CHAPTER 6
Taya and Miral brought light relief to what would otherwise have been a mundane journey from Earth to Dorvan V. Voyager's crew enjoyed sharing news of the girls' escapades over meals in the messhall, for the duo could often be seen wandering Voyager's corridors, makeshift tricorders in hand, earnestly discussing problems with the "bio-ural" circuitry or how a dose of pink jelly might cure the outbreak of Andarian flu on Deck 5.
Although Taya and Kathryn spoke most evenings after dinner, Kathryn had been right – between adventures with Flotter and Trevis on the holodeck, games of Kadis-kot with Seven, age-appropriate engineering lessons with B'Elanna and general mischief and mayhem, Taya's days were too full for her to truly miss her mother. Still, Taya delighted in recounting her adventures to Kathryn, and often sought her advice on what tactics might best beat Seven, or on how to convince the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz holonovel she and Miral were playing that he already had a heart.
Chakotay listened in on these conversations wistfully, as he and Seven tidied the dinner table and settled down for an evening of light work or recreation. He and Taya were close, and he certainly did not doubt his daughter's love for him, but the snippets of conversation that he caught made him alive to the fact that his relationship with Taya was lacking. So accustomed was Taya to Kathryn's presence and counsel, that she didn't see her oft-absent father the way she did her mother – as champion, confidante, mentor and friend.
He realised that Kathryn had been right all those years ago when she had refused to have more children only to have them raised by a nanny. There was something inherently valuable – a richness – about the relationship one cultivated with one's children. He also now saw that it had been foolish and selfish of him to demand that Kathryn give up her position in Starfleet (all that she had ever worked for and known) to stay and home and raise more children. Starfleet gave Kathryn drive, purpose and confidence – qualities he saw reflected and admired in his daughter. Chakotay would never regret placing the needs of Dorvan V before his own, but he was only now beginning to realise how much it had cost him.
"Aunt Sekaya!" Taya yelled in greeting, as she bounded away form the shuttle that had just deposited her, Chakotay, Seven and a host of supplies at the transport hub of one of the new settlements just outside Dorvan V's capital, Ayuha.
Although it had been three years since Taya's last visit to Dorvan V, as the planet's Federation Liaison Officer, Sekaya, often with her three sons in tow, made frequent visits to Earth, staying with Kathryn whenever Chakotay was off world and as a result, Taya had developed close ties with her aunt and cousins. This was evident from the way Taya was accosted by her cousins, once she had been released from her aunt's fierce embrace.
It was only after watching the four children race off to play and making sure that three-year-old Hoka, who was scrambling to keep up with his older cousins, was safe, that Sekaya turned to welcome her brother warmly.
"Its good to have you and Taya here," she said, ignoring Seven. "Kathryn couldn't make it?"
Chakotay sighed. He was accustomed to dealing with Sekaya's ill-contrived opinions on his former marriage and his relationship with Seven, but that didn't make it any easier. He really shouldn't have been surprised when his sister, a formidable woman, of Amazonic stature, who was equal parts self-assured and self-reliant, had struck up a firm friendship with Kathryn Janeway. Coupled with Sekaya's traditionalist views on marriage, she had taken a strong dislike to Seven the moment she had heard that the former-Borg drone was dating her brother.
"Noo," said Chakotay testily, shooting his sister a warning look, "Kathryn is tied up with work, but Seven and I are delighted to be here."
It was only then, forced to acknowledge Seven, that Sekaya turned to the younger woman, "Seven," she said, frostily, "Welcome back."
Although Chakotay and Seven typically opted to remain on Voyager whilst the ship was orbiting Dorvan V, owing to Taya's visit, they had decided to stay with Sekaya, affording Taya some extra time with family (a decision that Seven was now beginning to regret). Hence, once plans had been made and instructions given for the fresh supplies to be dispatched, or stored, as appropriate, the small company made their way to Sekaya's house.
Chakotay and Sekaya's ancestors had settled on this land and despite the fact that the adobe and plank houses were now replaced with more modern fixtures, the architects had incorporated Native American features and colours into their designs so that the landscape retained the earthy tones and style of the past. It was therefore, something of a surprise to Taya, when they passed a white honeysuckled-covered house, complete with matching picket fence.
"Who lives there?" she asked, staring at the building, mouth agape, trying to decide whether or not she liked it. Whilst it reminded her of her home on Earth, here, amongst the other, more subdued houses in the neighbourhood, it stood out like an eyesore.
"No one," said Wapasha, who was a year senior to Taya, wrinkling his nose, making it clear what he thought of the building, "Its been abandoned for as long as I can remember."
"Actually," said Sekaya, a smile playing on her lips as she pointedly ignored the warning look her brother was giving her. "You could say it's your house. Your parents built it a long time ago, when they thought they might be spending quite a bit of time on Dorvan."
