June 5, 2378 1830 CSS Sentinel
Lieutenant Pakrité Gometa pondered the telemetry she was getting from the sensor buoy wondering if she could trust it at this extreme range. It seemed to indicate a large vessel, perhaps as large as a cruiser, of unknown configuration and there seemed to be a double wing of marauder fighters with their gunboats and destroyer coming out of the sensor shadow of the plasma storm area known as the Maelstrom. Pakrité hesitated another moment then decided to inform her commanding officer.
"Captain Kojima, telemetry from sensor buoy 12 seems to indicate a large vessel of unknown configuration about to come under attack by a double wing of marauder fighters and their support craft," she said as confidently as she could, realizing that if she was misinterpreting the data she would at the least be laughed at as a fool and at worst she might be diverting the Sentinel from his appropriate patrol.
"Can you put a 2 dimensional representation of the telemetry on the display screen?" Captain Terpe Kojima asked.
"Yes sir," Pakrité replied.
Kojima observed the display, which rendered the sensor telemetry into a series of blips on the main viewing screen, as Pakrité observed her captain. He was an unusual specimen of a Tépean male. At 1.75 meters he was a bit taller than the average Tépean male, but it was his combination of hair, eye and skin coloring that set him apart. Most Tépeans either had black hair with red highlights and dark mahogany-like skin with deep brown eyes or they had auburn hair with cinnamon-colored skin and light brown eyes or they had reddish blonde hair with a light bronze skin tone and green eyes. But Terpe had black hair with red highlights, cinnamon colored skin and green eyes. And it seemed to Pakrité that the ridges on his nose were more masculine than most men's, which perhaps offset the fact that the shells of his ears had the most delicate pleating leading up to their tips.
"Lieutenant did you hear me?" Captain Kojima asked.
"Uh, no sir. I'm sorry sir. I was thinking about the sensor display," Pakrité said as she blushed. She loathed the fact that she had the light bronze coloring of her race as it made it so obvious when she was embarrassed.
"Yes, well I agree with you that it does show an alien vessel about to come under attack by the marauders. So, do you think you could transfer the coordinates to the helm, so we might go and assist them?" Terpe said trying to hide his amusement. He knew she hadn't been daydreaming about the sensor display for he sometimes found himself daydreaming about her. Fortunately he was a little better about the timing of his daydreaming, but unfortunately for both of them she was his subordinate officer and so there was nothing they could do about the mutual attraction unless one of them transferred to another ship and then what would be the point.
"Yes sir, already done sir," Pakrité said.
Ensign Vidda Mangels a representative of the Dorvnon race and the ship's principal navigator spoke up, "Course laid in sir." Then he turned a bit and smirked up at Pakrité. At least she thought it was a smirk, it was difficult for her to read the facial expressions of Dorvnons, they were so pallid and their corn silk blonde mustaches and goatees obscured their mouths and then their cranial ridges made them look to her like they were perpetually worried.
"Engage engines at maximum sustainable cruising speed," the captain ordered.
"Aye sir," came the engineer's response.
"Lt. Gometa how long until we reach the coordinates?" the captain asked.
"At this speed," Pakrité hesitated a moment as she did the calculations, "approximately 10 hours."
"Ten hours," Kojima said sadly "unless this alien vessel is very well shielded and has a lot of fire power, all we'll be able to do is pick up survivors, if there are any." Kojima added dejectedly.
"Sir, look at the sensor display!" Mangels said excitedly.
"Well, the alien vessel has a little surprise of its own for the marauders doesn't it?" Kojima said as he noted 6 smaller blips emerge from the large one that had been on the screen previously.
The officers on the bridge of the Sentinel watched as the Marauders engaged Voyager and her Defenders. As they grew closer the quality of the telemetry improved until, at the end of the battle, they were able to observe the Baxial and Voyager sweep in to protect the damaged defender. They were also able to see the Baxial's missiles take out two more fighters.
As the marauders turned tail, the Sentinel's engineer Nubmité Shimaru said, "I'd like to meet the woman who commands that vessel, she's an incredible strategist."
"You don't know that it was a woman in command of that vessel, it could just as well have been a man who coordinated that battle plan," argued Mangels.
"No, if it were a man he would have foolishly chased the Marauders into the Maelstrom," countered Shimaru.
"Enough!" Captain Kojima ordered. "We know nothing about these people. It's senseless to speculate based on our own prejudices."
After his officers quieted down he continued, "Now, lets speculate on something we might actually know something about. How long do you think it will be before the marauders strike again?"
"Eight, maybe ten hours, it depends how long it takes them to get more fighters willing to go out against these new aliens," Shimaru responded.
"I concur," Mangels said. "I think it will be closer to ten because they will want to take out a heavier attack force than last time. So closer to ten hours I think."
