Gretchen Janeway

I am hugging Phee to me as I sit in our den with the pathfinder family. Over the last years, particularly the last 4, we have got to know each other really well. Whilst our children/spouses have been stuck in the delta quadrant making a family through adversity, we have become similarly linked here. We are the pathfinder pressure group, constantly needling the admiralty and Starfleet, making sure voyager has been in the news, stories of pride and heroes, stuggling in the unknown. What voyager is unaware of is the constant pressure we put on Starfleet to continue to secure their future. There is no doubt that they will all get a heroes welcome. Despite some grumbling about the maquis starting point, this fight was over years ago as the logs came through and were leaked to us and from us to beyond. They show beyond any doubt that this is one team. One team of true fighters, upholding the spirit of the federation. We are all proud beyond all measure in what they have achieved. I am beyond proud of my daughter, Katie, and now I will have the chance to hold her and tell her.

There have been a lot of changes here, we have tried to prepare the voyagers for these, many relationships haven't lasted, mostly due to the original notices of death. Despite that, Mark is here cheering Katie on, with his lovely wife and son. Mike's wife and her new husband is here, with his sons. Joe Carey's wife has bravely come so that her sons can see the crew that their dad fought for and loved. She had stuck by him all these years, and his death so recently is devastating. The Kims help to support her. With the loss of their son, they had gravitated to supporting those with sons too. In fact, we have squeezed nearly 50 here, and I know Elizabeth Paris has squeezed a similar number at hers, including Gresh, sam's husband who is waiting patiently, and Irene Hanswen, Seven's Aunt, who has needed considerable support to hear of both her brothers fate, and the fate of her niece. I wonder what Gresh is thinking as it is Naomi taking all these images, and has appeared in a few, so clearly loved and adored by all the crew.

We all get comfortable infront of the large viewscreen so we can watch the definitely-not-allowed image feed direct from pathfinder's Reg Barclay, from Harry Kim.

Sekaya, Chakotay's sister is to my other side on the sofa, with her son Paka on her lap and we three adults watch through a mist of tears. From the moment that voyager appeared out of that damn borg sphere we have been congregating, hugging laughing and celebrating. And we 'command team' family have become a small family of our own, as without living parents, Sekaya has become a second daughter to me and Paka an additional grandson. When not on Trebus with her husband's family, here is her home.

We cheer and toast baby Miral, we ahh at the group photo in sickbay and I message Harry for my daughter. If only Miral could see this, we met twice in the early years, and she was proud of her warrior daughter. I will tell B'Elanna this. B'Elanna's father is with Elizabeth, I can imagine their joy at this grandchild. I message Elizabeth my joy for her. We have been close friends since Tom was born, and this is a moment of huge rejoicing. She messages me back that she thanks me and Katie with all her heart for the saving of her son. I remember their years with us on holidays, of fun and happiness. I remember our shared time of darkness after the cardassian capture, and our return to sisterhood from our need to share once voyage had gone, taking a child from each of us. We have shared much joy and pain over the years.

We have some images of the command team walking the corridor, and Sekaya and I smile at each other. We have wondered how close they may have got, but we have never seen them together, just had messages and logs to pour over. Seeing then stand gazing at each other, with Katie's hand on his chest, I am sure. Sekaya nudges me. I say that Katie has always been tactile, and we cant read too much into it. Mark gives a huge laugh and tells me not to be so cautious. He should know. I am pleased that he is still part of my family, tho moved on with great happiness, and he doesn't begrudge Katie her happiness either.

There are tears of joy and shouts of recognition as the engineering crew appear on the vidscreen. Joe Carey's wife and sons are hugged and cheered as the images appear of where he worked. She sees the friends he made, and the 2 women that he followed and can see that he was part of a loving family there too. Harry sends a brief transcript of Katie's speech and I can see the pride in Joe's boys. Most of the engineering family is with Elizabeth, as is science, so my hugest cheer comes with security/tactics, as they are here with me, along with astrometrics, the lost crewmembers and most of the bridge.

