Disclaimer: All things Star Trek belong to Voyager. No infringement intended.

Summary: Life goes on. And Chakotay has a surprise waiting for him.

Note: This story begins about one week after Aukized.

Pegasus (a Belle Colony story)

by mizvoy

“I’m terribly sorry about Admiral Janeway,” Captain Schuler told Commander Tuvok when they met on Starbase 450 a few weeks after Hyperion’s near destruction at the Toroyan station. “Did you work with her a long time?”

The Vulcan showed no visible sign of grief. “We worked together on-and-off for nearly sixteen years.”

“It’s a terrible loss. I liked her.”

Tuvok bowed his head slightly, carefully repressing any evidence of the deep emotions the mention of her death caused him. “She was an excellent officer and a good friend.”

With the support of Admiral Owen Paris and the influence of Gretchen Janeway behind him, Commander Tuvok had experienced no trouble being appointed to the security team assigned to investigate the ambush of the Hyperion. He left for Starbase 450 immediately after the Toroyans had returned the commbadges and rank bars of the casualties. The first thing he’d requested was for Schuler to collect every available sensor record of the battle so that he could reconstruct the events in the order in which they had ranspired, and then he’d spent his first two days on the Starbase carefully analyzing the events as they had been recorded from a variety of perspectives. He was hoping to test his theories against Captain Schuler’s memory.

“I really wish the ambassador would have listened to Janeway’s advice. If we’d had another ship or two with us at the station or if we’d been in a less remote location, the battle would have turned out much differently.”

Tuvok agreed. “She truly understood the vulnerability of a single vessel in the middle of hostile territory. Even so, I’m sure she thought the Toroyans would be the source of the threat, not the Utavi Union.”

“We all did. I know I was astonished when we figured out that those cloaked vessels were Union ships. I’ve been assigned to this region for several years and had no reason to think that they would attack us. Frankly, I’m still confused by their actions.”

“Obviously, something occurred to change their attitude, Captain, and I believe that whatever it was threatened them so deeply that they staged a surprise attack designed to kill every Federation citizen rather than deal with the issue openly.”

“But what could that change be? Janeway had been with us for several months, and her arrival was the only significant change I can think of. Why would they find Janeway a threat?”

“That is, of course, the question. When I last saw the admiral on Earth, she believed that the ambassador had shown favoritism toward the Union and was adamant about the need to open a dialogue with the Toroyans. Her intent was to help both sides find a way to end the hostilities, of course, but the Utavi might have perceived her attitude as a change in loyalty that would result in the Federation becoming an enemy.”

Schuler sighed. “Tydkt let the Utavi think we were their allies, when he should have made it clear that we were disinterested observers determined to remain neutral. But, he enjoyed being courted by the Utavi, and he found them to be much more hospitable. He spent a lot of time on their home world, too much, in Janeway’s opinion.”

“He spent little time with the Toroyans?”

Schuler shook his head. “Have you ever heard the old joke about allies? The best species to make your ally is the one whose environmental settings are closest to your own?”

Tuvok didn’t crack a smile. “Indeed, I have heard it, Captain. In the early meetings between humans and Vulcans, the temperature of the meeting room was routinely the first issue to be negotiated.”

“True. I tend to forget that Vulcans prefer a hotter climate.”

“We have long since found a workable compromise. But, as you say, the temperature was an issue with the Toroyans?”

“The only species that I know of with a lower comfort setting is the Breen, and they have to wear special refrigerated suits to co-exist with humans. I’m not sure there is a temperature that would be mutually comfortable for humans and Toroyans, Commander.”

“Interesting.” Tuvok templed his fingers. “At least I can better understand Tydkt’s otherwise irrational preference for the Utavi.”

“Why would the Utavi be worried about the Federation allying with the Toroyans?”

“I don’t know. However, the Utavi destroyed the station and tried desperately to destroy your ship before you could report the details of the battle to Starfleet. If they had been successful, we would have had very little data for review. It would be natural for us to assume that the Toroyans were responsible for the ambush.” And, Tuvok thought to himself, the Utavi could have denied the Toroyan’s allegation that they had ships with phased cloaks by claiming that their enemies were doing whatever they could to shift the blame from themselves. And no one would have been able to prove them wrong.

