Caretaker (25 page)

What have I gotten us into?

Chakotay waited at the first officer’s station, wearing his new Starfleet uniform as though he’d never taken it off. At engineering, Torres only looked a little uncomfortable in her corresponding gold-and-black, but Janeway still thought it best to encourage crew unity in every way possible, especially at the beginning. If that meant squeezing Maquis into uniforms they didn’t wear easily, then it was just one of many adjustments they were all going to have to make.

She stepped down to her command chair, and tried to touch each expectant look with a reassuring nod. On the viewscreen, Kes’s homeworld drifted lazily, an unchanging marble of dusty amber.

“We’re alone in an uncharted part of the galaxy.” It seemed best to start with the things they all knew—the obvious things that were already half-digested. “We’ve already made some friends here,” she went on, nodding toward Kes and Neelix near the turbolifts, “and some enemies.” The destruction still plaguing most levels of the ship spoke eloquently enough about that. “We have no idea of the dangers we’re going to face. But one thing is clear—both crews are going to have to work together if we’re to survive. That’s why Commander Chakotay and I have agreed that this should be one crew. A Starfleet crew.”

She saw Torres tug at the front of her uniform in evident distaste, but pretended not to notice. There would be time to iron out all the crew’s behavioral wrinkles later.

“And as the only Starfleet vessel `assigned’ to the Delta Quadrant, we’ll continue to follow our directive to seek out new worlds and explore space.”

She moved toward the front of the bridge, so she could face them all without turning. Did she have any real reason to hope that this disparate bunch could ever bond and become a real working unit? And what could she do about it if they didn’t? Their future together was likely to be longer than any of them wanted.

Janeway shook such thoughts away for the time being and focused instead on their more immediate situation. “Our primary goal is clear. Even at maximum speeds, it would take seventy-five years to reach the federation.” She shook her head at their looks of dismay. “I’m not willing to settle for that. There’s another entity like the Caretaker out there somewhere who has the ability to get us there a lot faster.

We’ll be looking for her. And we’ll be looking for wormholes, spatial rifts, or new technologies to help us. Somewhere along this journey,” she promised with everything that was in her, “we’ll find a way back.”

Turning, she rested her hands on the back of Paris’s chair, and looked beyond his head at the eternal possibilities waiting for them behind every planet, every star. “Mr. Paris, set a course …” She tried to say it with enough conviction and faith for all of them. “… for home.”

It was likely to be a very long trip. But if heart and hope and bravery could lead them, she knew they would make it. All they would need was time.