Title: Freedom Fighter
Author: SaRa
Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: The names are theirs, but the rest bears little or no resemblance to Paramount's property.
Author's note: Consider this to be part of the Mirror Universe's Kathryn Janeway's life story. It wasn't supposed to be, but that's what happened and I'm cool with it.



I wonder where, exactly, my life went wrong. I'm one of the good guys -- one of the Maquis. We're freedom fighters, fighting for the rights of the weakest species in the Alpha Quadrant: the humans.

Most of the Maquis are humans who, like me, were lucky enough to escape the Alliance. The Alliance used to be made up of just the Klingons, Cardassians, and Romulans, but lately, the only species left out in the cold is the humans. The Alliance is even starting to except certain humans like Chakotay and his crew.

Those traitors are among the meanest humans in the universe. They form the Terran Empire, which is a branch of the Alliance. The captains treat their crews like animals, though perhaps that isn't as wrong as it seems. The crew members act like animals. They're always fighting amongst themselves and with other ships' crews. The punishment for such actions is usually some form of torture, like the agonizer or, in more severe cases, the agony booth. Execution isn't uncommon, either.

Being a Maquis, I know as well as anyone how accurate the terms agonizer and agony booth are. My first encounter was with three pissed off Cardies when I was seventeen. I couldn't move for a week after they were through with me. Once I escaped their camp, I knew I wanted to join the Maquis.

No, that's not true. I actually knew long before then. I knew they day I watched those young Fleeters break into my house and kill my parents. One moved to stab me with her dagger, but her friend stop her. He said that I would suffer more living without my parents than I would in those brief moments before death. I knew then, even at eleven years old, that I wanted to kill of as many of these disgustingly heartless beings as I possibly could.

My latest encounter with an agonizer has a much more interesting story than any other. We'd just lured Voyager, Chakotay's state of the art Alliance vessel, into the Badlands when a force pulled us to the Delta Quadrant. Voyager barely had a scratch on her compared to Eagle, who was damaged beyond repair. After a minute and a half of consideration, I beamed onto Voyager's bridge -- alone.

That was a mistake if I ever made one!

The first thing Fleeters do when they see a Maquis is shoot to kill. Fortunately, that didn't happen. Chakotay told his crew to hold their fire or he'd personally cram a plasma grenade down each of their throats. I shouldn't have relaxed, but I did. Before I knew it, Chakotay had grabbed me and pressed the agonizer to my neck, though he didn't activate it. "Why the hell are you on my ship, Maquis?" he growled, his mouth close to my ear.

My hands were wrapped around his arm, trying to pry it from around my throat as I choked out, "My crew...we...need...your help."

He laughed in typical bad guy fashion and then activated the agonizer. In those few moments before the pain became too great for me to sense anything other than it, I felt him let go of me and realized that I dropped to the floor of the bridge. I writhed in agony for a few moments before blacking out.

When I woke up, I was in his ready room. He was sitting on the couch and had my head resting in his lap. To the outside observer, we must have resembled a couple relaxing in a meadow or by a pond from an old painting. He was even playing with my hair. It was a very soothing, loving motion. I almost forgot that he was one of them and that I'd sworn to hate them until I died. But I was so tempted to lay there with my eyes closed and enjoy the sensation that I hadn't felt in the years since I'd learned Mark was working for the Alliance, trying to learn all of my secrets. I'd had to kill him myself. I slit his throat one night while he was asleep. The blood ruined my favorite nightgown -- the long, form fitting one made of peach colored silk. It's odd that his death didn't bother me as much as the loss of my nightgown.

To break the spell Chakotay was so easily weaving over me, I forced thoughts of the bloody battles and the even worse aftermath of each into my mind. Visions of most of my closest friends, bloodied, broken, or dead, filled my head. It wasn't pleasant, but it served its purpose. I was pushing his hands away before I'd finished clearing the gruesome images from my head.

I pulled away forcefully and nearly landed on my ass. I'd been expecting him to try and keep me there, but he let me go without any hesitation.

He stood, too. He walked over to me and said, "You said that your crew needs help. Well, I lost half of my crew. We can travel together and share resources and personnel, but I don't guarantee that your crew will be treated humanely by my crew or myself."

I took a deep breath, hating that I would have to tell him exactly how bad off we were. "Look, my warp core is going to overload in about an hour. I'm not going to have a ship, or a crew that's alive, soon."

He walked in a circle around me and I feared I'd be stabbed in the back. I went tense and he noticed. He chuckled lightly and I found it to be relaxing, unlike his earlier laugh. "You'd do anything for your crew, wouldn't you?" he asked, still circling.

"Anything," I agreed, already knowing what he would have me do.

Now that I think about it, that's where my life went so wrong, yet so right. That's the reason I'm standing here, in front of a full length mirror in Chakotay's quarters, wondering what I should wear tonight. I hate that my crew is forced to live on this ship. They're being treated so badly, while if anyone so much as looks at me the wrong way, Chakotay has them punished severely. It's as if I'm royalty and they're the dime a dozen peasants that the upper class -- namely, Chakotay's crew -- can treat like dirt.

I never, ever thought I would say this, but I love being on the Fleeters' ship and serving as the second in command. I just don't love what it's doing to my crew.