The Protagonist Syst 417 The Journey Begins Anew

I woke up on the floor with a huge headache and soone shaking my shoulder. I blinked bleary eyes at the grey haired woman's face for a mont, quite confused, then I rembered what had happened. I nodded at whatever she said and she smiled warmly before she moved on to the next person on the floor. I healed myself as I sat up and I saw the devastation on the bridge.

I cast a detection spell and let it cover the entire ship and sighed with relief. All 150 of the crew and passengers were alive. They were hurt after that ordeal, of course. Who wouldn't be? But, they weren't dead, so that 1.5 million points wasn't wasted. I climbed to my feet and walked over to Lieutenant Stadi, whom was collapsed near the bulkhead at the secondary console.

After a quick heal with Panacea's power to fix the man's concussion and a pat on the shoulder, I went over to the Tactical station and checked Tuvoc. A broken arm was easily fixed and an Ennervate spell woke her up.

“Nicely done, Tuvoc.” I said and helped her to her feet.

“Thank you, captain.” Tuvoc responded. “I assu it worked?”

“Yes, a little too well I suspect. The size of the enemy ship's explosion was a bit more than I anticipated and increased the subspace distortion by a factor of ten.” I said, laying the groundwork for what the crew would soon discover.

Tuvoc's eyes widened slightly and she looked over at the OPS station and Ensign Kim on the floor behind it.

“I'm checking her next.” I said and patted her shoulder, nodded at her flickering console, and walked across the bridge to OPS. I knelt and saw a wound on her forehead and left it. It was only superficial and easily fixed with a dermal regenerator. An ennervate spell woke her with a gasp.”Easy, Miss Kim. It's over and we're still alive.”

“Oh, thank god.” Helen said with relief.

“I could use an assessnt of the situation, however.” I said with a smile.

“Yessir.” Helen said and almost leapt to her feet. She swayed a little and I stood to steady her with my hands on her shoulders. She blushed and ducked her head a little. “Sorry, sir.”

“It's all right to be eager, Miss Kim.” I said and let her go.

“I'll check the battery backups and add them to the power flow to stop the flickering of the consoles.” Helen said and stepped by

and to her console. She quickly typed up a few commands and various lights ca on and all of the consoles stopped flickering as they received more power.

I smiled at her, making her blush again, and I walked around her console to wake more people. All nine people on the bridge were woken up and resud their stations, at Ops, Tactical, Engineering, Communications, Navigation, Helm, and Science stations, with the last two being the First Officer and the Captain.

“Report.” I said and walked over to the command chair. I didn't sit down, though. The repair crew was working on my chair.

“Multiple reports coming in now, captain.” Tuvoc said as she read her display. “Hull breach on Deck Two. Repair crews are already there and sealing it. Casualties are reported on every deck...” She paused and looked surprised before she could school her face, then looked at . “The dical bay reports all stations have reported in. There are no casualties. Again.”

I smiled at her and nodded. “Excellent.” I said at keeping my word that we would all get through it again and turned to Helen Kim at OPS. “Send a general signal to all the clean-up crews. I want my ship back in shape as soon as possible.”

“Aye, captain.” Helen said and did that, with the crew behind

tapping their comm badges in acknowledgent before she was finished.

“With that out of the way.” I said and motioned towards the screen. “Any idea if that can be activated without major repairs?”

“Let

check.” Helen said and spent a mont typing. “Rerouting visuals to another array. The breach on Deck Two took out the sensors and display feeds. The screen itself isn't damaged.”

I nodded and a mont later, the screen flickered. It took a few more seconds for the computer to compensate and the visuals settled down to the normal high quality we were all used to. There were several gasps from a few people when they saw a derelict Kazon ship floating in front of us.

“Oh, no.” Helen Kim whispered, only it was so quiet on the bridge that everyone heard her. She typed furiously on her console and her face paled. “It... it's true. According to these sensor readings, we're back in the Delta Quadrant.”

“It seems the large subspace rupture the tricobalt devices created really was enhanced by the enemy battleship's destruction.” I said and a few heads nodded. “We were lucky to pass through it relatively unhard to the last subspace rupture this ship was involved in.”

“It is possible the resonance frequency caused a linkage of so kind between the two similar explosions.” Tuvoc said and looked thoughtful. “The weapons suite and power distribution system of the Caretaker's Array was a large explosion and the rift was quite large.”

“Log it with the science station to let R&D work on that. We have much more important things to take care of right now.” I ordered.

