Star Trek: Voyager
An Alternate Journey: Voyager Tales Part 1
14 July 2374
“Personal Log: 14 July 2374.
It has been several days since Kathleen and I joined Voyager’s crew on their now extended journey across the galaxy to their homes in the United Federation of Planets. We have been settling in. Today we will be taking Pre-WWIII 21st Century history. The Helmsman, Tom Paris, is teaching. I will also be in Astrometrics where Seven will assign me to her data analysis team. End Log.”
Daniel Howarth clicked off the PADD, saving the log entry to its memory and to the computer in the quarters. The door chime rang.
“Enter,” he said.
The door opened. “Hi, Daniel,” Ensign Katelyn Hawkins said.
“What brings you here, Katelyn?” Daniel asked.
“Please, call me Kate. I just thought that I would visit my new neighbour.”
“Oh! You can come in but I have a history lesson in fifteen minutes,” Daniel said. He didn’t want to be late.
“Of course,” Kate said as she entered. “You haven’t done much with the place,” she said as she gestured to the empty walls.
“I haven’t had much time to unpack, and I didn’t bring all that much with me when Kathleen and I attempted to follow the invaders to their homeworld.”
Kate was taken aback. “Of course,” she said “Sorry,” she said.
“No need to be apologetic,” Daniel said sincerely.
Kate looked up and smiled.
“So, what do you want to talk about?” he asked.
“So, what were you studying before the invasion?” Kate asked.
Ten minutes later, Daniel entered the Forward Lounge on Deck 8, where Paris had decided to hold the informal history lessons.
“So, where were we up to last time?” Paris asked.
“I believe it was the terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Centre in New York,” Kathleen said.
“Ah, yes. 9/11. This was an event that defined most of American international policy for the first decades of the twenty first century...” Paris began.
After an hour and a half Kathleen and Daniel left the Forward Lounge. “Very interesting,” Daniel said.
“Of course,” Kathleen said.
“Pardon?”
“Clarify.”
“That the US would occupy Iraq for that long,” Daniel said.
“Definitely,” Kathleen said.
“So, what are you up to now?” Daniel asked.
“I’m joining Seven in Astrometrics. She’s going to teaching me about subspace and how it interacts with stars in normal space,” Kathleen said.
“Sounds complicated,” Daniel said with a wince.
“I know, but I’m certain that I can handle it,” Kathleen said with a little snark.
“I know that you can,” Daniel said, quietly.
“Good, so what do you have planned?”
“I have an hour of holodeck time. I’m going to use it to try to figure out how to make one of those programs.”
“Sounds interesting, it’s probably relatively easy.”
“Oh?”
“The computer itself could probably help you along. The programming language is probably close to plain English,” Kathleen said.
“Probably, but there may be multiple levels of programming of increasing complexity,” Daniel said.
“Possibly.”
“I’m sure that is how it works,” Daniel said.
“What about one of those ‘holo-novels?”
“I’ll try one of those too.”
Tom Paris stepped off the turbolift onto the Bridge. “The Captain wants to see you in her ready room, Tom,” Commander Chakotay said.
“Any reason?” Tom asked with curiosity.
“It’s probably something to do with your students,” Chakotay said.
“I see,” Tom said as he headed in the direction of the ready room.
The door chime rang in the Captain’s Ready Room. “Enter,” Captain Kathryn Janeway said.
Tom entered. “You wished to see me, Captain?”
“Yes, I’m curious as to how your students are handling the lessons and how they are settling into life on Voyager.”
“They are very easy to teach, Captain. They enjoy learning.”
The Captain smiled. “That reminds me of myself at that age. I wanted to know everything. Of course, Starfleet Academy was a great institution, but it didn’t have everything.”
“It wouldn’t,” Tom said.
“But that didn’t stop me from learning what I wanted.”
“So, you did some exchange courses?” Tom asked.
“More than one, through Cambridge, those were great semesters,” Janeway said in remembrance.
