by Alys Landale
As always, I don’t own any of the Star Trek characters. No, I’m not using this to make money. This is just pure and simple fun. Paramount owns all the Voyager people however I lay a claim to
the characters that I create: Aria, Xara, Danag, Satira, Raken, Kail, Takma, etc. So without further adieu, here you go.
The Fates Series
Innocence Unveiled
Almost a year had elapsed since Voyager’s last battle. It was a year of hard work and preparation to get Voyager back on her feet again. And just when the crew thought that things were going alright, something would happen and they’d be forced to start over again from scratch. What they still were unable to realize was that the very Imperial scientists that were working along their sides, were the ones who were sabotaging their work.
But now it looked like the ship was finally ready. Soon they would be able to continue on their journey home and finally leave Imperial Space.
B’Elanna finished recalibrating the warp core. They had managed to salvage it once it had been jettisoned, but it had suffered major damage. She cursed that day once more. It seemed everything had gone wrong then. But now they would soon be leaving. *Just one more day inside this Imperial Research Facility and we’re gone.* She thought to herself.
Harry and Seven came up to her from behind.
“So are we ready to leave tomorrow?” he asked her.
B’Elanna turned to face him. “Well the Warp Core’s working again, so with any luck we can get out of this hell hole, as long as the captain doesn’t pull us into another fight the moment we leave.”
He shook his head. “It wasn’t the captain’s fault. She had no idea what was going to happen. Besides, it’s not so bad here. We have tons of research equipment, a free place to stay. We should be thankful the Empire was so generous to us.”
She knew he had a point, but still, there was something about this that didn’t seem right. It had been eating at her ever since they had come here, but whenever she asked the captain about it, Janeway would dismiss her gruffly.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I just don’t like it here. That Takma sends chills down my spine whenever I look at her.”
Seven then joined in on the conversation. “I believe I must agree with Lieutenant Torres. It does not seem logical that any political faction would offer such resources as we have been given if they were not looking to improve their own.”
“They’re just trying to repay us for how we helped them. Takma felt responsible for what happened to us, so she got the Pretor to give us this facility. We should be thankful to her.”
The two women admonished his opinion. They knew the woman wasn’t what she appeared to be. The problem was, they didn’t have any proof. Seven however, had learned to keep her guard up since coming to this facility. The Parvanian scientists seemed to stare at her oddly, like she was some research project and not the individual that she had become. She too had approached Janeway on the matter but the captain had dismissed it.
“I tell you who we should place our blame on, that Rune Landis out there. From what Takma said, he’s the one who attacked us. And if it wasn’t for all his attacks on the Empire, then we would have even more resources and people to help us out.”
The two women did agree with him on that. All aboard Voyager felt the same. If it wasn’t for that Resistance scum then their ship would have never been attacked and they wouldn’t have been forced to stay at this facility for the past year. All agreed that if they ever ran into Rune Landis again, he would pay dearly for what he had done.
“I guess you have a point,” said B’Elanna. “What I wouldn’t give to fight that man in combat. I heard he attacked another Imperial Fleet last week. It seems that ship of his managed to steal the cargo aboard the other ships as well.”
Harry sneered. “The man probably never did an honest day’s work in his life. He’s nothing more than a common thief.”
*
Captain Landis sat aboard his bridge of the Jihaid. They had just finished another battle and now basked in the glow of victory. But none of the bridge crew were at all happy.
“Try contacting the shuttle again.” he told Danag.
“Aye sir.” Danag entered a chain of commands on his console. He then turned back to his captain. “I’m sorry sir, I can’t raise her.”
Rune ran a hand through his blond hair. His sky blue eyes had lost their shine since he heard this news. He should have never let her do this. He should have been the one in that shuttle, not Commander Brandwin. Not his Aria.
She had taken a shuttle out to help distract one of the other ships that had attacked them, but somehow they had gotten separated during battle. Now it was up to him to find her before the Empire did.
He turned back to his chief Ops officer. “Danag, send a message out to any other Resistance vessels in the sector and scan this entire area down to the molecule. I want her found now.”
Aria sat in her seat at the helm.
*Why did I do this again?* she asked herself. Rune had told her not to. She should have listened to him, he was her captain after all. But now here she was, in the middle of no where, with no communication or propulsion and barely able to hold her ship together. If only she hadn’t gotten separated from the Jihaid. Instead of staying near the larger ship, she had pursued a fleeing
Imperial vessel and ended up on the wrong side of its weapon system. And she had only managed to barely wound the enemy ship.
*Well at least they won’t be able to call any of their friends* she thought ruefully. Of the systems she had manage to disable on her enemy’s vessel, communications had been one of them. *Along with some intensive damage to engineering*
But none of that had helped her since the other ship still had its weapons systems. She had ended up having to use all her piloting skills to get her away from the vessel and her piloting skills were very minute.
