A/N: Merry Christmas everyone!

Chapter 1

"Kim to Commander Chakotay," Harry's voice chirped through Chakotays combadge as he walked the halls of Voyager after checking the systems in Engineering with B'Elanna.

"Chakotay here."

"Commander, long range sensors are detecting a cluster of M class planets 5 light years away."

Chakotay nodded, entering the Turbolift, "Acknowledged. I'll be there soon."

...

It had been three weeks since Voyager had encountered any planets. In need of more supplies and a chance to give the crew some much needed shoreleave, as well as the chance to meet a new alien species, returning to the bridge Chakotay ordered Tom Paris to lay in a course.

As Voyager neared the planets, their scans began to show that though they were essentially warp capable, it also showed the characteristics of a pre-warp civilization. The kind of characteristics that was once demonstrated on ancient Earth.

...

Hours passed and soon the bridge became silenced by a discomforting aura. Though no scans had showed anything to be out of the norm, the crew could not help but sense that trouble was lurking around the corner.

A cold shiver travelled down their spines as they fought the inner terror they felt inside of them. This wasn't just a coincidence. Something about this new sector of space they had just entered had provoked this feeling and if it was anything to go by, what lay ahead of them was not something they wanted to face at this point of time. Chakotay had taken the crews concerns astride as he too felt that something was not quite right with the space they had just entered.

...

After a restless and sleepless night, Chakotay threw back the covers of his bed, quickly changed into his uniform and headed out of his quarters.

"Chakotay to Seven of Nine and Neelix."

"Yes, Commander," Seven's monotonous crisp voice sounded through his combadge as Neelix also chimed in enthusiastically despite the early hour of the morning.

"Meet me in Astrometics, right away."

"Understood," Seven affirmed.

Neelix straightened up in bed, "I'll be right there, Commander."

Chakotay had his suspicions and this was one that he could not ignore. Not if he turned out to be right.

….

It had been the longest few hours of Chakotay's life as he sat rigid in his Command chair, still unnerved with the ambiance that the space seemed to emanate.

"Seven of Nine to Commander Chakotay," he was brought out of his reverie.

"Go ahead," he answered quickly, his throat dry in anticipation of whatever confirmation she was about to give him.

"I have analyzed the scans."

"And?" he pressured.

"Mr Neelix and I can confirm that the region of space, is indeed -Sintarik."

The bridge went quiet and many could see Chakotay begin to tense in his chair, starring out at the space before him.

"Acknowledged."

Chakotay forced himself to reply with the best Command facade he could manage, standing up and walking the few feet ahead of him until he stood in the centre of the bridge as Captain Janeway would.

"Continue the scans. I'll be there as soon as I can. Chakotay out."

Tuvok who at this point had remained silent throughout the situation, standing stoically behind his tactical station spoke up, "Should we inform the Captain?"

"No." Chakotays answer was definite.

"If or when the situation escalates i'll inform her myself, but right now I don't want to bother her with this if it isn't absolutely necessary. I trust you understand that?"

He gave a kurt nod, "Very well."

"Harry go down to astrometrics and give Seven a hand with the scans. I want to get a better understanding of this region and how to get us out of here if and when needed.

"Aye sir," he complied leaving his post behind Ops and disappeared inside the turbolift.

Moments later a bleep at Tuvoks station alerted them that they were no longer alone.

Chakotay proceeded in a quick pace to the Vulcans station, "Report."

"A vessel has dropped out of orbit."

Another bleeping alerted them of more.

"We are being hailed."

There was a deafening pause as Chakotay processed the situation, walking down to the centre of the bridge once more. Then with confidence that Chakotay could only credit as being the teaching of Kathryn Janeway, he looked sternly ahead of him and ordered the Command.

"On screen."

A visual instantly appeared on the bridge's view screen. A tall male alien species sat behind his operation station, alongside three other officers. They had a greenish hue to their skin with deep ridges that ran along their temples.

"I am Ambassador Lenaro of Sintarik Prime."

The words struck Chakotay deep in the gutt. He only had one thought and the rest of the crew had it too.

Kathryn.

But he replied with every ounce of the trained Starfleet Officer that he was.

"I'm Captain Chakotay of the Federation Starship Voyager."

In an official capacity, this was a lie but one every crew member on the bridge knew was necessary to prevent suspicion being aroused by the Sintarik's. If they were anything like Neelix had described them, then he wasn't going to take any risks. Not now.

"You have entered our space, to what is your purpose?" their black beady eyes narrowed.

"We are only passing through, trying to make our way home."

Voyager would have to wait for another opportunity to replenish their supplies, as it stood the Sintariks posed too much of a risk to them if they were ever to find out, and even Chakotay could not guarantee that at that point of time.

"While we welcome new species amongst our sector, we live an...abiding lifestyle and have strict polices about they way in which we fraternize. If you are to continue travelling through our space, we advise that you follow with our customs with...great precision, for the consequences of not abiding will be – great," Lenaro concluded, flashing a set of pearly white teeth in an almost evil grin.

"I understand, and we will do our best to adhere to them."

"Then I will look forward to meeting you. As policy before you continue your quest through our space I will need to check your ship and crew for any violations of our policies will be dealt with. Promptly."

This made Chakotay recall the tales Neelix had told him years ago. The rumors of the punishments the Sintariks imposed on travellers who in their eyes were guilty of carrying out 'illict affairs,' violating the strict principles of their society that they had for centuries maintained longer than any civilization they had ever encountered, in the 24th Century.

"I will arrive in one hour, after I have reported back to my people."

Just before Lenaro was about to cut the visual, he stopped and looked closely at Chakotay.

"USS Voyager..." he mused aloud. "Have we met before? Your ship sounds...familiar."

The breath was almost knocked out of him as well as several of the bridge officers. However Chakotay pressed on and executed an almost perfect Command response.

"We are from a distant planet more than 40,000 light years away."

Though in essence it was the truth, Chakotay knew that their arrival in the Delta-Quadrant had not been a quiet one. They had experienced too much already and their reputation certainly exuded them. Ordinarily prior recognition by other alien races had not been a problem for Voyager, but other times it was a plight.

Chakotay just hoped that they hadn't heard too much already.

"Then you have a long journey ahead of you," the alien grinned once more.

"Indeed we do."

Chakotay just stared intensely into his eyes, though his appearance did nothing to show he had anything to hide, Chakotay could tell that the alien knew a little too much than he ought to. The question was. How much?

Once the visual was cut Chakotay immediately slipped out of Command mode.

"Computer locate Captain Janeway."

'Captain Janeway is in holodeck 2' The computer responded.

Chakotay strode past the tactical station heading towards the turbolift.

"Tuvok you have the bridge," He called, "I have to find the Captain."

"Commander-" The Vulcan began.

Chakotay paused in his tracks.

"I don't want to hear it," he barked, raising his voice a little louder than he had intended to.

"Right now my primary goal is to make sure that she is going to be safe. Now, can you hold the bridge until I've secured her?"

Tuvok looked straight ahead, dismissing eye contact and paused for a moment before giving a firm nod.

"Aye, Commander."

"Good. Take us to Yellow Alert," and with that he swiftly entered the turbolift and ordered it to deck 6.

To be continued...