FOUR

2372

There was so many of them, when only a second ago there were none. They quickly had surrounded their target. They waited for their leader to give them the go command.

"We are anywhere the Game Cubes can take us, Slayer. Nice of you to join us here," the leader sneered. He stepped away from the others, leaving behind the small child he was guarding. "Don't be so surprised, we know who you are."

"That's great, so do I," James said.

The leader smiled, "I am Frenit, and that's the last name you're ever going to have to learn."

James looked around without moving his head too much, there was no way out that he could see. There was no running from this one, he had to fight.

"Oh got no comeback for that one? You're not getting out of here alive. Did I mention that?" Frenit smiled darkly.

"Yeah, I'd be all talk too if I had a lot of minions to help me," James said.

Frenit's smile faded away. The little girl standing at his side pouted angrily. "Hey, my daddy's the best vampire around, you meanie."

"Shh darling, let the Slayer find out the hard way," Frenit said down to her. The girl huffed and folded her arms. He turned his head back ahead of him. "If you think any back talk's going to save you, then you'll be painfully mistaken. Ok boys, ladies... he's all yours." Everyone lurched forward. "BUT!" he interrupted with a sneer. "Don't forget to share."

James could only duck and dodge as the whole group charged forward towards him.

Tom, Thompson and Foster were wandering around the woods looking really lost.

"We can easily find him, he only had a few seconds head start.. god, that's the last time I listen to you," Thompson grumbled.

"You never listen to me," Tom said.

"I know, I should have remembered that," Thompson said.

Only metres away Kes' form appeared slowly from nowhere. She stayed hidden behind the trees, just in case they saw her.

"Shhh, do you hear that?" Foster whispered.

Tom nodded, "sounds like wind blowing through the trees."

Kes turned her head to her left, she heard something as well. There was very little time left, she had to hurry.

"Not that, I'm sure I heard people," Foster said.

"Fine, we'll keep going this way," Tom said.

Once they had gone, Kes hurried through the trees in another direction.

One of the men fell to the ground, as he did his whole body turned to dust. Another man's foot stumbled backwards into it mid struggle. He swung his fist at his attacker, his arm was only grabbed. His whole body was thrown onto his back. The attacker knelt down quickly to stab him in the chest using only a large tree branch.

He ran off before the man could turn to ashes. Others followed, running straight through what was left of him.

Frenit still watched with a smirk on his face as a woman's screams soon followed.

James was about to attack the second person who was chasing him, when two others surrounded him. He ducked down to avoid one hit, another kicked knocking him down to the ground. The three converged on him like a flock of vultures, only he rolled out of the way and jumped back onto his feet.

Frenit only had to clap his hands to stop them all from doing anything else. They did look disappointed. James wasn't going to listen to him though, he managed to get one more in the chest before the remaining two shoved him roughly back on to the ground.

"Nice, very nice," Frenit said, he didn't sound sincere. He walked forward towards him. "It's always nice to weed out the amateurs, isn't it? Now we'll have more to feed on."

James rolled his eyes as he got back onto his feet. "Really, we're talking again?"

"Not for long," Frenit sneered. "You think that because I have other vampires work for me, that I'm a pushover, unworthy of talking big. I think now that you've thinned the herd, I can..." James interrupted him with a punch, it took him by surprise for a second. He laughed as it barely hurt him, and James' shocked reaction made it even funnier to him. "You're right. No more talking."

"Yay," the little girl giggled.

James' eyes cast down to her, just for a second. Frenit hadn't seen it. He swung his own fist at him, James quickly ducked down to the ground and rolled forward. The girl was only a few steps behind Frenit, she squeaked and stumbled back a bit.

Frenit swung around just in time to see James grab her as he stood back up. Frenit's eyes widened in pure fury once James turned back around to face him. He kept a tight hold of the girl with one hand, while the other pointed a sharp tree branch at her chest.

"You really don't want to do that," Frenit snarled. "She's just a child."

"Daddy," the girl squeaked.

"Maybe you should have thought about that before you sired her," James said, slowly backing away. A few vampires behind him started to edge, he barely glanced over his shoulder. "Try it and she dies."

"You heard him, back off," Frenit growled.

The vampires panicked at the tone of his voice, instead of backing off they actually ran off to join the others.

"Ok good. Now return what you stole and we'll be on our way," James threatened. The girl wriggling in his arm and squeaking in fear made him feel like he was the bad guy. He felt terrible but there was no choice. He tried to ignore whatever conscience he had left by this point, it was harder than he thought. She's just a vampire. She's already dead.

Frenit pointed at the cave behind James, he didn't dare look back in case he lost his advantage.

"You won't get that far. I'll rip you apart before you even set foot in it," Frenit said.

"Is that before or after she's dust?" James countered.

The vampires behind Frenit actually backed off a step. Frenit's hands had clenched, the anger in his eyes almost out matched Kathryn's. James knew if he lost that advantage he would be in trouble.

"I have a better idea. You let her go, I give you the power module and I'll kill you for daring to touch her," Frenit snarled. "You know that's how it will end."

"Not if I keep her with me until we're about to go. It's your choice," James said.

Frenit smiled, much to his worry. "Would you really hurt her? She's a child, innocent. I don't think you have the stones to actually do anything."

"You stole her innocence when you made her a vampire," James said as he took one step back. Frenit seemed to follow. "I kill vampires, the age doesn't matter to me."

"Liar," Frenit smirked. He suddenly charged forward. James could only back off so far before he hit the wall of the cave. Panic got to him once he was within a metre of him, the branch pierced the girl's heart, stopping the vampire dead in his tracks.

"Daddy," she stuttered. Her eyes showed the hurt and feeling of betrayal before she vanished into ash.

Frenit could only see red after that. Red and the Slayer who stole away the most precious thing he ever had.

James tried to move to one side to slip into the cave but Frenit was way too fast for him. The vampire grabbed him by the throat so tightly he couldn't breathe. James was lifted off the ground with no effort. There was nothing he could do about it; any kick he delivered didn't bother him, no matter how hard he tried to grab his attacker's arm, he'd continue.

"I usually toy with Slayers, keep them alive, kill people around them," Frenit muttered. "Torture them, but you. You're not worth it," he hissed.

Kes ran through the last of the tree's, she stopped dead and looked on in horror as Frenit tossed James over his shoulder with a sickening crack. She gasped outloud as he landed on the grass, dead before he even got there. The vampires all heard her and turned their attention to her.

"No," she stuttered. They barely moved an inch when she thought the word stop. They did. Even the breeze stopped, insects stopped mid flight, the waterfall was frozen in time.

Kes berated herself for being too late, she hurried over to where James now lay. She knelt down beside him.

"I can do this," Kes whispered to herself. Maybe it was just for show, but she couldn't take any chances with this, her hand hovered over his neck. She willed it to get better, be unbroken. It took all the energy she had but it eventually worked.

When nothing further happened she worried, then she remembered. Everything's stopped.

"What if this was for nothing?" she wondered outloud, while looking straight at Frenit. She had no guarantee that he wouldn't just kill James again. What else could she do?

"What are you doing?" a voice came out of nowhere.

Kes glanced up, startled. She had heard that voice before. "I..."

"You have no business here," the voice warned her.

"Q," Kes whispered once she recognised it. "Why would this bother you? I'm just doing my job."

A flash behind her brought her to her feet, she quickly swung around. As she expected, Q stood before her.

"Which job is that? Reviving the dead or pulling a thread from the sweater of time?" Q questioned.

Kes didn't understand the second part, she couldn't help but frown. "Neither. I'm a healer, he..."

"You're not from this... what shall I call it? Timeframe, dimension, timeline, reality, parallel universe. Take your pick," Q said. Kes wasn't quite sure what to say to that. Q however wasn't finished with her. "Don't deny it. If you do we can both return to Voyager and have a talk with the other Kes."

Kes looked away, as if that would help with anything. "I... I still don't see why it's your business. Don't you have a Q to convince back to his cell?"

Q smirked but his eyes looked deadly serious for once. "You didn't like the ending, did you?" Kes' shoulders tensed up, she looked back at him with shock on her face. "No matter what changes you or I make, Voyager appears to be doomed."

He began to circle around her while keeping close attention. He purposely almost stepped on James everytime, like he was making a point. "Doomed one way or another to follow the same path. It's humanity in a nutshell."

"You're wrong," Kes stuttered.

Q was back in front of her, staring deeply in her eyes. What he was saying and the smirk on his face was malicious, cold, but his eyes told another story. He seemed almost sorry and sympathetic.

"Like me, you've fallen for the Federation slogan. We've changed, we are no longer barbarians, there's nothing we can't do," Q said harshly. "No. Humans don't change."

"Why do you even care?" Kes whispered.

"Voyager will be destroyed," Q said, forcing Kes' eyes to widen. "You can't stop it and if you think rescuing him is going to help you do that, then you're just as weak as they are."

Kes glanced down to James near her feet. He and the vampires were still frozen by her power, Q hadn't interfered with that or anything else. He could with a snap of his fingers undo everything, but he hadn't.

"You're right. Saving one person won't undo what I saw. In fact it won't even change the smaller, insignificant things," Kes said. "What are you worried about then?"

Q let himself chuckle at her for a moment. "Who said I was worried? Even with your new abilities, you pale in comparison to the Continuum. If you could change Voyager's fate, you'd be wasting your time. We just wouldn't let you."

Kes smiled confidently. "I'd call that a challenge."

"No, I'd call that a fact," Q retorted, his smile didn't waver. "What did you think? You'd save the Slayer, and he'd somehow rescue Voyager from the brink of doom?" He couldn't help but laugh at the thought of her thinking that. "No, things were better without him."

Kes shook her head, "how is Voyager destroyed better, and I didn't think that. Voyager was destroyed by two more powerful races, his presence wouldn't have done a thing."

"So why did you do it?" Q asked with a sneer. "Why does Voyager need one of those things so badly? Why does his existence really matter? Did you think for one moment that maybe you're cursing Voyager with even more pain by doing so?"

"Why does it matter to you?" Kes snapped back. Q was taken back by her outburst. "I saw it, he survived. I knew it was possible. Why couldn't Voyager survive as well when I saw that too?"

Q smiled again, Kes really didn't want to know why this time. He paced to stand closely in front of her again. "All it takes is one tiny nudge to set someone on a different path. Be careful, you leave them alone and they get lost enough to stumble back onto the original road."

Kes studied his eyes, they didn't give him away this time. "What are you saying? Are you talking about the consequences of making changes to the timeline?"

Q backed away with a blank stare. "If only it were that simple, my dear."

He disappeared in another flash. He wasn't the only one, Kes saw another flash in the corner of her eye. She quickly looked down to find that James was gone as well.

"What?" she stuttered.

Another flash in the distance, somewhere amongst the trees caught her full attention. She ran towards it, hoping that it would give her some answers.

As soon as she left the clearing, the vampires each unfroze. They looked just as confused as she did when they realised their free meal was gone.

Frenit grunted, his minions trembled in fear as his anger was still there and he had no one to take it out on anymore. Luckily for them he just stomped into the cave.

No sooner than they had relaxed, he appeared at the entrance again with an even angrier look on his face. "We're leaving this Cess pit, now! Get the ship powered up."

"Uh, yes sir," one of them stuttered. Fearing for her undead life she ran after him. The others were less than enthusiastic about following him.

Kes had to stop herself and quickly. The nearest tree looked big enough to hide behind, quietly as possible she did just that.

Not far ahead of them were Tom's team gathered around something. Tom had glared up at Thompson, scolding him. Foster shoved him to one side, he and Tom then knelt down.

Kes wasn't sure what to think when the pair stood back up, carrying James on their shoulders.

"Voyager, four to beam up. Hurry," Tom ordered.

"I..." Kes stuttered as they all beamed away. "I don't understand. What side are you really on, Q?"

Q2 wasn't happy, but he wasn't going to show Q that. He forced a laugh, though it was easier than he thought with what he had just found out.

"They will not be pleased with you, Q," he teased.

The pair stood too closely for each other's comfort. The environment was hostile, filled with a choking white mist. What they could see of the place they were in wasn't much better, jagged rocks were everywhere.

"Once again, Kathy surprises me," Q said. "She chose your freedom twice, then for no reason even I can foresee, she believes it's wrong to pass judgement on a Q. She's never been one for worrying over such things."

Q2 smiled but in a goofy way despite his fate. "Perhaps forcing her to have a child changed her more than you thought."

Q glowered at him. "Forcing her? That word is too strong. Allowed is more accurate." Q2 laughed quietly, it annoyed Q more than he liked. "Kathy isn't that different, she's just more bitter. That will get better."

"Oh, when? When Voyager is destroyed again? When humanity falls?" Q2 teased. "You can't stop it, no matter what you do. They will find out what you did."

"The Humans or the Ocampan girl? Unlikely," Q groaned.

"No," Q2 almost giggled. "The Continuum gave you one last chance, and you blew it. You knew the Ocampan girl would want to save them." Q stared at him with wide, shocked eyes. "Please, it's only been a few billion years, I understand you perfectly."

Q shook his head, "as usual you're talking nonsense."

"Am I? Why did you save the boy then?" Q2 asked.

Q's eyes narrowed. "I didn't, she did."

"Details," Q2 waved his hand in his face, and since they were so close, Q's as well. "He would have been killed again if you hadn't whisked him to safety. Why? I figured you'd want to cut your losses, even if he was your project."

"I did it for Kathy, as a thank you for siding with me," Q answered. "It will make no difference anyway. Voyager will enter Borg space, the Ocampan will save them, only for them to perish at the hands of the Krenim."

