DISCLAIMER: Everything of any worth belongs to Paramount.

AUTHOR: Riverhawk

NOTES: Episode Add on For Natural Law

But To See The Wood For The Trees

" Beautiful, isn't it? "Chakotay noted.

" A sensor analysis would have provided the necessary information," Seven replied.

" Just admiring the view," he replied distractedly.

Considering Seven's emerging interest in the humanity that had surrounded her for the last three years, he had expected a little more interest.

" The conference begins in less than an hour," Seven continued dispassionately and with a hint of annoyance.

" There's always time for Warp Field Dynamics, but you don't see natural beauty like this every day," Chakotay persisted.

He wasn't entirely sure that he was getting through to her. She continued to play the console with typical Borg efficiency. It was a shame, Chakotay thought, because the view really was amazing. But he was never one to push anyone to do something they didn't want to

Seven watched him sigh gently and return his gaze to the treetops below. The scene was indeed beautiful. Such a verdant array of green was a rare colour indeed aboard ship. Seven even found it calming. But like her mentor, Seven was stubborn. She planned to give it a minute before she actually gave in and looked. It wasn't as if she were adverse to the scene, she had flown the shuttle here for him after all. She had, however, found that the Commander was a man who appreciated a slower approach to things. Somehow, blind adulation didn't seem to be what the Commander was after. As her litany to him the other week had shown, his past love affairs often involved very independent women.

Before Seven could enact her plan, the shuttle shook violently, a continuous shimmy vibrating the ship.

" What was that? " Chakotay demanded, all thoughts of the forest below gone.

He worked the panel in front of him as Seven analysed the area below them, but he only saw one system after another begin to fail. He tried to raise shields but they only seemed to exasperate the situation, forcing the warp core offline. He knew Seven was attempting to stay one step ahead of the cascade, her hands hitting commands and rerouting systems with practiced ease. He looked at her briefly as if to ask for a report, but she only shook her head ever so slightly as she returned his gaze. It told him all that he needed to know.

" Warning. Structural failure in thirty seconds," the computer announced evenly. It made there imminent destruction sound common place.

It seems to be getting as used to me crashing as I am, he thought to himself. He ordered Seven to transport, and after rectifying that impossibility with a phaser realignment, they disappeared in a shimmer of familiar blue light. They landed unceremoniously on the forest floor and watched as the ship spiralled into an explosion.

B'Elanna's going to kill me, he thought to himself as he watched the flaming shards fall down into the canopy.


Kathryn was having one of those days, whatever they were. She had been greeted by the oddest of messages this morning when she had woken.

Kathryn

Going to Warp Field Dynamics conference with Seven. Should only be gone a couple of days. Will check in 19.00 hours. Have briefed Tuvok on all current matters. I've told him to keep and eye out for Paris. He's gone joyriding in the flyer looking for somewhere nice to take B'Elanna.

Hope you have a nice shore leave.

Chakotay.

Nice shore leave, Kathryn cringed to herself. That was about as bland as the conversation could possibly get. Besides what shore leave was she going to get now with Chakotay gone. It wouldn't really be very fair of her to ask Tuvok to pick up all of Chakotay's shifts.

Actually his taking off had rather annoyed her, in more ways than one. Despite the fact that he had left her stuck with his night shifts on ship going nowhere, she had been planning to invite him to dinner that evening. They hadn't shared a meal together since…well it was longer than she could remember. She thought it must have been about that time that he had ordered B'Elanna to blow out the deflector array and then steadfastly refused to tell her why.

Regardless of when it had been, the fact was that between her depression and a myriad of other things that had cropped up, they had been forced one time after another to call a raincheck on their Thursday rituals. The recent death of Joe Carey had served as a short sharp shock to remind her that despite the disagreements that they might have had, there was nothing like a good friend. They stood by you, supported you and, when needed, they picked you up and put you back on your feet. Joe Carey had died for his friends. She had no doubt at all that Chakotay would have done the same for her, and she for him.

So why in the hell was he off galavanting around a warp dynamics conference with Seven, she thought. She knew her friend well, and warp dynamics were just not his thing.

That was when it had hit her. If he wasn't going for the entertainment, then he had to be there for the company. And that bothered her.

She was about to give herself a stern lecture on the fact that she had no right to be jealous or possessive given all the false hopes she had given him in the past, but her door chimed and pulled her from her thoughts.

" Come," she had called.

And in had wandered the other thorn in her side. Thomas Eugene Paris.

" You asked to see me, Captain ?" he tried with as innocent an expression as he could muster. He was good, Janeway thought, but she was better. She'd give him points for trying though.

With out her needing to speak a word, the whole conversation of how he had ended up in her office seemed to be exchanged in a few simple looks, and she noticed her helmsman slump visibly at the thought of what was to come.

" I can explain," he began.

Kathryn merely raised an eyebrow, Tom was doing so well interpreting for her, she thought she would let him run with it for a while.

" I was not speeding," he continued," despite what they say."

Kathryn merely inclined her head, another quizzical look on her face. She crossed her arms over her chest and pursed her lips a little, as if she were deciding whether or not to believe him. Tom not racing was like saying Tuvok wasn't logical.

" All right, maybe I was a little over the port authority mandate," Tom carried on, his guilt seemingly sending his vocal chords into overtime,"but it was nothing to write home about. ...So what have they landed me with."

Kathryn handed him the padd, grinning inwardly as he read over the specification of charges and the concomitant punishment. Saying nothing and watching her helmsman squirm was infinitely more amusing than she thought, and it beat the hell out of yelling at him.

" Piloting lessons! " he cried out.

Kathryn wasn't sure whether he was just in shock or whether the thought of someone actually teaching him to fly after all this time actually caused him pain, but it took everything she had to retain her command veneer. She wished that Chakotay were here. He would have found this priceless, a chance to finally get one up on the younger man.

" Apparently," she finally replied returning her attention to the matter at hand, Paris's bemoaning of his punishment," the standard penalty for your infraction is a three day course in flight safety, followed by a test."

