PRIME DIRECTIVE: Space may be the final frontier, but I'll never get there by any monies derived from this as Harry Potter and all properties of such are owned by the Dark Lady JKR. All content, characters related to Star Trek are owned by Paramount Pictures, Inc...except maybe some of that stuff that ended up being used in Starfleet Battles which is owned by the Amarillo Design Bureau who used that content via the Starfleet Technical Manual by Franz Joseph Schnaubelt and published by Ballantine Books.
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CHAPTER SIX – DESPAIR
(Episode: No comparable ST: VOY episode)
(ST:DS9 Reference: Alludes to incidents occurring throughout ST: DS9 Season Six)
(ST:TOS Reference: The episode The Enterprise Incident)
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PITHY STATEMENT RELATING TO THIS CHAPTER: "Despair is the price one pays for self-awareness. Look deeply into life, and you'll always find despair." (When Nietzsche Wept) Irvin D. Yalom Dahl – American existential psychologist, professor and writer – 1931-Present
LAST UPDATED ON: 01-30-2024
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Captain's Log, Star Date 51106.3. I have decided to alter Voyager's course away from our previous direct route to rendezvous with the USS Equinox by giving up a little on my faith in what I can observe. While Harry Potter had contact with much of the collective knowledge of the Borg, every day since then makes that tactical information less valuable. It's true that he knew the general course and speed the Equinox had used, we have no idea of knowing what forces might be affecting them now. Because of this, Mr. Potter used a magical divination method of scrying to see if he could get a better feeling of where we should lay in our course.
The answer we got was surprising given while we found that, generally speaking, the Equinox is in the area we had predicted, that something on a different course was pointing out to be more important than the Equinox. Mr. Potter himself cannot explain it other than reiterating a point known via the legends that in most cases, prophecy only makes sense after you're already experiencing it. However, in this case, Voyager is not flying in blind due to our new Astrometrics lab. We now can see further and farther than before. In uncharted space, this gives Voyager a much-needed edge. So I feel more confident in checking out whatever Mr. Potter has found.
MAIN ENGINEERING, USS VOYAGER, SECTOR 387, DELTA QUADRANT – STAR DATE 51107.4
Senior Lieutenant Carey looked up from the main warp core console, "Commander, I think we're ready on our end here."
Torres adjusted a few things on her PADD before being satisfied with what she was seeing, "It does look like that. Alright Joseph, you're in charge. I doubt I'll get done before Gamma shift comes on. See if you can do that intake calibration you've been chomping at the bit to do. Ventrys convinced me that you were right that the Wart is causing enough interference with some of our instruments that we're not calibrating correctly. So knock yourself out."
"You know it, Commander!" Carey said with a grin and a wave before he went over to start giving orders to various crew-members.
Torres looked to where Ventrys was watching her with interest, "What?"
Ventrys shrugged slightly, "You seem to have an interesting relationship with that Lieutenant. A bit more personal if I may. I am simply curious."
Torres chuckled darkly as she gestured for Ventrys to follow her, "Joe and I had a bad start back when this all went down. Like Medical, Engineering was without a leader. Joe felt he should have been promoted into the position but it went to me instead."
Ventrys looked intrigued, "Forgive me, but that sounds more like a political decision to me."
Torres chuckled again but this time with more mirth, "Oh it certainly was. The Captain had a problem in that she needed the people but the people she had for replacements weren't too big on being inducted back into Starfleet. I was one of them. So while it made sense that certain Maquis got good positions to help foster good will and show that Janeway wasn't going to make us second-class crew-members, it took a while for things to settle down."
"How did the lieutenant take you being put in over him?" Ventrys asked as they made their way to the main turbo-lifts.
"Nothing me breaking his nose didn't cure," Torres said with a smirk.
Ventrys laughed, "A very Klingon way to deal with disaffected subordinates!"
The pair entered the turbolift, "Deck 8" Torres commanded. "Well the constant threats to our life as well as all the challenges did smooth things out pretty quickly. By the time we put the Kazon behind us, we had pretty much become one crew. Not to say we Maquis don't have issues. Our complaints about the Federation and Starfleet haven't changed. It's just all of that seems rather inconsequential when the war, one way or another, will be long over by the time we get back."
Ventrys nodded and the pair were silent for a moment, just listening to the hum of the turbolift.
