Chapter Eight

B'Elanna paced on Voyager's bridge. Harry had taken up behind what she now assumed was his normal post – the operations station. Behind tactical was her "comrade," Tuvok, and at the helm was her other "comrade," Tom Paris. It's "I'm a Maquis traitor" day on this ship, she thought bitterly.

She wasn't happy. Trading Chakotay and Seska for Harry and herself was not something she approved of, but it was something she would have expected from her captain. Finally, she stooped down and sat reluctantly at the darkened engineering station. Janeway had told her to sit there and just wait, but she had deactivated the terminal to make sure there would be no problems.

Harry looked unbelievably happy, she noted. This was where he belonged, and B'Elanna felt envious – she had no place she belonged, especially now that the Liberty was gone. Harry glanced down at the captain's chair. "Captain, I've detected two unidentified vessels on an intercept course with the Vetar," Harry reported. "Evek is hailing."

"Onscreen, Mr. Kim," Janeway said. Janeway was happy to have Harry back behind operations, not too worse for wear. She'd been worried about the green ensign and was very contented to know that his Cardassian experience had not been quite as uncomfortable as her own had been.

Evek popped onto the viewer. "Captain Janeway, we're being approached by two vessels that belong to the Kazon – you remember the Caretaker mentioned them when we met with him on the Array?" Janeway nodded, waiting for Evek to continue. "They're mercenaries of some kind, I believe. From my encounter with them on the surface of Ocampa, I believe they prey on vessels that the Caretaker strands here in order to steal their technology and are very intent on exploiting the Ocampa."

Janeway's eyes narrowed. "I see. What do you suggest?"

Evek leaned back into his chair. "They're not here yet. We should make our way over to the Array and determine if there's any way to return to the Alpha Quadrant – that is our primary objective at this point, yes?"

Janeway nodded. "If the Kazon attempt to engage the Vetar, Voyager will assist. I'm leaving my tactical officer in command. I'll meet you on the Array, Evek. Janeway out." She gestured to Tuvok and he cut the channel. "Tuvok, you have the bridge. I'm going over to the Array." At Tuvok's arched eyebrow, Janeway glowered at him. "Alone, Lieutenant. We don't have time to worry about this and you're the best person to take care of the ship. Evek and I will be fine." Tuvok nodded uncomfortably.

Janeway strode into the turbolift. "Keep the Kazon off our backs. I'll be back as soon as I have a plan," she said. "Deck 4, Transporter Room," Janeway ordered as the lift doors slid shut.

Evek and Janeway materialized in what was certainly another illusion. The holodeck was working again, apparently, and they stood in the middle of a nuclear wasteland. Buildings crumbled from side to side, dust and debris coating everything and giant clouds of smoke and ash clouding the skies. "Pleasant," Evek said wryly.

Janeway gestured with her hand. Ahead of them was a building that was intact, and they each grappled with the doors and walked in. Paper flyers were scattered over the floor and the place was full with stale air. They progressed down the corridor, a long and straight hallway like the one Janeway and Paris had walked through. The white paint was chipped and falling, accumulating next to the wall.

The reached the end of the corridor and Evek reached in, hoisting the door open. They walked stiffly into the conference room. Janeway walked slowly over to the shattered window overlooking the city. The conference table was in place, and Evek walked up beside her to look out over the destruction.

"Impressive, isn't it," a voice said from behind them. "It's not too unlike what the surface of Ocampa looks like now, after the mistake my people made. And it's what their underground civilization will look like in the near future, if something is not done." Janeway and Evek turned. The Caretaker – complete with his old suit and solid black cane – was leaning heavily to his side, watching them. He sighed. "Sit down," he said.

Janeway and Evek returned to the seats they had occupied during their abbreviated negotiations earlier, both of them content to let the Caretaker explain for now. "A long time ago, my people made a mistake. We had no idea our efforts would do so much damage to the planet that rotates below us, but the damage had been done – I was selected to remain behind and care for those we had damned to certain destruction." He rested his hands on the table limply. "But I am dying, and my quest to find a replacement has been futile. No being in this universe is compatible with me and so the Ocampa will die at the hands of the Kazon after I am gone."

