Chapter 10 & 11

Back to Land You Once Did Know!

Christina
January 1998

part 10-11/15

To previous chapter.

Warning: I'm still not a believer that Voyager should return to the Alpha Quadrant, but I figured I'd write my version before Paramount did. There are (of course) romantic entanglements.

Disclaimer: Paramount owns all--I'm just messing.

Part Two

Follow stars that leap

Chapter 10

Kathryn Janeway looked up from the screen of the PADD she'd been reading and stared out over the creek. Her mind was far away: a lifetime ago it seemed. She let the PADD lie in her lap and rubbed her head. She was sore from sitting all morning.

She shifted slightly and noticed her left foot was asleep. She started wiggling the toes, then bent over and removed her sandals. The real dirt felt good as she dug her toes into the ground.

She figured she could write for another hour before the heat and her stomach called her indoors. Her sister, Phoebe had mentioned she would be out later. She glanced down the path toward her mother's home; there was no sign of any other human. The song of a cardinal broke the silence. She smiled and looked up quickly. The bright red bird was easy to spot, and she spent several enjoyable minutes watching it before it flew away. She picked up her water bottle and took several sips.

Taking a deep breath she picked up the PADD. "Back to work." Her voice sounded out of place in the calm Indiana morning. Somewhere in the distance she could hear the hum of a vehicle. "Captain," she read. "We're picking up a distress call."

* * * * *

day 239

"Captain, we're picking up a distress call," Harry called out barely five seconds after returning to normal space.

Everybody glanced back at the young lieutenant. "Let's hear it," Janeway said. She remembered as she sat to shut down ship wide communications.

There was a lot of static, then a deep gravely male voice was heard. "We are under attack by six Cardassian vessels. We have lost weapons and our shields are buckling. Repeat, this is Commander K'Lar of the H'tak Belat. We are under..." Janeway motioned for Harry to shut the message down.

"Well, we knew there was a war." She glanced at Chakotay. "Battle stations."

"Captain," Tuvok said. "Sensors are showing a ship under attack ten hours away at warp 9. There are no other Federation ships in this sector."

"Set a course." Ten hours was too long. She tapped her combadge. "Bridge to astrometrics. Seven, can we re-engage the slipstream engines?" Usually it took a couple of hours to realign the engines.

"I have been monitoring the situation. We can re-engage the slipstream engines, but without realignment there is increased risk of damage."

"Prepare to re-engage. How long?" Janeway asked the ex-Borg.

"The engines can re-engaged in five minutes. It will take fourteen point three minutes to arrive. Captain, the astrometrics screen is showing that five of the Cardassian ships are departing."

Five minutes. She glanced around the bridge. It had been a while since they'd actually engaged in battle, though Tuvok had not relented in his training drills. "Commander Chakotay, have an away team prepared--in case. Take two engineers." She looked at him and shrugged. What a welcome home...

"Yes, Captain." He smiled at her. "Welcome back to the Alpha-Quadrant."

"And here we thought it was just the Delta-Quadrant." "Captain, the slipstream engines are ready to be engaged and the computer is programmed." Tom didn't even bother to look up from the conn.

"Engage." There was the now familiar lurch as the ship slipped into the stream, the familiar stars blurring. She pulled up the last astrometrics report and looked at it. The five ships were leaving--unfortunately they wouldn't have gone far by the time they arrived.

She made a quick announcement to the crew to explain the situation. She took a deep breath. They were almost blind until they returned to normal space.

Almost fifteen minutes later, Voyager lurched back into normal space. Janeway immediately called for a scan and ordered Tom to bring Voyager in closer to the lone Cardassian ship.

"The other Cardassian ships are an hour away at maximum warp." Harry said.

"On screen." The two vessels appeared. Voyager was about three minutes away. The Cardassian vessel seemed oblivious to them as they fired at the Klingon two more times, then stopped. "Situation?"

