Chapter 3
Chakotay couldn't help but feel a little taken aback by seeing his friends in this reality (or whatever it was). He took each of their appearances in as they sat around him and Kathryn in the Briefing Room.
This B'Elanna looked very much like the one he remembered, but her hair was longer and starting to gray. She had arrived with Tom, the sides of their bodies touching as they walked. Chakotay thought it probably meant they were still married. Tom's hair was still blond, but he had bald spots. The couple smiled at him as they sat down.
Next came Lieutenants Vorik and Ayala. This is new, Chakotay thought. Vorik seemed to have aged very little, probably due to the longer Vulcan lifespan. And Mike Ayala's hair was no longer black, but the man still looked as fit as when Chakotay had first met him.
The last-comers were the Doctor and Seven of Nine. Seven didn't have implants on her face and hand anymore, and she wore a regular Science-blue Starfleet uniform.
When they were all settled and, apparently, already informed of his... situation (they were all looking at him curiously), Kathryn began.
"As you already know, Commander Chakotay-"
"Where's Harry?" Chakotay interrupted, surprised that they were starting without him.
What he saw then was a group of people reacting as one: all of them, without exception, looked wounded. The reaction was so unique and overwhelming that he knew at once that Harry was dead. His shoulders dropped, and he looked down. He felt Kathryn take his hand under the table.
"Chakotay," she said, swallowing, "Harry died 3 years ago."
"Harry can't have died, I was just with him yester-" He stopped himself once he realized how absurd he must sound to the others. "What happened?" he asked. "And what happened to Tuvok?"
He was agitated. Harry was his friend and, in a sense, so was Tuvok. How could he have forgotten their deaths? And if that was the future, could he go back and do something to prevent their demise? He felt Kathryn's hand on his face and realized she was talking to him.
"I know what you're thinking, and I know how you must be feeling. But they're not here, and you are. We need to focus on the situation we have on our hands now. I'll answer all your questions later. But, right now, we need to find out what's happening to you."
He could feel himself blushing. She really didn't care that there were other people there with them. And she was so gentle with him, her tone of voice so soft, that she somewhat looked younger. He could see she wasn't younger. But, again, he thought about how much she reminded him of who she was during their first couple of years in the Delta Quadrant. He looked at this Kathryn, his... wife, and he could see that other one. She behaved toward him as she did before the romantic aspect of their relationship, her guilt and the Delta Quadrant got in the way.
Her tone, if not her words, calmed him down. He nodded his assent and the meeting was resumed.
The first to report was the Doctor. He hadn't found any microorganisms that could be responsible for his memory loss. Nor did Chakotay have any concussions or other type of injury that justified his condition. The Doctor would run more thorough scans on the samples of tissue he already had. But his preliminary results favored the temporal distortion hypothesis.
"But if I've come from the past, then where's the Chakotay who's been living here in the present? Shouldn't there be two of us?"
"Not necessarily," B'Elanna answered. "This could be a different timeline from the one you remember."
"B'Elanna is correct," said Seven. "Several incidents like this have been reported by the Enterprise in 2370. We have a report on the ship's database from General Worf, then a lieutenant serving on the Enterprise, involving a temporal rift."
"I seem to remember reading Ambassador Picard's logs on some similar event that occurred around that time," Kathryn said, squinting her eyes. "Actually, he reported waking up repeatedly in different points in time, same as you, Chakotay."
"Well, I'm not shifting, but... I think we should try to determine if my present and your past are from the same timeline."
"Why don't you tell us about your present? Then we can see if it's the same as we remember it," said B'Elanna.
Chakotay thought about it and decided it would be best to be very specific. It was possible to have very similar timelines. Hell, it was even possible to have timelines that were identical but for the fact that, one day, he decided to wear a white shirt instead of a blue one. However, being specific was the best way he could think of to tell them apart, if it was possible and if, indeed, they weren't the same.
He started with B'Elanna.
"Almost three years ago," he said, "we were on the holodeck and I told you that losing people was inevitable, but that you had a family on Voyager, and that you were stuck with us. Do you remembered that?"
