Had hoped to post this yesterday as a voyager anniversary chapter but work and family crisis meant I missed it! Posting from phone. Has a homage to Laura W as the first fanfiction author I favourited - with her permission. Enjoy!
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Janeway
'time is oh seven hundred, time is oh seven hundred'
'computer cease alarm'
blissful silence, snuggle into Chakotay, also alerted by the arm and nuzzling the back of her neck. Revel in the thrum of well maintained warp engines and the streak of stars. Give thanks.
'kathryn', spoken through hair as lips nuzzle neck and then move to clavicle.
'mmm mmm' wriggle again, press against his morning hello, hear his breath catch again. Smile and press more firmly, an invitation. 'Just an exercise thing, with the girls'
A moan, 'exercise thing? Spirits, stop, you would tempt the dead' hands on her hips to stop the wriggling backfires as she is in just *that* position, and she knows it.
A huffed laugh ' 45 minutes' and a gentle move to complete fully his embrace. Mutual sigh. A significant reduction in conversation. An increase in pulse and respiration rates. Satisfaction.
-/-/-/-
he has a light breakfast waiting for her as she comes out of the sonic shower, dance clothes on. Still making her burdens lighter, tho has not renewed or made any other promises. Small frown. It's not that she needs to define parameters any more, but she 'isn't getting any younger' and she feels that they have courted for seven years, seen each other's worst, know the daemons and yet are still here. It would be nice to, assure permanence either officially or unofficially.
She still hasn't had her boosters renewed, and hasn't done any counting. After all, that not young thing. The doctor would have said on Friday, wouldn't he? Not counting, really not counting. Hmm, she isn't sure that the post return voyager high was the right time to make such a major decision and is now caught between running scared and boostering up and hoping it is too late. Something she and Chakotay need to discuss, when they discuss what *this* is. And currently, she is content. She has Icheb as her son, a joy greater than she thought possible. She has her family. No, not counting. She, captain Kathryn Janeway is running scared from a decision again.
He brings her back to the present, 'That kind of exercise? Jean Luc aware?' He notices her outfit and she sees the lascivious glint in his eye, so she throws him a saucy smile as she kisses the top of his head. 'Work hard, be there for the fighting display.' She feels his eyes still roaming her body.
'wouldn't miss it' he grins as he responds. It is clear that there is going to be a surprise that she is a fighter. As if the delta quadrant could have been forgiving enough for anything else.
-/-/-/-
'come on' she exhorts Beverley and Deanna. 'Lanna has joined them 'it will be fun' best ingenue look. A grin flies her way from all three.
'Will told me that your dance style is outrageous'
she doesn't even blush, but grins happily and places a hand on hip, command style. 'So? Are you up for it? Maximum warp!'
Beverley is a fairly accomplished dancer, and has tried a few of these moves before. Deanna is imagining Will when they join a voyager crew party. These are already legendary on the strength of two!
The hour flies past before the women split up to shower and return in uniform to the mess hall for a group breakfast. All four have laughed solidly and bonded easily. She is happy that 'Lanna can laugh without prickles these days. It is good for both of them to increase their circle of friends outside Voyager. Friends and confidantes. It will be good to share laughter and teasing and rebuild networks of support. She is glad 'Lanna is happy to be part of this. Although younger, and temporarily very much more junior, she holds her own.
-/-/-/-
a smirk to Chakotay before joining Jean Luc as a courtesy. He appreciates her preference for a French breakfast, even if he does not join her. He escorts Rovek and dismisses the ever attentive Harry. She finds herself surrounded by enthusiastic engineers this time, and is happy to talk and listen to tech talk. In fact, by the time Geordi has joined them, she has half promised to go with two when free to review some relays that repeatedly burn out and see if she can figure out the issue. He laughs, but is soon attentive as she expounds on maximising dilithium ratios and efficiencies, which allowed them to eke out reserves and nearly do away with the grey running that was such a feature of the first two years.
as Jean Luc calls them to their meetings, far too soon it seems! She moves to tuck in with Rovek. Time for the personal touch. Carefully does it Janeway! This isn't Tuvok! After the first 90 mins Jean Luc says they will be joining the tactical team for emergency drill. She loves the Vulcan eyebrow, so reminiscent of Tuvok, as Rovek queries the requirement. Jean Luc states that it will be sixty minutes, and aims to familiarise the diplomatic and security teams, identifying possible weakness and building trust. Rovek remains unconvinced, as this isn't planned to be a dangerous mission.
She walks with him and demonstrates her homework, thanks to Harry, by pointing out his visit to the Trill home world had also not been thought contentious. He turns and for the first time really looks at her. She can sense that he is looking past the hero status that he feels is lucky rather than deserved, that he is logically adding up the behaviours and skills of the team she has brought with her. He is adding in her discussions of yesterday. He nods at her and they continue. She hadn't expected that this would make the breakthrough, she had thought she might need to work harder for it. Now, she hopes, they might really get down to what this embassy is really all about.
they arrive at the meeting room and Rovek dismisses Picard and Riker instantly. He muses over Deanna and Kim before dismissing both. When they are gone, she joins him at the table and waits patiently. She is not disappointed, and does well with her trained responses to minimise overt tells of surprise. She wonders when they would have told her. At least she has some forewarning. The bastards.
