Parallax: Part Two.

Chapter Seven: Parallax: Part Two.

Lieutenant Bini Filters POV

(Ten minutes after meeting in the briefing room.)

-----

I walked down deck three. I looked at the padd I was holding in front of me. I have still been unable to start to report. I have written it at least five times and deleted every single one. Writing a report hasn't been this hard all week. Ridiculous.

How am I supposed to write what happened?

So far, Sarah and Micheal have made me run across the ship looking for Mollie, Harry came to me five minutes ago, asking if everyone was going to start a mutiny because of all the incidents over the past week. Not to mention the ship shaking and the Captain locking herself in her ready room. Causing Micheal and Sarah to annoy me more than usual.

I looked up and watched as Tuvok was ahead of me. Probably heading to his office.

"Tuvok!" I called out. He stopped and looked at me as I jogged up to him.

"Yes, Lieutenant Filters?"

"I have a quick question. Harry asked me this and I told him I would ask you. He said the whole engineering department's up in arms, that the Maquis and Starfleet people are almost at each other's throats. He was wondering if it was true. Based on what happened with B'Elanna this morning I am wondering this too. Thoughts?" I explained.

"I will never cease to be amazed by the human capacity for hyperbole. The situation may be characterized as tense, but one could hardly say that they're about to become violent." He replied. I shrugged.

"I don't know about that. The Maquis need to release their violent tendencies somehow." I argued.

"I am aware of that. That is why the holodeck is in use for many hours of the day. You were Maquis too, Lieutenant. Do you feel the need also?"

"What? No. I am...I wasn't really a Maquis. And for one thing, killing a hologram isn't the same as killing a real being. It isn't as satisfying. Or so I have been told." I defended.

"Who informed you of this?"

"Um. Lon Suder. You know. The creepy Betazoid who works in engineering."

He nodded. Suddenly I noticed...Tuvok didn't look so good. It is hard to explain how he looked. To anyone who hasn't worked with him closely they would notice he looked as he always did but...not to me.

"Tuvok, you don't look very good. Maybe you should take the rest of the day off." I suggested. He shook his head as he stumbled against the wall.

"I am fine, Lieutenant. Just...Dizzy." He struggled as he collapsed to the ground. I knelt and grabbed his arm. Helping him up.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Come on. We are going to sickbay. That is an order.

"I am your commanding officer, Miss. Filters. Your actions are highly illogical."

"Illogical, brig, broken rules, ya-da, ya-da." I said as we started down the corridor towards the nearest turbo lift.

-----

B'Elanna Torres's POV

(Twenty minutes after the debriefing.)

I sat at the engineering console on the bridge. A small part of me was happy that Carey was almost out of the picture for being chief engineer. As the day went on I have a feeling that I am closer to being the chief engineer. Then again a large part of me believes that the fleet captain has a secret agenda.

She is probably setting me up for failure. Like most people, I have met in my life.

I managed to get the damping field online, quicker than I thought actually.

I looked behind me at the sound of the turbo lift opening. I expected Lieutenant Tuvok. The petaQ who betrayed us. Instead, Bini walked onto the bridge. She looked nervous as she quietly relieved Rollins. Rollins hesitated. She threatened him with her rank quietly. Causing him to move away from the station and hurry off the bridge.

Janeway turned towards the security station. Also expecting to see Tuvok but hid her surprise well as Bini gave her a weak grin back. She rose her eyebrow suspiciously at her and placed her hand on her hips. Giving Bini her full attention.

"Lieutenant. Where is Lieutenant Tuvok?"

Bini sucked in a big gulp of air as she chuckled nervously.

"He...um...got dizzy and stuff so the doctor sent him off duty to his quarters for rest. He put me in charge."

"Are you aware of the situation?"

"Yes, Captain. He explained it to me."

"Emitters online. I'm rerouting the damping field through the deflector grid." I interrupted. The Captain nodded towards me and looked back to the viewscreen. She settled into her chair next to Chakotay. Who looked as handsome as ever. Gah! Pull it together.

"Open a channel to the other ship."

A garbled message ran through the bridge. It sounded like possibly a woman's voice but I can't be sure. It is too garbled. I started to ramp of the field intensity.

"Ramping up field intensity."

"It's working. We're cutting through the distortions."

Still the garbled voice came again, only a little more clear. I was able to make out the words-vessel and singularity. That is about it.

"Re-modulate the EM band. See if you can clear it up a little more."

"Compensating for amplitude distortion." Harry reported.

