"A Separate Peace"
by Andra Marie Mueller

PART TWENTY-ONE : 'Transitions'

SUMMARY : Chakotay ponders his imprisonment while Starfleet makes Janeway an unusual proposition.

See Part one for author's notes and disclaimer

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BETAK GULEARN CARDASSIAN PRISON COLONY – ORIAS SYSTEM

Pain. It was a constant companion now, and filled every fiber of his being. At this point Chakotay would almost welcome death if it would not give his captors such satisfaction. His emotional pain mirrored his physical pain as his thoughts once again drifted to Kathryn. His last memory of her was the expression on her face when the Cardassians shot him on Cornellia, and he could still hear her scream of denial ringing in his ears. Yet unwilling to dwell on that memory, he instead pondered over the similarities between his imprisonment with the Cardassians and hers with the Maquis.

Now I know why she was so angry at being ignored for two days, he thought wryly. The uncertainty of not knowing if and/or when your captors are going to kill is enough to drive you insane.

A fresh wave of guilt washed over Chakotay as he realized the fear and frustration Kathryn must have been experiencing during those two days on Cornellia, and he fervently wished he could be with her now to ask her forgiveness.

I swear by the Spirits that if I live through this, I will find a way to make things right with Kathryn.

Grimacing at a sudden flash of pain in his side, Chakotay listened carefully for the sounds he knew so well: the screams of the other prisoners as they were tortured, the muffled footsteps of the guards pacing the corridors. Yet instead of fading as the guards left the corridor, the footsteps grew louder and drew closer, signaling the unwelcome return of his captors.

"I still say we should just kill him and be done with it," the first guard declared. "He obviously is not going to give us the information we are seeking."

"Patience, Dumar," a second voice chided. "The Human eventually will tell us what we want to know."

"He already has survived a dozen interrogation sessions, Ka’Tor," Dumar reminded his companion. "Given his condition it is unlikely he could withstand another."

"There is only one way to find out," Ka’Tor returned grimly.

Keying in the release code for the door, Ka’Tor gestured for Dumar to enter first then followed him into the cell. They had barely taken two steps inside when Chakotay let out an enraged howl and charged at them from the darkness. Dumar was the closest of the two, and he did not even have time to brace himself before Chakotay was upon him and he felt the cold metal of the chains settle around his neck and begin to tighten. Unprepared for an attack, both men were unarmed, and Ka’Tor quickly summoned help while attempting to free Dumar from Chakotay’s grasp. Reinforcements arrived in less than a minute and immediately fired their disruptors at Chakotay, who fell unconscious to the floor. As Dumar gasped for air beside him, Ka’Tor glanced down at the unconscious Human.

"That was a very foolish mistake, Chakotay of Dorvan," the Cardassian chided. "Very foolish, indeed."

Nodding in silent instructions to the guards, Ka’Tor and Dumar exited the cell as the guards began to beat Chakotay.

 

STARFLEET HEADQUARTERS

Nechayev was in her office finishing a report to the Federation Council when the door chime sounded, and the admiral bade her visitor enter. The door opened to admit Janeway, who crossed the room to position herself in front of Nechayev’s desk.

"You wanted to see me, Admiral?"

"Yes, Captain. Please sit down."

"Thank you, but I would prefer to stand."

"Very well." Nechayev flashed her a faint smile. "Bruce Morgan tells me that you’re going to be a mother. Congratulations."

"Thank you, sir, but with all due respect you didn’t ask me here to discuss my medical condition."

"Of course not. I wanted to let you know that the Admiralty has decided that your actions do not warrant the implementation of conspiracy charges against you. While we do feel that the nature of your relationship with Captain Chakotay may have been inappropriate under the circumstances, matters of the heart are certainly not sufficient grounds for prosecution."

"Why do I sense a ‘but’ coming?" Janeway prompted.

"But," Nechayev added obediently, "given the nature of your relationship with Captain Chakotay, there is still some concern that it makes you overly sympathetic to the Maquis. We could monitor your activities for the next six to twelve months, but I’d rather avoid that by giving you the chance to assure me it won’t be necessary."

"So in essence I tell you what you want to hear, and the powers that be don’t spy on me for the next year," Janeway summarized dryly.

"That’s one way to look at it," Nechayev allowed. "Contrary to appearances, Captain, I don’t like having to be the bad guy. But Starfleet cannot afford to lose any more officers to the Maquis. The situation with the Cardassians and the Dominion worsens daily, and we need to concentrate our efforts on preserving the Federation. We can’t do that if rank officers continue to defect to the Maquis."

"I was under the impression from Admiral Morgan that Starfleet’s intervention at Cornellia was to be the starting ground for a Maquis-Federation alliance."

"It was, but we wanted to allow them time to grieve for their fallen comrades before crossing that bridge."

"And you want me to take the first step."

"In essence, yes. You were with the Maquis for close to a month, Captain. You lived with them, fought with them. You have a connection with them very few outsiders have."

. "I’m sorry to disappoint you, Admiral, but whatever ‘connection’ I had with the Maquis died with Chakotay," Janeway responded. "The only reason I wasn’t killed on Cornellia is because of him. In any event, my loyalty to Starfleet is still intact. I have no intention of defecting to the Maquis. If the Admiralty is genuinely interested in a truce, then I wish you luck. But don’t think that my relationship with Chakotay gives me any special privileges with the Maquis. The majority of them would just as soon kill me as look at me."

