Chapter Text
Commander Susan Ivanova lowered herself into the middle seat in the Council Chamber at Babylon 5. In a state of pre-emptive annoyance she placed her handheld on the lighted surface in front of her and activated the device. The representatives of various Non‑Aligned Worlds were facing her in a semicircle. Gauging the Commander’s mood the representatives became restless even before the proceedings started.
Susan squared her shoulders, let out a slow breath and opened the Advisory Council’s Meeting. Reasoning that she was more likely to get the help she needed this way, she started off friendly - for her doing. Thanking the representatives for signing the Babylon 5 Treaty and the support their worlds offered in protecting the station. She went on to describe how many of the civilian and some of the Earth Force staff from the Engineering Repair and Maintenance department had left after the station’s secession from Earth. In a matter of days the station lost over half its engineering and maintenance personnel. “This explains why so many of your repair requests and malfunction incidents haven’t been addressed yet.” Her tone more explanatory than apologetic.
The Brakiri representative agreed that there was a significant backlog and problem. He complained about a BabCom malfunction in his quarters and then inquired how she planned to handle that situation. Glad with the opening he gave her, she neatly put the ball back in his side of the court. Detailing that Babylon 5 needed qualified people. Pronto. “It can be on a temporary basis. We need technicians, repair specialists, infra engineers, OT software engineers, network systems specialists, ICT support, data scientists. If you can name it – we need it. In all levels of experience.” The tall Russian woman made eye-contact with each representative in turn and continued “Babylon 5 serves a critical purpose for all our peoples. So I’m asking for your help.”
The Brakiri Representative shrugged non-committed and regretfully informed her that the Brakiri Syndicracy could not spare anyone because their technical guilds were overcommitted. “A major trade festival is approaching in our world. Every engineer is required to assist in the festivals preparations.” When Susan asked if really every single Brakiri engineer was busy getting things ready for a single commercial festival the Brakiri replied “It is a very important festival.” Susan tried to reason with him, she was trying to prevent the station from falling apart, not planning to hold a competing trade event. The Brakiri Representative held up his hands in a pacifying gesture “Tradition is important Commander.”
“So is a breathable atmosphere.” she retorted with a grimace.
The Vree Representative took the word next. “We would be willing to assist, Commander, but our technicians are sensitive to the electromagnetic irregularities Babylon 5’s systems are currently experiencing.” Susan cheered up slightly pointing out that this was exactly why the additional engineers and technicians were needed. To which the Vree Representative reposited that this was precisely the reason why they could not send theirs. Susan’s grey-green eyes bored into the Vree’s impassive face “Like me get this straight. You’re refusing because the station needs the very help you won’t provide?”
“Correct.” The Vree answered. Susan ground her teeth “Did you by any chance throw logic out the airlock on your way here?” She shook her head to release some of her mounting irritation, her tidy chestnut braid softly swaying between her shoulder blades.
The Drazi Representative started without any prompting “Drazi engineers strong! Drazi engineers capable! But Drazi engineers currently unavailable.” Susan ventured a guess, was there a festival of sorts going on? The Drazi shook her head. It was due to a Green – Purple dispute. A very complicated one. And very time-consuming one. “Of course it would be” the Commander grumbled. Unperturbed the Drazi went on “Some engineers injured in dispute. Others hiding from dispute. Others mediating dispute.” Susan summed it up “So you’re telling me your entire engineering corps is either fighting, hiding, or umpiring?”
“Yes.” The Drazi replied brightly “Old Drazi tradition.” Susan considered the situation then brightened herself “If I recall I am leader of both Green and Purple.” The Drazi representative confirmed, albeit a little hesitant. “Outstanding.” She energetically thumped the desk in front of her with both hands “Purple and Green will each send two engineers to safely hide in Babylon 5 for the duration of the dispute. We will offer free regular quarters and a free working permit for six standard months with a renewal option of another six months. As recompense all four engineers will work for the ERM department for the duration of their working permit. Thank you Drazi Freehold. Next.” The Drazi representative looked perplexed and then amused. She turned to her aide, whispering something. The aide nodded and started tapping away on his comm device.
