Chakotay was deep into a conversation with Annorax discussing his proposal to restore the Krenim Imperium. He thought he had taken all the critical factors into account but Annorax still found half a dozen things that needed to be added or changed. As Chakotay paused a moment to consider the ramifications of those changes, he glanced at Tom.

Usually Tom tried to appear at least interested but today he had a dazed look on his face. His thoughts were clearly not on the conversation.

"Tom, don't you agree?" Chakotay was determined that Tom at least try to contribute to their efforts so they could return to Voyager.

"Huh? Oh, sorry. I was just thinking."

"Apparently not about this proposal."

"Not exactly.  I have a question."

"Now is not the time for questions unless it relates to this proposal."

"Well, it does, in a way."

Chakotay sighed and would not have pursued the issue but Annorax intervened.

"Let him ask, Commander. Having a question indicates that he is at least slightly interested in achieving our goal." Annorax nodded to Tom.

"Why are you trying to restore the time line?"

"I thought I explained my reasons when you first came on board my ship."

Chakotay was just getting ready to dismiss Tom's question entirely but Tom spoke too quickly.  "That's not what I mean. Instead of restoring the Imperium, why don't you undo all the changes you've made?"

Annorax and Chakotay looked slightly confused.

"OK, lot me try to explain better. Pretend the space-time continuum is a pool game and your incursions are the shots you take. You took a shot that knocked a lot of balls off the table and now you want them back. Instead of trying to rearrange the balls that are left to get them back, why not 'undo' the previous shots until you have them all back where they started? You don't have to do it all at once, do you?"

Chakotay was still puzzled, not quite understanding how this was any different than what they were doing but Annorax seemed intrigued.

"It's not that simple, Tom."

"You're right, Commander, it's not, but his question has merit. I need to consider it in more detail. Let's adjourn for the day."

Annorax didn't wait for their agreement and they had no choice but to rise and leave. Chakotay glared at Tom as they left but held his comments until they were alone in their quarters.

"What kind of game are you playing now?"

"I'm not, Chakotay. I know I don't understand all this incursion stuff the way you do, but it seems like you're doing it the hard way."

"There is no easy way."

"I know that, but the way you've been doing it doesn't always work they way you plan. We all know what the goal is because we've been there. Maybe the road back the way we came is longer but at least we know it gets there. Why keep trying to take short cuts?"

"Ok, say you're right about going back the way we came. How exactly do you propose we "un-destroy" something?"

"I don't know how to do it. All I asked was why you weren't trying to do it when it seemed to offer a better chance of achieving your objectives. Besides, Annorax destroyed Kyana Prime and the whole point of all these incursions is to 'undestroy' it. I don’t see that there's much difference."

Tom's failure to provide a fast-talking explanation finally convinced Chakotay that his question had been prompted by a desire to understand what they were doing if not to advance the project. His suspicions forced him to ask one more question.

"Why are you suddenly so interested in helping?"

"I'm interested in not doing any more damage or killing any more people. I don't understand all those calculations but I do know that any new incursions are as likely to harm as to help. I also know that we already know what it would have been before all these incursions and to me it makes sense to backtrack and just undo everything." Tom paused, knowing that Chakotay was finally listening to him. "Annorax seemed to think my question had some merit. Isn't it worth at least thinking about?"

"Have you any idea how many incursions Annorax has implemented in the last two hundred years?"

"No, but I bet Obrist does. And I bet he can give you a list of them in chronological order, well in the order they were implemented anyway." Tom was relieved that Chakotay was finally listening to him. He sighed in relief as Chakotay nodded and considered the idea. It wasn't as simple as Tom made it sound, primarily because the time ship would have to be acting on its own actions and was outside the effects of the incursions. Tom waited as patiently as he could. Chakotay sighed.

"Tom, it's a good idea on the face of it. I'll admit I don't understand all the implications of trying to undo what each incursion did when this ship is outside the effects of the incursions. That alone could make it impossible to carry out your suggestion. I just don't know. If Annorax thinks it's worth trying, are you willing to work with us?"

"Of course I am. I told you, I just want to avoid any more death and destruction, and get back to Voyager. If I can help, I will." Tom's voice was earnest but his usual smile was threatening to return.

"Ok. Why don't you go talk to Obrist and ask him to get that list together, just in case Annorax thinks it's worth a try to go forward with your idea."

Tom was on his feet and headed for the door before Chakotay finished speaking. His saunter and tilt of his head were reminiscent of happier times. Chakotay smile after the door closed behind Tom. It was good to see a bit more of the old Tom.

