Disclaimer: All characters, vessels, and science belong to Paramount with the exception of Sarah Janeway and anything else that I made up.
Author's Note: Yay—another chapter!! I'm really having fun with this and it's easy to write, since I simply write myself in as Sarah, only much younger and more intuitive and 'genius-y'. This is, after all, a sort of 'novelization' of my dream. I seriously think I'm addicted to Star Trek: Voyager. XD I really do think that I'll write every Voyager episode, though it will take forever. In addition, I'll be putting episodes of my own in, so I'm going to be writing upwards of 170 episodes. I'll probably have to really shorten some episodes if you want to read all of them within the next decade. But hey, it'll be fun!!
I apologize in advance for any mistakes made, especially regarding the Cardassians and Starfleet, but also with how the episode's supposed to run—unfortunately, I do not have Caretaker on tape/DVD.
I had to add the song—it's such an awesome song and it fit the story so well it just had to be included! I may add some other songs into future episodes. There seem to be several that will enhance my plot line.
Oh, and a little post script: I'm having a contest of sorts. If you correctly guess who Sarah's father is, I will add you into an episode as a character. Fun, eh? Private message me with your guesses. If there is more than one winner, I will write each of you into an episode. Have fun and good luck!!
Anomaly
'Caretaker, Part Three'
Captain Janeway fidgeted nervously in her chair as she waited for the Maquis to beam over. Did their sudden arrival in the Delta Quadrant make her mission null and void? Secretly, in a hidden corner of her soul, she'd harbored a covert pity for the Maquis for quite some time. The Cardassians were evil, horrible people and Starfleet hadn't done very much to help the Bajorans or the colonists under attack by the Cardassians.
She glanced at her daughter, seated unobtrusively near the captain's chair, one arm draped casually around the railing support. She seemed totally confident and assured of the situation. Where is she getting these premonitions? her mother wondered. I wish I knew what she knows.
A sudden flash of light and the low whine of a transporter signaled the arrival of the Maquis. Captain Janeway got to her feet, as did her daughter and a number of the bridge crew as they materialized on the bridge. The three of them appeared with their backs to each other, a classic defensive position, and each one was tightly holding a weapon. Only the dark-skinned Vulcan lowered his.
"Watch out captain! They're armed!" called out Rollins, pulling a phaser and starting towards the captain. Half the bridge crew had pulled phasers as well.
"Put your weapons down!" she yelled to her crew. They obeyed, reluctantly.
Sarah bit her tongue to keep from calling out Tuvok's name. With more courage than she had even expected of herself, she stepped towards the still-armed Maquis.
"You won't need those here," she said calmly and quietly.
Chakotay, in shock, found himself staring into the emerald green eyes of a small, dark-haired, barefooted girl. She looked back at him, completely calm, from the end of his phaser. Slowly, cautiously, he lowered it. "If you don't mind me asking, captain," he inquired. "Why is there a child onboard if you were sent to find an enemy ship?"
"It's a long story," Captain Janeway responded. "I can't go into detail now." She smiled at the Vulcan. "It's good to have you back, Tuvok."
Chakotay turned disbelievingly to him as Tuvok told him, "I must inform you, sir, that I was assigned to infiltrate your crew. I am Captain Janeway's chief of security."
With a face of stone, Chakotay responded, "Were you going to deliver us into their waiting hands, Vulcan?"
"My mission was to accumulate information on Maquis activities, and then 'deliver you into their waiting hands.' That is correct."
At that moment, Chakotay spotted Tom on the upper level of the bridge. "I see you had help," he said coldly. He jerked a thumb in Tuvok's direction. "At least he was doing his duty as a Starfleet officer. But you…you betrayed us for what? Freedom from prison? Latinum? What was your price this time?"
Sarah could feel the rising tensions around her and didn't like it. Determinedly, she placed herself before the Maquis captain who had raised his voice and taken half a step towards Tom. She ignored the fact that he was about six times her size. "Stop it," she said firmly. "This isn't helping us find Ensign Kim or your lost crew member."
Incredulously, Chakotay looked down at the stubborn little girl blocking his path. Captain Janeway joined her, gently moving her away and adding, "You're speaking to a member of my crew. I expect you to treat him with the same respect as you would have me treat a member of yours." Her calm voice bordered on a dangerous warning. "I suggest we all concentrate on recovering our people and getting ourselves back home."
