Disclaimer: I am not making any money of this fic, nor do I own Star Trek: Voyager, Deep Space Nine, The Next Generation or the original series, or anything else I make references to. If you saw the character on any show, then it is not mine. The same goes for ships, planets, cultures, et cetera. This story will depict a loving relationship between two women and there are no apologies to be made over this. Jessica is mine, lock, stock and whatever follows...
Author's Notes: This is an alternative reality piece, so events in all series Star Trek have been changed, just to warn off any people thinking they see inconsistencies with the show. Specific instance which is especially noted: The USS Voyager left in pursuit of the renegade Maquis ship one year later than noted in the series (2372 instead of '71), but stardates will remain the same to maintain continuity within the series. Any references to B'Elanna's past will ignore the inconsistencies between "Faces", "Extreme Risk" and "Lineage" sending "Lineage" events back in time to when B'Elanna was six years old, giving her that extra year with her father that was supplied by "Extreme Risk." This prologue is set in Voyager's first season, between the episodes 5 ("The Cloud") and 6 ("Eye of the Needle").
Genre: Action-Adventure, Drama
Rating: M
Codes: K/7, T/7
Feedback: Please
Extra Disclaiming Note: All chapter titles are NOT owned by me and are owned, respectively, by the bands who wrote/played them and their record companies. This story originally began being published on Voq Je Bang in January, 2001. Almost six years ago, so that's why it's a little immature in the writing. I hope it's still enjoyable!
Home, Prologue 1
Stardate 48549.7Somewhere in the Delta Quadrant...
…
Captain Janeway screamed at Tuvok to return fire as she was flung halfway across the bridge. She lay for a moment with the wind knocked out of her, gathering herself. A hand on her arm was pulling her to her feet. She coughed as the air rushed back into her lungs and looked up into the worried face of Tom Paris.
"You alright, ma'am?"
"Just fine, Mr. Paris, back to your station."
"Can't do that, ma'am." Janeway glanced over at the demolished helm and cursed. But she realized suddenly, as she looked around the twisted bridge, that the firing had ceased and all was quiet. The red alert light pulsed in the dark room and gasses hissed as they escaped from their usual paths. The stench of burnt machinery and flesh filled her nose and she coughed again.
"Direct hit, Captain." Janeway looked at Tuvok, standing at his post, despite the repeated failures of the inertial dampeners. A green slash bled Vulcan blood from his forehead into his eyes. Despite the irritation it must have caused, he didn't wipe it away. "They have been disabled."
"Damage report."
"Hull breaches on decks two, four, and eight through ten. The turbolift system is down, propulsion system off-line. Engineering is reporting instability in the core," Harry stopped and shouted, "Damn! We just lost the comm system." He looked up helplessly, dark hair falling limply into his eyes, which pleaded with the captain.
"Are we still receiving the distress signal?" Chakotay asked calmly. Harry punched buttons on his console, accessing the information.
"Yes. But now it's automated."
"Can you tell if, whoever it is, is still alive?" Again, Harry checked his console, reviewing the sensors at his captain's request.
"I'm reading one very faint life sign from that area. Life support is non-operational there." He looked up at the captain for instructions.
"Can you transport them?"
"Not from here. From Engineering, maybe, but there's no way I can get to a transporter room, deck four is flooded with radiation."
"Can you get to Engineering fast enough?" Harry looked at Chakotay, then back to the captain and shook his head, no.
"But..." Harry turned his head to the side, thinking hard and fast. "I might be able to access the transporter from the auxiliary computer on deck six."
"Go!" Harry nodded at the captain's word and flew toward the turbolift. The doors didn't open and he almost ran into them. He forced them open and looked at the empty turbo shaft. He glanced back at the captain, then began descending the ladder, on his way to deck six. "When you're done there, report to Engineering!" Kathryn shouted down after the Ensign just before the doors hissed shut behind him.
Nothing was left to do now but wait.
Janeway's thoughts drifted to the events that had nearly brought her bridge down about her ears. Voyager had been answering a distress call, unaware that the call came from a single person within a ship. And what a ship.
It was huge. The shuttle bay could tuck Voyager away inside, neat and cozy. It was designed sleek and streamlined. Two nacelles curved gently away from the ship on either side like a pronged tail from the body of a great sea beast. The entire ship was pristine white, in contrast with the surrounding space. At least, it once had been.
