Disclaimer: You all know it, the characters and background story don't belong to me but to Paramount, unfortunately. No copyright infringement is intended, no profit will be made.

Language Disclaimer: English is not my first language. So, please be lenient.

Also, there's some Klingon in this story. If the context is not self-evident, a translation in [...] is added. At the end you'll find a list of all the terms used in order of appearance with a few notes in cultural specifics.

Sexual Disclaimer: This story deals among others with a loving relationship between two consenting adult women, though there will be no graphic descriptions because nothing but sexual tension happens; a first time story without a first time, so to speak. However, please go away if you're not old enough or you don't like stuff like this, and if it's illegal where you live, order a U-haul and move!

Timeline: This story is basically situated in the first and the first half of the second season of "Star Trek: Voyager". I tweaked the characters a bit, especially Kathryn Janeway. Just imagine her a few years younger than she appears to be in the show, and forget all about her largely inadequate fiancé Mark, no Mark or any other male. I also made her a bit fiercer. Just think of her still drinking coffee but replacing whiskey and soda with bloodwine.

Violence Disclaimer: Some remembered violence and holodeck fights with the safeties off, nothing too horrible.

Thanks: Go as usual to my valiant beta-reader Pam; this time she has really outdone herself. So, if there are still grammar or spelling errors, it's my fault not hers.

There is none so blind…

by

romansilence

(romansilence[at])

Chapter One

Captain Kathryn Janeway was walking the corridors of Voyager ship. Her evening strolls had become a routine that helped her to keep a finger on the pulse of the ship and its crew. It also served o help her unwind after a stressful duty shift. This evening it did notwork. She still was angry with her Chief of Engineering for pulling off this stunt with the trajectory matrix of the Sikari.

If she was honest with herself she would have to admit that she also was quite proud of the young academy drop-out. B'Elanna had stood up for her people and had taken full responsibility for the whole fiasco. That's why Janeway had refrained from sending her to the brig for breaking the Prime Drective. Instead she would be confined to quarters to think about the chain of command and the responsibilities of a senior officer. It was only light house arrest, which meant that she would work as usual but had to spend her off-duty hours in her quarters for the next twelve days.

Janeway rounded the corner to the quarters of the senior staff when the Human-Klingon-hybrid's voice brought her out of her musings. "Get out of here, Chakotay. You're no longer my captain. I refuse to put up with your sick sense of discipline and this Klingon crap any longer."

At this moment the bulky form of Voyager's First Officer crashed against the bulkhead facing the entrance to B'Elanna Torres' quarters. Janeway hastened her steps.

"Belanna be sensible, for once in your life. You need this kind of discipline. You'll only get into more trouble with the Captain."

There was a distinct growl coming from the room and moments later the Captain froze in mid-step. A very naked and visibly angry young woman stood in the door frame.

Chakotay stretched his hand out, trying to touch her shoulder. "Serving me is good for you, Lana. You need the lajQo' quvHa'ghamtaj."

B'Elanna's reaction was immediate. She grabbed the fingers of his outstretched hand and twisted them until he was forced to his knees. Janeway chose this moment to intervene.

"I'm sure the word you meant was lajQo' quvHa'ghachtay, Commander Chakotay. Lieutenant Torres, let him go! Put a robe on and wait for me in your quarters." The young woman immediately obeyed and the door swished shut. "Care to fill me in on what I just interrupted, Commander, and why you apparently mess with Klingon rituals you obviously know nothing about?!" Janeway's force ten glare belied the calm of her voice.

"Captain, this is all just a misunderstanding. Belanna and I had a disagreement. It happens among friends, even when they are as close as we are."

"Do you want to press charges against Lieutenant Torres for attacking you?"

"No, Captain, as I said. It was just a quarrel. If you don't mind I'll tell her that she won't be in further trouble." The big man made a step towards the door.

"I do mind. You have done enough for one night, Commander. I'll deal with B'E… Lieutenant Torres. Dismissed."

