Disclaimer: Paramount owns all, except this story.
Author's note:
Most people know that Voyager could have been a lot better than it turned out to be. Not just the disappointing last episode, or the fact that the last minute relationship between Chakotay and Seven was a little sickening for various reasons, but also some plot flaws that were either never picked up by the people with influence, or were just ignored.
Three major flaws I find stem from the beginning are as follows:
1) Why was Voyager sent to capture that particular Maquis vessel? Sure, they were Maquis and Maquis were, at the time, the enemy, and sure, Tuvok was under cover on that particular ship, but it still seems like a very weak reason to go and capture the ship.
2) What did Voyager exactly intend to do with the Maquis ship once it was captured? Well, they could have tractor beamed it, but I won't even get started on what's wrong with that. They could have asked the Maquis ship, very nicely, to follow them back to DS9, where they could be handed in and locked up. Or, of course, Janeway could have shoved them all in the brig. However this plan has one major flaw that was picked up in an episode in one of the first series, when Voyager split in two. One Janeway pointed out to the other, that it would be a bit of a squeeze with 300 people on board Voyager. Well, if neither the Maquis ship or Voyager had lost any people as was planned, then Voyager would have been forced to accommodate over 200 people, which wouldn't have worked out very well.
3) The most obvious flaw that I've noticed, is why Janeway didn't just use the array to return home and plant a bomb on it. Not just a stupid bomb like the Caretaker used, where one shot and it's deactivated, but a bomb that would explode if anything were to happen to it. If she was still worried about the array not being destroyed, Janeway has been quite willing to leave her crew and sacrifice herself for them on several occasions, so why not on this first occasion, she could have stayed behind and exploded the bomb herself.
I know, I know, anyone that's bothered to read this is probably going to argue with me on one point or the other, so go ahead, I'm always open to knew points of view.
About this story:
In this story, Janeway did plant an explosive on the array, and sent Neelix and Kes on their merry little ways in the Delta Quadrant. She shoved the Maquis in the brig, or confined them to the grotty little quarters reserved for the extras on the show, and used the array to get back to the alpha quadrant. It sounds simple because it is.
This is a J/C, and rated R, due to some implications and language such as the F word, but there is no use of the C word. Enjoy!
The alarm had just become part of his dream, just a background noise that he was barely aware of. He was back there, on Voyager, his back up against the wall, trying not to be seen. His heart pounded in his ears, and it burned his lungs to continue taking shallow breaths, but he knew gasping would only draw unwanted attention and so he kept still. Footsteps approached his direction, and his heart skipped a beat with the anxiety of their approach. He could see his worried expression reflected back in B'Elanna's face, and he attempted a weak smile, but failed miserably. Eventually the footsteps passed along the corridor, and following the lead of a shout they disappeared down a different corridor.
"What the hell do we do now?" B'Elanna asked through taught lips.
He thought quickly, "we make our way to the shuttle bay."
She could have kicked him, had it been under any other circumstances, "and how the hell are we meant to get into there? Security will be strongest there!"
"Hasn't the Maquis taught you anything B'Elanna?" Chakotay joked as he stepped forwards from the comfort of the shadows and peered round the corner to check that the route was clear. B'Elanna followed suit and muttered some Klingon insult under her breath, that Chakotay either didn't hear or chose to ignore.
With two more close calls from security they eventually made their way in the direction of a shuttle bay. Chakotay was about to make his way over towards the door, when a strong hand pulled him back and pushed him hard against the wall. He turned around to see B'Elanna and frowned, as if to ask why the hell she had done that. She didn't have to answer as he soon heard another team of security guards come down the corridor and stand by the entrance.
"Where is the security team that was posted here?" a familiar cold Vulcan voice asked the others.
"I'm not sure sir," one replied worriedly.
There was a pause, "open the shuttle bay doors," the Vulcan traitor instructed.
Chakotay carefully peered around the wall to see the doors open, and retracted his head just in time as a volley of shots were fired at the security team. He heard some sort of struggle as phaser blasts flew along the corridor to the side of him, and insults shouted from inside the shuttle bay that he instantly recognised as Maquis. Eventually the shots died down and again Chakotay looked around to see what was had happened. There were two security officers lying on the ground, probably dead, but the Vulcan was gone and the doors were again closed.
He signalled to B'Elanna, and they both emerged from around the wall and headed towards the door. "Do you think some of them have managed to get into the shuttle bay already?" B'Elanna asked, looking down and recognising the scorch marks on the Star Fleet uniforms as the scorch marks that their weapons created.
"Maybe," Chakotay replied, noticing the same scorch marks. He went over to the panel and quickly tried to type in the access code.
"Access denied," the computer informed him.
"Shit!" he thumped the panel.
B'Elanna snorted, "let me guess, someone told you the wrong access code? Well, I can't see why they might do that!"
"She didn't tell me the wrong code," he said, punching it again.
"Who?" she asked, just as the computer again told them that access had been denied, "Janeway?"
He didn't answer her directly, "she must have changed it."
"Of course she would change the code Chakotay!" B'Elanna pointed out.
He turned round to her, "I thought she was a Maquis sympathiser, obviously I was wrong," he said, turning his attention to one of the security guards on the ground who was starting to stir.
"Yes," B'Elanna said sarcastically as Chakotay crouched on the ground, "if I was a Star Fleet Admiral I would probably send a sympathising Captain to capture a Maquis ship. What fucking universe are you from Chakotay?"
Again he didn't answer her, "can you hear me?" he asked the half conscious officer on the ground. There was no worthwhile reply, the guy obviously had concussion. Chakotay grabbed the phaser from the officer's belt and returned to his full height.
"What are you going to do? Shoot the door down?" Both B'Elanna and Chakotay turned to see Tom Paris standing in the middle of the corridor.
"How did you get here?" Chakotay asked as he pointed the gun at Tom.
Tom raised his hands in the air defensively, "the Captain's too busy trying to stop anyone buggering off with one of her shuttles that she didn't notice me slip off the bridge."
"What do you want Paris?" he kept his gun pointed at Tom.
Tom shrugged, "same thing as you: to get off this ship," Chakotay looked at him, unconvinced, "if I stay, the first thing Janeway will do when we get back is throw me back in prison to finish off the rest of my sentence, I think I'd rather take my chances with you to be honest."
Chakotay stared coldly at him, "and what makes you think that I won't kill you right now?"
This time Tom laughed, "two reasons Chakotay, one- you owe me your life, and two- well, I have the access codes to get into the shuttle bay."
There was a pause from the Maquis Captain before he lowered his weapon, "the first sign that I think you're going to betray me Paris, don't think I won't hesitate to shoot you!"
Suddenly there was a blinding flash of light. Chakotay's eyes clenched tightly shut, until he decided to slowly open them. He turned his head to one side and saw Logan hurriedly pulling on clothes. "What's going on?" he asked, sitting up, now aware that there was an alarm.
"Jail break," Logan explained, before pulling on a jacket and heading for a door, he turned back round to his cell mate, "I don't know how much longer it's going to take them to put out the fire and get power back up, so I suggest you hurry if you want to get out of this shit hole!" And with that he disappeared out of the door.
Chakotay blinked hard and woke himself up fully, although not totally understanding what was going on he decided that he'd rather take his chance and get out while he could, in favour of staying and filling out the remaining three years of his sentence. In a rush he pulled on the first pair of trousers he found, and then the first pair of shoes he came across, but didn't bother with a top, as he couldn't see one lying immediately by. He quickly made his way out of the cell, and never saw it again.
Kathryn pinched the bridge of her nose and sat back in her seat, "Donnie, you're not listening to me," she said in a strained voice.
The man on the screen in front of her let out a long breath, "Kathryn, I've been listening to you for the past ten minutes, and it still doesn't change anything! I can't just turned round to Star Fleet and tell them to find another ship, because my wife wants to see me and can't wait until the mission is over! Star Fleet's stretched for ships as it is, you of all people should know that. When was the last time you took shore leave? or didn't work a double shift without the doctor having to sedate you so that you would take some time off?"
She sighed, she knew he was right, "okay," her admission of defeat came at last, "I'll see you in a few months then."
"If we're lucky," he joked softly, but part of him was pained at the truth of his own words.
Kathryn attempted a weak smile, "bye," she reached out to press a button to terminate the call.