Now scorch marks scarred the hull from Voyager's phaser banks and gases vented from several torn parts of the ship. Its lights were dark and it listed, as though dying from the barrage of the much smaller ship. Kathryn had no idea how they had managed it. It had been as though the people controlling the behemoth ship did not know what they were doing. One mistake after another was made, weaknesses left open and it even seemed that the ship itself impossibly sabotaged its crew.
And as for the crew...
Kathryn Janeway had never expected to see a Cardassian out here. Nor, she suspected, had he expected to see her. She thought perhaps the Caretaker had pulled him in too, but he had laughed at her when she asked and said that she knew nothing of the reality of the universe. Then she explained that she was answering a distress call and he turned a darker grey and stormed off the screen. The next thing she knew, they were under attack.
She broke from her thoughts as a form materialized on the deck in front of her. She sensed movement in her peripheral vision as Tuvok drew his phaser. The child that materialized held her arms up defensively, kneeling and cowering behind her forearms from an invisible threat.
Her arms and hands were black, blistered, bleeding boiling red drops onto the deck. The second she appeared, the girl gasped for air desperately. As she finished her first breath, she screamed. It was only once, and then she slouched and forced herself to breathe. She took deep, shaking, pained breaths, color rushing into the parts of her face that Kathryn could see.
She wore a black half-mask and cowl that covered her cheeks, forehead, hair (if she had any) and ran into the simple brown tunic she wore. A brown skirt, stained and made of the same material as the filthy tunic that sported unidentifiable stiff stains of various dark colors, covered her to just below her knees. She arched her back and the backpack she wore slipped off her shoulders. Her visible ears carried strange, curving earrings that followed the shape of the lobe into the uppermost cartilage.
Chakotay approached her, asking if she was okay. She looked at him and began explaining what had happened to her. At least, that was the best guess Kathryn could give, as the universal translator was malfunctioning and she could not understand a word the girl was saying. And she was just a girl, no more than sixteen or seventeen, by the looks of her.
As she told her tale in a melodic, flowing language full of purrs and growls, she unstrapped the knife sheaths attached to her abused forearms. She took out one of the knives and Janeway watched as Tuvok aimed his phaser at her. But she didn't stop what she was doing, which was to turn the knife around and begin working at the shackle on her left wrist. She hissed with pain, but the manacle broke off and the second came undone, triggered by the first, clanging onto the deck.
The girl stopped a moment, in obvious relief. Then she turned the knife on her charred wrists and before Janeway could move, she'd placed the blade inside her arm. A second later, a charred strip of leather fell to the floor with the sound of burnt paper. Kathryn realized, as she looked at the new, raw pink skin underneath, that it had been to protect her wrist from being cut into by the manacles. She repeated the act on the other arm.
"Please disarm yourself," Tuvok said to the girl, who fixed huge blue eyes on him and laughed. She dropped the knife on the floor next to its mate and looked at him with amusement in her eyes. He raised an eyebrow and she laughed again. Her laugh was almost silent, but it was a laugh that promised to be infectious under the right circumstances. She suddenly pulled a sword from along her spine and set it into what was becoming a pile on the floor in front of her.
And it didn't end there. She pulled a dagger from inside her tunic that was shaped to perfectly rest on her breasts, judging by the curved handle. It had to have been specially made and Kathryn wondered that she hadn't stabbed herself with it. Next, she pulled out a hiltless throwing knife from under her right sleeve and a matching one from her left. Janeway was impressed and horrified at the same time. Next came out two metal pieces that, with a flick of her wrist, unfolded into fans with razor sharp edges. She folded them back up just as easily as she had unfolded them, then laid them down in front of her.
A peculiar look came over Chakotay's face at the sight of the fanblades, but his expression returned to normal seconds later. Next, the girl reached under her skirt and came out with something that looked suspiciously like a Klingon Dk tahg knife. She pulled two small daggers from each of her boots, and then pulled out another dagger from under her skirt. Finally, she removed her earrings, which Janeway realized were really two curving razor blades.
All the while she continued her unintelligible tale, her voice expressive enough to get her points across, if they could be understood. She stopped and caught her breath for a moment, then began to raise her arms to the metal collar around her neck, but hissed with pain instead and doubled over. As she straightened a little, Kathryn circled to see what looked like a crossbow bolt protruding from her left side, just below her rib cage.
