Notes, disclaimers, acknowledgments can all be found in the prologue.

Ch. 1

The quiet whirring of the holoimager coupled with its barely audible click preserving another piece of history was grating on Tom's nerves. How many images did they really need of the broken glass, overturned table, and splintered shelves? The small blood spatter near the bedroom door seemed to require an entire tetraquad of memory all by itself. He wondered, not for the first time, if this many images were always recorded or was the investigation team overdoing it since it was the house of Admiral Janeway.

The holoimager clicked again, and Tom attempted to refocus his concentration to the conversation Chakotay was having with the commander of the security team. The security team that had been too late to do a damn bit of good except to secure the house after the fact. The security team that had only been dispatched after Tom had gone through three different operators in his attempts to reach Starfleet Security from Voyager. By the time the damn security team arrived, Tom could've launched a shuttle and gotten to the house himself. If only Voyager hadn't been in the middle of a refit, they would've had transporters, and been able to stop this before it started.

"So, Captain, after your daughter screamed, then what happened?"

Tom tensed, waiting for Chakotay's response, which he wasn't entirely sure would be verbal. The seemingly uncaring way in which the security commander was posing his questions was likely to get him thrown against the wall.

"The comm. line stayed open, and a male voice spoke on it," Chakotay growled. Cutting off the next obvious question, he continued, "The voice told me I would never see my wife again."

"He didn't mention your daughter?"

"He said I would get her back….eventually, if I didn't come after them."

The commander looked up from his PADD. "And what did you say then?"

Chakotay's jaw worked back and forth as he tried to articulate his response. "The line went dead…I didn't get a chance to respond."

Tom frowned. That wasn't how he remembered the conversation ending.


The silence on the bridge of the ship was deafening after Madelyn's scream turned into a muffled whimper and boots could be heard walking away. The sounds of pots and pans being scattered carelessly could also be heard over the open channel, but no one said anything. A slight scraping sound as the discarded comm. badge was picked up was the only warning before a voice so different from Madelyn's whispered entreaties for help spoke over the line.

"You are never going to see your wife again."

"Who is this?" Chakotay asked, the fury in his voice evident.

The voice on the other end continued as if he'd said nothing. "And if you ever want to see your daughter again, you won't try to find us."

"What do you want?"

The voice gave a mirthless laugh. "We already have what we want."

This time, it was Chakotay that continued as if nothing had been said. "I don't know who you are or what you intend to do, but if you let my family go, this will go no further. If you don't, I will find you, and I will kill you."

The tiny hairs on the back of Tom's neck had stood on end at the menacing quality present in the former Maquis's usual subdued baritone. He thoroughly and utterly believed every word Chakotay had just said. The voice on the other end didn't seem to understand the danger he was now facing by daring to lay a finger on Kathryn Janeway. Not to mention Madelyn.

The voice simply laughed. "Good luck."

The line clicked and went dead.

The comm. badge belonging to Kathryn Janeway had been found in the kitchen. Crushed. They'd taken images of that, too.

"Well, Captain Chakotay, it sounds like your wife was the primary target." The commander's unsympathetic voice cut again into Tom's musings. "Can you think of anyone who may want to harm your wife?"

"We left most of our enemies in the Delta Quadrant, but she did recently return to this area of space carrying a ship full of former Maquis and a couple of reformed Borg. Maybe you heard about that. I'm sure not everyone was happy to see us." Chakotay started moving into the security commander's space as he talked, and Tom stepped cautiously closer with the intent to hold the bigger man back if the two came to blows. "She also brought news to over a dozen families about their loved ones and how they'd died under her command. I'm sure that might have angered some people. Let's not forget, she's married and has a kid with the former leader of the Maquis that she was sent to capture. I'm sure that didn't go over well with everyone back here at home. Not to mention the fact that she's an admiral now, so every single day that she goes in to work, she makes life and death decisions that not everyone agrees with. So, Commander, my answer to your question is yes; I can think of a lot of people who may want to harm my wife."

An uncomfortable silence descended as the two men faced off against each other. Almost everyone in the house had given up the pretense that they weren't paying close attention to the growing argument. The audible click of the holoimager taking another picture broke the silence that had lain thick over the room, and the commander wisely backed off, inventing a report that he needed to check on. Tom slowly slid into Chakotay's view, wanting to offer some form of support.

"Does Gretchen know?"

The question took Tom by surprise, although it probably shouldn't have. "Yeah, she called the house line about fifteen minutes ago." Chakotay swore under his breath but waited for Tom to finish. "She'd been expecting Madelyn for the afternoon, so when she didn't show…"

Chakotay straightened and looked towards the house comm. "What did you tell her?"

"One of the technicians answered first." Tom almost smiled, feeling sorry for the young man that had immediately incurred the wrath of Gretchen Janeway. "Luckily, I was nearby and took over the call, but by then she knew something was wrong. I told her Kathryn and Madelyn were missing, but I didn't get into details. She didn't believe me, of course, wants you to call her."

Chakotay nodded, acknowledging that he'd heard Tom, but his mind kept straying to the sounds he'd heard over the line and matching them up in his mind with the destruction that now lay at his feet.

Kathryn's voice and then glass breaking had been first. The glass cabinet that her mother had given as a housewarming present now had two shattered panes, and the door hung on only one hinge. Had Kathryn been thrown against the cabinet, or had she pushed someone into it as she had yelled for their daughter to run?

Framed holoimages that had been arranged on the table littered the floor near where the head of the table would have been, but the table itself now lay on its side. The pictures had been knocked off before the table was overturned. Had Kathryn been thrown across its surface, scattering the pictures in her wake? Had she tried putting the table between her captors and their daughter, only to have it upended?

One of the pictures on the wall was crooked, almost torn off its hangings, and the wall next to it had a smear of blood on it. The DNA match and the hair strands found stuck in the blood had confirmed it was Kathryn's. Had that been the thud he'd heard? Had her head been struck against the wall with such force it had knocked her unconscious, silencing her furious cry?

"Chakotay?" Tom's voice was quiet. Cautious. He too had already imagined the scene and how events must have played out. "What do you want to do now?"

Chakotay's dark eyes found Tom's face. He thought his heart had stopped and his blood had frozen in his veins in that first moment he'd heard Kathryn's screams. But since then, a fire had been building, and a monstrous roaring beast that he thought he'd silenced a long time ago was unfurling in his chest. The pain and fury he'd experienced upon first seeing his home planet after its destruction all those years ago was nothing but a matchstick to what he felt now.

"Now?" His eyes slid across the security personnel all milling around his home. He had no confidence in them. The same as he'd had no confidence in Starfleet before Kathryn. He locked eyes on the commander that was in charge. "For seven years we did things our own way, Tom. We never lost Kathryn out there. I'm damn sure not going to lose her here." He returned his gaze to Tom's face and knew he saw the same resolve there that he felt. "We do this ourselves."