Chapter 11: Ch. 011 – Science is Strange in the Endless Firmament

Filigree was able to adapt to life on the Voyager surprisingly easily, but I was not surprised by how much people liked her. Once she realized that everyone onboard was as nice as Katye promised, she was a ray of sunshine to many people because of her child-like nature. She was always happy and smiling, and she could wield Yang energy to make people feel better through her aura which she often did.

 

Things were going well, and we were really becoming part of the Voyager crew. Yes, some people would watch us with curiosity and were a little hesitant to get close to us, but we were making friends throughout the ship and gaining more responsibilities. Despite saying that I had no interest in holding any command position, Janeway did not let me off the hook as I built up trust with her.

 

Chakotay and Tuvok had left the ship to do a trade mission with a race known as the Ilidarians, so the number of command rank officers was cut down significantly. Janeway assigned me a number of shifts on the bridge while she was off duty. The job was actually rather easy, since we were just studying a planetary system with a couple of away teams collecting resources that the ship needed. I can not deny that my little nerd heart was happy and excited every time that I sat in the Captain's chair, but things did not stay quiet.

 

"Captain, I've picked up Chakotay's and Tuvok's shuttlecraft on long range sensors," Harry said.

 

"Alright, hail them," I replied, setting down my data pad.

 

He tapped a few buttons, but a channel never opened, and he said, "They aren't responding to the hails. It looks like they have taken some damage. I'm detecting multiple hull fractures and their life signs are faint."

 

"Tom, change course and rendezvous with their shuttle. Harry, beam them to Sick Bay as soon as we are in range," I ordered before tapping my badge. "Bridge to Captain Janeway."

 

"Go ahead, Rebecca," Janeway replied.

 

"We just picked up Chakotay's and Tuvok's shuttle on sensors, but they've taken some damage and aren't responding to hails. I had Tom change course and Harry will beam them to Sick Bay as we are in range," I explained.

 

"Understood. I'll meet you in the Sick Bay in a few minutes."

 

"Yes, Captain," I agreed as I stood up. "Tom, let the Captain know if anything changes."

 

"Yes, ma'am," Tom replied.

 

I walked around the railing and headed to the turbo lift. With both Chakotay and Tuvok involved, I was sure that this was an episode, but the number of clues so far was quite small. My thoughts drifted through different episodes where the two of them were in shuttlecrafts, but I could not remember one with those two together; I needed more information.

 

When I reached Sick Bay, the Bridge had just alerted them about the incoming patients. Katye was on duty and Filigree had been in her usual spot on Katye's shoulder, but she leapt into the air and flew over to me with a smile on her little face. I held out a palm, and she landed on it.

 

"Why are you here, Becca?" Filigree asked.

 

"Because I can heal with Yang energy if the Doctor needs..." 

 

My words trailed off as Chakotay and Tuvok were beamed onto bio-beds. There was something wrong with both of them, but they were very different from each other and nothing that I had sensed before. Chakotay's body was completely empty of mana and his natural aura was gone. Tuvok, however, had more mana than normal and it was all Yin energy which bled into his aura.

 

"Wraith!" Filigree screamed with fear.

 

Tuvok suddenly stopped feigning unconsciousness at the sound of her voice and rolled off the bed. His hands gave off wispy, black tendrils of Yin energy then he sprung, but I had plenty of experience in fighting after 'The 100'. I released my aura at full strength which caused him to stumble as my intent locked onto him and then knocked him all the way to the ground. I put a knee on his back while I split the artificial fingers on my left hand into two halves with my Will. Under my control, they turned into thin bands of metal which snaked around his arms so that I could control his arms. Unfortunately, as I finished up, Janeway walked into the room.

 

"What are you doing?!? Security to Sick Bay!" Janeway demanded, tapping her comm badge.

 

"He's not Tuvok, not right now anyways," I replied as I stood up and forced his arms to stretch out so that he could not stand up. "He tried to attack me with power that he should not have."