She leaned back in her seat. She was safe for now. The moon’s gravitational field hid her from all scans. She thanked the Fates that she had been able to find an uninhabited planet and moon to hide behind.
She gritted her teeth. *Hide* the word instigated malice within her. She hated the fact that she had to hide from her enemies, but it was better to hide than die for nothing. All that she could think of now was how the next Imperial vessel she came across would pray to the Spirit that they had never crossed her path.
***********
The Next Day...
Captain Janeway sat at her seat aboard the bridge. It had been a long year but Voyager was finally in one piece once again. And that was all thanks to Takma. But now it was time to leave the Empire and get back on their voyage home.
Chakotay sat next to her. He along with everyone else aboard the ship was just as glad to be leaving. There was something about Takma that unnerved him. But if the captain trusted her...
He turned to Janeway. She periodically continued to get the headaches that had plagued her since they had set foot in the Empire, but they now seemed to lessen.
“I can’t tell you how glad I am to get out of here.” he told her.
She smiled. “I’m glad to be leaving too, but I have to say I will miss this place.”
“Takma’s hailing us,” said Harry from his station.
“Put her through.” Janeway ordered.
Takma appeared on screen. “Captain I would like to wish you a safe journey.” said the woman. “However I do have some bad news.”
Chakotay sighed inwardly. *What is it now?* he thought. It seemed whenever things were looking particularly good, Takma would have more unpleasant news to tell them.
Janeway however, only looked concerned. “Wha
t’s wrong?”
“A group of our ships was attacked yesterday by someone in the resistance. We believe one of his shuttles is still in the area though. If you happen to run into this Resistance vessel, we would appreciate it if you would apprehend the shuttle’s occupants and inform us when you find them.”
“Of course,” replied Janeway. “It’s the least we could do.”
Takma gave the ships occupants one last smile before she ended her transmission. Janeway then turned to those on her bridge. “I believe it’s time we leave. Mr. Baytart, plot a course for home.”
Takma ended her transmission. So far everything was going according to plan. For the past year, she had extracted an extremely large amount of information from Voyager’s computer and crew about any technology they had come across or any information regarding the Alpha Quadrant.
After having Janeway partially drugged, it hadn’t been hard to win the woman’s trust. However, she worried that the drug’s potency might lose effect since she hadn’t been subjected to it in the past few days.
*No matter,* she thought. *I’ll recapture their ship once they reach my borders. But for now I’ll let them see if they can track down that Resistance shuttle. My ships have enough to do without worrying themselves over the matter.*
Once she retook Voyager, she could further experiment on the current Borg aboard the vessel. They had already acquired a great amount of research on the Borg ‘in order to provide them with a greater defensive system against their attacks.’ The fact of the matter was that she wanted the information in hopes of creating her own Collective. She had already extracted some of Seven’s nanoprobes. All she had to do now was begin further research.
She had to admit though, that the crew had been extremely useful in processing the data they had found at that space station. That was her greatest prize. Now she had found a more advanced propulsion system encoded within the data’s matrix. She hadn’t revealed any of this to Janeway or her crew of course. That would just be plain stupid.
Doctor Rosin then walked in. He had overseen all the research done throughout the year.
“Takma,” he said. “I have just finished the test model of our new weapon. By using Borg algorithms combined with the data acquired from the station, I have finished modulating the cybernetic being you requested. If we used these instead of torpedoes then one shot anywhere on ship, would be enough to disable all systems on the ship and give us access to them.”
“Good,” she praised. “Outfit General Kail’s ship with these weapons. He’s going to be hunting Resistance vessels later on. This might offer him the advantage he needs against them.”
Rosin nodded and then left. Takma smiled. The past year had been a profitable one and now it was time to reap the wealth of her work.
Voyager’s crew welcomed the journey home for once. They had learned to keep on the move and after being holed up inside an Imperial base for almost a year, they treasured being able to get away.
For an entire year they had been kept locked away inside that base and only been allowed to leave on a few occasions. They were told it was for their own safety but many of the crew doubted this. However their captain seemed to trust Takma so they had done the same. But they did get news from the outside world via communications systems. Most of this news consisted of Resistance attacks on surrounding areas. It seemed that some man named Rune Landis had reorganized the Resistance into a more powerful body of fighters. All on Voyager knew that it was he who had caused their prolonged stay in Imperial space; thus each one had a vendetta to settle with him.
“Well,” Janeway said once they were well away from the base. “Keep an eye out for any Resistance vessels in the area. The last thing I want is to end up back where we started.”
Janeway rubbed her eyes. She was having a harder time focusing today than she usually did, but her mind was beginning to clear up. She would look back on the past year now and see it as only a haze.
*I guess I’ve been working too much.* she thought and then slid back into her chair.
