Home Sweet Home
The following story line is mine. Don't try to copy it cause I'll get mad
In a like vein, Star Trek: Voyager and all characters are the sole property of someone other than me.
"Deneb?" Janeway repeated. The girl shook herself.
"Oh. Yes. Well. I suppose we should see them then" she said, but she didn't look happy about the prospect.
"You don't have to watch them now, if you don't want to" Janeway told her, "They'll be there and you can see them anytime you want" Deneb was staring past her. She suddenly got up and spun around, once again looking out the window.
"You know" she started. There was emotion in her voice, even if Janeway couldn't decide what it was, "I used to think that at least the stars didn't change, you know? I mean, no matter how far in time I hopped, at least the stars were the same. Oh, they looked different, you know, depending on where we were. But someone could always pick out Earth's sun. They could say, look, that star is part of Orion's belt, even though it doesn't look like it from this angle, or over there, that's Polaris. And even though I was hopping through time, I could at least feel like I was still in the same place, relatively speaking. But here?" she shook her head, "I'm farther from home than I've ever been. And I get the feeling I'll never get back, not now. I've come too far this time"
Janeway knew that losing hope was the worst thing that could happen to a person. She strove, every day, to keep the hope that they'd get home alive on the ship, no matter what obstacles got in their way, no matter how long it was going to take, they'd all see home again. She knew that it was a large part of what kept this ship running, it was one of the things that kept people sane. She couldn't imagine losing that hope, not completely anyway.
And to have had that hope, made a life for yourself, and then to have it ripped away again?
"You can't lose hope, Deneb" she said softly, "Hope is the thing that keeps us going. Without hope the human race would have fallen apart years ago. Without hope every person on this ship would be walking around with nothing in their hearts. They might not be walking around at all"
"And what should I hope for, Captain? To get back home? That's not going to happen. Spock taught me to be more realistic than that. What then? Hope that I won't hop again? That Fate will take pity on me and leave me to build another life? I've too much recent experience for that theory to hold much water"
"What about your children? Don't you want to build some kind of life for them?" she asked, trying to find something that would stimulate Deneb. The girl turned on her heels to face the Captain, a woman slightly taller than herself, but no matter when one is enraged.
"Oh, yes wouldn't that be perfect?" she nearly shouted, "Yes, I build a life with them and then what? I get snatched away by Lord knows what and they've lost their mother at what, two? Three maybe? Wouldn't that be a grand experience for them? Or, maybe they'll go with me, something passed through my genes perhaps? Yes, and then they get the wonderful feeling of being snatched away from everything they know and love and get thrust into a world they know nothing about, where their mother can't protect them and they're vulnerable to all the terrors that I've encountered over the years!"
"What're you going to do then?" Janeway asked impatiently, raising her voice a bit now too "Sit around this room and mope?" Deneb's anger drained away.
"You sound like my mother" she said. In that instant, Janeway realized what the young woman really needed. A mother. She'd been only sixteen when she was torn away from hers? And Janeway knew, somehow, that not too much time had passed between then and now. Deneb had gone through a life time of experiences in a short amount of time, with no one to confide in, no one to console her, no one to council her through the things that every young woman needed a mother's gentle hand for. Who had she asked questions of when she'd fallen in love with James Kirk? Who had she borrowed pearls from for her wedding? Who had given her advice when she'd found she was pregnant? Janeway doubted anyone had done that.
Janeway had never been a mother, she'd never even been married. But she tended to think of herself as mother of this entire crew and besides that, every woman had motherly intuitions. And this time her intuitions were telling her that right now, Deneb needed to come to grips with her reality, and a soft hand wasn't what was called for.
"Deneb Darling-Kirk" she implemented the age old 'full name' trick, "Get a hold of yourself. I can't imagine anyone in your life, from your mother to your husband to Ambassador Spock or Admiral McCoy would approve of your recent behavior" She was surprised at how motherly she did sound!
"Life hasn't dealt you the best hand, but it's what you've got and you've got to play with it. There is more to consider than getting your heart broken again. Your children, for one, and the fact that you could be here for a year or longer. You'll go mad trying to keep yourself locked up and cut off from everyone else. Now, I suggest that you start thinking of something you can do to occupy your time, and I don't care what it is" And with that and not a backward glance Katharine stomped off for the door, leaving Deneb speechless behind. She stopped at the door, suddenly remembering.
"When you're ready to see those messages, call me." she added and then let the doors close behind her.
