DISCLAIMER: You all know the drill - Paramount is God. All hail Paramount. They own everything in the Star Trek Universe - I'm just
using my overactive imagination to take their characters where they refuse to go. All in the name of fun, not profit (I wish).
RATING: PG-13 Nothing my momma couldn't read.
<< BACK TO PART XIII: THE MAQUIS
The first sign of trouble over the past few weeks came suddenly, unexpectedly, and without warning in the middle of the night the day after the gathering in the mess hall.
The Captain, who had been fast asleep, started awake with a strong sense of foreboding and looked around the room anxiously.
Nothing seemed out of place, and when she looked out the window she saw the stars streaking by in a comforting pattern. She lay her head back down with a sigh and curled closer to Chakotay behind her. They were both laying on their sides, with him behind her. His arms were wrapped tightly around her, and she could feel his breath on the back of her neck. The warmth of his arms was comforting, and she could feel the heat from his chest seeping into her back through the material of the dark blue nightgown she was wearing. She smiled contentedly and put her arms over top of his around her waist.
She was just drifting back to sleep when it happened. There was the sound of an explosion, and the entire ship shook violently. The Captain and Chakotay were thrown off the bed, still tangled together. Her head hit the nightstand with a great deal of force, and when she hit the floor with Chakotay's weight on top of her, she felt the bones in her wrist snap underneath her.
She lay still on the floor for a moment, trying to figure out what had happened. She somehow felt Chakotay crawling off of her, and she could hear his voice but not what he was saying. He rolled her over, and she heard herself groan but couldn't seem to move. Her eyes were closed, and when she tried to open them nothing happened at first. The fog in her brain slowly began to clear, and she became aware of a throbbing pain above her eyebrow, and a sharper pain in her wrist. She felt his hand touch the pain above her eyebrow, and the sensation was enough to pull her out of her stunned state.
She opened her eyes, but she couldn't see anything out of her left eye � there was something warm on top of it. Through her other eye, she saw him kneeling above her in the dark. She used her uninjured arm to push herself into a sitting position, and gasped when the room seemed to spin around her. Chakotay was crouched beside her and grabbed her shoulders to steady her.
"What happened?" she said, gently touching the painful cut above her eyebrow, feeling the blood that was running down her face.
"I don't know," he replied, looking out the window. "Are you all right?"
She nodded. "I have one hell of a headache, but I'll be fine. You?"
"I think I dislocated my shoulder, but other than that I'm in one piece."
"Computer, lights," Kathryn ordered. Nothing happened. "Computer, respond."
"Main power must be down," Chakotay guessed, looking around the darkened quarters and then out the window above the bed.
She followed his gaze out the window. "We're not at warp," she said, surprised. She turned around where she was sitting and felt around the nightstand for her commbadge. It was no longer where she had left it, but she soon found it on the floor close by.
"Janeway to the bridge � what's going on?"
When there was no reply, she looked at Chakotay, puzzled and starting to become very concerned.
"Captain Janeway to anyone who can hear me � please respond."
There was still no answer, and Chakotay pushed himself off the floor and crawled across the bed to where his commbadge was sitting on the opposite nightstand.
"Chakotay to the bridge,"
Again there was only silence.
"The comm systems must be down," said Kathryn as she got up off the floor and steadied herself with one hand on the bed. "Let's go."
"Hold on," he said, sliding across the bed and grabbing her by the arm. "First of all, I doubt you can even see with all that blood on your face � we should get that healed up right away. And secondly, I don't think you want to show up on the bridge wearing that."
"Fine."
He followed her into the bathroom, where she let him hastily clean the blood on her face from the cut above her eyebrow. Moving quickly, she strode back into the bedroom and tossed him his uniform before she removed her nightgown and put her own on. She had some difficulty getting dressed with a broken wrist � which she was trying to conceal � and he had his own problems, trying to get his shirt on with a dislocated shoulder.