Kathryn heard Paris draw in his breath and say, "That's gotta hurt." It was a sentiment that the entire bridge shared. The girl wrapped her hands around the arrow and cried out. She pulled her hands back and Kathryn felt a tremendous jolt of sympathy when she saw that some of the flesh from the girl's hands had stayed on the bolt. The girl looked up at Chakotay pleadingly, then moved her hands back to her neck, bending in the middle to keep the wound from being pulled.
Chakotay moved forward to help, but with straining muscles, the girl snapped the collar. It fell to the ground with a clunk. Then she resumed her look at Chakotay and spoke again. "Zhje vuels hrriln?" Kathryn glanced with curiosity to see if the girl had more than one tongue when she heard the complex speech, but no, she only had one. In fact, she looked completely human from what Kathryn could see.
"I don't understand," Chakotay responded as he knelt before her. Tears began running down her face and she looked around the bridge, as if for help. She licked her lips and hummed a little, testing her voice. Her lips moved experimentally, then she spoke.
"P-p-plee-ayzz H-h-a-elp m-may." The words were slurred and unsure, the accent thick, but her intent was clear. She was asking for help. In Federation Standard. Janeway moved forward, but Chakotay was already there, asking what to do. Kathryn stood back and watched.
"How can I help? We can't transport you to Sickbay, our comm and transporters are damaged. Our doctor can't leave Sickbay, either. Is there anything I, personally, can do?" Chakotay asked slowly. The girl nodded.
"Ee-it musst c-c-oom outt." Her voice was young and cracked, her tongue adding extra consonant sounds, making Standard consonants seem simple. Tuvok strode across the bridge with a twisted med kit in hand. He handed it to Chakotay and Tom Paris walked up next to him to help, his short time working in Sickbay compelling him to act as a nurse.
Chakotay examined the wound as best he could around the pinned material. "I can't really see anything," he declared helplessly. The girl had lain on the deck to straighten her body out and now she lifted herself on her elbow and looked down.
"Cut iit ovff." Kathryn noticed that the girl was losing her thick accent, but was still having a little trouble forming words. Chakotay's head shot up and he frowned slightly.
"We don't have any blankets to cover you."
"It izs of no consequence." Chakotay blushed a little and the girl sighed. She sat up and worked a hook in the back and the tunic came undone, sliding forward, bunching on the arrow. Following her advise, Chakotay carefully used her knife to cut the hole around the bolt wider, then slipped the stiff garment off her body. He looked away shyly, but she was digging in her backpack. She produced a scarf, which she laid across her breasts, much to the first officer's obvious relief.
Kathryn knelt by the proceedings and noticed a thick, white scar that disappeared under the sash over the girl's heart. Or at least, where a human heart was located. The young girl looked at Kathryn, who gave her usual speech.
"I am Captain Kathryn Janeway. This is the Federation Starship Voyager." The girl smiled at her, but provided no name for herself. Instead, the girl rolled over, enough to see her own back and then frowned.
"It did not go all the way through."
"That's good." Chakotay said, but his expression fell as he saw the looks on both the girl's and Tom's faces. "That's not good?"
"It means you're going to have to push it through." The girl informed him. Chakotay looked at her intensely. Janeway absently noted that the girl's accent had faded to only a few rolled r's.
"Why?" Kathryn asked the girl, not particularly wanting to resort to that kind of violence.
"The head is barbed with very small sveeya, I mean, hooks." She shook her head. "It has been a while since I spoke English. It is surprisingly easy to forget a language you never hear; and in only a few months." Janeway frowned slightly at the old name of the Federation's primary language. She hadn't heard it called that since her Academy days.
"Is there anything I should do to prepare you for," Chakotay paused. "Pushing it through?"
"No. Don't even warn me, just push." She looked away from Chakotay and back to Captain Janeway. "So, Captain Janeway of the Federation ship Voyager, I believe I have you to thank for my life." Chakotay drove the bolt through and the girl cried out in pain, then lay back, panting and visibly trying not to pass out.
"Don't hyperventilate yourself," Paris warned and the girl slowed her breathing.
"You're welcome," Kathryn responded. The girl smiled at her with slightly glazed eyes. Then she looked at Paris and let out a shaky breath.
