Written
13th November 2015
5th & 7th June 2016

None of them knew how they got there. The last thing any of them saw beforehand had been the strange space station. James made a comment about it looking like multiple spatulas jammed into some Playdoh. The name DohSpatula stuck a little too easily. For days nothing happened. The crew worked to get their ship back up and running. Out of nowhere they felt a transporter steal them away. Bringing them to this place. Whatever it was.

Surrounded by muddy grass, asphalt, and a multitude of people in old fashioned clothing dancing around. In the centre of the madness, a large white farmhouse with an old man sitting on the steps, playing a banjo merrily.

As much as it looked out of place, the Marquis crew felt like the outsiders. The confusion over the situation had morphed into general annoyance from the dreadful music playing.

One crewmember had enough. Jessie strode over to the old man on the steps. James followed her, curious as to what she was going to do. He didn't have to wait long. She snatched the banjo from its owners hands to smash it into the nearby tree. What remained was handed back to him.

"Stick to the tambourine next time, idiot," she hissed and then walked away.

James was already close to laughing when he saw the expression on the man's face. Wide eyed, jaw threatening to drop, unsure of why that happened or hadn't expected it. James shrugged before walking after her.

Unaware of this incident, a woman hurried out of the house with a tray of food to offer it to the still baffled crew.

"Corn on the cob?" she kept repeating.

Unfortunately she said it in earshot of Danny, then again directly to her face. She snorted into laughter. Everyone around her groaned in perfect unison. "Corn in the gob ey?" Danny was the first to take something from her. Thanks to the way she ate it, she was the last as the woman hurried away in disgust.

In the corner of Jessie's eye she saw the old man pull another banjo out from behind him. Her teeth ground together as he began to play that like nothing happened.

"I'll end him," Jessie said in a such a calm and gentle voice, it took the people nearby a while before her words clicked.

"Jess, he's not worth it," James said. That might have worked if the old man didn't force eye contact with his banjo breaker, as if to make a point. Jessie lunged forward, only to be stopped by James quickly throwing his arm out.

Ian approached the pair, staring at them bewilderedly. "He's taunting us. Or he's doing some swap bodies thing."

Jessie didn't get it at first. When she did, she scowled at him in disgust. "Oh so because I'm angry and lashed out, I must be James huh. Classy."

"Well, if someone told me that somebody smashed the banjo, I know who I'd blame," Ian said nervously.

Chakotay watched from afar, seconds away from face palming. What finally set him off had to be the sight of Sid finding a cattle prod. Somebody snatched it off him before he could find something to heat it up with.

"All right, that's it," Chakotay snapped. He stomped towards some of the dancers. "I have enough weird going on without you people adding to it. Now tell me..." The dancers kept on dancing, ignoring him. He tried to address the man with the banjo instead. "What is this place and why are we here?"

The woman with the corn returned with a much less friendly expression than earlier. "If you are not interested in any corn, we can always skip ahead to the main course."

"What? Hotdogs and a guy playing the recorder?" James said.

Chakotay finally allowed his hand to move up and cover his face. Both of them were itching to do it at this point.

"Why hotdogs?" Jessie asked innocently. Danny snorted into laughter again, answering her question. Sort of. She knew it was rude to her at least.

"I need to re-think my life," Chakotay said, muffled through his hands.

The farm faded away into nothing, replaced by a mechanical environment filled with uncomfortable looking beds hanging from the ceiling. Any sense of relief the crew had was wiped when they looked around.

There was little time to ponder what was going to happen next. They felt the transporters envelop them once more.

The beds, now occupied by the Marquis crew, revealed a terrifying feature. A sharp needle descended from the ceiling above each one. They'd keep going until the stomach was punctured. There were no screams or resistance, their eyes were closed tight.

Not all of them were so lucky. Perhaps it was payback for what she did to his banjo, or the insult in general, but Jessie was fully aware of what was going to happen to her. Her body stripped bare with only a sheet covering her. Something was holding her down, nothing she could see. Everything felt numb. That was until the needle pierced her skin. All she could do was scream.

