Disclaimer: Star Trek: Voyager and all characters therein are the property of Americans who are not me. No infringement of copyright is intended.
This is set post-Season 7 and is my 'feel good' ending to the show; I also try and provide as many plausible reasons for this alternative future as I can! NB – the 'main segment' of this story is sent ten years after the crew got back from the Delta Quadrant. Spoilers – entire series. Rating T/PG13 for odd risqué phrase.
NB –Certain chapters are longer than usual for my postings; however, to do otherwise would interrupt the flow of the narrative too much, so apologies.
ENCHANTED ENDGAME
Chapter 2
Finally, the dinner table looked like a horde of Desert Locusts had hit it and everyone was replete with good food and, bar Kathryn, perhaps a little merry with wine. The three children had fallen asleep in their playhouse at the bottom of the garden. Kathryn and B'Elanna poked their heads through the door; little Tom and Harry were curled around each other like puppies near the bottom of the bed, fast asleep, Miral was laying on the pillow but as the two women looked in one eye snapped open to fix on them before losing focus and closing as Miral identified them as no threat to the two little boys that she considered equally to be her brothers.
Occasionally someone would take a bit of detritus into the kitchen and throw it into the vaporiser in the process of making another drink, but they were largely content to just enjoy each others company as evening became true night, desultorily conversing in twos and threes, meandering conversational eddies rippling like droplets in a stream.
"You're really looking forward to the professorship," Tom Paris commented as he sat with Harry next to Chakotay on one of the high-backed antique garden benches, the three men sipping large and liberally laced Irish coffees that warmed them considerably; after outrageous wheedling at the Doctor, Kathryn had been allowed one small version of the same.
Even as Chakotay nodded he was whimsically musing that if anyone had walked up to him seventeen years before and told him that one day he would count Tom Paris as one of his closest friends, he'd have had them sectioned to a mental hospital. "Yes. Even with the pardon I was never going to get higher than Commander, certainly never captaincy of my own ship as a former Maquis, and most definitely…Not After…"
Both Tom and Harry merely gave nods of understanding at the emphasised code phrase. Even now a decade after the events, the incident was never mentioned aloud except in the most obtuse of terms, for the Cardassians had long memories and eternal grudges, and even now there might be some lone vindictive Cardassian Gul's goon monitoring their conversations in hope of obtaining the damning proof.
Tom Paris couldn't help but feel a little smug as he contemplated the sheer joy that radiated from Chakotay and the Captain – impossible to view her as Janeway and certainly Kathryn – as he had been their catalyst in a minor way.
"I'd be lying if I said I weren't feeling a certain amount of trepidation." Kathryn confessed to B'Elanna and Libby. "Motherhood was something I thought lost to me when the Caretaker stranded us in the Delta Quadrant and I was never much good at the maternal stuff."
"You can't be any worse than I was, remember my Neurotic Mother from Hell routine?" B'Elanna reminded her, recalling the time when she had even reprogrammed the Doctor in her obsessive fears about her then-unborn daughter's Klingon heritage.
"To be honest, I'm still trying to get my head around it," Libby confessed, "you've left Starfleet now, so you'll never be Admiral Janeway, but it was because you became Admiral Janeway that you were able –"
"Don't even try," Kathryn raised a hand, "Temporal Mechanics will drive you crazy faster than anything else in the world."
"Chakotay has no regrets," B'Elanna looked at where her husband and two closest friends were conversing quietly, taking a sip of her own Irish coffee – one of the better human traditions Tom had introduced her to – before she asked, "how about you?"
"None whatsoever," Kathryn vetoed firmly. "Officially Starfleet couldn't blame me because Admiral Janeway and I were two entirely different people and we managed to deal a death-blow to the Borg in the process for goodness sake; she violated the Temporal Prime Directive and once she was gone…but it was always going to be difficult. We weren't a crew on the Voyager, we were a family, and that has always been an issue in the Alpha Quadrant. I knew when so many of the Voyagers resigned from Starfleet altogether or swapped from active service to administrative and Academy positions what the problem was…"
"You are our Captain," B'Elanna shrugged as she made the simple statement of fact, "You always will be."
"Exactly; but as far as Starfleet is concerned that sort of devotion is what leads to incidents like Ransom and the Equinox, the cult of personality." Kathryn pointed out over B'Elanna's derisive snort, "and even if they had been inclined to ignore all that, they weren't Not After…" T-o-m R-i-k-e-r, she silently mouthed rather than spoke the words, even now ten years after the fact.
Libby and B'Elanna nodded sagely, that incident having been the trigger for their Captain and Chakotay finally admitting their real feelings for each other – though not without help and some serious arm-twisting from their former senior staff.
"Will Chakotay and the Captain be all right now they're not really in Starfleet anymore and they're going to be parents?" Naomi mentioned, she and Icheb looking worried.
"They will adapt," Seven stated calmly.
"There's no need for concern," Neelix reassured confidently, "after making her way past the Kazon, Vidiians, Malon, Krenim, Hirogen and the Borg, the Captain and Commander will have no trouble with parenthood."
