Some Explaining to Do - A post-Voyager story

[Oddish]

SOME EXPLAINING TO DO
A Post-Voyager story by Oddish


The following is set some time after the end of "Star Trek: Voyager".


The automatic doors to the office slid open, and Admiral Owen Paris visibly stifled a yawn as he hurried in, steaming mug of coffee in hand. Unsurprisingly, given that he was ten minutes late, Captain Janeway was already seated in the chair opposite his desk. As always, the captain was put together: her uniform was crisp and spotless and her hair, shorter than he remembered, was neatly styled. She put down her own cup and started to rise; he quickly gestured for her to remain seated. "It's all right, Kathryn, don't get up," he said. "Good morning. I apologize for being late."


"I understand," Kathryn said in response. "I know that you have a newborn in your house."


The admiral nodded. Certainly, relocating was easier in modern times than it had been previous eras, when homes had had to be purchased with money and furnishings had to be carried in instead of beamed into place. However, neither Tom nor B'Elanna had had a home of their own on Earth, and securing permanent quarters overnight wasn't really feasible. So, Owen had invited parents and child to join him at the Paris family estate, until they could find their own place.


Actually," Paris said, "Tom and B'Elanna are normally quite good about making sure my sleep isn't disturbed... not too much anyway. Last night was kind of a special case."


"Really?" Janeway said, looking interested.


The admiral explained. "Well, I'm sure you know that Tom received his new assignment yesterday."


Janeway nodded. "Yes, he mentioned putting in for a post in the Bureau of Ship Design. I know that he was hoping to get it."


"Believe me, they'll be happy to have him," Owen assured her. "They're eager to pick his brains about the design of the Delta Flyer, as well as some of his other work."


Janeway smiled. "I'm sure," she said.


After seven years of savage battles and jury-rigged repairs carried out halfway across the galaxy, Voyager's innards were in what could only be called a sorry state. The ship had been flown to an orbiting yard, where months of refitting awaited her. She would return to service in time, of course, but in the meantime her crew would be dispatched to new assignments. There was a hint of sadness in the family being broken up, tempering the joy of finally making it home.


Admiral Paris returned to the subject at hand. "Anyway, we had a visitor yesterday afternoon. Another former Voyager crewman, eager to celebrate his own new assignment."


"Ensign Kim?" Janeway queried, using the title Harry had held during his long trek on Voyager out of habit. "I guess he'd be Lieutenant Kim now."


The admiral nodded. Most of Voyager's long-suffering ensigns had received two-grade promotions, skipping the lieutenant junior grade rank entirely.


"Did he get the operations post on the Odyssey?"


"Yes. She'll stop at Earth for crew rotation next week."


"I'm glad," Janeway said. The Odyssey was a Sovereign-class starship, replacement for the ill-fated Galaxy class ship that had been the first Federation casualty in the Dominion War. In a previous conversation, Harry had told Janeway that the operations manager of such a vessel could either be a full lieutenant or a lieutenant-commander. He was the former, but if he did well (and Janeway had little doubt that he would), he could expect to be bumped to the higher grade in under a year.


"Anyway, he and Tom went out together to celebrate their good fortune," Paris said. "And I guess they celebrated a bit too much, because they wound up in the local drunk tank."


Janeway burst out laughing, and a moment later, Owen laughed as well. It hadn't seemed funny at the time, of course, but the notion "all's well that ends well" was just as true in the twenty-fourth century as it had been in the past.


The Admiral finished the story. "B'Elanna had to go out and retrieve them, so I wound up minding Miral while she did."


Janeway smiled at the thought. "I'll bet she gave Tom quite the earful when she picked him up."


"That she did," Owen said, and laughed again at the memory of Tom's decidedly chastened countenance when they arrived back at home. The similar look on Harry's face suggested that he had gotten a taste of B'Elanna's Klingon wrath as well.


"Speaking of B'Elanna, what's the status of the Maquis?" Janeway wanted to know. "Has the Federation tribunal made its decision yet?"


"Yes," Paris said. "They've agreed to your recommendation that they receive pardons. And, those who choose to remain in Starfleet will be permitted to retain their ranks and commissions."


"Thank you," Janeway said. "I know that you had to call in some favors to see to that."


"Not as many as you'd think," the admiral replied. "With the Maquis lost in the Dominion War, most of the admiralty just wanted to put the matter behind them. There was no point in prosecuting people for crimes that became irrelevant years ago, especially since we don't have to worry about the Cardassians anymore."


They were both momentarily silent. The savage genocide that the Dominion had perpetrated against Cardassia in the war's closing hours might have ended any threat that it could pose for a long time, but neither of the two could feel anything but sorrow for its people.


"The Equinox crew are another matter," Paris said seriously. "Their offenses were... much more serious."


Janeway's face was unreadable, but Paris knew her well enough to know that she was thinking on the ugly affair with the other ship, and her own actions. The line between hero and villain had gotten very blurry that day.


"We have noted the extenuating circumstances," the admiral added. "Both the trauma in the time before you met them, and their service on Voyager over the past two years. However, while their fate will be determined by the court, I can tell you that they can expect to do some time. And it's a safe bet that none of them will wear the uniform again."


Janeway nodded acknowledgement. Certainly, she sympathized with the Equinox survivors, especially since she had come to know several of them over the past two years. Under better circumstances, they would have been good officers. However, they had been complicit in multiple Prime Directive violations, and over sixty acts of murder. Traumatized or not, they had to answer for that.


Paris got to the reason he had summoned Kathryn to his office. "All right. Now, as unpleasant as it is, we need to discuss some incidents that were described in your report."


Janeway nodded acknowledgement. Her reports to Starfleet had been comprehensive and brutally accurate, with no effort being made to make excuses for what had happened during Voyager's seven years in the Delta Quadrant.


