Chapter 25

When Chakotay awoke, she was no longer beside him. He rubbed his eyes and forced himself to get to his feet. He could see the sunlight coming in through the window. He walked slowly through the house and made his way to the yard. She was nowhere in sight.

Chakotay took care of his morning needs and prepared himself a cup of the Imati version of coffee. He sat on the back stoop, sipping from the mug and trying to shake off the headache that lingered.

After a while, he heard T'Lea approach from behind him. "You have eaten?" T'Lea asked.

Chakotay nodded. "I found some fruit on the table. Have you spoken to your mother?" he asked.

"She went to the bathhouse. I only saw her in passing."

"T'Lea, we have decided… to stay here. I will live with you, as Imati."

The young man smiled. "You will have much to learn," he said.

Chakotay gave him a grin. "I'm sure you'll be an excellent teacher."

T'Lea sat beside him on the porch in a companionable silence. Most of the day had passed while they slept. "I heard there were tracks of a buck in the woods," he said.

"Oh?" Chakotay finished his drink and set the cup down.

"I could use more practice tracking," T'Lea said.

"I think I'm a bit rusty, myself," Chakotay replied with a grin. The two got to their feet and headed for the woods.

B'Elanna was in the holodeck, fighting alongside simulated Klingon warriors, killing monstrous holograms one after the other. She was out of breath and panting, but as her last victim dropped to the ground, she cried, "Computer, increase difficulty to level 6." Immediately a new team of villians approached. She fought valiantly, disabling her opponent and slicing his throat with her bat'leth. One of her Klingon companions fell at the feet of his attacker and she turned, raising the weapon high to block his striking blow.

"Computer freeze program," Tom's voice rang out.

Disappointed, B'Elanna lowered the bat'leth and turned to him. "What the hell are you doing?" she asked him.

"I'm stopping you," he said, examining the cuts and bruises on her arms and face, "before you get yourself killed." It was just like B'Elanna to turn the safeties off.

"Mind your own business, Tom. I'm fine. Computer," she called as she raised her weapon over her head to ready herself.

"B'Elanna, that's enough. You've been here for hours."

"Either stand back or grab a weapon, Tom, you could get hurt. Computer, resume program." Her opponent's sword crashed against her bat'leth, sending off sparks.

Tom, unarmed, was forced to duck and run for cover. "Computer, freeze program."

She dropped her bat'leth to her side with a frustrated groan. "Just let me be, Tom!"

"Look, just because you're upset about Chakotay, that's no reason to try and get yourself killed!"

"Who says I'm upset?! Maybe I just needed to burn off some excess energy."

"B'Elanna! You know that isn't true."

"Computer, resume!" She shouted, and the battle began again. She ducked as the sword swished over her head and returned with a swipe from the right that was blocked at the last moment. As she continued to fight, one of the other Klingons fell and Tom was rushed by the other villain. Before he could get all the words out, a sword caught him in the shoulder.

"Computer, end program," Tom squeaked through his pain, and the holodeck returned to a simple grid, leaving him lying bleeding on the floor. B'Elanna was angry until she realized he was hurt. She rushed to his side and tapped her communicator. "Torres to sickbay. Medical Emergency. Transport Paris and I now!"

They materialized in the bay, Paris on a biobed, where the Doctor worked quickly to stabilize him. "Safeties off again, I see!" he complained as he continued to attend to Tom's needs. "I'm having a talk with the Captain. This kind of reckless foolishness should be banned."

She watched in silence until the Doctor finally slowed and stopped his ministrations. "How is he?" she asked.

The Doctor turned to her and ran his scanner over her cuts and bruises, as well. "He'll be fine, thanks to immediate care." He swapped his tricorder scanner for another tool and quickly repaired the deep cut on her bicep. "So will you, for that matter."

Tom sighed, and B'Elanna went around the doctor and took his hand. "Tom, I'm so sorry," she said.

He took a deep breath and sat up, rubbing the recently repaired place on his shoulder. "It's okay," he said. "I'm okay. Doctor, can I go?"

The Doctor scanned him one more time. "Yes. If you experience any difficulty, I'll expect to see you immediately."

"Sure, Doc."

Tom and B'Elanna walked together down the corridor to the turbolift. "I know it hurts, B'Elanna," he said in the privacy of the lift, "to lose a friend." He rubbed his shoulder again. "But we have to look at his side of things. He wants the best for his son. He has the chance to raise him… well, like his ancestors were raised. You know how important Chakotay's culture is to him. We have to see the good in this."

Her expression was sad but thoughtful. With a subtle nod, she told him what he needed to know: he'd gotten through.

Chakotay and T'Lea tracked the buck for an hour, but had yet to see him. They worked together, communicating with hand signals and an occasional whisper. Just as they felt they were closing in on him, voices rang out behind them. They turned, and Chakotay instinctively moved to shield the boy with his bulk.

"He says he is of the People, but look! He still carries the technology! It is a lie! He says one thing and does another!"

"You're the reason my brother is going to leave us forever!"

"No, you don't understand!" Chakotay protested. T'Lea stepped out from behind him and stood at his side, his fists clenched.

"And you, T'Lea?! You approve of his lies?!" Angrily the two Imati stepped forward. The larger one ripped the communicator off Chakotay's shirt. He reared back and through it with all his might. With a blip, it landed in the middle of the river.

Without his translator, Chakotay could not understand the man's words. He stood silently as the man leaned close to his face and spoke.

"Now you will live as the Imati, hmm? Now, you will have to live as you speak." The two men turned and walked away.

T'Lea turned to Chakotay and fingered the ripped cloth of his shirt. His words were foreign, but Chakotay had a sense of what he was saying. He moved the boy's hand away. "I'm okay," Chakotay said.

A chorus of shouting arose from the woods not far from them. Chakotay and T'Lea bolted towards the noise and then came to a skidding halt.

There, in the woods, was the buck they had been tracking. He lay dead at the foot of a steep hill, his neck broken.