"Captain, I…"

"Dismissed Commander!"

The tattooed man turned reluctantly towards his own quarters, and the Captain waited until he had disappeared behind a bend in the corridor before asking entrance to her Chief Engineer's quarters.

-x-x-x-

The young woman was wearing a blood red robe and did her best to stand at attention when Janeway entered. She looked straight ahead, not daring to meet her commanding officer's eyes.

"Lieutenant Torres, that's the second time in less than 24 hours that I've had reason to reprimand you. What do you have to say in your defence?"

"Nothing, ma'am".

"I just witnessed my Chief Engineer attack my Second-in-Command but Commander Chakotay insinuated that it was nothing more than a lover's quarrel. Is this what happened?"

"No, ma'am." The answer came surprisingly quick and this time she looked the Captain in the eyes, and there was so much pain in her brown orbs that all the other woman wanted to do was take her in her comforting arms.

"Sit down and tell me what really happened. Tell me about the lajQo' quvHa'ghachtay, the whole story."

Kathryn Janeway held the younger woman captive with her pale blue orbs and haltingly the dark haired engineer began to speak.

"You know that I can have quite a temper, and even while we still were with the Maquis it often got the better of me, but even a Maquis ship does not work without discipline. Chakotay must have found this 'Rite to reject dishonour' in a database with cultural information we took from an abandoned Cardassian research facility. He told me it would be a good way for me to learn self-control but when he detailed what would be expected of me I refused.

"A couple of weeks later the scouting party I was leading was almost captured because I became impatient. I told him I would do it.

"In a strange way it worked because I loathed his so-called sessions so much I tried to control myself simply to keep him out of my cabin."

"Tell me more about this ritual. What did he tell you about it?"

"Chakotay usually came to my room and ordered me to strip. I had to kneel in front of him with my knees spread and listen to his lecture about my short comings. I had to thank him for his words and ask him to correct my flaws. He would then order me to stand against a wall and whip me until he drew blood."

B'Elanna's eyes dropped to the floor and the older woman made her look up again by putting a hand under her chin. "There's no reason for shame, B'Elanna. Please, continue."

The eyes of her Captain seemed to reassure the young woman.

"I had to thank him for disciplining me and ask him to be allowed to show my gratitude. He then would order me to serve him dinner or order me to kneel in front of his seats on all fours and he... he used my back to rest his feet on. Sometimes he ordered me to repeat a few key sentences. Sometimes he made me eat things he knew I hate like gagh, replicated gagh and paluccas and targh flesh."

The young woman fell silent and looked to the floor. "I need to know all of it, B'Elanna Torres; between us there is no shame."

"He ordered me to say that I was just a lowly female and would accept him as my better. He had me say that I was a prime example of Klingon rashness and that Humans are far superior to Klingons in every aspect. There was more but I'd really prefer not having to repeat it."

As a rule Kathryn Janeway was not easy to anger but now she had a hard time to keep her temper from showing, for more than one reason. "B'Elanna, did he ever ask more of you, something sexual?"

"No, he said that it was about teaching me patience and humility, nothing more."

Kathryn Janeway studied B'Elanna's posture and eyes, but decided that she really had told her the whole truth. "Did you ever read the rules of the lajQo' quvHa'ghachtay yourself?"

"No, I ... I trusted him."

The auburn haired Captain rose and walked over to B'Elanna's work station. The screen remained black; confinement to quarters also meant no computer access.

"Computer, reactivate the terminal in Lieutenant Torres' quarters. Authorisation: Janeway delta phi three. Limit access to cultural databases, subsection: Klingon Empire. Load Klingon dictionary and disable translation program."

A few clicks brought up the texts relating to the lajQo' quvHa'ghachtay, the 'Rite to reject dishonour'.

"B'Elanna, I know that your Klingon heritage makes you feel uneasy but I think it's time for you to reclaim at least part of it. I want you to read and translate the texts I just called up as part of your punishment for attacking your commanding officer. Your house arrest will be doubled to twenty-four days. Both punishments will stay off record. – Apart from tonight, has Chakotay ever done this since we joined forces?"

