Chapter 20
Desolation
Captain Janeway departed her quarters into the spacious corridor. On a daily basis she saw twice as many people as she did when she was commanding Voyager. Her previous ship only had a crew of about one hundred and fifty people. The Emissary had around four hundred.
She was very proud of her current command, but it just wasn't Voyager. Not a day went by that that little Intrepid-Class ship wasn't one of the foremost things on her mind. The times they shared, the good and the bad, the fun and the danger, even though it was seven years before she anyone from home, she would live them over again. The experience had made them a family, as close as any blood tie.
Things were not the same when they returned. The Alpha Quadrant had been rocked by a devastating war. Countless ships had been destroyed, and even more live had been lost or changed forever. The Dominion presented the greatest threat to the Alpha Quadrant since the Xindi, moreso than the Borg. Janeway regretted not being able to fight alongside her fellow officers during that trial. It was possible Voyager could have been lost during one of the many, many battles. But she would have gladly died fighting if it meant preserving their way of life for generations to come.
Although she had to consider all the good that had been accomplished during their time spent on the other side of the galaxy. The biggest thing perhaps being their halting of the Species 8472 invasion. If not for their aiding the Borg - who it turned out had initiated the hostilities - the galaxy would be overrun with the alien species.
Janeway stood in wait at the turbolift doors for her transportation to the bridge. When the doors slid open, she allowed the two officers aboard the lift to step off before she herself boarded it. "Bridge."
The turbolift proceeded on its way to the top of the ship's saucer. She stepped onto the command center with her hands held behind her back in the usual manner. The bridge of the Emissary was one of those few among the Nebula-Class that possessed the original Galaxy-Class design, such as that used on the U.S.S. Galaxy and U.S.S. Enterprise-D, with a few exceptions. A beautifully carved wooden railing that arched above and behind the command chairs served as the tactical station. Directly behind tactical, and Lieutenant Commander Tuvok, was the master situation monitor, which was between the LCARS and engineering stations. In the corner on her far right was the door leading to the observation lounge, which was located on the opposite side of the wall which housed the main consoles. The lounge provided a magnificent view of the stars while at warp.
Janeway proceeded down the inclined floor. She greeted Tuvok as she passed him. Along the left was the science station, manned by Seven The invaluable officer who had spent the majority of her life as a Borg drone only to be freed from the Collective by the crew of Voyager. Upon their return to the Alpha Quadrant, she turned down a teaching position at Starfleet Academy so she could join the crew of the Emissary as science officer. She was granted the rank of full lieutenant, making her status as a member of the crew official.
Further along the wall on her left was the secondary turbolift and the door to her ready room. Pivoting to her right she saw the dedication plaques directly ahead. One was for the Emissary, the other belonged to Voyager. Janeway had placed it there upon the launch of her latest command in order to commemorate the lost ship. She had taken it off the wall of Voyager's bridge before her core breached. Watching her beloved ship explode on the viewscreen of the Enterprise was a pain that would never be equaled.
Commander Chakotay, the former Maquis leader turned first officer, vacated the center seat and sat back down in the adjacent chair. "We'll be arriving at the coordinates in a few minutes, Captain."
"Good." she said, taking her seat. "I want to know what the hell is going on. Mr. Tuvok, have there been any more dilithium explosions?"
"Negative, Captain." said the Vulcan. He had been Janeway's most trusted advisor for many years.
Next to the viewscreen directly ahead, Lieutenants Tom Paris and Harry Kim sat adjacent one another at the helm and operations.
Paris had been energetic enough when he sat alone on Voyager, so it took some getting used to when his best friend sat directly next to him. "I guess we missed the party." said the onetime Maquis. He, like Chakotay, had been given a second chance in life thanksk to Janeway. He'd still be in a New Zealand penal colony if not for her. "I replicated all that popcorn for nothing."
"Should have considered that before." said Kim. In two years he had still not gotten used to sitting at his post. Due to command structure that was restricted due to their being in the Delta Quadrant, he had spent seven years as an ensign. One of the first things Janeway had done upon gaining command was grant him the rank of lieutenant junior grade as well as making a promise that his rank would make up for lost time. The promise was being kept as the previous week he received a promotion to full lieutenant. He was still beaming.
"Now you don't get any."
"Captain," said Seven. "I am detecting something unusual in the system ahead."
"Confirmed." said Tuvok, checking his own sensors. "It appeared for just a moment, then vanished."
Janeway was not a big fan of vagueness. "Define 'unusual.'"
"I cannot be certain." said Seven. "It did not appear long enough to get a specific reading."
