**
"I thought you had a tactical report to finish." Archer said as I was brought in under guard.
Boothby was there as well. He looked like he was mixing drinks. "What'll you have, son? I'm a single malt man, myself. Aged 200 years. Been saving it for a special occasion. And I'd say this is special enough, mm-hmm." He poured himself a bit. "A toast...To Earth."
Boothby then really looked at me. "Chakotay. Rank: Commander. Starfleet service number: 4-7-alpha-6-1-2. First officer, USS Voyager." How the hell did they find all that out?
I stared at him. Kind of at a disadvantage if you ask me. "Species 8472. Origin: fluidic space."
"Well," Boothby began, "now that we've been formally introduced--how many ships?" He had to be kidding. Right? "Cat got your tongue? I asked you a question. How many vessels do you have in the Delta Quadrant?"
This was too easy. I was going to like this. Too bad Tom wasn’t here for my fall into sarcasm. I held up a single finger. "One."
Boothby and Archer shared a look of surprise. "How did you find us?" Archer asked.
"We detected what looked like a Federation subspace transmission," I said. "It took us weeks to track it here."
Boothby frowned. "We wanted this simulation to be accurate to the last detail. We obviously went a little too far." Believe it or not, I think Boothby-8472 was a little concerned.
"Now that you know about our re-creation you've no doubt alerted the Federation. Your fleet will be on its way." Boothby said. I’ll bet it will be quite a shock to him when he realizes that there is no way for us to contact the Federation, let alone tell them that they’re about to be invaded.
I shook my head. "You've got it wrong. We're not planning a war against you."
"Is that why you were here--to spy on us because you're curious?" Archer asked.
I was about to answer when we were interrupted by Bullock. "Sir? A Starship is approaching. It's Voyager." Good, maybe I *would* make it out of here alive. Thank you, Kathryn.
"Raise our shields. Stand by, all weapons," Boothby ordered. Bullock took his orders and left.
"Captain Janeway is not here to launch an attack," I tried to tell them. "She's here to find me." Which would be the case, since my hail to Tom and Harry had been so rudely interrupted. Of course she would risk bringing the ship out of hiding if there was too much at stake. Knowing Kathryn, her thoughts were that 8472 would not be getting anymore of her crew.
Boothby ignored me. "We've got the real McCoy here," He directed at Archer. "We might as well take advantage of it. Perform a genetic extraction. It may help us find a better way to maintain these human forms."
Great. Here I go again.
Archer looked coldly at me. "Yes, sir." Was all she said as she prepared.
**
We were pretty much left alone. I’ve been in enough of these situation to know how to play, to try and get answers. I took the initiative. "Valerie-" I began.
"That's not my name." She said. Far cry from the talkative woman I had met earlier.
"Then what is it?" She didn't respond. She was intent on her little task. Probably wouldn’t matter anyway, considering that it was probably like some Vulcan name—unpronounceable.
"You're afraid of us, aren't you?" I asked.. "You think we're violent. That we're planning to destroy your species. But none of that's true!" She pressed the extractor against my neck, reminding me of the time Seska extracted my DNA. Not as bad, but the principle. . . "If you would take the time to speak to us directly, we could prove it to you," I told her. She just looked at me. "*There are no secrets except the secrets that keep themselves." I quoted from Shaw.
This seemed to make her do a double take. "Shaw..." She whispered.
"George Bernard Shaw. I saw a copy of his collected works on your bookshelf." I said. Maybe she would understand after all.
"He had a complex mind...For a human." She said.
"And he had a point!" I told her. "As long as we keep spying on each other--making assumptions--we probably will go to war."
The klaxon blared through the room. "Voyager." She said.
The calvary had arrived.
**
I was taken, along with Archer, Boothby and Bullock to Voyager. Apparently, Kathryn was ready to get down to business. Not to mention, I’ve seen her when one us, us being her crew, is being held against our will. She was taking no crap.
Tuvok, Seven, Kathryn and I were on one side of the conference table. Boothby, Archer and Bullock on the other. Time to see if diplomacy worked as well as nanoprobes.
Boothby, as I noticed, wasn’t in the best sorts. Talk about a grumpy old man. If only he were a man. "Targ manure! United Federation of Planets...'Tolerance' for all species... The Prime Directive... Targ manure, every word of it!" Boothby spit out. Yow. Hope the real one was a far cry from this one.
"Your metaphor is colorful, but inaccurate." Tuvok said. Leave it to him to state the obvious.
