Jennica's Story
10. The Hero's Answer
J/C
Rated MA
June 2009
By: AW
Length: 9,472 words
Summary: 12 weeks after 'New Transitions'. Equinox happens, and Kathryn hopes she won't be alone as the Captain again: Ransom proves her wrong.
Disclaimer: blah blah blah, I DON’T OWN THEM
[12 weeks after part 9. New Transitions]
[Janeway Quarters – 0400]
It had been a little over threre months since the ‘Think Tank’ incident. Aside from Chakotay no one knew that Kathryn was pregnant, yet again.
She sighed, she was beginning to feel her condition.
It hadn’t been as bad with the girls: aside from Jennica that was.
She tried to get out of Chakotay’s grasp, they had cuddled together to sleep after last night’s romps. She had to admit that being pregnant did have its advantages her sexual appetite was insatiable.
She ran a hand over her stomach and felt the tiny swell that was beginning to make itself known. Her breasts were sensitive, her belly was beginning show and Chakotay touched her stomach and felt the tiny changes whenever he could.
She smiled and as quickly and quietly as she could, she ran to the bathroom.
“Kathryn?”
He heard the retching from the next room and felt bad. No matter what, Chakotay felt guilty every time Kathryn ended up pregnant and suffered from morning sickness.
He sighed, then he heard a hail from the bridge. “Ensign Ayala to Captain Janeway or Commander Chakotay: We’re getting a distress signal with a Federation signal. I’ve transferred it to the Astrometrics lab.”
“Acknowledged Lieutenant.”
Kathryn came out of the bathroom looking a little worse for wear. “I’m getting too old for this Chakotay.”
He smiled, “It’ll be okay Kathryn, only six more months.”
Kathryn rolled her eyes, “Only?”
Chakotay smiled at her, “You’ll be fine. We got a distress call from a ‘Federation vessel’. Ayala said it was transferred to Astrometrics, so we should make our way there.”
Kathryn nodded swallowing the bile that was forming in her throat. “Let me grab a quick sonic shower, I’ll get dressed and then I’ll make my way there.”
She looked at him, “Can you make sure that the kids get to the nursery before you make your way to Astrometrics?”
“Sure thing ‘mom’.”
Kathryn glared at him and made her way to the bathroom to take the sonic shower.
[0600 hours – Astrometrics]
Kathryn showed up clean and refreshed. She’d only gotten sick twice more before she made her way to Astrometrics. This pregnancy was going to kill her.
Kathryn stared at the screen: “- Federation Starship Equinox. We're under attack. We need assistance. This is Captain Ransom of the Federation Starship Equinox. We're under attack. We need assis...”
Kathryn rubbed her chin, “Ransom. He was in command of a science vessel, the Equinox.”
Seven looked at her mother, “So now I get to meet more humans huh? This distress call was transmitted approximately fourteen hours ago.”
“Distance?”
Jennica looked at Chakotay, “Three point two light years.”
“Try to get a fix on their location.”
Chakotay looked at his wife, “What's it doing in the Delta Quadrant?”
“You could ask the same about us? What were we doing in the Delta Quadrant.”
Chakotay nodded, “True, you think they were brought here by the Caretaker too?”
“I don’t know, but I think we should find out.” She straightened up and rubbed a hand over her belly.
Jennica looked oddly at her mother, “Perhaps it's searching for Voyager.”
Kathryn went back into the ‘Captain’s mode’, “The Equinox is a Nova class ship. It was designed for planetary research, not long-range tactical missions.”
Jennica looked at her ‘parents’ “I've got their co-ordinates. Heading two five eight mark twelve.”
“Set a course, maximum warp. Go to red alert." She paused and looked to Chakotay, "Hang on, Captain.”
Kathryn walked out of Astrometrics, Chakotay following close behind. “We may actually get some help getting back to the Alpha Quadrant Kat.”
“Maybe, but I’m not counting my chickens before they hatch.”
He pulled her close. “I love you, and I’m sure you’ll get us through whatever may come.” His hand reached down and brushed over her abdomen.
“Chakotay, if you want to keep this pregnancy a secret for a while, it might be better if you don’t touch me in the middle of the hallway.”
He smiled, showing the dimples she loved, “Maybe, but I can’t believe how incredible this is. I thought we were done with the children.”
She drew in a deep breath, “So did I. I thought weight gain and breastfeeding were finished.”
Chakotay laughed, “Oh come on you love it and you know it.”
Jennica approached from behind and the command couple didn’t even see her or realize that she now knew their dirty little secret.
Jennica made her way to Harry’s quarters. She rang the chime, she knew he wasn’t due on duty for a couple of more hours.
Harry answered the door, looking as if he had just woken up.
“Jenn? What time is it?”
Jennica stared at Harry, “0700 hours.”
Harry attempted to wipe the sleep from his eyes, “I don’t have to be on the bridge for another two hours, you could have let me sleep.”
Jennica looked at him determined, “I need to talk to you.”
Harry opened his arms and showed her the way in. She fell into his arms as the doors closed to his quarters. “My mother lied to me.”
Harry shook his head, “Why would she do that?”
“She’s pregnant. She told me she had had to have a hysterectomy performed after Kole’s birth and it was all my fault. She refused to carry our baby because she said it wasn’t possible: she lied to me.”
Harry shook his head, “I’m sure there’s a perfectly good explanation for this.”
“No, you don’t understand! She never wanted to help me and she lied to me at every turn.”
Harry sighed, “Now Jennica, I’m sure that’s not true.”
“I need to get back on duty, we need to get a fix on that ship we detected.”
[Bridge – 0900 hours]
Tom turned to look at the Captain and Commander as they entered the bridge. “We're approaching the coordinates.”
“Take us out of warp.”
Kim stared at Janeway, she didn’t look pregnant. Oh well what they did was none of his business. “I've got them. Two thousand kilometres off the port bow. They're moving at low impulse.”
“Intercept. Can you get a visual?”
