Procedures, Part One

"Yes, Mr Tagro, we have read the updated version of station protocol, and will abide by it." The tone in Chakotay's voice indicated his frustration, as did the expression on his face. He sighed. Voyager had received twenty-four revisions of 'station protocol' since they had been docked at the Dentarian Station. They had arrived two days previously, and the station master was meticulous about the following of rules and obedience to laws. Captain Janeway had almost had Voyager leave the station, but since the Dentarian trading post was the only source of supplies within two hundred light years, she had had no choice but to remain. Besides, the crew hadn't had shore leave in a while and with the recent battles with Delta Quadrant species and Voyager's encounter with quantum singularities, everyone needed a break.
"As long as you do." Tagro was not the nicest of characters met by the crew of Voyager on their journey back to Sector 001, but he was not the worst either by far. Compared to some of the groups Voyager had come across, the Borg, the Vidiians, the Kazon to name but a few, Tagro was as tame as a kitten. "Tagro out."
The viewscreen image returned to a view of the station. Chakotay, after a brief pause, decided to contact Lt. Commander Torres. She was acquiring a device, which would allow her to make the replicator system on Voyager four hundred and fifty percent more efficient. He raised his voice a little, to draw the attention of the comm system.
"Chakotay to Torres."
The familiar voice of Voyager's chief engineer came through the comm system and filled the expanse of the bridge, a little more empty than usual, since most of the crew was on the station.
"Torres here."
"How are you doing with getting the upgrade for the replicators?" He tried to suppress the anger that had manifested itself inside him from his discussion with Mr. Tagro.
Torres responded enthusiastically. "I've got that, and more. So far, I've negotiated for the replicator upgrade, and also for an upgrade to Voyager's weapons array. It's called a quadraphasic cannon. It fires a blast five times more powerful than our photon torpedoes. It comes with five hundred charges, and we can easily replicate more."
"Have you told the Captain about this yet?" Chakotay asked. His tone was demanding, but he was really smiling.
"Umm, no Commander, but I'll be coming back to Voyager in a minute, so I'll tell her then."
Chakotay's tone changed to a brighter one.
"No rush, Commander. Well done. People will think twice before challenging us with that installed. Chakotay out."
His talk with B'Elanna had made him feel a little better. Her voice seemed to calm him; it was probably an after-effect of the years he spent with her in the Maquis, well before he had even heard of Voyager. The two were still friends after all the time that had passed. The sound of the bridge turbolift door interrupted his quiet contemplation. Tuvok entered the bridge and addressed his senior officer.
"Good afternoon Commander. I am here to relieve you. Logic suggests you will probably want to visit the station and take advantage of the entertainments there. Therefore, if you wish to go, I will take the bridge."
Chakotay smiled. "That's downright generous of you Tuvok. I owe you one." He left the bridge. Tuvok moved from the aft of the bridge and took the command chair.

