Date: Fri, 14 May 2010 14:53:04 +0000 From: James Leete Subject: My Maquis Lover Chapter 8 Disclaimer: This story is based in the "Star Trek" universe. The use of anything related to "Star Trek" in this series is not intended to infringe upon the rights of Paramount Pictures. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. All other content or otherwise are works of my own imagination. All events are fictitious in nature. Any similarities to persons living, dead, or otherwise are purely coincidental. This story contains strong themes of homosexual content, if this offends you in any way, please refrain from reading further. If you are not of legal age to read this, please leave now. Ok as well before we start this is based on the series Star Trek Voyager but with a twist from the original story line and i hope you like it. Chapter 8: Back to Basics "Personal Log Jack Carter Stardate 31547.2 the last several weeks have been hard. It's not been that long since Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay came back on board. Those long weeks when we left them behind on that planet were hard and with Tuvok constantly on our backs it wasn't easy. If it hadn't been for Tom keeping me happy and B'Elanna keeping me busy I don't think I would have been able to cope completely with losing Kathryn. I'm looking forward to some time alone with Tom soon though. One more week and we will have two weeks shore leave. End Log". Suddenly the door chimed and brought me out of my trance. "Come in" I said. The door opened and in walked Tom. "Have you heard?" he said. I looked at him puzzled and said "Not really considering I have only been awake for about half an hour, and why aren't you still on duty?" I asked. It was odd for him to be coming to see me considering it was 16:00 and he didn't finish his shift for another three hours. "B'Elanna sent me down to look at your replicator you reported a problem?" he said. "Oh yeah, take a look if you don't mind." I said pointing to the replicator. "What's the news?" I asked. "Chakotay got a message from Seska saying that she and his baby were in trouble and the captain has decided to go after the baby." He told me. "Wow I can't believe it. So much for shore leave" I said. "Well let's just hope this issue can be sorted before then" he said. I smiled and kissed him. "So have you got some time before you have to leave?" I said with a sexy tone. "Sure anything for you babes." He replied. He put his arms around my waist and led me to the bedroom. He pushed me onto my bed and opened up my dressing gown running his tongue down my chest and flicking my nipples. God I was rock solid and I could feel his manhood straining to get out of his uniform. "Janeway to carter" came over the comm. Great this is just what I need. "Go ahead Captain" I said. "I need to see you report to my ready room" she told me. "Can you give me 15 minutes captain, I've only just woken up" I said. "Of course. Janeway out" she said. The comm. Clicked off and I rolled out from underneath Tom and headed for the bathroom. "Great this is just what we need" said Tom. "Baby don't worry we will sort something out soon" I said with a smile and went into the Bathroom. "Would you like some coffee Lieutenant?" asked the captain. "Of course, thank you." I said. She handed me a cup and said "Ok I wanted to speak to you about the situation. I know you probably already know what is going on. So here's what I want from you, whilst you're on the night shift I want the ship to remain on yellow alert. We are entering a very dangerous area of space. If you don't want to take the bridge during this time I completely understand it's your choice." She explained to me. "No I want to do this" I said. She smiled to me and said "Very good in which case then I...." that was all she got out when we heard Tuvok over the comm. "Captain Janeway to the bridge." We left her ready room and I took the engineering station even though I wasn't due on duty for while. "We're picking a single Kazon vessel, heavily damaged." Reported Tuvok. "Lifesigns?" asked the captain. "One adult Kazon male, he's in bad shape" reported Kim. "Beam him directly to sickbay, Mr Tuvok the bridge is yours" said the captain as she and Chakotay turned and entered the turbolift. I too got up from my console and decided to head to engineering to see if I could lend a hand. I had just seen that holoemitters were being installed along the hull with parabolic mirrors and also the deflector array was being modified. As I entered the turbolift I thought about how much trouble we could get in if the Kazon decided to mount up a very big attack before these modifications were completed. 