CHAPTER Nine – Previously on Star Trek Voyager, Part One
Janeway could feel herself trapped in the present while at the same time she witnessed the events of the past week, slowly unfold in her mind. As she watched herself casually stroll into her quarters, blissfully unaware of the fate which awaited her, she tried to call out a warning. It was futile. Janeway was like a spectator without any power to intervene or even the ability to look away.
"Captain's personal log, Stardate 52081.2," Janeway began, but then she paused.
Brushing her hand through her hair, she could not believe how tired she felt. Janeway had decided recording the log in her own quarters would be easier than in the ready-room; less chance of interruptions. Now thoughts of slipping into bed and catching up on some much needed sleep was proving more of a distraction.
"Coffee." She ordered from the computer. "Black, strong."
After drinking half a cup, whilst enjoying the stimulating view of a starfield through her window, Janeway felt ready to continue.
"We seem to have finally escaped this mad sector of space, which I've decided to call the Feudal Zone due to the chaotic instability its inhabitants have created. At warp six, the journey should have taken
about five days. Instead, due to all the automated defence systems we have encountered plus all the skirmishes we have been involved in, it has taken over a month; a month of hell that has taken its toll on the ship, crew and especially her Captain."
Janeway sipped away at her coffee, finally feeling the stimulating effects of the caffeine kick in.
"So fun and relaxation is the order of the day!" she continued. "Seven's initiated deep scans around our current heading. We are looking for are any suitable locations where the crew can enjoy some R&R. In the meantime I've ordered light shifts, extra holodeck privileges and unleashed Neelix's enthusiasm for entertaining the crew. God help us all!"
Janeway smiled as she remembered Neelix asking Tuvok to help co-ordinate a ship-wide game of hide and go seek. For just a nanosecond, Tuvok's normally calm expression was replaced by a look of sheer terror. He had quickly recovered of course, politely refusing and using the excuse that he had to tighten up security protocols. But Janeway saw the look and she suspected, from Neelix's smile as he walked away that he had as well.
Janeway decided to treat herself to a quick sonic shower before preparing dinner for Chakotay and herself. After they finished their traditional post-crisis meal, both were due due to attend an opera performed by Seven and the Doctor; so she needed to shake off these cobwebs if she was going to survive the night!
Chakotay arrived on time for his dinner appointment with the Captain. They were enjoying their usual light-hearted banter which generally pre-empted their more serious discussions.
"This soup is quite delicious," commented Chakotay. "You'll have to tell me the recipe or is this yet another secret, passed down from generation to generation?"
Janeway smiled at Chakotay as she helped herself to a piece of cornbread.
"A girl's got to have her secrets."
They both ate quietly for a while. Janeway was the first to break, what was becoming an uncomfortable silence by pushing her bowl to one side. She stared at Chakotay until he too stopped eating and matched her gaze.
"What is it?" asked Chakotay.
"I'm waiting," answered Janeway mysteriously.
"For what?"
"For you to admonish me for approaching Mordelus instead of flying straight passed it."
Janeway was referring to the first planet they had contacted upon entering the feudal zone. It was a planet they did not necessarily have to approach, as they where not in any desperate need for supplies. It was simply one more case of Janeway wanting to make first contact with another race to see if they could be mutually beneficial to one another in some way. It turned out to be their first taste of the type of paranoia they would endure for the next month and the first of many battles.
Chakotay realised that Janeway was building herself up for another argument; their old argument. Since day one Chakotay had disagreed, mainly in private, about Janeway's approach to the Delta Quadrant. He believed they should concentrate on getting home, keeping contact with other races to a minimum. Janeway always wanted to explore each planet, moon and nebula they passed and contact every race she could find. It was like she was attempting to be an official Starfleet Ambassador opening up relations between the Alpha and Delta Quadrants.
Chakotay decided to head off the argument before it even began.
"You won't hear any complaints from me, not this time."
Janeway was taken off balance for a moment, as she had been expecting another retrospective review of her actions.
"Not even a little complaint?" she asked.
"In my professional opinion as Chief of Avoiding Trouble," Chakotay began with a smile, "it wouldn't have mattered if you had ordered us to avoid all the planets in that sector and proceeded at maximum warp. In fact that might have made matters worse! At least after our encounter with the Mordelians we were better informed and prepared for what lay ahead."
Chakotay took a sip of wine before continuing.
"I think you should be commended for getting us out of that hellhole in one piece."
Janeway was touched.
"We all should be commended, it was a team effort," she pointed out.
