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Lullaby

Episode Synopsis
Kes returns to warn the crew about an incoming threat, meanwhile Kiara falls into an alternate reality where Voyager got back home years ago.

Written
3rd - 5th & 11th December 2003

Episode Based In
January 2380

 

Cargo Bay One:
Lena and Faye were stood nearby some of the large crates watching Daniel and James, who were sitting opposite each other. Daniel was squinting at a PADD in his hands looking annoyed, and a pencil in another.

"You want me to float a pencil, why?" James said.

"It's a start, it's like a mini stake or knife. They're too much of a challenge for a newbie," Daniel replied.

"So's reading a PADD with small text on it," Faye whispered. Lena nodded her head.

Daniel ignored her, "just look at it. According to this you've got to think about using the damn thing, and not actually concentrate on picking it up. Who writes this crap?" He placed the pencil in front of him.

Lena shrugged, "as Tuvok would say, it sounds logical."

James raised his eyebrow, "ok whatever." He directed his eyes towards the pencil, it shook slightly before slowly raising up.

Faye grinned, "cool, I want to be able to do that."

"Meh it's no big deal, I made knives fly or stop flying before this," James muttered.

Daniel slammed the PADD down on the ground, "well it's nice of you to embarrass me. If you're so good at telekinesis why don't you move it to a certain target?"

"Boys," Lena said in a warning voice. "Two things. One, James you only did the first when you were evil, evil Slayers tend to tap into strength they haven't gotten yet. Two, Daniel you embarrass too easily."

"I know the feeling," Faye said.

"I suppose the Game Cube didn't count, huh," James commented.

"I don't embarrass easily," Daniel muttered. He glanced back at James, "are you going to try to move it elsewhere, or not?"

The sound of the bay doors opening startled everybody, they quickly glanced over to see the newcomer which was Jessie. "Ok I just got attacked by a pencil, anybody behind that?"

Lena, Faye and Daniel slowly looked back at James, he tried to look innocent.

"Well you always stake the one you love, oh wait that's Buffy or is it?" Lena commented. Faye looked at her with a Pokémon sweatdrop at the side of her head.

James climbed to his feet, he went over to Jessie. "I take it you're going to tell me why you threw that pencil at me," Jessie said while keeping a straight face, barely.

"Telekinesis lessons, sorry," James meekly said.

Daniel stood up, "he needs a lot more lessons, old Wesley obviously never knew the meaning of the word training."

James laughed, "oh I think he knew the word quite well."

"Well he was obviously crap at it," Daniel said under his breath. "Ok Lena, do you want to go now?"

"I got telekinesis straight away Dan, you can't teach me anything," Lena replied.

"Fine we could work on telepathy, all of you can join in then. I'll think of a number between one and one hundred, and you'll have a go at guessing what it is," Daniel said.

Lena looked uneasy, "um I'd love to but I have daughter bonding to do, that'll do." She rushed out of the room.

"Heck if she can pull that off, I can," James muttered. He and Jessie rushed out too.

"Er yeah me too, one or maybe both of their daughters like hanging with me," Faye stuttered before running out.

Daniel groaned, "great, I need to do more crappy research."

Deck Thirteen:
Kiara was wandering down the quiet corridor, whistling to herself. Just as she passed an unknown crewmember the ship shook like it usually does when under attack, making her fall to the ground.

The unknown crewmember breathed a sign of relief before continuing. Of course his relief was short lived as he walked straight through a turbolift door, minus a turbolift.

Kiara pulled herself back up, "that was embarrassing." After a quick scan of the area, Kiara continued on.

The Bridge:
Everyone in the room were staring towards the viewscreen from their stations or standing spots. Lena and Jessie stepped off the turbolift.

"What is it this time?" Lena questioned. Tom beckoned his head towards the viewscreen. "We are still in that other galaxy right?"

"Last time I checked yeah," Tom replied.

"So what's a Borg ship doing here?" Jessie said questioningly.

"Maybe the Resistance tracked us down to help us get back," Bryan suggested.

"We're being hailed. Hey that's weird, it's coming from the cube but the signal itself has been relayed through it," Jessie said.

Lena stood next to Tom, "on screen then."

