Disclaimer: What isn't owned by Paramount and Jeri Taylor (Mosaic) is a pitiful amount and I can't see either of them wanting it.

VOYAGER - THE 'LUCKY STAR' SHIP
Back at the Grind
By Amanda Darling
adarling@geocities.com

Janeway glanced up from the invitation.  "What a terrific idea!" She raved.  "It seems like forever since we were all together, but that might have to do with the fact that we used to live so close and see each other nearly every day.  We've only been home six weeks - doesn't that seem like such a short time?"

"Yes, but when you think about it, we had two weeks before Risa, two weeks on Risa and two after."

"We've been married only three weeks?  It seems like forever."

"Well, we're finally into our own place," Chakotay said with satisfaction.  They had rented a small townhouse for however long they were to live on Earth.  They had yet to inform Starfleet of their legally changed marital status, but were intending to tell them before the month was up.  There would be a full Voyager crew complement meeting in a week's time, on Earth, and ALL crewmembers were required to attend.  The invitation was for a Voyager crew party the night before the meeting.  Guests were invited for 2030hrs - just enough time to say goodnight to Naomi, who had been missing some of her grown-up friends on Voyager.  That child had been so spoiled.  She had been the ship's child, Janeway thought.  They had all loved her, all taken her to the holodeck for children's programs that they had created for her.

Most of them had become quite talented with computer holographic design and many Voyager officers had marketed programs they had created in the Delta Quadrant, including "Insurrection Alpha."  Starfleet did not take it as a 'bit of harmless fun'.  Janeway was in VERY hot water.  Ensign Parsons was staying away from Janeway.  He had explained it had been a mistake.  He had given the program to one of his close friends, having mentioned it one day, and this friend had taken it to one of Earth's hologame companies.  By the time Parsons returned from a vacation to visit his parents, it was too late to pull the game from the production line.  The friend had thought Parsons would be delighted.  Janeway understood, but was still annoyed.  That message from Starfleet had been waiting for her the minute she and Chakotay had gotten back from their part-vacation/part-honeymoon on Risa.  It had taken two days to partially calm the ruffled feathers of her commanding officers, and still, they had made no promises about not punishing officers until they could call council together to discuss the issue.  Janeway realized one thing she had NOT missed in the Delta Quadrant had been a lack of top Starfleet executives who wasted precious time worrying about things that really didn't matter in the scheme of things.

"The party sounds like fun," Chakotay said, glancing up from his separate invitation.  Since the invitations had arrived through their proper consoles and console dialings, Samantha and Neelix hadn't realized that Janeway and Chakotay were living in the same house.  "It'll be great to see everyone again.  I wonder what's happened to all of them since we got home."

"I'm sure everyone will have a tale or two.  I wonder how Samantha's pregnancy is going?  Since it's the second child, it should be easier, though there are always complications when there are irregular pairings.  Neelix is overjoyed, but sits on her like a mother hen.  In my note she mentioned he's nearly driving her crazy."

Chakotay laughed.  "Neelix wrote my letter.  He said Samantha was taking all kinds of risks she shouldn't be."

"I think he might actually take the title of most protective father-to-be away from Tom."

"Gods, I feel sorry for Samantha.  Do you remember when you had to order Paris to stop worrying about B'Elanna and get to work?"

"I do.  He wouldn't speak to me for a week.  You know, I wouldn't have done it had B'Elanna not approached Tuvok and asked him to place Paris in the brig until her first baby was born."

"Luckily for her he relaxed after the first."

"Lucky for her?  Lucky for us.  You remember the Klingon pregnancy temper we read about in Humanoid Early Child Development?"

"Most definitely.  I was never more scared for my life with her than when she was pregnant - and this was one of my closest friends.  Imagine a full Klingon!  I have no idea how the race survives if pregnancy is like that."

"What do you mean?" Janeway asked.  "They never harm the children and they have easy times delivering, comparatively."

"Maybe, but they certainly threaten enough other people.  Tom had to stay with me for a week when her hormonal temper turned on him."

"Right.  Poor guy.  I don't believe they both survived three children."

"Neither do I.  So should we send our acceptance?"

"Yes, but let's do it separately, then show up together and shock the hell out of all of them when we tell them we're married."

"Okay," Chakotay said with a grin and Kathryn called up her calendar.

"No, wait a minute, I have that KSSA evening get-together I have to attend that evening," Kathryn said with a groan.

"Have fun," Chakotay said lightly.

"Hey, not so fast.  Just for that, you're my date."

"You mean you were going to ask someone else?"

"Well, I'd considered it," she teased.  "But now you're coming for sure."

"Can't you say we have a prior commitment?"

