A/n: Hi, everyone! My inspiration finally came back for this story. I owe a huge thank you to my beta xXBrightsideBumblebeeXx for taking a break in her busy scedule to reassure me that this chapter was publishable.
Ensign Miral Paris felt an anxious sigh rattle in her chest as she paced around the entrance to Korath's base, which was built into a desolate cavern. The aging Klingon maintained he'd chosen this location for strategic reasons but Miral suspected that, until recently at least, the source of his reasoning was financial, not practical. Her sensitive quarter-Klingon hearing picked up a disapproving grunt from the nearest guard, towering over the cave mouth with sharpened Bat'Leth in hand. Obligingly, to avoid losing face in front of those who were already disgruntled by her presence here, as they had been for the last six months, she swallowed her apprehensive sighs and instead kicked up the dust around her feet. The guard gave her the smallest of approving nods, frustration at being left in the lurch by a superior was more acceptable in Klingon eyes than expressing worry.
Really she should have been feeling relieved that it was Chakotay who was coming rather than Admiral Janeway. In a personal sense she was infinitely closer to her surrogate uncle than to Voyager's former Captain, but she found that her deeper insight into the former's character was a large part of what was making her so at ill at ease. She just couldn't fathom why he had suddenly usurped the Admiral as the driver of this mission, the details of which she still wasn't sure of. Chakotay had had absolutely nothing to do with her appointment here, in fact she'd gathered through the Voyager crew's antiquated but still functioning gossip mill that he'd not spoken to the Admiral for months afterwards. So why was he so involved now? Even to the point of retrospectively accepting the promotion to Captain he'd bluntly rejected in the days following Voyager's homecoming, a decision which had upset Freya at the time… She bit her lip painfully at the thought of Freya, all this had to stem from the lost of her oldest friend. Her heart still grieved, with guilt, unfounded or not, fuelling the feeling. It had been herself who encouraged Freya to defy her father's fears and join Starfleet as she had. If she felt weighed down by such emotion, she didn't even want to imagine how much Chakotay was suffering…
The long awaited buzz of the transporter shoved these thoughts to the back of her mind: Chakotay appeared before her. Her face transformed from its happy, if business like, smile to a look of shock and disbelief as she took in his frighteningly diminished figure."Uncle Chakotay…" She choked out brokenly as she stumbled forward to unthinkingly embrace him, subconsciously wanting to check if this aged ghost of a person was the warm, honourable man she remembered.
He chuckled weakly, his natural smile proving it was indeed he, but the light that had once lit his dark eyes now only lasted a fraction of a second, like a candle left out in a storm. "At ease Cadet." He reminded her, with a mildly amused glance at the affronted guard.
"Oh…" Miral breathed a nervous laugh, "I'm sorry Command…Captain." His "new" rank sounded so odd that she stumbled over it, blushing.
"Don't worry, I'm still getting used to it." He brushed off her apology quickly while tugging at his ill-fitting new uniform. "How are you?" he asked kindly, prickled with guilt that a girl he'd known since birth was so uncomfortable around him.
"I'm good, Korath's been treating me well…" She laughed wryly, "Thanks to the Admiral's bargaining…"
"I don't think so, you've earned your position here." Chakotay corrected her, "I know your parents are so proud of you…"
His face became entrenched with pain for a moment before he disguised it again, but it was enough to bring tears bubbling to Miral's eyes and throat. "I'm so sorry about Freya! I…I tried to get home for the funeral but…" Her voice failed her, the dam of stoicism which had held back her sorrow crumbling abruptly.
Chakotay squeezed the young girl's shoulders. "Don't worry." Miral snapped her head up in confusion at how sure he somehow sounded, "You were her best friend in life, and that's the important thing."
Miral hastily wiped her face, "It wasn't as if we had much of a choice, we were the only teenage girls on Voyager after all." She told him tearfully, repeating an old joke. As luck would have it, Freya had been the last baby girl born on Voyager, the others, five in all, had all been boys, all younger by at least six years. It had been said by a particularly tactless crewmember that Seven's premature death, leaving behind a toddler, had put all of Voyager's couples off having children for a while.
Suddenly, a new arrival in the form of an even bulkier Klingon guard spat out a spiel of what Chakotay assumed were orders at Miral's back. As if a switch had been turned on within her, she spun around and threw back a retort just as virulent. "What was all that about?" he asked curiously, he had to know what kind of situation he was walking into after all.
Miral gave a dramatically exasperated sigh. "Korath is just getting bored." She explaining bitingly, "He doesn't like waiting on "Starfleet P'tachs" apparently." She continued dismissively, "I told him that you were a great warrior, who'd saved my family, and me, in many spectacular battles, thus you can afford to let Korath wait."
