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EOME is a series of Voyager stories which are based on the premise that the Maquis ship was not destroyed in "Caretaker." Given that there is no name in canon for the Maquis ship, this series calls it "Fides," which is Latin for "Faith."
The order of the EOME series:
Confederation
Follow the Leader
Casualty and Confession
Food for Thought
Change of Command
Cracks in Time's Mirror
Fides Violare
Fletcher Christian Was in Starfleet
Far From My Home
Judas Kiss Part One
Judas Kiss Part Two
Wi-na-de-ya-ho (A New Day)
A Matter of a Moment
Rumours and Remedies
And Faith Shines Equal
Divide and Conquer
So sorry to have taken so long on this one. Not only did life intervene, but the computer gods played havoc with my disk, causing great stress. They have since been appeased. Many thanks to Mr. Oh Yeah himself for extricating the data from my disk. ;-) Please do not distribute without Kath's or Vicki's permission. Thanks. Much gratitude as always to Sheena to Jen for their editorial input! =)
PLEASE NOTE: We have not been rating the EOME stories thus far. However, due to some explicit language and description in this one we have decided that it merits an NC-17 rating. It is not our intention to offend anyone who is a) under the age of 18, or b) not interested in reading about sex. There is a PG version of Divide and Conquer if you would prefer to read it. We promise that the edited version will still make sense in the storyline.
*****
Janeway entered the coordinates she'd been provided with into the transporter control and then hopped up on the pad, instructing the computer to energize. She took the moment before the transporter beam caught her in its grasp to wonder fleetingly where she was going to end up when she had rematerialized.
On Fides, surely, as Chakotay had given her the coordinates, but her exact destination on the Maquis ship remained a mystery. Janeway wasn't much for secrets. Her scientist's mind always wanted to know all the answers, now!
But Chakotay hadn't budged, despite her attempts to wheedle the information out of him. He'd simply invited her to his ship for the evening and told her to beam herself over to the coordinates he'd provided her with.
It was a bit anticlimactic when she found herself materialize in a corridor.
"Good evening Kathryn."
She turned at the sound of his soft baritone and her breath momentarily caught in her throat at the sight of him.
He stood, casually leaning against the bulkhead, arms crossed in front of his broad chest. The fasteners of his dark coloured shirt were undone at the throat down to where the neckline met his form-fitting vest. His sleeves were rolled up to the elbow, exposing strong forearms. To Janeway he presented an aura of relaxation with an undercurrent of sensuality.
Her lips curved into a slow smile for him.
"You look very nice," he told her, pushing himself from the wall and taking a couple steps towards her.
Her hands unconsciously moved to smooth the simple lines of the dress she had chosen to wear. While it was quite plain in cut and design, by virtue of the contrast to uniform she customarily wore it lent an air of elegance to her appearance that evening.
"You look rather nice yourself." She hadn't meant for the returned compliment to come out in such a whispery tone, but the fact that he'd just pressed a gentle kiss to her temple somewhat affected her power of speech.
Chakotay took her hand in his and met her eyes with a searching gaze. Under his penetrating stare, Janeway felt as though time was standing still, unmoving between the last breath she had taken and the next one she would open her lips for. She felt as though she were waiting...
"Aren't you going to make me tell you what the secret is?"
His grin snapped her back from the flight of fancy her imagination had begun taking her on. She laughed.
"Of course! You've managed to keep it from me this long, which I might add is quite an achievement. It's time to 'fess up, mister!"
"Yes, ma'am," Chakotay said, sketching a mock salute. "This way please." He dropped her hand from his grasp to set his palm in the small of her back, gesturing expansively with his other arm and guiding her forward.
They were in a corridor which Janeway had eventually recognized as being on the lowest deck of his ship. He directed her to the aft end, pausing for a moment outside a closed door to put his palm to a panel which would allow them access. When the door slid open he stepped out of the way and bade her to enter before him.
Janeway proceeded him into the room but stopped in her tracks a few feet into the space. Chakotay had followed behind her and the door had closed after his entrance, shutting out the light from the corridor.
They were in a small room, a storage area obviously, judging by the few containers stacked against the outer walls, a space maybe only a quarter the size of Fides' cargo bay which itself was tiny compared to the vast expanse of Voyager's. Directly in front of Janeway was a box-shaped container, pressed into service as a dining table with a colourful cloth thrown over it, bearing two plates of food, two glasses, a bottle of wine. A few cushions were scattered on the floor for the comfort of the diners. Just beyond the table was a bulkhead viewport, narrow in width but stretching from deck to ceiling of the small room, through which the unfamiliar stars of the Delta quadrant shone. And along each wall of the room, placed intermittently on the floor and atop the few storage containers stacked against the walls, a subtle glow flickered from candles set alight.
"Oh Chakotay," Kathryn breathed, turning slowly to face the man behind her. "It's beautiful." She was moved by what he had done, creating an intimate and quiet haven within the limited confines of his ship.
"I got tired of our dinners being interrupted all the time," he said quietly.
Janeway held his gaze for a moment and then without taking her eyes from his, reached up and pulled her commbadge from her dress. She held it up to him and then pressed it into his palm when his hand reached out to hers.
"No interruptions tonight," she promised.
Chakotay set the commbadge down on a nearby container and Janeway reached up to gently grasp his face in her hands. He offered no resistance when she guided his head down so their lips could meet.
Their mouths joined lightly at first, tasting what they had only sampled the night of the Potlatch and again that day in her ready room. But this could only serve to whet their appetites, as they had long been starved for one another. As long, perhaps, as the starlight they were silhouetted by had shone, if in fate one was to believe.
Janeway anchored her arms around Chakotay's neck, as the more their kisses intensified, the more she felt the need to hold on to him to support her weakening legs. When his hands tightened on either side of her waist and he drew her body closer in to his, she felt her legs begin to tremble and she went off balance momentarily. They stumbled a step or two, still tightly pressed together, until her back came to a stop against the containers along the wall.
When Chakotay's mouth left hers Janeway could not manage to suppress a small cry of disappointment. However this rapidly evolved into a low moan of pleasure as his lips found the hollow at the juncture of her neck and collarbone.
Her arms disentangled themselves from around his shoulders so that her hands could wander down his chest. She mentally cursed the heavy vest he wore as it denied her fingers immediate access to the bare skin she so longed to touch. Instead she had to content herself with allowing her hands to continue their roaming down past his hips, coming round to cup his rear and press him firmly to her, giving her evidence that would cast no doubt to his state of arousal.
He groaned and plunged his hands into her hair which she had left hanging free down her back. His mouth trailed hot kisses up her neck. She felt him run his fingers through tendrils of her hair which had come to rest on her shoulder, and then those fingers pushed slowly underneath her dress.
"Kathryn." He breathed her name in her ear.
"Chakotay," she replied, her voice husky with arousal. She had managed to extract his shirttail from the back of his trousers and was making a preliminary survey of his bare lower back with her fingertips.
"Uh...Kathryn?"
Janeway froze in her ministrations as she realized that Chakotay now stood stock still in her arms.
"What's wrong?" she asked, her tone a trifle shrill and her breath still coming hard.
Chakotay gently eased himself away from her a bit so that he could look her in the eye. She released her arms that had encircled him and dropped her hands to her side.
The look he gave her was one of utter frustration mingled with abashment. Janeway's eyes widened in trepidation as her mind whirled with possible reasons for his halting their preliminaries to lovemaking so suddenly.
"My ring is caught in your clothing," Chakotay declared sheepishly.
Janeway's eyes left Chakotay's and her head turned to look at her shoulder, where Chakotay's hand still rested under her dress. She turned her head back to meet Chakotay's gaze again.
Her pent up breath came out in a relieved rush.
"Oh," she said.
And then burst out laughing.
"Oh!" she cried, dissolving into giggles. "Oh!"
Chakotay glared at her, obviously not finding his predicament as amusing as she did.
"Oh! I thought ... no, nevermind what I thought..." another bout of laughter overcame her before she could compose herself enough to continue speaking. "I thought something had gone very wrong," she said, throwing her arms around Chakotay's neck, "but this is not a problem!"
When Chakotay brought his free hand to her shoulder to try and disentangle the offending piece of jewelry from her undergarment she brushed his hand away. "Let me," she said.
She kissed him quickly and then brought her hands to the bodice of her dress. Eyes fixed to her task, she deftly undid the small buttons at the front of the garment all the way down to her hips. She eased her shoulder out of the dress and then gently pulled the lacy strap of her slip away from where Chakotay's ring had caught in it. When he pulled his now freed hand away slightly, she let the slip fall off her shoulder as well. Then she reached up with her other hand to tug at her opposite sleeve, and her dress slid down her body to the floor. She met Chakotay's eyes with a bold gaze.
