A/N: Standard disclaimer, I don't own Star Trek Voyager and am making no profit from this story.

"Captain, said Harry Kim dramatically, "I'm reading an additional life sign on the ship, someone just transported into Engineering."

"Security team to Engineering," said Janeway, tapping her combadge, "And raise shields."

"Tuvok, you're with me," she added, striding towards the turbolift.

Moments later the lift opened to her security team standing in Engineering.

B'Elanna was standing over a body, mid-range brunette hair sprawled out on the floor behind the humanoid, and apparently female form.

Janeway stepped closer as B'Elanna held up her tricorder to investigate. Janeway let out a gasp as she took in the details, not only did the being indeed appear to be human, she was wearing a modern Starfleet uniform, red at the top…with Captain's pips.

"She needs to go to Sickbay," said B'Elanna, seconds before Janeway would've given the order herself, "I can't tell any threat, and she is, in fact, human."

"Do it," said the Captain, nodding her head to B'Elanna to transport the woman. As the shining light of the transporter beam showed itself Janeway taped her combadge again, "Doctor, you're getting a surprise visitor. Do all you can to help, but take precautions, we don't yet know if she's a threat."

"Yes, Captain," came the Doctor's voice.

Janeway stayed with B'Elanna for a few minutes, going over exactly what had happened and giving the security team instructions. Shortly after she headed to Sickbay, eager to see what the Doctor had found out in the brief span of time.

"Doctor," she greeted formally as she arrived.

"Captain," echoed the Doctor, "She's stabilized, but I induced a coma, the trauma was…..odd, to say the least, consistent with….stress, of a type not recorded before."

"Will she recover?"

"Almost undoubtedly, but give her time."

Janeway approached the bed to look at her closer in a less urgent situation, and she gasped again, "She looks so young, how could she be a captain?"

"Initial scans suggest she's between 22-24."

"Fresh out of the Academy."

"Perhaps, it could be a ruse of some kind. Perhaps she stole it?"

"How did she get here is the question."

"I don't know," The Doctor said snappily, "I suppose you'll have to ask her yourself when she wakes up."

"Find out whatever you can about her through whatever tests you can think of, I don't want to go into this conversation blind. She could be anything from a rescue from Starfleet, a fellow stranded Captain in need of help, or a Cardassian spy for all we know."

"Yes, I'm aware," said the Doctor huffily, "I'll do as you ask and try every test I can think of."

"When will she wake up?"

"My best estimate is 2-3 days."

It was all anyone could talk about on Voyager for the next 2 days. That was natural of course, an unknown human being and an apparent Starfleet Officer appearing suddenly on a ship stranded in the Delta Quadrant.

Tom Paris in particular, would not shut up about it.

"So Captain," he said easily from his spot on the Bridge, "Don't you have any theories about who she is?"

"Plenty of theories," answered Janeway, "But no facts."

"What are the fun of facts?," said Paris, "Especially when you have a mysterious woman arrive in your life. Is she a damsel in distress? A femme fatale? The vast possibilities are far more interesting than knowing the mundane truth."

"You don't think the truth might be a little interesting in this situation Tom?" said Chakotay.

"Captain," interrupted a voice that was not there, "You should come to Sickbay, I've found something…interesting."

"There's your answer Chakotay," said Paris, "Do be sure to share all the details Captain," he shot out as she left the Bridge.

"Captain" said the Doctor as she entered, seeming uncharacteristically nervous, "You did say to run as many tests as possible,"

"Yes," she confirmed, "I take it you found something you did not expect."

"That's an understatement," he said, "But it's more what you won't expect."

"I don't understand," she responded.

The Doctor sighed, "It's probably best you ease into this in some manner, well, first of all, I don't really know what these results mean. There are all kinds of possibilities, many of which might be upsetting to you. And many that might mean dangerous enemies. On the other hand, there's the possibility of time travel…."

"The most upsetting possibility of all….." said Janeway, rubbing her head.

"Alternate timelines, cloning….I suppose there's still the possibility she's an imposter, but I've gone as deep in her molecular structure as possible, and that's not what I found."

He continued, "I don't suppose you have something in your past you don't want to….talk about."

"Doctor…." said Janeway impatiently.

"Look at her face, look very closely at her face, and you might start to suspect what I'm going to tell you."

Janeway did, for the third time, examine their "visitor". Fair but slightly olive skin, medium brunette hair with a hint of red. There was something delicate about her looks, especially in the face, though she was objectively a little taller and stronger built than the average human woman.

