A/n: Thanks to xXBrightsideBumblebeeXx for updating "The Borg with Butterfly Wings". :D

"You said the power couplings are completely fused?" B'Elanna asked over the now stable comm. line, although the image of Voyager's Briefing Room Chakotay, Seven and Tom were all watching was far less reliable, Tom ached to see the frown of concentration he knew from experience was etched on his wife's face as she spoke.

"Correct." Seven replied quietly, managing to suppress the downhearted sigh that rose in her throat.

Tom sat back in his pilot's with a groan of frustration, "It wouldn't be that bad if the replicators were online and then we could just whip up a new plasma manifold and be on our way!"

B'Elanna's voice was suddenly warily edged with excitement, "What if I could find you a new plasma manifold?"

"From where?" Chakotay asked bluntly, lapsing into a fit of coughing as his battered body resisted the effort of talking.

"From the module!" B'Elanna answered as if stating the obvious, jumping into her explanation before her curious crewmates could interrupt her, "It may be over three centuries old, but the module's propulsion system isn't that different from the Flyer's. It has a component called a…" She checked the records on the computer, "…ion distributor, with a few modifications it could be adapted to regulate plasma!"

Seven's cool voice broke her bubble, "You forget Lieutenant that not only would we need to adapt the component within the remaining 81 minutes we have left, but we'd also need to locate and salvage it."

The Captain stepped in, seeing the makings of a workable plan despite Seven's misgivings, "Tom, do you have enough power to transport someone over to the module and back?"

"I think so Captain!" Tom exclaimed in relief after checking his console. Quickly, he jumped to his feet, "I'll go…"

Janeway gave a decisive shake of the head, "No Tom, if another graviton surge hits, you'll be needed at the helm…"

Seven stood up with a heavy, resigned sigh, having already seen the writing on the wall. "Are you encouraging me to volunteer again Captain?" she asked tensely, hands clenched behind her back.

Well, that explains a lot! Chakotay thought guiltily, if he'd known the Captain had pressurised Seven into going he'd have never let her come, no wonder she'd taken all this so badly… He sighed, he should have known, the Captain always had an ulterior motive for sanctioning anything…

The Captain gave a dry chuckle at her protégé's remark, "You read my mind."


"Ironic isn't it?" Chakotay commented as he watched Seven climb into the spacesuit from his place at the biobed. She shot him an uneasy, questioning look, one eyebrow raised, and he obligingly explained, "That you're doing what I've always dreamed of doing, walking into a piece of history."

Seven bit her lip as she picked up the suit's helmet, unsettled by the thought that he was envious of her task, that she had somehow hijacked his beloved dream. "History is irrelevant." She told him stiffly, lapsing back into Borg propaganda as she generally did when something upset her.

Chakotay's face paled for a moment as he took in her works, genuine shock filling his dark eyes. "Irrelevant?" he echoed in disbelief, taking a deep steadying breath as her face remained stubbornly impassive. "Do me a favour…" He asked her softly, "Download as many of Kelly's files as you can and remember to take a look around, so you can tell us what it was like."

Seven pursed her lips, she'd didn't think she'd be able to give him the kind of description he desired. "There may not be time…" She began to warn him but stopped as she saw his expression, suddenly struck with the feeling that she was denying a six year old Chakotay the chance to play with dinosaurs. Sighing a little, she added, "…but I will try."

The dimpled grin which she got in reward lit his eyes, making her feel oddly glad of her concession. He gave her arm a reassuring pat as she moved to put on the helmet. "Good luck." He told her warmly. Suddenly feeling shy, she gave him a quick nod of acknowledgement before clipping the helmet over her head and checking it systems.

"Ready Seven?" Tom asked from the helm far in front of them.

"Yes Lieutenant." She replied and within a blink of Chakotay's eye she was gone, though his thoughts still lingered on her, it seemed she was worth all the patience and effort to get through to her after all.


Seven fought disorientation and momentary panic as she re-materialised in pitch blackness, even her enhanced eye gave her little insight as to what lay ahead of her. She didn't even have time to switch on her torch before Tom's voice filtered through the comm. line, "So, what's it like?" he asked excitedly.

"Dark." She answered impatiently as she finally managed to locate the torch on her suit and switch it on, filling the cramped vessel with just enough light for her to clearly make out buttons on the lifeless consoles and people the space with eerie shadows. Slowly she moved forward, trying to ignore how the ghostly metallic thud of her boots constantly reminded her how alone she was. A sigh of relief clouded her helmet's visor as she finally spotted the panel in which the ion distributor was encased. After making quick work of the panel, she tapped her comm. badge, "I have located the distributor and am now recovering it and beginning the modifications."

