2: Commander Chakotay


"Commander, we've got them all and Lyssa says they're en route to sickbay," Harry Kim announced.

Commander Chakotay rose slowly from the Big Chair and turned to look at the ensign. Harry's young face was alight with joy. Always so transparent, so ingenuous, Chakotay thought. Earlier, Harry had looked as if all the cares of the world were on his shoulders, and so, in a way, they had been. B'Elanna Torres was one of his best friends, and Chakotay knew that the young man's reverence for the Captain was equally comprised of professional deference and an affection that was almost filial in nature.

"Commander?" Harry said again, and Chakotay realised he'd failed to acknowledge the good news. What was he doing, thinking about Harry, when Kathryn was back?

He nodded. "Thanks, Harry." He watched the younger man relax at the perfunctory, but expected, statement. So much of this job is going through the anticipated moves..

Chakotay turned to face the front of the Bridge again, deliberately moving from the Big Chair to his own seat. Kathryn was back. They had their captain again. He tried to forget the paralysing fear that she'd fail, that Doc's neuro-suppressant would fail, that assimilation would be total, or fatal.

One worry down, he thought as he seated himself. How many to go? The away team was physically returned to Voyager, but were they mentally and emotionally present? Chakotay tried not to think of Seven of Nine's long and continuing struggle to regain her humanity. Could Voyager survive if it had to do without her Captain, her Chief Engineer, and her Tactical and Security expert indefinitely? Survival without one of them would be achievable, but he doubted if they'd manage without three of their most essential crewpeople.

Not for the first time since Kathryn Janeway had clasped his hand and walked away from the Bridge to confront the Borg, he wished that he'd refused her the support she'd asked. So many times, they'd disagreed, and she'd gone ahead anyway- and this time, this one time when she'd told him she would act only with his support- he'd told her to go. Go to the Borg, go and be assimilated, just for the sake of the people of Unimatrix Zero. People who, in their waking hours, would not hesitate to assimilate Voyager and her entire crew.

Chakotay shook his head over the whole situation. Three years before, they'd have gone to warp nine in the opposite direction. Now, they were trying to help Borg. Not the Collective, admittedly, but still helping Borg- even if, ultimately, their actions had the power to weaken the Collective as a whole. Such was Seven of Nine's contribution.

When had they started to see Borg drones as victims and not aggressors?

He could understand Kathryn wanting to help. He could understand Tuvok's determination to accompany her. The Vulcan security officer's loyalty to his captain and friend was complete. But B'Elanna? B'Elanna, who had argued and fought with Seven of Nine nearly every day since the latter had joined the crew. B'Elanna, who had told the Captain, 'She's not one of our own' …

What, Chakotay wondered, had motivated B'Elanna to join this particular away team?

Thoughts of B'Elanna drew the First Officer's eyes inevitably to her partner, at the conn. Tom, their rebel, their irrepressible, was slumped limply over his console.

Chakotay felt a rush of compassion for him. He and Tom had clashed in the past, enmity and distrust meeting hostility, but those times were gone. Tom had changed, just as Kathryn had always said he would. The Captain is always right, he thought with affectionate irony, momentarily forgetting the times when she had been patently and completely wrong.

Chakotay opened his mouth to tell the other man to go to sickbay, to B'Elanna, but was forestalled by the chirp of his communicator.

"Chakotay here."

"Commander, I need Lt. Paris down here now," the Doctor said with his customary curtness.

Chakotay looked at Tom again, saw how painfully difficult it was for the younger man to pull himself together.

"He's on his way," he said, hoping that the words would give Tom the impetus he needed, and wishing with all his heart he could go, too.

"Tell him to be quick," the Doctor said grumpily.

"Lieutenant?" Chakotay prompted when Tom still made no move.

Tom whirled around in his chair and stood in a single movement. Typical Tom, Chakotay thought with a tinge of exasperation, always the show-off. His exasperation faded as he saw the tinge of red in Tom's eyes, and realised that the relief had, indeed, been overwhelming. That too, was typical of Tom, he knew, covering vulnerability beneath a casual and flippant shell.

"Go. They're waiting for you!"

Tom snapped his heels together and left, his 'yes, sir' still echoing over the bridge as the turbolift doors closed behind him.

Chakotay settled into his own chair once more, restraining the impatience that rose within him. The Doctor would give him news soon. Soon, he'd be able to leave the Bridge to Harry, and go to see how his two best friends had fared. But now all he could do was wait, and take care of Voyager.

Kathryn would want that.