Spirit Walk_ Old Wounds (Book 1) - Christie Golden [31]
She smiled, then the smile faded as she continued. “But…you didn’t fight near our world,” she said.
“No,” he said. “The Cardassians were the enemy everywhere. I fought where I could—where I was sent.”
“It must have been a relief to hear that the war was over, that the Maquis were all pardoned.”
“It was, as I told you when I visited,” he said, growing slightly annoyed. “Sekaya, you’re dancing around the issue. What’s all this about?”
Sekaya sighed. “Chakotay, we lied to you. Well, no,” she amended immediately, “that’s not true. We just…we just didn’t tell you certain things.”
“Things like what?”
“We haven’t told anyone yet. The Federation abandoned us. We had no wish to tell them what we endured.”
Concerned, he said, “What happened?”
She lifted her dark eyes to his. He saw her swallow. “Father didn’t die for nothing. He didn’t go looking for a fight. The fight came to us. You see…the Cardassians didn’t leave us alone after all.”
He reached across the table to clasp her hand. “Tell me.”
“I will. It was one of the things I wanted to do, why I agreed to this mission when Admiral Janeway suggested it. But I didn’t think—I just got here today, Chakotay. I want to tell you, but…I’m sorry. I’m just not ready to talk about it.” She smiled without humor. “Maybe I should go see Astall along with the colonists.”
“Maybe you should,” he said, completely seriously.
Sekaya rose and tossed the napkin on the table. “It’s late, and it’s been a long day. I ought to get back to my quarters,” she said.
“You can’t just drop that on the table and walk away,” Chakotay replied.
“I need more time to prepare. To figure out how to word things properly.” She stood, twisting her fingers, staring at the carpeting. “I didn’t expect to have to talk about it the first night. I thought we’d spend some time together, and it would just naturally come up.”
“It just did.”
She threw him a look of exasperation and fear commingled. “I know, but I just don’t want to talk about it right now, all right?”
“Sekaya, you may not be part of Starfleet, but you’re on a Starfleet vessel and I’m its captain. You’ve just told me that the Federation failed to protect our people. I’d be within my rights to order you to tell me.”
Her dark eyes flashed. “You wouldn’t,” she said in a low voice.
He softened. “No, I wouldn’t. But this…this isn’t kind of you, Sekaya.”
She went to him then and, bending, kissed his temple right on the tattoo.
“It’s not about being cruel or kind, Chakotay. It’s about being ready to talk about something that’s very important—to bare my soul. To reveal a secret. You know what a big thing that is to our people. And besides, I really did want to come on this mission to help the Loran II colonists. I don’t want what happened to our colony to distract me from my duties to this one. Do you understand?”
He pressed her hand to his cheek. “Not really,” he admitted. “But I respect you. Tell me when you feel the time is right, but I warn you, I’m not dropping you back off at Deep Space 6 without learning this secret.”
She smiled then, and he felt relief wash over him as he saw the familiar dimple appear in her smooth brown cheek. Whatever it was, and it was clearly bad, it hadn’t robbed his beautiful, ebullient sister of her ability to laugh. And for that, he was grateful.
“Thanks, big brother. The dinner was great. Good night.” She paused at the door. “Chakotay…it really is good to see you again.”
The door hissed closed behind her. He tossed his own napkin on the table and stared at it unseeingly, his hands on his hips.
“Everything seemed fine,” he said to himself.
Chapter
9
KAZ WHISTLED as he updated some files, pausing now and then to glance around appreciatively at his new surroundings. It had been