Disclaimer: Please see chapter one.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Janeway glanced over the table in front of her, her eyes coming to rest on a single, conspicuously-vacant seat, and her heart sunk into her boots.
But she kept her bland expression in place, and steeled herself before speaking up casually.
"Where's Harry? You told him about breakfast, didn't you, Tom?"
"Uh…" Paris glanced over at his captain briefly, as though in surprise. "Yes, ma'am…I did. He…had something to take care of this morning. He said to tell everyone he'd take a rain check."
But the explanation was stuttering more than smooth, as would have been expected of her generally slippery helmsman. And worse, both his eyes and B'Elanna's had reverted to their plates, Neelix's to his tray, and the merriment and barely contained vivacity of the whole table was definitely muted at her inquiry. Fortunately, no one else in the crowded morning mess hall seemed to notice the change in the gathering of senior officers, and the joie-de-vivre wasn't dimmed in the slightest throughout the rest of the room.
Janeway scrutinized the fallen, stricken-blank countenances before her ever-so-briefly before giving a curt nod. "All right." Her acknowledgement was deceptively light as she took another bite of what Neelix had taken the liberty of naming "waffles", briefly locked eyes with Chakotay beside her and dryly mumbled, "Forget I asked."
Harry had been invited to join them this morning, during what was mostly a show for the rest of the crew: she and Chakotay, along with the previously harried senior staff members, all together, healthy and present for the reassurance of the general population. And it seemed to be working thus far. Though Harry's absence – yet again – stung, she wouldn't do anything to jeopardize that atmosphere by giving the slightest indication that there was anything the senior staff was worried about. Rumors could spiral out of control on this ship faster than on any other she could remember serving upon, as she wryly reflected to herself.
She turned instead to Seven (whom she'd invited as well) with a smile plastering on her face. "How are those projections coming? Have you managed to narrow down our options yet?"
The table breathed a collective sigh of relief at the change in topic, with the subtle exclusion of the first officer. For his part, Chakotay looked vaguely pensive, but his pensiveness turned darker still as he caught B'Elanna staring at him somewhat guiltily before quickly turning her attention to the conversation between Janeway and Seven. But that slight, unguarded widening of the chief engineer's eyes had been enough.
The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as he zeroed in on his new target, and he could tell from the stiffness only he could detect in her body language that she knew she was in his cross-hairs and didn't like the sensation one bit. Too bad, he thought pitilessly.
B'Elanna knew something, knew exactly whatever bug it was that was up Harry's ass that had him so obviously avoiding the captain. Chakotay's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly. He'd pin her down after breakfast. Once she spilled – and they both already knew that she would, especially when he used the soft voice on her – then he would have an idea of what he was dealing with, and he could discreetly pull Kim aside at some point during duty shift and fix his attitude for him.
It was bothering the hell out of Kathryn, was bothering the hell out of him, too, if it came to it. But he wasn't the one Kim was avoiding, and Chakotay really couldn't think of a single reason for the Asian to be giving the captain the cold shoulder the way he had been this past week. It had gone unnoticed at first, with all there was to do on a ship this size running on such tight resources while dancing around a hostile, tentatively allying fleet of warships, but in the last day or so it had become painfully evident that Kim didn't particularly care for the captain's company at the moment. Chakotay could now see that others were aware of it, too, and that was why it had to stop. Judging from the few, one-liner mentions Kathryn had made the past few days about it to him in private, she wasn't entirely surprised about Kim's reaction. But she also hadn't been inclined to elaborate on the subject, either. It was between the two of them, she'd said, and she expected him to get over it eventually.
Chakotay must have missed something that had gone down between them, somewhere, but he would be getting to the bottom of it. If she wasn't willing to handle it, he would have to. For the sake of morale as a whole. Not to mention discipline…
He could have used Neelix, during any of the daily sessions he'd immediately worked into his routine to try to begin dealing with Neelix's residual trauma from his experience at Osalik, of course. But he couldn't bring himself to use confidential counseling sessions meant to help the Talaxian to try to get to the bottom of a completely unrelated matter. Especially one so serious. He wouldn't do that.
And he also didn't need to pry into why Harry had the cold avoidance attitude, either, he realized as he pondered the situation – he just needed enough confirming evidence to confront the ensign and to put a stop to it. B'Elanna would give him that much.
He'd thought Kim more mature than that, Chakotay reflected dourly to himself, just as smattering bits of the conversation around him began to penetrate the intense bubble of concentration he'd erected around his brain.
"As far as we've been told, General Rimmaz still wants to meet with Voyager tomorrow." Kathryn's voice was informing the others of the latest communication – if it could be called that – from the new Jehnz-yin first general.