"Oh, weren't you the one saying even just stepping on a bug can cause ripples. That ripple hits another, and another... wooosh, tidal wave," Q2 said.

Q sighed impatiently. "I didn't say that. I said it was like pulling a thread."

"Again, details," Q2 laughed.

"Perhaps you should focus on things more to your level," Q muttered. He gestured to the area they were in, briefly banging his hand on the rock face. Of course it didn't hurt him. "Re-decorating your home for eternity would be a good start."

"I'm on your side Q. You and I are more alike than you'd like to admit. We Q have lived for an eternity and for what? To stand around the Continuum doing nothing? We have a higher purpose, a duty. We are the universe's protectors," Q2 said. Q mimed his words and pulled a face while doing so. "I know you've got your bravado act to keep up, but I know you understand me. You agree with me. Otherwise why else would you try to save them?"

"I had a debt to repay to Kathy, you're imagining things," Q hissed. "Farewell." He disappeared in a white flash.

Q2 smiled to himself. "Good luck, Q. You're going to need it."

"He should be all right," Chakotay told her. "There was some damage around the neck, but nothing the Doctor couldn't fix."

"Good," Kathryn said quietly. Her back was on him, he had no way to tell how she was going to react to anything.

"Tom told quite a story," Chakotay said. "People broke in, trashed the place, beat those two up... maybe not that in that order, knocked James out and escaped. All without giving away a single life sign."

Kathryn didn't say a thing. He was starting to feel worried.

"We detected no ship, but they could easily have hidden that too," Chakotay continued. "They wouldn't have stolen such a specific part if they lived there, would they?"

"Am I meant to feel sorry for the people who attacked mine, over some measly little power module?" Kathryn hissed.

Chakotay swallowed the lump in his throat, well tried to, it wasn't going away. "I never said anything of the sort. I just mean they could still be down there, repairing something."

"Then we'll pay them another visit," Kathryn said, her voice dropping to below freezing.

"Yes ma'am. I'll prepare a few Security teams and..." Chakotay said as he turned to leave.

"No," Kathryn stopped him. "Tell Danny to prepare the ship for landing."

Chakotay stared at her, his mouth threatening to drop open. "Captain, the entire area is filled with trees. Where... no why? If these people want more technology, won't we be tempting them to attack us?"

"Exactly," Kathryn smiled. He couldn't see that though. "I'm sure we can find an open place to land somewhere."

"But..." Chakotay stuttered.

Kathryn turned on her heel so she was face to face with him. "We still need to top up our food supplies. I'd feel better if any teams going down were backed up by a starship, not just a shuttle guarded by two morons."

"Danny has never landed Voyager before," Chakotay warned.

"Then bring Tom back to the helm. What's the problem?" Kathryn asked. Her eyes dared him to argue back but to be prepared to be beaten for it.

To her surprise Chakotay didn't look unnerved by that, he just smiled. "Yes ma'am." He turned to leave.

Voyager stood mere inches away from the edge of the woods. The sun was shining, there were no clouds in the sky threatening to take that away.

Even the dense woods were lit up by the intense sunlight. The teams hunting for food supplies, each guarded by two Security officers with phaser rifles, were happy to be on a nice looking planet for once. Although the worry they'd be attacked were still lingering over them.

"Why did we have to be on coffee patrol?" Ian asked as he peered into a bush. The young girl standing beside him frowned until he bent down further to look inside. She smiled at that. "Oh, found some berries."

"Yeah pick them," the girl giggled.

Nearby Chakotay was staring at her with a blank stare. He then noticed what Ian was doing. "Really Lisa? Focus."

The girl shrugged, "fine! I'll go back to coffee hunting." She looked over to where Kathryn was. "Um, speaking of which." Her finger pointed at the spot Kathryn was before but now was not.

Chakotay glanced over as well. "What, it's not just coff... Captain?" He hurried over to Lisa's side while Ian was still bending over a bush, his head and shoulders were inside it.

"Wow, she's really determined," Lisa commented.

Ian seemed to be trying to pull himself out of the bush, it didn't seem to be working though. He made a few squeaks and ow's in the process.

Chakotay nodded, "you're not wrong." He turned to the final member of the team who wasn't a Security officer. He shrugged before he could say anything. "Great."

"Help," Ian's muffled voice cried.

"She must have a better nose than I do. I didn't smell any coffee plants," the nameless officer said.

Chakotay frowned, "I don't think that's all she was looking for. Come with me." He frowned when he noticed Ian. "For god's sake..." He grabbed his arm and pulled him straight out without any bother. "Come." The Security officers followed him away, smirking to themselves.

Lisa and the nameless guy giggled at the sight of poor scratched up Ian. They quickly hurried after Chakotay and the other two.

"What? What did I miss?" Ian stuttered as he rushed after them.

Voyager:
Tom entered Sickbay with his arms behind his back, he only just spotted James sitting on a nearby biobed when the Doctor confronted him.

"No," he said.

Tom looked confused, "no?"

"Maybe you can wait until he's better before annoying him. I am rather busy after all," the Doctor said. He looked confused as well, then he glanced back at his patient. "On second thoughts, that was backwards." He wandered off back into his office.

Tom shook his head. He wandered over to the only patient, passing Kes a smile as he did.

"Tom," she warned him.

"No, no. Not here to be annoying, I swear," Tom quickly said, stopping in front of her for a second. Kes' stare told him she didn't believe him. He continued anyway.

James gave him a similar stare when he stopped beside him. "Why? What?" he mumbled.

"Look, I'm not a told you so guy or a you owe me guy, either. I just wanted to see if you were okay," Tom said.

"Owe you?" James looked even more confused.

Tom felt a little uncomfortable, "uh, you know. You do don't you?" James shook his head slowly, he winced at the pain even that caused him. Kes shook her head to tell him not to do that again. "We found you, beamed you out. You were in pretty bad shape. Your neck all bruised. Um..."

"No. How did you without..." James had frowned. "The thieves, how did you avoid them?"

Tom smiled and shrugged. "Got lucky I guess. Since they got you too, Foster and Thompson were right about them, huh?"

James' eyes cast down to the floor, the frown he had seemed to be getting more intense. "Why didn't he kill me?"

"Um, why would they?" Tom stuttered. "Look hey, don't feel too bad. They only took a power module, it's no biggie. So there were more of them than you, nobody expects you to win every time, huh? This isn't another escaped from the decapitating demons situation, you know."

"That's just it. I didn't escape," James said.

Tom dared to pat him on the shoulder, "like I said. It's okay, nobody would blame you. Again, you were hurt pretty bad." He looked around, catching Kes rolling her eyes briefly. "Where's Jess anyway?"

"Doc kicked her out, not without a fuss," Kes answered for James. "Chakotay called for her anyway."

"Oh, he probably thought she could handle herself on the mission," Tom said.

James' eyes widened a little, he looked up at Tom. "What mission?"

Tom winced a little, "oops." His nervousness started to catch up with him. "I wouldn't worry about it. They only got you cos there were many of them right, not cos they were super strong like Foster and Thompson said. Right?"

"Super strong?" Kes said while she slowly approached the pair.

"Yeah, they trashed that shuttle quite a bit," Tom stuttered. "And you, well er... I've seen you take direct hits to the face and barely twitched. I have to be honest, when I saw you were taken down as well, I knew we had to get out of there."

"Forget that, what mission?" James asked.

"That's why I'm here. Tommy and Foster didn't put two and two together, they weren't on that ocean world with the demons, but I was. Then Janeway goes and sends more teams instead of skedaddling. So I thought..." Tom said. He brought out his arms from behind his back, revealing a bottle. "I was going to break it to you gently and all."

"Oh god," James stuttered. He hurried out of Sickbay before anyone could say anything else.

Kes stared at Tom, silently judging him. Tom opening the bottle and taking a brief swig made her less than silent. "You thought a bottle of alcohol would help?"

Tom cringed as he stared at the bottle. "It's not, it's that Cherry stuff he likes. It tastes weird." Kes rolled her eyes again.

Jessie looked behind her briefly before turning her attention back to in front of her. Her face screamed what the hell.

"I'll find you," Kathryn growled as she forced her way through a bush. At least she forced her way through half of it. "That won't stop me."

"Um, you do know you're not supposed to be on your own, right?" Jessie asked. She glanced behind her again, she could just make out the rest of her team.

"Gah!" Kathryn roared. She dragged herself back out of the bush, then glowered at the younger girl. "What are you standing there for? Help me find them."

"Them? Is coffee still all you care about?" Jessie grumbled.

Kathryn's glare froze the surrounding trees and even the air, but Jessie still stood there, glaring at her back.

"The aliens. Coffee can wait," Kathryn spat at her.

Jessie's glare vanished in an instant, her mouth dropped open in shock. "What the... are you sick or something?"

"Ha ha, I only care about coffee. I know what you all think of me," Kathryn growled. She turned back around to walk around the bush. It was only a narrow thing, so Jessie wondered why she didn't do that in the first place. "I do care for my crew, and those assholes almost killed one of them just to steal a power module." She swung around to glare at the girl. "A power module!"

"Yeah. I'd like nothing more than to confront the ones who hurt him, but be realistic," Jessie said. "James doesn't get knocked out easily. If he couldn't handle it alone, what makes you think you and I will?"

Kathryn looked at her with disgust in her face, she shook her head angrily "Last time I checked he was still a human being, and they can get hurt, they can make mistakes. Also they can be overwhelmed by too many attackers. Honestly, you must think you're dating Superman or something."

Jessie also looked disgusted. "Eew, no. Red and blue, and the underpants on the outside. The cloak. Gross."

Kathryn rolled her eyes as she turned and marched off. "Superficial little cow."

Jessie felt the anger build up, she rushed after her. "What did you call me!?"

Meanwhile Chakotay's team were not far behind.

"Voyager to Chakotay."

Chakotay quickly tapped his commbadge, "Chakotay here."

"I don't know where it came from, but a vessel has just left the planet," Harry's voice said. "They've gone to warp."

Chakotay stopped, everyone else did afterwards. "What?"

"Hmm, so we don't need the muscle anymore?" Lisa asked with a pout. She pointed at the two Security members.

Ian stared at her bewilderedly. "Muscle? I have more muscles in my finger."

"Lisa, Ian, catch up to the Captain and tell her the news," Chakotay ordered. The pair looked at him like he had just told them to kill themselves. He probably wasn't far off either. They did so anyway. "Tom, prepare to take off. We'll have to follow them..."

"Tom went to Sickbay, he's not back yet."

"What?" Kathryn screamed. Lisa and Ian almost fell backwards from the intensity of it. She tapped her commbadge, "Janeway to Voyager. Why aren't I seeing you take off?"

"Um, Tom's just got back. Standby, we'll beam you aboard."

Kathryn waved her hand as a bug almost flew into her face. "Hurry it up, will you. Who knows what these pests are up to. We can't let them escape."

Lisa rolled her eyes, "yeesh, so they stole a power module and beat people up trying to stop them. That doesn't mean they're bad people, they're probably just desperate. Would it be so bad if they got a head start?" The others stared at her, even Kathryn wasn't sure how to answer that. Jessie however looked a little concerned.

Four Months Later

An alien ship dropped out of warp and approached a golden and green world. Already in its orbit was a different alien ship. The first one slowed down to travel by its side.

Ligod rushed through the doors, barely giving them time to open.

"I got here as fast as I could, what's the status?" he asked. He was met with grim faces wherever he looked. He was approached by the person in charge.

"Didn't you say Voyager was nearby. Why aren't they here?" he demanded.

Ligod scoffed, he waved off his concern and looked at him like he was an idiot. "Their Slayer was a Chosen candidate, you fool. It still counts."

"Our trainees can't deal with this alone," the man in charge growled. "The Masters will tear them apart."

"Sending the Human down will destroy that planet. There is no alternative," Ligod said. "I didn't bother Voyager with this. They were already changing course when I sent the message. Leave them be. Have faith in your pupils, Chi'Tat."

The man stared him down. "It is your fault we have lost another pair of Chosens, Ligod. Now you send one of our few Naturals away and send our trainees into a futile battle to the death. The planet is doomed."

"You think one Natural would tip the scales? Against the Masters and the legendary slayer of Slayers, Frenit? Don't be such a drama queen, 'Tat," Ligod smirked. He paced around the other man, shaking his head. "All our trainees have to do is thin the herd a little. The Masters don't bother with things beneath them and neither does Frenit. The planet is far from doomed."

Chi'Tat's eyes were filled with anger. He had no reason other than his gut feeling to argue with him. All he could do was wait to be proven right.

Two Months Later

Captain's Log Supplemental: Voyager is responding to a distress call from a species called the Tendarans. Unfortunately we were a few days away from where the call came from, so I am hoping we're not too late.

Tuvok was the only one on the Bridge wearing his uniform. For some reason everyone else were wearing clothes tourists would wear to the Caribbean. Well almost everyone, Jessie just dressed the way she usually did.

"You said you wanted to know when we had arrived, Captain," Tuvok said.

Kathryn glanced at him from her chair, her eyes were calling him crazy. "Yes, so?"

"I did not expect you to go the Luau on route," Tuvok said. "Or at all."

"Why not? They have coffee cocktails," Kathryn said with a smile. Chakotay smiled back at her. "Can you hail the planet?"

Harry looked a little sorry for himself, the bright clothes he wore brought that out even further. "Not yet, we're almost in sensor range."

