Part eight of "Little blue world" - an AU series
by Jinny W
June 2001
Disclaimer: Paramount owns all. I'm just playing.
Summary: Kathryn's authority is tested, while Chakotay puts some old job skills to good use.
~~~
"Ten. I win again."
"I don't believe it." Tom groaned and thrust his face into his hands. "That's the fourth time this week you've won."
"I guess I'm just too good," B'Elanna smiled, as she swept the other tokens off the board.
Kathryn raised her hand to stifle a yawn. "Sorry," she said, "I think I've had enough for one evening."
"Me too", Tom agreed.
"Only because you keep losing."
"Probably", she grinned. "But I should also make myself available in case any of the crew want to talk to me about-"
"About leaving?" B'Elanna finished for her. "I don't think they will."
"I would have thought that those with families-"
B'Elanna shook her head vigorously. "Nope. Most of the Maquis don't have any other family, apart from each other. What is there to go back too anyway? Apart from the usual - hiding from Starfleet, scrapping with the Cardassians." She rubbed the tokens between her palms as she spoke. "Besides, Chakotay's skin means more to them. He's saved most of our lives."
"What about the Starfleet crew?"" Tom asked.
Kathryn shrugged. "I thought the same thing. Especially Joe Carey and Sam Wildman. But they both told me this afternoon that they want to stay."
"Why?" B'Elanna said. "I mean, no offense, but what's Chakotay to them?"
"Maybe it's the principle", Tom suggested.
She snorted. "The principle? Who gives up a chance to see their family and friends again for some stupid principle?"
"We did", Kathryn said, "when Chakotay destroyed the array. We had a chance to go home but we stayed so that the Kazon couldn't exterminate the Ocampa."
"That was to save a whole race of people", B'Elanna protested. "Not just one man."
Tom shook his head. "Maybe that one man has made more of an impact on this crew than you think. All of this crew."
Kathryn bit her lip and looked down at the board. Tom caught B'Elanna's eye and motioned her to silence.
"So", he said after a pause, "how are you liking being the big boss again?"
Kathryn glanced up at him with a wry smile. "As my mother would say, 'it beats a poke in the eye with a hot stick'."
"That good, huh?"
"It's alright."
Tom shot B'Elanna another quick look. "Am I detecting a lack of enthusiasm here? I would have thought you'd be champing at the bit to be in command again."
Kathryn sighed. "It's hard to explain Tom. I do enjoy command, but this situation, this ship... it isn't what I'm used to."
B'Elanna spoke up. "Have you had any trouble from the crew?"
"No", she sighed again. "But in a way that only makes it worse. I keep expecting someone to dispute a command every time I give one. It doesn't do great things for your confidence."
"What will you do if somebody does?"
She shrugged. "I'll have to assert my authority, I guess."
B'Elanna grinned suddenly. "Well, you know, my advice is simple."
"What's that?"
"Actions speak louder than words."
Kathryn looked at her sharply. "What do you mean?"
"You know exactly what I mean."
Tom glanced from one to the other as they held an intense gaze. Eventually Kathryn looked away.
"I suppose I do."
"The trick is", B'Elanna said, "to not spend all your time worrying about it. You just have to decide what you're prepared to do, then when the time comes you'll be able to do it decisively. Then it's problem solved."
Tom frowned at her. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"I do." Kathryn nodded in her direction. "Thanks. I might go to bed and think about it."
"You should try not thinking about it instead", B'Elanna said, as the older woman stood to leave.
Kathryn threw them both a tired smile. "I'll see you both in the morning."
"What was that about?" Tom asked, as she left the room.
"Fire and ice", B'Elanna said. "Authority."
"Oh."
"Another game?" she opened her palm and offered him the tokens.
"Why not", he said. "You can translate that last conversation for me while I beat you."
B'Elanna snorted. "Or not."
"Or not", he agreed.
~~~
"Then my little ship won't be needed at all?"
"That's right Neelix. The entire crew voted to stay and help with the rescue attempt."
"Well, that's wonderful." He scratched his whiskers. "I did suspect my old girl might not actually be up to a trip through an unstable worm hole, but I didn't want to put a damper on things by saying so."
Kathryn chuckled. "I think this says a lot about this crew's priorities." She sobered slightly. "I did expect that some of them would have been more eager to head back though."
"We are a small crew Kathryn", he pointed out. "This ship probably wouldn't run properly if half of them had wanted to go back."
