Web of Life

to part 1

Hunters pt 2

Janeway glanced at the empty seat next to her again and frowned. He'd spent the morning in his office. Brooding, she figured. It was the same subdued mood she had felt throughout the ship these past two days. Only Harry had been smiling at the morning briefing. She wondered briefly about his message. He'd only said he'd had a short note from his parents.

She stood slowly. "Commander Tuvok, you have the bridge," she said quietly. "I need to discuss some things with Commander Chakotay." She made her way to the exit only briefly glancing back at the Vulcan as he moved to the command chair.

She rang the doorchime twice before he let her in. Neither spoke for a second as she acclimated her eyes to the dim illumination. "Commander."

"Captain," he started to stand. "Is there a problem?"

"No. No problem, except that you've been in here almost all day." She motioned quickly that he should remain seated.

"I've been studying at the data on the Hirogen..."

She just nodded as she looked around his darkened office with a smile.

"All right," he said with a touch of annoyance. "I've been remembering..."

"Chakotay...I know you have been listening to everybody's sorrows and joys--including mine. But who has listened to yours?"

"I'm fine."

She pulled up a chair and sat down across from him. "Mmm. I didn't say you weren't...You've been here for me...It's about time I returned the favor." She leaned forward, placing her arms across his desk. "Talk to me."

"Are you sure..." She just nodded. "There were so many--yet so few," he added sadly. "Life was fast, furious, and so often short." He reached into his desk and pulled out the padd. He looked at it several seconds before passing it to her. "The Federation is finally at war again with Cardassia..."

"I've heard," she admitted slowly as she skimmed the tragic--yet angry--letter. "The Doctor told me..." She held up her hand to prevent his protestations. "He'd heard bits and pieces of conversations. I didn't want the crew worried before...I'm sorry, I should have told everybody."

"Don't be, I understand. Rumors have a tendency to escalate. I spent some time digging up what we have in the computer about the Dominion."

"Not much." She looked up at him with a half-hearted smile. "I looked too. Harry's been working on that code. I suspect it will tell us more..."

"Probably. Kathryn?"

"There is no point in worrying about what happens...when we get home...Considering everything...I don't think we can count on too much help from Star Fleet."

"No, it's up to us..." His voice was quiet.

"Just like before..." She smiled slightly as he reached out and took her hand. "How are the Maquis handling it?" She didn't like distinguishing between the two crews anymore--they were now Voyager's crew and family.

"As well as can be expected. Almost four years is a long time in the Maquis..." He rubbed his thumb on her knuckles unconsciously. "The average lifespan of new recruit wasn't very long." He sounded a bit cynical and bitter she noticed. "Life is actually better out here in the Delta Quadrant."

"Chakotay, you can't blame yourself...If you had been there--you'd have been killed too..." She almost added we might never have met, but stopped herself.

His voice was bitter and sad. "We should have been there, maybe we would have made a difference..."

Janeway shook her head. "Not according to your friend. She says that your presence would have been pointless..." She smiled slightly as she handed him the padd. "She wants you to help re-establish the Maquis when you get back..."

Chakotay almost smiled, "Svena was always an optimist...It was all she had left; that and her anger...I only met her a few times. I'm still trying to figure out how she learned about us--and why Star Fleet even let her send this letter."

Janeway shrugged as she sat back, reclaiming her hand from his. "Theirs not to reason why..."

"Theirs but to do and die..." He responded with a wry frown. Another long silence, before he changed the subject. "I've been analyzing the Hirogen information from our encounter..." He exchanged the letter-padd for another one.

"Yet another Delta-Quadrant enemy," she said sadly as she took the padd.

"They are probably not very fond of us..."

"Well, I'm not very fond of them either," Kathryn responded with a touch of orneriness.

Chakotay laughed and she threw him an evil look. "Well Commander, when you feel like facing the world, we look forward to seeing you on the bridge."

He grinned at her, "It will be my pleasure to thus brighten your day."

She shook her head as she stood. "I...See you on the bridge."

Seven looked up at the sound of the astrometrics-lab door opening, then returned to her work. Harry watched her a second...Maybe B'Elanna was right, she didn't return his feelings...How could she? She doesn't even know what emotions are yet... "Good afternoon Seven."

"Is there a purpose to this visit? If you are here for conversation, I am very busy." She'd spent the day working on ways to re-activate the relay.

"No. I thought maybe you would like to join me for dinner." He felt--he always felt--more than a bit uncomfortable around her.

"No." She didn't even look-up, so didn't see the hurt look on the young ensign's face. But she did hear it in his apology. She looked up just as he reached the door. "Ensign Kim, am I rude?"

The question floored him. He stumbled for the words to politely tell her, "Yes, you can be..."

"I do not understand polite, rude. Polite is inefficient."

Harry worked hard not to burst out laughing. "You can be a...A bit too direct."

