My Maquis Lover

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 20: Goodbye Delta Quadrant

YEAR: 2404- EARTH

As Kathryn and I stood and watched the viewer it brought back fond memories. Today was the 10th anniversary of Voyagers return to the Alpha Quadrant. I watched on the viewer as Voyager flew above San-Francisco and danced about the Golden Gate Bridge while fireworks went off and people cheered and roared with excitement at seeing Voyager finally after spending 23 years in the delta quadrant. I remember I was on the bridge at the Tactical console watching Lieutenant Paris do the job he had done for almost a quarter of a century only this time he was having fun. I remember looking over at Ensign Kim at Operations who had the biggest smile on his face I had ever seen. And there I was stood as Lieutenant Commander Carter. I felt bad in a way taking over Tuvok as chief security and tactical officer, but after his illness became so bad that he couldn't work anymore Captain Janeway felt it was the best choice. "These should be familiar images to everyone who remembers the USS Voyagers triumphant return to Earth after 23 years in the Delta Quadrant. Voyager captivated the hearts and minds of people throughout the federation so it seems only fitting that on this the 10th anniversary of their return we take a moment to recall the sacrifices made by the crew. Corruption charges were brought to..." was all the man who spoke on the viewer over the images said before Kathryn said "Computer end display." The viewer deactivated and together we stood in Kathryn's apartment looking out of the window overlooking San Francisco bay and the golden gate bridge drinking Tea. "It seems like it was only yesterday." I said breaking the silence. "I know, you wouldn't believe we have been back 10 years would you." Janeway finally said to me. She and I had been friends for over 30 years and I couldn't imagine her not being a part of my life. "Kathryn I've spoken with Commander Barclay this morning and he tells me that..." was all I said before she cut me off. "Let's just make it through the party and then we can talk about the mission. Okay Jack." She said smiling at me. I nodded. "Good, now tell me what time are Tom and the kids coming over?" she asked as we sat down, "In about an hour or so." I said. "Good, it's amazing you two have been married for 26 years and have 3 beautiful children together. Which reminds me how is Matthew?" she said to me. "He's fine, I think he likes his new posting as the tactical officer on the enterprise, it's more suited to him." I said. She smiled. "Well let's get ready for the party." She said. At that we stood up and away we went.

An hour later and the apartment was filled with former Voyager crewmembers and their families. I was stood talking to B'Elanna and Paris as it had been a while since we had last seen each other. "So how do you like being the Director of Starfleet intelligence, Admiral?" asked B'Elanna. I smiled. I still couldn't believe I was an admiral and that I had the position of Director. "B'Elanna please don't call me by rank, its Jack it always has been and always will be." I said smiling at her. At that moment Tom walked over and slipped his arm around my waist. "Hey babes." He said kissing me. "Hey, who were you talking to?" I asked. "Jenny Delaney" he said. I smiled. "So do you like working at Internal Affairs Tom?" asked Paris. Tom had recently been transferred to internal affairs from Starfleet security and been promoted to captain. "Yeah, it's hard work and the paperwork is awful but I manage." He said smiling. "Stop moaning Captain, Jack come help me." Said Kathryn smiling. I walked over with her and helped her with some glasses of champagne and we handed them out. "Dad, can I have a drink?" asked Hannah by daughter. "Sure sweetie." I said handing her a glass of orange juice. "I meant champagne." She said looking at me. Hannah was almost 17 and driving me and Tom insane with the late night stop outs, the constant talk of the boys she liked in her class at high school and the constant want for alcohol. "Hannah if I have to tell you one more time that you are not old enough I may send you to boarding school." I said causing Kathryn to smile. "Here you go Hannah, but just the one that's it." Said Kathryn handing her a glass of champagne. "Kathryn." I said looking at her shocked. "Thanks Aunt Kathryn." Said Hannah smiling and walking away. "It's only for the toast Jack, lighten up." She said. B'Elanna came across and spoke with us for a while before Commander Barclay stood on the steps and tapped his glass. I noticed the doctor had shown up with his new bride. I went over with and stood with Tom and held his hand. "Ladies and gentlemen can I have your attention please, 10 years ago tonight this crew returned home from the longest away mission in Starfleet history." Barclay said causing everyone to laugh. "23 years together made you a family, one I'm proud to have been adopted by. Let us raise our glasses to the journey." He added. "To the journey." Everyone said. "And to those who aren't here to celebrate it with us." Said Kathryn as everyone thought back on those people that weren't there with us. Seven of Nine, Tuvok, Chakotay, and the other people who couldn't be with us. For Kathryn I knew this was the hardest thing possible which was to remember those people who were not able to share the same event we could. We were one big family and to lose people that we cared about was never easy.

As the party had wound down Kathryn pulled me aside. There were only a few people left now: Tom and the kids, well two of them anyway Hannah and James who was 20 and in his last year of the academy, Harry and Tom and B'Elanna. "I'll come and see you tomorrow and we can got over the final parts of the mission." She said. "Okay you're on." I said and we went back to everyone else and we talked some more before Tom said "Okay come on guys let's get back home, Hannah you have school and James you have the classes as well so come on." He said. He was so good with the kids. As we said our farewells we left and walked down the street to the transporter. After we re-materialised in our house which was in San Francisco and where we had lived for the last 8 years Hannah and Tom both went to their rooms and went to bed as Tom and I sat in the lounge. "What did Kathryn say?" Tom asked me. "We're meeting tomorrow." I said. "I wish you didn't have to do this." He said. I had to tell tom everything about the mission and swore him to secrecy as this could finish me and Kathryn completely. "I know but I do, but you know our agreement you never tell the kids about this, I don't want them to find out and you never mention anything about where me and Kathryn have gone to anyone." I said. "I know." He said. We eventually got to bed and fell asleep. When we awoke again at 06:00, I felt very refreshed. I went down and made the usually morning breakfast which was basically a pot of coffee and then putting out a plate of muffins, pain au chocolat, cereal and toast. When everyone came down they all dug in and we chatted as a family. "When is Matthew coming home dad?" asked James. "I'm not sure he's still on the enterprise but I'm sure whenever he gets shore leave next he will come back. Anyway what classes have you got today?" I asked. "We start our first class on the Borg with Commander Barclay and Admiral Janeway." He told me. "Well there's a subject you should know a lot about." I said. "Hannah what are you doing at school?" asked Tom. "The usual maths, English, chemistry and History. And of course boy studies." She said smiling. "Hannah I wish you would stop talking about these bloody boys, you're there to learn not to admire all the boys in your class." He said. She smiled. "I know I can't help it, it must come from you 2" she said. I smiled. By 07:30 everyone was out of the door and together we headed for the transporter. We each went our separate way, Hannah off to school, James to the academy and Tom and I transported to Starfleet command together. As we materialised in the main command area, I kissed him and said "See you tonight." "Not if I see you first." He said kissing me back and pinching my ass. He walked off as did I and I headed for the intelligence building. When I walked in I was greeted by several people and eventually arrived outside my office to see my PA sat at her desk. "Good morning ensign." I said smiling at her. "Good morning sir." She said. Claire Hargrove was a fresh face out of the academy ensign and in many ways she reminded me somewhat of myself when I was that age. "What have we got today?" I asked "You have a meeting with Admiral Riker at 13:00, a meeting with Captain Andrews at 11:00 and Admiral Janeway is in your office waiting for you now." She said handing me some pads. "Thank you." I said. I entered my office. "Computer secure the doors and establish a level 5 dampening field around this room. Deactivate all internal sensors and allow no entry in to this room with my direct authorisation." I said before sitting at my desk. The computer chirped and responded telling me the room was secure. I then took off my combadge as did Kathryn and we then spoke. We spoke for over two hours about the final details of the plan before she said "Right well I need to head off to the academy. We will proceed as soon as Ensign Paris returns." She said. I nodded and she left. I then continued to work. After my meeting with Captain Andrews I finally ate lunch at 12:00 when Ensign Hargrove came over the comm. "Sir, message from Admiral Janeway." She said. "Thanks Claire, I'll take it in here." I replied. The computer worked away by itself and eventually Kathryn's face appeared. "I'll make this brief. Ensign Paris contacted me, the device works but we have to go and get it. I'll prepare a shuttle. Meet me at my apartment tonight packed and ready to go. I spoke to the doctor he's coming over to give us a physical each. We leave tomorrow evening. Janeway out." She said and her face disappeared. That didn't give me long. "Claire come in here." I said. She walked in and said "Sir." "Cancel all my meetings and appointments for the rest of the week; tell them I'm not sure when I will return as I'm heading off world." I said. "Yes sir." She said and left.

