Day 2. Mistakes

"Seven of Nine to Icheb… Icheb, respond."

Icheb found himself lying in a fetal pose on the cold floor of the Maze. His clothes were damp with sweat, his neck and shoulders were sore. He tried to respond but his voice betrayed him.

"I-akh… Icheb here."

"It's 0600. You haven't been regenerating. You are not onboard Voyager. State the purpose of your presence on the planet surface."

"Commander Chakotay has authorized my presence here. It serves scientific purposes."

"Do I understand it correctly? You've been researching all night long?"

This unexpected interrogation by Seven caught Icheb off-guard. His mind kept returning to his dream, refusing to form any kind of satisfactory answer. He wanted to stand up and straighten his shoulders to gain some dignity but his head hit the low ceiling of the room instead. Fortunately, the pain could mask his disarray.

"Seven, I need to see the Doctor. I'll report to alpha shift in astrometrics punctually."

"Understood. Seven out."

=/\=

Captain Kathryn Janeway had been humming her way through the finest choice of classical music. There was still time until alpha shift, and she had already been to the mess hall and to Engineering. She performed the first movement from Mozart's Requiem after she had received Lt. Carey's report about a small accident during gamma shift, but the overall choice of music was rather joyful.

Nessun Dorma accompanied the Capitan's appearance on the bridge.

Tom Paris lifted his head from the helm and turned to the commanding team.

"Have you had a nice evening, Captain? Probably followed by a sleepless night?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

The humming stopped abruptly. Janeway made a great deal of effort not to glance at Chakotay. Paris had to be put in his place.

"I think I remember that you had to toil some sleepless nights on the helm as an ensign, Lieutenant. I trust you'll make your best not to make this a fresh memory."

Tom looked at Harry who was smiling smugly, rolled his eyes and turned back to the screen.

=/\=

Icheb found sickbay abandoned.

"Computer, locate EMH," he murmured, still engrossed in his thoughts.

Icheb ran over the events of his dream – or his hallucination – on his way to holodeck 1. They appeared so surreal in the bright light of Voyager's corridors. He turned down the idea to speak with the Doctor about them at once; the fact that he had not been regenerating but sleeping had to be addressed though, just in case it could compromise his efficiency.

Icheb chimed. The door swooshed open and the Doctor ran out to confront the intruder. "I still have 16 minutes more, can't you –"

His tone changed as soon as he saw Icheb.

"Ah, nice to see you. I thought it was Tom – you know, he's always… ah, doesn't matter. Jump in, have a look at this beauty."

The holodeck was empty, only a blue evening dress hovered in the middle of the room, presenting a striking contrast to the sharp edges of the hologrid. The dress was long and possessed the elegant simplicity. The Doctor ran his hand over the thin shoulder straps in a tender gesture. He turned to Icheb. "What do you think, should I keep the back open?"

Icheb smiled. "I think it depends on who will wear it and for which occasion."

"I'm a gentleman, Icheb." A bit more pride and the Doctor's chest would burst. "I can't tell you whom I'm dating tonight but it's the most beautiful and amazing lady on this ship. She's very special, every man would give his right hand to go out with her. And she's chosen me. We'll go to the opera. She has an exquisite taste in music…"

Icheb's heart missed a beat. He had a look at the Doctor. There could be no mistake whom he was talking about. He deserved her more than Icheb for he was an appreciated member of this crew and Icheb was just a cadet…no achievements, no sense of humor, nothing to offer. Icheb could hardly breathe. The woman from his dream filled the gaping emptiness of the dress. Icheb blinked to dissolve the illusion and backed away. The regeneration issue was not that important anymore, he wanted just to flee.

The Doctor noticed Icheb's unsteady steps towards the door and cut off his monologue half-sentence. "Wait, what do you think of the dress?"

"It's beautiful… it fits her eyes perfectly." Icheb turned around and hurried away.

=/\=

Chakotay entered the ready room.

"You wanted to see me, Captain?"

"Yes. Computer, what time is it now?"

"It's 1600 hours."

Janeway went around her desk to stand near Chakotay, infiltrating his private space.

"We both are technically off duty now. Do you think we can continue where we have stopped yesterday?"

"There's actually one more issue to address. We are leaving the orbit of Ula at 2400 according to your orders. I have changed the duty roster to return to our normal shift rotation after one week of enjoying the Ulan suns." Chakotay checked his PADD. A barely recognizable grin curved his lips for a second. "That means that you'll have to take over gamma shift… technically speaking."