"After I attacked Mister Carey in engineering, Captain," was the softly spoken answer.

"I see. I want you to send me a message as soon as your translation is complete. Then we will talk, and now try to get some sleep."

B'Elanna's eyes stayed riveted to the closed door long after the Captain had left. Earlier this day she had heard the disappointment in her Captain's voice and it had cut her more deeply than anything Chakotay had ever said or done to her during these so-called training sessions. Twelve days, twenty-four days or even a year of house arrest would never make up for disappointing the woman whose judgement had come to mean so much to her.

Snippets of the lecture popped up in her mind. "…throw you in the brig…I need everyone on this crew…if you ever…even the slightest…you will no longer be an officer on this crew…" And what had she done?! - She had attacked the First Officer – and yet Captain Janeway insisted on keeping the whole incident off the record.

Tonight, for the first time, she had seen Chakotay's arguments for what they always had been: an excuse to see her subdued and subservient. This night his words had not made her shiver as they had done before. The reprimand from Janeway was still too painfully vivid in her mind.

The older woman had not reacted as she had expected when telling her about the lajQo'quvHa'ghachtay. She had expected the Captain to accuse her of not defending herself against what in her eyes must have been abuse. She had expected to see disappointment in her Captain's eyes but instead, for the flicker of a moment, she had seen anger, anger on her behalf.

Perhaps Janeway had at least some idea that for the half-Klingon this ritual was literally a question of honour. B'Elanna quickly dismissed the thought; the Captain was just too Starfleet. But was she really?

The lajQo' quvHa'ghachtay... how could the Captain have known about it? How could she have found it this quickly in the not translated part of the cultural database on Klingons? lajQo' quvHa'ghachtay... It should have been evident for her from the beginning. What Chakotay had said made no sense at all, 'the rite to reject the honour of an animal leg'? Damn, she had been so stupid. But how could the Captain have known about it? It just made no sense.

The young woman stopped her musings, sat down in front of her view screen and stared at the Klingon text in front of her. Her mother had made sure that she knew the language fluently and learned about their most important customs but over the years she had deliberately renounced her non-human heritage. She had tried to forget all about it, and considering how she had let herself been fooled by Chakotay, she had been successful.

-x-x-x-

Meanwhile, Kathryn Janeway was in Holodeck II trying to quench her anger at her First Officer by running one of her workout programs at the highest setting. Over the last few months she had come to appreciate and trust the former renegade. She had seen him as an honourable man with integrity and steadfast morals.

B'Elanna's quietly spoken words, the pain in her brown eyes and the dishonourable use of the lajhHa'ghachtay had taught her better. What he had done to B'Elanna not only had crossed the line; it had shown his callousness and egotism in bright colours.

Her anger on behalf of the young woman was, she was well aware, more intense than she should feel for an ordinary member of her staff.

Two and a half hours later she was calm enough to consider her options and found that she didn't have that many. She could bring him up on charges of harassment and abuse, but she was not ready to let the young woman suffer a public trial. And then there was that part of her that longed to push her dishonourable First Officer out of the next airlock.

Her steps led Janeway unconsciously to Tuvok's quarters. For a moment she hesitated to interrupt his meditation and burden him with what she saw as her emotional quandaries. Parts of her lecture from earlier this day flashed through her mind.

"You are one of my most valued officers and you are my friend… You are my counsel, the one I turn to when I need my moral compass checked… From now on bring your logic to me, don't act on it behind my back."

All in all this was no private business; it was ship's business. This was not about her unreasonable need to protect her Chief Engineer; it was about a man she had trusted and who now had turned out to be a danger to her ship.