His breath came out in a rush and he brought up his hand, fingers gently tracing along the line where the white lace of her bodice met the rosy glow of her skin. He appeared so focused on the task that his expression reminded Janeway of ones she had seen when they had been deep in the midst of working out tactical strategies.
His hand moved lower, to cup her breast in his palm and she shuddered slightly at the touch. His eyes flickered up to bore into hers.
"Kathryn...are you sure?"
She smiled softly. "With all the uncertainties in the Delta Quadrant, this is the one thing I can say I am absolutely sure of."
Chakotay felt his pulse quicken, but knew that if he shared his body with this woman, it would also be a meeting of minds and souls. They would join not just in the flesh, but also in the spirit. But with no guarantees of all their tomorrows. If both good fortune and ill fate smiled upon them, at some future date they might find themselves cast apart, each with half of the other's soul drifting in space between political alliances.
He gathered her tightly to him and lowered his head to speak in her ear. "What if we make it back to the Alpha Quadrant tomorrow? Would you then regret what we're about to do?"
Janeway pulled slightly out of his embrace and brought up her hands to gently cup his face. "Don't you think I've considered all the 'what ifs'?" she said softly. "I have. And I've come to the conclusion that what matters to me is the right now. Nothing can change the way I feel about you and if we do make it home then I want to at least have the memory of being with you if I can't have you close."
"Make love with me, Chakotay," she asked.
He answered her with a kiss, one gentle meeting of their mouths which escalated in intensity as quickly as their passion flared. Chakotay's hands sought her breasts, his thumbs stroking their sensitive centres until her breath came out in gasps when his mouth deigned to release hers. As his hands trailed slowly down her silken undergarment to her slim waist and beyond, to the curve of her hips, Janeway found the fasteners to his cursed heavy vest. She pulled at the buckles until they yielded to her demands, then made quick work to undue the buttons of the shirt he wore beneath.
He had bent over slightly to slide his hands underneath her slip and grasp her bare bottom to pull her close to him. She availed herself of the opportunity to press quick kisses along his neck, her tongue darting out now and again to taste of him. He groaned lowly and pressed himself tighter against her. She acknowledged his need and her own want by sliding her bare leg up the side of his own and locking it around the back of his knee.
Chakotay's hands continued to roam up her back, bringing her slip along with them. When he reached her shoulders she willingly raised her arms in assistance and he pulled the undergarment off of her.
He paused for a moment, pushing her gently against the crates at her back so his eyes could take in the sight of her. His gaze dropped slowly from her head along down to her feet and then swept back up again to meet her eyes, his showing both reverence and hunger. Her own desire quicken at his look.
One hand cradled her head as their mouths and tongues met again in a frenetic dance and his other hand slid down between her legs, his fingers gliding over her sensorial spot. After burning a trail of kisses down neck, breasts and belly, his mouth followed where his fingers had led.
Janeway could no longer contain her moans of pleasure as the pressure built in the area he was ministering to at a maddeningly unhurried pace. When his hands, which had been firmly holding her hips, moved so that he could use his thumbs to spread her wider, she dug her fingers into his hair and held on tightly to keep her balance.
"Chakotay..." she breathed huskily as his loving increased in tempo. "Please...yes..." she muttered incoherently as the waves crashed higher within her.
His mouth danced against her and she let out a groaning cry as the electrical sensation shot up into her torso and down along her limbs. She made soft whimpering sounds as the tremors cascaded repeatedly through her. Her legs trembled so, that she dropped to her knees before her lover and encircled Chakotay's neck with her arms, her head resting on his shoulder.
He held her tightly to him, stroking her back gently, while she sought to bring her breathing under control. He brushed her hair away from her neck and kissed it lightly. She raised her head to look at him, her face serene and glowing.
"I loved seeing you like that," he whispered. "So free, so unrestrained. I think you're beautiful like that."
"You make me feel that way," she told him. She held out her hand, palm facing him, and he took it, entwining their fingers together. After they shared a tender kiss, Janeway rose to her feet, pulling him up with her.
"I think you're still a bit overdressed for the occasion," she said, a gleam in her eye. She quickly pushed his shirt off his shoulders and slid it down his arms and over his wrists. He assisted by removing his boots. Then she grasped the waistband of his trousers to find the fastener, her fingers slipping inside briefly to find evidence of his arousal. He swallowed a groan as she caressed the length of him before returning to the task of unfastening his garment. Then she pushed his trousers off his hips, sliding her hands along his bare skin down to his thighs before the trousers dropped to the deck and he stepped out of them.
Then she stood back to admire him. And her breath caught in her throat for the second time that night at the sight of him.
Though thoroughly sated from the loving he had given her only moments before, the sight of his naked body caused her blood to rush and a swelling to begin anew in certain parts of her body. She moved back to him, slowly pressing against him from head to toe.
The contact between their unclothed bodies elicited a low moan from him and a sharp cry from her. Her soft breasts pressed up to his solid chest and his shaft pushed against her stomach. She raised herself onto her toes, rubbing her belly up along him, and sought a kiss.
He grasped her under the buttocks and lifted her, and she assisted by wrapping her legs tightly around his waist. His mouth not leaving hers, he carried her over to where the pillows lay scattered before the table which held their now-forgotten dinner.
Going to his knees, he dropped her into the nest of pillows. She sat up quickly, her breathing now becoming laboured and her eyes gleaming almost ferally with passion.
She reached out and grasped his shaft in her hand, stroking the length of it firmly yet gently. Chakotay sucked in his breath and closed his eyes, his mind already exploding at the sensation of himself in her soft hands.
When her tongue swirled around the tip of him, he could feel the pressure building within. His breath shuddered and he opened wild eyes so he could see to push her gently away from him. She looked at him questioningly.
"I want to be inside of you," he said.
She lay back against the pillows and he covered her with his body. He kissed her slowly, lingeringly, rubbing his erection up and down outside of her until she began rolling her hips against him with her need. He moved his head so that he could kiss the hardened centre of her breast and he stroked her down lower with his fingers until she cried out.
Then he slipped inside of her. Her knees came up to draw him in fully and they both lay still for a moment, savoring the sensation of coming together as one.
Their eyes connected and spoke words they did not have the breath for. Then they rocked together, making an alliance no government or political agenda could tear asunder.
As Chakotay moved above her, Janeway raised her hips to meet his thrusts. Everywhere they connected, from where his chest brushed against her breasts down to where one of her legs had wrapped around on top of his, felt alive; her skin tingled from the contact. Her hands raced up and down his back, nails digging into his skin now and again as he drove deeply inside of her. Her body related what her heart felt for him.
She could hear her own soft whimpers and moans interspersed with the sound of her ragged breathing. As the fire he stoked began to burn higher within her, she knew without a doubt that she had made the right choice by following the dictates of her heart, for Chakotay had truly made her heart whole.
Janeway could feel the flames within her almost touch the fuse that would cause the explosion when Chakotay pushed himself up on his arms momentarily. Her hands dropped away from his back and he grasped them in his, balancing himself on his elbows and stretching their arms above her head.
He gave her a kiss fraught with passion. "This is forever, Kathryn!" he cried out in a raspy voice. "We'll find it...somehow!"
"Yes," she gasped. "Somehow." Her last word was bitten off in her cry of release. The stars she could see through the viewport above her seemed to shoot off in a hundred different directions as the tremors rushed through her body.
Chakotay's hands tightened their grip on hers as a long, low groaning escaped his mouth and he shuddered against her. He collapsed to her side, grasping her hip to keep them locked together.
She rolled with him and they lay in a tight embrace while their breathing steadied. Janeway lay with her palm planted on Chakotay's chest, and she could feel the beating of his heart beneath it. As he smoothed tendrils of hair off of her cheek, she raised her face to him. His heart skipped a beat at the expression of joy on her face as she gazed up at him.
"You've accomplished your mission; you've captured your Maquis," he said tenderly.
She shook her head and gave him a beatific smile. "I think I'm the one who's been captivated."
"Do you need to get back to Voyager?" he whispered.
"No. Tonight I only need to be here, with you."
*****
The small bridge of Fides was silent save for the incoherent muttering coming from beneath the engineering console where B'Elanna was sorting through a mess of jumbled circuit boards and broken connections. Kurt, seemingly oblivious to his companion's frustration, was manning the helm and testing various controls for the engineer as she made her repairs. The third bridge officer for that shift, Gerron, had been sent by Kurt to the galley to try to coax some coffee out of the ever elusive replicators.
