Chương 29: Fate will Find a Way
Back onboard the Voyager, Katye and Echo were waiting in the transporter room along with Janeway. Echo offered to take Raven, but I just shook my head and walked past them all. I was not in the mood for talking which they all seemed to understand, so they let me go. Katye and Echo followed behind me quietly as I took Raven back to our ship. Although we didn't have a Sick Bay on ours, the main thing that she was suffering from was overtaxing her mana reserves, which could only be healed with time.
I laid her down on the bed, before sitting down next to her and using my healing spell to heal what damage I had caused by shocking her. Katye went to the bathroom to grab a wet cloth, before coming back over to us. I took the rag and wiped away the traces of blood from Raven's face.
"You okay?" Katye asked.
"About as good as I can be after electrocuting someone I love," I replied quietly.
Katye put a hand on my shoulder and rubbed it gently. "You did what you had to."
"If we had done our research properly, it never would have happened," I grumbled.
"There is nothing in Fae's databanks about Soul-Constructs or Soul Beasts. We've checked and even asked her about it, but the most that she would say about them, is that they are extensions of our Souls, so only we can learn about them," Echo replied.
"Granting power with little understanding of it… If that isn't a Tori type of thing to do, I don't know what is," I complained, before sighing, "You two can go and relax. I'm not sure if the program is still running in her mind, so she could be dangerous. The memory I recovered was just of Zahe being possessed by a relic that he connected to, so I don't know how this will affect Raven."
Echo walked over and sat on the other side of the bed, asking, "Do you think we left Raven's side after the battle against Iseto and his army while she sat by your's?"
Katye sat down next to me, and I smiled to myself. While all of us had been together for years, Raven and I were a couple first, at a time when I could barely use my powers. I made a lot of mistakes in the beginning, before I joined up with Katye, and even more after that, but she had stayed by my side through it all and never held those mistakes against me, even when it cost her the closest person to her aside from myself. I always felt that her happiness and safety was my responsibility, but I was not alone with her; Katye and Echo were just as committed to Raven as I was.
Raven did not wake up until the next day, but thankfully, she woke up as herself. Her entire body ached, but nothing hurt worse than her head, which was caused by the damage that she had done to both her internal mana and Soul by overusing her Soul-Construct. She could hardly look at any of us, especially me, since this was not the first time that she had been 'taken over' by someone else and attacked me. Iseto's power had caused her to shoot me in the back while I was struggling against it as well long ago, so she could not help but see it as another failure on her part and nothing we could say would change her mind.
Janeway gave all of us a few days off together, and by the end of it, Raven could walk around without pain. Despite that, I requested that she have the rest of the week off to fully recover. She was not too happy about that, but Fae had some training programs for the Mind which would help Raven strengthen her Will, so she did not argue.
My first shift, back on duty, was on the Bridge, of course. I was not even surprised when Janeway pulled me into her Ready Room to talk. She got us drinks from the replicator while I sat down on the couch and looked out the window.
"How's Raven?" she asked as she handed me my cup and then sat down as well.
"Physically, she's fine and she is back in control, but the emotional damage has yet to start healing. The idea that she could be turned against me hasn't been sitting well with her as I'm sure you can understand," I replied.
"Will she have a relapse?"
"It's doubtful. The main reason why the robot was able to override her Will is because his was stronger than hers in that moment. What is more basic and primal to any living being than the Will to survive? Once I proved that it was a disadvantage to keep B'Elanna and Raven, they allowed us to leave without any more struggle," I explained. "She's also running a new set of training programs which will help strengthen her Mind, and while that is not the same as Will, it is a part of the equation."
"You understand that I will have to have people keep a closer eye on her after this? I'm not asking for any disciplinary action being taken against her, but she did become a danger to the ship," Janeway said.
I sighed, "I do, but if I may, can I ask that you keep the details of what happened limited to the Senior Officers? There are bound to be rumors, but I would rather them remain that way much like our powers."
"That was my intention from the beginning. I don't want to alienate her, or any of your group. You all contribute a lot to us," she replied.
"I figured, but I wanted confirmation."
