Caretaker

[Stofsk]

Hmm, I regret bringing it up now because I didn't think it was a major issue. If you feel it needs to be dealt with then it might be easier to reduce Tuvok's rank to Lieutenant. He didn't become a Lieutenant Commander until the fourth season of the show anyway, so this is both an easy fix and more in line with the original show.

Alternatively, have Janeway retain the Lieutenant Commander rank she had in your first draft. Either way could work. That said, I did think when I read it that rank be damned, he wasn't in the chain of command or a member of the crew, and you already established that the computer considered Janeway the legal commander of Voyager.

[White Haven]

I actually really like LTC Tuvok outside the chain of command as a source of future tension. It sets up a juicy future plotline for a dissatisfied group (which may or may not include Tuvok) trying to use him to supplant Janeway, among other interesting possibilities. Maybe even have an arc where Tuvok ends up in charge via whatever means and Bad Shit goes down due to him not really being a command officer. Of course, neither is Janeway...

Bunch of interesting possibilities branch out from the Tuvok thing.

[RedImperator]

WORDS HAVE CONSEQUENCES, STOFSK.

I'm torn between just doing a find/replace and calling it a day, and addressing it in a way that doesn't have much impact on this story but suggests fun possibilities for later ones.

[White Haven]

Yeah, either way it's not going to be relevant to Caretaker, simply because not even Starfleet is dumb enough to have a succession battle in the middle of a catastrophic crisis situation.

[Stofsk]

WORDS HAVE CONSEQUENCES, STOFSK.

[RedImperator]

PART IIIa

Voyager

"Mr. Gombe, can you identify the ship types?" said Janeway.

"Fourteen are identical in configuration to Predator. One appears to be Predator itself. The last is substantially larger, and appears to be some kind of surveillance or electronic warfare ship."

"They're looking for us," said Janeway. "Janeway to engineering: what's the status of our defensive systems?"

"Not good," said Carey. "I can get you thirty percent shields and phasers. Photon torpedoes are ready."

"We could hold them at bay with photon torpedoes," said Gombe. "Three full-yield shots should be enough to disable one battleship."

"What's our loadout?" said Janeway.

Gombe grimaced. "Thirty, captain."

"What will phasers do to their armor at 33%?"

"Ruin the paint," said Gombe.

"And the engines don't work," said Janeway. We can't fight, and we can't run. She looked up at the viewscreen. Planet Hell, the ugly yellow ball, was floating serenely, silent and abandoned, as it had been for ten millennia.

"Engineering, this is Janeway. How long could our shields hold up in the planet's atmosphere?"

"What altitude?

"Zero, Mr. Carey."

#

Main Engineering

Has she gone crazy? thought Carey. "Twelve hours, but that's not the biggest problem. The heat dissipation system is down, so we can't dump our waste heat into subspace, and the backup system won't be able to dump it into the environment. Even if the shields could block out every bit of heat from the air and ground--and they can't--we'll be roasting in half that time. And if the shields fail, even for an instant, we'll get crushed like a bug."

"What about the structural integrity field?"

"The SIF could hold up against the pressure if the outer hull was intact, but it isn't," said Carey. "And there's no internal bulkhead or forcefield designed to withstand 90 atmospheres."

"How fast can you get the warp drive online?"

"Six hours, minimum," said Carey.

"Then we have no choice. Prepare the ship for landing. Do whatever you have to do to reinforce the shields and ensure they stay up no matter what. You have five minutes."

"Five minutes!" said Carey. "Captain, you have no idea--"

"Five minutes, then we're taking this ship into the atmosphere whether you're ready or not! Janeway out."

Rodriguez stared at Carey. "What?" snapped Carey.

"What are you going to do?" said Rodriguez.

"What do you think I'm going to do? Reroute all available power to the shield generators, and put every backup generator and battery we have on standby. Start shutting down every extraneous system; we need to save every joule of waste heat we can."

"Yes sir," said Rodriguez. Beat. "She's going to get us all killed," he said.

"Not if I have anything to say about it," said Carey.

#

"Captain, I'm detecting a subspace particle beam coming from a point source in the Kuiper belt," said Ensign Wildman, working at the bridge's makeshift Science station. "It looks like some kind of crude subspace sensor."

"That e-war ship," said Janeway. "It has to be from there. We need to take it out."

"It's guarded by fifteen Kazon battleships," said Gombe. "And we can't reach it."

"We can't, but the aeroshuttle can," said Janeway. She stood up. "Mr. Gombe, get a pilot, an engineer, a transporter operator, and as many antimatter bottles as you can carry. Get down to the aeroshuttle, start prepping it for launch. Mr Kim, blue alert. We're landing in Hell."

#

Voyager descended into Planet Hell's atmosphere. They were already through the sulfuric acid clouds and could see, through heat shimmers, the ruined surface.

"We only have ten more minutes of cruising before we have to either land or return to space," warned Carey.

"Mr. Gombe, are you ready?" said Janeway.

"Yes ma'am. Aeroshuttle ready for launch in two minutes."

"Mr. Gombe, does the shuttle have a name?" said Janeway suddenly. She'd heard sending a ship without a name into battle was bad luck. She'd never believed it, but now she needed all the luck she could get.

"No ma'am."

Janeway thrummed her fingers on her armrest. "How does Earhart sound?" said Janeway.

"I like it," said Gombe.

"We'll give her a proper christening when you get back," said Janeway. She stood up and, fighting the bucking of the ship as it pushed through the thick air, walked to Wildman's science station.

"We need to find a landing spot now," she said.

"I've got one," said Wildman. "Thirty kilometers north-northeast, there's an old submarine canyon. It's deep enough the Kazons would have to be almost directly overhead to see us, and it's less than a hundred kilometers from one of those towers. Hopefully our magnetic signature will be lost in the background."

"It's the best chance we've got," said Janeway. "Helm, take us down."

"Bridge, this is Earhart. Pre-launch sequence complete; we are ready for launch."

"Release the docking clamps," said Janeway. "Earhart, don't ignite your warp core until you've cleared the atmosphere. We don't want to give the Kazons any clue we're down here."

"Yes ma'am," said Gombe.

"Good luck and good hunting, Earhart," said Janeway.

#
Kazon battleship Wrath

"Nothing," said Jabin, reading the display. "No sign of Voyager on subspace sensors. If they're here, their warp core is offline."

"What of Val Jean?" said Razik. Wrath was his flagship, and he maintained a throne on its bridge.

"It's in an eccentric orbit of the star, six AUs out and well above the plane of the ecliptic."

"Is Voyager still on visual sensors?"

"Yes. Right in the same place Predator found them. But those images are five hours old. If they restarted their warp drive, they could be anywhere by now."

"None of our observation stations have detected Voyager," said Razik.

"I think we should consider the possibility our observation stations couldn't detect Voyager," said Jabin.

"Perhaps," said Razik.

"We can send the scouts sunward into Voyager's light cone. We can at least find out if they're still here."

"No. Not yet. If Voyager is still here, it'll see them coming before they see it. There's safety in numbers for us."

"I obey, First Maje," said Jabin. And then: "I have heard the Halkonnians have subspace sensors which can detect realspace mass, not just warp fields. It would be nice to have those."

"Why steal Halkonnian junk when we can steal from the Federation?" said Razik.

"Voyager will fight to the death," said Jabin. "They'll leave nothing of themselves to steal except scrap and ashes."

"Only if we are careless," said Razik.

What the fuck does that mean? thought Jabin. He looked the First Maje over when Razik's attention was diverted. He was starting to suspect Razik's motives for personally commanding the revenge fleet were about more than just honor.

"We can't afford to go easy on Voyager out of greed," said Jabin.

"And we shouldn't waste an opportunity out of spite," said Razik. His tone had gone cold. Jabin changed the subject.

"What should we do about Val Jean?" said Jabin. "They're undoubtedly observing us on behalf of Voyager."

"We'll never catch them with a battleship," said Razik. "And they outgun our scouts. Leave them alone for now. When we locate Voyager, Val Jean will be forced to assist, and then we'll engage them both on our terms."

#
Earhart

Lieutenant Obayana Gombe glanced at the crate full of antimatter bottles and tried to make the sour feeling in the pit of his stomach go away.

"We've cleared the atmosphere, sir," said Ensign Baytart, Voyager's senior surviving helmsman, now part of Earhart's five-man crew.

Gombe toggled the communicator. "We're ready, captain," he said.

"Good," said Janeway. "Is the relay link operating?" Her image and voice was staticky, with weird pops and whistles in the background.

"The link is working, but your signal is coming in poorly," said Gombe.

"There's an electrical storm nearby causing interference," said Janeway. "Welcome to the wonderful world of radio. Unfortunately, we can't risk a subspace transmission. Make sure you keep close to us. If you wander too far, lightspeed lag will start causing problems, too."

"Understood, Captain," said Gombe, after relaying Janeway's last order to Baytart. "Everything is ready here."

"Well," said Janeway. "No time like the present. Hail the Kazon."

#
Wrath

"Lord Razik, we are being hailed," said Wrath's communications operator. He turned to look at the First Maje directly. "It is Janeway."

"Well by all means," said Razik, "greet her."

"The signal is audio and visual," said the operator. "The video format is new to me, but...it looks like it has its own decoding instructions built into signal." The operator, who had to be a certified electrical engineer to serve on the First Maje's ship, was plainly impressed. "Stand by."

"These Federations are very clever, aren't they, Maje Jabin?" said Razik.

"Too clever by half," said Jabin.

A picture appeared on the central viewscreen, of a blue starfield encircled by two branches of some sort. "I have the signal, Lord Razik," said the comms operator.

The stars-and-branches card disappeared, replaced by an ashen-skinned Kazonoid sitting in what looked like a starship's control room. His--her?--forehead was smooth and his hair seemed to be composed of straight strands wrapped tightly about his head. He wore a simple blue tunic with a gold badge and small metallic pips on his collar.

The alien bared its teeth. "I am Lieutenant Kathryn Janeway of the Federation starship Voyager. With whom do I have the pleasure of conversing?"

Female, then, thought Jabin. He could barely contain his revulsion. The alien looked like a giant, talking Kazon fetus. Other aliens in the background shared the same appearance, with minor differences. Maybe Janeway is an albino, he thought, noticing a dark skinned alien sitting beside her, though that one had pointed ears, so maybe it was a different species or subspecies. He looked away; the smooth foreheads were making his skin crawl.

"I am Jal Razik, First Maje of the Kazon Ogla. It is my distinct pleasure to welcome you to the Ocampa system."

"I believe Jal Jabin already formally welcomed us to Kazon space," said Janeway.

"Oh dear, yes," said Razik. "You have caused me quite a bit of trouble, Captain Janeway."

Janeway's signal was poor. Hisses, pops, and whines contaminated the audio, and occasionally the colors of the image would invert or the picture would 'ghost'. Jabin quietly slipped over the comms operator.

"Can't you clean that up?" he said.

"I'm trying," said the operator. "It's coming from their end, though."

Jabin scowled. "What's the signal source?"

"It's coming from the planet. Orbiting at low altitude."

"Voyager?"

"I can't tell, Maje Jabin."

"Are you sure this is a subspace signal? This looks like radio interference."

"Absolutely, Maje Jabin."

Janeway was speaking. "Maje Jabin caused me trouble first. However, I'm willing to set aside the whole incident as a...misunderstanding."

"A misunderstanding?" hissed Jabin. "She killed--"

Razik gestured for him to keep quiet. Jabin did.

"In fact," said Janeway, "I'm even willing to compensate you for the damage to Maje Jabin's ship."

"Oh?" said Razik. Most Kazon, let alone most aliens, wouldn't have been able to read more than mild interest in Razik's voice, but Jabin, who'd known the First Maje since they were shitting their diapers, heard the surprise and excitement. Greedy fat fuck, thought Jabin, resigned. He's going to let Janeway buy her way out of her punishment. He knew it was going to end like this. He'd be lucky to see a farthing of whatever Janeway paid--Razik was going to stick him with a wrecked ship and no chance to restore his honor.

"In our part of space, several civilizations once issued currency backed by antimatter," said Janeway. "Does that sound familiar to you?"

Now Razik couldn't hide his excitement from anyone. "As a matter of fact, the Chalcernodonian crown is backed by antimatter. How ever did you know?"

"A lucky guess," said Janeway.

Neelix! thought Jabin. He checked the sensor readout. Sure enough, his warp field was active, in the L5 junk field. Picking fleas out of his ass, sorting through garbage, and humming show tunes, totally oblivious to the Kazon fleet in the system. "I'll take care of you, too," muttered Jabin.

"A lucky guess indeed," said Razik.

"I'm willing to offer the Kazon-Ogla five kilograms of anti-deuterium as payment for the damage inflicted to your ship."

Razik's entire face shined with avarice. Even Jabin was given pause. Five kilos, an absolute fortune....

"There are two conditions," said Janeway.

"Name them," said Razik.

"First, you withdraw your fleet from this system until we leave. Second, we know you've been in contact with the Caretaker in the past. We want to know every detail of that contact. Every word."

"I can send you all our files on the Caretaker right away. But leaving the system...for that, we might need something more," said Razik.

"Such as?" said Janeway.

"Such as the secret of your teleporting bombs. Or subspace sensors small enough to fit on a starship."

"I'm afraid I can't offer that," said Janeway. "The laws of my people forbid exchanging our technology."

"How unfortunate," said Razik.

"I can offer you more antimatter," said Janeway.

"How much more?"

"Another five kilos," said Janeway. "Five now, and another five we'll leave behind when we leave. You can leave one or two ships to monitor us, but not the entire fleet."

"How will you deliver the first five kilos?"

"As you have probably seen, we're out of the system. I hope you understand that after the arrival of fifteen of your battleships, we thought it might be...prudent if we left."

"An understandable precaution," said Razik.

"However, the starship USS Earhart can ferry the antimatter to you."

Several officers in the control room looked around in confusion, but Razik kept his cool. "That would be acceptable," said Razik. "Perhaps we could meet at the fifth planet?"

"We can meet you in the Kuiper belt," said Janeway.

Jabin was only half-listening to the conversation. He was looking for patterns in the static. He eased over to the comms operator again. "Have you seen interference like that before? Solar flares, perhaps?"

"I don't think it's being caused by solar interference," he said. "Look at these static spikes. That looks like nearby lightning strikes."

"An electrical storm?" said Jabin.

"That would be my guess."

"They're in a planetary atmosphere," said Jabin. "Could they...Ocampa?"

"I don't know, Maje Jabin. The pressure on the surface...but I'm no mechanical engineer. And who knows what these aliens can do?"

"Can you tell if it's a gas giant storm or a terrestrial storm?"

"Perhaps. Give me some time to analyze it."

"Quick as you can," said Jabin.

"There's no need for you to come all the way to the Kuiper belt," said Razik.

"We would hate to trouble you," said Janeway.

"It's no trouble at all," said Razik.

"I insist," said Janeway.

Razik leaned back and chuckled. "As you wish, Janeway. We eagerly await Earhart's arrival."

"I will dispatch them immediately," said Janeway.

"I will give them our files on the Caretaker as soon as they arrive," said Razik.

"Excellent," said Janeway. "If we have no further business...?"

"None whatsoever."

"We'll be in contact. Janeway out." The screen went blank.

"That woman must think I’m an imbecile," said Razik.

"What are we doing, First Maje?" said Jabin.

"They're hiding somewhere in this solar system," said Razik. "I trust you are working on that problem already?"

"Yes, First Maje."

"Good. Do you think you can discover where they're hiding without using scouts?"

Jabin looked to the comms operator. The operator indicated he could. "Yes, Maje Razik," said Jabin.

"Good. Move the scouts between the orbits of the fifth and sixth planets, but hold them there. No need to spook Janeway if she's still here."

"She got help from Neelix. She couldn't have just guessed we use antimatter for money."

"Hmm," said Razik. "It looks to me like he's current on his salvage lease."

"Perhaps," said Jabin, "he's overdue for a health and safety inspection."

Razik chuckled. "As you wish, Maje Jabin. You may dispatch three scouts to pay Mr. Neelix...a safety inspection."

"Thank you, Maje Razik," said Jabin.

"Now, we'll wait here for Janeway's generous 'gift' to arrive. I was unaware they had a third starship in the system," he said, shooting Jabin a troubled glance, "so we will take care of it first. By then, we should know where Voyager is. After we take care of Earhart, we'll flush out Voyager and take care of them, too. And then, Maj Jabin, we will have a settle accounts with the Caretaker. I trust Predator is ready?"

"It is, my lord," said Jabin. "What about their teleporting bombs?"

