The USS Voyager visited the Ocampa homeworld and found several Kazon encampments and smaller ships spread out all over the surface. Their threat level was minimal to both Voyager and the Maquis ship crewed by a temporary crew, so the invading aliens were warned to pack up and leave. When they refused, all of their ships and means of communications were destroyed.

The Prime Directive was the main one of a set of directives that essentially said we couldn't interact with a pre-warp civilization like the Ocampa. However, the Kazon were a warp civilization and Captain Janeway logged Voyager's interference as enforcing the prime directive on the enemy species and they were protecting the Ocampa from contamination.

That gave the Federation representatives a lot of leeway to act, since the Ocampa that escaped the enclosed environment they lived in, knew about warp ships and other civilizations. Even though Voyager wasn't allowed to provide Starfleet technology to the lesser developed species, setting up the Caretaker's technology did not violate the Prime Directive.

They were also not giving the Ocampa ships or anything else that advanced their society, which also satisfied the Caretaker's own wishes to help them without destroying their way of life.

Voyager rescued all of the captured Ocampa on the surface, which amounted to two older women and one young man named Kez, because the rest had died. The children the two older women had with their captors during their birthing cycles, were half-Kazon and raised with the same mentality as the Kazon race, so they hated their 'weak' mothers and were left behind.

Captain Janeway had embraced each of them after he heard their stories and he told them how sorry he was that they couldn't tell their children how wrong they were to think Ocampa women were weak. The two women were very pleased to hear that and sad about the future fate of their children. The captain also shook the young man's hand and told him the same thing and that curiosity always had its own price to pay, which was something all Federation officers knew well.

He offered to have their memories erased and would return them to their habitat, only for all three of them to immediately refuse. They couldn't go back to their old lives after everything they went through, because then their lives were wasted for nothing. So, he offered them quarters and to spend the rest of their lives travelling with the crew of the Voyager.

The captain promised to show them wonders occasionally and to give them lots of boring waiting around for something to happen, which made them laugh. The three of them quickly settled into family quarters and started the next phase of their lives.

It barely took a week to provide the Ocampa habitat with everything it needed to remain self-sustaining, thanks to Voyagers practically unlimited replicator usage and access to the Caretaker's technological database.

They even did the same sleeping trick they did to capture all of the Maquis on their ship and knocked all the Ocampa out. They were all checked over medically, to make sure none of them were suffering any diseases or contamination from the surface, only to find a Maquis man that was half-Klingon and recovering from the Caretaker's experiments. He was cured of the tests and experimental grafts of caretaker flesh to his body and thrown into the brig with his friends.

Once everything was done, evidence of the changes was logged into their computers as a 'new' discovery of the Caretaker's efforts to keep them safe. The Voyager crew returned to their ship and the Ocampa would never know they had been there.

The Kazon on the surface were a different matter. They knew the Ocampa were somewhere on the planet and wouldn't leave them alone. There wasn't much to be done about it, except to remove the aliens from the surface entirely. So, that's what the Federation did. Transporters were used liberally and they filled their cargo bays with Kazon and they were deposited into the ships still floating around the Caretaker's array.

After using tractor beams on the derelict Kazon ships to pull them a safe distance from the array, both the Maquis ship and Voyager positioned themselves to use the disruption wave to return to the Alpha Quadrant. They had already modified the shields of both ships to keep them protected for the entire ride and the array would blow up as soon as the wave was created, so there was no chance the wave or the detonation could be stopped.

“Execute.” Captain Janeway ordered and the array produced the proper distortion wave and both ships started riding it like a surfer on a surfboard. The array blew up behind them and he nodded at successfully completing the Caretaker's final wish.

Several hours later, the distortion wave dissipated and they were back inside the badlands near the border of Federation space and the Cardassians. The communications console lit up like a Christmas tree as Voyager was hailed dozens of times and received several updates and reports from nearby ships and Deep Space Nine.

Luckily, they had changed the Maquis ship registry to Federation standard and no one fired on them as Voyager escorted them back to the refurbished Cardassian Space Station. The chief security officer was more than happy to take over responsibility for all the Maquis terrorists and they were transported over into the much more spacious prisoner accommodations on the station.