If that wasn't bad enough, she could hear Sid's giggles and then slurred sleep mumbling's of, "again, again!"

Her vision began to blur while her stomach burned. The last sight she could make out was her best friend on a nearby bed suffering the same fate. With his head slumped the other way she could not see if he had to watch his torture too. Then the darkness came.

Voyager:
"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that. We're where?" Kathryn said dangerously.

Harry shivered. She was staring into his soul, he felt it slowly turn to stone.

"Captain, the Marquis ship is here too," Tom said from the helm. He hoped that it would redirect her for a moment. "Their shields are down and they're badly damaged."

Kathryn hurried to his side to see for herself. Instead she slapped the hand hovering over the panel. He stared at her with a wounded puppy expression.

"Think of the helm as all women. It doesn't want you touching her, keep your dirty mitts off," Kathryn hissed at him.

Even though his hand still stung Tom turned away and muttered under his breath, "please, if the helm was you I'd be on the other side of the ship."

He heard her growl, the right side of his face and neck burned from the intensity. He didn't dare move to avoid catching a glimpse of her staring at him.

"There are no life signs aboard," Harry stuttered.

"What about on the station?" Kathryn asked him.

"Array," Tom blurted out, instantly regretting it. The heat was beginning to make him sweat.

"Do you say anything but look at me or punch me, Paris?" Kathryn said dangerously.

Tom meekly shook his head, doing so he got a blurry preview of her face. It convinced him to try to keep quiet for now.

"Our sensors can't penetrate its hull," Harry answered her previous question.

Kathryn focused her attention on the viewscreen. Fortunately for it her face softened slightly. "What are those pulses coming from it, Mr In?"

Tom wondered what she meant, he looked up as well. The alien structure looked strange enough, but he could see it slowly turning on the spot, occasionally firing a white blast of energy into the distance.

Harry didn't dare correct her name for him again, he didn't want her wrath focused on him, ever. "Massive bursts of radiant energy. It seems to be directed toward a G-type star system."

"Hail it," Kathryn commanded.

The comm activated before Harry could do a thing. "Carey to Bridge," a man's voice said over rough static.

"Carey, Carrie," Kathryn muttered to herself.

"Engineering has some severe damage. The Chief's dead. Possibility of a warp core breach."

"Oh, I thought Carey was that annoying pissant doctor," Kathryn said, more confused than she was before. Her eyes widened, the blue in them flickered. "What, a core breach? Why didn't you open with that?"

"Uh... can I answer that after the ship blows up?"

Kathryn swung around to stomp towards the turbolift. Nobody, not even people tending to the injured, got in her way. "Secure all systems, I'm on my way. Don't you dare leave."

"No response from the station," Harry quickly said and unintentionally quiet.

Before she stepped into the turbolift Kathryn sharply turned her head in his direction. He instantly thought he was next. "Get down to Sickbay, find out what's going on." Thankfully it was brief as she focused on a man at Tactical next. "Mister Dullins, the Bridge is yours."

The man she gestured to waited until she was gone to say, "Rollins."

Tom looked over his shoulder toward him, catching Harry rush for the turbolift closer to Tactical. It seemed to him a little pointless hanging around if he wasn't allowed to touch anything. He quickly made his decision to dash after him. "Harry, wait up."

Sickbay:
The pair rushed in through the main entrance. They were immediately greeted by raging fires in several parts of the room.

Harry helped the teenaged boy from the queue at Deep Space Nine off the ground. Then he and Tom immediately rushed over to the check on the medical officers. Tom scanned them, hoping they were merely unconscious. Harry picked up a fire extinguisher.

The results of the scan weren't good, his shoulders slumped. "They must have been right next to the console when it exploded," Tom said.

Harry used the fire extinguisher to try and put the fire out.

Kathryn power walked down the corridor. Everyone using the corridor did their best to keep out of her way, most with a fearful look in their eyes.

