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BEFORE THE DAWN

(PG:13)

Chapter Two

6 Weeks Later

Wrapped only in a white bathrobe, Kathryn Janeway lay on her bed in her quarters and stared vacantly at the ceiling. Dark shadows circled her tired eyes and her face was very pale.

"Captain?"

The voice was the Doctor's and it called to her from the living room.

Slowly, Kathryn sat up and answered. "In here, Doctor."

In no time at all, the Doctor appeared.

"You wished to see me," he said, standing in the doorway.

"That's right," Kathryn replied, getting to her feet.

The Doctor saw how pale she was, and, if he wasn't mistaken, she was trembling slightly. He stepped forward in concern. "Are you ill, Captain?"

"No," she said quietly. "But I think that...I think I'm pregnant."

The Doctor's eyes widened at that. "Pregnant?"

She nodded, tears welling in her eyes. "I've missed a period and I haven't been well for the past couple of weeks. I don't know what made me think of it exactly, because my cycles aren't regular anymore, but I was lying in the bath just now and it suddenly occurred to me that maybe I got pregnant somehow during the Hirogen invasion. According to you I was put in holo-simulation after holo-simulation. I have no recollection of what happened in any of them. I could have done anything with anyone." She paused. "I scanned myself with a medical tricorder as soon as the thought came to me and...and it showed an unidentifiable lifesign inside me."

"It's certainly possible," the Doctor replied. "I didn't detect a pregnancy when I treated your leg injury and removed the neural interface, but it can take up to three, or even four, days for conception to take place. In the last four days of the simulations they had you in a cowboys and indian simulation, a pirate simulation, a Klingon simulation in which you were stabbed in the stomach, and the World War II simulation, which ran for the best part of two days. If you had been intimate with someone in any of those simulations, then you may not have conceived by the time I treated you. And, as I had so many patients to attend to, I couldn't do more than basic examinations. It would have taken an in-depth examination to determine the presence of sperm in your reproductive system, an examination that it didn't cross my mind to perform. The Hirogen weren't interested in copulating with our crew, they were only interested in killing them. I may have detected it if I had treated you after you were stabbed, but you had already been treated by a Hirogen Doctor when I finally got back to sickbay after attending injured crew elsewhere." He paused. "Also possible, but lesslikely, is that you had already conceived but I failed to detect the lifesign. Between conception and implantation the lifesign is extremely weak, which means it isn't always detected."He closed the gap between them and put his hand on her shoulder. "There isn't much I can determine with a regular medical tricorder. It would be better for us to go to sickbay."

Kathryn nodded. "I'll get changed and meet you there in about half an hour."

When Kathryn arrived in sickbay half an hour later, she was glad to find the Doctor alone and waiting for her.

"We'll begin by performing a scan with an advanced medical tricorder," the Doctor replied. "The scan will not only tell us if you are pregnant, but by how many weeks."

With that he began to scan her, and Kathryn could hardly breathe as she waited for the verdict.

"Well, you're definitely pregnant," the Doctor declared, analyzing the results. "Approximately 6 weeks, which coincides with the last week of the Hirogen invasion."

Kathryn's face was white now that the Doctor had confirmed her self diagnosis and he put his hand on her arm.

"Sit down, Captain, and let me get you a drink."

"No," Kathryn replied. "I'm ok."

"You've had a shock, Captain. You need..."

"I said I'm ok, Doctor!"

At that, the Doctor was subdued. Kathryn turned away from him and leant, palms down, against a biobed.

"Is there any way of knowing at this stage who the father is?"

"That depends," the Doctor replied. "I can extract a DNA sample from the embryo and search for a match in our database, but if the father does happen to be a Hirogen, then that obviously won't be possible.

At that, Kathryn buried her head in her hands. She didn't know what was worse. Having the father be someone on board the ship or having him be a Hirogen.

"I really think you should sit," the Doctor continued. "You..."

"Let's just get on with this," Kathryn said, turning towards him. "Let's just do the DNA sample."

"Very well," the Doctor replied. He gestured to a biobed. "Please, lie down."

Kathryn climbed onto the bed and lay down while the doctor went over to a medical station.

