Title: Lost Planet III
Author: Dancing Star
Pairing: Janeway / Chakotay
Rating: 12
Category: AU, Romance
Content: The End of Sembra Prime is near.
Notes: Wearing a T-Shirt with a Voyager blueprint recently, and my best friend said to me: "This is the Enterprise on your T- Shirt." She was really proud that she knew what was painted on my shirt. And I was like: "THIS. IS. NOT. THE. ENTERPRISE." :-)

Lost Planet III

Janey's first shot didn´t cause too much damage. "Shields up," Chakotay said.
"Confirmed," Harry replied. In contrast to Voyager, the firepower of a Carean space- hunter was tiny, but the small yellow space ship was nimble and agile.
"Shall I load the torpedoes, Captain?", Harry asked.
"No. We just want to make her non-combatable. We don´t want to destroy her ship."
"She is now firing at our nacelles," Harry told the bridge crew.
"Load rear Phaser Banks!"
"Loaded."
When the Captain gave the order to fire, the ship was shaken. "What was that?", Tom asked.
"It has caused a feedback," Harry said, "I don´t know how, but..." He was involved in the construction plan of a Carean space- hunter and he knew that the small space ship never had such a technique to cause a feedback. "She has destroyed the back phaser banks."
Another push shook the Voyager slightly.
"Shields at 90%," Harry told them, "She is now attacking us with maneuver Beta 6."
When Harry said this, Kathryn immediately noticed what had just happened. "Call her," she ordered, when she got up with Aeria on her arm.
Janey's figure appeared on the main screen.
"You will immediately stop the attack. This is an order", Kathryn said to her. She saw in the corner of her eye how Chakotay stepped beside her.
"Don´t get me wrong, Your Majesty. But you don´t have nothing more to say to me", Janey interrupted the communication and Chakotay could see his wife was almost exploding in rage. But there was something else.
"Captain, I have a suggestion," Harry's fingers scrambled across the surface of his terminal, and on the main screen the blueprint of a Carean space- hunter appeared. "I have dealt with the space hunters and suggested to the technicians to install energy-saving phasers instead of conventional firearms. As far as I know, the exchange has already been made in most of the space hunters...", as he spoke, the aforementioned sections flashed in the blueprint.
"Come to the point, Harry," Tom sounded very impatient.
"Every now and then there are problems with the adjustment. This happens when the energy system of the space- hunter is older. The power lines sometimes melt when they are overloaded. And I guess Janey's space-hunter is already older." Janey probably had let the little ship disappear years ago. She must have had enough time to modify the ship so it could cause a phaser rebound.
"What do we have to do?", Chakotay asked.
The blueprint disappeared from the main screen and they saw a yellow space ship heading forwards them. They thought Janey would risk a frontal collision, but at the last moment she pulled up the nose of the space ship and swept past them.
"She knows how to scare us," Kathryn thought.
"We must try to hit her energy lines with a constantly strong shot..."
"It will be difficult if our target moves," Tom commented.
"Try, Harry," Chakotay agreed.
The young man nodded gratefully, aiming the area where the main energy supplies were located in a Carean space hunter. Their back phaser banks were no longer working, but the front ones were ready to shoot and to their fortune, Janey was right in front of them. Harry fired, he hit, and the bridge crew watched on the main screen how the small, yellow space ship was trying to shake it off. But Harry's plan was almost self-explanatory, and his assumption seemed to be right: Janey's space-hunter was surely already older, because the energies weren´t prepared for such an overload. They sprayed sparks and the space- hunter drew a cloud of fire behind itself.

"She's going to crash," Kathryn said.
"She is still able to land on Sembra," Samantha announced, who had scanned the ship. The only question was if Janey wanted this, because a strong storm was brewing in the northern hemisphere of the planet. Samantha couldn´t tell if it was a snap, because the sensors changed their values almost every second. Either there was something wrong with the sensors, or the weather was worse than ever.
They watched on the main screen as Janey actually landed on the planet. "We should send a team to Sembra," Kathryn suggested, "She will lead us directly to her brother and thus also to the artifact."
"Maybe, but...", he wanted to tell her that the storm, which now covered almost the entire northern hemisphere of Sembra, was alarmingly dangerous, but the doctor gave him a dash. "Doctor to bridge," he said, "Captain, you and the queen should come down here."
Kathryn looked anxiously at Chakotay, because she had a clue why the doctor called for them.
"All right, Doctor," Chakotay confirmed, then he turned to the bridge crew, "Red Alert. Tom, you have the bridge."

