To Stay Where You Are (Part Three)
A sillier Fanfic written by TaTTooGaL™
Commandant Chakotay stood in the middle of the vast cavern, staring at the rows and rows of dilithium in wonder. Nearly fifty tons of top-grade material was stocked here, easily worth their weight in gold-pressed latinum, possibly twice more on the black market. With that much money, the rebellion would be rich beyond belief- it would be enough to supply them with a proper fleet of small warcraft. Plus all those they'd salvaged themselves…. it would certainly tilt the balance of the war a little further. He suddenly saw the potential in these derelict asteroid fields. If every asteroid out here contained treasure troves like this….
Still, he was worried. The careful packing and arrangement of the dilithium crystals indicated that they belonged to someone, and if they tried to hide it so hard, it surely meant that the dilithium meant a lot to them.
Kim gestured to his tricorder. "The readings seem to indicate that the relative age of these boxes are about a thousand five hundred years old, which would be consistent with the neutrino leakage," he said. "The cloaking devices haven't been service for over a thousand years, and instead of hiding the dilithium they're amplifying their resonance frequency." He gazed up into the inky blackness of the cavern's ceiling. "Whoever or whatever put these things here are long gone."
"Leaving it free for us to take," commented Jenny Delaney from behind.
"Only from our frame of time," said Chakotay. "For races who live for hundreds of years, the next generation is not even middle-aged."
Kim grunted. "Let's not be too pessimistic, Commander." And he carried on with his scans.
Easy for you to say, thought Chakotay bitterly. He walked down the rows of neat dilithium crystals , mentally counting them and pricing them. If only there was some way to make off with them….
"It's really tempting to make off with them, isn't it?" asked a voice from his side.
Chakotay jumped a foot in the air. He nearly yelled, but she was faster, grabbing him and stifling his mouth. Chakotay could feel his heartbeat accelerate to an unbearable pace. "Hush," she whispered.
Chakotay glared at her as she released him. "What are you doing here? You're jeopardizing the mission!" he hissed angrily. "I already submitted my first report this morning."
"And so did the doctor," said the Intendant. She gestured to the piles of dilithium. "But neither of you mentioned this."
"Maybe that's because we just found it,' snapped Chakotay.
"Well, it's too bad that they found all this first," intoned Tuvok, inserting himself between Janeway and Chakotay. "And it would be wrong to take it from them."
"Very wrong," drawled Janeway, and the both of them laughed maliciously. "But hell of a fun."
"But we wouldn't do it, would we," said Tuvok in the same flat poker voice.
"No, of course not," replied the Intendant, hooking her arm with Tuvok's. "We're too considerate."
"You can't do this!" spluttered Chakotay angrily. "They need the dilithium much more than you do! You can't plan to take it all away because you think it's fun!"
Janeway shrugged. "Why do they need it? After all, when we take over their ship, we'll be stocking it with this dilithium anyway. Consider it… a first installment of what is to come." She giggled. "We might as well give them a preliminary scare, to prepare them for what's coming after." She favored Chakotay with a low-lidded glare. "Unless… you aren't sympathizing with them, are you?"
Chakotay shook his head. "It's just that…won't they suspect anything if fifty tons of dilithium gets stolen right under their noses?"
"That's your problem, not mine, Commandant," she told him. From across the vast chamber, Chakotay heard Harry Kim calling for him. She smiled viciously. "You could always warn them… if you dare."
Chakotay merely glared at her and stalked off in Kim's direction.
The young ensign was beaming. "We got the green light from the captain. These modules are to be beamed to Cargo Bay One."
"Then do it, now," ordered Chakotay. "As fast as you can." Let's see how she's going to get all these past their shields, he thought smugly.
Kim nodded. "I've already gotten the signals locked on." He spoke to his communicator. "Kim to Voyager. Energize."
A shimmering blue light filled the chamber as the dilithium dematerialized from within it.
Chakotay smiled. Can't beat me this time, Kathryn. He turned back to face Kim, only to find him staring pale-faced at his tricorder.
"I don't know about this," he said, "but according to this thing, that whole shipment didn't get to the Voyager at all. It just vanished."
Chakotay stormed into the conference room feeling unreasonably angry. The incorrigible vixen, he thought. I want to strangle her. How could she?
All his angry thoughts subsided, however, when he saw her standing there, in front of the long gray table, talking to Seven in worried tones. She turned at the sound of the door opening. "Commander!" She frowned. "I assume you were there when all the dilithium… disappeared? What precisely happened?"
A pang of guilt knifed through Chakotay. Here he'd have to go, lying again. "I'm not very sure," he said, "but I have the feeling someone else took it."
"The other source of the energy spikes," said Seven with certainty.
"Let's not jump to conclusions, Seven," said the captain. "Could it be some self- defense mechanism? To prevent people from stealing the dilithium?"
"The dilithium was definitely transported out," said Chakotay. "I saw it myself. What do our transporter logs record?"
"The transporters lost their lock on the targets five nanoseconds before beaming was to commence," replied Seven. "Could it possibly have been transported to a another site within the asteroid?"
At that moment, the rest of the senior crew came filing into the room and settled into their accustomed seats. Chakotay took the last one left, to the right of the captain.
She stood and took the floor, describing what had happened to their dilithium in detail. The more Chakotay listened, the angrier he got at the Intendant. This dilithium meant a lot to these people, he thought. They'd been searching for it for a long time, only to have it snatched away five nanoseconds before they'd have gotten it. So close, yet so far. Sometimes Chakotay felt that his own freedom was in this situation.
