Epilogue - (Several weeks later or after Flashback)

The door chimed to Chakotay's quarters.

"Come." He rose from where had been lounging and reading a padd.

The door opened and Kathryn entered, still in uniform.

He picked up a glass of wine and handed it to her with a kiss. Placing a hand behind her back they walked to the sofa. "Long day?"

Kathryn rested on the sofa and replied, "It is hard to imagine sitting in the Sickbay all day could take so much out of a person."

"Is Tuvok alright?"

"He is fine now." She drank her wine.

"Good. You look tense."

"Just a lot on my mind. Being inside someone else's head can give you a lot to think about."

Chakotay smiled at the thought. "An interesting place was it?"

Kathryn shot him a look. "That's confidential."

"My only concern is its impact on you." He considered her for a moment and said, "Take off your jacket and turtleneck."

"Excuse me?" Kathryn smiled.

"You are really tense, Kathryn." Chakotay was serious.

She sighed and did as she was told.

"Computer, raise the temperature two degrees."

Chakotay put one knee on the sofa and leaned against the back of it. "Now come over here."

Kathryn backed herself against Chakotay and he began to work on her neck and shoulders.

"Other people's experiences are beginning to cause me to rethink some things, things I was pretty confident about."

"Like?"

"Starfleet."

Chakotay paused a moment. "I see… how so?"

"I am an admiral's daughter." Kathryn tilted her head in response to Chakotay's hands. "My earliest memories are as an admiral's daughter. My father was a man of exceptional integrity. He believed in and gave his life to serving Starfleet. I think I wanted to believe Starfleet had my father's characteristics, but it doesn't. Knowing about your experience and seeing Starfleet through Tuvok's eyes has shown me it's different from what I grew up believing in. My father would never have dreamed of falsifying documents."

Chakotay cleared his throat in an attempt to remind her she was revealing information she learned from the mind meld.

Kathryn continued, "I was always taught to make the best decision you could see in a difficult situation and be ready to pay the price for it. I always trusted that integrity ruled in the upper echelons, so I never doubted the wisdom of that stance."

"I don't think I'm following, Kathryn." Working down her back he added, with a hint of humor, "You're not thinking of falsifying something, are you?"

"Of course not." She rolled her eyes at the suggestion. "It's just that I want to know how bad it is, Chakotay. I mean, aside from the fact that I may have peers who falsify documents to cover up what is really going on out in space. I want to know what you know. I want to know about this Cardassian data base and what Starfleet did with it."

Chakotay wrapped both of his arms around her shoulders and asked, "Are you never going to stop bringing that up?"

"I thought I'd ask every month or so for the next seventy-five years. I'm not a quitter, you know."

He kissed her cheek. "Yes, I know." Chakotay returned to working the knots out of her back.

"Did you make copies of the database?"

"We did."

"How many?"

Chakotay sighed and answered, "Two, but more might have been made since."

"Who had them."

"I had one hidden aboard Liberty. We sent one to Starfleet, and Ro Laren has original."

"You did not hand the original over to Starfleet?"

"No. I wanted to as a show of good faith but Ro would have nothing to do with it. Fortunately."

"You think we were sent after you because someone wanted the original?"

"Yes. That, and the knowledge of it that's in my mind."

"Were you romantically involved with Ro Laren?"

"No." Chakotay continued the massage indifferent to the question. But, appreciating Kathryn's concern on a personal level, he added, "She was my student, but quickly surpassed her teacher in the area of advanced tactical. She was a friend and a colleague. She was a lot like B'Elanna is to me, except Ro talked to me about things more."

"You think she still has the original?"

"Yep."

"Why?"

"Because she is brilliant and driven. It was our hope that if it got into the right hands then the proper people in authority in Cardassian government could be tried for war crimes. And that maybe if the corruption in both governments was dealt with then maybe the Maquis terms might be considered. But Ro also had a personal interest in seeing the database in responsible hands."

"Oh?"

"It contained information about the torture of one Starfleet officer that she was fond of and felt she owed a personal debt to. It also had records of the murders of some others that she had indirect connections to. She wanted to see the perpetrators of these crimes brought to justice."

Kathryn stood up to face Chakotay. "What kind of records?"

"We heard and saw it all. It contained visual and audio records of the torture and murder of Starfleet officers. It also contained precise records of drug inducement, and any other technologies, or treatments used upon the prisoners."

Chakotay rose from the sofa, draped Kathryn's jacket over her shoulders, and spoke scarastically, "There. Now did that help you relax?"

He walked away from her and stared out the window. The memory of the things he had seen fresh in his mind.

Kathryn came from behind him and hugged him gently. She leaned her head against his back and said, "When we get home we'll face it together."

He turned to take her into his arms.

She added, "And whatever you have left to do, we'll do together."

Chakotay swallowed hard and stared at her.

He feared for her but understood Kathryn wasn't talking about risking her position in Starfleet for him alone. Following in her father's integrity, it was for the principles she believed in. He had to let her take that risk. He had to let her stand with him… if the day ever came.

For now he held her in his arms and buried his face in her hair. In the window behind them the stars streamed by, a reminder that every day brought them a little closer to home or that they had thousands of light years to go.