Still I Rise

To ensure that the information remained secure until the time was right, Obrist used a modified Federation Standard code to encrypt a communication that he claimed was vital to the operation. Actually, it was a Maquis code, one that Starfleet had not yet added to their database at the time of Voyager's disappearance; Annorax couldn't possibly have it. As soon as I laid eyes on it, I knew what it was and I knew Chakotay had encrypted it. I broke it in minutes.

It turned out to be a damn love letter to Janeway.

I knew, of course, that was just another layer of the code. Just as obvious was the fact that he had expected Janeway to come after him herself. He had assumed that once I broke the Maquis code, she could break their lover's code.

Somehow, I'd have to break their code myself— without Janeway's help.

It was slow going, to say the least. There were so many references to things that had obviously been inside jokes and pillow talk between them that I was only certain about a few pieces of information. I pondered the risks of "accidentally" leaking it to Schmullis, so that he could forward it to Voyager, but I knew it was a terribly dangerous and stupid idea.

It was just my frustration talking.

Running my hands over my face, I looked again at what I had. Maybe if I knew what the actual message was supposed to be, I could guess some of the references he was alluding to. But, this was like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle by touch.

"Start with what you know are clues," I told myself.

There was something about a pocket watch he had wanted to give to her for her birthday this year— but what the hell was a pocket watch? Then, there was a joke about Tom's ridiculous Captain Proton holonovel that he and Harry had started creating just before our lives all went to hell. "He must have been dizzy drunk when he thought up that one," Chakotay had written, which was an odd way for him to phrase the sentiment. After that came a series of numbers which meant nothing to me, connected to worries about the crew becoming divided.

"Pocket watch," I murmured, thinking out loud. "Captain Proton is dizzy. Numbers. Crew division. Pocket watch. Proton, dizzy. Dizzy proton. Proton spin, maybe? So, pocket watch. Proton spin. Numbers. Crew division. Numbers and division."

I frowned. Was it an equation? It would be just my luck to have to break a code that assumed the reader had a premier distinction in quantum mechanics from Starfleet Academy, like Janeway did. Hell. The one science I could never wrap my mind around at all. Of course our lives would come to depend on the one thing I was too stupid to understand.

'Negative self-talk,' my counselor's brain warned.

I groaned, pressing fingers into my temples to rub out a mounting headache. I was trying to translate something from a love language I didn't know into a mathematical language I couldn't understand. 'This isn't going to work, Talia. You need a real scientist. No matter how you try to pretend, that's just not you. If only Captain Janeway was here—'

"Hey." Harry's soft voice snapped me out of a rapid digression into self-loathing, stealing my attention away from the computer console in our quarters— Ransom's quarters— to face his own tired eyes, peering at me from the dark bedroom threshold. "Are you coming to bed?"

'You know,' my brain supplied, 'a Chief of Operations might do.' I smiled. "Yeah, I'll be right there. But before I do, will you look at something for me?"

"Yeah," he half-said-half-yawned as he padded quietly across the room to where I sat. Crouching down beside me and rubbing his eyes, he squinted at the bright screen containing a split view of the letter and my notes. "What's a pocket watch?"

I shrugged.

"It's hard to say with so much missing. It's definitely an equation, and it looks like it might be a magnetic frequency of some kind."

His hand found my cheek, fingers stroking ever so gently as they pulled my attention from the screen and its frustrations to his steady, dark gaze. "We'll pull B'Elanna aside tomorrow and work it out together. First thing in the morning. Yeah?"

The way he looked at me— the way he touched me— I couldn't turn him away. I smiled and nodded. "Okay."

Tugging my face towards his, he lifted his lips to mine. "Come to bed," he whispered.

"Okay."

At my assent, he grasped my hands in his and tugged me to my feet. Gently, he guided me into the bedroom, where he helped me out of my Maquis leathers and thick protective pants, his hands moving over me with the softest touch. When I was left in nothing but my panties and undershirt, he drew back the blankets, pulled me into bed with him, and spooned me to himself.

Every coil of tension left my body at once, and I fell into the deepest sleep I'd had in days.

The uprising began with a city-wide strike and sit-in at the main square of one of the largest cities on Azahla. It seemed, in every way, to be a grassroots movement by the people of Azahla to inspire peaceful protest and civil disobedience for the sake of better wages and safer working conditions.

But, it was Betien who had scattered the seed.