"Kathryn," he said quickly before she ended the transmission, she looked up tiredly at him, "I love you," he smiled, "you know that right?"
She returned the smile, but it quickly faded, "what part of this mission aren't you telling me about Donnie?"
He shrugged, "I've got to go Kathryn, I'll see you later." Before she could respond he ended the conversation and the screen went blank.
Letting out a deep breath she sank back into her chair, feeling another head ache coming on. Her moment of peace lasted only a few seconds as her comm badge bleeped, it was Tuvok.
"Captain, we have picked up a Maquis distress signal."
Kathryn gently massaged her temples as she stood from her seat, "thank you Tuvok, I'll be right there."
Moments later she emerged from her ready room onto the bridge, "the ship just dropped out of warp and seems to be venting plasma badly," an ensign shouted out.
Kathryn sat down on her seat, "are we within contact range?" she asked.
"Yes Captain," Harry replied from behind his console, "but their communication systems are down."
"Yellow alert, shields at full, and prepare phaser banks for firing and set a course for the Maquis vessel," she instructed, having learnt all too many times that the Maquis were experts at crying wolf. "And Tom," she added, "be prepared to out manoeuvre them."
"Yes ma'am," he smiled, glad to finally have some non-Cardassian action.
As the distance closed between Voyager and the Maquis ship their sensors were able to give them much more information about the status of the other vessel. "Forty nine life signs," Kim reported, "twelve are very weak. They've lost shields, weapons, communications and life support is failing."
Kathryn stood from her seat, "transport the twelve to sickbay and the others to cargo bay 4. Tuvok, I want security down there immediately, and ensure that all exits are secured; I don't want a Maquis rampage!"
"Aye Captain," he said as he made his way towards the turbo lift.
"Transport of the 12 is complete, initiating transport of the remaining crew." Harry almost jumped out of his skin when his console bleeped, "Captain," he said, his voice a little panicked, "sensors show that their warp core is about to breach!"
"How long?"
"Three minutes, at a quick guess," Harry stammered.
"Tom, I want us out of here before that warp core makes a dent in this ship!" she shouted over to the helm. "Have we got them all yet Harry?"
"Final transport in progress," he paused, "complete."
"Tom, get us out of here!" She barked, and the ship immediately came about and went to warp. Once clear Kathryn settled back in her seat.
"The warp core just breached," Harry informed her, "it took the entire ship with it."
"Good work Harry," she smiled tiredly and stood back up, "Tom, you have the bridge." Before any one could give her any more bad news she walked off the bridge and into the turbo lift.
Two ensigns stood outside the cargo bay doors, armed with phasers. "Where's Commander Tuvok?" Kathryn asked as she approached them.
"In the Cargo bay," one of them answered.
"Tuvok to Janeway," her comm badge activated.
Kathryn smiled curtly at the two ensigns before tapping her comm badge in response, "Janeway here."
"The Maquis leader has requested to speak with you Captain."
"I'm right outside the cargo bay," she informed him before heading towards the doors. After tapping in an access code she entered straight in, immediately confronted with tens of very displeased Maquis faces.
Tuvok saw her entrance and made his way over to her. She saw his approach and briefly gave him a relieved smile, which faded as soon as she saw who was in tow behind her first officer. Of all the Maquis ships she could have saved, she would have to save the one with Chakotay on board.
Chakotay looked momentarily stunned when he saw her, but covered up his surprise and smiled politely, "Captain Janeway," he acknowledged politely.
"Chakotay," she smiled tightly at him, "am I to assume that they ran out of Captains in the Maquis and in their desperation gave you another ship?"
He smiled despite himself, "afraid so," he shrugged, "Commander Tuvok tells me that you transported the injured to sickbay."
She nodded, "yes, once the medical team is finished with them I could ask them to go over your crew," she said, looking around and noticing many were covered with blood and cradling broken limbs.
"If it's not too much trouble," he said, noticing the same for himself.
She shook her head, "the only trouble would be if you tried to take over the ship. Unfortunately the brig isn't big enough for you all, and it will take a while to assign you all quarters, so I'm afraid the cargo bay will have to do for a while."
Chakotay nodded, "it's better than a ship with failing life support I guess." Just as he finished his sentence a figure came lunging towards the three of them, Chakotay reacted immediately and jumped on the enraged half Klingon, taking her to the ground with him. He managed to dodge some of the blows she was throwing him with her fist, but one caught him on the chin and a crunch could be heard as his jaw broke. He jumped off her quickly, and in the confusion as to why he had given up on restraining her so easily, she forgot all about her attack on Star Fleet.
"Sorry Chakotay," she apologised, leaning over to make sure he was okay.
He stood up and nodded, "ish's okay," he said rubbing his jaw gingerly.
Kathryn looked down to see B'Elanna Torres stand from the floor. B'Elanna saw the Captain staring, and her anger returned, "what the hell do you do that for? Transport us off the ship I mean! I'd almost gotten that warp core under control!"
"Well if you had have told me that, I would have asked Ensign Kim to leave you on the ship," Kathryn said as politely as she could.
This just enraged B'Elanna further and was about to retort when Chakotay held up his hand, "'Ello-a, 'at 'or core coul'un' 'e sha'e'," he attempted to speak without moving his jaw too much.
Kathryn stepped forwards, concern written over her face, "that jaw looks painful," she said, and reached out to touch his jaw line. He pulled his face away from her a little, as her skin made contact with his, but she persisted and prodded gently at his jaw.
"Ah," the word involuntarily escaped his lips and she smiled kindly at him.
"That jaw looks broken, we'd better get you to sickbay," she said, heading towards the cargo bay's exit with him and Tuvok in tow. "Ms Torres," she shouted over her shoulder, "you can come with us if you want someone to see to your broken knuckles."
It had originally been planned that after Voyager had been to DS6 it would rendezvous with the Geneva, (one of the few ships built by Star Fleet for the specific task of fighting) for a crew exchange. However, this was the ship under the command of none other than Captain Donnie Sutherland, who had been assigned a different mission at the last minute. This pissed both Captains off for various reasons, but Donnie especially because he had been planning on visiting some of his family back on Earth after the crew exchange with Voyager.
Kathryn relaxed back in the bath, totally exhausted from the long shift. Sickbay had been horrendous, and the EMH had even been brought back online, to help to cope with the casualties. It was the he who had seen to both Chakotay's and B'Elanna's injuries, raising an eyebrow when realising the force that had broken the Captain's jaw was the same as that which had broken two of B'Elanna's knuckles.
She hadn't stayed long after that, preferring to go through reports rather than to spend awkward time with Chakotay. It had been weird seeing him again after four years, and she still wasn't sure what to make of him. On one hand he was kind and compassionate, but then on the other, he had joined the Maquis with the main aim to annihilate all Cardassian's. He was the sort of person that you would rely on and trust, but who wouldn't rely on you or maybe not even trust you yourself. With him he carried an air of respect and authority, and yet Kathryn also noticed a vulnerability about him that she couldn't quite explain. In the end she had given up on trying to understand him, and had just tried to forget about him.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone at the door. Letting out a sigh she climbed out of the bath and grabbed a towel, quickly drying herself as she looked for her silk robe. Eventually she found it and slipped it over her naked form before exiting the bathroom. Just as she walked through the doors the bleep came again. Pissed off that someone had interrupted her relaxation time in the bath she muttered something under her breath that the visitor had better have a very good reason for coming to see her.
She pressed the button at the side of the door and came face to face with her Commander. "Hi Tuvok," she said, turning back round and heading towards her sofa, "is there something I can help you with?" she frowned when noticing that he hadn't followed her into her quarters as he normally did.
"Captain Chakotay has requested to speak with you," he informed her.
"Then unless it's important tell him that I'm busy," she said annoyed, Chakotay was the last person she wanted to see at that moment.
"You can tell me yourself," she looked up sharply to see Chakotay standing in the entrance to her quarters.
There was brief moment where their eyes locked, and the emotions that seemed to pass between them both almost overwhelmed her and she had to look away; breaking the connection.
"Can we talk?" he asked, stepping forwards a little.
She pinched the bridge of her nose and looked across at Tuvok, "can you leave us? I'll contact you when Chakotay's ready to be escorted back to the guest quarters."
Tuvok hesitated a moment, but nodded and left, thinking it best not to argue her decision. Chakotay hung back at the door as Kathryn crossed her quarters and went towards her replicater, "computer, coffee, black," she instructed. "Chakotay we could have a conversation in the entrance to my quarters or you could come in and sit down- really, it's up to you!"
