Inspired Voyage (ST: Voyager / SI) by SIDoragon

Words: 390k+

Link: https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/inspired-voyage-st-voyager-si.791005/

Chapter 1

March 2371

I woke up feeling worn down and sore, feeling like my head had been slapped around a few dozen times by a heavy mallet. My eyes could be glued closed for all the effort it was taking in opening them. The last time I'd ever been this out of it was after a third consecutive night terror a year ago, and I could feel that old familiar sinking feeling as 'dread' and 'fear' fought a war against me with their good allies 'hyperventilating' and 'blind panic.'

My arms and legs moved, barely, but it was still progress. Experience was telling me that the sleep induced paralysis would eventually fade, it would just be a very unhappy minute of struggling as my various muscles decided to turn back on.

Glacially slow, my eyes finally started to open. I squinted against the glare of the overhead lights, fighting to focus…wait, why are there overhead lights? My bedroom has a ceiling fan with three bulbs, not a dome that was backlit!

And with that small realization, my mind snapped into total focus. Adrenaline flooded my veins as ice-water traveled down my spine, sweeping aside the mild paralysis as my fight-or-flight instincts began to scream "find a weapon, you asshole!" at me.

Wide eyed and awake, I tried to take in my surroundings. I looked to be in some kind of hospital room? I was on one of three beds along the wall, with a quick glance showing me that they were unoccupied and thus no longer important. There are two circular spaces inside this small hospital room; one behind glass and the other open with another bed inside it. The room behind the glass looked to have a desk and chair, so I'm guessing it was a doctors office, but why did it look so familiar? The white walls were offset by a pale blue carpet and the dull pink of the beds, although the oval room with one bed looked to have black walls with yellow lights for some reason.

In fact, why did this whole room look so familiar to me? I've never been in it before, but I could almost swear I've seen it before.

I noticed an odd beeping sound above and behind me, and glanced back to see a monitor panel that was obviously keeping track of me. It was difficult to read, but also just as familiar as the damn room. I shook my head, fighting to review my recent memories and work out how I got here...

...wherever here was.

Looking back down, I noticed for the first time that I was only wearing some very soft pajama-like pants, the blanket on top of me hiding away the rest of me. Granted I'm used to sleeping like this, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised I woke dressed like this, but since this isn't what I was wearing when I went to bed that means someone stripped me...

"Mr. Shepard?" a man said, stepping into view as he appeared from the doctor's office.

As my eyes dart to him, I blurt out, "Robert Picardo?" as I recognize his face and bald head.

The man, nonplussed by my outburst, quickly recovers and walked up to my side while waving a small device over me like this was an episode of Star…

...FUCK...I'm still dreaming aren't I? This is a weird fucking dream. Why would I…

"Ouch!"

I flinch back from the man as he looks at me dispassionately. "You are, in fact, not dreaming."

Blinking, and rubbing the spot he had just pinched, I can only offer, "Oh, sorry. I assume I just said all that out loud?"

"You assume correctly," is his prompt reply. "You appear to be a little disconcerted. What is the last thing you remember?"

I have to force myself to tear my eyes away from the man who played "The Doctor" on Voyager, but manage to do so by rubbing my eyes and shaking my head slowly. "Last thing I remember, I went to bed last night. Where am I?"

The man finishes his 'scan of me' and stands there by the side of my bed. "You 'went to bed' nearly a week ago. You are currently in Voyager's sickbay. You are the last one to wake from what transpired aboard the Caretaker array."

If I felt worried bordering on concerned before, I was now officially on the edge of full-fledged terrified.

He went on, "You were displaying some unusual neural activity, likely as the result of whatever it was that the alien did to all you, but seeing as you were in no danger and for all intents seemed to simply be asleep, Captain Janeway and I decided to wait and allow you to wake naturally. Of course, we didn't expect it would take this long to do so."

"Now that you are awake, I'm going to inform the Captain. She wished to speak with you before you were discharged. I recommend you lay back and try to relax, it may take some time before she comes to see you." the man finished, looking me over for a moment before walking back into his office and tapping his hand to the shiny badge on his chest.

God damn it.

****

God damn it all to hell. I'm on Voyager!

After I lay my head back down on the pillow, things started to come to me. Explanations, I think, but in the most roundabout way possible. I started having flashbacks to things I've done, like filling out a certain CYOA that I had been curious about. I had been curious about a week ago and filled out a v1 form for WORM, and now I'm stuck with this shit.

