Disclaimer: All characters, vessels, science, the original plot, and dialogue belong to Paramount with the exception of Sarah Janeway, the new parts of the plot, and anything else that is my creation.
Summary: Having her young daughter with her aboard Voyager creates a complex set of responsibilities and challenges for Captain Janeway. They and the crew work at adjusting to life in the Delta Quadrant...
Chronology: Season one, episode twelve "Heroes and Demons"
Pairings: None right now.
Rating: T for situations and probably some mild cursing.
Author's Note: As you may have noticed, I've updated my pre-story info format. Change can be good. I hope this will be helpful both to my wonderful readers and myself.
Yet again, I apologize for how long it has taken me to get off my lazy butt and actually type up a new chapter. I'm in the process of creating an update schedule so that I only work on two or so stories at a time. Hopefully this will feel less overwhelming and encourage me to write more often. Of course, I still have my college schedule and homework to contend with, so I can't promise anything. But I do think it should make a difference. Thank you so much for your continued readership!!
As aforementioned, I'm trying to have many episodes be character-centered on someone other than Sarah or Captain Janeway. (Of course, they won't be completely left out, but I am trying to expand the horizons of the story) This episode's lucky character is the Doctor! He's always a fun one to write about. Hope you like it!
Also, I need to announce that I am no longer hosting the contest about guessing Sarah's father. Sorry! I put it up years ago in what I believe was a pathetic attempt to solicit more reviews. -headdesk- Argh, I was such a dork. But so yeah, I don't need any more guesses, and I won't be writing in a character from the winner. I was being a total dork and it would be too difficult to write in a new character of someone else's creation. I am so sorry. I really hope this new chapter helps make up for it!
Anomaly
'Heroes and Demons'
Kathryn Janeway sat alone in her quarters, huddled on the couch in the dark. She was doing something she hadn't allowed herself to do in years.
She was crying. Hard.
As captain, and as a mother, it was her duty to remain strong and exude confidence. She could not afford to show signs of weakness. But after Seska's brutal attack on Sarah and subsequent escape, Sarah's barely stable comatose condition, the unspoken concerns of the crew for her ability to lead them as emotionally compromised as she was, and now the hopefully temporary loss of Harry, Chakotay, and Tuvok, she couldn't keep everything bottled up inside any longer.
Life without Sarah around had been torture. She feared for her daughter's life, but she had a ship to run. She tried to create a balance that satisfied her duties and somewhat soothed a mother's aching heart, but she could tell half the crew thought she spent too much time in Sick Bay while the other half thought she visited too infrequently, given the dire situation. Chakotay had been a blessing, but there was only so much he could do.
And now he was gone too.
It should have been a simple detour, a simple investigation. They'd altered course to examine some oddly intense photonic activity in a protostar not very far off their original course. She and B'Elanna had beamed aboard some samples for closer analysis. The photonic matter had very promising implications for increasing the efficiency of the ship's power converters between fifteen and twenty percent. Preliminary analysis was going to take about six hours, so she'd suggested to B'Elanna that she could get Harry Kim to assist her. He was off-duty and using his free time in the Holodeck, but she knew how much he enjoyed investigating new phenomena. However, when she tried to contact via the comm system, he didn't respond. And when she asked the computer, it informed her that Ensign Kim was no longer aboard the ship.
A cold clench of fear settled in her stomach when she heard those words, but she forced herself to remain calm until they knew for sure what was going on. On the bridge, Tuvok informed her that there was no evidence of unauthorized transporter activity and all the shuttlecraft were all accounted for. Chakotay told her that no one had seen Harry since his shift had ended over four hours ago, and that he was scheduled for time in Holodeck 2. Tuvok tried to scan the room, but several alerts went off. There was too much interference for a clear scan but it didn't act like it was a system malfunction, so she had Chakotay and Tuvok go to investigate. They had examined the controls of the Holodeck and found no overt problems, other than the fact that they couldn't shut it down. They had then entered the holodeck and found a holonovel of Beowulf running. They had spent several minutes inside before they contacted her with an update, saying that they hadn't found any definite signs of Harry, who had been portraying Beowulf himself, but they'd encountered many characters who claimed to know what happened to him—he'd tried to battle a monster called Grendel and was killed in the process. The fear she'd felt earlier intensified, though Chakotay added that they hadn't found a body. They'd need to shut down the system if they wanted to know for certain if he was there or not. She had asked them to run a diagnostic on the imaging control systems, repair them if they weren't working, and relay their tricorder scans to the bridge so that she could monitor and analyze the readings.
Once she and B'Elanna had run the analysis, she contacted Chakotay via comms to inform him that a deep level scan showed minute quantities of photonic energy in the holodeck, which B'Elanna believed was the result of their beaming aboard the samples from the protostar—there had been a breach in the annular confinement beam that must have allowed the energy to leak into the transporter system, and from there into other ship systems as well. They had found some photonic energy in the replicators. Tuvok had responded by raising the uncomfortable possibility that if the holodeck's conversion nodes were contaminated, Harry might have inadvertently undergone the process of matter conversion. She'd agreed that they needed to consider the possibility that he had been converted into energy, though the holodeck wasn't supposed to convert people, only programs.