She was almost there when she caught sight of a woman with random strands of hair tumbling over her shoulders. A fuzzy bulb of it hung out, lopsided on one side. The top of her head looked like she had gotten a large static shock.

The Captain turned to confront the obviously frazzled woman. "God, go take the rest of the day off, you look like a drunk hedgehog." Then she realised she was only talking to the reflection on the computer panel next to her. "Oh the humanity."

"Computer, activate Emergency Medical Holographic Program," Harry commanded.

An older man with barely any hair appeared out of thin air. He looked around briefly.

"Please state the nature of the medical emergency," he said robotically.

"Dumb question," the teen boy muttered. He was standing by one of the bio beds where one of the patients was lying.

"Status of your doctor?" the EMH said questioningly.

"He's a bit dead," Tom answered.

"Point four cc's of Trianoline," the EMH ordered. The boy looked at him with a confused look on his face.

"Erm, can you repeat that?" he said meekly.

The EMH looked impatiently at Harry and then Tom. "Is he the only nurse?" he muttered.

"I doubt it," Tom said.

The hologram sighed and he walked over to a medical tray. He picked up a hypospray and he injected the patient with it.

Tom studied the hologram in distaste. "An artificial doctor?"

"Yeah, why not?" Harry said.

"Couldn't they have made him nicer?" Tom complained.

"It's for emergencies only. Bedside manner's not gonna matter," Harry pointed out.

"Uh no, I meant nicer on the eyes. Hot, blonde..." Tom gestured both his hands in front of him. Everyone conscious stared in disgust. "Very smart."

Harry rolled his eyes and walked away. The EMH's reply was to push Tom out of the way on route to another patient. "If you're going to overcompensate. Do it outside," he said.

Harry smirked. "You heard him."

"Tricorder," the EMH commanded, pursuing his right hand outward. Harry followed him and he handed him the tricorder he was carrying.

The EMH pushed it straight back with a disgruntled, almost patronising face. "Medical tricorder!" he barked.

Tom tried his best not to laugh at Harry's pouting face.

Engineering was in complete disarray. Injured and dead were being hurried out, consoles sparked uncontrollably or were already blanked out. The majority of staff had huddled around the core, the purple fluid inside it churned, a light haze stemmed from it across the room.

"Lock it down," Kathryn barked at the team.

"If we lock it down with this much pressure, we might never get it revitalised," one staff member told her.

Kathryn sighed downward at the computer panel she stood at. "We don't have a choice. We need to get it under control before we try to clip it down."

They were all on the same page. Everyone got to work. The man who had spoken to her opened a floor panel and stepped down into a deep hole, armed with a few tools. Kathryn watched him with one eye still on the panel.

"Warning: warp core micro fracture. Breach imminent," the computer warned them.

Kathryn tensed, "you don't have to tell me." She sped up her own work.

"That's it. Constrictors locked," the man said in relief. Kathryn nodded. "I just need a little while to straighten this out," he mumbled.

"Take your time Mr Harry, this is delicate work," Kathryn said.

The man nodded too, then frowned. "It's Carey, Captain."

"Then who the hell is Harry?" Kathryn wondered to herself but aloud. She still continued what she was doing while thinking about it.

The purple started to tame, the sounds coming from the core diminished.

"Unlock the constrictors," Kathryn ordered while her fingers worked.

"Constrictors online," Carey confirmed.

Kathryn double checked her console before asking, "pressure?"

Carey sighed in relief and smiled, "it's working. Twenty five hundred kilopascals and holding."

"Finally," Kathryn sighed in relief. Now that everything was calmer, the rest of the staff moved away to fix something else. Doing so they noticed the Captain's frazzled hairdo was back to its usual impossibly neat bun. They caught her tapping the knot holding the bun in and pocketing a small brush.

Once she noticed them looking at her, the anger was soon back to normal too. "What?" She turned away to return to the Bridge, she eyed the warp core in distaste for no reason they could see. "What, it's normally that colour? It would look much better in blue."

"Uh, you want us to change the plasma coolant colour?" Carey stuttered in disbelief, hoping she was joking.

