CHAPTER 39

U.S.S. Voyager

"The Q? Why am I not surprised?" Chakotay rubbed his temple when a headache formed behind his eyes. He knew this would just look great in his report. He sighed before he thanked Captain Picard for the missing piece of a very complex puzzle; who had been responsible for the demise of the Borg Queen's planet-sized sphere and who had repaired Voyager. "Any chance they'll be sending us home too?"

"Actually, yes." Captain Picard's expression betrayed nothing as he preserved Chakotay's ignorance as to the identity of who had actually been responsible: Kathryn Janeway, like a phoenix from the ashes.

Picard had reluctantly left Sickbay with Beverly after Seven had more or less kicked them out. He wanted to convince Janeway to come back to the Alpha Quadrant. Where else, he wondered, would she go? But he knew without a doubt it wouldn't be his words that would convince her to return. It would be Seven's.

"Well, I suppose we should be grateful for that." Something nagged at Chakotay about the whole situation. Why would the Q interfere in the first place and why wasn't Q on Voyager gloating? Something didn't add up, but Chakotay couldn't fathom what it was that he was missing.

"Captain, there is another matter I would like to speak with you about. It's regarding…" Picard found that the words left him. His mind was willing to tell Chakotay of Kathryn Janeway's resurrection, but he found that he couldn't verbalize his intent.

"Are you all right?" Chakotay's dark eyes held confusion as he watched Picard struggle with his words, something he had never known the legendary captain to do.

"There is something I must attend to. I will let you know when… Q decides to send us back to the Alpha Quadrant. Picard out."

"Well, that was strange." Chakotay stared at the dark screen for a moment before he rose from his chair and made his way out of his Ready Room through the Bridge towards the Briefing Room where Tom had just ordered the senior staff to report to. He hoped that whatever Tom had uncovered would shed some light on the mystery of why the Q of all beings had intervened.


"I must speak with the senior staff at once."

Seven seemed to be trying to keep her voice neutral, but there was urgency within her tones that made Tom nervous. The last time she had requested an audience with Voyager's senior staff it was to tell them that they had lost Kathryn Janeway. He couldn't really stand more bad news after the chaos that had just ensued. He still had no idea what the hell had just happened. It didn't make him feel better that no one else on Voyager did either. Tom hoped Chakotay would be able to enlighten them after speaking with Captain Picard.

Tom had thought they were done for. He hated to admit it but he had tried to prepare himself for death when he had seen the planet-sized Borg sphere appearing before them via a transwarp conduit. His hand was still sore from the aftereffects of B'Elanna's grip when he had held hers as tightly as he could while he could do nothing but watch as their ship was slowly being devoured. That was until an inexplicable blue orb of light and energy had intervened. It had been too bright for Tom or the others to look upon for too long, but he knew it was their savior when it had begun to attack the sphere. In destroying the Borg vessel the anomalous orb had saved them all.

He had stood with the rest of Bridge staff in awe at the awesome sight of the Borg sphere breaking apart and exploding in a surge of green and blue light that seemed to mix together resulting in a brilliance that Tom's eyes were still recovering from. The space had stilled and then Tom and the rest were shaken out of their frozen reveries as their systems became operational again and the damage to the ship was made their first priority. That was before they had realized something or someone had intervened with their repairs as well and they discovered Voyager was perhaps better than new.

Perhaps, Tom considered, Seven held all the answers to these mysteries. He smiled as much as his fatigue and confusion would allow as he nodded his head once. "Sure, come on over. I'll have you beamed to the Briefing Room. Hold tight."

Tom almost laughed as he witnessed the bemused expression on Seven's features caused by his last two words to her before he closed the channel and stood from the captain's chair. "All senior officers to the Briefing Room. Ayala, you have the Bridge. Beam Seven directly to the Briefing Room."

"Aye, sir."

Tom thought he detected a hint of disgust in Ayala's voice but knew it was just his imagination for Ayala could know nothing of what had been revealed by the Borg Queen. It was merely Tom's own disgust and guilt that made him believe everyone around him was judging him. Hell, B'Elanna had found it within herself to forgive him years ago, much less now, so why couldn't he? Well, he hadn't been aware that Janeway had known about his hologram of her and Harry. God, how was he supposed to look Harry in the eye again? Or the woman standing rigidly, looking out at the stars, in front of the three Briefing Room viewports. Tom had been able to see clearly for years that Seven of Nine had fallen for the then Captain Janeway. He worried about what she saw within him now that his dark secret had been revealed. He nearly jumped in surprise when she turned and smiled.

"Seven? You all right?"

"I am well." Seven's tone was warmer than anything Tom had ever heard from her before and he felt his uneasiness diminish a bit.

"That's good." Tom took his seat as the rest of the senior staff began to file in. His unease reemerged as he saw Harry enter, but it was unwarranted for Harry merely nodded respectfully with no disgust in his dark eyes or features as he took his seat.

B'Elanna wasn't part of the Voyager crew, but she came to the Briefing Room all the same. She touched Tom's shoulder affectionately before she moved to stand next to Seven. Her voice was quiet and only meant for Seven.

"Do you know what the hell just happened?"

"I do."

"That's great, because we haven't a clue." B'Elanna head tilted as her dark gaze took in Seven's tired but bright features. "You look like you've got some good news to share, huh?"

"Yes. Very 'good news'."

"Good, we could use some."

"Indeed."