"Good we should be there by then. Shimaru you have the bridge I'll be in my cabin should I be needed. And Lieutenant Gometa, as soon as we are in hailing distance let me know. I'd like to let that ship know that help is on the way and I'd also like to make sure they don't fire on us."
Kojima saw smiles and nodding heads all around.
June 5, 2378 2100 Briefing Room
"How are the repairs going, B'Elanna?" the captain asked as soon as the last of her senior staff seated themselves around the briefing room table.
"Well, we were very fortunate, damages consist mostly of burnt out EPS couplings. It will take a while to get them all repaired, but I'd say Voyager should be back to normal specs in about 7 hours. The news isn't as good for Shuttle/fighter three," B'Elanna answered.
"Oh, how extensive is the damage to Defender 3?" Janeway inquired.
"The propulsion unit is fried. We need to remove it, then replicate and install a new one. That's going to take at least 12 hours unless I get some extra hands, even then the fighter's small, we can only fit so many people in there," B'Elanna said.
"Take what you need from among any skilled engineers not on another critical repair," Chakotay ordered "And draft some security folks to do jobs requiring less engineering skills. Any pair of strong hands should be able to pull that propulsion unit out for you," he observed.
When Chakotay noticed Kathryn looking at him curiously, he explained, "We don't have any idea how long it will be before those marauders return, but my gut tells me it won't be as long as 12 hours."
"Well, I'm sure they are coming back," Harry Kim said with conviction.
"Why do you say that, Harry?" Janeway asked.
"Because just before I came in here, one of our probes picked up a blip coming out of the Badlands and then the probe stopped transmitting. I think the marauders took it out to prevent us from detecting them early like we did this time. I repositioned the other probes to compensate for the lost probe and I don't think the marauders have noticed those other probes yet." Harry explained.
"Good job Harry," the captain said.
"Should we deploy another probe to the area?" Tuvok asked.
"Doing that might alert them that we have other probes," Chakotay said.
"Or not doing so could," Tuvok countered.
"How many more probes do we have in reserve, Tuvok?" Janeway asked.
"There are three at this moment but more could be fabricated," Tuvok answered.
"All right replace the one they took out but try to locate it somewhere useful without it being exactly where the previous one was," Janeway ordered.
"Doctor, anything significant to report from Sickbay?" Janeway asked.
"No thankfully none of the injuries sustained were serious enough to keep anyone here in sickbay, all crew have been certified for active duty," the EMH reported.
"That's wonderful to hear," Janeway responded.
"Neelix, first let me congratulate you on an excellent job of piloting and second let me ask you, have you had a chance to check on crew morale?" Janeway said, both praising the Talaxian and asking him to put his other hat on, so to speak.
"Thank you captain, but really with what the engineering crew did to the Baxial's engines and navigation console, I barely had to think and she responded. As to crew morale, it's pretty good. People are a little nervous, but not overly so. I think its good we have some repairs to do, busy hands leave less time for active imaginations to go astray," Neelix reported.
"Well, I've never thought of disabled systems in that light before, but let's hope your right," Janeway said.
"Tom, how are our fighter pilots doing?" Janeway asked.
"Everyone was sort of nervous at first, but I think that all settled down after the first exchange of fire," Tom reported.
"Did anyone else think that the pirates were a little slow in changing tactics? And a little quick to turn tail?" he asked.
"Yes, but that was to be expected, they're criminals not trained military," Chakotay said.
"I concur and we should exploit that," Tuvok added.
"How?" Chakotay asked.
"They've attempted two different strategies and neither has been terribly successful. We should anticipate that they will employ similar tactics but with greater numbers," Tuvok stated, he seemed to be waiting for Chakotay to contradict him.
"Yes, I think you are right. A pirate fleet rarely has too many different tactics at its disposal. They just don't have the trained personnel for it. So we should expect the same tactics but with more ships," Chakotay said.
"Well, my recommendation is that everyone pitch in on repairs where they can and grab a little sleep if possible, before the next round of attacks," Janeway said by way of dismissal.
As her officers began to file out she called out, "Chakotay, would you stay a moment."
He stopped and came back and smiled at her. After waiting for the door to close behind the last person out, he asked, "Are we officially on duty?"
"Uh no, I think we are off duty. Why?" she asked hesitantly.
"Because I've always wanted to do this, here." Chakotay answered as he picked her up and settled her on the briefing room table, and then he stepped between her legs and started kissing her passionately. His hands roamed over her body like they had an urgent mission.
After a few moments, Kathryn pushed him away and gasped for breath.
"I see you've had a healthy fantasy life," she said and they both laughed.
"Uh huh," Chakotay answered and came back for more kisses, but Kathryn held him at bay.
"Chakotay, please I just wanted to tell you what a fine job I thought you did of controlling that battle and to ask you what you really think about the next battle," Kathryn said seriously.