Boothby snorted. "Vulcan logic... Add that to the list."
Kathryn stared at him. I bet she was let down by this ‘Boothby’s’ attitude. "Obviously, you've studied a Starfleet database. You must've learned something about our history. We adhere to our directives."
Bullock was just as short tempered as half the admirals I remembered from Starfleet. "High-minded ideals are one thing, but your actions tell a very different story. You infiltrated our re-creation, captured and killed one of our people."
Kathryn sighed at this. She hated dealing with diplomacy, on any scale. But she was hard nosed about it, not wanting to go to war again with this group. Once was enough. "I told you, he took his own life."
Bullock butted in, not letting Kathryn finish. They need to add *manners* to their list of things to learn about humans. "You created biological weapons to infect our species! You are allies with the Borg!"
Kathryn denied it, but Boothby decided to throw his two cents in as well. "There's a drone sitting at this very table. Look at her--all gussied up to look like a human being."
"I am no longer part of the Collective." Seven stated in her montone voice.
"Once a Borg, always a Borg!" Boothby mumbled.
Kathryn, who has had a soft spot for Seven from the beginning, spoke for her. "Seven of Nine is a member of this crew."
Bullock apparently wasn’t done with his ranting and raving. "The Borg are irrelevant. It's the humans that pose a threat."
"They think the Federation is a hostile invasion force out to destroy their species." I told Kathryn. I could tell she didn’t like that explanation much.
"I see. So you're planning a preemptive strike against Earth." I could tell from her tone of voice that her hackles were up. Nobody, even in the Delta Quadrant, threatens Earth.
Boothby spat out his words. "Maybe I am!"
Kathryn wasn’t thrilled with his answer. "You realize I can't let that happen."
Boothby exploded then. "Go ahead! Fire your damn nanoprobes! Blow our re-creation to high heavens. There are a dozen more scattered throughout the quadrant. You'll never find them all!"
Kathryn sighed again. She wasn’t liking this. After all, she had every right *to* blow them to bits. These were the same beings who’s telepathic linkage made Kes evolve faster then she would have. These were the same beings who with one strike, leveled Harry in sickbay, eating him alive. They were strong enough to beat the Borg. Their phaser blast to the Borg cube almost put Kathryn out of commission permanently. Ask me and I’ll tell you, Kathryn had the ball in her court and she wasn’t about to let the opposing team have it. "What if I told you that Starfleet isn't planning an invasion--that no one on Earth has even heard of you?"
"I'd say you're lying."
"Have another look at that Federation database of yours." Kathryn said. "You'll see there's no mention of your realm."
Bullock, though, was adamant about this ‘invasion’ of his from us. "Immaterial. Any information regarding our species has no doubt been classified by Starfleet intelligence."
Kathryn was about to let them handle the ball briefly. "Good point. You know, we could keep this paranoid debate going all day. You have no reason to trust us and we have no reason to trust you."
Boothby was beside himself. Cantankerous old fart. He yelled at Kathryn. "Hear, hear! I knew this reunion would be a fiasco. Admiral..." He got up as to leave our ‘peace talks’.
"Seven...disarm the warheads." Kathryn ordered. I wasn’t expecting that, especially since Kathryn had given me the low down on what she had ready if they hadn’t let me go. Seven was shocked, but did Kathryn’s bidding anyway. Especially when Kathryn said, "Do it." From her movements, I could tell that Seven was hesitant to do it, but followed orders without second guessing or back talking Kathryn, which was her usual way.
"What are you trying to prove, young lady?" Boothby said, glaring at Kathryn. I bet she loved being called that.
"One of us has to take our finger off the trigger. It might as well be me." Kathryn was playing as hard as she could. I didn’t know yet, however, if she had the advantage or not.
"Their weapons are off-line." Archer said, checking to see if Seven had really disengaged the weapons.
"It's a trick!" Bullock shouted. Don’t they believe anything, especially when it’s right in front of them. Damn it, we are only *one ship* not a whole fleet.
Kathryn stared at Boothby. I knew it was coming, that ‘dare me and I will’ tone of voice. So low and emotionless. I knew she was playing for keeps. "Our defenses are down. What will you do now? Blow Voyager to high heavens? Or, do we keep talking?"
Boothby continued to mutter, but something about him was changing. Maybe Kathryn *was* getting through to him. "Humans...You've got a flair for the dramatic, I'll give you that. You want to keep talking? Fine by me, but no more beating around the bush. Now what do you want from us!? The truth, Captain." Finally, something direct from this discussion.
