Commander Chakotay, formerly of the Starship Voyager, paced around the
cramped apartment that Starfleet had provided him. It had been two weeks
since Voyager had left on its new mission, exploring an uncharted area near
the Romulan Neutral Zone, and it had yet to truly sink in that Kathryn had
left without him. Sure they'd had an argument, in fact he was still angry
about it, but they had always tried to keep private disagreements just that
-- private. But it didn't really matter now. What was done was done and now
all he had to figure out was what to do next.
He like, all the other Maquis aboard Voyager, had been pardoned and allowed to retain his rank. In truth, he also had many metals and commendations. His problem wasn't a lack of options but deciding what to do now. He had several offers for first officer positions and Starfleet had offered him command of one or two small ships, if that was what he wanted. After much thought he had still come to no decision about his next posting, so finally he closed his eyes and just picked one. When he opened his eyes he found himself holding a PADD showing the details about the first officer position aboard the USS Excelsior.
"Well," mused Chakotay aloud, "It seems to be as good of an assignment as any."
With that he quickly opened a comm channel to the Excelsior's Captain, Thomas Danforth, who was currently on Earth.
A pleasant looking older man appeared on the viewscreen in front of him. "Commander Chakotay. What can I do for you?"
"Is your first officer position still open, sir?"
"Yes," said Danforth, obviously a little surprised. "But I understood you were still holding that position aboard Voyager."
Chakotay wished that the link was audio only so that he didn't have to try to conceal his pained expression. He was sure he was unsuccessful, but he managed to keep his voice steady at least.
"No, Captain. I no longer hold that position." He stiffly added. "In truth, Voyager isn't even in the solar system at this time."
Danforth raised an eyebrow but made no further comment. "Well, in that case Commander, welcome to the crew of the Excelsior."
"Thank you, Captain."
"The pleasure is mine, Commander. Danforth out."
* * *
The mess hall aboard Voyager was seldom quiet, especially at this time of day around the shift change. However, the mess hall noise level appeared to be on the rise as Tom Paris tried to feed Miral some type of unappetizing vegetable. B'Elanna looked on in amusement, laughing at the sight of Tom being defeated by a baby.
"What's so funny?" Tom demanded with a mock hurt expression. "Maybe you'd like to try feeding her."
"Oh no, you're not getting out of it that easy, Flyboy. It's your turn tonight."
Before Tom could reply a loud discussion a few tables down caught their attention.
"I wonder what that's about?" muttered B'Elanna to no one in particular.
She recognized two of the three people at the table. Ensign Brooks and Crewman.Doyle. Yes, that was it. They were both competent if undistinguished members of Voyager's combined crew. The third person, an ensign whose name she didn't know, appeared to be one of the new Starfleet crewmembers. Just as B'Elanna turned back to Tom to ask if he knew the name of the new ensign, she saw the group erupt into a furious argument. The people at the surrounding tables quickly backed away. B'Elanna immediately began to move to break up the argument before it turned into brawl. However before she could get there Commander Fielding appeared, as if out of thin air, and began to stop the fight. When the three had been separated and quieted, she looked at them intently for a moment and then began to speak.
"Would one of you care to tell me what happened here?"
When none of them would meet her gaze or answer her question she turned to the new Starfleet ensign.
"Ensign Blake. What happened here?"
"It was just a misunderstanding, ma'am," said Blake stiffly.
Fielding was unsatisfied and turned to Ensign Brooks. "Ensign? Would you care to elaborate?"
Brooks was not as calm as Ensign Blake. "We were eating lunch, Ma'am. I knew Ensign Blake from the Academy. We were eating with Crewman Doyle when Blake found out that Doyle was one of the former Maquis crew. Blake started insulting Doyle and I got upset because we're all one crew now, and that's what matters. The discussion got pretty heated after that."
Fielding turned back to the two men. "Would either of you care to contradict this?"
After both had told her no, she sighed and quickly dismissed them. Tom and B'Elanna exchanged uncertain glances as Fielding walked out of the mess hall.
"Well, that was interesting," said B'Elanna as she lowered herself back into her seat.
"It certainly was. Especially how Commander Fielding handled it...or didn't handle it, for that matter."
"I know what you mean," said B'Elanna as she took Miral from Tom's lap, "But it was nice to see Brooks stick up for Doyle even if she did go about it the wrong way."
"Yeah, it was. I'm sure Chakotay and Captain Janeway would have been proud, if it hadn't ended in a shouting match."
* *
Janeway to Torres.
B'Elanna looked up from the console she was working at. "Torres here, Captain."
I need your report on the engines. You told Commander Fielding that the diagnostic wasn't finished yet when the shift started.
"So far, the diagnostic shows that the engines are as good as new. It should be finished in a few minutes and I can send you a full report then."
Understood. Janeway out.
She was about to start the final steps of the diagnostic when she noticed an imbalance in the plasma relays. She was about to go take care of it herself when she saw Lieutenant Nicoletti walk by.
"Lieutenant," she called, "The plasma relays are out of alignment again and the Captain wants this diagnostic finished. Get somebody to go up and realign them."
"Yes, ma'am," responded Nicoletti.
Satisfied, B'Elanna returned to completing the diagnostic. A few minutes later, she checked the plasma relays again and frowned. Not only were they still not balanced, the problem was getting worse.
She looked around and saw Nicoletti on the other side of the warp core. "Nicoletti!" she called, moving towards her. "Why aren't the plasma relays fixed?"
Nicoletti seemed surprised. "I'm not sure, Lieutenant. I'll go see what the problem is."
"Do that," muttered B'Elanna, returning to her work.
Less than a minute later, she noticed that the problem was still getting worse, and it was bordering on dangerous. Fed up, she left her station and moved towards the lift to the second level. As soon as she reached the lift, alarms went off around Engineering as the imbalance became dangerous.
As the lift rose, she could hear raised voices. "What in the name of Kahless," B'Elanna demanded as she stepped off the lift, "Is going on up here?"
The raised voices became louder, and she was surprised to see a small group of officers near one of the consoles scuffling with each other. Lieutenant Nicoletti and Ensign Ashmore were apparently trying to break up the fight.
As B'Elanna approached, she heard Nicoletti call for Security.
"What's going on here?" demanded B'Elanna. The fighting threesome didn't pay any attention to her. Immediately she moved towards the fray intending to stop the fight. As B'Elanna reached them she saw with shock that the three were the participants in the previous evening's mess hall dispute. Ensign Blake, who was currently under attack by Ensign Brooks, saw B'Elanna moving towards the fight and shoved at Doyle attempting to get one last blow in before the fight was stopped. Doyle recovered from the shove and launched himself at Ensign Blake. B'Elanna, trying to break them up, was caught in the middle as Doyle slammed into her, sending them both to the ground.
B'Elanna lay on the ground stunned for a few seconds before she roughly shoved Doyle off her and climbed to her feet.
"Get those relays aligned!" she snapped at Nicoletti, ignoring the fight as the alarms continued blaring.
Nicoletti released Ensign Brooks, whom she had been holding back, and ran to a nearby console. She worked furiously for a few seconds. "It's not working. They're too far out of alignment."
"I'm shutting down the plasma flow," said B'Elanna.
One of the consoles across the second level blew, sending sparks flying in the direction of the warp core.
