Title: Home III
Author: Dancing Star
Pairing: Janeway / Chakotay
Rating: 12
Category: AU, Romance
What happens: Time to strike back...
Notes: None, except for: Have fun!
Home III
Kathryn's hands trembled when she entered her quarters at the Royal Palace and Millah could see something was wrong. "Millah, grab the things of the kids and then yours!", Kathryn told her, "Then you go to Voyager!"
"Are we leaving?"
"Almost," the queen replied, "Then you will call Cierra. She's supposed to come here, too... "
"And when she asks for a reason?"
"I beg you, do what I tell you!," Kathryn hurriedly ran into Riehsa's room and took the baby on her arm. Then she also took Aeria out of her bed. Carrying both children at the same time, wasn´t easy, but when she remembered the dangerous being who slept aboard Ophelia, she was almost in panic. Kathryn took the children to Voyager and when she returned to the palace, she met Millah who, despite her injured arm, dragged three suitcases at the same time.
She met Chakotay and the doctor on the way to the bridge. "The crew is complete," he informed her, noting that the crew was at least as tense as he was. "We can start in half an hour."
"I don´t think this is a good idea," Kathryn said, "We need a different plan. Maybe you remember that Admiral Paris insisted to land Ophelia in the hangar. It will be quite difficult for me to argue he can´t do that if there is room in the hangar... "
"Okay…. Doctor, I need you when I talk to my sister: I need to know if she knew about the actual mission of Ophelia and you will act as a lie detector."
"I´ll do my best," the hologram said. When the doctor was able to reveal their flirts with the slightest physical reaction, he was ready to expose a liar.
All this didn´t necessarily help Chakotay's relationship between him and his sister. He almost didn´t recognize her, she had never had so many secrets before him.
Sekaya had no idea why her brother ordered her to Voyager´s meeting room. On the way, she met countless crewmembers who seemed to be all in a hurry so they didn´t have time to talk. When Sekaya finally entered the meeting room, all the senior officers were waiting for her. B'Elanna and Tom stared at her and the faces of Kathryn and Chakotay didn´t look very friendly. The doctor seemed to be watching her closely, and there was no emotion in the faces of Samantha Wildman and Talaxian Neelix. At the other end of the long table sat a person with whom Sekaya hadn´t counted.
"Mary Anne?", she hurriedly looked to her brother, who had sat down between Kathryn and Tom at the end of the table. "What's going on?"
Ensign Johnson rose from her chair and walked to the screen, which was behind her seat. "We suppose you know what that is," she said, showing her the scans of Ophelia´s lab. Sekaya stepped closer and watched the screen.
"This is the creature that has raged at the Starfleet Headquarters," she said, "Is it here?" When she realized she and her mother were on the same ship as the being, a strange feeling called fear surrounded her heart.
The doctor noticed the panic in Sekaya's voice.
"Did you know about it?", Chakotay wanted to know.
"No!", she exclaimed, "I've heard of the terrible disaster in the Starfleet Headquarters and also I lost friends. If I had known this monster was aboard Ophelia... "
"She´s telling the truth," the doctor calmed the senior officers, "At least, so far."
"We assume that Admiral Paris has plans to expose the entity on our planet..."
Sekaya thought the sudden disappearance of Captain Antilles made sense. "The habitants wouldn´t survive that," Sekaya murmured.
"We know. We were already informed about the incident at the Starfleet headquarters. Ensign Johnson told us... "
"I wonder why Gretchen didn´t mention this incident in a word," Kathryn suddenly said when she thought about the letter her mother had written to her, and all the senior officers looked at her.
"Maybe she didn´t know about it," the doctor said.
"Or the Starfleet censored the letter," Mary added, "We will never know."
"Do you really think the Starfleet would do that?" B'Elanna was skeptical.
"Look at the scans of Ophelia," Tom said gravely said to his wife, "They sent us a monster. Actually, I´m not surprised at all."
Chakotay looked at his sister. "And? Will you help us? "
"Yes. This is the least I can do, "she replied, "What is the plan?"
