The U.S.S. Voyager, the first ship of the brand new Intrepid class, the most advanced science vessel in the fleet, was commissioned in 2371. She is able to fly at a sustained speed of Warp 9.5.
But now, even this isn't enough!
Lost in the Delta Quadrant, 70.000 light years away from earth, the crew is on desperate search for a way home.
Ensign Harry Kim was sitting on the captain's chair in the middle of the command center of the Voyager. He was only sitting on this chair during his night shifts, but was enjoying every moment of it. Nothing really important happened when he was in command, but he had no problem with it. The most dangerous situation this night was an asteroid passing the ship at a distance of 1.000.000.000 kilometers and this was the way he wanted things to be.
An encounter with a tactical Borg Cube or a Hirogen fleet was nothing he was excited about. Suddenly the intercom broke the silence on the bridge.
"Icheb to bridge, I have found a strange gravimetric anomaly on the long range sensors. Could we change our course to gather more data?"
Harry considered it. Captain Janeway always says that their major mission is exploration. And a short science task would be a welcome change from the fighting.
"Kim here, of course we can. Submit the new course to the navigation console."
"Thank you"
The next two hours passed without any event and Harry's shift was coming to an end.
"Icheb to bridge, could we drop out of Warp to make a full scan of the anomaly?"
Janeways words came back to his mind.
"Sure"
He ended the communication and turned to the ensign at the navigation console.
"Helm, drop to impulse speed"
"Ensign, we are in visual range of the anomaly"
"Put it on screen"
The center of the large monitor turned from black to green and blue, showing a small planet, orbited by an even smaller moon.
"Bring us into a high orbit. Full sensor scan. You have the bridge"
Even when there were ten minutes left until the end of his shift, he left the command center and headed for his cabin. The double shift had paid its price and he was sure the captain would understand.
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It was exactly 0600 as Captain Janeway sat down in her chair. Usually she would get a pot of coffee first, but since they dropped below warp she wanted to know why.
"Report" she said, still sleepy due to the early hour.
"We are in standard orbit above a M-Class planet. There are unusual high amounts of Graviton particles between the planet and the star. We are running a full scan of the system." an ensign reported.
"Any signs of a civilisation?"
"No warp signatures in the orbit. Energy fluctuations on the surface are affecting the sensors, but we found several structures on the surface which could be settlements"
"On screen" the automatic response came out of her mouth before her brain processed the information. In her years as a Starfleet officer she learned to do some things while being technically asleep and this was one example.
The large screen showed a small village, twice as large as the Voyager itself, but Kathryn didn't care a lot. She could hear the black coffee calling her name, making her want to leave the bridge immediately.
"Consistence of the atmosphere?"
"68% nitrogen, 27% oxygen, 4% carbon dioxide, 1% others. Captain, there are also some unusual readings on the sensors."
"Could you be more specific, Ensign?"
"If the data is we gathered is correct, the star is orbiting the planet."
"Has Starfleet ever encountered a similar star system?"
"No"
"So we are the first humans who see this phenomenon. Continue the system scan. I hope we can sent them a interesting post card from this part of the milky way this month."
As she finished her questioning she went to her ready room to finally get a cup of steaming hot coffee. Even if not being as good as Neelix' self made coffee, the replicated brew was better than nothing. A nice cup of tea would maybe taste better, but wouldn't wake her up.
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It was already afternoon, and Twilight knew her time management failed. She hoped that she would have succeeded before lunch but some compilations with the mana crystals powering the device made her schedule useless. Now finally, after four months of hard work, dozens of experiments, hundreds of books she read and eighteen not successful attempts she knew she get everything alright.
Yesterdays experiment went well and she was ready to present Equestrias first wireless communication system.
Doubts were plaguing her.
Getting things working in my basement was one thing, but outside, in the wildness of Sweet Apple Acres...
What if I fail?
Celestia will send me back to magic kindergarten! I made a large show out of nothing, just like Trixie. Everypony will make fun of me. I will never be able to leave the library. That's not important, because I will be in magic kindergarten...
The solar goddess gave the lavender unicorn a reassuring smile, who looked around. All of her friends were behind her, besides Spike, who was at the other station. Somepony must sent a reply to prove that it works and since he was her number one assistant he was the first choice. They agreed on a short beep.
Fluttershy looked a bit misplaced next to all the technology and Rainbow Dash was bored. It was just some boring experiment for her. Rarity was wearing a perfect poker face, hiding any kind of Emotion, Pinkie was being Pinkie and bouncing around. Applejack herself was looking suspiciously at the strange machine in front of her barn.
The large crowd around them made her even more nervous. It seemed that everypony from Ponyville was up to figure out which purpose the two large needle shaped towers on the North and South field serve.
Twilight looked at the green button in front of her. It was now or never! She spent hours to figure out the right words to say, but her suspense made her forget everything.
Quick, figure something out, everypony is waiting!
She pressed the button and everypony stopped talking, waiting for something spectacular to happen
"Hi there...It's me, Twilight, can you understand me?"
Why did I said my name? Spike knows who I am!
Come on Spike, answer! It has to work!
I know I made a mistake somewhere
Wait, is this...?
She quickly turned up the volume of the speakers and felt all tension fall of from her, as she heard the repetitive beeping, transmitted wireless from the other side of Applejack's farm.
The silence was broken by an explosion behind her. Pinkie had fired her party cannon to celebrate Twilight's success. The spectators slowly realised what happened and joined the cheer.
They were all drowned out by the speakers, as they suddenly came back to live.
"My name is Captain Kathryn Janeway from the Federation starship Voyager. How may I help you?"
The intense signal caused an overload of the arcane circuit, sparks flew through the air.
Twilight just stood there, unable to move a muscle and staring at the device she has built.
Starship? This is not possible! The stars are too far away to travel between them and even when there really was a starship somewhere, who is she? Who is this Janeway?
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"Any response?"
"No Captain"
"Send it again"
Lieutenant Commander Tuvok followed the orders.
"No response"
"Try again, all frequencies"
"Captain, I highly doubt that a third try will be more successful. We most likely picked up a local transmission."
"Maybe, but it could also be a distress call. I will make sure and go down to the surface. Mr. Paris, I need a pilot for the Delta Flyer. Meet me in the shuttle bay in half an hour."
"Yes ma'am"
"Captain, I must object that you are probably about to break the prime directive. There are no signs that a warp-capable species is resident on this planet. We shouldn't interfere in their businesses."
"Your concern is noted, Mr. Tuvok But they made the first step by hailing us. It would be impolite to ignore their call. If we could help them we could make some friends in this sector. Because neither the Borg nor the Hirogen can be considered our best friends. Besides, the high concentration of Graviton Particles is not normal. So whoever is responsible for this must possess technology far more advanced than ours. This means we do not violate the prime directive."
"That is right, but..."
"No buts Tuvok, I've made my decision. Tom, bring Seven with you. I think she could be very useful."
"Sure"
Captain Janeway left the bridge and sat down in her ready room. If nothing goes wrong, she would have ten minutes to enjoy her replicated Columbian brew. Whoever was down at the surface, she was determined to find out if they need assistance and help them if this was the case.