Jennica's Story
11. Crossing the Line
J/C
Rated MA
June 2009
By: AW
Length: 6,009 words
Summary: Directly after 'The Hero's Answer', and we complete the Equinox Paradox.
Disclaimer: blah blah blah, I DON’T OWN THEM
[Directly after part 10.]
[Equinox â€ô Transporter Room]
Jennica awoke on a transporter pad. She looked around this wasn’t Voyager, she turned her head and saw Max Burke, the Commander of the Equinox staring her in the face.
“Seven? Come on, we need to take you to see the Captain.”
Jennica glared at him as she was pulled out of the transporter room and towards the Captain’s Quarters.
[Ransom’s Quarters]
Rudy was staring at the coast, watching the waves hitting the shore.
He heard the chime ring on his door and called for them - whoever they were â€ô to enter. “Who is it?”
Max’s voice came over the line, “It's Max. I've brought you a visitor.”
Ransom was shocked, and wondered who it was he’d brought with him, “Hold on.”
He pulled off the synaptic stimulator, “Come in.” He stared at the tiny blonde woman in front of him, “I'm glad you're okay. I've been using this synaptic stimulator. I was just taking a stroll along the Tenkaran coast. You're welcomed to try it.”
Jennica glared at Ransom. “You stole me from my home and my mother, you took me from the only home I have had in years; you try to destroy the ship to get yourselves home; you kill alien life forms for no reason: What do you want?”
“You know, once we get our enhanced warp drive back online we'll be on our way home, but it'll still take months to get there. You can spend that time in the brig, or you can become part of this crew. I'd prefer the latter.”
She stared at him, hatred in her eyes, “I'd prefer the brig.”
Ransom knew that she wasn’t listening, “You know, Janeway's not the only Captain who can help you explore your humanity.”
“My mother is the only one I want to teach me; you would be an inferior role model.”
“Janeway clung to her morality at the expense of her crew. Maybe you should learn from that mistake.”
She shook her head, “Yeah and your idea of morality is killing innocent life forms and using their remains to make your ship go faster. The only mistake my mother made was trusting you.”
He stared at Max, “Take care of her wound.”
[Equinox Bridge]
Ransom turned around and stared at the ensign at the engineering station, “Infuse the enhanced warp drive with twenty isograms of the compound.”
Lessing looked at his Captain, “Aye, Sir. Warp drive ready.”
Ransom just about yelled, “Engage.” When nothing happened and the ship was still at a standstill, he turned back to Lessing, “What happened?”
When no answer was forthcoming he called engineering, “Marla, what the hell is going on down there?”
The hail came across the line, “The power relays are offline. They've been encoded.”
Ransom quickly hurried towards sickbay. He was mad; that half-Borg woman was really trying his patience. He walked into sickbay and approached Jennica’ laying on the biobed, “Give us the codes.”
Jennica laughed and looked at Ransom, “You order me around, go against everything that as humans we believe in and now you want me to help you? No!”
Burke looked at her, “If she won't give us the codes maybe we could extract them ourselves.”
The EMH had become a friend to Jennica Paris, and he went to her ‘rescue’ right away, “Seven's cranial infrastructure is highly complex. You'll need months just to figure out what she had for breakfast.”
“That's why you're going to help us.”
“I refuse.”
“Do it, or I'll erase your program.”
The EMH looked smugly at Burke and at Ransom, “Be my guest.”
Ransom and Burke looked at each other. They turned to Gilmore and told her to erase his ethical subroutines.
Jennica lashed out, “You can’t do that.”
Ransom looked at her, “I just did.”
Burke jumped in and spoke to the doctor, “All right, Doctor. Now, get to work. You know what we're looking for.”
“Very well. She'll try to resist. I'll have to restrain her.”
Jennica looked at the EMH. The ‘man’ who had become one of her closest friends, “Doctor.”
“I deleted his ethical subroutines. He'll be a little more co-operative now. Keep me posted.”
