Title: From the Past
Author: SaRa
Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Blah, blah, blah. Paramount waved their magic wand and we had the crew of Voyager. Jeri Taylor said so, and Gul Camet came into existance.
Author's note: I was originally going to enter this in Astrogirl's spooky fic contest, but I didn't have it finished in time. I found it several weeks later and decided to put a twist on it. Then, I suddenly decided to enter the Awesome Author Award contest and I needed one more entry. So, a few hours under the deadline, I finally finished this six month old story and include the big C's: corn, the captain, Chakotay, and Cardassians. Here's to last minute ideas!



Chakotay leaned against the door frame as he waited for Kathryn to come out of her quarters. Three minutes ago, she had told him that she'd be out in a minute.

Come on, Kathryn, we're going to be late, thought Chakotay. But then, why should this year be any different? Every year they were late for Tom's Halloween party. Normally, Chakotay would have figured that Kathryn was busy putting the finishing touches on her costume, but this year Tom had decided to do something that didn't involve dressing up.

Chakotay was thankful for that. Each year his costume had gotten more elaborate and less comfortable. Last year he had gone as Dracula. His costume had been wonderfully detailed, right down to the fangs. Oh, those damn fangs!

He had been so close to kissing Kathryn goodnight and those blasted fangs had locked together, making it impossible to open his mouth.

Kathryn had found it to be hysterically funny while Chakotay himself had been on the verge of tears.

He'd ended up in sickbay, listening to the Doctor's lecture about silly customs and half-witted crew members who always wound up sick or injured because they participated in said customs. A five second procedure had taken twenty minutes. When he was finally able to leave, Chakotay had herd the Doctor yell, "And don't eat any candy! I'm not treating you for 'locked fangs' and a tummy ache!"

"Hi. Were you waiting long? I forgot where I'd put my flashlight, so I had to look for it," Kathryn said as she stepped out of her quarters.

Chakotay shook his head. "No, I wasn't waiting long," he lied. "Speaking of flash lights, why did Tom tell us to bring them? Any idea?"

"Something about a haunted corn field maze, I think," she answered as they walked to the turbolift.

Once they stepped into the lift and requested the holodeck, Chakotay said, "You look nice."

Kathryn looked down at her sneakers, jeans, and orange wool sweater. "Thanks, but I feel like I'm about a centimeter tall. Why can't shoes with heels be more comfortable?"

Chakotay bent his knees slightly, as if bending down to talk to a small child. "Does this help?" he asked. "If it does, I'll make a point of crouching whenever I talk to you."

"Sure, make me feel like a little kid!" she said, laughing.

The lift halted and they got out. Still laughing, the command team walked to Holodeck Two. When the doors opened, the sight of the senior staff standing in a circle around Tom greeted them.

"Captain, Chakotay. Nice of you to join us," said Tom, who had been animatedly explaining something to the group. "I was just saying that the first team out of the maze gets a bottle of wine from the Picard vineyards, ten replicator rations per person, and an hour of holodeck time, again per person."

Tuvok, who had been dragged into participating by both Neelix and Janeway said, "Mr. Paris, you and Mr. Kim created this program. It would stand to reason that you already know the layout of the labyrinth and where each distraction will come from."

Neelix narrowed his eyes. "You're right, Mr. Vulcan! Why, that's not at all fair. I'm shocked that -- "

"Neelix," interrupted Harry, "it was all randomly selected by the computer. We just specified some of the parameters, like the weather and the time of night."

"Speaking of weather, couldn't you have made it a little warmer, Flyboy?" asked B'Elanna.

"I wanted it to be authentic," Tom said. "It's perfect Halloween weather. There's even a full moon."

"The hypothermia will certainly be authentic," commented the Doctor.

"So, it's a little chilly," said Harry. "You'll be having too much fun to think about it in a few minutes."

Tom took the hint. "All right. Everyone, split into pairs and go stand at the entrance to the maze."

Kathryn and Chakotay, Neelix and Tuvok, Tom and B'Elanna, and Harry and the Doctor paired off and walked to the maze. Seven of Nine had had a good excuse so she, unlike Tuvok, had not been forced to attend Tom's Halloween outing. Instead, she was helping Naomi Wildman prepare a science project for the Doctor's biology class.

"Go!" Tom exclaimed.

The pairs went separate ways moments after stepping into the maze. Kathryn and Chakotay took the path on the right. It lead away from the exit, making it appear to be the longest route. "The longest way is usually the right way," Chakotay commented.

"You can't start a fire, Chakotay, so why should I believe you can get us out of a maze?" Kathryn asked, rubbing her arms to warm up, despite only having been in the cool air for a few minutes.

