Um ... sad.  No naked Talaxians, though.

***

Sweat runs down his back.  It becomes a kind of torture as his mind conjures up new ways to be rid of the sweat without stopping his work and coming to the guard's attention.  No one wants to come to the guard's attention, although the sweat is becoming more of a trial to Chakotay than any torture the Devore could have created.

This is his life now, he who once roamed the stars like a god.  Labouring under the hot sun of an alien world, while his life and spirit slip away, never to be reclaimed.

He remembers Kathryn's face as Kashyk pulled her away from the rest of the crew, taking her as his own prize.  There are worse prisons than a labour camp, he remembers.

That was ... what, a year ago?  The time before the camp seems like a dream sometimes, an hallucination created by the sun and the madness of the sweat trickling down his spine.

***

Freedom, of a sort, as they are released into society.  A change in policy, they are told, why employ gaharay when there are Devore starving on the streets from lack of work?  They become an underclass, despised even by the Devore beggars.

Reunion.  Meeting Tom and B'Elanna one night, finding Seven and Harry maintaining a business's computer system, seeing Neelix working as a dogsbody in a restaurant.  They find each other, they survive together.  They have valuable skills; some employers see beyond their gaharay identification tags and take them on.  They will never have enough money to leave the planet; sometimes they cannot afford food.  But they get by.

They, along with other released slaves, speak of escape, dissent, revolution.  Stealing a vessel and returning to their homeworlds.  Other plans are discussed, too, some put forward by the former Voyager crew.

***

They never speak of the captain, head held high, face a cold mask as Kashyk led her away.

She had said, we will get home.

She had said, we will succeed.

She had never said, I'm scared.  But they had all seen it in her face, just for a second, as Kashyk took her arm.

***

A voice in the crowd calls, "Gaharay!"  People spit, mock, make protective gestures.  Chakotay turns, wondering if it is someone he knows.

She walks proudly, as if she is beyond the hoots and catcalls of the rabble.  She carries a small child in her arms.  Her head is shrouded in a cloak, but he can see her face, her blue eyes, the red hair now touched with grey.

Something makes her look up.  She sees him.  She smiles and inclines her head in acknowledgement.  She keeps walking.

Chakotay follows her.

***

She leads him to a fountain in a deserted square.  The child plays with the water as they talk.

He speaks at length about the crew, of their survival.  The news appears to please her, but he cannot be sure.  There are lines around her mouth and eyes.

She says nothing about her own life.

Finally, Chakotay points at the child and asks, "Is he the father."

Welcoming the attention, the child turns and stares at him from black eyes peering out from an unruly mass of black curls.

"Of course," Kathryn says.

She reaches out and smooths a curl on the girl's face.  Her robe falls away from her wrist and he glances at it.  Noticing the stare, Kathryn says, "He doesn't hit me, Chakotay.  He treats me quite well."  Her gaze rests on her daughter.  "I suppose that I'm almost happy sometimes."

He touches her wrist, stroking the fine skin.  "That must be the saddest thing that I've ever heard."

She smiles at the contact.  "Don't think that I don't think about leaving," she says.  "But where would I go?  And Mehara adores her father."

The child smiles and holds up a glittering pendant that rests around her neck.  "Father gave me this," she said.

"That's beautiful," Chakotay says dutifully.  He looks back at Kathryn.  "You could escape," he says.  "You could come home."  She raises her eyebrows. "With us."  He takes her by the hands.  "We're planning an escape.  The crew, a few others.  We're going to steal a ship from the military compound, return to the alpha quadrant if we can."  He strokes her long fingers and adds, "we'd be honoured to have you as captain again."

Her eyes burn, her shoulders straighten; she lusts for command.  Mehara stares at her mother, infused with a new strength of purpose.

"What are your plans?" Kathryn asks.

***

Kashyk stares at her over the evening meal; she wonders if he suspects anything.  He touches her face and whispers, "We could put Mehara to bed early...?"  She nods her assent.

He picks up his daughter and takes her into her room.  It is almost the only time Mehara spends with her father; Devore men do not play a great role in the raising of their daughters.  She spends a long time telling him about her day.

***

Lying in bed that night, Kathryn listens to Kashyk's heartbeat and wonders what he will say. She's sure ... fairly sure ... that he won't hurt her; in his way, he might even love her.  But she knows that her crew means nothing to them.

He trails a finger down her spine and says, "The military already know of the escape attempt.  Your crew will be killed."

She says nothing.  His hands explore her ear and tangle through her hair.  "Do you really want to leave?" he asks.

"I don't know anymore," she admits.  "I think that I could be happy here if I knew that my crew were safe."

He strokes her eyebrows.  "I could arrange that," he whispers.

When he begins to kiss her, she responds with a passion that surprises both of them.

***

Chakotay waits in the shadows as a guard crosses the compound.  The ship, one of the only Devore ships capable of landing on a planet, is unmanned but heavily guarded.

A hand touches his shoulder.  He swings around, ready to kill, but Kashyk stops him and says softly, "Follow me."

Against his better judgement, Chakotay does so.

Kashyk leads him into a small room within the compound.  They have not passed a single other person.

"The military are aware of your plans," says Kashyk without preamble.  "You will be ambushed as soon as you enter the ship, your weapons rendered useless."

Chakotay watches him carefully. "And why are you telling me this?" he asks.

"I intend to beam you into the environmental control room," says Kashyk, "you will not be detected.  In twenty intervals, I will deactivate the shield generator within this building.  Alarms will sound, guards will rush to the generator.  You will have about five intervals to flood the ship with Rekala gas and get your people on board before more guards arrive."

"What's the catch?"

"Kathryn has decided to remain here."

Chakotay's eyes widen.  "I find that very hard to believe," he says.

Kathryn enters the room.  "Believe it," she says.  Her face has been altered; Devore ridges have taken the place of her eyebrows.

"He's coerced you," Chakotay objects.

"I made a choice," she says.  "I will remain here, as a Devore, free of the stigma attached to a gaharay."  She takes his hands, and he sees how difficult this choice was for her.  "Promise me that you'll get Voyager home," she pleads.

Kashyk stands.  "Contact your people, let them know of the change.  I'll shield your communications."

Reluctantly, Chakotay does so.  Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Kashyk carress Kathryn's hand.  There is little of the conqueror's arrogance which Chakotay remembers Kashyk exhibiting; the Devore is almost hesitant to touch her.

He is beamed onto the ship.  No one has detected the transport.  He hears the alarms as the shield generator is deactivated; his people are beamed onto the ship.  They leave quickly, punching their way through Devore defenses.

***

Kashyk beams her back to their home, away from the confusion of the base.  He will survive the night and the ensuing investigations; somehow, he always survives.  Kathryn watches as the ship rises, moving through the atmosphere with the grace of an animal.  She knows that Tom is at the helm; B'Elanna and Seven are in engineering and Chakotay is at the centre of it all, leading them home.

She cautiously touches her brow ridges.  Most of the swelling has gone down.  No one could mistake her for anything other than the wife of a Devore soldier.

In the distance, she hears alarms, the sound of troop carriers as the military tries to determine what has happened.

In the morning, the sun will rise, bringing the hellish heat which characterises this continent, but for now, the air is cool and crisp.

Kathryn stands and watches the stars.

***

They rarely spoke of the captain, but Chakotay thought of her often.

END

Questions, comments, reasonable criticism: elizabeth_barr@yahoo.com.au

Copyright © 2000 Elizabeth M. Barr

Star Trek ® is a registered trademark of Paramount Pictures registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Star Trek: Voyager is a trademark of Paramount Pictures.