Jennica stared at the doctor as he looked to the Captain, “Aye, Captain.” Then he turned to Jennica, “This way, please.”
[Voyager â€ô Ready Room]
Kathryn sat on the couch in her ready room. She had no idea what had brought her to this point; What had brought the other Captain to this point.
She sighed and brought a hand to her belly. She sighed as she felt the child move. She was almost 13 weeks along now, and her crew was none the wiser.
She called Chakotay to the ready room.
En entered and he looked at her rubbing her belly: seemingly lost in thought. “Chakotay what brought him to this point?”
At Chakotay’s shake of his head she continued, “Would I ever get to that point?”
Chakotay wasn’t sure what was bringing on this line of questioning. “Kathryn I’m sure nothing would bring you to that point.”
“I don’t know Chakotay. I can’t say that certain thoughts have not crossed my mind to get this crew home sooner â€ô“
“But you never did, and that’s the difference.”
Kathryn sighed and decided to change the subject, “How have you been coming with that talk for the Ankari?”
He passed her a pad, “I guess we should go to the bridge and test this out then.”
Kathryn looked over the pad once more and turned to Chakotay, “It's not exactly Shakespeare, but it gets the point across.”
“A small olive branch is still an olive branch.”
She turned to Harry and handed the padd. to him, “Run this through to your translation matrix.”
Harry finished the translation and stated to the Captain, “Ready to transmit.”
“Drop shields, Bridge only.” She turned around, “Go ahead, Harry.”
The message was transmitted and the whole bridge crew waited with baited breath. The transmission finished and she spun around to Harry, “Raise shields.”
“If they understood our message, they haven't responded.”
The ship shook and Kathryn drew her phaser. She had to save the ship, she had to save her children.
“There's your response. Activate another deflector pulse. Focus your efforts on repairing the warp drive. We've got to find the Equinox.”
Chakotay turned to his wife. “If it's all the same to you I'd like to take another stab at the message. If we can reroute â€ô”
She sighed. She was getting angry, whether it was the pregnancy hormones or Chakotay going against her she wasn’t sure. “They're not listening, Chakotay. We should be tracking Ransom, not tinkering with adverbs.”
She picked up and headed to the ready room, Chakotay following on her heels. “Want your first officer's advice?”
“My first officer, my husband or the father of my children?”
He stared at her, “I said First Officer, don’t do this Kathryn: don’t mix them up.”
“Well then, allow me. Our deflector's losing power, and when it fails, we'll be defenceless. It's Voyager we should be worrying about, not the Equinox.”
Chakotay looked at his wife and made an obnoxious comment, “You'd make a great first officer. It's advice worth taking.”
“You have no right to question my orders ‘Commander’.”
“Kathryn this is beyond orders. What I want to know is, is this really about Ransom, or is this about Jennica.”
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
“This is about Jennica, it has been about Jennica since she came on board this ship. You have to stop â€ô“
“I have to stop what? Caring about my child? You think differently about ‘our children’.”
“You've been known to hold a grudge. This man betrayed Starfleet, he broke the Prime Directive, dishonoured everything you believe in, and threw Voyager to the wolves.”
Janeway stared at her husband. “Borg, Hirogen, Malon. We've run into our share of bad guys. Ransom's no different.”
“Is that what this is really all about? Jennica had to live as a Borg and now you’re taking it out on Ransom? I don't blame you for being angry, but you can't compromise the safety of this ship to satisfy some personal vendetta.”
Kathryn just about spit out the next words, “I’m not taking it out on Ransom, what he did is wrong. And for the last time this has nothing to do with Jennica.”
[Equinox Sickbay]
The EMH stared at the former Borg Drone. It was going through his head that at one point they had been friends, but now he saw her as nothing more than Ransom’s way home. “The ocular node's connected to the sensory node. The sensory node's connected to the cortical node. The cortical node's connected to the reticular node. Don't look so gloomy. There's a silver lining to all this. Just think, we're finally going to see Earth.”