"We already have a few ideas," Tom sounded very proud and he also went to the screen, "Ensign Johnson suggested we should first free Captain Antilles. We suspect he's in the arrest cell of Ophelia. We will use an old trick from Earth called the Trojan horse." They had tried to destroy the Borg collective with this trick, but this time it had to work. If they were trying to enter Ophelia, there was no way to inject anyone. "We need to take a shuttle...", Tom continued, "B'Elanna, can we manipulate the transporters? It must look like a serious problem..."
"I think it should be possible."
"As soon as we have freed Captain Antilles, we will attack."
"We have a fleet of 3,000 careanic space hunters," Neelix added, "The Sacala will also help us..." Sacala was currently ruled by Queen Zara and they assumed she was interested in protecting her planet, "The Corellians will also help us and we have allies on Boonta. I'm still waiting for a feedback from the Mori system, but I'm sure they, too, will help."
"All right," Kathryn agreed, "You should try to reach Harry in his honeymoon. If that's all, we'll start as early as possible."
They started with a shuttle the next morning at six a.m. Kathryn held her breath as Ophelia appeared in Carea's orbit. The ship really looked very similar to Voyager... Kathryn had reported to Admiral Paris yesterday evening, involved him in conversation and finally said she would like to visit Ophelia and see the ship´s modern drive. Owen Paris told he´d wait for her in an hour.
"Now it´s counting," Mary said, who put on a rucksack in the back of the shuttle. Neelix did the same.
"We're within range of their tractor beam," Chakotay said, steering the shuttle and this was the sign for Mary and Neelix to hide in the back of the small space ship. The shuttle landed in the shuttle bay and finally Kathryn, Chakotay and Sekaya descended.
They were a little puzzled because no one had come to welcome them.
"I suggest we first go to the bridge," she Sekaya. Three of them left the shuttle bay.
"I think we've been waiting long enough," Neelix whispered after fifteen minutes had passed. The shuttle's computer wasn´t shut down, just in case of emergency.
"Agree," Mary nodded, "Let's go."
They sneaked out of the shuttle and when they found a terminal inside the shuttle bay, Mary retrieved some data. "The corridor is empty," she whispered. She and Neelix stepped out and opened the access to a Jeffries tube. "I follow you," Mary said, "You know where the arrest cell is?"
"Of course," Neelix replied. They needed about an hour, then they reached the end of the Jeffries tube, which ended right before the entrance to the prison cell. Neelix wanted to open the door, but Mary held him back. "No, wait," her voice was still quiet, "Ensign Hobbes is currently working in the arrest cell. It wouldn´t be very wise if he sees us. This would be the shortest mission ever."
Mary and Neelix waited until the Ensign had left the vestibule of the arrest cell. They were now alone in this part of the ship. Curiously Mary retrieved some data from the terminal and finally was confused. Neelix asked what was going on, but Mary entered the room where the arrested cell was. It was empty. "I receive data from Captain Antilles' communicator," the Talaxian noted as he glanced at his tricorder.
"I think I can explain," Mary opened a drawer in the wall behind her, revealing the tricorder and the communicator of Captain Antilles. She knew what that meant. "We're too late," she said to Neelix, "The captain's dead."
As he had promised, Admiral Paris led them through the ship. They walked through the engineering and inspected the modified Warp core, but Kathryn didn´t miss the astonished looks of the crew members.
"Does Lieutenant Torres want to modify your warp core?", the Admiral asked. "You could travel to Earth..."
"No thanks. Our place is here", Kathryn replied.
"My offer is still actual: When we return to Earth, we can take the crewmembers who want to come back home, even though you have decided to stay in this part of the galaxy."
"My queen, I think that sounds like a good deal," Chakotay said, smiling at Kathryn. She thought he was really a good actor. After informing their crew about the occupation of Ophelia, no one would come along.
"What would you like to see next?", the Admiral asked, joking about the fact there was no nursery station on Ophelia. Kathryn smiled politely, but inwardly she didn´t thought the stupid remark of the admiral was amusing.
"How about your sick bay?", the queen asked, "The doctor asked me to give some PADDs to your doctor."
"This is not possible," Admiral Paris said, "We were attacked during our journey by a species called Hirogen. Our sick bay is still very much affected."
Of course Kathryn knew that, Mary had told her before. "We have crossed some edible crops in our laboratory and we could also show you how..."
"That won´t be possible," the admiral's voice suddenly stopped sounding, "Our lab is also closed."