"Look in my bag. You will find a white dress. Take it out and rip it into bandages." Paris nodded and picked up her bag. He let out a low whistle and looked up at the girl before rifling some more and pulling out a light, simple white dress. Kathryn's curiosity was ignited, but she stemmed it for the time being. "Next, do you have a dermal regenerator?" This she directed at Chakotay. He nodded. "That's good."
"Why?" Janeway asked.
"Because, otherwise, when that bolt came out, the wound would have to be cauterized to stop the bleeding," Paris supplied and Kathryn frowned, taking a moment to realize exactly what that meant. She was horrified when the concept became clear. She had never done field triage without a med kit and now suddenly, she was grateful. Chakotay rolled the girl onto her side just enough to reach the arrowhead on the other side. Janeway saw the vicious thing and understood why it had to be pushed out.
"Careful when you pull it out. Don't let the head cut you." Chakotay nodded at the girl's advice and waited for Tom to prepare the dermal regenerator and bandages for when he pulled it through. In the meantime, he snapped off the end that was decorated with red metal feathers. The girl flinched and grunted, but for the most part stayed calm. Paris handed the captain the dermal regenerator and Kathryn looked at it with wide eyes for a moment before a professional calm came over her body.
"Ready?" Chakotay looked at Paris and he nodded. Janeway nodded. The girl screamed as the arrow went through her body and she went still as Paris held the bandages tight to mop up the blood before it could come pouring out of her body. He carefully let one loose and Janeway ran the medical instrument over the wound, forcing it to create a protective layer of skin to hold back the blood. Paris laid that bandage back on the entrance wound and Janeway moved around to where Chakotay had been sitting so she could start to repair the exit wound.
Once this was completed, Paris wrapped a bandage around the girl's stomach and slightly up onto her rib cage, tying it off gently. The girl breathed shallowly, trembling from head to knees. Kathryn was shocked that she hadn't passed out yet, given all the pain that she was in. A violent tremor went down her body, then she lay still, staring at the ceiling and breathing carefully.
Kathryn helped her into a loose, flowing black silk shirt that the girl had asked her to retrieve from her bag. She had been disappointed to discover that it had fallen out, so she had no excuse to peek into the bag that had caught her helmsman's attention. The shirt's plunging neckline showed the scar on her chest, but Kathryn couldn't help that.
"So, what's your name?" Chakotay asked. Paris took the med kit back to Tuvok, who replaced it in the wall panel it came from. Kathryn stood up and walked a little ways toward the turbolift, beginning to worry that she should have heard from Ensign Kim by now. She glanced back at the young girl on the deck and saw her knit her brows under the mask.
"You haven't… You don't…?" The girl cocked her head to the side and Chakotay got a troubled look on his face. "Chakotay..." Suddenly, a bang from the turbolift shaft interrupted her and sent all eyes to the slowly widening crack in the doors. Eight fingers slipped into the opening and forced the door open. B'Elanna Torres emerged from that portal, pulling herself onto the bridge. The doors remained wide open.
B'Elanna scanned the bridge with her eyes and they finally rested on the girl on the floor with Chakotay. B'Elanna pushed back the short hair from her face and stared as if she had seen a ghost. She froze and dropped the padd from her left hand.
"Jessica?" Kathryn looked back at the girl, whose breathing was still a little labored and saw her react to the name by widening her eyes. Suddenly Chakotay grabbed the top of the mask and ripped it off, letting Jessica's head bounce painfully onto the floor. She closed her eyes in obvious pain, her hand going to the back of her head and coming away stained with blood.
Her golden brown hair was chopped short and not well taken care of. Kathryn took a year off her age as she saw Jessica's face for the first time. Was it her imagination, or had the girl's eyes turned brown for a second? Were they a lighter blue than before? Janeway rubbed her eyes and noticed for the first time that normal lighting had been restored to the bridge.
"Why didn't you say anything?" Chakotay's tone caused Janeway to look up, feeling curious and just a little angry that she didn't know what was going on.
"I tried, but you weren't paying any attention. I honestly thought you would figure it out," the girl, Jessica, answered. Chakotay's eyes were cold as stone, startling Kathryn, who had never seen him truly acrimonious.