"Will he be taking the Jehnz-yin girl?" Neelix queried. He still hadn't left the table, though he'd only stopped by to offer half refills on the pungent fruit juice he was serving for breakfast. It was rumored to be made with Jehnz-yin rations bits as well as fruit from the hydroponics bay, and judging from the odor permeating the entire table due to the pitcher's presence, it wasn't too outrageous of a rumor.
Chakotay declined the Talaxian's "offer", managing to stop himself from crinkling up his nose in disgust as he supplied, "We've broached the topic with him, but he isn't pleased about it. He wants to meet her first."
"Well, he'll have to take her," Janeway clarified sharply. "She isn't staying with us. To be clear," she directed her next statement more to Neelix than to the others, who already knew the situation, "I've agreed to meet with him only for appearances' sake."
Neelix nodded apparent understanding, but just then, his name was heard from the table at the far side of the room, where Chell, Andrews, and Jenny Delaney were seated with several others, and had been having a boisterous conversation that kept ending in punctuated laughs, half-shouts and general gaiety. They were quite the lively bunch, for being gathered at this tender hour of the morning, as the others had all reflected to themselves at least once already. The Talaxian went reluctantly, apologizing and rather proudly muttering something about it being the juice's fault he was so popular this morning.
"Is the girl still in sickbay?" B'Elanna inquired as Neelix retreated from the table. Pointedly ignoring the way she could feel Chakotay's eyes tracking her smallest movements now.
"No. The doctor moved her to temporary quarters on deck nine," Tom supplied. "He didn't want her upsetting the Oncaveat patients still reporting for daily follow-up treatments." Or the captain, for that matter, he didn't add aloud. She was still reporting to sickbay…voluntarily…every morning so the doctor could monitor her progress, also. To his great surprise. In fact, he'd walked her down to the mess hall this morning from the doctor's office. He didn't know whether to be worried about that or not…
Beside him, B'Elanna cleared her throat.
"Well. If that's all this morning, Captain?" she let the question trail off, meeting Janeway's eyes, who nodded, and B'Elanna rose, taking her tray in hand. "Then I'll see you all later in the afternoon briefing – Carrey and I are getting an early start on the plasma injectors."
Janeway waved vaguely in her direction, dismissing her from the informal gathering. "Let me know how it goes, B'Elanna."
"Of course, Captain." The half-Klingon nodded, turning to make her way for the recycler when she froze up just barely to Chakotay's voice cutting over the slight distance she'd managed to put between herself and the table.
"Wait up for me. I'll walk you down. I wanted to talk to Vorik about those upgrades to the–"
"Commander, if it's not urgent, I had something I wanted to discuss with you on the way up to the bridge," Janeway broke in seamlessly, rising also. Her blue eyes rested on him, waiting for his answer.
With a single glance in B'Elanna's direction, he reluctantly nodded. "All right. I'll stop by later, B'Elanna," he added pointedly as she continued backing away from the table.
"Well…" Tom cleared his throat as Torres left without a backward glance, even to him. "I guess that leaves Seven and I to thank Neelix for the wonderful repast." He grimaced slightly at the remains of his meal.
During times like these, with such a crunch on resources, he'd be expected to finish his meal, too. No one wasted food under these circumstances, whether it was putrid-tasting or not. It just wasn't done. Unfortunately, this unwritten rule had largely escaped the ebullient Neelix over the years, and it usually gave him a boost in confidence with regard to what he called his "creative resource stretching" that only ended in even more torturous and adventuresome recipes.
And no one had yet had the heart to set him straight on that misconception. Given his recent experience, no one was likely to be cruel enough to point it out to him this time around, either. There was no hope of an end in sight.
As if she'd heard his thoughts, Janeway leaned down over the table conspiratorially. "Is it really true no one told him Chell had been cooking for the crew while he was recovering?"
Tom grinned at that. "Nope. He still thinks we had to fend for ourselves."
"And Chell didn't tell him?"
Paris shook his head. "Actually, it was Chell's idea, Captain. He only took the job on the condition that no one 'rat him out' later."
The smile she gave then – which he caught the briefest hint of before she turned it approvingly across the room to the of course deep-in-conversation Bolian – was reminiscent of the smile he was used to seeing months and months ago. Her smiles since she'd returned had been rather fatigue-laced, until this moment. And Paris had the sensation that she was really on the road to recovering from whatever had occurred while she was at Osalik, and his own grin took on a hint of rightness it had been missing – which he himself was entirely unaware of.
Across the room, however, many of the crew noted both officers' smiles. Noted how the hitherto-missing elements of those smiles were once again present. And the mood in the mess hall brightened just that little bit that had been missing, that no one else had really noticed, either. Slowly, very slowly, the universe seemed to be righting itself again.