After finishing my meeting with Admiral Riker I quickly left my office and transported home. I packed a bag with some fresh uniforms and information that we needed and left the house taking one last look around. I noticed the family picture of all of us in the living room and went over and grabbed it and put it in my bag. I need something to remember them. Transporting back to work I stood in the court yard of Starfleet command. I went inside towards the transporter room and spoke to the operator. "Could you please transport this bag to Admiral Janeway's apartment" I said. "Of course sir, if you will just place it on the platform." Said the ensign behind the console. I did so and he transported it away. "Thank you." I said before leaving. I headed back to my office and sat at my desk. "Claire, could you put me through to Tom." I said over the comm. as I poured myself a cup of tea. "Yes sir." She said. A few seconds later tom's face appeared on the screen. "Hi." He said. "Hi, listen I want to keep this as brief as possible. I packed my bag and will be staying at Kathryn's tonight. We leave tomorrow evening." I said. "Oh god, Jack please don't do this." Said Tom starting to cry. Tears formed in my eyes too. How can I do this over a comm. channel? "Wait right there, I'll be two seconds." I said ending the comm. "Claire beam me to Tom's office." I said. "Aye sir." She said and seconds later I appeared in his office. I ran over and hugged him and we both just began to cry. "I love you so much. Please don't go she will be fine without you." He said looking at me. "No she won't, Tom I'm doing this for us and for our crew. I want our children to grow up here on earth not on the run from an armada of warships, which is how Matthew spent his third birthday seeing both his dads worried sick that Voyager might collapse around our ears." I said as we both laughed thinking back to that day. We both still had tears in our eyes and just couldn't help but cry. "I love you so much, I'm going to miss you." I said. We shared a long passionate kiss and he held me close. "Be safe." He whispered in my ear. "I will." I replied before kissing him again. "Now go, otherwise I'll never let you go." He said. I hugged and kissed him once more before beaming out.

That night after my shift I met Kathryn in the courtyard and transported back to her place. After having dinner she began to pack when the doctor arrived. "You must be the only doctor who still makes housecalls." I said. "What are your symptoms?" he asked. "We're perfectly fine." I said. "For 33 years you both fought me every time you needed a physical, now you ask me to give you one ahead of schedule." He said getting out his tricorder. "We're taking a trip we just wanted to get our appointments out of the way before we left." I said as he scanned Kathryn. "That's all?" he asked. "That's all." Janeway and I said in unison. "Hmmm well the good thing is you're as healthy as the first day I examined you both." He said. "Now that's out of the way have a seat, we didn't get to talk much at the party." Janeway said. "No I don't suppose we did." The doc replied. "So how's married life?" I asked. "Wonderful, I can see why you got married. You should try it Kathryn." He said. "Oh I think it's a little late for that marriage is for the young, like you're wife." The doctor smiled. "Excuse me." I said making Janeway laugh as well. She knew what I meant. "I can only hope she ages as gracefully as you both have, I of course will be the same handsome hologram 20 years from now as I am today." The doc said making me smile. Janeway nodded at me giving me the sign. "I've been meaning to ask you, are you familiar with a drug called cromexaline?" I asked him. "We've been testing it at Starfleet medical to see if it can protect bio-matter from tachyon radiation?" he explained to us. "And?" I asked. "It's very promising why do you ask?" he asked me. "We need 4000 milligrams by tomorrow afternoon." Said Janeway snapping up from packing. "Why?" asked the doctor. "That's classified, will you get it for us?" I said abruptly. He looked at both of us. "Of course Admiral, you will have it by 09:00." He said. "Thank you." I said. We chatted for while longer and he eventually left. At 00:30 Kathryn and I left for the communications research centre for our meeting with Commander Barclay. I went to the meeting while Kathryn said she wanted to go and see Chakotay's Grave for one last time. "Download complete." Said the computer. "This should be everything you need" said Barclay handing me a pad. I read it through. "The shuttle?" I asked. "Waiting for you at the Oakland shipyards I wish you would let me come with you" Said Reg. I looked at him. "Sorry Reg but this is our mission. Besides if you left who would teach those eager young cadets about the Borg?" I asked. "Oh I made you and Kath some fresh tea for the trip not that replicated stuff" he told me as he handed me a large flask. "Thank you, for everything. We couldn't have done this without you." I told him as I shook his hand. I put my hand on his shoulder, grabbed my jacket and left. I put on my long leather coat and exited the building to find Kathryn waiting for me. "Ready?" I asked. "Ready as I will ever be. You get everything?" she asked. "Yep." I said handing her the pad. "The shuttle?" she asked. "Waiting at the Oakland shipyards" I said. "Good then we're set when the doctor delivers." She said. We smiled and linked arms and walked back to her apartment.

YEAR 2378 – VOYAGER IN THE DELTA QUADRANT.

As I walked down to astrometrics with Tom, I was so giddy getting the chance to talk to my parents for the second time since operation Watson had started. "Did you hear that B'Elanna went into false labour at 04:00?" Tom told me. "What! again? That's the 4th time." I said. Thank god I was only going into labour once. "Harry has started a pool to see who can guess the actual date and time of her birth. And then a second pool to see which of you will give birth first." He told me. "And I take it you haven't entered this pool." I said. "Of course not." He said with a cheeky grin on his face that I so loved. We walked into astrometrics and saw Seven. It was little before 09:00. We had arranged with Starfleet to have my parents ready for this time and to expect the call. "Good morning seven." I said. "Lieutenant, Ensign. The comm. link is almost ready and you will have 3 minutes with Admirals Matthew and Julie Carter at the office of Admiral Matthew Carter." She told us. "Thank you seven." I said. This was the first time they would finally see Tom, of course they knew I was married and pregnant through all the DataStream's we had been sending back and forth. "Receiving the signal." She said. "On screen." I said. The screen came to life and there sat my mum and dad at my dad's desk grinning. "Mum, dad it's so great to talk to you again." I said. "You too son. We miss you very much." Said my mum. "Look at you, you're getting really big now." My dad said gesturing to my belly. "Yeah about a week to go." I said smiling. "And this must be the person responsible for this child to be with us." Said my mum meaning Tom. "Yes mum I would finally like you to meet Tom, my husband." I said. "It's a pleasure to meet you at last Mr and Mrs Carter. Jack has told me so much about you." He said smiling. I held his hand. "Please Tom, call us Matthew and Julie, and none of this Sir stuff either. We may Admirals by rank but we're your parents in law so you don't have to salute." My dad said smiling. "Thank you sir." Said Tom. I chuckled. We talked some more about different things before seven said "30 seconds Lieutenant." "Mum, dad we're almost out of time, but in the next DataStream I will send pictures of the baby. He should be here by then." I said smiling. "We look forward to it." Said mum. "We love you both very much and the baby too." Said dad. "We all love you too." I said. I blew them a kiss and the channel ended. Tom held my hand. "You okay?" he asked noticing the tear in my eye. "Yeah it's just never easy to leave them like that." I said. "I know, but you're lucky to still have your parents." He said. I looked at him. "I know, I'm sorry here I am whining about leaving them and you can't even talk to yours." I said. I hugged him. It was still painful for him, even after all this time. I thought back to when Tom first told me on that first night we had a meal. He told me how, when he was 18 his parents joined the Maquis in 2367 after the treaty between the federation and the cardassians had been formed. Unfortunately a few months in, they were killed in a bombing planted by the cardassians and Tom took his parents place to get revenge. "Come on, let's get to work." I said. We walked down the corridor heading for engineering. "Oh have you heard that Chell wants to take Neelix's place in the kitchen full time?" I said to Tom. "No, oh god no. The whole crew will be ill." He said making me laugh. "Well I have plenty of replicator rations." I said. He kissed me. "Well that's fine by me." He said. He went off to engineering and I went up to the bridge.

