AN: Here we are, another chapter here.

I have recently posted two more here, so please make sure that you've read them before you get here.

I really appreciate everyone's support and enthusiasm over this story. I love it, so I'm so happy to hear from you and know that you're loving it, too!

I hope you enjoy the chapter! Let me know what you think!

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"It's a system with a yellow dwarf star," Kathryn said. "There are seven planets in the system, but the third planet is the only M class planet. It looks very comparable to Earth. Commander Chakotay, are you listening?"

The truth was that Chakotay had been listening. He'd heard every word she'd said, but still he felt somewhat distracted. Distant.

"I'm sorry, Captain," he said. "I was listening."

"Are you certain?" Kathryn asked. "It looked like you were daydreaming."

She smiled at him. He almost hated that smile because, really, he loved it. There was so much mischief in it, and she relaxed a little, putting her elbows on her desk and resting her face on her hands.

"It's the fever," Chakotay offered. "It hasn't broken yet."

Kathryn sighed and sat back in her chair, still obviously relaxed—or maybe simply exhausted to the point of no longer being able to appear high strung in the least.

"It hasn't broken entirely for anyone yet—Ensign Vorik aside. Kes is recovering well. The doctor says the elogium was likely a false elogium. It never progressed to the final stages for conception, so it's likely that she'll go through the real thing in a year or two—when she should," Kathryn said. "Everyone else is waiting for it to pass and the doctor's handling anything he needs to take care of as various species go through some mating rituals of their own."

Chakotay hummed and nodded.

"I've noticed that many of the crewmembers have heeded your words about—seeking companionship and working toward a future generation," Chakotay said. He wondered if his words sounded as dead to her as they felt to him. She frowned and furrowed her brows, so she must have detected something.

"Have you slept, Commander?" Kathryn asked.

"I could ask you the same thing, Captain," Chakotay responded.

"Understood," Kathryn said, without fully explaining what she understood. Was it his tone that she understood? Was it his assertion that she should sleep at some point and care for herself properly, especially since she wouldn't allow him to care for her the way that he wanted? Was it the fact that he practically felt heartbroken over the fact that she wouldn't allow him to care for her the way that he wanted?

He breached none of those topics. That wasn't what she'd called him into her ready room to speak about. It wasn't what she wanted to discuss. It wasn't what had kept her up when she was supposed to have been resting in her quarters.

Only a few hours before, Daryl and Chakotay had been talking in the holodeck. Immediately, they'd both left there and gone to work at the changing of the skeleton crew.

They were travelling very quickly away from the anomaly that had caused the fever. As they moved away from it, everyone was starting to show signs of the fever fading. The assumption that some compound in the anomaly was causing the problem must have been correct. They weren't slowing, yet, because they wanted to be far enough away that the crew could be entirely unaffected. Though, hopefully, some of the effects would still linger now that they were truly committing to thinking about the future of Voyager and the fact that they would need to train a replacement crew to truly make it back to the Alpha Quadrant without something that somehow shortened their trip drastically.

As they'd moved away from the anomaly with a course change, though, something else had shown up on their sensors. And, as they continued to race away from the anomaly, their sensor readings had gotten clearer and clearer. They were nearing a planetary system. That, in itself, might not be too fascinating, but an M class planet was always something they were pleased to see.

"The planet, Captain," Chakotay said, drawing Kathryn back to what she'd been eager to discuss. "It's an M class?"

"Very comparable to Earth according to our readings," Kathryn said. "The atmosphere is almost exactly the same."

"Life signs?" Chakotay asked.

"At this distance, no," Kathryn said. "At least—nothing humanoid. We're picking up readings that suggest a great deal of plant life and some animal life, but we're getting nothing humanoid."

"At this distance," Chakotay said, more for his own musing that for any real need of clarification. Kathryn hummed at him, regardless, to clear up anything that he might need cleared up.

"We were hoping to find something we could convert into energy in that anomaly," Kathryn said. "We're not depleted—not by any stretch of the imagination—but we also don't want to use everything we've got."

"You think the planet might have something to offer," Chakotay offered.

"I think it's worth exploring," Kathryn said. "We're running some scans on the other planets in the system, as well, just to make sure that we aren't missing any potential energy sources. The M class planet could offer us a place to land, though. B'Elanna's been complaining about repairs and how spending so many years outside of space-dock means that we're so limited in what we can do to handle basic maintenance and upkeep for Voyager's exterior."

"Landing on an M class planet would mean that we can address those maintenance issues," Chakotay said, "without using extra resources, that we don't have, for atmosphere control."

Kathryn hummed and nodded.

"And it would give the crew a chance to stretch their legs," Kathryn said. "Breathe some fresh air. Some might even want to go camping. We haven't had true R and R for years, and the crew is well overdue."

Chakotay smiled to himself.

"I have to admit," he said. "That even sounds good to me."

Kathryn laughed to herself.

"Me too," she said. "As long as we dedicate some of the R and R time to searching for and acquiring possible resources, and to making necessary repairs, I think we can take that time for ourselves and our crew without feeling guilty about losing the travel time."

"A little camping trip might be good for the future generation of Voyager, as well," Chakotay offered. Immediately, he felt ashamed of saying it. He felt ashamed that his mind was never too far from wandering back to the things he wanted most—and couldn't help but think about. The fever hadn't entirely passed yet. It hadn't broken. He could feel it in the dryness of his throat, the warmth of his skin, and the slightly dizzy feeling that he got if he closed his eyes too long or moved his head too quickly.

Kathryn, apparently, was set to forgive him.

She smiled, perhaps even a little forlornly, and nodded.

"There's that, too," she said.

Chakotay was struck. He thought he detected something like a hint of sadness in her voice. He quickly pushed it out of his mind, though.