Tuvok moved to Janeway's side and reported, "Based on my initial reconnaissance, Captain, I'm convinced that we are dealing with a single entity aboard the array. I believe that he scanned our computers in order to select a comfortable holographic environment. In effect, a waiting room to pacify us, prior to biometric assessment."
Captain Janeway frowned. "An…examination?"
"Precisely. Why else would be released unharmed?"
"Not all of us were," Tom countered. "So that leaves the question: what would pique the interest of an advanced alien being in a Maquis and a green Starfleet officer?"
"Whatever the answer is," Chakotay responded, "It's down on that Array."
"That's where we're going now," Janeway announced. "Tuvok, break out the phaser compression rifles. Meet us in Transporter Room Two in half an hour. We'll divide into two teams. Chakotay and I will look for Kim and…"
"Torres," he supplied.
"Your job is to learn as much about this array as you can."
"Aye, captain," Tuvok replied, looking at the structure dubiously.
"It brought us here," she said courageously. "We have to assume it can send us back."
Sarah's face was dark. "Something's telling me the array isn't the answer. And you won't need those phaser rifles."
Chakotay couldn't stand it any longer. "As far as I knew, children weren't allowed on the bridge of a starship. Who are you?" He'd never encountered a child quite like this girl.
She turned her small face up to face him. "Sarah Janeway," she said passively.
His eyes flicked up to meet Captain Janeway's.
"Yes, she's my daughter," Kathryn affirmed. "As I said before, it's a long story that I don't have time to tell right now. We need to get going."
"Agreed," Chakotay nodded.
Captain Janeway pulled her daughter aside and knelt down before her. "Sarah, I need you to go back to our quarters and wait for me there."
Surprisingly, there was no resistance. Her daughter merely nodded. Kathryn had been prepared for an insistence that she had to go with them, to which she would have refused. At some point there had to be boundaries and she was putting the limit at joining dangerous away missions.
Quietly, she asked, "Do you know something we don't about what's going on?"
Sarah shook her head. "No, there's nothing now."
Kathryn quickly dropped a kiss on her daughter's forehead. "Stay in our quarters and be careful."
"You too," the young girl whispered, heading for the turbolift. "I love you."
"I love you too."
Captain Janeway waited until the turbolift doors had swished closed, then snapped back to command mode. "Let's go," she told the Maquis.
Less than five minutes later, she found herself back on Voyager. The strange old man playing the banjo had summarily dismissed them and given them no information on their missing crewmembers. Upon her return, she ordered a course laid in and engaged for the fifth planet in the system where the Array was still sending energy pulses. Once it had been done, she turned over the bridge to Rollins and hurried to her quarters to check on her daughter.
When she entered the room, it was a mess. Clothes, books, furniture, and pictures were scattered about the floor. She picked up her daughter's copy of To Kill A Mockingbird and carefully brushed debris from it. Suddenly, she became aware of the sound of sniffling from the bedroom. She hurried in, where she found Sarah curled in a miserable ball on her mother's bed, crying as though her heart would break.
"Oh, Sarah," she said as she hurried to her daughter's side. "What is it?"
In between tears came a strangled reply. "On the bridge, it was like I was running on someone else's courage. When I came back here, I truly realized what's happened. I'm so scared." More sobs cut off further words.
Kathryn sat behind her daughter and gently pulled her into her lap. Stroking Sarah's hair, she called out, "Computer, music selection. Time: 21st century. Artist: Phil Collins. Title: You'll Be In My Heart. Vocals at 50."
The computer beeped and processed her request. She felt Sarah stir as the opening strains of guitar sounded. Taking her daughter's hand in her own, she softly began to sing.
"Come stop your crying, it will be all right. Just take my hand, hold it tight. I will protect you from all around you. I will be here, don't you cry..."
Kathryn sang with heart, just as she always did. As the song ended, Sarah turned a grateful, tearstained face to her mother and gave her small smile. Kathryn smiled back. She'd never thought much of her singing, but when she'd discovered that particular song when Sarah was a baby, she had found that she was actually fairly good at it. From that point on, she had sung it to her daughter whenever she had needed comfort.
The two of them then proceeded to tidy their quarters. When they had finished, Sarah extracted a promise from her mother that she wouldn't leave her all alone and together they returned to the bridge.