Seven's attention was diverted from B'Elanna as Chakotay entered the Briefing Room. She could tell he was surprised to see her, but he recovered quickly. She also knew despite him just having talked with Captain Picard he knew nothing of what she was about to divulge. Kathryn had promised her such. She kept her expression impassive as her icy gaze followed his movements towards her.

"Seven, what is it?"

Seven didn't waste time with preamble and so with a voice that was filled with the joy she felt in her heart she spoke four simple words that would change the lives of the people before her forever.

"Kathryn Janeway is alive."

Absolute silence followed Seven's words and she shifted slightly as she waited for their reactions. She didn't have to wait long. Shortly after her words had left her she was inundated with questions. She felt slightly claustrophobic as the senior officers crowded around her and demanded their questions be answered.

"If you will be silent, I will explain." Seven could tell they were all reluctant to comply, but she would not yield to this chaos. Not when Kathryn awaited her onboard the Enterprise.

So for the next twenty-four minutes, Seven explained as succinctly as she could what had occurred. How Kathryn's essence, her soul, had been preserved by the female Q who had made an appearance on Voyager seven years ago. How over the course of three centuries Kathryn had been Q, but never abandoned who she had been as a human being. How she had fought against being assimilated into the Continuum and how the supernovae were the results of her rebellion. How that had been Q's intent all along for the Q themselves could not be seen meddling directly with the will of the Borg Collective. But a renegade one could.

"A… Q." Jarem's two words left him on a breath, but he quickly quelled his distracting awe as Seven continued.

"She defeated the sphere, restored Voyager and will be the one to send us back to the Alpha Quadrant." Seven felt uncertain as to how to explain Kathryn's condition and so her words stumbled out of her in a tone filled with sympathy for Kathryn's plight. For Seven knew what it was like to be on the outside looking in, not to be completely one thing or the other, but something unique. She knew what it was like to be both Borg and human, but supposed she couldn't hope to understand what it would be like to be an uneven fusion of three very separate, very distinct, and very contradictory components.

"The blue orb of light…" Harry's dark eyes widened as his brain finally comprehended something past the fact that Kathryn Janeway was alive. "That was the Admiral?"

"Yes."

"That's—that's incredible!" Lyssa smiled broadly as her eyes were alight with the feeling of joy she felt in her heart. "She saved us."

"Yes."

Tom held B'Elanna's hand within his own as he felt their happiness entwine. His brow was creased as he gnawed on a problem he couldn't solve. "There's one thing I don't get."

B'Elanna smirked as she looked at her husband's bemused, but elated features. "Just 'one thing'?"

"Why isn't she the one telling us all this?"

"I—she wanted you to be adequately prepared to see her again."

"I think we're prepared enough, Seven." Chakotay needed to see Kathryn to believe the words Seven was speaking. He had to see her. He pushed away his bitterness that Kathryn would reveal herself to Seven, but not to him, and let the joy he felt at Kathryn's existence wash over him with warmth and incalculable relief.

"I am uncertain that you are. She is not what she was."

"That is logically speaking an understatement." Vorik's expression wasn't as eager as the rest but his tone seemed to betray his impatience. "We may never be truly prepared, but we do not care."

"I understand." Seven looked gravely at the expectant features waiting for her to act, to reveal Kathryn to them. She took a few cleansing breaths before she spoke. "It is time, Kathryn."

CHAPTER 40

Enterprise-E

"Admiral?"

Kathryn could practically feel the anger radiating off of Picard, but her voice and expression remained neutral as she watched him walk towards her after he had entered the Enterprise's Sickbay.

"I'm not wearing any pips, Jean Luc." Kathryn moved off the biobed to stand before Picard. Her shimmering red silk dress flowed across her body unnaturally as if it were made of liquid rather than fabric, which Picard supposed was possible. Her voice was low and husky as a corner of her lips pulled up to create a lop-sided grin and her indigo eyes sparkled with mirth and power. "Call me Kathryn."

"Fine, Kathryn. I will not stand by and allow you to manipulate my mind or anyone else's." Picard didn't appreciate the smile playing on Kathryn's lips as he continued to reprimand her. "You have no right to—what are you smiling at?"

"I just never truly appreciated what the Q are speaking of when they refer to the 'grand arrogance of humanity'. I have control over space, matter and time and yet here you are, an infinitely less powerful being than I, telling me what you will and will not allow me to do." Kathryn smirked before she spoke the next part with amusement in her voice. "It's delightful."

"Well, I am not amused." Picard's words were spoken with a heavy dose of irritation.

"Yes, I can see that." Kathryn's tone was flat as something flashed across her features. A dangerous sort of impatience, but then it was gone, replaced by her bright smile once again. "Perhaps it will make you feel better to know that Seven is onboard Voyager right now. They'll soon know the reports of my demise were greatly exaggerated. I thought she should be the one to tell them. Not you. Not Alynna."

"Admiral Nechayev knows of you, of your survival?"

Kathryn grinned as she snapped her fingers and in a flash of brilliant blue light Admiral Nechayev appeared before her and Picard. Kathryn's voice was slightly amused at the shocked expressions on both Picard's and Nechayev's faces. "She does now."

"What the hell is this?" Nechayev's eyes passed over Kathryn to Picard until her brain registered what her eyes had just seen and her eyes widened as they found Kathryn once again. Her voice was high pitched and demanding. "How in the—what the hell is going on here?"

Picard quickly interceded to stop Nechayev from thinking Kathryn was the Borg Queen who had come to kill them all and instead it was a Q or at least used to be.