"B'Elanna gave me a report of what happened onboard the Pralor ship. Your actions were... impressive."
I chuckled darkly and added, "And frightening, if true; am I wrong?"
"I won't deny that the prospects of what she described was intimidating. She said that your body was a blur as you moved through the twenty androids and ripped them a part with your bare hands, with ease, and as I remember from the report that you gave me when you first joined, that transformation you use can make your body five times stronger. Needless to say, I'm glad you're on our side," Janeway said.
I smiled lightly, since it was clear that she was not scared of me. The average person likely would be, especially if they did not know me, but it seemed that I had truly made a good impression on the captain. We talked for a while longer as we finished our drinks before going back out to the Bridge.
Things were actually a little interesting today as we visited a space station that Neelix knew about to get some supplies. While there was an episode with a similar set up, this was not that one, as we were still several months off from reaching the Nekrit Expanse. Voyager was in desperate need of a material called tellerium which was used to stabilize the matter-antimatter reaction in the warp core. The name of it was slightly familiar, but I could not remember why exactly, so I hoped that it was nothing important.
The Controller of the station ended up being a nice enough guy and allowed the Voyager to stay docked for a few days after we got the tellerium that the ship needed. While the crew were given a couple of days to relax and enjoy the luxuries of the station, my group was not interested in taking any time off with Raven still recovering. Everything seemed fine when we left the station since no one got into any trouble while we had been there, but a few hours later, Neelix raised a security alert while I was sitting down for dinner with Katye, Echo, and Raven.
"Janeway to Rebecca. Can you and your group meet me on Deck Ten, Section Twelve?" my comm badge chimed.
I sighed before I tapped my badge and agreed, "We will be there in a few minutes."
"That's unusual. Calling for you is one thing, but all of us? This has to be the first time," Katye remarked as we all stood up.
"Do you know what's going on?" Raven asked.
"No. The space station was not in any episode that I can remember," I replied.
"Hmmm," Katye mused, but said nothing else as the four of us headed off our little ship.
Nyka followed behind us with Filigree riding on her back. It was always a cute scene when those two were together, so they helped lighten the mood. That was until we reached the area where Janeway, Chakotay, and Tuvok were waiting with troubling expressions.
"I guess this isn't a social call," I remarked with a bit of humor.
"This was Seska's cell, but she has escaped, and we believe that she is no longer on the ship," Janeway said.
"How?" I asked, shocked.
"We were hoping your skills could provide that answer," Tuvok replied.
"Nyka," Echo called.
Filigree hopped off of the fox's back and flew over to land on Katye's shoulder. Nyka walked forward to stand by Echo and then Tuvok led them inside the room. Raven normally would have been able to help on the technical side, figuring out who disabled the force field, but she did not volunteer, nor was I willing to ask since it would require that she used her Soul-Construct. Thankfully, Echo and Tuvok stepped out of the room a few moments later.
"There is a third scent in the room that does not belong to Seska or Neelix. Since she was not permitted any other visitors, it stands to reason that the third person is the person that assisted in her escape," Tuvok said.
"Can you track the person?" Janeway asked.
"Yes, ma'am," Echo replied.
"Do it. Tuvok, stay with her and detain the person that she leads you to," Janeway instructed and the two walked away, following Nyka. "Raven, I have B'Elanna and L'Naan going over the security logs in Engineering. I'd like you to assist them and find out how she was able to leave without any of us knowing."
"Yes, Captain," Raven agreed.
"Rebecca, I want you to be..."
"Pedira to Rebecca," chimed from my badge.
"Boy, am I popular tonight," I remarked, and then tapped my badge. "What can I do for you, Pedira?"
"Have you or Raven been on my ship? I just walked onboard to get some notes and a lot of things have been moved around," she asked.
I glanced over at Raven, not expecting that she had, but she confirmed that she had not gone to the ship with a shake of her head. "No, neither of us have been in over a week when I did my last demonstration for you."
"Strange... well, sorry to bother you then," she replied.
"Becca, we know better than to believe in coincidence. Seska disappearing and Pedira's lab being ransacked happening on the same day is too much," Katye said with a note of concern in her voice.
