Chapter 118.

Good Shepherd.

(Leah POV)

I woke up and saw 7 was gone. I have no idea how 7 manages to get up without waking me. But I say it must be like me when Chloe and Clara are sleeping against me. As I got up and headed and got ready for my shift. Just after I finished get ready. As I got some breakfast. Then I headed up to my ready room.

I wasn't even in there for 10 minutes just after I got my coffee. My Door bell rang.

"Come in," I said.

As Chakotay came in.

"7's shipwide efficiency analysis," Chakotay said.

"Did we get a passing grade," I said.

"Barely, she wants to present it to the senior staff," Chakotay said.

"Put her on the schedule," I said.

"We'll be passing by a Class T cluster in the next couple of days. Gas giants, Radiogenic sources, I'm not sure it's worth altering course," Chakotay said.

"We should the Delta Flyer for a look and let's get a full range of sensor scans as we get closer," I said.

"Got it," Chakotay said. As he headed out.

XXX

"Captain's log Stardate 53753.2, long range scans of the T cluster have indicated a number of tantalizing anomalies, The away team should have a field day, Who knows. I may even join them myself, End Log,"

We were in the Conference room as 7 was there.

"I've given operations an efficiency rating of 76 out of a possible 100," 7 said.

"Not exactly flying colours," Harry said.

"The crewmen you assign to the night shift are frequently left with little to do once the ship's course has been locked in," 7 said.

"The Devil finds work for idle hands," Doc said.

"Religious metaphors are irrelevant, Perhaps you should consider assigning them additional tasks," 7 said.

"What this I'm guilt of, failure to utilize expertise," B'Elanna said.

"Crewman Mortimer Harren," 7 said. "He has 5 advanced degrees in theoretical cosmology, but you've assigned him to the plasma relay room, His talents could be put to better use,"

"B'Elanna," I said.

"Believe me, I've tired, When I give him more responsibility he doesn't do the work," B'Elanna said. "Harren wants to be down on Deck 15, It gives him more time to repostulate the origins of the universe,"

"As you can see security is functioning at near perfect efficiency, However Commander, If you arrange the Phasers in the weapons lockers so that the smaller rifles were in front, they could be more easily removed in the event of an emergency," 7 said.

"I'll look into it," Tuvok said.

"Crewman William Telfer," 7 said.

"Billy, He certainly ruined my score," Doc said.

"He visits the Sickbay almost once a week complaining of illness, In variably you examine him and find nothing wrong," 7 said.

"Mr. Telfer is a hypochondriac, I'd treat him for it, But he's afraid of medication," Doc said.

"Have you tried counselling?" I said.

"He afraid of that too," Doc said. "All I can do is scan him and offer him reassurance,"

"Wasting your time and medical resources," 7 said.

"What about Astrometrics? Looks like you could use some improvement yourself, 7," Harry said.

"You're correct, Unfortunately," 7 said. "Tal Celes, Sensor Analyst, Grade 3, Her work must be constantly double checked, She should be removed from Astrometrics and reassigned elsewhere perhaps to Engineering,"

"Forget it, I've got my own problems to fix, remember?" B'Elanna said.

"That'll be all 7, Thanks, Dismissed," I said.

"Captain," Chakotay said.

"They've never been on an away mission, Mortimer Harren, William Telfer, Tal Celes, None of them," I said.

"They get off the ship whenever we have general leave," Chakotay said.

"I mean a working away mission," I said.

"Harren never volunteers, Celes can't get past the proficiency requirements And Telfer always seems to get a note from his Doctor," Chakotay said.

"Something's got to be done about this," I said.

"What can we do?" Chakotay said. "There are always a few who don't make it past their first year on a starship, Normally, they're reassigned, But in our case, Unless we find a Stargate. Maybe we should relieve them of duty and let them pursue their own interests, It certainly wouldn't hurt general efficiency,"

"They aren't Drones, Chakotay we can't just deactivate them," I said. "Is the Delta Flyer ready,"

"Flight checked with provisions for a 72 hour away mission," Chakotay said. "What have you got in mind, Captain,"

"3 people have slipped through the cracks on my ship, That makes it my problem," I said.

XXX

As I finally knew what I was done.

"Think of it as 4 smaller algorithms," Telfer said.

"Okay, But what's the sequence," Celes said.

"It's." Telfer said.

"Zero G Is Fun," I said. "As you were, Zeta Particle derivation, Gamma Wave frequency, Ion distribution, Flow rate of positrons, Z.G.I.F. Zero G Is Fun, That's how you remember the sequence, Well that's how I remember it,"

"Thank you, Captain, I'll try," Celes said.