2 DAYS LATER "Sir, there seems to be a malfunctioning holoemitter on the hull." Reported an ensign who was on duty with me in engineering. "Just replace it then" I barked. Everyone was really on edge, the last couple of days were really hard work, and the ship had been under attack for the last couple of days by numerous Kazon ships that were apparently loyal to no-one. And as it stood everyone in engineering were pulling double shifts to be able to repair the damage we had sustained mainly the secondary command processors had been hit each time and they needed to be re-built. "Red Alert" called the captain over the comm. I immediately headed for the turbolift, as B'Elanna and I had come up with the idea that if the ship ever went to red alert that we both had to be in positions where we were our strongest me on the bridge and her in the engine room. When I got to the bridge I took over at the engineering station but the attack didn't last very long. It made me wonder even more if that Tierna guy, who we rescued from the burning ship and saved his life, had he tricked us? after all he was the one who gave us the course to take to get to the planet where the baby was and I got the feeling that the captain had the same thoughts. Once the attack had finished the captain said "Stand down red alert." Everyone secured from alert stations and then Harry said "Deck 12 is in shambles. It's going to take at least two days to repair if we're not attacked again." "I don't like where this course is taking us captain" said Chakotay. "Neither do I, Mr Paris reverse course" ordered the captain. As this was happening I started to check through the systems on Deck 12 to see if anything major was damaged other than the secondary command processors. That was when Tuvok reported that there were ships on approach. The ship went back into red alert. God all this power being put in to the defensive and weapon systems not to mention the shields must really be killing our energy reserves. "How many do you count Mr Tuvok" asked the captain. "8 large carrier vessels, confirmed Kazon signatures." He reported. "Funny how they show up right after we reverse course" commented Chakotay. B'Elanna sent me a message saying `bring the deflector online looks like we are going to need it B.' I immediately did so as the captain asked "time to intercept?" Paris answered her by saying "8 minutes. There attack formation is classic cardassian echelon." It was in that moment that I knew who was behind everything Seska! Tom had told me earlier that according to Tierna Seska was dead but somehow I always thought that wasn't true. "Curious they have left us with an obvious avenue of escape captain" said Tuvok. I checked the sensors and I agreed, one thing I did well in at the academy was tactical planning alongside engineering of course and I knew this was too good to be true. "Your right it is curious... too curious for me" said the captain. "I don't know what's down that avenue of escape Mr Tuvok but I prefer to choose my own way. Set a course to intercept their lead ship" ordered the captain. "Aye Captain" confirmed Paris. "Battle stations" ordered the captain. This was it! As I buckled in my phaser that was next to the console I suddenly thought of Tom. I did this every time we went into battle and I wasn't close to him. In 8 minutes we would either live or die and I didn't like the way my head was spinning. One thing my tactical planning professor always taught me at the academy was that even in desperate situations there is always hope. Your commanding officer knows what they are doing and you should support them to the very end, but you as a potential tactical officer you also have to give your CO options to make sure that they everything they need. I knew in my head that Captain Janeway would get us through this as would the rest of the crew. But one thing I bet my professor never dreamed of was a federation starship going against 8 ships of an alien nature with no backup. This was going to be tough. The next few minutes went by and thankfully the captain stopped pacing the bridge and actually sat down. Her pacing kind of made me nervous. Thank god I'm not in the command chair. "Time to intercept?" asked the captain again. "3 minutes 10 seconds give or take a photon torpedo" said Paris. Now is not the best time for jokes Tom. "Mr Kim?" asked the captain. As Harry worked the controls he looked at me and said "Jack you ready?" I had spent some time with Harry making sure that this decoy turned out perfect. I got up and went over to his station and worked the controls bringing the deflector online and getting the decoy readings perfect. "Echo Displacement ready Captain" I said. "Send in the cavalry" ordered the captain. "Activating deflector grid" I said. "They should be seeing the same thing on their scanners. 