"I Think I'll Keep You"
Dana Katherine Scully:
Admiral Janeway was awakened later that night by the red alert sirens. Commander LaForge's voice came over the comm system as she was springing up from her bed. "Attention all crew members. The Captain and Doctor Crusher are missing. Anyone who might have information about their whereabouts, report to security headquarters immediately."
Kathryn took it upon herself to go to the bridge. "Voyager crew, report to the bridge," she said over the comm. Jean-Luc was missing, Data was...well they didn't know what Data was, and Beverly had disappeared with him. Suddenly a thought occurred to her. "Computer locate Commander Data."
"Commander Data is not onboard."
"When did he leave the ship?"
"Unable to comply. Insufficient sensor data."
Very clever Data, she thought.
*
"Commander Chakotay."
Harry Kim greeted his friend as he entered the bridge, his eyes already scanning for signs of trouble. "Where is the Admiral?"
Chakotay's sad eyes pierced Harry's cool persona, but he would not allow his discomfort to show. After a moment of staring pleadingly at Harry, Chakotay replied, "I don't know lieutenant."
"Admiral Janeway is most certainly on her way. She would not stray unless it was important," interjected Tuvok, his Vulcan logic still impeccable.
Just then Admiral Janeway burst onto the bridge. "We've got a problem. Data's disappeared. Along with those already known to be gone." Without even waiting for a reply from the officers on the bridge, she tapped her commbadge and barked, "Janeway to Commander LaForge."
"LaForge here," she heard.
"Get me all long range sensor data that might locate Commander Data."
"May I ask why Admiral?"
"Certainly. I think he abducted the captain and Doctor Crusher."
*
"Beverly," Jean-Luc croaked. His head was throbbing so hard that he couldn't open his eyes, his throat felt as if someone had poured acid into him, and he couldn't feel his feet. He was vaguely conscious of Beverly's presence, but couldn't quite recall why.
"Jean-Luc," he heard faintly. "I'm...my head aches. I can't see."
"Just a moment," he said, his vocal chords mounting a protest. "Where are you?"
"Right.....here." Her warm hand fell heavily against his cheek. Her nails bit into his flesh a bit but it was nice to feel her touch. "I think we've been injected with something Jean-Luc. I feel warm: too warm."
"Now that you mention it..." He could feel the heat beginning to flow through him, a crimson tide through his body. It felt odd. Strange and foreign, this tide of warmth spreading over him. He started to feel a bit dizzy: he could tell he wasn't quite thinking straight. His head was starting to clear up though.
After a long moment, Jean-Luc sat up and forced his eyes open. It didn't really do much good, as they were in near total darkness, but at least he knew he could. He turned to look for Beverly and found her, the line of her body at a forty-five degree angle relative to his. Almost exactly a forty- five degree angle. "Beverly, look at this!" he exclaimed suddenly. There were phosphorescent, fairly androgynous body outlines on the floor arranged in a circle on the floor, and he and Beverly had been placed into two consecutive ones. The body outlines appeared to be vaguely male and female humanoid shapes, arranged in pairs.
Beverly rose slowly into a sitting position, wincing as she went. "It appears to be some sort of....ceremonial arrangement. Possibly a ritual of some kind."
"Or a tomb," he whispered. "Most ceremonial rituals involve light of some sort, except for those relating to death. Those vary greatly, but many are performed in total darkness. Beverly, they could have placed us here to die."
*
"Starfleet command this is Admiral Kathryn Janeway aboard the Enterprise. I have contacted you to inform you of our situation." Sitting behind Captain Picard's desk in his Ready Room was uncomfortable. Sitting behind Picard's desk in Picard's Ready Room and contacting Starfleet command about temporarily usurping it....now that was just plain odd.
"The Captain and Chief Medical Officer have been abducted, we think by a former member of this crew who was presumed dead but recently reappeared. Commander LaForge is devoted to his duties in Engineering, and because of his absence and "limbo" status of the ship's command structure, I am requesting permission to temporarily command the Enterprise until we can safely recover the Captain and CMO."
