Portrait of a Tear

~~~~ a Y a ~~~~

DISCLAIMER: Paramount owns the best world in the galaxy. I only visit and play with their characters. No infringement is intended – just a chance for me to say what I would like to see and TPTB do not deliver.

~~~~ a Y a ~~~~

Her breath came in painful gasps as she ran through the corridors on Deck 13, glancing over her shoulder every few steps. She was exhausted and her chest was burning from lack of oxygen, but no matter how fast or far she ran, she couldn’t get away from it. Its tall, dark, menacing shadow continued to pursue her. She was hot - sooo hot - and the sweat was running down her back plastering her hair to her neck. Only fear kept her running - she had too much to lose!

Its distorted shadowed face was in her thoughts as she rounded the corner at Section 6, and she could hear its footsteps closing the distance between them. "RUN!!" she told herself, "KEEP RUNNING!" She didn’t know how she could continue, she could no longer breathe and there was no one in sight to help her. She knew she had to keep running - the fate of her ship depended on it!

There it was at the end of the hall, and she knew if she kept going she could reach it. The turbolift loomed larger as she continued to stagger down the hall toward it and she prayed the doors would open as soon as she approached. Mercifully the doors opened, and she fell into the turbolift shouting, "Bridge".

Strong arms caught her as she fell, and a distasteful odor filled her nose and mouth. Looking up into its face, she could only scream as the shadowy distorted face of a huge alien loomed over her. It hissed her name, "Captain Janeway," as its powerful arms tightened around her chest forcing the air from her burning lungs.

She screamed again....and woke with a jolt sitting in her bed in her own quarters aboard Voyager. The last of her scream is still echoing in her ears and her body is shaking uncontrollably from exhaustion. She is soaking wet with sweat and gasping painfully for air to fill her aching, burning lungs.

She hears the doors to her quarters swish open, but before she can gather the strength to raise her head to look, someone is sitting on the bed beside her. Strong arms gently enfold her shaking, gasping body, holding her close and making soothing sounds. As she finally gathers the strength to look up, a gentle hand starts smoothing her hair and a comforting male voice starts speaking to her. As awareness becomes more certain, a second familiar male voice is inquiring about her condition.

"Captain, are you all right?" Tuvok inquires, worry inching its way into his normally impassive voice.

"Kathryn, relax and try to breathe slower," Chakotay offers holding her tight and stroking her hair as her weary head sinks gently onto his shoulder. "You’ve had another bad dream. The computer alerted us so Tuvok and I came immediately. The Doctor is on his way."

"Oh, God!" she gasps as she tries to steady her ragged breathing, "I’m OK." Her arms and legs are still shaking from exhaustion, but Chakotay’s arms are comforting and his hand on her damp hair is having the desired effect. She is starting to relax, but it still hurts so much to breathe! She must have run for miles.

The hiss of a hypospray against her neck startles her, and she again looks up to see the face of the Doctor whose worried countenance and medical tricorder are studying her carefully. She never heard him arrive. All this scrutiny is starting to make her uncomfortable as the woman in her becomes more aware of how she must look sitting on her bed gasping and shaking in her sweat soaked pajamas. She can feel the drug starting to take effect.

"I gave you something to help you relax and breathe easier," the Doctor announces. "Just try to relax and concentrate on your breathing. Your heart is racing, your lungs and blood desperately need oxygen and your body is still shaking from exhaustion, but the drug I gave you will help. Did you have the same dream again?"

"Yes, the same dream," Kathryn raggedly gasps as some of the shaking diminishes. "The same huge, malevolent, distorted, green-eyed alien is pursuing me through the halls of Deck 13, and I know I have to stay ahead of it or Voyager and her crew will be lost. No matter how far or fast I run or how tired I get, it still pursues and no one is there to help me. It’s so real that I can feel its breath on the back of my neck, and it hurt as its arms were squeezing the air from my lungs. It didn’t smell very good either."

"I’ve had the same dream now for the last four nights and you’ve been monitoring me for two of them. Do you have any theories about why this is happening and only to me?" Kathryn inquires as she gasps for another breath. Chakotay is still holding her and this is helping to settle her shaking nerves and steady her breathing.