Sensing her fowl mood he entered cautiously, and waited until she was again sitting on the sofa with her coffee, before he joined her and sat opposite her in an arm chair. "How are you?" he started.
Kathryn shook her head, "never ask me that whilst I'm in the middle of a war unless you want a very long listed response!"
He chuckled lightly, "you get used to it after a few years."
She didn't see the funny side and just looked up coldly at him.
"I heard you're married," he changed the subject.
"So what? Lots of people are married."
Chakotay shrugged, "not to a different man than they said they were engaged to."
"My engagement to Mark fell apart, he couldn't understand why I sometimes chose Star Fleet over him," she responded monotonically, "Donnie's in Star Fleet, and although understands a little better, still gets pissed off when I dump spending quality time with him for a mission. And vice versa," she added on reflection. She looked up sharply at him, and studied him a little more intensely, "can we move on from the pleasantries and maybe get on to why are you here?."
He smiled softly, "I wanted to take the opportunity to apologise. I'm sure if it had have been the other way round, you would have done anything you could have to get your crew off from my ship, especially if you knew that you'd be sentence to ten years or so in prison if you stayed on board." He paused and took a deep breath, looking away from her, "I didn't plan what happened, I just saw an opportunity to get off the ship and I took it."
She nodded slowly and took a sip of her coffee, "I guessed as much, why else to you think that I asked Star Fleet to reduce your sentence after your actions in the delta quadrant?"
"I never got a chance to thank you for that," he said honestly.
She shrugged, "not that it made much difference, you escaped after just a year anyway." She looked curiously across at him, "how did you manage that by the way."
He laughed, "you think I had any part in planning that escape? No, my cell mate told me that the power to the prison had been cut and I legged it out of there. I found out later it was a former member of my crew, Seska, that had set everything up for some of us to escape."
Kathryn thought for a moment, "I think I remember her, Bejoran right?"
He nodded and smiled shyly, "we married just over a year ago, and our daughter Taya was born just under four months ago."
It came as a little of a surprise to Kathryn to learn that he had settled down, but she smiled politely, "congratulations."
Chakotay beamed, "I'd love for you to meet them, they were on the ship with me when we ran into trouble with the Cardassians; Seska insists on staying where the fighting is-"
He stopped short when hearing a swish of doors opening. Both Captains looked around sharply at the source of the noise to see a small boy emerge from a room dressed in pyjamas and holding a teddy bear. Kathryn's face softened a little as the boy came running towards her, "honey, what are you doing out of bed?" she asked as he climbed onto her lap.
"Couldn't sleep," he replied, and then looked curiously across at the man sitting opposite from him, "who's dat?" he leant his head right back and looked up at Kathryn as he pointed to Chakotay.
"Chakotay, the Maquis Captain," she said dismissively, and changed the topic, "why couldn't you sleep?"
He shrugged, and looked curiously back at Chakotay, "do you fight people?"
Chakotay looked awkwardly across at Kathryn for help. She placed a hand on the boy's head and ran her fingers through his jet black hair, "Chakotay, this is my son Aaron."
"Hi," Chakotay smiled at the small child briefly and then looked up at Kathryn, "I didn't know that you had any children," he confessed, "especially not on board Voyager."
Kathryn shrugged, "the original plan was for me to meet up with Donnie, my husband, and he would have taken him back to Earth, but Donnie's been given a different assignment, so Aaron will just have to stay with me a little longer on board the ship."
The small boy on her lap beamed proudly and nodded, "my mummy's the Captain," he explained to Chakotay.
"Well in that case I think I'd better order you to go back to bed," she lifted him from her lap and set him on the ground.
Aaron turned round and looked up pleadingly at his mother, "can I stay up a little longer, please?" She shook her head, "fine, but can you come in later to read me a story?"
As she looked down at her son she was again reminded how much he had changed since she had left him with her mother some six months earlier, and although tired, she decided that she wanted to spend as much time with him as possible before she had to let go of him again. "Okay," she agreed.
He instantly smiled, and ran off in the direction of his room, "nice to meet you Chotay," he shouted over his shoulder just before he disappeared through the doors to his bedroom.
Kathryn returned her attention to Chakotay, her smile faltering slightly, "I'd better go and see to him, shall I call Tuvok and tell him that you're ready to leave?"
Chakotay looked steadily at her, "how old is he?"
She paused, understanding what he was getting at, and seeing no point in beating around the bush she decided it would be easier just to tell him. "Old enough to be your son," she replied without flinching.
He covered his face with a hand and ran it down to his chin, "he's mine?"
"Well, he's not Mark's, and he's certainly not Donnie's, so I guess that leaves you," she folded her arms, suddenly wishing she hadn't agreed to speak with him.
"Oh spirits," Chakotay swallowed hard, "I'm so sorry. Why didn't you tell me?"
She shrugged, "you were in prison by the time I found out I was pregnant, and even then I wasn't sure if it was you or Mark that was the father. Don't be sorry, Aaron's one of the best things that's ever happened to me, probably wrong timing, wrong man, but I wouldn't change anything, I wouldn't change him."
Chakotay nodded slowly and stood, "I don't want to waste any more of your time, maybe you should call Tuvok and tell him I'm ready to go back to my quarters."
Kathryn ran a hand through her hair and stood also, "Janeway to Tuvok," she said as she slapped the comm badge on her robe.
"Tuvok here," her commander replied.
"Could you please escort Captain Chakotay back to his assigned quarters?" she looked across at Chakotay, and he nodded with a weak smile.
"I'll be there to escort the Captain in a few moments," Tuvok replied.
The mess hall was more crowded than usual, with sixty more people wanting breakfast than usual. Seska shifted the baby in her arms slightly and looked curiously across at her husband. He had been quiet all evening, and then quiet all morning. Although he was never one to be loud and out going, except maybe when he was drunk, he usually ate his food rather than sitting and playing with it.
"Is there something wrong Chakotay?"
He looked up sharply from his bowl and looked across at Seska, "no, why do you ask that?"
"You haven't eaten a bite since you replicated that- sludge that you're eating," she pointed out.
Chakotay shrugged dismissively, "I'm just not very hungry."
Suddenly there was a slight change in the atmosphere in the room. People who had been shouting settled for talking, and the amount of hushed conversations increased. Wondering what had caused the change Chakotay looked over his shoulder to see Kathryn walking across the mess hall with her small son walking beside her holding her hand. Suddenly he felt a lot sicker.
"Of all the ships that could have rescued us, we would have to be rescued by the one under her command," Seska said as Chakotay looked back round at his wife.
He frowned, "what's that supposed to mean?"
She laughed hollowly, "Chakotay, have you completely forgotten that she sent you to prison?"
"Captain Janeway was just doing her job," he didn't really know why he had to defend her when she wasn't even there, but something about Seska bad mouthing her stirred something deep inside him. "Besides, she did manage to reduce most of our sentences."
"Oh, how noble of her," Seska said sarcastically, "to be honest I'd rather be on a Cardassian ship!"
That was it, Chakotay stood suddenly from his seat, causing a few people to look over at the couple, curiously. He leant over the table towards her and muttered so that only she would hear, "with that attitude I think you'd be better off on a Cardassian ship!"
Before he could pull away from her she pulled his collar and kept him close to her so that she could reply, "what? And have you daughter raised a Cardassian?"
She released him and he pulled back, glaring at her. There was a small noise from the baby in her arms before she went into a full chorus of crying. Seska stood from her seat, "you have to go and upset Taya don't you?" and with that she left the mess hall, Chakotay leaving soon after in a different direction.
They sat eating dinner in her quarters. It was formal, with her still in uniform, but the candles and wine gave a casual atmosphere. They stayed in a comfortable silence for a short while before Chakotay broke it, "my last meal right?"
Kathryn looked up and grinned crookedly, "something like that I guess."
He nodded taking a sip of wine, "tastes good, you cooked it yourself?"
She laughed lightly, "no, I have a team of cooks that prepare all of my meals for me." He nodded, which just made her laugh harder, "I'm sorry, bad joke. I replicated, I can't cook to save my life."
Chakotay grinned despite his gullibility, "well you had to operate the replicater I guess."