Despite their injuries, they were quickly dressed and headed for the door. When they reached it, though, they discovered that it wouldn't open. Chakotay grabbed the manual release, and they got the doors open, each using only one arm.
Stepping out, they discovered that the hallway was completely dark. Chakotay stepped back into her quarters and grabbed a phaser and a flashlight. When he reentered the hallway with the flashlight on his arm, they could see that it was filled with hazy smoke, although it didn't seem to be coming from a fire.
"Looks like we blew a couple of EPS relays," said Chakotay, noticing the fried panels along the corridor.
"Come on," she said, and they hurried down the hallway.
When they reached the turbolift, they discovered with little surprise that it wasn't working.
"We'll have to � " she began, but she was interrupted when Chakotay grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her away from a smoking panel on the wall that let out a shower of sparks in her direction.
He turned to tell her to be more careful, but stopped when he saw her face taut with pain, looking down at her wrist that he was holding in a tight grip. He let go of it, surprised, and she pulled it closer to her body.
"Did I hurt you?"
"No. It's nothing."
"It's not nothing, Kathryn � let me see." He reached for her arm again, and she flinched before reluctantly letting him gently examine her now swollen wrist.
"It's broken," he said surprised, and then his face clouded over. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"I can handle it," she grumbled. "Now, come on. We'll have to use the jeffries tubes to get to the bridge. Think you can climb up two decks with a dislocated shoulder?"
"If you think you can with a broken wrist."
She walked down the corridor and opened the door to the jeffries tube junction manually.
"After you," she said, with a wave of her hand.
He frowned at her in concern, but stepped through the doors nevertheless. He started climbing upwards, using his dislocated arm to hold on the rails at waist level while using his good arm to reach up. Kathryn below him was able to climb by wrapping her injured arm around the rails to keep herself from falling off while she grabbed the higher rungs with her good arm.
They made their way to deck two, and then reached the junction with the tube that led to the bridge.
"You okay?" he asked as he stepped off the last rung and started for the tube.
"Right behind you."
She followed him as they crawled through the tube, and when they reached the end, Chakotay removed the panel in front of him and crawled out of it onto the bridge. It was pitch black, and he could hear the crackling of broken consoles somewhere nearby. He could hear urgent voices around the bridge, and there was intermittent light from wrist flashlights that darted around.
"Commander," said Lieutenant Oren as she moved over to the entrance to the jeffries tube. "Are you all right?" She was followed by Harry and Tom close behind her.
He nodded and turned around and helped Kathryn climb out of the jeffries tube.
"Report," she said as she wiped more blood out of her eyes.
"We hit a subspace mine," said Harry.
"A mine?"
"We were cruising along at warp 8 when all of a sudden there was a massive explosion off to port," reported Talia, who had been in charge of gamma shift and the senior officer on the bridge at the time. "It took out the main computer core on deck eleven and fused the emergency relays so bad that we haven't been able to get auxiliary power or even emergency power up and running. We're dead in the water. About the only thing that's still working is the environmental systems."
"B'Elanna's already on her way to engineering to see what's going on," reported Tom.
"Why weren't we able to avoid it?" asked Chakotay with his hands on his hips.
"Theta radiation, sir," reported Ensign Jenkins, who had been at the helm. "This area of space is full of it. I think it's being produced by the mines themselves, as a sort of camouflage. Not only that, I think they're cloaked. Our sensors didn't pick up the mine and we had absolutely no warning."
"Harry, we need to get the comm system up and running," ordered the Captain. "Until we can get damage reports, we'll need to do it the old fashioned way. Tom, I want you to take Ensign Lang and Ensign Molina and start doing a deck-by-deck survey of the damage. Tell people what's going on and to report to their stations. Recruit people to help you as necessary."
"Yes, ma'am."
The Captain and Chakotay had little they could do until they got some of the systems back, so Chakotay grabbed a medkit and forced her to sit still while he used a dermal regenerator on the cut on her head, which was still bleeding profusely.
