Uninspired Voyages
A Star Trek: Voyager fanfiction by Andrew J. Talon
DISCLAIMER: This is a non-profit fan based work of prose. Star Trek: Voyager, Deep Space Nine, The Next Generation et al are the property of CBS Television, Para creation of Gene Roddenberry. Please support the official release.
Kes found her feet taking her to the Thunderbird's resting cradle. She entered into a scene that was typical of the support ship's berth-Barely managed chaos. Some of the Engineering crew were working on the warp nacelles, while Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres argued.
"I'm telling you, no, B'Elanna: Thunderbird is my baby, and we're not doing those modifications you did to the Val Jean," Tom stated, pausing behind Ensign Ashmore. The dark skinned ensign was working on an open panel of the Thunderbird. "Watch the EPS shunt, Ashmore. Pressure on that has to stay below the redline."
"Yes sir," the ensign replied. B'Elanna snorted and leaned forward, adjusting some controls.
"This shunt can handle the redline under any circumstance!" B'Elanna stated, "you're being way too conservative!"
Ashmore winced.
"Uh, ma'am-"
Tom leaned over the other side of Ashmore and adjusted the device back, glaring back at B'Elanna.
"You only redline it when you're at warp to supercharge the nacelles! Running it at max capacity the whole time just wears it out faster!"
"Er, sir," Ashmore tried, but B'Elanna ignored him as she leaned in closer, eyes narrowed, at Paris.
"Not if you dump half of the power into the deflectors!" B'Elanna huffed, "and besides, directly dumping all of that into the warp coils is what made it burn out the last time."
"That was the Val Jean, which was held together with duct tape and hope!" Tom argued back, "direct injection is the best method! You adjust the deflectors, you don't overpower them!"
"Oh yeah? My method got the Val Jean up to Warp 9, remembere?" B'Elanna reminded Tom. The blonde man rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, and I also remember the entire EPS manifold assembly burnt out," Tom stated back, "not your best work, babe!"
"It got us out of that trap!" B'Elanna argued.
"Against two Hidekis? Did we need to go Warp 9 to escape them?"
"Yes!"
Ashmore looked very meek and very small between the two arguing officers. Kes sighed softly, and then walked up.
"Hello Tom! Hello B'Elanna!" She greeted them. Tom immediately turned from B'Elanna and beamed at the Ocampan. B'Elanna gave Kes an arched eyebrow.
Ensign Ashmore finished his work, closed the panel, and snuck away. He shot a grateful look to Kes, one she didn't dare return. She had to ensure his escape.
"Hey Kes!" Tom said cheerfully, "here to join us on our mission?"
"Mission?" Kes asked, genuinely confused. B'Elanna snorted.
"Yeah. Apparently Neelix directed us to a trading outpost in a nearby star system. He thinks we can get some medical supplies."
Kes's face fell.
"Is... Neelix going on the mission?" She asked. Tom eyed her, and then grinned.
"Nope," he said, "want to come? You are our chief nurse, after all."
Kes beamed. For a non-psychic, Tom could be remarkably perceptive.
"I would love to!" She said cheerfully. Tom nodded back.
"Great! I'll put you in the away team log. Go get anything you need, come back in an hour," he said, "it'll be nice to have some pleasant company on this trip."
"Are you implying I'm not pleasant company, Paris?" B'Elanna asked with a low growl. Tom beamed.
"Why do you think I'd imply you? When there's...," he trailed off.
Kes sensed very distressed but orderly thoughts.
"Huff... Huff...!"
She looked and saw Ensign Harren emerge from the turbolift doors. He was in full Hazard Team armor, with a backpack stuffed to the gills with survival equipment. Tom shook his head in mild disbelief.
"Packing a little heavy, aren't we Ensign?" Tom asked.
"I'm not taking any chances!" Harren cried, sweating heavily inside his helmet, "I'm an astrophysicist, damnit, not a trader!"
"The Captain thinks you need some time away from the ship in the field," B'Elanna stated, "and besides: The outpost is in a new born solar system! All sorts of proto-planets around! Isn't that an ideal mission for you?"
Harren shook his head, glaring through his faceplate.
"No ma'am, it is not! Not with how much can go wrong around here!" He staggered into the Thunderbird, clomping loudly. Tom, B'Elanna and Kes exchanged some amused looks.
"Not every mission turns into a death defying adventure," Tom said. He then shot Kes a wink, "but if it does? Well... That's part of the fun."