"If you were to take a guess?" asked Chakotay.
"A cloaked ship."
"That is my assumption as well." said Tuvok. "Shall I raise shields, Captain?"
"Not yet, Mr. Tuvok. If that really is a cloaked ship out there then I don't want to do anything to let on we've seen them. But standby."
Seven tried every scan she could think of to detect the phantom ship but it was to no avail. Empty space and more empty space was all she came up with. Either there was no ship or their cloak was impervious to the Emissary's top of the line sensors.
Paris watched the arrival timer counting down on his console. He had been longing for such excitement ever since their return to the Alpha Quadrant. The other side of the galaxy wasn't home, but there was certainly no lack of things to do. The only thing he wished he could have brought back with him was his Fairhaven holodeck program.
"Entering the system, Captain." he said.
"Thank you, Lieutenant. Take us out of warp."
The elongated stars ceased to be streaks and shortened into pinholes in the curtain of space. Just as long range scans showed, there was nothing of interest in the system. One sun, four planets, none of them habitable, and each of them being orbited by at least two moons.
"Full scan, Seven." said Janeway.
Seven began with the lateral sensor array, which was the main scanner. Each planet had a dilithium signature, albeit low traces, so the explosions could have come from any of them. The sun was a standard G type star, similar to Earth's sun, Sol.
Since her liberation from the Collective, she had been encouraged by Captain Janeway to 'think outside the box.' Quite often when she had done so it had met with positive results. As a former Borg drone, she knew of several ways to modify a sensor scan, but there was one she was aware of that she had not yet attempted. An inverse tachyon pulse emitted from the main deflector dish had the ability to scan beyond the subspace barrier. If there were any strange anomalies or cloaked vessels in the system, the tachyon scan should detect them.
Seven had not even yet begun the modifications when something on the standard scan alerted her to a strange discrepancy. According to the sensors, the second planet from the sun did not have a typical orbit for a planet of its size. Often, the orbit of a planet could be affected by a planet in the next orbit out, but the third planet was not close enough to effect it. Which brought her to a second oddity. The gap between the orbits of the second and third planets was atypical. Such a large gap was not very common and usually meant that a planet had had its orbit changed. But if that were the case than that meant there had been an unusually large gap between the third and fourth planets prior to the event. Something was definitely amiss.
"You're awfully quiet, Seven." observed Janeway. "Find something?"
"Possibly. There is something out of the ordinary going on in this system. I am going to execute an inverse tachyon scan."
Janeway gripped the armrests as the ship began to rumble. At first she thought she might have imagined it, but she saw the others craning their heads in an attempt to understand.
"What's that coming from?" asked Chakotay.
"It's subspace turbulence." answered Seven.
"From what?"
"Unknown."
"Captain," said Kim, easily operating his station over the gyration. "Something is coming out of subspace."
"Is it a ship?"
"Negative." Seven looked at her sensor display before meeting eyes with Janeway. "It's bigger. This is unrelated to my scan"
"Put it on screen."
In an instant, all heads stopped craning and were fixated on the viewscreen. The change in stars was indiscernible, however there was no missing what appeared among them. A small, black void appeared in the center of the screen. The circular nothingness expanded until it filled the display, at which point Janeway ordered the magnification decreased. The sensors registered nothing there, yet they could see it, it was three dimensional.
The next occurrence was just as surprising. A second orb began to expand in the very center. In the span of the thirty seconds it took to fill the black orb, they were able to pick out oceans, continents, polar ice caps, and clouds on the ever expanding second orb, which as no clear to them to be a planet.
Paris stared at the viewscreen and blinked. "I'm starting to wish I brought that popcorn up here."
Even if the engines would have allowed the Travioli to go a tenth of a warp factor faster, it would have cut minutes off their travel time. But at the rate the arrival counter went down, they might as well have been going at impulse. Alec would have gotten out and pushed if it would have made a difference.
Moments ago, sensors detected the U.S.S. Emissary entering the Chevris system. Hailing attempts had been unsuccessful. They were being jammed. Roughly a minute later, an extreme subspace disturbance appeared. Rene could not fully understand what the sensors were telling her, but as best she could interpret, a planet came out of nowhere.
"Dante!" said a frantic Alec. "How long does that need weapon need to activate?"
"For a ship it takes about a minute to resonate within the crystals." said Dante. "But they've never tried it on a planetary scale before, it could take longer. And range is a factor as well. They would need to be within two hundred kilometers of their target. But once the dilithium begins to resonate their presence is no longer needed."