10 ships all with Talaxian signatures." I added. "4 of the Kazon ships have broken formation" said Tuvok. "Confirmed their changing course" confirmed Paris. "They took the bait" said Chakotay sounding pleased and like this was over. It was far from over. "That only leaves 4 for us to handle" said the captain. I went back and took my seat as Chakotay said "I like those odd better than 8 to 1." "2 minutes to intercept" said Paris. "Jack are the holoprojectors ready?" asked the captain. "Aye sir, they're ready to go." I replied. "Janeway to Torres" said the captain. "Ready to go captain. We can create three Talaxian ships whenever you want to" said B'Elanna. "In about a minute and a half B'Elanna stand by" said the captain. I continued to check all systems in particular checking to see if the energy reserves could hold three holographic ships and not die out half way through. Just then I received another message but this was from Tom in Engineering. It read `whatever happens just know that I love you. Please be safe' I smiled and said `I love you too. And you be safe to.' Just then the ship shook. Torpedoes were being detonated. "Here we go" said Paris. "They are randomly detonating torpedoes in our flight path" said Tuvok. "Shields are holding. No Damage" said Kim. "Hold your fire Mr Tuvok, they may have torpedoes to waste we don't" said the captain. "30 seconds to intercept." Said Paris. My heart was pounding. "Take us out of warp." Ordered the captain. I could tell by the tone in her voice she was ready to do this. "Engaging impulse engines" said Paris. "Power to all weapon systems. Standby Phasers" said the captain. "Kazon vessel 10,000 Kilometres off our starboard bow" said Tuvok. "Not yet" ordered the captain. "6000" said Tuvok again. "Not yet" said the captain but this time more forceful. "5000, 3, 2000" said Tuvok. "Now" ordered Janeway. At that Tuvok let the phasers fire. The Kazon ship returned fire and the ship started to take hits. "Initiating Evasive Maneuvours Beda sequence" said Paris. "Two more Kazon ships approaching" said Tuvok. We continued to take hits and the ship shook hard. At one point a conduit sparked right above Harry. "Shields at 90%" said Harry. Tuvok continued to fire and we took more hits. I continued to make sure that those holoemitters were ready to go and had power. "Janeway to Torres initiate holoprograms" ordered the captain. "Acknowledged" she said. "Energising" said Torres. I saw on the sensors as one ship appeared, then another. "That's two and here's number three" said Torres from engineering. I saw as she activated the third, the doctor also appeared in space. "Carter to engineering, B'Elanna you just sent the doctor into space" I said. "What... oh god" said B'Elanna. She ended the comm. Channel and I saw the doctor had appeared back on the ship in sickbay. I saw that the ships were taking some of the fire off us. Paris was doing a great job at flying close, and Tuvok was firing phasers like the world was about to end, not that I'm complaining I couldn't do what he was doing that fast. "4 Kazon ships, dead ahead. But there dividing their fire, the holograms are working." Said Harry. That's a start. "Ready Photons" said the captain. "Torpedoes Loaded" said Tuvok. "Take us about Mr Paris we want a good angle on that fourth ship" ordered Janeway. "Coming about 141 mark 20" confirmed Tom. "Fire photon number one" ordered Janeway. I saw as one torpedo hit the ship. "Full starboard roll, evasive manoeuvres Lambda sequence." Ordered the captain "Fire" she said again. Tuvok let two more torpedoes go and the ship blew up. That's one down three to go. Paris then started to bring us back to other three ships as we continued to take fire. "Shields at 85% and holding. Minor damage reported 14" said Kim. "Come about to 143 mark 060" said the captain. "Coming about" confirmed Paris. "Ready photons dispersal pattern Sierra fire" said the captain. Tuvok did as ordered and fire more torpedoes seriously damaging one ships weapons array. We continued to take more hits and more damage as Tuvok fired more phaser volleys. We didn't have torpedoes to waste as the captain said and Phasers were our best shot. Just then my console beeped and I saw why. "I'm picking up a massive energy discharge on Deck 8, we've lost a primary plasma conduit" I reported. "Deck 8. Tierna's quarters." Said Chakotay. That son of a bitch had set us up. Luckily he was dead or I would be killing him myself. "Damage control teams to deck 8" I ordered. "I'm showing power failures all over the ship" I reported again. The captain's face dropped. Everything was falling to pieces. We have been set up. I watched on my console as the three holoships slowly disappeared. Tuvok continued to fire, but the Kazon were getting more shots off than we could return with. "We've lost power to the new holodeck grid. I can't restore it" came B'Elanna's voice over the comm. We then heard an explosion in engineering. "B'Elanna are you alright?" asked the captain. "Yes Captain, but it looks like our reactants injector controls were hit standby." She said. I could hear a fire in engineering and B'Elanna saying "Tom get over