The Second Portal

by 50of47

The crew of Voyager find themselves in an unfamiliar dimension after passing through the first of a series of wormholes that would considerably shorten their journey home. They search for a way back to normal Delta Quadrant space.

6. Act 4

DISCLAIMER: See prologue.

Act 4

Back on Nardonia, 0900 hours:

Voyager's away team materialized in a heavily wooded area very near the coast of one of Nardonia's smaller continents. Tuvok had determined this site to be tactically the most prudent for a beamdown which would shield them from possible observation. The location was barely within the search grid for the beacon.

They stood in a small clearing atop a shallow rise, about a dozen meters from the bank of a slow-moving river. The humid air was heavy with the aroma of mud and rotting vegetation, but the elevation of the rise was far enough above the planetoid's water level for the soil to be firm and relatively dry under their feet.

Everyone, including Seven, was dressed for back country hiking. They wore lightweight long-sleeved shirts, wide-brimmed hats, long trousers tucked into the top of heavy waterproof boots intended to protect them against snakebite as well as the muck, and canteens of water clipped to their belts. The away team had also slathered every exposed inch of skin with a combination sunscreen/insect repellant formulated by the Doctor.

In addition, they all wore large backpacks, containing equipment deemed necessary for the expedition equally divided among themselves. Tuvok had based his choice of gear on information extracted from the encrypted file and Seven's sensor readings of surface conditions. The backpacks also held reserve supplies of water, a medkit, and field rations.

Seven scanned the surrounding area with her enhanced tricorder until she determined a heading for the away team to follow. Chakotay studied the forest in the direction of the coordinates she indicated until he found a break in the trees and what appeared to be a path beyond it.

He guided the team through the dense undergrowth to a barely visible trail that led away from the river. Deciduous trees towered some 20-odd meters above them, growing so closely together that their canopy protected the away team from direct sunlight. The shade also provided some relief from the rising temperature, which even at that hour was becoming more oppressive with every passing minute. They heard small animals scurrying away through the underbrush from near where the four of them were walking.

The hardwoods eventually gave way to long-needled evergreen conifers resembling the pines of Earth. There was less undergrowth here, mostly ferns and shrubs, interspersed with numerous varieties of flowering plants. Herds of large forest-dwelling herbivorous creatures resembling deer were easily seen moving in the distance, except for a few of the bolder ones that drew closer and quietly poked their heads out from behind the taller ferns to observe the visitors to their habitat. Flocks of birds flew up and made a racket when the away team disturbed their resting places in passing by brushing against bushes and low branches overhanging the trail.

The team walked along largely in silence until they were well into the pine forest, with most of the conversation taken up by Seven's periodic reports on their progress toward the beacon. The signal was still too far away to be pinpointed by Chakotay's locator device, but since the trail was leading them in the right direction according to Seven's tricorder, Chakotay opted to follow it until otherwise indicated.

As they pushed deeper into the pine forest, Chakotay warned the team to be on the watch for snakes underfoot and possibly in the trees as well. Tom Paris was grateful for the heavy boots he was wearing, but was too jumpy worrying about a snake dropping down onto him from above to feel like needling the First Officer about anything.

After Chakotay's warning, the away team continued on in a more vigilant silence, with only Seven's updates and an occasional word or two from Chakotay. The pine forest gradually thinned until the away team emerged from it to find themselves on a low ridge. The rise in elevation had been so gradual that they had not even noticed it.

Once the team was fully out of the pines, relative quiet greeted them, broken only by an occasional screech from overhead and the sound of softly rustling marsh grasses carried on a slight breeze. It made a sharp contrast to the near-constant birdsong and plentiful insect buzzing and chirpings that had accompanied their trip through the forest.

About a kilometer and a half to the team's right, the river that had been near their location at the start of the hike poured its waters out into the marshland through an impenetrable tangle of vegetation and exposed spider-like aerial roots that dropped down from the trunks and lower limbs of the trees to the muddy river banks and into the water itself. The forested coastline to their left curved away and around to a small rocky promontory which jutted out into the marsh.

The ridge on which they stood overlooked an enormous sea of grass under an open, infinitely blue sky. The prairie stretched out to fill their entire field of vision, its furthest edges velvety against the horizon. Numerous hummocks of different sizes were silhouetted in the distance, but they were relatively small features on the sweeping green and gold vista before the away team. There was an occasional flash and glint from a sheet of water flowing beneath the sedge.

"Pa-hay-okee," said Chakotay.

"Commander?" asked Seven.

"It means 'grassy waters,' Seven," said Chakotay. "The Seminole tribes of Florida used the word to describe the Everglades, on Earth. This is what it must have looked like before the white man came and nearly destroyed it."

"Seven, 'Everglades' is just another word for swamp," said Paris. Turning to the First Officer, he said, "Hey, Chakotay. Whatcha wanna bet that kesto have Nardonian cousins just waiting to get a piece of you? I have a few extra vials of tricortisone with your name on them…"

Chakotay was about to snap out a retort when Tuvok said, "Mr. Paris, my tricorder indicates no large hordes of stinging insects for many kilometers in all directions. Evidently, this is not their breeding season. Try to contain your disappointment."

Before Paris could make a sarcastic comeback, Chakotay spoke up. "If I were you, Paris, I'd watch where I was walking once we're on that trail down there," he said, pointing to a narrow path below the ridge. If this 'swamp,' as you call it, is anything like the Everglades, there'll be plenty of big reptiles with sharp teeth lurking just off the trail. They'd probably enjoy a nice meaty pilot." Paris paled. "Oh, and Tom, speaking of 'off the trail,' don't get any bright ideas about exploring in another direction that appeals to you, unless sinking up to your nose in the muck sounds like fun. The marsh surface may look solid, but I'd bet you a week's rations it isn't."

"Right," said a visibly shaken Paris. His experience of being trapped in quicksand while on the previous week's away mission to Natra was still too recent for comfort. He remembered with a shudder just how close he had come to leaving his wife a young widow, and had no desire to repeat the experience.

The away team carefully worked their way down the steep slope of the earthen ridge, taking pains to avoid the visible patches of loose underlying rock protruding from beneath the soil. When they reached the foot of the path, Chakotay gave additional instructions. "As long as we're on this trail, we'll go single file, and again, remain alert for the wildlife. Watch out especially for snakes – there are likely to be species that swim very well in this kind of environment, no different than in a swamp back on Earth." He gave Paris a warning look and then took point, followed by the other three.

As rest of the team started down the trail, numerous long-legged birds caught their attention. Flocks of them dotted the marshland for as far as the team could see. Snowy plumed waders and striking dappled pale pink and white birds with long black legs dipped their heads into the shallow water that shimmered under the marsh grasses, searching for small fish and insects among the swamp lilies that grew in scattered clumps throughout the grassy prairie.

The away team broke the monotony of the hike by watching the wading birds feed and by trying to spot the occasional predatory bird flying overhead, whose cries broke the silence of the marsh. Tom Paris's nervous eyes picked out several of the large reptiles Chakotay had mentioned. They lay motionless and half-submerged in waterholes at some distance off the trail, occasionally splitting the air with their loud, bellowing mating calls. Paris fervently hoped that the reproductive urge would prove stronger than any possible hunger pangs the 10-foot long creatures might be having.

The marsh grass grew progressively taller the further away the team moved from the continent, until it finally towered more than a meter above their heads. Only the cries of the native wildlife coming to their ears told them they were not alone in the swamp.

Chakotay stopped for a moment and carefully ran his hand along the edge of one of the blades of marsh grass, and felt tiny serrated teeth scraping against his skin. "It's some variety of sawgrass," he said. "Be careful when you move it out of your way, and don't let it hit you in the face. It can cause one hell of a nasty cut."

The team acknowledged his advice and continued down the trail. After they had covered 1.7 kilometers, they came to a fork off the main trail, branching to the right.

"Which way, Seven?" asked Chakotay.

"The heading to the right is closest to where I am detecting the beacon signal."

"Right it is, then," said Chakotay. The away team started down the new path and continued for another .6 kilometer until the trail was diagonally intersected by a slow-moving broad channel of water with a thick growth of trees and shrubbery along its banks. The slough flowed toward one of the larger hummocks visible in the distance through gaps in the vegetation.

Chakotay asked, "Seven, would this take us any closer to the signal, or should we cross it and find an alternate route?"

"My readings suggest we follow this channel. Unless there is a radical change in its course further along, it leads in the proper direction. It appears that we will find more of the map in that location," she said, indicating one of the larger tree islands looming over the sawgrass prairie.

"All right, Seven," said Chakotay.

Tuvok broke into the discussion at this point, saying, "Commander, you have an inflatable raft in your backpack, as do I. Seven and Mr. Paris each have two paddles stowed in theirs. I suggest we proceed toward our destination by means of this waterway."

"Agreed, Tuvok." Turning to Seven and Paris, Chakotay said, "You heard the man. While you're at it, break out your rain gear. Unless I'm mistaken, we're in for a shower." He indicated the distant puffy white clouds with anvil-flat bottoms which were already beginning to darken. A faint rumbling in the distance easily carried to their ears across the sawgrass. "Storms can travel pretty fast in this kind of environment, even from as far away as that one is. We need to make good time before the rain hits."

"Aye, Commander," came the chorus of acknowledgements.

The team shed their backpacks and pulled out the equipment Tuvok and Chakotay specified, along with several lines they would need to secure themselves to the shore of the hummock once they reached it. They spent the next few minutes inflating the rafts and maneuvering them into the slough. Everyone then donned raingear, with an eye on the approaching storm. Chakotay climbed into the lead raft and took the paddles and two of the lines from Seven and laid them in the bottom. She then handed over both their backpacks, and Chakotay arranged them in the raft to balance the load. Once everything was settled, he reached up a hand to help Seven into a seated position behind him.

As Chakotay was about to push off from the bank with his paddle and into the middle of the slough, Tuvok stopped him, saying, "A moment, Commander." He leaned down to clip a line into a grommet on a tab at the back of the First Officer's raft, which was one of several that had been sewn into the raft's seams at regular intervals above the waterline on all four sides. Tuvok clipped the other end of the line to a corresponding grommet on the front of his raft, and then eased it into the slough behind Chakotay and Seven. After he had loaded and balanced the raft, he indicated for Tom to follow him in. Chakotay waited until Tuvok and Paris had settled themselves comfortably before giving the order to push off. They began their journey toward the hummock that Seven had indicated as the most probable location of the map.

A lush swamp forest grew along the banks of the slough, with a dense undergrowth of palms and clumps of ferns. Airplants and hanging moss grew on many of the trees, along with bromalieds in blossom and tree orchids. The air was again full of the sounds of birdsong and insect buzzing, and even the occasional croaking of frogs. The team heard the rustle of vegetation when the splashing of their paddles startled marsh rabbits and other small animals, which then fled deeper into the jungle-like undergrowth. Fruiting trees grew in the shallow edges of the slough, their blossom-laden lower limbs dipping close to the water.

After having paddled for over a kilometer and a half, the away team stopped to rest briefly under the fruit trees, out of the direct sunlight. Tuvok was able to reach up and secure several choice specimens of tree orchids and various airplants from the low-lying branches, stowing them in an empty compartment of his backpack. The away team watched as alien river otters slid into the water with a splash, competing with the birds in diving after the schools of small olive-colored fish that swam in the slough. Turtles briefly popped their heads above the water's surface from time to time before submerging again.

The away team resumed their trip toward the hummock. They had not been paddling for very long whenChakotay felt vibrations against his chest. He tapped his combadge and said, "Tuvok, my beacon device just activated. Make a note of these coordinates and we'll compare them against the final location of the quadlets. That'll give us some idea of this device's range."

"Coordinates noted, Commander."

They had paddled for another several minutes when Chakotay noticed through a large gap in the swamp forest that the earlier fluffy clouds had grown into high thunderheads that trailed a dark curtain of rain from their purplish bases. The storm was advancing toward them far too quickly for Chakotay's comfort.

He commed the Vulcan again. "Tuvok, we've only got couple minutes before that storm reaches us. From what I can tell through the trees, this channel is going to divide in another ten meters or so. Stay alert and prepare to adjust your heading on my signal."

"Acknowledged," said Tuvok.

They paddled the remaining distance in silence. The slough split to flow around the hummock. As Chakotay's raft emerged into the divided channel, he glanced to his left and spotted a low dock projecting from the edge of the shoreline. Looking up at the sky, he saw that the storm was nearly on top of them.