It was then that Chakotay announced that an object approximately one meter in size was approaching, probably Grendel. Tuvok suggested a close analysis of the creature would be beneficial, and she had allowed him to proceed. B'Elanna suddenly said that she was picking up signs of matter-energy conversion, and she immediately ordered an emergency transport to get her officers out of there.
But her chief engineer couldn't get a lock. There was a loud shaking noise over the comm system, then nothing. She'd desperately tried to raise them, almost yelling their names. No response. B'Elanna quietly said that their lifesigns were gone.
And just like that, she'd lost half her senior officers.
She'd set up a briefing for those that were left, scheduled for two hours later. That gave B'Elanna and the engineering staff to make sense of all the data they'd gathered, and it gave her time to go to her quarters and let herself cry without being seen. She felt weak, like she had failed as a captain. Normally she wouldn't have let it phase her, but it was just one more straw on the weary camel's back. Her daughter was lying on a biobed in the dim back section of Sick Bay, half dead, machines keeping her tenuously attached to the living. She was fighting to keep the emotional strain from affecting her abilities as captain, but the mother in her screamed with pain every time she had to leave her little girl to take care of Voyager. Now in addition to that, she had lost her first officer, tactical officer and best friend, and communications officer, all within the space of a few hours. The emotional turmoil was almost unbearable, and she felt that if she didn't just let it out, it was going to consume her and really make her an unfit captain.
As the wracking sobs slowly receded from her body, she rolled over onto her back and stared at the ceiling as she began to wipe the tears from her face. Not for the first time, she began silently apologizing to everyone. None of this would be happening if I'd used the array…I saved the Ocamapa from being abused by the Kazon, but in the process I may have killed my own daughter and three crewmembers…I'm sorry…I am so sorry… She pulled a framed picture from the table next to the couch and gently rubbed her thumb over the glass, caressing the image of her daughter at age three. Sarah's hair was pulled into high pigtails and she was wearing a pale pink dress, grinning at the camera for all she was worth. Kathryn was plenty old enough to know better than to complain about life's lack of fairness, but it was still difficult to accept.
After a few minutes, she was able to sit up and make her way to the bathroom to wash her face. She forced herself back into captain mode, regaining her composure quickly with the skill of years of emotional discipline. It was time to form a plan. She refused to accept defeat. Her breaking point had been met and dealt with and now she was going to fix things.
Kathryn Janeway joined B'Elanna Torres and Tom Paris in the briefing room at the scheduled time. From the looks on their faces, she could tell that they too were well aware of how conspicuously empty the room was.
B'Elanna immediately punched in some commands on the wall computer display. An image of a straight-lined horizontal grid flanked by two wavy twisted grids appeared on the screen. "This is a scan of the holodeck," she explained, indicating certain areas of the image. "Just before we lost contact with Chakotay and Tuvok. The readings are pretty garbled but I'm still inclined to think there's a malfunction in the holodeck matter conversion nodes."
"Photonic energy leaking into the subsystems could certainly damage the nodes," the captain mused aloud. "And it might have created a defect in the program that occurs when Grendel shows up."
"A defect that dematerialized our people."
Tom shook his head. "I'm not willing to accept the fact that Harry and the others are gone for good. The molecular patterns might still be there, and if they are we might be able to rematerialize them. The only thing we can do is go back into the holodeck, study this energy surge, find out exactly what happened."
"Anyone who goes back in there might wind up just like the others," B'Elanna pointed out. The wordless agreement in the room was that they couldn't afford that.
Tom paused for minute, thinking, with his chin rested in his palm. Suddenly, he looked up at the chief engineer and the captain. "Maybe not anyone…"
The three of them confronted the Doctor in Sick Bay, Kathryn doing her best not to look at the tiny prone figure draped with a small blanket on a biobed in the back of the room.
"Me?" was all he could say, surprised and confused.
"A hologram can't be converted into energy," Tom explained. "It already is energy. You're the perfect choice."
"How do you intend to transfer me out of Sick Bay?"
"We'll have to modify your data stream protocols and imaging systems," Kathryn took over. "But the fact that you're going to the holodeck simplifies things. The projection systems are already in place there."
B'Elann added, "And we're going to give you complete control of your magnetic containment field. You'll be able to make yourself solid or let matter pass through at will."
"Nothing on the holodeck will be able to touch you unless you want it to."
"I see," the Doctor replied, his voice soft and uncertain.
Kathryn sighed silently, crossed her arms, and fixed him with a steady gaze. "Think of this as your first away mission, Doctor. I can understand your hesitation. But there are three lives at stake, and you have the best chance of anyone on this ship to save them. Do you understand that?"
He looked up at her and nodded. "Yes."
"Good." Her voice remained in command mode. "Your job is to find the photonic energy surge and study it closely. We need all the data we can get. You'll have to interact with the characters in the holonovel, so make sure you're familiar with the 'Beowulf' story. Your circuit modifications will be finished in three hours."
"Yes, captain."
She nodded to him and the other officers. The Doctor started to head for his office and Torres and Paris left Sick Bay.
Despite her best efforts, she couldn't leave with them.
