Author Note.

A nice long 7 and a half thousand word chapter to end on.

Jump Chain Gothic 3 - Voyager - Part 6

Unnamed Moon. Delta Quadrant.

I began to examine my surroundings mere moments after being transported down to a system of caves that were within this large moon, which was in orbit of gas giant even larger than Jupiter. We were here because of some massive magnesite deposits. Chief Engineer B'Elanna Torres and Ensign Durst were here to check them out while Cameron and I provided an escort.

From the start this whole outing had been needless in my view as my Matter Furnace could provide raw materials. Then someone had explained that Magnesite has a chemical composition of MgCO3, as such it was not an element, rather a compound, and when it is heated it would dissociate into MgO and CO2. The MgO stuff was what they wanted as it has an extremely high melting temperature, and that makes it a good refractory material.

Of course the repicators could make the stuff, but it was worth while to mine in larger quantises and then to process it in small amount on Voyager over time than it was to replicate the amounts needed. Mining it should be simple given Federation tech.

"Voyager we are all set down here" Torres said over the comm

"Have fun on your survey," Janeway replied.

I snorted.

"Yeah fun with scans" I said sarcasticly.

My lack of enthusiasm for this mission did not go unnoticed.

"I am surprised the Captain sent you along given your lack of any expertise outside of being a solider or any scientific interest" B'Elanna commented "And I hardly need an escort for this mission".

That hadn't sounded judgemental in tone, but it still felt like she looked down on me.

"Actually I studied sociology at college" I corrected her "And spent years at an Alliance academy studying a wide range of subjects, or at least I remember doing that, and I'm the greatest expert in Prothean technology in the Mass Effect galaxy".

Tali knew way more about most ME tech than me, but she knew every little about the Protheans, who had surpassed the races of her time. However the Cipher, which contained the knowledge of experience of the Protheans who'd lived on Feros at the time of the Reaper invasion, and perhaps much further back, wasn't something I could access at will. As such she was the real ME tech expert in my group, as well as the best with technology over all.

"You should know that. I told you during my presentation that I'd re-invented a weapon not seen in fifty thousand years, at least in the ME reality" I said as I taped the Phased Particle Rifle, which was a modified Particle Rifle "Its just geology that bores me".

I could simply not find minerals interesting. Although to be fair a lot of things were uninteresting these days. The downside to a somewhat reasonable Janeway was that she didn't stop to look at every thing that popped up on the sensors. As such entire weeks went by when we didn't anything but keep moving at low warp speeds, only stopping to make long range scans if something new turned up.

"Besides this could still be an ambush" I stated.

Torres gave me a look that let me know she thought I was being paranoid.

"Did you forget how Neelix died?" I asked.

Torres considered this.

"Okay I have a some holodeck time coming up" she said "I'll wager it against one of your omni-tools that we don't get attacked on this mission, and you'll bored to tears".

Since I had whole boxes full of omni-tools this bet wouldn't cost me much. Besides I could... well Tali could.. build more.

"Done" I said.

Torres smiled.

"On the off chance that you do win you should take Tali on a date" the hybrid advised "She complains that she doesn't seen you often enough".

That wasn't my fault.

"You put her in charge of the night shift in engineering" I pointed out.

Also she didn't share a room with me, having to bunk up with Miranda. Which alas didn't led up to any kinky girl on girl action, at least as far as I knew.

"You need to make an effort" Torres insisted.

I gave it some thought.

"Magnesite is a crystal right?" I asked.

One of my hobbies I'd gained from that tapestry of life perk involved jewellery making for some reason. Perhaps I could make something nice for Tali. Sure I could just replicate her a necklace or whatever but a handmade one would mean more to her.

"And you said you didn't like geology" Be'lanna Torres quipped.

Before I could reply I heard something. I checked my radar, but there was nothing on it. Which didn't mean much as there were ways to jam such scans or even hide from them. But it would take a race with technology superior to that of most species in this part of space to do that.

"What was that noise?" Ensign Durst questioned.

Durst had just enough time to get his hand on his phaser before a shot from a Vidiian weapon impacted him in the chest. I had no idea if he was alive or not, and now wasn't the time to worry about it. Instead I put up a biotic barrier, which did stop the weapons fire despite them using energy weapons. Biotics for the win.