"We've got blown EPS conduits on decks fourteen, eleven, and seven," reported Nicoletti.
The alarms stopped abruptly as B'Elanna succeeded in shutting down the plasma flow.
She leaned forward on the console and let out a deep breath.
Janeway to Engineering. What's going on down there?
"Torres here, Captain. We had a problem with the plasma relays."
Is everything all right?
B'Elanna sighed and slowly turned around. The threesome that had started the fight were staring at her in shock as it sank in what their actions had caused.
"I'm...not sure."
* * *
B'Elanna stormed through the ship, frightening a few of the new crewmembers.
She had mellowed since she had come aboard Voyager and especially since the birth of Miral; however, cases of incompetence and stupidity like the one today still had the ability to make her furious. When she finally stormed off the turbolift, she found, surprisingly enough, that Tom had the bridge. Fielding and Tuvok were suspiciously absent.
As soon as she made her presence known outside the ready room the Captain called her in. To her surprise the Captain was not pacing around the room, but was instead sitting behind her desk reading over reports.
The Captain looked up from the stack of PADDs as B'Elanna approached her desk. She slowly set down the one she was reading and motioned to the chair.
B'Elanna sat down and waited for the Captain to speak.
"I just read the Doctor's report," said the Captain, picking up a PADD. "Three crewmen suffered burns from exploding conduits. Ensign Blake suffered a broken nose. Half the systems on deck fourteen are still out." She set down the PADD. "What happened?"
"I noticed an imbalance in the plasma relays and told Lieutenant Nicoletti to send someone to fix it. She told Ensign Blake and Crewman Doyle to take care of it."
The Captain raised an eyebrow slightly. "I take it they were unsuccessful."
"They never started," said B'Elanna, her annoyance beginning to show in her voice. "Ensign Brooks happened to be in Engineering as well. That's where the problem started. The same three were almost brawling in the mess hall last night."
"Why wasn't I informed of this?"
"Commander Fielding broke it up but didn't put them on report or make a note of it. Nicolleti was unaware of that and delegated the repairs to Blake and Doyle. They got into another brawl and never made the repairs."
"What caused the fight?"
"That's the ironic part. They were fighting because Blake started insulting Doyle about his former Maquis status and Brooks got upset and stepped in."
The Captain sighed and massaged her temple with her fingers. "I want a full report on my desk by 0800 tomorrow." She picked up another PADD. "Dismissed.
B'Elanna turned, still furious and started to exit the room. She was amazed that the Captain had not reacted to the fact that Fielding's handling of the situation, or lack thereof, had only added to the problem and because of it the ship could have been seriously damaged.
As she stepped through the door she muttered wistfully, "This would never have happened if Chakotay was still on board."
"Excuse me, Lieutenant. What did you say?"
B'Elanna whirled, the expression of shock that she had actually spoken that out loud was matched only by the Captain's look of outrage. It took B'Elanna only a fraction of a second to come to the conclusion that she should not tell the Captain what she had said and another fraction to determine a hopefully convincing lie.
"Oh I didn't say anything, Captain. I just cleared my throat. It's feeling a little raw. I should probably go see the doctor."
The Captain was clearly unconvinced, but unwilling to call B'Elanna a liar. "Yes, maybe you should, Lieutenant."
She turned back to the stack of PADDs and B'Elanna left the ready room.
When the Captain's shift ended she was still staring unseeing at the same PADD, an odd look on her face the only clue to her conflicted thoughts.
* * *
The Captain sighed wearily as she walked down the deserted corridors towards Sickbay. She still had three hours before the night shift ended and she went on duty; however, since she had been unable to sleep she had decided to go check on the injured personnel in Sickbay. When she entered Sickbay, she was surprised to see the Doctor scanning Seven as she sat on a biobed. Although, the Captain noted, as she stood right inside the doors, Seven could not be seriously injured -- not the way she and the Doctor were interacting, almost flirting.
As the Doctor move around the biobed and towards his office the Captain approached Seven, trying to keep her expression neutral and thoughts of Seven and Chakotay out of her head.
"How are you, Seven?" she asked warmly.
"Fine, thank you, Captain. The Doctor was merely making an adjustment to my radial implant."
"I wondered if you were injured by one of the exploding EPS conduits."
"There was no damage to Astrometrics."
Then an uncomfortable silence fell; finally the Captain stepped back from the bed, starting for the Doctor's office. She was almost there when Seven quietly called after her.
"Captain Janeway."
She turned around. "Yes, Seven?"
Seven took a deep breath collecting her thoughts and then started.
"Captain, I would like to thank you for everything you have done for me, especially for allowing me to return to Voyager. It is one place that I truly feel at home."
The Captain stood there surprised that Seven still apparently considered her a friend. She approached Seven with a warm smile and touched her arm in a friendly manner.
"I'm very happy to have you on board. I would have missed your unique perspectives very much had you not come with us."
"Thank you, Captain. I." Just as Seven was about to say more the Doctor came up, walking briskly.
"Captain," he said cheerfully. "I thought you'd like to know that I've successfully treated all three of the crew who suffered burns."
"Thank you, Doctor." She stood there for a moment longer, but seemed to reconsider and quickly turned and left Sickbay.
* * *
As the end of her shift approached the Captain glanced idly around the bridge. The shift had seemed to drag on and after seven years she could easily recognize when her crew was bored. Tom, too seemed to be feeling the mood.
"You know I don't think I have ever wished quite this hard for some anomaly. This area of space is very...well, boring."
The Captain smiled in amusement, glad that Tom had broken the tedium, and replied wryly, "Be careful what you wish for, Mr. Paris. The last time you said that we almost ran into a Borg cube."
"Sorry, ma'am."
"Now Tom," said the Captain mischievously, "That's not the right response. Lieutenant Kim what is it?"
"Sorry, Captain," he said, glowing with pride at his promotion, as he emphasized her rank.
As the Captain turned back towards Tom and caught a glimpse of Fielding's expression, a mixture of horror and amazement. She frowned momentarily, but shrugged it off as she rose from her chair.
"Commander Fielding, you have the bridge. I'll be in my ready room." She started for the ready room doors, but turned around halfway there. "Inform me if Mr. Paris gets his wish."
She heard Tom and Harry chuckle as she left the bridge, and she smiled to herself. As soon as the silence of the ready room settled on her, though, the smile faded. She stood there for a moment as for some reason she was overcome by a feeling of loss. She missed Chakotay. She missed his advice, she missed his support...she even missed him disagreeing with her.
Trying to shake the feeling off, she moved towards her desk. A fraction of a second after she sat down, the chime on the ready room door sounded.
"Come."
Commander Fielding entered. "Could I have a word with you, Captain?"
"Of course. Have a seat." When Fielding was seated, the Captain leaned back in her chair. "What can I do for you?"
"Well, ma'am.it's just how you interact with your officers. It is very unorthodox."
She smirked. "I suppose it is. Because of previous circumstances the usual command distance between captain and crew has been lessened."
"It just seems wrong, Captain."
Janeway raised an eyebrow, part amused and part annoyed. "Well I'm sorry that you don't approve Commander, but this is how I run my ship and as my first officer I expect you to respect that. Is that clear?"
"Yes Captain, but."
Tuvok to Janeway.
Tuvok's voice suddenly cut through Fielding's. Even though Tuvok's timing was usually horrible, today the Captain greatly appreciated it.
