Summary: Kathryn Janeway and her crew are transported into the world of the Warriors by a mysterious force named 'Q,' and must learn to survive as cats for however long Q decides to make them stay. As if that isn't enough, he's also added a few of their old enemies into the Warriors' World, just to liven things up a bit... Like you do...
Disclaimer: I don't own Warriors or Star Trek: Voyager. If I did, things would be a lot different for little old me now.
Note: This is set in Eclipse, before the battle. Firestar and Sandstorm broke up a while ago, Samantha Wildman died on an away mission a while ago and Naomi now looks to Kathryn like her mother, and Kes never left, and neither did the Borg children. That's all. Enjoy!
Kathryn's entire body hurt. It felt like she had been dragged to Earth and back. She slowly opened her eyes and winced at the bright light. As her eyes adjusted, she made out a forest, with leafy trees and grass. She blinked a few times, and rubbed her forehead with her paw. She froze.
Paw? She looked at the silver and black furred paw in astonishment, her jaw dropping.
"Well, it's about time!" a voice snapped. "You've been asleep ages? Did you have a nice nap, kitty? On our territory?" Kathryn turned her head towards the sound, and was shocked to see a cream-coloured tomcat glaring back at her.
"Don't bother trying to run, kittypet," he snorted, his blue eyes dark. "My friend has already gone to fetch our leader. Personally, I should drag you back to camp by the scruff of the neck!"
Kathryn jumped to her feet, but it felt so unnatural standing on all fours that she immediately sat back down again. She finally found her voice.
"Who are you?" she asked, trying to control her trembling.
"My name's Berrynose," the cat said proudly, "warrior of ThunderClan? And you, kittypet?" Kathryn had no idea what kittypet meant, but she knew it was an insult.
"Kathryn," she replied evenly. "Where am I?"
"Where kittypets like you should know never to come," Berrynose snorted with disdain. "ThunderClan territory. You wait till our leader gets here! He'll tear your fur off for venturing here!"
"I'll do nothing of the sort, Berrynose," a deep voice scolded, and a ginger tomcat prowled out of the bushes. Kathryn was shocked at now Berrynose's manner changed. He crouched close to the ground, looking up at the leader with wide eyes.
"I'm sorry, Firestar," he apologised. "I was trying to frighten her."
"And it seems to be working," Firestar growled. "That's enough for now. Can't you see she's only a poor lost kittypet?" Kathryn itched to make a sharp retort, but held her tongue wisely.
Firestar turned back towards Kathryn, his green eyes soft.
"What's your name?" he asked gently.
"Kathryn," Voyager's Captain replied, a bit braver now.
"Well, Kathryn," Firestar mewed, sitting down and wrapping his tail over his paws, obviously trying to look non-threatening, "can you tell me why you're here?"
"I don't know," Kathryn replied honestly. "I... I woke up here. I have no idea what's going on." She could see that Firestar didn't believe her by the way he narrowed his eyes.
"I think you'd better come back to camp with us," he said. "You can rest, and we'll discuss this later. You look exhausted."
"She shouldn't be, she's been asleep ever since Birchfur and I found her," muttered Berrynose. Firestar glanced at him, and began walking towards the trees were he had first appeared. He paused, seeing Kathryn wasn't following.
"Coming?" he asked. Kathryn nodded, slowly rose to her paws, and took a few tentative steps forwards. She soon got the hang of it, using her new tail for balance, and before long she was bounding through the trees after Firestar and Berrynose.
They didn't speak at all, just hurrying through the maze of trees easily and swiftly, as if they knew it all like the back of their paw.
Kathryn slowed when they did, and noticed how the trees began to open up. They drew close to a stone wall, with a hole in it, which was half filled with brambles. Firestar pushed through it, and Kathryn followed, with Berrynose bringing up the rear.
"Welcome," Firestar meowed, "to ThunderClan."
Kathryn gazed around her in awe. There were cats everywhere! She could see a tortoiseshell she-cat talking to a brown tabby tom next to a pile of what looked like mice and birds. There was a pale grey she-cat and a cream-coloured she-cat watch two kits play in the sand.
Kathryn saw drawn from her trace by a dark tabby tom with amber eyes bounding over.
"Firestar," he dipped his head respectfully. "Is this the cat Birchfur told me about?"
"It is," Firestar confirmed. "Take her to see Leafpool, Brambleclaw. I want to make sure she's okay."
"Yes, Firestar," Brambleclaw nodded. "This way..."
"Kathryn."
"This way, Kathryn," Brambleclaw led her towards a cave at the other side of camp. They were greeted by a light brown tabby she-cat and a smaller grey tabby tom with blind blue eyes.
"Hello, Leafpool, Jaypaw," Brambleclaw beckoned for Kathryn to come forwards. "This is Kathryn. Firestar wants you to give her the all-clear."
"Sure," Leafpool smiled at her. "Jaypaw?" The tomcat sighed in annoyance and padded over.
"Sit down," he ordered. Kathryn was not used to be ordered around by someone half her size, but she complied anyway. The tom nosed each paw in turn, then sniffed her over.
"You're in perfect health," he confirmed. He looked at her, so directly that it was hard to believe he was blind. "Where did you say you were from?" Kathryn certainly did not want to get into that discussion now.
"I didn't," she said stiffly, then got up and padded towards Brambleclaw, who had watched the exchange, bemused. "Shall we go see Firestar?" Brambleclaw looked at her in surprise, then nodded.
Kathryn followed him across the clearing and up a rocky path. Firestar was sat up the top, on an overhanging ledge, looking down on the clearing.
"Thank you Brambleclaw. That is all," he meowed, not looking up. The tabby hesitated, as if he would have liked to say more. Then he nodded and padded away.
Slightly confused at Firestar's silence, Kathryn sat next to him and followed his gaze, sweeping over the clearing.
"Who are you?" he asked softly. "Where are you from?"
"I'm from far away," Kathryn said. "Farther than you could ever imagine." Firestar glanced at her.
"How do you mean?"
"You'd never understand."
"Try me." At that moment, a high pitched shriek rose from the clearing below.
"Let me go, you pus-hog!" a voice shrieked, as a white tom with blue eyes carried a struggling brown kit with a dark brown stripe along her back, and white paws into the clearing. Kathryn jumped to her paws.
"Naomi!"