As the doors opened and they moved towards Astrometrics, Torres asked, "So I have to say I'm surprised about the uniforms. I know we Maquis took back Starfleet uniforms, but most of us were prior Starfleet to begin with."
Ventrys stopped and looked down at her uniform. "We felt that while we need to fit in, we also feel the need to be true to ourselves and our service. I have to say, I'm glad we decided to go with the older look given it meshes better with the older Romulan design they all agreed on. The modern Klingon uniforms make me feel the Empire is compensating for previous losses by trying to make themselves look like they could leap into combat at a moment's notice."
Torres nodded at that. She had to admit she liked the look. Ventrys was wearing an amalgamation of the old Klingon duty uniform with that commonly worn by non-combat personnel assigned to the ships of the Imperial Klingon Navy. She had black boots which came up past her knees. The main part of the uniform was a lamé tunic that was somewhat similar to the old Starfleet yeoman outfits.
Whereas the men's tunic ended a little past the belt line, Ventrys' continued down to a few inches above her boots. While the old tunics were all done in an alternating grey stripes bleeding into each other, Ventrys' uniform was done in shades of physical sciences blue. The black, long-sleeve undershirt of the old uniform matched well with the modern Starfleet uniform. Unlike the male shirt which was a turtle-neck, Ventrys' was V-shaped more in line with the old Federation nurses' uniform. Still, the cleavage shown was hardly titillating…except maybe to Harry Kim, Torres thought to herself.
Ventrys' lieutenant commander rank (the equivalent of her old Klingon Imperial Navy rank) was on both shoulders. The buckle on the belt both sexes wore was embossed with a stylized version of the image of the Voyager's naming plaque.
"Well your uniforms have more color, that's for sure," Torres pointed out. The Romulan contingent had gone with the old uniform style as well. The one change was both the Klingon and Romulan male uniform had boots coming up to their knees. Other than that, the old Romulan female uniform was mostly unchanged. The biggest difference was the colored part of the uniform matched Starfleet's assignment colors. So Sub-Commander Dhael's was in the command maroon. It did, however, sport the black band around the neck that the male version had. That and the length of the tunic was closer to Ventry's uniform and went down to a little above her boots instead of the original, almost mini-skirt length.
Surprisingly, it was the Romulan men's uniform which ended up going through the most changes. Instead of the colored jodhpurs, they wore similar black pants and boots like the Klingons. The tunic, like the female version, extended down past the belt to about the crotch line. The other major change was the standard hanging drape was simplified to the uniform being colored like the female uniform. In its place for those in command slots, Tahl had adopted the metallic Klingon baldric. However, instead of the silvery metal worn by Commander Worf, this version was gold. Their Starfleet rank equivalent pips were pinned to the black area around the throat. Like with Starfleet uniforms, both the Klingons and Romulans wore their comm-badge above their heart.
All in all, Torres had to admit that their uniforms were snappy. It made her feel like she was wearing less of a uniform and more of a set of pajamas. "I have to say, I'm almost tempted to ask Captain Janeway if I could wear one of these new uniforms. Although, it pains me that I sort of like the Romulan one better."
Ventrys smirked, "Amazingly I do as well but I'd never insult my ancestors by wearing one. I'm sure I have enough of my ancestors in Sto-Vo-Kor angry enough with the Starfleet adaptations as it is."
"At least you're not a half-breed like me," Torres said with a scowl. "Still, I've racked up enough kills to think that at least on the warrior front, I've done my Klingon ancestry proud."
The doors to Astrometrics opened and the pair walked in to find Seven of Nine talking with Treana, the green-skinned Orion. Captain Janeway was over to one side, speaking with Tuvok, Centurion Helev and some of the physical sciences sergeants.
"I'm surprised Captain Janeway hasn't promoted someone to take over the sciences," Ventrys remarked. "Lieutenant Mohindra seems competent."
Torres shook her head, "We just don't have the people left in sciences to afford to move someone into that sort of command role. Captain Janeway sort of acts as in that capacity. She is from the science command branch after all. Now, I think she's waiting to link up with the Equinox to see who they have onboard."
"I just find it odd that a vessel such as Voyager is lacking in so many sciences billets," Ventrys said.