Tuvok looked at the Captain, stating the obvious, “They are heavily damaged. Multiple hull breaches. Warp drive is offline.”
Harry stared at her sitting in her chair her hand going unconsciously to her belly. Could she be pregnant, and possibly have lied to Jennica? As far as he knew that wasn’t the way Captain Janeway was. He was sure there was a realistic explanation for this.
He heard her voice, “Harry?!”
Kim came out of his reverie, “We're in hailing range.”
”Open a channel. This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager. We're responding to your –“
“Voyager, you've got to extend your shields around our ship! Match the emitter frequency!”
Kathryn jumped up from her chair and felt her equilibrium go nuts; she placed a hand to her head and shook tried to shake it off before taking in a deep breath and answering, “Are you under attack?”
Ramsom demanded, but it had been far too long since she had been in contact with another Starfleet vessel and she wasn’t about to let the opportunity slip away. “Shields, quickly!”
“Do it.”
Tom glided in close to the Equinox, “We're in position.”
“I am attempting to match their shield frequency.”
The doctor turned around, “Do you hear something?”
Jennica looked at the senior staff concerned, “Interspatial fissure are opening on decks ten, six and one.”
“Tuvok!”
“Stand by. Shields are holding.”
Chakotay looked at his wife. She had almost passed out, she spent the morning losing whatever was in her stomach, he had to speak with her; but first things first. “The fissures?”
Jennica just about spit out, “No sign of them.”
“Voyager to Ransom. Captain!" When no answer was forthcoming she turned to Chakotay, "Assemble rescue teams. Secure the Equinox. Tuvok, you're with me.”
Chakotay put a hand on her arm, “Are you sure you’re the best person to take this away mission?”
“I’m the Captain of this ship, I have to go.”
Chakotay didn’t like it, but he knew he couldn’t talk her out of this. “See you soon: Be careful.”
[Equinox Bridge]
Kathryn had crewmembers all over the ‘Equinox’, she had to make sure that this crew was okay. By the looks of the ship: her crew and ship were in much better order.
She kneeled down so she was eye level with him, and he answered, the same as any good Captain would, “My crew.”
“You took heavy casualties. We're treating the survivors. Who attacked you?”
Ransom looked confused and upset at the same time, “We don't know, we can't communicate with them. They've been attacking us for weeks.”
She pushed him back down in the chair, “Easy, easy.”
“I've got to secure the ship,”
She would help him, she would make his ship better. She had B’Elanna: the best Engineer she had ever worked with and her best friend here to help her. “Leave that to us.”
“No, treat me here. I'm not leaving my bridge.”
For once, she had someone who was the same rank as her and she knew she couldn’t pull rank, for once she knew she wasn’t the top; she wasn’t the be all and end all of the human race. “I can't pull rank on you, Captain, but you're in no condition to put up a fight.”
And the question that broke her heart and ruined her dreams of finally seeing home again. “So, how's Earth?”
“I wish I could say.”
“You weren't sent here to find us?”
He was hoping the same thing she was and both were wrong. Now she had to take care of the fact that she was again alone. “I'm afraid not. We've been stranded in the Delta quadrant for five years. We were pulled here against our will by an alien called –“
Kathryn looked at him and together they both said the words that had stranded them in the Delta Quadrant and had ended their careers so to speak, “The Caretaker.”
She looked at him, “We'll compare notes later on. Let's get you to Voyager.”
Kathryn stood up and helped Ransom get up. She was almost carrying his weight and she knew that she should be more careful since she was indeed carrying a child, but no one knew and she was the Captain. She tapped her combadge, “Janeway to Voyager can you transport myself and Captain Ransom to my ready room?”
“Yes, Captain.”
[Ready Room]
The two Captains stared at each other. “I’ve asked the doctor to come here to check you out. I need to know if you know anything about those aliens that are attacking you. I need to keep my ship and my family safe.”
Ransom stared at her, “Family: Voyager isn’t a family ship is it?”
Kathryn shook her head, “No, but I have had to make a lot of changes on this ship since being stuck 70,000 light years from home.”
Ransom nodded, “I guess we all have.”
The doctor entered the ready room and looked Ransom over from top to bottom. “He looks like he’s in fairly good shape. A couple of abrasions, a cracked rib...he needs sleep.”
Kathryn nodded, “Aside from that he’s fine?”
The doctor nodded, “Yes Captain; aside from that no problems.”
She looked gratefully at the doctor, “Thanks.”
Kathryn looked at Ransom, “I think you should go and take a nap, and then at 1400 hours we’ll meet in the Astrometrics lab. I’ll have Commander Chakotay assign you some quarters.”
Ransom nodded, “Thank you Captain.”
[Astrometrics lab]
Jennica looked at her mother, keep it professional, don’t let the personal problems surface. ”I've run a thermographic analysis of our shields. It revealed multiple stress points. We believe they're the result of alien attempts to infiltrate our vessels. Each time a fissure opens within a metre of our shields it weakens them by point three percent.”
Kathryn shook her head she had to get this to work. “At the present rate, we have less than two days to mount a defence.”
Jennica decided to talk to Ransom more than her mother. She couldn’t deal with her mom right now, she couldn’t deal with her lies and her perfect little life that she had that Jennica herself would never have: Life wasn’t fair. She turned to Captain Ransom, “According to your bio-scans the aliens can survive in our realm for only several seconds.”
“They're like fish out of water, but they can do a lot of damage in those seconds.”
Tuvok looked at the pair of Captains, “Nevertheless, it is a tactical weakness. Perhaps we can exploit it.”
Burke answered, “What have you got in mind?”
“If we can show them we have the ability to hold them here, they'll think twice before launching another attack.”
“But the question is, how do we catch these fish?”
“You build a net.”
Kathryn looked at the ‘Commander’ of the Equinox. He had some good ideas, she could get used to ideas and information that were coming from someone of than those that were part of her Senior Staff.
She could get used to not being the only one in charge of everything.