"Hmm," she looked down at her plate, stifling a grin before looking back at her guest, "I'm not too good with replicaters either, I spent an hour trying to fix the damn thing before you came tonight."
He laughed, "how did you ever survive with minimal replicater rations at the academy?"
"I made sure that all of my boyfriends could cook."
The sincerity of her words caused him to laugh harder. Eventually his laughter subsided and they went on to talking about their different experiences of their first few years of being in Star Fleet. Some time later they slipped into a comfortable silence again, the only sound coming from the their gentle breathing and the cutlery clashing against the plates. Chakotay looked back across at Kathryn and studied her curiously as she sipped some more wine. He was amazed how someone so petite could command so much respect from her crew, and while being strict and formal, she could quickly switch to a very casual and elegant woman.
She looked up and saw him looking intensely at her, and frowned as if to question what was up. He smiled, "I can cook," he said flirtatiously.
"I'm sure you can," she said in an equally flirtatious voice.
He had to admit he was surprised at her response, expecting her to maybe ask him to leave her quarters, or to change the subject. "How much longer do I have here before security bursts in?" he asked, wondering how far this flirting would go.
Kathryn stood from her seat and made her way over to him, leaning in towards him, her breath falling lightly on his lips. The flirting had surpassed Chakotay's expectations and just as he began to subconsciously moisten his lips, and close the gap between himself and Kathryn she pulled back a little. "Coffee?" she asked completely naturally.
He was too shocked to answer fully and just nodded slightly, wondering what the hell had just happened. She made her way over to the replicater and typed in her request. The space between her and Chakotay gave her time to think about what the hell she was doing, she was aware that she was playing him, but didn't know why. She was a Star Fleet Captain and he was a Maquis prisoner, she shouldn't even be having dinner with him, let alone trying to seduce him.
The coffee materialised and she felt two arms come around her waist, she would have resisted if he hadn't have gone straight for her neck. He tucked her long hair behind her ear and started to place small kisses up her neck, stopping at her ear and tugging gently at her ear lobe with his teeth. "Do you do last requests as well?" Chakotay asked as his hand crept round and touched her inner thigh, moving up her body and cupping around her breast.
She turned around looped her arm around the back of his neck and kissed him on his lips. At first the kiss was hard and unsure, until they found each other and the kiss became softer and more gentle.
Suddenly Kathryn broke from the kiss, and in confusion and shock Chakotay's hands dropped from around her smaller form. She leant her forehead against his shoulder and breathed deeply, trying to figure out what to do. They were still very close to each other and she could feel him pressing less and less urgently against her as he too rethought what he was doing. Eventually she looked up and locked her eyes with his, reaching up and tenderly cupping one side of his jaw in her hand. "What are we doing?" she asked him.
He turned his head slightly in her hand and kissed her palm, before covering her hand in his own. "Would you like me to leave?"
Kathryn shook her head, "this is so wrong," she looked away from him, "you shouldn't be here, we shouldn't be doing this, but I don't want you to leave."
"Do you want to have that coffee?" he regained his confidence with her and placed an arm around her waist.
She noticed his approach and pulled back from him completely, "I think maybe you'd better go," she said with her back to him, returning to Captain mode.
He got the message and went to the door, turning back round just before he pressed the button at the side to exit, "thank you for dinner Kathryn."
Chakotay turned back round and was about to leave her quarters when she called out to him, "don't go." He looked back at her and saw her walking towards him, she quickly closed the distance between them and grabbed his hand. Before he could say anything she was leading him towards her bedroom.
Kathryn was in a hurry, padd in one hand and coffee in the other she poked her head through the doors to her son's bedroom, to see him sprawled on the floor with lines of plastic army men in front of him. "I thought I told you to get dressed?"
He looked up sheepishly and grinned widely, "want to play?"
She raised an eyebrow and glared right at him. Most of her ensigns would crumble under the death glare, but not her three and a half year old son. He looked right back at her, with a wide dimpled grin spread across his face. "Get dressed!" she instructed, determined not to give into him.
Aaron stood reluctantly from the floor and stomped over to a draw. Satisfied that he was doing what he'd been asked she left the room. No sooner had she done so, there was a bleep from the door. Assuming that it was Tuvok there to give her the daily report she called "enter".
Chakotay entered her quarters unsurely and looked around to see her shocked expression as she saw him. "Sorry," he smiled sheepishly, "did I catch you at a bad time?"
She walked passed him and over to her kitchen area, "every time's a bad time, is there something in particular you wanted Captain?"
"Well," he entered further into her quarters, and the door closed behind him, "I've just found out that I'm the father of your son, I was kind of hoping we could talk about it."
Kathryn took a sip of coffee and rested her padds down on the table in front of her, "I don't see what there is to talk about," she rested her hand on her hip and stared at him coldly.
He thought about that for a moment, what was there to talk about? "Well, what if I could have some time with him, get to know my own son maybe?"
"No," she raised a hand in the air and shook her head, "Donnie is his father, I'm not going to let you just come here and destroy that."
"I'm not talking about telling Aaron that I'm his real father, but now that I know he's my son I think that I do have some right to spend some time with him." Chakotay closed the gap between them and looked pleadingly at Kathryn.
It looked like she was about to give in for a moment as she looked down at the ground thinking about what was the right thing to do, and then her head sprung back up and she looked hard at Chakotay. "Voyager's on course to rendezvous with a Maquis vessel, we'll arrive at our destination in three days. Tell your crew not to get too comfortable, to replicate anything they desperately need, and to have a full medical while they're within reach of a decent doctor." She paused for a moment, "if you want to spend time with my son, I think that I can spare an hour or so this evening if you'd like to come round, but my crew must not find out that you're his father. Is that understood?"
He nodded slowly, "thank you."
Chakotay returned to his quarters some hours later to hear his daughter screaming at the top of her lungs. Seska turned round to see him enter, and made her way over to him leaving the baby in her basinet, "what's wrong?" he asked, just as he received a full on slap across the face from his wife.
"What the hell was that for?" He put a hand up to his cheek and rubbed it.
"Don't fucking play innocent with me Chakotay!" she shouted. "When were you planning on telling me that you knocked up that whore of a Captain?"
His jaw dropped a few inches, she'd found out.
"Oh, you didn't think I'd find out did you? Well I have! You bastard!" She slapped him once more, this time harder.
He walked passed her and over to his child, "you don't know what you're talking about Seska," he said as he picked Taya up and held her against his chest, bouncing her gently to get her to quieten down. "Who's told you all that bullshit anyway?"
"You're denying it?" she said in disbelief, "you're actually bothering to deny this?"
He didn't answer her, and gently shushed his daughter. It worked and she quietened down, but Seska was just as mad as when he'd entered the room, if not worse, but she kept a shushed tone as to avoid starting off the screaming enfant again. "Chakotay, I was in the mess hall when that bastard child of yours came in with his minder, I've never seen anyone look more like you!"
"You're delusional," Chakotay insisted, gently placing Taya back under her blankets.
"Don't fucking call me delusional Chakotay," she closed the gap between them, "what did you do? Rape her?" He looked away from her, she realised that she'd struck on something and so decided to keep digging, "that's it isn't it? I never thought you were capable. Is this the first time or have there been others?" He didn't answer, she went right up close to his face, "did you enjoy it?"
At her words he turned round slowly, his mouth clenched tightly shut, not trusting himself to respond straight away. There was something about Seska that brought out his worst side, that aggravated him more than any Cardassian ever could, but then at the same time there was part of him that loved it. That loved the conflict and the anger, the pain. She was his punishment for being alive while his family died at the hands of the Cardassians, and something about this knowledge made him sleep a little easier at night. It made him feel just that little less guilt ridden.
"Was it good Chakotay?" She continued to torment him, knowing that she was striking a nerve.
He breathed in a deep and shaky breath, and let it out in the same way, keeping his back to her, not trusting himself to turn around. She approached him from behind and slipped her arms around him, "did you ever think of her Chakotay?" Her hands reached down, "when you were on top of me?"
That was the last straw, he turned round suddenly and grasped her violently by the shoulders, "shut up!" he shouted.
"Or what? You'll do to me what you did to her, go on, I dare you." She smiled cruelly, "I'll resist you if you want me to, does that turn you on?"
Chakotay dropped her shoulders as if they burnt, "I knew there was a reason why I haven't touched you since our wedding night." He spat coldly in her face, before making his way towards the exit of the guest quarters.