Seeing the images as they come through gives us chance to adjust to the altered appearances of our loved ones, as well as see them in the places that they have been working all this time. I bless Naomi for taking so many images, that we all see our loved ones. Sekaya and I are clearly the most happy, as Naomi takes image after image of our Katie and Chakotay. She catches their mannerisms, katie's hand on hips, her quirked lip smile, rolling her eyes, hands on arms of various crew members. I can see she has been more than just a captain. I can see her crew love her too. Chakotay is perfectly matched in walk, position and his smile is to die for. One glimpse of that dimpled smile, which his nephew Paka shares, and I am surprised I haven't a tribe of grandchildren on voyager. Sekaya, Phee and I hug, cry and laugh as our pathfinder family cheer every image that appears, particularly as they reach security. It is a shame T'Pel couldn't be here too.

Jake Sisko comms me privately, the buzz has built up that Voyager is home, that the departure of the fleet was noted, but that it is a welcome party not a war. I comm owen and ask what should we leak. Via a circuitous route of course! And back through this route, I get the killer photo of voyager bursting through the borg sphere and am told only this for now. So Jake gets his lead and soon fed news is buzzing with the photo.

Welcome back voyager!

Seven

Soon they will be at astrometrics. I am eagerly awaiting chakotay, there is a flutter in me that I haven't felt before. Looking at the images has been distracting. The commentary the Delaney twins gives is distracting and irrelevant. I will comply with the captain's request to complete the Borg data. I look at the images though, and am surprised with the interaction between the Captain and Chakotay. On the bridge he could only look at her, and I thought it command. Now, the images capture them and there is something else I see. It is a collective. I feel rage, he is for my collective. I am unsettled with this new sensation. I should not have removed the failsafe. I am being irrational. I concentrate on data and ignore the images, and the noise of gossip. Data reassures me, provides constancy and fact. It is not subject to conjecture. It soothes me. I close my mind to everything else.

Mike Ayala

As the images start to appear, I am in the armoury, overseeing the last practices before going back to the bridge. I feel torn between security, where I worked for so long, and command, now I am second to Tuvok. I will be on the bridge at Tuvok's station whilst he takes charge of security for the captains visit. As the engineering images appear, I place them at ease, suggest a quick uniform cross check and then leave.

As I lope back, I check the scuttlebutt. Harry says some images are going through pathfinder to our families. I know Maria moved on, and am happy for her, but I am happier still to think she is sitting there with our sons to see what I have been proudly doing for the last 7 years. Our marriage was on the rocks with me joining the maquis, and she had returned to her family. I am just proud that she and the boys can finally be proud of me and what I have helped voyager achieve. Hopefully this will be the start of a way back into the boys lives, a way to be a better father now I have been shown the true meaning of love and putting family first. Voyager has changed me for the better, it has made me responsible and keen to own upto my responsibilities. In the maquis I was still a boy playing at hero, now I am who I was always meant to be. I am ready for a second chance.

Oh ho! I see the scuttlebutt about chakotay and am pretty shocked. We have been friends for years, and I know that all he has been about has been the captain for the last seven. There is no doubt he has loved her all this time. He used to talk about it, but recently hasn't been talking, but I just don't believe it. This is another distraction. I'm going to ask him about it, so put a query through. He might just brush me off. Then I see some enterprising person has put up a captains dance card! Well, I'll be on that. I have seen her move and fight, I have seen her ballet! She is one hell of a woman. I'm up for helping her party! I've always thought she had the same feelings for Chakotay, more hidden, but the closeness of their command, their massive arguments when they come, the fact that the whole ship seems to feel whether they are in synch or not all said to us all that they were more than just a command couple. I stop and rewind the moments we have all shared on the bridge recently, it was different after Quarra, but seeming OK more recently, until the admiral came, but who wouldn't struggle when there was 2 of you? Well, if she needs a rebound man, or just a pep me up, or just dancing and laughing,I am quite happy to provide my devotion. Chakotay is not the only one to have loved her on this voyage. How could I resist the combination of power, magnetism and compassion.

I place my name on the dance card, bet some rations on a kiss, vote for the whiskey decanter, though laugh about Risa! I send a few song ideas to tom from our maquis days, when there would be the occasion to dance in celebration. Even post partum I bet B'Elanna cant resist some of them. I comm a congrats to B'Elanna, saying will visit when all this hoopla and party is over. Love and congrats. Tom better be a better father than I was.

I make it onto the bridge, and Tuvok gives me command. Me, in command. Harry grins, he says he is too busy on ops, and I better not find any bogies.