (Which made me laugh) Just came back safe. I miss you.

Love Phoebe.

"I plan on it, Phoebe," I said.

Then my door bell rang.

"Come in," I said.

As Neelix came in with another letter for me.

"There is another 2 for you, Captain," Neelix said.

"Thanks Neelix," I said.

"Best get back down there," Neelix said.

"Yeah, Neelix thanks," I said.

Then He left.

Then after going through that one which was from Mark and Deanna. My door bell rang.

"Come in," I said.

Then 7 came in.

"Captain, I'm beginning to have trouble accessing the datastream, The longer it remains lodged in the relay station, the more it degrades," 7 said.

"If we could get near enough, We could try to stabilize the containment field, But I can't risk taking the ship in any closer," I said.

"A shuttle could withstand the gravimetric eddies more easily than Voyager, I'd like to try it," 7 said.

"I'd want Commander Tuvok to go with you," I said.

"For what reason," 7 said.

"It isn't my custom to send an away team of one," I said.

"As you wish," 7 said.

Then 7 left.

XXX

"Torres to the Bridge," B'Elanna said.

"Go ahead," I said.

"Captain, could Lt Paris come down here? I think I've got something he'd want to see," B'Elanna said.

"He's on his way," I said.

As I went for my ready room.

As the door bell rang,

"Come in," I said.

"Looks like Tuvok and 7 pulled it off," Chakotay said coming in. "The Containment field has stabilized quite a bit, B'Elanna says she's downloading the letters much more easily now,"

"That's good news," I said.

"They don't have the shuttle on sensors yet, But they should be back soon," Chakotay said.

"I've learned a few interesting things about that relay station, It's generating as much energy every minute as a typical star outs out in a year," I said

"What's amazing to me is that someone 100,000 years ago was harvesting micro singularities," Chakotay said "You sure this isn't the Ancients,"

"To be honest don't know, But if the technology we know from them is advanced enough, I would believe so," I said. "If nobody shows up to protest, I'd like to stay here for a while, Try to find the answers to some of these questions, It could help us. This is the kind of archaeological puzzle that I love, Want a cup?"

"No thanks," Chakotay said.

"Coffee Black," I said.

"You haven't mentioned your letter, Who was it from?" Chakotay said.

"It was from Phoebe," I said. "Kathryn's Sister, She told me about the little of Pups her dog had, how she got them back home for them, How devastated she was when Voyager was lost, She held out hopes we were alive longer than most people did, Keep that till she heard from Starfleet. Then got one from Mark. Who started living his life again, Meeting people, letting go of the past, About 4 months ago, he married a woman who works with him, He's very happy,"

"Did you get one from," Chakotay said.

"Deanna, Yes, Just haven't read it yet," I said.

"And how do you feel about that?" Chakotay said.

"If I'm right, I knew she'd eventually move on with her life, Just don't know if I want to yet," I said.

"Kim to the Captain, Can you come to the bridge?" Harry said.

"On my way," I said. "Report,"

"We picked up an automated distress signal from Tuvok's shuttle, Sensors show there's no one on board," Harry said.

"Set a course for the shuttle," I said.

"Captain, It's tricky to scan through the interference, But I think I'm detecting a ship," Harry said.

"What kind of ship," I said.

"Let me reconfigure the sensor array, It's Hirogen," Harry said. "And Tuvok and 7 are on it,"

"Hail them," I said.

"On screen," Harry said.

"I'm Captain McCall of the starship Voyager, You have 2 of my crew on board," I said.

"Disconnect your link to our module and leave this space," He said.

"Not without my people," I said.

"They are my relics," He said.

"I'm prepared to offer you something for their safe return," I said. "Surely we can come to an agreement,"

"If the rest of my group arrives, you will be taken as well," He said. "I'm giving you a chance to run,"

"We don't run," I said.

"Captain, I've got 3 more ships on sensors, Coming towards us at high warp," Harry said.

"Don't be foolish," He said. "Leave now and save yourselves,"

"Give me my people and we'll do that," I said.

"They're mine," He said.

"Then Get ready for a fight," I said. "Red Alert, Battle Stations," As the Klaxons went Red.

Then they cut the link.

"Chakotay, Tactical now," I said. "Harry get a lock on them, Bridge to Torres,"

"Torres here, Captain," B'Elanna said.

"How much longer?" I said.

"I'm getting it out piece by piece, At least another half hour," B'Elanna said.

"How are you coming?" I said.

"That ship has some kind of monotanium armour plating, It's scattering the Targeting beam," Harry said.

"The other 3 ships are within 6,000 kilometers," Chakotay said.

"Captain, Those ship have massive weapons, They've definitely got us outgunned," Tom said.

"Harry let me see those ships in relation to the relay stations, ZPM 1 to shields," I said.

"Yes Sir," Harry said.

"Maybe we can use that quantum singularity to our advantage," I said.

"How," Chakotay said.

"If we can boost the effect of the singularity increase the gravitation pull, We might be able to stop them," I said.

"The pull would increase if we could weaken the stations containment field An antithoron burst might do it," Harry said.

"If we're not careful we might be pulled in as well," Tom said.

"Don't worry we're going to be ready for it," I said. "Harry, Create a low level warp field around Voyager sub light energy level, that should help counteract the Gravitational pull,"

"If the field is too strong, We won't be able to beam Tuvok and 7 aboard," Chakotay said.