"What?"

"This is the only way to manage without the senior stuff pulling double shifts during the readjustment period."

"And why are you grinning then?"

Chakotay leaned in. "Still in the mood to continue?"

"Why do I have a feeling that you try to change the topic?"

Chakotay put the PADD in Janeway's hand.

"You can ban poor Harry to gamma shift, of course. It's all in your authority." Chakotay gave her a suggestive wink and turned around to leave. "I have an appointment. See you in… one week?"

"Apparently. Dismissed."

Janeway scrolled over the duty roster again and again. It was a perfect roster; in fact, Chakotay's rosters had always been perfect. He managed to juggle the crew to assure the highest efficiency, week for week. In a brief moment of weakness Janeway checked the possibility of moving Kim to gamma shift. It would result in an endless chain of changes. Janeway closed her eyes. She smelled a trap. Chakotay was onto something, but the ship came first so she would just sit back and wait. Her death glare had managed to stop Tom and Neelix from throwing a party for her birthday two months ago, so it couldn't be this kind of surprise. And she knew Chakotay wouldn't come up with anything as unsettling as Tom's idea of fun and recreation.

=/\=

It was Icheb's first visit to Commander Chakotay's office. He politely declined a beverage and studied the room while Chakotay was replicating tea for himself. There was a soothing harmony in the bright colors of the ornaments. A wooden figure of a warrior with a spear stood by the entrance. A large painting of a night sky full with stars hung on the opposite wall compensating for the lack of a view port in the room.

Chakotay took a PADD from his otherwise empty, standard 'Fleet issue desk.

"I'm glad that you decided to turn theory into practice. Voyager would be the first Federation ship with bio holodecks if successful. I think a storage room in the cargo bay on deck 4 would serve your requirements best. Mr Neelix is officially in charge of this room, but he claimed nearly every empty storage room on the ship and he hardly uses this one anyway." Chakotay smiled inwardly as he remembered Neelix running to and fro between all his storages, still unable to believe his luck. Neelix had been looking like a happy hamster those days.

"The room is small as you required and it is situated near transporter rooms in case you'll need them for your experiments. Ask Mr Tuvok to lend you a hand if you have difficulties. He has some experience with crossing different species in the pattern buffer." Chakotay couldn't help but grin at these words.

"Thank you, Commander. This location appears suitable for my purpose."

"Good, I'll ask B'Elanna and the Doctor to configure the bio containment fields for this room immediately so that you can beam your samples there right away. It's just a measure of precaution," added Chakotay when he saw Icheb's surprise at his mentioning of the fields. "We'll be leaving this system at 2400, I hope you'll figure out how to adapt the plants to our environment by then."

This unexpected deadline surprised Icheb even more than the fields. This project became illogically dear to him so he couldn't put it at risk by postponing the adaptation tests. Fortunately, the Commander didn't ask for details. Icheb left immediately for his new science lab. He had many things on his to-do list tonight, regeneration was not one of them.

=/\=

The Doctor hurried towards the holodeck after he had left a PADD with the latest configuration of Voyager standard bio containment fields for B'Elanna and the equipment for medical tests for Icheb in the storage room. He would usually question the purpose of these preparations, especially as he preferred to have his fragile medical devices in the safety of sickbay, but he couldn't care less that day. He started his program. The grey walls gave way to the luxurious interior of Vienna Opera House and the Doctor's science uniform changed to a tuxedo.

He ran through the long-prepared list of selected opera singers. The first performer would present the absolute perfection of mathematical harmony. Every new area would bring the listeners further away from numbers and guide them into the universe of feelings. The Doctor hoped to overwhelm his date with the rush of emotions in the last performance that would pave the way to his own part. He replicated a bunch of red roses and hoped he wouldn't get cold feet this time.

A few minutes remained. The Doctor walked his rounds on the stage, glancing at the entrance every now and then. Then he remembered something and dashed upstairs to check seats in the best box. Naturally, everything there was as he had programmed. He came back just in time to see the holodeck door opening. He felt like if the door was malfunctioning for it took ages before he could see his guest. Then she entered, and his holographic limbs refused to comply.

"Seven… Seven, you are beautiful… so very beautiful."

He rushed to her finally, taking her hand and moving it reverently to his lips.

The door opened again, letting Mortimer Harren in with a stack of PADDs in his hands. The Doctor let Seven's hand fall.