"I wanted to go back", she said, "I just wanted Cha... I mean, I wanted to help Chakotay more."
Neelix nodded his agreement. "I can't say I'm surprised. I've noticed a lot of solidarity among people in the mess hall." He raised a bushy eyebrow. "They all insult my cooking en masse."
Kathryn laughed. "I'm sure they don't."
"Actually, I think the fact that the command team all voted to stay made the most difference."
Kathryn nodded thoughtfully. "How long until we reach the Pyrrah station?"
"Only a few hours now. You're sure I can't tempt you with another cup of my coffee substitute?"
Kathryn held up a hand. "Thankyou, but no thankyou. I don't want to deprive the rest of the crew."
"Ah - solidarity", Neelix said, nodding sagely.
"Something like that", she agreed.
As Neelix bustled away she returned to her reading. Harry submitted a report this morning with his suggestions for reworking some of the Ops systems. She had to admit he had a flair for this sort of work. She smiled at the thought - it had obviously taken him a good dose of courage just to give her the plans in the first place.
Her own courage had been bolstered by B'Elanna's advice last night. It was odd - the younger woman had only told her what was blatantly obvious. Still, common sense advice had been just what she needed. She felt curiously calm this morning, as though prepared for any eventuality. As it happened, she didn't have to wait long to test her new resolve.
"She's not even worried. Look at her!"
She overheard the comment without noting which direction it came from. As she raised her head to look around, two surly looking Maquis crewmen pushed aside their plates and moved towards her. She nodded politely as they approached.
"MacIntyre. Kuchel. What can I do for you?"
Kuchel spoke first. "You can stop looking so pleased with yourself, for one."
"I beg your pardon?"
"You heard me. Take off the smug expression. We don't like it."
Kathryn raised one eyebrow. "Is that so?"
MacIntyre rested his hands on his considerable hips. "We understand that you welcome input from your crewmembers."
"I like to hear constructive feedback, yes."
"Then construct this," sneered Kuchel. "We don't want you to be our captain. We don't think you deserve it."
Kathryn stared at him, nonplussed by his directness.
"And we don't like some of the decisions you've been making", MacIntyre added.
Kathryn finally found her voice. "I see", she said. "Such as?"
Kuchel glared at her. "We wasted six hours while you sauntered off to look at that wormhole, which we didn't end up going down. In the meantime, we lost the trail of the Kazon ship we'd been following."
"The ship carrying our Captain", MacIntyre put in.
"In case you'd forgotten", Kuchel said. "Or maybe you're glad to be rid of him so you can run the ship your own way."
Kathryn eyed him for a moment with a dark expression. "Wouldn't I have just headed off down the wormhole then?" she asked, in a dangerously calm voice.
Kuchel snorted. "Heaven forbid you should actually make a decisive decision."
Kathryn stood up, then smiled at him sweetly, a reaction which seemed to startle him. "You know boys," she said, "I don't think you understand what constructive criticism means."
As they continued to stare at her, waiting for a reaction, she sighed. "Alright, I'll demonstrate."
With lightening quick speed she lashed out with a martial arts stroke and caught Kuchel square in the nose with the heel of her hand. There was an awful crunching sound as the cartilage broke. MacIntyre gasped and took an involuntary step backwards. Kuchel cradled his nose in one hand, staring at her dumbly in shock.
"Now", she said pleasantly, "non constructive criticism in this situation would be if I said something like: 'Oh, you great clumsy galoot, you've gone and broken your nose. Can't you do anything right?'" She smiled cheerfully. "Whereas constructive criticism would be more like: 'Oh dear, Mr. Kuchel. You'd best get yourself to sickbay straight away and let the doctor have a look at that. And be more careful next time'."
She let her gaze drift from one to the other. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Kuchel merely nodded, while MacIntyre stammered, "Yes ma'am."
"Good", she sat down in one smooth motion, and looked back down at her padd. "In the future, make your comments constructive please. Dismissed."
As the two crewmen scurried off she allowed herself a small smile. Neelix stood nearby, his mouth flapping soundlessly.
"Kathryn!" he exclaimed, looking at her with a mixture of awe and horror.
"Yes?"
"You broke that man's nose."
"I know. Tuvok taught me that punch. It's quite handy."
"Tuvok...?" Neelix began to look a little pale. "Surely... surely that isn't the Starfleet way of doing things?"