"That's mostly the Maquis fault. Voyager was still being worked on at Utopia Planitia when the call came to head out to the Badlands after Chakotay's group in the Val Jean. As Tom would say, the paint wasn't even dry on the ship. In fact, a lot of those first few months was doing all the things one would do during a regular shake-down cruise. It's been wild given our recent decontamination was probably the closest Voyager has been to a shipyard since it launched," Torres explained. "Anyway, while most of the main crew was on-board, Voyager left without the main science crews or even a marine contingent like was planned. With all the deaths since then, we've been sort of looting the science sections ever since. That's why Commander Braga isn't running the Science departments like he should be. He's our Beta Shift leader which is a little more important. In fact, your Klingon rank makes you the highest-ranking science officer on the ship below Janeway and Braga."
Ventrys looked pained, "As much as that would be an honor, I'm badly out of date scientifically. Also, it saddens me that a pleasure slave like Treana did more scientifically than I did as a drone. During my time in the Borg, I was barely above a semi-intelligent wrench. The Borg makes little sense to me. Seven talks about efficiency all the time but my job as a drone could have easily been automated. I think that for all their talk of perfection and efficiency, most of the drones really don't have much of a purpose. I know I could have dropped dead and the Cube I was on would have run just fine. So I'd be a poor choice as a lead science officer."
"Don't sell yourself short, Ventrys. Technical knowledge can be easily learned. The desire to seek and explore isn't as easy to find," a voice behind them said.
Both turned to find Harry Potter smiling at them, "Wow! You look great Ventrys! Really rocking those boots!"
Torres laughed softly at the look on Ventrys' face. It was obvious she was torn between taking the compliment or irritated at being teased about it. "We Klingons are warriors who use all the weapons at hand. If you are distracted by my bust line or legs, all the better for me to gut you like the pig you are!" Ventrys snarled even as her eyes twinkled.
Harry smiled and with barely a flick of his wrists, two blades were suddenly in hand, "I'm ready any time you are, Ventrys!"
"Stop doing that! You keep making me remember I'm still behind on my mother's old exercises," Torres said sourly.
Ventrys clapped a hand onto Torres' shoulder, "We should train together. It's been too long since I crossed blades with anyone. It'll be fun!"
"I wasn't kidding Ventrys. You do look great. I'm glad to see most of you are fitting in. I'm hoping once we can wean Dhael and Trina off their regeneration beds like we did Decius, we'll be golden," Harry said as he looked around the new Astrometrics lab. His knives disappearing to wherever he kept them hidden.
"Having a purpose of one's own helps, Harry," Ventrys said. "In fact, Captain Janeway gave me an interesting viewpoint regarding the life of a scientist."
"Oh?" Harry asked.
"Yes. When she and I were having our initial interview, I mentioned that I always felt that the Klingon Empire is still living off the leavings of the Old Kings. That we never have done much as a race other than maintain the Empire we took over after the Old Kings ascended. We may conquer, but we do little to add to the universe."
"Sounds about right," Torres said with a roll of her eyes.
"Captain Janeway told me of how in an Old Earth religion that the first created humans lived in a Paradise that they were subsequently thrown out of. Yet it was something else that happened there that even devout humans forgot," Ventrys explained.
"Really? What was that? I grew up around that religion. Wasn't much of a practitioner since most 'People of the Book' felt that magical people where inherently evil. Still, I'm interested to hear what the Captain said," Harry said.
"Well she said that this Old God gave a task to the first human Adam. He was to name all the things which this God had created. Captain Janeway told me how this religion, and other Earth religions, were often at odds with science. Yet right there was the injunction to go forth and explore and seek out everything in creation and give it a name. What is more scientific but finding and naming things?" Ventrys asked.
"Huh...never thought of it that way," Harry said thoughtfully.
"So what happens when we finish that task, though?" Torres asked.
"Well I guess if we have found everything to find, we're pretty much going to be like the Gods themselves. Maybe that's why so many races believe the Universe is a never-ending cycle of expansion and contraction till a new universe is brought forth," Harry said. "I mean after we've found out all there is to know, what's the point after that? Might as well hit reset and start again."
Torres laughed, "And that's pretty much how such 'gods' think. We ran into a Q who was just like you said. The Q have already gotten to that point or close to it. He wanted to die because it was the only thing, as a Q, left to do that wasn't known."
