"Set a course... for home..."
No sentence was ever so cursed, Captain Janeway said it only twice in her entire career: the first time after destroying the Caretaker's array, and the second time was right now, immediately after returning to the Alpha Quadrant.
Many things had changed since those two occasions, at the beginning, the Voyager was a badly damaged ship with a reduced crew and several members of the Maquis on board, today it was a completely different ship, enriched by Borg technology and governed by a top-level crew.
However, those two situations had one thing in common: both heralded a long journey for which no one was prepared.
The moment the captain said that the transwarp conduit reopened behind them, and a cube grabbed Voyager with a tractor beam, driving her back.
The attempts of the other ships were useless, in less than 58 seconds Voyager had been dragged away.
"Tuvok, report!"
"The Borg have locked onto us with a tractor beam and are pulling us back"
"I understood this, any suggestions?"
"Captain" Harry intervened "Maybe I found a way to temporarily disable their tractor beam... but it will work for only a few seconds, if we want to save ourselves we will have to rotate the harmonics of the shields to get out of the conduit"
"That way we will still be in the Delta Quadrant!" Chakotay said
"Captain, we have no choice," said Harry
"Work us with Tuvok, Chakotay get ready to take us out of here"
"Captain we are ready"
"Perfect… ready, activate!"
Within seconds, Voyager was clear from the tractor beam and out of the Transwarp conduit, safe from the Borg.
"Damage report," Janeway asked as she approached Tuvok's console
"No deaths detected, 25 injured and Miral is fine"
"Where are we?" asked Janeway, as soon as she realized they were safe
"According to sensors, we are approximately 2,000 light years from the Beta Quadrant, Captain… we are 14,000 light years from Federation space…"
"Will it take another 14 years to go home?" asked Harry
"Unfortunately it's so ensign"
"I'm so sorry Tuvok…"
"Don't worry captain, it wasn't your fault"
"I'll be in sickbay if you need me," Janeway said, walking towards the turbolift
"Are you okay captain?"
"Yes… I just want to be the one to talk to B'elanna, Lieutenant Torres… I don't want her to know from anyone else that her baby will be growing up in the Delta Quadrant…"
…
"How is that possible!" B'Elanna yelled, upon hearing what had happened
"I'm so sorry B'Elanna..."
"You promised Kathryn, you promised my little girl would grow up in the Alpha Quadrant, safe…how could you not keep your promise!"
"B'Elanna, don't fret, the captain isn't to blame," Tom said, trying to reassure his wife
"I don't want her to stay here, let her out"
"She's the captain of this ship, and above all, she's Miral's godmother, we can't just send her away"
"I don't want her here, she promised and…"
"Don't worry Tom, I'll go, it's not a problem… I understand that he feels bad, you two have all the time you want to get back on duty, take at least a couple of weeks…
I'm talking to you Lanna," Janeway said, making her laugh
"Okay, Kathryn"
"Excuse me, since when did you two call each other by first name?"
"Hem..." the two said, blushing
"You never told him about it?" asked Janeway
"Kathryn and I have basically been best friends since I found out I was pregnant with Miral after I tried to alter our daughter"
"Well I'm glad you found a friend... then you should be even less angry!"
"I can get angry with her just because she's my friend… I just can't do it on duty or under normal conditions"
2 months later
Without B'elanna it took nearly 10 days just to complete the repairs to the engines, and another 15 to re-establish contact with the earth.
They were far from home again, but at least they knew exactly where they were and, much to the happiness of most of the crew, some ships on a deep space mission would reach Voyager in less than 5 years, and for the first time they would not be left alone.
However this wasn't enough for B'elanna, she still didn't want to resign herself to the idea of not being able to raise her daughter on Earth... after so many initial doubts she was happy to have the possibility of not doing it on Voyager, but now that she was again forced to do it, she no longer wanted to.
However, in the last few hours, the crew's mood had changed radically: Voyager's sensors had detected a small wormhole that had a good chance of leading to the Alpha quadrant
"Captain, sensor analysis confirms it," said Kim, unable to hold back her happiness. "The wormhole leads to the Beta Quadrant."
