Admit me Chorus to this history;
Who prologue-like your humble patience pray,
Gently to hear, kindly to judge, our play.
Chorus, Henry V
"Captain," Harry said with a grim smile. "The last Hirogen ship has gone to warp."
Janeway closed her eyes and let the out breath she'd been holding. They were gone--she hoped. "Maintain yellow alert." She ran her right hand across her forehead and looked around the bridge. "Commander," she said to Tuvok. "Have security go over this ship with a fine tooth comb, I don't want any surprises." She then glanced at Chakotay, "You have the bridge, I'll be in engineering."
Her ship was a mess. Especially decks three through seven. B'Elanna's initial reports hadn't been good...Four weeks minimum...They were on the look-out for a class M planet--someplace to find the supplies they needed...Again.
Chakotay watched her leave, then returned his attention to the casualty report. Two fatalities. Ensign Rosa Hernandez and Crewman William Storm. Their memorial service would be tomorrow. Then there were the incredible number of injuries during the Hirogen regime.
He tapped his fingers, the computer was working...slowly. Finally, the document he wanted appeared, and he started to read. Storm had been killed during the fight to retake the ship...Hernandez had died in the Klingon simulation. He glanced quickly through the Doctor's reports. The numbers were incredible. The average participant had been brought to sick-bay every other day with life-threatening injuries...The Hirogen casualty rate had been less...Only once a week. He had to wait again, and murmured a soft curse.
"Commander?" Tom said from his console.
Chakotay looked up, "Nothing. The computer transfer rate is slow."
Paris frowned. "I hope that means it isn't going to crash again." The last crash was probably one of the reasons the Hirogen had opted to leave.
Chakotay silently prayed that was so, but turned to Harry, "Ensign?"
Harry shook his head. "I've already taken every non-essential system and several systems of minor-importance off-line. If we cut environmental controls to all decks except the bridge, deck two, three and engineering, and the gardens...We can save an additional thirty-percent on our energy consumption. But..."
"That means that the crew not quartered on deck three will have to move." Chakotay said, then tapped his comm-badge. "I'll have Neelix work on roommate assignments." He smiled slightly at Tom's start of a grin. "I'll suggest he start with volunteers Tom, don't worry."
Harry laughed quietly, as he manipulated the controls. Tom was sometimes very obvious.
"There's a slight pull to starboard..." Tom forced the control to switch over to fire a thruster to compensate. He was relearning the *nightmare* simulations from his academy days. Except this time it wasn't a shuttle...It was real and involved a massive ship, with computers not able to compensate for her mass and size. *Surprising how dependent we are on technology,* he wondered as he again had to adjust.
"Internal scans aren't working yet," Harry said.
"Not much is working," Tom retorted as he made another correction.
Janeway studied her assembled staff as she wished miserably for a cup of coffee. "Thank you," she said quickly to Harry. "Doctor?"
The Doctor stood and glanced around. "First my update, I still have seven patients in serious condition--though thanks to my exceptional skills as a Doctor and as an improviser--all will recover. I have recruited several of my ambulatory patients into helping in our makeshift sickbay. I have documented all injuries received from the simulations, however, my present concern is crew safety while conducting repairs. In the last day, there have been a number of minor injuries ranging from cuts to a broken arm." He paused and looked at the Captain, before continuing. "And there is one health concern. The leak from the waste systems on deck five." He glanced around the quickly. "I feel uncomfortable releasing raw sewage into space."
"We all do," Janeway responded. "B'Elanna an update on the computers?"
The half-Klingon Lieutenant shook her head. "I have eight people working on the central processor. We have to replace about 2000 processing chips. The circuitry is a problem too. We haven't completed a survey of damage yet." She looked around quickly. "We expect to have navigation and targeting at seventy-five percent by morning. The waste systems are still a low priority, unfortunately we're looking at a couple of weeks there."
The Doctor frowned as he sat down next to Neelix.
Neelix, stood slowly, he was still stiff from hauling debris from the mess-hall. "Morale is lousy, but everybody is so busy...My recommendation is that after we complete repairs, we find an uninhabited planet and offer a long period of R and R."
Janeway nodded, and B'Elanna cut in. "Captain, that would be advisable. We're going to need to land Voyager to make some of the external repairs. And we're low on most of the materials we need."
"Can we land in our present condition," Chakotay asked.