Jennica stared at him, “It’s me Jennica. The Captain’s daughter: your friend. Let me fix your program, bring you back to the person you were.”
“Now why would I want you to do that. You of all people should understand being unfettered by ethical subroutines has made me far more efficient.”
Ransom walked into the sickbay with an annoyed look on his face, “Status?”
The EMH looked smugly at Ransom, “I'm going to extract her cortical array. It contains an index of her memory engrams, but once I've removed it her higher brain functions, language, cognitive skills will be severely damaged.”
Ransom got close to Jennica’s face, “Tell me the codes.”
“No. Get out of my face.”
“Janeway was right about one thing. You are unique. It would be a shame to lose you.”
“Your compassion means nothing to me and it sounds very ‘fake’.”
“You think this is easy for me? The sight of you on that table, but you're leaving me no choice!”
Jennica stared at Ransom hatred in her eyes, “No choice. You say that frequently. You destroy life-forms to attain your goals, than claim that they left you no choice. Does that logic comfort you?”
“The codes.”
“You'll have to destroy me to obtain them.”
Jennica had definitely inherited Kathryn Janeway's stubborn streak.
[Ready room]
Kathryn sat and looked over all the different files she had gotten about the Equinox, psyche profiles about Ransom...anything to pull him down.
And as much as she hated to admit it: Chakotay had been right, anything to get her daughter back.
She felt the baby moving and wished he would stop, it was distracting.
She heard the door chime and called for entrance. She knew who it was.
“Come in.”
Chakotay walked in looking perturbed, looking annoyed and Kathryn knew she was in for a yelling match. He quietly stated, “You wanted to see me?”
Kathryn looked up into his eyes, “It's not like you to submit recommendations in writing: We live together for God’s sake, normally if you have a problem you’ll just tell me.”
“The last time we spoke you weren't exactly receptive.”
Kathryn stared at him, the Captain not his wife, “I'm afraid I'm not going to be very receptive this time, either. It's an interesting idea, but the Ankari are fifty light years in the wrong direction.” She paused, gathering her thoughts, “And that’s not the way to Jennica either.”
Chakotay’s eyes lost their stubborn and mad streak, “Kathryn: we’ll get her back. I understand that the Ankari are in the wrong direction but they're the ones who introduced Ransom to these life forms. It stands to reason they might be able to communicate with them, tell them to call off their attacks.”
“I appreciate the way you think of my daughter but whether we like it or not, our first priority is to find Ransom.” She drew in a deep breath and went back to ship’s business and no longer worrying about her child. “Still no sign of nucleogenic particles?”
“Not yet.”
“We’ll forget the Ankari for a moment; we know that Ransom couldn’t have gotten far. Without his enhanced drive his ship's only capable of warp six.”
She stopped and looked at Chakotay, “I know Chakotay. I know that Jennica can’t be our first priority the ship has to come first: I’ve spent my life realizing that my life never comes first.”
She shook her head going back to the notes that she had on Ransom, “I've been studying his service record. He's had his share of run-ins with hostile aliens. It seems that when he's being pursued he tends to hide. At Epsilon four he ran into a Klingon Bird-of-Prey, played a game of cat and mouse for three days in a nebula before the Klingons finally gave up. Two years later, he eluded a Romulan Warbird by taking his vessel into the atmosphere of a gas giant. Go to Astrometrics. Start looking for the kind of place you'd hide if your ship was damaged.”
“Yes, ma'am.” He paused and walked closer to her before walking out of the ready room. His hand reached up and touched her cheek, “And for the record, your life does matter: and sometimes it has to come first.”
[Planet surface]
Chakotay had finally convinced Kathryn that it was him that had to go down to the planet and not her.
Kathryn â€ô at four months pregnant - had decided that she was going to go down to the planet and get the Equinox crew. He had basically had to hold her down to force her to stay on Voyager. He had sent her to their quarters to look after the kids, it had been almost 36 hours since she had seen any of them.
