2

B'Elanna hovered nervously over Chakotay's unconscious form, shuddering at the memory of what had happened only a few minutes earlier. She had been on the bridge at the engineering station when Chakotay had stumbled out of the turbolift, completely disoriented. He had been shouting unintelligibly and had then blacked out, collapsing on the bridge. On the floor of the turbolift behind him lay Harry Kim, beaten and bloodied. She could not imagine why Chakotay had hurt Harry.

She felt her husband's arm go around her and leaned into him, taking his other hand in hers. "How's Harry?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Doc says he's going to be fine. Chakotay broke his nose and bruised his windpipe, but it's nothing the Doctor can't fix." Tom felt his wife shudder, and he tightened his arm around her.

"I don't understand what could have made Chakotay do this," she whispered.

"Me, neither."

"I wish Admiral Janeway was here," B'Elanna said.

"It's been two weeks since you called her," Tom reminded his wife. "I think if she was coming we would have heard by now."

B'Elanna grimaced. "I know. I just can't imagine that she wouldn't do everything in her power to be here for him… for us."

"None of us expected something like this to happen," Tom reminded her.

The Doctor joined them by Chakotay's bedside, interrupting their conversation. "I've finished treating Lieutenant Commander Kim's injuries," he said. "He just needs to rest. He'll be fine in a few hours."

"Glad to hear it," said Tom. "What about Chakotay?" B'Elanna asked. "What's wrong with him?"

The Doctor ran his medical tricorder over Chakotay, then closed the scanning dome over his biobed. "I have an idea," the EMH said as he walked over to the nearby medical station. "Hmm."

Tom and B'Elanna waited while the Doctor worked. B'Elanna looked down at Chakotay's face; his eyes were closed and his expression peaceful, so different from the wild look she had seen in his eyes when he had stumbled onto the bridge.

"Yes," the Doctor finally said. "It's as I expected."

"His 'crazy gene'?" B'Elanna asked.

"Yes," the Doctor replied, looking at her with surprise. "How did you know?"

"Just a guess."

"Why didn't you detect this in the scan you ran two weeks ago?" asked Paris.

"A surreptitious, cursory scan can hardly be expected to reveal this kind of data," the Doctor replied. "If I had been able to get the captain to come to sickbay for more in depth scans, I could have told you before the situation had escalated." The Doctor pressed another sequence of buttons on the panel. "His neuron protein insulation is severely degraded."

"I thought Chakotay had the gene deactivated after we left Chaotic Space," said B'Elanna.

"Yes, I deactivated the gene myself. But something has caused it to switch on again."

"What?" Torres pressed.

"I don't know," the Doctor replied.

"Can you switch it off again?" asked Paris.

"Unfortunately, the degradation in the captain's neuron protein insulation is severe. I believe I could switch the gene off using the same procedure I used then, but the damage has been done."

"What's the treatment?" Paris asked.

"There is no known treatment," the Doctor replied. "The treatment for the captain's condition is switching the gene off at birth. No one has ever found a way to repair this kind of degradation to the neural pathways."

"Surely you can find a way," B'Elanna insisted.

"I'll get to work on it right away," the Doctor said.

"Bridge to Commander Paris," a voice came over the comm.

"Paris here."

"You have an incoming transmission, sir. Priority one."

"Doc?" Tom asked, gesturing to the Doctor's office. The EMH nodded his consent. "Put it through to the Doctor's office," Tom ordered. He entered the office and sat down, activating the comm. B'Elanna followed him, standing in the doorway where she could not be seen by the person on the other end of the transmission. The Starfleet symbol appeared on the screen, followed by two very familiar faces.

"Admiral!" Tom exclaimed. "Commander!"

"Hello, Tom," Janeway's voice replied. "Permission to come aboard?"

B'Elanna hurried around to behind Tom's chair to see Janeway seated beside Tuvok in the cockpit of a shuttlecraft. "Admiral. Thank Kahless you're here."

Janeway's expression darkened. "Has something happened?"

Tom nodded. "You better dock right away, Admiral. You, too, Commander. I think we're going to need your help."