Ventrys nodded, "As a scientist and a Klingon, to me the seeking and testing is my battlefield. I fight against the unknown. It's the journey, not the end that I live for. For when I find an answer, I am left with new questions. On and on towards that final day when all is known."
Torres shrugged, "A bit too philosophical for me. All I know is to get you to that point, I'll be there to keep the warp core humming and the ship running."
Harry laughed, "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. That's a quote from the holy book from the religion Janeway was talking about. We all have a place in things. The trick is finding it."
A loud chime sounded in the room causing a flurry of activity, especially by Seven. "Captain! I'm detecting an inter-spatial rift! It may be a wormhole or something similar." A ship icon appeared on the view screen right where the anomaly was detected.
"Well it appears finding it is the order of the day!" Harry quipped.
"Wait a minute! That icon is for a Maquis raider!" Torres all but yelled.
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"I guess lightning does strike twice," Harry muttered as Voyager fell away from them in the viewscreen.
"How's that Harry," Chakotay asked next to him.
"Oh, B'Elanna was explaining to Ventrys why Voyager doesn't have the crew compliment it should. How it went chasing after you before it was ready. Well I didn't expect to be using the Phoenix so soon. Today was just about shifting it from the top of the ship to the new cradle on the bottom."
Chakotay chuckled as he adjusted the straps on his chair. Given the nature of their ship, everyone was taking precautions if something like the gravity failed. "That's sort of been how most of our missions end up. We come in to do one thing and next thing you know were doing something completely else. I've just learned to roll with it."
Harry huffed, "Still, I wish I had had more time. You all are merely passengers right now leaving me to do most of the work."
"Well if we're all just passengers, who else is helping you? You're not using Dejaren are you? I mean most of this ship was originally Seron," Chakotay asked with some alarm.
Harry shook his head. It was about the only thing he could move safely. Chakotay had to admit it was disconcerting to see various Borg-like tubules connected into Harry's flesh. Like so many other things about the wizard, Harry liked to hide things. Chakotay had been shocked to see these ports in Harry's flesh appear before he 'jacked in' as Harry called it into the Phoenix.
And the Phoenix itself was odd. Like the Wart had initially done to the Borg components Seven of Nine and her drone team had installed on Voyager, the Seron ship was similarly being assimilated. The process wasn't complete since Harry said the first order of business for him had been too slowly using Voyager's industrial replicators to replace all the Borg tech with similar, non-Borg materials.
Everyone from the Captain all the way down to Neelix and Treana had agreed to Harry's reasoning that any Borg tech was a risk. Given Harry's knowledge and magical abilities of transfiguration, the benefits of the Borg tech could be retained without actually having the tech (all filled with Borg nanotechnology) being on the ship.
That left all that Borg material, along with the Wart itself, to be kept separate. With taking the Seron ship as salvage, Harry was slowly creating a new ship out of the Wart and the Seron ship. It had been like watching a slow-motion metamorphosis. Every day the Wart was becoming the new Phoenix.
Chakotay had been even more amazed to find out one of the reasons Harry could do this was because Harry's blood was special. So far, no matter how the Borg had tried to adapt, Harry's blood resisted assimilation. Over time, Harry had adapted the very technology the Borg were trying to use against him for his own purposes. That, however, meant there had to be a bridge where Borg tech and the amalgamation of nano-tech, magic and whatever was in Harry's blood could meet safely. It was these ports sunk into his flesh in various spots around his body where this was done. Magic kept them from being seen.
"Oh I've got help from my drones. They still have a while to go before they can come out of the regeneration chambers I have them in. Regrowing all the flesh lost to assimilation takes time. That doesn't mean they can't think. They're doing most of the scut work of the ship. Frees me up to drive the ship as it were," Harry explained as the various screens changed to show that the ship was ready to go to warp.
"Buckle up back there!" Harry's voice reverberated through the ship. "The word is given for warp speed!" And with that, the view screen went from mostly dark to the scintillating view of warp speed.
"So...any idea what we're going to find?" Harry asked.
Chakotay shook his head. "I have no idea. Was that a naturally occurring wormhole or was that ship somehow artificially sent here? Either way, if that is a Maquis ship with its crew, we will get an update on what's going on in the Alpha Quadrant.