"We've got emergency power," announced Harry a few minutes later as a few lights flickered on, "And the comm system's back online."
"Janeway to Engineering. What's your status?"
Torres here, Captain. We're going to need at least another half-hour to get the main computer core back online, but the engines are in one piece if we need to get out of here.
"Good work, B'Elanna. Keep me informed."
"Uh�Captain?" said Harry. "I don't think we'll be going anywhere soon."
"What have you got?" she said, stepping around his console to stand beside him.
"Partial sensors, short-range only � this entire area of space is filled with more of the subspace mines. They extend as far as the sensors can reach."
"We'll worry about getting around it later. We'll hold position for now and get the primary systems back online first."
"Yes ma'am," he said, and got back to work.
After about half an hour, Lieutenant Paris had returned to the bridge after all decks had turned in damage reports when some of the systems had come back online. He brought a few medical supplies with him, and treated the minor injuries of the bridge crew, including the Captain's broken wrist and Chakotay's dislocated shoulder.
Tuvok, Mark and Seven had joined them on the bridge as well. Seven, who was for the first time wearing her new uniform on duty, was working on getting long-range sensors while Harry was trying to restore main power and the rest of the primary systems.
"I have long-range sensors," announced Seven finally, but then she frowned. "The subspace mines extend for a distance of over�one hundred twenty-five million kilometers."
The Captain's eyebrows raised and she moved over to stand next to Seven, examining her sensor readouts. "This entire region is littered with them."
She continued looking at the sensor readouts while she tried to think. "If we can detect the mines, can we avoid them?"
Harry shook his head. "The theta radiation is interfering with our sensors. We won't be able to detect the cloak on the mines until we're within seventy-five thousand kilometers."
"It'll be nearly impossible to avoid them at that range," said Tom. "Voyager may be responsive, but it's not that maneuverable."
"I guess we'll have to go around," she said grimly.
"We're already deep in the minefield," said Harry. "We'll have to back out slowly on thrusters before we do that."
"That would not be advisable, Captain," said Tuvok at his station. "I am detecting over twenty Brennin ships on an intercept course. By the time we make it back out of the minefield to go around it, they will be able to overtake us."
"We'll have to go through at sub-light speeds," she agreed.
"To outrun those Brennin ships, we'll have to be going at full impulse," said Harry. "But if we want to be able to avoid the mines, we can only go at one-quarter impulse. And that's pushing it."
She rubbed her temple in frustration. "Harry, get the weapons and shields back online. Looks like we're in for a fight."
She started to back away from Harry's station, but Tom stopped her when he spoke up.
"Not necessarily," he said, deep in thought.
She turned to him with a raised eyebrow. "What have you got in mind?"
"What about the Delta Flyer? Voyager can't avoid a mine at that range going at full impulse, but the Flyer could."
"If we established a direct sensor link with the Flyer," picked up Harry, "We would be able to detect the cloak on the mines in time to avoid them."
"We could modify the Delta Flyer's sensors to cut through some of the theta radiation," said Seven, "And we could boost power to the shields."
Tom and Harry looked at the Captain in anticipation. "Good thinking, Tom," she said, slapping her hand on the console.
He grinned and started to move away from the console, but she held up her hand to stop him.
"Not so fast, Lieutenant," she said with a frown. "You're not going on the Delta Flyer. We need our best pilot at the helm here to be able to avoid those mines."
He stopped in his tracks and nodded after a moment.
She suddenly knew the order she had to give, and her breath caught in her throat. She panicked for a moment before her Starfleet training kicked in and she regained her hold on her emotions.
Before she had a chance to open her mouth, Chakotay anticipated her.
"I'll do it."
She hesitated only momentarily before she nodded.
"I'm coming with you," said B'Elanna.
"I need you here, B'Elanna. If we run into problems I want you in Engineering. Same goes for you, Lieutenant," she said, addressing Harry since he looked like he was going to volunteer next.
"I will go," offered Seven.