“I can only imagine. Myself, well, I was there for the flying.”
Janeway looked at Tom. “That would explain a lot.”
“I didn’t say that I don’t regret my Academy days, Captain,” Tom said with a penitent look on his face.
Janeway refocused on the original intent of her asking Tom in at this point in time. “So, You think they are settling in?”
“Kathleen is, but I’m not sure about Daniel. He tends to keep more to himself.”
“Oh?”
“Then again, Katelyn seems to have taken an interest in him.”
“Katelyn?” Janeway asked, unsure of which of her crew that Paris was referring to.
“Ensign Hawkins.”
“Oh, of course.”
They talked for another minute before Janeway dismissed him.
Kate Hawkins approached Holodeck 2, where the computer had told her that Daniel Howarth was.
“Program active, you wish to enter?” the Computer said.
“Yes.”
“You wish to be assigned a character?”
“No, create character,” Kate said, having read what the program was on the screen.
“Character parameters set,” the computer said as the Holodeck door opened.
Katelyn entered the holodeck, into a large entrance hall with curved walls. The door closed. She looked back and saw a round door. She started walking further into the smial, for smial it was. ‘Very curious,’ she thought.
She found Daniel in the library.“Lord of the Rings, huh?” she asked.
“Yes. I thought it would be a good idea to try to experience parts of the story. An hour at a time. This is from the very beginning, An Expected Party. Apparently Bilbo is resting as the story begins.”
“Oh?”
“’I’ve just spent the last half hour exploring Bag End. It’s amazing what 400 years of speculation can do.”
“What do you mean?”
‘
“It’s not just the computer generating a holographic environment based on what Tolkien wrote. If it was, there wouldn’t be all the details that I have found,” Daniel said.
“Of course,” Kate said.
“I guess that there were some movies first?”
“Yes, in the early 2000s, a New Zealand filmmaker made a trilogy, followed by a couple of movies based on The Hobbit a decade later. The architectural styles of this version of Bag End mostly come from those films.”
“Cool, but I guess there were other adaptations later?” Daniel asked.
“Of course, but you can just look it up the computer,” Katelyn said.
“Of course,” Daniel said. “Computer, create scroll with list of adaptations.”
The computer gave the acknowledgement signal and the scroll appeared on the desk. Daniel opened it.
“Ah, yes. Lord of the Rings film trilogy, 2001 – 2003, various video game adaptations of the film trilogy, The Hobbit film duology, 2012 & 2013...”
“And that’s just the beginning,” Katelyn said.
“Yes, I see a comic book adaptation in the late 2010s, with an animated series in the early 2020’s,” Daniel said as he continued to read from the scroll.
“So, you want to go out and look at Hobbiton?”
“Not at the moment, plenty of time for that later,” Daniel said.
“Sure.”
An hour later, Kathleen was having a late lunch in the Mess Hall, when a member of the crew came up to her. “You’re one of the new people right?” she asked.
“Excuse me?” Kathleen asked.
“You came through that wormhole?”
“Yes, I’m Kathleen Collins, who are you?”
“I’m Janella Lambert. I would like to talk to you about what happened on Earth when you left.”
“Right... What do you want to know?”
“What was happening, there are very little records of an extraterrestrial invasion in Australia at that time.”
“I guess that the information was stored somewhere where it was subsequently lost from, or Starfleet feels that an average crewmember on Voyager didn’t need to know?” Kathleen mused.
“Possibly,” Janella said, in thought.
“Anything else?”
“Nothing else at this time, I was just curious,” Janella said. “I’ll talk more later,” she said as she left.
‘That’s weird,” Kathleen thought. She didn’t know what to make of the conversation that she had just had.
Daniel and Katelyn entered the Mess Hall for lunch. “So you think that Crewman Lambert is up to something?” Katelyn asked, after Kathleen had told them what had just transpired.
