"These maps are very inexact, dear," said the green alien, staring at a holographic schematic, and pointing "But my sister and I agree with our original thought."
"It may be just a bit bumpy," said the turquoise alien, smiling widely, "But we do believe we can help you and your crew make it home quickly,"
"It may not be the whole way….." said the green alien, also smiling, "But it is much safer."
"Much safer," said the turquoise alien.
"Much safer," echoed the blue one.
"That's wonderful," said Janeway, sitting back in her seat, shock, relief, and worry fighting for position on her face, "And you believe you can work with our technology?"
"Yes," said the blue alien, looking up from a set of datapads, which she, B'Elanna, and Seven were huddled over, "Do understand we can't give you our technology, but we can lend it to you. We like to be hospitable. But we will have to check on you dear."
"That's fine," said Janeway nodding, breathing in silently as she asked the major question, "And what is it you all would like in return?"
"Oh nothing, nothing" said the green alien, smiling warmly, "Anything for a fellow female."
She reached up a tentacle like hand, as if to add emphasis, "You seem to be moving on the way to being a higher race,"
"A higher race?" said B'Elanna questioningly.
"We removed all of our….males," said the green alien, adding the last word in a whisper, and then perking up, "1,000"
"2,000" chimed in the turquoise alien.
"3,000" added the blue alien.
"Years ago," they chanted together, smiling widely.
"I've had the urge to do that," said B'Elanna deadpan.
"That is an illogic…" started Seven of Nine, and B'Elanna slammed her foot into her calf.
The former drone looked back at her in disgust but answered, "That strategy appears to have….advantages."
"Oh it does, it does," said the green alien.
"It does, it does," chanted her sisters, smiling.
"But that's not a requirement of your help?" clarified Janeway.
"No," said the green alien, "We understand we cannot push other species along the route of enlightenment. We can only guide the way."
"We cannot however," she added, "Be expected to hear them," she shuddered, and began to hum to herself again, but quickly smiled maternally in Janeway's direction.
"I'm sure we can work something out," said Janeway, returning the smile.
It's not ideal, but we can certainly handle that stipulation. Assign an all female team to them, even clear a deck or two if we need to. A small price to pay to get home.
Suddenly she felt a touch, as if someone had placed a hand on one of her shoulders, and a laugh, as if someone found the situation both joyful and hilarious.
Janeway turned to her side, seeing no one, but the laugh, a noise she knew from somewhere, returned.
Janeway's heart fell into her stomach as she placed it.
"Gretchen?" she said suddenly, out loud.
The group turned to look at her, and she saw no one, but could not fight the thought that something was dreadfully, terribly, wrong.
"I….." she turned back to the aliens, determined. She nervously rubbed her hands as she stood up, speaking as tactfully as she could, "I…..I hope you'll forgive me….I….my daughter was badly injured in the battle we just had….and I haven't seen her. I have….an awful feeling something is wrong."
Seven and B'Elanna were staring at her in differing shades of shock.
"Your daughter?" said the green alien, and the three sisters made an inaudible noise at each other, "Of course you must go to her," said the leader, "A daughter is a treasure."
"Treasure,"
"Treasure," repeated the two aliens.
"B'Elanna, take over", said Janeway, as she quickly moved out the door, giving her a look to be on her best behavior.
As soon as she heard the doors begin to close behind her, she felt herself running.
Gretchen instinctively followed the Captain, torn between disturbed that she had unwittingly interrupted the important meeting and pleasure that not only had Janeway heard her, but had sprang to her aid.
Pleasure won out, and Gretchen sailed, smiling through the hallway after the Captain, planning to join her in the turbolift, before a ghostly older version of the same woman blocked her path.
"You can't go with her," said the woman sternly.
"She heard me," said Gretchen, putting her feet on the floor, "I don't know how, but she did. Maybe because we're blood. Maybe because she actually….maybe….cares," Gretchen finished awkwardly, looking vulnerable.
"I'm your mother," said the woman sternly, "She can't be any different to you than I was. You know that," said the woman, voice softening, putting both hands on her shoulders again, "You're my child, not hers."
"She's my friend," said Gretchen suddenly, instinctively, "I can't just abandon her because you say so."
Gretchen turned to go, "Finally someone can talk to me, I'm going to say goodbye, if she can't help me any other way."
"You're only being selfish," shot the woman in front of her, as she began to drift through the floor. She continued, but the woman followed, "You heard that meeting. they don't need you. You're only making it worse for her now. She'll try desperately to help you, and fail. It will haunt her for the rest of her life. Let her forget you. You never should have been in her life."
"I don't think you remember much about being alive," said Gretchen sadly, looking at her mother's soft face as they floated in the middle of another deck, "To be alive is to fight. You knew that. And she does too. Even if she fails. You didn't want to fight with me, but she does."