She glanced at him in amusement. "Of course not. If we were on a Starfleet ship those men wouldn't have been questioning my authority in the first place. If I let them get away with it, they'd never respect me again."
"I see", Neelix said dubiously.
"You saw how quickly they rushed off. They've learned their lesson. Trust me. Or you could get B'Elanna to explain it to you. She understands."
As he continued to regard her suspiciously, she asked, "What?"
"You'll let me know when I'm ever annoying you, won't you?" he said. "Let's not let it get to the punishment stage."
Kathryn chuckled. "I'll give you fair warning."
"Thankyou."
With one last worried look in her direction, Neelix hurriedly returned to the safety of his galley.
~~~
B'Elanna stood with her arms crossed in the centre of the bridge as Kathryn arrived. She strode up beside her and glanced at the image on the viewscreen.
"There she is", B'Elanna said.
"Not looking in such great condition either. I wonder what happened?"
"More infighting, maybe with the Nistrum ship again?"
"Maybe."
"In any case, there's a dampening field operating within the station. We can't beam in, and we can't use our sensors to find Chakotay and Seska and beam them out. We can't even tell how many Kazon are onboard."
Kathryn stared at the docked vessel, her mind working quickly. B'Elanna's eyes flickered over at her, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.
"I hear you've had some fun already this morning."
"Did you? News travels fast."
"Are you kidding?" B'Elanna shook her head. "Most of the Maquis couldn't believe it. Even the ones who already liked you."
Kathryn glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. "Does that include you?"
B'Elanna grinned. "Nope. I mean, I already liked you, but I could believe it. I know Kuchel, and I know you. No doubt who my money would be on."
Kathryn allowed herself a smile, then stopped. "Tom hasn't started up a betting pool because of this, has he?" she asked suspiciously.
"What do you mean?"
"Don't play dumb, B'Elanna. I know that's his thing. What's the bet?"
B'Elanna tried to keep a straight face. "That you could knock Kuchel out in three rounds."
Kathryn rolled her eyes. "No competition", she said.
"That's what I told him." B'Elanna smiled. "What would your old Starfleet friends say if they could see you now?"
Kathryn chuckled. "I think they'd be cheering me on."
"You don't think they'd be worried about you collaborating with the enemy?" B'Elanna's tone was light but the change in mood felt palpable.
Kathryn shifted uncomfortably. "You're not the enemy."
"Not here, we're not."
"I think they'd think I was just making the best of a situation."
"Even if it's just a temporary one?" B'Elanna shrugged. "I mean, if we'd gone down that wormhole, if we'd been suddenly back in the Alpha Quadrant, what then?"
Kathryn turned her eyes back to the Kazon ship on the viewscreen. "I guess that's something I'll have to decide when the time comes. I can't think about that now."
"You can't, or you don't want to?"
"We need to find a way to get onto that ship without being detected."
B'Elanna eyed her, recognizing the tone of dismissal in her voice. "Maybe we should scout around the station first, see what we can find out about how many of the crew are there."
"Good idea. We'll each take a team of two."
B'Elanna threw a quick glance at Kathryn before saying quietly, "You really miss him, don't you?"
Kathryn shook her head but didn't reply.
"I thought so." B'Elanna leaned closer to her. "I'm not blind, you know."
Kathryn regarded her steadily for a moment. "No, I guess you're not."
"Don't worry. Chakotay can take care of himself."
"With Seska, and a ship full of Kazon against him?"
B'Elanna snorted. "Huh", she said. "Don't underestimate the man." She lowered her voice even further and shot Kathryn a conspiratorial look. "He may look soft and cuddly", she said, "but he's a terrorist, not a teddy bear."
Kathryn couldn't help but guffaw at that. "I suppose you're right."
"Of course I'm right. They won't know what hit them."
~~~
"How many times do I have to explain this to you?" Seska drew herself up and glared at the thick-headed Kazon leader. "If we kill Chakotay we have no bargaining power to get their leader onboard. If we can't get her onboard, how are we going to kill her or steal their technology?"
Shonah shot her a nasty look, but didn't reply.
"He's much too valuable to us alive."
Shonah narrowed his eyes. "You seemed to be overly concerned with the safety of this male. Why? Is he your mate?"
Seska blew out a breath in frustration. The Kazon may be strong, but they lacked even an elementary grasp of strategy. A thread of doubt began to work its way into her mind. Had she allied herself with a weak leader? Were all the Kazon this short-sighted and rash? She tried to push the irritating thoughts away. It was too late now to return to the Liberty, she'd have to do the best she could here.