"Randomly vary the power-up and firing timing on your coilguns," said Razik. "The trick depends on them predicting openings in our shields ahead of time."

"You're betting they can't teleport through shields," said Jabin.

"If they can teleport through shields, we have no chance against them no matter how many ships we bring," said Razik.

"That fact would seem to warrant caution, my lord," said Jabin.

"Ah, but Maje Jabin," said Razik, "If they could teleport through our shields, why would they be hiding?"

Jabin considered that. When he realized he had no good answer, he smiled.

"My lord," said the sensor operator, "the Spyglass is detecting a new warp field in-system, near Ocampa. Configuration unfamiliar, but similar to Val Jean. It's coming this way at ten times c."

"Half an hour, then," said Razik. "Excellent. All ships, prepare for battle."

#

Voyager

The connection with the Kazon went dead.

"We're ready, captain," said Gombe.

"Go. Your orders are to try to get their information about the Caretaker, but if things fall apart, blow up the Spyglass and get out of there."

"Understood, ma'am," said Gombe. "Earhart out."

The connection with Earheart broke. There was silence on the bridge. Most of the lights were out to save heat.

"Mister Kim, exterior camera view, please."

The main viewscreen, which had been blank, flashed on. Voyager was sitting on a flat canyon bottom. Janeway could just make out the trench walls in the murky distance, hidden by heat shimmers and dust suspended in the impossibly thick, impossibly orange air.

"We're getting fantastic data, Captain," said Wildman. "The seismic readings alone...this isn't like any class N planet I've ever seen, ma'am."

Janeway wished she could be excited. Now the only thing she heard was "seismic". "Is there any danger to us from seismic activity?"

"Not from earthquakes," she said. "We're far enough from the canyon walls we're in no danger from rockslides. It looks like all the loose material has fallen already. The sediment we're resting on is dry and compact; it won't liquefy."

"What about volcanic activity?"

"We're five thousand kilometers from the mid-ocean ridge. That's where most of the active volcanoes on this planet are. The subduction zone we're in doesn't seem to have any active volcanoes associated with it...which is damn weird. Pardon me, ma'am. Plate tectonics must have frozen already, which is unheard of on class N which tipped over from M so recently."

"If tectonics have frozen, why are we getting seismic readings at all?"

"The crust is frozen, but the mantle is very hot and active. If the star didn't show every sign of being a middle-aged G3V, I would assume this was a much younger planet. And...Captain, without better two more seismometers, I can't tell for sure, but there appears to be a very hot mantle plume directly beneath that tower a hundred klicks from here."

"Did they build the tower in a caldera volcano?"

Wildman shook her head. "The topographic data doesn't look like it. The tower is standing in a river delta, so maybe river sediment buried all of it, but we have good radar data all the way down to the bedrock, and there's no sign of previous eruptions. In fact, there's no evidence of mantle plume volcanism anywhere near here."

"Must be a new plume," said Janeway.

"It would be an odd coincidence if it were," said Wildman.

"Not if the tower builders wanted to take advantage of geothermal power."

"Captain, the mantle nearby is…fractured. It suggests the plume is rising extraordinarily fast; I've never seen anything like it."

Janeway's head hurt. "Just keep working on it," she said. "Are we in any danger of an eruption?"

Wildman shook her head. "I don't think so, ma'am."

"Good. Just keep gathering data. We can analyze it when we get home."

"Yes, ma'am," said Wildman. She sounded faintly hurt. Janeway's stomach churned. Too much coffee.

Janeway squeezed her eyes closed, trying to focus through the discomfort and exhaustion. Half an hour until Earhart reached the Kazons.

#

Earhart

"Approaching Kazon battlefleet," said Baytart.

"Drop warp," said Gombe. "Load the transporter. Keep the shields up until I say to drop them. Phasers on standby."

Earhart dropped to sublight speed sixty thousand kilometers from the Kazon battlegroup. "Their shields are up," said Gombe. "They're on their guard." He instructed the computer to highlight the ewar ship on the main viewscreen. Then he took a deep breath and hailed Jal Razik.

#

Wrath

"We are being hailed by Earhart," said the comms operator.

"Show me the ship," said Razik.

Earhart appeared on the main viewscreen. It was about the same size as a scout, with external warp nacelles mounted on wings.

"Not very intimidating, is it?" said Razik. "Answer their hails."

"They say they're ready to download information about the Caretaker."

"Tell them we don't have the subspace bandwidth to send it quickly," said Razik. "We will have to use a comms laser. Make sure they maintain a constant velocity and heading."

"They have agreed," said the operator.

"It's only a few quads," said Jabin. "They'll see through this."

"Then send them whatever," said Razik. "Payroll reports, sports highlights, pornography, anything. Just keep feeding them garbage until we get a firing solution."

"Yes, Maje Razik," said Jabin.

#

Earhart

"Here it comes," said the engineer. "It looks like it's encrypted, but the computer is cracking it. Standby."

Gombe gripped the sides of his chair. "Ensign Baytart, be ready to warp. Don't even wait for my command. As soon as they start powering their guns, we go to maximum warp. Get us as close to that ewar ship as you can."

"Got it!" said the engineer. "Looks like there are actual reports about their encounters with the Caretaker here. Video too, standby, generating a codec."

"Show it to me," said Gombe.

An inset appeared in the main viewscreen. A naked Kazon was being fellated by another naked Kazon.

"What a bunch of assholes," said Gombe. The computer sounded an alarm; they had just been pinged by a tracking radar.

"Power up sequence!" said Baytart. "Going to warp!"

#

Voyager

Janeway was shaken awake in her chair by Ensign Kim.

"Earhart has engaged the Kazon," he said.

A feeble squirt of adrenaline hit Janeway's brain. It woke her up, but it wouldn't last long. "On screen," she said.

#

"We have a firing solution on Earhart," said Jabin.

"Fire at will!" said Razik.

Wrath shook with the power of a full alpha strike--massive overkill for a tiny scout. Every other ship in the fleet fired, too, creating a cone of death a hundred kilometers across, with Earhart right in the middle.

What happened next was so fast not even the computers could keep up.

The subspace sensors detected a massive warp spike from Earhart and saw the ship warping faster than light to a position less than a hundred meters from the Spyglass. But the radar, infrared, and visible light sensors which controlled the guns saw two Earharts. The confusion lasted less than a tenth of a second, but it was long enough to delay the guns' reaction. Jabin had just noticed something was wrong when Earhart fired on the Spyglass.

#

Earhart's phasers ripped at the ewar ship's shields. Up close, it looked like a collection of radar dishes glued to a cylinder a third of a kilometer long. The shields, which had been designed by the Kazon to block kinetic weapons and lasers, flickered under particle beam bombardment. Sparks flew from the sensor dishes and the ship's hull.

"Our phasers are getting partial burnthrough," said the chief engineer.

"Mr. Baytart, keep us moving, full impulse. Stay as close to the ewar ship as you can." The ewar ship is unarmed, thought Gombe. No transporter bombs here unless we can knock a hole in the shield.

Baytart took these contradictory commands and pulled a maneuver that made the inertial dampers wail in agony. Gombe was thrown around in his seat.

"Hull stresses exceeding safety margins!" shouted the engineer.

"Keep moving!" said Gombe. He keyed the phaser firing buttons and kept blasting the ewar ship. "Bring us across their bow. That's where the subspace array is."

#

"They're firing some kind of particle beam weapon at the Spyglass," said Jabin. "The shields are only partially containing it. They're doing terrific damage to the sensor arrays."

"The sublight sensors don't matter," said Razik. "Just keep them off the subspace array. All nearby ships, fire your point defense into this area," he said, his fingers dancing across a touch screen as he spoke. "Don't worry about the Spyglass; PD rounds won't penetrate its shields."

#

Earhart whipped across the bow of the ewar ship, right into a cloud of bullets. The shuttle's shields flickered continuously, rapidly eroding away. The phasers flashed uselessly against the Spyglass's reinforced forward shields.

"Warp out!" said Gombe. The warp drive roared for less than a second, and they were ten thousand kilometers away from the fleet.

"Microtorpedoes ready," said Gombe. "Targeting the ewar ship."

"Warping back," said Baytart.

The warp engine lit up again. Earhart fired its entire magazine of grenade-sized antimatter missiles in one burst. The missiles struck the bow of the Spyglass just as Earhart came to rest at the stern. Baytart hit the impulse throttle and Earhart skimmed over the ewar's ship dorsal side, raking it with phaser fire. They passed the bow, where the shields were still fizzing and glowing, enough to block transporters but not much else. Earhart gave the ship a solid phaser shot in the face. They penetrated, splitting one of the detector's hexagonal cells before the shields recovered. More point defense bullets chewed away at Earhart. They warped off again, this time to three full light seconds away.

"Earhart to Voyager," said Gombe.

"This is Janeway."

"Captain, the subspace array is protected by heavy shields. We managed to knock them down momentarily and damage one cell, but we can't penetrate them again with what we have left. What are your orders?"

"We're not going to get another opportunity like this", she said. "Warp back to transporter range, try to goad the battleships into firing their main guns. Kill as many as you can."

"Yes, ma'am," said Gombe. "Warp to within twenty-five thousand kilometers of the Kazons. Be ready to drop shields"

#

"They're back," said Jabin. "They're making an attack run on us."

“Could they make it any more obvious?" snorted Razik. "Well, let's oblige them. Target them with main batteries."

#

"Main guns powering up," said the engineer.

"Lower shields. Ensign Golwatt, activate automatic transport sequence."

From behind the cockpit came the whine of a transporter.

#

Ensign Golwatt had specialized in transporter operations at the Academy. She had a knack for the finicky machines, an instinct for their operations that bought Earhart and her crew approximately ten extra seconds of life.

When the transporter beam struck the Kazon shields, it "bounced" and the antimatter bottle re-materialized on Earhart's transporter pad. The problem was, the bottle's containment field was on a five second timer. And there wasn't enough time to cycle the transporter again.

She did the only thing she could do. With one hand, she convinced the computer to open the airlock, and with the other, she raised the emergency forcefield to keep the rest of the ship from depressurizing. She snatched the bottle off the pad just as the doors blew open, and, pushing off the deck as the air rushed out, leaped off the ship with a bottle of death clutched to her breast. She was three kilometers clear of the shuttle when the seals fell and antimatter touched matter, vaporizing her and searing everyone in the still-unshielded Earhart with enough raw gamma rays to kill a Brontosaurus.

#

Obayana Gombe knew he was dead even before he heard the radiation alarm. "Voyager, this is Earhart," he said. "We have taken severe damage. We will try to complete our mission." Pause. "Tell my parents I love them." He sent Voyager a copy of all the data the Kazons had sent him, then cut the comms.

The world was starting to spin. Big dose, he thought. He'd be unconscious in seconds. He focused long enough to put a course into the computer, made the sign of the cross and prayed the isolinear chips hadn't all been fried, hit the "engage" button, and then slumped over into a coma.

The Federation starship Earhart lit her warp engines one last time. She slammed into the weakened forward shields of the Spyglass at warp 3 with nearly five kilograms of antimatter still on board. When the dust cleared, there was nothing left of the Spyglass but a slowly spreading field of molten junk.

#

The cabin lights were low. Janeway appreciated that. She sat on the bed, legs hanging over the side. Next to her sat Chakotay. She'd insisted the armed guards stay out.

"They were waiting for it," said Janeway. "They didn't just know how to block a transporter bomb, they knew how to throw it back at us."

"How did they do it?"

"They varied their power-up timing."

Chakotay nodded. That's what he would have done. "They're backwards, but they're not stupid," he said. "You know the difference between a tactic and a trick?"

"What's that?"

"A trick only works once."

Janeway sighed. "I killed them."

"Were they the first to die by your orders?"

She shook her head slowly. Chakotay looked puzzled. She explained. "Just before we left. Bujold asked me to send someone to the bridge while the ship was in the Badlands. I volunteered to go myself but she...didn't think my expertise matched her needs. So I flipped through my personnel files until I found someone with experience studying interstellar plasma anomalies—Lieutenant junior grade Maria Donaldson, twenty-six, husband and infant son back on Alpha Centauri. The first time I met her was when I told her to report to the bridge."

"And she died in the blowout," said Chakotay.

"Yes," said Janeway.

"It wasn't your fault," said Chakotay.

"I've told myself that. It doesn't seem to be making any difference."

"It never does," said Chakotay.

"How many have you lost?" said Janeway.

"Seventeen," he said.

"How do you cope with it?"

"I tell myself they died for a reason." The words hung in the air.

"Even when they didn't?"

"Gombe and the others bought us time. You said the Kazons have fallen back deeper in the Kuiper Belt, and their scouts are advancing slowly."

"A few hours at most," said Janeway.

"That's better than what we had," said Chakotay.

"We can't hide forever."

"Then let's not. Get the warp core back online and let's show them what this ship can really do."

Janeway shook her head. "There's not enough time. Carey's working as fast as he can, but they'll be here before he's finished." I waited too long, she thought. My fault. Everything's my fault.

Chakotay had an answer. "Let Torres help."

Well, she thought, What's the worst that could happen? We'll all die? She laughed, once, a short bark that she refused to explain to Chakotay. "You're right, why not?" She tapped her commbadge. "Bridge, this is Janeway. Hail Val Jean."

"They're not responding, ma'am. Their communications might be out."

"Understood," said Janeway. Oh, shit. "Oh, shit," she said.

"What?" said Chakotay.

"We knocked out their communications and their sensors. They're blind and deaf out there."

Chakotay's eyes widened. "If they Kazon go after them...Captain, I have to warn them." He seemed to think about it, and then added: "I have to bring them spare parts. If their comms aren't back up now, it's because B'Elana doesn't have the spares to fix it."

"How will you get to them?"

"I'll take a shuttle."

"We can't lower the shields to let you out," said Janeway.

"We'll phase-invert the shuttle's shields; we'll pass right through Voyager's shields, like a photon torpedo."

"That's incredibly dangerous. If you leave a gap in either shield, even for a moment..."

"The shuttlebay bulkhead is reinforced, right?" said Chakotay.

Janeway had to check a PADD to find out. "No," she said. "But hold on a second." She tapped on the PADD, pulling some (very) rough calculations. "Any gas that enters the shuttlebay from outside will expand and cool before it hits the bulkhead. The shuttlebay is a big space with a lot of room for the gas to expand. As long as the gap in the shields isn't very large or open very long, the pressure from the outside atmosphere won't break the bulkheads." She looked up from the PADD to him. "On the other hand, it will crush the shuttlecraft like an egg."

"I'll take my chances," he said. "I will need a good pilot, though, if we run into trouble."

"I thought you could fly," she said.

"I can, but not well," he said.

"My best shuttle pilot is dead," said Janeway.

"No, he's not."

#

"You're kidding, right?" said Paris.

"No, I'm not," said Janeway. "We need your help."

Paris glared at both of them. "Why should I risk my life to help the Federation or the Maquis?"

"Why don't you think about someone besides yourself for once in your sorry life?" said Chakotay.

"I did! Fat lot of good it did me."

"All right, fine," said Janeway. "We'll find someone else. Go back to sickbay."

"Tom, if you don't help me, A'shadieeyah is going to die," said Chakotay.

Paris froze halfway to the doors. He turned around. "She's on Val Jean?"

"Of course she is," said Chakotay.

"Bujold tried to use her against me...I just thought she was lying...shit! Where's the shuttle bay?"

Janeway pointed at a nearby goldshirt. "Take him to the shuttlebay. Mr. Paris, start your pre-flight checklist as soon as you get down there." She tapped her commbadge. "Mr. Carey, has the cargo been delivered yet?"

"Yes, ma'am. One Mark XXI general-purpose sensor pallet. It's been loaded onto the shuttcraft Drake. Crewman Jaxz is waiting there with it."

"You're all set," said Janeway. She glanced at the door through which Paris had vanished. "Is this going to work?"

"Tom Paris is useless as a leader, as a friend, and as a human being in general," said Chakotay. "But he's the best I've ever seen at flying spaceships. Hopefully, I'll be back in a couple hours."

"That's not exactly reassuring," said Janeway. "Are you sure you don't want a different pilot?"

He shook his head. "I watched Tom Paris run an entire Cardassian wolfpack in circles for three straight days once. You fly with the Maquis, you learn how to fly in hostile territory."

"But you hate each others' guts."

"You learn to make do with what you have in the Maquis, too," said Chakotay. "Besides, I can always kill him later."

Janeway wondered how literal he was being.

"I'd better go," said Chakotay. "One more thing, though. If you don't mind, I have two pieces of advice for you."

