The next three and a half weeks passed by quickly with all the work that had to be done to prepare the medium-sized ship to be used. The ship was up, and functional, and all systems checked out. Tammy Paris had suggested stripping the Kazon plating off and converting them to federation standard and everyone heartily approved.
The ugly brown metal was quickly changed to gleaming silver in only two days and now looked like Voyager's little sister, except the nacelle pylons were permanent and didn't hinge like Voyager's did. Still, the crew actually had to hold a raffle to see who would win spots on the secondary crew under Commander Cavit.
She was both flattered by the offer of her own ship and exasperated that she couldn't pick who she wanted to steal from me to give her new command the best chance to succeed. So, I compromised and told her she could chose her command crew.
Surprisingly, she picked the people that would have died if I hadn't healed them when I first showed up here on Voyager. Lieutenant Stadi for Helm, Commander Santos for Engineering, Lieutenant Rollins for Tactical, Commander Peterson for Chief of Medical, and Ensign Jonas for OPS.
It only took another hour before Commander Cavit and her 50 crew members, 25 members for each shift, and one of the two science teams, to move their belongings to the new ship. Voyager seemed a little diminished with such key personnel missing, too.
Of course, I gave an inspiring speech to both ships over their intercoms, claimed we were ushering in a new era of exploration for Starfleet, and gave the command to head out. We left a Starfleet message buoy behind and headed off in the direction we would have taken to return to the Alpha Quadrant if we were going the long way.
*
A series of overcharged photon torpedoes collapsed a quantum singularity Helen Kim detected on the ship's long range sensors that had been modified with Caretaker Array technology. No one wanted to be caught in something like that disaster, especially USS Voyager's smaller sister ship, the USS Forerunner.
As both ships flew on, those same sensors let them detect a world in a nearby system that used polaric energy, a highly unstable but powerful resource. If properly regulated, and stringent measures taken to keep it safe, it was on par with using nuclear power back in the 1980s. They dropped navigation warning buoys and avoided that system completely.
Not surprisingly, the paired ships detected something else in the next system. Traces of dilithium were found in an airless planetoid's underground cave system that could be a source for future mining. Captain Janeway ordered a round of phaser drilling to reveal some of the larger deposits and that only lasted for a few minutes before a ship was launched from a hidden hangar and attacked.
Janeway had two very nimble ships on his side, with energy diverting shielding, so the enemy ship's weapons were useless against them. The enemy was quickly disabled by Voyager's and Forerunner's powerful weapons and Janeway ordered standard medical quarantine procedures. The scans of the planetoid after drilling the hole, showed an organ storage facility and unknown contaminates.
It was a good thing he did, because the aliens that appeared on the viewscreen when they finally answered the hails, made half the people on the bridge gag. The crews of Voyager and Forerunner then learned about their people's Phage, a virulent disease that was so potent that they needed to harvest organs from other beings just to survive. It was not only them, either. Their entire race called Vidiians did it.
“I'm very sorry to hear that.” Captain Janeway said with deep sympathy in his voice. “Send us everything you have on the disease and where your people are. We'll do everything we can to fix the situation.”
“You'll help us get more organs?” One of the aliens asked, his voice full of hope, as the other one sent over all of the data they had.
“There's something we can do right now.” Janeway said and kept his eyes on the aliens. “Tuvoc, initiate General Order 6.” He said and paused dramatically as his friend followed the order. “Fire.”
A spread of ten torpedoes and every phaser on Voyager opened fire and tore through the alien ship. The viewscreen cut off the call and switched to a wide outside view as the alien ship exploded. The computer took over the phasers and shot every single piece of scrap the explosion produced.
Everyone on the bridge was completely silent at the complete and total destruction.
“General Order 6 is Starfleet's most stringent disease containment protocol. If a disease is so deadly that there are no survivors, destruction of the ship is mandated to stop contamination and the spread of the disease.”
“But, captain.” Helen Kim whispered. “They were still alive.”