"It seems that each time the dream is becoming more intense. The monitor you’re wearing should help me determine what’s happening to you," the Doctor replies as he removes the monitor from behind the Captain’s ear, and the hypospray hisses as he again injects her. "This time I’ve essentially recorded your dream and your body’s reaction, including your brain engrams during your whole ordeal, and I’ll get to work analyzing the information as soon as I’m sure you’re back to normal. I know you’re exhausted, so I gave you something to help you relax and sleep. Right now your body requires rest. This should suppress the part of your brain which causes dreaming, so you shouldn’t have any more nightmares. I want you to report to sickbay as soon as you get up, which should be in about six or seven hours."

"Understood," Kathryn whispers as the sedative takes effect and she relaxes in Chakotay’s arms, finally breathing a little easier. She’s fast asleep before he has lowered her back onto the pillow.

"What have you found, Doctor?" Chakotay inquires as he and Tuvok enter sickbay together early the next morning.

"Look at this," the Doctor responds indicating the readout he had been studying on the computer screen. "The dreams are not natural and I believe are intended to incapacitate the Captain. It appears that her brain was being manipulated during her dream. There are unusual neural patterns indicated on the readout, and patterns that do not match any of the Captain’s normal brain engrams. These patterns are carefully controlled and are directed to elicit certain responses during her dreams - fear, exhaustion, pain, helplessness, suffocating. Each dream has made increasingly harder demands on her body. Her body is reacting to these impulses as if events are really happening to her, not just a dream. In a short period of time her body will be too exhausted to fight any longer and she will either fall into a coma, or die. The alien will essentially have caught and killed her."

"How can we stop this and where is it coming from?" Tuvok quickly inquires. "Do you have any idea who has the ability to affect the Captain in this manner? And why just her and nobody else?"

"The Captain is in ultimate command of this ship, so if someone wants to defeat Voyager they would likely start with the Captain. None of the Voyager crew has the ability to affect minds like this," the Doctor replies. "I have checked all their medical files thoroughly. It definitely has to be an outside influence,....but who?"

"And from where?" Chakotay adds. "We have to protect her. Can we prevent any further dreams?"

"Unknown," the Doctor responds. "I can drug the Captain for now, but this would not be advisable for any length of time. Whoever is responsible for this is powerful, and if it realizes what we are doing it might be able to compensate and affect other areas of her brain in order to stimulate the dreams. Her body would react the same no matter what areas of the brain this alien is using to create the dream state since everything is being controlled."

"I have been monitoring the Captain while she’s sleeping, and there is no evidence of these engrams in her brain pattern at this time," the Doctor continues. "Her body is relaxed and resting, but the physical effects of this recent episode will accumulate, along with the effects from the previous dreams and any future dreams if we can’t stop them. I expect her to wake within the next hour, and knowing the Captain I fully expect her to report for duty once I’m finished examining her no matter what I prescribe. After all, she isn’t sick so I know she won’t rest."

"Agreed," Chakotay replies, "so we have to find the cause of the problem."

The ship on the viewscreen has obviously seen better times. It was never a graceful ship and never had warp capability, but now it’s limping along on whatever meager power it has left. Scans reveal five humanoid lifesigns, all advanced in years, and one lifesign of a much younger being.

"Hail them," Captain Janeway orders from her chair in the middle of Voyager’s bridge.

"I am Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager. We mean you no harm and would like to help," she offers. They obviously need help, but she’s trying to be polite. "Who are you and where are you from?"

"Repeat the hail," the Captain orders as they get no response. "Do you think they’re able to respond?"

"Response coming in," Tuvok replies. "On screen," the Captain orders.

"I am Letria and we are what remains of the Acenti race," the face on the viewscreen announces. The woman on the screen is very old, with white hair and wrinkled blue skin. The white hair is growing in tufts from the top and sides of her head. Her green piercing eyes reflect great intelligence and her smile indicates that she is very pleased to see Voyager.

"There are six of us still alive on this ship," she continues smiling at Captain Janeway, "and we were children when our voyage began. You are the first beings we have encountered in a long, long time. We have been in space for almost four hundred years, since our homeworld was struck by an asteroid. Twenty thousand of our people were launched into space a year before the asteroid struck hoping that we could find a new planet to settle and preserve our race since our scientists were sure our planet would be destroyed. But within three years of leaving home we encountered an ion storm which destroyed most of our ships."