Before Susan could get another word out the Abbai Representative started talking in an overly-soothing voice. “Commander, we sympathize deeply. But our engineers are currently engaged in restoring coastal infrastructure after recent storms. We cannot spare them.” The tone grated on Susan’s nerves, she wanted to hit the woman but opted to rub her forehead “I understand that the reparations are a great priority. But even a handful of specialists would help.” The Abbai woman wouldn’t budge “Our people are stretched thin. We wish you well.” At this point Susan was starting to lose her temper “Wishing doesn’t keep the fusion reactor stable your excellence.”
She turned a sceptical gaze towards the last representative in the room, the insectoid being from the Gaim Intelligence. Unsurprising the Gaim declined, claiming their technicians required a controlled atmosphere. Babylon 5 would be unsuitable. Susan offered to supply sealed suits free of charge. The Gaim countered that their technicians did not like sealed suits. Exasperated Susan raised her voice “They’re Gaim. Gaim live in sealed suits.”
“Yes.” The being agreed “But Gaim do not like living in your sealed suits.”
The Commander had heard enough. She rose to her full one metres eighty two and circled the table in three long strides. Before the seats of the representatives she came to a standstill. “Let me summarize.” She fumed and counted off on her extended fingers “You can’t help because of … one trade festivals, two electromagnetic sensitivity, three species-encompassing fistfights, four predicted bad weather and five because our suits are too … I don’t know … suit‑like. Have I missed anything?” The silence was thick and heavy, A few ambassadors shifted uncomfortably a few became very interested in whatever was on the table in front of them.
“All right let me spell it out for you people.” Susan started to pace before them like a caged animal, occasionally stopping to pierce every representative with her gaze in turn “Babylon 5 is the only thing standing between your worlds and total chaos. If this station fails, then trade fails. Diplomacy fails. Communication fails. The shadows win and you all lose.” She raised her hands in both a gesture of disgust and helplessness “I’m not asking for armies. I’m asking for technicians. Engineers. A dozen here, a few there. Enough to keep the gravity working and the fusion reactor from blowing up. Enough to keep your toilets operational.” She pointedly stared at the Vree with the last statement.
More uncomfortable shifting followed and some awkward glances. The Drazi folded first. “Green and Purple agree. Station must not explode. Working toilets very important. Drazi have good hygiene. Drazi send eight engineers for protection. You get working permits and accommodation.” The Abbai Representative offered that perhaps she could convince her people to spare two specialists and the Vree were willing to reconsider. “The festival committee might release a small number of engineers.” The Brakiri offered “I cannot make guarantees.” The Gaim as expected remained silent. Susan let out a long, suffering breath. “Thank you. And for the record” she turned to the council’s secretary “if the station does explode, the trade festival is to blame.”
After the meeting concluded, Susan headed for Blue sector to attend a dockworkers meeting. Thankfully the absolute majority of the dockworkers and Earth Force command personnel had decided to stay. It last that part of the station was running smoothly. As she waited for the core shuttle pull into the station in Green sector, Corwin hailed her “You’d better come to the dome Commander. We’re picking up a strange message.” Not wanting to have to reschedule the dockworkers meeting for a third time she countered “Alien freighters dropping off odd cargo yell the strangest stuff over the comm system all the time. How is this unusual?” She heard and felt Corwin’s hesitance when he said “It’s a distress call. I think you’d better come to C&C and hear this one yourself.” After thinking about it for a moment she agreed and informed the dockworkers team lead she was called to C&C for a high priority. The team lead sounded relieved and proposed to reschedule to the next day after they had finished unloading three Minbari cargo ships with relief-aid.
Minutes later Susan marched into C&C and gave Corwin a crisp “Yes, lieutenant?” The younger officer rose to greet her “Commander, we're picking up a distress call. Audio only.”
“Identification?” she queried.
“None. It's not coming from a ship.” Corwin answered “There's no physical source for the signal, just an area. Sector 14.” Turning away from the main console she faced him “Unlikely. Sector 14's been under quarantine for almost three years. It's where Babylon 4 disappeared. Let me hear it.” Corwin warned her it would be strange and worked his console. Crackle and static flowed from the speakers then a voice filled with fear could be heard “They're coming through! Repeat, they're coming through! This is the Independent Station Babylon 5. They're all over the place! We need help. They're killing us! Can anyone hear me? They're killing us!”