Not only that; he had shown that he had to be kept under constant surveillance. This certainly would fall into the realm of the Chief of Security and having something to stay off record did not mean to try to keep it secret from her oldest friend and confidant – but the truth was that she simply did not want to be alone for the rest of this night, and the dark skinned Vulcan was possibly the only living humanoid in the universe she could share silence with without getting antsy. He also might have answers to some of her questions from the time he had spent undercover with the Maquis, she rationalised.

The door chime sounded and Tuvok asked her in as if he had expected her visit. She took a seat on the low couch running under the view port and asked without preamble,

"Tuvok, when you were with the Maquis, what was the relationship between Commander Chakotay and Lieutenant Torress?"

"Clarify please." The fact that he had not added a 'Captain' or the only very rarely used 'Kathryn' told her two things.

Tuvok's logical Vulcan mind had correctly picked up on her unexpressed romantic feelings for her Chief of Engineering, some time ago, she presumed, and he was not entirely sure if the woman or the Captain was asking the question.

Kathryn smiled; the dark skinned Vulcan just knew her too well, always had and probably always would.

"What I will tell you now will not leave this room. There will be no official record, not even in your private logs."

The Vulcan's elegantly arched eyebrow rose considerably, but now she was sure that he would treat what she would tell him just as a Catholic Priest should treat what he had learned during confession. In the two hours she had just spent beating her holographic opponents to a pulp, she had developed a plan but in any case she would need him as her ally. So, Kathryn gave him a detailed report of the scene she had witnessed in the corridor of the crew quarters and of her conversation with the Human-Klingon-Hybrid.

She also gave him a short overview of what the misleadingly named lajQo' quvHa'ghachtay was really about. Chakotay had used it to subdue a proud individual, someone with integrity and honour, but from the days of Kahless the 'rite to reject dishonour' had been about helping young warriors to find their way. It had been about teaching them to deal with difficult situations, and sometimes that meant that they also had to learn humility but it never had been aimed to humiliate. It had been about teaching them to respect the chain of command but not about keeping them subservient.

When she had finished both of Tuvok's eyebrows had almost reached the hairline. "I'll send a security team to arrest Commander Chakotay."

"No, you won't, Tuvok. I told you, nothing official."

"But Captain, this has the potential of a security risk of massive proportions. Someone capable of doing what he did, and not only once, should never have been accepted at Starfleet Academy or risen in rank like he has before resigning his commission. He can not be trusted. And aside from that: Lieutenant Torres already has come a long way to control her volatile temper, but this fragile balance now is threatened. She could do something rather ill advised as soon as she begins to understand how much the Commander dishonoured her."

"I'm not worried about the Commander being attacked; I'm worried about B'El… Lieutenant Torres blaming herself, my friend. He used a Klingon ritual to degrade and abuse her, knowing how sensitive she is to all things Klingon."

"I will increase my vigilance concerning both of them, Captain." For everyone else the answer would have sounded completely detached and even disinterested but Kathryn Janeway heard deep concern.

"Concerning your initial question, Captain. For the most part they gave no indication to be anything else but friends but there were moments when I saw wariness in Lieutenant Torres' eyes but I put it down to too much work. I should have looked closer."

"You had no way to know, my friend. – I want you to send Commander Chakotay to my Ready Room as soon as he starts his shift tomorrow morning."

"You might want a security officer present, Captain."

"No, not this time, my friend. This time I can't do it the Starfleet way. I don't want this whole thing to become public knowledge, but Chakotay crossed the line and he will have to pay for it. What will happen will entirely depend on him, but justice will be satisfied; one way or the other."

"Do you think it wise to make this so personal, Captain?"

"Probably not, Tuvok, but it's what I have to do. Starfleet Regulations be damned. By misusing the lajQo' quvHa'ghachtay the way he did, Chakotay not only dishonoured Lieutenant Torres but also Klingon culture, Klingon history, and Klingon spirituality. You know that that's something I can't allow to go on."

The dark skinned Chief of Security knew her probably better than anyone else, including her mother and younger sister, and they long ago had dispensed with the need for words, despite her passionate words earlier this day when she had been forced to reprimand her old friend, sentencing him to the same twelve days of house arrest that she had the young woman. For him it would barely make a difference to his usual routine, she knew, but she was the Captain and had to enforce discipline, no matter who it was.