Now freshly clad in a new red shirt, black pants, socks and boots, Sarah was able to blend in more as she made herself small near her mother's chair, sitting cross-legged on the floor. She looked curiously at the viewscreen, which displayed large pieces of floating space debris.
"Captain," Tuvok called out. "I'm reading a small vessel inside the debris field."
"On screen," Kathryn ordered.
A small, grey compact ship, probably a cargo vessel, appeared before their eyes. "They might be able to tell us where our people are," she mused. "Hail them."
"They are responding," Tuvok said, then channeled the response to the screen. A short, portly, furry man appeared on the screen.
"Go away!" he demanded. "This is my debris field!"
"I assure you, sir, we want nothing with your debris field," Kathryn said calmly. "I'm Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation starship Voyager."
At that, he calmed down. "I'm Neelix of the Talaxian cargo ship Baxial. I must say, captain, that's quite an impressive title you have. I have no idea what it means, but it's very impressive." He was starting to smile.
Sarah couldn't hold back a grin. This man wasn't the gruff type—in fact, he was just the opposite. That wasn't a premonition, either. It was obvious.
"Mr. Neelix, I was wondering if you could help us," Captain Janeway said, cutting to the chase. She quickly outlined their situation. "Do you know where our officers might be?"
"It sounds like they may have been taken to the Ocampa homeworld. There's a city deep below the surface. I can guide you there in exchange for…" he said hesitatingly.
"For what?"
"For…for water?"
Captain Janeway sighed, relieved. "Certainly. If you help us, you can have all the water you want."
His face brightened visibly.
Definitely not the gruff type, Sarah thought.
"Thank you, Mr. Neelix. We'll beam you aboard our ship and put your ship in our shuttle bay."
The Talaxian's face was puzzled. "Beam?" he asked questioningly.
Kathryn smiled. "You'll see. Tuvok, meet our guest in Transporter Room Two."
When at last they reached the fifth planet, Sarah, Chakotay, Paris, Neelix, Tuvok, and Captain Janeway gathered in the transporter room. As she watched them prepare to leave, her stomach clenched with anxiety. "Be extremely careful," she cautioned. "I don't like this. Something's not right."
"We'll keep our eyes open," her mother assured her. Turning to the others, she asked, "Ready?"
"Ready," Chakotay answered, sliding a phaser into his side holster. The others did the same and nodded.
As a group, they climbed onto the transporter pad. "Energize," Janeway said resolutely. Sarah nervously watched the group disappear in an azure sparkle of molecules. Resigning herself to the fact that she would merely have to wait for them to come back, she seated herself with a sigh on the step that led to the transporter pad.
Time passed slowly. She fidgeted, nervously twisting her hands together. She suddenly noticed the transporter officer, a lieutenant from the science department, watching her closely. The woman looked away when Sarah's eyes sought hers. Her commbadge chirped and she quickly completed the requested transport of the containers of water.
After the officer completed her task, the small girl spoke up. "Did I do something wrong?" Sarah asked timidly.
The woman looked back at her. "No," she said slowly. "I just…I just don't understand why you're aboard this ship. What are you, five years old?"
"Four," Sarah corrected. "And even I don't understand what I'm doing here. I just knew I had to come along."
"A…sixth sense?"
"Something like that."
The woman seemed satisfied with the answer.
Feeling somewhat awkward, Sarah formally introduced herself. "I'm Sarah Janeway."
Looking a little startled, the lieutenant replied, "Lieutenant Natalie Green. You're the captain's daughter? Well, I'm sure that helped you get onboard."
"Not as much as you might think," Sarah countered.
They passed a few minutes with some superficial conversation. Suddenly, the panicked voice of Captain Janeway ordered frantically over the comm channel, "Lieutenant, beam us out now!"
Natalie Green, with expertise born of years and years of training, had her fingers dancing over the panel before Captain Janeway's last word had faded from hearing. Sarah Janeway had sprung to her feet and whipped around to face the transporter pad in as little time.
As her mother, the Voyager crewmembers, the Maquis, the furry alien, and a battered young woman who could only be from the planet's surface shimmered into view, Sarah's quick eyes noticed several things. Everyone's uniform was covered in a sandy dust and splattered with water. They had their phasers drawn and looked very on-edge. Obviously there had been an altercation of some sort.
Her mother sought her out but before she could say anything, the Talaxian turned to the new woman and said, "You see, my sweet? I told you I would rescue you!"
