"Mr. Chakotay…the helm."
"Aye Captain."
"Set a course…for home."
Chapter I
TEN MONTHS LATER
Admiral Kathryn Janeway looked up as her aide entered her temporary office aboard Earth Spacedock, juggling coffee in one hand and a stack of PADDS in the other. She chuckled as she stood up to assist her.
"Just make sure you don't drop the coffee, Lieutenant." The Admiral cautioned as she caught two errant PADDS as they fell.
"No chance of that, Admiral." Lieutenant Bell smirked. "We wouldn't want to stain Admiral Clark's new carpet now would we?"
Janeway took the offered cup of coffee from her and settled back down in her chair. "Well we did promise to give his office back to him in….what was it he said?"
"Pristine condition…"
"Ahh yes…pristine condition." Janeway nodded in remembrance. She indicated the newly added stack of PADDS on her already crowded desk. "Reports on Voyager's refit?"
Bell nodded. "And then some. They're having some trouble removing some of the integrated Borg circuitry installed earlier on."
"I'll have a look through later with the engineers. Chances are they're going to have to leave them in." Glancing on the nearby chronometer on the wall she noted the early hour. "What do we have lined up for today?"
"You're having breakfast with the newly appointed Vulcan Ambassador. Captain Tuvok has apparently sung your praises and he's anxious to meet you. Well…as anxious as a Vulcan can get."
Kathryn smiled.
Bell continued. "Then you have the intelligence briefing with the team you assigned to monitor the so called 'murmurings' taking place on Romulus. After that is your inspection of the newly commissioned Alpha…"
"The Alpha Flyers? That's today?" Janeway interrupted. "But the Parises…"
"The Parises who have been trying to take you to lunch…" Bell countered.
The Admiral had the good grace to look guilty. She held up a hand. "Ok, fine. I'm thinking that if I had made it to the lunch, I would have found out about how much progress they'd made. Go ahead."
"Right then." Bell continued with a grin. "Then you're beaming to Bloomington to meet with the caterers. Your mother and Admiral Stark will meet you there."
Kathryn had an idea. "Could you ask Lieutenant Wildman if she could spare Naomi for that time? She'd love the field trip."
Bell nodded. "I'm sure your former 'Captain's Assistant' will be thrilled."
"She would be. I haven't spent much time with her since they moved to Earth after we got back. I'm making it a point to change that." She gestured toward the outer office where the rest of her staff worked. "Do we have time to squeeze in a meeting today?"
"I already have it scheduled for when you get back at fourteen hundred." Bell confirmed. "Then the stylist comes in to get you ready for the Admiral's Ball this evening."
"Do I really have to go?" Janeway mock pleaded.
"It would hardly be good form for the keynote speaker to be absent." Bell deadpanned.
"I guess not." Kathryn frowned at her desk. "Maybe I can get in a few reports sometime between the meeting and when I have to get ready."
"Sure." She smirked. "Once nothing else comes up."
A knock on the door interrupted them and the Spacedock's Security Chief poked his head through the door.
"Sorry to interrupt, Admiral." He nodded toward Lieutenant Bell. "Carrie."
"Come in Aleksandr." Janeway invited.
Bell gave her boss a knowing look and waited for a sign of dismissal before heading toward the door. "Not too long, Commander Ivanov. She's on a tight schedule today."
"Acknowledged, Lieutenant." The Russian born Security Chief saluted and watched in amusement as she rolled her eyes before she disappeared through the door.
"Why don't you just ask her out and be done with it?"
He turned toward Kathryn, feigning ignorance. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Fine. Have it your way." She conceded with a mock death glare. "So I guess that PADD in your hand is not a list of possible romantic restaurants then?"
"I'm afraid it's not, Admiral." He held the offending PADD out to her. "The revised security arrangements for the station. It looks like we'll be having a larger turnout for the Admiral's Ball this evening. I need permission to move Voyager to a more secure area."
Kathryn grimaced at the thought of adding one more PADD to her stack, but she took it anyway. Ivanov waited patiently while she scrolled through its contents. "Looks good to me." She thumbed off the PADD, adding it to her current stack before standing up. "Be sure to increase security around the perimeter. We can't have a repeat of last week's breach."
"Aye, Admiral."
Janeway's COMMbadge chirped; a signal from her aide that she needed to leave now. "That's my cue to leave, Commander. Was there anything else?"
Ivanov walked with her as she headed for the door. "Just one thing Admiral."
She paused before the doors. "Yes?"
"Does Carrie like Italian or Chinese?"
Kathryn didn't hesitate with her answer. Giving him an appraising look she replied. "She likes Russian, Commander. Definitely Russian."
