summary:

TITLE: Janeway Redux AUTHOR: halfofone
FEEDBACK: Constructive feedback welcome.
SUMMARY: Set after five years after the events of Counterpoint in season 5. Janeway gets remade and returns to find her old ship. She needs Voyager and the crew but can they trust her?

disclaimer:

DISCLAIMER: TPTB are Paramount/Viacom. In a perfect world I would own Star Trek but it's not and I don't.
SPOILERS: Some Season 4 and Season 5 spoilers.
ARCHIVING: If you want ... I would quite like to know where.

warnings:

Warning: This story includes same sex relationships between women. If you are offended by this or it is illegal where you live or you are underage then please read no further.

Full warnings, credits and disclaimers can be found in the contents page and chapter 1.

text:

Part 13 - In the balance.

Sickbay prison cells

Kraal moved quickly down the line of cells looking for Atara. The sickbay was not full.

"Found her" he boomed and dropped the forcefield. He entered the cell and scooped up the small scrawny woman effortlessly from her sick bed. She half-screamed and he clamped his hand over her mouth while Nithqref reassured her that this was her rescuer and not a horrible nightmare.

The huge Parath carried her back down to the main sickbay and set her down gently at a command console.

She was almost too weak to sit up but the Halquine supported her and she began to operate the console. "Command: use override: voice identification Atara, First Daughter of Morvius. Encryption sequence Hidden Hostile Takeover - Sub Group Vessel Commands. Computer identify and download all communication, sensor and transporter command code sequences on my mark. Commence download now."

"This will take a few seconds to complete." she remarked quietly, watching the encrypted codes spool down the screen.

At that moment the sickbay doors opened and Morvius entered. His dark eyes took in the scene before him and he screamed at his daughter. "Atara what are you doing? Who are these people?"

"Father we are trying to rescue the prisoners. Please help us."

"No you foolish child. I recognise them. These are associates of the criminal Janeway. She is trying to steal the ship."

She swung her head to look at him and then back to Nithqref.

"Is this true?"

The Halquine could feel her desperate anger and fear of being deceived. There was no time for dissembling now.

'Yes it's true but Janeway is not a criminal and we need her to rescue your comrades.'

The girl fell back from the console, horror on her face. Her father rushed towards her only to be blocked by Kraal who twisted the arms of relatively small Farini holding him immobile.

"Do not help them any further Atara. I forbid it." he squealed before Kraal silenced him with one large paw.

Nithqref knew co-operation was urgently required, they only had two minutes before the assimilation test took place.

Please Atara. Listen to me. I will prove to you that Janeway is no criminal.

"How can you do that?" asked the young woman. She sounded sceptical.

'Look into her mind. See for yourself.'

The Farinin stared at the Halquine from black eyes that seemed to admit no light. Then she silently nodded.

Nithqref prodded the Captain's mind checking that she had been following the events in sickbay.

'Kathryn I am sorry there is no time to prepare you for this - but try not to fight. You must trust me.'

The Halquine felt the Captain give her assent and raised a prayer for her courage and then opened a channel between the two minds.

The Bridge

Kathryn staggered as the link was made. Controller Goff stepped back but Kashyk moved to grasp her arm firmly.

"What is the problem Captain? Are you unwell?" he asked.

"No, just slight dizziness. It's nothing." She ground out the words, trying to keep from collapse. It was some relief as her Borg neural processor took over motor control of her body and left her conscious mind to concentrate on the battering force of the Farini woman's emotions. Hate, fear and despair surged through her. Mostly the hate and fear were directed at her and she cringed at the monstrous representation of herself as an evil ego replete with selfish overwhelming ambition and ruthlessness.

For a few milli-seconds she tried to resist the invasion but gave in to Nithqref who urged 'Don't fight Kathryn - relax, let her see for herself.'

She tried to comply and inwardly groaned as the Farinin experienced her memories. It was a very uncomfortable feeling. Nithqref's contacts with her mind had been very gentle she realised, The non-telepathic Farinin was about as gentle as a regiment of rampaging Klingon.

Kashyk watched the play of emotion on the ex-Captain's face with a sense of triumph. He was a successful telepath hunter and his instincts told him that the Captain was engaged in telepathic communication. Without fanfare he casually moved to a nearby console and began a scan for the tell-tale sub-space signature of telepathic activity. It might take three to four minutes to find but when he did Janeway was as good as dead. It was one thing to have a pet telepath, another to be one.