"Your idea could work but we will have to make the plans for all of the 'reversals' before we begin. This could take some time as I'm sure you are well aware." Annorax had wasted no time getting to the point the next day, about two hours after breakfast, when he summoned Chakotay and Tom to his office.

Tom asked the obvious question. "Why can't we work as we go?"

"You will only be here for the first three 'reversals.' After that, I must return you to your ship if you are to return at all."

"All right. Where do we start?" Chakotay was anxious to get started.

"There is another slight problem. In order to reverse at least 30% of the incursions I implemented over the years, we will need the technology you used on Voyager to hold off the Krenim military ships."

"Between us, I think we can duplicate most of the technology on Voyager."

"Can you duplicate the shielding that protected you from the effects of the incursion?"

Tom and Chakotay looked at each other. Both were passable engineers for most purposes, but to recreate the original shielding and then modify it was beyond their abilities even if they had all the information that Seven and B'Elanna had when they made the changes. Chakotay looked back to Annorax.

"We'll have to find another way to reverse those incursions."

"Even with that shielding, the probability of achieving 100% restoration calculated over all the necessary reversals is only 98%. Without that shielding, they drop below 40%. There is no point trying unless we have it."

Chakotay glanced at Tom again before focusing on Annorax.  "Give us a few minutes to discuss it, ok?"

Annorax nodded.  "You're also going to have to come up with some way to get Voyager to drop that shielding when we do the reversal that first affected you. We'll reconvene after the midday meal."

"How do we talk Captain Janeway into joining forces with Annorax?" Tom asked when they reached their quarters.

"I don't think we can at this point. When Annorax attacked Voyager, she made this a personal battle." Chakotay knew all too well how difficult it was to change Kathryn's mind. They needed Voyager, or at least someone from Voyager who knew more about the temporal shielding than they did. "We'll have to come up with something else."

"Well, he beamed us off Voyager. Why don't we just beam someone else off and have them recreate the shielding?" Tom's flare for stating the obvious was resulting in valid suggestions for a change.

"You're right. I hate to take anyone else off Voyager but I guess we have no choice since neither of us knows what adjustments they made." Chakotay accepted Tom's suggestion. "Who should it be? B'Elanna? Seven?"

"Not Seven. If she decides not to work with Annorax, there is nothing anyone can say to change her mind, except maybe Captain Janeway. B'Elanna would be a better choice but that would mean leaving Voyager without her. Do we really want to do that?" Tom's voice was definite about Seven but less certain about B'Elanna.

"Then who?" Chakotay accepted the reasons for not taking Seven or B'Elanna but needed an alternate before eliminating them from consideration entirely.

"Tuvok?" Chakotay frowned at Tom's suggestion but Tom was persistent. "Why not? He knows the systems and with that memory of his, he'll remember all the adjustments they made. Ok, so he can't see to do the actual work, he can still tell us what to do. I can do the actual work."

"Good point. Maybe we can get some of the replacement parts from the storage lockers at the same time." Chakotay easily fell back into the patterns of planning a Maquis raid. "That will save us building them from scratch. You start on a list of supplies for the power system and I'll work on one for the shields."

It took nearly three hours to convince Annorax that it was worth the trouble to track down Voyager and "invite" Tuvok to join them. It took another hour to convince him not to destroy Voyager when he found her. It was an extremely frustrating afternoon for all three men but when it ended, they had a common goal and a plan they all felt would succeed.

The next three months Chakotay and Annorax spent working on the specifics for each reversal. Chakotay split his time between that and tracking down Voyager using every trick he knew combined with his personal knowledge of how Kathryn and B'Elanna had thought and reacted in the past.

Once they finally found Voyager, the tracked her for a week before they had an opening to extend their 'invitation' to Tuvok and borrow a few supplies. Kathryn knew as the Krenim ship disappeared on Voyager's sensors that Chakotay had been behind the encounter. It had all the hallmarks of a classic Starfleet raid combined with his unique Maquis twist.

Tom and Chakotay made room in their quarters for Tuvok. Their initial explanation was met with a blunt refusal to assist them. Chakotay decided that he needed time to examine the logic of their new approach. Although not forced to participate, Tuvok joined them for their meetings with Annorax and listened to their discussions of the way to best approach each reversal. Within a week, Tuvok was making comments about minor details. It was another ten days before he actually started working on the shields but once he started, he wasted no time. He refused to let Tom near the equipment and enlisted the help of Obrist and the most experienced technician from the ship.

Six months after Tom's initial question, they implemented the first reversal. It was a minor change but they achieved nearly 100% effectiveness. They studied the attempt for nearly a week before they identified a minute error in one of the formulas. Although it was in the 20th decimal place, its impact over the entire series of reversals would have been significant. It took three weeks to make adjustments to their plans to counter the initial error.