Susan froze in place. That voice was unmistakably her own. Corwin corroborated her thoughts “Commander, that's you.” She shook her head claiming she never sent such a message so how could it be her? The lieutenant stated that a computer voice-scan confirmed her identity. He had already double checked to absolutely sure. The distress call was somehow sent by her.
One of the C&C operators informed her that tachyon readings around sector 14 were off the scale. She tweaked the communications sensors trying to counter the interference and capture more of the strange distress call. Susan heard her own voice again. Then another garbled audio-only message full of white noise broke through her distress call a few times. “This is Captain Ka… …. ay of the Fe…tion Starship Voy…. This is a gener… …istress call. … unprovoked attack ... Krenim … using temporal weapons … destroy… inhabited worlds … require …ediate assistance … ships … sector, … respond. Mayday. Mayday.”
Susan asked Corwin if he could filter out more of the mayday call. He couldn’t, the call seemed to have disappeared after a few repeats. Her own distress call was being broadcasts again and again though. After ordering Corwin to record as much of the message as possible and to try to recapture the mayday call, Susan left C&C. She headed for the war room to inform Sheridan and Delenn of this strange turn of events. It was going to be one of those days.
- - - -
Captain Kathryn Janeway took in the faces of her senior staff as she glanced around the table in the main conference room on deck one. The smile that crept across her face when she saw Harry Kim was unavoidable. The young ensign nearly bounced out of his chair with excitement. It was infectious. All the senior staff were in high spirits. And well they should be, this was the break they’d all had been waiting for. For just over four long years. She returned her attention back to Seven of Nine the Senior Astrometrics Officer and B’Elanna Torres the Chief Engineer who were explaining the details of the new drive. They’d tested it again that very morning. Both women were cautiously optimistic. Harry couldn’t contain himself anymore and joined the debriefing on a more jubilant tone “Captain, we were able to make a trip of five-hundred lightyears. The benamite crystal degradation was continuously below the point zero three percent tolerance level. We can make it back home. I know we can.”
She smiled “All in good time ensign” and took a generous sip of coffee “So far the simulations and live test runs seem to support our theories.” The petite Captain relaxed back into the chair. Tuvok the Chief of Security interjected in his typical Vulcan way. He cautioned the senior staff against too much optimism “there are many variables that yet need to be addressed. One is the rapid degradation of the crystals.”
The Chief Engineer nodded her assent. “Tuvok’s right. We’ve run several simulations for our six week journey. In each simulation after about eight hundred and fifty hours the benamite crystals hit a tipping point. The best way I can describe it is as quantum fatigue.”
“Like metal fatigue?” Chakotay her XO asked. B’Elanna nodded. Before Harry could wave this discussion away Seven silenced up with an ice-blue ‘shut up’ glare. “I concur with Lieutenant Torres’ assessment. The constant exposure to the slipstream’s chronometric stress causes the atomic lattice of the benamite to lose its structural integrity. After eight to nine hundred hours the lattice starts fracturing and becoming forty to sixty percent less efficient every hour.” The former Borg unconsciously made a face when she said ‘less efficient’.
Kathryn listened intently and saw the opportunity “But we might just make it.” Harry nodded vigorously at this statement but wisely decided to keep his lips together. “Yes.” B’Elanna tapped at het PADD “We must keep the Flyers’ structural integrity field at hundred and ten percent and tell Tom or whoever is piloting to keep their hands glued to the helm. If the crystal decay hits the ‘tipping point’ sooner than expected, the slipstream tunnel will collapse faster than one of Neelix’s soufflés. We’re probably going to make it, Captain, but we’ll be arriving at Deep Space Nine with a dead engine and an ejector bay full of benamite dust.” Tuvok noted that there was also a chance they might not make it, which both B’Elanna and Seven readily agreed to. Much to Harry’s chagrin, so he tried to force the issue “But we would be a lot closer to home. Worst case scenario we’ll be a four thousand lightyears out.” Kathryn nodded. “That’s definitely closer then where we are now.”