Kathryn grabbed the chance with both hands. "Voyager is alone in the Delta Quadrant. We haven't been in contact with Earth for over four years."
Boothby, though, wanted answers. "Explain why you attacked our realm, hand in hand with the Borg!"
Kathryn told him the truth. Truth of the one element that almost tore *our* friendship apart at the seams. "At the time, we didn't realize the Borg had started the war against you. We forged a temporary alliance with them because we thought you were the threat."
Seven decided to throw in her bit as well. She directed her statement to Boothby. " *Your galaxy will be purged.* Sound familiar?"
"We were only trying to defend ourselves." Bullock said for defense.
"If that's true, why are you still in our galaxy? Your conflict with the Borg ended over a year ago." Tuvok asked.
Kathryn added to his statement. "Why re-create Starfleet, masquerade as humans? It looks to me like you're the ones planning an invasion. The truth." Oh, she was tiring of this little game.
"Don't answer her." Bullock said. "She's manipulating us."
"If you won't answer, I will." Archer said, ignoring Bullock. "Our mission is to infiltrate your home world, to place operatives in the highest levels of Starfleet, monitor your military installations. It's a reconnaissance mission, nothing more!"
I could remain silent no longer. After all, I had gotten to know them a little bit. "We should listen to her, Captain. They're being driven by fear--just like we are..." I looked at Archer. "Unless everything you said on our date was just part of an act."
"It wasn't." Archer said, being truthful.
Bullock stood up. "Enough! We must not negotiate with these...creatures." Who is calling who a creature here?
"Sit down, Admiral," Boothby said. Bullock was caught.
"Sir?" Boothby stared at him. "I said sit down or I'll knock you right on your human butt."
Bullock raged that they’d been had, but Archer stood solid. "I've had a chance to see through human eyes." She said. "And I'm beginning to wonder...Are they really so violent? What if we're wrong?"
"We can't risk trusting them!" Bullock said.
"You'd rather risk another war?" Archer countered. Too true. I know *we* couldn’t handle another war.
"Keep talking, son." This must have been the Kathryn spoke of so sentimentally of in astrometrics. Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all.
"Archer's right." I said. "We've got to set aside our preconceptions about each other. Granted, our species didn't meet under the best of circumstances, but maybe we can make First Contact again. Maybe this time we'll get it right."
Boothby looked at Archer. "You believe in this fellow?"
"Yes." She said.
Boothby turned to Kathryn. "There would have to be a few ground rules." Kathryn nodded her agreement. "First off, I want to take a look at that nanoprobe technology. It scares the hell out of me."
"All right...But I'll need some tactical information in return--your genetic alteration techniques for a start." Kathryn said, wanting as much information as humanly possible.
Boothby smiled a genuine smile. "I'm sure something can be arranged." Boothby then looked at Bullock. "You on board, Admiral?" Bullock said not a word, but didn’t protest this time. "Good enough for me," Boothby says.
**
As a show of faith, we were invited to see the habitat. A cultural exchange, if you will. We would help them out, they would help us out. Kathryn, as usual was right.
Diplomacy is a great tool when used properly.
**
Archer asked me if I wanted to walk the grounds with her. I couldn’t really think of a reason not too. After all, we had reached a tentative peace agreement.
"Looking forward to going home?" I asked her as we strolled about.
"At least I can finally get out of this form." She said. I remember doing my own fair share of undercover bits, including posing as a Viidian. I knew what she was talking about.
"No more insomnia." I said, recalling some of our earlier conversations.
"No more sleeping, period." I wonder what that would be like; not having to sleep.
"For what it's worth," I told her, "you made a terrific human."
We continued walking, myself looking about an almost perfect replica of home. Finally, Archer spoke again. "Shame," she said. "It's too bad our species are so different. Otherwise I'd ask you for a second date."
I smiled. "Well, maybe next time, you can show me around fluetic space."
"I'll never get a chance to do this again." She put her arms around me and gave me kiss. Though I have to admit it was more of a good-bye/friendship kiss then anything passionate. "Any better this time?" Archer asked.
"You're a quick study." I told her. I spent the rest of the day walking around, running into various members of our crew.
**
I ran into Kathryn as she was about to beam up to the ship. In her hand, a beautiful rose which I could smell without trying. She twirled it between her fingers, looking at it.
She told me that Boothby couldn’t promise us anything, that 8472 would agree to peace. But she did say she had a good feeling about it. I hope so.
In this quadrant, we need all the friends we can get.
**End Log**