Chapter 4
As he left his quarters he tapped his combadge.
"Chakotay to Torres. Report!"
B'Elanna Torres was attempting to break through the encryption codes of Voyager's main computer.
"I'm on the new ship, Chakotay. You've got to see this! It's amazing! I've never seen anything like it! The ship has some sort of bio-neural gel packs instead of the usual optical processors. It's revolutionary!"
An amused grin spread over his face.
"Ok, B'Elanna, I get the message. I'll be there in a moment. Where exactly on the ship are you?"
"Engineering, Deck 12. I'm trying to hack into their main computer."
"Well done! Keep up the good work. I'll see you in a few minutes. Chakotay out."
So she was already tackling the computer. Good, he thought. He would be able to get a lot of information from the data banks, so that he would not be reliant on the results of the interrogations alone. The captain certainly was not going to tell him anything that much was clear. Maybe he should take a look at her ready room while he was on the ship. He had to admit, he was more than a little curious about the woman behind the captain's facade. And, since her departure from the ship had been rather abrupt and unplanned, she may even have left some important data lying around on a padd or her desktop. It would be worth a shot. Chakotay entered what passed as the Maquis' transporter room which, like most of their technology, had been improvised from a number of different pieces they had been able to get their hands on. It was a miracle that they could get this mishmash of technology to work at all. The room itself was just another small, square-shaped section of the old mining shafts. Unlike most of the base, the transporter room was brightly lit, thanks to the flashing consoles. Lojal, who seemed to be everywhere today, was pulling a duty shift there at the moment. Chakotay gave him a friendly tap on the back when he entered the room.
"Lojal, beam me up to the vessel, Deck 12, Engineering."
"Sure, no problem!"
The Bajoran was already entering the coordinates into the console, resisting the urge to ask about the Starfleet captain. It was not easy. He wondered if she had regained consciousness. Obviously she was still alive, otherwise he would have heard. If Chakotay was leaving her alone, did that mean that she was better? Maybe he could find out somehow, later. Reluctantly refocusing his concentration on the task at hand, he energized. A moment after his molecules had dematerialized in the transporter room, the Maquis captain reappeared in a large room on the vessel. His attention was immediately drawn to the impressive warp core at the far end of the room, its blue light illuminating everything around it. He himself seemed to be standing in an office area. Self-contained workstations and brightly shining consoles flanked the walls of the room, which had two levels. He was on the lower level. The upper level was a gallery, secured with a safety rail, and contained more workstations and consoles. He spotted B'Elanna who was bent over a large console to the left of the impressive warp core, her brow furrowed in concentration.
"B'Elanna, how's it going?"
She frowned and gave him one of her Klingon gnarls he had gotten quite accustomed to.
"Whoever did this wasn't stupid, Chakotay. It's going to take me weeks, if not months, to unscramble all this encrypted information -- unless I can come up with the password."
Her mood had certainly changed in the past few minutes. Her earlier enthusiasm for the ship had given way to frustration over seemingly insurmountable hurdles.
"I might be able to arrange that. We have their engineer and all the senior officers. I'll start interrogating them tomorrow. I'm sure one of them will talk sooner or later if they know what's good for them. They can't all be as stubborn as their captain."
"You've already spoken to the captain?"
B'Elanna asked without looking up from the console.
"Yes."
"I didn't notice him in the brig earlier, when I took the tour with Seska. Where did you put him?"
"She is in my quarters. I'll make another attempt at getting her to talk when I'm finished here."
B'Elanna looked up with a smirk and a sparkle in her eyes.
"I see. Don't let Seska find her there. She'll go berserk if she finds another woman in your quarters."
"It's not like that, B'Elanna. She's a hostage."
"Then why isn't she in the brig with the others?" the half-Klingon countered.
"I had my reasons for taking her to my quarters."
"I'm sure you did, Chakotay, but I'm not sure Seska will be as understanding as I am." she teased.
"Just get into that computer, will you? I'll be taking a look at Decks 1 and 2." Chakotay informed her impatiently.
