Disclaimer: Paramount owns the ship, the humans...But Charlie and friends are all mine. Though why I would want to admit that, I don't know... Return to parts 6-9
"Captain's log stardate 51...Charlie, would you stop that. It's been over an hour since the Rarians left. We're again traveling back to the alpha-quadrant--and again we are facing an enemy of unknown capabilities.
"Well, we do know some things. They have a cloaking device and transporters. And they speak like a thesaurus.
"They want Voyager intact...They will try again, aware of our willingness to destroy her if necessary. And what would they do with the crew?
During our brief contact, I wonder how much they learned about us. My guess is, too much.
"There is one other thing we learned. They are, yet, another male-oriented-sexist culture. I know I am suppose to be understanding and allow either Chakotay or Tuvok to negotiate, but it is so damn frustrating...Charlie..." Janeway watched her Tavian as he slid across the desk and fell gracefully to the floor.
"Continue log. Charlie and the Tavians have proven to be..." She didn't want to use the verb, *useful.* It sounded so...trite. "They did an admirable job defending the ship against the Rarians. The Doctor is analyzing the blood we found outside engineering and the bridge. Apparently, Tavians can bite, very hard. Though we did have to vent the ship."
She stopped recording and stood. "Come Charlie. Staff meeting." Charlie chirped as he followed her to the briefing room.
#
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Charlie was not the only Tavian in attendance at the meeting, though Janeway noticed that Cassandra was absent...She was probably still embarrassed...
The Captain looked at Charlie. Tuvok was right, humans did have a tendency to anthropomorphize...Or was she. Tavians were definitely intelligent. She was becoming convinced that they could manipulate the computer too...
Everybody was looking at her expectantly, but it was Chakotay who started the meeting. "Let's get started. Harry, any progress on the cloaking device?"
"Sir. I went over the sensor logs for the four hours proceeding the attack. What I found was this." Everybody looked at the screen. "Our sensors don't detect the ship, but I noticed this." He pointed to a group of stars. "Watch." About two seconds later the stars shifted position ever so slightly, then returned to normal. "The light from the background stars is bent. I've programmed this bit of information into the computer. Based upon an analysis of the past four hours, the Rarians arrived three hours earlier." He looked around the room. "And four ships are still shadowing us."
Janeway looked around. The yellow alert had just expired. "We'll maintain yellow alert. The ships?"
"Multiphasic shields. The one thing I noticed is that they must lower their shields before engaging the cloaking device." Harry added.
"Their transporters?"
B'Elanna responded. "Very similar to ours, they beamed in forty-five Rarians to seven locations. They must have scanned us during the initial three hours, but I cannot find any record in our sensor logs."
Tuvok continued. "They attacked engineering, sick-bay, and the bridge. There was a secondary attack led on the shuttle bays. The suffered minor casualties, mostly Tavian bites."
"Good," B'Elanna muttered. "I hope the wounds fester..." Tom looked at her and noticed her Tavian was sitting at her feet. He hid his grin.
"Any indication of where their boundaries are?" Chakotay asked.
"No sir." Harry responded. "There are three inhabited class-M planets 15000 kilometers on the port side. There is a lot of subspace activity--in code. The computer is trying to decode it now. But considering..." Everybody added, *how hard it was to decrypt their oral language to begin with...*
Chakotay glanced at the Captain. "The Rarians will most likely attack again. We'll be on alert status until we know for sure we have left their space."
Tom grinned as he sat there contemplating his punchline for today's meeting. "Captain. I believe it is against Federation policy to engage in chemical warfare."
Tuvok looked lost, but the others grinned and a few giggled.
"Dismissed." Chakotay didn't bother to hide his grin. When the others had left, he looked at Kathryn. "Chemical warfare?"
"I believe Federation policy is quite specific...But the Tavians haven't formally joined..." Charlie leapt up on the table and tried to rub her nose. Tikki joined in the effort. "I'm being mauled." She looked at him expectantly. "Well, aren't you going to rescue me?"
He smiled, "I'd much rather join in..." His comment was lost in the rapid twittering as Rikki and Tavi leapt up on the table too.
The noise quickly quieted when the doorchime rang. "Enter," Kathryn called out.
Kathryn gently pushed Charlie from her face as she greeted the newcomers, Ensigns James Stern and Sarah Yeomans.
"Captain, Commander. I...we know this isn't the best time, but..." James started.
His wife continued for him, "I'm two months pregnant."
Charlie was the first to reach the couple chirping madly. James smiled as he petted him. "Exactly the same response as our pair of Tavians."
Both the Captain and Commander offered their congratulations.
When the news became general knowledge, Neelix started planning a party.
Chakotay lay on the bed and watched Kathryn sleeping beside him. She looked so peaceful. He smiled, she could be so stubborn. He looked at the PADD he had placed on her nightstand several hours earlier. B'Elanna had left it with the Captain almost a month ago. He smiled as he looked at it. The young engineer had included several variations on how to cut an opening between their quarters. Kathryn had shown him the plans, laughed...and that had been that. Despite the fact *everybody* knew, she still was reluctant for there to be any public acknowledgment.
"You really should get some sleep," her soft sleep laden voice said.
"I was thinking..."
She laughed quietly, "About what?"
"Things. Go to sleep."
She rolled over and looked at him. "Not until you tell me..."
He kissed her quickly, "This is not the time or place. Dinner on holodeck-two tomorrow evening?"
"I have a meeting with the entertainment committee at 1830. Shouldn't take too long. 20 hundred hours?"
"It's a date." He leaned down and kissed her.
