One

'Captain? Is now a good time to talk?'

Janeway glanced up from her ready room desk, surprised to see B'Elanna hovering in the doorway. 'As good a time as any,' the captain pressed her lips together in a grim smile, reaching a hand up to massage the stiffness from her neck.

She'd been working from her desk computer and two PADDs simultaneously – catching up on the last week's reports, tweaking the duty rosters and drowning in a five-page list of entertainment suggestions recommended by her well-meaning (but thoroughly deluded) morale officer. Needless to say, she was ready for a break.

'Come and take a seat, lieutenant. What can I do for you?'

Lieutenant Torres elected to stand, her eyes darting back to the doorway like she was planning her escape.

Janeway frowned, pushing herself up out of her chair and moving across to her chief engineer. 'What is it, B'Elanna? Not another problem with the warp drive, I hope?'

The Klingon officer shook her head. 'Actually, it's more of a personal matter…,' she trailed off.

'Go on,' Captain Janeway insisted gently. 'Whatever you want to share stays between us, and if you're in some kind of trouble I promise to do everything in my power to help you.'

The muscles around B'Elanna's mouth twitched with embarrassment, or perhaps remorse. 'I'm afraid this is a personal matter for you, not me, captain.'

'Spill it, then,' Captain Janeway prompted. She loathed social awkwardness and wanted to have this over and done with quickly.

Torres nodded, glum-faced, and handed over the PADD she had tucked under her arm. 'After the recent malfunction with Tuvok's Worst Case Scenario holodeck program, you ordered me to run a deeper diagnostic scan on all the archived holodeck files to check for anomalies,' B'Elanna explained. 'Well… I noticed some suspicious activity in the logs this morning.'

'Go on,' Janeway looked grim.

'Somebody accessed the back-up archives in the last twenty-four hours, using some kind of encrypted password,' Torres continued. 'They tried to delete a program, along with all its associated usage data, but the computer diagnostic was still running so it locked them out. It's that one,' she jabbed at the PADD, pointing out the title of the program.

'Young Warrior?' the captain frowned, the name not ringing a bell. 'What is it? A combat training simulation?'

'That's what I thought at first, too,' B'Elanna folded her arms - protectively, not assertively. 'I, um, invited Tom Paris to test it out with me – to ascertain if it contained a security threat – but… well… the program wasn't intended for general use. Tom wanted to delete it straight away, but I thought you should probably see it first.'

Janeway looked from the PADD to Torres, uneasiness stirring in her gut. 'Alright,' she nodded curtly. 'If you think it's important, I'll take a look. Is anything required for the program. Weapons? Costume?'

'I hope you won't have to use it, but just in case…,' B'Elanna walked across to a storage hatch near the ready room door and retrieved a phaser, pressing it into her captain's hand. 'Just… be careful?' her eyes projected friendship and concern, then she turned on her heel and left.

Puzzled, Captain Janeway watched B'Elanna go then wandered back to her desk, picking up a PADD and tapping it distractedly against her palm. Young Warrior? There was no way she was going to be able to focus on Tuvok's reports and Neelix's morale list until she found out what this was all about.

'Computer, initiate holodeck program Young Warrior. Resume from last playback.'

Janeway turned slowly – alert and apprehensive – as the metal walls around her transformed into an idyllic forest clearing. It was late afternoon. The light through the trees was dim, and although there was no obvious cause for alarm the captain instinctively reached for the phaser at her hip.

'Stop, stranger,' a voice shrilled out from somewhere high in the tree-line.

Kathryn's eyes shot up into the foliage. Her fingers wrapped around her phaser but before she got the chance to aim or fire, a flash of movement sliced downwards and a small knife embedded itself into the earth between her feet.

'And you can throw away your weapon or I'll kill you where you stand,' the voice warned harshly. It was a woman's voice. Or a girl's.

The captain tossed her phaser to the ground and raised her hands slowly. 'Whoever you are, I mean you no harm,' she called out into the half-light, soothing but firm. 'My name is Kathryn. Why don't you come down here so we can talk. I'm sure we can work things out peacefully.'

The only answer was a soft thud, and a few moments later a shadow emerged from the trees. It was a young woman – just a teenager – dressed in the colours of the forest, with a leather knife-belt strapped diagonally across her chest. The young warrior advanced towards her target, a blade balanced loosely in her hand.

'Your name is Kathryn?' she demanded, circling the older woman and peering at her through a curtain of black hair that obscured her features. 'Kathryn who?'

'Janeway…,' the captain kept her hands raised. She would fight the girl in hand to hand combat if she had to, but there was still a chance that diplomacy could work. '…Kathryn Janeway. Captain of the starship Voyag–'

The wild girl stopped circling and drew closer, her hair falling back away from her face for the first time. 'Mom?...'

Kathryn's eyes flew wide and a sort of strangled noise fell from her lips. It was like she was looking at a photograph of herself at sixteen. Except for the black hair. And the feather tattoo above the girl's left eye.

'Computer, end program!' Captain Janeway gasped, and the last thing she saw before the hologram faded from view was the hungry, searching look in her deep brown eyes.

Author's Note:

Greetings! This story has 5 shortish chapters, which I will post every couple of days to keep the tension building.

Hopefully it's not a story that's already been done before. (I'm new to this fandom so not sure what's out there yet, but I can't wait to read my way through ff and catch up on what I've missed!)

If you enjoyed reading it, or have some recommendations of any great J/C, Doc/7 fanfics I should check out, please let me know :)

Reviews & PM's are very welcome. I write fanfiction because I love the characters. I share it online because, ultimately, I'd like to hear back from you and get your reaction to the story. So remember to share the love and say hi!