"It is possible that the other source of neutrinos could be a similar storage facility equipped with its own tractor beam." It was Tuvok speaking. "When it detected that the dilithium was about to be taken, it automatically transported the goods over."
"Unlikely, though," interjected Seven. "The modular signals of the two isolated sources appear to be different, indicating that different cloaking shields are employed."
"Then what do you suggest it could be?" asked Neelix.
"I have gone through a thorough analysis of the emission pattern," said Seven, and have come to a conclusion that is a starship of sorts."
Chakotay's heart fluttered. Whoever this Seven was in this universe, she was pretty sharp- much quicker than Annika, anyway. He wondered what extra enhancements she possessed in this particular dimension. Certainly more brains than boobs, at any rate- and she had plenty of both, he reflected.
"So maybe it's a backup ship belonging to these people, so that they can fly the dilithium off to safer places when it gets threatened," suggested Paris.
"Or a pirate ship sponging off our rightful bounty," remarked Torres darkly.
So close to the answer. If only they knew. Chakotay had to fight the impulse to stand up and tell them the whole nine parsecs of the story. Not yet, the mission isn't over… we need time to prepare.
Janeway frowned slightly –Chakotay couldn't help noticing that she looked extraordinarily alluring when she did that- and placed her hands on her hips. "I don't care if this starship is on a treasure hunt involving collecting eighty tons of dilithium. It's hiding itself, disrupting our electrical systems and collaring our things. I want it found and I want to talk to its commanding officer. If there is a commanding officer."
I have a feeling that is going to be an extremely interesting meeting, thought Chakotay with great irony. But it would be inevitable, undesirable as it was, He suppressed a sigh as Janeway meted out orders and dismissed the crew.
Chakotay was one of the last to leave. As he stepped out of the door, Janeway called out. "Don't forget," she reminded him. "Dinner at 0700 hours, my quarters."
Chakotay nodded. Until then, he had lots of things to do.
Chakotay was napping on the cold bone bench when he was alerted by a sharp rap on the door. "Chakotay?"
He recognized the voice. "Ensign Kim?" he asked, heading towards the door.
"That's me, Harry Kim," came the affirmation. "Otherwise known as 'Not-by-the-hairs-on-my-chinny-chin-chin'-Kim," he added.
Chakotay had to laugh at that one. "Interesting. Where's Annika? And are the six other guards still there?"
"Relax. She's probably off somewhere flirting with men," he told Chakotay. "And all of us here are on your side."
"On my side?" asked Chakotay, confused.
"Yeah. On the rebels' side. Janeway wants to take over your ship, and we want to take over hers. Naturally we should work together."
Chakotay took this in stride. "I've been recalling a lot of what I remember about Kirk's first encounter with the mirror universe," he told Kim. "I can understand why you'd want to be a rebel. It's all for the human cause, isn't it?"
"Not all, though," Kim replied morosely. "We still have people like the Intendant. Did you know she stole half of the dilithium supplies you shipmates found this afternoon? The stinkin' witch."
"She did what?"
"Stole the dilithium. She beamed them out from right under the Commandant's - that'll be you- nose. Or at least, that's what The Doctor says. He's working in tandem with the Voyager's doctor right now. We're slowly plotting the takeover."
"You doctor is holographic too?"
"You can bet on it. The Empire's too miserly to spend any money in training real doctors for something as insignificant as human health, so all we got was a misanthropic program. But at least programs can be reprogrammed. B'Elanna's a wonder."
"So I take it that my counterpart is also on our side?"
"You got that right. He led us here, you know, after developing all these plans on the base at Terok Nor. It's brilliant, I tell you. Up till now, the Intendant has never suspected that half her crew is preparing for a mutiny."
"She must be really dense."
"Nah. We're just really good." Chortles from outside. "But just she wait. I'll make her pay for all the things she's done to us- and our colleagues."
"Listen- is it really true that she's killing prisoners to force me to talk?" A pang of worry crept into Chakotay's heart.
There was silence for a moment. "I guess, if she says so. The Intendant doesn't make empty threats." More hesitant silence. Then, finally: "Listen: Don't get too upset about that. I know what she regularly does to prisoners, and my opinion is that they're better off dead. Just wait a few days, bide your time, and help us distract the Intendant and the Secant."
"The Secant? Is he some kind of mathematician? Who's he?"
Harry sighed. "Tuvok."
"Why him? And how?"
"Keep him jealous. He's very protective of the Intendant. Same goes for Annika. The three of them, I don't know what they do together at night." He sighed wistfully. "The things I'd do to get a night alone with Annika…"
Chakotay laughed. Some things never changed in any universe or the other. "I'll try my best," he said. "But I've got plans of my own. I hope they'll all fit in."
"I think they should; after all you're the same person -oh crepes, here comes the Intendant. Never mind, I'll try to talk later. Nice meeting you, at any rate." Chakotay could hear the movement of the phaser rifles. "At attention, people…"
"Hello, Harry. How's it going?" Chakotay sensed a note of triumph in her voice.
"Fine, ma'am. The prisoner's awfully quiet, though." A general murmur of assent.
"Well, that means I'll just have to get him to talk, won't I?" Chakotay could almost hear the feral grin in her voice. "Well done, the seven of you. Dismissed."