Chapter 2

"So, Commander, if you wish, we will help you install the quadraphasic cannons into your ship. You will have to fly to Dentarian Spacedock; we will transmit the coordinates to your ship. We will transmit instructions to the spacedock; in addition, you will need these authorisation papers. Give them to the station commander at the spacedock. They'll then proceed with the installation." The Dentarian engineer instructed Lt. Commander Torres about the proper 'protocol' for having the new quadraphasic cannons installed. After absorbing all the information from the engineer, Torres took the authorisation papers and left the engineering section of the station, heading for the docking ports. She needed to re-board Voyager and speak to Captain Janeway. About two minutes later, a voice came through her commbadge.
"Janeway to Torres."
This made B'Elanna's life a little easier.
"Go ahead Captain."
Janeway again spoke.
"Chakotay tells me you've acquired an interesting piece of technology for us. I'd like to discuss the device with you."
"I was just on my way to your ready room to speak with you."
"B'Elanna, I'm in the bar on the station. Meet me there. Janeway out."
Torres had gone past the bar on the way to the docking ports. She was a little annoyed that she had wasted the effort walking back to Voyager, but shook it off and reversed course.
When she arrived at the bar, she found Captain Janeway, Seven of Nine and Ensign Kim having a drink. The half-Klingon, half-human Chief Engineer walked over and joined them.
"Hey B'Elanna," Harry addressed her. "So what's this new technology Chakotay tells us about?"
Torres pulled up a bar stool.
"It's called a quadraphasic cannon. Basically, it's a replacement for our photon torpedo system. The blasts it fires are five times more powerful than torpedoes. It's incredible. I went out with one of the engineers for a demonstration, and it destroyed with a single blast a test object with monatanium armour plating and regenerative deflector shielding."
Janeway looked to B'Elanna. "It sounds great. But what did you trade for it?"
B'Elanna smiled. "That's the best part. What they wanted to trade for it was a copy of Voyager's starcharts of this quadrant. That was all."
Kim smiled. He was enthusiastic. "Sounds good. When do we get it?"
B'Elanna spoke once more. "As soon as we dock at the Dentarian Spacedock. They'll install two pairs of cannons, one fore and one aft."
The Captain now smiled. She had not been sure whether or not this would have been a good thing: Voyager had had bad luck with traders offering new weaponry in the past. But this time, it seemed acceptable, and so she endorsed B'Elanna's trade.
"Excellent job, B'Elanna. Now, have a drink to celebrate. It's on me. Now what would you like?"
B'Elanna looked at the bar drinks available. The most appealing one she saw was a purple drink. "I'll have one of those." She pointed it out to the barman.
The barman spoke. "Hmm, a Trincian ale. One of our most popular beverages." He poured her a drink, and then handed it to her, accepting the cash from Janeway at the same time. Torres took a sip of the drink. She cringed a little. It was a sweet tasting drink but had a large alcohol content.
"Is your drink sufficiently pleasing?" Seven of Nine said, in her usual Borg style.
"Umm, it's... er... different," Torres responded.
Janeway giggled. She turned to Seven of Nine. "So, have you bought anything here, Seven?"
Seven looked up. "Indeed I have, Captain. I have purchased several portable hologenerators. They will allow us to project holograms into approximately sixty percent of the ship. Also, I bought this."
She reached into her pocket and brought out a small box. It was coloured dark green. She opened the box, and revealed a necklace. It was ovular, with the number 7 set into it in red gemstones.
Janeway held out her hand. "May I?"
Seven handed her the necklace.
Janeway admired it. "It's beautiful. How much did this cost?"
Seven responded in her usual tone. "Two hundred credits."
Torres took it next, and looked at it too. "It's lovely, Seven. You obviously have good taste." She returned it to Seven.
Seven nodded to B'Elanna. "Thank you, Commander."
Harry felt a tap on the shoulder. He spun round to find Lieutenant Paris there.
"Hey Harry, this station's got the most awesome holodecks you could imagine. Come on! That is, of course if it's ok with you Captain."
Janeway nodded.
Harry looked round at everyone. "See you later guys." He and Tom left the bar.
Janeway's comm badge activated.
"Chakotay to Janeway. Meet me at Station Sector Thirty-One Alpha immediately. Chakotay out."
Janeway raised her eyebrows. "Duty calls." She left.
Seven and B'Elanna finished in the bar, and then headed back to Voyager.

Chapter 3

Janeway arrived at the area of the space station that Chakotay had indicated to her. Commander Chakotay was there, as well as Lt. Commander Tuvok and an entire security detail. In addition, Tagro, the commander of the station, was there with a few Dentarian staff. Janeway pushed through the crowd and discovered what they were all so interested in. The device was large, circular and red, protected by a green forcefield, and bleeping. Lights flashed in sequence around the central structure of the device, and a display panel was active on the facing side.
A dreadful but accurate thought crossed Janeway's mind.
"A bomb," she said out loud. But something on the device caught her eye, and she spoke again. "It can't be..."
Chakotay nodded. "It is. It's from Voyager, and we can't deactivate it. According to Mr Tuvok here, the bomb will go off in twenty minutes."
Janeway's expression changed to one of total disbelief. She looked round at Tuvok.
"And just how did this get off of Voyager?" she demanded of the Vulcan.
Tuvok replied simply, "I do not know."
Tagro looked at Janeway angrily. "I knew I shouldn't have let you dock here. It's clear that your only intent was to sabotage the station. You will be charged with..."
"Mr Tagro, blowing up the station would be of no advantage to us. We're here to trade with you, not destroy you." Janeway was clearly not happy to be accused of sabotaging the premiere Dentarian centre of commerce.
Tagro looked at her again. "Then who did it?"
Janeway looked around at her officers. "We'll find that out later. Right now, we need to evacuate the station. Mr Tagro, I would appreciate it if you clear all personnel off of the station, and advise all ships to move to a safe distance. We'll try and disarm the bomb." She then tapped her commbadge. "Janeway to all Voyager personnel. Return to Voyager immediately. Janeway out."
Tagro glanced coolly at Janeway but nodded. He walked over to a comm panel, which was set in one of the station's grey walls. Manipulating the control pad, he gave the order.
"All station personnel, this is Commander Tagro. This is a Level Ten General Alert. All personnel report to your ships and leave the station. Get to a distance of at least fifteen million kilometres. I repeat, this is a Level Ten General Alert. All personnel report to your ships and evacuate this station." He walked back over to Captain Janeway. "Alright Captain, I've given the order. Now stop that bomb."