Janeway spoke. "Sometimes, in order to fulfill our potential, we need to be faced with a situation where it is a matter of life and death. Perhaps the Ocampa will not fare as you fear. Perhaps they will find a way to flourish again, as they did before your arrival."

The Caretaker barked a short, bitter laugh. "That might have been true, if not for your arrival," he said. Janeway and Evek exchanged a glance. "The Ocampa could survive without me here to care for them," he said. "The Kazon will fight them at every turn, seeking to exploit them and prevent them from reaching the stars for no reason other than their own bitterness and pride. Still, were it just the Kazon and the Ocampa, I might hold out some hope that the Ocampa would live. But when I die, the Kazon will occupy this facility and with it, they will destroy the Ocampa."

The Caretaker smiled bitterly. "You see, when you destroyed these cities – when you created that," he pointed out the window as the devastation, "You destroyed this station's self-destruct system. You destroyed the only means I had to keep this facility out of the hands of the Kazon. So when I die, the Ocampa will die with me."

"Can we destroy the Array for you," asked Janeway. "Save the Ocampa from their destruction?" She turned to Evek. "We caused this, Evek. Whether or not we meant to, we did. It is our responsibility to keep others from paying for our mistakes."

"It is our responsibility to get home to be with our people," Evek countered.

The Caretaker smiled. "And therein lies the dilemma, my young friends. There is enough power on this station to send you home… but you cannot both return home and save the Ocampa. You must choose – correct the mistake you made in your last visit to save a people you have never met, or send yourselves home and condemn them to death." He nodded at each of them, his voice growing slower and then turned to focus on Evek. "I know what she will do," he said laboriously. "I know what the other of your kind would do. But I do not know what you will do."

The simulation shattered, the conference room evaporating as it had in the explosion that punctured their last visit. They again stood in the sterile blue room, and before them was a massive, metamorphic rock. It spoke one last time. "It is in your hands to choose now. Your convenience… or their lives. You cannot… have both." The voice slowed to a ponderous pace, and the rock shrunk slowly, melting down until it rapidly devolved into a simple rock that lay on the flat floor. Janeway inched forwards, kneeling down to lift the remains of the Caretaker.

She looked up at Evek. "I will not condemn the Ocampa, Evek. I cannot. We did not ask to be involved… but we are. We are." She stood.

Evek eyed her sideways but Janeway's communicator interrupted. "Captain Janeway, the Kazon have engaged us. The tactical situation is dire – the Kazon have received reinforcement, a warship that is considerably more massive and more heavily armed than Voyager." Tuvok's voice floated from her combadge and in the background Janeway could hear sounds of battle.

Janeway stared at Evek. He looked back dispassionately. "We must return to our ships. This discussion can wait." Evek tapped his communicator. "Evek to Vetar. When it is convenient, drop your shields and bring me aboard," he ordered. Janeway watched somberly as Evek vanished back to his ship.

"So much for having a plan," Janeway said with a shake of her head.

Kes glanced around as she glided through the corridors. The Vetar had lost much of her crew and sneaking about without encountering anyone was pretty easy. She could feel the ship jolt under her feet and knew that the Kazon had arrived and that a battle was underway, but she was in no position to do anything about it.

She slipped into a room with a flat metal floor. In front of her, there was a large door. Prodding the control panel, the door slid open and inside she saw a man sitting on the floor, his back pressed up against the wall. She walked in and sat down beside him. "Hi," she said.

He looked over at her. "Who are you?" he asked.

"I'm Kes, an Ocampa from the planet below," she said. "Gul Evek rescued me from the Kazon. I was looking for Neelix, but I guess he's not in here." She looked him over. "Who are you?"

"Chakotay," he said. The ship shuddered, the hull plating in the walls around them rattling. "What's going on?"

"We're fighting the Kazon," Kes said quietly. Chakotay looked at her questioningly, and she explained. "They're from another star system – they came to my world to try to exploit my people. They take advantage of ships that are brought here, like yours, attacking them to steal foreign technology." She sighed. "The Caretaker protects my people, but I'm not sure how much longer that will be true."

