Post "Unity"

[maquis_co]

Days had passed since the destruction of the Borg cube and Voyager was now traveling once again toward home. Without missing duty or neglecting his responsibilities, it was clear Chakotay was still processing the recent events. He'd been quieter than normal, keeping his responses to the necessary minimum. He'd also shown little of himself in the mess hall. Like the last three evenings before, the solitude of his quarters had won out over the company of others. Silently, he watched the stars race past the view port. The voices of his ancestors called to him. Uncharacteristically, he ignored them.

Comments

[directives]

She gave him the distance he required, all the time he needed. It was an experience she couldn't relate to, having one's mind overcome like that. They'd brought him into something a freethinking individual was never meant to touch or understand, carrying him along with them and taking advantage of his position. Maybe that hadn't been Riley Frazier's initial intent, but it was the end result. Even if they did save Voyager from that cube in the end.

The captain herself was a bit rattled herself. If that carcass they discovered on that planet wasn't enough of a clue that they were edging closer and closer to Borg Space, a liberated population of ex-drones and a dormant, reactivated cube certainly was. Sending away teams over there made it more than just a daunting image on the viewscreen. The Borg were a very real, very possible threat. One they would likely encounter very soon.

It didn't matter how much time she spent pouring over Picard's logs, Shelby's reports, or any of the tactical data from Wolf 359. She'd never feel ready to face them, and she rued the day she would inevitably have to ask her first officer to recall this experience in order to help them survive it.

Kathryn didn't want to, but she knew she would. Somehow, eventually, she would.

After her shift, she made her way to his quarters, opting not to disappear into her ready room for once to reread another series of entries from the surviving crew of the Saratoga for the umpteenth time. No, she needed a break from that -- and he needed a break from this.

"See anything interesting?"

She let herself in, overriding the lock on his door without any hint of a warning. Kathryn stood back a few meters from where he stood, following his gaze. There was nothing unique about the stars that streaked past the warp field, but of course, he had something of knack for seeing what she was unable to.