Welcome to Voyager
Welcome to Voyager
The shuttle neared the launch bay. Picard’s heart leapt in his chest when the ship came into focus. The viewscreen was filled with a vast, swirling cloud of stars, pinpricks of light in the dark void. As they drew closer, a sleek silhouette emerged, glimmering even more brightly than the sparkles surrounding it. USS Voyager, retrofitted, ready for duty.
A faint whisper echoed in the back of Picard’s mind, a sudden longing for his own ship that he had to suppress. He’d given all that up long ago, and by choice. But the passage of time did nothing to quiet the sudden pang of nostalgia for the Enterprise. Still, he had a job to do.
Janeway was waiting in the shuttle bay with a tall, pale woman bearing three distinctive ridges on her forehead. "Welcome aboard Voyager," the young woman said, extending a hand. "I'm Captain Naomi Wildman."
Picard clasped her hand in a strong grip. "Ah yes, Wildman," he murmured admiringly. "Unparalleled engineering and astrometrics scores, and the youngest officer in history to make it through command training with distinction. Simply remarkable.” He smiled kindly at her. “The pleasure is all mine, I assure you.”
Naomi blushed all the way through her Ktarian ridges. “I had excellent teachers,” she said. “And growing up on a starship gives you a few advantages”
“Don’t downplay your own achievements,” Janeway said.
“Yes, Captain.” Naomi was chagrined. “I mean…Admiral.”
“I’ll take either.” Janeway unleashed her bright command grin on Picard. “Ready for a tour?”
The two women ushered Picard onto the ship, and he was awed by what he saw. The ship glowed, alive with energy. The crew moved urgently through their tasks, energy in motion. A throng of young ensigns busied themselves with mysterious devices in the Cargo bay. He took them all in, the security officers, the support staff, the physicists and the medics, and marveled at how young they all were.
“This one’s my favorite,” Captain Wildman said, pressing the door to a room marked “Astrometrics Lab”. “Everyone’s got one now, but we were the first.” When the door didn’t open, the Captain kept jabbing at the button.
Janeway watched with a dour expression on her face. “Shame,” she said, not entirely sincere, when the Computer informed them that the room was locked for essential security scans.
As they meandered further through the ship, Picard noticed a group of engineers tinkering away at a peculiar contraption in engineering - a modification to the warp core, the heart of the ship. It had taken 20 years for Starfleet to reverse engineer the magnificent upgrades Voyager acquired in the Delta Quadrant.
What a story, he thought. A standard expedition ship whipped to the Delta Quadrant, consigned to a long, slow journey back. But he realized, to his surprise, that he didn’t know much beyond that. Strange how Seven never talked about it. She must have acquired magnificent war stories out in deep space, tales of wonder and terror. He resolved to ask her about it when he saw her.