Voyager itself had many reports to file, communications to answer, and a very long debriefing to attend back at Starfleet Headquarters. DS9's commander was delighted when the previous Maquis ship was handed over to him and he saw the modifications it had. With a warning that some of it might become classified later, Voyager departed the station to return home much sooner than anyone had expected.

When they arrived at Earth, the Ocampans chose to stay on the ship with Captain Janeway instead of being transferred to the space station or to the planet's surface. They claimed they spent enough time on a planet and were reluctant to return to that anytime soon.

What followed for Janeway and his crew, was a series of meetings, briefings, technology seminars, and discussing exactly what having access to the Caretaker's technology meant for Starfleet and the Federation of Planets.

Of course, the stingy people of Section 31 tried to use their plants in the Research And Development Department to have the technology classified as state secrets and banned from use... by everyone else except themselves.

What the assholes had realized before everyone else was that many arrays could be set up in certain areas of open space and ships could be sent all over the galaxy in only hours, instead of weeks, months, and even years. It essentially opened up the entire galaxy for them to explore.

It took Captain Janeway openly stating the facts before every single admiral and high officer in Starfleet Command shot down the recommendations of R&D and secretly Section 31. The technology was too valuable to the Federation as a whole to expand their exploratory missions as far as they could stretch them, instead of only stumbling around the nearby sectors.

As the one whom brought such valuable technology back to Starfleet, Captain Janeway was offered one of the first spots of the new division. It was going to take a little work to figure out the logistics of the missions, especially if they wanted the ships to have extended stays and then to build temporary arrays at their destinations to send them back.

Janeway had already proven it worked for multiple ships, so groups of three or four would be tried in a local area first to ensure the technology could be reproduced from the ship's resources. The first step was building more of the generators given to Voyager by the Caretaker. If they could get those installed into the core ship of each of the squadrons, their jobs would become that much easier to bring them home.

It would take months, possibly years to get the whole thing set up properly, so Captain Janeway didn't accept the offered position right away. He agreed to think about it and went back to his ship. He had some prestige from his first mission and didn't want to waste it by sitting around in spacedock doing nothing. He had already handed over a copy of the technology database and it would be a waste to stay there to wait.

Instead, he went over the current missions available and the needs of the Federation, weighed the possibilities, and nodded as he chose a mission to escort an ambassador to the Romulans. The negotiations would be tense and he wanted his advanced ship to be there, just in case.

Plus, he hadn't personally been to the Romulan Neutral Zone or visited Romulan space, and it tickled his sense of adventure. He also wanted the Ocampans to see another planet and the different kind of ships the Romulan Empire had. It made him wonder if they would grant a request for a tour of their ship and he chuckled at the thought of stealing some of their tech from right under their noses.

Captain Janeway also did a quick check to see where Ambassador Spock was if someone else was being sent to Romulus. It was too easy to find out that Spock was currently petitioning for sanctions to be lifted from trade agreements between Vulcan and Romulus, probably to start trying to reunify their people.

Should he tell the older Vulcan woman that their philosophies were too fundamentally different? Spock's attempts to show them they needed each other, was only going to push them farther away and her methods were doomed to fail from the start.

Janeway smiled and sent a personal invite to the woman to enjoy a pleasure cruise as his guest while Voyager toured the Romulan Neutral Zone with the federation ambassador onboard. If anything was going to get the old Vulcan's attention, that was going to do it.

*

Tuvoc attended to the teleportation room as she waited for their guest. Ambassador Spock materialized on the transporter pad and she greeted her elder in the proper way. It put a smile on the old woman's face before she blanked her face and greeted her back.

“Welcome aboard the most advanced ship in Starfleet.” Tuvoc said and motioned for the old woman to walk with her. “Before you comment, it is not a boast. It is officially logged and registered.”

The old woman nodded and walked with her out of the room. “I did some research on your ship when Captain Janeway contacted me to invite me along on your mission.”

Tuvoc smiled slightly before she blanked her face. “He can be most considerate when the need arises.”

“Indeed.” Spock said and they walked along the hallway. “I also reviewed the mission reports. You did well to infiltrate the Maquis as deeply as you did. Your role was pivotal in dismantling that whole embarrassing mess.”