The sick bay was located on deck five, but first they went past their quarters to take Aeria to Cierra and Millah. They both looked very worried, because they had seen the small, yellow space hunter who had attacked them.
Then they went to the sick bay. Inside, it was dark and the doctor came to them. "I am sorry. I am afraid the senator will not survive this day."
When he said that, Kathryn's stomach tightened. "Can we talk to her?"
"Of course." The doctor led them to the bed on which the senator was resting. The otherwise so beautiful young woman looked pale. "I heard we reached Sembra," she muttered. Every single word was hard for her.
"Yes," Kathryn nodded, "The doctor informed us of your condition. I wish we had found the artifact and..."
"No, don´t blame yourself. I was my fault I even lost it, "she tried to get up," Would you do me a last favor? Make sure my husband leaves the planet. He will resist and tell you he can´t leave his people, but..." Her voice failed, but eventually she spoke a little quieter," ...promise me."
"I will." Kathryn nodded and at that moment the terminal behind the senator's pillow began to shriek. Her body collapsed. The doctor pushed the captain and queen aside to check the values indicated by the terminal. "I'm sorry," he finally said to them, "I will note in the log the Senator's death occurred at 20:01."

Kathryn left the sick bay with a strange feeling. Chakotay waited for her reaction and she decided to hold back until they were in the turbolift. It didn´t help the crew when the queen broke into tears.
"Computer, stop the lift," Chakotay said and the computer confirmed. Almost at the same time, he pulled his wife to hold her. "I wish I could do something for you," he said, "It's never easy to lose a person close to you."
Kathryn nodded slightly. She and the senatoress were good friends and she felt hurt she couldn´t do something for her. "I'm pretty angry," Kathryn agreed, "Angry because I didn´t notice during all the years Janey is playing with us." She tried to breathe deeply. "Now that the senator is dead, we don´t have much time. Sembra will stop existing, soon."
"What are you thinking about?"
"We need to evacuate Sembra and rescue as many residents as possible," Kathryn's voice was now more composed. "In those circumstances, I´m mad we don´t have a larger ship."
"A larger ship?", Chakotay asked.
"There are Starfleet- ships, which take ten times more crew members than our ship does."
He knew exactly she thought about the Enterprise. The Voyager was nearly 350 meters long and thus unfortunately not the largest ship.
"This would be more helpful this time."
Chakotay let the turbolift continue to the bridge.
"Damage report!", He demanded when he and Kathryn entered the bridge.
"The damage Janey caused is minimal," Tom informed them, "But we'll have to renew the rear Phaser banks at our next stop on Carea, but B'Elanna says she can fix it."
"Excellent," Chakotay glanced at the main screen where the strong storm was still raging on the surface of Sembra. Lightning passed through the gray clouds. It was too risky to land the ship for a second time on Sembra, so they stayed in the Orbit. He wondered if he really wanted to send a team to the planet.
"Keep the Voyager in position, Samantha, and if a ship should leave the planet, I'd like to know."
"Aye, sir."
They gathered around Samantha Wildman's console to watch the Voyager enter Sembra's orbit.
"There's one thing that concerns me," Kathryn suddenly said, "How could Janey follow us from Carea to Sembra without us noticing?"
"I know how," Chakotay replied, "When I ordered Janey to hide and wait with the kids in a shuttle one month ago, I showed her how to hide tracks with a toron- particle neutralizer."
"It's also my fault, Captain," Tom said, "I taught her how to fly a spaceship. Some of the maneuvers Janey has shown in the fight today were Starfleet or marquis." He regretted he was so good-natured and gave Janey flight lessons, because there was no big difference in the handling between Voyager and a Carean space- hunter.
"I guess we all have to blame," Kathryn murmured. The realization that Janey was basically nothing but a spy who had watched them for years to use her knowledge at some point against the crew of Voyager, hurt a lot. She wasn´t only hurt, she was also disappointed and angry at the same time.
"What are we doing now?", Tom asked, looking worried at the main screen. Sembra's surface was covered by a single storm. It reminded him almost a little of Jupiter, in whose atmosphere a red, circling storm raged since hundreds of years.
"We send down a team," Chakotay decided. "We have to stop Janey and her brother. This is our duty. And we also have to rescue the residents."
"You want to evacuate Sembra?", Tom asked, "How many inhabitants does the planet have?"
"8 billion," Samantha Wildman said, "We will never be able to save everyone."