"I'll walk you out, Commander," Janeway reiterated as Chakotay got to his feet, too.
As they entered the corridor and were assured of the coast being clear, she wasted no time in getting to her object. "Don't do what you were going to do, Chakotay," she intoned quietly...grimly.
He feigned innocence, just in case she was off in her assumption. "What?"
"Don't 'what' me." She poked him in the ribs as they kept walking. "We both know what you were going to do."
"I still don't follow you…" he frowned.
"Yes, you do. You were going to follow B'Elanna. So you could shake her down for answers about Harry's most recent absence."
Damn, had he been that obvious? He shot her a sidelong glance as they continued walking, realized fully how well she knew him and sighed. "It has to be addressed, Kathryn."
Her shoulders slumped slightly. "I know."
"And if you're not willing to…"
She put her hand on his arm, stopping him in mid-stride. "I understand that it has to be taken care of. But I'll be the one to do it. Is that clear?"
"Okay." He nodded, accepting her at her word as they resumed their progress, yet needing more by way of explanation into the cause of the problem in the first place. It was bothering him too much not to know… "But what is it? I just don't understand. What is it he feels so justified in being so angry at you for? What did I miss?"
The smile that had beamed at the crew from across the mess hall was nowhere in evidence as they entered the 'lift and he voiced their destination for the computer.
"You can't think of a few things you've been upset with me about over the last few months?" When he only stared pointedly back at her, Janeway sighed as the doors closed around them. "It's probably a few things, if I had to guess. And much of it just might be justified, if I'm going to be completely honest about it."
He shook his head in disagreement. "I don't see how–"
She sighed again in interruption, turning and fully facing him with resolve. "He's upset with me for rescuing him first. He's angry that I didn't go straight to Neelix, and he probably feels Neelix suffered more than he should have in the time it took to get Harry out of his cell."
"Harry was the certain rescue," Chakotay defended her automatically, his resentment rising along with his voice at the unfounded nature of the theoretical grudge possibly being held against her. "It's clear protocol to–"
"I know that," she cut over him, placing her open, steadying hand on his arm to quiet him. "And you know that. Deep down, so does Harry. But that doesn't make it any easier for any of us to live with the fact that it's still true, does it?" He said nothing to that, regarding her sadly, but knowing she wasn't finished.
"Neelix did suffer unimaginably because of that decision, and he might not have had to endure as much as he did if I'd gone for him first." He opened his mouth to object this time, or so she assumed, but she wasn't ready for him to interject again just yet and continued, "And that's probably only a part of Harry's problem with me. He's upset that I tricked him onto the Flyer without telling him why so I could sacrifice myself to get them both back here safely. He's probably about as angry as you were that I made that choice in the first place without so much as consulting the rest of you, and that I intended to give my life from the beginning." She paused thoughtfully. Sadly. "And unless I've completely missed the mark on that boy, everything I've just mentioned is probably superficial to the real issue." He gave her a questioning look, and she sighed again. "He's more upset with himself than he really is with anyone else. For letting me do it all without his realizing, for not being able to stop me – and probably mostly because he wasn't hurt as badly as the two of us were."
His annoyance, his own resentment had completely deflated by the time she reached the end of her explanation.
"Oh." He really hadn't considered any of that, Chakotay realized, as the weight of all she'd said penetrated for him. And he winced, because he understood all of it now with just those few sentences. Why Harry was acting the way he was. Why she hadn't wanted to talk about it or to address it – to him or to Harry.
He swallowed. "That's going to be a heavy conversation. And hard to do, walking a line that tight. If even a fraction of his feelings are justified…"
"Exactly."
Quietly, he ventured, "Are you up to it?" He didn't particularly like how slowly she was recovering. While the doctor was confident that she was progressing as expected and had warned them it would be slow going, Chakotay knew she still didn't sleep particularly well, and the circles under her eyes weren't fading very fast. Her weight was proving slow in coming, and her skin still hadn't regained much of its normal healthy glow. Makeup hid a lot of it, but not all. Not enough of it for him not to notice.
He knew the weight, and probably much of the energy, would be faster in coming once the restrictions on replicators and rations were lifted, for both of them, but none of that made him feel particularly better about the situation now.
She smiled sadly at him. "I'm up for it because I have to be. This is between the two of us. It's not right for this to play out between anyone else but him and me."
He did have to agree with that, now that she'd let him in on the inner workings of the problem. At any rate, the 'lift stopped and the doors opened out onto the bridge, signaling the end of their conversation.
For now, at least.
Rimmaz was an ass. There was little else to it, no other way to put it.
He didn't give any indication of being intimidated by not having brought a security detail of his own aboard. The security team knew the captain had given him clearance to bring one other person with him, but Rimmaz had sneered condescendingly at her offer. He'd opted to come alone.