They’d decided in the end to build a multiphasic force field to catch the aliens. It looked good in theory, it looked like it might work.
Kathryn sighed and she heard Chakotay come up behind her. “You need your sleep Kathryn.”
“I can’t Chakotay: I still have work that needs -"
He cut her off, "And I need to make sure you’re okay, you have to make sure you’re going to get through this with you and the baby healthy.”
Kathryn glared at him, “I can’t just take a break whenever because I’m pregnant.”
“But sometimes you need to give yourself a break Kathryn.”
She looked at her husband, “I can’t. It’s bad enough that I’ve married my first officer and had three kids already while the Captain of the ship; I can’t just ignore my responsibilities because I’m going to have a baby.”
He sighed knowing he wasn't going to win this one.
She stared at him telling her she was going to do it no matter what, “Now if you’re done, I have to get to the Equinox bridge and speak with Ransom.”
She turned around and left the astrometrics lab, leaving her husband behind wondering if his wife would ever change.
[Equinox Bridge]
Kathryn shook her head, she had to get her little fights with Chakotay out of her head. She couldn’t possibly deal with Ransom and another crew while she was at odds with her first officer; and the Equinox Crew did have a little bit of a lax philosophy when it came to protocol, and everything else. For God’s sake they called him by his first name.
She could just picture Harry calling her ‘Kathryn’ on the bridge, he’d probably die of embarassement.
She sighed and walked up to Captain Ranosom, “I couldn't help but notice your crew calls you by your first name.”
“When you've been in the trenches as long as we have, rank and protocol are luxuries. Besides, we're a long way from Starfleet Command.”
“I know the feeling.” And she did know the feeling even if it didn’t seem to be to the degree that the Equinox crew seemed to have lived it.
Ransom glared at her, and stated: “You seem to run a pretty tight ship.”
And Kathryn thought that it was probably at that point that she knew that something was wrong; that she knew that they weren’t alike and would never be alike, and she would probably never get through to him. Something just didn’t feel right.
“We've been known to let our hair down from time to time but I find that maintaining protocol reminds us of where we came from and hopefully, where we're going.”
“It seems to work quite well for you.”
“Oh, we've overcome our share of obstacles, Warp core breaches, ion storms, a few rounds with the Borg -” Kathryn rubbed a hand over her abdomen, and hoped that these people couldn’t tell yet. She didn’t want them to think that she was soft because she was carrying a baby.
She wanted Chakotay to believe in her; she wanted Ransom to respect her; and she wanted Jennica to accept her.
Ransom broke her train of thought, “The Borg? We haven't seen so much as a Cube since the day we arrived.”
She turned to him surprised, “Consider yourself lucky.”
Kathryn spoke with Ransom about all the losses they’d suffered through. All the alien species they’d met. Their experiences were different and the two crews had made different decisions and ended up in different places.
Kathryn sighed as she realized that Ransom was still speaking to her, “When I first realised that we'd be travelling across the Delta quadrant for the rest of our lives I told my crew that we had a duty as Starfleet officers to expand our knowledge and uphold our principles. After a couple of years, we started to forget that we were explorers, and there were times when we nearly forgot that we were human beings.”
Kathryn stared at him, trying to make him seem okay, trying to realize that his decisions were not that different than the ones she had made over the years...except: they were. “This is a Nova class science vessel, designed for short term research missions. Minimal weapons. It can't even go faster than warp eight! Frankly, I don't know how you've done it. You've obviously travelled as far as we have with much fewer resources.”
“I wish that I could take all the credit, but we stumbled across a wormhole, and made a few enhancements to our warp engines." He paused almost as if judging what Kathryn's reaction would be before he asked the question. "I'd like to ask you something, Captain to Captain.”
Kathryn looked at him, this was the question that was going to make or break their ‘Captain to Captain relationship, “Mm-hmm.”
“The Prime Directive. How often have you broken it for the sake of protecting your crew?”
She looked at him shocked, he was going to divulge something to her here, he was going to tell her that he had broken the Prime Directive, that he had gone against every rule ever. “Broken it? Never. Bent it on occasion, and even then it was a difficult choice. What about you?”
“I've walked the line once or twice, but nothing serious.” There you are she thought, he had gone against every principle of Starfleet. "There you are!" He stated and went to pick up the plaque commemorating 'the Equinox'.
She smiled at him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “It's a good omen. Let's put it back where it belongs.” And Kathryn had a bad feeling about the Equinox from that moment on. They had decided to follow different rules than Kathryn’s crew had. They had broken directives left right and center: Kathryn there were certain directive that she had broken but they had to do mainly with her personal life, and in the end the only one that would end up paying for these indiscretions was Kathryn herself.
Kathryn walked away from the Equinox Captain and left his bridge to let him stew things over. She called for transport and headed directly for deck one and went to visit her bridge. She walked out onto the bridge and looked around at the good crew she had been stuck with.
Kathryn looked at the time and realized that her shift was over, and that she and the baby needed their rest. She stared at Chakotay, “I’ll see you when you get home, I think I’m going to call it a day.”
Chakotay nodded and watched his wife leave the bridge.
Kathryn got on the turbolift. She immediately called for deck two and she walked into her quarters where Samantha was waiting for her with the children.
She walked up to the playpen where Haley was standing up in her playpen staring at her mother, “Mommy.”
Kathryn walked up to her and picked up the middle child. “Yes, honey. How’s my baby today.”
The child smiled at her mother and Kathryn picked up the child and walked up to Samantha. “So how were the children today?”
“They were perfect; but I shouldn’t expect anything else, they are the Captain’s children after all.”
“Yeah right, whatever Samantha. Now you’re lying to your Captain.”
Samantha smiled at her, “Taya is very headstrong: Kind of like her mother.”
Kathryn glared at Samantha, “No need to insult to me.”
Chakotay walked in the quarters and saw Kathryn holding baby Haley. He walked up to her and kissed her on the lips. “Hey how’s the youngest baby Kat?”
