Disclaimer: I don't own Voyager or Star Trek

Author's Note: It's been way too long, and once again, I apologize. Doec: Thanks very much for saying that I write Harry well. It's hard to stay focused on that sometimes, but it's very important to me. Lunatic Pandora1: I think Kaitlyn would quickly give up playing Tuvok's game. Morgomir: Thanks for your comment. JacobedRose: Katis Kat has always looked interesting to me too. Of course, with me it's sometimes, "look pretty colors," but you get the idea. Voyfan7: Normal food, mmm. Kind of like the difference between home cooking and cafeteria food. Arashcuzi: Harry has always had bad luck with women, and it drove me crazy. I feel like that they could have done more with him in the final season. And thanks for the tip on staying away from things that could be technicalities. Unfortunately I've gotten myself in so deep that it's going to be an issue in this story, but the I'm thinking it'll turn out okay. Faithinthecharm: Thanks for the comments. And……HERE we go.

Chapter 10: To Con Death

Kaitlyn sat, eating another one of Neelix's unique dinner dishes. Over the past few days she had helped him with breakfast and sometimes lunch, but she had left dinner in Neelix's more than capable hands. And once again, she was enjoying this Neelix Special (though it was a bit spicy). She sat near a window, alone this time because of various conflicts in duty shifts, and pondered her experience over the past few days. How many had it been? she asked herself. Four. This was her fourth day, she remembered. Four days in a century in which she should be long dead. Although she didn't completely understand time paradoxes and so forth, it was odd to think that somewhere on earth she had been buried. Her body had most likely decomposed by now, but somewhere, her remnants could still exist. How did I die? she asked herself. She shook her head. Then again, she wondered, my presence here could have altered the timeline so that I never died at all. She smiled at the thought of cheating death. Might as well slip by that snare of inconvenience.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Kaitlyn heard the mess hall doors open, though the thought barely registered with her as she continued to contemplate her situation.

"Kaitlyn," she heard a voice say. When she looked up she quickly recognized the figure of Captain Janeway.

"Captain," she said, a little surprised. She wondered if she should stand up or if she was even supposed to call this woman by the military title.

"Do you mind if I join you?" Janeway asked.

"No, not at all."

Janeway sat and observed Kaitlyn for a moment, though after that moment she realized how uncomfortable Kaitlyn seemed. She quickly remedied the uneasiness. "How have you been doing?" she asked.

"Oh, just fine," she looked at her plate, unsure of how to continue. "I've been adjusting a lot."

"I can imagine," Janeway said, "All this must have seemed much like a dream at first."

"Absolutely," she sighed, "It still does sometimes. If it was, I don't think I'd ever want to wake up, but it's not. I could never dream up something so wonderful."

Janeway smiled. This girl was very complimentary, especially considering the ship's current situation (although Kaitlyn was still not aware of it). Stranded, almost impossibly far from anything they knew. But within the first year in the Delta quadrant Janeway had learned never to say impossible. Deadly space anomalies, violent species, the list was almost impossibly long. But there she was with that word again. Perhaps she should consider impossible in itself to be impossible. Now she had found a flaw in her logic. She decided that this was a conundrum for Tuvok to consider. Right now, she was glad that Kaitlyn had truly realized the reality of her situation.

Chakotay to the Captain.

Janeway sighed quietly and pressed her combadge. "Yes, Chakotay, what is it?"

The Marcalians are approaching. We'll be in communications range in about half an hour.

"Very well. I'll be there in a moment. Janeway out." She pressed her combadge again to end the conversation. She began to get up, but looked at Kaitlyn and said, "I hate to leave you alone at dinner."

"Oh, no, it's alright, Captain. Neelix said he would join me when he was finished in the kitchen."

Janeway got up but still did not leave. Her eyes became compassionate. "You must miss your family terribly," she said.

Kaitlyn swallowed deeply and tried to formulate a response, but simply couldn't. The captain had unknowingly hit a sensitive topic. She looked down at her plate as she tried to compose herself.

"I'm sorry," Janeway said, "I didn't mean to upset you."

"No, it's okay," Kaitlyn shook her head. "You didn't know."

Janeway looked at Kaitlyn curiously. "There's more to this than I'm assuming, isn't there."

"Yes, ma'am," Kaitlyn began to choke up as she said the words.

Janeway sat back down across from Kaitlyn. Chakotay had told her that she had thirty minutes and she was ready and willing to use any and all of them.

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"They are hailing us, Captain," announced Tuvok only moments after Janeway had arrived on the bridge.

"Finally in the mood for talking," Janeway said, glad that this encounter did not begin aggressively. "On screen."

Immediately, Janeway realized that this Marcalian was unfamiliar to her. From the nature of her clothes and the trimness of her figure Janeway assumed that this was a female. This assumption was confirmed as she began speaking.

"Captain Janeway I presume?" the Marcalian asked.

"Yes, I am the Captain," she replied.

"I am Admiral Jayris of the Marcalian Order. Please, tell me, for what reason have you disabled our ship?"

Janeway tried to remain diplomatic, but her patience would not last forever. "We only fired out of self-defense. Please, let me explain our situation."

Janeway could tell that Admiral Jayris was considering her options. On the one hand she could fire and probably suffer the same fate as the Saxor had earlier. On the other, she could listen to these voyagers. Finally, she spoke up. "What is it you want?"

"When we began crossing this area of space we were unaware of the presence of a chronaton field. When we passed through it a time-space fissure opened on our ship and a girl from 350 years in the past came through. Now, we understand how protective you are of this field, but if we could use some of those particles to open a controlled fissure, we could send the girl back through and return any of the remaining particles to you." Janeway hoped dearly that this explanation would be enough.

Jayris considered her options for only a moment before responding. "No, it is absolutely out of the question. You must leave now." Janeway could tell that Jayris was about to terminate communication.

"No, wait!" Janeway said. She knew she had to get her attention. "We know about the other particle."

Jayris hesitated. "What are you talking about?"

"When we took a deeper scan of the field we found another element that our people have not yet discovered. We thought that you might be concerned about that element more than the chronatons." It was a shot in the dark for Janeway. For all she knew, this element could be abundant in this area of space, but from the look on Jayris' face, she guessed not.

"My people use it as an energy source. If our enemies knew about it…" Jayris hesitated.

"I understand, and I hope we can convince you that we have no interest in this element, but only in sending the girl back home." Janeway could tell that this was a difficult position to put Jayris in. Isolated for so long to keep this element a secret, and now a strange species was attempting to gain her trust. "Perhaps, we could simply talk," Janeway offered.

"Very well."