The aliens kept firing, and when this proved ineffectual the three disfigured aliens switched to the kill setting I guessed. However the second or so required to do was all Cameron needed she gunned down the three aliens, but since she was used a 21st century fire arm it was very loud and messy when compared to the times when energy weapons were used.

"You know…it really pisses me off when I lose a bet" Torres grumbled.

One of the aliens was writhing on the ground, unable to scream due to damage done by my Terminator. Cameron shot him between the eyes.

"Mercy killing" she said

Having served as a solider I understood that. Bullet wounds don't always kill quickly, and they hurt, a lot. I didn't have the time or the desire to find out how the Starfleet officer with us felt about it.

"There are more of them coming" Cameron let us know as she studied her tricorder "They'll be mobilising the rest of their forces".

The mobilization would not do the organ thieves and murderers no good as they weren't facing the pansies of this galaxy. I was a battle hardened Alliance Marine who'd been trained as Spectre by a living legend, and with me was a Terminator, who was a killing machine in the most literal sense.

I pitied the Vidiians, but not enough to spare them.

(Line Break)

Sickbay. USS Voyager.

"So the rest of you didn't get hit like Ensign Durst when the Vidiians initially attacked you?" Janeway asked me.

We were having a debriefing in the ship's infirmary since while there was really nothing wrong with me the Doctor had insisted on making sure of that. I couldn't blame him, if I were the medical officer in charge of my health I'd double checking things too. I'd been in contact with aliens who had a deadly disease, as had the people I'd brought back with me.

"No" I replied "I managed to get up a barrier up pretty quickly, apparently their weapons can't get past my biotic defences. Then the other Vidiians were alerted by the noise of the fight and they came for us. We fought back".

It hadn't been hard. Vidiians were smart, but physical weak, and their weapons, at least when not set on kill couldn't harm Cameron. She wasn't easy to stun and she had no internal organs for them to steal. Compared to me they were slow and had bad aim, and I was slow as well as weak when compared to a Terminator. Cameron had killed most of them in short order.

B'Elanna Torres had been focused on getting Ensign Durst back to the ship. We hadn't know how badly he was injured at the time, which as it turned out wasn't much at all. Still I understood her actions, she'd rather look after a team mate than attack the enemy. She was honourable in her own way.

"You fought back rather well," observed Janeway.

Well I'd had a lot of practice at taking down alien threats.

"We freed the Vidiians' prisoners who had been used to dig out tunnels before having their organs harvested" I reported "Given how advanced the Vidiians are they don't need slave labour so I assume that they just used the work as way of keeping their prisoners too tired to resist their captives. Also when we were freeing their slaves a couple of the Vidiians fired on them rather than let them go free. Cameron and I killed all the Vidiians, we had to in order to safe guard their prisoners".

Because of that I felt no remorse at slaughtering them all. As for the prisoners, there were worlds in this part of the galaxy visited by many races who traded with each other. The freed slaves could make contact with their governments from one of those worlds.

"You killed all of them?" Janeway asked.

She didn't sound horrified or angry, just a little upset at the lose of life. Starfleet types weren't used to wiping out their foes in battle.

"Given the circumstances I did the best I could" was my reply "Our comms were jammed, we were outnumbered in enemy territory, and innocent lives were in danger".

Plus I'd gotten some of their medical tools for study. Nothing to bulky, but it had been the first proper chance to loot I'd gotten in ages. I'd also recovered some weapons, but the rest I'd ignored since it was bulky and the Federation likley had better stuff anyway.

"Yes, well good work Mr Gothic" Janeway praised, having accepted my reasoning "I'm just glad you and the others are alright".

I remembered Durst would die in this episode. But he hadn't in this one. That was a big tick in the plus colum.

"The threats gone" Janeway was now saying "and I have a team down there collecting the magnesite stockpile the Viidians have stored down on the moon. Its more than enough and we'll take anything else of value, no sense letting it all got to waste, if nothing else it should prevent them from easily setting up again on the moon and capturing anyone else who comes looking for some magnesite".

Perhaps my ways were infecting them.

"Now get some rest," the captain instructed.

I could go for a nap.

(Line Break)

Cosmic Warehouse. Outside Reality.

I rubbed my eyes as I put down the modified omni-tool. I'd actually forgotten how many of the damn things I'd constructed and then improved upon. I had my own replicator and fully equipped workshop with plenty of tools so I was capable of building a heck of a lot of things.