“Hannah is fine Chakotay.”
“That’s not the one I’m referring to Kathryn.”
Samantha’s mouth dropped open, “Another one?”
Kathryn nodded, “We weren’t going to tell anyone yet, but I guess Chakotay felt the need to spread the news.”
Samantha smiled, “I’m happy for you: Do you two think you’re going to get a boy this time?”
“The doctor says we are.”
Kathryn walked up to Samantha, “Again thanks, and I guess Celes has the Janeway brats tomorrow; so have a great night Samanatha.”
“Thanks Captain, Commander; and congratulations again.”
Kathryn stared at Chakotay. “I see you felt the need to share?”
“Just to Samantha, and in all honesty...I don’t think she’ll betray our confidence and tell anyone else.”
She stared at him, “And you just had to share.”
“Kathryn, I don’t think that most people knew that you had been forced to have a hysterectomy: aside from Jennica, and I think that it will seems normal enough for us to have another child.”
“Chakotay we already have three, I think after this one, we should stop.”
Chakotay looked at her, “I think so too.”
She stared at him, “Did I ever tell you why the ‘Think Tank’ did this for me?”
Chakotay shook his head, “Not completely, you just told me they fixed you and you were pregnant.”
She tilted her head, “It has to do with Jennica.”
He looked at her, “How so?”
“They did this for me, so that Jennica and Harry could have a baby and I could carry it.”
Chakotay was livid. “You’re going to give her this baby.”
“No,” She took his hand and placed it over the baby bump, “This child, is your son.”
He looked at her, “But?”
“But when we were on the Think Tank, they read Jennica’s mind. They knew I was her mother, and they didn’t want to fix her to make her able to have children because it would have taken away the Borg Enhancements that they wanted so badly.”
“So they made you able to carry her children.”
Kathryn nodded, “They changed my bio-chemistry so it matches hers. There won’t be a problem with me carrying a baby for her.”
“Kathryn you can’t be serious, is this dangerous for you?”
“No more dangerous than me carrying any child I would think.”
He looked at her and shook his head, “When you do decide to do this for her, you are going to have to go through all sorts of hormone treatments and embryo implantation, are you sure you want to go through that?”
She let a tear fun down her cheek, “I don’t think I have a choice. The think tank no matter what their methods and intentions have given us a chance to give Jennica and Harry what they want.”
Chakotay looked at the two year old in his wife's arms. “Well looks like this one is asleep.”
Haley was off in dream land and Chakotay couldn’t help but smile. “And Hannah has been asleep for a couple of hours, so that just leaves Taya.”
They heard the child’s voice come from the back room, “I heard that.”
Kathryn placed Haley down to sleep, “So how’s my oldest daughter tonight? Did you have fun with Auntie Sam?”
Taya nodded her head quickly, “We read, then we did arts and crafts, then we played with Flotter and Treevis, then –”
Kathryn stopped her, “Okay I get it: you had fun.”
Chakotay walked up behind his daughter and picked her up swinging her in his arms, “So it’s getting late, your sisters are in bed and I think it’s almost your bedtime.”
“But daddy, I’m not tired.”
Chakotay smiled at his child, “Are you telling me after a busy day like today you’re not the least bit tired?”
“Nuh-uh daddy, not yet: First mommy has to read to me and I have to get my jammies on and I have to brush my teeth and...”
“Okay Taya, well get ready for bed and I’ll be in to read to you in a minute. What do you want to hear tonight?”
“Cinderella!!!”
“Okay baby: ten minutes to get ready and then it will be story time.”
Taya ran off to get ready for bed and Chakotay walked up to his wife. “Have I told you recently what a good mother I think you’ve turned out to be?”
She gave him a crooked half-smile, “Not today, but I’ll hear it any time.”
“I’m ready mommy.”
She smiled at her husnandf, “Ah, duty calls.”
And Kathryn walked into Taya’s room and began the bedtime routine; and all she could think was that she couldn’t remember her life before her husband and children.
When she married this man her life really started.
Kathryn read the story to her daughter and then came out to the living room where Chakotay sat and waited.
“So how is Taya?”
“Sleeping like a baby I didn’t even get through half of the story before she passed out.”
Chakotay smiled, “Ah.” He motioned for her to come and sit on the couch between his legs. She complied and lay down and snuggled near her husband.
“So what do you think of Captain Ransom?”
“So we’re getting down to business are we; I knew it would come up sooner or later.”
Kathryn looked up at him, “I don’t trust him Chakotay.”
“Ah, the skeptical Captain comes to the forefront.”
“He’s admitted to almost giving up on Starfleet rules and regulations and on getting home!”
He placed a hand on her belly, “Like you haven’t broken a few rules out here?”
“Nothing like he’s done Chakotay.”
“Do I want to know?”
“Probably not, I say we go to bed for now.” She stood up and took his hand and led him to their bedroom. “I don’t know how long we’ll have before Hannah gets up.”
Chakotay chuckled, “I’ll go with that, let’s see if we can get a couple of hours of sleep.”
Kathryn nodded and off they went to try and get a few hours of sleep before the baby woke them up.
[Kim Quarters – 0400]
Jennica stood and got up from bed. She sighed, she had yet to talk to her mother about the newest addition to the Janeway clan or why she had lied to her all those months ago.
She was hurt. She walked up to the viewport and stared out at the stars before her.
The stars looked so beautiful. Every star represented a dream, a wish...and she could only hope that some of those dreams and wishes were hers and would be granted.
She sighed and went to the bathroom, emptied her bladder and snuggled back up to Harry: Life would be okay, even if the dreams were never given to her.
[0700 hours – Janeway Quarters]
“Tuvok to Captain Janeway or Commander Chakotay.”
Kathryn woke up to her combadge: she slapped her combadge, “Janeway here.”
“Captain, we need to see you in the Briefing room as soon as possible.”
“Acknowledged, we’ll be there in half an hour: Janeway out.”