"The Klingon ship is disabled. There are life signs." Harry said. "It looks like twenty five Klingons...and three humans. Their life support has failed."

They were already at battlestations. "Arm phasers. Tom, bring us in on the Cardassian's port side. Fire on my mark."

They were five seconds from firing, when the Cardassians finally noticed the approaching ship. They were turning to attack when Janeway ordered Tuvok to open fire. A phaser beam from the other ship went wide.

"Direct hit," Harry called out, then he looked at his display again. "This is weird..." Janeway realized he probably didn't mean to say that.

"What?" Chakotay asked as he leaned to look at his console.

"There are some anomalous readings ... Captain! The Cardassian engines are overloading..."

There was no time to respond as the enemy ship blew up. Janeway looked at Chakotay. "Open communications to the Klingon ship." His face was a completely lacking in emotion.

She waited for Harry's confirmation, "Klingon ship H'tak Belat this is the Federation Starship Voyager, we are here to offer you assistance..." There was no response. "Harry?" Chakotay stood and nodded toward Tuvok.

"Trying alternate frequencies, Captain." There was silence for several seconds. "No response."

"Commander take your away team over and establish communications. We'll keep an open channel."

He was already moving fast toward the lift. Tuvok followed him out. One other security officer and two engineers would meet him in transporter room 2.

"Harry," Janeway said. "Re-open communications...This is the Federation Starship Voyager. We are unable to receive your response. If you can hear us, we have sent an away team to your ship." She looked back at Harry and signaled him to cut communication. "Monitor the ship and continuous scans. The other Cardassian ships?"

"Still on an outward bound course. I have determined there are 3 anomalous readings between us and the Cardassians."

"Tachion radiation?" She asked--hoping Harry would say no.

"Yes."

"Bloody hell." She tapped her combadge. "Commander you have one half hour on that ship. If you cannot reactivate defensive systems in that time, offer to evacuate everybody here. It looks like the Cardassians weren't alone."

"Romulans?" Tom asked.

"Romulans." It was only about a year ago when Romulans had almost destroyed the Doctor and their one chance to communicate with Starfleet.

"Captain," Harry said. "The away team has beamed over to the K'Lar."

She tapped her fingers on the arm rest as Chakotay tested the link. It was working. She smiled grimly. "Commander, we'll beam you out in half-an-hour, or at the first sign of trouble." She didn't look back. "Harry, are they Romulans?"

"I'm unable to determine. The radiation does match what we know about their cloaking shields. They are returning and will arrive in thirty three minutes."

"Captain," Chakotay's voice said. "Advise the Doctor he'll be receiving casualties. The place is a mess." There was more sounds as he talked with someone on his team. "Ensign Vorik is in engineering. Most of the crew here are seriously wounded. They are being transferred to sick-bay now."

Janeway opened ship-wide communications. "Attention all hands. Medical triage teams report to sick-bay."

"Captain," Chakotay continued. "We've reached the bridge. So far there are 19 Klingon and 1 human wounded--all unconscious. There are also 15 dead. They'd lost life support maybe twenty minutes before we'd arrive. Vorik is working on restoring it." There was a pause. "The bridge is badly damaged." He shouted some commands to move some debris. "We're beaming those we can now. The ship's commander and two humans are buried under the debris." There was more noise.

Janeway glanced at her console. The three Romulan ships were worrying her. Unless they were Cardassian ships using Romulan cloaking shields. She took a deep breath. "Commander, can you restore the ships systems?" There was a long pause as he conferred with his team.

"No, Captain. I've been informed that the central computer core has been too badly damaged."

She bit her lip. "We'll destroy the ship once everybody has beamed back." She tapped her combadge. "Janeway to Seven. Can we re-engage the slipstream engines?"

"Negative Captain."

"Captain, the Romulan ships are now ten minutes away," Harry said. Chakotay acknowledged the announcement.