"Me too," said Talia. "I worked with subspace mines during the Dominion War. I should be able to tweak the sensors a little to pick them up faster."
The Captain looked at the two women and then nodded. "Good luck," she said, and they moved to leave the bridge. Before Chakotay left her side, she grabbed his arm and he turned to face her.
"Be careful," she said quietly, allowing her emotions to surface momentarily in her eyes.
She knew that he had picked up on it when he nodded with a small smile.
"I will."
To take her mind off the danger that Chakotay was going into, Captain Janeway moved to her chair and examined the tactical readout on her console beside her chair.
"How long until we're intercepted by the Brennin?"
"At their present speed, forty-five minutes," Tuvok told her.
"And how long will it take us to cross the minefield at full impulse?"
"Approximately 27 minutes."
"That's not leaving us very much time," said Tom, turning around at the helm.
The Captain looked up from her console. "Then I guess you'd better be on your toes, Mr. Paris."
Five minutes later, Harry announced that the Delta Flyer had cleared the shuttle bay.
"Sensor link established," said Tom as he entered commands into his console. He swiveled in his chair to face the Captain. "We're ready to roll, Captain."
She nodded. "Janeway to the Delta Flyer."
Go ahead, came Chakotay's voice.
"We're ready when you are."
Acknowledged. Seven and Talia have got our sensors working at top capacity. We should be able to give you about a three-second warning.
"Understood," she said. Match their course and speed."
The Delta Flyer came around from the shuttle bay and moved ahead of Voyager, taking off at impulse. Tom kept Voyager close behind them in the shuttle's wake.
They detected the first mine after about two minutes, but Tom was able to avoid it in time. The first one was followed by others in quick succession, and Tom kept Voyager out of harm's way for the most part.
Eventually, he didn't get enough warning from the Flyer and he was too late to avoid a mine that went off near Voyager's hull, lighting up the shields and shaking the bridge.
"Sorry about that."
They were just a few minutes away from the edge of the minefield when they hit another one. This time, Tom had less than a second to change course before the mine went off near the lower hull.
"Shields down to 84 percent," announced Tuvok.
Delta Flyer to Voyager, came Chakotay's voice over the comm. The theta radiation's increasing � it's masking the cloaking signature and we're having trouble detecting the mines.
As if to illustrate his point, another mine went off near one of the nacelles, causing a trail of plasma to be released.
"They hit the starboard nacelle," said Harry. "We won't be able to go to warp."
"Janeway to Engineering."
I'm on it, Captain, said B'Elanna, anticipating the Captain's order. We're working as fast as we can.
"We're going to need to get out of here fast in about three minutes."
Understood.
"Captain," said Tuvok. "I am detecting more Brennin vessels directly in front of us. We will not be able to avoid them."
"Will we be able to clear the minefield before they intercept us?"
"No," he said. "However, it is highly improbable that they will enter the minefield�curious."
"What?"
"They are not on an intercept course."
She got up from her chair and moved over to his console, looking over his shoulder. She saw a diagram of the minefield on his console � it was in the shape of an arch. Voyager had entered the minefield on the large side of the arch, and if the arch was part of a circle they would be heading towards the center of it. The Brennin ships had entered at one end of the arch, and were making a beeline towards what would be the center of the imaginary circle.
"That is curious�Let's just hope they ignore us."
She frowned and pressed a few buttons on his console, realizing what was going on.
"I think we've just stumbled into the middle of a battle. Look at this � the signature on these mines isn't Brennin. I'll bet this minefield belongs to the Kesseret, and the Brennin are attacking them."
Her train of thought was rudely interrupted when a pair of mines detonated, throwing her sideways. She grabbed the edge of Tuvok's station to pull herself upright.
"Looks like we're almost clear," said Tom, but another mine went off near the upper decks of the saucer section, and two of the consoles at the back of the bridge blew out.
"Shields down to 67 percent," said Tuvok.