"The four remaining ships from our armada continued on the journey, but all of the ships had suffered some damage," Letria continues. "As time passed, most of us died and all of the other ships eventually stopped functioning. Our normal lifespan is about four hundred years, and five of the six of us are now over that age and do not expect to live much longer."

"Aareel was born thirty years ago, so from our perspective she is just a baby," Letria explains as a young blue-skinned woman is pulled into view. Aareel is lovely with her smooth blue skin and soft full head of fluffy light brown hair. She has piercing green eyes, the same as Letria, and her smile reveals even rows of white teeth.

"Once we realized that we were getting too old to properly maintain our ship, we used our technology to create Aareel," Letria continues to explain. "She was conceived artificially and nurtured in our maternity tanks until she was developed enough to function on her own. Her addition to our crew has brought us all much joy, and we are worried about what will become of her when we are gone. We have been unable to create any others like Aareel because our machinery is in such poor shape. Can you help us?" Letria pleads.

"Of course we’ll try," Captain Janeway sincerely replies. "We’ll transfer you from your ship to ours and tow your ship with our tractor beam. Please stand by."

One hour later Captain Janeway and her senior staff are meeting with Letria and the other survivors of her race. There are four women counting Letria and Aareel and two men. They all appear to be very intelligent and grateful to Voyager for rescuing them. The Doctor has examined the older Acenti and determined them to be in reasonably good health for their ages and he also tested them to see if they could be giving the Captain her dreams, but none of them has any unusual mental powers.

The Acenti’s story is a sad one for Aareel will eventually be the only survivor.

"I hope you are comfortable in the quarters we have assigned to you," Captain Janeway states to the group after they have told their story and discussed possible options. "We’ll try to make you comfortable until you decide where you want to go, and we’ll also see what we can do to repair your ship, although your technology is different than ours."

"Thank you, Captain," Letria acknowledges graciously as she and her group retire to their quarters to settle in.

"From what they have told us, the Acenti homeworld is located about twelve light years from here and it would not be much of a detour to pass by its location," Commander Chakotay informs Captain Janeway as she reports for her duty shift the next day. "Since they didn’t have warp drive capability it took them almost four hundred years just to get this far. We should be able to get there in ten days at warp 5, if you want to check it out."

"Do it," she orders as she takes her chair. "It can’t hurt to see what happened these last four hundred years. Maybe some of their race survived. I would like to help these people."

"How are you doing?" Chakotay softly inquires. His concern is evident.

"I’m fine. The Doctor gave me something last night to help suppress the nightmares, and it worked. He still doesn’t know what’s causing them, but at least I got some sleep. As tired as I was, just worrying about whether or not I would dream made it difficult to get to sleep but I don’t think I dreamed. He’s still monitoring me just in case."

"What do you think?" Letria inquires of Aareel as they relax in their quarters. "They seem so kind. Will they help us?"

"I am trying to influence them," Aareel replies, "but it is more difficult than before. I realize how important this is and will do my best, although they are trying to block my influence and I can’t determine their true feelings. I’ll try again tonight and I won’t fail you."

"You’re a good child," Letria croons. "We’re all very proud of you, but remember to be gentle. We only want to go home, not hurt anyone. They seem like good people. You are our only hope."

The twisted distorted face was chasing her down the hallways of Deck 13. She couldn’t breathe, and her chest hurt every time she tried. She had been running so hard and so long that her legs would hardly move, and she was so hot that her uniform and hair were wet with sweat. Only determination to save her ship and crew kept her moving toward the turbolift, which represented safety.

She stumbled and crashed against the corridor wall, hitting her right shoulder hard against the panel. It hurt and she could feel a bruise forming. Quickly lurching forward and gasping to breathe, she could almost feel the fetid breath of her pursuer on the back of her neck. She had to reach the turbolift and get to the bridge or her ship and crew would be lost. "RUN!!" she cried to herself.

The doors to the turbolift opened and she fell inside crying, "Bridge." Strong arms caught her as she fell and yanked her to her feet. As she looked up into the piercing green eyes and distorted face of an alien, its strong arms started squeezing from her lungs what little breath remained. She screamed, and screamed again striking at the alien with her arms and using the last of the air in her lungs.