Over time I planned to build an omni-tool for every member of the crew, in order to replace the tricorders with something better, but that did mean upgrading the sensors of the omni-tool so that the device had the same scanning power.

The omni-tool was a marvel they were hand-held devices that combine a computer microframe, a sensor analysis pack, and a mini fabricator. It could also serve as a flash-light, an alarm clock, a means of dispensing medi-gel, as a camera, a method of holographic communication, and you could even play video games on it.

By far the most complex part, the fabrication module could rapidly assemble small three-dimensional objects from common, reusable industrial plastics, ceramics, and light alloys. This allowed for field repairs and modifications to most standard items, as well as the reuse of salvaged equipment.

Although melee combat applications for the omni-tool are almost as old as the device itself, the feature was largely unused prior to the Reaper invasion. The need to take on multiple husks in close quarters forced the Alliance to develop ways to enhance the tool's offensive capability.

The most common melee design was the "omni-blade," a disposable silicon-carbide weapon flash-forged by the tool's mini-fabricator. A transparent, nearly diamond-hard blade is created and suspended in a mass effect field safely away from the user's skin. Warning lights illuminate the field so the searing-hot blade only burns what it is intended to: the opponent.

I didn't think these Federation types would go much for the 'omni-blade, but the Maquis lot might like them and it would be good to have people armed with such a weapon for when we faced the Borg.

"Hard at work" someone said.

Turning I saw that Miranda who had entered the warehouse, and indeed we were all hard at work. Cameron was busy modifying ammo for her guns, which were versions of 20th/21st century weapons, but they'd been created with Federation science, meaning the bullets weren't made out of lead and the guns used something a bit more powerful than gunpowder.

Tali meanwhile was working on something that involved the transport technology those hedonists made use of to travel the galaxy. She'd studied what the sensors had recorded from when Voyager had tried to use that tech. It had all gone wrong back then, but she had some theories about the tech making for a decent long range transporter.

"Indeed" I said to Miranda.

The former Cerberus operative leaned in close.

"I've got some holodeck time set up for today" she told me "I was thinking that we could try out an exercise program. Its been a while since I got a proper workout".

The way she was speaking made me think that the kind of work out we'd be getting was the kind that didn't involve clothing.

"Sounds like fun" I said.

I could do with a break.

(Line Break)

Bridge. USS Voyager.

"Captain, I am detecting high levels of iron oxide, rust," Ensign Kim announced.

This was unexpected news.

"Would you mind telling me how iron could rust in space without oxygen?" Janeway questioned.#

Sounded like a question for a chemist really.

"Well it is probably not a natural phenomenon, maybe something rusted before it journeyed into space," Tom Paris suggested.

Although why someone would send rusted metal into space was a mystry. Perhaps one worth solving.

"Alter our course to follow the rust trail," the ships captain instructed.

As the starship followed the trail Harry Kim picked up more unusual readings.

"There are traces of complex hydrocarbons; benzene, ethylene, acetylene," he announced.

"That would be gasoline. It was a liquid fuel used centuries ago, mostly in the 20th century, on Earth back before the internal combustion engine was phased out" Tom Paris told the bridge crew

Something was then brought up on the view screen.

"Well this explains why we are picking up rust and gasoline" the helmsmen then said.

There was truck floating in space. No one other than me had idea why or how it had gotten there, and I wasn't going to tell them. It would ruin the surprise.

"You don't see that every day," Janeway commented.

(Line Break)

Cargo Bay. USS Voyager.

A group of senior officers and i entered the cargo bay where the old rusty truck had been transported.

"This is a 1936 Ford truck," Tom Paris informed us "It was a ground based transport, limited to roads".

Even for me this thing was out of date.

"What does 1936 Ford designate Mr. Paris?" Janeway inquired.

"Ford was the name of the company which designed, manufactured, and sold the vehicle. Henry Ford was the founder of that company. 1936 is the year this car was manufactured," explained the helmsmen as he lifted the old style hood and examined the engine.

I took a peek, but I didn't know cars so I no idea if the engine was working or not. It did in the show, but it really shouldn't since the full should have been frozen when exposed to naked space.

"Was this an early hover car?" Ensign Kim asked.

I sniggered upon hearing that. Anyone with a lick of sense would see the wheels would know it didn't hover. Plus Paris had just said it was limited to roads. And Starfleet officers were suppose to be the best and brightest too.

