PART FOUR

Chakotay seemed to have forgotten his phaser while absorbing this new information; it lay forgotten on his lap, and he was slumped on a nearby bench.

"Seska lived?"

Janeway looked at him with a sour expression, drawn away from her narrative.

"Chakotay, I can't tell you what happened if you keep interrupting me."

He stared at her incredulously. "Kathryn, for God's sake, why didn't you tell me about this?"

"Had I told you about Seska," Janeway explained patiently, "You would have wanted to know what kind of conversation we were having, and then from her words, you would have want to know about what sort of mission she was on, and from her mission you would have construed information about my mission, which would have fostered the bitterness you're showing me now. And the feelings you have--"

"I get the point," Chakotay snapped, remembering his own bad mood. After a second, he said, "So, Seska's ship was in the Delta Quadrant."

"That's right."

Chakotay looked up at her in amazement. "So a year and a half ago, when Seven of Nine started downloading too much information, and began forming those conspiracy theories, that image she showed us both, the image from Neelix's vessel of a Cardassian warship--"

"Was real. It was Seska's ship, when it arrived at the Array," Janeway replied. Reflective, she added, "I nearly had a heart attack when she showed me that image. I deleted it from the databanks a week later, made it look like a random accident."

* * *

Everything seemed to be going well. I'd gotten the information I wanted out of Seska, at least enough to ease my conscience. I understood a little better about what sort of mission Starfleet had sent me on, and just why I had ensured the continued safety of the Federation. I was feeling pretty damn good that I'd anticipated her inevitable return to life, and I was reassured that the planet I was depositing her on was completely uninhabited; I knew that once she was there, she would have no chance to return to trouble us further. So, naturally, I made the mistake of underestimating Seska again. As I was busy making course corrections, steering us towards her new home, Seska was busy overriding my security measures, and she managed to get the force field down without even alerting me.

* * *

Janeway sat at the helm, the phaser lying carelessly to the right of her. She occasionally glanced back at Seska, still confined behind the force field, and was somewhat surprised at the woman's passive acceptance of her fate. She supposed that dying and coming back to life was a sobering experience; perhaps Seska didn't want to risk death again.

So she was doubly startled when a dark hand snatched Janeway's phaser from where it was lying on the console and, before she had a chance to react, pressed it to the back of her neck. Janeway froze. She hadn't even heard the force field drop, much less the approach of the Cardassian.

"This is just classic, isn't it? In a remarkable twist of fate," Seska reveled, her voice ringing with triumph, "the vanquished heroine manages to gain the upper hand once again on the gullible starship captain."

"How the hell did you get past that force field?" Janeway demanded incredulously.

Seska leaned forward a little, and her hand snaked across the console; Janeway could tell she was entering a new course.

"When will you stop underestimating me?" Seska drawled. "I've fooled you time and again; I have inborn Cardassian ingenuity, the expertise of an Obsidian Order agent, training in the workings of Maquis, Cardassian, and Starfleet technology, plus the experience of command. You're a rookie at this game, Captain Janeway. Unfortunately for you," she tapped in a few more commands, and abruptly the helm was locked out of Janeway's control, "You're never going to get the chance to be any more than a rookie."

Before Janeway could reply, the butt of the phaser slammed against the back of her head, and abruptly the world went dark.

* * *

She woke up, her head throbbing. She found herself on the floor of the shuttle, her hands bound tightly behind her back. Seska's back was to her, and she seemed to be working on something. As though she sensed that Janeway was now awake, she spun around and gave her a malicious smile.

"I've been working on this for the last hour; what do you think?" Seska spun the chair so Janeway could see the screen Seska was working at, and with a few taps on the control panel, Kathryn was startled to see herself appear on the view screen.

"Voyager, if you're getting this, I just want to inform you that I'm all right," Kathryn's own voice filtered from the screen. Her hair was perfectly in place, and she seemed like her usual, immaculate self. "One of the warp coils blew out on the shuttle, and I'm currently on the Neimru Homeworld in negotiation for a new one. They're very reluctant to admit outsiders into their space, so I'm discouraging you from approaching the planet to retrieve me. Everything's going fine; I'll just be delayed a day or two. They're really very agreeable as long as they don't feel threatened. Your orders are to continue with the repair effort, and I'll be in contact with you again shortly. Janeway out."