"What is he doing here?"

"The invitation said the evening would be about mathematics. It seemed suitable to take Mr Harren along, especially as you advised me to continue searching for a mate." Seven stated nonchalantly.

The Doctor opened his mouth but closed it again without saying a word. Still dumbfounded, he looked at Harren who was studying the surroundings with a slight expression of disdain.

"Haven't you told me it was about mathematics and space harmonics?" Harren asked Seven. "I thought I'd share the results of my latest research with you. A second opinion of a Borg could not hurt."

The Doctor stepped in between Seven and Harren.

"She's not Borg anymore."

The disdain on Harren's face grew.

"What are you doing here anyway? You aren't a cosmology expert, are you?"

The Doctor's speech processor failed at such cheekiness.

Harren continued. "This location is not suitable for scientific research. Computer, end program and deactivate EMH."

The Doctor disappeared with a pop, the room was grey again. Seven found her evening dress to be suddenly completely inappropriate.

"I am no cosmology expert either. The Borg are not interested in so-called Big Bang theories."

Harren rolled his eyes and left, murmuring something about wasting time. Seven recovered instantly from her brief confusion.

"Computer, activate EMH."

"The program is already running in sickbay."

"Seven of Nine to the Doctor."

"Doctor here," came an unwilling answer.

"Report to the holodeck 1 at once and engage in recreational activities with me."

"Err… Seven, I have… a patient. I think I'll be busy during the whole evening, yes."

"Understood. What a pity. Seven out."

Seven left for her cargo bay to change. The dress wasn't efficient. What a squandering of resources.

The Doctor plumped into the chair in his office in exhaustion. He had a patient to take care of, in a way. However he feared that nursing his heart would take far longer than only one evening.

=/\=

Icheb checked his calculations again and again. The yellow plants covered the rear wall of his improvised lab and appeared steady; they would decay in less than 12 hours according to Icheb's extrapolation though, and he saw no way to slow down the process. Icheb checked the environmental controls for what felt like the hundredth time. Within the containment field, a small part of oxygen was substituted by two other gases that were probably essential for the plant's metabolism. Artificial gravity was adjusted to the pulsating Ulan pattern. The specific radiation of two Ulan suns was simulated with B'Elanna's help. None of this seemed to prevent the decomposition of the alien matter. Icheb was positive that only one tiny piece of this puzzle was missing but he wasn't sure whether he could find it in time. Besides, his brief self-diagnosis revealed that his Borg components were functioning with compromised efficiency. His cortical node was impaired most with nearly 2% loss of the processing speed. There was no time to waste. He hit his comm badge.

"Icheb to Lt. Tuvok."

It took Icheb only a few minutes to describe the problem, and Tuvok needed only a few seconds to come up with an advice.

"The solution is simple. Cross your plants with weeds from the Earth. It will give them resistance to the destructive influence of our environment and a faster metabolism for the aggressive reproduction. I suggest burdock. Mr Neelix has a whole plantation of it in the hydroponic bay. He thinks that the roots are a suitable substitute for Bajoran celery."

Icheb noted the plant's name in his PADD, thanked Tuvok and was about to close the channel as the Vulcan added.

"Take a large bunch. Our stomachs will thank you."

=/\=

It was almost midnight when Icheb brought an impressive load of burdock to the transporter room 1. Tal Celes had relieved the transporter officer from beta shift by that time and observed the moving pile of fluffy leaves with curiosity. Icheb let his load down on the transporter pad. Tal couldn't help but giggle when she saw multiple burrs on Icheb's clothing and in his hair. Icheb didn't bother to smile. He gave Tal a PADD.

"Transport the vegetation from these coordinates on the surface of Ula to my lab at once… please."

He had only twelve hours from that moment on to find the solution.

Tal's medical training and willingness to help spared Icheb several hours, but time went by too quickly nonetheless. They had no problem isolating the necessary chains in the DNA code of burdock, but there were apparently no fitting sequences in the code of the yellow plant. Blind modeling in the pattern puffer became more complex with every try but resulted only in a lifeless greyish mash on the floor of the lab. With every passing minute Voyager moved further away from Ula and Icheb became more desperate.

Suddenly Tal had an idea.

"Haven't you identified the gene pairs of the Ulan plant that were indirectly responsible for the effect of the trance? What about adding these and the other key sequences to the burdock genome?"