Her tone got his attention and he settled himself down. "Thanks, but it went well because the fighter pilots we had really paid attention to their training. That makes a lot of difference in this kind of situation. As to the upcoming battle, I'm nervous yet somehow I have this gut feeling it will be OK, which is weird because my common sense is screaming that we're in trouble. I'm not sure which voice to listen to," Chakotay admitted.
"Let's hope your gut is right again," Kathryn said.
"Come on, let's go see if we can help the engineering staff any," she said and began leading him from the room by the hand.
"Oh OK," he said then just as they reached the doorway he stopped and pulled her back saying, "Just one more kiss".
"Oh all right," she said not able to resist the pleading look in his eyes.
He pushed her up against the bulkhead and began plundering her mouth with his tongue. His hands were busy too, one hand kneaded her breast while the other cupped her ass and pressed her to him.
Finally he let her go and she looked up at the almost feral look on his face and said, "Wow, that was some kiss!"
He laughed and the spell was broken. They left the briefing room to go help make their ship as ready as it could be for the next pirate attack.
June 6, 2378 0230 Bridge of the CSS Sentinel
Pakrité should have gone off duty hours ago but she was determined to contact the alien vessel by subspace and she wasn't leaving until she did, but she was getting terribly frustrated. She was beginning to suspect that the marauders might have deployed a subspace-jamming probe. If she could find it and determine how it was operating, she thought she might be able to punch through the interference.
"Kojima to bridge," the captain's voice sounded over the communication link.
Second officer Rarger Meoish, a Meoan, replied in his normal purr of a voice, "Aye sir, what can we do for you, captain?"
"Haven't we been able to contact that alien ship yet?" Kojima asked sounding impatient.
Meoish turned toward Lieutenant Gometa, "Anything Lieutenant?"
"No sir, I think the marauders may have deployed a subspace-jamming probe. I'm trying to locate it and determine how it's operating so I can overcome the interference," Pakrité replied.
"All right keep working on it. Kojima out," the captain said as he closed the communication link.
June 6, 2378 0230 Bridge of Voyager
Harry Kim wasn't sure, but it looked as though there was a large vessel approaching Voyager from the direction they were traveling. More than that, he thought the vessel might be trying to hail them, but there was so much static on subspace he couldn't be sure. He didn't want to call the captain to the bridge without good reason, because he was hoping she might be catching a few hours sleep, but he wasn't entirely sure what he should do with his suspicions. Then he had an inspiration, he'd call Seven of Nine in to help clear up the distortion in subspace and to hopefully help him refine the forward scans.
"Kim to Seven of Nine," he said to open a communications link.
"Seven of Nine here. What do you require Ensign Kim?" came Seven's crisp reply.
"Your assistance Seven, I need to enhance our forward scans and eliminate some interference in subspace," Kim replied.
"I will assist you from here," Seven said.
Kim checked his forward sensors a few minutes later and found he could now be sure there was a large vessel coming towards Voyager. He had to contact the captain despite the hour.
"Kim to Janeway," he said.
"Janeway here. What is it Harry?" from the quick response and the sound of her voice, Harry was sure the captain was not sleeping, in fact from the background noise it seemed likely she was in the shuttle bay.
"Captain, we've got a large vessel coming our way, not from the Super Badlands but from ahead of us. Also, I think we may have a subspace communications trying to come in, but there's a lot of subspace interference. I've got Seven of Nine helping me to try and clear it up."
"We'll be right up, Janeway out," the captain said.
Harry Kim surmised that by we, she meant Commander Chakotay would be with her.
A few minutes later Janeway and Chakotay came on to the bridge. Both had taken the time to change into most of their uniform, though neither was wearing a jacket.
"So Harry, what have we got?" Janeway said.
"Well, we've got a large vessel coming towards us at high warp, it should reach us in two hours. We also seem to have an incoming subspace message, but there's a lot of interference, so we can't tell what it says," Harry reported.
"Well, let's look at it this way, if there are civilizations near this Super Badlands, it seems reasonable that they might patrol this area, and if they caught sight of us on their scanners they might try to hail us. What bothers me, is this subspace interference," Chakotay said, thinking out loud.
"Harry, is there any indication this could be some form of jamming?" Janeway asked.
"The thought has crossed my mind that this is a form of jamming, but it's so random I can't fathom how they are doing it," Kim said.
"They are using interleaved fractal algorithms," Seven of Nine stated in her normally abrupt manner as she exited the turbo lift.
"Mr. Kim, if you will allow me," Seven of Nine said as she moved into his area behind the operations console and began inputting various commands. "I believe if we use an inverse covariant band pass filter in combination with a Fourier analysis, we may be able to screen sufficient noise from the signal to allow reception."