The door swished open and admitted the Intendant. Chakotay curled up on the bench, facing the viewport and refusing to look at her. However, he could feel her powerful gaze sweep the room. "You haven't eaten," she finally said disdainfully.
Chakotay thought of the synthesized rations growing cold on the desk. "I'm not hungry," he lied.
"You must eat." There was no questioning the order in the statement.
Chakotay turned to face her. "Or what? You'll kill me? Like you killed all your other prisoners?"
"Not all; I have plenty left." She smiled wickedly and settled on the bench next to Chakotay, much closer than he'd liked. "They didn't have to die, you know," she told him. "Ah, if only you'd cooperated…"
"That's not going to work on me," Chakotay told her tersely. "I'm used to making sacrifices."
"I can tell," she said, smiling slowly. She lifted her hand and ran her fingertips gently along the line of his chin. Chakotay did not make a move. "Reports keep coming in from the operatives on your starship. Such lonely lives you lead," she said, with great sympathy –Chakotay wasn't convinced that it was entirely false- in her voice. "So restricted. And I thought that people complained that the Klingons have a militaristic society!" She laughed ironically. "And here you are, living your lives out in a straightjacket, even thousands of light years away from home." She leaned forward to leer at him. "Human freedom, indeed."
Chakotay glanced at her witheringly. "And I suppose you consider your rule here very liberal."
"Liberal, yes, in a sense." She shifted closer to him. "But discipline must be kept in other areas."
"Why are you doing this?" asked Chakotay. "Turning against your own kind. Working with the enemy."
Her steel-blue eyes flashed. "They're the enemy only because people like you think it so," she said angrily, and Chakotay realized that this wasn't the first time she was having this argument with him-from a certain point of view. She stood up and paced angrily around the room."If we were to work with them, they wouldn't be the enemy. Can't you see? The more we cooperate the more power, the more authority over the way we run things we will have. So much more so than if we just resist them. You think you're doing humankind a favor, but you're not. The Empire and its allies have so much more power than we do. They'll squash us, Chakotay, wipe us out completely. Is that what you want?"
Chakotay stared back equally fiercely. "And you think working with them will help? I read my history books, Intendant, and from what I know of Kirk's encounter, these people are barbarians. They see no logic. Working with them will never help. They'll just take advantage of our subservience and turn us into their slaves." He jumped out of his seat and strode towards her. "You call me blind, but you don't see what is happening around you. You're so consumed in your cause that you don't see how much damage they are doing- to your crew's morale, to yourself! Look at you! No self-respecting person would ever stoop to so low a method to take over someone else's ship. What have they done to your dignity, Kathryn? They've taken so much from you. Are they ever going to give it back?"
They were standing face to face now. In the maelstrom of anger in her eyes, he saw something else: a flash of uncertainty, a bright spark of unreasonable angst. Then nothing. Her face went slack, devoid of emotion. "Eat your dinner," she said softly. Then she strode away to the bathroom.
Chakotay stood alone in the middle of the dark room, watching her go, feeling the pounding of his blood in his ears. His plan was working. He'd just glimpsed part of the painful emotional torrent that she kept so well hidden within her, and he knew that not all hope was lost. That was her weak point, and if he could exploit it further, he just might be able to turn her back from her misguided path. Just.
He settled back slowly on the bench, wondering what kind of hell the Alliance had put this tough bitter woman through. But he knew for sure that somehow, they'd make them pay. It just depended on how much effort he'd put into changing her mind in the next few days.
Chakotay stood in front of the mirror- the one he'd moved prior to capturing his counterpart – and took a deep steadying breath. Yet it did nothing to calm the rapid thumping in his heart or the liquid fluttery feeling in his stomach. Relax, he told himself. It's only dinner.
But he had a strange premonition he knew what was going to happen anyway.
He stared into the mirror and saw the reflection of a haunted man. A man haunted by years of hardship and emotional exhaustion and still being haunted, even here. Should he tell her the truth? After all, she deserved to know what had happened to her dilithium. Yet how was he going to keep her from confronting the Intendant? If she knew to soon, then she'd be ready for the rebellion.
Or did it matter anymore? The Warrior, powerful warship as she was, was barely half as large as the Voyager, and, considering that she'd been in several major skirmishes over the past few weeks without docking back at base, probably not in as good shape. If Janeway knew that an attack from the Intendant was forthcoming, she'd probably be able to thwart it, turn the tables even. In that case… no. Safer to stay with the mission plan first. He'd apologize later.
He stepped out of his quarters-he had a phenomenal memory and by now had memorized most of the ship's schematics- and headed for the captain's, hoping that his lack of regulation uniform wouldn't draw much attention. Thankfully, by the time he'd reached her quarters, he'd only caught a glimpse of two vaguely familiar faces.
"Come," she said. The door swished open and Chakotay found himself staring at an apparition from a dream.
She was dressed in a long shimmering gown, dark silver with black highlights, leaving nothing of her figure to his imagination. The front of the gown had a high slit, and its V-neck was wide open, enough to reveal lots of flesh- and more. It looked stunning on her, and Chakotay stared, mesmerized. She noticed his intense gaze and smiled. "I found the specs in one of our WW2 holoprograms," she told him. "But it cost me nearly twenty replicator rations." She rolled her eyes. "Plus dinner tonight, that means I'll either have to starve for the rest of the week, or eat at Neelix's." Her mouth twisted wryly at the thought. "I think starving is a better idea."
Chakotay laughed, feeling the tense ball in his stomach seep away. He took a seat on the sofa behind the table she'd pulled to a corner of the room and admired her back as she went to fetch the food from the replicator. She looked just as good as from the front.
