The Labyrinth
by Ewige Studentin
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Rating: T.
Summary: Icheb develops an infatuation for his superior officer and tries to prove he's worthy by adapting an alien technology. This experiment has dramatic consequences for him and for the commanding team.
A/N: A huge thank you to polomare for the beta!
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Day 1. Things You Can't Imagine
"Watch your heads."
Chakotay and Icheb had to go down to their knees to crawl into the room with a low grey ceiling. Mezoti, Naomi and the twins followed them just bending their heads. The room was hewn in rock and had no windows. Watery yellow vegetation covered the walls and provided a dim light.
"And this... is the Maze of Imagination?" Mezoti moved closer to Icheb to sit by his side.
Chakotay made himself comfortable on the floor. "Patience. It's all in here. In one's mind." He smiled and patted the girl on her shoulder. His voice lowered to whisper. "Imagine......."
A bright flash of light blinded Icheb for a second. He jumped to his feet and turned around. He was standing in front of a green wall that reached the level of his neck. The bushes grew so close together that he could neither see nor feel through this living wall. Juicy leaves tickled his fingers as he tried. He went on his tiptoes to look over the area. There was no sign of the others, only vanilla sky and chaotic contours of the endless labyrinth.
One more flash and the landscape changed. Icheb's shoes drowned in hot sand. The sun was at zenith, and the air was rippling with the heat. Icheb took a deep breath and noticed a faint smell of salty water. He must had been on a shore.
Suddenly he became aware of the sounds around him. A roar of a thousand throats filled his ears. A spear pierced the air just an inch away from his head. He ducked instinctively and turned around. The dark sea of people was moving. Shields and swords of the riders reflected the sun light. Icheb stood perplexed as the snorting horses galloped towards him. He only registered that the closest rider was a strong blond soldier. Then Icheb felt the horse's breath on his neck, and then... the horse jumped right through him.
Chakotay's voice sounded like miles away. Icheb was not sure whether it came from the sky or was just in his head.
"One of the most exhausting battles for Troy had begun..."
=/\=
Icheb and the kids were still sitting wide-eyed on the floor. Naomi broke the silence.
"That's how I like history most."
"It was a very unusual lesson, thank you Commander," added Icheb. "It's impressive that the human brain can keepall these details without the support of a cortical node."
"I'll take that as a compliment." Chakotay winked. "Glad you had fun. Don't forget that you have to compose an essay about the events you witnessed. And now let us go. We don't want to abuse our hosts' hospitality, do we?"
=/\=
Captain Janeway and Neelix materialized on the transporter pods only a few moments after Chakotay and his small group stepped down from them. The Talaxian was beaming.
"A successful mission?" Chakotay asked the Captain, walking out of the transporter room with her.
"You bet, Commander. The Uli are as advanced as we are, they are curious and willing to exchange. Their society is extremely heterogeneous, and their resources are of the highest quality. Ulan vegetables make Mister Neelix' whiskers curl."
"No one could ignore it." Chakotay smiled.
"Want to hear the details over a dinner?"
"Sure. 1900, my quarters."
"I'll bring the wine."
=/\=
Janeway hesitated for a second before she chimed. Her hand ran over the collar of her cream blouse that she had worn last time for Prixin. The collar was perfect: not buttoned up and not too opened. She smiled and pushed the visitor button.
After the dinner she was sitting on the sofa with a glass of wine, observing Chakotay who was recycling the dishes. The corners of her mouth twitched in a barely recognizable smile. He hadn't expected her to wear anything casual. In his attempt to follow suit, he had first opened his uniform jacket and then taken it off completely. The sight of her first officer in the grey tee-shirt was a rare pleasure for the eye although nothing unseen before. Her calves went numb, and the sofa felt more cosy than ever – an effect of the fruity dry wine, she told herself.
Chakotay finished and came to sit next to her. They had discussed the events of the day over the dinner, so nothing interrupted the comfortable silence. He sipped his wine, looking at Kathryn from under his lowered lashes. Finally he took both their glassesand set them on the coffee table. He sat closer to Kathryn, taking her hand in his. His fingers caressed her palm, tracing its every line. The barely sensible touch grew stronger when Chakotay's fingers slid up to her wrist, moving slowly under the wide sleeve of her blouse. His thumb brushed the sensitive skin on the inner side of her arm, and goosebumps immediately covered her shoulder. Kathryn lowered her eyelids to hide her growing impatience. When Chakotay's other hand came to rest on her knee, he raised his head and their eyes met. He felt summoned by the blue desire. Slowly, afraid to scare heroff, he leanedin to kiss her.
"Icheb to Commander Chakotay."
They jumped away from each other. Adrenalin flushed the synthehol out of their systems at once. Chakotay reached for the comm badge that was still pinned to his jacket.
"Chakotay here."
"I'm sorry to trouble you so late, Commander, but I need your permission to beam down to Ula again. I have to gather more information about the Maze for my essay."
"Can't it wait until tomorrow, Icheb?"
"The essays are due at 1000 and I still have to collect some samples of the maze vegetation. I'd like to analyze its genome, I think I can adapt them to serve as an energy efficient holodeck on Voyager."
"Sounds interesting. What about your regeneration?"
"I don't have to regenerate for the next several hours, sir."
"Fine, let a bridge officer contact the Uli and arrange your transport."
"Thank you sir. Icheb out."
Chakotay let his jacket out of his hands.
"Computer, what time is it?"
"It's 22 hours 17 minutes."
Janeway and Chakotay exchanged glances.
"Icheb's eagerness can be scary at times."
"Apparently he's not preparing an essay about Troy. I have a feeling that his project will be out of your purview, Chakotay."