Shepherd entered sickbay at a dead run, a wincing smile on his face. He jogged up to Captain Janeway, the Doctor, and Tuvok, who were in the Doctor's office. They were standing around the desk, all looking concerned.
"Sorry it took me so long, Captain," he apologized, "training issues."
"That's al right, Lieutenant," she said, "we have bigger issues to deal with." She turned her head and nodded to the Doctor. "Doctor?"
The EMH raised an eyebrow, but kept his comments to himself as he opened the container. Within was a tiny, fleshy-looking rock.
Shepherd blinked a few times.
"I... Take it that this isn't normal behavior for a... What is that?" He asked, tilting his head.
"This is the Caretaker," Tuvok explained, "or rather, his remains."
"Woah!" Shepherd leaned in, staring intently at the withered, bumpy remains. "He shrank into that? I mean, I read the report but I didn't actually see-"
The Caretaker's remains shuddered and shook again, and Shepherd pulled back, his phaser out and pointed at the box in an instant.
"We're... Sure he's dead, right?" Shepherd asked.
"Very," the Doctor said dryly, "so you can put away your weapon. There's no need to dramatically pose, Mister Shepherd."
"There's always a need for that," Shepherd replied, holstering his weapon, "so, it's vibrating. Do we know why?"
"The most likely conclusion is that the remains are reacting to the presence of another Nacene," Tuvok stated, "we know the species has immense power."
"And my own autopsy revealed that they have, for lack of a better term, organs that respond to other members of their species via some form of telepathy," the Doctor added.
Shepherd winced.
"Ah... You mean like... His mate?"
Janeway nodded slowly.
"It stands to reason," she said, sounding cautious, but there was some hope in her eyes, "if we can trace the source, we might be able to find her... Maybe see if she could send us all home."
"Er," Shepherd began, "Captain, I want to get home just as much as anyone else here... But the last time we ran into a Nacene, we all ended up on the other side of the galaxy, getting experimented on so he could try to breed. How do we know we won't get more of the same if we find his old girlfriend?"
"It's quite possible this behavior is why his mate left him," the Doctor pointed out, "it would make me want to leave."
"It's risky, but we need to find his mate," Janeway stated, "we can't ignore the possibility of getting home." She crossed her arms over her chest, "that said... You're right about the risks. Tuvok? You said you were working on a means of dealing with hostile Nacene?"
Tuvok nodded.
"Indeed. Working with the Doctor, I have created a neurotoxin that should, in theory, disable or stun a Nacene upon contact," he explained, "as well as a method of delivery."
"You were working on something like that and didn't tell me, sir?" Shepherd asked. Tuvok raised an eyebrow.
"When it became relevant, you would be among the first to know," he stated. Shepherd nodded back.
"Yes sir. Fair enough, sir. It's just disconcerting to not know everything going on around here for once."
"Experience is a useful tool," Tuvok observed, "one you must develop."
Shepherd smiled and nodded.
"I'll have to set aside a hundred years for that, then," he said, "So! Shall I begin training security in how to use our new weapons?"
"I only have the prototype," Tuvok stated. Janeway nodded.
"Then get to work on it. Shepherd? I'd like you to take over some of Tuvok's duties to give him as much time as possible to work on this. But maintain tactical readiness-I'm not letting us end up as test subjects again."
"Yes ma'am," Shepherd said, "I recommend we get Kes on this as well-She's probably the strongest telepath we have onboard. And we can trust her when it comes to the Caretaker's mate. Some of the other Ocampa still venerate him-But she'd be willing to throw down if necessary, Captain."
"Good idea," Janeway said with a nod, "we'll ask her when she comes back from her trading mission."
"Trading mission?" Shepherd asked. Janeway smiled wryly.
"Yes. She went with Tom, B'Elanna and Harren on a trip to a nearby trading station for medical supplies. They should be back in a few hours, at most."
"Ah," Shepherd said, nodding, "good to know... I'll just start prepping the tactical teams for an emergency response."
"Isn't that a tad bit premature?" The Doctor asked.
"Given our luck so far, Doc?" Shepherd replied, raising his own eyebrow in return. The Doctor sighed.
"Good point, Mister Shepherd. I'll prepare for the worst..."
"You two are really far too grim," Janeway stated, "why not try to be optimistic for once?"
"Captain, I am the most optimistic person you will ever know!" Shepherd insisted, "I have every hope that everything will be fine and we'll get home to the Alpha Quadrant! But while I hope for the best, I prepare for the worst. It's in my nature."
Janeway struggled not to roll her eyes.
