ST: Voyager Delta Freeze �2004

[StarfleetCommand74656]

Star Trek Voyager: Delta Freeze Starship Voyager, Bridge, 8.52 a.m., Stardate 53848.1. Set between episodes �Good Shepherd� and �Live Fast and Prosper.�
NCC-74656 swept through the Delta Quadrant�s star-strewn blackness, and her captain gazed out the main viewport, at the infinite stretch of starlines.
Commander Chakotay leant over, and tapped his captain on the arm, jerking her out of her reverie. The Native American gestured to a datapadd, and said �The Seanari ship has left Voyager�s shuttlebay�. Janeway nodded curtly, happy to leave these minor trade situations in the competent hands of her first officer. �Download the promised star charts into their computers.� Chakotay flipped out his monitor, and keyed in a sequence. �Nice to know we still have the ability to make friends in this Quadrant� muttered Janeway �Unlike some�.
Chakotay knew she was thinking of the Equinox, a Federation science vessel, lost like them. Their captain, John Ransom, had turned rogue and taken to murdering life forms to enhance Equinox�s warp capability. Janeway had gone on a single minded vendetta to bring them to justice- temporarily relieving Chakotay of command in the process. His eyes flicked towards the nervous young woman at Operations-an Equinox crew member. He wondered idly when Harry Kim was going to turn up. It wasn�t like the enthusiastic young ensign to be late for a duty shift.
Instead, Seven of Nine�s nondescript monotone grated from his and Janeway�s commbadges. �Seven of Nine to Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay. Please report to Astrometrics. I have an interesting phenomenon on sensors.� Janeway rose, galvanized. Anything that Seven called �interesting� was by definition, fascinating. Her gravelly voice shot through the comm. �On our way- Commander Tuvok, the bridge is yours.� The Vulcan officer lifted his eyebrow a fraction and stepped down from his station. Turbolift doors slid out, and Chakotay nearly walked straight into a sleepy looking Tom Paris.
�Good afternoon� Chakotay snapped. �As you well know, Commander- it isn�t afternoon. We�re in space�.
�You�re on a Federation starship, lieutenant, not a smuggling boat. If this happens one more time this week, you�ve got less chance of an evening on the holodeck than a dishonourably deceased Klingon has of escaping Gre�thor.
Seven was looking mildly impatient by the time captain and commander entered Astrometrics. �Report� said Janeway. Seven tapped her screen. �A spatial disturbance opened ahead of us four minutes, twenty-seven seconds earlier, captain, and an object emerged�
�Wormhole?� guessed Janeway. �Negative� replied the former Borg. �It appears to be artificially generated�. Janeway�s brows reached for her hairline. �Artificially?� she said, almost to herself. Seven nodded. �It is emanating from a multi-faceted object bearing 273 Mark 9�.
�Life signs?� asked Chakotay.
�Distortion wave is blocking scanner readings� said Seven, flatly. Chakotay started. �Are you thinking what I�m thinking, Captain?� There was no need for her to reply. Technology like that could get Voyager and her crew home. Chakotay pursed his lips �Let�s just hope they don�t have a Prime Directive� he muttered, images of Sikaris rising unbidden to his mind.
It was then he realised that the captain was giving him and Seven that �Captain Kathryn Janeway� look that he had come to know over six years, and resolved not to tell her the odds.
Seven of Nine spun. �Spatial rift emanating from the station�.
�Evasive� Janeway snapped. But looking down at the monitor, she realised she had just given a futile order- they were trapped, and there was no point in thrashing around the net. Red alert klaxons blared, and bloodlines of illumination flickered to life. Janeway tapped her commbadge, and was opening her mouth to order the crew to brace for impact when the shockwave ripped into Voyager.

Federation Starship Al-Batani, NCC-39010, eight years earlier...

