Chakotay
They have said their private goodbyes, he will see her publically before they separate.
He beams onto DS9 with Gilmore and Lessing. There she is, Kira Nerys. A polite smile on her face, questions in her eyes. This is his show, his responsibility, and he is ready for it. He is an annealed amalgam of maquis captain steel and starfleet officer tritanium. He is a weapon forged in the delta quadrant, but his goal is peace. He is a contrary, and it finally suits him. He nods to Nerys, who welcomes him aboard, introducing the security officers who will take them to their quarters and then escort the three of them to her office. They will have an hour to put the case to her to consider. Chakotay is afterwards invited to the enterprise reception, as is captain Janeway and Lt Kim. It should be, interesting.
The quarters on DS9 bear the same starfleet stamp. Beige not grey, a memory of a discussion on stripes or polka dots gives him pause to smile. After dropping the duffle, he exits to stand with his escort until Gilmore and Lessing join him. He looks each in the eye, receiving a nod. Show time.
The office of Kira Nerys is predominantly functional, devoid of clutter with only a few bajoran artefacts to give any clue to the occupying personality, and a framed holoimage of the station crew under sisko. He begins the obvious start, that of the possible postings that are suggested for him, DS9 is an obvious choice. Close to Trebus and family. Unspoken between them are big negotiations on the horizon; the key architects of this are yet dependent on other negotiations. Setting up the dominoes so that they may yet fall in a pattern.
whilst he praises Gilmore and Lessing, he subtly moves his hand in old maquis sign language. He knows Nerys will be able to read. 'Is her office safe, is it overheard'. She acts as if she has not seen.
He orders Gilmore to outline an efficiency assessment and a potential defence, in vague terms as not as yet released. He signs alynna's code name, as it is her that will sign off this information as part of, well, the future. Gilmore does him proud, is competent, efficient, starfleet. 'Who, 'Nerys finally acknowledges the signs by one of her own as adjusting her collar. He ghosts a smile 'love' he responds. Nerys asks a searching question of Gilmore wrt the Equinox. She responds well, they faced insuperable odds and failed as starfleet officers. Janeway offered redemption through service, and they wish to continue this, whether allowed to remain within starfleet or not. Lessing nods. Chakotay signs 'true' . He leaves the signs to the minimum. Even if the maquis are gone, some remain who will have known the signs, and if this office is compromised, they are like to be able to read them. It is more of a signal to Nerys to confirm there are levels to this. 'Why' she signals. 'Dove' he responds, for peace, stability and a future to be proud of. It mirrors an old biblical tale. The dove signs that it is safe to settle.
'Agreed, ideally within starfleet' Kira Nerys is known for her decisiveness, and she will know that both of them can be trusted, especially now before their futures become confirmed, whilst we still have space to move. She asks if there are potentially others from Voyager who might like a role, and agrees to PADD me potentially spaces for discussion. She looks at Gilmore and Lessing and asks if they are free to remain. ' I believe so whilst Captain Janeway is an emissary. Admiral Nechayev should be informed as they will need to return to starfleet for the debrief outcomes.' We all understand. They have just short of three weeks to show they can integrate and be useful. At that point, Kira Nerys may issue a commendation and request to the Admiral for continued expiation through exemplary service.
a good outcome. They agree basic terms, he and Nerys go to don dress robes for this evenings pomp for FedNews. It will look better than him carrying a 'near-naked' as they put it captain back to a 'secluded cabin' . To say Admiral Paris was unhappy was an understatement, and they were denied further 'shore leave' until post debrief.
-0-0-0-
Seven
since unimatrix zero was destroyed I haven't dreamed, but something sneaks in, something is speaking to me whilst I regenerate. I need to speak to the captain but she isn't here. I wonder if I can reduce regeneration. Could I talk to Icheb, doesn't it happen to him? He hardly regenerates. Can I speak to the doctor. I am, afraid. I whisper this even to myself. It is inconceivable that I am afraid. I was Borg!
I ask Icheb, he hasn't heard any voices. He checks the regeneration unit, nothing obvious. I speak to the doctor, who checks my processors. None of them find anything. They tell me to speak to the Captain over subspace. I am reluctant. I am an individual, I do not need to run to the Captain with every little problem. I am sufficient. It will keep for when she returns.
-0-0-0-
Kira Nerys
I am not keen to find myself trapped in federation intrigue. My life has seen too much of intrigue and uncertainty. That is why this tentative glimpse of an offer is so very seductive. Peace, a real hope for peace. Inevitably within the Federation, but Bajor has come so close before. Cardassia, can she hold out the same for Cardassia? Is this where she is leading? I know, I truly know her history. I am one of very few, but have had Cardassian knowledge open to me. I also know who she faces. I will meet her and then see how much of my loyalty and influence to commit.
I always forget how much I hate the trappings of diplomatic functions. Smile, laugh, pretend to agree and move on. It would be so much more efficient just to meet in a bar. We have some of the minor Bajoran leaders here, a sprinkling of Vedeks and my senior staff. A variety of spies and persons of dubious affiliation. We also have FedNews and trashPADD news peddlers. They are waiting for 'the couple' since that long distance grainy lens photo from Mexico. There has been little opportunity to review them together as all press ops have been strictly managed.