When the second reversal was implemented, although larger in scope, they again achieved nearly100% effectiveness but the difference was in the 1,000th decimal place instead of the 76th. Annorax was satisfied when the projections for the overall success reached 99%.

It took three weeks to complete the reversals that had been implemented after Voyager's first encounter with Annorax. It was time for Chakotay, Tom and Tuvok to return to Voyager. This encounter would be more direct than the last. They would simply move into transporter range and beam onto the bridge. Annorax would leave and Chakotay could explain everything to Kathryn.

As the three men prepared to transport to Voyager, Annorax reminded Chakotay for the fiftieth time. "You have to have Voyager's temporal shielding down in twenty-four hours or you will not benefit from the reversal. You will also remove any chance of our plan's success. In that event, I will be forced to track down Voyager and destroy her."

Chakotay nodded. "I understand. The temporal shielding will be disabled. Good luck!"

Kathryn's first thought when she recognized Annorax's ship was to wonder who he wanted this time. She had barely realized that Chakotay, Tuvok and Tom had appeared on the bridge before the time ship disappeared into subspace. Kathryn stared speechlessly at her three officers. It was almost as if she didn't recognize them.

The first thing Chakotay noticed after he stopped staring at Kathryn's face was the watch hanging from her waistband. That alone told him how hard the past months had been for her. Hollow cheekbones and lackluster hair told him how hard those months had been on her. It took all his self-control not to walk over to her and pull her into his arms.

"Captain, is there somewhere the four of us can talk?"

Chakotay's words finally jarred Kathryn into action.

"Yes, of course. My ready room still has usable furniture." Kathryn turned to speak to the person at the helm. "Johnson, call me if anything unusual shows up."

"Aye, Captain."

Kathryn led the three men to her ready room. She motioned them all to sit on the couch and headed for the only chair on that side of the room. While Tom led Tuvok around the debris on the floor, Chakotay stopped next to Kathryn.

"Are you all right?" Chakotay's voice conveyed his concern.

"I'll be fine. I just never thought I'd see you again." Kathryn's voice was barely a whisper as she looked up at him. "It's good to see you, Chakotay."

"It's good to see you, too, Kathryn." Chakotay's voice was low and Kathryn heard much more than the simple words he said.

Chakotay moved on toward the couch and sat down as Tuvok and Tom took their seats. Kathryn walked over to stand near Tom and Tuvok.

"Tuvok, old friend, it's good to have you back." Her voice was quiet. It was almost as if she were afraid speaking would make them disappear. Kathryn briefly touched Tuvok's shoulder before extending her hand to Tom. "Tom. I've missed you at the helm."

Kathryn moved on to sit in a chair near Chakotay before addressing the men. "Gentlemen, who's going to do the honors?"

"I will, Captain." Chakotay volunteered and, at Kathryn's nod, recounted the events he had experienced since he had been beamed off Voyager. Kathryn allowed him to recount everything up to the point where they were beamed back to Voyager without comment. Then she started asking questions about the incursions, the reversals and Annorax's plans.

Chakotay finally called a halt to the questions and suggested they adjourn for a few hours to eat and to give Kathryn time to consider all that she had learned. Kathryn agreed and stood as Tom and Tuvok left the ready room. She crossed halfway to her desk when she realized that Chakotay had remained behind.

"Was there something further?"

"You found the watch." Chakotay stepped closer to Kathryn and reached out his hand towards her. "I have missed you so much, Kathryn."

Kathryn touched his hand and suddenly found herself engulfed in his arms.

"I missed you, too." Kathryn returned the hug and for the first time in months allowed herself to relax for a few moments. "You disobeyed a direct order, mister." Although her words were mumbled against his chest, Chakotay understood.

"I know. Why didn't you recycle it?"

"I couldn't."

"Why don't we find some rations and a quiet corner to eat?" Chakotay made no move to carry out his own suggestion.

"I have some over by my desk and this is as good as it gets if you want a quiet corner." Kathryn kept a firm grasp on his hand as she led him across the room in search of food. After they returned to the couch and sat down, Chakotay put his arm around Kathryn's shoulders and pulled her close to his side. They split a ration bar while Kathryn told Chakotay about the others still on Voyager. She asked about some of the people on Annorax's ship and Chakotay described them and how much they missed their homes. As he was talking about Obrist, he realized that Kathryn had fallen asleep. Carefully, he shifted their positions slightly so they would both be more comfortable and settled back to let her sleep a few hours.