Sick Bay

Kraal, having roped and tied Morvius, was anxiously talking over the comm link to Seven of Nine.

"How much time left Seven of Nine?"

"Less than thirty seconds to assimilation." Seven suppressed the questions that rose to her lips. She knew something was wrong because of the delay. Cold fear was gripping her heart and she wanted to know what was happening to Kathryn but this was no time for discussion.

In the sick bay, Nithqref still supported the small Farinin. Checking her raging pulse and weakening physical signs the Halquine was frightened. She wouldn't be able to survive the link much longer.

Seven's calm voice broke the quiet. "The prisoner assimilations have started. We are too late."

'Atara?' thought Nithqref probing gently.

Nithqref sensed her confusion and then a decision being made. She entered a string of encrypted codes.

"Computer transfer command control for sensors, communication and transporters, voice activated, to alien Janeway. You have what you asked for Captain Janeway. Now try and use it." The little woman shuddered and withdrew her mind from the link. In answer to Nithqref's horrified stares she said. "If Janeway is all she appears to be then let her rescue us."

"They'll kill her." shouted Kraal angrily and lifted his disruptor to point at Atara who gazed impassively at the towering Parath.

The Bridge

Janeway experienced the Farini woman's shouted challenge in her head and she smiled grimly at the girl's ingenuity. It was justice of a sort she supposed.

She had only one choice. She had to reroute control of the ship to Seven of Nine in the Faraday if any of them were to survive, and that would almost certainly be signing her own death warrant. Unhesitating she opened her mouth to give the order when a triumphant voice interrupted her before she could utter a syllable.

"I have you now Janeway. You are a telepath."

Kashyk punched a button and Kathryn realised her link to Nithqref had vanished. Some kind of telepathic shielding had gone up around her.

"What are you talking about Kashyk?" asked Goff icily, unimpressed by the over-enthusiastic inspector.

"Controller Goff I demand that the telepath Janeway is removed to the brig." Kashyk was nearly hopping with excitement.

"It's not possible.... " said Controller Goff who pushed him aside to glance at the screen. And Kathryn saw disbelief replaced by anger and embarrassment and disgust.

"Get her off the bridge" he grated out. Kashyk beamed with satisfaction. At last he had a measure of success.

Kathryn was as confused as Controller Goff by Kashyk's accusation but surmised that the Devore had no understanding of the Halquine's abilities and had somehow mistaken her as the source of the telepathic readings. She didn't have much time to wonder as one guard seized her elbows while another hit her hard in the face with the butt of his disruptor. She made no effort to resist. They cuffed her hands behind her back and manhandled her off the bridge into the elevator as Kashyk leered triumphantly and Controller Goff looked on angrily.

Once inside the lift, the doors closed and she gazed expressionlessly at her captors who stood less than one metre away, disruptors trained on her body. She felt overwhelming urgency. She had to escape and she had to escape now. Leaning back against the wall, she tensed her wrists and felt the cuffs bite into them. Using all the enhanced strength at her disposal, she forced slowly her wrists apart and after a long painful minute was relieved to feel the left cuff begin to give. Carefully she worked her hand through the loosened restraint trying to disguise any movement by shifting her body against the wall.

"Stand still prisoner" barked the guard and raised his disruptor to her face. She froze but the restraint had come off her left hand. She was free.

The elevator reached its destination and the guard gestured to her to exit from the lift. She moved slowly, too slowly for the nearest guard, who stepped closer and lifted his rifle to hit her. Before the blow impacted on her body Kathryn seized the muzzle and used the momentum to swing the guard against his comrade knocking the latter off his feet. She pulled the rifle, and the guard holding it, towards her and brought his arm down hard on her knee. He screamed and let go of the weapon, his arm snapping noisily at the elbow. Without hesitating she swung the rifle stock up until it connected with his jaw and the guard dropped to the floor unconscious, blood spurting from his mouth.

She turned the business end of the disruptor on the other guard who was still on his knees, yelling into his communicator for assistance.

"Drop the weapon now." The terrified guard threw his disruptor aside and backed out, on his hands and knees into the corridor. "Get out of my sight." she snarled. He didn't need any encouragement, he picked himself up and scampered away.

Moving quickly she put down the weapon and accessed a computer terminal in the wall.

"Computer this is Janeway. Reroute all sensor, communication and tranporter controls to interface 4256."