"The crew will welcome the opportunity," Chakotay said. "What would you like me to do to prepare, Captain?"

"I want a small crew to beam down first," Kathryn said. "We'll be able to take better readings, make sure that everything's safe, scout out a good location to land if we're going to go through with repairs, and get a rough idea of whether or not we'll find much that we can use on the planet's surface."

Chakotay smiled to himself.

"From what you're saying, am I correct in assuming that you intend to be part of the exploration party, Captain?"

Kathryn smiled.

"I do," she said. "I would like the chance to see the planet, and I'd rather go myself than send my crew down there."

"No good captain ever sends their crew where they wouldn't go," Chakotay said, reciting words that he'd heard a thousand times before. "May I ask permission to beam down?"

Kathryn's features softened. Her smile, this time, was the kind of smile that made Chakotay's heart beat more rapidly in his chest than it normally did. It was warm enough that he was almost certain the expression could have melted ice, and he was never sure what he did to deserve it.

"I would have insisted you go with me, Commander," Kathryn said. "I will value your opinions and, since it appears to be an uncivilized and unpopulated planet, I will value some of your skills, as well."

Chakotay nodded.

"If we're assembling a crew based on skills," Chakotay said, "which I entirely agree that we should, could I make some recommendations as to who our other crew members should be?"

Now the smile changed. The mischief came back, since that's always how Chakotay saw it. The corner of her lip curled upward.

"I'm almost certain that I know who you're going to say," Kathryn said. "But I'd like to know we're thinking the same. What are your suggestions?"

"I have three," Chakotay said. Kathryn hummed and just barely nodded her head to urge him to continue speaking. "Ensign Reynolds," Chakotay said.

Kathryn raised her eyebrow at him.

"That's an interesting choice," Kathryn said. "And not at all one of the choices that I was expecting."

"She studied raw material conversion extensively," Chakotay said. "She studied biology, raw material conversion, and her hobbies have included botany."

There was clearly approval on Kathryn's features.

"All of her interests, then, make her an exceptional addition to an away team that's going to assess whether or not this planet's going to offer us some things that we'll find useful," Kathryn said.

"We'll all be able to judge the flora and the fauna, especially when it comes to bringing things onboard for airponics, but she could have some extra, valuable input on whether or not we can expect to find any resources," Chakotay clarified. "In addition, Ensign Reynolds reported that she had never been a long tour before, and had very little actual field study since her time in the Academy. This could be a learning experience for her, and it could be some good training under her belt."

"I'm convinced," Kathryn said. "Ensign Reynolds will beam down with us. Now—I believe that I can guess your other two suggestions. Unless, of course, you're about to surprise me again."

Chakotay laughed to himself. He leaned and put his palms on the edge of Kathryn's desk when she leaned forward like he was going to share some great secret with her.

"I don't think I'll surprise you," Chakotay said. "It's an M class planet where, possibly, no human life has ever existed. We could imagine it's a veritable wilderness." Kathryn nodded in agreement. "If that's the case, I think the two best people that we can take with us are two people who know how to survive in some of the roughest conditions that mankind has known in around a thousand years. They'll be some of our greatest assets when it comes to judging the planet and judging whether or not the crew will want to—or even be able to—stay there, off the ship, for any amount of time while we work on repairs. Besides that, it might do them some good to stretch their legs, breathe that fresh air, and see that there is something beyond the walls of a starship three hundred years into their future."

"I couldn't think of anyone better to take," Kathryn said. "I don't want a larger crew than that, though. Not for beam-down. I think five is plenty. We'll take the readings we need, do the exploring we need to do, and then we'll report back to Voyager before she lands. If everything checks out, everyone gets to leave the ship, but I don't want to risk taking too many more people down at the start."

"Understood," Chakotay said. "Should I gather the beam-down crew for briefing?"

"Give me time to discuss things with Tuvok," Kathryn said. "He'll act as captain while we're on the surface. In the meantime, you can speak to them briefly about things. We'll meet more formally once I've had time to finalize everything else. Send them to sickbay and speak to the doctor. I know he hadn't quite finished everything with Daryl and Carol. I want everyone's inoculations up to date. After the fever, you might ask him about any kind of treatments we might require to make sure that everyone is strong and well. If we're going exploring in the wilderness, we're all going with a clean bill of health."

"The captain included," Chakotay urged.

"Of course," Kathryn said.

Chakotay laughed to himself.

"Forgive me, Captain, but you sometimes have a habit of skipping your medical examinations."

Kathryn laughed to herself.

"I'll be there before we beam down," she assured him. "If our sensor readings are correct, we have two days before we're in orbit."

"There will be time for you to get some sleep, then, I'm sure," Chakotay said. "Everyone should be well and strong when we beam down."

Kathryn came around her desk and rested her hand affectionately on Chakotay's chest as she often did. He was almost sure that she could feel his pulse pick up. Even the light touch of her hand was too much today.

It was the fever. It hadn't passed entirely yet.

"I promise, Commander," Kathryn said, "that I'll take a nap—just as soon as I speak to Tuvok and brief our beam-down crew."

"Good," Chakotay said.

"And—Commander?" Kathryn said. Chakotay hummed at her. His heart drummed to the point that he wondered if the doctor would tell him that the organ was malfunctioning. He couldn't help but glance at her lips a second before he brought his eyes back to hers. She smiled softly. "Thank you."

"For what, Captain?" Chakotay asked.

"Everything," Kathryn said. "But—I guess I meant…your concern."

"Any time, Captain," Chakotay said. "All the time."

His heart pounded. It wished for words his ears knew they wouldn't hear. Something flickered across Kathryn's features and got lost, again, in the fatigue and the hint of sadness that had landed there before so many times.

"Dismissed, Commander," she said softly and with very little command behind the words. "We've got a lot of work to do."