Chapter 4

The corridors of the station were in absolute chaos as members of alien races, and indeed of Voyager's crew, rushed to their ships to escape from the doomed space station. People pushed and shoved other people out of the way in order to avoid being obliterated by the stolen Voyager warhead.
In the midst of the chaos, Lt. Cmdr Tuvok, Lt. Cmdr Torres and Captain Janeway were attempting to disarm the weapon.
"Try disconnecting the command sequencer from the warhead's explosive component," suggested Janeway to her chief tactical officer and chief engineer. They were the most qualified on Voyager to attempt a task of this difficulty.
Tuvok worked at the warhead's control panel, and B'Elanna attempted to manipulate the mechanical circuitry. They had managed to disable the forcefield protecting the control interfaces, but without the specific command code that was used to arm the warhead, it was very difficult to diffuse the bomb.
B'Elanna shook her head. "I can't disconnect it. The pathways are secure. If I attempt to break them, I could end up detonating the warhead now."
Janeway tried again to envision a possible solution.
"Could we transport it off of the station?"
Tuvok responded quickly to that suggestion.
"We'd risk detonating the warhead, and the explosion could initiate a chain reaction via the transporter system that would destroy Voyager."
The Captain had run out of options of her own. "Suggestions?"
There was silence. Neither Tuvok nor Torres had an answer for that demand.
Tuvok decided to break the uneasy silence.
"Captain, we must evacuate. There is nothing we can do here. These bombs have the best security systems that the Federation has developed. They are even better than Voyager's tactical processors. The logical conclusion would be to minimize the number of casualties by departing this area immediately."
Janeway stood and looked at the bomb once more, before nodding.
"OK, let's go, now!"
All three of them ran towards the docking port where Voyager was docked. As they ran, they heard the station's comm system activate. The voice that emerged was not that of Tagro but of the station's computer, whose voice was more of a monotone.
"Warning: All docking ports will be sealed in thirty seconds. All personnel must evacuate immediately."
The three officers ran. The corridors were somewhat emptier now, as most of the visitors and crew of the station had returned to their vessels and left the station.
Twenty seconds later they could see their docking port at the end of a corridor. Their speed was incredible, but they were just too far away.
The docking port closed.
They were trapped.

Chapter 5

"Janeway to Voyager. Beam us out of here."
On the bridge of Voyager, Chakotay and Ensign Kim worked to beam out the senior staff currently left on the station. Although Voyager's First Officer and Ops Officer worked as fast as they could, it was difficult work. Harry finally broke the ice.
"Commander, it can't be done. The bomb is putting out too much radiation. It's blocking the transporter signal."
Chakotay raised his voice a little. "Ensign, get down to the docking port. Get that door open."
Harry acknowledged then quickly left the bridge.
Chakotay then spoke back to the Captain.
"Captain, how long till the bomb explodes?"
On the station, Janeway conferred with her chief engineer before responding.
"Ten minutes, thirty five seconds."
Chakotay nodded, adding: "Captain, we've sent Harry to get that door open again."
"Acknowledged, Commander. In the meantime, I'm going to try something of my own."
"Alright Captain. We'll call you if we get the door open. Chakotay out."
The Captain then described the plan.
"Did anyone go down to the observatory while they were here?"
Torres nodded. "Yes Captain, I did."
Janeway quickly continued. "Well, if I recall correctly, there is a shuttle bay near there. There were a few old shuttlecraft in it. We could use one to get off of the station."
Tuvok nodded. "Excellent idea Captain."
Janeway, Torres and Tuvok ran towards the other end of the station.

