I wonder where I am going with this story. I have no idea. Please enjoy!
They fell into some sort of routine. Two hours in the holodeck after shift. The first hour was spent working on shuttle designs and simulations. Both were amazed at the amount of work they did manage to get done. They worked well together, bouncing ideas off one another, getting excited over something, and fiddling with components until they had no choice but work the way they wanted them too.
That isn't to say that Tom never let his urges get the best of him and pin Kathryn against the hull of their half built simulation and ravish her. Or that Kathryn had never physically dragged Tom out from beneath the ship, tore off his clothes and rode him. Hard.
But usually they could hold off until the second hour of their holodeck sessions. This hour they reserved for letting their inner cats out, so to speak. Closing and saving their work, they'd call up a program full of open meadows, dense forests, and clear blue skies. A virtual playground for two giant felines.
After their holodeck time, the two would part ways; Tom to the mess for food and his friends, and Kathryn to her quarters or ready room to work. Then sometime in the middle of the night Tom would slip into her room and curl up next to his mate. Unfortunately this didn't happen as often as Tom would like, but he realized they had to be very discreet. Otherwise they were going to get caught.
Tom was on the bridge thinking about this one morning after spending a restless night alone in his quarters. He was coming to recognize the more time he spent apart from his mate, the more irritable he became. It was alright working on the bridge where he could feel her comforting presence behind him, but going without seeing his mate for hours at a time was beginning to drive him crazy.
What he wanted was to be able to show his affection – and possessiveness-- anytime he felt like it. He wanted to go to bed with her in his arms and wake up to find her sprawled on top of him. Hell, he just wanted. And it wasn't just the sex- not to say the sex wasn't mind blowing, because it was and more- Tom just wanted to spend more time with her, to see the person behind the Captain.
Harry's voice broke through Tom's musings. "There's something on the sensors."
Immediately the Captain was out of her seat to peer over the ensign's shoulder. Tom hadn't realized that she was that restless, but then, he could relate.
"What is it?"
"I'm getting readings of a ship of some sort."
"Can you hail them?"
"They're still out of range."
"What are they doing out here?" Tom piped up, curious, "There isn't anything around here that isn't two days away at warp eight."
Janeway looked up from Harry's station to meet Tom's eyes. It that moment it was if they could read each other minds, both wondering if this was some sort of trap and if there was any sign of danger, Tom knew he would put her life before his own.
Kathryn blinked and the moment was over. "Mr. Paris proceed with caution," she ordered, marching back to her chair, "Mr. Kim keep trying to hail them."
XOXOXOX
It took over two hours to reach the ship. Even after coming within hailing distance, they continued to receive only static from the ship.
Tuvok had the shields at full and the weapons primed in case of a surprise attack but the mystery ship just seemed to hang there.
"Scanning for life signs," Kim announced. A moment later he frowned, then ran the scans again. "There are no life signs on that ship. It doesn't make any sense. I can't find anything wrong with the ship itself."
"On screen," Janeway barked. The mystery ship replaced the blackness of the view screen.
"There appear to be no signs of a battle," Tuvok remarked calmly. Indeed the ship looked to be good in condition, the engines still running enough to hold its position in this quiet corner of space.
"I want a meeting of the senior officers in five minutes," Janeway ordered tersely. Something about this ship made her uneasy and she knew Tom felt it too by the way he fidgeted at his station.
Five minutes later she was the last one to stalk into the conference room. She moved to the head of the table, but didn't sit down. She was to…twitchy for that. Rather she planted her hands on the table and forced herself calm down before she started growing fangs and claws in front of the entire senior staff.
"What do we know?" she demanded. As Harry Kim began his report on the scans he had ran, Kathryn made the mistake of meeting Tom's eyes. The cat inside her roared to life, seeing the answering call in her mate's eyes. They could both feel the wrongness rolling off the ship in waves and their instincts were demanding fight or flight.
Neither were the type to run away in the face of danger so Janeway made the decision that she was going to lead the away team that would investigate the ship. And Tom would be coming with her; there was no way he would allow himself to be left behind while his mate walked willingly into what could be her death.
"Thank you Ensign," she nodded to Kim as he finished. "I think this warrants investigating. I will lead a small team to do so. Mr. Paris, you and two security personal will accompany me."
"Yes Ma'am," Paris said cheerfully, glad she knew he was going to go no matter what.
"Chakotay, I need you here in command in case this is some elaborate trap or something," Kathryn said, quelling the commander's protests before he could voice them. "Tuvok, keep the shields up and weapons at the ready. Be'lanna, I need you in the transport room in case we need an emergency beam out." She met each of her officers in the eye, "Very well, we will beam out in 20 minutes. Dismissed."
The officers filed out the room, Tom trailing the group, trying to get a moment alone with Kathryn. Chakotay was trying to the same and the two males eyed each other, both recognized what the other was trying to do.
"After you commander," Tom gestured grandly at the door. Chakotay glanced back at Janeway who hadn't moved from her position at the head of the table, nails drumming on its metal surface, eyes focused on something distant. Seeing that she wasn't going to talk to him, the big Indian reluctantly returned to his seat on the bridge.
Tom as well hesitated in the doorway before moving towards the Captain. "Kathryn," he said softly, placing his hand over her tapping fingers.
"Oh," she turned to look at him, startled out of her reverie. She opened her mouth to say more when the door slid open.
Tom hastily pulled his hand away from hers and Kathryn straightened up quickly as Chakotay reentered the room. Both hoped the first officer missed the intimate position they had been in.
"Captain I would like to talk to you. Alone," he said with a pointed look at Tom.
"Not now Chakotay," Janeway snapped, suddenly impatient with the commander and his constant attention, "Tom and I have to be down in the transport room."
Chakotay raised an eyebrow at the use of the pilot's first name while on duty and Kathryn cursed in her head at the slip up. She tried to walk past him, but he grabbed her forearm.
"I really don't think this is a good idea. You don't need to go on this mission. I can go."
Kathryn sent a glare at him, trying to force down her sudden anger. She had felt Tom tense up the moment Chakotay touched her and if she gave the smallest signal of her discomfort, her first officer would soon become the scratching post for a 200 plus pound feline.
"Do I need to remind you who the Captain on this ship is?" she asked coldly, pulling her arm out of his grasp, "If I want to go on this mission then I will and you will go back to the bridge and like it." Then she spun on a heel and stalked out of the room.
Chakotay stared after her, a little shocked at her behavior. Tom shrugged at him as if to say he had no idea for her harsh words and quickly scurried after her least he incur her wrath.
A short while later Tom stood behind his Captain on the transporter platform, already sweating in his hermetically sealed hazmat suit. Janeway gave a curt nod to Be'lanna and the four figures disappeared only to rematerialize on the strange ghost ship.