He sighed and watched the Equinox crew having a little bit of friendly banter on a planet that appeared to be empty of humanoid life and safe for the crew.
The crewman he would learn to call Lessing made a comment. “I'm reading a vein of ore. Azimuth one seventeen, thirty metres. It could run pretty deep.
We might need to use phasers to excavate it. Funny, this reminds me of McKinley Park. I used to take my sister there when we were kids. This place looks just like it. As I recall, there was a family of ground squirrels who lived right over there. There was a patch of poison ivy next to it. When I was ten, I walked right through it and I swelled up like a Rigellian bloodworm. When I get back to Earth the first thing I'm going to do is â€ô”
Chakotay ignored the banter and got ready to catch them. He had to get them to Voyager, he wasn’t sure what Kathryn was going to do, but she wanted to question him.
Finally he saw his chance. He stunned the crewman and called to Voyager, “Four to beam up.”
[Janeway Quarters]
Kathryn stared at her children sleeping peacefully, no idea what was going on. Hannah stirred and Kathryn went to get the child. “Oh baby, what’s wrong?” She picked the child up and the soaked diaper dripped all over her uniform. *Oh that’s what’s wrong.*
She pulled the baby out of the drenched sleeper and changed her diaper. The child opened her eyes, dark hazel so much like her fathers and Kathryn knew what she wanted.
She ordered a bottle from replicator and set the child against the bump of her baby brother.
Hannah gobbled down the bottle and slowly drifted back to sleep. She placed the baby in her crib and heard her combadge go off. “Captain Janeway to the bridge.”
She looked over to Celes who was in charge of the Janeway brood tonight while her parents were on duty. “You gonna be okay with them Celes?”
The Ensign nodded and Kathryn thanked her and tapped her combadge, “On my way.”
[Bridge]
Kathryn entered the bridge just as Paris spun around and looked at the Captain.
“They've gone to warp.”
She stared at Paris and then ran up to the spot just behind his chair, “Match their course and speed.”
She heard Harry chime in from behind her, “We can't, not until we restore primary systems.”
“Time?”
“We'll need a few hours.”
Kathryn looked up to the sky and prayed that everything would be okay, *God forgive me* She thought as she turned to her husband who had just entered the bridge, “At least we didn't come away empty-handed.”
[Cargo Bay two]
She approached the spot where Lessing was sitting on a chair in the middle of Cargo Bay Two. “I want Ransom's tactical status. I want it now, Mister Lessing.”
He sneered at her, “Or what, you'll hit me?”
“No, crewman; I'll drop the shields around this room and let your little friends come pay you a visit.” Kathryn felt herself losing her grip on reality, but at that moment, anger was forcing her to do things that under normal circumstances she wouldn’t do.
‘That would be murder.’
“You could also call it poetic justice.”
Noah turned his head to look at Chakotay who had been watching this whole display silently from the side of the Cargo Bay, “I suppose the plan is that you're going to come to my rescue now, right?”
Chakotay looked at his wife and for the first time since he had boarded Voyager, he wasn’t sure what was going to happen, and he couldn’t read her next move. “There's no plan as far as I know. The Captain's on her own.”
Kathryn slowly approached Lessing and pushed him against the back of the chair, “Ransom's status, now.”
“No way in hell.”
She pulled away from her prisoner and stated, “We all make our own hell, Mister Lessing. I hope you enjoy yours. The comm. is active. We'll be outside if you have a change of heart.”
Kathryn rushed out of the Cargo Bay Chakotay closely behind. “Kathryn what the hell are you doing?”
They reached the hallway and Kathryn turned around on Chakotay. “Weren't you listening? I told you exactly what I was going to do.”
“Don't do this!"
Janeway’s eyes were full of hatred and full of conviction. “I have to do this for my babies, for you, for Jennica, for the crew: He'll break.”