Kim frantically worked the controls at Voyager's docking port but he couldn't get it to budge. The door was magnetically sealed and would not open. So he tapped his commbadge. "Kim to Engineering."
Ensign Vorik responded. "Yes Ensign?"
"I need an isomagnetic disintegrator down here on the double."
"Yes sir, I'll bring it down right away. Vorik out."
Harry ran around to a nearby weapons locker, and entered his security codes. Once inside, he pulled out a Type-3 phaser compression rifle and ran to the corridor containing the docking port. He recalibrated the weapon for maximum power, before standing back from the door and firing directly at it.
The blast rocked the door, and a hole was burned into it, but the blast was insufficiently powerful to break it down.
Harry fired again and again until the rifle's power cells were exhausted, but the door withstood the blasts.
At that moment, Ensign Vorik ran around the corridor with the isomagnetic disintegrator. He passed it to his superior. Ensign Kim again aimed at the door and fired the weapon. The explosive charge fired by the disintegrator smashed into the door and blew out several plasma conduits in the section, but it had no more effect on the door than the phaser had had a few moments previously.
Harry fired two more shots before conceding defeat. He tapped his commbadge.
"Kim to bridge. The door won't budge."
Chakotay responded quickly. "We'd better hope the Captain has some luck on her end then."

Janeway, Tuvok and Torres ran towards the observatory. It was at the other end of the station to the docking ports, to avoid incoming and outgoing shuttles from colliding with starships.
But halfway there, a purple energy beam crossed their path. The three senior officers dived to avoid the beam, and they were successful in escaping it.
Tuvok pulled out his phaser, and dodged another blast. He fired at the source of the blast, and an alien humanoid collapsed on the ground. The group ran over to the alien, and saw that it was a member of the Dentarian race, although in the reduced light they couldn't see specifically who.
They picked up the body and raced to the shuttlebay. Tuvok manipulated the controls of the door, and as it opened, they saw that there were no shuttles there.
Janeway made a suggestion. "They must have been taken in the evacuation. Janeway to Voyager."
"Chakotay here."
"Get Tom to come out in the Delta Flyer and pick us up from the Dentarian shuttlebay. We're there now."
"Aye Captain. Chakotay out."
Seven minutes passed, and the Delta Flyer finally landed in the bay. The aft hatch opened, and Janeway, Torres and Tuvok boarded the advanced shuttle. The hatch was sealed when all three had boarded, and the sleek, elegant ship flew out of the bay.
Voyager had undocked while the Flyer had been out and was moving to a safe distance at impulse speed. The shuttlecraft flew after its mothership, impulse thrusters deployed in order to reach escape velocity.
Three minutes and thirty five seconds later, the station was engulfed in a massive explosion. The docking ports ripped apart, the central power core exploded, and flames burst out of the shuttlebay.
The station was totally obliterated.

Chapter 6

Voyager held position by the debris of the station, sensors probing the debris of the once-proud station. The explosion had ripped through the station, but there were still some large hull fragments. The Voyager explosive device had apparently not been fully activated, and therefore had not completely destroyed the construct.
Blue transporter beams collected up a large section of the remaining station and placed it into Voyager's largest cargo bay, where Captain Janeway and Lt. Commander Torres were awaiting the transport. When it materialized, filling up a good section of the bay, they approached it with tricorders, and began their scans.
B'Elanna maneuvered through the wreckage of the vessel, pushing pieces of hull out of the way where necessary, and scanned the hull continuously, until her tricorder emitted a high pitched bleep.
"I've found it," she said.