"Yes Tuvok?"
Captain, we are receiving an incoming message from Earth. It is from Captain Danforth of the Excelsior.
"Patch it through to my ready room, Tuvok." She looked back at her first officer. "Commander, I believe your shift has ended."
"Yes, Captain."
She quietly exited the ready room and the Captain turned to her console to acknowledge the incoming message.
"Captain Danforth," she said when the face appeared on her screen.
"It's a pleasure to talk to you, Captain Janeway, although I'm sure you're wondering what this is about."
She smiled and leaned back in her chair. "I have to admit that I'm curious."
"I wanted to discuss your former first officer, Commander Chakotay."
The Captain's mask remained firmly in place on her face, but when she responded she had to concentrate on keeping her voice even.
"What can I tell you, Captain? If you are asking for my opinion on the Commander I would have to say that he is a very loyal and outstanding officer."
Danforth paused before continuing. "Well, Captain, if you don't mind me asking...if he is such a good officer why didn't you keep him aboard Voyager?"
The mask remained, but it was harder to keep her voice steady this time. "As a matter of fact, I do mind you asking. However, I will say this. It had nothing to do with his performance or his capabilities."
Danforth seemed a bit startled at her refusal, but accepted it calmly. "I see."
Captain Janeway steeled herself for the question she knew she couldn't resist asking. "If you don't mind me asking, Captain, why do you want to know?"
"I'm looking for a new first officer, and Commander Chakotay has accepted my offer. I just wanted to make sure there weren't any problems I should be aware of."
Despite the feeling that she had been punched in the stomach, she managed to smile. "Not at all, Captain."
Danforth nodded, satisfied. "Thank you for your time, Captain, and I appreciate your opinion."
When he had signed off, Kathryn leaned back in her chair and sighed dismally. Her shift had not been busy enough to keep her mind off of how furious she was with Chakotay and added to her confrontation with Fielding and her talk with Danforth...her day was not going well.
She thought she had accepted the fact that Chakotay was no longer her first officer, but his accepting a position on the Excelsior had such a feel of finality to it that she was still reeling from Danforth's news.
Slowly she walked towards the door, pausing for a moment to clear her expression and then walked back on to the bridge. Quickly she called for a status report, when everything was satisfactory she turned the bridge over to the duty officer and entered the turbolift. Once inside she took a moment to decide her destination. Finally she decided to head for the mess hall. She entered, almost surprised to see it that full now that the replicators were no longer rationed.
She drifted towards the kitchen to see what Chell had fixed up today. As she peered over the selection, including some of the crew's favorites from both the Alpha and Delta quadrants, she heard the distinct voices of Tom, B'Elanna and Harry behind her. She turned to greet them, but stopped when she heard their murmured conversation.
"And Chakotay didn't say anything to you?" Tom was saying.
"Nothing," said B'Elanna. "Until Fielding stepped on the bridge I had no idea he wasn't coming." B'Elanna paused and sighed. "I just don't like her. Honestly, I think Tuvok would have been a better choice."
"He might have been trying to avoid Seven," chipped in Harry. "I heard they broke up before we left Earth."
"Where did you hear that, Harry?" asked B'Elanna.
"The Doctor."
"I wonder what happened with that," mused B'Elanna curiously.
Privately B'Elanna wondered if Chakotay had broken up with Seven to tell Captain Janeway about his feelings for her. But then if so, why was Chakotay not aboard Voyager? Still musing, she glanced up from the table and to her surprise she saw the Captain standing very near their table, holding a plate of food and glancing around the room as if looking for a place to sit. Quickly she nudged Tom in the ribs.
She cleared her throat and hoped the Captain had not overheard them. "Captain, would you care to join us?"
Trying to keep her voice from wavering, the Captain managed to smile politely. "No thank you. I think I'll just take this back to my quarters, I have a few stacks of reports to read over."
Tom decided to try again. "I'm sure we're better company than those reports, Captain."
Then her familiar grin played over her lips and she seemed to change her mind. "You seem to think very highly of your charms, Mr. Paris."
Tom got a mock hurt expression on his face as Harry and B'Elanna laughed.
"Captain, I'm wounded," he said, playing along.
"I think you'll live, Flyboy," cut in B'Elanna.
The Captain joined them. After eating in silence for a few moments, she decided to press them for some information.
"How is the crew doing? Both with Fielding and the incident in Engineering?"
The three exchanged a quick glance before he replied.
"Well, most of the crew are upset about Fielding," said Tom slowly. "Some just dislike her personally and others don't like her because she's not Chakotay."
"The general consensus among the crew is that she is competent enough," continued Harry, "But she doesn't have the people skills that Chakotay did."
"What about the incident in Engineering?" asked the Captain again.
"I think most of them are proud of the way Brooks stood up for Doyle," said B'Elanna. "They think that Blake was an idiot, and it's bringing the old crew closer together, although it is making the new additions feel a little left out."
The Captain was about to reply when Fielding's voice came over the comm.
Fielding to Janeway. Please report to the bridge.
The Captain smiled in bemusement. "On my way."
She glanced back at them as she neared the exit and said, "You were right, Tom. You were better company than those reports."
* * *
Commander Chakotay sighed as he entered the ship's lounge. He ordered a synthehol and moved to a deserted table by a nearby viewport. It was not, he reflected as he drank, that there was really anything wrong with the Excelsior. It just wasn't Voyager. He missed the familiarity of the crew and the sense of camaraderie. Captain Danforth was a good Captain but he was very regulation bound, and Chakotay had often found himself disagreeing with how the Captain handled situations.
Most of the crew were very formal with him and a few even appeared to be afraid of him. No, what he really missed was Kathryn. It had been weeks since they had talked and almost a month since they had talked without fighting. He had still been angry at her when he found out that Voyager was leaving, but he had still expected to be her first officer. He was shocked when he received no orders to report to Voyager and even more so when Kathryn sent him no explanation. He supposed that Kathryn was still upset about their last fight and not his brief relationship with Seven, because Seven, unlike him, was aboard Voyager.
He was rising to get another synthehol when Captain Danforth's voice cut into his thoughts.
Yellow alert. All senior staff, please report to the bridge.
When he got to the bridge he found the Captain staring at the screen, an image of an nameless alien paused on its surface, waiting for him.
"Commander," he began, "We have a situation. The Nausicaans want me to come down to their planet to mediate a trade settlement that is very important to their world. Since they have previously been highly xenophobic this is a phenomenal opportunity. I'll be going down in a few minutes."
A few moments later they entered the turbolift as Danforth prepared to lead the away team down to the surface. However, Chakotay did not like something about the situation. So as soon as they boarded the turbolift he began trying to dissuade the Captain.
"Captain, please don't do this. This situation feels like a set up."
"Do you have any evidence of this, Commander?"
"No Captain, just an opinion."
"I'll listen when you have some solid proof, Commander. I feel this situation is too important for me not to go personally."
"Very well, Captain. If you'll excuse me I'll go back to the bridge."
"Certainly Commander."
When he reported back to the bridge, he found that a situation had already developed. Hostile aliens, who were opposing the negotiations, had captured the away team.
Eight hours later the situation had finally been resolved, with only a few injuries on both sides. However Captain Danforth was among those injured. When the Captain had finished talking to Chakotay in Sickbay, commending Chakotay on his handling of the situation, Chakotay decided to tell the Captain of the decision he had come to during the last few hours.