Kathryn tried not to roll her eyes at how trying humans were. After all, she herself had been one for over forty-five years, although she had existed as a Q for much longer. She knew she had to give them time to adjust. It seemed ironic to her that immortality and omnipotence had left her with even less patience than she had possessed as a human.

"Alynna." Kathryn's voice was as gentle as she could make it though there was a hard authoritative edge to it that kept Nechayev silent. "I brought you here to tell you that a potentially dangerous and nearly omnipotent being will be accompanying you and the Federation fleet back to the Alpha Quadrant by nineteen hundred hours today. You will want to inform Starfleet Command of that fact. And a cover story will have to be devised to explain my apparent resurrection."

"You—you're serious?" Nechayev blinked a few times, her features betraying nothing as she maintained her gaze upon Kathryn.

Admiral Nechayev had seen what the Borg had done to Kathryn and now apparently she was seeing what the Q had. She scrutinized Kathryn's appearance closely and felt uneasy at what she saw. This was not the Kate Janeway she had come to know since Voyager's return to the Alpha Quadrant. No, this… being was something else entirely. Kate looked so unnatural with her too pale skin that gleamed under the Sickbay lights and was completely flawless, her dark indigo eyes, and her crimson colored hair that fell across her shoulders in luxurious waves. Yes, Kate looked inhuman and yet utterly, breathtakingly beautiful.

"It's still me, Alynna." Kathryn didn't dare touch her awestruck friend. Instead she turned to Picard when she heard his confusion in his deep, rich voice.

"You're coming with us then. What convinced you?"

Kathryn grinned as she remembered how even after all those years without Seven the woman could still get her to do things no one, not even herself, was able to. Her voice was light from the love she felt in her heart that overruled her worry and guilt, at least for the moment. "Seven called me a bad name."

Picard felt his own lips pull up at the obvious humor and affection that laced through Kathryn's words. "Oh?"

"She said I was being a 'coward'. Mind you this was after she ordered me to stop throwing myself a 'pity party'. And after we…" Kathryn's voice cut off as she felt her entire body warm at the memory of Seven's full lips upon hers, how insistent, commanding those lips were. How Seven had their bodies pressed so tightly together that Kathryn wondered how air was still moving in either of their lungs. She hadn't cared though, her entire existence, her world, had been reduced to only that searing, all-consuming kiss.

Nechayev's voice was demanding as she pointed a finger at Kathryn. "What the hell is happening to your face?"

"Nothing." Kathryn's stern voice could do nothing to lessen the dark blue light that emanated from her pearly white cheeks.

Picard laughed aloud at the sight before he managed to expel two words, his tone filled with amazement and certainty. "You're blushing."

"I am nearly omnipotent. I. Do not. 'Blush'." Kathryn felt her frustration cause her blue light to brighten, which was the opposite of what her words were meant to convey. "Oh, stop smirking at me, you little minor bipedal specimen."

Picard stopped smirking because he was too busy guffawing. He didn't know whether it was from Kathryn's pouting words or just the relief finally washing over him that the Borg threat had at long last been neutralized. Probably both.

"Damn it!" Nechayev's raised voice indicated that out of the three of them she was the least amused. "How the hell am I supposed to just—Kate, you're dead."

"I know. It's a hell of a thing that I'm standing here talking to you then, hmm? Inconvenient as well." Kathryn's features were as hard as her voice, the blue light had faded into a dim glow beneath her epidermis as her dark indigo eyes narrowed. "Despite this, I'm coming home. So let's make it work, all right?"

Nechayev wanted to say something, protest perhaps or even concede, but she found that all she could do was nod obediently. Finally her words came back to her and she voiced that sudden obedience as well. "I'll see to it."

"Thank you, Alynna. One more thing." Kathryn's commanding voice stopped Nechayev from exiting Sickbay. "Forget about your plans for genocide. Believe me; you don't want to see what takes their place if you're successful in annihilating the Collective."

Picard watched the doors close behind Admiral Nechayev before he turned his gaze to Kathryn, his voice censoring. "You manipulated her."

"Yes. I did."

"Wonderful." Picard's sardonic tone was devoid of any approval. He shook his head at his own desire to think of Kathryn as human. He had to acknowledge that she had existed as a Q for much longer than she had as a mere mortal, a "little minor bipedal specimen". He wondered how difficult it was for her to restrain herself from manipulating everything around her to her liking. Perhaps, he considered, she had been right not to want to return with them to the Alpha Quadrant.

"It's extremely difficult." Kathryn looked resigned as she addressed Picard's questions that emanated from him in waves to her perception.

"What is this?" Picard looked at the small curved gleaming silver phaser that had suddenly appeared in his right hand.

"It's for when it becomes too difficult." Kathryn's voice lost its edge and she appeared suddenly vulnerable as she looked seriously at Picard. "I'm not human. I'm not Q. I have Borg nanoprobes running throughout my body. I am the physical manifestation of Kathryn Janeway's soul, for lack of a better term, with all of its foibles and beauty. I'm returning because that is where Kathryn's soul belongs. But I don't for a second forget that I could destroy that entire solar system without all that much effort. So, what you hold in your hand is the only insurance I can give you that if I do lose control you have the power to stop me."

"Kathryn, I—what about Seven? She'd be a more—"

"No, no, I know she would never kill me." Kathryn smiled sadly at that fact as she placed a warm hand on top of Picard's that held the Q weapon. "Only you have that power."

