[4thdimension]

On the other side of the galaxy, Admiral Katherine Janeway walked alone in a field in Indiana. The night was warm, crickets chirped all around her and the stars twinkled at her from above. As if calling her back. In the distance she could see her family's old white farm house, the silo and the pond. Fragments of childhood. Janeway pressed on through the field, her skirt flitting lazily in the breeze.

She wished her mind was as light and as clear as this evening was, but peace was about as far away as Voyager had been from Earth all those years. She'd protested when Star Fleet Command ordered the first official exploratory mission into the Delta Quadrant. Even with transwarp drive whoever was sent would be far from established supply lines. Star Fleet stifled her protests by building Deep Space 12 in record time. Using modified Borg technology, and the newly assembled Graviton Catapult Star Fleet had assembled the station on the outskirts of the Delta Quadrant in less than six months.

She encountered the Catapult technology, like so many other forms of advanced technology, while in the Delta Quadrant. The alien Tash had allowed them to examine the transwarp generator before jumping through it to his home system. Voyager hadn't been able to replicate the necessary components for their own Catapult, but Star Fleet was another matter.

All of this worried Janeway, she feared that things were going too far, too fast. She spent months in meetings with Command, telling them again and again that the other side of the galaxy had no great powers to maintain a balance like here at home. There were no neutral zones, no treaties, no threat of mutual annihilation. Instead there was one warring species after another, none of which were likely to embrace the tenets of the Federation. At least, not any time soon.

She did have hope for some of the species. The Hierarchy perhaps, or the Krenim. Yet the Kazon, the Viidians, the Devore, the Voth, the Malon, the Hirogen , all of these would love to expand into the Alpha Quadrant. Then again, she knew, so would the Heirarchy, and the Krenim. She wondered, as she made her way past the first branches of a thick stand of trees by the field, what had become of these powers now that the Borg presence had been taken out of the equation. Star Fleet had not yet been able to confirm that the Borg had been destroyed, and perhaps they hadn't, but Janeway had a gut feeling that they wouldn't be causing any problems for a while. But atleast the Borg had been predictable.

She couldn't easily explain the dread she felt about it all any better than that, and she hadn't swayed Star Fleet. Really, only Admiral Paris had been on her side through the whole thing. They filled Deep Space 12 with civilians eager to live on the frontier, and sent Star Fleet vessels on the first survey missions. At first they used only warp, hugging the station and staying with a few sectors. Janeway had felt some measure of relief, feeling that Command was going to give the quadrant a chance to get used to the idea of the Federation being on their turf.

Then she'd felt even worse. Many of the species that would hear of their presence hadn't had happy run ins with her own ship. What was it she had always said? "This is Captain Katherine Janeway, of the Federation Star Ship Voyager." All of those species, all those times she'd claimed to be lost in space. How many would think she'd been lying? How many would think that her track through their corner of space had been a scouting mission?

Her fears redoubled. Anxiety led to restlessness, and restlessness led to a leave of absence. She knew she wasn't really cut out for a desk job anyway. She hadn't been in San Fransisco in three months, but she was still well informed. As she stepped around a thick tangle of briers and navigated the dark ground she tapped a small civilian communicator on her chest, three times.
"Neelix here." The Talaxian's voice made her smile. She had to admit, entering the Delta Quadrant had had it's up points. Ambassador Neelix had been among the first Dela Quadrant natives to visit the new station. Janeway had sent a Defiant class vessel to his little asteroid, to offer him the chance to live up to his title of ambassador to the Federation. He'd been delighted and amazed to hear that his friends had reached home so early. He brought his new family to the station, and educated Star Fleet about the Delta Quadrant. He'd sent Janeway several messages, outlining is feeling that Star Fleet was begining to have second thoughts about their eagerness to penetrate the quadrant, but these gave Janeway little comfort. Neelix had brought his family to Earth for the first time a week before. They'd started at Star Fleet headquarters in San Frasisco, now they were in Europe.

