"I'll meet you halfway." (Ensemble)

Author's Note: This story takes place five years after "Endgame". It refers to events from Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek: Prodigy, but you don't need to watch them for it to make sense.

/

Wellington, New Zealand

"When's Uncle Tay coming back?" asked Miral, sitting up in bed with her plush targ in her arms and a wistful look in her eyes.

"We don't know, honey," said B'Elanna, forcing calm into her voice for what felt like the millionth time.

"I want him to tell me a story."

"I'll read to you." Deep breaths. "Which story do you want?"

Miral chose The Little Starship That Could, as always, but B'Elanna's performance was lackluster and they both knew it. By the time her little girl was tucked in and asleep, it was all she could do to walk softly out of her room and over to her husband's home office.

"Tom. Holosuite. Now."

Tom closed his computer screen and raised his eyebrows.

"I need to destroy something, and since Clancy isn't here, it'll have to be holograms."

Admiral Clancy, Starfleet's Commander-in-Chief, was the person who had authorized Chakotay's mission to the Delta Quadrant in the first place. B'Elanna was exaggerating, but not by much.

"Right there with you, Bee," said Tom, taking the bat'leths down off the wall. "Let's go."

/

U. S. S. Resilience

"Report," said Captain Tuvok.

"There was a fight among the passengers, sir," said a disheveled Security Chief Harry Kim, standing in front of the ready room desk. "Some of them protested the evacuation, but we managed to calm things down."

"You'd think they'd be a little more grateful," Lieutenant Dalby grumbled, holding one hand over a black eye. "Romulans."

"These Romulans have lost their homes," Tuvok retorted. "And as they see it, they are now at the mercy of their enemies, just as you and your fellow Maquis once were, Lieutenant. It is illogical to expect gratitude for doing one's duty. Dismissed."

"C'mon, Ken," Kim added wearily. "Let's get that eye looked after."

A chagrined "Yes, sir," from Dalby was his only answer.

Alone in his office, Tuvok picked up the photograph of Voyager's senior crew with a silent sigh. Commander Chakotay's patient face stood out among the rest.

One more complement of refugees on board. One more group of lives saved from the impending supernova. It still didn't feel like enough to make up for everyone who was lost.

/

Unnamed ship, Neutral Zone

"I heard about the Protostar being reported missing," said Icheb over the comm line. "I'm so sorry."

"Your condolences are irrelevant," said Seven stiffly, her hands tight on the controls of her ship. "It's none of my concern."

"Seven, how can you say that?"

"What do you expect me to say? Captain Chakotay and I severed our connection five years ago."

"I know you still care." Even over a small video screen, her son's earnest blue-gray eyes saw right through her. "You only sound this Borg when you're upset."

"I was never enough for him!" The words wrenched themselves out of her with an almost physical pain. "He never cared as much as I did, but none of it will matter if he dies out there. He could be dead already. Or worse."

Icheb's horrified silence made her wish she'd never spoken, but the young Lieutenant Commander had matured a lot over the years. He straightened his uniform collar and lifted his chin determinedly. "My ship is en route to Freecloud," he said. "I can meet you there. You need to talk to someone. In person."

Seven had a silent struggle with herself, but eventually said: "Agreed."

/

Bloomington, Indiana

"Admiral? … Kathryn? … Please open this door, or I'll have to walk right through it."

When her bedroom door finally creaked open, the Doctor barely held back a gasp of pity. Kathryn Janeway seemed to have aged twenty years overnight. It wasn't so much that she was letting her hair go gray as the pallor of her face and the empty look in her eyes. The last time he'd seen her this way had been in the Delta Quadrant, while they were passing through the Void.

"What do you want?" she rasped.

"You weren't answering my comms. I thought you might require assistance."

"Not unless you have a time travel device." She smiled bitterly.

"I'm a doctor, not a time agent."

"This is all wrong." She gestured to the screen behind her, which was playing yet another news story about the Romulan disaster, "I didn't die for this. I didn't break the Temporal Prime Directive for this. Chakotay … " Her voice faltered. "was supposed to be safe."

"I know, Kathryn." He gently steered her toward her cushioned desk chair. "But you are not alone in this, understood? Your crew is here for you. Now for mercy's sake, turn off that screen and drink something that isn't coffee."

Her smile was a barely visible flicker, but at least this time it was real.

/

New Talax

"The Protostar? Missing? Good heavens." Neelix wrung his spotted hands. "When and where did you last hear from them?"

"Sending you the coordinates now," said Admiral Paris. The string of numbers appeared below the grainy video of his face as the data traveled through the Pathfinder Array. The elderly human sounded crisp and professional, but his worried eyes looked just like Tom's.

"Why, that's not too far from here!" Neelix exclaimed. "Perhaps we'll even meet each other halfway."

"I hope so. I don't need to tell you, Ambassador, how vital it is for that ship and its crew to be found."

"I understand, sir. I promise you, if they're anywhere within range, our fleet will find them. We'll leave no stone unturned."

"On behalf of Starfleet, thank you."

"For Chakotay, it's the least I can do."

After the Admiral signed off, the first thing Neelix did was relay the order to the New Talax Defense Fleet. The second thing was to return to the quarters he shared with Dexa and Brax.

He knelt in front of the altar, clasped his hands, fixed his eyes on the Guiding Tree icon, and prayed to the spirits of his family to guide Chakotay home.