Captain Owen Paris rose from his command chair, worry lines creasing his face. �Lieutenant Thompson?� The conn officer was fresh out of the Academy, and it showed in his rigid attention stance. �Distortion wave will intercept in 1 minute 30 seconds, sir� he said. Paris cursed violently, and Thompson gasped. �Warp, now!� ordered Paris. The protesting triple beep gave him his answer. Lieutenant Commander Janeway came running onto the bridge, hair in disarray. �Captain, the void appears to lead to the... Delta Quadrant!� She broke off, disbelievingly. �Captain, there�s a beacon on the other side- and it�s Federation� Thompson cut in. �We�re being hailed�.
�On screen�. Fire erupted onto the viewer, and a panicked Klingon- unusual in itself- looked wildly around. �I am Commander Jaghl Pragh of the IKS Voreth. Any and all starships, require assistance. We are in the Delta Quadrant and-� The image winked out, and was replaced by every captain�s worst nightmare. �We are the Borg�. Paris was still looking thunderstruck at his screen when light and distortion enveloped his ship.

Commander Chakotay awoke cramped and slightly nauseated. He attempted to stretch, and bashed his head on the underside of a console. He swore in Native American, rubbing his head, then realising he was not in his quarters, but on the floor of Astrometrics, with an uncomfortably close-up view of Seven of Nine�s feet. A brown haze hovered above him, slowly resolving itself into Captain Janeway�s face, a throbbing bruise on her forehead. Behind him, Seven eased herself upright. Janeway groaned �We�d better get to the bridge.�
The view from Voyager�s main screen was enough to shock any captain, even one with years of Starfleet experience. A silver docking bay enclosed them completely, stretching for miles in every direction. Gleaming rays of soft colour bounced from face to face of the 3D Mystic-Rose like interior. Arcs of light fused through Voyager and into the argentine veneers. The starship itself was at the pinnacle of a crystalline spire, bands of warp nacelle- blue lambency coiling up to hold it in place. And at the bottom of that tower was a Borg Sphere. Or rather, what was left of one. Hunks of Borg metal lay crushed, denting the floor of the otherwise smooth enclosure.
The carmine refulgence of Voyager�s red alert lights turned Janeway�s face a sinister shade of red, making Ensign Kim momentarily start. �Someone�s hailing us, Captain�, he said tersely. �Put them through�, nodded the captain, and Kim wondered could her voice get any lower? He brought the Universal Translator online, and green haze filled the viewscreen. A being rose into the cam�s field of vision. Its head was as multi-faceted as its constructions, with one bulging compound eye in the centre of his forehead. Three nasal slits were pockmarked into his cheeks, and his thin slit of a mouth made reedy noises that the translator automatically analysed and converted to a hissing tone. �We are the Briori. Prepare for processing. We are the Briori. You are modules. We are the Breaorri. Prepare for processing�. The image faded.
�Briori?� muttered Paris. Now where had he heard that one before? Then it hit him, and behind, Commander Tuvok gave voice to his thoughts. �An alien civilisation that transported a group of humans from 1937, your time, to the Delta Quadrant, giving rise to a new human-� Janeway waved a hand. Paris murmured distantly �I wonder whatever happened to the 37s�. The captain paced Voyager�s bridge. �Right now�, she growled, �I�m more interested in what is going on, and what �processing� is�
�It doesn�t really sound pleasant�. Paris� comments were usually unsolicited.
The hailer went off again. Janeway braced herself for another round of Breaorri threats. What she wasn�t expecting was to see her old captain and Lieutenant Paris�s father to fill the screen. Tom Paris looked rather suspicious- the last time he had seen his father, it had been an alien coercing him into a state of stasis. His father spoke. �This is Captain Owen Paris of the Federation stars- Kathryn! Tom!!! He then noticed the Borg wreckage splayed out on the floor like some gigantic crushed beetle, and his face turned alabaster. �We do not want to be around something that can do that to the Borg. And what the hell are older versions of my science officer and son doing in the same timestream, in the Delta Quadrant?� The Al-Batani�s science officer gazed up at Voyager�s commander, looking at what she was destined to become. Captain Janeway, the Starship Voyager, the Delta Quadrant, Chakotay, Tuvok, the 37s- a part of the future but as concrete and unchangeable as the past. When she explained how Tom Paris had become a part of Voyager�s crew, Captain Paris looked disgusted. Other than that, he absorbed the data impassively. �We also received a distress call from a Klingon B�rel class bird-of-prey shortly before we were pulled in�. Janeway scowled �Is that it� she sighed. Paris followed her gaze to a Bird-of-Prey shaped hunk of scrap. Tuvok interrupted. �From what we witnessed on the 37�s planet, processing would probably involve cryogenic suspension. Anybody that did not comply would suffer the same fate as the Borg and Klingons.� How Tuvok talked about eternal oblivion with such calm never ceased to amaze Voyager�s bridge crew.
There was a long moment of silence, as everyone gazed out, looking for some sort of escape route. Chakotay spotted it first. A small aperture at the bay�s far end, a mere pinpoint of black against silver. The two captains looked speculatively at the gap in the shimmering curvature. �So you think we could fly into that- and gain the time-void technology� affirmed Captain Paris. �I think a shuttlecraft may be able to get out while the tractor beams are holding our ships� interjected Chakotay. �An acceptable risk� nodded Tuvok. �I agree�.
On the Al-Batani, Lieutenant Janeway took over. �I�d like to lead, captain, with Thompson and two crew members from Voyager�. Tuvok narrowed his eyes. �Something bothering you, Tuvok� inquired Chakotay. �Yes� declared the Vulcan. �If the captain�s previous self is injured or killed on the away mission, she will also cease to exist, creating a temporal paradox and altering the timeline�. Janeway didn�t like being left out, but she inclined assent.


