It was 0830 hours, and Meredith sat somewhat uncomfortably in the Captain's chair. She was astounded at how much Kathryn had come to mean to her in such a short period of time. In fact, Kathryn reminded her a lot of her sister, Devon. Maybe there was a little transference going on, but as long as it was beneficial all around then perhaps it was a good thing.

"Commander," Harry spoke up, "I'm picking up a ship on long range sensors."

"Can you identify it?" Meredith responded automatically. Dammit, she thought, this is Delta Quadrant, Meredith. Most of the ships here are unidentified.

"No, sir."

"I prefer Ma'am, if you don't mind, Ensign. What's the ship's heading?"

"It's on an intercept course."

"Time to intercept?"

"Two minutes," Harry replied.

"As soon as they're in range, scan for weapons status then hail them. Do you still have a lock on the Away Teams?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Tuvok, raise shields and ready phasers and photons but don't fire until I give the signal. I'd rather make a friend than an enemy."

"Powering up phaser banks and photon systems," responded Tuvok.

"Bridge to Engineering," Meredith said looking toward the console beside her.

"Torres here," came the disembodied reply.

"What's our engine status, Lieutenant?"

"Engines are fully operational and running at maximum efficiency, Commander."

"Good," Meredith said. "We have an unidentified ship approaching on an intercept course. Be ready for anything."

"Understood," B'Elanna answered.

"Ensign Kim, can you scan the ship yet?"

"Scanning now, Commander. Their weapons are powered up and they're just within hailing range. Hailing on all frequencies."

"Any response?"

"No response, Commander. They're in visual range,"

"On screen," Meredith ordered.

The ship that appeared on the view screen looked like a huge pollen particle, spherical with spikes protruding all around. If those spikes were weapons, Meredith decided, then she definitely wanted these people as friends rather than enemies. It was time to dust off the old First Contact manual and use some diplomacy.

Just as that thought occurred to her, a weapon blast hit the ship. Meredith nearly lost her footing, but regained her balance at the last moment.

"Helm, evasive maneuver Wilson Beta three," she said, "Tuvok, what's our shield status?"

"Shields are at 80%. They are firing on the planet, Commander."

"Helm, get us between that ship and the planet. Tuvok, raise inertial dampers 25%."

"Commander, that position will take us into the planet's stratosphere," Tom informed her.

"I know that, Leiutenant, I want --"

Another blast hit the ship.

"Report!"

"Shields at 40%," Tuvok stated.

"With all due respect, Commander," Harry said, "shouldn't we be firing back?"

"You do your job, Ensign, and I'll do mine. Lt. Paris, I want you to get close enough to transport the Away Teams, but don't fly directly over them. Tuvok, drop shields on my orders. Ensign Kim, be ready to transport one nanosecond after those shields go down. Lt. Paris, report."

"We're just entering the atmosphere."

"Attention all decks," Meredith began, "we're entering the planet's atmosphere. Brace for turbulance."

The ship began to tremble slightly, then the trembling grew to a bone-rattling shake. My first day on the job, she thought, and I'm going to get fired. After a few seconds, the shaking lessened. They were in the atmosphere.

"Commander, we're nearing Away Team One's position," Tom reported.

"We're in transport range," added Harry.

"Tuvok, drop shields. Ensign, initiate transport," ordered Meredith. She waited for what seemed like forever before Harry stated, "We have them."

"Shields up. Helm, execute evasive maneuver Wilson Alpha Four."

Tom complied with the order, but was unprepared for the g-forces they encountered as Voyager climbed straight up, then, reaching the apex of the loop on its back, dived toward the planet surface and leveled out. The loop caused the alien ship to miss three shots at Voyager, and caused everyone on Voyager to end up flat on their backsides.

Kathryn and Chakotay saw energy blasts come from what looked to be a clear blue sky. Just as Kathryn was about to tap her communicator she saw Voyager. The ship gracefully avoided fire by performing a barrel roll. She and Chakotay looked at one another, speechless. Then Kathryn turned back toward Voyager and saw it headed toward them.

"Tell me she didn't just roll my starship," she said.

"If she didn't," Chakotay responded, "then we're both hallucinating."

Kathryn reached to tap her communicator again, but felt the familiar sensation of the transporter flood through her. She better have an explanation, she thought as she dematerialized, and it better be damned good.

Kathryn and Chakotay materialized in Transporter Room One and practically ran to the Bridge. As they exited the turbolift, they saw Lt. Commander Wilson speaking to an alien being on the viewscreen, presumably the captain of whatever ship had been firing at Voyager.

"Why didn't you fire on us?" the alien demanded.

"Our intent is not hostile, Leader," Meredith replied. "As I stated earlier, we simply wanted to gather plants for food. Please accept my humblest apologies for trespassing on your planet, and rest assured, it will not happen again."

Kathryn was intrigued by the way Meredith was handling this encounter. So intrigued, in fact, that she almost forgot her anger. Almost. She decided to stand back and let Meredith handle the situation. She put a hand on Chakotay's arm, signaling him to stay back with her.

"Perhaps we might offer something in return for what we've taken, Leader," Meredith continued. "If you need medical assistance, we have the best physician in the quadrant."

The Leader conferred with another alien, apparently his second in command, for a moment before turning again to address Meredith.

"We accept your offer," he said. "We have a sickness on our ship which has killed two of my crew, but we have no physician. How soon can you send yours?"