"On to part two of the plan," Mary told Neelix when she crawled again into the Jeffries tube, "We have to find the queen."
After Mary closed the door to the Jeffries tube, she fixed an explosive set on the inside.
Kathryn hoped it wasn´t too obvious she would really like to see the lab. "How about breakfast?", Chakotay suggested. He saw that Owen Paris wanted to answer, but there was no longer the question: "Admiral, our guest has woken up," the bridge announced via Com.
"I'm afraid you have to leave now," Admiral Paris said to them, signaling they should leave the engineering, "Counselor, please take the Queen and Captain Chakotay back to their shuttle."
Sekaya nodded and led the two out of the engineering.
"That the monster has woken up now makes things difficult," Kathryn whispered when they were alone, "And I'm afraid we can´t get very far with diplomacy." She didn´t understand why the Admiral didn´t ask for help. Together they could certainly find a solution for the problem...
When they were out of sight of the engineering, Sekaya retrieved data at a terminal. Their plan was to cause explosions on the ship after they freed Captain Antilles and to inaugurate the crew on time. All 162 men and women would be in the saucer when the bombs exploded and the lab with the monster would be in the lower half of the ship. Voyager should then make sure that the saucer came safely to Carea, the fleet of the Sacala, Corellian, and Boonta (they were all waiting in space) would then drag the lower part of Ophelia into an abandoned part of the Solar System. This was at least the plan.
"We should ask Neelix if they could find Captain Antilles," Chakotay suggested. His hand hovered over his communicator, but at that moment an explosion shook the ship and they were hurled against the wall.
"What was that?", Kathryn asked and at this moment some crew members hurried past them. The red alarm has been triggered. One of the heavily armed men ordered the computer to take the turbolift to deck 11. As in the case of Voyager, the lab on Ophelia was also on deck 11.
"We should hurry and go back to the shuttle," Chakotay suggested. They were just about to turn around when they collided with Admiral Paris and two armed security guards.
Neelix and Mary, still in the Jeffries tube, were also shocked by the explosion. "Was that one of our blows?", Mary asked, puzzled, because they hadn´t even distributed them half the way down below the saucer, "If so, we must inform the Queen."
Neelix remained in the narrow tube. He knew the Queen had forbidden them to get in touch with them as long as there were on board of Ophelia, but it was urgent. "Neelix to the queen," he said, tapping his communicator, but she didn´t answer. "Neelix to Captain Chakotay," he tried to reach Chakotay now, but he couldn´t be reached either. He looked at Mary very seriously, "We've flown."
"This is definitely a problem," Mary said, "It's just a matter of time before they discover us."
So it was time to call Voyager. Once again, Neelix reached for his communicator. "Neelix to Voyager. Tom, do you hear me?", he listened.
"Loud and clear, Neelix," Tom confirmed, who had stayed on board Voyager and was currently in command.
"Commander, we're in big trouble. We assume the queen and the captain have flown. Just now there was a shock of the ship, but we have not yet activated our explosions. "
"Can you give us five more minutes?", Tom asked. This was the time they needed to reach Ophelia with Voyager. Neelix confirmed, but the question was whether her second team would also have five minutes.
"So you know of the guest we're transporting on our ship?", Admiral Paris asked.
"Stop calling it your guest. It´s a monster and you were hoping to expose it on my planet", Kathryn's voice sounded like a hiss, "If you had asked for help, we would have come to an acceptable solution for both sides."
"It doesn´t matter," said Admiral Paris, "Our guest has just awakened from sleep and torn a hole into the outer shell of the ship. We'll lure it to one of the transporter rooms and then beam onto the surface of Carea."
Sekaya and Kathryn couldn´t believe he had really said that.
"Lieutenants," he turned to the heavily armed men standing behind him, "Take the Queen, the Captain and the Counselor to the Arrest Cell."
The men nodded, but before they could take a step towards them, the two were shot from behind with two phasers, and when the admiral turned around, he was hit too. "Actually you should avoid the turbolifts," Chakotay exhorted Neelix and Mary when he saw them. They were still standing in the open doorway to a turbolift.
"We thought it wouldn´t matter if they notice us... Don´t worry, the phasers are set in anesthesia- mode." They walking in the direction of the saucer. Their shuttle would find the way home by remote-activated autopilot.