It was two weeks before she got that call.
In a like vein, Star Trek: Voyager and all characters are the sole property of someone other than me.
"Deneb?" Janeway repeated. The girl shook herself.
"Oh. Yes. Well. I suppose we should see them then" she said, but she didn't look happy about the prospect.
"You don't have to watch them now, if you don't want to" Janeway told her, "They'll be there and you can see them anytime you want" Deneb was staring past her. She suddenly got up and spun around, once again looking out the window.
"You know" she started. There was emotion in her voice, even if Janeway couldn't decide what it was, "I used to think that at least the stars didn't change, you know? I mean, no matter how far in time I hopped, at least the stars were the same. Oh, they looked different, you know, depending on where we were. But someone could always pick out Earth's sun. They could say, look, that star is part of Orion's belt, even though it doesn't look like it from this angle, or over there, that's Polaris. And even though I was hopping through time, I could at least feel like I was still in the same place, relatively speaking. But here?" she shook her head, "I'm farther from home than I've ever been. And I get the feeling I'll never get back, not now. I've come too far this time"
Janeway knew that losing hope was the worst thing that could happen to a person. She strove, every day, to keep the hope that they'd get home alive on the ship, no matter what obstacles got in their way, no matter how long it was going to take, they'd all see home again. She knew that it was a large part of what kept this ship running, it was one of the things that kept people sane. She couldn't imagine losing that hope, not completely anyway.
And to have had that hope, made a life for yourself, and then to have it ripped away again?
"You can't lose hope, Deneb" she said softly, "Hope is the thing that keeps us going. Without hope the human race would have fallen apart years ago. Without hope every person on this ship would be walking around with nothing in their hearts. They might not be walking around at all"
"And what should I hope for, Captain? To get back home? That's not going to happen. Spock taught me to be more realistic than that. What then? Hope that I won't hop again? That Fate will take pity on me and leave me to build another life? I've too much recent experience for that theory to hold much water"
"What about your children? Don't you want to build some kind of life for them?" she asked, trying to find something that would stimulate Deneb. The girl turned on her heels to face the Captain, a woman slightly taller than herself, but no matter when one is enraged.
"Oh, yes wouldn't that be perfect?" she nearly shouted, "Yes, I build a life with them and then what? I get snatched away by Lord knows what and they've lost their mother at what, two? Three maybe? Wouldn't that be a grand experience for them? Or, maybe they'll go with me, something passed through my genes perhaps? Yes, and then they get the wonderful feeling of being snatched away from everything they know and love and get thrust into a world they know nothing about, where their mother can't protect them and they're vulnerable to all the terrors that I've encountered over the years!"
"What're you going to do then?" Janeway asked impatiently, raising her voice a bit now too "Sit around this room and mope?" Deneb's anger drained away.
"You sound like my mother" she said. In that instant, Janeway realized what the young woman really needed. A mother. She'd been only sixteen when she was torn away from hers? And Janeway knew, somehow, that not too much time had passed between then and now. Deneb had gone through a life time of experiences in a short amount of time, with no one to confide in, no one to console her, no one to council her through the things that every young woman needed a mother's gentle hand for. Who had she asked questions of when she'd fallen in love with James Kirk? Who had she borrowed pearls from for her wedding? Who had given her advice when she'd found she was pregnant? Janeway doubted anyone had done that.
Janeway had never been a mother, she'd never even been married. But she tended to think of herself as mother of this entire crew and besides that, every woman had motherly intuitions. And this time her intuitions were telling her that right now, Deneb needed to come to grips with her reality, and a soft hand wasn't what was called for.
"Deneb Darling-Kirk" she implemented the age old 'full name' trick, "Get a hold of yourself. I can't imagine anyone in your life, from your mother to your husband to Ambassador Spock or Admiral McCoy would approve of your recent behavior" She was surprised at how motherly she did sound!
"Life hasn't dealt you the best hand, but it's what you've got and you've got to play with it. There is more to consider than getting your heart broken again. Your children, for one, and the fact that you could be here for a year or longer. You'll go mad trying to keep yourself locked up and cut off from everyone else. Now, I suggest that you start thinking of something you can do to occupy your time, and I don't care what it is" And with that and not a backward glance Katharine stomped off for the door, leaving Deneb speechless behind. She stopped at the door, suddenly remembering.
"When you're ready to see those messages, call me." she added and then let the doors close behind her.
It was two weeks before she got that call.