"Agreed," Tuvok supported. "I am confident that they will acquit their roles as parents admirably."
B'Elanna and Libby went into the kitchen to prepare another round of Irish coffee, while Chakotay, Harry and Tom helped clear away some of the tableware. Knowing that she would not get another Irish coffee go-ahead out of the Doctor regardless of the most persuasive blandishments, Kathryn came over to join them.
"Seven, I haven't asked you how your visit to Vulcan went this time," Kathryn apologised.
"The Temple of Ammonak is most impressive," Seven commented, "the Vulcan High Council has offered me a position as a Professor of Astrometrics and I intend to accept."
"That's wonderful news, Seven." Kathryn praised.
"I will visit my relatives on Earth for an extended period first," Seven said, "with your permission I will inform them of your condition and investigate the role of…godmother."
"Granted," Kathryn said instantly, unable to suppress a smile; Seven's relationship with her family was pleasant but tentative on both sides; soon after their return home, she had reassumed her surname of Hanson, but after consideration, decided that Annika was simply too unfamiliar, she had known herself as 'Seven' for too long.
"Are you certain you won't miss Starfleet, Captain?" Neelix asked, seeking reassurance from the horse's mouth even though the change from military to civilian was only a technicality in many ways.
"Definitely, and I'm certain they won't miss me." Kathryn commented dryly. "The Voyagers are larger-than-life garish reminders that they made a very big mistake with the Cardassian Treaty all those years ago, and of course after…events turned out as they did…they just want to be able to forget about it all."
Their faces were knowing, even Naomi, who had been a child at the time. Now as the others brought out more coffee, Seven took a swift opportunity to examine Kathryn Janeway at close range, and was pleased with what she saw. She had seen the woman in all moods and all manner of situations, but had never seen her look happier than she did right now. Had Seven harboured any doubts over her decision to terminate her relationship with Chakotay, they would have been fully extinguished.
It had all been so different back then. Admiral Janeway had succeeded in her plan to bring the Voyager home, sixteen years earlier than in the original timeline, early enough to cure Tuvok of the neurological disorder and prevent the deaths of 22 crewmembers, including Seven. But to the astonishment of many, while the knowledge of her death had left Seven unmoved, it was that she had married Chakotay which had 'freaked her out'. Acutely perceptive, though not as articulate in emotional arenas, Seven had early realised the depth of feeling between Chakotay and the Captain, and had acknowledged that while his reciprocation of Seven's tentative overtures was due to an honest burgeoning attraction, a large part of it was his determination that he had lived long enough in 'futile hope'.
Already extremely wary about her own increasing emotionalism, Seven had been completely unprepared to discover something as colossal as the status of 'wife' looming in her near future, and knew she was not ready to deal with everything such a role implied. At the time, the mere thought of engaging in one attempt at full sexual intercourse with Chakotay was making her come as close to panic as a Borg got, never mind the whole 'house and children' package.
Thanks to Admiral Janeway, the previous timeline of the Voyagers had been erased, and their future was…what had the Doctor termed it? Tabula Rasa - a blank slate; Seven had ended the germinating romance instantly. Their relationship was only in a fledgling state, leaving Chakotay angry and disappointed rather than devastated and distraught. Unfortunately because the object of his ire, Admiral Janeway, was gone, he turned his fury on her younger counterpart, Captain Janeway, and a bitter argument had left the two apparently permanently estranged.
At the time, everyone was entangled too much in their own crises to engineer a rapprochement. The euphoria of the Voyagers' return to their homes and families had quickly descended into a massive culture shock. Some of the crew like the Captain had received Dear John/Jane letters in the Delta Quadrant; others struggled to adjust to adoring children that were now sullen adolescents; there was the loss of aged parents in the interim and a thousand other new anxieties daily. Everyone on both sides of the equation had 'moved on'.
The former Maquis crewmembers had been in the most perilous position, but there had been no fear of imprisonment for any of them. Two years after Chakotay had received the terrible news from his friend Sevra about the massacre, political activists had succeeded in getting all the surviving Maquis in Federation prisons freed with full pardons if they agreed to join Starfleet in the new war against the Cardasso-Dominion alliance.
The Cardassians' treachery in aligning with the Dominion had showed the folly of the Federation's 'peace at all costs' policy with regard to the Cardassians in the first place – the policy that had led to the formation of the Maquis first amongst the abandoned Federation colonists of the 'demilitarised zone' and the loss to its ranks of fine Starfleet officers such as Ro Laren, Tom Riker and Chakotay.
Subsequent events had demonstrated explicitly that the Maquis had been in the right all along; the lobbyists and innumerable op-ed media broadcasts had pointed out that the Federation's intergalactic reputation was already damaged enough as it was, without them making themselves even more contemptible by doggedly continuing to label the Maquis 'terrorists' in the face of universal public derision and keeping those they had in prison under that status. Chakotay and the Voyager's surviving Maquis complement had been fully pardoned in all but name before they returned to the Alpha Quadrant, and those formerly Starfleet had had their ranks retroactively restored.