"Sick-bay to Bridge." Janeway opened a connection to the Doctor. "I have an influx of Klingons in sick-bay. I am going to require additional assistance."

"Draft the science department staff and prepare for more wounded." She could almost see him quirk an eyebrow as he acknowledged her. "Tom," she glanced at her console. "Set a course heading forty-six point three. Warp eight. Engage once everybody is on board and we've destroyed the ship. Harry, prepare to target the main engines." She studied the map Seven had sent. There was a dense nebula they might be able to hide in. "Janeway to Seven. How long until the slipstream engines are ready?"

"Engineering is inspecting them now. The secondary energy coupler in tank two is cracked. I shall have a report for you in twenty minutes. The five Cardassian ships have turned back. They shall arrive in exactly one hour and twelve minutes."

"Thank-you." Janeway took two deep breaths. The Cardassians weren't a problem. "Commander, prepare to beam back in two minutes."

"We have one more victim to recover." There was a shout. "Captain, away team ready for transport." She allowed herself a slight smile.

"Captain, the three cloaked ships will be in range in two minutes."

She nodded. "Harry, on my mark fire--then Tom get us the hell out of here. Now..."

There was a brilliant explosion as Voyager's phasers hit the target. Then a slight jerk as Tom maneuvered the ship into her new course.

Three warbirds decloaked off their stern. "Captain, the lead Romulan ship is prepared to fire."

"Target ship, one burst," she ordered as she watched the screen. There was a bright burst as the blast skimmed past the ship, then everything blurred as Voyager increased speed.

"Captain, the ships are not pursuing."

The turbolift doors opened and she turned, expecting to see Chakotay. An older graying man stepped off. He looked around the bridge, a sort of surprised look on his face. "Captain, what the hell are you doing?"

Her eyes opened wide. "Rescuing you." The grey uniform he was wearing meant nothing to her. "Sir." He was probably somebody important. She stood to face him. Not too many humans traveled on Klingon ships.

"I mean attacking the Romulans. You have just blown months of negotiations as well as several treaties."

"You mean they're on our side?" She didn't bother to hide her disbelief in her voice.

"Yes, Captain they are. Where the hell have you been the past three months? The other side of the galaxy?"

All she could think was thank the spirits that Tom only snickered. She looked the stranger straight in the eye and took four steps toward him. "Yes, sir. For the past five years."

* * * * *

Chapter 11

day 239

This time she could hear Tom trying unsuccessfully not to laugh. The stranger stared at her for several seconds before the confusion in his eyes started to clear. He looked around the bridge several times.

Before he could speak, the lift doors opened and Seven entered. She only gave him a quick look before walking past him and down the stairs. "Captain, here is the report. The slipstream engines are presently being repaired--estimate forty-eight point two hours until completed. I have also located the nearest starbase is sixteen point four hours away.."

"Very good. Thank-you Seven." Janeway turned away from the man and walked to the conn and handed Tom the new course. She then looked at the stranger. "I'm Captain Kathryn Janeway and you are onboard Voyager."

He stared at her. "Janeway? Voyager...Oh my god." Realization finally filled his eyes. "You were sixty years away last time we heard from you." He collected himself. "I'm Admiral Cornelius Jackson..." He watched as Seven marched by. "Are all your crew so rude?"

Tom laughed outloud. It was all Janeway could do not to join him. "Seven is an interesting story. Actually, the whole crew is. Introductions?"

"Of course."

"This is Lieutenant j.g. Harry Kim our operations officer. Ensign Megan Delaney is at security. You met my Security chief earlier. Commander Tuvok. At the conn..." She paused, this could be interesting if he recognized the name. "Is Lieutenant Tom Paris...and at..."

"Owen's son?"

"Yes sir!" Tom said quickly. The smile he'd had earlier had faded some.

"I..." The Admiral glanced around the bridge again. "And your First Officer?"

"Commander Chakotay. He led the away team."