 

"A wraith's touch can rip out a Soul. One is hiding inside his body," Filigree said, landing on my shoulder.

 

"Filthy Yang pixie, if the Dragon wasn't here..." Tuvok spat.

 

"Well, the Dragon is here, so you won't be doing anything to her or anyone else. You can also get the hell out of my friend," I growled.

 

"It would kill the wraith without a domain of Yin nearby, and Katye says that all life is important," Filigree warned.

 

"Domain of Yin?" Janeway asked confused.

 

"The protostar where we found the Yang sprites and the Yang spirit, was a 'domain of Yang'," I explained. "I'm sure that the sensor logs from the shuttle can tell us where the wraith came from, unless you want me to attempt to force the wraith out now, Captain."

 

Janeway placed her hand on her temple and rubbed it, her annoyance at the situation evident. Since the wraith had already been exposed, he did not pretend to be Tuvok and was practically growling from the floor at Filigree which the real Tuvok would never do. There was no way that she could argue that he was acting normally.

 

"Are you a magnet for these sorts of events?" Janeway sighed.

 

I chuckled, "While I would like to say 'no', I can't deny that I find myself at the center of them often."

 

"Captain? We need to discuss Chakotay's condition," the Doctor said as he walked over to her.

 

"Yes, Doctor," Janeway said, turning to him.

 

"Somehow, all of the bio-neural energy has been extracted from his brain."

 

"Extracted?"

 

"Yes, from the looks of it, someone drained the energy from every single axon and dendrite right down to the synapses. I can keep his heart beating, and I can keep him breathing, but other than that, there's nothing I can do. He's brain dead," the Doctor explained.

 

Janeway was stunned for a moment before looking in my direction, specifically at Filigree on my shoulder. "You said that a wraith can rip out a Soul. Can you tell if that has happened to Chakotay?"

 

Filigree nodded and said, "Empty shell."

 

All eyes turned towards Tuvok who just chuckled darkly. Before anyone could say anything else, Echo and another security officer walked into Sick Bay with phasers in their hands.

 

Janeway sighed and shot me a look. "Ensign Echo is enough, crewman. You are dismissed."

 

"Yes, ma'am," the other security officer said then walked out of the room.

 

"Is there a way to return Chakotay's Soul to his body?" Janeway asked.

 

"If the Soul is still whole, but... wraiths devour Souls for strength," Filigree replied. 

 

All of the clues clicked into place and I finally remembered the episode. I nearly let out a sigh of relief because I knew that the main danger of the episode had already been thwarted by me catching Tuvok. In the show, he had fooled everyone into heading for a dark matter nebula where his people lived off of the bio-neural energy of passing races. He might have been successful, but Chakotay's Soul was intent on stopping him and Janeway eventually realized it. The Doctor had managed to reconnect his Soul and Body through science, so I was sure that we could do that if this proved more troublesome.

 

"He isn't strong enough to have just... I think there is still a chance for Chakotay," I sighed.

 

"So sure, Dragon? You're nothing but a child!" Tuvok mocked.

 

"Don't let my aura fool you. If I wanted that body dead, it would be," I threatened with a growl.

 

"Rebecca," Janeway sighed.

 

"Sorry, Captain."

 

"Can you, and your crew, handle the matter with Chakotay?"

 

"Mostly likely if I can have Echo investigate their shuttle. Her ability should be able to track down Chakotay's Soul no matter where he has drifted off to," I replied.

 

"Good, use whoever you need and get Chakotay back on his feet. Can Tuvok be put in the brig?" Janeway asked.

 

"He needs to be watched by Rebecca or myself. The wraith could leave Tuvok's body and take over any other Vulcan, Betazoids, Kes, Echo, or Raven," Katye said.

 

Janeway sighed and instructed, "Fine, I will also leave him in your custody, but let him off the floor if you can."

 

"Are you going to play nice, wraith? I'll give you a little freedom to move around if you do," I asked.