UNABLE TO COMPLY WITH COMMANDS - UNIVERSAL TRANSLATOR IN USE

"Computer reroute all sensor, communication and transporter controls to interface 4256" she repeated quickly in Devore cursing her own stupidity.

CONTROLS REROUTED

"Computer establish direct voice link with alien Seven of Nine. And erect level ten force fields around sickbay and storage bay 5"

VOICE LINK AND FORCE FIELDS ARE ACTIVE

"Seven, it's Kathryn. You have control of transporters, sensors and communication systems, now get those prisoners off the surface."

"Kathryn where are you?" said Seven her voice shaking. "We lost you."

"I'm safe, relatively, just get those people out before the planet is blown sky high."

"Kathryn we are too late. The assimilation experiment has commenced."

"Then we'll simply have to hide them until their transformation is complete, and Seven try not to alert the Devore of the loss of control. I want to keep our manouevres a secret until we can take control of the Fearless, is that clear? We cannot fight the Devore fleet from a shuttle locked in a cupboard."

"Yes Captain.... Kathryn, please be careful."

"Seven ..." A disruptor blast crashed into the wall beside her head.

"Seven, I have to go. Don't try to rescue me, it will blow our cover, just get the prisoners. I'll try and keep our friends busy. Janeway out." She threw herself to the floor and let off a couple of shots at the security guards who had appeared at the far end of the corridor and then rolled over towards an exit door into another corridor. 'Damn' she thought getting to her feet and starting to run. 'I should have ask Seven to disguise my life signs. This'll be fun.'

Sick Bay

It did not occur to a harassed and worried Seven of Nine to inform the team in sickbay of the change of plans. So when dozens of partially assimilated prisoners began to materialise in sickbay, in various states of panic and transformation, neither Kraal nor Nithqref were ready.

"What the hell is going on?" roared Kraal tripping over a large Brenari who was writhing in some discomfort. "Where are they coming from?"

Nithqref shook both heads and lifted up the tiny Farini, carrying her towards the entrance, out of the way of the materialising alliance fighters but the Halquine felt relief flood through tired bones and muscles.

'She's done it, I do not know how, but she has done it. Unable to feel her Nithqref couldn't say if Janeway was still alive or prisoner behind some telepathic shielding but remote fears were forgotten as the doors of sickbay blasted open. Outside three Devore soldiers armed with heavy disruptors held their disruptors ready to fire and the Halquine knew the last moment of its life had arrived. Using both its bodies, it shielded the Farinin held in its arms.

The blasts bounced harmlessly off a force field which flared electric blue as each shot made contact. Weak with relief, the Halquine thanked its many Gods and Kathryn and Seven of Nine and then warned its comrades.

'Kraal, we can expect company. The Devore know we are here.'

Storage bay 5

Seven watched the unfolding chaos on the ship. She was jamming all internal communications and sensors, disguising them as equipment failures. Teams of Devore engineers were running about frantically, trying to restore the systems.

The sensor jam made tracking Kathryn very hard but Seven kept a transporter lock on her love for an average of 93.4% of time. An utterly imperfect performance from a borg point of view. The communicator bleeped and the low urgent voice of her beloved interrupted her efforts.

"Seven, I am near sick bay. There are at least twenty three Devore soldiers trying to blast their way in. They have to be stopped."

"Acknowledged Kathryn. Please be careful."

"That's the twentieth time today Seven. I have already promised to be careful."

"Then you have put yourself at risk twenty times. Apparently you need frequent reminding" said Seven tartly.

Kathryn stifled a laugh. She rapidly outlined her tactics for removing the Devore assault group.

Sickbay

Kraal looked around sickbay at the ninety odd prisoners who were staggering about in various stages of confusion, sprouting implants. Shaking his head he identified three, two sturdy little Kirrin and an opal coloured lizardman, who looked in better shape than the others. He collared them one by one and pulled them aside.

"Are you able to hold a disruptor?" All three nodded and he threw a weapon to each of them. "Follow me." He marched to the door and they took positions up facing the entrance. A few seconds later a heavy blast from outside hit the forcefield setting off a coruscating display of light but the field held even though the walls on each side buckled.

"Nithqref we should get the prisoners away from the main entrance" called Kraal.

"There is no need to concern yourself Parath" murmured Atara. "No Devore weapon is going to puncture that forcefield. Unless they destroy the ship around it of course." Her glassy black eyes showed no fear or even any interest.