"Not really.  They're still mad about the kiss article - and the hologame.  I really have to go.  And you really have to go with me."

"Won't that look even worse?"

"You just don't want to go!" She accused him.

"You're right.  Why does it matter what they think?"

"They're the ones who hand out commissions and starships.  I really don't want to be stuck behind a desk somewhere for the rest of my life."

"Alright, how about we go for the dinner, then apologize, but say we have another function to attend?  It's not like we're running off because we don't want to be there; Samantha and Neelix' party is a valid excuse."

"Yes and no.  Starfleet doesn't approve of Captains playing with their junior officers."

"When did it suddenly start to matter what they think?  Two weeks ago, you were just about ready to quit.  Where did all that fire that I fell in love with disappear to?"

"Chakotay." She said, not appreciating his sharper tone.

"I'm serious, Kathryn.  Will this always be a ménage a trois - you, me and Starfleet?  I am your husband, I don't ask for what you can't give, but I am asking for what you can."

"Are you telling me to choose?  You or Starfleet?  Chakotay, I thought you understood-"

"I understand, but don't like it.  Maybe this is the final moment Kathryn.  I don't want to spend the rest of my life Kissing Some Starfleet Ass, and I didn't think you did either."

Rather than reply, she stormed out of the townhouse.  Right about now, she really wished for one of those ancient automobiles Paris had told her about several years ago.  She would have had the tires squealing and just taken off.  She also would have had the potential to get into a fatal accident.  In retrospect, she did appreciate the advances technology had made, though it made for a more difficult getaway, considering Chakotay had left the house right after her and was nearly on her heels.  He grabbed her and spun her around.  "I don't think so, Kathryn.  I'm not letting you run away this time."

"Chakotay, you don't understand!  I love Starfleet.  It's given me so much I have to be grateful for.  I am indebted to them forever.  Don't you see?  I have so much to pay them back for."

"That's where you're wrong.  You owe them nothing.  You gave years of your life to them, you're a model officer, you play by most of the rules.  You've given them back as much if not more than they've given you."

"I'm already in enough trouble as it is.  Chakotay, I don't want to do this either, but it means more to them that I go to their get-together than to me that I go to Samantha and Neelix' party."

"Why?  Why does it mean so much to them?  Kathryn, they couldn't really care less."

"I think it does mean something to them - and me.  It's security, job security; it's something I have to do."

"You don't have to do it, though.  You only think you do.  Kathryn, don't you see?  You're turning into your father, so help me, I love him too, but that's what's happening.  You've forgotten what's important to you.  I know you're lying when you say it means more to them that you go to their party than to Samantha and Neelix'." He smiled sadly at her.  "You can't hide much from me.  Kathryn, can't you see what's happening?"

"Chakotay, of course I see," she said sadly.  "I hate it, too.  I don't want to do this, you're right.  I'm just worried about everything.  First what they'll do when we tell them we're married and you know they are still upset about the-"

"I know, I know.  The article and the hologame."

"It's more than that.  Chakotay, I'm not afraid that they're going to punish me in some way.  I pray they don't separate the two of us, but other than that I will accept what they choose to do to me.  What worries me is that they will punish me by splitting up the crew or whatever.  I want everyone together on Voyager, the real Voyager, not some new ship they're talking about.  I don't want them to decide Voyager cannot take children and there go half my closest friends and best officers.  I want to do everything in my power to make them happy."

"Alright," Chakotay said after a long pause.  "I understand.  I hadn't thought of it in that light.  Let's go to the Starfleet dinner but slip away early so we can have an hour or so with the crew."

"Deal.  Now let's send back our acceptances." They returned to the house, the first potential breakup having been averted.  One down, only countless more to go, thought Janeway with a sigh.  Their life would not be easy for the next few months, if ever.

Kathryn was dressed to the nines for the Starfleet gala event with a long black dress covered in rhinestones that shimmered and sparkled.  She had a pair of short black gloves in case the evening was that formal and a fake grey fox fur coat, because the invitation had said full formality.  She had tiny diamond studs - a family heirloom her mother had given her on her Academy graduation night - on her ears and her wedding band.  That would certainly spark some surprise.  After a long discussion with Chakotay, they had decided to let the brass know then - not by telling them - but by wearing their wedding bands.  They would legally change their marital status the next morning right before the meeting.  At least this way they were informing people when they were playing themselves and not some straight-up Starfleet Admiral - though with a few officers, they were one and the same (always the Admiral, not what should have been themselves).

Chakotay came downstairs trying to affix some newly-replicated cuff links, carrying his black bow tie.  Kathryn quickly attached the cuff links and tied his tie for him before they were out the door.  There was a inner-planetary shuttle waiting for them because they didn't want to walk to the transport and then from the transport to the party with the possibility of getting their clothes dirty.

