The Looming Future

A/N: Sorry Readers, I forgot today was Friday XD

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Adding L'Naan to our group really did not change much, since I had been the only one who had been holding out. She already spent much of her downtime with us, so the only real difference was that our sparring sessions would often devolve into another type of battle. It was not something that we broadcasted to the rest of the Voyager crew, of course, but those that were close to her could notice a slight change in the way she carried herself these days.

Aside from the addition of L'Naan, things had been quiet onboard the ship. We still met new races, visited different worlds, explored any astronomical body that caught Janeway's attention, but no true episodes popped up for two months. It seemed that we had managed to miss a couple, due to simply not being in the right area, but one episode still happened because it was tied to a person rather than a location.

I had the day off, and had been working on one of my holographic programs when I was paged by Janeway, and asked to come to the Briefing Room. When I got there, Janeway, Tuvok, B'Elanna, the Doctor, and Kes were all in the room, though my attention was instantly drawn to Kes. I could sense the mana in her quickly growing while a foreign mana source was also lightly radiating from inside of her, which bore a familiar Time signature. Instantly, I remembered the episode then frowned as I headed to my seat.

"...As far as I can determine, I've now jumped a total of six years into my past," Kes stated.

"Do you have any theory as to the cause of these jumps?" Tuvok asked.

"According to Kes, she and the rest of the crew will be infected by chroniton radiation approximately eleven months from now. Everyone will be inoculated, and the effects will appear to vanish. However, some five years later, when I attempt an experimental, and I might add, ingenious procedure to extend her lifespan, the bio-temporal field I expose her to will trigger dormant chroniton particles, taking Kes out of temporal sync and causing her to begin her backward journey through time," the Doctor explained.

"In all my years in Starfleet, I've never come across a phenomenon quite like this," Janeway remarked.

"Kes has been able to provide us with the precise temporal variance of the torpedo which infected her," The Doctor added.

"Since Kes is moving backward in time, she's already been infected by the radiation poisoning. If we can set up a bio-temporal chamber and expose her to a precisely modulated field of anti-chroniton particles, we feel this may purge her system and bring her back into temporal sync with the rest of us," B'Elanna explained.

"Is there anything that you would like to add, Rebecca?" Janeway asked.

"That explanation was better than what I could have said. My senses tell me that there is some kind of foreign energy in her body, related to Time, but, as you can imagine, it's an extremely dangerous element that none of my group has practiced much with, so we won't be of any help," I replied.

"Well then, we better get moving. For all we know, Kes's next jump will take her back to a time when we're not there to help her," Janeway said, standing up and leading everyone towards the door.

"Captain, there's something else I have to tell you. In about six months, you're going to enter a region of space controlled by a race called the Krenim. You must avoid them at all costs," Kes warned.

"Tell me more," Janeway said, pulling her towards her Ready Room.

While the others left the room, I stayed behind and looked out the window while I played through the episode in my mind, along with a couple of others. This was a plot-hole in the show that I had never noticed before, but I did now since I was conscious of the passage of time. While there was no problem with the concept that Kes only saw a single path of the future which is why things played out differently in the future, the problem lay with the Krenim.

In the show, the Krenim had been the villain for a two-parter, mid-season finale... after the war between the Borg and Species 8472. The timing itself was not the problem, but rather how the ship gets past Borg Space as Kes uses her unique powers to send the Voyager past all of Borg Space which took ten years off their journey home. Obviously, if Kes was infected by the chroniton radiation that meant that she had been there for the Year of Hell which meant that the Krenim should either be before Borg Space or Borg Space should be much further away. The joys of a television show becoming reality, plot holes could become my future problems.

"Tuvok mentioned that you did not leave," Janeway remarked.

I had been so absorbed in my thoughts that I had not heard the door open, so I sighed as I turned around to face her.

"Chiporofita?" she asked.

"Perhaps... but there are some problems due to what Kes told us. I've seen the Krenim, but they come after we face the Borg which is where the problem lies... I believe everything that Kes told us, yet my 'order' is wrong, so whose 'future' is the right one? The answer is neither. Kes is now a different Kes than the one that lived that life while the effects of the actions of my group can't be foreseen. This is the problem with seeing the future... It's only a drop in the Rivers of Time," I sighed, using the same words that Istar had once told Dystina.

Janeway let out a heavy sigh of her own and remarked, "And this is why I hate Temporal Anomalies."

I chuckled weakly and nodded my head, agreeing, "You and me, both. There is nothing that can be done now, other than helping Kes. The more I tell you, the more things could change, so it's best that we drop this conversation before I reveal something that I shouldn't."

Janeway gave me a hard look, but in the end, she did not press me. It seemed that I had truly earned the stubborn Captain's confidence. She knew that I had information about some of the dangers that they would be facing, including the Borg and now the Time-wielding Krenim, and yet she trusted my judgement of what and when to tell her.

We left the Briefing Room, and I headed back to my ship. Questions and concerns were still bouncing around in my mind, so I sat down on my usual couch and pulled out a Mind Linker before using it. Since it was just me, I opened my eyes in the Mental Plane and found myself in a futuristic study of my own design, of course. The walls were silver with lightscreens covering them that displayed all of the information that I could remember from Star Trek: Voyager.