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"It's the Marianne alright," Torres said in a tight voice. The ship had obviously taken weapons fire damage. It was currently drifting with minimal power.
"I think the bare-breasted woman painted on the hull proves that," Harry pointed out.
"Maybe to you. Didn't that happen just a little before your time?" Torres asked.
Harry gave her a sour look. "The French Revolution was like 200 years before I was born. I recognize the painting because it was pretty famous, even in my time. I think I also remember it given my old Headmaster was born around the time it was painted. My friend Hermione once looked up a lot of stuff from that time. Plus, even if it was supposed to be art, for most boys it was 'Hey look! Tits!"
"It is easy to forget how atavistic you remain, Mr. Potter," Tuvok said dryly.
Harry smirked, "Oh I forgot, you future types aren't allowed to admit a good set of baps are to be admired."
"Tell that to Seven of Nine," Chell said from the back of the bridge.
"All breasts aside," Chakotay said with a roll of his eyes, "That is a Maquis ship unless this is some elaborate trap of some kind."
"Possible but doubtful, Commander," Tuvok said.
"Why not Tuvok? Seems like the perfect bait?" Harry asked.
"Because, Mr. Potter, to have the ability to bait such a trap as this would require knowledge and power of a sort which could simply be used in a brute force assault on Voyager," Tuvok explained.
"He's got you there, Mr. Wizard. Traitorous ex-spy that he is," Torres teased.
Tuvok sighed before turning to Harry, "Given the interference left over from the inter-spatial transit, do we have enough to get a safe beam over point?"
Harry nodded as a screen lit up with the schematics of the Maquis raider class lit up. An X was blinking in one of the aft compartments, "From what I can see, this area looks good. While I commend your Gryffindor bravery in beaming into the unknown, sight unseen, I've got a better idea."
The group of former Maquis turned as a compartment opened up and a spherical orb with four spider-like legs walked out. Beyond the four legs it was walking on, an additional four legs were curled up on the top of the machine.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I present GO-4! My own little recon droid. You can thank Lieutenant Paris' love of old serials for this. Reminded me of the old 'spy-eye' robots. This baby can walk anywhere even without gravity. It's pretty much a walking tricoder," Harry said proudly.
"So you're going to…" Chakotay started to say before stopping as the robot faded in the greenish haze of the transport beam.
Harry smiled, "Hey, I realize you folks are explorers and all, but man do you do it weird. I was reading your logs and found an entry about a civilization the Enterprise found that was based off 1920's Earth due to finding a book or something. Well sometimes I think you Starfleet types base your away missions on old Earth TV. You just send in all the important people into what could be certain death! Well, as I said, mad props to your Gryffindor sides but I think a more Slytherin approach is safer."
Another screen lit up with information coming in from GO-4.
"Well that takes all the fun and excitement out of it," Chakotay deadpanned.
"You say that till the alien rips off your face. It's all fun and games till the bloodletting," Harry deadpanned back.
"Oh my god!" Torres cried out. "Look Chakotay! That's Santos and Li-Paz!"
Chakotay nodded, "Harry, can we beam over there safely?"
Harry nodded, "GO-4 reads that the atmosphere is a little thin. Probably why all the life-signs are so low. From what I can see, none of them are in danger of dying and there doesn't seem to be any radiation to worry about. It looks like a 4-pad beam over is possible."
Chakotay turned toward the assembled former Maquis. "Okay, Tuvok, Torres, the Doctor and I are going to beam over first. Ensign Tabor, take Sergeant Dalby and Specialist Doyle and check out the ship. Jackson, I want you on security with them. Smithee, take the rest and be ready to deal with people we beam over who may need medical attention."
A chorus of "Yes, Commander!" rang out.
Chakotay looked at Harry, "Anything else?"
Harry shook his head, "I'm getting a better feed now from GO-4. I think whatever brought them here sort of knocked everyone out. I'm really not seeing much in the way of danger. Still, the weapons damage may mean they were in a fight and so could be a bit jumpy when woken."
Chakotay nodded, "Well they can punch through the Doc all they want. Okay people, let's get this done!"
OoOoO
"Don't you recognize her, Chakotay? That's V'LanaCharvanek the Rogue! What is she doing on this ship?" Torres asked in an excited voice.
