Chapter 7

In the privacy of her ready room, B'Elanna took a moment to review the file on Tuvok that had been sent along with him and quickly verified that he had been involved in the Terran Rebellion until he was captured and reprogrammed by a Cardassian doctor. Her crew had bought him from a laboratory on Goralis III.

What did I expect? He's not the same Tuvok. She thought about the evil glint she had seen in his eye. Not even close.

As much as she wanted to keep Tuvok on board and try to find a way to undo what had been done to him, she knew he was too dangerous now. If he'd been brainwashed by the Alliance, then he might see through the Obsidian Order's plans to establish B'Elanna as sub-regent. There was certainly no way he'd be willing to help them take on Martok.

"Damar," she called over the comm. "Can you come in here?"

The doors to the ready room slid open, admitting Damar. "You really shouldn't ask, you know. You should give orders."

"I have bigger problems to worry about right now. What are we going to do with Tuvok?"

"We have to keep up the pretense of wanting him. If you try to get rid of him now that you know what's happened to him, it'll look suspicious. You'd be putting us all at risk."

"And if instead we keep him here," she said, trying to finishing his train of thought, "people will believe we're using him to help us infiltrate the Rebellion."

"We can't keep him here," he argued, confirming her earlier assessment. "He's too dangerous."

B'Elanna looked into his eyes, noticing for the first time that they were gray-blue, very much alive, and not at all the discs of obsidian she had expected. I've been staring at his forehead, she realized, or that cord down his nose. I've been doing exactly what I hate for people to do to me.

Concentrate on the situation, B'Elanna. They needed to get rid of Tuvok in a manner befitting their mission. "What if we make an exchange? His file says that he worked at Terok Nor before he joined the Rebellion. Can we take him back there and offer him as a trade for some other people? Surely there are other rebels there. Maybe Harry's there, too."

Damar's eyes lit up at the suggestion. "You're starting to think like a sub-regent," he complimented her. "Tuvok will be worth at least three Terrans."

The idea of trading one life for another, of establishing that kind of commodity value to people, was inhuman to B'Elanna, but she held out hope that Harry had been taken to Terok Nor as Seska had initially said. If that was the case, she'd soon be reunited with him.

"I told the Klingons that we needed…expendable soldiers," she told him. "But if we can get the Terrans behind me as sub-regent, it would show the Alliance that I could make a good leader. They wouldn't have to worry about uprisings if the Terrans are pleased with the leader of the sector, right?"

"Why would the Terrans support you?"

"Because I'm half-human. I'm one of them."

"You're also half-Klingon," he reminded her. "One of the enemy."

It didn't matter. She was determined to see who was working on Terok Nor, regardless of whether or not they could agree on the reason why. She decided to follow his earlier suggestion. "Tell them to set a course for Terok Nor," she commanded. "Now."

"Nick, how are you feeling today?" Chakotay asked solicitously as he they headed back to their makeshift sleeping areas for the night.

Harry overheard and turned with some curiosity to see how Tom was going to answer. His friend gave a sigh, clearly unhappy that Chakotay was still trying to court him into his circle, and said meekly, "I guess I'm okay."

"Did you get enough to eat at dinner?"

"Not really."

"I have some soti root, if you'd like it," Chakotay offered.

Damn, he's good. It was hard for Harry not to see the Chakotay he knew, who would have offered his food because he was genuinely concerned with Tom's well-being. Not this Chakotay, he had to remind himself. He just wants his loyalty, and he doesn't want him to side with Harry. Thinking about himself in the third person was starting to give him a headache.

As if they were of the same mind, Harry One leaned over and murmured, "See how far that guy will go just to get people to follow him? As if he cares about anything other than killing Cardassians."

"I just want you to leave me alone," Tom whimpered to Chakotay. "Please."

Chakotay sighed heavily but nodded his acknowledgment. Then he raised his eyebrows at the two Harrys as if to blame them for the fact that he couldn't reach Tom.

"The holograms aren't ready, and we need to take action," Kathryn said definitively. She clenched her jaw in thought for a moment, then nodded with sudden determination. "We'll raid the camp without them."

"Are you kidding?" Zimm protested. "That's suicide!"

"One more day!" Reg pleaded. "I know we can get them working."

Kathryn stabbed a few controls on the computer, which sparked and sputtered. She slapped it with an open palm, and a hologram materialized. Then he began disappearing, one limb after another fading in and out as his face slowly dissolved. She looked knowingly at Reg and Zimm.

"Forget it. You've been tinkering around with this program for two days. It's time to take action."

"I know we can have them ready in a few more days, Kathryn," Reg insisted. "Launching the strike now, on our own, doesn't make sense."

"Kathryn, none of the other rebel factions are ready to help us. It'll be suicide."

"Why are you so obsessed with this?"

"That camp has more members of the Rebellion than anywhere else in Alliance space," Kathryn reminded them both.

"And it has Chakotay," Zimm added with a knowing smile. "That's what this is really about, isn't it? You're just desperate to go rescued your beloved who willingly sacrificed himself for the sake of the cause."

"Shut up, Zimm," Kathryn warned.