"Oh..." The man drew himself to his full six foot height. "On behalf of Starfleet Command, welcome home."

"Thank-you, sir."

"Now, I do need to send some messages."

"I imagine so, sir. Lieutenant," she said to Harry. "Please open a channel for Admiral Jackson."

Jackson shook his head. "How did you get here?"

"That Admiral, is a very long story." Janeway smiled.

He shook his head. "I think you have a lot of long stories to tell." His eyes settled on Tom.

She smiled. "More than a lot." The lift opened again and Chakotay exited. "Commander. Admiral Jackson, this is my First Officer, Commander Chakotay. Report?"

He shook hands with the Admiral. "The Doctor is grumbling about not being notified in advance that there would be Klingon casualties, but he'll survive. The Romulans?"

She winced slightly. "No longer a problem. Apparently they have sided with the Federation..."

"Oh."

"Oh is right," Jackson said. "I need to send a message to the Romulan ships and to Starfleet to explain..."

She shook her head slightly, for Chakotay's benefit. "Admiral...My ready-room is this way. It will be more private."

"Thank-you," he said as he walked past her. "Where are we heading?"

She glanced at the PADD Seven had given her. "Proxima."

Jackson took seven steps before he stopped. "Captain Janeway did you find a wormhole or something?"

"Or something. We were able to adapt some alien technology to travel at superior speeds."

For the second time the Admiral looked astounded. "But only the Borg..."

She smiled. "Not only the Borg know about this--but we did use some of their technology." Tom was snickering again, so was Harry. Chakotay did manage to maintain a straight face, but his lip was twitching.

"Incredible. This is an incredible technological advancement." He was shaking his head in astonishment, then frowned. "That rude young woman. She's Borg."

"Former. Admiral, you have some messages to send?" The composition of her crew was not a high priority right now. She guided her guest into the ready-room. The door closed behind him, and Tom started laughing.

So did everybody else. "Commander, arrange for the senior staff to meet in an hour. Have B'Elanna come to." She rolled her eyes. "Without the baby--sorry Tom."

Tom grinned. "No point in totally confusing the admiral."

"I'd say it's probably too late," Harry added with a smirk. "I'm showing he is transmitting."

"Very good. When he is finished, send our message to Proxima." She looked at Chakotay. "I'll ask Seven to attend."

"Captain, is that being fair?" Tom asked. There was another round of chuckles.

She glared at Tom, then at Chakotay who looked like he was enjoying this a bit too much. "And would you pass on my apologies to the Maquis." They hadn't been able to leave them like planned.

He nodded.

#

She finally made her way down to sick-bay. Most of the survivors were recovering and grumbling as only Klingons can. The Doctor was thoroughly annoyed by their lack of appreciation of his exceptional skills and had narrowly avoided being belted by one of his patients.

She looked at the tall Klingon beside her. He dwarfed everybody in the crew. "Commander K'Lar. We're not designed to handle guests. We can arrange for cots in storage bay two."

He grunted. "Federation cots are too comfortable for Klingons, but we accept your hospitality, Captain." He stared at one of his more unruly underlings who promptly settled back on his bio-bed. "Is it true that you have been to the other side of the galaxy?

"Yes. Much has changed since we were last here."

The Klingon laughed. "Do not mind the Federation officer, the Romulan dogs are not to be trusted."

She didn't answer. She was inclined to agree with him--but her experiences were out of date. The threat of the Dominion was apparently enough that they were willing to side with the Federation.

She thought back to the staff meeting and the briefing Admiral Jackson had given on the Dominion, a.k.a. species 6497. Seven had simultaneously impressed and exasperated the Admiral. Which was typical.

"My ship?" The Klingon asked. "You are sure it was destroyed. The Cardassians and Romulans must not be allowed to board it."

"Yes. We blew it just before the Romulans appeared."

