Finding The Lost

~~~~ a Y a ~~~~

DISCLAIMER: Paramount still owns the main characters, although by now I think they’ve forgotten about them. What a shame because there are so many possibilities. I write for pleasure and make no profit from my stories (darn). Thanks to my friend Iris for hosting my stories and keeping the website alive. Also special thanks to Kat Lady, my beta, for her encouragement and friendship.

~~~~ a Y a ~~~~

The dark haired man sat quietly on the park bench trying to appreciate the beauty of nature that surrounded him. It had been over seven years since Chakotay was able to appreciate the sounds and smells of Earth, so he was making the most of the chance while sitting in the gardens of Starfleet Headquarters. In a few hours he would be facing a board of inquiry into his actions as a Maquis, and also reviewing his service aboard Voyager. He was not looking forward to the event.

The sounds of birds and insects lulled him into introspection as he continued to sit there pondering his past and his future. Voyager returned to Earth five weeks ago, and ever since that time the crew had been kept busy one-by-one justifying their actions and explaining their official logs. Even Naomi Wildman wasn’t exempt from the questioning. Starfleet crawled all over and through the ship trying to understand the changes that were made to Voyager during her odyssey and many of the officers and crewmembers were called upon for explanations. Chakotay had his share of summons but nobody had more calls than Captain Janeway…..Kathryn. He desperately missed her because the officers were kept separate from the crew, and the captain kept separate from them all. Chakotay had seen her from a distance but hadn’t a chance to speak to her since Voyager entered the Alpha Quadrant and she told him to take the helm as Tom Paris headed to sickbay to meet his new daughter.

Chakotay was worried because he knew she’d found out about him and Seven and he hadn’t had a chance to explain the situation to her. Seven……a woman and a child all rolled into one beautiful body, and he was enchanted with her. But he didn’t love her and over the past few weeks he’d come to realize that. They’d dated a few times on the holodeck, and for a magical few days he imagined that he was in love with her and that they could have a life together. In fact, as they burst from the exploding Borg cube and entered the Alpha Quadrant he’d been by Seven’s side and not Kathryn’s as he’d promised her continuously for the past seven years. Kathryn’s eyes told him how hurt she’d been, but he didn’t have a chance to explain. In all the commotion and excitement of their return, Seven had demanded his attention until they decided to stop seeing each other and then Starfleet took over and kept him separated from Kathryn.

He wanted to tell Kathryn that Seven was just a short diversion and that diversion was over. He’d come to his senses and realized that he and Seven would never really be compatible because she just wasn’t Kathryn Janeway. Now that they were home he really wanted to ask Kathryn if they could take their relationship further, but she’d kept herself isolated in her ready room as they approached Earth and she only came onto the bridge for the final approach. She then retreated again to her ready room saying she had reports to put in order, but Chakotay could see hurt and betrayal in her eyes every time he looked at her. It broke his heart because he wanted to take her into his arms and just hold her, but circumstances didn’t allow it.

He’d seen her only three times in five weeks, and every time she looked tired – no exhausted – and sad. Sad was the only word he could think of to describe her appearance so he didn’t know what happened to her other than their personal situation. After all, getting home was her shining goal for the past seven years, and she accomplished her goal in a spectacular manner. Bursting forth from inside an exploding Borg cube certainly got everyone’s attention.

He was so involved in his thoughts that he didn’t hear her approach and didn’t notice her presence until she sat down beside him.

“Hi Chakotay,” B’Elanna softly said as she wrapped her arms around him for a quick hug. “How are you doing?

“So/so,” he answered as he looked at his old friend. “I’m worried about the inquiry and I’m worried about everyone else, especially the Captain. She looked tired the last time I saw her and I haven’t talked to her since we got back. How are you, Tom and Miral doing?”

“We’re fine. Tom’s dad has been looking out for us, so that probably makes things easier. Miral is growing quickly and Tom is the doting father,” she smiled. “We’re staying with Owen and his wife so security isn’t as tight around us. I actually managed to escape for an hour or two to go for a walk. I’ve missed this,” B’Elanna indicated as she waved her arm around her. “Not necessarily Earth, but a place to call home. I guess Earth is home now.”

“I guess,” Chakotay answered, “unless we get to call prison home.”

“I don’t think WE will, but the Captain might,” B’Elanna spoke quietly waiting for Chakotay’s response. She wasn’t disappointed.

“WHAT!!” he cried as he looked at her. “Is Kathryn going to prison?”

“I don’t know for sure, but I heard Owen talking on his comm unit the other night when he thought we were all in bed. It seems that the Captain is willing to throw herself on the mercy of the inquiry board if they’ll pardon the Maquis and let everyone else go, including the Equinox crew. She wants full pardons for everyone and their ranks to remain along with back pay for all. That’s a tall order considering that technically the Maquis and Equinox crews could be considered criminals and get prison time.”

“She can’t do that,” Chakotay cried as he imagined Kathryn in jail. “I won’t let her go to prison for me.”

“Chakotay, I know this is hard but I did get to talk to her briefly during my inquiry where she testified on my behalf. In fact, she’s been at everyone’s inquiry working to get all of the Maquis and Equinox crew cleared of all charges and to protect her ‘fleet’ crew. She’s determined that all of us go free and she asked me to please not interfere with the process. I’ve been pardoned and will keep my rank and get back pay, as will all of us who already faced the board. She said that things were delicate right now, and if any of us tried to upset the boat that things would get nasty for everyone. She convinced me that she knows what she’s doing and I believe her. She knew that you’d try to stop her and so she asked me to talk to you and plead with you to let her do this. She said to tell you to ‘trust her’ and that this was very important. She asked me to remind you that she is not suicidal.”

“I do trust her but I won’t let her go to jail for me,” Chakotay hotly replied. “I’ll take responsibility for my actions and take the consequences.”

“No you won’t or I’ll rip out your tongue and eat it for breakfast,” B’Elanna flatly stated. “You’re going to do as she asks and follow her lead when you get into that room. If you cause trouble things will be worse for all of us including the Captain. Chakotay, I think she NEEDS to do this for us so that she can clear her conscience and I also think that she has things worked out so all will be well. Our Captain is a brilliant tactician; she thinks things through and has always managed to get out of any situation she’s been trapped in. She told us to ‘trust her,’ and I intend to do just that. And so will you,” B’Elanna added as she shook her finger at him. “I also suspect that something else is bothering her, but she isn’t talking and I can’t figure it out.”

“B’Elanna, I can’t…..,” Chakotay started to explain. “Yes you CAN and you WILL,” B’Elanna interrupted. “If things go badly for the Captain then we’ll take whatever action is needed. In the meantime, we play along.”

Judging by B’Elanna’s demeanor and stance Chakotay decided that he’d better agree with her so he reluctantly muttered, “All right…..for now. But if things go badly, I don’t plan to sit around.”

“Agreed,” B’Elanna smiled at him. “Just a little FYI – Owen is on Kathryn’s side and he’ll fight for her. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”

He was a free man with a rank of Commander and a position in Starfleet. He also had seven years’ worth of back pay coming to him. But at what price?

Kathryn was brilliant at his hearing and managed to get him pardoned, reinstated into Starfleet with his current rank of Commander with a review for promotion to Captain in six months, and seven years of back pay. He almost expected her to demand an apology from Starfleet for sending Voyager after him and for the destruction of his ship, but he guessed there was a limit to their largess.

With B’Elanna at his side shoving her elbow into his ribs every time he made a move to speak, he watched Kathryn present his case in a most impressive manner. He had no idea he was such a saint, but Starfleet now had on record a most impressive seven-year performance report for him. He was sure his personnel file would glow with heavenly light when anyone pulled it up to look at it. The hearing lasted almost six hours, but it was finally over and Chakotay was glad.

During the whole hearing Kathryn only glanced at him when it was necessary, and she’d never meet his eyes no matter how hard he tried to engage her attention. Once the hearing was over he tried to reach her so they could talk, but she was ushered by security through a side door before he realized what was happening.

“B’Elanna, where did she go?” he cried as he frantically searched the hallway for her red and black uniform. “I can’t see her anywhere and why was security with her?”

“I guess they took her to a private room somewhere. I don’t know why security is with her unless it’s a precaution since her hearing hasn’t yet taken place. You know they kept the senior officers under surveillance until the fleet people, the Maquis and the Equinox crewmembers were finished with their hearings. After that our hearings took place,” B’Elanna replied. “Except for the Captain, I believe yours was the last so I guess hers is next.”

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Chakotay grumbled as he and B’Elanna headed back out into the sunshine. “I need to see her B’E, can you tell her that for me?”

“I’ll try,” B’Elanna promised as they walked back toward the gardens. “In fact, I’ll ask Owen tonight if he’ll ask her if I can visit.”

“Thanks,” Chakotay sighed. “Say ‘hi’ to Tom for me.”

As B’Elanna walked away Chakotay shook his head trying to get rid of the bad feeling he was experiencing. He was sure that Kathryn had finally managed to sacrifice herself for her crew.

As Kathryn Janeway walked from the hearing room she couldn’t help but hear Chakotay call her name, and everything in her wanted to answer. But she’d made a deal to secure their safety and well-being, and taking a moment to talk to Chakotay would surely erode her resolve. Besides, he probably had Seven waiting for him since they were now a couple and her heart cried at the thought. At least they appeared to be a couple and Admiral Janeway told her about their marriage so it must be true, especially since she’d seen them together on Voyager.

Tears threatened to fall as she was ushered into Admiral Dickson’s office. She’d waited too long and lost his love to Seven, her protégé and surrogate daughter, at least she used to think of Seven that way. Surely Seven knew how she felt about Chakotay even though she could never put her feelings into words. And Chakotay…...he’d promised to wait for her, but he broke his promise. Oh, how her heart hurt!

Getting a firm grasp on her emotions, she held her head high and walked forward to meet her fate and to change the fate of one of her crew.

“Captain Janeway,” Admiral Dickson spoke as she approached his large desk. Admiral Dickson was a large African-American well built man in his early 50’s. Also seated behind the desk were Admirals Karne Cha, a Bolian who appeared to be very old but you could never tell with a Bolian, and Alynna Necheyev, a short human female who appeared to be in her mid 60’s. “We’ve kept our part of the deal, now it’s your turn to keep yours. Besides, we know how you feel about your crew and this is your chance to help one of them out of a tight spot.”

“I understand,” she said keeping her head up and her eyes on the admiral. “I’ll keep my part of the bargain.”

“Good, now let’s begin,” said Necheyev.

Two days later Kathryn Janeway found herself back in space and sitting in a captain’s chair, only the ship she commanded wasn’t her beloved Voyager and the crew wasn’t her familiar ‘family’. But one of Voyager’s crew was in immediate danger and she was a typical mother hen protecting her chick. In fact, by agreeing to this mission she was protecting all of her chicks.

The Patton was an old and somewhat battered ship, but she was basically sound and space worthy. Not nearly as large as Voyager, the Patton was a science vessel equipped with surveillance equipment and with a crew compliment of 24 including a special undercover ops team and herself. Looking around the bridge she saw only strangers, but they were Starfleet trained strangers and they were on a secret rescue mission. At least Kathryn hoped it was a rescue mission and not a suicide run.

“Captain, we are clear of the Sol system and headed for the Vatala System at warp 5,” stated Lieutenant T’Lar, the Vulcan helmsman assigned to the Patton. The Vatala System was located in the neutral zone.

“Acknowledged,” Kathryn replied as she rose from her seat in the middle of the bridge. She was surprised at how much it bothered her that Tom Paris wasn’t the person sitting at the helm, and she especially missed Chakotay sitting beside her in the first officer’s seat. But he was sitting with Seven now, so she had to get this out of her mind. This ship was small and the mission secret so there was no first officer. “I’ll be in my ready room going over the crew roster and our latest information if anyone needs me.”

She entered the tiny room designated as her ready room and headed straight for the replicator. “Coffee – black,” she stated, then headed for her desk, mug in hand, and sat with a sigh after taking a sip of the coffee. She needed time to acquaint herself with this ship, its crew, their new uniforms and her mission. She also needed time to reflect on her situation and what she was willing to do for the good of her crew, especially Ensign Mitchell whose life was in immediate danger.

The mission - the price she had to pay for the good of Voyager’s crew……..there was no choice. Starfleet had threatened to prosecute the Maquis, the Equinox crew and Tom Paris if she didn’t cooperate. This wasn’t quite the welcome home she had expected, but apparently not everyone thought they deserved to be heroes and some even thought they ALL should be punished, not only the Maquis and Equinox crew. Fortunately for her crew there was something Starfleet was willing to trade for the Voyager crew’s freedom, and that something was her life if need be.

Kathryn spent some moments regretting the fact that she wasn’t allowed to contact her mother or her sister to let them know she was safe, but Dickson had been adamant that she wasn’t allowed to contact anyone outside of Starfleet until her mission was over. She missed her mother and hoped she would live long enough to once again be held in her mother’s arms. A tear escaped from her right eye and ran down her cheek as she thought of her kind and gentle mother who had been such an influence in her life. She NEEDED to see and talk to her very badly. Her mother would be able to help her heal her broken heart.

Then there was the matter of Ensign Robert Mitchell, one of Voyager’s Starfleet engineers. Ensign Mitchell was a handsome man and very popular with all of the crew, including herself. There were many times he’d made her laugh during their time in the Delta Quadrant, plus every time there was a party that included dancing, Ensign Mitchell was always the first to drag her out onto the dance floor. But unbeknownst to all of them, he was also a Starfleet spy who was sent along to gather information on the Maquis for Admiral Necheyev, who it seems, had a personal vendetta against the Maquis.

At first she thought it strange that Starfleet didn’t have any press coverage for their return and that she and her crew were immediately hustled into seclusion. She’d also heard Starfleet admonishing her crew not to speak to anybody about their mission, especially not to the media. As each of the crew were released one-by-one after their hearings for three months of leave, they were also ordered, under threat of punishment, to tell their families to remain silent about Voyager’s return. The crew was ordered to ‘lay low’.

Admiral Paris told her that many of the ‘brass’ thought the Voyager crew should be celebrated as heroes, but times since the Dominion War were tough and Starfleet had lost many ships and thousands of people. In fact, Starfleet was hurting for good experienced people and that should have meant they’d be welcomed as heroes and incorporated right back into the fleet. But Necheyev and her friends blamed Voyager’s crew for not being around to help fight the war, and they were able to convince others that the Voyager crew should now do more than their part to help keep the peace and make up for their time in the Delta Quadrant. None of these admirals had bothered to read Voyager’s logs in detail so they were unfamiliar with the hardships the Voyager crew endured in the Delta Quadrant and the price they paid to get home.

There were still rumors about trouble from Cardassia even though the war was over. Cardassia itself was in ruins, but some of her people joined a faction of rebels who were determined to continue the fight. The few remaining Maquis were still determined to extract revenge from these rebels for the wrongs committed against them, both before the war and since it ended. There were still wrongs being committed by these Cardassian rebels to former Federation worlds along or in the neutral zone where the Maquis now lived along with survivors of the Cardassian atrocities, but nobody knew where the Cardassian rebels were based.