"If it doesn't work the first time, try kicking it," Kurt had called after him, and had received a cuff to the head from Torres for his suggestion.
"Shields?" asked Torres gruffly, as she fiddled with her tools. Hearing no response she glanced up at Kurt who was staring thoughtfully out the viewscreen. "Shields!" she barked, making him jump slightly in his seat.
"What? Oh..." Kurt sheepishly turned his attention to the console. "Only 23%," he informed her.
"Shit!" exclaimed B'Elanna. "What is the matter with this stupid, stupid, stupid..." Her voice trailed off.
They lapsed into silence again.
"He's sleeping with her," Kurt said so abruptly that B'Elanna's hand slipped across her panel knocking a pesky conduit to the floor.
"Hell," she muttered. Then it registered in her brain what Kurt had just said. "What? What are you talking about?"
"Chakotay," Kurt said, still looking thoughtful. "He's sleeping with the Starfleet captain."
Torres chuckled, and bent to pick up her wayward conduit.
"Yeah. Right. Sure thing, Bendera."
"I don't know why you're so reluctant to believe me. There have been all kinds of signs..."
"Look, if you're talking about that gossip that went around after Tom's movie holoproject then let me clarify it for you. That was total crap and I told Tom so when he repeated it to me." B'Elanna waved her hyperspanner under Kurt's nose. "There is no way Chakotay was 'making out' with Captain Janeway in the holodeck, in front of everyone. He's just too private a person to do something like that."
"You were there," Kurt pointed out. "Did you see them?"
"No," admitted B'Elanna, looking slightly uncomfortable. "But I was in the projection room with... Nevermind where I was! I'm telling you it didn't happen!"
Kurt grinned at her and then returned his attention back to his console.
"Shields are at 56% now, Bey."
Torres grunted a grudging acknowledgement that her repairs were at last having some effect.
"Chakotay wasn't at dinner yesterday," Kurt told her.
"That doesn't mean anything," she muttered. "It wouldn't be the first time he passed up one of your culinary triumphs. Maybe he was trying his luck with the Talaxian cuisine."
"And," continued Kurt as if he hadn't heard her, "he didn't sleep in his bunk last night."
"Maybe he was on swing," B'Elanna suggested, without much conviction. "Even if he wasn't it doesn't mean that he was in bed with Captain Janeway! You have such an overactive imagination, Bendera."
"And where is he now?" asked Kurt. "I don't know about you, but I haven't seen him at all this morning."
"If we're lucky, he's down in the galley helping Gerron persuade the replicators to materialize some coffee for us!" snapped B'Elanna. She didn't know why the idea of Chakotay and the Voyager captain was so unsettling.
Kurt was having great fun with this. He had predicted that his theory would be met with resistance from Torres, but he hadn't realized how much. He was beginning to think a wager was in order.
Suddenly a terrific crash threw Kurt from his comfortable slouch in the pilot's seat to the floor of the cockpit. B'Elanna slammed hard into the engineering console, dropping both the hyperspanner and the conduit she had been holding.
"What the hell?" Kurt scrambled back into his seat and began scanning. "We're under attack!"
"Thank you very much for the update!" B'Elanna was desperately trying to put the pieces of the console back together. "Hail Voyager! We don't have a lot of shield power!"
"They've been badly hit. Communications are down," Kurt informed her. "Shields seem to be holding but..."
"Then try evasive maneuvers," B'Elanna suggested. "I'm not a miracle worker, you know."
Another blow rocked the ship. Kurt chuckled.
"If there's something funny happening I want to know about it!" B'Elanna said testily.
"I was just thinking that if Gerron had brought us the coffee we'd be wearing it right now. He'd probably have to haul out his medkit to treat us for burns." Kurt spoke easily enough while putting the small ship through a series of ducking motions in an attempt to evade the firepower of their attackers.
Torres finally got the sensors to flicker to life.
"My god, they're Kazon!" she breathed. "But how can this be? We left the Kazon territory behind ages ago."
"Well, someone should tell them that!" declared Kurt as Fides shuddered from another hit.
"Status!" barked a new voice as Chakotay entered the bridge. Captain Janeway was on his heels. Torres gaped at the pair for a brief moment and then, realizing that she was staring, she returned her attention to her console. She didn't often see the captain out of uniform.
"Two Kazon attack cruisers," Kurt said calmly, noting the presence of the Starfleet captain without surprise. "And they've been practicing. Voyager is badly hit and we're not doing much better."
"Where did they come from?" asked Janeway, as amazed as Torres at the sight of Kazon ships.
"Our sensors have been on the blink, but I suspect they were hiding behind that moon," was Kurt's opinion.
Chakotay quickly did a survey of his ship's status. Minimal shields and sensors, no backup from the big Starfleet vessel, outgunned by the two Kazon warships...the situation was bad.
"Head for the planet," he told Kurt. "Maybe it can offer us some cover."
As Kurt veered his course towards the orbit of the planet the Kazon fired again.
"I've lost power!" Kurt cried. "I've only got thrusters."
Torres worked feverishly on the engineering console, trying to pull power from all other systems on the ship. It wasn't enough.
"We're going down!"
In the end, thanks to Kurt's skill at the helm and B'Elanna's efforts with the engines, they did not crash but rather landed heavily with a bone jarring thump. After the roar of battle, the silence on the bridge was unnerving.
"What kind of an atmosphere do we have?" Chakotay finally asked.
"It will support us," B'Elanna told him grimly. "But it's not exactly a vacation haven. Little or no vegetation, no animal lifeforms, limited water resources. I hope we don't have to stay too long."
"Chakotay," Janeway murmured, gesturing out the viewport.
Chakotay looked up to see a Kazon shuttle coming to a clumsy landing a short distance from Fides. Warriors began to pour out of the shuttle's main door. He looked bleakly at Kathryn.
"We're not going to be able to take off in a hurry," Kurt said. "And we don't have any firepower or shields even if we could break into orbit again."
"There's only one option," Chakotay said. "Surrender."
"Chakotay, no!" cried B'Elanna. "Never!"
He swung around to face her and she expected a sharp reprimand. Instead his voice was gentle.
"What would you have me do, Bey?" he asked softly. "Send you out fighting to your deaths? I can't give that order. The Kazon won't kill you unless you fight them. It wouldn't be honourable."
"They're not Klingons!" B'Elanna flashed.
"They aren't interested in you. They only want the ship, the tech. And she only wants me, she'll let the rest of you live."
"She?" questioned Kurt with surprise. "The Kazon I'm used to didn't place a lot of respect on their women."
"It's not a Kazon woman I'm worried about," Chakotay said. "It's a Cardassian."
"Seska," breathed Janeway, wondering why it hadn't occurred to her before.
"It's the only thing that makes sense. We're way beyond Kazon territory and this was too well planned an attack not to be Seska's influence. They might be tempted by the prize of replicators and transporters, but she wants revenge," Chakotay said bitterly. "And that means me."
"She can't have you," B'Elanna stated flatly. "We'll kill her first."
"No!" Now Chakotay did raise his voice. "Listen to me! Get the others and go out there. No weapons! No fighting! Surrender to them. Let them take Fides. With any luck Voyager will be able to pick you up shortly and pursue. I'll face Seska, she's my responsibility."
Still B'Elanna hesitated, every instinct in her hating his orders.
"Go!" he insisted. "Go, Bey. Please."
When she left without another word Chakotay turned to face Kurt and Janeway, both of whom appeared to be shocked by the events.
"Kurt, you're our ace in the hole. She doesn't know about you; she thinks you're dead," Chakotay began.
"And with good reason," Kurt murmured.
"You have to protect the captain." Janeway gave a startled noise at this causing Chakotay to grab her arm. "If Seska finds out you're here she will kill you. She hates you almost as much as she hates me. She can't find you."
"They'll scan the ship," Janeway said. "They'll detect our life-signs."
Chakotay nodded to Kurt.
"You know what to do," he said.
"You bet," Kurt responded easily.
"If you can, see if you can thwart their attempts at stealing the tech. Don't forget that Seska's a good engineer, so she'll be able to fix just about anything. Destroy it if you have to but keep the captain safe."
"I will," promised Kurt.
"Chakotay," Janeway laid a hand on the arm that was still holding hers. "I can't let you do this."
