Chapter 10
"We need to activate our Neutrino Entraptor as soon as possible!" Neelix said as he barged into the communications room, startling Dexa and Brax.
"Should we not wait for Starfleet to activate the device on their side, like you asked them to do in your message? The time is almost here, waiting a little longer might not make that much of a difference and would probably be less risky!"
Neelix met her gaze, urging her to understand what he couldn't say in front of Brax. "I'm afraid not. We have to start the process now."
Dexa didn't need to hear anything else as she met Neelix's gaze and renewed determination took over her stance. "I'll start the evacuation," she said as she rose to her feet and took Brax's hand.
"Nirax is already on it, but I'm sure he could use the help. I'll make the final adjustments to the device and get it ready. As soon as you have everyone assigned to a ship, I'll launch it."
Dexa nodded, her concern obvious in her expression. "Once the device is launched, how long will you have until it activates?"
Neelix tried to sound calm. "According to B'Elanna's latest calculations, about 30 seconds."
30 short seconds. Not a lot of time for Neelix to pilot his freighter away from it, but it would have to do. He'd already worked with Nirax on improving the thrusters and shield, to increase his chances of making it back to the asteroid to join the others before they went through the wormhole once it was established.
"How long will the conduit stay open?"
Neelix pursed his lips. "We have no way of knowing. So we need to be ready."
She gave a small nod. "I understand." She grabbed his hand while her other hand rested protectively on Brax's shoulder. "Good luck."
He gave a small smile, hoping to convey some reassurance. He wasn't sure he succeeded.
oooOooo
It took B'Elanna and the others approximately one hour and a half to make the necessary preparations for the launching of the Neutrino Entraptor. Kathryn was painfully aware that B'Elanna had been rushed – she had formally voiced her concerns again once after the meeting – just for the record, she'd said. But this knowledge of how worried B'Elanna was didn't help Kathryn's nerves.
Now aboard the Delta Flyer, Kathryn and Chakotay worked in relative silence while she entered the coordinates into the control panel, and he made sure that the device was properly connected to its launching station in the Flyer's cargo bay.
"We're all set for departure," Kathryn said after turning on the comm system. She turned to Chakotay. "Captain?"
"Everything looks good on this end," he replied before activating the force field that would enable them to open the latch to eject the device without losing atmosphere in the front compartment. He then returned to the front of the Flyer and took the copilot seat.
"Acknowledged, we're ready here as well," B'Elanna's disembodied voice replied from Engineering aboard Voyager, her tone strained, anxious. "Good luck."
Kathryn and Chakotay worked to initiate the thrusters and steer the shuttle out of Voyager's shuttle bay towards the designated launching coordinates. According to B'Elanna and Ensign Lik's calculations, they had about 20 minutes until they reached the destination, and 30 minutes before the deadline Neelix had given them. That didn't leave a lot of leeway for human error…or for anything to go wrong.
Kathryn tried to relax once the Flyer was on autopilot, but the sheer importance – and danger – of what they were about to do prevented her from releasing the tension that coiled her stomach into a tight knot. She threw a glance at Chakotay, hoping to draw from his legendary grace under pressure. Sure enough, he appeared perfectly focused and poised as he busied himself with crosschecking his PADD data with those of the flight console.
"B'Elanna was right, you know," Kathryn started softly as she leaned her head back against the headrest. "You should have let me come alone. As a captain, your first duty is to your ship and your crew."
His dark eyes flicked to hers briefly and the muscle at his jaw tensed unhappily. He had been expecting the reproach, she realized. "Then why did you let me come?"
"Because, as a captain, it was also your prerogative to make that decision."
His expression softened and he looked at her again. "I appreciate that."
"Doesn't mean I agree with your decision – I still think it was a mistake."
He gave a small smile, half-amused half-wry. "Says the woman who, if in my shoes, wouldn't have thought twice before doing the exact same thing, who was always the first willing to sacrifice herself for her crew – who's doing it right now!"