At the entrance to the hall, Starfleet Lieutenants were taking names and checking them off on a data padd.  They looked more than a little bored being there.

Kathryn and Chakotay dropped off their coats and entered the banquet hall where the party was being held.  Starfleet executives, glancing over at the door occasionally, saw Kathryn come in and were pleased.  Then their eyes moved to her date and they were less so.  Then the light caught something on her hand and they saw something that made them distinctly less so.  Would those two never stop causing scandals? Admiral Marchanid thought in disgust.  Why couldn't they have remained lost in the Delta Quadrant?

There were cocktails offered for the first hour, and Kathryn and Chakotay walked the crowd, kissing up for, Chakotay vowed, one of the last times.  Kathryn had not been impressed with that but had let the comment slide because she didn't want to ruin the evening.  The Admirals gave them false congratulations and the whole thing was rather upsetting for Kathryn especially, until the assistant head of Starfleet, Admiral Picard, arrived with his wife, Captain Picard.

Captain Picard, then Beverly Crusher, had served with Kathryn for ten months on the U.S.S. MacKenzie and they had been friends during that time.  They had sent communiqués, but the friendship had petered off due to the increasingly demanding roles they had each taken on, though both still had fond memories of their time on the MacKenzie.  The Picards found Kathryn and Chakotay, asking them if they would sit with them at their table and Kathryn and Chakotay accepted, both pleased.  Maybe there was a light at the end of this extremely dim and seemingly endless tunnel.

When the buffet was brought out, several serving lines were started and the Picards found Kathryn and Chakotay once more, bringing with them several other couples whom they had asked to eat with them.  Introductions were made and Kathryn remembered one of them, having served with Admiral - then Captain - Russell as his science officer two decades ago.  His wife was also in Starfleet, Vice-Admiral Ferguson.  Chakotay had been in command school with Captain Yacobi and remembered Helina Veroquay from his geometrics class.  They had been dating then, and were still married.  Neither knew the other couple, Doctor and Captain Dale.

It did not go unnoticed by either Kathryn or Chakotay that with each couple, both partners were in Starfleet.  How thoughtful of the Picards.  They had known others had been in their situation and lived to tell about it, but it was wonderful to see these few brave souls with their own eyes.  The difference between them was that out of all of them, none had been working together during the time they served as officers, save Russell and Ferguson, who now worked in the same department at Headquarters.  If Kathryn and Chakotay were to continue serving together on Voyager, it would be Starfleet first, as all of them knew.  It would be a breakthrough from the normally briskly efficient mode of operations, and what many at the table believed was too strict a code and from a rulebook that was largely outdated.

Both Kathryn and Chakotay appreciated the support and were encouraged to "stick to it, even though sometimes Starfleet'll make you want to give it all up".  Chakotay sent Kathryn a quick look only she understood and she slightly inclined her head in acknowledgement.

Then Beverly, whom she was seated beside, turned to her and asked: "I know you're probably sick of it, but will you tell us about the Delta Quadrant?  Not the stuff that we heard on the official interview, but the off-the-record stuff."

"I will," Kathryn agreed, "but first, I don't want all of this getting stuck on the front page of the Telegraph," she said with a suffering look, and they all smiled, remembering the article and photo that had caused much uproar among Starfleet executives.  "And second, there's so much information, how about you ask me what you want to know?"

"Alright.  Was there ever a mutiny?"

"If you mean where everyone up and attacked me, throwing me in the brig for two days, then the answer is no.  There were, however, four small, isolated incidents where I was against a procedure that was later performed anyway."

"What were they?"

"The first wasn't really a mutiny.  It was just a small group of Maquis who refused to put on their uniforms and report to their new duty posts.  We had expected as much so it didn't come as a surprise.  Chakotay took care of it, and the issue was blown over within a week.  After that, it was calm for about four months.  Then my security officer, my engineer and several other officers broke another planet's equivalent of the Prime Directive in order to take technology that had the ability to transport us 40,000 light years closer to home.  The third sort-of mutiny happened with my decision over what to do with the Borg, and the fourth and final mutiny was in the fifth year of our journey when there was another way of getting home, but the wormhole was unstable and there was a chance that up to 35% of my crew could be killed."

"Sounds like a busy number of years."

"Believe me, it was.  But we survived it.  And, looking back on it, it wasn't that bad.  While everyone longed for home, none of the crew let it consume them.  We had some great laughs, relaxing evenings on the Holodeck, games of poker and pool, we became a big family.  Our volleyball team is superb - they're playing in next month's tournament on Betazed.  We had plenty of years to practice."