Kathryn shook Chakotay, “Chakotay we have to go to the bridge and I told them we’d be there in half an hour, so contact Celes and ask her if she can come and get the children a little early: then we have to make our way to the bridge.”
Chakotay was only half awake as he nodded his consent. “No problem Kat.”
[Briefing room - 0800]
Kathryn Janeway and Chakotay walked into the briefing room at exactly 0800 hours. Tuvok had told her she could have an hour, and Chakotay had been glad about it. He was insistent that Kathryn get some food in her.
She walked up to Jennica, she said she had information about the multiphasic chamber that was on the Equinox. ”We've examined the schematics of your multiphasic chamber. It can be adapted. We intend to create an auto-initiating security grid.”
Tuvok put his two cents worth in, “The moment an alien invades either ship a force field will surround it.” Jennica countered, “Once we modify our field generator to emit multiphasic frequencies it will power the security grids on both ships.” Kathryn stared at her chief of security, “How long will it take?”
“Approximately fourteen hours.” Marla Gilmore stared at the Voyager senior staff, so different from her senior staff. Two different groups of people that started out in much the same way many years ago, but who had made different choices, leading to different destinies. “We don't know when they'll break through again. We may not last that long.”
“We could cut the time in half if we evacuate all personnel from the Equinox and focus our efforts here on Voyager.”
Ransom answered, “Remember, we are still thirty five thousand light years from Earth. We should try to preserve both ships.” Max piped in with his ideas of a perfect scenario, “With two vessels we'd be able to pool our resources, doubling our chances of finding a short cut home.”
Kathryn just about hissed, she was the one in charge, she was the one with the power: “Normally I'd agree, but right now one of our ships in vulnerable. Chakotay's right, we should make our stand on Voyager.”
“I don't want to force the issue, but I am prepared to return to the Equinox with my crew. What is the protocol in this situation? We have two Captains and two ships. Who gets the last word?”
Janeway made her stand, “Starfleet Regulation one hundred ninety one, Article fourteen. In a combat situation involving more than one ship, command falls to the vessel with tactical superiority. I looked it up this morning.”
Then Rudy and Max made their position known that even though Starfleet protocol recognized her authority, they didn’t necessarily agree.
They said they wanted to beam back to their ship and Janeway agreed, trying to be kind to the people who might very likely spend the rest of their lives holed up with the Voyager crew. Kathryn watched as most people left until there was no one left in the conference room but Kathryn and her daughter.
“Jennica.”
“Mom.”
Jennica looked at her mother with hate, “How could you?”
Kathryn was taken aback, “Pardon?”
“How could you lie to me, tell me you couldn’t carry my son, and then go and get pregnant again.”
Kathryn drew in a deep breath, “I never lied to you.”
“Yes you did.” She tore Kathryn’s jacket off and lifted her shirt up. “You have a baby in there. You told me you were barren, that you couldn’t possibly carry a baby ever again and here you are.”
Kathryn was unsure what to say. “You don’t understand. You have no idea Jenn. I never tried to get pregnant or thought I ever would again.”
Jennica let out a hollow laugh, “And you expect me to believe this? Here you are, pregnant and from what I’ve been told you’re going to give Chakotay a son now.” She paused glaring at her mother, “You know mom, you could have told me it was unlikely you’d ever get pregnant again because of your age, or because of the miscarriage of Kole, anything, but a hysterectomy.”
“I never meant to hurt you, and whether you believe it or not I never lied to you: I love you.”
Jennica had tears in her eyes, “If you loved me, you would never have given me up all those years ago, you would never have let Admiral Paris, allow me to be assimilated by the Borg, and you would never have refused me when I asked you to help me have my baby boy.”
Kathryn looked at her daughter, “Can I say anything else to convince you? To make you believe that I did this for you?”
Jennica laughed, “For me right. You never did anything for me and you’d never do anything for me. You’re selfish, you’re a bad mother, and I don’t want to be associated with you anymore.”
“Jennica, you don’t –“
“Oh yes I mean it. I can’t look at you right now mom, and I hope you have a nice life together with your perfect family.” She threw Kathryn’s jacket at her feet and left the ready room.
Kathryn collapsed on the floor and hoped that someday Jennica would realize that she had done this for her.
[1100 hours – bridge]
Kathryn made her way onto the bridge and walked right up to her seat, “Commander, I’m going to my quarters for a bit I’m not feeling well.”
Chakotay nodded and let her go on her way. Half an hour later she had gotten to her quarters and had laid down listening to the quietness. She had almost forgotten what it was like to be in her quarters and listen to the blissful sound of silence.
She laid back in her bad and quickly passed out.
[1300 hours]
Chakotay walked into their quarters looking for his wife. She was lying on the bed, looking like an angel.
He moved her hair away from her face and realized without the stresses of the day on her shoulders and when she was relaxed she looked a lot younger than she was.
He stared at her as she rolled onto her back and slowly the sheet fell down exposing her breasts and the beginning of the swell of her abdomen. She had looked so tired on the bridge that morning, and he knew that she had had a little confrontation with Jennica.
She was wearing nothing more than a housecoat with nothing underneath. She looked so beautiful. He touched her cheek, “Kathryn.”
She mumbled something in her sleep her hand going to her belly unconsciously, “Mmmm.”
“Kathryn, time to go for lunch.”
She pulled the sheet over her head, and all he could think was: *This was the brave Captain Kathryn Janeway.*
He smiled, “Kathryn, you need to eat.”
She pulled the sheet down and pulled the housecoat closer to her, “Fine.”
He pulled her close to him and gave her a kiss. “You made a pretty picture when I came in here.”
She glared at him, “This is why I don’t sleep in the middle of the day Chakotay.”
He placed a hand on her belly and felt the baby bump becoming more and more noticeable. “We should probably start telling the crew.”
She stared at him, “If you recall you already started with Samantha Wildman.”