B'Elanna shook her head. "Not until we have repaired the breaches and reinforced certain sections. The increased pressure could cause more damage..."
"And communication systems?" Chakotay queried.
"That doesn't look good." B'Elanna looked at Tom and frowned. "Harry and Ayala were working on an alternative, but with Ayala injured..." He'd tripped and managed to sprain an ankle.
Harry continued, "We've actually toyed with several ideas--mostly involving technology from the twentieth century. But we don't have the energy to replicate the necessary equipment. I think we're stuck with an even more primitive form of communication, a runner." This brought a few chuckles. It's what they'd been doing for the past couple of days.
"Captain's log, stardate 51745.4. I've glanced at the logs from before the Hirogen takeover. We'd successfully fought off 15 Hirogen attacks in the course of a two week chase, before they were able to breach our defenses.
And we are still cleaning up the mess.
During the past two days we've seen no sign of the Hirogen, or anybody else."
Captain Janeway stopped recording and looked around. The lights were very dim--in an effort to conserve power. Neelix was working on moving people into new quarters. There was some grumbling about having to share--but no one had time to argue about it. They had shut-off power and life support to decks 6 and 7 several hours earlier. She glanced at the reports. The Doctor was still vehemently protesting the lack of hygiene and equipment. Patients were using crutches to get around. And he disliked using her ready-room as a make-shift sick-bay. She laughed quietly--she wasn't fond of that either.
She looked up when Chakotay entered--the door chimes weren't working either. "Captain?"
She smiled weakly. "Commander, report."
"The hull breach on deck ten is effecting maneuverability. It's been moved to top priority."
"Very good..." She sighed. "The warp-engines?"
"They will be online this evening barring anymore unforeseen accidents..."
"Good." She yawned.
"Neelix has completed room assignments." He handed her the PADD he was carrying. "Everybody will be moved-in by fifteen-hundred hours."
She nodded as she skimmed, stopping suddenly and looking back up at him. "You will be sharing your quarters?"
He shook his head, "I have a cot and will sleep in my office. I was hoping you would let me use your shower..." He smiled at her.
"I'm surprised you didn't...Oh never mind. Sure." She laughed. "Assuming we can find the energy to run the sonic showers." Water ones were out too...
"Thanks. There is another matter. Laundry."
She looked up... "I've been thinking about that. Suitable work clothes will be considered appropriate for the duration of this emergency." Most of the crew only had only two or three uniforms...With no way to clean or replicate them, they would need something else to wear.
"Very good, Captain. I'll inform the crew."
"Suitable work clothes."
He winked, "Of course." He paused before continuing. "I've assigned Seven to engineering."
"Let me guess, B'Elanna wasn't too happy."
"She was too busy to put up much of fight."
"Spread the word--everybody is required to take at least four hours off everyday...I don't want the crew too exhausted to do anything."
"The Doctor wants everybody taking eight hours off..."
"Make it six then..."
"Everybody?" Chakotay asked with a straight face.
"Of course..." She didn't realize the trap.
"Including you?"
She sighed. "Point taken." She looked around the briefing room. "I promise to take a nap..."
"At least five hours or I'll inform the doctor..."
She grinned, "I promise."
He smiled at her, "Kathryn, how much do you remember?"
"Nothing--do you?" She asked curiously.
He shifted his weight nervously, "I've had these interesting dreams."
She studied him carefully then smiled, "I do remember a rather forward Captain..."
Chakotay blushed slightly, "I don't..." He laughed quietly. "You don't think Hirogen have a sense of humor?"
She shook her head. "Why?"
"You were a leader in the French Resistance." He continued when she nodded. "That would have made you a member of..." Here his grin broadened as he moved to stand by her. He laughed as he kissed her forehead and stepped back.
"Well?" She stared at him.
"The Maquis..." He laughed at her puzzled look. "Tom is having a lot of fun with that one."
"I bet he is," she muttered as Chakotay left.
The Doctor waited until everybody was leaving the briefing-room, before he spoke. "Captain. Commander. I need to speak with you." Chakotay stopped at the door and turned. In doing so, he missed the look Tom gave B'Elanna as they exited.
"Doctor, can it wait?" Janeway asked with a glance at the pile of reports that had been left for her.
"It will only take a few minutes." The Doctor pulled out a tricorder.