"Understood." And Picard did with that touch from Kathryn. She was afraid. There had never been anything like her, ever, and she was fearful that that much power housed in such a vulnerable vessel would be tempted too strongly. He had seen and felt her manipulations already. How easy it was for her to do it without a care to the will of others. He clutched the phaser tighter. "Stop manipulating us, Kathryn. Pretend to be as powerless as the rest of us and perhaps you won't be as afraid as I know you are now."

Kathryn's hand left Picard's as she nodded solemnly in understanding before she heard Seven's voice in her mind telling her it was time to face the Voyager crew. "Sound advice. I'll consider it."

Picard shook his head as he watched Kathryn vanish in a flash of brilliant blue light.

CHAPTER 41

U.S.S. Voyager

"It is time, Kathryn."

Seven's words had barely left her before a brilliant flash of blue light heralded Kathryn's arrival into Voyager's Briefing Room, revealing herself in her new form to her former crew for the first time. She materialized sitting upon the curved surface of the briefing room table as casually as if she was relaxing next to a pool on a sunny day. Her long burnished crimson hair fell across her pale shoulders, her glittering dark red dress drifted in slow moving waves across her deceptively diminutive body as she sat very still, unnaturally still, while she awaited the uproar that was soon to come. But it never did. Instead, everyone seemed frozen, except for Seven who merely smiled at Kathryn warmly.

"I told myself I would never do this." Kathryn smirked as she lightened her tone to a tease as she looked upon her crew with affection and mirth. "I always hated when they'd appear out of the blue, sitting. It was always so unsettling."

It was her voice that broke the Voyager crew out of their trances. That rich, husky voice filled with a complex mixture of mischief, trepidation, and warmth. It was a voice they had thought they'd never hear again. It was so different from the hard, malevolent coldness of the Borg Queen's voice. As soon as her teasing words had broken their reveries the Briefing Room became a cacophony of multiple voices all asking her basically the same thing: was she really Kathryn Janeway, returned to them?

"Yes, it's me." Kathryn's voice was soft as her remembrance of these people's grief and pain over her death caused an ache in her own chest. She had missed them so much.

Kathryn saw tears in too many eyes and wondered yet again if she had made the wrong decision to succumb to Seven's wishes. But then a sound broke over the din of questions being hurled at her. It had begun softly until the owner of the sound overpowered everyone with her laughter that was rife with relief and joy.

B'Elanna calmed herself once she realized her laughter was perhaps bordering on hysterical as she wiped tears from her face. She looked around at the bemused expressions upon her crewmates' faces and snorted indelicately, her voice reproachful. "What the hell is wrong with you people? Who the hell cares what happened? Kathryn Janeway is standing there alive and obviously better than just well and all you can do is ask her about her quantum signature and how long she was in Continuum? You're all crazy."

"Well, what should we be doing?" Harry's brow was creased as he too felt at odds with what was occurring. He simply didn't know what to do. He wondered at the possibility that they were all hallucinating, or perhaps he had gone into shock.

B'Elanna rolled her eyes before she moved quickly in front of Kathryn with a few strides, smiled toothily as she spoke two simple words before she embraced the otherworldly woman who was so different, yet gloriously familiar. "Welcome back."

"Oh, B'Elanna, it's good to be back." Kathryn let all her doubts, her worry and fear fall away as she relaxed within B'Elanna's strong arms and let her love for this woman emanate from her visibly in soft waves of blue warmth.

B'Elanna smiled as hot tears formed in her eyes when she felt a wave of affection crash down upon her, which made her tighten her hold on Kathryn. B'Elanna could feel it, like a touch, this woman's love for her. She felt it suffuse her with warmth and she welcomed it fully. Harry's tremulous voice broke through B'Elanna's haze and reluctantly she let Kathryn go.

"I—I think I get it now." Harry closed his eyes as he too felt what B'Elanna had when he practically fell into Kathryn's welcoming embrace. A pure and selfless love washed over him as he hugged Kathryn closer than he had ever thought would be respectful. He cared nothing of decorum now as his mind finally accepted one simple and undeniable fact: Kathryn Janeway was alive.

"Tom, come here." Kathryn gently disengaged from Harry's arms as she opened hers to the reluctant man who she knew felt a shame for a crime she cared nothing about, not anymore. "Now."

"How can I say no to that?" Tom smirked but it still didn't stop the rapid beating of his heart as he moved slowly towards Kathryn whose indigo eyes showed nothing disapproving at all in their dark depths even though he knew, somehow, she could sense why he hesitated.

But then he was in her arms and he felt her warmth, her mercy and her forgiveness and fondness for him. He felt it all and that is why his legs gave out and he let out one audible sob as all the shame left him in a rush, because he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Kathryn Janeway loved him.

One by one they took turns embracing Kathryn, an assurance that she was in fact real. Kathryn held Lyssa as the young woman muffled her cries against the pale skin of her shoulder. Vorik had merely allowed a touch to his shoulder, but even then he had felt what the others had and felt humbled by it, by the power of such a simple emotion. Love.

"You're looking good, Admiral." Jarem Kaz smiled as he heard her soft melodic laughter next to his ear.

"Near omnipotence does have its perks I suppose, Doctor." Kathryn's grin grew as she felt a presence nearing the Briefing Room.

She extracted herself from Jarem's embrace as she awaited the doors to admit the Doctor. Her smile revealed her teeth at the sight of his annoyed, astonished and jubilant expression. How anyone could think he wasn't a person was beyond Kathryn as she was nearly thrown off balance by his rush to hug her.

