A Grave New World
Part 10

By: AW

Date: December 2018
Length: 2,556 words
Summary: What would have happened if during Gravity it had been Janeway and Chakotay on that mission instead of Tom and Tuvok?
What if it had've been six months instead of two weeks?
What would have happened between J/C?

[NEXT MORNING]

Kathryn groaned and rolled out of bed. Her stomach wasn't feeling the greatest. This had happened when she was pregnant with Nicky so she wasn't surprised it was happening this time too.

She made her way to the bathroom and emptied the meager contents of her stomach.

She sighed and then got a hail from the astrometrics lab. She heard Mezoti, "Captain, Mezoti accidentally cut off a transmission from an alien ship."

Mezoti was attempting to contact the ship again; Seven stared at the little girl. "Mezoti!"

"I'm trying to talk to the woman."

Seven stared at the little girl, "What woman?"

Mezoti stared at Seven. "The one transmitting from spatial grid two three six nine."

"She's made contact with a small ship approximately three light years from here."

Tuvok walked up to Seven and Mezoti. "Alien vessel, this is the starship Voyager. Respond."

Tuvok stared at Seven and waited for a response from the alien ship.

Tuvok heard a female voice, "Tuvok? It's you, isn't it?"

Tuvok raised an eyebrow at Seven "This is Lieutenant Commander Tuvok."

There was a laugh from the alien stranger, "Sounds like someone got promoted. I want to hear all about it, but first I need to speak to Captain Janeway."

[JANEWAY QUARTERS]

Kathryn left the bathroom and made her way to the bedroom.

She sighed, Chakotay was still asleep.

He heard the approaching footfalls and looked to see Kathryn coming into the room. "Morning sickness?"

"I shouldn't have expected it would be any different I was so sick with Nicky."

Chakotay nodded sympathetically. "Speaking of babies: Don't you think its time you started wearing a maternity uniform?"

She glared at him. "I am only ten weeks along –"

"With twins."

Kathryn sighed. "I guess they're not leaving me much of a choice are they?"

Chakotay shook his head. "Well you still have the maternity clothes from last time so it won't be such a drain on our replicator rations."

"I suppose not."

She went to her closet and pulled out a maternity smock.

She put it on. "There is so much room."

Chakotay laughed, "You said that last time."

There was a hail from the bridge. "Captain, I think you should come up here. There is an alien female who is claiming she is Lindsay Ballard and wishes to speak with you."

Kathryn got a confused look on her face and turned to her husband. "Lindsay Ballard. She died over a year ago."

She opened the line of communication to the bridge. "We'll be right there Tuvok."

Chakotay quickly got his uniform on and the pair made their way to the bridge.

[BRIDGE]

The minute the couple entered the bridge the view screen came to life.

"You're a sight for sore eyes, Captain. Although there seems to be more of you than the last time I saw you." She turned her stare to Harry. "You, too, Harry."

Kathryn glimpsed Chakotay's way and then turned back to the screen. "I'm sorry, but do we know you?"

"I'm Ensign Lyndsay Ballard. I was a member of your crew. Of course, I'm not surprised you don't recognize me."

"I don't know who you are, but I'm not amused. Ensign Ballard died almost –"

She stared at her Captain and then at Harry, "It was on Stardate 51563. I can't blame you for being skeptical, Captain, but if you let me come aboard, I can explain everything."

Kathryn stared at her husband. "We'll beam you to Sickbay."

She made a slashing motion and the link was cut.

Chakotay stared at his wife, "Captain? What do you think?"

"She seems to have intimate knowledge of this ship and its crew. I think we should find out who she is."

Harry piped up from the back of the bridge. "Captain, I'd like to come with you. I was very close to Lyndsay, and if somehow it's her, I'll know."

Kathryn nodded and proceeded off the bridge Harry in tow.

[SICKBAY]

Kathryn made her way into sickbay – hand on her belly – Harry in tow. "So Captain, boy or girl this time?"

Kathryn glared at him. "We didn't want to know the sex; but there's two in there."

Harry nodded. "Wow two at once."

She raised her eyebrows, "So it seems. Let's go see our dearly departed."

The two made their way to Lydsay's bed.

The Doctor scanned her once more then walked through the focefield.

Kathryn stood there eyeing their passenger. Then the words came out of her mouth that she hoped would prove she was who she said she was. "Harry and I were on our way to a class M planet in the Vyntadi Expanse to recover dilithium ore we'd detected a few days earlier. When we landed, we realised it was a trap set by a Hirogen hunting party. They'd reconfigured a power cell to give off false dilithium readings."

