#he's still HERE last I checked he was @ harry & kim's cabin

[euclydya]

reminded of the one time Hobie from Movie We've Yet To watch popped in. and immediately just started poking & prodding everyone up front at the time. And then he left and we haven't seen him since.

[renaerys]

PPG One-Shot: Under the Stars (Brick/Blossom)

Written for the inaugural challenge prompt on PPG Challenge Hub on AO3 for the prompt “things you said under the stars,” hosted by @kiebs, @carriedreamerx, and me. Also functions as a Part 3 to the Shooketh, Not Stirred series. You can read Part 1 and Part 2 here on Tumblr or on my AO3. 

Summary: In which Blossom decides she is definitely girlfriend material, and so does everybody else.

***We are welcoming more submissions for this prompt for the month of July! If you want to participate, please check out the PPG Challenge Hub collection on AO3.***

xxx

Nothing short of witchcraft could have held Buttercup’s 1997 Ford F-Series pickup truck together as it ambled over rocky switchbacks and through dense, Redwood forest to the Vista Lakes campgrounds for the Townsville High Junior and Senior classes’ biannual end-of-semester party. Blossom kept a stranglehold on the passenger door and hissed her displeasure over every dip that lurched the old truck too close to the edge of the road. The drop to the bottom of the mountain was a good thousand feet, a death knell for the Normies riding along with them.

Mitch and Harry, however, did not seem to mind as much.

“Oh shit!” Mitch whooped when Buttercup went over a particularly deep crag in the road and rocked the whole truck.

“Buttercup, please slow down,” Blossom pleaded.

“Don’t you fuckin’ dare,” Mitch said through the sliding window that opened up onto the truck bed, where he and Harry rode with the sleeping bags, food, and extra blankets.

Harry laughed. “We’re cool Blossom, don’t worry.”

“Yeah Blossom, don’t worry,” Buttercup drawled. “Besides, it’s not like a fall from this height would kill us.”

“I’m sure Mitch and Harry feel super reassured to hear you say that,” Blossom said snidely.

“Super duper!” Mitch said. He flashed the rearview mirror a sign of the horns and winked.

Blossom forced herself to ignore his goading and kept her eyes firmly on the road ahead just in case. “I should never have agreed to this.”

“Well, tough shit, Leader Girl. You could’ve gotten a ride with Bubbles earlier if you’d left your Winter Break homework until the last day like everybody else, but noooooooo.”

“Not everybody waits until the last minute to get the homework done, for your information.”

“They totally do.”

“They totally don’t.”

“Do.”

“Don’t—ugh, no, I’m not arguing like this with you.”

Buttercup smirked like she’d won the argument (she definitely did not). “Whatever. We’re basically here and no one’s fallen to their death yet, so you can chill.”

The road emptied out onto a clearing overlooking the side of the mountain. Three deep, blue lakes sat still and tranquil, each surrounded by clusters of gnarled Redwoods and camp sites. A lot of people were already here considering the late hour, and a few campfires blazed bright along the shorelines. The gloaming crept over the horizon, casting the valley below in shadow and the skies in dusky, bleeding streaks of red like spilled wine. High above, blues deepened to blacks, but it was still early for stars.

Buttercup parked off the main campsite and the boys began unloading the truck bed. When they struggled with a cooler crammed full of ice, Blossom lifted it effortlessly and floated it over to join others that had already been packed with cheap beer and grill meat.

“Eyyyy there she is!” Boomer opened his arms and pulled Blossom into his letter jacket for a big hug. “I’m glad you decided to come.”

Blossom returned his hug with a smile. “Me too.”

“I told you she would,” said Bubbles, and she nudged Butch who was busy putting away a plate piled high with four hamburgers. He took one look at Blossom and grinned.

“Hey, Highness,” Butch drawled.

Blossom shot him a withering look. “Hi, Butch.” Ever since she’d beaten him in a not-so-friendly spar while Buttercup was out of commission, he’d mellowed out and taken to nicknaming and weirdly friendly ribbing.

“Comin’ down from that pretty throne to hang with the cool kids, huh?”

He stuffed an entire burger in his mouth, while Blossom threw up a little in hers.

“Shut up, Butch. You sound like a creepy old man.” Buttercup arrived carrying two twenty-four packs of beer that she dropped in Butch’s lap. He caught them with a grunt, and Bubbles caught his plate of uneaten burgers.

“Bitch, you love every glistening inch of this.” Butch stood up shouldering the enormous beer crates like they weighed nothing, because they did.

“I love cold beer, so move your glistening ass.” Buttercup snatched one of his uneaten burgers and stuffed it in her mouth.

Somehow, Buttercup got Butch up and helping, and when Mitch and Harry joined them, it was short work to unload everything from Buttercup’s truck. Blossom rolled out her sleeping bag on the grass amidst all the others, but no one would be sleeping tonight. It was merely a courtesy for the too high or the too passed out.

Around the campsite, Juniors and Seniors lounged with beers and blunts, enjoying their last night together before Winter Break. Among them, Wes had his arm around Kim as he flipped hot dogs on a standing grill and chatted up Mike and Robin. Blossom watched them a moment, debating whether to interrupt the conversation to say hi.

Bubbles slipped her arm around Blossom’s waist and squeezed affectionately. “You look a little lost.”

“No, just hanging out, you know.” She returned the half embrace, and they stood there a moment enjoying the cool night air.

“Hey, Blossom! You wanna sit with us?” Harry called. He and a few others had set up some lawn chairs by the shore and were passing beers.

Bubbles giggled. “You know he likes you,” she said.

“What—He does?!” Blossom sputtered.

“For sure. And, you know, since you’re totally not with anybody else, you could have some fun talking to him.”

“You mean, flirt with him.”

Bubbles was as innocent as a lamb. “I mean, be nice to him. That could be fun, right?”

Blossom had nothing to say to that. She was not, in fact, “with” anybody else. And she had every right to talk to whomever of her friends she wanted, so technically Bubbles had a point, but…

Blossom searched the faces gathered. In the encroaching darkness, it was getting harder to pick out profiles and bright colors to see who was here and who hadn’t yet arrived. “I don’t know.”

But Bubbles was already dragging her over to Harry’s circle and waving back to him. Seated in between Harry on one side and Kim on the other, Blossom was handed a burger and a beer and encouraged to participate in the conversation.

“My folks’re taking me to our cabin in Tahoe to go skiing over the break,” Harry was saying.

“That sounds fun,” Blossom said.

He shrugged. “Yeah, sure, if you count me eating snow every five feet when I can’t stop falling.”

“Come on, I’m sure it won’t be that bad.”

“Oh, yeah? I bet it’d be a cake walk for you, Miss Snow Queen.” Harry grinned, and the corners of his dark eyes crinkled cutely.

“Just because I have ice powers doesn’t make me a Winter sports maven. I’ve never skied in my life.”

“Psh, can’t be that hard, right? You start at the top of the mountain, and you end up at the bottom.”

Blossom bit back a smile. “I mean, I think it’s a little more involved than that.”

Harry laughed and leaned over the armrest closer to her. “Well, consider us both noobs. Anyway, most of the time’s spent hanging out at the cabin drinking hot chocolate anyway, right? Best part.”

Blossom tugged on her long, red ponytail as Harry continued to smile at her. She imagined the scene: a cozy ski lodge surrounded by snow, and a smiling boy content to ignore the blunt their friends were passing just to talk to her some more. She would like that. It would be easy, simple, and soft. Normal.

“Um, you know, I was thinking of inviting a few friends for a weekend. Just, like, a small group, and uh, well, I was wondering…” Harry stumbled in the dark looking for the question he meant to ask.

She could say yes, and she could have fun. With him, with any nice boy, it could be fun. How silly that just a few months ago, she had let herself believe she wasn’t the desirable type just because some mean girls said so. It all seemed so absurd now, and yet Blossom could not bring herself to give Harry the easy, simple, soft “yes” he wanted.

“Oh hey! You can have my seat, I’m grabbing more food,” said Kim on Blossom’s other side.

“Thanks.”

Like a hand to the stove, that voice hit her with a searing demand to be acknowledged. Old habits perhaps, or new ones. He wasn’t one to be ignored, not by her at least. Not these days.

“Brick,” Blossom said, half a question, half a sigh. She pulled back from Harry to look at him properly.

He’d taken Kim’s vacated seat directly next to her and nursed a solo cup of beer. Like her, he was dressed for the December chill in long sleeves, and his trademark red cap sat backwards over his short hair, as always. Red eyes held hers in a look that lingered.

“Blossom.” He spoke her name like a secret.

He was late. Why was he late? It wasn’t like him. She hadn’t seen him since third period yesterday. Was it only yesterday, or years ago?

“Hey, Brick,” Harry said, leaning over so he could see around Blossom. “Butch said you might not make it tonight.”

Blossom worried her lip between her teeth, and Brick took a long sip of beer as he slowly averted his gaze to Harry on her other side. “Here I am.”

“Uh, yeah, so Blossom,” Harry said. “About Tahoe…”

xxx

Blossom tugged on her ponytail as she turned back to Harry. Brick watched her twist her anxious fingers through her hair and narrowed his eyes.

“Hm? Oh, right,” she said.

“Yeah, so like I was saying, my parents’ cabin has a few extra bedrooms, so we could make a whole weekend out of it. Skiing, hot chocolate, the works. It’d be cool if you came. What do you say?”

“You throwing a rager?” Brick interrupted.

Harry leaned forward to see Brick again like he’d forgotten he was sitting there at all. “Nah man, just a couple friends for a weekend trip.”

“Cool. Who’s going?”

“Uh, I mean, I don’t have a list or anything. Sorta just came up with it now, so…”

“So you still have space. Count me in,” Brick said.

Blossom and Harry both looked at him like he’d suggested they all go jump in the lake.

“You want to go skiing in Tahoe?” Blossom asked.

Brick shrugged. “Sure, if it means a weekend away from my idiot brothers. Thanks for the invite, Harry.”

Harry gaped, and Blossom ceased pulling at her ponytail to stare at Brick.

“I mean,” Harry said, and nodded super obviously towards Blossom while she wasn’t looking.

“How many others could we invite?” Blossom asked. “If it’s okay with your parents, I mean.”

Harry looked at Blossom, and then he looked at Brick, who sipped his beer like the oblivious, teenaged simpleton he one hundred percent was not. Giving up, Harry sighed and rubbed a hand over his buzz cut. “There’s room for two more if you’re both going to be there.”

Blossom lit up. “How about Wes and Kim? Or Pablo and Hanout?”

Harry sat back in his chair and nursed his beer. “Yeah, fine, whatever you want.”

She was smiling now.

“Wes and Kim,” Brick said. “Pablo snores like a motherfucker.”

“That’s true,” Harry said forlornly.

“Well, either way,” Blossom said, clearly torn between telling them both off and the desire to finalize plans.

Brick got up. “Let us know what weekend. I’m free whenever.”

Pleasantly yet unsurprisingly, Blossom got up too. “Me too. Thanks Harry, this’ll be fun.” She smiled genuinely at him, and he returned it.

“Yeah, the best,” Harry said dejectedly.

Blossom followed Brick as he led her away from the main campsite along the shoreline in the direction of the drop-off.

“Okay, what was that?” she asked when they were away from the roar of the music and the campfires.

“What was what?” Brick asked. It was dark now, and the farther they wandered from the center of the party, the harder it was to see the shoreline as his eyes adjusted.

“You invited yourself to Harry’s. Are you even that close?”

He paused and looked at her. “Are you?”

Blossom clutched the ends of her jacket as she blinked up at him. “We’re friends,” she hedged. “He’s a nice guy.”

Brick smirked. “Uh-huh. Real nice.”

“What does that mean?”

“You tell me. Am I intruding?”

Blossom studied him through the gloom. She was close enough that he could smell her perfume, silken and subtle. “No,” she said at length. “There’s nothing to intrude on.”

He watched her walk along ahead of him, her long ponytail a bloody lash under the cover of night. He chucked his beer and went after her.

“This way,” he said, breaking from the shore and heading into the trees.

“Where are we going?” Blossom drew close. “It’s so dark tonight.”

“I think it’s a new moon. Here.” Brick found her hand so they wouldn’t get separated in the pitch black of the canopy.