Looking at Chakotay she could see the lines around his eyes and how tired he looked. She realised that their latest adventure had taken as much out of her first officer as it had with her. Reaching across the table she grabbed his hand.
"Chakotay, with this fine ship, this fine crew, we can get through anything!"
"I know," agreed Chakotay as he smiled. He squeezed Janeway's hand slightly before releasing his grip and refilling both their glasses.
"Never give in, never surrender!" he suddenly quoted, raising his wine glass.
Janeway looked puzzled. "Is that a quote from one of your ancestors?" she asked.
"No, it was one of Commander Taggart's sayings. Did you ever meet him?"
"I'm afraid I've never even heard of the man," replied Janeway.
"You remember one of the first things they used to do at the academy was take us for a tour of a Starship?"
Janeway nodded, remembering her feelings of awe at her first chance to get close to a real warp engine.
"Well, ours was on board the USS Protector. Commander Taggart was the officer who showed us around. He kept on referring to 'this fine ship' and 'this fine crew', which was what reminded me of him when you said that just now. I remember I asked him what advice he would give us cadets based on his experiences in the field. He replied, 'Never give in, never surrender!' It seemed corny at the time, and somewhat non-federation. But out here, in our situation, it seems quite apt."
Their discussion was interrupted by a communication from Seven.
"Seven of Nine to Captain Janeway."
"Janeway here, what is it, Seven?"
"Please come to Stellar Cartography immediately."
Janeway noted Chakotay's look of disapproval at Seven's commanding tone.
"Well," she commented as they rose from the table, "at least she said please!"
A short time later, Janeway and Chakotay arrived at Stellar Cartography.
"I thought I'd ordered everyone to have fun?" asked Janeway as she gazed at the large and extremely detailed 3D representation of various sectors of space on a massive viewscreen.
Seven turned away from her console and raised an implanted eyebrow at the Captain.
"I was finalising the parameters for the search you ordered. While doing so I came across this."
She turned back to the console and pressed a button. On the viewscreen, a grid marked several light years from Voyager's current position was highlighted and the image magnified to show a much more detailed view.
Janeway gasped as she realised she was looking at a schematic view of a Caretaker array. It was the same size and had the same dimensions as the female Caretaker's array, but she noticed that there was a large hole in the centre.
"Long range sensors confirm that the array is damaged," noted Seven. "Although I have detected faint power readings."
Janeway turned to Chakotay with a wry smile. Chakotay recognised the look and attempted to curb his Captain's enthusiasm before she got carried away again.
"Kathryn, we know from experience that if seems too good to be true, it normally is."
Janeway's enthusiasm was not affected in the least by Chakotay's words of warning.
"Never give in, never surrender, eh, Chakotay?" she said as she slapped him on the shoulder.
"The fun is postponed. Arrange for all senior staff to report to my ready room ASAP. We are going on a salvage run!"
At the emergency briefing, Janeway informed her Senior Officers about the discovery of the damaged Caretaker Array which they were now en-route to. Once they arrived Janeway wanted two teams to beam over. Team one, headed by Tuvok, would concentrate on discovering what happened to the array and assess any risks. Team two, headed by her, would be assessing the array's technology to see if any of it could be useful.
There were the usual notes of caution from Chakotay, backed up by Kim and Tuvok. This was not surprising; after all, they had been tricked into traps several times before and the Female Caretaker had shown she was out for revenge, blaming Voyager and her crew for the death of her partner.
Janeway noted their concerns, but concluded that as long as all security precautions were taken, the potential gain justified the risk. A Caretaker Array had been responsible for dragging Voyager into the Delta quadrant; Janeway thought it was only fair a Caretaker array could help send them back home. With her mind made up, the discussion was over.
Several hours later Voyager arrived and performed preliminary scans of the array. No perceived threats were detected so the mission was given the go-ahead and Tuvok made his way to the transporter room along with Ensign Kim and security officers Guy and Frost. All were wearing their Zero-G spacesuits, as the scans of the array had confirmed that the artificial gravity generators were not functioning.
Tuvok's first objective was to seal off the bulkheads and restore gravity before Janeway's team beamed over. In addition to their standard phasers, all were equipped with Type II phaser rifles.
As Tuvok and his team took up their positions on the transporter pad, he contacted Janeway.
"Captain, we are ready."
"Acknowledged," replied Janeway. "We'll have a transporter lock on you at all times. If you even suspect that all is not what it seems, I want you and your team out of there."