Wherever here was. The Kazon had taken their ship to a small uninhabited system while they planned their next move. Shonah continued to give her only limited information.
"No", she spat out slowly, "I'm just thinking about what the best strategy would be."
The Maj flared his nostrils. "I am the leader here. I make the decisions."
Inwardly Seska groaned. "Of course you are", she said pleasantly. "I'm just offering you advice. As one who knows these humans."
Shonah thought for a moment. Seska could almost see the pain on his face at the effort. "We will lure the female leader on board to rescue this male", he announced, "and then-"
Seska leaned closer to him. "Then?"
"We will kill them both."
~~~
Chakotay crawled on and on through the darkness. He had been inside the duct for the past hour, worming his way through the bowels of the Kazon ship. Although Seska had ordered his door locked, she hadn't insisted on binding him in any way. After half an hours' patient work he'd managed to break open a panel leading to the ventilation system and hoisted himself inside.
At first he had to climb upwards from the ceiling. Four decks, he counted, before he decided to try one of the horizontal shafts. The only sounds he could hear were the steady hum of the ships engines, his own rasping breath and the scuffing of his boots as he dragged himself along.
It was hot in the shaft. He'd began to sweat profusely after the first ten minutes. Now he could feel his shirt sticking to his chest. He peeled the soggy fabric off and tied it around his waist. His arms ached from the initial effort of climbing upwards, and the bruises on his stomach and face from the Ogla's beating days ago still throbbed when he bumped against them.
Still he crawled on. He had two goals to accomplish. One was to find a way to contact the Liberty, to let them know he was alive and if possible where he was (not that he had any idea of the ship's position). For all they knew he and Seska were still being held on the Ogla ship. The second was to sabotage any ship's system he could find. That way he could slow the Nistrum ship - or even stop it - and allow the Liberty to catch them more easily.
Although it had been more bravado than a real prediction, B'Elanna's comment to Kathryn was shrewdly correct. Chakotay had both years of Starfleet training and guerilla war experience. The Maquis - small, outnumbered, fighting with battered craft and whatever else they could lay their hands on - were extremely adaptable fighters. "Creativity in the face of death", Chakotay had once called it.
The Kazon began to notice the ship malfunctions before they were aware of their prisoner's escape. At first they were small errors - the temperature control on one deck went haywire, then the gravity control on another. One room was flooded with effluence from the waste control system. Then half of the ship lost its lights.
After the fourth malfunction Seska ordered a guard to check on Chakotay. He reported back that the prisoner was missing.
"I knew it", she swore.
"How could he escape?" Shonah asked in confusion. "Where would he go?"
Seska hissed at him in irritation. "I told you not to underestimate this man."
"And I told you we should kill him."
"We need a deck by deck search. Check all the passageways in-between systems - ventilation shafts, maintenance tubes, whatever. He must be in one of those."
The Maj glared at her. "It sounds like you're giving orders now."
With some effort, Seska restrained her temper. "If you let him get to your engines he'll disable the ship."
Shonah snorted derisively. "He is but one man."
"One very dangerous man," Seska countered. "He's already managed to access your environmental controls."
The Maj grunted, then barked a series of orders to the security team nearby.
"We should have killed him when we had the chance", he muttered.
Against her better judgement, Seska found herself starting to agree. Chakotay was turning out to be more trouble than she had anticipated.
~~~
"From what we were able to overhear, the ship was attacked by the Nistrum three days ago. Most of the Kazon are on the station now, apart from those engaged in maintenance on board the ship," B'Elanna reported.
"Chakotay and Seska?" Kathryn asked.
Kes shook her head. "We didn't find any trace of them. It's just a guess on my part, but I think the Nistrum may have taken them. I heard one of the Kazon talking about a kidnapping, but it sounded like it had gone wrong."
Kathryn nodded slowly. "That would make sense", she agreed. "Sam and I managed to get on board their ship for about ten minutes, but we didn't see any trace of them. It seems they've vanished."
"Which explains why all the Kazon were in such foul moods", B'Elanna added. "Kes and I had to sidestep several fights while we were sneaking around."
"Why would the Nistrum want them?" Sam blurted. She blushed when they all looked at her. "I'm sorry, I'm just a little confused."