“Commander, I’ve heard that you finally managed to get all the sensor logs arranged into a coherent timeline.”

“Yes, I’ve coordinated the events based on the logs from Hyperion and the four Toroyans ships in the area.” He handed the captain a PADD with the information. “There were several events that occurred so close together to seem to be almost simultaneous.”

“Let me guess-the explosion on the station, the sudden activation of the station’s shields and jamming device, and the decloaking of the ships.”

“That was the first set of nearly instantaneous events. The blast took place just a fraction of a second before the shields and jamming device activated on the station and about 2.4 seconds before the ships appeared in normal space.”

“That sounds about right.”

“Only one ship, a Toroyan vessel on the far side of the station, picked up the pulse that detonated the bomb.”

“The bomb was detonated from inside the cloaked ships?”

Tuvok nodded. “There is also evidence that the cloaked ship emitted a second pulse that was blocked by the jamming device. Because this pulse was of a slightly different frequency, I believe there was to be a second explosion immediately after the first.”

“A second explosion?” Schuler frowned. “Why?”

“I believe there were two areas of the station that were inhabited. One was the conference room where the ambassador was meeting with the Toroyan leaders, and the second was the station’s engineering section.”

The captain nodded. “Kill the principles first, and then the support personnel.”

“And make sure that the Station is completely annihilated before turning on the Hyperion.”

“I felt guilty for leaving the area, Tuvok. I knew I should verify whether there were survivors, but the attack was vicious and unrelenting.”

Tuvok understood the human’s feelings and sought to help him put his guilt aside. “I believe it is quite fortunate that you did so, for your survival and report back to Starfleet allowed us to reconstruct accurately what actually happened.”

“But I don’t know what happened. That’s just it. I had to get my ship out of there.”

“The Toroyan data provides a clear, if somewhat fragmented, account of what happened after Hyperion left the area. Two Toroyan ships attempted to rescue the surviving engineers while the rest attempted to keep the Unionists from escaping. A Toroyan vessel blew up near the engineering level of the station, dooming it to complete disintegration. It also terminated the jamming device that had prevented the second bomb from detonating. The second bomb exploded and released a biological component into the area.”

“Biological?”

“It would seem that the Unionists are very thorough.”

“We would’ve been long gone by then,” Schuler mused, thinking through the event carefully. “How did the Unionists get on the station to begin with? I mean, that station is pretty deep in their enemy’s territory.”

“Clearly, the cloaked ships had visited the station earlier.”

“You’re kidding.”

“I never ‘kid,’ Captain.” He made a few adjustments to the PADD’s readout and returned it to Schuler. “It’s quite likely that there were a few Unionists on the station just prior to Hyperion’s arrival. They might have been hidden behind a personal phased cloak.”

“Wow.” Schuler whistled softly under his breath. “If the Toroyans had activated the jammer just a few seconds earlier?”

“They would have prevented the disaster.”

“Amazing. But, why would the Toroyans have even thought of shields and a jamming device? They’d agreed to let us keep a transport lock on the ambassador and his team, and they knew that would interfere with it.”

“Something must have happened to make them think an attack was about to occur.”

“So they took extra precautions.” He blushed and rubbed his face with his hands. “Most of us thought they were just being paranoid. They assumed that the Utavi were lying, when we kept assuring them otherwise.”

“Admiral Janeway had a favorite saying, ‘Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not after you.'”

Schuler laughed. “There’s a lot of wisdom in that.”

Tuvok nodded. “There is one other mystery, Captain. In the material that the Toroyans returned to us, there was a damaged Utavi data chip that was reportedly found in the admiral’s possession.”

“Oh, yeah. I saw that in with the commbadges and rank bars. We couldn’t make heads or tails of it and decided it must’ve fallen in with the other things by accident.”

Tuvok raised an eyebrow. “Hardly, Captain. I was able to access some of the data on the chip and found a file that looked different from the others. After several aborted attempts, I was able to download the information in the file.” He pulled a second PADD from his case and handed it to Schuler. “I think you’ll find it very interesting.”

The captain glanced through the files casually and then sat up straight in his chair. “Tuvok! These are the blueprints for the cloaked ships!”

