Chapter 1
Captain Kathryn Janeway slung her small bag over her shoulder and took one last glance around her apartment, now devoid of personal affects. She then made her way to the front door, where her mother stood, waiting.
"Thanks for your help, Mom. I couldn't have done it without you." Gretchen smiled.
"You're welcome, honey. You just be careful." She held Kathryn's gaze for a moment before handing over her precious cargo. A tiny face peeked out from the bundle of blankets, and a small hand weaved its way out of the folds. Smiling gently, Kathryn offered a finger, and the chubby fist found it, grasping it tightly. Kathryn watched the infant lovingly as her rosebud mouth stretched open in a yawn, her tiny, pert nose wrinkling and her blue eyes fluttering sleepily. She bent her head slightly, leaving a light kiss on one soft cheek. Gretchen kissed her daughter and granddaughter good-bye, and watched with tears in her eyes as they left.
********
Kathryn met Admiral Paris at the private transporter pad, and he smiled upon seeing what she was carrying. They shook hands, and he stood beside her as they were beamed directly to her quarters. As they materialized, they saw the doctor. He was standing beside the coffee table, on which several instruments lay. Kathryn handed her daughter to the Admiral and sat down on the sofa. Everything had been planned in the last week, since she had delivered and Tuvok had missed his deadline for reporting in. Being so young, Taya could not be left behind, so she was being "smuggled" onto the ship. Only her doctor, her first officer, her chief engineer, and some of the Admiralty knew. She felt the doctor press the tiny implant into the skin just behind her left ear, and waited patiently as he ran the dermal regenerator over it to ensure that it remained deeply embedded in her skin. The implant would allow her, and only her, to hear her baby if she cried. The infant was to be kept in one of the soundproof rooms—one in her quarters, one in her Ready Room—at all times. The rooms had their own security codes, so that no one could "accidentally" walk in and find a week-old child on a starship meant for officers. The result would not be pretty. She had had to do quite a bit of convincing to enable her to bring Taya with her. Admiral Paris handed her daughter back to her, and she cradled her gently. Taya stared up at her, cooing and blowing raspberries. Kathryn just smiled and rose from the sofa, walking towards the nursery. She tapped out the code on the keypad beside the door, and entered, laying the yawning infant on her back in her crib.
********
Listening carefully for the soft sound of her daughter's breathing, Kathryn made her way down the long corridors of Voyager. She stepped into a turbolift.
"Bridge." She glanced to her left, and realized that Lt. Commander Cavit was standing beside her. He nodded respectfully.
"How's our little passenger?" he asked quietly.
"She's fine. She's sleeping."
He nodded. The turbolift slid to a silent stop. Cavit stepped onto the bridge first, announcing, "Captain on the bridge." Everyone immediately stood at attention.
"At ease." Kathryn turned and went into her ready room, saying, "I've got some reports I need to read, Commander. You have the bridge."
********
As Kathryn entered her private domain, she heard a soft cry, and she headed straight for the mini-nursery at the back of her ready room.
"Computer, privacy lock, authorization Janeway-Alpha-two-zero-one." She tapped the code into the panel beside the door, and it slid open to admit her. "Computer, site-to-site transport, Omega-one-zero-one." A blue shimmer appeared in the small crib, and the tiny form of her daughter came into view. Kathryn smiled. She reached down and brushed a few stray wisps of dark hair aside from her daughter's face, knowing that she was blessed to have such a beautiful child. Taya turned her face into her mother's hand, letting out a plaintive whimper.
"Hey, it's all right, sweetpea," Kathryn murmured as she scooped her up. Cradling her gently, Kathryn sat down at her desk. She began going through the stack of reports she had to read before they could leave the station. An hour later, as she finished the last one, she realized Taya was sound asleep. She eased up out of her chair and moved to set her in her crib. She double-checked that the safety force field would come on if there was an emergency. She had just closed the door when the chime rang. Kathryn quickly situated herself back at her desk, reaching for a random padd.
"Come in," she called. The door slid open, and Cavit entered.
"We're ready to leave, if you are," he said. She nodded, and handed him a padd that contained her signed permission for them to leave spacedock at Deep Space Nine. She followed him out onto the bridge, taking her seat in the middle of Voyager's command center.
"Lieutenant Stadi," she said to the Betazoid at the helm, "take us out. Set a course for the Badlands. Engage."
********
Several hours later, Kathryn sat in her ready room, feeding Taya. Cavit's voice came over the comm.
"Captain, we've reached the Badlands."
"All right, I'll be out in a moment." She gently disengaged a sleeping Taya from her meal, and put her in the nursery. As she walked out onto the bridge, she saw the viewscreen was filled with the sight of the plasma storm-infested Badlands. She sat down in her seat, her hands gripping the armrests tightly.
"Lieutenant, take us in, nice and easy." Stadi guided the ship into the maelstrom of activity, her eyes darting between the viewscreen and her console. Several plasma storms came perilously close to hitting Voyager, but Stadi's graceful maneuvers steered them clear each time.
Suddenly, Harry Kim cried out, "Captain, there's a displacement wave coming right toward us!"
She turned in her seat to face the ensign. "Can we outrun it?"
He shook his head gravely. "No, ma'am. By my estimated, it'll reach us in less than three minutes." They tried everything they could think of to disperse the wave, but nothing worked. Then, the wave was upon them. Kathryn heard herself cry out as she was slammed into the deck, and everything went black.
********
REVIEW!!!!! REVIEW!!!!!