Chapter Text
Captain Kathryn Janeway sat in her Ready Room aboard the starship Voyager, one hand tapping absently atop her desk while she reviewed the personnel reports contained on the Padd in her left hand. She was finding it difficult to concentrate on B'elanna's Engineering requests – they were already en route to a dilithium-rich planet just a few days away that would allow them to restock on supplies and do a bit of maintenance to her faithful ship's overtaxed systems. Kathryn knew she should feel grateful they were in a quiet sector of the often unforgiving Delta Quadrant. The planet they were headed to was uninhabited which meant an opportunity for shore leave as well as repairs. There would be no need for her Starfleet diplomacy, no trading, no First Contact...no chance of pissing off yet another hostile alien species that might decide to use Voyager as target practice. Kathryn should be relieved...instead she just felt restless.
She checked the chronometer for what felt like the millionth time in the last hour and sighed. Two more hours until the end of her duty shift and then she could head to the holodeck to work out some of her energy with a game of Velocity with Seven. Seven of Nine had once been a member of the Borg Collective but in the last three years since she'd been severed from the Borg Kathryn had come to consider her one of her closest friends. She'd been the one to rescue Seven from the Borg and at first the blonde had been angry, combative, dangerous...but slowly she had come to reclaim some of the humanity that had been stolen from her when she was just 6 years old. She was no longer angry and as far as combative she tended to keep that to Velocity games on the holodeck. A part of her was still Borg, but there were times when Kathryn forgot about that. After all even with her 'enhanced strength' and 'superior visual acuity' Seven had never once managed to beat her at a game of Velocity. Kathryn smiled to herself and glanced at the chronometer again. She was rising from her chair to replicate a fresh cup of coffee when she felt the ship shudder around her as Voyager dropped out of warp.
She was through the doors and on the bridge before the shuddering had even stopped. The command “Report” died on her lips as she saw the flashing horseshoe symbol on every screen of every console. The Omega Directive.
“Not again!” Tom Paris groaned from his position at the helm.
Privately Kathryn agreed with his sentiment as she sank into her chair. Although a part of her had been hoping to 'shake things up a bit', the Omega Directive wasn't what she had in mind. A dangerous particle that was woefully unstable and could destroy the ability to create warp fields. Not something she wanted to fool around with if she had the choice...but she didn't have a choice. Starfleet created the Omega Directive that obligated her to locate and destroy any of the molecules they came across. They'd done it once before and she would do it again.
She barely had time to input her command codes and clear the symbol from the screens before her combadge chirped.
“Seven of Nine to Captain Janeway,” came Seven's voice over the com. Her normally stoic voice was tinged with excitement and Kathryn couldn't help but grimace. The two had butted heads over Omega the last time – Seven hadn't wanted to destroy the molecule which, to the Borg, represented Perfection. She'd been convinced she could stabilize it and had almost gone against the captain's direct orders to do so...almost. In the end she had done as asked. And then Omega had randomly stabilized at the last moment – she could still remember the look on Seven's delicate features as she gazed at the molecules. It made her feel warm inside.
“Janeway here,” she said, tapping her combadge.
“Report to Astrometrics,” Seven said then, after a split second, added. “Please, Captain.”
“On my way,” she replied, biting back a sigh as she stood up. She really wasn't in the mood to argue with Seven. She'd been looking forward to a game of Velocity. Damn Omega, she thought bitterly.
“Good luck,” said her First Officer Chakotay, his face a mixture of amusement and sympathy.
“You have the Bridge, Commander,” she said, nodding to him as she headed for the turbolift.
“So should I start calling you Two of Ten again Harry?” Tom asked his friend, shooting a teasing grin across the bridge.
“Shut up, Tom,” the Ensign scowled in response. “I'll-”
But the rest of his sentence was cut off as the doors closed on Janeway. “Astrometrics,” she said with a sigh and as the lift began to move she leaned against the wall, lost in thought. How many molecules would there be this time? How far away were they? What species was messing around with something so dangerous? Would it take an all out war to follow Starfleet's directive and destroy the molecules? How many lives would be lost over it?
She straightened up as the turbolift stopped and she sighed again, bracing herself for the battle she knew was waiting for her in Astrometrics.