"What's wrong?" Janeway asked suspiciously, as he approached her.
"Based on my other examinations, I would say nothing."
Chakotay spoke quietly as he stepped back to the table. "Other examinations?"
"Yes. I have spent the past three days studying the records left by the Hirogen. While I was--originally--looking for faulty diagnoses by my ersatz-colleague, I have discovered that the Hirogen records also contained very specific details about events that happened during the various simulations." He paused, noting their concerned looks.
"And there is a problem?"
"I have already seen the few crewmembers who needed further treatment...But it is these other records I found interesting. It seems that certain people when they were involved in the same simulation..." He smiled, he was actually enjoying drawing out the suspense. "...Were drawn toward each other."
"I'm sure this would make an interesting psychological study--but right now..." Janeway sounded a bit exasperated. The ship was falling apart and he was discussing romantic liaisons.
Chakotay smiled slightly, "I presume you are saying that these couples...made love."
The Doctor nodded. "Sometimes quite frequently. I have been checking on whether their hormone suppressants had been compromised...I found only one such case...so far. My ersatz-colleague medicated her with a drug that negated the suppressant. Fortunately it was after...her encounter."
"I'll read the report." Janeway shifted nervously in her chair as she avoided looking at her First Officer. There was something else...she didn't dare think to much about what.
"I have one more couple to examine." He held up the tricorder.
Janeway's eyes opened in astonishment as she was forced to realize who he was talking about. "Are you sure? I don't...remember."
"Nobody really does. A few remember bits and pieces--especially in their dreams. Some remember bits of the final simulation." He moved to where he could examine her. There was silence as he quickly did his scan. With a nod he moved toward the Commander. "It is interesting that these couples are the ones with the closest connections on the ship. Hmmm. Scans indicate that you are both fine."
Janeway closed her eyes as she tried to make sense of this newest piece of information. Chakotay watched her a second, then turned to the Doctor. "Which simulation?"
The EMH grinned. "A medieval battle simulation--near Agincourt. A simulation taking place during the American Revolution..."
"Enough," the Captain said a bit harshly as she rubbed her forehead. *What a mess.*
"I have the information if you wish..."
Kathryn shook her head and finally looked at her First Officer. He was studying her, wondering what her reaction would be...Not sure what his was--besides the disappointment that he couldn't remember. "This was not a result of the programming?"
The Doctor shook his head. "No. It seems that the Neural Interface could not block emotional memories. It is an fascinating phenomenon, and I would like to study this more..."
She stared at him a few moments then looked down at the desk. "Thank-you for the information," she tried to say with a straight face. "Dismissed," she said quickly to both officers. She was in no mood to talk to Chakotay..
B'Elanna sat next to Tom and looked at her bowl of pale green soup. "Not again," she muttered as she took a sip of the soup. "He's watered it down again." She looked around the mess-hall. The place had been cleaned, but there was still a large gaping hole that opened into deck three. It wasn't a high priority. They'd just emptied that section by moving the crew that lived there.
"I've been assured that it he has been able to add nutritional supplements. It is still very nutritious." Tom said quietly. Torpal Soup was OK at full strength--but this was the third day in a row Neelix had served the watered down version for lunch.
"If you say so," she took another sip.
"So, what do you think?" Tom asked as he changed the subject. The engineer looked exhausted.
"Not much. Getting the warp coil back on line, finding sick-bay, shields...are among the only things I'm thinking of right now."
"I mean about Janeway and Chakotay?"
"They looked even more tired than I feel," She was nibbling on a piece of stale bread.
"No, I mean what the Doctor said to them..."
For the first time in several days B'Elanna almost smiled. "You think he had the same conversation with them..." She blushed slightly, "That he had with us?"
Tom just nodded.
She actually laughed--a short quick laugh. "Thomas Eugene Paris, you are a pig."
He quirked an eyebrow and looked at his bowl of soup--barely suppressing a grin. "Please remember I'm not the one who asked the Doctor how many times..." He was rewarded with a low seductive growl and a swift kick to his knee that caused him to grunt..
Kathryn Janeway sighed as Seven left the briefing room. She pinched her nose in frustration before looking at the data the young woman had left. "She's a child," Janeway said to herself, in an attempt to control the residual anger she felt at how Seven had walked in without knocking.