She began wandering towards the back corner of the room, almost hesitantly. She couldn't take her eyes off the small body on the biobed, and without really noticing, she found herself standing next to the bed, looking down at her young daughter. Sarah was unnaturally pale, almost seeming to fade into the structure beneath her, a phenomenon enhanced by the rich teal of the little medical gown her small body was swaddled in. Her arms fell loosely to her sides on top of a silvery blanket. Her dark curls lay limp against the grey fabric of the bed, and a pinkish dappled rash encircled her throat and crept up her cheeks, a side effect of the nerve toxin Seska had injected her with. In a whisper, Kathryn cursed the name of the Cardassian agent who'd betrayed them all and harmed her innocent child.
She heard and then saw the Doctor approach. Taking one of Sarah's cold, limp hands into her own and pressing it beneath her other in a vain attempt to share some of her own life energy with the girl, she quietly asked him, "How is she?"
"Stable," he replied, in an equally hushed tone. It was the same answer he'd given her for the past week and a half.
She nodded thoughtlessly.
"Captain."
She turned.
His gaze was now intense and authoritative, as hers had been when she had given him the assignment to investigate the strange energy on the holodeck. "I assure you, Mr. Paris and Kes will both be fully briefed and prepared to deal with any medical event concerning your daughter while I am on the holodeck."
So he'd known her secret fear. She nodded somewhat curtly to avoid succumbing to her emotions and stepped away from the biobed. "I trust you, Doctor. Just concentrate on your mission. We need to find the three missing crewmen." With that, she left Sick Bay.
The Doctor watched her leave and headed back to his office with a sigh. The situation with the Janeway child was unpleasant to say the least. He was frustrated by his inability to improve her condition, and he could see the toll it was taking on her mother, furthered complicated by the fact that her mother was the captain. Logically, he could understand the struggle Captain Janeway faced as she attempted to deal with all the demands of leading a ship full people while her daughter was lying injured and mostly alone. Biologically, he understood the bond between a mother and child. But really he understood nothing—emotionally, personally.
And then there was the matter of the sudden assignment to an away mission of sorts.
Attempting to get back to the task at hand, he seated himself in his office and called out, "Computer, access full text of ancient Earth 'Beowulf' including historical annotation and cultural references."
The computer acquiesced, announcing, "Data compilation in progress."
"Doctor." Kes was standing in the doorway.
"Ah, Kes. Come in. I don't know how long I'll be gone, but my absence is no reason to suspend your studies. How are you doing with the protein synthesis text?"
"I finished it yesterday."
"Good. Then you may as well start learning how to operate the base pair sequencer. You'll find the manual in the technical database. Also, I'm preparing a full report of all material and notes related to the condition of the captain's daughter. Please make yourself intimately familiar with the data. It is highly unlikely anything will change, but I want both you and Mr. Paris to be fully prepared in the event of an emergency."
"Of course Doctor."
He began scanning the text of Beowulf, then noticed Kes was still standing there.
"Was there something else?"
"There's something bothering you."
"Not at all. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a great deal of preparation to do."
"You're nervous about this mission, aren't you?"
"Nervous? I can perform emergency surgery without being nervous. I can make life or death decisions about patients without being nervous. What makes you think I'm nervous?"
"Those things are familiar to you. You've been programmed to do them but this is different, isn't it?"
He slowly pulled his hands away from the computer as he realized she was exactly right. He sighed. "I can describe every detail of every piece of equipment in this Sick Bay, from biobed to neurostimulator. But I've never even seen a sky or a forest, let alone Vikings and monsters. I can't afford to fail, but I don't know what to expect in that holodeck."
"You've been telling me that you deserve to be treated like a member of the crew. Well, here's your chance. And I can tell you that none of the crew knows exactly what to expect when they go on an away mission." She paused before she gently asked another question. "Doctor, have you chosen a name for yourself yet?"
"I have narrowed the list to three possibilities," he admitted.
"Then let me suggest you choose one before you go. It might help you feel more like a Starfleet officer."
"Hmm. You may be right. I'll give it some thought. And Kes...thank you."
She smiled. "Good luck."
Too quickly, the Doctor found himself standing near Mr. Paris as they prepared to transfer his program to the holodeck.
Tom tapped his commbadge. "Paris to Janeway. We're ready for the transfer, captain."
"Good. Go ahead."
He turned to the doctor. "How about you, Doctor? You ready?"
He tried his best to look confident. "Of course."
"I've already transported a tricorder onto the holodeck. Engaging transfer circuits…now."
The Doctor's program shimmered out of existence in Sick Bay, then shimmered back into form in a dark forest in the Holodeck. He looked around, not sure what to expect and not entirely sure what he was seeing. He'd seen images of forests and trees and other landscapes, but actually being on location was another thing entirely. He took a few tentative steps around, and found the tricorder Tom had placed there. He picked it up just as the captain contacted him via comms once again.
"Is everything all right, Doctor?"
He tapped his commbadge and assured her, "Yes. There were no problems with the transfer. I'm on my way."
He had only taken a few more steps along a small dirt path, marveling at his surroundings, when a spear suddenly whistled past his head and lodged itself in a nearby tree. A young woman with long blonde braids, a stern but lovely face, and blue eyes, clothed in rough woolen garments of varying shades of brown, a metal chest plate, and a metal helmet stood facing him, a sword drawn and raised menacingly in his direction.