Harry's eyes got wide with surprise. "That's exactly what happened."

Kathryn eyed the woman skeptically, "Go on."

The alien stared at Harry. "Harry and I headed back to the shuttle. We were ten feet away when I was hit with a neural disrupter. Harry said my injury wasn't that bad. He always was a terrible liar."

Harry stared at her, "I tried to get Lyndsay back to Voyager but she was already dead. We buried her in space."

Kathryn was still not convinced, "Go on with your story. "

Lynday hesitated then went on with her story. "I woke up on a ship, in a stasis chamber surrounded by aliens. They told me they'd used their technology to reanimate me. I didn't believe them when they said I'd died, but they showed me visual scans of my own corpse lying in the torpedo casing I'd been buried in. The Kobali said I'd been drifting for weeks."

"Kobali?"

"If you ever met them, you'd remember. They look just like this. After the reanimation process, they spent months altering my DNA. They were constantly scanning me, injecting me."

Kathryn unconsciously touched her belly where the twins lay. "That's how they procreate. They salvage the dead of other races. I was given a Kobali name and placed with a family to help me acclimate."

Kathryn came up with the only answer she could think of. "You were a prisoner."

Lyndsay stared at Kathryn trying to make her understand. "At first. I wanted to contact you, to tell you I was safe, but the Kobali wouldn't let me. They said you were part of my kyn'steya, my, my past life, and that I needed to forget you. All of you. So I spent two years letting my new family think I'd accepted them. When I finally earned their trust, I stole a shuttle and started looking for Voyager. That was six months ago. They've been chasing me ever since."

The Doctor finally joined the conversation. He looked at Janeway. "In spite of her appearance, I'm detecting traces of human DNA. I've compared them with the genetic samples from Ensign Ballard's file. They match."

"It's certainly a convincing story."

"But your Starfleet training is telling you to consider all the possibilities. Maybe I'm some sort of hybrid clone, or telepath who accessed Ensign Ballard's memory somehow? Believe me, I was suspicious myself at first, but I am Lyndsay Ballard."

Janeway smiled at the woman, "Until we find evidence to the contrary, welcome home." Kathryn lowered the forcefield and gave Lyndsay a hug.

[JANEWAY QUARTERS]

Kathryn looked at her husband. "Harry and Lyndsay sure have been spending a lot of time together. Our Harry is all grown up."

Chakotay laughed at Kathryn's whim. "Well about time he moved on too I guess."

Chakotay approached his wife and put a hand on her belly. "Felt them move yet?"

She smiled, "Not yet, but its still early." She paused, "I invited Lyndsay to my quarters for supper tonight. You think you and Tom can go for a beer and a round of pool tonight?"

"I guess we can do that. You going to be okay cooking tonight?"

She glared at her husband, "I'll muddle through."

He kissed Kathryn on the top of the head, rubbed her tummy one last time and off her went.

[TWO HOURS LATER – JANEWAY QUARTERS]

Kathryn had been fiddling with the replicator trying to get the pot roast ready for her guest. She had put on a flowing maternity dress and looked like someone just waiting for a friend for dinner.

She went up to the replicator. "Oh, damn!" She heard the doorbell chime. "Come in. Formal dress wasn't required, Ensign."

Lyndsay blushed under Janeway's scrutiny. "Well, I just, I figured, dinner with the captain."

"I'd hardly call this dinner. My replicator decided to liquefy the pot roast."

Lyndsay stared at the smoking and burned pot roast. "It looks fine to me."

"Stop trying to get on my good side and grab a slice of bread. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all. I lived on them at the Academy."

"So, how was your first day back on the job?"

"Pretty good, I think. Lieutenant Torres called my work competent."

"Trust me, that's high praise coming from B'Elanna. Commander Tuvok finished his analysis of your shuttle and presented me with thirty seven different ways of repelling a Kobali attack."

"Did he include your pot roast?" Lyndsay all of a sudden got self-conscious. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean - I can't believe I just said that."

"Why? It was funny. We're not on the bridge, Lyndsay." She stared at the woman she had barely known previously. "You have permission to speak freely."

"Do you really mean that?" The only person who did speak freely with her was Chakotay. And sometimes Tom and B'Elanna.

"I wouldn't have said it otherwise."