"What are they?" she said, expecting some tactical insight that would help them if the Kazon suddenly rushed to Ocampa.

"Number one: get some sleep," he said.

"But there's so much to do," said Janeway.

"Trust your crew to do it," said Chakotay. "They're Starfleet; they can look after themselves for a few hours."

"Will a few hours make any difference?"

"It could be the difference between the right decision and the wrong one. Or the right decision in time and the right decision too late."

Janeway wanted to argue with him, but after all the talk of sleep, it was suddenly as if her mind was full of pancake syrup. She was holding off fatigue by sheer willpower and running out of it fast. Voyager was, for the moment, immobile and hidden. If anything was going to go wrong, it would go wrong with or without her on the bridge.

"What's number two?"

"You're in command. You should dress the part."

"What do you mean?"

He pointed at her chest. "Put on a red uniform."

"I'm sorry I shot you," said Janeway.

"It happens," said Chakotay.

They parted with a salute. Janeway started wandering in the direction of her cabin. She paused a moment to lean against the wall to rest, and was startled to wake up on the floor five minutes later, having fallen asleep standing up.

As it turned out, her cabin had taken a direct hit from a Kazon railgun shell and the entire section was vented to space. She needed to make new arrangements.

"Computer, find the nearest vacant officers' cabin and assign it to me," said Janeway.

There was a chirp and a moment later, the computer gave her a room number on the same deck. It wasn't until she got there that she realized it was Bujold's. A crazy accident or a subtle hint from the machine? She was too tired to care.

As it happened, she and Bujold had been about the same size. She took one of the former captain's uniforms out of her wardrobe and draped it over a chair. How am I going to change uniforms with my damn arm in a sling? she thought. Never mind. It could wait. "Computer, wake me in two hours," she said. She laid down on the bed, flat on her back, eyes closed. She was asleep ten seconds later.

[RedImperator]

PART IIIb

Drake

"Pre-flight checklist complete. We're ready when you are, Voyager."

"Acknowledged, Drake. Stand by for launch clearance."

Paris leaned back in his seat and danced his fingers across the Okudagram.

"Do we have the right parts with us?" said Chakotay.

"Yes. I already checked," said Paris.

"Crewman.... Jaxz?" said Chakotay, taking a stab at the pronunciation. "Could you check the cargo for me?"

"I told you I inspected it already," said Paris.

"It's a Mark XXI general-purpose sensor pallet," said Jaxz. He was a short, small alien in a gold uniform, not much bigger than a human twelve year old. Paris couldn't place his species.

"I told you," said Paris. "I'm not an idiot, you know," he muttered.

"Could have fooled me," said Chakotay.

"Drake, this is shuttle control. You're cleared for launch."

"Roger Voyager," said Paris. A few more keystrokes, and Drake rose off the deck and glided into position over the launch zone.

"Matching shield frequency to Voyager," said Chakotay, tapping at his own console. There was a brief blue shimmer outside the cockpit. "Phase inverted."

"Opening shuttle bay doors." Pause. "The chief engineer would appreciate it if we could close them again as quickly as possible."

"Roger that," said Paris.

Ahead of them, the doors drew open like a curtain. A beam of hellish orange light speared Drake, widened to lay across the whole shuttlebay like a disease. Voyager's shield was visibly flashing and crackling.

Paris's finger hovered over the launch button. Neither he nor Chakotay said anything.

"Well," said Paris. "It's now or never." He jabbed the launch button and Drake hurled itself towards the shield. The shuttlebay doors were already sliding closed again.

Drake hit the shield with a bang and rattled so hard Paris thought for a moment they'd screwed up and bounced off. And then they were clear of the nacelles and rising vertically, the shuttle standing on its ass and roaring straight up, trying to clear the troposphere before the atmosphere crushed them. Drake's engines bellowed as Paris forced them through air like ocean water, drowning out the alarms and Crewman Jaxz's shouts. They cleared the canyon walls and there was nothing to see through the cockpit windows except the cloud deck. Paris glanced at the altimeter. The numbers were rising so fast he couldn't read them.

"External pressure falling!" said Paris. "Approaching the lower cloud layer."

"Drake this is Voyager. What is your status?"

"Thirty kilometers and climbing, Voyager." The numbers on the external barometer and thermometer were falling. "We're out of the danger zone." He scanned his sensors, looking for any dangerous weather. "No thunderstorms nearby. We'll clear the atmosphere in ninety seconds."

"The closest Kazon scout is six AUs from here. We're transmitting their coordinates now."

"Acknowledged," said Chakotay. To Paris: "I've got a read on Val Jean." He showed Paris the coordinates.

"It'll take at least an hour to reach them at Warp 4," said Paris. He entered the coordinates. "Engaging." The shuttle zipped away at more than 500 c.

"This system is full of Kazon scouts," muttered Chakotay. "I hope there aren't any hanging around Ocampa by the time we get back."

"Does this thing have weapons?" said Paris.

Chakotay tapped on his console. "Type four phasers," he said.

Paris snorted. "Useless"

"Kazon shields only partially block phasers," said Chakotay. "On the other hand, their armor holds up fairly well. If we do get into a fight, we'll have to aim for a soft spot."

"What are their scouts like?" said Paris.

"Thirty meters long. Fastest I've ever seen them travel is warp 7. They maneuver pretty badly at sublight; not a lot of thrust for their size."

"We can run rings around them, then," said Paris.

"They're well armed," warned Chakotay. "Their heaviest guns are forward mounted, but they've got good coverage from all angles. And they're tough for their size. This shuttle couldn't handle them."

"Could Val Jean?" said Paris.

"I have a feeling we're going to find out before all this is over."

They settled down into an uncomfortable silence that dragged for fifteen minutes. Crewman Jaxz seemed content to sit in back and say nothing to the Maquis.

"So," said Chakotay, "how was prison?"

"Just great," said Paris. "Sorry you missed it."

"Is that why you were on Voyager?"

"Fuck you," said Paris. "I was protecting you guys. I led Bujold on a wild goose chase for eight hours."

"I hear they rescued you from the brig. Looks like you failed that that, too."

"You're welcome," said Paris.

"Oh, get over it," said Chakotay. "Maybe if you didn't run around with that chip on your shoulder all the time, somebody might feel sorry for you."

"That's funny coming from a guy who has such a bad temper he had to be phasered."

"You started that fight," said Chakotay.

"You deserved it," said Paris.

"Why'd you do it, Tom? Why'd you agree to help Bujold in the first place?"

"She offered me parole," said Paris. "I had a choice between another decade on New Senegal or Betazed. Which would you have taken?"

"Are you asking if I'd betray the Maquis to chase Betazed skirt? No, I wouldn't."

"Betazed skirt" made Paris think about Lieutenant Stadi for a moment. He pushed it aside; too weird to deal with now. "I didn't betray you."

"You tried to play it both ways," said Chakotay. "You wanted to help Starfleet enough to get paroled--don't try to deny it; Voyager never could have made it to the Rat's Nest without your help--but not enough to hurt your conscience, such as it is. And it blew up in your face, just like it always does."

When Paris didn't respond, Chakotay pressed on. "Did you ever stop to think about why your time commanding Val Jean was such a disaster?"

"I got unlucky," said Paris. "And then you took advantage."

Chakotay sighed and shook his head. "You're still blaming other people for your mistakes," he said. "You blundered right into a trap. I told you it was a trap beforehand, and you didn't listen. And then you froze solid--three cruisers bearing down on us and you couldn't issue a single order. If I hadn't taken control, we'd all be starving in a Cardassian prison camp now. Is it any wonder why the crew voted me the new captain? And before you blame me for you getting caught by Starfleet, you were welcome to stay on Val Jean as a pilot. You were the one who stormed off."

"Now you're really full of shit," said Paris. "Yeah, I was 'welcome' to stay--after you stood up on the bridge and said 'Tom Paris is incompetent to lead, incompetent to fight, and incompetent to be a Maquis, and if you don't vote for me, he's going to get us all killed'. You remember that speech?"

Now it was Chakotay's turn to say nothing.

"The vote was thirty-nine to one," said Paris. "That I wasn't competent to be a Maquis. Would you have stayed?"

"It's irrelevant," said Chakotay. "Nobody ever would have accused me of being one."

Silence descended on the shuttle again.

"Anybody want something to eat?" said Jazx.

#

Drake pulled up alongside Val Jean. They were practically close enough to touch, but Val Jean had no idea they were there.

"Their sensors are still out," said Chakotay. "Janeway really did a number on them."

"Can't they look out the window and see us?" said Paris.

"I covered up all the windows with armor plate," said Chakotay. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"Well, what do we do now?" said Paris.

"Can we beam over?" said Jaxz.

"Their shields are up," said Chakotay.

"But they're very soft up front," said Paris. "I'll bet we could push this shuttle right through."

"That's insane," said Chakotay. "There's a meter and a half of clearance between the hull and the shields."

"Why don't we just shoot through them?" said Jaxz.

"They'll start randomly maneuvering to evade," said Paris. "We'll never be able to match speeds for a transport." He shook his head. "Can you believe this?"

Neither of the others said anything. Paris wondered, not for the first time, if he was having some kind of elaborate nightmare. And then, he had an idea.

"I've got it!" he said. "Chakotay, you know Morse code, right?"

"Of course," said Chakotay.

"Does anybody on board Val Jean?"

"Seska will," said Chakotay. "But we've already tried radio; they're not responding."

"Not radio. Use phaser pulses. Low power, just hot enough for them to notice. Hopefully Seska will recognize the pattern."

"Does anybody have any better ideas?" said Chakotay. Jaxz didn't, and neither did he.

"All right. I'll program the firing pattern into the computer."

#
Val Jean

Seska was so wound up the alarm caused her to jump out of her seat.

"Someone's firing phasers at us!" she said. "Bendera, what’s happening?"

“I can’t tell. Sensors aren’t responding.”

"Forget it!" said Torres. "They're cooked!"

Seska snarled a curse. "Mohommad, prepare for warp!" She checked her screen, trying to identify the attacker. Whoever they were, they were shooting again.

“Wait a minute,” said Bendera. “I think there’s a pattern here.”

Seska decided to gamble. "Belay that, Mohommad. Hold course."

"Are you crazy?" said Torres.

"Shut up!" said Seska. She leaned over Bendera’s shoulder to read his tactical display. "Long and short...that's Morse code!"

"What does it say?" said Mohommad.

"Hold on...'I am Chakotay. Lower your shields.'"

"Sure," said B'Elana. "And I'm Queen of Neptune. This is a lame trick."

"There has to be some way to communicate with them," said Seska.

"Not radio, and not subspace," said Torres.

"Do the running lights still work?" said Bendera.

#

"No response," said Paris.

"Yes, there is," said Chakotay. "Look at the lights." They were flashing a pattern back at them. "'Prove your Chakotay'" he said. He grinned. "She used the wrong 'you're'. That's definitely Seska."

"How are you going to prove you're who you say you are?" said Paris.

"I'll tell her something only I would know." He glared at Paris. "Don't read over my shoulder." He typed in his message.

#

"They're responding," said Torres.

Seska decoded the message. Then she flushed crimson.

Mohommad turned around in her seat, eyebrows raised and mouth hanging open. "Really?"

"I didn't know you read Morse code," said Seska, still bright red.

"Wait, I can't. What did he say?" said Torres.

"I'll tell you later," said Mohommad.

"I'll throw you out the airlock if you do," said Seska. "That's definitely him. Lower shields."

#

"Their shields are down," said Paris.

"All right. I'll beam over with Jaxz and the sensor pallet."

"Like hell," said Paris.

"What's your problem now?"

"I want to see A'sha."

"She won't want to see you. Trust me."

"I don't care," said Paris.

"We don't have time for a reunion!" said Chakotay.

"All right, fine. You'd better beam over first, though. Who knows what they'll do if a stranger appears on their bridge."

Chakotay shrugged. He had a point. "All right." He took his place on the shuttle's transporter pad. "Lower shields and beam me over."

"Roger. Energizing."

#

Chakotay materialized on Val Jean's bridge. Seska cast decorum aside and hugged him. "How did you escape?"

"I didn't. Janeway let me go. She sent a peace offering."

"What?"

He tapped the commbadge he'd borrowed. "Drake, this is Chakotay. I'm ready over here."

There was transporter whine and an extra-wide column of sparklies. "Oh God damn it," said Chakotay, as Crewman Jaxz, holding the sensor pallet, materialized on the bridge with Tom Paris hanging on to his shoulders.

#

"He grabbed me as I was dematerializing!" said Jaxz. "I couldn't stop him."

"What the hell is he doing here?" said Seska.

Paris ignored them. He was looking at the pilot’s station. "Hello, A'sha," he said.

"How much did Starfleet offer you?" she said.

"Parole. I tried to protect Val Jean."

"You son of a bitch," said Torres. "You worthless traitor. I should gut you where you stand."

"Hello to you, too," said Paris.

"Enough," said Chakotay. "We don't have time for this. The Kazon are bearing down on the inner system. B'Elana, I need you to go back to Voyager and help get her engine started."

"Have they figured out how to get us home yet?" said Torres.

"No," said Chakotay. "Janeway's people are working on it. If we can hold the Kazon off, maybe they can get us out of here. The only way that's happening is if Voyager has a working warp drive."

"What about Val Jean?" said Seska.

"Crewman Jaxz and I will stay behind to install the new sensors. As soon as that's done, we're going to try to buy Voyager more time. B'Elana, can you ride back to Voyager without killing Tom?"

"Maybe," she said.

"If you kill him, you're going to have to dock with Voyager yourself. They're parked on the surface right now. You ever fly in a Class N atmosphere?"

"Fine," said Torres.

Tom had tuned out the conversation on the bridge. He and A'Sha locked eyes. They were dark and beautiful, just like he remembered. Unfortunately, there was no sympathy in them. She glared at him, angry. Neither of them were telepathic, but he could read her face easily enough: I didn't invite you back into my life.

"I'm sorry," he mouthed.

She turned away from him. It was all the response he'd get. So much for that. Beaming over had been a stupid mistake. He wanted to go back to Voyager. Even an hour in a shuttle with B'Elana would be better than this.

Crewman Jaxz was already studying a schematic of Val Jean's electrical system. "Oh yes, I can install the new sensors and antennas. Very easy," he was saying.

"And if he runs into any problems, Seska and I can help," said Chakotay. "B'Elana, Tom, get back to Voyager. We don't have time to waste."

“Wait,” said Bendera. “Where’s Tuvok? Is he all right?”

Chakotay went to reply that he was, then hesitated. He hadn’t actually heard from him in hours, not since Janeway had stunned him. "He's fine," said Chakotay. "He's still working on the Caretaker problem. B'Elana, I said go; the clock's ticking."

Torres picked up a tool kit. "Fine." She pointed at Tom. "Let's go, asshole."

#
Drake

B'Elana was sitting in the back of the Federation shuttlecraft, brooding, when Paris startled her by speaking up.

"So what's your story?" he said. It was the first words either of them had spoken in half an hour.

"What do you mean, 'what's my story?'"

"I don't know. How's life? How have you been?"

"Are you trying to make small talk?"

"It's not like I have anything else to do," he said.

"I don't want to talk to you," she said.

"Fine," said Paris. "I'll talk. You want to know why I helped Starfleet."

Torres grunted. What she really wanted to know was when he'd get the hint and shut up.

"I'll tell you," said Paris. "It's because they offered to help me. I was tired of digging holes in the desert, and if I helped Bujold, I wouldn't have to anymore. I figured I wouldn't find Chakotay anyway, so what's the harm?"

"You led Starfleet to the Rat's Nest. That's one of our best hiding spaces, gone."

"Oh come on," said Paris. "The Federation and the Cardassians both knew about it already. It was only a matter of time before they charted the way in from both sides. Maybe I sped that up, but not by much." He leaned his head around his seat to look at her. "You know, a little gratitude would be nice."

"Gratitude? For what?"

"If I hadn't led Voyager to the Rat's Nest, you'd be stuck out here with no help."

B'Elana laughed. "Are you kidding? Since you arrived here, Voyager broke our ship and then had to ask us to help fix theirs. Some help you've been."

"Seska's right. The only chance you have of getting home is with Janeway's blueshirts. Unless you think you're up to the task of figuring out ancient alien space stations."

"Janeway's an idiot," said Torres. "If I were commanding that ship, the warp drive would have been running hours ago."

"Starfleet isn't big on letting first-year Academy washouts command starships," said Paris.

"You're one to talk," said Torres.

"I didn't wash out, I quit," said Paris.