Reg gave a soft laugh. "You're an idiot, Zimm."

Zimm turned to face Reg with surprise. "What do you mean?"

"Kathryn's not in love with Chakotay," Reg told him confidently. "There are other people in that camp, you know."

"Of course there are…oh, but you mean…who?"

"Yeah, Reg," Kathryn added, "who?"

"Harry Kim."

At this Kathryn laughed outright. Then she picked up the nearest object, some kind of tool they'd been using on the unreliable computer, and hurled it across the room. "Let's get something straight. While you're sitting around playing fix-it and speculating about my love life, Terrans are suffering at the hands of the Alliance. My only concern is getting them out. Got it?" She paused only for effect, not really expecting an answer from either of them. "Chakotay is expecting us at 1300 tomorrow. If they start attacking the guards from the inside, they're going to need us there to help get them out. We can't expect them to hold out until the holographic soldiers are ready. We launch tomorrow. You'd better be ready."

There was something in the air that morning, Harry noticed. Something was definitely going on. Harry One and Annika were heady with anticipation, and Chakotay was concentrating so hard on his work that he had to have been covering for something. It was fairly obvious to Harry that today was the day the Terran Rebellion planned to liberate the camp.

The fact that no one had told him gave him some concern. If there was a sudden firefight, the tired, weakened prisoners with no weapons should know to stay out of the way. He gazed around the camp, wondering how many of them were about to become martyrs for the cause without even knowing it.

"Chakotay," he called as the older man passed by. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"What's on your mind?"

Harry looked hard at him. "It's today, isn't it?" Chakotay said nothing and evenly held Harry's gaze, but there was something in his eyes that confirmed Harry's suspicions. "You have to warn people."

"I did. Everyone worth warning, anyway."

"You mean the people who've believed in you all along."

Chakotay nodded. "They know what to do when the time comes."

"And the others? What's going to happen to them?"

Chakotay shrugged slightly. "There's always a price to freedom."

Harry nearly exploded. "These are innocent people! And the only reason they have to get hurt is because you're too vain to warn them! What time is the strike taking place?" Chakotay didn't answer. "What time?" he demanded again, his voice rising.

"Keep your cool," Chakotay warned. "I don't need you and your pacifism interfering. Sometimes you have to use your fists. It's the way things work."

Harry shoved Chakotay against the nearest work cart, his back leaning over at uncomfortable angle and Harry's hand at his throat. "Tell me what time!"

Chakotay began laughing. "Lunch," he managed to gasp. As Harry released him, he stood and dusted himself off. "See, Harry? Fists."

"There's a difference," Harry argued as Chakotay began to walk away. "I'm trying to protect people, and you're trying to get them killed."

Chakotay whirled around and put his hands on his hips. He nearly licked his lips with smug satisfaction. "But think of how much sympathy their deaths will earn. Our numbers will swell."

"You're insane," Harry realized, the words coming out slowly and with surprise. "Was this ever even about freedom for you?" Chakotay merely turned around and started walking away, leaving Harry to call after him in frustration, "Did you ever even care about anyone but yourself?"

"Well, look who's at it again."

He turned to find Annika standing behind him with her hands on her hips. She shook her head slightly, causing her blond ponytail to swing from side to side. For a brief moment he contemplated what a beautiful, expressive woman she was, and he wondered if Seven of "Ensign, take off your clothes" Nine was one day going to be like her. "Annika, did you know about the plans for today?"

"Of course I did. He still thinks he can get me."

It took Harry a moment to understand what she was saying – that in spite of Harry One and Chakotay's rivalry, Chakotay missed a perfect opportunity to get Harry One killed because he wanted to impress Annika. Or maybe he just wanted to save them both because he really loved her. Or maybe Annika was just really egotistical.

"Why haven't you warned everyone?"

"Will you relax? Everyone we need to launch the assault knows what to do, and the others have been through this kind of thing enough to know to stay out of the way."

"Don't you think our chances of being successful will increase if more prisoners help?"

"Our chances?" she scoffed. "Who says you're going to be involved?"

He hadn't considered that. He was, after all, a Starfleet officer, trained to attack and defend – though only when nonviolent solutions had been exhausted. He also hadn't been in the camp as long as the others and was still a little stronger, a little less malnourished. He thought of himself as an obvious choice.

Now who's being egotistical?

"Annika," he said, reaching out tentatively to touch her arm, "I know that you don't think much of me, but I've been trained, maybe more than any of you, and you're going to need as much help as possible to get everyone out of here with minimal casualties." He caught her bright blue eyes for a moment before adding with some confidence, "I know you don't really want people to die today just to rally support for the Rebellion."

She averted her eyes then, leaving Harry to assume that he was right but that she felt helpless to stop Chakotay.

"Let me help you organize the prisoners," Harry said softly. "Please."

"Why?" she asked, equally quietly.

"Because I don't want anyone to get hurt if it can be prevented," Harry explained. "And I want you to have the freedom you deserve. Despite what you think of me, I'm not a traitor."

Annika just looked at him for a long minute, not saying anything, then she gave him a very faint smile.