Blossom’s hand was cool in his, and she slipped the other one around his arm as he walked deeper into the forest. The walk wasn’t far, and soon the trees thinned as they emerged onto the shore of the lake nearest to the precipice overlooking the valley below. Brick had set up his sleeping bag in the grass far away from the rabble where he could have the best view undisturbed.

“Wow.” Blossom approached the black waters, so still they reflected the night sky back flawlessly. Flurries of stars as far as the eye could see scattered above and below like snowflakes frozen in flight. The Milky Way ripped through the firmament, bleeding more stars clustered so closely together they glimmered ice-bright. “I feel like I just stepped into another world.”

Brick jammed his hands in his jeans pockets and drew up next to her. “Consequence of being away from all the city lights for a change.”

“Mm.”

They lapsed into silence for a bit as they watched the nightscape unfold above and upon the water. Brick’s eyes fully adjusted to the lambent starlight, but it was a cold light, and he wore only a thin, red hoodie to stave off the chill. Blossom noticed him shuffle beside her.

“Do you want my jacket?” she teased.

“Ha ha,” Brick groused. But it was fucking cold out here, now that she mentioned it. He had always been particularly sensitive to it in a way she wasn’t. “My sleeping bag should do the trick.”

They retreated to his makeshift camp, where Brick shimmied into his sleeping bag and Blossom sat on the mat next to him, perfectly at ease in the cold. She leaned back on her hands to admire the stars, content like she could watch them all night. Their gossamer light draped her like a veil, softening her edges and igniting her colors. Brick had the sudden urge to touch her, to prove she was no pearlescent dream, that the cold cornering him now was hers and not just the darkness.

“Why were you late tonight?” she asked out of the blue.

Brick lay back on the mat and looked up at the jeweled sky. “Finished the homework.”

Her laugh was as soft as the starlight, and she grinned at him over her shoulder. “Me too.”

Obviously. He wouldn’t put it past her. It didn’t matter, only, he didn’t want to have one more thing to worry about over the break while also spending way more time than usual around his brothers with nothing to keep their focus for eight hours of the day. But the knowledge seemed to please her, which was just as well.

“I told you I was coming tonight,” he said.

And yet, Boomer had blown up his phone texting him all evening wondering where the hell he was, why wasn’t he here yet, and didn’t he realize people were waiting for him? The last text was one he received when he’d touched down at the edge of the campsite and it was already dark: a candid picture of Blossom talking with Harry by a campfire, and she looked happy. Brick had not responded to it or to any of the other annoying texts. Kim had been more than happy to give him her chair the minute she saw him approaching.

“Here you are,” Blossom said, hushed and half-lidded.

Here we are.

Brick curled an arm under his head. “View’s better from down here.”

She worried her lip—did she even realize she did that? That he noticed?—but ultimately lay down next to him on the mat. “Oh, wow…”

The starscape shimmered far and above, and Brick began to pick out patterns in the cosmos. “There, Cassiopeia.” He pointed to a cluster of stars.

“You know your constellations?” she asked.

“A few.”

He could practically feel the aura of challenge she exuded like a pheromone.

“All right. Perseus,” she said.

Brick pointed to a long line of stars near Cassiopeia. “Right next to Andromeda.”

“That was a freebie to test the waters.”

Brick chuckled. “Sure.”

“Okay Star Lord, show me Gemini.”

Brick swept his hand south and west of Perseus to a pair of star lines facing each other. “A couple of gossipy bitches.”

She shoved him playfully, and he caught her with his free arm, pulling her close. “You’re terrible.”

“I’m right. Next?”

“Let’s see… How about Leo?”

With one arm anchoring her to his side, Brick traced the patterns she called out with the other. Dead heroes and their monsters rose from glittering graves with every sweep of his fingers and kept them company in the dark.

She tugged at his sleeve as he searched for the elusive Pyxis constellation. “Hey, we should probably get back to the party.”

Brick let his hand drop. “Why?”

“Because we’ll be missed, obviously.”

He chuckled. “I bet someone’s missing you.”

Blossom rolled onto her side to face him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing.”

“It doesn’t sound like nothing.”

He’d taken her to breakfast. It wasn’t a date; he hadn’t technically asked, and she only came because she was hungry and didn’t want to go home yet. It was the first time he’d ever seen her cry—no, sob because of what some dumb girls said to her at a party. Just the normal high school bullshit, and she’d fallen apart. Breakfast was the fucking least he could do after the ignominy of seeing her like that. It just turned out that it wasn’t the last.

Too many breakfasts and long hours spent prepping for finals turned into expectation, expectation turned into anticipation, and anticipation became the new normal. They weren’t together no matter what rumors Bubbles and Robin started and stopped. They weren’t not together either, considering they usually were, in fact, together. It had only been a few months since she’d handed Butch his balls wrapped up in a pretty pink bow and left Brick speechless to behold her, a few months since he’d found her insecure and vulnerable on that rooftop and called her beautiful because she was, holy fuck she was, and so much more.

Blossom was old wounds that should have healed long ago, that he should never have opened again, but she was still so new and he didn’t know, he didn’t know.

She slipped her hand over the cover of his sleeping bag and curled her fingers in his shirt. “Brick,” she said in a voice full of galaxies and longing.

He’d always liked the sound of his own name, after all.

When he kissed her, she tasted like starlight, cold fire. He pulled her closer, kissed her deeper, a step into the unknown, but the unknown was where she was and she was everything. Her breath hitched and she opened for him, just like that day on the rooftop, but he didn’t look away this time and she kissed him back like it had been her idea all along. Chemical X crackled on their flushed skin as he rolled onto his back and brought her with him, her weight on his chest a warmth and a fantasy.

Blossom’s long bangs fanned his cheeks as she hovered above him and he held on to her. He dreamed she might fall back into the sea of stars and he would dive in after her should he let her go. He didn’t let her go.

“I don’t actually want to go to Tahoe,” Brick said.

She laughed, light as a moonbeam. “Neither do I.”

He threaded his fingers through her hair, pulled her down again. “Good.”

She smiled into the kiss and wrapped her arms around him.

xxx

No one took much notice when Blossom and Brick popped up at the campsite after a protracted absence. No one except Bubbles, who passed Butch her perfectly roasted marshmallow, which he wolfed down right off the stick without waiting for it to cool. She discreetly got out her phone and snapped a few pictures of Blossom leading Brick by the hand to a couple empty chairs near Wes and Kim. When Brick leaned back in his chair and put his arm around the back of Blossom’s so she could lean into him, Bubbles had to work very hard not to squeal.

Clearly, Boomer sending Brick that picture of Harry chatting up Blossom had had the intended outcome.

She fired off twenty pictures to Robin.

[Bubbles: Yearbook?? 👀]

Robin, who was on the other side of the large campfire with Buttercup, Julie, Mitch, and the Floyjoydson twins, spat out her beer when she saw the pictures.

Bubbles snickered to herself.

“What’re you so happy about?” Butch said halfway through a game of Chubby Bunny.

Bubbles poked his mallow-stuffed cheek and winked. “It’s a secret.”

He rolled his eyes and stuffed another marshmallow in his mouth. “Laaaaame.”

Bubbles stole another glance at Blossom and Brick. She was laughing at something Kim had said, and he turned to whisper something to her. Bubbles bit her lip to hide her smile.

“But not for long,” she sang to herself.

Boomer came up behind Blossom and Brick and threw his arms around them both, laughing and pulling them close. Brick didn’t even try to push him off.

Not for long at all.

xxx

Thanks for reading! If you enjoy my writing and are looking for more PPG/RRB content from me, please check out my ongoing multi-chapter over on AO3 called Beyond This Morning. 😊

[summahsunlight]

This Way Became My Journey, CH. 12

Pairings: Janeway/Chakotay, Paris/OFC

Characters: Kathryn Janeway, Chakotay, Tom Paris, Sarah Barrett (OC), Harry Kim, B’Elanna Torres, Kes, Neelix, the Doctor

Chapters 1-10 / Chapter 11

A/N: Here is the next chapter! I hope you like it :)

Captain's Log, Stardate 48439.7

As we maintain a course back to the Alpha Quadrant, we're conducting what would be routine maintenance to the ship; routine that is if we had access to a starbase

"Engine efficiency is down another fourteen percent," Tom Paris reported later that afternoon at the senior officer's briefing, or the ones that had been hastily thrown together. They were still without a chief engineer and a chief medical officer. Tom moved slightly back to his seat, looking over his data on his PADD. Sitting down next to Sarah Barrett he remarked, "If we don't get more power to the warp drive, we're all going to have to get out and push."

"What about alternative energy sources?" Janeway asked. She looked at Harry, remembering the report he had issued to her last night, that had been sitting in her stack on her desk that morning, about his idea. She had unfortunately not been able to read through it thanks to Ava making a mess of her ready room. The broken vase had taken nearly an hour to clean up because she had to crawl along the floor to find all the tiny pieces. "Ensign," she said pushing memories of the regretful morning from her mind, "have you had any luck getting power from the holodeck reactors?"

He shook his head. "Not yet. We tried hooking them to the power grid and we ended up blowing out half the relays. The holodeck's energy matrix just isn't compatible with the other power systems."

"Captain," Chakotay said, getting her attention. "If we relocate all security personnel to deck seven we can shut down power on deck nine and reroute it to propulsion."

Tuvok looked intrigued. "That would be inconvenient, but acceptable."

"Fine," Janeway said, picking up a PADD. "Let's move onto the personnel situation."

She was about to say more when Neelix and Kes burst into the room, Neelix apologizing that they were late. Janeway and the rest of the senior officers seemed surprised to see them there. "Mister Neelix, this is a briefing for the senior officers," Janeway told them.

"Well I am the senior Talaxian on board and Kes is the senior Ocampa," He replied. "And I do know more about this region of space than any other member of the crew."

For a moment Janeway met Barrett's eyes. The young woman raised her eyebrows in response as if to say that Neelix was right.

"We have some excellent suggestions, Captain," Kes added, noticing the looks passing between Janeway and Barrett.

Janeway nodded. "Very well; you're welcome to join us, this time."

Tom got up and offered Kes his chair and went to stand with Neelix.

As Kes got settled, Janeway voiced, "To be honest, we could use some excellent suggestions right about now." She placed the PADD with the personnel needs onto the table.

"I've been thinking," Kes told her. "That you could convert one of your lower decks into a hydroponics bay; you'd be able to grow your own food. I understand that the replicators went down earlier today and that the emergency rations won't hold out much longer."

Janeway had to admit it sounded like an excellent idea, and since she was sick of peanut butter and jelly, the only thing she had left besides the emergency rations, she decided it was worth a shot.

"What about cargo bay two," Harry suggested, tacking onto what Kes was saying. "It was designed for organic storage, and it already has adjustable environmental controls."

Janeway was sold on the idea now, smiling at Kes, she said, "When can you start?"

"Me?"

"It's your idea, your project," Janeway told her.

Kes felt a smile form on her face, pleased that she had been able to offer some help to these people. "Right away," she told Janeway. Neelix went to babble on the things he could to with vegetables and how something called Feragoit goulash was known across twelve star systems. Janeway had learned to take everything that Neelix said with a little grain of salt however.

Smiling she went back to the PADD she had placed on the table earlier. "Okay, onto the personnel problem." She scrolled down the list on her PADD. "We've managed to find a replacement for the transporter room chief, but we still need an astrogation plotter, chief engineer, medical support staff…" she paused and let out a small, frustrated sigh. Being stranded out here was beginning to sink in fully with her and she realized that she had a lot of work ahead.

Chakotay was handing her a PADD, informing her that he had given her a list of Maquis that he thought would make good officers. Janeway scrolled down the list, each name registering in her mind, but no face, that is until she came across B'Elanna Torres name. Barrett had mentioned to her the other day that Torres was "volatile" and just recently she had struck Lieutenant Carey, breaking his nose. "B'Elanna Torres, wasn't she the one who was involved in that incident with Mister Carey?" she asked Chakotay.

"That's right," he said, looking accusingly at Sarah.

"Just what job do you think she's suited for?" Janeway asked.

"Chief Engineer," he replied.

Janeway studied him for a moment. "You're serious?"

"Very."

Deciding that this issue was not going to be solved at the present time she placed the PADD he handed her down onto the table. "Regarding sickbay, we still need a chief medical officer."

"What about that electronic man?" Neelix questioned.

"It is an emergency medical hologram and its abilities are limited," Tuvok answered him. "It can only operate in the confines of sickbay."