"Please," said Torres. "You had thirty demerits. Your grades sucked, you never went to class, and you were drunk all the time. The only reason they let you quit is to save your father the embarrassment. If your daddy wasn't an admiral, you'd have been expelled just like me."

"At least I didn't sleep with my instructor," said Paris. "Or my boyfriend's roomate, or half the football team."

"You really are an asshole," said Torres. "I never understood what A'sha saw in you." She spat. "Never understood what I saw in you, either."

"Screwed up people attract each other," said Paris. "That's what you saw in me.

"A'sha's not screwed up. She's going to lead her own cell one day."

Paris took time to think about his answer. "I tried to be better for her."

"You did a shitty job," said Torres. "You know, she would have been happy never to see you again."

"I know she would have been. I wouldn't."

"Always about you," said Torres.

"I see you've been working on the angry Klingon act," said Paris, by way of changing the subject.

"I've been under stress," said Torres. "It's been a rough couple of days."

"You're not going to melt down again, are you?" he said.

"Fuck you, Tom," she said. In her mind's eye, she could see the discharge letter from Starfleet: Unfit for service...lacks emotional maturity and self-control...unrelated to Klingon physiology, despite Cadet Torres's claims…psychological treatment strongly recommended. She'd been holding together for more than a year; finished top in her class in mathematics, aced the entrance exam, had no problem with the psych screening. She'd cruised through boot camp when "tougher" cadets crumpled under the strain. And then she started classes, and in a few months, she'd come apart again. They promised they'd reconsider admitting her if she went through treatment and passed another psych screening. Instead, Tom Paris, who'd quit just weeks before her, recruited her into a Maquis cell.

The shuttle fell silent again.

After another twenty minutes of silence, Paris spoke up. "What's Chakotay going to do if captain science whiz can't get us back home?"

"How should I know?" said Torres. "Why? Are you looking for a ride?"

Paris laughed. "Are you serious? If we're taking the long way home, I'd rather do it on Voyager. Even in the state she's in."

"What the hell happened, anyway? When we got pulled through, Val Jean was shaken but not damaged."

"Why does it look like a flying pile of shit, then?"

"Watch it," said Torres. "And that's all battle damage. We were in a running gun battle with two cruisers."

"I have no idea, then," said Paris. "Another mystery for science whiz Janeway to solve."

"What do you think of her?" said Torres.

"Out of her league," said Paris.

"That's what I thought, too," said Torres.

"We're approaching the planet," said Paris. "Hang on to your ass; this is going to be a rough landing. Once we're on the deck, you'd better get to engineering as fast as you can."

"Why?" she said.

#
Wrath

"It's definitely lightning," said the comms officer. "Voyager was sending the signal by radio to Earhart, not subspace."

"Which planets in the system have lightning in the atmospheres?" said Jabin.

"Ocampa itself, and all the gas planets."

"But if they were at one of the gas planets..." said Jabin.

"Right. We would have noticed the lightspeed lag between them and Earhart. They must be hiding on Ocampa."

Twenty minutes later, the Kazon fleet was on the move.

#
Voyager

"Captain Janeway."

Janeway rolled over and groaned. How long had she been asleep? Not enough. "What is it, Tuvok?" she said.

"Sensors have detected the Kazon fleet moving in this direction. The advance elements will be here in sixty minutes."

"Did Paris and that Maquis make it back?"

"Miss Torres is in the engine room now. I'm led to understand she's here for the duration; Lieutenant Carey does not believe the shields will withstand another shuttle launch."

Janeway sat up. Her head was swimming. She was still so tired. The air in the cabin was hot and sticky, oppressive. Tuvok presented her a hypospray.

"From the Doctor," he said. "It will keep you alert for several hours."

"And then I pay for it, right?"

"I believe so," said Tuvok.

"Give it to me." Tuvok obliged, giving her a shot in the neck. It was as if someone had pushed an "on" button. Instantly, she felt awake and aware. But it was a thin, jittery awareness, like too much coffee, a rickety bridge over a chasm of exhaustion. She cursed herself for not sleeping more when she had a chance.

"Help me take this sling off," she said. Once it was gone, she tried moving her arm and shoulder. It was stiff and sore, but she had her full range.

"Turn around for a minute," she said to Tuvok. He obliged, and she stripped off her bloodstained blue tunic and replaced it with the red one she'd left on the chair. As she'd hoped, it fit her pretty well.

"How do I look?" she said, fixing her commbadge to her breast.

He faced her again. "You forgot your rank insignia," said Tuvok.

"I'm getting to them," she said. She started transferring them from her old tunic to her new one. "I never thought I'd get to wear red," she said. "I took the bridge officer's exam as a self-improvement exercise. I never thought I'd get a command, even a science ship."

"Predictability is not a hallmark of life in Starfleet," said Tuvok.

She stuck the second pip in place. "I've noticed," she said. She looked at herself in the mirror. Tuvok stood behind her, watching her watch herself.

"How well did you know Bujold?" said Janeway.

"We were colleagues for many years. I would have called her my friend."

"I'm sorry she's not here," said Janeway.

"As am I," said Tuvok. "I believe, however, that she would have been pleased with your performance, under the circumstances."

She smiled. "I don't think she would. But thank you." She straightened her tunic and put her hair back in place. "Come on. We have a battle to plan."

#

B'Elana Torres wanted to drool when she got her first look at Voyager's warp core. If I had a reactor like that…. Then Ensign Vorick briefed her on the warp system's state and she wanted to cry.

"What the hell have you been doing all this time?" she said.

"Making repairs to everything else that's broken on this tub," said Rodriguez, the senior chief petty officer. Chief Engineer Carey was conspicuous by his absence. "And inspecting the system. The good news is, we can still get warp speed from the portside nacelle. Unfortunately, the starboard plasma injector is completely shot, so we'll have to run on one nacelle."

"Do you have a spare injector?" said Torres.

"No," said Rodriguez.

"Typical Starfleet," sneered Torres.

"The plasma injectors for an Intrepid class starship weigh twenty-six tons each," said Ensign Vorick. "It would not be practical to carry a spare, as we have no way to install it in the field."

Torres thought about the injectors on Val Jean, that were small enough for two strong men to wrestle into and out of place. If I had an engine like this…, she thought again.

"All right, what about the core itself?"

"There doesn't appear to be any cracking or spalling in the reaction chamber or the dilithium matrix," said Rodriguez. "And the antimatter injectors themselves are working.”

“Then are we ready to restart?” said Torres.

"No," said Carey, walking into the control room. "The antimatter constrictor valve is shot."

Torres rolled her eyes. The ACV weighed less than a kilogram and could be installed in fifteen minutes. "So replace it," she said.

"Right, I forgot. You're the dipshit Academy washout, and I'm just a professional engineer, so obviously you know more than me," said Carey. "I checked the cargo manifest. The spares were delivered to DS9 but they were never loaded on the ship. And we can't replicate the force field relays, so don't even ask."

Torres cursed in Klingon. Carey looked vaguely satisfied--obviously he was the kind of guy who preferred being right to being alive.

"Perhaps we can generate enough power with the impulse reactors to energize the warp coils," said Vorick.

"That might have worked if the Maquis hadn't blown one of them up," said Carey. "As it is, we can't generate enough electrical power with the impulse engines to cross the warp threshold, and we can't get the warp core back online. Oh, and in case you hadn't noticed, we have about two hours left before we all die of heatstroke, so we can't hide down here much longer, either."

"It's such a simple part," said Torres.

For the first time, Carey seemed sympathetic. "Yeah, it is," he said. "Until it breaks and you don't have a replacement."

"Is there a spare on Val Jean?" said Rodriguez.

Torres shook her head. "I had to bypass it because the line kept choking. I control the antimatter flow from the tank end."

The three Starfleet engineers all looked appalled. "That's insane," said Carey. "If you have to shut your warp core down, you have to burn off all the antimatter in the fuel line first."

"Can we do that here?" said Rodriguez.

"It took me three days," said Torres. "Even with all the extra hands here, I don't think you could do it in time."

"Well, we have to do something," said Rodriguez. He snapped his fingers and looked up. "Wait a minute. That guy Neelix--he makes his living raiding a junkyard. What if he has one?"

"What do you think the odds are that some civilization in the Delta Quadrant just so happens to use the same type of ACV as us, and that it happens to be floating in that particular junk field, and that hedgehog happens to have one?" said Carey.

"Exceptionally poor," said Vorick. "However, given what we know about the Caretaker and this solar system, the odds are, the wrecks in that junkyard did not all originate from the Delta Quadrant."

Nobody said anything for a moment. Finally, Carey tapped his combadge. "Engineering to bridge."

#

"I didn't know you guys were still in the system," said Neelix. Torres, Carey, Rodriguez, and Vorick were sitting in on the call from a repeater screen in Engineering.

"We're having some mechanical problems still," said Janeway. "We were hoping you could help us out with a part."

"I'll see what I can do. What do you need?"

"We need an antimatter constrictor valve," said Carey.

Neelix frowned. "The Kazons don't leave me a lot of engine parts. I have everything on board cataloged; I'll let you go through it. Stand by."

"He's not going to have it," said Carey.

"You must be great at parties," said Torres.

A nearby computer panel *bleeped*. Neelix had transmitted his catalog over. Torres whistled; for a one-man operation, he was organized. Most of the parts had descriptions, which the computer dutifully translated, and pictures. She hoped it was indexed, too. "Computer," said Torres, "scan for any compatible ACVs."

The scan took less than a moment. "No compatible antimatter constrictor valves found," said the computer.

"Well, so much for that," said Rodriguez.

"Wait," said Torres. "Computer, find any ACVs."

Three of them flashed on the screen. One was so badly burnt she barely recognized it. The second was so alien she had to take the computer's word it was actually a constrictor.

The third was Cardassian. Torres yelped and pointed at the screen. "That one!"

Rodriguez looked. "That's a Cardassian valve."

"It'll work, though," said Torres. "I use spoon-head parts all the time."

"No it won't," said Carey. "Look at the damn connectors. We'll never get it to fit on our fuel line."

"Yes we can. If I can..." said Torres. "Captain Janeway, hail Val Jean." Oh God, Chakotay, please have the radio fixed.

"Hailing now," said Janeway. "We're forwarding the call to Engineering."

"This is Chakotay. B'Elana, what's happening?"

"Chakotay, tell Hogan I need my blueprint book. Transmit it to Voyager right away."

"What's going on?" said Rodriguez.

"Cardassians like to use a standard connecter design for all their antimatter lines," said Torres. "Just like the Federation."

"So?" said Carey.

"We’re sending it over now," said Chakotay. "Stand by."

The computer *bleeped* again; Torres found a free PADD and opened the file. "Do the replicators down here work?" she said.

"Yes," said Vorick.

"Are you going to tell us what's going on or not?" said Carey.

"Shut up for a minute and let me work," said Torres. She looked around, spotted a replicator, and plugged in her PADD. A touch of a button later, and two pieces of finely machined brass materialized in the output tray. She held them up for the Starfleet engineers to see.

"Cardassian-to-Federation socket adapters," said Torres. "I designed them myself. They never touch the antimatter stream."

"Do they work?" said Carey. "Because if they don't and the valve leaks, it'll blow the ship apart."

"You want me to tell you how many times Val Jean's had the shit kicked out of her and these adapters have never failed? Besides, either we try these and we might die, or we sit here until the Kazons come and bomb us and we definitely die. Unless you have a better idea, this is it."

"I think she's right," said Rodriguez. "What else are we going to do?"

"Engineering, what's going on down there?" said Janeway.

Carey tapped his combadge. "Captain, Neelix has the part."

#
Talaxian shuttle Baxial

Neelix cut off the channel to Voyager and started prepping his ship for warp. He was trying to figure out how much he would charge Janeway for the part--running back to Ocampa when there were angry Kazons in the system would cost a lot more than a bath. Maybe some of their guns--he'd seen a security goon carrying one. They were shaped funny and they didn't seem to have trigger guards, but he was sure they were powerful. "I wonder how much a collector would pay for one," he said. He patted the alien ACV sitting on his passenger seat.

Neelix had his course charted and his warp core warmed up. "All right," he said. He pushed the "go" button.

All the lights on the control panel went out.

"Oh hell," he said. "Blew another motivator. Shouldn't have used cheap ones, Neelix." At least Baxial's cabin sat above the ship's small fusion-powered warp core, for easy repair access. He pulled up the access plate, yanked out the bad part, and was reaching in his parts cabinet for a spare when somebody shot his ship.

#

Val Jean

"Looks like Torres might be able to fix their engine," said Chakotay. "There’s a Cardassian valve sitting on board Neelix's ship. As soon as he delivers it, Voyager will have warp power again."

Bendera was still trying to test and calibrate the new sensors. "That's good to hear. Do we need to…uh oh."

"What?" said Chakotay.

"Three Kazon scouts just showed up in the junk field. They're firing. They're...I think they're broadcasting something."

"On speakers," said Chakotay.

"...of the Kazon Ogla. You're under arrest for abetting enemies of the Ogla Sect and the Grand Maj. Heave to and prepare to be boarded."

Everyone looked to Chakotay, like they always did. He didn't hesitate.

"A'sha, lay in a course, maximum warp. Battlestations."

#
Val Jean

"Three scouts, Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie, and none of them see us coming," said Chakotay. Val Jean's crew was gathered on the bridge, crammed in where they could stand, while Chakotay used the main viewscreen as a blackboard. "You can see here that scout Alpha has docked with Neelix's ship. We have to drop out of warp right on top of it and disable its engines. Then we'll bug off, turn around, come back, hit Bravo, try to drive him off. Then we do the same for Charlie."

"Can we destroy a scout in one pass?" said Seska.

"Only with a lucky shot. And we don't want to hang around under their guns, so we'll have to do a lot of in and out."

"I can't promise the engines will be up for that," said A'sha. "No disrespect to you, Hogan, but we don't have B'Elana here to nurse them."

Hogan nodded to show he wasn't offended. That faintly worried Chakotay, who didn't need an acting chief engineer who didn't think he was good enough to keep the engines running.

"Hogan will be fine. Remember that time we got jumped by a Miranda while Torres was drunk?" said Bendera. "Hogan took care of us then."

"Exactly," said Chakotay, nodding his thanks at Bendera. "Remember, nobody here would be on my crew if I didn't know he was good enough. The engines will be fine. Seska, where's the rest of the Kazon fleet?"

"Bearing down on Ocampa at Warp 5. They'll be there in half an hour."

"Right. So we don't have much time. Once we've isolated and disabled this scout, we'll grab Neelix and the part. Hopefully we can just beam them out, but if we have to grab them, we'll send over boarding parties. Are the transporters ready?" said Chakotay.

"They are," said Seska.

"Kurt, do you have your boarding teams picked out?"

"Ready to go, boss,” said Bendera.

Chakotay nodded. "We're as ready as we're going to be. Everybody take your positions."

#
Kazon Scout Ship Maje Gulluh (Alpha)

Neelix had been on the receiving end of Kazon beatings before, but not like this. He'd confessed to everything they accused him of as soon as the words came out of their mouths (including plotting to overthrow the First Maje, collaborating with a Federation invasion, plotting to sell Kazon children to Vidiian organ farmers, theft, murder, treason, fraud, and an exhaustive litany of sexual perversions), but they were still keeping it up, and he was coming around to the idea that they weren't going to stop until he was dead. Which, unfortunately for Neelix, whose Talaxian bones broke reluctantly and blood ran slowly, would probably be a while.

The lead "interrogator" signaled for the others to stop. Neelix lay in a puddle of blood and piss on a metal floor. "What's the matter?" said Neelix. "Did your arms get tired?"

The lead interrogator, an especially nasty Deputy Maje named Arzak, laughed. "Don't think I don't know what you're trying to do, junkman. You're trying to goad me into shooting you and putting you out of your misery. Well, you've been so cooperative, I suppose I can spare you this one small mercy."

And before Neelix had a chance to object or change his mind, Arzak withdrew his pistol from its holster, aimed, and fired two rounds...into Neelix's left shoulder.

It was like a bomb went off in his left arm. Neelix screamed curses in Kazon and Talaxian and three other languages. The Kazons just laughed.

After a while, shock started setting in and the pain faded enough that Neelix stopped screaming. Arzak took the opportunity to ask him more questions. He crouched beside Neelix and held a picture of the alien antimatter valve in his face. “The chief engineer tells me this is an ‘antimatter constrictor valve’. He says that it is a critical component to an antimatter powered warp core. So…who needs it? Voyager or Val Jean?”

"I needed it. For Baxial," said Neelix.

