To The Journey

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it's not mine. This is an AU story.

Chapter Fifty-Eight: Coming Down

"Something's wrong." Admiral Janeway resisted the urge to pace the bridge of her ship as she had so many times paced the bridge of Voyager. But this wasn't her beloved Intrepid-class ship, and the people that surrounded her weren't the crew that had become so familiar.

"We do not know that."

With one exception. She hid a smile as she turned to her tactical advisor. "What logical alternative is there, Mr. Tuvok? The last time we checked in, they said they were less than an hour away. That was almost six hours ago. Now we don't know where they are and we can't raise them on subspace."

"Admiral." The operations officer hesitantly spoke up. "I have a thought about that."

Janeway turned to him. "Go ahead."

"Here." He indicated a point on the star chart he'd pulled up on his console. "The Bassen Rift. It's a sensor blind spot."

"Confirmed, Admiral," Tuvok put in. "Based on their last reported position and heading, the Enterprise would have traversed the Rift within minutes of their last contact."

"And they haven't come out the other side?" she asked impatiently.

The operations officer checked his console, but it only confirmed what he knew. "No, ma'am. Not that we have a record of."

She resisted the urge to correct his honorific. "Tuvok, signal the fleet to move out. We'll regroup just outside the rift and then go in after the Enterprise. Analyze our data on the Rift and figure out how far we can spread out without losing communication with each other. And put all ships on yellow alert, standing by to go to red when we enter the Rift. Whatever the Enterprise may have encountered, I don't want us being caught off-guard by it."

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"Commander," Tasha reported incredulously, "we're being hailed. It's a Federation signal."

Will turned to her, a puzzled expression on his face. "I thought we weren't clear of the Rift yet."

"We're not."

He shrugged. "Well, there's only one way to figure out what's up. Open a channel."

"I'm trying. The signal is very weak. Bridge to Engineering."

Geordi's voice came over the comm. "La Forge here."

"Geordi," she said a bit wryly, "I think the fleet's come looking for us. Can you give me some extra power to the comm system? I can't establish a channel."

"Copy that."

A burst of static came through the comm line as the power was boosted, followed by a woman's garbled voice. "...starship Enterprise, do you read?"

"This is the Enterprise," Tasha replied loudly, hoping she could get through despite the interference. "We're just barely making you out, and I think we're at about the maximum output we can manage at the moment. Are you able to boost your signal?"

"We're working on it." The voice was slightly clearer now. "Can you remodulate your signal to a higher carrier frequency? My operations officer thinks that might do a better job of cutting through the interference."

"I copy." She prodded the barely-working console. "Okay, I think I've got it. Is that coming through any better?"

"Somewhat. Enterprise, what's your status?"

"Not good," Tasha admitted. "Our warp drive is offline, we're down to reserve power, and we've got massive structural damage."

"The Reman?"

"He's dead. His ship and the weapon were both destroyed. I suppose that's the good news."

"Very good," the woman concurred. "I'd ask if you require assistance, but based on your status report I'm going to guess that I know the answer to that."

"You probably do," she said with a chuckle. "Based on our current condition, I believe that the best course of action would be to evacuate all personnel to other vessels and have the Enterprise towed to spacedock. I'm not sure how much longer we can sustain life support."

"Come to a full stop," she said after a moment. "And make preparations to evacuate. The fleet is on its way."

"Thank you. Enterprise out." She turned to Will. "I suppose I'd better go wake up the Captain."

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"We'll start with the more seriously wounded," Will said authoritatively. "Beverly wants to get them into a fully functional sickbay as soon as possible, and I can't say I disagree. Following that will be the patients with minor injuries or in recovery. Then we'll go by standard evacuation practices, lowest rank first and so on. Senior staff will be the last to beam off."

"Copy that," a dozen voices called out.

He smiled gently. "I know we've all had a long and hard couple of days. I'm asking us to hang in there just a little while longer. Can you do that for me?" Nods and murmurs of affirmation came back in response. "Thank you all. Now let's start making preparations."

"Nice speech, Captain," Tasha said softly to her friend as the group dispersed.

Will chuckled, shaking his head. "I'm not a Captain yet. Certainly not of this ship."

"Perhaps not," she conceded, "but that was a Captain's speech you just gave back there."

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As soon as Janeway's ship was within visual range of the Enterprise, it was clear to her that the quick status report she'd received had been a massive understatement. Even from a distance, she could see that a huge section of the forward hull had been ripped clean off the ship. Forcefields shimmered over a number of other massive breeches as well. She almost couldn't believe that the bulk of the ship was in one piece.

"Hail them," she ordered Tuvok after a moment.

"Channel open."

"Enterprise, this is Admiral Janeway. Do you read?"