"Not to mention its lousy bedside manner," Tom quipped to which Neelix nodded his head in agreement.

"Well couldn't you work with…him, Counselor," Neelix said, looking at Sarah.

Barrett gave him a bemused look. "It's a hologram, Mister Neelix, not a person. I can't put him through therapy to improve his compassion. He is what he is." She looked at Janeway then, "Although, maybe we should look into his programming to see if we can improve on it just a bit. I heard that Ava was terrified of him the other day."

Terrified wasn't the word that Janeway would have used, recalling how she had taken the baby down to sickbay to have the Doctor check up on the double ear infection. While the infection was all but gone, his cold tone and mechanical like way of dealing with people had caused Ava to go into hysterics.

"That still doesn't help us when the power runs out," Kim was pointing out, bringing Janeway's attention about to the meeting at hand.

"What if someone trained alongside the Doctor, as a field medic?" Chakotay offered.

"Good idea," Janeway said, with maybe a bit too much enthusiasm in her voice to make him feel better for her lack of trust in B'Elanna. Stealing a glance at Tom, she said, "Lieutenant I understand that you studied biochemistry at the Academy."

Tom looked worried. "Only two semesters," he told her.

"Close enough, you just volunteered to be field medic," Janeway told him, amused by the look on his face. "Report to sickbay as soon as we're finished here."

"But Captain," Tom started to protest as the ship shook violently. Somehow the senior staff managed to get to their feet and make their way out onto the bridge towards their stations.

Janeway gripped tightly to the railing at conn, screaming, "Report!"

Seska was manning the engineering console. "We're running into some kind of spatial distortions."

"Mister Tuvok!"

"The distortions are emanating from a highly localized disturbance in the space time continuum. Distance, twenty thousand kilometers off the port bow!"

"All stop!"

As soon as the ship came to a stop, the jolting stopped. Janeway let out a small sigh of relief and moved away from tactical which she had scrambled too when she asked Tuvok for his report. "On screen," she ordered and an image appeared on the view screen. Looking at the mass of blue and purple before she glanced at her personal screen, going over the readings it was giving. She had never personally seen this type of anomaly before, but she was pretty sure she knew what was out there. "If I'm not mistaken, we're looking at a type four quantum singularity."

"Captain," Tuvok said, "I'm receiving an audio transmission from inside the singularity."

"On speakers," Janeway ordered and the cabin was filled with a garbled message.

"I think I found the source of the transmission," Kim announced from ops. The image on the view screen magnified and the distorted image of a ship could be made out.

Janeway turned slightly in her chair and looked over her shoulder at Neelix and Kes who were standing at the rail behind her. "Does it look like any ship you're familiar with?"

Neelix squinted his eyes trying to make it out. "No, nothing I recognize. But then again, it's so hard to make out."

The Captain stood and moved towards conn. "They maybe trapped in the event horizon. Open a channel," she ordered Tuvok. When he signaled to her that it was open she began to speak again. "This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Starship Voyager to the vessel near the quantum singularity. Do you need help?" While she waited for a response she heard Neelix telling Kes that a singularity was a star that had collapsed in on itself, and that the event horizon was a very powerful engery field surrounding it. She wasn't surprised that he next went into some story that he had encountered one before. She didn't hear the rest of the story though, because Tuvok was speaking to her.

"No response to our hail Captain."

"Can we tractor the vessel out?"

"No, the subspace interference is too heavy," Harry replied as Neelix made his way down the steps into the command station.

"Captain," the Talaxian said. "We're less than three light years from Ilidaria. They have sophisticated technology, they might be able to help, and they're quite friendly… most of the time."

Janeway shook her head at his suggestion. "No. It looks like its being pulled into the singularity. We have to get it out of the event horizon." She was startled to hear Chakotay contact Torres down in engineering, peering around Neelix at her new first officer she wondered if he realized just what he was doing.

"I was thinking we could remodulate a tractor beam to match the subspace interference, it might be enough to cut through the event horizon," Torres' voice interrupted her thoughts.

"A subspace tractor beam?"

"Exactly."

"When can you have it ready?" Chakotay asked her, growing more aware that Janeway was not happy with him.

"Two maybe three hours."

"Get right on it, use whatever people you need," Chakotay told her.

Janeway pressed her lips together briefly before speaking, "Mister Carey what do you think?" The tension that passed between the two was not lost on the people nearest them, being Neelix who was sandwiched in between, and Sarah who was standing to the right of Janeway.

"With the right field modulation it might work. But we'll need more power to the emitter array," Carey's voice said over the comline.

"Very well," Janeway replied, glancing up at the ceiling momentarily. "You're in charge Mister Carey, report to me when the tractor beam is ready."

"Aye, Captain."

Janeway told Tom to hold their position and with one look at Neelix, which told the Talaxian to step aside, she moved towards Chakotay and dropped her voice into a tone that she often found herself using when she was frustrated with Michael. "I'd like to see you in private."

As she stepped off of the bridge into her ready room, Chakotay following behind her it became apparent to everyone that the tensions between Starfleet and Maquis were not solely restricted to Engineering.

"Michael take your sister and go sit out on the bridge for a moment," Kathryn ordered the children in perhaps too hostile of a voice, but she was not in the best of moods. She went to stand on the upper level of her ready room and waited for the children to leave.

"Mama, why did the ship move like that?" Michael asked her instead of moving. "It ruined the block house I was building."

Kathryn crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes. She was not in the mood to argue with him, not when she had a bone to pick with her first officer. Michael knew that look all too well and the little boy eagerly took Ava by the hand, and proceeded down the steps of the upper level of the ready room, past Chakotay who was standing by the desk, and out onto the bridge.

When the door hissed shut behind the children, Kathryn glared at her new first officer. "We have a problem and I think it's time that we discuss this."

"Captain I appreciate your concerns about Torres, but I promise you-," Chakotay started to say, but she interrupted him.

"You don't understand Commander," Kathryn said, "This isn't about Torres, my problem is with you."

"Me?"

"Let me be blunt," Kathryn said, losing her patience. "What you tried to do just now was out of line."

"In what way?" he asked.

"When you decided to call Torres in Engineering," Kathryn snapped.

"I've worked with her. I know what she's capable of," Chakotay responded, feeling himself losing his own cool. "We needed an answer right away and I knew she could give us one."

"Carey is the senior officer in Engineering," Kathryn retorted.

"If you look at it that way, none of my people will ever have seniority," Chakotay argued.

Kathryn moved off the upper level of her ready room towards him. "That's the problem right there. They're not your people. You're treating the Maquis on this ship as if they're still your crew."

"I'm doing everything that I can to integrate them into your crew, but frankly, you're not making it easy for me, Captain."

"I can't make it easy Commander. Surely you can understand that. They don't have the discipline, they don't have the training."

"But some of them have the ability, like B'Elanna Torres!" he responded.

Kathryn moved away from him, towards her desk, but didn't sit down. "The Starfleet officers on this ship have worked all their lives to earn their commissions. How am I supposed to ask them to accept a Maquis as a superior officer just because circumstances have forced us together?"

"You're asking them to accept me," he told her.

"You're qualified. You're a graduate of the Academy and you have command experience," she argued.

"Permission to speak freely."

"Go ahead."

His eyes became dark. "I have no intention of being your token Maquis officer."

She was taken aback by the darkness of his eyes and his words. "Show me another Maquis candidate and I'll consider him."

"B'Elanna Torres."

"Who cannot control herself and could not make it through the Academy."

"She's the best engineer I've ever known!" he yelled, turning about to leave. "She could teach at the Academy!" He stopped before he got to the door and turned about to look at Kathryn. "You're right Captain, I do consider these my people because nobody on this ship will look out for them like I will. And I'm telling you, you're going to have to give them more authority if you want their loyalty."

"Theirs…or yours, Commander?"

"I'm trying to help you," he answered her. "I'm sorry that you don't see that. I strongly recommend that you get to know Torres before you chose a new Chief Engineer. Permission to leave."

"Dismissed," she whispered, watching as he stormed out of her ready room and back onto the bridge. Raising her eyes to the ceiling she studied it intensely for a few moments, what she wouldn't give to be able to go back in time and stop this all from happening. Trying to explain to High Command why they had suddenly disappeared for several days with no communication with Starfleet was looking a lot more pleasant then what she was facing right now; a seventy five year journey with two crews that just could not get a long.

Stop with the self-pity, Kathryn, she chided herself. Circumstances were what they were, and she was going to have to make the best of it. With a defeated sigh, she sat herself down behind her desk and called up B'Elanna Torres personnel file, perhaps she should take Chakotay's advice after all and get to know the woman better.

"Computer, activate the emergency medical holographic program," Kes commanded as she stepped into sickbay.

The hologram appeared before her, stating, "Please state the nature of the medical emergency."

"Actually, there is no emergency," Kes replied. "I'm creating a hydroponics bay; I was told you could provide me with some nitrogenated soil samples."

The Doctor didn't look too pleased. "That's it?" Her apologetic look told him the answer that he sought. "And so it begins. The trivial of medicine is my domain now; every runny nose, stubbed toe, pimple on a cheek becomes my responsibility."

"You are the only doctor we have," Kes pointed out to him while he prepared her samples.

"I'm not just a doctor!" He exclaimed, turning to look at her. "I've been designed with information from two thousand medical reference sources and the experience of forty seven individual medical officers! I am the embodiment of modern medicine." After the egotistical rant the hologram turned back to the shelf. "How much dirt do you need?"

"Four samples will be enough," Kes answered.

The Doctor sighed, frustrated and collected the samples for her. "Now I know how Hippocrates felt when the King needed him to trim a hangnail." He placed the three samples he had managed to carry from the shelf into a portable storage unit.

"You're very sensitive aren't you?"

"As a medical practitioner I require a certain sensitivity to properly address a patient."

"I'm talking about you as a person," Kes replied, gently.

The Doctor turned around, standing by the shelf once more, looking at Kes. "I am merely a hologram."

Kes was looking at him, studying his appearance intently. "Doctor, has your program altered your appearance since I came to sickbay?"

"No. Why?"

She moved towards him and joined him at the self. "When I first came in your head was at the same height as this cabinet. But now you look at least ten centimeters shorter."

He looked at her, concerned, and then went to sit at the desk, typing in a few keys on his console. "I've just run a diagnostic on my image processor. It shows that I've been reduced in height by ten point four centimeters." He tapped his combadge. "Sickbay to operations."

"This is Kim."

"The holographic projector in here is malfunctioning," the Doctor told him. "Can you send a repair crew down right away."

"We're a little busy right now, we'll get to it as soon as we can."

"It's just that-,"

"Kim out."

Dejected at being cut off, the hologram looked down at the desk before glancing up at Kes. "Well, it seems like a very busy day in operations."

"I'm sorry I bothered you," Kes said, turning to go, gathering up her samples.

"No trouble at all, just turn off the program before you leave."

Before she left though, she looked back at him one last time. "What's your name?"

"What purpose would a name serve a hologram?"

"I just wanted to know what to call you besides Doctor," she replied.

"I guess they never thought I'd be around long enough to need one," the Doctor said. "What's your name?"

"Kes."

The hologram smiled. "Well, Kes, I'm glad that I could help you today."

With a warm smile, she said, "Computer end program." As the hologram disappeared, she took the samples and proceeded to cargo bay two where she was going to begin her project of creating a hydroponics bay to help a crew that had helped her so much in the past several days.

With a troubled expression, Sarah Barrett stepped out of the turbolift onto the bridge just as Joe Carey's voice came over the comlink that they were ready to proceed with the tractor beam. Janeway was making her way across the back of the bridge towards tactical and where Sarah was standing. She had a hard, determined look on her face, and Sarah could see that she was tense. The information that the young woman was going to give her was not going to make present matters any better, either.

"Captain, can I speak to you for a moment?" the young counselor asked her, stepping into her path. Janeway shook her head and went to move around Sarah, but the counselor stepped in her way again. "Ma'am, it's very important."

Gently Janeway placed her arms onto Sarah's shoulders and moved her out of the way. "I'm sorry, Counselor, it's going to have to wait. We're about to attempt using the subspace tractor beam to free that trapped ship. I promise once this is all over I'll speak to you." Moving past Sarah, she pointed at Tuvok, "Mister Tuvok, lock onto that ship."