Arzak sighed, stood up, and stomped on Neelix's shoulder.

"Liar! That garbage scow of yours doesn't use antimatter for fuel, Neelix!" shouted Arzak, over Neelix's screams. "Voyager or Val Jean?!"

“Voyager!” he screamed. “Voyager’s stuck on Ocampa with engine problems! Please don’t hurt me anymore!”

And then, suddenly, there was a blast that threw the Kazon off their feet. The alarms wailed.

"Action stations, action stations! All hands to action stations! We are under attack!" There was another blast and all the lights went out.

Arzak stumbled to an intercom. "Bridge, this is Arzak! What's happening?"

"It's Val Jean! We've lost main power and we're dead in space!"

"Well," said Arzak. "I suppose you were telling the truth, Neelix." He took his gun back out of its holster. "I suppose I can put you out of your misery now--"

Arzak's words were cut off by a collision, a flying tackle from something short and squat and powerful and still much stronger than him even with only one good arm. Arzak had a moment to be surprised just before his head struck a protruding steel reinforcing rib that turned his brains into pudding. He was dead before he hit the deck.

#

Val Jean

"Alpha has lost power and propulsion!" said Seska. "Bravo and Charlie tracking us with radar."

"Going to warp!" said A'sha. Val Jean jumped away from the furious Kazons and came to a stop five light-seconds away. "Coming about, re-engaging warp!"

"Full power to forward phasers; target Bravo, fire on my command!" said Chakotay. Val Jean's warp engines pulsed again, and the Maquis were back in the battle space, with starboard hull of scout Bravo square in their sights.

"Fire!" said Chakotay.

Val Jean's pulse phasers tore into the Kazon scout. Her armor split open like an overcooked sausage as Val Jean flew by.

"A'sha, warp!" said Chakotay.

The whine of the warp engines powering up filled the cabin...and then cut off. An alarm sounded on A'sha's console. "Warp drive--"

Val Jean rocked with a hit to the aft shields from a Kazon coilgun. It was small caliber, compared to what the battleships carried, but it did its job against the battle-damaged raider.

"Evasive maneuvers! Seska, finish off Beta with aft phasers!"

A'sha cranked Val Jean into a breakneck turn away from the Kazons' guns as red-orange phaser beams played across the hull of Beta. Despite the damage from the first hits, it was still alive and fighting.

"Resetting warp injector controls," said Hogan over the engineering intercom. "Now! They're up again!"

A'sha lit up the warp drive again and this time it worked, hauling them away just before Beta and Charlie could tear them to pieces. They came to rest two light minutes away.

"Hogan, what's going on down there?" said Chakotay.

"The deuterium injector controller is malfunctioning" said Hogan. "The last time it did this, it took Torres three days to rebuild it. Captain, we can still go to warp, but we'll need thirty seconds to power up."

"That's too long," said Chakotay. "We can't hang around getting pounded for thirty seconds by those guns."

"We can't get pounded by those guns for ten seconds," said Seska. "The shields are barely at ten percent."

"Can we wipe out both scouts in ten seconds?" said A'sha.

"No," said Seska. She looked down at the sensor display. "Oh, and more good news: I think the Kazons sent a distress call. Three more scouts broke off from the main fleet and are coming here fast."

"Well, what do we do, then?" said A'sha. "By the time the shields are up again, we'll have five ships to deal with."

"If we could just buy a little time," said Chakotay. "Pull a Picard maneuver..."

"That won't distract them for long enough," said Seska.

"Wait a minute," said Chakotay. "Wait a minute. I have an idea. Where's Jaxz?"

"Right here, sir," said the alien.

"That sensor pallet you installed. Can you project a false sensor image with it?"

"What kind?" he said.

"EM. Radar, infrared, visible light. Gravitic, too, if you can manage it."

"EM, yes. EM is easy. But not gravitic. That would take a while to set up."

"Never mind about gravitic. Nobody checks gravitic sensors in combat anyway. Can you project an entire fake starship? It doesn't have to be perfect. Just enough to distract them."

"Oh, sure!"

"All right," said Chakotay. "Here's what we're going to do."

#

Kazon scout ship Maje Cozak (Charlie)

Small Group Commander Sankur shouted into the radio. "What do you mean you don't know where Arzak is?"

"I'm sorry, my lord. He was interrogating Neelix when we were attacked."

"Send security to find him!" To his own crew, he said. "We might have to abandon Gulluh and Rettik. Prepare crews to assist the evacuation."

"Sir, Val Jean is back!"

Sankur snapped his head around. "All weapons, target them and--"

"Sir! Another Federation starship is on sensors!" The sensor operator, barely old enough to be a warrior, looked up in horror. "It's Voyager!"

Sankur's eyes went wide. "Alert the fleet! Engine room, prepare for warp!"

"Val Jean is firing on Rettik!" On the sensor scope, the Kazon scout took another round of hits from Val Jean's energy weapon, right in the hole Val Jean had torn in them the last time. The energy blasts blew Rettik apart.

"They're coming around on us!" Cozak shook with the first shots from Val Jean.

"Where's Voyager?"

"Eighty thousand meters and closing fast."

Sankur made his decision.

#

Val Jean

Charlie's guns went silent and the raider warped away. A cheer went up across the bridge.

"The other inbound scouts just stopped. It looks like they're shifting into a search pattern," said Seska. "Chakotay, they're looking for Voyager's light cone. They're going to figure out in a hurry that she's not here."

"Any activity from Alpha?"

"None. No shields, no power to their weapons, no warp signature, and they have a major radiation leak in their engine room. I'm scanning for life signs...twenty-six Kazon and one unidentified alien. That must be Neelix. He’s in a compartment amidships with…looks like two other Kazons and six more waiting just outside the door."

"Can we beam him out?"

"Him, sure. But I can’t tell the valve from any other piece of metal on the ship. It could still be on his shuttle, for all I know. We’re going to need him to lead us to it."

"Right, I figured as much. Boarding teams, stand by. A'sha, close on Alpha. Seska, lower shields on my mark."

"Can we send over any grenades first?" said Bendera. “I don’t think those Kazons outside the door are making a social call.”

"Good idea,” said Chakotay.

“We’re in position to transport,” said A’sha.

“Places everybody, ” said Chakotay.
#
Maje Gulluh

Neelix lay on the blood-slicked interrogation room floor, using Arzak's body for cover. A shadow moved across the hatch and he fired at it. Kazon security thugs fired back, sending bullets ricocheting around the room. One struck Arzak’s cooling corpse with a wet thump. A second hit one of the other interrogators, lying wounded and moaning where Neelix had shot him. He screamed; Neelix flinched.

“Surrender now, Neelix, and I promise you’ll get a fast, clean execution!” shouted the chief thug. “Otherwise we’re going to roast you to death with fire grenades in there.”

“There are still two live Kazons in here with me!” said Neelix. “You’ll kill them too!”

“Then they’ll have you for a slave in paradise! Now surrender or burn!”

Neelix checked the ammunition indicator on the pistol, and saw he had two rounds left—one to take one last shot at the Kazons outside the door, and one to finish the job on himself. He took aim at the crack in the hatchway.

From out in the hall came shimmering blue light and a strange whine, followed almost immediately by a bright flash and the sound of bodies falling to the deck. Six columns of sparkling blue light appeared inside the interrogation room, resolving into six humanoids he didn’t recognize, all holding guns and wearing goggles. They had weapons drawn and one started shouting at Neelix as soon as the blue light faded.

“Lower your weapon! We’re Maquis! From Val Jean!”

Neelix gladly did, tucking the gun into his belt and struggling to his feet. The other Maquis were securing the room. One was inspecting the fallen Kazon just outside.

“They’re all dead,” he said. “Don’t know how long until reinforcements show up.”

The Maquis leader nodded acknowledgement. “I take it you’re Neelix,” he said. He was scanning Neelix with some kind of small electronic device as he spoke. “My name’s Kurt Bendera. We’ve come to get you out of here.”

“What is that thing?” said Neelix.

“It’s called a tricorder. It’s a handheld scanner; very useful.”

“Can it see that I’ve been shot?”

Bendera nodded. “We’ll get you to Voyager’s sickbay and let them patch you up. How are you feeling?”

“Everything hurts, but I don’t think I’m getting any worse.”

"Good. Let's grab that valve and get out of here. Do you know where it is?"

"It's probably in the engine room," said Neelix. "The chief engineer was examining it."

"There's a radiation leak in the engine room," said one of the other Maquis. "We can't transport anything out of there."

"We'll have to grab it and haul it clear," said Bendera. "Val Jean, this is Bendera. Neelix thinks the valve is in the engine room. Beam him back and--"

"Wait!" said Neelix. "I know the layout of the engine room. I can find it faster than you."

"You don't have to risk it. You've got no skin in this," said Bendera.

"I owe the fucking Kazons something," said Neelix. "Come on. I was a corporal in the Talaxian army. I know how to use a gun."

The Maquis glanced at each other. On some hidden signal from Bendera, one tossed Neelix one of their energy weapons.

"How does this work?" said Neelix.

"Just point it and shoot. The beam will last until you let up on the trigger. Try not to shoot yourself in the foot--you'll be dead before you even feel it. Got it?"

"I hope so," said Neelix.

"Good enough," said Bendera. "All right, form up! I'm on point; Neelix, you're behind me. Souder cover our backs. Everyone else fall in between. I want to be back on Val Jean in three minutes."

The Maquis formed up. Bendera scanned the hallway with his tricorder, and, satisfied there was nobody waiting for him, lunged out. Neelix scrambled after him, followed by the rest of the Maquis. They rushed down the dark, smoky passageway, Neelix stumbling over obstacles the Maquis could see and avoid with their low-vision goggles. A luckless Kazon stumbled out of a hatchway in front of them and was blasted by Bendera before Neelix could even level his raygun.

Neelix suddenly heard more raygun fire behind him. He looked back and saw Souder firing up the passageway at some unseen target. An alarm klaxon sounded. "Intruder alert! Security to main passageway aft! Engineering prepare to scuttle the ship!"

"Shit," said Bendera. "Let's move!"

They rushed up to the hatch to main engineering hatch, gunning down two crewmen emerging with weapons drawn.

"The scuttling panel is in engineering," said Neelix. "We don't have much time."

Bendera nodded, raised his gun, and fired blindly through the engine room hatch, forcing the Kazons inside to take cover. Then he dove through.

Neelix lunged through the hatch after him. There were emergency lights on, and in the murk, he saw the chief engineer of the ship, already looking sick and pallid from the radiation leaking from his damaged engine, unlocking a control panel. Neelix aimed center of mass and dropped him in one shot.

Gunfire echoed in the engine room and Neelix crumpled in agony.

#

As the other Maquis fired on the Kazons who'd shot Neelix, Lon Suder spotted the scuttling panel and blasted it.

Bendera knelt beside Neelix. "He's hurt bad! Where's that fucking valve?"

Jonas searched through the drawers of what appeared to be the chief engineer's desk. He snatched the valve out and held it up. "Got it!"

"We have to move forward for beamout," said Bendera. "Jonas, Dalby, grab Neelix. Suder help me clear the way."

"No problem," said Suder. He took position behind cover with a line of sight through the engine room hatch, firing blasts at onrushing Kazon crewmen. He kept firing even when they turned to run away.

"Go go go!" said Bendera. "Val Jean, we're advancing out of the engine room. I'll take point. Suder, cover our backs."

The team advanced up the blacked-out passageway. Phaser blasts provided the only light. They heard more blasts and shouting coming from further forward, where the second team had beamed in as a diversion. Suder was the last out of the engine room, and closed the hatch behind them.

"That's it, you're clear," said Seska. "Hold still for beamout."

Bendera turned to check on Neelix and the ACV. A Kazon warrior appeared from around a bend. He and Suder fired at the same time. Suder hit the Kazon and vaporized him. The Kazon hit Bendera in the chest.

"Energizing!"

[RedImperator]

PART IIIc

Val Jean

The engine room team re-materialized with one engine part and two bodies. "Medical emergency!" shouted Dalby. Seska, who was just arriving in the transporter room, staggered at the sight of all the blood on the transporter pad. "There's no way we can help them here," she said. She slapped the intercom panel. "Chakotay, we have to get back to Voyager! Now! Tell them we have their engine part and casualties."

"Warping now," said A'sha.

"Come on, help me," she said. They cleared the other Maquis off the pad and stretched Neelix and Bendera out flat. Bandages, hyposprays, and dermal regenerators accumulated on a neat pile to her right. Seska scanned them both.

"How bad is it?" said Dalby.

"They both have severe internal injuries," she said. "We can slow the bleeding, but they're going to die if we can't get them to a real sickbay. Come on." She looked down at the blood-caked engine part.

Neelix's ship had been parked right in Voyager's shuttlebay just yesterday. If Janeway had her fucking act together, none of this would have happened. Seska glanced over at Suder, still holding his Cardassian phaser rifle. Their eyes met.

If she wasn't our only chance to get home…

Val Jean raced back to Ocampa as fast as her engines would carry her.

#
Wrath, en route to Ocampa

"That fucking cunt!" bellowed Jabin. "That fucking cunt and that fucking ship! How could Janeway have possibly escaped Ocampa without our notice?"

"She couldn't have!" said the radio operator. "Our advance probes are covering every escape angle. Unless Voyager can make itself invisible, it couldn't possibly have taken off without being seen."

Jabin clenched his fists and tried to calm down. Screaming wasn't going to find Janeway. "What's the disposition of our forces?"

"Scout Group Seven is still hunting for Voyager's light cone, approaching Maje Gullah. Maje Cozak's subspace transponder reports they're approaching the main fleet at faster-than-light. No sign of Voyager or Val Jean."

"I want to speak with Group Seven."

"Putting them through now," said the operator. The frightened face of some junior officer appeared on the telescreen.

"Report!" said Jabin.

"Val Jean left Maje Gulluh twenty minutes ago, my lord. Gullah's account is very confusing. They claim they were boarded by heavily armed aliens, but Val Jean never docked with them and it's too small to carry boarding shuttles. They've taken massive casualties. Deputy Maje Arzak is dead. They want to know why Maje Cozak abandoned them."

"What about Voyager?"

"We never saw Voyager on any of our sensors, my lord."

Anger was building in Jabin again. "Get me Group Leader Sankur. On video."

The young Kazon captain's face appeared on a video screen. "This is Sankur. How may I serve you, Lord Jabin?"

"Transmit your sensor logs to Wrath. And tell me what was on Maje Gullah that was so valuable to Val Jean."

"Nothing, my lord, except Neelix."

"Was it a rescue attempt?"

"I don't know, my lord. We made a tactical withdrawal before the boarding action."

"That's an interesting choice of words, Group Leader. Did Neelix have anything or know anything that would have helped Voyager?"

"I can't imagine what, my lord."

Jabin hissed. "Really? Because I can. The rodent sells spare spaceship parts, you idiot! Was he carrying any with him when he was arrested?"

"I overheard on the radio that he had an antimatter control valve."

"I see," said Jabin. That's a warp engine part...but Val Jean's warp engine obviously works.

"My lord, I have Maje Cozak's sensor logs," said the operator.

"Find me the part where Voyager shows up."

He did, and Jabin studied the tracks. The visible light, infrared, and radar signatures all looked like Voyager...but the gravitic sensors were blank.

"Tell Sankur I want his gravitic sensor logs, too."

"He claims he sent them," said the operator.

Jabin stared at the flat line on the gravity sensor.

"Small Group Leader Sankur, would you please summon your first officer?"

"Of course, my lord." He disappeared off screen for a few moments, and returned with his deputy, a man who looked rightfully terrified to be summoned before an angry Maje.

"What's your name, Deputy Small Group Leader?"

"Sorzar, Lord Jabin."

"Sorzar, do you have your personal weapon with you?"

"Yes, Lord Jabin."

"Good. Take it and execute Small Group Leader Sankur for cowardice."

"What?" said Sankur.

"It was a trick, you idiot! Voyager was never there! Sorzar, I'm not going to ask you again."

"My lord, wait--"

Sorzar placed the barrel of his gun against Sankur's head and pulled the trigger. Sankur dropped.

"Thank you, Small Group Leader Sorzar. Maje Cozak is your ship. I suggest you put it to better use than Sankur did."

"I will, my lord. Thank you, my--"

Jabin cut off the signal. "All ships, make best speed for Ocampa."

Razik waddled onto the bridge. "What's this I hear about an execution, Maje Jabin?"

"I had Small Group Commander Sankur shot for cowardice and stupidity."

Razik grunted. "No terrible loss there."