#
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Lieutenant Paris leaned back in the Captain's chair and sighed. He had switched duty shifts with Lieutenant Kay Olsen and was beginning to regret it. There were three yellow stars and one white dwarf in the vicinity. And absolutely nothing else. Since their encounter with the Rarians two days earlier it had been very routine. "I see Wati's out again." There was spluttering from the science station, as Wati landed on the poor ensign standing there.
Tom laughed as he turned back to the screen, then asked, "I wonder if Neelix left us anything?"
Ensign Stern, sitting at navigation shook his head, "Beta shift said avoid *it* at all costs..."
"Oh," Tom looked disappointed. "Another shift spent eating replicator rations."
He turned when he heard a low growl. "Cassandra, leave Wati alone."
Ensign Stern giggled. "We're learning to ignore it. A regular visitor during the gamma shift."
Tom shook his head. Harry's bird was becoming a regular visitor to the bridge in general. At least it was house-broken. He laughed as he thought of the old pirate movies--the ones where the pirate captain had some-sort of bird on his shoulders while standing at the bridge. Though Wati's repertoire was far superior (and cleaner). Usually no one paid attention to the bird's constant chattering.
He faced the viewscreen again. Another long shift in front of him. They hadn't seen any sign of the Rarians in the past several hours. Well...*seen* was relevant, since the Rarians were cloaked. Sensors hadn't detected their presence. He leaned back, listening to the soothing sounds of "Sixty, fifty-nine, fifty-eight..." Thinking of the monthly report he had to finish...He sat up as the countdown reached fifty-six and he heard a Tavian squawking madly behind him. He turned quickly. A round of expletives escaped his lips as he jumped out of his seat tapping his comm-badge.
"Bridge to Captain Janeway, the self-destruct mechanism has been activated."
"What the..." The response was rather breathless. A few seconds later the countdown stopped. The entire bridge crew sighed and then scrambled to find out what had happened. Tom looked around, "She's going to be here very soon, let's see if we can find the answers faster..." He reached down to pick up Cassandra. "Do you know what happened?" She just growled in response. He put her down quickly.
The Captain showed up twenty-five seconds sooner than he'd expected, still tying her hair back. "Report," she called out as she exited the turbolift.
"Captain..." The bridge crew looked at Tom rather expectantly. "We have not been able to determine the cause..."
"Computer who authorized the self-destruct." Janeway looked at the doors as her First-Officer entered.
"Captain Kathryn Janeway authorization omega-two-sigma," the computer replied.
"Uh..." She looked at Chakotay with an extremely puzzled expression, then turned and looked at the young ensign at Tuvok's station. "Run a level one diagnostic."
The young ensign fairly jumped as he replied, "Yes, Ma'am."
"Lieutenant, my ready-room. I want a complete report. Commander ask Lieutenants Tuvok and B'Elanna to report to the bridge. I want answers."
"Yes Captain." Chakotay watched as Tom and the Captain left the bridge. He noticed that Cassandra seemed agitated. "So, what happened?" He asked her quietly. He smiled as Harry's bird flew over and landed on his shoulder. "I want all the logs for the last half hour." He walked over to his chair and sat down. His trio of Tavians twittered as they entered the bridge. Tavi leaped into his chair and sat up, flapping her front paws--driving away the bird. "Not now..."
#
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Janeway looked at Paris. "Lieutenant, I want details."
He rubbed his ear, then began. "I had just been thinking it was very routine shift," he almost smiled at that thought, "When Cassandra growled at Wati. That bird had been talking up a storm. I was going to work on my monthly reports when I realized the self-destruct had been activated. I notified you and...Well."
Janeway shook her head. Just what they needed, another glitch in the system. Suddenly she looked at Tom, "This may seem ridiculous, but what was that bird saying..."
The thought was not completed. There was a horrific shriek from the bridge, followed by Chakotay's voice on her comm-badge. "Captain, you'd better get out here."
They were both already on their way out. As they entered the bridge, there were feathers flying everywhere. "What the..." Tom looked at Janeway. She looked at Chakotay who looked at Cassandra.
The Tavian was sitting there with what remained of Harry's bird at her feet. She swished her tail proudly. Tom shook his head. "You mean the bird did it?"
Chakotay nodded and waved his hand to clear the air in front of him of feathers. "It tried again. Mimicked the Captain's voice and codes and started to reactivate the self-destruct. Cassandra leapt quickly and you can see what happened." Janeway quickly checked--the activation had not been completed.
#
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Harry was devastated that his bird had tried to blow the ship up. He was surprised that no one had teased him about the incident and figured Tom had put the word out. For which, he was grateful. It had not been an easy year for him. Seduced by beautiful, exotic women only to discover that all they wanted was his DNA or Tuvok...There were times he felt paranoid, like something was out to get him, that he didn't have control of his life. He frowned as he reflected on life out here. How many times had he died? He was up to two when he felt something rub against his ankles. He looked down. "Hello there," he said quietly as a small tan Tavian chirped at him.
#
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Chakotay looked around the holodeck. She was five minutes late. He took an apple from the picnic basket and bit into it. Finally the holodeck doors opened and Kathryn entered breathlessly. "I ran all the way here. Well almost. Sorry I'm late. The entertainment committee actually had something to talk about this evening." She smiled. "You started without me?"
Chakotay nodded. "Yes, Ma'am." He tossed her an apple, which she caught deftly.
"You wanted to talk?" She said as she sat down on the picnic blanket and looked at him.
He handed her a PADD. "B'Elanna's plans for cutting a hole between our quarters."
"I know. Chakotay. It's that I'm...still...trying to come to terms with everything." She smiled at him. "Star Fleet Captains are not suppose to have *such* thoughts about their First Officers.*"
"Nor..."
"Nor are they usually stuck seventy years from home." She smiled at him, then laughed. "I'll come around--possibly in more ways than you can imagine. What's in the basket???"