Within a month, the protests had spread to the entire planet. Within two months, there were protests in neighboring systems, as well. By mid-November, Earth time, most of the Krenim's conquered worlds were in open rebellion.

It was horrifying.

They were being beaten and killed by the hundreds for doing what they did. Then, by the thousands. For a time, the protestors remained peaceful, but inevitably, imperial soldiers would make the mistake of killing a child, and righteous anger would ignite the protest into a mob.

Every time another report came in, I couldn't help but wonder at what a massive waste of life war was. Yet, I was also keenly aware of the stark contrast that existed between my life and theirs. I knew how privileged I had been to grow up in a society that valued my life, and gave its resources to enrich that life. Like the Bajoran Resistance, and to a certain degree the Maquis, these brave rebels willingly sacrificed all they had for the hope of gaining a free life for future generations.

Still, the whole situation tore at me.

On the positive side, the uprisings kept Annorax rather distracted the whole time we were tracking him, and he never once noticed us.

The message Chakotay sent had indeed been the equation for a magnetic frequency. More specifically, it was the chronomagnetic frequency of the Solassat's temporal shields. After Harry and B'Elanna figured that out, it only took a few days to make the necessary sensor modifications. We'd been following him under cloak ever since.

Once we had a good handle on how Annorax's ship got supplies, we began planning our first attacks on his forces. For two weeks, Zahl raiders pounded the Solassat's supply lines before Annorax finally got angry enough to train his weapon on Azahla. He knew that erasing the Zahl would hurt the Krenim Imperium— they had benefited his empire greatly— but he could not allow the rebellion to continue.

It was time.

My bridge crew and I watched from under the relative safety of our cloak as Annorax tried to persuade Betiel to stand down.

"I don't want to have to give the order to erase your civilization from history, Betiel," Annorax insisted. "But you leave me little choice."

"It wouldn't fix your problem, General. We're not alone."

"Perhaps. But, you are the instigators. Without your influence, the others would have no reason to rise up against the government that feeds and protects them."

"Oh, but they would," Betiel corrected. "Because this is not the Zahl revolution. It is the queen's."

Annorax flinched ever so slightly. "I can assure you that Queen Nilat has no involvement in your little rebellion. She is just as grieved over the unnecessary loss of life as I am."

"You and I both know that is a lie, General, because your wife has been dead for a hundred and fifty years. You also know that she never should have been queen in the first place."

Annorax snorted. "Preposterous!"

At that very moment, the Srivani fleet de-cloaked, revealing hundreds of small but powerful ghost-ships in a defensive formation between the Solassat and Azahla.

"The Srivani," Annorax murmured, his face flushing red.

Betiel smiled. "I believe you are familiar with my friends, General?"

On the Equinox, hidden behind the shadow of the smallest moon, I held up my left hand, index finger extended, letting Harry know to be ready at any second to set our part of the plan into motion.

"They're supposed to be extinct."

Dropping my arm, I redirected the aim of my pointer towards the screen. Then, from the center of Equinox's bridge, Nessav Kyana, the rightful queen of the Krenim Imperium, began to speak in her utterly commanding and regal way.

"They are supposed to be extinct, yes," she agreed, lifting her pointed chin. "But they are not, and neither is the line of the true heir of the Kyana inheritance."

Swirls of strawberry-blonde hair hovered gently over the blossom of cartilage embossed on either of the Krenim woman's temples, but most of her long, wavy tresses had simply been draped over her shoulders to hang loosely down her back.

"My name is Nessav Kyana, the true queen of the Krenim Imperium. As you can see, I am quite alive and quite safe. My genetic integrity has been carefully protected so that there can be no question as to who and what I am. I will take my rightful place as head of the Krenim state, which means, General, that your time has come to an end. But, I do not wish for more bloodshed. Surrender your vessel and my inheritance. Let us come to terms peacefully."

"If you think I'll just hand over the Solassat and my military based on one speech from some displaced little girl I've never seen before today, then you're not very intelligent."

"Would you like another speech, then, General?" she quipped. "I have many more prepared."

He chortled. "Come to the Solassat, my dear. My doctors will examine your DNA. If you truly are who you say you are, I will be happy to give you what you ask for."

"Do you think I am a fool, General? You will kill me the moment I step foot on your ship. Perhaps you would rather I announce myself to the entire region, encourage all of your subjects— Krenim and otherwise— to rise up and slaughter your imperial armies down to the last man?"

