Into the Night
A Below Decks Story
By Christina

Hugh leaned against the back wall and relaxed as the curtain went down on act three. Voyager had returned to the Vordai station just two hours earlier. Things were rushed, but outside of one ripped bodice, a broken sword, and a smashed vase, things were going extremely well. The Vordai guests seemed reserved, but the Voyager crew was enjoying themselves. He slipped out during the laughter. The intermission was in three minutes.

"You're missing the show," he said to Ayala who leaned against the wall of the corridor.

Ayala groaned. "All these dignitaries. Most may be in there," he jerked his head toward the cargo bay where the play was being performed, "but we also have several inspectors aboard. And then there's that reporter."

"Eala? She's a drama critic."

"If you say. When she first came onboard, she seemed very interested in engineering."

"Oh well, so much for reading a review in the morning," Hugh joked, then sobered as he thought of the security implications.

Ayala nodded. "Have you seen the Captain? She needs to contact Colonel Staraop."

"We're missing some paperwork?"

"I wouldn't be surprised, but I believe the Grevel-Ash government wants reassurance that we are not returning to New Hope."

Both men chuckled. "How about we officially label this region of space, land of the bureaucrat?"

"I vote for it." Ayala quickly raised his hand and lowered it. "And tomorrow we leave..." He smiled. "It's been some year."

Hugh grinned in agreement. It sure had. Borg, war, kidnapping, Cardassians, more Borg, more Cardassians...And most importantly, what had started seven years ago as a seventy year trip was down to just fifteen at most. Now with the slipstream, perhaps in less than a year they would be back at Earth.

"So, how's the play going?"

"Great, too bad you are missing our one performance."

"Blame the Vordai or Commander Tuvok. Perhaps there'll be a encore performance?"

"Perhaps." Hugh turned as the first of the audience exited. "There's the Captain. Have fun, Mike."

"Fun?" Ayala shook his head. "Well, 'once more unto the breach..."

"See me later, I might put you in my next production..."

"No way. Captain Janeway, excuse me." Ayala walked quickly toward the captain.

"Lieutenant Ayala, is there a problem?" Janeway apologized quickly to the various Vordai officials she was with.

"Colonel Staraop asked that you contact him."

"I see." She closed her eyes. "I see."

Ayala just nodded as she continued. "I'm not willing to cause an incident this late in the game...We're leaving tomorrow." She chuckled. "They aren't too happy with the play-'it took the crew away from the more important work of getting of that damn planet'." He understood the unspoken side, the time spent on the slipstream was also keeping the crew from that work. "Have all the crew returned from shoreleave?"

"Aye, Captain. The last group returned an hour ago."

"Good. Excellent work, Lieutenant." She glanced behind her. The half-dozen Vordai officials were in a small group chatting.

"Thank you, Captain..."

Ayala turned his attention back to the crowd. He noted a short shadow slip around the corner. He followed. "Excuse me, ma'am?"

The figure turned. He wasn't surprised to see that it was Eala, the *supposed* theater critic. "Oh," she squealed. "You startled me."

"The intermission is a little short for you to go wandering off-you don't want to miss the next act."

"No, of course not. Although I will confess, I find the play confusing. The language is very different from what the rest of you speak."

"It's very old."

"Oh." She glanced around. "You are correct, I should return. There is not enough time to look through my notes. I was under the impression that rehearsing this play was contrary to the agreement that allowed you to remain on Treaty Planet?"

"All work and no play..." Ayala muttered. "I believe that it was frowned upon, but by the time they started rehearsals, much of the work was done. And all rehearsals and work was done during our off duty time. At no time did the play interfere with repairs."

"The Treaty Planet has been the cause of four wars in the past fifty years, the most recent just ended ten years ago. I believe we have every right to want you off the planet. Perhaps if you kept better care of your ship..."

Ayala decided to ignore her. "The intermission is nearly over."

She glared at him, but didn't say anything. He found himself counting to ten several times. He deposited her at the theater entrance and waited until she was inside. The others followed her in. He yawned. So much for an early night.

Hugh tapped Ayala on the shoulder. "You still here?"

Ayala nodded. "How's it going?"

"Great. I think the Vordai finally started to appreciate the play."

"Teramon!" There were shouts from the theater, and they didn't sound too happy. The two men stared at each other, then Ayala tapped his combadge and ordered more security officers to report to the cargo bay on the double. Hugh shook his head as they rushed into the theater. There was a crowd around the cast. Susan, with a look of relief on her face as she spotted Hugh, elbowed her way through the throng until she reached him.

"What happened?" Hugh demanded.

"Viola and Sebastian just recognized each other, when several of the Vordai jumped up on the stage."

"But that doesn't make any sense!" Hugh said in exasperation. "It's the climax of the play, true, but I don't know why that should get them riled up like that-"

"I do," Jenny said from behind them. "Teramon. Twins. The Vordai apparently have very strong reactions to seeing twins. Most of the time it's positive, but even then their response can be more than a little overwhelming. We should have realized this was going to happen-and warned you."

"That's okay," Ayala said. "We..." He looked around quickly. "Oh, blast! Where's the reporter?" He rushed out.

The other security officers had arrived along with Janeway who looked furious. Hugh cringed. This wasn't how he'd planned the curtain call. Someone whistled.

"Listen up..."

"Teramon!"

"Get the actors off stage," Hugh said. "Jenny, you and Megan, had better leave too." She nodded. A security officer left with them as Ayala reentered the room, with the reporter firmly in tow.

