Disclaimer: see chapter one.
Shuttle Crash
Slowly at first the male's body stopped shaking at the combined efforts of Deanna and Torres, with the greater assistance coming from little Miral, as she fed from her bottle; her dark blue eyes regarded him with innocent wonder and trust. She didn't even make a fuss when it was empty, just passed wind over his shoulder. Tom made a face as his daughter tended to throw up her second feed over him. B'Elanna didn't need to be an empath to realise the effect that the pair were having on each other. For a moment she felt jealous until he smiled at her as he cradled her first child, his little finger once again tucked into the small child's mouth sucking contentedly, eyes closing of their own accord. The deep sense of peace that Deanna Troi felt from this man was a little overwhelming, so much so that she had to move gently away from him in order to find her balance. She silently indicated that he - Tom Paris - take her place. At first the young man hesitated, but her warm silent smile encouraged him to sit down, beside his former commander. What he felt from this big Amerindian and what Troi's smile confirmed, was something of a surprise to the former pilot; thus he relaxed and leaned in, his arm around the male's broad back, sharing his daughter with him and his wife. The three smiled shyly at each other and then breathed relieved as the child snored softly.
The quiet peace was intruded upon by an urgent knock at the study door. Julia Paris as formal hostess remembered her manners and opened it, revealing the figure of Janeway causing Chakotay to tense up a little for a moment. She glanced his way, but said nothing, looking instead at her former mentor Owen Paris, and looking for all the world lost and unsure.
"Katie?" he questioned, concerned by her silence, as it wasn't like her.
"Katie. What is it?" Julia asked calmly, hoping to get the young woman's attention. In the background they could hear the FNN broadcast droning away; something in the tone of the news report caused Janeway to flinch, her face closed. Owen was about to ask his son something; when his communications console clattered to life, distracting him.
"Paris," he acknowledged the caller.
=/\= I suggest you watch the current news broadcast, Owen =/\= informed Hayes' voice coldly. The white haired male tuned his computer console to FNN's broadcast, whilst leaving the comm.-system open. The desk computer screen revealed the visual horror of a column of thick black smoke rising from a nearby landing field. They didn't need the sound for it was conveyed in the words scrolling across the bottom of the news item that caught their undivided attention.
"Six people's lives lost. Five Starfleet personnel and one civilian reporter from FNN. Foul play suspected. Investigation is underway. No survivors."
The stunned silence in the study was matched by the silence from the main reception area of the house, where the Voyager crew were gathered. Janeway made a soft sob sound that had both Julia and Deanna reaching out to the woman to comfort her. She'd made the strangled noise on seeing both Elliott and Robin Hood's names listed among the dead.
"Jeremiah. How and more importantly why?" Owen asked, aghast that such young lives could be lost in an appalling manner, for just doing their duty, seating himself carefully into his chair, trying to take it all in.
"At this moment in time we can only speculate, Owen," Hayes sighed. "Alynna is making this a top priority investigation," he paused a moment. "She was mad enough over what happened to Cmdr. Chakotay today, but this…." his voice trailed. =/\= I'll be in touch. Hayes out =/\=
No-one said anything. The silence was deafening and yet it was charged with sorrow and disbelief.
"Robin was so looking forward to today's Prixin," noted Harry Kim sadly.
"We'll have to cancel."
"NO!"
"Kathryn?" asked Chakotay softly, speaking for the first time, since arriving back at the Paris household.
"We go ahead. Honour their lives and their duty," she said defiantly, making many smile at her determination.
"After all we are recalling our journey and those we lost out there in the Delta Quadrant," Tom said, his tone matching hers. Murmurs of agreement came from those in the rest of the house.
The main door chime sounding gave pause for thought. At the newly opened door stood S. Copper along with his wife Melissa, their children and cameraman Zach.
"We're here to…" Copper appeared choked.
"Come in," invited Ayala calmly, opening the door wider, so the group could troop quietly in. It was Zach the veteran news/cameraman who quietly explained they'd come in Robin's stead to record and broadcast their Prixin event.
=/\=
The mood at this gathering of Prixin was more sombre and quiet as they reflected on the events leading up to that day. Miral was strapped in a carrier on her mother's front, so that B'Elanna had her hands free for other things, like entwining her fingers in her husband's as they strolled side by side. Chakotay stayed close to them, with Troi and Riker as a couple following in their wake; primarily to keep an eye on the tattooed male, after his ordeal that morning. The two children - the young boy and girl that he'd rescued had joined him from Starfleet Medical, as they wouldn't settle with anyone else but Chakotay, walked one either side of him. Most of the rest of the children were in attendance also, as they had yet to find any family, picked up the general mood of the adults, so stayed close together, rather than run around as children of all ages were of the notion to do. Copper's two boys were among them, whilst their mother stayed close to their father.
Zach and Copper used their audio/visual devices to transmit what was taking place back to HQ FNN Broadcasting studios. The latter of the pair was as subdued as the people around him, still shaken by the news of his young colleague's death. He was grateful that Gaffer had sent another team to cover the crash site, as he didn't think he could have handled it well; wandering among these people as they talked about their time in the Delta Quadrant and the crew-mates they'd lost along the way on the journey back to Federation space.
"I'm beginning to wonder if getting back to Earth and the Federation was worth the effort," noted one voice.
"In retrospect I agree, especially with what has been happening over the last few months," said the voice's companion.
"The Captain promised to get us home," said another calmly.
"True and she has kept it. But I wonder where home is?"
Melissa squeezed her husband's hand, finding herself empathising with these people, realising as the Voyagers did, 'home' was often not a place but the people they shared a space with, even their shared experiences that bound them together, that made a place 'home'.
"Home is where you make it," said a soft voice quietly, confirming Melissa's silent thoughts on the matter, whilst walking amidst all the vocal murmurings.
"Yeah and our home was Voyager not here," the tone sour.
Zach and Copper shared a silent glance as they wandered around; his wife's hand squeezed his again in gentle understanding.
If the senior staff heard the murmurings of the crew, they gave little outward sign of how it might be affecting them, to hear these things. Janeway walked around with Picard as her escort and was grateful for his steadfast presence, especially in view of the current mood of her crew and the events of that morning.
"I still cannot believe that anyone in Starfleet would do such a thing," her tone disbelieving, having received a primary report into the shuttle crash and who was on board that fatal flight. She knew that the fire would have destroyed any evidence as to the real cause and why those persons listed were on that flight and even where it had been heading, as no flight plan had been filed.
"People do many things we don't always have answers for, Kathryn," he said, calmly.
"Do you know something I don't?" she asked quietly, a little miffed that she wasn't in the know. Having spent seven years as practically her own boss, she felt she was floundering at times, being back in the full chain of command, with someone above her to call all the shots.
The man beside her smiled, but said nothing to confirm or deny her question, he just steered her in the general direction of the rest of her main former senior staff.
"The day is young, yet," he said, noting two persons he'd charged with a delicate task, had joined the party and were standing under the canopy where the eatables were set-up, along with the rest of Voyager's senior staff and follow-on entourage. "Perhaps we'll learn something before the day ends," he added hopefully.
=/\=