The viewscreen changed to show an interior of a Borg ship, a drone stepped into view. "Ah Morgan, Lieutenant Paris, how good to see you again."

Lena looked generally annoyed, "it's Lena now."

"She reminds me of the Borg Queen," Tom whispered.

"Well duh, I am the Borg Queen," the drone said.

"I thought you killed her, Lena," Triah muttered.

"I did," Lena mumbled.

"Killed is just a mortal's word, nothing more," the Queen said.

"Let me guess, you're the third incarnation of her as Lena did kill the second one for sure," Tom said.

"You are way off Lieutenant," the Queen responded.

Lena groaned, "for crying out loud, get her off the screen."

Tom turned to Jessie, "shield status?"

"Everything is at 100%, but I wouldn't count on the warp core shield holding," Jessie replied.

"Power weapons, stand by on the..." Lena commanded.

The Borg cube on the screen suddenly exploded, sending debris everywhere in sight. Everyone on the bridge stared in shock.

"What just happened?" Tom slowly asked.

Jessie looked confused, "I dunno, I didn't do anything, it just blew."

"Good, I can't really be bothered to deal with the Borg today," Lena muttered.

"Another ship is entering visual range," Triah said.

"They're hailing us too," Jessie said.

"Damn, what's their status?" Lena questioned.

"It's just a shuttle, it's only armed with lasers and its shields are really weak. I doubt they did this to the Borg," Jessie replied.

Lena turned back to the viewscreen, "alright then, on screen."

The screen changed to show a familiar face, everyone but Triah and Bryan's eyes lit up in shock.

"Hey guys," Kes cheerfully said.

"Kes? Wow, you look great," Tom gasped.

"For a ten year old, Tom finish your sentences in future," Kes said.

"Huh?" Tom said innocently.

"You were thinking that, don't deny it," Kes said.

Tom's eyes shifted nervously, "um yeah sorry."

"I don't understand, I thought Ocampans only live for nine years," Jessie said.

"Long story Jess. So Captain, permission to come aboard?" Kes said.

"Jess tractor her shuttle into the first shuttle bay," Lena ordered.

"No problem," Jessie said.

Later, the Conference Room:
Lena and Tom were hanging around nearby the table looking slightly bored. The nearest doors opened up, Naomi and Zare walked in, slowly followed by Kes.

"This is the guest and whatever, bye bye," Zare said with no interest, she wandered out of the room.

Naomi shook her head, "so shallow. Oh crap chipped a nail." She proceeded to file her nails.

Kes watched her as she walked over to Tom and Lena, "she's grown hasn't she?"

"Well K'Tarians do age faster, not as fast as your people though," Tom said, getting quieter with each word.

"It's funny, I imagined her being a bridge officer, not a Security officer," Kes said.

"I can't even remember who put her on the team, and why," Lena muttered.

Tom shrugged, "me neither."

Lena walked over to Naomi, "you can go now."

"Cool thanks," Naomi said. She headed towards the door muttering to herself, "god I hope she meant go home, not go back to work."

Kes watched Lena as she sat down on the table nearby Tom. "So, what brings you back to well us?" Tom asked.

"It's a very long story, finding where you were is a shorter story," Kes replied.

The door chimed. "Yeah come in," Lena said.

James walked into the room, "hi Lena, hi Tom, hey Kes... wait." He quickly glanced back at Kes, "Kes?"

Kes smiled, "hey yourself."

James glanced over at Tom and Lena, "um this better not be another time travel episode."

"As far as I know it isn't," Lena said.

"Kes is just here for a visit," Tom said.

Lena sat down in one of the nearby chairs, "here on duty or is just a social call?"

"Oh yeah, duty visit," James replied.

"Still on Security? Wow," Kes commented.

"Kinda, anyway it's not good news," James said.

Tom glanced around nervously, "uhoh who died?"

James glanced at the PADD in his hands, "some guy called Ensign Fallmore, he walked into a turbolift when there wasn't a turbolift there."

"An unknown crewmember dying stupidly? That's not an odd occurrence," Tom commented.

"Wait, how did they find him?" Lena asked.

"Sid, he was on another one of his suicide missions," James replied.

"That guy's still alive? It makes you wonder," Tom muttered.

"I haven't finished," James said.