"So when was it that you felt the two crews were really acting like a single unit?"

"The second battle with the Kazon.  They were a race of arrogant, petty dictators who were totally repulsive to be around.  They actually ended up taking over the ship, and god, the smell didn't leave for months!  We finally parked the ship on a deserted planet and aired it out for a week.  They had also left us a bunch of Kazon corpses which we disposed of on the planet." She shivered slightly at the memory.  One had died in her quarters, and she'd found him there when she had returned to her room after an exhausting day of repairs.

They continued talking for an hour, the narratives and stories being split more evenly between Kathryn and Chakotay as time progressed, each of them telling a certain number of humiliating stories about the other - as only newlyweds who had known each other for many years, or a parent, can.  Chakotay was the first to bring up a story.  He mentioned the time Kathryn and Neelix had tried to negotiate with the Tac-tac, and that Kathryn's famous stance - feet shoulder width apart and hands planted on hips - was, in their culture, the most seductive, private proposition possible.  The magistrate had turned an interesting shade of scarlet, Neelix had later reported.  The table was laughing at Kathryn's expense, the object of their humor bright red and threatening her hubbie that she would "get you for that."

She instantly launched into a tale with him as the one who'd blundered.  He had told her he was good with languages, and she had agreed to allow him to learn to speak the native tongue of a people they wanted to trade with, instead of letting the universal translators do the trick, because while the planet had warp capabilities, they preferred more traditional ways.  At first meeting, Chakotay had made only a few blunders, "Unfortunately, they nearly cost us supplies and shore leave.  What was it that you'd said, darling?" She asked angelically.

He sighed.  "I tried to thank the magistrate for agreeing for us to meet with him, but what came out was that I thanked the magistrate for agreeing for us to fight with him, and then I said I thought his planet was beautiful, but instead I told them I thought their planet was repulsive.  I struggled once more, trying to say I wanted them to know we were sorry - about the pronunciation - but what they heard was that I wanted them to we were castrated.  The magistrates looked very oddly at the women, and started laughing.  The universal translators came our real fast after that."

The laughter continued, all of them offering humorous anecdotes about their experiences with other races, so dinner was long and drawn out.  There were several speeches during dinner, so the conversation was halted, but it never took long before they were laughing again once the speech was over.  On the whole, Starfleet kept much of work out of it - something which astonished all of the group at the table.  The music was started for dancing and eventually the conversation at the table broke up as each couple left to dance.  The Picards were the last to remain at the table, watching the backs of Kathryn and Chakotay.

"Ils ont du courage," Jean-Luc said to Beverly, who nodded her agreement.

"I wonder if they know how many people are behind them.  It's probably a lot more than they would think." She commented, watching the way they danced perfectly to the music that floated from the String Quintet.  They were both looking into each other's eyes, looking so intently neither one was smiling, though they certainly weren't frowning.  "I hope everything works out for them."

"I hope so, too.  I wish Executive Admiral Hochoy and I had some say in this, but the Board decided to leave the decision entirely in the Council's hands.  It's a pity, because they're a lot more concerned with rules and protocol than Hochoy and I are."

"Really?"

"Oh, oui.  Do you think we really have the time to worry about two of our finest officers entering a relationship?  We trust both of them enough to do their jobs and we gave one of them a ship, I should think they can handle a marriage." Jean-Luc said, nearly indignantly, though he was apprehensive of the council's forthcoming decision, and not put off at the question.

"Let's dance," Beverly said suddenly, taking his hand and pulling him to his feet.  "The music's calling, and you know how much I love dancing."

"Aye, Doctor," he said, the term a gentle teasing of her 'Dancing Doctor' days.

"Do you ever wish we had those days back?" She asked him when they were on the dance floor, indicating with her head she was referring to Janeway and Chakotay and their crew.  "Do you ever wish we were back on the Enterprise?"

"Yes and no.  Yes, because it was a magnificent time and I will always have a fascination for space, and no because I couldn't allow myself to be with you.  I was too afraid to take that risk," he said telling her something which he never had before.

"We could have made it work," she said softly, "just like they will."

After half an hour, both Kathryn and Chakotay were ready to leave.  The party with the Voyager crew was beckoning and they made their exit after a few crucial good-byes.  They had finally left the building exactly an hour after they had started dancing.  It had taken quite some time to make their good-byes, when they should have been simply ten second conversations.  The hailed a shuttle and were soon at Samantha and Neelix' rented house an hour outside of New York.

The party was in full swing, and both of them were overdressed - the fox coat and Chakotay's tails to mention the obvious.  But the crew understood why they were late and Samantha and Neelix invited them in, Samantha squealing for Kathryn when she saw the ring on her finger - the women had grown close in the Delta Quadrant because of Naomi - and hugged both of them dragging them into the living room, shouting over the music, "Hey, everybody, KJ and Chakotay are here, and guess what?!  THEY GOT MARRIED!!!"