Therein lay Kathryn’s mission and Starfleet was relying on the fact that everyone thought Voyager was still lost in the Delta Quadrant to give them the element of surprise. Since Captain Janeway was well known to be thousands of light years from Federation space and the Patton was listed as destroyed at the battle of Elloryn Core, the three admirals felt this would give Janeway the element of surprise and a good chance to rescue Ensign Mitchell and recover his information. With any luck, she might just discover where the Cardassian rebels were hiding as well.

The day after Voyager returned home and her crew placed in Starfleet housing, Ensign Mitchell had been taken away by security and nobody had seen him since except Captain Janeway who attended everyone’s hearing, his included. This didn’t raise any alarm among the crew because they were all being taken one-by-one to their hearings, and when their hearings were concluded they were free to go home to their families with warnings about not talking to anybody. Ensign Mitchell’s scenario was no different. It was almost three weeks later that Kathryn was called into Admiral Dickson’s office and told the situation.

While aboard Voyager Ensign Mitchell had developed a romantic relationship with a former member of the Maquis, and Crewman Mariah Henley trusted him enough to tell him locations of former Maquis bases that she thought were still active. Henley didn’t know that Mitchell’s true goal was to get information about the Maquis, and she fell in love with him. The relationship lasted two years, but during that time she told him all that she knew and Mitchell had reluctantly transmitted that information back to the admirals. It seemed he still had feelings for Mariah and didn’t want to cause her pain, but like his Captain, his duty came first.

Kathryn was sure that they were at one time a happy couple, but something changed and their relationship ended. She didn’t know why, but when she found Mitchell she was going to find out.

Once Voyager was home and Mitchell had been taken away, he was sent by Admiral Necheyev on a secret mission to the Vatala System to infiltrate the Maquis. Necheyev’s only brother had been killed by a Maquis cell leader during the Dominion War, and even though his death was an accident she still blamed the Maquis and wanted revenge. It angered her that Kathryn Janeway had been able to incorporate criminal Maquis rebels into her crew, and it angered her even more to learn that Starfleet planned to pardon them all and even keep them in Starfleet if they wanted to remain.

Admiral Dickson also had a vendetta against the Maquis because of close family members lost during the war and he blamed the Maquis, especially for the death of his only son. The man who killed Necheyev’s brother was still alive and living on a Maquis base in the Neutral Zone and Henley knew he was still alive because it was her cousin, Marcus Henley.

Mitchell had been able to infiltrate the Maquis settlement within a few days after his arrival on Bronan, a small arid planet in the Vatala System. Bronan was a rather inhospitable planet with a rugged surface, but it provided plenty of cover for the small settlement and limited food as well. He was able to transmit progress reports on a regular basis so the admirals knew the situation on Bronan. Mitchell was also able to contact Marcus Henley so he knew that Henley was still alive and still fighting for the Maquis. In his last transmission Mitchell informed Starfleet that he had scheduled a face-to-face meeting with Henley for the following day, but he never made a transmission after that time and nobody had been able to contact him.

Necheyev’s desire for revenge had grown in the three years since her brother’s death, so when news of Voyager’s return reached her ears, a plan formed in her mind, and after all – weren’t many of the crew the hated Maquis? Besides, who would ever suspect a man known to be lost in the Delta Quadrant? She had enough power in Starfleet along with Admirals Dickson and Cha’s support to force the other Admirals to help with her plan. She knew that Paris and Hayes objected strongly but she was able to override their objections and send Mitchell on the mission. She also convinced the admiralty to keep news of Voyager’s return a secret until Mitchell returned by convincing them that he was spying on the rebel Cardassians and would be able to tell Starfleet where to find their bases.

Since these Cardassian rebels were interfering with the peace process in a large way and causing numerous incidents in the neutral zone which threatened the hard-won peace, they were willing to go along with the plan even though most of them were unaware of Necheyev’s other objectives. All that is except for Admirals Paris and Hayes who loudly voiced their objection to this plan, but Alynna had already spoken to the other admirals on the governing board so Paris and Hayes’ objections were quickly overridden and they were out-voted.

Once Mitchell stopped transmitting Necheyev was able to convince Starfleet to send Janeway after him. After all, by keeping Voyager’s return a secret nobody would ever suspect her participation in this rescue. She was also able to convince Janeway to go on this mission by using her crew’s freedom as leverage and Janeway’s cooperation as the price for the freedom of all of her crew. Knowing Janeway as she did, Alynna knew she would do anything for her crew.

Then there was the matter of the Voyager captain’s popularity and celebrity. Necheyev was worried that Starfleet would make so much of Janeway’s accomplishments that her own power would be eroded in favor of their newest hero. The sacrifice of her competition would make life easier for Alynna in more ways than one.

“I’m sorry B’Elanna, but I’m worried,” Chakotay stated as the two sat once again on the park bench on the ground of Starfleet Headquarters. All the hearings were over and everyone was free to move around as they pleased. They were just not allowed to talk to the media or talk about their adventures in the Delta Quadrant. Two weeks had passed and they’d been meeting every day during this time. On three occasions Tom had accompanied B’Elanna and Chakotay had even been to the Paris house on two occasions for visits. “Has Owen told you anything?”

“He’s not talking, but his eyes convey his concern,” B’Elanna answered. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I won’t give up. All I have at this point is conjecture which I’ve managed to piece together from different conversations. I’d guess that Starfleet sent the Captain on some kind of mission and it’s a dangerous one. Owen and Admiral Hayes aren’t happy, but apparently there isn’t anything they can do. I’ve heard the words Maquis and Cardassians mentioned, but I’ve had to be careful of my eavesdropping. If they caught me I wouldn’t be able to be anywhere close to them when they talk.”

“I understand…..and thanks,” Chakotay said as they sat together. “I just worry.”

“I know……me too,” B’Elanna said.

The planet Bronan was only one-half light year away and the Patton was hiding behind a moon so nobody could detect her presence. Kathryn Janeway and a team of four specialized security officers took a battered old Maquis shuttle to Bronan’s surface disguised as former Maquis who had recently escaped from Federation prisons. Starfleet had changed the identities of several Maquis prisoners who had died since their capture and fitted them to Kathryn’s team so there would be a prison record if anyone had the technology to check. During their approach they scanned for Mitchell’s life signs but were unable to detect them. The scans detected several humans among the settlers, but none of the signatures matched Mitchell.

As they approached Bronan’s atmosphere they were hailed by a rough looking alien male who called himself Mieter.

“Who are you and what do you want here?” he questioned as his face appeared on the shuttle’s small viewscreen.

“We’re former Maquis who have recently escaped from the Federation prison on Beta Algol and we’re looking for some of our former comrades. Do we have permission to land?” Kathryn asked as she tried to determine if they would get help or be ambushed.

“Permission granted,” Mieter growled as he gave them coordinates.

Fifteen minutes later they walked down the ramp of the shuttle and set foot on the planet for the first time. Bronan was a rather desolate planet with an arid environment and everything seemed dusty and dirty. Mieter and what was obviously a security force were there to meet them.

“I’m Mieter, who are you?” he growled as he approached. But judging by his demeanor Kathryn figured that he was probably always grumpy.

“My name is Katie Jane and I served with the Maquis Wolf Cell. My companions escaped from prison with me and they served in different cells. We’re all trying to reunite with our former comrades so we came here to search for them. We’re hoping some of them may have moved here.”

Mieter looked long and hard at each of them before he spun on his heel and marched away. “Come with us,” he growled over his shoulder and Kathryn and her crew fell in line behind him. Mieter lead them down the dusty street of a decrepit looking town and into what appeared to be an office.

“Why did you choose this place and were you followed?” Mieter asked as they settled in a small room that looked like it served many purposes. “We like to keep our presence as secret as possible.”

“We were not followed and we chose this place because we were told some of our former friends might be here. We were hoping to reunite with some of them, if any of them are still alive,” Kathryn stated with the proper amount of sadness in her voice. “Since so many of our friends were killed, we don’t know if any of them are still alive so we’re trying to find out.”

“Who are you looking for?” Mieter asked

“I was a member of the Wolf cell lead by Captain Chakotay. He and several members of our cell disappeared in the badlands seven years ago and I believe they might be on that lost starship that’s in the Delta Quadrant. But there were nine other members of our cell who weren’t lost in the badlands. I’ve discovered that five of them were slaughtered by the Cardassians in the battle of Alondon Core and two others and I were captured by Starfleet and imprisoned. One of those died in prison and the other is still there. I wasn’t able to get to him as we escaped. Only one other person is rumored to be alive, and that’s Robert Mitchell, a human male who to the best of my knowledge was never captured. I’m looking for him. My companions were members of different cells and they’re looking for comrades as well. They’ll give you descriptions and names. Will you help us?”

“There’s no human here named Mitchell,” Mieter growled. “I’d know because they all pass through my office for their papers. We require all those living here to be issued residence papers so we can keep track of our population and keep out unwanted outsiders. Even visitors are required to register and pay a modest fee. This planet’s presence in the Neutral Zone attracts some unsavory species and we want to keep our citizens as safe as possible. You will be required to register if you plan to look for your friends.”

“I understand and so do my colleagues,” Kathryn stated as her four accomplices stood at her side. “They all have friends as well and want to search for them if possible.”

In less than an hour the five of them were registered as visitors to Bronan and the search began.

Robert Mitchell was cold, hungry and very tired. He’d been in the Cardassian cage for over a week ever since he was ambushed while meeting with Marcus Henley. He had no idea who betrayed him or if it was just bad luck, but their meeting had barely started when they were attacked. Since it appeared he was in some kind of a cave system, he wondered just where he was and if he was still on Bronan. He was unconscious when he was brought here and had no idea how long he had been unconscious, but he figured he had been here for more than a week.

It had to be a setup because the Cardassians knew right where to find them in a small canyon near the town where Marcus Henley lived. During the brief fight that ensued before they were captured, Mitchell took a phaser shot to the shoulder that was now hurting like hell and he was sure it was infected. He’d received no medical treatment from his captors and was lucky when they occasionally pushed food under the cell door. He knew he needed proper medical attention but he also knew he wouldn’t get it from the Cardassians.

The screams were what he’d always remember about Marcus Henley. Robert was sure he was dead by now because the Cardassians had tortured him for days before the screams finally stopped and Marcus was no longer brought to the cage beside him. He wondered how long it would be before they came for him. He had no information to offer because he’d only been with Henley for about five minutes before they were attacked.

He missed Voyager and the safe feeling he had while he served aboard her. He missed Captain Janeway’s motherly but firm method of command and B’Elanna Torres’ brilliant engineering solutions. But mostly he missed Mariah Henley who he still loved despite the fact that they broke up before Voyager got home. He had to break up with her or he could never have completed his mission.

Mariah……….he missed her terribly and wanted her to know that in spite of his orders to locate and then betray her cousin Marcus, he had no intention of doing so. In fact, his plan was to warn Marcus about the admirals’ plan and help him escape. He would then report back to his superiors that Marcus was nowhere to be found on Bronan.

But something went terribly wrong and he was now sitting in a Cardassian prison cage in some unknown cave and nobody knew where he was or if he was still alive. He had no idea who betrayed them, but he knew that he wasn’t followed so it had to be someone after Marcus. If he ever got out of this prison alive, he wanted Mariah to know that he had nothing to do with betraying her cousin.

As he pulled his shirt open to check his wound, the sharp pain and red swelling told him that if he didn’t get help and soon he’d be in the same shape as Marcus. He didn’t want to die in a Cardassian prison but his bouts of fever and then chills told him this was a possibility.

Chakotay couldn’t stand it anymore and neither could Tom and B’Elanna. They were having supper with Admiral and Mrs. Paris and the discussion turned to the subject of Kathryn Janeway.

“With all due respect Admiral, we’re all worried about Kathryn and it seems that you’re worried as well. Why can’t you tell us where she is? If she’s in trouble maybe we could help.”

“You’re right, I am worried about her but her mission is classified and I don’t think she’s in trouble, just a bad situation. If I think there’s any need for a rescue mission I promise you’ll be the first to know,” Owen Paris offered as he looked at Kathryn’s three champions. “I know you care about her and so do I, but I was overruled about this mission and as of now there’s nothing I can do. Besides, Kathryn did this for each of you to insure your freedom as well as to help a member of her crew.”

“Who?” B’Elanna quipped in.

“Oops,” Owen smiled. “I shouldn’t have said anything but rest assured that she’s doing this by choice.”

“Her choice or Starfleet’s?” Chakotay asked. “I know she just wanted to go home to see her mother. Why would she take off before she even had a chance to set foot in Indiana?”

“She had her reasons,” Paris answered and his expression brought the discussion to a close.

Kathryn Janeway was frustrated and all her leads to Mitchell were exhausted. Several people remembered seeing him but it seemed like he just disappeared. They knew him as Curt Smith, not Robert Mitchell, but the description they gave of him was accurate.

“He has to be here somewhere,” she growled to Lt. William Carter when they left the hotel where Mitchell was staying. “You don’t just leave without checking out and taking your belongings with you. We just haven’t looked in the right places.”

“Nobody has seen him for almost two weeks so maybe he got his information and left,” Lt. Carter offered even though he didn’t really believe it. He was a highly trained member of Starfleet’s elite Rangers and very good at tracking elusive people.

“No way, at least not willingly,” Kathryn countered as they walked through the settlement. The dust kicked up by their feet as they walked reminded Kathryn of other planets they’d visited in the Delta Quadrant, especially Ocampa, and her mind started working overtime.

Ocampa was a world with the Kazon living in squalor on the parched surface because the Caretaker had destroyed their ecosystem. Then there were the Ocampan people living in underground caverns which sustained their civilization. Ocampa………..hmmmmmmmmm.

“Lt. Carter, start scanning for caves or underground tunnels,” Kathryn ordered as she whipped out her tricorder and started to scan as well. “Let’s work our way toward the edge of town so we don’t attract attention. If Mitchell isn’t anywhere to be seen and he hasn’t apparently left the planet, then he must be someplace where he can’t be seen.”

It wasn’t long after they were beyond the edge of the settlement before the away team detected a series of underground tunnels and natural caves. Lt. Carter was impressed with Janeway’s ability to come up with scenarios. Now they just had to find an entrance.

It wasn’t hard to find a way into the tunnels, but finding an easier way out was much more difficult. Kathryn and her team had been walking for hours, but their tricorders seemed unable to map the area as accurately as she would have liked. They weren’t sure if it was something in the cave walls, or some other reason that they couldn’t detect, but it seemed they’d been walking in circles and nothing looked familiar. They were all tired but they kept moving.

The away team was equipped with the latest Starfleet equipment including tricorders that did not emit any kind of light on their displays that could be seen by the naked eye unless they were looking directly at the display, and with sound that could be turned off in case they didn’t want to be heard as they scanned. They also had the latest Starfleet phasers that had more levels of stun and couldn’t be detected when fired. The dark vision goggles they all wore made it possible to see without using wrist beacons, although they had beacons and used them because it made moving around much easier than the goggles alone. For now they were alone in the tunnels so using the beacons didn’t create any problems.

