Chapter 24: Missing In Action

The Captain had been stood in the Shuttle Bay for a good fifteen minutes before Ensign Hopson finally entered. The tension she felt on behalf of the younger woman was unexpected but perfectly natural at the same time. She'd sent crew members on dangerous missions before, she'd even sent some to their deaths, but for reason, this one topped the list. She guessed it was because of how young the Ensign was in her eyes – too young.

Dressed in replicated, ripped black half-cut trousers and a white, blood-stained shirt covered in dust, Ensign Hopson really did look as though she'd been living in a warzone. Her features had also been altered. Now, instead of looking human, she had a striking resemblance of a Vickers. Minor, circular indentations could be seen on her temples, the sides of her hands, wrists and ankles and her eyes were a piercing peach.

"Captain." Adele greeted.

The Captain looked over her appearance. The Doctor had even gone to the trouble of giving the Ensign some false injuries sustained from the skirmish with Heblin's vessel, namely a gash on her forehead, severe burns on her cheek, shoulder and arm, and heavy bruising along her jawline. She had to give it to him – he was good with aesthetics.

"Ensign." the Captain acknowledged, her hand subconsciously resting on her bump, "Good luck."

Adele nodded and smiled softly. She had a feeling she was going to need it.

"Thank you, Captain."

In no time at all, Ensign Hopson entered the awaiting shuttle with Commander Heblin on-board and disappeared from the Captain's view. It took several more moments before the shuttle then powered up and prepared to leave the bay.

The Captain watched intensely, so much so that it took her a few moments to realise someone standing on her six. Barely looking away for a moment, she quickly glanced over her shoulder to see who had joined her.

She should have known really.

"What are you doing here, Chakotay?" her voice was soft as her head turned back to watch the shuttle.

It took a moment before she heard him answer.

"It's my job."

She scoffed to herself. "Which one?"

He had the choice. Was he acting at the First Officer here to assist the Captain or the partner here to support the emotionally-drained partner who also happened to be expecting a baby? Both easily could have been right.

The Commander didn't answer, his silence louder than any words he could have said. She appreciated it. She didn't mind him being his typical mollycoddling self, providing no-one was around.

The shuttle soon flew out of the bay which gave the Command Team the chance to leave. While the Captain had intended to go to the Bridge, Chakotay had other ideas. After all, it was 0400 hours. They both had a few more hours to go back and relax before they were expected on duty and if he had anything to do with it, the Captain was going to get a little needed rest considering he knew she wouldn't be sleeping well that night.

She proved his point. Later that night at 2300 hours, lying in bed had simply been a waste of time. She just couldn't get comfy and her mind was too preoccupied to let her sleep.

Chakotay wasn't surprised to find her sat in the living area staring out of the viewpoint, a hand wrapped around a hot cup of coffee. She was so lost looking at the distant stars that she completely missed him walk over and sit at her side.

They sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, a yawn escaping the Commander's mouth being what finally make her aware of his presence.

The hand which she'd had her chin resting on lightly fell to his shoulder.

"Chakotay, go back to bed." she insisted softly, "Please."

He shook his head slowly. Even though he was tired, he knew he wouldn't settle knowing she was so wound up in the next room. Ensign Hopson's mission had been bothering her all day.

"No, I'm good."

She sighed. "You're tired."

"So are you." he countered.

She only scoffed, turning back to glance at the stars. It was such a dangerous place out among them – space was like that, beautiful and amazing and incredible, yet dangerous beyond belief.

"Oh, Chakotay. What have I done?"

He leant his head down on the back of the sofa, looking up at her in the dimness of the room.

"Nothing. She had the choice to do this. She chose to do this."

The Captain shook her head, tilting it down to meet his eye.

"I should never had agreed to it in the first place." her hand came up to rub her forehead, "I've sent her on a suicide mission."

"Kathryn." he whispered lightly, his hand finding her free hand in her lap, "She wanted to do this for the ship."

He lifted his head and she did the same. "And you know that Heblin would never have got home without her, and we owed him that much."

She nodded slowly. "He did risk his life to save us."

"Exactly." his voice was soft and breezy, "Kathryn, I know you. You'd never have left him in an impossible situation. He needed help, and you would have found a way to give it to him, no matter what."