"As long as he learns something…"
Janeway stood up from the sofa.
"It's late, I think I should be going. Walk me to my door?"
"Sure."
They covered the few steps to her quarters in silence.
"Then…" Chakotay tugged on his ear.
"Then…" Janeway leaned with her back against the door.
"Sleep well."
"And you."
Chakotay didn't move to turn around and leave. Janeway grinned.
"Well, it's our third date, I think you should kiss me good night."
In the next moment Chakotay's lips were only mere inches away from her face.
"Yeah, I think so."
He covered the remaining distance without losing their eye contact. He only brushed her lips – a light caress on the verge of torture. Kathryn kissed him back on the corner of his mouth, then moved down his lower lip, nibbling on it. Chakotay's body was pressing her into the door. There was a flicker in her eye as he tried to deepen the kiss. The door opened all of a sudden and she backed in.
"Good night, Chakotay. Sweet dreams."
He was speechless. Her mischievous grin was the last thing he saw before the door closed.
He rolled his eyes and smiled. Next time he won't let her cheat him that easily.
=/\=
Icheb was sitting with his legs crossed on the floor of the grey room. Apparently, the plants had been producing more light in darkness, so he didn't need an auxiliary light source for taking samples, scanning, or making notes.
The Doctor's report from the previous week stated that the simple waste products of the plant's catabolism were the reason for the collective trance. A high concentration of monomers in the breathing air could temporarily cross link nerve paths of the species that had at least rudimentary telepathic abilities. Now Icheb could see it himself on the 4D screen of a scanner. Fascinated, he observed how alien amino acids stimulated the growth of axons in his brain. New neural connections were just waiting to transmit electrochemical signals. Icheb put the sensitive device away and closed his eyes for a moment.
The yellow plant was rather common on Ula, especially on the dry rocky islands on the north. However, the plant brought mental pictures to lifeonly in several places, one of them was this abandoned, cavern-like hut in the middle of nowhere. Icheb gathered various data on the particular qualities of ground and atmosphere. This data, some samples, and a bit of luck could help him to shed some light on the mystery of this plant.
He wanted to crawl out of the room but decided to check one more thing. It was weird that a single word could make one fall in a trance.
"Imagine."
Icheb felt like he had been punched in his stomach. He was lying on the ground of the labyrinth, gasping for air, surrounded by the living walls that shone in saturated green. The sky of a poisonous yellow color stung his eyes. He felt a wave of nausea. The concentration of the monomers must be too high. I have to get out of here. The next flash of light came despite Icheb's mental struggle to terminate the experiment.
The next thing he saw was Tuvok furrowing his brow. He was losing a game of kadis-kot to Harry Kim who was holding B'Elanna's bat'leth.
B'Elanna Torres ran into astrometrics and turned a container with screw-nuts over Icheb's head. He found himself claiming he was innocent and blaming everything on Neelix.
Bare-chested, long-haired Neelix had been galloping towards Icheb on a bay horse, shaking a ladle in his hand. The sight was terrifying. Icheb shook his head in attempt to stop the kaleidoscopic images.
Commander's vision quests must have trained him for keeping mental control in such situations.
At this thought Chakotay appeared before Icheb's eye. He saw him leaving the transporter room with the Captain. It was just like in that afternoon apart from Chakotay's hand on the Captain's bottom. Icheb couldn't believe his eyes. This must be my imagination.
Dozens of faces have flooded the room in the next moment. There was Seven, the Doctor, the Captain, Tuvok, but also his parents, Naomi, the Academy instructor whose hologram had been in the program on Starfleet protocol… They all were speaking simultaneously.
"…rules…"
"…obey the orders…"
"…it's not logical…"
"…I've been missing you…"
"…guilt…"
"…they affect caroticotympanic nerves…"
"…results in transfer to another ship…"
"…trust…"
"…you don't function properly…"
The faces were whirling around Icheb, deafening him with shredded phrases. He fell to his knees, closing his ears, concentrating himself, trying to bring order into this mental chaos.
Suddenly it became dark. His own heavy breathing was the only sound Icheb could hear. When his eyes got accustomed to the darkness, he recognized a silhouette of a woman several steps away. She stood with her back to him, silent and motionless. He couldn't see her face, but her hair and her statue made his heart miss a beat. He approached her slowly. She didn't turn around. He lifted his hand to touch her shoulder but didn't dare. Instead, his palms caressed the air near her arms, trying to slide themso close that he could feel the heat of her body, though carefully avoiding any touch.
There he stood, staring at her neck, attracted by her pale skin, intimidated by his thoughts. He knew he'd never do it. He adored her too much. She was the one who had been supporting him just by her presence from day one. She was the perfection – for him and for the rest of the crew. He wasn't worth her.
Suddenly Icheb became aware that it was only a fantasy, a creation of his own mind. It wasn't real. He started pacing behind the woman's back.
A fleeting kiss on her cheek… nobody will learn about it.
In the next moment he gritted his teeth and scolded himself for such thoughts.
It would be something unbecoming a Starfleet cadet and a gentleman.
His respect of her and himself stifled the heat in his stomach. Tenderness and protectiveness remained.
I'd do anythingfor her. – She doesn't need me. – I'll do my best serving under her. – She expects it from everyone.
The silhouette cracked. A black split along the collar separated the head from the body, and it fell down, shattering in grains of sand as it hit the floor. The sand level rose with horrifying speed. In the next moment Icheb was swallowed by the hot dune. He couldn't move his extremities. The sand squashed his chest and filled his lungs. The only thing his paralyzedmind could recognize was a distant beep… and a familiar voice.
"Seven of Nine to Icheb."