“Do you hear anything?” Carter whispered as he slid around a corner. “I think I hear voices,” he stated as he held up his arm for everyone to stop. “Put out your lights.” Everyone turned off their wrist beacons but they were still able to see because of the newly issued goggles they all wore.

“Ensign Yazji and Lt. Carter, I want you to backtrack to that alcove we discovered about ten minutes ago. Lt. T’Lar and Ensign Hayre will accompany me to try to find out where those voices are coming from. Wait there, but if you don’t hear from me in two hours your orders are to assume the worst and find your way out of here to inform Mieter that there are Cardassians living under his town. My guess is that he doesn’t know they’re here and only our improved tricorders allowed us to detect the tunnels. The rest of us are going to scout around to see if we can find Mitchell and hopefully avoid being seen. If there’s any way we can get him out, we’re going to try. Any questions?” Kathryn asked as she looked at each one of them.

“Captain, I should stay with you since I’m the senior officer for this team,” Lt. Carter said. “It’s my responsibility to protect you as well as recover Mitchell.”

“Yes, but I need someone with experience to rely on in case we run into trouble. If there is trouble we’re going to need your expertise to rescue us,” Kathryn responded as she looked Carter in the eye. “I need to know that I have backup I can count on.”

Carter was obviously pleased with Janeway’s trust and he was trained to follow orders, so his, “Yes Sir, you can count on me,” sounded firm and Kathryn knew she could count on him. She didn’t bother to take the time to remind him that she preferred to be called Captain.

The voices were getting louder as they progressed through the tunnels and there was faint light coming around the corner. The away team had been hugging the cave wall and moving slowly so they wouldn’t make any noise but they needed to see what was ahead. Janeway moved slowly forward hugging one side of the tunnel wall while T’Lar and Hayre hugged the other wall. The rough outcropping of rock offered protection as they slowly moved forward in the tunnel.

Janeway’s hand suddenly connected with something that felt different from the cave wall. Not wanting to slow them down she quickly took a tricorder reading and then moved on. She had to stifle a gasp as she was finally able to see around the corner and discovered an encampment of Cardassians living in a huge cavern. The area also contained numerous small scout-sized spaceships so there had to be a landing bay somewhere, although they couldn’t detect it from where they were hiding. The housing shelters looked like they’d been there for a while and the people inhabiting the shelters looked comfortable with being there. She even saw two children playing by one of the shelters. There were buildings set up beside the spaceship area that most likely contained spare parts and tools. She wondered how long they’d been hiding under the Maquis settlement and why. She also wondered where the opening was for the ships to enter and leave the cavern.

“Captain, I’ve located Mitchell,” T’Lar whispered as she motioned Janeway and Hayre to retreat down the tunnel so they could talk. Once they felt they were a safe distance T’Lar showed Janeway her tricorder. “There are a series of five cages located against the north wall of the cavern and there’s a weak human signature in one of them. They’re almost a half mile straight across the cavern. I don’t know how we can get to the cages except to go around the encampment to avoid detection,” T’Lar continued.

“Hayre, I want you to go back to Carter and tell him what we found. Tell him that we’re going to attempt to retrieve Mitchell and that he should find a quicker way out of here because we’re going to need it soon. If our readings are correct, Mitchell isn’t in good condition and might need medical help. Also, if we’re discovered we’ll need an escape route and help to carry Mitchell. Have him contact the Patton to stand by for an extraction but to avoid being detected if possible. If the Patton is detected have them say they’re having problems and need to make repairs to the plasma injectors. If they offer to buy the parts from Meiter and pay his inflated price, he’ll probably welcome them and not give them any trouble. ”

“Aye Sir,” Hayre said as he hurried back through the tunnel.

Janeway and T’Lar studied their tricorder readings to determine the best way to get to the cages without being detected. Janeway also quickly looked at the readings she took earlier of the spot in the tunnel wall, but the need to move quickly kept her from coming to any conclusions.

Ensign Hayre gave his report to Lt. Carter. His description of the cavern and encampment sounded to Carter like the main rebel Cardassian base they were looking for. Lt. Carter was also working for the admirals who were aware of secret Cardassian cells located in the neutral zone, and they also knew that there was one main base that controlled the others. If they were able to eliminate the main base, the others would be unorganized and their threat would be reduced considerably. His orders were to keep an eye on Janeway, find and destroy the base, and if possible rescue Mitchell. He was also told that if sacrifices were necessary, then Janeway and Mitchell could be sacrificed.

He’d come to like and respect Janeway in the short time it took them to reach the Vatala System. He liked her style of command and her respect for those she worked with as well as her ability to make everyone feel important. The details of Voyager’s return home had not been made public, so he was also hoping to ask her about her seven years in the Delta Quadrant before their return was announced and she became a celebrity. As a Starfleet officer it was his dream to explore strange new worlds, and he suspected that Janeway had seen lots of them in the DQ. Voyager was a legend and he suspected that Necheyev was jealous of Janeway’s upcoming popularity since she liked being the one with the power and she perceived Janeway as a competitor for that power.

“We’d better get busy and find a way out of here,” he said when Hayre was finished with his report. “I have a feeling we’re going to have to beat a hasty retreat and it would be best if we knew where we were going. I’ve been scanning while you were gone, and I think I have a lead on a faster way out of here. Let’s go,” he stated as they started down the tunnel and turned into a tunnel branch Hayre hadn’t seen before.

For over an hour Janeway and T’Lar had been hugging the cavern wall and its shadows as they cautiously moved toward the cages. If not for the lighting the Cardassians had installed in their shelters and around their ships the edges of the cavern would be completely dark, so it was fairly easy to keep to the shadows. Their infrared goggles also gave them more visibility. Janeway had detected several other suspicious areas in the cavern walls but only had time to scan them as they passed by.

Fortunately the cages were located in an area well away from the housing units so their chances of being seen were reduced. T’Lar kept guard and was continuously scanning while Janeway moved to the cages and looked into them.

The first cage was empty but the second cage contained two individuals who looked like they were settlers from the surface. The cage was filthy. One of the prisoners was lying on a small bunk, and the other was sprawled on the ground. Kathryn wasn’t sure if they were conscious or dead, but she didn’t want to take a chance that they might wake up and alert any guards who might be in the area.

The third cage contained a female who was sitting in a corner with her eyes closed and her head lying on her knees which were pulled up tight against her body. Again they didn’t know if she was dead or alive, but she didn’t look like she was in good condition and again the cage was filthy. Kathryn realized there was no way they could try to free all the prisoners because just the two of them would be lucky to carry Mitchell between them if it was necessary. They silently moved past the third cage and headed for the fourth.

Kathryn had to stifle a gasp as she looked into the fourth cage which did indeed contain Ensign Robert Mitchell. He was lying on a small bunk and softly moaning in pain. His clothes were filthy and torn and he looked like he had a high fever. Indicating to T’Lar to “pick the lock” Kathryn looked around to be sure that nobody was watching them. She then looked into the last cage and found it to be empty although it didn’t appear to have been empty for long. The remains of food were still on the floor and the dirt looked like someone had been dragged from the cell. Kathryn could only hope that they were still alive.

Focusing her attention on the job at hand, she moved to stand behind T’Lar who had just managed to get the door open without sounding any alarms. They both hurried to Mitchell who seemed to be delirious. “Look at his shoulder,” Kathryn whispered to T’Lar who was scanning Mitchell with her tricorder.

“He has a high fever and an infected disrupter burn on his shoulder,” T’Lar reported. He also appears to be dehydrated and suffering from malnutrition. I doubt he’ll be able to move on his own. We’ll have to support him if we plan to get him out of here.”

“Robert……?” Kathryn shook Mitchell by his uninjured shoulder. “Robert, can you hear me?” Kathryn kept calling to Mitchell and gently shaking his uninjured shoulder and finally he turned to look at her.

“Captain?” he whispered. “I knew you would come for me.”

He just couldn’t stand it anymore and nobody who knew that Voyager was back would give him any information. He was careful who he asked so that Starfleet couldn’t accuse him of leaking any information. Chakotay had demanded, begged and pleaded for any information about Kathryn’s whereabouts, but it seemed that either they thought she was still in the Delta Quadrant or they thought she was still on Voyager helping to explain Voyager’s modifications to the fleet engineers crawling through the ship. Most just didn’t have any idea what Chakotay was talking about.

B’Elanna and Tom had hounded Owen until he avoided them whenever possible. Since Tuvok had been taken to Vulcan to begin treatment for his medical condition, the friends turned to Harry Kim and the Doctor for help in locating their captain. The Doctor brought Seven along with him to the meeting which caused a few uncomfortable minutes, but it soon turned into the friendly teamwork they enjoyed on Voyager especially when they learned that Seven and the Doctor were dating and things were progressing nicely.

“She didn’t just disappear into thin air,” Chakotay lamented as they gathered at the Paris household for their meeting. “Somebody has to know where she is.”

“The last time I saw her was the day after your hearing,” the Doctor offered. “She was brought to me at Starfleet Medical and I was ordered to give her a complete physical and to prepare her for a mission leaving the following day. They implanted a tracking device in her arm, but nobody would tell me anything else. I was ordered to ‘do it but don’t ask questions,’” the Doctor huffed obviously put out by Starfleet’s attitude.

“I haven’t heard anything since,” he concluded.

“Do you by any chance know the device’s frequency Doctor?” Seven asked as she pondered their situation.

“Yes, I still have the information in the Captain’s medical records.”

“That’s a start, now all we have to discover is where to look for this frequency,” Seven announced.

“Oh great – we have the whole galaxy to cover!” Chakotay cried as he realized the hopelessness of their situation.

“Not necessarily,” Seven concluded. “Lieutenant Torres, can you hack into the orbital computer system and get a listing of all ships that departed from earth on that date? We should be able to narrow down the number of places to look if we can find what ship and where it’s headed.”

“I’m on it,” B’Elanna stated as she almost ran from the room.

“Anyone want a drink?” Tom offered as they settled to discuss the situation and wait for B’Elanna’s information

A quick scan of Mitchell showed that he was indeed in very weak condition and would need help during their escape from the Cardassian prison.

“Robert, listen to me,” Captain Janeway ordered as she prepared Mitchell to leave the cells after quickly running a regenerator over his wound. It would start the healing and work at killing the infection but Robert desperately needed professional medical help and surgery. “We’re going get you out of here, but you’re going to have to help us. T’Lar and I can support you but we can’t carry you out of here.” A hiss against his neck then the clearing of his head as well as a reduction in his pain made him realize that she had injected him with a stimulant and a painkiller. “We need your help to get out of here. Do you understand?”

“Aye, Captain.” Mitchell tried to focus on Janeway’s face as his vision cleared and the pain receded. “You look beautiful today and I’m really glad to see you,” he sighed because he wasn’t thinking clearly and that was the first thing that came to mind. He’d always thought she was beautiful and was thrilled every time she accepted his offer to dance, but he also knew that Chakotay held the key to her heart.

“You’re delirious, but thanks,” Janeway smiled as she helped him to his feet and put his arm around her shoulders. T’Lar moved to his other side and they started to move away from the cells.

“Be very quiet,” Janeway whispered to Mitchell as they passed the other cells. “We can’t help any of the other prisoners right now, but once we get away we’ll send help back for them.” Mitchell nodded as they tiptoed past the other cages. Nobody inside the cages stirred.

Once past the cages they immediately headed for the cavern wall to once again hide in the shadows as they made their way back to their escape tunnel. It was very slow going because the women had to support Mitchell who couldn’t move very fast, but they were making progress. Their two hour mark had just passed, but Janeway was hoping that Carter was still waiting for them. She couldn’t comm him or she would give away their position, but she could hope.

As they moved along Janeway was a little surprised that no alarms had sounded when they broke Mitchell out of the cage, but she was grateful nonetheless. Mitchell was getting very heavy and Janeway was getting very tired. She admired T’Lar’s superior strength, and the occasional smile she gave to T’Lar was returned, even if it was in the typical Vulcan unemotional manner.

“Almost there,” she whispered to encourage Mitchell.

“The Patton,” B’Elanna announced to the group gathered in the Paris living room. “She left on the Patton which is a small science ship that is listed as lost in the battle of Elloryn Core during the Borg invasion. From what information I was able to hack from the Starfleet data base, Captain Janeway was put in command of this refurbished ship with a crew compliment of 24 including a special ops team. None of the Patton’s crew is from Voyager.”

“They left Earth thirteen days ago and their destination is listed as the Vatala System which is located in the Neutral Zone. I couldn’t find out what her mission is, but I was able to find out that Ensign Robert Mitchell is reported as missing in action, and his last known location is the Vatala System,” B’Elanna reported. “This information is in the classified category. Knowing Captain Janeway as we do, if any of her crew were in trouble she would go to help them. I’d be willing to bet that is the reason Starfleet got her to take this mission. They used Mitchell knowing that she would do anything for the members of her crew. I wonder what the real mission is because I’m sure it’s more than just rescuing Mitchell. The Cardassians are still active in that area even though the war is over. I’d be willing to bet that part of her mission is to either locate or destroy the Cardassian bases in the Neutral Zone.”

“My God, B’Elanna, how could they do that to Kathryn?” She just got home after a seven year journey and hasn’t even seen her family,” Chakotay cried as he realized how dangerous this mission could actually be. “Can we get hold of a ship to go look for her?”

“I’ll talk to dad when he gets home,” Tom offered. “If he can’t help us we’ll just have to steal one.”

They were almost to the tunnel and were keeping to the shadows along the cavern walls as they moved as quickly and as silently as possible. Kathryn Janeway was exhausted because by now she and T’Lar were almost carrying Mitchell who was a tall and well-built man. He wasn’t fat, but he was muscular and over 6 feet tall. His head was hanging down almost to his chest and he was barely conscious. Had they been in a safer place, Kathryn would have halted their escape to give him another injection, but she wasn’t about to stop at this point and risk their capture.

She was sure that by now the Cardassians would have discovered Mitchell’s escape and were probably looking for them. She only hoped that she had enough strength to reach the tunnel.

“Halt or we’ll shoot!” came the booming male voice from behind them and it had a Cardassian inflection to it.

“Kathryn and T’Lar froze only twenty feet from the tunnel entrance and Kathryn quickly looked around her to see where the voice was coming from. Her goggles gave Kathryn the advantage of seeing the Cardassians a lot more clearly than they were seeing her. Plus she knew something that most people didn’t – Cardassians didn’t see as well as humans in the dark.

A group of five Cardassians were standing about 50 feet behind them and two had disrupter rifles pointing at them. They were so close to the tunnel and Kathryn wasn’t about to let them be stopped at this point. She only hoped the rest of her team was still in the alcove waiting for her.

Keeping her back to the Cardassians and motioning to T’Lar with her eyes, Kathryn slowly adjusted most of Mitchell’s weight onto T’Lar’s shoulder and slowly moved her hand toward the phaser pushed into the front of her trousers.

T’Lar’s eyes conveyed her understanding of Janeway’s plan and she prepared to follow her silent orders. She hoped Janeway could buy her the time she needed to get Mitchell to safety.