“So it would seem.”

“Janeway had this with her?” He looked up, confused. “She knew about the cloaked ships ahead of time?”

Tuvok shook his head. “From my many years of service with her, I can assure you that she was unaware of those cloaked ships, Captain. There is no way that she would’ve taken a ship to that station if she had any idea that something like this ambush was possible.”

“Then where did she get this?”

“I believe she was given this data chip by someone on the station, or perhaps found it there. It is definitely not from Toroya. There are dissident groups in the Union that want to stop their government from spending so much on the war effort and use those funds for more charitable purposes. Perhaps they found a way to give her this data.”

“Did the Toroyans realize what they were giving us?”

Tuvok bowed his head slightly. “I believe they did. The disc had been accessed prior to its return to us.”

“And this information allowed them to mount a defense against the cloaks. They used this information to adapt their tactics and fight back successfully.”

“I believe so.”

Schuler beamed at him. “Excellent work, Commander. I wasn’t sure what good the Toroyan’s sensor scans would do in piecing all this together, but you obviously did. I’ll forward your report to Stafleet command at once.”

“Thank you. If you don’t mind, I’d like to remain in the area for awhile. I’m intrigued by this assassination and want to continue to look into the Union’s motivation.”

“More power to you, Tuvok. I hope you figure out, and the sooner the better.”

Later, after the report had been encrypted and forwarded to Starfleet command, Tuvok reopened the Unionist file and wondered how long it would be before someone at headquarters realized just how familiar the format of those plans were. They were Federation blueprints clearly marked with the coordinates of origination in their copyright file-coordinates that coincided with the location of Belle Colony.

He sighed and closed his eyes. Just as they’d feared, Janeway’s transfer to the war zone was the first step toward her assassination, a deed to be accomplished by the Unionists themselves, who were apparently partners in Section 31’s illegal research so many years earlier.

It made good sense, actually. Section 31 had been most logical in their research into phased cloaks. They had sought a technically advanced species which had not, as yet, opened diplomatic relations with the Federation, and enlisted their help in the development of a ship-based phased cloak generator. It would be of mutual benefit, of course. The Unionists could use it to help win the war against the Toroyans. And Section 31 could study the cloaks, ostensibly to prepare Starfleet’s defenses against them, without involving scientists who were aware of the prohibition against cloaking devices as established by the Treaty of Algernon.

It also explained the puzzling fact that the victim’s names had never been published following Belle Colony’s destruction. The admiral had hoped that the casualties had been overstated or even nonexistent, but now it was clear that those who had perished must have been Utavi scientists and their families, not Federation citizens. Publishing their names would reveal the covert partnership and reveal Section 31’s treachery.

Now the Vulcan understood why the admiral hadn’t shared everything she’d known with him before her departure-what she’d learned had been so volatile and dangerous that sharing it with him would put his life in danger, as well. He could hear her telling him to watch his back, to be aware of how ruthlessness this secret group was that had sacrificed the lives of hundreds of aliens in order to avoid taking responsibility for their illegal actions. Without a doubt, Janeway’s research into the details of the Belle Colony disaster had brought about this elaborate and deadly ambush at the Toroyan station. He would have to proceed carefully as he brought this evidence to light or he would risk putting all of them at the mercy of a deadly enemy.

Tuvok sat down before a table in his quarters and lit his meditation candle, staring into the flame as he slowly cleared his mind of all emotion. The last thought he put aside concerned the file that had unlocked the blueprint’s code. It had contained a few garbled bits of damaged text that closely resembled letters in ancient Vulcan, text that when rearranged and assembled became a phrase that he and Kathryn Janeway had used privately for years to let other one know that all was well and that further information would soon make everything clear.

Despite his years of Vulcan training, Tuvok’s emotional control faltered. That brief message implied that Kathryn Janeway was alive. For the second time in as many days, he needed to meditate in order to control the relief and joy that threatened to overpower his Vulcan self-discipline.