"Meaning once the chain reaction has started, they can get to a safe distance and laugh." Alec grumbled. They were almost out of time.
If there was only a way to cut through the Romulan jamming signal, they could warn the Emissary, but there was nothing on board that would allow them to do so. He had the nagging compulsion to try once more, despite knowing the result ahead of time.
"No goddamn way!" he shouted, almost jumping out of his chair. There was no need to cut through the jamming signal, it was no longer present.
'What is it?" asked Rene, saying what they were all thinking.
He didn't answer, he didn't want to waste whatever time he might have. "U.S.S. Emissary, this is Lieutenant Commander Alec Wilson, come in, Emissary." Please, let this get to them. I'll give up Romulan Ale.
"Sensor scan." Janeway rose from her chair and stepped closer to the viewscreen, still unable to believe her eyes.
"Already scanning, Captain." said Seven. "The planet is Class M, but there is no magnetic field present. No life signs. However there are traces of recent mining."
"So it was inhabited at one point." said Chakotay. "Now we have two questions that need answering: What was it doing in subspace, and what brought it out?"
"Captain." There was a very noticeable change of inflection in Seven's voice. Janeway had only heard it once or twice before. "The core of that planet is made of pure dilithium."
"What?!"
"A planet with a core of dilithium?" The expression on his face said everything. "How is that possible?"
"I am uncertain." Seven double checked and triple checked her sensor results to be sure. "The Borg have never encountered anything like this."
"I don't think anyone has." said an awestruck Kim.
"Except the Vesuvians."
"Captain?" said Paris.
"This must be one of their mining planets. It would explain the recent activity, and its proximity to their homeworld."
"It explains the dilithium readings," added Kim. "But not the explosions."
"Sending it into subspace must be a precautionary measure against hostile species." said Chakotay.
"A wise precaution." added Tuvok. "That much dilithium could power fleets of starships for an immeasurable length of time."
"If there are no lifesigns," began Kim. "Then who brought it out of subspace?"
Tuvok was fascinated by the discovery, but he was not able to learn anything further. His communications console began to sound. Someone was hailing them. "Captain, there is an incoming transmission."
Janeway had not heard the hail, but turned her head slightly upon hearing Tuvok. She seemed only half interested. "Source?"
Tuvok raised his eyebrow. "It is a priority one signal, from Commander Wilson."
Her attention was no longer divided. "On screen." she said urgently.
The viewscreen changed momentarily. The man centered in the screen was almost indistinguishable from the one they had met before. He had a weeks worth of facial hair covering a bruised, weary face. His eyes were red and baggy, and his hair was tussled. But there was no mistaking the worry on his face.
"Captain Janeway! You have to get out of there now!"
"What's wrong Commander?" she asked, concerned.
"There is a cloaked Romulan ship in the area, it's going to destroy the-"
The viewscreen flashed back to the previous display of the planet, leaving them all wonder as to the meaning of his message.
"Mr. Tuvok," said Janeway urgently as she turned to face tactical. "What happened?"
"His signal is being jammed."
"Destroy what?" inquired Paris. "The planet?"
"How can one Romulan ship destroy a planet?" asked Kim.
"Only two species have demonstrated the ability to destroy a planet in the past." said Seven. "The Xindi, and Species 8472. Neither of which are likely to be assisting the Romulans."
"Captain," said Tuvok, the Vulcan equivalent of wariness in his voice. "I believe it prudent to heed the Commander's warning. I am reading a massive instability in the planet's dilithium."
"I am reading surface ruptures across the planet." warned Seven. "The crust is imploding."
"Tom!" exclaimed Janeway. "Get us out of here!"
"Way ahead of you, Captain." Paris frantically worked his console. He set a reverse course back to Vesuvia. Damn. The engines would not engage. "Captain, whatever brought that planet out of subspace is having a lingering effect. I can't form a stable warp field."
"Full impulse, get us as far away as possible."
Janeway and Chakotay quickly returned to their seats and gripped the armrests. The image on the viewscreen was as amazing as it was horrifying. For an instant, the planet seemed to shrink in size by one quarter, then the atmosphere was stripped away. Every single body of water on the surface froze in an instant upon being exposed to the extreme cold of space. If there had been any life on the planet, such life would have died at that moment. Canyon-sized cracks formed across the planet and gargantuan plumes of dust and ice exploded upward across the surface as the crust lost its cohesion. The dust clouds were replaced by white plumes as the energy within the dilithium was released. The planet finally broke apart. Moon-sized pieces of rock were sent in all directions in a flash of light brought on by the full destruction of the core.