"Speak as a friend or stand challenged!" she announced in a rich, loud voice, touched with a bit of an accent. "I am—"
"You're Freya, the King's daughter," he interrupted, pleased that he recognized her from his research. "A female warrior known as a shield maiden."
She looked slightly uncertain. "We have never met and yet you know my name? Are you a sorcerer?"
"No," he assured her quickly. "It's simply that your reputation proceeds you, a warrior of your skill. You're quite famous where I come from."
She was clearly flattered. "I did not know that word of my deeds has carried to other lands. Tell me what you have heard."
"Well, your battle with…" He hesitated, that bit not having come up in his research.
"Scyld the Gar-Dane?" she supplied eagerly.
He nodded, thankful she'd provided something, and he finished, "...is practically legend, an incredible story!"
"I burned his hall to the ground. There was nothing left but ashes." She grinned proudly.
"Charming."
"And did you hear of my campaign against the Heatho-Bards to the south? I fought them for—"
"I'd be delighted to hear all about it, but I'm on an urgent mission of my own. I'm looking for Grendel."
"Only a warrior would seek that which others flee. What is your name?"
"I'm glad you asked. My name is Schweitzer, Dr. Schweitzer." It was the first time he'd spoken his choice aloud. Somehow, it really made it seem real.
"Schweitzer—a hero's name. Come! I will take you to the King." They set off down the path together. "The hall is not far from here…Look!" she suddenly announced, pointing to a plant and kneeling to the forest floor, where she began to gather some of it. "Fortune is with us. Atuta, a most powerful plant."
Concerned, the Doctor asked, "What exactly do you intend to do with it?"
"We brew the atuta into a broth which we drink before battle. It brings on the spirit of the bear. It gives us strength to swing our swords."
He frowned as he examined a specimen of the plant. "It's more likely to bring on profuse sweating, convulsions and acute delirium. This is an amanita muscaria, a fungus common to sub-arctic climates and, let me assure you, quite poisonous."
"Yes, but those it does not kill it makes strong. A most hardy plant. Are you a master of herblore?"
"Well, in a way, I suppose I am."
"You are truly a man of many talents, Lord Schweitzer. Your people must value you greatly."
"You would think so…"
As they continued their walk to the hall, the Doctor, Schweitzer, found himself using every excuse he could to turn and look at Freya. The trees, the ground, the sky, the animals; they were all completely foreign and new to him, but somehow they couldn't capture his attention the way this shield maiden did. She really was striking, her features delicate and feminine but also with an edge to them that distinguished her as a fighter. It had been weeks since he'd seen anyone outside of the crewmembers, and even then, the others he'd encountered had been aliens, and none of them had captivated him like this. He knew she was a fictional character, but there was just something about her that affected him in a way he couldn't define. It was a strange, but pleasant feeling.
Too soon, they had reached the hall, where Freya flung open the doors and announced, "Hail, Lord Hrothgar! I bring a new friend - Schweitzer, who has come to destroy Grendel. Greet him well."
Lord Hrothgar was fairly old, with long white hair and an equally long white beard. He was draped in furs and brown cloth and a simple metal band encircled his head. "I would bid you welcome to my hall but the days of glad tidings are gone from this place," he replied in a weary voice.
"I'm sorry to hear that. But with your permission, sir, I would like to stay here tonight and wait for Grendel."
"To what purpose?!" snarled another warrior, not quite as old as Hrothgar, but with an equal beard and head of hair. He wore a helmet somewhat like Freya's and was clad primarily in leather. The Doctor recognized him as Unferth. "To raise false hopes again, as have others before you? Leave us alone in our misery!"
"I'm afraid I can't do that," he apologized. "I have a mission."
"Your name means nothing to me. There are no songs of your deeds nor stories of the battles you have fought. Who are you to believe you can slay Grendel?"
"I'm simply a warrior. I'm only concerned with Grendel. I have no quarrel with you."
"Indeed you do. And if you will fight Grendel then you will first prove your worth to me!" He drew his sword and assumed a battle stance. "Defend yourself!"
He stood still and merely looked at the tip of the sword now pointed at his chest, disconcerted.
Freya drew her own sword and offered it to him. "Fate be with you."
Not knowing what else to do, he reluctantly accepted it and it nearly dragged him to the floor. It weighed far more than he'd anticipated. He wasn't programmed to fight or lift heavy equipment. His hands were surgeon's hands.
Still, he'd accepted this mission and three crewmembers' lives depended on him. He did his best to ignore the scornful looks and noises from the rest of the people in the hall and tried to defend himself as Unferth attacked. He poorly deflected a few blows, through luck rather than skill.
Unferth laughed. "If this is your best then you should thank me. Grendel would destroy you with far greater ease than I!"
He glanced over to see Freya watching him with concern. He suddenly made a decision. "This is absurd," he announced, and laid the sword on a nearby bench. He straightened back up, facing the warrior unarmed. Now noises of surprise echoed off the stone walls.
"So be it!" Unferth gave a shout and raised his sword high to cleave the Doctor in two.
But his sword merely whistled through the air, barely disturbing the Doctor's hologram, and clanged loudly and heavily to the ground.
Unferth cried out in pain, clutching a badly bruised hand, as the others cried out in amazement. The Doctor leaned over him and offered matter-of-factly, "You might want to put some ice on that. It'll take down the swelling."