 

"Why? You are just going to kill me," Tuvok spat.

 

"It would be a lot easier to simply kill you, but instead, we are going to try to return you home."

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"So, you can consume the rest of my kind, Dragon. I won't help you!"

 

Shaking my head, I sighed, "Is every minor elemental creature going to be convinced that I'm going to eat them?"

 

"Pretty much... You're just able to resist those instincts easier because that other side of you is still sleeping," Katye replied.

 

I sighed and helped Tuvok to his feet by lifting him up with the metal bands. "Believe what you want, wraith. We'll find your dark matter nebula, return you there and then leave. I don't need power that way."

 

He scoffed at my words but said nothing.

 

"I'll have Harry start scanning for a dark matter nebula while B'Elanna recovers the shuttle's navigation logs," Janeway said. "I'll contact you when we find it."

 

"Yes, Captain," I acknowledged.

 

She nodded her head and then walked out of the room. I sighed and hopped up to sit on a nearby bed. I was not sure how this event had changed my relationship with Janeway, but it was clear that something had.

 

"Echo, can you see if you can pick up traces of Chakotay in the shuttlecraft?" I asked.

 

She nodded and headed out of Sick Bay. 

 

"So, do you have some idea how to actually reconnect his Soul to his body?" Katye asked.

 

"Nope, but I'm sure that with the Doctor's and Filigree's help, we can figure it out," I replied confidently since the Doctor had done it in the show.

 

"I know a spell that can work," Filigree chimed with a smile.

 

"Then once Chakotay is made whole again, I'll make you a special treat for all of your hard work," Katye said which made the pixie squeal happily.

 

She flew over to Katye and hugged her neck excitedly. Most of us chuckled at her antics, but Tuvok groaned with annoyance. 

 

"Would it be okay to keep Tuvok here, Doctor? We don't need the whole crew talking about how I restrained him and making up rumors," I requested.

 

"This isn't a brig," the Doctor stated.

 

"No, but placing the Chief of Security into one would cause a lot of rumors that the Captain would have to dispel. Please, Doctor, it will make things a lot simpler if we just stay here."

 

"Alright," he agreed begrudgingly.

 

"Filigree, could you fly back to our ship and have Fae download all the information we have about wraiths into a data pad and then bring it back?" Katye asked.

 

"Yes, Katye," the pixie nodded.

 

She flew to the doorway and had to wait a moment for the sensor to pick her up to open the door before hurrying out into the corridor. I sighed and rubbed my temples in frustration. Although we were able to handle things with the elemental creatures that had popped up, the information that we had about them all said that they were extremely rare, yet we had run into two different cases within a month. The part that made my brain hurt the most was that these were actual episodes, and, despite the craziness of elemental creatures, they actually fell into line with the 'science' of the Star Trek universe.

 

"Star Trek in the Endless Firmament is a strange place," Katye remarked in Trigedasleng.

 

"To say the least," I agreed with a sigh.

 

Things went well despite my concerns. I took the pad about wraiths from Filigree when she returned and read through it while we waited for Echo to return. When she did, there was an orb of mass with her, made up of strange energy, similar to Plant but with far more elements combined into it than simply three, so I could only call it Life or Soul, but that was for future study. Filigree and Katye were able to work together and reconnect Chakotay's Soul to his body.

 

Janeway was able to find out where the dark matter nebula was and moved the Voyager closer to it. Thanks to the information from Fae, I instructed her to keep the Voyager out of range of the other wraiths that were likely in the nebula then moved Tuvok to my ship. Instead of endangering the rest of the crew, I offered to take Tuvok into range so that the wraith could return to its home. The wraith still doubted me, but when I gave it the option of being purged or willingly return to its domain, the Yin Spirit had little choice.

 

Thankfully, the wraith left Tuvok without doing any permanent damage to him. I flew my ship back to the Voyager and landed in my usual spot. I offered to help him back to Sick Bay so that the Doctor could check him over, but he assured me that he was fine on his own.

