As they followed the Doctor into the ready room, Kathryn once again had a familiar feeling about the room. It was more than just having been here before. She knew as third officer she must have visited this room on many occasions, but it was somehow more than that. Deciding that right now was not the appropriate moment to voice her somewhat indescribable feelings she stood shoulder to shoulder with Tom and waited for the Captain to speak.

"Well at least now I know what to call you all. I think first order of business is to get everyone we can back to where they are supposed to be. Starting with our chief engineer. Then find other assignments for the remainder of the crew." The Doctor said taking a seat behind the desk and looking at the three people staring down at him.

"So what about our mission sir?" Chakotay asked, he had seemed distant since they had arrived on the bridge, and Kathryn was wondering what had happened in that time to make him close of to them.

"We are on a mission that is of great importance, it seems as though the federation is at war with a species called the Lanterians. What we are experiencing now seems to be an effect of their new weapon. Which is the reason we were sent to destroy their command base. Obviously in our current condition we cannot attempt this just yet. I am hoping we can either regain our memories, or enough knowledge of the ship and its operations to complete our mission." Tom felt tense, he knew the Captain was going to ask him to research a cure, after all he was the chief medical officer. Yet he had no idea where to begin. While everyone else appeared to have retained their knowledge of ships systems and operations, he was almost completely in the dark about medical issues.

"I will start in the mess hall sir, I know the people down there. Maybe I can figure out who needs to help in the engine room." Chakotay responded first and Tom let out a small breath of air. Kathryn apparently noticed and gave him a small concerned look.

"Good, I want you Kathryn, and the Doctor to go down to the lab and start working on some way to counteract this weapons effects. We are on a deadline here, it seems we are the key component in a larger attack." The Doctor continued as Kathryn felt the need to place her hands on her hips and protest her assignment. She was after all third officer, surely her place was on the bridge. On the other hand going with Tom and spending sometime alone with him held a certain appeal also. Kathryn quickly pushed the thought out of her head and stood to attention.

"One hour people and then I expect a progress report." The Doctor finished with before dismissing them. Once they had left the room the Doctor turned to the report on his screen, something wasn't sitting right with him. It wasn't so much that he had forgotten who he was, although it was a big issue. But that he felt somehow that destroying this command centre was wrong. Pushing the thought aside the chime went on his door.

"Come in." He called out and Commander Anderson walked in. For a moment the Doctor held a smile on his face, but the troubled look his XO's was giving him soon changed the Doctor's expression.

"Sir I am sorry to bother you, but I am worried that we maybe attacked again. We cannot loose the ship to the Lanterians, if we do the mission will be a failure. That means many more lives will be lost." Jeff said coming up and resting both palms on the desk. The Doctor didn't like the fact that he was being looked down upon so he stood. Walking over to the windows.

"I understand your concern, however we have seen no indication that any hostile ships are in the area. If we do then we will take every precaution to evade them. For now though it is too risky to continue with our mission until we know more." The Doctor said feeling that it was the correct decision, at least for now he had time on his side. How long that would last however was up for debate.

"As you wish sir, but please do not wait too long." With that Anderson left the Doctor alone.

=/\=

When Chakotay reached the mess hall he was shocked at the scene laid before him. There was food everywhere, most of the crew seemed to be wearing most of the broth B'Elanna had been making, and a rather fury individual was wearing the brewing pot on his head. It was being held there by the woman in question who was brandishing a wooden spoon above her head.

"Call my broth tasteless will you, well I tell you what, next time to add some flavour maybe I will slice off some of your body parts." B'Elanna hissed at the poor being inside the pot. His answering mumble was all Chakotay heard before he took control of the situation.

"What in hell is going on here, I know we have lost our memories, but that doesn't turn us into animals. Let him up Lieutenant." Chakotay said while pulling the engineer up to her feet, and taking hold of her somewhat non lethal weapon.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" B'Elanna shouted as she stopped wiggling long enough to process all of Chakotay's sentence.

"And what did you call me?"

"I am Lt Commander Chakotay, second officer of this ship, and you are Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres, chief engineer. I know hard to believe." Chakotay finished with a slight smile on his face as B'Elanna relaxed slightly, going from angry to confused in a moment.

"Ok so I'm not the cook?" She said cautiously, as she watched Chakotay shake his head and B'Elanna pulled of the apron and threw it in Neelix's direction.

"Well then, have at it fury man, I will be down in the engine room." B'Elanna strode towards the doors. As they parted she took a left turn, then stopped walked back to the mess hall and looked inside to see the rest of the crew looking back at her.

"Where the hell is the engine room?"

=/\=

As Tom and Kathryn walked through the decks of the ship, they did so in silence, looking at the plans as they went. Though the space seemed familiar to them both, neither really knew where they were going. Finally they found sick bay and entered, Tom did not have the same feeling as when he walked on the bridge. This place almost seemed to make him want to leave. Keeping the thought to himself he went over to the desk and pulled the monitor around so they could both see it. Unsure how to begin he started with pulling up and the information he had on the crew. There was limited information. Some recent bio scans, and basic physiology was all he had to go on. Feeling more and more out of his depth he finally turned to Kathryn who was examining one of the experiments.

"Do you know what this is?" She asked as Tom walked over to her. Her sent immediately invading his senses again. Tom simply could not shake the feeling that they were somehow more than just friends, it was something Tom was keen to ask her about, but right now they had more pressing matters at hand. Taking the test tube from her he looked at it. Turning it in his fingers until he sighed and replaced the vial.