The day went by relatively smoothly up to the point where Seven had detected signs of wormhole activity inside a nebula and we were on course but wouldn't arrive until tomorrow. As I climbed into bed that night with Tom we couldn't stop talking about the idea of getting home. I mean we had loads of opportunities blow up in our faces over the last 7 years, but somehow I knew this would be our ticket home. "I have gossip." Said Tom. "Oh do tell." I said facing him. "Chakotay and Seven of Nine are getting it on." He said. I laughed. "What? No they're not." I said. "They are, I went to cargo bay two earlier to get some more bio neural gel packs out of storage and there they were having a picnic." He told me. "Awww how sweet." I said. "Good for them." I added. Tom smiled and kissed me. "Speaking of which, why have you never taken me for a romantic picnic?" I asked punching him in the arm playfully. "I did, remember we had that picnic in Fair Haven by the lake." He said. "Oh yeah, and we had sex right there in the grass." I added. "Yeah." He replied kissing me. "You look tired, good night my sweet." Tom said kissing my head. "Good night." I said and lay on my back trying to sleep.

YEAR 204 – ABOARD A SHUTTLE

As Kathryn and I sat in the shuttle ready to begin phase one of the plan. We were about 15 minutes away from the planet where we would meet the Klingon named Korath. "Do you think it will be weird seeing our younger selves?" I asked breaking the silence. "For you maybe, I mean we're going back to a point when you were pregnant, for me I shouldn't think so." Said Janeway. "I'm not so sure, I mean you're going to have to deal with that fiery red head." I said. She laughed. "I guess you're right." She said smiling. "Approaching designated co-ordinates." Said the computer. "Jack take us into orbit." She said. It felt like we were back on Voyager with Janeway giving me orders again. "Aye captain." I said jokingly. She gave me a smile. "Right I'll beam down and see Ensign Paris and meet Korath. Stand by to beam the device up." She said. I took the shuttle into orbit and Kathryn beamed down. 20 minutes later she contacted me and beamed back up without the device. "What happened?" I asked. "Korath, that's what happened." She told me.

YEAR 2378 – VOYAGER IN THE DELTA QUADRANT

As Paris flew us into the nebula, I sat at the engineering station on the bridge and I found myself listening to the klaxon of the red alert. I really didn't want my baby to grow up listening to that noise constantly and if we're going to be stuck out here in the delta quadrant there is that big chance that he will end up doing just that. I just hope these wormholes are genuine and that one of them get's us home. "Maybe Chell should add nebula soup to his menu." Said Paris breaking me out of my daydream. The ship rocked. "Shields?" asked Janeway. "Holding." Reported Tuvok. "Bridge to astrometrics" said Janeway. "Go ahead." Said Seven. "Anymore data on those neutrino emissions?" asked the captain. "Negative captain, I still can't get a clear scan." Seven reported. "Distance to the centre?" asked the captain. "6 Million Kilometres." Seven replied. The ship rocked again and several console alarms started to go off. "What is it?" asked the captain. "I'm detecting a tritanium signature bearing 342 mark 55." Said Tuvok. "Whatever it is it's too close." Said Paris. "Evasive manoeuvres." Ordered Janeway. "Is it a ship?" asked Chakotay. "Possibly." Said Tuvok. The ship rocked more and more alarms started to go off. "Another tritanium signature right on top of us." Said Harry. We continued to fly slowly until we saw a Borg cube appear out of the nebula gas almost colliding with us. "Tom!" yelled Janeway. Tom managed to duck us out of the way. "Get us out of here now." Janeway ordered returning to her command chair and Tom slowly flew us back out of the nebula.

I found myself in the briefing room with the captain, Chakotay, harry, Tuvok, Seven and Paris. We were talking about the events that had just happened and how we ran into a Borg cube. "There is no evidence that the cube detected us." Said Tuvok. "Where is it now?" asked Chakotay. "Approximately three light years away." Answered seven. "How could they not have seen us, we came within 10 metres of their hull?" asked Paris. "The Borg wouldn't know any risk of collision. The radiation must have affected their sensors as well." I said. "If we can't detect us we should go back." Said Harry. "I wouldn't recommend it, my analysis of the tritanium signature suggested that there were at least 47 Borg vessels inside the nebula." Said Seven. "We can't just give up on those wormholes" said Harry. "Oh yes we can." Said Janeway. "But what if we try to modify..." was all Harry said before the captain cut him off. "Sorry Mr Kim, you may be the captain someday but not today." Said Janeway making us all smile.

As I rounded the corner of deck 5 I almost bumped into seven. "Sorry seven." I said. "It's no problem lieutenant. How are you and the infant?" she asked. I smiled. "I'm sure the baby is fine, as for me I'm ready for him to be here." I said. "I can well imagine, carrying around a child inside you for 7 months must be unsettling." She said. "It is indeed." I said. "I'll let you get back to work." I said before moving around her heading down the corridor. "Lieutenant." She called. I turned around "Yeah." I said. She came up to me and said "I wish to ask a personal question if I may." She said. "Of course." I said. "May I touch your belly to feel the baby?" she asked. "Sure." I said and she placed her hand on my bump. "Curious, can you feel him moving inside you? She asked. "Yeah, whenever he moves I can feel him, and of course when he kicks I feel that too." I said. "Also I wish to ask, when you and Ensign Walker first met, you had a quiet dinner as your first date is that right?" she asked. "Yes, it was just after Voyager and the Maquis were returned from the caretakers array. Why?" I asked. "I'm doing a study on human dating rituals and I found that a quiet dinner is usually an appropriate 5th date." She said. "Does this have something to do with you and commander Chakotay?" I asked. She blushed. "Don't worry I won't say anything, but it's best just to be direct with me." I said. She looked at me. "Is there anything I should be aware of? Tonight we are having our 5th date and it's dinner." She told me. "Well from my own experience, there is nothing different about this date than say your 3rd or 4th date, however there is one crucial difference depending on your circumstances. If I may ask have you and he kissed?" I asked. "No." She said plainly. "Then you may find that tonight you will get awkward around each other waiting for the first kiss, which can then lead to other things." I said. She looked confused for a moment. "Ah you mean copulation." She said. "Yeah, so all I'd say is just take it slow and the kiss will happen naturally, but it can get very uncomfortable." I said. She nodded. "Thank you lieutenant." She said before walking off. I walked into sickbay to see the doctor working the console. "Ah Lieutenant, here for your daily scan?" he asked. "Of course." I said and sat on the biobed. He grabbed his tricorder and scanned the baby and then me. "Your both fine, I'd say about a week more and you will probably be giving birth." He said. "Finally, I think I'm finally ready to have this baby here." I said. He smiled and I left.