Chakotay chuckled, “It was only Samantha, I mean she watches our other three kids. It seemed like the right time to tell.”
“Chakotay, we have crewmembers here from another ship, that I have to question their motives every minute: Now is not the time to share information like this.”
Chakotay sighed, “Okay, but now is the time for you to eat.”
Kathryn rolled her eyes, “Okay let’s go, and then I’m going back to the bridge.”
Chakotay nodded. “Okay, as long as you eat your lunch.”
[Mess hall]
Kathryn and Chakotay walked into the mess hall. They walked up to Neelix, and stated, “So what looks good Neelix?”
“Oh, Captain, Commander, what can I get you today?”
“Maybe some of that casserole, not sure.”
Kathryn nodded, “Sounds good, two helpings.” She paused, “And a coffee.”
Chakotay looked at her then decided there was no point in arguing with her, “Make that two coffees Neelix.”
“Coming right up Commander.”
Kathryn and Chakotay walked up to a table where one of their new crewmembers Marla Gilmore, sat and ate some lunch.
He stared at Marla, “Before we abandon the Equinox we should try to salvage any useful components. Let's start with your dilithium crystals.”
“What we have left of them. I'm afraid we only have a few isograms.”
Kathryn stared at Marla, “That's barely enough to power the sonic showers.”
Marla was getting a little nervous at having Voyager’s two most senior officers sitting with her, “Can I make a suggestion?”
“Please.”
Marla decided to make her case, “Let's forget about the primary systems, they're too badly damaged. Let's focus on supplies. We picked up a few items I think might come in handy. Two kilotons of kemacite ore, a dozen canisters of mercurium.”
He turned and stared at his wife, before making the last, “I guess I’d better tell Neelix to make room in Cargo Bay one.”
Kathryn grinned as Naomi approached the group, “Excuse me.”
Marla looked at the little girl. “Oh, hello there.”
“Commander, permission to interrupt?”
Chakotay grinned, “Granted.”
“Ensign Gilmore.”
“That's right.”
“Naomi Wildman, Captain's Assistant.”
“Is that so?”
“I wanted to officially welcome you aboard the Starship Voyager.”
Marla almost laughed, “I'm glad to be here.”
“If you need anything, replicator rations, a tour of the lower decks, I'm your man.”
“Thank you, Miss Wildman. I'll keep that in mind.”
“As you were.”
Marla looked at Chakotay, “I didn't realise you had children on board.”
The Captain glared at Chakotay informing him not to tell of her condition. “The Captain and I have three, there are two that belong to the Paris’ and then there’s Naomi.”
Kathryn piped up, “And if you noticed, there are two heavily pregnant crewman that work on the lower decks. We had to adapt, when we figured we were going to be here for 70+ years, we knew that the staff wouldn’t be able to carry them for the whole trip.”
Gilmore smiled, “I have a nephew back on Earth the same age. Well, not any more. I guess he's a teenager by now. I probably wouldn't even recognise him.”
Chakotay was optimistic as he stated, “You'll see him again.”
The happy conversation was cut short by a hail from the Equinox Bridge, “Ransom to Gilmore.”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Report to the Equinox Bridge.”
“On my way.” Kathryn waited for the Ensign to leave when she turned and stated to the Command Couple, “Duty calls.”
They both nodded and Kathryn turned to her husband, “Is it just me or did she seem very on edge?”
Chakotay nodded, “She did, but if I’d been through what she had: I would probably be too.”
Kathryn looked at Chakotay, “See Voyager isn’t so bad.”
“I never said it was Kathryn: You’re here, and that makes it all the better.”
“Well Chakotay, we’d better get to our bridge.”
Chakotay nodded and put his arm out so she could take it. She joined him and together they walked towards the turbolift.
[Bridge - 1400 hours]
Kathryn entered the bridge Chakotay in tow. The Equinox crew were on the bridge talking to her senior staff trying to get things worked out. They seemed very intent on getting their ship up and running.
Kathryn heard a comm. call from the doctor: Last time she checked he was on the Equinox, checking out the science lab. “The chamber contains a polaron grid and a submolecular resequencer. It looks like it was designed to convert the alien cell structures into some kind of crystalline compound.”
Kathryn decided this was not something that should be heard by the Equinox crew. She looked to Chakotay and he followed her into her ready room.
“I didn’t see anything about that on the schematics doctor, and I certainly didn’t hear about that from the crew.”
She heard the doctor sigh on the other end of the line. “I've a feeling there's a lot here they didn't specify. I've accessed their research logs. They're encrypted, but judging by the file headings they've performed this procedure dozens of times. More of the alien compound, but it's’ been biochemically altered. They've extracted the base proteins. It's molecular structure is most unusual.”
Kathryn did not look happy when she looked to Chakotay. “Looks like the Equinox crew definitely does not follow the Starfleet objective.”
“Where is the doctor?”
Kathryn looked at her husband, “I asked him to go to Astrometrics and speak with Tuvok and Jennica about what else he found.”
“And?”
“He sent me a message stating what exactly he thought the alien compound was being used for.” She turned the screen of her computer so that he could see it too. “And I think that they were using it as an energy source. They were killing innocent creatures to get themselves home a little quicker: It’s wrong.”
“Kathryn –“
“No Chakotay, there are certain things I won’t stand for and this is one of them.”
“So what are you going to do Kat?”
She sighed, “I’m giving him one more chance to explain himself Captain to Captain. I have a meeting with him in the Briefing Room in 30 minutes.”
Chakotay nodded, “I’ll take the bridge Captain.”
Kathryn nodded and started putting material together for the meeting.
[Briefing room – 30 minutes later]
Kathryn was pacing around the room, trying to figure out how she was going to deal with this. It was right, she was angry, he was a Starfleet Captain, he was supposed to set the standard, and right now he seemed to have set the standard awfully low.
Finally Ransom poked his head into the briefing room, at Ransom’s questioning look Kathryn motioned for him to sit down across from her.