It was worth a try. The preparation took Icheb several minutes. He programmed the transporter and hit the button.

The transporter log showed a living plant. It was their first moderate success that night. Icheb breathed out with a hissing noise. They exchanged glances, Tal smiled.

"Go check it through."

Icheb dashed out, ran through the corridor and entered his lab. A fluffy mini bush of burdock occupied the farther corner. It was of a watery grey color and bore only a distant resemblance with the alien plant. Icheb took a medical tricorder. His fingers shook. The readings were encouraging. The mutated plant would survive for several days at least; proper care and optimized environment would give it enough time to grow sprouts that will live for several days more, and so on. Icheb made minor adjustments of the environmental controls and documented his actions. It was still not clear whether this new plant had the same influence on brain cells like its ancestor. The Doctor's sophisticated equipment provided ambiguous readings. Icheb had to test it by himself. He entered the containment field and his nostrils widened at the slightly lower concentration of the oxygen. He closed his eyes.

"Imagine…"

Something was wrong. It was night and the maze looked different. The branches had spiky ends. Cold wind blew above Icheb's head, leaving grey fog in the passages between the bushes untouched. It slowly became darker until Icheb couldn't distinguish his hand in front of his eyes.

A single blue star appeared on the horizon. It moved in Icheb's direction rapidly and soon he could recognize the woman and the dress he saw this morning. It was the first time he saw her dressed casually. He suddenly realized that actually he was moving towards her. Icheb gained momentum with diminishing distance. In the last second he instinctively stretched out his hands and blinked… but the impact was very soft. He dared open his eyes and saw his hands resting on her pale back, framed by the thin material of the blue dress. He knew it was so wrong but he couldn't move his hands away from her. He just stood there and soaked in the warmth of her skin. Icheb was tired, so tired that he could stay like this forever. There was no need to think, no need to breath. Feeling her under his hands was all he needed to exist. He bent his head to rest it on the back of her head. Auburn hair tickled his face but he was falling asleep nonetheless. Half asleep, he moved his hand to caress her shoulder, let it slip down her arm and inched upwards again to caress her neck.

Her usually motionless frame shivered. Icheb backed away in terror, waves of adrenaline rushed through his blood stream. He opened his eyes in the next moment just to find himself in his lab. It was already morning.

=/\=

Janeway found her first gamma shift in years unexpectedly fulfilling. It took her only a short time to readjust her pace from the rush of the day and engross in something completely new to her, like running a ship in silence. She was mostly alone on the bridge after they had left the Ulan system. The autopilot was flying Voyager through inhabited sectors, bringing the crew closer to home at warp 9.975. There was no need for tactics, so she occupied the OP station and redirected the science there. It had been years since she'd been analyzing and filing raw data on the density of black matter or the efficiency of sensors. It was a feeling of being physically involved in flying through space – a feeling that got lost in dry reports since she'd become a captain.

Janeway leaned back in Mr Kim's chair, taking a sip of freshly replicated coffee. OP officers had a better view of the bridge than she from her captain chair. She realized absently that Harry must notice every glance between Chakotay and her; one more reason to never let it happen. She scolded herself for being constantly in doubt about her decisions. No species would suffer due to a change in two humans' private life; the Prime Directive wouldn't be broken; the quadrant would stay in the same fragile balance that governed the birth of surrounding stars an eternity ago. She'd been through all pro and contras a thousand times. No side had ever prevailed logically, so she couldn't hide behind formal reasons. It was her decision all alone and she would stick with it. There was no way back. She didn't want a way back – for both her and Chakotay's sake.

She closed her eyes to feel the quiet humming of the ship. Her decision was no betrayal of Voyager, in contrary. The ship and the crew would profit from it. She remembered her evenings with Chakotay. They dissolved her growing fatigue and made her a better captain – and this ship would need a better captain for this long, long journey. Chakotay would put his hand on her shoulder, look in her eyes and tell just the right words; well, not always, but this made him just dearer to her.

Janeway felt a hand brushing her shoulder, slipping down her arm and inching upwards again to caress her neck. She purred with pleasure and wondered in the next moment how Chakotay could sneak up on her. She smiled and opened her eyes but she was still alone on the bridge. Instantly alerted, she jumped up from the chair and looked around. There was nobody there. She couldn't believe she snoozed on the bridge. Janeway burst in laugher. Chakotay had better rearrange the duty roster if he wanted any work to get done! She checked the readings and then the chronometer. It was already morning.