"No, this was way before the hover car, about a century before" Paris said as he slipped into the driver's seat.

"Don't try to turn it on" I warned the pilot "These cars produced a toxic gas as a byproduct, and we're in an enclosed space".

Be'lanna was scanning the truck, making use of the omni-tool I'd given her. I didn't bother since I was already familar with this technology.

"Traces of potassium nitrate, ammonium, and methane in the back here," B'Elanna observed "Whatever this vechicle was transporting it must have smelt terrible".

"That would be manure. This looks like it was a farming truck," Tom Paris told her.

"How did this truck get here?" Janeway asked.

I didn't think she was really expecting an answer, as such she was pleased when I gave her one.

"My guess would be that this is a case of aliens visiting Earth long before your civilization broke the warp barrier and for some reason displacing a number of people to another planet" I said "The NX-01 Enterprise under Captain Archer discovered one such civilization, and I remember reading somewhere that Kirk's Enterprise found a world with a small population of Native Americans living on it. In this case the humans were most likley abducted sometime after 1936 and transported to the Delta Quadrant".

"Your logic is sound," Tuvok stated.

Although I couldn't stand why anyone would bother transporting humans over such vast distances. Then again the Caretaker had so maybe there were valid reasons and I just couldn't guess them.

"What is this device?" Ensign Kim questioned while pointing to the radio.

I looked at it.

"That's an early AM radio" Paris answered before I could "an amplitude modulating receiver, but I doubt it works, and I can't turn the engine on to find out".

Thankfully their was no need. My omni-tool was a quite capable of wirelessly transmitting energy to nearby devices. It was just one of the tech tricks my upgraded model could do. Soon a signal was picked up and I began to study the readout my omni-tool was now displaying.

"What is that?" Janeway asked.

Again I answered her question.

"That Captain is a radio signal" I said "Its coming from somewhere nearby I would guess due to how clear it is, that and radio transmissions don't go faster than light".

Thankfully no one was stupid to ask me it could from Earth. I might have strangled that person.

"What does that mean?" B'Elanna wanted to know.

Cortana, the AI who lived in my omni-tool, so to speak, began displaying an image of herself onto the hood of the truck.

"This an ancient distress call from Earth called an S.O.S" Cortana said to everyone "I've already got a good idea of where the source is, but I can't get an exact fix. I've already calculated a course change that should take us to the right solar system at least. Once we're closer I'll be able to narrow it down".

"Then let's go find that source," Janeway instructed.

So that was for season one I realised. It hadn't taken even half of year to travel this far. Still I had to wonder: Where had the time gone?

(Line Break)

Bridge. USS Voyager.

Voyager tracked the S.O.S. to the third planet in a nearby star system, a borderline class L world with an atmosphere somewhat like that of Earth but not as ideal for humans. The trinimbic interference, whatever that meant, in the upper atmosphere made it next to impossible to get a decent scan of the surface.

For the same reason the transporters were out. It would be dangerous for a shuttle or even my runabout to enter the atmosphere because the shields on the smaller craft were inadequate to fly through the atmospheric layer generating the weird interference. This also ruled out the MAKO as it would pass through the layer even in a low orbital drop.

"We could land the ship," Janeway mused.

She then sought out the opinions of the senior officers.

"The risk of landing could be worth it if the source of the radio signal is a human colony," the commander said.

"And anyone or anything that could transport that truck from Earth is worth investigating," Tuvok added.

His opinion was unsurprising since he, like the rest of the crew, was looking for a way home and that it might exist on the planet below. It didn't, but I wasn't suppose to know that, and it was also possible that some method did exist here. This wasn't the same time line as the show.

"Mr. Paris, prepare the ship for landing" Janeway ordered.

"Aye, aye Captain" he replied.

That wasn't the end of the discussion.

"Voyager will be vulnerable once we have landed" Tuvok pointed out.

We wouldn't have to worry about attacks from space since the layer of interference, which for some reason didn't effect radio signals, would prevent anyone from detecting the ship, or at the very least prevent them from targetting Voyager from orbit.

"If the shuttles stay really close to the ground we should be able to use them to provide us with cover without too much risk. The turbulence is mostly in the middle to upper atmosphere," Harry Kim pointed out.