“Are you sure you want to supervise the delivery or the supplies, Annie?” Chakotay asked as he checked the transport schedule one last time. The Caritas ship was in orbit above another Sestwan Camp, this one much closer to the war zone than the one that was home to his friend, Alita. It was Chakotay’s first trip since his return from Toroyan territory a week earlier and just what he needed to take his mind off of other, more troubling matters. “It’s a lot of work getting everything stored properly in their warehouses.”
“I’m ready for some physical labor.” Marci Brooks was obviously excited about participating in her first mission of mercy. “Besides, there seemed to be several brawny fellows available for the hard labor.”

“They were probably just checking you out,” he teased her. That morning, she and Tom Riker had gone down to meet the camp’s leaders and make sure the storage facility was large enough for their supplies while he’d stayed behind on the ship. “I imagine that it’s been awhile since they’ve had any new females to gawk at.”

“If you say so.” She stuck out her tongue at him as she took the manifest.

Tom Riker peered into the hold. Since this was their first time at this particular camp, and since their Starfleet guest had insisted on coming along, Riker had decided to join them. “All set, Annie? They’re waiting for us.”

She almost danced with excitement. “I feel like a kid on Christmas morning! Those poor people are so thrilled about what we’re bringing them I can hardly believe it. I mean, who would imagine that a ton of rice would make someone so happy?”

“I know. It’s an amazing feeling, isn’t it?” Chakotay stepped to the cargo transporter and studied the delivery queue. “I’ve got everything organized up here. Just let me know when to start beaming the supplies down and verify the coordinates.”

“Okay. Stand by,” Tom answered, giving him a wink. Chakotay was glad that Tom had finally let the doctor repair the scar that marred his good looks. The plastic surgery was an outward sign of Ro Laren’s influence in his life, and it was about time the two of them found some degree of happiness after their many years of dangerous service in the Maquis.

After the other two had beamed to the surface and while he waited for their signal to begin transporting the supplies, he thought about all he’d learned from Marci since he’d discovered that she had been with Kathryn Janeway during the Union’s attack on the Toroyan station. He wondered when he’d see her again and whether she was thinking of him.

She had undoubtedly helped the Toroyans solve the problem of the cloaked ships. Either she had joined forces with the cleric Anorha that Chakotay had heard about, or she’d been Anorha herself. If it was true that Section 31 had worked with the Union in developing the phased cloaks for their ships, then Kathryn would think it was only fair play for her to assist the Toroyans in defending themselves against the new technology. Voyager had run across such cloaks several times in the Delta Quadrant, and she was more than capable of directing an attack from a remote location such as Anorha’s quarters. And she was no doubt still working with them, trying to establish a basis for an on-going diplomatic relationship.

Riker contacted him with instructions to begin the transports, and he spent the next several hours beaming the supplies to the Sestwan Camp, grateful that the work took his mind off of the mystery of Kathryn’s location. It wasn’t hard work, but it was a strain to check and recheck the coordinates and occasionally shuffle the contents of the deliveries, and it seemed that the Sestwani weren’t as prepared to store the supplies as they should have been.

“That’s it for tonight, Tyee,” Riker announced when they were about two-thirds finished with the delivery. “Not only is it getting dark, but it’s started to snow. The Sestwani have invited us to stay the night, and I think Annie is anxious to do so. I’ll stay, too, just to keep her company.”

“Understood, Tom. Give me a call when you’re ready to resume the transports in the morning.”

“Be sure to leave the shields up, and try not to get too scared up there by all by yourself, my friend.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Chakotay laughed. “I’m looking forward to a night without your snoring, Tom.”

He shut down the transporter and secured the remaining supplies, at long last climbing back up to the cockpit to check the ship’s orbit, verify the shield strength, and get something to eat before he turned in. The pilot’s seat was a pretty comfortable recliner, designed to serve as a makeshift cot for just such times as this, when the rest of the crew was busy elsewhere and the pilot needed to stay close to the controls. He was tired after a long day and soon leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes, hoping for happy dreams.

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been asleep when the proximity alarms went off. Still groggy, he sat up just in time to see a cloaked Union ship appear inside his defensive shields, leaving him vulnerable to both phaser fire and their transporter. While he was scrambling to put up some sort of defense, he heard the unmistakable sound of a transporter activating behind him. He grabbed a phaser and whirled to face his assailant, who was, to his amazement, a small, unarmed figure swathed in some sort of religions robes. He leveled the phaser at the person’s head and muttered, “Don’t move, or I’ll shoot.”