"If you'll send a list of symptoms, I'll confer with him immediately. With your permission, we should be on your ship shortly."

"Granted. I will send the information and await your arrival."

With that, the image disappeared from the viewscreen. Meredith turned to see Kathryn standing at the turbolift, hands on her hips and eyes shooting imaginary sparks directly at her.

"Commander Wilson," Kathryn ordered as she strode toward the Ready Room, "come with me."

Meredith did as she was ordered. She knew full well what she'd do in Kathryn's place and she didn't look forward to it. After they were inside the room, Kathryn whirled around to face Meredith.

"Commander, I have a choice here," Kathryn said firmly. "I can lose my temper now and get it off my chest, or I can listen to your explanation first. Fortunately for you, I choose the latter. Explain."

"We picked up the ship on long range sensor," Meredith began. "It was coming in fast, weapons charged. I gave the order to raise shields and ready phasers, but not to fire except on my orders. I checked to see that Ensign Kim still had a lock on the Away Teams, then made sure Lt. Torres had the engines ready for immediate departure. The alien ship was hailed on all frequencies but didn't respond. They fired on us, and judging from the appearance of the ship, those spikes were most likely weapons. I knew we were out-gunned, and after they fired on the planet I knew I couldn't leave the Away Teams there. That's when I ordered Lt. Paris to take us into the planet's atmosphere to get us between the surface and the alien ship. I ordered a loop and a barrel roll to keep the alien ship busy trying to target us so hopefully they'd ignore the Away Teams. As we flew by the position of each team, we briefly dropped shields and transported everyone back as quickly as possible. Just as we transported you and Commander Chakotay, the alien vessel finally answered our hail. The ship's captain, or Leader, informed me that we were trespassing on their planet. I apologized and told him we were new to this sector and had no idea the planet was theirs. He made a reference to Voyager's agility, then asked why we didn't fire on them. I believe that's when you arrived."

"You could have performed that little maneuver in space, Commander."

"We were in a low orbit, Captain. The alien vessel assumed an equally low orbit. In order to get between it and the surface, we had to enter the atmosphere. As I said, I knew we were out-gunned, so our only chance to get the teams back and get out alive was to use Voyager's superior agility to our advantage. I raised inertial dampers by 25% to counter potential g-forces, then executed the maneuvers."

"And how did you know Voyager had superior agility? Their ship could have been just as maneuverable."

Meredith hesitated. When Harry scanned the ship, she'd gotten a familiar feeling inside. She could feel the Leader's doubts as well as his anger. She'd felt his decision to strike quickly, then his surprise when he'd been out-maneuvered. Finally, just before he answered the hail, she felt his decision to back off and try a verbal warning rather than chasing this slippery little foe around the sector. She knew then that if she could get him on the viewscreen she could talk her way out of this. The Betazoid legacy left to her by her grandfather had come in handy more than once in her career, but because it wasn't in her Starfleet file, no one here knew about it. If they found out, they'd expect her to read the intentions of all their contacts and she just couldn't do it. Her empathic senses were weak at best, and untrained. She couldn't control them.

"Call it a hunch," she said quietly.

Kathryn could tell she was lying through her teeth but couldn't figure out why. She was obviously hiding something, and Voyager was no place to try and keep a secret.

"If you want to get out of here in one piece," she told Meredith, "you'll have to do better than that. Out with it, Meredith."

"It's a long story, Captain. Considering the fact that I have to consult with the Doctor and be on the Leader's ship soon, perhaps this could wait until later."

Kathryn saw that Meredith wasn't ready to divulge her secret, and besides, she was right about her other committment.

"Fine. But I expect a full report on this incident. And I also expect a very good story. You're dismissed."

Meredith turned and left the Ready Room. As she walked across the Bridge, all eyes were on her. It's like Starfleet Headquarters all over again, she thought to herself. Only this time, they've got nowhere to kick me out to.

Chakotay watched Meredith walk to the turbolift and tried to guage her mood, but couldn't. Well, he thought, I guess anyone who graduates from Command School with honors and marries a Vulcan must have pretty good emotional control. Still, not being able to read someone's eyes made him a little uneasy.

"Commander," Tom said to him, "can I speak with you a minute?"

"What is it, Paris?"

"I know the Captain's pretty angry right now, and I can't blame her, really, but if she'd seen the way Commander Wilson handled this thing I think she'd feel differently."

"Oh, really? How so?" Chakotay asked.

"She was right on top of everything," Tom replied. "The minute we picked that ship up on sensors, she went into motion. She knew exactly what to do and how to get it done. In all fairness, Sir, I think you should take a look at the Bridge log before you talk to the Captain. You'll see what I mean."

"All right, Paris. I'll take a look, but don't expect me to jump to her defense. Those aerobatic moves were out of line."

"But," Tom grinned, "you have to admit, they were pretty spectacular."

Chakotay just looked at him for a moment, then shook his head. He went to his chair and turned the console screen toward him then punched in his code and loaded the Bridge log, the visual and audio record of Bridge operations. As he watched, he saw a maverick Starfleet Captain in action. Paris was right. She knew precisely what she was doing every step of the way and was comfortable doing it. Granted, the aerobatic stunts seemed unnecessary, but had she simply flown in a straight line or moved from side to side, the alien ship would more than likely have been able to target Voyager for at least one good hit. With shields at only 40%, the ship couldn't have afforded that. Her actions may have been a little flashy but, all things considered, they were appropriate. Kathryn definitely needed to see this.