I couldn't have picked Endbringer, or chosen to act as an Emperor of Man or a Psychokinetic, no I had to be an idiot and pick Inspired Inventor as my power. I am much more familiar with the v5 CYOA and would have loved to have had some of those builds I had made. My favorite build would have allowed me to turn into an Endbringer at will and use its abilities to pump out technological wonders, but no, I had to end up with this v1 piece of shit.

Worse, it had been nerfed to hell and back because whatever had brought me here seemed to think "hard mode" was still too easy. Tinker 12? Forget it, you aren't actually a Tinker. That was removed. Five charges each day? Nope, I start with a total of 10 charges, and earn a charge point for each week I survived. Oh yeah, I can only hold 10 charges at a time as well, so there is another downside. And instead of getting the ability to McGuyver nukes out of a plasma screen television and a microwave oven, I simply gain knowledge. If I wanted to turn into a discount Bakuda, I would have to drop points into explosives and engineering just to build the bombs, then I would need physics, chemistry and whatever else was required to replicate her effects.

All that to say, I will need a long, long, long time to do anything.

Sure, if my different themes overlap then their knowledge will stack, building off of each other and integrating perfectly. And all fields of knowledge are open to me, so I can learn anything from martial arts to political science, and everything in between, but you have to know what you need to know. And I need resources to build anything.

Resources that are going to be rare on a ship stuck out in the middle of nowhere!

That is the main power covered. The secondary power of 'Invictus', however, might actually be more useful on this wonderful voyage of the damned. Things like distress, or panic, should mean very little or nearly nothing to me. I'm supposed to be able to undergo any disaster without batting an eye, ignore pain, remain mentally untroubled by even the most terrible trauma, and fearsome odds won't give me pause. The fact that I was having a panic attack when I awoke means I must have been really freaking the fuck out.

But the ability to throw off mind control like it was an irritating fly can only be a good thing. Especially in a universe where mind-controlling aliens in a real thing. At least I hope I can throw it off. Only way to know for sure is to be put into that situation, and I'm fairly sure I don't want to risk that.

The real question mark is what the hell good 'Blank' is going to be? Protect me from Q?

Okay, on second thought 'Blank' might be my most valuable power. Maybe.

Well, on that note I decided now was a good time to sit up on this bed and stretch my sore arms and back. I could see the Doctor glance at me from his office, but other than looking to make sure I didn't actually leave the bed, he seemed content to let me proceed with my bed yoga. This is certainly going to take some getting used to.

Fuck. I'm a reincarnation. Which means I've lived out an entire life up until this moment. The circumstances were supposed to be entirely under my control, but without being able to make any major changes to the setting. Everything from this point forward is up to me, but what did I do before I got here?

I could feel something starting to work its way forward from the back of my skull, but if it is memories or just motion sickness, I'm not sure.

Sadly, my introspection is interrupted as Sickbay's door open and the woman who can only be Captain Janeway marches into the room like someone on a mission from God. She doesn't spare a glance at the EMH Doctor, and instead walks right up to me and all my shirtless glory.

Why do I not feel self conscious about that? Oh right, Invictus.

"Commander Shepard?" are the first words out of her mouth. My mind immediately prompts me the image of a smiling Krogan called "Grunt," and all I can think is that whatever brought me here has a sense of humor. That is quickly followed by roughly twenty five years of memories and experiences flashing into my head so fast and hard that I have to grab my skull to keep it from spinning.

Holy shit whatever brought me here was lazy. It basically stole my Mass Effect character creation.

I remember growing up in a Starfleet family. My childhood was filled with memories of time spent on ships and stations all across Federation space as they were transferred from one posting to another. We never stayed in one location for more than a few years. Following in their footsteps, I enrolled with the Academy. John Shepard, dad, was killed during the Cardassian War a few years ago. Hannah Shepard, mom, is looking forward to seeing me in San Francisco - she just made Admiral. I spoke with her just before I got on Voyager. We were planning my birthday next month...

Rather than join Starfleet, I was recruited to join a different organization. During the War, a mission went wrong and I was trapped behind enemy lines. I managed to overcome and survive physical and psychological stresses that would have broken most, and survived while the rest of my team fell. I was the sole survivor of that mission, and they promoted me for it.

