Year of Hell, Part 2

After viewing my memories of the episode, Janeway decided that the matter was even more serious than she had originally thought. She called a meeting of the Senior Officers and included Katye, Echo, and even Seven. She was the one to explain to the others of the dangers that we would be facing soon, and how the shield modifications would make us targeted by the Krenim weapon ship. 

Thankfully, the righteous nature of Starfleet meant that no one was against stopping the Timeship. We began spit balling ideas on how we would be able to take on Annorax, since there was no way for us to disable the temporal core from the outside. There was a good chance that my Chaos Storm could damage the ship, but that would likely require me to manifest it on a large scale, in my Dragon form, which I could not maintain for long without feeding off something, and there was no convenient nebula this time.

The meeting lasted less than an hour, but most left it with specific tasks to do. Echo and Tuvok were in charge of coming up with strategies for the two ships to use, Katye and Seven headed for Astrometrics to scout for any possible locations that might give us an advantage, while B'Elanna and Harry would get the temporal shields ready to be activated, though they would not be until we detected the spatial distortion wave. Janeway, Chakotay, and Tom returned to duty on the Bridge, though I headed for the holo-deck to run some 'simulations'.

Of course, my real intention was to get some training in before I had to face Annorax, but sadly, there was only one instructor for the Time element, Chronos. When I had first called him out on the holo-deck, I had made the mistake of thinking that he was Cronus, the Titan from Greek mythology, and the bigger mistake of remarking on it when I saw the small, old man with a silver beard and bald head. That was the first time that I felt my existence be erased from the Fabric of Time, but in the next instant, I was restored to how I had been the moment before, only with a chilling memory of how powerful a God of Time truly was.

"Back again, I see," Chronos remarked as his body took shape in the empowered holo-deck.

"I have no choice, Grand Master. The group which first drove me to summon you is on our doorstep, so I must make sure that I am prepared, or I risk losing those that I hold dear," I replied respectfully, as the old goat had no qualms about erasing my existence if I disrespected him, even if he was forced to restore me in the next instant.

"Hmm..." he mused while stroking his long beard, "I guess it cannot be avoided at your pitiful level. I've studied the data that you have given me along with your memories of them, and I must say, this Annorax fellow is as brilliant as he is stupid. Time is not something that can be toyed with at your leisure while thinking that you can achieve your wildest dreams. It's a sloppy manifestation of the Time element, but considering that he is a mere Mortal with no true mana to speak of, it is also an incredible feat of technology... He he he, Mortals are truly clever, yet foolish beings."

I shifted into my Dusa form and knelt before him as I conjured my Chaos Storm around me, then said respectfully, as if I didn't it would make my day worse, "I am ready for your instructions."

Chronos chuckled darkly, his eyes gleaming with joy, as he said, "Let's see how many times I can erase you from existence before your Chaotic nature comes forth."

I, Rebecca Dawn Cox, could only resist his attempts to erase me from the timeline, using the Kremin method, but had never fully succeeded. I could last for ten minutes while my longest period was an hour, but each and every time, I failed. I say that I failed because at some point, the Chaos within me would take over and strip Time's hold on me. While Time was fundamental to the universe, Order and Chaos were the ultimate building blocks of all things. His power and technique were greater than my own, but when my other side was stirred, nothing could hold it back. At times, it felt like a futile attempt that was only progressing my chances of losing myself to my other side, but I knew that I could not stop pushing my boundaries.

I spent the next few hours, accelerated within the holo-deck, being erased from the Timeline, over and over until I was at risk of losing control of the Chaos within me. One of the positive things about training against the God of Time was that he could predict how far he could push me before I truly lost control. Whether or not I had made any progress was hard to tell since trying to keep track of Time while constantly being removed from it was difficult, to say the least.

My mood was on the fouler side when I left the holo-deck, but Katye and Echo were used to it at this point since I had been training with Chronos over the past few weeks, knowing that this conflict was inevitable. Thankfully, they were both still on duty when I returned to the Fae Dragon, so they were safe from it. I climbed the stairs with a huff and grabbed a bottle of Spirit Wine before I settled on my couch with a data pad that had all the information that I could remember about the two-parter episode.

Much like Annorax's obsession to restore his home, my thoughts over the past few weeks have been all but consumed with how I would face him and his ship. The Borg, the Hirogen, the Malon, and the other opponents that Voyager would face were dangerous, but more so to Voyager itself than to my group. Not that we would ever abandon Voyager, the Fae Dragon could always vanish from sensors and escape whatever looming danger, but this Timeship represented a different type of danger as the Fae Dragon's shields could not be modified like the Voyager's; obviously, it was intentional.

Tori's, or rather Istar's, specialty was Time, so he was not going to let us avoid this encounter. The element was also incredibly powerful and helpful for our development, especially Katye's. Not only did all three of us abuse the Time-bending properties of the Mind Linker and the improved holo-deck whenever we could, but the idea of seeing a few moments into the future during a fight, replay the past of a location to learn something, pausing the present to grant more time to react and think, and so much more was beyond tempting.

