Part 9
Tom sat at the helm, having just arrived on duty. He was tense
because the Commander wasn't sitting behind him. Chakotay
was in sickbay, and hopefully the doctor would allow him back
on duty.
Tom hated being on the bridge when his spouse wasn't there.
For over five years Chakotay had been sitting behind Tom when
he flew. First in the Maquis, when Chakotay had been a Captain
and Tom had been his pilot. And for the past year and a half on
Voyager, with Chakotay as the First Officer and Tom as the
Senior Pilot.
Tom's musings were interrupted when the doors to the turbolift
hissed open. The young man relaxed and smiled softly to
himself as he sensed his husband's presence on the bridge.
"Good morning Commander," Captain Janeway said. She
studied her XO for a moment while he came over to sit down
beside her. "I take it that the doctor cleared you for duty. Or are
you here against his orders?" she added teasingly.
Chakotay chuckled. "No, he cleared me for duty." The First
Officer leaned over towards the Captain and lowered his voice.
"I wouldn't have come on duty against the doctor's orders. If I
did, Tom would just be worried."
Kathryn Janeway nodded in understanding. She had seen how
upset Tom had appeared the night before.
"Captain, I'm picking up a ship on long range sensors. It's
headed towards us at warp 3." Harry Kim's voice interrupted her
thoughts.
She turned to look at Harry. "Anyone we know, Mr. Kim?"
Harry checked his readings before he answered. "It's a Sakaran
ship," he said. "They'll be in communications range in five
minutes."
Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay looked at each
other warily. Then the Commander looked over at Harry. "We're
not in Sakaran space, are we?" he asked quietly.
Harry shook his head. "No, Commander, we're well outside
Sakaran space," he replied.
"Good. There shouldn't be any problems, then," Chakotay said.
They had run into the Sakarans a while back. Voyager had
unknowingly crossed into Sakaran space, and the Sakarans had
told Captain Janeway in no uncertain terms to leave or be
destroyed.
The Captain had ordered Tom to get the ship out of Sakaran
territory. When she had apologized to the Sakarans, telling them
that they hadn't discovered the border, the Sakarans had been
polite enough to give Voyager an escort.
After Voyager had left Sakaran space, their escort had warned
Captain Janeway not to cross the border again. When the escort
had left, the Captain had questioned Neelix, who informed her
that the Sakarans were a very aggressive race. Anyone who
crossed into their territory was given a warning and escorted to
the nearest border.
Any ship that disregarded the warning and crossed into Sakaran
space was destroyed.
When Kathryn Janeway heard this, she told Tom to plot a course
that would keep Voyager out of Sakaran territory.
That was three weeks ago and they hadn't run into any trouble
since. They had detected a Sakaran ship near the border every
once in a while, though, apparently watching them to make sure
that they didn't cross over. Voyager kept her distance.
Now, as they waited for the Sakaran ship to arrive, the entire
bridge crew wondered why it was there. Not once in the past
three weeks had any of the Sakaran ships crossed the border.
Until now.
Harry's voice broke the silence on the bridge. "Captain, the
Sakaran ship is hailing us."
Janeway rose from her chair and moved to stand behind Tom at
the helm. "On screen," she ordered.
As the image of a Sakaran woman came into view, the
Commander rose and walked over to stand beside Captain
Janeway. He unconsciously put a hand on his husband's
shoulder. Tom leaned back slightly and relaxed a fraction at
Chakotay's touch.
"Captain Janeway," the Sakaran woman said. "I am Tr'ien'a'sht,
the owner of this vessel. We require your assistance."
Kathryn Janeway exchanged a quick look with her First Officer.
Then she turned back to the viewscreen, one eyebrow raised
questioningly. "How can we help you, Tr'ien'a'sht?"
The Sakaran woman's gaze swept across Voyager's bridge and
then returned to Captain Janeway. Looking straight into the
other woman's eyes, Tr'ien'a'sht explained the problem. "A few
days ago, a small ship crossed into Sakaran space. It was
obviously adrift, and there was no response when we tried to
hail it. We scanned the ship and found only one very weak
lifesign. I ordered the individual beamed to our sickbay and
went there to see who our guest was." Tr'ien'a'sht paused for a
moment, then she continued.
"When I arrived in sickbay the ship's doctor was examining a
small humanoid child, who was barely alive. When the doctor
had finished her examination, she told me that she couldn't do
much for this child. She might be able to keep it alive for a few
days. Maybe a week, but that was all." Tr'ien'a'sht stopped
speaking to gauge the aliens' reaction to her words. Especially
the Captain's.
Tr'ien'a'sht was pleased to notice that they all seemed worried.