"Where's Tom?" Chakotay asked when he noticed the random crewmember at the helm.

Meanwhile:
"And further more, you Vulcan dudes are boring!" Tom drunkenly screamed and pointed ahead of him. "Oh yeah, you heard me. Boring. B'Elanna's way, way too interesting for you. She's mine. Stop stealing her!"

A few random crewmembers walked by, each one giving him a funny look.

"You're not even a main character!" Tom continued. He poked his victim with the finger he was pointing. "Don't you start with me! You Vulcans are all talk." Suddenly he lunged forward to attack the target of his screams. Unfortunately for Tom, it was just a wall. He slammed into it and fell on the floor. Naturally it knocked him straight out.

The Bridge:
"I think we're better off without him," Harry commented. His console beeped to get his attention. "We're in range."

"Good, hail them," Kathryn ordered.

Harry's face looked a lot whiter than it should be. Since he didn't answer, everyone looked at him and saw that.

"What is it Harry?" Chakotay asked.

"The planet. It's an M-class but there's no one there," Harry stuttered.

"What?" Kathryn climbed out of her chair. "Are you sure?"

"Positive. No life signs," Harry replied.

Chakotay also stood up to stand at Kathryn's side. "Damage?"

"None," Harry quietly replied. His eyes managed to get wider, "uh, we're being hailed."

"By who?" Kathryn asked.

Harry was very confused by now, "the planet. I don't understand."

Kathryn and Chakotay shared the same look, this didn't make any sense to them. "What was the original distress call, Mr Tuvok?" Kathryn asked.

"They claimed they were being invaded by three ships," Tuvok replied.

Chakotay sighed as he tried to get his head around it. "Some invasion. Not even a scratch and no one's left. I don't buy it."

"Me neither," Kathryn muttered. "On screen."

Harry shook his head, "audio only."

"Fine," Kathryn groaned. She waited for the nod from Harry to tell her to talk. "This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager, we're responding to your distress call."

"Yes, Captain. Thank goodness you're here. We need help, fast."

"What can we help you with?" Kathryn asked.

"We were attacked. We've fought most of them off, but some are still trying to break into the Capital building. Please, help us."

"What happened to the three ships?" Chakotay asked.

The voice sounded a little impatient, "destroyed during the battle. If we didn't do that, we... that doesn't matter, please, help us."

"We'll see what we can do," Kathryn said. She gestured to Harry to cut them off. "For a building under attack, it sure was quiet."

"Yeah, none of this sounds right," Chakotay said. "If they're really in danger though, we can't abandon them."

Kathryn gave him a smile that told him to prepare for an argument. "Where was the signal coming from?"

"A large building on the northern continent," Harry replied.

"What?" Chakotay dared to ask.

Kathryn's smile changed to a sweet one, "what, what? That's where they're being attacked, isn't it?" She wandered over to where Tuvok was, "our guests were complaining we never let them do anything. Let them do something."

Chakotay couldn't help but smirk, "you're sending Damien's crew down? What if they really are in trouble?"

"Then we'll find out sharpish and send a few proper teams down," Kathryn said.

Tuvok's eyebrow broke a record for quickest and highest raise. "Indeed."

Not long later the Bridge crew were waiting patiently. The commlink was open and they could hear voices chatting amongst themselves.

"Oh boy, our first mission. This is much better than cleaning toilets," a squeaky, so called man's voice said.

"Oh I wonder if there are cute boys to rescue," a girl giggled.

"Damn it, I forgot my mirror," a man's voice grumbled.

Damien laughed, "here take this camera down too. I want to watch er... see what's happening so I can take advantage of the situation."

"Hmm, this is much better than a mirror," the man said.

"Ugh don't, you'll break it," Damien grumbled.

"Um, isn't it suspicious that Janeway's sending us and not a real team?" a young boy's voice asked.

The silence was a little painful. Damien interrupted by cackling, "exactly. We'll betray her, take over the planet and then Voyager. Now go."

"Why aren't you going then?" the young voice asked.

"I am, I'm just preparing for my grand entrance. I need dramatic music, a good pose and an epic camera zoom in quote. Go!" Damien ordered.

The others cheered. "Crap," the kid's voice muttered.

Not long after the transporter beam sounds were heard, Damien dashed onto the Bridge. "Frequency 2.67."

Harry rolled his eyes, "this is sick." He keyed it anyway. The viewscreen shifted to show the surface of a planet. Four figures were standing there, slowly getting surrounded by people licking their lips and growling. Soon the camera was shaking so hard nobody could see, the entire bridge was drowned out by screaming.

"Ohno," Jessie complained as she covered her eyes. "Nobody told me there would be blood."

"I knew it," Kathryn groaned.

Damien smirked as he munched on his popcorn. "Duh, it was pretty obvious."

Chakotay cringed when the camera moved to zoom in on a guy's face. "Should I tell James?" he asked.

"This is it Johnny, your number is up. You thought you were too handsome to die," the man said to the camera. "I love you." Everyone groaned in disgust when it zoomed in on his lips and he started kissing it. Luckily everyone had stopped looking when the kiss got worse.

Kathryn glanced over to Chakotay, "no. I think a planet possibly full of vampires is a bit out of his league."

"No you eat him!" one voice on the viewscreen yelled. The camera now seemed to be lying on the floor, filming two people shoving each other.

"No, you! I don't want Justin cooties," the other growled.

Jessie sighed, "so this is where the ship from New Earth got to."

"It wasn't where it ended up. There's no debris," Harry said.

"And they did say there were three," Chakotay added on. "They must have recruited two elsewhere."

Kathryn glanced down at the floor, "damn it. Here we are laughing at the FDA getting eaten, when thanks to us a planet has been slaughtered just like that."

"It's nobody's fault, Kathryn. We couldn't have stopped this," Chakotay tried to reassure her.

"And Justin dies again, I oughta sell this clip," Damien laughed, still munching on popcorn.

Chakotay rolled his eyes, "the only thing we're guilty of is not beaming Damien down too."

"Hmph, I'm too brilliant to fall for that," Damien chuckled.

Jessie glanced around at everyone. "Anyone who tells James about this, gets a crotch kick from me. Okay?" All of the guys nodded nervously. "Girls just get a black eye."

"He can't be expected to win against an army of vampires when he couldn't beat the few on New Earth," Chakotay said. Kathryn attacked him with her most vicious death glare. He shrunk a few inches into his seat. "I meant that in a nice way, really."

The camera was picked up, it was pointed in the face of the person who did it. Jessie couldn't believe her eyes. The person was Ligod and he looked a lot paler than she remembered him.

"Hello Voyager. You're not leaving are you?" he cackled. There was a crunch, then the viewscreen switched back to planet view.

"Ligod's a vampire?" Jessie stuttered. "How?"

"Captain, there's a ship approaching from the surface," Tuvok reported. "It is the one from the planet you called New Earth. They are charging weapons."

"Red Alert," Kathryn ordered. The lights dimmed immediately, the siren rang around the bridge. "We better stop them before they slaughter another planet."

"Yes we should, for justice and other crap," Damien pretended to cheer her on. Again he munched on his popcorn with a smirk. Kathryn only growled in response.

Voyager swerved out of the way of a few phaser shots, the other vessel fired a torpedo like weapon afterwards, that slammed into the shields. Voyager returned fire with a few torpedoes and phaser blasts of their own.

"We're evenly matched, Captain. Shields are holding on both sides," Tuvok reported.

Kathryn thought that glaring at the ship on the viewscreen would weaken it a little. Chakotay thought so too as he felt the vibes coming from it. He wasn't sure if it was the weapons fire or that, that made the ship tremble many times in ten seconds.

"They're trying to concentrate their attacks on the shields around the Bridge," Tuvok said.

Tom shook his head, "not if I can help it." Everyone felt the ship pull to one side.

"They have the right idea, do that as well, but concentrate on their engines," Kathryn ordered.

"Aye Captain," Tuvok said as the turbolift beside him opened. James stepped out just as another hit shook the bridge, he stumbled forward and grabbed the railing in front of him. "Ensign, now is not the time for a Security update."

"Yeah, I was half way here when I noticed that," James said. He glanced at the viewscreen, just catching Voyager's phaser barrage on one part of the alien ship. He wasn't the only one doing so, Kathryn stared intensely at it, almost as if her death glare's had a phaser fire option.

"No damage, or shield reduction. Their shields re-modulate in between each hit," Tuvok reported. Voyager trembled again. "Our shields are still holding."

Kathryn's eyes narrowed, "if only we could get a torpedo in there fast enough."

"Can we prolong the phaser discharge any longer?" Chakotay questioned while he pulled himself up to his feet.

"No effect," Tuvok answered. "The phaser fire does not weaken their shields, their shields seem to be just programmed to change frequency regardless of damage."

"A torpedo in between phaser strikes wouldn't make much difference," Jessie commented.

Kathryn leaned back in her chair, finally giving the poor viewscreen a breather. "There's got to be a weakness in that."

"Maybe there is," James said. He hurried over to the panel on the barrier behind Kathryn and Chakotay. Kathryn looked up to watch him work at it. "While the frequency changes, there is a weakness in the shield grid."

"That's correct, but none of our weapons could strike them in time," Tuvok said.

"I wouldn't say that," James said with a confident smile on his face. Kathryn didn't like the look of it. Jessie had briefly glanced over, she knew that smile all too well. "Transporters. Tuvok fires, somebody transports at the right time."

"Oooh, look who thinks he's the male Seven," Damien teased.

"Who?" everyone asked.

Damien shrugged and got back to his popcorn.

"Hold on," Kathryn said, she almost jumped out of her seat. "Somebody? Even in a normal situation I'd be suggesting a few teams, but this isn't..." Her face looked a little nervous, "um, I mean we'd always need more than just somebody. You're suggesting a team goes over to sabotage and..."

"No, I'm suggesting a somebody goes over to finish off what he should have done months ago," James said. The smile had gone, it had been replaced by a look of guilt. "I have to, that planet... it's my fault. I can't let that happen again."

Jessie quickly abandoned her station and rushed over to his side. "Ohno you're not. They'll have more over there now, they'll kill you."

"She's right. It's a lot to ask," Kathryn said. She turned her attention back to Tuvok, "one of us will get through the other's shields eventually, keep trying. We'll save our few remaining torpedoes for when we've done so."

"I'm not saying I'm going to attack all of them. Transport me over and I'll lower the shields from the inside," James said. Kathryn swung around to glare at him, her fists started to clench. "You never know, they might not even know I was there."

Kathryn shook her head, "you don't go alone."

"No, I do," James argued.

"I'm the Captain, you take orders from me, remember. Now's not the time to be your usual stubborn self," Kathryn snarled.

"Sorry, but this is my mess and my turf, so to speak. I'll take care of it," James said. Before Kathryn could death glare him to submission, he dashed into the turbolift. Jessie quickly followed him.

"James you couldn't have stopped them on New Earth. This isn't your fault," Jessie said once the doors closed behind her.

"Transporter room one," James told the turbolift. It went into motion. "I know that, I wasn't strong enough. I'm still not." Jessie gave him a look that just said yeah and? "I wasn't lying. I'm not going over to die in a blaze of stupid. The plan is to sneak and sabotage."

"Then why can't you bring a team along?" Jessie asked.

"One person has less chance of being caught than a team of three. Besides, I can't... I don't want to risk anyone else," James replied.

Jessie bit her lip and shook her head, her eyes were full of anger. He was more worried about what she was going to do than beaming over to a ship full of vampires. "I can't believe you've forgotten. Zare went charging in solo and died horribly. Her brother thought he could rescue her alone and died too. You aren't alone, you've got a whole ship behind you. You've got me. Don't do this on your own or you'll end up like them. You're better than that."

"Jess..." James stuttered.

"I won't let you," Jessie continued. "You know this weight you're carrying, this burden, nobody's put that there but you. Yes you're the Slayer, but you're not expected to be perfect. There's a whole universe out there likely filled with these things. Are you supposed to deal with all that? That's ridiculous."

"I know, but I wouldn't do this if I didn't think I could. I'm not like Zare. If I was I'd beam over to take them all on," James tried to reason with her. "I swear, the first and only plan I came up with involves sneaking around, disabling things and only fighting if I'm caught. I know I've got Voyager on my side, or I wouldn't include her in my plan." Jessie sighed and looked down to the floor. She soon felt a hand caressing her cheek, her eyes only looked up. "Please trust me. I'm not going on a suicide mission to cure my guilt or some crap like that. I just think less people means less chance of getting attention."

"Well..." Jessie mumbled, her bottom lip stuck out in a pout. "I wouldn't have thought that if you weren't all those people are dead cos of me, let me do this. Would I?"

James smiled and shrugged, "yeah, sorry. I won't lie to you, I do feel guilty for it. It hasn't clouded my lack of judgement though."

"Good, but I still wish you'd take at least one person with you," Jessie muttered.

James' smile turned a little mischievous, Jessie frowned at it. "Okay, deal."

"What? What did I miss?" she said in a confused voice.

Captain's Log yet another bloody Supplemental: Somebody has stolen the PADD I use to work out the Stardates, so I don't care if it's a new day, I'm using Supplemental. Now that the vamp ship has been taken care of, we've placed warning buoys around the planet they took over. According to James and the tosser Damien, the other two ships are nearby and they're just as minimally manned as the first one. I bet it was Chakotay, he's always whining that he doesn't know the dates. Anyway, they've sent themselves off in pursuit of them despite my objections. If it was anyone else, I'd half expect Damien to steal the damn thing, but since James is with him I am looking forward to hearing about his "accidental" death when James returns.