“GO!” Janeway softly barked the order as she released Mitchell’s arm and spun around firing her phaser at the armed Cardassians as she covered T’Lar’s retreat. T’Lar almost picked Mitchell up as she dove for the tunnel and rounded the corner into the dark temporary safety it offered. Following Janeway’s silent orders she hurried down the tunnel toward the alcove where she hoped the rest of the team was waiting while dragging Mitchell along with her. Activating her comm badge she called for help.

Janeway flung herself against the cavern wall as she fired off more shots from her phaser. Three of the guards dropped immediately, and the other two dove for the ground as her shots hit the ground beside them. Without the telltale light trail from her phaser to follow, the Cardassians were unable to accurately pinpoint her location in the dark shadows. Quickly slithering to the wall and pulling herself up, she ran for the tunnel while still firing at the remaining Cardassians.

“Janeway to away team,” she spoke into her communicator as she ran. “We’re under fire at the tunnel entrance and need your help. We have Mitchell but he needs help.” She hoped they were still there to offer help.

She rounded the corner and flung herself into the tunnel as disrupter fire concentrated in that area. The Cardassians couldn’t clearly see her but they knew where she was going. The rocks around her were splintering from the focused energy of the Cardassian weapons, but still she ran trying to present as small and difficult a target as possible.

The disrupters were still firing in her direction and she knew immediately when one hit her right thigh as she tried to run down the tunnel. The pain burned through her and was excruciating, but she knew she had to keep moving if she wanted to survive. Her leg, however, had other ideas and collapsed under her. She went down as another volley of disrupter fire flew down the tunnel above her head. Pulling herself into position with her back against the tunnel wall, she prepared to fire at the Cardassians as they entered the tunnel.

Kathryn Janeway fought to stay conscious and she used the terrible pain in her leg to focus herself. A moment later the two Cardassians ran into the tunnel and she immediately fired her phaser at them. They quickly went down and didn’t move, but Kathryn wasn’t sure she could move either. Cardassian disrupter energy was very painful and she was using all of her energy to stay conscious and control the pain.

T’Lar rounded another bend in the tunnel and was surrounded by Carter, Hayre and Yazji. “Where’s Janeway?” Carter asked as he moved to help T’Lar support Mitchell.

“She covered our retreat and is hopefully working her way toward us right now,” T’Lar answered as she looked back down the tunnel. “We have to go back for her.”

“No, we have to get Mitchell out of here,” Carter stated as he hit his commbadge.

“Carter to Patton, we’re ready for extraction. Five to beam out,” he ordered as they felt the tingle of the transporter.

“What about Janeway?” T’Lar shouted as they materialized on board the Patton. “We have to beam her out too.”

“Scan for Janeway’s signal,” Carter ordered the transporter officer on duty. “Can you locate her signal?”

“Negative,” he stated as he kept scanning. “There’s disrupter fire about 500 feet from where I picked you up, and that’s interfering with our signal. I can’t get a lock.”

“Let me go back down,” T’Lar pleaded. “She’s covering for us and we can’t just leave her.”

“We have our orders and we have Mitchell,” Carter stated as he and Hayre started to pull Mitchell from the transporter room. “Leave it T’Lar, and that’s an order,” Carter stated as he marched away.

T’Lar just stood in shock. She couldn’t believe that Carter would just leave Janeway behind when there was an excellent chance they could get her out.

“Scan again,” she ordered the transporter officer who did as requested but he still couldn’t lock onto Janeway’s signal.

T’Lar felt the Patton’s engines engage and knew they’d abandoned Janeway most likely to her death. She couldn’t believe that Carter would do that, but her logic kicked in and she realized that he already did do that. She’d file a report as soon as she got to her quarters but she once again ordered the transporter officer to scan for Janeway’s signal. Once again he couldn’t find it.

Fighting to control the pain from the disrupter blow to her thigh, Kathryn Janeway struggled to remain conscious. She knew that sooner or later the Cardassians would come looking for her so she had to move. Using the tunnel wall to help her get up, she finally managed to get to her feet, but her right leg wouldn’t support her. The pain was terrible, but she used the techniques her Vulcan friend Tuvok had taught her to manage it.

Sliding along the rock using mainly one leg and both arms, she worked her way back along the tunnel trying to get to the alcove where she told Carter to wait for her. She wondered why they hadn’t beamed her out and could only hope that T’Lar reached the others and managed to get Mitchell to safety.

Surprised that no more Cardassians came charging down the tunnel, she continued to fight the pain and moved further down the tunnel. Knowing that she had quite a way to go, she kept slowly moving and wondering why Carter hadn’t come for her or beamed her out. The transponder in her arm should have pinpointed her location even through the rock walls.

The only reason Kathryn could find for leaving her behind was that Nechynev and the other admirals wanted her dead. Maybe that was their plan all along and they were just using her as a sacrifice. She didn’t want to believe it, but if that wasn’t the case why hadn’t they beamed her out? It wasn’t as if their ship was being attacked and they had to run. The Patton had been hiding so nobody even knew they were there.

Her hands finally located the hole in the tunnel wall which led to the alcove. By now Kathryn was sweating, trembling and terribly weak. She pulled herself through the opening and worked her way to the back wall of the alcove where she had earlier discovered a small ledge only two feet above the tunnel floor that she knew she could hide under. Dropping to her belly she used her arms to pull herself under the ledge and into the indentation under the ledge. Once she was sure that all of her was out of sight, she closed her eyes and let the blackness claim her.

Owen Paris stormed into his house muttering under his breath. Obviously upset he confronted Tom and B’Elanna who were sitting in the living room talking to Mrs. Paris and Chakotay.

“I need to talk to you – NOW!” Owen ordered as he ushered Tom, B’Elanna and Chakotay into his den. With a quick ‘I love you’ whispered to his wife, he seated himself behind his desk and looked at the three Voyager crewmembers waiting for him to speak.

“I know you broke into Starfleet’s database,” he spoke to all of them while trying to look stern. Seeing their stunned looks gave him his answer. “B’Elanna, you’re amazing because I didn’t think that was possible. Starfleet knows they’ve been hacked, but they have no idea who did it. I came to my own conclusion. Nonetheless we have a situation and that’s not why I’m speaking to you now although I should scold you for doing that. Quite frankly, I’m glad to know you can do this – just in case.”

“Just in case…..what?” Tom asked as the three sat in front of Owen’s desk.

“What I’m going to tell you has to remain between us…..at least the details,” Owen continued with a solemn face. As the three nodded he continued.

As I’m sure you discovered, Katie was sent on a mission by three admirals who through devious means managed to convince several others to approve their plan. One of Katie’s crewmen, Robert Mitchell, had been working undercover for them on Voyager and his mission was to discover the location of Maquis bases so Necheyev and her cronies could wipe them out. It seems that both Necheyev and Dickson lost family members in fights with the Maquis and wanted revenge against them. I find it very disturbing that people who have risen to the rank of admiral would use their power this way – but I digress. Admiral Karne Cha was persuaded to help them in exchange for favors to the Bolian government in awarding contracts to rebuild colonies in the Neutral Zone. They were very large contracts that the Bolians wanted, and Dickson and Necheyev had the power to help them.”

“The admirals knew that Kathryn Janeway was an exemplary Starfleet captain who would put the good of her crew above her own welfare. I also suspect that Dickson and Necheyev were afraid that her new hero status would undermine their own power and that’s why they persuaded Starfleet to keep Voyager’s return quiet for now. After quietly conducting Robert Mitchell’s very quick and obviously ‘show only’ hearing so nobody would suspect anything, they sent him, unbeknownst to anyone but themselves, into the Neutral Zone – the Vatala System to be precise – to try to find Marcus Henley, the known leader of the remaining Maquis who are currently living in the Neutral Zone. His mission was to locate Henley and the location of his cell so that the admirals could destroy it. But only a few days after arriving on Bronon, the planet that Henley was living on, Robert Mitchell as well as Marcus Henley disappeared,” Admiral Paris continued as he fidgeted with the padd on his desk. “Marcus Henley was later discovered – dead – and it appeared that he’d been tortured and beaten.”

“The admirals used Kathryn’s loyalty to her crew to make a deal for everyone’s freedom and Starfleet status. Katie didn’t know that there were no plans to prosecute any of the Maquis or Equinox crew and that Starfleet had plans to offer them the option to retain their field commissions and in some cases receive promotions. Knowing this, the admirals offered Katie the chance to save everyone if she would captain an old science vessel into the Neutral Zone to retrieve Mitchell. Being loyal to her crew, Katie agreed and went on the mission.”

“Enough of the rest of the admiralty agreed to this mission because they didn’t know the underlying feelings of Necheyev and Dickson or their true purpose. They thought that Katie and her ship were looking for a powerful rebel Cardassian base that we know to be located in the Vatala System. These rebel Cardassians are the Federation’s equivalent of the former Maquis – no offense Chakotay – who won’t accept defeat and have been attacking newly built Federation colonies along the Neutral Zone. All of us, including the Cardassian government, would like to see these rebels stopped because they’re posing a real threat to the peace treaty as well as to the people living out there.”

“Katie’s ship just today reported back to Starfleet and I happened to be in the right place at the right time to intercept the Patton’s message. Most likely had I not been there at that time nobody would have known what happened until weeks from now,” the Admiral was getting more upset as he continued.

“I have to tell you that I have an officer on that ship who reported what was really happening. Her name is Lt. T’Lar, a Vulcan helmswoman and a good one at that. I had her assigned to the Patton because I didn’t trust Dickson and Necheyev, and I’m glad I did. She reported to me after I saw the reports that came in from Lt. Carter, who is now commanding the Patton. Her report differs somewhat from Carter’s report and that’s why I wanted to see you.”

Owen continued. “According to Carter, they successfully rescued Mitchell after Katie, T’Lar and a few others went to the surface of Bronan and discovered underground tunnels and caverns now occupied by the Cardassians. The Cardassian presence was unknown to the Maquis and other settlers who lived on the surface, and from that underground base we think they were directing the activities of the rebel Cardassians who are giving us so much trouble. Katie and T’Lar infiltrated the Cardassian settlement and rescued Mitchell from the cage where he was imprisoned, supporting him as they ran because of his wounds and weakened state. As they almost reached the tunnel they needed to use to escape, they were discovered by a Cardassian foot patrol. Kathryn ordered T’Lar to take Mitchell into the tunnel and back to the area where Carter and several others were waiting for extraction while she stayed behind to cover their backs. According to Carter, Katie was killed in action.”

“OH NO!” Chakotay cried as he dropped his head into his hands.

“OH GOD!” Tom whispered as he held his sobbing wife.

“LISTEN TO ME!” Owen almost shouted as he saw the genuine grief of the three crewmen. “I said that was Carter’s version. T’Lar’s version is different and that’s why I called you here.”

He had their full attention in a microsecond.

“According to T’Lar the story is correct up to the part where Kathryn was killed. Kathryn was covering their backs while T’Lar was helping Mitchell down the tunnel. She turned to see where Kathryn was and how she was doing. T’Lar then fired a few shots, one of which she thinks took down one of the two Cardassians running into the tunnel. Kathryn must have shot the other one but not before T’Lar saw her take a hit in the leg, which certainly would hurt but not be fatal, even from a Cardassian disrupter. Katie fell and T’Lar hurried to join forces with Carter and the others because she was supporting Mitchell and couldn’t carry Katie as well. When she got there Carter ordered immediate extraction for all of them, even above T’Lar’s objections. T’Lar wanted to go back for Katie but Carter wouldn’t listen even when she said she was sure Kathryn was alive. Once they were aboard the Patton T’Lar again protested until Carter finally ordered the transporter operator to scan for Katie’s signature. By the way, she was wearing a transponder which would have enhanced her signal if not for the disruptor fire, but the operator couldn’t find it. Carter then ordered the ship to leave.”

Paris could see the shocked looks on the faces before him, so he hurried to continue.

“T’Lar again protested but Carter ignored her and he took Mitchell to sickbay. T’Lar then ordered the operator to scan again, but once again he couldn’t detect a signal. There was nothing more T’Lar could do, so as soon as possible she sent me a message.”

“According to T’Lar’s report she was sure that Kathryn was alive, and if she were able to crawl further down the tunnel they had discovered an alcove where she might be able to hide. I’m hoping she did and I’m asking the three of you to join me in a rescue operation.”

All three Voyager crewmen jumped up and shouted, “Let’s go!”

Admiral Paris just smiled and turned on his computer screen, inviting the others to join him in looking at his plan.

“I’ve decided that I need to try out this new Delta Flyer that my son designed and I’ve issued orders to have it prepared for departure in two hours. Nobody knows about this but me and Admiral Hayes, who co-signed the orders and who will cover for me if anyone questions this. T’Lar is on her way back on the Patton, but she will send me the exact location of the alcove and the location of the entrance to the cave system. Apparently it’s well hidden and only Kathryn’s association of the conditions on Bronan with a planet called Ocampa that you discovered in the Delta Quadrant, prompted them to scan for the caves.”

Admiral Paris could see the understanding nods of the three people before him, and he smiled.

“Let’s go!” he ordered. “Be ready in one hour and we’ll beam to the Flyer.”

Everybody nodded, but Chakotay spoke up.

“Admiral, I think it might be a good idea to include Voyager’s Doctor in our little plan. He’s a hologram, but with his portable emitter we can easily smuggle him out of Starfleet Medical and nobody will know. He knows Kathryn’s medical history better than anyone, and if she needs medical attention he’s the best person to offer it.”

“I think we should also take Harry Kim,” B’Elanna piped in. “He’s the best ops officer I’ve ever seen and if we run into trouble I could sure use his help. He’s totally loyal to the Captain and I know he’d willingly help us. Tuvok would come, but he’s receiving treatment for his medical problems and right now he’s physically unable to help.”

“Agreed,” Owen Paris said. “Will you get them?”

“Right away,” Chakotay and B’Elanna shouted together as they almost ran from the room. “We’ll be back here in one hour.”

Kathryn Janeway awoke to pain and she was having a hard time localizing it. Everything hurt, so she lay still as she tried to remember what happened. It took a few minutes but everything came back to her and she remembered rescuing Mitchell and taking a disrupter hit to her leg. What she couldn’t figure out was why she hadn’t been extracted. She was sure that by now the others were either dead or gone, but why was she still here?

Quickly checking her chronometer she realized that seven hours had passed since she crawled into this alcove and she was still here and apparently undetected. Grateful for that, at least, she listened carefully for any signs of movement. Finally deciding that she was indeed alone, she tried to wiggle out from under the overhang so that she could check her leg and assess her situation. Moving was difficult because she hurt so much and she knew that the energy from a disrupter hit spread throughout the body until it finally evaporated, but it damaged the tissue as it dissipated. The worst damage was to the area of impact, in this case her leg, but a Cardassian disrupter was a mean weapon and the one that hit her wasn’t set to softly stun. Only the fact that it hit an extremity saved her from certain death.