"The Rogue?" Chakotay repeated as he peered more closely at the person in the captain's chair. If it was indeed V'Lana, things had taken an even weirder turn. The self-styled rogue was the daughter of Spock, the famous Starfleet officer turned Ambassador, and the disgraced Romulan commander Liviana Charvanek. While she had gone on to live her life in exile for her part in losing the Romulan cloaking device to the Federation, Liviana had worked with Spock over the years to help relations between the Romulan Star Empire and the Federation. Apparently, part of the price of this cooperation was a piece of Spock himself.
V'Lana made waves early when she stole a ship with the help of other children of some of the most famous members of the USS Enterprise and solved a coup meant to topple the government and put in a government more about putting Earth and other human planets first. While the rest of the rag-tag group of rogues had gone on to their own notable careers (mostly in Starfleet), V'Lana continued to live on the wild side. If there was danger, money and thrills to be had, V'Lana the Rogue was there. She even had commanded an Orion pirate ship in Kzin space for a time.
Chakotay shook his head. He himself had made overtures to the famous Rogue on behalf of the Maquis. Yet except for some gun-running, V'Lana had refused to get involved with the Maquis. Seeing her on a Maquis ship with Maquis crew made him wonder what could have changed her mind.
The only other two on the bridge were both men Chakotay recognized. Well he was certain of one, Roberto Silveira. The other was almost certainly Thomas Riker but one couldn't be certain given he was genetically identical to William Riker. Of course, the Cardassian prison togs was a good indicator it was Thomas.
Torres was shaking her head, "V'Lana! I can't believe it! Did I ever tell you that my mother named me B'Elanna because of her? Mom always said she had more balls than the entire Klingon High Council."
Tuvok came in from the aft area, "Commander, I believe I have a possible explanation of what may have occurred."
Chakotay looked at Torres then back at Tuvok, "Okay, let's hear it."
"I believe that this ship was part of a prison break. Whether at the prison itself or perhaps in some form of prisoner transfer as Meyers and Santos are wearing Federation prison outfits. With your discovery of V'Lana, I postulate that she was hired to affect this jailbreak. I further conjecture that this was done somewhere in the Alpha Quadrant near unstable space. This could hide the ship and then be used for cover. Somehow, however, they either fell into a wormhole or somehow triggered something which sent them here. Ensign Tabor reports the computer records are garbled as is the engineering data."
Harry's voice came from where GO-4 was plugged into the main computer, "Yeah, all the ship's info is a mess. I think it'll take a day or two to make sense of it. Best wake someone up and just ask them."
"So who should we wake up and who should do it?" Torres asked. They had had to send the Doctor back to the ship as residual verteron radiation was interfering with his mobile emitter.
"I believe I should be the one to wake V'Lana. Regardless of whether or not my being an agent inside the Maquis is known or not, I am a Vulcan and V'Lana would likely not act aggressively against me. If she does, I am the only one here strong enough to withstand an attack before you can stun her," Tuvok volunteered.
Chakotay gave that a moment of thought before nodding, "Make it so. B'Elanna, set your phaser to stun plus and move to the side. I'll stay here as I'm the one she's had the most contact with.
Torres nodded at Tuvok moved forward and readied a hypo-spray. However, he moved a hand up to one side of V'Lana's face. He softly began to speak, "You are safe. You must wake. Wake into peace and safety."
Tuvok slowly chanted this for a while before raising the hypo-spray towards V'Lana's neck. However she suddenly reached up and grabbed Tuvok's hand as her eye's opened and she gasped out a shuddering breath.
"Peace, V'Lana! Peace! You are safe," Tuvok said softly but firmly even as it was obvious to Chakotay and Torres that she was putting a lot of pressure onto his wrist. Finally Tuvok's words penetrated enough for her to get her breathing under control and to release Tuvok's wrist. Tuvok slowly got up and gave her space.
The three watched as the woman got control of herself. "Water?" she finally asked.
Torres stowed her phaser and gave her a drinking tube, "This has got an energy booster in it. It should help."
"Thank you," the woman said. Chakotay felt she hadn't really taken in her surroundings yet. This was confirmed when after the half-Romulan, quarter-Vulcan/quarter-Human finished taking a long pull on the water before looking up. Her eyes went wide in surprise.
