Kathryn and Chakotay had just finished viewing the Bridge log in the Ready Room. Kathryn was impressed, but she was also in a bit of a bind.

"Never, in all my years in Starfleet," she said, "have I seen a starship perform maneuvers like that in a planetary atmosphere. Honestly, Chakotay, it boggles the mind. My problem now is what to do about it. If I let her get away with this, the crewmen who've been here from the beginning will think I'm getting soft in my old age. They might even be inspired to pull a few stunts of their own. But if I punish her, the Gulf Breeze crew will almost certainly have something to say about it and I can't afford to cause any ill will at this stage of our relationship with them."

"She didn't do anything technically wrong, Kathryn," Chakotay said. "Granted, she could have chosen some less spectacular moves, but she got the job done and may have made us a new friend in the bargain. I believe our crew would accept that without thinking that their Captain is getting soft with age."

"Maybe you're right. Maybe I am underestimating them. What I need to do now is talk to Meredith. I get the feeling she's hiding something, and whatever it is had a great deal to do with how she handled this encounter."

"Any idea of what it might be?"

"None. I reread her service record and her bio. There were no official reprimands, but she always had the knack of coming up with unique tactics in battle."

"That could work to our advantage someday," Chakotay said.

Kathryn smiled. "Oh, it probably will," she said. "I just don't care for being made to look like a stodgy, boring old Captain."

"You? Never!" Chakotay returned the smile.

"Get back to work," Kathryn laughed. "I'm going to have a little discussion with my Second Officer."

Chakotay watched her leave. Stubborn, he thought, but never boring.

Meredith was waiting in Sickbay for the Doctor to send back data on the suspected virus when Kathryn walked in. She felt extremely uneasy but there was no getting around this. Just as she had in the past, she must take full responsibility for her actions.

"Captain," she said as she turned to face Kathryn. "I was just waiting for word from the Doctor."

"You can do that in his office," Kathryn replied. "We need to talk."

Kathryn wanted to get out of earshot of Kes and anyone else who might enter Sickbay. Obviously Meredith didn't want anyone to know this secret of hers, so perhaps she might be willing to open up in a more private place. Meredith sat on the edge of the Doctor's desk, and Kathryn took a seat beside her.

"Now," Kathryn began, "I believe you were going to explain that little hunch of yours."

Meredith took a deep breath. "My grandfather was Betazoid," she said simply. "I inherited some weak empathic abilities from him, but they're unpredictable and untrained. I just happened to sense what the Leader was feeling and acted on it. I didn't fire on his ship because I felt he was only protecting his territory. I felt his doubts about his ship's capabilities and that lead me to believe Voyager had the edge in maneuverability. What I did in the atmosphere was wrong, Captain, and I'm sorry. I'll accept whatever punishment I have coming."

"Well, let's see, you saved my crew, and the Away Teams, one of which just happened to include me, and you made us a new friend, something we desperately need here. No, Meredith, I was the one who was wrong. I jumped to conclusions and got angry at you without knowing all the facts. While I do believe you could have chosen some less acrobatic evasive maneuvers, what you did was essentially right. I won't punish you for that."

Meredith's face showed her surprise.

"I am curious about one thing, though," Kathryn continued. "Why didn't this show up in your biographical file?"

"Are you up for another one of my stories?"

"Shoot. Figuratively speaking, of course."

"Well," Meredith began, "my grandmother was a member of the Federation diplomatic corps and was stationed on Beta Zed. As it so happened, the corps consisted entirely of women. When my grandmother became pregnant, there was no doubt that the father was Betazoid but every member of the Betazoid diplomatic team was married. To avoid a scandal, she quietly left the corps, came back to Earth, gave birth to my mother and raised her alone. She never told anyone who my grandfather was. I made the mistake once of telling someone on the Excelsior about it, and suddenly I was expected to read minds and predict the future. What little empathic abilities I have are so unpredictable that I never know when they'll kick in. Sometimes I'll get a sudden feeling I know is not my own, and it usually doesn't take long to figure out where it's coming from. It's often come in handy, but it's pretty unnerving."