He reached up to her cheeks and drew their faces together so that their noses brushed. Her eyes were wide and scared but he could tell her mind was running through possible scenarios of options. There were no options.
"I don't have a choice, Kathryn," he said, softly. Chakotay allowed himself a brief second to just hold her tightly, feeling for all the world like this would be the last time he'd ever see her. Then he pulled abruptly away and stood beyond reach.
"Get going," he told Kurt. "And be careful."
"She killed me once," Kurt said grimly. "She's not going to get a second chance."
Janeway watched Chakotay as Kurt headed down the corridor.
"We will get you back," she promised with more conviction than she felt. He knew it was a desperate vow but he appreciated it nonetheless.
"Goodbye," he said, then he pivoted and strode away. Janeway turned and followed Kurt's path.
He was leading her to a storage room, she discovered once she caught up with him. For a brief instant she feared they were going to walk into the cozy corner she and Chakotay had shared but then she realized that this was a different room, though it served much the same purpose as the other.
"How are we going to avoid their scans?" Janeway asked, as Kurt yanked a toolkit from a compartment just outside the door.
"Smuggler's hole," grunted Kurt, as he quickly sorted through the kit. Finding his tool, he replaced the kit and entered the room. Janeway followed.
Drawn by some morbid desire to know what was happening outside, she peered out the tall, narrow viewport. The Maquis crewmembers were in a line, on their knees, facing several Kazon warriors. They looked defiant, but under control as Chakotay strode into their midst. Even though she couldn't hear, Janeway imagined she knew what the Kazon warriors were saying to Chakotay. He stood straight and spoke to the closest one.
Suddenly the Kazon lifted his weapon and brought it down on the side of Chakotay's head, knocking him to his hands and knees. The Kazon reached down to roughly pull Chakotay up by yanking on his hair and forced his hands behind his head. While he knelt before the Kazon, Chakotay lowered his eyes, the weapon pressed cruelly into his neck.
Janeway felt a sickening overpowering sense of helplessness. They were going to execute him right there in front of his crew, in front of her, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Most of the Maquis had looked away, not willing to see their leader in so humiliating a position. Only B'Elanna stared at him openly, her expression of rage demonstrating her loyalty and love for Chakotay. But she too was helpless.
Then another Kazon appeared, and even from this distance Janeway could tell he was the Maj. She'd never met Cullah, so she couldn't say for sure if it was him, but she didn't doubt that Seska was behind this attack. Seska wouldn't want Chakotay executed by some Kazon lieutenant. She'd want the pleasure of that all to herself.
The leader had Chakotay's wrists chained and hauled him to his feet and shoved him in the direction of the Kazon shuttle. The other Kazon were stripping the Maquis of any tech they had on them. Communicators and tricorders were all confiscated.
Janeway turned her attention to Kurt, who had been prying loose part of the floor.
"Scanners can't sense in here," Kurt said, by way of explanation.
"Doesn't Seska know about these?" asked Janeway.
Kurt shrugged.
"Sure, but if the whole crew is out there, and she thinks I'm dead... All we can do is hope she doesn't remember to look here."
He gestured for her to go first, so Janeway scrambled into the space, not much bigger than a coffin. As Kurt secured the floor panel, she was glad she was not claustrophobic.
*****
When Janeway heard the sound of the floor panel being detached she felt a wash of fear that the Kazon had discovered them. Then she was blinking in the light of the storage room and squinting at Kurt Bendera. He reached in a hand to help her to her feet.
"We've broken orbit," he told her, while fixing the panels back in place.
Janeway nodded. She'd felt the ship leave the planet's surface. Unlike the smooth functioning of Voyager's artificial gravity, Fides's systems were not seamless. There had been a stomach turning moment of delay when they had broken free of the natural gravity.
"Tell me something, Mr. Bendera," Janeway said, as he handed her a tricorder. "Did these smuggler's holes get used very often?" Kurt looked a little amused.
"I wouldn't know, Captain," he answered. "This isn't my ship, remember. That's something you'd have to ask Chakotay."
They walked towards the door, with tricorders scanning for Kazon.
"But a word of advice," Kurt added, turning around to face her. "Don't ask him anything unless you are sure you want to hear the answer."
Confident that there were no Kazon lurking behind the door to the corridor, they exited the storage room.
"We have to hurry," Kurt said. "They'll be going for transporters and replicators. But we have to make it look like a system failure. And even if they re not familiar with our technology, Seska is. Particularly the tech on Fides."
Kurt stopped in front of an access panel to the Jeffries tubes. Even though there didn't appear to be a lot of Kazon wandering around, it was best to get out of the corridor. Janeway approved of Kurt's thinking. But she'd never seen a Jeffries tube so narrow.
She was amazed that the big Maquis man could fit as she squeezed in and shut the access panel behind her. If anything should happen to Kurt in these tubes she might be well and truly stuck!
One thing that was familiar was the ache in the knees which set in after only a short distance down the tube.
Unbidden, thoughts of Kurt Bendera came into Janeway's mind.
"Kurt's a good guy," Chakotay had said. "He can be a bit of a jokester but I trust him with my life when push comes to shove....And he does seem to have a knack for employing great ingenuity when inventiveness is needed. Not only in the kitchen."
Unfortunately, memory then flashed into her head the scene in the conference room when Kurt had learned they were going through with the experiment that had killed his friends. Without Chakotay's interference he might very well have struck her.
Still, she took some comfort in knowing that Chakotay trusted this man, as he had trusted the other man, and that he'd left her with Kurt without any hesitation.
'And without any choice in the matter, Kathryn,' added her mind.
Chakotay. She couldn't help but see him on his knees with a Kazon warrior just a finger twitch away from killing him. What was happening to him now? Janeway was familiar with the treatment received by Cardassian prisoners. She had no doubt that Seska, who had to be harbouring resentment at being abandoned by Chakotay, would pull out all the stops. In which case, death by that Kazon warrior would have been more merciful.
Janeway wondered what Kurt thought about his current predicament. He'd promised his friend to protect someone he barely knew and didn't really trust. Actually, Kurt's thoughts were not nearly so coherent.
'God-DAMN-it!' thought Kurt. 'What the hell are we going to do now?!' He'd been tempted to leave Janeway in the smuggler's hole and try to disable the tech himself. But he knew that Janeway was far more talented with a computer console than was he and he wanted the Kazon to remain unaware of their stowaways for as long as possible. Besides, he'd promised Chakotay to protect the captain, and he felt better having her where he could keep an eye on her.
Chakotay. Dammit man, couldn't he have done some thinking with his head instead of his prick? GodDAMN that Cardassian bitch Seska. She was trouble with a capital T and that's just what he had told Chakotay too. The bastard had completely ignored him and allowed that conniving little witch to seduce him like he was some kind of fuckin' schoolboy who didn't know any better. And those fucking Kazon who were just too stupid to know that the bitch was just playing them for fools on one of her power hungry lustful goddamn conquests...Fuck fuck fuck ...
Kurt paused for a moment at a cross junction to get his bearings and glanced back at Janeway. Her mouth was set in a thin line of grim determination. Kurt was suddenly glad he had her along and that she was on his side. Who were Seska and Cullah compared to Janeway? Goddamn nobodies, that's who!
Kurt's sense of humour was never very far away, especially in the middle of black situations, and he couldn't help but be amused by the fact that he'd made a promise to protect the same woman who until quite recently had been as much of an enemy to him as the Cardassians.
Then, thinking of Chakotay saying goodbye to the captain, Kurt suddenly wished that he'd placed a wager with B'Elanna on the nature of their leader's relationship.
*****
So far Chakotay had not been badly treated. Oh sure, the Kazon warriors had smacked him around a bit but nothing to draw blood yet. He'd been taken to some kind of conference room and bound to a chair. One warrior remained by the door, ever watchful but uncommunicative.
As soon as Cullah appeared Chakotay knew that his luck was about to take a nose dive. The burly Kazon leader leaned down to sneer in Chakotay's face.
"If you are the best of the rebels then it is no wonder the Cardassians overtook your homeland."
Chakotay flushed.
"Just like one Cardassian took over your ship?" he asked coldly.
The blow was not any less painful for being expected.
Chakotay was filled with blind rage turned mostly on himself for allowing Seska to put him in this predicament. His crew abandoned, Kurt and Kathryn in hiding ...He felt sick with worry. And it was all because of his inability to deal with that Cardassian bitch! Unable to come to terms with his self recriminations, he lashed out at Cullah for being yet another notch in Seska's weapon. It was not perhaps the most intelligent thing to do when in chains on the man's ship, but reason had been left behind long ago.