here and help me." I was glad that he hadn't been hurt. With Injector controls destroyed there was no way to stabilise the core should we have a breach. "All three Kazon ships are concentrating their fire on us now Captain." Reported Tuvok. "Shields at 70% and falling. Starboard targeting scanners are offline" reported Kim. I tried to transfer power to the shields but it drained away as soon as I did. I then tried to work on the scanners but the relays were fused. "Evasive Maneuvours Mr Paris, Gamma Sequence" said Chakotay. "Jack I need warp power" said the captain from her chair. "We can't go to warp captain, the containment field generator has been damaged B'Elanna is trying to bypass." I said. "Captain, if I can get a shuttle through the crossfire, I might be able to go back and bring the Talaxian to help us" said Paris. The captain looked at him and thought. "Jack take the helm. Good look Lieutenant" said the captain. Tom got up and I ran down and took the helm. I tried to fly us out of their weapons path so that tom had a clear path to launch. The Kazon fired and fired at us. I found a spot just behind the last Kazon ship and slowed to allow Tom to launch before getting off to high speed. I saw the shuttle fly off but it took fire. "The shuttle is clear.. so far so good" said Harry. "Give him as much cover fire as you can Mr Tuvok" ordered Janeway. This situation was so tense. "Aye Captain" he replied. I looked at the sensors again and thought I saw Tom's Shuttle destroyed. "Voyager to Paris please respond" said Kim. "Tom can you hear me?" There was no answer. "I've lost contact with the shuttle." Reported Kim. We took another hit and I said "Navigational array is offline." "We've lost power to forward phasers" reported Tuvok. Great we have no idea where were going and we can't shoot. I'm not sure how this could get any worse. "Shields at 30%. They're buckling" said Kim. We took another hit but this was big one. The science console exploded and the crewman there hit the deck. "Report" asked the captain. I looked at her and she was a mess. Her hair had left her bun and it was all over the place. "The driver coil assembly has been destroyed, Impulse engines are offline" said Kim. He was right I couldn't move us. "We're being boarded through the shuttlebays Captain. Phaser fights reported on decks 5, 6, 7" said Tuvok trailing off. Then I had a thought the secondary command processors... now I know why the Kazon were targeting the starboard ventral all the time. It was the system that controlled the self destruct program. With that destroyed it couldn't be activated. Seska knew far too much about Voyager for her own good. "Intruder alert, security to decks 5 through 7" ordered Chakotay. Janeway shook her head and said "Begin Evacuation." She moved across the bridge and then said "Janeway to computer, initiate the self destruct sequence authorisation Janeway Pior 110. Set it at 10 Minutes." The computer beeped and replied "Unable to initiate self destruct sequence due to damage to secondary command processors." That was it we were all out of options and the sudden realisations of the situation kicked in. At that moment two Kazon appeared on the bridge and said shouted "Don't Move" I was about to draw my phaser but Tuvok beat me to it and shot one of them, but not before the other shot at another crewmember. It brought back memories of what happened to me a few months ago and thought against it. "Hold your fire" shouted the captain. By this point there were 4 Kazon on the bridge and they started to round us up and push us to centre of the bridge. One pulled me up from the conn and threw me to the floor. They pushed us all to our knees and the same one that had thrown me down held a weapon to my head. That was it. We had lost Voyager. I could see from where I was on the viewscreen the other three Kazon ships surround us. "I want to speak to Maj Cullah." Said the captain. "Easily arranged Captain" came a voice we all knew. It was him Cullah. "Hello everyone" came another voice that I hated. "What do you think of your son Chakotay? He has your eyes don't you think. Thank goodness he doesn't look too human you all have such weak foreheads." Said Seska. "May he grow up never knowing the content his father had for his mother" replied Chakotay. "I think I can assure you of that Commander. A man who would violate a woman under his command doesn't deserve a son" said Cullah. "What? Is that what she told you?" asked Chakotay. I looked at Seska who had that look on her face that just made me want to slap her. "The boy will be raised as a Nistrim Escara. Already he has helped us to win one of the greatest battles in our history." Cullah said. "Cullah I'd like to discuss what happens now" said the captain getting to her feet. Cullah smacked her and she fell back in to my arms. Lucky I caught her. She was about to get back up when Cullah