He was not in a mood for teasing.
"Oh, by the way Chakotay, were you with the captain when Seska told you about Paris?" she asked, a smug grin on her face.
Chakotay had just about had enough.
"As a matter of fact I was. Paris won't be going anywhere right now. I'll see to him tomorrow. And as far as Seska is concerned, she can think what she likes. I really don't care. It's been over for a long time. This doesn't concern her."
"Don't tell me, tell her!" B'Elanna responded, her attention already fully focused on the computer.
She never saw Chakotay's features darken in silent fury as he left engineering and stepped into the turbo lift.
"Deck 1!" he barked.
Chakotay entered the bridge, and after a quick glance around the various stations, he entered the captain's ready room. B'Elanna had already managed to disengage all the door locks. That had been the first thing she had seen to, after boarding the ship, in order to make the investigation of the vessel less of an obstacle course for everyone. His first impression of the ready room was that it looked terribly impersonal. It was all business. If it had not been for a few scattered plants, he would have thought that it had never been used before.
The cold cup of coffee, which still rested on the desk, next to the captain's personal computer terminal, told him otherwise. Although he was primarily looking for information about Voyager's mission in the Badlands, he had hoped to learn a little about her captain, too. Oh well, this was a new ship after all, and she had probably had more pressing concerns than the decor of her ready room.
To make matters worse he discovered that the captain's computer console had been deactivated. He made a feeble attempt to bring it back to life, but soon gave up. He was no engineer. Suddenly something occurred to him. It wouldn't hurt to try...
"Computer, access biographical information on Captain Kathryn Janeway."
"That information requires an authorized command code," the neutral female voice of Voyager's computer replied.
Chakotay sighed. If the computer was refusing to answer this question it most certainly was not going to give him the details of the mission. Maybe a look at the captain's quarters would tell him more...
He left the ready room and took the turbo lift to Deck 2, where the senior officers' quarters were located. He hoped, he would not have to search for her quarters for too long. The Maquis did not have a complete map of the ship, yet. He would just have to start at one end of the corridor and work his way systematically to the other site.
Chakotay entered the first cabin on the left of the passageway on deck 2, opposite the turbo lift. Not really expecting anything to happen, he ordered the computer to turn on the lights at seventy five percent of full illumination. This time, much to his surprise, the computer complied. The room he had entered was large, and the entire rear wall was made up of viewports, no doubt allowing for a spectacular view in space. There was a sofa under one of the viewports, behind a glass top coffee table, surrounded by two upholstered chairs. To the right of the room stood a dining table, and a replicator was built into the wall panel next to it. A few plants were scattered around the room, and a half a dozen pictures of stellar phenomena lined the walls. The room was a mixture of command red upholstery and gunmetal gray Starfleet furniture.
To the left he briefly took notice of a desk with a computer terminal...
However, he was drawn to a door just behind it, which led into another part of the quarters. After all, the terminal was not going anywhere.
The door led into the bedroom. Another viewport made up the rear wall under which stood a, by Starfleet standards, rather large bed. A mirrored dressing table to the left of it caught Chakotay's eye. A bottle of perfume and a small make-up case were positioned next to a hairbrush on the surface of the table. Seeing the brush, Chakotay knew without a shadow of a doubt that he had found the captain's quarters. The long auburn strands of hair in the brush were a dead giveaway.
Bull's-eye!
Smiling triumphantly, he turned to examine the wardrobe opposite the bed. As expected a number of black and red Starfleet uniforms, blue turtle necks and matching tank tops hung in line, but he was delighted to see quite a few pieces of civilian clothing as well. He was going to get her out of that uniform. Somehow, seeing her in the command colors made him feel uncomfortable. It was probably the respect for higher ranking Starfleet officers that his time in the 'Fleet had taught him. He had no intention to feel inferior before her -- he simply could not afford to. On the bottom of the wardrobe, behind a collection of shoes, Chakotay discovered a small travel case. He took it out and placed all the civilian clothes and shoes into it, followed by the perfume bottle, the make-up case and the hair brush. Inspecting further, he opened the drawers of the dressing table. His efforts were rewarded by the sight of several pieces of night wear, and he could not help noticing some pieces of fine lingerie, which stood out among a larger number of Starfleet regulation undergarments. He added them to the other items in the case, allowing himself the luxury of fingering the delicate materials. Unbidden his mind conjured up images of what Kathryn Janeway would look like wearing them. Well, it had been awhile since he had seen a woman in such things...