"Will you have some tea?" he asked.

They had spent many nights like this, sharing tea and silence.

-x-x-x-

"Come."

"You wanted to see me, Captain?"

"Yes, Commander, stand at ease!"

The big man's body stiffened at her words – until this day they had had a rather informal relationship, at least in the Captain's Ready Room. Her voice left no doubt that this would not be one of those times.

"Consider this an unofficial conversation, Commander. There will be no log entries about it. It'll stay completely off record. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Captain."

"You had one night to think about it. Do you have anything to add or retract about yesterday evening and your 'altercation' with Lieutenant Torres, Commander?"

Kathryn Janeway was sitting behind her desk, looking relaxed and well rested, ready to take on the universe. No one would suspect that she spent a considerable part of the night punching holographic opponents in order to fight the dark cloud of anger her First Officer's behaviour had awakened, and that she had ended the night sipping tea with Tuvok.

The tall men put his most friendly smile on his face and answered. "I already told you, Captain. It was just a misunderstanding between friends, very good friends – if you get my drift. As soon as I'll get the chance I'll clear things up with Belanna."

"First of all, her first name is B'Elanna not Belanna. Even a first year cadet should know this. It's as if everyone would call you Chak'tay." He involuntarily once again straightened his posture. "Now, tell me about this lajQo' quvHa'ghachtay."

The expression on his face did not change but his body unconsciously shifted to attention.

"It's just a game we play from time to time, Captain. It's completely harmless, just a way to spend an agreeable evening every once in a while."

Kathryn Janeway's command mask was firmly in place; so, Chakotay didn't know that he had just made a crucial mistake. She slowly rose from her seat and though the former Maquis topped her by at least half a head, he certainly was not the one dominating the room.

"You just blew your last chance to regain my trust, Commander, by making two grave errors. You assumed that I would put more credence in your words than in those of Lieutenant Torres, and you presumed that I'm as unfamiliar with Klingon culture as the average Starfleet officer."

Janeway let her words sink in while looking the tattooed man right in the eyes. Chakotay still stood ramrod straight but nevertheless gave the impression of slumped shoulders and even seemed to pale slightly.

Kathryn kept her voice calm but cold. "You betrayed Lieutenant Torres' trust. I had expected better of you, Commander, much better. Over the past couple of months I learned to trust you, but now I'm forced to review my initial judgement of your character.

"According to Federation Law I should send you to the brig and have you court-martialed for conduct unbecoming of an officer, for sexual harassment – no, don't even try to tell me that you never touched the Lieutenant in a sexual way; we both know better -, for bodily injury and abuse."

Without even knowing he took half a step backwards. His voice, however, showed much more self-confidence. "But Kathryn, last night, it was private, between me and Torres..."

"That's enough! Private? Even a Ferengi would be ashamed of your behaviour, Commander." The last word held enough venom to poison half the quadrant but still Kathryn's voice had been as calm as if they were going over departmental reports, and once again his body reacted and returned to stiff attention, like a cadet in front of an admiral.

"Last night I learned that you can't be trusted, not as an officer and not as a human being. The Klingon 'rite to reject dishonour' though rarely used in the last couple of centuries is a sacred ritual; what you used it for was an insult to the whole Klingon Empire. Every Klingon, everywhere in the Universe would be in his or her right to kill you on the stop. And you can be sure that had I not given my oath to hold up the principles of the Federation and Starfleet, I personally would have tossed you out of an airlock last night."

The Captain let her words sink in. She had hoped that there would be at least some remnant of the former Starfleet Officer left in the man, the Starfleet Officer he had appeared to be during the last few months. His posture, however, seemed to relaxed and his words proved that at least some of his earlier bravado had come back.

"No, you won't. That's not who you are."