Janeway's mouth still hung open after the transmission had cut off. Seska had captured her facial expressions, her intonation, her gestures absolutely perfectly. Seska studied her reaction, and then smiled a feral smile.

"I'm glad it meets your approval. I'm transmitting now. I do need to buy enough time, after all."

Janeway blinked at her. "Time for what?" She suddenly felt sick. "Are you taking us back to the Kazon?"

"The Kazon? Oh, no." She made a face. "Those fools have the manners of Klingons coupled with the idiocy of Nausicans. Though," she added thoughtfully, "I eventually have to retrieve my son. As long as Culluh doesn't realize I'm still alive."

"Where are we going, then?" Janeway rasped.

"I've been making friends in this quadrant, even since I left Voyager," Seska said thoughtfully. "Far more friends than you have. Have you heard of the Krowtonan Guard?" At Janeway's blank stare, Seska elaborated, "They have transporters. And replicators. Think of that! I do believe they're the only civilized species on this side of the Delta Quadrant, albeit a tad xenophobic." She looked suddenly very self-satisfied. "I've taken the liberty of cultivating their trust. They seem to believe we have a mutual enemy. They claim to have encountered a Federation Starship."

Janeway shook her head. "They're mistaken. We've never come into contact with any Krowtonan Guard."

Seska smiled. "Well, they certainly believe they've encountered you--they claim you violated their space, and that they did quite a bit of damage before you escaped. Of course, the encounter they cite apparently took place a good six months before we even arrived in this quadrant, but who am I to deny them an enemy?" She turned back to her console, put in a few more course corrections. "I think we'll prove a nice present to them--my expertise to help strengthen their empire, your scientific knowledge to advance their technology, and pieces of your broken body to adorn their bulkheads."

"How charming."

"Besides, we never did finish our conversation. You were going to tell me just how you planned going to get the crew home?" Seska said, rising out of her seat and approaching Janeway. Janeway struggled up to a sitting position. She could still smell the embalming powder on Seska, though the other woman seemed to have washed most of it off.

Janeway said, "Don't tell me we're getting into this again!"

Seska shrugged. "You can tell me now, or I can torture it out of you once we intercept the Krowtonan Guard. It's your choice."

Janeway finally smiled nastily. "Fine. You want to know how we're getting home? A portal. In the middle of Borg space."

Seska backhanded her, sending Janeway back to the floor. "I'll make you wish for the Borg once I'm through with you," she hissed.

Seska stalked back over to the navigation controls, and Janeway smiled grimly to herself, marveling at the fact that despite every precaution she'd taken, she was back in Seska's mercy.

Kathryn would look back at this day, wryly reflecting that the sarcastic comment she'd made about the portal being in Borg space later proved to be dead on. But she didn't know that at the time she'd made it.

Shortly later, Seska seemed to decide she preferred Kathryn unconscious. She returned to Janeway's side, raised the phaser above her head, and clonked Janeway hard in the back of the head. Kathryn slumped to the floor, this time only very dizzy and not rendered unconscious by the blow, but unwilling to let it on to Seska. Seska kicked her with her foot, as if to ensure Janeway's incapacitation. Janeway fought back a pained grunt, and was relieved when Seska turned away and stopped paying attention to her.

Kathryn fought against her dizziness, and began to discreetly work on her bonds.

Sometime later, she realized she was making progress. Her bonds were steadily growing looser. She peeked up at Seska, and realized that the other woman had stopped paying attention to her, naturally assuming that Janeway was helpless now that she was supposedly unconscious and tied up. You underestimate me now, Seska, Janeway thought.

Seska had locked her out of the navigation and transporter controls--there was no way Kathryn could hack through the lockouts quickly enough to harm Seska, and the odds were she wouldn't get the phaser form the Cardassian as easily as the Cardassian had gotten the phaser from her. She couldn't take Seska in hand-to-hand combat--Cardassians were known to be stronger than humans. She had to be trickier.

Lying on the floor, she quickly formulated her plan.

Janeway slowly worked the ropes from her arms. She waited on the floor a second, allowing circulation to return to her joints. She would have only one shot at this.

Finally, she sprung to her feet.