Kathryn heard her combadge go off as she hit the buttons shutting off the shielding to the Cargo Bay. “Bridge to the Captain. We've lost shields in section twenty nine alpha.”
She looked at Chakotay, and he knew that she was beyond reason. She was becoming what Ransom had become and what she never wanted to be.
He hoped when she looked at herself in the mirror tomorrow she could accept what she’d become: exactly what she hated. “I know. Stand by.”
Chakotay looked at his wife, but she was no longer his wife; she was only the Captain. “He's a loyal officer. He's not going to betray his Captain.” He grabbed her hands as she hit the controls once more, “Put up the shields!”
“Let go of me Commander, these are not our quarters, and this is not a private matter. This is between the Captain and the First Officer: He'll break.”
Fine she wanted to play it like this, “Captain!”
“As you were.”
Chakotay tried to undo the damage that Kathryn had set into motion. He pressed the buttons, he had to make this work. The computer came online, “Level nine authorisation required.”
“Damn it, Kathryn!”
She glared at him, “I told you this is not an issue between a married couple, I hold all the cards Commander. You're panicking. He's going to talk.”
Tuvok answered from the bridge, giving Kathryn the answer she knew was coming, “Captain, a fissure is opening in that section.”
Kathryn stared at Chakotay, she still had the upper hand and she knew it. “Understood.” Chakotay looked at Kathryn, the devil had taken her over.
“Stand down Commander.”
He got up and approached the door to the Cargo Bay, Kathryn felt like she was losing more than the battle between Captain and First Officer. “I said stand down Commander.”
He shook his head and looked at her, “You know I can’t do that.”
“I’m the Captain.”
“And I wouldn’t be good to you as a first officer if I didn’t stop you when you went too far.”
“By my estimations: I haven’t gone too far.”
The sadness in his eyes almost killed her, “Yes you have.” He entered the Cargo Bay and dragged Lessing off the chair.
He pulled the officer out to the hallway and had to show Kathryn what he was doing, he had to get through to her: he needed his wife back.
He threw Lessing against the wall, “Okay, you've demonstrated your loyalty to your Captain. Now you have one chance to make your life on Voyager something decent, and not hell.”
Kathryn glared at Chakotay one more time and walked between her first officer and Lessing. Where she was going she wasn’t sure yet, but Chakotay had betrayed her.
Kathryn walked until she reached the mess hall and sat down after getting some food from the replicator. They were in a crisis situation and here she was sitting in the mess hall eating Lasagne. She almost laughed at the irony of her enjoying a meal.
She sighed, and as she was almost finished her meal she heard her combadge beeped. “Paris to Janeway.”
Kathryn scrunched up her eyebrows in confusion, “Yes Tom, what is it?”
“There’s something wrong with B’Elanna. She’s asking for you.”
Kathryn shook her head and put her plate in the replicator, “On my way.”
[Paris Quarters â€ô 15 minutes later]
Kathryn rang the chime, there was no answer. She heard yelling from the other side of the door. “Don’t do this B’Elanna.”
Kathryn entered her override codes and burst into the Paris Quarters. Little Katie was sitting on the floor crying. “Hello Kathryn, here to see the show?”
Kathryn stared at the scene that was unfolding before her. “You had no right Tom: you stole my memories.”
“I tried to save you B’Elanna.”
Kathryn picked up the squalling infant on the floor and held her close. “Shhh little one it’ll be okay.”
“Oh look Tom, isn’t she maternal? Well after I’m gone I’m sure that you can raise our daughters with her, isn’t that what you’ve wanted all along?” She laughed sardonically, and spun around to face the Captain, “Come on Kat, admit it: he’s a better lay than Chakotay ever was.”
Kathryn shook her head, “You know that’s not true B’Elanna: you know he only has eyes for you.”
B’Elanna stared at her Captain, and raised a razor out of her pocket. “I’ll do it Captain, don’t tempt me.”