Tom's eyes shifted, "um ookay?"

"He was murdered," James replied.

Lena rolled her eyes, "get Craig on it."

"Hey hey, I'm the chief on duty at the moment," James moaned.

"I agree with her here, you're like the new Evil Tuvok only without the pointy ears and logic comments," Tom said.

"There was only one incident," James said in disbelief.

Lena raised both eyebrows, "uh no, what about the last Iinan incident?"

"I didn't turn evil then," James muttered.

"I think she's trying to use the Iinan being a psycho maniac thing as an excuse," Tom whispered.

Lena groaned, "fine, there was only one time but you understand why."

"Lena that was, what, over a year and a half ago," James said.

"Fine, investigate a turbolift related murder if you really want to. Yeesh, it's not like you get paid extra for solving a murder case," Lena grumbled.

"What? We don't?" James said.

Tom shrugged, "you'd think so."

James stared blankly at him, "I was joking."

"Oh I knew that," Tom muttered.

Kes shook her head, "some things never change."

In: "Sickbay to Janeway."

"If this is about the murder, I don't want to know," Lena quickly said.

In: "Um no, but you really should get here quickly. Sickbay out."

Lena groaned as she pulled herself up, "one of these days I may accidentally press the delete button."

"You do know there's more to deleting the EMH than pressing a button," Tom pointed out.

Lena stood at the doorway glaring in Tom's direction, "James remind me to sort out the forms that allow me to fire Tom."

Tom put his hands on his hips, "there are no forms, ha!"

"No, the forms that allow me to fire you out of the torpedo tube," Lena said. She turned around and walked out of the door.

Tom glanced at James, "there are no forms for that either right?"

"Knowing Lena she'll make some if there aren't, or she'll just fire you without them," James replied.

"Guys," Kes said.

James and Tom glanced over at her, she just smiled sweetly at them. Tom briefly glanced at James, "uh, what's up?"

"I couldn't tell Lena what's going to happen, I can tell you two though. That means no blabbering it all to her later, I'm looking at you Tom," Kes said.

Tom pouted, "hey I don't do that anymore."

James laughed, "if you believe that, you'll believe anything."

"Hmph, are you going to tell us or not?" Tom muttered.

"Well not fully. It's a really long story that basically ends with Lena and James are in trouble," Kes said.

James rolled his eyes, "so I've heard, from what?"

"A very long story," Kes replied.

"Someone's going to hit them both with a big book?" Tom questioned. James slapped him across the head.

"Thank you," Kes said.

"Anytime," James said.

Tom pouted again as he rubbed his head, "I was only joking, are you allowed and I'm not?"

"Yep," James replied. "Seriously though what are we in danger of, all Daniel said was that it was a Slayer thing."

"No no, that was just the Zare thing a few weeks ago," Tom muttered.

Kes shook her head, "no he was probably sensing the same thing as me."

"I don't think we should rely on that guy. He said two months ago, that something was going to screw up the next generation Chosens, and well Duncan and Sasha are fine, obviously," Tom said.

"He has a point for once," James muttered.

Kes looked confused, "it's not known who the next Chosens are. Duncan and Sasha are at the very least potentials."

"Nope one of them came back in time, she was a Chosen alright," Tom commented.

Kes looked even more confused, "that's odd, I didn't know about that."

"That's time travel for you," Tom said.

Kes nodded her head, "yes well this is a time travel problem. Someone's going to go back in time to ruin the timeline."

"In what way?" Tom questioned.

Kes sighed, "that would make me have to start telling the long story."

"How did I know this was going to be a time travel episode?" James muttered.

"Well let's hope it doesn't come to that," Kes said.

"I think we need to know what they're going to do," James said.

Kes groaned, "fine but I really hope that you've got a lot of caffeine in your system, but not too much to give you a headache."

The Equinox:
The Equinox senior staff had gathered around their own conference table. "Ok people, I think that the Enterprise know about the lab. Suggestions?"

Everyone stared blankly, Lessing raised his hand meekly. "Uh Rudey."

Max giggled, "rudey."

Ransom glared at Max, "shut up."

"Right sir," Max said.

"What makes you think they've found the lab sir? I mean it's been a month or so since our last appearance on the show, that was a while ago and well they would have done something by now," Lessing questioned.