She returned with two trays of food and a brightly lit, intricately carved blue and white candle. She placed the candle in the center of the table and served Chakotay the soup. "First course- lobster bisque with powdered clams."
Chakotay took a bite from it and smiled. "I know this sounds rather clichéd, but I think you're the best cook I've ever met."
"Yes, I can push replicator buttons better than anyone you know," she deadpanned, settling down beside him. Chakotay laughed.
Throughout the course of the dinner, she mindfully steered their conversation away from anything to do with work, but Chakotay wasn't paying very much attention. He was too busy admiring and drinking in every aspect of her. It had been too long since they'd been like this.
After dessert she brought out a bottle of gold liquid sparkling like sunlight in June, that Chakotay hadn't seen since he was in France. He stared in amazement at the bottle and its contents.
"It's champagne," she told him. "Neelix somehow managed to buy this from some obscure merchant- for how much, he didn't say. He gave it to me." She looked fondly at the bottle. "It's come such a long way from home…" She poured some of the contents into the two glass cups on the table. "A bit of a waste, I must admit, but it suits the atmosphere." She settled back down beside him, much closer than before.
He picked the cup up and took a sip of the sweet liquid. She followed suit. "And what precisely are we celebrating?" he asked her.
"We found the dilithium, for one thing," she said. At this, Chakotay suddenly remembered the Intendant, and his high spirits fell like a plunging angel.
She must have noticed his sudden inflation in demeanor, as the instantly switched the topic. "There's so much else to celebrate- we've come so far and we've made it… celebration of friendships…" She turned to face him, taking more sips. "We might be all alone in this quadrant, but at least we got the finest damned crew in this sector of the universe."
He smiled and drank more of the champagne.
Janeway frowned and put down her cup. "What's wrong? You're unusually quiet."
He gazed intently at her. 'Nothing… it's just that I was thinking… how beautiful you are."
She grinned wryly. "Now that's a cliché."
He said nothing for a while, letting a strange electric tension form between them. Then, with one swift gesture, he broke it, leaning forward to kiss her lips.
To her credit, didn't act surprised at all. In fact, she kissed him back. Wholly and deeply.
After a few protracted moments, she whispered into his ear, "Our relationship is strictly professional, remember?"
"Hmmm. I haven't forgotten." Chakotay buried his face deeply between her neck and her hair. "I consider this a strictly professional job."
She laughed, allowing him to move closer to the nape of her neck. "You're evil."
"I know." Working his way down her neck.
She got up, pulling him across the room by his waist. He made no move to resist, searching for the clasp in her dress somewhere at the back, still exploring places he'd never been to in such a long time. It was a sweet sensation, almost like déjà vu. Happy memories of childhood mixed together with the fiery reds and cool blue shades of passion, everything merging and swimming together like two streams running into an ocean, losing themselves in the azure torrent. Groping hands, cupped to tap the sweetness and depth of their feeling, savoring every moment as if it would last forever. Two souls, rising into the night sky, dancing and communing amongst the brilliant glow of the aurora borealis.
"Computer, lights out," she managed to say before they plunged back into a world of infinite cerulean blue.
The Intendant was curled up on her bed, softly asleep and looking just like her mirror counterpart for all Chakotay could tell. She'd not spoken to him since she'd entered, and he'd just spent the last three hours convincing himself that this step was totally necessary in his plan. He chewed on the last of the cold rations bar thoughtfully and put the wrapper aside. Taking a deep breath, he slid over to where the Intendant lay.
As he stood by her bedside, he became suddenly unsure. What if Tuvok or Annika were somehow watching him through some wired surveillance device somewhere in the room?
No matter. It might even be to his advantage.
Chakotay slipped silently between the covers and nestled up beside her. Her eyes flicked open instantly. Had she been silently observing him all this while, or was she a really light sleeper? Chakotay guessed it was a combination of both. Living in a world where just anybody might murder you had to be really stressful.
She gazed at him with cool azure eyes. "What are you doing here?"
"I've eaten," he told her.
For a moment, neither of them said anything. Then they didn't say anything for the next few moments either, for they were engaged in one of the most passionate kisses Chakotay had ever had in a long time. They finally broke off, gasping for air, and the flinty anger that had seemed a permanent part of her had somehow evaporated, leaving in its place a burning fire of passion, shining brightly in her eyes.
She pulled him closer to her. "It's been a long time, Chakotay…"
He responded by reaching for the band of her wispy nightgown.
She giggled furiously, like a little girl, removing his Starfleet issue jacket only to find two more layers underneath. "One thing I hate about your universe," she exhaled, "too conservative."
"Maybe we can both learn something from each other," he said softly, as they locked lips. They said nothing more, but in his mind's eye they were talking and laughing and getting to know each other with their bodies and their spirits in a world far, far away from this dark and dismal one, where the sun shone like golden honey in June and the verdant green grass was full of life and the trees were full of song…
Outside, a single brilliant star twinkled as the two ships continued their twinned dance around the asteroid.
And in the deep caverns far below, a small light was winking, and had been winking, for the past few hours. Sending and receiving information to the rightful heirs of the dilithium. The vengeful conquerors, jealous of their quarry, were bearing down upon the asteroid unbeknownst to its visitors.
Ensign Kesin, on vigilant duty guarding the dilithium, did not notice the small Borg transmitting module as he walked past it on one of his numerous patrol rounds.