She put her mug on the table, leant forward and steepled her fingers. “We will build more ships. Kit them out with a warp and slipstream drive. And we ‘ll make them fit for a long haul journey – just in case we fall a year short. Before this meeting I released the design schematics of a small escort ship Starfleet abandoned just before our voyage started. If we use the resources of the asteroid field in the system ahead of us, we should be able to construct a number of QSD ships. Worst case we cannibalise Voyager. I hate the idea of splitting up the crew. But in this case I believe it’s a” she looked at Tuvok the hint of a smile on her face “wise precaution.”
“It would be.” The Vulcan Chief of Security concurred. Tom Paris her senior pilot had a hurt expression on his face when he asked “Are we abandoning Voyager?” Kathryn sighed her steel-blue eyes softening “No Tom, we’re recycling her. Voyager’s been a good ship for us. Our home, and home she will take us in one way or another.”
Harry had a hard time hiding his disappointment “But I thought we would have the modified Delta Flyer pave the way and calculate the variances for Voyager.” Kathryn put on her ‘firm Captain’ voice “Mr. Kim, I’m never one to shy away from risks. But that idea, while very creative, is just too much. Even for my adventurous taste. Voyager was not designed for quantum slip stream. Period. The tunnel we need to build is too big, the variables involved too complicated. I want this crew home, not killed because of a miscalculated phase variance. We need to build smaller ships that can create their own tunnels and withstand the enormous chronometric pressures involved. A smaller tunnel diameter might also alter the decay rate of the crystals in our favour.” The eager ensign blushed slightly and mumbled “My apologies Captain.” Kathryn accepted his apology with a curt nod. She could tolerate his youthful optimism, she would not accept any childish behaviour from his part.
Having completely ignored Harry’s whining Seven brought the conversation back on topic with her typical Borg curtness “The new ship must have a bigger deflector dish to ship size ratio” she stated while consulting the Defiant specs “That would allow the ship to project the tunnel further out, thus stabilising the tunnel.” Chakotay smiled “Sounds like we have a plan.” Kathryn dipped her head once in agreement. “We do. See to it Commander. Don’t look so glum Tom, you’re getting the opportunity to design a new ship.” The pilot nodded half-heartedly. “I know. It’s just that I’ve come to love Voyager, it’ll be hard to let her go.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” Kathryn gave another look around the table wanting to wrap up the meeting. “Chakotay, assign duties accordingly. Have a comprehensive concept on my desk tomorrow by fifteen-hundred. Tom, set a course for the asteroid field Astrometrics detected yesterday. Dismissed.”
After Voyager was neatly parked under a rocky lip on a large rubber duck-shaped asteroid, the crew began working in earnest. For two months they mined the asteroids in the ring. In the third month the new ships started to take form. Kathryn decided they would fully complete one ship first. If that combination of propulsion and hull construction was successful, they’d finish the others on the same specifications. So far Voyager had been spared completely in case the design or build or both didn’t live up to expectations. “It won’t do for us to be stranded here without a fully operational ship. I’d rather we don’t touch Voyager at all.” Kathryn told her senior staff “If need be, I can leave with the last homebound ship and set a self-destruct sequence.” Tuvok agreed with this approach, finding it ‘prudent’.
When the first ship was finished it was tested. Tweaked and tested some more. Numerous flights were conducted, one more successful than the other. Luckily the ship and crew always made it back in one piece. Sometimes after weeks of return travel. When the crew were finally convinced overall performance would live up to the Captain’s high expectations, they invited her for an on-board inspection.
Kathryn donned an EVA-suit and cycled out Voyager’s lowest airlock. With the asteroids near absent gravity she carefully bounce-walked of the ramp towards the new craft. The ship was about a third the size of Voyager. The over-sized, glowing blue deflector dish that dominated the front of the ship was a striking feature. She stopped to take a good look. It seemed Seven had taken her own advice on the dish-to-ship ratio seriously. She chuckled and agreed with the young Borg, the main deflector of this ship was far more than a navigational array. It doubled as an extremely high-output emitter for tachyon bursts to accommodate the slipstream drive. It would also amplify the tractor beam considerably. She guessed this small ship would be able to easily tow a Galaxy-sized ship. No small feat.