“Yes sir.” Lieutenant Stadi said and did so as he filed the report.

I nodded at him and then at Lieutenant Paris. “You two can switch back to your assigned stations, now that we're out of imdiate danger.”

“Yes, sir.” Both Paris and Stadi said and stood to change places.

“Thanks for the loan.” Tammy said and patted the man's shoulder as they passed each other. “It was fun. It was also scary as hell; but, it was fun.”

Stadi smiled and nodded, his telepathy letting him know Tammy was genuine with her words.

“It's also nice to know we have a crack-shot pilot nearby when we need her.” I comnted and Tammy blushed slightly, then gave

a thumbs-up and sat down at the science console at the side of the bridge.

“The promotion was well deserved.” Tuvoc said, giving out rare public praise.

“Th-thanks.” Tammy said and turned to the console to hide her pleased look.

I tapped my comm badge. “Bridge to Engineering.”

“Santos here, captain.” The Chief Engineer said and there was a small explosion in the background. “Lock that plasma feed down! I'm not having a warp core breach during our first week out of spacedock, dammit!”

“Problems, Roberta?” I asked and couldn't keep the amusent out of my voice.

“I thought you were exaggerating when you said you would be depending on

a lot during this deploynt.” Santos answered and there were several beeps as she typed on her console.

“Like Tuvoc, I don't exaggerate when I make genuine complints on soone's competency.” I said and thought I heard a soft squeak from Tammy Paris. I glanced over and saw her face was flushed red. “If you need another hand or two, just ask.”

“No, we've got this.” Santos said as a long low hiss sound ca over the comm signal and then a loud click, which made her chuckle. “Finally! Good work, Lieutenant Carey.”

“Thank you, Chief!” A woman's enthusiastic voice answered in the background.

“Since you have everything in hand, I'll leave you to it.” I said.

“It's always nice talking to you, no matter the circumstances, sir. Santos out.” The Chief Engineer said and ended the call.

I stood there for a mont before I felt a hand on my arm. The woman on the repair crew nodded at my repaired and cleaned chair. I smiled and nodded back, then sat down. I let out a breath and looked around the bridge as it was cleaned and repaired.

I waited another mont, and hit the all hands signal on my chair arm. “This is the captain speaking.” I said and my voice ca from every console and comm badge on the ship. “Through speculated ans, it seems our last battle has deposited us back in the Delta Quadrant.”

The shock from most of the crew easily reached Lieutenant Stadi and myself.

I wanted to mitigate it as quickly as possible. “You don't need to worry about that. Right at this mont, the personnel in the Array Program back in the Alpha Quadrant are already a month and a half into building the space station that will be used to send ships like ours across the galaxy.”

Stadi visibly relaxed at hearing that and the crew's worry fading away.

“That's right, the first squadron of ships will be launched in just over four months. They'll be bringing along the necessary equipnt and resources to build a reciprocal space station necessary to return ships ho.” I said and the mood increased again. “That brings

to the reason I'm not ordering the construction of one right now.”

The people on the bridge turned from their consoles to look at .

“We could spend the next four months sitting here and using up our surplus energy to start building the underlying basic structure of the starbase, with our engineering departnt working overti and in space suits the entire ti.” I paused as I felt the indignation from Roberta Santos and had to fight to not laugh. “However, that would be a waste of ti. None of them, or any of the rest of us, have any experience in actual starbase construction.”

Stadi felt the realization go through everyone in the ship and he shook slightly.

“It would be quite dangerous for any of us to do a specialist's job, even for an experienced engineer like Commander Santos. I can't... no, I won't ask her to risk herself or the people in her departnt trying to do sothing like that, not when we know there are trained specialists already prepared and will be on their way in so short a ti.”

A few of the people on the bridge smiled and nodded at .

“So, we'll spend a few days cleaning up the local area of debris, reclaiming the materials available and converting them into energy. After that, we'll leave a Starfleet ssage buoy and head out from here to deal with anything we find to stop them from interfering with the Array Program.” I said with confidence. “We have over four months of ti to play with, so let's do our best to explore and gather as much information as we can to prove to Starfleet they were right to chose us as the lead ship for this mission!”

“Aye, captain!” Most of the bridge crew responded, as did a lot of the crew.

“To the two dedicated science teams onboard, you'll still have plenty of work to do as we explore this new space. I guarantee it.” I said and smiled. “As for the rest of you, what are you standing around for? Get back to work.” I said with a chuckle and felt amusent from nearly everyone. “Janeway out.”