A sillier Fanfic written by TaTTooGaL™
Commandant Chakotay stood in the middle of the vast cavern, staring at the rows and rows of dilithium in wonder. Nearly fifty tons of top-grade material was stocked here, easily worth their weight in gold-pressed latinum, possibly twice more on the black market. With that much money, the rebellion would be rich beyond belief- it would be enough to supply them with a proper fleet of small warcraft. Plus all those they'd salvaged themselves…. it would certainly tilt the balance of the war a little further. He suddenly saw the potential in these derelict asteroid fields. If every asteroid out here contained treasure troves like this….
Still, he was worried. The careful packing and arrangement of the dilithium crystals indicated that they belonged to someone, and if they tried to hide it so hard, it surely meant that the dilithium meant a lot to them.
Kim gestured to his tricorder. "The readings seem to indicate that the relative age of these boxes are about a thousand five hundred years old, which would be consistent with the neutrino leakage," he said. "The cloaking devices haven't been service for over a thousand years, and instead of hiding the dilithium they're amplifying their resonance frequency." He gazed up into the inky blackness of the cavern's ceiling. "Whoever or whatever put these things here are long gone."
"Leaving it free for us to take," commented Jenny Delaney from behind.
"Only from our frame of time," said Chakotay. "For races who live for hundreds of years, the next generation is not even middle-aged."
Kim grunted. "Let's not be too pessimistic, Commander." And he carried on with his scans.
Easy for you to say, thought Chakotay bitterly. He walked down the rows of neat dilithium crystals , mentally counting them and pricing them. If only there was some way to make off with them….
"It's really tempting to make off with them, isn't it?" asked a voice from his side.
Chakotay jumped a foot in the air. He nearly yelled, but she was faster, grabbing him and stifling his mouth. Chakotay could feel his heartbeat accelerate to an unbearable pace. "Hush," she whispered.
Chakotay glared at her as she released him. "What are you doing here? You're jeopardizing the mission!" he hissed angrily. "I already submitted my first report this morning."
"And so did the doctor," said the Intendant. She gestured to the piles of dilithium. "But neither of you mentioned this."
"Maybe that's because we just found it,' snapped Chakotay.
"Well, it's too bad that they found all this first," intoned Tuvok, inserting himself between Janeway and Chakotay. "And it would be wrong to take it from them."
"Very wrong," drawled Janeway, and the both of them laughed maliciously. "But hell of a fun."
"But we wouldn't do it, would we," said Tuvok in the same flat poker voice.
"No, of course not," replied the Intendant, hooking her arm with Tuvok's. "We're too considerate."
"You can't do this!" spluttered Chakotay angrily. "They need the dilithium much more than you do! You can't plan to take it all away because you think it's fun!"
Janeway shrugged. "Why do they need it? After all, when we take over their ship, we'll be stocking it with this dilithium anyway. Consider it… a first installment of what is to come." She giggled. "We might as well give them a preliminary scare, to prepare them for what's coming after." She favored Chakotay with a low-lidded glare. "Unless… you aren't sympathizing with them, are you?"
Chakotay shook his head. "It's just that…won't they suspect anything if fifty tons of dilithium gets stolen right under their noses?"
"That's your problem, not mine, Commandant," she told him. From across the vast chamber, Chakotay heard Harry Kim calling for him. She smiled viciously. "You could always warn them… if you dare."
Chakotay merely glared at her and stalked off in Kim's direction.
The young ensign was beaming. "We got the green light from the captain. These modules are to be beamed to Cargo Bay One."
"Then do it, now," ordered Chakotay. "As fast as you can." Let's see how she's going to get all these past their shields, he thought smugly.
Kim nodded. "I've already gotten the signals locked on." He spoke to his communicator. "Kim to Voyager. Energize."
A shimmering blue light filled the chamber as the dilithium dematerialized from within it.
Chakotay smiled. Can't beat me this time, Kathryn. He turned back to face Kim, only to find him staring pale-faced at his tricorder.
"I don't know about this," he said, "but according to this thing, that whole shipment didn't get to the Voyager at all. It just vanished."
Chakotay stormed into the conference room feeling unreasonably angry. The incorrigible vixen, he thought. I want to strangle her. How could she?
All his angry thoughts subsided, however, when he saw her standing there, in front of the long gray table, talking to Seven in worried tones. She turned at the sound of the door opening. "Commander!" She frowned. "I assume you were there when all the dilithium… disappeared? What precisely happened?"
A pang of guilt knifed through Chakotay. Here he'd have to go, lying again. "I'm not very sure," he said, "but I have the feeling someone else took it."
"The other source of the energy spikes," said Seven with certainty.
"Let's not jump to conclusions, Seven," said the captain. "Could it be some self- defense mechanism? To prevent people from stealing the dilithium?"
"The dilithium was definitely transported out," said Chakotay. "I saw it myself. What do our transporter logs record?"
"The transporters lost their lock on the targets five nanoseconds before beaming was to commence," replied Seven. "Could it possibly have been transported to a another site within the asteroid?"
At that moment, the rest of the senior crew came filing into the room and settled into their accustomed seats. Chakotay took the last one left, to the right of the captain.
She stood and took the floor, describing what had happened to their dilithium in detail. The more Chakotay listened, the angrier he got at the Intendant. This dilithium meant a lot to these people, he thought. They'd been searching for it for a long time, only to have it snatched away five nanoseconds before they'd have gotten it. So close, yet so far. Sometimes Chakotay felt that his own freedom was in this situation.
