Disclaimer: Paramount owns Star Trek and all its characters. I'm just playing with them.
Copyright rebel_jediknight, July 2000.
Pleeeaaase email me at [email protected] and tell me how I'm doing!!!!!
Thanks to the JetCJr9 pondies (especially Coral, Loz, Jamie, Quin, and Bec) for all their support and inspiration, listening to me ramble on endlessly about this, and for all the "awwwwws" (those of you who were in the chat room that night, you know what I'm talking about!!)
Sorry, I'm falling asleep after writing this thing... :)
Big hugs and huge cups of coffee go to Coral and Bec for beta-reading for me. Thanks guys!!!!!
N.B.- A ~ before a name signifies a Voyager (A/U) crewmember, a normal name signifies a Maquis crewmember.
Part 1
"Who the hell are you and what are you doing on my ship?" Chakotay demanded of the woman B'Elanna was struggling to restrain.
"If you ordered your crewmember to let me go I might be more inclined to cooperate," the woman said, glaring at him with a fierce expression.
Chakotay motioned at B'Elanna, who released the woman and moved to stand beside him. "Now," he said, a little more calmly, "what's your name?"
"Kathryn Janeway, Captain of the Federation Starship Voyager."
Chakotay felt his heart skip a beat. This could mean disaster for the Maquis. "Are there any more of you?"
"Not unless you know something I don't," she retorted sharply. "Who are you?"
"Captain Chakotay of the Liberty." He saw a brief flash of surprise on her face and suddenly understood. "You were sent to capture us, weren't you?"
"Yes." Her voice was a whisper.
"How did you get here?"
"I don't know. One moment Voyager was in the Badlands trying to escape an energy surge, the next I was here. Where is here, anyway?"
"The Delta Quadrant. We were pulled here a few days ago by an entity called the Caretaker. However, we had to destroy his array to save a race known as the Ocampa, so we have no way of returning to the Alpha Quadrant quickly." He gazed at her closely and made his decision. "Look, you can either spend the next 75 years locked in our brig, or we can work together."
"What do you mean?"
"We need a science officer- our former chief was a Cardassian masquerading as a Bajoran, and she was subsequently killed when trying to escape after being exposed."
"Chakotay," B'Elanna began in annoyance, but he silenced her with an upraised hand, never taking his eyes off the woman in front of him. "I'd like to think I can trust you," he said quietly.
She held his gaze for what seemed like an eternity before she finally nodded reluctantly. "Deal."
"Good. B'Elanna, assign her some quarters and find her something better to wear than... than that uniform. I'll inform the crew."
"Chakotay, are you sure this is a good idea? She is Starfleet, remember?"
"So? Starfleet is over seventy thousand light-years away. What's she going to do- turn us in to headquarters?"
"That's not what I mean, Chakotay..."
He snapped. "Are you going to follow my orders or not?"
B'Elanna sighed in resignation. "This way," she said, gesturing for Kathryn to follow her. As they were about to leave the room, Kathryn stopped and looked back.
"Thank you," she said simply.
Chakotay acknowledged her with a nod, watching as she began a new life, among new people.
Six years later...
"Come in," Kathryn said, looking up from her status reports as the chime rang. When the door slid open, she wasn't surprised in the least to find her captain standing outside. "Hello, Chakotay, what can I do for you?"
"B'Elanna confirmed the sensor readings," he informed her, a pleased expression on his face that was mirrored in her own. "We've jumped over twenty thousand light years from our previous position."
"So that puts us about what, thirty five thousand light years from home?"
"About that."
Kathryn nodded, running her hand through her short, cropped hair. "I thought so."
"Join me for dinner? I'd say this calls for a celebration."
"No thanks, I've got a lot of work to do," she said, but Chakotay saw right through her.
"We aren't working under Starfleet protocols, you know. You don't have to worry about that anymore."
"What about for when we get back?"
"You still want to rejoin Starfleet? I thought you would come with us, fight with us, after all we've been through together..."
"Chakotay, for the millionth time, I am not Maquis! I will serve here, but I am a Starfleet officer. I might rejoin Starfleet, but I can't join the Maquis!"
"And what if you were ordered to hunt us down and capture us? Would you do it?"
"I don't know..." She hesitated. They were her friends, yes, but her duty as a Starfleet officer had always been important to her.
Chakotay continued, angrier this time, "Kathryn, you've lived and worked with us for six years now. How can you say that?"
She was silent.
He spoke softly, sadly. "I thought you'd accepted us... I thought we were friends."
It was Kathryn's turn to get angry. "Let me tell you something, Chakotay. We can be lovers for all you wish and I will NEVER serve the Maquis."
Chakotay was just about to deliver a stinging retort of his own when a man in a Starfleet Captain's uniform appeared out of nowhere with a bright flash. They were taken aback, but still recognized him immediately from their earlier encounters.
"Q!!!!!"
"We meet again."
"What do you want?" Chakotay asked warily.
"We immortals in the Continuum are getting tired of your bickering over the Maquis and Starfleet all the time. I'm here to show you something."
"What?" This from Kathryn.
In answer, Q snapped his fingers, and they found themselves in a cloudy, rocky landscape, surrounded by cliffs and caves. "This is what would have happened if things had turned out slightly differently six years ago," he explained.
"Q take us back. Now," Kathryn ordered.
"I'm afraid I can't do that, my dear Kathy. Not until you're ready, which won't be until after you've seen this. Oh yes, and you won't be able to interact with any of the objects or people here. In short, you are invisible observers." And with that, he was gone, leaving Kathryn and Chakotay alone.
They looked around. From watching the leaves on the nearby plants, they could tell that a strong wind was blowing through the place, though they could not feel it. A dark, foreboding cloud cover obscured most of the sky, and rain was falling softly.