"Understood Captain."
Breaking his communication with Janeway he informed the transporter operator to continue and within seconds was beamed from Voyager, deep into the heart of the Caretaker's Array.
As he materialised on-board the array and activated his magnetic boots, the first thing Tuvok noticed was that there was no visible signs of damage. He had been transported to a chamber in the centre of the array where Voyager's sensor scans had estimated to be the
main control centre. At first glance the chamber appeared to be unscathed and the various control panels operating on low power mode. This was confirmed as Tuvok and his team ran diagnostics and compared their results with logs taken from Voyager's last two encounters with such arrays.
Even though this array was a far more sophisticated vessel than Voyager, or any starship for that matter, Tuvok's many years aboard numerous ships of varying levels of technology meant that he was soon able to discover the basic operations and restore normal power levels. According to the console readings, he discovered that the breach was superficial and the rest of the array was undamaged. By closing off several bulkheads, he was able to seal the rest of the array from the cold vacuum of space and restore gravity.
Tapping his communicator, he established contact with Chakotay who was in command while Janeway and her team assembled in the transporter room.
"Any indication as to what happened over there?" asked Chakotay, after he had informed Janeway that she could beam over.
"Negative, Commander," replied Tuvok. "Apart from the breach in the outer hull, the array seems to be fully functional."
"Which raises the question, why was the array operating on low power, with no gravity?" Chakotay speculated.
"Indeed Commander. I will endeavour to discover the answer to those questions soon. Tuvok out."
Now that gravity had been restored, Tuvok and his team removed their spacesuits. Tuvok and Kim began to investigate the various consoles more closely, attempting to gain access to logs and internal sensors and look for anything that would explain what had happened to the array. Guy and Frost explored the perimeter to make sure any uninvited guests would not interrupt the investigation.
In another part of the array, Janeway, Seven and Torres materialised into an area that resembled some kind of engine room. Janeway flicked open her tricorder and began scanning straight away, while Torres and Seven seemed far more interested in examining the various devices manually.
"Well, the tricorder's not telling me anything we didn't already know," commented Janeway as she closed her tricorder. "Alien and very advanced."
She made her way over to Torres who was examining a column of glowing crystals that was surrounded by a funnel of energy. This extended from the roof to the floor, totally enveloping the strange column structure.
"Any ideas what it is?" she asked Torres.
"Well, it could be the Array's engine," replied Torres. "On the other hand it just could be the lighting system, or maybe an alien jukebox for all I know."
"I know it's advanced," said Janeway, "but I'm sure Seven's come across something similar when she was part of the Collective."
Seven joined Janeway and Torres and glanced up and down at the column. Both Janeway and Torres looked at Seven expectantly, waiting for an answer.
"Well?" asked Janeway.
"Well what?" replied Seven coolly.
"What is it!"
Seven re-examined the column. "It, well,…it could be a,...or maybe..."
Janeway could not believe it, Seven was blushing! "You don't have a clue do you?" she asked.
Seven sighed. "No. I am afraid I do not."
"Oh dear," Janeway commented. "This could take some time then."
Back on what seemed to be the bridge area, Kim had managed to reactivate the internal sensors but all they showed was Janeway and her team in Engineering. The readings confirmed Voyager's scans and each team's tricorder readings; the array was deserted. Tuvok had not been able to even find any logs, which wasn't totally unexpected as they could not assume the Caretaker beings had any need to keep logs.
"What now?" Kim asked Tuvok.
"We follow logic, Mr Kim and search the array room by room, deck by deck, until we have some answers."
Kim rolled his eyes, "I thought as much."
The security officers looked equally displeased about the prospect but took point without comment as they left the bridge area. Kim followed, with Tuvok keeping to the rear as they explored the deck.
At first, Kim was exited, tense even. Every muscle tingled in anticipation as they searched each room. However, after several decks of the same routine, he had quickly become bored. Frost and Guy would enter a room or corridor first, run a quick sweep for any signs of danger and then they would give the all clear. Only then would they allow Tuvok and Kim to enter. The security officers would stand guard while Tuvok and Kim carried out a more thorough search.
After three decks following this sweep pattern they had found nothing, no signs of life, no clue as to what had happened. It was a ghost ship. Tuvok had kept regular communications with Janeway but she seemed to be equally frustrated. They were having a hard time understanding what it was they were examining.
Kim sighed as Guy and Frost prepared to enter yet another bland looking room. What was more frustrating was that both security officers and Tuvok looked as alert and prepared as when they first started the search, while Kim had to fight the urge to yawn.