 

It was the middle of the night by now, so Katye, Echo, and Raven were likely sleeping in our quarters on the Voyager. Instead of bothering them, I changed into a casual outfit and replicated a large meal for myself. I added a bottle of Spirit Wine and sat down with a data pad filled with more information about various elemental creatures since it was clear that I needed to start doing some serious research.

 

::Captain Janeway is approaching the ship.:: Fae chimed.

 

"Let her in," I said, then wiped my mouth as I stood up.

 

I grabbed the empty dishes and took them over to the recycler. Janeway walked up as I made it back to the table and grabbed my bottle.

 

"Good evening, Captain," I said, heading to the couches.

 

"You can call me Kathryn; I'm not here on official business," Janeway replied as she walked over.

 

"I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not," I chuckled. "Would you like a drink then, Kathryn?"

 

"Actually, yes. It's been a long day," Janeway agreed, to my surprise.

 

"Sit," I suggested before going to grab a glass for her and a fresh bottle. I set everything down on the coffee table and poured her a small amount. "This is the real stuff, not the diluted version I served at the party, so take it slow."

 

"Neelix's feelings were a little hurt with how popular everything that you and your crew provided was," she chuckled, taking the cup from me.

 

"With Filigree around eating her weight in berries, I won't be making it often enough to share with the crew until the new vines start producing, and the replicated stuff just isn't as good," I replied.

 

"Well, thank you for sharing some with me," Janeway said, before taking a sip of wine. "The Doctor finished his examination of Tuvok and he is in perfect condition... Chakotay too, though he will need a day or two of rest."

 

"That's good."

 

"Can I ask you a question?"

 

"I imagine that's what brought you here, so feel free," I chuckled.

 

Janeway sighed, "Would we have been able to handle this matter with the wraith if you had not been here?"

 

"Possibly," I replied. "If he had not been exposed, he would have pretended to be Tuvok and drawn your ship into the dark matter nebula to look for 'whoever' attacked Chakotay. He would have been able to tap into Tuvok's knowledge and been able to mimic him, but it wouldn't have been perfect, so you might have been able to discover him before it was too late."

 

Janeway swallowed the contents of her cup and then placed it down on the table. "I was hesitant to trust you after you forced your way onto my crew, but you've shown time and time again that you just want to help and have no trouble taking my orders. Your presence is still causing me a few headaches, but you have saved me more than a few serious ones, and the crew has really accepted you and your crew. I realized that I'm thankful to have you here and have come to rely on you."

 

"Oh? Thank you," I said with genuine surprise.

 

"You seem surprised," she remarked with a smirk.

 

"Sorry, I meant no offense. After the past two weeks, I probably would have been less surprised if you had asked us politely to leave," I replied honestly. "I've spent the last two hours poring over information about elemental creatures, but all that has accomplished is making me feel like a magnet for these events."

 

"I guess the Delta Quadrant is just as big a mystery to your people as it is the Federation."

"Well, it's a good thing that I'm with a group of explorers then," I chuckled.

 

Janeway gave me a smile then stood up and said, "I'd like a report on the wraith by your next duty shift."

 

"It's already done, as well as some more information on possible things that we could run across," I replied, standing up. I walked over to the table and picked up the extra pad then handed it to her. "Most nebulas have a chance of housing different forms of elemental creatures, but the new sensors should be able to identify them. It's the true Space dwelling creatures that will prove interesting and hard to detect."

 

"Thank you, Rebecca," Janeway said.

 

"You're welcome… Kathryn," I replied with a bit of awkwardness.

 

Despite the harsh twelve years that I spent in 'The 100' and the power that I had at my fingertips, I was still face to face with a childhood hero. To be treated like an equal by her was something that would stay with me for a long time. She took the data pad, wished me good night, and then left my ship, while I was left in a bit of a daze. It seemed that I would really be able to enjoy my time here more than I first thought.

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