CHAPTER TWO:
LOST
Captain's Log Stardate 58959.9
It appears that Nanclus's device works. We have been transported to another time or place along with the Terix. Our sensors indicate that Earth has been assimilated by the Borg. From the looks of things this has been the case for a long while. Full sensor sweeps indicate that all of the planets in our solar system have been assimilated along with each planet's moons.
"Telsia, the date," he said, getting up from his seat and staring at the horror on the screen. "Tell me the exact date."
"Captain, this can't be right," she replied. "According to sensors the date is December seventeenth, 2381."
"That can't be," he said, watching as a Borg Cube advanced on the Terix.
"Captain, they've transported onto the Terix," she said with anxiety in her tone.
"Telsia," he said, turning to face her. "Can you find the device on the Terix?"
"Its position is unchanged, Captain," she said, licking her lips.
"Beam it to Cargo Bay two," he said. "Quickly. We can't let the Borg get their hands on that device!"
He turned to the screen as she complied and saw that Voyager had arrived and was firing on the Cube. Her armor was deployed and each shot fired by the Cube seemed to slide off the hull. He was stunned for a second until he heard Chakotay's voice crying out over subspace.
"Romulan Vessel, this is Captain Chakotay of the Federation Starship Voyager, do you read?" he said.
"The device is in Cargo Bay two, Captain," said Telsia.
"Bridge to Engineering," he said, tapping his comm badge absently.
"Chang here, go ahead Captain," came Austin's voice.
"Lieutenant, take a team to Cargo Bay two," he replied "The time travel device has been beamed there. I want you to look it over and make sure it doesn't transport us somewhere else."
"Aye, sir," came Austin's voice in reply.
"Telsia, open a channel to Voyager," he said.
"Channel open," she replied.
"Voyager this is Captain James R. Kirk of the Federation Starship Lexus," he said. "Can you hear me?"
"Show yourself if you are Kirk," came Chakotay's voice.
"On screen," said Jim and the screen changed from the scene of the attack on the Cube to a familiar one that made him smile. Chakotay and Commander Munro stood on the bridge of Voyager.
"Where did you come from?" Chakotay asked. His face showed astonishment. "You're supposed to be locked on our holodeck."
"Captain Chakotay, there is no time to explain," replied Jim. "We need to destroy the Terix."
"The Romulan ship?" asked Chakotay.
"Exactly," he said.
"Kirk, why is it that we can't see your ship," asked Chakotay.
"That's a discussion for a time when we aren't so exposed, Captain," he replied.
"Understood," said Chakotay. "What about the Cube?"
"Lock onto these coordinates and fire transphasic torpedoes," said Annika as she ran her fingers over her console.
"Fire, Telsia," he said. "Destroy that Cube!"
It took only a few seconds for the torpedoes to travel from their hidden position to the Cube that was attacking Voyager. It took only a second for that Cube to be nothing but twisted metal and green fire. He knew that it would take only minutes before more Cubes came to take its place. He knew.
"Now," he said. "Destroy the Terix."
Seconds later the Romulan ship was in ruin also becoming twisted metal and green fire. Jim sighed with relief as he watched. Now it was time for both Federation vessels to get away. To where was the question. Only Chakotay would know the answer to that question. There had to be somewhere to hide while they sorted all of this out.
"Chakotay to Kirk," came Chakotay's voice over subspace.
"Captain," he said, turning to face the screen once again.
"That was impressive," replied Chakotay.
"Thank you," he said. "Is there a place to hide these ships?"
"I'm sending coordinates," said Chakotay.
"Chad, take us to those coordinates," said Jim. "Warp nine."
"Aye, Captain, warp nine," replied Chad as the chip lurched to warp.
When they got there they found a Romulan shuttle craft. Donatra looked at it and informed Jim that it was from the Terix. Someone had escaped. He hailed the shuttle and for a long moment there was no response.
"Romulan shuttle," he said for the second time. "This is Captain James R. Kirk of the Federation Starship Lexus. Identify yourself."