"Well," she conceded, realizing how similar her way of thinking was to his, "don't tell B'Elanna, but maybe I think I'm dispensable too."
His lips twitched upwards. "That really does sound dumb when you're not the one saying the words."
He gave her a pointed look, and the mirth and challenge now dancing in his eyes was too contagious for her to be insulted at his words, especially when she agreed. So she couldn't keep a chuckle from bubbling to the surface. His smile widened at the sound, eyes now twinkling.
"Nevertheless, I'm glad you're here!" Kathryn admitted as their chuckles faded, and she reached out to squeeze his arm.
"There's nowhere else I'd rather be," he admitted, his eyes already back to the commands.
Kathryn's heart somersaulted, but she forced herself not to read anything into his words. Instead she went for humor. "Nowhere?" She teased. "Not even that place you programmed into the holodeck years ago, by the lake, with the shimmering waters, fireflies and blooming flowers?" She had seen it only once, not too long after they'd returned from their forced quarantine. So long ago, now.
He let out an amused huff. "Not even there." He paused, then threw her a teasing grin. "Well, I suppose I could be tempted into heading an archaeological expedition in the jungles of Central America right about now."
Kathryn's expression softened as she gazed at him. "Is that what you would have rather been doing, if you hadn't taken the promotion? Archaeology?"
"Does that surprise you?"
She studied his strong profile, the intricate tattoo that was such a large part of his personality, of his past, of the people and traditions he so cherished now. She should have known, should have realized that, despite his joking tone every time he'd mentioned archaeology, anthropology or teaching, he had meant it. "No. No, it doesn't." She paused. "If that's really what you want to do, Chakotay, that's what you should be doing."
He threw her a small smile. "I'm glad to hear you say that, because I'm actually considering it. In fact that's what I wanted to talk to you about."
"Really? But you're just considering it. Why the hesitation?" She paused, taking a long second to debate with herself whether to push the conversation, to consider whether she was ready to hear his answers. She inhaled, her eyes set on his face. "Have you been staying on because of Seven? Because with her reassignment-"
His head snapped to hers, his dark eyes widened with genuine surprise – confusion, even. "Seven? No! Why do you say that?"
Kathryn gave him a 'don't take me for a fool' kind of look. "Come on Chakotay, let's stop pretending – I've known you two have been involved for a long time now."
He frowned as he met her gaze. "Kathryn, if you think anything is going on between me and Seven, I have to report that the gossip has been traveling ironically slow."
It was Kathryn's turn to frown, a little annoyed by the joking lilt in his voice. "I don't understand. Just a few months ago, at the promotion ceremony, Seven told me you were-"
He nodded, catching up to Kathryn's train of thought. "It's true we tried dating for a while, but it's been over for a lon-"
Kathryn barely had time to register what he was saying before the control panel let out a shrill beep that had them both snap their attentions to it. Lights flashed a constant warning. "What's happening?" Kathryn asked as Chakotay looked over the data.
He shook his head. "The sensors are reading a rise in neutrino emissions, but we haven't activated anything, we haven't even reached the coordinates," he replied, dumbfounded.
Another beeping sound, but louder and of a lower frequency resounded from the back of the Flyer. From the Neutrino Entraptor. Chakotay jumped to his feet and went to open the door to check on it. Kathryn sprang to her feet when she saw it.
It was activating.
"Chakotay?"
"It wasn't me!"
She hit her combadge. "B'Elanna, talk to us, what's happening?"
~o~
The beeping and warning beacons on the control panels had sent everyone in Engineering into action mode. The frenzy paralleled B'Elanna's nerves as her crew buzzed around her, handing her PADDs, talking, trying to figure out what was going on. B'Elanna forced herself to focus, and her voice was calm when she replied.
"We're reading a rise in neutrino emissions, but it's not coming from this end. Seven, are you getting the same data as I am?"