It took a few minutes, but she was finally sitting with her back against the alcove wall. Allowing herself a few minutes to pant from exhaustion and to allow the pain to settle, she adjusted her goggles and looked at her leg. Part of her pant leg was gone and the skin of her right thigh was burned, blistered and blackened and the damaged area had spread well beyond the area of impact. Dried blood caked the impact area along with dirt from the cave floor. She knew the small medical kit she carried couldn’t heal the wound, but she still had two doses of painkiller in her hypospray and her small regenerator could help clean up her wound. She’d used most of its power on Mitchell, but it still had a little left.

Giving herself one of the doses of painkiller, she used the regenerator to clean the impact area of her wound. Her small medkit contained a roll of tape and a gauze pad, so with that firmly in place over the impact area she was ready to move.

Slowly dragging herself to her feet and using the wall of the alcove for support, she started the long slow journey to the surface and hopefully the help she needed.

“What do you mean can I be ready immediately?” the Doctor inquired of Chakotay who had just burst into his room at Starfleet Medical where he was allowed to set himself up with a small office so his program could be studied by the Starfleet EMH designers. They wanted to keep him close so they could study his program and question his database on Delta Quadrant aliens, but he was not a prisoner.

“Doc, don’t ask questions, just listen to me. Kathryn Janeway’s life depends on it,” Chakotay muttered as he grabbed the Doctor’s mobile emitter from its case and thrust it at him.

“Download yourself – you’re coming with us to rescue her,” Chakotay almost shouted as he became impatient with the Doctor’s questions. “I’ll answer all your questions as soon as I have you safely away from here, and yes, I do have permission to take you with me. The orders were signed by Admiral Paris and Admiral Hayes.”

“Very well, but grab my medkit that’s sitting on that bench. You know I’d do anything for the Captain. Computer, download the EMH program into the mobile emitter,” the Doctor ordered as he vanished from sight. Grabbing the mobile emitter and the medkit, Chakotay ran from the Doctor’s office.

“How soon?” was all that Harry Kim asked as B’Elanna spoke to him over the comm. unit and explained the situation.

“One hour – be here at the house and don’t tell anyone.” “I’ll be there,” Harry replied as the connection was severed.

“How fast can this shuttle fly?” Admiral Paris asked his son who was flying for all he was worth.

“Fast, and I’ll make her fly even faster,” Tom Paris stated. “B’Elanna, how much more can you give me?”

“I’ll adjust the plasma flow. Give me a few minutes,” she said as she turned her attention back to her engines.

“How are the systems working Harry?” Chakotay asked as he checked and re-checked his monitors.

“All systems are working at 100%,” Harry replied, “but I can probably work it up to 108.”

“Do it,” the Admiral replied amazed at how well Kathryn’s officers worked as a team.

“How long until we get to Bronan?” Chakotay asked as he looked at the information on his tactical display.

“It’s usually five days, but I’m working on two,” Tom answered as he worked with his controls.

“These are very interesting controls,” Owen Paris stated as he fingered the joystick protruding from the panel in front of him. He was seated at the science station. “Do they help the shuttle fly faster?”

“Yes,” Tom stated figuring it was better not to have to explain his passion for 20th century computer games at the present time.

“If that’s so, we’ll have to look into installing them in all our starships,” Owen pondered as he continued to finger the controls and study the panel in front of him.

Harry chuckled and Tom groaned as Chakotay smiled. The Doctor, who was seated at the engineering console until B’Elanna returned from fine tuning the engines, started to speak but was stopped by Chakotay’s look and the shake of his head. Some things were better left for later.

The beep of the communications panel alerted them to an incoming message. Admiral Paris checked the message and announced that it was for him………from T’Lar. Everyone waited to hear what it said.

After a few minutes he looked up at the eager faces that were turned toward him.

“T’Lar transmitted the coordinates of the tunnel system, the entrance coordinates and Kathryn’s transponder code,” the Admiral smiled at them. “Once we approach the planet we can start scanning immediately and Kathryn’s enhanced transponder should be easy to find unless she’s in a disrupter fight. I sincerely hope she’s not especially if she’s hurt,” Owen stated as he retreated into his own thoughts. Everyone else went back to work looking for ways to make the Flyer go faster.

‘Thank God for my tricorder,’ Kathryn thought as she finally noticed daylight ahead of her. She’d been following the coordinates she’d recorded into her tricorder on the way in. The cave entrance they used to enter the tunnels was located less than two miles outside of the settlement and was well concealed by rocks and a few scrub bushes that managed to grow in the dry soil.

She had also taken a moment to study the strange readings she’d taken of the scattered spots in the cave walls. What she found was very disturbing.

Pulling herself along by her arms and one good leg, she emerged into bright daylight and collapsed onto a rock to rest for a minute or two. The painkiller she’d administered in the cave was starting to wear off, but she wanted to wait a while before she used her last dose. She was glad to be out of the caves and now needed to reach the settlement and warn Mieter about the Cardassians, so she would need the painkiller in order to make the journey. She wasn’t sure if they were following her, but the Cardassians she’d stunned in the tunnel should have long ago awakened and sounded the alarm. Could her hiding place in the alcove have been good enough that they’d given up the search? She doubted it although they had discovered the tunnels late yesterday and had rescued Mitchell early this morning. Judging the by placement of the sun it was now mid-afternoon.

Taking a moment to check her leg she was dismayed to find that it was an angry red color around the charred and disfigured flesh where the disrupter beam struck. Knowing that one of the effects of the disrupter beam was that the damage spread slowly throughout the body, she knew that she had to do something as quickly as possible. But she was exhausted and needed to rest before she tried to go any further so Kathryn pulled herself under a rocky overhang so she wouldn’t be easily visible. “Janeway to Patton,” she tried her communicator, but once again there was no answer.

Still wondering why they abandoned her when T’Lar knew she was still alive baffled Kathryn. She could think of no reason except that they were following someone’s orders, most likely those of Admirals Nechynev and Dickson. But what did they have against her? She’d been absent from the Alpha Quadrant for seven years so she didn’t think she had any enemies. Still baffled by this she gave into her tired body and fell asleep.

Night was falling when Kathryn woke. The brutal heat of the day was surrendering to the cold desert night and she wanted to get moving. Sitting under a rock wouldn’t alert Mieter to the danger lurking under the surface of the planet. Once again looking at her leg she was dismayed to find that the damage was spreading, and she didn’t know how far it would spread before it stopped. She wasn’t as familiar with Cardassian weapons as she once was. By hitting her leg instead of her torso she doubted that the damage would spread far enough to kill her, but she wasn’t sure. The pain was much worse, so giving herself the last of the painkiller she started the two mile walk back toward the settlement.

Lt. William Carter reported back to Admiral Dickson and told him what they found in the caves of Bronan. His orders were to return to the planet and wait for Starfleet backup so that the Cardassian base could be destroyed.

“But Admiral, Robert Mitchell is in need of better medical attention than what we have available on the Patton and Captain Janeway is still in the tunnels. Shouldn’t someone try to rescue her before Starfleet destroys the base? If she’s still alive, she won’t have a chance to get out of there. And what becomes of the people living on the surface? Shouldn’t we warn them so they can get out of harm’s way? They’re living right on top of the cave system.”

“You have your orders,” was all Admiral Dickson would say and William Carter was beginning to wonder about his superiors.

The chiming of the door to his quarters claimed his attention and he called, “Enter.”

He wasn’t surprised to see T’Lar enter his quarters…….in fact he had been expecting her.

“Yes Lieutenant.”

“Sir, I would like to know why we abandoned Captain Janeway and why we aren’t taking Robert Mitchell for medical help. It isn’t logical to leave a valuable officer behind when we know that she’s alive and it isn’t logical to deny Mitchell proper medical treatment,” T’Lar stated in her logical Vulcan manner. “I don’t understand Sir,” she said to defuse the anger she thought Carter might exhibit toward her question.

“I have my orders T’Lar, but I’m having second thoughts about them,” Carter admitted. “Our orders go against everything we were taught about being part of the ‘Starfleet Family’ and I came to respect Captain Janeway while she was with us. I don’t believe we should just let her die on Bronan. Just between us, I believe that Admiral Nechynev and/or Admiral Dickson have something against her, and I know for a fact that they both want revenge against the Maquis. But that’s no reason to abandon a fellow officer and it’s no reason to kill innocent people. As second in command of this ship, will you support me if I disregard our orders and try to rescue Janeway and warn the people on Bronan?”

“I will,” T’Lar replied, “but Sir, I have a confession to make.” She had Carter’s undivided attention.

“I am working undercover for Admirals Paris and Hayes and I have sent them a report of what happened on Bronan. I believe they are coming with some of the Voyager crew to try to find Kathryn Janeway and rescue her. Perhaps with their help we could also warn the people on the surface and save their lives. Starfleet will still have the opportunity to destroy the Cardassian base, but innocent lives won’t be lost in the process.”

“Can you contact Admirals Paris and Hayes and offer our help?” Carter asked.

“Yes Sir,” T’Lar stated as she turned to leave. Carter would swear he saw her almost smile.

“They what?” Tom Paris asked as his father again repeated the message he received from T’Lar.

“The Patton wants to help us rescue Kathryn and warn the people on the surface of Bronan that Starfleet ships are on the way to destroy the secret Cardassian base located under their settlement,” Admiral Paris repeated the message he’d just received. “They received no orders to warn the settlers.”

“Starfleet would kill innocent people just to wipe out a Cardassian base?” Chakotay asked. “I guess I should have expected this.”

“No, Commander,” Paris stated. “This isn’t Starfleet, it’s a couple of Admirals who are abusing their power for revenge and I intend to stop them. We’re well ahead of the fleet ships, the Patton isn’t far behind us and I intend to warn the people on the surface and rescue Kathryn before they get here, that is if she’s still alive. I then intend to take command of the ships and I’ll direct the attack on the base so that the people on the surface aren’t targeted, but hopefully we’ll have them out of harm’s way before the attack starts.”

“She’s still alive,” Chakotay softly stated. “I’d know it if she wasn’t.”

Admiral Paris looked at him, but Tom and B’Elanna just smiled.

“How long until we get there?” the Admiral asked Tom.

“Four hours, but I’ll try for less,” Tom stated as he turned his attention back to his controls to try to get just a little more power out of the Flyer’s engines.

She couldn’t keep going much longer and at this point she was all but crawling on her hands and one good knee. The other leg was useless and just dragged along. The pain was returning with a vengeance and she was sweating from fever and exertion even though the night was cold. ‘Just a little further,’ she thought as she pushed another few inches forward.

Kathryn Janeway realized that she only had a few hundred yards to go when she heard a noise coming toward her. Knowing that she needed help and hoping that the noise was being made by a person or persons from the settlement and not Cardassians, she crawled to a nearby rock and pulled herself up. Putting her hand on the phaser at her waist, she waited to see who was making the noise.

A moment later a young couple came into view and they were laughing and hugging each other.

“Excuse me,” Janeway softly said so not to frighten them. “Can you help me?”

The young couple sprung apart and just stared at her. Figuring that she probably looked awful and barely human, she gathered what little strength she had left and spoke again.

“Are you from the settlement? I need help to get to Mietre to warn him about a threat to the settlement. Will you help me?” she asked as she knew she couldn’t stand for much longer. “I know I look awful but I am a human and I have important information for Mietre.”

The young man recovered first. “Ana, help me,” he said to his partner as he moved to Janeway’s side and put her arm over his shoulder. Ana moved to her other shoulder and did the same so that they were effectively holding most of Kathryn’s weight so she could move forward with their support and very little effort on her part.

“My name is Kather…..Katie Jane,” Kathryn remembered the name she had given Mietre earlier. “Thank you for your help. I couldn’t have gotten much further on my own.”

“My name is Aaron and this is Ana,” the young man introduced them as they moved forward. “I’m human and Ana is Bajoran. What happened to you?”

“It’s a long story, but if you help me get to Mietre I’ll tell you all at the same time. I don’t have much strength left so telling my story once is about all I’ll be able to do.”

“We understand,” Ana said softly as they moved as quickly as possible toward the settlement.

“What!” Mietre, Ana and Aaron shouted in unison as Kathryn lay sprawled on a chair in Mietre’s house. Ana and Aaron had taken her there because they knew Meitre wouldn’t be in his office at this hour and they summoned the settlement’s medic who had yet to arrive.

Kathryn was exhausted, in pain and not really thinking clearly anymore. But she did her best to get the urgent message through to them.

“There are tunnels and caves deep under the surface of this planet, and the Cardassians have a large base in an underground cavern,” she repeated. “I saw the base, their settlement and their spacecraft that they have hidden in the cavern. I was looking for my missing friend and happened to scan for caves and tunnels and that’s how I discovered them. We rescued my friend, but I was shot in the process and left behind. I don’t know how I managed to avoid being discovered as I hid in an alcove and then passed out. When I came to I knew I needed to let you know about the base. I was surprised that the Cardassians hadn’t found me, but maybe they passed by and I didn’t realize it. I started to make my way back to the settlement when Aaron and Ana found me on the trail and brought me to you.”

“How did they avoid being detected?” Mietre asked as he let the information seep in. “How did they get their ships in and out of the caverns without us detecting them? We’re constantly scanning in case they decide to attack us. Why did they let us live here?”

Mietre kept asking questions that Kathryn didn’t have the answers to.

“Do you have the location of the entrance to the tunnel?” Mietre finally asked as Kathryn started to drift off.

“What?” she asked as she tried to focus on Mietre.

“The location of the entrance to the tunnels,” Mietre repeated.

Just before she passed out Kathryn handed over her tricorder. “In here, but be caref……….” The blackness finally won out.

Nobody in the group gathered in the settlement’s meeting hall could believe what Mietre was saying. Cardassians were living under their feet and they didn’t know about it?

Leaving Ana behind to care for Kathryn, Mietre and Aaron were warning the people about the threat.

Most of the men wanted to charge blindly into the caves and kill their enemies, but Mietre finally got their attention by shouting the loudest.

“If we try to attack them from the tunnels they can pick us off easily because most likely only two or three men can walk side-by-side in there,” Mietre stated as he waved Kathryn’s tricorder. “Jane’s tricorder shows that the tunnels are narrow in places where we have to pass one at a time. We need to move our people on the surface NOW so they’ll be safe. I suggest we move to a location about 250 miles west of here where we can use a canyon for protection. We can use the shuttles and the one working transporter that we have. In the meantime we’ll take two of our ships into orbit and scan for the caves. Now that we know they’re there, maybe we can determine how large they are and Jane’s tricorder can help. We’ll also align our defense satellite to scan the caves. We need to be prepared and know what we’re facing.”

“I can’t believe we never detected them before,” one of the men in the audience said as he shook his head.

“We never thought to look under our own feet,” Mietre said and the man fell silent. “We kept looking to the skies. They were probably here before us and realized that they could keep an eye on us and we’d never realize what they were doing. This might also explain the disappearance of several of our people. Our settlement is not that large and their ships enter the caverns many miles from here. They’re probably cloaked or else they’ve figured out a way to fool our surveillance satellites. Let’s face it – we don’t have state-of-the-art equipment. And we chose to live here because we wanted to hide and this planet isn’t the most desirable in the quadrant. We don’t get a lot of traffic and most of the ships that come here don’t have the best equipment. It was a perfect setup for the Cardassians.”