Janeway stepped forward and began calling for quiet, along with one of the Vordai officers. Hugh shook his head. "Damn."

With the assistance of security, the audience was guided out of the theater. The Vordai guests were quiet at last.

"A sham," one of them was heard to say on his way out. "They weren't Teramon, after all."

"Well," Susan said. "That was some standing ovation. How are you going to top this?"

He laughed. "I don't think I'm going to try." Hugh took a deep breath. What could go wrong, would.

Joe hummed quietly as he sat down at the engineering console on the bridge. He ran through the checklist. Engineering was ready for departure. He swiveled about to face the command chair.

"Open ship-wide communications," Janeway said as she entered the bridge. A second later Harry nodded.

"Attention all hands, we did it," she said with a big smile. "Everyone is to be congratulated on a job well done. We have permission to leave port in two minutes. And soon after that, we shall continue our journey back to Earth."

"Earth or bust!" Harry said.

"Yes, indeed. Earth is our goal, but let's not bust anything this time," Chakotay cut in.

Joe chuckled quietly. Captain Laral at the helm shook her head, but didn't make the expected comment.

"Vordai Port Authority has cleared us for departure," Harry said. He glanced at Joe and gave a thumbs up. Joe returned the acknowledgment.

"Very good," Janeway said as she sat. "Captain Laral, take us out of here."

"With pleasure," the Vordai Captain said. Joe smiled to himself. That response reflected the crew's expectations too. He watched the viewscreen as Voyager slowly backed out and made a slow turn.

"Voyager," the Vordai port officer's voice said, "May the stars guide your way. You are cleared to depart via gate b-five. Automatic beacons engage."

This was it, they were once again on their way home. Well, first they would rendezvous with an incoming Vordai cruiser and drop off Captain Laral.

"Overall," Neelix read from the PADD that contained Eala's review, "Voyager's performance of 'A Dozen Nights' made for strange theater..."

"'Dozen Nights?' What's that mean?" Jenny asked. She reached across the table and grabbed the PADD Neelix held.

"My guess it's not a good translation," Hugh said from another table. "Continue reading."

"'A Dozen Nights,'" Jenny repeated as she handed the PADD back to Neelix. The fourteen other crewmembers in the mess again focused their attention on the Talaxian.

Neelix shook his head. "'A Dozen Nights', a bawdy play of no deep or significant meaning that is apparently by the humans' greatest playwright. This Shakespeare is a poor imitation of our Rajk Ilarjo, the famed poet of the Fresel era. Considering the highly publicized use of military facilities for the repair of their ship, the unthoughtful use of Teramon was unfortunate. We can only hope the humans did not mean to insult the Vordai by their apparent lack of understanding."

"Oh well," Hugh said as he stood. "We can't please everyone."

"Especially when they are gaping at *sham Teramon*," Kashimuro said. ""But all this is really irrelevant when you consider that in just a little under two hours..." There was a second of silence, then everyone stood. Jenny needed to go to Astrometrics.

In just hours they would make their first attempt with Joe's new version of the slipstream.

"So," Jamie McMinn said as they exited the mess hall. "What do you think about the Olympics being back-on?"

"I think it's great," Jenny said with a big smile. "They eliminated white-water skulling, but I'm looking forward to the four-by-four relay."

"Oh bother."

Jenny closed her eyes and laughed. "Jamie. The other team doesn't have any riders either. Tom's going to cancel..."

"YES!" Jamie calmed down immediately. "I need to go to the bridge. I'm back-up pilot while we're in the slipstream."

Epilogue

Space
21 days and a few hours after leaving New Hope

Joe closed his link to B'Elanna, who was in engineering, and turned to face the Captain. "The slipstream drive is in stand-by mode. All systems are ready." B'Elanna had told him that it was his project, he deserved the honor of being on the bridge for their first run.

"Very good," Janeway said as she sat in the command chair. "Helm?"

"The course is laid in. We're ready, Captain."

She glanced at Chakotay. "Then, on my mark, let's do it."

Joe crossed his fingers when she ordered him to engage the drive. The diamond-shaped slipstream conduit glowed with writhing and overlapping blue and white lines. "Shields down to ninety-five percent. Warp coil temperatures rising quickly." He glanced at the chronometer. "Fifty-six seconds left." The warp coil temperature jumped another hundred Kelvin. "Preparing shut-down procedures."

Janeway glanced at Tuvok. "Yellow alert." Coming out of the slipstream was a critical moment.

He noted the chronometer was now showing twenty seconds left. At ten seconds, he started the countdown.

"Slipstream has been successfully disengaged. Shields are at sixty percent, weapons are offline." He found himself gripping the edge of his console as he waited for Voyager to come to halt. It would be several hours before they would have enough power to travel at warp and recharge the weapons. The massive energy requirements was one thing they'd never been able to overcome.

Janeway stood slowly. "Scan for any activity. And where are we?"

It took Harry several seconds to get all the data. "Captain, there are no ships within an area of one-thousand cubic kilometers. And we've traveled eight-hundred-thirty-eight light years." He took a deep breath. "All decks reporting in. No damage or injuries. It worked."

"Lieutenant Carey," Janeway said with a big smile. "I want to see your report in two hours. Good job, everyone."

"Aye, Captain." Joe shook Harry's hand. There was now a lot to do. It would be several weeks before they could use the slipstream again. "We did it," he whispered to himself.