~o~
From her position in Astrometrics, Seven of Nine read through the data and frowned. "It appears that Neelix is attempting to open the wormhole from his end. The neutrino flux is now caught within our Entraptor. Admiral, Captain, you need to release the device into space before the wormhole fully connects! I suggest you do so quickly."
~o~
Kathryn exchanged a look with Chakotay. "Negative, we're not at a safe distance from DS12, I don't want to risk the station, how long do we have until a connection forms?" She asked while Chakotay started entering the command codes to initiate the launching sequence for the device. There was no way of knowing what would happen to the station if the device connected while in such close proximity – or worse, if something went wrong.
"21.2 seconds," was Seven's reply.
Kathryn exchanged another look with Chakotay. "Let's make the most out of those 20 seconds," she told him. He nodded before returning to the control panels, his fingers working quickly to resume the launching sequence. "We'll get as far away from DS12 as possible."
"Negative!" B'Elanna's voice sounded strained. "You need to launch it, now!"
"15 seconds." Seven's voice.
Kathryn ignored them. "Voyager, raise your shields and take your position to shield DS12."
"Acknowledged," Mr. Kim replied.
Kathryn disengaged the autopilot and threw another look at Chakotay. "On my command."
A curt nod.
"10 seconds."
The Neutrino Entraptor in the back of the Flyer started emanating beams of blueish light, and the humming was so loud it vibrated within Kathryn's chest.
"5 seconds."
"Just a little closer…" She could now see that Voyager was in position. 4…3… "NOW!" Kathryn shouted to be heard over the now deafening humming, and Chakotay punched the final command. The latch opened and the launching station promptly ejected the device. Kathryn took command of the sticks and veered as far and fast as she could, doing all she could to put some distance between the Flyer and the device, but it didn't feel nearly enough as a funnel of darkness and light started to form around the Entraptor, now floating in space behind them.
"The wormhole is forming," Seven's voice stated over the comms, intermittently broken with interference. "Delta Flyer, I suggest you get as far away from it as you can so as not to get pulled into it by the initial gravitational flux."
Easier said than done. The Delta Flyer was already shaking badly, the metals groaning under the pressure of the gravitational pull. Kathryn's hands struggled to keep the navigation steady as the Flyer jostled under the pressure.
"The pull is too strong!" Chakotay cried over the sound of the rattling and groaning of metal, as his fingers moved deftly over the control panels. "I can't reroute power to propulsion!"
~o~
Harry Kim paced the bridge of Voyager, biting his lips nervously as he monitored the conversations helplessly, debating with himself the best course of action.
After a moment's hesitation, he punched his combadge.
"Delta Flyer, we're coming to beam you out of there!"
"Negative!" Captain Chakotay ordered, the word breaking with static interference. "Hold your position, keep the shield up until the wormhole is stable."
"Captain…!"
"That's an order!"
Harry raked his fingers through his hair helplessly. "Yes, sir."
~o~
"We just have to hold it a little longer!" Janeway shouted over the sound of her teeth clattering together by the strength of the turbulence shaking the Delta Flyer. "Chakotay, try overriding the secondary systems and reroute power from them instead!"
He worked quickly. "It seems to be helping. But there's no telling for how long it'll hold."
~o~
B'Elanna sat on the edge of her seat, her eyes glued to the monitor showing the Entraptor and the slowly shifting funnel. Her conscience was torn between fear for Janeway and Chakotay and thrill at what she was witnessing. The Neutrino Entraptor was emitting a violent flickering of blue light while the space around it seemed to shift. The movement wasn't visible to the naked eye, but B'Elanna's sensors were able to display it on her console. She couldn't tear her gaze away.
And then something in the space around them all clicked, or nudged into place, and the wormhole formed, releasing the Delta Flyer from its pull and hurling it forward and away from the rest of the ships. Well, the important thing was that Janeway and Chakotay were safe from the gravitational pull for now. They could take it from there.
B'Elanna snapped her attention back to her task.
"The wormhole is stabilizing, we need it to hold for 3.5 seconds," B'Elanna stated, her breath stuck in her throat.
