I do not own the characters. No profit made here.
Rated T to M
POV Janeway
Misplaced
The Search
"Where the hell is it?" My eyes drift over to my coffee table, darting from corner to corner and not seeing the glint of gold. I tap my chin with my index finger in frustration. This day is not turning out to be a good day, not that I don't have my share of good and bad days here in the Delta Quadrant, but never have I started out the day like this.
"Captain…are you alright?" The voice startles me out of my mutterings and I look up. Seven stands in the doorway to my ready room, having failed at knocking.. Again.
"I'm fine Seven. What do you require?" I use her cadence of speech to annoy her and grin as I see her eyes narrow at me. The light blue of her iris's pale a shade as they stare at me. Twirling in my desk chair, I stare at her with my best command expression. She barely blinks. The battle of wills ensues yet again. Just what I need right now. I sigh, look back over at my coffee table and wave my hand for her to get on with it.
She nods her perfectly chiseled chin. "The Astrometric report. You said yesterday you would approve it and get it back to me during Gamma shift. I still do not have it…Captain," she arches her eyebrow at me. "I require it now to complete my early Alpha shift report. While scanning the region, I found an M-class planet capable of sustaining life. I need to check the report to confirm."
"That's nice." I lift my eyes and watch her standing military straight, hands folded behind her back. Always at attention, waiting for her orders to be obeyed, she never relaxes. Shaking my head, I say, "I have bigger problems to contend with."
"I am not aware of any immediate problems. All systems are functioning within normal parameters." Her head tilts to the side in that inquisitive way she does when she requires me to confirm a question she already knows the answer too. So arrogant.
I sigh again and meet her drilling gaze. "It appears that my favorite coffee mug is missing."
"Would you like me to contact Commander Tuvok and notify Security?" she lifts one perfectly sculpted eyebrow in question.
"Over a missing mug? No..no. I'm sure it's around here somewhere." I wave around the room in demonstration.
"Can you not replicate a new one?"
"It won't be that one. I've kept it since we left Earth. It was a going away present from..Uh," I realize I can't define my relationship with my best friend and sometimes lover Gis. Not to Seven anyways. She's likely to start naming statistics of homosexual relationships and embarrass me. So instead I say, "a good friend. She gave it to me the day I graduated from command training."
"I am…sorry than Captain. I will assist in the search. What does the mug look like?"
How to describe the mug to Seven? I stick to simplicity, and say, "It's gold coated with my name engraved on the bottom."
She shuts her eyes for a minute then opens them to gaze at me, still standing straight as a yard stick. "I recalled the image and will begin searching for it immediately. You have checked your cabin?"
"Of course. I looked high and low for it."
"I will be off shift in three hours, twenty-two minutes, and five seconds. I will come to your cabin and assist. Two eyes are better than one, I recall the analogy." My mouth opens to protest but she spins around and marches out the ready room doors before I can stop her.
"Damn pushy Borg beauty," I mutter in the now quiet atmosphere of my 'office' aboard Voyager. "What time is it?"
A feminine computer voice answers, "thirteen hundred hours and eleven minutes."
"Thank you," I say. Then I shake my head at the ridiculous behavior to thank the computer. Damn my traditionalist upbringing, complete with perfect manners.
Propping my feet up on my desk, I lean back in my chair, close my eyes, and remember the day of my command pinning. The images of Gis in her dress uniform, her short haired mussed from my fingers running through it minutes before the ceremony flow through my mind. If I inhale deeply, I can almost still smell her lingering scent of Bergamot and peach, her favorite cologne. She cut off contact with me the week before I left for the Badlands on Voyager.
She was upset when I agreed to marry Mark. And she should have been. I treated her horribly and it broke both our hearts. Guilt floods me as I remember that I never got to apologize to her. I had planned to do so when I returned from the trip. Sequestered away on Utopia Planetia, awaiting the departure, I realized I missed her and not Mark.
Now, it's a moot point. It's been five years since our departure for the badlands and she no doubt has moved on with her life. And forgot all about me, about us.
Melancholy settles over my shoulders like a scratchy, cheap blanket; my only constant companion nowadays. With the exception of Seven. Tapping my commbadge, I say, "Chakotay…Seven has located an M-class planet. We are due for shore leave. Have her get you the confirmed location as quickly as possible then set in a course at Warp 6. We all could use a day of rest."
"Aye Captain. I will contact her right now."
"She just left here to get the report squared away. Give her at least a minute or two to get back to Astrometrics."
"Yes, Captain. Good day then."
"Good day Chakotay," I murmur and end communication. Using my feet, I push myself over to face the window of my ship. Hugging my arms for comfort from my own thoughts, I watch the stars streaking by outside Voyager as we travel towards the M-class planet at Warp speed.
A/N: OH…OH….Do….
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