Fighting with the last ounce of strength in her body to hold off the impending blackness, she feels a jolt as she wakes sitting in her bed, her flailing arms being restrained by Tuvok and Chakotay. As awareness returns she realizes that Chakotay is gently rubbing her back, trying to help her breathe. It hurts so much to breathe! She realizes she is suffocating from her inability to get oxygen into her lungs. "Chakotay," she manages to gasp as the blackness prevails and she passes out in his arms.

"Doctor, hurry!" Tuvok calls into his combadge.

The Doctor quickly materializes beside Tuvok and hurries to scan Kathryn, whose unconscious and unbreathing body is being held by Chakotay. He quickly slips an oxygen mask over her face and injects her stating, "I’ve given her something to shock her into breathing to get oxygen into her lungs, but this is the worst dream she’s had yet. If this continues we’re going to lose her," he states as he frantically starts his treatment.

"Thank God the computer alerted us that the Captain was dreaming," the Doctor continues. "She almost died because her body was too tired to breathe and it probably hurt too much to keep trying. This strain on her heart and lungs is too much for her body to endure. Whoever is responsible for this has managed to circumvent the drug I gave her, so we no longer can protect her with medication. I’ll have to investigate other options including keeping her awake, but for now she’s breathing again, she desperately needs rest and I want to transfer her to sickbay so I can keep an eye on her."

"I would suggest you investigate quickly or she will not survive," Tuvok responds. "Perhaps a forcefield might help. You could ask Lt. Torres to help you investigate that possibility."

As Chakotay quickly gathers Kathryn’s limp body into his arms, the Doctor calls for an emergency medical beam-out.

The Doctor has worked through the night analyzing the monitor’s data and checking on the Captain who is recovering in sickbay. The data has produced disturbing results, and Tuvok and Chakotay are now reviewing them with him.

"It appears that the source of the neurogenic stimulation is more powerful now than it was before," the Doctor points out to his audience. "The intensity of these readings indicates to me that whoever is controlling the Captain’s dreams is either much closer than before or has gotten more powerful. The Captain’s responses to this latest dream were more intense than ever, and I don’t think she could survive another dream like last night’s."

"You will find this interesting. The monitor readings indicate that at one point the Captain fell against the wall hitting her right shoulder. When I examined her carefully after bringing her to sickbay I found a large bruise on her right shoulder, right where she dreamed she got one. These dreams are much too real!"

"Lt. Torres and I have erected a forcefield to protect her while she’s sleeping, and I intend to keep her sleeping for the next twenty hours," the Doctor continues. "Her body desperately needs the rest to overcome last night’s exertions, but I’ll wake her at the first sign of a dream. Lt. Torres modified the field to repel electrical impulses, but we’re not entirely sure of the range of the impulses causing the dreams."

"Keep us posted, Doctor," Chakotay orders with a last worried look at Kathryn as he and Tuvok leave for the Bridge.

It has been nagging at his thoughts all day, and still Chakotay cannot put his finger on the cause of his unrest. It’s something he should be able to identify - a clue.

His meeting with Letria and the other older Acenti was going well. It didn’t feel right to be leading the meeting, he would have been much more comfortable with Kathryn in her usual place. She was so much better at this kind of thing than he was, but she was still asleep under the Doctor’s watchful eye. He missed her presence and her influence because she brought out the best in him and the other senior staff.

"We’ll pass by your home planet in nine days," Chakotay announces. "Captain Janeway changed our course yesterday so we could investigate this for you." He is pleased by the Acenti’s reaction. Their green eyes are intent on every word. "We can check to see if any of your people survived, and if they did you could rejoin them if you wish."

"You would do that for us?" Letria asks. "What do you want in return? We have so little."

"Nothing," Chakotay responds. "It’s not that far out of our way and it would make all of us feel good if you could rejoin your people. Our Captain wants to help you."

"Nobody has ever offered to do this for us, even when we had something to offer in return," a truly moved Letria explains with a single tear falling from her misty eyes. "The only offers of help we ever got were from beings who wanted much more than we had to trade. In fact, many of those who offered to help us only wanted to rob us of what little we had. Disappointment was all we ever experienced in our dealings with other species."

"Don’t worry," Chakotay assures them, "we only want to help you."

"Thank you," Letria offers and is emotionally echoed by the other Acenti.

