Act Three
Carry on! You will always remember
Carry on! Nothing equals the splendor
Now your life's no longer empty
Surely heaven waits for you:
Chapter Nine
Gul Evek had decided to return to the Alpha Quadrant.
It was his sworn, solemn duty to do whatever he could, whatever he must, to protect Cardassia Prime. He liked Kes and sympathized with the plight of the Ocampa, but in the end, it was none of his concern. It was the cost of being a captain, to do things that he felt were wrong in the quest to protect his people.
That choice had been taken from him when the Kazon behemoth started pounding the two ships. The Vetar and Voyager couldn't defeat that monstrosity, he knew, and his ship was finally going to meet its end, so there was no way to get home.
They were not going to get home. Thus Evek reached out and embraced his sympathies and took the actions that he would have to not only to save his crew, but also to save Kes' people. But he did not do it for their sake.
He had spent the last two years of his life fighting people like Talek. Ambitious, too proud to admit weakness, too stubborn to admit defeat. Talek had created this situation when he blew up the holodeck and damaged the Array. He had given the Kazon a chance to annihilate a people who had done them no wrong. The Kazon too, were like Talek – ambitious, prideful, spiteful…
The Vetar began to disintegrate under a forceful barrage from the Kazon ship, and Evek reflected on his final action. He was sworn to always do what would be best for Cardassia – and now, that was to set an example that his people would never see. Men like Talek and the Kazon had to be opposed because with them came destruction – destruction that had nearly engulfed his world because of his people's own misplaced ambition.
He hoped that the Cardassia he had left behind would learn this lesson and keep men from Talek from destroying all that he had worked for. Most of all, he hoped his son would learn these lessons even without the example his father had tried to set. Peace was the future of Cardassia, Evek knew. Because if it was not, Cardassia had no future.
The forward ridge of the Vetar struck the Kazon vessel and crumbled inwards. Pressing forwards, the crumpled bow of the ship pressed into the side. The metal hulls of both ships bent under the strain, the Vetar pressing forwards into the Kazon ship. The thrust punctured the Kazon hull and the Vetar punched into the hull, pressing forwards, the ridges slicing through the plating. The tail of the ship wagged outwards, trembling as the engines screamed against the resistance. Then they overloaded, the Vetar's engine core incinerating the engine room, the aft hull, the Vetar, and then finally the Kazon behemoth. The wrath of the explosion reached out and plucked the Kazon vessel from existence, scattering the remains down into Ocampa's atmosphere.
Janeway watched from her bridge as the explosion slowly burned itself out, the glowing embers of the two ships fading into obscurity. Then she turned back to Tuvok. "Prepare two tricobalt devices, Mr. Tuvok, and target the Array."
B'Elanna jumped up. "Wait, what! That's our only way home!" She turned to Chakotay, a furious look on her face. "Who is she to be making this decision for all of us?" she demanded.
Janeway turned to Chakotay and they locked eyes. He evaluated her once again. She's been the captive and the captor. The soldier, the diplomat, the scientist, the commander. She's been right and she's been wrong. She's been the led, and she's been the leader. He saw in her the same cold steel and pure will that he'd already begun to associate with her, and this time he knew what it cost her to make the decisions she's made.
In her gaze, he read the question clearly. Evek gave me his crew to get them home. Will you give me yours? Will you put your faith in me? Chakotay grabbed B'Elanna's arm. If there's anyone out there who can hold us together, anyone who can get us all home, it's her.
"She's the captain," he said. She's the captain.
Janeway's head inclined imperceptibly, acknowledging the responsibility he had just placed on her shoulders. Then she turned back and took a second to glance at Talek, but he didn't meet her look. Finally she nodded to Tuvok. "Fire."
On the viewer, the Array was struck by a pair of tricobalt charges. Three seconds later, the explosion had scattered an infinite number of tiny particles throughout the surrounding space – there was nothing of the Array left that was larger than a millimeter. Captain Janeway closed her eyes and sank into the captain's chair.
On the viewscreen, Maje Jabin's face popped up. He glared at Janeway. "I'm not sure who you are, or why you helped those others, but I can tell you that you have made an enemy today," he said.
"I think it's a terrible idea."
"Do you have an alternative?"
"You know I don't." Chakotay sighed. "The Cardassians will never agree to wear Starfleet uniforms. Many of the Maquis won't want to either, so we might have to scrap that."
"Look, Chakotay, I've got three crews on this ship. Each one has a legitimate reason to hate the others. I've got to integrate the crews as best I can – make us all dependant on each other to survive, if I've even got a chance of making this all work." Janeway reclined into the chair in her ready room. "If Evek was here, I'd trust him to keep the Cardassians in line as best he could. But he's dead and I don't trust Talek. I don't trust him at all."
"Well, what have you got so far?" he asked.