"What could possibly happen on a trading mission to a nearby star while we're still in Delta Alliance space?"
Things had been going so well. The Thunderbird had arrived at the trading station in the system. Tom called it a "shooting gallery"-There were hundreds of protoplanets and trillions of asteroids zooming around the system, making it very difficult to fly through. But Tom was an amazing pilot, and got through without any issues to dock at the ramshackle space station.
They'd met with the trader. He was an untouched Vidiian. Well he didn't say so, and he was wearing a hazardous environment suit, but Kes read his mind easily enough.
That had gotten them quite the discount. Harren had been aghast, but it wasn't like Tom had said they would reveal the trader's secret if he didn't lower his prices.
He just heavily implied it.
Despite Harren's sputtering, they had made out with the medical supplies and half their trading materials intact. So it was a good day.
And then they'd left the space station... And a Kazon carrier was waiting for them.
"Oh, great," Tom groaned, quickly accelerating away as the carrier followed them, "I take it they're not Nistrim then?"
B'Elanna sat in the copilot's chair, checking the sensors. The ship shook as one of the Kazon phasers struck them.
"Not that it matters, but no," B'Elanna growled. "And they're launching raiders!"
Four Kazon Raiders flew after them, firing their phasers furiously as the Thunderbird began to jank and dodge even more aggressively. Kes held on tightly to the console as she tried not to look at the stars outside-It would only make her sick.
"Oh great, you see them?" B'Elanna shouted.
"Yes, yes, I saw 'em!" Tom shouted back.
"Saw what?" Harren yelped.
"Two more carriers, trying to cut us off!" Tom yelled. Kes risked a glance out the windows-Yes, two more monstrous Kazon carriers were heading right for them!
More blue phaser blasts hit them, hard. A console sparked angrily. Tom groaned.
"Shields?"
"At 25 percent!" B'Elanna shot back.
"Well," Tom said, sliding his fingers up on the touchscreen, "we can still outmaneuver them!"
The Thunderbird dove, and Tom put the small ship into a dizzying series of spins. Kes closed her eyes and groaned, as Harren screeched loudly. Above, she could sense the panic of hundreds of Kazon aboard the three ships. She checked her own console, and brought up the sensor display. She winced.
The three ships collided with one another, exploding into a gigantic fireball... But more Kazon carriers were on the way.
She bet Tom saw that too, as he leveled the Thunderbird out. He tapped the controls.
"All right, prepare for warp!" Tom shouted.
"Uh, Lieutenant," Harren tried, but B'Elanna ignored him.
"About time! They're closing on us!" B'Elanna growled.
"Oh yeah?" Tom grinned, and threw the warp level forward. "Watch this!"
The Thunderbird rattled, rumbled... And didn't jump to warp. Stunned silence dominated the cabin. B'Elanna glared red hot death at Tom.
"What did you do?" B'Elanna asked in a deadly voice.
"Me?!" Tom squawked, "I told you not to mess with my engines-!"
The ship shook from another phaser blast. Harren looked back from the science console.
"Lieutenant, as I was trying to say," Harren stated, "I noticed that the power levels for the warp drive are completely off-We can't go to warp!"
"Okay, we're in trouble," Tom groaned. He got up, grabbed Kes by her shoulders, and plopped her into the pilot's seat.
"Ah! Tom-?!"
"You passed the flight training sim! Keep them off us until I fix it-"
"Until I fix it!" B'Elanna shot back, exploding out of her chair and heading to the back. Tom followed, irritated. Kes quickly began evading, as the Kazon Raiders continued their pursuit. Harren staggered over to the copilot's chair, but instead of hitting any buttons, he just held onto the console and gaped in horror.
Not that Kes could blame him, but a little help would be nice.
"You broke it!" Tom's shout was audible from the back of the Thunderbird.
"I didn't break it! I told you-!"
"No! No! No! This is my ship, B'Elanna! I told you to just fix it according to the specs so I could mod it-!"
"The specs won't keep her working out here in the Delta Quadrant! I made modifications to keep you alive-"
"Oh, and you're doing a great job of it!"
"I knew what you were going to change anyway-!"
"Well clearly not if we're not going to warp!"
"It had to be your changes! Not mine! I told you I was going to live long enough to see you screw up, and you have!"
"Have not!"
Kes got a warning from the proximity sensors. And her own psychic gifts screamed at her. This is why she was able to throw the Thunderbird to the side, barely avoiding a large asteroid. She let out a sigh of relief... Then yelped as the ship smacked into another one.