I can hear someone calling my name, and when I look up I see the Doctor standing over me waving a medical tricorder. Janeway is standing next to me, concern mixed with curiosity on her face.

The Doctor gave a small nod and said, "You seem to have low blood sugar. That would explain the sudden wave of dizziness." He stepped to the side for a moment, grabbing a hypospray and adjusting the dosage for a second, before stepping back and jamming the device to my neck. A soft hiss followed, and he took a step back to add, "Rather than ignoring the symptoms next time, speak up and tell me before you pass out."

"Thanks, Doc." I mutter, but he nods and steps away to head back into his office.

Janeway takes a step forward and smirks at me before declaring, "Lets try that again. Commander Shepard, I'm Captain Kathryn Janeway. Welcome to Voyager. Now, who are you and why are you on my ship?"

I furrowed my brow at that. "You obviously know who I am. You just used my name and rank."

"And frankly that is all we could get off the computer." She declared, her eyes narrowing dangerously at me. "We have your name, rank, age and serial number. That is it. No records of your history, background, last deployment, nothing."

I thought about that for a moment, and as the answers came to me I frowned in resignation. This was going to get tricky, and I had to play along until they offered up some knowledge that I shouldn't currently have, but I might make my way through this minefield. With a sigh, I offered, "Please, Captain, call me Branden, or just Shepard. I don't like formality very much. And before we continue, I need to know if Lieutenant Tuvok has been recovered along with the Marquis you were ordered to capture."

That got her attention. Janeway crossed her arms in front of her chest and shifted weight onto her backfoot. "How do you know about that? Our mission was classified, as is the Lieutenant's mission."

I sighed, deep and long, "Please, Captain. It will make things simpler to explain and keep me from repeating myself later."

There was a short pause as she seemed to mull things over in her head, before Janeway tapped her comm badge and declared, "Janeway to Lt. Tuvok. Please report to Sickbay at once."

"Thank you," I offered, but she didn't respond. Instead the Captain just stood there and waited while I went back to stretching my arms and shoulders.

Almost two minutes of silence passed before the doors to Sickbay open and I see Tuvok stroll in and walk towards us. I was wondering why the door hadn't closed yet, before I then see Chakotay quickly step inside move to his Captain's side. I try to keep the groan from escaping, since this will just make things more difficult, but it is difficult.

"Reporting as requested, Captain." Tuvok says before standing at ease and waiting to see what this is about. I can see the small quirk of his eyebrows that say he is curious, something I've learned after working alongside Vulcan's for many years…

Fuck, this memories are integrating quickly. They will be useful, so I know I shouldn't fight them, but damn is that disconcerting to suddenly have decades of experiences moved to the forefront of my mind.

"Now," Janeway begins, bring me back to the moment, "care to explain what this is about?"

"Captain," I start, forcing a frown and adding an edge to my voice, "why the hell is a Maquis wearing a Starfleet uniform? And why is he wearing the rank of First Officer? What happened to Cavit?"

Chakotay looks surprised, and maybe a little insulted. Tuvok is indifferent as expected. But Janeway looks to the floor for a second and then back at me with what I can only say looks like sympathy. "Shepard, you obvious know about our mission to the Badlands so I'm not going to get into that right now. Just listen carefully."

At my nod of agreement she continues, "Seven days ago, this ship was pulled from the Badlands into Delta Quadrant. Several members of my crew were killed during that violent hurtle across space, including my first officer, helmsman, chief engineer, and the entire medical staff. Furthermore, crew of both this ship as well as the Marquis vessel were abducted upon our arrival and subjected to a painful three-day medical examination conducted by the being who brought us all here, the 'Caretaker.'"

"After he was done with us, he returned most of us to our ships. Two of our crew, B'Elanna Torres and Ensign Harry Kim became ill after the experiments and the Caretaker sent them to the Ocampa homeworld for care and medical treatment. To get our crew back, Chakotay and I put aside our differences to locate them and find a way home."

Janeway sighed, frustrated, and continued, "Turns out the Caretaker was dying, and he didn't have the energy to send us back home while he was also sending a massive stockpile of power to the Ocampa. After the Caretaker died, we planned to use his technology aboard the Array that brought us here to send us back, but a hostile species known as the Kazon made that impossible by attacking us. Rather than allowing the Kazon to seize the Caretaker's technology and upset the balance of power in the sector, I made the decision to destroy the Array."