"So, after they've returned from the mission, what are we going to do with all these ships we've retrieved?" Tom asked.

Harry gave him a bemused stare over the rim of his glass. "Don't get any ideas. Just because the one James infiltrated had about ten vamps on, doesn't mean the others are the same."

"We'll still have one extra ship," Tom smirked. "I could probably do wonders on that beauty; paint her hull, add some go faster stripes, clean the blood out of the carpets, fail and put in new carpets, put in a manual helm control system..."

"Janeway won't let you have it. It's a wanted ship in this sector for wiping out at least two worlds. Having it would be like having an empty Borg ship in our fleet," Harry said.

Tom couldn't help but pout, "in that case, we should have stuck to the original plan. Shields down, beam James off, torpedo time."

Harry spotted Jessie leaving the replicator with a plate of food and look around for a place to sit. The Mess Hall was busy, there were no tables available. "Jessie would probably agree with you."

Tom looked over his shoulder. He winced as everybody pretended she wasn't there, looking for somewhere to sit. People were giving that away by having terrified looks on their faces. "She has been extra vicious lately." He looked back towards his friend, "and comfort eat-ey. The extra weight looks good on her." Harry's eyes widened in horror, that made Tom very very nervous. "She didn't hear me, did she? Oh god, I'm too young to die."

"No, but you've got to see someone about your suicidal tendencies," Harry stuttered, his eyes still wide. "She looks fine to me, I don't..."

Tom had another peep over his shoulder. "Hmm, she's still stick thin. It's just the..." He gestured to what he really meant. Harry tried not to look, but it was like his eyes were magnetic.

"Shhh," Harry hushed him as Jessie started to walk by. "Hey Jess, there's an extra seat here."

Jessie smiled gratefully, she quickly sat down and put her plate on the table. "Thanks, I didn't want to ask anyone." She soon started to dig in to her food.

"So er... any news from our ship robber?" Tom asked.

Jessie looked at him with a confused frown. "Damien?"

Tom's eyes widened in panic, "oh god, he didn't? Surely James would have stopped him."

"He did. Last message I got they'd captured the third ship, Damien decided he liked that one. What's the big deal?" Jessie said.

Tom sighed in relief, "oh good."

"Ookay, does it matter?" Jessie asked.

Harry shook his head, "no, Tom's just looking for his next hot rod project. Something's got to distract him from the lack of girlfriends he has."

"Oh please, I'm much nicer than that. I was just concerned about James cos she looked concerned," Tom said with a smile at Jessie, then a scowl at Harry.

Jessie shrugged, "I'm not. He can handle a few little vamps, and he's on his way back. We can go back to normal when he does."

The Ready Room:
"I'm sorry, did you say every four days a coffee would be brewed to release souls?" Kathryn drooled.

Chakotay almost slapped his own head in embarrassment. The alien man standing beside him looked a little confused, to say the least.

"A Chien, perform," Chakotay muttered.

Kathryn looked a little disappointed, though her pupils were still as wide as her eyeballs were. She skipped over to the replicator to cheer herself up.

"I'm sorry. We've had a rough time trying to contain some... er hostile people. A member of our crew is away doing that and she can't stop worrying," Chakotay tried to explain. Kathryn dragged out a coffee cup as wide and deep as the replicator. She almost spilt it in the process. "This is how she deals."

"I understand, I think," the alien said politely. "Five vessels have arrived before you did, not one has been able to help me. Different species means different ways of doing things." Kathryn meanwhile dunked her head in the hot coffee. Chakotay's head was bright red by this point. "Um, I... assume Federation is no different. Yes?"

"Human, Federation is just the name of our organisation," Chakotay corrected him. "And the Captain isn't a good example. If this ritual involves something only specific to your race, how can we help?"

"It's not, I mean it shouldn't be," the man answered. "I was told that a lot of species are not compatible because of the third rite, a lot of species have different customs, beliefs and some would do it too differently."

Kathryn's head was now almost invisible as she had already reached the bottom.

"What is it?" Chakotay asked.

"I'm afraid only Chiens and the subjects are allowed to know, the subjects will only find out before it's supposed to be performed. I never got the reason why either. I had to research it obviously," Thy said.

Kathryn lifted her head out of the cup, she smiled in contentment. "Of course we'll help you." She somehow tossed the heavy looking thing to one side on her way over to their guest. Chakotay again covered his face when she started to pinch the man's cheeks. "Cutie pa-tutie. Anything you want, we give... to."

"Oh dear lord, how long does it take to kill vampires, steal their ship, hit Damien with a shovel and come back?" Chakotay muttered to himself.

"Um, thank you? We do need to check your compatibility," the man stuttered, trying desperately to pull her hand away. She kept trying though. He looked towards Chakotay. "Perhaps a physician, or something in your database may..."

"Our Doctor, you can discuss it with him," Chakotay said. "Let's go now." He dragged the poor man away, Kathryn moaned in response.

"Meanie," Kathryn whimpered. Her eyes lit up, "ooh that reminds me. Coffee." She rushed to the replicator again.

Chakotay stared blankly in front of him. With every blink he hoped what he was seeing would vanish. It wouldn't.

"Tom, I said every couple should report here. Are you a couple?" he asked.

Tom looked around at the rest of the room with a pout. There were only a few people standing with him, but they seemed to be paired up.

"Well, I thought I'd show up and someone would volunteer," Tom said meekly.

The alien smirked in Chakotay's direction as once again the Commander was face palming into two hands.

"What?" Tom asked nervously.

"I need an established couple to do the ritual, people who have chemistry already, have a history. Do you understand?" the man replied.

Tom's pout only grew, "oh I see. Tom's excluded from that, I get it. Story of my life." He stomped out of the Cargo Bay muttering under his breath.

"I swear, this ship makes people crazy. It's got to be," Chakotay stuttered.

The man smiled at him, "I don't think that's true."

The doors opened again, this time Kathryn stumbled through them, crying her eyes out. "Chakotay! It's terrible, it's awful..." Chakotay didn't have time to react, suddenly he was hugged from behind. He got a nose full of coffee when she did so.

"What?" Chakotay resisted the urge to say now at the end.

"The replicator just said I was fat, it's so mean," Kathryn cried.

Chakotay tried not to laugh, "are you sure it didn't just say that what you ordered had too much fat in it?"

Kathryn stopped sobbing so quickly he was convinced she had been faking it. "Oh, silly me. It's not the first time it's done that." Chakotay shook his head and turned back to the rest of the room, they of course were smirking. Kathryn still clutched onto him though. "How's my ex angry warrior doing? Still at peace?"

"How could I not be?" Chakotay grumbled sarcastically. He was actually more amused than angry, but there were eight people plus a guest watching everything.

"Aaaw, keep up the good work," Kathryn cooed into his ear. She let go of him and started to walk back out. "Commander," she said in a flirty tone of voice.

"Oookay," Chakotay squeaked as he tried to loosen his tight collar. "Why don't you pick which couple you want to do your death ritual, Thy, and I'll send them straight down."

The man, Thy, smiled at him. "I already have."

Only a day and a half later

"Maybe not," Thy commented.

Kathryn lay on the floor nearby, cradling a giant flask almost the size of her torso in her arms. Her snoring was so loud, the birds nearby were disturbed enough to fly south. Chakotay sat next to her, looking a little embarrassed.

"Just give her a minute, she hasn't finished the flask," Chakotay said meekly. "So, what's this third rite?"

Thy looked down at the device with the time on it, he cringed a little. "I'm afraid we're out of time. We'll have to wait a few days to try again."

"Oh," Chakotay sighed. "I'm sure once our crewmember returns, Kathryn won't be replacing her blood with coffee..."

"Coffee!" Kathryn cried in her sleep. Her arms stretched forward into the air, hands were trying to grab something. "Yum yum, yum."

"As much," Chakotay said.

Thy stared down sadly, "I'm afraid not. Nobody can perform the rites more than once."

"I'm sorry," Chakotay said sincerely.

"Don't be. I made a misjudgment. I had this feeling in my gut that Humans would be the ones to complete the ritual," Thy said. "I knew it was a mistake to put my trust in superstitions."

Chakotay glanced over at Kathryn, she was back to hugging her giant flask again. "My baby. No more running off, you're grounded," she mumbled in her sleep. "Silly boy."

"Don't be so sure. Stranger things have happened," Chakotay muttered.

2373
"I'm definitely trying the soccer next time. You're going down," Harry threatened with a dry smile.

Tom stood next to him, smirking smugly. "Oh, didn't the several months of volley ball practice with the hot hologram help at all?"

Kathryn rolled her eyes, her fingers drummed across the armrest. "Those two do nothing but yammer on. I'm starting to feel like their arguments are repeating themselves."

Chakotay laughed, showing off his dimples. "They probably are."

Tom groaned, "god, it's been so dead lately."

Harry nodded, "yeah, it was a good idea to upgrade Neelix's resort program and let everyone use it 24/7."

"I thought we could do the same with Holodeck Two, something different you know," Tom said.

Harry couldn't help but cringe, "I hope this one doesn't involve you wearing a jet pack on your back. My idea of fun isn't spraying you with a holographic fire extinguisher."

Danny sniggered from her station, the two stared at her blankly.

"Hey, give a guy a break. After the whole rift's eating the ship adventure, I figured everyone would love to play an old fashioned sci-fi romp," Tom protested. Danny snorted, but didn't laugh.

"After the Invaders from the Fifth Dimension episode, I don't think you should show your face around the ship," Harry commented.

"Damn," Tom sighed. "Sometimes the best way to heal is to make fun, laugh. That reminds me, I have a hot date and you haven't, so mind helping me out?" Harry rolled his eyes as his friend kept talking, he slipped in an ear plug to block him out.

"Engineering to the Bridge."

Kathryn sighed, "what is it B'Elanna?"

"We have a situation Captain, a big one, you should see this."

Almost every seat around the Conference Room table were taken. All but one of their occupants were very tense. Chakotay stood next to the panel on the wall, he seemed to be running the meeting while Kathryn kept ducking down under her table to re-fill her coffee.

Tom was busy sharing one of his plans, so most of the room weren't taking him seriously. "Um no, we won't do that. We can get crewmembers to lure them to the holodeck or something. We won't need the doc, just program lots of holo weapons, big muscled armed guys and safeties off."

Kathryn bumped her head on the way up. Nobody noticed her re-appear, but some did hear the thump sound. They chose to ignore it.

"What kind of dumb idea is that?" Ian muttered, shaking his head.

Kathryn shook her sore head, "people, can we be serious for a moment here." Everyone glanced back toward her. Naturally no one had any idea what she had been doing. "There's one more thing, the Borg has one of our probes so they know we're here."

"Great, just great," Danny stuttered.

"We'll do what we can to avoid a confrontation, but if we do I have every confidence in our ability to succeed," Kathryn said, looking all around the table. "I have faith in each and every one of you."

"Naked indeed," Neelix muttered.

"Well almost every one," Kathryn sighed.

Sickbay:
The Doctor and Kes stood around the primary biobed, only they weren't treating any ordinary patient. A Borg drone lay still on it, the Doctor wasn't unnerved as he worked on the drone's fully mechanical arm. Kes however seemed extremely nervous, mainly for the Doctor's unguarded behaviour.

"They inject the host with nano technology that goes directly into the blood stream." He showed her by pointing at the monitor on the station. "Each nanoprobe attaches onto a blood cell, and changes it."

Kes felt even more uneasy as the Doctor went into more detail. She eyed what was left of the drone on the biobed with distaste.

"There's no way you can really stop this process once it's begun, but we can work on an antibody..." the Doctor's voice began to fade into the background until she couldn't hear it anymore.

A white flash before her eyes and everything changed. An eery green light filled a dark, mechanical room. In the centre of it lay a pile of body parts, all of them a lot like their patient on the biobed. They had been ripped, torn apart in an instant.

Another flash took it away. This time she saw a sky view of Voyager. A blazing ball of light blocked her view of it for a second, blinding her briefly, it soon slammed into the saucer of the ship. Another flash and Voyager was no longer there, only shards of metal scattered where it was before.

Another flash, she saw herself with a smile on her face. Her body seemed to be fading away into nothing. Once again she saw Voyager, this time shooting off into warp leaving a Borg cube standing behind them.

Kes saw her own face again. It flashed in between that sky view of Voyager and the debris field. That image stayed in her head a lot longer than she liked. The pain, the guilt, the anguish she felt at that very moment didn't feel like her own, but then she saw herself scream out a haunting, "no!"

The Doctor realised Kes hadn't responded to him in a while. Her gaze was lightyears away, horror was all over her features. He rushed to her side, touching her arm. "Kes? Are you all right?"

Kes heard his voice, it brought her out of that nightmare. The Doctor watched her with concern, he wanted to know what happened to her. She didn't know where to start.

The Ready Room:
"What about New Earth?" Chakotay suggested. He got what he expected, a scowl in return. "I know we decided to keep what happened there, there, but on H'Taria..."

"H'Taria was some delusional man that thought tossing some rocks into a lake and mountain climbing would make ghosts escape through the atmosphere and into some deep space afterlife. I wasn't taking it seriously," Kathryn scoffed.

Chakotay didn't buy it for one second. "When Kes was comatose, you didn't hesitate to jump through religious hoops to save her. You were serious about helping him, it was just... you were worried about James and his vampire hunt."

"Oh the humanity," Kathryn groaned. "How dare I!" she mockingly snapped.