Sarah stared in disbelief, as did everyone else. He used us, she thought.
Later on in Sick Bay, she learned that the woman's name was Kes and that she was an Ocampan. So he didn't completely deceive us, she thought. Her mother had given her a brief overview of what had happened on the surface, including an encounter with a race known as the Kazon and a particularly unpleasant man known as Jabin. The holographic doctor was tending to Kes's many injuries as her mother spoke with her about finding Kim and Torres.
"Is there any way to get to them?" Captain Janeway asked.
"The passages are blocked by solid rock," Kes said in her gentle, quiet way. "You won't be able to get through."
"Our transporter technology can get us through," Janeway confidently assured her.
"There are breaches in the tunnels," Kes admitted. "That might help."
The captain nodded. "Then let's get going."
Sarah spent a nail-biting half hour waiting for them to return to the ship. She sprang up when the first transport was initiated, but was worried to only see Harry Kim, Kes, and a dark-haired part-Klingon woman who could only be Torres. They were immediately transferred to Sick Bay and she sat back down to wait. She fidgeted, almost sick with anxiety, until Tuvok, Chakotay, Paris, and her mother beamed aboard. Chakotay, who had a broken leg, was also transferred to Sick Bay.
Sarah ran forward to clasp her mother gratefully. "Are you all right?" she demanded.
"I'm fine, princess," Captain Janeway assured her daughter. "I'm fine." She tapped her commbadge. "Janeway to bridge."
"Rollins here."
"Set a course back to the array and engage at maximum warp."
"Aye captain."
"What happened?" Sarah asked.
Her mother provided her with a brief overview, including Paris's daring rescue of Chakotay with a note of pride in her voice. Despite their earlier bitter hatred, they'd managed to put aside hard feelings in a crisis, if only temporarily. Too bad it won't matter when we get back to the Alpha Quadrant, the captain thought sadly.
Sarah pondered the new information for a moment, and then asked, "So the Caretaker's dying?"
"That's Tuvok's theory. It makes sense."
"You're going to try to get him to send us back before he dies?"
Her mother nodded.
It won't work, the small girl almost said, but she stopped herself, not knowing why.
When they finally got back to the array, Sarah had her case ready when her mother and Tuvok gathered in the transporter room to beam over. She stepped forward, heart in her throat, and said with quiet, grim determination, "I must accompany you."
"Certainly not! Sarah, you know better than to ask that."
She looked her mother directly in the eyes. "We don't have a choice—either one of us. He has information we need. I'm the only who knows what to ask and the only one who can decipher what he says."
"Sarah…" her mother began.
"Mama," Sarah replied. "When have I ever been wrong about something like this?"
Tuvok remained silent, knowing there was something about Sarah that made her act the way she did. She was without a doubt the most unusual child he'd ever encountered.
Captain Janeway sighed in frustration. "I don't like this at all and I know I'm going to kick myself later," she said as she reluctantly motioned for her daughter to join them on the transporter pad.
"You can beam me right back over as soon as I have an answer," Sarah said, all business.
Her mother nodded to the transporter operator and they immediately found themselves in an old barn. Tuvok set off to find a way operate the array while mother and daughter slowly walked around looking for the old man. The quiet strumming of a banjo made Sarah perk up and she ran around the barrier of a stall to find the grizzled caretaker sitting on a stool tuning his instrument.
He looked up. "Back again?" he sighed. Chuckling a little, he added, "You're nothing if not persistent."
Guided by an unknown force, Sarah knelt before him. "Mr. Caretaker," she said in her quiet, serious manner. "What are the subspace convergence coordinates?"
His eyes opened wide. "How do you know about that?"
"Please tell me. It's crucial."
Still staring incredulously, he rattled off a long list of numbers and letters.
Standing back up, she thanked him, though she knew not for what. The entire time she had been speaking, her mother had seemed unaware of her daughter at all, as though she were in a trance. Now, Captain Janeway was pleading with the caretaker to send the two ships home and still seemed not to be aware of her daughter. She was desperate to get back—that was the only reason Sarah could think of for her oversight. She listened to their conversation with detachment, for she somehow knew the outcome.
She watched the barn flicker and disappear to be replaced by a highly advanced room, full of foreign technology. She felt the place shake. She heard one of Voyager's crewmembers report that the array was being attacked by the Kazon. She saw the caretaker begin to change form and heard him lament the damage to the self-destruct sequence. She saw him die to become a rock of some sort and watched her mother pick it up. She listened to her debate with Tuvok. She finally walked over to where her mother knelt, holding the caretaker's dead form. She gently placed her small hands on top of the rock.