She watched the Delta Flyer on the viewscreen ahead of them, and moved back towards her chair. She froze in her tracks when she saw a mine go off near the front of the small vessel, but relaxed a little and took her seat when Chakotay's voice came over the comm seconds later.
Delta Flyer to Voyager � the theta radiation's too thick to detect the cloak on the mines anymore, but I think we're almost in the clear. Should be just a few more �
The signal was cut off abruptly as they saw another mine explode on the other side of the Flyer, throwing it off kilter and nearly into a spin. When there was silence over the comm, she anxiously tried to get a response from them.
"Voyager to the Delta Flyer � are you all right? Delta Flyer, respond."
When there was still silence, she froze momentarily before taking action.
"Three of the Brennin ships have altered course to intercept us," reported Tuvok.
"Get them out of there," she barked, jumping out of her chair and pivoting to face Harry. "Beam them directly to Sickbay."
Harry nodded and his fingers flew over his console.
She took a few steps over to Tom at the helm. "Get a tractor beam on the Flyer," she ordered at Harry over her shoulder. "Tom, we're going to have to pick it up on the run or leave it behind."
"You got it," he said, deftly running his fingers over his console.
"I've got them," said Harry. "I've got a tractor beam ready."
"Do it."
Tom took Voyager above the Flyer and stopped so that it was immediately below the tractor beam emmitter.
"Got it," announced Harry.
"The Brennin ships are closing, Captain," said Tuvok.
"B'Elanna," said the Captain, "How long until we've got warp again?"
Another five minutes at least, Captain.
She sighed. "Understood. Lieutenant Kim, divert all available power to the shields and bring Seven's modifications to the phasers online." She settled herself into her seat and gripped the armrests. "All hands to battle stations."
The Brennin ships swooped towards Voyager, firing torpedoes at them as they flew by. The bridge shook with the force of the impacts, and Kathryn was thrown sideways in her seat.
"Shields down to 58 percent," reported Tuvok.
"Return fire."
The phaser arrays powered up and fired at the attacking ships, causing one of them to break off the attack while the other two continued and came around for another pass.
"Five more ships are heading towards us, Captain," Tuvok told her.
"What about the modifications to the phasers?"
"They appear to be more effective � we disabled the weapons array of one of their ships."
"Fire at will � target their reactor cores. Maybe if they see what we've got they'll leave us alone."
The floor shook under them again as the two ships flew by again, but this time when Tuvok fired at them, one of the ships disintegrated in a massive fireball.
"A direct hit," announced the Vulcan.
The Brennin reinforcements arrived and began peppering Voyager with their powerful torpedoes.
"B'Elanna, we could use warp right about now," yelled the Captain over the explosions on the bridge.
We're having some problems, but I think we've almost got it.
"Keep at it � we can't take much more of this," said the Captain, ducking as sparks flew across the bridge.
Her attention was drawn to the turbolift doors and her shoulders slumped with relief when she saw Seven and Chakotay exit the turbolift. They stumbled as they stepped out of the turbolift when the bridge shook, but they recovered and Seven made her way to her usual station behind the command chairs while Chakotay walked over to his seat. Their faces were slightly blackened from what looked almost like soot and Seven was sporting a nasty cut on her cheek, but they looked to be fine otherwise.
The Captain raised her eyebrow at him as he sat down.
"We're fine," he assured her, knowing what she was wondering. "The comm system was knocked out. Lieutenant Oren was pretty badly hurt, but the Doctor thinks she'll be fine."
She was about to say something, but was preempted by an explosion behind Seven. Some panels were missing from the roof, and gas was coming out of a pipe hanging down from the ceiling.
"Shields at 47 percent," announced Tuvok.
"There is a vessel decloaking off the starboard bow," said Seven suddenly.
"What?" said the Captain, turning around in her seat. "Brennin?"
"No�but it bears the same energy signatures as the mines."