" Well did you explain we wouldn't be here that long? " Paris retorted, only vaguely conscious that he was pushing the bounds of propriety as he addressed his captain.

Kathryn noted it, but she was having too much fun in an otherwise dull day to start reining Tom in.

" Actually, while you were completing your 'mission;" Kathryn replied, not wanting to give embarrass her officer with the truth that Chakotay had told her," Seven was invited to a four day conference".

She watched Paris wince. Tom thought he already knew the answer but desperation made him ask anyway.

"Here on Ledos ?"

Janeway nodded, a small smile of enjoyment touching the corner of her lips.

" I decided to give the entire crew shore leave," she announced " It'll give you plenty of time to brush up on your piloting skills".

She watched as she saw Tom's plans of a four day R and R with his wife beam themselves into space. Crossing his arms over his chest and sprouting a look of well honed sulky petulance, he turned to face his Captain.

"I don't need lessons !" he argued.

The look might have worked with his mother and father in the past, and it might even have worked with his wife now, but it didn't phase Kathryn. If she could build up an immunity to Chakotay's dimples, Paris' tricks were no threat at all. They did serve to brighten her miserable day though.

" Apparently the authorities disagree," she countered.

" But Captain…"

Janeway raised her hand to stop Paris mid word. She had given him enough leeway. Funtime was over. They were still, after all, Starfleet Officers.

" You may not have known the Ledosians' rules," she reminded Tom," but you know ours. Comply with local law. Understood? "

Tom Paris may have got away with murder with the captain, or so his wife and the first officer had told him over the years, but he also knew when he was beat, and he was getting the sense now that, as she had let him vent, the time for discussion was over. Unclasping his arms from across his chest, he brought himself up to his full height and snapped to attention.

" Yes, ma'am," he conceded and politely, he excused himself and left her office.

Okay there is at least one good side to all this, Paris thought as the left the bridge and headed for his quarters.

At least I haven't told B'Elanna I was planning anything, he thought, Bursting the illusions of pregnant Klingon wives was not something one did lightly if it could at all possibly be avoided.

Kathryn Janeway watched with more than a little grin as the door to her ready room hissed closed and she was once again alone. She had to admit that had been a lot more fun than she would have thought a lecture should be. She hadn't meant to play with Tom that much, although she had intended to make him squirm. But the conversation had taken on a life of its own.

Sighing heavily, she ordered another coffee.


Chakotay couldn't help but look around the scenery at him as Seven studied the remains of the wreckage.

"The relays are fused. It's useless," she announced.

"Looks like we're not the only ones here," Chakotay noted as he flipped open the tricorder.

" Indigenous wildlife perhaps ?" Seven argued, but even she was not convinced by her own words.

" I'm reading residual lifesigns," Chakotay offered. That alone was not unexpected. The sub-report on the life signs was however very unexpected," They're humanoid."

" Ledosian? Seven postulated, seeming not in the least surprised.

" No, but they share the same genetic traits. Whoever they are, they may be able to help us."

Seven understood why people tended to get carried away with their own enthusiasm. Ensign Kim had a particular proclivity for it. But she too was beginning to find the Commander's enthusiasm interesting.

" Unless they're hostile," Seven added.

Always the downside with her, Chakotay thought as he stood gingerly on his leg. He had no idea how he had manage to scrape that on the way in. Truth was he didn't want to think about it because he had an uncanny feeling that the reality was going to prove to him that it had been too close to call. He was pretty sure that a section of the exploding shuttle had nicked his leg before the pattern buffers had fully de-materialised him. Taking a deep patient breath, he looked back up at her with a smile.

" Why don't we give them the benefit of the doubt," he offered to her and this time Seven merely nodded her ascent. Relieved, Chakotay gestured the path they should take, " The lifesigns lead in that direction."

" I suggest you rest your leg while I investigate," Seven proffered.

Chakotay had hoped that she wouldn't see him wince. The pain wasn't really all that bad. He had most certainly had worse in his life, and probably would again, much to the EMH's annoyance no doubt. This time though the pain was just in a damn awkward place. It was just going to make their journey a little slow. Chakotay was touched by Seven's concern, though, even if he was certain that it was provoked more by Borg efiiciency than althruism.

" It's better is we stick together, at least until we know whether they're hostile," Chakotay replied, dismissing her idea.

Nodding her ascent Seven led the way. She was pleased that she was not forced to leave him behind, although efficiency had made her offer it as a logical course of action. After all she was the one who had invited Chakotay on this trip, and she was the one who had decided to act upon his suggestion that they swing by the forest to look at the scenery. It was just unfortunate that she seemed to have transported the curse Tom Paris believed the Commander carried with him where shuttles were concerned.

" Well," Chakotay chuckled to himself as he hobbled along behind her," this was little more of the forest than I originally planned to see."

Seven turned to look at him, saw the gentle smile that spread over his face and the playfulness in his eyes as he teased. It seemed Chakotay was not the sort to hold grudges. Returning his grin, Seven continued down the trail.


When the walls seemed to grow faces and start talking to her, Kathryn decided there was every chance that she had had too much coffee. She tossed the padd onto the desk, not feeling too guilty about it as considered the author. Had it been something Harry had slaved over til the wee hours of the morning, she might have asked her conscience to have another go at reading it. But it was one of Tuvok's and he turned out those things in his sleep.

Massaging the bridge of her nose, Kathryn decided that it was probably time that she took some R and R. Damn that Chakotay, she thought as she wearily stood and stretched her aching joints. That made two things that he had missed. Tom Paris squirming for all he was worth and Kathryn Janeway voluntarily taking the day off. He was going to be sorry that he had decided to bore himself rigid at that conference. With a slightly evil chuckle, Kathryn turned over the bridge to Tuvok and headed for her quarters.