"This is Captain Rekar, formerly of the Romulan Warbird Terix," came the reply.
"Captain, I notice that your shuttle has sustained heavy damage," said Jim. "In the interest of safety would you like us to beam you aboard?"
"That would be acceptable," replied Rekar.
"Captain Kirk," said Donatra, turning to stare at him. "I don't think that's a good idea."
"Donatra, what would you have me do, leave him to the Borg?" he asked.
"Voyager to Lexus," came Chakotay's voice.
"Lexus here," said Jim. "On screen, Telsia."
"Jim, we're experiencing a warp core breach," he said.
"How soon?" asked Jim.
"An hour at most," replied Chakotay.
"Prepare to be beamed aboard," he said, turning to Telsia. "Can you have all of them over here within the hour?"
"Barely," she replied. "I'm on it, Captain."
"Beam them directly to Cargo Bay 3," he said.
"Yes, sir," she said, her fingers working frantically over her console.
"Quinn, Chad, I think we'd better head to the cargo bay," he said, heading for the turbolift. "Alex, get us as far from Voyager as possible as soon as she has them."
"Yes, sir," he said.
When they got to the cargo bay Chakotay was still making sure that his crew had been safely transported over from his ship. Jim, Chad and Quinn stood just inside the door to wait until he'd made sure to his satisfaction.
"How is it that you got off the holodeck?" Chakotay asked when he and his first officer came to stand in front of them.
"Q," said Jim. "We were sent to the Andromeda galaxy in the ship we created on the holodeck."
"I might have guessed that Q was behind it," said Chakotay. "He's the one who sent us here."
"We've figured that out," said Jim.
"You look older," said Commander Munro.
"Well, a year after we were sent to Andromeda he returned to send us home," said Jim.
"It just wasn't in the same timeline as the one we'd come from," said Chad.
"I don't understand," said Chakotay.
"We were sent to the year 2380," said Jim.
"So you were sent to the future?"
"Not exactly," said Chad.
"Look," said Jim. "Why don't we get your crew set up and we'll talk about this once we're out of danger."
"Agreed," said Chakotay. "Do you have room for all of us?"
"I know a way to accommodate everyone," he said. "If you'll follow me to the holodeck."
Jim instructed the computer to create a hotel with room enough for two hundred people. Then he asked that the hotel be staffed so that his guests would be taken care of. The majority of the crew of Voyager went straight to their rooms. Chakotay and Munro followed them back to the bridge.
"Report," said Jim once he was there, noticing the shocked looks on both of the Commanders' faces as they looked at each other.
"We're hidden behind Dione at the moment," said Lexus's Munro. "There is no life on Dione so we're relatively sure that we won't be detected."
"Very well," he said. "If we're sure of that then I'd like to have a chance to talk with Captain Chakotay about our situation. You have the bridge, Alex."
"Yes, Captain," he said, tearing his gaze away from his double and returning to his seat.
"If you'll follow me," he said as Quinn and Chad came to stand with him.
Jim knew he had a lot to explain to them. He just hoped they could accept it all. He wasn't prepared to allow Chakotay to take over Lexus. This time he really was the captain of the ship and by rights Chakotay didn't out rank him at all.
"Captain," said Guinan as they came into the mess hall. "I see disturbing things from the windows."
"Guinan, we're working on that," he said. "I'm sorry but I really need to speak with our guests."
"Of course," she said. "Would any of you care for a drink?"
They ordered drinks, waiting as she made them and then made their way to a table near the windows. Jim wanted to be able to see space from the table to make sure that they were safe. He didn't want to be caught unaware by the Borg.
He explained to them about the two years they'd lived in the alternate timeline, attended and graduated from the academy and been commissioned and stationed on the refit Lexus. He also explained to them that a device built by the Romulans was responsible for their being in the current timeline and that Lexus's Chief Engineer was working on the device to get them back to their timeline.
"So you haven't been trapped on the holodeck for the last six months?" Chakotay asked.
