Arrival: Part 1

The ship shuddered as the shields struggled to stay intact. The bridge began to fill with smoke, as a girl of 21 yelled an order.

"We need to record a mayday message, set it so it will play over and over again, transmitting to the area surround our ship's current location. Audio and visual."

She turned to the view screen. "This is Captain Eve Bryce, of the Federation Starship-" she coughed, choking on smoke. "Federation Starship Eclipse. We're lost, and in dire-" she coughed again. "Dire need of help. Repeating, this is Capt-" she was cut off as the deck shuddered again, and then plunged into darkness and complete silence.

Over the past few days, we have been periodically stopped by Brdjon traders for supplies. Commander Chakotay and Lt. Tom Paris are working with one such crew to trade certain charts and components for new charts of the space that lies ahead of us. We hope to continue on our way soon.

The view screen showed a bridge fill with smoke, and a crew working desperately to save their lives, and their ship. The audio sounded through the bridge of Voyager. "This is Captain Eve Bryce, of the Federation Starship-" she coughed, choking on smoke. "Federation Starship Eclipse. We're lost, and in dire-" she coughed again. "Dire need of help. Repeating, this is Capt-" the screen went black.

The message blipped, and began again. They allowed it to play once more before Captain Janeway signaled for it to be turned off.

"Seven of Nine." Janeway said, turning on her comm. "Report to Astrometrics. I’ll meet you there." She turned, and entered the turbo lift. "Commander, you have the bridge."

"I wonder who they are?" Ensign Kim wondered out loud, turning back to his station. "But she was pretty." He added, softly.

"Some poor lost ship like us." Tom muttered, adjusting the ship's course slightly.

"Well thank you Captain Obvious!" Paris replied, in his usual sarcastic manner, looking over his shoulder.

"Men!" Chakotay shouted, raising an eyebrow. "If you wish to continue this discussion, wait until the Captain returns.

"We received a distress call from the USS Eclipse," the Captain walked over to the terminal and brought up the message. "We need to figure out where it came from."

Seven moved to terminal. "That should be an easy task. All that is required is-" she stopped and frowned. "Capt-"

Seven pushed several buttons, then looked up at the screen. "I believe I have corrected the problem." She enlarged a portion of the screen. "The ship is located here." She pointed to a dot on the display.

"Scan for Ion trails." Janeway walked to a different terminal as Seven scanned the system. The screen turned a dark blue color and behind the red blip was a short trail of white dots.

Janeway tapped her comm. Badge. "Tom, change course for the third planet of the Stimata Six System." She gave him the coordinates.

"It is precisely 48.358 years from the date when that design was first put into use." Tuvok corrected.

"Yeah, let's see who's laughing when you're forty, and I'm not." Harry retorted.

"Let's all do our jobs, people." Janeway said, shaking her head as she entered the bridge.

She shook her head again. "Anyway, we're hoping there are survivors- who could possibly tell us the quick route home."

"They did say they were lost." Neelix interjected as he poured the bridge crew coffee.

"We're entering the system." Paris reported before anyone else could add input.

"Good," the captain began. "Tuvok, Paris, Harry, come with me." The four walked to the lift as Janeway spoke into her communicator. "Seven, Torres, meet me in Transporter Room 2."

The six beamed aboard the Eclipse, only to find the bridge in complete disarray. Immediately they began checking for survivors.

"Captain, they're just Academy students- cadets." Torres observed. "But how did they get all the was out here?"

"Five are still alive, three males and two females. Several areas of the ship are sealed off, they will have to be manual searched."

"B’Elanna, Harry, Seven, stay behind and search for the cause of whatever it was that happened." She added, before disappearing

"Understood. B’Elanna muttered, her flashlight swaying as she moved it from side to side. "I'm surprised there are survivors. She continued. It looks as if the deck exploded."

B’Elanna ignored her. "Right." She sighed. "I bet the Academy doesn't even know they're gone yet."

"Well, they have new uniforms, and just look how young they are… But how did a ship full of kids barely past being teenagers get out here?"