"I suppose I have some explaining to do," she said.


End of Part 1

 

[Oddish]

And now, the continuation...

Paris was silent for a long moment, so Janeway spoke again: "I assume you want to start with the matter of the Caretaker array?"


"No, that was sufficiently documented in your report," the admiral assured her. "I will say that the board of inquiry were not happy about your decision to destroy the array. They were of the mind that you should have simply allowed the Kazon to take possession of it. That would have been most in line with the Prime Directive."


"And then what?" Janeway queried. "Leave?"


"You could have negotiated with the Kazon," Paris said. "Admiral Ortiz was sure that if you'd given them enough water, they would have let you use the Array to go home."


"What did the rest of the board say?" Janeway wanted to know. Admiral Ortiz and she had never gotten along, even back in the days when he was Commander Ortiz and she was Ensign Janeway.


"As little as possible," Paris said. "Especially considering that the Caretaker did ask for your assistance in that regard." The admiral moved on. "To matters of staffing. They didn't question your decision to commission Ms. Torres, or to reactivate Tom's commission." The admiral smiled wryly. "At least not while I was in the room. However, they're surprised that you made Mr. Chakotay your first officer."


"Commander Chakotay was a Starfleet lieutenant commander with nearly twenty years of service," Janeway said. "I agree that in many ways, Commander Tuvok would have been the more logical choice, but I trusted my instincts. And in this case, I think they were right. Chakotay was invaluable in integrating our two crews into a cohesive whole."


Janeway allowed her thoughts to drift to her first officer and friend. She knew that Chakotay would be remaining on Earth for the time being, sharing his Delta Quadrant research and insights with Starfleet xeno-anthropologists. Seven would be there as well, aiding the engineering department with Borg-inspired technological upgrades. They would be able to continue to see each other, if they chose to. Janeway sometimes regretted having been unable to pursue a relationship with Chakotay herself, but knew that there had been no real choice in the matter. A captain could not fraternize with her crew, especially in a situation like Voyager had faced. There was nowhere for anyone to go, if the relationship went sour.


Paris pushed a button on his padd, read something, and addressed her. "There's been some concern about the matter of the being who was created in a transporter accident. 'Tuvix', I believe he called himself."


"Yes," Janeway said simply, remembering that terrible day five years before. Tuvix terrified and begging for his life, the bridge crew sitting frozen. Was their inaction out of respect for her? Their own desire to have Tuvok and Neelix returned? Or simple indecision? Wanting to put the incident behind them, Janeway had never asked.


Admiral Paris looked back at the report. Whatever questionable decisions his former science officer had made on her journey, she had not made any effort to cover them up, or even make excuses for them. Her seven years of reports had laid out her command decisions, her rationale, and the results in exquisite detail.


"According to your report, Mr. Tuvix was an intelligent and self-aware being, who did not wish to be seperated," the admiral stated. "And indeed, your EMH refused to carry out the procedure on ethical grounds, is that correct?"


"Yes," Janeway said simply.


"I have to say, Kathryn, a couple of the admirals were not happy about your decision there," the admiral said quietly. "Indeed, one of them, I won't say who but I probably don't have to, wanted you court-martialed for this action."


"Will I be?"


"No. Fortunately for you, the rights of beings created in transporter accidents are widely disputed, and there have been no cohesive laws put in place," Paris said seriously. "Usually, transporter accidents destroy beings rather than creating them, so we don't really know what to do when the reverse happens. I still remember the chaos when that commander on the Enterprise got himself duplicated, and no one knew what to do about his twin."


"I think I heard about that," Janeway said. Because she and Will Riker had known each other, the incident had stuck n her head.


"Still, with no laws currently in effect, the admiralty decided that it wasn't really possible to charge you with any crime."


Janeway said nothing. There wasn't really anything to say.


"I expect there will be a referendum of some sort, regarding the rights of unconventional beings: androids, self-aware holograms, transporter duplicates, et cetera," Owen said. "Who knows what they'll decide, or even if they'll decide anything in our lifetimes." Starfleet was less bureaucratic than many organizations, but that was a relative term to say the least.


"I suppose time will tell."


"Let's move on to the incident with the twin pulsars," the admiral said. "Frankly, when I read your report, I didn't want to believe it. Did you actually..."


"Yes," Janeway said harshly. Even if she had been willing to lie about the matter, there was no point in it. The damage to Voyager's hull from the two pulsars' brutal gravitational field had been obvious, even four years later.


"Why?" Paris wanted to know.


"The aliens who were experimenting on us were doing more and more destructive things to the crew," Janeway said. "One of my people died, and the prisoner I interrogated made it very clear that there would be others."


"They knew that you were aware of them, and they continued their experiemntation in spite of it?"


"The scientist I spoke to was completely unrepentant," Janeway stared. "She believed that her torture and murder of my crew was as justified as the scientists on Earth who vivisected lab animals, before the procedure was banned." The outrage in Janeway's voice remained almost palpable. Voyager's sensors had detected the destruction of one of the "scientist" vessels as they attempted to leave, and extrapolated data suggested that at least thirty of the aliens had perished with it. Even when restored to her right mind, Janeway had never been able to make herself feel sorry.


"I see," Paris said. "Well, despite your own refusal to use your mental condition as an excuse, the board of admirals did not agree. After reading the data compiled by your EMH, not even Admiral Ortiz was willing to hold you responsible for your actions."


"I see," Janeway said simply. She had always considered herself responsible for her actions, but she had read the doctor's exhaustive report on the subject, including his assessment on her probable mental state at the time of the incident. She knew that if she had had that report in front of her, she would have voted to acquit as well. "Very well, what next?"


Paris sighed. He had not been looking forward to this part of the conversation. "We need to talk about the matter of the Borg."