VIII

Friday, Bloomington, Indiana

Kathryn Janeway was sitting on the patio of her family home on a Friday afternoon, watching a shuttle land nearby. It was the Icheb I, a state-of-the-art ship, about twice as big as the Delta Flyer had been, landing on the expansive front lawn.

A smile creased her face as the shuttle doors opened, revealing Tom, B'Elanna, The Doctor, and Miral Paris.

Kathryn had seen all of them recently, save for Miral, she and her god-daughter racing toward each other, smiles bright across their faces.

"Aunt Kathryn!" Miral was Kathryn's goddaughter, but she thought of Janeway also as an aunt. They embraced in a tight, happy hug. "Khaless, it's been too damn long since I've seen you."

"Oh, love", Kathryn said, looking over the beautiful young lady, "you look absolutely fantastic." She gave the quarter-Klingon a kiss on the cheek. "It's been four years-I've counted. I've missed you so much."

The two women had their arms around each other as they walked back to the porch, talking and laughing.

"So I don't get to see Seven this weekend?" Miral thought of Seven as another "aunt". The last time she had seen Seven in person was at Chakotay's funeral, and that had not been a happy time, the shouting match between Seven and Janeway making everyone miserable.

"No, honey", Kathryn said, sitting on the bench swing, holding Miral's hand. "She's in Spain this weekend. She has a chance to talk to a very amazing person, and she couldn't pass up the opportunity."

"How is she, Aunt Kathryn?" There was concern on Miral's face. "Mom, Dad, and The Doctor have filled me in, but I want to hear it from you?"

"She's been through a helluva lot, Miral, I won't lie", Janeway said honestly, as the others came out of the house, after garnering an iced tea for themselves, and the other two women. "But she's getting there. When I first saw her about nine months ago, she was, quite frankly, a mess."

"I read about her...excursions around the Quadrant, and I simply cried and cried", Miral said starkly. "It hurt so bad reading all those damnable things about her, knowing they weren't true."

"Unfortunately, that's what Seven had become-all going back to Icheb's death. I think she began to exorcise those demons on Ganymede, which wasn't very pleasant either."

"Dad showed me the images from there. I was furious, Aunt Kathryn", she said, some tears in her eyes. "I hope I get to see her soon. I have missed her so much."

"You will, my dear", Kathryn said, squeezing her hand. "She's gonna take up residence here when things finally calm down."

Miral's eyes lit up. "You mean...are you and Seven..."

Janeway laughed. "Not yet", she advised the younger lady. "But we're gonna see where we can go together. It isn't going to be easy, Miral. She and I have been mending the fabric of our relationship, but so much damage was done for so many years." Kathryn lowered her head, thinking of all the heartache she and Seven had caused each other.

"You two love each other, Aunt Kathryn, and that's the most important thing." Miral kissed her godmother on the cheek. "Simply build on that. The rest will take care of itself."

"When did you get so smart, Miral", Kathryn said with a gleam in her eyes.

Miral shrugged. "I don't think I'm that smart. You just learn things when you start to grow up. One thing I've learned, even if I haven't seen either of you in a long while, is that you belong together."

The two women hugged tightly, as B'Elanna watched them, tears in her own eyes. If there were anyone in the world that B'Elanna wanted her daughter to emulate, it was Kathryn Janeway, at least those parts of Janeway that had survived the last twenty years.

"I have a hunch, Miral", B'Elanna observed, "that you'll see Seven soon enough. I'm gonna send her a message and see if she can't get her butt back here Sunday before we all go home."

"I'd like that, Mom", Miral said with a grin. "I need to spend a lot of quality time with Aunt Seven."

"I think it would be good for her", The Doctor chimed in. "She is starting to act like the Seven we all know and love, but I believe spending time with you will make her very happy."

"I agree, Doc", Tom added. "She and I had a conversation when we were back onboard the Calgary, and she mentioned she desperately wanted to get together with you."

"You had to mention Uncle Harry's ship", Miral said with a dramatic sigh. "Now I miss him, too."

Everyone gave a light laugh.

"He misses you, too, babe", B'Elanna assured her daughter. "I think in the near future we'll be having a Voyager reunion party." She looked sideways at Kathryn, Janeway getting what Torres was alluding to, making Kathryn blush.