As Chakotay pulled himself up to the ridge and look down on the clearing below him, he felt his heart soar. Below him was an anthropologists dream. The terracotta skinned people milled about their everyday routine. They cultivated and they cooked. Chakotay watched as the women and children worked on an intricate beadwork pattern. Another one, Chakotay noted, was busy putting the finishing touches to a blanket. All in all he found the first sight of their culture exhilarating. But it wasn't exactly what he was looking for.

" I'm guessing they're pre-warp," Chakotay muttered his voice laced with irony.

Seven looked at him a tad admonishingly. He couldn't help but smile.

" Obviously they can't help us," she continued, trying to avoid echoing his smile,

" No, I don't suppose they can, but they're fascinating, aren't they? I never expected to run into people like these on such a technologically advanced planet," Chakotay said, returning his attention again to the scene below him.

" This isn't an anthropological mission, Commander," Seven reminded him.

Chakotay sighed. He wished that Seven would see the uniqueness of the situation here. This was a truly amazing find given the environs it had been found amidst. It was like going back home and finding a tribe of Iroquois or Sioux in the Appalachians or the Great Plains, perfectly preserved in their original infrastructure, un-touched by invading cultures.

Chakotay thought back to that day when he was a child, when his father had pushed, talked and cajoled him through the Central American rainforest. Chakotay had hated every minute of the trip. But he had remembered the look of sheer joy on his father's face at the discovery he had made. He understood now, looking down on the culture below him, just how his father had felt. He wished Seven would understand just what this meant to him. He wished she would share in his wonderment and fascination. Kathryn would have understood.

" You're right. We should keep searching for debris," Chakotay answered resignedly shaking off that thought, and pushing himself off the ground. He felt the muscle in his leg seer in pain and give out under him.

" You're developing an infection," Seven noted as she scanned his leg with the tricorder, her forehead furrowing in concern. Closing the tricorder, she looked across at him sympathetically." You should rest".

Chakotay didn't like the idea. Seven wasn't as adept at manouvering in the jungle as he was. But they weren't going to get out of here anytime soon if he insisted on hobbling round the jungle with her.

" I'll have to stay here and try to keep out of sight," Chakotay agreed as he lowered himself down in the shade of a tree,

" I'll contact you if I find anything useful," Seven replied.

As she stood, Chakotay gently reached out and grabbed her arm. Seven's instinct was to lash out, throw his arm off, but she found herself enjoying his touch of her.

" I guess I don't have to tell you to avoid interacting with these people," Chakotay noted gently.


Seven had felt real fear as she stood, surrounded by jungle, waiting for Chakotay to answer her hail. The line remained silent, staticless. Feeling something she could not yet analyse, Seven had ran. She ran harder than she thought possible. He was not in the shade of the tree, where she realised that she had hoped he still was, perhaps resting or sleeping in the shade. But he was gone.

Seven calmed herself. Such frantic actions were not becoming of a Borg, she thought. But she wasn't Borg any more, she didn't want to be Borg any more. She has been considering the Doctor's offer this morning as she had packed for the trip, to undergo a series of operations to remove the emotional inhibitor of her cortical node. Being the subject of someone else's design was not a scenario un-familiar to her as a Borg. The Borg lived to someone else's command, and Seven had sworn to herself and the captain that she would never be that way again.

But this morning, as Chakotay had enquired as to her shore leave plans and then agreed to accompany her when she invited him suddenly to the conference with her, Seven had discovered that she was wanting to be someone other than she was. She wanted, she realised, to be someone Chakotay wanted. The realisation of that had consumed much of her thoughts during their trip, and she was not entirely certain that it hadn't led to their predicament. Had she been so pre-occupied with thoughts of the Commander that she had missed the energy readings of the barrier ?

She had reached the native camp, spotted him off to one side. Several natives leaned over him. With all the Borg courage that she could muster, she strode forward into the throng of people.

" Step away from him !" she demanded.

Chakotay's head spun upwards, part relieved to see her, part nervous as to what she would do.

" It's all right, Seven," he called out to her, trying to placate her with as soft a voice as he could so that he didn't frighten his new acquaintances, " They're friendly. They're treating my wound."

Seven looked down at him, and Chakotay could see relief obvious in her eyes. He gave her a gentle, friendly smile as he saw her relax. Restraining her confrontational body language, Seven reached out to help her friend sit up.

" You said we were supposed to avoid interaction," Seven teased, her tone successfully remaining slightly annoyed.

Chakotay couldn't help but stare at her momentarily. He had seen Seven respond well to his admittedly warped sense of humour, even matching him in their verbal banter. But he had never seen Seven start one of their repartees, and he surprised himself with the realisation that he liked it.

" They found me," Chakotay ginned at her, adding innocently," There was nothing I could do ".

" You should have tried to contact me," Seven offered.

" I didn't want to expose them to our technology," Chakotay replied, which was the truth.

" You hid your combadge."

Chakotay reached or his ear, his habit of twiddling with the lobe when he found something puzzling or awkward coming out again. He didn't want to break this bubble of good humour that he shared with Seven. Despite their surroundings and predicament, he was enjoying their conversation.

" Actually, your call scared them," he ventured," They broke it".

Seven did not look pleased at the fate that befell his combadge.

" I suggest we leave before they break anything else," she countered.

Chakotay looked at her again, and this time he saw the fear beneath the Borg efficiency and their friendly banter. Seven was not accustomed to being dependant on anyone for safe harbour, and in the past that had included her friends aboard Voyager as well. The machine side of her also had a hard time without the presence of technology. She just couldn't grasp the nature of a technologically free world. Chakotay on the other hand knew it better than the world of technology that he now lived in. Dorvan had thrived on its simplicity, it's return to the pre-technology roots of their ancestors. He reached out for her and took her hand.

"Look, they're friendly and I am hurt." He began.

" What are you suggesting?" Seven asked. Part of her dallied over the various implied meanings that Mr Paris might have concocted over the meaning of the words. But Chakotay was not Paris.

" We may as well stay the night," Chakotay offered.

On the other hand, he could sound a lot like Paris at times.

" Commander?" she queried.