"Seems like a good chance to take my MAKO out for a drive" I said "It was built for missions like this, its sturdy, can handle rough terrain, and it has a lot of fire power".

Janeway gave us both a look of approval.

"I like the idea of having extra defences and resources on hand should things take a turn for the worse" the captain said by way of agreement "We'll deploy all our support craft for this mission. Hopefully there's nothing hostile down there, but given our experiences with the Viidiians and the Kazon we best we prepared".

Wow Janeway was acting like a half decent captain. This indeed had to be some wired ass alternate universe.

(Line Break)

Unnamed Planet. Delta Quadrant.

The MAKO came to a hault outside of what seemed to be an airplane that could have flown during World War 2. Which was amazing and confusing since it was the source of the radio transmission, but there was no way it could because even if its transmitter was powerful enough its batteries would have run dry a long time ago. Perhaps someone had enhanced the primitive Earth tech with super alien science. I would soon find out. I should remember from watching the show, but I'd filled my head with so much crap over the years it was hard to keep it all straight.

"That is an old Earth airplane" I said "Don't know the model, but its from the 1930's I'm sure".

"It is nice to see you don't know everything Mr. Gothic" the Captain teased as the group exited the MAKO

Well I knew a lot.

"Its not a military craft" I was now saying as I scanned the plane "Its not a cargo plane either. However it does have space for a large fuel supply. Designed for long haul flights to remote locations if I was any guess".

Like something Indinana Jones would fly in when trying to out race Nazis.

"The distress signal is coming from inside the plane," Ensign Kim told us,unnecessarily, while examining his tricorder.

I took a look inside and my theory about the radio signal having been enhanced by alien tech proved to be right.

"The AM transmitter is hooked up to an alien fusion generator," I reported "And this seems to be some sort of signal booster. Explains why the SOS was so clear even though we were light years away".

In theory a radio signal moved at the speed of light and would just keep going forever. However in reality lots of things interfered with radio signals. And even with the booster Earth was still tens of thousands of light years away.

"Chakotay to Janeway,"

The Commander's voice spoke up from the Captain's com device.

"Go ahead Commander," Janeway replied.

"We have located the power source we picked up just after landing. It appears to be inside of a mine shaft of some sort. I'd like to bring in more people to secure the area".

That power reading had been massive. I knew we'd find people in stasis there, but that wouldn't explain why all that energy was being produced. Perhaps the human cities on this world, which only I knew about out of all the people from Voyager, got their power from that place.

"Make it so Commander. My team and I will be joining you shortly," Janeway announced before closing the connection.

Turning to a crewman, whose named and I didn't know, and Ensign Kim the Captain gave some orders.

"Analyse the alien fusion generator and investigate anything worth knowing about the distress call" she said "I'll send a shuttle to pick up. Meanwhile I'll go with Mr Gothic and his team to met with Chakotay".

Harry Kim smiled.

"Better you than me Ma'am" he said "I'll take a shuttle over riding around in that tank".

Starfleet, what a bunch of softies. The drive hadn't been that bad, and I'd endured way worse when Shepard had been allowed to drive us around.

(Line Break)

Unnamed Planet. Delta Quadrant.

Before long we were exiting my MAKO at the site of the power source. By this point B'Elanna had joined the Commander bringing a security team led by Tuvok, along with Kes. I had Cameron, Miranda and Tali with me.

"There seems to be a massive fusion based power source up ahead," B'Elanna announced "Most of the power is being sent somewhere, but its also powering something else, very close by".

We were shown to another room, and while it was alien in design I knew what it was for because I'd seen such places before.

"This is a stasis chamber" I said.

I'd seen a few in my time. Heck I could build one if I so desired. The Protheans had mastered the technology to the point they could store people away for tens of thousands of years.

"Some sort of cryo-stasis system," B'Elanna informed us as she analysed the readings of her tricorder. "And there are beings inside".

Cryo-stasis meant freezing bodies. A little primitive compared to how the Protheans did it, but it certainly worked.

"I am picking up eight beings Captain," Kes let us know "And they are all human".

Further investigation by the quite surprised away team found that the humans were from the same time period as the airplane and the truck discovered in space. Which made about as much sense as anything else.