"'Honestly' isn't a word you have any right to use." Jessica stood and turned angrily from him, looking at B'Elanna. Kathryn followed her gaze to see B'Elanna, who would have been as still as a statue—if she hadn't been shaking. The girl walked towards her and stood motionless in front of her, searching her eyes. Suddenly B'Elanna sprung like a coil wound too tight, her hand flew at Jessica's face, freezing only a hairsbreadth away. Jessica had tensed every muscle in her body as the blow came at her face, closing her eyes and bracing herself for it.
They stood there for a moment; Jessica's eyes closed, anticipating a blow that was not to come and B'Elanna with her hand stilled mid-strike, beginning to shake.
"That's for letting me think you were dead." B'Elanna said in a low, angry voice, and then grabbed Jessica in a fierce hug. "This is for being alive," she said emotionally. Then she held her at arms length, appraisingly. "How?" Jessica stood silent, tears beginning to flow down her face. B'Elanna's expression changed to one of shock and she looked like she was going to ask a question, but then she seemed to notice the girl's hair. She touched a strand and then looked at Jessica questioningly, a strange look of concern in her eyes.
"Go on," said Chakotay quietly. "Tell her why you're alive." B'Elanna looked at the brooding first officer, confusion etched into her features. Tears fell from the girl's eyes as she looked into B'Elanna's eyes. Janeway had never seen anyone cry so much in such a strange fashion. It was like the girl had no control over her tears or wasn't aware they were there.
"I set you up," she admitted quietly. B'Elanna looked from Jessica to Chakotay, then smiled and asked laughingly:
"What, is this a joke?" But as she turned from the cold features of Chakotay to the stricken face of Jessica, she began to look panicked. "No," she said, as if pleading to make the betrayal nonexistent. When she saw it wasn't, she whirled on Chakotay. "You knew? You knew she was alive and you didn't tell us?" Her voice rose with each accusation. "You knew she was a traitor and what? Rather than hurt our feelings, you let us believe she was dead?"
"Everyone loved her. I just wanted to protect you. I figured she had the sense to stay away after that, so I'd never have to tell you." Chakotay spoke quietly, emotion boiling under every word.
"But," B'Elanna protested, "But you warned us!" She looked at Jessica, who couldn't seem to lift her head as she walked towards the turbolift.
"I couldn't betray you. It's against my nature. So I chose the lesser betrayal. I betrayed my captain, betrayed Starfleet." She stood at the edge of the shaft and looked down. Janeway didn't like the way she was looking at the drop-off.
"You can't be old enough to be in Starfleet," Janeway stated, unable to believe what she was hearing. "I have doubts about whether or not you're old enough to take the entrance exam." Jessica looked at her.
"Starfleet granted me an early admittance due to special circumstances," she explained, sounding very tired. "I was the youngest student ever admitted. I think that they had hoped I'd fail the psych test, but I passed every single exam. After all, I had to prove that I was the best." She sat down and looked down the lift passageway.
Suddenly, the girl shouted down the tube. "C'mon, crewman, pick up the pace. You call that climbing?" Kathryn frowned, unable to believe that this girl would come onto her ship and heckle her crew. She was about to say something when the girl resumed her banter. "Oh, please, you're faster in—" Her words were cut off by the lips of Harry Kim.
Janeway had no idea of what to make of this. Jessica pushed Harry off with a laugh, which he met with his own. "Satisfy any fantasies, Baby?" he asked, teasing.
"Oh, yeah. I'm still your number one stalker, Baby Face. You know I always hated Libby." He laughed shortly, and then his expression fell.
"So what are you doing here?" Jessica grinned at Harry's question and it completely transformed her face. Whereas before she had looked tired, brooding and dirty, now she looked glowing and new.
"This is my space. So I think the question is, what are you doing here?"
"We got pulled here by the Ocampan Caretaker."
"That sucks. You're a long, long way from home in unfriendly territory."
"You two know each other?" Kathryn asked.
"We went to the Academy together," Harry answered, smiling. "I brought her the homework to the classes she skipped." Janeway looked at Jessica, disbelief plain on her face. She hadn't even had time for friends at the Academy, she had been so busy with her classes, she couldn't imagine skipping one, even once. Jessica looked at her as though she could hear her thoughts and smiled.
"I had other classes at the same time as the ones Baby Face, er, Harry," she said, grinning at him, "and I shared. Sometimes I went to those, sometimes the others. Sometimes I skipped all the classes to keep up with my work."