"I'm not judging you for that. I just don't understand why you wouldn't just say that, instead of insulting somebody's beliefs," Chakotay said. He shook his head, "I know Thy didn't believe either, but that's not really the point."

Kathryn rolled her eyes, "what is the point?"

"Thy chose us because he thought there was something more between us," Chakotay replied.

"Oh yay, Thy would have fit in with this gossipy crew perfectly," Kathryn said.

"My point is you've acted like I believed it too," Chakotay said. Kathryn frowned at him, her hand resisted reaching for the coffee in front of her. "That's all."

Kathryn laughed, which took Chakotay by surprise. She tried to stop herself, luckily reaching for her cup did the trick. "I'll admit that I had a nagging feeling about the H'Taria's true love brings back the dead rubbish ritual, but that didn't bother me." She took a long sip. "I'm not bothered by what everyone thinks they know. You shouldn't either."

"I'm not. I just worried that... I didn't want you worrying over something else. You have enough on your plate with the Borg, vamps again, James again, as well as his baby drama," Chakotay tried to explain. Kathryn nodded. "I wanted to help with something."

"I see," Kathryn said, her mood seemed to drop when she understood. "I've looked over the logs of previous Captains who have dealt with the Borg. I'm hoping another perspective can help."

Chakotay seemed grateful for the subject changed, he sat forward in his seat. "Oh? Anything yet?"

"Nothing we don't already know. This is what Captain Picard wrote about them," Kathryn said, she tapped the laptop in front of her. Chakotay noted that she changed her expression to read it. "In their collective state the Borg are utterly without mercy. Driven by one will alone; the will to conquer. They are beyond redemption, beyond reason."

"I am Borg," the Borg drone said in a serious voice. All that was lost on James, as she looked six foot tall with her ridiculously huge heels. Because of this a certain part of her body was close to being shoved in his face. He tried his best to keep away from it. "And you're a cute little Slayer boy aren't you?" she cooed.

James violently shuddered and turned extremely pale. "You don't have anywhere I can throw up, do you?"

"The Borg aren't what we expected. They're crazy," James was telling everyone.

The Doctor stood over Tuvok as he lay with an injured head on a biobed. Kes and Chakotay stood nearby James, her armed with a tricorder. A heavily pregnant Jessie lay next to them on a different biobed.

"Hmm," Chakotay frowned. He didn't need him to tell him that, he saw that for himself.

Only minutes ago:
Chakotay kept on walking ahead of the newly assimilated Cargo Bay Two. A drone seemed to step out of nowhere in front of him. It wasn't any old drone though, he recognised that face anywhere. The Borg however had stolen everything else that was familiar about her.

"Since when do you point weapons at your allies? I thought you were at peace," Kathryn questioned coldly.

Chakotay froze on the spot, his eyes widened. "Kathryn?"

"No," she candidly replied, stepping closer to meet his stare. "We are Borg and you should lower your weapon." All Chakotay did was stare like he was catatonic.

The rest of Security rushed by looking panicky. Moments later the drone in heels did the same, except she looked cheery. She stopped, double backed to join Kathryn. "There's cute boys on this ship." Kathryn stared blankly at her. "They'll make excellent drones."

The drones and a few others were in the middle of standing in a straight line, waiting for something. For some reason that something looked like a coffee shop titled Starborg's Coffee. Even stranger still the Kathryn drone wasn't in it. She stood to one side, glaring at them. The only other person not in the queue was a familiar drone now wearing a bright pink catsuit, lying in the Jeffries tube next to where Kathryn stood.

"I think it brings out my eyes, don't you think?" she purred.

"You only have one," the Kathryn drone muttered.

"Aaw, someone's jealous of old Seven," she heard echo from the Jeffries tube. "They'll fit you with an eye piece soon, darling."

They all turned their heads at the sound of the Cargo Bay doors opening. Not the usual doors leading to the corridor, the ones leading to empty space. "Uhoh," all but Kathryn said before they all went flying toward the large open door.

Kathryn quickly grabbed onto an alcove, and hung on for a dear life.

Meanwhile in the Jeffries tube Seven was being pulled out. She screamed hysterically. She only got as far as the hatch door, her chest was too big to fit through.

All Kathryn could see was her kicking pink legs sticking out of the Jeffries tube. Despite her situation she rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"All remaining vessels are returning to their realm. The Borg have prevailed," the Kathryn drone said.

"You're welcome," Chakotay grunted. "Now our side of the deal."

Kathryn stood directly in front of him, staring coldly into his eyes. "We don't think so. This alliance is terminated. Your ship and its crew will be adapted to service us."

"Oh that's a surprise, I can hardly contain the heart attack," Chakotay muttered.

"Don't," Damien said, looking too interested.

Kathryn pushed Chakotay in the chest, it was enough to send him backwards onto the ground. Then she headed to the helm. Tom panicked, he quickly raised a phaser he had in his pocket and fired. A shield went around her as she closed on him, he was thrown half way across the room. The needles on her hand went straight inside the helm itself.

Cargo Bay Two:
"Chakotay to the Doctor, you're on."

"You know I'm sure a lot of people could just think about coffee, so..." James muttered as he stood in an alcove. The Doctor put a device on his neck.

"Janeway only seems to have connected with three people, the other two were needed on the bridge," the Doctor said. "Plus you can irritate her as a backup if the coffee doesn't work."

B'Elanna knelt next to a Borg panel nearby, she couldn't help but see something strange ahead of her. Seven appeared to be hooking herself up to something.

"B'Elanna?" the Doctor got her attention.

"What is that she's connected to?" B'Elanna wondered. Seven was now done, she picked up the device on the other end of the connection. It looked like a small pedal, it seemed like it was too as she started to tap her foot on it. B'Elanna wasn't sure what to think when the sound of air being pumped came out of it. Then she noticed the drone's chest getting bigger. "Oh!"

The Bridge:
Kathryn looked up like she was distracted. Everyone else watched on the edge of their lack of seats.

She quickly started talking to herself, "coffee is irrelevant." She whimpered a little, "mmm stop it, ooh big cup, jug, that's just... irrelevant. We don't need coffee, we are Borg."

Randomly she screamed out, "oh god no, don't tell them that!" Everyone jumped out of their skin. "Like I'd do something like that, heh heh." Tom was pulling himself up from the floor when he spotted a tiny bit of drool escape from her mouth.

"What the hell is James distracting her with?" Harry stupidly asked. Everyone stared at him. "I know, coffee but she was embarrassed. It sounds interesting." Tom tried to smirk back at him but the pain in his chest made that too difficult for him. "Surely all he has to do is picture a cup of coffee."

"He has to keep her distracted constantly, anything that's related to her humanity. The Borg can't know what B'Elanna is doing," Chakotay said.

"Oh," Kathryn said sadly. "No, please... I can explain." Suddenly her eyes widened, her voice began to choke up. An implant on her neck was starting to spark out of control. Her screams filled the bridge as she fell on top of the helm.

Tuvok rushed over to scan her. "Her connection to the collective has been severed."

The Conference Room:
"...The Borg definitely didn't get any real co-ordinates off us," Chakotay was saying.

"Definitely not, however we do not know for sure if this Seven of Nine is really disconnected constantly. We need to know for sure," Tuvok said.

"I'll get on it when I check on the Captain," the Doctor said.

Tom frowned at Tuvok, "know for sure, and twice in same paragraph. Disconnected constantly. You know things are bad when the Vulcan's grammar is worse than everyone elses."

"Seven of Nine threw her breast pump at my head," Tuvok said.

"I figured only Jess would need one of those," Tom said seriously.

B'Elanna smiled at him playfully. "Not that kind of breast pump."

"Huh?" Tom was confused. He tried to figure it out by imagining what else it could be. The first visual he got made him shudder. What he didn't know was that it was exactly the same one B'Elanna got earlier. "Nah, that's ridiculous."

Chakotay sighed, "I know the last few days have been a bit much, but I'm confident that'll we get through Borg space and whatnot after getting through all that." Everyone, excluding Tuvok, pretended to fall asleep and snore. Chakotay groaned in frustration, "you know I have been very close to snapping for a while, don't even push me."

"Well let's just hope we're out of the woods now," Tom said. "Everything's resolved; the Borg haven't a clue where we are, 8472 are gone, our vampire guests are space surfing somewhere, Kes' visions have stopped..."

"Tom," Chakotay warned him.

Tom just ignored him for now. "... And Janeway's no longer connected to the Borg. Now I can just get back to doing what I wanted to do, connecting with my beautiful girl here," he said whilst leaning towards B'Elanna.

She stared blankly at him. "You'll connect with something if you keep that up."

"Ah, that's the ending I'm voting for," Harry grinned.

Tuvok didn't look too well, he steadied himself using the table. "I believe that bump on my head has grown, I feel dizzy."

"No, it's not just you," Chakotay groaned. "Don't let your guard down. We're still in Borg Space and we have two ex-drones on board. Anything can happen."

"Yeah. We're lucky 8472 were here," Tom added on. "What would have happened if the Borg hadn't tried to assimilate them yet? We'd have nothing to barter with if we got caught by a cube or a hundred."

"Why waste your time thinking up alternate scenarios? We should be moving forward, not back," Harry said with a chirpy smile on his face.

Chakotay frowned at him and then Tom. "Why do I feel like that was a dig of some kind?"

"That reminds me. If Janeway and Seven are disconnected, why drag the new and now grumpy dad away to guard them?" Tom questioned a still dizzy Tuvok. "Are you sure it was Seven that hit you?"

"I am certain," Tuvok replied.

"Now grumpy? He's been a joy for nearly a year now," Chakotay commented. B'Elanna smirked at him. "The Borg situation has been stressful, I have good reason to be grumpy."

"I know he's the chosen one, or whatever, but taking a guy away from his new son. That's cold man," Tom commented.

"Natural, not Chosen. Natural pain in my ass," Chakotay grumbled. B'Elanna was still smirking at him, it almost made him crack. "As I said, we can't take any chances. If either of them are still connected in some way, James is the best defence we have against them. It was for everyone's safety, including his son."

"He doesn't usually kick up a fuss, especially if it means keeping Jess and now the kid safe," Harry said.

"True, but still," Tom sighed.

"No still about it. We've all been through enough this last year. We can't have anymore surprises thrown at us," Chakotay said.

James didn't really want to look at her, he just stared straight at the circular panel at the top of the alcove. Green lines seemed to spit randomly from the centre of it, the noise from the alcove seemed in tune with it.

He didn't realise that the person standing inside it was awake and staring at him. Eventually she spoke, "Ensign Taylor." Her voice brought him out of the daze. "You have been staring at us for four minutes. Perhaps you wish to be somewhere else."

James avoided looking her in the eye, but he still had to keep watch of her so he forced his attention down from the top of the alcove.

"I'm clearly not something you can or should slay. Wouldn't you prefer to return to your family?" the Kathryn drone said.

The last word made him wince inwardly. The way she said it in her cold Borg like voice didn't help either. "Surely after almost getting your neck broken and eye gouged out by a strong vampire, as well as taking care of his minions and the dimensional rift, you deserve a break. Some normality." What she was saying and how she was were completely different, the latter was filled with cold contempt.

James grit his teeth for the time being, he knew she wasn't done taunting him yet. Sure enough her next remark flipped the anger switch in his head. "You do not need to watch over me, it's a waste of a Slayer's time, is it not?"

"Perhaps I wouldn't need to if you stopped acting like you're the queen of the Borg," James snapped back. "You're supposed to be disconnected. You should be Janeway again."

"And that bothers you," the Kathryn drone stated.

"No," James lied, and he didn't bother hiding it.

"You know the truth." His eyes finally met with hers, though he could see Kathryn Janeway wasn't really behind them. "They tried to break the link while you reached out to find her. Instead you found yourself. It frightened you, did it not?"

He actually felt a chill wash over him as she spoke. He didn't want her to know that she did that to him though. A forced eye roll and a scowl would be enough to convince her. "No, just annoyed."

"You rejected it. It is why we are still..." the Kathryn drone said.

"Shut up!" James tried to stop her.

"It was your rejection that kept her away," the Kathryn drone said. "Yes your people successfully disconnected her from the Borg, but you... you pushed her back."

James shook his head timidly, "that doesn't make any sense."

"You found out she was your mother and you couldn't handle it. It destroyed her. Why would she want to return?" the drone continued.

"Stop," James pleaded with her.

"It does not matter anyway. You are a Slayer, a weapon," the drone said in the same cold voice. James couldn't look at her anymore but he couldn't turn his back on her either, he settled for turning to his right half way. "The Borg have not been able to learn anything more about them or their purpose. They will. They will come."

"No, they don't know where we are," James said quietly.

"They will, but not through me," the Kathryn drone said. James saw her arm reach for him in the corner of his weaker left eye, it was barely above a blur. He still grabbed it before she could grab him, he thought he was safe. "Resistance is futile," the drone hissed. Assimilation needles shot out of her hand and punched into his neck.

"No," Kathryn's voice cried out inside. "Stop this!" She tried to pull herself back. It was too late.

He couldn't help but yell out, not just because of the pain. So many voices rushed at him like a tidal wave crashing into the rocks, so many entwined together as one. There was nothing else he could do to stop it, his fist clenched and swung towards her. It struck her with enough to force to knock her flying backwards into the alcove, smashing it on impact.

The damage was done though. His skin crawled as the parasite flowed through his veins. The voices invading his mind weighed him down heavily, it brought him to the ground. "Please, no..." his voice barely rose above the noise, the thought of being consumed by it terrified him.