And he seemed to think it was his duty to make up for his lack of entourage by interjecting, into the short conversation from the transporter pad to the conference room, as many snide and disgusting comments as he possibly could.
"I've been told," he swaggered beside his security escort, smirking at them, "you have nearly a hundred Oncaveat aboard."
"You'll have to ask the captain about that, General," Andrews replied tersely, too trained to confirm the general's correct guess in any way.
If Rimmaz Benn's questions, comments could be remotely considered less than a direct insult, they at least answered him, though. The insults, they simply acted as if they couldn't hear and ignored completely.
The well-trained team ignored him, for the most part.
"I don't have to ask her anything. She's fortunate I'm here at all. I haven't yet decided whether or not I'm going to blow your shiny little vessel out of space. Depends on her cooperation. And my mood," he half snarled, half sneered. Obviously baiting them.
They said nothing, turning down the next corridor, continuing to lead the way to what would ultimately be the alternate entrance to the conference room. The captain refused to allow the general to set one foot on her bridge – something the rest of them agreed whole-heartedly with. Aside from what had occurred with the captain at Osalik, many of them, security especially, had had run-ins with the Jehnz-yin military themselves. They had seen enough with their own eyes to find the mere presence of this soldier on their ship distasteful.
"I hope you've at least put the Oncaveat scum to good use. You aren't just letting them leech off you like the furry, overgrown parasites they are, I trust? An idle Oncaveat is a worthless Oncaveat…a waste of atmosphere and space."
Again, they maintained their stony silence, gesturing the broad-shouldered soldier into the turbolift ahead of them.
He didn't seem bothered.
"Tried any of their women yet?" he snickered knowingly. "They're ugly creatures, I know. But some of them aren't so bad, in dim lighting. If you don't mind all the screaming, of course…"
Despite his best efforts, Ayala's fingers, which had hovered over his phaser the entire walk, took the compulsive form of a clenched fist.
"No?" Rimmaz took their silence for an answer in the negative. "Well if you're not going to make good use of them, send them on to us. We'll take good care of them, you can be sure of that. I, for one, wouldn't mind a diversion or two, and it's not very often you catch a big enough batch of them to have many options anymore. Most of them hardly last past the first five or six of us. You've killed 'em before you hardly even know it, and the party's over before it's begun. But with as many as you've got, some of 'em would have to last a while, don't you think?"
His cold, callous laughter was impossible for Ayala to stomach. Only the swift, vehement shake of Andrews's head beside him jerked him out of his narrowing focus on the general's huge, knobby head and allowed the security officer to maintain his silence – and his poise.
"'Course, you've got your own women you travel with, from what I've heard, so maybe it's not so much of a problem for you…you've got plenty of options. Tell me…are your women easy to train, or do they take work?"
They wouldn't give him the satisfaction of responding, as Andrews's look pointedly reminded him. Ayala covertly nodded curt reassurance to his partner that he wouldn't rise to the Jehnz-yin's bait. "Take the left, General," he gritted through clenched teeth as they came to a junction between corridors.
Rimmaz missed the exchange occurring slightly behind him as he obliged and the team continued to walk.
"So. What's your captain like, boys?"
They ignored him this time for lack of a clue how to respond or for knowing where the general was headed with his inquiry, even as they automatically stiffened and sensed it wouldn't be in any direction they cared to explore with him.
"She's brave to meet with me at all, I'll give her that," Rimmaz continued, oblivious to the chilly reception. Again, his sharp, rasping bark of laughter sent chills of revulsion down the humans' spines. "After what Xi did to her, I'm surprised she's able to form a coherent sentence. But I'd been saying he was slipping in his old age. Now if I'd had her…" a slow grin spread out on his face as the security team tensed behind him and he glanced back at them and noticed, "it would have been a different story. She wouldn't be walking, let alone taking, I can tell you that!"
They tuned him out. They struggled to tune him out. The door to the conference room was looming just ahead of them…
"Then again, maybe that's the point of her insisting I come here, eh? Maybe she developed a taste for us while she was down on that base in Xi's tender care. Maybe she's hoping I can give her something that commander of yours can't…"
This time, Ayala had to channel all his own exploding fury into pulling Andrews back before he could make a move, and if he'd had to put into words what it cost him to do it, he'd have been hard pressed to do so, but there was good reason for exercising restraint. "He's not worth it," the lieutenant reminded his companion – and himself – in a furious mutter, shaking his head. When Andrews looked entirely unconvinced of that fact, burning ebony eyes locked onto General Benn's mocking face, Ayala sympathized painfully with him. "Hit him, and she's going to want to know why," he urged intently, low so only Andrews could hear him.