“Possibly,” Kathleen said. She shook her head “I’m not sure what her intentions are,” she said.
“She has been a loner these past few years. Not even hanging out with her fellow Maquis,” Katelyn said.
“We should keep an eye on her,” Daniel said.
“Possibly,” Katelyn said. ‘She may not like that,’ she thought.
“Or report her behaviour to Commander Chakotay,” Kathleen said.
“He would say that it’s not much to go on,” Katelyn said.
“If it happens again, I may think about going to Chakotay, or Tuvok,” Kathleen said,
“Talk to us first though?” Katelyn asked.
“Sure,” Kathleen said.She walked up to the servery.
After lunch Daniel had a 4 hour shift in Astrometrics.
Two hours into his shift he noticed something on the long range scans. “You have something to report, Mr. Howarth?” Seven asked.
“Yes, Seven, the sensors are picking up the outer edges of the large nebula in our path about 111 light years ahead.”
“I see,” Seven said.
“Yes, but we may need to go around it,” Daniel said.
“I’m aware of the radiation readings, Mr. Howarth,” Seven said.
“Still, don’t you think that we should inform Captain Janeway?”
Seven thought for a moment. “Agreed.”
The senior officers had met in the Observation Lounge. “This is the nebula in our path,” Seven said, indicating the image of the nebula displayed on the screen. “The radiation levels are too high for us to pass through it.”
“So you’re saying that we have to change course again?” Janeway asked.
“Correct, according to my calculations it will not add any more than eight months to our journey, if we change course now,” Seven said.
“I see,” Janeway said.
“If we don’t change course until later, it will take longer to go around it,” Seven said.
“Noted Seven,” Janeway said.
“I see no objections,” Paris said.
“Given that we are already off course to the Federation, I suppose it won’t hurt to take an additional diversion!” Lieutenant B’Elanna Torres said with heavy sarcasm.
“Lieutenant!” Janeway warned.
“Sorry, Captain, but why can’t we just go through it?” B’Elanna said.
“It’s too risky. Most of the crew would have to be placed in stasis. We don’t know how thick it is,” Seven said.
“We would know when we get closer, correct?” B’Elanna asked.
“Correct, but it’s best to change course now,” Seven said.
B’Elanna’s only response was to glare at Seven.
“Ladies!” Chakotay shouted.
“Thank you, Commander,” Janeway said.
“What is your decision, Captain?” Ensign Harry Kim asked.
“We will change course. I’d rather not go charging into a nebula that’s filled with radiation without knowing if we could come out the other side,” Janeway said.
“Agreed,” Chakotay said.
B’Elanna left the Observation Lounge in a huff.
“Lieutenant!” Janeway called out.
“I’ll go after her,” Chakotay said.
“Do so, Commander,” Janeway said. After Chakotay followed the engineer she turned to Paris. “Lay in the course, Lieutenant, confer with Seven about the most efficient route.”
“Yes, Captain,” Paris said.
Chakotay met Torres on the rear corridor of Deck 1. “What was it with you in there, Lieutenant?” he asked.
“It’s just that lately things have gone really badly at home, and now we’re taking extra time to get there!”
“I see, but that does not give you permission to blow up in a staff meeting,” Chakotay said.
“I gave you my answer, Chakotay,” B’Elanna said. She then went to the gangway down to Deck 2.
“Not a very satisfactory answer,” Chakotay said.
“That’s all you’re getting,” B’Elanna said.
Chakotay shook his head as he headed back to the Bridge.
“That’s the coordinates for the nearest edge of the visual image of the nebula, Lieutenant,” Seven said. She transferred the information from her PADD to the Helm.”
“Got it, Seven. I’m laying in the course,” Paris said.
“Engage, Mr. Paris,” Janeway said.
Paris pressed the ‘engage’ button. “We’re on our way,” he said.
“Excellent, Mr. Paris.”
Katelyn, Daniel and Kathleen entered the Mess Hall for Dinner. “So, we’re going around that nebula?” Katelyn asked.