Early Saturday morning, Phoebe Janeway arrived, and by noon, some of Kathryn's neighbors and friends, including her ex-fiancé Mark Johnson, his wife Gloria, and their two children, had gathered at the farm to start preparing a huge barbecue. Kathryn had been expecting a lot of old friends to show up and couldn't wait for the fun to begin.

Unfortunately, she had to make a short side trip to Denver, as she had promised Admiral Jellico that she would oversee the transfer of Sloan into custody of the Federation Department of Justice. Necheyav had already prepared charges against the man, and the future looked grim for the man.

"When will you be back, Kathryn", Tom said, as she and Tom walked to the closest transporter station, which was in downtown Bloomington.

"I don't suspect I'll be gone more than a few hours. I'd say I'll be no later than four, and that's if things get slowed down. This shouldn't take long."

"When you get back, you're gonna smell a lot of good food on the farm, I promise you."

Janeway laughed, laying a hand on Tom's chest. "I'm counting on it, Mr. Paris."

Janeway arrived at the safe house thirty minutes after saying goodbye to Tom. Four of Jellico's underlings were there, watching over Sloan. They had provided the man an excellent breakfast just before Kathryn arrived, and allowed him to shower and put out fresh clothes for him.

Among those present was Lieutenant Helmut Kessler. He had been up all night, setting up certain things that he hoped would take place shortly. He hadn't had a chance to talk to Sloan, but they had communicated simply by look, Kessler knowing immediately his Boss wanted him to arrange an escape.

Things would start happening very soon.

Captain Miranda Verano from the Federation Department of Justice arrived in Denver just moments after Janeway. She and the four guards were to accompany Sloan to San Francisco via transport from their location. The Captain and the former Admiral went over the information and the "paperwork", as everyone still called it, although it was all on PADD's. Everything seemed to be in order.

"Lieutenant Naquin", Janeway said, turning to one of the guards, "time to fetch Mr. Sloan."

"Aye, Admiral", he said crisply, he and another guard turning to retrieve the man.

"Excuse me, ladies", Kessler said in an apologetic voice, "but before we leave, I have to use the facilities. My apologies."

Verano waved him off. "You can't fight Mother Nature, Lieutenant", she said with a wry smile, making those in the room laugh.

Kessler excused himself and went to the en-suite. He did have to relieve himself, but that wasn't the main reason he was there.

When in the restroom, he sent a quick signal to a ship that was in orbit, disguised as a freighter. Onboard were four former Starfleet Special Ops members, and one Starfleet Captain, who had been recruited for this mission.

Within two minutes, he had exited the en-suite, just as Sloan was being led out in handcuffs.

Their eyes made contact.

Captain Verano and Kathryn Janeway were going over the last of the official documents that Jellico and Necheyav had insisted be prepared for the exchange.

"OK, Admiral", Verano said, smiling at Janeway, "I think that takes care of everything. Thank you for your assistance."

"My pleasure, Captain", Kathryn said, trying to hide the fact that she really wanted to get back to Indiana ASAP.

Onboard the cargo vessel directly in orbit above Denver, the Starfleet Captain that was in command of this clandestine operation smiled. Lieutenant Kessler had left the channel on his communicator open, so that he could listen in on what was going on. Behind him, three heavily armed men, and one heavily armed woman stood at the ready.

When Kathryn Janeway had answered the Captain near her, the man nodded at the troops behind him.

"Prepare for transport", he said firmly.

"Aye, Captain Maxwell."

Captain Verano was just ready to hit her communicator, informing San Francisco they were ready for beaming, she and Janeway noticed for shimmers of light appearing to Janeway's right. In moments, all hell broke loose.

Almost before the transport had completed, the four armed, helmeted individuals began firing at Colonel Verano, Janeway, and three of the four guards that had been watching Sloan. Two of the intruders took out the three unsuspecting guards, while one fired at Verano. The fourth fired at Janeway, their weapon only put on stun, knocking Janeway out cold, then they moved to secure Sloan. Within ten seconds of beaming down, the four SpecOp veterans, Sloan, and Kessler had beamed away, along with Kathryn Janeway.

Four bodies lay on the floor of the facility.