The following morning, Tom Paris came to see Janeway in her ready room.
They had managed to weather the neutronic wavefront and had passed into open space again. In the last few seconds, they had been obliged to divert power from every single one of the ship's systems, in order to clear the perimeter. All secondary power sources, including those that ran the holodeck, had been drained, and there hadn't been enough time to go through the hologrid shut down sequence.
"Fair Haven didn't fare too well," Paris said, as he stood in front of her desk, PADD in hand.
"I'll break the news to the crew."
"With your permission I'd like to try to reconstruct the programme."
"By all means," she replied.
"Harry tells me that we should be able to save about ten per cent of the existing elements."
"That's good news, the crew will be pleased."
Tom was still there.
"Is there anything else?" Janeway asked, genuinely unsure why he was lingering.
"It's just… well, I thought you might have a suggestion or two."
"About what?"
"About what exactly we try to salvage." Tom looked decidedly uncomfortable.
"I can't imagine what gave you that idea, Mr. Paris," she immediately replied, her casual tone conveying mild amusement. "I'm quite happy for you and Mr. Kim to do as you see fit."
"Understood. Sorry… " the pilot mumbled, as he turned to leave.
After the door closed behind him, Kathryn let out a breath and relaxed.
It hadn't occurred to her that the hologram would be confiding in members of her crew about the short time they'd spent together. She made a mental note to be far more careful in future about indulging, or rather almost indulging, in such dubious pastimes. There was always a risk that news of her lack of judgement could get back to the crew.
Three days passed and the Captain still hadn't gone anywhere.
Chakotay made sure there was enough for his counterpart to do to prevent him becoming bored and restless. He offered to share his personal holodeck programmes, and the Maquis immediately made use of the boxing simulation and several of the other fitness programmes. He spent a fair amount of time in the messhall too, since he hadn't had access to four regular meals a day for a while. He appeared just as tolerant of Neelix's creations as Voyager's first officer, and the little Talaxian morale officer often sat with him and solicited daily updates as to how the Captain was adjusting to his new environment.
Although he hadn't wanted to share his personal logs, Chakotay granted the Captain access to all the mission logs, and his younger self spent several hours perusing them, researching the experiences the crew had chalked up in the Delta Quadrant so far. This gave rise to some interesting discussions between the two men.
Chakotay's counterpart also spent a fair number of hours socialising, as, one by one, most of the former Maquis on the ship had called to see him. Sometimes in his guest suite, but more often than not, they found him in the first officer's quarters. In fact, Chakotay realised he might as well have suggested the Captain bunk with him, rather than bother with guest quarters at all, since the first officers' quarters were where his counterpart spent most of his time, even when Chakotay was on duty.
Strangely, he found that he didn't actually mind, and very soon he found he had became accustomed to the presence of his almost-twin. They didn't necessarily talk much, but it was clear the younger man felt reassured by his almost-double's presence, and by being surrounded by his few belongings.
On the fifth day after the Maquis' appearance on board, some kind of gravimetric gradient pulled Voyager into the orbit of a planet with a tachyon core, and the crew had to work to find a way to break the ship free, without causing any more damage to the planet. In addition there was an unusual space-time differential between the planet and the surrounding space, which meant it was imperative they found a way to extract themselves soon, before their orbit started to decay and they began to experience time speeding up.
The situation would soon become critical and they could do with all the help they could get, so Chakotay felt it was time to put his counterpart to work alongside the rest of the crew. Kathryn had no objections.
Chakotay had determined that one line of their investigation needed to focus on learning more about the planet below. So he asked Captain Chakotay whether he'd be interested in helping him analyse the rapid changes they were able to witness taking place on the planet.
Initially, the two men became engrossed in a discussion concerning the stages of the planet's geological developments. Then they moved on to bounce ideas off each other at warp speed about the sociological and technological advances they were likely to witness, and about the significance these might have in terms of their search to find a way to safely leave orbit.
Early morning found them in engineering with B'Elanna and her team, and then an hour or two later they moved to astrometrics to confer with Seven.
When Chakotay suggested that face-to-face contact might provide them with the information they could use to break orbit, his counterpart came up with the idea of sending the Doctor down. During their daily visits to sickbay to allow the Doctor to monitor him, it had already become clear that the Maquis was fascinated by the Doctor's mobile emitter - this piece of technology from an even more distant future. His marked interest in it had made Chakotay aware of how quickly the rest of them had come to take the Doctor's mobility for granted.
They took a quick lunch break in the messhall, and Seven and B'Elanna arrived just as the two men were leaving. Both Chakotay's greeted B'Elanna as they passed her and Seven waiting in the queue at the serving hatch. B'Elanna watched as the younger man smiled warmly at Seven as well.
"Try the lunchtime special with rice, it beats the hair pasta hands down," he advised the former drone. She inclined her head in recognition.