Samantha feigned feverishly how many people could be evacuated with the Voyager. They weren´t able to fly to Carea and then return to save more people, because the two planets were too far apart.
While the bridge officers worked out a plan, the doctor prepared for several injuries. "I am a doctor and not an assembly line," the hologram answered, but of course he would help everyone who needed help.
"He better should focus on his work, not on talking," Kathryn murmured as soon as she had finished the Com with the sick bay.
Chakotay noticed something was wrong with her and he was asking himself what. He got his answer when she also appeared in the transporter room at the beginning of the mission.
"I don´t want you to come along," Chakotay told her, "It's dangerous on Sembra."
"You said we would never separate again," she reminded him. "Besides, can you imagine that I don´t want you on this planet as well?"
"Kathryn, I..."
"It's a personal thing."
"I know you're mad at Janey..."
"And I don´t want to argue with you," her eyes glittered, "Take me to this planet, and I promise you it was the last time I ask for such a favor."
"Hard to believe," he replied, "but you can come along."

They were beamed directly in front of the government building of Sembra. Harry was the first who grabbed his tricorder to scan the environment. They were also accompanied by Millah: Cierra had insisted that at least one of them should come along to accompany the queen. Millah, however, swore she´d never accompany the team to the icy surface of Sembra. She had heard that the planet was already a snowy landscape on her last visit, and it was even worse now. Neither Millah nor Kathryn had ever seen such large icicles hanging from the buildings.
""We should go in," Harry suggested. Although they were wearing thick jackets, they were already freezing.
"Agreed," Chakotay said.
When they entered the government building, Harry scanned the environment for life. "Nothing," he said a little disappointed, but then the tricorder in his hand alarmed. "What's going on?", Chakotay wanted to know.
"I register two life signs in the government building."
"Janey and her brother," Kathryn was sure they were, because no one else had a reason to stay in the building. The whole team hastened to climb up the iced steps to the huge marble building.
They followed the tricorder scans, which led them to a heavy marble door. It wasn´t too difficult to open the door and they entered. Kathryn remembered the room: It was the place where the artifact was kept. Obviously, she saw the shape of a young man who was working on a hidden console.
Harry immediately drew his phaser. "Go away from the console!", he shouted, and the young man raised his hands. As ordered, he took a step back.
"Take the gun down, Lieutenant," Kathryn said to Harry.
"What?", he was confused.
"This is the husband of Senator Alisar," she explained, and the young man seemed relieved. He remembered that Kathryn, Chakotay and their daughter were guests at his and Alisar's wedding, but he hadn´t had much time to talk to them.
"Luckily you recognized me."
"What are you doing here?", Harry's question was of course justified.
"I'm trying to restore the power to the building. There is a bunker in the basement. Unfortunately, the console for the main power supply is up here", he wiped his face with the sleeve of his jacket, "The person who designed this building didn´t work very efficient... "
"Are people in the bunker?"
"Yes, about 10 women and children."
"Harry, help him," Kathryn said and Harry immediately checked the console. Gemeinsam hockten sie vor der and the man squatted in front of the console. "Your Majesty, where is my wife?", he asked, "Did she make it to Carea?"
"She did," Kathryn confirmed.
"And where is Alisar?"
"I'm sorry," she shook her head cautiously, "She´s dead."