Cheers thundered the house, and Kathryn would later swear that she had felt the house shake.  The party returned to full-swing, many officers coming over to offer their congratulations at the news.

To say the music was loud was an understatement, and to say that all the drinks were non-alcoholic would have been a lie.  More than a few crewmembers were more than a little tipsy, Janeway noted.  But as long as all of them showed up - SOBER - for the big meeting that was held the next day, she would forgive them.  Neelix came around with trays of hors d'oeuvres and they each took a sample, deciding that while the party lacked some of the elegance and high-class of the Starfleet gathering they had just attended, it had ten times the personality.  They stayed for what seemed like a short while, but in reality, the party didn't break up for hours.  When the last guests went home - Kathryn and Chakotay among them - the sun was just starting to light the sky.

"Thank god the sun rises earlier in the east than in the west," Kathryn said, resting her head on Chakotay's shoulder as she yawned.  "Our crew's going to need as much time as they can get sleeping off that alcohol."

"I'm glad they pushed the meeting back to 1300, though I don't think they ever mentioned why."

"I think because they didn't know when their party was going to end.  I have a feeling HQ is going to be very quiet this morning."

Janeway glanced up from the agenda she held.  What was this?  The first thing on the agenda was a welcome to Starfleet and a four-hour briefing on what had happened while they were gone.  Janeway was willing to bet at least half her officers had already researched that out of interest, and Starfleet would save all of them time by just handing out padds with the information to be read on the individual's time.  She also knew that this briefing would involve a good pitch for Starfleet, who wanted to keep all these Maquis officers because as long as they were in Starfleet, they wouldn't cause troubles with the Cardassians, with whom the Federation had once again made a treaty.  She was disgusted with the way Starfleet would try to blow them over; she could remember many meetings of this type when she was a junior officer, but they had never disgusted her before.

Perhaps it was the shameless waste of breath and time, perhaps it was the fact that this wasn't the truth.  Kathryn had long since trained every member of her crew that the truth came in black and white and she wanted no beating around the bush where work was involved on her ship.  She had also taught her crew what to worry about and what not to.  There was only so much each of them could give the ship; it demanded an incredible amount from them, so Kathryn had taught them the skill, even the intuition, of knowing what was necessary and what was just a window dressing.  This meeting was a window dressing.  She made a mental note to apologize to her staff on Starfleet's behalf.

The meeting began.  First they called Roll Call.  God, now this is pointless.  Of course they're all here.  Starfleet was almost surprised when they found perfect attention, something that tiffed Kathryn even more.  The PR meeting began.

Starfleet mentioned the war with the Dominion, settling the Quadrant after, some of their new neighbors - the Rattawnician Empire - and many of the races and planets that had joined Starfleet.  They informed them of new technology, all the while trying to awe them with the amazement of Starfleet.  Kathryn had to admit that she was almost swept in.  She had only to think of her former Maquis to be instantly grounded.  How would she feel if she was shown all of Starfleet's riches and none of their burdens when the burdens were as obvious as the riches?

A person couldn't simply ignore a big part of themselves and not have it noticed, could they?  So what had been the prices for the new treaty with Cardassia - which they had just brushed over in twenty seconds or less - or the price for a treaty with this Rattawnician Empire?  She was so tempted to ask that, but didn't want to cause Starfleet that trouble.  In some ways, she understood why they were doing this.  She even agreed with it.  She wanted all her crew with her, not just the dyed-in-the-wool 'Fleeters.  Didn't Starfleet know this was not the way to win her crew?  Blatantly ignoring what would bring questions to many of their minds, talking down to them in a way even Kathryn found insulting?  What had happened to the Starfleet that had sung their praises, called them heroes only weeks before?

Chakotay touched her arm and she jumped back to reality.  She turned to face him, her eyes asking what was the cause.  "You just looked far away, and Starfleet said we would continue this meeting during dinner."

"Oh, so are we going to the dining room, or are they going to bring it into this lecture hall?" She asked bitterness on her tongue.  She couldn't believe they had put them in a lecture hall.  She knew for a fact they did have briefing rooms for 150, and that no other meetings were going on that day.

"They didn't say.  You okay?"

"I'm fine, just having a hard time concentrating.  It seems like we've been at this for days, and I already read up on all this stuff." She stopped talking because out of the corner of her eye, she saw Admiral Marchanid glaring at both of them.  Whoa, if looks could kill, she thought, paying strict attention to what was being said.  She found her thoughts drifting shortly, and glanced over at Chakotay.  She was envious of his ability to concentrate and remain interested in an issue even though he had already studied it in detail.  Though she should have known he'd survive the meeting; his patience had always been one of his greatest adversaries.