"Really?!" asked Taya, incredulously, looking to her father for confirmation.
Chakotay nodded, shooting Sekaya a dirty look that promised revenge, or at least a stern telling-off later, before reluctantly following behind Taya, who had decided that she loved the house, and was already halfway to its front door.
As Seven made to accompany them, Sekaya put her arm around the former Borg done, and for the first time, addressed Seven in a tone that could almost be described as hospitable. "Seven! Taya tells me you're a fine cook and I could really use your help with this recipe that I've been struggling with all day. Would you mind?" she asked, gently leading Seven in the opposite direction and into Sekaya's own house next door.
A wave of stale air met Chakotay and Taya as the hefty front door swung open (the security system having taken some time to contemplate Chakotay's seven-year-old passcode) to grant them admittance into what Chakotay had once hoped would be a happy, bustling, oft-used family home.
Sunlight, filtering through cracks in the drawn curtains, served to illuminate a thick layer of dust that covered every surface and an eerie silence pervaded the halls, but this didn't deter Taya who set off, with the reverence of a churchgoer approaching an altar, to explore the house. Taya, like anyone who knew Kathryn and Chakotay well, recognised the house for what it was – a mausoleum to their marriage.
In the living room, fragments of antique warp drives and shuttle hulls, similar to those her mother loved to collect, stood on proud display next to ornately carved figures, or in front of elaborate sand paintings, that Taya recognised as her father's handiwork. The bookshelf sagged under the weight of first editions of some of the great classics that her mother was always insisting she read, and interspersed amongst them, were books on archaeology, history and art – her father's passions. Sitting atop a sideboard, in simple handmade frames, were a collection of fading photographs. Taya lingered over these, studying each one carefully. She often searched the various publicly accessible archives and databases for pictures of her parents together, pre-divorce, but her findings were always the same – posed-shots or pictures of them at formal events, where they always wore what Taya could only describe as their "Starfleet faces".
These photos however, showed a different side to her parents. In one, Kathryn and Chakotay were sitting in the back of an old convertible on their wedding day. He was tucking a stray strand of hair behind his new wife's ear, whilst she beamed up at him with glimmering eyes. In another, her parents were standing in front of her grandmother's farmhouse on a windy summers day. Kathryn, with one hand on her head to keep the floppy straw hat she was wearing from flying away and the other around Chakotay's waist, was laughing into the camera, whilst Chakotay, oblivious both to the camera, and the tendrils of Kathryn's hair that were whipping into his face, gazed down adoringly at her. One photo even featured an 18-month-old Taya on Christmas morning, tiptoeing on unsteady feet to kiss her father on his cheek, whilst Kathryn looked on serenely from where she was perched on the edge of an armchair just within the frame. Other scenes featured their extended families, Voyager's crew and a few other people that Taya did not recognise. It was clear to Taya that her parents had once been happy, carefree and deeply in love with each other.
To escape the acute feeling of melancholy that washed over here, Taya ambled out of the living room and up the stairs to the first floor, barely conscious of her father trailing behind her, lost in his own thoughts. The first door she tried, led to a rather large and sparsely filled linen closet, which unsurprisingly, held no interest for Taya. The second opened out into a room that had been abandoned mid-decoration. Nonetheless, it was clear to Taya that it was to have been her room. A toddler's bed, still in its packaging, sat in the middle of the room, a mattress (also packed) leaning against its side. Taya drifted through the room, past various boxes labelled 'Taya's Clothes' and 'Taya's Toys', and out again, wondering what it would have been like to grow up there, imagining her parents cooking together downstairs and watching her cousins play in the back garden next door.
The neighbouring room was a nursery – Taya presumed she must have been transitioning out of this room and into the one next door. A white cot stood against a wall, beneath a mobile of stars, nebulas and starships. Taya crooked a smile, she wouldn't have expected anything less of Starfleet parents. There were fewer boxes in this room, all marked 'Baby Things'. Taya rifled through them, hoping to find some memento from the past that she might remember.
She had given up the task as a futile endeavour – these were clearly boxes of unwanted baby things – when Chakotay came up behind her, wearing a slightly perplexed expression. "What have you got there?" he asked.
"Nothing," Taya said, shrugging as she stood up. "Guess you and Mum thought I was going to be a boy, huh?" She said, stuffing a wad of cloth into her father's hands before strolling off to explore the rest of the house.
"No," Chakotay called after her, "By the time your Mother found out she was pregnant, we could already tell…" His voice trailing off as he studied the pale blue onesie that Taya had thrust into his hands. On it, emblazoned in dark blue, tasteful lettering, were the words "Baby Boy Janeway".
TBC