"The Beta Quadrant?" Janeway asked puzzled "I was convinced you said Alpha Quadrant"
"Unfortunately I was wrong, but it doesn't change the fact that it could shorten our journey by 7 years"
"What do the probes say?"
"The strange thing is that we get the signal through the tunnel, but…"
"But, Mr. Kim"
"Captain, we tried to send a hyper subspace signal in the direction of where the probe should be and yet it did not detect it"
"What does it mean?" asked Tom
"That we have no way of ascertaining that the probe actually arrived safely, the readings through the tunnel do not allow us to guarantee it," said Tuvok
"I have a solution!" said Tom, jumping to his feet "I could fly the Flyer through the tunnel and get to the other side... we've already established that it's safe to go through, and once I get to the other side I'll be in a zone of space that the federation knows about"
"Lieutenant, barring the fact that what you're saying is completely absurd, I can't allow you to risk your life like this! Do you have a daughter!"
"Captain, it's for you that I do it! I can't let my daughter grow up in a dangerous area of space like this!"
"I will never authorize a mission like this! It is too dangerous!"
"But Captain"
"Enough Lieutenant! Go away!"
"I'm doing it for B'Elanna!"
"How could I explain to B'Elanna that you died on such a dangerous mission"
"Captain, Harry has determined that it is safe to pass through the anomaly"
"But it's not sure what's on the other side"
"Aren't all Exploration Missions?"
"Tom, you won't get a chance to get any help if things go badly, so I can't let you go"
"Captain with all due respect"
"Tom, you're relieved of duty for the rest of the day"
"Okay Captain"
….
Tom and B'Elanna's quarters
ring ring ring
"Computer, who is at the door?" Torres asked
Captain Janeway
"Come in Kathryn"
Janeway entered smiling into her friend's semi-dark lodgings, while she was halfway there she couldn't help but jump and turn abruptly, the two had made an appointment to talk about how B'Elanna's shifts would be regulated now that she had Miral to take care of.
Among the topics, she expected to find "breastfeedings", but she certainly didn't expect to see it
"Kathrin, I'm breastfeeding my daughter, I haven't just gotten out of the shower"
"Sorry, just…"
"It doesn't give me problems, then we're friends, I don't think it's a problem... it's nothing special"
"Sorry, I'm just not used to..."
"Ok you can turn around I'm done"
"Good…" Janeway said, turning without having to blush
"I wanted to ask you about shifts..."
"First of all Lanna, I would like to talk to you about Tom…he would like…"
"Tuvok to Captain Janeway" rang out over the comm
"Here Janeway, what's going on?"
"Lieutenant Paris is piloting the Delta Flyer to the wormhole"
"I'm coming... in the meantime block him with the tractor beam" Janeway said as she entered the turbolift followed by B'Elanna
"I can't, he disabled it"
"What does it mean!?" B'Elanna yelled as she entered the bridge with the captain
"Tom sabotaged the ship to get into the tunnel undisturbed… I'm just afraid…" Harry began
"What?" asked Janeway
"The tunnel was emitting some unknown bursts of radiation… I fear the tunnel could be man-made and right now it is collapsing on itself"
"Get him out of there, NOW," Janeway said
"We can't, it's already inside…" Chakotay said
"We're receiving a pre-recorded communication from the ship's emergency buoy..." Harry said, projecting it onto the screen.
"B'Elanna, I'm sorry, I wanted to take you and Miral home, but I won't be able to… The tunnel is collapsing and I can't go back and I don't know if I can go on…
If we don't see each other again just know that I love you and that I'm sorry I can't be there for you…
Miral my daughter if you ever hear this message just know that even though I never got to know you I am sure you will be a great person just like your mother… I'm just sorry I won't be there to see it… I love you, you are the best thing I've ever done…."
"Tuvok?" asked Janeway, placing a hand on Torres' shoulder
"The tunnel has collapsed at this moment… no trace of Mr Paris"