pushed her to the floor. "I will tell you when you may speak" he told her. "Allow my crew to live they were just following my orders" said the captain. "You're even worse than she is." Pointing towards Seska. "What is it about the women from your quadrant?" Cullah asked "You know she contradicts me in front of the senior Escara" pointing to Seska "My own women disputing her Maj. This is your fault you let your women get out of control" he went on to say "You know you always have my deepest respect Maj" Seska replied. "Why is it so dark in here somebody turn on the lights" shouted Cullah. The red alert stopped and Cullah said "Order the repair crews to begin immediately. I want to leave for the Hanan System as soon as possible." I looked at Harry as Chakotay said "What's in the Hanan System?" "Your New home. Take them to a cargo bay, have the whole crew brought there. Check all quarters" said Seska. Cullah clapped his hands and we were all dragged up and pushed into a turbolift. After a while I found myself on the floor in Cargo Bay One next to The Captain, Chakotay and Tom. I could feel the ship moving and a few minutes later I could feel the ship shudder. We were landing and I could feel it as we were entering the planet surface. A few more minutes later the ship hit the ground and as it did I almost fell over but didn't thanks to Tom catching me. I thought back over the events of the last hour. The attack, the fact that Tom Paris's shuttle was destroyed. It all felt so wrong. When the ship was stable the Kazon dragged us out of the cargo bay and to multiple transporter rooms. I saw as Tom was dragged away from me and made to transport everyone down to the surface with a Kazon pointing a weapon at him. As I stepped on to the padd I looked in his eyes and saw pure fear. Over the next 20 minutes the crew was beamed down including Tom and we all had our equipment removed including our commbadges. When Cullah and everyone else from the Kazon transported back to our ship the captain said "Alright, let go" We all followed her across this huge wasted field. The planet reminded for ancient earth. Barely any grass, huge rocks and cliffs with Caves not a nice picture. "We'll divide the crew in to teams. Each of you will be a team leader. Tell your people we expect to be rescued" said the captain as we walked. "Do you really think that is going to happen Captain?" asked Neelix. "You're the moral officer Neelix you tell me." She snapped back. "Help is on the way!" shouted Neelix. "Maybe Tom's shuttle got through." Said Harry. "It's very important that this crew be given a sense of hope, that's our most important job right now. Our top priority is drinking water, the second is a shelter to spend the night" said the captain. "A base of a cliff or a clearing with a protected side would be best." Said Chakotay. "Food, fuel. Look for all the basic survival requirements and we'll meet back in here in about two hours." Said the captain. "Alright it looks like we only have a few hours of daylight left. We'll spread the teams out in a standard Alpha search Pattern" said Chakotay. "I'll Take Alpha team along with Chakotay and B'Elanna. Tuvok take Beda Team, Jack take Gamma team and you can have Tom Walker and Harry take Delta Team" said the captain. "Alpha Team here" she shouted. "Beda team this way" shouted Tuvok. "Gamma team over here" I shouted. Tom moved across to me as did my team as Harry shouted "Delta Team." "Let's Go." I shouted. We all moved in search of supplies. After a while I heard the ship power up. Everyone stopped and looked at Voyager as it powered up and then rose from the surface. I watched as the landing struts went back up into the secondary hull and the ship flew off. This was the part of my career that would test my endurance. I ordered the team to continue looking. After around an hour we still hadn't turned up any shelter, but we had found some dry wood to make a fire but that was it. "I can't believe this is happening. This isn't exactly what I had in mind for a week's shore leave" said Tom. I looked at him and said "Tom now really isn't the time to be like this. We are in a desperate situation here, shore leave is the last thing on my mind right now. We have about 3 hours of daylight left, nowhere to sleep, nothing to drink and nothing to eat. Does that mean anything to you?" I barked at him. He looked at me somewhat shocked and ready to cry. I could see from the look on his face that I had really hurt him. "Look I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lash out at you. I'm just scared." I said. He hugged me and kissed me on the forehead. "Jack, now is not the time." Came Chakotays voice. I looked at him and said "Sorry sir, what's the situation?" I asked. "The captain has set up camp not far from here. She wants all teams to report in now." He told us. "Very well, Gamma team round up" I ordered. The