"Why is it that I'm always the last to be told everything?" The Doctor's chastising voice couldn't hope to mask the joy he felt throughout his entire being as he tightened his arms around Kathryn. "I came as soon as I could. I had a few Klingons to patch up first. I know better than anyone that a doctor's duty is never through, but I would have liked to have been notified immediately."

"That was my fault, Doctor. I wouldn't allow any communication between the Gorkon and the Enterprise until Admiral Nechayev was informed of my existence." Kathryn felt the Doctor pulling out of their embrace and smiled as he clasped her shoulders and a huge, but close-lipped smile brightened his craggy features as he looked upon her with moisture shimmering in his dark eyes.

"It doesn't matter." The Doctor's eyes hungrily absorbed the woman he had known all his life. The woman responsible for his development beyond his programming, who had given him freedoms and responsibilities no other hologram in the Alpha Quadrant was allowed. His heart, no matter how hypothetical or metaphorical, sang. "Not now."

Captain Chakotay was the only person who seemed unable to come to terms with what was happening. Chakotay said two words before he rushed out of the Briefing Room to escape to his inner sanctum that he still thought belonged to Kathryn. "Welcome back."

Kathryn gently moved out of the Doctor's hold before she snapped her fingers and transported Chakotay and herself to the Ready Room before the Briefing Room doors had even closed behind the captain.

"Chakotay, I know this is a shock, but I—Chakotay?" Kathryn hesitated as she felt Chakotay's anger radiating off of him as he glared at her with barely contained tears in his eyes.

"How dare you." Chakotay's voice was filled with pain and fury that caused his fists to shake and his face to flush with heat from the blood pumping through his veins. "We thought you were dead. I thought you were dead. Do you know what that did to us? The crew? Your family? Me? DO YOU?"

"Yes. I believe I do." Kathryn's voice was infinitely calm as she stood quite still and accepted Chakotay's anger with nothing but sympathy and a trace of guilt on her features.

"How can you? You say you're Kathryn Janeway, but she would never have stood idly by and let her people suffer like that. To think she was dead. And what about General Korok, the Ledosians, the Klingon colonists? What about Ensign Chang? You could have saved them!" Chakotay had been approaching her with each accusation and now he stood well within her personal space, his face a mask of anger while his body trembled from it. "Why didn't you save them? Why did you leave us? My God, Kathryn, I thought you were dead!"

Kathryn maintained her footing as Chakotay collapsed to his knees before her. That was why she had transported them to the Ready Room in the first place because she knew as captain he could never have broken down like this in front of his crew. She still remembered what it was like to have to pretend so often.

Chakotay circled his arms around her waist and felt the silky feeling of her dress beneath his damp and reddened cheeks as he hugged her to him. He felt his rage being lightened by the relief he felt coursing through him when he finally accepted that this goddess-like being in his arms was the same woman he had known, the same woman he loved and the same woman he had thought he had lost forever. His sobs racked his body as he pressed her even closer and felt her fingers threading through his hair as an act of comfort and love.

He wept from the feel of her in his arms. The love that emanated from her was both glorious and anguishing. Chakotay knew it was wrong, that the love she was giving to him wasn't the same he felt for her, but he felt desperate and nearly crazed as he quickly stood and crushed his lips against hers.

Blue light drained from Kathryn's face and hands as she allowed the kiss, but stood like stone in Chakotay's forceful hold. With a wretched cry Chakotay pushed himself away from Kathryn as he tried to control himself; his anger and his lust. He wanted her so much to be his, but he knew it would never be. It had been in Seven's smile.

"You didn't come back for us did you?" Chakotay turned away from Kathryn, unable to look upon her ethereal beauty as he spoke in a desolate but certain voice. "You came back for her. For Seven."

Kathryn ignored how Chakotay had nearly spat out Seven's name as her voice was infinitely patient, but commanding in its assuredness. "I fought against Q for three hundred years so that I could return and defeat the thing that I had created. The Borg Queen should never have existed and wouldn't have if I had heeded Q's warning. I came back to rectify my mistake. But you're right that Seven is the reason why I am returning to the Alpha Quadrant against my better judgment."

"You were always in love with her, weren't you?" Chakotay didn't mean for it to come out so accusing, but his grief over the knowledge that Kathryn could never and would never be his caused a deep ache in his chest that gave heat to his words. "From the very beginning. I think I knew it. That's why I always hated her."

"I know."

"Damn it! Stop being so goddamned understanding. I would have married her!" Chakotay slammed his fists down upon the surface of his desk before he turned and his anger reignited within him, but this time it was more directed at himself than at her. "Anything to keep you two apart. To keep her from having you."

"Yes, I know that as well."

Chakotay had to avert his gaze from the forgiving expression Kathryn had on her pale face. He forced himself to acknowledge a fact that he had always known but been vehemently against accepting. Once Seven had come onboard Voyager he hadn't stood a chance with Kathryn. He had to admit to it because if death, the Borg and the Q couldn't come between Kathryn and Seven, how could he ever hope to. He took a deep breath before he allowed a smile to break through his malaise.

"I'm glad you're back, Kathryn. I can't even tell you how much. We were—I was completely lost without you, just trying to get through the next day. And then this mission started and I thought maybe I would avenge your death. But I failed. I was completely powerless against the Borg Queen." Chakotay's smile was brighter as his eyes found Kathryn again. "You saved us."

Kathryn shook her head as her lips twisted up into a sardonic smirk. "You wouldn't have needed saving if it hadn't been for me. Oh, Chakotay, if only I hadn't gone to that sphere. If I had just listened to Seven, to Q… to myself, if I had just destroyed the damned thing when I had had the chance, none of this would have happened."