"Tell me, has she wormed her way into your bed yet? A very sexy woman, isn't she? Particularly for a cold blooded reptile." This time the blow did draw blood which gushed freely from his nose.
Any further taunts which might have spilled from his lips were silenced by the appearance of Seska at the far end of the room. He gasped, suddenly feeling even sicker than just a few moments previously.
"Hello Chakotay. How nice to see you again. I expect you didn't think we'd be reunited quite so soon. I love surprise encounters though, don't you?"
Chakotay was mute.
Seska crossed the room and gave a sweet smile to Cullah, who stepped back slightly. Chakotay stared up at her in shock.
"I probably look slightly different than you remember. I'm letting my Cardassian physiology return. Frankly, it's a bit of a relief." She did look very different from the Bajoran woman Chakotay remembered. The ridges on her nose were still there, but there was also a bulging of the muscles in her neck and skeletal bumps along her forehead. She looked like a child of the occupation of Bajor: half Bajoran, half Cardassian.
But it wasn't her facial features which had stunned Chakotay, it was the fact that Seska was obviously pregnant. Chakotay was no expert in such matters, but even to his untrained eye she looked nearly to term. And that would mean ...
Seska laughed at him. A taunting triumphant laugh while she watched him doing mental calculations.
"It has been a long time!" she exclaimed.
Chakotay was wondering which idea was worse: that Seska could be the mother of a part Kazon baby, or that she would be the mother of his child.
Seska reached out to him, deftly unbound his right wrist and grabbed his hand. In alarm, the warrior came closer and raised his weapon to Chakotay's head. With both her hands, Seska held Chakotay's on her belly. Unable to resist, or even to move, Chakotay could do nothing but feel the sensation of the baby's movement in Seska's womb. He closed his eyes.
"Feel that?" she asked him with delight. "That's your son."
*****
Tom fidgeted nervously at the command centre of the bridge. He felt like pacing but he knew he was making the rest of the bridge crew uneasy. He felt so helpless! His eyes caught a sympathetic look from Suzie Lavoie, who felt as helpless as he did.
Two pilots on the bridge but no navigational control. Only Vorik's legs could be seen sticking out from underneath the helm. Once in awhile Suzie handed him a tool, or tested some piece of equipment for him.
Tom couldn't even have the satisfaction of doing that. Tuvok had left him in charge of the bridge, so Tom could do nothing but observe the efforts of the engineering crew repair the consoles.
There weren't many systems that didn't need some work done on them. Environmental controls were fluctuating which had raised the temperature on the ship and contributed to fraying tempers. Sensors, weapons, shields they were all offline.
But the worst, in Tom's opinion, was the loss of navigation and engines. They were sitting ducks in space. For Tom, that meant that no matter how quickly Carey's team was doing their work, they were still no closer to their goal. Tom needed motion; he needed control Right now he had neither.
Things could be worse, he admitted glumly. Considering the harsh words he'd thrown at Tuvok earlier he was lucky not to be in the brig.
The surprise of the Kazon attack was compounded by the fact that despite badly crippling the Starfleet vessel, the Kazon had pursued only the Maquis.
The senior staff had pondered whether or not the Kazon somehow knew that Captain Janeway was on Fides. Tom doubted that. He had seen the reaction of Tuvok when it was discovered Janeway was not on board Voyager. If Tuvok didn't know then nobody knew.
It was suggested that possibly these were the Kazon with whom Seska had been left behind. That would make the choice of ship more sensible since she was very familiar with the systems on Fides. Tom silently thought that vengeance might be a more powerful motivator when it came to Seska, but he'd kept his theory to himself.
It was Tuvok's insistence that the retrieval of the captain be their primary goal that had tipped Tom over the edge. Not that he didn't want Janeway back too, probably more than anyone on the senior staff, with the exception of Tuvok. But it seemed to Tom that the first officer was completely disregarding the Maquis and what might have happened to them.
Every time Tom thought about B'Elanna he felt sick. What had happened to her? Was she alright?
Tom had accused Tuvok of forgetting about their allies.
"If Captain Janeway wasn't on Fides, would we even be pursuing?" he'd asked, his face flushed with anger.
"If Captain Janeway was not on Fides, it would be to her that you could address that question, Lieutenant," Tuvok had replied.
Now, all Tom could do was wait and worry and fidget nervously.
*****
Kurt stood guard, his cool eyes continually surveying the room, while Janeway accessed the central computer from a panel in the transporter room. They had determined that there were three Kazon warriors aboard; two in engineering and one on the bridge. Such was Seska's confidence in her success that she hadn't bothered assigning a team of engineers. Kurt suspected the only reason they had not yet stolen the transporter was due to the malfunctions of other ship's systems. The stress of the battle had only worsened the pesky problems Torres had been trying to repair.
Kurt was impressed by Janeway's efficiency with the computer. He found the system on Fides to be less than impressive, with many functions not available by voice command which he knew to be the norm on Starfleet ships. Yet the captain seemed to have little difficulty in breaking into the system undetected and was now in the process of introducing "problems" which would not be easily detected by the hapless Kazon. Such breakdowns would not point directly at sabotage and hopefully keep their presence unknown to the enemy.
"You're pretty good at this," Kurt said. When Janeway did not respond he added, "Ever thought about joining the Maquis?"
"No," Janeway said, shortly, without taking her eyes from her task.
"That's too bad," Kurt told her. "Because you could learn from a master."
Now Janeway did pause, to turn and stare at Kurt.
"You mean Chakotay?" she asked, lightly, going back to her work.
"He taught me everything I know!" Kurt grinned. "Well, maybe not everything. But we wouldn't have come this far without him." Kurt's voice took on a cautious note.
"If you're trying to convince me of the need to rescue Commander Chakotay," Janeway said stiffly, "then you're wasting time. I'm not thinking of abandoning him just yet. What's this?"
The question was directed more to herself than Kurt, as Janeway had stumbled across several inactive automated emergency beacons.
"Thinking of sending an SOS, Cap'n?" asked Kurt.
"Or perhaps something more substantial," Janeway said, a rescue plan already forming in her mind.
*****
Gloran glared at the darkening viewscreen where Seska's image could still be made out even though the signal had been cut. He resented having to take orders from a female and Seska's personality hadn't won her many allies amongst Cullah's crew. Except for the most important one of all, naturally, that being the Maj.
All of Gloran's respect for his Maj had been whittled away since Seska had joined them. The conniving, irritable woman had bewitched the Maj so thoroughly that he now believed she was carrying his child. Gloran and some of the others scoffed at such an idea behind Cullah's back. Seska's plan was to use the prisoner by making him think the baby was his. It seemed to Gloran that for this plan to work there must be a pretty good chance that the child was half-human after all. This would make Cullah the laughing stock of all the Kazon and his disgrace would bring down the entire Nistrim sect.
All because of that woman!
Gloran's resentment towards Seska was particularly high because he'd been chosen to take the Maquis ship and convert the tech over so that it could be used on Cullah's vessel. This sort of grunt work was beneath Gloran, but even more frustrating was the fact that the tech was not working!
Whenever Gloran consulted with Seska about the intricacies of the Maquis computers he got the impression she was not all that surprised at the failures that were happening. Why on earth had she suggested they take the smaller ship when the larger one would have been the better prize?
Cullah was a fool.
Gloran had been given a team of only two warriors because the breakdowns had not been anticipated. Now that they were en route back to base, Gloran's team was stuck on Fides until they could get the transporters functioning again. Gloran strongly suspected they would be landing the ship before the transporters could be used, but he left his opinion out of his reports to the Maj.
The first time he ran into problems, he contacted Seska.
"You scanned the ship? There were no other life signs?" she asked in that disdainful tone of hers.
"No life signs," Gloran confirmed.
"All of the crew were put off the ship except Chakotay," Seska mused to herself. "It must be a failure in the power conduit relay station. You'll have to repair it!"
Gloran ground his teeth but said nothing.
When he spotted the message beacon, he contacted Seska.
"That's an SOS call that is programmed to be sent automatically when certain systems fail," she told him, as though he was a mere child. "It's nothing."
Gloran bit back a nasty retort, knowing that Cullah would not take kindly to any warrior who abused his mate.
When he noticed a second message beacon, he contacted Seska.
"That's just garbage!" she burst out, annoyed. "Do I have to hold your hand through this entire project!"
Gloran, not trusting himself to speak, merely cut the connection without signing off. He was about to return to the engine room to see how the repairs were going when he noticed another message beacon.
This time he didn't even read it.