YEAR 2404 – ABOARD THE SHUTTLE.

"Wait for the signal I will activate on my tricorder." Said Janeway. "I will." I said. She transported down to the planet and I sat at the console waiting. Finally the console chirped and she was ready. I activated the transporter and she and the device beamed aboard. "Computer deploy armour." I said. At that the armour deployed and the shuttle went to red alert. "Lay in a course for these co-ordinates." I said and entered them on to the control panel. "Good work Jack." Janeway said looking at me. The shuttle took some weapons fire but thanks to the armour we didn't take any damage. I could hear the phaser shots banging against the armour. Then the hailing alarm sounded. Janeway hit the controls "What do you want?" she asked Korath. "You'll pay for your deceit cacha. The house of Korath won't rest until you drown in your own blood." He said. "We'd love to stay and chat, but we're on a tight schedule." I said and ended the transmission. Janeway smiled at me and I said "Computer Warp 6" and the shuttle took off into warp. "Approaching designated co-ordinates." Said the computer. "All stop." I said. "Warning vessel approaching vector 121 mark 6" said the computer. I looked up at the controls and saw the Rhode Island on approach and dropping out of warp just behind us. The ship hailed us. Janeway worked the controls. "Harry, and people are always saying space is so big." Said Janeway to Captain Kim. "Lower your shields Admirals, I'm taking you both in to custody." He told us. "You have no grounds to take us into custody Captain." I said. "Reg told the doctor everything and the doctor told me, please Admiral stand down." He said. "On one condition you let us explain why we are doing this." I said. He nodded and agreed and I ended the transmission.

As Kathryn and I sat in Harry's ready room on board his ship the Rhode Island I felt like I was back at school as Harry was walking about asking questions. "You have no idea what the consequences would be." Said Harry. "We both know what the consequences are if we do nothing. So do you." Said Janeway. "We have a chance to change all that." I added. "If Starfleet command knew what you were trying to do..." said Harry before I cut him off. "You haven't told them." I said. "The doctor and I decided to keep things in the family." Harry explained. "What about your crew?" asked Janeway. "I told them I needed to take you both back to Starfleet medical because you'd contracted a rare disease." Harry explained. Janeway and I both looked at each other. "I hope it isn't terminal." I said. "No, but it has been known to affect judgement." Harry said. "We both know what we're doing Harry." I said. "Do you, can you say for absolute certainty that it will work because if you can't. Even if it weren't a violation of every rule in the book it would still be far too risky, and you Jack as the director of Starfleet intelligence should know better." He said making both me and Kathryn smile. "What?" Harry said. "I'm remembering a young ensign who wanted to fly into a Borg infested nebula just to explore the remote possibility that we might find a way home." Janeway told him. "If I remember correctly you stopped me." He said. "We didn't know then, what we now." I told him. "Our technology may have advanced but..." was all Harry said before I cut him off again. "I'm not talking about technology; I'm talking about people, people who aren't as lucky as you and me. You said you and the doctor wanted to keep things in the family. But our family is not complete anymore. All we're asking Harry is that you trust our judgement one last time." I said. He smiled and nodded. "What can I do to help?" he asked.

After I had docked the shuttlecraft in the Rhode Island's shuttlebay and with some help from Harry, we had successfully mounted the chrono deflector onto the hull and interfaced it with the shuttle's systems. I may not be an engineer anymore, but that doesn't mean I have forgotten everything. After launching the shuttle and running some last test's with Harry it really started to hit home just exactly what we were doing. "If Starfleet command finds out I had anything to do with this, they'll demote me back to ensign." Said Harry. "You worry too much harry it's turning you grey, just tell them you're working for me." I said. He smiled. "Propulsion's online, plasma flows stable." I said. "This device of Korath's it produces too much tachyo-conetic energy, could burn itself out by the time you get where you're going. You wouldn't be able to get back." Harry said. "We always assumed it was a one way trip." Said Janeway. "You're sure I can't talk you out of this." Said Harry. Janeway got up and looked him straight in the eye. "Right stupid question." He said and looked down. Janeway grabbed his face and looked at him and then hugged him. I went over and shook his hand. "Drop in and say hi to Tom for me would you." I said. He nodded. "Kim to the Rhode Island, one to beam back" he said and he beamed away. Janeway and I returned to our chairs and began to work. We watched the Rhode Island go to warp before I said "Computer activate the chrono deflector." I watched as the system powered up. Then the shuttle was hit by weapons fire. "Two Klingon ships have decloaked directly aft." Said Janeway. "Deploy Armour." She called to the computer. "Unable to comply, ablative generator is offline." Replied the computer as we continued to take fire. "Evasive pattern beta 6" I said. "Open a channel to the Rhode Island." I then added. Harry's face appeared on the small screen. "Harry we're under attack, how fast can you get back here." I said.

MEANWHILE IN THE YEAR 2378

"All senior officer report to the bridge immediately." Said the captain over the comm. Tom and I had just sat down to dinner and now we were being called away. He and I both left, he headed for engineering and I went to the bridge. I shared a turbolift with Seven and Chakotay, but we all remained in silence. I knew what they had been up to. We arrived on the bridge, and exited the turbolift and saw a rift on the viewscreen. "What is it?" asked Chakotay as I made my way over to the engineering station. "Judging by the tachyon emissions, some sort of temporal rift." Said Janeway. "How's it being generated?" asked Seven. "That's what we're trying to figure out. Seven, Jack begin an analysis." Ordered Janeway. I nodded and moved over to Seven's small console just above the captain and Chakotay. We worked on the controls and began to conduct a temporal analysis, when Tuvok said "I'm detecting nadion discharges on the other side of rift." "Weapons fire?" asked Chakotay. "Possibly, the signature appears to be Klingon." Replied Tuvok. "Red Alert." Said Janeway. "Jack, seven continue your analysis." She added.

BACK IN THE YEAR 2404

We took another hit. We couldn't last against two Klingon warships. I saw the Rhode Island appear and start to fire on the two Klingon ships. "Stand by for transport admirals." Said Harry. "You know where we're going Harry and it's not to your ship." I said. "Your structural integrity field is failing." He said. Tell me something I don't know. "Just these Klingon's off our tail." I said. The Rhode Island fired some more disabling one ship and going after the other. "Here we go Jack." Said Janeway. "Computer activate the tachyon pulse, and direct it to these spatial and temporal co-ordinates." Said Janeway. The rift began to form. She quickly injected the both of us with the cromexaline the doctor had given us before I flew us in.

YEAR 2378 – VOYAGER

"There's a vessel coming through the rift." I said. "Klingon?" asked Chakotay. I checked the sensors again. "No, federation." I reported causing everyone to look at the viewscreen. We all saw a class 2 shuttle emerge from the rift, but it wasn't a design a recognised. "We're being hailed." Said Harry. "On screen." Said Janeway. The moment the viewscreen came alive, I nearly had a heart attack as did Captain Janeway. As soon as I saw the two faces on the viewscreen and what they looked like, I moved down away from Seven and stood by the captain. "Recalibrate your deflector to emit an anti-tachyon pulse, you have to seal that rift." An older version of myself ordered. "It's usually considered polite to introduce yourself before you start giving orders." Said Janeway. "Captain a Klingon vessel is coming through." Said Tuvok. "Close the rift." Said an older version of the captain. "In case you didn't notice, I outrank you captain, now do it." The older me ordered. This caused both me and Janeway to look at each other. "Do it, Harry." Ordered Janeway. He did so and we saw the rift sealed. "We did what you asked, now would care to tell us what is going on?" I said. "We've come to bring Voyager home." The older me said. This made the captain and I look at each other again, but this time more worried.

