Chapter 12

2376 - Voyager - Deck 1 - Bridge

The turbolift doors swished open with their usual gusto. Somehow, though, today the sound felt a little more sweet.

Janeway turned in her chair and smiled as Harry Kim, Tom Paris, and Commander Chakotay stepped onto the bridge. "Welcome back, gentlemen," she said as they moved to take their stations, "I hope you all thanked the Doctor."

"Profusely," Tom answered.

Chakotay took his seat next to her and Janeway smiled, muttering out of the corner of her mouth, "Feeling better?"

"Much," he said, and she noticed as he lightly tapped the back of his hand. When she turned and looked at him questioningly, he grinned sheepishly and she noticed with relief that his eyes had returned to their normal dark brown color. "Just making sure," he said.

"Yeah," she said softly, "Me, too."

"Captain," Tuvok interrupted, "We are receiving a signal on a Starfleet frequency."

"What's it say?" Janeway asked.

"It is not a message," Tuvok replied, "It is a distress call. Originating from the third planet in a nearby system."

"I've got it," Paris said, from the helm, "Approximately 2.7 light years from here. Right where we expected it to be. Captain?"

"Set a course and engage," Janeway said immediately. Then she leaned over to Chakotay. "Whatever happened to the alien?"

"She's in sickbay. Took her own body back when she couldn't use mine," Chakotay answered.

"Dead?" Janeway asked, seriously.

"No, just sedated," Chakoty said grimly, "The doctor decided it would be better not to wake her."

"I'd tend to agree," Janeway said, grinning. Then she tapped her combadge. "Janeway to Engineering."

"Torres here, Captain."

Janeway felt a surge of affection for the engineer. "It's good to hear your voice again, B'Elanna."

"Thank you, Captain."

"Are you ready down there?"

"As ready as we'll ever be, Captain."

"Captain," Paris turned around at the helm as the ship dropped out of warp, "We're here."

Janeway tilted her chin, taking in the planet on the viewscreen that looked to chillingly similar to Earth. Then her hands gripped the armrests of her chair and she gave the order.

"Do it."
x
"Why do you keep showing up?" Rachel asked, "What do you want?" Then another thought occured to her. "Did you bring us to this planet?"

Unami tilted his head, as if pondering whether he should answer the questions or not. Then he nodded. "Very well. Yes, I brought you here. My species can transport ourselves and others without the technology that you use."

He demonstrated, disappearing and then reappearing behind them. He bowed. "I am a government official from Andante - this planet. I came aboard your ship searching for a fugitive by the name of Enani."

Rachel looked incredulous. "You could have just asked us! I'm sure Captain Janeway would be happy to assist you!"

Unami looked surprised. "But, I already have! Captain Janeway is bringing her here as we speak. Unfortuneatly I had to use you as leaverage - to make sure that she would keep her word. You see, Andantians cannot transport each other, so I am having to rely on your people's limited transportation techniques."

"So what you're saying is," Charlie said slowly, "You're holding us hostage?"

"Essentially," said Unami.

"Can I punch him now?" Taylor muttered under her breath.

"Captain Janeway will keep her word," Naomi said seriously.

"We do not. . . trust as easily as you seem to," Unami said, slowly and evenly.

"Then," Rhanda said, "You will end up just like your fugitive Enani - friendless and preying on innocent people."

Unami stepped forward, infuriated. "I take that as a great insult. It is a crime among my people to do the things that Enani does; very few even possess the ability. But I have dedicated my life to stopping people like her."

"But by kidnapping us, you're acting just like her!" Meredith exclaimed, "That doesn't make any sense."

Unami, with the starlight twinkling off his silver hair, seemed suddenly exhausted. "Very well," he sighed, and in an instant, he was gone.

"He could at least say good bye so we know he's leaving," Taylor grumbled.

"Where do you think he went?" Rhanda asked, and everyone looked up at the stars.

"Voyager," Charlie suggested. Everyone else made murmurs of agreement.

Then, "Home," Meredith said suddenly, and for the first time, Rachel felt a surge of homesickness.

"What an adventure this has been," she murmured.

Suddenly they heard the whine of a transporter behind them and they all spun around. No one appeared.

"What was that about?" Meredith asked, walking forward. She tripped in the darkness. "Ouch!"

"It's our backpacks!" Taylor cried, lifting one up from the ground. "Here's your's, Rhanda." She tossed them to their owners.

"But why. . ." Rachel began.

Again, the whine of the transporter covered her words . . . and Naomi dematerialized into the bright blue light.

"Naomi!"

Rachel sat down right there on the path and put her head in her hands. "Well, that's it then," she said, voice quavering.

"What's it?" asked Rhanda.

"Don't you see? They're leaving us here!" Rachel yelled, her voice reverberating into the night.

There was silence for a moment. Then Taylor said, "That's ridiculous."

Charlie agreed, "They'll beam us up next."

But Rachel was already shaking her head. "They won't. If they were going to, they'd have beamed us up with Naomi! They gave us our backpacks because they don't want us anymore!"

"No." Rhanda said in a strange, choked kind of voice, "They gave us our backpacks because they're sending us home."

Rachel looked up. The huge rock was glowing. A dull, orange-ish glow at first, the color of the setting sun, but it was growing brighter and brighter by the second.

"Look!" Meredith said. A stream of white light was running into the Rock from the sky. "It's Voyager. They're heating it up!"

"Or something of the sort," Rachel said, getting excited. She stood up. "This rock has temporal properties."

"It's not really a rock, you know," Taylor clarified, "It's a power source."

"I think," Rhanda said, "We should touch it."

"I agree," Rachel backed her.

"Ok!" Charlie said happily.

"What if it burns our hands off?" Meredith asked.

"The Doctor can always replace them," Charlie said cheerfully.

"Great," Taylor said sarcastically.

"Ok, on the count of three!" Rachel said commandingly, and they all put their hands out, ready to touch it together.

"One. . ."

"Two. . ."

x

Naomi looked up at Captain Janeway. "Do you think they made it?"

"Only one way to find out," Janeway replied, "To the history books!"

And the two of them strode down the corridor.

x

Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to Star Trek or Star Trek: Voyager. I don't even own any rights to this story because it was written by my friend, pen name Rachel Pierce. It was written about our little Trekkie group, The Sisterhood of Teenage Trekkies. Though there have been changes to respect rights of my friends and myself. I have been given permission to post this story. Thank you and enjoy. Please review.

A/N: There will be be one more chapter to post. Or will there be more. That's for you to find out, but it is nearing the end.