"Jessica was voted the most trips to the infirmary in our quad. She slept an average of seven hours a week, ate only once a day and some of the other cadets ran a pool every week to see how long it took her to make it to the infirmary, or how many trips that week." Kathryn looked at the small girl, seeing her standing next to Harry, she realized that she was very small—thin and short, in an unhealthy way.
Chakotay glared up at Jessica. "She's actually very likeable." Chakotay said, confusing Janeway with his compliment.
"You wouldn't know it, to have seen the way most of the cadets treated her," Harry said, defensively. Chakotay looked surprised.
"You mean there was a time when you didn't have to be everything to everyone?" He demanded harshly. She seemed to wilt, curling in on herself. "A time when someone didn't like you?" Harry looked askance at Chakotay.
"They treated her so badly that she was almost expelled when she tried to kill herself." This seemed to be a day of firsts for Kathryn. She couldn't recall ever seeing her quiet young Ensign angry, much less toward someone who outranked him.
"I can defend myself, Harry." Jessica put a hand on his arm and he looked at her, troubled.
"How do you know the commander?" Harry asked.
"I infiltrated the Maquis last year. Twelve vessels were caught during my mission." Harry raised his eyebrows
"Well that explains the animosity, but..." his brow furrowed and he trailed off.
"She let our ship escape," B'Elanna said, erasing the lines of confusion from Harry's forehead.
"Sounds like something she'd do. She never followed the rules to the letter." He looked down at her, seemingly unsure of how he felt about that.
"Even her own, apparently," Chakotay snapped. Jessica flinched and the tears once again began rolling down her face at Chakotay's harsh words. Harry looked at her as if she had sprouted a second head. B'Elanna merely looked concerned.
"What happened?" Harry asked so quietly, Kathryn almost didn't hear. He suddenly took an interest in her hair, pulling on a single strand as B'Elanna had done. "Your hair," he whispered. Tears fell more freely from eyes that Kathryn could almost swear were glowing. B'Elanna stepped closer to the two and added her own worried look to Harry's, meeting his eyes for a brief moment of shared understanding.
"Now the tears?" Chakotay's voice caused Jessica to look up.
"Almost fourteen years, Chakotay. I didn't cry—not when I was born, not when my mother was murdered, not through... a lot of things." Jessica shook slightly. "Please, don't do this. Not now, not here. Remember your promise."
Chakotay walked towards her, but Kathryn stepped in his way, unsure what he would do. "You were always so careful not to make promises. But you did promise never to stick a knife in my back."
"Chakotay—" Jessica's voice was urgent, but he continued.
"Is one betrayal really worse than another?" B'Elanna looked alarmed as Jessica's hands went to her abdomen and her knees buckled. She cried out and Harry caught her on the way down, B'Elanna running to her side to check on her.
"You promised!" Jessica cried out.
"You promised not to betray us!" Chakotay started to continue, but B'Elanna cut him off.
"She's in labor, you idiot!" Kathryn froze, eyes wide, both at the child being pregnant and B'Elanna yelling at Chakotay in such a way.
"What?" Chakotay's anger seemed to diminish. The change was obvious, despite the loose garment. Jessica's stomach was distending, writhing as if something inside wanted out. Janeway wondered exactly how the baby would be born as she watched the small stomach move and swell, as though the fetus would tear through her belly.
"Move her down here," Kathryn ordered, not completely sure what to do. She had been taught how to deliver a baby in her anatomy and development class at the Academy, but she had never seen a labor like this. As Jessica passed Chakotay, she shook off her escort.
"You promised," she hissed in his face, "That if ever I was deathly injured, you wouldn't upset me." Her voice shook and there was a sense of barely controlled pain under her words. "I've been in labor for three days. Do you know what it is to stem off a process that debilitates most humanoid species? I just wanted to get home first..." Another wave hit her and she collapsed. Chakotay knelt in front of her, his hands on her shoulders.
"I didn't mean for this to happen." Chakotay whispered. She looked into his eyes, but her eyes grew hard instead of forgiving.
"Then you can be a nursemaid." Jessica let Harry help her up and Chakotay walked with them down to in front of the command seats. Janeway looked around.