Janeway closed his eyes and sighed. “No, they weren't. I doubt they had any of their original DNA left after all the modifications they've done to themselves, not to mention the countless people they've murdered to maintain their existence.” He opened his eyes and turned to face her. “Even if by some miracle we could heal them, what would they become? Their original species? Mixed breeds of a dozen different races? A pile of stitched together skin and body parts like they admitted they were?”
Helen paled at the thought. “Oh, my god.”
“All they are is the disease. It drives them, consumes them, and in turn they consume others endlessly.” Janeway said and turned back to the screen. “It pains me to do so, to declare an entire star system as a biological hazard. We have to destroy their means of escape and propulsion, just as the Federation did for the Tarellians back in the Alpha Quadrant.”
Everyone onboard knew about the race of people that doomed themselves during a civil war by causing a highly contagious and incurable viral disease to infect their entire population, which caused the downfall of their civilization and the deaths of millions on their planet and nearby ones. They were even hunted down by other races to stop the spread of the deadly plague.
“Miss Kim, Tuvoc, you have to scour that data for every location of their people and every ship transponder. If there's not enough information in what they sent...” Janeway took a deep breath and let it out. “In two hours, I will authorize a very strict biohazard excursion into their facility to raid their computers. Self-contained air breathers are a must, too. All equipment used and clothing worn, will be destroyed in a separate decontamination module, which will also be destroyed after the away team returns to the ship.”
Everyone watched as the captain stood and gave each of them a sorrowful look.
“I will not allow anything to pass from them to the people on this ship. All data will be transmitted and no physical connection will be allowed. Containment must be total and complete and any mistake means your death and possibly the death of everyone else on this ship. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir!” They all responded.
“Good, that's good. Lieutenant Paris, you have the bridge.” Janeway said and stood. “If you all will excuse me, I need to go throw up and take a shower.”
They all watched as he walked to the turbolift and the door closed on the man's blank face. None of them thought less of him for what he said, either. They all knew the burden of command came with making hard decisions, and this latest one was the hardest one they had seen anyone make. Ever.
*
In the end, Lieutenant Carrey in Engineering had the brilliant idea to beam over a set of holo-emitters attached to a portable computer core and power pack, then copied the Emergency Medical Hologram's basic program onto the computer. It let them interact with the equipment over there without endangering anyone, except the copy of the doctor's hologram when the base was destroyed.
Janeway entered a commendation into the program's original file and set it to propagate through all the ships when the program updated. It's sacrifice would not be forgotten.
They retrieved all the data the facility had, including all the medical data it had for surgeries and adjusting different organs from different species into making them compatible with another species. It was revolutionary work and was a shame the breakthrough came from such a horrible thing.
It led to the base's destruction, as well as all of the biological specimens it had, thanks to the dilithium they couldn't mine. Luckily, the computer databases there had given Voyager and Forerunner all the information they needed to hunt down the alien ships that were ravaging the populations of other ships and worlds as they spread out farther and farther for more materials to keep their people alive.
The two Federation ships had a lot of work to do to contain the virulent disease and the desperate beings that were devoted to spreading it as far as possible before they died.
It was a task that none of the federation citizens wanted to do; and yet, none of the balked at their duty. They suffered for it, though. Many nightmares were had, and shared, and most took comfort that everyone around them understood their pain, since it was theirs as well.
*
A nebulous cloud was discovered and after a short investigation, the intermittent life signs were the clues needed for the members of the science team to figure out the cloud was alive and was a space-based living organism.
As far as the scientists could tell, it lived on energy radiation or converting energy radiation, so Janeway ordered Tuvoc to adjust a phaser beam to emit vivifying particles of energy, just as the Enterprise did at Farpoint Station.
To everyone's surprise and delight, the nebula glowed brightly for several minutes as it increased in size by about half its size again, then it started to split and drifted apart to become two separate nebulous clouds.
“Isn't that something.” Janeway commented with awe in is voice. “We don't get to see something like that every day.”