“The alien compound. Ten isograms. If I understand your calculations, that's enough to increase your warp factor by what, point zero three percent for one month? Unfortunately, that boost wouldn't get you very far, so you'd need to replenish the supply and that means killing another lifeform, and then another.
How many lives would it take to get you back to the Alpha quadrant? I think you know the reason we're under attack. These aliens are trying to protect themselves from you.”
Ransom stared at Kathryn, “Not all ships are as lucky as yours.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“I mean not all ships are lucky enough to have their former lover become their first officer. I’ve heard you've got a family on this ship too.”
Kathryn sighed and let her hand fall to her abdomen where the latest Janeway rested and grew. “I had to create a family environment, we were supposed to be out here for more than 70 years.”
“So were we.”
“And you chose the easy road, so how many more aliens would it take for you to get your crew home?”
Ransom stared at her knowing to a certain extent there was some truth in her words, “Sixty three, that's how many more it will take. Every time I sacrifice one of those lives, a part of me is lost as well.”
Kathryn looked at him unbelieving. “I might believe that if I hadn't examined your research. These experiments were meticulous and they were brutal. If you'd felt any remorse, you'd never have continued.”
Ransom looked at the self-righteous woman before him. She was spouting rules and regulations at him she and she had been since he'd came on board this ship; well now it was his turn. “Starfleet regulation three, paragraph twelve. In the event of imminent destruction, a Captain is authorised to preserve the lives of his crew by any justifiable means.”
“I doubt that protocol covers mass murder.”
“In my judgment, it did.”
This is where Kathryn lost it, this is where Kathryn decided that she was taking things into her own hands. What he was doing was beyond acceptable and she was going to put a stop to it right now. “Unacceptable.”
Ransom was livid. “Captain, you’re talking from the bow of a ship where there is everything you could want: Everything working, people get along, there is no strife and you have no deaths.”
“We’ve had our fair share of death and destruction since we’ve been in the Delta Quadrant, but we held strong to our principles, and you should have done the same.”
Ransom felt as if he was being lectured by a woman who was probably ten years his junior, “We had nothing. My ship was in pieces. Our dilithium was gone, we were running on thrusters, We hadn't eaten in sixteen days. We had just enough power to enter orbit of an M class planet, and lucky for us, the inhabitants were generous.”
“I don’t care how generous the inhabitants were, what you’re doing is wrong.”
Ransom continued his story: “They were called the Ankari. They provided us with a meal, a few supplies, even some dilithium crystals. They even performed one of their sacred rituals to invoke spirits of good fortune from another realm to bless our journey; but these weren't spirits, hey were nucleogenic life forms. Our scans revealed that they were emitting high levels of antimatter. Later the same night we managed to obtain one of the summoning devices in exchange for an energy converter.”
Kathryn stood up from her place at the end of the table and approached him and leaned over him against the table. “You obtained a summoning device but I doubt that they gave that to you in good faith so you could kill their gods.”
“You’re so self-righteous, so stuck in your ways Captain: What would you do if you were stuck in the same situation?”
“Not what you did. What you did went against everything we as Starfleet Officers believe in.”
He scoffed at her, “So does a pregnant Captain on the bridge.”
“I will deal with any disciplinary hearings when we get home, but I need to make sure this crew gets home, and if that means that I have to have children to make sure that the crew thinks it’s okay then so be it.”
“And you don’t think that that skews your judgement? I mean don’t you think that any time you’re in a fight, you’re thinking of not what’s best for the crew but what’s best for your family?”
She stared at the Captain, “We’re not killing innocent lifeforms.”
“We tried to send it back but it was too late. We examined the remains and discovered it could be converted to enhance our propulsion systems. It was already dead. What would you have done? We travelled over ten thousand light years in less than two weeks. We'd found our salvation. How could we ignore it?
Now Kathryn was livid, she could possibly give him the first death by proxy but the rest, were in his control and it was murder. “By adhering to the oath you took as Starfleet officers to seek out life, not destroy it.”
“It's easy to cling to principles when you're standing on a vessel with its bulkheads intact, manned by a crew that's not starving.”
And for once Kathryn was actually glad for Neelix, “It's never easy, but if we turn our backs on our principles, we stop being human. I'm putting an end to your experiments and you are hereby relieved of your command. You and your crew will be confined to quarters.”
And Ransom finally knew he had lost, “Please, show them leniency. They were only following my orders.”
“Their mistake.”
“It's a long way home, Captain.”
“For you not long enough.”
Kathryn was about to order security in to take him away when he continued. “I guess though for you it doesn’t matter considering you have everything you could ever want here on this ship.”
Kathryn glared at him and called security in to take him out of her sight.
[Engineering – same time]
Max was fiddling with the engineering console. He had to try and figure out how B’Elanna had configured the engines, the warp manifolds and most importantly the shields.
B’Elanna walked up behind him, “Intruder alert. Same old Max, going through my things. That is a command station. It's off limits without my direct authorisation.”
Max played it cool, this was his old girlfriend, she would probably give him the benefit of the doubt. “I didn't realise: You going to throw me in the Brig?”
B’Elanna felt the sexual attraction that had always been there between her and Max, but she had Tom to think about and the babies. “I think we can overlook this infraction. Can I help you with something?”
“Just doing some homework, studying your propulsion system. There's a chance I'm going to be stuck on Voyager. I figured I had better learn my way around.
Maybe you could tutor me over dinner?”
“Problem is, you were never really interested in the work, or the meal. Something tells me you haven't changed.”
B’Elanna looked at Max, “You'd be surprised. Life changes people B’Elanna.”
“Look, Max, don't get me wrong, it's good to see you again, but ten years.”
Burke had noticed the possessiveness that Tom Paris had with her, he had noticed the love shining in both of their eyes, “Tom Paris.”
“Tom Paris.”
He looked at his half-Klingon ex-girlfiend, “You could do worse. So we still on for dinner? Just the two of us?”
“Max I can’t.” She had children and Tom to think about.”