“Are you going to shoot me, Chakotay?” The hood fell back to reveal a face that was just as familiar to him as the voice had been.

The phaser clattered to the floor as his arm fell to his side. “Kathryn?”

Kathryn couldn’t remember how she ended up in Chakotay’s arms. One moment she was standing in the cockpit of the Caritas ship staring at the business end of a phaser and the next minute she was being tightly held by her former first officer, her feet several inches off of the floor as he repeated her name again and again into her hair. And, much to her amazement, she found herself burrowing into his chest, seeking the warmth and affection that she had desperately needed in her four weeks in the frigid arctic climate of the Toroyan ships.
She wanted to believe that the sudden heat and humidity of the vessel had made her woozy and that Chakotay had rushed to her side to prevent her from fainting dead away. She wanted to think that the hug was an act of friendship and camaraderie left over from their long association on Voyager. But she knew better, and she refused to lie to herself any longer. The tears in her eyes were signs of a deeper attachment than she had ever admitted to herself or to him.

She pulled back and looked into his familiar brown eyes, which were also filled with tears, and she welcomed the rush of relief that spread through her body like lightening. His tattoo was gone, an unfamiliar, but very attractive moustache adorned his dimpled grin, and his silver-streaked hair was longer than she’d ever seen him wear it. Nothing mattered to her but that this was Chakotay who was smiling back at her, alive, well, and obviously thrilled to see her again. With a sob of relief she collapsed into his embrace once again, chuckling at his reaction when she buried her ice cold nose in the warm sensitive skin of his neck.

“Good grief, Kathryn, you must be frozen stiff.”

“Cold nose, warm heart,” she teased, enjoying the way he groaned at her lame joke. “You know how frosty those Toroyan ships are.”

He glanced over his shoulder and was surprised to discover that the cloaked vessel that had filled the view screen moments earlier was no longer visible. “Are they gone? Or just cloaked?”

“Gone.” She pulled away from him and peeled the thick fur-lined mittens off of her hands. “I hope you don’t object to picking up hitch-hikers.”

He watched in fascination as she pulled off a second pair of gloves and leaned over to unzip and toe off her insulated boots. “That depends on where you want me to take you. Are you headed for the Caritas’ camp?”

She nodded as she shrugged the bulky Auki robes off of her shoulders and then pulled a thick wool turtle neck sweater over her head in one quick movement. “I need to pick up Marci and Kazuo before I head back for the Federation, but first I want to spend some time with you and the Caritas.”

“Just how far down are you going to strip?” he wondered aloud as she slipped the straps of an oversized set of overalls off of her shoulders and stepped out of the legs, kicking them aside with a foot that wore at least three layers of socks. Even after her disrobement, she was clad in lined slacks, a long-sleeved shirt, and what had to be thermal underwear.

She grinned and him and gave him a wink. “This will do . . . for now.” She saw him study her painfully thin body and hoped to deflect his inevitable question about her health by pulling him close for another hug. She realized, too late, that he would easily feel her bones through the material of her clothing.

“Kathryn, are you all right?” he whispered.

She sighed, suddenly fighting exhaustion. She wanted to blame her vertigo on the emotions from their reunion and the sudden heat of the ship’s environment, but she knew there was more to her fatigue than that. She confessed the truth. “I picked up a bug that’s made it hard for me to keep my weight up. I’m hoping your doctor can help me.”

“A bug?” His face clouded, and she knew he was thinking of the ferocious illnesses of the region. Grabbing her hand, he pulled her toward the back of the ship. “Let’s use our new biobed and see what’s really going on.”

“Not right this minute,” she insisted. When they entered the crew lounge, she pulled her hand free of his and then made a bee-line for the replicator. For the first time in days, she had an appetite. “I want some coffee first and a piece of pecan pie.”

Chakotay hung back, still concerned about her condition. “Kathryn, these ‘bugs’ are nothing to just shrug off like the sniffles. They can be dangerous.”

She sipped her coffee gratefully and turned back to grab the plate of pie from the replicator. “Their doctors have been doing what they can to help me,” she explained as she crossed to the table and sat down to eat. “The medication they use for their people helps a lot. It just seems to be taking longer, and, anyway, I think the weight problem is from trying to stay warm in such a cold climate.” She looked around curiously. “Where is everybody?”