Chakotay suddenly grasped the breadth of what he had said. In any body's book and by any body's standards, he had just invited Seven to spend the night with him. He wondered what Kathryn would say if she knew, and he found his thoughts drifting to the times that they had been forced to spend a night or two away from the ship, the innuendo nature of the conversations that had played between them. Chakotay had enjoyed that as much as he surprised himself now by enjoying Seven's presence.

" It's good shelter, and my leg feels better since they put this dressing on," he suddenly forced the words from his throat to draw his attention back to the situation at hand. They were, after all, being watched.

" I'm going to get some rest. I suggest you do the same," Chakotay added as he shuffled down to lay on the platform.

Seven looked around at their environment and realised for the frst time that the little enclave was a pretty and tranquil place. Seven heard the evening song of the birds and found it oddly moving as she lay down beside her friend and slept

Chakotay lay there with his eyes closed, listening to Seven relax. There was a time he thought that he would have given anything not to be in the same room as Seven. Now, here, he was suddenly feeling that perhaps that wasn't so bad. The concern in Seven's eyes when she had attempted to rescue him from the natives was something that he thought that he would never see in her and it touched him. Perhaps it was that potential for humanity that had so encouraged him to attend the conference with her.

There was certainly one fact that could not be overlooked, Chakotay thought as he felt his eyes become heavier. At least Seven was enjoying the experience of their night under the stars. He chuckled when he thought of the amount of cussing and moaning Kathryn had made when they had camped out that first night on New Earth before he completed their modular panel house, beige side in because, in her words, she had always looked better in beige. Kathryn had proven to be very much a woman of the twenty fourth century. To that end he had finished the shelter, made her a head board for her sore neck and built her a bath tub. She had found camping a little nicer after that. As Chakotay made a final yawn and felt his eyes close shut, he wondered if Seven liked bath tubs.......


Chakotay was never one for being frightened. But he was frightened now. It had grown dark and Seven was still nowhere to be seen. He knew he should never have let her go off on her own.

Seven had left not long after the morning meal, intent on retrieving enough of the wreckage of their ship to produce a tetrion based signal that they both knew Voyager would detect. He had spent an interesting afternoon lamenting his earlier excitement at their anthropological gemstone that they had found. He had assumed that his ways of peace and non-threatening behaviour would have been enough to enter their society without leaving any indelible mark on their evolution. He had been wrong. When he had hobbled along on his crutch he had been greeted by a swathe of tattooed faces. The tattoo was of a very familiar pattern. He suddenly agreed with Seven, that it was wrong for them to be there. Seven…..his thoughts wandered.

It might have sounded a little condescending Chakotay thought….. no actually it sounded quite a bit condescending, but Seven seemed to be making such an effort since they had taken up residence in the little enclave. It wasn't just the extra care that she afforded his leg, but also the uncommon amount of patience she showed the natives. He knew that as a former drone Seven had a hard time with a society that failed to keep pace with her. It wasn't merely less developed communities. She had expressed more than her fair share of frustration at crew aboard Voyager who seemed not to understand whatever esoteric point she was trying to get at. Sometimes the math was just beyond them. She had even barked at him at times when he failed to see her point or agree to her plan, which he had always thought of as only fair considering he had tried to blow her out of an airlock at one point. Despite their disagreements they had formed a good working relationship over the years. In that way she reminded him a lot of Kathryn. He would even go so far as to say friendship was forming of late.

Ah Kathryn. Was she going to be...how could he put it delicately...annoyed, he thought, when she found out. It was only the other week that he had been protesting his innocence when it came to keeping shuttles in the air. It would be a while before Kathryn found him, as he hadn't exactly told Tuvok he might swing by for a look at the forest.

" I'm starting to sound like Paris," he muttered to himself, over breakfast with Seven, itself a more enjoyable experience than he had expected.

" His unique vocabulary does have a way of permeating one's own expressions," Seven agreed, as she hooked her fingers into some of the surprisingly delicious berry concoction they had been offered for morning meal.

She carefully spooned the fingerful into her mouth. When she looked up she found Chakotay watching her every motion, his eyes fixated on her fingers. She rather liked him observing her. Realising he had been caught, Chakotay smiled and returned to his own meal.

" Try spending seven years with him," Chakotay continued, picking up the threads of their conversation. " You even start thinking in his way too."

Seven paused dramatically

" A truly disturbing thought," she joked.

Chakotay stopped mid motion of bringing his breakfast to his mouth. He looked over at her, a even wider grin settling over his features. Seven was actually making a joke. Normally she was as stoic as Tuvok. Before he could stop himself, an amused laugh erupted from him and he only managed to bring it under control when they had drawn looks from the locals.

" Ahuh," Chakotay nodded, as he restarted his meal

" How do Lieutenenant Torres and Ensign Kim manage ?" Seven asked with a smile.

" Well Harry just never knew any better before Tom got a hold of him, " Chakotay told her, thinking back over their first days aboard Voyager. In reality it had been Harry who had adopted Tom when he found himself alone among the crew.

" And B'Elanna, " Chakotay added, returning to the conversation," well I think she just threatens him every now and then with her bat'leth to keep him in line."

Seven nodded. She was discovering a new respect for the woman she had most spent the last three years at odds with.

" I will admit," Seven finally ventured, " that I am experiencing a certain amount of regret at being parted from them."

Chakotay nodded understandingly.

" I miss them too, " he agreed.

" However, " Seven added," if Mr Paris were to hear of this, I would deny all knowledge"

Chakotay grinned at her.

" I'll make you a deal," Chakotay offered, " you don't tell him that I really enjoyed eating berries with you for breakfast and I won't tell him you missed him."

Seven actually felt her heart leap. Borg control managed to ensure that she did not make a fool of herself in front of him.

" Deal," Seven agreed.

They ate quietly after that, Seven replaying the Commander's compliment in her head, Chakotay finding the fact that his flirting with Seven again was not an unpleasant experience at all. It felt good to flirt with someone who didn't already know all his moves by heart. Kathryn had grown immune to his charms he thought.