They did move into the dining hall to eat, but the Admirals continued talking during the entire thing.  They had just finished Starfleet's 'what we did while you were gone' and were now talking about the pride they had for Voyager, the thanks they extended the crew - basically more of the same to impress her crew.

The meeting finally ended at 2000hrs, at which point they requested all officers return the next morning so they could go over some of Voyager's experiences.  Kathryn was looking forward to that even less than she'd been for the briefing today.  She knew that what would come tomorrow would be a 'okay, this is what you did, and here's what you should have done'.  She knew she couldn't get them to understand that the situation looked a lot less complicated once it was over.

The following two days were boring to say the least and insulting to say the most.  Starfleet had gone over every 'mistake' Voyager had made and encouraged the officers to participate by saying what they would have done in the future.  The answers sounded lame to them, but Starfleet accepted them, praising the officers on their intuition.  Kathryn wondered if Starfleet knew her officers were simply putting forth ideas simply to get the meeting over with.  All of them knew that in many cases, the Captain's decision had been the best one, and the right one, in their opinion.

The briefing was finally over and Kathryn thought she might get some peace when Starfleet announced that the senior officers were to attend another meeting the next day.  Kathryn's smile was forced when she assured them they would all be there.  She asked one of the Admirals about how the Doctor's case was going and he told her it was fine.  Not particularly helpful, she and Chakotay walked over to the Starfleet courtroom that evening.  The Ensign on guard let them in, and they overrode the lock on the door marked 'private' where they knew the 'evidence' was being kept.  They had heard that that was where the Doctor's program was being kept.  They rifled through the clear storage containers until they found the one where the Doctor's mobile emitter and data storage device was being kept.  They opened it and activated the program.

The hologram asked, "Now what?" in a tired voice, before he realized who it was.  "Captain, Commander!  I'm glad to see you.  How did you get in here?"

"We broke in.  How's your trial coming?"

"I'm not sure.  As you can see, I am evidence, not part of it other than that.  I am not allowed to listen in.  The only person who tells me anything is the Lieutenant assigned to tag evidence.  He seems sympathetic and has been telling me how the case has been going."

"What has he said?"

"That it doesn't look good for me.  There's talk of erasing my program."

Kathryn inhaled sharply.  "I'm going to talk to the court.  I think I can help sway their decision.  I'll call in some Admirals to testify."

"Captain, how can the Admirals testify?  What can you say to change their minds?  They know I did a great deal of good on Voyager, but that was necessary.  Now, there's no more need.  They're not disputing that I did a good job, they're disputing whether they need me or not.  They've had psychologists in and everything, your Cheb Packer is quite a good lawyer, I'm told.  I just don't think the judge really understands.  It's hard for him to put himself in my place.  Please, Captain, don't get involved.  I have also been informed of your actions.  I know Starfleet is not very happy with you at the moment.  It would be best for you to stay out of this issue.  Mr. Packer has said he can probably keep them from erasing my program, but not necessarily that he can keep me practicing medicine."

"If there's anything we can do..." she trailed, feeling terrible that she couldn't help in any way, but her hands really were quite tied.

"No, there's nothing.  It would be best for you to leave now.  I don't want you getting caught for 'tampering with the evidence'."

With a final goodbye, they turned off the Doctor's program and left the room.

The next day Starfleet told Janeway and her senior officers that they had reached a decision about the command of Voyager.  Kathryn held her breath and asked quietly what the decision had been.  The second Admiral Vahain opened his mouth, Kathryn knew it was bad news.  He talked for about one minute, one minute which she did not hear, until he concluded, "So that is why we feel that it would be best for you not to remain senior officers on Voyager." She knew he had said he was impressed with their records and the work they had done, that they were all fine officers, and that their talents were needed elsewhere, probably mentioning that with their children, it wouldn't be fair to station them on Voyager.  "However," the Admiral added, "We have decided to give you one final mission.  We felt it was the least we could do because we realize how much Voyager means to you.  So we have a one-month mission for you in which any and all members of your former command may join, but no others.  Your children will be welcome as well.  After your month, you will return and Voyager will be presented to Captain Onitior Deswick.  Many of your officers will receive posts on other ships and some will be stationed on Earth or space stations.  However, Admiral Marchanid requested that you participate in a seminar that he will be running in two days' time.  Since many of you have not been senior officers before Voyager, we felt it would be a worthy activity to help prepare you both for the mission and the remainder of your careers in Starfleet." The Admiral named the room and time for them to arrive the next morning, and asked them if they had any questions.