“They’re staying on the surface until in the morning.” Chakotay frowned, frustrated, as always, at her failure to take proper care of herself. “You should eat something besides pie.”

“Bring us both some vegetable soup,” she suggested and then laughed. “You know, I don’t even know what time of day it is for you. Maybe an egg and cheese omelet would be better.”

“Omelet it is.” He checked the clock, realizing that it was the middle of the night. “We have about four hours before Marci and Tom will be requesting the rest of the supplies.”

They shared the omelet as Kathryn filled him in on her most recent venture.

“When ship’s warp core breeched right next to the station, Chakotay, I just knew we had finally run out of luck. The station lost gravity, and then the deck whirled beneath our feet until the far wall crashed into us. When I regained consciousness, I was in the sickbay of a Toroyan vessel heading away from the battle zone at full speed.”

“They rescued you.”

“They captured me, or, at least, at that point they considered me a prisoner of war. I was lucky—I just had a few bumps and bruises. But I found out later that Kazuo was critically injured and on a different ship undergoing emergency medical treatment. Well, I don’t need to explain that. You know about him. And Marci, as well.”

“You’ll be glad to know that he’s getting better. The doctor thinks he’ll be able to travel soon.”

“I’m relieved. I never saw him or Marci once I left the station, although the Toroyans have kept me informed of their situation. They were turned over to you in good shape?”

He nodded. “Well, Kazuo is still recovering. Marci is fine and is with me, only down on the planet’s surface. You’ll see her tomorrow.”

“Thank God.” She took a deep breath of relief. “Well, back to the story. While I was being taken to the Toroyan home world for interrogation, they confronted me about the data chip I’d picked up off of the floor at the aborted meeting site. I told them I’d found it, and the Toroyan admiral took it from me. Luckily, he could tell that I hadn’t accessed the information on it chip, and he found a message warning me of the Union’s intended attack. That was enough to prove that I was unaware of the conspiracy. You’ll never guess what else was on it.” She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “It contained a complete set of blueprints of the Union’s phased cloaking device and of the ship they designed to carry it.”

He couldn’t believe his ears. “It had everything on it that you needed to know to mount a real defense against them.”

“Exactly. I asked for an audience with their prime minister and told him I knew what to do to help them prevail over the Union ships. They were suspicious of me, of course, because they were convinced that the Federation was allied with the Union. I managed to change their minds, but only when their commander-in-chief decided to support me.”

“You were the one who helped them destroy three of the ships and finally capture one,” he smiled, putting two and two together. “You were Anorha.”

“Not exactly.” She smiled and pushed the empty plate away from her with a groan. Could it be that something as mild as a cheese omelet was upsetting her stomach? “Anorha was the Utavi scientist who had done research into phased cloaks. She was well aware of the history of the Union’s device because she was there at every step of the way.”

“She defected?”

“Not exactly. She was upset when she realized that the technology wasn’t going to be used for exploratory purposes—going into dangerous nebulas, working on planets with caustic atmospheres, repairing areas of power plants that were flooded with dangerous radiation. She didn’t want her work used as an offensive weapon against their enemies.”

He sighed. “The classic naïve scientist.”

“Yeah, she was. Somehow, she sneaked onto the Toroyan station prior to our arrival with the hope of meeting me and giving me the data chip, only the Toroyans found her and beamed her to a ship before the fireworks ever started.”

“She must have been Pegasus.”

Kathryn’s head snapped up in surprise. “That’s right, she was. Marci must have told you about that.”

He nodded. “So you didn’t meet her on the station.”

“No, although I did find the data chip at our meeting spot.” She blinked a couple of times, her nausea increasing. “The Toroyans took us both to their home world because they thought, at that point, that we might have conspired to bring about the attack. We managed to convince them otherwise, but only because of the message she’d made warning me.”

“I can just imagine how you convinced them,” he laughed remembering all the times on Voyager that she’d defied the odds and forged an unlikely alliance. When Kathryn Janeway put her mind to something, she was relentless to see it through. “You offered to help them fight the cloaked ships.”