"This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Starship Voyager to the vessel near the quantum singularity. Do you need help?" The voice spoke on the channel.

"That's your hail." Chakotay said to her.

"Thanks for stating the obvious over there." Bini mumbled as she looked through the security consoles data.

"I'm applying the damping field to our visual scanners. I'll see if I can clarify the image."

The blurry image of a ship cleared to show us. The USS Voyager.

"It's the Voyager. It's us." Tom said. He looked through his data and turned to Janeway. "Sensors confirm it's USS Voyager."

"I've been hailing the ship on all frequencies. No response." Bini called out.

"I don't think you'll get a response, Lieutenant. That message we unscrambled is the same message I sent out nine hours ago."

"Could we have travelled back in time and met ourselves?" Harry asked.

"How far do you think we travelled back over there? What is it with you and time travel?" Bini demanded. We all looked towards them.

"I am just saying-"

"Just like how just this morning at breakfast you thought you time travelled to yesterday because Neelix said good morning to you as he did yesterday?"

"At the time it was a good theory." he defended.

"No, it wasn't. Nothing about that theory made any sense! It wasn't even intelligent!"

Tom giggled at his station as Harry and Bini looked towards him.

"The funny thing is that you were so convinced it was true, Harry!" Tom called out. Harry blushed. Suddenly, I knew exactly what was happening. It all came together. I shot up from my station.

"I think I have an explanation." I said. Janeway nodded towards me with a small smirk.

"Alright. Everyone meet in the briefing room now." she ordered.

Everyone snapped to attention and left their stations quickly as we walked into the ready room. Our spots were quickly taken by other officers on the bridge.

-----

Bini Filters POV

I sat near the head of the table. Where Tuvok sits I assume. I have never been to a senior staff meeting. I feel kinda important.

B'Elanna stood near the back of the room. On the empty near end of the table as she started to pace. Probably trying to figure out a way to explain whatever she has to say without sounding insane in the process.

"Think of it like this. You're sitting at the bottom of a pond, which is frozen over, and you look up at the surface and you see a reflection of yourself. Now, you might think you're looking at another person sitting at the bottom of another pond, looking back at you." she said.

"And in this case, we'd be staring up at the surface of the event horizon and seeing a time-delayed reflection of ourselves." Janeway shortened.

"Are you saying we're the ones trapped in the singularity?" Chakotay asked.

"Unfortunately, yes." B'Elanna answered.

Great, just great! Just what I needed today. Another thing to add to my list of problems. Maybe this is the ship of doom. That makes me feel so much better right now.

"You're right. It's the only theory that explains everything that's happened to us. We've probably been in this singularity since we felt the first jolt." Janeway stood up from the table and walked over to B'Elanna. Tom cast a confused expression as he, like I think everyone else tried to understand.

"Wait a minute. Wait. Wait a minute. Let me get this straight. We were cruising along at warp seven, then we pick up a distress call and moved in to investigate. But now you're saying that the other ship is just a reflection of us and that the distress call is just the Captain's opening hail. But we picked up the distress call before she sent the hail. How could we have been seeing a reflection of something we hadn't even done yet? Am I making any sense here?" He ranted. The Captain shook her head.

"No, but that's okay," She replied, because quite frankly they aren't making much sense either. I just don't think they understand that yet. "One of the more difficult concepts to grasp in temporal mechanics is that sometimes effect can precede cause. A reaction can be observed before the action which initiated it."

"So what do we do to get out?" Harry asked.

"I'm not sure. But I do know one thing. That as we slide deeper into the singularity, the spatial distortions are increasing. According to my calculations, within nine hours, they'll crush the ship." B'Elanna answered.

"If your analogy's correct, how do we get through that sheet of ice?" Janeway asked.

"Look for a crack."

"Or make a crack. Take something and smack it into the ice until it buckles."

"Wait a minute. What if we've already made a crack in the ice?"

"When we first entered the event horizon."

At this point, I am sure they don't even know or care that we are in the room.

"If we could find our entry point, we might be able to slip out the way we came in."

"So we'd be looking for a subspace instability in the event horizon. What would make it show up on our sensors?"

They were deep in thought for a moment. Suddenly they both looked at each other as a shock of energy must have run through their system.

"WARP PARTICLES!" They jumped at each other at the same time. Tom opened his mouth to speak but of course was cut off by those two and their thrilling discovery.