"It is possible that the other source of neutrinos could be a similar storage facility equipped with its own tractor beam." It was Tuvok speaking. "When it detected that the dilithium was about to be taken, it automatically transported the goods over."
"Unlikely, though," interjected Seven. "The modular signals of the two isolated sources appear to be different, indicating that different cloaking shields are employed."
"Then what do you suggest it could be?" asked Neelix.
"I have gone through a thorough analysis of the emission pattern," said Seven, and have come to a conclusion that is a starship of sorts."
Chakotay's heart fluttered. Whoever this Seven was in this universe, she was pretty sharp- much quicker than Annika, anyway. He wondered what extra enhancements she possessed in this particular dimension. Certainly more brains than boobs, at any rate- and she had plenty of both, he reflected.
"So maybe it's a backup ship belonging to these people, so that they can fly the dilithium off to safer places when it gets threatened," suggested Paris.
"Or a pirate ship sponging off our rightful bounty," remarked Torres darkly.
So close to the answer. If only they knew. Chakotay had to fight the impulse to stand up and tell them the whole nine parsecs of the story. Not yet, the mission isn't over… we need time to prepare.
Janeway frowned slightly –Chakotay couldn't help noticing that she looked extraordinarily alluring when she did that- and placed her hands on her hips. "I don't care if this starship is on a treasure hunt involving collecting eighty tons of dilithium. It's hiding itself, disrupting our electrical systems and collaring our things. I want it found and I want to talk to its commanding officer. If there is a commanding officer."
I have a feeling that is going to be an extremely interesting meeting, thought Chakotay with great irony. But it would be inevitable, undesirable as it was, He suppressed a sigh as Janeway meted out orders and dismissed the crew.
Chakotay was one of the last to leave. As he stepped out of the door, Janeway called out. "Don't forget," she reminded him. "Dinner at 0700 hours, my quarters."
Chakotay nodded. Until then, he had lots of things to do.
Chakotay was napping on the cold bone bench when he was alerted by a sharp rap on the door. "Chakotay?"
He recognized the voice. "Ensign Kim?" he asked, heading towards the door.
"That's me, Harry Kim," came the affirmation. "Otherwise known as 'Not-by-the-hairs-on-my-chinny-chin-chin'-Kim," he added.
Chakotay had to laugh at that one. "Interesting. Where's Annika? And are the six other guards still there?"
"Relax. She's probably off somewhere flirting with men," he told Chakotay. "And all of us here are on your side."
"On my side?" asked Chakotay, confused.
"Yeah. On the rebels' side. Janeway wants to take over your ship, and we want to take over hers. Naturally we should work together."
Chakotay took this in stride. "I've been recalling a lot of what I remember about Kirk's first encounter with the mirror universe," he told Kim. "I can understand why you'd want to be a rebel. It's all for the human cause, isn't it?"
"Not all, though," Kim replied morosely. "We still have people like the Intendant. Did you know she stole half of the dilithium supplies you shipmates found this afternoon? The stinkin' witch."
"She did what?"
"Stole the dilithium. She beamed them out from right under the Commandant's - that'll be you- nose. Or at least, that's what The Doctor says. He's working in tandem with the Voyager's doctor right now. We're slowly plotting the takeover."
"You doctor is holographic too?"
"You can bet on it. The Empire's too miserly to spend any money in training real doctors for something as insignificant as human health, so all we got was a misanthropic program. But at least programs can be reprogrammed. B'Elanna's a wonder."
"So I take it that my counterpart is also on our side?"
"You got that right. He led us here, you know, after developing all these plans on the base at Terok Nor. It's brilliant, I tell you. Up till now, the Intendant has never suspected that half her crew is preparing for a mutiny."
"She must be really dense."
"Nah. We're just really good." Chortles from outside. "But just she wait. I'll make her pay for all the things she's done to us- and our colleagues."
"Listen- is it really true that she's killing prisoners to force me to talk?" A pang of worry crept into Chakotay's heart.
There was silence for a moment. "I guess, if she says so. The Intendant doesn't make empty threats." More hesitant silence. Then, finally: "Listen: Don't get too upset about that. I know what she regularly does to prisoners, and my opinion is that they're better off dead. Just wait a few days, bide your time, and help us distract the Intendant and the Secant."
"The Secant? Is he some kind of mathematician? Who's he?"
Harry sighed. "Tuvok."
"Why him? And how?"
"Keep him jealous. He's very protective of the Intendant. Same goes for Annika. The three of them, I don't know what they do together at night." He sighed wistfully. "The things I'd do to get a night alone with Annika…"
Chakotay laughed. Some things never changed in any universe or the other. "I'll try my best," he said. "But I've got plans of my own. I hope they'll all fit in."
"I think they should; after all you're the same person -oh crepes, here comes the Intendant. Never mind, I'll try to talk later. Nice meeting you, at any rate." Chakotay could hear the movement of the phaser rifles. "At attention, people…"
"Hello, Harry. How's it going?" Chakotay sensed a note of triumph in her voice.
"Fine, ma'am. The prisoner's awfully quiet, though." A general murmur of assent.
"Well, that means I'll just have to get him to talk, won't I?" Chakotay could almost hear the feral grin in her voice. "Well done, the seven of you. Dismissed."
The door swished open and admitted the Intendant. Chakotay curled up on the bench, facing the viewport and refusing to look at her. However, he could feel her powerful gaze sweep the room. "You haven't eaten," she finally said disdainfully.