She sighed deeply. "But what about Ensign Hopson, Chakotay? What if she needs our help?" she felt the need to ask, "What do we do then?"

The Commander just sighed. He honestly couldn't answer that.

=/\=

A long six hours had passed and Commander Heblin had yet to hear from Voyager. If his calculations were correct, they should have been reaching the border soon.

He'd been working hard to keep them undetected, making sure any transmissions or energy signatures picked up by the sensor net from the Federation vessel never made it into the system. So far, so good. Voyager would have looked like nothing more than simple background radiation if anything did make it past his safeguards.

As for himself and Ensign Hopson, they were still adrift in a known blind spot of the sensor net – a military weakness known by his people's High Command and no other. It was rarely inspected due to its position close to a dark matter nebula – the one anomaly in their space that frightened even the toughest of soldiers. It was actually one of Heblin's favourite hiding spots. No one would find you somewhere no one ever looked.

It was Adele's soft moans as she awoke from her slumber that made him briefly take a break and look around at her. He tried to ignore the feelings her bruised body made him feel – guilt, sadness, anger. It may not have been real but it sure was convincing. Even though she was only acting, she looked like the embodiment of suffering when it came to war.

The Ensign stretched out her arms and back before the pair shared a brief smile, one he ended by spinning back to the helm and continuing to work. She simply sighed. The silence was a little difficult to decipher.

She soon joined him in the cockpit, taking a seat in the free chair.

"Any word from Voyager?" she needed to break the silence.

"None."

Her head fell forward slightly. She had been hoping for more than one word.

"Okay." she drew out, "Any idea where they are?"

"Near the border."

Again, Adele sighed. She found it easier talking to the Vulcan's on-board and they could be exceptionally difficult to engage in conversation at the best of times.

"Can I ask you something, Commander?"

She turned in her chair to look at him. She observed the way his shoulders dropped slightly before he softly nodded once.

"Why did you do it?"

Commander Heblin raised his hairless brow a little. "I'm sorry?"

Adele paused for a moment but decided to stand her ground. She'd risked her life for this mission, she wanted to know why he had too.

"Why have you risked your rank in the Military, and your life, by helping Voyager?"

He sighed, slowly turning his seat fully around to face her. It gave him a needed moment of quiet.

"You didn't know any better than to ask for passage through out space. You know nothing of our people." he paused, "I didn't want you to be destroyed just for trying to get home."

Adele frowned, something the alien couldn't help but smile at. It was hard to explain to someone who knew nothing of his world, his life, his species.

"Conflict has destroyed my people, both physically and mentally." he turned back to the console, "They're obsessed with killing, power, war."

Adele raised her eyebrow slightly. "And you aren't?"

He shook his head and again met her eye, his expression solemn.

"My people need peace, but I think they've forgotten what it feels like." his voice was dry, "Do you know we were once renowned for being gifted musicians, inventers, explorers? I want my people to obsess over those types of things again, not killing."

Adele shook her head slightly. "You don't make any sense, Commander."

He looked confused. "In what way?"

"You say you're not obsessed with killing…"

"I'm not." he was adamant.

"Then why are you Second in Command of your Military?"

He looked down at the uniform covering his body. He was disgusted by it, he always had been.

"On Devlino, whether you like it or not, when you reach a certain age, you join the Military."

"Conscription." Adele thought aloud.

Commander Heblin immediately frowned. "I'm sorry?"

Adele sighed softly. "It's… it's something that happened a long time ago back on Earth. During wartime, actually. Young men had to join the Army, the Earth's military, at 18."

Heblin nodded. It sounded all too familiar.

"I realised from a very young age that the amount of power you get in the Military on my planet is incredible." his voice had dropped to a whisper, the explanation sickening him, "I decided to do all I could to climb the ranks, use my power to help others."

Again, he turned back to the console. "If my experience can help ships like Voyager or people like the Vickers, I've served my purpose."

Adele's eyes widened. "The Vickers?" her respect for him rose in an instant, "You help the Vickers?"

He nodded. "I pass on information, tell them about upcoming attacks."

Her silence made him turn to study her. He wasn't surprised to see the slight frown she was sporting.