Aareel moves quickly through the corridors letting her instinct guide her while her fellow Acenti are meeting with Commander Chakotay to plead their cause. Her mission is clear in her mind, the only thing not clear is the final resolution. Could she be wrong about these people? Would they willingly help them? She’s not exactly sure how this will finally end, but she can’t take any chances. It has been so long for her friends!

The doors to the mess hall open as she approaches, and the smells coming from within are enticing. "Welcome to the mess hall," Neelix cries as he sees Aareel hesitate at the door. "Come in and try some of my wonderful food. I’m famous for my delicious food."

"You want me to eat?" Aareel asks. No aliens had ever invited her to eat with them before.

Aareel approaches Neelix and allows him to fill a plate for her. Realizing that she is really hungry and hasn’t smelled anything this good in years, she quickly eats. "Where is your Captain?" she inquires of Neelix.

"Computer, locate Captain Janeway," Neelix orders into his combadge.

"Captain Janeway is in sickbay," the computer replies.

"Thank you, Neelix," Aareel acknowledges. "Tell me, what is your Captain like? She seemed so nice when we talked to her. In fact, everyone seems so nice and willing to help us."

"These are the nicest people you could hope to meet," Neelix responds warming to this subject. "They are always willing to help anyone who needs help, even if it means putting themselves in danger. Why I could tell you tales of our adventures that would stand your hair on end. We almost lost Voyager any number of times, and our Captain and her officers have almost lost their lives on several occasions while helping others."

"They are trying desperately to get home, but they still have a very long way to go," he continues.

"I’ll see you later, Neelix, and thank you for the food," Aareel offers as she leaves the mess hall a short time later. She’s still not sure of these people’s intentions, but she can’t afford to risk failure. They are desperate.

The doors to sickbay swish open as Aareel timidly approaches. As she quickly glances around she can see Captain Janeway lying on one of the beds, and the Doctor checking readouts on a wall panel.

"Hello," he offers with a smile on his face. "What can I do for you today?"

"Hello," Aareel offers back. "I’ve come to see how Captain Janeway is doing. Neelix told me I could find her here and I wondered what is wrong and how she’s doing."

"She will be fine and should wake up tomorrow morning," the Doctor explains not wanting to go into detail with this stranger. "She was just tired so I gave her something to help her rest. Would you like to look around?"

"Yes," Aareel answers. "I am interested in medicine and your technology is fascinating. I would also like to visit your Captain. Could I just sit with her for awhile? I promise not to make noise. This is my people’s way of showing respect."

"You can sit here," the Doctor offers as he pulls a chair close to the Captain’s bed. "You can’t get any closer because we have a forcefield protecting her from outside influences, but at least you can see her. She’s asleep so she can’t hear you, but I don’t see any harm in you just sitting here for awhile. When you’re finished I’ll show you around."

"Thanks," Aareel sweetly smiles as she settles on her chair.

Chakotay and Tuvok dismissed the Acenti who retired to their quarters to begin preparations for their arrival at Acentia. The other senior officers have left to return to duty.

"I can’t put my finger on it," Chakotay confesses to Tuvok. "Something is nibbling at the edge of my mind that can tell me who is causing Kathryn to have the dreams. It’s so frustrating!"

"Perhaps if you just relax the answer will come to you," Tuvok notes. "I have often found that answers come more easily if you don’t try to force them. The Acenti are fine for now and the Captain is recovering in sickbay."

"The Acenti.....," Chakotay musses. "I hope some of the people survived on their homeworld. Aareel is lovely with her blue skin and bright green eyes. I wonder if all of their race have such......GREEN EYES!!"

"What is it Commander?" Tuvok inquires as he notes Chakotay’s agitation.

"Kathryn said the alien in her dreams had piercing green eyes. The Acenti all have green eyes! Computer, locate the Acenti."

"All of the Acenti are in their quarters except for one, Aareel, who is presently in sickbay," the computer immediately responds.

"SICKBAY!! Tuvok, let’s go!" Chakotay cries as he runs from the room with Tuvok on his heels.

She can almost feel its fetid breath on the back of her neck as she turns to stagger down yet another corridor of Deck 13. She has been running forever and is totally exhausted. She can’t remember Deck 13 having this many corridors. She has to get to the turbolift before it catches her. If she can’t get to the bridge to warn her crew, it will kill all of them. It mentally communicated this to her because it wants her ship for itself. All their lives depend upon her reaching the bridge. She won’t let this alien kill her crew!!