"1 second," Seven's voice counted, "2 seconds. The containment field is losing integrity."
"Compensating," B'Elanna replied as she adjusted the emission rate. Her fingers shook as they slid over the console.
"The wormhole appears to be stabilizing once again, 2 seconds, 3 seconds."
B'Elanna held her breath and exchanged an anxious look with Icheb.
"4 seconds. 5 seconds. The wormhole is now stable."
~o~
Even piloting his freighter as speedily as he could from the spot where he had rocketed the device into the space above the asteroid, Neelix could only gape as the bright beam emitted from the Neutrino Entraptor started to funnel, as if siphoned into nothingness. The wormhole formed and opened in the space above the asteroid belt with an indescribable shift – almost like a soundless pop that was felt even in the tunnels. It was extraordinary.
He let out a nervous breath when he finally landed and reached the surface and the tunnel entrance. Dexa and Brax were waiting for him, along with several of the asteroid inhabitants who had been designated to Neelix or Nirax's ship.
"It's working!" Brax shouted with excitement as soon as Neelix entered the tunnel. "Neelix, our device is working!"
Neelix gave him a quick smile before meeting Dexa's eyes with urgency. She nodded and immediately directed two neighboring families to the back of the ship. "Hurry everyone, please go all the way in, we'll have room for everyone, but you need to make sure you go all the way in!"
"Neelix…" Brax's small hand on his arm, and his quiet, fearful stating of his name had him turn to face his son. He wasn't looking at him, and Neelix followed his gaze to the skylight window that afforded a view of the other side of the asteroid belt.
"It's here."
The anomaly of darkness seemed to block out any and all of the starlight usually visible from the asteroid. It was so large that it was difficult to see how close it actually was. Neelix gulped, his hand covering his mouth instinctively, before he exchanged a look with Dexa and scurried her into the vessel, making sure that Brax was at her side. "Have you seen Nirax?" He asked once he was assured they were safely inside.
Dexa shook her head. "No! He should be here by now!"
"We need his ship, otherwise we won't have enough room for everyone!" Neelix whispered in spite of his panic and anger so that the few passengers who remained without an assigned evacuation ship wouldn't hear. He exhaled as he looked around, his eyes scanning for Dexa's cousin among the anxious crowd around them. "We can't wait any longer: you go ahead and start directing the ships through the wormhole from here. When they're all through, take this ship through as well. Starfleet will be expecting you. I'll go see if I can find Nirax. Don't wait for me, I'll catch a ride with him. Don't worry. We'll be fine."
Dexa hesitated, fear clouding her eyes, but in the end gave him a fearful nod and quickly disappeared among the evacuees aboard Neelix's ship.
~o~
Kathryn sighed in relief once they were clear from the pull of the event horizon and she heard Seven and B'Elanna taking control of the wormhole.
However her relief was short-lived. The lights aboard the Delta Flyer flickered, then the power went down with a disappointed hum. Kathryn exchanged a look with Chakotay before he attempted to reinitialize the systems.
After a moment, he looked back up at her and shook his head.
They would need some help getting back to the station. While Voyager was closer, she didn't want to move it from its current position, so that left her Aspire and Captain Uang.
"Aspire, this is Delta Flyer. We appear to have burned out our power cells. We're going to need a ride back."
Captain Uang's voice responded. "Understood, we're on our way."
"Kathryn, look!" Chakotay's voice caught Kathryn's attention and she followed his gaze to the giant rotating mouth of the wormhole and its flickering of lights as neutrinos attempted to escape their confinement.
The surface of it, the event horizon, seemed to shift subtlety, and then…
A small vessel appeared through.
Chakotay grinned and Kathryn stood to get a closer look, moved beyond words at the sight. They had done it! After months and months of hard work, B'Elanna's Neutrino Entraptor worked! The significance of the moment wasn't lost on her and she shared an astonished gaze with Chakotay.