"Good, Because where we're headed you're going to need it," I said. "I'll be briefing you this afternoon in Astrometrics, We'll leave first thing in the morning,"

As I headed out and into the Turbolift.

"Deck 15," I said.

Now that much longer I got there. As I started heading down.

"Captain on the Deck," Mitchell said.

"As you were," I said. "Junction Room 16?"

"Over there, Captain," Mitchell said.

"Of course," I said. "Crewman Mitchell, How have you been?"

"Never better, Captain," Mitchell said. "And yourself,"

"Not bad, Not bad at all," I said. As I started heading again.

"To the Left captain," Mitchell said.

"Thank you," I said.

As I found Harren.

"Crewman Harren," I said.

"Captain McCall, Are you lost," Harren said.

"I was for a minute," I said. "I'll be briefing you this afternoon,"

"Well, there's been a mistake," Harren said.

"Excuse me," I said.

"You have me assigned to an away mission," Harren said. "I have my duties here, I'd prefer not to leave my post,"

"Ensign Culhane will cover for you, The Preflight schedule is all there," I said.

"If this is charity, Captain, I don't want it," Harren said.

"I didn't ask you what you want, I'm taking the Delta Flyer on an astronomical survey mission, and your expertise is needed," I said.

"What do you know about my expertise," Harren said.

"As much as I need to," I said.

"Well, then you might be interested to know that I'm about to disprove Schlezholt's theory of multiple big bangs," Harren said.

"Really, Wang's second postulate has more lives than a cat, Doesn't it, Once you think you've eliminated it, boom, it pops up again, I'll give you a hand if you'd like, when the away mission is over," I said.

XXX

I was in the Astrometrics Lab.

"Once we reach the cluster, we'll drop out of warp and maintain one quarter impulse on the sweep through the protostars, I'll be piloting the Delta Flyer, Celes, you're going to run an ongoing sensor analysis, providing data for your colleagues, Harren. You'll be looking at subspace particle decay for anything new we might learn about star formation and Telfer, Your hob will be to look for signs of life, a long shot in this environment, but if it's out there I'm sure you'll find it," I said. "You'll have the rest of the evening to familiarize yourselves with the mission,"

"Excuse me, Captain, If we find a planet, We're not planning on exploring the surface, are we?" Telfer said.

"That's a stellar nursery, Any planets will be gas giants," Harren said.

"They may have moons," Telfer said.

"Don't worry, We'll run a complete scan for pathogens before we set foot anywhere, And the Delta Flyer is fully equipped to deal with medical emergencies. We'll be fine, Shuttle bay 1. 0600 hours, Dismissed," I said.

"Celes is unreliable, her sensor analyses will be full of errors, you could be putting your lives at risk," 7 said.

"Don't worry, 7, I'll check her work," I said.

"This mission could be better served with a more experienced crew," 7 said.

"No, Not this mission, Ever hear the tale of the Good Shepherd?" I said. "If even one sheep strayed into the wilderness, the shepherd left the safety of the flock and went after it,"

"So you're intending to rescue them?" 7 said.

"In a manner of speaking, Maybe all it will take will be some personal attention from their captain, Maybe something more, but I won't abandon a member of this crew, no matter what their problems might be," I said. "Don't worry about me, I'll be back, Keep an eye on them for me,"

"Only you," 7 said.

"See you back home," I said. Kissing her. Then headed off.

XXX

By time I woke up it was 0500, More than enough time for me to go and get a showered changed into my uniform. Grabbed something to eat and some coffee. As I finished eating. And Was drinking my Coffee I checked in on my girls. I saw Chloe and Clara fast asleep hugged together. As I was watching them. I felt someone grabbed me around the waist. I knew then it was 7.

"I though you were still sleeping," I said.

"Noticed you were already up," 7 said.

"I thought you were using the regenerator tonight," I said.

"No," 7 said. "You worried about them,"

"No," I said. "Just,"

"Keep an eye on them," 7 said. "I know,"

"Computer, time," I said.

"0530," Computer said.

"Best get to the shuttlebay, Need to fire up the Delta Flyer," I said. "See you when I get back,"

"Yes you will," 7 said as I turned to headed out. As 7 grabbed me by my waist again and turned me around before kissing me. As we pulled back.

"Love you too," I said. As I left for the shuttlebay.

XXX

We just dropped out of warp in the Delta Flyer.

"I'm going to one quarter impulse," I said.