*
Paris reclined back in the chair in his office. So far they had scanned every piece of space around them and found nothing. The explosion of one of the other ships they had been fighting with had completely erased the shuttle warp trail, so he couldn’t track Aria down that way. And now his sources told him that the Empire had learned of his predicament and sent ships out to look for her as well.
She had been gone almost an entire day and they had found no clues to her whereabouts.
He closed his tired eyes and tried to slow his breathing. They had used scientific methods to try and find her, now it was his turn. Concentrating as hard as he could, he tried to reach out to her with his mind. She had shown him how to do this before, as well as quite a bit more. He just hoped her tutelage would come in useful now.
His body slumped down even further as he left the physical plane of existence and entered the mental plane.
*Aria* he called.
He hoped to the Spirit that she would answer him, otherwise that would mean... No, she wouldn’t let an Imperial vessel have the honor of taking her life. He concentrated even harder on her spirit and repeated her name.
Aria’s tall ears perked up even higher as she heard her name being called. So preoccupied had she been with keeping her shuttle together, she hadn’t had a chance to contact Rune.
*Rune* she responded. *By the Fates, it’s good to hear you.*
*I could say the same for you. What’s your status? Are you alright?*
She smiled at his concern. Throughout his command on the Jihaid, he hadn’t allowed one person to be lost or killed. He would put himself in the line of fire whenever possible to make sure someone else wouldn’t be hurt. She knew his inability to do anything now, was probably killing him.
*Don’t worry, I’m fine. The shuttle is another story. I’ve lost all primary systems except for life support.*
*Can you give me your position?* he asked. Paris was relieved that she was alright. There had been this nagging feeling that something was going to happen to her that he just couldn’t shake.
She sent him her position. *Try and hurry. I’m bored out of my mind.*
He laughed a bit. Aria was always one to play down whatever happened. *I’ll be there as soon as possible.*
They then ended their link. Aria sat back in her chair. The truth was, she missed Rune. They had been at each other’s side for the past year and now that they were separated...
She had at first scolded herself for the affair. After all, the Captain and Commander of a ship should try and maintain an air of professionalism.
*To hell with that* she thought. *It’s a lot more fun the way we’re going now.*
Tom contacted the bridge and gave them Aria’s coordinates. She was, at most, a day’s travel away.
He began to sort through the reports on his desk. They still had to track down the Imperial Freighter that Aria had gone after. He was about to begin work on a new tracking system to locate the ship when someone chimed outside his door.
“Come in,” he said. He looked up over his desk to see who his guest was. A smile immediately appeared on his face.
“Xara,” he said. “Shouldn’t you be in bed about now?” It was her bed time right now, but he wasn’t scolding her. The fact was, he welcomed her company any time. And now he was especially glad to see her.
“I couldn’t sleep,” she said and then walked over to him and crawled into his lap.
“Well it’s a little hard to sleep when you’re walking around the ship. What’s the matter?”
She snuggled closer into his coat. “Is Aria going to be alright?”
He turned her head up to his eyes. “She’s going to be just fine. In fact we’ve just found out where she is. She’ll be back on the ship as soon as possible.”
The little girl smiled. “Good, I missed her. She was supposed to tell me a story tonight but then she got lost.”
Tom laughed a bit.
Xara could always put him in a good mood. “Well, why don’t you get back to bed and I’ll tell you the first second she steps back onto the ship. If you want, I might even transport her directly to our quarters so you can be the first to see her.”
Xara giggled. “No that’s okay. But do I have to go to bed. Can’t I stay here with you?”
He scolded himself again for not being stronger when in her presence. “Okay,” he complied. “You can help me go over these reports here.”
She leaned back in his lap again and looked on as he read through his reports. She’d occasionally make comments and distract him from his work but it wasn’t long before Tom felt the rhythmic breathing of deep sleep coming from Xara.
He looked down at the girl he had come to take care of over the past year. They shared the same quarters, but he decided not to take her back to bed just now. She looked to be comfortable where she sat so he let her sleep.
Picking up another report, he looked through it as the girl slept peacefully in his lap.
*
Harry looked down at his sensors, so far he hadn’t found anything. A light then came to life on his console.
*So much for another boring day.* he thought as he registered where the signal had come from. He had set the sensors to find any Resistance vessel nearby and alert them the moment it was within distance. What he saw now appeared to be a shuttle, not unlike the one Takma had described to them earlier.
“Captain,” he said. “I’m picking up a Resistance shuttle coming from behind that moon. From scans, it looks like it has lost all propulsion and is just drifting.”
Janeway thought for a moment before responding. “Put a tractor beam on them and beam its occupants into the brig. I want to meet whoever’s on that ship first before we inform Takma of our findings.”
Aria knew her ship was drifting but there wasn’t much she could do. She just tried her hardest to get engines back on line before she was found out. She had figured on having more time than this before she had been found.