Tuvoc nodded. “The captain felt the same way. Becoming terrorists was not the way to handle a dispute over land that is easily moved or replaced. All the Maquis did was escalate tensions and made their own situation worse instead of making things better.”

“Agreed. Fighting was not the way to handle things.” Spock responded.

“Talking wasn't working, either.” Tuvoc continued and stopped at the guest suite. She hit the admittance button and the two Vulcan women entered the living area of the suite. “Negotiations will always fail if the ones you are trying to convince won't listen to reason.”

The old woman hummed agreement and let out a sigh. “So many things could be fixed if people only talked to each other.”

Tuvoc let another brief smile appear. “That is how the captain handled the Caretaker... after getting his attention.”

Spock smiled briefly, too. “It was a valid tactic, considering the situation, and forced the alien to talk things out.”

“It worked out well after that and he succeeded in bringing us home from a nearly hopeless situation.” Tuvoc said and showed the old woman the comfortable bed and where the computer access was. “Imagine having to fly all the way back to federation space from 70,000 light years away? My meditation techniques suffered several failures as I considered the implications.”

Spock reached out and briefly touched the younger woman's arm. “The Pon Far alone would be a severe concern. I understand your worry and pain.”

“Thank you.” Tuvoc said and sat the old woman down at the small table. She went to the replicator and made several dishes that were specialties on Vulcan.

“They never get the programming right for those.” Spock said. “Something in the cooking process is lost when it is replicated.”

“Yes, in the old versions. These were programmed by the captain.” Tuvoc said and arrayed the dishes on the table and sat opposite the old woman. They both said their traditional prayers and started eating.

Spock let out a soft gasp and she stared at the other Vulcan woman.

“As I said, this is the most advanced ship in Starfleet and it is not a boast.” Tuvoc said.

Spock could only nod and they both enjoyed the meal that was the same if prepared back on Vulcan. It was a touch of home that neither of them had had in years and they both appreciated it and appreciated that the captain was the one to give it to them.

After the food was gone and Tuvoc had bid her a good night and left, Spock couldn't help but look forward to meeting Captain Janeway the next day. She slept very well that night for the first time in years.

*

As the captain of the ship, I went to the transporter room to greet the federation ambassador and his aide. The man was stoic, which was a perfect fit for meeting the Romulans, and his aide was a cute little thing, barely five feet tall, and the woman blushed when I greeted her by name.

I led them to their quarters, something I had upgraded to be quite lavish, just so they knew I was showing them I knew how important they were. I didn't enter with them and only described the place, so they knew I needed to be invited into their assigned space without actually stating so.

“I don't appreciate you flirting with my wife, Captain Janeway.” The man said out of the blue.

I held in my sigh at the accusation, because all I did was act polite. I didn't hit on her or give her searching looks, even if she was quite attractive and would have had me hard with her inquiring glances if I wasn't controlling myself.

The woman herself had a deep red face and looked away from both of us.

“I apologize that being polite can be seen that way, ambassador. I will endeavour to not be as welcoming to you and your aide when we inevitably meet again in the near future.” I said, quite pointedly.

It was the ambassador's turn to have his face go red, because we had a formal dinner scheduled for that very evening and he had let his jealousy over his pretty wife get to him. Now the meal was going to be awkward for everyone, especially him and his wife, because he had stated being polite was unwelcome.

“Have a good day.” I said with a flat voice and hit the door close button. What a moron. I thought and walked down the hallway to the turbolift.

I rode it up to the observation deck and went to meet with Spock. Tuvoc had softened the old woman up for me and I hoped Spock was as accepting of my words as she was of my cooking skills. As soon as I entered the large room, Spock gave me a brief amused look.

“I see you've met Ambassador Velorum and his... ahem... aide.” Spock stated.

I couldn't help it and laughed. “I couldn't even be polite.”

Spock nodded and waved at the spot next to her. I walked right over and stood beside her. She was of a similar height to mine, six foot three inches, and it was a comfort I didn't know I needed until I had it. I didn't fight the smile as it grew on my face and Spock looked at me and gave me another brief amused look.

“I know how you feel.” Spock said, implying more than what I said about the ambassador.

I nodded and we both turned and looked out at the starfield passing us by. We didn't say another word for the remaining time allotted and I felt like it was one of the best meetings I had attended in weeks.