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Dreamers

Chapter Two

THREE DAYS LATER

All crewmembers were now awake, but as the Rayzin had refused to receive a Borg drone onto their ship, Seven of Nine was transported to Voyager's sickbay as soon as she was disconnected from the dream matrix. For security reasons, The Doctor kept her unconscious and behind a forcefield.

"I'm sure I can restore most of her human physiology like I did in your dream," he said to Kathryn, "but as a dream is shaped as much by personal hopes as it is personal fears, there is no way of knowing whether the Seven of Nine I will restore will be the same Seven of Nine of your dream."

"Of course there's a way of knowing," Kathryn replied. "Time will tell us. But I have every confidence that when she is restored, this Borg drone will be the Seven of Nine we all knew and loved."

"Shall I proceed with the restoration then, Captain?"

"Yes. And I won't wish you luck as I know you don't need it."

B'Elanna's voice suddenly sounded over the comm. "Torres to Janeway. We've received a data-stream from Earth. I haven't gone through everything yet, but there are letters for you and letters for the crew."

"Great news, B'Elanna," Kathryn replied. "Send all letters addressed to me to my ready room and have someone deliver the rest to the crew."

"Right away, Captain. Torres out."

"That's a turn up for the books," the Doctor said as the connection terminated. "You weren't expecting a return data-stream."

"No," Kathryn answered. "I didn't think Starfleet had the technology to do it. But a lot changes in five years...and not just technologically. In our dream, our letters from Earth brought bad news as well as good, and I have a feeling that part of our dream is about to become reality."

The Mess Hall was quieter than it had been for days when Kathryn arrived there two hours later. All the letters from home had now been delivered and most crewmembers had retired to their quarters to read them.

"Coffee, black?" Neelix asked from behind the counter.

"As always," Kathryn smiled.

Neeliz set to work and Kathryn made her way over to Harry Kim. He was sitting alone at a table, eating a tomato pizza.

"How are you doing, Ensign?" she asked.

"Just great, thank you, Captain," he smiled. "I've had a letter from my folks and from Libby and everything is great. My folks are well and Libby isn't married. She was in my dream, to a musician, but she isn't even engaged. She can't wait to see me and the feeling is mutual."

"That is great news," Kathryn said. "I'm very happy for you."

"I've never stopped loving her. I think that's why I never settled with someone in the dream like Tom and B'Elanna did. My heart was always Libby's. I can't believe I'm going to see her again...really, actually, see her. I have so many times in my dreams...no pun intended."

"We haven't got the array configured yet," Kathryn said. "Let's keep our optimism in check."

"I know," he replied, "and I am, but I have a really good feeling about this."

"Me too," Kathryn smiled.

"Libby's in Starfleet now," he went on. "She enrolled at the Academy a few months after we went missing and graduated last year. Can you believe she outranks me now? That's right, she's a Lieutenant. She joined because she wanted to be part of the official search for us. It was never called off, like in our dream, but is still going. Or at least was still going until they heard from us."

"I'm impressed," Kathryn said. "Libby set herself a goal and she achieved it. That takes a lot of determination."

"She's an impressive woman. You'll love her, Captain. She's amazing. I've never met anyone quite like her. She's funny and smart and stunningly beautiful...to me, anyway."

Samantha Wildman sat at a table next to them and Harry turned to look at her. "Do you think she's pregnant like she was in our dream?"

Kathryn was thinking the same thing, but did not have to answer as Samantha did instead. "I heard that, Ensign," she said, "and the answer is yes."

"Oh that's wonderful," Kathryn replied as she got up to give her a hug. "Congratulations."

"Thank you, Captain," Samantha smiled.

"Is it a girl?" Harry asked.

"Yes," she answered. "And not only is she going to be like Naomi, she's going to be Naomi. The Doctor's done a holographic projection of her at four years of age and she looks exactly like Naomi. I'm so glad because I was absolutely devastated to find out that Naomi wasn't real. I don't know how I'd bear it if I wasn't pregnant. But on the other hand I'm glad it was a dream too. The chances are we'll be home by this time next week and Naomi will get to have a regular childhood. My husband never gave up on me and we'll get to be a proper family."