Freya was grinning broadly with pride. "Our time of deliverance is at hand," she proclaimed in a loud voice. "We have been given a new champion, one whom weapons cannot hurt, the one who will destroy Grendel and end our suffering. All hail the hero! All hail, Schweitzer!"
The rest of the hall took up the cry, pumping their arms in the air. "Schweitzer! Schweitzer! Schweitzer! Schweitzer! Schweitzer! Schweitzer!"
The Doctor…Schweitzer…stood in surprise, letting the cheering wash over him.
At dinner later that evening, Schweitzer sat in the place of honor at the king's right hand. He experienced eating for the first time, a large hunk of meat called elk. They encouraged him to entertain him with a tale of his prowess in battle, but he'd never been a storyteller before and the closest thing to a tale of battle that he could relate was preventing an outbreak of Parinisti measles from becoming an epidemic. Most of the warriors look confused, Unferth was thoroughly unimpressed and rather disgusted with the poor showing, but the king was far more tolerant, calling it a unique tale. After dinner, he allowed the king to show him around a little, all the while insisting all he needed was to find Grendel.
After a while, Unferth broke in grumpily. "My Lord, it grows late. It is time to retire."
"Always with you it is time to sleep! Perhaps you have forgotten that the work of a warrior is battle, not rest. You would do well to learn from Lord Schweitzer."
Uferth looked, if it was possible, even angrier now that his reputation as a warrior had been questioned. But he held his tongue against the king.
"This was a beautiful hall once, before Grendel," the king told him in a quiet, solemn voice. "You will make it so again. You have our thanks."
"I appreciate your faith in me, sire."
"You may have deceived them with your tricks, but the king is old and desperate for hope. And the rest are just fools!"
"You have nothing to worry about, Unferth. Once I'm done with Grendel, I'll be leaving."
"We shall see," he snarled. "The morning will prove if your deeds are as strong as your words." He left the hall with the king.
The other warriors slowly drifted away, but Freya lingered, raking up the fire. She had shed her helmet and her outer layers and now wore a simple white dress with short sleeves and some decorative stitching around the neck. There was a brown leather belt cinched around the middle and her blonde hair was now unbraided and loose around her shoulders. "The nights here are cold. I wanted to make certain you were comfortable."
"I appreciate your concern. I thought everyone had gone to sleep."
"Sleep does not come easily in this place, not any more. I was taught the world would end in winter. First there would be a desperate cold, followed by a demon who would devour the sun. It has been long since we felt summer, and a demon does walk these halls."
"Freya, your world isn't coming to an end."
"Perhaps not, but it has changed. Every night the monster comes, and every day our numbers are lessened, and no one will speak of it. No one speaks of the fear that he will be next. Each meal becomes quieter than the last, and after a time we barely speak at all. Do you know what it is to be alone among many, and unable to speak your fears?"
He drew near to the fire and stood beside her. He contemplated his position as a hologram among an all-organic crew and answered honestly, "I think I do."
"How do you survive?"
"I'm still learning how. I'm sure that's not very helpful."
"Sometimes I believe I can see the moment of my own death," she confessed. "It comes in battle, I think—my sword raised high. It is said that fate often spares a doomed warrior if his courage can prevail, but there have been days when I have felt my own courage falter." She looked up into his eyes. "And then you came."
"I'm…glad I could help."
"Perhaps I can help you." She drew much closer to him, their faces only a handful of inches apart. "Before combat it is most important to stay warm."
He didn't comprehend her intent. "Well, you've done an excellent job with the fire. I'm sure—"
She interrupted him by gently turning his face towards hers and pulling him into a deep kiss. When their lips finally broke contact, she murmured, "Fire is not the only heat, Lord Schweitzer. You know where I sleep."
With that, she left the hall. He could only stand still and watch her go, stunned and somewhat confused as to all the sensations swirling throughout his program.
It took several moments before he could focus again on his mission, and not a moment too soon. He pulled out the tricorder as a growling noise began just outside the doors of the hall. The doors began to shudder violently, and he could glimpse a white light on the other side of them. He began to take scans, and suddenly the latches gave way and Grendel burst through in blaze of shocking white-orange light.
"Holodeck to bridge."
"We're monitoring you," came the captain's voice.
Schweitzer watched as Grendel, composed of moving tendrils of light, felt its way around the hall entrance, moving in his direction. "Captain, I'm picking up readings of photonic energy…Captain, it's right in front of me. It's some kind of photonic energy formation."
He watched it for another moment, when one of the tendrils suddenly shot out and wound itself around his right arm. "Emergency! Get me out of here!"
"Sick Bay, emergency transfer!" Janeway ordered.
"I'm on it!" Tom responded from Sick Bay. His hands flew over the controls, quickly entering the commands to recall their doctor. The EMH reappeared in the room next to the console, but most of his arm was missing. Tom stared in shock.
"Sick Bay, report!"
"Er, I have him, captain, more or less," the lieutenant replied. "I think you'd better come take a look at this…"
In the moments before the captain entered the room, Tom quietly reported to the Doctor as he worked to repair his arm, "We did have a situation with Sarah Janeway."
"What?!"