She turns her head as she runs, looking back at her pursuer seeing its huge distorted shape close behind. Its piercing green eyes seem to be shining at her, threatening in their intensity. "RUN!!" she cries to herself as she pushes her exhausted body to stumble faster down the corridor and into Section 6.

There it is, at the end of the hall, and she knows if she keeps going she can reach it. The turbolift looms larger as she continues to stagger down the hall and she prays the doors will open as soon as she approaches. Mercifully the doors open and she falls into the turbolift shouting, "Bridge".

Strong arms catch her as she falls, and a now familiar distasteful odor fills her nose and mouth. Looking up at the apparition hovering over her she can only scream at its shadowy distorted face. It hisses her name, "Captain Janeway," as its arms tighten around her chest forcing out what little breath remains in her raw and burning lungs.

She screams again. "NO, I won’t let you kill my crew!" she shouts as she looks up into the face of her nightmares. She is amazed as she finds the tall distorted alien’s face reforming itself into the face of Aareel.

"Aareel," she gasps. She can barely breathe. It hurts so much to breathe! "Why are you doing this? What do you want from me?"

"I need your ship to save the Acenti," Aareel replies still squeezing the breath from Kathryn. "With you dead I can easily influence the others who will be busy grieving for you. The Acenti ship can no longer support my friends so I need yours to save them. I must kill you so they can live. I need them!"

Kathryn can’t breathe since her lungs hurt so much and her heart feels like it will burst from her chest. All she can do is gasp painfully. "NO! NOT MY SHIP AND CREW!" she shouts at Aareel as she finds the strength to break Aareel’s hold. As she falls against the wall and slides to the floor of the turbolift, her shaking right hand somehow finds itself reaching for the phaser at her waist, pointing it at Aareel and firing. Aareel looks in disbelief at Kathryn as the phaser beam finds its mark and the turbolift doors open onto the bridge. Aareel is unconscious before she hits the floor.

"Captain,...CAPTAIN!!" the Doctor shouts as he holds her shaking gasping body sitting on the sickbay bed. "Captain, WAKE UP! You’re dreaming. You have to breathe - take slow breaths."

"Commander, lower the forcefield and hand me that hyprospray," the Doctor orders as Tuvok and a frantic Chakotay come charging through the door just seconds after the Doctor’s panicky summons. "QUICKLY!"

Chakotay quickly snags the hyprospray as Tuvok lowers the forcefield. Grabbing Kathryn’s gasping body from the Doctor, he holds her tight trying to calm her shaking as the Doctor quickly injects her. "Kathryn, hold on – you have to hold on!"

"What happened?" Chakotay inquires as he rubs Kathryn’s back trying to help her breathe. Aareel is lying in a heap beside Kathryn’s bed, and Tuvok is bending over to check her with a medical tricorder.

"She is suffering from phaser shock," Tuvok notes as he looks at the Doctor in disbelief. "Did you phaser her?" he inquires.

"No," he replies while he frantically works on Kathryn as Chakotay continues to hold her, "I think the Captain did. Aareel is responsible for the dreams, and from what I heard the Captain shout I think Aareel was trying to kill her, and she might still succeed. Please move Aareel to a diagnostic bed and restrain her," the Doctor suggests to Tuvok as he slips an oxygen mask over Kathryn’s face. "This should be an interesting story, but first I must stabilize the Captain. She can’t breathe, her lungs aren’t functioning and her heart is damaged and beating way too fast. Keep her sitting up," he orders Chakotay. "It makes it easier for her to try to breathe."

"Kathryn, breathe slowly. Please hold on," Chakotay chants over and over as he strokes her wet hair and holds her tight trying to ease her heartbreaking attempts to breathe. "You have to breathe slowly. I know it hurts. Relax, you’re safe," he offers as her body continues to shake. "You have to relax and breathe so you can tell us what happened."

After twenty minutes of treatment and two more of the Doctor’s injections Kathryn is able to finally breathe slightly more than quick painful gasps. Her shaking has diminished, but her body is exhausted and hurts all over. If Chakotay wasn’t holding her up, she would collapse in a heap. She can’t even hold up her head, which is resting on Chakotay’s shoulder and she slowly becomes aware of the feel of his hand stroking her hair. And all of this from just a dream! Chakotay wishes he could help her breathe, it hurts him to hear her have to fight so hard for every breath.