It is only as they are walking to the holodeck she thinks to wonder how he knows, how much he knows and who else knows. Damn, after all these years it has still thrown her. The stakes are raised.
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Ayala
i hope to god our security training goes well. We have the diplomats with us as well as our captain. Watching is Chakotay, who needs to be satisfied. He has very directly told me the honour of Voyager is on my shoulders and then, after a pause, that I hold his life in my care in the person of the Captain. I don't need this information, it isn't just him that needs her health and well being, and we are both equally aware of her habit of throwing herself into danger, risking her life for others. She has done it over and over again. If Chakotay and Tuvok couldn't control this, I am unsure how I can. Sh1t!
They are all ready, Rollins and Murphy as well as Johnson and Rala. We have increased our security detail by one, though in the sims we vary whic teams used as plan to leave one with Tom in the delta flyer. I am not sure why we don't just beam down. Shuttles have always been a Voyager weakness. I take a breath and roll out with the security team to the holodeck. We are practiced, we have chain of command and we have designated dignitaries.
We get there and are introduced to councillor Rovek. The name is chiming somewhere. I wish Tuvok was around to ask. I am assigned predominantly to Rovek. Sh1t, what is it. We start through basic scenarios, potshots from crowd, terrorists and suicide squads to more organised militia. As the scenarios get more complex, testing us, the captain takes on a larger role, defending the cardassian dignitaries as planned. Kim and I guard Rovek, one for Deanna and 2 for Kathryn and cardassians.
We have practiced these scenarios so much that even I don't blink at protecting and possibly dying for cardies. I can see growing approval from Picard, Riker and Chakotay. Relief! The captain has not been too crazy either. There are murmurings of approval for her shooting and hand to hand skills. If only there was an excuse for a bat'leth scenario.
Rovek asks if he can't place the likely faces of the cardassians delegation for the next scenario. I note our captain tenses, and Picard is surprised, he is unaware of their delegation names. 'Just so' says Rovek. The new faces mean nothing to me, but even a blind man can see there is a point to this as Deanna steps forwards. Our captain has her best mask on, so I know there is trouble, and looking to Chakotay, he is smiling in they way of deadly maquis before a strike, he has eyes only for our captain. The captain tells us to 'do it' short and clipped, under control with her hands on her hips and chin jutting. Seven years tells me this is a bad sign, and for the next thirty minutes she protects the lead cardassian over and over again without considering her safety until Rovek calls a halt.
'Enough' he says, and bows to our captain. 'It is enough, I will rest today an rejoin you tomorrow.' She nods in return, bent partly over catching her breath, as are we all. The last scenario was a particularly tough work out with one of the delegation being traitor and taking a hostage. She doesn't even raise her head as he leaves. She misses seeing that he is impressed, that the Enterprise staff are also impressed with her level of skill in hand to hand combat and marksmanship. I will let the rumour begin that she was unbearable at Velocity. I am sure Picard will bite.
our captain also says she requires a freshen up, and asks to reconvene in two hours to take the delta 3 through its paces. She individually thanks us all for our tactical skills, Johnson and Rala have never had the touchy treatment, so are captivated. We will regroup later, but I am going to follow a hunch with Rovek. He did not help in any of the scenario us, but his positioning and following direction betrayed a military precision. If I had thrown him a phaser, it would have been caught and used.
on the plus side, the team did well. I have done well. We turn as one and aim for the mess hall. We are ravenous!
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janeway
i race us back to our quarters, Chakotay keeps up but looks concerned. I didn't allow any discussion in the holodeck, just made sure I looked winded enough that my lack of conversation could be taken for lack of stamina. As if! We enter our quarters and immediately rest myself in chakotay's arms. He guessed.
'the bastards, how could they, and Owen! I could punch the bastard for not even warning you. It was the Gul wasn't it. What if You had never told and we're here with no one to support you.' I put my fingers over his lips and move us to sit on a couch. Chakotay can't have known that the Gul was my former captor in a different life, unless I gave it away. I had tried so hard not to. 'They gave me Deanna, Chakotay. At least I think we have the real reason they didn't want you on the team' I know that separately we are both imagining Chakotay's vengeance.
'Rovek told me this morning, so at least I was partially prepared. I'm not sure Owen knew, but since I don't know who knows what from the al- batani days. Rovek certainly did.' I carry on taking deep meditative breaths. It is a shock, a huge shock. At least i have done a lot of work on this incident, most recently with Deanna. I can't see that he will want to talk about it. I need to practice the line of leaving the past in the past. What are they? Hmmm 'regrettable incidents' that's the phrase.
all the while Chakotay is holding me in silence and stroking. As I look at him, he checks that I will be Ok with him on DS9. He feels very uncomfortable about leaving me alone. I huff a laugh 'oh, Chakotay, you should know that I am never alone!' And he smiles at my attempt at a joke.