“Yes, for a price-the upgrades to this ship and the safe passage of Marci and Kazuo to the Caritas. It didn’t hurt that the Toroyans were doing a miserable job of fighting the Utavi ships.”

“I thought you must have been behind this.”

“It took some doing. The Toroyans don’t let women participate in actual battles. The prohibition has something to do with their females’ delicate reproduction systems; they have trouble conceiving after they’ve been traumatized or something like that. The only way they could think of to get us on the ship without a mutiny was to have Anorha pose as an Auki cleric, with me as her personal attendant.”

“I can’t see you letting someone else be the boss.”

She chuckled. “Anorha posed as the cleric because she was at least familiar with Toroyan customs. A true novitiate to the order, Petran, took care of us. He was also a decent medic who kept Anorha alive far longer than I thought was possible.” She took a sip of the coffee, which suddenly tasted very strange. “Anorha was very ill, near death, but she was determined to make things right before she died. We worked together to help the Toroyans bring the ships down. She provided most of the technical know-how, and I translated her information into a workable strategy.”

“And so you were able to bring balance back to the situation.”

“Well, it seemed like the least I could do, since we helped unbalance it in the first place. In the process, I’ve managed to befriend the Toroyans, and I think that the Federation might actually be able to bring peace to this region at last. That’s what I’ve been doing since the cloaked ship was captured. Talking to their people. Showing them what the Federation is really all about. Promising to do what I can to keep the peace process going when I get home.”

He didn’t want to think about her leaving. “I’m glad, Kathryn. This war has gone on too long.”

She leaned forward and took his hand. “Anorha told me something else that’s very important, Chakotay, something I’ve been trying to prove for years.”

“What would that be?”

“She told me that she actually lived on Belle Colony. She said that the entire laboratory was staffed by Utavi scientists and their families, not Federation personnel.”

His eyes widened in surprise. “That explains a lot.”

“Doesn’t it? I wondered why the names of the victims were never published, and now I realize it’s because they were basically ‘illegal aliens.’ But that’s not all she told me, Chakotay.” Her eyes glittered with unshed tears. “She said that there were no deaths when the dome collapsed because there was no one in the colony that night. They’d all been evacuated days earlier, and only a small contingent of scientists, including Anorha, remained in an observation base that was hidden behind an experimental phased cloak.”

He stared at her in astonishment. “No victims?”

“You aren’t a murderer, Chakotay. The personnel your tricorders picked up while you were raiding their supplies were nothing more than computer shadows.” The tears, at last, spilled down her face. “I was determined to find out the truth about that night, and Anorha was the final piece of the puzzle. I knew you were innocent, and I’ve been wanting so badly to tell you the truth.”

Stunned, Chakotay sat back in his chair, his eyes unfocused. “All these years I’ve lived with the guilt of my actions. I thought I’d killed three hundred innocent men, women, and children, and I thought that I deserved to be punished severely for that. I felt like a hypocrite in so many ways.”

She shivered, not stopping to wonder why this warmer environment might seem cold to her. “Don’t you see? You’re not hypocrite and you’re not guilty of anything more than being tricked into helping Section 31 destroy their secret laboratory and hide the illegal activities that had gone on there.”

He leaned forward, crossed his arms on the table, and then buried his face them. “What a fool I am, Kathryn, to be used like that. And then to turn around and put the people I care about most in the universe in harm’s way.”

She put a hand on his head, threading her fingers through the soft hair with gentle affection. “Don’t think that way, Chakotay. You were deliberately lied to by people you thought you could trust. The shame is on them not you.” She paused and leaned toward him, hoping to catch his eye. “Isn’t it wonderful? Once the truth is known, you can come home! The charges will be dropped, because they can’t prosecute you for something that never happened.”

He sat up, his face a mask of anger. “Is that what you think? Do you really think I can come home just like that?” He pushed his chair back and began to pace. “You have no idea how far up the chain of command this Section 31 goes, do you? You can’t imagine that the Starfleet you believe in could never consciously condone the secret actions of this bunch of thugs.”

She refused to back down. “If you’re asking whether I think that the right people will correct these mistakes, then the answer is yes.”