“We are,” Daniel said.
“An extra eight months, on top of the extra nine years...” Katelyn murmured.
“Still a bit less than the ten years than that push Kes gave you took off,” Kathleen said.
“Good point,” Katelyn said, brightened. They then went to the counter.
15 July 2374
“Captain’s Log, Stardate 51537.1. 18 hours after we changed course to avoid the nebula ahead we’re now picking up subspace messages from what appears to be a large polity in our path. I’m eager and yet cautious about the upcoming first contact. We have dropped to warp 5 to give us time to prepare.”
The door signal rang. “Enter,” Captain Janeway said.
Chakotay entered. “We have picked up a space station five light years away, Captain,” he said.
“It’s on our path, Commander?” the Captain asked.
“Only half a light-month off.”
“Then it’s certainly worth the diversion. Maybe we can get information about this polity in our path.”
“Possibly.”
“We’ll get star charts of the region ahead in any case.”
“Certainly.”
16 July 2374
“Personal Log; 16 July 2374, six days into the journey home. The crew is preparing for the upcoming First Contact at the nearby space station. In the mean time Daniel and I have another lesson with Lieutenant Paris.
Kathleen clicked off the PADD. She was ready to go.
Kathleen and Daniel exited the forward lounge. “Interesting,” she said.
“In what way?” Daniel asked.
“That the cyberwars between the United States and Iran weren’t more devastating,” she said.
“Well, I guess that most organisations had gotten their act together about cyber security.”
“I guess so,” Kathleen said.
“Most of the Internet root servers were backed up outside the US at that time. It also seems to have survived World War Three.”
“Interesting.”
Voyager dropped out of warp and approached the space station that she had detected the day before.
The station was a rather large structure in orbit 0.3 AU from a red dwarf star. From their angle of approach the Voyager crew could see (if they were looking) the red light reflecting off the exterior material of the station. There were swarms of other ships arriving and leaving the station as Voyager came closer.
An Alternate Journey: Voyager Tales Part 1
14 July 2374
“Personal Log: 14 July 2374.
It has been several days since Kathleen and I joined Voyager’s crew on their now extended journey across the galaxy to their homes in the United Federation of Planets. We have been settling in. Today we will be taking Pre-WWIII 21st Century history. The Helmsman, Tom Paris, is teaching. I will also be in Astrometrics where Seven will assign me to her data analysis team. End Log.”
Daniel Howarth clicked off the PADD, saving the log entry to its memory and to the computer in the quarters. The door chime rang.
“Enter,” he said.
The door opened. “Hi, Daniel,” Ensign Katelyn Hawkins said.
“What brings you here, Katelyn?” Daniel asked.
“Please, call me Kate. I just thought that I would visit my new neighbour.”
“Oh! You can come in but I have a history lesson in fifteen minutes,” Daniel said. He didn’t want to be late.
“Of course,” Kate said as she entered. “You haven’t done much with the place,” she said as she gestured to the empty walls.
“I haven’t had much time to unpack, and I didn’t bring all that much with me when Kathleen and I attempted to follow the invaders to their homeworld.”
Kate was taken aback. “Of course,” she said “Sorry,” she said.
“No need to be apologetic,” Daniel said sincerely.
Kate looked up and smiled.
“So, what do you want to talk about?” he asked.
“So, what were you studying before the invasion?” Kate asked.
Ten minutes later, Daniel entered the Forward Lounge on Deck 8, where Paris had decided to hold the informal history lessons.
“So, where were we up to last time?” Paris asked.
“I believe it was the terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Centre in New York,” Kathleen said.
“Ah, yes. 9/11. This was an event that defined most of American international policy for the first decades of the twenty first century...” Paris began.
After an hour and a half Kathleen and Daniel left the Forward Lounge. “Very interesting,” Daniel said.
“Of course,” Kathleen said.
“Pardon?”
“Clarify.”