"How many explosive devices could you distribute?", Kathryn wanted to know.
"Not even half," Neelix replied, "We don´t know if it will work."
"It's time to evacuate the crew," Mary suggested, tapping her communicator. "This is Ensign Mary Johnson speaking. All crew members immediately go to the saucer. I repeat: Immediately go to the saucer! The Admiral is hiding the monster, which has already implanted immense damage at the Headquarters of the Starfleet. All decks below deck 11 are locked. If you want to survive this, go to the saucer. Johnson out."
While she spoke, a few astonished crew members passed by.
"Do you already have idea what you're going if you ever return to Earth?", Chakotay wanted to know.
"No," Mary Anne admitted, "To be honest, I don´t know if I want to go back there."
"If you stay here, then you maybe want to join our crew…"
They were positioned at the last accesses to the saucer and counted the crewmembers who were walking past them. "Computer, how many crew members are on board the saucer?", Mary wanted to know from the main computer.
"56," the mechanical voice replied.
"That's a third of the crew!", Mary shouted in horror.
"We have to ignite now," the captain replied, looking at Neelix, "Seal Deck 9 and then activate all explosive devices! You have 15 seconds before the countdown is over."
Neelix pressed a button on a small box and a red light should light up, but nothing happened. "Something is wrong."
"We noticed that, too," Kathryn's eyes were sparkling in anger, "We have to go back!"
"No, we won´t!"
"We MUST destroy the ship!", Kathryn emphasized. Neelix wanted to say this wasn´t the right time for a dispute. Instead, he could watch Chakotay reach for his communicator. "Chakotay to Voyager," he heard Tom confirm, "Are you within range?"
"Positive."
"Hold me and the Queen all the time with the scanners so you can get us out."
With their tricorers, they desperately searched for the explosive device, which was mistaken. If they succeeded in repairing the defective device, the remote ignition would also work.
Kathryn just scanned an explosive set, which was attached to the ceiling when she heard a loud noise. She turned around to see if it was the man-eating monster, but then she had to protect her head when a shot almost missed her.
"I'm unarmed!," she shouted at the attacker and when Chakotay realized what was happening, he was right next to her. They saw Admiral Paris who was armed with a phaser gun and dragged along the corridor.
It wasn´t a good idea to come without weapons.
Kathryn didn´t see Chakotay's hands scurrying over the small display, which was responsible for controlling the turbolift. The only problem was that the turbolift had now failed. Obviously, the hole in the outer shell caused a massive loss of energy.
He tore open the cladding of a service shaft and pulled out a tight rope, a cable, a maintenance kit, and two fixtures with which he could manually lift the doors of the turbolift. He hurriedly fastened the cable to a magnet device that otherwise kept the turbolift's cabin in operation, then got into the maintenance equipment and finally threw the rope down into the depths of the dark shaft.
"Come!", He reached out for his wife and she climbed without hesitation into the empty turbolift shaft. Kathryn had to hold on him I fshe didn´t want to fall.
"What are you doing?", she asked.
"We will escape through the shaft of the turbolift...!"
"But...! We need to go back to…", she saw how a door opened at the other end of the corridor and a creature with leathery skin and eight long, wildly beating arms crawling out. It tore open its gigantic mouth and swallowed the admiral with a bite.
Kathryn screamed and she wished she hadn´t done this, because now the monster had noticed her and Chakotay. In rage it steered towards them.
"Hold on tight," Chakotay warned her and Kathryn yelled again when they plunged into the depths.
Kathryn's shriek still echoed in Chakotay's ears as he stopped the fall with the cable. He thought the training in the mountaineering simulation on the Holodeck had paid off quite well. Nevertheless, he and Kathryn hit the wall of the empty turbolift shaft ungently.
"Where are we?", she asked.
Chakotay looked around searchingly. His eyes still needed a moment to get used to the darkness. "Deck 12." Their fall had begun below Deck Nine. A few more decks and they would have hit the ground. They wouldn´t have survived someone seemed to be pulling on the rope, Kathryn almost lost the grip. They looked up and saw two long tentacles that tore at the steel and shook it. They also heard a sound which sounded like an angry grumble.
"Don´t look up!", Chakotay said to her but this advice was very late.
