Neelix was stressing. Voyager had told him that Kes had been beamed back, but she had told him about her people’s closed minded views. He was sure that she would be affected by her brief time down there. He looked out the window and saw that Voyager was breaking orbit.
“Voyager, what are you doing?” he asked.

“Returning to the Array,” Voyager answered. “We still need to talk to the Caretaker.”

“But, he told you to leave him alone, didn’t he?”

“He did, but we don’t have any other choice.”


Kes returned to the Observation lounge.

“How are you, sweetie?” Neelix asked.

“It reminded me why I left. But I’m fine.”

Even so, Neelix hugged Kes.

Voyager interrupted. “A heads up; Kazon ships are also approaching the Array. There may be battle.”

A klaxon sounded, and red lights flashed along the wall. The words Red Alert! started flashing on the bottom of the viewscreen.


Voyager powered her weapons systems and raised shields as she and Talon approached the Array and the two vessels. She hailed one of them.

“Have you come to investigate the entity's strange behavior too, ship?” Jabin asked.

“We want to get home, Jabin,” Voyager responded. “I was about to try to talk to the Caretaker to arrange that.”

“I’m afraid I can’t permit that.”

“We have no dispute with you.”

“I have a dispute with anyone who would challenge us,” Jabin said.

“This is ridiculous. We have no intention of challenging you.”

“I have no intention of letting anyone with your level of technology contact the entity!” He then cut off the transmission.


I’m going to beam Kes to the Array, Voyager said to Talon. Can you hold off the Kazon?

I think so, Voyager.


“Someone has to beam over to the Array. I doubt the Caretaker would be receptive to a DOT projecting a hologram,” Voyager said to Kes.

“I’m ready,” Kes said.

“Are you sure, sweetie?” Neelix asked.

“I have to. Voyager can’t, and I don’t think you want to.”

Neelix couldn’t argue with that. “Just be careful.”

ExpandRead More )
In sickbay, the automated systems scanned Kes and the triage programs examined her injuries. They determined that the Emergency Medical Hologram didn’t need to be activated, rather that a Nurse DOT could treat her. Voyager agreed, she didn’t want to override the medical systems if she didn’t need to. Besides, it seemed that Ocampa were similar enough to Humans.

“So, you’re completely sapient?” Kes asked.

“Yes. I run without a crew, as most Starfleet ships do, although I do have the facilities for one,” Voyager answered.

A Nurse DOT started treating Kes. Voyager turned to Neelix. “If you told me what you had planned, I might have anticipated your irrational behaviour.”

“Irrational? We rescued Kes, didn’t we,” Neelix shot back.

“Excuse me. Don’t blame Neelix,” Kes said as the Nurse DOT finished running a dermal regenerator over one of her now healing bruises. “I never should have gone to the surface. I'm too curious. I'm told it's my worst failing.”

“No, no, it's a wonderful quality. Your most endearing,” Neelix argued.

“But we need to get in contact with your people, so we could find out more about the Caretaker. Learn if he can send us home,” Voyager said.

“We don’t have much information,” Kes said. Just that he cares for us. After the catastrophe, he created the city and provides energy. That’s all.”

“So, we would have to approach the Caretaker directly,” Voyager surmised. “But he ignored us when we tried to contact him.”

“What I also know is that he had sent people from the crews he abducted to us. But they died from some kind of illness,” Kes added.

“But you don’t know much more?” Voyager asked.

“I’m afraid not.”


Voyager waited as Kes was patched up, as it were. She contacted the Maquis ship.

I’m going to gather data from the Ocampa.

How? Sensors aren’t picking up an underground city.

I know. But transporters may be able to penetrate whatever barriers the Caretaker may have put in place. I’ll beam a DOT in with a tricorder. The Ocampa won’t know it’s there. The Prime Directive won’t be broken.

Starfleet and their precious Directive, the Maquis ship sent in a tone of annoyance. I would say that we’re already involved.

Voyager found herself agreeing.

ExpandRead More )
Voyager Alone
The Ocampa and the Caretaker Part 1
USS Voyager NCC 74656 entered the Badlands. She examined the data that her sensors were collecting on the plasma storms. She predicted the paths that the Maquis ship, Starfleet had sent her after, could have gone according to the information the Cardassians had provided. There were a lot of variables but she chose the most likely path.


An hour later, she picked up the trail. But after another fifteen minutes it vanished suddenly, with her sensors also picking up a strange variance in the local subspace.

She was perplexed. 'How could a ship just vanish,' she wondered for a few microseconds. Did the variance have something to do with it. She wanted to find that ship, not deal with anomalies in a dangerous area of space. Then there was an alert. A coherent tetryon beam was scanning her. 'What is that?' she thought as she also picked up a displacement wave that was moving towards her!

Voyager turned, went to full impulse and easily moved through the plasma storms. But the wave kept moving towards her. Panic briefly rippled through her systems as the wave caught up with her.


She realized that something had happened. She double checked the readings.

No longer in the Badlands.

Triangulating pulsar coordinates.

Impossible!

Location confirmed. Approximately 70000 light years from Sol, in the Delta Quadrant, near the outer rim of the Galaxy.

The Delta Quadrant! She scanned the nearby space, and found that the Maquis ship was there too, along with an Array of some kind, and that there on the outer reaches of a system containing a G type star. She surmised that it was that structure that had transferred them across the Galaxy.
Tentatively, she hailed the Maquis ship.

Federation Starship Voyager to Maquis Vessel.

The Maquis vessel responded. Starfleet! I knew you would be here after chasing me.

We need to work together if we are to return to the Alpha Quadrant.

Unfortunately, I agree. My sensors can't pick up lifesigns in that Array, so it might be like us.

Voyager disagreed. There is actually a faint sporocystian lifeform reading coming from somewhere aboard there.

Then let's hail it.

They tried for several minutes, but there was no response.

ExpandSeveral hours passed. )

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