"Good." Chakotay replied, the reassuring quality of his deep voice managing to slow the rate of her heartbeat considerably, "Can you access Kelly's logs from where you are?"

"Yes…" Seven answered tightly, irritated by him wasting her very limited time with such an irrelevant preoccupation.

"Play them for us." He must have heard her agitated sigh for he laughed softly, the sound catching in his bruised chest, "Consider it…my last request Seven." Seven had to bite her tongue hard to stop herself reacting angrily to such a cruel attempt at humour and instead took on her frustration on the buttons which activated the logs before returning to work; a dead man's voice her only form of company.


"I really don't regret doing this Dad…" Commander Kelly's voice echoed through the comm. system, his voice dreamy with oxygen deprivation after sacrificing life support for scanners, "I always wanted to fly, you remember my first flight? A parachute made of blankets from the roof, my aerodynamics was seriously off, but I was only six…" Seven blinked to soothe her burning eyes as she looked around the vessel that had become Kelly's coffin. He'd been alone, desperately so, and yet… "No, I don't regret it." Kelly reiterated, "I've done what I've always wanted, Hell, I may have discovered one of the most amazing spacial anomalies ever…" Seven couldn't help but admire the man's resilience and unbroken sprit, she was already crumbling after just over 76 minutes here…

Tom's voice interrupted her thoughts, "You have four minutes Seven, or else we won't have time to get out of this thing even if the distributor works!"

"I am disconnecting the distributor now Lieutenant, stand by." Seven replied as Kelly's voice went on in the background.

"I'm not afraid to die…" He rasped, "There is one thing I…regret though…I'll never know…who won the World Series…" Seven felt a sob of relief of grief for him and relief for her herself rush from her throat as the distributor fell into her hands, ready for use.

"Seven, are you ready?" Tom asked her urgently.

"Yes, I…" Seven stopped as she stood up, her eyes catching Commander Kelly's face on the console's screen. Impulsively she pulled out her tricorder, "Wait! I'm downloading Commander Kelly's database!"

"Wha…" Tom began but she stopped him as the tricorder said it had finished.

"Ready Lieu…" She started to say as she turned around, a choked gasp of horror being punched from her chest as she saw a body sitting in front of her. His face was unchanged, as pristine behind his suit's visor as hers was, he looked asleep… She wrenched the comm. badge from her suit and clipped it to his, "Lock on to both my lifesign and my comm. badge signal for transport!" she shouted down the comm. line.

"What? Why?" Tom asked incredulously.

"Comply!" she snapped back and within a few seconds she had materialised back on the Delta Flyer.

As she sat on the floor, the distributor in her hands and the lifeless corpse beside her, she heard Chakotay's ragged gasp of shock as he saw what she'd brought, "My God…" He breathed in stunned disbelief, fixing awestruck eyes on her pale face, "Seven, you…"

"Yes." She murmured briefly, scrambling up to activate the distributor, not wanting to be accused of hypocrisy for risking the mission even more than he had just hours before. "Propulsion is online!" She shouted over to Tom, who immediately slammed the engines on at full speed.

"Hold on! We're in for a bumpy ride!" He called back at both of them. The warning was well founded, but that didn't diminish their elation as the Flyer pierced the edge of the ellipse and Voyager's tractor beam guided them to safety.


Chakotay fought to stay awake under the effects of the Doctor's pain medication, even as he listened to the Captain's eulogy for Commander Kelly with a heavy heart. It seems as if they'd just lost him, he'd been a true friend while they'd been out there. "…and so as one of the great examples to those who make space their home, past, present and future, we together commit Commander John Mark Kelly to space, he will never be forgotten." The Captain finished and Chakotay sank back on the biobed, trying to fill the emptiness in his heart her words hadn't satisfied him. If only the Doctor had let him leave Sickbay to say a few words himself…

Suddenly, Seven's voice echoed through the comm. line, "Captain?" Janeway mumbled something to her and she continued in a clearer voice, though he couldn't help but be surprised by the level of emotion in it, "I did not know this individual…" She began, "…yet I feel connected with him." She sighed self-deprecatingly, "When I left for this mission, I believed history to be irrelevant, but I was wrong. In Commander Kelly's search for meaning in space, I see parallels with my own search for perfection and I realise now that it was his actions and those of many others that led me to be here as I am, and as such I owe him a great debt." Chakotay swallowed the lump of emotion in his throat, for someone who didn't seem to have much grasp of the concept of individuality, Seven had given Commander Kelly a more personal goodbye than the Captain or himself ever could… Over the comm. line he heard her footsteps, then a whisper he doubted many people in the room could hear and he was only privy to because of her comm. badge, "The Yankees beat the Kings by four runs."

