"The Helmsman's Logs - 2375" - Part 3
Here is Part 3 of "The Helmsman's Logs - 2375":
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This covers the episodes "In the Flesh" and "Once Upon a Time".
"THE HELMSMAN'S LOGS - 2375"
PART 3
STARDATE 52121.94
The most amazing thing happened this morning. Harry had detected a Federation signal. Here, in the Delta Quadrant. Okay, maybe I feel a little uneasy about this, but it has certainly piqued the Captain's interest.
Harry expressed hope that the signal might be an attempt by Starfleet to contact us again. Yeah . . . right. He also commented that I've been avoiding the Mess Hall whenever B'Elanna was there. Well, what can I say? I confess. I've been avoiding her. And she has been avoiding me. She's moving past her depression and without my help. And as far as I'm concerned, that's that. End personal log.
STARDATE 52125.93
Not much happened today. Harry and Tuvok continued to investigate that Starfleet signal detected yesterday. Vorik, Lang, Barstow and I engaged in making modifications to the Delta Flyer. After the microfissures from the trial run against the Malon, the Captain wanted to insure such a thing wouldn't happen again.
I received a surprising visitor this evening. B'Elanna. She came by to apologize for pushing me away during the past two months. I don't know why she had apologized. After all, she was suffering from a depression. But I almost considered pushing her away this time. But I couldn't. I was simply too glad to have her back. Just as I had suspected, she had been suffering from survivor's guilt over the Maquis' destruction back home. I just didn't suspect she would come to me, of all people. Not after Chakotay being the one who was finally able to break through to her.
B'Elanna talked about her days in the Maquis. She talked about how Chakotay had saved her from Naucian smugglers, who tried to cheat her from the pay she earned by keeping their ship in order. I already knew about her encounter with the Dreadnought missile, but she told me again . . . anyway. She also discussed the friends she had made in the Maquis - including Seska and someone named Roberto. Her voice grew soft when she mentioned him. I almost felt . . . jealous. And the next thing I knew, she started to cry. I believe she was finally allowing herself to grieve over her lost friends. So, I took her in my arms and comforted her. She's now asleep.
Since the beginning of her depression, B'Elanna has been taking medication for her condition. She hasn't deleted her Holodeck programs yet. But she did ask for me to be around for that momentous occasion. Which I plan to do. End personal log.
STARDATE 52133.56
None of us had ever imagined that Starfleet signal would lead to a recreation of Starfleet Academy in the middle of the Delta Quadrant and Species 8472. I certainly didn't. I bet being on that habitat must have seemed surreal to Chakotay, who had been sent there to investigate.
As it turned out, Species 8472 had created a "Starfleet" habitat and several others like it to prepare its troops for an invasion of the Alpha Quadrant. They saw Starfleet as a threat, because of our past alliance with the Borg last year, along with the nanoprobe weapon used against them. A year ago, I thought the alliance with the Borg was a bad idea. Now, it seems my fears were correct. Thank God Chakotay and that fake Commander Archer managed to convince Captain Janeway and the fake Boothby that no one had anything to fear and to begin peace talks. End personal log.
STARDATE 52136.67
Just returned from a visit to Species 8472's Starfleet habitat with B'Elanna and Harry. I believe Harry was the only one who enjoyed the visit. It wasn't the presence of Species 8472 as Alpha Quadrant species that bothered B'Elanna and me. Just old bad memories of the Academy. We were both more than happy to leave that place. End personal log.
STARDATE 52141.35
I'm back. I survived. We all survived. Tuvok, Sam Wildman and myself. We had embarked on an Away mission nearly four days ago to find bemonite and it turned out to be a mission from Hell. The Delta Flyer had encountered an ion storm and we ended up buried under a ton of rock on the first planet we came across. Thank goodness for the shuttle's strong construction or we would have never survived the crash.
I told B'Elanna what happened. She expressed relief that we had all survived, but she said something else that took me by surprise. That I had acted abominably to Tuvok, who had done nothing wrong to deserve any snide comments on my part. I can't believe this. So I complained that Tuvok had been getting on my nerves with his usual Vulcan doom-and-gloom remarks. B'Elanna pointed out - rather caustically, I thought - that Tuvok's gloomy comments seemed to have comforted Sam Wildman more than anything I had to say. Well thanks a lot, B'Elanna! (Sighs) Oh well, at least we managed to save the Flyer and collect more bemonite. Hopefully, this will help Engineering complete the quantum slipstream drive B'Elanna and her team has been constructing. End personal log.
END OF PART 3