Six hours later Captain Janeway sat at her Ready Room desk, rubbing her forehead and feeling a headache coming on. There was little news on any front.

It's getting close to a day since Shimai attacked us…and you can tell it's wearing on the entire crew.….

….the missing faces…..the injuries….the fear of capture…

….that constant terrible howl resounding throughout the ship…..

….we'll be lucky if any of us is sane when this is over….

Janeway leaned over her desk, clutching an empty coffee mug with both hands and thinking hard.

Seven's repairs to the warp core are about half-finished. They won't improve much, but they'll keep us going for now…..that's all I can ask….

To call us understaffed would be a joke.

We could wake the men up…..but how can I ask that of the K'Terrans when they're literally burning through their own life spans to protect us?...not to mention they could break the alliance over it and abandon us….

Captain Janeway shook her head, and got up to get another coffee.

There has to be a way out of this, I know there is.

Janeway replicated her drink and began to head back to her desk. She turned towards the sound as her Ready Room doors suddenly opened.

She blinked in surprise as a conscious Gretchen zipped into the room, head down and myopically focused as she grabbed her deck of Final Cards and jetted back towards the door.

"Gretchen?" said Janeway reflexively, thrown off by the odd occurrence, uncertain if she should have even spoken. A shot of adrenaline went through her body, and she pushed it down, despising the automatic response of fear at seeing her daughter again.

Is she going to attack me?...Is she having a dream, or a vision?...Why didn't the Doctor tell me she was awake?...

"Sorry, I need these," said Gretchen, moving quickly out the door, "It can't wait,"

The young woman's voice seemed normal, although rushed, and Janeway could not help it, she followed on Gretchen's heels, entering the turbolift with her. She kept one hand near her phaser, as casually as possible.

I hate to think like that but…it's my job as Captain, even as Gretchen's Captain…..not to go down easily…..not to let her do something she'd regret.

"Gretchen, what's happening?" said Janeway, in her friendly but urgent Captain voice.

Gretchen turned to her and the older woman was relieved to see her eyes were clear, though her voice and mannerisms were nervous, "Marla Gilmore poisoned me as a child, using a more insidious form of the gas the Thox used for propulsion."

"What?," said Janeway, staring at her and then catching on, "You must have been cured of it. Are you saying that's similar to B'Elanna's case? But Thox territory is thousands of light years away."

"It is," said Gretchen, nodding, "But I don't think it always was….these cards," said Gretchen, fanning them out suddenly, "They tell about Thox history…..the different factions that used to be in the Empire…..take a look at this one."

Gretchen held out a card as the turbolift doors opened and Janeway lifted it to her face as they walked. It was highly stylized, but when she looked closely it appeared the creature depicted on it had four tentacle like arms, eye stalks, and two teeth filled mouths.

"The K'Terrans," she breathed.

"Technically not the K'Terrans," said Gretchen, "The design is tens of thousands of years old, from before they split with the Jen Hadar, when they had another name…..but that's not what's important," continued Gretchen, stopping suddenly in the hallway, and fumbling with the cards for a long moment.

Finally she found what she was looking for, and rushed into Sickbay, Janeway following in confusion.

"Be'nl," shouted Gretchen, "Do you have this plant?"

She handed the alien the beautiful card, its embossed metallic design shone over the K'Terran's blue face.

"Yes," said Be'nl, smiling with her four lips, "I shall get Soeur immediately."

Gretchen smiled back, and her shoulders sagged in relief as Be'nl left the room. Then she lifted up, putting one hand on her hip, staring at Janeway nervously.

"My veins turned purple too," she said, gesturing at B'Elanna, "And my lungs closed up….I would've died the same day you did," she said, face contorting for a moment, "I would've smothered to death… but daddy saved me from Marla and then…..the Thox refused to give up on me… I just barely remember them being in Sickbay but…I know the Thox called in all kinds of scientists…..they didn't know what to do for a mammalian alien like me…but they kept on trying…..and finally they used an underwater plant …..from the same species that had taught them how to use gas core propulsion…."