"Should I start the sensor sweeps," Celes said.

"We don't want to miss anything," I said as we got rumbled. "Engine status,"

"Within parameters, That wasn't us," Harren said.

"Anything on sensors," I said.

".005 fluctuation in the spatial continuum," Celes said. "It looks like simple background noise,"

"Damn it does," I said.

"Anybody for lunch?" Telfer said.

"Are you volunteering William," I said.

"Yes Ma'am," Telfer said.

"I'll help. What would you like Captain," Celes said.

"Mortimer," I said.

"Even my mother didn't call me that," Harren said.

"Well then Harren are you hungry?" I said.

"No, Thank you," Harren said.

"I'll have the pasta soup, It should be listed under Neelix 651," I said.

"Maybe I'll try that, too," Celes said.

"I'm sure you'll like it," I said.

"I'm sure I will, thanks for the suggestion," Celes said. "I'd better get back there,"

After a minute.

"I understand you grew up on Vico 5, No wonder you became a cosmologist," I said.

"Wildest sky in the Alpha quadrant," Harren said.

"So they say, I've never been there, Never left Earth. Well until Voyager," I said.

"Do you really believe that childhood environment is more important than genetically driven behaviour patterns," Harren said.

"Just making conversation," I said.

"Conversion filled with unspoken assumptions, Which I don't agree with, I'm a product of my nucleic acids, where and how I was raised are beside the point, so if you're trying to understand me better, questions about my home planet are irrelevant," Harren said.

"All right then, How's your 13th chromosome, Missing a couple of base pairs in gene 178," I said.

"I signed onto Voyager because I needed a year of hands on experience, It was a requirement for getting into the Institute of Cosmology on Orion 1, If we hadn't gotten lost in the Delta Quadrant, I'd be there right now," Harren said.

"Sorry to have put your career plans on hold, But all of us have had our lives interrupted, That's the nature of space exploration. It's unpredictable," I said.

"Which is why I don't like space exploration, Stumbling from star to star like a drunken insect careening toward a light source is not my idea of a dignified existence, Pure theory is all that concerns me," Harren said.

"Well I'm not trying to change that, I'm simply trying to get every member of my crew working to their full capacity, That includes you, Mr. Harren," I said.

"You don't feel responsible, Captain, for have 3 misfits aboard your ship, Well if there's anything I can do to help relieve your guilt, please let me know," Harren said.

"I'll keep that in mind," I said.

"Maybe I will join my colleagues for lunch," Harren said. "All this exploration has given me an appetite,"

As he went into the Back. As Sensors picked up something.

"What the Hell," I said. "Computer, Identify the source of that spatial fluctuation,"

"Source unknown," Computer said.

As we got rumbled hard.

"Red Alert," I said as the klaxons went Red. "Aft Section report, Report," As I got back to the Helm trying to hold us together. But I got nothing back. "Computer Engage ZPM and put it to structural integrity,"

As It worked.

"Captain, Are you all right," Celes said.

"We need to get propulsion back on line and figure out what the hell hit us," I said. "What's out there?"

"I don't know but whatever it was, it tore a plating section off the outer hull," Celes said.

"90% of our antimatter's been neutralized, The reaction's cold," Harren said.

"So much for warp drive," Telfer said.

"I'm bringing the impulse engines on line, but they've been damaged, We'll be able to do one eighth impulse. No more," Harren said.

"That should get us to the rendezvous point with Voyager in 10 years, Think they'll wait for us," Telfer said.

"Is the subspace transmitter on line," I said.

"Yes," Telfer said.

"Voyager, This is the Delta Flyer, We've been hit by an unknown phenomenon and taken heavy damage. We require immediate assistance, Repeat, We require immediate assistance," I said. Transmit that continuously on all subspace frequencies. Anything on active scans,"

"Not yet," Celes said.

"It was a Dark matter protocomet," Harren said.

"I read a paper on that phenomenon once," I said.

"Written by me," Harren said.

"Enlighten us," I said.

"I hypothesized that a tertiary product of stellar consolidation would be a comet like assemblage of dark matter, It would be attracted to any source of antimatter and neutralize it upon contact," Harren said.

"So one of these things detected the antimatter in our warp core," Telfer said.

"The term detected suggest a consciousness," Harren said. "This is a mindless astrophysical phenomenon nothing more, We should eject our remaining antimatter or we could suffer another impact,"

"I can't do that, not on the basis of an unproven hypothesis," I said.

"The forces involved are nontrivial if we're hit again, we could lose our entire outer hull," Harren said.