" However I must add," Seven noted as she stood to return their breakfast things to the young woman who had brought them the meal," I will not take the blame for crashing yet another shuttle for you."

" Hey you were flying the damn thing," Chakotay teased back.

" You were navigating," Seven retorted.

And Chakotay had grinned widely at her as she had pulled out the tricorder to scan the local area. He was still chuckling when he returned from his cultural exchange with the natives to hear of her plan to retrieve pieces of the ship. With a smile, he had let her go…

Now as Chakotay stood at the edge of the clearing, watching the tree line sinking further and further into the shadows, he wished like hell he had gone with her. Shuffling to sit down with his back against a tree, Chakotay waited for his friend to come home. She didn't.


" My friend, she hasn't come back," he demanded before sun-up the following morning, worry etched on his face. It was enough to get the native man's attention where words failed them.

" I need to find her," Chakotay pressed, hunching down painfully to stab the dirt with his finger. He was tired and his body ached from his all night vigil. He had waited and waited from Seven to appear, but she never did.

The evening had been cold, colder than the night they arrived. The native leader that Chakotay had spent most of the day with had approached him during the middle of the night to offer him a blanket. Chakotay had welcomed it. He was cold. He thought of Seven and wondered desperately if she was safe.

Pulling himself back to the here and now, Chakotay remembered that he had judged that he had been rather successful in his efforts to map the local area by using dirt representations of the local topography. It was based on this map that Seven had set out. His map. He felt another unpleasant surge in his stomach. Focusing his attention back, he reproduced the map they had originally drawn. He looked at the native man with a quiet, desperate plea. But the man's face remained blank. Either he didn't understand, Chakotay thought, or he had no idea where Seven was. Chakotay fought against his fear and hoped that it was just that he wasn't making himself clear to the man.

Chakotay's head sank as he tried to think of a method that would get through to them just what he wanted to know. He looked up, prepared to try another round of dirt drawings when he caught sight of a small, impish girl standing behind one of the taller men. She had what looked distinctly like a piece of transporter relay tied with a vine cord around her forehead. She looked suspiciously like someone he was getting more and more desperate to see.

Pushing up on his leg, oblivious to the pain that soared through it he descended on the young girl with a ferocity that surprised both him and her. Startled she tried to back away, but Chakotay grabbed her arm, desperate for the opportunity to finally get across who he was looking for.

" She looks like this," he impressed, gesturing to the young woman's adopted head decoration, hoping that the male leader would put the image together with the desperation in Chakotay's voice and finally understand what he was asking for. " Where? "

The leader's head rose slightly, as if something had finally dawned on him and he waded into the throng of women to retrieve something. Returning to Chakotay he handed him a bag. Peering inside Chakotay saw more debris, a relay, more transporter module, elements of a navigation array. Hope surged in him.

" Where'd you get this?,"he demanded, " My friend. Where? "

Leader seemed to finally grasp what Chakotay was asking and he beckoned the first officer to follow him. Leaning heavily on his crutch, Chakotay followed after him, his mind focused on one single objective.


Kathryn Janeway had just been getting to the good bit of her novel, right where the heroine told the hero that she loved him no matter what station she held in life, when Tuvok and Harry had called down to say that Chakotay had missed his check in. She slammed the book shut and darted out of her seat as she acknowledged their hail. Her stomach felt like it was in knots.

She had raced to the bridge and the report she had received from the two officers had changed little since they had notified her. Chakotay was hours overdue on his report in time, and the officials at the conference had told them that Seven and the Commander hadn't even made it as far as there.

She shifted into her role as captain easily, it felt as familiar to her as pulling onn her uniform. She issued the orders that needed to be said and had then retreated to her ready room. Tuvok had found her staring wistfully out the view port when he had entered.

" We have arranged to speak to the Ambassador," Tuvok noted.

Kathryn nodded blankly and continued to stare out the window.

" Are you all right, Captain ? " Tuvok asked.

" Sometimes I could throttle Chakotay," Kathryn muttered, " of all the days to take off."

Tuvok stood motionless.

" As I said in my report," Tuvok began,"I believed that with extra emotional stress levied against him as a result of the Quarra incident a few months this would give him a chance to get away and meditate,"

Kathryn looked at Tuvok, a frown creasing her forehead.

" What report ?" she asked.

She had only been half listening to Tuvok, her own thoughts intent on berating Chakotay for his idiocy.

" The report I sent you saying that I had agreed to the Commander's leaving with Seven," Tuvok illuminated," He was on the bridge when she received the invitation. He was about to come and wake you to ask permission to go. I believed that as we were in geosynchronous orbit and you were asleep, that there was very little that could go wrong if he departed immediately. You did not receive my report ?"

Kathryn knew that was a euphemism for " you never bothered to read my report " but she was too busy trying to figure this whole mess out with out bothering with Vulcan semantics.

" No," Kathryn grunted," I got a message from him this morning."

" It seems that the Commander could not leave with out telling you personally," Tuvok sighed," My apologies if I over stepped by bounds, Captain. I sincerely believed that the rest would be the best thing for the Commander."

Part of Janeway derisively wanted to look up an remind the Security Chief that from what she had gathered reading between the lines lately, rest would be the last thing the Commander would be getting. She briefly wondered if that was why he was missing now, that he had set down somewhere to engage in a passionate tryst with Seven, but she dismissed the thought before it could bring back up all that coffee she had drunk today. She knew that regardless of her First Officer's romantic intentions, there was no way that he would have ignored communications from the ship. If he wasn't answering, then something was wrong.

" Damn him," she muttered angrily as she pulled herself up from the sofa and strode in the direction of the bridge to talk to the Ambassador.

Tuvok sighed inwardly, probably as a result of his deteriorating condition. He knew exactly what the captain was like when she was in one of these moods. They would no doubt find the Commander and Seven of Nine unharmed. They would beam back to the ship and the Captain and Commander would begin yet another round of hostilities. Yelling and shouting usually preceded long periods of un-cooperative silence. Sighing again, Tuvok made a note to transfer himself to the Gamma Shift for the foreseeable future.