She smiled.
"You told me we'd figure it out together," she said, her smile widening. "Yeah, I remember that."
"When you were promoted to Lieutenant," Chakotay said to Tom, "I ordered you to open the case that contained the new pip. And I told you that you were not only late but also not properly dressed. You should have seen your face when you arrived on the Bridge and we reprimanded you for being 20 seconds late."
"Yeah, you and the captain must have gotten a real kick out of planning that little scheme," Tom said. "I always wondered how you managed to get Tuvok on board."
"It was easier than you'd think," Kathryn said. "He practically jumped at the idea."
Chakotay related other similarly personal stories about some of the other people who were present. For example, he remembered drinking synthehol all night with Mike just a couple of weeks before, when the latter learned, after the comm link with Earth was established, that his older kid had had a son. All the stories checked, and even the dialog the two parties involved could recall was the same.
"Well, we can't be 100% sure, of course," said Kathryn, "but it seems that our timelines are the same."
"When was the last time we saw Q?" Chakotay asked.
"It's been a while," said Tom.
"Not long enough," added Ayala.
Kathryn chuckled. "Junior visits frequently enough, but he wouldn't do anything like this."
"Junior?" Chakotay said, surprised.
"Yes, well... I am his godmother, remember?"
"We haven't exhausted all the possibilities," said Vorik. "Commander Chakotay's condition might be the Q-continuum's doing. And it might also be the result of some sort of temporal rift we've not yet been able to detect. However, the simplest explanation is that the commander is suffering from either temporary or permanent memory loss. I'd recommend we explore that theory first.
"I'm already on it, Mr. Vorik", said the Doctor, impatiently.
"Perhaps I should join Icheb in Astrometics to see if we can modify the sensors to scan for other types of radiation," suggested Seven.
"Yes, Seven, that's a good idea," Kathryn said.
Seven got up and left.
"I'll run a diagnostics on the transporters. Transporter accidents have been known to cause temporal shifting," said B'Elanna.
"And I'll... I'll pilot the ship," began Tom. "'Cause somebody has to... pilot the ship... while you all..."
Kathryn couldn't suppress the smile that came to her lips. Then she turned to the others.
"Report to me with any new findings. Dismissed."
They all got up. Chakotay lingered behind, because he wanted to talk to Kathryn. There was so much he had to ask! But B'Elanna and Tom seemed to be doing the same thing.
"Hey, big guy," B'Elanna said to Chakotay. "You should come give me a hand."
"I'm sure you can manage without me, B'Elanna," he replied.
"No, really," she said, "I want you to come."
When had B'Elanna become so protective of Kathryn? He only wanted to ask her a few things. It was not as if he could – or would – put her in an awkward position. She was fully capable of deciding just how much faith she had in the Temporal Prime Directive and whether it was applicable at all.
"Look, B'Elanna, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but Kathryn and I can sort this out," he said.
"You were always like this, weren't you?" She rolled her eyes. "Not everything is about your precious Kathryn, Chakotay. No offense, Captain."
"None taken," she said, sincerely.
"There's just someone in the Transporter Room I want you to meet. Now come on, old man! Don't make me kick your butt."
Chakotay laughed. That hadn't changed. He exchanged a look with Kathryn and started to walk toward the door.
"Yeah," said Tom, as they were about to leave. "And you know she could, old man."
Chakotay stopped. Deliberately, he placed a hand on Tom's shoulder.
"Tom, for all I know, we may have been like brothers during these past few years. But, regardless of what happened, I've know B'Elanna a lot longer. She can call me anything she wants. You... well, you'd better just watch it."
For a few seconds, Tom was not sure whether he was serious or not. But Kathryn and B'Elanna, who knew better, were smiling.
"Yes, sir!" Tom said, and Chakotay smiled as well.
He left with B'Elanna, and Tom looked at Kathryn, opening his arms in confusion and mouthing something she couldn't understand. Then he rolled his eyes and went after them.
=/\=