Disclaimer: See Chapter One.

Notes: Apology is necessary here, I know this has taken me awhile to update this story, but I hope this chapter will make up for the long wait. I have transferred the story to Google Docs so I have no excuse for not getting the next chapter added that much sooner - hopefully. Enjoy and thank you for your patience.

Aftermath

Paris Household/Family:

With the open com-link now closed, the 'Family' relaxed a little and mulled over some of the issues raised, although there were many unanswered questions to sort out; some had been voiced by Janeway, others had been discovered by Cmdr. Data, quite a few others still remained hidden for now.

Tom and B'Elanna were just grateful for some sort of closure from some of the issues voiced, but for them and the rest of the 'Family' only two issues were important.

"Any news on who has locked-up Seven, Icheb and the Doctor?"

"There's been rumours; about a specialist unit, a shadow ops; but nothing definite," noted Paris senior. Yet something in his expression and tone of voice gave pause for thought.

"Dad?" frowning puzzled at the man who was slowly becoming more familiar to him. They still had some way to go to mending their relationship and all the years of misunderstanding, but both were willing to work at it, which according to all their councillors was half the battle. The older man just shook his head, his expression sad and apologetic, having perhaps revealed more than he should have.

"I wonder where the Cap! – Chakotay is hiding," noted Ayala quietly, deflecting the onus from the elder man, in order for him to regain his balance and not say more than he was obviously allowed too.

"Somewhere he won't be noticed," said Tom, still giving his father a puzzled look.

"You have some ideas, though."

"If I did, Dalby, I won't be shouting about it to anyone. Sorry," he added, shrugging apologetically, noting some of the saddened faces among the 'Family'.

"He'll come home when he can and is ready," said B'Elanna, conviction in her tone, that she was right. Ayala smiled at her sharing that conviction.

=/\=

Cafe across town:

"You'd better go!" Robin advised the Black Squad leader, having noted the shifting in attitude of the other patrons of their eating establishment. The three squaddies silently stood and left via the back fire exit, which was close to their table. Robin reset the security lock on the emergency doors and was about to return to sit at his table, when the owner joined them, whilst his assistant served the rougher and incensed patrons with more coffee and the like.

"You go too! Now!" his soft Italian accent notable, he indicated the back entrance through the kitchen. Hood and his two companions nodded quietly, hearing the angry talk around them getting louder, as they picked up their empty cups and slipped out into the kitchen area, leaving their dirty crocks behind at the wash-up and went out the back staff entrance, into the late sunshine, before splitting up to return to Voyager's Family.

=/\=

Starfleet HQ Office:

"Section 31? That's part of the UFP's charter," his tone clearly puzzled. "Article 14, I believe!"

"Yes it is, Mister President," she agreed sighing quietly.

"Out with it Admiral," he snapped, stressing her rank. Quietly she explained what Dr. Bashir had recently reported to her, whilst stationed at DS9, having been used by Section 31 himself; discovering in the process who were prepared to use these Shadow agents to their advantage and yet also turn a blind eye to these black ops operatives and their activities.

"I see," he mused thoughtfully. "I'm assuming it is this Section 31 who has isolated three members of Janeway's Voyager crew?"

"So it would appear," she agreed, not liking where her thoughts were taking her on this issue. "There have always been rumours about Section 31, in Starfleet, but no-one ever took it seriously," she added, voicing some of her own dangerous thoughts on the issue.

"A shadow organisation within the Federation Government; that's not good news," the male noted.

"Not in Government, Mister President. Unlike the Tal Shari and the Obsidian Order, Section 31 operates outside of Federation Law," she informed him firmly.

"No-one is above the Law, Admiral," his tone equally firm. "That includes Starfleet Admiralty."

"I couldn't agree more, Mister President."

"If my memory serves me right, the third world war was still very fresh in everyone's minds and memories when the charter was conceived," his tone thoughtful. Alynna waited letting the alien male say his piece. "Although all sides in that conflict were mindful of the fact that Humans were not alone in the universe – thanks to the Vulcans, each side was still suspicious of each other and their motives, therefore the clause in Article 14 was added along with the MACO's aboard the first Starships. But as Starfleet and the Federation moved towards more peaceful endeavours and Starfleet Security personnel replaced the MACO's, I suppose that clause was largely ignored."

"Your grasp of the charter and its history is enlightening," Alynna commented with a smile.

"Every President, whatever their origin would not be worthy to hold the position of President of the United Federation of Planets, if they did not understand that charter," he admonished her.

"My apologies, Mister President," her smile still in evident. He made a soft noise of begrudging acceptance of her apology and amusement.

"I think one of the first things to be done is to review that part of Article 14, Section 31. What I don't understand is how it's been allowed to function this long!"

"Human nature, Mister President," she grinned at his puzzlement. "Sometimes we tend to either conveniently forget or generally ignore certain things, especially to do with laws and directives that took so long to be agreed to, in the first place that we don't look forward to having to go through the whole rigmarole of removing or replacing it."

"Well this time it can't be ignored." The seriousness of his tone was not lost on his human female companion, who just quietly nodded her agreement.

=/\=

Astrometric Lab - Voyager

Janeway watched her console as the computer carried out her order, feeling drained by all that had happened since she and her crew had returned to the Starfleet fold. Elliott stood beside her noting her weary body language.

"You need to rest, Admiral," his voice softly informed her. When she didn't acknowledge him, he frowned puzzled. "Admiral?" he questioned wondering if she'd heard him.

"Quiet!" she said through a clenched jaw and pointed out the blip on the holographic screen making what appeared to be a suicide run at HQ.

"Can we calculate where exactly they'll end up?" he whispered.

Janeway check the console readouts and transferred them to the screen. "To the left and below the beacon coordinates," she informed softly. "From the steep angle, of their trajectory I'd summarise they're trying for two targets with one stone."

"Can we target them with a torpedo?" Elliott asked worriedly.

"No, as they're still in subspace." Janeway watched a moment and then typed out a single word. 'SEVEN' She could only hope that the recipient would understand and act. "Do me proud," she said softly. The pair watched as the alien vessel streamed into Earth's atmosphere, by passing all the security measures that should protect the planet from such a kamikaze type attacks. But as Janeway had summarised because the ship was travelling through subspace, the planetary defences were rendered insubstantial virtually non-existent. What the fall-out or aftermath would be was anyone's guess

=/\=