"Engaging tractor beam." A blue energy beam shot forth form the front of Voyager and locked onto the ship in the middle of the singularity. "It's working," Tuvok reported. "The beam is penetrating the event horizon."

Kathryn felt very little relief at this news, but when she heard Harry Kim contact engineering to check their power levels because he was reading massive fluctuations, she lost what little feeling of relief that she had possessed. Suddenly the ship lurched and she was thrown against the railing lining the back of the bridge. Immediately her leg began to throb in the area that had smacked against the rail, sending a wave of pain coursing through her veins.

"We're being pulled towards the singularity!" Tom Paris reported, anxiously, as he was thrown across his console.

"What's going on?" Chakotay asked Kim.

"Power to the tractor beam is down eighty percent. The gravimetric force of the singularity is pulling us in!"

Kathryn wasn't sure how she did it, with the ship shaking violently, and her leg throbbing in intense pain, but she managed to stumble to conn, clutching at the railing. "Impulse engines full reverse! Disengage the tractor beam!"

"I can't shut it down!" B'Elanna Torres said over the comlink. "The relays are locked!"

"I'm picking up hull stress all over the ship. If we keep the engines at full reverse it will pull the ship apart," Harry said.

"Cut the engines."

"We're moving forward again!"

"Engineering, get that tractor beam off line!"

Joe Carey's voice could be heard next over the comline. "Captain I can shut it down, but I'll have to get in there and physically cut the main power feed."

Kathryn didn't care how he did, not at this point. "Do it," she ordered him. The ship continued to shake for several seconds while they all held their breaths. Finally, after what felt like hours to Kathryn, the motion stopped and Tuvok was reporting that the tractor beam had been disengaged. Closing her eyes she let out a small breath of relief. "Move us to a safe distance, Mister Paris."

"Are we abandoning the rescue attempt?" Chakotay asked her as she joined him in the command station.

"No, but we're going to need help," Kathryn replied, and then ordered Tom to lay in a course for the Illdaria system. Glancing at Chakotay, she said, "Have Mister Neelix report to the bridge, it appears we're going to follow his suggestion after all." The first officer nodded his head and left the bridge. It was then that Kathryn noticed Sarah standing there and recalled that the young woman had something urgent to speak to her about before they had made the rescue attempt. "I suppose now is as good as any a time, Sarah, to talk. What can I do for you?"

"Engineering brought something to my attention, and they weren't exactly sure how to approach you," Sarah replied. "They found an object lodged inside a conduit on deck eleven."

Kathryn gave her a puzzled look even as a toy action figure was produced in Sarah's hand. Instantly the Captain recognized the toy as her son's. Visibly she kept her cool, but inside her head was swarming with emotions. It suddenly dawned on her that the children had never come back into the ready room after she had forced them to leave so she could speak to Chakotay alone. Kathryn had not even noticed that they were missing she had been so preoccupied. She cursed herself for being so careless. Snatching the toy out of her counselor's hand she wrung her fingers around it. "You didn't happen to find the culprit did you?"

Sarah shook her head. "No ma'am. I searched the deck myself, but found nothing."

"Computer, locate Michael and Ava Janeway."

"Michael and Ava Janeway are in the mess hall."

Wonderful, Kathryn thought. Who knows what they've gotten into there. We've only got two replicators left; I wouldn't be surprised if they've blown them out. "Mister Tuvok, you have the bridge," she ordered, storming up the steps and into the turbo lift. The day was seemingly getting worse and worse, if that was entirely possibly. She wasn't sure how much longer her mental being was going to hold up with if there were anymore broken computers, shattered vases, combadges tossed about, and toys lodged into power conduits. She was already in a fragile state as it was.

The doors to the lift opened and she proceeded to the mess hall. Briefly she wondered how many kilometers she had logged roaming the ship looking for the children the past few days. I need to put a homing beacon on them, she thought with mild amusement as the doors to the mess hall swished open.

Kathryn had expected to find Michael tinkering around in some conduit. However, the two children were seated at a table with another crewman; Ava snuggled up into the woman's lap, and from where Kathryn was standing, appeared to be sound asleep. The Captain reasoned that it was probably the baby's nap time and she felt miserable about forgetting them for a good two to three hours. Michael was savoring a hot fudge sundae and Kathryn prayed he had used one of her replicator rations to get the ice cream instead of the crewman who had suddenly been deemed baby-sitter.

"Captain!" the young crewman suddenly saw the older woman standing there and jumped to her feet. Ava stirred slightly, but didn't wake up. "I didn't notice you come in!" The crewman was a bajoran female, who had dark hair and eyes, and by Kathryn's estimate couldn't have been out of the Academy that long.

"It's alright, Crewman," Kathryn responded, with a tired tone to her voice. "I was actually looking for these two trouble makers. Sorry to inconvenience you, I should be keeping a better eye on them."

"It wasn't an inconvenience, ma'am," the young woman replied. "I found them roaming around on deck eleven and thought that they'd like to get some ice cream. They looked a little bored, ma'am."

Kathryn felt a smile lace her face. "I guess being cooped up in my ready room everyday isn't exactly the most interesting place for a five year old and a one year old. But you still shouldn't have felt obligated to take care of them. After all, it's not one of your duties to watch the Captain's children."

"Believe me Captain, I'm better suited for this than all those Starfleet algorithms," the young woman said, absentmindedly, and then her eyes gaped when she realized what had just left her mouth. "I mean…I've always enjoyed being around children, ma'am."

"It seems that children like being around you too, crewman, I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't know your name," Kathryn said, wishing that she had taken the time to go over more of the personnel files that had were scattered throughout her quarters so she could get to know her crew better.

"Tal Celes," the girl replied.

Kathryn held her arms out. "Well, thank you again Crewman Celes," she replied, standing there with her arms open. The young woman looked confused and Kathryn didn't know why but she just warmed her heart. "I think I can take it from here."

Realizing that the woman wanted her baby back, Celes snapped to attention and placed the sleeping Ava into her arms. Gesturing for Michael to come with her, Kathryn thanked the young woman again, and as she left, perhaps had found a solution to her childcare woes. But the first thing she had to do was to speak to Michael about wandering off and playing in a power conduit.

Kathryn waited until they were inside the lift the doors had firmly shut, and they were on their way back to deck one before speaking to her son. "There's something we need to talk about. You have to understand, Michael, that this ship, it isn't like our house back in San Francisco, and you can't just roam around it as you please."

"I wasn't roaming around, I knew exactly where I wanted to go," Michael replied with a huff.

"Michael, you could get hurt," Kathryn chided. "Someone in Engineering found one of your toys in a power conduit on deck eleven. Honey, you could have blown the conduit, getting yourself and Ava seriously hurt."

"I just wanted to see how it worked, Ava was the one who got the toy stuck in there," Michael told her. "You don't need to worry."

But that's all she found herself doing, especially now that circumstances had made her life as a mother much more difficult. They faced the prospect of all kind of dangers, threats that could harm herself or her children. What else was she to do but worry about them?

[voyagerafod]

Star Trek Voyager: A Fire of Devotion: Part 4 of 4: Hotter Than Hell: Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Almost as soon as it became clear that the Class-4 cube, while not destroyed as they had hoped, was not pursuing them, Tom Paris got to work on building a second Delta Flyer. As is usually the case, the second Starfleet/Borg hybrid shuttle was finished considerably faster than the prototype. In Tom’s opinion, this one was even better than the first, though some of the improvements were ones he had planned on making to the original before it had been sacrificed to get Captain Janeway and her team onto the cube.

“The asteroid field is densest over here,” Tom said, pointing to a display.     “You want to take a test run through that mess?” Harry Kim said.     “You doubt my skills?” Tom said.     “Not really,” Harry said. “I’m just not sure we should taxing her so much so soon. This is the Flyer II’s first time out.”     “As good a time as any to see if she can handle tight spaces,” Tom said.     “Okay, if you say so.”

After a few circling runs around the larger rocks of the field, Tom levelled the Flyer out, and was prepared to call it a day, when the proximity alert noise sounded.     “There’s a vessel coming up fast off our starboard bow,” Harry said.     “Shields,” Tom said.     “Range, 50 kilometers.” Harry said. “10. It’s pulling along side.”     Tom glanced out the viewport to see the vessel pulling up. It was slightly smaller than the Flyer, sleek, with a clashing color scheme that Tom would never have thought of for the Flyer, with good reason, but wasn’t offensive to his eyes.     “Nice ship,” he said with some sincerity.

“It’s scanning us,” Harry said.     Tom opened a hailing channel to the ship. “This is Lieutenant Tom Paris of the Delta Flyer II. Please identify yourself.”

A feminine sounding voice replied, though Tom knew better than to make assumptions.     “Vectored exhaust ports,” the other ship’s pilot said, “accelerated driver coils… Your vessel must be fast.” Whoever it was sounded impressed, and Tom couldn’t stop himself from gloating a little.

“Well, I certainly like to think so,” he said.

“Check your scanners,” the other pilot said. “You’ll see a comet on the other side of the asteroid field. I wonder which of our ships could get there first.”     “Sounds like a challenge,” Tom said, smiling.

“Are you going to accept?”

“Tom, no,” Harry said

“Tom, yes,” Tom said. “This is a test flight, right? What better way to test the new ship than to see how it stands up to a little competition.”     “Oh Jesus tap-dancing Christ,” Harry muttered.

Tom chuckled. “Okay, that’s a new one. Where did you pick that line up from?”

“So?” the other pilot said impatiently.     “You’re on. Are we going to count to three or-”     The other ship took off at maximum impulse, cutting off Tom’s question.

“Oh, so that’s how you wanna play it huh?” Tom said, before pushing the throttle forward. It didn’t take long for them to catch up to the other ship, but right away Tom noticed something about it that could give them an edge of over the new Flyer.

“She’s a lot more maneuverable than we are,” he said.     “Well,” Harry said. “If we’re going to go through with this, I might as well point out we can even the odds. The new impulse thrusters.”     “Now that’s the spirit Harry,” Tom said. “Let’s do this.”

The ship lurched slightly from the sudden burst of speed that came once Harry activated the new thrusters. Within seconds they had closed the gap with the other vessel to just fifty meters.

“Bring the backup generators on-line,” Tom said, “and reroute power to the thrusters.”

The Delta Flyer II surged forward, easily passing the other vessel. Tom felt the huge grin on his face and glanced back to see that Harry was smiling now too. He was about to suggest to Harry that he shouldn’t worry so much about the new Flyer, when he saw out the port side viewport that the other vessel's starboard nacelle was on fire. As the ship was flying through a vacuum at the moment, that was naturally a point of concern.

“Uh oh,” Tom said. Harry looked down at his console and hit a few buttons.     “The other ship’s cabin is filling with nyocene gas,” he said.     “Stand by for emergency transport,” Tom said.

The sound of a transporter beam filled the cabin, and Harry, emergency medkit already in hand, was there when the pilot, an alien woman, materialized. She leaned against the nearest bulkhead, coughing while Harry ran a medical tricorder over her.     “You okay?” Harry said.     “I’m fine,” the pilot said between coughs. “I guess this rules out a rematch.”     Tom and Harry shared a look, the latter looking surprised, but Tom wasn’t. He was a pilot at heart, and he knew one of his own when he saw one.

“What happened?” he said.     “My power transformer overloaded,” the pilot said.     “We could probably find you a spare back on Voyager,” Harry said. “That’s our primary ship.”     “We were about to head back there anyway,” Tom said. “This was just supposed to be a test flight.”     As Tom expected the pilot looked more hurt hearing that than she had over nearly being poisoned with nyocene.     “You’re telling me I lost a race to a prototype?” she said. “Ugh, I am never going to hear the end of it back home.”     “We won’t tell,” Tom said as he manipulated the controls to turn the Flyer around. I can’t wait to tell B’Elanna how well the new impulse thrusters worked, he thought. “I’m Tom Paris, by the way. My co-pilot and good friend here is Harry Kim. What’s your name?”     “Irina,” the pilot said.

---

“I’ve been looking forward to my holodeck time all week,” The Doctor said, trying to walk away from B’Elanna Torres, wishing he hadn’t decided to leave his mobile emitter on the desk for this shift. “Why can’t you borrow three hours from someone else?”