Kathryn asked what would happen to the Doctor, if he would be allowed to participate in the one-month mission.  The Admiral replied that yes, he would, but that after that, his program would be erased.  The judge had just given the sentence that morning.

Kathryn stifled a yawn.  In most of her career she had managed to avoid this cruel and unusual punishment Starfleet called a "Senior Officers' Management and Executive Building Seminar" commonly called 'Some BS' by Captains.  She had mentioned this acronym to her senior officers who found it hilarious.  It was the one thing that made it worthwhile.  She hated this seminar, more than any other she'd attended, but was forced to attend due to Council Ruling.  Kathryn found it pointless, considering they HAD built a team over the course of nine years.  There was little a two-day seminar could do.

She had nearly rolled her eyes when Admiral Marchanid had told her she and her crew would benefit from the seminar, but doing so to the old bat would have gotten her busted down in the ranks so fast she would have had to reenter the Academy in order to get a position in space again.  She knew he disliked her and her "half-witted crew" as he had once called them.  Kathryn had been eavesdropping so she wasn't able to confront him about the issue.  She had had to grit her teeth and continue.  He had been one of the prime speakers against her and her crew returning to Voyager.

She and Chakotay met the rest of their senior officers outside the lecture hall (another lecture hall) and all took seats together.  First there was an hour-long lecture, then they would begin the actual activities.  Marchanid started the lecture in a drone that Kathryn found inspiring.  Inspiring, that is, to take a nap.  Maybe it was something about the room - possibly the formaldehyde she swore was emanating from him.  She forced back several yawns, glaring both at the Admiral, then at Chakotay.

He turned his head, whispering, "What did I do?!"

"If you hadn't kept me up until all hours, I wouldn't be falling asleep now!"

Before Chakotay could respond, the Admiral barked - just waiting for an opportunity - "Captain Janeway, do you have something to add?"

"No, Sir!"

"Then I would appreciate your attention, if it's not too much of an inconvenience for you," he sneered, returning to his lecture.

Kathryn's blood was boiling.  Bastard.

"And if you have anything to communicate...."

Janeway snapped back to attention.  "What are we doing?" She whispered to Chakotay as she quickly got to her feet, noticing others around her standing.

"Not listening, Captain?" Chakotay teased, then saw she was not in the mood for humor.  Unconsciously he slipped back into the role of First Officer.  "We were ordered to build a tower with office furniture.  It's to promote teamwork and communication and teach us to work with a time-limit.  We have twenty minutes once we're all in the meeting room, Captain." The use of her title did not seem odd in that sentence.  He was speaking to her as her officer, not her husband.  Tom noticed the ease at which they slipped into their different roles and was impressed.  He doubted he could do that himself.

Once inside the room, they got to work.  Among laughter and jokes, Tom starting it off with a comment on the furniture and Starfleet's apparent opinion on the worthiness of this activity which cracked them all up.  They rest of the time they traded stories about some of Starfleet's less than brilliant ideas.  They continued to work, piling the chair on top of the desk, then the data padd storage device on top of that with a minimum of communication considering the task.  They simply knew what everyone else would be doing.  Janeway glanced around at one point, and saw a few teams struggling to agree on what to put next to get the highest tower.  It made more sense just to build it, considering they had only so much time.

Near the end, they decided it wouldn't be safe to build it any higher.  It was already eleven feet tall and they feared it might topple.  So they climbed down from the table and from each other's shoulders - comfortable enough with each other to do so.  It wasn't because half of them were married to each other; Kathryn wouldn't have had a real problem climbing onto Harry's or whomever's shoulders in order to get the job done.  It was simply whatever it took.  She knew all this already, as did her team.

When Admiral Marchanid stopped his time clock and told them that the time was up, he came around and pointed out the flaws and strengths of each tower.  One was shaky and fell to the ground during inspection, another was too thin, though it had not yet collapsed, the third wasn't half the height he had expected.  Then he came to Voyager's.  He was silent a moment, trying to find a flaw.  He finally found one.  The officers should have continued building until the time was up.

Kathryn pointed out (politely) that in that event, the tower would have fallen.  She said there were some times when an officer needed to accept that they could go no farther.  She smiled sweetly when she could almost see the Admiral grinding his teeth.

The next event, after the Admiral had finished going through the remaining two teams' towers, was for each officer to explain his or her history in Starfleet and mention one personal event that had influenced his or her career choice.  The Voyager team had it done in under a minute flat.  It was mostly a "you know, you know, you know, you know," for all of them.  They began talking about the junior officers, what they were up to since their return to the Alpha Quadrant.  None of them noticed Marchanid come closer, listening to their conversation.  "This is not the assigned activity!"