Shortly after Seven's statement a signal began coming through, it was still filled with static and the Universal Translator was not able initially to interpret the message but there was something in the tone of voice of the speaker that was reassuring. Eventually, Seven of Nine and Harry Kim working together got the message cleaned up enough that the Universal Translator could render a coherent message.
"Unidentified vessel, this is the CSS Sentinel. We witnessed your recent battle with the Marauders from the Maelstrom. We believe they will be back to attack you again and in larger numbers. We are making best speed towards you and wish to assure you that we will provide to you every support we can," the translated voice said.
"Looks like the cavalry is on its way," Harry said. "Uh, no offense Commander," he added a moment later.
"Huh, what?" Chakotay said, and then suddenly he got the implication that the cavalry were the enemy to ancient Northern Native Americans. Instead of saying something simple like 'no offense taken', he remembered something he'd said to Paris once and it seemed fitting, so he smiled and said, "Wrong tribe, Harry."
"I think we better send a response to them so they know that we won't shoot first and ask questions later," Janeway said. "Now anyone got any ideas how we can punch through this subspace jamming?"
"We should send it on all subspace frequencies. The jamming cannot be effective on all frequencies and our counterparts on the Sentinel should be able to piece the message together from the various fragments that get through on different frequencies," Seven of Nine offered.
"OK, lets try sending this message," the captain said. "CSS Sentinel this is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the USS Voyager. We received your message and are grateful for any assistance you can offer us. We look forward to rendezvousing with you in a few hours."
"Repeat it on all frequencies, highest gain we can muster," Janeway said to Harry.
"Chakotay, my ready room please," Kathryn said.
"Yes ma'am," Chakotay replied.
Once they were inside the ready room Kathryn whirled about and asked Chakotay, "Well what do you think of this latest development? Is it crunch time?"
"Maybe" he grinned at her, he knew she'd probably make some comment about his calling her ma'am. He usually only did it to get under her skin but this time, it was a bit of a message about the seriousness of their situation. "I think its good and bad news. As I said it makes sense that this area might be patrolled and the message sounded sincere. I almost feel like a Star Fleet border patrol unit has hailed us. However, on the down side, if the 'Marauders', as the Sentinel's crew calls them, are jamming subspace, then they have a pretty good idea that this patrol ship is out here. They may be aware of its location and its cruising speed. I suspect they will jump us soon so as to avoid entanglement with the Sentinel," Chakotay concluded.
"I was thinking the same thing. Well, looks like we better get back down to the shuttle bay and see if we can get that damaged fighter ready ASAP," Kathryn said.
"Oh and Chakotay," Kathryn said as they were walking towards the ready room's exit, "What's your gut tell you?"
"That everything is going to be fine, truly fine." Chakotay said.
"Why do you say that?" Kathryn asked.
"Because not only is the crew of the Sentinel going to come to Voyager's rescue, I believe its captain may come to mine, personally," Chakotay said with a broad smile.
"What do you mean?" Kathryn asked as they headed for the turbolift that would take them to deck nine.
"Well, if their culture has the same traditions as ours," Chakotay said as he stepped into the turbolift, "deck nine," he said to the computer, "maybe he can marry us," Chakotay said as the turbolift started down, then he grabbed Kathryn to him for a quick but passion filled kiss.
As she pulled out of his embrace as the turbolift car stopped at deck nine, she smiled at him and said, "Maybe, maybe he can at that. Now all we have to do is survive long enough to ask him."
June 6, 2378 0300 Bridge of Sentinel
Pakrité was very tired and so for a moment she thought she might be seeing things but no, there were definitely subspace messages coming in on all frequencies, or maybe she realized, there might be one subspace message being sent out on all frequencies in hopes of defeating the jamming. She began trying to isolate messages that seemed to have the least amount of static in them and then had the computer try to overlay the messages in hopes of piecing together the message. After a few moments she had the message reconstructed, now she just had to wait for the general interpretation program to decipher the language.
"Gometa to Kojima," she said calling the captain to inform him of the news.
"Yes Pakrité, what is it?" His gentle reply came over the intercom and made Pakrité blush, he probably assumed she was calling from her quarters and not the bridge otherwise he would never have called her by her first name.
"Sir, I've just managed to pull a subspace message from the jamming, I believe it's from the alien vessel. The interpretation program is working on it now. I believe we'll have the results in a few minutes," Pakrité reported.
"Fine I should be on the bridge by then. Good Work, Lieutenant. Kojima out" Kojima replied.