"You have no idea who I am and what I'm capable of, Commander." This time his rank was pronounced with disdain.

"I tell you what will happen now. As of now you are relieved of duty. Consider yourself under house arrest for the next nine months. Your command codes will be disabled as well as your computer access. Commander Tuvok will make sure that your replicator is programmed with severe restrictions, allowing only the necessary amount of food and clothes to be created. In nine months you will return to your place as my second-in-command, not because I think that you are worthy of the position but simply because right at my side you will be easier to control. For anyone who might ask, you will tell them that you need some time out, a spiritual retreat so sorts."

"And if I don't accept this punishment?"

"I told Lieutenant Torres that what happened yesterday evening would stay off record, but if you leave me no choice there will be a trial; and you can be sure that the jury will consist of women only.

"Do you really think your Maquis friends will still trust you, confide in you when they learn what and who you are? Do you want everyone to know that you are an ignorant, abusive, manipulative bastard who even does not stop to take advantage of his best friends? Or do you want to appear as the calm, spiritual man you certainly are not? It's up to you."

There it was again. He was standing ramrod straight but with a pale hue to his darkened skin.

"On a personal note: Not too long ago you fought me tooth and nail over naming Lieutenant Torres our Chief of Engineering. You helped me see that she's right for the job – and she has more than validated that choice. How could you stand up for her as you did and at the same time treat her as you did? That's way beyond comprehensible."

Moments of silence stretched into minutes. Janeway held the taller man captive with her eyes and finally he said,

"Do you really want an honest answer, Captain?"

She didn't answer but just waited for him to speak openly.

The tall man took a deep breath and hesitatingly said. "When I first brought the idea with this Klingon ritual up, I had been joking. I just wanted to taunt her but she took me seriously. And when she later said that she wanted to try it, I couldn't resist the temptation.

"I know you probably don't want to hear this but Torres is so strong and passionate, there was something addictive about seeing her so humble, so devout. I never before had felt this powerful," he didn't dare to look at her, only too aware that she probably would favour him with her trademark force-ten-glare.

"Are you really aware of what you just said, Chakotay? Your behaviour not only violated the rules of conduct of a Starfleet Officer, it's a shame for every decent human being."

Once again the silence stretched between them, and the former Maquis Renegade once again had to accept that he had met more than just his match in Kathryn Janeway. He had met his better in more than one aspect. So, he tried to get out of this inherently embarrassing situation by outwardly giving in.

"I'm sorry, Captain. I'll make sure that it will never happen again. I'll talk to my spiritual guide."

"All I want to know is: Will you accept the punishment or will you rather stand trial and spend the rest of our journey behind a force field?"

After a few more seconds of looking into the unflinching eyes of his commanding officer and being subjected to her almost palatable cold rage, he gave in.

"I accept the punishment, Captain Janeway."

"Wise decision. Go directly to your quarters. The nine months begin now. Dismissed." She turned her head towards her view screen and sent her new orders to Commander Tuvok's station with the official header 'Request for spiritual leave approved'.

-x-x-x-

Kathryn ran her right hand through her auburn hair in a gesture of exasperation as soon as the door had closed behind her First Officer. The punishment Chakotay just had reluctantly agreed to was far from what she thought he deserved. Tuvok, of course, never would say it, but she knew him good enough to be sure that he also would not be content with the unofficial sentence, but at least he would make sure that the conditions she had imposed on her former First Officer would be enforced at all times, and that he never would get another chance at acting this inappropriately, no, that was too weak a word for it; there was really no Starfleet sanctioned word to categorise his behaviour. Though for the time being the problem had be solved, at the moment she really wished that this was not a Starfleet ship – neither the Klingons nor most other species would have had a problem with spacing him after what he did; even the Romulans and Cardassians would have found anything else unacceptable.

Kathryn retook her seat to fight the urge to pace, and even this early in the day she knew that she would need at least another couple of hours of exercise to get rid of the aggressive energy the conversation with Chakotay had created; especially if she considered that she yet had to deal with the fall-out of B'Elanna finding out about the true nature of the ritual to which her then commanding officer had subjected her.