"Good, very good." He crossed his hands against his chest. "Captain Janeway." He crossed to where another loud Klingon patient was threatening the Doctor. The Doctor blinked out of existence as K'Lar in a booming voice ordered his crew to behave with honor toward their hosts.

"Captain Janeway?" A soft voice asked from behind her. She turned. The speaker was a young dark-haired woman.

"Yes?"

"I'm Sarah Wells. I'm Admiral Jackson's press liaison." She leaned against the wall. Kathryn could see the abrasions on her face and her arms.

"You should be in bed."

Sarah smiled. "No way. I'm a reporter by profession--and you are probably the biggest story that will ever fall into my lap. I want an exclusive interview with you and everybody. What it was like, how you got home, feelings on getting home. This is the scoop of a lifetime--and I'm not going to let a concussion get in my way."

There was a laugh from behind them. "That sounds suspiciously like someone else," Chakotay said. "Captain, Joe and Seven have a report ready about the repairs." He shook his head. "It doesn't look good."

"Very good Commander." She narrowed her eyes slightly, then smiled. "We'd be delighted."

"Commander?" Sarah asked. "Captain, I was able to access some information. What will Starfleet say when they learn you assigned the Maquis crew you were sent to capture to key positions?"

"Like First Officer and Chief-of-Engineering? Probably exactly the same thing when they learn that our way home was developed by an ex-Borg. If you will excuse me, I have to meet with her now and discuss repairs. Commander Chakotay will be delighted to be your first subject." She smiled sweetly at him. "Commander." She motioned for him to follow her. When they were at the lift she whispered. "Have the crew avoid discussing personal situations and the slipstream technology."

He nodded. "Yes, Captain. Dinner?"

"I'm having dinner with Admiral Jackson. We're meeting in the mess hall at 1930."

"Kathryn? We just met the man, and you're already planning to poison him?"

day 140

She was exhausted. They'd been in orbit around Proxima for several hours. The last of their guests had beamed down an hour ago. Commander K'Lar and Admiral Jackson had been the last to beam down.

And there was still no word from Starfleet. Kathryn was worried. Not that she showed it. And why had they been asked to remain on board?

"Captain?" Harry asked. "We're getting a transmission from the planet."

She sat up in her command chair. "Let's hear it." She stifled a yawn. She had been reluctant to retire, as she kept expecting that message from Starfleet.

Sarah Wells appeared. "Captain Janeway. I'd like to transmit my article to you for your approval. It will be appearing in the press in twenty-four hours."

"Go ahead Miss Wells. I'll give you my answer within the hour." It beat sitting around staring at the screen. The young woman knew people--maybe she could confirm, or better deny, her suspicions.

#

She read the article in her ready room. It wasn't the greatest work of journalism she'd seen, but it was positive and mostly accurate. She made a few notes as she read for the writer. Mostly additional information or corrections.

The last paragraph was not part of the article. The young woman had sent a brief note.

"The Federation Government is apparently interested in your return. And according to Jackson, the interest is not good. The Romulans filed a complaint, but there is something else going on he doesn't know about. Good luck. Sarah."

day 242

"Captain's log, stardate 52641.8. We have been at Proxima for almost 48 hours and still have not heard from Starfleet. Admiral Jackson did inform us that the Romulans removed their complaint--reluctantly. He has also filled us in on developments here, including how the Romulans ended up sided with the Federation. It's a fascinating story. The war itself is typical of such conflicts." She paused--wondering when she'd gotten so cynical. "We've run across too many such things in the Delta-Quadrant. Too many. The running joke on Voyager had been Delta-Quadrant paranoia. But maybe it wasn't just the Delta-Quadrant--maybe it was being on our own that taught us to see things differently." She sighed.

"Kath? Is everything all right?" Chakotay asked.

She turned to look at him. "It seems so typical, just more of what we went through in the Delta-Quadrant. Except now there is somebody to get help from." She shrugged. "I don't know why I'm not more excited. We're home." To chapter 12

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