A chart from the astro-metrics lab...Seven had barged in with a map...And there wasn't anything of interest--well that there was nothing might be of some interest...But not now. Someone would have to talk to Seven, help her understand what manners are...Harry, Tuvok or the Doctor were her three top candidates...
"No," she whispered. Harry with his thinly disguised crush would not be a good choice. The other two men might be...
Her thoughts returned to Seven and the Borg. Ruthless, driven. Very technologically advanced, but very set in their ways.
She glanced at the map. But what lay ahead, no one knew.
Was it worse?
"I'd settle for uninhabited." Janeway startled herself with her voice. She yawned and went back to reading the reports.
Chakotay looked around the make-shift sick-bay. "Besides everything, is there anything you need?" He asked the Doctor warily.
The Doctor closed his eyes in frustration. "I am working with inadequate equipment. I feel at times like I am running a torture chamber. I treated Ayala for blisters in his armpits. He has not grasped how to use crutches properly."
Chakotay sighed as he looked around the darkened ready-room. "Sick bay is one of our top priorities...The explosion caused considerable damage to sick-bay and the surrounding decks."
"There must have been a better way to have disrupted the Neural Interfaces," the Doctor said with an angry glare.
"Possibly, but we didn't have time to think of a better one."
The Doctor nodded, he knew that. It was just frustrating trying to treat patients with little more than gauze and a pill.
"Commander, you need to get some sleep," he said watching the Commander stifle a yawn.
"We all do--it's been a long week."
Tom looked at the bed with regret. Then grabbed a change of clothing. His only surviving uniform hadn't been washed in four days. It wasn't as if he noticed the smell anymore. Or any of the smells that permeated throughout the ship, but it would feel good to just put on something clean. He stripped, grabbed a wet washcloth and proceeded to try to get a week's worth of grime off.
Harry looked at his two roommates. Oscar snored and Joe talked in his sleep. As if it really mattered. He'd only had time to grab eight hours of sleep in the last two days. "Shit," he muttered as he tripped over a corner of a trunk. Then there was the lack of lights. Sleep and lights. He was always running into things. He started to wash-up.
B'Elanna rubbed her brow again. The warp coils were starting to overheat again. "Joe," she called out. "Keep an eye on the temperature."
"Aye, Lieutenant," Joe Carey responded. He'd been upset when she'd been promoted over him, now he had to admit it had been a good choice. "And the crews on deck five?"
"Send a relief team in. In an hour. And insist that Fitzroy's team gets some sleep. Put them up in my office if you have to."
Carey nodded. He noticed that she too was starting to show signs of exhaustion.
Janeway entered Chakotay's office and tried to smile at him. "I see you've been busy," she said as she glanced at the cot against the wall and some gear neatly stacked in a corner.
"You need to sit down and rest. It won't do to have you collapse." His voice was full of concern.
"What I need is six days uninterrupted sleep. I looking forward to finding some lovely uninhabited planet and giving the entire crew a week's shore leave." She yawned for the fourth time.
"Sounds good. Most will probably sleep."
"I would seriously consider that. Did Neelix say what was for dinner?" She frowned when Chakotay shook his head. "I hope we've seen the last of the whatever casserole." He'd been serving it for two meals a day for several days. "That and that soup." She sat down hard in the free chair.. She closed her eyes for a just a second as she laid her head down on his desk.
Chakotay smiled, she'd fallen asleep. She'd probably kill him when she woke up, but she'd get an hour nap before the staff meeting. He stood quietly and moved to where she sat. She moaned slightly as he picked her up and carried her to the cot.
"I have work to do," she mumbled without opening her eyes.
"I'm sure you do," he whispered. "But right now you need to sleep..." He placed her on the cot, and covered her with a blanket. "I promise to try to remember to wake you in an hour..." He smiled. It was a promise he would try to forget.
When she'd okayed civilian dress, many of the crew had stopped wearing their uniforms. She'd continued. But she had ripped her last wearable uniform while crawling through the rubble on deck six yesterday...She'd decided on blue jeans and a long sleeved workshirt. She was going to be crawling through decks six and five again with B'Elanna. She changed and grabbed her work-gloves.
Seven stood in the door of the mess-hall and looked around. She felt a hand on her back. "Just go in there, eat something and chat with," the Doctor said as he looked around. "Crewman Gerron. You just need to converse with him for two minutes."
"Conversation is inefficient," she said stubbornly.