She cleared her throat and resumed her story. "Doctor
Kr'uen'a'sht told me that she couldn't do much, because the child
was too different from us. Unfortunately, the drifting ship
destroyed itself as soon as we'd beamed the child aboard my
vessel, which meant that we couldn't get the information that our
doctor needed to be able to help the child.
I stood in sickbay and considered what could be done. I'd
beamed aboard a dying child that my doctor couldn't help and I
didn't know what to do. Going back to Sakara would be a waste
of time. It would take us nine days to reach Sakara, and even if
Doctor Kr'uen'a'sht could keep the child alive for that long, she's
the best doctor on Sakara. If she couldn't help, then no one else
could either.
I asked Kr'uen'a'sht if she had any ideas about what to do with
the child. She suggested that you might be able to help."
Tr'ien'a'sht gave Captain Janeway a quick smile. "I think that
Kr'uen'a'sht was right. You might be able to help this child. Its
appearance is very similar to yours. Would you be willing to
take care of the child?"
Before Kathryn Janeway could answer, Commander Chakotay
spoke up. "I noticed that you spoke of the child as 'it'. May I ask
why that is?"
Tr'ien'a'sht turned her gaze to Voyager's second-in-command.
She studied him briefly before answering his question. "That's
because we don't know whether it's a boy or a girl. Kr'uen'a'sht
*thinks* that the child is a girl, but she's not sure."
Tr'ien'a'sht turned back towards Captain Janeway, who smiled at
her. "Of course we'll take care of the child," Kathryn assured the
other woman. "If you beam it to our sickbay, our doctor will see
what he can do. Mr. Kim will give you the coordinates."
The Sakaran woman nodded gratefully. "Thank you, Captain
Janeway," she said. Tr'ien'a'sht seemed to hesitate for a moment
before she spoke again. "If you don't mind, I'd like to know
who'll take care of the child, if your doctor can save it," she said
quietly.
Janeway nodded. "We'll discuss that while the doctor examines
the child. When it's decided, we'll let you know."
"All right, Captain Janeway. And thank you again," Tr'ien'a'sht
said and ended the transmission.
The Captain turned to Harry Kim. "Did they get the coordinates
to sickbay?" she asked.
Harry nodded. "Yes ma'am."
Kathryn Janeway walked back to her chair and sat down. Then
she commed the doctor. "Janeway to sickbay."
"Yes, Captain," the EMH answered.
"Doctor, you should be receiving a small humanoid child from
the Sakaran ship. It is dying and the Sakarans can't do anything.
Please examine it and let me know if there's anything you can do
for it. I'll be in my Ready Room," Captain Janeway said.
The doctor hesitated for a moment. "The child has arrived,
Captain. I'll start an examination right away. Doctor out."
The Captain closed the comm-link and looked around the
bridge. "Senior staff meeting in my Ready Room in five
minutes," she said.
Five minutes later, the senior staff sat at the table in the
Captain's Ready Room. Janeway looked at each of her senior
officers. "All right everyone. We have to decide who'll take care
of the child if the doctor can save it. Any ideas?" she asked.
Commander Chakotay looked across the table at his spouse.
#What do you say, Baby? You wanted a child,# he said
telepathically.
#Sure. I still want *our* child, though,# Tom answered.
#Of course,# Chakotay acknowledged. #Knowing you, I
wouldn't expect anything else.#
Tom looked at Kathryn Janeway. "Captain," he said hesitantly.
"If you don't mind, Chakotay and I would like to take care of the
child."
Janeway looked from her senior pilot to her First Officer and
back again. "I don't mind, but are you sure?" she asked. When
Tom nodded, she turned to Chakotay. "Commander?"
Chakotay smiled at her. "We're sure, Captain," he assured her.
The Captain studied her second-in-command briefly. Then,
seeing his sincerity, she turned to the rest of the senior staff.
"Any objections?" she asked. There weren't.
She turned back to Chakotay. "All right Commander, if the
doctor can save this child, you and Lt. Paris will have the
responsibility for it. The two of you may go down to sickbay to
wait. I'll inform the doctor."
The Captain looked at the rest of the senior officers. "You're all
dismissed," she told them.
As everyone left the room, Tom and Chakotay turned to the
Captain. "Thank you, Kathryn," Chakotay said quietly.
"Yes, thank you very much, Captain," Tom said and gave her a
beaming smile.
Kathryn Janeway returned the smile. "You're welcome
gentlemen. Now, I believe you should be in sickbay with your
new child."
"Yes ma'am," the two men said in unison. Then they left the
Captain's Ready Room to go to sickbay and the new member of
their family. Both were hoping that the EMH could save the
child.