Chakotay looked over at her. "You were looking for this Neelix… why are you here speaking with me?"

Kes smiled. "You looked like you needed a friend. There are many people aboard this ship that could use a friend. Parmak is harsh, bitter about some old wound or crime against him. Talarn tries to be strong and does his best to follow Evek, but he's scared and you'll see it if you look hard enough. He is a lot like Harry, I think. B'Elanna was consumed by a rage she had stopped trying to control. Talek… I'm not sure he's ever had a friend. Then there's Evek, who has always tried to do what he saw to be in the best interests of his people, even if they didn't want him to… and you. You long for peace, a peace you have never known and have given up any hope of ever finding." Kes rested her hand on his shoulder, and Chakotay suddenly had a flashback of Captain Janeway, making the same gesture before he was sent over to Evek. "Don't give up hope."

Chakotay eyed her. "How do you know so much?" he asked. Kes shrugged.

The outer doors opened and there were heavy footsteps into the room outside of the cell, then a shadow appeared between the two cell doors. Chakotay recognized the weight of the steps and worked himself back up to his feet. Evek stood in the doorway, taking in the two of them. Finally, he looked away from Kes and at Chakotay. "I need your help," he said.

Chakotay raised his eyebrows. Evek continued. "Most of my crew is dead and we are no match for the Kazon. If we lose, they will kill us, and Voyager, and then finally, the Ocampa," he said. "I need someone to help crew the bridge."

Chakotay looked down at Kes. He didn't know if Evek was telling the truth, but something about this conversation screamed that he was. His instincts said to trust him. Even if Evek was lying, what did he have to lose? Kes smiled up at him. I have devoted my life to protecting the weak from the strong, Chakotay thought. Now her people are the weak, and the Kazon are the strong. He turned back to Evek. "All right," he said. "What do you need?"

Evek told Kes where Neelix was being held, then he and Chakotay rushed to the Vetar's bridge. Chakotay slipped behind the helm, running his hands over the Cardassian controls. It's amazing, he thought, how suddenly everything can change.

The Vetar was still badly damaged, but she was combat capable. Evek manned the weapons console, Talarn worked to keep the ship moving, and Chakotay worked the helm. There were three Kazon vessels out there – two small ones that weren't overly dangerous, and one large one that was pounding Voyager with a flurry of energy weapons.

"I'm going to try to take some of the heat off of Voyager," Chakotay exclaimed from the helm. The Vetar swerved to the side, slightly off kilter, and leveled out pointing her main phaser bank at the Kazon warship. It blasted out a phaser blast that scorched the Kazon vessel but did no appreciable damage. Evek fired again, this time penetrating the shields. Still, the Kazon vessel continued to hammer Voyager.

The two other Kazon vessels skated over the Vetar's hull, punching through the ship's shields. The Vetar shuddered, small explosions punching through her outer hull and atmosphere vented to space. Talarn cursed from his station. "Gul, shields are almost gone! We're venting atmosphere and I can't seal the hull breaches. If we take too much more of this, we'll lose the ship!"

Evek pressed another button on his panel and a phaser blast licked out from the Vetar to smash one of the small Kazon vessels aside. Then he turned to Talarn. "Hail Voyager. Tell Janeway we're abandoning the ship and that she needs to lower her shields to get us out. Tell her we'll put the Vetar in between Voyager and the Kazon to absorb the damage. Then go and get everyone to the transporter room, prisoners and all. Understood?" Talarn nodded, sending the signal and then rushing from the room to follow his instructions. Evek kept working the tactical panel until the ship's phasers went offline, then he moved down to the helm. "Move," he ordered. Chakotay glanced up at him, then got out of the helm. Evek took his place. "Get out!" Evek yelled.

Chakotay's face adopted a disbelieving look. "Why are you doing this?" he asked.

Evek took a few seconds to turn and glare at Chakotay. "Get off my ship," he growled. Behind them both, one of the stations burst into flame as the ship was struck by more Kazon weapons. Chakotay, deciding that now was not the time for an argument, ran in the direction Talarn had gone.

