Day 15

The Mawasi engineering team assigned to assist Voyager's crew worked with them to find materials and technologies to rebuild the ship of growing fame. A small handful of Voyager's crew that left in escape pods trickled in and was pleased to receive food, sleep, comfortable accommodations, and relief from imminent death.

Kathryn Janeway frustrated her hosts by choosing to stay on board Voyager and not availing herself of their plush accommodations. She made the decision upon leaving the party on Shantix Five. Repairing her ship was her only concern and staying aboard maximized her ability to do so.

But in her zeal to fix Voyager, Kathryn was also extremely irritable. To Chakotay's surprise her otherwise loyal crew wasn't able to bear her short tempered manner. Chakotay fielded a number of complaints and then saw what the crew was saying, for himself.

Kathryn and Nanton Mordan, the chief Mawasi engineer assigned to Voyager, were walking the corridor. As he began to following them, he overheard the tail end of their argument.

Nanton was tall and her Mawasi skin was dark with a slight olive tinge. Trying her best to communicate calmly, her tone betrayed her impatience with the commanding officer. "Captain, the chancellor was offended by your remark. He understands how important rebuilding Voyager is to you."

"Does he?" Kathryn made no effort to hide her caustic tone. "Then why does he insist on these social engagements? If the Mawasi aide is dependant upon keeping a full dance card, then Voyager and her crew will get by fine on our own."

"That is not want he meant. Please Captain, he was only saying that with the extra help we are providing he thought it reasonable that you could free up some of your time for diplomatic activities. Besides, I think it would be good for you to stop."

"Stop? Stop!" Kathryn halted her brisk walk and turned to the tall woman who easily matched her stride. "How can I stop? My crew is strewn across the sector, and my ship is not fit to accommodate them. I can't stop. At the end of the evening the chancellor goes home, but oh, not my crew. No, you tell him I can't stop. At this time Voyager is in no condition to be sending out visiting diplomats."

Kathryn glanced at Chakotay who had now caught up to the two women. She saw the concern and disapproval on his face. Promptly, she turned her back on them both and proceeded down the hall. Chakotay took Nanton by the arm and did his best to smooth things over.

After seeing Nanton to engineering, he promised to contact the chancellor to handle his concerns personally. Redirecting the engineer's attention to the acquisition of dilithium, Chakotay headed to his office.

The Doctor and Tuvok were waiting for Chakotay in his office. They had an appointment for which Chakotay was late. He had just sat down and started to take a drink of his tea when he realized that their purpose was to confront him with the doctor's decision to relieve the captain of her command.

Slamming his teacup down on his desk, he replied, "The captain did what she had to. She brought the ship through and now we are rebuilding. We will recover our crew and continue. I have no intention of rewarding her sacrifice and perseverance by taking her command of this vessel. The answer is: No!"

He rose from his desk and began to pace. "Look you both got back only a few days ago. Give her some time. We've all been through hell! Who are you to say you are handling this any better than she is?"

Tuvok stood before him. "Commander, your argument is clearly illogical. We are not speaking in terms of rewards, nor can maintaining command be considered as a reward. It is the Doctor's professional opinion that the captain is not medically fit for the job and keeping her in command poses a risk to this ship."

Chakotay paced. "So she took some risks…"

The Doctor jumped up with a shrill protest. "And threatened to decompile me!"

"People say things under stress."

Tuvok said, "Commander, we need you to set aside your personal feelings for the captain and consider what is best for the ship."

Chakotay spun on his heel to face Tuvok. He searched the Vulcan's expression and then looked at the Doctor again. Choosing to respond calmly, he said, "Tell me your reasons again."

"The medical condition she suffers from is called acute stress disorder." The Doctor spoke professionally this time, "and it is unquestionably affecting the captain's judgment. Without treatment and intervention, it can develop into post traumatic stress disorder and can potentially become a life long problem."

"Will relieving her of command, help Kathryn?"

Tuvok raised an eyebrow at the obvious emotion in Chakotay's voice.

"It could. She needs time, rest, and a safe environment where she can process everything she has been through. Sustained trauma over long periods of time affects the neural pathways, damaging her ability to think clearly. On an emotional level she is overloaded and will have difficulty regulating emotion. If the captain can learn to see and understand how this battle has impacted her, I'm confident that we can help her overcome the symptoms of post traumatic stress."

"But relieving her of command will be another blow to her."

"Initially, yes, but I see no way around it. Without it she won't stop. In my opinion she is driving herself and the little crew we have because she is afraid of what she needs, afraid to stop."

Chakotay turned from the Doctor to Tuvok and eyed him sternly. Tuvok's loyalty to Janeway was unwavering. Chakotay had just witnessed her volatility and saw her anger at the word 'stop.'

"Alright. I'll act upon your recommendations."

"Thank you, Commander." The Doctor replied too enthusiastically.

"Doctor, I assure you that the captain will not decompile your matrix. But even relieved of command she will be treated with the utmost respect. If she refuses treatment leave her alone. Tuvok, you and I are going to meet with the captain and ask her to relinquish her command codes. I see no reason why she cannot maintain minimal engineering access. There is plenty to do and I want to leave her free to pick her own chores."

The Doctor interjected, "What? Commander? I said, 'she needs to stop.'"