'and you, Chakotay, can you still do this' I see anger as well as tenderness in his eyes. He is slow to answer, but when he does I know that it is the truth. 'I have no choice but to trust you Kathryn. If you are strong enough, then I am too. I have to be strong enough to set all of the cardassian atrocities behind me, and be able to face the future.' I nod, a best possible answer.
'we probably should brief at least Ayala, not the whole event, but enough that there are no surprises.' He agrees but adds Harry's name. I am not sure I can bear to let Harry know. In my head he is still the innocent green ensign of our journey's start. Chakotay is persistent. He is also right.
My third sonic shower of the day and he replicates vegetable bouillon and crusty bread for us,which we eat in silent contemplation. He is unsurprised when I ask him just to hold me and tell me a story. Something that I can hold to when he isn't there. He smiles gently, and we both know this story.
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Tom Paris
B'e myself, Harry, marla and Mike are in the delta 3 prototype. Commander data has joined us as an observer. The enterprise has taken us to an asteroid belt where there are fragments of vessels destroyed in the dominion war. They have been hailing over the last few days to make sure that there are no salvagers out there, scraping a living from the wreckage of flotsom and jetsom after the federation clean up occurred. Of course, this increases the chance of inquisitive eyes...
We start with the dance. The captain started the trend with her aerowing once when we were in safe space reconditioning voyager. It became a game, from then on we liked playing this one for all the recon and new shuttles. So we do this for her, knowing that she is with Picard and Riker on the bridge. I hope that Chakotay is there with Miral too. I flash the running lights three times and the enterprise responds.
In my head I see our captains glee and hope that she is cheering me on as Riker gives us the targets. The enterprise starts, deflector dish, a light goes on and we have before three seconds to ping it with our targeting and can use thrusters only. It is more complex by sharing this between myself and Mike. Easy ping though. Deck 4 quarters and ping, starboard bussard collector and ping. Cargo bay, a bit more manoeuvring but a ping, port nacelle... And so it continues. There were a few we didn't quite make, and Riker was testing manoeuvrability and speed quite rigorously by the end. B'E is certainly happy. Our Captains voice hails and we put her on the small view screen. Clearly pleased, she congratulates us and suggests we proceed to phase 2. She is flanked by Chakotay and Picard, indulgently smiling. I imagine that the captain- our captain- has been very vocal in her encouragement!
i try the fancy evasive manoeuvres in free space before I wind us around the asteroid field. This ship is beautiful, it responds to the merest pressure, it is nearly as responsive as Alice, not that I would tell B'e that or risk a mauling! It is the ultimate flyer for a pilot and it has our names all over it. I try riskier and riskier manoeuvres and tighter turns, I am in love with a ship! OMG! Harry laughs and tells me to close my mouth, B'E punches me. It is a delight.
Harry has been testing all aspects of analysis and comms, not so much to challenge here, but certainly works at least to delta 2 standard.
We then try our targeting on small asteroids, to check all aligned. Mike grins as he chooses finer and finer targets. We are like cadets on their first solo experience! Finally we ask enterprise to fire at us - aiming for minimal damage to check shields. We use all the different types with enterprise slowly increasing the load. Clearly we stop before risk of damage.
As a final unannounced test we beam the captain and Chakotay on board, luckilly successfully, and announce this to the enterprise before taking a lap of honour and a warp 9.98 test and finally bringing her slowly back to the cargo bay.
this has allowed us some privacy, and the captain horrifies me by announcing the Gul she will be negotiating with is the same one who held her and my father captive. Harry and Mike are given a very minimal, sanitised version. Harry takes it at face value and Mike goes maquis, mirroring Chakotay. The captain instructs us to ignore all rumour, all innuendo and any aside mention of this if brought up. It is past and done, it has no hold on her, and she doesn't want anyone to claim it might. It should have no hold over us either. She seriously faces each of us in turn. We agree. Part of me imagines meeting the bastard in a deserted alley, but the better part of me points out this is exactly what the captain doesn't want. Why is nothing simple.
she tells us we are going to go back to enterprise as people with something to celebrate, and we agree. The delta 3 is a wonder. In the evening, all b'e wants to do is rest in. She grumbles that I just don't understand how in demand she feels. I Tuvok eyebrow her until she laughs. It is good to be recognised for what you do well, but her tolerance for celebrity palls quickly! We settle Miral and then enjoy our own private celebration. Klingon style!
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thankyou to Laura W for her joyride and road trip which I have referenced with the delta 3 testing. I am so glad you agreed to the homage to your fabulous paired stories - def in my most favourite favourites list.