End of part one
Author's note:
Most people know that Voyager could have been a lot better than it turned out to be. Not just the disappointing last episode, or the fact that the last minute relationship between Chakotay and Seven was a little sickening for various reasons, but also some plot flaws that were either never picked up by the people with influence, or were just ignored.
Three major flaws I find stem from the beginning are as follows:
1) Why was Voyager sent to capture that particular Maquis vessel? Sure, they were Maquis and Maquis were, at the time, the enemy, and sure, Tuvok was under cover on that particular ship, but it still seems like a very weak reason to go and capture the ship.
2) What did Voyager exactly intend to do with the Maquis ship once it was captured? Well, they could have tractor beamed it, but I won't even get started on what's wrong with that. They could have asked the Maquis ship, very nicely, to follow them back to DS9, where they could be handed in and locked up. Or, of course, Janeway could have shoved them all in the brig. However this plan has one major flaw that was picked up in an episode in one of the first series, when Voyager split in two. One Janeway pointed out to the other, that it would be a bit of a squeeze with 300 people on board Voyager. Well, if neither the Maquis ship or Voyager had lost any people as was planned, then Voyager would have been forced to accommodate over 200 people, which wouldn't have worked out very well.
3) The most obvious flaw that I've noticed, is why Janeway didn't just use the array to return home and plant a bomb on it. Not just a stupid bomb like the Caretaker used, where one shot and it's deactivated, but a bomb that would explode if anything were to happen to it. If she was still worried about the array not being destroyed, Janeway has been quite willing to leave her crew and sacrifice herself for them on several occasions, so why not on this first occasion, she could have stayed behind and exploded the bomb herself.
I know, I know, anyone that's bothered to read this is probably going to argue with me on one point or the other, so go ahead, I'm always open to knew points of view.
About this story:
In this story, Janeway did plant an explosive on the array, and sent Neelix and Kes on their merry little ways in the Delta Quadrant. She shoved the Maquis in the brig, or confined them to the grotty little quarters reserved for the extras on the show, and used the array to get back to the alpha quadrant. It sounds simple because it is.
This is a J/C, and rated R, due to some implications and language such as the F word, but there is no use of the C word. Enjoy!
The alarm had just become part of his dream, just a background noise that he was barely aware of. He was back there, on Voyager, his back up against the wall, trying not to be seen. His heart pounded in his ears, and it burned his lungs to continue taking shallow breaths, but he knew gasping would only draw unwanted attention and so he kept still. Footsteps approached his direction, and his heart skipped a beat with the anxiety of their approach. He could see his worried expression reflected back in B'Elanna's face, and he attempted a weak smile, but failed miserably. Eventually the footsteps passed along the corridor, and following the lead of a shout they disappeared down a different corridor.
"What the hell do we do now?" B'Elanna asked through taught lips.
He thought quickly, "we make our way to the shuttle bay."
She could have kicked him, had it been under any other circumstances, "and how the hell are we meant to get into there? Security will be strongest there!"
"Hasn't the Maquis taught you anything B'Elanna?" Chakotay joked as he stepped forwards from the comfort of the shadows and peered round the corner to check that the route was clear. B'Elanna followed suit and muttered some Klingon insult under her breath, that Chakotay either didn't hear or chose to ignore.
With two more close calls from security they eventually made their way in the direction of a shuttle bay. Chakotay was about to make his way over towards the door, when a strong hand pulled him back and pushed him hard against the wall. He turned around to see B'Elanna and frowned, as if to ask why the hell she had done that. She didn't have to answer as he soon heard another team of security guards come down the corridor and stand by the entrance.
"Where is the security team that was posted here?" a familiar cold Vulcan voice asked the others.
"I'm not sure sir," one replied worriedly.
There was a pause, "open the shuttle bay doors," the Vulcan traitor instructed.
Chakotay carefully peered around the wall to see the doors open, and retracted his head just in time as a volley of shots were fired at the security team. He heard some sort of struggle as phaser blasts flew along the corridor to the side of him, and insults shouted from inside the shuttle bay that he instantly recognised as Maquis. Eventually the shots died down and again Chakotay looked around to see what was had happened. There were two security officers lying on the ground, probably dead, but the Vulcan was gone and the doors were again closed.
He signalled to B'Elanna, and they both emerged from around the wall and headed towards the door. "Do you think some of them have managed to get into the shuttle bay already?" B'Elanna asked, looking down and recognising the scorch marks on the Star Fleet uniforms as the scorch marks that their weapons created.
"Maybe," Chakotay replied, noticing the same scorch marks. He went over to the panel and quickly tried to type in the access code.
"Access denied," the computer informed him.
"Shit!" he thumped the panel.
B'Elanna snorted, "let me guess, someone told you the wrong access code? Well, I can't see why they might do that!"
"She didn't tell me the wrong code," he said, punching it again.
"Who?" she asked, just as the computer again told them that access had been denied, "Janeway?"
He didn't answer her directly, "she must have changed it."
"Of course she would change the code Chakotay!" B'Elanna pointed out.
He turned round to her, "I thought she was a Maquis sympathiser, obviously I was wrong," he said, turning his attention to one of the security guards on the ground who was starting to stir.
"Yes," B'Elanna said sarcastically as Chakotay crouched on the ground, "if I was a Star Fleet Admiral I would probably send a sympathising Captain to capture a Maquis ship. What fucking universe are you from Chakotay?"
Again he didn't answer her, "can you hear me?" he asked the half conscious officer on the ground. There was no worthwhile reply, the guy obviously had concussion. Chakotay grabbed the phaser from the officer's belt and returned to his full height.
"What are you going to do? Shoot the door down?" Both B'Elanna and Chakotay turned to see Tom Paris standing in the middle of the corridor.
"How did you get here?" Chakotay asked as he pointed the gun at Tom.
Tom raised his hands in the air defensively, "the Captain's too busy trying to stop anyone buggering off with one of her shuttles that she didn't notice me slip off the bridge."
"What do you want Paris?" he kept his gun pointed at Tom.
Tom shrugged, "same thing as you: to get off this ship," Chakotay looked at him, unconvinced, "if I stay, the first thing Janeway will do when we get back is throw me back in prison to finish off the rest of my sentence, I think I'd rather take my chances with you to be honest."
Chakotay stared coldly at him, "and what makes you think that I won't kill you right now?"
This time Tom laughed, "two reasons Chakotay, one- you owe me your life, and two- well, I have the access codes to get into the shuttle bay."
There was a pause from the Maquis Captain before he lowered his weapon, "the first sign that I think you're going to betray me Paris, don't think I won't hesitate to shoot you!"
Suddenly there was a blinding flash of light. Chakotay's eyes clenched tightly shut, until he decided to slowly open them. He turned his head to one side and saw Logan hurriedly pulling on clothes. "What's going on?" he asked, sitting up, now aware that there was an alarm.
"Jail break," Logan explained, before pulling on a jacket and heading for a door, he turned back round to his cell mate, "I don't know how much longer it's going to take them to put out the fire and get power back up, so I suggest you hurry if you want to get out of this shit hole!" And with that he disappeared out of the door.
Chakotay blinked hard and woke himself up fully, although not totally understanding what was going on he decided that he'd rather take his chance and get out while he could, in favour of staying and filling out the remaining three years of his sentence. In a rush he pulled on the first pair of trousers he found, and then the first pair of shoes he came across, but didn't bother with a top, as he couldn't see one lying immediately by. He quickly made his way out of the cell, and never saw it again.
Kathryn pinched the bridge of her nose and sat back in her seat, "Donnie, you're not listening to me," she said in a strained voice.
The man on the screen in front of her let out a long breath, "Kathryn, I've been listening to you for the past ten minutes, and it still doesn't change anything! I can't just turned round to Star Fleet and tell them to find another ship, because my wife wants to see me and can't wait until the mission is over! Star Fleet's stretched for ships as it is, you of all people should know that. When was the last time you took shore leave? or didn't work a double shift without the doctor having to sedate you so that you would take some time off?"
She sighed, she knew he was right, "okay," her admission of defeat came at last, "I'll see you in a few months then."
"If we're lucky," he joked softly, but part of him was pained at the truth of his own words.
Kathryn attempted a weak smile, "bye," she reached out to press a button to terminate the call.
"Kathryn," he said quickly before she ended the transmission, she looked up tiredly at him, "I love you," he smiled, "you know that right?"