Before they entered however, the beams of light from their phaser rifles pointed down to something that Kim could not at first make out.
"Sir!" exclaimed Guy.
Tuvok moved past Kim, and Frost stepped aside to reveal a body lying prone in the doorway, one arm outstretched, as if in its last dying moments it had tried to crawl out of the room.
Tuvok recognised the being at once but ran a thorough scan with his tricorder for confirmation. Meanwhile, Guy searched the room while Frost provided a flanking position further down the corridor. Kim examined the body with Tuvok.
Tuvok tapped his communicator. "Tuvok to Captain Janeway."
"Janeway here, report."
"We have located a body. Scans confirm that it is Suspiria, the Female Caretaker."
There was a pause before Janeway answered, as if she was absorbing the enormity of the information.
"Any idea what she died from?"
"The Doctor would need to carry out an autopsy to confirm, but I am picking up traces of the sporocystian toxin we used. It is possible, that she never fully recovered, and the toxin continued to break down her cellular structure."
There was another pause. Tuvok knew that Janeway would now be questioning her decision to poison the Female Caretaker, blaming herself. However, Tuvok could see no other logical course of action Janeway could have taken under the circumstances at the time.
Before Janeway could reply, Kim interjected.
"This still doesn't explain what happened to the array."
"It may do, Mr Kim." Janeway replied. "If the Female Caretaker died, then other life forms may have ransacked the ship looking for technology just like we are doing. Arrange for the body to be
transported to Sickbay, I want to know for sure what happened to her. In the meantime continue with your investigation."
"Aye Captain," replied Tuvok.
After he broke communication with Janeway and before he contacted Voyager, something made Tuvok kneel down to take a closer look at the body. Perhaps it was because he was the one who discovered the toxin in the first place, or perhaps it was because there was something about this array and this situation which was bothering him. Tuvok did not believe in gut instinct but he did know the subconscious mind could sometimes fit together minute observations that the conscious mind was not aware of.
At first glance there was no obvious sign of any foul play but when Tuvok examined the fingernails, he could see they were cracked and broken. Moving up the body he moved the Caretaker's head so he could get a closer look at her neck. Sure enough, there were contusions and traces of bruising. Concentrating on these areas with his tricorder he picked up the DNA traces of another life form, one which he was very familiar with; Cardassian.
Tuvok quickly tapped his communicator.
"Tuvok to Janeway."
"What is it, Commander?"
"I suggest we leave at once."
"Why? What is..." Janeway started to reply, but a signal from Voyager broke through and interrupted.
"Tuvok," said Chakotay urgently. "We've lost the transporter lock on Guy, do you see him?"
"Certainly Commander, he is in this very.."
Tuvok was about to say 'room', but as he looked around, he could see no sign of Guy who had been stood there moments before. Tuvok looked up and down the corridor but apart from Kim and Frost, there was no sign of Guy.
"Officer Guy seems to have...vanished." Tuvok commented.
"That's it, we're leaving. Chakotay, beam us all up, now," ordered Janeway.
Back on Voyager, Chakotay gave the order to beam up the two away teams.
Ensign Dunne, who was manning Ops station while Kim was on the array, keyed in the controls to beam up the life forms she had locked into the transporter controls. However, as she engaged each sequence the computer would report back that there was no longer any signal to beam up. Within seconds she had lost the lock on every member of the away team.
"Sir!" Dunne said urgently. "I can't get a lock of any of them!"
"Tom, any sign of them?" asked Chakotay.
Tom Paris had been keeping a close eye on the array, and on the progress of his wife. He had seen their readings disappear, just like Dunne had but he also saw some sudden, disturbing changes in the array's structure.
"Negative, sir," he replied. "But something strange is happening to the array."
"On screen," ordered Chakotay.
The viewscreen showed the image of the array which was changing shape. Chakotay rose from his chair and moved closer to the screen, not really believing what he was seeing. The huge hole was sealing up with some sort of organic material. More organic patches were de-cloaking all over the array at alarming speed. These were growing and interlacing with the mechanical materials. Soon the array resembled more of an organic/mechanic hybrid cube then an array. Chakotay realised his worst fears about this mission had come true; they had walked into a trap.
He ran back to his chair and opened up a broadcast signal to the whole ship.
"Red alert, all hands to battle stations!"
As the red alert klaxons burst into life but before they could raise shields, a being materialised in the centre of the bridge. Chakotay and the rest of the bridge crew were momentarily stunned.