rest of my team came together and Chakotay led us to the camp site where the rest of the crew was coming together as well. The sad thing was when Harry walked up he was carrying a uniform. "What's this?" asked the captain. "Mr Hogan was killed." Said Harry. "What? How?" asked Chakotay. "He found some bones from a body outside a cave, Neelix told him to collect them and we heard a scream and I went running and Hogan was gone. All that was left was his uniform." Said Kim. The captain held the uniform and I could tell by the look on her face she was seriously pissed off. "This is all my fault." Said Neelix. "Neelix don't blame yourself, this wasn't your fault." Said Kes. "Stop it. This is no time to be placing blame. Hogan was a fine man and a good officer and I want to make sure that his death is the last one for a long time. I will not let this planet kill my crew. Kes we need clear safety protocols established. Mr Tuvok we need weapons" said the captain. "I've already begun to design some rudimentary devices" said Tuvok. "What's our food and water status?" asked Janeway. "I know this sounds grisly but I can make solar stills from this uniform, we could have water tomorrow" said Chakotay. "None of them teams were able to find any plants of nutritional value." Informed Neelix. "Then the tell the crew to start turning over rocks." Said the captain. She turned over a couple of rocks and then picked up some worms. "If anyone balks at eating these, tell them it's an order from their captain. It may be the difference between life and death." She told us. At that she walked off. "Tom, let's get started in making these into solar stills" said Chakotay. He and Tom walked away and I went after the captain. "Captain" I shouted after her but she continued to walk away. "Captain" I said again, but she continued to walk away faster. I ran after and said "Kathryn stop" and by this point I had caught her and had her by the arm. "Jack, let me go" she said to me. "No, you're hurting and I can see that but talk to me. You can't keep this bottled up." I told her. She stopped and looked at me. It was at that moment that she broke down. She just began crying. This was the first time I had seen her cry. I wrapped my arms around her and gave her a big hug. Once she had stopped crying the captain sat on a rock and dried her eyes. "Thanks for this Jack, just don't go telling everyone" she said to me. "So do you want to talk to me and tell me what is bothering you?" I said. "Apart from the fact that in a single day, I lost my ship, got stranded on an alien world thousands of light years from home, Tom Paris is dead and one of my crew is dead already. This is my first real command. I've commanded that ship for less than two years and I couldn't hang on to it. I get this crew stranded 75 years from their family with the slim chance that we will make it home. I thought I was ready to take this command when I got the offer, but I'm not so sure anymore. This situation is one of many reasons why I'm doubting myself" she said. "Okay Kathryn listen. Firstly you haven't lost your ship or your crew; we will get out of this somehow. Second you had your reasons for stranding this crew from their families, and that was to protect lives. If you asked anyone of them if it was worth it you would get the same answer from anyone of them, it was worth it. We've seen things we never thought of and gained so much from it. Thirdly we will make it home, because we are following a captain that will never stop believing that we will get there. Finally when you got offered this command you were right to take it. You are a natural leader; I couldn't imagine what this journey would be like without you here. We learned at the academy about all these great captain's in Starfleet history. Kirk, Picard and so on but I never believed I would get to serve under someone even better than them and that person is you. You are the finest captain I have ever known, so you shouldn't doubt yourself because you have no reason too" I told her. She smiled and tears streamed from her eyes again. I gave her another hug and when we came out of it she dried her eyes and I looked at her and said "And if you ever doubt yourself again, then you and I will be having words. Do you understand me?" I said with a playful grin. She smiled and said "Yes sir." She said teasing me. We stood up and made our way back to camp. "You know, I'm glad I picked you at the last minute. In command school I was taught to keep a respectful distance from junior officers, but I'm glad I didn't with you. Thank you Jack you really are a true friend." She said. "Captain!" shouted Harry running into the cave. "How do you like your eggs?" he asked holding a huge egg. "And look cucumbers or something like them, there are vines full of them 2 hours from here" he said smiling. "Very good, take them to Neelix and tell him to hold off