"Auxiliary power to aft shields." said Janeway, calmly but urgently.
Paris did his best to avoid the planetary debris, but there was simply too much of it for a ship of the Emissary's size to avoid. Sparks spewed from consoles as the shields surged to protect the ship from harm. Each time, Paris had to hold on to his console and correct the ship's orientation.
"Shields down to 63." warned Tuvok.
"Janeway to Torres, can we boost power to the impulse engines?"
"Not without taking it from the shields."
"I advise against that, Captain."
"Looks like we go with the lesser of two evils." said Chakotay.
"Captain," said Paris. "We have another problem, the release of energy produced a shockwave, even with a boost to the impulse engines we couldn't outrun it."
"Let's see it." The greyish shockwave moved steadily toward them, pushing the larger debris along with it and obliterating the smaller pieces. "Suggestions."
Tuvok already had one planned out. "Recommend we transfer all available power to the shields, excluding life support and thrusters. I could then attempt to alter our shield polarity to match that of the shockwave."
"Do it."
"Seven of Nine, your assistance, please. I require-"
"The polaric frequency is seventy-nine teraHertz."
"Adjusting shield polarity."
"Twenty seconds to impact." warned Paris.
Even without debris striking the shields there was a steady rumbling. "Subspace rip tide." said Kim. "It's coming from the edge of the shockwave."
"Ten seconds."
"Janeway to all hands, brace for impact."
"Five seconds."
Tuvok's plan took the edge off of the impact but it was still far from smooth. The shockwave propelled them forward in their seats and forced the stern of the ship upwards, sending it into a virtual nose-dive. Paris used the thrusters to prevent the ship from going end over end. The LCARS console exploded, and the inserted chair underneath it was thrown against the tactical station just a meter away from Tuvok.
The worst had past. It took a few moments for the Emissary to clear the wake of the shockwave but they all breathed sighs of relief. However, they were only currently aware of the situation on the bridge.
"Damage report." said Janeway, brushing hair from her eyes.
"Shields are off-line." said Tuvok, summarizing the report on his console. "There are at least a dozen microfractures along the hall, repair crews are being dispatched at this moment."
"Casualties?" inquired a concerned Chakotay.
"Ten people have been submitted to sickbay with major injuries. Six with minor ones. No fatalities."
Lieutenant Torres stepped off the main turbolift with what seemed like the weight of the world on her shoulders, it was at least the weight of a starship. The engineering station was her immediate destination. It lit up at her touch.
"Report, B'Elanna." said Janeway.
"I had to evacuate engineering and perform an emergency core shutdown. That shockwave overloaded half a dozen systems and blew out an EPS relay. I didn't want to risk a core breach."
It was the right thing to do in Janeway's mind. "How long to restart the core?"
"Fifteen minutes to replace the EPS relay, another ten to reinitiate the matter/antimatter reaction."
"Good."
"I miss the Borg." said Paris, feigning unhappiness. "They never blew up planets."
Apocalypse
At first, Alec could not understand why the jamming signal had ceased. He didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but he couldn't leave it alone. It was nothing they could have done, they had neither the time nor the ability to cut through the interference. Then, he remembered something the operative told him. There were two more operatives, one had gone missing and another was on the weapon ship. She must have performed another act of sabotage to allow them to send a message. That was now two Romulans he knew of that risked their lives for something other than the advancement of the Empire. It was likely that there were many more. He just hoped their efforts weren't in vain. The warning message was successfully conveyed before the jamming signal was back in place. The rest was up to Janeway.
Sensors picked up the destruction of the planet and the ensuing shockwave. It was at that point the scanners were blinded by strong EM interference and contact with the Emissary was lost. They would have to wait until it cleared before they could determine their next course of action. Alec hated the waiting game, even of it was only a few minutes. But he was optimistic. If there was a captain that could look out for her crew, it was Janeway.
"Alec," said Rene. "I've had a lot of time to think the past few days, and I want to stay on the Enterprise for now."
He spun his chair around. "Are you sure?"
She smiled and nodded. "Yes. The past week has made me wish that I had joined Starfleet. We have at least three years before Sonia and James enter school, and we have that long to decide."
"And if I'm court-martialed?"
"Then it's off to Angel Falls."
Alec grinned and spun back to face the helm. "I hear the base jumping is excellent."
Rene glimpsed the console and as she did her smile faded. "The interference has cleared."
Alec's stomach tightened. "And?"
She read the results of the scan, and breathed easier knowing she wouldn't have to be the bearer of bad news. "They're alright!" her voice exploded.