The decloaking ship was soon joined by two others that appeared, and they fired on the smaller Brennin ships. Two of the torpedoes caused their targets to explode, and three other vessels appeared to be severely damaged.
"The Brennin are retreating," announced Tuvok.
Captain Janeway sighed with relief and got up out of her chair, turning to face Lieutenant Kim.
"Hail them."
Before Harry complied the Captain was knocked off her feet when one of the vessels that had decloaked fired on Voyager. She got up off her knees and sat back in her chair.
"Great," muttered Tom at the helm. "We get rid of one annoying species�"
He was interrupted by Harry. "They're hailing us."
"Onscreen," she said, her voice hard.
An alien from an unfamiliar species appeared on the viewscreen. His skin was almost scaly in texture, and he had a large nose with ridges that extended both downwards to his chin and upwards over the bridge of his nose and covered his forehead.
"State your identity," said the alien in a suspicious tone of voice.
"Captain Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager. Why have you fired on us?"
"That was a warning shot," he growled. "Stay away from our corridor."
She looked at Chakotay questioningly, then back at the viewscreen. "I don't know what you're talking about � we have no quarrel with you. We're just passing through this area of space, trying to get home."
This surprised the alien. "You're not enemies of the Brennin? I assumed you were competing with them to gain possession of our corridor."
"Well, they seem to think we're their enemies. They're under the impression we're collaborating with a race known as the Kesseret."
The alien's hostile demeanor vanished. "They're quite paranoid," he conceded. "I am General Tamal of the Kesseret, and I don't believe I've ever heard of your�Federation, so I don't believe we're collaborating with you."
"Perhaps we could change that."
She saw the hostility flash across the Tamal's scaly face again, but it quickly faded. "Well�if you're not interested in taking possession of our corridor, then we have no cause to be at odds with you."
"Well, if you have no further dispute with us, we'll be on our way."
Tamal smirked. "You may find that difficult. Our corridor is surrounded on all sides by our minefield. The only exit is the small passageway where the Brennin have deactivated a few of our mines. Unless you want to cross another expanse of mines or face the Brennin fleet, I suggest you allow us to escort you. If you follow us, we can lead you around the mines."
"That would be most helpful."
"Your vessel appears to be damaged," noted the General. "Unless you're in a great hurry to be gone, perhaps you would allow us to escort you back to Kesseret Prime so you could make repairs. It's less than three days from here."
Captain Janeway looked at Chakotay while she considered it.
"We do need to re-supply," he said quietly.
"Would there be any possibility of obtaining supplies on your homeworld?"
"Some of our resources are limited due to the war with the Brennin," admitted Tamal. "But I'm sure something could be arranged if you have materials that we need."
"Then we'd be delighted."
"If you wish to avoid further contact with the Brennin," continued the alien, "I'm sure my government would be willing to allow you to proceed through our space."
"That would be very much appreciated."
"If you'll just follow my vessel, we'll be on our way," said Tamal, and she nodded in response before the viewscreen went black. Two of the Kesseret ships recloaked, and the third ship turned around and headed away from the site of battle, with Voyager following close behind.
* * *
Captain's Log, Stardate 55064.5 We've set a course for the Kesseret homeworld in the hopes that we will be able to re-supply the ship, and General Tamal has given me reason to hope for the possibility of shore leave for the crew. After the tension of traveling through this area of space over the past month, the crew could certainly use a chance to take a break and get some fresh air. I'm curious to know why this area of space is so important to the Kesseret, but our guest has been somewhat evasive on the subject to say the least.
"Your shields are very impressive, Captain," said Tamal as he walked down one of Voyager's hallways with Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay. "I've never seen this�what did you call it?"
"Multiphasic shielding."
"It's quite innovative." .
"Thank you. I'm curious, General � why are you at war with the Brennin?"
He frowned. "For generations they have been starting wars with us. They are a paranoid little species � they always think that we have a new technology or a powerful ally who is going to help us destroy them." He snorted derisively. "As if we would need assistance to destroy them. What you call a war, Captain, consists entirely of us defending ourselves. The Brennin attack, we fight them, they retreat, and then they attack again. It's been going on like that for generations."
