Ch. 27

Chakotay strode into the ready room and threw the PADD he was carrying onto the desk. The PADD contained all the information Milo had concerning a certain planet and its king. Planting his palms on the surface of the desk, Chakotay dropped his chin to his chest. The Altair system. For the first time since they'd left Earth, they actually had a destination plotted. Specific coordinates for where Kathryn had been taken. Names, times, dates, and information concerning the planet's culture and level of civilization. Every bit of information they'd need to find Kathryn and Madelyn on the planet and what force they'd need to use to rescue them. He sighed.

Sveta always had been thorough when it came to interrogations.

For fifteen minutes, Chakotay had paced the corridor outside the holosuite. What had he done? What was he doing? But that was the problem. He wasn't doing anything. Sveta was. Sveta was getting the information they needed. Not him. Sveta was giving up her long sought peace to obtain information for him. It was wrong…and yet, he needed so badly for her to succeed. Twice, he moved towards the doors to join her in the holosuite, and twice, he stopped himself short of entering. Why? Was he afraid that he'd stop her before she found out the location of his wife and child? Or was he afraid he'd help her? He couldn't remember the last time he'd been so furious at any one person than he had been at seeing Milo holding Kathryn down on the ground. The pain etched on her face in that frozen moment of time had spoken volumes…volumes that seared open his soul. That part of his soul that he thought had long been healed. But did the end result really justify the means used to obtain that information? Did it ever?

Did he care?

He didn't. Not when it meant saving his wife and daughter. He could live with blackening his soul some if it meant finding them. He could live with that; he couldn't live without them. Coming to a decision, he once again changed the direction his feet were headed and strode towards the doors of the holosuite only to have them slide open before he got close enough to trigger them himself. Sveta emerged. Her eyes were flat, her voice emotionless. A sheen of sweat dotted her brow, and he could see the muscles in her arm tremble slightly, but she gave Chakotay an access code for a file in the ship's computer containing all of Milo's information, including coordinates for where Kathryn and Madelyn had been taken.

He quickly relayed the code to B'Elanna, instructing her to open the file and start digging. As he spoke, Tuvok had tried to move past Sveta and into the holosuite. She'd stopped him. Milo wasn't in there. She'd already had him beamed to the sickbay on the Pendragon. She offered no apology and had no chagrin when she informed Chakotay that he would probably hear from a very irate doctor.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Of course," she replied tightly.

Gone was the lively woman he'd had coffee with earlier that month. Instead the hardened, soul weary woman that had recruited him into the Maquis stood before him again. He reached a hand out to her shoulder, and she stepped away, her eyes flashing dangerously. "Don't."

She wanted no comfort. At least not from him. He nodded. "I'm sorry."

Sveta shrugged indifferently. "You can save your family now. That's more than I was ever able to give you before."

"Thank you."

Even at the moment he'd uttered them, those two words had seemed so completely inadequate, but it was all he had been able to come up with. Paris had paged him, interrupting the chance to say anything further, and informed him that it would still take another twelve hours to reach the planet. A moon as it turned out. Chakotay had then given the orders for all of their crew to return to the Pendragon. Harry and a skeleton team would stay on Milo's ship with Milo and his people locked down in their quarters. Chakotay hated the idea of leaving Milo on his own ship, but the brig on the Pendragon was small, and he wasn't entirely sure they wouldn't still have need of it later. Seven had volunteered to remain with Harry. She'd lock out all the systems with her own Borg encryptions and be able to monitor anyone attempting to break them. Chakotay had agreed.

Sveta had surprised him when she'd stated that she'd be hitching a ride with Harry. She'd been cryptic about it, and he'd understood that she had no intention of staying on the ship. She would be gone before he got back and would not be returning with them to Earth. The hard won peace of soul she'd attained over the years since the war was gone. Chakotay knew he wouldn't see her again until she got it back. He'd let her go.

"Doctor to Chakotay."

"Go ahead." He straightened even as he answered the page.

"All of Mister Cyronius's injuries have been healed, and he has been returned to his ship under sedation."

Chakotay closed his eyes. Injuries. Healed. "Thank you, Doctor."

"We need to talk. This sort of coercion is not-"

"I know, Doctor," he said cutting the hologram off before he could really get going, "we'll discuss it later. Chakotay out." He cut the comm. line off and then opened it again. "Chakotay to Tuvok. Have all the arrangements between the two ships been completed?"

"Aye, Captain. Mister Kim has departed and assumed control of the other vessel."

"Good, then lay in a course and engage at warp nine point five. If B'Elanna has anything extra…use it."

"Aye, sir."

"Chakotay out." He cut off the comm. line and almost immediately felt the engines of the powerful little ship jump to life. Paris must've been sitting with his finger on the button. He glanced at the PADD on his desk, and picked it up, thumbing open the files, and scrolling through the information. He stopped at a name. King Odaro.

Circling his desk, he took a seat and opened the file. It seemed Milo kept extensive notes on his clientele; it probably made his job easier. The notes included everything from the king's preferences to how Milo had made the questionable first contact. The more Chakotay read, the more concerned he became. The king wanted to control and conquer everything. In a mate, he wanted an equal, someone to challenge him. Chakotay almost snorted; Kathryn would certainly meet that criteria. The last note on the king's desires, however, made his blood run cold.

Odaro only thinks he wants a challenge. In reality, anyone that resists him will be an affront to his nature. He will seek to break them and then kill them.