Chakotay spoke up then, his voice clear but a little shaky. "My ship, the Val Jean, was destroyed in the battle with the Kazon. My surviving crew was transferred to Voyager, filling vacant positions and pulling our resources. We've sworn to serve under the Captain, and run this ship like a Starfleet vessel."

"At maximum speed," Janeway picked the story back up, "it will take 70 years to get back to Federation space. Of course, no starship can maintain that speed for so long. Nevermind we have only so much fuel. More likely the journey would take a hundred years, maybe more. So we will keep an eye out for advanced technology and other methods of getting home faster."

There was a long silence that followed that revelation. And I have to admit, even knowing all of this already, intellectually, hearing it spoken with such reverence and somber attention made it so much more poignant. I could hear the years spoken in such a way that it felt like a hammer was beating on my chest.

I looked at the floor, nodded slowly, and took a moment to pretend to be internalizing the information.

"Captain," I slowly started, bringing the three Starfleet officers out of their own thoughts, "pull up my service record and enter my real serial number, 19-Espsilon-099. The record you can see is just a placeholder."

Janeway nodded to Tuvok, who walked over to a monitor near the door and began tapping commands into it. A few moments later, the Vulcan's hand came to a sudden stop as he read my record. After a minute of silence he stepped into the Doctor's office, grabbed a pad, and brought it back to the monitor to copy the information down, and then cleared the screen.

As he handed the pad to Janeway, an impatient Chakotay blurted out, "Well? Who is he?"

Rather than answer him, Tuvok remained quiet and simply looked at his Captain who was reading over the data with a growing look of concern even as her eyes widened. After another minute of skimming, Janeway pried her eyes from the pad and looked at me to ask, "Is this true?"

I knew what she was referring to, it was the same question asked each time that mission report was read. I just nodded and said, "Every word. I don't know if your computer has the full report or just the summary, but it happened."

Chakotay finally had enough and raised his voice to demand, "Who the hell is he?"

Tuvok turned to the First Officer and calmly declared, "A superior officer."

"This is Commander Branden Shepard," Janeway answered, "of Section 31."

Funny how things work. Section 31 has always been somewhat comparable to the Romulan Tal Shiar or the Cardassian Obsidian Order. We are effectively the Black Ops branch of Starfleet Intelligence. A secret buried so deeply that only Admirals and Captains even knew of our existence.

Starfleet's dirty little secret.

Old ingrained habits from years of command snapped the Maquis into a perfect rod-straight attention. It was a shame Starfleet didn't do salutes, his would have been textbook.

I sighed, both a little over dramatic for show as well as a little genuine, and then spoke up, "Don't do that. I'm the equivalent of a Starfleet Captain, but this is Janeway's ship. I'm just a passenger."

Tuvok looked pointedly at me then. "Which begs the question, why are you on Voyager?"

"Because by now I was supposed to be back on Earth," I answered. "I was on DS9 when Starfleet Intelligence got some new intel for you. Since Voyager was supposed to be retrieving you and heading back to Earth, I was going to just be a passenger after passing on my message. The only person who was going to know I was here was you, Lieutenant."

"Intriguing. What information could have been so important that it needed to be delivered as soon as I had been retrieved?" the Vulcan asked.

I pointedly looked at Chakotay, waiting a moment for someone to realize and tell him to leave, but when they didn't I accepted it as their decision and declared, "We received confirmation that the Maquis agent known as Seska isn't Bajoran. She is in fact a Cardiassian agent."

That got everyone's attention, so I added, "I suppose it is too much to hope that she died on the Val Jean?"

Next thing I know, I'm feeling a fist impact my jaw and I'm falling off the medical bed.

When the stars clear, I see Tuvok holding Chakotay against the Sickbay wall, and the Doctor is standing over me with his scanner running over my head again.

Chakotay is yelling, "You lying son of a bitch! I've known Seska for more than a year and she hates the Cardassians! Hell, her knowledge of Bajorian tactics is how we managed to survive all this time!"

The Doctor helped me sit up, so I replied, "Seska has been an intelligence operative for the Obsidian Order since 2361. In 2367 she underwent surgical operations to transform her physiology into that of a Bajoran so she could infiltrate their resistance. After the Occupation ended in 2369, Seska was reassigned to spy on the Maquis. And like any member of the Order, she is trained to play the long game. Tell me, Chakotay, how soon after she joined your group did you begin sleeping with the enemy?"