"I don't consider myself a traitor if that's what you're thinking." he was honest, "My information has saved countless lives of innocent people."

Adele could understand that. "But, isn't it dangerous?" she asked carefully, "If you got caught–"

"Yes, it is dangerous, but I'd rather help save lives than aid in their destruction."

Adele smiled at him but he didn't return the favour. If anything, he looked distraught, broken. It was clear that he was an alien deeply troubled by the actions of his people and state of his world.

The silence of the shuttle which followed made Adele lose track of the time. For what felt like forever, she just sat waiting for confirmation her ship was safely out of Devlin territory. Surely soon the Commander would give her the news she wanted to hear.

"That's it!"

Commander Heblin's remark made her jump considerably. She hadn't realised how much she'd been daydreaming about being back on-board until his words brought her back to the shuttle.

"They're out."

She automatically leant forward and began reading the monitors in front of her.

"Are you sure?"

Heblin nodded, his smile bigger than any she'd ever seen him make before.

"They've just crossed the border." he explained, "All the power signatures I was following have crossed out of the sensor net."

Adele fell back into her chair, a large smile creeping up on her face. Voyager was safe, now it was time for her to complete the mission she signed up for.

Tapping the console in front of him, Commander Heblin set a course for his home planet.

"It won't be long until we're detected." he turned to meet her eye, "Are you ready for this?"

Nodding softly, she turned to watch the stars seemingly move passed the viewport as the shuttle began on its journey.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

=/\=

Captain's Log. Stardate 51708.2

It's been 14 hours since our scheduled rendezvous with Ensign Hopson and there's been no sign of her. I'll be honest, I'm starting to get a little concerned. Commander Heblin had said that any delay to the schedule would only affect the agreed rendezvous by a few hours but until we know for sure, we're staying at our current coordinates just outside of Devlin space.

End Log

Sat in her seat on the Bridge, the Captain couldn't ignore the queasiness in her stomach, something she knew wasn't purely down to the little baby hiding behind her maternity uniform. It had been far too many hours.

Her fingers were messing nervously with her bottom the lip when she heard her Second Officer's console begin to sound. It automatically made her turn to face him.

"Captain, I'm picking up a transmission." Commander Tuvok reported, "It's originating from within Devlin space."

The Captain early turned back towards the screen. Perhaps all of her worries which had been wreaking havoc with the butterflies in her stomach weren't as justified as she'd been thinking.

"Ensign Hopson?" she questioned hopefully.

"No."

His reply murdered her hope within a split second, the single word delivering an equivalent blow to her heart.

"It seems to be originating from a station ten light years away from Devlino. It's been encoded."

The Captain sighed, nodding softly towards the viewscreen. If it wasn't Ensign Hopson, it was easy to know who was contacting them.

"Match frequency and put it on screen."

Commander Chakotay hadn't failed to miss the way her voice had softened as she gave Tuvok his latest order. He, better than anyone, knew how hard she was going to take it if they got the worst news. She'd been angry with herself for letting the young woman go on the mission in the first place.

It took a moment for Tuvok to reconfigure the channel and set the incoming transmission to appear on the viewscreen. Like they'd all expected, it was Commander Heblin.

"Many thanks, Captain." his voice boomed, "I made it home without any issues and your ship is safe. Once again, please thank Ensign Hopson for me."

The Captain felt her stomach flip harshly. It was clear by the way the alien was talking so joyously that there had been no issues from his end – she should have returned by now.

Commander Heblin's face dropped when he saw the solemn looks and lack of enthusiasm on the crew's faces. Something was wrong.

"Please…" he whispered, his voice suddenly very weak, "Tell me she returned."

The Captain's silence said it all. Her following shake of her head only backed it up even more.

"I can't do that, Commander."

Suddenly, the colour seemed to drain from the dark alien's face. He looked almost dirty-white rather than his standard slate grey.

"I don't understand…" the crew watched as he frantically began working away at the consoles he was sat at, "I masked her escape pod's signature. She reached the border!" he looked up and met the Captain's eyes despite the lightyears between them, "She wasn't detected!"

The Captain could only sigh. "She's not here, Heblin."