That hadn't applied, however, to the Cardassians. The Maquis they had captured, such as Tom Riker, remained the subject of debate and myth. Upon returning to the Alpha Quadrant, those of the Voyagers who hadn't immediately left Starfleet or requested long-term non-active duty positions had had the chance to take lengthy administrative leave. After his estrangement from Captain Janeway, Chakotay had asked for the maximum period permissible and taken off to the nearest Deep Space Station. He had been angry and hurt and nursing his sense of injustice.
In short, spoiling for a fight, half-tempted to restart the Maquis; Chakotay could have done so, as well. He had been a highly respected leader amongst them, and many would come at his call. Frustrated and resentful as he was, he had realised that reforming the Maquis was not the answer. Most of the Maquis were now free and rebuilding their lives whilst grieving properly for their friends killed by the Jem'Hadar in the Cardassian instigated mass-murder.
Most of the Maquis. Chakotay had crossed paths with the crew of the USS Enterprise on Deep Space 9, including then-Commodore Picard and Captain William Riker, at a party hosted by Captain Kira. Chakotay had known Tom in the Maquis, and was thus familiar with the incident that had created the Captain's 'twin brother'. Tom Riker was one of the MIA Maquis, rotting somewhere in a Cardassian prison.
Thus had been born his mission; Chakotay had decided to rescue the Maquis held by the Cardassians and had access to some Delta Quadrant tricks to help him. The commander had got lucky – all surviving Maquis prisoners were kept in one Cardassian penitentiary, and were going to be moved en masse from Cardassia Prime to one of their outer moons due to increasing seismic activity that probably presaged a volcanic eruption. If Chakotay could outfit one large shuttle to the specs of the Delta Flyer, he could pull off his solo ride-to-the-rescue mission.
It hadn't turned out that way though. Still nursing his wounded pride, Chakotay had been determined he would take nobody with him, for fear he himself would be captured or killed. But he needed someone far better at 'improvisational engineering' than himself, and so had turned to his oldest, closest friend, B'Elanna Torres Paris.
B'Elanna had been greatly anxious; the estrangement between Janeway and Chakotay had upset her deeply and she was fighting her own fears about being back 'home', insecurities about how the famous Admiral Owen Paris would react to a Klingon half-breed daughter-in-law being paramount. Her own father had made contact again for the first time since she was five and she was trying to rebuild her relationship with her mother. But this was Chakotay, and so B'Elanna had wholeheartedly worked feverishly to give him a shuttle that could outmanoeuvre, outrun and out-hide anything the Cardassians could throw at it, but not outshoot, since all the weapons systems would have to be removed to fit all the Maquis when Chakotay beamed them aboard.
But Fate had taken a hand. Miral had found the datapad thinking it was the 'build your own warp core' game her mommy had been designing for her. In frustration at being unable to play it, she showed it to Uncle Harry, who was then deeply involved in wooing back Libby. He took one look and brought it straight to Tom. By the simple expedient of secreting a tracking device on his wife's person, Tom and Harry had been present when B'Elanna took the final specs to her friend, overhearing the simple plan: the specs would enable the shuttle to be disguised as a Cardassian patrol ship; Chakotay would fly (undetected) to the outer moon and hide (undetected) in a nearby asteroid belt, then swoop out and simply beam the Maquis prisoners off the transport. He would then high-warp it out of there courtesy of B'Elanna's engines and then use the shields and sensors to 'hop' back to Federation space, hiding and disguising the shuttle as a patrol ship with her improvised 'holo-matrix projection' system.
Clearly distraught, B'Elanna had emphasised that she could jury-rig the shuttle to an extent, but that each system modification would work for less than two Earth hours and would be burnt out once that time was gone; there simply wasn't time or power for anything else. Nor would the doubtless emaciated and stunned Maquis be able to provide any practical help.
At that point, Tom Paris had stepped out of the shadows and taken charge. Reminding Chakotay that the man's life still belonged to him, he had informed the Commander that they would discuss in detail Chakotay dragging B'Elanna into his crazy scheme later, but "'right now you need the best pilot in the Alpha Quadrant, and that's me.'"
B'Elanna had returned to Deep Space 9 to look after Miral and monitor the situation as best she could from there before returning to Earth to provide alibis, while Harry and Tom had accompanied Chakotay. But Miral was a very bright little girl who crept out of bed at night and peeked through the door as her mother paced with silent weeping. Inaction did not come naturally to a Klingon, and so Miral had turned to her friend, Naomi Wildman.
Naomi realised that Commander Chakotay was in a lot of danger, and got hold of Neelix immediately. He in turn contacted the one person he had absolute faith in: the Captain. Janeway had received Neelix's communiqué while visiting Tuvok on Vulcan with Seven and Icheb, and it was clear what was going on.
Continued in Chapter 3…
© 2005 Catherine D Stewart