"What?" The young man tried to hide the trembling in his voice, but he didn´t succeed. He had to hold onto the console in front of him, but then he decided to be strong. The tragic was Alisar´s husband didn´t even had a corpse he could burry: The Sembrarians used to dissolve in air two hours after their death.
"The power supply for the bunker is restored," Harry informed them now, but he was interrupted by another alarm of his tricorder. "There are two more life signs behind this wall," he said.
"I told everyone to stay in the bunker," Alisar's husband said.
"Let's find out who this is," Kathryn suggested. She opened the heavy door that led directly to the next room and although she had expected it, she froze for a second when she saw Janey and her brother. Janey's brother was much taller than her former maid, and his figure looked at least twenty years older. Janey was always like a mid-twentieth, her brother's hair was already streaked with gray streaks. In his hands he held a blue glimmering energy ball. The Artifact.
"Release the artifact!", Kathryn called at them, but instead of obeying, Janey's brother fired at her. He hit the door frame.
"No! Don´t!", Janey yelled, "We have arranged that we don´t hurt anyone."
"I can´t leave the artifact here, Janey." They heard the man's words through the dense dust cloud that surrounded them. "I need the artifact."
"But you promised me!"
"I can´t!"
The cloud, which surrounded Kathryn, Chakotay and the team, evaporated and they could still see how the two persons disappeared in the beam of a transporter. At this moment, Kathryn was even more annoyed: Janey had apparently stolen some more technology from them during the years. When Janey and her brother had completely disappeared, Sembra was caught by a quake. Shortly after, they heard a dull groan that seemed to hit the back of the building.
"What was that?", Chakotay asked, looking at Harry, who was checking his tricorder.
"Apparently the tide on Sembra has drastically changed when the artefact left," he replied, "We have a flood now. This thunder is the ocean, which crashes against the back of the building."
"The ocean?", the husband of Senator Alisar repeated, "The sea is about 50 kilometers away from the capital."
"It WAS 50 Kilometers away…" While Harry was talking, Kathryn and Millah ran to a window and looked out. Kathryn swallowed hard when she watched as the water of the ocean flowed slowly around the building and retreated shortly thereafter.
"Your Majesty, you know what that means, right?", Millah asked uncertainly.
"Yes," Kathryn nodded.
Chakotay also found that their situation was quite disturbing. He stood a little out of the group and he didn´t want them to notice how alarmed he was. So he took advantage of the moment to contact with the ship, which was still in Sembra's orbit.
"Chakotay to Voyager," he activated his communicator, "Beam us up. We are in the government building right now, but it won´t last long."
Tom replied: "There's a problem, Captain. We can´t find your signals", he said, "The storm prevents that. Every time we try to capture you, an electrostatic charge is generated in the atmosphere and we lose your signal."
"This comes at an unfavorable time..."
"I know...", Tom replied, "B'Elanna is working on it. She calibrates the target detection scanner but it will take a while."
„Wie lange?" "How long?"
"About an hour," Tom paused, "Hold on. We'll get you out there in time..." As soon as Tom had said this, a wave hit the building. "There's something else..."
"What?"
"Janey's ship. We couldn´t stop it. It was as if it had activated a warp drive as soon as it left the planet."
"Yes, I can imagine."
Kathryn had heard the conversation between Chakotay and Tom. Worried, she put a hand on his shoulder so he half turned to her. They hoped Tom would be right.