"Captain...I am officially requesting a transfer."
Danforth looked up at him in surprise but said nothing.
"I have decided for many reasons, mostly personal, to leave. I don't think I'm the right first officer for this vessel and I'm sure you can find someone better."
Danforth sighed in resignation. "I was afraid of something like this was going to happen, I noticed that you didn't seem very comfortable here. "
He closed his eyes for a moment collecting himself from the pain of his injuries.
"I think I'll head back to Earth, sir, and look for another first officer position if anyone will have me."
"I wish you luck, Commander."
"Thank you, sir."
* * *
When Captain Janeway entered the bridge she immediately took in who was on duty. Lieutenant Ayala was on tactical, Ensign Lang was at Ops, an ensign whose name she had not yet learned was at the helm, and surprisingly Seven was also on the bridge.
"Captain," said Fielding as she turned to face her, "We are receiving an automated distress call from Kestrik IV, one of the Federation colonies near the Neutral Zone."
Janeway nodded curtly in acknowledgement and turned to Ops. "Ensign, inform Starfleet Command." She then addressed the Ensign at the helm. "Set a course, warp eight."
"Aye, Captain."
Once she finished that she turned back to the Ensign. "What's our eta, Ensign?"
"Four hours, Captain."
She nodded and hit her commbadge. "Senior staff, report to the briefing room."
* * *
Fifteen minutes later, the Captain surveyed her officers seated around the briefing room table and explained the situation.
"We have received a distress call from Kestrik IV, a Federation planet near the edge of the Neutral Zone. The signal was automated and we haven't been able to raise the colony again."
"How large is this colony?" asked Tom.
"Approximately five hundred inhabitants," Fielding informed him.
"They haven't responded to our hails," continued the Captain. "I want an away team ready to beam down when we reach the planet. Tuvok, I want one of your security teams standing by. Doctor, have Sickbay on alert. We may have casualties."
"Understood," he responded.
"Tom, you and Seven will accompany me and Tuvok's security team to the surface."
"Captain," interjected Fielding, "I have to object. That's against protocol."
Fielding gained the attention of the entire table before all eyes turned back to the Captain. She regarded Fielding calmly. "Yes, Commander, I'm aware of that. Thank you for the reminder."
"Captain --"
"I will be leading the away team," interrupted the Captain firmly. Fielding pursed her lips together and said nothing further, so the Captain turned her attention to Ensign Kim. "Harry, get me as much information as you can on this colony before we arrive. Is there anything else?"
When a chorus of "No, Captain's" returned to her she said quietly, "All right then. Dismissed."
Tuvok, however, hung back from the rest and when she beckoned him over he stood before her patiently.
"What is it Tuvok, old friend?"
"As your Security chief I am concerned for your well being. You have not slept in almost twenty-four standard hours and you are about to go on a possibly dangerous mission."
"What do you suggest, other than that I stay aboard Voyager?"
"I would suggest that you get some rest before we arrive at the planet."
She bristled at the suggestion momentarily then nodded. As she exited the room she turned back to Tuvok with a wry smile. "Thank you for not saying that I should stay aboard Voyager, Tuvok."
"You are most welcome Captain."
* * *
Several hours later the away team stood on the surface moving slowly through the colony, now in ruins.
"Captain," called Tom, "I think you might want to look at this. It looks as if the colonists were all evacuated in a hurry."
The Captain moved over to join him. "Do you know why?"
"I'm not sure. There's no sign of natural disaster and it looks as if they were attacked, however there are no signs of bodies. The distress beacon is totally automated."
Her face clouded over and she hit her commbadge. "Janeway to Tuvok. Have you found anything out there?"
She paused waiting for his reply and then tapped her commbadge again. "Tuvok, please respond."
Captain we are under attack by --
His voice was suddenly cut off and she immediately grabbed her phaser and with Tom right beside her, they started towards the now audible sound of distant phaser fire.
* * *
Aboard Voyager, Harry stood at his post monitoring the status of the away team. An alarm on his console went off.
"Commander, it looks like the away team--"
He was interrupted by Ayala at tactical. "Romulan Warbird decloaking directly in front of us!"
Fielding looked a bit shocked for a moment, but then her eyes narrowed and she stepped towards the viewscreen menacingly.
"Shields up. Red Alert."
* * *
Captain Janeway followed Tom as they dodged around the ruins, trying to reach the fight they could hear clearly now. They were almost within visual range when the wall of one of the buildings next to them disintegrated from a phaser blast, sending debris everywhere.
The proximity of the blast threw them to the ground. Tom got to his feet first and helped the Captain up, pulling her behind a pile of rubble.
"Are you all right, Captain?"
She nodded, momentarily stunned. She could feel blood trickling down her face from a cut on her forehead.
"Paris to Voyager. We're under attack -- get us out of here!"
Stand by, came Fielding's businesslike voice over the comm.
* * *
"Lieutenant Ayala, what's the warbird's status?"
"Their shields are up and they're powering weapons."
"Hail them," Fielding ordered to Ensign Kim over her shoulder.
"No response."
"They're firing!" yelled Ayala.
Voyager shuddered as the Romulan torpedo struck home. "Return fire," ordered Fielding. "Target their weapons array."
* * *
The pile of rocks they were hiding behind was struck by another phaser blast. Captain Janeway raised her phaser and aimed at the building across the street where she was certain their assailants were. She fired, then took cover again behind the rocks. They were fired on again, and their shelter disintegrated a little bit more.
"We can't stay here for long," Tom muttered.
"Agreed," she muttered back. She looked down the street and saw a building that looked like it would offer both protection and a good strategic position. She nudged Tom and motioned towards it. He nodded in agreement. They both stood and fired simultaneously at their attackers before moving down the street, keeping up a constant stream of phaser fire.
Just as they had nearly reached the building, their unseen attackers fired again, hitting the building just behind them as they ran. The wall exploded outwards, throwing them both to the ground.
The Captain cried out as she hit the ground hard, and it took a few seconds before her vision cleared. She pulled herself to her knees and looked for Tom. He was a few meters in front of her, just pulling himself to cover. She started to do the same, scrambling to get out of the open.
* * *
"We've disabled their weapons," reported Ayala.
"Drop shields and get the away team out of there," ordered Fielding.
"Energizing," said Harry. "I've got them. Raising shields."
"I'm detecting another warbird decloaking off the port bow!" said Ayala.
"Helm, get us out of--"
Paris to the bridge, came Tom's voice over the comm.
"What is it, Lieutenant?" asked Fielding.
The Captain didn't get beamed back aboard. All we got was her commbadge.
"The second warbird is charging weapons...and I'm reading a third one decloaking as well."
Fielding considered only for a second. "Helm, set a course away from the planet at maximum warp."
The bridge was silent for a heartbeat before Harry reacted. "What about the Captain?"
"We can't afford to lower our shields, Ensign."
"You can't just leave her down there!" insisted Harry.
"We can't afford a conflict with the Romulans either."
Her words were suddenly underscored by a shudder as the ship absorbed phaser fire.
"Take us out of here," she ordered the helm again. "Now."
