=/\=

The Delta Flyer was ready for action. Sitting in the pilots seat was Blake, with Natalie, Noah, and Emily behind him. Anna was in the back section of the Flyer. Emily and Anna had converted the Flyer’s shielding to match the harmonics of a Borg shielding unit. They hoped the nanoprobes would do the job and hide the Flyer from the Mandorian sensor array. The Flyer’s mission was to locate the precise location of the crew and take down the shields, if necessary. When they did that, they would contact Voyager and it would make a sweeping entrance into the planet, transport the crew out and they would be on their way. The whole procedure would need to take no longer than four minutes. On Voyager, Naomi, Seth, Andy and the Doctor awaited Natalie’s orders to go.

The Flyer started it’s descent slowly, edging its way into the upper atmosphere. The trip was tedious. Noah kept meticulous track of the local Mandorian ships, who flew past the Delta Flyer eerily close.

"Em, are you sure they can’t see us?" Noah asked, worried.

"Yes, I’m sure they can’t see us," Emily said confidently. Noah turned back to his station and a small transport whizzed by. The plasma exhaust shook the Flyer a bit.

"Blake, could you please try to stay as far away from these ships as you can?" Natalie asked. Blake turned around and glared at Natalie.

"Blake, look out!" Emily screamed. He slammed on the thrusters and nearly scraped the hull of a passing shuttle. Natalie’s heart raced a million kilometers a second.

"Blake Evan Paris, if you ever do that again, I swear I will kick your egotistical butt all the way back to Earth," she gasped. Blake winced at the insult. "Just keep flying". Blake started up the impulse drive again and they continued down.

"Ok, so where exactly are they being held?" Blake asked. "If I’m going to be flying overhead, I should know where I’m aiming". Noah uploaded the coordinates to Blake’s console. Blake entered in the coordinates and the computer directed the ship into its new heading.

The Delta Flyer hovered over a huge tower. There were no windows, like many of the Mandorian buildings.

"They must really like their privacy," Natalie mused. Blake turned off impulse engines and the Flyer went into an orbit around the building. Anna entered the main area of the Flyer.

"Are we there?" she asked. Natalie nodded her head. "Great. Now what?". Natalie rolled her eyes.

"We’ve been over this, Anna," she replied. "We going to first see if we can transport the crew out. If we can, we’ll let Voyager know and they’ll fly down, transport them out and fly out. We’ll probably have to do some fighting afterwards, but we can handle that. If we can’t transport them out, we’ll have to find out what kind of shielding they’re using, and then get rid of it."

"You make it sound so simple…" Anna said in amazement.

"Yeah, Janeways have a knack for that sort of thing," she said. "Anyway, back to this mission. Noah, can we transport them out?".

"Natalie, think about your question for a minute," Noah said sarcastically. Natalie had to chuckle.

"Ok, fine, I get the idea," Natalie replied. "Where’s the shield matrix located?" Anna sat down at Natalie’s station and tapped a few buttons.

"It’s appears the building is a part of a large shielding network. I’m trying to locate the source. Found it. It’s about 50 kilometers from here. Not too far." Blake began entering the coordinates of the network headquarters.

"As soon as the shielding is offline, Voyager should be ready to transport them out. Janeway to Voyager."

On Voyager, Naomi sat in Captain Janeway’s chair. She tapped her commbadge when she heard Natalie’s voice, and Seth already began initiating the impulse drive.

"Wildman here," Naomi replied.

"The Flyer has located the source of the buildings’ shields. We need you to initiate the Borg shielding and go to the following coordinates. Once you’re there, we’ll terminate the shields. You’ll have about 3 minutes to put down your shields, transport the crew out. Once the shields are down, it will take about 10 minutes to re-initialize them, so you have to get the hell out of there. We’ll follow and hold back any ships. Got all that, Wildman?".

"Yes, ma’am," Naomi replied. "Voyager out." Voyager’s new Borg shielding had already been in place, so Seth carefully flew Voyager down. Voyager was invisible to any sensors, so although the population could see Voyager, ships would have a hard time firing on them.

It took 7 minutes to reach the building. Once there, Voyager contacted the Flyer and told them they were in position. The Flyer fired phasers on the shield matrix, which immediately cut off protection to all the buildings. At the same time, Voyager dropped their shields, completely vulnerable to any area ships. Voyager started transporting the crew out, 10 members at a time. The Delta Flyer still had its shields, but Voyager was already being bombarded by small freighters. Andy tried to hold them back but systems were crashing and there weren’t enough people to fix them. Andy was trying to transport the crew out while firing at the Mandorian ships. Naomi was trying to keep the life support and other essential systems functioning for their escape, and Seth was dodging photons torpedoes and phasers with the maneuverability of a giant Blue whale. Suffice it to say, things were not going well.

"I’ve got half the crew," Andy shouted of the explosion of a bulkhead. "The Doctor is reporting that the crew has suffered malnutrition and that many of them are unconscious."

"Keep them coming, Paris!" Naomi yelled back. "They’ve almost knocked out life support, we have to get out of here."

"We’re not done!" Seth yelled. Outside, the Delta Flyer was whizzing and circling around the ships, firing on them. Noah was able to destroy some of the ships weapons. The Borg modified shields and weapons worked like a charm, but Mandorian ships kept coming and the firing seemed to be fruitless. Suddenly, there was a huge explosion in the back compartment. A Mandorian warship had fired directly on the Borg shield matrix and the shields were out cold.