"You don't mean..." I started, but then the possibilities began running through my mind and then I came to a terrible realization.
The Kazon were simply too weak to stand against the Voyager and the Fae Dragon unless more than half the sects could unite against us, which was nearly impossible, but there was one unified race that could pose a danger to us, the Viidians. They covered numerous star systems and colonized over a hundred planets. If they mustered their full force to come after us, there would be nothing that we could do other than run. A perfect setup for one of Tori's little plot twists.
"We need to confirm things before we jump to conclusions. First thing, Chakotay, go to the Bridge and alter our course then hail the space station to see if they can locate Seska. Rebecca, Katye, come with me to Pedira's ship and we will talk with her and see what we can figure out," Janeway said, seeming to have had similar thoughts as myself.
"Yes, Captain," Chakotay said.
Chakotay and Raven headed in one direction while Janeway, Katye and I went in the other, walking towards the Shuttle Bay. I contacted Pedira again and asked her to stay on her ship while we came to her. It did not take long to reach the Shuttle Bay since it was on the same deck and Pedira was waiting for us.
"Captain Janeway, I didn't... the matter was not important enough to warrant your attention," Pedira said, flustered.
"We've got a bad feeling that what happened to your workspace is related to another matter. Can we enter and discuss the matter privately?" I requested.
"Yes, of course... only, I apologize for the mess; it... it doesn't always look like this."
She ushered us inside the shuttle, but for all of her worry, nothing really seemed that different from the last time that I was here. Pedira was not as neat and orderly as she presented herself to most of the crew and the Senior Officers. It reminded me a lot of myself when I lived in the dorms at my college and when I would post different designs on my walls for my projects.
"May I run a quick scan to see if anything has been copied from your data banks?" Katye asked.
"Sure," Pedira agreed almost immediately.
"Relax, Pedira. If our hunch is correct, I'm far more to blame than you are," I said as I sat on the usual bio-bed where we conducted our trials.
"What's going on?" she asked.
I looked at Janeway, who sighed and said, "A... prisoner escaped. She betrayed us to the Kazon, but Rebecca was able to prevent her defection. Considering the value that your research has to the Viidian community, we think that she might have collected what she could before leaving our ship."
"I... I... I..." she stammered.
"No one is upset with you. This is more my fault, like I said," I cut her off gently.
Pedira was a kind and sweet woman, but also shy with a particular fear of authority figures, like Janeway. What I had learned about her over the past couple of months was that things had not been the easiest for her when she was with the Vidiians, and not because she was sick. A couple of her designs had been stolen by a few colleagues, but when she had tried to report it, the officials sided with them instead of her, which was why she had been demoted to a specialized technician and traveling between colonies with her daughter.
"It's worse than I thought. Not only was the information about Rebecca's healing ability copied, but also the data that she had taken about L'Naan's DNA. If this information falls into the hands of the Vidiians, they will come for us in full force," Katye said grimly.
"Tuvok to Captain Janeway," Janeway's badge chimed.
"Go ahead, Lieutenant," she replied after tapping her badge.
"We have a suspect in custody and are taking him to my office for questioning," he informed.
"Rebecca and I will be there shortly. Who is it?"
"Michael Jonas."
I scoffed at the name. He had betrayed the Voyager begrudgingly for Seska and the Kazon in the show, but that was after numerous Kazon attacks and the loss of a few good people. I had always thought that he simply did it for his own safety, which was not commendable, just understandable, but we were not in the same position as they were in the show since the Kazon had all but stopped their raids against our ship. It seemed that Seska was far more manipulative than I had given her credit for.
"I'm sorry that you got pulled into this mess, Pedira. If you need any help after I'm done, I'll be more than happy to lend you a hand," I sighed.
"Thank you, Rebecca. I'm sorry too, if I hadn't..."
I placed a hand on her shoulder and said firmly, "There is nothing wrong with wanting to save your people. You have done everything that we've asked to help keep this secret. Unfortunately, Fate likes to keep me and my group on our toes, and we rarely get the easy outcome that we hope for."
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