"Actually no, I don't seem to be able to recall much of anything about medicine. I know how some of this stuff works, but most of it is a mystery to me." Tom finally admitted as Kathryn hopped up on to the bio bed and allowed her feet to dangle.

"Maybe its an effect of the weapon, you can't blame yourself." Kathryn said wanting to reach out and touch him for reassurance, but at the last minute she decided against it.

"Probably, but I have a feeling its more than that. Everyone else seems to be able to remember how the ship works, what their station does, how to do their job, all I can remember is how to take a basic medical scan." Tom said picking up the tricorder and flipping it open.

"How about you start with what we have, you know what our brain scans should look like, you have that information, maybe of you scan me now you can compare them and see if something shows up that shouldn't be there." Kathryn suggested and Tom had to admit it was a good plan. Instructing her to lie down he pushed the scanner on the bed over her head and started it up. Telling her to remain completely still, Tom placed his hand on her shoulder to make sure she did as he asked. The heat from her skin was radiating through his hand, and Tom had to concentrate hard on what he was doing. The sound of her voice almost made him jump into the air.

"What do you really think you were doing in my quarters?" Kathryn asked, her voice was small but her tone was forceful. As though she was making herself say the words. Tom was sure it took a lot of courage to start this particular conversation.

"I honestly don't know, but I do get a feeling that we are something more than just friends." Tom said deciding that right now, while she couldn't move, and her face was obscured from his vision by the scanner, it was the perfect opportunity to have this discussion. Her responding silence made Tom's heart skip slightly, thinking he may have said the wrong thing he kept his own council until she spoke up again.

"I have a feeling that Commander Chakotay thinks the same thing." She said almost wistfully as the scanner completed its cycle and retracted back to the head of the bed.

"Great a love triangle, where no one is even sure if it exists. For all we know, it me and and him that have something going and you're jealous." Tom said thinking making a joke out of the sudden awkward situation might be the best cause of action.

"If you do happen to discover that is the truth, can I watch?" Kathryn said with a rye little smile as she jumped off the bio bed and left Tom standing behind her his jaw left agape.

=/\=

"I have a ship on long range scanners sir." Harry reported as the Doctor came back on to the bridge when the alert went off.

"Evasive manoeuvres get us out of here." The Doctor ordered as Lt Bennett did as she was asked and got them out of sensor range and on a heading back the way they had come.

"Tactical report Mr Tuvok." The Doctor said turning to the tall dark man behind him.

"The ship is small carrying limited weapons. Its shields would have been no match for even one of our photon torpedo's." The Vulcan responded, he looked the same as always, detached aloof, but there was something in his voice that suggested confusion. It echoed the Doctors own thoughts, as he was sure the rest of the crew.

"We should have destroyed it, what if they report back to their command post and they send their fleet after us." Commander Anderson said getting up out of his chair and walking across the bridge.

"I am not going to destroy a ship for no reason commander, especially when we have no idea why they are out here, or what they were doing." The Doctor replied looking from face to face, he wasn't sure if he was looking for support or simply no more protest to his decision. Either way it was done now and they were going to have to live with it.

"Hold position here, if more ships come then we will have to deal with it then." The Doctor said finally before retreating back to the ready room. Getting back into the silence felt good for a moment, but it allowed everything else to seep into his mind. Thankfully the comm. badge on his uniform chirped and pulled him from his thoughts.

"Chakotay to Captain Robinson."

"Go ahead Commander"

"I have managed to assign most of the crew to stations on the ship, I think we should be up to full operational performance within the hour." Chakotay reported as he stood in the hall way. He was alone and all he could think about was the two people in sick bay, he really didn't like the idea of Tom and Kathryn alone together.

"Ok Commander thank you. Could you report to the bridge please." The Doctor said not knowing what else to suggest to his officer. He caught the slight intake of breath through the comm. Line and waited for the commander to reply.

"I was thinking I could go and help the Doctor with his research." Chakotay said hoping that the Captain would have no idea of his true motive for his request.

"Ok Commander, and tell them I expect to here a report from them soon." The Doctor said thinking that it was as good an idea as any. Once Chakotay had confirmed that he would the comm. Line fell silent.

=/\=

For a moment Tom was left stunned by Kathryn's comment, but he wasn't about to let her have the last word on the matter. Saving the image on the scanner Tom moved over to the display and turned to look at the petite woman who was watching him, hands on her hips and eyebrow arched. It was a definite challenge, and one Tom was completely prepared to accept.

"I tell you what, if it turns out that myself and the Lt commander do indeed share something special, and we let you watch it will be on one condition." Tom said his tome playful, but his eyes bore into Kathryn's. Making her feel flustered under his gaze.

"And that would be?" She replied refusing to back down.

"That at some point you join in." Tom said copying her stance and not breaking her gaze. For a moment they stayed like that, the air was charged, both of them could feel it, yet neither of them moved.

"Deal, but if you and Chakotay were to invite me into your bed, I have no idea where I would go." Kathryn said playfully taking a step closer, feeling more confident now that they were both playing the same game.

"Oh I am sure we can squeeze you in somewhere." Tom said as the doors to the sick bay opened to reveal the absent third member of their conversation. Both of them froze looking at him, and wondering just how much the big man had heard.

TBC... Thank you for reading XxX