Her hand subconsciously stroked the top of her bump while the other fell to her aching back. It was coming to the end of a long, tiring few days which obviously seemed to be ending with the unpleasant conclusion they weren't hoping for.

Commander Heblin shook his head in disbelief, again working away at the console in front of him. His scans were giving him no indication of what went wrong.

"None of our patrol vessels have intercepted her vessel. No reports have been submitted regarding her detection… It makes no sense!"

The Captain could only nod softly in acknowledgement, silently allowing herself to come to terms with the facts. There was nothing more she could do, nothing more anybody could do. Ensign Adele Hopson was missing in action, likely dead.

"Captain…" Commander Heblin could barely even mutter, "I… I'm sorry."

The Captain nodded slowly, her eyes glued to the floor to give her enough time to stop her offending tears. A Captain couldn't cry on the Bridge, no matter what. Her overactive hormones couldn't be used as an excuse – she had to remain professional no matter how much her heart was hurting her chest. It was her job.

She lifted her head. "Good luck to you, Commander, and thank you for what you did for us. Voyager out."

The transmission ended abruptly, leaving the atmosphere on the Bridge intensely unbearable. For a few moments, no-one spoke. No-one even dared to breathe loudly.

Somehow, the Captain shuffled to straighten her back in her seat.

"Make a note in the ship's log." she ordered, not allowing herself to look at the Commander in fear of breaking, "Ensign Adele Hopson, presumed killed in action at 1300 hours."

The Commander acknowledged her and took note. For now, it was all he could do to support her. She needed to come to terms with everything before he even dared trying to stop her blaming herself. It was going to be a long process of no sleep and late-night conversations before she'd come even close to accepting that it was all just a terrible, tragic part of the job.

The Captain's eyes were glued to the viewscreen. "Lieutenant Paris, get us out of here. Warp 6."

"Aye, Captain."

=/\=

It had been six days since the declaration of Adele Hopson's presumed death. Her memorial service had been conducted four days beforehand with the majority of the crew grieving for her, some as colleagues and some as friends. Ensigns Burley and Indi had been sensible enough to take a few days off to come to terms with the news, Lt. Knight hadn't. He was trying very hard to convince himself he was okay but it was clear he wasn't. His best friend had just died, he wasn't expected to be okay. However, time moved on and slowly, life on Voyager was starting to return to normal.

As the Captain arrived on the Bridge that morning, she was surprised to see one of her senior staff were missing. It was something she noticed quickly since within the three, almost four years, they'd been on-board, she could count on one hand how many times he'd failed to be on the Bridge before her.

"Where's Harry?" she pointing towards his station as she made her way down to her seat.

Commander Chakotay smiled as she sat down. He'd been on duty for an hour and had already seen the young Ensign that morning when approving his request.

"He's bringing someone up to say hello."

The Commander's answer immediately piqued her interest and she forced herself to sit up a little straighter.

"Who?"

She hadn't failed to notice just how quickly Lt. Paris had turned away as she asked, nor did she miss the smirk plastered on his face. He obviously knew.

"Lieutenant?" she probed, knowing full well she wasn't going to win her battle.

"Sorry, Captain. My lips are sealed."

She was about to object and try to use her position as Captain to her advantage when the sound of the turbolift doors caught her attention. Lucky escape for Tom.

The Captain turned around to see Ensign Kim and Seven entering the Bridge, Harry carrying the growing baby boy in his arms. It made her smile grow intensely. Now she knew who.

"Captain." Ensign Kim greeted, making his way down to her, "May we introduce to you our little Magnus John."

The Captain's smile even further and she found her brow raising a little as she looked over at Seven. The new mother just mirrored her son's father's smile.

"Magnus John?" the Captain repeated lightly.

Seven nodded softly, taking the infant from Harry's arms.

"Magnus to honour my father." she explained, smiling as she nodded to signal towards the Captain's free lap.

The Captain knew exactly what that meant. She was about to have a little man join her on the Captain's Chair.

"And John was Harry, Ensign Kim's father." Seven finished, passing the sleeping little boy to the readily available Captain.

Cushioning his head with her arm, the Captain found herself shifting around to bring the baby closer to her shoulder. Her eyes never left him as he settled down effortlessly, clearly unfazed by the new embrace he found himself in.