The weather on Sembra Prime was a disaster. The snowstorm had disappeared within a few seconds and had made way for a tidal wave that still crashed incessantly against the back wall of the building. Normally there was an ocean on Sembra, but it was far from the government capital. Kathryn guessed not only the tides but also the gravity on the planet had changed so much that the ocean had moved to another place. The temperature improved a little, but Kathryn still froze horribly. The cold crawled through her whole body, and she tightened the blanket Millah had given her. Millah handed her a water bottle. Kathryn noticed the worried face expression of her maid. "What's the matter?", she asked.
"Your Majesty, I want you to know that Cierra and I will always be true. No matter what happens."
"I know, Millah," Kathryn smiled, "Thank you."
"We're not spies like Janey," Millah added.
"This is exactly what a real spy would say," Kathryn replied, and she saw how shocked the young woman now looked. "That was a joke," she whispered.
Millah nodded, though she hadn´t considered it a joke.
"And because I know you're not a spy and would never lie to me... You could tell me what happened on Caro," Kathryn suggested.
"No," Millah said, and she noticed that she was blushing.
Careas moons were very different: Caro had a dense atmosphere, was covered by a beautiful forest landscape and was a popular excursion destination, while the smaller moon Cana was an ice desert without any life.
Finally, Millah gave up. If she didn´t tell the Queen what had happened on Caro, soon, she would probably ask for the rest of her life. "All right, I'll tell you what happened on Caro," said Millah, and sat down beside her. "After you sent me there and I arrived at the house, I found the captain and the commander. The two were arguing. Commander Chakotay said to Captain Janeway he envies you and the General because you started a family. It was what he always wanted..."
"And how did the captain react?", Kathryn asked.
"I don´t know," Millah confessed, "Fortunately, the two didn´t notice I was in the house and I decided to take advantage of that and left."
"I'm sorry I sent you there," Kathryn told her, "I had no idea they were arguing."
"Oh no. That's fine. You know, I had noticed I had forgotten my key there in all my haste, and because I feared the two would find it, I went back to the house two hours later. I only found the clothes of the two scattered on the floor." Millah nodded and Kathryn could also imagine what that meant.
A clinking sound made them getting up. "What was that?", Kathryn asked. She and Millah hurried to the door that separated them from the next room, and they backed away when a splash of water spilled under the door. "We have a problem," Kathryn said.
"The building won´t make it any longer," Harry said, "If we won´t drown, we have to get out of here."
"Agreed," Chakotay said. They left the room and went down the wide corridor leading to the main entrance.
"Wait a moment," Senator Alisar's husband cried, "What about the people in the bunker?"
"We'll get them out as soon as we can," Harry promised.
"I have to check if..."
The massive entrance door burst under the pressure of the water and a powerful wave streamed in. The ice cold water stood right up to their ankles.
"I'm afraid this is not a way out," Harry said, and he followed the rest of the team, which had already rushed up the wide marble staircase leading to the next floor.
"I have to go!", the man cried and Harry tried to stop him, but he could only watch as he jumped fearlessly into the waters.
"Lieutenant!", Chakotay shouted, and Harry hurried up the stairs. They opened the locked door to the roof terrace with the phaser and stepped out. Outside, the snow had turned into rain. At that moment, the weather on Sembra changed again, because the rain suddenly didn´t fall to the ground but evaporated in the air. Kathryn had read that there was a planet called Venus, on which the sulfuric acid didn´t strike on the ground either. No life was possible in the hostile atmosphere of Venus and Sembra was now transformed into such a place. The buildings on the other side of the city crumbled and a deep ditch opened, which was immediately flooded by water.
"Chakotay to Voyager!", The general once again tapped his communicator, "Now would be a good time to get us out of here!"

Although the atmosphere had been condensed, the storms on Sembra had disappeared and the crew managed to beam the team to the ship.
Kathryn saw in the corner of her eye as Millah tugged at the collar of her dress. "Tom, thank you for the rescue," Chakotay said via Com. "Never mind, Captain. I'll make it to B'Elanna."
They immediately noticed something seemed to be wrong, and the ensign in the transporter room handed them the images of Sembra on a small screen. The bridge crew also saw these pictures. Kathryn had never been a witness to how a planet seemed to break apart. The procedure only lasted a few minutes and in the end, two glowing halves of Sembra drifted in space.
"How many people could been saved?", Kathryn asked and she noticed Tom hesitating to answer her.
"383 people, Your Majesty."
"What about the people from the bunker of the government building?"
"We were able to rescue everyone. They are in cargo bay Two."
Kathryn thanked for the information and before she and Chakotay went to the bridge, they took a detour to cargo bay Two. There, they talked to some people who were relieved to escape death. They met women and children who were crying and people, looking for their relatives and friends. They only could tell them they would find a new home on Carea or they could travel from there to other planets if they wanted.
Kathryn and Chakotay were about to leave when a small figure caught her attention. The figure lay, wrapped in blankets, on a transport box and stretched out the small arms and legs. The baby was crying and it was wrapped in a blanket with the sealing of the regent family of Sembra Prime. Kathryn's heart melted when she took the little infant on her arm. She now understood why it was so important to the husband of Senator Alisar to get back into the bunker. "I didn´t know the senator already has a child," Chakotay said to his wife, because a few weeks ago, they were guests at the wedding.
She patted the baby's back and it stopped crying. "I'm sure we'll find a good home for the baby."