Katye and Echo were actually excited about this challenge and were also training with Chronos when they had holo-deck time, but neither were focusing on resisting the Time erasing attack like I was. They understood the danger that it posed, of course, but they also understood just how difficult it would be to actually learn how to resist it. I was the only glutton for punishment as I was the one most likely to have the weapon directly attack my body, which was also what was causing my foul mood since it was not pleasant to be beaten over and over. 

The problem was that I was scared... scared that I was not enough to protect Voyager, to protect my loved ones. Since losing Raven, self-doubt had wormed its way into my mind whether I realized it or not. One wrong choice had cost her freedom and, even if we managed to rescue her, the memory of it would likely be a trauma that would haunt her in the future.

Sensing that Echo was on her way back to the ship, I tossed my data pad on the small table between the couches and started my daily maintenance on the plants that were arranged on racks throughout the room. Focusing on the threat of Annorax did not make it any less, and it would just ruin my time with Katye and Echo, so I tried to push my concerns aside. While I could not ignore it completely, I had developed a third 'thought-process' which I could regulate my concerns to while my main mind, and the second connected to Echo, focused on the moment. We had learned that despite the major separation, both of us could still get traces of the other 'minds' we had developed with mana and know what 'each' were thinking, and we could even push it further if we focused our mana on our connection.

"How did things go with Tuvok?" I asked as Echo walked up the stairs.

"As well as it could, considering the unpredictability of future events," Echo replied, not breaking her stride.

"Any orders for me, Acting Captain?" I asked with an amused smile.

"Nothing that you don't expect... You are our best chance at attacking the Timeship, after all. We mostly worked on formations that we can use in tandem with you," she said.

"At least the Borg connection makes that a lot easier," I sighed.

"On a positive note, Tuvok is going to discuss having L'Naan assigned to the Fae Dragon until things are handled with the Krenim and from tomorrow on, we'll be on standby on the Fae Dragon, waiting for the distortion wave or Timeship."

I chuckled, "Poor man didn't realize your real goal."

Echo gave me a sly grin and, while she made no direct comment, I could sense her amusement. I had a passing thought while we were discussing plans about Annorax a few weeks ago, wondering if he might come directly to us now that we were in Krenim Space, since Voyager might appear on his sensors this time because we were here. She turned it into a loophole to escape her normal, boring duties to stay on the ship, where most of her time could be spent training, relaxing, and fooling around, and she even managed to pull in L'Naan. It seemed that her manipulation skills were as sharp as ever.

Katye returned to the ship an hour later, but surprisingly, she was not alone; Seven had joined her. They were both carrying data pads and discussing an asteroid field as they were walking up the stairs. It seemed that they had found something that might give us a slight advantage, since there were sections that Voyager could navigate with ease and work their way towards the center. They were not sure how much of an obstacle it was to the Timeship, but the asteroids were still something that Katye and I could take advantage of to empower certain spells.

"So, how far away is it?" Echo asked as Katye moved into the kitchen.

"Two days away, at maximum warp. We have already told Janeway, and she has set a course for it," Katye replied.

"Convenient," I scoffed and sat down at the counter.

"I don't understand your annoyance," Seven remarked.

"You haven't been around us long enough yet. There is an old human expression, 'trouble magnets', and you are looking at the three biggest ones on this side of the galaxy," I retorted. 

"L'Naan will likely be joining us as well. I suggested to Tuvok to have her temporarily reassigned to our ship while we go on standby, in case Annorax's ship appears. He was supposed to bring it up with her when he gave her a report of what we discussed," Echo added.

"I expect the three of you to do more than screw around until the trouble gets started," Katye chided while she replicated some raw steaks and other ingredients for dinner.

I chuckled, then laughed when I noticed the slight confusion on Seven's face. While Seven did have an understanding of sexual interactions, I was not sure if she had put the pieces together about our relationship status together yet, and certainly not with the addition of L'Naan. I could not help but think of the scene where Harry invites Seven to work late one night on the Astrometrics Lab plans and she jumps straight to agreeing to sleep with him because she did not understand the need for a subtle approach. Sharing the thought with Echo, she started laughing too, which only increased Seven's confusion.

"Ignore the fools, Seven; Becca infected Echo's brain due to their link," Katye remarked.

"Hey," I complained, making Katye smirk.

L'Naan showed up with a bag of clothes before Katye finished cooking, so she joined us as well. Dinner was a little interesting, though Seven remained on the quiet side. As usual Echo and L'Naan had a drinking contest, burning through half a bottle of my good wine by the time we finished eating. Thankfully, they did not get too rowdy at the table since I did my best to avoid their provocation as Katye was giving me a certain look throughout the meal, warning me to not embarrass her in front of Seven.

Seven left shortly after finishing her food, so they did not wait any longer and jumped into the Mental Plane to spar. I was not in a rush, since there was still a little food left, and Katye left to walk Seven off the ship. When she returned upstairs, she sat down next to me on the bench and leaned on my shoulder.

"This isn't our first dangerous battle, and it won't be the last, but we'll face it together as we always do," she said softly.

I kissed her forehead and agreed, "As we always do."