On his way to the bridge, Terpe Kojima cursed himself for not being more careful. He knew several of his officers suspected his affection for Pakrité and a few of the Tépeans still had trouble with having a male captain. They might use his attraction to Pakrité against him, even though the two of them had never done anything that was against regulations. It seemed so unfair to him that fate would put the woman he loved under his command. And their alternatives didn't seem all that attractive. Pakrité could transfer to another posting and then they would be free to pursue a relationship, but what would it amount to – a few days here and there, stolen between her duty assignments and his. Just as he reached that dismal point in his reverie the lift doors opened onto the bridge.
"So what have we got Gometa?" he asked as he walked over to her post.
"The interpreter program is almost finished," she said.
"Here it is, the voice is an approximation of course," she reminded him.
"CSS Sentinel, this is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the USS Voyager. We received your message and are grateful for any assistance you can offer us. We look forward to rendezvousing with you in a few hours," the message said.
"Good, they know we are on our way and they sound friendly. It also seems as though Shimaru was correct, the ship's captain does seem to be a woman, at least if the interpreter program is correct," Kojima added.
"Well, let's keep a sharp lookout, if the marauders realize we're in the vicinity, which the subspace jamming seems to indicate, they will probably attack sooner than later, trying to take Voyager before we can get there to assist them. Have the fighter crews on standby," he ordered.
June 6, 2378 0330 Shuttle Bay
"I would never have believed we could pull an impulse engine and replace it in that brief a period," B'Elanna said as she slid to the floor exhausted.
Janeway joined her as Chakotay wander off from the two women. "Where are you going?" she called after him.
"To get you two some food and coffee," he yelled back at them from across the bay in front of its one lone food replicator.
"Smart man, that fiancé of yours," B'Elanna said to Kathryn.
"Yes, I think I'll keep him," Kathryn replied with a smile.
When Chakotay returned with coffee and sandwiches, the two women looked as though they'd fallen asleep and he fought with himself about whether to wake them or not, even though that gut instinct of his was telling him an attack was imminent.
"Well are you going to stand there like a statue or are you going to give us our coffee?" Kathryn said, startling Chakotay so badly he nearly dropped the food and coffee.
He recovered quickly and said, "You only get the coffee if you eat the sandwiches too."
"All right," Kathryn said and reached for the coffee, which Chakotay pulled out of her way like a matador pulling the cape away from a bull.
"Ah ah, sandwich first," he said firmly.
"Oh all right," Kathryn said in annoyance. She then took a half sandwich from the platter and without looking first to see what it was, put a big bite in her mouth and began chewing.
As Chakotay and B'Elanna began eating their sandwiches, it finally dawned on Kathryn what she was eating.
"Ooh yuck, cream cheese and grape jelly?" she said in disbelief.
"Oh, you must have gotten my sandwich," B'Elanna said, then turned to Chakotay and said, "thanks for remembering."
"Your welcome," Chakotay said around a mouthful of sandwich, "your favorite's on the plate there somewhere too, honey, if you just hadn't been in such an all fired hurry to get to the coffee, you might have looked first."
Kathryn put down the offending sandwich and gave Chakotay a look, partly for scolding her and partly for calling her honey, then looked at the plate and did indeed find her favorite sandwich.
"Don't give me that look," Chakotay said, "We're eating, we agreed during a meal break we are not on duty. So I think I should be allowed to call you honey if I want to," he said like a petulant little boy.
"We are not alone," Kathryn countered.
"You have a problem with my calling my fiancée honey when we are not on duty, but in your presence, B'Elanna?" Chakotay asked.
"Oh, no you don't. Don't you dare pull me into the middle of this sort of argument," B'Elanna said as she laughed.
Before Kathryn or Chakotay could say anything more she stood up, took her sandwich and coffee and said, "Besides, I'm going to sickbay to check on my baby, so you two will be alone. See ya."
"See ya, give Miral a kiss from us too," Kathryn said.
Kathryn and Chakotay sat in companionable silence for a few moments, eating their sandwiches, when Kathryn noticed that Chakotay was eating sandwiches as though he were in some sort of speed eating contest.
"Chakotay, slow down, you'll choke if you wolf down your food like that, besides it's rude," Kathryn said, sounding surprisingly like her own mother.
Chakotay swallowed what he had in his mouth, then said, "Sorry, but I just have this sense that we should hurry because those pirates are going to attack again at any moment," he replied then drained his coffee cup.
"I'm going to get up to the bridge," Chakotay said as he stood up.
"Wait a second, give me a hand up and I'll go with you," Kathryn said.
"Red alert, all hands to their duty stations, repeat red alert."
"OK, who needs sensors, from now on we just listen your gut, your sixth sense," Kathryn said as she and Chakotay jogged toward the turbolift.
June 6, 2378 0340 Voyager's Bridge
"Mr. Kim report," Janeway requested as she entered the bridge.
"We read 15 small fighter craft, 3 of the medium size vessels and the large vessel that we encountered before," Kim reported.
"Time to intercept?" Chakotay asked as he took over the helm again.