"Chakotay, you look pretty good for a dead guy," V'Lana finally said. "Although you're one of the last people I expected to see in a Starfleet uniform."
"V'Lana, I know you have a lot of questions but right now that can wait. What happened to your ship? How did you get here?" Chakotay asked.
The woman looked out the main view-screen, "Depends on where here is? We're obviously not anywhere near where we were given the nebula is gone."
"Again, V'Lana, that can wait; it's a long story. What are you doing on a Maquis ship? You told me it would be a cold day in the seven Andorian hells before you joined the Maquis. Tuvok thinks you were hired for a prison break. Is this true?" Chakotay asked.
"Tuvok, huh? Another dead guy," V'Lana said as she began to massage her head. "Okay, yeah I was hired to get the last of the Maquis away from the Dominion."
"What do you mean the last of the Maquis?" Torres said dangerously.
V'Lana swiveled her chair to face the trio, "Oh hey, B'Elanna. So you're not dead either. As to the last of the Maquis…well except for who you see here and those who got themselves captured previously by the Feddies, the rest are dead or hiding out to keep from being killed. Sadly, from what I've seen, it's mostly the former."
Before a murderous looking Torres could reply, Chakotay cut in, "Sadly V'Lana, we've been out of touch for the last three years. We'd only heard rumors about the Dominion being a major empire in the Gamma Quadrant and that was about it. Why would the Dominion be holding Maquis prisoners?"
V'Lana laughed which turned into a bout of coughing. She drank the last dregs of water before continuing, "Well the Dominion weren't holding them exactly. You see the Doms like to collect races into their Empire and the Cardassians were the first Alpha Quadrant race sucked in. Oh we've been having a fine bit of interstellar war while you've been away. Lots of atrocities, death, civilian displacement and planets ruined. The Maquis were a blip in all this. Your little group of freedom fighters went from being a threat to less than an annoyance. The bulk of the Maquis lasted barely a month when the Dominion's Jem'Hadar fighters started augmenting Cardassian forces."
"No!" Torres said in a tight whisper.
V'Lana went on as if Torres hadn't spoken as she gestured to Silveira, "With your movement crushed, old Roberto here felt what was the use in holding on to the last of the Maquis budget? So he hired me to grab the last Maquis before they disappeared into labor mines. I nabbed the first from a Federation prison transport and got the rest here from a Cardassian ship bound for some new Dominion run prison. Unfortunately instead of Cardassian reinforcements, I got tagged by Jem'Hadar instead. Those damn Alphas of theirs are so fanatical, they're too stupid not to know you don't shoot in a class X nebula. Last thing I remember was an explosion, a massive rise in verteron particles and then another explosion and then waking up here."
V'Lana paused before looking suspicious, "Where is here anyway?"
Chakotay sighed, "I hope you didn't have a pressing engagement after this prison break mission."
V'Lana sighed, "Let me guess...we went through a wormhole, didn't we?"
"All the way to the Delta Quadrant," Chakotay said. "But as bad as that sounds, you managed to show up right between the only two known Alpha Quadrant ships out here. If you'd shown up a few months ago, we'd still have been 9.5 thousand light years away."
One of V'Lana's eyebrows went up in surprise, "Either you have an amazing story to tell or I'm hallucinating right before slipping into death as the ship's environmental system fails around me.
Chakotay chuckled, "No, you're awake. Trust me, if I hadn't lived through the last three years, I wouldn't believe it myself."
V'Lana got up slowly, "You're all wearing Starfleet uniforms. What gives?"
"Well it turns out Tuvok here was a Starfleet agent all along, but my ship was destroyed escaping the station we were taken to from the Alpha Quadrant. Since then, we've all been serving on Voyager," Chakotay explained.
V'Lana was silent for a moment before she shook her head, "Well at least my passengers will have people they know. Me? The only people I know who were lost with Voyager is Captain Janeway and your See-Moe Lance McGarry."
"I regret to inform you that Commander McGarry was killed in the event which transported us here to the Delta Quadrant," Tuvok explained.
"We lost a lot of people and Voyager was undermanned when it went after me in the Badlands. I can say that you and everyone here will be welcomed with open arms," Chakotay said.
V'Lana scowled, "I hope you don't expect me to go all Starfleet. That's just not my style."