Janeway paused outside the sickbay doors, bracing herself for what she was about to find. Tom, B'Elanna and the Doctor had briefed her on everything they knew about Chakotay's condition. B'Elanna had explained, the pain evident in her voice, how Chakotay had assaulted Harry and then passed out on the bridge earlier that day. The Doctor, via a visual monitor from sickbay, had explained that there was no cure for the neural degradation that Chakotay had suffered.

She had been sitting in Tom's office, brainstorming with him and B'Elanna when the Doctor had called on the comm. "The captain is awake."

"How is he, Doctor?" she had asked.

"I think you better come down here, Admiral," had been the EMH's only reply.

Now Janeway stood outside sickbay, and she hesitated. She felt a hand on her shoulder. "Are you all right?" Tom Paris asked.

"I'm fine," she replied, although she knew that the waiver in her voice gave her away.

"Don't worry, Admiral. We'll get through this, together."

She looked away from Tom, blinking back sudden tears, his words reminding her of the many times Chakotay had said the same thing to her. She shook off the emotion and steeled herself. "Let's go." The sickbay doors swished open.

"Let me out of here!" Chakotay was yelling. "Doctor, let me out of here!" Chakotay pounded his fist against the forcefield and immediately recoiled from the shock of it.

"He became violent," the Doctor explained. "He seems to think the ship is being overrun by Cardassians."

"Chakotay!" Janeway exclaimed, stepping towards the forcefield. "Chakotay, look at me!"

"We have to kill them," Chakotay muttered, not looking at her. "Have to kill them all."

"Chakotay, please look at me."

"No!" Chakotay suddenly screamed. "No, don't hurt her! Stop!" He threw himself against the forcefield and was thrown back, his head impacting against the biobed before he collapsed on the floor.

"Doctor, lower the forcefield!" Janeway ordered.

"Admiral, the captain is a danger to himself and others," the Doctor said as he walked through the field, medical tricorder in hand.

"Lower the forcefield," she repeated emphatically.

"He has a slight concussion," the Doctor reported, running a dermal regenerator over the wound where Chakotay's head had hit the biobed.

"Let me in."

"I can't, Admiral. He's going to wake up any minute. I can't put you at risk."

"He won't hurt me."

The Doctor looked up at the set of Janeway's jaw, the determination in her eyes, and the unshed tears looming there. "I cannot guarantee that, Admiral."

Her eyes had not left Chakotay's face. "I can. Lower the forcefield."

The EMH sighed. "Very well." The forcefield shimmered out of existence, and Janeway ran to Chakotay's side, kneeling next to him.

"Chakotay?" she whispered. "Chakotay, can you hear me?" She stroked his cheek with her hand.

Slowly, his eyes opened. He blinked several times, willing the room to stop spinning around him. There was a warm hand on his cheek, a familiar scent in the air, and the face above him slowly became clear. "Kathryn?"

"Yes, it's me."

"What are you doing here?" he managed, propping his elbows underneath himself, trying to sit up.

"Easy," she warned him, helping him to sit. "What do you remember?"

"I remember… waking up in my quarters. I was so tired. I was trying to wake up. I got in the turbolift to go to the bridge, and then…"

"Then?" she prompted.

"I don't know." He looked around. "I'm in sickbay?"

"Yes, Captain," said the EMH, helping Janeway to hoist Chakotay onto the biobed. "I'm afraid you're very ill."

"I don't… don't feel sick," he said. "Only a headache, and… dizzy."

"It's all right," Janeway soothed, her hand on her shoulder encouraging him to lie back on the bed. "It's going to be all right." She ran her hand through his hair; it was damp from sweat. "Let the Doctor sedate you, Chakotay."

"I don't… don't understand," he replied as the Doctor pressed a hypospray to his neck.

"It's all right," Kathryn repeated. "You're going to be okay." She ran her hand through his hair again and watched his eyes close. Then she looked back at Tom, who had observed the entire scene from only a few feet away. The fear in her eyes told him that despite her calming words to Chakotay, she didn't know it was going to be all right at all.


"Thank you for your report, Kathryn," Admiral Paris said.

She sat in Tom's office speaking to the senior admiral. "Of course, sir."

"I've spoken with Starfleet Command, and under the circumstances, everyone feels that the best course of action is for you to take command of Voyager temporarily."