"Voyager never left Ocampa. We'll be on top of it in half an hour."

"And Predator? Is he ready?"

"Oh yes," said Jabin. "Predator is ready."

#
Voyager

"Val Jean is inbound," said Kim. "Four minutes to transporter range."

Janeway sat in the captain's chair, sweat soaking her uniform. It was over fifty degrees on the auxiliary bridge. "Where are the Kazons?" said Janeway.

"Practically right behind them, captain."

Janeway nodded and tapped her commbadge. "Engineering, are you ready?"

"Everything is prepped and ready to go," said Carey. "As soon as we have the piece, we'll install it."

"How soon until we have warp power after that?" said Janeway.

"We can button the warp core up quickly, but it will take twenty minutes to warm up the dilithium matrix."

"Twenty minutes?!"

"I'm sorry, captain. That's as fast as it's physically possible to do it.”

"Understood, engineering. Sickbay, we have two gunshot victims with severe internal bleeding on the way. Four minutes and counting."

"Sickbay is ready, captain," said the Doctor, his voice as cool and monotone as ever.

"Transporter room, what's your status?"

"Ready, captain. But we can't do anything with the shields up."

"I know, transporter room. Mr. Kim, bring repulsors online."

"Yes, ma'am."

Voyager started shaking as the antigravity lifts built up power. "Engineering, divert everything except the shields to the repulsors. Get us off the ground."

"Aye captain."

The computer sounded an alarm. "WARNING! CIRCUIT BREAKER FAILURE ON PORT IMPULSE POWER COUPLING. PORT IMPULSE POWER COUPLING AMPERAGE OVER RATED LIMIT."

"What's wrong with the circuit breakers, engineering?" said Janeway.

"I welded them closed!" said Torres.

"Fair enough," said Janeway.

"WARNING! ANTIGRAVITY REPULSOR SYSTEM OVERHEATING! SYSTEM SHUTDOWN IMMINENT!"

"Should I shut it down?" said Kim.

"If I wanted you to shut them down, I'd tell you to," said Janeway. "Engineering--"

"I'm on it," said Torres.

"WARNING! EMERGENCY REPULSOR SHUTDOWN DISABLED! REPULSOR SYSTEM TEMPERATURE EXCEEDING RATED LIMIT. SYSTEM FAILURE IMMINENT."

Come on, you bitch, prayed Janeway.

There was a shudder, and suddenly Voyager's nose lurched up.

"That's it, engineering!" said Janeway. There was another shudder and the stern came up, too. Voyager rose rapidly out of the canyon.

"Retracting landing gear," said Kim.

"Helm, get us into takeoff attitude. All hands, this is Janeway. Brace for liftoff."

Voyager's nose tilted up again, up to forty-five degrees, as steep an angle as the repulsors could manage. She hung for a moment in the scalding air.

"Engage impulse," said Janeway.

There was a blast like the end of the world, and then a steady deafening roar that drowned out a thousand alarms.

Voyager rocketed through Ocampa's atmosphere on a pillar of fire.

"Helm, take us to fifty kilometers and level off!" bellowed Janeway. At fifty kilometers above the surface, the temperature and pressure were almost Earth-normal, low enough to risk lowering the shields for a transport.

"Voyager, this is Val Jean," said Chakotay. "We're dropping warp in ten seconds."

"Roger, Chakotay," said Janeway.

"The Kazons are right behind them," said Kim. "They're converging on almost the exact same point. I think they have a pretty good idea where we were hiding, ma'am."

"You might be right," said Janeway. "Tactical, load torpedoes. Let's give them something to think about when they drop warp."

The bridge doors slid open. "Permission to enter the bridge, captain," said Tuvok.

"Granted," said Janeway. She patted the empty first officer's chair.

#

“You lied to her,” said Torres. “It’s not physically impossible to start the warp core faster than twenty minutes.”

“It is if you don’t want to blow the ship apart,” said Carey.

“Not true. You could-- ”

“No,” said Carey. “I’m not doing it. That’s only ever worked once, and they were ridiculously lucky they pulled it off. I’ve spent three days trying to put this spaceship back together and I’m not going to blow it up now to save twenty minutes.”

“We might not get twenty minutes,” said Torres.

“We’ll worry about that if we have to.” He glared at her, and then added, "And don't you dare try suggesting it to Janeway, either."

#
Val Jean

Ocampa reared out of the blackness and exploded onto Val Jean's viewscreen as A'sha dropped the raider out of warp.

"I see Voyager on scan," said Seska. "Kazons right behind us. Dropping warp...here they come!"

"On screen," said Chakotay.

Seska switched to the rear view camera. Fifteen battlewagons and twice that many scouts were less than one thousand kilometers behind Val Jean.

"Captain!" said Seska. That was all she had time to say before four photon torpedoes went screaming by Val Jean, struck the lead Kazon battleship, and completely blew it apart.

#
Wrath

Razik and Jabin stared in disbelief and horror as four antimatter missiles struck the battleship Revenge and destroyed it in seconds.

"This was a mistake," said Razik.

They can't have that many missiles, thought Jabin. "All battleship, return to warp!" said Jabin. "Rendezvous on the far side of the moon! Scouts, find the source of those missiles!"

#
Val Jean

Janeway's opening salvo had driven the battleships away, but someone had guessed (rightly) that Voyager couldn't afford to use photon torpedoes against scouts. Val Jean darted and weaved and desperately tried to avoid their fire.

"Come about mark zero three five!" shouted Chakotay. "Lock phasers on target India and fire as soon as you have a shot!"

"Hogan, I need more power to the phasers!" said Seska.

Val Jean rocked with a hit from behind.

"Bogey on our tail," said Seska. "Aft phaser off line; I can't scrape him off."

"Hogan, max power to aft shields," said Chakotay. "Val Jean to Voyager."

"Voyager here," said Janeway.

"I could use some fire support."

"We'll give away our position if we do."

"If you don't, we're going to die," he said.

Beat. "Stand by, Chakotay."

"Stand by? What the fuck does that mean?!" said Seska.

A phaser beam swept up from the clouds and cut the chasing Kazon scout in half.

"Oh," said Seska. "That."

"Oh, no," said A'sha. "I think they found her."

All but a handful of Kazon ships started ignoring Val Jean and started firing missiles into Ocampa's atmosphere.

"Detecting high concentrations of plutonium-238 and uranium-235 in the missile warheads," said Seska. "Those are nukes."

"Target them!" said Chakotay. "Janeway, you have a nuclear strike inbound on your position."

#
Voyager

"…nuclear strike inbound on your position."

"Dive!" said Janeway.

Voyager heeled over and plunged back towards the troposphere.

#
Wrath

"The scouts have Voyager targeted. They're diving back into the atmosphere."

"All battleships, warp back to Ocampa," said Razik.

On an unwatched viewscreen, the hulk of the battleship Predator settled into lunar orbit alone.

#

Val Jean

Val Jean dove into Ocampa's atmosphere behind Voyager. Seska reached out with quick, cool phaser shots, just enough to send the missiles tumbling.

"We're not getting them fast enough," she said.

The missiles weren't shielded and weren't dodging very well, but they were rocketing down at Mach 25. From down below the clouds came phaser shots from Voyager, swatting more away, but they weren't whittling their numbers down fast enough, either.

We're not going to get a chance to lower our shields for transport, thought Chakotay. Even if they survive this, the Kazons will never give us enough time for that. "Hogan! You need to think up a way to transport through shields!"

"Ripple the shields. It'll open a millisecond hole. It'll be enough to get one person through."

"We have two people to send," said Chakotay.

"That's the best I can do, captain," said Hogan.

Chakotay wanted to shout "That's not good enough!", but that kind of thing never worked for him.

"Chakotay, the battleships are back," said Seska.

"Take us into the troposphere, A'sha," said Chakotay.

"We won't last long down there," said Seska.

"We won't last long up here, either." He watched the missiles close on Voyager on his screen. "If Voyager is still here in ten seconds, open a channel."

#

Voyager

Voyager plunged into Ocampa's nightmare atmosphere, missiles closing in. Janeway gripped her armrests with sweating hands and wished there was something she could actually do.

"Three missiles closing in," said Kim. "Five seconds to impact!"

A shot from Val Jean blew one of the missiles away. Voyager nailed another with a snap burst from the short emitters on the back side of her saucer. The final missile burned in clean.

"All hands, brace for impact!" said Janeway.

The missile's warhead detonated a kilometer above them. Voyager's shields were seared by a blaze of hellish light. An instant later came the blast wave, striking Voyager's entire dorsal profile, crushing the ship like the hammer of God.

On the bridge, the crew was tossed around in their seats. Something behind the forward bulkhead exploded, spraying the helmsman with shards of burning plastic. He screamed and fell to the deck.

Janeway waited a beat for the helmsman's backup to take over, only to realize there weren't any backups left. "Bridge to sickbay! Medical emergency!" she shouted. With nobody at the control, the ship pitched aft, dragged down by the weight of the warp coils. She was very close to falling "off" her repulsor beams and plunging ass-first all the way to the ground.

"Is there anybody on this bridge who can fly a starship?" she said. When she got no response, she bolted forward, swept the remaining burning bits off the panel and the chair, and took the helm herself. Voyager bucked and shook as she tried to get her stable again.

"Voyager, this is Chakotay. We're diving to your altitude. We're going to make a pinhole in our shields and beam the part and a casualty through."

"How do we open a pinhole in the shields?" said Janeway.

"You have to ripple the shields just the right way," he said. "Do you have anyone who knows how?"

Gombe would, she thought. So would three or four others, all dead. It was a struggle to think and try to control the ship at the same time; Voyager had the aerodynamics of a bread truck.

"I can do it, captain," said Tuvok.

"Take the tactical station," she said.

The bridge doors hissed open and three sickbay orderlies ran in, including Tom Paris. She looked down at the helm panel. Why not? she thought.

"Paris! Can you fly a starship?"

"Yes ma'am," he said.

"Get over here and take the helm!"

Janeway stood up to let Paris take the controls. For an instant, there was a look of panic on his face as he scanned the panel, and Janeway thought she'd just made a mistake. But then his fingers started dancing across the controls, and Voyager's flight settled down.

"Chakotay, this is Janeway. We have our flight stabilized and Tuvok can pinhole the shields. Get that part down here before the Kazons try to nuke us again."

#
Val Jean

"You heard the lady," said Chakotay. "A'sha, get us closer. We're not going to have a lot of bandwidth and there's a ton of electrical interference in this atmosphere."

High above them, in Ocampa orbit, the Kazon battleships began firing their coilguns down into the atmosphere, aiming for Voyager. They looked like thunderbolts on the main viewscreen.

"We're flying into that," said Seska.

"It looks like the shells are burning up," said Chakotay.

"They have to have ammunition designed for a situation like this," said Seska. As soon as her words were out of her mouth, the shellfire stopped.

"What happened?" said A'sha.

"They're reloading," said Seska.

"Jaxz, give them something else to shoot at," said Chakotay. "Seska, this is going to be a tricky transport. I want you at the controls. I'll pinhole the shields."

"Yes, captain," she said. She hurried off the bridge. Chakotay took her place.

Thirteen battleships left. Voyager didn't have enough photon torpedoes to stop them all, and Val Jean's phasers wouldn't penetrate their armor. Voyager needed to get main power back online, or they were all going to die. He considered, for a moment, just warping off and abandoning them, leaving them to the tender mercies of the Kazons while the surviving Maquis figured out the next step on their own.

He remembered the offer he'd tried to convince Janeway to make. Val Jean was packed with goodies that would be worth a fortune to Razik...

And he'll never, ever honor any deal you make. Chakotay had spent enough time listening to the promises of Cardassian guls and Federation admirals to know a liar when he saw one.

"We're closing in on transporter range," said A'sha.

#

Down in Val Jean's transporter room, they had Neelix and Bendera laid out side by side. The blood-caked ACV was resting on Bendera's stomach, ready to beam over with him.

"We're going to get you out of here, Kurt," said Seska.

"Twenty seconds, Seska," said Chakotay.

"Acknowledged," she said. "Transporter powered up and standing by."

Bendera's eyes opened. He tried to speak, but Seska couldn't hear him. He beckoned her with one finger. She rushed by his side.

"What is it?" she said. "Are you in pain?"

He struggled for breath. "Don't try to speak," said Seska, but he ignored her.

"What about him?" he said. He gestured, ever so slightly, at Neelix.

"We'll send him down next," she said.

"Only one chance," he said.

"That's not true," she lied. Of course they weren't going to get another shot. Any moment, the Kazons would start raining shells on them again.

Bendera was fighting not to pass out. "Kurt, just--"

With a sudden burst of strength, he picked the valve off his chest and put it on Neelix's.

"Kurt, what the hell are you doing?" she said. She reached for the valve.

"No. Him first," said Bendera.

"Ten seconds, Seska," said Chakotay.

"Kurt," said Seska, reaching for the valve again.

"He saved us," he said. “They were going to set off a scuttling charge in the engine room. If it hadn't been for Neelix, we all would have died.”

Her hand hung over the valve. She knew Bendera didn’t have the strength to give it to Neelix a second time.

“Please, Jiasha,” said Bendera. “We owe him that much.”

"Seska, we're in range! Are you ready? Where the hell are you?"

Seska dashed back to the controls. She watched the instruments, and when the moment came, Neelix and the valve dissolved. A moment later came the confirmation signal from Voyager. And then Val Jean banked hard and pushed to full impulse, rocketing away from Voyager.

"A'sha, what are you doing! We have another transport left!"

"The Kazons are shooting at us again!" she said.

"Seska, get back up here," said Chakotay. "We'll beam the alien over later if we can."

She looked over to Bendera. He smiled faintly at her. Then his eyes fluttered shut.

Seska screamed and pounded the transporter controls.

#

Voyager

The streams of information, energy, and particles that had been and would be Neelix and the valve squirted through a microscopic hole in Voyager's shields, into a transport receiver, through Voyager's own transporter system, and then diverged, rebeamed to their respective destinations. Neelix materialized on a surgical bed in Sickbay, where a baffled Doctor (who had been told to expect a human) had to figure out a dying alien's physiology in the three or four minutes of life it had left. The valve went to main engineering, materializing on a platform by an open warp core maintenance hatch, where the old valve, already pulled, lay nearby.

B'Elana Torres snatched it up along with her adapters and scooted into the crawlway. Luckily, Voyager was a brand new starship, and the warp core's components hadn't had time to become radioactive yet, so she could work in the access tunnel without a radiation suit.

Voyager rocked and bucked in Ocampa's air. Unbeknownst to her, Tom Paris was on the auxiliary bridge, trying to make a 100,000 ton starship dodge shellfire from the Kazons like a runabout.

Torres didn't bother trying to clean the blood off the valve (Whose blood?, she thought). It took three minutes to attach the socket adapters and several other adapters that would allow the valve to receive power and computer control from Federation systems. It took another two and a half to insert it. She worked with speed and grace and silence. She could have done it with her eyes closed.

"It's in!" she shouted when the last connection was made. She tossed her tools down the tunnel and slithered out after them. Vorick was already at the warp system master controls.

"The forcefield is operational," said Vorick. "We have an intact supply line to the intermix chamber."

"Good job, people," said Carey. "Vorick, start the warming cycle. Bridge, this is Carey."

"Janeway here."

"You'll have warp power in twenty minutes. Start the clock."

#

Val Jean

The crew of Val Jean didn't have time to celebrate the good news.

"Attack pattern Chakotay Sigma," said Chakotay. "Oscar is primary! A'sha, watch the sky; we're getting pinged by tracking radar!"

"They're not reacting to the decoys I'm broadcasting," said Jaxz. "I think they've figured out the trick."

"Just jam them," said Chakotay.

There was a crash and an explosion and suddenly Val Jean was tumbling. "Direct hit to the impulse reactor!" said Seska.

"Bridge, fire in the engine compartment!" shouted Hogan.

Two Kazon scouts took phaser hits from below and disintegrated. "Val Jean, this is Voyager. We're climbing to torpedo launch altitude. We'll try to cover you."

"Negative, Voyager. We're taking too many hits; we have to pull out. We'll try to get back in the fight as soon as we can."

Chakotay never saw who launched the missile. All he knew was that without warning, A'sha threw Val Jean into a dive. That saved them from the worst of the blast, but when the nuke went off, they still took enough of it to knock out their shields for good.

"Antimatter containment failure!" screamed Hogan. "Ejecting the warp core and antimatter pods!"

And with that, Val Jean lost power for the last time. As Voyager had nearly done, she tipped over backwards with the weight of her warp coils, and plunged into the toxic abyss.