"I can´t hold on you for long," she said. Her hands clung to Chakotay's upper body and she threatened to slip further and further. The tugging stopped. "Perhaps you don´t have to," he calmed her and began to swing his entire body back and forth. Kathryn stopped breathing, because she really didn´t know how long she could hold on. Finally, he managed to reach the emergency ladder in the Turbolift shaft with one hand. His feet stepped on a narrow ledge. Kathryn also managed to reach for the ladder. They both breathed hard. At that moment, the door leading to the empty turbocharger on deck 12 was torn apart and again they heard the furious roar of the monster.
"Chakotay to Voyager," he tapped again on his communicator, this time in a hurry, "Take the Queen and me out."
"Aye sir," they heard Tom answer before they dissolved into the depths of the shaft.
"Are you all right?", Mary asked as they re-materialized in Voyager's transporter room. Kathryn was relieved that Neelix, Sekaya and Mary had managed to escape from Ophelia in time. Even Commander Paris had taken the trouble to get into the transporter room.
"Tom, we're sorry," Kathryn's voice almost surpassed. "The admiral was eaten alive by the monster."
He tried to say something and tried to be caught, but he wasn´t in shock.
"Status?", Chakotay asked now.
"You must activate the devices, then..."
"Tom, this should be a problem: We didn´t manage to fix it. First your father disturbed us and then the monster."
Kathryn knew what that meant: The deadly being would eat everyone on board Ophelia alive.
"I have an idea," Tom said suddenly and together they went to the bridge. They entered to a fifth in a turbolift. "We don´t need the remote ignition. We can do it from here."
There was a red alarm when they entered the bridge. Chakotay took the Captain's seat and Kathryn sat next to him. This didn´t disturb Tom, because he wanted to fly Voyager in this battle in person. He ordered Samantha, who was still sitting at Harry's station, to fire at the area connecting the saucer to the rest of the smaller part of the ship. A chain of several small explosions tore the ship in two.
"Is working," Ensign Johnson told who occupied the OPS, "But both parts are badly damaged."
"How many lives are on board the lower half?", Kathryn wanted to know.
"67," Samantha replied, "One of them is not human."
Kathryn knew this meant the monster had swallowed not only the admiral, but just another 40 crewmembers.
"Voyager to the Corellia fleet," said Chakotay, "Capture the saucer of the ship with your beam and take it to Carea. We will drag the rest into the space with our tractor beam. The Carean space hunter accompany us. "
They saw on the main screen how the Corellia fleet was taking care of the saucer. As previously discussed, they dragged the ship into the outer part of the solar system. Only the second and third planets were inhabited. The last planets were giants of gas who drew their lonely paths far from their central star.
Finally, Chakotay ordered the tractor beam to be turned off and the torpedoes to be charged. With it last swing, the wreck of Ophelia drew on them.
"Fire!"
The torpedoes didn´t miss the target, and the lower half of Ophelia was torn into pieces. "Life's signs?", Chakotay asked, turning round to ensign Wildman. "None," she confirmed.
They canceled the red alert and though they had managed to save Carea and all the planets around, they flew home with a strange feeling.
With shaking hands Mary Anne Johnson stepped behind the desk, which stood on the marble staircase leading to the royal palace. She tried to hold onto the lectern in front of her, knowing that the speech wasn´t only send to the inhabitants of Carea but also to the Starfleet. "I can make it. I can make it," she said to herself in thoughts again and again.
Gray, heavy clouds hung over the capital Berra. It was autumn and also on Carea the weather at this time of the year was sometimes a bit whimsy.
"I am Ensign Mary Anne Johnson," she began her speech, "I came to this planet with the best intentions. When the ship which took me here almost arrived, I realized that the Starfleet was hiding a monster aboard and I quickly discovered the true plan of my superiors. The plan was to expose this monster on Carea", Mary Anne heard a whisper through the audience gathering in the large square in front of the palace, "If the plan had been successful, none of us would stand here…. Captain Wye Antilles also came behind the dark plan of the Starfleet. He and a lot of crewmembers found death to prevent the monster would reach this planet", she paused, "For this reason, Her Royal Highness, Queen Kathryn of Carea, speaks to you."