He commed the others while indicating the dock, ordering them to bear left and paddle toward it. Tuvok acknowledged Chakotay's order, and altered course once his raft was fully into the divided portion of the slough.

The water was shallower and swifter-moving here. Chakotay was worried about being carried past the end of the short dock before they could get close enough to moor their rafts. "Seven, paddle hard for the shoreline just above that dock or we'll be swept past by the current," he said. He tapped his combadge and relayed the message to Tuvok and Paris just as the slashing downpour burst over them, pelting the away team with hailstones mixed in with the rain.

Visibility around them lowered to a radius of several meters. Chakotay was forced to rely on all of his navigation skills to maintain his raft on the proper heading. He knew that Tuvok's superior strength would allow the Vulcan to fight the current and maintain an identical course, but Chakotay still heaved an inward sigh of relief when he felt his raft's nose bump up against the landward end of the dock, nearly on the soggy bank of the hummock.

He quickly threw lines over the pilings to secure his raft. The current swept the second craft up against the far end of the dock. Tuvok moored it at the front and passed lines back to Paris for him to secure them from the other end. The away team unloaded the backpacks and the paddles onto the dock, and then clambered up after their gear. Tuvok reached down to unclip the two rafts, and then the away team wrestled them up out of the water. They overturned the rafts to dump out the rainwater accumulated in the bottom before deflating and repacking them along with the paddles and lines.

The rain gradually slowed as the storm clouds quickly passed over them on their way to the continent. After a few minutes' work to stow their equipment, the away team took up their backpacks again and started down a rough boardwalk that led into the semi-tropical interior of the hummock. The tall canopy trees above them offered some protection from the trailing remnants of the thunderheads. The boardwalk was heavily overgrown along its sides, having obviously been cut through the understory some time ago. Trailing vines grew wild everywhere.

After a short hike, the team came to several fallen logs lying beside the path. The boardwalk continued on for a short distance, ending at the foot of a trail that disappeared into a tangle of shrubbery, palms, ferns, and creeping vines.

Chakotay called a halt for a rest break. "All right, everyone. This is a good time to have something to eat and sit for a while to acclimate yourselves to the humidity level in here. It'll only get worse the further in we go, and won't let up for several hours."

"Commander, if I may?" asked Tuvok.

"What is it, Tuvok?"

"My tricorder is showing several varieties of plant life nearby that appear to have medicinal properties. It would explain the relatively easy access to this place, and the trail that has been cut deeper into the interior. The local population undoubtedly travels here periodically to gather them."

"Go on," said Chakotay.

Tuvok continued. "Since I do not require rest at this time, I request permission to gather samples for the Doctor to study."

"Permission granted. Take soil samples while you're at it, in case he finds something useful that we can grow in Airponics."

"Understood." Leaning his backpack against one of the logs, Tuvok pulled out a rolled-up canvas sample bag. He transferred the plant specimens collected earlier from the backpack to the bag, along with several sample containers. Tuvok moved off into the understory to gather specimens for the Doctor while the rest of the away team took the time to rehydrate themselves and eat before the final push for the map.

After about twenty minutes, Tuvok returned with a nearly full sample bag. Several species of what appeared to be alien orchids protruded from its open top.

Tom smirked when he saw them and said, "Don't let Neelix see those, Tuvok, or they'll end up on my dinner plate instead in of your prize orchid collection."

Tuvok looked for a moment as if he intended to disavow any personal motivation for his desire to gather specimens, but settled instead for a raised eybrow and a very dry "Indeed." He joined the away team sitting beside the boardwalk, and drank deeply from his canteen before opening a field ration pack.

As the away team sat eating their lunch, they observed their surroundings. In addition to the heavy understory of ferns and shrubbery surrounding them, there was a wide variety of plant species that had been brought there as seeds by winds, storms, and migratory birds. Numerous airplants grew in the trees, and patches of moss carpeted the forest floor. Lichens and algae grew on the bark of the smaller tropical hardwoods and younger canopy trees that made up the hummock's midstory. Large tree snails with whorled white and buff colored shells striped with pink, yellow, and green moved along the bark of many of the smaller trees, so thoroughly feeding off the fungus and algae growing there that they left visible dark trails behind themselves on the trunks.

The team heard small animals scurrying through the thick understory, and hammering that sounded like woodpeckers. The hummock was alive with insect buzzing, birdsong and hooting calls. Bright yellow butterflies flitted overhead throughout the trees.

Tuvok's sharp eyes spotted a number of empty snail shells at the base of a tree across from where he sat. Casting his eyes upward, he noted several varieties of airplant and small pink and white butterfly orchids in bloom, just within reach if he stretched. He quickly finished his meal and stowed the trash from the empty ration pack in his backpack. Tuvok stood to collect the shells and to gather a few more plant specimens to fit into the beginning-to-bulge sample bag.

After another several minutes' rest, Chakotay stood and walked over to inspect the tangle of vegetation where the boardwalk ended and trail leading further into the hummock began. He said, "Tuvok,..."

"You'll find a machete in one of the side compartments of your backpack, Commander. I have one as well," responded the Vulcan, while he was busily collecting the fruit he saw growing on nearby strangler vines to test for edibility.

"Then you'd better come over here and help me clear some of this away so we can get moving again," said Chakotay.

"Acknowledged."

"Fine by me, too," said Paris. "I can't wait to get back to Voyager. I'm overdressed for this damned sauna, and these trees keep dripping on me. What I wouldn't give to be someplace cool and dry right now."

"Your comfort is irrelevant, Lieutenant. We are here to retrieve the rest of the map so we can return to normal space," said Seven.

"Gee, you're all heart, Seven," Paris said.

Chakotay winced at Seven's bluntness, grateful that the former drone's social development was not his responsibility. Although Paris' complaining had been getting on his nerves, he felt Seven's disregard for Tom's feelings to be unnecessarily harsh, even bordering on unintentional cruelty. He resolved to mention it to the Doctor once they were back on Voyager so that the EMH could incorporate a few protocols into her social lessons to cover tactful professional discourse while on away missions.

"On your feet, Paris, and help us clear this trail," said Chakotay. "I wouldn't want to keep you away too long from being able to adjust the temperature in your quarters to your liking."

"Can't you just phaser that stuff out of your way?" asked Paris.

"I'm not going to damage this ecosystem any more than I have to, Lieutenant," snapped Chakotay. "It's fragile enough to begin with."

"Right... the sanctity of life and all that," sniped Paris. Ignoring Chakotay's glower, Paris walked over and began pulling the severed vines and foliage out of the way. "Why don't I just help you with this. The faster I'm out of this oven, the happier I'll be."

Chakotay gave Paris one final glare, and then turned back to the work of clearing away the overgrown trail head. With the three of them working and Seven giving directional indications, they finally uncovered a path leading into the deeper forest. Chakotay could see that there was a natural trail beyond this point that was not as heavily blocked as where they had been working.

The team returned to the fallen logs and their backpacks and again rested for several minutes. They drank heavily from their canteens, pulling out some of their reserve water supply to refill them before starting the hike.

Chakotay led them down the trail deeper into the hummock, with his locator device and Seven's readings confirming that they were indeed moving toward the beacon signal. Although the trail itself was not as completely overgrown as its head, the team still had to stop occasionally to hack away at ferns and small cabbage palms so they could continue moving toward the signal. Finally, a nearly impenetrable thicket overrun with vines blocked their path. Chakotay could see open space ahead as they began to clear it, slicing though the obstruction. With a final effort, the team burst though the growth blocking the trail and found themselves in a vast, sunlit forest room, open to the blue sky above.

As they walked further into the grassy space, the team heard rustling behind them and turned to watch as the undergrowth they had just cut through to enter the room closed up behind them, sealing them in. As Paris began complaining about having to cut a new path out when they were ready to leave, Seven stepped away from the rest of the team to follow her tricorder readings.

"What is it, Seven?" asked Chakotay.

"I have localized a point of origin for the beacon signal, Commander. It would appear to be in the center of this place," she said.

"What? Now we have to dig up the map?" complained Paris. There's no place else in here to hide it. I hope you packed a shovel, Tuvok."

Tuvok merely raised an eyebrow, ignoring him to follow Seven and Chakotay as they walked toward the middle of the forest room. Paris trailed after them, grumbling to himself.

Seven finally stopped walking and said, "This is where the beacon signal is strongest, Commander."

Chakotay stepped up beside Seven to check her tricorder readings and felt his locator device deactivate itself. He turned to inform Tuvok, but before he could say a word, the sub-tropical temperature dropped precipitously, and black walls shot upward from the perimeter of the forest room. It happened so quickly that the away team reflexively drew their phasers and assumed a defensive posture with their backs to one another, facing outward in four directions.

The walls continued rising skyward and curved in on themselves until they formed into a domed ceiling. The away team found themselves completely surrounded on all sides by the Mapkeeper's skywall, towering hundreds of meters above the forest floor. Constellations and stellar phenomena filled its velvety blackness, where before there had been only sky and the unrelenting green of the surrounding hummock forest through which they had been traveling.

Seven was rendered speechless. Chakotay looked at her with a quizzical expression. When she finally became aware of his gaze upon her, Seven said, "The Borg have no record of any such phenomenon, nor is there anything comparable in Voyager's astrometric database. I understand now why the boy wished to go with Horus the Map Keeper."

"Now that you mention it, I wonder where Horus is," said Paris. "This place gives me the creeps. I can feel someone watching us."

"Mr. Horus may well have us under observation," said Tuvok. "Anyone with the ability to create this skywall wheresoever he chooses would certainly be capable of a similarly advanced level of surveillance."

"We don't appear to be in any apparent danger for the moment, Paris, so why don't you focus on retrieving the map," said Chakotay. "I know how eager you are to return to Voyager and get your hands on the environmental controls in your quarters."

"Yeah, right," said Paris, giving Chakotay an annoyed look. "Let's get on with it."

Seven took several more readings and then began to scan the skywall into her tricorder as Chakotay and Paris fanned out across the grassy space to search for clues that would lead them to the map's location. Tuvok reached into his backpack, and withdrew the sole quadlet of the Second Portal map in their possession. He knelt on the spot where Seven had indicated the beacon signal was strongest. Glancing at the quadlet to quickly refresh his memory, he then began a systematic visual survey of the skywall from the top downward.

"Over there, Commander," Tuvok called out finally, indicating an area within a tall man's reach, roughly 2.13 meters above the forest floor. It was near the spot where the away team had broken through the undergrowth to enter the space. Tuvok rose to his feet and walked over to that section of skywall, which was blurred in a manner similiar to the completed First Portal map when he had initially been meditating over it.

The rest of the team joined Tuvok as he reached up to hold the top edge of the single quadlet of the Second Portal map against the skywall. Two more quadlets popped free of the wall, and slid down to fuse on top of the one Tuvok held. Once that process was complete, Chakotay took the fused quadlets from Tuvok to examine them further. The away team waited for a few moments to see if they would be automatically transported back to Voyager, as had happened when they retrieved the First Portal quadlets from Horus' skywall on Abras.

"It would appear that the quadlets retrieved must complete the map before it will transport the Map Finder's away team back to its point of origin," said Tuvok.

"In that case," said the First Officer, tapping his combadge, "Chakotay to Voyager."

"Janeway here. Harry's getting some very strange readings from your location, Commander. Is everything all right down there?"

"We're fine, Captain, and it looks like we're done. I'll explain once we're back. It's too complicated to put into a few words," said Chakotay.

"Acknowledged. Stand by for transport. Janeway out."

The transporter's whine broke the quiet of the enclosed space as blue beams caught the four and whisked them away. After the beamout was complete, the air within the space shimmered and Icheb appeared. He smiled, and making a broad sweeping gesture with his arm, both he and the skywall vanished.

Back on Voyager, 1440 hours:

"This was too easy," said Tom Paris, as the team stepped down off the transporter pads.

"We're not done yet, Paris," said Chakotay. "We don't have all of the map."

"It is my suspicion that the remaining quadlet will not be found on Nardonia, Commander," observed Tuvok. "The coordinates undoubtedly lie somewhere in what we now possess of the Second Portal map."

"Then you'll need this," Chakotay said, handing over the fused quadlets he still held.

"Permission to return to quarters and resume my study of the map," Tuvok said.

"Granted," said Chakotay. "The rest of us will brief the Captain. I'll advise her of your whereabouts."