"Eject the warp core and we lose any hope of getting warp drive back, I need more evidence, and right now sensors aren't talking," I said.

"Maybe they are talking, but somebody doesn't know how to listen to them," Harren said.

"You're out of line, Crewman," I said.

"This isn't the time to be worried about her feeling captain we're in trouble," Harren said.

"Captain, That hull plate, It's less than 10 kilometers away, Impact from a dark matter body might've left a quantum signature in the alloys," Celes said.

"That's the evidence we're looking for," I said. "Do we have transporters,"

"Yes, I've locked on to the plate," Telfer said.

"Beam it directly to the aft section," I said. "Celes, you're with me, Continue the repairs,"

As we got in the back.

"No sign of burns, or plasma residue, It seems to have been sheared off," I said. "Download this into the main computer,"

"Captain, I'm sorry," Celes said.

"For what?" I said.

"I thought that spatial fluctuation we ran into was background noise, Some noise," Celes said.

"I saw the same sensors readings you did and came to the same conclusion," I said. "You don't have to doubt yourself all the time,"

"Yes, I do, And you should too," Celes said. "You're right to always be looking over my shoulder,"

"We all make mistakes, Even me," I said.

"Every day?" Celes said. "Every time you report for duty, On Voyager it doesn't matter, because nothing I do is that critical, 7 doesn't trust me with anything important, The crew is protected from my mistakes by the people around me, but, out here, I could get us killed,"

"You went through Starfleet training courses," I said.

"I had to cram for every exam," Celes said.

"At the academy, I was more infamous for my all nighters. That drove Kathryn nuts how I could do that," I said.

"Every night, because that's what it took," Celes said. "That's the only way I made it through, Not to mention the sympathy votes, The Conflict on Bajor Worked in my favour, The Federation was so eager to have Bajorans in Starfleet, that my instructors gave me the benefit of the doubt. So did you when you accepted my Application,"

"If I'm remember right. You showed evidence of unconventional thinking. I liked that, Not everybody would've thought to retrieve that hull plating," I said.

"Well, Just don't trust me with the analysis, I guarantee I'll get it wrong," Celes said.

"Well, with that attitude, I'm sure you will," I said.

"This has nothing to do with attitude, Captain, You and I are wired differently, To you, this is nothing but data, to me, It's a monster with fangs and claws, In my nightmares I am chased by algorithms, My brain just wasn't built to understand this," Celes said.

"We can find you another post on Voyager," I said.

"There isn't another post on Voyager, not for me, unless you need a waitress in the Mess hall," Celes said.

"You know, There's more to duty than the ability to manipulate algorithms, everybody on Voyager, has showed a courage far beyond what I could've expected, So have you," I said.

"If We were still in the Alpha Quadrant, would that be enough to keep me on board," Celes said.

"I can't answer that," I said.

"I don't deserve to be on your ship, Captain, And I'm not really a part of Voyager, I just live there," Celes said.

XXX

"Captain's Log Delta Flyer, Stardate 53764.3, We've been running on minimal power for 6 hours, Still no response to our distress call, and no answer from the computer on what the hell hit us, For now, It looks like we're on our own, End log," I said.

As we got everyone into the aft section.

"Our scans of the hull fragment were inconclusive, We found some displaced positrons that could indicate a Dark matter Impact," I said.

"But could've been caused by something else," Telfer said.

"Proof enough," Harren said.

"Not enough for me, Not enough to jettison the remaining antimatter, There's a gas giant, Only a few hours from our current position, T Class, Surround by orbital rings, Including one that's radiogenic, We could use those particles to reinitialize our warp reaction," I said.

"With 10% of our antimatter left, We'd only be able to make Warp 2, But it would be enough to get us back on the road," Telfer said.

"Set a course," I said as we got to the main section where sensors started bleeping again.

"Another spatial fluctuation," Celes said.

"Can you localize it," I said.

"It's somewhere within the distance of 10,000 kilometers," Celes said as we rumbled. "Another one, Close about 7,000 kilometers,"

"It's being drawn toward our antimatter, Eject the core," Harren said.

"Open a channel, All hailing frequencies," I said. "This is Captain McCall of the Federation vessel Delta Flyer, We are on a mission of peaceful exploration, Please Identify yourself,"

"No response," Telfer said.

"Of course not it's a natural phenomenon, Captain, We only have a few seconds," Harren said.

"I'm firing a photon torpedo. There's enough antimatter in the detonation chamber to draw that protocomet if that's what it is," I said. As I launch it.

