When she'd answered her front door she hadn't expected what she'd found standing there. A Starfleet officer stood before her, his hands clasped behind his back. "Good afternoon, Captain." He greeted.
"I'm no longer a captain," she corrected. "I've been retired form Starfleet for nearly five years."
"Of course," He inclined his head ever so slightly. "Excuse my mistake, Ms. Janeway."
"What do you want?" She questioned. Her patience was wearing thin with the man and he hadn't even been on her door step more than five minutes.
"I have come to let you and your family know that we have finished going through Voyagers logs and there are several questions we need answers to," explained the man coolly.
A tingle of a sensation crossed over her skin as she stared at the man. "What sort of questions?" she asked carefully.
"Oh, several, all concerning areas where the logs were quite patchy." He explained evenly. "One that I would like to ask you is, just over a year before your return to earth, there appeared to be a second Voyager occupying the same space and time as your ship."
She nodded, "Yes. You'll see that that same happenstance had taken place before."
The man nodded. "We know this." Straitening his back he eyed her. "Though in this case, you had a set of twenty-four month old twins."
"That's correct," she agreed slowly. "Would you happen to be going anywhere with this?"
"Of course," responded the man. "Thirty-two months prior there seems to have been tampered data input into the Voyager system."
Her body went cold and her chest felt so heavy she was sure she wouldn't be able to pull in a breath, a frigid fear overtaking her. "This is the first I've heard of any of this." She finally managed to say.
"Yes, we know that no member of the Voyager crew have set foot back aboard since your departure nearly five years ago."
Behind her, her husband moved into view as he had felt her fear as though it were his own. "Kathryn?" he called to her in question.
Glancing over her shoulder Kathryn tried to appear calm and cool. "Chakotay, this man has questions concerning patchy areas in Voyagers logs."
Moving forward Chakotay wrapped an arm around Kathryn's waist. Looking to the man his expression was anything but welcoming. "While you're trying to survive, so far from home, logs really aren't the first thing you think about when you get a moment to breathe easy."
"I understand," agreed the man. "Though my concern is, that some of the information seems to have been tampered with."
"What information?" questioned Chakotay gruffly.
"The information surrounding the birth of your twins and the first twenty-four months of their lives," clarified the man.
Just then Kerin and Kyda ran into view, "Dad!" they called in unison.
Eyeing the man at the door Chakotay's jaw clenched when he noticed how he stared at the twins. "I'll be back to help in a moment," he said to the twins. As they ran off he turned back to the man, "There is nothing suspicious concerning our children and if I see you anywhere near them Starfleet won't be able to protect you," he growled. "Now I want you off my property before I feel the need to remove you myself." With that he closed the door firmly in the man's face.
Moving away from the door Kathryn felt sick, "They're questioning the data Owen changed," she said softly. "Chakotay, if they put two and two together we're going to be in some trouble."
"Don't worry," eased Chakotay. "They only have questions. They haven't added everything up properly if they have to ask anything."
Shaking her head Kathryn grasped Chakotay's shoulders, "Them even asking these questions is bad," she breathed. Her conversation with Owen Paris when they'd first returned home played out in her mind, making her breath catch. "Chakotay, if they take Kerin and Kyda… They'll do tests on them, tests that could very well kill them…"
Giving a shush Chakotay pulled Kathryn into his arms, hugging her closely to his chest. "They won't lay a finger on our children, we won't let that happen. Kathryn, we've defeated the Borg, going up against Starfleet and the Federation will be a walk in the park."
Taking a shuddering breath she tried to shake her head against his chest, "You never bet against the house Chakotay and the Federation is the house, Starfleet their cleaning service."
"It's going to be fine," insisted Chakotay.
"We don't know that," countered Kathryn.
Before Chakotay could respond Kyda came skidding to a stop not far from her parents. Silent for a long moment, she simply took in the sight of her father holding her mother before9 she spoke. "What's going on?" she questioned.
"Mama got a little scared," responded Chakotay, "I'm just making her feel safe."
Frowning Kyda looked to the door before she looked back to her father. "Is it because of that man?" she questioned, "Because he didn't look too scary."
Heaving a sigh Kathryn looked up from Chakotay's chest, "Some people don't have to look scary," she said softly. "Those people use words so scary sometimes, that it's hard not to feel the fear they intended."
Kyda looked thoughtful for a long moment, when she did speak it wasn't what her parents had been expecting. "Why didn't you hurt him then daddy?" she questioned. "If his word scared Mama then he deserves to be hurt."
As Kathryn and Chakotay both stared at their daughter Kerin came skidding into the room. Stopping next to his sister he looked to his parents a moment before her looked to Kyda. "What did I miss?" he asked.
"Important stuff, like always," responded Kyda, "That man that was at the door scared Mama, Kier."
"How?"
Shaking her head Kyda took her brother's arm. "I'll tell you later." She said simply before she pulled him out of the room.
Alone again Kathryn heaved a sigh, "We can't lose them," she said simply.
"We won't lose them," assured Chakotay, "We'll fight tooth and nail for them."