"That would be a poor choice on your part, your highness, as you would then have no army for yourself."

Nessav made a sweeping gesture with her hands. "Have you not noticed? I already have an army."

"A renegade band of foreigners who will turn on you the moment you have what you want. Who will defend you then? The Imperium's own women and children?"

"You vastly underestimate the power of women and children, General. But, there will be no need. I have already made terms with the Srivani, the Zahl, the B'omar, the Mari, and every other sovereign government you bullied into subservience with your temporal abomination."

"Those savages can't be trusted. They will slaughter our people and squander the peace and prosperity that we have built here."

"They are not the savages here, General," Nessav fired back, "and they will not abandon me when I take what is mine. But if that does not convince you, allow me to inform you of my latest political maneuver. I have recently finalized negotiations on another treaty between the new Krenim government, the United Underspace Coalition, and the United Federation of Planets."

As soon as those words left the queen's lips, I felt the haughty smirk on my face immediately give way to a look of gaping, ghastly surprise. This was not part of the plan, at least not as far as I knew. Was she bluffing?

Annorax narrowed his eyes. "I don't believe you."

Then, a distinctively husky voice echoed through the com.

"Believe her, General," Captain Janeway implored as her image joined in with the visual conference on everyone's view screens. "The queen is telling the truth. As of last week, both the Federation and the Coalition are allied with the Krenim Commonwealth, effective immediately upon Queen Nessav Kyana's ascension to the throne."

She had cut her hair short in the months since I'd seen her last— shorter than mine, which was already starting to creep past my shoulders— but she remained just as fearsome and commanding as ever. Beside her stood the Turei leader with whom we had met on Nikatos.

I smiled.

"A commonwealth? Have you lost your mind, little girl? You think you can throw away centuries of Krenim greatness, give away our people's accomplishments to strangers, simply because you share a few genetic markers in common with my wife? You will never board my ship or take away my empire. The Krenim are my children, not yours. You, child, are just as much of an alien as your rebel friends.

"Therefore, on behalf of the Kyana dynasty and the Krenim Imperium, I hereby reject your claim to the inheritance of our people. You are an imposter to the throne and a traitor to the Krenim people, and you will pay for your crimes with the blood of every single insurgent who stands against me. If you really want to avoid bloodshed, call off the rebellion, and I will grant mercy to the poor, innocent civilians whom you have so abhorrently preyed upon. After that, I suggest you go back into hiding, because I will come for you, and you will be brought to account for what you have done. May the goddess have mercy on your soul."

With that, the com line was cut, the screen went black, and the Solassat went to warp.

I hardly had time to consciously form the first question in my mind— Where the hell was Voyager hiding?— when a com alert sounded from the operations console, upon which I had been leaning throughout the negotiation. I spun on my heel to face Harry, fully expecting it to be a hail from Voyager.

"It's Betiel," Harry said, glancing up to meet my eyes. "A data transmission."

"What kind?"

His gaze returned to the console as he tapped at his controls. "Another code from the Solassat. He says it was piggybacked on Annorax's com, and that it's not any code known to the Zahl or the rebellion. He thinks it might be another of Chakotay's codes."

Quickly, I rounded Harry's station and stared down at the code, only to have my view obscured by another com signal notification. It was Voyager.

"Tell her to wait just a minute," I snapped, and he passed along the message.

With the code once again at the forefront of my vision, my brain rapidly supplied its source. "This isn't Maquis," I said. "This code— it's Kardasi. The transmission didn't come from Chakotay; it came from Iliana."

"Could be a virus," Tom pointed out.

Harry nodded. "It could."

I had half a mind to purge the damn thing entirely from the ship's computers. Of course she had sent a virus, the snake! Yet, my gut told me something else. What if she had changed her mind? It could also be exactly what we needed to disable Annorax's timeship and bring a swift end to what promised to be a bloody war.

"There's only one way to find out," I said. "Get Captain Janeway on a secure channel and route it to my ready room. I want to know what the hell is going on here, and then I want to break that code."

"Were you ever actually intending to follow my plan?"

Captain Janeway gave a wry smile. "I considered it."

"For how long?"

"About an hour."

I raised an eyebrow. "That long? Well, that makes me feel a little better."

"It wasn't a bad plan," she reassured me. "But, when I spoke with Tuvok, he suggested that there might be a way to satisfy all of our problems without throwing the former Maquis under the nacelles. This treaty will save a lot of lives, both in the present conflict and in the conflicts yet to come with the Borg."