"The torpedo's away, Distance, 1,000 Kilometers, 1,500," Telfer said.

"No spatial disruptions," Celes said.

As we rumbled and there was a noise.

"Find the source of that sound," I said.

"Oh No," Telfer said as he vanished.

"That's not possible," Harren said.

"Where is he?" I said.

"I can't locate his biosignature," Celes said.

"He's not out there, He's not in space. not in Subspace, It doesn't make sense," I said as Telfer came back.

"Inside me," Telfer said. As I saw something under his skin moving.

"Aft section, Now," I said as I got him in there. "Use the transporter try to get a lock on whatever's inside him, Tricorder isn't picking up anything,"

"But I can feel it," Telfer said.

"I can't get a lock, It's like something's there, but it's not there," Celes said.

"Oh it's there," Telfer said.

"Unfortunately I have to agree," I said.

"Obviously whatever hit us was no protocomet. I was wrong," Harren said.

"Maybe you weren't not entirely, Sensor can't scan it, transporters can't lock on to it, Maybe this is some kind of Dark Matter lifeform," I said.

"That's impossible, Molecules that complex would collapse under their own weight, they could never support life," Harren said.

"Might be time to revise your theory, Where did they take you?" I said.

"I don't know it was dark, Hot, I could feel breathing all around me," Telfer said.

"Did anyone try to communicate with you?" I said.

"I couldn't see," Telfer said. "I tried to say something but there wasn't enough air, I tired to move but something was pressing down on me, The hypospray, Tetrovaline, It'll put me out,"

"If I sedate you, it could lower your immune response, And you need to stay conscious, Do you understand," I said.

"Billy," Celes said. "If it wanted to kill you, it would've done it by now, It never would've sent you back here, Maybe it was trying to scan you or something,"

"If it wanted to get to know me better, It should've just asked me out for a drink," Telfer said.

"Celes," I said as she back up and I fired up the forcefield. "Keep an eye on him. Harren,"

As we got back to the main section.

"I'm setting a course for those rings, Shunt as much power as you can to the impulse engines," I said.

"We never should've left Voyager," Harren said.

"I've got news for you Crewman, Voyager isn't exactly a safe haven, We've been chased across the Quadrant by far worse than whatever's out there, The Viddians, Species 8472, the Borg, But I guess if somebody's hiding down on deck 15, they may not be aware of it," I said.

"I wasn't meant to be an explorer," Harren said.

"And I wasn't meant to guide a ship across an unknown quadrant," I said.

"Then we're both victims of circumstance," Harren said.

"Oh, I seen things, I've never imagined, Grown closer to people than I ever thought possible, I wouldn't call myself a victim, And I wouldn't trade the last 6 years for anything," I said.

"Then you've been deluded by the inexhaustible human capacity to avoid the truth, you're the one hiding, Not me," Harren said. "I've got you 3% more points of impulse,"

"I'll take it," I said. "Setting a course. Isn't there any part of you that feels a bond with the rest of us, When we escape from the Borg, or discover a new type of star, Don't you feel some pride of accomplishment, When you're in the Mess hall, alone at your table in the corner, Don't you see the friendships around you and wish even for a microsecond you were part of them?"

"You don't know me at all," Harren said.

"Whatever you say, Stiles," I said.

"What," Harren said. "Incoming transmission,"

"Source," I said.

"It's a Starfleet frequency, Must be Voyager," Harren said.

"Delta flyer. Phenomenon," It was me.

"Subspace echo," Harren said.

"Maybe not, there's a .005 deviation in the carrier wave," I said.

"That's the same degree of spatial fluctuation left by our pursuers, They're sending our distress signal back to us," Harren said.

"Modified, They might be trying to communicate," I said.

"They're taunting us," Harren said.

"Not necessarily, Try to adjust the universal translator for," I said.

"Captain," Celes said. "He went right through the forcefield,"

"Billy what are you doing?" I said.

"It's activating my motor neurons, I can't make it stop, I'm sorry Captain," Telfer said. "You've got to stop it,"

As I got a phaser on Stun and shot Billy.

"It's okay, Billy, it's okay, It's okay," Celes said.

"It's in here," Telfer said. As it came out.

"It's tapping into our systems," Harren said.

"Wait, it may be trying to communicate," I said.

"It's into our environmental controls, We've got to stop it," Harren said.

"Hold your fire," I said as Harren got a phaser. But shot it. "What the Hell is wrong with you,"

"It was trying to kill us," Harren said.

"You don't know that," I said.