* * *
Captain Janeway awoke to the sound of voices arguing nearby. Groaning as she sat up she discovered that she was only minorly injured even thought her whole body ached. She reached for her commbadge to locate her crew but felt nothing but her uniform. She quickly picked up her tricorder and began scanning for her crew. To her slowly dawning horror she could find no sign of any of the away team...but saw a more immediate problem. A group of Romulans moving in her general direction.
He like, all the other Maquis aboard Voyager, had been pardoned and allowed to retain his rank. In truth, he also had many metals and commendations. His problem wasn't a lack of options but deciding what to do now. He had several offers for first officer positions and Starfleet had offered him command of one or two small ships, if that was what he wanted. After much thought he had still come to no decision about his next posting, so finally he closed his eyes and just picked one. When he opened his eyes he found himself holding a PADD showing the details about the first officer position aboard the USS Excelsior.
"Well," mused Chakotay aloud, "It seems to be as good of an assignment as any."
With that he quickly opened a comm channel to the Excelsior's Captain, Thomas Danforth, who was currently on Earth.
A pleasant looking older man appeared on the viewscreen in front of him. "Commander Chakotay. What can I do for you?"
"Is your first officer position still open, sir?"
"Yes," said Danforth, obviously a little surprised. "But I understood you were still holding that position aboard Voyager."
Chakotay wished that the link was audio only so that he didn't have to try to conceal his pained expression. He was sure he was unsuccessful, but he managed to keep his voice steady at least.
"No, Captain. I no longer hold that position." He stiffly added. "In truth, Voyager isn't even in the solar system at this time."
Danforth raised an eyebrow but made no further comment. "Well, in that case Commander, welcome to the crew of the Excelsior."
"Thank you, Captain."
"The pleasure is mine, Commander. Danforth out."
* * *
The mess hall aboard Voyager was seldom quiet, especially at this time of day around the shift change. However, the mess hall noise level appeared to be on the rise as Tom Paris tried to feed Miral some type of unappetizing vegetable. B'Elanna looked on in amusement, laughing at the sight of Tom being defeated by a baby.
"What's so funny?" Tom demanded with a mock hurt expression. "Maybe you'd like to try feeding her."
"Oh no, you're not getting out of it that easy, Flyboy. It's your turn tonight."
Before Tom could reply a loud discussion a few tables down caught their attention.
"I wonder what that's about?" muttered B'Elanna to no one in particular.
She recognized two of the three people at the table. Ensign Brooks and Crewman.Doyle. Yes, that was it. They were both competent if undistinguished members of Voyager's combined crew. The third person, an ensign whose name she didn't know, appeared to be one of the new Starfleet crewmembers. Just as B'Elanna turned back to Tom to ask if he knew the name of the new ensign, she saw the group erupt into a furious argument. The people at the surrounding tables quickly backed away. B'Elanna immediately began to move to break up the argument before it turned into brawl. However before she could get there Commander Fielding appeared, as if out of thin air, and began to stop the fight. When the three had been separated and quieted, she looked at them intently for a moment and then began to speak.
"Would one of you care to tell me what happened here?"
When none of them would meet her gaze or answer her question she turned to the new Starfleet ensign.
"Ensign Blake. What happened here?"
"It was just a misunderstanding, ma'am," said Blake stiffly.
Fielding was unsatisfied and turned to Ensign Brooks. "Ensign? Would you care to elaborate?"
Brooks was not as calm as Ensign Blake. "We were eating lunch, Ma'am. I knew Ensign Blake from the Academy. We were eating with Crewman Doyle when Blake found out that Doyle was one of the former Maquis crew. Blake started insulting Doyle and I got upset because we're all one crew now, and that's what matters. The discussion got pretty heated after that."
Fielding turned back to the two men. "Would either of you care to contradict this?"
After both had told her no, she sighed and quickly dismissed them. Tom and B'Elanna exchanged uncertain glances as Fielding walked out of the mess hall.
"Well, that was interesting," said B'Elanna as she lowered herself back into her seat.
"It certainly was. Especially how Commander Fielding handled it...or didn't handle it, for that matter."
"I know what you mean," said B'Elanna as she took Miral from Tom's lap, "But it was nice to see Brooks stick up for Doyle even if she did go about it the wrong way."
"Yeah, it was. I'm sure Chakotay and Captain Janeway would have been proud, if it hadn't ended in a shouting match."
* *
Janeway to Torres.
B'Elanna looked up from the console she was working at. "Torres here, Captain."
I need your report on the engines. You told Commander Fielding that the diagnostic wasn't finished yet when the shift started.
"So far, the diagnostic shows that the engines are as good as new. It should be finished in a few minutes and I can send you a full report then."
Understood. Janeway out.
She was about to start the final steps of the diagnostic when she noticed an imbalance in the plasma relays. She was about to go take care of it herself when she saw Lieutenant Nicoletti walk by.
"Lieutenant," she called, "The plasma relays are out of alignment again and the Captain wants this diagnostic finished. Get somebody to go up and realign them."
"Yes, ma'am," responded Nicoletti.
Satisfied, B'Elanna returned to completing the diagnostic. A few minutes later, she checked the plasma relays again and frowned. Not only were they still not balanced, the problem was getting worse.
She looked around and saw Nicoletti on the other side of the warp core. "Nicoletti!" she called, moving towards her. "Why aren't the plasma relays fixed?"
Nicoletti seemed surprised. "I'm not sure, Lieutenant. I'll go see what the problem is."
"Do that," muttered B'Elanna, returning to her work.
Less than a minute later, she noticed that the problem was still getting worse, and it was bordering on dangerous. Fed up, she left her station and moved towards the lift to the second level. As soon as she reached the lift, alarms went off around Engineering as the imbalance became dangerous.
As the lift rose, she could hear raised voices. "What in the name of Kahless," B'Elanna demanded as she stepped off the lift, "Is going on up here?"
The raised voices became louder, and she was surprised to see a small group of officers near one of the consoles scuffling with each other. Lieutenant Nicoletti and Ensign Ashmore were apparently trying to break up the fight.
As B'Elanna approached, she heard Nicoletti call for Security.
"What's going on here?" demanded B'Elanna. The fighting threesome didn't pay any attention to her. Immediately she moved towards the fray intending to stop the fight. As B'Elanna reached them she saw with shock that the three were the participants in the previous evening's mess hall dispute. Ensign Blake, who was currently under attack by Ensign Brooks, saw B'Elanna moving towards the fight and shoved at Doyle attempting to get one last blow in before the fight was stopped. Doyle recovered from the shove and launched himself at Ensign Blake. B'Elanna, trying to break them up, was caught in the middle as Doyle slammed into her, sending them both to the ground.
B'Elanna lay on the ground stunned for a few seconds before she roughly shoved Doyle off her and climbed to her feet.
"Get those relays aligned!" she snapped at Nicoletti, ignoring the fight as the alarms continued blaring.
Nicoletti released Ensign Brooks, whom she had been holding back, and ran to a nearby console. She worked furiously for a few seconds. "It's not working. They're too far out of alignment."
"I'm shutting down the plasma flow," said B'Elanna.
One of the consoles across the second level blew, sending sparks flying in the direction of the warp core.
"We've got blown EPS conduits on decks fourteen, eleven, and seven," reported Nicoletti.
The alarms stopped abruptly as B'Elanna succeeded in shutting down the plasma flow.
She leaned forward on the console and let out a deep breath.
Janeway to Engineering. What's going on down there?