Seska whirled around with a cry at the sudden movement, and raised her phaser to shoot. Janeway was too quick, and avoided the phaser shot that ricocheted off the wall behind her. She darted across the shuttle and threw herself against the control panel on the opposite wall. Janeway grasped firmly onto the wall, and Seska raised the phaser again, amazed that Janeway would stand in place and make herself such an easy target. Before she had a chance to fire, Janeway slammed her hand upon the console, and the airlock door to Seska's side suddenly sprung open, revealing the black vacuum of space. She saw the horror cross Seska's face only briefly before the other woman dropped her phaser and made a desperate grab for a handhold. The Cardassian's long, dark hair was the first thing to whip up into the air as though in a strong wind.

Janeway felt a sudden wind lifting her feet from the ground, and only her firm hold on the wall kept her from being blown out along with the oxygen suddenly fleeing out into the vacuum of space. Seska screamed, the sound muffled as the oxygen that carried it was sucked out of the shuttle, and suddenly the Cardassian was sent careening through the air--she hadn't grabbed anything to hold in time. She thrashed helplessly as she flew towards the airlock. The scream abruptly faded as Seska disappeared out the airlock into the vacuum of space, and Janeway, suddenly feeling the pressure of the gasses within her own body straining against the reduced pressure in the shuttle, slammed her hand back down on the console to shut the airlock again.

As soon as the airlock slammed closed, she sank onto the floor of the shuttle, suddenly weak with exertion and oxygen deprivation. It took her many minutes to pull herself back up to her shaky feet, and she almost vomited when she noticed the unmistakable redness of Cardassian blood spattered across the window outside. It probably had frozen immediately, upon the explosion of Seska's body.

"Regenerate after that," Janeway muttered to herself. She lowered herself into the pilot's seat, and with trembling hands began the tedious process of hacking through Seska's navigation lockouts. With enough time, she regained control of the shuttle, and set a course back to Voyager.

* * *

Janeway stopped this time, interested in what Chakotay would think of the events she'd related. He was silent, his expression unreadable. When he noticed her silence, he gestured for her to continue. Disappointed that he was offering her no insight into the current turn of his thoughts, Janeway continued.

* * *

The next year passed uneventfully, at least with regards to the mission. Seska was dead; I knew what I needed to. Every day, we got closer and closer to the Iconian portal. I was optimistic. When we encountered that wormhole, and those damn Ferengi collapsed it, I didn't let it upset me. Less than a thousand light years more, and we'd be on our way home. And it was good timing, in my mind. After that Vorick pon-farr debacle, when you and I saw that Borg corpse, I knew it was time to steer clear of this quadrant. When we actually reached Borg space, and encountered Species 8472, this belief was only reaffirmed.

I was soon troubled. We were at the approximate coordinates of the Iconian portal, the coordinates related to me by Admiral Hayes. I had Tuvok constantly scan the sectors, under the pretense that we were watching for Borg activity. Two weeks passed, and we never detected any trace of the portal. I couldn't sleep. I had to keep myself occupied. I created the Da Vinci holoprogram to divert myself from this constant state of fear, and it worked for the most part. Then we got into the mess with Species 8472, and Tuvok and I ended up on the Borg ship, working with the Borg. I immediately identified Seven of Nine as a fount of knowledge, and I took the chance to inquire with this drone about the Iconian Empire.

* * *

"Species 4118, Iconian," the drone clipped. "Borg memory is fragmented from this time period, but we know this species presided over an empire spanning across approximately 75.6% of the known galaxy."

Janeway blinked. "That's quite a number. What happened to them?"

Seven of Nine stared at her unblinkingly. "They foolishly devoted their resources towards the destruction of the Borg." The drone cocked her head, eyes chillingly absent. "They added to our perfection."

Heavy stuff.

Seven of Nine began to walk to another console; the drone was not inclined to participate in conversation, but this was not an issue Janeway would allow to slide.

She took a breath, and ventured, "It sounds like you have some first hand knowledge of this species."

"You are correct," Seven of Nine replied matter-of-factly. "Approximately forty-nine days ago we encountered a primitive slipstream portal once used by Species 4118 to interconnect separate sectors of their empire."

Janeway sharply drew in her breath. That was it. That. Was. It. That's the portal she'd been searching for the past four years. That's the portal that would get them home.

The world seemed to slow to a stop around her. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears as she asked, "And what did the Borg do when they found it?"

Seven turned a cold eye to her. "We deconstructed the portal and assimilated the technology. Borg transwarp is a far more efficient method of travel." The drone turned back to the monitor and resumed to her work, oblivious to the stricken look on the human woman's face.