*****
Out of blissful nothingness came sensation. Thirst. Nausea. Agony. One eye was swollen shut but the other blinked bringing the blurry white into partial focus. It was a light shining down from the ceiling. The angle at which he could see it must mean that he was lying on the floor.
His breath was coming in short gasps, the need for oxygen overpowering the shooting pain of his broken ribs.
He remembered the fists of Cullah while in the conference room. He remembered the boots of the warrior guard. He remembered the sensation of Seska's baby. But he couldn't remember how he'd come to be here in this cell.
Attempting to move was a mistake. A groan of pain escaped him, drawing the attention of a figure outside the cell. Whoever was there was speaking with the warrior guard but all Chakotay could hear was a high pitched ringing in his ears.
The cell's force field lowered and the figure stepped closer. Some protective instinct drew his hands up to shield his head, even knowing they'd be ineffective.
"I brought you something to drink," Seska told him. She reached down to pull him into a sitting position by tugging on the chain of his bound wrists. He gritted his teeth in an effort not to cry out.
After he drank, Seska put down the container and ran her fingers along his face. Chakotay turned away, closing his good eye, realizing that he was in no shape to fight her, even supposing a guard was not standing three metres away.
"You surprise me, Chakotay," she murmured. "Considering how you are so noble as to fight for hearth and home, I would have thought the news of your impending fatherhood would be joyous for you."
"You...have...to...be...kidding," he gasped.
"You know me, I never kid around," she said.
"No...sense...of...humour," he mumbled.
She smacked him across the face, hard.
"What...do you...want...from me?" he whispered.
She pursed her lips as though thinking, her eyes narrowing.
"Oh, I don't know. An admission that I was right and you were wrong? An apology maybe?"
"No." He shook his head slightly. "You want...revenge. For...being left...behind..."
"That too," she agreed with a wicked smile. "That too."
She traced the outline of his parched lips with her index finger.
"But I think I'll get all that, and more, watching you when this baby is born. I've convinced the Maj to let you live, you see. I explained that you could be useful."
Chakotay regarded her warily.
"You can stop Voyager from firing on us, should she ever come looking for you," she explained.
"Yeah, sure." Chakotay chuckled painfully. "I guess...you've...forgotten. Janeway...doesn't take...orders...from me."
Seska stood up and looked down at him disdainfully.
"Don't even pretend that you'd allow Janeway to kill your son. I know better."
Then she left him to fall into blissful nothingness once again.
*****
"That's a Maquis distress call alright," Tom confirmed. "Standard SOS." He stood with Tuvok at Harry's station on the bridge. Harry was confused.
"How could they send this without the Kazon seeing it?"
"It wasn't sent, Mr. Kim," Tuvok replied. "It is an automated beacon." Tuvok frowned. "It is odd. I was under the impression that the distress beacons on Fides had been disabled as they are all encrypted with a Maquis code."
Tom knew this to be true. B'Elanna had joked with him that Chakotay didn't want Janeway to learn all the Maquis secrets, just on the off chance that they return to the Alpha Quadrant. Tom didn't think this was exactly the reasoning behind Chakotay's decision not to use the Maquis beacons; it was easier for the alliance to use only Starfleet codes.
"Maybe it was sent by accident," he suggested.
"The second message is slightly different," Harry told him, displaying it on his console. "But it doesn't make any sense to me." It didn't make any sense to Tom either.
"What about the third one?" he asked. "Third time's a charm, right?"
"Again, it's slightly different. But if anything, it's even more garbled," Harry said with some frustration.
"Do you understand either message, Lieutenant?" asked Tuvok.
Tom shook his head. Still concentrating on the display he said,
"If you're counting on my Maquis experience then we're out of luck. But you spent more time with them than I did, Lieutenant." He added the rank hastily at the end after glancing up to see Tuvok's disapproving frown.
"What if the first one is the automated one, and the second one is a code..." Harry punched a few sequences into his console. "No, that doesn't seem to work either."
"No," Tom said quietly after a moment. "The second one is the message and the third one is the code." He leaned over Harry to tap on the console himself. "See, look."
"It must be from Captain Janeway!" Harry said, excited.
"I still don't understand how they were transmitted without the Kazon noticing," Tom said. He wondered what was happening on the Maquis ship.
*****
Janeway stood in the shadow of the doorway to the bridge watching Kurt with the last Kazon on board Fides. The first two he had taken care of down in engineering. One with a blow to the head, the other with a broken neck.
Kurt had forced this one to his knees, much the way the Maquis had been when they'd surrendered. He was hoping to get some information from this warrior.
"If I wanted to have a word with the captain of this ship that you've stolen, a fellow by the name of Chakotay, where would I be likely to find him?"
Gloran said nothing, merely glared at Kurt.
"I'm sure you know who I mean," continued Kurt. "Tall guy, taller than me, with dark hair, and a marking on his face above his left eye?"
"Miserable Federation," hissed Gloran. "Why should I tell you anything?" The Kazon grunted as Kurt drove a fist into his midsection.
"Let's get something straight," Kurt said, his voice still friendly. "I'm Maquis, not Federation. You would do well to learn the difference."
"You're going to kill me anyway, no matter what I tell you," Gloran said, through clenched teeth. He was seething at the prospect of this dishonourable death.
Kurt shrugged.
"Maybe, maybe not. But there are many ways to die, my friend, and some of them are very unpleasant."
Gloran didn't seem terribly impressed by this. His eyes shifted around.
"Your captain is dead," he told Kurt.
Kurt's eyes narrowed.
"Where I come from we fight people called Cardassians. That's what Cullah's woman is: a Cardassian. I know all about the way they like to torture people so I know that Chakotay is still alive somewhere on your ship. And there's something else I learned from the Cardassians." Kurt paused for effect. "How to prolong suffering during interrogation. The trick, you see, is to ensure that your victim doesn't pass out from pain. It's a very fine line sometimes."
Gloran stuck out his chin defiantly. He would not break under this man's torture. He would not. Kurt was regarding him curiously.
"You strike me as a pretty smart guy, for a Kazon," he began.
Gloran spat in Kurt's general direction which earned him another blow to the stomach.
"As I was saying," continued Kurt, "you seem like a reasonable guy. Why would you go to your death loyal to a man who is allowing a woman to make all his decisions? What has Cullah done, except bow down to a mere female, and an alien one at that, instead of asserting himself as is his right as a Kazon leader?"
'Oh, he's good,' thought Janeway, listening in the shadows.
"She's using him, you know. Making him out to be a fool. Just like she used Chakotay. She killed me once, you know." Kurt laughed. "But that's really a story for another time. Right now I need to know where I can find my captain."
Kurt reached down and pulled a knife from his boot. Janeway couldn't tell the origin of the blade, but it looked like something a Klingon would cherish. Kurt flicked the point of the blade under Gloran's chin drawing drops of blood.
"Don't make me use this. Things could get very messy."
*****
Janeway regarded Gloran's body, lying with unseeing eyes upturned near Kurt's boots. The Maquis man did not even seem to be aware of the Kazon corpse, as he scrolled through schematics of the Kazon ship. Janeway didn't really want to go near Gloran, she didn't really want to touch him, but she couldn't stand the look in those dead eyes, so she bent down to gently close his eyelids.
Sighing wearily, she stood and faced Kurt.
"Did Chakotay teach you that as well?" she asked coldly.
Kurt glanced up at her with surprise.
"As a matter of fact he did," he confirmed. Janeway closed her eyes. When she opened them she was looking at Kurt's amused face. For some reason she had an urge to strike him, if only to get that cocky look out of his eyes.
"You're a long way from a Federation tribunal to be collecting evidence, don't you think Captain?" he inquired, turning back to the console.
"Is that what you think I'm doing?" she asked softly, a warning in her tone.
"No," he admitted, still concentrating on the data. "I think you're trying to reconcile what I just did with the Chakotay you thought you knew. But don't forget, Captain, the man who taught me how to interrogate a prisoner is not the same man we're trying to rescue."
Somehow this didn't comfort Janeway as much as she thought it should.
*****
Janeway and Kurt beamed to different parts of the Kazon ship. After a short internal debate, Kurt had decided that it was for the best if he tracked down Chakotay while Janeway disabled the weapons. He knew that Janeway would have preferred to go looking for the missing man, but she had superior skill with technology. Besides, Kurt suspected that he might have to slit a few Kazon throats to get at Chakotay, and he wasn't entirely confident with Janeway's ability in that area.