Tuvok raised an eyebrow at the commander's proposal. "Intriguing."

"I want to ease her burden not restrict her freedom. And I'm sure Kathryn would go crazy if she was not permitted to contribute at all. Is that understood?"

"Understood."

"Doctor, you are dismissed."

Startled by the terse dismissal, the Doctor exited in silence.

After the doors closed, Chakotay said, "As for my personal feelings for the captain, they have and will continue to be an asset to this ship. Is that clear, Mr. Tuvok?"

Tuvok raised an eyebrow and replied, "Yes, sir."

Chakotay's pursed lips turned up in a thin smile. "Good." He placed a hand on Tuvok's shoulder and added somberly, "Now you and I need to go find her."

They found Kathryn in her ready room. Most of the debris had been cleared away and Kathryn was working on restoring the communications systems. She was stripped down to her tank top and had her arms buried in the wall.

"Oh, good timing, hand me the wavelength modulator, would you?"

With her head partially inside the exposed section of wall and her hand pointing at the tools on her desk, she continued to work.

Chakotay stood with both hand behind his back. "Captain, we need to talk to you."

"Oh?" She turned to face them.

"If this is about the Mawasi chancellor's request for aide in trying to establish a peace treaty with the Krenim, you can forget it. We're in no shape for that kind of thing."

The two men looked at each other in surprise. Neither had heard of the chancellor's plan.

Chakotay responded, "No, Captain. That's not what we need to discuss."

Kathryn studied them briefly. "I see." Pointing them to the dusty sitting area, she said, "Very well then. Hand me the modulator and then sit down."

Tuvok picked up the tool and placed it in Kathryn's out stretched hand and then followed Chakotay to the sitting area. They sat down on the same sofa and waited for Kathryn to finish her repairs.

Satisfied that she got the repairs to a place she could stop, Kathryn dusted off her hands and sat down across from the two men. "Now, tell me what pressing matter could possibly have the two of you off your repair detail and together here to visit me?"

Chakotay began to speak but Kathryn raised a hand to stop him and continued sarcastically, "It can't be a conflict among the crew because we hardly have any. It can't be…"

"Kathryn." Chakotay spoke her name firmly. The job before him was difficult enough without her caustic emphasis on the ship's sorry state.

As she stopped, Kathryn threw a hand in the air and slumped back in her chair, she said, "Fine. Let's hear it."

Chakotay's eyes darted from Kathryn to Tuvok and back to Kathryn before he took a deep breath and calmly began. "Kathryn, you've been through hell and we are worried about you. I know the ship needs to be repaired, but you and its crew have needs, too. I want to ask you to take it easy for a bit."

Tuvok's eyebrow raised and Kathryn read his expression; clearly Chakotay wasn't saying what Tuvok expected of him. "So that's why the two of you are here? To ask me to take it easy? Oh hell, have a holiday while my ship is in shambles and my crew scattered across a broad region of space." Kathryn rolled her eyes. "I don't think so, Commander."

Chakotay looked at the floor.

In a stately logical tone, Tuvok interjected, "What the commander is attempting to address is your current inability to command this vessel."

Chakotay's head shot up. Both he and Kathryn stared at Tuvok until he added, "Are you not, Commander?"

Kathryn turned to Chakotay and waited for an answer.

Chakotay cleared his throat and forced himself to look her in the eye.

"Why?" she asked in a near whisper.

His eyes darted away from her and back to her again. His stomach turned over inside him as he wet his lips and tried to explain. "The Doctor informed me of his attempt to relieve you of command…"

"Chakotay, you can't be serious."

"I do understand that when he attempted to relieve you of command, it wasn't practical or even possible. I wouldn't have listened to him at that point either. But he has some genuine medical concerns, Kathryn, and they need to be addressed as soon as possible."

"His concerns, if I remember correctly, call in to question my psychological health."

"Yes, they do."

"You can't possibly think…" Kathryn began, skeptical that she could actually lose Chakotay's support, but as she watched him sitting before her staring at the floor, her thoughts changed. "Oh, so you do."

"I didn't believe it when the Doctor first expressed his concerns, no." Chakotay thought of his initial reaction to the Doctor. This line of thinking was an affront to his loyalty to the captain, but the Doctor's concerns had been echoed by Tuvok and Seven. Even B'Elanna thought Kathryn was too reckless and volatile to maintain command. When asked, young Kim admitted that he was scared of the captain's repeated willingness to push herself, her ship, and her crew beyond all reasonable limits. But Chakotay wouldn't say any of that.

He leaned forward and spoke to her gently, as if they were the only two people in the room. His big brown eyes were pools of compassion. "Look. All I'm asking is that you temporarily relinquish your command codes. In time, I'm sure the Doctor will have more confidence in your ability to resume command. We're not going anywhere in the meantime, and I don't see why you can't maintain engineering clearance. I know you'll want to have something to do, and Voyager needs your touch right now. Just leave the politics and people to me. Rest when you need rest and work when you want to work."

The love in his eyes softened the blow in his words. A muscle in her cheek twitched as she decided how to respond. She wanted to appreciate his compassion, but instead a cage set in around her heart and she hated him for doing this to her.

Beaten, Kathryn Janeway relinquished her command codes to her two best friends and returned to her quarters where she spent 63 hours alone in the dark.