"Six months?" Chad asked. "You've been in this timeline for six months?"
"Yes," said Chakotay. "It's hard to understand how we have only been here for six months when you spent two years in the other timeline."
"Q," said Quinn. "It's always my father."
"And he made you human again?" Chakotay asked Quinn.
"Yes," he replied. "I plan to stay human no matter what he decides later."
"Tell me about this device that brought you here," said Chakotay.
"I don't know that much about it actually," Jim replied. "I know that it was designed by a Romulan scientist named Nanclus. He expected it to transport the Terix back in time so that the Romulans could win the Romulan, Earth war. Why it brought us here instead is beyond me. Our orders were to stop the experiment at all costs by any means necessary. We failed to stop the experiment but at least the Terix didn't go back in time."
"You said you had the Romulan Captain of that ship confined to quarters?" Munro asked.
"Yes," said Jim. "We also have a security team posted outside his door. Believe me, Commander, we know what we're doing."
"I didn't mean to imply that you didn't," Munro said quickly.
"How do you plan to get back to the other timeline?" asked Chakotay.
"Our chief engineer is working on that right now," said Jim. "He and his staff are attempting to fix the device and learn how to control it."
"Think he might be able to use a few extra minds?" Chakotay asked.
"You're thinking of B'Elanna?" Jim asked.
"And Seven," replied Chakotay.
"It couldn't hurt," said Jim. "Icheb and Annika are working on it as well. With B'Elanna and Seven they might be able to pull it off."
They went to the holodeck and escorted B'Elanna and Seven to the science lab. There was an awkward moment when Seven and Annika met but Jim was thankful that they didn't dwell on that situation long. He left them to figure out how to fix the device and get them home.
Julian Bashir followed Quinn to sickbay as Chakotay and Munro followed Jim and Chad back to the bridge. Jim wondered how all of this was going to work with two complete crews on his ship. He just hoped that everyone would figure it out and get along.
"Do you think it's safe to sleep?" Quinn asked that night when they were in their quarters for the night.
"I know that it would be unsafe to try to command this ship with no sleep," said Jim. "Chakotay doesn't need an advantage here, Quinn."
"Of course not," he agreed. "I don't see him trying to take command away from you though."
"We'll see," said Jim. "I just hope that the group in the science lab can figure out how to get us out of here before we have to fight the Borg. I'm afraid they may be far more advanced in this timeline than in ours."
"Which timeline are you going to have them take us to if they fix it?" Quinn asked.
"I've been thinking about that ever since we beamed the device aboard," admitted Jim with a sigh. "Part of me wants to go back to my original timeline but I'm happy in the other one. I don't have family in either timeline. It doesn't make a difference in that regard."
"No but you would know the other timeline better," said Quinn.
"I know the timeline we just came for better than I knew the time I came from," said Jim. "I was in stasis for over a hundred years, Quinn. When I woke up everything I knew about that timeline had changed. My family was gone and I was alone."
"We're alone in the other timeline," said Quinn.
"No we're not," he said. "Quinn there are people in that timeline that love us both. What about Kathryn, teen aged Icheb and the others?"
"I get it, Jim," Quinn said, smiling. "We go back to that timeline. What if the Voyager crew doesn't want to go that timeline?"
"If we can get that thing to send us back maybe they can find a way to make it send them back to their timeline," Jim said. "There are so many possibilities now."
They crawled into bed and tried to sleep. Jim had thoughts of which timeline to go to on top of his fear of the Borg attacking while he slept. It was enough to make sleep seem completely impossible but the next thing he knew Quinn was shaking him to get up for his shift. It appeared the Borg hadn't attacked in the night. That was one thing to be thankful for.
They ate breakfast in silence. Both of them were thinking about the situation they were in. Just because the Borg hadn't found them in the night didn't mean they wouldn't soon. Jim knew the armor would keep them safe for a while. The ship had transphasic torpedoes and hyperphasers. He was sure he could defend them but for how long?
THE LEXUS CHRONICLES