"Torres here, Captain. We had a problem with the plasma relays."
Is everything all right?
B'Elanna sighed and slowly turned around. The threesome that had started the fight were staring at her in shock as it sank in what their actions had caused.
"I'm...not sure."
* * *
B'Elanna stormed through the ship, frightening a few of the new crewmembers.
She had mellowed since she had come aboard Voyager and especially since the birth of Miral; however, cases of incompetence and stupidity like the one today still had the ability to make her furious. When she finally stormed off the turbolift, she found, surprisingly enough, that Tom had the bridge. Fielding and Tuvok were suspiciously absent.
As soon as she made her presence known outside the ready room the Captain called her in. To her surprise the Captain was not pacing around the room, but was instead sitting behind her desk reading over reports.
The Captain looked up from the stack of PADDs as B'Elanna approached her desk. She slowly set down the one she was reading and motioned to the chair.
B'Elanna sat down and waited for the Captain to speak.
"I just read the Doctor's report," said the Captain, picking up a PADD. "Three crewmen suffered burns from exploding conduits. Ensign Blake suffered a broken nose. Half the systems on deck fourteen are still out." She set down the PADD. "What happened?"
"I noticed an imbalance in the plasma relays and told Lieutenant Nicoletti to send someone to fix it. She told Ensign Blake and Crewman Doyle to take care of it."
The Captain raised an eyebrow slightly. "I take it they were unsuccessful."
"They never started," said B'Elanna, her annoyance beginning to show in her voice. "Ensign Brooks happened to be in Engineering as well. That's where the problem started. The same three were almost brawling in the mess hall last night."
"Why wasn't I informed of this?"
"Commander Fielding broke it up but didn't put them on report or make a note of it. Nicolleti was unaware of that and delegated the repairs to Blake and Doyle. They got into another brawl and never made the repairs."
"What caused the fight?"
"That's the ironic part. They were fighting because Blake started insulting Doyle about his former Maquis status and Brooks got upset and stepped in."
The Captain sighed and massaged her temple with her fingers. "I want a full report on my desk by 0800 tomorrow." She picked up another PADD. "Dismissed.
B'Elanna turned, still furious and started to exit the room. She was amazed that the Captain had not reacted to the fact that Fielding's handling of the situation, or lack thereof, had only added to the problem and because of it the ship could have been seriously damaged.
As she stepped through the door she muttered wistfully, "This would never have happened if Chakotay was still on board."
"Excuse me, Lieutenant. What did you say?"
B'Elanna whirled, the expression of shock that she had actually spoken that out loud was matched only by the Captain's look of outrage. It took B'Elanna only a fraction of a second to come to the conclusion that she should not tell the Captain what she had said and another fraction to determine a hopefully convincing lie.
"Oh I didn't say anything, Captain. I just cleared my throat. It's feeling a little raw. I should probably go see the doctor."
The Captain was clearly unconvinced, but unwilling to call B'Elanna a liar. "Yes, maybe you should, Lieutenant."
She turned back to the stack of PADDs and B'Elanna left the ready room.
When the Captain's shift ended she was still staring unseeing at the same PADD, an odd look on her face the only clue to her conflicted thoughts.
* * *
The Captain sighed wearily as she walked down the deserted corridors towards Sickbay. She still had three hours before the night shift ended and she went on duty; however, since she had been unable to sleep she had decided to go check on the injured personnel in Sickbay. When she entered Sickbay, she was surprised to see the Doctor scanning Seven as she sat on a biobed. Although, the Captain noted, as she stood right inside the doors, Seven could not be seriously injured -- not the way she and the Doctor were interacting, almost flirting.
As the Doctor move around the biobed and towards his office the Captain approached Seven, trying to keep her expression neutral and thoughts of Seven and Chakotay out of her head.
"How are you, Seven?" she asked warmly.
"Fine, thank you, Captain. The Doctor was merely making an adjustment to my radial implant."
"I wondered if you were injured by one of the exploding EPS conduits."
"There was no damage to Astrometrics."
Then an uncomfortable silence fell; finally the Captain stepped back from the bed, starting for the Doctor's office. She was almost there when Seven quietly called after her.
"Captain Janeway."
She turned around. "Yes, Seven?"
Seven took a deep breath collecting her thoughts and then started.
"Captain, I would like to thank you for everything you have done for me, especially for allowing me to return to Voyager. It is one place that I truly feel at home."
The Captain stood there surprised that Seven still apparently considered her a friend. She approached Seven with a warm smile and touched her arm in a friendly manner.
"I'm very happy to have you on board. I would have missed your unique perspectives very much had you not come with us."
"Thank you, Captain. I." Just as Seven was about to say more the Doctor came up, walking briskly.
"Captain," he said cheerfully. "I thought you'd like to know that I've successfully treated all three of the crew who suffered burns."
"Thank you, Doctor." She stood there for a moment longer, but seemed to reconsider and quickly turned and left Sickbay.
* * *
As the end of her shift approached the Captain glanced idly around the bridge. The shift had seemed to drag on and after seven years she could easily recognize when her crew was bored. Tom, too seemed to be feeling the mood.
"You know I don't think I have ever wished quite this hard for some anomaly. This area of space is very...well, boring."
The Captain smiled in amusement, glad that Tom had broken the tedium, and replied wryly, "Be careful what you wish for, Mr. Paris. The last time you said that we almost ran into a Borg cube."
"Sorry, ma'am."
"Now Tom," said the Captain mischievously, "That's not the right response. Lieutenant Kim what is it?"
"Sorry, Captain," he said, glowing with pride at his promotion, as he emphasized her rank.
As the Captain turned back towards Tom and caught a glimpse of Fielding's expression, a mixture of horror and amazement. She frowned momentarily, but shrugged it off as she rose from her chair.
"Commander Fielding, you have the bridge. I'll be in my ready room." She started for the ready room doors, but turned around halfway there. "Inform me if Mr. Paris gets his wish."
She heard Tom and Harry chuckle as she left the bridge, and she smiled to herself. As soon as the silence of the ready room settled on her, though, the smile faded. She stood there for a moment as for some reason she was overcome by a feeling of loss. She missed Chakotay. She missed his advice, she missed his support...she even missed him disagreeing with her.
Trying to shake the feeling off, she moved towards her desk. A fraction of a second after she sat down, the chime on the ready room door sounded.
"Come."
Commander Fielding entered. "Could I have a word with you, Captain?"
"Of course. Have a seat." When Fielding was seated, the Captain leaned back in her chair. "What can I do for you?"
"Well, ma'am.it's just how you interact with your officers. It is very unorthodox."
She smirked. "I suppose it is. Because of previous circumstances the usual command distance between captain and crew has been lessened."
"It just seems wrong, Captain."
Janeway raised an eyebrow, part amused and part annoyed. "Well I'm sorry that you don't approve Commander, but this is how I run my ship and as my first officer I expect you to respect that. Is that clear?"
"Yes Captain, but."
Tuvok to Janeway.
Tuvok's voice suddenly cut through Fielding's. Even though Tuvok's timing was usually horrible, today the Captain greatly appreciated it.
"Yes Tuvok?"
Captain, we are receiving an incoming message from Earth. It is from Captain Danforth of the Excelsior.
"Patch it through to my ready room, Tuvok." She looked back at her first officer. "Commander, I believe your shift has ended."