“Yours are the last piece to the puzzle,” B’Elanna said. “Tom and I have finally managed to get a weekend off together. I’ve been trading favors with members of the crew so that we could get the holodeck to ourselves. Even Sam, Seven, and Naomi gave up theirs for the week.”     “Ah, a romantic getaway,” The Doctor said.     “Exactly,” B’Elanna said.     “Well, unfortunately for you I’ve chosen this week to indulge myself in a new hobby. Something human doctors have been enjoying for centuries.”

“Oh for the love of…”

“It’s called golf,” The Doctor said, picking up a ball and club he’d replicated for himself. “I’ve already booked a tee time.”     “Well,” B’Elanna said, sounding dejected. “If your tee time is more important than our happiness, our first chance to be alone in months…”

The Doctor knew a guilt trip when he saw one. Unfortunately, unlike viruses, energy weapons, or weather, B’Elanna’s sad face was not something he was immune to. He put down the ball and club.     “Fine,” he said, “you can have my three hours.”

“Thank you,” B’Elanna said.

---

    The next window of communication with Starfleet was still over a week away, but Seven of Nine couldn’t help but notice that Samantha was nervous. Since the window would be relatively short, and there were many crewmembers with loved ones back home, a lottery of sorts was held, and Samantha had drawn a low number, meaning she would be among the first to contact someone during said window.

    “Sam,” Seven said, “Are you worried about introducing me to your parents?”     “Worried? No, well, yes, to Mom. Dad should be okay. If he’s there I mean, he re-enlisted when the Dominion War started and the last letter we got from home said he was still in command of the John Laurens. And, well, honey, there’s something I should’ve told you awhile ago and, um…”     “Sweetie, you’re babbling,” Seven said. “You told me to let you know when you were babbling.”     “Yes, well, you know me. My babbling capabilities are infinite,” Sam said with a nervous chuckle.     “If this is in reference to the death of her brother at Wolf 359,” Seven said, “you told me about that already. I don’t doubt that the situation may be uncomfortable initially, but once Linette Wildman understands that I have been free of the Collective for three years now-”     “There’s something I left out,” Samantha said, looking embarrassed, and slightly chewing on her lower lip the way she did where there was something she knew she should say, but was unsure how.

    “What do you mean?” Seven asked.     “Uncle Doug wasn’t just my Mom’s brother. He was her twin brother,” Sam said.     “I don’t understand why that… Oh,” Seven said, taking several moments longer than she cared to admit to make the connection. She might not have made that connection at all, had she not spent the past three years sharing a vessel with a set of twins, the frequently rumor-plagued Delaney sisters. Jenny and Megan. The two often worked in astrometrics during Seven’s regeneration cycles, but despite their infrequent meetings she had come to respect them as officers and as scientists. She was also very aware of the deep bond between the two, and that was why she was suddenly nervous herself about speaking to Samantha’s mother.

    “Oh dear,” Seven said, unable to think of anything else to say.     “I know it’s been years since Wolf 359, but Annie, she was still a mess when I left for Voyager, I don’t know if my having been MIA for three years with no idea if I was alive or dead made it worse or not, but it certainly didn’t help.”     “Did she say anything in the letters you got from the Alpha Quadrant?”     “No,” Sam said. “I know she’s alive, and at home, but she didn’t actually send me any messages herself, that was all from Dad.”

    There was an uncomfortable silence that followed. Sam took Seven’s hands in hers and gently squeezed. Seven squeezed back.

    Whatever happens, she thought, she’s Sam’s mother. Treat her with respect, no matter what she says to you. Remember that anything she might say is motivated by a type of loss I could never understand.

---

    The Delta Flyer and Irina’s ship made it to Voyager’s shuttlebay safely, and as soon as Irina had been cleared by both The Doctor and Tuvok to move about the ship except for certain restricted areas, she and Harry immediately got to work on repairing her ship from the inside while Tom worked on the outside. The officers in charge of the shuttle bay made it clear that faster would be better, and Harry didn’t blame them. Between the regular shuttles, the Flyer, and Neelix’s old ship, the place was constantly more crowded than Federation safety standards allowed for. It had been that way for years, and this new vessel was only compounding the matter.

    “Could you hand me the viridum injector?” Irina said to Harry.

    “Sure thing,” Harry said. “Let’s see, where is... Ah, here we go.” He handed the device to Irina who took it and applied it to her console with a smooth, swift motion. Harry sat in the seat next to her’s.     “Comfy chairs,” he said.     “My co-pilot certainly thinks so,” Irina said, not taking her eyes off her work.

“Your co-pilot?” Harry said.

“I was on my way to meet him when I ran into you,” Irina replied.

Harry realized that Irina wasn’t giving him much to do in terms of help, but he also needed to stay since some of the equipment she was using was Starfleet equipment that he would need to take back once repairs were complete. Lacking an actual task, he decided to settle on some small talk. She might not reply but it was better than nothing.

“So, tell me about where you’re from,” he said.     “It’s a small trinary system, about half a parsec from here,” Irina said.

“Three suns,” Harry said. “Wow. We have systems like that where I’m from, but as far as I know, none of them are populated. Did your people originate there, or is it a colony?”

“Are you always this inquisitive?” Irina said, smiling.     Oh, she thinks I’m flirting, Harry thought. Better dial it back. “I’m a Starfleet officer. We’re all about questions. Knowing the unknown is what drives us.”     “That almost sounds like a recruiting speech.”     “Well, it’s part of the speech yeah,” Harry admitted. “But I wasn’t asking you to join us or anything.”

The sound of a ladder being ascended cut off any reply.     “Your new power transformer is installed and ready to go,” Tom Paris said as he climbed into the cockpit area.     “Thanks,” Irina said. Harry couldn’t help but notice her smile had widened when she spoke to Tom.     “Your impulse drive is a real beauty,” Tom said.

“I designed it myself,” Irina said, leaning back in her seat with an almost human like display of pride.

“I couldn’t help but noticing your warp system seems so rudimentary,” Tom said.     “Warp’s fine if you like going fast in a straight line,” Irina said. “But to me that’s just physics, not flying. Besides, for the kind of flying I’m here for warp is not a factor.”     “Pun intended?” Harry said.

Irina rolled her eyes, and moved on without acknowledging Harry’s comment.

“The race course is only two billion kilometers long,” she said.

“Race course?” Tom said, sharing a look with Harry.     I’m intrigued as well, Harry thought.

“You don’t know?” Irina said.     “We’re not from around here,” Harry said.

---

    B’Elanna could tell when Tom was excited even without seeing his face. He walked in a certain way she could never really adequately put into words, but nonetheless, she knew it when she saw it and when he walked into the briefing room after having requested a gathering of the senior staff, she saw it.

    Once he started explaining what he wanted to do, she understood why.

    “It’s called the Antarian Trans-Stellar Rally,” he said, pointing to a map that he had called up on the monitor. “Three segments, covering 2.3 billion kilometers.”     Harry, standing next to Tom, spoke next.     “With obstacles ranging from dwarf star clusters to K-class anomalies.”     “Two-man crews, and most importantly, each ship is limited to sub-light speeds,” Tom said, his excitement threatening to get the better of him “It is the ultimate test of ship design and piloting skills.”     “Not to mention a serious drain on Voyager’s resources,” Tuvok said, looking down at the PADD Tom had handed him before the start of the meeting. “You’re suggesting we reassign 15 crewmen to modify the Delta Flyer?”     “The race has very specific guidelines,” Tom replied. “All of the ships have to use enriched deuterium fuel, which the Flyer’s not equipped to do, but Irina, she’s that pilot we rescued, she agreed to lend us a fuel converter.”     Chakotay’s face suggested he had the same concerns that Tuvok did, but the Captain gave no visible indication of what she would say. B’Elanna herself wasn’t sure if she wanted her to give Tom the okay or not. The timing was too close for her comfort; Tom could complete the race and still make it in time for their weekend on the holodeck, but if just one thing went wrong with the Flyer during the course…

    “Captain,” Tom said, “this race is more than just a sporting event. Until recently this region was a war zone. Four different species fought for nearly a century to control it.”     “Now,” Harry said, “for the first time they’re competing peacefully. To commemorate the new treaty that ended the war.”     “This race embodies everything the Federation values,” Tom said, “a peaceful coexistence, a free exchange of ideas-”     “I think it’s a great idea,” Janeway said, much to B’Elanna’s surprise, and based on Chakotay’s face and Tuvok’s raised eyebrow to theirs as well. The Doctor, who had been there the whole time but didn’t seem to care, finally was paying attention, though he didn’t say anything.

“You do?” Tom said, looking unsure if he should be glad the Captain accepted his pitch, or disappointed that he didn’t actually get to finish it.     “You do?” Tuvok said.     “Absolutely,” Janeway said, smiling in a way B’Elanna hadn’t seen since before the Unimatrix Zero mission. “This competition is just the sort of break we need. It’ll give us the chance to make some friends, which we could always use more of in this region, and give the crew a chance at some real R&R. Request granted.” She gently tossed the PADD Tom had given her back to him.     “Thank you, Captain,” he said.     “One thing, gentlemen,” she said. “Now that we’re in this race, we’re in it to win. After all, Starfleet’s honor is at stake.” She winked at Tom and Harry before heading for the door.     “Don’t worry,” Tom said. “It’s in good hands.”     “No pressure, right?” Harry said jovially. Tuvok simply followed the Captain while Chakotay started reading his own PADD, presumably to brush up on whatever information Tom hadn’t gotten to do to his premature victory.     “Obviously I will insist that you have a full stock of medical supplies on board,” The Doctor said. “I won’t even bother pointing out the potential dangers of this race course, since you doubtless already know and, to borrow a phrase, don’t give a rat’s extremities.”

Tom and Harry headed out, and B’Elanna followed, the three making their way first to the turbolift, then to the shuttlebay.     “So, I didn’t get the chance to meet Irina, or look at her ship,” she said. “She’s not going to give you too much trouble I hope.”     Tom chuckled. “Yeah, I’m not too worried. I’m just glad she’ll be on her own ship and not flying with me.”     “What do you mean?” B’Elanna said.     “Let’s just say our new friend is a bit of a flirt,” Harry said.     “Oh, really,” B’Elanna said.     “That’s putting it mildly,” Tom said. “I didn’t pick up on it at first because I thought she was just talking about her ship. I must be getting soft in my old age.”     “I don’t have to worry about her trying to poison me and merge with you, do I?” B’Elanna said.     Tom sighed. “One time that happened.”     “I can confirm that Irina is not some crazy A.I.,” Harry said. “Well, not an A.I. anyway,” he added with a smirk.     “I assume you let her down gently,” B’Elanna said.

“I tried to. I mentioned you, by name, when I said I was with someone. That only made her flirt more though. I eventually lied and said we were already married to try and get her to back off.”

“Didn’t work I take it?” B’Elanna said.     “Not even a little,” Tom said. “She’s one of those types I guess.”

“Not to be mean, Tom,” B’Elanna said, “but didn’t you hook up with a married woman or two before we got together?”     “I was kind of hoping you’d forgotten about that,” Tom said.     “There’s the silver lining for you, Tom,” Harry said. “Irina probably won’t try to frame you for murder.”     “Really? You’re going to bring that up?” Tom said.

“Look,” B’Elanna said, putting her arm around Tom’s waist, “just tell her I used to be a terrorist and that I know how to handle sharp objects. That should get her to back off.”

“One can only hope,” Tom said.     Before the three of them made it to the shuttlebay, B’Elanna realized something about the phrasing Tom had used earlier in the conversation.     “Hang on a sec,” she said, “what did you mean by ‘already married?’”

---

    “And that’s why I’m not going to be Tom’s co-pilot for the race anymore,” Harry said, raising his drink at the table in the mess hall he was sharing with Seven, Samantha, Joe Carey, and Sue Brooks.”     “Leave it to Tom Paris to get engaged by accident,” Brooks said.

    “Given the volatile nature of their relationship,” Seven said, “I would’ve predicted homicide before matrimony.”     Harry and Sue each stifled a laugh, while Samantha playfully punched Seven in the arm.     “Honey, that’s not fair,” she said.     “Am I wrong?” Seven said.     “Look,” Harry said, “let’s just be happy for my best friend, shall we? He’s going to win this thing, then as soon as they get back, wedding.”     “Will they be back in time for the window of communication with Starfleet?” Carey asked.     “No,” Harry said, “the window lines up with the post-race ceremonies. But they both drew high numbers in the lottery anyway, so it kind of doesn’t matter this time.”     Seven looked like she was about to say something, but her eyes shifted at the sound of one of the doors to the mess hall opening, and the Delaney sisters both walked in, talking about something.     “Excuse me,” Seven said. “I have a matter to discuss with the Delaneys. I will see you all at the Delta Flyer launch.”     “Okay sweetie,” Samantha said.