Right now, all were displaying the timeline, information about the different episodes, or, in some lucky cases, little videos of different scenes, though it required me to be able to properly envision it. While Fae would not help me awaken my latent memories of the show, she had given me a method to do it myself, but with the memories from my Demon Heart trial and Dystina's memory that I was regaining every time I slept, there was a lot to sort through. Thankfully, Fae would at least confirm whether or not something was correct, though I could not abuse that, or she would not answer my questions for a month.

"Come to ask another question... or ten?" Fae chuckled with a teasing smirk.

"Is it a plot hole?" I asked directly.

"You do not have that direct knowledge in your memories," she replied.

"Damn," I huffed, despite expecting such a reply. I walked up to the timeline wall and zoomed in on the end of season three to the beginning of season four. "Let's think this through. Kes leaves at the beginning of season four right after Seven becomes the newest member of the Voyager crew, but the reality of it was that the actress that played Kes was replaced by Seven's, so it probably is just a minor plot hole. Still, we are getting close to the Borg and Species 8472."

With a thought, the screen changed to the information and notes that I had about Species 8472. Although the Borg were known as one of the most dangerous groups within the Star Trek universe, they were able to give the Borg a run for their money. They had three legs and, on average, were three meters tall with a powerful physique. A simple scratch of their claws nearly killed Harry because of the transfer of DNA, and it was their telepathic abilities that helped 'tip' Kes into her transformation into pure energy, or whatever bullshit reason they gave in the show. This were the opponents that concerned me the most, because I would likely need to use my full strength to kill them in one blow, or I might fall to their mental powers, since I was still weak to those types of attacks.

While I could not find them in the Elemental Creatures of the Endless Firmament compendium, I had a sneaking suspicion that that was due to my 'brother' wanting to let us experience a true challenge. There were Common and Rare creatures, but also a classification known as Unique, which were typically mutations or creations of some twisted God... like my 'brother'. He knew Katye's and my weaknesses better than we did, so I could not help but be on guard against them.

I spent the rest of the afternoon going over the episodes that I could remember and had yet to happen. The one where Seska's program puts Tuvok and Tom into a killing game because she found Tuvok's training program with a Maquis mutiny had already been avoided, and the one with the super advanced dinosaurs looking for their planet of origin was unlikely to happen, since the crew had never been marooned on that planet where several people were killed. It was doubtful that the Doctor would make his holographic family since he and Danara were still very close. Things that could fill those holes had happened, but my instincts were warning me that it was still not enough for what was ahead.

B'Elanna and the Doctor were able to save Kes from her backwards jumps through Time, just as they had in the episode. Janeway also threw an informal party to celebrate Kes on the holodeck, using Neelix's resort program. As one of her friends, and direct coworkers, Katye dragged me to it which made me stop worrying about the future for a bit while the show played out.

"...So, I'm going to become a security officer. How about that?" Neelix remarked with a chuckle.

"Fortunately, Mister Neelix, what Kes has been describing is merely one possible future. On each occasion that she jumped to a previous time, her subsequent actions most likely altered the future from that moment on," Tuvok interjected.

"Good point, Tuvok. Maybe I'll turn out to be Chief Security Officer," Neelix chuckled.

"So, Kes..." Harry inquired, "have you regained all of your memories of the past?"

"I remember the last month's supply of replicator rations that you borrowed, and still owe me... if that's what you're asking," Kes teased.

"Don't worry. I haven't forgotten," he replied, embarrassed.

"I realize it's only hypothetical, but still, I'd be curious to know what sorts of medical breakthroughs I'm going to make in this possible future," the Doctor expressed.

"It's not as if I've seen everything that's going to happen over the next six years. I only remember short periods I experienced between jumps," Kes reminded.

"Even so, I bet you found out some pretty interesting things," B'Elanna commented.

"Yeah, Kes. Tell us what you know," Tom chimed in.

"Careful, Tom. You may find out that you leave Voyager only to join a monastery," Chakotay warned with a smirk.

"Hey, give him a little credit. I bet he gets married and has a family," Harry defended.

"Thank you," Tom replied with a small cheers gesture.

"Don't mention it."

"Are you telling?" B'Elanna asked.

"Well... as Tuvok said, I've only seen pieces of one possible future," Kes deflected.

"You know what? Don't tell me. I don't want to know. I like a little mystery in my life," Tom remarked.

"Tom's right," Janeway agreed. "I think we should all leave the future to the future."

"While I agree it would not be wise for Kes to make all of her experiences public, a report on anything she knows about these Krenim might be useful," Tuvok added.

"I'll get started right away," Kes said, putting her glass down.

"Hang on a minute. He didn't mean now. Stay and enjoy your party," Janeway said.

"If there's one thing that this experience has taught me, Captain, is that there's no time like the present," Kes said, slipping through the small group and heading out of the holodeck.

Everyone watched her with mixed expressions, but no one moved to stop her. People hung out for a while longer, but with the person of honor gone, it was easy to convince Katye that it was time to leave. I wanted to go over things and redouble our efforts to prepare for the conflict ahead. All of us needed to be ready.