"Doctor," said Janeway, "Perhaps you had better just tell me."

He sighed, "I looked into her DNA extensively, and only to be thorough, I compared it to all of the crew DNA," he paused, Janeway was staring at him fully now, "I compared her DNA to yours and genetically speaking…she's your child."

"What?" said Janeway.

The Doctor sighed again, "It could mean anything of course, as I've already stated. Unless you have a child you've been hiding for over twenty years….And even then, this could still be a ruse."

"No, I've never had a child," said Janeway, with emotion tamped down in her voice.

"Well then….there's something else you should know…..there was another crew member match to her DNA….."

"Her father is…Commander Chakotay."

Janeway starred at him intensely, "We should wait until we know for sure before we tell him."

"Of course Captain, if you weren't the Commanding Officer here, I would've waited to tell you too."

"Let me know the second she wakes up."

"As you wish."

The woman woke to the sound of….opera.

She startled, pitching herself off of the surface underneath her, and rushing halfway to the door, before stopping, starring at the sight of the balding head of The Doctor in his green uniform, and attempting to calm herself.

The Doctor turned, "Oh, you're up. I imagine this is quite a shock to you, but you're in no danger. You're on a Federation Starship. Do you know what that is?"

"Yes," said the woman, stopping herself forcibly before she could say more.

"Good, well, if you're comfortable enough, you'll have to meet with the Captain now."

"That's fine," she said, nodding. Nothing was fine.

"Please sit back down until she arrives," said the Doctor as he tapped his combadge to alert the Captain.

The woman sat down, and tried to still her thoughts. Moments later Captain Janeway herself appeared, looking alive, and young, and rather suspicious.

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Captain Kathryn Janeway," she said, holding out her hand, "You're on the Federation Starship Voyager. We noticed your uniform, are you a part of Starfleet?"

The woman shook Janeway's hand perfunctorily, trying again to shut off her brain, "In a sense," she said, calmly and professionally, tapping down the inner voices shouting at her, "I was trained by Starfleet officers, but I've never seen another Starfleet ship but this one."

"Where were those officers then? Stranded on a planet in the Delta Quadrant? Or back on Earth? How did you get here?"

"I was trained by the officers of Voyager. I'm from the future," she stated the ridiculous but true sentence with absolute conviction, holding Janeway's gaze and her own breath.

"Are you really?" breathed Janeway intensely.

"Yes."

"Are you prepared to prove it?"

"Yes."

"Why are you here?"

"To stop Voyager from being destroyed," she paused, "And to get her home."

Janeway sighed, the day had been….strange. Beyond strange, which was part of her job. Strange was many things, but not this. Not finding a girl, a woman, who claimed to be her own daughter. Who in all likelihood, was her daughter.

Janeway did not want to take it too seriously yet, she might well be lying, or mistaken, or brainwashed, or built from the ground up to deceive Kathryn. But her scientific brain said there was at least a 50% chance that she now had a child. And that was enough to make her emotional brain start to go in all sorts of directions.

The woman had known all kinds of things, but perhaps what was most convincing of all was that she didn't know certain things. She answered questions readily, but was not always quite accurate. She described how the ship and procedures were in her time, or how she knew it had been when she was younger. But she missed sometimes, things were not always quite how she assumed they had been 30 years ago….which is exactly how it would be if she was telling the truth….or if she was a very convincing imposter.

Janeway sighed again, feeling a headache coming on. The woman had not revealed many details, which they had both agreed was as close to following the temporal prime directive as possible, but her future sounded quite possible, and the reason and way for her returning also sounded plausible. If allowed, she planned on staying on Voyager now and stopping them from making the manifold mistakes that had doomed them in her timeline. This would take years, and if successful, there would be no home timeline for her to return to.

It was a huge asset to Voyager, if true.

So when do I tell Chakotay?

She was quite tempted to put it off, Chakotay would be unfairly hurt if it turned out the woman was lying. There was no part of her that doubted he would want a relationship with his child if at all possible.

Their child, they had had a child together.

Janeway sighed yet again, massaging her forehead in frustration, but then relaxed as she finally felt another avenue of thought open up.

If intensive medical scans and a lengthy interview both said their visitor was telling the truth, there was yet a third way to confirm it before involving Chakotay. They had an experienced Vulcan on board, one who could Mind Meld.