What Ayala said made sense – unfortunately. Andrews wasn't willing to make his captain sit through the explanation of the disgusting comments the general was spewing, much less to have to punish him for losing his professionalism in response to such crude, elementary taunts. He nodded curtly, indicating his grudging agreement with the sentiment, much as Ayala had done seconds before.
For his part, Rimmaz only laughed at the exchange. He couldn't quite hear it, but he could guess the nature of it. He particularly enjoyed the smoldering look on Andrews's face, which hadn't dimmed by much. "Struck a nerve, did I? Too close to the truth for you boys to handle?" He shrugged. "It's your own fault. That's what you get for following a woman, after all. What in the hell'd you expect him to do with her when he caught her?"
Rimmaz wriggled his gargoyle's brow in triumphant mockery, trying to push the human over the edge, but Andrews had regained the control he needed to shake Ayala's hand off his arm and resume his proper place at Ayala's side, just behind the new first general.
Much to Rimmaz's disappointment.
"Let's go, General," Ayala ordered coldly, much less politely than he had before. Gesturing with the now-drawn phaser to make a point about who was in control here, Ayala was at least reassured to know that they would be remaining in the room for the entirety of the meeting. Reassured on the one hand, and not so much on the other, that was.
There was about as much chance of Rimmaz behaving himself in the captain's presence as there was of a Tom Paris joining a Vulcan Monastery.
She was standing at the head of the conference table when they entered, the first officer and security chief on either side of her. Ready to face the Jehnz-yin the way they should be faced, united as one. The lighting was dim, another concession to their dwindling energy reserves, but it only served to reinforce the atmosphere of no-nonsense she, Chakotay and Tuvok presented, highlighting the grim lines and titanium angles of their faces.
Ayala and Andrews took up their posts by the doors at Janeway's indicative nod while General Benn approached the table.
"Ears!" Rimmaz thundered snidely the moment he got a good look at his waiting greeting party, completely unaffected by the mood of the conference room. "You're looking well! Guess being a Jehnz-yin charity case agrees with you, eh?"
Tuvok's expression darkened, and Vulcan non-emotionalism be damned, Chakotay decided upon following the general's taunting gaze and landing squarely on the tensing security chief.
"My name," the lieutenant-commander intoned, "as I have told you before, General, is Commander Tuvok."
"With listeners like those, your name is 'Ears'," Rimmaz dismissed snidely. His eyes were already focused upon Janeway, however, and he made a point of looking her over very thoroughly. "Ah, the goddess, herself. You'll forgive me if I don't bow down in worship?" he sneered.
"General," Janeway greeted him coolly, giving absolutely no hint of a riled response to his taunts. She indicated the seat closest to the standing Jehnz-yin. "If you'll take a seat, we can begin our discussion."
"Keep your seat," Rimmaz spat. "I told you before, I don't even see the point of this so-called discussion. But you're a woman, and I keep forgetting I have to make allowances for your failing intelligence."
She said nothing, seemed to be coolly waiting for him to finish.
"It's very simple," he continued. "You're going to turn over those Oncaveat you have here, and we're going to allow you to live. Provided you get the hell out of our space and don't piss me off in the meantime."
"We're not turning those Oncaveat over to you." Chakotay spoke before she had to. "There's no circumstance that could lead us to take that action, General."
Instead of exploding as expected, Benn seemed amused. "Ah, the silent commando actually speaks," Rimmaz jeered, sparing a glance at the man to the right of the table he continued to face. "And here I thought you only spoke when she gave you permission."
Knowing the general had just dealt what would have been a deep insult to someone of his own race, Chakotay remained secure enough in his own position to remain entirely unfazed, even smiling sarcastically back at the general's sneering countenance. "No, I asked permission before you walked in," he retorted smoothly.
Rimmaz's irritation did flare then as he recognized the lack of effect his taunting was having on the three he'd most wanted to rile, and he spat, "Disgusting sacks of blood, that's all you Federations are. Why we're even considering letting you continue to exist is–"
"Commander Chakotay is absolutely correct," Janeway interjected stonily. "We will never hand the Oncaveat aboard this vessel over to you. That point isn't even up for discussion. The point of this meeting, as I informed you several times already, is to hand over the Jehnz-yin girl to you. In order that she be protected from Gerros's wrath when he wakes."
General Benn shook his head, allowing her to redirect the conversation as he muttered, "He's already awake."
For the first time, Janeway, Chakotay and Tuvok were prompted to exchange a long look between them, Janeway and Chakotay in particular communicating a meaningful non-verbal message between them. Only to each other did they convey most of their surprise, because they hadn't heard the chancellor had been awoken until now. They had expected a communication from Ellizas, Rimmaz's son, before that. Or at the very least, shortly afterward.
