Caretaker - L. A. Graf [38]
Chakotay snorted. "How can we..." He shook his head, not even trying to finish the thought.
"I'm fully aware that your crew is wanted for crimes committed in the Demilitarized Zone," Janeway told him, her frustration getting the upper hand. "But Chakotay, the Demilitarized Zone is thousands of light-years away. I don't think that means much right now, do you?"
He stared at her for a long moment, then glanced aside at Tuvok as though checking with the Vulcan before speaking out loud.
Tuvok only lifted one eyebrow at his Maquis commander, and Janeway almost smiled at the familiarity of that gesture. When Chakotay turned back to her, he only nodded shortly. "Three of us will transport to your ship." Then he cut the transmission before she could object.
Just as well, Janeway thought. This keeps everything under my control.
She moved away from the center of the bridge, sparing only a quick nod toward Paris as he hurried out of the turbolift to join her beside the operations console. He looked downright subdued, she noted with some surprise. Maybe all the turmoil would prove to be good for him after all.
"They're powering down their engines," Rollins reported.
"Dropping their shields."
Janeway stopped herself just short of ordering Rollins to do the same--it wasn't like Voyager had any shields to drop. A problem that would have bothered her a great deal more if Chakotay's ship were in much better condition. Turning to face the center of the bridge, Janeway moved to rest her hands on the railing and wait.
The itching tingle of a transporter beam diffused silently through the bridge, then pulled together into a hair-raising whine. As the first light of materialization swarmed the air in front of the shattered helm, Janeway stepped down beside her command chair to wait for the Maquis's atoms to stabilize before formally addressing them.
They solidified into three separate figures, Chakotay in the middle, each facing outward with his phaser drawn. Tuvok lowered his weapon the instant the transporter beam released him, but Janeway still heard Paris swear quietly as a half-dozen members of Voyager's crew pushed away from their stations to bring their own phasers to bear.
She spun to Rollins as the lieutenant started down toward her level.
"Put down your weapons!" He hesitated, then flushed as though realizing he'd disobeyed a direct order, and slipped his phaser back onto his belt. Behind her, Janeway could hear Paris instructing the rest of the crew to do as they were told.
"You won't need those here." She waved at Chakotay's phaser, then waited.
It occurred to Janeway that the capacity for trust must be severely damaged in anyone truly dedicated to being Maquis. To be what you perceived as abandoned by the Federation, then hunted by Starfleet, and finally lied to and turned upon by the very people who fought beside you whenever a judicial plea bargain was made available. It raised her opinion of Chakotay even more, then, when after a moment of studying her and the crew surrounding her, he slowly holstered his phaser and motioned to his companions to do the same.
And it made it even harder to smile a welcome to the Vulcan without feeling that she was ruining what little ground she'd gained with the Maquis leader. "It's good to have you back, Tuvok."
Chakotay jerked as though stabbed, staring at the Vulcan. Lacing his hands behind his back, Tuvok turned to his Maquis captain and stated politely, "I must inform you that I was assigned to infiltrate your crew, sir. I am Captain Janeway's chief of security."
Chakotay looked as though he couldn't decide whether to be angry at the Vulcan or at himself. "Were you going to deliver us into their waiting hands, Vulcan?"
"My mission was to accumulate information on Maquis activities."
But Tuvok inclined his head slightly in acknowledgment of the Maquis's statement. "And then deliver you into their `waiting hands." That is correct."
Chakotay clenched his jaw and his fists, and Janeway couldn't