She returned the smile, but it quickly faded, "what part of this mission aren't you telling me about Donnie?"
He shrugged, "I've got to go Kathryn, I'll see you later." Before she could respond he ended the conversation and the screen went blank.
Letting out a deep breath she sank back into her chair, feeling another head ache coming on. Her moment of peace lasted only a few seconds as her comm badge bleeped, it was Tuvok.
"Captain, we have picked up a Maquis distress signal."
Kathryn gently massaged her temples as she stood from her seat, "thank you Tuvok, I'll be right there."
Moments later she emerged from her ready room onto the bridge, "the ship just dropped out of warp and seems to be venting plasma badly," an ensign shouted out.
Kathryn sat down on her seat, "are we within contact range?" she asked.
"Yes Captain," Harry replied from behind his console, "but their communication systems are down."
"Yellow alert, shields at full, and prepare phaser banks for firing and set a course for the Maquis vessel," she instructed, having learnt all too many times that the Maquis were experts at crying wolf. "And Tom," she added, "be prepared to out manoeuvre them."
"Yes ma'am," he smiled, glad to finally have some non-Cardassian action.
As the distance closed between Voyager and the Maquis ship their sensors were able to give them much more information about the status of the other vessel. "Forty nine life signs," Kim reported, "twelve are very weak. They've lost shields, weapons, communications and life support is failing."
Kathryn stood from her seat, "transport the twelve to sickbay and the others to cargo bay 4. Tuvok, I want security down there immediately, and ensure that all exits are secured; I don't want a Maquis rampage!"
"Aye Captain," he said as he made his way towards the turbo lift.
"Transport of the 12 is complete, initiating transport of the remaining crew." Harry almost jumped out of his skin when his console bleeped, "Captain," he said, his voice a little panicked, "sensors show that their warp core is about to breach!"
"How long?"
"Three minutes, at a quick guess," Harry stammered.
"Tom, I want us out of here before that warp core makes a dent in this ship!" she shouted over to the helm. "Have we got them all yet Harry?"
"Final transport in progress," he paused, "complete."
"Tom, get us out of here!" She barked, and the ship immediately came about and went to warp. Once clear Kathryn settled back in her seat.
"The warp core just breached," Harry informed her, "it took the entire ship with it."
"Good work Harry," she smiled tiredly and stood back up, "Tom, you have the bridge." Before any one could give her any more bad news she walked off the bridge and into the turbo lift.
Two ensigns stood outside the cargo bay doors, armed with phasers. "Where's Commander Tuvok?" Kathryn asked as she approached them.
"In the Cargo bay," one of them answered.
"Tuvok to Janeway," her comm badge activated.
Kathryn smiled curtly at the two ensigns before tapping her comm badge in response, "Janeway here."
"The Maquis leader has requested to speak with you Captain."
"I'm right outside the cargo bay," she informed him before heading towards the doors. After tapping in an access code she entered straight in, immediately confronted with tens of very displeased Maquis faces.
Tuvok saw her entrance and made his way over to her. She saw his approach and briefly gave him a relieved smile, which faded as soon as she saw who was in tow behind her first officer. Of all the Maquis ships she could have saved, she would have to save the one with Chakotay on board.
Chakotay looked momentarily stunned when he saw her, but covered up his surprise and smiled politely, "Captain Janeway," he acknowledged politely.
"Chakotay," she smiled tightly at him, "am I to assume that they ran out of Captains in the Maquis and in their desperation gave you another ship?"
He smiled despite himself, "afraid so," he shrugged, "Commander Tuvok tells me that you transported the injured to sickbay."
She nodded, "yes, once the medical team is finished with them I could ask them to go over your crew," she said, looking around and noticing many were covered with blood and cradling broken limbs.
"If it's not too much trouble," he said, noticing the same for himself.
She shook her head, "the only trouble would be if you tried to take over the ship. Unfortunately the brig isn't big enough for you all, and it will take a while to assign you all quarters, so I'm afraid the cargo bay will have to do for a while."
Chakotay nodded, "it's better than a ship with failing life support I guess." Just as he finished his sentence a figure came lunging towards the three of them, Chakotay reacted immediately and jumped on the enraged half Klingon, taking her to the ground with him. He managed to dodge some of the blows she was throwing him with her fist, but one caught him on the chin and a crunch could be heard as his jaw broke. He jumped off her quickly, and in the confusion as to why he had given up on restraining her so easily, she forgot all about her attack on Star Fleet.
"Sorry Chakotay," she apologised, leaning over to make sure he was okay.
He stood up and nodded, "ish's okay," he said rubbing his jaw gingerly.
Kathryn looked down to see B'Elanna Torres stand from the floor. B'Elanna saw the Captain staring, and her anger returned, "what the hell do you do that for? Transport us off the ship I mean! I'd almost gotten that warp core under control!"
"Well if you had have told me that, I would have asked Ensign Kim to leave you on the ship," Kathryn said as politely as she could.
This just enraged B'Elanna further and was about to retort when Chakotay held up his hand, "'Ello-a, 'at 'or core coul'un' 'e sha'e'," he attempted to speak without moving his jaw too much.
Kathryn stepped forwards, concern written over her face, "that jaw looks painful," she said, and reached out to touch his jaw line. He pulled his face away from her a little, as her skin made contact with his, but she persisted and prodded gently at his jaw.
"Ah," the word involuntarily escaped his lips and she smiled kindly at him.
"That jaw looks broken, we'd better get you to sickbay," she said, heading towards the cargo bay's exit with him and Tuvok in tow. "Ms Torres," she shouted over her shoulder, "you can come with us if you want someone to see to your broken knuckles."
It had originally been planned that after Voyager had been to DS6 it would rendezvous with the Geneva, (one of the few ships built by Star Fleet for the specific task of fighting) for a crew exchange. However, this was the ship under the command of none other than Captain Donnie Sutherland, who had been assigned a different mission at the last minute. This pissed both Captains off for various reasons, but Donnie especially because he had been planning on visiting some of his family back on Earth after the crew exchange with Voyager.
Kathryn relaxed back in the bath, totally exhausted from the long shift. Sickbay had been horrendous, and the EMH had even been brought back online, to help to cope with the casualties. It was the he who had seen to both Chakotay's and B'Elanna's injuries, raising an eyebrow when realising the force that had broken the Captain's jaw was the same as that which had broken two of B'Elanna's knuckles.
She hadn't stayed long after that, preferring to go through reports rather than to spend awkward time with Chakotay. It had been weird seeing him again after four years, and she still wasn't sure what to make of him. On one hand he was kind and compassionate, but then on the other, he had joined the Maquis with the main aim to annihilate all Cardassian's. He was the sort of person that you would rely on and trust, but who wouldn't rely on you or maybe not even trust you yourself. With him he carried an air of respect and authority, and yet Kathryn also noticed a vulnerability about him that she couldn't quite explain. In the end she had given up on trying to understand him, and had just tried to forget about him.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone at the door. Letting out a sigh she climbed out of the bath and grabbed a towel, quickly drying herself as she looked for her silk robe. Eventually she found it and slipped it over her naked form before exiting the bathroom. Just as she walked through the doors the bleep came again. Pissed off that someone had interrupted her relaxation time in the bath she muttered something under her breath that the visitor had better have a very good reason for coming to see her.
She pressed the button at the side of the door and came face to face with her Commander. "Hi Tuvok," she said, turning back round and heading towards her sofa, "is there something I can help you with?" she frowned when noticing that he hadn't followed her into her quarters as he normally did.
"Captain Chakotay has requested to speak with you," he informed her.
"Then unless it's important tell him that I'm busy," she said annoyed, Chakotay was the last person she wanted to see at that moment.
"You can tell me yourself," she looked up sharply to see Chakotay standing in the entrance to her quarters.
There was brief moment where their eyes locked, and the emotions that seemed to pass between them both almost overwhelmed her and she had to look away; breaking the connection.
"Can we talk?" he asked, stepping forwards a little.
She pinched the bridge of her nose and looked across at Tuvok, "can you leave us? I'll contact you when Chakotay's ready to be escorted back to the guest quarters."
Tuvok hesitated a moment, but nodded and left, thinking it best not to argue her decision. Chakotay hung back at the door as Kathryn crossed her quarters and went towards her replicater, "computer, coffee, black," she instructed. "Chakotay we could have a conversation in the entrance to my quarters or you could come in and sit down- really, it's up to you!"