Chakotay flashed one of his, now rare, genuine smiles. "You're your mother's daughter, and that's the best kind." He told her fondly, before sudden impatience settled on his features, "Still, I think I've been waiting to do this long enough, so I'm willing to oblige him."
Miral smiled in anticipation of finally finding out what was going on. "That will go down very well Captain. Let's get going."
Chakotay heaved a regretful sigh as he held her back from stepping towards the door, he'd dreaded hurting her like this ever since he'd learned how many hours she'd dedicated at the Admiral's bidding. "I'm sorry Miral, but I need to take it from here, alone."
Miral felt like she'd just been kicked in the gut and it took her several seconds to even partially recover her composure. "With all due respect…" She started stiffly, fighting to keep her anger in check, "I've been working on this for six months…"
"I know." Chakotay told her softly, "I don't need your respect right now, I need your forgiveness." He admitted, "But you just can't be involved in this Miral, I'm not saying that because I want to hurt you or because I don't trust you, just to keep you safe from all this, I promise you."
"I'm a Starfleet officer! I can handle whatever…" Miral began to argue before his words had truly sunk in.
"I don't doubt that, but it's the way it has to be." Chakotay told her firmly before letting her go, looking down at her with pleading, saddened eyes. "Your mom and dad have been scared for you since…" He swallowed painfully, "…since Freya passed. Go and see them for a while, okay? I'll relieve you right now."
Despite her conflicted state of mind, Miral could see his concern for her was true, and she suddenly knew that whatever Chakotay was going to do in there, she'd better not be around when he did it. "Okay, I'll…I'll leave right now." She conceded numbly, all of the fire suddenly drained out of her.
"Thank you honey." Chakotay whispered in relief before watching her transport off the surface.
"I can see you've made good use of Admiral Janeway's…gifts." Chakotay commented languidly as he walked into the main room of Korath's compound and saw how many weapons, and High Council paraphernalia, littered the room.
"Yes…" Korath replied in a slick, ingratiating tone, "She has been very generous, for a member of Starfleet." He practically spat out the word, as he assessed Chakotay with his eyes. "Although I'm glad she finally saw sense and let a man conduct her business for her."
"Actually, it was always my business." Chakotay replied coldly, "I'm the one you're dealing with now."
Korath laughed, "And all the better for it Captain! Women haven't the heads for business, or true warfare!" He guffawed loudly, "Most gain honour by spreading their legs, not that that's a bad thing." He added lewdly.
Chakotay stifled his frown of utter disgust, instead forcing a smile by thinking of all the ways the women he'd known, Kathryn, B'Elanna, and Seven in particular, could kill him in one move. "Speaking of business, where is it Korath?"
Korath grimaced slightly, caught out, and reluctantly pulled away the sheet covering the device Chakotay had come all this way for. "Don't worry it's here, I'm an honourable man, but now that we're here face to face I think some renegotiation is in order…"
"We had a deal." Chakotay said tersely, "You got your seat on the High Council, and immense wealth besides, and I get this." He patted the machine reverently, "There's honour in sticking to those terms." He said in a deadly tone.
"If you're not willing to at least discuss more, then I'm afraid those terms are broken." Korath said nonchalantly, but with a greedy glint in his eyes.
Chakotay thought about this for a moment, "Alright. I'll need to scan the device first though, to check I'm getting what I'm paying for."
"You doubt my honour?" Korath howled in outrage.
"I think we've already been through that." Chakotay muttered as he stepped forward and began to scan the machine, his heart lifting in relief when he read the results. "Maybe you do have a little honour after all…" He mused to Korath, "It's going to work." He waited until triumph had settled on the twisted old Klingon's face before slapping a transporter beacon on the machine. "We have a deal." He concluded with a smile as the transporter beamed both him and his new purchase away.
"I will kill you for this you Starfleet swindler!" Korath screeched down the comm. line as Chakotay pushed the Flyer to its limit as he sped out of the Klingon's system and towards his preferred coordinates.
He laughed to himself, feeling almost like the young rebel who'd confounded the Cardassians all those years ago, and they had been cleverer then Korath by a long way. Doesn't he realise that someone bartering for a time machine doesn't care if they live or die? He thought to himself as he shut the comm. line off unceremoniously. "Damn!" he growled to himself as phaser fire hit the Flyer's hull a few seconds later.
"Need some help Chakotay?" A new, but very familiar and strained voice echoed through the comm. line.
Instead of the relief he should have expected, Chakotay felt dread and guilt shoot through him at the sound of that voice. "You always did have good timing Harry." He finally answered ruefully.
A/n: PLEASE REVIEW! :D I'll try not to wait so long to update next time. By the way, is anyone else having trouble receiving FanFiction alerts through their email? I am, so I have to keep checking my profile to see if anyone has updated. Thankfully I can still read your reviews on the review page!