“That the US would occupy Iraq for that long,” Daniel said.
“Definitely,” Kathleen said.
“So, what are you up to now?” Daniel asked.
“I’m joining Seven in Astrometrics. She’s going to teaching me about subspace and how it interacts with stars in normal space,” Kathleen said.
“Sounds complicated,” Daniel said with a wince.
“I know, but I’m certain that I can handle it,” Kathleen said with a little snark.
“I know that you can,” Daniel said, quietly.
“Good, so what do you have planned?”
“I have an hour of holodeck time. I’m going to use it to try to figure out how to make one of those programs.”
“Sounds interesting, it’s probably relatively easy.”
“Oh?”
“The computer itself could probably help you along. The programming language is probably close to plain English,” Kathleen said.
“Probably, but there may be multiple levels of programming of increasing complexity,” Daniel said.
“Possibly.”
“I’m sure that is how it works,” Daniel said.
“What about one of those ‘holo-novels?”
“I’ll try one of those too.”
Tom Paris stepped off the turbolift onto the Bridge. “The Captain wants to see you in her ready room, Tom,” Commander Chakotay said.
“Any reason?” Tom asked with curiosity.
“It’s probably something to do with your students,” Chakotay said.
“I see,” Tom said as he headed in the direction of the ready room.
The door chime rang in the Captain’s Ready Room. “Enter,” Captain Kathryn Janeway said.
Tom entered. “You wished to see me, Captain?”
“Yes, I’m curious as to how your students are handling the lessons and how they are settling into life on Voyager.”
“They are very easy to teach, Captain. They enjoy learning.”
The Captain smiled. “That reminds me of myself at that age. I wanted to know everything. Of course, Starfleet Academy was a great institution, but it didn’t have everything.”
“It wouldn’t,” Tom said.
“But that didn’t stop me from learning what I wanted.”
“So, you did some exchange courses?” Tom asked.
“More than one, through Cambridge, those were great semesters,” Janeway said in remembrance.
“I can only imagine. Myself, well, I was there for the flying.”
Janeway looked at Tom. “That would explain a lot.”
“I didn’t say that I don’t regret my Academy days, Captain,” Tom said with a penitent look on his face.
Janeway refocused on the original intent of her asking Tom in at this point in time. “So, You think they are settling in?”
“Kathleen is, but I’m not sure about Daniel. He tends to keep more to himself.”
“Oh?”
“Then again, Katelyn seems to have taken an interest in him.”
“Katelyn?” Janeway asked, unsure of which of her crew that Paris was referring to.
“Ensign Hawkins.”
“Oh, of course.”
They talked for another minute before Janeway dismissed him.
Kate Hawkins approached Holodeck 2, where the computer had told her that Daniel Howarth was.
“Program active, you wish to enter?” the Computer said.
“Yes.”
“You wish to be assigned a character?”
“No, create character,” Kate said, having read what the program was on the screen.
“Character parameters set,” the computer said as the Holodeck door opened.
Katelyn entered the holodeck, into a large entrance hall with curved walls. The door closed. She looked back and saw a round door. She started walking further into the smial, for smial it was. ‘Very curious,’ she thought.
She found Daniel in the library.“Lord of the Rings, huh?” she asked.
“Yes. I thought it would be a good idea to try to experience parts of the story. An hour at a time. This is from the very beginning, An Expected Party. Apparently Bilbo is resting as the story begins.”
“Oh?”
“’I’ve just spent the last half hour exploring Bag End. It’s amazing what 400 years of speculation can do.”
“What do you mean?”
‘
“It’s not just the computer generating a holographic environment based on what Tolkien wrote. If it was, there wouldn’t be all the details that I have found,” Daniel said.
“Of course,” Kate said.
“I guess that there were some movies first?”
“Yes, in the early 2000s, a New Zealand filmmaker made a trilogy, followed by a couple of movies based on The Hobbit a decade later. The architectural styles of this version of Bag End mostly come from those films.”