"I bet it wouldn't break in five minutes if it were. Blue, strong and vital. Matches my eyes," she mumbled as she passed him. Her commbadge chirped.

"Bridge to Janeway. We're being scanned by the array, Captain. Its penetrated our shields."

"Station. Can't we have a minute's peace?" Kathryn muttered before tapping the commbadge. "So, what kind of scan?" She got no response. "Oh come on, I didn't snap at you, big pansies. Respond." A crewmember sneaking by behind her disappeared in an alien transporter beam, which she not only saw in the corner of her eye, she heard it too. "That's not a scan!"

She marched back towards Carey, "initiate emergency lock off. They're getting this ship over my..." The transporter took her away too mid sentence, her hands flew to her hips, "hey! Dead body!"

The EMH finished with another patient lying on a biobed. Before he could dismiss her she disappeared as well. "And they complained I was rude," he said. Then he looked around to find he was alone. It merely annoyed him. "Computer, deactivate the EMH. It's not hard!" He reached for his commbadge, "Sickbay to Bridge. I didn't say anyone could leave." No answer. "Hellloooo??" He sighed impatiently.

Now it was the Voyager crew's turn to visit the strange farmhouse. This time it seemed quieter and less crowded. The lady handing out corn brought a fresh tray of different food to offer them.

Whoever had one on their person at the time, brought out a tricorder in the hopes of curing their confusion.

"Uh, Captain?" Tom asked on approach to Kathryn.

Kathryn was one of the crew with a tricorder, she glared at it as if it were its fault. "What kind of stupid interior design is this for a station? Stupid pricks."

Tom looked to Harry instead. "I can't detect any stable matter. It's got to be some sort of holographic projection," Harry said.

The woman approached them with a bright, beaming smile. "Sugar cookies anyone?"

"Oh Jesus Christ," Kathryn groaned in response. The woman quickly changed her route to avoid her. "Oh no you don't," Kathryn growled as she gave chase. "Get back here you old bag and tell me what the hell is going on!"

The woman had to stop, what with Voyager crewmembers all over her escape routes. She turned around nervously chuckling. "You're guests here. The neighbours will be here any minute. Try to relax."

As if on cue the group of people from earlier arrived through the front gate.

"Oh yes. Suddenly on the other side of the quadrant, my crew's dead, Marquis idiots are missing. Relax." Everyone backed away at least one step. "I'll get right on it!" Kathryn roared.

"What's her problem anyway?" Harry whispered with a hand by his mouth.

Tom shrugged, "I don't think it's only one." He then spotted a woman in a flowery dress making eyes at him. He zoomed over to greet her so quickly Harry was left talking to himself.

"Tell me why you kidnapped us, or I'll start butting heads," Kathryn snarled.

The woman gasped but still kept a cheerful facade. "So violent. You remind me of a couple of our last guests."

"The Marquis?" Kathryn asked.

The woman hurried off through the gap Tom had left before she said anything more incriminating, leaving Kathryn to stew. She eventually looked around to inspect the place.

Harry meanwhile walked over, tricorder in hand, to Tom who was already getting a little friendly with the woman he met. "Uh Tom, we're the only people here. She's not real, a hologram."

"Never stopped me before," Tom smirked.

Harry blankly stared at the pair. "That doesn't surprise me whatsoever," he retorted before walking away from everyone.

Tom smiled, enjoying her company until he replayed what Harry said in his head. He ran after the Ensign, "hey, meaning what?"

"If you're mad, you already got it," Harry replied.

"What are you doing?" Tom asked as he caught up with him.

"There's got to be a control panel somewhere, a power conduit. Anything," Harry answered.

"Hmm, of course," Tom said.

Harry's tricorder bleeped viciously. His eyes fluttered open wide at the readings he was getting. "Woah. Sporocystian lifesigns."

"Sporocysts, what?" Tom stammered.

The pair then noticed the woman following closely behind them. "Where are you going? There's nothing over there but a silly boring barn," she said in a badly faked Texan accent.