"Yes, Captain."
She quietly exited the ready room and the Captain turned to her console to acknowledge the incoming message.
"Captain Danforth," she said when the face appeared on her screen.
"It's a pleasure to talk to you, Captain Janeway, although I'm sure you're wondering what this is about."
She smiled and leaned back in her chair. "I have to admit that I'm curious."
"I wanted to discuss your former first officer, Commander Chakotay."
The Captain's mask remained firmly in place on her face, but when she responded she had to concentrate on keeping her voice even.
"What can I tell you, Captain? If you are asking for my opinion on the Commander I would have to say that he is a very loyal and outstanding officer."
Danforth paused before continuing. "Well, Captain, if you don't mind me asking...if he is such a good officer why didn't you keep him aboard Voyager?"
The mask remained, but it was harder to keep her voice steady this time. "As a matter of fact, I do mind you asking. However, I will say this. It had nothing to do with his performance or his capabilities."
Danforth seemed a bit startled at her refusal, but accepted it calmly. "I see."
Captain Janeway steeled herself for the question she knew she couldn't resist asking. "If you don't mind me asking, Captain, why do you want to know?"
"I'm looking for a new first officer, and Commander Chakotay has accepted my offer. I just wanted to make sure there weren't any problems I should be aware of."
Despite the feeling that she had been punched in the stomach, she managed to smile. "Not at all, Captain."
Danforth nodded, satisfied. "Thank you for your time, Captain, and I appreciate your opinion."
When he had signed off, Kathryn leaned back in her chair and sighed dismally. Her shift had not been busy enough to keep her mind off of how furious she was with Chakotay and added to her confrontation with Fielding and her talk with Danforth...her day was not going well.
She thought she had accepted the fact that Chakotay was no longer her first officer, but his accepting a position on the Excelsior had such a feel of finality to it that she was still reeling from Danforth's news.
Slowly she walked towards the door, pausing for a moment to clear her expression and then walked back on to the bridge. Quickly she called for a status report, when everything was satisfactory she turned the bridge over to the duty officer and entered the turbolift. Once inside she took a moment to decide her destination. Finally she decided to head for the mess hall. She entered, almost surprised to see it that full now that the replicators were no longer rationed.
She drifted towards the kitchen to see what Chell had fixed up today. As she peered over the selection, including some of the crew's favorites from both the Alpha and Delta quadrants, she heard the distinct voices of Tom, B'Elanna and Harry behind her. She turned to greet them, but stopped when she heard their murmured conversation.
"And Chakotay didn't say anything to you?" Tom was saying.
"Nothing," said B'Elanna. "Until Fielding stepped on the bridge I had no idea he wasn't coming." B'Elanna paused and sighed. "I just don't like her. Honestly, I think Tuvok would have been a better choice."
"He might have been trying to avoid Seven," chipped in Harry. "I heard they broke up before we left Earth."
"Where did you hear that, Harry?" asked B'Elanna.
"The Doctor."
"I wonder what happened with that," mused B'Elanna curiously.
Privately B'Elanna wondered if Chakotay had broken up with Seven to tell Captain Janeway about his feelings for her. But then if so, why was Chakotay not aboard Voyager? Still musing, she glanced up from the table and to her surprise she saw the Captain standing very near their table, holding a plate of food and glancing around the room as if looking for a place to sit. Quickly she nudged Tom in the ribs.
She cleared her throat and hoped the Captain had not overheard them. "Captain, would you care to join us?"
Trying to keep her voice from wavering, the Captain managed to smile politely. "No thank you. I think I'll just take this back to my quarters, I have a few stacks of reports to read over."
Tom decided to try again. "I'm sure we're better company than those reports, Captain."
Then her familiar grin played over her lips and she seemed to change her mind. "You seem to think very highly of your charms, Mr. Paris."
Tom got a mock hurt expression on his face as Harry and B'Elanna laughed.
"Captain, I'm wounded," he said, playing along.
"I think you'll live, Flyboy," cut in B'Elanna.
The Captain joined them. After eating in silence for a few moments, she decided to press them for some information.
"How is the crew doing? Both with Fielding and the incident in Engineering?"
The three exchanged a quick glance before he replied.
"Well, most of the crew are upset about Fielding," said Tom slowly. "Some just dislike her personally and others don't like her because she's not Chakotay."
"The general consensus among the crew is that she is competent enough," continued Harry, "But she doesn't have the people skills that Chakotay did."
"What about the incident in Engineering?" asked the Captain again.
"I think most of them are proud of the way Brooks stood up for Doyle," said B'Elanna. "They think that Blake was an idiot, and it's bringing the old crew closer together, although it is making the new additions feel a little left out."
The Captain was about to reply when Fielding's voice came over the comm.
Fielding to Janeway. Please report to the bridge.
The Captain smiled in bemusement. "On my way."
She glanced back at them as she neared the exit and said, "You were right, Tom. You were better company than those reports."
* * *
Commander Chakotay sighed as he entered the ship's lounge. He ordered a synthehol and moved to a deserted table by a nearby viewport. It was not, he reflected as he drank, that there was really anything wrong with the Excelsior. It just wasn't Voyager. He missed the familiarity of the crew and the sense of camaraderie. Captain Danforth was a good Captain but he was very regulation bound, and Chakotay had often found himself disagreeing with how the Captain handled situations.
Most of the crew were very formal with him and a few even appeared to be afraid of him. No, what he really missed was Kathryn. It had been weeks since they had talked and almost a month since they had talked without fighting. He had still been angry at her when he found out that Voyager was leaving, but he had still expected to be her first officer. He was shocked when he received no orders to report to Voyager and even more so when Kathryn sent him no explanation. He supposed that Kathryn was still upset about their last fight and not his brief relationship with Seven, because Seven, unlike him, was aboard Voyager.
He was rising to get another synthehol when Captain Danforth's voice cut into his thoughts.
Yellow alert. All senior staff, please report to the bridge.
When he got to the bridge he found the Captain staring at the screen, an image of an nameless alien paused on its surface, waiting for him.
"Commander," he began, "We have a situation. The Nausicaans want me to come down to their planet to mediate a trade settlement that is very important to their world. Since they have previously been highly xenophobic this is a phenomenal opportunity. I'll be going down in a few minutes."
A few moments later they entered the turbolift as Danforth prepared to lead the away team down to the surface. However, Chakotay did not like something about the situation. So as soon as they boarded the turbolift he began trying to dissuade the Captain.
"Captain, please don't do this. This situation feels like a set up."
"Do you have any evidence of this, Commander?"
"No Captain, just an opinion."
"I'll listen when you have some solid proof, Commander. I feel this situation is too important for me not to go personally."
"Very well, Captain. If you'll excuse me I'll go back to the bridge."
"Certainly Commander."
When he reported back to the bridge, he found that a situation had already developed. Hostile aliens, who were opposing the negotiations, had captured the away team.
Eight hours later the situation had finally been resolved, with only a few injuries on both sides. However Captain Danforth was among those injured. When the Captain had finished talking to Chakotay in Sickbay, commending Chakotay on his handling of the situation, Chakotay decided to tell the Captain of the decision he had come to during the last few hours.
"Captain...I am officially requesting a transfer."
Danforth looked up at him in surprise but said nothing.