Nechayev’s expression made it clear she was less than thrilled by Janeway’s declaration. "I’m sorry to hear that. I was hoping you could be a liaison between Starfleet and the Maquis."

"If you want me to attempt to open a dialogue between Starfleet and the Maquis, I’m willing to give it a try, but I can’t guarantee they’ll listen to anything I have to say. Their issues with Starfleet still exist, Admiral, and they have no reason to want to help us."

"Then maybe we need to convince them to help themselves," Nechayev returned. "If the situation with the Dominion does lead to war, the Maquis will be the first ones in the line of fire."

"It won’t matter to them if they go down as long as they take the Federation with them," Janeway replied. "You need to give them a better reason than that to take our side in this."

"All right. What if we offer them the same deal we made with Captain Chakotay? They align themselves with the Federation and help us defeat the Dominion; than when the war is over, they’ll receive full pardons from the Federation Council and Starfleet Command."

"If Starfleet Intelligence can provide me with a contact in the Maquis I’ll present the offer," Janeway agreed. "After that it’s up to the Maquis."

"Fair enough, Captain. Thank you. You’re free to go."

Janeway inclined her head in silent acknowledgement, then exited Nechayev’s office. No sooner had the doors closed behind her than they opened again to admit Bruce Morgan. "So how did it go?" he prompted.

"Janeway agreed to present the proposition to the Maquis," Nechayev answered. "However, she wasn’t very optimistic about our chances of success."

"How does she intend to relay the request to the Maquis?"

Nechayev smiled. "That’s where you come in," she replied. "Get Janeway the name of a contact in the Maquis, and she’ll take it from there."

"With Chakotay dead my contact of choice would have to be Terven Darjenko," Morgan responded. "He was one of Chakotay’s crew and is also an ex-Starfleet officer."

"If he defected from the Fleet originally, what makes you think he’ll have any desire to help us now?" Nechayev asked.

"I don’t know that he will, but I know enough about him from Chakotay’s reports that he’s one of the few Maquis who won’t kill Kathryn on sight," Morgan told her. "With Tom Paris searching for the rest of the Maquis Fleet, Darjenko’s our best chance to negotiate the alliance."

"Fine. Have Captain Janeway make contact with him and set up a meeting. And make damn sure there won’t be a repeat of that fiasco in the Badlands twelve weeks ago."

"Yes, sir."

 

TREZAR OUTPOST - GRENDAR SYSTEM

On a small moon located on the outskirts of the Grendar System, the Maquis were slowly building a new command center to replace the compound they had lost on Cornellia. The survivors of the original crew had splintered into two groups, commanded by Tom Paris and Terven Darjenko respectively. Paris’ group was aboard the Freedom, in search of the rest of the Maquis Fleet. Darjenko had taken possession of the Cloud Dancer and brought his people to Trezar to start over. The loss of Chakotay had hit them especially hard, the Dorvanian’s quiet strength and leadership having served as the foundation of their cause; and the group was struggling to find a way to continue their fight without him.

"Maybe we should consider calling it quits," Ean suggested. "With everyone and everything we’ve lost this war may no longer be worth fighting."

"As long as the Cardassians continue to destroy everything in their paths this war will be worth fighting," Brev countered. "If we give up now, then they win by default and Chakotay’s death was worthless. We owe it to him to finish what we started."

"At what cost, Korran?" Darjenko returned. "Do we keep fighting until every last one of us is dead and there’s no one left to remind the Federation what we were fighting for? That’s not what this rebellion was about."

"I think we should consider that we may still have the motivation to continue this fight but not the means," Gray Feather interjected. "Almost one hundred of our people were killed at Cornellia, the Crazy Horse was destroyed…at what point do we say enough is enough?"

"I think we’re all missing the bigger picture here," Darjenko replied. "The Cardys have allied themselves with the Dominion and are most likely planning an attack on the Alpha Quadrant. Our losses at Cornellia notwithstanding, there’s no way we can fight two wars at the same time."

"Terven is right," Red Hawk stated. "We don’t have the resources to fight a war on two fronts. We made our own choices about starting this fight; it’s time to make our own choices about ending it."

The discussion was interrupted by the arrival of Derek Dubuque, who approached Darjenko and whispered briefly in his ear. Darjenko nodded in acknowledgement, and Dubuque headed back from the direction he had come as Darjenko addressed his friends.

"Derek told me that the Cloud Dancer’s computer just downloaded a message with a Federation signature to the communications relay," he announced. "It was from Voyager."

"Voyager?" Brev echoed. "That’s Janeway’s ship."

"What did she say?" Red Hawk asked.

"She’s asking to see me," Darjenko answered. "Voyager will be here tomorrow, and she’s requested that I transport aboard to talk with her about negotiating a truce between Starfleet and the Maquis."

"A truce?" Brev repeated. "Since when does Starfleet want to make nice with the Maquis?"

"Perhaps they have reached the same conclusion we have," Red Hawk suggested, "and realize that we need to work together to defeat the Dominion."

"Out of respect to Chakotay’s memory, I intend to at least listen to what she has to say," Darjenko replied. "Gray Feather, you should probably come with me. She trusts you more than anyone else here."

"I’m coming, too," Red Hawk stated.

"Fine."

"Take Dubuque with you," Brev requested. "I don’t think you should beam aboard a Federation starship without our best shooter at your side."

"That would tend to belittle the point of the meeting, wouldn’t it?" Darjenko returned. "We will transport aboard the ship unarmed. If we’re going to trust Starfleet, we might as well start now."

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Part 22