"Fifteen minutes unless we alter course, sir," Kim replied.
"No, we have help coming towards us, the longer we can run towards that help the better," Chakotay responded.
"Chakotay to engineering." he said.
"Vorik here sir," the young Vulcan responded.
Chakotay looked back at Kathryn and said "Vorik we need to try to run, at least for a short time, at maximum warp, keep a close watch on the engines."
"Yes sir," Vorik replied.
Chakotay increased Voyager's cruising speed to warp 9.975, the ship had been through so much over the years, he wasn't sure how long the game little ship would take the strain of running at that speed, but even if they could only sustain it for a few minutes they'd put a good deal of space between them and the marauders and get closer to their reinforcements.
"Engineering to Bridge," B'Elanna's voice came over the comm line a minute later, "the engines can't take this for much longer, Voyager's really not up to maximum warp for sustained periods."
"She doesn't have to be B'Elanna," Chakotay said as he reduced speed.
"Harry how long until the marauders overtake us now?" Chakotay asked.
Harry took a moment to consult the sensors. "We bought an additional fifteen minutes with that burst, it'll be a half hour before they catch up with us," Harry reported.
"And we're that much closer to the Sentinel," Chakotay said.
June 6, 2378 0345 Sentinel's Bridge
"Sir, sensors show marauders emerging from the plasma storm and it seems Voyager has put on a burst of speed, she was up to approximately warp 9.98 for a minute, sir," Gometa reported.
"She's trying to reach us before the marauders get to her," Kojima said.
"Let's see if we can get a message through to them now, we're a lot closer and we know the game the marauders are playing with communications," Kojima said.
"Yes sir, attempting to establish a subspace link now. Try it now sir, I think we've got a clear frequency," Gometa replied in a weary voice.
"USS Voyager, this Captain Kojima of the CSS Sentinel, are you receiving us?" Kojima asked.
"Yes Captain Kojima, we are receiving you. Do you have the ability to transmit visually?" Janeway's voice asked.
Kojima nodded to Gometa to try to establish two-way visual communications. In a moment the Sentinel's main view screen showed the bridge of the Voyager and Voyager's main screen showed the bridge of the Sentinel.
"Ah, there you are Captain Janeway. I assume your recent burst of speed was to get away from our local nuisances, the Marauders from the maelstrom," Kojima said as he took in as much of the other ship's bridge as he could. The crew of Voyager seemed to possess at least two different races and one of them looked nearly like a Tépean with his dark hair and coloring and pointed ears, he was merely missing the nose ridges. The rest looked to be of another race that possessed neither pointed ears nor nose ridges. With the exception of the captain, all of the officer's on the bridge appeared to be male and the male who was seated furthest forward had an intriguing marking on his face.
"Yes, we wanted to get closer to you before having to engage them in battle, so that we might not have to fight them alone for too long a time. They have increased their forces by 50%." Janeway responded as she took in the people she saw on the screen. The captain looked to her like a cross between a Bajoran and an Ocampan and she found his cinnamon colored skin and green eyes striking. One of his crew looked like a Klingon who had been bleached out and in the background there was what looked like a humanoid version of a black jaguar.
"We will continue towards your position at our best speed captain, you may have to fight them alone for a while but I promise we will be there. Hold on Voyager, Kojima out," he said and motioned for the communication to be terminated.
"Shimaru, can we make a short run at maximum warp?" Kojima asked.
"Yes sir, but not for long, we've been running at maximum cruise a long time as it is," Shimaru responded.
"What's the max you think we can get a way with?" the captain inquired
"No more than a minute," Shimaru replied.
"Helm increase to maximum warp for 60 seconds," Kojima ordered.
June 6, 2378 0347 Voyager's Bridge
"Well, now I'm sure we're going to be OK," Chakotay said with a laugh.
"Why do you say that Chakotay?" Janeway asked curiously.
"Didn't you see that black jaguar on their bridge?" Chakotay asked. "That's got to be a good sign," he concluded.
"I hate to report this but the Marauders are increasing their speed," Harry said. "I think they are trying to compensate for our burst of speed."
"Chakotay to Torres, B'Elanna, are the engines up to one more short burst at maximum warp?" He asked.
"I almost wish I could say no, but yes you can 'floor it' again, but keep it short, no more than 45 seconds," Voyager's chief engineer replied.
Chakotay keyed in maximum warp for 50 seconds and Voyager surged ahead again.
"Torres to Chakotay, do you have death wish?" B'Elanna screamed at him through the comm. line.
"We're still in one piece aren't we?" Chakotay countered.
An incoherent growl could be heard over the comm line before the link was terminated.
"Harry, recompute ETA for pirates versa ETA for Sentinel." Janeway ordered.