Cavit at my side gave

another warm smile and a nod.

I smiled and nodded back. “All right, people. We have work to do. Those Kazon ships are an eyesore. Let's get so in-depth scans of them and see what we have to work with, then we can start carving them up and we'll make a dozen industrial replicators in the main cargo bay to convert them into energy...”

“Captain?” Tuvoc interrupted. “Perhaps carving them all up is a bit premature. If one or more of them aren't too damaged, we could refurbish them to federation standard inside and use them as part of an armada to help us explore.”

I sat back in my chair and thought about that. “You're suggesting if the Kazon already stripped them of useful technology, that we can't use anyway, it would be much easier to fill the empty spaces with our own technology?”

“Aye, captain. That's exactly what I was thinking.” Tuvoc said with a nod.

“Hmm.” I humd and thought about it so more. “Once the work crews are done with putting Voyager back into shape, I suppose we could keep them working on another suitable ship.” I turned my head to look at Helen. “Miss Kim, how long would it take to produce everything a ship would need for basic operations?”

Helen typed up a few things. “If we use your idea to make a dozen industrial replicators in the main cargo bay for the bigger things, we can reclaim so of the wreck and make the larger items in just over a week. The warp core would need another week and the warp engines and nacelles a few days to assemble and reconfigure...”

“The engineering departnt can handle the details, Ensign.” I interrupted. “Continue.”

“Then I estimate about three weeks to convert one of the dium size hulls out there.” Helen Kim said. “We'll still need to go EVA to attach the nacelle pylons, too.”

“Yes, but working on a ship is sothing our engineers actually have experience with, so I'm not as worried about mistakes there.” I said and nodded. “All right, coordinate with Tuvoc and find

an appropriate hull in the ss out there. We have plenty of people onboard to split off into a separate crew for a dium-sized ship without too much strain.”

“I'll double-check for lifesigns and any possible shielding, too. Just in case.” Helen said and went to work.

“Tuvoc, continue to actively scan for threats.” I ordered. “If there are any Kazon still on the wrecked ships after all this ti, we don't want to give them a free shot at us.”

“Aye, captain. I'm adding low power emissions to my scanning profile for weapon signatures.” Tuvoc said and went back to work as well.

“Cavit, you have the bridge.” I said and stood. “I'll be in my ready room writing up a few uncomfortable reports about both the incident in the Gamma Quadrant and how we sohow ended up here in the Delta Quadrant.”

“Captain.” Cavid said and watched

walk across the bridge. “Lieutenant Paris? Use the long range scanners and tell

about any stellar phenonon in the area.”

“Aye, commander.” Tammy responded and went to work.

I entered my ready room and locked the door behind . I walked over to my desk and sat down. I didn't start composing my first report right away, though. No, I had to prepare myself for a conversation I did not want to have with my two mind lded bond mates.

Don't you dare say 'I told you so'. Odo's indignant thought shot into my mind.

Can I think it? I asked with a ntal chuckle.

That's the sa thing! Odo almost spat.

Spock's amusent touched our minds. You do get into so interesting situations, dear.

I want to claim it's not my fault. I thought to them and didn't have to follow it up with the truth, because it totally was my fault. It almost always was. I just didn't have much choice in the matter this ti.

Odo sighed. I suppose I can't bla you for wanting to keep our daughter safe from the Dominion.

It worked, in both respects. I thought and showed her the armada that had been waiting for Voyager on the other side of the wormhole.

Perhaps you should give your report on that to Odo to send along to let everyone know what happened? Spock asked.

That's a good point. I thought and called up the sensor readings, the visuals, and the recording of the battle. I quickly wrote a report on a datapad with that information added. Here you go.

Odo caught the datapad in her hands. I'll forward this to OPS right away and can claim it ca in just after the last wormhole opened. It'll explain the delayed signal and why it took so long to reach here.

Thank you. I thought. I'm not sure how to tell anyone where we are right now, though.

Rumors. Spock suddenly thought. Odo? After you deliver the report of the battle, can you comnt out loud about how Voyager is too lucky of a ship to be lost with all hands?

Odo ntally smiled. I'd be delighted to.

Thank you. Thank you both. I thought and sent them my gratitude.

I'm glad the bond works from this far away and there's no discernible lag. Spock added.

, too. Both Odo and I thought at the sa ti.