Being back on Carea was a blessing, even if a sour taste remained, it was perhaps only a matter of time until Janey's brother also wanted to steal their artifact.
On an evening two days after their return Kathryn put her baby on the couch to change diapers. Riehsa was crying when her mother brought a new diaper and recycled the old one. "Aeria, stay with your sister," Kathryn said to her older daughter and Aeria sat next to Riehsa on the couch to distract her with a stuffed animal. But Riehsa was only crying more and kicking excitedly with her arms and legs. Kathryn hastened to recycle the diaper and then immediately returned to the couch. "Don´t cry, honey," Kathryn said to Riehsa and pressed a kiss on the baby's forehead. Kathryn saw, that Riehsa´s hair was about to become darker and she was a bit disappointed that her youngest daughter also looked much more like her father. When she put socks on Riehsa, she sang her a song and Aeria watched as the baby actually calmed down. Riehsa was now old enough to react to acoustic stimuli and the voices of her parents. Kathryn saw in her daughter's eyes that she was a little offended because she had not managed to soothe the baby. "Riehsa has recognized my voice," Kathryn guessed to comfort Aeria, "This is quite normal. Babies recognize their mother's voice because they are in her womb for nine months." As she spoke, she held Riehsa in her arm. Riehsa immediately snuggled at her mother's neck. Kathryn realized how much she enjoyed the time with her baby and Aeria. Then she was thinking of the baby of the Senator. And Sembra Prime, which ruins still floated in space. Suddenly Kathryn felt sad.
"Was I in your tummy, too, Mommy?", asked Aeria now.
"Yes, honey."
Aerias eyes brightened and she hugged her mother and planted a kiss on her cheek. Then she ran to her room. A knock at the door aroused Kathryn's attention and she let the late visit in. "Good evening," she said to Samantha and Naomi Wildman, when they entered. Naomi went with her bag immediately to Aerias room. Because her mother was also invited to Harry's bachelor party, Naomi stayed with her friend today.
"You look great, Your Majesty," Samantha said to Kathryn.
"Thank you, you also."
Harry had invited his friends to spend the last night of freedom (as he called it) in a holo projection of Las Vegas. Because they wanted to visit a casino, the evening required an elegant dress code and Kathryn had chosen a black, strapless dress. Samantha was wearing a light blue dress, which matched her blonde hair.
Kathryn and Samantha goodbye to Aeria and Naomi, both were sitting on the bed in Aerias room and combed the purple hair of a Mermaid doll. In Riehsas room they met B'Elanna who just handed Miral to Cierra. Riehsa on Kathryn's arm was now asleep and she put the baby in its cradle.
They left some instructions for Cierra and Millah and then made their way to Voyager. "Your husbands don´t join us?", Samantha asked.
"We´ll meet on Voyager," B'Elanna replied, "They are already there for an hour."
In fact, the program was already activated when the three women entered the holodeck and they were now directly in the entrance hall of a hotel. The floor was covered with bright, Italian marble and on a table was a magnificent bouquet. A fantastic chandeliers hung from the ceiling. "Impressive," Kathryn noted.
"Have you ever been to Las Vegas?" Samantha asked her as they walked down the stairs.
"No, never." Las Vegas was still a glittering metropolis in the Nevada desert, and there were still dazzling casinos and countless wedding chapels. In 2203, the area was however hit by an earthquake and the area that was known as Southern California until then, broke away from the mainland and sank into the sea. Since then, the city of Las Vegas had a beach on the Pacific Ocean and there was a road that led out of the city into the sea.
Meanwhile, Tom and Chakotay waited for them at the foot of the stairs. "Shouldn´t we call our wives?", the commander asked.
"No. They are only five minutes late, "Chakotay reassured him, "Maybe they´re not done yet. If you are searching for something in my wife´s closet, then you need the scanner of the Voyager except for you prefer complaining you don´t have enough clothes in the end."