The Doctor sighed. "Yes it is. But if you wish to be a fully functioning member of this crew, you will need to learn to be inefficient. We talked about this yesterday."
"My memory is functioning properly," she said in a dry monotone, but she did start to walk toward the serving counter.
The Doctor stood just inside the mess hall and watched her, while clasping his hands nervously. They'd been working on her conversation skills on and off for the past two weeks. Seven had initiated the lessons this time. He smiled slightly as Gerron nodded at Seven and she sat down. "So far, so good," he muttered quietly.
"Excuse me?"
"I'm sorry Captain," he motioned with his hand toward the former Borg. "She is practicing her conversation skills."
Kathryn nodded. "Good," she said smiling. Then she almost laughed as a thought occurred to her. "Fortunately there are no horses on the ship..."
"Pardon?" The Doctor looked at her curiously, wondering about her mental health.
Janeway laughed. "A reference to a play I saw years ago."
He shrugged. "She has been practicing talking about progress in repairs...Conversations about health were not safe topics. We are working on that." He looked at her, "Captain, you are inspecting sick-bay today?"
She nodded. "I'm meeting B'Elanna soon."
"Good, I am impatient to have a complete medical facility again at my disposal."
"I'm sure you are." She stopped talking as Seven walked over to the Doctor.
"I talked to Crewman Gerron for exactly two point three minutes," Seven said in her usual arrogant monotone.
"Excellent," the Doctor rolled his eyes slightly as he looked at the tray she was carrying.
"Now I will go eat in my chamber. Good morning Captain, Doctor." Seven walked out quickly.
"An improvement, I guess," Janeway said with a smile.
"Indeed. If you will excuse me." She smiled slightly as he exited the room.
Janeway looked at the mess on deck five, then at B'Elanna.
"Onward then, Captain." During the two weeks they'd been able to bring power levels back to 75 percent of normal. Repairs to sick-bay were progressing and would be there first stop.
Both women were aware that their *non-regulation* dress was causing a stir. Most of the crew were in similar dress, Janeway noticed as she looked around. "How soon 'til we get the laundry up?"
B'Elanna shook her head. "A week minimum, its a low priority." They stopped at a pile of rubble. "It's going to take a while." She reached down and pulled out a small piece of pipe. "I've got a team going through all the rubble and salvaging everything. We have used up most of our reserves..." The pipe clanged as she tossed it back down. "We've repaired all the hull breaches and most of the internal ones. We can safely land the ship."
"I'd like to put some more distance between us and the Hirogen, before we make any long stops."
B'Elanna nodded her agreement. "The further the better." They stopped outside sick-bay, both remembering the tension yesterday when a Hirogen ship had appeared on long-range sensors. Fortunately the ship hadn't appeared interested in them.
Sick bay had been stripped of all it's equipment, and the paneling removed. It was being completely rewired.
B'Elanna smiled as she looked around the room. "We should be ready to reconnect the equipment this afternoon."
Janeway smiled, "I'm sure the Doctor will be delighted."
B'Elanna laughed, "I bet he is...He's been here an average of six-times a day for the past week."
"Anything to get him out of my ready-room." The Captain looked around the room again and smiled at the crew. "Good job, everybody."
Janeway looked around the holodeck program and pulled out her tricorder. After scanning for several seconds she tapped her comm-badge. "Harry, grids thirty seven through fifty are still out of synch." She wait for his acknowledgement, then again studied the program.
She sighed and debated changing programs. She didn't...She wanted to see this place.
It was all his fault. His fault they were here in the Delta Quadrant, his fault she had asked the Doctor for more information about their trysts, his fault she was standing in this barn trying to remember making love with him...And definitely his fault that she had fallen in love with him.
She didn't turn around at the grunt--somehow she had known that he would come.
Chakotay waited for her to acknowledge him before speaking.
"We need to talk," she finally whispered without turning around.
"I know..."
"I've...It wasn't real..."
"It was real--probably the only part that was." For weeks he'd tried to figure out what would happen when they did talk.
"I know. Chakotay, it should never have happened..." She turned to look at him, concerned at the look of disappointment on his face. "Not like that...I've dreamed about our first time--a barn and hay was never a consideration." She smiled slightly as she stepped toward him. "We've had so little time for ourselves, and...well..."
The holodeck flickered eerily and they both laughed. Chakotay ordered the program to end. "They haven't solved the problems with the emitter grid..."