Finally looking up at Chakotay who is still holding her on the sickbay bed, she finds her voice and starts to slowly explain knowing that what she is saying is the truth, but not fully sure how she understands it all.

"Aareel is not Acenti, but rather an alien from another part of the galaxy. She was marooned in this part of space over thirty years ago with no way back to her own kind. Her ship was not repairable. She drifted for what seemed like ages and was very close to death when the Acenti found her small ship and saved her life. Aareel was not like them, but quickly discovered that the Acenti were good people and she wanted to be like them," Kathryn painfully whispers as she fights for another breath and the Doctor again places the oxygen mask over her face.

"She modified the Acenti procreation technology to allow herself to be converted into an Acenti and was transformed into Aareel. She influenced their minds so they believed she was truly their child and not an alien. She was proud to be one of them, but was very aware that all the others were nearing the end of their lives. Fearful of being alone in space again, she was determined to find a way to return to the Acenti homeworld hoping to find some of their species still alive so she could join them. The Acenti ship was hardly functioning, so she started broadcasting a distress call," Kathryn continues slowly as she tries to regulate her ragged breathing. The doctor is intermittently holding the oxygen mask over her face hoping to ease her breathing and Chakotay has continued rubbing her back and stroking her hair. It still hurts so much to breathe!

"Aareel also had mental abilities which the Acenti were not aware of. She could project lifelike dreams over great distances in order to affect other minds. Once she became aware of us, long before we even detected their ship with our sensors, Aareel planned to take over Voyager for her own use. Her plan was to kill me so the rest of the crew would grieve. Their minds would be distracted by grief so they would be more susceptible to her mental powers. She would then be able to easily control everyone and could influence them to either help her on Voyager, or kill themselves by jumping out into the void of space before they realized what they were doing. She planned to use the ship for herself and the other Acenti," Kathryn states. "She wanted to take them home to die and find a place for herself if any of their race survived."

Aareel has been awake for some time listening to the Captain’s story. Since everyone else was paying attention to the Captain, no one noticed.

"You are correct," she states startling Kathryn who was not aware that Aareel was awake. "I only wanted to take my friends home to die. I would have used whatever force was necessary in order to accomplish this, but I now believe I may have misjudged you. Whenever the Acenti encountered another species, the encounter was never good and the Acenti always seemed to suffer. In all the time I was with them, I tried to be like them and not use my powers to influence another mind, but we all suffered as a result. The Acenti were too kind and weak to fight back. No other species seemed willing to help them until you came along."

"Captain, I’m truly sorry for what I did to you. I almost killed you, but I am surprised that you found the strength to fight back when you were almost dead. I suspect that your love for your ship and crew is what gave you that strength, so I hope you can understand how I feel about the Acenti. I realize that I must be punished for what I did, but please do not punish my friends for my crime. Take them home and I will allow you to do what you will with me. I’m so sorry," Aareel cries as a single tear rolls down her blue cheek.

"The Captain must rest before she can make any decisions," the Doctor interrupts exerting his authority. Her body is exhausted, she can’t breathe properly, and you have damaged her heart and lungs. Hopefully I can repair that damage while she sleeps as long as you don’t try to give her any more dreams."

"I promise," Aareel quickly responds. "Captain, I sincerely hope you’re going to be all right."

Kathryn looks intently at Aareel then slightly nods her head. Chakotay is still sitting with her on the sickbay bed rubbing her back to help her breathe and holding her up because she is too weak to do this for herself. The Doctor moves to inject her to begin treatment. As the drug begins to take effect and they lower her back down to sleep, she realizes that she does, in fact, understand how Aareel feels. As the urge to sleep takes hold she quickly grasps for Chakotay’s hand asking, "Please stay with me awhile?"

"Of course," Chakotay replies relieved that he can stay by her side, even for a little while. "I’m always here for you."

Three days later Kathryn is in the conference room preparing to meet with the Acenti. This is her first day back on duty, and even though she is still weak and recovering, the Doctor reluctantly declared her fit for light duty. Chakotay and Tuvok have been discussing the situation with her and they all feel strongly that they would still like to help the Acenti. Tuvok has thoroughly interrogated Aareel and is satisfied with her story and her promise not to cause further harm to anyone.