"Wow," Tom cringed at it.

Harry was more bemused by it though, "you haven't heard her talk yet... of course not." He glanced over his shoulder to address her, "what's in the barn?"

"Oh nothing but piles of hay. If you like spores, you'll love the duck pond," the woman replied.

Harry and Tom shared the same curious expression, and neither of them were thinking about ponds.

Kathryn passed the banjo man, apparently knowing better than to play with her around. She still turned on him though. "You people have got a dodgy idea of what would be homely to us, and I grew up on a bloody farm."

The old man pretended to be deaf and looked away. She grunted and walked off to pester a different hologram. Then she noticed something was off about what was left of her crew. "Wait, where's In and the pervert? I doubt they've split up already."

"Over there," Faye said timidly while pointing in the direction Harry and Tom went. "I think."

Kathryn acknowledged with a nod and hurried off. She backtracked after a few steps to look at her strangely. The young girl's face turned bright red. "They're looking younger every year. It better not be just me," she commented. She shook her head and smirked, "nah."

Tom and Harry tried to enter an old wooden barn. The woman rushed in front of the door and put on her best flirty look. "Hey, wouldn't you prefer to triple date. Huh?"

Tom of course smiled at it while Harry's eyes widened. He took one look at Tom's expression and mouthed no. Tom looked at him, only then realising what she may have meant. He groaned in response. "How old are you Tom, sixteen?" Harry grunted as they walked around her and inside the building.

The tricorder in Harry's hands bleeped harshly while he pointed it around the barn. "Lifesign is definitely coming from in here."

"Where?" Tom asked while looking around the whole building.

"I'm not sure. It's all around us. Oh..." Harry said over the top of his tricorder bleeping once more. He made his way over to another door. "Oh over here. There's some sort of matrix processor. Humanoid lifesigns too. I'm reading Human, Klingon, Vulcan..."

The woman glared from afar, then ran forward to block their path once more. Her arms stretched outwards to stop them going through. "I'm not ready for you yet!"

Out of nowhere they heard a dog barking and snarling at them. They swung around to see a very large one baring its teeth.

"Nice puppy," Tom said, his hand edged up to tap his commbadge. The woman took the opportunity to slam her fist into his jaw, knocking him down onto his ass.

The dog's barks were silenced the second Kathryn burst in, parting the outside doors with both hands. They flew to her hips, a death glare on full blast as she marched inside. The woman almost melted at the sight of it, the dog whimpered and ran off outside. Tom and Harry tried to avert their eyes incase they were blinded.

A few members of the crew followed her inside, more tense because of her being in the proximity than the situation.

Multiple transports surrounded the Voyager crewmembers, blocking them from going any further. All of them armed with pitch forks.

Kathryn scoffed at the sight of them, "oh please. You act as if I've never been threatened by one of those overgrown forks before."

"That and torches," Tom whispered.

Kathryn side eyed him into a puddle of goo. "You tell us what..." she snapped.

"You're cutting the line, that's what," the corn woman sneered. The barn then faded away. In its place, the seemingly never ending stream of beds in a harsh lab environment. Some still occupied by the unconscious Marquis crew.

The holograms allowed them to walk towards the beds. Harry flinched at the sight of people younger than even him lying there helpless. Sympathy flooded through him.

Kathryn scanned their faces until she saw one she recognised. Seeing Tuvok at their mercy killed any restraint she had left. She swung around, ready to hurt the closest hologram when the Voyager crew were transported once again.

Harry found himself staring at the ceiling, unable to move anything but his head. Even then he could only lift it up and down. Down was when he saw the needle coming for him. He screamed as it pierced his chest.

When the crew awoke, they found themselves all back where they were on Voyager before they were taken. Kathryn had the misfortune of not only waking up on the debris covered Engineering floor, but also becoming a pillow for Carey.

He was still really groggy when she pushed him into a roll. He landed face down while she wiped off imagined drool from her stomach.

"Disgusting prick. Someone really ought to punch you in the nose," she growled.