The Doctor walked back into Sickbay a few minutes later to find Chakotay sitting up with a soft smile on his face.


"So…" B'Elanna began as she looped arms with Tom as they walked together back to their quarters, "What was it like being on an away mission with Seven and Chakotay?"

Tom rubbed the bridge of his nose and breathed a dry chuckle as he stopped mid-step. "Remember when you told me Chakotay doesn't lose his temper, just gets all disappointed in whoever he's angry with until they feel guilty and back down?"

B'Elanna's brow furrowed, "Yeah, that's all true."

"Not when he goes toe to toe with Seven of Nine its not. They…well, let's just say sparks were flying."

B'Elanna stiffened. "Come on Tom, it's Seven! She'd drive a saint to lose his temper!" She reminded him, defensive of her friend's temperament.

Tom chuckled, "That's a little harsh, some people would say that that about you!" B'Elanna looked up at him defiantly and he smiled at her lovingly before a thought struck him, "Actually, the two of them back there reminded me a little of us."

"Us?" B'Elanna echoed incredulously, "Chakotay and Seven? What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

Tom smirked at her mischievously, "I'm just saying their arguments gave me flashbacks to us back in the day, when we were at each other's throats one minute and then…"

B'Elanna hit him on the arm as they finally reached their quarters. "No more speculation on other people's feelings tonight flyboy, I want you completely focused on me..."

Tom lifted her off the floor and carried her through the open doors. "Who do you think I was thinking of while I was stuck out there, hmm?" He murmured as he kissed her ear. B'Elanna responded by kissing deeply on the lips, tears of relief sliding down her face as his grip on her tightened and he continued further into the room, the doors closing behind him.


"Can I presume that database is keeping you suitably diverted during your stay here Commander?" The Doctor asked Chakotay, who was absorbed in the content of the PADD in his hands, while he scanned him.

"I'm fine Doctor." Chakotay replied quickly, his eyes again on the PADD, "I can't believe Seven managed to download the entire database…"

"You doubt my thoroughness Commander?" A shaky voice asked quietly from the doorway.

Chakotay grinned widely when he saw Seven. "Another joke?" he teased her lightly.

She bowed her head sheepishly for a moment before meeting his gaze again, "The Doctor told me you're recovering faster than expected, that is good news." She said softly as she gingerly approached his biobed.

"Yeah, I should be fit for duty again in another day or so." He replied cheerily before frowning slightly as he saw her unsettled expression, "Are you okay Seven? I know this was a…difficult mission for you…"

"I am still adapting to being back on Voyager." She admitted.

"That's understandable." Chakotay assured her, noticing how uncomfortable she looked and indicating the nearest chair, "Sit down; I've been wanting to talk to you."

Seven didn't look surprised as she sank into the chair. Chakotay couldn't help noting as she tucked her long legs gracefully under the chair that she would have made a good ballerina, but her next works jolted him from this thought. "I apologise for my…outburst on the Flyer Commander, it was unacceptable behaviour."

"Yes…it was." Chakotay told her slowly, "But then my behaviour was just as bad…if not worse, so let's just forget about it, okay?"

Surprise then relief dawned in her blue eyes before her head bobbed in a robotic nod, "As you wish."

"Good." Said Chakotay, pleased. "What I was going to say is that I was very…impressed by your words at the funeral, I could've never come up with something so meaningful and personal."

Seven winced and avoided his gaze. "I highly doubt Commander Kelly would've appreciated being compared to a Borg."

"You're not a Borg." Chakotay reminded her firmly, "I think he would've appreciated you giving him the baseball results most of all."

Seven blushed deeply. "You heard that?"

"Yes, I did." He answered with a gentle smile.

Embarrassed Seven suddenly thrust something into his lap, the rock from the Flyer. When he looked at her questioningly she said, "You should keep a piece of history."

"Yeah…" Chakotay agreed, turning the rock in his fist before pressing it gently back into her hand. "It's yours, to remind you of what you, actually both of us, learned."

Seven stared down at the rock in her hand for a moment. "Thank you…" She mumbled before standing up and walking back towards the doorway, "I will leave you to your recuperation."

"Okay…" Chakotay agreed somewhat reluctantly, "Thanks for coming to visit me." She nodded in acknowledgement and left him alone with his PADDS to return alone to her cargo bay, leaving her memento sitting pride of place by her alcove.

A/n: I was going to end this at the "The Doctor walked into to find him with a soft smile on his face" line, but I decided to continue beyond where the episode went, I hope you agree with my decision. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! :D

Thanks to all my reviewers, Sweetdeath04, lisac1965, LM2MM, Jedi Master Misty Sman-Esay, Teal06 and bugman62002 (I hope you liked my P/T scene!). Please review one more time! :D