Seska pried open the panel that kept the door to Talek's quarter's locked, overriding the controls. She slipped inside as the door opened, moving to grab Talek's stunned body. "I am not letting you die," she muttered. "You're the only advantage I've got."

Talek stirred. "How did you get out of your cell?" he groaned.

Seska laughed. "If I couldn't break out of a room I'd be a poor resistance fighter, a bad Maquis, and a truly terrible Obsidian Order agent," she said mockingly. "Now, wake up! We're evacuating and I can't be the one to carry you off the ship. What possible reason could I have for saving your life?"

Talek nodded, fumbling in his pockets. He pulled out a small hypospray and injected himself. "Stimulant," he said as awareness returned. Seska looked at him scornfully with a raised eyebrow. "You're right," Talek said. "I have to be the one to get you out, not the other way around." Moving quickly, he chopped the side of her head, knocking her into unconsciousness, then lifted her up into his arms. If I'm lucky, Evek won't have told anyone that I'm an Obsidian Order plant.

Talek joined a crowd of people in the ship's transporter room. Glancing about, he saw Chakotay with Kes and Neelix. He walked over and deposited Seska into Chakotay's arms. "I believe this is yours," he said scornfully. Ignoring Chakotay's infuriated glare, he moved over to Talarn, who nodded in deference. "All right," Talek said. "Let's begin transport." He waved at Talarn. "You go first, Gil," he said.

Talarn and two others stood on the pad and Talek ran his hands over the controls, beaming them to Voyager. The Federation ship's transporters began to help the process, and several more people dematerialized – the Maquis crewmen were the first to disappear.

Janeway turned to Harry. "How many are left over there?" she demanded. Talarn had slipped onto the bridge and was now standing near Harry at operations as they both worked to get the Cardassians off the dying Vetar.

"Just four more, Captain," said Harry. "Transport complete. We've got all but one. Waiting for Evek's signal." Janeway nodded as the Vetar veered off of her previous heading, changing course to collide with the Kazon behemoth.

"Get Evek out of there, Mr. Kim," Janeway ordered.

"Working on it… Captain! The Vetar has raised her shields! I can't get a lock on Evek!"

"What? Hail him!" Janeway exclaimed.

"I've got him, Captain. Audio only." On the side of the bridge, two more people entered – Glinn Talek and Chakotay. Talek stood at the rail that ran along the top of the bridge, while Chakotay walked down to the Engineering station to see B'Elanna.

"Gul Evek, this is Captain Janeway. Lower your shields so we can get you out of there," Janeway barked.

"The Vetar's structural integrity is failing, Captain," said Evek over the com. "If I lower my shields again, the Kazon will destroy the Vetar before she rams the Kazon vessel and I'll be damned if I let Maje Jabin have the last laugh." They all heard him laugh. "This wasn't exactly what I planned, but it seems I have no options left."

"Evek, drop your shields! We'll figure another way out of this."

"Captain, you told me you were going to destroy the Array to save the Ocampa. If that Kazon vessel isn't destroyed, you won't be able to do that. If it's not destroyed, you wouldn't even be able to send any of us home. I don't know what I would have chosen to do, but it seems the choice is no longer mine to make."

"Evek!"

"I'm not doing this for you, or for the Ocampa. I'm doing it for Cardassia.They might not understand today, but someday I hope they will." Evek's voice quieted, a strange silence that stretched for several seconds. Then Evek spoke again. "Captain, I forgive you. For my sons."

Janeway's hands fell to her sides. There's nothing I can do. "Gul… I'm sorry. And I forgive you, as well."

"I'm afraid I can't accept your pardon, Captain. You have no idea what you just tried to forgive. But I appreciate the sentiment." Evek paused. "Captain, I put my crew in your hands. I trust you to get them home, someday. When you do, find Veroz and tell him I said goodbye." The link went dead. Janeway turned and looked from Talek to Talarn. Talek wore a look of grim determination, while Talarn just watched, eyes wide, as the Vetar pushed her engines past the red line.