Chakotay could barely feel the existence of his leg, let alone its pain as he followed Leader through the trees. He had quickly gotten into a hobbling routine, swinging on his crutch to ensure that he could keep up the pace. When they broke through into the clearing, he had found Seven hovering over a piece of their discarded ship. He was sure, and it surprised the hell out of him, that if he had been able to stand fully on his own two feet he would have pulled the younger woman into a hug. Instead he was greeted with typical Borg efficiency.

"I need your tricorder," she stated holding out her hand.

Chakotay handed her his tricorder, wondering if all her earlier, emotional and humerous side had been a fabrication of his own long night vigil at the treeline for her return.

" Nice to see you too," Chakotay returned sarcastically.

There must have been something in his tone that had caught her attention, and slowly she turned to face him. She saw Chakotay trying to cover his frustration at her actions. Smiling gently she explained.

"I lost mine. There's a strong magnetic field here that's preventing me from generating a deflector beam, but the field drops off approximately four point eight kilometres in that direction," She informed him.

She had spent a long cold evening with her strange new friend, a curious young girl who delighted in learning everything and anything. Chakotay relented and issued her a small relieved smile. Looking down at her tricorder, it seemed the long night had also given Seven time to think, Chakotay noted, because her calculations were precise and already verified.

Seven ran another round of tests on the tricorder. She tried to concentrate on the screen, not the man standing so very close to her. She had been very relieved to see him this morning. She had realised just how much she had missed him last night. A familiar beep confirming her readings, Seven reached out to pass the Commander the tricorder again.

" Can you transmit the signal from there? " he asked as her paged through her calculations. He had always been wary of plans that fell into place too easily.

" Not through the barrier, but I may be able to neutralise it by generating a dampening field with our deflector," Seven offered, but she knew he wasn't going to like this.

" Even if you're right, this must weigh five hundred kilos. How would we move it?" Chakotay asked,

"Some of them could help us." She indicated to the natives, who still milled around watching the visage before them.

" We shouldn't involve them," Chakotay retorted quickly.

" Do I detect a change in attitude, Commander? " Seven countered again, a small smile touching her lips. She hoped he would respond to her playfulness. She very much wanted to avoid a dispute with him.

Disputes were the last thing on Chakotay's mind as his thoughts were instantly drawn back to the face painting he had seen yesterday. He would lay money on the bet that Seven would have agreed with him also had she seen the mimicry of her the natives had indulged in this morning.

" Your concern was justified," he continued," They've been gathering debris from the shuttle, using it to imitate us. I don't want them helping. "

He kept his tone forceful and unwavering, hoping that she would gather from his voice that this was a subject not up for discussion. However Chakotay had learned over the years that the protégé was much like her mentor. Neither gave up a fight that easy when they were convinced they were right and he was wrong.

"What's the alternative?" Seven argued," Staying here, allowing them to find all of the debris? If we neutralise the barrier, Voyager can transport us and our technology off the surface ".

Yes, Chakotay thought, she fought a hell of a lot like Kathryn. Both were equally as good at not taking no for an answer. Smiling resignedly to himself, he looked down again at her data.

" Is there a possibility that this dampening field could disrupt the barrier permanently? " He finally asked after he had considered her plan again for a minute. Stubborn ex-drones aside, this mission still fell under his jurisdiction as the ranking officer, and her life was his responsibility. As were the natives, it now seemed. He eyed her coolly, all traces of affection banished from his face as he waited for the answer.

" Unlikely," Seven finally uttered," Once the deflector is deactivated the barrier should reinitialise."

Chakotay considered the situation for a moment longer before he finally nodded.

" Let's hope you're right," he added sombrely, but as he slid down a tree to sit tentatively on a rock, Chakotay realised that all this aside, he was really very glad – truly happy - that Seven was okay.


Janeway had paced the bridge. Her negotiations with the Amabassador had been positive, very positive actually. It turned out that the authorities knew exactly where Chakotay was. It was the getting to him that they had problem with. Since the evolution of the written record on this planet, no one had every breached the barrier.

" All the more reason for us to do it, " she had repeated the phrase to encourage her senior staff in their pursuits. Harry, Tom and B'Elanna seemed to take it all very personally.

Sh,e on the other hand, was still as mad as hell with Chakotay. She felt like slapping him alongside his head and asking him what the hell he was doing with Seven. To Kathryn, Seven was an anathema of everything that she understood about Chakotay.

" Captain," Harry looked up and called to her " I have them."


Janeway was more than a little surprised when only Chakotay appeared when the transport coalesced in Sickbay. Janeway felt her stomach lurch up into her throat at the thought of Seven gone, even considering her recent target of romantic affiliations. Kathryn has to remind herself that she had spoken to Seven, and that she was fine.

" The poultice healed the fracture and the infection," the Doctor noted, his professional pride a little piqued." I'm impressed. "

" They're impressive people," Chakotay agreed, turning to Kathryn he added," I just hope we haven't traumatised them. "

Kathryn had to admit that she felt better now that he was back on board. But she was also still angry.

" You did what you had to do to get out of there," she said formally.

Chakotay watched her as he slid off the bed and gingerly put his weight back on his leg. It felt strong and the lack of pain was a welcome blessing

" Still, " Chakotay continued as he slowly fell into step with his captain, "I think we should transport all the shuttle debris back to Voyager as soon as possible. "

" Agreed".

Chakotay knew that B'Elanna would be rather unhappy with him for crashing another of her shuttles yet again, but he hadn't expected such hostility from Kathryn, especially considering how well they had been getting on lately, united in their friendship since Joe Carey's death. He watched her out of the corner of his eye as she stormed up the corridor, her hands balled into fists, her back ram rod straight. He absently thought that all she needed was the bun of steel on her head and they would have gone back in time seven years. She seemed to have that same aura of distrust that she had had those first few weeks aboard too. He thought he knew Kathryn well, could figure out what was wrong with her, but today she baffled the hell out of him.