"This woman, she's wearing a leather jacket of some kind, and that badge is a pair of gold wings," Janeway announced after rubbing some of the frost off of the front of the stasis unit "I don't think she's military, but she could be the pilot of the aircraft. She has a name tag. It says A. Earhart,"

I'd seen all this on the TV but to actually be here was thrilling. Sometimes being on a Jump Chain was just plan awesome.

"Amelia Earhart" I said "She was quite a role model for women. She was before my time, but still important".

"Why does that name sound familiar?" B'Elanna queried.

"Amelia Earhart was one of the first women to ever fly a plane and the first to cross the Atlantic. Earhart and her navigator vanished when they tried to fly around the world. No wreckage was ever found. One theory at the time was that they were abducted by aliens" Janeway said by way of answer "This was considered absurd by most during that period because this was before life on other planets was confirmed. It looks like those 'crackpots' were right. I am betting that plane we found earlier was Earhart's plane".

This made me wonder who could have taken her. Little green men, maybe?

"Can we wake them up?" Kathryn Janeway.

I had Cortana link up to the nearby computer system. The control system wasn't that advanced. My omni-tool could have handled without an AI's aid.

"They can be brought out of stasis safely" Cortana soon reported "But it will take about half an hour.

"Then please do so," an excited Captain requested.

I looked around.

"Some of you might need hats" I said "We don't want them freaking out when they see alien life for the first time".

(Line break)

"Search them for concealed weapons" I ordered Cameron as the stasis booths opened.

I then turned to Janeway.

"Just being careful" I told her "World War Two started only a few after these people were abducted".

Cameron retrieved a pistol from the inside jacket pocket of a bulky man. Then she took some sort of firearm and a sword from a Japanese man who was in dress uniform. Not long after than the humans from the past started to realise they weren't on Earth any more.

"I know this must seem quite strange," Janeway began by saying.

"Who are you and what is going on?" the man who had possessed the concealed weapon demanded to know.

"I demand you release me immediately," the Japanese officer added.

There was a pause at this point.

"You are all speaking Japanese," the officer realized a moment later.

"It sounds to me like you, sir, are speaking English," the African-American farmer replied.

"You understand each other because of a piece of technology we possess which is called a universal translator," Janeway explained.

That didn't really clear things up for them.

"Who are you people?" a frustrated sounding Amelia Earhart asked.

"Look, just let us go home. We won't tell anybody," the farmer declared,

Maybe he was thinking that he was in some kind of government experiment, or that he'd been kidnapped by criminals.

"The hell we won't," said the bulky man, who was Earhart's navigator if I recalled correctly "I'm going to let the world know what you people have done. I'm an American damn it. I have rights".

Good luck with that. He was in the wrong time and on the wrong side of the galaxy for that.

"Where's my gun!" he then yelled.

"Bloody Americans" I said, not softly enough.

People all turned to look at me.

"You're on an alien world. Light-years from Earth," I told them "The year is 2371. You were put into cryogenic sleep, a coma if you will that doesn't allow you to age. You were abducted by aliens and we just found you here. We're trying to help".

Perhaps I should have sugar coated it better but the navigator guy was just pissing me off.

"I don't know what kind of freaks you are..." the navigator started to say.

Thankfully Earhart stopped him from annoying me enough to get himself shot.

"Do you remember anything that supports the idea that were abducted by aliens?" Janeway asked.

She was clearly trying to regain control of the situation.

"We were over the Pacific low on gas," Earhart replied. "We were looking to set down…,"

She paused then for a moment

"Suddenly a bright light appeared. Our plane stopped dead, just before reversing" she let us all know "That's the last thing I remember. That must have been the aliens. I'd heard stories about pilots on long flights seeing lights flying around their planes, and flying saucers, but nobody ever wants to talk about it because they're worried about being grounded, or locked up".

At least she was reasonable.

"If you want proof just walk out that door and go up the mine shaft to the surface" Janeway suggested "There you will find one if our shuttle craft. We can even take you to our starship if you really needing convincing".

Yeah that would be proof.

"Let's go see" the famous woman said.

Amelia Earhart was now throwing her navigator an intense look which signalled him to hold his tongue. And soon we were all heading for the surface.

(Line Break)

Briefing Room. USS Voyager.

As in the show we'd been attacked by humans upon waking up the people in stasis. Thankfully with a Mako for cover we hadn't been in any danger. We'd taken the humans prisoner, but rather than throw them in the brig the Captain had brought them here for a meeting.