Kathryn had only been sleeping about thirty minutes when someone sounded the chime on the door. Chakotay instructed the computer to admit the individual but made no move to stand. When B'Elanna paced in, he motioned her to keep her voice down.

"I just heard you were back and I had to see you for myself, Chakotay. I can't believe you're actually on Voyager with us. Why did Annorax send you back?"

"I'm really here, B. It's good to see you, too." Chakotay's smile softened the implied criticism. B'Elanna crossed to the couch and hugged Chakotay briefly trying not to disturb Kathryn. He returned the hug with one arm and motioned her to sit down. B'Elanna eyed her sleeping captain.

"I don't think she's slept that soundly since you left Voyager." B'Elanna turned her attention back to more immediate matters. "Now, tell me what's going on."

Chakotay quickly summarized the situation, omitting many of the details he had included for Kathryn. He was more complete as he described the reversal process and that project's progress so far. He had explained why it was so important for Voyager to be unprotected from the next reversal when he felt Kathryn stir. When he finished, she spoke without opening her eyes.

"Why do you trust him, Chakotay? Why should I trust him?"

"I think he is sincere about reversing all the damage he has done. His driving motive after you sift through the rhetoric is to get back something he valued highly – his wife. She's the one thing that defines his concept characterization of complete restoration. If he has her back, he has achieved his goal."

"Isn't Voyager a likely problem for him?"

"Not if we're returned to being a null factor in all his calculations. His next reversal will bring us back to where we were before we were first affected by the incursions. That means we won't have the temporal shielding technology and will no longer be a threat to him."

B'Elanna stood up to leave. She knew that on the surface the conversation was between officers but that the real discussion was between friends who felt more than friendship. Kathryn hadn't worn that watch all these months because she lost her exec and B'Elanna knew it. She also knew that this conversation did not need three participants.

"Look, I just came to see for myself that this old man had really come back. It sounds like you two have a lot more to discuss before tomorrow." She turned to speak directly to Kathryn. "Captain, the reversal process makes sense to me. I don't trust Annorax but I do trust Chakotay and his judgment."

Kathryn sat up slightly as B'Elanna was talking.

"Thank you, B'Elanna. I'll keep that in mind."

Kathryn sighed after B'Elanna left and leaned her head back against Chakotay. "It's not an easy decision, is it?"

"It is for me. I believe him, Kathryn."

"I didn't mean the incursion reversal project or Annorax. I mean this." Kathryn could feel Chakotay's confusion. "Us, here on this couch. It took losing you, losing most of my crew, and seeing my ship falling apart around me to get me to admit how much I care about you. Right now, here with you, I'm as happy as I've been in many years and I don't want to give it up."

"Our feelings haven't changed during the past year. It's just that today we finally brought them out in the open. I believe that we belong together and I think we'll find our way together in any timeline."

"How long do we have?"

"About eighteen hours. Tuvok will know exactly how long."

"All right. I know a nice little nebula about two hours from here where we can hide safely with our shields down. Then I want the bridge crew to get some rest so we can all be at our stations on the bridge in eighteen hours."

"You're a hard woman to track down." Voyager was months past Krenim space one day when Chakotay caught up with Kathryn in her ready room nearly six hours after her shift was supposed to have ended.

Kathryn was tired and didn't look too pleased to see him. "I doubt you came in here just to tell me that."

"You're right. I have something for you." Chakotay held out a small package. "Happy Birthday, Kathryn."

Kathryn smiled slightly as she realized the date. "This isn't necessary."

"I know, but I wanted to get you something." Chakotay watched as Kathryn opened the package and removed an old style pocket watch. "It's a replica of one worn by Captain…."

"...Captain Cray of the British navy." Kathryn hesitated. "Now how did I know that?"

Chakotay smiled at her and moved toward the replicator. "How about some wine to celebrate?"

"White, I think."

Chakotay carried the wine over to the couch and handed Kathryn her glass. He lifted his glass. "To all the captains, past and present, who bring their crews home safely."

Kathryn nodded her head and sipped her wine before sitting down. Chakotay sat next to her and watched as she examined the watch in more detail before setting it and her wine on the table. "It's beautiful. Thank you."

Kathryn surprised them both when she leaned closer and kissed his cheek. When she didn't move away immediately, Chakotay shifted his arm around her shoulders and she settled against him. "Now, tell me the story of this Captain Cray."

As Chakotay recounted the story, Kathryn closed her eyes and listened to his warm even voice. When he finished speaking, he realized that she had fallen asleep. With a feeling of déjà vu, he shifted slightly to make them both more comfortable before kissing her gently on the forehead. "Many happy returns, Kathryn."