Chakotay snorted with equal parts humor and incredulity. "Now I know you're Kathryn Janeway. You've placed the weight of the galaxy, hell the Universe, squarely and solely on your shoulders. Guess what, you're only human. Or at least… you used to be."

"Yes, sometimes I forget how fallible you humans can be." Kathryn's grin mirrored Chakotay's as she felt the easiness she cherished in their friendship replace the high emotions and tension that had been almost tangible once they had arrived in the Ready Room.

"Kathryn," Chakotay's voice was gentle in the silence of his Ready Room as his gaze soaked up her form and his love for this woman overcame his selfish desire for her. "What will you do now?"

Blue light lit Kathryn from within as she spoke her words earnestly. "I'm taking us home."


"Prepare for transport back to the Alpha Quadrant in ten seconds." Kathryn Janeway's voice was amplified throughout three vessels without the use of technology as she stood in the middle of Voyager's Bridge, her hands aglow with blue energy that crackled across her ethereally pale skin.

When she had been a Q it would have taken a mere snap of her fingers to transport the three ships and their crews to the Alpha Quadrant, but now she had to concentrate on each and every subatomic molecule so she wouldn't inadvertently leave anything behind. A person was easy enough, herself even more so, but every person and every object contained within the three vessels all had to be within her thoughts before she felt comfortable shifting space itself so they could return home. There was also an irony that she just couldn't ignore.

Kathryn's voice was sardonic as she spoke. "Wish it had been this easy a decade ago, hmm?"

"Do you think the last few weeks have been 'easy'?"

"No." Kathryn shook her head gravely at Tom's incredulous words. "I suppose not."

Seven's voice broke through Kathryn's disquiet. "Three seconds. Two."

"Transport."

With that one voiced word and an immense flash of blue light that lit up a whole sector of space within the Delta Quadrant the two Starfleet vessels and the Gorkon vanished as if they had never been there at all. Their only remnant was a soft shimmering of blue light that eventually faded away completely in the overwhelming blackness of space.

CHAPTER 42

Alpha Quadrant
USS Titan

"Report!" Will Riker's voice boomed above the red alert klaxons that had just broken out across his ship. He clung to his armrests as he was jostled in his captain's chair. He envied Tuvok's composure and thought his Tactical Officer's voice was almost infuriatingly calm.

"Three ships just appeared forty-seven million kilometers off the port bow: the Enterprise, Voyager and the ISS Gorkon."

"They're back." Deanna Troi stood with her husband after the Titan finally stilled around them.

"Hail the—"

"Sir," Lieutenant Sariel Rager's voice interrupted Riker's order after her board lit up with multiple comm. channels. "We're being hailed… by the Enterprise, Deep Space Twelve, the—"

"Patch the Enterprise through, Lieutenant." Riker's light blue eyes anticipated Captain Picard's appearance on the viewscreen as he absently adjusted the front of his uniform. He spoke under his breath to Deanna. "Let's get some answers."

"Captain." Picard didn't dare smile as he spoke evenly to his former 'Number One'. "I apologize for our abrupt arrival."

"Congratulations." Riker began applauding followed by the rest of the Bridge crew who stood in full knowledge that no matter how inexplicably the Enterprise, Voyager and the Gorkon had returned, it meant one thing to all of them: they had been successful. The Borg threat had been neutralized.

Picard put up one hand to silence the round of applause before he spoke seriously to Riker. "Captain, if I could have you and your senior staff congregate in your Conference Room there is a small matter I'd like to discuss with you."

Riker nodded as he concealed his curiosity behind an impassive expression and his even voice. "Of course, Captain."

"Thank you. We'll transport to the Conference Room. Picard out."

"All senior officers report to the Conference Room." Riker looked to Deanna who appeared just as bemused as he felt. He figured he would get his questions answered soon enough, so he silently made his way to the Conference Room followed closely by the rest of the senior Bridge officers.

Riker heard Deanna gasp behind him after the doors to the Conference Room had closed behind them. He hesitated for a moment before he steeled himself and moved towards where Captain Picard was speaking to a crimson haired woman by the row of windows beyond the long conference table. Riker felt an uneasy numbness wash over him when both Picard and the woman turned to face him and his crew.

Kathryn Janeway, and yet not. Riker couldn't quite comprehend how she could look so much like the Admiral he had known and yet completely foreign and unfamiliar to him as well. The loud pounding of blood resonating in his ears prevented him from registering the other gasps and sounds of surprise that emanated from his crew save for one individual who spoke one word so calmly that it brought a smile to Kathryn's lips.

"Greetings."

"Hello, Tuvok." Kathryn's voice was amused and warm as she continued to smile softly at the man she so desperately wanted to hug, but she controlled herself. For his sake more than her own. Instead she moved slowly away from Captain Picard and took a seat at the end of the long table. That was the astounded crew of the USS Titan's cue to take their seats as well.

It took Deanna's calming hand on his shoulder for Riker to emerge from his trance and to speak. "Admiral, how did you…?"

"Survive?"

"Well, yes." Riker couldn't be sure but he thought he saw something flash within her unnaturally indigo eyes, a light of some sort.

"I didn't." Kathryn shrugged minutely which seemed to cause her crimson dress to shift like an ocean's tide across her pale body. "Not really, but that's not why I've asked you here. I have a mission for the USS Titan, if you choose to accept it."