"Neelix, it's good to hear your voice. Are you enjoying Paris?" Janeway said, her voice instantly carried across the globe. She kneeled down to a small grave beneath a huge oak in the woods behind her home. The small rough stone shone in the moonlight. She ran a tentative finger over the name, feeling the grooves in the polished surface.
"Oh yes, Captain! The food here, it's amazing." Janeway shook her head, smiled despite herself.
"I told you Neelix, call me Katherine." She heard the Talaxian give a little tut of pleasure from the other end, took in the babbling brook of French conversation going on around him, and suddenly wished she'd spent her time off better.
"I'm working up to it..." He hesitated before he said it, as if he was trying a new fruit in his kitchen aboard Voyager. "Katherine. There I said it." This time Janeway laughed. She stood up, took another moment looking down at her old friends grave. She couldn't really blame Mark for what had happened to the Chow, she'd lived a long full life anyhow, and she was an old dog by the time she got back to the alpha quadrant.
"Oh Mark." She groaned to herself. Lately she'd realized that she was still in love with her ex fiance, even after all those years. She was fairly certain that he felt the same, but his wife wouldn't like that. Besides, Emily was a good friend now.
"What was that Cap...Katherine?" Neelix's lighthearted voice brought her back to the moment.
"Never mind Neelix. Give Dexa and Brax my love."
"Wait, have you given Admiral Ross an answer yet?" Neelix siad, sensing that she was about to terminate the connection. Janeway left the trees behind, walking into a clearing. She could see the farm house far off to the right, the gleaming hull of the Delta Flyer floated a few feet off of the ground before her.
"Yes Neelix. I'm going."
Neelix's reply was lost to her as the Flyer opened and Captain Chakotey jumped to the ground, a fresh Star Fleet uniform in his arms. She hurriedly said goodnight to Neelix and tapped the communicator,shutting it off.
"You look good Captain." She called out to him. Chakotay smiled warmly.
"Sounds better when you say it. Seven says I'm, 'sufficient.'" Janeway shook her head and laughed. She took the uniform, ran her fingers over the deep maroon command shirt. She looked up into his eyes, looked quickly away.
"How is Annika?" Despite whatever lingering 'what ifs' there might exist between her and Chakotay, her voice was warm at the mention of her friend, and his latest flame. Annika was family.
"Efficient, as usual." Chakotays voice was crisp, his words tight, the way it was when he was about to dress her down for some silly plan she was about to embark on.
"Before you say it Chakotay, I've put allot of thought over this the last few weeks. This decision isn't made lightly." She turned and walked toward the trees a few paces, then turned back to him. "What else can I do? Teach at the academy until I can't anymore?" She looked up at the sky, at the stars. "That's my home. That's where I belong."

"Funny, a few years ago you would have given anything to be back here." He said. She shook her head, her hands on her hips.

"It's been five years Chakotay." Then she let her guard drop, and got to the heart of it. She couldn't hold her feelings back from her best friend. "I'm needed again, it feels good." The admission of what was commonly called 'Admiral's disease' lingered between them. She could tell that Chakotay was working on how to convince her to just live with it.
"Ninety years ago, a great man man named Kirk felt the same way, and he got sucked into the Nexus for his trouble." Chakotay said quietly. He held her gaze, challenging.
"And he died on Viridian III under a couple tons of metal, but he made a difference." She shot back.
"You can make a difference at the Academy Katherine." He spoke softly, almost pleading.
"I know the terrain, and I'm a recognizable face to dozens of Delta Quadrant species Chakotay. If the Defiant has been seen by any of them..." She paused for a moment, then forced herself to voice the fear that currently gripped the highest ranks of Star Fleet. "Or captured by them, those species are more likely to communicate with me then Admiral Picard, or Captain La Forge" She thought of Picard with a pang of envy, who's wisdom had kept him well away from an Admirals desk, and in the thick of things.

Chakotay wasn't giving up that easily. "'Recognizable' isn't exactly what you want to be, is it? Didn't the Hirogen send your image across their space, listing you as 'worthy prey', to be caught at all costs?" Though she knew he meant it as a small joke, she shivered. She still had nightmares of the Hirogen. "At least let me go with you." His look was so intense, so honest that she felt her lips begin to consent, then bit down hard.
"No, your needed on Voyager." She said it with such force that Chakotay took a step back and looked down.
"Yes mam, Admiral." Chakotay said to his boots, doing a fairly good impersonation of Harry Kim. She groaned, and walked over to the Flyer.
"Not you too." She said. Chakotay shot her a look. "Nevermind." She called back. "It's just the Delta Quadrant Chakotay. How bad can it be?" She let the question hang in the air as she pulled herself into the intrepid shuttle.