"If we saturate the event horizon with warp particles, we might be able to see the escaping through the rupture we made when we entered." Janeway theorized as they headed out the door and on to the bridge. Chakotay hesitantly got up from his seat and started towards the bridge.

"Um. Dismissed."

He headed out the door as Harry, Tom and I were the only ones left. We got up from our seats. Still trying to process what happened.

"Is that normal?" I asked.

"Last I checked, nope." Tom said as Harry nodded in agreement and we reentered the bridge. The Captain was already barking orders as we moved to our stations.

"Lieutenant Filters, take the main deflector off-line. Ensign Kim, reroute the port and starboard plasma flow to the main deflector. We can use it to generate a warp field." Janeway barked at us. We quickly jogged over to our stations.

"The Deflectors are off-line." I called out.

"Initialising plasma flow." Harry reported.

"Release the warp particles." Janeway barked. On the viewscreen, an orange beam from the ship blasted forward and hit the black hole. Lighting it up.

"Scanning the singularity." Tom said.

"Anything?" B'Elanna asked.

"Not yet. Warp particles at full intensity." Harry replied.

"I'm picking up something. A slight irregularity. It could be a rupture in the event horizon." Tom said. He perched up as his fingers danced across his screen.

"Put it on screen."

"It is a rupture, Captain. It's fifteen metres by ten metres."

"Oh, it's too small. It must have collapsed since we first passed through it." B'Elanna observed as we all became aware of the opening as it became clearer on the viewscreen.

"We found the crack. That's the important thing. Now, how do we make it bigger."

"Put a wedge in it and force it open. We could try a dekyon beam."

"All right, a dekyon beam. Mister Paris, bring us closer."

"Captain, if we get too close to the rupture our warp engines might make it collapse even further." Tom warned.

"Can we emit a beam from here?"

"The rupture's over fifty million kilometres away. We don't have enough power to project a dekyon beam that far."

"We'll have to take a shuttlecraft."

"You'll need the best pilot you've got in that shuttle, Captain. That'll be me." Tom pointed out as he turned to her. I know Tom is trying to help but bragging about himself in the process isn't helping the situation any better.

"Getting there is the easy part, Mister Paris. We need someone familiar with the finer points of temporal mechanics, and unless you've been hiding your credentials, I don't think that's you. B'Elanna, you're with me. The Bridge is yours, Commander."

Chakotay snapped his head in her direction. Surprised that she was giving him the benefit of the doubt. B'Elanna had a flash of pride in her eyes as she followed Janeway towards the turbolift. Tom turned back to his console in defeat. I think his ego is bruised a little.

-----

B'Elanna Torres POV

(Five minutes later.)

I brought myself back to when earlier this week the Captain brought me into her ready room. That was about three days ago. I was rude to her than. All she did was hit home on my horrible academy days.

I never did apologize to her. Up until a few minutes ago, I hadn't even considered it.

Now I feel guilty.

The Captain and I sat in the shuttle. Making its way towards the hole.

"Shields at full strength."

"We'll reach the rupture in approximately four and a half minutes. Let's get that dekyon beam online." Janeway said as her eyes were glued to the controls.

"Remodulating emitters. Captain, I want to apologize for losing my temper in your Ready room a few days ago. I think maybe you were hitting a little bit too close to home, you know? I respect Chakotay but he's wrong. I'm not officer material and we both know it. The truth is, I quit the Academy because I realized I couldn't make it in Starfleet, and believe me, no one was sorry to see me go." I explained. She gave me a weak smile before looking back at the controls.

"Professor Chapman was."

"What?" I asked with genuine surprise. Professor Chapman probably hated me the most.

"He put a letter in your permanent file saying that should you ever re-apply, he would support you. He thought you were one of the most promising cadets he'd ever taught." She replied.

"I fought with him almost every day. I was always questioning his, his methods, his assumptions, and he was always slapping me down like some upstart kid. I was surprised he didn't help me pack my bags."

"Some professors like students who challenge their assumptions, B'Elanna. And so do some captains. Professor Chapman wasn't alone. Many of your teachers thought you had the potential to be an outstanding officer. You had more friends at the Academy than you realised." She clarifyed. Then looked at me with a smile. I gave her one back. Maybe she won't be the worst Captain to serve with. "We're fifteen kilometres from the rupture. Start charging the dekyon beam."

"Dekyon beam online."I reported. The ship began to violently shake as we got closer. "Shields down to sixty-two percent."

"Increase speed. We have to get to that rupture before these spatial distortions tear us apart. All right. Let's open this hole in the ice a little wider. Initiate the dekyon beam."