Sensing her fowl mood he entered cautiously, and waited until she was again sitting on the sofa with her coffee, before he joined her and sat opposite her in an arm chair. "How are you?" he started.
Kathryn shook her head, "never ask me that whilst I'm in the middle of a war unless you want a very long listed response!"
He chuckled lightly, "you get used to it after a few years."
She didn't see the funny side and just looked up coldly at him.
"I heard you're married," he changed the subject.
"So what? Lots of people are married."
Chakotay shrugged, "not to a different man than they said they were engaged to."
"My engagement to Mark fell apart, he couldn't understand why I sometimes chose Star Fleet over him," she responded monotonically, "Donnie's in Star Fleet, and although understands a little better, still gets pissed off when I dump spending quality time with him for a mission. And vice versa," she added on reflection. She looked up sharply at him, and studied him a little more intensely, "can we move on from the pleasantries and maybe get on to why are you here?."
He smiled softly, "I wanted to take the opportunity to apologise. I'm sure if it had have been the other way round, you would have done anything you could have to get your crew off from my ship, especially if you knew that you'd be sentence to ten years or so in prison if you stayed on board." He paused and took a deep breath, looking away from her, "I didn't plan what happened, I just saw an opportunity to get off the ship and I took it."
She nodded slowly and took a sip of her coffee, "I guessed as much, why else to you think that I asked Star Fleet to reduce your sentence after your actions in the delta quadrant?"
"I never got a chance to thank you for that," he said honestly.
She shrugged, "not that it made much difference, you escaped after just a year anyway." She looked curiously across at him, "how did you manage that by the way."
He laughed, "you think I had any part in planning that escape? No, my cell mate told me that the power to the prison had been cut and I legged it out of there. I found out later it was a former member of my crew, Seska, that had set everything up for some of us to escape."
Kathryn thought for a moment, "I think I remember her, Bejoran right?"
He nodded and smiled shyly, "we married just over a year ago, and our daughter Taya was born just under four months ago."
It came as a little of a surprise to Kathryn to learn that he had settled down, but she smiled politely, "congratulations."
Chakotay beamed, "I'd love for you to meet them, they were on the ship with me when we ran into trouble with the Cardassians; Seska insists on staying where the fighting is-"
He stopped short when hearing a swish of doors opening. Both Captains looked around sharply at the source of the noise to see a small boy emerge from a room dressed in pyjamas and holding a teddy bear. Kathryn's face softened a little as the boy came running towards her, "honey, what are you doing out of bed?" she asked as he climbed onto her lap.
"Couldn't sleep," he replied, and then looked curiously across at the man sitting opposite from him, "who's dat?" he leant his head right back and looked up at Kathryn as he pointed to Chakotay.
"Chakotay, the Maquis Captain," she said dismissively, and changed the topic, "why couldn't you sleep?"
He shrugged, and looked curiously back at Chakotay, "do you fight people?"
Chakotay looked awkwardly across at Kathryn for help. She placed a hand on the boy's head and ran her fingers through his jet black hair, "Chakotay, this is my son Aaron."
"Hi," Chakotay smiled at the small child briefly and then looked up at Kathryn, "I didn't know that you had any children," he confessed, "especially not on board Voyager."
Kathryn shrugged, "the original plan was for me to meet up with Donnie, my husband, and he would have taken him back to Earth, but Donnie's been given a different assignment, so Aaron will just have to stay with me a little longer on board the ship."
The small boy on her lap beamed proudly and nodded, "my mummy's the Captain," he explained to Chakotay.
"Well in that case I think I'd better order you to go back to bed," she lifted him from her lap and set him on the ground.
Aaron turned round and looked up pleadingly at his mother, "can I stay up a little longer, please?" She shook her head, "fine, but can you come in later to read me a story?"
As she looked down at her son she was again reminded how much he had changed since she had left him with her mother some six months earlier, and although tired, she decided that she wanted to spend as much time with him as possible before she had to let go of him again. "Okay," she agreed.
He instantly smiled, and ran off in the direction of his room, "nice to meet you Chotay," he shouted over his shoulder just before he disappeared through the doors to his bedroom.
Kathryn returned her attention to Chakotay, her smile faltering slightly, "I'd better go and see to him, shall I call Tuvok and tell him that you're ready to leave?"
Chakotay looked steadily at her, "how old is he?"
She paused, understanding what he was getting at, and seeing no point in beating around the bush she decided it would be easier just to tell him. "Old enough to be your son," she replied without flinching.
He covered his face with a hand and ran it down to his chin, "he's mine?"
"Well, he's not Mark's, and he's certainly not Donnie's, so I guess that leaves you," she folded her arms, suddenly wishing she hadn't agreed to speak with him.
"Oh spirits," Chakotay swallowed hard, "I'm so sorry. Why didn't you tell me?"
She shrugged, "you were in prison by the time I found out I was pregnant, and even then I wasn't sure if it was you or Mark that was the father. Don't be sorry, Aaron's one of the best things that's ever happened to me, probably wrong timing, wrong man, but I wouldn't change anything, I wouldn't change him."
Chakotay nodded slowly and stood, "I don't want to waste any more of your time, maybe you should call Tuvok and tell him I'm ready to go back to my quarters."
Kathryn ran a hand through her hair and stood also, "Janeway to Tuvok," she said as she slapped the comm badge on her robe.
"Tuvok here," her commander replied.
"Could you please escort Captain Chakotay back to his assigned quarters?" she looked across at Chakotay, and he nodded with a weak smile.
"I'll be there to escort the Captain in a few moments," Tuvok replied.
The mess hall was more crowded than usual, with sixty more people wanting breakfast than usual. Seska shifted the baby in her arms slightly and looked curiously across at her husband. He had been quiet all evening, and then quiet all morning. Although he was never one to be loud and out going, except maybe when he was drunk, he usually ate his food rather than sitting and playing with it.
"Is there something wrong Chakotay?"
He looked up sharply from his bowl and looked across at Seska, "no, why do you ask that?"
"You haven't eaten a bite since you replicated that- sludge that you're eating," she pointed out.
Chakotay shrugged dismissively, "I'm just not very hungry."
Suddenly there was a slight change in the atmosphere in the room. People who had been shouting settled for talking, and the amount of hushed conversations increased. Wondering what had caused the change Chakotay looked over his shoulder to see Kathryn walking across the mess hall with her small son walking beside her holding her hand. Suddenly he felt a lot sicker.
"Of all the ships that could have rescued us, we would have to be rescued by the one under her command," Seska said as Chakotay looked back round at his wife.
He frowned, "what's that supposed to mean?"
She laughed hollowly, "Chakotay, have you completely forgotten that she sent you to prison?"
"Captain Janeway was just doing her job," he didn't really know why he had to defend her when she wasn't even there, but something about Seska bad mouthing her stirred something deep inside him. "Besides, she did manage to reduce most of our sentences."
"Oh, how noble of her," Seska said sarcastically, "to be honest I'd rather be on a Cardassian ship!"
That was it, Chakotay stood suddenly from his seat, causing a few people to look over at the couple, curiously. He leant over the table towards her and muttered so that only she would hear, "with that attitude I think you'd be better off on a Cardassian ship!"
Before he could pull away from her she pulled his collar and kept him close to her so that she could reply, "what? And have you daughter raised a Cardassian?"
She released him and he pulled back, glaring at her. There was a small noise from the baby in her arms before she went into a full chorus of crying. Seska stood from her seat, "you have to go and upset Taya don't you?" and with that she left the mess hall, Chakotay leaving soon after in a different direction.
They sat eating dinner in her quarters. It was formal, with her still in uniform, but the candles and wine gave a casual atmosphere. They stayed in a comfortable silence for a short while before Chakotay broke it, "my last meal right?"
Kathryn looked up and grinned crookedly, "something like that I guess."
He nodded taking a sip of wine, "tastes good, you cooked it yourself?"
She laughed lightly, "no, I have a team of cooks that prepare all of my meals for me." He nodded, which just made her laugh harder, "I'm sorry, bad joke. I replicated, I can't cook to save my life."
Chakotay grinned despite his gullibility, "well you had to operate the replicater I guess."
"Hmm," she looked down at her plate, stifling a grin before looking back at her guest, "I'm not too good with replicaters either, I spent an hour trying to fix the damn thing before you came tonight."