Tuvok nodded. "I will report to her once I have derived any further useful information."

"Agreed. Dismissed." The away team left the transporter room to begin the process of determining their course of action for retrieving the remaining quadlet.

Meanwhile, on Gunlag's ship:

Once the Tarkada spy Jerat had been beamed back to the cloaked shuttle hovering near Voyager, he immediately sent an encrypted message with his scans of Voyager's tactical database simultaneously back to all three ships of the Magol alliance. At Fflam's urging, Jerat also included the Magol First Officer's report detailing the away mission to Nardonia, and the Map Finder's prominent role in leading his team to the first quadlet of the Second Portal map. Upon receiving Jerat's message, the alliance met aboard the Herat to begin formulating a preliminary strategy. Once the cloaked shuttle finally arrived back at the alliance's coordinates, Jerat would be thoroughly debriefed by the three captains, and the rudimentary plan would be revised and fine-tuned.

Gunlag was overjoyed and enraged by turns upon receiving Jerat's message. He had suspected the Captain of Voyager of treachery when the Map Finder had slipped through Magol grasp. Flamm's report in the encrypted message describing how the Map Finder had led the away mission to the Nardonian marketplace only confirmed for Gunlag that Voyager's crew had somehow been responsible for snatching the Map Finder away from him and causing the damage to the Herat's internal sensor nodes. Janeway would pay -- he would see to it personally.

"She deceived us somehow," raged Gunlag, as he paced his bridge waiting for the cloaked shuttle to return. "She used another one of her sly tricks to fool our sensors, but it will do her no good. The Herat's weapons and shields are superior," he exulted. "We will prevail."

Jerat, Imot, and Fflam entered the bridge in time to hear the end of Gunlag's tirade. Gunlag rounded on them and snarled, "What took you so long?"

"Patience, Captain. The delay was worthwhile," said Fflam. "Jerat placed short-range surveillance devices on Voyager, so we waited until we could bring you the results of their search for the map."

"Did you also bring me news of what they intend to do next?"

"Our Expendable decided that information was not necessary," said Fflam, with a snicker. "He had another one of his ideas."

Gunlag glared at Imot, who quickly jumped into the conversation. "Captain Gunlag, they are able to locate the pieces of the map by a special frequency it emits. Jerat was on their vessel long enough to learn what it was, and with the help of Abuskat sensors, we can track the signal to the location of the final piece."

"Final piece?" asked Gunlag.

"They have only recovered three pieces thus far, Captain Gunlag," said Jerat. "Using the same frequency as Voyager, the alliance can easily pinpoint the location of the fourth with the Abuskat-enhanced sensors and recover it before they do. That would give you significant leverage in your dealings with the alien captain."

"Or you could allow them to recover the final piece," said Imot, "and then take the completed map from them as they took the Map Finder from you. The Herat has tactical and weapons superiority over Voyager. Once you capture their ship, you have the map, and the Map Finder as well."

"Then we will wait until they complete the map, and steal it from them. I will enjoy seeing the look of defeat on the face of that arrogant piece of garbage they call their captain, just before I push her out an airlock." He remembered Janeway's "tough shit" expletive when she refused to honor her promise to share the secrets of the map with him, and instead left him to the mercy of the Beast of the First Portal. An evil smile spread across his face as he said, "She will never curse me again."

Day 9

Tuvok's Quarters, toward evening:

Tuvok knelt on the floor in his accustomed meditative posture, his darkened quarters lit only by candlelight. The nearby meditation lamp cast its soft glow directly over the two sets of map quadlets that lay on the floor before him.

He was mentally preparing himself for his study of the map. Having already committed the completed First Portal section to memory for his meditation when Voyager initially found itself in alternate space, he picked up the incomplete set of fused Second Portal quadlets and began to examine them. Tuvok began at the top and worked slowly downward, methodically noting similarities and differences between the First and Second Portal sets. His eyes were drawn to an unusually clear area on the incomplete Second Portal map. It was almost entirely transparent, devoid of any markings that could be considered star clusters. Tuvok realized that the nearly transparent area corresponded to the location of the indistinct portion of the First Portal map that had activated and realigned itself during his previous meditation. He took special note of this peculiarity and finished his memorization of the incomplete set of quadlets.

Compelled by an internal prompting that the Captain would no doubt refer to as a "hunch," Tuvok laid the partial Second Portal map over the completed First Portal set of quadlets. He closed his eyes and settled his mind into a state of repose, waiting for an inner prompting to assert itself and guide his thoughts.

As he meditated, Tuvok gradually sensed the presence of an energy building and about to burst forth. He opened his eyes in time to see movement in the depths of the realigned First Portal map portion directly beneath the transparent area of the incomplete set of quadlets. It appeared as though a fluid current of some kind was welling up into the Second Portal map from the still-active section of the first set of quadlets just below. The energy current was creating star clusters where previously there had been none. As the new patterns came into focus, the rest of the Second Portal map dimmed, leaving the newly emerged portion highlighted in sharp contrast. When Tuvok picked up the Second Portal quadlets to study them more closely, he observed that the First Portal map was now completely deactivated. It had completed its last remaining function -- that of serving as a catalyst for revealing vital information, as it had been designed to do by the beings who had originally scattered the pieces of the map.

Tuvok asked the computer for Seven's location as he reached for the tricorder he had placed by his side earlier for just such a possibility. A quick scan revealed another encrypted file imbedded in the newly emerged portion of the Second Portal map, and verified a familiar active subspace beacon frequency for star patterns obviously meant to indicate their course to the location of the final quadlet. Tuvok extinguished his meditation lamp. Calling for illumination, he picked up both sets of quadlets and rose from the floor. Once he had extinguished the candles, Tuvok left his quarters, headed for Astrometrics.

Day 10, 1125 hours:

Captain's Log, Stardate 54083.5

Ship's systems are functioning normally, thanks to a combination of Lieutenant Paris's "Galaxy-class solution" and adapted alien technology from the Nardonian marketplace. Navigational and external sensors are finally operating within Starfleet tolerances.

Engineering has fully restored warp power with additional assistance from Crewman Harren. We are on course for an uninhabited M-Class planet, where we expect to retrieve the final quadlet of the Second Portal map. According to sensors, the Magol are approximately 14 hours behind us, which puts the pressure on to retrieve the remaining quadlet and get through the Second Portal before they catch up to us. We'll be cutting it very close.

Once Voyager's new course had been revealed the previous evening, Tuvok verified the information with Seven's assistance, and then both of them proceeded to completely decrypt the hidden file embedded in the newly revealed portion of the Second Portal map. When that was complete, Tuvok contacted the Captain to request that she meet with him and Seven in astrometrics, where the three discussed the findings until mission parameters for the final quadlet's retrieval came into focus. Janeway ordered the helm to set course for an unnamed planet some two days away at warp.

In astrometrics 1408 hours:

In the following morning's briefing, Janeway asked the team for the new away mission to assemble in astrometrics at 1400 hours, with the addition of Harry Kim. Tom Paris showed a great deal of enthusiasm about retrieving the final quadlet until Seven reported the information revealed when the Second Portal map realigned.

"You expect me to do what?" yelped Paris.

"This from the man who was going to repair a Monean field reactor single-handedly under 600 kilometers of ocean in only an environmental suit," said Kim. "This mission should be a piece of cake for you, Tom."

Janeway raised an eyebrow at Tom and said, "I don't remember reading about that in your survey report of Monean technology."

"Well..." Paris turned away to whisper "Thanks a lot, buddy" to Kim quietly under his breath. One look at his friend's face told Kim that he was in for major payback.

Paris fell silent, and everyone in astrometrics turned their attention back to the dome, where the star map Tuvok had found in the incomplete Second Portal set of quadlets was on the screen. It was overlaid with a schematic representing Voyager's course to the nameless planet on which the final quadlet was concealed.

Seven had just verified an extremely faint beacon signal on long-range sensors and determined its approximate location to be deep inside a series of subterranean and partially submerged caverns. According to the encrypted file, the only stable entrance to the underground system was well below the surface of a semi-tropical ocean on the unnamed planet toward which they were now proceeding at warp.

"Can't we just beam into where that signal is coming from and take it from there?" asked Paris.

"Inadvisable," said Seven. "The density and magnetic properties of the rock surrounding the caverns are interfering with my efforts to determine the precise location of the quadlet at this distance. Even if Voyager's sensors are able to pinpoint it once we are orbit, an analysis of the data in the encrypted file reveals that these same properties would interfere with the transporter's targeting scanners."

"There is also a dispersion field set up around the entire site, including the underwater entrance to the cavern system," said Tuvok. "It is designed to further scatter transporter signals. Safe transport to coordinates within the field is virtually impossible."

"Then why don't we beam down to a point on the surface outside the field, and find another entrance?" asked Paris. "If I remember my basic geology, this type of solution cavern formation is due to water dissolving its way downward through fissures in porous limestone rock. There's got to be more than one entrance to the system."

"There is none other that is useable," said Seven. "The encrypted file does confirm a surface entrance, but it is in a state of total collapse and has blocked deeper access to the cavern system from above. Even if an alternate opening could be found in the karst topography, the file notes that the substrata through which it might pass is highly unstable and susceptible to further movement. The only other usable entrance to the cavern system is underwater."

"Maybe the file is wrong," said Paris. "Who knows how old that information is?"

"I have verified most of the file's geological data on Borg-enhanced long-range astrometric sensors, Lieutenant. Further scans once Voyager is in orbit will only reinforce present findings," said Seven.

Tuvok said, "As I stated earlier, Mr. Paris, the safest method for retrieving the final quadlet of the map is to use the Delta Flyer as an underwater staging area from which to enter the cavern system via the underwater entrance. We will use modified environmental suits while in the submerged passageway, with scuba gear as a backup. Our enhanced tricorders should allow us to follow the subspace beacon signal to the final quadlet, with the Commander's locator device providing definitive verification. I have determined that the scattering field surrounding the cavern system will not affect our scanning technology once we are inside its perimeter."

"What I still don't understand is why you need me swimming around in underwater caves, Tuvok," said Paris. "The open water diving I had to do in the Coral Sea for zero-G training was bad enough. I should stay on the Flyer once it's underwater, just to keep its location stationary and monitor the immersion shielding. We can't let it drift unattended."

"That's going to be my job," said Kim. He laughed and asked, "What's the matter, Tom? Claustrophobic already?"

"No," Tom scoffed, "of course not. I love the water – really, I do." He continued with a slight undercurrent of panic in his voice. "The truth is… I barely passed Zero-G training. The only thing that course really taught me is that I'm so much happier on the ocean rather than under it. If I have to be underwater, I'm more comfortable inside a submersible vehicle where I don't need an envirosuit to be able to breathe."

"Sorry, Tom," said Janeway. "Until we have more experience with retrieving quadlets, I'm going to keep the original map team intact as often as I can."

"Harry's got caving experience," said Paris, making one last effort to change the Captain's mind. "Let him do it instead of me."

"Harry?" asked Chakotay.

"I had a roommate at the Academy who belonged to the North American Speleological Society, Commander. Danny took me to one of their annual TAG Fall Cave-Ins during my freshman year, and that got me interested in caving," said Kim.

"TAG?" asked Seven as she arched an eybrow.

"It stands for Tennessee-Alabama-Georgia, Seven. It's an important caving region in North America on Earth. Danny would spend most of his weekends and vacations underground, and I'd join him whenever I was free."

Kim looked over at Paris and smirked. "Look at it this way, Tom -- at least you wouldn't be crawling through bat guano," said Kim. "Take it from one who knows." Paris shuddered.

"You might even enjoy it, Tom," said Janeway. "Right before I entered the Academy, my boyfriend and I went cave diving. We were just going to camp underground and explore a few unmapped passages, but I ended up discovering the first chordate fossil ever found on Mars."

"I remember reading something about that in my exobiology course at the Academy," said Paris. "That must have been a real thrill."

"It was," said Janeway, "but the formations I saw once we surfaced into an air pocket got me just as excited. Even if you only have to dive like this once, Tom, it's worth it to see a natural process of mineral formation that's been going on for millions of years. I've never forgotten how beautiful that underground world was. I miss it."

"No argument there, Captain," said Chakotay. "When I was a teenager, my cousin Paka and I would go diving in "the giant birdcage" on the Mayan Riviera as often as we could.

"No Ho Chich," said Kim. "That cenote is still the longest underwater cave system on Earth, even centuries after its discovery."

