Under the Stars
Voyager is home. And Kathryn spends her last night on her ship.
It was finally over. After 7 years of battling aliens and making alliances with the Borg, Kathryn Janeway was finally home. She had lost people along the way, and gained new crew along the way. Some of the crew she had lost voluntarily, others were not as lucky. She laughed slightly to herself, remembering what her first objective had been, capturing the Maqui. But that was the past.
As she rounded the bend toward her quarters, she remembered the first time that she had seen Chaktoay. It had been over the view screen, and he had been less than thrilled to see her. They both had been younger than, and probably a little stronger too. But the years had taken a toll on both of them, personally and professionally.
As she keyed in her private code, she remembered something from her academy days. Apparently it was an old ship tradition for the Captain to change the security code on their quarters. Kathryn had always thought it was a silly practice. After all sometimes it took the new captain hours to figure out their new code.
But for whatever reason she decided to do it anyway. Maybe it was her way of having one last laugh on her ship. Because tomorrow was the farewell party for the crew, and tomorrow she would no longer be the captain of Voyager. Tomorrow she was turning into an Admiral. Tomorrow Voyager would belong to someone else.
As she keyed in her "new" code she let out a giggled. The lock beeped, accepting the new code, and Kathryn walked into her quarters for the last time.
Chakotay didn't need to ask anyone, he knew where she would be. As he crossed the bridge he saw Voyager docked at the station. He watched it silently for a moment, and then continued his walk. He was dressed in his Star fleet uniform. He had been given a promotion, to Captain. After the Dominion war, Star fleet was in need of new captains.
As he made his way toward the door, a cadet stood by the entrance. As Chaktoay made his way toward the young cadet, his mind pondered what to say to get aboard. The cadet noticed Chakotay's rank, and wasted no time opening the door for him. The cadet Sault him, and Chakotay did the same.
Once inside Chakotay made his way toward Kathryn Janeway's ready room. He was sure that she was there. She probably was sending out reports for tomorrow, typical Kathryn Janeway. As he got on the turbo lift, he sighed. He had no idea what he was going to say to her. He knew what he wanted to say, but he didn't know if he had the courage to say it.
When the turbo lift stopped on the bridge, he stepped out. It was quiet. The view screen had been left on, and he saw the stars twinkling brightly. Voyager had been left on one of the docks above Earth, as a safety precaution. He glanced at the chair where he sat for years, and a crooked thought crossed his mind. He quickly erased it from his mind, and made his way toward the ready room doors.
Chakotay had beeped several times, but there was no answer. Thinking that something might be wrong, he used his over-ride to open the door. But when the door opened, Kathryn wasn't any where to be seen.
"Where on Earth could she be?"
He thought for a moment, and then decided to check her quarters.
In her quarters, Kathryn Janeway had downed a bottle of champagne, replicated another, and had put on some of her favorite music. She danced around her room with the champagne bottle in her hand. She was drunk and completely out of it, when she started to refer to the Champagne bottle as Chaktoay.
She began to nuzzle it close and whisper softly to it. It was eerily entertaining for her, she laughed quietly as she joked with it, she even gave it her captain's stare when he had tried to kiss her.
Meanwhile Chakotay had decided to try her quarters. He knew that she probably wasn't there, that she was probably in the hollo-deck, running a program, but he figured he would try before he trekked to the other side of the ship.
A thought crossed his mind. God he was stupid.
"Computer locate Captain Janeway."
"Unable to comply."
"Why?"
"That information is classified."
"Well at least I don't feel as stupid as I did a second ago."
"Please restate the question."
Chakotay chucked to himself as the computer answered his question. He finally made it to Kathryn's quarters. He chimed. No response. He tired again. No response. He decided to punch in her security code. But nothing happened. Puzzled he tried it again. It wasn't working. Suddenly Chakotay had a thought, something that he had overheard once at the academy entered his brain.
Maybe she had changed her code. He had heard that it was customary for captain's to do. It was a sort of initiation for new captains. Then something evil entered his mind again. Something that he had learned in the Maqui years ago. He took one of his pins off his jacket and placed it against the mirror on the lock. He adjusted it several times, and placed his ear against it.
Inside her quarters Kathryn had finished the second bottle of Champagne, and ordered a third. She was having lots of fun talking to her bottle of Chaktoay. She headed into her bedroom and layed the bottle on the pillow. She began speaking to it in slurred but intimate way, believing that it really was Chaktoay. She leaned over and gave the bottle a lavish kiss before throwing her hair back and laughing.
Chakotay listened intently for a click against the lock. And a few minutes later he took the pin out, and entered the new code into the door. The door opened. He smiled at himself as he entered the quarters.
TBC