"How did you get here from Earth?" Kathryn Janeway questioned right off the bat.

This was why we were here. To see if we could use the technology that had gotten these humans all the way out here to get home. Of course had it existed then the people who'd been abducted would have used it to get home and their wouldn't be any humans out here.

"You should know this already. The Briare brought us here as slaves. You are working for the Briare" the leader of the locals stated.

Odd that we'd never never heard of the Braire. I'd taken the time to learn what I could from the local races and that species had never been mentioned. Perhaps they weren't native to this part of space. Who knew how long the Caretaker had been taking ships. He could have started with few abductions centuries ago and had increased his efforts drastically as his life came to an end.

"We've never heard of a race called the Braire" the captain said.

Which meant that weren't native to her part of the galaxy either. That made me wonder where they could be and why they'd chosen this planet to bring their human captives too. I doubted I'd ever find out the truth.

"Then why have you taken the 37's?" the leader of the local humans demanded to know.

"Do you mean the 1937's?" Janeway asked back.

"Yes, you went into the shrine and stole the 37's. You also disturbed the radio signal we have carefully been preserving for centuries," accused the leader of the humans native to this world.

Even after Janeway explained that we'd meant no harm there were still more questions to be asked.

"Were these 37's some of the original humans taken from Earth?" Janeway queried.

The lead native sat down. He seemed calmer now.

"We are the descendants of the 37's. They were brought here fifteen generations ago from Earth by the Briare. There were three hundred 37's. Those that were in the shrine are all that are left. We broke free from our enslavement and now there are over one hundred thousand of us".

An impressive population given their limited numbers at the start. I had to wonder if their gene-pool was doing okay. If everyone was descended from a few hundred people that could led to inbreeding problems over time. Then again the humans had been taken from all over the Earth that did suggest a lot of genetic diversity.

"Why would you remove the remaining 37's from the shrine?" we were asked

"So that we could revive them," Chakotay answered.

"But they are dead," the female native among the trio said.

"No they weren't," Kes pointed out. "They were simply in a coma like state we call cryo-stasis".

Clearly they'd not known that. Nor had they bothered to check. Perhaps they had some cultral taboo about messing with the shrine.

"That is amazing," the native female declared. "The 37's are like monuments to our ancestors. Their shrine hasn't even been touched in generations".

Taboo then.

"Mr. Evansville," Janeway spoke up, addressing the native leader. "We were hoping to utilize the Briare ship to get us back to Earth a little faster".

We all sensed the bad news coming before any words were spoken.

"I am sorry Captain. Our ancestors destroyed the Briare ship in the slave revolt," the man called Evansville explained. "But any of your crew who would like to stay here are welcome to. We live in three gorgeous cities approximately fifty miles from here. Perhaps you would care for a tour".

Despite the disappointment the idea of spending time on a human world seemed to appeal to lot of the senior officers.

"We would like that," Kathryn Janeway agreed.

(Line Break)

Ready Room. USS Voyager.

"There are a few things we need to discuss" said the Captain after I had entered what passed for her office "Please take a seat".

I did so.

"First of all any member of the crew who wishes to stay behind and join the humans living on this world are free do so, but I do hope you and you'll friends will stay" Janeway was now saying

Of course we would I'd come here for Seven of Nine, and I wasn't leaving without her.

"Your aid has saved the lives of members of my crew" Janeway went on to say "and I haven't regretted our alliance even for a moment. I want to see where it can led us. And being on Voyager is a chance for you to explore as well".

While I didn't get any joy from scanning nebula and charting star systems, I did have to admit, at least to myself, that meeting new civilizations was an adventure. Plus it gave me chances to make use of my new trader skills. It was nice dealing with people in ways that didn't involve shooting.

"We've shared technology, but I think we have more learn to from each other" Janeway said next "and your team has been working well here on Voyager".

I agreed, and in this spirit of this I handed Janeway a PADD.

"What's this?" she asked.

"Some information I've gathered about the human civilization here" I told the Starfleet officer "About their technology, history, customs and so on. I exchanged some of the information I've gathered for what they were offering, I didn't trade Federation tech, but I did supply them with extensive files on your history since they'd missed on what's been happening on Earth since the 1930's".

When possible I'd trade Mass Effect as I understood it better and not all of it required Element Zero.