Moving closer to the hull she noted the absence of standard plating. The ship featured bio-regenerative ablative armour and was suffused in a faint green glow. She laughed out loud at that. Seven and B’Elanna had been harassing her for months to get it installed on Voyager, claiming that the armour could auto-heal minor gashes and reinforce itself during combat. She also spotted a multi-phasic phaser array “Well if we do fall short of the finish line, at least we’ll be able to fight our way home.”
“We most certainly will.” B’Elanna confirmed, easily bobbing her way small puffs of grey dust swirling up with each jump “We retained the Defiant's pulse phaser cannons for dogfighting and we added a complement of transphasic torpedoes for heavy encounters. Along with the standard Starfleet weapons complement.” The chief pointed towards the location of the launch tubes. Then she pointed towards the ships mid-section explaining Tuvok had suggested they make the ships versatile like the Danube runabouts. If necessary a crew would be able to make different specialised compartments in less than a week. The main fuselage would house one heavy duty replicator and a small alchemy storage plant to be able to do just that if they had to create a new module from scratch.
“Alchemy? Sounds interesting. What kind of plant is that?” Kathryn asked. B’Elanna told her it was Seven’s idea. “Well to be honest it was an invention of species 231. Never mind who they are, the Borg wiped them out.” The chief proceeded to elaborate how species 231 discovered a very compact method of storing molecularised matter for replication purposes. “It’s a cross between relatively small physical storage units and a transporter buffer. When you see the schematics, you can’t imagine why no-one in the Federation ever came up with this. Seven and I will file for patents through the Andorian Science Institute the moment we’re within communications range of Federation space.” This stopped the Captain short. “I’m sorry, you’ll do what?” B’Elanna repeated her intention and Kathryn lifted a hand “This is Starfleet’s now.”
“No” the Klingon replied “If anything it belongs to species 231, may they rest in peace. I’m not Starfleet, neither is Seven. What we are is practical and we will do a first filing.” Kathryn planted her hands on her hips, the movement being somewhat hindered by the bulky suit “You will do no such thing Lieutenant.” B’Elanna turned to face her head-on and pointed towards her neck, the place where her uniform collar would be. “I carry a maquis rank indicator Captain. I’m not Starfleet and neither is my wife. By all accounts and measures we’re civilians. So yes we can. The moment we enter Federation space, Starfleet will drop us off at the nearest star base so they can claim these ships and start disassembling them. I want us to get our rights in well before that.” The Klingon softened and did an unusual thing “Kathryn” she started, making use of the rare privilege “you are a great and inspiring Captain to work for. Out in the Delta Quadrant, you are Starfleet. But there” she waved a hand at the expansion of space above them indicating Earth “you are one of many Captains. There is no telling what Starfleet may or may not do. Allow Seven and me to take care of our family.” The Klingon grinned “We’ll charge Starfleet a very fair royalty for the license. You want a cut?” Kathryn patted her arm “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear you just tried to bribe me.” The spirited Klingon laughed while they both made their way towards the smaller ships air-lock.
Once the all-clear light lit up both women removed their helmets and wrestled themselves out of their EVA suits. B’Elanna continued their earlier conversation “It’s not a bribe. Something tells me you might have trouble fitting back into the Starfleet mould. You may need some financial independence yourself.” The older woman regarded her for a moment “What makes you think that?”
“Like I said. Out here you are Starfleet, its one and only authority. You make the decisions, give us our orders, we follow them. When we’re back, you’ll have to start following orders as opposed to only giving them. I’m really curious to see how you’ll handle that.”
“I can follow orders.” Kathryn countered somewhat defensively.
“Sure you can, for as long as you agree with them. The moment you don’t. Well …. let’s just say I’m expecting fireworks. Through here to engineering.” The Chief pointed her chin at an open hatch through which staircase was visible. No turbo lifts had been installed. That would have been a monumental waste of space and energy. Instead the decks were linked though stairs, two cargo lifts and a number of paternoster lifts for personnel. Kathryn liked the crew’s practical approach. It became very clear to her that these ships had no empty space what so-ever. Every cubic centimetre was used for something. She opened a random cabinet in the stairwell and discovered rations bars and meals ready to eat. She held a up a mac’n’cheese MRE towards B’Elanna “Expecting trouble?” The Chief shrugged. “The slipstream manifold could break down earlier than we expect or hope. Replicators can go down. A hangry crew on a ship this size is a bad idea. Neelix figured it would be good for morale if the crew thinks the ships are stocked for a year of travel.”