He laughed, "how did you ever survive with minimal replicater rations at the academy?"
"I made sure that all of my boyfriends could cook."
The sincerity of her words caused him to laugh harder. Eventually his laughter subsided and they went on to talking about their different experiences of their first few years of being in Star Fleet. Some time later they slipped into a comfortable silence again, the only sound coming from the their gentle breathing and the cutlery clashing against the plates. Chakotay looked back across at Kathryn and studied her curiously as she sipped some more wine. He was amazed how someone so petite could command so much respect from her crew, and while being strict and formal, she could quickly switch to a very casual and elegant woman.
She looked up and saw him looking intensely at her, and frowned as if to question what was up. He smiled, "I can cook," he said flirtatiously.
"I'm sure you can," she said in an equally flirtatious voice.
He had to admit he was surprised at her response, expecting her to maybe ask him to leave her quarters, or to change the subject. "How much longer do I have here before security bursts in?" he asked, wondering how far this flirting would go.
Kathryn stood from her seat and made her way over to him, leaning in towards him, her breath falling lightly on his lips. The flirting had surpassed Chakotay's expectations and just as he began to subconsciously moisten his lips, and close the gap between himself and Kathryn she pulled back a little. "Coffee?" she asked completely naturally.
He was too shocked to answer fully and just nodded slightly, wondering what the hell had just happened. She made her way over to the replicater and typed in her request. The space between her and Chakotay gave her time to think about what the hell she was doing, she was aware that she was playing him, but didn't know why. She was a Star Fleet Captain and he was a Maquis prisoner, she shouldn't even be having dinner with him, let alone trying to seduce him.
The coffee materialised and she felt two arms come around her waist, she would have resisted if he hadn't have gone straight for her neck. He tucked her long hair behind her ear and started to place small kisses up her neck, stopping at her ear and tugging gently at her ear lobe with his teeth. "Do you do last requests as well?" Chakotay asked as his hand crept round and touched her inner thigh, moving up her body and cupping around her breast.
She turned around looped her arm around the back of his neck and kissed him on his lips. At first the kiss was hard and unsure, until they found each other and the kiss became softer and more gentle.
Suddenly Kathryn broke from the kiss, and in confusion and shock Chakotay's hands dropped from around her smaller form. She leant her forehead against his shoulder and breathed deeply, trying to figure out what to do. They were still very close to each other and she could feel him pressing less and less urgently against her as he too rethought what he was doing. Eventually she looked up and locked her eyes with his, reaching up and tenderly cupping one side of his jaw in her hand. "What are we doing?" she asked him.
He turned his head slightly in her hand and kissed her palm, before covering her hand in his own. "Would you like me to leave?"
Kathryn shook her head, "this is so wrong," she looked away from him, "you shouldn't be here, we shouldn't be doing this, but I don't want you to leave."
"Do you want to have that coffee?" he regained his confidence with her and placed an arm around her waist.
She noticed his approach and pulled back from him completely, "I think maybe you'd better go," she said with her back to him, returning to Captain mode.
He got the message and went to the door, turning back round just before he pressed the button at the side to exit, "thank you for dinner Kathryn."
Chakotay turned back round and was about to leave her quarters when she called out to him, "don't go." He looked back at her and saw her walking towards him, she quickly closed the distance between them and grabbed his hand. Before he could say anything she was leading him towards her bedroom.
Kathryn was in a hurry, padd in one hand and coffee in the other she poked her head through the doors to her son's bedroom, to see him sprawled on the floor with lines of plastic army men in front of him. "I thought I told you to get dressed?"
He looked up sheepishly and grinned widely, "want to play?"
She raised an eyebrow and glared right at him. Most of her ensigns would crumble under the death glare, but not her three and a half year old son. He looked right back at her, with a wide dimpled grin spread across his face. "Get dressed!" she instructed, determined not to give into him.
Aaron stood reluctantly from the floor and stomped over to a draw. Satisfied that he was doing what he'd been asked she left the room. No sooner had she done so, there was a bleep from the door. Assuming that it was Tuvok there to give her the daily report she called "enter".
Chakotay entered her quarters unsurely and looked around to see her shocked expression as she saw him. "Sorry," he smiled sheepishly, "did I catch you at a bad time?"
She walked passed him and over to her kitchen area, "every time's a bad time, is there something in particular you wanted Captain?"
"Well," he entered further into her quarters, and the door closed behind him, "I've just found out that I'm the father of your son, I was kind of hoping we could talk about it."
Kathryn took a sip of coffee and rested her padds down on the table in front of her, "I don't see what there is to talk about," she rested her hand on her hip and stared at him coldly.
He thought about that for a moment, what was there to talk about? "Well, what if I could have some time with him, get to know my own son maybe?"
"No," she raised a hand in the air and shook her head, "Donnie is his father, I'm not going to let you just come here and destroy that."
"I'm not talking about telling Aaron that I'm his real father, but now that I know he's my son I think that I do have some right to spend some time with him." Chakotay closed the gap between them and looked pleadingly at Kathryn.
It looked like she was about to give in for a moment as she looked down at the ground thinking about what was the right thing to do, and then her head sprung back up and she looked hard at Chakotay. "Voyager's on course to rendezvous with a Maquis vessel, we'll arrive at our destination in three days. Tell your crew not to get too comfortable, to replicate anything they desperately need, and to have a full medical while they're within reach of a decent doctor." She paused for a moment, "if you want to spend time with my son, I think that I can spare an hour or so this evening if you'd like to come round, but my crew must not find out that you're his father. Is that understood?"
He nodded slowly, "thank you."
Chakotay returned to his quarters some hours later to hear his daughter screaming at the top of her lungs. Seska turned round to see him enter, and made her way over to him leaving the baby in her basinet, "what's wrong?" he asked, just as he received a full on slap across the face from his wife.
"What the hell was that for?" He put a hand up to his cheek and rubbed it.
"Don't fucking play innocent with me Chakotay!" she shouted. "When were you planning on telling me that you knocked up that whore of a Captain?"
His jaw dropped a few inches, she'd found out.
"Oh, you didn't think I'd find out did you? Well I have! You bastard!" She slapped him once more, this time harder.
He walked passed her and over to his child, "you don't know what you're talking about Seska," he said as he picked Taya up and held her against his chest, bouncing her gently to get her to quieten down. "Who's told you all that bullshit anyway?"
"You're denying it?" she said in disbelief, "you're actually bothering to deny this?"
He didn't answer her, and gently shushed his daughter. It worked and she quietened down, but Seska was just as mad as when he'd entered the room, if not worse, but she kept a shushed tone as to avoid starting off the screaming enfant again. "Chakotay, I was in the mess hall when that bastard child of yours came in with his minder, I've never seen anyone look more like you!"
"You're delusional," Chakotay insisted, gently placing Taya back under her blankets.
"Don't fucking call me delusional Chakotay," she closed the gap between them, "what did you do? Rape her?" He looked away from her, she realised that she'd struck on something and so decided to keep digging, "that's it isn't it? I never thought you were capable. Is this the first time or have there been others?" He didn't answer, she went right up close to his face, "did you enjoy it?"
At her words he turned round slowly, his mouth clenched tightly shut, not trusting himself to respond straight away. There was something about Seska that brought out his worst side, that aggravated him more than any Cardassian ever could, but then at the same time there was part of him that loved it. That loved the conflict and the anger, the pain. She was his punishment for being alive while his family died at the hands of the Cardassians, and something about this knowledge made him sleep a little easier at night. It made him feel just that little less guilt ridden.
"Was it good Chakotay?" She continued to torment him, knowing that she was striking a nerve.
He breathed in a deep and shaky breath, and let it out in the same way, keeping his back to her, not trusting himself to turn around. She approached him from behind and slipped her arms around him, "did you ever think of her Chakotay?" Her hands reached down, "when you were on top of me?"
That was the last straw, he turned round suddenly and grasped her violently by the shoulders, "shut up!" he shouted.
"Or what? You'll do to me what you did to her, go on, I dare you." She smiled cruelly, "I'll resist you if you want me to, does that turn you on?"
Chakotay dropped her shoulders as if they burnt, "I knew there was a reason why I haven't touched you since our wedding night." He spat coldly in her face, before making his way towards the exit of the guest quarters.
End of part one