"Very nice." she Captain whispered quietly, "Very nice indeed."

The Commander observed as he watched his lover dote upon the baby in her arms. For someone who had never really had the opportunity to interact with children of any age, it amazed him just how much her motherly side had begun to surface. She really would be a fantastic mother – the Q Continuum and their rules be damned.

"Welcome to the Bridge, Magnus."

The entire Bridge crew smiled at the scene before them, their pregnant Captain whispering sweet nothings into the newest crew member ear. It was more than enough to make them all silently agree on one thing, they could get used to the idea of having more children on-board.

The hours passed and soon the Captain and Commander retired back to their quarters. The Captain had been privileged enough to hold baby Magnus all day, only handing him back to either of his parents for a change or feed. However, it had felt all rather bittersweet. She knew that if the Q got their way, she'd never have the opportunity to have those moments with her own daughter.

It wasn't fair.

=/\=

Her ability to ignore the pain subjected to her body was faltering. Crawling over so much debris was making her realise just how tender human skin could be. It didn't make any sense that there was so much damage, the size of the craft she was in was tiny in comparison to other vessels she'd been on. Even class-2 claustrophobia had nothing on it.

She'd been playing hide and seek with warships for days. She knew they'd found her and fired at her during the last confrontation, the only direct confrontation she'd had. She wasn't quite sure how her pod hadn't been destroyed but somehow, she'd managed to pilot it towards a dense asteroid belt which had been interfering with her scanners. If it was giving her a hard time, it was likely it would give them a hard time too.

Having temporarily fixed the latest problem with the on-board EPS relay, she did her best make it back to the console. It took a few moments before she managed to tap away her latest command into the computer.

"Warning. EPS relay has been damaged."

She felt her shoulders drop. "But I just repaired the damn thing!"

"Oh, I've had enough of this!"

The sudden voice which appeared behind her made her jump considerably. After hearing no voices other than the computer's for what seemed like forever, she hadn't expected to hear anyone speak to her. She certainly hadn't expected to turn and see somebody sitting behind her in the small space the pod had to offer.

"You can't hide in here forever."

The young woman couldn't help but squint at the human-looking man before her. Perhaps it was because she was missing home so much, but she would have sworn he was wearing a red Starfleet uniform.

"Who… who are you?"

He smirked softly. "I'm Q, and I've come to help you get home, Adele."

Shaking her head, her vision struggling to focus on him, she tried her best to work out whether he was real or not. She knew she suffered an earlier bang to the head and perhaps he was just a hallucination.

"How do you know…?"

Her sentence was cut short by a large rumble as the asteroid she was hidden within was shot at. They'd found her. The cavern her pod was tucked away into immediately began to destabilise and it led to her vessel shaking uncontrollably.

Her head snapped around and she near enough dived at the console. She'd been lucky to evade her likely fate so far, she was keep to keep doing so. It was a large explosion from the console which stopped her. She moaned as the pain in her face was quickly swallowed away by the darkness, her body going limp.

Q reacted instantly as he fell to catch her in his arms. He grimaced at the bloody sight the burns had caused to her delicate skin. He hadn't expected that to happen.

He held the young woman in his one arm before snapping his fingers with the other. Peering outside, he didn't see what he had been expecting. Voyager was nowhere to be seen.

Strange.

"Oi, computer thing, scan for Voyager." he ordered.

"Unable to comply. Scanners are offline."

"Then bring them online!" he rolled his eyes. Working with such primitive technology was always infuriating.

"Unable to comply. Scanners are…"

"Oh, never mind!"

He looked down at the woman he was cradling. A wound made by the burns were making begin to lose a noticeable amount of blood and for some bizarre reason, he hadn't got the energy to use his powers to heal her. It was as though his body was shutting down on him.

Glancing out of the window, it wasn't long before he spotted a Devlin warship on the edge of the asteroid belt, one which appeared to be entering the dense region and heading toward them.

His eyes widened, especially when he worked it out. The ship was Devlin. He was in Devlin space. No wonder he couldn't use his powers – they were one of very few species who had figured out a way to stop a Q using their abilities. Now they really were in trouble.