Kathryn realized that B’Elanna had her back to Tom and watched as Tom raised a phaser and fired. “It was only on stun Captain, she’ll recover.”
“Tom what the hell is going on?”
Tom shook his head, “Remember when she was pregnant with Jennica’s baby and we performed a memory wipe? It appears it’s no longer holding.”
“I need my chief engineer.”
Tom scoffed, “That’s all that ever mattered to you wasn’t it? Well this is my wife and I’m standing up to you ‘Captain’.” With that lasting though he picked up his wife and left for sickbay.
Kathryn sighed and knew she had to take the Paris children to her quarters so that Celes could take care of them.
She grabbed Miral`s hand and out they went: heading towards the Janeway Quarters.
[Janeway Quarters]
Kathryn walked in and saw Celes gently rocking baby Haley. Her two year old looked so peaceful in the sitter's arms. She walked over to the crib where
Hannah was peacefully sleeping and placed Katie there too. Kathryn took Haley from Celes arms and placed her in her bed. “Will you be okay with these two as well?”
“Yeah Captain, I think I can handle it. Katie’s asleep and Miral looks like she’s ready to crash.”
“Thanks Celes I really appreciate â€ô” She was cut off by a hail from the bridge. “Captain Janeway to the bridge.”
Kathryn nodded and thanked Celes and took off for her bridge.
[Equinox Sickbay]
The EMH stared at Jennica, and began singing. “Oh, my darling, Oh, my darling, Oh, my darling.”
He used an iso spanner to press the cortical node above her eyebrow, as she continued. “Clementine.”
Ransom rushed into the sickbay and glanced at the scene before him exasperated, “How much longer?”
“Another hour, maybe less.” He continued singing, “You are lost and gone forever.”
“Dreadful sorry, Clementine.”
“What are you doing?”
“Her auditory processor. We used to practice duets together. In fact, I taught her this old chestnut. Light she was and like a fairy.”
“And her shoes were Number Nine.”
Ransom yelled at the pair: “Enough!”
“Why the long face, Captain. You're about to get your crew home. She tried to stand in your way. You had no choice.”
Ransom stared at the doctor for whom he had flipped a switch and played ‘Doctor Jekyl and Mr. Hyde'. “No choice. Thank you, Doctor.”
The EMH looked at the Captain, “When this is all over, perhaps you'll allow me to teach you my repertoire.” He continued singing as if nothing were the matter, and Ransom felt his moral compass changing directions.
[Voyager â€ô Sickbay]
Tom looked over his wife as the doctor scanned her. “Well what have you found out?”
The EMH looked at him, “About what?”
Tom looked at him incredulous, “Why is the memory wipe causing these kinds of problems for her?”
The EMH stammered, “Uh...Oh, she seems to be having a bad reaction to the drugs that were used to induce the coma and the memory wipe.”
Tom scrunched up his face in confusion. “Wouldn’t you have seen this before now?”
“Um...sometimes it takes a while for these symptoms to manifest themselves.”
Tom sighed, “Thanks doc, call me when she wakes up.”
The doctor nodded and watched as Tom walked out of sickbay. When the doctor was sure Tom was gone, he went to the Voyager EMH’s office and tapped his combadge. “Doctor to Ransom.”
“Yes doctor, what is it?”
“The Voyager chief engineer is incapacitated, I think now is the time to make the strike.”
“Acknowledged doctor.”
Ransom turned to face Maxwell Burke. “I don’t think we should do this anymore?”
“What the hell are you talking about Rudy? Change of tactics?”
He looked at his first officer, “You might say that. It's time we found another way home.”
“Another way?”
“We're going to co-operate with Janeway, Max, if she's willing. And the only reason that you got that shield emitter from Voyager is her chief engineer is no longer able to work. We’re no match for them Max, and if we do this, Janeway won’t have any leniency on us.”
Max looked at his Captain incredulous, “Rudy, with all due respect, have you lost your mind?”
“Just the opposite.”
Marla stared at the conflict that was going on before her. “They're within range. They're charging weapons!”
