STAR TREK: A Long Road (Voyager Fix It Quest)

Janeway nodded. "Lets bring a probe in and see what we can learn. I'd rather not add any extra time to our journey if we can." She smiled, wryly. "And I'd hate to make Tuvok's headache worse than it usually is."

"Appreciated, captain," Tuvok said, his voice dry - but that ever so faint Vulcan appreciation for wit glinted in his eyes.

"Bringing her in," T'are said, sighing. "You know, it is nice to run into a big weird thing and get to probe it before something bizarre and inexplicable happens."

Phoebe Janeway gulped as she stood before the doorway. She could just...walk out. Except walking out seemed pretty much like the most impossibly scary thing that had ever been attempted in her entire life. She was used to writing letters to Kat, not being thrust, unexpectedly, directly into her life. She rubbed the back of her neck, then stepped away from the door. "I..." She paused, her teeth worrying at her lower lip. The possibility that Kat wasn't just gone, but was gone gone, was more terrifying than anything she had ever faced in her entire life - even scarier than meeting a Betazoid councilor who had been able to just...know about her, without any warning.

Phoebe shook her head. "Ugh." She rubbed her palms against her face, then forced herself to take action. She had to do something. So. "Computer? Locate..." The thought of asking and getting the answer in these quarters was too terrifying to contemplate. She forced the words out. "...locate...Katheryn Janeway."

There was a short pause, then: "Katheryn Janeway is located on the bridge."

Phoebe breathed out an explosive sigh of relief. "Okay, uh, computer, recognize me as Ph...Phoebe Janeway."

"Understood," the computer said. "Triggering Summer Protocol."

"...the what?" Phoebe asked.

Janeway stood behind T'are, frowning slightly as T'are laughed. "Wow. Wow! Wow."

"Lieutenant," Janeway said, then paused, realizing she was leaning in and actually coming dangerously close to grinding her nose against T'are's dark green hair. She forced her hand up and to T'are's neck, turning her masker up. "You're overemitting - maybe explain what's got you so excited?"

"I don't know either, Captain," Harry said, standing uncomfortably, while T'are, looking completely mortified, swung her chair around and then pushed it along the thin lines that let the chairs skid around from station to station on the bridge. She gestured with one green hand towards the screen, which was showing a slowly spinning arrangement of molecular structures.

"This is a first! Dark matter...that is in a kind of stable structure!" T'are said, eagerly. "It's not alive - but it is technology. It looks like a kind of complicated latticework, even considering the damage done by ripping samples out of it, and it is operating on various Vulcan and Romulan psi amplification technologies. I think the nebula is built to emit and create a psychic field, for unknown reasons. But it's a level of psychic technology that we've never seen before - most people with psychic powers get very small about it, focusing on singular ascension projections or personal technology. This is a psychic megastructure!"

Harry's eyes shone. "That's amazing."

"And dangerous," Tuvok said, frowning. "Psychic energy is notably unstable. And, ironically, extremely dangerous to espers."

"I think that's why it's made of dark matter," T'are said, nodding. "What if there's an undetectable psychic field that can be worked on by dark matter, just like how dark energy...or..." She rubbed her chin, looking thoughtful.

"How dangerous are we talking about here?" Janeway asked. "And is it a threat to the ship if we fly through it?"

"N...ot...to the ship, no," T'are said.

"I think the amount of damage we did with a probe is minimal, but plowing through that nebula with a Sovereign class deflector field bow-shockwave, followed by the Val Jean?" Harry asked. "That's going to definitely cause damage."

"And considering, even when it is functioning, it is dangerous to sensitives," Tuvok said. "Who knows what effect damage might cause to it."

Janeway nodded, slowly. "But if it's a structure, designed to do something...then-"

Her com badge chirruped. Janeway frowned, tapped it, and said: "Janeway here."

The computer spoke, their voice pitched low and the combadge using its directional speaker so the others only heard a muffled, barely perceptible mumbling. Janeway's eyebrows arched up, then she turned to Tuvok. "I am putting you in charge of finding us a way through this - or, failing that, a way to interact with it. Disabling may be a possibility, but don't do anything terminal until we know as much as we can."

"Understood, Captain," Tuvok said as Janeway turned and strode from the room.

"What was that about?" Harry asked.

"The Captain will inform us if it becomes relevent," Tuvok said, turning back to the two of them.

"What the hell is a Summer Protocol?"

The three turned to the front of the ship. C'nola was lounging in the tactical console, while Tom Paris was on the conn. Tom shrugged. "Don't look at me," he said. "She's the cat-girl."

"It's what the badge said," C'nola said.

"As I said," Tuvok said. "The Captain will inform us when it becomes relevant." Tuvok paused. "However...I will have to examine the security protocols on my console. I know all of the protocols. None of them are named Summer." He strode to his seat.

T'are grinned. "Mysterious," she whispered to Harry.

"I prefer it when the mystery is outside the ship," Harry whispered back.

Janeway opened the door to her cabin - and found herself face to face with...herself. Katheryn, despite everything, smiled and threw her arms around Phoebe, hugging her tightly as she stepped into the room. "Phoebe!" She said, squeezing her tightly, while Phoebe hugged her back - then shoved her away, scowling.

"Summer Protocol!?" she hissed. "You have a program set up to...to...to...to warn you if...if..." She flung her hands up.

"If my sister got split out of my head?" Kat asked, shaking her head slightly. "Computer, replicate green tea, warm, lots of sugar." She stepped over to the replicator, transferring the cup from the replicator to her sister's hands.

"Yes! It's an extremely unusual occurrence," Phoebe said, angrily.

"No, it's...it's really not," Kat said, chuckling wryly. "It's an occupational hazard."

"Thank you for reminding me why I only front in a proper and reasonable time and century," Phoebe said. Then, softening. "I...am enjoying being able to talk to you face to face." She smiled, shyly.

Kat shook her head. "We...do need to decide what it is we're going to do here..." She said, biting her lip. "We...we agreed to keep ourselves private."

"Of course!" Phoebe flared. "Imagine every councilor on every ship wanting to ask about how your plural system is doing. Or explaining it to every human being who hasn't taken their comparative psychological historical specialization, or..." She trailed off, shaking her head. "It's our lives, no one else should poke their noses into it."

Kat frowned. "There's one complication that we didn't used to have..."

Phoebe frowned. "And don't think I'm not still cross about that."

"I didn't choose to strand us here, it's not like I blew up the only way home intentionally or something," Kat said, rubbing her brow.

Phoebe looked aside. "T-True. That is a...mite unfair..."

"It's okay," Kat said, gently, stepping over and squeezing her sister on the shoulder. "Now..."

---
CURRENT TRUTHS: "Dark Matter Megastructure!"
MOMENTUM: 0

Kat wants to...
[ ] Get Phoebe to the science people so she can be poked and prodded
[ ] Keep Phoebe safe from the science people. She's a person, not some anomaly.

Phoebe wants to...
[ ] Explore the ship
[ ] Valiantly allow science people to poke at her to see what is going on.
[ ] Find a way to get things back to normal as fast as possible

Tuvok and Crew Will...
[ ] Study the Anomaly by launching more probes
[ ] Attempt psychic contact
[ ] Send in a shuttle for close in, non-invasive EVA examination of the nebula using their most delicate tools
[ ] Write In

Please use plan voets!