That they hadn't received one was unnerving, and neither was entirely certain of whether or not they should believe the general at all.
"I'll look at your girl," Rimmaz spat, drawing their attention to himself again. "Then I'll tell you if we'll take her or not. But those Oncaveat are coming with me. Make this easy on yourselves and don't make me take the whole ship."
"Unacceptable," Janeway maintained, her nostrils flaring this time in her unmitigated annoyance with the insufferable general. "We have an agreement with Ellizas Benn. From what I understand, he's your son–"
"My son is dead," Rimmaz roared. Showing the first true anger he'd displayed thus far and making Ayala and Andrews both subtly find their weapons at their holsters in preparation. "So is my daughter. And it's all thanks to you, Janeway."
The captain paled at those words, shock coursing openly through her. Chakotay's widening eyes once again found hers over the table, and both swallowed into the heavy silence that descended over the room at those claims. Was it possible? Had Ellizas and Nyra been…?
"I don't understand," Kathryn replied flatly, the moment she was able to turn her gaze back to the offensive general. "When we spoke earlier this morning, you said–"
"I said what I knew," Rimmaz growled. "Which was that the plan I agreed to was to escort you to our borders. For my son's sake, and my daughter's. I received the transmission from one of my sources on Ghanza Prime. They were killed early this morning. I only just received word."
Janeway swallowed. "I'm sorry."
"I'm not," he snapped. "They were stupid. They underestimated Xi – something they both warned me not to do." He shook his head in disgust. "It's their own fault. Well…it was Nyra's fault. And it's a waste, because she was mostly a bright girl, for a half-breed." He seemed to shake himself out of the strange sort of reverie that had overtaken him as he spoke about his daughter. "But so now you see, Janeway," he straightened up. "You owe me. And I'll take those Oncaveat as payment."
"I don't understand how giving you the Oncaveat aboard Voyager –and make no mistake about this, General," she pointed at him in emphasis, "I'm not going to hand them over to you – but I fail to see how doing so could possibly make up for the loss of two of your children."
Rimmaz grinned. "Well, I have to make more, now, don't I? And we're not exactly a pleasure cruiser. We don't just have women wandering all through the decks of our ship. We're warriors. Women have no place on a ship of war. They need too much space. Have too many possessions they always seem to need to lug around with them, and I don't toler–"
"Your point?" she scathingly cut into his ramblings.
He shrugged, unconcerned. "Oncaveat woman are another matter altogether. You can keep quite a few of them chained effectively in very small spaces, if you space the chains right…"
He was absolutely disgusting. Again, Janeway opted for ignoring him, ignoring most of what was spewing from his mouth. Something she could see plainly the other occupants of the room were having trouble doing, if the clenched jaws and the subtle sounds of grinding teeth next to her were any indication. But she'd taken almost as bad from Cullah for the better part of two years, and much worse from Xi several months ago. She wasn't intimidated, nor was she inclined to give the bastard general the satisfaction of allowing herself to be irritated by his comments – more irritated, anyway. She simply shook her head at him with mostly contained disgust. "That's certainly not going to happen. There's no chance you're getting those Oncaveat, so devise another method of bolstering the number of your offspring, General."
Benn seemed taken aback. For the briefest of moments, she entertained the hopeful notion that she had somehow gotten through to him, but then he clasped his gnarled hand to his breast in dramatic fashion, and she understood he was toying with her before he even spoke. "Oh," he mocked. "Yes. My apologies, Captain. I didn't mean to be rude! Were you offering yourself for the role, then?" He laughed uproariously at the look of venom being shot to him from all angles now and allowed his eyes to wander casually over every visible part of her. "I'll admit. It could be fun to have my offspring carried by a goddess…"
The conference room doors opened, revealing Bimmah, the Jehnz-yin girl, and sparing Janeway – and everyone else in the room who was burning to – the trouble of having to disavow him of the false notion that the two of them would be engaging in any activity of the kind. In any reality.
Bimmah visibly trembled between her escort, sniffling softly as she was beckoned into the room by the woman captain she hadn't seen since the morning she had taken those sedatives and knocked herself out in order to avoid the terrifying prospect of having her molecules scrambled and reassembled. She looked to the command team as if she was regretting not having saved those sedatives for the current occasion as the towering, very imposing first general approached her immediately. And while anyone who'd come into contact with Bimmah since Ellizas had forced her to join Janeway and Chakotay was used to her display of barely muted histrionics, she was clearly even more terrified than she generally walked around being at the sight of the predatory general approaching her.