“Hail them.”
The First Officer decided he was going to take command, because he wanted to keep going with the aliens and getting home. “Belay that order. Raise shields.”
Rudy looked at Max, “Are you out of your mind? You're relieved of duty, Commander.”
Max stood up to his Captain, “I'm taking command. Anyone who isn't with me, speak up now. Take him to the brig.”
Marla stared unbelieving at the turn of events, “I'm sorry.” And she grabbed her Captain’s arm and escorted him off the bridge.
Max looked at ‘his crew’, “What's the status of our weapons?”
An ensign in blue looked at the commander, “Full complement of torpedoes. Minimal phasers.”
Max stared at Thompson, “Open a secure channel to their Sickbay. Stand by weapons.”
“Aye sir.”
[Voyager]
Kathryn turned around and glanced at Tuvok, wondering what Ransom would do next. Tuvok’s command rang out, “They are firing torpedoes.”
Harry’s frantic answer came: ”Direct hit to our port shields. They're holding.”
Kathryn glared at Harry. “Return the favour.” Kathryn watched the plasma gas vent from the nacelle of the Equinox and Harry told her they were venting plasma. All Kathryn could think was *No kidding.*
Paris gave her the answer she was looking for, they had the Equinox cornered: “They’re dropping out of warp.”
She stared at the screen seeing red in front of her eyes, “Stay with them.” Kathryn watched the forward screen thinking they finally had Ransom cornered, it was just a matter of time before they had them dead in the water.
Vorik’s voice came over the comm. line, “They've slowed to one quarter impulse.”
*I've finally got him.* Kathryn thought as she watched the Equinox slowly coming closer, or Voyager moving on them. “Prepare a tractor beam.”
Kathryn’s head spun around at Tuvok’s voice. “They are launching another torpedo.”
“Full power to the forward shields.”
She watched the torpedo coming towards her, and she felt weightless for a moment as she was thrown out of her chair by the blast. She was vaguely aware of Harry speaking about hull breaches in the background as she hit the deck and landed on her stomach.
She rolled over, careful of the child she carried and Tom spun around scared for his Captain and the life of the child she held.
Kathryn saw Tom’s face approach her, “Are you okay Captain?”
Kathryn nodded and slowly got up feeling a strained muscle in her back, “Hard about! Get us out of range. Remodulate the shields.”
Kathryn put a hand on her belly, vaguely aware that everyone on the bridge now knew her secret. What seemed like forever later Captain Ransom’s face appeared on the viewscreen, “Captain, I'm prepared to surrender the Equinox but I'm no longer in command. Max decided to stage a little mutiny but I think I can stop him. I've isolated transporter control. I can beam all of us to Voyager. You might want to have some guards standing by. Not everyone here is going to be happy to see you.”
She glared at him, “You expect me to believe you? You endangered alien life forms, put my crew in danger and tried to destroy us and you want me to give your crew a break?”
“They were following my orders, they shouldn’t be punished for what I did.”
“Their mistake.” Kathryn spun around and looked at Harry, “Get a lock on as many of them as you can and transport them to the brig.”
Harry bowed his head disappointed in the Captain and the loss of her belief in the goodness of the human spirit. “Captain, are you sure â€ô“
“Do it ensign that’s an order. I’ve already confined Chakotay to quarters and he has a hell of a lot higher in rank and more experience than you. Do it, or I’ll have you relieved.”
Harry shook his head and did as he was asked. “I have most of the Equinox crew.”
Kathryn nodded, “Very good.”
Harry spoke out unsure. “The warp core on the Equinox is going to breach Captain.”
“Tom, get us out of here as fast as we’ll go.”
Tom hesitated for a moment before stating, “Yes ma’am.”
Tuvok answered, “Captain, we don’t have warp power, I’m not sure how fast or how far we can get.”
Just as he uttered those words, Kathryn felt a crash as the impact from the Equinox detonation hit her ship. Damage reports started coming in, “Celes to Janeway.”
