She walked down the corridor, following the curve of the wall. She stopped in front of a set of doors, clarinet music reaching out and touching her ears. She took a deep breath and activated the doorchime. phe music stopped abruptly, and a startled, "Come on in," replaced it briefly.

Kayla opened the doors and stepped inside. "Hi, Ensign," she said shyly.

Harry Kim set down his clarinet.

"Oh, please don't stop playing," she pleaded, "I think it's beautiful."

"Thanks," Kim replied, blushing slightly.

Kayla was surprised. She had guessed the Ensign to be about twenty-five. He was tall and lean. He looked strong, and Kayla knew that he was. She would never have guessed that he played the clarinet.

"What song were you playing?" she asked after an awkward silence. She recognized the song, but was unable to put her finger on the melody.

Harry handed her the music. "It's something Commander Chakotay introduced me too. It's from the twentieth Century, i think. It's easy to play." He said uncertainly.

"Kayla handed the sheets of music back to him. She hadn't come here to listen to music, although she was tempted to tell him otherwise. "Ensign," she said nervously, clasping her hands together behind her back. "I-" she paused, and her cheeks flushed to a soft pink. "I can't seem to remember your name." She looked up at him. Her mother had taught her always to be honest, provided you didn't have to be afraid of the person you were being honest with.

The Ensign didn't seem surprised that Kayla didn't remember his name. "You probably don't remember the formal introduction. I'm Harry Kim," he said, offering her his hand. He smiled, revealing a row of perfect white teeth.

Kayla took his hand. "Kayla Weber," she replied, shaking it firmly. "Um, Ensign Kim, I-"

"Please call me Harry," he insisted.

"Ok, Harry. I wanted to appologize for," she paused, groping for words to describe what she was thinking. just be blunt, she told herself, that always works. "I wanted to appologize for being a brat and shoving you around like i did," she finally blurted .

Harry Kim picked up his clarinet. "Don't worry about it. Appology accepted." He smiled again, and looked down at his music. "Commander Chakotay said you might be familiar with this song. Would you tell me if i'm playing it right?" He put the clarinet to his mouth and started to play.

Kayla was startled momentarily. She listened to the music closely. She sang softly as the music ended.

"You played it right, Harry. Now, would you excuse me?" She smiled and left the room, not waiting for a reply.

"Go ahead," was Chakotay's curt reply. Janeway knew that he was upset with her, but his self-discipline kept him from being disrespectful or allowing his feelings to interfere with his work.

"It's about time, Commander," she stated.

"Aye, Captain," Chakotay replied.

In his quarters, Chakotay sat cross-legged on the floor. He had just begun to contact his spirit guide. As much as he wanted to, he knew he couldn't ignore the Captain's summons.

Chakotay rolled his medicine bundle up and concealed it in it's usual place. He tapped his commbadge reluctantly. "Chakotay to Kayla," he said quietly.

"Right here," she replied. She sounded like she had been crying, but Kayla was never one to cry. The only time Chakotay could remember seeing her cry was when her father died.

"Kayla, would you report to the bridge? I'll meet you there. Xhakotay out." He ended the communication before Kayla could reply.

"Kayla, would you report to my ready-room?" The captain not-quite-asked.

"YEs, sir. Uh, Ma'am," Kayla corrected quickly. She shook her head. "Too much answering to Harbade," she said to herself. She patted ToTo, then scooted herself off the bed. Walking out into the corridor, she looked both ways. Left. She knew which way to go this time. She walked down the corridor, grinning when she came to the turbolift.

"Bridge," she commanded. The turbolift began to move, and Kayla quickly found herself on the bridge. She ignored the other crewmen and headed straight for the captain's ready room. "You wanted to see me, Ma'am?" sha asked crisply.

"Please, Kayla, call me Captain. I preffer it. Have a seat," Janeway invited her.

Kayla nodded and sat down quickly.

"Kayla, i need to ask you a few question," Janeway said. Kayla nodded. "Is it true? Why you ran away?"

Kayla took a deep breath. "They beat me, yes. The Vulcan's and my mother taught me how to use my given telepathic abilities to my best advantage. When the Tiason found me, they discovered that i could read minds."

Janeway stared into Kayla's dark eyes. Was she telling the truth? Janeway saw a tear slide down the girl's face, and decided that she must be.

"They asked me to read the minds of their enemies. They can read minds within their own race, but not outside it. It's weird, but that's the way it is. Anyway, when i wouldn't do what they wanted me to, the tried to beat it out of me. few of them seemed to realize it wasn't working, But Harbade kept them at it anyway. They would never kill me, i'm too valuable to them."

Janeway felt tears forming and blinked them away quickly. "One more question," she said softly.

"What?" Kayla replied.

"We need your help. I need to know how you got to the Alpha quadrant and back." She stared at Kayla, and Kayla held her gaze in return. A grin spread across Kayla's face.

"You mean that's the only thing keeping you here? Why didn't Chakotay tell you about mother when you found Kes?" She asked in some amazement.

"He mentioned that she looked similar to someone he knew, but that doesn't mean anything. Many races look very much alike, and there was nothing to say your mother wasn't from somewhere in the Federation.

"There's a wormhole near here, actually. I don't know where, but it wasn't long before we crashed. If we could get to my ship on the surface, we could access the memory logs and maybe get the coordinates."

"Do you know how much damage the ship took?" Janeway asked intently.

"No, i remember a lot of smoke and falling equipment, but not many details. My mother made a log entry everyday, though. Shouldn't there be something left?" Kayla asked, a little uncertainly.

"Janeway grinned, nodding. Her smile faded as memory returned. If Kayla wasn't back in the city in fifteen minutes, the Tiasonarians were going to destroy Voyager. Janeway found herself pressed up against the same birck was that assaulted Chakotay. How could she send Kayla back to a people that treated her so badly?<.i> No. There must be some other way.

Janeway stood. "Come with me," she said firmly, exiting onto the bridge.

Kayla looked at the viewscreen. A ship sat directly in front of Voyager, centered in the screen.

It took her a few moments to realize what was happening. Captain Janeway was saying something, but Kayla's attention was focused on the other ship.

She vaulted over the low hand rail next to her, taking two giant steps to stand next to the Vulcan Lieytenant. She glanced at his screen, frowning sadly. She looked up at him; he looked back calmly.