"It used to be an important import…..emblematic from the Thox point of view…..so much so that they put it on one of that species' Final Cards."

Janeway held Gretchen's gaze, "So it could save B'Elanna too," Kathryn breathed.

"I don't know," said Gretchen, shaking her head, "It was so long ago that they parted…..the gas could be too different….or the plant could be too varied…..or Be'nl could be completely wrong about it being the one on the card…..anything could be wrong with this…." she said, grimacing, and looking away with pain on her face.

"We have to hope," said Janeway firmly.

What felt like hours later, the door to Sickbay opened, and Soeur and Be'nl entered, with a third K'terran which Janeway had never seen before. She was very distinctive with neon green skin on her head and arms, which seemed to dilute into a blue color on her lower half.

"This is our healing specialist, Captain," said Soeur, "Her chosen name is Adelfi."

"Hello Captain," said Adelfi gently, "I believe that I can help. I have brought the plant from our ship. We use it to clean our Esoterian gas core. We have never heard of it being used for healing, but we shall try."

"I'll get our Doctor so you can confer with him," said Janeway, nodding urgently.

The K'Terran healing specialist and the Doctor ran simulations over the next hour as Gretchen and Janeway waited silently. They finally enclosed B'Elanna into a clear medical pod.

"Here's hoping Captain," said the Doctor softly, "We're going to pump in a gas version of the plant. If it works like it did in Gretchen's timeline, and as the simulations implied…well, if she's not too far gone….and her body doesn't reject it…we should see an improvement soon."

They watched, Kathryn holding her breath as the gas began to be pumped in. Minutes later, B'Elanna's body began to spasm, and she coughed violently.

"Doctor?" said Kathryn urgently.

"I know it looks terrible Captain," said the Doctor excitedly, "But that's a good sign….," he said looking at the screen, "She's beginning to reject the poison, to breathe on her own….it'll be a long road…..but she's beginning to heal Captain."

Janeway had finally passed out in Gretchen's former medical bed, as the younger woman had gone with Be'nl after B'Elanna had begun to improve. Janeway had not liked her leaving, but she had insisted, conferring privately with the Doctor before she left.

After a night of fitful sleep Kathryn had smiled so widely when she was woken up by B'Elanna's angry voice, that had B'Elanna been able to see it, she just might have been punched.

B'Elanna was distressed, still blinded and forced to use an altered oxygen mask every few words, but she was alive.

I almost feel like it's a miracle. Thought Kathryn in awe. There were so many times she almost left us.

Nearly immediately B'Elanna began arguing with the Doctor about confining her to her medical bed. Janeway blinked in shock as the doors to Sickbay opened and suddenly Gretchen and Be'nl entered, wheeling in a mobile medical station.

"What?" said B'Elanna, when they answered her insistence by presenting the already constructed apparatus to the Doctor.

"Well, what's Engineering without our Chief Engineer?" said Gretchen mischievously, "Besides, you are predictable."

B'Elanna grumbled, but was clearly relieved as Be'nl wrapped a tentacle around her arm and guided her to the chair.

"She can go Doctor, can't she?" asked Gretchen, "We used all your specifications, and she is doing well this morning like you hoped."

"Oh alright," said the Doctor, "I suppose it won't do any harm. Far be it from me to try to keep a Klingon on bed rest. But the minute your vitals are beyond normal levels I'm bringing you back here B'Elanna. So I suggest you keep your temper, and take your medicine."

Janeway shook her head as the three of them left.

B'Elanna may be predictable, but Gretchen certainly isn't…of course it doesn't help that I still don't know my daughter that well.

She sighed, knowing that although they had all survived so far, there were problems yet to deal with.

Not the least of which is getting Voyager out of enemy territory before we all become concubines for a race that has as much concern for women as I do for cockroaches.

And if we survive that…..we have the past to deal with.

Gretchen's gotten back up as if nothing's happened…..but we both know how to deny our feelings…..don't we?