"The obvious positions. You're going to be first officer – Talek can whine about it all he likes, I'm not going to change that. I said I'd put the people who were the best ones for the job in the jobs and I will. Doctor Parmak is going to be our primary physician, but I suspect the EMH is going to be active more often than not – Parmak isn't exactly an expert on human physiology. Neelix and Kes have asked to remain on board and Kes has requested to be assigned to Sickbay, so there's our medical staff. Neelix wants to cook and we need some way to conserve energy so that works too – we'll be the first Federation ship to have a galley in a long time. The problem is I don't know what to do with Talek or Talarn or most of the rest of the Cardassians." Janeway sighed. "And Talek isn't making my life easy."
Chakotay had stopped paying close attention about halfway through. He was staring out the viewport, looking at the stars. Janeway stopped speaking and looked at him for a long minute, and then she came over. "What is it?"
Chakotay winced. "When I joined the Maquis I was so sure of myself and my cause. My recent events – you, Evek, all that's happened – have made me really question why I did what I did. Evek accused me of being lost to my hatred and rage." He glanced at Janeway. "You and Evek had both lost, perhaps not as greatly as I did, but you both suffered."
Janeway smiled sadly. "Tell me about your father," she said quietly.
Chakotay looked up. "Why?"
"Because that's the first step towards healing, Chakotay. Talking about it. You bottled it up inside and went off to fight for what you believed in, but you never faced the pain and the loss. You covered it up with rage – against Starfleet, against Cardassia. Some of it was justified, but not all."
"If I tell you about my father," Chakotay asked. "Will you tell me about how you overcame your hate after your capture?" He smiled and Janeway looked at him evenly, then she nodded. "All right, Captain. But I'm afraid I'll have to start at the beginning – on Dorvan, when I was a boy…"
"What do we know?" Talek sat across the darkened room from Seska.
"Janeway is doing her best to integrate the crews. She knows the Cardassians will never agree to wear Starfleet uniforms, so she's settling for the combadge for now. The Maquis have agreed to wear something a bit more formal, but not the full uniform. I'm not sure what Chakotay is going to do," Seska answered. "She's made Chakotay first officer and you're going to be second officer, third in command and captain during night shift." Talek shrugged.
"A position of high authority. It'll give us access to most of the ship," Talek said.
Seska nodded. "Yes. Parmak and this ship's holographic doctor are going to be the ship's medical staff. Talarn is going to work on the bridge at the science station for now, although Janeway's considering moving him to engineering. Janeway still wants to put Carey in charge down there, but it'll be B'Elanna in the end – she did say the best one for the job would get the job."
"Fine."
"The first thing we need to do is begin gathering allies and planting divisions. There are all kinds of options – since I'm a 'Bajoran' I can rally Gerron and even the Starfleet Bajoran officer to the anti-Cardassian cause. Ken Dalby hates Cardassians with a passion that you wouldn't believe, and…" Seska grinned. "Lon Suder is psychotic. It's only a matter of time before he goes off one someone and when it happens we can definitely seize that opportunity." Seska laughed. "Poor Janeway, trying to form a coalition when two of the leaders of the other sides are actively working to oppose her."
"What else?"
"We need to contact the Kazon somehow. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, remember."
Talek nodded. "A sound idea. Well, it's a start." Talek's face suddenly contorted into rage. "That idiot Evek! I can't believe he stranded us out here! Back home the Order is about to make their move and take it all back and we're stuck seventy thousand lightyears away from it all." He picked up a vase on the table and almost threw it across the room, but restrained himself at the last second. "Damn it."
"Don't worry." Seska smiled. "We're Obsidian Order agents, Talek. We're the best there is." She laughed again. "Janeway doesn't stand a chance."
Captain Janeway met everyone on the bridge as Voyager prepared to set out from Ocampa on course back to the Alpha Quadrant. "On Earth there is a saying," Janeway started. "Necessity is the mother of invention. Out here, we are alone. One ship with a crew of less than two hundred, in the middle of the largest stretch of unexplored space left in the galaxy. In the Alpha Quadrant, we might be enemies. But we all know that if we are to survive out here, if we have any chance at returning to our homes and our families, we cannot be. That luxury has been lost to us – we no longer have the luxury of holding on to our hate, our fear, and our rage. We must let all of that go, because if we do not, if we let our old animosities control our actions, they will destroy us."
"It will be hard, I know. I understand how each of you feels, whether or not you believe that I do. But if we can do this, if we can find a way to live together, to work together in common cause for the good of all of us, then there is hope for those of us we left behind. There is hope that there will not be another war, that the fighting and killing will stop. I know, in each of you, that is what you wish. You don't want our comrades back home to find themselves fighting with one another. If we cannot do it, how can they?"
"We are one crew. Voyager's crew. I don't know the shape or form it will end up taking, but we will stand united, together, to reach out and find our way back to our own stars." Janeway walked up to the helm and rested her hand on Paris' shoulder. "We must carry on, all of us, and remember all that we have lost – and all that we have to gain. Set a course, Mr. Paris. For home."