"And this is bad, rude?"

"If it makes people want to not work with you, to avoid you--yes."

She thought a second--her head cocked slightly to the right. "It is difficult for me to be...polite...It is too inefficient." And with that she returned to her work. Harry shook his head and left.

B'Elanna moaned as Tom gently rubbed her shoulders. "That feels good."

Tom laughed gently, "That's not all I can..." A glare from her shut him up--for a second. "How you doing?" He whispered.

She shrugged and stood up. "As well as one can expect. I lost the only friends I'd ever had...Until Voyager." Her face was dark in sorrow and anger.

"Be, I knew them too...Well, not like you did. I remember Roberto. Did he adopt everybody who joined the cell?"

B'Elanna actually smiled at the memory. "Yes--everybody but Seska." She snorted slightly at that comment. "Chakotay may have been in command--but Roberto was everybody's dad. He and Chakotay were the family I never really had." She paused and stared our her viewport. "Roberto was to have been with us on our last mission...He would still be alive if he hadn't fallen into the creek and broken his leg the night before..."

This time B'Elanna let her anger control her as she threw the nearest item--a cup--across the room.

Tom wrapped his arms around her. "You can't blame yourself..."

"To learn that everything I...we had fought for, believed in has been destroyed. Just like that..." She snapped her fingers. "It's gone...So many." She didn't pull away from him as he again started rubbing her shoulders. She repeated in a whisper, "So many."

"And you are stuck here, unable to do anything..." He continued with authority. "Well, B'Elanna Torres, you are doing something. You somehow manage to keep Voyager together...Without *you,* we'd be dead too. This, the present, is what you are responsible for..."

She turned and wrapped her arms around his neck. "And you Thomas Eugene Paris...I could say the same thing about you. The here and now is what is important...Not what someone may think in the Alpha Quadrant. Us...We are what is important now." She let him kiss her, a kiss that grew increasingly hungry.

Kathryn looked up as her First Officer entered the ready room. "Yes?"

"I am here to brighten your day...Or rather evening. I was hoping you would join me for dinner."

"Oh, I hadn't realized it was so late..." She looked at the PADD. "Tuvok's report. He describes them as not having a moral center."

"A very interesting species--anthropologically speaking."

"Somebody else can study them--I'll pass. Dinner?" She stood. "Do we know what Neelix is serving?"

"I find being surprised is better." He smiled as she stepped beside him. He was tempted to wrap his arm around her and pull her close.

"I don't like surprises..."

"I remember." He took her hand and brought it to his lips.

"Chakotay..." Her voice was quiet and full of conflicting emotions.

He returned her hand with a smile. "No safety nets anymore..."

"I...I..."

He placed a finger on her lips, "Shhh. Dinner--remember?"

She nodded, still more-than-a-little stunned at the rush of emotions his lips on her knuckles had created.

Prey

B'Elanna groaned as she looked at the third report. The Doctor had finally released her from sick-bay, sort-of. Between the Hirogen and 8472 Voyager was a mess. She rubbed her eyes and returned to reading. "Kahless," she said in a hushed but angry voice. "Joe!" She shouted suddenly, causing those near her to jump slightly.

Carey turned quickly, "Lieutenant?"

"I want you and Seven to work on the..."

"She's confined to work in the astrometrics lab."

The half-human engineer controlled her temper--but her anger was plainly written on her face.

Joe spoke quickly, to avoid one of the Chief Engineer's infrequent outbursts. "Captain's orders."

This time she did say a couple of choice Klingon expletives, ending with a resounding, "It's about time." B'Elanna paused. It was about time ...But the timing was ghastly. "Joe, take Gerron and work on recalibrating the warp coil...I'll talk to the Captain." She closed her eyes. She hated Seven's superior attitude...but right now the ex-Borg was needed.

Tom looked at the pot bubbling on the stove, then at Chakotay and Harry. "I think emergency rations might taste better." The thick gooey royal-blue swill in the pot was...indescribable.

The other two men merely nodded, but served themselves anyway. Chakotay sighed--at least the smell was not as offensive as some of Neelix's concoctions... "So what was this mouse?" He asked Tom as they sat down. The mess hall was empty.

"Mouse sir?" Tom tried to look innocent.

"The one you were chasing in the Jeffrey tubes..."

Harry laughed as he poked at the blue stuff. "Come on Tom, 'fess up."

"It was nothing sir..." The young lieutenant silently prayed there would be no more questions.

Chakotay looked at Harry, who was trying very hard to eat and not laugh...So the commander continued. "It was more than nothing..."

Tom looked around quickly, then said in a very quiet voice, "It was Neelix's mouse sir."

Harry did laugh and sputter--barely avoiding sending the blue stuff flying from his mouth.

Chakotay looked puzzled, "Neelix's?"