Chakotay and Tom laughed about that joke.

"You always have to wait for beautiful women."

Then they saw B´Elanna, Kathryn and Samantha coming down the stairs. Kathryn reached out her hand and Chakotay took it to help her. "How sweet of you", she said.

They walked along the long, tree-marble columns corridor.
"I know you´re not in high spirits for a party", Chakotay said quietly to Kathryn.
"Yes," she nodded, "That's right."
"Come on," he grabbed her hand and pulled her with him to disappear between the columns.
B'Elanna turned around to them and wondered where they were. Then she followed the others, shrugging.
"Where are we going?", asked Kathryn, when they walked through a dark hall. Finally, Chakotay opened a door and she understood why the hotel's interior was dark: They stood on a small balcony in front of a large pond and a lighted fountain in the middle showed a spectacular show. Of course, the venerable Bellagio looked better in the background.
"I need to show you something," Chakotay said suddenly, "Harry and I have found the artifact of Carea." He saw that her eyes were bright and she looked very relieved at once.
"What is it?"

He searched in his left jacket pocket for it and showed it to her. An orange ribbon with three nodes was in his hand.

"The Royal band of Carea", she realized, "To be honest, I suspected that, but..."
"Oh, don´t worry. This is only a replica. The real Royal band of Carea is hidden in a safe place in the palace since 50 years."
Kathryn didn´t understand a word.
"Harry and I have searched for the artifact. We have scanned the entire palace. We found it in a place where we never expected", he saw how excited she was, "The real band of Carea is located in the mausoleum where the other crowned heads of Carea found their final rest. In the sarcophagus in which your grandfather, King Aris, is buried, to be exact. The sarcophagus was sealed 50 years ago, therefore, Harry and I assume your grandfather knew the true meaning of the band and exchanged it against our replica before his death."
"That means I'm going to bequeath my daughter a worthless piece of fabric someday…"
"And the knowing where the real band is if she should ever need", he smiled at her, then he suggested to go back inside. Kathryn nodded in agreement and hand in hand they walked down the hall of the casino. Their friends waited outside the entrance to the gambling area. Meanwhile, also Neelix and Harry had joined them and they decided to enter.
The doctor was waiting for them at a gaming table, and as soon as they were seated, he gave them cards.
"We're playing Texas Hold'em," the doctor announced, who wore the uniform of a dealer. The playing cards sailed really professional on the table. "Doctor, I wonder how long you have been practicing for this," Tom said and B'Elanna stifled her laughter, while the hologram rolled his eyes. A waitress came to their table and asked what they wanted to drink. They played the first round and Kathryn soon gave up because her cards were pretty bad. She looked at Chakotay cards, who was sitting next to her.
In the second round Harry's communicator was noticeable. His fiancee called and asked for a personal talk, so he walked away from the table. "Should we wait for you?", Neelix asked but they only saw how Harry walked away in a hurry.
They played on. "You lose, my darling," Tom said to B'Elanna and smiled.
"I don´t think so," she sounded sure, "I'm in." She threw four red chips into the middle of the table.
"So, I´m out", Neelix gave up. And because it was now Chakotays turn, he also threw a lot of chips in the middle of the table.
"You want to start a fight?", Tom asked his wife.
"No, I don´t want to", after Samantha had set, B'Elanna put her cards on the table. Tom was amazed when he saw a full house. "So I've won this round."
Chakotay was disappointed and Kathryn patted comforting his upper arm while B'Elanna reached for her chips.
"The captain is also mad at you," Tom said to his wife now.
"No, please don´t involve me in this dispute," Chakotay said. The waitress brought them their drinks.
They started the next round, while Kathryn sorted her cards she realized how much time had passed: "Harry is long gone," she said. At that moment, Harry reappeared at the table. They saw his shocked face. "What´s wrong, Harry?", Tom sounded worried.
"Everything´s fine. I'd better go home. Have a nice evening." Harry left, leaving his bewildered friends back at the poker table. They didn´t get a response, what had happened, but that wasn´t necessary.

Fin?