"I'm going to scan the embryo and transport a DNA sample," he explained. "You won't feel more than a slight tingle."

In less than a minute, the process was complete.

"I'm analyzing the sample now," the Doctor said, working busily. "The first thing to determine is species."

Kathryn sat up slowly and watched silently as he worked.

"Appears to be fully human," the Doctor concluded. "I will now search our database for a paternity match."

Kathryn felt her heart race. So, the father was someone on board. It wasn't the first time something like this had happened as she and Tom had once mated and reproduced as amphibians, but mating and reproducing as an amphibian she could handle. They had not been themselves, in every sense, and their amphibious off-spring were able to survive alone. The thought of having been intimate with one of her male officers while under mind-control was very disturbing, and the off-spring of this tryst would be a humanoid child who would need loving and looking after. In that way, the two situations were entirely different.

"I have a match," the Doctor said at last.

Kathryn swallowed and got to her feet. "Who is it?"

The Doctor looked at her and was a moment in answering. "Commander Chakotay."

Kathryn stared at him, her eyes as wide as saucers. Chakotay? She and Chakotay had... No, it wasn't possible. And yet..and yet it had to be. This was too real to be a dream...

"Would you like me to summon the Commander?" The Doctor asked kindly.

"No," Kathryn replied urgently. "I don't want him to know about this."

"But he will have to know," the Doctor said, leaving his station. "You can't hide this indefinitely. In a few weeks you will begin to show and then..."

"Whoa," Kathryn said, putting her hand up. "Just wait a minute here. I'm in no position to have a baby, Doctor. Certainly not a baby with my First Officer, who also happens to be officially in my custody."

The Doctor looked at her in horror. "But you're not saying...Captain! How can you even think it? This is a child we're talking about. A perfectly healthy child that is thriving inside you."

"No, Doctor. Of course not. We'll freeze the embryo. I know it carries some risks to the embryo, but life on board this ship would also be risky. One day I may be in a position to have a child and the embryo can be re-planted inside me. But if I die or am too old to practically bear or care for a child when we get home, then the embryo can be donated to a childless couple."

The Doctor stepped closer. "I suggest you take some time to think about this. I also recommend that you discuss it with Chakotay."

"No. I've told you that I don't want him to know. This is between us, Doctor."

"But it's his child too and he..."

"I've made my decision, Doctor. We'll freeze the embryo and tell no one about this."

"Captain..."

"We'll do it now."

"But..."

"I said now, Doctor!"

At the steely look on her face, the Doctor was once again subdued. "Very well." He gestured to the bed behind her. "Please, lie down."

Kathryn climbed back onto the bed, and the Doctor returned to his station. He watched as she lay down, and every part of him protested against her sudden decision. He would have to try at least once more to get her to reconsider.

"Captain, are you...?"

"Just do it!" Kathryn answered.

At that, he reluctantly got to work and began the process of transplanting and preserving the embryo.

"It should only take a few seconds," he said, preparing a container for the embryo. "Again you should feel no more than a slight tingle."

He waited for Kathryn to change her mind, to say that she at least wanted more time to think about it, but she lay still and silent on the bed.

"Initializing transport," he said at last.

Kathryn felt a slight tingle as the beam penetrated her body, then it was gone.

"You may sit up now," the Doctor said.

Kathryn slowly sat up and looked in his direction. He was busy monitoring the preserved embryo. She watched for a moment, her heart thumping in her chest and her insides churning. "Is it...is it okay?"

"For the moment," the Doctor replied. "We won't know for 24 hours whether the preservation has worked."

He left his station and walked over to Kathryn with a hypospray.

"This will depregnatize your body."

Kathryn tilted her neck to the side and the Doctor administered the medication. When he was done, Kathryn got to her feet. "May I leave now?"

"Yes," the Doctor replied.

Kathryn walked towards the doors and then stopped. Slowly, she turned around and addressed the Doctor, a haunting pain in her eyes.

"The baby," she said quietly. "Is it a boy or a girl?"

"A boy," the Doctor replied.

For a moment, just a moment, the Doctor thought he saw regret in her eyes, but then she lowered them, obscuring the window into her soul.

"Thank you, Doctor."

She then turned around and left.

End of Chapter Two