"And your father let you go? Wasn't it dangerous?" asked Tom.

"For starters, Paris, I was already an experienced swimmer by that time. Paka was several years older than me and had his technical diving certification for overhead environments, so my father knew I was in good hands. No Hoch had been completely mapped centuries before and had a system of permanent guidelines in place, so there was no danger of the two of us getting lost inside," said Chakotay. "My father gave us his blessing to spend as much time as we wanted in Xibalba."

"Xibalba?" asked Seven.

"The Mayan underworld, Seven," answered Chakotay. "The cenotes were considered passageways to the afterlife."

"No offence, Commander," said Paris, "but a couple of teenagers in an underwater cave…"

"He encouraged our diving expeditions, Paris. He'd be above ground studying some dusty ruin in the jungle, and the two of us would be jumping into every cenote and blue hole we could find. There's thousands of them in the Yucatan, and Paka and I wanted to dive in as many as we could. It was just our idea of a good time, but my father assumed we were taking a firsthand interest in exploring our Native American heritage, and we didn't discourage him from thinking that. Since Paka always said a ritual prayer to Chac before we entered a cenote, he felt that my namesake would protect me from harm."

"Chac?" asked Kim.

"The Mayan god of rain."

"Wait a minute," said Paris. "You're telling me you were named after some Mayan god? That explains a lot."

Kim gave a snort of suppressed laughter. Janeway suddenly got very interested in studying the map data on the console. She knew that she would have herself quite a chuckle over Paris's comment once she recalled it when alone in her ready room, but for the moment, Janeway knew that a hearty belly laugh with her crew would make her appear uncaptainly. She also knew she could count on Tuvok to get them back on track, and he did not disappoint.

"Mr. Paris," said Tuvok. It felt as though the temperature in the room had suddenly dropped several degrees.

"So you're an experienced cave diver," said Paris. "I take it you'll be leading the team, then."

"Smooth, Tom," whispered Kim.

"I thought so," whispered Paris back.

Chakotay ignored Kim's and Paris's whispers. Janeway ignored them all.

"I would say so, Paris," said Chakotay.

Janeway had regained her composure by this time. "You were luckier than me," she said. "The first time I went cave diving, I was fourteen and didn't bother to ask for permission because I knew I'd never get it. My family was on Mars for our summer vacation, and I'd snuck off to go swimming in the quarries with two girlfriends when Mark showed up. He and his father had been mapping the underwater passages, so he knew the caves pretty well. My girlfriends deserted me and my father caught us when Mark and I surfaced after our dive. He grounded me for a week with no holodeck privileges. After that, it was always a major production to get permission. A lot of the time, I'd just go without asking if I thought I could get away with it." Janeway sighed and said, "You probably have the most useful experience of any of us, Chakotay."

"Sounds like it," he said. "I also have a personal cenote diving holoprogram that could be modified to bring the away team up to speed. We all had to learn open water diving as first-year cadets for our zero-G training, so that's a starting point."

"Except for Seven," said Paris.

"I will adapt," answered the former drone, in a tone that sounded to Paris more like a challenge than anything else.

"Tuvok," said Chakotay, "Why don't you give me a hand with modifying the program to use as training for this mission?"

"Oh, that should be good. You don't even swim, Tuvok," said Paris, back in sarcastic mode.

"On the contrary, Lieutenant. I was an Academy zero-G instructor for a number of years. Although I would not pursue swimming or diving as off-duty activities, I am as proficient in them as any Academy graduate. As an instructor, I found the underwater environment to be a peaceful refuge from all the rampant emotionalism and illogic bombarding me on a daily basis."

"Looks like it's time to either put up or shut up, Tom," said Kim.

"All right, guys," said Paris with a sigh. "I give. "When do we start?"

"Tuvok?" asked the Captain.

"There is approximately a day and a half's travel time remaining before Voyager reaches its destination. If the Commander and I begin modifying his program immediately, we could hold a training session tomorrow at 1300 hours, Captain. I will conduct a review of basic open water techniques, and then defer to the Commander's expertise for instruction in cave environments."

"Sounds like we have our plan," said Janeway. "The away team will reconvene in holodeck two tomorrow at 1300, with the exception of Mr. Kim. B'Elanna will be running a diagnostic on the immersion shielding, since we haven't used it in a while. Harry, I want you to join her and work on a way to get the away team into the ocean through the shielding once the Flyer is submerged."

"Aye, Captain."

"If there's nothing further, you're all dismissed to return to duty stations except for Chakotay and Tuvok," said Janeway. "Keep me updated on your progress in developing the training scenario."

"Agreed," said Tuvok.

Janeway, Paris, and Kim returned to the bridge for the balance of their shifts, while Chakotay and Tuvok headed for the holographic laboratory to begin work on modifying the cenote diving program. Seven remained in astrometrics to continue her efforts at correlating her sensor data with the encrypted file to further refine it for the upcoming mission.

Day 11

Holodeck 2, 1304 hours:

"You're not helping, Harry," said Paris. He wore a modified envirosuit and had his helmet and fins in hand as he walked down the corridor with Kim on the way to the holodeck. "I asked you why I might need to use a breathing gill, and you start talking about 'the grim crawl of death' and 'the 18-hour girdle.'"

"Well, buddy, I just want you to be prepared for the worst," answered Kim. "Did I mention 'The Devil's Pinch'?"

"Harry…"

"Just under 6 meters long, a meter wide, 18 to 25 centimeters high, sloping floor…"

"Harry…"

"…ceiling lined with knifelike ridges that dig at your chest like Doc might if he decided to use an old-fashioned scalpel…"

Tom stopped walking. "Harry, that's enough. If I have to squeeze myself through a space that small, I'm turning around and swimming back out, and you can beam me back onto the Flyer."

"Not if Tuvok has anything to say about it," said Kim. They resumed walking down the corridor in silence. After a few moments, Kim said, "Seriously, Tom, you might run into a passage that's just too damn narrow to swim through, even with your streamlined helmet. You'd have to remove it along with the air unit and switch to the regulator. Or the envirosuit could snag and tear on a formation, or get sliced up on velcro in a narrow passage."

"Velcro?"

"Caver's lingo, Capt. Proton. That's our name for the fossilized burrows of ancient sea creatures that stick out of the rock in limestone caves. They're usually razor sharp and rip the hell out of anything that touches them."

"Thanks, Harry. This mission is sounding better and better by the minute," said Paris.

"On the other other hand, Tom, it could be an easy swim all the way to the quadlet," said Kim as they reached the holodeck and Tom punched in his code to enter. "You won't really know until you're inside the system."

The holodeck doors opened, and Paris turned to join the away team already waiting for him on the grid. Kim said, "Just remember, Tom, Captain Nemo to the rescue!"

"Very funny, Harry," said Paris as he stepped inside the holodeck.

"Enjoy yourself," Kim called out just before the doors snapped shut.

Tuvok, Seven, and Chakotay were already suited up and waiting for him on the hologrid. "You're five minutes late, Lieutenant," said Tuvok.

Paris scowled at Tuvok in reply and then ignored the Vulcan for the moment as he sat down on the floor to slip his fins over the shoe-like feet of his envirosuit. He deliberately took a few extra moments to make certain that they were on properly before he stood. Once on his feet, Paris opened his mouth to make a sarcastic remark when Seven interrupted him.

"If you will now secure your helmet, instruction will commence… Captain Nemo," she said with a lift of her ocular implant and a slight smile.

"Fine," said Paris. Let's get this over with." He reached around and grabbed the hose from the air unit on the back of the envirosuit and attached it to his helmet, which he then put on and checked the seal to be certain it was tight.

Tuvok began, "As you know, these envirosuits have been streamlined for the purpose of diving in an enclosed space. They will compensate for the increased pressure at the depth where we will enter the ocean, and will also insulate you against the chill of the water. The air unit on the back is detachable, should you need to pass it through a tight passageway, and I caution you to remain aware of the air hose at all times to see that it does not become snagged or torn. We will maneuver using the thruster belts you are wearing, and once inside the cave system, by means of dive scooters where there is enough space to use them safely."

Tuvok bent down and picked up equipment packs to hand out to each of the team members. He said, "Each of you will attach this waterproof pack to your belt, next to your scuba mask and regulator, as I have done with mine. The pack will contain rations, drinking water, and any additional items I may deem necessary after we have concluded this training session. Mr. Paris, you will carry an additional pack containing a medkit along with the rest of your gear."

"Right," said Paris.

"Are there any questions?" asked Tuvok. Paris looked as though he was about to say something snide, but a glare from Chakotay put a stop to it.

Tuvok said, "We will keep an open comm link among the four of us at all times. Turn on your Sims beacons and your helmet lamps, and then orient yourself spatially." Four wrist beacons snapped on, followed by the helmet lamps. Tuvok waited until they were ready and then said, "Computer, engage Training Scenario –Chakotay Tuvok 1."

"Program engaged."

Suddenly, the away team found themselves floating eight fathoms down in sapphire blue water. There was only a faint glimmer of sunlight above them to indicate the ocean's surface, with measureless deep blue below as the bottom of the ocean dropped to unknown depths. Paris became disoriented almost immediately and began to flail around wildly with his arms and legs, his body desperately seeking a direction it could identify as "up."

"Mr. Paris," said Tuvok. "Calm yourself." He swam over and took Paris's arm as Chakotay came up on the helmsman's other flank and took the other arm.

"Look to your left, Tom," said Chakotay.

In the distance, Paris saw the shadowy outline of the Delta Flyer, with its spotlight, running lights and nacelle housing gleaming through the deep blue surrounding them. He relaxed and adjusted his spatial orientation relative to the Flyer.

"We will not be descending from the surface, Mr. Paris, but will be beamed into open water a short distance from the Flyer," said Tuvok. "You must be prepared to orient yourself visually in relation to it."

"You could have warned me," said Paris.

"You were told to orient yourself at the beginning of this exercise, Lieutenant," said Seven. "You must adapt beyond your reluctance to undertake this mission or you will endanger us all. Are you sufficiently recovered to proceed with the training?"

"Give me a minute."

The rest of the away team waited until Tom's breathing and heart rate slowed to normal. Tuvok then began a review of open water diving techniques, and put the team through a series of exercises until he was satisfied with their skill level. The four then descended another two fathoms to the entrance of an underwater cavern. Tuvok handed off the training session to Chakotay, who proceeded to drill his charges in the proper navigation of cave environments.

When Chakotay felt their mastery of his instruction was complete, he and Tuvok then worked with Seven and Paris on switching to breathing gills within the cave system and scuba techniques specific to that part of the mission. This was followed by instruction in the use of the small dive scooters that would save their energy should the journey through the cave system prove to be very long. After several hours of drill, both Tuvok and Chakotay were satisfied that Seven and Paris had acquired the necessary skills for a successful mission to retrieve the final quadlet of the map.

"Computer, end training program," called out Tuvok. The hologrid reappeared around the away team. Paris looked especially happy to be standing on a solid surface once again.

"We will reconvene in the shuttlebay tomorrow at 0600 hours. I would advise a good night's rest, as the physical demands of this mission will be at least as rigorous as these training exercises and possibly more so," said Tuvok. "Mr. Paris, you will report to the Doctor for instruction in possible medical emergency scenarios after you have stowed your envirosuit."

"That means no Sandrine's for you tonight, Paris, after you're done with the Doctor," said Chakotay with a grin, "and you can give Captain Proton the evening off, too."

"Gee, you're a fun date, Chakotay," said Paris.

Seven cocked an eyebrow and said, "I must regenerate."

"And with that, you're all dismissed," said Chakotay.

Day 12

Unnamed planet, 0600 hours:

The Delta Flyer hurtled downward through a golden haze toward a vast molten sea, and broke its surface with a large splash. Harry Kim began to maneuver the shuttle toward the designated coordinates for their staging area. The soothing blue surrounding them was a welcome relief after the intense brightness from the planet's twin suns. The shade deepened toward sapphire as the Flyer settled into position.

The shuttle finally came to a stop 10 fathoms below the surface of the ocean. Kim took up a station roughly a kilometer from an underwater cliff that was part of the continental shelf. The cliff dropped off into unknown inky depths.

"If the four of you want to gear up, I'll start calibrating the annular confinement beam to match the immersion shielding nutation," said Kim. "We've just passed the cycle restart, so you'll have about five minutes before there's a window for me to beam you out."