Chakotay was still looking baffled as he stood in the ready room with Kathryn and Seven. As usual, the two women were going at it.

God these two are so alike, he thought to himself, and defensively he took a small step back from the other two.

He watched as Kathryn's face turned to thunder, and Chakotay's brow furrowed in silent curiosity.

" Can you honestly say that you know what's better for them? " Chakotay rejoined the conversation in which Seven and the Captain had been arguing the pros and cons of re-establishing the barrier. He hoped to head off the battle of that was brewing between mentor and protégé .

Seven turned to look at Chakotay, surprised that he as an anthropologist would not have wanted to preserve the intergrity of the native society. Chakotay seemed to read her thoughts. He smiled gently at her.

" No, I can't," Seven conceded, accepting his smile with a small gracious nod of her own.

Kathryn felt another surge of that horrible bilious substance that had been chasing her stomach round since Chakotay had disappeared. She fought the urge to heave, but there was a part of her, a rather undignified part of her, that was somewhat annoyed by the signs of obvious affection that her first officer and her protégé were showing each other. Biting down on her lip to stop herself wretching, Kathryn spun to look directly at Seven.

" Then what do you think we should do? " she pushed her, a no- nonsense tone so evident in her voice that she drew suspicious looks from not only Chakotay, who worried about her on a permanent basis, but also from Seven.

" I'm uncertain," Seven replied silently, which was an odd sensation of admission for someone from the Borg, who planned and predicted all variables to the smallest degree.

"It's not like you to be on the fence," Janeway replied sternly.

Chakotay's brow furrowed in concern again as he waited for Seven to answer the captain. Whatever mood Kathryn was in, he thought, there was no need for to take her frustrations out on Seven. All of this was new to Seven, and Chakotay found himself resenting Kathryn for doing it. He stepped closer to Seven. Kathryn felt her stomach lurch again.

" When Commander Chakotay and I first encountered the Ventu," Seven began, " I found them primitive, of little interest to me, but as I spent time with them I came to realise that they're a resourceful, self-reliant people. Their isolation may limit their potential, but if that isolation ends so will an unique way of life."

Kathryn looked at Seven. She looked as uncertain of herself as Janeway had ever seen her. Even in the darkest days of Seven's transition to humanity, she had never seemed as unsure of herself as she did now. Kathryn considered Seven's words and wondered how much Seven was referring to the Ventu, and how much she was referring to herself and her life on Voyager. To Seven, the disorder of the non-collective aboard Voyager had seemed primitive to her in her first days as part of the crew. As she had spent time with the crew, she had found them also to be as resourceful and self reliant as any of the collective.

More importantly, Kathryn thought, Seven had finally let it be known that she too, like so many of the others aboard, had learned a valuable lesson a few months ago during their enforced stay on Quarra. Many had learned on Quarra just where home was to them and that they were really just going throught the motions to get their friends home to Earth. Kathryn had learned listening to Tom and Harry that over half her crew would not be sorry if they never made it home. They already were home. Chakotay was among that group, as were Tom and B'Elanna. Now it seemed Seven was too. Janeway was pretty sure that she had referred to Voyager, when Seven had said that although their potential for growth beyond what they were was limited, the end of that isolation would bring an end to a very special world. And Seven didn't want it to end.

At that moment Kathryn realised why Seven had gravitated to Chakotay. He was a calming influence to her indecision. Kathryn knew this well, because that was always what he had been for her too. Despite the arguments and disagreements, despite the attempts at friendship and love, he had always been her rock. He had always been her calm. He had once told her that she had given him a life that enabled him to know the true meaning of peace. Kathryn had learnt it too. Chakotay was her peace.

And it seemed now that he was also Seven's. And the vulnerability of her protégé now, the simple fact that Seven failed to have an answer for something, touched the better part of Kathryn. She had indulged her jealousy. She had verged on the down right spiteful. Now it was time to be the better person that her best friend, the man she loved, had taught her to be.

Looking up at Seven, she finally smiled. And her smile echoed on the relief that crossed Chakotay's face, the frown disappearing beneath his grin. Kathryn nodded agreement to the statement that Seven had made, the intentional and the unintentional, and resolved to keep the little world of the Ventu as protected from harm as she had once promised the little world of Voyager.

Reaching out to lay a friendly, supportive hand on her protégé's arm, Kathryn gave a little squeeze and a smile that said she would do just that. She looked up into the dark eyes of her first officer, and saw the thanks for her support that he would tell her later. He would have stood by Kathryn, no matter what, but at least he didn't have to bridge and rifts between these two women in his life anymore.

He suddenly realised that he had actually admitted that their were two women in his life who existed on a category above the normal day to day relationships he held with the crew. And as he did he saw something in Kathryn's crystal blue eyes. His frown returned, though he hoped Seven wouldn't see it. Looking at Kathryn intently, he tried to fathom what the look was in her eyes and not for the first time where women were concerned, he wished he was telepathic. But he got no answers, as Kathryn turned away from him.

" Commander, hail the Ambassador," was all she said before she disappeared back onto the bridge.


Chakotay entered the turbolift and slumped back against the wall. He was as tired as he would ever be.

" You're not getting any younger, Chakotay," he muttered to the empty car as he massaged his tired eyes.

He was glad that they had raised the barrier on the Ventu society. The anthropologist in him had cried out for the chance the study such a fasciniating society. But the ecologist in him had agreed that the culture of the Ventu. and their environment, would have been destroyed very quickly had they been exposed to the outside world. They had such a finally atuned balance between the animal and plant life that the introduction of even a small amount of interference would have collapsed their world. He was reminded of his own ancestors, close cousins of the great tribes on the Inca, Aztec and Maya. All three virtually disappeared within a few years of the arrival of the conquistadors. He doubted the Ventu would have had even that time.

So if he had had such a good day, why was he feeling so lousy?

He was prevented from further analysis when the doors to the turbolift opened and Paris stepped in.