Chakotay shook his head. "You and B'Elanna could freeze to death if it was sixty degrees out. As for my fire-building skills, I can start other kinds of fires. If you get to cold, let me know and I'll warm you up."

They walked past a left turn and Kathryn shivered.

"Kathryn, I mean it. I won't do anything indecent, unless -- "

"No, that wasn't from the cold. There's something behind us," Kathryn said. At that moment, they passed another turn, only to have a ghost leap out at them and vanish. It would have been amusing, if they weren't worried about what was behind them.

Chakotay and Kathryn spun around at the same moment and found themselves staring at a Cardassian who was holding a knife. Chakotay's blood boiled and he swore Paris would pay for this. "Computer, delete the Cardassian," he snapped.

The computer beeped. "There is no Cardassian in this program," it stated.

Chakotay's heart sped up and Kathryn paled. "Janeway to security," she spoke.

The computer responded with, "All computer functions have been disabled."

"Damn it!" Chakotay exploded. "Computer, end holographic program," he tried, despite knowing it was useless.

The computer didn't even acknowledge this, although the Cardassian did. "I am Gul Camet. You, Maquis, are dead."

Neither human needed to hear more. They turned and ran, but the Gul was hard to escape. Kathryn tripped over a stray ear of corn, falling to the ground and tumbling forward. Chakotay grabbed his dazed captain and help her to her feet. Keeping his arm firmly around her, he began to run once again.

They reached a fork in the road and Chakotay went to the left, still dragging Kathryn with him. The path itself veered to the left again and brought them face to face with their worst nightmare: a dead end.

"Oh, God. Just cut through the corn. We're going to be cut up as hell, but do it," Kathryn said. She grabbed Chakotay hand. "We can't get separated," she explained.

Chakotay pulled her into the corn. The stalks' sharp leaves caught on their clothing and scratched at their skin as they ran, Gul Camet gaining on them steadily. Soon they found themselves back on the trail, right at a fork in the path.

Kathryn opted for the path to the right. Unfortunately, that was another dead end, but Gul Camet wasn't following them, apparently having taken a different turn.

Both Kathryn and Chakotay bent over to catch their breath, thinking themselves safe for the moment.

A noise captured Kathryn's attention and she looked up in time to see Camet step out of the stalks behind Chakotay. "Behind you!" she yelped.

Chakotay spun just in time and the knife barely missed his shoulder.

Before either Chakotay or the Cardassian could regain their bearings, Kathryn managed to swing her elbow into Camet's stomach, causing him to double over. She immediately followed that by delivering a blow between the Gul's shoulder blades.

Camet dropped the knife and Chakotay grabbed it and drove it into Camet's abdomen. As soon as he did this, Camet and the knife disappeared.

Shocked, relieved, and exhausted, Kathryn and Chakotay dropped to the ground.

After catching his breath, Chakotay asked, "Did...did he say he was Gul Camet?"

Kathryn, still out of breath, crawled over to Chakotay. She leaned up against him and answered, "Yes. Why?"

Chakotay frowned. "I killed him."

Resting her head on Chakotay's shoulder and closing her eyes, Kathryn smiled. "Thank God."

"No, no. I killed him before. Years ago, in the Maquis. Camet was already dead, Kathryn."

"Is that why he vanished? Was he a...a ghost?" Kathryn panted.

Chakotay considered this for a few moments. "He must have been. Should we ask Tuvok to -- "

"No," Kathryn answered, sitting upright. "Keep Tuvok out of this. Hell, keep this out of our logs; out of our memories. This never happened."

"Why?"

"Because I said so, damn it!" she snapped and leapt to her feet. Hugging herself, she spun away from Chakotay and stared off into the distance.

Chakotay climbed to his feet and moved to stand behind Kathryn. "Tell me."

Kathryn bit her lower lip. "When I was an ensign, Admiral Paris and I were captured by Cardassians. He was the one who captured us."

"Did he hurt you? Ugh, stupid question." Chakotay mentally berated himself for his stupidity. He knew better than anyone what Cardassians did to those they captured.

"No, he didn't." Kathryn waited a moment, and Chakotay's hopes rose. She brought them crashing down when she continued with, "He had others do it for him."

Chakotay wrapped his arms around Kathryn. "I wish I'd known. I would have made the bastard suffer," he said, his face buried in Kathryn's hair.

"You didn't know me then."

"That's not important."

They stood there in silence for a few minutes, holding each other tightly. When they pulled apart, Kathryn said, "Let's go win that wine. We deserve to get drunk after that."

"Yes, ma'am," Chakotay agreed. He took Kathryn's hand and together they walked off into the corn field.

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