Rimmaz made a grand show of looking her over. He stalked around her several times, taking a thorough appraisal, and finally stopped in front of her again. He reached out a hand to snatch her trembling chin in his claws, yanking her head up to stare into her wide, terrified eyes, his smile forming slowly as he elicited a startled cry from the girl with his sudden and aggressive movement. By the time he'd finished scrutinizing her, he was grinning toothily. He turned to the three at the head of the long, as-yet-unused conference table. "Oh, I'll take her, all right." His attention returned to the frightened girl in his clutches. "You look used to hard work, girl, and that's good. There's no free passage on my ship. And we don't have the space to give you your own room," he drawled. "But I'm sure we'll find space for you with one of us. Maybe even with me, eh?"
Kathryn's stomach churned in disgust throughout the general's open appraisal. Especially as Bimmah turned beseeching wet eyes to the Federation officers standing at the head of the table, as if searching for help even as she shrunk back under the weight of Rimmaz's bulky arm slinking around her. And the captain was struck with the irony of the situation in the few seconds it took her to come to a decision. It had finally happened. The Jehnz-yin girl had found something to be terrified enough of to make her acknowledge the complete lack of threat she, Chakotay and the other Voyagers actually presented to her.
Now she wanted their help, all of the sudden.
Unfortunately, the captain couldn't blame her this time.
"Gentlemen," Janeway swallowed painfully past the disgusted dryness in her throat as she spoke to the two officers who'd just admitted Bimmah into the room and had hung back at the doors, awaiting further orders, "please escort her back to her room for the time being."
"No need," Rimmaz grunted, tightening his muscled arm around the girl. "She can come directly back with me. As soon as you make arrangements to send over those Oncaveat," he added pointedly.
The security team looked to their captain for clarification, hesitating, but she nodded them forward as if Rimmaz hadn't spoken. "Take her back to her room to gather her things," she ordered clearly. "I'll call for her when we're ready."
Through her terror, Bimmah looked forlorn, forsaken – and confused. She tried to stammer, "But…I didn't…bring anything with m–"
"Yes, you did," Kathryn broke over her crisply, nodding to the officers to physically take control of the girl when Rimmaz still stubbornly refused to unhand her. He reluctantly allowed his arm to be shifted off of her, however, and made no move to physically stop them, and Janeway was satisfied when the girl and her escort reached the doors. "Commander." She'd sensed Chakotay and Tuvok's eyes on her from the moment she'd given her unexpected order and knew they were both dying to speak up, but that Tuvok would keep quiet until after the meeting to voice his opinion. Chakotay would, too, but she preferred him to be on board with this decision before it was irreversible. "I'd like a word with you in my ready room, please." His brows shot up briefly, the only indication of his surprise at her second request, and then he nodded, beginning to step away from the table along with her. "Excuse us, General," she cut over her shoulder what was almost scathingly in parting.
The instant the doors closed and he could turn and face her, got a good glimpse at the look on her face, he knew what was coming. As if he hadn't already suspected before…
She shook her head, her expression closed, gesturing with her arm towards the ready room. The bridge officers all glanced up at the sound of the doors opening and did a bit of a double take at the sight of them, and seeing their stares, Chakotay simply nodded in agreement, ducked his head and followed her across the conspicuously-quiet bridge in silence.
The minute the second pair of doors sealed behind him, he began, "Kathryn, I know what you're thinking–"
"You might not," she began wheedling, defending her position immediately as she made her way to the desk.
He wasn't having it. "I do know, and it's insane. We can't keep her!"
She paused before turning to face him, absently opting for leaning back against it the ledge of her desk, where she studied him briefly, sizing him up…and then flashed him her most endearing smile. "Hold on. I think I might have just what we need here." Keeping her eyes fixed to his face, she leaned backward until she was precariously, impressively balanced on just one hip, allowing her to reach into the small top drawer of the desk and to fumble around in it for a moment before, with a triumphant light in her eyes, she came back to an upright position with a small napkin in her hand. Carefully, she unwrapped it in her lap, while he stared in open fascination by now, to reveal…
"Are you sure I can't interest you in a cookie before we continue this stimulating conversation?" she held out her hand like a child holding up a drawing for her parent to praise, smiling ingenuously, but his immediate response was only a disbelieving huff.
"You've got to be kidding me!"
"Now would I kid a face like yours?" she deadpanned.
"You're not funny, Kathryn."
"I'm at least a little funny," she corrected him immediately, grinning incorrigibly at the look on his face. At the low growl beginning to form audibly in his throat, she prudently hid her answering laugh well in a feigned cough as she bit into one, but her grin was still impossible to contain – until the flavor of the thing actually penetrated her senses, and then she grimaced in what was damned near physical pain.
"Where'd you even get those?" he demanded indignantly, hands going to his hips the way they did whenever he was preparing himself for a long standoff.