The men finally realized that Mietre was making sense so they set about planning their strategy.

“She’s been shot by a Cardassian disrupter which damages cell cohesion,” Tevek told Ana as he cleaned the gaping wound and examined the area around the wound that was disfigured by the blast. Ana and the Doctor had moved Kathryn into Mietre’s spare bedroom to give them room to work on her and Ana filled him in on Kathryn’s story as they worked. “The energy spread throughout most of her body causing cell damage, but the worst damage is concentrated in her leg, abdomen and hip. I’m sure it’s infected because she has a high fever but I don’t think her internal organs were too badly damaged. If we only had better equipment I could heal them now, but without the proper equipment her body will have to heal itself over time. It’s a miracle this woman was able to stand, let alone walk two miles to the settlement. Cardassian weapons are really nasty.”

“I think she crawled most of the way,” Ana said as she handed Tevek a clean rag and a hypospray. “She was very weak when we found her, but she needed to tell Mietre what she found and I think that gave her the strength she needed. Will she be alright?”

“I don’t know. She’s in bad shape but at least she’s still alive. We don’t have much in the way of medicine so there’s not much I can do for her except keep the wound clean and try to fight the infection. I did give her a small dose of antibiotic, but she really needs much more. The rest is up to her but I suspect that there’s more to this woman than meets the eye. Look here,” Tevek indicated the small lump on Kathryn’s arm where the transponder had been inserted under the skin. “I suspect that this is a device so someone can find her. If it is, I wonder why she’s still here and why she was here in the first place. This isn’t exactly the garden spot of the universe.”

“Maybe they couldn’t find her,” Ana said. “But I wonder who she really is.”

“She looks vaguely familiar,” Tevek said as he turned Kathryn’s head to the side. “I just can’t place where I’ve seen her face before. Maybe she’s a criminal.”

“I don’t think so,” Ana spoke up in Kathryn’s defense. “I think she’s trying to help us. Maybe she’s a former Maquis like she claims to be.”

“Maybe,” Tevek agreed as he finished bandaging the open wound on Kathryn’s leg and once again pressed on her abdomen to try to determine how much internal damage was caused by the spread of the disruptor’s energy. “Now we wait and pray that she’s stubborn enough to hang on.”

The Delta Flyer entered orbit of Bronon with the Patton ten minutes behind. Lt. Carter had been in touch with Starfleet and was told that three starships with orders to destroy the Cardassian base were four hours behind them. The ships had been diverted from other missions and had received their orders directly from Admiral Dickson.

“I’m scanning,” Harry Kim reported from his ops station. Everyone waited.

“FOUND HER!” he shouted and slapped his hands on the sides of his console as his indicator showed the transponder code assigned to Janeway. “She’s in a house located in the middle of the settlement and there’s another person with her. A Bajoran woman, I think.” He continued to study his console and the others gathered around to see what he found. They scanned the whole area.

“There’s nobody else in the house, but there is a large gathering of people of different species in a large building not far from the house. What should I do, beam her out or beam you down?” Harry looked at the Admiral and Chakotay.

“We have to warn the people about the Cardassians and about Starfleet,” Chakotay told the Admiral. “I can’t let these people be slaughtered no matter who they are, and there are women and children down there. But if they’re former Maquis they aren’t fighting Starfleet but are trying to right some wrongs and defend themselves. Most of the Maquis are dead and these people are only fighting the same Cardassian rebels that Starfleet is fighting.”

“Agreed and we don’t want to frighten them,” Admiral Paris said as he turned to give orders. “Chakotay and Tom, you’re with me. We’re going to that meeting. Doctor and B’Elanna, you’ll beam to the house and get Kathryn out of there. If the woman with her wants to come back with you, bring her. The Flyer probably has a better medical facility than they have on the planet. Notify me when you’re back and have evaluated her condition.”

“Aye sir,” everyone shouted as they prepared for their missions, glad to finally be able to do something for Kathryn.

The soft moan alerted Ana to Kathryn’s return to consciousness. It took a few minutes but her eyelids started to blink and eventually Ana was looking into confused but intense blue eyes. Realizing that it would take a moment for Kathryn to focus and wonder where she was, Ana beat her to the punch.

“Please stay still and try to relax. You’re safe,” Ana said as she put her hand on Kathryn’s shoulder to keep her still. “You’re in Mietre’s house and the medic has looked at your injury, but our technology is primitive and you need time to heal. We don’t have a real doctor, but Tevek is a passable medic. You’re safe here,” she continued hoping that this information would get through to Kathryn even if nothing else did. “Relax,” she continued as Kathryn’s head turned toward her voice.

“Ana, thank you…..water?” Kathryn barely managed as she did her best to get past the pain and self-evaluate the condition of her body. Her lower body felt like it was on fire, and she realized that she had a fever. The pain kept her from sensing much about her lower body, but other than the fact that she was really weak and a little confused, she didn’t think there was anything wrong with her head. That was a step in the right direction. She moved both arms and found them to be in good shape, so that was another hurdle crossed. She tried to sit up, but immediately fell back when white hot pain stabbed through her. ‘OK, we’ll save that for later,’ she thought.

“Here you go,” Ana said as she gently lifted Kathryn’s head and pushed another pillow under it so Kathryn could drink more easily. She bent the straw so Kathryn could take a drink of water and offered her the glass. Because she was so thirsty Kathryn had the glass emptied in just a minute.

“Better….thanks,” she said as she rested back against the pillows. “Where’s Mietre?”

“He’s holding a meeting to tell the others what you found under our town. I’m not sure what they’ve decided because he hasn’t come back from the meeting, but I’m sure they’re planning what action they should take.”

“You have to get everyone out of here before they do anything or the Cardassians will destroy you. I saw some of their weapons and their ships are much more modern than yours. If Meitre attacks their base you’ll all be destroyed.” Kathryn was starting to get upset. “He doesn’t realize how quickly their ships can destroy this settlement and everyone in it, plus they’ve rigged something up in the cavern and I’m trying to figure out what it is. I have to get to that meeting and warn them.”

“He has your tricorder information and Meitre has a good head on his shoulders even if he is a little rough around the edges. He’ll be careful,” Ana said knowing the other men might not be quite as careful. They all had plenty of reason to hate Cardassians.

“Please help me get to that meeting,” Kathryn pleaded as she tried to push herself up. “I need to give them more information than what they’ll find in that tricorder.” Seeing Ana’s hesitation she continued to plead. “Ana, I don’t want to see all of you slaughtered. Please let me help.”

Knowing that Kathryn couldn’t get to the meeting without help she reluctantly agreed. “OK, I’ll help you, but you really shouldn’t move. You’re very sick Katie.”

“I’d rather be alive and sick than dead,” Kathryn stated as Ana helped her to sit up. Pain shot through her whole body as with Ana’s help she moved her legs from under the cover and dropped her feet over the side of the bed. Realizing that her pants were gone, her leg was heavily bandaged and from the waist down she was clad only in her underpants, she looked quietly at Ana.

“They cut your pants off to treat your wound. Give me a minute,” Ana said as she rushed into another room. She quickly returned with a large man’s shirt which would cover Kathryn’s body down to her knees. “Here, this should make you decent,” she smiled as she helped Kathryn into the shirt. “Lean on me,” Ana said as she helped Kathryn to her feet.

Kathryn couldn’t help the gasp of pain that sliced through her body as her feet touched the floor, but it was too important for her to get to that meeting and warn the townspeople before they rushed into action. They slowly made their way to the door and were almost there when the door burst open and B’Elanna and the Doctor rushed in.

“Captain?” B’Elanna said as she and the Doctor rushed to her side. “We’ve come to get you out of here.”

“Captain?” Ana asked as she looked from Kathryn to B’Elanna and the Doctor who were resplendent in their Starfleet uniforms.

“Yes, I was their captain,” Kathryn wearily stated as the Doctor quickly whipped out his medical tricorder and scanned her. “How did you find me?”

The Doctor ignored her question as he continued to scan. “Captain, we need to get you back to the Flyer. You’re welcome to come too,” he said to Ana who was just standing there with Kathryn’s arm over her shoulders.

“We could use your help,” B’Elanna said as she moved to Kathryn’s other arm.

“Who are you?” Ana asked.

The sound of loud and unhappy voices greeted the Admiral, Chakotay and Tom as they approached the town hall. Knowing that the information they had to deliver wouldn’t improve their mood, the Admiral nevertheless pushed forward.

As they entered the room all faces turned toward them and the arguing stopped as the men starred at them. The Admiral took advantage of the lull and strode forward to the front of the room to stand beside Mietre. His commanding presence drew everyone’s attention immediately.

“Who are you?” Mietre asked as Tom and Chakotay moved to stand beside the Admiral. “I know you,” Mietre said as he pointed at Chakotay.

“We’re from Starfleet and we’re here to rescue a member of our crew and warn you of a threat to your colony and your lives. The Cardassians have a base in the tunnels and caves under your town and your people are in danger. We’d like to relocate your people until the Cardassian threat is neutralized, but there’s also another threat that we need to tell you about. I’m Chakotay, a former member of the Maquis and the Wolf Cell, but for the past seven years I’ve been serving Starfleet aboard the Starship Voyager which was lost in the Delta Quadrant. We just recently returned home to the Alpha Quadrant. Captain Janeway was sent here by Starfleet to rescue a former member of our crew, but she’s missing and we’re looking for her.”

“Katie Jane is Captain Janeway?” Mietre asked in awe. “I knew I recognized you even though I couldn’t remember from where, but I didn’t recognize Captain Janeway. She’s injured and at my house with our medic and one of our women who is looking after her. Do you want me to take you there?”

“No, not yet,” Admiral Paris interrupted. “We need to fill you in on the threat from the Cardassians, but also a threat from Starfleet that is headed this way and should arrive in about two hours.

“Starfleet? But we haven’t done anything to offend Starfleet in a long time,” Mietre said in confusion.

“Let me explain,” the Admiral continued and he proceeded to fill the men in on the details of the Cardassians in the tunnels and the threat from the few Starfleet Admirals who had a vendetta against the Maquis. Together they started to work out their plan.

“Marcus Henley is dead,” Mietre announced once the Admiral finished filling them in on the situation and outlined his plan. “None of the rest of us had anything to do with killing anyone’s relatives. In fact, most of us never even encountered any Starfleet ships because we were stationed at bases and kept planet-side and that’s most likely why we’re still alive.”

“I believe you, but the Admirals involved won’t,” Owen stated. “I want to move your people before the fleet ships get here and open fire. Not everyone in Starfleet thinks the Maquis were wrong. Maybe we didn’t agree with your methods, but your goal was a fair one. I don’t know what I’d do if I were in your situation and I’m glad I never had to find out. I’m going to try to take command of the ships when they arrive and direct their fire at the Cardassian base, but I’d rather not take any chances with your people’s lives. I need your help.”

At that moment the door was flung open and everyone once again turned their eyes to the back of the room where Kathryn Janeway now stood with her arms around the shoulders of B’Elanna and a Bjoran woman. The Doctor was there as well hovering over his patient.

“Kathryn,” Chakotay cried as he hurried to her. “Why are you here instead of on the Flyer?” he looked at B’Elanna and the Doctor for an answer. Kathryn was irritated that he didn’t direct the question to her.

“She wouldn’t go back to the ship until she could tell what she found in the tunnels and warn the settlers of the danger,” B’Elanna spoke up. “It’s extremely important.”

“You can talk to me Chakotay,” an irritated Janeway announced. “My leg may hurt a little, but there’s nothing wrong with my head. By the way, where’s Seven?” she couldn’t help but dig.

“A little????” the Doctor chimed in about Kathryn’s leg and beat Chakotay to the punch. “And she has a high fever so I wouldn’t bet on her head.”

“That’s enough Doctor,” Kathryn turned on him, the Captain shining through much to Chakotay’s relief although he could see the pain and exhaustion in her face.

Chakotay finally got his chance to speak. “I don’t know where Seven is. I haven’t seen her since we got back and she left to visit her aunt. Why did you ask?” although he knew the answer. He was really sorry that he didn’t get a chance to talk to Kathryn before she found out about him and Seven. He realized how much that must have hurt her.

Kathryn ignored Chakotay’s question and concentrated on the others. “I wanted to be sure the settlers knew about the threat from the Cardassians. I couldn’t remember how much I told Mietre and the information in my tricorder might need interpretation. I wanted to help them,” she said as she started to sag onto B’Elanna and Ana.

“We have your tricorder information and the Delta Flyer has mapped the caves from orbit. Thanks to your information and information we received from T’Lar we have planned the evacuation of the settlers to a remote canyon about 650 miles from here so they’ll be safe, and we’re going to set up false bio-signatures here in case the fleet ships won’t cooperate. The Patton returned to help us and there are three fleet ships on their way with orders to destroy the Cardassians AND the Maquis. I plan to pull rank and take command of the ships,” Admiral Paris condensed their plans for Kathryn. “If possible we’d like to capture the Cardassian rebels and destroy their base.”

“Please let the Doctor take you to sickbay on the Patton so he can treat your injuries,” the Admiral continued. “I think we have things under control for the moment and we’re going to start the evacuations as soon as Mietre and the others gather the settlers for transport. Don’t make me have to order you,” he pleaded.

“You have the Flyer?” Kathryn asked the Admiral as what he said registered in her fever-clouded mind. “I’d like to beam to the Flyer with you. There’s something you need to know about those caves that doesn’t show up on the scans, and with the Flyer’s sensors I can help.”

Knowing that he really needed her information, Admiral Paris reluctantly agreed.

“We’ll have our people ready in one hour,” Mietre said as he and the others prepared to leave.

“Make it sooner if you can,” said the Admiral. “Those fleet ships might arrive sooner than I expect and I want you safe and protected before they get here. My son will coordinate things here on the planet and the rest of us will beam back to our ship. Tom will set up the false bio-signatures and let me know when you’re ready to move.”

“Yes Sir,” Tom and the settlers said in unison.

Admiral Paris, Janeway, Chakotay, B’Elanna and the Doctor beamed back to the Flyer. Ana decided to stay with Aaron and help explain to the Maquis settlers why they were being moved from their homes.

Harry Kim smiled and then gasped as he saw his Captain materialize between B’Elanna and Chakotay. She looked awful – nothing like the immaculately groomed Captain he was used to seeing. Her hair was in disarray, her face, hands and clothing were dirty and there were bandages wrapped around blackened and distorted skin on her leg which showed below the oversized shirt she was wearing. She looked terrible, but at the same time since he was so glad to see her alive, she looked absolutely beautiful to him.

“Welcome back Captain,” he smiled as he tried to hide his dismay at what looked like a very painful wound. “I’m ecstatic that the reports of your death were exaggerated.”

“Thanks Harry, and it’s good to see you too,” she replied as she indicated for B’Elanna and Chakotay to lower her into one of the seats.

“We need to get you to sickbay,” the Doctor again protested as he saw determination written on the Captain’s face. “At least let me properly diagnose your injuries, patch you up as best I can with the limited time you’ll allow me, clean your wound and give you some painkiller. We’ll leave the surgery I know you need until later. The medicine will help clear your mind and allow you to concentrate. Then you can return to the bridge until this mission is over at which time I expect you to spend the trip back to Earth in sickbay.”