Kathryn heard somebody shout, "Ensign, gather all the away teams and bring them here." She whirled, knowing she'd heard that voice before.
Sure enough, it was ~Tuvok. Dressed in full uniform, he was standing a few feet away from them, facing one of the nearby cliffs. Kathryn walked up to him, wishing she could touch him, talk to him.
"Who is that?" Chakotay asked as he came to stand beside her. Inwardly he wondered whether this was the same Vulcan who had originally been assigned to be his navigator before being abruptly recalled, without even boarding the ship.
"It's Tuvok. He was my chief of security on Voyager... and a good friend." She watched as various crewmembers- all in Starfleet uniforms- began to straggle in.
The ensign he had been speaking to earlier walked up. "All personnel accounted for, sir. Team B is all here, except for the Commander- he was out farther than the rest."
"Good work, Ensign." He punched something into his tricorder and shouted again, this time towards one of the nearby caves. "Captain, we're ready to start beaming up the away teams."
"Acknowledged," somebody yelled back, and Kathryn felt Chakotay stiffen beside her- it was her voice. A moment later, ~Kathryn came into view, walking out of the caves towards Tuvok.
"Where's the commander?" she asked as she reached.
"On his way back. He should be back any minute- ah, here he is now." He pointed towards the corner of one of the cliffs, where a man was just coming into view.
Chakotay felt his mind go blank with amazement. He was looking at himself, dressed in full uniform like the others, the only difference being a silver bar on his collar instead of rank pips. And he was serving, in Starfleet, under Kathryn... He couldn't believe it.
By the time he was over his shock, ~Chakotay had stepped up beside them.
"Find anything?" ~Kathryn asked.
"Not really, there's nothing much beyond those cliffs except rock." He smiled. "Why was I recalled- am I defective?" He spoke informally, in the manner of a good friend.
~Kathryn burst out laughing and whacked his arm playfully. "Actually, Harry called down, he says there's a storm approaching. It'll hit in about seven minutes. We decided we'd better evacuate."
"Good idea."
The last of the thirty-odd crewmembers arrived, and ~Kathryn tapped her commbadge. "Janeway to Kim- start transporting us up."
"Yes, ma'am. I'm going to have to go in small groups, though- there's too much atmospheric interference for anything more."
"As fast as you can, Ensign. Janeway out." Crewmembers started to disappear in groups of two and three.
"Where did you leave the stores we collected before?" ~Chakotay asked, remembering something.
~Kathryn looked startled. "Oh, I forgot about those. They're in the cave- I'll go get them." She ran off.
"Got it!" ~Kathryn disappeared into the cave.
"Kim to Chakotay. I've lost the captain's comm signal!"
"Understood. Chakotay out." Suddenly there was a menacing rumble from the direction of the cave, and he whipped around just in time to see a large section of the cliff face collapse and slide down, completely covering most of the entrance to the cave and the figure who had just emerged.
~Chakotay screamed her name and began to race towards the cave. Chakotay and Kathryn followed wordlessly, stunned by the dramatic turn of events.
When they reached him, he was scrabbling at the rocks, frantically trying to dig ~Kathryn out before it was too late. Breathing heavily, he grabbed and threw, grabbed and threw, not stopping even when his hands were bleeding profusely.
Finally he got down to the bottom layer, but found her left leg crushed under a rock which even he, strain as he might, could barely move. With effort, he managed to roll it off, then knelt, sliding one hand under her shoulders. "Can you stand?" he asked as she moaned softly.
"My leg... I think it's broken."
"Here, I'll carry you." He began to rise, then stopped and knelt again as she groaned in agony.
"It hurts... too much... oh..."
~Chakotay heard Tuvok shouting that the storm would hit in one minute. He looked into ~Kathryn's eyes and knew that she'd heard too.
"Chakotay... go... save yourself," she said weakly.
"I'm not leaving you here!!!"
"That's an order, Commander."
"Kathryn-"
"GO!" He could hear the pain in her voice as she told him to leave.
He jumped up, wiped his hands on his pant legs, and ran out of the cave. "Tuvok," he yelled, "get back to the ship!!!"
"Commander, I cannot allow you to remain here-"
Chakotay cut him off. "I'm staying here, Tuvok."
"It is illogical to leave the two seniormost officers in the middle of a potentially lethal storm. Should you not survive, the crew will suffer a great loss."
"Tuvok, I'm staying here. I'll contact you after...if I can."
Tuvok wanted to protest further, but something in ~Chakotay's demeanour caused him to instead say, "We will also run continuous scans of the surface as soon as the storm abates. In case this is the last time we meet, live long... and prosper." He raised his hand in the traditional Vulcan salutation, then called for beamup.
~Kathryn looked up as ~Chakotay barreled back in. "I thought I ordered you to get out of here," she said in anger.
"No Kathryn, I'm not leaving you." He traced the outline of her face with his hand and she leaned into it, a single tear running down her cheek.
"Chakotay... I'm sorry..." Her voice was quivering.
"Shhh, it's alright. I'm right here." He lay down next to her and wrapped his arms around her trembling body, knowing that they may not survive, that these might be the last moments they had together. The wind was raging through even the shielded parts of the cave now, and it wouldn't be long before the storm hit.
~Kathryn pressed herself up against him, burying her head in his shoulder and slipping her own arms around him as she did so. "Chakotay?"
"Yes?"
"Why?"
"I promised you once I would always be with you, and I'm not about to break that promise now. I love you Kathryn, more than anything."
Chakotay froze. His counterpart had promised what?
"I love you so much," ~Kathryn murmured, her tears soaking ~Chakotay's uniform, and Kathryn found herself perilously close to crying as well.
As the storm struck, wrapped in each other's arms, both whispered again, "I love you."