-----

Tom Paris's POV

"They've widened the rupture by almost thirty-five percent." Harry said. I looked down at my console. Then looked back at the viewscreen as the shuttle got closer to the hole. It was like watching a movie in one of those 20th-century movie theatres at the front row.

"They'll have to widen it twice that much before Voyager can make it through." I said as the ship began to violently shake. Worse than the other times. That is for sure.

"Hold our position! Lieutenant Filters, report." Chakotay barked.

"The spatial distortions are increasing."

"hull integrity has dropped," Harry added in.

-----

B'Elanna's POV

"We've widened the opening by over sixty-five percent. I'd like another five for safety." The Captain reported as the power levels dropped on my console.

"We're losing power. I don't think we're going to get any more, Captain." I said as the shaking came to a halt. She swore under her breath.

"Let's get back to Voyager."

-----

Lieutenant Bini Filters POV

"The shuttle is returning, Commander. It appears as though they've been damaged. Their comm. system's down. I can't raise them." I said to Chakotay as the shaking stopped.

"The rupture's now one hundred twenty metres in diameter. That leaves us with less than two metres clearance on either side." Harry pointed out.

"Mister Paris, as soon as we've recovered the shuttlecraft, lay in a course toward the rupture and take us out."

"Aye sir."

---Twenty minutes later---

The shuttle had returned successfully. Captain Janeway and B'Elanna walked onto the bridge.

"So, how was the field trip?" I asked jokingly.

"Next time there are two Voyagers, trust the Captain to know which one is which. That is what I learned today." She replied.

"Two Voyagers? What-What are you talking about?" I asked. She shrugged and headed towards the engineering console.

"Tell you later. Long story."

Captain Janeway had moved to her usual place on the middle of the bridge.

"Commander Chakotay report!"

"We're almost to the rupture. Mister Paris is about to impress us with his piloting skills."

"The rupture's collapsing. It's down to one hundred ten metres wide."

"In command school, they taught us to always remember that manoeuvring a starship is a very delicate process. But over the years I've learned that sometimes you just have to punch your way through. Mister Paris, full impulse power."

As we got closer to the rift, the ship shook. People began falling down and trying to keep standing. I watched as the shields power and the shields themselves disappear. I looked at the diagram of the shields on the wall console behind. Yep. Just as I suspected. They were gone.

"Shields are down." I yelled among the chaos.

"I'm losing power to the port impulse engine."

"Switching to auxiliary power."

"Hull integrity failing."

"Keep it together, Mister Paris." The Captain warned.

The ship violently lanched forewards. Throwing some people around and blowing up a few consoles. I felt the heat build up in my console. Like the petaQ I am, I didn't really think about it until...

Well, until it blew up and threw me backwards. I slammed against the back wall and slid down. Nursing my now crisp hands. Yep. It was like burnt chicken wings. It even smelt like burnt chicken.

"Set a course. I want to be at least one hundred million kilometres away from the singularity before we begin repairs." Janeway barked as Harry left his station and knelt next to me. He carefully grabbed my arm and helped me up. Careful not to touch my hands.

"How do you feel?" He asked.

"Fine. My skin smells like burnt chicken though."

Tom walked over and stood in front of the console. Leaning over to look at my injury.

"Burnt chicken? Wouldn't your main concern be pain?" Tom asked.

"Pain? What pain?"

Maybe it was a trigger word. I don't know but it doesn't matter because the moment the words stopped coming out of my mouth a jab of pain rushed through my body. My hands, right side or next, and right cheek felt like it was on fire.

"Nope, nope, nope! Nevermind! Forget I said that! Ow! OW! That hurts, ohhhhhhh, man..." I cried as I slumped. Paris held me up as the Captain nodded towards him. silent permission to take me to sickbay. He nodded back and lead me into the turbo lift as Harry went back to his station.

Not that Paris would wait for permission, I was wailing in pain as if I was a five-year-old burned her finger.

-----

The Doctor's POV (EMH)

(Five minutes later.)

I finally tapped my combadge. This is ridiculous. The amount of my time I spean fixing all of their little issues and this is how they repay me. Letting me stand here the size of a newborn infant.

"Sickbay to Captain Janeway."

"Go ahead."

"Is someone ever going to come down here and fix my holographic projectors?"

"We're a little busy right now, Doctor. But I'll send a crew down as soon as I can."

"I would appreciate certain expediency in the matter."