Hoping to avoid the immediate detection which a phaser discharge would bring, Kurt elected to carry his knife as a weapon. He kept a phaser rifle slung over his shoulder for quick access in an emergency. In his other hand he carried a tricorder so that he wouldn't run into any unexpected confrontations.
By some kind of luck that had blessed Kurt for most of his life he made it to the detention cells without being seen by any Kazon. His tricorder told him that there was only one guard in the detention area, which either meant that Chakotay was not seen as a great flight risk, or he was already dead.
Kurt couldn't chalk it up to typical Kazon stupidity, since he knew that Seska had influence on this ship and she was too clever for her own good.
Kurt pressed himself flat against the wall and waved a hand in front of the motion detectors that would open the doors. They opened. No one came out. The doors closed.
He did it again. This time he could hear the guard walking towards the door. Kurt raised his knife, trying to visualize the average height of a Kazon. He hoped this one wasn't taller than normal.
When the sound of the footsteps was just inside the open door, Kurt swung himself into the room without a noise and drove the knife deep into the Kazon's lower chest with an upward motion.
The weight of the guard falling to the floor pulled Kurt over and he nearly tripped. But then he yanked the knife out of the wound and sat in a squat position looking down on his victim. He wasn't dead yet, but he soon would be. Kurt removed the communication device that was clipped on the guard's uniform. He then cleaned the blood off his blade on the Kazon's sleeve and wiped his hand on his own pant leg. There was always too much blood.
Standing, he swiftly crossed the room to the cell.
"Ch'kotay," he called softly at first and then with more urgency. "Chakotay!"
The figure lying in the corner of the cell didn't move.
Kurt punched the keypad to lower the force field but nothing happened. He examined the pad more closely. He didn't want to risk a phaser discharge unless he was sure that would open the cell. It didn't take him that long to figure out what he needed.
The burly Kazon guard was dead now. Kurt grabbed him by the armpits and dragged him across towards the cell, muttering under his breath.
"You owe me big this time, old man."
Finally close enough, Kurt grabbed one of the dead Kazon's hands and smacked it against the keypad. The force field lowered. Kurt dropped the guard's arm and entered the cell.
Gently, he rolled Chakotay over from his side to his back.
"Ok, old man, you've got to wake up for me now, cos I can't carry you," Kurt told him, doing a cursory and completely useless examination of Chakotay's injuries. Kurt was no medic, and he had no medical equipment to help him. "You big lug, wake up now, c mon, c mon," he whispered.
Against his better judgement which told him to be gentle, Kurt smacked Chakotay's cheeks and finally gave him a rough shake by the shoulders. It was this final motion which caused Chakotay to groan and roll his head slightly.
Kurt kept up his babbling, while he tried desperately to free Chakotay's wrists and ankles from the metal manacles. He finally had the ankles free and Chakotay sitting upright in a state somewhere between unconsciousness and lucidity.
Kurt's efforts on the wrist chains were becoming more and more frantic when suddenly Chakotay's hands flew up to grab him roughly by the jaw.
"Where is she?" Chakotay hissed, his open eye fixed coldly on Kurt's face.
"If you mean Seska, I have no idea and I don't want to know," Kurt said, after shaking himself free of Chakotay's grip. "If you mean Janeway, she's disabling the Kazon shields."
"Do you mean...to tell me...she's wandering...around...somewhere on...this ship?" Chakotay began to struggle to his feet.
Kurt gave up on the shackles and supported his friend while he stood. Once upright, Chakotay swayed for a moment, and Kurt feared he was going to faint. But Chakotay took a deep breath and managed to stay on his feet, although he leaned heavily on his friend.
"I thought I told you to keep her safe," Chakotay gasped.
"You know, I think she's perfectly capable of looking after herself," Kurt told him. "And she is certainly more capable of disabling Kazon tech than I am!"
"If Seska...finds her," Chakotay began.
"Seska's not going to do anything, old man," Kurt reassured him. "We have a plan. I get you, she gets the shields, Voyager gets the ship. Bing, bang, boom no more Kazon, no more Seska."
Kurt had been trying to prevent Chakotay from shuffling slowly towards the door. The last thing he needed was for the Kazon to discover them now. But now Chakotay's one good eye widened as the meaning of Kurt's words sunk in and he became agitated.
"No! We can't do that!"
"Hey, take it easy," Kurt said, alarmed at the reaction he was getting. "Take it easy. Everything's going to be fine. Just hang tight for a sec while I contact the cavalry." As Kurt loosened his grip on Chakotay to tap the comm badge hidden in his shirt pocket, Chakotay made a lunge for the door. He didn't get far before coming crashing to his knees. Kurt knelt beside him and called for transport.
*****
The disassembly and reassembly process of the transporter seemed to boost Chakotay's energy. He stood from the transporter pad on Voyager without assistance and walked down to the control console. His hands, still shackled, hit the communications panel
"Chakotay to bridge," he called. "Break off the attack."
There was a stunned silence from both engineers at the console, and from the bridge. Kurt came up behind him slowly.
"Let me help you with..." He reached out towards Chakotay's hands but Chakotay smacked the comm panel again.
"Bridge! Did you hear me? Break off the attack, that's an order!"
"You are not in command of this vessel," was Tuvok's cool response.
Before Kurt could begin to remove the shackles, Chakotay spun around and exited the room, stumbling slightly as he went. Kurt moved to follow him, disturbed by what was happening, and confused.
Then Janeway appeared on the pad behind him. She saw Kurt, alone, and alarm leapt into her eyes.
"Mr. Bendera?"
"I got him," Kurt confirmed. "He's...he's on his way to the bridge now."
"He's alright then?" she asked, stepping down towards him.
"Well..." Kurt's brow wrinkled with consternation. "I'd say he should see the doc. He's been beaten pretty badly and I think he's got some busted ribs and..."
"And what?" asked Janeway sharply.
"He wants to call off the attack," Kurt said, then he shrugged.
Janeway's expression didn't show her surprise. She nodded towards Vorik.
"Ensign, go with Mr. Bendera back to Fides. He made need some help getting some of the systems back on line. Mr. Bendera, we need a pilot over there."
"Right," Kurt agreed, but still hesitated, wanting to go after Chakotay. Janeway laid a light hand on his arm.
"I'll look after him, you look after his ship."
"Right," Kurt said again and stepped up to the transporter pad with Vorik.
*****
When Chakotay entered the bridge he created quite a stir. Bruised and beaten, his wrists still in chains, he must have looked a sight! But none of that registered with him. He was so afraid that Tuvok had destroyed Cullah's ship.
"The other Kazon ship is retreating," Harry called out.
"That last volley damaged Cullah's navigational control," Rollins informed Tuvok. "One more hit should do it."
"NO!" cried Chakotay, drawing all eyes to him. "Cease fire. That's an ORDER!"
Only Tuvok's expression remained blank. All the other bridge crew gaped at Chakotay in astonishment.
"Ensign Kim," Tuvok said calmly, "confirm with transporter room one that Captain Janeway has returned."
Chakotay came down the short steps to the command centre of the bridge. He stood next to Tuvok, with a menacing glare. Tuvok returned his look unflinching, his expression quizzical.
"You are not in command here, Commander Chakotay," he said. "Nor can you be aware of our tactical plan."
"I outrank you Lieutenant Tuvok, which makes me the highest ranking officer on this bridge," hissed Chakotay.
"Captain Janeway is on board," Harry said. "The Kazon vessel is breaking off the attack and moving away."
"They'll be out of weapons range soon," Tom said, half turning in his seat to look at Tuvok. "Should we pursue?"
"Yes," said Tuvok and Chakotay at the same time.
"No," ordered Janeway, as she stepped onto the bridge. Even looking slightly dishelved, she had a command presence; proving that it was more than a uniform that made her the captain.
"Captain," Tuvok stepped around Chakotay to greet her. "It is good to have you back."
"It's good to be back, Lieutenant. Report!"
"One Kazon vessel has retreated, the other is damaged and moving away."
"Kathryn." Chakotay turned around to face her. It was taking all his strength to remain standing but he had to get through to her to make sure she didn't continue the attack on Cullah's ship. "Don't fire on them," he begged. "We need to pursue them but not destroy them..." She guided him gently to her chair where he sat heavily, his hands gripping her forearm for support.
"Chakotay, we need to retrieve your crew." Her voice was gentle. "Don't you agree that getting them back safely should be our priority?"
His crew. In the heat of the moment he'd been so afraid he'd forgotten about them. He nodded and saw her turn her head to say something to Tom Paris. Chakotay couldn't make out the words. Black dots were forming in his vision and they seemed to be growing larger and larger until there was no light spaces between them. The darkness swept over him relieving him briefly of pain and confusion.