"Sensors have detected a vessel exiting the wormhole," Tuvok's voice stated over the open channel.
"We have a visual, it doesn't look damaged," Kathryn confirmed with a widening grin. "Direct them to the station," she instructed as she looked up in awe.
"We have made contact with the ship, everyone is well and accounted for," Tuvok added.
Just when she was about to redirect her attention to Aspire's movements, another Talaxian ship crossed the event horizon of the wormhole, and Kathryn's amazed chuckle echoed with Chakotay's.
And then there was a third ship, and a fourth.
~o~
Neelix ran through the tunnels in search of Nirax, fear warring with determination within him. One look through the roof panels afforded a view of the wormhole and the ships disappearing through. It fueled his resolve momentarily, but then any flame of hope died as tendrils of darkness seemed to quickly surround everything in its deathly claws. He could still see some of the neighboring asteroids, but the dark, misty cloud was quickly spreading all around the belt, casting a suffocating shadow upon them as it deftly moved to hide the light from this system's main star. Soon Neelix wouldn't even be able to see the ground underneath his feet, and if it caught up to him before he could make it back to the ships…
The fear was almost paralyzing. Neelix had always been terrified of the dark, but this overwhelming nothingness was unlike anything he had ever experienced. He struggled to breathe, the air catching in his lungs as he ran, his legs buckling from under him.
The memory of Chakotay gently yet insistently guiding him through a darkened Voyager sprang to his mind and Neelix held on to the memory of Chakotay's calm demeanor like a drowning man to a lifeboat. It helped him focus on his breathing and he slowly felt the panic start to fade.
He finally found the tunnel entrance to the settlement and ran inside. "Nirax! Nirax!" He called, desperation overtaking any breathlessness he might be feeling.
"Neelix! Over here!"
Neelix spotted Nirax running toward him with three additional inhabitants – including Xar – on his heels and let out a relieved sigh. "Where have you been? We need to go, NOW!"
"Those three decided to go back for their belongings," Nirax explained with an annoyed glance at the people behind him. Xar had the good sense to look contrite when Neelix glanced at him. The group didn't skip a beat before they resumed sprinting through the tunnels.
When they finally made it to Nirax's ship, the darkness was getting dangerously close to both the asteroids themselves, and worse… the wormhole. Soon it would be blocking their access altogether. That was not good.
Neelix didn't have to voice his fear as he exchanged a look with Nirax. Grim-faced, Nirax hurried everyone onboard, including those who had been anxiously waiting for their turn to evacuate, and promptly shut the latch before he dropped himself into the pilot seat.
"Have the others successfully gone through?" Nirax asked as he pressed and flicked various controls on the console and the ship hummed to life.
"I'll find out." Neelix took the copilot seat and switched on the communication systems.
~o~
"Federation starships, this is Neelix, what is the status on the ships that were sent through the wormhole?"
B'Elanna perked up at the sound of his voice. "Neelix, this is B'Elanna. We've confirmed that four ships have now come through."
"Five," Seven's voice corrected. "The fifth one has just crossed the event horizon. Their passengers are all safe and sound."
"Oh what wonderful news!" Neelix's voice replied with relief. "We're the last one, we should reach the wormhole shortly."
"See you on the other side," B'Elanna replied with a relieved grin.
"Yes." There was an uneasy pause.
She frowned. "Neelix?"
"You should be aware that the Darkness is quickly closing in on us."
B'Elanna tensed uneasily. "What are you saying?"
"I suppose I'm saying that there's a chance, a very slight chance, mind you, that we might not make it."
B'Elanna rubbed her face, shaking her head. "I can't accept that, Neelix."
"We'll do our best, I promise. But if I don't make it-"
"Don't say that-"
"If I don't make it, please take good care of Dexa and Brax for me."
B'Elanna desperately scrambled for something funny to say, anything to deflect the heaviness of Neelix's words. She came up empty. "We will. Now enough of that, and you bring yourself over here, got it?"
A solemn silence. "We'll do our best."
