Starfleet Cartography labs: Kathryn

“He took quite a jump in that wormhole,” Jack muses as he looks at the star map..

“He did,” I agree. “The transwarp hub that we jumped through was several light years away .”

I have to hand it to Jack and his crew: Cartography and Astrometrics have done a nice job taking Neelix’s and Voyager’s data to recreate a map of the system. We’re gathered in one of the labs to compare notes.

“Unfortunately, we’ve discovered what ‘Baldy Rock’ probably is,” B’Elanna says as she peers at a PADD. “Midlands found Borg signature traces in the area of the wormhole. We found more when we scanned Neelix’s ship.”

The hairs stand up on my neck. “Doctor …”

“I found no evidence that Mr. Neelix is capable of assimilating anyone.”

“That’s a relief … but we still have a Borg device out there.”

“My best guess is that it’s an early version of a wormhole generating device,” B’Elanna says briskly. From what Neelix told you, it’s been out there for quite a while. I suspect the Borg abandoned it for some reason.”

“Well, it obviously works,” Jack says, “which brings up a rather large security issue or three.”

“True,” I agree. “We have no idea whether this was deliberately set up to deposit Borg on our doorstep, or somewhere else. And if it was aimed here, heaven only knows who, or what, could show up next.”

“We don’t even know what prompted it to turn on,” B’Elanna says. “According to the sensors on Neelix’s ship, this hit without warning. No energy buildup detected.”

“I don’t suppose there’s a way to remotely turn it on and send Mr. Neelix back home?” The Doctor asks.

Jack, B’Elanna and I all shake our heads. “Best we could do is get the MIDAS array to open a micro-wormhole, and send a probe through,” Jack explains.

“But since we don’t know what turned on the device, we don’t know how to calibrate the probe. It would be a very large game of trial and error,” B’Elanna adds.

I sigh. “B’Elanna, we were there. How did we miss this?”

She shakes her head. “It wasn’t in our flight path, so we didn’t have direct contact. Still, Seven did long-range scans of the area using every bandwith, every filter in the Astrometrics Lab. Nothing came up … no energy signatures, no radiation, no EM fields, nothing.”

I get up and head for the door. “All right. We’ll see if the archives mention a Borg wormhole generator. In the meantime, I’m going to talk to someone who may be able to help.”

The Doctor merely raises an eyebrow. “Give Seven my regards,” he says.

***

“I believe she’s a bit frustrated,” The Doctor muses after Kat’s departure.

B’Elanna laughs. “No doubt; I just told her that we flew past something that could have sent us home a few months early.”

“Would she have taken it?” I ask, as both B’Elanna and the Doctor laugh.

“If she thought there was half a chance, hell, yes,” B’Elanna says. “And how long have you two been married?” she teases.

“Still,” the Doctor says, “given how little we know about this thing, I suspect that transwarp hub was still the safer way to travel … as unnerving as that was.

“Besides,” he said as he heads for the door, “delivering Miral was one of the great pleasures of my time on Voyager. I would have hated to miss that.”

B’Elanna shook her head as the Doctor exited. “Some days, he’s insufferable. Then he says something like that …”





***

Starfleet headquarters – holosuites

Hours later, the Doctor walked into the holodeck with a bit of trepidation. The admiral’s invitation to have coffee was short and to the point – and it wasn’t a social occasion.

He allowed himself a moment’s pleasure to realize his former captain had kept the Buenos Aries coffee shop program from Voyager. But that pensive look on her face brought him back to reality.

She greeted him warmly, and gave him time to place an order with the holographic server before that pensive look returned again.

“Seven sends her regards,” she began. “She wanted me to tell you that she was ‘operating at peak efficiency.’”

“And I’m sure she is,” the Doctor replied wryly, bringing a smile from his companion. “I take it you two had your conversation.”

“A fascinating one,” she said, pausing as the server brought their drinks. “Seven confirmed that Baldy Rock is a wormhole generator designed by the Borg. Originally, it was stationed about a light year away from where it is now.”

“So it’s drifted?” Janeway just nodded. “It did work but, it was abandoned because it had a fatal flaw; it damaged nanoprobes and the cellular material they were attached to. “ She sighed and sipped her coffee. “I managed to deflect the gruesome details. But it’s safe to say that the unlucky drones suffered significant cellular damage, and were … ‘recycled.’”

“I see.” It was all he could say.

She turned away from him, fixing her gaze on a point across the street. “I suspect I’m not telling you anything new here.”

“I can’t talk to you about that,” he replied softly.

“I understand,” she said just as softly. She turned to face him then, and he could see the tears forming in her eyes. She pulled a PADD from her bag and handed it to him. “Seven’s report,” she said. “Maybe you can find something useful.”

He nodded as he took the PADD from her. She stood then and picked up her bag. “Sorry to run, but Mom wants to discuss some wedding plans tonight.”

The Doctor brightened. “I take it she and Pujli have set a date.”

She quirked a smile. “Not yet. We can’t get everyone’s schedules to mesh. I don’t remember my own wedding being so complicated.”

“Well, the family has grown a bit,” he said.

“That it has,” she said, patting his shoulder as she walked away.

He sat for a moment and regarded the PADD. He shook his head when the server reappeared, offering to refill his coffee.

“Is everything all right, sir?” the server asked solicitously.

The Doctor looked at him sadly. “No, I’m afraid not.”

 











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