"Tom is more than capable, sir."

"Of course he is, but your command and diplomacy experience outweigh his tenfold. I know that you took this trip as a leave of absence, but Starfleet would like to grant you back your leave. We'd like you to take over the mission of finding out how and why this has happened to Captain Chakotay."

"Yes, sir."

"Of course this is a temporary situation, only. You will have command until Captain Chakotay can be cured, or until the situation is declared permanently unresolved."

"Permanently unresolved?" Janeway felt her gut drop at the suggestion.

"If it is determined that there is no cure for Captain Chakotay's condition, then we will have to find a new captain for Voyager." Paris paused. "Hopefully, it won't come to that."

"Yes, sir. I understand."

"Good luck, Admiral. Paris out."

The transmission ended, and Janeway sat back in her chair for only a moment before leaping into action. "Janeway to Paris."

"Paris here," Tom answered.

"Collect the senior staff and meet me in the briefing room in half an hour. We need options."

"Aye, Admiral."

A half hour later, Voyager's senior staff was seated around the briefing table, Janeway at its head. It felt much like old times, except for the conspicuously empty seat to Janeway's left. She had asked Tuvok to join in the briefing as well, even though his current posting was not to Voyager. Harry had recovered from his injuries and was seated at the table with them. Pablo Baytart was Voyager's pilot, now that Tom had stepped up to the XO position, and Ayala had taken over Tuvok's old station at tactical. The EMH joined them via video monitor from Sickbay, where he dared not leave Chakotay alone. Janeway quickly brought everyone up to speed on Chakotay's condition, and on her conversation with Admiral Paris.

"I think I speak for everyone here, Admiral," said Tom, "when I say that we're glad you're taking command."

Janeway inclined her head, giving Paris credit. Of all the senior staff, he had the most right to be put out, as it should have been his command, but instead, he gracefully let everyone know he felt this was right. "Thank you, Mr. Paris. Now, let's get down to business. Before anything, we need to know the cause of Chakotay's condition. Speculation?"

"I started noticing strange behavior from him shortly after our visit to Yintaka Minor," said B'Elanna.

"Yes," Ayala piped up, "I agree, it was around that time he started acting distracted. He looked like he wasn't getting much sleep."

"What occurred during your visit to Yintaka Minor?" asked Tuvok.

"It was just routine," said Harry. "The Yintakans were friendly. They invited us for a meal. We all ate the food; it wasn't harmful."

"I examined it myself," the Doctor said from his monitor. "There were no ingredients in the food or drink that could have caused Captain Chakotay's condition."

"They were celebrating some kind of festival," added B'Elanna. "They invited us to participate."

"And did you?" asked Tuvok.

"We ate a ceremonial meal with them," said Paris. "Saw some performances, dancing, stuff like that."

"What else?" Janeway asked. "Were there any rituals? Anything out of the ordinary?"

"We got a tour of their capitol city," said Harry.

"Chakotay wanted to see their sacred mountain," B'Elanna added.

"Sacred mountain?" asked Janeway.

"Yes," said Baytart. "They had religious beliefs that reminded him of the beliefs of his ancestors."

"The captain went there with a Yintakan guide," explained Ayala.

"Was there anything unusual about the mountain?" Janeway asked. "Anything our sensors might have picked up?"

"We can't scan the sacred mountain," Ayala replied. "It's made of some kind of rock or mineral that interferes with our scanners. The Yintakans told us this was typical. They themselves don't permit technology on sacred ground."

Janeway looked at the monitor to sickbay. "Doctor, is it possible that something on that mountain could have reactivated Chakotay's dormant gene somehow?"

"I suppose it's possible. There's no way to know without further scans."

"All right," Janeway said. "Whatever happened to Chakotay, it seems clear that it started after your contact with the Yintakans. We need to go back to Yintaka Minor and investigate. Lieutenant Baytart, set a course and engage. Maximum warp."

"Aye, Admiral."

The meeting disbanded, and Janeway stepped onto Voyager's bridge, taking command of the starship for the first time in five years. As she settled into the captain's chair, it felt familiar and right, despite the circumstances. Hang on, Chakotay, she thought. Whatever is happening to you, we'll get to the bottom of it.