Kathryn saw him fall to the ground in front of her. His skin was starting to fade to grey, she could see his veins darkening. She tried to reach out to help him, as before she expected her body to do something else. This time her hand did as she asked. With all the strength she could muster she crawled forward to reach him, ignoring the extreme pain she now felt across her face.

She expected resistance, he couldn't know she was in control after all. He just lay there. He wasn't gone though, she could see in his eyes he was trying to fight it. A nanoprobe then punctured its way through his cheek, the tendrils clutched tightly onto his skin.

"Hold on. Just keep fighting," she whispered. Her hand reached for the commbadge on his chest. "Sickbay, James needs help now!" Another tap, "Bridge..." her throat started to close up as a horrible thought came to her. "I'd go to Red Alert if I were you."

"Kath... Captain? What's going on?" Chakotay's voice asked.

"I... James has been assimilated," Kathryn answered, it hurt to even just say it.

"What, how?"

"Oh crap... if anyone needs me, I'll be in the escape pods," Tom's voice stammered.

"I... did it. Oh god," Kathryn stuttered. She tapped the commbadge again. "If I had not felt so sorry for myself during the link, this... you wouldn't." In the corner of her mind she could feel the voices start to crawl their way back, they were different this time. They weren't in unison, voices talked over other voices, she could hear panicked cries and confused terror. Screams.

"What's happening?" her head throbbed even more as the voices grew louder and more intense. She tried to concentrate. Maybe she could find James' voice in this mess, help him fight what was happening.

The Doctor finally arrived but Kathryn did not even notice him, he knelt down but kept his guard. Kes followed seconds later, her eyes widened at what she saw.

"This is... this is odd," the Doctor said. "The assimilation process has halted. The connection seems to be weakening."

The voices were far too loud for Kathryn now, too intense. The pain was crushing her. She could not find him, all she could find was further confusion. The last voice she heard was more angry than confused.

"Re-establish the connection. I cannot hear it. Why, why can't I hear them?"

Kes rushed to Kathryn's side as she collapsed to the ground. A quick scan told her enough, "the connection to the collective, it re-activated..." The Doctor turned his head to tell her to do something. She quickly finished what she was going to say, "it's overloading."

The Doctor glanced back at his own patient and tricorder scans before looking back at Kes. Shock was all over his face. "Quickly disconnect her again, the overload could kill her."

"James too?" Kes questioned as she got to work.

"That's the strangest part," the Doctor muttered. "The connection is only one way. I'm not getting the same readings as you."

"One way? Which way?" Kes stuttered.

"He can hear them but they can't hear him," the Doctor answered. "This shouldn't happen."

The Bridge:
The red lights were flashing, the rest of the Bridge lights were off. Everyone there were more than a little tense. Chakotay kept a tight hold of Tom's shoulder as the helmsman kept trying to leave his seat.

"Commander I'm detecting a cube heading our way. Its course is erratic, maybe..." Harry reported with a frown.

"On screen," Chakotay ordered through a lump in his throat.

The viewscreen showed the Borg Cube approach. Like Harry said its speed was inconsistent, it would almost grind to a halt every now and then.

"They're charging weap... maybe not," Harry said, his frown deepening. His eyes widened at the next readings he got, "they're getting ready to go to transwarp."

Tom glanced up at the Borg ship almost on their nose. "If they do that here, we'll be smashed into little bits." Chakotay cleared his throat. "Right, moving out of the way." Tom quickly tapped in the controls. Everyone breathed a sigh in relief as the menacing sight of the cube veered off the side of the screen as Voyager made its escape.

"Tom I'd pick it up if I were you," Harry warned. "The cube's initiated its self destruct."

"Crap," Tom hurried it up. "Straight ahead, anywhere... warp one."

Voyager jumped into warp just in time, the cube tore itself apart seconds later.

The Doctor's tricorder hummed gently, he smiled at it. "The connection's gone." Kes looked up at him with relief. "On both of them. We'd better transport them to Sickbay." Suddenly he got a catsuit tossed on top of his head.

"Yeesh, finally!" Seven groaned when Kes looked over at her. She quickly averted her eyes before she could throw up. "What do I have to do to get some attention around here?" Luckily for everyone she stomped off.

"How... how did she do that so fast?" Kes squeaked.

The Doctor slowly removed the offending garment off his head, he had a bemused look on his face despite everything. "Remind me to put her straight into a counselling program when we're done with these two."

Kes nodded. "Of course. Good idea, it's not like you can make her any worse."

The Doctor frowned at her. "Please stop saying things like that. It always makes me think you know what's going to happen and you're being sarcastic about it."

"That's silly Doctor. I don't know what's going to happen," Kes said in an awkward tone. He didn't spot it though, he was too busy frowning at the colour of the catsuit in his hands.

"Who'd replicate something like this?" he asked.

Two Months Later

Chakotay walked into the Ready Room, PADD in hand. "I tell you. Kes sends us ten and a bit years closer to home, and her replacement just sends us around the bend," he said with a smirk tugging at his lips. He stopped and sighed as he found Kathryn where she usually was; standing in front of the window, staring at the stars. "Cap... Kathryn?"

Her head turned a bit to her left, only to register that she'd noticed him.

"Is there a problem with the Starfleet transmission?" she asked.

"No, not at all. B'Elanna's still getting the letters. Unfortunately Seven claimed she'd be, in her words Borg Superduper Faster than her and decided to help," Chakotay replied. Kathryn was barely up to rolling her eyes. "The Doctor's counselling isn't working. I swear she's getting worse."

"Probably," Kathryn said.

Chakotay carefully approached her. "Still getting the headaches?" He only got a head shake as an answer. "What's wrong?"

"I received a letter from Mark," Kathryn replied.

"That's a bad thing?" Chakotay looked confused. He approached further. The look on her face gave the rest away for him. He decided to wait patiently for her to tell him, it was only fair.

"Four months ago he married a woman who works with him. I knew he wouldn't wait for me so why am I so surprised?" Kathryn said bitterly.

"I'm sorry," Chakotay said as he bowed his head.

Kathryn finally looked at him. "It's okay. I'm used to it." Chakotay frowned, he wasn't quite sure what she meant. "What was I expecting? Mark to wait seventy years for my return? James to find out the truth and go for a hug, forgive me?"

"Kathryn," Chakotay said gently to try and soothe her.

It didn't work, her anger was starting to leak. "I tried to assimilate my own son! He didn't forgive me immediately for abandoning him with his rotten father, so I sit back and allow that Borg persona to take over and do that. No wonder he's been avoiding me. And then there's you..."

"Me? You haven't done anything," Chakotay protested.

Kathryn shut her eyes and shook her head. "No, I never do. That's the point. I hid behind the idea that Mark would wait. I knew better than that and still I did so. I'm a coward and others suffer for it."

"I disagree. What happened to James wasn't your fault. There's also nothing wrong with believing in Mark, it's only been three years," Chakotay said. "You are being too hard on yourself."

"No, I'm being just right on myself," Kathryn said softly. "I didn't just hide behind that. I used the rules and regulations to put up walls. There were lines I painted which I expected you to stay behind." Her eyes drifted up to meet with his. "So what'll it be Chakotay? Indulge my feelings? Hold fast to protocol? What?"

Chakotay was taken aback, to say the least. "You have plenty of time to think about it."

Kathryn smiled up at him with her eyes as well as her lips. "You've been so patient with me. I am grateful for your friendship."

"I never expected anything like that from you just because that was what I wanted. I value your friendship too, more than anything," Chakotay said. Kathryn surprised him with a sudden kiss on the lips.

Meanwhile:
Harry stared, bemused at Tom's child like pout and arm folding at the helm. He couldn't keep it in any longer, he laughed at his friend.

"What's your problem?"

Tom rolled his eyes. "I hate Hunters, everyone does and yet here we are. Why can't we just delete it?"

"Why? It's important and a lot happens in it," Harry was confused. "Are you getting it mixed up with something else?"

Tom suddenly found a few hair bobbles thrown in his face. He heard a child's laughter immediately afterwards. For some reason he whimpered in fear.

"No Michael, I need those," Jessie scolded from her station. She reached out to pick up the baby sitting in the mobile crib in front of her. The little boy giggled as she tickled him as punishment.

"No," Tom finally answered Harry's question. He ran off screaming into the turbolift.

Everyone frowned, obviously excluding the baby, and looked at the closed door. "That was weird," Jessie muttered.

Harry nodded. He was about to say something when the screaming continued and the door opened. Tom ran out, with a freaked out Craig following him slowly.

"What, I only said hello," he said meekly. He wandered over to Tactical, but to Tom it looked like he was going to walk by it and over to Jessie. That made him panic even more and he ran off through the door next to Harry.

"Something tells me he's got Hunters mixed up with some bizarre episode starring hair bobbles and Craig," Harry said.

Jessie sniggered, "that sounds riveting. Can't wait to miss it." Harry nodded while Craig still looked freaked out as well as confused.

2375

James made his way down the corridor towards the turbolift doors. Once he got there he stopped to press the panel on the side. The wait for a lift wasn't too long, the doors opened within seconds. As it did, he wished he hadn't bothered.

"Uh... Janeway..." he said uncomfortably.

"James?" Kathryn was just as surprised. Her arms folded across her stomach. "It's been a while, how have..."

"I need to go to somewhere not here," James mumbled while trying to avert his eyes. Then he noticed her arms and soon realised she was using them to hide something; her larger belly. "You're... you're pregnant?" he stuttered.

Kathryn's eyes squeezed shut, her whole body had tensed up. "I..." she almost blurted out a lie, but she couldn't keep doing that to him. "Yes."

"This is ridiculous. How..." James said.

"You know how," Kathryn regretted saying.

James laughed bitterly. "I have a two year old son. You're pregnant with my brother or sister. Michael will have an aunt or uncle two years younger than him. Don't tell me that's not messed up!"

Kathryn took one step forward to exit the turbolift. He backed off simultaneously. The doors shut behind her. "James... it's too late, I'm sorry."

"Why didn't you tell me?" James asked, his voice almost cracked. The hurt in his eyes made her body ache.

"I wanted to give you some space after finding out, let you come to me instead of crowding you. I didn't know..." Kathryn answered.

"No!" James butted in. "You had times, plenty of times to tell me who you were to me. Instead you claimed you were just some babysitter, then played mum for over two years."

"I know," Kathryn sighed. "I can't change the past. All I can do now is try to make it up to you. I do lov..."

"No, don't lie to me," James interrupted her again.

Kathryn felt a sting in his voice, she tried her best to ignore it. "I'm not lying. You are the most precious..." James turned on his heel and charged away from her. She quickly followed. "You are the most important thing in my life."

"I didn't know I was a cup of coffee," James muttered.

That hurt Kathryn more than she expected, it stalled her for a moment. "Don't! You can't possibly know better than me. You have a son too, my feelings for you are no different."

James stopped dead in his tracks. He turned to stare at her in such a way it made her nervous. "I didn't, couldn't abandon him. How dare you!"

"I didn't. I wrongly assumed I was doing what was right for you. I failed and for that I'm sorry," Kathryn said.

"Why?" James asked.

"Why... why what?" Kathryn was confused.

"Why was leaving me with dad better?" James asked.

"I didn't know he was violent. If I did..." Kathryn answered. "I figured if you stayed with your father, you'd have a family; a mother, sister..." She noticed James flinch on the word sister, it held off his anger for now. "With me, I had no way of knowing what you'd have. It could have worked out perfectly; you, me, mum, Phoebe... dad. Though they could have easily disowned me for what I did, then you'd only have me. I know my dad wouldn't have, but he died while you were still young. What if it was just me, him and you. What if I joined Starfleet, would you be happy following me from ship to ship, losing friends along the way? Would I have quit my career and raised you alone?"

She sighed as many more possibilities flashed through her head. "There were so many ways I could hurt you if I took you with me. As I had no way of knowing he would be violent towards you, I just thought he was a little sexist and rude, I thought him keeping you was better."

"Two years and you didn't see anything," James mumbled.

"No, of course not. I'd have thrown my life away if I had any idea," Kathryn said.

"That's nice," James said but Kathryn could tell by the way he did that he didn't mean it. "Raising me would be throwing your life away."

"Oh god," Kathryn groaned impatiently. Her pregnancy hormones were going wild enough without coffee withdrawals added on. She didn't need this too. "I didn't mean it that way."

"What else could it mean?" James muttered.

Kathryn calmed herself down as she saw the hurt in his eyes. Of course he took it that way. "If he gave himself away, somehow, I'd do all I could to stop him. Stop him before he hurt you. That's what I meant."

James turned his head to stare at the wall beside him. He tried to swallow a large lump in his throat. "A couple of times, I remember he used to..." he cringed as the memory came back to him. "You were around then."

"He did?" Kathryn gasped. "Son of a... I'm sorry, how could he? God. I should have gave him a good kicking."

James' anger had mostly faded as he saw her get more and more upset and angry. He didn't want to do that, especially now. "I wasn't blaming you for that."

"No, you're right. He was manipulative, shallow, sexist. I should have seen it coming. I just thought Susy and Debbie would make up for all of that," Kathryn said. "You have every right to blame me, I'm terrible." She felt a twinge in her abdomen, she tried to ignore it for now. "I failed you, I don't expect you to ever forgive me."

James looked concerned as she winced from the aftermath of the twinge. "Please stop, I shouldn't have yelled at you like this. Not now. You should calm down."

