IRW Voyager, Delta Quadrant
Stardate 48135.6, alternate

Commander's log, Stardate 48315.6, Subcommander Janeway reporting. We have returned to Voyager, after being temporarily abducted by whatever life-forms control the array that evidently brought us here to the Delta Quadrant. At least, most of have returned. One crewmember, Sublieutenant Kim, is still unaccounted for. We believe he may have been transferred to the Maquis ship accidentally.

"We are being hailed by the Warbird," Tuvok reported.

Chakotay looked up, surprised. What would the Romulans want with him-except perhaps to blow him out of the sky? "Put in on, Tuvok."

A human female, dressed in a Romulan military uniform, appeared on the viewscreen. "Subcommander Chakotay, I'm Subcommander Kathryn Janeway."

"How do you know my name?" he asked, wincing at his former Romulan rank. Here in the Maquis he was a captain-a good, old-fashioned human rank. He was instantly suspicious of Janeway, however, in her Romulan uniform; there was no room for trust, not here, so far from home, and certainly not when the Romulans were involved.

"We were on a mission to find you," she conceded, "when we were brought here by the Array. One of our crewmembers is missing."

So she claimed the Romulans knew as little about this as he did. He knew better than to trust that. Yet he could feel himself warming up to Janeway, like it or not. And from what he had seen from this array, it was rather unlikely it was a Romulan deception.

"Where's the commander?" Chakotay asked her. Why did the Romulans put a human to speak with him instead of a Romulan? To secure his good will?"

"Commander Tasalek died when the displacement wave hit us," she told him emotionlessly, "leaving me in charge." A human in charge of a warbird? Chakotay couldn't think of a single precedent. No doubt, the Romulans hadn't planned for this contingency--if Janeway was telling the truth. "We'll more concerned about our missing crewmember. Was he transported back to your ship by accident?"

He wrestled with his conscience and finally decided to trust her-this time. "No," he said. "A member of our crew is missing, too. B'Elanna Torres, my chief engineer."

Janeway seemed to study him from the viewscreen. "We seem to have the same problem, then, Subcommander. I think it makes sense to try and solve it together, don't you?"

Work with the Romulans? "How can we . . ." He trailed off, not even finishing.

Yet Janeway seemed to know what he was thinking. "I know your crew is wanted for hundreds of different crimes, the penalty for most of which is death. But Chakotay, Romulus and Remus are thousands of light-years away. For now, that doesn't mean much, does it? My first duty is to the crew of the Voyager."

Chakotay could see the Romulan security officer raise one of his eyebrows, indicating he didn't completely agree with what Janeway said. Interesting. Chakotay looked at Tuvok for advice; the Vulcan lifted one eyebrow, which Chakotay interpreted as approval. "Three of us will beam over shortly," he told her, then closed the com link.

"Disruptors," he ordered. "I'm not taking any chances with the Romulans." Tuvok raised another eyebrow, but complied nonetheless, holding the disruptor in his hand, alert. "Drop shields and beam Tuvok, Reynolds, and me over," Chakotay said. Then the ship disappeared around him, replaced by the Romulan bridge of the Warbird Voyager.

The instant they appeared, a half-dozen Romulans pulled out their disruptors and aimed them at the three Maquis, no doubt shocked into action by the three disruptors. "Put down your weapons," Janeway ordered the Romulans, and each reluctantly put away their disruptors. She turned to him, next. "You won't be needing those," she assured him.

Once again, Chakotay had to decide how far he trusted Janeway. And once again, he decided in her favor. The woman practically radiated an aura of trust and warmth. He put away the disruptor, and Tuvok and Reynolds did the same.

Then Janeway did something totally unexpected. She broke into a grin. "It's good to have you back, Lieutenant Tuvok."

Chakotay turned to the Vulcan, incredulously. This is what he got for trusting Janeway--betrayal?

"I must inform you," Tuvok said, "that I was assigned to infiltrate your crew, sir."

Chakotay could hear his anger seep into his voice. "Were you going to deliver us into their waiting hands, Vulcan?"

"My mission was to accumulate information on Maquis information," Tuvok continued, as if unaware of Chakotay's anger, "and then . . . deliver you into their 'waiting hands.' That is correct."

Chakotay sighed. Why blame the Vulcan? He didn't truly know what it was like to be human, looked down at by the Romulans. In all likelihood Tuvok had some Romulan blood; reunification had occurred rather well in the ninety years since the Romulan conquest.

Just as his anger was under control, however, he looked up and it flared all over again. "Good to see you too, Chakotay," Paris said, smiling.

"At least Tuvok was performing his duty as a Romulan officer," Chakotay growled. "What was your reward: freedom from prison? Latinum? What was your price this time?!"

But Janeway intervened. "You're speaking to a member of my crew," she warned him. "I expect you to treat him with the same respect you would have me treat a member of yours."

"Now," she continued, "we have a lot to accomplish. I suggest we all concentrate on finding our people and getting ourselves back home."