As I walked into the transporter room with the captain, Tuvok and Chakotay all I could think about was the person I just on the viewscreen. "Ready to transport?" asked the captain. "Yes ma'am." Said the crewman. "Energise." she said. The platform came alive and two people were beamed aboard. "Welcome aboard." Said the captain. "It's good to be back." Said the older Janeway. I couldn't help but look at my future self. I forgot what I looked like without the baby bump. Together we left the transporter room. Tuvok and Chakotay broke away leaving me walking side by side with my future self, whilst the captain and a future Kathryn Janeway walked ahead. My future self looked at me "What?" I asked. "Nothing, I just forgot what I looked like being pregnant." He said to me. "Was this my only one?" I asked. "Jack, there will be no talk of that for now." Said the captain. We eventually arrived at the ready room and together we walked. "Fresh Coffee." Said the older Janeway. "Would you like a cup?" asked the captain. "No I gave it up years ago." Admiral Janeway replied. "And how about you, ermm Admiral Carter?" the captain asked. "No I also gave it up to, we only drink tea now." My future self said causing me and the captain to roll our eyes. She poured me and herself a cup of coffee. "I told the curator at the museum, that if he wanted to make the ready room more authentic, he should always keep a steaming pot of coffee on the desk." Said Admiral Janeway. "Voyager's in a museum?" I asked. "Voyager is a museum, on the grounds of presidio, on a clear morning you can see Alcatraz from here." Said the older Jack. "You made it back to earth." Said the captain. "Unfortunately our favourite cup took a bit of a beating along the way, it was damaged during a battle with the Fendomar." Said Admiral Janeway. "Who?" I asked. "You'll run in to them in a few years." Future Jack said. "You know what, I shouldn't be listening to details from the future." The captain said. "Oh the all mighty temporal prime directive, take my advice it's less of a headache if you just ignore it." Admiral Janeway said. "You obviously decided too or you wouldn't be here." I said. "A lot has happened to me and Jack here since we were you two." The older me said making me and Kathryn look at each other. "Well we're still us, and this is still our ship so no more talk about what's going to happen until I decide otherwise." Said the captain. "Alright, let's talk about the past." Admiral Janeway. "3 days ago you detected elevated neutrino emissions in a nebula in grid 986, you thought it might be a way home, you were right. I've come to tell you to take Voyager back to that nebula" the future me said. "It was crawling with Borg." I said. "We brought technology that will help get us passed them." Admiral Janeway said. This made me roll my eyes. "I don't blame you both for being sceptical but if you can't trust yourself who can you trust?" asked the future Janeway. "For the sake of argument let's say we believe everything you are telling us. The future you come from sounds pretty good, Voyager's home, Jack and I are both admirals, there are ways to defend against the Borg. My ready room even get's preserved for posterity." Said the captain. "So why would you want to tamper with such as rosy timeline. To answer that we would have to tell you more than you needed to know. But let me put it simply. If you don't do what we're suggesting it's going to take you another 16 years to get this ship home and there are going to be casualties along the way." The future me said looking straight at me. "I know exactly what you're thinking Jack." He said. "You've also become a telepath." I said. "I used to be you remember. Your asking yourself, as are you Kathryn, are they really who they say they are, or is this some sort of deception. For all you know we could be members of species 8472 in disguise. Have your people examine the shuttle, tell them to take a close look at the weapons systems and the armour technology. In the mean time the doctor can confirm our identities." Admiral Carter said. At that we all left for sickbay as Janeway ordered the Seven to look at the shuttle.

"My scans of both admirals cerebral cortex's showed something interesting." Said the doctor bringing up a scan of two brains showing some kind of device implanted in the brain. "What is it?" asked Janeway as we were huddled by the medical console talking quietly as our future selves were sat only metres away. "I'm not sure I've never seen this type of implant before." Said the doctor. "Alien technology?" I asked. "The micro circuitry has a Starfleet signature." Said the doctor bringing up a detailed scan of the devices. "Of course they do." The older Janeway said causing all to jump and face her. "Admiral." Said the doctor. "You invented it, 12 years ago from our prospective." The older me said. The doctor, me and Janeway all looked at each other. "I'm sorry admirals, I wasn't aware that..." said the doctor before the older Janeway cut him off. "What that we were eaves dropping, we may be old but our hearing is still excellent, thank to your exemplary care over the years." Admiral Janeway said. This made the doctor smile. He liked it when people praised his work. "So this implant I'm going to invent what does it do?" asked the doctor. "It's a synaptic transceiver; it allows either of us to pilot a vessel, equipped with a neural interface." Admiral Carter said. "Fascinating, tell me what other extraordinary break through's am I going to make." Said the doctor. "Doctor." Janeway and I both said unison. "Sorry captain, lieutenant but you can't blame a hologram for being curious." He said. "Just finish your report." The captain said. "Yes ma'am." He said and moved back over the console. He touched another control brining up for sets of DNA on split screens. "My scans indicate that you are genetically identical to your future self. The admirals are you, approximately 26 years from now." He said. Then it was true. Suddenly the doors to sickbay opened and in walked Seven of Nine. "Hello Seven." Said the older Janeway in a soft voice. She nodded her head at the admiral before moving over to me and the captain. "The technology aboard the admirals ship is impressive. Much of it appears to have been designed to defend against the Borg" said seven handing the captain a pad. "Could we install these systems on Voyager?" I asked. "The stealth technology is incompatible, but I believe we can adapt the armour and weapons." Said seven. "Well captain?" asked the older jack. "Do it." Ordered Janeway. "Jack, could you show our guests to quarters, I will have their shuttle towed in." Ordered the captain. "Aye captain." I said. "We should meet with B'Elanna and the other engineers ASAP to discuss the modifications." The older me said. "Very well, but first you need some rest and I need to talk to my senior staff." Said the captain. "Of course." Said Admiral Janeway. I led them out of sickbay and showed the admiral to her guest quarters before walking with the older version of me to another set of quarters. We both entered. "It seems strange to be staying in here and not in the quarters I lived in for 23 years." He said to me. "I guess so." I said. "Look at you, if I remember right you must have about a week to go and you just spoke with mum and dad." He said to me. "That's right." I said feeling a little uneasy. "I can tell you have questions for me, like are me and Tom still together? Do we have any more children? What do I do at Starfleet that makes me an admiral? Am I right?" he asked me. "Yes." I said. "The let me answer some of your questions. Sit, I remember what it was like the first time." He said. I sat on the couch. "Firstly don't tell the captain I told you any of this, she doesn't want anyone breaking the temporal prime directive okay." He said. I nodded. "Okay, well Yes Tom and I are still together, we have been married now for 26 years, we have three children. The first being Matthew who you are now carrying, we then had another son James a few years later and we had our last child which was a daughter, Hannah, 17 years ago." He said. "Wow, three kids. What do they do?" I asked. "Well Matthew is a lieutenant and the chief tactical and security officer aboard the enterprise, and James is in his last year of the academy. Hannah is in her last year of high school and she graduates next year from my point of view." He said. "Wow, and your... I mean I'm... whatever we're an Admiral?" I said. "Yes, I'm the director of Starfleet intelligence. Tom works as a captain for internal affairs." He told me. "Walker to Carter." Said tom over the comm. "Go ahead." I said. "Where are you? Dinner is waiting." He said. I checked the time, it was late. "I'm on my way." I said. I stood and was about to leave, "Would you like to join us?" I asked. "If you want me too." He said. "I would, I think Tom would be interested in meeting you." I said. "I think I remember the way to your quarters." He said and we stood and walked out back to my quarters.