Her mother's head snapped up to look her daughter in the eye. At last, she seemed aware of her child. "What happened? Why aren't you…" Captain Janeway shook her head. "Never mind. Janeway to Voyager—three to beam up immediately!"
When they made it to the bridge, sirens howled and red lights flashed. The air was smoky and there was a general aura of confusion. Control panels sparked as the Kazon continued to attack Voyager. Trying to make herself inconspicuous, Sarah heard Chakotay say he was going to take some heat off Voyager's tail. She watched the Val Jean explode in a fiery ball of debris in the side of the largest Kazon vessel and saw her mother tense up visibly until the transporter room reported that they had Chakotay safely aboard the starship. He had just entered the bridge when her mother announced that she had made her decision.
Captain Janeway asked Tuvok to prepare tricobalt torpedoes. "I intend to destroy the array," she said determinedly.
The Maquis woman who had been abducted, B'Elanna Torres, loudly declared that they would never get home. Angrily, she asked, "Who is she to be making this decision for us?"
Chakotay overruled B'Elanna, putting a hand on her arm and saying evenly, "She's the captain."
Sarah watched and listened as her mother uttered the one word she knew would change their lives forever.
"Fire," Captain Janeway ordered.
Sarah's eyes followed the fiery orange shapes as they raced through space and found their mark. The blast desiccated the array, ripping it completely apart and leaving no debris.
A Kazon vessel contacted Voyager. A Kazon man named Jabin scowled at them. "You have made an enemy today," he announced. The transmission ended and the aliens withdrew.
They were stranded in the Delta Quadrant. They were separated from the Federation, other vessels, or assistance of any sort. They couldn't contact their friends or family.
Sarah's eyes sought her mother's. A wordless communication passed between them. This was why Sarah had had to come. This was why she had had to follow her mother to the bridge and the array. This was why.
Hours later, Voyager was mostly cleaned up. The Maquis had been integrated into the Starfleet crew. Chakotay stood beside Captain Janeway with commander's pips on the collar of his new uniform. Tom Paris sported lieutenant's pips. Neelix and Kes also stood on the bridge, for Neelix had insisted that the two of them would be valuable assistants—he could guide them and he could cook.
Sarah stood on the other side of her mother amongst this motley group. No more eyebrows were raised at her appearances on the bridge—she was an accepted crewmember of sorts as were the others.
Captain Janeway stepped forward and faced the crew on the bridge.
"We're alone," she began simply. "In an uncharted part of the galaxy. We've already made some friends here," she continued, glancing at Kes and Neelix. "And some enemies. We have no idea of the dangers we're going to face, but one thing is clear: both crews are going to have to work together if we're to survive. That's why Commander Chakotay and I," here she shared an understanding look with Chakotay. "…Have agreed that this should be one crew: a Starfleet crew. And as the only Starfleet vessel assigned to the Delta Quadrant, we'll continue to follow our directive: to seek out new worlds and to explore space."
"But our primary goal is clear," she continued. "Even at maximum speeds it would take 75 years to reach the Federation. But I'm not willing to settle for that. There's another entity like the Caretaker out there somewhere who has the ability to get us there a lot faster. We'll be looking for her, and we'll be looking for wormholes, spatial rifts or new technologies to help us. Somewhere along this journey, we'll find a way back."
Kathryn Janeway turned to face the viewscreen and Sarah quietly stood by her side.
"Mr. Paris, set a course. For home."
Author' Note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter!! I enjoyed writing it!! I have a goal of ten reviews for this chapter—won't you help me get there:) Even a few words are greatly appreciated. I know that it's kind of unlikely Sarah could get beamed over to the array or have unlimited bridge access, but it's essential to the plot line—how can I tell the story from her point of view if she's always stuck in her quarters? I hope you guys don't mind too much. Also, I apologize for 'fast-forwarding' through a lot of this episode but it had to be done! I don't think it made the story too choppy or anything, I just wish I had time to sit down and write it out in its entirety. Then again, it would probably turn into a novel. :) Anyway, don't forget about the contest and leave lots of reviews!! The next chapter will be 'Parallax'! Thanks so much, all my loyal readers!!!!