Star Trek: Voyager - "Home"

Star Trek: Voyager - "Home"

by Scott Reeves

From behind Captain Janeway, Harry Kim called out, “Captain, long range sensors are picking up a vessel three parsecs off the port bow. Moving very slowly.”

“What sort of vessel?” Janeway asked.

“Resolution is poor at this distance, but I don’t recognize the configuration. And, well, the computer...”

“Yes, Mr. Kim?”

“The computer says it matches the configuration of a class of sub-light ships from 21st century Earth—a sleeper ship used during the first wave of extra-Solar colonization.

Janeway was astonished. “That’s extraordinary, Mr. Kim.” Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Could it be a trap? Are there any other ships in the area?”

Kim consulted his instruments again, double-checking himself. “Just us, Captain.”

“We should investigate, Captain,” Chakotay said. “If it is an Earth ship out here, however unlikely that seems...”

Janeway nodded. “Agreed. Helm, lay in a course.”

******

As Tom Paris was entering the Mess Hall, he ran into Tuvok, who was exiting. Tuvok held a small, greenish rock in his hand.

“What have you got there, Tuvok?”

“Ah, Mr. Paris. It’s fortunate our paths have crossed. I was just coming to find you. Please accompany me to Engineering.”

“Can it wait, Tuvok? I’m really hungry. Neelix has a big plate of spaghetti waiting for me.”

Tuvok continued as if he hadn’t heardParis’s objection. “I believe the Captain has given you Level A Security clearance, has she not, Mr. Paris?”

Paris nodded.

“Then, Mr. Paris: I just now confiscated this rock from Ensign Webber. He illegally obtained it several years ago while stationed on a planet called Gateway.”

“Never heard of it.”

“That is not surprising. The rock is a fragment of a larger artifact that has been kept from public knowledge because of its potential dangerousness, were it to be used improperly or by the wrong people.”

Paris listened attentively, intrigued.

“The artifact, which calls itself the Guardian of Forever, is a gateway to any time period in history, or any place in the known universe.” Tuvok studied the fragment in his hand.

“And that little rock is a piece of this Guardian? So what? It just looks like an ordinary little rock to me.”

Tuvok raised his eyebrow. “This ‘little rock’ may mean that you will be having that spaghetti dinner you wanted, Mr. Paris. Tonight. On Earth.”

******

Janeway stared intently at the forward viewscreen.

“Coming into range now, sir,” Harry said.

A battered, blocky, ancient-looking space vessel lumbered slowly onto the viewscreen. Janeway and Chakotay leaned forward in their seats to study it.

“Straight out of the history books,” Chakotay said. “What’s it doing way out here?”

“Sensors confirm that it is a DY-100-class sleeper ship,” Kim reported. “Hull-markings identify it as the S.S. Sheridan. There is nothing in the computer about this particular ship...”