Suddenly the soft lulling light was underneath her, and then everywhere around her, boxing her in. Her mother's voice seemed to echo out of it.
"It won't matter," said her mother, "You're not capable of helping her, you never were. There's nothing that woman needs from you, she only feels sorry you exist. You already lost one crew. You'll help her, you're help them all, by getting out of their way."
"You wanted me to help Voyager get home," said Gretchen, tears starting to fall, and a very strange unsettling feeling pooling in her stomach, as she refused to accept her fate, "It was the last thing you asked of me…Maybe I can't now, but maybe I can, maybe I can see it…" she said looking away as her mother came back into view.
Gretchen gulped, looking back finally, "Maybe I can congratulate her anyway…..I want to see the end of the story."
"My brave daughter," said the woman, cupping her face again, and suddenly they were standing back in an empty Sickbay, the lulling light behind her mother.
Her mother's hands were very warm, and the look on her face was very soft and intent, "You did everything I asked, you fought so hard, I'm very proud of you, but it's time to lay this down now, and come with me. I love you. I want to make up for the time we lost," her mother added, tears starting to glow in her eyes.
Gretchen turned and closed her eyes against the mesmerizing glow, and breathed in deeply, the unsettling feeling in her stomach turning into a pain.
She glanced at her mother out of her peripheral vision, her mother was smiling, and in the soft glow of the lights Gretchen thought she saw something predatory in that smile.
Gretchen gulped, taking a step back and moving the hands off her shoulders.
"Tell me one thing then, mommy," said Gretchen, voice becoming high pitched again, as she lost control of her emotions.
She blinked hazy tears away, and stared intently in her mother's eyes, "Answer the one question I can't. Why?…If you loved me so much why did you waste your time with me? Why did you waste your last moments with me even?...Before you died, it was always about Voyager to you."
"It was never about the ship, baby," said her mother, looking at her softly, gently wiping away the last of her tears and whispering as she came closer, "It was always about you."
Gretchen closed her eyes slowly, and her shoulders sagged forward, she sobbed twice, and shook, bringing her hands up to completely wipe her face.
She breathed in deeply, her whole body taking the air in, and when she opened her eyes again, they were fierce.
Her voice rang out clear and certain, "Liar! You are not my mother!"
The world shifted suddenly, and it was as if Gretchen was falling from a great height into a churning ocean of water, only to crash finally on the rocks underneath the tide. She blinked and everything was bright harsh lights, every muscle and bone shrieked in pain, and her head was a blaze of fire.
She screamed in agony, and fell unconscious.
Chakotay stood in cold shock, as his daughter's desperate scream reverberated through the air. He felt sick at the pain he had seen on her face and yet, for the first time, there was hope.
Brainwaves were showing on the machine, where there had been nothing but silence.
Suddenly Kathryn was in his peripheral vision. He heard a gasp, "She looks terrible," said the woman, as her mouth drew into a tight thin line.
"She was dead," said the Doctor cooly and Kathryn looked at him in shock.
The Doctor softened his tone, "She's…..alright now, I believe. You came at the right time, she's only just come back. She died a few minutes after arriving here and was gone for a full 20. Much longer and I would've had to let her go."
At the disturbed looks he was getting the Doctor sighed, "I was able to keep her vitals going, there shouldn't be any permanent affects."
"It was only a head wound Doctor," said Janeway, "In this day and age, I don't understand, if she wasn't killed immediately…."
"It was the herb, the blow itself wasn't terrible," he stated firmly, "But it caused major bleeding, and I imagine a vision, because she showed massive brain damage that wasn't part of the initial injury."
"We have to get her off that herb," said Chakotay heatedly, "She'll have to do it, whether she wants to or not. Maybe we shouldn't even wake her up until she's off of it."
"Ignoring the ethical implications of that," said the Doctor, "It isn't possible," he sighed, "Not now. The medical coma I induced when she arrived here is very similar to the stasis she would have to be in. And you can see the effects….." he looked at the young woman guiltily, "At least we're in the Beta Quadrant now," he said sadly, "Home of the Empire. If we make it that far maybe the Klingons will be able to cure her. It's their herb after all."
"As for me," he added, fiddling awkwardly with his tools, "I'm never letting another crewman take a Klingon medication as long as I live, or exist, as the case may be."
Kathryn and Chakotay looked at each other. Kathryn had only been there for a moment and she felt drained to the core of her being. Chakotay looked as if he had been through a war.
"She'll be fine," said the Doctor after a moment, "I heard we have strangers on board, and Sickbay is too crowded for visitors. You can both get out and back to your business. I'll call you when she wakes up."
"Immediately," said Kathryn, eyes tired.
"Immediately," echoed the Doctor, gesturing them out.