Captain�s Log, Supplemental
The away team assigned to infiltrate the Breaorri systems has been selected. Captain Paris has chosen to lead, with Commander Chakotay and Lieutenant Tuvok, and three members of Voyager�s hazard team- Munro, Murphy and Chang. We can only hope they succeed- or there will be no way home for anyone. On a different note, it is... disconcerting to be caught up in one of these loops with two of the same person in the same timestream. And I can�t help but wonder- if this happened to me eight years ago, then why do I not remember it?

A shuttle leaves the Al-Batani�s shuttlebay. It doesn�t get very far. A salvo of green fire-strands flays the craft bow to stern, and the hapless vehicle implodes in a blue coronal haze. Voyager�s scans revealed no life signs.
There weren�t supposed to be. Even as the shuttle became sub-atomic dust, another departed Voyager�s dock. From the Al-Batani, Captain Paris beamed on in a cerulean blur. In seconds, Paris� shuttle was a white speck in the aperture�s mouth.

The Briori control room was far more animated than usual. Their leader, their Diarak had abandoned his slender tabouret and was pacing the control deck. At another corner of his command sphere, a line of technicians, genetically bread with more extensories than the average specimen, moved their hands above shimmering plates observing fluctuations in colour. As the Diarak spoke, his voice grated in the mind of every being in the room. �Report on the condition of Federation modules. The Autarch is taking a personal interest in these series of experimentation�. Teraor spun in his seat, twisting his torso but keeping his legs stationary. �Final preparation sequence is underway.� Though Teraor would follow the Diarak�s orders to the last, he had been questioning the Briori way a great deal of late. Since assigned to the disastrous abduction missions four hundred years ago, day by day he was questioning the right of his people to experiment and freeze beings they�d never even spoken to. Maybe he would say something, after all. �Diarak?� he slurred. �Who interrupts me?� snarled his superior.
�Diarak, I have meditated much on the Briori ways. I believe that what we are doing is immoral. It is not our right to dictate our modules� course of life.� The Diarak�s eye throbbed crimson- �You will defer. Continue preparation.� Teraor started forward. �At least listen-�
�Defer!� The Briori leader�s voice had risen to an inhuman shriek. Airasta, another mechnician, diffused the confrontation. �Scans are revealing seven modules missing from their primitive vessels�. A voice, a human voice, rang out from the main portal. �Try behind you�. Captain Owen Paris was wearing a big sneer. And carrying a bigger gun. Airasta raised a flechette-pistol, and the Al-Batani�s captain blasted it out of her hands. Behind him, a tattooed commander appeared. Softly, he said �I strongly suggest you put us right back where we belong.� The Diarak�s eye had gone from vermillion to deepest amethyst. �We do not defer to modules� he hissed. �Oh, really� remarked Captain Paris. �Then maybe you�ll defer to this�. His phaser rifle blew a smoking hole in the Briori leader�s tabouret. The Diarak pulled a thermobaric railgun, and Tuvok swung to cover him. Teraor shrilled �Do as he says, Diarak. Please.�
�I do not defer� wailed the Diarak. He dived for the deck, stroked a panel, and commbadges and phasers imploded in magenta haze. Chakotay shook his head. Kathryn, he thought, this would be a really good time for a beam-out..