"Got it, Harry," said Chakotay. "You heard the man. Secure your helmets and get your gear." The away team left the cockpit and entered the mission module to finish their preparations. Kim followed them into the back a few minutes later to perform the transport from there, just as Tuvok was reminding the team to keep an open comm link. They stepped onto the Flyer's transporter pads.

"Good hunting," Kim said as he tapped several commands into a panel and watched the away team dematerialize. He returned to the cockpit to check that the Flyer was holding station and that the team's subspace transponders were working. Several moments later, his comm panel beeped and he put it on audio.

"Chakotay to Kim."

"Kim here, Commander. Your signals are coming through loud and clear. You're good to go."

"That's what I wanted to hear. We'll check in with you once we've recovered the quadlet."

"Aye, sir. Kim out."

The away team spread out slightly and began scanning for the beacon signal. Tom Paris immediately oriented himself in relation to the Flyer, so there was no repetition of the previous day's panic. The tricorders read the dispersion field set up around the cliff as the team approached and then passed though it without difficulty. They could have easily guessed the location of the underwater cliff without tricorders, since there was a luxurious giant kelp forest growing in front of it from holdfasts securely anchored to the rockface deep below. The kelp forest was not as large as some that Chakotay had encountered while swimming off Baja California as a cadet, but he was concerned about Seven and Paris, who had no experience in dealing with the phenomenon.

"Hold up, everybody," said Chakotay. "We didn't plan for this scenario, but it shouldn't pose a large obstacle. The kelp is fairly well spaced out, so we should be able maneuver though it easily. Seven and Paris -- if you find yourself tangled up, just snap off the stipe and free yourself, or wait for Tuvok or myself to come over and help you. The fronds will be moving with the current, so stay sharp to keep yourself out of their way."

The away team moved through the kelp forest without much difficulty. A frond snagged on Seven's waterproof pack when the current shifted unexpectedly, but she was able to free herself without assistance.

The planet's intense sunlight proved to be an advantage at their depth. It easily penetrated much further down into the ocean than Chakotay would have expected. The shimmering rays filtering through the kelp made the trip through the forest a thing of beauty. Bright orange and yellow fish swam among the waving fronds, and the team occasionally noticed a crustacean staring at them with beady eyes from within the blades of kelp. Small fish and snails clung to the blades of the seaweed, along with anemones which grew on the stipes. Schools of silvery fish darted among the fronds. The ambient light in the kelp forest suddenly darkened as a shadow passed over the team, and they looked up to see a large mammal swimming through the canopy several fathoms above their position. They watched it pass and then returned their attention to the mission. As they drew nearer to their destination, the team could see alien corals and sponges growing from the cliff wall.

Paris was startled by the bright strobe of a holoimager nearby. "What the hell was that?"

"The Doctor asked that I return with pictures of our mission," said Seven. "I have already taken several without attracting your notice. You will adapt."

"I'm not sure yet I want to relive this experience," Paris said.

"Get over it, Paris," said Chakotay. It's not such a bad idea to have a visual record to supplement our tricorder readings. Besides, you heard the captain. She misses diving, and I'm not going to deprive her of one of the Doctor's holographic slideshows that I know she'd really enjoy for a change."

"All right, already. You've made your point," Paris grumbled to Chakotay. "Just don't point that camera in my direction, Seven. Doc's snapshot of me after I fell into the fetid mudpits of Palomar was enough public humiliation for a lifetime."

"Agreed, Lieutenant," said Seven with a smirk. "I will comply." She then proceeded to capture several images of the masses of coral and sponges growing from the wall. The depth at which they were diving combined with the thickness of the kelp forest near the cliff muted the colors of the fauna, but the flash from Seven's holocamera briefly illuminated them and made the vibrant reds, oranges and golds of the rope and barrel sponges and purples and pinks of the coral momentarily visible, along with some of the unusual crustaceans and fish that called the underwater reef home.

Delicate pink anemones and sea urchins nestled deeper within the reef, and as Seven better positioned herself to take a few shots of them, Paris thought, This is going to make a slideshow even I wouldn't mind seeing. The captain is gonna love it.

"Over here," Chakotay called out over the envirosuits' comm system. The rest of the team swam to his position and saw a dark gash among the profusion of aquatic life growing on the cliff wall. Chakotay had located the entrance to the cave system. A large eel swam near the entrance, with several more visible just inside the cavern. Cleaner fish swarmed around them, removing parasites from their skin. A small colony of lobster-like creatures skittered away from the beam of the Sims beacon when Chakotay shone it into the mouth of the cavern.

"Look at those teeth," said Paris. "Those things aren't going to attack me, are they? They look hungry."

"Not if you leave them alone," said Chakotay. "You're invading their home. Be on your best behavior and don't annoy them like you've been annoying us with your complaining."

"Right."

"Are you certain this is the correct entrance, Commander?" asked Tuvok. "Seven's final analysis of the map data revealed several underwater entrances in close proximity."

"My tricorder is showing a faint beacon signal. This is it. Hand me that extra reel on your belt."

Tuvok gave Chakotay a reel containing line to be used to lay down a guideline for them to follow on the way out if necessary. Chakotay attached it securely to the cliff wall next to the entrance and prepared to take point to lead the away team though the cave passages.

"Tuvok, I want you in last place to keep an eye on Seven and Tom in case either of them gets into trouble once we're inside. You're also responsible for marking our trail with homing signal markers so we can find our way out again. I'll lay down the guideline as a failsafe in case the rock's EM field affects the markers. Seven, run your tricorder for the duration of the trip through the cave system. I want a complete record for the ship's database in case we find ourselves in similar circumstances when we have to retrieve the rest of the map for the other Portals."

"Understood."

"What do you want me to do, Chakotay?" asked Paris.

"Stay out of trouble. Think you can handle that?"

"No problemo."

Chakotay was momentarily startled when Seven's voice broke into his mind over the interlink transmitter. "You have been unnecessarily harsh with Lieutenant Paris since this mission began."

"His nerves could jeopardize our safety," said Chakotay over the link. "If I stay on his hide, he has something else to think about rather than how much he doesn't want to be here. And by the way, speaking of things people don't want, what the hell are you doing communicating over the interlink node. Is this an emergency?"

"No, but I did not wish it to appear that I was challenging your authority."

"And I appreciate that, Seven, but I need you to follow the Captain's original order and not distract me with extraneous conversation inside my head. We're in a very hazardous environment, and I need my full concentration to keep us all safe. Use the comm system in your envirosuit if you need to speak to me."

"As you wish."

With that, Seven withdrew from the interlink connection and began to configure her tricorder for continuous scanning. Chakotay heaved a mental sigh of relief, and turned his attention to surveying the cavern entrance for a direction in which to proceed. He noted an additional three tunnels within that led deeper into the system, but a wide passage directly ahead of him offered the most promising route to the quadlet when he compared its readings to the other three.

"In here," he said, indicating the direction. "Stay close together, single file, and stick to what we practiced in the simulation unless I tell you otherwise." He received a chorus of "ayes," and led the team into the passageway he had chosen.

The away team followed the subspace beacon signal through various large tunnels and caves full of stalactites and stalagmites until they found their progress blocked by a solid wall with a long, narrow opening situated under an overhang. Chakotay shone his Sims beacon inside the slit and saw that the cave system continued further. He checked his tricorder for the subspace beacon signal, and found that it became stronger when he held the tricorder inside the opening.

"This way. It's just big enough for us to squeeze past," Chakotay said.

Paris blanched when he saw the size of the space he was expected to get himself through, and sincerely hoped that there was more room inside, and that the region was not seismically active.

The area was considerably larger once the away team was finally through the squeeze, but as they continued to follow the beacon signal, the passage began to narrow until there was only about twenty-five centimeters of space on either side of the team members.

Tom Paris began to feel the sense of growing panic that tight spaces usually produced in him. "Chakotay, how much longer? I can't take too much more of this."

"I'm reading more room not too far up ahead, Tom. Try to hang on until then," said Chakotay.

The passageway gradually sloped upward and widened until the team surfaced into a large air pocket. They emerged from the water and climbed up onto a solid rock shelf. Paris was so elated to finally be out of the water that he decided on impulse to do something about his galloping claustrophobia -- he began to remove his envirosuit's helmet.

"Belay that, Lieutenant," said Tuvok as he scanned the atmosphere in the air pocket.

"What part of 'stick to what we practiced in the simulation unless I tell you otherwise' didn't you understand?" asked Chakotay. Did I allow you to remove your helmet yesterday?"

"What's the problem, Chakotay?" asked Paris. "This planet is Class-M. The oxygen-nitrogen atmospheric ratio was fine last time I looked."

Instead of responding to him directly, Chakotay turned to Tuvok and asked, "Is it breathable?"

"Only if your lungs are designed to process CO2 instead of oxygen."

Paris gulped and quickly began to reseal his helmet.

"Standard diving practice says not to remove your air source when you surface into an air pocket in an underwater cave, Paris," said Chakotay. "They're often filled with CO2. By the time your lungs start to burn, it's too late. Remember that for next time."

"Who says there's going to be a next time?"

"The Captain might. Now double check the seal on your helmet and let's go."

Chakotay led the team through an opening he had spotted in the limestone rockface. After a short walk down a low tunnel, they found themselves in a large room which appeared to be a dead end, with no obvious route that led further. The cave was filled with stalactites and stalagmites.

"The quadlet's nearby," said Chakotay. "My beacon locator snapped on the minute I stepped in here, and my tricorder confirms it. There has to be an entrance to another room somewhere. Spread out and start scanning for an opening. And Paris -- hands off the speleothems."

"Excuse me?"

"No souvenirs for B'Elanna. It looks like this cave is still forming, and I'd like us to leave it without damaging anything that's already taken hundreds of thousands of years to grow."

"Oh, right. Don't want to wreck it for the tourists."

"Paris..."

Seven of Nine broke into the bickering between the two officers. "Lieutenant Paris," she said. "If you see a geological formation that you wish to have as a 'souvenir,' call me to your position and I will take a holoimage so you may replicate it once we have returned to Voyager." They both looked over at Chakotay for his approval.

"Works for me, as long as it doesn't take up too much time," said Chakotay. "Now, let's get started." The away team dispersed among the stalagmites on the floor of cave and began to search for an entrance to any tunnels that might take them further into the system.

After several minutes, Seven called out, "Commander, over here." Chakotay approached the area where she was scanning. Stalactites and stalagmites had grown together over the eons into a solid wall of thick columns. Water had continued to seep down the columns and onto the floor, depositing its dissolved calcite which had hardened into a graceful flowstone river. Chakotay saw where Seven was indicating a narrow slot between two columns near the end of the wall.

"My readings indicate a large open area behind this wall, Commander," said Seven. "This rift is sufficient for us to enter."

"I think you've found the quadlet, Seven. The vibrations from my beacon locator have intensified." Chakotay cleared away some debris and squeezed partway through the opening to scan into the darkness. He watched as the enhanced tricorder's readout for the beacon frequency jumped to the top of the scale and stayed there. Easing himself back out of the entrance, he said, "Chakotay to Tuvok and Paris. Converge on my position. Seven has located an opening into another cave."

"Acknowledged," said Tuvok.

"On my way," said Paris.

They joined Chakotay and Seven at the wall of columns a few minutes later.

"My readings show this room to be easily a dozen times the size of the one we're in," said Chakotay. "My Sims beacon barely penetrated it, so break out the palm beacons. They should give us enough light."

Chakotay and Seven already had theirs in hand. Once the other two were ready, Chakotay squeezed entirely through the narrow slot and stopped to shine his palm beacon around him.

"My God," he said.

"Commander?" asked Seven.

"See for yourself," said Chakotay, as he stepped aside to allow the rest of the away team to enter the space.

Seven, Paris, and Tuvok squeezed through the narrow slot and stood next to Chakotay. The chamber was full of abundant formations at every turn. Crystals glistened on heavily encrusted surfaces wherever they shone their beacons.

"Uh, Seven...," began Paris.

"Yes, Lieutenant."

"I've found something I want as a souvenir. This cave... all of it. If you can record the whole thing, I'll make a holoprogram for the crew. The Captain would love it."

"There is insufficient memory in the holoimager to scan the entire chamber, Mr. Paris. You must choose the areas to reproduce that are most important to you," Seven replied.

"A moment, Seven," said Tuvok. He reached into his equipment pack, withdrew a memory module, cable, and holoimager mount and handed them to her. "This should provide additional resources for you to perform a complete scan. The Captain especially will appreciate the natural beauty, since she could not accompany us."