“No, we don't.” Tammy Paris responded. “Starfleet's going to go nuts when they read the science team's reports.”
Janeway chuckled and lightly patted her shoulder before he turned to OPS. “Miss Kim, drop a warning beacon as we leave the area and mark their places on the interstellar map.”
“Aye, captain.” Helen said and hit a few buttons to prepare the buoy.
They left the area after a few more scans, that the science team were excited about, and moved on.
*
The Kazon attacked in a large group of ships in retaliation for the battle back at the Caretaker's array months ago and the lead ship's captain declared war on Voyager. As the sole Federation representatives in the Delta Quadrant, it fell to Janeway as the highest ranking officer to try and negotiate with the man. He refused, claimed the human women as slaves on behalf of his tribe, and opened fire.
Voyager and Forerunner flew circles around the larger Kazon ships and tore them apart. They disabled all their weapons, their engines, and all of their shuttles. The lead Kazon ship hailed Voyager several times before Janeway answered.
“Perhaps, we can... negotiate for peace... as you suggested, Captain Janeway.” The defeated alien reluctantly capitulated, and Janeway nodded once in response.
After two hours, a single small ship of the Kazon's was repaired only enough for the engines to work and all of their surviving people were stuffed to the bulkheads onboard and they were sent back to their people with their heads shaved and their clothing stripped of all markings. They lost and were no longer considered warriors.
It took another three weeks to recycle most of the wrecks and the crew of both ships converted and rebuilt a similar ship to the USS Forerunner, appropriately named USS Retaliation, and both ships gave up crew members to crew the third ship. Janeway awarded command to Lieutenant Tuvoc, after a field commission up two ranks to Commander, and no one complained or said she didn't deserve it.
All three ships were slightly strained to crew their shifts fully, so a few jobs were combined for ease of staffing. It also streamlined a few procedures and it let the three captains relax a little. Their progress through the Delta Quadrant slowed slightly, since they agreed to only do encounters during the main shifts and slowed to impulse power in empty systems for the night shifts.
With three ships, a lot more people were gaining command experience as bridge officers during those extra night shifts, and still no one complained. Everyone seemed to be more accepting as people became the resource that was now in short supply and no one held it against anyone else.
Over the next two months, Janeway decided to limit their interactions with the locals, thanks to the examples of their disastrous encounters with both the Kazon and the Vidiians. When new planets and civilizations were discovered, the systems were marked on the interstellar map and were mostly avoided to reduce the number of incidents they could be involved in.
Any ships they came across were hailed with a standard greeting and then told the federation squadron was just passing through and other ships would be by later to visit them at length. It was an odd way for an exploratory ship to do encounters; but, they really had no choice.
Other stellar phenomenon were also found and marked, to be explored later by dedicated science ships, like a protostar that emitted massive amounts of energy, and a dark matter nebula that was a little too dangerous for their three undermanned ships to explore.
They also tracked down the last of the rogue Vidiian ships and destroyed them, finally ending the threat of their plague and their people's locust-like behavior.
*
Almost as a last hurrah of our time spent alone in the Delta Quadrant, since it was almost time to return to the beacon where we first arrived, the USS Forerunner was scouting ahead and detected traces of iron rust and gasoline. In space. That set all three ship crews on alert and they gathered together to follow the trail, only to come across a 1936 Ford pickup.
Thanks to Tammy Paris and her hobby of classic vehicles, she filled everyone in on the thing as the science team examined it in the smallest cargo bay. It was a farming truck, with manure and trace seeds in the back and on the tires, which the science teams collected to examine later. They might even be extinct versions of plants they hadn't seen in centuries back on Earth, which had them very excited at the discovery.
Tammy checked the thing over physically, declared everything was intact and should still work, then gave a lesson to the science team on how to start the thing. It backfired a couple of times and scared the security guards, then Tammy apologized that she forgot they sometimes did that after a long time of no use.