“I understand, well I’d better get going.”
B’Elanna nodded, “Get going, or I will throw you in the Brig.
[1700 hours – Paris Quarters]
Tom was staring at Katie sleeping peacefully on the couch. She had fallen asleep after watching a ‘disney movie’ on his TV.
He laughed, The 20th Century had its charms. Tom waited, B’Elanna should be home any time now. And sure enough, he just put the kids down for bed and the door opened. “Tom?”
“Hi honey, how’s it going tonight?”
“I heard the weirdest rumour today. They said Kat is pregnant again, I thought she had a hysterectomy, but I didn’t say anything: It’s really none of my business.”
“Hey B’Elanna, its true: She is pregnant, but the why could take some explaining that I really don’t feel like doing right now.”
B’Elanna nodded, “I had the weirdest dream last night Tom. It was like a memory of something that happened when I was pregnant with Jennica’s baby.”
She shook her head trying to erase the cobwebs to access the information tucked away in her brain. “It’s like an image of something that did happen but didn’t.”
Tom shook his head, “What do you remember?”
“I remember Chakotay being there, which is weird and I can’t figure out why you weren’t there.” She shook her head confused, “Then I remember feeling like I was asleep and hearing voices, telling me that they needed to get rid of the bad memories?”
“B’Elanna, just try to calm down.”
“Don’t tell me calm down: What the hell happened?”
Tom stared at B’Elanna, “I don’t know.”
The two of them stared at each other trying to figure out what was truth and what was a lie. Then B’Elanna started to cry, “I need to know what happened.”
Tom approached her and enveloped her in a hug whispering, “Shhh, it’ll be okay.”
[Bridge]
Kathryn sat on the bridge in her command chair, Chakotay by her side. She bent over and whispered to him, “Did the doctor say he found anything?”
Chakotay shrugged, “Not that I know but he may have found something since.”
She tapped her combadge, “Bridge to the Doctor.”
The doctor answered but didn’t sound right. “Sickbay here.”
“Did you find anything?”
“Could you be more specific?”
Kathryn looked at Chakotay and raised an eyebrow before answering the doctor, “Neural patterns, cortical scans, anything that could help us program the universal translator.”
“Uh, negative. I couldn't access the Equinox data files. They were encrypted.”
Kathryn just kept going, “Keep studying the information we have. See what you can come up with.”
She stared at her husband, “What the hell is wrong with our EMH? He’s never unsure of anything and yet he can’t seem to make a decision.”
Chakotay shook his head, “I have no idea Kathryn.”
“Well come on you have to help me figure this out Chakotay; you are after all my first officer after all.”
Chakotay glared at her, “Kathryn, calm down.” When she didn't change her stance he opened his mouth and tried another tactic. “I’m sorry Captain,” he said. “I never meant to sound disrespectful.”
Kathryn glared at him.
The Equinox crew had escaped, how she wasn’t sure: but they had gotten away.
She shook her head, the doctor couldn’t come up with an answer, something wasn’t quite right.
She had B’Elanna and Vorik, and the doctor working on it, something had to work.
Harry piped up, “Fissures are opening, all decks!”
Kathryn looked around at the aliens penetrating their defences. She shot the fissures, trying to keep them closed. She heard Chakotay yell at her from the other side of the command chairs, “Kathryn!”
And then she felt something hit her on the side of the head, and her hand flew to her belly; hoping the baby was okay.
And then everything went black.
Chakotay watched his wife go down with her hand clenching her abdomen. He called for transport and watched as Kathryn’s form disappeared. He turned to Harry, “Give me tactical control." He tapped buttons on the command console and looked to the ensign, "Good guess. I used a deflector pulse to reinforce the shields. It won't hold for long.”
Tom had seen Kathryn go down. “Bridge to Sickbay. Doctor, respond.” He looked to Chakotay, “Doctor is there any news on the Captain?”
The hail came from sickbay but it wasn’t the doctor, it was an ensign. “Yes, sir; she appears to be okay. I’ll know more later, but at the moment we have major casualties.”
Harry Kim piped up from the back, “Casualty reports are coming in. Two dead, thirteen wounded. We took heavy damage to the engines.”
Chakotay looked at him, “The Equinox?”
“They've gone to warp. No sign of nucleogenic particles.”
Chakotay stared at him and knew what Kathryn would say, “Then they haven't engaged their enhanced warp drive yet.”
Chakotay rushed off the bridge, he had to be with his wife. He had to know that his son was okay and he had to know that his wife was okay.
He just had to know.
Neelix stopped him halfway to the sickbay, “Commander, I found the Doctor's mobile emitter on deck nine. You might want to take it to Sickbay.”
Chakotay nodded and took the mobile emitter and continued on his way.
Less than five minutes later, he rushed into sickbay. Tom was looking at the sickbay staff, “Any sign of the Doc?”
Chakotay looked at Paris, “I've got him right here Paris.”
The doctor materialized before them all, “Please state the nature of the - Don't bother.”
“You should start with the Captain, she took a nasty fall on the bridge. She seems stable at the moment, but considering her condition we should keep her here a little longer.
Chakotay nodded and stared at the doctor, “We found your emitter on deck nine.”
“I was taken hostage by the Equinox crew. I deactivated myself to escape. Did you stop them?”
Chakotay shook his head, “No.”
Kathryn sat up, and Chakotay stopped her worried about her and the baby. “Hey hey, take it easy.”
Kathryn lay back down and stared at her husband, “I'd ask for a status report but I'm not sure I'd want to hear it.”
They spoke of Harry trying to figure out the language of the creatures that Ransom had been torturing. And then Chakotay looked at her hard, “How are you doing...honestly?”
“I’m fine, and I’ll be out of sickbay and back on duty soon, so don’t get too comfortable in my command chair.”
Chakotay chuckled, “Yes, ma’am.”
He walked out of sickbay and hoped she was being truthful with him.
To be continued in 11. Crossing the Line