"Why, Tuvok," said Paris. "You old softie."

Chakotay saw the Vulcan stiffen and said, "No need to insult the man, Paris. Tuvok?"

"I anticipated the possibility that this mission might require in-depth scans beyond the memory capabilities of our instruments."

"Good thinking," said Chakotay. "We need a rest period anyway, so that should give Seven enough time to do a thorough scan, unless she needs a break too." He turned to her and asked, "Seven?"

"I do not require rest at this time, Commander. I will proceed."

Chakotay said, "All right. Scan the entire cave. This is the most geologically diverse one I've ever come across."

Seven nodded her assent. She had already connected the holoimager to the memory module as they were speaking. She mounted the imager on her palm beacon and positioned the module in her equipment pack in such a way as to leave her hands free to use the imager/beacon combination. Seven walked to the approximate center of the cave and began to turn slowly in a circle while she scanned it top to bottom.

"We can survey with our eyes and tricorders while we rest, people, and then decide where to begin searching for the last quadlet once Seven is finished scanning."

They sat on the floor of the cave to relax for a few minutes after their arduous trip through the underwater portion of the system. Gradually, the away team's eyes adjusted to the light level their palm beacons were generating in the space and they were able to make out more of their surroundings.

Chakotay let his glance slowly wander over the helicites encrusting the cave's upper walls and ceiling. Their twisted, root-like branches curled in all directions, with some of the speloethems large enough to resemble deer antlers. A nearby patch of soda straw stalctities on the ceiling next caught his eye, followed by some unusual boxwork formations. He spent a few minutes studying them and mentally comparing their configuration to similar formations he had seen in several caves in the Black Hills on Earth. Chakotay was glad that Tom Paris had asked for the scan. He was looking forward to making a closer study of this particular cave once Paris had created the holoprogram for the crew.

Tom Paris, meanwhile, had noticed several dark open areas among the glittering crystalline forms as he shone his palm beacon around the cave, and he got up to investigate.

"Don't leave the room, Paris," said Chakotay.

"I'm just going to check out these tunnels. Maybe there's another way out of here so we don't have to swim back."

"Belay that, Lieutenant," said Tuvok. "Even if you were successful in locating a usable exit to the surface of the planet, it would undoubtedly place us within the dispersion field and prevent transport. We would need to hike an unknown distance to the ocean and then swim out beyond the field before Mr. Kim could beam us aboard the Delta Flyer. That would be an ineffective use of our time and energy, considering that the Magol are approximately half a day behind Voyager."

"Who said anything about having to swim?" asked Paris. "We have these babies," he said as he patted the dive scooter on his belt.

"Back here now, Paris," said Chakotay. "If we have to come looking for you because you've gotten yourself lost, it's going to use up our air supply. If there's no surface exit to show for our trouble, you'll have put us in a hell of a bind. There might not be enough air reserve for the return trip through the system." He chuckled and said, "Face it, Tom. You're going to be swimming out of here, along with the rest of us."

"Yes, sir," said Paris, in a tone that left no doubt about his displeasure at the thought of swimming again through the narrow passages that had earlier triggered his claustrophobia. He sighed and walked back to rejoin Chakotay, Tuvok, and Seven, who had completed her full scan of the cave by this time and had rejoined the rest of the team.

"Seven, initiate a deep-level full spectral scan in conjunction with the holoimager when the skywall appears, and continue to record as we recover the final quadlet," said Tuvok. "There may be useful information in the skywall or the fusion process itself that is not apparent from our tricorder readings alone."

"Agreed. I will comply."

Chakotay stood and said to the team, "Rest for a few minutes more. I'm going to scout around to see if I can get a sense of where to begin searching." He began to circle the cave, paying close attention to the strength of the vibrations he was feeling against his chest. They progressively intensified as he passed a small tunnel and approached an area that was thick with large stalactites and stalagmites.

He stopped in front of a breathtaking drapery wall. Ferric deposits in the cave's bedrock had stained the formations a deep rust color. Layer upon layer of stalactites cascaded down the entire height of the wall, giving the appearance of a frozen waterfall of stone icicles. Chakotay stood there briefly to drink in the beauty, and then took several steps closer to the formation. He felt his beacon locator device deactivate itself and watched in amazement as the drapery wall shimmered for a moment and he found himself face-to-face with the skywall. He turned to summon the others and saw that the cave had entirely disappeared, and that they were surrounded on all sides by stars that rose up to a great height.

Tuvok had gotten to his feet when the skywall appeared, and took up a position back to back with Seven. The pair slowly turned in tandem -- Tuvok holding the incomplete map and searching the stars for the possible location of the remaining quadlet, Seven scanning the entire skywall from top to bottom, section by section as she turned.

When they had a completed 360˚ circle, Tuvok said, "Commander, remain where you are. I believe the quadlet we are seeking is at your location." Tuvok and Seven crossed the cave to join Chakotay and Tom Paris, who by this time had walked over to admire the drapery wall.

"Verify this for me, Commander," said Tuvok. He and Chakotay backed away a couple of meters from the skywall. Tuvok indicated the portion of the incomplete Second Portal map containing the emerged stellar patterns that had brought them to this uninhabited planet, and then pointed up at the skywall roughly 2.7 meters above their heads.

"By George, I think he's got it," said Paris, as he came over and looked at the map over their shoulders. "Hey, Tuvok – let me give you a boost up." With that, the three of them walked over and stood directly under the section of skywall Tuvok had indicated. Paris laced his fingers together to form a footrest for the Vulcan to step into. Tuvok handed the map to Chakotay, stepped into the stirrup formed by Paris's hands, and used the helmsman's shoulders to leverage himself upward. Chakotay handed the map up to Tuvok and then stepped back a short distance to watch the process.

Seven positioned herself to the right of Paris and Tuvok and monitored the deep scan as Tuvok held the incomplete Second Portal map to the portion of the skywall he believed held the remaining piece of the map. There was a loud pop, and the final quadlet slid off the skywall onto the portion of the map Tuvok held and began to fuse itself into the other three to complete the Second Portal map.

A sudden scuttling movement caught Seven's eye, and she glanced down to see several blind cave beetles run past her as though they had been startled. She turned her attention back to her scan and saw anomalous readings had appeared that indicated spatial fluctuations with a modulating phase variance. Seven determined the frequency and location of the variance, and then casually turned her back to it. She carefully set her holoimager/palm beacon down and positioned it in such a way that it would continue to scan the map fusion process as she reached into the waterproof pack on her belt and made an adjustment to the type-1 hand phaser she had stowed in there.

"COMMANDER, BEHIND YOU!! TAKE COVER!"

Seven turned and fired. Her exclamation slammed across the interlink connection into Chakotay's mind with such force that it spun him around in time to see an attack party appear as the wide dispersion beam from Seven's hand phaser decloaked them. There were several Magol and members of two species which Chakotay had never seen before, but he didn't stop to count the exact number as he dove for one of the large stalagmites and rolled behind it. He dug in his pack for his hand phaser to defend himself.

Despite Seven's warning, Gunlag and his allies' attack party had taken the away team by surprise. They had entered the cave proper from the nearby tunnel Chakotay had passed as he came to the drapery wall. Gunlag had managed to secrete himself behind a large stalagmite near Tuvok and deactivate his cloak before Seven detected his group. He waited for the rest of the attack party to distract Voyager's away team and give him a clear path to his objective.

Gunlag's weapon blast shot out and caught Tuvok full in the chest, toppling him backward to a hard landing on the cave floor some small distance away. Tuvok saw Paris start toward him and called out, "Mr. Paris, defend yourself." Gunlag rushed over and snatched the still-fusing Second Portal map from the hands of the semi-conscious Vulcan. As the map left Tuvok's hands, the skywall abruptly vanished. Gunlag tucked the map inside his shirt and reactivated his cloak.

By this time, Paris had dug his weapon out of his pack and had joined Chakotay in exchanging fire with the rest of the attack party. Seven had switched her phaser back to weapon status and continued to fire as she edged her way back to where Tuvok lay unmoving next to the drapery wall. Before she could reach him, one of the Tarkada attackers fired at the stalactites directly above Tuvok, causing a section of the wall to collapse onto him. Seven sprinted the last several meters and threw herself over Tuvok to protect him with her Borg shielding as the attackers got off several more shots at the drapery wall of stalactites to bring more of it down.

The attackers ran for the tunnel. Chakotay started toward Tuvok but Seven shouted "GO!" across the interlink connection and waved him off. Chakotay called to Paris over the envirosuit's comm system and they both sprinted after the party, some of whom had begun to recloak as they raced down the tunnel.

Chakotay and Paris had nearly reached the mouth of the tunnel when they saw one of the Magol toss a small blinking sphere in their direction as he vanished in a purple transporter beam. The object rolled past them into the cave, and they both dove for cover. Seven had seen the sphere roll into the chamber and positioned herself alongside Tuvok for her Borg shielding to protect him from the coming detonation.

"Save yourself," Tuvok gasped.

She saw that the collapsed rock from the drapery wall had broken a small hole in the faceplate of Tuvok's helmet, and that exposure to the CO2 in the cave was already causing him breathing difficulty. She placed the palm of her hand over the hole to seal it as she said, "My Borg shielding is sufficient to protect us at this distance from the epicenter of the blast," she said.

None of them expected what came next. Instead of an explosion, their view of the cave shattered into a crazy-quilt misaligned mosaic radiating out from the device. Chakotay and Paris were unable to even read their tricorders to get a fix on the device so they could phaser it.

"Hold your fire, Paris," said Chakotay.

"A distortion generator," said Seven. "Commander, Lieutenant, close your eyes and follow the sound of my voice to this position. Tuvok is in need of immediate medical attention. His envirosuit has been compromised and is leaking atmosphere, which I am attempting to prevent. I cannot leave his side without one of you to assist me while I disable the device."

Chakotay and Paris found their way over to where Tuvok lay. Seven took Chakotay's hand and guided it over hers where it was pressed over the hole in Tuvok's helmet, quickly withdrew her other hand, and pressed Chakotay's to the helmet.

"Your instruments will be useless until I have turned off the device," she said. "I will do so with haste." Seven's optical implant screened out enough of the distortion so that she was able to walk a direct path to the device, and after several fumbling moments of trial and error, she managed to shut it down and stow it in her pack to take back to Voyager for analysis.

The cave resumed its original configuration. Paris opened the medkit on his belt and did a quick preliminary scan of Tuvok.

"It doesn't look good, Chakotay. He's got a concussion, third-degree energy weapon burns to his chest, several broken ribs, one of which has punctured a lung and collapsed it, a broken leg and internal injuries. I can stabilize him, but only for a short time. I don't know how we're going to get him out of here without killing him if we have to swim back through the cave. We can switch him over to the scuba gear, but that weapon blast damaged his envirosuit. I can patch it temporarily with adhesive tape from the medkit, but it won't be a tight enough seal for the suit to keep him dry very long or to compensate entirely for the water pressure."

"First things first. Let's get him on the regulator and stabilized, and then we'll deal with getting out of here," said Chakotay.

"Right."

"Seven, I need you to keep your hand over the hole in Tuvok's helmet while I set everything up." She had rejoined the rest of the team at Tuvok's side, and quickly took over from Chakotay.

"Tuvok, we have to remove your helmet and put you on the regulator," said Chakotay. "It'll take a couple of minutes, so I need you to stay with me."

The Vulcan nodded. Chakotay removed the undamaged mask and regulator from Tuvok's belt. He hooked the regulator into the envirosuit's air supply, positioned his hand on the valve he would need to adjust to shunt the air supply from the envirosuit to the regulator, and handed the face mask to Paris. "Seven, I'm going to need you to remove Tuvok's helmet. Paris, get his face mask secured while I handle giving him the regulator."

"Understood"

"Aye."

"Tuvok," Chakotay said, "I need you to get as deep a breath as you can comfortably take and hold it until I give you the signal," he said. Tuvok nodded again. "On the count of three... one... two... three."

Tuvok took a deep breath, nodded to the rest of the team, and held it despite the pain he was in. Seven quickly removed the helmet, and Paris secured the mask. As they were doing this, Chakotay slowly opened the valve for the air supply and got the regulator into Tuvok's mouth. He then nodded to Tuvok, who let out the breath he was holding and began to slowly take in the nitrox mix through the regulator.