"Admiral—"

"Captain Riker, my rank is no longer active, this isn't an order. Think of this as a request, one I'm strongly encouraging you to accept with Admiral Necahyev's 'blessing'." Kathryn would never shift in her chair, not when she had been human and certainly not now, but the scrutiny she was receiving from Riker's crew was beginning to annoy her. It was as if they were waiting at any moment for her to disappear like a mirage in a desert.

Kathryn couldn't begrudge them their confusion, their awe, even their suspicion, but she didn't have time for it. Things needed to be set in motion quickly. She wanted the Titan in the Delta Quadrant, to help control the chaos that was ensuing after the Borg Queen had wreaked her havoc. She needed the Delta Quadrant to be calm once again or it would attract the wrong sort of attention from a very powerful, very malevolent extra dimensional race that she knew even with her vast capabilities she would not be able to defeat. And what she wouldn't do, despite the ease with which it could be done, was force her will upon Riker and his crew. So she did something quite human in its tediousness: she explained the situation and she asked.

"You want us to create a Federation in the Delta Quadrant?" Christine Vale's voice wasn't so much a question as a succinct statement of Kathryn's 'request'.

"Yes. Peace and stability in the Delta Quadrant is in the best interest of the Federation. We have already taken the first steps with our alliance with the Resistance. You will be able to capitalize on that relationship and the many others that were formed in the seven years Voyager transversed the Delta Quadrant." Kathryn could read the crew's excitement, but also their trepidation. The Delta Quadrant was still a vastly unexplored region and the type of coalition she had in mind would take them several years to accomplish just the preliminaries of a quadrant sized cooperative. She smiled because she knew they could be successful. "There is no ship better equipped for an extended deep space and diplomatic mission than the Titan."

Ensign Aili Lavena's voice was tremulous from her bemusement and nervousness as she addressed Kathryn. "What about Voyager?"

"Voyager is a fine ship." Kathryn's warm look was filled with affection as she thought of her former vessel that had carried them home. Her voice was soft as she spoke truthfully of that little Intrepid-class scout ship. "But it was never meant to be in the Delta Quadrant."

"But how will we get there? There is not a starship equipped that can take us to the Delta Quadrant quickly enough." Commander Ra-Haverii wondered about this woman, wondered why when she was without rank both captains deferred to her.

"Leave that to me, Commander." Kathryn showed nothing to betray her power before the Titan crew, but somehow a few of them realized what her words meant. Lieutenant Commander Melora Pazlar was one of them.

"What are you?"

"That, Commander Pazlar, is a long story. And we simply don't have the time." Kathryn turned to Riker with a glint of edge in her indigo eyes and her impatience sharpened her voice. "What say you, Captain?"

"You're still my Admiral, I will comply with your 'request'." Riker's voice also held authority though he still had a multitude of questions for her, but he knew that had to wait. He had to deliver his order. "As will my crew."

"Marvelous." Kathryn stood, which prompted the rest of the Conference Room occupants to stand as well. "Titan's overhaul is complete. I suggest you all take the next few hours to ready yourselves for your upcoming mission. You will be leaving for the heart of the Delta Quadrant at oh six hundred."

"Dismissed." Riker watched peripherally as his crew filed out of the Conference Room until only a trio of the Titan's crew remained with Captain Picard and Kathryn Janeway, seemingly resurrected as a very powerful being.

"It's good to see you, old friend." Kathryn nearly laughed at the irony of her statement. She was now technically older than Tuvok, which amused her. "I've missed you."

"Indeed." Tuvok was undoubtedly curious about what had happened that allowed her to be standing before him, but he knew if she wanted him to know she would tell him. And so he maintained his legendary impassivity in the face of his oldest and dearest friend returned to him from the dead. "I am pleased that you are well."

"Well enough. I'd like to see T'Pel before the Titan embarks on its mission."

"Indeed." Tuvok hesitated in front of the Conference Room doors, which stopped Kathryn's steps as well. He turned back and seemed to feel foolish by what he was about to say, but he composed himself and spoke evenly. "I would like time to prepare T'Pel for your arrival."

"Of course." Kathryn placed a warm hand upon Tuvok's shoulder and smiled for she understood how much Vulcans detested being surprised. It wreaked havoc with their composure. "Just contact me when you're ready for me."

Kathryn grinned as she tapped his combadge with the tip of her finger, which flashed a brilliant blue until her touch left it. "Go ahead and use this."

"Indeed." Tuvok nodded respectfully to the two captains and Commander Troi before he departed with only a slight raise to one dark, angled eyebrow.

"You enjoyed that." Deanna Troi's rich voice was filled with humor as her dark brown eyes watched a bright smile form upon Kathryn's lips.

"He needs to be kept on his toes, keeps him sharp." Kathryn nearly rolled her eyes at Tuvok's inability to admit he was just as flummoxed by her as the rest of them. She turned away from where he had just departed from to look seriously at Captain Riker though her voice held some dry humor as well. "He'll be invaluable to you on this mission. He knows Voyager's records better than I do. And he can tell you each and every misstep I took and every tactical protocol I violated or ignored."

"Yes, I'm quite aware of his fastidiousness." Riker smiled, amused by his shared knowledge regarding Tuvok before his voice evened out into a gentler timbre. "It's good to have you back, Admiral."

"I told you, I'm not your admiral anymore." Kathryn lifted a PADD from the table before she handed it to Riker who accepted it readily. "That honor goes to Admiral Nechayev now. She is eager to see progress in unifying the Delta Quadrant."