"Neelix," she admitted, gasping and choking in earnest as she attempted to swallow the space-dust-dry confection. "I asked him…to make them...this morning." She promptly gave up and flipped the cookies onto the table in favor of using the napkin to delicately spit out the offending confection and wrap it up, where it could no longer offend any of the five senses it had previously been assaulting. "But I doubt they're going to do anything to improve anyone's mood, so forget I asked. Ugh." She shook her head, coughed again, wishing to hell she had rations to spare on coffee – anything – to wash away the bitter, tart taste of what Neelix had actually had the gall to call "delectable". "God, they're disgusting. I'd swear he used Jehnz-yin rations to make them."
He nodded. "Entirely possible. Frighteningly unsurprising. And it serves you right," he smirked in automatic retort, plainly enjoying the poetic justice of having avoided the ordeal entirely even as he was folding his arms at the penetration of her admission, and he continued on to the real point at hand. "This morning," he repeated accusingly. "So you knew. You knew you weren't going to be able to give her over to him, didn't you? Before Rimmaz came today, you knew…"
She shook her head. "To be fair, I hadn't entirely decided until he'd done his little appraisal act just a few minutes ago." At the disbelieving look he was pinning her with, she sighed, having the good grace to at least appear chagrined and crossing her own arms in front of her in defeat "All right, I admit it. I realized I probably couldn't this morning, after that last transmission from him. But could you send her over to him, in good conscience? Honestly, Chakotay? If it were up to you, would you really be able to…?"
"She tried to kill me," he reminded pointedly. Stubbornly not giving a millimeter of ground. Not yet.
She only continued to stare challengingly.
"And she ended up killing Shasta, instead," he added, bolstering his argument.
"Under direct orders from Gerros. Orders she probably would have been killed for disobeying," Kathryn corrected, not letting up on her challenging gaze.
And he had to admit, now that she was forcing him to really ponder the issue, he probably couldn't. His own stomach had been doing quite a bit of churning back in that room, and that wasn't even mentioning the almost spasmodic way his fingers had been twitching, desperate to clench into tight fists to be able to wipe that smirk off Rimmaz's snide, disgusting face. "No," he admitted aloud, sighed in a smaller, resigned voice as his posture sagged and his arms came slowly away from his chest. "I probably couldn't. She's obviously terrified of him, and not without good reason," he added, more to himself than to her.
"Not to mention the fact that she's really not much more than a child…"
"He's going to be angry," Chakotay warned quietly. "Now that he's seen her and decided he wanted her, he's not going to take your refusal to hand her over after making him come here in the first place."
"Something I already regret, believe me, but as for his anger…do we care?" she countered calmly. "He's too arrogant to have kept more than two of his ships nearby while he's 'escorted' us. In less than two days, we reach their borders, and even their three ships combined don't pose enough of a threat to make me second-guess throwing him off this ship for one minute. We can handle the fall-out of his anger. We'll fight our way to the border from here, and to be honest, I've always expected we'd have to, anyway. Truce or no truce, he was going to be impossible to stomach indefinitely."
He nodded. They'd discussed that, at length already, and both had been surprised that they'd gone this long without open hostilities breaking out between Voyager and the military ships as it was. He swallowed. "What do we do about Gerros?"
She shook her head, her expression both grim and thoughtful. "I'm not sure yet. I imagine there'll be a long-range message transmitting for me shortly. I'm sure he'll want to speak to me, even if he doesn't have a clue where I am by now. I'm not even tempted to consider listening to it, though."
He was glad. Whatever the Jehnz-yin chancellor could want to say to Kathryn was probably nothing either one of them wanted, or needed, to hear. "He'll probably send his guard after us, too."
That had occurred to her, and she wasn't long in replying, "If Rimmaz is angry enough – and stupid enough – to tell him where we are, yes. Probably."
"And they'll have to obey his orders if knows they know where we are. They'll have to come after us then. Even if they'd have been inclined to keep quiet after Nyra and Ellizas were killed. The Guard could pose a real threat. There're enough of their ships, and they're of superior design."
"Yes," she acknowledged. "But we have a good head start on them. And if they can't catch us, then it won't matter much, will it?"
He stepped back as she stood, preparing to return to the conference room, their decision reached. "I guess not."
"Good. I'm glad we're in agreement."
"You'd have done what you wanted anyway," he called her out on it as the doors parted for her, and he waited for her pass through them before following. "Regardless of whether or not I agreed with you."
"Probably," she admitted, as they crossed the bridge again. She paused outside of the doors to the conference room just long enough to flash him a devious, sparkling grin. "But it's going to be so much more fun to throw him off the ship together, now isn't it?"
He had to admit it was going to be as they stepped back into the room to square off with one soon-to-be-furious Jehnz-yin general.