Alec almost jumped at her outburst, but he welcomed the update. "And the weapon ship?"
It took Rene a moment to locate it, and when she did, her excitement dropped off. "They're closing on the Emissary."
"They're moving in to finish the job. How long?"
"Two minutes until they're in range to use the weapon."
Alec peeked at the arrival counter. One minute and thirty seconds to the Chevris system. "Plan A is on. Boy are they in for a surprise."
"What exactly are you planning?" asked Ty'brel.
"And spoil the surprise?"
"Captain." said Tuvok, looking at his display. "A Delta-Class shuttle is approaching the system."
Janeway's head perked up. "That must be the Travioli."
"Looks like we'll get to thank Alec in person." said Chakotay, checking the repair progress on his side console.
Janeway nodded. "There's a lot of questions I'm interested in hearing the answers to. Mr. Tuvok, can you hail them?"
"Negative, Captain. The jamming signal is still in effect."
"Can you identify the signature?"
"I have been attempting to do so. There are three species that use this particular technique of jamming: Breen, Ferengi, and Romulan."
"Well," said Paris. "I think we can narrow that list down to one."
"Romulans." said Janeway, shaking her head and looking upward. "Why does that not surprise me?" she said to nobody in particular.
"The Travioli is coming out of warp." said Tuvok. "And her weapons are armed."
Alec did not hesitate to cruise at full impulse. Luckily for them, the shockwave appeared to destroy most of the debris. Those larger pieces that still remained were easily avoided. He couldn't describe the feeling if he tried, knowing that a planet had once been there and all that remained were these large floating chunks and microscopic particles. Upon nearing the planet before it was destroyed they detected no lifesigns. Whether it was because they were already dead or shipped offworld they could not tell.
"What's the Emissary's status?" asked Alec while veering to starboard.
Rene scanned their counterpart and frowned. "Her shields are down and her weapons are off-line."
"That damn shockwave." Alec flew the shuttle over a large mass of debris. There was another large chunk directly behind it. He reacted quickly and took the ship straight up at a ninety degree angle and cleared it. The Emissary was directly ahead in the viewport. "Even if they could detect the weapon ship they couldn't do anything. Rene, arm those last two torpedoes but don't fire."
She didn't understand but did as she was asked. "All is going to plan I take it."
"So far. I'm linking the autonavigation system with the sensors."
"That's your plan?" asked Rene, who was no longer in the dark. She had enough pieces put in front of her to see the picture they formed. "Are you crazy?"
"Who said that?" Alec joked. He quickly connected the two systems and set the shuttle on a collision course within the cloaked Romulan vessel, which had not yet activated the weapon. He had no intention of giving them the chance. He left the helm for the last time.
"What if they move when they see us coming?" she asked. It was a good question.
"That's why I'm doing this." he said as he reached down to the tactical console. With the last functioning phaser bank he locked onto the weapon ship's impulse engine. The red particle beam struck their invisible target and an explosive plume shot outward into space. The weapon ship's cloak failed and it momentarily appeared in a wavy distortion before disappearing again.
Alec rushed into the back and grabbed his katana, pulling the strap over his head. He asked for the tricorder that Dante used to find the tracking device and held it next to the Romulan sensor add-on. The information download was completed very quickly. The ability to detect cloaked Romulan ships could now be implemented in all Starfleet ships.
"Everybody get ready." he said, heading for the back once more.
"For what?" asked Ty'brel.
Alec did not answer, he let his fingers do the talking. With the push of a few buttons he initiated a site to site transport. In about six seconds they were all on the bridge of the Emissary, the subjects of many puzzled looks and one drawn phaser at the hand of Lieutenant Commander Tuvok, which was instantly holstered.
"Captain Janeway," said Alec. "We were in the neighbourhood-"
An explosion on the viewscreen turned his head. The Travioli had just impacted with the weapon ship and the two armed torpedoes contained within her had detonated, destroying the sturdy shuttle and causing a chain reaction within the weapon ship's own systems. The port wing of the weapon ship broke off and flew out into space and impacted with a piece of planetary debris, disintegrating instantly. The ship itself detonated before the wing completed its final flight. The explosion rocked the Emissary less than it would have if power had not been increased to structural integrity.
Alec bid a posthumous goodbye to his pride and joy. The Travioli did more than he could have hoped. She protected them, carried them on their journey, and helped rid them of a galactic threat. He would miss her as much as any flesh and blood person.
"Commander Wilson." said Janeway, almost impatiently.
"Captain Janeway." he said. "I'm guessing you want to know what's going on."
"The thought crossed my mind."