“Agreed, but make it fast,” Janeway wearily said because she knew she needed the painkiller in order to stay alert. “Help me Chakotay?”

Chakotay reached for her outstretched hand, but instead of letting her lean on him like he knew she intended, he whisked her up into his arms and carried her much to the Doctor’s delight. As they left the bridge, the others slid into the seats at their respective stations in order to prepare to move the settlers. Janeway lowered her weary head to Chakotay’s shoulder and murmured a quiet ‘thanks.’

Admiral Paris contacted the Patton and updated Carter and T’Lar on the plan, and both ships positioned themselves to begin transport as soon as Tom notified them that the settlers were ready and the bio signatures set up.

Word came from Mietre on the surface that the settlers were ready, and both ships began transporting the settlers to a safer place.

Kathryn clenched her teeth and tried to remain calm as the Doctor ran his tricorder over her body and announced the extent of her injuries. She wanted to slam his medical tricorder into his babbling mouth, but she needed his help and the painkillers he could give to her so she did her best to remain calm and hold still. If the truth be told, she was only too glad to stay still because every time she tried to move a white hot pain shot up her leg and into her body. She needed to focus on the threat at hand, not moan in pain. She knew that the Doctor was also her friend and realized that her anger wasn’t directed at him but was fueled by the pain.

After the Doctor finished his scan he paused to study the results and then addressed his Captain.

“You need surgery and you need it now. But of course since we’re in a crisis you don’t have the time and you want me to get you back on your feet until the crisis is over, after which time you promise to return to sickbay for the surgery. But, of course, your idea of when the crisis is over and mine may be two different things so let’s make a deal. After all, I do know you very well Captain.”

Kathryn looked at him in amazement, and then she slowly smiled as she realized his intention. He wanted to let her know that he was willing to help for now, but that the ball was in his court as to how long she could go before he stopped her. As her friend he wouldn’t let her do permanent damage and would be there for her each step – if she were able to take any steps – of the way. In the meantime it would allow her to accomplish her mission and save her crew from any more punishment.

“Understood Doctor,” Kathryn replied in a friendly tone of voice. “Let’s save those people and disarm the Cardassians and then you can do what you must. You’re my friend as well,” she added and was waiting to see him smile.

The Doctor was flabbergasted and wasn’t sure what to say so he turned to Chakotay. “Did I just hear her say she’d cooperate?”

“You did, and I’ll help you enforce your orders,” Chakotay replied with a smile. Between the Doctor’s attitude and Kathryn’s reply he realized just how serious her injuries were, but that she would be alright because the Doctor wouldn’t let it be any other way.

“Relax and give me a few minutes,” the Doctor said as he reached for his hypospray, pressed it against Kathryn’s neck and then started to undo the bandages on Kathryn’s leg.

Chakotay gasped as he saw the bloody, blackened and disfigured skin and the impact hole where some of her muscles were damaged or disintegrated. In one spot he saw the bone peeking through. He wondered just how far up her body the spreading damage went, but the arms of the biobed came up and around Kathryn’s body and the Doctor was programming the machine to start healing her internal damage and patch her up – for now. This treatment would hold her over until he could do the more serious surgery. The shot he gave her was making her drowsy and if she were honest she knew she needed a few minutes of rest. She focused on Chakotay’s face as the world faded to black. Her last thought was to wonder why he didn’t care where Seven was.

“I don’t care what your orders are, I’m taking command of this mission,” Admiral Paris barked to the captains of the two Federation ships that had just made orbit of Bronan. “I’m the ranking officer here and have the situation under control so you’ll take your orders from me.”

“We have our orders from Admiral Dickson,” Captain Jameson of the Starship Phoenix said as he looked at his viewscreen to judge the reaction of Captain Brell of the Starship Armstrong. From what he could see, Brell was just as confused as he was. They hadn’t expected another Starfleet ship to be at Bronan.

“Where is the Jupiter?” Admiral Paris asked. “I was told there would be three ships, not two.”

“The Jupiter had to return to the Utopia shipyards for repairs. Her warp drive went down and they couldn’t figure out how to align the plasma injectors without blowing up their core. Utopia sent a ship to tow the Jupiter, so she won’t be joining us,” Captain Brell stated. He was a Bolian and if it were possible to turn bluer, he was trying. “I’m sorry, but it’s just the two of us Admiral.”

“Just so you understand – I give the orders and you’re not to contact Dickson,” Admiral Paris stated in his best no-nonsense voice and command presence. “Here’s the plan……….”

Kathryn made the journey back to consciousness slowly, but as she became more and more aware she realized that the awful pain from her disrupter wound was now a dull ache and that her head felt better. She had a dull ache throughout her whole body, but she was expecting that and could easily handle it. Slowly she opened her eyes so the lights in the Flyer’s sickbay wouldn’t overwhelm her and as she looked up she saw the smiling face of Chakotay looking down at her.

“Welcome back,” he said as he watched her wake up. “How do you feel?” “Much better,” she said as she started to pull herself into a sitting position. Chakotay’s gentle hand on her shoulder stopped her. “Give it a minute,” he offered.

“Ahhhh, my patient has returned to the land of the awake,” the Doctor smiled as he approached and ran a tricorder over her. “You still need serious surgery, but I think I can keep you going for a few hours until this crisis is over. But you must understand that you will be sitting on the Flyer’s bridge and not leading a full-tilt charge down the tunnels and caves on the planet. You can assess the situation and give orders and suggestions, but you can’t lead any away missions. Do you understand?”

“Of course Doctor, and thank you.” Kathryn smiled as she slowly sat up and moved to slide off the biobed.

“Not so fast,” the Doctor said as he waved his hypospray as he held her on the bed. He pressed the hypospray against her neck and then stepped back. “You will not be walking unless you are leaning on someone or using crutches. Your leg can’t take much movement and I don’t want you putting weight on it. I have to reconstruct some of your muscles. I’d prefer if you were carried or in a best case scenario, remain here on the biobed.” Her glare at the Doctor said it all.

“Commander, will you assist me?” Kathryn smiled as Chakotay stepped up to her right side and she slid off the bed with her arm around his waist and her right leg lifted off the ground. Smiling he put his arm around her shoulders and supported her as they left sickbay even though he really would have preferred to carry her.

“Thank you Doctor,” Kathryn said as they moved toward the bridge. The Doctor accompanied them much to Kathryn’s dismay.

The Flyer’s bridge was a hive of activity when Kathryn and Chakotay arrived. As they moved to the Tactical station and Kathryn slid into the seat, everyone else turned to smile at her.

“Welcome back Captain,” Tom Paris said with a smile as he turned from his position at the helm.

Admiral Paris also turned and smiled. “Welcome home Katie. I’ve taken command of the ships and we’re starting our attack on the Cardassian base. The settlers have all been moved to safety and a message was sent to the Cardassians asking for their surrender. They have thirty seconds until we fire.”

As the Admiral was speaking a message came through from the Armstrong. “Phasers are targeted and we’re beginning our attack run,” Captain Brell stated.

!! – WAIT!!” Kathryn cried as she jumped from her seat and pain knifed up her leg. “DON’T FIRE!!………..YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND!!!”

hold your fire,” Paris ordered to Captain Brell as he turned to Kathryn. “What’s wrong Kathryn?”

Kathryn slowly sank back down onto her seat and took a deep breath to dispel the pain.

Cardassians have tri-cobalt devices planted in the cave and tunnel walls. If you fire the phasers at the caves, the devices will detonate and disrupt the planet’s tectonic plates because there are deep faults under the caves. By detonating one of the devices they’re set up to cascade and one-by-one they’ll detonate. The planet will then implode killing all life on the surface. I detected the devices with my tricorder when I was in the caves, but things were happening too fast for me to decipher my information until later. After that all I could focus on was warning Mietre about the Cardassians living under his town and I forgot about the devices. If you fire you’ll not only kill the Cardassians, you’ll kill the settlers and most likely all the ships in orbit.”

Good God!” Admiral Paris exclaimed as he looked hard at Kathryn. “I don’t have to ask if you’re sure, but how can we drive them out without blowing up ourselves and the Maquis?”

I thought about that and I believe that if we channel gamma waves toward the entrances to the cave system that this will cause some of the rocks to collapse, and this in turn will cause rockslides in the tunnels and hopefully seal in the Cardassians. I’m hoping that this will also seal the entrance to their docking bays so they won’t be able to launch any ships to attack us. Tri cobalt devices need powerful energy fuses as strong as focused phaser energy to detonate but gamma waves shouldn’t affect them. Even if the walls collapse on them they won’t detonate without a triggering device being activated. If they’re dodging rocks, maybe the Cardassians won’t have time to detonate the devices and they’ll surrender to us. They’re not sure what we’re going to do and I’ll bet that they don’t really want to die.”

Admiral Paris pondered Kathryn’s solution for a few minutes and then contacted the captains of the other ships to explain the situation.

Perhaps we should each take an entrance or the docking bay,” Captain Brell suggested. “That way we can hit all their escape routes at once.”

"Good idea", Paris agreed as he proceeded to issue assignments to the ships in their small fleet which proceeded to bombard the planet with gamma waves until their sensors told them that the cave entrances and docking bay entrance were collapsing.

Cardassian ship managed to escape before the docking entrance was sealed, but the Armstrong managed to disable the ship and their self-destruct ability before they could get very far. Knowing it was hopeless to continue the fight and with their self-destruct useless, the ship’s captain surrendered to the Armstrong and Captain Brell.

less than an hour the Cardassians trapped under the surface of the planet contacted the Flyer and agreed to the surrender terms offered by Admiral Paris, much to the relief of the Starfleet ships and their crews. None of the Starfleet group wanted to kill the men, women and children living in the caves, and without Starfleet’s transporters they had no hope of escaping from their underground prison.

Admiral Paris was in touch with Starfleet and a delegation was in route to Bronan to handle the situation. In the meantime, the Armstrong was ordered to monitor the situation and handle anything that might come up. The Armstrong would stay behind while the other ships made their way back to Earth.

Once the crisis on the surface passed and Admiral Paris had taken control of the situation, Kathryn, Chakotay and the Doctor transferred to the Phoenix, which had a much better equipped sickbay than the small single biobed on the Flyer or the sickbay on the much older Patton. Ensign Mitchell had been transferred there too and was being treated by a Starfleet doctor, but Kathryn insisted that Voyager’s Doctor be the one to treat her.

Of course, this did much for the Doctor’s ego and he eagerly set out to heal her injuries and impress his counterpart.

Once Kathryn was on the biobed and before the Doctor sedated her to begin the surgery, Chakotay had a minute to talk to her.

“You really had us worried. Please don’t do that to me again,” he pleaded. “We all thought you had gone to prison to buy our freedom and that’s not something that any of us would have allowed. Don’t you know how much I care for you?”

“No, not anymore,” Kathryn replied sadly, “I knew you and Seven were together. I didn’t want to interfere with your relationship because I wanted you to be happy.”

“You’re the only person who can make me truly happy,” he replied taking a chance with his honesty. “In desperation because you couldn’t allow us to have a relationship while you were still the captain and I had pretty well given up, I thought about a relationship with Seven because she approached me and asked if I would date her. But she just wasn’t you and could never be you. We had two dates, but both quickly realized that it wouldn’t work for us. She loves you too, you know, as a mentor and role model. I, on the other hand, love you truly.”

Kathryn looked into his eyes and knew the truth of his heart, and she allowed him to see the truth in her eyes too. Chakotay could see the realization bring joy to her eyes and he knew she could see joy in his eyes as well.

“Oh Kathryn!” Chakotay cried as he gathered her to him for a quick hug. “Get well soon so we can have a proper welcome home for all of us.”

The hiss of the Doctor’s hypospray alerted them to the fact that it was time for surgery.

“I will,” she whispered as the sedative took effect and she fell asleep. The Doctor raised the arches over Kathryn’s body and was ready to begin.

Consciousness returned slowly to Kathryn Janeway. She first noticed faint voices talking in the background but couldn’t figure out who was talking or what they were saying. She knew she was comfortable and free of pain so she just relaxed. She’d been in this situation many times before and recognized what was happening. The blackness engulfing her seemed to lighten and she could feel warmth around her right hand but she didn’t know what it was. As the blackness turned to gray she could begin to make out the voices and she recognized them immediately as she struggled to open her eyes which seemed to be glued shut.

“She’s coming around,” the Doctor announced in his usual know-it-all voice. “It will take a few minutes.”

“How is she?” Chakotay asked as he gripped her hand harder as if willing his strength to her to help her make the trip back.

“She’s fine, but this will take a few minutes,” the Doctor replied as he studied the readings on the biobed.

Finally she managed to part her eyelids and open her eyes to be greeted by the smug face of the Doctor and the worried face of Chakotay, who was still holding her right hand.

“Hi,” she barely whispered as she gathered her wits and tried to speak. Her mouth was very dry so she croaked out the word, “Water?”

In a matter of seconds the Doctor was there to raise her shoulders off the bed and slip a straw between her lips. The water tasted good and allowed her voice to once again work properly.

“Where are we?” Kathryn asked as she looked around the unfamiliar sickbay. She saw Mitchell sitting up on a bed nearby and an unfamiliar doctor and nurse talking to him. When he heard her voice Mitchell looked at her and smiled.

“You’re on the starship Phoenix,” Chakotay offered with relief in his voice. “You and I were transferred here from the Flyer so you could have your surgery. The Phoenix has an up-to-date sickbay, unlike the Patton, so you and Mitchell were transferred here to be treated. You’re both going to be fine. We’re on our way back to Earth and should arrive sometime tonight.”

“Home,” Kathryn whispered as she lay back on the bed and smiled.

“Yes, home,” Chakotay offered as he squeezed her hand. “Welcome home.”

This time the view of Earth filling the viewscreen was a hopeful sight for Kathryn Janeway. Still recovering from her surgery, the Doctor allowed her to sit on the bridge of the Phoenix flanked by Chakotay, Captain Jameson, Admiral Paris and himself. Tom, B’Elanna and Harry were flying the Delta Flyer because they wanted one last flight on Tom’s toy before Starfleet confiscated her to study. The Doctor was there to keep an eye on his former captain and to make sure she didn’t walk unassisted on her healing leg, but if he were honest he wanted to experience their return to Earth, even if it wasn’t on Voyager. He was busy in sickbay with B’Elanna when they arrived in Voyager.

“Welcome home Kathryn,” Chakotay smiled as he squeezed the hand he was holding and had hardly left go of since after her surgery in sickbay. “You’re finally really and truly home.”

Tears threatened to spill from her eyes as she looked up at him. “Home,” she whispered. “I now feel like I’m truly home.” One tear escaped and trailed down her cheek.

“Me too,” Chakotay said as he gently wiped the tear from her cheek and then looked around. “This is where I should have been before - beside you.”

“That’s the past. Now we look to the future,” she said as she couldn’t tear her eyes from the screen.