Carey slowly rolled onto his back so he could sit up. "This is Starfleet, nobody can get away with that."

"Don't test me," Kathryn muttered as she stood up. She frantically wiped and pat down her trouser legs, before tapping her commbadge. "Janeway to Bridge. Is everyone accounted for?"

"Yes Captain, more or less," Rollins answered her.

"Wouldn't that just be more?" a young girl's voice whispered.

"Who's that?" Kathryn asked.

"I er... I dunno. Some kid woke up on the Bridge. What? Claire something."

"Why would one member of the crew be in another location?" Carey wondered, instantly suspicious. Kathryn was too.

"I sleep walk okay, if you must know."

Kathryn headed for the exit. "I don't remember hiring more than one fresh Starfleet brat. Oh whatever. How long were we over on that station?"

"Three days," Rollins answered in shock.

"Oh shoot," Kathryn grunted, now running out of Engineering and to the turbolift. "I left my replicator on," the engineering crew thought they heard her say.

The Bridge:
Rollins looked at Tactical with concern. "The Marquis ship is powering up its engines. Hello? Captain?"

The not shy teenaged girl from Deep Space Nine repeated what Kathryn had said silently. She shrugged and decided to take a peek at the Opps station.

"I'll put a tractor beam on them. That's the tamest thing she would do," Rollins said. The thought of him getting that wrong made him sweat buckets.

Sickbay:
Now that everyone was back, the EMH rushed around to every patient with his many questions. He thankfully spotted Tom wandering around in a daze before he bothered the poor woman with the facial burns.

"Excuse me. Can you tell me what has transpired?" he asked him.

Tom didn't know himself. He had a much more immediate problem on his hands. He span around on the spot to triple check the room, knowing he'd be disappointed anyway. "Computer, locate Ensign Kim."

"Ensign Kim is not on board the ship."

Tom tapped his commbadge in a panic, "Paris to Janeway."

The Bridge:
Kathryn hurried out of the turbolift to get straight to the Ready Room. All while saying, "no, I'm not going to kiss your broken nose better Paris."

"Uh, Captain," Rollins nervously said.

She was barely halfway to her destination when the Captain stopped and sighed overdramatically. "Fine, you're right. It's already ruined." She walked back the way she came. "What?"

"Harry didn't come back with us. He must still be over there," Tom's voice said, cutting off Rollins before he could open his mouth.

"Who?" Kathryn was puzzled.

"Captain. The Marquis ship has their crew back and they're powered up. We've tractored them," Rollins said.

"Which? Oh," Kathryn said as she got her bearings. "Hail them. There's probably been a tiny mix up. Check the ship for any Marquis peeps."

"Peeps?" Tom's voice sniggered.

Kathryn slapped her commbadge to cut him off. "So much for being polite. On screen."

The viewscreen changed from the exterior of the Marquis ship with a blue light shining on it, to the left side of the cockpit. Chakotay seemed taken by surprise at this as he turned his head towards them.

"Commander Chicksday. This is the starship Voyager, I'm Captain Kathryn Janeway," Kathryn said.

Chakotay frowned, "uh, Chakotay."

"Damn, so close," Kathryn whispered.

Everyone shook their heads, even Tuvok did so. "No, no it wasn't," Chakotay groaned.

"Well I'm sorry. There's been a lot of new names today," Kathryn snapped. "We were sent to find your ship after it vanished from the Bad Lands, so here we are. Thanks a lot by the way," she muttered the last sentence.

"Oh that wasn't on purpose, I assure you," Chakotay said through gritted teeth, while rolling his eyes.

Kathryn actually smiled in response to his and everyone's surprise. "Apology accepted. Now, one of our crewmembers is missing. I thought that maybe he was transported to your ship by accident, and one of yours to ours?"

Chakotay's interest was piqued, he sat forward in his chair. "Two of our people are missing. You have at least one of them?" He looked over his shoulder, nodding at Tuvok, then back again, "a female someone?"

