Star Trek Coda

Chapter 10: Strange New Worlds

USS VOYAGER, 2383, DELTA QUADRANT

Space opened into itself as a huge blue rift appeared. It was a stunning demonstration of the natural beauty of the stars. In seconds it was corrupted by the Federation fleet dropping out into normal space.

"Report," ordered Janeway. She stood in the centre of the bridge.

The helmsman pressed a few buttons on his console. He didn't reply straight away.

"Report," repeated the Admiral

"Something, something's wrong," they reported, "still working out our exact bearing. We are definitely not where we're supposed to be. There are no stars. There's nothing here."

Janeway paused a moment, looking out ahead. It bought back a lot of memories, good and bad. Still it felt somehow like home, as did being back on the bridge of Voyager.

The Admiral looked over at him, "wait, there's something out there. It's a planet on short range sensors. And I am picking up something on long-range now. We're at the other end of the Delta Quadrant, around 30,000 light years from where we're supposed to be."

For some reason it felt intentional. She had learned to trust her gut - maybe this was exactly where they were supposed to be. She knew things often happened for a reason, "understood," she replied, "set a course."

"Aye, Aye," Voyager flew to warp speed followed by her fleet.

As Voyager flew towards the new planet, she gave her orders, "tactical, I want a full investigation into how we arrived at these coordinates. Including full checks of all systems. We're looking for system errors, human errors and sabotage."

As the officer replied, "yes Admiral", everyone on the bridge looked at her with surprise, but she didn't say anything. There was no need to alarm the crew yet.

A few minutes later the fleet reached the planet, "report," ordered The Admiral.

"It looks like a heavily populated warp-capable society. There are consistent signals being transmitted across the planet and heavy orbital traffic."

Janeway was surprised. A large developed society out here in the void, it was strange – too strange.

Before she could reply, Kym called out, "we're being hailed."

"Put it on screen."

A face popped onto the screen. The bridge crew gasped. They weren't expecting a familiar face, especially someone who had disappeared from the public eye for so long. It was Ambassador Spock, "welcome to Utopia, Admiral. An escort is on its way to guide you to the homeworld. We've been waiting a long time." The transmission ended abruptly, giving them barely enough time to process the new information, let alone respond.

Nobody quite knew what to say, except for Janeway. Her gut told her to be cautious but give it a go so she did. Curiosity was tugging at her, "follow his instructions, and proceed with caution," she ordered, "and inform the other ships."

The crew braced themselves for adventure. They were cautious but excited. The escort ships flew up around the fleet. They glowed like pure white orbs. Resonating and entrancing, they were truly beautiful. As they surrounded the ship, an officer called out something odd on the sensors, "I'm detecting another ship approaching."

"One of the escorts?" asked Kym.

"No Sir. It's actually ... Starfleet. But... it's strange."

Janeway was surprised, "what do you mean strange?"

"I don't recognise the configuration."

"You're going to have to give us more details Lieutenant."

"I'm getting its registration now, it's, it's not possible. NX-01, it's the Enterprise."