But first she had some paperwork to get out of the way. With a sigh she drew one of the data padds over to her and entered a few notes in her own unit but before she could really concentrate on her paperwork the door chime made her head snap up and she automatically answered, "Come in."

Tuvok stepped in and before he could say anything she asked, "Lieutenant Torres?"

"I just received a message from Engineering. Lieutenant Torres did not report to duty this morning. Mister Carey tried to call her but didn't get an answer. I took the liberty to search for her life signs. She's in Holodeck I; the safeties are disabled as well as the voice command overrides. There also is an encryption code sealing the door."

"She doesn't make it easy, does she? Which program is running?"

"It's one of your programs; Sub zero-four."

"Of all the times to embrace her Klingon side, and of course she has to choose one of the most difficult of the training programs." Straightening up she said, "Computer, log Lieutenant Torres and Captain Janeway off duty for personal reasons. "

"So logged," answered the dispassionate computer voice.

Kathryn left her Ready Room, and Tuvok followed her to the turbolift. As soon as the doors were closed he said. "Captain, as your Chief of Security I must object."

"I don't expect any less of you, Tuvok. That's why it will be your job to keep an eye on our life signs while we're in the holodeck. You will be our life line, so to speak."

In answer to his raised eyebrow she added, "There's a subroutine that will allow me to beam into the active scenario. It will change the parameters of the program, but for now it's the only way. I don't know how skilled B'Elanna is in hand-to-hand combat and won't risk her life unnecessarily."

Tuvok once again raised his eyebrow but didn't say anything. The turbolift stopped at deck three and the Captain walked into her quarters where she disappeared into the bedroom. Less than two minutes later she was back, still in her uniform trousers, with her comm. badge fixed to a black sleeve-less T-shirt, carrying a bat'leth.

Tuvok silently followed her back to the turbolift. As soon as the door had closed she said. "The program is designed for advanced battle training. It consists of seven levels and can be started anywhere between level one and four. With the voice commands disabled it can't be stopped before it has run through all seven levels."

"Why don't we just cut off the program from the outside, Captain?"

"This is not a Starfleet program, Tuvok. She by now must be at level five, and from there on, there's nothing that can be done from the outside. It simply has to run its course."

The tall Vulcan just looked at her, not even a raised eyebrow, apparently resigned to her very human irrationalities,

"It's important that I do this my way, Tuvok. Monitor the life signs and should you be in doubt consult with the Doctor – though I would prefer to keep him out of it."

"Understood, Captain."

The auburn haired woman keyed in a couple of manual commands at the holodeck's control panel. "Wish me luck, my friend."

"Vulcans don't believe in luck, Captain, but over the years I learned to never underestimate your resolve or your resourcefulness."

With the last syllable the typical hum of a transporter sounded and moments later the computer panel at the door indicated two life signs.

Back on the Bridge the tall Vulcan transferred the transporter control to his console and instructed the computer to alert him should one of the life signs become unstable.

The area of space around the Sikarian homeworld seemed particularly calm and though Vulcans are not prone to day dreaming his mind brought him back to the day he first made the acquaintance of the then newly minted Lieutenant Kathryn Janeway, sporting the cyan blue of a Starfleet Science Officer.

The years and the demands of her career had changed her, but from time to time her former unmitigated joy of living, her impish sense of humour and her sense for adventure and exploration made themselves felt. It had been these qualities that had drawn him to the young officer because before and after her prolonged stay on the Klingon home world, they had been tempered by a sound judgement, surprisingly logic reasoning and a great respect for the beliefs and approaches of other cultures.

His years of experience with Kathryn Janeway and her way of thinking, close to one and a half decade if he thought about it, gave him a good idea of what his commanding officer intended to do, given her nature she could do nothing else and he was determined to help her as best as he could.

-x-x-x-x-x-

To be continued in Chapter TWO