Chakotay thought of the synthesized rations growing cold on the desk. "I'm not hungry," he lied.
"You must eat." There was no questioning the order in the statement.
Chakotay turned to face her. "Or what? You'll kill me? Like you killed all your other prisoners?"
"Not all; I have plenty left." She smiled wickedly and settled on the bench next to Chakotay, much closer than he'd liked. "They didn't have to die, you know," she told him. "Ah, if only you'd cooperated…"
"That's not going to work on me," Chakotay told her tersely. "I'm used to making sacrifices."
"I can tell," she said, smiling slowly. She lifted her hand and ran her fingertips gently along the line of his chin. Chakotay did not make a move. "Reports keep coming in from the operatives on your starship. Such lonely lives you lead," she said, with great sympathy –Chakotay wasn't convinced that it was entirely false- in her voice. "So restricted. And I thought that people complained that the Klingons have a militaristic society!" She laughed ironically. "And here you are, living your lives out in a straightjacket, even thousands of light years away from home." She leaned forward to leer at him. "Human freedom, indeed."
Chakotay glanced at her witheringly. "And I suppose you consider your rule here very liberal."
"Liberal, yes, in a sense." She shifted closer to him. "But discipline must be kept in other areas."
"Why are you doing this?" asked Chakotay. "Turning against your own kind. Working with the enemy."
Her steel-blue eyes flashed. "They're the enemy only because people like you think it so," she said angrily, and Chakotay realized that this wasn't the first time she was having this argument with him-from a certain point of view. She stood up and paced angrily around the room."If we were to work with them, they wouldn't be the enemy. Can't you see? The more we cooperate the more power, the more authority over the way we run things we will have. So much more so than if we just resist them. You think you're doing humankind a favor, but you're not. The Empire and its allies have so much more power than we do. They'll squash us, Chakotay, wipe us out completely. Is that what you want?"
Chakotay stared back equally fiercely. "And you think working with them will help? I read my history books, Intendant, and from what I know of Kirk's encounter, these people are barbarians. They see no logic. Working with them will never help. They'll just take advantage of our subservience and turn us into their slaves." He jumped out of his seat and strode towards her. "You call me blind, but you don't see what is happening around you. You're so consumed in your cause that you don't see how much damage they are doing- to your crew's morale, to yourself! Look at you! No self-respecting person would ever stoop to so low a method to take over someone else's ship. What have they done to your dignity, Kathryn? They've taken so much from you. Are they ever going to give it back?"
They were standing face to face now. In the maelstrom of anger in her eyes, he saw something else: a flash of uncertainty, a bright spark of unreasonable angst. Then nothing. Her face went slack, devoid of emotion. "Eat your dinner," she said softly. Then she strode away to the bathroom.
Chakotay stood alone in the middle of the dark room, watching her go, feeling the pounding of his blood in his ears. His plan was working. He'd just glimpsed part of the painful emotional torrent that she kept so well hidden within her, and he knew that not all hope was lost. That was her weak point, and if he could exploit it further, he just might be able to turn her back from her misguided path. Just.
He settled back slowly on the bench, wondering what kind of hell the Alliance had put this tough bitter woman through. But he knew for sure that somehow, they'd make them pay. It just depended on how much effort he'd put into changing her mind in the next few days.
Chakotay stood in front of the mirror- the one he'd moved prior to capturing his counterpart – and took a deep steadying breath. Yet it did nothing to calm the rapid thumping in his heart or the liquid fluttery feeling in his stomach. Relax, he told himself. It's only dinner.
But he had a strange premonition he knew what was going to happen anyway.
He stared into the mirror and saw the reflection of a haunted man. A man haunted by years of hardship and emotional exhaustion and still being haunted, even here. Should he tell her the truth? After all, she deserved to know what had happened to her dilithium. Yet how was he going to keep her from confronting the Intendant? If she knew to soon, then she'd be ready for the rebellion.
Or did it matter anymore? The Warrior, powerful warship as she was, was barely half as large as the Voyager, and, considering that she'd been in several major skirmishes over the past few weeks without docking back at base, probably not in as good shape. If Janeway knew that an attack from the Intendant was forthcoming, she'd probably be able to thwart it, turn the tables even. In that case… no. Safer to stay with the mission plan first. He'd apologize later.
He stepped out of his quarters-he had a phenomenal memory and by now had memorized most of the ship's schematics- and headed for the captain's, hoping that his lack of regulation uniform wouldn't draw much attention. Thankfully, by the time he'd reached her quarters, he'd only caught a glimpse of two vaguely familiar faces.
"Come," she said. The door swished open and Chakotay found himself staring at an apparition from a dream.
She was dressed in a long shimmering gown, dark silver with black highlights, leaving nothing of her figure to his imagination. The front of the gown had a high slit, and its V-neck was wide open, enough to reveal lots of flesh- and more. It looked stunning on her, and Chakotay stared, mesmerized. She noticed his intense gaze and smiled. "I found the specs in one of our WW2 holoprograms," she told him. "But it cost me nearly twenty replicator rations." She rolled her eyes. "Plus dinner tonight, that means I'll either have to starve for the rest of the week, or eat at Neelix's." Her mouth twisted wryly at the thought. "I think starving is a better idea."
Chakotay laughed, feeling the tense ball in his stomach seep away. He took a seat on the sofa behind the table she'd pulled to a corner of the room and admired her back as she went to fetch the food from the replicator. She looked just as good as from the front.