"Not yet," She notified Harry of the newest problem. With a smile, she reached out and took his hand. "It's nice to have the showers working again though."
He smiled slightly. "Yes, though I don't think anybody noticed the smell after the first week." They both laughed for several minutes, enjoying the fact for the first time in almost a month, there weren't pressing concerns about the ship.
"Showers and laundry...It's nice to have clean sheets again..." She was still laughing.
"I'm just happy not to be sleeping on that cot anymore. Another day, and I was going to try sleeping in a Jeffrey tube..." He smiled at her.
"Good, another day with a grumpy First Officer and I was going to have to ask him to sleep in my bed." She grinned wickedly at the look on his face as her comm-badge chirped. "Janeway here."
"Captain, please report to the Astro-metrics lab immediately," Seven's voice said.
"I'll be there." She closed the signal. "Don't laugh--it's an improvement."
"Really?" He asked sarcastically.
"She said please. We'll talk later..." She left quickly, leaving him wondering.
Tom was seated on the bed, his back against the wall, finishing his report on the recalibrations of the navigation systems. He was using his knees for a desk. He didn't look up when B'Elanna sat down on the bed. "How you doing?" He asked quietly.
She closed her eyes and moved so she could lean against his legs. "We found the coolant leak finally." There was a long silence, Tom was about to rearrange himself and let her stretch out--figuring she'd fallen asleep. "Remember that World War One..."
"World War Two..."
She laughed. "At least Klingons didn't number their wars. Two, then."
"How could I forget. Well," he shifted slightly. "Well, I remember the end anyway."
"The p'tuk the Hirogen had programmed to be my boyfriend..." She smiled slightly as she teased, "At least he was good looking."
"He was rather plain...B'Elanna Torres, sometimes I think you are incorrigible." He smiled, then moved so he was next to her. "How tired are you?" He asked suggestively, his hand stroking her face.
She kissed the palm, and grinned. "I'm not tired at all--what about you?"
"Well, I don't think I could last through..." He leaned down and whispered the rest to her.
She laughed. "Pig," she said affectionately. She rolled away, suddenly serious and sat on the edge of his bed. "Tom?"
"Be?" He started rubbing her shoulders.
"I've been thinking...About that simulation and well...You..." She took a deep breath. "Have you ever considered what kind of father you would be?"
Tom's hands stilled. "I've carefully avoided the consideration...I never wanted to be the kind of father mine was...Be?"
"I've just been thinking, that's all. For the first time in my life, I'm actually thinking about a family...That's all." She said nervously.
Tom thought carefully before speaking. "I think there's a lot of that. After that brief glimpse of our families...I think we're starting to come to terms with our life here..." He kissed her shoulder. "We don't have to decide tonight?"
She shook her head...
Janeway looked around the darkened lab, before spotting Seven hunched over a console. "Seven?"
"Captain, I think this will interest you." The young woman turned to look at the large viewscreen. I have detected a Class-M planet approximately three weeks away on our current course and speed."
"Inhabited?"
"That I cannot tell." She paused and glanced at the Captain. "I did not interrupt something important?"
Janeway smiled slightly--important was relative. "Nothing that can't be continued later." She notified the bridge of the slight alteration in the course heading. "Was there anything else?"
"Yes. The coded transmission from Star Fleet."
Janeway stood there. She'd almost forgotten it. "Yes?"
"I have been able to find only ninety-three percent of the message. I believe the Hirogen deleted it while they were on board."
The Captain nodded. Considering the amount of damage..."Have you been unable to decrypt it?"
"Not yet." Seven moved toward another console. "It has not been a high priority recently."
Janeway nodded, rolling her eyes slightly. "Thank-you Seven. Keep me informed on that planet."
"Of course, Captain."
"Good-night." There was no response.
Kathryn entered her darkened quarters and yawned. Life might be close to normal as it ever got, but she was still tired. "Computer..."
A sound from her other room stopped her. She looked quickly and smiled. "Hello, lost?"
Chakotay looked up and grinned. "Well you did say you didn't want a grumpy First Officer..."
She nodded, "True. But you're hogging the bed."
He laughed, "I also hog the covers..."
"Hmmm. I'll see about this." She sat down beside him. "You have a lot of gall sneaking into the Captain's quarters...Stealing her bed...her heart..." She leaned over and kissed him.