Lyndsay looked into Janeway's blue eyes. So open at the moment. "Then there's something I've wanted to ask you for a long time. Why me?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Why did you choose me for that away mission?"

"Why, I suppose I thought you were best suited for the job." Kathryn knew she was just trying to placate the young woman.

Lyndsay got in her face, and called her on her motives. "No, I wasn't. Dilithium extraction was always Lieutenant Torres' specialty. And Tuvok had far more experience conducting away missions. But you didn't send either one of them. Was it because they were closer to you?"

"You blame me." And Kathryn thought why not it was her fault.

She didn't want to lose anyone on her senior staff and it was bad enough that she had chosen to send Harry.

"I suppose coming back and seeing that I had moved on. That Chakotay and I had gotten together and were expecting didn't help matters."

"No, no, that's not what I meant. You had every right to move on. You were stuck out here like the rest of us."

"It's okay, Lyndsay." Kathryn tried to make Lyndsay feel better.

"No, it's not."

Kathryn looked at Lyndsay, "I'm not offended."

"No, you don't understand. Never harbour anger toward those who brought you death, for they gave you the chance to live again. In letting me die, Captain, you gave me life. I'm sorry."

"Lyndsay."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come." And she left the Captain's quarters in a rush."

[KOBALI SHUTTLE]

Harry walked into Lydsay's shuttle hoping to find the wrong girl he had yet again fallen for. "Wow. This place sure is lived in.

Lyndsay glared at Harry, "If you're here to lecture me about cleanliness.

Harry stared at Lyndsay. "I'm here to ask you to stop the treatments."

"You know what happens if I do."

"You'll look Kobali again? So what? I thought you were cute bald. I don't care if you're human, Kobali or Bolian, I just want you to be happy."

"I wouldn't fit in."

"Are you saying Tuvok and Neelix don't fit in?"

She stared at Harry trying to make him understand her plight. "That's different. They got to grow up in their own cultures. They know where they come from, who they are."

"Wherever they come from, they're part of this crew now. Just like you."

"Lyndsay was part of this crew. If I stop the treatments, I won't be Lyndsay anymore."

He stared at the one girl – the wrong girl – he had inadvertently fallen for again. "You don't honestly believe that."

Lyndsay tried to make him understand. "Since the day I got back here, I haven't felt right. At first I thought it was Voyager. Things had changed so much, I thought if I just gave myself more time I'd get used to it. But it's me. I've changed. And the more I try to deny it, the more I feel like a ghost. I'm sorry, Harry, but I can't keep fighting anymore."

Harry looked almost like a lost puppy dog. "What about us?"

"The girl you were in love with died three years ago."

[BRIDGE]

Kathryn looked around. Harry had begged Lyndsay to stop the treatments to go back to being Kobali, she had told him point blank that then she wouldn't be Lyndsay anymore."

Kathryn thought long and hard about the next move she would make.

Nicky would live on as another race, but would live on none-the-less.

She sighed. She had spoken to Lyndsay and had given her the co-ordinates where Nicky was buried.

She had said to Kathryn that it was highly unorthodox because they normally reanimated adults, but Lyndsay's father had agreed.

This was one child the Kobali would raise, Lyndsay herself would be responsible for her, and in some ways… that made Kathryn feel better.

She looked down at her stomach where the twins were resting.

[JANEWAY QUARTERS[

Kathryn walked into her quarters and waited for Chakotay to be done his shift. Finally the doors opened and Chakotay walked through. "Hello honey. Quite a day wasn't it?"

"Longer than most days."

Chakotay sat down on the couch by Kathryn and put a hand on her belly, feeling the babies squirming beneath his fingers. "Active today aren't they?"

Kathryn drew in a deep breath. "I told the Kobali where Nicky was buried. They're going to reanimate her. Lyndsay said she would be responsible for her."

Chakotay's eyes got wide. "Is this why you wanted to have a personal dinner with her?"

"I knew in some ways that she would be going back, and I wanted to make sure that Nicky got the chance to live again."

Chakotay shook his head. "She was a baby."

Kathryn nodded, "I know but Lyndsay said she always wanted to have kids and this is giving her that opportunity."

Chakotay stared at his wife. "That was our daughter Kathryn."

She nodded, "But at least this way she'll get to live again."

Chakotay realized at this point that acceptance was the only choice he had. "I think Lyndsay will make a great mother."

Kathryn breathed in a sigh of relief. "I hope so."

END PART 10
TBC IN CHAPTER 11