Chapter 7

Three hours later, Voyager was a good distance away from the station. Travelling at warp towards the Alpha Quadrant, the sleek Federation cruiser continued on its journey. Deep within the starship's complex infrastructure, the woman charged with commanding the vessel was extracting information from the one person that the ship had extracted from the station.
The alien was a member of the Dentarian race. In fact, he was the commander of the station. He was lying on the central biobed in Voyager's advanced medical facility, commonly known as Sickbay, overlooked by the holographic Doctor and by Captain Janeway.
"So you're saying that you shot at us because you thought we were your enemy?" The highest ranking officer on Voyager had a demanding tone in her voice.
"Yes, that is exactly what I am saying. I mean, aliens, running around on the station when it's about to be destroyed. Everyone gone. The opportunities for theft are enormous. What would you have thought?" Tagro was clearly angry.
The monitor panel at the head of Tagro's bed began to emit audible sounds. The Doctor manipulated the tricorder into the scanning position, then utilised it to determine the cause of the alert. Meanwhile, Tagro's eyes began to close.
His facial expression indicated the seriousness of Mr. Tagro's condition. "His cardiopulmonary system is collapsing! Ten CC's Trianaline!"
Captain Janeway passed him the drug, and the holographic physician pressed the hypospray up against the neck of his patient. The hiss of the spray indicated that the medicinal substance had entered the patient's bloodstream.
Tagro's eyes opened a little. He grabbed Captain Janeway. His tone was one of urgency. "Captain, I suspect that the person who planted the bomb was a member of an alliance of aliens. You will encounter them soon if you continue on your current course. You must..." His voice was failing, and he struggled to continue. "They are dangerous. You must... stop... them..." The Dentarian got the word out, before his eyes closed again.
The panel emitted one long, continuous beep, before returning to it's usual silence. Janeway nodded to the Doctor, and then left Sickbay.

Chapter 8

The Balizan girl Lanani, whom Voyager had rescued from an enemy race, the Navarl, walked down the corridor on Deck 3, her long brown hair waving about behind her, and her blue eyes shining in the bright light provided by the corridor illumination systems. The recently-turned-thirteen girl was still settling into her new life on Voyager; she couldn't return to her home as it was still under attack by the Navarl, who despised the Balizan. She had enjoyed her time on Voyager thus far, and although she had been separated from her parents, perhaps permanently, she was beginning to make a new life for herself on the Federation starship, and ultimately, on Earth.
Today, she was heading for the quarters of Tom, B'Elanna, Miral, and New Baby Paris. Miral Paris, who was a little younger than her, had offered to show Lanani Voyager's holodecks, and they had arranged to meet up at Miral's quarters. Miral had grown into a tall girl for her age. She, too, had brown hair, although it was a little shorter than Lanani's, and she had the cranial ridges of a Klingon. As the Doctor had said, Miral would have Klingon features, even though her Klingon DNA would comprise only about a quarter of her overall genetic material. Her mother had initially been very uncomfortable with the idea of her daughter having any Klingon features, and had been willing to go to extreme lengths to prevent these features existing, but ultimately, she had come to a resolution with the Klingon side of her, and accepted, perhaps even cherished, her daughter's mixed heritage. Lanani turned the last corner and reached the quarters of the Parises, and hesitated slightly, before pushing the button at the right of the door, to indicate to the occupants that she had arrived, and was waiting for entry. A few brief seconds passed, before the doors opened, and a half-Klingon woman in a Starfleet uniform appeared, with two gold pips and a black pip at her collar, indicating her rank aboard the vessel as Lieutenant Commander. She indicated to Lanani to enter the quarters, and then continued to get ready for work, as she was due in Engineering in ten minutes.
Miral exited her room, and greeted Lanani warmly. They were becoming good friends, and often shared activities, as well as meals. Miral offered her a drink, and Lanani accepted, so Miral replicated for her a strawberry juice, while herself having a pineapple juice. The two girls sat down on one of the many seats in the quarters, which were comparable to the Captain's in size, since B'Elanna and Tom had two children.
After drinking their drinks, and exchanging the latest gossip, they left the Paris quarters and proceeded to the Holodeck on Deck 6.