"It will. But, what about the Prime Directive?"

"I convinced Starfleet that having an operative of the Obsidian Order forcibly removed from our custody and held captive by an aggressive race with the power to alter time constituted an unacceptable situation in which we were involved against our will, and are obligated to correct. If she were to turn on us, and gain control of that timeship—"

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.

Janeway noted my reaction to her statement, and her brow scrunched with concern. "Is everything alright, Commander?"

"Yes and no. It's a long story, and I'd rather not share it over the com. Are you near Azahla? Could we possibly speak in person?"

Voyager had hidden itself on a large asteroid in the belt ringing the middle of the Zahl system. They had arrived a day ago. Queen Nessav had known, as had Betiel, Elentia, and a handful of Srivani. Schmullis also knew, of course. Other than that, their arrival had somehow gone unnoticed.

I made the announcement to the crew en route to Voyager's location. As far as Starfleet was concerned, our actions had always been part of Captain Janeway's plan. No mutiny would ever be put on record for anyone. Quite the opposite, in fact; due to the Federation's continuing war with the Dominion, which included Cardassia, Janeway had been able to sway several of the admirals into admitting that we were all as good as on the same side. It wasn't a full pardon for our past crimes, but it was a start.

After transporting to Voyager, I met with Janeway, Tuvok, and Captain Ransom in the ready room, and brought them up to speed on what we had been doing in the months since our ships parted ways. Janeway couldn't help but smile when I told her about the coded love letter from Chakotay. Knowing ahead of time that she would ask, I had brought a copy of it with me.

"What's a pocket watch?" she asked.

Thanks to Tom, who was a geek for Terran historical trivia, I knew the answer. "It's a sort of ancient chronometer that people used to wear as jewelry. It hung on a chain that could be attached to jackets, vests, or slacks, and then the chronometer would rest inside of an adjacent pocket. That hint was what told us the frequency was chrono-magnetic, but I'm sure the pocket watch has more of a story behind it than just that."

"Brilliant," she murmured. "Thank you for bringing this."

"Of course."

With one last look at the PADD, Janeway cleared her throat and set the device down in the space between where she and I sat next to each other on the couch. "I don't imagine that you wanted to meet in person just to catch up."

"Unfortunately, no. I need help with a risky, but necessary, operation that the Equinox cannot be involved in."

"Go on," she implored. On her other side, Captain Ransom angled forward, ready to listen and speak. Tuvok stood in front of the railing with his hands clasped behind his back, his demeanor as stoic as always.

"During our communication with General Annorax earlier," I said, "Betiel received a transmission piggybacked onto the com signal from the Solassat. It was an encoded message, but it wasn't any of the codes used by the resistance, so he sent it to us thinking it was from Chakotay. It's not." I paused to take a breath. "The code is Kardasi, Captain. Chakotay barely knew how to ask for the bathroom in Kardasi. There is no way that code came from him."

"Then, we must conclude that it was sent by Ms. Ghemor," Tuvok said.

Ransom frowned. "Why would she use a Cardassian code? Nobody in sixty thousand light-years could read that message. What purpose would it serve?"

Janeway and Tuvok both looked to me.

"I can," I said. "I studied Kardasi at the academy. I speak it quite proficiently. Not only that, but I used to serve as a code-breaker for the Maquis. I know exactly the code she used. I can break it and translate it into Standard immediately."

Ransom gaped at me as if I had sprouted another head. That revelation would normally be way above his clearance, given his limited tactical training. Under the circumstances, however, he needed to know.

Janeway cleared her throat.

"Do you believe the transmission contains a virus, Commander?" Tuvok asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know what it contains. Part of me thinks there's no way it could be anything but malware meant to sabotage the resistance. But, my gut tells me something else."

Janeway placed a hand on my shoulder, drawing my attention to her. Her blue eyes bored into mine, reminding me of the depths of her trust in me. "What does your gut tell you it is, Talia?"

"A way to disable the Solassat and end the war," I said. "But, if I'm wrong, if it is malware and it sabotages the Equinox and blows our cover, we will not only lose the element of surprise, but also put the queen in danger."

"What alternative did you have in mind?" Tuvok inquired.

"Two shuttles. One for me where I can work on the code, and the other to follow and keep a transporter lock on me in case I go tits-up."