"That's a point, let's just be idiotically ignorant for another few episodes, ok?" Ransom replied.

"Ok," everyone cheerfully said.

"We've got to be annoying about something though, how about the Borg attack that lasted ten seconds?" Max suggested.

"Oooh let's steal a few Borg transwarp coils instead of..." Marla quickly suggested.

"No!" everyone yelled.

Marla cringed, "why not?"

"Two words, Dark Frontier," Ransom muttered in response.

Marla's face dropped, "right, it's just I'm sick of this technique. Hey what if we suck up to some aliens who have some technology to get us half way home, and use it when their back's turned."

"No!" everyone yelled.

"What now?" Marla moaned.

"Six words, The Voyager Conspiracy, piece of sh..." Max commented.

Ransom raised his eyebrow, "that's not necessary."

"Yes sir, it's essential," Max replied.

"What about inventing something new, you know like that Quantum Slipstream Drive I read about," Marla suggested.

"No, shut the hell up!" everyone but Lessing yelled.

"Why not? I love to ski, that planet is very snowy," Lessing moaned.

Everyone stared blankly at Lessing. "You're an idiot," Ransom muttered.

"Thank you sir," Lessing beamed.

"What about a wormhole, there's always one around," Marla said.

Max coughed, "Timeline."

"Great more temporal paradoxes, why did I put you in my senior staff?" Ransom asked.

"Because there was nobody else sir," Marla replied.

"Makes sense," Lessing commented.

"Two words, Game Cube?" Marla suggested.

Ransom pulled out a phaser and shot her with it, "god that woman annoys me sometimes."

"What's wrong with the Game Cube idea?" Lessing asked.

Ransom shot him too, "idiot."

Back on the Enterprise:
Kes finished her story, James and Tom just continued to stare blankly at her. "Um that was interesting," Tom muttered.

"Yeah, if I understood it right then we definitely have to make sure Lena doesn't find out," James said.

Tom nodded his head, "yes, Kes can you go back to the part with the things?"

"Things?" Kes questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"You know with the whole someone's going back in time to get Lena and James into trouble," Tom replied.

Kes groaned in frustration, "that's the beginning!"

"I know, I really need you to start again," Tom said.

"You never were good at the time travel stuff, were you?" James commented.

"Nope," Tom said, shaking his head.

"Well this is time travel stuff and alternate dimension stuff," James said.

Tom nodded his head, "I need to sit down."

"You are sitting down," Kes pointed out.

"Oh, yey good for me," Tom said.

"This story makes you wonder what the writer's on, when it starts to make sense it doesn't again," James commented.

Kes sat opposite James and Tom, "yes well if you think about it, it does make a little sense which is very weird. Someone's obviously got nothing better to think about."

Tom cleared his throat, "let me try and get this right. In one dimension or timeline, whatever, James was killed by those vamps on New Earth before the awayteam got trapped there. Janeway was so upset she refused to send another team down so they continued on their way. How am I doing?"

"Ok but that's the easy part," Kes replied.

"But I saved his life that time," Tom said.

"No this is where it gets harder. Cos he died, Janeway never went to New Earth and her & Chakotay never really got together. Lena wasn't born so James was stripped of his Chosen strength since he didn't have a sister. This made him a Natural when he fought against the vamps and the leader just killed him cos he was easier to beat," Kes said.

"Somebody pull me a chair," Tom muttered.

"For the last time, you already are sitting down," James said.

"Right," Tom said.

"If it makes it easier Tom, the whole New Earth and Chosen Slayer thing is just one big temporal paradox, kinda like a timeloop actually," Kes said.

"Ok whatever. A little while later Voyager reached Borg Space earlier, obviously before the 8472 war, but half way through the war started. By that time you had started to evolve into that higher being you are now, you sent Voyager the rest of the way. 8472 kicked the Borg's ass cos we didn't help them," Tom said.

"Right but that part's not really important," Kes said.

"Lots of people were dead plus Voyager was heavily damaged so you decided to go back in time," Tom said.

Kes nodded her head, "I had a vision, that gave me the idea."

"You went back to New Earth and revived James after that fight. Since he survived everyone got trapped on New Earth like we remember it," Tom said.