"Perhaps if you explained that you have no hostile intentions," began the Captain, but he interrupted her.
"They're too caught up in their paranoid fantasies to respond to diplomacy. Their latest theory is that we are creating a weapon of mass destruction to wipe out their homeworld."
"That's why they were attacking this part of space?" asked Chakotay.
"They believe it is concealed in our corridor," said Tamal.
"Why is this corridor of space so important to you?" the Captain asked, hoping once again to get some answers.
The General shifted uncomfortably as they reached the transporter room and entered. "I'm afraid I can't discuss that with outsiders. Perhaps one of our Ambassadors will be able to give you more information."
She nodded reluctantly as their guest stepped on the transporter pad.
"I will transfer the information you requested from our cultural database," he told her, "Although from what I've seen, our societies are remarkably similar. You should have no problems on Kesseret Prime."
"Thank you, General."
He put his fist to his chest in a salute, and she nodded warmly at him.
"Energize."
The soldier disappeared in a blue shimmer, and the Captain and Chakotay turned for the door.
"I wonder what's so important that they put a massive minefield around it?" she said as they started down the hallway.
The Kesseret had shown them a diagram of the minefield, and she had been surprised to discover that Voyager had only detected about half of it. The minefield was not an arch as she had surmised, but rather in a donut shape. Voyager had only crossed one edge of the minefield, and they would have had to cross the same expanse to get out again. The Brennin had managed to deactivate a small section of the circular minefield, and that was how they had made it to the center. General Tamal had told them that a large contingent of cloaked vessels was stationed near this small passageway, and the three vessels that had decloaked to fight the Brennin attacking Voyager had been part of that contingent.
"Maybe it's just a defense perimeter," suggested Chakotay as he walked beside her.
"They why does it look as if it's surrounding something?" she asked. It frustrated her to have anything kept from her knowledge, but she shrugged it off. "How's Lieutenant Oren doing?"
"The Doctor wants her to take a couple of days off, but I hear she's on the bridge anyways. No wonder you two get along so well."
She chuckled. "Well, I'm glad you all came out in one piece. That mine detonated pretty close to the Flyer's hull."
"We built it to take a beating," he said cheerfully.
After a few moments of silence, he stopped walking and took her by the arm.
"This proves that you were wrong, you know," he said with a small smile.
She looked at him in confusion for a moment. "About what?"
"Well, you managed to send me on a dangerous away mission and still run the ship. I told you it was possible."
She allowed herself a small smile. "Well, I was worried about you, but�you're right. I was able to put it aside and focus on keeping the ship safe."
He watched her expression carefully as the significance of this dawned on her. She remained silent as they were passed by a crewman, who nodded at them and continued moving down the hallway.
"I didn't want to be right, you know," she said quietly, referring to their argument in the turbolift weeks ago. "I just couldn't take the chance that I was, that you were wrong."
"I know, Kathryn, but it wasn't about right and wrong." He looked down and put his hands on his hips. "There's a quote from an old book I remember reading while I was at the Academy: 'The man who goes alone can start today, but he who travels with another must wait until that other is ready, and it may be a long time before they get off.'"
"Walden," she said softly.
He nodded. "It wasn't about me being right or you being wrong. It was about both of us getting to the same place." He gave her an affectionate smile, making his dimples apparent. "So what if it took us seven years?"
"What did I ever do to deserve you?" she asked in a whisper, reaching out to touch his arm. She suddenly felt as though a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders, and the relief was apparent on her face. She was about to say more, but remembered that they weren't exactly alone as she saw another crewman come out of a doorway down the hallway.
She took him by the arm and they started walking down the hallway again. "When are you going to�"
"Announce the new crew quarters assignments? That depends on you."
"Oh?"
"Do you think you're ready for the crew to know?" he asked.
