Just One More Day
Disclaimer: I do not own star trek or it's characters, but Katrina's all mine.
A/N: I'm sorry this chapter took a while, but I hope it was worth the wait. I'm not that big on technobabble, so please don't kill me if I use the wrong terminology.
Enjoy!
Chapter 13
People began arriving, trying to figure out what was going on. Vorik pushed his way through the crowd, trying to get to his daughter. She had been suppressing her emotions so much better, so whatever was causing her to scream must be horrifying. It was the only logical conclusion.
Making it inside, he rushes over to her and picks up his ten year old daughter as if she was as light as a feather. He looks at her and uses his telepathic abilities to ask her what is wrong. She points, and for the first time Vorik notices two other men.
He looks at them, recognizing them immediately.
"Commander, lieutenant," Vorik says properly, although he had dropped the habit of calling people by their ranks years ago. He notices Tom is scanning with his tricorder, but for what, he can not be certain. "It has been many years. How did you get here? No one saw anything land."
"We're still working on that, but I have an idea. We'll be needing to meet with the senior staff," Chakotay explained.
"I will find them," he directs towards Chakotay, then turns to face B'Elanna. "Perhaps it is best if you show them the way." With that, he puts T'Lana down and leaves, in search of other members of the senior staff.
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B'Elanna lead Tom and Chakotay to an old building near the middle of the village. B'Elanna explained it was the first building they created, to cope with the winters.
"I am curious, Chakotay, what took you so long?"
"It's hard to explain. It's better if we just wait for everyone else to arrive." A silence engulfed them. Tom broke it, making small talk.
"So, you and Vorik? Who'd have guessed it?" B'Elanna glared at him. "I have to say, T'Lana's a beautiful girl, just like her mother." B'Elanna blushed. "Her vocabulary however, that's all her father."
"I suppose it's better than playing pool and complaining about Neelix's food." Tom knew she meant that as an insult, but what struck him was the last part of her sentence.
"People eat Neelix's food?" he asked, bewildered.
"Some actually like it."
"Has this planet effected everyone's sense of taste?" B'Elanna knew he was talking about more than food, but Neelix arrived and hugged Tom so hard he couldn't breath. B'Elanna had to laugh; it was the perfect payback for his last comment.
"Nice to see you, Neelix," Tom said after being released from Neelix's steal grip.
"It's been too long, Lieutenant. Commander!" He embraced Chakotay in a similar manner and the look on Chakotay's face was classic. It was all B'Elanna and Tom could do to stop from laughing.
A short while later, Harry joined them and went straight to Tom.
"How have you been?" Tom asked him after a hug.
"I've got a family."
"Harry, that's great!" Tom said, meaning it. "Who's the wife?"
"Tal Celes." Tom looked at him, wanting more and Harry dived into the story of how he and Celes started their relationship and their beautiful children, five year old James Harry Tom Kim, and two year old Tal Britta. They talked and talked, neither realizing Captain Janeway had failed to arrive.
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Although Vorik said he would get the remaining members of the senior staff, he allowed Katrina and Naomi to get the Captain. Katrina wanted more than anything to see her mother's face at hearing about Chakotay's arrival.
"Mother," Katrina called out, entering their home. As she expected, her mother was not inside. She walked through the house and straight out the back to find her mother sitting, staring up at the sky. Katrina and Naomi both knew what she was doing, although she would admit it to no one. No one even knew she spent her free time looking up at the sky, waiting for Chakotay to arrive besides herself, Katrina, and Naomi.
"Mom, I gotta tell you something."
"Has something gone wrong? I thought I heard screaming."
"No, nothing's wrong, but yes, there was screaming." Katrina noticed her mother seemed out of it even more than usual. Katrina had never know her mother to lounge around when there was possible danger or the possibility of some sort of accident. Seeing how sad her mother was made her even happier to be telling her the news.
"What happened?"
"We got visitors."
"Visitors?"
"Yes, one of them being tall, dark, handsome and sporting an interesting tattoo over his left eye."
"Chakotay," Janeway breathed, unable to believe it.
"He's waiting for you in the Meeting Hall."
Without saying another word, Janeway got up and ran past the two girls, straight to the Meeting Room.
"Doesn't she seem happy?" Katrina asked.
"Yeaaaaagh," Naomi said, her hand reaching for her forehead.
"Is something wrong?"
"Headache."
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Janeway got there and froze in her tracks. She looked around but Chakotay was no where to be seen. Her spirits fell and she turned away, unable to keep her Captain's mask from slipping in front of what was left of her senior staff and unwilling to cry in front of them.
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Tom had been scanning throughout their meeting, so he wasn't completely surprised to find themselves no longer when they were. However, he was surprised to find the Meeting Room packed with partying people. He looked around while he scanned the room and stopped when he made eye contact with Harry Kim.