Chapter 9

A plasma stream spurted out of one of the consoles in the command centre of Voyager as another red plasma torpedo hit the ship.
"Return fire!" The command was clear and true as Kathryn Janeway gave the orders necessary to defend Voyager from the attacking vessel.
An intense phaser beam projected from Voyager's hull and smashed into the green-blue shields of the alien ship. But the shields held firm and the phaser beam was having little effect on them. When Voyager's attack ceased, a blue energy pulse formed on the front of the attacking craft and smashed through one of Voyager's nacelle pylons.
Explosions tore through the Engineering section of the ship as the pulse hit its target. Many officers, Starfleet and Maquis alike were killed by the blast, many burned to death, some even incinerated by the initial blast. Lt. Commander Torres, who had arrived in Engineering only ten minutes previously, dragged the only surviving officer, the Vulcan named Vorik, out of Engineering before ordering the computer to erect a forcefield around the entire centre.
A few meagre seconds after they had escaped the burning hell, a shockwave passed through the section and knocked them both flat on the ground. The nacelle pylon and the nacelle attached to it had been so badly damaged that they had exploded. The antimatter present in the nacelle had amplified the blast.
Plasma conduits in the corridors blew out. The damage to Voyager was becoming so extreme that B'Elanna doubted that the ship would hold together.
It was as if Captain Janeway had read the thoughts of the two engineers. The comm. system activated.
"This is Captain Janeway to all hands. We have a warp core breach in progress. You have sixty seconds to abandon ship. Repeat, get to the escape pods or the shuttles and abandon sh..."
The comm. system cut out as the sound of an explosion travelled over it. B'Elanna and Vorik attempted to get to the shuttlebay, located very near to them, but an explosion blocked their path.
A screeching noise was heard, and then B'Elanna knew what was coming next. She braced herself.
The deck collapsed.

Tom Paris ran for the shuttlebay in hopes of making it off of the forlorn starship alive. He had tried to get to his daughter and wife, but they were both trapped in other sections of the ship, and he had decided to leave while he still could.
Halfway down Deck 10, and with thirty four seconds remaining before the warp core explosion, he spotted Naomi and Icheb trying to get out of an access conduit. He ran over to them, and after helping them to clamber out, they all ran for the bay, which was very close now. They rounded the last corner, and ran into the shuttlebay. The Delta Flyer was there, ready for launch, since it hadn't been deactivated since the rescue of the senior crew from the Dentarian station.
Naomi and Icheb boarded the shuttle and Tom, after taking one last look around the bay, climbed aboard too. He took the helm and flew the ship out of the bay, knowing full well that he'd never come back.
Four seconds later, the Federation starship Voyager's warp core lost containment. The explosion tore through the hull, causing an incredible explosion that threw parts of the ship's hull many millions of kilometres away from the site of the devastation.
Naomi, Icheb and Tom remained totally silent, as he brought the shuttle up to warp speed.

Chapter 10

The Delta Flyer sped away from the area at maximum warp, heading for the Dentarian system. The ship, although bruised, managed to maintain safely it's faster-than-light propulsion and escape the region.
Tom summed up the events of the past day in her mind: the destruction of the station, the destruction of Voyager, the loss of everyone he had ever cared about. The thoughts that passed through his mind were turbulent, and, if nothing else, today, he was angry. There was no escaping the fact, and there was no way that he was going to calm down.
Icheb's Borg spirit was envied by both Naomi and Paris; he acted as a source of strength for the remaining three crew members. He comforted Naomi in her distress over the loss of not only her mother, but Mezoti too, the best friend she had ever known. Seven of Nine, her role model; Captain Janeway, who had nurtured her in more ways than one; Tuvok, who had rescued her from Deck 15 when she had been trapped there in a shipboard disaster; Chakotay, who had acted as a counsel and a guide to Naomi in times of difficulty; B'Elanna, who had been a friend to the half-Ktarian; the Doctor, who, after she had gotten over her fear of him, had become a confidant of Naomi, and Harry, her companion in many Holodeck adventures. They were all gone.
Icheb was not immune to the effects of the loss of Voyager, and he had a sense of emptiness at the loss of the crew. He did his best to maintain composure, and thanks mainly to his Borg innate strength of character, he managed to do so.
Tom remained completely silent during the trip. His loss was immeasurable: his wife, his daughter, the couple's new baby, their friends...
The pain of the loss was clear on his face. He controlled his emotions as far as he could, and concentrated on his work. It had seemed to him both now and in the past that if he concentrated on something, he could proceed and continue with his life.
But nevertheless, a single tear fell from his right eye and splashed onto the console in front of him.