A New Alliance
Janeway raced to the transporter room, her heart pounding with urgency. Naomi and Raffi stood staring at the transporter, their faces twisted with sorrow. Without a word, she clenched her fists until her nails drew blood from the soft flesh of her palms.
“Guilt is a hell of a drug,” muttered Raffi through gritted teeth. “I should know.” She collapsed onto the transporter pad and put her head in her hands, the green glow of the dilithium crystals casting a ghostly light on her brown curls.
“I don’t follow.”
"You don't follow?" Raffi shot up from her chair, her voice dripping with disbelief as she towered over Janeway. “You dragged her to the Alpha Quadrant and then let her leave with a suitcase full of guilt and suffering and you don't follow?!?"
“How dare you,” Janeway said, shaking with anger. “I never told her to join the Rangers or take up with a psychopath, and I certainly never told her to become a murderer!”
“You were her Captain,” Raffi said, low and dangerous. "You should have made sure she was okay before you set her free in an uncaring universe."
Janeway staggered to the nearest wall, trying hard to stay upright, memories bombarding her. Iko was executed for taking a single life.As a drone, I took thousands, but I was never punished. All she’d given Seven in response were pat words and a pat on the shoulder.
“If there was ever a crew that needed a counselor, it was Voyager,” Janeway muttered, rubbing her eyes. She turned back to Raffi. “You’re right. I should have done more.”
Raffi’s fury dissipated and she folded in on herself. “It’s not your fault,” she said. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Isn’t it though?” 257 unread messages. "You said it yourself - I was her captain," Janeway said, her voice catching in her throat. And I was so busy figuring out how to get back to Earth...," she paused, shook her head. "I thought we had more time. I was wrong."
Janeway turned away, unable to handle the sympathetic looks Raffi and Naomi were sending her way. Then, Raffi did something completely unexpected. She wrapped her arms around Janeway and squeezed her tight, as though she was pulling Janeway's emotions into her body. Janeway shook as her eyes emptied themselves of their tears, and she stayed in Raffi's warm embrace long after they stopped. When she pulled away, embarrassed, she mumbled an apology.
“For that? That’s nothing,” Raffi said with a sad smile. “I’m the one that’s sorry.”
“What for?”
“Because it appears that you, like me, have a lifetime membership to an extra special club for people hopelessly, and I do mean hopelessly, in love with an ex-Borg who simply will not allow herself to be loved.”
Janeway couldn’t help but chuckle at the truth of it all, drying her face with the back of her hands. “When you put it like that, what a sorry pair we are.”
“The sorriest,” Raffi said with a sympathetic smile.
Silence lingered between them for a few long moments.
"So what do we do now?" Naomi finally said.
Janeway pulled back her shoulders and yanked her jacket straight. She turned back to Naomi and Raffi, a wide smile on her face. "We're gonna put on a show."
Naomi gulped.