Chapter Text
“Captain Janeway.” Admiral William Ross stood as she entered his office. “It’s a pleasure to give you your inaugural mission on Voyager.”
The energetic, young captain grinned as she took the padd the admiral handed her from his side of the desk.
“The pleasure is mine, Admiral.”
Kathryn Janeway could feel Admiral Ross watching her skim the information. Everything seemed to be in order. She looked up from the padd.
“As you know,” the admiral sat and motioned for Kathryn to do the same, “we have reason to believe the Maquis ship where Lieutenant Tuvok was conducting surveillance has been disabled somewhere in the Badlands. Your official mission, as detailed on your orders, is to retrieve Mr. Tuvok.”
Kathryn sat stiffly, not quite at attention but not quite at ease. The mission outline tracked the admiral’s verbal summary.
But something was off.
“My ‘official mission,’ sir?”
Admiral Ross leaned back in his chair and dictated a series of letters and numbers for Kathryn to enter into the padd. She did as the admiral instructed — and a different mission, outlined in black, appeared on the screen. Scrolling, Kathryn saw images, data, reports.
“What you’re looking at is every piece of information we have about members of the Maquis crew, as well as their ship and its capabilities,” Admiral Ross explained. “Voyager should be able to knock out the Val Jean’s weapons fairly easily and that might seem like the simpler option, but psychological warfare may be faster. Try to invite the Maquis captain onto your ship without engaging the rest of his crew or damaging his vessel.”
This was not standard procedure.
“Sir,” she held up the padd, “where did this information come from? Tuvok hasn’t reported in since he went undercover.”
Admiral Ross stood, so Kathryn scrambled to her feet.
“That’s not your concern, Captain.” The admiral’s fingertips formed hard triangles on his desk and his voice became dangerously low. “Does this mission need to be reassigned?”
“No, sir.”
Kathryn flexed her neck just enough to feel the weight of the fourth pip on her collar. She was used to Admiral Paris, who invited questions and challenges, and Admiral Patterson, who brought a teasing twinkle to his work. Surely she could work with this serious, guarded admiral, too.
“Good.” Admiral Ross stood up straight. “And in case it’s not perfectly clear, your official mission to retrieve Tuvok is secondary to your unofficial mission: remove the Maquis captain from his ship. Diplomacy first, but, if your back is against the wall, do what you have to do.”
Despite her desire to impress Admiral Ross, Kathryn couldn’t help but tilt her head, questioning his meaning.
The admiral spoke in clipped tones, his face hard.
“Consider yourself cleared to sacrifice anything and anyone, conscript any personnel, and engage any resource to be able to bring the Maquis captain back alive. And in case it’s not abundantly clear from your mission outline, Captain, you are hereby ordered to keep this confidential.”
“Yes, sir.” Kathryn gave Admiral Ross a crisp nod.
She had taken part in confidential work before, but never directed it. Kathryn realized this mission was her chance to show Admiral Ross — and everyone else at headquarters — what she could do. Kathryn could feel it in her bones: she’d get the Maquis captain and Tuvok back to Starfleet in record time. No problem.
***
Seventy thousand light years away, deep in the Caretaker’s array, a needle pierced “Chakotay’s” stomach and he screamed.