"I don't know what triggered it. Neither does Kes. She's been going over and over the biobed readings—"
"What happened?"
He paused before answering. "She quit breathing. Just…stopped. It was only for a minute, because Kes happened to be nearby when it happened. We got her restabilized and I don't believe she suffered any damage, but I think you should double check when you get a chance."
The Doctor nodded.
"Do you…think we should tell the captain?"
He considered the question. "No," he finally replied. "She has enough to worry about right now. I'll check her as soon as I can, but I trust you and Kes did everything you could."
The captain and B'Elanna Torres entered the room and the conversation stopped. Tom nodded to him, and the Doctor tentatively flexed the fingers on his replacement arm and hand.
"How's it feel?"
"Just like the old one, actually."
"Apparently, contact with photonic energy disrupted your magnetic cohesion," the captain explained. "But we're still not sure if that's what happened to the others."
B'Elanna called her over to the monitor display in the room. "Captain, take a look at this—the readings from the Doctor's tricorder, when the energy surge made contact with him."
Her eyes widened in surprise as she leaned over the console. "They're showing a synaptic pattern. I wouldn't expect to see something like this in photonic energy. Is this the first time those patterns have shown up like this?"
"Yes, but it's the first time we've had clear readings from a moment of contact. I wonder if I could produce these same patterns in the samples we have in Engineering."
"If you can, we might be able to get more information about how photonic energy damaged the Holodeck systems."
"I'm on it."
"I'll give you a hand," Tom added, and gave the Doctor a look.
He nodded.
As soon as the captain left the room with the others, he picked up a medical tricorder and went back to check on the Janeway child. She didn't look any different—still pale, still red around the neck, still so small and helpless on that biobed. A few scans were enough to confirm what Tom had told him. She had stopped breathing for approximately fifty-two seconds but had been resuscitated. There did not appear to be any damage to any of her body's systems, other than the damage to her lungs and central nervous system that had occurred previously with the injection of the nerve toxin. He sincerely hoped that the damage was not permanent, but he couldn't know that until they found some way to safely bring her out of the comatose state and develop an antidote to the toxin.
He sighed as he shut the tricorder. With all his medical knowledge, all he could do was keep her stable. He felt…inadequate. The situation on the Holodeck with Freya didn't exactly help him focus either. He couldn't remember having been so confused ever before.
In Engineering, Tom and B'Elanna were working with the samples she and the captain had brought on board earlier from the protostar.
"Ok," Tom said. "I've initiated a polarization field. I'm introducing it into the container…"
"We're getting a reaction."
"It's producing a synaptic pattern alright, highly complex—"
The sample, a small ball of rising and falling white light tendrils, suddenly broke free of its containment field and began flying around Engineering.
"What's that?!" B'Elanna shouted, moving away from it quickly.
"Whatever it is, it's cutting through the bulkheads!"
"Let's get a containment field around it."
"It's heading for deck 14 section C5."
Her fingers flew over the command console. "Ok, and I've got a containment field blocking it."
"Whoa, it's changing direction. It's like it's avoiding the containment field."
"Let's give it another try. Now it's blocked on three sides."
"Changing course, heading for the open side."
The chief engineer looked up at the conn officer. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Those synaptic patterns…could be some sort of neural net."
She nodded slowly. "We may be dealing with a lifeform."
"Bridge to Engineering."
"Torres here."
"We're detecting an energy mass moving through the ship," Janeway reported.
"Right. It broke through the sample container. Captain, it's showing the property of a lifeform."
"A lifeform?"
"It seems to have a neural net and it's demonstrating signs of intelligent behavior."
"It's cutting its way through the ship, heading for the outer hull. It'll breach in about fifteen seconds," Tom added over his should from a nearby console.
"Are there any critical systems in its path?"
"Negative."
"Then let it go. Be ready to seal the hull breach with a forcefield. I'll have a damage control team standing by for repairs. And let's track it on sensors when it gets out."
"Captain, it's penetrating the outer hull," Tom announced, some trepidation in his voice.
"Forcefield is in place," B'Elanna assured both of them.
"I'm showing the energy form 100 meters off our port side."
On the bridge, Captain Janeway ordered, "Let's get it on screen." The main viewer immediately blinked on, showing the small energy form racing away from the ship towards the protostar. When it made contact, it turned briefly into a regular shape and glowed brightly.
"What was that?!" she asked no one in particular.
She met the Doctor and Torres in Sick Bay where they examined a large monitor on the wall that displayed all the data, visual and textual, that they'd collected from the sensors and the Doctor's tricorder.
"It appears to be some kind of photonic lattice…" Kathryn Janeway mused.
"And it seems pretty clear that the energy form was trying to get back to it," B'Elanna added. "As though it's a shelter of some kind."
"Or maybe a transportation device—their equivalent of a ship. At any rate, we had sensor contact for a few seconds, and we picked up three distinct bio-electrical patterns inside it."
"Bio-electrical?" The Doctor looked at her, perplexed. "What are you suggesting, captain?"
"Think about it," she replied, indicating a set of the data. "We have three missing crewmen. Our best guess is that they were somehow converted into energy when they were on the Holodeck. We find no sign of them on this ship. Then we pick up three discreet patterns in the lattice, three patterns that don't match anything else in the lattice, and which have biological components. I don't think it's a stretch to hypothesize that those are our crewmembers, converted into a kind of photonic energy."