Suddenly Harry Potter blinked into existence with a small pop of air displacement, "Oh I wouldn't worry about that as much. The crew is starting to get more interesting as the days go by."
"What the hell, Harry!" Torres exclaimed. "What did you do to the transporters?"
Harry smirked, "Oh I didn't use the transporter. I just used apparition. Most witches and wizards worth their salt mastered it by the time they graduated."
V'Lana's eyebrow rose drastically again, "Witches and wizards?"
Tuvok sighed, "As odd as it sounds, yes. Mr. Potter is a bona fide wizard. The last of his kind. He spent the last 200 years or so hiding out from the Borg on one of their cubes."
"And I got off Earth right before everyone got nuke happy!" Harry said with a slight bow.
"You'll like him, "V'Lana," Chakotay said with a sigh, "I'd wager he's better with knives than you are."
"Not possible," V'Lana scoffed.
"Well I was nicknamed the Reaper for a reason," Harry said as he pretended to brush lint off is tunic.
V'Lana's eyes narrowed before she turned to Tuvok. "Okay I'm really starting to think I'm dying from hypoxia and hypothermia as environmental controls fail."
Tuvok sighed, "I can assure you that we are telling you the truth. If anything, we have learned the Delta Quadrant is awash with the fantastical and coincidental. For example, we ended up being part of a civil war in the Q Continuum itself. It manifested to our frame of reference in the manner of a civil war back in 19th century Earth."
"You should have seen when we found Amelia Earhart!" Torres quipped.
"Or being trapped in the middle of a war by the Borg and a predatory race from Fluidic Space," Chakotay said grimly.
"I like the logs entry on when you had those giant macro-viruses flying around your ship," Harry said with a grin, "Oh! Or how you ended up in the 20th Century that one time."
V'Lana scoffed, "Okay that last one isn't a big deal. My father ended up in the 20th Century three different times!"
The room fell silent. Finally Tuvok spoke, "I realize that this levity is probably a coping mechanism for what we have just learned. I must ask, Commander, without a ship's counselor to ease us into it, how do you intend to break the news? Neither the Federation nor the Maquis crews will be happy with this news."
Chakotay sighed, "You're right Tuvok. Still, we can't do anything about it out here in the Delta Quadrant." He turned to V'Lana. "Likewise, you're now at least 60 years or so from home. That's what we've got projected ahead of us."
V'Lana was silent for a moment before shrugging, "Well I've lived this long already, another 60 years will be easy. Besides, it's sounding like it's never a dull moment out here."
Tuvok made a face, "Sadly, dull is something we've yet to encounter. Your reputation for adventure will serve you well out here."
Chakotay nodded, "Let's get everyone beamed over to the Phoenix so the Doctor can check them out. I'll inform the Captain of what we've found."
"I've already got the Phoenix ready to tractor the Marianne back to Voyager. From what GO-4 has found and the info coming in from Tabor's team, this ship needs to work before its warp core can be restarted," Harry said.
Chakotay shook his head, "We might as well have Voyager come to us. It'll be faster. Plus, it will give us time to find out more about what's been going on in the Alpha Quadrant." He turned to V'Lana. "How bad is it?"
"Bad but not 'Oh no! The Federation!' bad," V'Lana said with a throwaway gesture. "Now if the Romulans come in against the Feddies and Klingons…well then it could get sticky really fast. Still, all my contacts say the Romulans seem to think it best to let the Klingons and Federation beat back the Dominion and then expand their territory when the war ends. I know that's what my mother believes. Luckily for the Alliance, the Gorns can read the signs as well and are aggressively probing Romulan space. So while it's pretty hairy back home, the core worlds aren't in any danger yet. It helps the Bajoran wormhole got closed for a bit."
"Well then, at least, we will not be the bearer of only bad news," Tuvok pointed out.
Chakotay nodded, "After what we've been through, I'm not sure. Hard enough to worry about getting home without worrying if your home will be there when we get there."
XxXxX
AUTHOR'S NOTES
While Harry said it as Gee Oh Four, the name is obviously a pun on go-four = gopher. Although many reviewers felt it could stand for 'go forth' which is also appropriate. And V'Lana is referring to LCDR Lance McGarry's title as Chief Medical Officer or CMO (See-Moe)