Estranged Relations

Chapter 9: Bonds of a Father and Daughter:

Kat hailed Voyager. Shinzon answered with relief in his voice. "Kat! Thank goodness. I wasn't sure I'd ever see you again. What are your coordinates?"

Kat gave her location to her father. She turned to Alura and with a smirk on her face said, "See I told you everything would work out. We'll be home soon Alura, just as I promised."

"I don't know Kat, something is wrong. We got away from Chen too easily."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean we haven't seen or heard anything about the Reman war bird, and I don't know if you have figured this out yet, but Chen and Razolon are working together."

Kat hadn't thought of that. As soon as Alura finished telling her their plan to bring her father back to being the old Shinzon, or destroy him, she understood the danger Alura was speaking about.

"Computer, active hull plating!"

It was too late. As she gave the computer her order, the Reman war bird de-cloaked in front of them. Razolon hailed them.

Kat tried to control the fear in her voice, she knew Voyager was still too far away and that she had fallen for another trap. "This is the Delta Flyer. We are awaiting Voyager's return, and do not need your assistance, I repeat, we do not need your assistance."

"Yes, I know you don't. You will no longer be in your current position when Voyager gets back though." As Razolon told her this, she started to feel the Flyer being pulled towards the war bird.

Alura had been afraid that Kat would fight the tractor beam thus destroying the Flyer. However, she was wrong because all Kat could do was sit and stare out the main window at the war bird. Alura desperately tried to get Kat's attention, but Kat wasn't responding. As a last ditch effort, Alura tried sending an encrypted message to Voyager. She wasn't sure she had succeeded, but she knew it was their last hope of being rescued.

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Meanwhile, on Voyager. . . . .

"Captain Clearwater, we have just received an encrypted message form the Flyer."

Shinzon told his communications officer to send the transmission to his ready room. He had been on duty since Kat had hailed him while the rest of his senior staff was resting in case the Remans tried to attack the Flyer. He knew this was a possibility, especially if his suspicions were correct. He just wondered if Kat realized this.

He read Alura's transmission and realized his little girl hadn't realized the Remans could pose a threat. Now she was in shock, according to Alura, and she desperately needed his help.

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Shinzon knew what he needed to do to save his little girl. "Helmsman, how long until we reach the Flyer's coordinates?"

"Sir we there now."

They dropped out of warp in time to see the Flyer being pulled closer to the war bird.

"Launch torpedoes towards the war bird's originating point for the tractor beam on my mark!"

"Fire."

The volley did exactly what Shinzon needed it to do. The beam which was holding Kat and Alura diminished. Shinzon knew this was his only opportunity to get Kat back. The element of surprise gave him enough time to beam the Flyer back to Voyager's cargo bay. He issued the order and as soon as they had the Flyer they left the area at maximum warp.

"Alura, are you there?" Shinzon left out the normal formalities, he wanted to make sure his little girl was ok.

"I'm here Shinzon, and so is Kat, but she still seems to be in shock."

"De-activate the hull plating and beam her directly to sick bay. Then if you don't mind, I'd like to have a full de-briefing of the events in my ready room."

After the chime to Shinzon's ready room had sounded and he had requested her to enter, Alura walked in and sat down opposite of him. She told him about Kat's plan to save him and their daring escape.

"I'm very impressed by my daughter's resourcefulness, but you both could have been killed. I don't know how I can convince her to let me take care of her instead of her always having to do stunts like this."

"I think she has learned her lesson Shinzon. She was scared to death when the Remans turned out to be foes as well."

"Thank you Alura for your honesty. I want to believe that you have also learned to trust me instead of trying to handle things on your own. Am I correct?"

"Yes Shinzon, I am very sorry. I wasn't forthcoming with all the information I had in the beginning, and I know what I've done can never be forgiven."

"On the contrary, what you have done for my daughter, makes me realize that you never intended harm. I feel we are on the road to friendship once again."

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The Doctor examined Kat. He knew she was scared and that her condition was purely emotional. He tried sever different stimulates trying to arouse her from her stupor. Finally, he succeeded and Kat looked at him in amazement. "Doctor, how did I get here? I thought we'd be victims of my own blundering."

"Now, now Kat, you are home and there is no need to dwell on what could have been."

"My father, oh, what will he think?"

"Your father is on his way now. I believe you both need some time to work through everything that has transpired."

Kat started to panic and the Doctor gave her reassurances that everything would be fine. As Kat sat up, her father walked into the room.

"Doctor, how is my little girl?"

"She is fine Captain. No scratches or bruises that I can see, but be careful, she has had a traumatic few days."

"I will Doctor. Now, may I have some time alone with my daughter please?"

"Well, if you insist. Computer, deactivate the EMH."

As the doctor faded from view, Shinzon looked at his daughter. "You know you've made me very old over the past few days."

"Dad, I'm so sorry. I only wanted to protect you."

"I'm your father, I'm suppose to protect you. When I'm old and can no longer take care of myself, then you can protect me, ok?"

Kat smiled at her father. Shinzon kissed her on the forehead and stayed with her as long as she was awake. Kat realized she wasn't sure what had happened with the Remans and she decided to ask her father.

"Oh, I contacted the Romulan home world while you were busy keeping their attention and told them what we'd gone through the past few days. They have caught up with Chen and Razolon's war birds and have arrested them for conspiracy to start war with the Federation. They will no longer be a burden to us. We are on our way home Kat. We are taking a vacation to reacquaint ourselves with our family.