"CAREFUL!" Harren screeched. "Look, we're going too fast-"
"We have to keep going fast or they'll catch us!" Kes said defensively.
"I'd prefer to be caught in one piece than scooped up-" Harren covered his eyes. "LOOK OUT!"
"I am! I AM!" Kes cried, twisting around a large chunk of cometary ice.
"Not well enough! Not if you're going to keep running into things-!"
"Stop side seat driving!" Kes barked, doing a barrel roll through two rotating asteroids. This made Harren yelp again.
"I'm not, I'm just-LOOK OUT!"
Another asteroid hit hard, and the ship shook violently. Kes looked up, wincing.
"Uh oh..."
Tom and B'Elanna re-emerged from the back, both flush and a bit dirty from poking around the innards of the ship.
"What is it?" Tom asked.
Kes pointed out the windows. Two of the protoplanets, each about the size of the average M-class planet, had collided. This had sent a huge field of asteroids and other debris up into the local area.
"I'm sorry, I was trying to avoid it-!"
"No, no," Tom breathed, eyes lighting up. He gently pushed Kes out of the pilot's chair, and took control, "this'll work... B'Elanna? We're on course two seven one."
"Wha-" B'Elanna tried, eyes wide as she stood behind Tom and held onto the back of his chair for dear life, "you're not actually going into that mess, are you?!"
"They'd be crazy to follow us, wouldn't they?" Tom asked with a grin.
Tom immediately took control, slaloming the Thunderbird around asteroids with barely centimeters of space to spare. Kes found herself holding onto the pilot's chair, just as tightly as B'Elanna was doing.
"You don't have to do this to impress me!" B'Elanna gasped.
"Lieutenant, do you even want to know the odds of successfully navigating this field?" Harren whimpered, "because they're not good."
"Never tell the odds," Tom said cheerfully, dropping down just below a huge asteroid. Three of the Kazon Raiders managed to follow-The fourth smacked into the bottom of the asteroid, and despite shields and a duranium hull, exploded into a massive fireball.
Tom made the Thunderbird dart between three rapidly orbiting asteroids, narrowly zipping in between the gaps. Two of the Kazon Raiders wisely broke off and went above. The third tried to follow Tom's path straight through...
And was smashed into a broken, burning wreck for his trouble.
Two asteroids collided directly ahead of them, sending a shower of debris right at the Thunderbird. Harren screamed, covering his head as he bent down for cover. B'Elanna and Kes also turned away, as the rocks bounced off the transparent aluminum like loud bells ringing.
"Well, you said you wanted to see me screw up," Tom said with unnatural calm, "this could be it."
"I take it back!" B'Elanna emphasized, "but seriously, we're going to get pulverized if we stay out here!"
"Pulverized," Harren whimpered, "ah! Wait! What about the metaphasic shielding?"
"That would buy us more time," B'Elanna allowed, "but it's not really for use outside of repelling massive amounts of radiant energy-"
Kes looked out the forward windows. Her eyes lit up as she saw the two colliding planets. They were smashing together in a gigantic collision, sending out all this debris... But they had collided to the point they were like two half-planets joined together by a gigantic burning molten center.
Along the edges, on the fractured tectonic plates of the two worlds...
"There! Get down to the surface, there!" Kes insisted, pointing at it, "where those volcanos are!"
"Kes?" Tom questioned. Kes shook her head.
"Trust me," she whispered, looking earnestly into his eyes. Tom slowly nodded, and gunned the impulse drive.
"Uh, what are we doing?" B'Elanna asked Kes and Tom, looking back and forth between them.
"Trust me," Kes emphasized again, as Tom put the Thunderbird into a diving barrel roll underneath a huge chunk of landmass. The remaining Kazon fighters continued their pursuit, still blasting away.
The molten landscape of the nearest world expanded in the viewports, and Tom pulled up, flying along the surface. The Kazon Raiders began firing ahead of them, and Tom expertly traced his way through the blasts as though skating on ice. Up ahead, a massive volcano loomed, glowing brightly from all the molten lava pouring down its sides and being belched up into space.
Kes felt another tug on her mind.
"Straight for it... Wait... Wait..." Kes murmured. Tom kept the Thunderbird on as straight a course as he could, janking and jinking this way and that around the Kazon phaser blasts. The volcano grew bigger, bigger, bigger in the viewport...
Kes sucked in a breath.
"Full reverse! NOW!"
Tom cut the Thunderbird's momentum to nothing, the inertial dampeners beeping loudly as the crew held on and fought against the gee forces that got through. The two Kazon Raiders flew overhead... Right as the volcano erupted.