"But what are they doing over there? How did they get there?" B'Elanna asked.
"We have good evidence now that there are photonic beings that live in that protostar, lifeforms that have intelligence. We didn't know that when we beamed those energy samples on board. We had no idea that what we were doing in essence was capturing those lifeforms. We locked them in a containment field and began to experiment on them. If my people were taken like that, I know what my response would be. I would do whatever was necessary to get them back."
The Doctor nodded. "And you think they have simply retaliated against us?"
"Yes. These beings can manifest themselves on the Holodeck, in the matrix of a holocharacter. That's how they were able to take our crewmembers hostage."
"Captain, if you're right about this," he replied seriously. "Then we should return the remaining lifeform."
"A gesture, to show we mean well. It's certainly worth a try."
"If I took the lifeform onto the Holodeck and release it to Grendel, maybe they'll understand and release our people."
The captain bit her lip pensively for a moment. "Ordinarily, officers go through intensive training before they're put into a first contact situation, but you're the only one who can do this safely."
"I'd like to finish what I started, captain. I can do this."
"I agree." She turned to her chief engineer and instructed, "Make arrangements to transfer the lifeform to a container so that the Doctor can carry it." Turning back to the Doctor, she added, "But remember, if you're holding the container you'll have to stay in solid form."
"I understand."
Schweitzer was back on the Holodeck a few minutes later, carrying a small clear container with metal on either end. Inside, the photonic lifeform glowed, making the object look rather like a lantern. He stood in the dark wood, calling out the shieldmaiden's name. "Freya? Freya!"
Freya suddenly rushed out of the trees and ran to him, dressed once again as a warrior. They hugged each other tightly, both smiling widely with delight at finding each other once again.
"Lord Schweitzer! We thought the Grendel had taken you!"
He smiled. "Not entirely."
"How did you survive?"
"That would be difficult to explain. But that's not important right now." He indicated the sample container. "This a talisman to destroy Grendel—"
Unexpectedly, Unferth confronted them, his sword drawn, snarling, "You lie! No man could survive an encounter with Grendel unless he were in league with the beast. You have brought that talisman to destroy us all!"
"That is not true!" Freya declared. "He has returned to help us!"
"No! You speak his lies now? He has bewitched you!"
"Unferth, I need to get this talisman to the hall," Schweitzer interjected.
"Then that gives me reason enough to make sure it never gets there." He leapt forward and attacked, knocking Schweitzer and the container to the ground.
Freya immediately drew her own sword and leapt to his defense.
Schweitzer could only watch helplessly as he collected the container, which had rolled away. Their swords were mere flashes of light, clanging loudly with each violent contact. "Please! You don't know what you're doing!"
Unferth suddenly knocked his opponent to the ground where she lay stunned. Schweitzer was now standing, holding the container. The angry warrior confronted him. Schweitzer fearfully looked from the container to him and back, knowing how desperately important it was to protect it. Three lives likely depended on it.
"Prepare to die, demon!" Unferth growled, and he raised his sword to deliver the fatal blow.
Out of nowhere, Freya leapt between him and Schweitzer, taking the sword blow to her own chest in his place. She cried out and collapsed against Schweitzer. He dropped the container, and barely registered Unferth stealing it and running off. At that moment, he only had eyes for the young woman.
He gently lowered her to the ground and knelt over her dying form. "Freya…"
"My lord, my time has come."
"I'm so sorry…there's…nothing I can do."
"And it's a good death. Take my sword," she murmured with difficulty. "Stop Unferth and Grendel."
"I won't forget you," he promised in a whisper.
"Then I die happily, with your name on my lips. Farewell, Schweitzer…" Her eyelids drifted shut and just like that, she was gone.
For a moment, he couldn't move or think. He had barely known her, but she was the first outsider he'd ever met, and they'd had this connection…something he couldn't define, something he'd never felt before. It was confusing, and he knew it would take him a while to understand, but he'd give anything to be back in the thick of it once again. He knelt for a while on the cold, alien ground, strange animal noises and a soft breezes swirling around him and the trees in the darkness.
Then he stood. Her sacrifice would not be in vain. As she had instructed, he took her sword, holding it aloft in the dim light before setting off with determination.
Unferth was just presenting Hrothgar with the talisman when Schweitzer aggressively burst through the doors of the great hall. He strode in, ignoring everyone around, and stood before the king. "My lord." He faced him squarely, his voide deadly serious. "You know me as a true warrior. You know I am the one hope you have to rid your kingdom of Grendel. That talisman will aid me in my conquest. I must have it."
"Do not listen to him. He has already killed Freya," Unferth loudly announced to the hall.
Schweitzer's features became even grimmer as the warrior proclaimed this lie. He seized one of the flaming torches and advanced fearlessly on Unferth, who backed away until a table blocked his escape. Faced with this threat, he showed his true nature of cowardice as he called out, "Stop him, my lord! He is a madman!"
Having him thus cornered, he raised Freya's sword and placed the blade to Unferth's throat. "The only reason you won't die," he growled. "Is that I've taken an oath to do no harm." He held out his hand for the talisman, and the king handed it over with only the slightest hesitation.