Both of Tuvok's eyebrows raised, he looked away towards the window clearly resisting a comment.

Kathryn checked with Rollins, he shook his head. "Oh. Perhaps not. You?" she directed at Chakotay.

Chakotay sighed, "no, we have no extra people onboard."

Kathryn looked puzzled, she folded her arms behind her back. "Scan the station. They must be there."

"Inconclusive ma'am, I've already done so," Rollins said.

"If you do stumble across one of ours and he's a he, he's extra handy. Too handy. We don't need him anymore," Chakotay said.

Tuvok's eyebrow managed to raise even higher than normal. "Commander?"

"You and I have seem to have the same problem," Kathryn said thoughtfully.

"You have a smart ass missing too? If it weren't for the other missing person, we could celebrate," Chakotay commented.

Kathryn smirked at him. She knew that pain all too well. "If only Commander. He's still here. Maybe we should work on this shared problem together, hmm?"

"I suppose so. Four of us will transport over to your ship," Chakotay answered. As soon as he did the shot of the ship was back on the viewscreen.

The turbolift opened, Tom stepped out of it. Seconds later Chakotay, Tuvok, B'Elanna and Ian dematerialised a few feet from Kathryn. All of them were pointing phasers in different directions. Rollins responded with raising his own.

"Captain, they're armed," he warned.

"No shi..." Kathryn hissed. Despite a phaser being more or less pointed at her, she marched over to the man holding it. The same man she had just spoken to on the screen. "I'd put that down unless you want it up your hint end."

"My what?" Chakotay was very puzzled.

Kathryn hesitated, her eyes glazing up, "hind, hint. Oh who cares." She ignored the Commander and focused on Tuvok standing behind him. "Good job, Tuvok. Wink," she said, then winked for real.

The three Marquis crew all looked around to glare at the Vulcan, who actually managed to look awkward. "Perhaps it would've been more tactical to announce my allegiance after the weapons had been lowered," he said.

"Tuvok!" Kathryn's eyes shot very wide open as she scolded him. "Shhh, he's right there."

Chakotay rolled his eyes as he turned part way back to the Captain. "You know what, I give up. I'm the only sane one here."

"Since, as Humans would put it, the cat's out of the bag, we should explain Captain," Tuvok suggested.

"Where?" Kathryn's head darted around, her eyes wider than usual. "Oh," she laughed and turned back. "Truth is out there, I get it. Yes."

"I must inform you that I was ordered to infiltrate your crew, sir. I am in fact Captain Janeway's Chief of Security," Tuvok explained for her.

B'Elanna growled viciously, she lunged for him. "Son of a bi..."

Chakotay put his arm out to stop her, all while not breaking eye contact with his spy. "Were you tasked with delivering us into Captain Crazy's waiting hands, Vulcan?"

"That's racist," Ian commented.

Kathryn rolled her eyes, "no it's ableist. I'm not crazy."

"My orders were to gain information on your activities, and deliver you into their waiting hands yes," Tuvok replied.

"I knew we should've send Cabbage, the worst he'd do is run around during a battle," Kathryn said. "Seriously Tuvok, they're on our Bridge with phasers. Maybe be a little less honest."

Chakotay looked back at her, only then noticing Tom as he hung around near Tactical. His eyes turned cold. "I see you had help."

"Hello to you too, Chakotay," Tom said. Now that he was spotted, he walked over to the centre of the Bridge to stand behind Kathryn.

"At least he was doing his duties, but you! Let me guess, lost a bar fight and needed bail? Running from daddy? What are you getting out of this one, Paris?" Chakotay snarled, about to close the gap between them.

Kathryn got in his way before he could, they almost collided. Despite their proximity she stared up into his face with her usual cold, withering glance. Tom was a little surprised at this, he beamed at the thought of her sticking up for him.

"His quarters are on Deck Nine. You didn't hear it from me," she whispered.

Chakotay resisted a smile, instead his eyes sparkled with mirth.

****TO BE CONTINUED****

Part Two <<  >> Part Four