~o~
Seven of Nine monitored the wormhole with heightened emotions, her pulse racing and her palms clammy against the console as she tried to synchronize Voyager's sensors to those aboard Neelix's vessel on the other side of the event horizon. She resisted the urge to wipe her palms on her suit as she focused on the data on the large holographic screen in front of her, doing her best to ignore the emotions that constantly seemed to interfere with her efficiency.
With one final touch, the screen beeped happily and the telemetry from the Talaxian ship scrolled across the monitor. She found herself holding her breath as she found and followed the vessel's icon on the screen while it slowly moved toward the event horizon. And then she swallowed hard.
The darkness was too close, too fast.
Neelix was right, the odds of them being able to make it before being overtaken were slim. One in five, actually.
She considered several scenarios, but none of her solutions were expedient enough to be helpful. They needed more power.
~o~
"We need more power!" Nirax shouted.
Neelix gulped while his brain scrambled for a solution, anything, that might help. His hands gripped the armrests of his chair so tightly that his knuckles were white, and he couldn't breathe, as if a large and heavy hand had taken hold of his ribcage.
Focus.
"Release the ship's torpedoes," he suggested through clenched teeth, heart in his mouth. "With shields at maximum, we might be able to ride the shockwave. And it might slow down the Darkness."
Nirax hesitated for only a moment before he entered the commands.
The torpedo launched just as B'Elanna's voice said: "Negative! We have no idea what an explosion will do to the…" She trailed off when she realized that it was too late.
"We have no choice!" Nirax said as he punched the detonator.
The ship rocked sideways as it was hurled forward by the blast behind them.
Neelix closed his eyes and tightened his grip on the armrests.
~o~
Seven held her breath as she watched the Talaxian ship gain in speed on her large screen as a result of the explosion they had created. The darkness remained unaffected, but this small surge of speed might be just enough…
"The last vessel has now entered the wormhole!" Seven stated as she exhaled in relief.
It was short-lived, however, as the darkness closed in on the entrance of the wormhole and…
"Lieutenant Torres, the wormhole is…"
~o~
"…destabilizing."
No, no, no! B'Elanna moved to the console. "Compensating for the surge of energy released by the explosion now," she said, her voice trembling as her eyes traveled back and forth between the data panels and the monitor.
"No effect," Seven stated.
B'Elanna cursed as she shifted to the next panel over and tried something else.
"Is Neelix through yet?" She asked frantically as her fingers moved quickly to enter various commands.
"Not yet."
"Come on…" B'Elanna pleaded under her breath as she typed in new command codes.
"The wormhole has not regained a stable flux. It will disintegrate in 4… 3… 2…"
"We have a visual!" Janeway's voice cut in and, sure enough, B'Elanna saw the small dot representing the Talaxian ship on her monitor appear out of the wormhole, going much faster than the others had.
She chuckled with utter relief as she dropped herself back in her chair.
~o~
"Wait, something else is coming through," Kathryn said as she squinted at the swirling event horizon. Something large, much larger than the Talaxian ships, was affecting the surface, as though struggling to come through, or pushing against the membrane of the event horizon.
"Seven, why hasn't the wormhole disintegrated?" B'Elanna asked over the comms, her tone suddenly concerned.
"Admiral, Captain, you need to get out of there, NOW!" Seven urged at the same time that Kathryn realized what was going on.
They had opened the doors for Neelix and his people, not really imagining that the anomaly could follow them through. That had been a lethal assumption. But the fleet wasn't unprepared for that eventuality.
"This is Uang, Aspire is almost within beaming distance, we will pick up the last of the Talaxian ship and the Delta Flyer." But at the same moment as the captain was ending the sentence, the event horizon seemed to rip open, and darkness – nothingness – seeped through like a gas or smoke through air. A cloud of it surged forward toward the Flyer.
Chakotay only had time to attempt one last frantic resurrection of the Delta Flyer systems before the nothingness extended one of its arms towards them.
And then everything went dark.