Walking over to his friend, he tapped his shoulder, asking, "Are you planning on hogging Tal Britta all night?"
Harry turned, responding automatically. "Actually . . . wait, how did you know her name?" Finally, looking up, he gasped. "Tom?! How did you get here? What are you doing here?"
"Just celebrating with you and Tal Britta."
"How do you know her name?" he asked for the second time.
"You told me."
"What?" Harry asked, confused. "That's not possible. Celes and I haven't told anyone yet."
"True, but you will."
Harry saw Tom's mischievous grin, wondering what he was up to. However, his daughter reached up, stretching her arm, and Harry was soon distracted by her.
"She's beautiful, Harry."
For that moment in time, neither cared how they got there and just enjoyed it.
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Kathryn Janeway was congratulating Celes on the birth of her daughter.
"Are you sure you can't tell us her name yet?"
"It's not time yet."
"Of course, of course," Janeway said, even though she still wanted to know the newborn's name. "Can I at least hold her?"
"You'd have to ask Harry. He's stolen her and I can't seem to find either of them." Janeway scanned the room and noticed something in the corner of her eye.
She turned, gasping at what she found. She blinked, to be sure she was really seeing what she thought she was, and smiled when Chakotay still stood in front of her eyes. She walked over to him through the crowd, attempting to regain control over her breathing. She couldn't even keep from smiling as she walked over to him.
"Chakotay?" she asked in a small voice. He smiled and she melted. She touched his cheek, to be sure he was real, and her heart skipped a beat as she felt his warm flesh beneath her fingertips. "Oh, Chakotay, it's really you."
She pulled him into a hug, too happy to even stop a few tears of joy as they spilled from her eyes.
"How did you get here?" she asked after finally breaking the hug.
"Tom and I have an idea, but we need to talk it over with you and the rest of the senior staff."
"Why don't we go into another room, and I'll have someone fetch them," she suggested.
"Sounds like a plan," he said, smiling at her. Just seeing that smile was enough to melt her. She never thought she'd see that smile again. She always hoped she would, but a part of her, the annoying rational side of her, told her that she would never get another chance.
"Great. Then, why don't we just leave and we can talk about it."
She had moved to leave, but Chakotay leaned in and whispered in her ear.
"Aren't you forgetting something?"
She blushed when she realized she had forgotten to send someone to inform the senior staff, and turned to look around. She scanned the people and noticed T'Lana was approaching with Naomi and Katrina.
"Ms. Janeway," the youngest girl said, referring to the captain in the only way she'd been taught, "Naomi's experiencing another headache."
"Really?" Janeway asked, concern for Naomi taking over. "How bad is it?"
"Worse than anything I've ever had," she answered. While Janeway paid attention to the girl, she didn't noticed Chakotay pul out his tricorder and begin to scan, but Katrina did.
"Are you my Daddy?" she asked, curiously. Chakotay looked down at her smiling.
"Yes."
Katrina stifled her squealing as she smiled and gave him a hug.
"Are you here to take us to Voyager?" she asked innocently.
"That's hopefully the plan," he said, only barely stretching the truth. He did want to get them all back to Voyager, but first he needed to talk with the rest of the senior staff, something he realized that was becoming more and more critical with each passing second. "Right now, I need to talk with your mother and the other senior staff. Do you think you could find them?"
She looked up at him quizzically for a moment, then understanding dawned.
"You mean B'Elanna, Harry, and Neelix, right?"
"That's exactly right, Pumpkin," he told her, rewarding her with a smile. Just seeing it filled her up with excitement and she scurried off to find their three guests as quickly as possible, so she could get back to her father. Janeway had sent T'Lana off as well, while keeping Naomi until she said she felt somewhat better.
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Less than ten minutes later, the remaining senior staff along with Tom, Chakotay, and Janeway were in a separate room, having left the party without notice. After some hugging, Chakotay stood at the front of the room, explaining what had happened.
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"So, you've arrived after we'd been here seventeen years, and you are continually hopping forward through time?" B'Elanna asked, curious.
"It appears so. This is our third jump."
"Yes, and we can't seem to find any pattern to it, only we seem able to stay in each time period longer as we travel," Tom explained. "We've been using our tricorders and have discovered a spike of chronitons just before we jump and when we arrive, the chroniton levels are even less."
"We don't know how or why, but it seems our jumps use the chronitons and converts them into antichronitons, which appear to be attracting towards Naomi."
Everyone except Tom stared at Chakotay in disbelief. B'Elanna was the first to find her voice.
"Now, I know it's been a while since I studied chroniton particles, but are you saying what I think your saying?"
"Yes. If we don't find a way to stop the chronitons from turning into antichronitons, Naomi will die."
To Be Continued . . .