Disclaimer: I do not own star trek or voyager.

Author's Note: Phew, I got another one written!! It's getting exciting. Asthore: Thank you so much. I'm glad you like it; though I think you may have misunderstood. I haven't had any flames, just some friendly suggestions, which I really love. Trust me, I don't respond to flames ;). Thanks again. Voyfan7: Thanks for the favorites add! And lets just face it, every guy likes girls in the kitchen. Lol, just kidding. Thanks again for the review. Lunatic Pandora1: For what ever strange reason, I've actually never heard that phrase before, but it would be sad if the food could actually get worse. Lol. Thanks. Morgomir: Thanks for you review! Here we go, chapter 9.

Chapter 9: Questions

"Anything interesting?" Janeway asked Torres.

"Actually, we've found something," B'elanna replied. The Captain nodded for her to continue.

B'elanna walked close to the chronatons they had beamed aboard. "At first, we thought it was pretty basic stuff: a little hydrogen, some carbon, and high concentrations of chronatons. But when we took a closer look, we found something a little unexpected." Torres turned to a console and pressed a few controls. An image appeared on the screen, which Janeway promptly observed.

"I've never seen this before," she said.

"Neither have I," Torres replied. "Captain, we've discovered an entirely new element." The two looked at each other, astonished.

"What could they use it for?" Janeway asked.

"I'm not entirely sure. There's a possibility that they could be used as an energy source, but if I had my guess, the Marcalians are probably more concerned with that then with a few chronatons."

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"Green, grid four nine," Kaitlyn announced.

"Good move," Harry said. Kaitlyn nodded. He thought for a moment before saying, "Red, grid ten twelve."

Kaitlyn shook her head. "This is a complicated game."

"It's definitely hard when you're first starting out, but you get used to it."

Kaitlyn thought for a moment. "Orange, grid six fourteen."

Harry smiled. "Red, grid nine three." The board whirred, "Kadis-kot."

Kaitlyn laughed. "Well, I think that's five games in a row to you."

"Sorry," Harry shrugged.

"Naw, It's okay. It's just a lot harder than checkers."

"Checkers?" Harry asked, disregarding the kadis-kot board.

"I guess you would consider it an 'ancient earth game,' but it was fun." She picked up a game piece to fiddle with it. "My entire elementary class was obsessed with it. I was runner up in the championship, and I swear the other kid was cheating."

Harry laughed, "Sounds like fun."

"It was. And then in high school I moved on to chess," She looked strait at Harry, "ya know, knights, bishops, kings."

Harry nodded, "I've seen chess played before."

"Good," she paused for a moment, "But even in high school a really good friend and I would still play checkers all the time. I know that sounds kind of strange, but we didn't play to play. We didn't even care who won." She smiled, "we played to talk."

"Just a distraction to fill up the quite spaces?" Harry guessed.

"Yeah, although we would sometimes forget about the game and just talk. He got me through some tough times."

"Do you still talk with him?"

"Not really," She replied, "I went to college close to home and he moved across the country. We lost touch."

"I'm sorry," Harry said. He realized how much he took a modern convenience such as transporters for granted. Across the country would be a non-issue in his century.

"It's okay. Life goes on, right." She replaced the game piece.

"It does."

"I learned that one the hard way," She looked him in the eye and realized she had said too much. She knew he was about to ask questions, questions about family and loss. It would be simpler to volunteer answers. Vague answers. "Let's just say I've had my share of trouble, disappointment, sadness." It wasn't something she liked contemplating.

"Haven't we all?" Harry commented.

Kaitlyn looked up at Harry, very serious. "No, we haven't." She had been harsher than expected, so she calmed herself by rearranging the pieces on her board. "I'm sorry. There's just so much trouble and hardship where I come from. Single parents, abandoned children, fathers who have to constantly worry about paying their bills. And then there are the few who seem to have no trouble at all, and it may sound strange, but it's hard to imagine those types of things here."

Harry smiled sadly. Maybe Kaitlyn had a little more in her past than he had imagined. He didn't want to pry. He had the feeling that asking any questions would either bring tears or indignation, and he thought it might be a violation to tell her about Voyager's predicament. He simply said, "I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay." She couldn't talk about this any more. She needed a lighter mood. So she took a deep breath, forgot her troubles for a moment, and said, "ready for another match?"

"Sure," Harry replied, "Unless you want to play checkers." He laughed a little.

She laughed too. "I'll teach you checkers another time. Right now, I'd rather beat you in kadis-kot."

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It had been an hour since their final game. Even though Harry had won most of their matches, Kaitlyn had managed to squeeze in one sweet victory. Being extremely proud of herself, she opted out of further humiliation. Shortly after this triumph, Harry had been summoned to the Captain's waiting room.

"Please sit, Harry," Janeway said. As he sat, the Captain continued. "How is Kaitlyn?"

"She's adjusting surprisingly well. I figured that the first day she would have been in shock, but she's still doing basically fine."

"Asking very many questions?"

Harry shrugged. "Not too many actually."

"That's almost too good to be true," Janeway said.

"That's kind of what I was thinking, but she's really enjoying it." Harry smiled a little, "Did you try her crepes yesterday morning?"

Janeway's eyes got a little bigger. "She made those?"

"Sure did."

"I was wondering why they were so… normal."

Harry chuckled.

Janeway took a sip of coffee from a nearby mug and, a moment later, asked, "Do you think she's ready to help us on the holodeck?"

"I can't think of a reason why she wouldn't be. She's adapted to the replicator, turbo lift, we just got finished playing kadis-kot. She even told me that she eventually figured out the sonic shower on her own."

"Well," Janeway said, "we still have to negotiate with the Marcalians, but it sounds like she'll be ready."

"Yes, ma'am," Harry said.

"You're dismissed." Janeway sipped her coffee as Harry left. She wondered just how Kaitlyn was adjusting to such a drastic change so quickly, or if she was really adjusting at all. After all, she could still be in shock.

In any case, Janeway knew that she would have to talk to this girl from the past before proceeding. She had to be absolutely sure she wasn't just some sort of wonderful actress.