"Perhaps we should do this somewhere else..." Her thought was interrupted by Jessica's collapse to the floor. The girl's scream chased away any thoughts Kathryn had of moving her. Jessica half-lay on the floor and Janeway asked silently for permission to examine her. Jessica gave it with a nod.
Kathryn removed the stained underwear and carefully examined her cervix, as she had been instructed to in her class. By all the rules she knew, the girl was fully dilated and ready to deliver.
"How long do your people's births usually last?" Kathryn asked, worried that this might be unusual.
"My children have always come within three to four hours of the onset of labor. For my people, that is fast, but for my family, it is about normal." Kathryn looked up, hardly able to believe the girl had other children.
"How old are you, exactly?" Kathryn asked. Jessica looked at her and opened her mouth to answer, but a cry came out instead. B'Elanna took one hand and Harry moved to Jessica's back, kneeling behind her.
"Is this right, Jess?" Harry asked. Chakotay took Jessica's other hand and answered Kathryn's question.
"She's fourteen." Janeway looked at Chakotay as though he might be joking, but it was obvious that he wasn't. Jessica moved up to her knees, Harry supporting her back, Chakotay and B'Elanna each holding a hand. With each contraction, Jessica arched and lifted herself by those hands, screaming. "It can't possibly hurt that much," Chakotay said derisively. Jessica looked at him dangerously, squeezed his hand and he fell backwards with a scream.
"Only a quarter of what I'm feeling," she panted. "Don't ever assume—" she cried out as more pain hit her. Kathryn could see the muscles bearing down, but the baby wasn't even crowning yet. Chakotay crawled back and took Jessica's hand tentatively, as though he was afraid she would crush it.
Tom Paris had emerged with water and a tricorder, offering the water to the laboring girl. Jessica drank it greedily and relaxed. For a moment, everyone was quiet, the only sound the soft beeping of the tricorder and Jessica's panting. Harry was rocking her on her knees and she closed her eyes for a second, looking peaceful. Abruptly, Jessica began blinking rapidly, and then her body jerked. She looked over at Paris.
"Tom, could you hand me that arrowhead?" Jessica asked. Paris froze and looked at her.
"How do you know my name?" He asked. Like Janeway and Tuvok, he had never met this girl.
"Shit," the girl said, leaning back on Harry. "Will you just get me the damn arrowhead?" Tom retrieved it and handed it to her. She looked at it suspiciously, and then licked it. She spat quickly and her eyes grew thoughtful. She tossed the arrowhead into the pile of weapons that she had discarded and sighed. Her head swiveled toward Paris, who was watching her, apprehensively.
"I'm interested in just how you knew his name, as well." Janeway stated. Jessica smiled.
"I'm telepathic and you're both psychic billboards," she answered. B'Elanna made a sound as though she was trying not to laugh and Janeway's glare didn't hinder the amusement in the half-Klingon's eyes. "You laugh now," Jessica growled irritably, "But your mind is so loud, I wish I had mental earplugs." B'Elanna lost control and laughed out loud.
"At least I don't have such a bad haircut," she insulted back. Jessica grinned.
"You sure about that?" she retorted. B'Elanna mock-pouted, touching her hair.
"Hey." Both began laughing and Chakotay looked towards the ceiling. Kathryn looked at him for an explanation and he sighed.
"These two would go on like this, all day sometimes, when we were scouting. At first, I thought there might be an incident, with the way they fought. It only took me a week to realize that they weren't serious. That's not to say they behaved themselves. They did get into a brawl once, but they just laughed about it when I tried to reprimand them." Kathryn had trouble believing that the angry, self-loathing, half-Klingon woman in front of her could behave like a little girl.
But then, she never imagined her hugging anyone, either. And she had seen her hug Jessica with her own eyes. There was no doubt about it, that child brought out the best in B'Elanna. She frowned when she saw the girl looking at her as if she knew exactly what she was thinking. It bothered her more to know that she probably did.
The next contraction hit violently and Janeway was nearly taken off guard. The head crowned quickly and not three contractions later, she was holding a baby girl in her hands. Dark hair was wet and matted, curling above big brown eyes. The baby opened its mouth and issued an earsplitting announcement to the universe that she had been born.
Kathryn put the baby on Jessica's chest as B'Elanna and Chakotay lifted her and laid her back down with her legs out in front of her; watching as her face lit up with adoration. It lasted only a moment before Tom's tricorder began to crescendo its warning. Blood ran from between Jessica's legs and her eyes seemed to grow heavy. Jessica's arms started to go limp and Harry caught the baby. Jessica looked at him and spoke quietly.