She considered for a moment. "Well, no�but I can't put it off indefinitely."
"What about just until we reach Kesseret Prime? I think it'll be easier to move quarters around if some of the crew is down on the planet � there'll be fewer people around."
"Excellent idea, Commander," she said, chuckling at his flimsy excuse. They entered a turbolift, and as soon as the doors closed Kathryn took his hand and gave it a squeeze, the most affection she allowed herself to show outside of their quarters. She quickly released his hand when the turbolift stopped after one deck and admitted Tom and B'Elanna. Kathryn and Chakotay quickly tried to compose themselves.
"Has our new friend left yet?" asked Tom.
Chakotay nodded. "We beamed him back to his ship."
"Are we still on for dinner tonight, Captain?" asked B'Elanna.
"Dinner? Oh, I had completely forgotten," said the Captain. Although she enjoyed their company, the last thing she wanted to do was spend an entire evening on her toes worried that Tom or B'Elanna was picking something up. She realized, though, that if she and Chakotay were going to move in together within a week, it didn't matter if Tom and B'Elanna were suspicious or not.
"That's all right, Captain," said B'Elanna. "We can do it some other time."
"Not at all. It just slipped my mind. Have you spoken to Mark and Seven?"
B'Elanna nodded.
"Then I guess we'll see you at 1800. Holodeck 2?"
"Sounds good, Captain," said Tom. The turbolift stopped on deck 2 and Tom and B'Elanna got off while the Captain and Chakotay continued on to the bridge.
"So," said B'Elanna as they entered the mess hall. "What are we going to do for an entire day on the holodeck?"
He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "I think you should be asking Harry that," he said. "I'm beginning to wonder if we're seeing things."
"They jumped so high when we entered the turbolift I thought they would hit the ceiling," said B'Elanna. "You didn't notice?"
"No," he admitted.
She saw Harry sitting over at one of the tables working with Seven of Nine, and she started towards them. "Don't worry," she muttered as they made their way over. "I've got it covered. Harry, Seven, mind if we join you?"
"Not at all," said Harry, and he moved some of the PADDs off the table.
"So, Harry, I hope you're looking forward to babysitting," said B'Elanna.
He rolled his eyes. "All right � what convoluted 'proof' have you come up with this time?"
"It's not convoluted," she said defensively. "You were on the bridge when she and Chakotay got there, right?"
"Yeah."
"They came out of the same jeffries tube, right?"
"Well, yeah, but they could have met up on their way to the bridge. That doesn't prove anything."
B'Elanna sighed. "You don't get it." She shifted in her chair and leaned across the table. "When Tom and I heard the explosion, he left for the bridge, and I took Miral to Ensign Wildman's quarters before I went to engineering. The thing was, Tom couldn't get to the bridge right away because there was a series of blown bulkheads that blocked the corridor."
"I had to go around and use the other access to the bridge," remembered Tom.
"What's your point?" demanded Harry.
Seven picked it up before B'Elanna explained. "Commander Chakotay's quarters are located down the hall from those of Lieutenants Paris and Torres. If Lieutenant Paris was unable to reach the access that the Commander and the Captain used, then Commander Chakotay was not in his quarters when the explosion occurred."
"Exactly," said B'Elanna. "There's no way he could have used the jeffries tubes near Ops unless he was somewhere else�say, deck three, section four?"
Seven could tell by the expression on Tom's face that he was struck by the information, but Harry seemed unmoved.
"Give me a break. They could have just been working in her quarters."
"At 0400? I don't think so," said Tom.
Harry shook his head. "You two are delirious. Come on, Seven. We should try out these sensor calibrations in Astrometrics."
Tom watched them leave before he turned excitedly to his wife. "I can't believe I never realized that he couldn't get to the bridge the way he did. He had to have been spending the night in her quarters."
B'Elanna grinned. "So�how does and entire day in Tahiti sound?"
>> ON TO THE SEQUEL: PARADISE LOST
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