Chapter Text
On the bridge of USS Voyager it is the night shift, and a particularly unusual subspace anomaly is detected.
Harry Kim: "Kim to Seven of Nine, we are detecting an unclassified subspace anomaly 1.8LY away. Are you detecting this?"
Seven of Nine: "Yes I am. From what I can tell at this range, it is of type unknown to The Borg. I suggest we investigate."
Harry Kim: "Ensign, change course to take us to within 100.000km of the anomaly, Warp 9. Kim to Captain Janeway, please report to the bridge. We have detected an unclassified anomaly and have changed course to investigate."
Kathryn Janeway: “I’ll be there as soon as I can. I want Seven and B’Elanna to be there too. Make it a full senior staff meeting.”
*****
The atmosphere in the briefing room is tense. There is some anxiety but also curiosity and excitement around the subspace anomaly.
Harry Kim: “We have detected an unclassified subspace anomaly. It may be a way to get us to the Alpha Quadrant.”
Seven of Nine: “As we have been approaching the anomaly, I have been making more scans and it appears to be a breach into subspace, similar to the singularities used by Species 8472 to move between fluidic space and our reality, but also bearing qualities of more traditional wormholes.”
Tuvok: “Is there any risk of a Species 8472 vessel moving through the breach?”
Seven of Nine: “No, although it may be possible for organisms from subspace, such as Species 8009 (Solanae) or Species 1100 (Elachi) may be able to pass through. Both have shown hostility and very strong resistance to assimilation. If we encounter them, I suggest we flee at maximum warp. But I think the chance of them appearing is low and that we should investigate this anomaly.”
Kathryn Janeway: “We should investigate it then, see what we can discover. I want yellow alert to be maintained while we are near the anomaly and an option to close it at any time.”
The Doctor: “The Solanae have a history of abductions causing medical mysteries like on the Enterprise. I should be able to deal with the aftermath of their ‘experiments’ but I’d rather us not have to deal with them.”
BElanna Torres: “When the Enterprise encountered them, they used tetryon particles to close the ruptures used by the Solanae. I believe that a low-level tetryon field may prevent them from opening any ruptures on Voyager should they try. A tetryon beam from the primary and secondary deflectors should be more than enough to close the anomaly should we need to.”
Tuvok: “If this is a subspace breach, or wormhole, there is little chance of the other end opening in the Alpha Quadrant. Logic dictates that we not get our hopes up about this shortening our voyage.”
Kathryn Janeway: “Get on it. I want: Kim, and Seven to assist me in analysing the anomaly; B’elanna to work on preventing Solanae ruptures and a way of closing the anomaly; and Chakotay & Tuvok to develop a strategy against a potential Solanae or Elachi encounter. Dismissed.”
The officers left the briefing room to go to their stations. Janeway, Seven, and Kim go to the astrometrics lab to study the anomaly where they find Icheb, monitoring the sensor readings.
Icheb: “Captain, Ensign, Seven of Nine, I have been monitoring the sensor readings of the anomaly. I find it interesting and perplexing. The breach into subspace seems to be self-sustaining.”
Kathryn Janeway: “A self-sustaining subspace rupture?”
Icheb: “Yes, I believe so.”
Seven of Nine: “Self-sustaining subspace ruptures are unknown to The Borg. I suggest looking for something sustaining it – although that may be on the other side and thus undetectable from here.”
There was a moment of silence as they thought about their dilemma.
Harry Kim: “What if we used an anti-tachyon pulse to stain the anomaly?”
Seven of Nine: “That could work but it would also destabilise the anomaly, potentially closing the breach. If the breach was to close we will learn nothing from this and there would be no chance of us using it to reach the Alpha Quadrant. I suggest running more scans using the full spectrum of subspace and multi-spatial sensors. It may also be useful to have sensor readings from multiple directions.”
Kathryn Janeway: “Have shuttles equally spread at the edge of the anomaly to scan it using their full sensor suites. Have the data sent to the astrometrics lab for analysis.”