"Her name is Mary-Jane. Her father's name is Bendon Bry. You will be passing my planet in a month, judging by your current course. Please make sure he gets her. He's been anticipating her birth for a long while. She's his first."
"No," B'Elanna said forcefully. "You're not going to die." The reports Tom was issuing seemed to disagree. "No," B'Elanna growled at him, unwilling to accept what Jessica already had. B'Elanna's head swung frantically back down to Jessica.
"I love you, Bel, I love all of you," she said, looking at Harry. "Even you," she growled at Chakotay. She looked at B'Elanna and Kathryn watched as a single drop of blood began running out of her nose. "It was a hemo-toxin, Bel. It was on the arrowhead, there was nothing anyone here could do." She coughed and blood sprayed over her lip. Janeway heard the blips on the tricorder, recognizing the sounds of an injury that only a surgeon might fix.
Janeway felt an odd sensation as Harry handed the baby back to her, as he took Jessica's hand. It was a sensation of cold and colors. She looked down at Mary-Jane. Jessica seemed to notice this and she looked at Harry, who turned to Janeway.
"Don't accept it, Captain." Kathryn looked up at Harry's voice.
"Accept what?" Janeway was completely confused.
"Her mind. When Shashan babies are born, they join minds with the person they find the most compatible amongst those present at their birth." Harry explained, a concept Janeway didn't really understand, as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Shashan?"
"My mother's species." Jessica rasped. B'Elanna glared down at her, leaning forward over Jessica's body and clasping her hand.
"Don't speak. If you can just hold out until the transporters are fixed—I'm sure it won't be long—then you'll be okay. We can get you to our doctor, we can—"
"be'nI', Heghle'neH QaQ jajvam." Jessica smiled as she murmured this and B'Elanna looked as though she was about to cry. Kathryn's Klingon was much worse than rusty—she had only taken one semester, but she recognized the often-used phrase: It is a good day to die. As for what Jessica had called B'Elanna, Janeway knew that is was female, but she did not know if Jessica had just said 'sister' or 'wife.' She guessed 'sister.'
"It is not!" B'Elanna said vehemently. Jessica looked at her with paling eyes and there was silence for a moment. "Don't say that! You will not!" It was more of a command than a reassurance. Kathryn looked at Jessica, as if she could hear the words being spoken into her new Chief Engineer's mind.
"ghuHmoH gh''or," Jessica said with a laugh. All Kathryn understood of that was the Klingon word for Hell.
"Oh, you are not going to Ghrethor," B'Elanna said, using the human equivalent of the word, "You know that if there is one, you're headed to Stovokor. But I swear that if you die, I'll kill you." Jessica laughed, but it was more like a cough and blood sprayed out to leave flecks on her lips. "Please, you're the only family I have left, please don't die." She whispered the next so quietly that Kathryn couldn't hear. Don't leave me alone, be'nI'.
Jessica opened and closed her mouth, as if trying to speak, but all that came out was blood. A second later, Jessica's eyes closed and her body went limp. As her head slid to the side in Harry's lap, a trickle of blood ran slowly out of her mouth, a bright red smear against her pale skin. It seemed unnecessary when Tom translated the high squeal of the tricorder into a pronouncement of death.
To be continued…
Thanks to Tracy, my beta for all the mistakes and Coyfor, my beta for plot inconsistencies and idea bouncing. You gals were an amazing help.
Dedication:
Tracie and Coyfor, my Betas. Especially Tracie, who worked very hard to send me an edited copy each time that was readable and wonderful. Thank you for being such a great Beta.
Ralst, Bones, Lisa Countryman, Callistosdarkside, and halfofone--the original B/7 writers that I read.
Ralst again, because she's my favorite B/7 author.
Erin / Dinovia, for forming the first ever B/7 "darkside" list.
All the fans I once had, who encouraged me to write and made it so incredibly wonderful for me.
All the original writers and lurkers of Voq Je Bang, from the pioneer days of the Dark Side.
All the future readers of my stories.
Everyone who ever gave me feedback.
My muse, Xakana.
And especially Voyooho, my husband, without whom this story would never have been finished.
Thank you all.