"I can imagine," Kathryn said quietly. "You know, Tuvok has helped Kes focus and control her telepathic senses. He may be able to help you, too."

"I didn't tell Emek, my husband, about it until a few weeks before he died. He was going to teach me some meditative techniques, but he was gone before I could complete the mission I was on at the time. After that, I just didn't have the heart to pursue it."

"It's your decision, but I'm sure he'd be willing to help you. If you ---"

"EMH to Sickbay," chirped the comm.

"Wilson here," Meredith answered, "what have you got Doctor?"

"I was correct about the virus," the Doctor stated. "It is the same virus discovered in the insect venom and I suspect thiazine and altrine will adequately destroy it. What I'd like you to do is give me a complete analysis of the blood sample I'm beaming over. While I do not believe the drugs will irreparably harm the bodies of the aliens, I am concerned about proper dosage. There is another virus present in their systems, one which apparently serves as an additional coagulant factor and I do not wish to destroy it."

"I understand," Meredith replied. "I'll speak with the Leader and inform him of your findings and recommendations. I'll test the drugs on the samples and when I've determined an appropriate dosage I'll let you know. Is there anything else, Doctor?"

"Yes. There is a pregnant female onboard and I'd like her to be separated from the ship's population, but she refuses to allow it. Please bring it to the attention of the Leader and request his intervention. I believe that will be all for now. EMH out."

Just as the Doctor terminated the communication, Meredith realized that Kathryn, Voyager's Captain, was the one who should be dealing with the Leader. Somehow she'd just slipped back into the old 'command mode', not remembering that Voyager already had a captain. She made a mental note to write an Academy holographic simulation so she could practice remembering her place.

"I'm sorry, Captain," she told Kathryn, "I stepped out of line by assuming I'd deal with the Leader in your place. It won't happen again."

"Oh, no," Kathryn replied, "this is your show. Though I would appreciate an introduction, you started this, you can finish it."

"Thank-you. Before I introduce you, there are a couple of things I've picked up from him that you should know. He seems to be an honorable man, but he's grown very wary of strangers. He's been Leader for a long time and he's tired. He expects remorse from us, but he'll lose what little respect he's built up for us if we show signs of cowardice."

"Do you think he'll try to test our courage?"

"No. That doesn't seem to be his style. But don't consider him an equal. This is his territory and we are trespassers, however unintentional, and we need to remain somewhat deferential to retain his good will. Might I make a suggestion, Captain?"

"I see no reason to stop you now," Kathryn said, amused at Meredith's desperate attempt to subdue her strong personality and instincts for command. "Go ahead."

"I get the impression that his people have several planets in this sector. If we play our cards right, we may be allowed to gather supplies from those planets. With your permission, I'd like to pursue that avenue."

"Very well. But remember this; we still abide by the Prime Directive, even here. There will be no technological trades and no interference in their culture. Understood?"

"Understood, Captain. What I was thinking was more along the lines of replicating extra supplies of thiazine and altrine. I'm fairly sure they could reproduce the drugs on their own if they have some to go by. If we're lucky, they may be grateful enough to allow us to take a few things here and there from the planets."

"All right. Now, introduce me to your new friend."

Meredith, delighted at Kathryn's approval of her idea, picked up where they'd left off in the Conference room yesterday. "You won't let me go joyriding, now you want to meet all my friends. Can't a kid have any freedom around here?"

"You loop my starship again and I'll ground you 'till you're eighty," Kathryn said, but the comment really did disturb her. Meredith, whom she'd begun to care for deeply and consider part of the Voyager family, may really need more freedom than other crewmembers. She was a very complicated woman, one whose emotions were intense and whose needs were many. As the crew's surrogate mother, which was basically what she'd become, how could Kathryn meet those needs? I'll have to take this up with their surrogate father, she thought.

Chakotay was impressed. A scant 48 hours after their initial contact with the Colamana, as the Leader's species was called, the Leader's crew was on the mend, and they had his full permission to take whatever supplies they needed from any Colamana planet in the sector so long as they left the planet as they'd found it. Vek, the Gulf Breeze's Ecospecialist would come in particularly handy for the next few weeks' missions. In fact, most of the Gulf Breeze crew would be called into service and indicated that they were eager to participate.

