The year 2381, already a traumatic one for the Federation and its allies, was finally on the wane, autumn giving way to winter, not that this gave much relief to Starfleet as the war against the Notsinians showed no sign of ending. By October Harry Kim's uncensored reports back to his former Voyager crewmates were disturbing to say the least, the fleet was run ragged protecting the more outlying planets and colonists were encouraged to flee as the swarm of Notsinian locusts poured relentlessly out of the Bajoran wormhole and ravaged all before them. Despite all this, the governing bodies of the Federation and Starfleet were trying to play down the situation to their citizens, although extra security measures and power restrictions, necessary sine hurriedly erected planetary shields had begun draining the supply, gradually crept in on every planet, even on Earth, which hadn't seen an attack since the Xindi War of two centuries before.
Despite all this, life generally continued as it had before, even for people with a heightened awareness of the situation like Seven and Chakotay. In fact Seven was so stubbornly avoiding the subject that as November dawned she persisted on planning a third birthday party for the twins, disregarding the fact that rationed transporter use and the heavy workload at an overstretched and nervy Starfleet meant that most of their old colleagues couldn't leave San Francisco or wherever they were posted just to attend a children's birthday party.
"Seven…" Chakotay began gently as he walked into the kitchen the morning before Aylen and Michael's birthday to find her busy cleaning the place from top to bottom. "You know you can relax a little right? It might just be the five of us this year you know…"
Seven shook her head without lifting her gaze from the countertop she was scrubbing industriously, "No, Aunt Irene is coming, and Naira, if she can get permission from the Doctor at her next check up."
Chakotay gave a small chuckle, "I'll believe that when I see it, Naira looks ready to go into labour anytime now, I doubt the Doctor would let her leave San Francisco."
"She has a month of her pregnancy remaining." Seven pointed out defensively, "She said she'd try her best, as did B'Elanna, although Tom's still flying those test flights sixteen hours a day…"
"The new attack ships?" Chakotay asked curiously, "Are they working out? I know Tom helped design them…"
Seven pursed her lips tensely, "According to B'Elanna, Starfleet has almost as high hopes for them as Tom does." She sighed heavily, which Chakotay knew was a sign of doubt in her, and glanced down at the to-do list she'd written for herself, "Do you think I should make the treats or let the children help? It'll be quicker if I do it…"
Chakotay snorted in amusement, "Come on Seven, you baking with them is always the highlight of the day, and it's become a birthday tradition to have to wash chocolate or flour out of someone's hair before the end of the day!"
Seven smirked at the memory, she was perhaps taking her drive for efficiency a little too far, the main purpose of the day was that the children have fun after all." "I suppose you're right…" She admitted reluctantly, not willing to completely concede to him.
"How about you take a break then? I managed to convince the kids to play hide and seek upstairs, I'm meant to be counting to thirty…"
Seven's eyebrows shot up, "They'll be sitting waiting for you! You should…"
"Knowing those three, they'll still be bickering over who gets to hide in our wardrobe, we've got plenty of time." He informed her knowingly.
Seven laughed out loud at that, "Okay, you and the frantically kicking baby here have convinced me."
"Are your implants still bothering you?" Chakotay asked her suspiciously. When she nodded sheepishly his face and voice took on a shade of anger, "The Doctor ordered you to rest if you weren't feeling well…"
"If I remember the last few minutes accurately, you had just convinced me to rest." Seven retorted teasingly, earning both a laugh and an exasperated sigh from Chakotay as she followed him into the living room and they sat down on the couch.
The music which had been playing in the background of the room through the planetary wide side came to a sudden halt a couple of minutes later and an official's serious voice filtered through, "Please turn on your home consoles to hear an urgent Federation wide announcement. Thank you."
"What's happened?" Seven asked worried as Chakotay jumped up from the couch and ran over to their console.
"I don't know…" Chakotay muttered in a low tone as he switched on the console and turned the screen so that the could both see the screen, where an older man in a red Starfleet uniform, the pips of an admiral standing out starkly on his collar, stared seriously out at them.
"That's Admiral Grant, the commander of the Notsinian taskforce…" Chakotay began, stopping midsentence as the Admiral began to speak.
"Citizens, I'm speaking today, because there has been a regrettable and disturbing development, Delvos VI, in the Ktarian system, has been ravaged by the Notsinians and as we speak, the Fleet are valiantly defending Ktaria itself. As you all no doubt know, this is the first time a home world of a member of the Federation has been attacked and as such we are now in a siege mentality. Please remain calm and be patient with local authorities, I hate to say it, but the Federation itself is on the front line…"
"Turn that off…" Seven hissed tightly, sinking back in her chair as Chakotay obliged, his face white.
"Ktaria… That's over 200 light-years from the wormhole…" He murmured in disbelief. "We'll need to call the Wildmans; Grekrendtregk will be worried about his family…"
"Not now." Seven said softly. "He'll have enough phone calls to make."
Chakotay sighed, pity for Naomi's father and his family overwhelming him. "You're right, I'll…"
Michael's indignant voice suddenly interrupted his father, "Papa, you never came to look for us!"
Chakotay looked at his three young children glaring at him in the doorway and for a moment didn't know what they were talking about, running a stressed hand through his hair. "What? Oh the hide and seek…I forgot I'm sorry…"
"Hmph!" Michael responded and stormed off in a huff, quickly followed by his siblings.
Chakotay sighed; try as he might unable to get his mind away from the war situation. "Should I go and talk to him?" he asked Seven heavily.
Seven stood up, "Yes. There's nothing we can do and just because we got bad news doesn't mean Michael should get away with speaking to us like that."
Chakotay nodded and left to go after the children, Seven returning to the kitchen a few minutes later as they tried to forget what they'd just heard.
A/n: I'm sorry this chapter is so short and unsatisfactory, I've got to do and lot of homework and bake a cake today! PLEASE REVIEW! :D (I got Naomi's father's name from another fanfic, I hope its right!)