The Kazon ships flew into the ejecting magma. Their shields flared, glowed brightly... And then failed as they exploded. Tom took a deep breath, and moved away along the surface, as the eruption continued to spread across the surface.
"Good work," B'Elanna managed, staring at Kes in amazement. She just shrugged, and smiled uneasily.
Harren had gone back and replicated a sick bag... Which he was hyperventilating into.
"Oh God... Oh God... Oh God..." He chanted, trying to calm down. B'Elanna sat back down in the copilot's chair, and checked the readings.
"There's still plenty of Kazon ships out there," she said.
"Well then, let's put that metaphasic shielding to good use," Tom said, scanning the horizon. He grinned, and brought the Thunderbird up in a Cobra turn.
"There... That will do nicely..."
"Uh... Lieutenants... Where are we going?" Harren managed, as they dove into the cone of a somewhat active volcano.
B'Elanna triggered the metaphasic shields, and a green bubble enveloped the Thunderbird. Tom found a large cave dug into the side of the cone-Absolutely massive. And with expert skill, he brought the Thunderbird in for a landing on the rough ground.
"How long will the shields give us, B'Elanna?" Tom asked.
B'Elanna sighed.
"A few hours? If we shut off everything else," she said.
"Then that's what we'll do," Tom said, hitting buttons, as the lights began to go out save for the emergency beacons, "plenty of time to fix all this. Well! Let's get to work!"
He gave Kes a grin, one she returned with a blush.
As the Starfleeters got to work, Kes hung back, her grin fading into a frown.
The whole time on the station... Even now... She felt like she was being watched. Strange. It almost felt like...
She shook her head. No. It wasn't possible. She hurried after Tom and the others.
After all... What Ocampa would work for the Kazon?
Yeah I've got Star Wars on the brain. Oh well. And now a mini-episode:
"Sacred Ground"
The actual storyline for this episode... Sucks. So instead, here's something more interesting!
Voyager and the other ships of the Delta Convoy have been invited to take shoreleave on Planet Nechani. The locals are very friendly, very religious... And easily offended. A noble comes up to Janeway, enamored.
Nervan: "Captain, I simply cannot allow you to leave without offering you the greatest treasure of this world!"
Janeway: "I thank you, Lord Nervan: What would that be?"
Nervan: oily smile "To become my wife, of course! Do you accept?"
Janeway: "Ah... Well... I'm deeply flattered, Lord Nervan, but I cannot accept. I do apologize-"
Nervan: "WHAT?! You dare reject my offer?! Then I invoke Ren'JAL! You shall not leave this world, unmarried!"
Janeway: "What?"
Later, in a discussion on Voyager...
Neelix: "Er, it's a duel. You insulted him, since he proposed in front of the sacred temple of the Ancestral Spirits. So you have to duel him."
Janeway: "Isn't there a way to get out of this without dueling him? Surely there's something!"
Tuvok: "Technically you would not duel him, Captain. You would choose a champion to duel for you."
Janeway: "I see..."
Janeway slowly looks over at Shepherd, who was juggling various things he'd stolen from around the ship.
Janeway: "Shepherd?"
Shepherd: "Yes ma'am?"
Janeway: "I need a dueling champion."
Shepherd: "You've got him."
Janeway: smile "I thought you might agree."
They arrive. Lord Nervan stands there, sniffing as he sees Shepherd and Janeway.
Nervan: "Hmph! You further insult me, Captain! You bring this scruffy, ill bred commoner to be your champion? You couldn't get your Talaxian to cooperate?"
Shepherd: "He was busy doing more important things. Now? Draw!"
Shepherd draws his phaser and shoots Lord Nervan in the leg. The noble yells, and holds his thigh.
Nervan: "ACK! YOU-YOU FILTHY MONGREL! How DARE you violate the rules-rule of noble combat! The duel hasn't even started yet!"
Shepherd: "Oh, my bad. How about now?" Shoots him again, in the shoulder
Nervan: "ARGH!" He falls to his knees "STOP THAT! YOU WIN! YOU WIN!"
Shepherd: Looks over at Janeway "Should I go three for three?"
Janeway: barely hiding her smile "No Lieutenant, I think that's sufficient. As you can see, Lord Nervan, I refuse to marry you. And you've lost the duel. So sorry. I'm sure you'll be able to charm some other woman... Eventually."
Shepherd: "I wouldn't bet on it."
Janeway: "Must you always have the last word?"
Shepherd: "No! ... Yes?"