#

Wrath

"Hit to Val Jean! They're in free fall!"

Jabin clicked on the all-fleet radio circuit. "Voyager is trying to climb high enough that the air doesn't crush their antimatter missiles," he said. "Don't let them." He turned to Razik. "Another nuclear strike--"

"No," said Razik. "We might still be able to salvage something."

Jabin didn't get angry; he'd expected it. He noticed that as soon as Val Jean lost power, all the phantom spaceships and sensor ghosts that had been plaguing the fleet had vanished for a moment. He wondered if Voyager had the same ability. If enough of the wreckage of either ship survived, he was going to make sure Ogla engineers learned the same trick. In that, at least, he could understand Razik's reasoning.

"I have Voyager bracketed with the main guns," said the weapons office.

"Fire!" said Jabin.

#

Voyager had been taking Kazon shell hits for several minutes. Even with her shields badly weakened, she'd held them off, and the Kazons either couldn't or wouldn't put together another coordinated nuclear strike. Janeway was starting to think they'd get out of this after all.

"Val Jean's in trouble," said Kim. "She's lost power and she's falling fast."

"Life signs?"

"I can't tell. I think the Kazons are trying to jam our sensors."

"Captain, I can get close enough to beam them out," said Paris.

"If we do that, we won't be able to launch torpedoes," said Tuvok.

"Tuvok, they're our friends!" said Paris.

"In the time it takes us to rescue them, the Kazons will certainly destroy us both."

Janeway said nothing. They just saved our lives! she thought.

She imagined Chakotay standing next to her. You're not going to have your cake and eat it too. You can't save us.

"Maintain course, Mr. Paris," said Janeway.

Later she'd think if Voyager had turned, she might have gotten out from underneath Wrath's guns.

The Kazon heavy shell was made of depleted uranium and weighed nearly half a ton. It blew through Voyager's dorsal shields like a bullet through a soap bubble, through the entire thickness of the saucer, and out the other side.

On the way through, it had obliterated the power junction supplying electricity to the repulsors. The backup tried to take over, exploded in a shower of sparks thanks to unrepaired fire damage, and died. The repulsors shut down. Voyager, she of the bread truck aerodynamics, started falling like one.

#

Torres felt and heard the hit down in engineering. Seconds later, Voyager was falling.

"Impulse status!" shouted Carey.

"Impulse propellant pumps are not responding," said Vorick.

"WARNING! UNRECOVERABLE FAILURE IN THE REPULSOR SYSTEM. TWO MINUTES TO IMPACT."

"We've got to get the warp drive online!" said Torres. "It's our only chance!"

"We've barely started the warming cycle!" said Carey. "We'll blow the ship apart!"

"Not if we do a Scott restart!"

"I told you once already, no! Do you know how many times that's ever worked?!"

"Once!" said Torres. "So what? If the ship blows up now, what's the fucking difference?"

The noise of the rushing air outside the hull was building. They were tilted ninety degrees backwards; if the artificial gravity failed, they'd all smash themselves on the far bulkhead.

"That's not the only thing! Even if it does work…."

"What?! Even if it does work, what?"

"We'll go backwards in time!" shouted Carey.

"Who cares?!" shouted B'Elana.

"I believe the logic of her position is inescapable, sir," said Vorick. Carey said nothing for a moment, clearly at a loss for a retort.

He tapped his commbadge. "Bridge, we're going to attempt a controlled implosion. Stand by for warp power!"

#

Ensign Wildman was still at her post even as Voyager fell. She touched her belly. Sorry about all this, she thought.

Something flickered on the screen--a thermal bloom far below. Val Jean? No, Val Jean was still in the air. It was coming from one of the towers.

"Captain, something's happening on the planet," she said. Nobody was listening.

#

Wrath

"Voyager is falling, my lord," said the weapons officer. "Ninety seconds to impact."

"Should we let them enjoy their final plunge?" said Razik.

"No," said Jabin. "If they escape us again while we are gloating--."

"I take your point," said Razik. "All ships, target Voyager. You may fire when ready."

The sensor operator piped up. "My lord, another Federation starship just dropped out of warp. They're right on top of us!"

"It's another one of their fucking tricks," said Jabin. "Target Voyager with main guns and--"

The three photon torpedoes struck Wrath amidships, throwing Razik, Jabin, and the rest of the command crew through the air.

#

Voyager

"Stand by for warp power!"

Janeway held on to her armrests with a white knuckle grip. "Mr. Paris," she said, over the building noise of the falling spaceship, "set course zero mark zero, warp one on my command."

"Setting course dead ahead, aye captain."

"Captain, we are being pinged by Kazon targeting radar," said Tuvok. "All fourteen battleships are charging their primary weapons."

Well, this is it, Kathryn, thought Janeway.

"Captain, there's another starship approaching at warp!" said Kim. "It's...it's a Starfleet ship! Intrepid class, dropping warp right in the middle of the Kazons!"

"On screen!"

High above them in orbit, a Federation starship, identical in appearance to Voyager swooped in on the Kazon fleet, wrecked a battleship with three photon torpedoes, then tore into another with phasers.

"Captain, I'm detecting major thermal, electrical, subspace, and seismic activity on the surface!" said Wildman. "It's...it's everywhere! The entire planet is lighting up!" There was a sound like amplifier feedback, coming from everywhere and nowhere, rising in volume around them.

"Bridge, warp drive ready!," said Carey.

"Punch it!"

#

Torres held her breath as the valves and gates opened and Voyager's warp core surged back to life. There was the whine of the warp drive building power, and then suddenly Voyager was moving faster than the speed of light.

"We did it!" she said. The engineers broke into cheering and applause. Torres looked over her shoulder and spied the ship's chronometer. It was running backwards.

"Engineering to bridge, we did it!" said Carey.

"Lieutenant, I think you need to take a look at this," said Rodriguez. He was pointing at a display panel.

"What's the problem?" said Carey.

Voyager shuddered hard enough that B'Elana had to grab a handrail to stay upright; the red alert klaxon howled. Carey and Torres rushed to Rodriguez's station.

"Oh, shit," said Torres.

"'Oh shit' is right," said Carey. "Bridge, this is Engineering. We're in a resonance cycle with our own warp field--" He grabbed the panel as Voyager shuddered again. "Stand by, I'll try to break us out of it."

"Do you want us to drop warp?" said Janeway.

"No!" said Carey and Torres together.

Carey clarified: "If we drop warp without breaking the resonance, it will tear the ship apart."

"Understood," said Janeway.

"All right," said Carey, "this is bad, but it isn't a crisis. Let's see if we can choke back--" shudder "--the plasma stream and weaken the field strength. Vorick, we're going to soften the SIF and let the ship flex at bulkheads four, twelve, and nineteen."

Torres tuned him out. A temperature gauge had caught her eye.

"Lieutenant, what's the normal operating temperature for your reactor?" she said.

"Where?"

"In the reaction chamber walls."

"Ten million kelvin at the force field boundary, thirty-five hundred in the wall structure itself."

"You're at four thousand," she said.

"Residual heat from the implosion," he said.

"I don't think so," said Torres.

"WARNING! COOLANT PUMP B FAILURE. INSUFFICIENT COOLANT TO REACTOR CORE INTERMIX CHAMBER."

"This is why you're supposed to run a level one diagnostic on the system before you restart the warp core," said Carey. "Rodriguez, Vorick, get ready to try to break the resonance. Torres, find out what's wrong with the pump. Engineering to bridge, we have a new problem."

Voyager shuddered, harder than before, and then bucked violently. Carey looked to Rodriguez.

Rodriguez shook his head. "We're still in the resonance, sir."

Torres's fingers danced across the Okudagram that controlled the engine coolant system. The hot plasma in the reaction chamber never touched the reaction chamber walls, but the radiant heat would melt them if there wasn't enough coolant flowing through.

"WARNING! REACTOR COOLANT SYSTEM OVERPRESSURE."

"Torres, what the hell are you doing? Reduce the flow volume before you blow the coolant lines!"

"Wait!" said Torres. "The coolant--"

Carey reached over her shoulder and turned down the flow himself. "God damn it, when I give you an order--"

A new alarm sounded almost instantly. "WARNING! CORE TEMPERATURE CRITICAL! THREE MINUTES TO INTERMIX CHAMBER INTEGRITY FAILURE!"

"You idiot!" said Torres. "We were already under flow!"

"That doesn't make any sense! How could we be over-pressure and under-flow at the same time?" said Carey.

"The coolant is boiling," said Vorick. "The vapor voids are inhibiting coolant flow and raising the system pressure."

"It's a positive feedback loop," said Rodriguez. "The more vapor, the less efficient the coolant system, and the less efficient the system, the more the coolant boils."

"And lowering the fucking coolant pressure just boiled a shitload more of it," said Torres. "Good job, Mr. Professional Engineer."

"WARNING! REACTOR COOLANT SYSTEM FAILURE IMMINENT. TWO MINUTES TO INTERMIX CHAMBER INTEGRITY FAILURE."

"Rodriguez, try the high pressure coolant injectors," said Torres.

"Already did," said Rodriguez. "It didn't have any effect. If we do it again, we'll burst half the coolant pipes."

"I didn't think," said Carey, to nobody in particular. "I'm sorry, I didn't think."

The doors to engineering slid open. Janeway walked in.

"Captain," said Carey, composing himself.

"What's going on?"

"We're two minutes from a warp core breach if we can't shut the reactor down," said Carey.

"Then we don't have any choice," said Janeway. "We have to drop warp."

The engineers didn't respond.

"Right?" said Janeway.

"She's right," said Torres. "We have a better chance of breaking warp safely than we do of running the reactor any longer without a breach."

"There are a few more things we can try to break the resonance," said Carey.

"WARNING! ONE MINUTE THIRTY SECONDS TO WARP CORE BREACH."

"Try them quickly," said Janeway.

Carey, Rodriguez, and Vorick took their stations. After a moment of frenzied button-pushing, Voyager bucked and rolled.

"Shit!" said Carey. "Vorick, cut it off."

"This isn't going to work," said Torres to Janeway. "You have to order them to drop warp."

Janeway tapped her commbadge. "All hands, all hands, prepare for hull breach. Take shelter in internal compartments and locate the nearest emergency vacuum gear locker. Mr. Kim, raise all the emergency forcefields that still work."

"Yes ma'am," said Kim.

Voyager shook and bucked again. Something blew out and started venting steam into the engine room.

"WARNING! HULL STRESSES EXCEEDING DESIGN MAXIMUMS. HULL FAILURE IMMINENT."

"That's enough, Mr. Carey," said Janeway. "Prepare to shut down the warp drive."

"Captain, we still might--"

"Just do it, Mr. Carey. Now!"

Carey froze for a moment, and Janeway drew in a breath, prepared to relieve him on the spot.

"Mr. Rodriguez," he said, "shut down the reaction feed pumps."

"Yes, sir," said Rodriguez.

Rodriguez's fingers played over the main control board. For a breathless instant, nothing happened.

The shock that followed knocked everyone off their feet. Voyager shook like a train running off the rails.

Janeway grabbed a handrail, trying to pull herself to her feet. She could see Carey shouting orders, but couldn't hear him over the noise.

A short, young, female crewman with close-cropped blonde hair dashed into the control area, seemingly unaffected by the buffeting and rolling of the deck beneath her feet. She took up a station between Carey and Torres and began working the controls.

Gradually, Voyager's vibrations settled down, until the ship was was running smooth and silent. The red alert siren stopped.

"We're in an unpowered warp glidedown," said Carey, sounding like he couldn't believe his own eyes. "We'll be at sublight in ten seconds."

"What the hell just happened?" said Janeway.

"Our own warp bubble was trying to tear the ship to pieces," said Carey. "And then somehow, we surged out of it without crossing any warp factor threshold boundaries. Then we just coasted to a stop."

"'Somehow?'" said Janeway. "That's the best you have?"

"It's the best I have," said Torres. "How the hell did...? Captain, we should all be stone dead right now."

"What else is new?" said Janeway.

"Paris to Janeway. We just dropped warp."

"Where and when are we?" said Janeway.

"We're...we're in the Ocampa system Oort cloud. Captain, we were only doing Warp 1. That's only light speed. I don't know how--"

"I know how fast Warp 1 is. What day is it, Mr. Paris?"

"Stardate 48302," said Paris.

"That's three days before Val Jean arrived here," said Torres. "Holy shit."

"Any sign of the Kazons?" said Janeway.

"None nearby," said Kim.

"Captain," said Tuvok. "I have analyzed sensor logs taken just before we departed Ocampa. I have identified the Federation starship that attacked the Kazons as USS Voyager."

Janeway looked around. Everyone was obviously at least as confused as she was.

"Say again, Tuvok," said Janeway.

"The Federation starship that attacked the Kazons was USS Voyager. NCC-74656."

"Well," said Janeway. "That's interesting, isn't it?"

Motion at the corner of her eye drew Janeway's attention. She turned and saw the blonde crewman--with alien ears, Janeway realized--casually walking away from the control station.

"Wait a minute," said Carey. "What's your name? Why aren't you wearing a commbadge?"

The alien ignored him. Carey stepped towards her, intending perhaps to physically stop her. Without looking at him, the alien grabbed Carey by the collar with one hand and shoved him away.

"Intruder alert," said Janeway.

The alien suddenly stopped walking. She made a half turn toward Janeway, froze, and then collapsed.

"Sickbay, this is engineering," said Torres. "Medical emergency!"

"What the hell is going on here?" said Carey, dragging himself back to his feet.

"I don't know," said Janeway. She crouched close beside the unconscious alien. "Who are you?" she said.

[Morilore]

I was wondering in the previous draft if Kes was going to show up!

[Stofsk]

Hahaha a Scott restart! That's brilliant.

I really like how everyone is kind of falling into a place where they should be, like how Paris came to the auxiliary bridge as a sickbay orderly and ended up taking the helm. Or Torres demonstrating that she's the better engineer than Carey. I also like how you've laid the seeds for a burgeoning friendship between Tuvok and Janeway. It's different to the show but sort of respectful of it at the same time.

The little touches that again, refer to the show but expand on them - Kurt Bendera, Lon Suder, Seska etc - are all really good. Can't wait til next week.

[Stark]

Isn't it kind of counter productive to rewrite Caretaker to not suck and then have everything be the same anyway? I mean I know the name recognition ties an authors hands (you couldn't kill Torres and leave the far more interesting Carey in charge), but I guess once finished you could just stop and say 'lol that easy'.

Is it intentional that the level of mechanical exposition is increasing?

[Themightytom]

Isn't it kind of counter productive to rewrite Caretaker to not suck and then have everything be the same anyway?

Um NO Stark? the story is going great and it's brilliant precisely because it doesn't suck but it follows recognizable lines? Why the fuck write a completely different story like everyone else when Red is doing something entirely better? He's clearly producing something amazing.

I mean I know the name recognition ties an authors hands (you couldn't kill Torres and leave the far more interesting Carey in charge), but I guess once finished you could just stop and say 'lol that easy'.

Do you ever start with a reasonable assumption? How is name recognition tying his hands, he created a Captain to replace the canon captain's position, and rewrote the Canon Captain as a Lieutenant. Clearly he's not afraid to change what he wants to change, what. you have a vendetta against Torres? She's plenty interesting in this story, especially as a counterpoint to Carey. Torres would turn Voyager into a death trap only she could manage without Carey there to balance her emotional genius with a more level head, Carey would get everyone killed trying to follow established procedures, I mean seriously? Did you miss the entire point of the ship falling towards the planet and Carey still reluctant to try the Scott restart?

Is it intentional that the level of mechanical exposition is increasing?

I find the explanation of calamity surprising and refreshing. Shit keeps hitting the fan, but the exposition is both in character for a highly advanced civilization, and consistently plausible. "oh we HAVE to do the restart now? Not just because they are shooting at us, but because the ship is literally falling into an atmosphere that will crush it before it even has time to crash? What about all the back up systems, what about all the alternatives? Oh right, we've literally seen them all used up one by one."

So now being crazy risky is plausible and reasonable. Now Voyager has time to do the two plots sensibly, that in the original made it cluttered and awkward. Red preserves key dramatic elements rearranges events to make them plausible and develops the essence of characters without abandoning their recognizability. How is this, in your eyes counterproductive?

[Stofsk]

Isn't it kind of counter productive to rewrite Caretaker to not suck and then have everything be the same anyway? I mean I know the name recognition ties an authors hands (you couldn't kill Torres and leave the far more interesting Carey in charge), but I guess once finished you could just stop and say 'lol that easy'.