"The pirates will reach us in 25 minutes and assuming we end up dropping out of warp to engage them, the Sentinel will reach us in 40 minutes." Harry reported.
"Can we hang in a dogfight with them for 15 minutes, Chakotay?" Janeway asked.
"We don't really have a choice now do we?" Chakotay answered, and then seeing the concerned look in Kathryn's eyes he added, "we can do it, we just have to be aggressive but careful."
"Chakotay to Defenders," he said, "Our adversaries will reach us in 25 minutes, check out your craft and be prepared to launch at that time."
"Chakotay, may I speak to you in my ready room?" Kathryn said.
"Of course," he replied and motioned for an ensign to cover the helm for him, then followed her to the ready room.
"Chakotay, your honest appraisal, what are our odds here?" she asked.
"Depends what you're asking; can we survive until the Sentinel reaches us? Definitely. Can we survive without any losses? Doubtful," Chakotay answered genuinely.
"What losses do you anticipate?" Janeway asked.
"I'm not sure, Voyager will undoubtedly take some damage and we'll probably lose some of the shuttle/fighters," Chakotay reluctantly admitted.
"And the pilots and their gunners?" she asked.
"It depends on the situation, we may be able to rescue them and maybe we won't. I can't predict that," Chakotay said.
"What would give them a better chance?" Kathryn pushed him for an answer.
"Wearing an EVA suit and keeping a helmet nearby. That way if the craft's going up, they could beam off and we could retrieve them. Still very dangerous, they'd be out there virtually unprotected in the middle of a dogfight. With all that phaser fire, well let's hope it won't come to that," Chakotay replied.
"You'll order them to wear the EVA suits?" Janeway asked.
"No, you will. Don't forget you're the captain here, just because you've put me in charge of the battle strategy doesn't mean I've suddenly usurped your command you know," Chakotay reminded her.
"Yes, of course, you're right. It's just, I don't know, watching you these last few days I've realized what a good captain you would make. Maybe Voyager should have been your ship after all," Kathryn mused.
"You know what? We'll have time to discuss this later." Chakotay said trying to break through her mood. "For right now, I suspect our absence is making the bridge crew nervous. Let's get back out there, OK?" he asked as he headed towards the door.
"OK, but just one more thing," Kathryn said.
"What?" Chakotay said in an almost exasperated tone.
"This," Kathryn said just before she pulled him to her for a passionate kiss.
When they finally broke off the kiss, Chakotay shook his head slightly, grinned and said with a little laugh, "Kathryn, you never cease to surprise me."
Janeway and Chakotay joined the rest of the bridge crew and Janeway called up the fighter pilots to order them to don EVA suits and keep their helmets ready, just in case.
Right on cue the pirates' large cruiser and 3 assault craft with their fighter escorts came into visual sensor range.
"Defenders, launch. Tuvok, as soon as the last ship clears the bay get Voyager's shields up and all weapons charged and ready," Chakotay ordered.
"Aye sir," came Tuvok's reply.
Soon Voyager, the Baxial and the Delta Flyer were all heavily engaged in combat. The shuttle/fighters were bobbing and weaving amongst the larger ships, trying to avoid taking a solid hit while simultaneously trying to do some damage. The pirate fighters tried to keep out of Baxial's range as Icheb had become adept at picking them off and was seriously depleting their numbers. At one point the large cruiser pulled back behind the three assault craft, which had formed a skirmish line. It looked as though the cruiser was simply going to wait for the other ships to do the work. When Chakotay saw that he got an idea.
"Voyager to Baxial and Delta Flyer. Tom, Neelix, flank me we're going to 'play chicken' with those three larger ships," Chakotay said.
"OK Chakotay sounds like fun" came Tom's reply.
"I'll take the one on the right," was Neelix's simple reply.
"You're going to do what, Chakotay?" the captain asked obviously alarmed.
"Play Chicken, just sit down and watch, I don't have time for distractions," Chakotay answered as he turned Voyager and headed straight for the center assault craft. The Delta Flyer headed for the left one and the Baxial headed for the one on the right just as Neelix had promised.
"We're 200,000 Kilometers from the vessel," Harry Kim reported.
The assault crafts began pouring phaser fire at the three Federation ships and the Federation ships returned the favor.
"Shields are at 86%," Tuvok announced.
"150,000 Kilometers," Harry reported again.
"Shields are down to 74%," Tuvok staed.
"100,000 Kilometers," Harry continued reporting their position as the assault craft continued to power on the phaser fire.
"Shields are down to 63%," Tuvok announced.
"Harry, Tuvok, shut up," Chakotay said in irritation.