*****
Chakotay's eyes blinked open to view the bright ceiling of Voyager's sickbay. He had a few seconds of total bliss before memory assaulted him. He sprang up from the biobed as though from hot coals.
"Commander," Kes moved towards him. "Are you feeling better?"
"My crew?" he asked, while doing a mental inventory of his own health.
"We found them," Kes assured him. "Most were suffering from exposure and dehydration, but not seriously. The Doctor released them back to Fides. He said you could go back there too, once you awakened."
"Where are we? What time is it? Where's Captain Janeway?" Chakotay asked urgently. "I have to talk to her."
Kes gave him a smile, trying to ease his disorientation.
"We're back on course to the Alpha Quadrant. The captain was here for awhile, but the Doctor chased her away. I expect she's gone to her quarters." Chakotay thanked Kes and took off out of the sickbay, calling the computer for Janeway's location as he went.
*****
Janeway sat on her couch her eyes unfocused on the work she'd laid on the table. A lot had happened while she was playing saboteur with Kurt Bendera. But her mind kept drifting back to the man in the sickbay and the steps that had led them to this current location.
When it came to Chakotay it seemed that all of her emotions were oversensitized. The thrill of his hands on her body and the overwhelming sensation they gave her. The fear she'd felt when she'd seen him captured. The confusion at his insistence not to fire on Cullah's vessel. The nagging worry she felt now, with him unconscious. The guilt of being with him, instead of on her ship when it was attacked.
The Doctor had assured her that his concussion was not serious and that he was going to make a complete recovery. The EMH had even hypothesized a bit on the Maquis leader's strange behaviour, saying that it could have been caused by his head injury. It certainly appeared that the Kazon had taken their pound of flesh by beating on his skull.
When the door chime went she called for it to open without even pondering who it might be.
Chakotay stepped into the room and stood stiffly at attention before her. She came to her feet abruptly, surprised not only by his sudden appearance in her quarters (especially when she had been thinking about him) but also by his mannerism, which seemed overly formal.
"Are you feeling alright?" she asked.
He nodded, a bit curtly, and then surprised her even further.
"Captain, I want to change our course and pursue the damaged Kazon ship."
"Why?" The question came out sharply. If his odd behaviour was caused by the concussion then it shouldn't be continuing now that he was healed.
He hesitated. She noticed that he had yet to make eye contact with her. Stepping around the table, she came to stand in front of him. His head was turned so that he could look out her viewport. Without thinking, she brought up a hand to turn his chin so that he was looking straight ahead. He was still avoiding her eyes.
"Why?" she asked again.
"I'd rather not say," he finally said.
"You're asking me to alter our course for home to track an enemy who was very nearly responsible for your death. An enemy whose life you saved by not allowing Tuvok to fire once the ship was damaged. I want to know why before I give that order." In the back of her mind Janeway heard Kurt Bendera's amused warning, "Don't ask him anything unless you are sure you want to hear the answer."
Why did he need to know Seska's fate, Chakotay wondered to himself. The answer was not long in coming. 'Because if that child is mine, there is no way in hell that Seska and Cullah are going to raise him.'
"Seska is pregnant," he told Janeway bluntly. "She told me the child is mine."
The silence in the room seemed deafening.
"And you believe her?" Janeway asked, when she felt confident her voice would be steady.
"Yes." It was a short answer, but it said a lot. It told Janeway of the kind of relationship that Chakotay and Seska had following Kurt Bendera's murder. It explained why he had stopped the order that would have killed the Cardassian and her Kazon allies. It gave the reason why he needed to go after them.
Janeway tapped her comm badge.
"Janeway to helm. Alter course to pursue Kazon vessel based on last known heading and contact Fides to inform them of the change in heading." Now it was Janeway who couldn't seem to meet his eyes.
"Thank you, Captain," he said, formally.
"You'd better get back to your ship, Commander," she replied, coolly.
*****
**Captain's Log: After changing our heading on Commander Chakotay's request, we were able to pick up the trail of the Nistrim vessel easily. It appears that the damage sustained was more extensive than we realized. The vessel crashed onto a small planet. Initial scans do not indicate survivors. Commander Chakotay has led a team down to investigate the wreckage while Ensign Kim and Lieutenant Tuvok use our newly repaired sensors to gather readings of the planet.**
*****
A chilly wind whipped across Chakotay's face, stinging his cheeks, while he stood on the hill surveying the remains of the Kazon vessel. He was motionless, only his eyes moving as they took in the scene. It was impossible to imagine anyone surviving such a crash.
B'Elanna was approaching from his right, taking long strides to climb up the hill. She'd come from what was left of the interior of the ship. Torres half expected Chakotay to ask her questions, or even demand a report in that Starfleet way of his he got sometimes. But her captain didn't even seem to notice she was there. She took out her tricorder to examine her findings once again.
"No survivors," she told him, knowing that he knew that much already. "But even more surprising is that there is no evidence of any deaths either. No bodies, no cellular residue, nothing!"
Tuvok had appeared on the other side of Chakotay, having beamed down with some reports from Voyager's sensors.
"We are not able to pick up any lifesigns on the planet," he informed Chakotay and B'Elanna.
"If they aren't on the planet and they didn't die then where are they?" asked Torres, frustrated.
"This remains a mystery," Tuvok said calmly.
"The other ship must have come back for them," B'Elanna guessed.
Tuvok consulted his padd.
"We did not pick up any warp signatures that would be consistent with the other Kazon vessel."
"Well they didn't just vanish into thin air!" burst out B'Elanna.
Chakotay held up a hand to stop their debate, his eyes never leaving the wreckage.
"Could anyone really have survived this?" he asked Torres quietly.
The wind blew strands of her hair across her face and she batted at it absently. Somberly she viewed the Kazon ship.
"I wouldn't have thought so. But I can't say for certain. The absence of any evidence of their deaths says a lot about the possibility of survival."
"The chances of surviving such an impact are approximately 2.47%," Tuvok added.
"Approximately?" asked B'Elanna sarcastically. "Gee, Tuvok, couldn't you be a bit more precise?"
"Get back to Fides," Chakotay told her, not wanting to hear another verbal sparring match between them. "I'll be up in a minute."
Tuvok took this as a dismissal of sorts and stepped back to beam up to Voyager. Torres hesitated, not wanting to leave Chakotay when he was so obviously hurting. But why? Why would the deaths of Seska and the Nistrim upset him like this? She wasn't sure if it was her reluctance to ask him out right what was wrong or the glimpse of Janeway walking down the slope towards them that made her back off. She stepped away from Chakotay and contacted Fides for transport.
Janeway stopped a few feet short of Chakotay's back. He'd heard her approach but did not turn around.
"Based on what Tuvok has reported to me, they are gone," she said gently.
"Torres can't find any evidence of..." His voice trailed off. "I suppose I should feel relieved, but I don't," he confessed.
Janeway felt a burst of resentment that he was still allowing Seska to control his emotions, even now, after all she'd done to him, even now when she was most likely dead. Janeway had never considered Chakotay to be an easily led man, and yet here he was proving to her that things like love, things like sex, could completely obliterate reason.
"We nearly lost everything," Janeway said. "We're lucky to come out of this without losing anyone."
"B'Elanna isn't too happy about the damage you did to her computer," Chakotay said, finally facing her. His joke fell flat.
She took a deep breath.
"You and I ...we failed in our responsibilities to these people. We allowed our personal feelings to cloud our judgement. We weren't there when they needed us to be their leaders. I can't ...I won't let that happen again, Chakotay."
Chakotay was wondering just when was the last time he felt in control of his judgement. How many times had he acted against better judgement recently? Too many. She was right. Desire was something best jettisoned and left in the cold smoking ruin of that Kazon battlecruiser.
'Ah, but if it was that easy Kathryn, perhaps we wouldn't be standing here, perhaps I wouldn't be feeling so torn, so used, so manipulated,' Chakotay thought bitterly.
"You do what you have to do," he told her, surprised at his own coldness. But he had no comforting words to tell her and nothing he could say would reassure her. He only had this aching feeling like he was losing a precious bond.
Janeway waited a moment longer, wishing more than anything that he would do something, say something to convince her they could make their newfound relationship work. A touch of his hand on her cheek might have been enough. Instead, he turned away from her to survey the wreckage again.
Janeway beamed back to her ship alone.
Go to the sixteenth EOME story To the Victor Go the Spoils
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