She stepped back from the desk and gave Kathryn her place. Mary went to the other senior officers, who were also on the steps to the palace. "You did that very well," Neelix whispered to her.
The senior officers wore their official gala uniform, as well as the politicians and rulers of the planets Corellia, Boonta, Sacala and Mor, the Mori planet. Princess Aeria sat on the arm of her father, who was standing in the front row behind the desk, waiting tensely.
A figure in a fire-red, elegant dress now stood behind the podium. Her red-blond hair and the shining diadem on her head complemented her appearance perfectly. She wore the pendant Chakotay gave her on a necklace.
"As you already know, the devastating attack has been thwarted. We know, however, it´s quite possible that even more ships will come." When Kathryn said this, she saw Cierra, Millah, and Chakotay's mother, Vana, who were sitting in the first row of the audience. Vana had her granddaughter Riehsa on the arm. "Today, we are standing together to tell you no matter what happens, we will do everything to save our homeworlds. But I won´t tolerate options which lead us to war. This is our home. And we will ensure this will be a peaceful place for all future generations."
With this Kathryn finished her speech and the audience began to applaud. The Queen stepped back from the desk and went up the stairs to the palace. The Voyager- crew followed her.
It would take about a month for them to receive a response from the official speech. While they had to wait, Kathryn secretly asked if this had been right and Chakotay encouraged her she couldn´t have done better. She had signaled she´d never accept such behavior.
Two weeks later they spend a day at the beach. The weather was less moody and the sun was burning. Today was perfect weather for a visiting the sea. When they reached the beach, Chakotay insisted to go for a little walk. "That's all right," Vana said to them, "Sekaya and I take care of the children."
Aeria and Naomi were happy. Chakotay thanked his mother and didn´t allow his wife to contradict. He grabbed her hand and they left. When they were out of sight, he put an arm around her and almost by chance his hand stroked her skin as they walked across the wet sand. "What about swimming?", he asked. "It's pretty hot today."
"Swimming is forbidden at this point of the beach," Kathryn explained, looking at him, "But maybe you want a Carean shark bites you." She laughed, but then she looked very worried again.
"You should not make such a face," Chakotay suggested.
"I'm still thinking about the speech we sent to the Starfleet," she admitted, "What if they actually send more ships?"
"If they understand your message, they won´t dare to deal with you... Actually, you missed to say in your message something like Get off of my planet…"
"Now you sneer at me…", she said, "Will your mother and sister actually stay with us in Berra?"
"I think so", Chakotay replied, "Do you mind?"
"No", Kathryn was honest, "No, I…. So… Your mother knows everything… Sometimes I think she´s able to read my mind." Vana even knew that Kathryn was a bit worried about Aeria: Naomi was the only child in the same age she had as friend. Vana said, Riehsa could be a new play pal as soon as she was able to sit in an upright position. And she also said, she was glad, Kathryn wasn´t that kind of queen who only walked on roses or took care of how she looked. And she was glad Kathryn tried to treat both kids as equal.
A male voice now came over the communication system. "Captain, where are you?", It was clearly Tom, "We're here, too. And we brought Harry with us."
"Looks like everyone's been happily reunited," he concluded, smiling at Kathryn and they hurried back to the group that was already waiting for them on the beach. Kathryn took her baby on her arm.
Harry and his wife looked well recovered. Both had spent their honeymoon on the planet Mariana and Harry reported he had seen an official event on Carea in the media about one week ago. Because the Marian population was very interested in gossip, they then discussed a photo of Kathryn and Chakotay, which showed them at the entrance of the palace. In the photo, they held hands as they went up the stairs to the palace, but they looked very serious. Of course it didn´t happen for the first time that they were a victim of the yellow press.
"What did I miss?", Harry asked, "Tom just told me about your experiences and I expect you to leave no details."
"We'll tell you."
They walked across the wet sand and Chakotay turned to his mother again. "Aren´t you coming with us?", he asked her.
"No, you go," she smiled and watched how the group slowly moved away from her. Chakotay put an arm around Kathryn. She also put an arm around him while the baby was sleeping in her other arm.
Aeria and Naomi hurriedly ran after a seagull flying across the beach. "Grandma, look!", Aeria cried, waving to her grandmother, "That's a huge gull!"
Vana waved back.