"That's fantastic," Neelix smiled. "Little Naomi so deserves a proper home. Not that she didn't have a great life on our dream Voyager, but a starship is no place for children. I just hope you'll let me and Kes be a part of her life. We'd so love to be."

"Of course. In fact, I'd like you both to be her godparents."

"Really?" he beamed. "Oh we'd be honored!"

Samantha smiled and then turned to Kathryn. "I've been thinking, Captain. For me to know I was pregnant in the dream, and for me to know what Naomi will look like, The Caretaker must have supplied me with that information somehow. He must have known from examining me that I'm pregnant."

"That theory works for me," Kathryn smiled.

"There are a lot of stories going around about The Caretaker," Harry said. "Some say he never really existed, that we were taken by a group of aliens instead, whereas others say he did exist but was not a Caretaker. They say he was a lone biologist from an advanced species. What do you think, Captain?"

"I'm inclined to believe the former," she said. "I think we were taken by a group of aliens for biometric examination, but for some reason they had to abandon the array and us in a hurry. But who knows. Anything is possible."

Neelix arrived now with Kathryn's cup of coffee. "One hot black coffee for Captain Janeway."

"Thank you, Neelix," she said as she took it.

"Can I get you anything else, Captain?"

"I might have a slice of your delicious looking carrot cake later," she replied, "but for now this coffee will do very nicely."

"As you were," Neelix smiled. "He then turned to Samantha. "Anything I can get you, Ensign Wildman? Some horonto gravy for your roasted vegetables, perhaps?"

"No, thank you, Neelix," she said. "I'm good."

He turned to Harry. "Ensign Kim, anything I can get you?"

"I'm good too," he answered. "In fact, I should be on my way. I promised Tom I'd meet him in holodeck 2 at 16:00 hours."

"Then you had indeed better get going," Neelix said. "It's almost that time now." He took Harry's plate from him. "I won't have Mr Paris blame me for your late arrival. Get moving, Mr Kim. Step, step..."

"On my way," Harry said as he got to his feet. "See you all later."

He left the room and as Kathryn watched him go, she caught a glimpse of Chakotay. He was sitting in a corner with Tamara Reed. The girl was crying and Chakotay was doing his best to comfort her. The girl was a former member of his Maquis crew and Kathryn knew why she was crying. Just like in their dream, the Maquis had been brought to an end by a massacre.

"I feel so sorry for the Maquis," Samantha said, evidently having noticed them too. "It's a nightmare come true."

"I feel sorry for them too," Neelix said. "But how do you think we knew in the dream about something that had happened in the Alpha Quadrant, Captain? Do you think The Caretaker or our abductors told us?"

"No," Kathryn replied. "I think they were long gone by the time we received letters from Earth. I think the source of our information was Seven. No doubt the Borg assimilated a number of people from the Federation after the Maquis massacre and that information was relayed to us through her."

"I never thought of that," Neelix said. "You're a genius, Captain!"

Gill Reed, Tamara's sister, approached Chakotay and Tamara now and they talked.

"What's going to happen to the Maquis?" Neelix asked. "Will they be pardoned or put in jail? I do hope they're pardoned."

"I do too," Samantha said. "I wouldn't have thought that seven years ago...I mean five...but now I feel like I know them, like they're family."

"So do I," Neelix said. "I feel like I know you all, even though before this week I'd never met you."

"What are your plans?" Samantha asked. "Are you and Kes going to return to Ocampa or come with us to the Federation?"

"Why, we're coming with you, of course! Kes has no living family now and mine are long dead. You're all our family now and we want to be where you are."

Kathryn smiled. "I'm delighted to hear it. You'll love Earth."

"I know we will," he said. "It feels like a home to both of us already because we've heard so much about it."

Suddenly an alarm bleeped and Kes called to Neelix from the kitchen.

"My pumpkin pie!" he cried. "I totally forgot! Excuse me, Captain! Emergency in the kitchen!"

He hurried to attend to the burning pie and Kathryn couldn't help but laugh. "Looks like Neelix has picked up some of my bad habits. I can't count how many roasts I burnt in our dream."