"I've ensured, with Miranda's help, that our food stores are full" I then added.

Janeway seemed pleased.

"I found out that the 1936 Ford truck we found belongs to one of he 37's we woke up and its been returned to him" I told the Captain "Also I discovered that the layer of interference above us is actually an odd form of planetary shielding. That's why there's a massive fission power planet. The humans cities here use renewable energy sources".

Janeway looked confused for a few moments before she started figuring things out thanks to the data I had gathered.

"Its not a shield, not really" she said "More like a planet wide jamming field that the Braire set up, it prevents anyone from using transporters, and it messes with sensors enough that you couldn't bombard the cities here from orbit".

Indeed it was a clever technology like nothing I'd seen in the ME galaxy or this one.

"It also explains why radio signals can pass through, it must have been designed to allow for certain types of communcation" I added "As for the Braire, according to the records they were all killed during up an upraising, and there were never very many of them to begin with. Assuming the records are truthful they weren't worth mourning. They enslaved the humans here, treated them cruelly for no real reason, and performed experitments of a very unethical nature".

Janeway moved to look out the window, or view port, or whatever they called them in this galaxy.

"The Doctor mentioned that you spoke with about genetic diversity" the captain said causally "I didn't pry, but he did mention some of the crew giving samples".

I'd played a role in arranging this.

"Since everyone here is a descendant of a few hundred people I figured they'd like to expand their gene-pool a bit" I explained "They're not having any problems with genetics right now, because they have a diverse population, their ancestors come from all over the Earth, but most likely its going to be a few hundred more years before anyone else from Earth gets here. So myself and a few other male members of the crew made a donation of DNA to a local sperm bank".

Janeway smirked.

"I never considered offering that sort of thing in trade, but I can see how it would benfit our cousins out here in the Delta Quadrant" she said.

On the this matter then less spoken or thought about it was the better. At least in my view.

"As for their tech they don't have anything other than the planetary jamming field that interested me" I told the Captain "I traded omni-tool technology for a couple of their energy weapons, but that was more for their benefit than ours".

I had a warehouse to fill and data discs didn't take up much space. Besides I liked having weapons around to display. Plus when the Borg boarded this ship, and at some point I was sure they would I wanted to have extra energy weapon for when they adapted to phasers and possibly even Mass Effect guns.

"The humans here back engineered Braire technology" I was now telling Janeway "Which doesn't seemed as advanced as Federation tech, so I suspect that the Braire never meant to come to this part of space. Perhaps some outside force brought them here, or maybe they found a wormhole that has since closed. I don't think we'll ever know for sure".

Not all mysteries got solved.

"One more thing. I'll be making an announcement later today" the captain was now saying, sounding much seroius "I've decided that anyone who wishes to stay behind can and since Voyager will need a crew of at least a hundred that means if more than a third wish to stay we all must".

This didn't worry me. The Maquis and Starfleet officers got along these days. Had we found this planet as little as a month ago things might be different, but matters had changed.

"Don't worry Captain. You'll make it home" I assured her "And you can count on my group staying right here on this ship until you do".

With that I got up and left. I knew this was world was just a pit stop on the road that was taking Voyager back to Earth.

THE END.

Author Note

I decided that I'll do every season of Voyager as a separate story, but as part of a series, as this will allow me to post complete stories rather than leave one big story undone because I got bored. I can come back to this series of stories as it suits me.

This story is shorter than it could be for several reasons. Mostly its because a lot of season one is either dull, stupid, or both. Holodeck malfunctions and weird space anomaly of the week were done to death during TNG'S run there was no need for more. Also season one was shorter than other seasons.

I ended this story with the 37's because orginally that was how the first season was suppose to end, and it makes more sense if it does end here.

Learning Curve was a terrible episode to end a season on, and wouldn't work in my story because I killed off Neelix right away, so his bio-weapon cheese never existed.

Also there would be a settling in period for the people on the Jump Chain too. Now that's passed they'll be interacting with the crew more and this can led to new adventures in the future.

Anyway I hope this story wasn't a dull read. If you liked this or any of my other stories consider going to my patron page which /gothicjedi666 and donating, even it is just a dollar.

Last of all if you have ideas for stuff I can do for season 2 let me know. Now that the set up and adjustment period is done with I plan for it to be a longer story with more character interaction, action and adventure. I might even up the rating and make it more sexy.