"Then you'll have to find the right Balance, Won't you Harry," I said.

"Yes Sir," Harry said.

"On my mark," I said. "Direct a level 8 antithoron burst toward the station, Have thrusters ready for full reverse. Tom,"

"Understood," Tom said.

"I've established a low level warp field captain," Harry said.

"Antithoron system is on line," Chakotay said.

"I'm ready with thrusters," Tom said.

"Do it," I said.

"It's working," Chakotay said.

"Try the Transporter lock again Harry," I said.

"Torres to the Bridge," B'Elanna said.

"McCall here," I said.

"The Antithoron burst collapsed the signal, I've gotten as much of the message as I'm going to get," B'Elanna said.

"Acknowledged," I said. "Hail those ships,"

"Channel open," Harry said.

"This is Captain McCall, Agree to retreat and we'll restore the containment field," I said.

"Captain, They're firing," Tom said. As we got hit.

"Their weapons are destabilizing the containment field," Chakotay said.

"This is McCall Stop firing," I said. "You're putting yourselves in grave Dan," As we got hit again.

"The Field is going," Harry said. "The Singularity is about to be exposed,"

"Captain, The Ship with Tuvok and 7 is still being pulled in," Chakotay said.

"Tractor beam," I said.

"I have Tuvok and 7 targeted, But if we try to transport them now, The Gravity well could scatter their patterns," Harry said.

"The Tractor beam is weakening, We're going to lose them," Chakotay said.

"Harry we have to risk it," I said.

"Activating the transporter," Harry said.

"Do you have them," I said.

"Not Yet, their patterns are distorting," Harry said.

"Narrow the annular confinement beam," I said.

"Tractor beams, almost gone, Captain," Chakotay said. "We're losing this tug of war,"

"Reroute all secondary power to the tractor emitters," I said.

"The Tractor beam collapsed," Chakotay said. "That ship is headed into the Black hole,"

"I'm realigning the pattern buffer, I've got one more shot at this," Harry said. "I got them, They're in Transporter Room 2,"

"I need more power, We're being pulled in," Tom said.

"ZPM 2 to Engines," I said.

"Structural integrity is failing the Hull is starting to buckle," Chakotay said.

"We're going in," Tom said.

"Open the antimatter injectors to 120%," I said.

"Captain That could breach the core," Harry said.

"So will that Black hole Now, Just do it," I said.

"Yes Sir," Harry said.

"We're free," Tom said.

"Resume course," I said. "I'll be in Astrometrics,"

As I headed down there.

"Captain look at this," B'Elanna said. "The Energy Released from the singularity created a massive discharge along the relay network, It disabled every one of the stations,"

"How much of the message were you able to get," I said.

"I got most of the Encrypted Starfleet text and a few more personal letters," B'Elanna said.

"How soon can we see what Starfleet had to say?" I said.

"Oh It'll take some time to decode, Harry should probably work on it," B'Elanna said. "Well if you excuse me I have a few letter to deliver,"

"Neelix can do that," I said.

"No need, Anyway there's one that I want to do personally," B'Elanna said.

XXX

"Captain's Log Supplemental, 7 and Tuvok suffered no serious physical damage after their encounter on the Hirogen ship, I've been eager to hear Tuvok's Impressions of the Hirogen who took them hostage, End Log," I said.

"I learned very little about them, But I believe we should consider them extremely Dangerous, They seem to lack any moral center," Tuvok said.

"Do you know why the relay network was so important to them?" I said.

"No I assume they used it for communications as we did," Tuvok said.

"Well they won't be using it anymore," I said.

"They won't be pleased about that, Captain," Tuvok said. "I doubt we've seen the last of them,"

"Me too," I said as my door bell rang. "Come in,"

"If you'll excuse me," Tuvok said. As Chakotay came in. "Commander,"

"Repair teams have inspected the ship from stem to stern, Except for some maintenance that's needed on the warp coils, everything seems fine," Chakotay said.

"I suppose so," I said. "Coffee,"

"Thanks," Chakotay said.

"Cream and sugar," I said.

"2 sugars," Chakotay said.

"2 sugars," I said.

"You know you drink too much of that stuff," Chakotay said.

"Really," I said.

"If I'm not mistaken, That's your 3rd cup this morning," Chakotay said.

"4th, and on a day like today, It won't be my last," I said. "Coffee, The Finest organic suspension ever devised, It's gotten me through the worst of the last 3 years, I beat the Borg with it, Oh I'm sure Voyager will be fine, But I'm worried that the crew might be a different story, "I think they were hoping mail call would become a regular part of their day,"

"Neelix is putting together an impromptu party, He thought it might cheer them up," Chakotay said.

"Good Idea when will it be?" I said.

"As soon as he can get people together," Chakotay said.

"Leave it to Neelix to come up with the right idea at the right time," I said.

"How are you doing?" Chakotay said.

"Me, I'm fine," I said.

"You'd say that if you just had your legs took off by a Trayken Beast, Look what you've been through in the last few days, We finally make a connection with home, and then it's ripped away from us," Chakotay said. "We managed to make another enemy, who's going to try and hunt us down and destroy us and on top of that,"

"It's all right, you can say it," I said. "On top of all that, Nothing really changed,"

"Neelix to the Ready room the party's about to begin and there are only 2 people missing," Neelix said.

"We're on our way, Neelix," I said.

That's all for this chapter.

More to follow.

Stay tuned and safe.

Love Y'all

PEACE!