She returned with two trays of food and a brightly lit, intricately carved blue and white candle. She placed the candle in the center of the table and served Chakotay the soup. "First course- lobster bisque with powdered clams."
Chakotay took a bite from it and smiled. "I know this sounds rather clichéd, but I think you're the best cook I've ever met."
"Yes, I can push replicator buttons better than anyone you know," she deadpanned, settling down beside him. Chakotay laughed.
Throughout the course of the dinner, she mindfully steered their conversation away from anything to do with work, but Chakotay wasn't paying very much attention. He was too busy admiring and drinking in every aspect of her. It had been too long since they'd been like this.
After dessert she brought out a bottle of gold liquid sparkling like sunlight in June, that Chakotay hadn't seen since he was in France. He stared in amazement at the bottle and its contents.
"It's champagne," she told him. "Neelix somehow managed to buy this from some obscure merchant- for how much, he didn't say. He gave it to me." She looked fondly at the bottle. "It's come such a long way from home…" She poured some of the contents into the two glass cups on the table. "A bit of a waste, I must admit, but it suits the atmosphere." She settled back down beside him, much closer than before.
He picked the cup up and took a sip of the sweet liquid. She followed suit. "And what precisely are we celebrating?" he asked her.
"We found the dilithium, for one thing," she said. At this, Chakotay suddenly remembered the Intendant, and his high spirits fell like a plunging angel.
She must have noticed his sudden inflation in demeanor, as the instantly switched the topic. "There's so much else to celebrate- we've come so far and we've made it… celebration of friendships…" She turned to face him, taking more sips. "We might be all alone in this quadrant, but at least we got the finest damned crew in this sector of the universe."
He smiled and drank more of the champagne.
Janeway frowned and put down her cup. "What's wrong? You're unusually quiet."
He gazed intently at her. 'Nothing… it's just that I was thinking… how beautiful you are."
She grinned wryly. "Now that's a cliché."
He said nothing for a while, letting a strange electric tension form between them. Then, with one swift gesture, he broke it, leaning forward to kiss her lips.
To her credit, didn't act surprised at all. In fact, she kissed him back. Wholly and deeply.
After a few protracted moments, she whispered into his ear, "Our relationship is strictly professional, remember?"
"Hmmm. I haven't forgotten." Chakotay buried his face deeply between her neck and her hair. "I consider this a strictly professional job."
She laughed, allowing him to move closer to the nape of her neck. "You're evil."
"I know." Working his way down her neck.
She got up, pulling him across the room by his waist. He made no move to resist, searching for the clasp in her dress somewhere at the back, still exploring places he'd never been to in such a long time. It was a sweet sensation, almost like déjà vu. Happy memories of childhood mixed together with the fiery reds and cool blue shades of passion, everything merging and swimming together like two streams running into an ocean, losing themselves in the azure torrent. Groping hands, cupped to tap the sweetness and depth of their feeling, savoring every moment as if it would last forever. Two souls, rising into the night sky, dancing and communing amongst the brilliant glow of the aurora borealis.
"Computer, lights out," she managed to say before they plunged back into a world of infinite cerulean blue.
The Intendant was curled up on her bed, softly asleep and looking just like her mirror counterpart for all Chakotay could tell. She'd not spoken to him since she'd entered, and he'd just spent the last three hours convincing himself that this step was totally necessary in his plan. He chewed on the last of the cold rations bar thoughtfully and put the wrapper aside. Taking a deep breath, he slid over to where the Intendant lay.
As he stood by her bedside, he became suddenly unsure. What if Tuvok or Annika were somehow watching him through some wired surveillance device somewhere in the room?
No matter. It might even be to his advantage.
Chakotay slipped silently between the covers and nestled up beside her. Her eyes flicked open instantly. Had she been silently observing him all this while, or was she a really light sleeper? Chakotay guessed it was a combination of both. Living in a world where just anybody might murder you had to be really stressful.
She gazed at him with cool azure eyes. "What are you doing here?"
"I've eaten," he told her.
For a moment, neither of them said anything. Then they didn't say anything for the next few moments either, for they were engaged in one of the most passionate kisses Chakotay had ever had in a long time. They finally broke off, gasping for air, and the flinty anger that had seemed a permanent part of her had somehow evaporated, leaving in its place a burning fire of passion, shining brightly in her eyes.
She pulled him closer to her. "It's been a long time, Chakotay…"
He responded by reaching for the band of her wispy nightgown.
She giggled furiously, like a little girl, removing his Starfleet issue jacket only to find two more layers underneath. "One thing I hate about your universe," she exhaled, "too conservative."
"Maybe we can both learn something from each other," he said softly, as they locked lips. They said nothing more, but in his mind's eye they were talking and laughing and getting to know each other with their bodies and their spirits in a world far, far away from this dark and dismal one, where the sun shone like golden honey in June and the verdant green grass was full of life and the trees were full of song…
Outside, a single brilliant star twinkled as the two ships continued their twinned dance around the asteroid.
And in the deep caverns far below, a small light was winking, and had been winking, for the past few hours. Sending and receiving information to the rightful heirs of the dilithium. The vengeful conquerors, jealous of their quarry, were bearing down upon the asteroid unbeknownst to its visitors.
Ensign Kesin, on vigilant duty guarding the dilithium, did not notice the small Borg transmitting module as he walked past it on one of his numerous patrol rounds.