A Family Defined in History

Last Run-in

"You wanted to see us, Captain?" Chakotay asked as he stepped out of the turbolift in a gymnastics uniform.

"Yes, Commander. We've picked up an intriguing transmission." Janeway said.

"I have a source on the signal." Tuvok told. "It appears to be a beacon of some kind."

At that moment, Kirk jumped in. "It's using a Federation signal."

"How could someone be transmitting a Federation signal from the Delta quadrant?" Torres asked from her station on the bridge.

Paris was already smiling. "Maybe Starfleet found a way to get a probe here. Maybe they're looking for us."

"I'd like to believe that too, but let's not jump to conclusions." the Captain pointed out.

"See if you can authenticate the signal."

The Vulcan pressed some buttons on his station. "The carrier wave frequency does correspond to standard Starfleet security codes."

"As of when?" Kathryn asked.

"According to the encryption key, this particular code was not scheduled for implementation until stardate 48423."

"That's a month after we left Deep Space Nine. They must be looking for us!" Kim said, true enthousiasm in his voice.

Your optimism may be premature, Mister Kim. But also infectious. Mister Paris, lay in a course for the beacon."

"Yes, ma'am."

T'Luna saw a worried gaze in the dark skinned security officer's eyes and thus ran other scans over the signal. Instead of reporting her findings to the entire bridge crew, she messaged them to her sister and niece's personal mailbox in a secret code, priority Alpha One. They would know what to do.

*//*

Following the signal, Voyager arrived at a purple nebula.

"We're approaching the beacon's coordinates, Captain."

"It's drifted inside an ionised hydrogen cloud. The cloud's interfering with our sensor readings." Kim reported.

Janeway turned around. "Can you get any information from the beacon?"

Harry made a painful face. "I'm afraid not. Should I beam it aboard?"

"I'd advise against bringing it on board before we've gotten a look at it, even if it is emitting a Federation signal." Chakotay said.

The Captain nodded. "Agreed. And I don't want to fly blindly into a hydrogen cloud, either. Mister Tuvok, tractor the probe into sensor range."

"Aye, Captain. Targeting scanners locked. Initiating tractor beam."

And suddenly, there was a loud BOOM!

"Report."

"We are taking fire from inside the cloud."

T'Luna scanned for signatures. "It's got both Kazon and Cardassian signatures. My guess is they've received help from Seska."

"How do you know?" the Ops officer asked. "My scans show nothing."

"Specific scans and logic." the science officer replied. "We're still in Kazon-Nistrim territory."

"A Kazon raider is closing at one five eight mark nine." the security chief

"Warp three, Mister Paris. Get us out of here."