“Cool, but I guess there were other adaptations later?” Daniel asked.
“Of course, but you can just look it up the computer,” Katelyn said.
“Of course,” Daniel said. “Computer, create scroll with list of adaptations.”
The computer gave the acknowledgement signal and the scroll appeared on the desk. Daniel opened it.
“Ah, yes. Lord of the Rings film trilogy, 2001 – 2003, various video game adaptations of the film trilogy, The Hobbit film duology, 2012 & 2013...”
“And that’s just the beginning,” Katelyn said.
“Yes, I see a comic book adaptation in the late 2010s, with an animated series in the early 2020’s,” Daniel said as he continued to read from the scroll.
“So, you want to go out and look at Hobbiton?”
“Not at the moment, plenty of time for that later,” Daniel said.
“Sure.”
An hour later, Kathleen was having a late lunch in the Mess Hall, when a member of the crew came up to her. “You’re one of the new people right?” she asked.
“Excuse me?” Kathleen asked.
“You came through that wormhole?”
“Yes, I’m Kathleen Collins, who are you?”
“I’m Janella Lambert. I would like to talk to you about what happened on Earth when you left.”
“Right... What do you want to know?”
“What was happening, there are very little records of an extraterrestrial invasion in Australia at that time.”
“I guess that the information was stored somewhere where it was subsequently lost from, or Starfleet feels that an average crewmember on Voyager didn’t need to know?” Kathleen mused.
“Possibly,” Janella said, in thought.
“Anything else?”
“Nothing else at this time, I was just curious,” Janella said. “I’ll talk more later,” she said as she left.
‘That’s weird,” Kathleen thought. She didn’t know what to make of the conversation that she had just had.
Daniel and Katelyn entered the Mess Hall for lunch. “So you think that Crewman Lambert is up to something?” Katelyn asked, after Kathleen had told them what had just transpired.
“Possibly,” Kathleen said. She shook her head “I’m not sure what her intentions are,” she said.
“She has been a loner these past few years. Not even hanging out with her fellow Maquis,” Katelyn said.
“We should keep an eye on her,” Daniel said.
“Possibly,” Katelyn said. ‘She may not like that,’ she thought.
“Or report her behaviour to Commander Chakotay,” Kathleen said.
“He would say that it’s not much to go on,” Katelyn said.
“If it happens again, I may think about going to Chakotay, or Tuvok,” Kathleen said,
“Talk to us first though?” Katelyn asked.
“Sure,” Kathleen said.She walked up to the servery.
After lunch Daniel had a 4 hour shift in Astrometrics.
Two hours into his shift he noticed something on the long range scans. “You have something to report, Mr. Howarth?” Seven asked.
“Yes, Seven, the sensors are picking up the outer edges of the large nebula in our path about 111 light years ahead.”
“I see,” Seven said.
“Yes, but we may need to go around it,” Daniel said.
“I’m aware of the radiation readings, Mr. Howarth,” Seven said.
“Still, don’t you think that we should inform Captain Janeway?”
Seven thought for a moment. “Agreed.”
The senior officers had met in the Observation Lounge. “This is the nebula in our path,” Seven said, indicating the image of the nebula displayed on the screen. “The radiation levels are too high for us to pass through it.”
“So you’re saying that we have to change course again?” Janeway asked.
“Correct, according to my calculations it will not add any more than eight months to our journey, if we change course now,” Seven said.
“I see,” Janeway said.
“If we don’t change course until later, it will take longer to go around it,” Seven said.
“Noted Seven,” Janeway said.
“I see no objections,” Paris said.
“Given that we are already off course to the Federation, I suppose it won’t hurt to take an additional diversion!” Lieutenant B’Elanna Torres said with heavy sarcasm.
“Lieutenant!” Janeway warned.
“Sorry, Captain, but why can’t we just go through it?” B’Elanna said.