As soon as he had secured the face mask, Paris began to work on stabilizing Tuvok. After several minutes, he said, "I've slowed the internal bleeding, but that's as much as I can do here. I won't be able to stop it until we're back on the Flyer."

"Chakotay to Kim."

"Kim here."

"Harry, we've got an emergency. We were attacked..."

"Attacked? How?"

"No time to explain -- Tuvok's badly hurt. We can't take him back through the cave system. You'll have to beam us out though subspace."

"I can get a pattern lock on you using the implanted transponders, but the dispersion field will make the targeting scanners unpredictable when I have to rematerialize you," said Kim. "The only safe way I can do this is in two stages. First, I'll have to beam all of you into the open water beyond the field, wait roughly five minutes for the immersion shielding to cycle through to the window, and then beam you onto the Flyer."

"No good, Harry," said Chakotay. "Tuvok's bleeding internally, and his suit's damaged. Tom can patch it, but it can't compensate for the water pressure, so the bleeding's going to get a lot worse if we're in the water that long."

Paris interrupted Chakotay. "Listen, Harry, this is what you do -- take the Flyer up into the atmosphere just above the dispersion field, and drop the shields. Beam us into the ocean, and rematerialize us as close as you can get us to our original coordinates. Keep us there until the targeting scanners clear and then bring us in. It should take just under 30 seconds for them to get back up to specs."

"Commander?" asked Kim.

"It's our only option at the moment, Harry," said Chakotay. "How long will it take you to get the Flyer above the dispersion field?"

"Give me fifteen minutes."

"Then do it, and comm us when you're in position. We'll get Tuvok ready. Chakotay out."

"Chakotay, I'm worried about what even 30 seconds in the ocean is going to do to him," said Paris. There's the pressure, but that water is going to be pretty cold, and he's already in shock. Once Tuvok rematerializes, his envirosuit is going to fill up almost immediately unless he's got the helmet on."

"If you've got an idea, I'd like to hear it," said Chakotay.

"There's just enough room inside the helmet that he can keep the regulator and mask, but what about threading the airhose out through the hole? The break is small enough that I can tape up the gap around the hose pretty tight. One of us will have to keep a hand on the tape because it won't hold for long on its own once we're in the water, but I think we can minimize the seepage."

"All right, Paris, let's do it," said Chakotay. "Tuvok, you've been following the conversation?"

Tuvok nodded, and Chakotay continued. "I'm going to plug an air line from my envirosuit into your regulator so we can disconnect your airhose and set this up. I'll reconnect the hose before I remove the line, so you won't have to hold your breath again when we put the helmet back on."

"Hang on just a little bit longer, Tuvok," said Paris. "Harry'll have you back on the Flyer in no time."

The team coordinated their efforts again and got Tuvok's helmet back on. Tom finished preparing him for transport by taping up the most damaged parts of his envirosuit and around the airhose. The team then carefully helped Tuvok to his feet. Paris and Chakotay supported him on either side, while Seven put one hand over the tape seal on the helmet to keep it secure and gripped Tom Paris's shoulder with the other to keep from drifting off once they materialized in the ocean.

"Tuvok," said Paris, "whatever you do, don't hold your breath once we're in the water, no matter how bad the pain gets. You've only got one functioning lung right now, and I don't want to risk a lung expansion injury to it once we're on the Flyer and the pressure is suddenly off of you." Tuvok nodded.

"Kim to Chakotay. I'm in position. Tom, the biobed's open and ready for you."

"Roger that. We're ready down here."

"On my mark," said Kim. "Three... two... one. Energizing."

The glittering cave disappeared to be replaced by sapphire blue. The away team was in the ocean for what seemed like an eternity when they felt the tingle of the transporter again. The mission module appeared around them, with Kim at the transporter controls. Tuvok sagged as he struggled to remain conscious in spite of the pain he was in. Chakotay and Paris held Tuvok up while Seven removed his helmet and then the mask and regulator.

"Help me get him out of the envirosuit and onto to biobed," said Paris. Kim jumped in to help Seven with the envirosuit, and Tuvok was soon resting comfortably with Paris hovering over him.

"Seven, stay back here and assist me. I'm going to need someone to monitor readings as I work on him."

"Understood."

Chakotay stayed for a few minutes to watch the progress of Tuvok's treatment and then left the mission module to join Kim, who by now was back in the cockpit of the Flyer.

"Is he going to make it?" asked Kim.

"Tom's stopped the internal bleeding, so his chances are good," said Chakotay, "but I'll feel better when he's back in sickbay."

"No argument there," said Kim.

"Speaking of sickbay..."

"Way ahead of you," said Kim as he opened a comm channel. "Kim to Voyager."

"Janeway. Make it fast -- we're under attack." The sound of the red alert klaxon could be heard in the backgound.

"Captain, Tuvok's been badly hurt. Have the Doc standing by."

"Chakotay here, Captain. What happened?"

"Two alien ships decloaked off our port bow and started firing. Fortunately, they're using conventional weapons. We've been holding our own and are starting to get the upper hand."

"How long ago?"

"About 45 minutes. Why?"

"We were attacked just as we recovered the last piece of the map," said Chakotay. "Gunlag himself led the ambush party. He had a couple of species with him that we've never seen before. Apparently, he's made some new friends."

"That explains the cloaked ships. Apparently, he sent his 'friends' ahead to soften us up," said Janeway. "What's Tuvok's condition?"

"Bad. Part of the cave wall collapsed onto him. Tom's got him stabilized, but the Doctor is going to have his work cut out for him." Chakotay paused for a moment and then said, "Captain, they've got the map."

"That explains the attack. You can fill me in once you're back. We've picked up the Magol on long-range sensors, and they're approaching at high warp. I had Baytart move Voyager off a hundred thousand kilometers as soon as the ships decloaked so the Flyer wouldn't surface into a firefight. We'll bring you aboard when we can. Stay alert, Commander. Janeway out."

Voyager's bridge, 1305 hours:

Voyager shuddered under another direct hit. The First Portal map was still protecting the ship and augmenting its shields to some degree, but not as effectively as it had back in First Portal space. Janeway knew that once Gunlag's ship finally arrived, Voyager would be seriously outgunned, even with assistance from the Delta Flyer.

"They'll be on top of us in about another 20 minutes, Captain," said Ayala, filling in for Tuvok at Tactical.

"Captain, Gunlag has phased ion pulse cannons and quantum resonance charges in addition to those metaphasic weapons of his," said Torres. "I took a lot of readings aboard his ship when we were rescuing Chakotay, and I finally got a chance to analyze them after Engineering integrated the alien technology we got on Nardonia into the ship's systems."

"And?"

"I think we can make a few adjustments to our shields to deflect some of the potential damage. I've managed to isolate the Magol shield and weapons frequencies," said Torres. "If we remodulate our shields to an inverse frequency of their metaphasic weapons' resonance signature, that'll cut down on some of the energy getting though. It won't block all of it, but we can at least make it harder for them to blow us out of the sky."

"What about the map shields?"

"Come take a look." Torres brought up her data on the First Portal map shields as Janeway crossed the bridge to join her at the engineering station. "They appear to be calibarated for normal space, so they've got the same kind of weak spots our shields did before we implemented Tom's refit. I might be able to figure out a way to adapt them with the refit or the tech from Nardonia, but that'll take more time than we have."

"All right. Let's start with remodulating our shields, and go from there. You'll have to work with the map shields on the fly," said Janeway.

"In that case, get Harren up here."

"Lieutenant?"

"He's a pig, Captain," said Torres, "but a pig with a brilliant mind. Seven's not here, and he's the only other person qualified enough to help me sort this out."

"Crewman Harren, report to the bridge."

"Acknowledged," responded Harren.

"All right, get started," Janeway said as the deck rolled under her feet from another direct hit.

Back aboard the Flyer, 1317 hours:

"Voyager's taking a hell of a pounding," said Chakotay as he read the data on the tactical station monitor.

"I have an idea," said Kim. "Kim to Voyager."

"Janeway. We're more than a little busy, Harry."

"Captain, I think I can take some of the heat off you once we're in visual range. No time to explain. Be ready to beam to Flyer aboard."

"Will do, Harry. Janeway out."

"Ensign?" said Chakotay.

"I remembered a little Romulan trick our 'Emergency Command Hologram' mentioned to me. Lucky for us he's become obsessed with studying the tactical database once the Captain decided that an ECH might be a good thing."

"Explain," came a voice from the back of the cockpit.

"Seven – you're back," said Kim. "Good. You can assist us with this."

The Flyer headed for Voyager at high warp as Kim explained the procedure he intended to use. As they came into visual range, Chakotay, Seven, and Kim saw two large ships firing on Voyager from some distance.

"Almost there," said Kim as he maneuvered the Delta Flyer to a position above and behind Voyager and directly opposite the attacking ships. "Now, Commander. Fire." A photon torpedo streaked toward the two alien ships. Kim waited until it started to pass through the middle of the space where the Abuskat and Tarkada ships sat in formation, and then said, "All right, Seven. Now." Seven targeted the torpedo and fired the Flyer's phasers to detonate it. Both ships rocked backward from the blast and then hung motionless.

"They are disabled," said Seven. "Propulsion, sensors, and shields are down, and they are adrift."

"Voyager?" asked Chakotay.

"Undamaged by the photonic shockwave," said Seven.

"Remind me to thank the Doc when I see him," said Kim.

"Janeway to the Delta Flyer. Nice shooting, Harry."

"Seven and Chakotay get the credit for that," said Kim, "but thanks."

"With those ships out of commission, we can drop the shields long enough for you to dock. Come on home. The shuttlebay door's open."

"On our way. Kim out."

The Delta Flyer landed in shuttlebay two without further incident. Kim beamed Tuvok and Paris directly to Sickbay and then joined Chakotay and Seven as they headed for duty stations.

Chakotay, Kim, and Seven were still on the turbolift when they felt the ship rock from weapons fire. The car arrived at the Bridge, and the three stepped out in time to see Gunlag's Herat unleash another volley at Voyager. They grabbed for any fixed object within reach to keep from being knocked down when the deck rolled from the blast.

"Photon torpedos, full spread," ordered Janeway. "Target any weak spot you can find and fire."

"Direct hit," said Ayala. "Minimal damage."

"Mike, keep rotating our shield harmonics, and randomize it," shouted Torres. It's going to take Harren and me a few more minutes before we have anything useable."

"Baytart, evasive maneuvers, pattern Omega-Delta 4," called out Janeway.

The Herat and Voyager continued to exchange fire. Gradually, Torres's and Harren's modifications to the shields began to have some effect, with less of the Magol's weapons fire getting through.

The turbolift door opened and Tom Paris stepped out onto the bridge. Janeway's head snapped around at the sound of the lift, and she barked, "Report."

"Tuvok's out of danger. Permission to resume my station."

"Granted."

Paris took the helm from Baytart and called out, "Hang on, everybody," as he immediately took the ship into a series of complex evasive maneuvers that carried them out of the path of oncoming weapons fire. With Paris at the helm, Voyager suddenly became a much harder target to hit, with less of the Magol barrage finding its mark.

"Status report, Mr. Kim," said Janeway.

"Hull breaches, one major, decks 9 through 14, two smaller breaches, emergency forcefields in place. Numerous microfractures. Internal systems are strained, but holding. Captain, we can't take too much more of this before we lose something critical."

"Agreed. Tom, get us out of here."

Gunlag continued to pursue. Since Torres was no longer tied up with shield modifications, she ran a deep scan of the Magol vessel's shields as Voyager retreated.

"Captain, I think we can take them out long enough to get away," said Torres. "They're having the same kind of problem with their shields as we first did in alternate space, but nowhere near as bad. It looks like they tried to do something about it, but I don't know if they didn't know what they were doing, or just figured they'd let their allies do most of the fighting for them. Maybe they thought they could outgun us anyway."

"What are you saying, B'Elanna?" asked Janeway.

"It was a sloppy adjustment if that's what they did. Our last photon barrage created a few weak spots in their metaphasic shielding. If we can reconfigure the phasers to open a couple of rifts, we can target them with a covariant pulse through our deflector and at least partially disable their weapons and shields."

"Got that Harry and Mike?"

"Aye."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Then do it," said Janeway.

Several phaser strikes opened the rifts Kim needed to send the covariant pulse.