"I take it you're here for another reason other than to convince us of an order Admiral Nechayev could have easily delivered." Riker set the superfluous PADD back on the table as his light blue eyes focused on Kathryn. He was still in awe by her inhuman, though quite beautiful appearance. He couldn't help but wonder what exactly it was that she had come back from apparent death as. The question was on his lips, but he hesitated despite his curiosity.

"I came to see Tuvok and T'Pel. To say farewell and good luck. And of course to inform them that reports of my death weren't exactly exaggerated but lacking important details." Kathryn's indigo eyes moved from Riker to Deanna Troi as her voice grew more serious. "I also wanted to thank you, for everything."

Deanna understood what she was being thanked for because she sensed it without being told. Seven. "No thanks is required."

Kathryn smiled with gratitude anyway before she heard Tuvok's voice, sensed only by her, that he and T'Pel were ready for her. Her grin became crooked before she snapped her fingers and vanished from the Conference Room in a flash of blue light.

"You can't be serious." Riker's crystalline blue eyes were wide as they shifted from where Kathryn had been to Picard. His voice was almost accusing. "She's a Q!"

"No, not entirely. Not anymore." Picard could feel the heavy weight of the special weapon he alone could see, touch and use that was attached to his belt and thought of the being who had given it to him. The ability to kill Kathryn if she were to ever become a threat and knew no Q would have done such a thing. "But very powerful, nonetheless."

Riker sensed something within Picard's tones that made his brow furrow. "What aren't you telling me?"

"She's has human DNA." Picard hesitated as he tried to at least attempt to soften the blow of the next part, but knew he had no need to. Not with his former Number One and Deanna. "She also has Borg implants."

"Borg?" Deanna's wide dark eyes widened as she looked from Captain Picard to her husband who shared her worried expression.

"Is she dangerous?"

"Let us hope, for all of our sakes…" Picard thought again of the weapon hidden beneath his tunic and the woman who had given it to him. "That she is not."

CHAPTER 43

The Delta Quadrant

"Hello, little one."

Kathryn's voice was soft, light and filled with affection as she smiled broadly at the newborn held perhaps a little too protectively in Dexa's arms.

Dexa tried with all her might not to be frightened of the inexplicable woman cooing at her daughter. The existence of this ethereal being had lit a spark within her husband that even the birth of their baby girl hadn't been able to ignite fully. Of course Neelix had been joyous over their daughter's birth, who he named after the woman he had just lost, but his resounding joy was nearly palpable when that same woman had miraculously appeared in the Delta Quadrant onboard a Federation vessel.

"She's beautiful." Kathryn didn't dare touch the little Talaxian girl that had been named after her for she could sense Dexa's fear and unease. Instead she took a few steps back from mother and daughter, tried not to let her disquiet over that fear show on her features and continued smiling warmly.

"Thank you." Dexa wished Neelix was with her, giving her support. But he was elsewhere meeting with Captain Riker of the U.S.S. Titan and his crew so they could devise preliminary plans to unify the Delta Quadrant as the Federation had in the Alpha.

Dexa had thought it an unfeasible plan, but it was something her husband had found marvelous and so she had no desire to detract from his ambitions or excitement. And so Dexa said nothing and was now alone, with her daughter, and this woman who was similar but obviously different than the woman Dexa had met onboard the Voyager. Kathryn seemed godlike to her. Frighteningly godlike.

Kathryn knew it was perhaps selfish of her to want to see little 'Kathryn', but she had been unable to deny herself that one wish. She knew this little Talaxian was destined for great things, renowned throughout the Delta Quadrant and beyond for her diplomacy, and so Kathryn had wanted to see the little girl at least once before she departed for the Alpha Quadrant for good. She would not be returning to the Delta Quadrant again for she had meddled enough; it was time for the inhabitants of the quadrant to find some common ground, a unity of purpose, cohesion.

Dexa unintentionally sighed with relief when the doors to her quarters opened to emit Neelix. Her chest warmed at the bliss upon her husband's features when he looked first at the baby in her arms and then at Kathryn.

"This is an exciting prospect, thank you for including me." Neelix's voice was pitched high with his happiness as he beamed at his former captain.

"You're the best man for the job, Neelix." Kathryn placed a gentle, warm hand upon Neelix's shoulder and matched his bright grin with her own. Destiny was not written in stone of course, but she knew that more than likely Neelix would be a major player in unifying the quadrant. She truly believed in him. "You'll do just fine."

"I hope so." Pride swelled within Neelix that made his face flush and his grin broaden.

"I know so." Kathryn was pulled into Neelix's arms and she welcomed his embrace as she felt emotions for this man emanate from deep within her as a warm, light blue glow lit up her pearly white skin. She heard Dexa gasp, but ignored it as she communicated her love by her touch before she disengaged from Neelix's hold.

"You have to go?" It wasn't so much a question as a statement of fact, but Neelix found that he couldn't be upset by it. Just the knowledge that Kathryn Janeway was alive, somewhere, was enough.

"Yes. I do." Kathryn moved towards the door as Dexa and her daughter were hugged warmly by Neelix. She smiled affectionately before she spoke. "Good-bye and good luck, Ambassador."

"And you, Captain."

"Thank you." Kathryn nodded as she smirked. Neelix adamantly refused to call her anything but 'captain'. He intended it to be more of an endearment rather than the rank she had once held and so she felt warmed by it.

Kathryn waited until the quarter doors closed behind her before she snapped her fingers and returned home, to Earth and the people waiting for her when she did, including one individual she had given up immortality and omnipotence to return to: Seven of Nine.