Tom smile broadly. "Yes sir. Neelix bought a pet mouse--or something similar on Treia Prime two years ago. Little did he know the creature was an escape artist." He leaned over conspiratorially, "It disappeared soon after Sam found it in Naomi's bed. We think...Ah. Hello Neelix." Tom's smile dimmed slightly as he took a bite of food.

Neelix frowned slightly, then smiled again as he watched the threesome eat. "I know misal casserole isn't the most appealing dish. But I've been assisting Commander Tuvok with security matters and didn't have the time necessary to prepare a more substantive dish."

"It's fine, Neelix. You did a good job with what little time you've had," Chakotay said in authoritative tone. Only Tom caught the wink.

"Thank-you sir. I try. This particular dish is rich with vitamins and minerals while also being high in fiber..." Harry grimaced at this point as he carefully pulled a piece of long fiber from his mouth. Neelix continued without noticing.

It wasn't long before the threesome were desperately trying to think of an excuse to leave.

Kathryn stretched, pulling her arms high above her head, then sat down. It had been another long day in an already long week. And a very bitter day. Seven had won a temporary reprieve because B'Elanna--of all people--had requested the ex-Borg's assistance in engineering.

She ran her hand through her hair and closed her eyes. They were in real need of supplies. They knew nobody in the sector--no friends--no potential allies. They were alone again.

And with the Hirogen prowling in the woods--they couldn't consider themselves safe.

Her mind drifted. Wolves were a fascinating predator. Working as a team, relentlessly driving their prey to exhaustion. Intelligent, clever, stubborn.

"Well this prey can and will fight back..." She said outloud, then smirked. Except that right now, this prey had several broken legs...

She reached for another padd...Tuvok's analysis on the Hirogen ships. Formidable, fast...They were going over the data from this encounter and the computer dump from the damaged ship...Looking for any weaknesses.

She picked up another padd--there were several class-M planets in the area. Perhaps they would find what they needed. Go to ground and hope the Hirogen would lose the trail...

"Commander Chakotay to Captain Janeway." His disembodied voice brought her back to the present--she looked at the chronometer. It was later than she thought. A whole afternoon had passed. "Kathryn, you promised to have dinner with me."

"I'm sorry, my mind wandered." She had forgotten about his invitation made a few hours earlier. "The mess hall?"

Chakotay's voice laughed. "I was planning to feed you real food...My quarters fifteen minutes?"

She paused before replying. "Fifteen minutes--I'll be there." What was she doing?

Kathryn Janeway placed the fork on her plate before looking back at Chakotay. "Thank-you for dinner, it was very good."

He grinned at her. "Thanks. Coffee?" He knew the answer before she responded. He walked over to the replicator. "Would you like dessert with that?"

She shook her head, "No I'll take a rain check on that."

His grin broadened. "I'll hold you to that." He requested a coffee for her and an herbal tea for himself.

She took the offered coffee and smiled as she leaned back in the chair."

He watched her over the top of his cup. She was relaxed...or at least as relaxed as she could be after the past week. He watched her stiffen as she sat up straighter.

"Then there's Seven," she said flatly. The relaxed mood gone.

He nodded. "She's irritated almost everybody."

Voyager's captain shook her head sadly. "She just isn't fitting in."

A very true statement, he thought. He had tried to have an open mind...He just wasn't sure--had never been sure...

Kathryn stood and walked to her viewport. Chakotay silently followed. "I have no idea how to...to teach her to be human. To be an individual and yet a member of a group...of society."

"Outside of locking her up--we don't have many choices," he said as he stood behind her.

Kathryn stared at the still stars--a reminder of Voyager's current vulnerable status. "She's brilliant--just no social skills..." She whispered.

"Not exactly something a Borg needs," she continued with bit of exasperation. "Maybe we just can't undo twenty years of living with the collective. Maybe it was mistake to bring her with us."

Chakotay smiled slightly. "She is in many ways only a child. Behavior we take for granted; like how to work within a group and yet be an individual--we learned as children. She is just now learning all this."

Janeway nodded. "True--we didn't learn it all in just six months." She closed her eyes for a second and sighed. "Except while she's learning, I can't have her second guessing my every command."

"No one ever said raising a child was easy." He placed his hands on her shoulders, then slid them down and pulled her close.

She leaned back allowing his warmth to envelop her. "I know. But children don't usually get involved in command decisions."

He laughed gently as his arms tightened around her, "But then she is an exceptional child." Without really thinking he lowered his head so his lips were near her right ear. "I bet you were an exceptional child too..."

"If by that, did I drive my parents crazy...I guess so..." She whispered hoarsely Then she suddenly stepped out of his embrace; alarmed by his nearness and her own response to that nearness. "I'd better go..." Kathryn smiled at her First Officer--quickly kissed his cheek and bolted from his quarters.

to part 3 to main index