Crewman K'Eltak was the only one who seemed to have trouble fitting in, but Commander Wilson would settle that. She told him any Klingon warrior who even pretended to have balls should also have enough sense to know that Starfleet rules were not the enemy here, Delta Quadrant was. The rules were annoying and inconvenient, yes, but they served a purpose and would be followed to the letter, period. He had growled at her, then she punched him right in the chops. She challenged K'Eltak to a bat'leth duel, no holds barred and no holodeck safety protocols. If he won, they'd down-size and modify the freighter and give it to him, let whoever want to go with him do so, and set them all free. Chakotay had been horrified and started to let her have it with both barrels, but she told him simply, and in front of K'Eltak, that her will to survive was stronger than K'Eltak's childish annoyance, therefore she was assured of victory. K'Eltak, for his part, was once again impressed by her courage and determination but had already agreed to the duel and could not back down.

The duel was to begin at 0800 hours, with spectators no less, and Captain Janeway had agreed to it, though not without reservations. She didn't want the rest of the crew to get the mistaken impression that she would routinely allow such things to take place aboard Voyager, but they understood that dealing with a full-blooded Klingon would require methods not usually used aboard a Federation starship. She suspected that they wanted to see him, well, tamed a little.

Forty-odd crewmen and most of the Bridge officers had gathered early for the fight. B'Elanna sat to Kathryn's left, Chakotay to her right as the duel began. Meredith was the first to draw blood, and when she did, she growled with genuine Klingon bloodlust. B'Elanna nodded with approval. She's a chameleon, Kathryn thought, a human chameleon. She slips into whatever colors are appropriate for the moment. Extraordinary.

K'Eltak became enraged. He slashed at Meredith's body with the bat'leth and left a gash from just beneath her left breast to her mid-abdomen. The wound wasn't deep enough to penetrate all the muscle layers, still it gaped open and bled copiously. She showed no signs of pain. Instead she whirled around and buried the point of the bat'leth in K'Eltak's hip. This left him with a slight limp and less able to defend himself from her. She continued to move more quickly than he, attack after attack, until she once again buried the bat'leth point in her opponent, this time in his upper chest just below the collar bone. That seemed to take all the breath out of him. Knowing she wouldn't stop, he conceded defeat and stood long enough to give a congratulatory bow. As he collapsed, she knelt over him and ordered a site-to-site transport directly to Sickbay.

Kathryn and Chakotay met them in Sickbay and Chakotay went directly to K'Eltak's side. "It was a good fight, K'Eltak," he said, "but hers was the superior will."

"She was right, Commander," K'Eltak replied. "My anger was childish and my actions were not those of a disciplined warrior. I will follow your rules and stand by your side in the fight to return home."

Chakotay grasped K'Eltak's arm in the Klingon gesture of friendship. "You're a valuable ally," he said, "and I welcome you to the family."

"Captain Janeway," K'Eltak said quietly, "she is quite a fighter. I look forward to following her in battle."

"I think, in time, you'll feel as we do; you'll follow her anywhere."

K'Eltak smiled and nodded. Chakotay went to Meredith's side to check on her condition. The doctor had considered her wound the more serious and treated it first. Her eyes were closed, and she was obviously in pain. Kathryn was holding her hand in support. They became very close very quickly, those two, and that alliance of two highly skilled, strong-minded and strong-willed people could greatly increase Voyager's chances of getting home in one piece.

Meredith began to feel better and opened her eyes to see Kathryn and Chakotay at her side. "Well," she stated, "I think I made my point."

"That, you did," Kathryn said.

"I just welcomed K'Eltak to the family," Chakotay said, "and he seemed more than willing to join. Nice work, Commander."

"I would say it was my pleasure," Meredith replied with a smile, "but I'd be lying. Have I paid for the barrel roll thing now, Mother?"

Kathryn laughed and patted her arm. "Well, you're not grounded. We'll call it even and let it go at that."

Chakotay, having been informed of the little inside joke, grinned. "Next time, though," he said, "we're getting a babysitter."