"How did they know?" Anna screamed.

"They’re firing blind!" Blake shouted back as he swerved the ship to the right, avoiding a collision with a photon torpedo.

"They’ve got thirty more people to transport out," Natalie said. "Then it’ll be over."

Voyager’s bridge was littered with bulkheads and wires and smoke seeped from consoles. Life support to Decks 1 through 3 had been knocked out four minutes ago, and the three began suffering from lack of oxygen. As Andy started to fade away, he pushed the last transport button, then promptly collapsed behind Harry Kim’s console.

"They’re done!" Natalie exclaimed on the Delta Flyer. Blake made a beeline for Voyager, and Seth entered the coordinates for space and promptly initiated impulse engines. As the Delta Flyer and Voyager sped away, the Mandorian fleet caught up with them. The Doctor was able to shut down Voyager’s engines from Engineering and open the shuttle bay doors. Blake landed the Delta Flyer and the five raced towards the Bridge.

"Life support has been cut to decks one through three, go to Engineering," the Doctor reported via the commlink.

"Acknowledged," Natalie replied. The five reached Engineering just as the Mandorian fleet began firing on Voyager again. Emily and Anna flew around the Engineering trying to get the shields back online. Blake transported Naomi, Andy, and Seth to Sickbay and began work on fixing life support. Noah fired on the Mandorian ships, while Natalie communicated with the leader of the lead ship.

"Please, break off your attack," Natalie pleaded. "We don’t want to fight. Just let us go." The leader ignored her and the fleet continued its attack. "We’re losing this. Natalie to the Doctor".

"Sickbay here," the Doctor replied. "If this can wait, Miss Janeway, I would very much appreciate it."

"It can’t," Natalie snapped. "I need Mom."

"Unfortunately, I can’t help you," he said. "Your mother’s unconscious, along with half the crew. The other half is suffering from malnutrition and other maladies. You’re on your own." Natalie fought back her tears. She looked around at her friends. She hardly recognized them. Their clothes were dirty, their hair was dirty, they were tired and gauntly. They hadn’t eaten in almost two days. She was suffering from fatigue and she felt nauseous.

Natalie hailed the lead ship. "Can we negotiate?".

"Negotiate? Negotiate what?" the leader asked.

"Anything," she replied haggardly. "What are you after? You must have attacked us for a purpose. What is it? Maybe we can help you." The leader thought about this. He was unsure whether to trust her.

"Agreed," he replied. "The Mandorians are a people of technology. We hunt for new technology. When we find something we like, we take it. Normally we take the crew first, and then we come back to salvage the ship and any other personnel, such as children."

"So all you wanted was our technology?" Natalie asked.

"Yes," he replied. "Technology and information on your species to prepare us for our eventual encounter." Natalie was confused.

"You said you take technology to prepare you for an eventual encounter. But you see, you’ll never encounter us again," Natalie said.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Too tired to care, Natalie started giggling. "We’re from the Alpha Quadrant. We live thousands of light years away from here. We’d never come all the way here just to attack you."

"You wouldn’t?" the leader asked, hesitantly. Natalie nodded her head. "Let me contact my Prelate." He cut off transmission and the firing stopped.

"What happened?" Anna asked. "Did they leave?".

"No, I just got off the comm with one of the leaders," Natalie reported. "He’s going to contact the Prelate to see if they can let us go." The comm beeped. It was the Prelate himself.

"I just received word that your species lives thousands of light years away," the Prelate began. "Is this correct?". Natalie nodded again.

"Oh, I see," the Prelate replied. "Then I believe I can let you go. We were able to scan your ship and receive some information about your ship through your rather uncooperative shipmates. You may go." The transmission ended.

"The ships are leaving," Blake said. "We won!". Natalie sighed with relief as the "senior staff" jumped up and down, hugging each other and congratulating each other.

=/\=

Naomi, Andy and Seth were still in Sickbay when Captain Janeway, Chakotay, and Tuvok entered. Natalie and the rest were being treated for a few bumps and bruises. Otherwise, the "senior staff" was healthy.

Captain Janeway walked up to her daughter and stood there for a moment, not saying anything, her eyes to the floor.

She looked up and said, "You said our lives." She reached out and hugged her daughter tightly. Natalie’s eyes welled up and she cried silently. They let go and Natalie brushed the tears away.

"You all did a commendable job," Captain Janeway began. "Under this kind of pressure, you were able to pull together and come up with a very inventive rescue attempt." Emily and Anna grinned at each other. "We’re going to look into this Borg shielding further. But for right now, we have to get disband it. It’s too unstable to use frequently. Congratulations everyone. I have entered a commendation for each one of you into your personal file. Starfleet will be well aware of what you did during the past few days once we arrive." Tuvok stepped forward.

"I would also like to commend your exemplary performance during the past week," Tuvok complimented. "You showed strength and determination and a true test of courage."

"Thanks Tuvok," Natalie replied. "It means a lot coming from you." Tuvok simply nodded. She turned to her mom. "Can we go home now?".

=/\=

Transport to: Table of Contents | Chapter One