I don't think so, because they're NOT the same. In the original show, the characters are slotted in with nary a thought about it. Early on there was a plot in the episode immediately following 'Caretaker' that had Carey complain about Torres. Beyond the fact Carey was barely given any character arc in that episode (and barely referred to again subsequently), Torres replaced Carey as a matter of course and that was that. In this, there is at least a demonstrable difference in terms of character and ability between the two, and you can see where someone like Torres could advance to become Chief Engineer over someone like Carey who was too rigid and inflexible in his approach to the job. But at the same time, you can see the story possibilities that could follow from that, unlike the show which just went 'lol and everyone lived happily ever after and Carey was never heard from again'.

That alone sets it apart.

[RedImperator]

One of the things I wanted to do when I set out on this project was to keep close to the original while still putting my own spin on it. Gradually I drifted away from the original plot, but I still wanted to touch the same notes with the characters, even if I get there a different way.

Is it intentional that the level of mechanical exposition is increasing?

Kind of an unavoidable side effect of where the plot went in this section. Probably the most intentional part was the details of the warp core near-meltdown, which was basically an abridged retelling of the Three Mile Island accident.

'lol and everyone lived happily ever after and Carey was never heard from again'.

That's not entirely true: he disappeared for like six seasons and then he died.

[Simon_Jester]

Hahaha a Scott restart! That's brilliant.

Yah. I just watched that episode a few weeks ago.

The only thing that would have made it more awesome (for me) would be:

"We'll go backwards in time!" shouted Carey.
"Who cares?!" "Good!" shouted B'Elana.

Because there's really no downside to the time jump from a ballsy person's point of view. They're in an intolerable situation that only they can bail themselves out of, after all.

As for the rest- I like the art that's going into this. It's clear that Red is trying to create something that can 'replace' the pilot of Voyager without actually changing any critical part of the plot. So all the character relationships have to fall into more or less the same positions- but the best way to do this is to have tension about whether such relationships work (is Janeway fit for command, is Torres better than Carey), and then resolve it all during the climax. Which Red is now doing.

Isn't it kind of counter productive to rewrite Caretaker to not suck and then have everything be the same anyway? I mean I know the name recognition ties an authors hands (you couldn't kill Torres and leave the far more interesting Carey in charge), but I guess once finished you could just stop and say 'lol that easy'.

Is it intentional that the level of mechanical exposition is increasing?

I think that's Red's self-imposed challenge. He's not trying to write a better pilot episode of Voyager, he's trying to rewrite the existing episode to make it better while still fitting it into the same overall story. That is if anything more difficult.

[Stark]

I find the explanation of calamity surprising and refreshing. Shit keeps hitting the fan, but the exposition is both in character for a highly advanced civilization, and consistently plausible. "oh we HAVE to do the restart now? Not just because they are shooting at us, but because the ship is literally falling into an atmosphere that will crush it before it even has time to crash? What about all the back up systems, what about all the alternatives? Oh right, we've literally seen them all used up one by one."

You don't understand. Red is a technically proficient individual and he knows how to talk about gamma rays, but between the first and second posting the amount of HEY GUYS THIS IS STAR TREK WORDS went up. Its probably (as Red says) unavoidable because the jeopardy is driven by daft technobabble and manufacturer's repulsor voltage adapters, but it isn't compelling to me at all (and probably unnecessary because the broad strokes are readily understandable to everyone). Its like how all combat is constant micro jumps. Fun the first twenty times then you start wondering if anyone will ever fight any other way. :V

The idea that this 'replaces' but 'doesn't change critical part' is just... its ... ridiculous. I mean, if the goal is essentially fanservice or a personal test to replace a huge missed opportunity with character drama and 5000 warp strafes that's fine, but there is no meaningful way you could get the Voyager series out of this, because its fundamentally changed. Drifting away from the original plot is good. It should be Red's Voyager, not Red's Quite Different But Still Slavishly Connected To Voyager.

And lol, I totally thought Carey died in the pilot, because he never seemed to appear again. That's pretty funny.

[Crayz9000]

It is Red's Voyager, or have you missed the overall theme? It's the basic theme (Starfleet stranded in Delta Quadrant with no way home) done the way it should have been. The fact that Voyager is going to be in basically the same state that they were at the end of the OTL pilot means little, because the butterflies have changed everything else.

Most importantly, the fact that Janeway recognizes that she's in way over her head means there is practically no way the rest of the show would play out as it did in canon.

[Stark]

Thats... what I just said? Just to help you out,

I mean, if the goal is essentially fanservice or a personal test to replace a huge missed opportunity with character drama and 5000 warp strafes that's fine, but there is no meaningful way you could get the Voyager series out of this, because its fundamentally changed.

This is why I don't value events, people or situations that are kinda sorta like they were in the show; the show sucked. This is different. Nothing that happened on the show should be relevant to this story (outside broad strokes like the planet has clone guys underground and the Viidians have a stupid disease etc). This is why Torres is less interesting than Carey; we know Torres is xyz and abc from a vaguely related TV show, but here she's just possibly mentally ill. As a result of the structure (I guess) the Maqius have less screen time and seem less developed than the Starfleet guys, and Carey plays directly into one of the core conflicts, which is centered on Janeway.

I mean, who'd just brush all that aside and make it a happy family of guys in pyjamas? Oh... right. :V

[Uraniun235]

Luckily, Voyager was a brand new starship, and the warp core's components hadn't had time to become radioactive yet, so she could work in the access tunnel without a radiation suit.

My understanding was that matter-antimatter annihilation mostly produces gamma rays and subatomic particles; if that's the case then there wouldn't be neutron activation occurring that would make the components themselves radioactive. Or am I missing something here?

[Themightytom]

You don't understand. Red is a technically proficient individual and he knows how to talk about gamma rays, but between the first and second posting the amount of HEY GUYS THIS IS STAR TREK WORDS went up. Its probably (as Red says) unavoidable because the jeopardy is driven by daft technobabble and manufacturer's repulsor voltage adapters, but it isn't compelling to me at all (and probably unnecessary because the broad strokes are readily understandable to everyone). Its like how all combat is constant micro jumps. Fun the first twenty times then you start wondering if anyone will ever fight any other way. :V

Stark just because he posted it all at once doesn't mean you have to read it all at once, if it's too much to soak in just break it up on your own. I don't think your problem is content, it sounds like it's more presentation, as in, your attention is wandering because he posted so many chapters at once.

The idea that this 'replaces' but 'doesn't change critical part' is just... its ... ridiculous. I mean, if the goal is essentially fanservice or a personal test to replace a huge missed opportunity with character drama and 5000 warp strafes that's fine, but there is no meaningful way you could get the Voyager series out of this, because its fundamentally changed. Drifting away from the original plot is good. It should be Red's Voyager, not Red's Quite Different But Still Slavishly Connected To Voyager.

You should reread his reasons for writing this in order to better understand what he's doing with it, because you're having difficulty with a pretty foundational aspect of his approach. I don't know about other people, but the reason I've been enjoying this isn't just because Red is good at putting sentences together or even writing jargon, it's because what he's doing is brilliant. He has taken a global perspective of Voyager, identified key elements, broken down what they contribute, and is now recombining those elements into a MORE EFFECTIVE story. It's like figuring out a cake recipe by tasting the ingredients, and then using the same ingredients to make a better cake.

Once upon a time, I had an idea for a little side project. I thought it might be fun to rewrite the pilot episode of Star Trek: Voyager as a novella-length story, keeping the basic plot elements and characters, but taking a totally different approach to it, sort of a "If I had been Voyager's executive producer" project (with a side of "If we had a motion picture budget" and "If we were on a premium cable channel instead of a broadcast network").

The goal was pretty clear from the get go, I mean he up and stated it, now that it is presumably clear to YOU what he's doing, are you going to just troll like he shouldn't continue because you Stark don't happen to like it? Because implying that he's slavishly connected to voyager, or hamstringed by a desire not to kill characters, kind of sounds like you might actually be confusing what you want to see with what he wants to do. Red seems pretty willing to do what he he wants to do, I mean he did manage to cobble together a pretty decent sized fanfic that most of the reviews so far agree is extremely innovative? I think we can rest assured if he wants to kill someone off, they're going the way of Harry's clarinet.

And lol, I totally thought Carey died in the pilot, because he never seemed to appear again. That's pretty funny.

yeah..and Ensign Wildman... who was pregnant with Naomi when they left DS9, didn't actually show up on screen until what halfway through season two?

That's kind of a long pregnancy... so I hope you can see that part of what Red has been doing has been setting up the series as a whole, rather then cobbling it together as parts interest him, and retconning when he backs into a corner, he's taking a longer view, leaving himself the option for future fics, which is why just up and killing off a goldmine of plot is silly.

[Stark]

Its starting to look like you actually have no idea what I'm saying. Your quote from Red is just confusing in its irrelevance. If you're going to get butthurt that for me, there is no value in attempting to constrain events to the series, showing Red saying he wanted to work with the plot and characters is not a strong response. Just in case you're too busy being a posturing flamewarrior to catch on, I don't have any problem with the plot trajectory for you to violently knee-jerk against. Unlike Star Trek 'fans', however, I don't get tasty chemicals in my brain every time events are kind-of (but not-really) like they were in the show. I think dramatically and narratively it would be far more interesting to take his different approach to a similar set of starting events off in a natural direction. This is probably what he's going to do.

If you're even capable of understanding ideas, you'll note what got you so hilariously outraged was my response to Chris (who is a bit ST fan) talking about how he likes that it parallels (but is distinct from) the original events. I'm not a ST fan at all, so I don't value those parallels at all and would rather the story not be constrained in that way. An appropriate and thoughtful response might be 'it's clearly too early to imagine the story is constrained in any way to original events', to which I might have said 'certainly, however fanfiction is often driven to an extent by the desires expressed by readers and the effect this has on the author's priorities'.

Y'know, instead of what you actually said.

[Themightytom]

Its starting to look like you actually have no idea what I'm saying. Your quote from Red is just confusing in its irrelevance. If you're going to get butthurt that for me,

It's not shakespeare Stark, even when you put your words together in the wrong fricking order, it's pretty apparent what you're fumbling around at. You're the only one who doesn't realize he's grasping at straws.

there is no value in attempting to constrain events to the series, showing Red saying he wanted to work with the plot and characters is not a strong response.

...I think trying to describe my debate form as weak is probably not a strong response, given you could just try to come up with a sensible response.

You posted:
[quote:}"Stark"]The idea that this 'replaces' but 'doesn't change critical part' is just... its ... ridiculous[/quote]

...and you're having trouble grasping why I pointed out it's NOT ridiculous, it's his intent???

He had a plan Stark, he posted it right at the beginning, what's ridiculous is reading this far down and not realizing that's his intent.

Just in case you're too busy being a posturing flamewarrior to catch on, I don't have any problem with the plot trajectory for you to violently knee-jerk against.

Unlike Star Trek 'fans', however, I don't get tasty chemicals in my brain every time events are kind-of (but not-really) like they were in the show. I think dramatically and narratively it would be far more interesting to take his different approach to a similar set of starting events off in a natural direction. This is probably what he's going to do.

Stark your entire presence here has been a posturing flamewarrior, forgive me for responding in kine? You have already stated you're not a fan, you've already objected to the fundamental premise of Red's effort, what are you doing here if not utterly flaming?

Unlike Star Trek 'fans', however, I don't get tasty chemicals in my brain every time events are kind-of (but not-really) like they were in the show.

Oooookay Stark read a blog about neuroscience and thinks that fans' need to validate their fandom trumps their ability to reason.... Stark first of all, even a blind squirrel finds a nut, just because Chris is a ST fan doesn't mean you can discount his opinion without considering it, and second, you seem to have a pretty healthy ego of your own, and the same mechanisms that would make a fan more likely to like this, now make you more likely to unreasonably dislike it, because you already staated you do, and you don't want to look like an idiot for changing your mind.

I think dramatically and narratively it would be far more interesting to take his different approach to a similar set of starting events off in a natural direction. This is probably what he's going to do.

You're being serious right now? You don't understand he's already done this? he's way off the reservation with regards to the plots and exchanges in Caretaker. Bujold never existed, it's the name of the actor who would have played Janeway but walked off the set. Voyager never landed on the planet, the aeroshuttle never showed up, Janeway never shot Chakotay, Paris didn't do half the shit he's done here, Carey got about five lines the entire episode.. I know you're not a fan, but come on. Brush up on the episode, just the one, before complaining that he's not doing it differently enough.

If you're even capable of understanding ideas, you'll note what got you so hilariously outraged was my response to Chris (who is a bit ST fan) talking about how he likes that it parallels (but is distinct from) the original events. I'm not a ST fan at all, so I don't value those parallels at all and would rather the story not be constrained in that way.

Oh who the fuck invited the self loathing trekkie to the party god damnit, Stark you're protesting way too hard.
I definitely objected to your statement as you made it, you didn't bother to address it to anyone, so I read it as a general appeal, why did you forget to actually look at the person you were talking to? Does that change the context of your statement? Does Red perhaps being more familiar with the shos and the characters he is writing a fanfic inspired by possibly change the context of what you're reading? Would your watching the episode at least once more, if we PROMISE not to tell anyone, inform your opinion slightly?

I don't really think think Chris' fandom of the show really colors his opinion of the parallels, because I'm not a fan of voyager, and I appreciate that same aspect. It's creative re-imagining, and your professed nonidentity as a ST fan does not give you any extra credibility. Your opinion isn't special because of where it comes from and that has nothing to do with whether YOU can accept the concept that Red's doing exactly what he wanted to here, and getting good reviews for it.

An appropriate and thoughtful response might be 'it's clearly too early to imagine the story is constrained in any way to original events', to which I might have said 'certainly, however fanfiction is often driven to an extent by the desires expressed by readers and the effect this has on the author's priorities'.

"If you were REALLY good at debating, you'd have presented an easy to defeat argument so that I could rebut it thusly, and not appear so utterly wrong..."

Yeah....sure I'll do that..

I'm just not ready to take tips on being appropriate and thoughtful from someone who called me butthurt for disagreeing, the credibility is just not there.

Fanfiction is sometimes driven by the desires expressed by readers, you just have a massively over inflated sense of how influential your opinion could possibly be, given you are not particularly interested in the source material, not particularly informed as to the details of it, and utterly unconcerned with the Author's stated goals.

It's not too early to imagine at all that he won't be constrained to original events, he clearly already isn't, and I would imagine his priorities with regards to characters and basic plots is going to stay exactly the same as it has been so far, regardless of your input, because it's been working out well for him, and frankly, you're terrible at making suggestions, like... really really terrible at it, just awful.

[madd0ct0r]

Yeah, Stark, I really can't see what you're complaining about here.

Red's stated goal was to rewrite 'Caretaker', into a stronger consistent story, whilst changing the bare minimum of stuff. That's the challenge. That's the fun.
'Suggesting' that Red should just scrap the story and write a completely different version to the original is kinda missing the point.

In fairness, you did only start complaining after the warp drive failed at the perfect time the plot demanded, to which my response is - so what? The warp core was battered throughout the story and was under a lot of stress at that moment. It didn't taste contrived to me at the least.

[Stark]

Quote me saying that or fuck off. Oh wait you can't! Your specific example is bamboozling in the amount of imagination you put into inventing it. I'd invite people to actually think about what's said before flying off into knee-jerk pal-defence bullshit: in particular, for all the ranks-closing bullshit, I don't think I've said anything negative about Red's story. Chris and I (sorry, 'some adults') exchanged ideas on the different way we saw things and then... magic happened.

Red, sorry for triggering so much sperg in your thread. I had no idea Tom was so ... fragile? I promise to never comment on anything you do ever again, to save your threads from these individuals.

[madd0ct0r]

Thats... what I just said? Just to help you out,

I mean, if the goal is essentially fanservice or a personal test to replace a huge missed opportunity with character drama and 5000 warp strafes that's fine, but there is no meaningful way you could get the Voyager series out of this, because its fundamentally changed.

This is why I don't value events, people or situations that are kinda sorta like they were in the show; the show sucked. This is different. Nothing that happened on the show should be relevant to this story (outside broad strokes like the planet has clone guys underground and the Viidians have a stupid disease etc).

Isn't it kind of counter productive to rewrite Caretaker to not suck and then have everything be the same anyway? I mean I know the name recognition ties an authors hands (you couldn't kill Torres and leave the far more interesting Carey in charge), but I guess once finished you could just stop and say 'lol that easy'.

Is it intentional that the level of mechanical exposition is increasing?

It might be a misunderstanding, but you seem to have confused everyone else in the thread.