on the beetle stew" the captain told him. "Baby, where did you disappear to earlier?" asked Tom. "It was with the captain." I said. "Why?" he asked. "It's private" I told him. "Okay then" he replied. "Trapped on barren planet and you're stuck with the only Indian in quadrant that can't start fire by rubbing two sticks together. I was never good at this as a child and I'm still not good at it." Said Chakotay throwing his sticks down in anger. "It's not your fault, none of the others have had any luck either it must be the wood." Said Janeway. Then I noticed that Chakotay was looking at her oddly, more specifically her hair. "What?" asked the captain finally. "Nothing, I'm just remembering something my father once told me about starting a fire." He said. "What's that?" I asked. "Hair, it is a perfect source of kindling" replied Chakotay. "What's that got to do with...." said the captain. "Oh no, not my hair" she said. I couldn't help but laugh. "How do you plan to get it off my head?" asked the captain. "Jack, grab those two small stones we can use them." Chakotay told me. I grabbed them as the captain and Ensign Mendez from Astrophysics came over and knelt on the ground and rest their heads against a large stone. "Mr Kim, if you would take Mendez's hair, Jack take the captains and I will get ready to start the fire." Said Chakotay. The captain released her hair from her bun and I slowly began to use the stone to cut away the hair. "I'm sorry if this hurts" I said to the captain. I looked at tom who was sat there laughing. I gave him a puzzling look and said "What?" He smiled "I never pictured you as a hair dresser!" he answered. "Tom, if you're not going to be useful then get the hell out of here" I said. Janeway laughed and I said "What is it with people laughing at me?" I asked "I'm just laughing at how bossy you are with him. Clearly you wear the trousers in your relationship" she replied. Tom looked at her and was about to reply when I say "Don't say anything and get out of here. Go and make yourself useful" I said. He turned and walked away. After I had cut away a fairly large chunk of the captains hair I passed it over to Chakotay just as the captain raised her head. She looked at me and Chakotay started to rub the sticks together and eventually got a fire going. "That was a large chunk of hair you took from me Jack" said the captain. "Sorry" I said. "Alright, Tom, Harry, Chakotay set up other fires around so that the whole crew can sit by a fire. What's the status of our water?" asked the captain. "It's ready" said Tom. "Alright everyone listen up there's water available, try to drink as little as possible to conserve what we have. If you're hungry go and see Neelix and will sort you out with some cucumbers. Then get yourself comfortable next to a fire. Huddle in groups this is no time to be shy" said the captain. After having something to drink and a small something to eat, Tom and I sat near a fire with the Captain, Chakotay, Tuvok, B'Elanna and Harry trying to keep warm. We talked for a long while. During this time I started to shiver a lot. Tom came up behind me with his legs out and open enough for me to lean back. I lay against his chest as he wrapped his arms around me. Everyone looked at me as Tom said "Comfy?" I smiled at him and said "As much as I can be." The captain then looked at me and said "You two are so lucky to have each other, it's clear that you really love each other. Jack he's a keeper never let this one go" I smiled and said "Never." As we continued to talk and tell stories about different camping trips we had been on, I eventually drifted off to sleep in Toms arms. The next thing I knew I was being woken up by the captain saying "We have a situation." I immediately got up and said "What's up?" "Neelix and Kes are missing" explained the captain. "Chakotay take a team out and look for them." "Aye sir" he replied. "Tom, Tuvok...." was all I heard as I pulled Tom aside and said "Be Careful please" He turned and walked off as Chakotay called him to join them. I saw him run off with a spear in his hand. The captain came up and put her hand on my shoulder, "Chakotay will look after him." She said. 6 HOURS LATER The last six hours had been trying. Chakotay had rescued Kes and Neelix, but had been forced into a cave by the locals that lived on the planet. They had escaped with some help from a team that the captain and I led. Upon returning to camp we were then forced to abandon it thanks to a volcano erupting. This in turn led Chakotay to save a young girl who was one of the locals who then offered their hospitality if that's what it can be called and took us to another camp they had. As Tom and I were sat talking with the captain, Sam Wildman and Kes, the leader of the locals took out some small bag of herbs and placed it on the baby Naomi's chest. Since we had arrived she had been having problems