"Interesting," the holographic EMH muttered scanning a young girl. "Multiple broken ribs, concussion, and a sprained wrist. Also traces of radiation."

"Oh yes, of course, she’ll be just fine." The Doctor replied, picking up the tricorder again and moving it over the next academy student. "Here, use this on her, it should prevent a coma."

"Coma?" Paris muttered running the small device over the young girl. On the collar of the uniform were the bronze dots standing for bridge lieutenant .

"How is everyone?" the door opened and Captain Janeway stepped through followed by Ensign Kim.

"Concussions, broken bones, sprains… but other than that all five are perfectly fine."

The Doctor looked towards Janeway. "She seems to be in the worst condition at this point. But she has strong vitals, and most of her injuries are breaks and fractures."

The captain of the Eclipse suddenly moved. Her eyelids fluttered and she moaned. "Where? This isn’t… isn’t… the Eclipse… sick bay." She said, slowly.

The Doctor came running over to see that she wouldn’t sit up or do anything to further injure herself.

Janeway smiled at her. "I’m Captain Kathryn Janeway, and this is Voyager. Welcome aboard."

"Voyager?" The girl repeated. "Voyager’s in the Delta Quadrant. All of Starfleet knows that."

"Eve Bryce. Cadet Eve" She coughed. "Bryce, acting captain for this assignment." She broke into a fit of coughs, drowning out any additional words she may have spoken.

The girl smiled, and looking around attempted to sit up. "Where am I, really?" The Doctor placed a pillow behind her, allowing her to sit up, but just enough that she could talk with them comfortably.

"Welcome to the Delta Quadrant, you’re really on Voyager." Harry answered, returning her smile.

Bryce look to her left, then her right. "The girl is Kamii Davidson, our pilot, next to her, Zeke Truan, and on my other side is Talon Haradon, he’s head of security, and Arik Gibson, he’s Chief of Engineering." Her smile suddenly faded. "Where are the others? Where’s my crew?"

"No. They can’t be. They aren’t dead! I saw them all last night." She bit her lip as her eyes filled with tears. "But they are. My crew is dead. And it’s my fault. I killed my crew. I killed my friends. I was put in charge- Starfleet trusted me. And they died."

"Not my fault!?" She yelled at him, pulling her hand from his grasp. "I was put in charge! I was supposed to make sure that we made it through the month safely. And I screwed up. How can you sa-"

"Please, calm down, you’ll hurt yourself. I will sedate you if necessary." The Doctor interupted.

Janeway put hand on Eve’s shoulder. "You did all that you could do. You have to remember not to blame yourself. I know how it feels, but it’s not your fault."

"Only because I know it’s true. I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t believe it." Janeway remembered when they first arrived in the Delta Quadrant, and she felt the exact same way.

"It looks as if one of your friends is waking up." Kathryn smiled, hoping to cheer the girl up.

"The ship was hit Port side, which caused the shields to drop." Tuvok explained.

B’Elanna nodded. "We should report back." She smiled. "I’m interested in how our friends our doing."

The group appeared moments later in the sickbay. Tuvok quickly headed for the bridge.

He looked at her. "Well, the captain’s having major mood swings, smiling at us one moment, then bursting in to tears, then freaking out yelling at Harry." He paused. "The first officer just woke up, he’s having things explained to him, and is taking it a lot better than Eve- that’s the captain. And as for the others… well, it will be a few minutes."

"B’Elanna, Seven, I want you to report to astrometrics. Check over your data, See if you can come up with how they got here." Janeway ordered.

"Understood." Seven answered. B’Elanna hesitated before following Seven from the room.

"Ensign Kim, if you’re just going to stand around, make yourself useful." The Doctor slapped a tricorder in to Harry’s hand. Harry blinked in surprise, before turning to one of the cadets.

Eve looked to see who was injured. "Arik!" she cried, and attempted to get off the biobed.

The first officer reached over and held her hand. "Shh… It’s going to be alright. Arik will be fine. I promise."

Eve wasn’t so sure. "No! I hate this. It’s not fair, I should be the injured one, not him! It’s my fault!"