"Yes but what I didn't realise was that my little trip made things worse. Of course Lena was a lot younger than James, so he still remained a Natural. The whole Slayer community were confused, just like with this dimension. The Q continuum weren't happy with the state of the timeline and the whole Lena thing, they tried to fix it but failed. Meanwhile one Q impregnated Lena and well you know the rest," Kes said.

"I'm still lost. What did you expect would happen when you changed the timeline, obviously you didn't want that second dimension or timeline to be like that?" Tom asked.

"The vision I had was very vague, I got the idea that if I went back in time to that point it would make the difference Voyager needed. Eventually it did work out like what I visioned," Kes replied.

"Yeah but what was it that Voyager needed?" James asked.

"For one thing survival. Voyager would have been destroyed before its time. Plus because Zare and her brother were Chosens, she was killed during that time on the ocean colony because she wasn't rejected for being 'fake' and Rean was too young and inexperienced to survive either," Kes replied.

"Right so the Chosens were killed and I wasn't, that's realistic," James said sarcastically.

"Look on the bright side, you got killed later on," Tom pointed out.

James stared blankly at him, "thanks, I think."

"If I remember right, you said you got away the same way you did in this timeline," Kes said.

Tom beamed, "me, I transported everyone out. I was the hero again."

Kes raised her eyebrow, "um yeah whatever."

Sickbay:
A bright light shone in Kiara's eyes as she opened up her eyes, a familiar face appeared in front of hers making her jump in shock. She quickly sat up, "um what am I doing in Sickbay?"

Lena appeared over to her left side, "some guy found you lying on Deck Thirteen, you just fainted. What I'd like to know is what were you doing there?"

"I was told to go and treat somebody with a mild headache," Kiara replied.

Lena looked confused, "what, there? No really what were you doing?"

"There are quarters there," Kiara replied.

"That's not what I asked," Lena said.

"Well maybe you should ask a bit more clearly," Kiara muttered.

"What are you doing on the Enterprise, it's not a hard question," Lena questioned.

It was Kiara's turn to look confused, "where else would I go?"

"Oh I don't know, class maybe?" Lena replied.

"I thought class was on the Enterprise," Kiara said.

Lena glanced away, "uh doc, are you sure she just fainted?"

Kiara followed her glance and ended up looking even more confused, "Doctor Jones?"

Sure enough Doctor Jones turned around to face the girls, "I'm very sure."

"Oh god, please don't tell me I went backwards in time again. The last time I did that I aged too many years," Kiara stuttered.

"What do you mean?" Doctor Jones asked.

"What do I mean! Doctor Jones is still hanging around the Enterprise, obviously class is on Voyager still or something and... Lena, where did you buy those clothes?" Kiara said.

Lena looked down briefly at herself, "it's called a uniform."

"You never wear a uniform," Kiara muttered.

Doctor Jones sighed, "ok let's just take a deep breath, we'll look at this sensibly. What's the last thing that you remember?"

"I was going down a corridor, it shook and I tripped over, then I woke up here," Kiara replied.

"That doesn't narrow it down, what I mean is what big event has happened most recently?" Doctor Jones questioned.

"Big Event? I dunno, Zare went psycho on us not long ago," Kiara replied.

Lena and Doctor Jones glanced at each other. "Who?" Lena said.

"Zare, she was on Voyager a few times but that was back in 2372," Doctor Jones replied.

"I don't know about that, but she did join the crew recently," Kiara said.

"Ookay, what year is it to you?" Lena asked.

"It's 2380," Kiara replied.

Lena shrugged, "if it's January too then we're not dealing with a time thingy."

"Wait, I'm getting something here. Oh oh, maybe this is another dimension," Kiara said.

"What makes you think that?" Doctor Jones asked meekly.

"Well it's the same time of year here etc, but things are different. It makes sense, right?" Kiara replied.

"I guess so," Lena said.

"There is one thing I don't get, why are you wearing that thing?" Kiara asked.

Lena rolled her eyes, "because it's regulation, I have to or I'll get chucked out."

"Chucked out? Out of what?" Kiara asked.

"Academy," Lena replied.

Kiara tried to keep a straight face, "you're going to the Academy? Where are we, bizarro world?"