The First Officer began a new round of swearing but was swiftly cut off by Janeway yelling, "Enough! While I'm inclined to believe my First Officer, I also know the reputation of Section 31. And if Starfleet Intelligence says she is Cardassian, I have to at least entertain that possibility."

The Doctor stopped his scanning for a moment to helpfully add; "Seska is one of the few former-Marquis crewmembers to have not come to me for a physical as requested. If she is a Cardassian, a simple blood test would be more than enough evidence."

Chakotay stopped his struggling and declared, "Fine, bring her in and test her blood. Then we'll have the truth-"

"I recommend," I interrupted the Marquis, "catching her off-guard. If we call her to sickbay, she could try to run. Send a security team to escort her."

"Run where?" Janeway asked, eyes raised at me. "We are 70,000 light years from home."

Tuvok answered for me. "Most species react badly to having their secrets uncovered. They do not react rationally."

"Plus," I added, "Voyager has two shuttles and a Runabout. She has had several days to establish her own plans for evac. Personally, I would order your security officers to simply stun her and use the teleporter to bring her directly here."

"I refuse to treat someone as guilty until they are proven so," the Captain snarked. She tapped her badge and called, "Janeway to security, please send a team to escort Seska to Sickbay."

****

I had originally decided to hold off on putting any Inspired Inventor charges into anything just yet, and at first I was glad to have shown that restraint. Thanks to my Reincarnation and life up to this point, I had more than six years of Starfleet Academy training working its way through my mind, as well as an additional six years of combat experience and field command running operations against the Cardassians, Romulans and most recently intelligence gathering runs on the Dominion.

And isn't that weird as fuck. All this knowledge and experience that I have gathered over my life, and at the same time it is all just so new and interesting. Add on top of that the bacon bits of knowing in broad strokes what is going to happen in the next few years in the Alpha Quadrant. Kind of glad I'm not on Earth, to be frank.

I remember the first time I saw Earth from space. I was just six years old and had followed my parents to Earth to visit some extended family. Like a pilgrimage of sorts, most humans on the transport gathered around the port-side messhall window and pushed their children to the front so they could get a good look. Me and a dozen other kids saw Earth for the first time, the home of humanity and birthplace of the Federation, and we're left with a feeling that could only be called a religious experience.

Hannah, mom, told me that her parents had done the same thing to her, and they went through the same thing at my age.

At the same time I also remember watching the live feeds from the International Space Station on youtube.

Taking a moment to shake the disconnected memories out, I went over and over what I now know once more. From the Academy I learned how a warp drive works, from experience with 31 I learned how to kill a dozen men with an overloaded phaser buried in the dirt like a landmine. On starships I hung around the gold shirts in engineering, learning how to build warp coils for fun, and on a classified mission in the neutral zone I learned that Romulan warbirds can't come to a full stop nearly as quickly as they may need to.

With a deep sigh, I sit up from my new bed and swing my legs over the side, looking out the window of my quarters. We weren't currently at warp, so I took a moment to simply enjoy the view of strange, alien stars that would have been impossible to see on Earth. The ship was currently undergoing some minor repairs that occurred during the apprehension of Seska.

As soon as security had found her and asked for Seska to follow them to Sickbay, she had known her cover was blown. So she called out a simple command to the computer, a simple script command she had thrown together as soon as she was on board, that caused most of the ship to freak out. Warp Core began to overheat, and that threw all of Engineering into a tissy. Propulsion and navigation soon followed, and that was an exciting time to be in Sickbay when all of the gravity plating shut down on the entire deck at once.

Thankfully, none of this was too dangerous as people were in place to handle it. All Seska was doing was attempting to escape, and hadn't managed to make it more than a dozen yards before a second security team that Tuvok had insisted on cornered her.

Rather than risk capture, her Cardassian training kicked in. Seska took the easy way out, rather than risk giving up her secrets or being marooned on a M-class planet as I was going to propose to Janeway. I knew the captains morals wouldn't allow for summary execution of a spy.

So, eventually her corpse arrived in Sickbay. A quick blood test proved that Seska had been Cardassian all along, and I got to enjoy watching Chakotay turn nearly green before he rushed out of the room. Last I heard, he was calling a meeting of all the Maquis on board to let them know. Brave of him, not entirely smart, but brave.