"They make quite a team, don't they?" B'Elanna said as the two women seated themselves to eat a few moments later.
"Indeed. They function efficiently together." Seven turned to observe the two pairs of broad shoulders, as the men walked out through the doors with an almost identical gait. "They are less reliant on verbal communication, and are able to anticipate each other's thought processes in a manner which enhances their productivity on any task."
"Like I said, they make quite a team."
Seven raised a perfect eyebrow.
B'Elanna went on, "You've been remarkably friendly to Captain Chakotay, Seven, I must admit it surprised me a little."
"Am I not usually 'friendly'?"
"It wasn't a criticism. I was just saying I've noticed you've really made an effort to put him at ease. "
"He has been forcibly and unexpectedly removed from everything he knew. It is a situation that presents many challenges, he is undoubtedly finding this experience difficult." Seven's tone had just a hint of the defensive about it.
"I'm sure that's true. I guess I was just kind of surprised when you chose to join us at breakfast this morning." B'Elanna watched as the former drone's neutral expression clouded slightly.
"Was my presence an intrusion?"
"Of course not. That's not what I meant; you just surprised me. So, you think you have an understanding of how he must be feeling here then?"
"If he finds he has no way back, he will be forced to adapt to life here. I have an appreciation of the challenge that represents."
"But that's not all of it, is it?" the engineer pressed.
Seven looked at her for a moment before replying. "He does not accept 'The Starfleet Way' unquestioningly. I find that appealing. He is an outsider, as am I."
"Do you still feel that way? Even after all this time?" B'Elanna put her fork down.
"I am Borg."
B'Elanna rolled her eyes and pursed her lips. "It's been a while since I've heard you say that."
"The crew have accepted me in many ways, but they will never react to me as they would to someone fully human."
"Maybe not, but you can't tell me you still think this crew see you as a Borg drone anymore either."
"I am unsure. I am hard to classify, as is Captain Chakotay."
"You seem to find him easier to relate to than Chakotay."
Once more, Seven hesitated slightly. "The Commander is wary of me."
"Was, Seven. Years ago. It seems more the other way around to me now." B'Elanna grimaced as her taste buds came into contact for the first time with the sauce accompanying the hair pasta.
Seven observed her, expressionless. "My arrival here was a difficult time for him."
"Yes it was. He disagreed with the Captain about what to do with you."
"I believe that is what one might call an understatement, Lieutenant. I have read the missions logs, Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay failed to adopt a consistent approach to me. He did not believe I would necessarily wish to reclaim my humanity."
The engineer cocked her head to one side. "No, I guess he didn't."
"He was correct. I did not. Not for some time." Seven held her gaze.
"But all that's changed now, Seven. And his opinion of you has changed. You should give Chakotay a chance. He's a good guy. You shouldn't avoid him." B'Elanna used a carrot-like vegetable to push the sticky sauce to the far edge of her plate.
"I do not. "
"Yes, you do. If I'd been sitting with him this morning at breakfast, rather than our new Chakotay, you'd have sat down on your own."
"I respect your need for privacy to express your friendship."
"Bullshit. You still avoid him, why? You sit with Tom and me often enough, and you sat down this morning, what about my need for privacy then?"
Seven paused for a moment and she continued to observe B'Elanna playing with her food. "When they disconnected me from the hive mind, the neural link the Commander established with me afforded him a unique and intimate perspective. I find that fact difficult to ignore."
B'Elanna considered this statement for a moment. "So you still feel uneasy around him now, because he forced his way into your head right at the beginning of your time here?"
"Would you not feel uncomfortable in the presence of someone who had read your mind?"
"Maybe, but Seven, that was years ago now! It's obvious to everyone, including him, that how you feel about things, about yourself and about humanity, has changed."
"Perhaps."
B'Elanna watched Seven's expressions as the former drone cautiously lifted a small forkful of Neelix's lunchtime special close enough to appreciate the aroma. "But you don't feel uncomfortable around our newer model Chakotay?" asked the young engineer.
"No."
"Then maybe it's time you tried to overcome that feeling with the original version now."
After a moment's hesitation Seven said, "I shall reassess my behaviour in the light of your recommendations."
"Well good." B'Elanna sensed it was time to drop it. "Anyway, it's good to see them getting on like that actually. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be nearly so relaxed in my own company!"
Seven took another tiny forkful of rice. "Chakotay is a highly adaptable individual. It is one of his strengths as a leader."
"Yes, he is. He certainly lead by example when we first arrived here."
"You were discontent with the situation?"
"I'll admit it took me a little longer to find my feet here than some." B'Elanna pushed her plate away, finally admitting defeat to the hair pasta.
"But you were successful."
"Yes. Eventually." B'Elanna smiled. "I guess I reassessed my behaviour in the light of his recommendations."