"I'm just doing it so I can be captain," Lena muttered.

"So this obviously means we're back in the Alpha Quadrant," Kiara said.

"Yep that's right," Lena said.

"For how long?" Kiara asked.

"Two years this March or April," Lena replied.

Kiara pulled herself off the biobed, "that was when we got home for a while, I take it you guys didn't get thrown back into the Delta."

"No we did," Doctor Jones said.

"Oh, well I'm stumped then," Kiara muttered.

Lena glanced at Doctor Jones, "the Seventh Dimension attacked us not long after we were thrown back, we sneaked through one of their portals."

"Um the Seventh Dimension didn't technically make another move until June," Kiara said.

"That's weird," Doctor Jones commented.

"I'll call mum and dad, we maybe able to figure out what happened and fix it," Lena said.

Kiara smiled innocently, "yes please."

Meanwhile in the normal reality, Sickbay:
"Captain you really must calm down," Freddie stuttered.

Lena stopped pacing to glare in his direction, "Kiara's in another coma, what do you expect me to be?"

"Well it's just like that other time she was in a coma, meaning that she'll wake up quickly... probably," Freddie replied.

"Probably, probably!" Lena yelled.

Freddie cowered, "um maybe you should talk to Nikki now." He rushed into his office.

Lena groaned, she turned to walk out the door.

Astrometrix:
"So if someone's planning on messing with the timeline, they must be nearby, right?" Tom was saying.

"No, they don't have to be next to us to get it right," Kes muttered.

"The Astrometrix Lab is good for spying on other ships, we'll find them," James said.

"Spying, you call me nosey," Tom commented.

"No, I just meant spying as in checking where a certain ship is and what it's doing," James said.

"Ok that I understand but why does your other sister have to be here?" Kes asked.

Everyone glanced over at Yasmin, who was sitting on one of the stations. "What?"

"Lena thought we should give her a job that won't get us killed," James replied.

"In other words she's not allowed to use half of the stations here," Tom replied.

"Isn't Annika onboard, this is usually her job. It's so god damn boring," Yasmin moaned.

"I think that's the whole point," James said.

Lena walked through the doors, "Triah said you guys would be here, what's up?"

Kes, James and Tom looked at each other nervously. "Um nothing much, but I can tell you what we're not doing and that's spying on other ships," Tom replied.

James and Kes rolled their eyes in unison. "Oh please," Kes groaned.

"What's going on?" Lena asked, folding her arms impatiently.

"According to Kes a ship's going to cause some bother, we're looking for it," James replied.

Tom glanced around nervously, "um yeah that's right."

"Do you know who?" Lena asked.

Kes shook her head, "no but whatever they're up to they're nearby."

James and Tom turned around and started to work at the stations. "Which means we'll be able to catch up with them and stop them before they do anything," Tom said.

The station James was working on started beeping madly, "I found something. I don't believe it."

Tom, Kes and Yasmin gathered around James, Lena walked front to the other side of the station. "What is it?" Lena asked.

"Another Federation ship," James replied.

Tom's eyes shifted, "three Federation ships in this part of the universe? Impossible."

"Yeah well I think we've found our ship," James said.

Tom looked confused, "did I miss something?"

"Think about it Tom, it has to be the Pegasus," James replied.

Kes nodded her head, "maybe but we've got to be sure."

Lena tapped her commbadge, "Janeway to Bridge."

In: "Go ahead."

"James is going to send some co-ordinates to the helm, go there," Lena ordered.

"I guess I'm sending co-ordinates to the bridge," James muttered.

In: "What about the Equinox?"

"Tell them to follow us," Lena replied.

Meanwhile in the other dimension, let's call it Reality Two:
One of the space stations orbiting Earth, Admiral Paris' office:
"Sir, the runabout's docked," a clueless looking ensign said.

"Do you have any idea what this is about?" Paris asked.

"No, they just said it was an emergency," the ensign replied.

Paris sighed as he stood up, "tell them to meet me in Conference Room 2."

The ensign gasped, "wow we have two Conference Rooms!" He headed towards the door while muttering to himself, "wait till Judith hears about this."

Paris stared blankly at the door, "kill me, kill me now."

 

****TO BE CONTINUED****

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