“Janeway here, go ahead ensign.”
“The nursery was hit Captain.”
Kathryn’s jaw dropped open as she thought about her children. “Janeway to sickbay, get someone to the nursery a.s.a.p.”
“Captain we have casualties in sickbay, 6 dead 17 injured.”
Kathryn felt the burn of tears beneath her eyelids but wouldn’t let her emotions get the best of her. “Tom get down to the nursery and make sure the kids are okay.”
Tom nodded and swiftly left the bridge.
Janeway turned to the lieutenant that was Tom’s replacement. “Lieutenant, take the con.”
The lieutenant nodded and rushed up to the front of the bridge.
Kathryn stared at Tuvok, “Tuvok you have the bridge, I need to go to the brig.”
Tuvok nodded, and Kathryn knew in her heart that he didn’t approve.
Kathryn made her way down to deck 11. She reached the brig and saw the five remaining Equinox crewmembers behind the force fields. She noticed that Chakotay had made his way down there.
She looked at her husband. “Was I out of line? I saw Harry’s face, he looked disappointed and I thought that Tom was actually going to disobey my orders.”
Chakotay shook his head. “Kathryn you have been so unpredictable recently, I’m not sure that anyone knows what to think of you lately.”
She turned to the Equinox crew without saying another word. She stared at the broken crew, “You betrayed this crew. I won't make that mistake again.
Noah Lessing, Marla Gilmore, James Morrow, Brian Sofin, Angelo Tassoni, you are hereby stripped of rank. You’ll have to stay down here in the brig, until I deem in fit to let you serve on board my ship.”
She finally turned to Chakotay, “Repairs?”
“Coming along. I think you should go down to sickbay and check on our kids, and get yourself checked out. Tom said you took a nasty fall.”
“I’m fine Chakotay; how are the kids.”
“I’m not sure Kathryn, all of those kids breathed in a lot of toxic air before Tom got to them. I know that Hannah was having trouble breathing.”
Kathryn let an air of fear flit across her features before covering it up, but not before Chakotay had seen it. “Kathryn, that’s your baby.”
“I did what I had to do Chakotay for this ship.”
“Even if it cost you the life of your child?”
Kathryn’s jaw dropped open. “She’s okay right?”
“The doctor has her on life support, she didn’t fare well.”
Kathryn covered her face with her hands. She stuttered, “I guess I’d better go check her out then.”
Kathryn felt the child inside her move and she took in her breath sharply. Chakotay rushed up to her, “Kathryn? Are you okay?”
Kathryn nodded, “Yeah, our child just moved.”
Chakotay placed his hand on her belly and said, “Come on, let’s go see Hannah and make sure she’s okay.”
Kathryn and Chakotay made their way towards sickbay but he would not look at her. “Kathryn, you took it too far this time.”
She refused to answer and as they made their way into sickbay they heard the beeping signalling the termination of a life. Kathryn stared at the biobed where her baby girl took her last breath.
Kathryn shook her head unbelieving, “Doctor do something please.”
The doctor solemnly looked down. “I can’t do anything for her Captain, the damage to her lungs was just too severe.”
Finally Kathryn let a tear fall down her cheek. “No, you can’t let her die.”
The sound of Hannah’s heart flatlining filled the room as Kathryn turned and rushed out of the sickbay feeling numb.
She had crossed the line and she just hoped that her crew would trust her to cross back over it.
[Paris Quarters â€ô 3 days later: 2200 hours]
B’Elanna had just finished a hoverball game with Chakotay. She walked in on a serene scene. Tom holding baby Katie as she napped, rocking her, loving her.
She walked up to her husband and her youngest child. “Tom.”
She picked up the child and carried her to her crib laying her down, and staring at Tom who was just beginning to wake up from the nap he had taken with his daughter.
END PART 11
END JENNICA’S STORY
TBC IN 'Soul's Revisions'