The commander is already here anyway, discreetly mingling with my senior crew, if anyone can be discreet with such distinctive facial markings. The two visiting Captains arrive together. Cue the holoimage frenzy. I put on my best smile to greet them, and see it identically mirrored. I am surprised when a maquis sign is discretely flashed by Janeway, roughly translated into 'don't let the bastards get you down' a rare one that. I nearly actually smile. We pose for FedNews images and then politely escort all the press and associated out of the diplomatic suite. Now, at least we only have the spies and persons of dubious affiliations to concern ourselves over. i introduce the brace of Captains to our Bajoran politicos and they make polite small talk, and Janeway indulges them in a 'delta quadrant tall tale' before they move away. I notice that Chakotay has gravitated to behind her left shoulder. Discretely intimidating.
Finally I have a chance to meet her properly. I have had an interesting enough career of my own to meet her as an equal, and if I am honest, I am hoping to meet someone who potentially will be a friend. I miss Jadzia, and immediately feel guilty that Ezri is not the same. I capture her hand and lead her to a side table. Once there, I wave Chakotay away, and notice that he only leaves at her nod. Very first officer of him. She tells me that I am bigger than she expected, this is quite unusual, as I am not very big at all! I laugh, and say that perhaps she is smaller than her reputation would have us believe. We start well. She asks me about whether DS9 could use some delta quadrant hybridisation, and I laugh. she doesn't need to sell her team, Chakotay has done that well enough, and some Voyagers will make their home here.
I can see she is puzzling, and I smile again. 'Captain Janeway, I just wanted to see who 'you' really are.' 'kathryn' she says in that delightful gravel voice. 'Nerys' I answer. So many topics are fraught with double meanings for us to talk about, so she starts on gossip, about our holocharacter. She talks about her sentient EMH, about what makes people people. We talk about the difficulty of forgiveness when people lose this quality, and the difficulty in holding back from retribution or vengeance. She gives nothing away, but I see this is a difficult subject. However, when I think that this is about an upcoming meeting, she refers me back to the delta quadrant, she was, on occasion, vengeful. She lightens the mood talking about her disastrous talaxian chef, and I notice Chakotay is sidling back. i wave him back over. They are both immediately more relaxed.
There is more talking that we could do, but the vulcan comes across, and I have never been one to stay in Vulcan company longer than necessary. This one is the usual taciturn, superior version. Living longer and no emotions, does not mean you are superior. I am going with small and feisty as better indicators. I smile and leave. However, he is making his excuses and returning to the ship, it is late. Shortly Picard rounds up his charges, and it is time for goodbyes.
I think all eyes in the room are on Janeway and Chakotay for their goodbye. Their relationship is like a holonovel. However, it is very discreetly beautiful. They hold hands, she places the palm of her free hand on his chest, and he used his free hand to gently pull her forwards to brush his lips across her cheek. More romantic than platonic, but hardly an outrageous show. It takes them a while to release their hold of hands, or the locking of their eyes, but she nods, and he smiles, and shortly after that he steps away for her to beam up, and then turning briskly, makes his way back to quarters.
Meeting her has been interesting, but not quite enough. I don't dislike her, but I am not yet entirely ready to completely roll over and commit to supporting the great Captain Janeway. I find Chakotay more intriguing, and will endeavour to spend time with him. Tribesman to starfleet to maquis and back to starfleet. Some journey. His spirituality is interesting too.
-0-0-0-
Unknown
They are getting closer. Our friends had their first look at them on DS9 at the ambassadorial meal. They felt she wasn't very prepossessing. A small human female. She did not appear to be a warrior, nor a hero. Is she really the one? They also passed on some grainy image of the new ship. It is smaller than I expected, and manoeuverable. The weapons do not seem to be a concern for us, they appear to be for disabling opponents not annihilation. No match for us.
-0-0-0-
B'elanna Torres
Great Kahless! Tom and Harry are full of themselves. Whilst I have been looking at enterprise specs and snuggling Miral, they have fallen right back into the good old days mentality and 'hit the station' together. BaQa! Usually, this would lead to a penitential visit to the ready room, a disappointed Janeway, and two boys promising never to let her down again. I think she must have enjoyed their antics, as their punishment was usually fairly negligible.
This time, it appears, they have outraged the local Ferengi. His name begins with a Q, so I was quite firm with them, consider, is he really a Q in disguise? Are you sure he isn't. I can hear Q laughing at the edge of my brain. P'Tak. He apparently tried to fleece Ensign Eager with gifts before they set of from DS9, and Harry, and I struggle to believe this, collected a miscellany of trash from the delta quadrant specifically to sell back to Quark. bortaS bIr jablu'DI' reH QaQqu' nay' . An icy cold dish of revenge!
The enterprise is on route for Chin'toka and tomorrow we begin. Well, I will stay on the Enterprise with Miral. Kahless, I hope that Kathryn is OK. I don't know how she can face it so calmly. She told me that she realised she was more cured than she expected. She felt anger more with the Admirals for giving her this challenge, and I am quite sure that Tom would have punched his father if he was present. She is right, somehow over the years, with the friendship, love and family of Voyager has taken away some of my anger, has taken some of those jagged pains away. However, I don't think I would be able to do what she will need to do. Those admirals. P'taks, all of them.
I place Miral in her crib and listen to my boys. They are both laughing, if they wake Miral I will make them wish that they were in Gre'thor. I stomp into them and threaten to take my Bat'leth to them. I am quite sure that the Ferengi taHqeq will make a profit on anything, and will get the last laugh. 'Go!' I shove Harry out, and push a more than willing Tom towards our bedroom.