Several times during the past few years Janeway had asked him what his nightmare scenario would be, his personal Kobyashi Naru. Chakotay could never decide between the Borg Collective adapting really advanced technology, similar to when Voyager had accidentally created a Borg with 28th Century technology, or if they managed to assimilate Species 8472. What was now standing on the Bridge was a combination of Chakotay's nightmare scenarios; an assimilated member of Species 8472, which all evidence suggested had to have originated from an assimilated Caretaker Array.
"That's not possible!" exclaimed Lieutenant Knowles.
Knowles had been covering Tuvok's security station. His comment was referring to the known fact that the Borg were unable to assimilate Species 8472. The outburst seemed to break everyone out of their startled state, including the Borg which moved over to helm control.
Paris swung out of his chair as the Borg approached his station leaping out of reach. The Borg ignored him. Tube-like tendrils extended from the Borg's claws, without pause it plugged directly into the helm controls.
"Stop it!" ordered Chakotay
Paris was already drawing his phaser. He adjusted the settings to maximum, noting that the rest of the bridge crew were doing the same. As one they fired on the Borg which flinched under the sudden barrage of four phaser beams. Within seconds however, the Borg was deflecting each beam with panelled green shielding. It was able counter every phaser shot while it continued assimilation of the bridge controls.
"Alternate your beam frequencies!" shouted Chakotay.
Each crewman adjusted their phasers to shoot at a random frequency and fired at the Borg again. Just like the previous attempt, the barrage of fire momentarily distracted the Borg before it adapted to the new phaser settings.
"It's no use." said Paris. "The part that is Species 8472 is tough enough to hold off our fire long enough for the Borg side to adapt."
"Sir!" reported Dunne. "I'm getting reports from all over the ship, they're everywhere!"
The panels on the helm control began to flicker. Chakotay knew that in a few moments the Borg would have control of the bridge unless they stopped it. Again he adjusted his phaser but this time he set it to a lower power setting, one specifically designed to result in exploding the target rather then vaporising it.
Tacking aim he fired, not at the Borg itself but at the helm console. As the console erupted, the Borg screeched out in pain as the tendrils, along with several of its clawed fingers were severed.
Taking advantage of the monster's momentary weakness, Lieutenant Knowles ran, roaring with rage, to tackle the Borg before it could recover. As Voyager crewmembers went, Knowles was a large man and a legend in the mess hall. He had won every single eating competition that Neelix organised. People now refused to compete against him.
The moment Knowles made his move Chakotay thought that if anyone had a chance to restrain the injured Borg, Knowles was the man to do it. However, the Borg casually swiped up its injured hand, striking Knowles on his jaw and lifting him up into the air. Chakotay stood mesmerised as Knowles, who must have weighed four hundred pounds at least, flew passed and hit the turbo lift door with a sickening crunch. Although he found it hard to imagine anyone surviving such an attack, Chakotay knelt down next to Knowles's prone body to check for a pulse; there was none.
Meanwhile, the Borg seemed to have fully recovered and moved over to Operations, inserting fresh tubes into the console.
"Move out of the way," Chakotay said to Dunne so that he could get a clear shot at the console.
The young Ensign did not need telling twice and she quickly dived to her left as Chakotay fired. The beam hit the console, but instead of exploding, it shimmered with green light. The Borg had adapted yet again, shielding the console as well as itself.
"Sir," reported Paris, "It's bypassing all the security protocols."
Chakotay knew that if he allowed Voyager to be assimilated they would all likely become part of this new, superior collective. It was a prospect he was not going to allow to happen.
"Computer, this is Commander Chakotay, acting Captain of the USS Voyager. Initiate immediate emergency self-destruct; authorisation Gamma, Delta, One, One, Zero."
Without hesitation, Paris followed Chakotay's lead and verified his rank and authorisation code. Dunne also had sufficient clearance. She gave the computer the final part of the verification sequence while the Borg continued to assimilate the Bridge controls, seemingly unconcerned that the ship was about to explode.
All that was required now was Chakotay to confirm the command.
"Computer," he began, "Confirm emergency self-destruct order; authorisation Zero, Zero, Zero."
"Unable to comply," replied the computer.
"Why?" demanded Chakotay.
"Command protocols have been transferred. Commander Chakotay is no longer authorised to confirm self destruct sequence."
The Borg disengaged from the Operations Console and focused its cold, hard eyes on Chakotay.
Voyager, along with her crew, now belonged to the Borg.