Tamara and Gill left Chakotay now and Kathryn put her hand on Samantha's shoulder.

"I'll leave you to eat in peace. And congratulations once again."

With that she left Samantha and made her way over to Chakotay. He was staring vacantly into a cup of coffee and didn't notice her approach.

"Hi," she said.

Chakotay came out of his trance now and looked up at her. "Hi."

Kathryn sat down opposite him with her coffee. "I'm sorry...about the Maquis."

"Me too," he said sadly. "I hoped that part of our dream wasn't true, that it was just a manifestation of our collective fears, but it is true. In some ways, having come to terms with it in the dream makes it easier to bear, but a lot of people have had news they weren't expecting."

"Like Tamara Reed?"

He nodded. "In our dream, her letter from home bore the news that her fiance had survived the massacre, but in reality he didn't."

"I'm sorry to hear that." She paused. "What about you? Have you received any letters?"

"Two. One from my cousin and one from an old Maquis friend, Timon. The news is pretty much as it was in my dream, except that my cousin tells me my youngest brother, Karotay, is alive and well. My sister found him when she returned to Trebus."

"That's wonderful news," Kathryn said, "really wonderful."

"It is. We've never been close...I left the tribe when he was just a baby...but he's my brother and we have the rest of our lives to get to know one another. I'm determined not to repeat my past mistakes." He paused. "What is your news? I hear you've had several letters."

"I have. One from Starfleet Command, one from my mother, one from my sister, one from Aunt Martha and..." She hesitated. "One from Mark."

"And?"

"Just like in my dream he's married. He married a woman he works with last year."

"I'm sorry."

Kathryn looked deep into his eyes. "I would be if...if I hadn't moved on."

Chakotay returned her gaze and for a long moment their eyes locked. Then Chakotay looked down. "Your letter from Starfleet Command," he said, "did it say anything about us Maquis? About what will happen to us if we get home? In our dream we were exonerated for dedicated service on Voyager, but that obviously won't happen now. None of us, Starfleet or Maquis, are the delta quadrant heroes of our dream."

"No. There'll be no honors or promotions when we get home and Voyager won't be put into a museum. She'll be repaired to her former glory and put back into space. But as well as the lack of celebrity, there'll be the lack of recrimination. Starfleet Command assures me that you Maquis won't be prosecuted."

Infinite relief passed across Chakotay's face.

"I'm going to make an announcement to the crew later," Kathryn went on, "but I wanted you to be the first to know."

"Thank you," he replied. "I was really worried that we would be prosecuted. So much so that I wondered if it would be right for us to go back with you. I'd rather us try to find our own way home than go back with you and be thrown into jail."

"And no doubt Starfleet Command knows that. It was probably one of their reasons for deciding not to prosecute. The Maquis is still a sensitive subject and the last think the Federation wants is to provoke an uprising. That is probably what they would do if you and your crew stayed behind out of fear of jail. The pro-Maquis media would have a field day." She paused. "Ironic, isn't it? Here I am glad of your freedom when the only reason I'm in this quadrant is because I was on a mission to capture you."

"Yes," he smiled. "But if you're glad of my freedom I'm glad you were assigned to capture us. If things had been different then we wouldn't be here now and I'm glad that we are. I'm glad we've had the chance to get to know each other and become friends, even if just in a dream."

"So am I." She paused. "If we get home, what are your plans?"

"I don't know," he said. "If we're not invited to rejoin Starfleet then I'll probably either return to Trebus or become a teacher. I'll just have to see which way the wind blows. What about you? What are your plans?"

"I'd like to spend some time with my family and then visit all the places I thought I'd never see again. I haven't decided yet what my long term plans are. I don't know whether I'll captain another ship or to take up a research post on Earth. I think I need time for the dream to fade before I make that decision. Right now I feel more like the Kathryn Janeway who has captained Voyager for the passed seven years than I do the Kathryn Janeway that has been asleep for five."

"Same here," Chakotay said. "I think timeout is a good idea. After everything we've all been through, I think it's something we all need."

End of Chapter Two