"How can I? That beast hurt you while I was in the next room, or something," Kathryn stuttered. "I couldn't protect you. I..." The next twinge made her double over, her legs buckled. James lurched forward to catch her mid fall.

"Oh god..." he stuttered with guilt all over his face. He tapped his commbadge, "Sickbay, medical emergency."

Sickbay:
The Doctor hurried over as James carried Kathryn onto the biobed. He quickly backed out of the way to let the Doctor get to work. The tricorder was already out, scanning away.

"I can't, not again," Kathryn stuttered.

"Try to stay calm," the Doctor said softly, while placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Stress isn't going to help the baby."

Stress. James tensed up even more than he was before. "I did... was this cos of me?"

The Doctor glanced back over his shoulder. "What, why?"

"We argued," James replied.

"No," the Doctor answered. The readings on his tricorder backed him up.

"I can't go through this again. It's too soon," Kathryn said.

James walked around to the other side of the biobed. "It's okay. The Doctor will help."

"No, you don't understand," Kathryn whispered to him. "I almost lost you too. Not even seven months along and you... they had to keep you on life support. I almost lost you, I did for a moment. Not again."

The Doctor frowned with worry as he activated the scanner that climbed over the biobed.

"The Doc's the best around, he won't let that happen," James tried to calm her down.

"Not that, that's not true and thank you, but perhaps I should give the prognosis," the Doctor said whilst reading the scanner.

James sent him a cold stare. "Oh I'm sorry. Is my bedside manner getting in the way of you being an asshole."

"James," Kathryn scolded him. "Is the baby alright?"

"There is internal bleeding. I believe there's a tear causing it. I don't know how but..." the Doctor answered. He glanced at James briefly. "It wasn't you, unless your words are literally sharp and you've been arguing for a day." He focused again on Kathryn. "I'll have to induce labour. We haven't got much time."

Kathryn tried to steel herself through the next sharp twinge. It was a lot harsher than the last few, it took her by surprise. Her fists clenched so tightly they turned white. She then felt a hand on top of hers, clutching it firmly. Kathryn turned her head to see that it belonged to James. She loosened that hand so she could hold his back. A smile managed to break through the pain.

Kathryn and Chakotay could only wait and watch impatiently for the Doctor to finish. He had his back to them both. Tom stood on the other side of her biobed with a medical tricorder in his hand. James stood further away, but close enough to still be a part of the situation. His shoulders had tensed up and stayed there for quite a while.

It felt like to the two future parents that they had been waiting for hours.

The Doctor finally span around to face them again. The smile on his face made everybody relax. "Congratulations. She's stable."

"She?" Kathryn whispered. "Thank goodness she's all right."

Chakotay smiled in relief. He felt the grip on his hand tighten, his head turned towards Kathryn. She didn't look as relieved as he expected.

"She will have to remain here where she can be constantly monitored," the Doctor said.

Kathryn nodded, her focus shifted to James. "Yes I know."

"Don't worry Kathryn. She's a Janeway, a fighter. I imagine she'll be out of there within a day or two," Chakotay smiled.

The Doctor's eyebrow raised, "I'm not that good. Please don't get her hopes..."

Kathryn tried to sit back up despite the lack of energy she had left. "James, I need a favour..." she stuttered. Chakotay looked at her in concern, James only frowned at her.

"Sure," he answered.

"I know you've got work to go back to, but can you stay here? Just in case," Kathryn asked.

Chakotay looked even more confused, "he's not a physician. That's all our daughter should need right now."

Tom glanced between everyone, he was more confused than anyone else in the room was.

James had a feeling about what she really meant, he gave her an assuring nod. Chakotay was still concerned and confused though.

"Kathryn?" he whispered.

Tom's confusion seemed to lift. "Oh you don't think that..." he gestured a finger in James' direction, he narrowed his eyes in response. "She's um, one of..."

"Tom," Kathryn growled. Tom quickly slinked away before she could hurt him... again. He still had a few injuries from the birth to fix.

Chakotay understood, at least he thought he did. "There's a twenty five year gap between them, do you really think she'd be picked?"

Kathryn's eyes were now wide, she seemed shocked at the accusation. Then she got angry when she realised Tom had started it. "What, no. Slayers don't run in my family. You don't see me killing vampires, do you?"

James shrugged, "you probably could."

Chakotay nodded, then he noticed Kathryn scowling at him. "It's a compliment. No, I thought... why else would you ask him to stay just in case?"

"It's a long story. I just want our little girl to be safe in there until she no longer needs it," Kathryn replied, pointing ahead of her towards the Doctor. "I don't want anybody taking her out too soon."

"Why would anyone do that?" James asked.

Kathryn stared at him for nearly a minute, he got more concerned with every second. "Forget it. Just stay if you want to."

Chakotay glanced back at James, he only shrugged. Chakotay sighed, he didn't think he would be worried again so quickly.

A week had passed, the worries from before had all but gone. Kathryn sat on the edge of the biobed, cradling her newborn daughter in her arm. The baby was still tiny; her head rested in the bend in her arm, her feet barely touched upon her wrist. Despite her size her eyes were wide open, she was cooing happily.

"She's beautiful. She's her mother's daughter," Chakotay said as he sat beside them both.

Kathryn smiled, "I know."

Chakotay could only smirk. He reached over to stroke his daughter's face with one of his fingers. Her lip curled a little and she gurgled in response.

"At least this one's a hundred times cuter than your last kid," he teased.

James overheard as he was standing only a few metres away. He shrugged and mouthed the word yeah. Kathryn glanced over just as he laughed without opening his mouth. She still gave Chakotay an elbow for his comment.

"He was equally cute," she hissed.

"Was?" Chakotay sniggered.

Kathryn scowled at him, but she did it in good humour. "She's a newborn, he's an adult..."

"Are you sure?" Chakotay smirked.

James couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Ok that's en..." He ended up shrugging it off, "nah."

"When she's an adult, they'll be equal again," Kathryn said awkwardly. She looked over to check if James was offended, he wasn't. He did look like he was going to object to the last part though. Her attention went back to the baby in her arm.

"We still need to give her a name," Chakotay said to change the subject he started.

Kathryn nodded, "yes, nothing I come up with seems to suit her." She leaned down to give the baby girl a kiss on her tiny forehead. A squeak made her melt inside. "The kids would make fun of her if we called her Angel."

James nodded, "I probably would too." Kathryn quickly scowled at him, again it was in jest. "What, you want to name her after a fictional vampire, go ahead."

Chakotay's eyebrow raised. "Yeah, no."

Kathryn actually looked disappointed. "Shame. It was the only name that worked." She sighed.

The doors to Sickbay opened. Chakotay glanced over and frowned as Security Team One walked in, with a brand new member alongside them. "Excuse me," he said before getting up and walking over to them. They stopped before they even reached James, let alone Chakotay.

"We heard the good news, Commander. Congrats," Foster smiled.

Chakotay was relieved they weren't here on business. He smiled back and nodded. "Thank you." He spotted Thompson giving him a wink and thumbs up, it just made him laugh. "Again, thank you."

A third member of the team stepped forward, he seemed a little shy. "Congratulations," he said quietly.

Chakotay nodded his thanks. At first he wasn't quite sure what this crewmember's name was, he'd seen him before but it had been a while. That was odd, he thought. Then it occurred to him and he smiled broadly. "My god. You're Lena's boy, aren't you?"

The crewmember looked surprised. Chakotay worried he was mistaken, he couldn't be though. The boy smiled nervously and nodded, killing his fears. "Uh yes sir, I am."

"Anderson... Craig Anderson. Yes I remember both of you well. I sound like a granddad more than a dad saying this but you've grown up, at least since the last time I saw you," Chakotay said. He put the pieces together when he glanced briefly at Foster and Thompson. "I didn't think you'd dump Engineering for Security."

"Yeah, I didn't," he laughed timidly.

Thompson smirked at him in such a way that Chakotay felt the need to hit him. He pushed that to the back of his mind for the moment. He gave the young man a pat on the shoulder before turning around to head back to Kathryn and his new daughter. James passed by him on his way over to the team.

"Tuvok's wanting to see us all. I think it's Deck Thirteen time again," Foster said with a worried face.

James nodded, "sure, can't be too careful." He spotted Craig look just as or maybe even more nervous than Foster. "Hey, it's okay. If worst comes to the worst, we can use Thompson as a pain in the ass shield." He and Foster smirked at the idea, of course Thompson didn't look too happy.

"The term is human shield, and I like the freak of nature shield better," he grumbled. The others ignored them, they just walked out without him. He quickly followed them.

Kathryn smiled and shook her head. She just missed her baby trying to do the same thing. Chakotay seemed a little uneasy as he stood beside her, she frowned at him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Seeing Craig, I just remembered the mission where his mother was lost," Chakotay sighed. "I objected to her bringing her young son with her onto my ship, but in the end I let her anyway. I was going to send him home to his step father and sister after it happened, however you know the rest of that story."

"I'm sure he doesn't blame you," Kathryn smiled assuredly.

"I don't know, I wouldn't blame him if he did. I was the Captain of that ship," Chakotay said with a slight shrug of the shoulders. He caught sight of his daughter's face looking up at him, watching his every movement. "Listen to me, going on and on. We need a name for her."

Kathryn was deep in thought. She eventually looked up at him. "What did you say her name was?"

Chakotay wasn't sure why she was changing the subject. "Lena. Lena Anderson. Though I think it was recently Rise-Anderson. Why?" He heard his daughter squeak again, his thoughts went completely blank, all he could think of was how cute that was.

Kathryn smiled down at her. "Lena?" The girl reached her tiny hand out, squeaking again. "She did that when you said her name before, with Anderson junior. I think she likes it."

Chakotay glanced over towards the door then back again. "It's a unique name. He'll know where we got it from."

"What better way to honour his mother?" Kathryn smiled.

Chakotay smiled back, but with a suspicious look in his eye. "I like Angel. It suits a girl a lot more than a fictional male vampire with a soul."

"Oh, too late," Kathryn teased. She smiled as the baby was scrunching her face. "I don't believe she likes it anyway. Lena it is." The girl squeaked again. "It's settled."

Chakotay laughed. "Wow, and I thought I had a hard time just arguing with Kathryn Janeway. Now I've got two of you, I've got no chance." Kathryn's smile grew as she looked at him. "I wouldn't change that for the world."

2380
The smell of strong coffee lingered over the entire quarters. All she could do was pinch her nose to keep it at bay. Everytime she opened her mouth to breath though the small girl got a taste of it.

"Lena, hurry up! Your brother's here," she heard her mother call out to her.

In the main living area Kathryn was already on her fifth cup. James watched her sip it with an accusing stare. Her eyes tried to look innocent.

"What?"

"You're setting a bad example to that kid," James replied.

Kathryn shrugged, lowering the cup back to her chest. "Whatever do you mean?"

James smiled. "In a few years you'll be chasing her around, trying to calm her down after fifty pints of coffee."

Kathryn gasped, "ohno." She calmed down immediately, "don't be ridiculous. You never did that." It was a lie, but he didn't need to know that. She hoped he didn't remember that one time.

"It stinks in here," Duncan complained, he was pinching his nose too.

"I don't know why you're surprised," James commented.

Kathryn narrowed her eyes at him, then down at the two boys standing at his side. She then realised something. "Yes, coffee is bad. Leave Grandma Janeway to drink all that hideous stuff. Okay."

"Mike, do dad a favour and rescue Lena from here," James said down to the eldest boy. "She may have passed out."

The boy, now eight years old and already half James' height smirked up at him. "How? She lives here." James shrugged. "Okay dad." He shook his head, his black scruffy hair fell in his face when he did. Blowing the hair out of his face first, he ran off towards the nearby door.

"Where's little Amy?" Kathryn asked while taking another sip.

James couldn't help but smirk. "Well you know, like mother like daughter, they couldn't agree on what she should wear for nursery."

Kathryn laughed, "she's only two years old. Though with Jessie, I'm not surprised."

The eldest boy ran back into the living area, Lena ran after him, still pinching her nose.

"Is it safe to come in now?" she asked once she reached her mother. Of course just looking at her answered her question. "Mum, couldn't you wait until I was gone? I should cut you off."

"I'm so glad I didn't call her Angel after all," Kathryn said towards James. He tried his best not to laugh at that. She looked down to find her daughter scowling at her, still with her nose pinched. "You're late for breakfast."

"You were obviously early," Lena said. She grabbed a glass of juice off the table they stood next to. Then she ran over to the older boy. "Do you want to play hide the coffee again, Rob?" she asked him.

Kathryn's eyes widened in horror, "no!"

"Okay," the boy grinned. They both quickly ran into a different room.

"No, no, no, no," Kathryn stuttered as she ran after them. Just as she got to the door, she turned to scowl at James. "Control your child."

"I will if you will," James lied.

"Hmph," Kathryn grumbled as she disappeared into the room. "I can't believe you were the good one."

He looked a little disappointed, then he smiled. "That sounds like a challenge."

Duncan pouted, "they never let me play." He snatched the cup off the table that Kathryn had left behind, he looked around for somewhere to hide it. "Why does Aunt Lena call him Rob? It's weird."

"His middle name, sort of, she must prefer it," James replied. He pointed at a bookshelf nearby. Duncan grinned and ran over to hide the cup behind a few books.

"No, that's just my coff... regular pillow. Put that down!" Kathryn's voice screamed.

Meanwhile
The Alpha Quadrant:
"USS Leda to Starfleet Command, come in."

Several Starfleet ships dropped out of warp within seconds of each other. Each one carefully approached a world coloured in only purple.