"Thank you, Kahless," said Torres after sensors detected the damage to the Magol metaphasic shields and weapons. "There's a weak spot near their central array. Harry, reconfigure the deflector to emit a nadion beam and direct it to the coordinates I'm sending you. That should take out the shields over the relay. Mike, I'm giving you the same coordinates. A couple of photons should do it."

Kim and Ayala looked to Janeway for orders, and she nodded. Kim sent the nadion pulse through the deflector as Torres monitored the metaphasic shields. "Now, Mike," she said as she saw them collapse. Ayala fired two photon torpedos at the Herat, and Torres looked up at the viewscreen in time to see the strike and resulting explosion. She jumped to her feet and yelled, "Gotcha!" as she saw the plume that indicated a plasma leak. She didn't need to consult her sensor readings to know that they had damaged the central relay and enough conduits and supporting technology to cripple the Herat. Gunlag's ship stopped firing and began to drift.

The attack is over, 1553 hours:

"Nice work, people," said Janeway. "Remind me never to get on your bad side, B'Elanna."

Torres realized that she had run several feet toward the viewscreen in her excitement. She looked embarrassed as she said, "Sorry, Captain."

"No need to apologize. You saved our tail," said Janeway. "That goes for all of you."

"Captain, I think we're safe for the moment," said Ayala. "I've dispatched repair crews to take care of the hull damage."

Janeway crossed the bridge to the engineering station. "B'Elanna, how long until the ship's systems are back up to specs?"

"You're not going to like it." When Janeway didn't say a word, Torres said, "Thirty hours, minimum."

"You're right. I don't like like it. The Magol won't be bothering us for a while, but those other two are going to be on us as soon as they can reinitialize their shields and propulsion and get their weapons back up."

"I figure the first of the allies will be operational in another five hours or so, and the other not too long after," said Torres. "The Magol will need at least another four hours beyond that because their central relay controls pretty much everything. I'll barely make a dent in nine hours, Captain -- 85 of the ship's systems are running on backups. Voyager can't withstand another attack like the one we've just been through unless we're entirely back on primary systems."

Voyager sets course for a nebula, 1600 hours:

"Captain," said Paris. "We passed a small Class 9 nebula a couple of light minutes before we reached the planet. It'd give us a chance to hide safely while we make repairs, and we'd still be in sensor range of the Second Portal map."

"Mr. Paris, set a course," said Janeway. "That looks like our only option at the moment."

"Yes, Ma'am."

Voyager had just gotten underway when Harry Kim spoke up. "Captain, belay that order."

"Ensign?"

"I'm running a deep spectral scan of the nebula right now, and it's showing antimatter. I remembered some unusual readings I got as we flew past it earlier, but we were all so focused on our mission to retrieve the map that I didn't bring it up. It reads as a Class 9 on the surface, but there's some kind of barrier not too far inside the edge. I reconfigured the sensors to scan past that, and got clear antimatter readings. It's some kind of anti-matter nebula."

"How is that possible?" asked Janeway. "It's unheard of." She crossed the Bridge and came up next to Kim to examine his readings. "Well, I'll be damned. You're right-- there's a definite antimatter core. Ordinarily, I'd love to stick around and thoroughly examine something that's going to make scientific history, but we don't have that luxury."

"Captain, I would theorize that it's a subspace herniation of some kind," said Mortimer Harren, who had remained on the bridge at Torres's request, in case his expertise was needed. "There must be an antimatter layer to subspace that was unknown to us until now."

"Whatever it is, we're stuck here for the moment," said Janeway. Mr. Ayala, continue to monitor the progress of repairs to those three ships while I figure out our options. Tom, take us out of range and go to all stop."

"All stop, aye," responded Paris as he took up a station out of weapons range from the Magol and their allies.

"Captain," said Torres, "I think I can give you an option that will allow you to take Voyager into the nebula."

"Hey, Maquis," said Kim. "Weren't you listening? Antimatter?"

"Hear me out, Starfleet."

"Go ahead, B'Elanna," said Janeway. "I'm listening."

"I'm with Harren on this one – I think it's some kind of protrusion from subspace. And the only way antimatter can exist in this or normal space is if it's encapsulated somehow – the way the antimatter in our warp core has a containment field."

"I think I see where you're going with this, B'Elanna," said Janeway.

"Right. If we reconfigure our shield bubble to act as a containment field around the ship and tune the shield harmonics to match those of the surface of the nebula's core, we could go in and sit right in the middle of all that antimatter without rupturing the containment of the bubble's skin. Think of it as a variation of a static warp shell."

"What's the condition of the shields?" asked Janeway. "Is it even feasible?"

"There's some damage to a few of the emitters that will take a small crew maybe an hour to repair, but lucky for us, none of the weapons fire damaged anything critical for maintaining the shields, otherwise I wouldn't have brought it up."

"B'Elanna, Seven, the project is yours," said Janeway. "This looks like our best hope of getting our primary systems online so we can go after Gunlag to get the map back. Care to join them, Mr. Harren?"

"With pleasure, ma'am."

"Captain, I suggest we seal the hull breaches before we enter the nebula," said Torres. "That'll get done long before the Magol and their friends can finish repairs, and we could really use the energy that maintaining the emergency forcefields is eating up. We'll have to divert all warp power into maintaining the containment bubble if we're going to do this, along with nearly everything else we have left, and we'll have to monitor the bubble constantly. We'd be going into the nebula on thrusters only, Captain," said Torres. "I'll admit it's a very risky procedure..."

"But it's better than sitting here hoping we can get enough of our systems repairs done in time to stand a chance of surviving another attack," said Janeway.

"Captain, there's another advantage here that B'Elanna hasn't mentioned," said Chakotay. "The nebula's electromagnetic interference won't give us clear readings of anything outside once we've entered, but on the other hand, the Magol won't be able to detect us either, even with a tetryon scan."

"Well, as long as that's the case and we're tossing around crazy ideas, how about faking a warp core breach to get them completely off our tail?" suggested Tom.

"Right," said Kim. "We could broadcast false readings to make it look like our sensors sustained massive damage and failed. One or more of those ships would probably have enough of their sensors back by the time we enter the nebula to read both the antimatter inside and our apparent destruction. It would give us the element of surprise when we go after them to get the map back."

"Good thinking, Harry," responded Paris. "B'Elanna? What say you?"

"We could release an undetonated tricobalt device surrounded by its own containment shield bubble on a timer once we're completely inside the antimatter core of the nebula. When it reachs a safe enough distance away from Voyager, the timer would drop the containment shields and expose the device to the antimatter."

"And if we broadcast a large enough transient subspace signal simultaneously with the detonation," said Kim, "it would be interpreted as a core breach."

"That would also obscure Voyager from their sensors, even if they fire a low intensity particle beam into the nebula and scan for the ship," finished Torres. "Captain, this could work."

"What about the integrity of the containment bubble when the shockwave hits?" asked Janeway.

"Captain," said Seven, "if I were to incorporate the same kind of Borg algorithms I used in creating the harmonic resonance chamber to contain particle 010, this project could succeed."

Mortimer Harren looked as though he was about to ask a question. "Need to know, Mr. Harren," said Janeway, grateful that Seven had shown discretion in referring to the Omega particle in front of non-senior staff.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Mr. Ayala, status report."

"Minor breaches and a majority of the micro fractures have been repaired. Sealing of the major breach is well underway."

"B'Elanna, how long would it take to set this up?"

"I'd estimate an hour and a half. The repair crews should be finished with the hull by then."

"Captain, I will forego regenerating to monitor the containment bubble until Voyager is out of the nebula," said Seven. "That will free Lt. Torres to supervise repairs so that they are completed more efficiently."

"All right, Seven," said Janeway. "Tom and Chakotay, since we have a little time, I want the Doctor to check both of you over to be sure there are no ill effects from your away mission. Report back to me in my ready room to debrief once you've finished up in Sickbay." Janeway paused a minute to look around the bridge at her crew and then said, "Everyone has their duties, so let's get busy."

Voyager enters the nebula, 1747 hours:

An hour and a half later, everything was in readiness for Voyager to enter the nebula.

"Mr. Ayala, status of repairs to the aliens' sensors?"

"The Magol are nearly at 100, the other two ships' are barely functioning."

"Gunlag's metaphasic shields must have protected his sensors," said Torres. "Good thing for us."

"Status of our modified shields?"

"They are online and at 100," said Seven.

"Looks like it's showtime, Captain," said Tom Paris.

"All right, people. Let's do it. Take us in, Tom, thrusters only."

Voyager moved slowly into the nebula. Paris set a course for the center of the antimatter core. Everyone on the bridge held their collective breaths as the ship approached the containment bubble, but Voyager passed through the barrier without incident.

"We're in position, Captain," said Paris.

"You've double-checked your calculations, B'Elanna?" asked Janeway.

"And triple-checked them. The tricobalt device will be close enough to the edge of the antimatter core that those ships will be able to get a visual on the explosion, but not so close that it will rupture the barrier."

"Seven?"

"Shields are at maximum, Captain. They will hold."

"Harry, give me shipwide." The computer chirped and a channel opened. "Janeway to all hands. We are about to execute a maneuver within the next 30 seconds that will result in a shockwave. Brace yourselves."

"Bombs away, ma'am?" asked Ayala.

"You've been hanging around Mr. Paris too long," said Janeway with a smirk. "Do it."

The bridge crew watched as the tricobalt device streaked away from Voyager and disappeared into the nebular gases. They saw the gases brighten in the far distance, followed several seconds later by a shockwave that rocked the ship nearly end over end. Kim broadcast the transient subspace signal.

"Seven?"

"Shields at 100. Containment shield bubble stable."

Tom Paris let out a whoop, to the amusement of everyone, including Janeway. "Don't celebrate yet, Tom," she said with a laugh. "We still have to get the map back and get through the Portal, but I think some congratulations are in order all around. Both were good ideas."

Paris beamed at the compliment.

"Mr. Ayala, route all damage repair progress reports to my ready room. Chakotay, you're with me," said Janeway.

"If you need any more crazy ideas let me know," said Paris.

"I might, Tom. I don't know what it's going to take to get us through the Second Portal, but I'll be damned if we're going to remain stranded in a region of space that breeds things like antimatter hernias. You have the Bridge."

Day 13

Somewhat later, on Gunlag's ship, 0030:

"How is their misfortune my fault?" wailed Imot as Gunlag ramped up the setting on the punishment device he held against Imot's back. "Our sensors barely detected the antimatter inside the nebula. You saw the readings yourself. Their instruments failed."

"You should have forseen something like this and cooked up one of your schemes so I could have seized her ship and taken my revenge on Janeway," snarled Gunlag, as he activated the device again.

Imot screamed in pain and yelled, "Didn't one of my schemes bring you the map? You took it from them with your own hands."

"Yes, Expendable, and then they disabled us. Your plan was hardly a complete success."

"No, but fate repaid them for what they did to the Herat. Now you have the map and a clear pathway to the wormhole without their interference."

"Yes, fate repaid them" said Gunlag. "Janeway's arrogance in entering a nebula without her sensors has been her undoing. She will never curse me again."

Imot did not, however, share his suspicion that Voyager was still hiding in the nebula. He had been the first to observe the readings from the "warp core explosion," and his sensors showed a much lower yield of debris than would be expected for a ship of that size. Imot noted several irregular readings in the aftermath of the explosion that could not be explained away, which led him to believe that Janeway and her ship had outwitted the Magol yet again. He managed to keep that information from the rest of the bridge crew.

Imot knew that if Gunlag found out about this, his days aboard the Herat were numbered, however useful he might make himself. Although Gunlag tomented him on a regular basis, the Magol captain had been especially vicious this time, and for no apparent reason other than to take out his frustration on a convenient target. Imot was determined to get the Magol and their allies through the map portal as quickly as possible, in case his suspicions were correct.

"It isn't as if you need her part of the map, Captain," he said. I have already made a study of the document you brought back and have a course prepared to enter into our navigation system," said Imot.

"Oh, do you now?" Gunlag waved the punishment device at Imot. "And did I give you permission to study the map?"

Imot cringed in spite of himself. "No one else stepped forward to discern a course. I thought you would want to leave as soon as repairs were complete. Your allies are standing by, awaiting your instructions."

"What of this beacon frequency your friend the spy talked about?" asked Gunlag.

"I have already isolated it on long-range sensors. Success is close at hand."

"For your sake, it had better be. Notify our allies that we are departing, and get underway." After relaying the message to the Abuskat and Tarkada, Imot entered the course he had calculated into the navigation system, and the Herat started for the Second Portal.