"Admiral, we completed this on Voyager." Janeway's tone was only one step away from insubordination.

"Fine then, please give me a list of each person's personal event that influenced his or her career choice."

Janeway went through her officers, starting with Tom.  His was his simulator ride when he was five, Harry's was his first class trip to the moon, B'Elanna's because she loved fixing things and wanted to explore space, Tuvok because his parents wanted him to and Chakotay because when he was seven he had taken his first shuttle ride and had loved it.

The Admiral left in a huff.  The rest of the day proceeded the same.  They did several other communication and team-building activities not directly related to Starfleet, then did case studies all afternoon.  There was a short presentation done by each group and then the day was over.  They were to report back in the morning to the Academy holodecks where they would try more life-like simulations.  At the end of that day, they would receive their grades and the course would end.  Janeway couldn't be more thankful.

The simulations were a breeze and terribly dull the next day - much like Kathryn's mandatory social history class at the Indiana Institute.  As a child, she had experienced and lived what most other students found humorous or interesting in the course.  She felt about the same way concerning these holo-simulations, or as Tom had pointed out they should have been called hollow-simulations.  Not one of them equaled anything that had occurred on a daily basis on Voyager.

By mid-afternoon, they had had more than enough of this.  During the simulations, they had been making jokes and chatting while the red alert klaxons had been shrieking and consoles beeping.  They had finished the simulations perfectly and had some of the fastest times for problem solving among the teams.  They also had the highest accuracy.  Their ship had never blown up.  None of the other teams could claim that.

Marchanid eventually disappeared to decide on final grades.  He returned later and said some closing remarks before handing out the padds on which were written their grades and his comments.  He handed Janeway theirs and almost sneered, "See you next time." Janeway glanced down at the mark.  49%.  They had just failed.

What?!  We were better than any other team! Janeway looked around at the rest of the teams, seeing by their reactions that each had passed.  Marchanid was even pleasant to them.  With everyone from Voyager trying to read the comments on the tiny screen, she finally said it would be easiest to have one of them read it.  So she quietly read the comments.

Marchanid first thought that they were not paying enough attention, and that in a real situation, they all could have died.  That was true, but the situations had been so easy!  If they had been even slightly challenging, they would have given their full attention!  Marchanid also told them they had a bad attitude.  Starfleet officers were expected to act better than they had.  Now that had them incensed.  They'd gone through the Academy, the Admiral had not been testing them on their attitudes; he'd been testing their ability to work as a team.  In that respect they had out-performed.  How had the Admiral written that off?  They were soon to find out.  He had expected better of them because they had been working together for years.  There was a note that the seminars ran biannually, and he had added the date of the next one, to which they were ordered to attend.  The senior officers decided not even to bother fighting this.  They couldn't win anyway.  They could only hope that when Starfleet heard they had failed, they didn't forgo the assignment they had given them.  As of yet, they did not know the nature of the assignment, but had been told it would be suiting their level of expertise and their personal experience.

"We're charting stars?!  We're charting damn stars?!" Janeway exclaimed, reading her mission report that had arrived from Starfleet.

"What?" Chakotay asked, entering their office.

"I got our mission from Starfleet.  We're charting stars out past Starbase 094.  The mission will start in three weeks in order to give the repair and maintenance crews enough time to finish upgrading Voyager."

"At least we will be comfortable and well-prepared for any dangerous confrontations with constellations we might have," Chakotay said dryly.

"I don't believe this.  It's been one insult after the next!"

"I know, Kathryn."

"You know, I used to dream about getting home, how happy they would be to see us, how we would be considered heroes and would become the Federation flagship.  Now I wouldn't even want to be named that, if these are the kinds of missions.  Maybe its my imagination, but were most missions this boring?  I remember a lot of my assignments were routine, but not like this."

"It's peace time.  There's no one to fight.  Not much to do.  We've explored as much as our technology lets us, we can only wait for our technology to catch up with our desire to explore further.  But no, to answer your question, I don't remember such simple assignments being given to experienced Captains and their crews."

"Insult number 4962."

"I don't think it's that bad, Monkey."

"I'm not so sure.  All I know is I won't stop being worried about the crew until I know they're all happy in their new positions - and when I know what all their new positions are.  I can't believe Starfleet won't tell us yet."

"Maybe they haven't found places for everyone yet.  All in due time."

"I can't believe you're so calm about all this."

"There's little we can do.  Might as well not worry about what can't be changed."

Kathryn quietly closed down the file and turned off her computer.  Chakotay was right.  But why did it have to seem like life in the Delta Quadrant - including everything that had happened - had been better than their supposed idyllic life at home?