Janeway tapped her commbadge. �Voyager to Captain Paris, respond�, She received only an earful of static. She tried again- �Janeway to Chakotay, come in- Commander!� she snapped, as if a direct order could make him reply. �Emergency beam-out, now� she barked. �No can do, Captain�, bit out a tense Harry Kim. �Rotating force fields are in place.� The captain groaned. �There�s more�, continued the Chinese operations officer. �We don�t even have their commbadges-�he broke off �- the Briori are hailing again.� The screen fuzzed into life. The Diarak�s subterranean tones were made more sibilant by a malfunctioning translator. �Modules were attempting to evade processing procedure. You will be punished. Defer�.
On the Al-Batani�s bridge, Lieutenant Janeway cut in. �We�re being targeted.� Green flames spiralled, wraithlike, about the stricken ship. From Voyager�s bridge, Janeway could hear unearthly screams of agony wafting from her old ship as some Briori torture weapon kicked in. She swore softly, that someone would pay for this.
Chrysalis pods packed to bursting point with freeze-fluid, hummed, seemingly with anticipation. Ahead, hands bound by energy strings, the away team were poised on an elliptic platform in a chamber that appeared to stretch out of the station and into space. The Diarak�s speech slit contorted in the Briori equivalent of a smile. �Proceed� he purred. A cocoon of freeze descended over the Federation crew just as Teraor entered, brandishing a rifle.
Teraor�s shot blasted the holding cables, leaving the Diarak�s pod in an unwieldy suspension. The next slashed an operating panel off its side. Teardrops of silver blaze ricocheted, scorching smooth walls into a mass of cinders. The Diarak let loose a ghostly howl of betrayal and rage. With commbadges off, the away team couldn�t translate- but it sounded like �treason�. Teraor gestured, and atoms of phaser and commbadges reintegrated. Murphy stared, shocked at the weapon he was now holding. Gravely, the Briori technician spoke. �Not all of our race condones the sampling of primitive modules. I did not wish to do this, but there was no other way. Come. I will take you to your ship.� Chakotay noticed that his eye had gone grey and colourless. He also noticed that the Diarak had risen again, and was brandishing two fireclaws. Teraor swept his hand, and arcs of ultramarine brilliance suffused the chamber. His assault deflected off the Diarak�s smooth armour like water.
Chakotay kicked into an athletic leap, and met a solid wall of air. He slid, clawing for handholds. Below Ensigns Murphy and Munro were keeping up a steady stream of fire. Munro glanced, saw a massive object send him slamming back into a plasma flue. Belatedly, he realised it was Chakotay. He grunted an apology, muttered a brief prayer to his animal guide, and sprang jaguar-like straight into the forcefield. Riding on a cushion of air, Chakotay used his leverage to cartwheel onto the sloping vertex of an antifreeze unit. He straddled it and clung, moving his hand gently over a glowing panel, hoping he was doing what he thought he was doing. Bracing himself, Chakotay gently stroked a release node...
Kerrunch! A hundred twenty tons of processor collapsed in a series of splintering crashes, straight over the screeching Diarak. The irony didn�t escape Chakotay as he activated the freezer unit, and laid in a phaser blast to the exit mechanism. At that moment, the shield dropped, and Voyager�s first officer jabbed his commbadge. �Voyager! Five humans, one Briori to beam up�. Transporter beams glittered, and six men disappeared in a shaft of molecules.

Abruptly, the Al-Batani�s docking clamps came free. Lieutenant Janeway dived straight for the conn, spinning the ship as Tom Paris would a shuttle on the holodeck, sending the starship hurtling downwards, hugging the docking spire. Voyager�s captain watched in disbelief- did I ever fly like that? The Al-Batani threw itself into a dance of loops, spins, and double-eights. Angry violet tendrils blossomed like giant jaws, always poised to snap at the stricken starship. The captain took her chance, rattling off a string of orders to Torres. The half-Klingon had always been rather impressed by her captain�s engineering abilities. Knew the difference between a warp core and an impulse reactor, that officer did. �Extend shields to cover the Al-Batani. Maximum phasers- now!� Janeway cried. The �shields� bit of it was reflexive- if those Briori weapons got a lock on them; both starships were as good as gone. Phaserfire lanced out in a killing rain of searing heat, and the holding-spire�s flawless metal buckled and bent, reminding the crew of a certain spatial rift they�d come across years ago.