"Good morning, Captain," Letria acknowledges as she enters the room accompanied by Aareel and the rest of the Acenti. Kathryn has elected not to tell them that Aareel is really an alien since the Acenti love her so much. "We hope you’re feeling better. Please accept our sincere apologies for what happened to you."

"Aareel is young and impulsive and has become very protective of us. We didn’t fully understand the power of her gift or how she was using it since none of us have this gift. Even though her motive was honorable, her methods were not and we have spoken to her at length about this. We were all afraid of what the future held for her. She has made a solemn promise to never again use her mind’s power to harm another being."

"Apology accepted," Captain Janeway responds. "We have a surprise for you. We will shortly enter into orbit of Acenta. Commander Chakotay increased our speed while I was recovering so we were able to cut three days off our journey. We have scanned the planet and found that even though your planet suffered massive damage when the asteroid hit, some of your people survived. They are now living in small settlements on the southern continent. Life is not easy, but they are doing well."

"Your world suffered serious damage, but that was almost 400 years ago and it has recovered enough to easily support life," the Captain continues. "We have not made contact with your people, but if you would like to contact them, we will arrange it."

"Our people survived?" Letria queries in astonishment as tears of happiness roll down her cheeks. "We can go home? We have spent almost our whole lives just trying to find our home. Oh, my! Thank you. Thank you so much."

Since he is keeping a close eye on her, Chakotay notices the Captain’s eyes start to mist and a single tear falls onto her cheek as she looks into the distance. He knows she is totally relating to these people.

Captain’s Log, stardate 54327.2. "Our passengers have contacted their fellow Acenti on the planet’s surface and were joyously welcomed home. We beamed to the planet’s surface with them to insure their safety and to help them rejoin their people, who treated them like returned heroes. A welcoming committee of six greeted us - one for each of the passengers. It was very moving."

"Letria and her crew are the only members of the original Armada of Hope (as it was named) who ever returned, and they all now know that there will be no others. Aareel has fit in beautifully and already has three potential suitors hanging on her every word."

"A joyous welcoming banquet was held for our passengers. My senior staff and I were included and declared heroes for bringing these people home. It has been a pleasant time, but we all recognize the similarities in our situations and must continue our own journey even as the Acenti’s journey ends," the Captain continues into her Log. "We will leave for home in one hour. I can only hope that our journey ends as happily as theirs did."

"Captain, Commander," Aareel softly whispers as they walk with her and Letria to the beam-out site, "thank you so much for everything. If I had something to give you to show my gratitude I would, but I have nothing so my thanks will have to do. I’m so sorry for what I tried to do to you, Captain, and I promise I will never use my power like that again. I’ll always try to make you and Letria proud of me."

"She is a good child," Letria states as they arrive at the beam-out site. "She now has a chance to have a good life thanks to you, and the rest of us can die among our own kind. Thank you," Letria continues as a single tear slides down each cheek and she embraces both Kathryn and Chakotay.

"Good-by and good luck on your journey home. Take care of each other," she offers with a knowing smile as the transporter beam takes them away.

It has been a long, but satisfying day and Voyager is now back on course for the Alpha quadrant. "I’ll walk you home," Chakotay offers with a look of concern as he and Kathryn leave the bridge, their duty done for another day. It’s late, they both worked long hours and are both very tired, especially Kathryn who refuses to admit that she’s exhausted even though it shows.

"You know, our situation is a lot like theirs," Kathryn smiles as she accepts Chakotay’s offer to walk with her to her quarters. "I can really relate to them for having to make such a long journey just trying to get home. But they made it! When they were welcomed so warmly it made me feel so good," she continues looking up at Chakotay with misty eyes. A single tear escapes and slides slowly down her cheek as they reach the door to her quarters.

Chakotay reaches slowly and his finger gently captures the sparkling tear from her cheek. "I know," he whispers. "I feel the same way. Never fear - we’ll get home too. In the meantime, remember the Doctor’s orders. You’ve overdone it. You need rest," he firmly states as he looks into her lovely gray eyes and then at the tear still shining on his finger. "Good night and....pleasant dreams."

The End

~~~~ a Y a ~~~~

 

feedback to J M