“Before I rest though there’s something I must do. Those Admirals wanted me to die out there before I ever saw my family or had a chance to enjoy being home. They used poor Robert Mitchell to lure me to my death, and they almost killed him in the process. I want them to be brought to justice for that and not be allowed to use that power against anyone else for their own personal vendettas.”

“Promise me you won’t try to do this alone,” Chakotay replied with worry seeping into his voice. “You know the whole crew as well as Admirals Paris and Hayes will support you, but I don’t want you risking your life again. Kathryn, we’ve finally been given our chance to be happy and I don’t want to risk losing that. This angry warrior is tired and needs to embrace the peace in his life, and that can only be with you.”

“I promise.” Kathryn smiled up at him as she was finally able to pull her eyes away from the sight of Earth on the viewscreen.

“OK, my patient’s time on the bridge is up and she needs to return to sickbay,” the Doctor quipped in knowing that he was interrupting something beautiful but also knowing he had to give her a final checkup before she was transferred to Starfleet Medical. “You do want to get off this ship, don’t you?” he asked as he directed his question to his captain.

“You bet. Let’s go.” Kathryn gave a final look at the screen before the Doctor ordered their transport to sickbay.

Three weeks later Kathryn was finished with her physical therapy and declared fit to return to duty. She hadn’t heard anything from Admiral Dickson or Admiral Necheyev, but was determined to find out why they had sent her on the mission and why they wanted her dead. Admirals Paris and Hayes had visited her in the hospital and were working with her on a plan to confront them to get answers. Knowing that her mission orders were part of Starfleet records they all felt that she was within her rights to question the mission, legally if necessary. And once the mission reports were filed, three other admirals approached Paris to say they didn’t know the true nature of the mission before they signed the orders.

Chakotay stayed by her side the whole time she was in the hospital and even moved into the temporary apartment that Starfleet set up for her near headquarters. Things were going nicely for them and their former crew was thrilled that their relationship was finally developing.

They were truly surprised when Seven of Nine came out of concern to visit Kathryn in the hospital and to let her mentor know that she had accepted a position as an advisor to Starfleet concerning the Borg and unexplored parts of the galaxy that Federation ships had not yet reached. The visit went better than any of them could have expected, and when Kathryn asked how Seven knew she was in the hospital she admitted that she was now seeing the Doctor and that their relationship was developing nicely. Kathryn and Chakotay were very happy for them and promised to stay in touch.

Kathryn’s reunion with her mother and sister was everything she hoped for. Gretchen Janeway had aged since Kathryn was lost in the Delta Quadrant because of worry and the passage of time, and her sister had married and now had two children. Phoebe named her daughter Kathryn in honor of her sister, and Kathryn was thrilled at the honor.

Gretchen and Phoebe both welcomed Chakotay into their family with open arms, and it took several years off Gretchen’s appearance when she realized that her older daughter was finally happy. She was just waiting for them to tell her to arrange a wedding, which she was anxious to do, and this too eased the worry lines on her face. But she knew there was something that Kathryn wasn’t telling her and she didn’t know what it was.

Still furious that Owen Paris hadn’t informed her when Kathryn first got home, she was trying to figure out what happened and how Kathryn landed in the hospital. Once Kathryn was better Gretchen became determined to get the answers she wanted. She marched into Starfleet Headquarters to confront Owen in his office.

“I’m sorry, but Admiral Paris has visitors,” the ensign outside of Paris’ office said.

“He’ll see me,” Gretchen ordered in her best no-nonsense voice. “Now step aside.” She pushed her way past the befuddled ensign and marched into Owen’s office.

“Owen, I need to talk to you,” she almost shouted and then stopped short as she saw that several admirals as well as Kathryn and Chakotay were seated around his desk.

“Mom?” Kathryn questioned as she never expected to see her mother at headquarters.

“Kathryn?” Gretchen stammered and then regained her composure. “I came here to find out why I wasn’t informed when Kathryn got home and why she was sent immediately on such a dangerous mission. I know for a fact that this isn’t the way Starfleet operates and I want to protect my daughter.”

After exchanging glances with his visitors and getting their unspoken approval, Owen sighed and told Gretchen to sit down. Since Gretchen was the wife of a famous admiral and had been involved with Starfleet most of her life, they knew they could trust her. She had done some work for Starfleet over the years as an admiral’s wife and as an admiral’s widow, so she was entitled to know a limited amount of information. Less than an hour later Gretchen had all the facts and realized that they were looking for the motive.

“I think I can help with a motive,” Gretchen spoke up when everyone else fell silent.

“What!” everyone chimed in. “The motive you’re looking for has to do with Edward and Alayna Necheyev,” Gretchen spoke and immediately had everyone’s undivided attention.

Looking somewhat introspective and sad, she continued.

“Before Edward and I were together, he was dating Alayna. She and I were childhood friends and roommates in college, and that’s how I met Edward. Even though Edward wasn’t serious about Alayna, she fell in love with him and wanted to marry him. Edward, however, had other ideas and told her that he didn’t love her and wanted to pursue his career, so they broke up. I don’t think the break-up was especially pleasant, but I didn’t ask questions.”

“I know how devastated Alayna was because we were still roommates and friends, although shortly after that we graduated from college and Alayna went off to Starfleet and I moved home to Indiana to teach school. I often wondered if Alayna didn’t join Starfleet just so she could pursue Edward. A few months later, much to my surprise, Edward called and asked me out on a date. I asked him about Alayna and he told me that they were through and weren’t seeing each other anymore. So I went out with him and one date lead to another, and before long we had fallen in love.”

Gretchen continued. “Before I was able to tell her myself, Alayna found out that I was seeing Edward and was very upset about the situation. I told her that had I known she still loved him that I would not have accepted his offer of a date, but that did little good. She was very angry and hurt and accused me of stealing her boyfriend, which wasn’t true. We haven’t been friends since, although I do see her from time to time at Starfleet functions. She always gives me a hateful look.”

Everyone was leaning forward in their seats to hear what Gretchen had to say next, especially Kathryn who never heard this story before.

“Then Edward and I married and soon after I became pregnant with Kathryn. Alayna didn’t take this well, and every time she would see me she would say nasty things. After Kathryn was born, she said awful things, but our friends knew the situation and just tried to keep her away from us. I do remember one time hearing her tell Edward that he would be sorry for what he did and that she’d take it out on Kathryn if she had to. Edward got very angry and threatened to have her arrested if he ever caught her anywhere close to me or Kathryn. She never approached us again.”

“I think that’s the reason Alayna never married. She was still in love with Edward.” Gretchen turned to see the stunned faces of her audience. “I guess she finally got her chance for revenge,” she whispered.

“As for Dickson – he hates all Maquis because his son, Sean, a Starfleet ensign, was killed during a skirmish that involved Maquis and Cardassians. The facts say that Sean’s ship was destroyed by Cardassian fire, but Dickson refuses to believe that. He blames everyone. After Sean’s death he and his wife, Marcy, separated and his daughter went with Marcy. He hasn’t heard from them since so his bitterness and desire for revenge knows no bounds. He’d do anything to hurt anyone associated with the Maquis.”

Gretchen glanced at Kathryn and Chakotay as she continued.

“As for Karne Cha, he’s just greedy and would do anything to bring wealth to himself and his government. I’d be willing to bet that he sold himself out for a lucrative contract for Bolia.”

After Gretchen stopped speaking everyone just sat trying to digest what she said.

“Mom, you never told me about Necheyev,” Kathryn said softly. “I’ve been dealing with her, although not directly, for years and never knew she hated me.”

I didn’t want you to know and neither did Edward.” Gretchen patted Kathryn’s hand. “We weren’t exactly proud of how she felt about us – right or wrong.”

“I think you’re right,” Owen offered after a moment. “I remember both of the situations now that you’ve refreshed my memory. Now we have to get them to admit their involvement, although their signatures on Kathryn’s orders will be enough to prosecute them.”

An hour later a plan had been put in motion.

Kathryn and Chakotay sat quietly on a park bench appreciating the warm feel of nature moving around them. Now back on Earth for slightly more than ten months, they were finally getting their lives together. The beauty and solitude of the gardens at Starfleet Headquarters was unparalleled in San Francisco and they were enjoying every minute of it. The sounds of birds and insects buzzing around in the late September afternoon sun lulled them and made them feel relaxed and sleepy.

“It’s finally over Kathryn,” Chakotay stated as he leaned back against the bench. “Necheyev and Dickson will never bother you again.”

“Or you,” Kathryn sighed as her mind played back the past two months. Both admirals had been tried, one-by-one, and convicted of using their power to cause harm to those under their command for personal revenge. An hour ago they had been dishonorably discharged from Starfleet and sentenced to five years each at the penal colony in southern Argentina, and upon their release from prison they were to be moved to a colony planet near Vulcan to be rehabilitated and incorporated into that planet’s society.

Kathryn and Chakotay left the courtroom and headed for the gardens to avoid the press and the sympathetic glances of their colleagues and the other admirals. With promises to catch up with some of their former crewmembers later, they escaped for a few minutes of peace and quiet and just to spend some time alone.

It took almost three months for the plan that the admirals had devised to get Necheyev and Dickson to admit what they did, but the catalyst that brought forth the confession was none other than Gretchen Janeway. Subtle tactics by Paris and Hayes were getting them nowhere, and pressure from several other admirals to admit what they did could not get them to confess, even though the orders and mission records were held up as evidence. But when confronted with an irate mother, Alayna screamed her hatred of Kathryn, Phoebe, Edward and Gretchen, her desire for revenge against them all, and her plans to get Kathryn killed. Since Gretchen had been outfitted with surveillance equipment, every damming word was recorded and used at the trial, and since Alayna had also implicated Dickson and Cha, they went down with her. Cha had no personal vendetta against Kathryn, Mitchell or the Maquis, but he was an accomplice so he was dishonorably discharged and sent back to Bolia in shame. Dickson went to prison along with Necheyev.

“How do you feel?” Chakotay asked as he gathered Kathryn into his arms and laid his hand on her slightly rounded tummy. “And how is our son?”

“Fine and beautiful,” Kathryn answered both of his questions. “I’ve never been happier and that’s thanks to you. I don’t know what I’d do without you Chakotay. You’re the light of my life and the wind beneath my wings.”

“Oh Kathryn, you’re my life and my heart. I love you so much and the day you agreed to become my wife was the happiest day of my life.”

“I never thought that when you finally asked me to marry you and I said ‘yes’ that we’d be married less than an hour later.”

“I didn’t want to risk losing you again, so I talked to your mother, Admiral Paris, Tom and B’Elanna before I asked you and had them standing by in the Starfleet Chapel to wait for your answer,” Chakotay smiled as he remembered that day. “Since they were all hoping you’d say ‘yes’, they were only too glad to oblige me. Tom kept muttering ‘it’s about time’, while your mother kept hugging me. Once you said ‘yes’, I gave the signal to them and hurried you to the ceremony. I hope you don’t mind. I wasn’t taking any more risk of losing you.”

“It was wonderful,” Kathryn said as she hugged herself. “Even though I didn’t have time to prepare it was so romantic. Then again, I didn’t have time to change my mind or develop any doubts. The dress you surprised me with was just what I would have picked for myself, and the flowers were fantastic. You did a great job, and I’m glad you did.”

“Your mother helped,” he said. “In fact, she helped a lot as did Admiral Paris who wouldn’t let anyone but himself marry us. Of course Tom and B’Elanna jumped at the chance to be part of it all.”

“And it was perfect,” Kathryn sighed as she leaned against his shoulder.

“Excuse me,” interrupted the couple’s contemplation and returned their attention to the present.

“We’re sorry to interrupt, but we’d like a few minutes to talk to you,” Mariah Henley spoke softly. “It’s very important to both of us.”

Kathryn and Chakotay both looked up at the same time and straight into the smiling faces of Mariah Henley and Robert Mitchell, who stood nervously before them.

“Mariah!” Chakotay cried as he jumped up and gathered his former crewmate into his arms. “It’s so good to see you. I didn’t hear you coming.”

Kathryn also jumped up and gave Mitchell a quick hug. “I’m glad you’re fully recovered and back home safe and sound. And congratulations on your promotion.”

“All thanks to you,” Mitchell offered to Kathryn as he leaned over to shake Chakotay’s outstretched hand. “Congratulations to both of you on your marriage and impending parenthood. It’s about time. The crew has been trying to get you together for years so I’m glad it finally happened.”

Everyone laughed at Mitchell’s comments because they knew it was true. “We are too,” Kathryn laughed as she sat back down and indicated that the others should sit as well. “As I recall, there were a lot of unexplained power outages and stalled turbolifts when Chakotay and I were alone together on Voyager. What did you want to see us about?”

“First we want to tell you about Marcus Henley, my cousin,” Mariah started. “He was a cell leader and one of the bravest of the Maquis. We were close friends growing up, and he recruited me into the Maquis when I was a teenager. I know Robert was sent to apprehend him, but I also know that Robert would not have turned him in to Necheyev. His plan was to warn Marcus about the Admirals’ plans and then try to locate the Cardassian base. As you know, he died on Bronan at the hands of the Cardassians but to his friends he was a hero. Marcus would have liked that. He had a big ego,” Mariah laughed. “I will miss him, but his death saved his fellow Maquis and exposed the Cardassian base. They’re no longer a threat to the Maquis or the Federation and his friends are thinking of naming their town after him.”

“I know Robert had nothing to do with Marcus’ death. If he could have done it he would have saved him. I’m only glad you were able to save Robert,” Mariah turned to Kathryn. “Thank you.”

Mariah continued……….. “Robert came to me before he left for Bronan and told me what he was going to do. We had broken off our serious relationship on Voyager, but we discovered that we still had feelings for each other. Robert admitted to me that he broke off our relationship so that it wouldn’t distract him from his mission. He still did love me and didn’t want to hurt me if he had to turn in Marcus. When Robert returned and was in the hospital, I visited every day and our feelings for each other developed stronger than ever.”

Both crewmen suddenly looked nervous and prepared to speak, but Mariah spoke first. “There’s something else Captain. We want to get married and we want you to marry us aboard Voyager. We’ve gotten permission to have a small wedding service in one of Voyager’s holodecks and a reception at Starfleet Headquarters after the ceremony. But we both agree that we want you to perform the ceremony. And Chakotay, I would love it if you would give away the bride. I’ve asked Sam Wildman to be my bridesmaid…………..”

“And I’ve asked Geron to be my best man,” Mitchell interrupted. “Please Captain Janeway, will you marry us?”

“Absolutely,” Kathryn beamed. “I’m so happy for you. Just let me know when, although I would appreciate it if you could avoid the months of January and February. The baby is due at the end of January and I would hate to miss the party.”

“We were thinking the end of November,” Mitchell stated, “if that’s OK with you.”

“Send me the details and I’ll take care of the rest,” Kathryn smiled as she reached out and touched both of their hands. “I’m really happy for you.”

‘Thank you Captain,” Mariah offered as they stood and then walked away hand-in-hand.

“Well, Kathryn, your Voyager kids are growing up and making their own lives. I guess it’s time for us to see if the press and our colleagues are still waiting so that we can get this over with and go home.

“Home,” Kathryn whispered. “We’re finally home.”

The End

2005-2006