The Diarak sat impotently in a processor, raking his claw futilely against the coverings. Logic told him it was over- even if he could get out, the humans would still destroy his station. He sent a last message to an extragalactic outpost, and was still clawing transplex when the freeze took him...

Soft illumination in the holding area turned stark white. On Voyager�s bridge, Teraor wore a frantic expression. �We�re losing energy reserves at 18% per time-part!� Chakotay skidded to Ops. The Briori deserter�s voice became a pitched warble that not even the Translator could decipher. The turbolift crashed open, and B�Elanna Torres dashed out, looking decidedly Klingon. Teraor turned to her �You are the Starship Voyager�s engineer, yes?�
�That�s me�
�I�m trying to access my people�s systems, but your technology is a little primitive. Could you-�. Torres� fingers became a blur over the console. �Primitive?� remarked Paris, but nobody was listening. Teraor hit a button. �Captain Paris, I can send your ship back to its original time and place. Do you wish me to engage our mind-wipe?� Owen Paris nodded a grim affirmative. �Can�t risk disrupting the timeline, can-�. Before he�d finished, the Al-Batani evanesced in a silvery whorl.
Janeway looked at Teraor. �But where will you go?�
�I will return to the days of my ancestors, before we came to this wretched galaxy� he replied.
�Nice!� muttered Tom Paris. Torres looked up from her calculations. Void projection set for... the Alpha Quadrant. Earth.� The bridge became deathly silent for a moment. After so long a wait, Earth now seemed almost alien to them. Earth. The Federation. Janeway�s Mark, Kim�s Libby, Tuvok�s T�Pel, and the myriad other friends and family they had left behind, and had spent six years fighting to return to. On so many occasions, there had been false hopes, cruelly snatched away from the castaways, the small Federation/Maquis family adrift on oceans of fate. Janeway broke the quiet. �Set a course� she said, �for home�.
And the holding spire blew up.

Teraor looked mortified. �Total systems failure. You have to go, now!� Janeway wasn�t going anywhere. Not when they were this close. �The station will implode in a matter of seconds. Save yourselves!!!� he implored. This last jerked Janeway out of a trance. �Maximum impulse!� she shrieked. In a stream of plasma, the Starship Voyager left its last best hope behind, in a maelstrom of burning gouts- gas and metal. Chakotay looked for Teraor- but he had dematerialised.

The Starship Voyager, bridge, two hours later...

Commander Chakotay looked wistfully at the starlines. �So�, he murmured, �nothing�s changed.� The turbolift door buzzed and Neelix entered, wearing a lurid orange jacket, wispy hair flying. He looked crestfallen. �I�m so sorry�, the Talaxian whimpered. �It�s all right� smiled Chakotay. �This isn�t the first close-to-home disappointment we�ve had. We�ll get over it�.
�It�s not that, Commander. It�s even worse. My precious Talaxian omelette- burnt to flinders! Ruined.� Paris looked up. �I see your point about nothing changing, Commander.� he drawled. Everyone chuckled, except Tuvok, and Neelix himself, whose eyes narrowed. �Are you implying that I always-�. Chakotay cut him off. �Better get moving. We have a long way to go...�

Captain�s Log, Owen Paris, Starship Al- Batani

My crew and I seem strangely restive today. I have also noticed a few odd things about the ship- equipment out of place, clocks out of time, and some hull damage. It could be related to the fight with that Romulan two weeks ago, but somehow I doubt it. Something is just not right. I also have remnants of a plaque, made of a very odd alloy, which Lieutenant Janeway has kept. Now, we will continue exploring the Beta Quadrant, and following the Starfleet mandate- to boldly go where no-one has gone before....

[KateReba fan]

That's a good story, you should write more.

[StarfleetCommand74656]

I intend to- my next ones called Compassion's Dues, and its based on Janeway's reference to a fight with the Cardassians in Prey