“As long as the MRE’s are not pleeka rind casserole, it certainly won’t harm morale.” Kathryn noted drily whilst moving through the heavy pressure doors into Engineering. A step in she paused to take in the scene. In the centre of the compact area the vertical spine of the warp core pulsed upward in familiar soft blue. From the base of the warp core the violet vibrating slipstream drive kicked out its heavy quantum manifold toward the rear of the ship. The manifold was integrated into floor panelling and the rear bulkhead. The design was clever, by keeping the two drives together the ships engineers could easily shunt power from one to the other instantly. Very useful during a crisis.
Her gaze drifted to the walls. These pulsed a soft Borg-green. She more felt than heard the faint, rhythmic ‘thrum’ of the near-organic bio-neural gel pack housings. “The regenerative technology?” she asked. The system’s cadence reminded her of a pulse. The entire engineering space felt like a living creature. B’Elanna confirmed. “What the ship can’t fix itself, we must.” She pointed at an industrial replicator. “This is where we can replicate replacement parts for the ship and propulsion drives using the alchemy storage plant. If an EPS relay blows during a slipstream jump, we can have a new relay ready for installation in seconds.”
The Captain slowly made her way towards the engineering stations wrapped around both drives. The engineering trio would see both the warp core and the slipstream manifold while working. A holographic display floated above the chief engineer’s console. On display was a real-time stress map of the hull, a display with the benamite degradation rate and a number of other critical engineering parameters. Kathryn slowly spun around her axis “I’m impressed at how much you’ve all been able to get done in such a short timeframe. Well done.”
“Tours not done yet.” B’Elanna steered her back out “There’s more.” She jumped on the small platform of a paternoster moving up. Kathryn followed her and marvelled at the ship her crew designed and built from scratch. Pride filled her when she exited the sleek matte-grey vessel. “We’ll give this ship its own class name. I propose Domum-class” Seeing B’Elanna’s blank expression she continued “Domum is Latin, an ancient Earth language. It means homeward.”
“Domum.” B’Elanna tasted the word in her mouth. “The meaning is spot on and it’s easy to pronounce. Even Tom would get it right. Sure why the hell not. Homeward we go so domum it is”
Back in Voyager, they both made their way to deck one well in time for the senior staff meeting of the day. The main agenda item was progress on the new Domum-class ships. Harry, B’Elanna, Seven and Tuvok all agreed that the ship parked next to Voyager was ready for a final shakedown flight. A discussion broke out over the name of the craft. Tom suggested that because of the class-name they stick to a Latin name for the craft itself. He suggested ‘Nulli Cedo’ to capture their unyielding drive for getting home.
After the name was agreed upon, Kathryn dropped the bomb that she would do the final shakedown in a short solo flight. The senior staff balked at this idea. The petite woman gazed around the table, her auburn bob softly brushing her cheeks. “You are convinced it is safe?” B’Elanna, Seven and Harry nodded. “Then this should not be any different than me stepping into a shuttle. If you have objections then clearly you don’t trust its performance enough. In that case the work isn’t finished. So get back to work.” Nobody moved or said anything. Harry gave her a mega-lumen smile that lit up the conference room “I’m convinced you’ll have a smooth flight Captain.” Kathryn sighed inwardly, gave him a ‘you idiot look’ and ignored the remark. When no-one else made any objections she said “Right. Tomorrow I’ll do the last shake-down flight in single-operator modus.” Tuvok protested deeming it ‘an unnecessary risk’ that she do this flight. Kathryn’s reply was a dry “Dully noted, Commander. Yes there’s some risk but I’m going to do it anyway. It’s only a short run.”
For a realism the ship would be stocked up to the gills and a copy of the Doctor’s holo-matrix would be downloaded into the ships core computer to test the emergency hologram’s medical, command and specifically the new engineering mode in operation. The trip would be less than an hour long. What could possibly go wrong?