Inside was a very old and quite valuable AM radio that still worked. Tammy turned it on and slowly moved the dial all along the shown bandwidth, only to find a signal. A member of the science team ran to a nearby console and ran the signal through the computer's database to find it was an ancient SOS signal, calling for help.
That really set off the imaginations of the science teams and Captain Janeway was formally requested to follow up on it, because it was too valuable of an opportunity to miss. It could lead to more ancient Earth artifacts and extinct plant species, and no Starfleet personnel would ever ignore the possibility.
Once Helen Kim added the appropriate filters to Voyager's standard communications protocols, they easily detected it. She explained it wasn't normally a part of them and wasn't actively scanned for, so that was why it hadn't been detected before.
Once they had it locked in, all three ships jumped to the solar system where the source was and tracked it to the third planet. It was a Class L planet, with a marginal atmosphere, and only sparse plant life and no animal life could live. It also had a slightly volatile atmosphere that distorted their scans and interfered with the teleporter signal because of the 'trinimbic' interference and EM distortions, which were the scientific terms for thick clouds and excessive lightning.
With the violent and turbulent upper atmosphere, it was decided a shuttlecraft was too small to survive the trip. Since the two small sister ships to Voyager hadn't been designed for it or had the same landing systems installed during their refits, only Voyager itself was able to land on the planet's surface.
Both science teams wanted to go, so the one on Forerunner teleported over before Voyager descended down into the atmosphere towards where the SOS signal was coming from. They were buffeted by the rough atmosphere, giving Tammy a hard time with handling the ship, and everyone silently agreed that a smaller ship wouldn't have survived the trip to the surface.
The spaceship deployed its landing struts as it approached the ground and came down to land, with only a slight jarring that was felt throughout the ship, even with the inertial dampeners on full power to compensate.
“I might be a fantastic pilot; but, I'm not looking forward to doing that again.” Tammy said and put the ship into idle mode, so it could take off at a moment's notice.
“You did great, Tammy.” Janeway said and walked over to place a gentle hand on her shoulder. “I wouldn't have trusted you with this if I wasn't fully confident that you could handle it.”
“You're only saying that because we don't have a backup pilot.” Tammy joked.
“Oh, you caught me.” Janeway joked right back and placed his other hand over his heart, making Tammy laugh. “I want you to come with me. You're the closest thing we have to an ancient vehicle expert and we can join the science teams on the surface as they examine the source of the signal.”
Tammy beamed a smile at him. “I'd be honored to join with you, captain!”
Dead silence fell on the bridge and Tammy's face went to a bright red.
“I-I-I didn't mean... I meant I... I was going to say go with you, then thought j-join you would sound more professional. I-it was an innocent s-slip of the tongue, captain! I s-swear!” Tammy stammered.
Janeway looked into her eyes and didn't want to lie. “Honestly, I'd take you up on the accidental offer if I wasn't already involved in a serious relationship.”
Nearly everyone on the bridge let out sounds of relief, especially Tammy.
“In other words, it's okay to have a crush on me. I won't hold it against you or tease you about it.” Janeway said and Tammy nodded several times. “Just like I don't mind Miss Kim's crush on me.”
The loud 'eep' sound from OPS made Janeway smirk.
Tammy knew then that he said it to make her own embarrassment lessen as Helen shared in it. “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”
Janeway gave her shoulder a light squeeze and then let it go. “Grab a tricorder and a phaser for me and the same for yourself.”
Tammy almost jumped to her feet and went to the small dispenser at the side of the bridge and opened it, grabbed two tricorders and two hand phasers, the gun kind, and jogged back over to Janeway. He gave her an indulgent smile and accepted one of each to add to his belt. He nodded towards the turbolift and the pair made their way over to it and rode it down to the lowest deck with an external hatch.
They met the two excited science teams there, whom carried several pieces of scientific equipment, and one closest to the hatch opened it and the entire group left the safety of the ship to step onto a planetary surface for the first time in months.