I heard a sigh over the channel.

"Acknowledged. Janeway out."

The channel abruptly closed. I clenched my fists together in irritation. The sickbay doors swished open. Lieutenant Paris and an injured Lieutenant Filters walked in.

"Doc?" Tom called out.

"In here, Mr. Paris." I snapped. They entered the doorway of my office and looked down at me.

"I'm sorry, Lieutenant, but whatever it is you're going to have to take care of it yourself." I said. Bini tilted her head in confusion.

"I get the tiny part of this but why do you sound like a chipmunk?" she asked.

"I don't know about you but I like him this way." Tom joked. Bini rolled his eyes and shoved one of her burnt hand in his eyesight.

"My burnt chicken fingers don't agree with you, jokemaster."

-----

Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres POV

(Next Day. Time 0700.)

Chakotay escorted me into engineering. The engineering staff stood straight to attention when I walked in.

"There they are, your staff Lieutenant Torres."

"I will try and not break any noses." I joked as we walked through engineering.

"First order of the day. The Captain wants the warp drive back online by thirteen hours." I said. I narrowed my eyes towards him.

"Thirteen hundred hours? That's impossible." I demanded.

"Then maybe you need to go break a few noses or at least bend a few. Lieutenant." He joked as he left engineering. I took a deep breath.

"All right. Get that isolinear bank up and running. And lock down those plasma relays. Please." I barked. It felt good to be in charge. They rushed to action. I suppose they didn't care enough whether I was Maquis or not. They just needed a leader.

I walked up to Carey. He straightened his posture on my appearance.

"I'm going to be counting on you, Lieutenant. I'm not up to date on the latest Starfleet protocols and I know that you're probably more familiar with the quirks of this warp engine than I am right now. I hope that I can depend on you."

"I assure you, you'll never get less than my best. Lieutenant, congratulations. Welcome aboard."

He held out his hand towards me. I gave him a firm handshake back with a grin. The spun around and looked to find my next project.

-----

Captain Kathryn Janeway's POV

I leaned against the second level of engineering railing. Looking down at the new chief engineer as she barked orders and worked on a console. I heard footsteps behind me. Somehow I recognized them as Chakotay's. He leaned against the railing next to me. Following my gaze downwards.

"Are you checking up on your chief engineer?" He asked.

"Observing." I corrected.

"And?"

"Two crew members have already filed complaints about her promotion and she may be in for a tough period of adjustment, but I think B'Elanna's going to make a fine addition to this crew. Our crew." I looked up at him. I didn't notice it before but he actually looked quite...Hansome. I quickly pushed the idea out of my mind.

I can't be thinking about my officers that way! I am the Captain.

We moved away from the railing and started walking towards the stairs.

"Can I ask you a question, off the record? If things had happened differently, and we were on the Maquis ship now instead of Voyager, would you have served under me?" He asked. I chuckled as we started down the stairs. I stopped and looked up at him.

"One of the nice things about being Captain is that you can keep some things to yourself."

-----

Lieutenant Bini Filters's POV

(Same time. (Different Part of ship.)

I walked towards holodeck two. I had scheduled it for two hours. The Captain had finally agreed to give my holodeck privileges back. I pressed the control panel. Someone was playing a program. Who the heck was on? Last I checked it notified when it was someone's time was up.

I slammed my still sensitive fingers against the panel and slid the door open. I was surprised, to say the least when I saw Tuvok standing in the middle of the Voyager bridge. Chakotay, B'Elanna and I were all at our stations wearing Maquis uniform. Standing still with zero expressions. Tuvok looked at me as he was typing commands into his padd.

"Lieutenant Filters. What can I do for you?" He asked as if the scene I was looking at wasn't strange at all.

"Um, what am I looking at exactly?" I asked as I crossed the bridge to stand with Tuvok near the viewscreen to see the entire bridge at the front.

"I am creating a holo program. To prepare Starfleet officers if a Maquis mutiny happens." He explained.

"I am sure this was a good idea to you in theory, Tuvok but in reality. No. Just nope."

"Do you have a suggestion, Lieutenant?"

"Suggestion. Several." I replied.

"Co-creater has been added. Lieutenant Bini Filters."

He handed me the padd.

"Forgive me for intruding on your time, Lieutenant. Make any changes and add on you wish, I will review them later." He said as he exited the holodeck. I looked down at the padd, full of programing. Ideas. I got a lot."

-----End of Chapter Six. Next Episode: Time and again. -----