I love this story. One of my all time favourites ;-)

One thing I forgot to mention on the previous chapter: speaking on behalf of Gretchen, Kathryn needs to call her the instant they get to where subspace works. Her mother thinks she's dead, for the second time. She better not delay contacting her mother for any reason! (I write this as a mother.)
This chapter is a delight, of course. One thing I really like about your stories is that you have them talk through how they feel. What could be more attractive than a relationship where both people are willing to talk about how they actually feel? After several delays, they've finally done so in this story.

I like Kathryn's realization that C. cares more about her, and will go through hell to save her, much more than the organization of Starfleet ever will, and that that mismatches her past dedication. I always like stories that show them both being willing to keep a vigil over the other when needed, as he does here by saying he would have slept on the couch of whatever quarters she was in. That's an important kind of love-being willing to be there when the other is sick. At the end of this chapter, I have problems with his song in his language. I work with a lot of Native American people, and the way C's heritage is represented in the whole of Voyager is extremely frustrating. However, at least they do show Native Americans as still existing and identifying as Native in the 24th century, and that's definitely worth something. I don't think you've done the representation of his culture any worse than the show did it, but I would prefer to just not cover that part and have him say he loves her some other way, rather than representing it badly again. For the series, they should have gotten a real Native person as a consultant, and then also listened to them.

They have enough hope to tease each other a little bit. I kind of wince every time this chapter says he pulls her toward him, because of that broken pelvis, but I'll assume he's actually moving close to her without moving her body. One little thing: I don't think she actually did repeat herself about having gone to warp. The point about her being confused from the fever comes through though. I like the writing especially in the last bit of this chapter, and of course the whole chapter is a relief to see them finally together.

What a good chapter!

Wow, way to make it even more suspenseful and make the situation even worse before it gets better! I don't really buy the bit that Marla needs Mike's help on the ship, since they're about to break orbit anyway, but if it's an excuse to leave C. alone with J., that's fine by me.

Oh, what a sad chapter! The one before it too. I guess things have to get really bad before the rescue can happen. The hallucination part, walking through the ship, is interesting.

I love Marla swearing in Klingon. The flashback to the conversation with Gretchen is really good. And so much tension in these chapters!

So much guilt in this and the previous chapter.

I really like the start of this chapter, sad as it is. Starfleet's death rate appears to be much too high, and poor Gretchen has had this happen too many times. I like the Martha character here-there will surely always be people like that. And then by the end of the chapter you've introduced some hope, and brought Tom into the story.

"Janeway narrowed her eyes and gave Tuvok a look that he had learned to dread over the years." Yeah, I'll bet. I remember that bit in one episode where he comments to someone that she does seem to succeed more often than would be expected statistically. I enjoyed watching the three of them working together here. I wonder if poor Ryan knows he's a red-shirt. Working together as a small group with two well known officers has to be the most dangerous thing in Starfleet.

Go, Marla! I liked her in Equinox. And good for C. for being willing to reflect on why he did what he did.

I really like how Janeway and Tuvok are basically doing forensic analysis of the report text to confirm who they think the author is.

Poor Kathryn, poor Chakotay, poor both of them! Her position in that fight is a hard one to be in.

I really enjoyed this chapter. It's fun to see them on DS9. Tuvok is really something, putting something traceable in Janeway's coffee, devious indeed. I love his lines like "That would be an understatement," while he also denies having a sense of humor. Finally, one of the great things about Voyager was the male characters who decided to put their efforts toward supporting female characters, and the last line here is a good case of that. If C. isn't available to pick up the pieces, Tuvok will be.