    “Something about astrometrics?” Harry said.     Samantha looked back and forth, seeming unsure how to respond. “Well, I don’t know if I should say anything.”     “This about your Uncle?” Harry said.     “That obvious?”     “Seven didn’t know your Uncle and your Mom were twins before now?”

    “It never came up,” Samantha said. “And honestly it didn’t seem all that relevant. If I’d known when we started dated that we’d be able to talk to home in just a few short years I would’ve told her then. I think Annie is really worried that my Mom’s not going to like her.”     “That’s normal I suppose,” Carey said. “I was nervous first time I met my in-laws.”     “Yeah,” Samantha said, narrowing her eyes. “Pretty sure your wife didn’t used to belong to a people who killed one of your relatives.”     Carey nodded. “Okay, fair point. Our situations really aren’t that similar at all.”     “Look,” Harry said, “I’m sure it’ll be fine. Your Mom will understand that Seven had no control over her actions when she was a drone, and regardless Seven wasn’t even at Wolf 359.”

    “Knowing and accepting are two different things, Harry,” Samantha said. “But I hope you’re right.” She glanced over at Seven, speaking to the Delaney sisters. “And hopefully those two can give her the insight she’s looking for.”

---

    Janeway listened as the coordinator of the race, Antarian Ambassador, O’Zaal, relayed his concerns regarding the race that her people had just entered. When the Ambassador had first requested this meeting she’d been concerned that he would request that her people bow out, leaving the competition to races from the formerly war torn region, but it didn’t take long for those concerns to be assuaged.

“One of the species in the race, the Aksani, want to host the post-race ceremony, and say they will break the peace if refused. But it had already been agreed upon that another species, the Chessu, would host it. This is quite the mess, Captain.”

“It sounds like it,” Commander Chakotay said.

“The peace is so fragile,” O’Zaal said, “every decision I make, no matter how trivial, is looked upon as symbolic.”

“Winning is easy,” Janeway said, “governing’s harder. It’s a story that happens all too often. Even in my world’s history. Maybe we can help you.”

“I was hoping you could,” O’Zaal said. “Your people are new to this region. With no ties to any of our races, you’re in the ideal position to be an arbitrator.”

“The easiest thing to do,” Janeway said, “is to provide neutral ground for the pre- and post-race activities. Our mess hall is designed to be adjusted in a hurry, we can have it ready to accommodate the launch party in under an hour.”     “I was hoping you would say something like that, Captain,” O’Zaal said. “I cannot be accused of showing favoritism to the Federation seeing as before yesterday I never even knew you existed.”     “I’ll tell Neelix to prepare for guests,” Chakotay said, smiling.

---

    “I look ridiculous in this,” B’Elanna said, looking down at the white, gray, and black uniforms she and Tom would be wearing on the Delta Flyer for the race. “Any particular reason we couldn’t wear our regular uniforms? Or even our civilian clothes?”

    “You look great, B’Elanna,” Tom said, looking around at the crowd of aliens and Starfleet personnel mingling in the mess hall for the pre-race ceremony. “Oh. There she is.”

    “Who? Oh, Irina. She seems friendly.”     “Too friendly,” Tom said. “Remember, far as she’s concerned we’re already married.”     “You don’t really think she’d be so brazen as to flirt with you right in front-” B’Elanna stopped talking when she saw the look Irina was giving Tom as she approached them. “Okay, I guess she will be.”     “Like I said,” Tom whispered, “she’s not a bad pilot, but she’s not so good at taking a hint.”

    “Tom,” Irina said, extending her hand, which Tom took and shook politely. “Good to see you before the race. And this must be B’Elanna Torres. Pleasure to meet you.” She offered the same hand to B’Elanna as well, smiling.     If she’s faking being nice to me, B’Elanna thought, she’s a damn good actor. Hell, with a smile like that I’d consider dating her.

    “Nice to meet you,” B’Elanna said. “Looking forward to see what you can do in person.”     “That’s right,” Irina said, “I’d almost forgotten, you’re Tom’s co-pilot now. Any particular reason Harry Kim couldn’t make it?”     B’Elanna looked at Tom, who was laughing nervously.     “Oh, nothing major,” Tom said. “I just remembered that I hadn’t taken the missus out in the new Flyer yet, and this is as good an excuse as any.”     That was weak, Tom. “In a way, this ship is kind of like our baby,” B’Elanna said, putting an arm around Tom’s waist, and hoping she could save him from further embarrassing himself with bad excuses.     “Well,” Irina said, “I’ll try not to be too hard on your baby then. I do still intend to win, after all.”     “Yeah, well,” Tom said, confidence entering his voice, “we’ll see about that.” He smiled, and B’Elanna could tell that he was not faking it. He really expected to win. That didn’t worry her though. The Delta Flyer II was a great little ship, and while she hadn’t contributed as much to it as Tom or Seven of Nine or Harry had, she was still proud of it.

    “Oh, speaking of things to look out for,” Irina said, her gaze falling on one of the other pilots, a blue-suited one staring out the viewport with his arms crossed, making a point of not talking to anyone. “His name’s Assan. He was a fighter pilot in the wars, one of the most ruthless. I doubt he’ll outright cheat, but he’s going to be as rough as he thinks he can get away with, I’m sure of it.

    “Oh, hey, I see Joxom,” Irina said, changing the subject so quickly B’Elanna almost didn’t register it. Irina ran over to another alien, one the same species as her, and gave him a more than friendly hug. She and Tom shared a look.     “I wonder if he knows-”     “Tom, be fair. Her species could be polyamorous,” B’Elanna said.     “Maybe,” Tom said. “All the same, the more he’s around the more comfortable I’ll be.”

    “It’s not like you to be this judgemental, Tom,” B’Elanna said.     Tom chuckled. “Yeah, you’re right. Let’s focus on winning the race, then on getting married once we win.”

    “Damn straight,” B’Elanna said. “Oh, before I forget, Seven has been helping with race preparation in astrometrics.”

“She told me about that, actually,” Tom said. “Said she’s analyzing the course to find ways to cut time. Already sent a few ideas to the Flyer’s computer. Too many ideas really. Is she nervous about something? This doesn’t seem quite like her.”     B’Elanna took in a deep breath. “Well, from what I hear, she’s going to be talking to the in-laws during the next communication window with the Alpha Quadrant.”     “Ah,” Tom said. “Wants to make a good impression on Sam’s parents?”     “You didn’t remember?”     “Remember what?”     “Sam lost an uncle at Wolf 359. Her mom’s brother. Twin brother, actually.”     “Oh, shit,” Tom said.     “Yeah,” B’Elanna said.

---

    Under most circumstances, the sight of more than a dozen fully armed starships lined up facing each other would be a sign that something terrible was about to happen, but to the pilots of the smaller vessels lined up for the race it was an impressive send-off. Tom looked at the ships, a line on the port, and a line on the starboard. Voyager was at the far end of the port side line up, it’s clean white hull standing out amongst the various shades of dark grey and light brown vessels making up the rest.

    “On the one hand,” Tom said, “it’s a shame Harry is going to miss this. On the other, this is going to be one hell of a story for us to tell the grandkids.”     “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Lieutenant,” B'Elanna said as she did a final pre-flight check. Tom couldn’t quite remember the last time he’d seen her this excited about something. Certainly it had been before her physical therapy after having a number of Borg implants removed. He still winced sometimes thinking about how that must’ve felt. She didn’t like talking about the experience, and he respected that choice, but he couldn’t help his curiosity.

    “Ready to bring that impulse drive online?” Tom said.     “Been ready for a few minutes,” B’Elanna said. “I didn’t want to start them up too soon. We’ve still got a few stragglers coming in before the race starts, and I don’t want to waste an ounce of fuel. And before you say anything, yes I know we have more than enough to cover the race, but I don’t want to take any chances.”     Tom smiled. “Whoever thought we’d live to see the day when B’Elanna Torres was the cautious one.”     “Eight years ago I never imagined I’d be taking pride in a Starfleet designed engine,” B’Elanna said. “Things change.”

    “Well, hopefully your hatred of losing hasn’t,” Tom said.     “Oh, we’re going to win,” B’Elanna said. “Don’t doubt that for a second.”     Once the pre-flight check was done, Tom waited for the signal. A few moments later, the sound of Ambassador O’Zaal, speaking from Voyager’s bridge on an open channel to all vessels involved in the race, filled the cabin.

    “Welcome to the first running of the Antarian Trans-Stellar Rally. This moment marks a hopeful point in our shared history, a chance to put aside old animosities and come together in a spirit of peace and friendly competition. Good luck to all of you. Prepare for the starting signal.”

A few seconds later, Voyager fired a low-yield photon torpedo that detonated a few hundred meters in front of the starting point.     “And we’re off,” Tom said, pushing the throttle forward.

---

    Seven of Nine found herself grateful for the distraction as she listened to Neelix excitedly announce updates on the Delta Flyer’s progress in the race over the ship’s comm systems from astrometrics. She operated the consoles, leaving the theatrics to the much more suited crewmember. She doubted she could muster up quite that much enthusiasm if she tried. It was much easier to be so emotionally free when it was just her and Samantha.

Much better to think about this than about what to say to my mother-in-law, Seven thought, as Neelix shouted gleefully about the Flyer taking a strong third place. That put them well ahead of the next nearest challenger, with relatively little distance separating it from the two in the lead; Irina and Assan.

The sound of the door to astrometrics opening caught Seven’s attention. The Captain and Lieutenant Kim walked in but didn’t say anything, instead leaning against a pair of consoles and watching Neelix announcing the race. Seven wondered why they couldn’t just listen over the comm like everyone else, but decided that asking wasn’t worth the effort. The answer wasn’t that important. She looked at the screen, watching the icons representing each vessel, focusing on the gold icon representing the new Delta Flyer.

“You certainly have a knack for announcing, Neelix,” Captain Janeway said.     “It’s all in the delivery, Captain,” Neelix said. “Though I have to give your people much of the credit. Remember when Kes and I were monitoring all those Earth programs a few years ago when we found ourselves thrown back to your world in the 1990s?”     “Ah yes,” Janeway said, smirking. “The day my fascination with time travel started its sharp decline.”     “I picked up a few things from some of your sports programs,” Neelix said. “Oh, looks like the Flyer is coming up on the Möbius Inversion.”

---

    “The Inversion’s supposed to have level 6 subspace distortions and gravimetric shear,” Tom said. “We’ll have to be careful around that.”

    “It covers the last third of this leg of the course,” B’Elanna said, “so being careful inside the wormhole will be easier said than done.”

    “You know,” Tom said, looking at the Möbius Inversion as it grew larger in the viewport, “it occurs to me that statistically speaking we have run into way too many wormholes here in the Delta Quadrant. Kinda makes the Bajoran one seem less special.”     “I haven’t really thought of it that way,” B’Elanna said. “Usually I just end up being disappointed that none of the ones we come across are a shortcut home.”     Tom shrugged, and was about to mention that on the positive side one of those wormholes did at least knock two years off their trip a while back, but the Flyer began vibrating slightly as it approached the event horizon of the Inversion.

    “Hold on tight,” Tom said, gripping the controls tighter than he probably should’ve.     “The radiation of the Inversion is going to block Voyager’s sensors,” B’Elanna said. “They won’t be able to track our progress until we reach the other side.”     “That should only be about fifty meters away,” Tom said.

    “Forty meters away,” B’Elanna said a few seconds later, “and the two lead ships right ahead of us.”     “I can see them,” Tom said. “A little too close for comfort seeing as I don’t need sensors to do that.”

    “And close together too,” B’Elanna said, “but I think we can get through them. I’m reversing our deflector polarity. It’ll repel their shields. Why wait for an opening when you can make one?”

    “Sounds too risky,” Tom said.     “Too risky? Who are you and what have you done with my fiancé?” B’Elanna said as she moved to another console and began manipulating controls.

    “What’re you doing?” Tom said.