Jean-Luc Picard's voice crackled through the comm. "Loud and clear, Admiral."

She blurted out the question on her lips. "What the hell happened to your ship?"

"Shinzon ambushed us," he replied simply.

"I'll expect a full report later," she said after a moment. Clearly, Picard didn't want to talk about it. "We can begin the evacuation as soon as you're ready."

"Acknowledged."

"Admiral," Tuvok said as the inter-ship communication cut off, "Sickbay reports ready to accept casualties from the Enterprise. They have already coordinated with the Chief Medical Officer. And the transport operators are standing by to beam all other personnel to Cargo Bay Three."

"Good. Tell them to begin transport as soon as they get the all-clear. Tuvok, you're with me."

They arrived in the cargo bay just in time to see the first group of Enterprise evacuees materialize. They were junior officers all of them, all looking so exhausted and shell-shocked that it brought tears to Kathryn's eyes. Tuvok had to guide several of them off the transporter pad to make room for the next group.

As more and more groups transported over, the Admiral felt the knot in her stomach loosening a fraction. It was still bad, she could see that in their faces, but at least the numbers in the cargo bay were steadily growing. Given the size and number of the hull breeches, she had thought it possible that the ranks of the survivors might be painfully small.

The senior officers materialized last, just as the evacuation rules dictated. As soon as they had arrived, the sole woman in the group took one step, sank slowly to the floor, and began to cry, trembling as she finally released hours of tension and strain. All of the Enterprise senior officers turned towards her with concern, but to Janeway's surprise, they were outpaced by her own tactical officer, who crouched beside the distraught commander, speaking words too soft for anyone but her to hear.

For a moment, Tasha thought it was her own fatigue and stress that were causing her to hear comforting words in that ever-so-familiar voice. But when she looked up through her tears, she could clearly see that the face looking back at her matched the voice. "Father."

He nodded in response. "I am here. It is all right."

"I know," she choked out, wiping her watery eyes as she began to sit up straight. "I just can't seem to stop."

"We've all been through a lot the past couple of days," Will said from behind her. "Physically and emotionally. I think everyone on the crew could use some sleep."

"Of course," the Admiral responded. "I've already arranged quarters. It'll be a little crowded, I'm afraid, but there should be space for everyone."

"That should be perfectly fine, Admiral." Picard spoke for the first time, his own voice hoarse and weary. "We'll manage."

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"I could get used to this," Tasha murmured sleepily just as the door hissed open.

"To what?" her husband queried.

She glanced up at him, smiling. "Having you carry me to bed."

Data smiled as he laid his exhausted wife down on the bunk. "It is likely that in the next six to seven months, your condition will necessitate an increase in rest and a decrease in physical strain as compared to your usual state of being. As such, I will carry you to bed any time you wish."

"Data..." she mumbled as he began pulling off her boots.

He paused for a moment. "Yes?"

"We need to talk. Later. When I'm awake."

He gave a very human sigh, but nodded. "I understand. But as you say, it can wait until later. Now you need sleep."

"Mhm." It was clear from her tone that she was well on her way there already. Data settled himself into the bunk with her, taking her into his arms as she fell asleep.

He could have activated his dream program, but decided against it. Part of it was a fear of nightmares, but even more than that, at this moment, he wanted reality far more than he wanted a dream. He ran his fingers over his wife's abdomen, rubbing the bump that was just starting to form. My child. Tears filled his eyes at the thought of what could have happened to both of them that day. As hard as it was on him to endure the death of B4, he knew that losing Tasha and the baby would have been much worse. It would have broken him.

"I am sorry," he whispered to her sleeping form. "I never wanted to leave you."

Just a little wrap-up all around. A few more chapters and then it's sequel time. As it looks now, the sequels will likely be a series of shorter stories focused around specific events. Don't worry, I have no plans to be done with it anytime soon.

However, I am now taking the time to go back and edit this series, chapter by chapter. There were some things about it I never really liked, and I've finally decided to take the time to make the tweaks I've always wanted to have in here, as well as streamlining early installments a bit with some of the things that came into the arc later. As such, updates may be a bit slower.

I am considering making one major change to the story timeline while doing the rewrite: changing one of the major pairings in the DS9 sections from Jadzia/Worf to Jadzia/Bashir (cutting Jenna out of the mix completely, and having Worf be single for the time being). I'm not as "in love" with Julian/Jenna as I was when I first conceived of the idea, and I've always liked the idea of Julian and Jadzia, and really was just too timid to explore it when I first wrote the series. So...I'd like to know what you think! I'm posting a poll on my profile; please vote if you have a minute. Also feel free to leave comments in reviews or to PM me.

Please review!