breathing and this allowed her to breathe more easily. "Thank you" said Sam. "Jack, can you take Naomi. My shoulder has gone stiff" said Sam. "Sure." I took the baby in my arms and she began coo and make gurgling noises. She smiled at me when I began to stroke her cheek. "You make a good daddy" said Tom. I smiled. Just at that moment we heard some people screaming and pointing. I looked out to see something coming through the clouds. I couldn't make it out until it began to descend lower. VOYAGER! I couldn't believe it. Maybe it was the Kazon coming back to torture us some more. Sam took the baby off me as me, Tom, The captain; Chakotay, Tuvok, B'Elanna and Harry were transported aboard. When we re-materialised on the ship, we found a Talaxian at the controls. We headed out of the transporter room and down to a turbolift. "Bridge" called out the captain. The turbolift began to rise and eventually the doors opened to reveal the bridge and Tom Paris stood in the command centre. "Welcome Back Captain" he said. "Well done Lieutenant." Replied Janeway. "I can't take all the credit, I had a lot of help the Talaxians, the doc, Sudder" he told us. "Sudder, we thought he was killed during the initial attack" said Harry. "No, he and the doctor sabotaged the ship. Sudder disabled the phasers before the Kazon killed him." Explained Tom. "He's in sickbay along with Seska. She died when the phasers overloaded" he went on to say. At that Chakotay and Tuvok both left to head for Sickbay. "Any sign of the baby?" asked the Captain. "No, we think Cullah took him when they left the ship" said Tom. "Very well, I'll be in my ready room. Jack, Tom head down to the transporter rooms and start getting the rest of our people up. Tell them to report to their stations. We will send people off to take showers etc gradually." Ordered the captain. "Aye Sir." We both left and headed to transporter rooms 1 and 2. Over the next hours or so we had everyone back on board and at their stations. The Talaxians had also left and we had the ship back to standard operating capacity. I was back on the bridge at engineering station when the captain emerged from her ready room. "Is this ship capable of sustained flight?" asked the captain. "All systems are fully operational. All Engines are at standby." I said. "Very well, take us away from our new home Mr Paris and set a course for the old" ordered the captain. "Aye sir" he replied. The ship took off from the planet and when we were back in space Paris took us to Warp. Over the next three hours the captain released the crew slowly, shift by shift and finally at 14:00 hours she released the alpha shift which I was part of. As soon as she said Alpha shift your released be back at 15:00 I was out of that chair in a shot. She had allowed delta shift to go first as they were night watch officers, so they were gone completely so they could sleep before the night came. She also released Gamma shift as well which left Beda and Alpha shift on duty. As I entered the turbolift with her, Tuvok and Kim we each went to our respective decks. When I finally entered my quarters the first thing I did was grab some coffee. After having a few sips I went into the bathroom. "Computer activate the sonic shower" I said. The shower activated. I stripped completely shedding my uniform on the floor. Entering the shower I felt the sonic pulses blast away all the dirt and grime for my body it felt amazing. When the shower was over I put my uniform in the laundry basket and got into a new, fresh clean uniform with a commbadge. Just as I had put my jacket on the door chimed and in walked Tom all fresh and looking handsome. "Hey" I said. I went up and kissed him. "I have news, Chakotay told me to tell you, we have the rest of the day off as a thank you for leading Gamma Team and also to make out a report." He said. "Awesome. When does he want the report by?" I asked. "Tuesday." He said. "What day is it?" I asked. "Friday" he replied. "Oh good that mean's were on duty all weekend" I said rolling my eyes. He smiled and said "You eaten?" I shook my head and he went to my replicator "2 serving of pancakes with maple syrup and a coffee black" he said. The plates appeared followed by his coffee and we sat down and ate. Boy it was good to eat normal food again. When we were done I put the plates back in the replicator and said "Come on, I'm tired." I wasn't joking I really was tired. All I wanted to do was lay down with Tom and drift off to sleep. He followed me to my room where we stripped off naked, he climbed in to bed next me and wrapped his arms round my chest and I backed myself in to his chest. I felt his soft cock nestle it's self inside my bum and as soon as my head hit the pillow I was gone and boy was it good to sleep! Thanks for reading. Feedback always welcome. Next chapter is just being finished based on another big Voyager storyline. Thanks