    “Deploying auxiliary thrusters,” B’Elanna said. “We’ll need the extra maneuvering power to get through the gap.”     Tom opened his mouth to protest, but decided it wasn’t worth it and refocused himself on flying the ship. It shuddered violently but briefly as it sped in between the two lead ships, knocking them aside slightly but not enough to throw them completely off course. Tom was grateful for that. He would hate to win by having the competition exploding behind him.     “That was way too risky,” Tom said, turning to look back at B’Elanna. “I hate to sound rude, but I’m the pilot, I’m the one who should be making those calls.”

    B’Elanna did look upset at first, like she was about to argue, but whatever counterpoint she was going to offer evaporated before she could say it.     “I saw a chance and I took it,” B’Elanna said, quietly. “You’re right though, you’re the one flying this thing, I should’ve asked.”     “Good,” Tom said. He smiled and added, “Great move by the way. We have a comfortable lead now.”

    “Attention all racers,” Ambassador O’Zaal’s voice said over the Flyer’s comm. “There’s been an accident. Stay in order and shut down your engines.”     Tom did as instructed quickly, hoping that whatever happened wasn’t serious. He glanced back at B’Elanna and could tell by looking at her that she was worried that it had been her fault, and that whoever was wounded had been on either Irina or Assan’s ship when they blew past them in the Inversion.

---

    With O’Zaal just a few steps behind her, Janeway entered sickbay where The Doctor ran a medical tricorder over a wounded Joxom, Irina’s co-pilot.

    “Report,” Janeway said.     “His condition is stabilizing,” The Doctor said. “I should be able to start dermal regeneration in a few hours.”     “This was Assan’s fault,” Irina said, standing near the biobed where Joxom was being treated.     “Why do you say that?” O’Zaal said.

    “He collided with me so many times my shield generator overloaded,” Irina said. “Joxom’s console exploded. He’s lucky he’s alive.”

    “Janeway to Tuvok, have the pilot Assan brought to the briefing room, ASAP. Ambassador, I imagine you’ll want to be there as well.”

    “Want, and need, Captain,” O’Zaal said. “We need to get as full a picture of what happened as possible.”     Janeway nodded. “We’ll want Tom and B’Elanna as well. They were ahead of both ships, their flight data might have picked up information we need for the investigation. Irina, come with me.”

    “Of course,” Irina said, taking one last long look at her co-pilot before following.

---

    “The only thing I’m guilty of,” Assan said, sounding smug to Tom, “is coming in second. A situation which will be remedied in the next leg.”     If he has any concern for Joxom at all, Tom thought, he’s hiding it well.

    “You’re doing a poor job of defending yourself,” O’Zaal said, visibly nervous.     “We may have had something to do with this too,” B’Elanna said. “We grazed both of their shields in the Möbius Inversion.”

    Tom felt as much as saw all eyes in the room turning on him and B’Elanna; Assan, Irina, Tuvok, the Captain, O’Zaal all looked at them, surprised at B’Elanna’s declaration of guilt. Tom doubted very much that she was to blame, but he had to admit that he was clearly too biased on the matter. He hoped as much as believed that this was not her fault.

    “Intentionally?” Janeway said.     “It was a tight course,” Tom said, “everyone was flying very aggressively.”

    “Your team is not responsible, Captain,” Irina said. “My generators were already overloading when they made contact.”

    “Perhaps none of you is to blame,” Tuvok said, looking down at the PADD in his hands. “My security team found a device interfaced with her ship’s shield generator.” Tuvok touched a button on his PADD and a picture of the device in question appeared on the main briefing room monitor.

    “What is it?” Janeway said.     “According to Lieutenant Anderson’s analysis,” Tuvok said, “it is a phase inverter, designed to cause a system overload.”

    “It’s hard to believe someone would go this far just to knock a competitor out of the race,” Janeway said, though to Tom’s ears she didn’t sound confident of that.

    “This may be more than a simple case of cheating, Captain,” O’Zaal said, sounding worried. “I think someone’s trying to end the peace.”

    “Maybe I’m missing something here,” Janeway said, “but we’re talking about a single act of sabotage. How does that threaten your treaty?”

    “By itself, it wouldn’t,” O’Zaal admitted, standing up and starting to pace with his hands behind his back. “But we’ve received threats of a more serious nature.”     “From whom?” Tuvok asked.

    “Groups opposed to the alliance,” O’Zaal said. “Arms dealers, isolationists, political extremists. Up until now I wasn’t sure how seriously to take them.”

“Clearly they post a security threat,” Tuvok said.     “Yes, yes,” O’Zaal said. “We’ve done everything we could to protect the racers, but that might not be enough. I don’t want to risk any more lives. We should cancel the race or at least postpone it until we can guarantee everyone’s safety.”

Tom didn’t like that idea one bit. Even setting aside that he and B’Elanna were in the lead, this race was of vital symbolic importance to the inhabitants of this region of space. Giving in to extremists, assuming that’s who was behind the sabotage instead of just some cheater, could only hurt the peace in the long run.

“No,” Irina said. “If we stop now we’ll be letting these extremists win.”

Exactly what I was thinking, Tom thought.

“She’s right,” Assan said, without a trace of the egotism in his voice he’d had in everything else Tom had heard him say.

O’Zaal didn’t look optimistic, but he nodded. “Very well then. If that’s the consensus we’ll resume tomorrow as scheduled.”

---

    “There you are,” Harry Kim said as he saw Tom, B’Elanna, and Irina walking side by side in the corridor, clearly on their way to the shuttle bay. “Congrats on taking the lead, Tom. I was sorry to hear about Joxom though. Glad to hear he’s recovering.”

    “Thank you, Harry,” Irina said.

“By the way, did you get my request?”     “What request?” Tom said.     “I was about to tell you,” Harry said. “I asked if I could be Irina’s new co-pilot while Joxom recovers.”

    “Oh, that’s very nice, but you don’t need to-”

    “Well, hey you still want to win, don’t you?” Harry said, smiling.     “This is payback for me replacing you with B’Elanna isn’t it?” Tom said.     “Only a little bit,” Harry admitted. “But also, Irina did us a solid with that converter, and I’d hate to see her have to drop out. I checked with the race officials, and they say it’s all good, so long as Irina herself signs off on it of course.”

    “Um, sure,” Irina said. “Though my ship’s damaged, so it may end up being an empty gesture.”     “You don’t know our Harry,” Tom said. “Once he’s set his mind to something…”

    “He’ll not only fix your ship,” B’Elanna said, “he’ll polish the bulkheads.”

    “Well, okay then,” Irina said, smiling. “Welcome aboard Lieutenant Kim.”     “I’ll try not to gloat too much when we win,” Harry said to Tom.     Tom just shook his head.     “Humans,” B’Elanna said, rolling her eyes.     “Says the half-human,” Tom said, playfully poking B’Elanna in the arm. Harry laughed at them as he and Irina made their way to her ship while the others went to the Delta Flyer.

---

    With the race back in full swing, Tom and B’Elanna held onto their lead, but Irina and Harry, as well as Assan, were doing an admirable job of catching up. At least they were until Harry suddenly noticed that Irina’s ship was gradually losing speed.

    “We’re slipping,” Harry said. “Assan just pulled ahead of us.”

    “Don’t worry about it,” Irina said. Something in her tone made Harry uneasy, but he got distracted by an alert noise from his console before he could think of reasons why that might be.

    “I’m reading malfunctions in the EPS relays,” he said. “But we double checked all of them last night.”

    “We must’ve missed something,” Irina said. “At this rate, we’re going to be out of the race in a couple of minutes.”     Harry wasn’t one hundred percent sure, but the way Irina said that suggested she wasn’t all that concerned about losing, a complete 180 degree turn from where she’d been last night while they’d worked on her ship together. Now he was certain something was wrong.

    “I think I can reroute power through the impulse manifold,” Harry said.

    “No,” Irina said suddenly, reaching out to stop him.     “Why not?” Harry said, fully suspicious now.     “It could damage the reactor coils,” Irina said.     “I was in engineering before I was an operations officer,” Harry said. “I know for a fact that reactor coils have nothing to do with impulse manifolds.”

    “These systems are different than what you’re used to,” Irina said, looking out the viewport and continuing to operate the controls as normal.

    “Why-” Harry’s question was cut off by another alarm sound.     “I think it’s the injector ports,” Irina said, bolting out of the pilot’s chair and heading for the back of the ship. Harry looked at his console.     “No, it’s an overload in my console,” he said, pushing himself back just in time to avoid the explosion. The same kind of explosion that had injured Joxom. Harry found himself wishing he had a phaser with him. “This wasn’t an accident,” he said, turning to look at Irina, who now held a weapon on him.

    “I’m sorry Harry,” she said. “I really am.”     A hologram, a dead woman, a Borg, the wrong twin, now this, Harry thought. If I believed in a God I’d think he was punishing for thinking about other women than Libby.

    “So this is one of those days then,” he said aloud. He wanted to be angrier than he was, but really he was just disappointed in himself for having fallen into a trap. “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to tell me why you sabotaged your own ship twice.”

    “I don’t mind at all, actually,” Irina said. “I don’t need to kill you to accomplish what I came to do. If I did, you’d already be dead.”     “Fair point,” Harry said, hoping that Irina didn’t catch his glance towards the pilot’s console. He wasn’t quite close enough to just reach for it, but if he was quick enough he could leap to it and turn the ship fast enough that the inertial dampeners wouldn’t compensate and Irina would hopefully lose her balance. It was a huge gamble, so he needed to do the math in his head to ensure the best chance of success. The longer Irina talked...

    “If you’re hoping to call for help,” she said, gently motioning her gun at the communications panel which happened to be next to what Harry was actually looking at, “don’t bother. I disabled it before we launched. You won’t be able to fix it in time.”

    “In time for what?” Harry said.     “For the Delta Flyer to reach the finish line,” Irina said. Then she sighed. “Okay, that was too cryptic. I said I’d tell you, so I will. When the Delta Flyer passes the finish line, it will be passing very close to more than a dozen ships full of people, all congregating for this ‘peace’ Ambassador O’Zaal keeps going on about.”     “You’re one the extremists,” Harry said.

    “I prefer to think of myself as a purist,” Irina said. “Some of us were happier when all the other species were separate. We don’t want to be like you and your Federation.”     “The way you were flirting with my best friend, in front of his fiancee no less, you certainly could’ve fooled me,” Harry said, not caring that he’d revealed the truth about Tom’s marital status. He was pretty sure now Irina didn’t actually care.

    “I needed someone to deliver the explosive,” Irina said. “Who better than a show-off pilot who wants to win a big race?”

    “The fuel converter you gave us,” Harry said. “It’s a bomb. How the hell did we manage to miss that?”

    “Your friend Tuvok might’ve caught it, but you never actually had security look at the device I gave you. Sloppy work, Lieutenant junior grade Kim,” Irina said, practically spitting every syllable of Harry’s name and rank.     “I’ll be sure to pass that information along to Commander Tuvok,” Harry said.     “Once your Captain guarantees my safety, I’m sure you will,” Irina said.

    Now’s as good a time as any, Harry thought. He opened his mouth as if to reply to what Irina had just said, but then lunged for the console. A blast from Irina’s weapon grazed over him close enough that he could feel the heat of it, but she had clearly missed. He then lunged at her as she tried to right herself after the sharp turn, and despite their equal height, he had Starfleet hand-to-hand combat training to fall back on. Granted, he had only barely passed that exam, but it was enough and within seconds he’d wrestled the weapon away from Irina. He stepped back, the weapon levelled at her while she was still on the floor, propping herself up with her elbows.     “You’d better shoot me,” Irina said. “Because if I get that gun back-”     “Give it a rest,” Harry said, turning the pilot’s chair with one hand so that he could see the console and keep her in his peripheral vision. “You may have disabled your comm system, but this wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had to get creative in contacting another ship.”

---

    The Delta Flyer shuddered suddenly, which gave Tom pause, as they were nowhere near an obstacle that could do that.     “We’re being scanned by some kind of modulating pulse,” B’Elanna said. “It’s from Irina’s ship.”

    “Maybe it has to do with why they slowed down all of a sudden,” Tom said. “They must need help. Their comm system may be down if this is how Harry’s trying to get in touch with us.”

    Tom wanted to win the race, and Assan was mere meters behind him, but he knew that if it came down to it he’d choose rescuing his best friend over crossing that finish line first without hesitating. He already was prepared to turn around when B’Elanna continued.