“It’s too risky. Most of the crew would have to be placed in stasis. We don’t know how thick it is,” Seven said.
“We would know when we get closer, correct?” B’Elanna asked.
“Correct, but it’s best to change course now,” Seven said.
B’Elanna’s only response was to glare at Seven.
“Ladies!” Chakotay shouted.
“Thank you, Commander,” Janeway said.
“What is your decision, Captain?” Ensign Harry Kim asked.
“We will change course. I’d rather not go charging into a nebula that’s filled with radiation without knowing if we could come out the other side,” Janeway said.
“Agreed,” Chakotay said.
B’Elanna left the Observation Lounge in a huff.
“Lieutenant!” Janeway called out.
“I’ll go after her,” Chakotay said.
“Do so, Commander,” Janeway said. After Chakotay followed the engineer she turned to Paris. “Lay in the course, Lieutenant, confer with Seven about the most efficient route.”
“Yes, Captain,” Paris said.
Chakotay met Torres on the rear corridor of Deck 1. “What was it with you in there, Lieutenant?” he asked.
“It’s just that lately things have gone really badly at home, and now we’re taking extra time to get there!”
“I see, but that does not give you permission to blow up in a staff meeting,” Chakotay said.
“I gave you my answer, Chakotay,” B’Elanna said. She then went to the gangway down to Deck 2.
“Not a very satisfactory answer,” Chakotay said.
“That’s all you’re getting,” B’Elanna said.
Chakotay shook his head as he headed back to the Bridge.
“That’s the coordinates for the nearest edge of the visual image of the nebula, Lieutenant,” Seven said. She transferred the information from her PADD to the Helm.”
“Got it, Seven. I’m laying in the course,” Paris said.
“Engage, Mr. Paris,” Janeway said.
Paris pressed the ‘engage’ button. “We’re on our way,” he said.
“Excellent, Mr. Paris.”
Katelyn, Daniel and Kathleen entered the Mess Hall for Dinner. “So, we’re going around that nebula?” Katelyn asked.
“We are,” Daniel said.
“An extra eight months, on top of the extra nine years...” Katelyn murmured.
“Still a bit less than the ten years than that push Kes gave you took off,” Kathleen said.
“Good point,” Katelyn said, brightened. They then went to the counter.
15 July 2374
“Captain’s Log, Stardate 51537.1. 18 hours after we changed course to avoid the nebula ahead we’re now picking up subspace messages from what appears to be a large polity in our path. I’m eager and yet cautious about the upcoming first contact. We have dropped to warp 5 to give us time to prepare.”
The door signal rang. “Enter,” Captain Janeway said.
Chakotay entered. “We have picked up a space station five light years away, Captain,” he said.
“It’s on our path, Commander?” the Captain asked.
“Only half a light-month off.”
“Then it’s certainly worth the diversion. Maybe we can get information about this polity in our path.”
“Possibly.”
“We’ll get star charts of the region ahead in any case.”
“Certainly.”
16 July 2374
“Personal Log; 16 July 2374, six days into the journey home. The crew is preparing for the upcoming First Contact at the nearby space station. In the mean time Daniel and I have another lesson with Lieutenant Paris.
Kathleen clicked off the PADD. She was ready to go.
Kathleen and Daniel exited the forward lounge. “Interesting,” she said.
“In what way?” Daniel asked.
“That the cyberwars between the United States and Iran weren’t more devastating,” she said.
“Well, I guess that most organisations had gotten their act together about cyber security.”
“I guess so,” Kathleen said.
“Most of the Internet root servers were backed up outside the US at that time. It also seems to have survived World War Three.”
“Interesting.”
Voyager dropped out of warp and approached the space station that she had detected the day before.
The station was a rather large structure in orbit 0.3 AU from a red dwarf star. From their angle of approach the Voyager crew could see (if they were looking) the red light reflecting off the exterior material of the station. There were swarms of other ships arriving and leaving the station as Voyager came closer.