Lieutenant Carter's Personal Log Stardate54973.4 we've begun outfitting Voyager with Admiral's Janeway and Carter's upgrades. As soon as the major modifications are complete, we'll reverse course and head back to the nebula. I must admit, I've had some strange experiences in my short career, but nothing quite compares with the sight of my future self briefing the senior staff on technology that hasn't been invented yet and hearing everyone call him Admiral is even stranger. He and Tom have got along like a house on fire. The thing is I'm not sure if Tom can really see the difference. From his point of view we are both Jack Carter, but he's a Jack Carter from another time and place with his own Tom Walker. I just hope Tom remembers that I'm his husband and not this future guy. End log." I said to the computer as Tom emerged from the bath room with a towel around his waist. I watched him as he dried himself off and climbed into bed stark naked. He came and put his arms around me as best he could, leaving his hands on my stomach. "Oh so now you have time for me." I said. "Of course, don't tell me your jealous of me spending time with a future you." He said. "A little." I admitted. "But why?" he said kissing the back of my neck. "Because in a sense he is your husband as well." I said. "No he isn't, he has his own Tom and I have you my precious little gem." He said playing with my hair. "Not so little." I said. "4 days until he arrives." Tom said. "Apparently not, he's going to be a day late according to Admiral Carter." I said as Tom started to massage my back and shoulders as I lay on my side. He was so good with his hands. "I can't believe in the future your an admiral, I'm a captain, we have a house in San Francisco with three beautiful kids and you're the director of Starfleet intelligence. Sounds like you're going to be fun." He said. "I know it's all surreal, but remember if we get back home things will be different. I mean hey, we could end up divorced." I said. "Now why would you say that?" asked tom. "I was kidding, I hope we do live out that future." I said. "Speaking of future, you have fun today walking about the hull fitting those armour deployers on the hull." I asked. "Yeah loads of fun, getting space sick is just what I wanted." He said. "You didn't throw up in your suit did you?" I asked. "No luckily I requested to beamed back here and threw up in there." He said pointing to the bathroom. "Fun." I said. He continued to massage my back. "If we do get home, how do you think things will work?" I asked. "What do you mean?" he replied. "Well I mean we'll end up being debriefed but then what will happen?" I asked. "Well I hope Starfleet will give us some shore leave." He said. "Tom I'm serious, I know neither of us wants to admit this, but you were a member of the maquis, what happens if they drag you to prison." I said looking at him. "Then you better know a good lawyer because there is no way in hell I'm staying in prison without seeing you and our son." He said kissing me. "Yeah I do, my mum and dad..." I said before pausing. "What?" he asked. "It's likely it could be my mum's job to take you to jail." I said. "Well she wouldn't, she knows how important I am to you and the baby." He said. "Yeah your right, and if she did my dad would do everything he could to get you out, and believe me he can do a lot." I said. "Good." Said Tom. "I'm tired and we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow." I said. "Yeah we do, good night my sweet." He said before kissing me and turning out the lights. I lay awake for a while thinking about what I would do if Tom did end up going to jail. At some point in the night I must have fallen asleep though.

As I sat on the bridge at the engineering station I looked at the viewscreen as we were approaching the nebula. Stood in the centre of the bridge were the two admirals. "Jack, deploy armour." Ordered the captain. "Yes ma'am" I said. At that I worked the controls and watched as the armour deployers activated and armour plating covered the hull from bow to stern. I nodded at the captain. "Tom take us in." Ordered the captain. We slowly flew into the nebula. "We've got three Borg cubes on an intercept course." Said Harry. "Maintain course." Ordered the captain. The first cube fired several shots. Normally there would be conduits breaching and people being thrown to the deck but not this time, the ship simply rocked. "Armour integrity at 97%" said Tuvok. Captain Janeway looked at Admiral Janeway and they smiled. We flew further and the other two cubes fired along with the first cube and tried to take us out. "Tuvok." Asked the captain. "Integrity holding at 90%" he replied. "Maintain course." Ordered the captain. We then heard Borg scanning beams run over the armour and this made a loud noise on the bridge. "They're looking for ways to adapt." Said Admiral Janeway. They had obviously increased phaser yield as Tuvok's console started to beep at him. "Court armour integrity down to 50%... 40%!" he said. Admiral Carter nodded to Captain Janeway and she then gave orders. "Mr Paris, attack pattern Alpha 1, Target the lead cube and fire transphasic torpedoes." She ordered to Tuvok. He targeted and I heard him fire. The armour that protected the aft torpedo launchers split away revealing the tubes and he fired. It only took two torpedoes and the moment they hit the cube, it was destroyed. I washed in amazement. "Target the second cube." Ordered the captain. Tuvok did so but this time only firing one torpedo and that also destroyed the cube. This was so easy. The last cube fired one more shot before moving off. "Distance to the centre?" asked Chakotay. "Less than 100,000 kilometres." Said Seven. We slowly flew and the gas from the nebula parted as we flew in and saw something amazing. It was a big sphere and it was something that I had read about during my time at the academy. "What the hell is it?" asked the captain. "Mr Paris, alter course to enter the aperture at co-ordinates 346 by 42." The future Jack Carter said. "Belay that, I asked you a question what is it?" asked the captain. "The road home." Admiral Janeway said. "It's not just that." I said getting up from my console. "Jack?" asked the captain. "It's a transwarp hub. Seven?" I asked looking at her. "Correct." She said. The captain looked at her, "You once told me there were only six of them in the galaxy." She asked. "That's correct." Said seven. Janeway got up from her chair and moved to stand in front of her future self and I was in front of my future self. "You knew this was here but you didn't say anything about it. Why?" I said to him. "I'll answer all your questions once we're back in the alpha quadrant." Said the future Janeway. "Take us out of the nebula." Ordered the captain. "Captain?" asked Paris. "You heard me." She said. "I gave you an order Lieutenant proceed to aperture." The future me said. "This is not your bridge Admiral." I said to him. "He's right this is my bridge admiral and I will have removed if necessary. Take us out." Barked the captain. Everyone looked at Paris to see who's orders he would follow. "Aye Captain." He said and slowly he flew us back out of the nebula.