"What is that?"

"I don't know. Try again."

There was only static.

"USS Leda to Starfleet Command, come in."

Kathryn ran into her daughter's room in the middle of the night to find her thrashing around under the covers. The sheets had torn in places, she was mumbling about monsters. Kathryn had seen this all before with James when he was little. It didn't make it any easier. She knew from the Zare and Rean encounter that it was possible for James to get a partner as well, but after twenty five years surely she shouldn't count.

Lena did though. The moment she broke her first toy by accident and claimed she just picked it up, was almost a mirror image of when James did the same thing. The only difference was she knew exactly why that happened. Lena was doomed to live the same fate as James, and it bothered Kathryn a lot. She tried to tell herself her daughter's nightmare was a one off. Kids have nightmares about monsters under their bed all the time.

She awoke in tears, but to her the dark room looked no different than her nightmare. Only it was quiet, very quiet. The sounds of people yelling and screaming seemed to fade away.

The following night it happened again. People were running from something horrible. They'd scream and fall one by one until she was alone. Then she'd wake up alone in her bed, tears streaming down her face.

The next day she felt more at ease as her older brother clasped her hand and lead her to his place. The nightmares were temporarily forgotten while she chatted and laughed with her older than her nephew. Robbie always had a smile on his face, which helped a lot as well. Everyone else called him by his first name, Michael, however after messing up his name when she was learning to talk, he gave her his middle name. She had called him that ever since.

She loved having him around and couldn't imagine a day without them playing together. Even though she was his aunt and physically stronger than him, he was the one that looked out for her. He was more of a big brother to her than a nephew, something that she told her real big brother. It made him a little sad at first.

Staying at his place didn't help at all. The dreams got even worse. This time she was the one running away. The people running away from before were chasing her, their eyes were lifeless and black. A tall metal thing would appear in her path and she'd run right into it. A door would open and she'd be pulled inside it.

When Lena awoke her brother was already there, to give her a cuddle. She was safe there but the people's faces were still in her head.

The next morning she headed for the bedroom door. Her niece was still fast asleep in the bed next to hers so she tip toed. At the door, just before it would open she heard voices on the other side.

"She's having the same visions as me. I don't get it. She shouldn't," her brother said, his voice sounded desperate. Lena hadn't heard that from him before.

"Duncan and Amy don't have any. You're right, it doesn't add up," her sister Jessie said. "I hate to say it, but it's probably because she's your sister."

"Doesn't mean she's in the same generation as me. She's seven, Jess. She can't, I won't let her get involved in stuff like this," her brother said. He sounded scared now.

It happened again the following night, and the next until finally they stopped all together. Her mother took her home the next day.

"Mum, why do you take me to James's everytime I have bad dreams?" she asked.

Her mother looked a little sad all of a sudden. Maybe she had ran out of coffee again.

"Do I? I just take you over every now and then to spend time with him," she eventually said.

Mum was lying. Lena could always tell. Though most of the time her lies were simple like no I haven't had any coffee today. The non coffee ones were harder, but she'd just look away from her.

It would be a few more months before the dreams would return. Luckily the next one was just for one night. Somebody ran down a corridor on Voyager, a dark shadow swallowed him up. Lena decided to go check out that same corridor, though she had no idea which it was.

Her parents were busy that next day, she couldn't find her big brother then either. Something must have been happening. She knew that long before her babysitter arrived.

Craig worked with her brother, he was his friend too. He was a little odd sometimes but he was always fun to be around. They'd play games and watch videos on the computer. Sometimes he'd take her out to play pranks on the Seven girl. He looked a little sad today though.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

He smiled at her, then shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing. Same old."

"Another girl turn you down?" she said with a shake of her head. Voyager was small, there wasn't many people on it. Lena wondered if he was asking girls he had already asked, he must have been. "Why don't you ask boys?"

Craig laughed genuinely, Lena smiled as he didn't look sad anymore. "That's not for me, but thanks."

"What's going on today?" she asked now that he was better. Craig always told her the truth, it was what she liked about him.

He seemed to hesitate though. "Well... A member of the crew's decided to hide from everyone. He probably didn't want to go to work."

"Maybe Neelix got him," Lena suggested seriously.

Craig laughed again, "yeah maybe."

"Why are the girls so mean to you?" Lena asked curiously. This question seemed to make him sad again, she felt terrible, it made her tummy hurt. "Sorry."

"It's okay. They're not," Craig said with a sad smile. "I'm just not very good at... anything really."

"You're stupid," Lena blurted out. "Everyone's good at something. Daddy told me that."

"Yeah, I'm good at scaring girls away," Craig laughed. Lena was confused, why was he laughing?

"I'm not scared," she told him.

Craig's smile looked a little better this time. "Thanks, I'm glad."

"Maybe you should be friends first. I hate it when people say that you're pretty when you're not, and act all weird and awkward," she said. He stared at her with a smirk, had she said something funny?

"Who's been asking you out?" Craig asked. "I won't tell your mum or your brother, I promise."

"Eeew, no one," she complained. "I'm just saying. I see it when I go around the ship."

"Yeah yeah," Craig teased. "If you want my advice, not that it means anything as I suck at the dating scene, but just enjoy being a kid first. You never get to do that again, and you'll soon wonder where it all went."

That was out of nowhere, she thought. She didn't understand either. Maybe she would if she was closer to his age, she thought. That wasn't going to happen, he was way older than her.

Lena knew these corridors like the back of her hand. That thought made her look at the back of her hand, then wonder why on earth she'd memorise that of all things. She continued on anyway.

The starship had been her home for thirteen years and it had seen better days. A day barely would go by without something breaking or just going off for a second. Voyager was old and far from home, there wasn't much they could do about that.

Voyager was her home, so a part of her was glad they still had a long way to go. A few shortcuts here and there had helped, but they still had another twenty years to travel.

She arrived at the turbolift, as usual it took her three attempts to get it to listen to her. Usually she'd end up on another deck. Luckily this time it arrived on the Bridge, which she asked for.

"Lena, I'm afraid she's busy," her dad said.

"Busy?" Lena was sure there was nothing going on, no planets, no ships. "With what?"

The Ready Room:
Kathryn glanced between the two men in front of her, the need for coffee slowly rising.

"I'm afraid I'm not sure what you're getting at," Kathryn said.

"Ah, well that's simple. You're still here," one man said.

Kathryn looked towards the other, he rolled his eyes in response. "He's worse than that suicidal Q. I didn't understand him either."

"Yes," Q groaned. "I wouldn't worry about him though. He's still inside his asteroid prison."

"My patience is running low," Kathryn warned.

Q only smiled at the threat. "I wish I was here with better news, Kathy."

"Don't call me..." Kathryn hissed.

Q continued, "the Continuum have offered you and your merry crew a compromise."

"Why? What has Voyager done that is so awful?" Kathryn grumbled.

"Exist," the other man sneered. Q glared in his direction, he missed it entirely.

"Hardly," Q snapped. "You haven't been in contact with Starfleet for many years, have you not?"

"Of course not. Not since the Hirogen communications network," Kathryn said.

Q smiled bitterly. "Even if you could, you can't."

"Yes, your precious Earth is no longer," the other man said.

Kathryn's eyes drilled holes into him, it actually made him wither a little. He stepped back. Q only smiled though. "He's correct. They were invaded by a species you do not know. The Continuum find that unacceptable."

"Then why don't they do something about it?" Kathryn spat. "Oh and I don't believe you."

"Metaphorical fingers have been pointed, Voyager is the most common target for it," Q said.

Kathryn shook her head. The room felt a couple of degrees colder, and it was getting worse. "Why? We're here, we never met these aliens."

"Exactly," the other man said.

Q turned his head to glare at him again. "Why don't you go wait outside a gas giant, Q." The other man turned on his heel to walk outside.

"Why don't you two stop messing around and leave?" Kathryn hissed.

Q turned back to her, his face seemed contorted with worry. "I won't lie to you, Kathy. The Continuum has tried to intervene. However it all ends up the same way. Their compromise is unacceptable and they know I don't agree with it. Why else would they send me?"

"Since when does the Continuum care about Humanity? We're like ants to you, aren't we?" Kathryn demanded to know.

"It's bigger than you, Kathy. I'm sorry, I can't say more than that," Q answered. "However I can tell you this. If you and I don't figure something out, the Continuum will deal with this... paradox in the only way they know how."

"And what way is that?" Kathryn asked with a roll of her eyes. She frowned when Q closed his eyes and grimaced. To her he seemed actually upset about it.

"Voyager, will no longer exist. A clean slate," he answered. "I cannot help anymore Kathy. I'm sorry."

Meanwhile outside the other Q looked around the Bridge until something caught his eye.

"Dad, can I have some rations? James is taking me training today, and I need more than a bowl of cereal to get through it," Lena asked sweetly.

Chakotay smiled, his head shook. "I've already added this weeks to your account. Just try to make it last for a week, hmm?"

Lena grinned, "thanks dad." She ran back into the turbolift.

"Be careful!" Chakotay called after her. She gave him a wave before the door shut.

Q2 smiled, "wow. She's perfect." Nobody heard him. Nobody even saw him, he vanished in a white light.

She paced the room back and forth. The young man standing with her could only watch with a worried look on his face.

"I just wish that damn Q would leave me alone," Lena told him.

"He'll get bored eventually, Lena. Just give it time," he said.

Lena didn't believe that. The creepy Q appeared everywhere she went, spouting off some fate rubbish. "But Robbie, he's been following me around for weeks. What makes you think he's going to give up now?"

"He will, believe me," Michael told her.

"You'd better be right," Lena said, though she knew he wasn't. The Q was bonkers, and for some reason he liked her. He wasn't going to give up and it was not like she could hit him or anything. He was immortal, which made the situation even more annoying. It was embarrassing too. She hadn't even told anyone else, just him.

He had to go, she was on her own again. Nervousness started to sink in. Lena hated it, she didn't like feeling weak. That was what she hated about this Q the most. He had taken away her power. She felt like a helpless little girl all over again.

His ears must have been burning and assumed it was a summon, he appeared in front of her holding roses.

"Eeew," she whined. As usual she gave him a punch in the nose. Once again it didn't work.

"I have the perfect solution, my love. You and I, the perfect specimens, will make other creatures wither in jealousy," Q blabbered on. Lena almost fell asleep whilst standing up, but with this guy around she forced herself awake to be on her toes. "Bear my child, that child will be the envy for all mortal and Q alike."

For once, his blabbering's actually made her burst out laughing. "I'm sorry, what? Have your kid? I don't think so you stupid, horrible little man." She couldn't stop. What she didn't see was that her laughter had actually angered him. The flowers dropped to the floor.

"She's pregnant," the Doctor said quietly.

Kathryn's eyes flashed with rage. "This just isn't possible, how could he have done that?"

"Mum," Lena said through her tears. Chakotay turned to her, he reached over to take her hand. She squeezed back a little too hard, but he didn't care, she needed it.

"I'll rip that little pervert apart, Q or no Q," Kathryn growled. Right on cue the two Q's appeared nearby. Kathryn wasted no time and marched over.

"You! It's about time you arrived. I want her back to normal!"

"What would be the point in that?" Q2 smirked. Kathryn lunged for him, he quickly transported to another part of the room.

"I'm sorry Kathy, but this was supposed to happen," Q said. "This timeline, it isn't supposed to be. The Continuum has decided this is more acceptable than erasing Voyager all together."

"What is he talking about?" Chakotay asked angrily. "This is my daughter we're talking about. He clicked his fingers and made her carry his child, for what, to fix the timeline? Sense has clearly gone out the airlock here."

Q seemed to be conflicted, Kathryn's deadly glare didn't help. "I will help. I can now use the child to set things back to the way they should be. You don't need to worry about it any longer. I promise."

Q2 glared at him from afar. "You'll do no such thing."

"Again, I'm sorry Kathy," Q said. "I'll set things right." He and the other Q disappeared.

2390

The corridors shook, crewmembers stumbled, some bumped into the walls.

"Red Alert, all hands to battle stations."

Voyager could only flee as a huge Borg sphere chased after them, firing weapons without barely a pause. Each hit that Voyager sustained slammed straight into the hull, the shields were gone.

The Borg were everywhere she turned. Lena stalled in front of another trio of them, while crewmembers behind her ran for the shuttle bay. She heard screaming as the drones approached her. A quick look over her shoulder and she saw that most of the group she tried to save had ran straight into another group.

She ran forward to pull anyone else away from them. They continued to run, now the long way towards the bay.

"Bridge to all hands, abandon ship. Repeat, abandon ship."

Lena had ran into so many crewmembers on her escape, there were many with her. Once she reached the shuttle bay she was alone.

Mum. Dad. James. Rob... Duncan, Amy, Jessie. Where are you all?

The Borg grew closer as she waited. The shuttles weren't the only means of escape, maybe they were in the escape pods, already getting away. Perhaps the other shuttles were full already. The drones were almost in arms length of the shuttle, she had no choice. The shuttle was launched.

There was a deadly silence as the shuttle escaped Voyager. She desperately looked around for any signs of escape pods and shuttles. There were none. The ship that was her home for fifteen years was getting smaller. One last strike from the sphere tore it to pieces in front of her eyes. The trail of destruction followed her, there was no time to grieve yet, she had to push the shuttle further away.

What she didn't realise was that she was pushing her shuttle into a black void. It disappeared from the Borg's sight, yet they followed her inside.

Nothing was left behind.

Part Three <<  >> Part Five