Beth6787
13th December
'Are you with me?'... 'Always"
Set at the end of the episode "Timeless"'. Just as Harry is reading a message from his future self in the Mess Hall, so is Chakotay in his quarters...
The viewscreen blinked on and Chakotay was looking at himself, only older, apparently from the dateline of the recording, fifteen years ahead. He was 62. The older Chakotay had hair streaked with grey but the most striking feature was his eyes. They had lost their fire and it was obvious his future had not been kind to him.
Future Chakotay stared out of the screen as though he was trying to peer straight into the soul of his audience. So little time and yet he hoped their mission would succeed. If so, he had to convey to the younger man the enormity of the cost of doing nothing...
He began "Chakotay, I have little time but I am speaking to you from the year 2391. Fifteen years have passed since Voyager followed the Flyer into the slipstream, taking the biggest gamble of our journey to date. Only we all lost. Harry and I were flung out further ahead and limped home to a living death, whilst Voyager and all her crew were entombed in ice on Megallen 2 only three light years from the Sol system. It has taken us fifteen years of non stop searching to find her. If Harry's calculations have worked this time - and I pray to all the Gods they have - you are now flung out of the slipstream intact and the Flyer was within reach of Voyager so you are re-united a few years closer to home than before. What I wouldn't give to be you, safely back with a living, breathing Kathryn.
I found her, lying face up on the Bridge, entombed in ice, as beautiful as ever. My mind cast back to the night before that fateful trip. Kathryn had known it was an enormous risk, our greatest to date she had said. She had asked me whether I was with her - looking for reassurance that she was not being too reckless by going ahead - and I had replied "always". Except that didn't prove true did it? I was so desperate to fulfil her hopes of getting home and my dreams of finally starting our lives together back on Earth that I put my wiser counsel to one side and let her plough ahead. I had promised on New Earth to always be by her side, to protect her, help her keep the crew safe, yet my selfish heart had led to ...this..."
The camera switched to a picture of the Bridge, literally frozen in time. An older Harry with his back to the helmet cam, trying to coax life into the Ops console. A woman that Chakotay did not recognise standing by the turbo lift, then his older self looks down and pans across the floor. The camera stills and there is his Kathryn lying, frozen in time. The screen stays locked on the image of Kathryn as my older self resumes his speech ...
" Remember this image Chakotay. Sear it into your very soul. Every time you are tempted to cross that line, remember the potential cost. Remember the Angry Warrior who swore to protect Kathryn at any and all costs. I failed and in rushing to fulfil my dreams, ended all future possibilities for us both. You have Kathryn, alive and vital, beside you on the Bridge every day. Realise how blessed you are. It is enough, it is more than enough. It is us."
The screen fell blank and Chakotay glanced at the chronometer. Only another five hours and he would be sitting beside his soulmate once again. He was indeed truly blessed and it was more than enough for him.
THE END.
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