I found myself in astrometrics with the captain, Chakotay, Tuvok, Seven and the two future Admirals. "This hub connects with thousands of transwarp conduits with end points in all four quadrants. It allows the collective to deploy vessels anywhere in the galaxy within minutes." Said Seven. "Of all the Borg's tactical advantages, this could be the most significant." Said Tuvok. "It's no wonder the queen didn't want us in the nebula." Commented Chakotay. "So how do we destroy it?" asked the captain. I moved to the console and worked the controls. I had studied this in some detail both at the academy in the Borg classes and with seven of nine. "The structure is supported by a series of interspatial manifolds, if we could disable enough of them theoretically their hub would collapse." I said. "Come on Jack, you know this is a waste of time." Admiral Carter said. "The shielding for those manifolds is regulated from the central nexus by the queen herself. You may be able to disable one of them maybe two, but the time you moved onto the third she would adapt." He added. "There may be a way to bring them down simultaneously." Said the captain. "From where inside the hub, Voyager would be crushed like a bug." Said Admiral Janeway. "What about taking the conduit back to the alpha quadrant and then destroying the structure from the other side?" asked Chakotay. "This hub is here, there's nothing in the Alpha quadrant but exit apertures." The future me said. "While your all standing around dreaming up fantasy tactical scenarios, the queen is studying her scans of our armour and weapons. And she's probably got the entire collective working on a way to counter them." Said Admiral Janeway. "So take the ship back into that nebula and go home before it's too late." Said Admiral Carter. "I think we need to talk." I said. "Agreed, find a way to destroy that hub." Said the captain to seven and the others. "Jack, your with me, let's a take a walk." The captain said to the future admirals.

We left astrometrics and walked down the corridor. "I wanna know why you didn't tell me about this." Said the captain. "Because I remember how stubborn and self-righteous you used to be, I figured you might try to do something stupid." Said future Jack. I looked and scowled at him. "We have an opportunity to deal a crippling blow to the Borg, we could save millions of lives." I said. "We didn't spend the last 10 years looking for a way to get this ship home earlier so you could throw it away on some intergalactic good will mission." Said the future Janeway. "Maybe we should go back to sickbay." I said. "Why so you could have us sedated?" asked the future jack. "So I can have the doctor reconfirm your identities." I said. "I refuse to believe that either myself or the captain will become as cynical as either of you." I said. "Jack, am I the only getting déjà vu here?" asked the future me. "What do you mean?" I asked. We all stopped in the corridor junction. "Seven years ago, you stood on the bridge as I ordered Tuvok to destroy the array. You said nothing because I told you not too, you can't make the same mistake again." The future Janeway told me. "She did what she thought was right and I agreed." I said. "I chose to put the lives of strangers ahead of the lives of my own crew, I won't let anyone make that mistake again." Said the future Janeway. Captain Janeway looked shocked at this. "You got Voyager home, which means I will too if it takes a few more years then..." was all the captain got out before the future Jack cut her off. "Seven of nine is going to die." He said. This had us all stunned. "Jack." Said the future Janeway. "Sorry, but in this case I'm exercising my right as the director of Starfleet intelligence." He said. "What do you mean she will die?" I asked. "3 years from now, she will be injured on an away mission. She'll make it back to Voyager and die in the arms of her husband." Said the future Janeway. "Husband?" asked the captain. "Chakotay." Admiral Janeway and I said in unison. This had the captain even more shocked and she moved away. "Seven isn't the only one, between this day and the day I got Voyager home I lost 22 crewmembers. Then of course there's Tuvok." Said Admiral Janeway. "What about him." Asked the captain. "You're forgetting the temporal prime directive." Said the future Janeway. "To hell with it." I said. The captain nodded. "Fine, Tuvok has a degenerative neurological condition that he hasn't told you about, there's a cure in the alpha quadrant for him, but if he doesn't get it in time... and then of course there is you Jack." Said the future Janeway. "Kathryn don't" said future Jack. "What about me?" I asked. "I have to tell him Jack." Said the future Janeway. "What about me?!" I barked again. "Jack didn't tell you the whole truth, you had 4 children not three. The 4th child was born exactly 10 months from today. But when he was 2 years old he was kidnapped and..." said future Janeway turning to future Jack who had now turned and faced the wall resting his head against it. "And what?" I asked. "And he was killed in a phaser fight." Said future Jack. This had me stunned. "Chakotay never recovered from Seven's death and neither did either of you. Jack, you and Tom never completely recovered from losing your child. Tom especially. He almost killed himself because he was the one looking after your son at the time and he found the pain unbearable, if it hadn't been for me and you stopping him then..." said the future Janeway. "For a long time you didn't even want any other children, but you did. And they grew up in the Delta Quadrant thanks to me." Said future Janeway. "If I know what's going to happen I can avoid it." Said the captain. "It won't work, even if you alter Voyager's route, limit your contact with alien species you're going to lose people, but I'm offering you a chance to get them all home safe and sound, Today are you really going to walk away from that?" said future Janeway.

After what the admiral told us, Tom, myself and the future Jack had talked and consoled each other. I then got asked to join the senior staff in a meeting about destroying the hub and that is where I found myself. "Once inside we fire a spread of transphasic torpedoes." Said Tuvok as we all watched a tactical simulation. "They would be programmed to detonate simultaneously." Said seven. "If the torpedoes penetrate the shielding, the conduits should begin to collapse. A cascade reaction. In order to avoid the shockwave we'd have less than 10 seconds to exit the hub." Tuvok told us. I was stood next to the captain holding a cup of coffee in my hand. The simulation ended and Janeway spoke up and moved to in front of everyone. "A long time ago, I made a decision that stranded this crew in the delta quadrant. I don't regret that decision. But I didn't know all of you then, and Voyager was just a starship. It's much more than that now. It's become our home." Said the captain pausing and looking at everyone before continuing. "I know I could order you to carry out this plan and none of you would hesitate for a second. But I'm not going to do that, you know the crewman who work under you, and you know what your own hearts are telling you. So we're not going to attempt this unless everyone in this room agrees, no one will think less of you if you don't" said the captain and everyone turned to Harry when she made that last comment. "Captain." Said Harry. "Go ahead Ensign." She said. "I think it's safe to say, that no one on this crew has been more obsessed with getting home than I have. But when I think about everything we've been through together, maybe it's not the destination that matters. Maybe it's the journey. And if that journey takes a little while longer so we can do something we all believe in, I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with." Harry told us while moving around the room. "To the journey." Said Paris raising his cup. "Here here." Said Chakotay. "To the journey." Everyone said tapping cups together.

Later that evening I found myself in the mess hall with the captain as I couldn't sleep. We did this often meet up for coffee late at night when the ship was quiet. We were talking and saw the two future admirals walk in. "2 coffee's both black." Said future Janeway. She took the mugs and handed one to Jack. "I thought you gave it up?" I asked. "Well we decided to revive a few of our old habits." Said future Jack looking at me. "Well what else beside the coffee?" I asked. "Oh hell, we both used to be much more idealistic. We both took a lot of risks. Did you know that Jack was tactical officer after Tuvok?" asked future Janeway. "No." Said the captain. "I've been so determined to get this crew home for so many years, that I think I forgot how much they loved being together. And how loyal they were to you." Said future Janeway to the captain. "It's taken us both a few day to realise it, this is your ship, your crew. Not ours. We were wrong to lie to both of you. To think we could talk you out of something you set your mind too." Said future Jack. "You were only trying to do what you thought was best for all of us." Said the captain. "Well you changed our minds about that, and we would like to help you carry out your plan. Maybe together we can increase our odds." Said future Janeway. "Maybe we can do more than that. There's got to be a way that we can have our cake and eat it too." I said. "We can't get Voyager home and destroy the hub." Future jack said. "Are you absolutely sure of that?" asked the captain. "There may be a way. We thought about it once, but it seemed to risky." Said future Janeway. "That was before you decided to revive your old habits." I said. Jack took and swig of his coffee. "Kath, why did we ever give this up?" he said looking at the admiral. She smelt the coffee. "I don't know." She said and away the four of us went into planning.