Kathryn smiled at her gently. "That's okay, Sam, we're caught up in the midst of a factional fight. It's bound to get confusing." She glanced around the room at her staff - plus Kes and Sam who had joined their scouting teams earlier. "The ship that attacked us last week, and also attacked our away team on the planet was a Nistrum ship. We thought then that they were making a deal with someone from our crew, to trade an alliance for technology."
Harry flushed a little at her comment but didn't look away.
"We now know that person was Seska. Obviously something went wrong and their party attacked our away team after they'd concluded the trade. That's why she tried to implicate Harry, to throw us off her scent." She took a sip of her drink before continuing. "The following day, a Kazon Ogla ship fought that Nistrum ship and stole whatever technology Seska gave them. Later in the day the Ogla came after us and demanded we make a similar trade. When we refused, they kidnapped Chakotay and Seska from the surface, probably intending to use them as blackmailing pawns."
"And now the Nistrum have rescued their collaborator", Tom put in, "and Chakotay along with her."
"It looks that way", Kathryn concluded. "So, suggestions?"
B'Elanna spoke first. "Surely we should go after the Nistrum straight away then, if they have Chakotay and Seska."
Harry, Tom and Neelix nodded their agreement, but Tuvok looked troubled.
"Tuvok?" Kathryn prompted.
"While I understand the need for haste, I am also concerned that the Ogla may not have relinquished whatever technology they stole from the Nistrum", he said, regarding them all in turn. "We don't know what they have, or what they're planning to do with it. As this technology has been the root cause of this fracas, perhaps it would be logical to retrieve it before we seek out the Captain and Seska."
Kathryn eyed the others, measuring their reactions. B'Elanna looked troubled, but to her surprise, the half-Klingon slowly nodded.
"I agree with Tuvok", she said. "We never did discover exactly what Seska stole. I think we should try and get it back. While we're on the Olga ship, we might be able to find some clues as to where the Nistrum have gone."
"That sounds a little dangerous", Tom said.
Neelix chuckled. "You haven't seen Kathryn's right hook."
The others - apart from Tuvok - laughed.
"Kathryn and I already managed to get aboard", Sam pointed out. "The ship isn't well guarded at the moment. This might be our best chance."
"I agree", Kathryn said, "but this time I'd like to take you, B'Elanna." To Sam she added, "No offence Sam, but I might need her to hack into their computer system."
Sam nodded her understanding. "None taken".
"Then meeting adjourned". She nodded towards B'Elanna. "Meet me in the transporter room in ten minutes."
"Aye", she replied, and added more softly, "slugger."
Kathryn rolled her eyes. This was going to take some living down.
~~~
The alarm blared with ear-shattering intensity as Seska stumbled onto the Kazon bridge. She'd retired to her new quarters and had managed to fall into a restless sleep, only to be woken by a sullen Kazon guard fifteen minutes later. She rubbed her eyes and stepped closer to Shonah, who was staring at the viewscreen.
"What is it?" she asked.
He pointed to a small speck on the screen, then barked an order towards a nearby underling. The man punched a few buttons on his console, magnifying the image.
"It's one of our escape pods", he said. "It looks like your friend didn't want to stay and disable our engines after all."
"Are you sure he's in it?" she asked.
The Maj glared at her. "Yes. It appears that it's being piloted manually. And our scanners show life signs aboard."
Seska stared at the small pod, her mind working quickly. What was Chakotay doing? Where on earth did he think he could get to in that small pod? Was he trying to reach the surface of the planet? Although it was an M-class planet, with a breathable atmosphere, he might not have been able to tell that before he launched.
Shonah barked out another order, then turned to Seska, grinning broadly.
"What are you doing?" she asked, a sinking feeling in her stomach.
"What we should have done hours ago", he replied, and ordered his gunner to fire.
"No!" Seska exclaimed, but it was too late. The Kazon weapons, while not as powerful as those on the Liberty, were effective enough. The second missile hit the escape pod squarely, and it exploded in a shower of gold and red flames.
"You fool!" she hissed, turning to the smirking Maj. "How can we trade for his life now?"
Shonah shrugged, apparently unconcerned. "We will just have to pretend that he is still alive, until we have the Liberty in our grasp." He leered at her. "Then you can tell Chakotay's woman the good news yourself."
Seska stared at him wordlessly, too furious to form a cogent response. Then she turned and fled from the bridge, with the Kazon's laughter echoing in her wake.
~~~
End of part eight
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