    “There’s something odd about the amplitude,” she said. Soon a sound filled the cabin, and Tom recognized it immediately.     “Morse code,” he said.     “What?”     “It’s an old style of communication they used on Earth back before even radios were in regular usage. Harry’s trying to send out an S.O.S.”     “I do know what S.O.S. means,” B’Elanna said. “They’re in trouble.”     “Preparing to bring us about,” Tom said, looking at the small monitor next to his console. “Put the modulation on my screen.” B’Elanna did so quickly and as Tom turned the controls he used his knowledge to parse out what Harry was sending. It wasn’t an S.O.S., he could tell that much, the pattern didn’t fit. “Fuel converter rigged?” he said in shock.     “Rigged? How?” B’Elanna said.     “I don’t know, that’s just Harry’s message. Fuel converter rigged.”

    B’Elanna began rapidly tapping buttons on her console. “The converter is leaking veridium isotopes.”

    “Why didn’t the computer warn us?” Tom said.     “The on-line sensors have been tampered with,” B’Elanna said, “but we have a bigger problem. I don’t think I can contain the leak. The veridium is already reacting with the warp plasma.”

    “That’ll cause a warp core breach,” Tom said. “We’d better eject it.”     “Too late to eject the converter,” B’Elanna said. “We’ll have to eject the core.”     “Once we do we’ll have less than a minute to clear out of range,” B’Elanna said.     “I don’t think we’ll make it,” Tom said, feeling surprisingly calm given the circumstances. “Neither will anyone else within a million kilometers. There’s a nebula near by. I’m taking us towards it.”

    “How will that help? Besides taking us out of range of all the ships at the finish line I mean,” B’Elanna said. She had obviously figured out as much as he had that the dignitaries there were the target of this explosion.

    “It’s a J-class,” Tom said. “Filled with ionized gas. Should contain the explosion.”     “So much for our wedding plans,” B’Elanna said.     “Well, let’s just hope our heroic deaths earn us both a place in Sto'Vo'Kor,” Tom said.     “I’m not giving up just yet,” B’Elanna said. “I’m still trying to get the ejection subroutines on-line. Looks like Irina sabotaged that too. I’ll make sure to tell her she did a good job of hiding what she did before I wring her neck.”

    “Warp core breach in twenty seconds,” the computer’s voice said.

    “Just one more… got it!” B’Elanna said. “Warp core ejected!”     “Nine, eight…” the computer continued.     “It’s in the nebula,” Tom said, pulling the controls as hard as dared. “C’mon, c’mon, c’mon,” he muttered to himself as the countdown reached zero. “I love you,” he said as the shockwave caught up to the Flyer.

---

    Janeway graciously accepted the consolation from Ambassador O’Zaal as Assan’s ship flew past the finish line first. She was about to thank him for the opportunity when Voyager shuddered slightly.     “What was that?” Neelix said, his presence in the mess hall being why Janeway hadn’t known until now just how far behind the Delta Flyer had fallen.     “Janeway to the bridge, report,” she said after tapping her comm badge.     “That was the shockwave of an antimatter explosion,” Tuvok said. “Approximately 1.2 million light years from here.     “I’m on my way,” Janeway said, handing her glass of champagne to Neelix before heading for the door.

    As soon as she reached the bridge, Tuvok informed her of the situation as best he knew it. That the Delta Flyer had changed course suddenly, that Irina’s ship with Harry Kim on board had inexplicably stopped before the end of the race, and that the Flyer’s position was currently unknown but that it was last spotted near the site of the explosion.

    Janeway wasted no time in ordering that they go immediately to find them, fearing the worst.     “Captain,” Seven of Nine said “we’ll be passing by Irina’s vessel on our path. Shall we bring her and Lieutenant Kim aboard?”

    “Good thinking,” Janeway said, “Do it.”

    A few moments later, Harry’s voice came over the comm, calling for security to the shuttle bay. Janeway gave Tuvok a nod, and he left the bridge without a word.     “Well,” Janeway said, worry about Harry and why he needed security fighting with concern for Tom and B’Elanna for control of her focus. “This day took an odd turn.”

---

    Seven of Nine found herself in the regretful position of wishing that Tom and B’Elanna had been more injured when they and the Delta Flyer had been recovered. She believed that she could use concern for her shipmates as an excuse to avoid what was coming, but she just couldn’t do that to Samantha. This moment was very important to her.

    “So, I hear the post-race festivities are still on,” Samantha said, leaning against the bulkhead. She, Seven, and Naomi waited outside astrometrics for Ensign Brooks, who was in line ahead of them, to finish.     “Correct,” Seven said. “It would appear that Irina’s plans failed in more ways than one. Her homeworld’s government seems more willing than ever now to contribute to the peace.”

    “That’s good,” Sam said.     “Mom,” Naomi said, “are you sure Icheb can’t join us?”     Sam smiled as she stroked her daughter’s hair. “Sweetie, your grandma’s already going to have a lot to take in. Seeing you for the first time, me getting married again… I think introducing her to an adopted grandson at the same time might be a bit much.”     Perhaps I should let the two of you speak to her alone, Seven thought of saying, but inwardly scolded herself for thinking it. She hated feeling this uncomfortable about something that should be a positive.

    “Okay,” Naomi said, grudging acceptance in her voice, though Seven had already heard her say the same thing in the same way only a few hours ago. Naomi was not shy about sharing her disappointment.

    “You okay, Annie?” Sam said. “You look a little nervous.”     “Because I am,” Seven said. “Though I suppose that is a fairly common human response to such situations.”

    “You’ll do fine,” Sam said. “To be honest, and Naomi you are not to breathe a word of this to anyone, it’s my Mom I’m worried about. Like I said before, she was never quite the same after Uncle Doug died. I’d be lying if I wasn’t terrified about how she’ll react when she sees you.”     “Don’t worry, Mom,” Naomi said, trying to reassure Samantha in a manner Seven found endearing. “Grandma will see how nice Seven is. She won’t be mad once she knows that Seven isn’t a Borg drone anymore.”

    “We’ll see,” Sam said, “we’ll see.”

    The sound of the door to astrometrics opening caught Seven’s attention. A smiling Ensign Brooks stepped out, though she did appear to have been crying as well.     “You’re up,” she said.     “You okay, Sue?” Sam said.     “Oh absolutely,” Brooks said. “I just saw my nephew for the first time. He was born just a few weeks after we ended up in the Delta Quadrant. I was so happy to see him I cried. I know it’s silly-”

    “Hey, hey,” Sam said, “it’s perfectly normal. Don’t do this to yourself. And don’t worry, you’ll see him in person someday soon, I know it. With as many years as we’ve been shaving off the trip home lately, I bet you’ll be there to see him off to the Academy.”     “You know what?” Brooks said. “I think you’re right. Have fun talking to your parents, Sam,” Brooks said.

    “Thanks,” Sam said. After taking a deep breath, she added, “All right, let’s do this.”     Sam, Seven, and Naomi entered astrometrics. Megan Delaney was standing where Seven normally would at a console as far from the viewscreen as she could get. It was a good chance anyone on the other end of the communication could still see her though, but someone had to be there in order to handle the adjustments required to keep the communication link stable.     “I’m arranging the call as we speak,” Megan said. “I’ll have your parents home comm on the screen in under a minute.”     “Thanks, Megan,” Sam said.     Seven felt Sam squeeze her hand as the image on the astrometrics lab screen went from a black screen with the Federation logo, to brief static, to a woman’s face.

    “Hi, Mom,” Samantha said, smiling.     “Samantha, it is so good to see you again sweetheart,” Linette Wildman said, smiling, but looking tired, like she’d just woken up from oversleeping. “I was hoping I’d hear from you soon once we found out you were alive from your EMH.”

    “It’s great to see you too, Mom,” Sam said. “Where’s Dad?”     “James wasn’t able to make it back,” Linette said. “He wants me to send his love though.”     “Right, I’d heard he came out of retirement after the war started,” Sam said.     “That’s right. He decided to stay after the Dominion surrendered though, and I can see why. We lost a lot of experienced Captains during the war. How’s Nancy?”     “Your sister’s fine,” Linette said. “Anti-social as usual.”

    So far so good, Seven thought.     “Mom, I’ve got a few people I’d like you to meet,” Sam said, gently nudging Naomi to stand in front of her. Naomi smiled nervously and waved at the screen.     “Hi, grandma,” she said.     “Well hello there, Naomi. You really have grown so fast haven’t you? And I can see you have your father’s horns. You are just so adorable.”     Seven allowed herself a small smile.

    “Thank you,” Naomi said. Linette’s smile rapidly faded when her gaze shifted to what would be her left.     “You must be the new spouse, I suppose,” she said.

    “Mom,” Samantha said, “This is Annika.”     “A pleasure to see you, Mrs. Wildman,” Seven said, trying not to sound as uncomfortable as she felt by the sudden shift in her mother-in-law’s tone.

    “Uh-huh,” Linette said, not sounding convinced. “So, Sam, is there any reason the Borg has to be here? Can’t I just talk to my daughter and granddaughter?”     Seven glanced over and saw the expressions of happiness on Sam and Naomi’s faces fade almost simultaneously.     “Mom, Annie and I are married. She’s part of this family. She has every right to be here. If this is about Greskrendtregk-”

    “A little bit, yeah,” Linette said. “Is three years all it takes for you to get over a man you have a child with?”     “It’s more complicated than that, Mom,” Sam said. “I know this is a complicated situation but-”     “It shouldn’t be,” Linette said. “You were already married. I can’t believe the Federation would let this thing you have going with this Borg stand.”

    Seven saw Sam’s face starting to turn red, though whether it was from embarrassment or anger at how her mother was behaving, she couldn’t tell. She took a deep breath, and responded.     “Mom, would you want to be the ones to tell the Denobulans, or the Elerians, or the Sklorno that their relationships are invalid?” she said, referring to only three of the numerous polyamourous species that held membership in the Federation. “And besides, Greskrendtregk moved on too when he thought I was dead. Ktarians process emotional trauma faster than humans. He’s sent letters, we’re fine. You make it sound like I just left him for some random woman.”

    “No, not random. A Borg. The people who killed your Uncle and his entire crew at Wolf 359,” Linette said.

    And there it is, Seven thought. A part of her had hoped this wouldn’t come up, but deep down she knew it was inevitable. Seven heard a soft whimper, the sound that Naomi made when she was trying very hard not to cry.     “Maybe I should leave,” Seven whispered to Sam.

“What were you thinking, Sam, really?” Linette said before Sam could respond. “After what happened to Doug? After everything the Borg have done to the Federation all it takes for you to forget is one of them to come along and shove her tits in your face-”     “Mom!” Sam yelled, sounding angrier than Seven could ever remember her sounding in the several years she’d known her. “You have no right to talk to her that way. She wasn’t there, and even if she had been she was a drone. She had no control over what she did while she was a Borg. But she’s free now, and she is my wife. She is a part of this family. If you don’t like her, fine, but do not talk about her that way. Especially don’t talk about her like she’s not here.”     “Okay,” Linette said. “What do you have to say for yourself then, Seven of Nine?”     I have never been this uncomfortable in my entire life, Seven thought.     “Um, well,” she said, “I’m sorry for what happened to your twin. I can’t begin to imagine how-”

“No, you can’t,” Linette said. “You’ve only been human for, what, three years now?”     “Oh my god, Mom, please stop,” Sam said, her head in one hand, the other holding Naomi close. Naomi clung tight to Sam’s leg, looking as uncomfortable as Seven felt.

“I think I have the right to know what kind of woman she is, Samantha. She is my daughter-in-law now, like it or not.”     “It has been approximately three years since I was freed from the Collective, yes,” Seven said.     “Yet you still talk like one of them. How do I know one day you won’t try to jam one of your assimilation devices into my little girl’s neck?”     Seven never got the chance to respond, as Sam slammed her hand down on the console to cut off the channel. Seven winced at the sound of the impact. As loud as it was, Sam must’ve hurt her hand when she did so.     “Sam?” Seven said, reaching out to touch Samantha’s arm. Sam was taking in deep breaths, her eyes closed.

    “Mom,” Naomi said softly, “why was grandma being so mean?”

“She’s a- she’s never been the same since her twin brother died, sweetie,” Sam said. “She wasn’t always like this, I swear,” she added, looking at Seven when she did so.

Seven pulled Sam in close for a hug.     “I’m so sorry that didn’t go as you’d hoped,” she said.     Sam didn’t say anything, she simply started crying.