"You're sure you both want do this." I said. The captain and I were stood in the shuttle that both the admirals had come to visit us in. We were about to set the plan in motion. The captain and I were carrying a hypospray each. "No, but Voyager isn't big enough for all of us." Said future Janeway. I smiled and injected future Jack while the captain injected her future self. "Jack before you go today is the day. And just remember breath." Said future jack. I smiled and the captain and I both left. The shuttle was launched and the captain and I returned to the bridge. I worked for a few hours on the bridge, before we were finally ready to leave. The only thing missing was a driver. "Bridge to lieutenant Paris, we're ready to get underway." Said the captain. "Captain I'm afraid..." was all tom said before we heard B'Elanna say something to him in the background. "Is there a problem Mr Paris?" asked the captain. "On my way captain." He said. Moments later he arrived on the bridge. "B'Elanna is in labour." He said. "If you want to go, then please.." said the captain. "No I'd only be in the way and besides you need me here." He said. "I guess I lost the bet, of who will go first." I said out loud. "Don't be so sure, Klingons can be in labour for several days." Said Chakotay. "Days?" I said. "Yeah" said the captain. "As long as I'm not." I said. They all smiled and we got on with it. "Tom, set a course heading 112 mark 5. Full impulse." Said the captain. "Aye captain." He said. "Jack, deploy armour" she said to me. I did so and watched the armour deploy again. "Tuvok, load torpedoes and stand by to fire on my order." She said. "All decks report ready." Said Chakotay. "Tom take us back to the nebula." Said the captain and he slowly flew back to the nebula.

A few minutes later and we were back in the nebula heading for the conduit. We could see it on the viewscreen. It was so big. "Take us in." Ordered the captain. "Aye captain." Said pairs. He flew us in and we were hurtled at high speeds in the corridor. We went down this long stretch of the transwarp corridor that would take us to earth. "We're passed the main point." Said Harry. "The admirals have succeeded captain, the conduits shielding is destabilising." Said seven. "Now Mr Tuvok." Said the captain and Tuvok released a full spread of transphasic torpedoes are the manifold. I then thought back to Admiral's Carter and Janeway. The captain and I had given them both an injection of a pathogen which would destroy the Borg once they were assimilated. They along with the Borg would die very quickly. It had worked as the queen had obviously been beaten at her own game. I turned back to the viewscreen as the torpedoes hit the manifold and a huge shockwave grew along the corridor away from us. It had worked, we were on our way home. "We've got a sphere on approach." Said Harry. The sphere came up behind the ship and fired multiple weapon shots at us. This wasn't part of the plan. The queen's control of the collective should have been interrupted. And because the two admirals had been assimilated, the collective would know everything they needed to about penetrating the armour. They continued to fire at us, and we took damage. "Aft armour is down to 6%" said Tuvok. "Hull breaches on decks 6 through 12" said Harry. We took another hit. "I can't stay ahead of them captain." Said Paris. "The armour is failing." Said Tuvok. "Where's the nearest aperture?" asked Chakotay. "Approximately 30 seconds ahead, but it leads back to the delta quadrant." Said Seven. "Mr Paris, prepare to adjust your heading." Said the captain. Oh Kathryn, don't take us back. I thought to myself. But she didn't give that order instead she ordered Paris to fly us inside the sphere and hold position there. Sensors registered the sphere had left the conduit. Let's hope the last phase of the plan had worked. "Mr Paris what's our position?" asked the captain. "Right where we expected to be." He said. "The transwarp network has been destroyed." Said Seven. "We'll celebrate later, Mr Tuvok." Ordered the captain. At that Tuvok fired another torpedo destroying the sphere from the inside out. The sphere exploded all around the ship and took some hits as debris flew apart but eventually the sphere was destroyed and we flew out of the debris towards a federation fleet. "We did it." Said the captain looking at the viewscreen. I stood up and moved over to her. "Yes we did." I said putting my hand on her shoulder. "We're being hailed." Said Harry. "On screen." Said Janeway. The viewscreen came alive and there was Admiral Paris, Reg Barclay and I could see my mum in the background as well. Of course with the Borg sphere coming in, she would have been called upon. "Sorry to surprise you, next time we'll call ahead." Said the captain. "Welcome back." Said Admiral Paris. "It's good to be here." Said the captain. "How did you..." Admiral Paris asked before the captain cut him off. "It'll all be in my report sir." She said. "I look forward to it." Admiral Paris said. Janeway and I dropped our heads. "Thanks for your help Admiral Janeway and Admiral Carter." We said to ourselves before the comm. Broke the silence. "Sickbay to bridge." Said the doctor as we heard a baby moan over the comm. "Doctor to Lieutenant Paris, there's someone here who'd like to say hello." Said the doctor. I smiled at him. "You'd better get down there Tom." Said the captain. "Yes ma'am." He said before leaving the bridge. The captain turned away and looked at Harry. I was about to move when I felt this trickling down my leg and I saw a pool of water beneath my feet. "Jack would you like to take the helm?" asked the captain. "I'd love to, but I'm going into labour" I said. Then a felt a contraction and it hurt a lot. I screamed out in pain. "Oh god, Chakotay take the helm, Harry transport me and Jack to sickbay and notify ensign walker." Order the captain.

The next thing I knew I was appearing in sickbay as Tom Paris walked in. "He's gone into labour." Said the captain. The captain and Paris helped me up on to the bed as the doctor came over and scanned me. He told Paris to rip off my uniform ASAP, the baby was very close to coming. I couldn't help but scream. The pain was so unbearable I felt like I was going to die. Tom came running into sickbay but the captain pulled him aside. "Captain, get me another incubator now." Shouted the doctor. The captain ran off and brought back another incubator. Paris had ripped off all my clothes including my underwear and dressed me and in a surgical gown which was open at the bottom. The doctor injected me and the pain subsided a little. "Alright, Jack you're going to have a to push a little first, so that we can get a good transporter lock on the baby. Captain it would be helpful if I could have Luke Forster here." Said the doctor. I heard the captain contacting Luke as the doctor said "Push Jack, just once and we get him out of you. One big push." He said. I got up and rested on my elbows and pushed once letting a huge scream as I did. I heard the door open and in run Luke. The captain moved aside as Luke worked away on the controls. "Ready Luke?" asked the doctor. "I have a lock." He said. "Do it." Said the doctor. "Initiating umbilical separation, energising." Said Luke and the baby appeared in the incubator and I felt like a load had been taken off me. I collapsed back onto the bed as Tom came over and held my hand. "Congratulation Tom, Jack. It's a boy." Said the doctor. "Is he alright?" I asked. The doctor scanned him and looked up smiling. "He's one 100% healthy. The transport worked." He said. Paris wrapped the baby up in a blanket and handed him to Tom. The captain came over and smiled and said "Congratulations Jack. And you as well B'Elanna." I smiled. "Well done B!" I shouted. "You too Jack." She said from her bed in the surgical bay. I saw Tom fussing over the baby. "May I?" I said to him. "Sure." He said. The captain and Paris got me sat up with plenty of pillows behind me and Tom placed the baby in my arms. "Hello little guy." I said. He cooed and stop stroked his cheek and the baby grabbed his index finger with all his hand. "Do we have names?" asked the captain. B'Elanna had come over and moved to the bed next to me and we sat together looking at each other. "We do." Said B'Elanna. "We do too." I said. "Well this little girl is Miral Paris everyone" said Paris. Tom and I smiled "And this little boy is Matthew Charles Carter." Said Tom. "Both beautiful names, well done guys I'm so proud of you. Well your all off duty from now on. Get some rest." Said the captain. Together Tom and I sat and looked at our little baby boy. Matthew. He was so perfect in every way. And he was all ours.

Please send comments and suggestions and feedback guys, i hope you enjoyed this chapter. More too come soon.