When Voyager was 20,000 kilometers from the middle craft, or about two seconds from impact at the sub-light speeds the vessels were fighting at, the other ship's pilot 'chickened out' and veered to his port. Unfortunately, at the same time, the ship Neelix was aimed at veered to his starboard and the two ships collided. The resulting explosion turned the two ships into a lot of ionized gas and flying debris. Chakotay realized one particularly large chunk of debris was about to collide with Voyager, to avoid it he accelerated and banked the ship hard over to port. The inertial dampers could actually be heard straining.
"Engineering to Bridge, what the hell do you think you're doing with this ship Chakotay, it's NOT a fighter craft, you p'thak!" B'Elanna screeched at him over the comm. line.
"Defender 4 to Voyager, we've just lost shields and life support," Debbie Lang reported calmly.
"Tuvok, where's Voyager's strongest shielding area right now?" Chakotay asked.
"Aft port shields are at 60%," Tuvok reported.
"Defender 4 this is Voyager can you maneuver to Voyager's aft port section?" Chakotay asked.
"Yes sir, I think we can," Lang responded.
"OK, tuck in nice and close and we'll extend our shield to cover you," Chakotay said.
"Tuvok, make it so," Chakotay ordered.
"Harry is it my imagination or are they regrouping and heading back to the Badlands?" Janeway said as she looked over Harry Kim's shoulder at the sensor readouts.
"It's not your imagination and look, this is why," Harry Kim threw a magnified display of an incoming vessel that was every bit as big as the marauder's largest ship.
With the exception of Tuvok, everyone on the bridge let out a cheer for the CSS Sentinel and her crew. When the ship dropped out of warp a dozen fighter craft swarmed out and started a mop operation on any marauders that were straggling behind.
Chakotay leaned back in the chair he'd been sitting in and let out a sigh. Kathryn realized the man was probably physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted; so she decided she should start acting like the captain and began immediately giving orders to retrieve the Defenders and for damage and casualty reports to be forwarded from all departments.
"The Sentinel is hailing us, captain," Harry Kim reported.
"Put them on screen," Kathryn said.
"Congratulations, Captain Janeway, that was the most daring bit of fighting I think I've ever witnessed," Kojima said.
"Well don't congratulate me, congratulate my first officer Commander Chakotay," Kathryn said as she walked down and stood next to Chakotay and put a hand on his shoulder, "he's been in charge of all our combat strategies and was the one piloting this ship during the battle," she added proudly.
"Well, well done indeed Commander. I'd like to meet all of you in person to extend my congratulations and our confederation's hospitality. I assure you, the natives of this area are not all as cut-throat as the marauders," Kojima said with a charming smile.
"We'd be happy to meet with you and your command staff, perhaps you could give us a few hours to make things ship shape and well frankly to catch a little sleep. This is actually the middle of the night for some of us," Janeway replied.
"Ah, us too, actually. How about we have you all over for midday meal? That would be in about 8 hours," Kojima offered.
"Sounds good, uh how many of us could you accommodate?" Janeway asked.
"Well let's keep this first meeting small, say six of your people? Later we can look to having larger groups of your crew, maybe eventually your whole crew can visit ours and vice versa," Kojima said with a smile.
"All right then, we'll be over at 1200. And thanks again for coming to our assistance," Janeway said.
"You're welcome. Is there anything we can help you with in terms of getting things, how was it you put it, 'ship shape'?" Kojima asked solicitously.
"No, not that I can think of at this moment, perhaps when damage reports are in we will find something you can help us with," Janeway replied.
"Uh, captain I don't mean to interrupt, but there is one thing I'd like to ask the captain," Chakotay said.
"Please, commander, if there's anything I can do for such a gifted warrior I'd be honored to do so," Kojima responded.
"Well, I was wondering, in our culture the captain of a ship has certain powers that would ordinarily be held by government officials or clerics and I was wondering if it was the same in your culture," Chakotay said rather anxiously.
"I'm afraid I don't understand," Kojima said in confusion, wondering if the interpreter was malfunctioning.
"Well, the captain of our ship can perform a legally binding marriage ceremony, can you?" Chakotay said and suddenly everyone on the bridge understood what Chakotay wanted.
"No, I'm afraid a legitimate joining ceremony can only be performed by an ordained clergy and such a joining must take place on a planet's surface. Why do you ask? If your captain can perform a legitimate joining ceremony, then why would you need to ask a stranger to perform one for you?" Kojima asked.
Chakotay looked up at Kathryn and replied dejectedly, "She can't officiate at her own wedding ceremony."
Suddenly Terpe understood. This handsome warrior was in love with his captain. He envied them that they were free to marry, if only they could find a way. Being at heart a hopeless romantic he was determined to aid them, so he said, "My home world of Tépekan is only about a two week cruise from here and my sister is a priestess of our world's major religion. I will send her a subspace message asking her to marry the two of you, if you so desire."
Chakotay looked at Kathryn and she took his hand and answered for them both, "We do, we most definitely do."