“And what about the wrong people? The ones who have been after both of us? What about them? They’re still there, Kathryn, and they don’t want to be caught. Coming back while those people are still on the loose would risk my life and yours.”

She was stunned by his accusations. “Are you saying you won’t come back?”

“I’d be afraid to.” He leaned on the table, his face inches from hers. “I still have a price on my head, Kathryn, and I bet you do, too. What’s worse, when someone collects either reward, they’ll be paid in Federation credits. Think about it. My Starfleet ‘contact’ literally sold me into slavery so that I’d be killed in that dilithium mine. If Tom Riker hadn’t rescued me when he did, I’d be long gone. And then Draxxon? The first time we’re together in one spot since Voyager returned, and the building goes up in flames. What could be easier than staging a bar fight on a planet like that? They hoped to kill us both and solve all of their problems in one magnificent blow, but we managed to escape.”

“Draxxon?” She shook her head to clear her mind. “You think it was Section 31 that started that?”

“Who else? And this reassignment you were given to be Ambassador Tydkt’s military attaché? It was a set up, and you know it. The ambush on the Toroyan station was nothing less than a failed assassination attempt, and you were the target.”

Her head was spinning as she struggled to think of a way to disprove his allegations. When she could see no flaw, she frowned and buried her face in her hands. “Are you claiming that Admiral Hayes condones this vendetta? Do you really believe that he approves of assassination and treachery and won’t take action against those who’ve broken the law?”

He sat back down in the chair across from her, looking miserable. The news of his innocence should have filled him with pleasure, but she could see only anxiety, apprehension, and resignation in his eyes. “I don’t know what to think any more, to tell the truth. I don’t know who to trust-except you. If nothing else, Hayes has turned his head rather than confront the truth about Section 31. I hate to admit it, but I’m really scared to think about either of us returning until all of this is sorted out, if it ever is. Too many people have too much to lose if the truth becomes public.”

Kathryn felt as if she could throw up. “But, Chakotay, I have to go back. I don’t see that I have any other choice.”

“Neither do I,” he answered, giving her a small smile. “I’ve enjoyed a measure of security ever since my ‘death’ has been reported. Maybe you should take advantage of your own ‘demise’ to do some covert research of your own. You’re welcome to stay with the Caritas for awhile.”

“Maybe I should.” Kathryn gripped the edge of the table as a wave of vertigo hit her, and she finally recognized her symptoms as a strong resurgence of her illness. She reached for the pocket where she kept the hypospray the Toroyan physician had given her, only to realize that she’d left it in the robe she’d shed left on the floor in the cockpit. She fought back a wave of nausea with closed eyes. “Oh, God. Chakotay, I feel like I could pass out.”

He was instantly at her side, and she felt him lift her from the seat and carry her to the aft compartment where the biobed was located. His face appeared over her, but was distorted by her inability to focus. “Kathryn, you have a dangerously high fever. Why didn’t you tell me you were this sick?”

She had trouble making her voice work. “I’m going to throw up.”

He pulled a receptacle from beneath the biobed and held her as she emptied her stomach of all the food she’d just eaten. “If you’re getting better, how much worse have you been?”

She laid back on the bed, covered in a cold sweat. “The medication I need is in a hypospray in a pocket of the robe I was wearing.”

“Hold on. I’ll be right back.” His face disappeared and as he rushed for the cockpit, she heard him hail the surface of the planet. “Tyee to Riker. We have a medical emergency up here.”

She’d managed to get here and tell Chakotay what he needed so much to know-that there were no casualties on Belle Colony, no reason to be burdened with guilt. She could see that he was happy here with the Caritas and that they would comfort him and support him no matter what happened. He was a survivor, and he’d make sure that Marci and Kazuo were safely returned to the Federation. She could trust him to do that. She could trust him with everything.

When he came back and she was feeling better, she’d tell him the only other thing of any importance-how much he meant to her. Once she’d done that, she could finally rest in peace. She could close her eyes and stop the struggle against this relentless illness, secure in the knowledge that her work was done.

She struggled to remain awake, fought to remember what it was she needed to do, but the world blurred and she felt herself floating off of the biobed in a most remarkable fashion. She slipped quietly into unconsciousness before Chakotay returned with the medication.