That left me alone with Janeway and Tuvok. Both of them seemed at odds with how to proceed with me, in their own way. Tuvok, for example, seemed to be perfectly fine with the situation. I was Starfleet Intelligence, I just brought him vital information that could have saved the ship in the long run, and more than that I was a trained soldier who can help protect the crew.

Janeway, on the other hand, I suspect was more pensive about allowing someone on board who found it easy to take the violent route first. This is post-Borg pre-Dominion War Starfleet I'm dealing with, which means military minded operations are one of those things you do "over there" somewhere where no one can see what is happening. Starfleet is about exploration and science, but 31 is all about doing whatever is necessary to protect the Federation. That means removing people, theft, and blowing up things.

And in my opinion, that is exactly what is going to be needed in the Delta Quadrant.

Since they had no idea what to do with me for the moment, and the immediate concern has passed, the security team escorted me back to my quarters on Deck 4. For some reason, I don't think they liked me, judging from their stiff expressions and unwillingness to talk to me, but I'll try to not let that get to me. It has been a long week for everyone here, and I'm not exactly making things any easier.

Okay, so, since I have a charge cap and I don't want to go to sleep and miss out on gaining a skill point back, I might as well use one or two now before turning in. Then again, I suppose there is no reason why I can't do that while I'm taking a bath?

Ten minutes later I was immersed in a tub of hot water, safe in the security of knowing that every drop of water will eventually be sterilized and consumed as drinking water. Under normal situations the water would be replicated, and then returned to the replicator after I was done. From energy, turned into matter, and then back into energy. But every starship had a water reclaimer system built into the life support systems, to be used when energy resources were scarce. Such as now, when we are 70 years from a known trade port.

It just made recycling easy and convenient.

So, relaxing in the water, I leaned my head back and decided it was time for a test run. Only question was, what should I try to learn? Most things that I would immediately need were already "programmed" into me from my life. I could go down to engineering right now and calibrate the warp core. There were even a handful of things I knew that would be useful to ship security that is already in use on Section 31 vessels.

Which left the question of what do I want to know, that could be useful, that this ship of the damned can't learn?

What would Shepard do?

Huh, now that is an idea. Why focus on Star Trek technology when I can learn anything? So how about something from Mass Effect instead? I mean, my first name is still my own at least but whatever the hell brought me here chose to name me Shepard. Maybe that was a hint?

Mass Effect: Omni-tools, 1 charge.

Son of a…

My brain went into overdrive as it began to literally download information from an endless sea of data. In a single, infinite, moment I was intimately familiar and aware of concepts that would have been foreign to me just a moment ago. And since the amount of useful information given to you by Inspired Inventor does deeper as the concept you spent the charge on gets narrower, and I chose a very specific thing, I could literally walk into a workshop and begin building these damn things.

And on my god would Omni-tools been useful in this universe. Multipurpose diagnostic and manufacturing tools, as well as computers used for a variety of civilian and battlefield tasks as complicated as hacking, decryption, or repair. Higher-end omni-tools can even be used as straight up weapons. Flashlight, scanner, repair systems, dispenser for medi-gel (something else I might need to 'invent'), camera, communication systems, miniature replicators…

Holy shit, it is building on top of my Star Trek knowledge as well. In the Academy you had to learn how to repair basic replicators since they are so vital as well as dangerous. And my knowledge of omni-tools integrated that knowledge without even skipping a beat.

They can also be very effective melee weapons. I've never even heard of Geth Juggernauts using omni-tools before, but I now know that they commonly use them to create energy pulses and to drain enemy barriers. Hell, Alliance infiltration units used a cryo-blade to flash freeze opponents flesh on contact.

Holograms are also nothing new to Starfleet, so having a holographic interface in the form of an orange gauntlet appear when activated should be easy to adapt to. Plus, they could prove to be deadly surprises for opponents who expect a disarmed person when we hand over our phasers.

Because this is Star Trek and eventually someone is going to be caught off guard on a planet's surface without a weapon.

At least I'll be able to give something to Captain Janeway when she comes back around to speak with me in the morning, because I know she will. I would in her position. She'll want to know what I can do for Voyager now that we are all alone out here on the opposite side of the galaxy.

What can I do?

I can prepare this ship for war with the Delta Quadrant.