" I thought you left already ?" he asked, puzzling at the Commander slumped against the bulkhead.

Chakotay pulled himself to standing, realising that he had been so distracted with one thing and another that he had even bothered to select a destination.

He still didn't know where he was headed, and was relieved when Paris called for the mess hall.

" So," the helmsman asked, his usual incorrigible tone creeping out," Did you have fun on the planet with Seven ?"

Chakotay looked at him, too tired to argue or play his games.

" Actually Seven was great company," he admitted.

" Really ?" Tom queried, but it wasn't a question, it was that long drawn out tone that implied he was working some innuendo into the statement somewhere.

Chakotay fought with a smile, knowing that Paris would leap onto any sign of weakness and would have a betting pool up and running before they knew it. Suceeding in banishing a grin, he turned to look at the young helmsman.

" So how were the flying lessons, Tom ?" he asked, a low blow, but when he saw Paris' face contort into something between a grimace and a snort, Chakotay thought it a well aimed low blow.

" We're not talking about that," Paris replied, turning away from his friend to stare back at the door.

This time Chakotay grinned, but he kept his retorts to himself. They travelled silently for the rest of the already short journey.

" Do you want to join me and B'Elanna for dinner ?" Tom asked as the lift drew to a halt and Tom stepped out.

Chakotay could see B'Elanna already waiting at the intersection for her husband, returned the small wave she gave him. Chakotay considered Paris' offer, but realised that he had something to do first.

" You go ahead, I'll catch up" Chakotay finally replied, " Get B'Elanna to save me something nice."

Tom looked wounded.

" I can save you something nice," he objected.

Chakotay pushed Paris out the lift.

" Get B'Elanna to save me something nice," he repeated.

Somehow he just didn't trust Paris. He let the doors close on the bemused face of his friend before he called for deck 12.


" This is a beautiful blanket," Chakotay noted, picking up the somehow impossibly soft blanket that had been given to Seven by the young girl who's life she saved.

Seven looked up, a little startled, as if she were seeing the Commander for the first time. He knew she had been lost in her thoughts, because he had also.

" Take it if you'd like. I don't need it," Seven replied, trying to muster as much of her Borg efficiency and calmness as she could.

Chakotay didn't know whether to reach out and shake her or pull her into his arms and hug her. Instead he looked back down at the blanket.

" If environmental systems ever go down, you might get cold. You know, I wanted …." Chakotay began, but Seven seemed impelled to speak as well.

" I'd like to …" she began.

They both stopped and stared awkwardly. Chakotay wanted to tell her how much he had enjoyed that first evening in the compound, and the banter they had shared. He wanted her to know just what it meant to him to be able to express himself without constantly keeping track on his words to make sure that he didn't cross any boundaries or violate any parameters. He wanted to tell her how nice it was to be able to give something of yourself over to the other person, and get something back in return. It meant more to him than she would know, because he knew how hard such interaction came to her. He had been honoured by her attempts.

" You first," was all he actually managed to say.

So Seven decided that she would tell him that she was grateful for his support today, when the captain had been initially resistant to her pleas on behalf of the Ventu. She wanted to tell him how frightened she had been when she had thought that he had come to some harm when she could not contact him over the comm. She wanted to tell him that he surpassed even the most creative programming of her holo-Chakotay, and that the last few days with him had been better than anytime she had ever had in the holodeck. She wanted to tell him how much his presence in her life mattered to her, how much she was struggling against her cortical node dealing with her emotions regarding him. But she turned out to be as bad at this as Chakotay was.

" Please, continue," was all she replied.

Chakotay realised that they could be here all night going round in circles, so he gave her a trademark grin, and changed the angle of the conversation.

" In all the excitement, I never apologised," he finally offered.

" For what? " Seven asked, still none the wiser, but glad that they were actually speaking to each other now, instead of staring awkwardly.

" Causing you to miss that conference," Chakotay replied, grinning widely.

Seven returned his smile, something Chakotay found intoxicating. It was nice to spend time with someone who smiled. Kathryn always seemed to have the weight of the world on her shoulders.

" As a matter of fact, I wanted to thank you for that," Seven stated, cutting into his wandering thoughts.

He had to admit, smile or not, he had not expected her to thank him for everything they had gone through.

" I thought you were angry ?"

" I was," Seven replied," but you were right. Warp Mechanics can be studied any time. The Ventu, on the other hand…."

Her voice trailed off and Chakotay stepped defensively a little closer to her. Seven was sincere in her thanks to him. She had learned a lot about this man before her, the man she had come to care about deeply, from watching the things that fascinated and drove him. She had learned a lot about her self and her friend. But Chakotay sensed the same 'but' in the sentence that always followed anything that Kathryn said. It seemed her protégé had inherited her knack for them. Gently Chakotay pushed her for an explanation.

" Is something's still bothering you? " he asked.

" I'm concerned for their well-being," Seven replied.

Chakotay nodded. He'd had similar thoughts himself. Now that a way into the enclosure had been proved, the chances that someone would try to force a way in was greater.

" They know how to take care of themselves," he reassured her.

" That's not what I mean. Members of the Ledosian expedition had the opportunity to scan my deflector modifications. In time, they may find a way to duplicate out technology and remove the barrier themselves. "

Chakotay considered her statement. He knew that closed worlds were so much more susceptible to the end of their existence than other cultures. It was true that the foisting of technology onto the Ventu would force them irreperably away from what they were now.

" I suppose it's possible," he observed,

" If I'd never made those modifications…" Seven began again

Chakotay hated the pity. He had seen Kathryn pity herself deeply over the years, diving into depression every now and then.

" We might still be stranded there. I don't know about you, but I'm glad to be back on Voyager," Chakotay stated as he smiled at her.

No matter what, Voyager would be his home. Kathryn had given him this home years ago, helped him find his peace in it. But as Chakotay handed Seven back her blanket, smiling gently as their hands touched, he realised that the time had come to share his home with someone. The time for waiting was over.