Reluctantly he refocused his attention on his mission. He found another door, which led into a small, but perfectly functional bathroom. There was not much room to move about in, however it contained a sonic shower as well as a bathtub. The perfume of bath oil still lingered in the air. She must have taken a bath that very morning. Finding some shampoo, soap and the bath oil, he packed them as well.
Returning to the bedroom, he discovered a bookshelf, which had so far escaped his notice, since it was halfway hidden behind the door to the lounge area. It contained a modest collection of real paper books. On closer inspection he recognized some nineteenth century novels, Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters mainly, and biographies of Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo and Sir Isaac Newton. For a moment he actually contemplated taking a few of them for her, but then decided against it, furious at himself for even having thought about it. The Maquis base was not a five star hotel. Kathryn Janeway was a hostage, he reminded himself.
Upon reentering the living area, Chakotay's attention was drawn again to the small desktop computer console, which he had briefly glimpsed when he had first entered Janeway's quarters. Much to his surprise he now noted that the screen was active. It had completely escaped him earlier, since he had then only seen the back of the screen. Hoping to find something that might tell him what Voyager had been doing in the Moriya system, he approached the screen... and beheld the picture of a man, about his age.
Janeway had apparently left the picture of a recent transmission on the screen, to serve as a photograph. Obviously this man was important to her, and probably vice versa. He wondered what the relationship between Kathryn Janeway and this man was. The man on the screen appeared to be looking straight at him...
Suddenly he felt as if he were intruding. Kathryn Janeway's private life was really none of his business. He should be concentrating on finding answers about the ship and her mission.
The eyes of the man on the computer screen were still fixed on him. The image was smiling, as if taking a sarcastic pleasure in Chakotay's sudden discomfort. In the heat of the moment, Chakotay deactivated the screen.
What the hell was wrong with him? Was he going to be intimidated by a two-dimensional image, now? Whatever next?
Maybe Seska had been right when she had argued that he was too soft... maybe he just was not cut out for the life of a Maquis resistance fighter...
Was he getting a little too involved with his hostage?
Once again Chakotay wondered if he really belonged where he was. As a boy, and later as a cadet at Starfleet Academy, he had felt neither part of Starfleet, nor had he been able to embrace the customs of his tribe. His soul was divided between both worlds.
Now the same thing was happening again. He desperately wanted to drive the Cardassians from his home, but at the same time he tried to uphold the high moral principles of Starfleet and the Federation.
What he was really desperately searching for was peace -- peace within himself. It was as simple as that and yet a goal seemingly impossible to achieve. At least with the Maquis he had thought he had found a direction, but his recent encounter with Kathryn Janeway seemed to have rekindled the flame of his inner struggle, a flame he had thought permanently extinguished.
He appeared to be destined to live in constant turmoil with himself and the people around him.
Chakotay was furious -- at the Cardassians, the Federation, Seska, Paris, Janeway, the image on the computer screen, and most of all, at himself. Suddenly he felt hot and queasy and had the strong urge to get off the ship, as soon as possible. He fled the captain's quarters, barely allowing enough time for the automatic doors to open for him.
Back in the neutral safety of the corridor he took a deep breath. Rarely had the longing to breathe fresh, clean, natural air been so great, but he knew that this was not going to happen in the near future. Both Voyager and the subterranean Maquis base were relying on recycled air provided by air filtration systems, and the surfaces of the asteroid and nearby planet had no atmosphere -- at least none that he could breathe. He tapped his combadge.
"Chakotay to Lojal. One to beam down!