The group walked a little further and a wave of cool water came towards them. Aeria shrieked, so her father lifted her to his arm. The little girl looked over his shoulder and waved her grandmother again, but this time Vana didn´t wave back.
"Daddy, what about Grandma?", Aeria asked and Chakotay turned around, "She doesn´t wave anymore."
He and Kathryn exchanged a worried look, then they went with Sekaya to the place where Vana was sitting. "Mother?", Sekaya asked anxiously, kneeling before her. Vana didn´t react.
One week later Vana's funeral took place. The doctor was sad to tell them that she had died of another heart attack.
After the funeral, Voyager's senior officers met in the Royal Family's home. Harry's wife just held Miral in her arms. "She's a very cute baby," she said to B'Elanna. "It's a pity Harry and I will never have children." Leila was a form-walker and B'Elanna suspected they weren´t compatible.
"There is always a way," Kathryn suddenly said who held Riehsa in her arm, "You still remember the baby we saved from Sembra Prime? As far as I know, the little boy still hasn´t found a family that wants to adopt him and I think you can do."
"This is a fabulous idea," B'Elanna agreed and Leila was so excited that she had to hand the baby back to her mother. "I'll talk to Harry right away," Leila said.
"At least one happy family," Kathryn remarked when she saw Leila talking to Harry.
"What's about yours?", B'Elanna had hit the bull's eye, because since the death of his mother, a dark veil lay over Chakotay and Sekaya. "I had actually planned to ask Chakotay if we could adopt the senator's son, but...", Kathryn looked at Leila and Harry again, "...they need that more urgently." So they would bear Aerias begging for a while that she also wanted a little brother after she had already received a little sister.
"I better go and look for my husband." She left the senior officers behind and went out into the garden. The long black dress she wore was a large contrast to the garden, still shining in the colors of the autumn sun.
Finally, she found what she had been looking for: Chakotay sat alone on a bench, staring out at the pond and the weeping willow that was standing on the middle of a small isolated island. She sat down next to him and leaned against him. Lovingly, she stroked his back with her right hand while she held her baby with the other hand. Aeria had set out to pick flowers. There soon would be no more flowers in the palace garden if she continued like this.
"I'm so terribly sorry," Kathryn said, gently pressing a kiss on his cheek. Kathryn wished, she could do something to lessen his pain. She knew he would do exactly the same for her. They stayed like this until Kathryn finally asked him to hold the baby for a while. Riehsa smiled at her father as he took her into his arm.
"Come with me. I have something for you", Kathryn suddenly said and she realized he didn´t understand what was going on. In their living room their friends were waiting. Kathryn sat down with Chakotay on the couch and Aeria next to him. "Why do I have the feeling you surround me?", he asked, and as he looked at Aeria's grinning face, he noticed his guess had to be right.
"When Kathryn and I took care of Mother's things, we found two letters hidden between her clothes. One of the letters is for the eventuality she would not have seen you again before she dies. The other one…", Sekaya said and Kathryn reached for his hand, "We both read it and cried a lot."
"Your mother wrote how relieved she is you have found someone who makes you happy", B'Elanna said and the doctor added: "She also noticed you flirt very often with each other." When he said that, they had to laugh, although they didn´ mind.
"She wrote the spirits in the sky wanted you to life here and you should try to see the good in this," Tom said.
"And she wrote she is very grateful to have seen you for a last time and she is grateful to get to know her grandchildren and the queen," Neelix said.
"She is very proud of you", Now it was Leila's turn, "Very proud of what you have become."
"In the letter is also a small parcel. Your sister opened it. Inside is a picture frame where she keeps the photo you sent her", Harry reported, and they were all looking forward to his reaction.
"So you've read the letter?", Chakotay asked and they all nodded. Then he turned to Kathryn: "Could you hold Riehsa?"
"Of course," she said, putting the baby on her lap. At that moment, Chakotay wrapped an arm around her and around Aeria and pulled them close. "I love you very much," he said to them.
Suddenly a voice came over Com. "Voyager to Captain Chakotay," said Ayala, "I'm sorry if I am disturbing you, but you and the senior officers should come here."
"The normal madness has brought us back," Harry said.
"What's normal?" Tom asked when they all went to the door and finally went to their ship.
Fin?