They broke apart and she nuzzled his chin as he whispered, "You have witchcraft in your lips, Kate..."
She didn't have time to wonder as their lips met again.
Phoebe looked around at the crowd and sighed. Ten weeks ago it had seemed like a good idea...now.
Ten weeks ago someone had suggested a party to celebrate Voyager's return to life...It had been planned, the date set when it was announced that the array was gone--Voyager was again *lost.* Still it had been decided to continue with the party. She hadn't wanted to come, it just seemed so...So something...But as her mother had put it, they were the Captain's family.
She stayed in the dark corners watching, not wanting to participate in the quiet celebration. The confusion, sadness, and joy were too much for her this evening.
She hadn't seen these people since the memorial service...It really was strange. She recognized a few--the Kims standing by the buffet table. Their son had just graduated from the academy. She closed her eyes making sure she had remembered correctly. Henry or something.
"Hello," a feminine voice said.
Phoebe opened her eyes quickly. The interruption was a dark-skinned woman. "Hello" She replied--trying to remember who the stranger was.
"Don't worry, we haven't met before..."
"You knew somebody on Voyager?" Phoebe asked curiously.
"Sort of. I knew people who knew them." She glanced around. "Too many Star Fleet types."
Phoebe laughed. "My name is Phoebe Wells."
"Kassidy Yates. I'm here to represent the Maquis interests. As if there are any to represent..."
Phoebe looked around the room quickly, "Supposedly the organizers tried to find family and friends..."
"Supposedly. I'm here because a friend mentioned it."
"Welcome." She grasped her belly.
Kassidy looked at her in concern, "Should I get your husband?"
Phoebe nodded, and waited for the pain to pass before speaking. "He's over there." She pointed at her husband.
Kassidy smiled quietly. "Sit down, I'll get him."
Gretchen was asleep in a chair, when her son-in-law found her. "Mom?" He whispered quietly as he gently touched her arm. Gretchen woke with a start. "Everything is all right." He was smiling. "Phoebe is asking for you." He helped her stand-up and hugged her. "She's beautiful. Phoebe's convinced our little girl is going to have red hair."
Kathryn Marie Wells was sound asleep when she met her grandmother.
"Lieutenant," Seven sat down next to Tom and glanced at his tray. "I see you are trying the...green-stuff."
Tom bit his tongue to keep from laughing. "Yes. I find that Neelix does green food well."
She nodded as she took a bite of the yellow pasta like substance. "Curious..." She said as she swallowed. "A not unpleasant texture." She took several more bites.
Tom tried to ignore her and continue eating the green vegetables.
Seven looked up and almost smiled. "Eating is an interesting experience, but inefficient. The whole break-down of..."
Tom interrupted her quickly. "Seven, did you want to ask something?"
She paused as she remembered lesson twelve from the Doctor's instructions--how to tell when someone is embarrassed. "Yes. I would like to learn more about the events of the simulation. The computer database was too efficient. Can you recommend a book on World War Two?"
"Fictional or not?"
"Fictional, that means not true. Why would I want to read an inaccurate book?"
"Let me think about it..." Tom looked at her curiously, as he finished his breakfast.
"I would appreciate it," she sounded very uncomfortable.
Tom's was still struggling to not laugh. "Have a nice day." He said as he stood quickly. He lasted until he reached the corridor where he started laughing.
"Lieutenant?" Janeway asked.
Tom straightened up and tried to stop laughing. "Captain..."
She looked at him a second. "Well, are you planning on telling me what is so funny?"
"It's really nothing...She really is trying..."
Janeway almost smiled. "Seven. The Doctor has been working with her on social skills..."
"She is improving...Did you know she is reading about World War Two?"
"No...Well, Lieutenant, we're both due on the bridge. And I still have to eat my breakfast." She watched him hurry away.
Janeway leaned back in her ready room chair and looked around. Her ready-room. No longer decorated with *relics* or being used as a make-shift sick-bay.
It was hers again. With a contented smile she put her feet up on her desk and picked up the nearest PADD.
She had tracked down the source of that curious line he'd said last night. She smiled slightly...Outside of vague dreams, she had no recollection of Agincourt or any of their other encounters. She had to laugh at that thought.
Still laughing, she started to read:
O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention,
A kingdom for a stage, princes to act
And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!