"We were at risk." Harren said.

I gave you a direct order," I said.

"What if you were wrong," Harren said.

"What if. Are you crazy, That what you go on," I said.

"I could hear it thoughts," Telfer said.

"Explain," I said.

"When it left me, I could hear what it was thinking, Do not belong, That's what it said, Do not belong," Telfer said.

"We don't belong here," Harren said.

"Or it didn't belong in the Delta Flyer," Celes said.

"Maybe that's why it was tapping into the environment controls. It was trying to survive in a place it didn't belong," I said.

"That's Speculation," Harren said.

"Based on direct observation, You murdered an alien being and destroyed any chance we had to make first contact," I said as we got hit.

"We just lost another section of hull," Celes said.

"How far we from the gas giant," I said.

"200,000 kilometers," Celes said.

"I'm taking the Flyer into the radiogenic ring. With any luck they won't follow," I said.

"We can't survive in there for more than a few minutes," Celes said.

"That should be enough to reinitialize the warp core, Then we get the hell out of here," I said.

As we finally got in.

"Start continuous transport of radiogenic particles directly into the reaction chamber, When it approaching critical mass, Let me know, Watch for any sign of pursuit," I said. "How are you doing,"

"I always had this alarm in my head, sort of an internal Red Alert, it was like a warning system that would tell me I was sick or dying, of something," Telfer said. "Mitochondrial prions, food poisoning, a head cold, It was always there,"

"And now it's not," I said.

"It's gone, I don't understand," Telfer said.

"Maybe I do, When I was younger. I used to hate the forest we had right behind my house, It scared me, It wasn't until my best friend took me in there for some reason I don't remember, That was when I finally got over it," I said. "I think you just came up from your first deep dive,"

"They're in pursuit," Celes said. "3 minutes, 20 seconds to intercept,"

"We'll need twice that to reinitialize warp reaction," Harren said.

"Get into the escape pods," I said.

"Captain," Celes said.

"Plot a course away from the planet, I'm going to fire a Phaser volley, and hopefully set off a chain reaction of the radiogenic particles," I said. "It might be enough to disable our friends,"

"You'll be disabled too," Telfer said.

"Not if I got to full thrusters and keep in front of the shock wave, If I don't make it, Head for the L class moon in the next system, You could survive there for weeks if you have to, enough time for Voyager to pick up your distress signal, Not get moving," I said.

"No, You'll have a better chance if we're with you," Celes said.

"Go," I said.

As I got everything set up. But I noticed Celes and Telfer were staying.

"All right, it's your choice," I said.

"Then I'll be going alone," Harren said.

"Good luck," I said.

As he left.

"Charge Phaser banks, Stand by to divert all power to thrusters. Computer reroute power from ZPM to Engines," I said.

"Confirmed," Computer said.

"Escape pod 1 is occupied and ready, Captain," Celes said.

"Launch pod 1," I said.

"Escape pod away," Telfer said.

"How close are our pursuers," I said.

"65 seconds to intercept," Celes said.

"Stand by to fire," I said.

"Captain the escape pod is altering course, It's heading for the aliens," Celes said.

"McCall to Harren, What are you doing," I said.

"If they have to deal with me, it should give you a few more seconds to get away, That's my theory anyway," Harren said.

"Resume you escape course now," I said.

"It's too late for that," Harren said.

"You made a mistake, Harren. Don't make another one," I said.

"I'm done hiding, Captain, A few seconds of exposure to real life maybe I'll understand what I've been missing," Harren said.

"He closed the channel," Telfer said.

"Get a transporter lock on that pod," I said.

"I can't we're out of range," Celes said.

"More power to thrusters, Celes, get ready to grab him," I said.

As I flew us around.

"Celes," I said.

"We're still not close enough," Celes said.

"Thrusters at maximum," Telfer said.

"Got him," Celes said.

As I turned us. Heading out.

"Fire," I said.

As I put us as fast as we could go.

XXX

When I came around I was in Sickbay.

"Chakotay," I said.

"Easy, They're sleeping, No serious injuries, Everyone all right, Though you gave us a good scare for a while, We received your distress call, We found the Flyer drifting above a gas giant, You were all unconscious," Chakotay said.

"Any sign of another vessel or some kind of entity," I said.

"No," Chakotay said. "What happened?"

"The good shepherd went after some lost sleep and ran into a wolf," I said.

"Did she find them," Chakotay said.

"Yeah, I think she did," I said.

That's all for this chapter.

More to follow.

Stay tuned and safe.

Love Y'all

PEACE!