"I have decided for many reasons, mostly personal, to leave. I don't think I'm the right first officer for this vessel and I'm sure you can find someone better."
Danforth sighed in resignation. "I was afraid of something like this was going to happen, I noticed that you didn't seem very comfortable here. "
He closed his eyes for a moment collecting himself from the pain of his injuries.
"I think I'll head back to Earth, sir, and look for another first officer position if anyone will have me."
"I wish you luck, Commander."
"Thank you, sir."
* * *
When Captain Janeway entered the bridge she immediately took in who was on duty. Lieutenant Ayala was on tactical, Ensign Lang was at Ops, an ensign whose name she had not yet learned was at the helm, and surprisingly Seven was also on the bridge.
"Captain," said Fielding as she turned to face her, "We are receiving an automated distress call from Kestrik IV, one of the Federation colonies near the Neutral Zone."
Janeway nodded curtly in acknowledgement and turned to Ops. "Ensign, inform Starfleet Command." She then addressed the Ensign at the helm. "Set a course, warp eight."
"Aye, Captain."
Once she finished that she turned back to the Ensign. "What's our eta, Ensign?"
"Four hours, Captain."
She nodded and hit her commbadge. "Senior staff, report to the briefing room."
* * *
Fifteen minutes later, the Captain surveyed her officers seated around the briefing room table and explained the situation.
"We have received a distress call from Kestrik IV, a Federation planet near the edge of the Neutral Zone. The signal was automated and we haven't been able to raise the colony again."
"How large is this colony?" asked Tom.
"Approximately five hundred inhabitants," Fielding informed him.
"They haven't responded to our hails," continued the Captain. "I want an away team ready to beam down when we reach the planet. Tuvok, I want one of your security teams standing by. Doctor, have Sickbay on alert. We may have casualties."
"Understood," he responded.
"Tom, you and Seven will accompany me and Tuvok's security team to the surface."
"Captain," interjected Fielding, "I have to object. That's against protocol."
Fielding gained the attention of the entire table before all eyes turned back to the Captain. She regarded Fielding calmly. "Yes, Commander, I'm aware of that. Thank you for the reminder."
"Captain --"
"I will be leading the away team," interrupted the Captain firmly. Fielding pursed her lips together and said nothing further, so the Captain turned her attention to Ensign Kim. "Harry, get me as much information as you can on this colony before we arrive. Is there anything else?"
When a chorus of "No, Captain's" returned to her she said quietly, "All right then. Dismissed."
Tuvok, however, hung back from the rest and when she beckoned him over he stood before her patiently.
"What is it Tuvok, old friend?"
"As your Security chief I am concerned for your well being. You have not slept in almost twenty-four standard hours and you are about to go on a possibly dangerous mission."
"What do you suggest, other than that I stay aboard Voyager?"
"I would suggest that you get some rest before we arrive at the planet."
She bristled at the suggestion momentarily then nodded. As she exited the room she turned back to Tuvok with a wry smile. "Thank you for not saying that I should stay aboard Voyager, Tuvok."
"You are most welcome Captain."
* * *
Several hours later the away team stood on the surface moving slowly through the colony, now in ruins.
"Captain," called Tom, "I think you might want to look at this. It looks as if the colonists were all evacuated in a hurry."
The Captain moved over to join him. "Do you know why?"
"I'm not sure. There's no sign of natural disaster and it looks as if they were attacked, however there are no signs of bodies. The distress beacon is totally automated."
Her face clouded over and she hit her commbadge. "Janeway to Tuvok. Have you found anything out there?"
She paused waiting for his reply and then tapped her commbadge again. "Tuvok, please respond."
Captain we are under attack by --
His voice was suddenly cut off and she immediately grabbed her phaser and with Tom right beside her, they started towards the now audible sound of distant phaser fire.
* * *
Aboard Voyager, Harry stood at his post monitoring the status of the away team. An alarm on his console went off.
"Commander, it looks like the away team--"
He was interrupted by Ayala at tactical. "Romulan Warbird decloaking directly in front of us!"
Fielding looked a bit shocked for a moment, but then her eyes narrowed and she stepped towards the viewscreen menacingly.
"Shields up. Red Alert."
* * *
Captain Janeway followed Tom as they dodged around the ruins, trying to reach the fight they could hear clearly now. They were almost within visual range when the wall of one of the buildings next to them disintegrated from a phaser blast, sending debris everywhere.
The proximity of the blast threw them to the ground. Tom got to his feet first and helped the Captain up, pulling her behind a pile of rubble.
"Are you all right, Captain?"
She nodded, momentarily stunned. She could feel blood trickling down her face from a cut on her forehead.
"Paris to Voyager. We're under attack -- get us out of here!"
Stand by, came Fielding's businesslike voice over the comm.
* * *
"Lieutenant Ayala, what's the warbird's status?"
"Their shields are up and they're powering weapons."
"Hail them," Fielding ordered to Ensign Kim over her shoulder.
"No response."
"They're firing!" yelled Ayala.
Voyager shuddered as the Romulan torpedo struck home. "Return fire," ordered Fielding. "Target their weapons array."
* * *
The pile of rocks they were hiding behind was struck by another phaser blast. Captain Janeway raised her phaser and aimed at the building across the street where she was certain their assailants were. She fired, then took cover again behind the rocks. They were fired on again, and their shelter disintegrated a little bit more.
"We can't stay here for long," Tom muttered.
"Agreed," she muttered back. She looked down the street and saw a building that looked like it would offer both protection and a good strategic position. She nudged Tom and motioned towards it. He nodded in agreement. They both stood and fired simultaneously at their attackers before moving down the street, keeping up a constant stream of phaser fire.
Just as they had nearly reached the building, their unseen attackers fired again, hitting the building just behind them as they ran. The wall exploded outwards, throwing them both to the ground.
The Captain cried out as she hit the ground hard, and it took a few seconds before her vision cleared. She pulled herself to her knees and looked for Tom. He was a few meters in front of her, just pulling himself to cover. She started to do the same, scrambling to get out of the open.
* * *
"We've disabled their weapons," reported Ayala.
"Drop shields and get the away team out of there," ordered Fielding.
"Energizing," said Harry. "I've got them. Raising shields."
"I'm detecting another warbird decloaking off the port bow!" said Ayala.
"Helm, get us out of--"
Paris to the bridge, came Tom's voice over the comm.
"What is it, Lieutenant?" asked Fielding.
The Captain didn't get beamed back aboard. All we got was her commbadge.
"The second warbird is charging weapons...and I'm reading a third one decloaking as well."
Fielding considered only for a second. "Helm, set a course away from the planet at maximum warp."
The bridge was silent for a heartbeat before Harry reacted. "What about the Captain?"
"We can't afford to lower our shields, Ensign."
"You can't just leave her down there!" insisted Harry.
"We can't afford a conflict with the Romulans either."
Her words were suddenly underscored by a shudder as the ship absorbed phaser fire.
"Take us out of here," she ordered the helm again. "Now."
* * *
Captain Janeway awoke to the sound of voices arguing nearby. Groaning as she sat up she discovered that she was only minorly injured even thought her whole body ached. She reached for her commbadge to locate her crew but felt nothing but her uniform. She quickly picked up her tricorder and began scanning for her crew. To her slowly dawning horror she could find no sign of any of the away team...but saw a more immediate problem. A group of Romulans moving in her general direction.