Kraal felt contempt mixed with anger towards the little witch but his reply was contained. "Farini, I am more concerned with hiding our numbers from the Devore. They may not yet know that these are the prisoners from the planet surface. Or how many we have rescued."

Kraal was gratified to see two more of the prisoners join his small band.

"However, the little dears seem to be recovering quickly." he boomed. "We should have quite an army. Of course we don't have enough weapons for more than a dozen." Leaving two of the men to watch the door, Kraal ordered the others to start moving their slower adapting comrades to the back of sickbay out of sight of the main doors.

The number of Devore outside sickbay had increased. Watching them through the shimmering forcefield as they desperately tried to puncture it, Nithqref observed the officer in command shouting orders to his men. And then to his horror he saw all of the Devore soldiers dematerialise.

'Kraal! They are transporting in. Take cover.'

Kraal and his small band threw themselves behind whatever cover they could find and waited for battle. But no-one appeared.

After a few seconds of silence Kraal lifted his head above the bed behind which he was crouching and looked about. His gaze shifted to the main entrance and the vision of a lone figure standing with a disruptor in one hand, the stock resting on her hip.

"Computer lower force field" said Kathryn Janeway and stepped through the shattered doors into sickbay. Kraal let out a bay of triumph and vaulted over the improvised fortifications, catching her up, he squeezed her the air from her in a bone crushing hug before putting her down gasping.

Atara, who had followed the giant Parath from their hiding place, was rigid and her face betrayed utter shock.

"You survived. How?" she gasped.

"Just luck" said the unsmiling captain. "Remind me to thank Inspector Kashyk for his timely intervention."

'Kathryn, you are safe?' sent Nithqref, both bodies hugging her physically while mentally hugging her mind, she sensed the relief and echoes of anxiety. She clutched an arm affectionately, but the Halquine, aware that she was a little overwhelmed let her go and asked 'What happened to the Devore?'.

She smiled coldly.

"It occurred to me that we should replace the people we had removed from the planet with some of our Devore friends, Seven simply obeyed the Devore commander's instruction to transport his men but instead of putting them inside sickbay she sent them all to the surface of the moon." Janeway limped over to the control panel and entered a few commands, establishing a link with Seven's command centre. "Seven has intercepted no unusual ship to ship transmissions and none of the other Devore vessels seem aware that anything is amiss. We are fortunate that the Devore command are so secretive about this mission."

"You're hurt Kathryn," said Kraal, immediately concerned.

"Not badly, just a nick. Tell me, how many people do we have who can fight? We need to take the bridge and engineering soon." Kathryn was worried that the Devore would trace the source of their malfunctions to the Federation shuttle and find Seven and Makela relatively unprotected. "Seven has been jamming internal communications but it's only a matter of time before they realise that it is not a simple system failure."

"We have fifteen, more or less, able fighters and a dozen weapons, the rest of the little souls are still too feeble... completing their transformations" he finished diplomatically. Kraal was thoroughly enjoying himself and his ruddy features beamed.

Kathryn acknowledged his report with a smile. She turned her attention to the frightened Farini woman who peered at her from behind the bulky protection of the Parath as though at a monster. She thanked her gently

"Thank you for your assistance and for trusting me,"

"And for nearly getting you killed, don't forget that." snorted Kraal.

Kathryn ignored the aside and keeping her attention on the young woman, insisted firmly, "But we will need the remainder of the ship's command codes if we are to survive a conflict with the Devore fleet. Are you able to obtain them?"

"Yes but there is a condition."

The fragile woman sounded as though she could barely raise the effort to speak but despite her fear her determination was palpable.

"You must not hurt my father and you must protect him as if he were your own, no matter what happens to me. You are to swear on your honour as a Starfleet captain."

"I suppose I have no choice," Kathryn muttered. She put aside her dislike of ultimatums and accepted the inevitable, avowing with all the conviction she could muster.

"Despite my obvious differences with Morvius, I agree to your terms, I swear to protect your father on my honour as a Starfleet captain."

Atara of Farini studied the captain's face. "I accept your promise Captain Janeway." She entered some data into the terminal and waited for the computer to produce the necessary authorisations. "Domain computer transfer all command to alien Janeway."

The domain computer beeped in acknowledgement and the small Farinin whispered "Captain the ship is yours."

Janeway felt a rush of excitement as the sacred words were spoken but there was no time to linger on the special allure of starship command, she had to secure this vessel now.

tbc