He held the sample container in one hand and Freya's sword in the other as he stepped in front of the doors of the hall. "Grendel! I'm ready for you."
Immediately, the doors shook as they had before and a bright white light made of pulsating tendrils burst through and streamed towards him.
He barely heard the exclamations of the other warriors in the hall as they fell back away from this mysterious apparition. "I don't know if you can understand me," he added, firmly and loudly addressing what they called Grendel. "But watch! I'm setting this one free." He took the lid off the container and the lifeform inside immediately rushed out and was absorbed by the larger form composed of light. "There's no need for any more of this. Please, we ask you to return our crew."
On the bridge, B'Elanna reported, "Captain, the photonic lattice has re-appeared."
"Scanners, all sensors," the captain ordered.
"I'm reading a massive particle surge on our holodeck!"
"The lattice is gone again," Tom called.
The comm alert sounded, and the Doctor's voice came through. "Holodeck to bridge."
"Go ahead, Doctor. What is it?"
"We have them back, Captain, all three of them." He smiled at Tuvok, Chakotay, and Harry, who was still dressed as Beowulf.
He could detect a barely audible sigh of relief as the captain responded, "Good work, Doctor."
"Yeah, good work," said Harry, looking around in confusion. "Would you mind telling me where I was?"
"Captain's log, stardate 48710.5. Since the return of our missing crewmen we've been unable to locate any further traces of the photonic aliens."
In Sick Bay, Kathryn Janeway sat on the edge of the Doctor's desk in his office as they discussed the mission and his encounter.
"I don't know if the being understood language or just my behavior," he said, somewhat proudly and with curiosity. "It would've been interesting to pursue the relationship further."
She smiled at him. "It's one of the most exciting aspects of space exploration—meeting new species, establishing communication, sharing differences and similarities."
"I'm sorry none of that happened this time."
"But it did. It just didn't happen in very predictable ways. We did, if you think about it. We entered into conflict, communicated and eventually established a peace treaty with them." She stood, smiling at him again. "I'm placing a special commendation in the logs for exemplary performance by the Chief Medical Officer during his first away mission."
He was stunned, and honored. "Thank you, captain."
"I'd like to cite you by name. Kes tells me you've chosen one. Is that true?"
He paused, some of the pain he thought he'd moved past resurfacing. "I had…but I'm not sure I want to keep it. The last time I heard that name spoken was a rather painful one. I don't think I want to be reminded."
She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Sounds like you had quite an adventure on that holodeck, Doctor."
"Yes, I would say so…"
"Well, something tells me you haven't had your last one." She indicated the back part of Sick Bay with a nod of her head. "I'll just be a minute," she added quietly.
The Doctor nodded and walked over to a tray to organize some samples and get on with his duties while contemplating the profound change in his life, social status, and career, leaving the captain to spend some time with her daughter. Before, he'd only intellectually understood their bond, but after his short time with Freya, he thought he had a better grasp of the connection and how painful the loss could be, though he hoped that in the captain's case that loss would only be temporary.
Kathryn Janeway made her way to her daughter's biobed, head down, as she rehearsed what to tell her about the day's events. She always like to keep her informed of what was going on aboard the ship, though logically she knew the little girl couldn't hear her. It made her feel slightly better to pretend that she could. She would hold her hands and whisper apologies and pretend that she'd be better in the morning.
She looked up, prepared to begin their little ritual, and found an empty biobed.
Shocked, she froze and stared at only thing left on the bed, the sheet, now rumpled and hanging off the side. It took her several moments before she could yell, "Doctor!"
He came running over. "Captain, what's wrong?"
She turned to him, fear and panic in her eyes. "Where's Sarah?"
"What?"
"Where's my daughter?!"
He looked at the empty biobed, then back to the captain, startled. "I…I don't know. Mr. Paris and Kes didn't report any problems, and they certainly didn't report moving her…"
He began looking around Sick Bay as Kathryn shouted, "Computer, locate Sarah Janeway!"
"Sarah Janeway is in Sick Bay."
She exchanged a look with her chief medical officer. Almost tentatively, she called out, "Sarah?!"
They waited, breathless.
And then a small, raspy voice answered, "Mama?"
Kathryn dashed into the back area where her daughter had previously been laid out on a biobed and looked back and forth. Suddenly, she spotted her little girl curled on her side in a corner to the left of the room. She rushed to her side, clutched her to her chest, and murmured into her hair, "It's ok baby, I'm here now. I'm here now baby…"
"Mama," she weakly repeated. "Mama, it's ok."
Kathryn felt tears begin to run down her cheeks, this time from relief and happiness. "I know sweetie…"
The Doctor entered with a medical tricorder and began scanning her.
"Mama, what happened?"
She suppressed a small laugh of relief. "So much, baby. So very much."
Author's Note: Explanation of the end to follow, obviously. Thanks again to all of you!! I'm so glad some of you still want to read this story after so much time, haha. I hope I've done a decent job of letting another character take center stage for this episode, while still allowing for some development in the Janeway department. As promised, this episode ends on a much lighter note! I can't promise things won't get a little bleak in the next chapter, but it should have a bit of a lighter tone to it than this chapter or the last one. Once again, I thank you for your readership and reviews! Hope you enjoyed the update!