Admiral Nakamura was silent for a long moment. "Admiral, we can send other ships to assist you if you wish," he finally said, markedly ignoring her request.
"I do not believe that will be necessary for the time being. But I would ask you to consider my proposal."
The Senior Admiral nodded. "Consider it done. The ship's chief security officer will be able to assist you in transferring your command codes."
Kathryn nodded curtly. "Thank you Admiral. May I also request permission to install some of the former Voyager crew members in command positions? The Doctor can take over in sickbay and I'm sure Commander LaForge could use some help in engineering..."
"One step at a time Admiral. The Doctor may take over in sickbay and I presume you'll want to select a first officer, but otherwise the rest of your former crew should remain as observers."
"Sir, with all due respect..."
"That is final Kathryn."
Admiral Janeway started forcefully at Nakamura for a good long moment, then said, "Understood sir."
"Oh and Kathryn. Your first officer should be a Starfleet officer. And I don't mean those you commissioned yourself. Anything further?"
Kathryn was raging inside, but all she could sputter out was, "No sir."
*
The luminescence of the body outlines on the ground was beginning to disturb Beverly slightly. She slid a little closer to Jean-Luc, her hands nervously searching out his form in the dark. When she touched his side blindly, she felt heat radiating off of him in waves. "Jean-Luc are you alright?"
She heard his ragged breathing next to her and his hoarse whisper of, "Never better."
She herself had begun to sweat a little, but the effects of whatever they'd been given certainly were not wearing off. She became as cautious as her muddled brain would allow. "Jean-Luc what's that supposed to mean?"
She started as she felt his hot breath against her ear, "How are you, Doctor Crusher?"
"Jean-Luc, I really think...oh dear."
She had felt a slight tickle in her ear and realized that his tongue had just flicked across her earlobe. "What the hell are you doing?" she demanded half-heartedly. On the outside, she was confused. On the inside, she was cheering.
"Just...making you feel...more at home," he said as his mouth continued to flit around her outer ear. She couldn't hold back anymore. She had to...she had to do something. Turning suddenly to face him she whispered against his mouth, "I think I'll keep you." Then she kissed him. Hard.
*
"I am under orders from Starfleet command to temporarily take command of this vessel. Admiral Nakamura has asked me to choose a first officer from the Starfleet officers onboard. His definition of a Starfleet officer is one who received their commission from Starfleet Command. I disagree. Chakotay, I am appointing you as my first officer. The rest of the Voyager family has been asked by Starfleet to remain onboard as observers. Well observe you shall." Kathryn's bold speech was only halfway through, and already the crew was beginning to regain some of their old spark. "Observe and act. B'Elanna, I want you in engineering to assist Commander LaForge. Remember that he still is the chief engineer. Seven, I'll need you in stellar cartography. I'm sure you'll feel right at home. You may assist Lt. Com. Jirta and the rest of the science staff in that section. Harry, take Ops. Tuvok, tactical. Tom, you're at the controls. Ensigns," she commanded to those in those positions, "I want you to observe the actions of these gentlemen very carefully. You can learn a lot from this. As for the rest of you, I'm sure that you can find many ways to assist in your areas of expertise." Kathryn was almost breathless with the excitement of this act. She knew she would regret it later, but right now she finally felt at home again. Desks simply did not agree with her: force of habit, she supposed. "All hands this is Admiral Janeway. The actions that I am taking now are entirely my responsibility. I will take full responsibility for these events. Now get to your posts."
Janeway's commands had astounded the Enterprise's original crew, but the Voyager family members merely smiled and went enthusiastically to their stations. Finally they would have the chance to act!
"Captain," Tuvok intoned, disrupting her reverie. "Starfleet is hailing. They want to know if everything is proceeding as planned."
"Tell them...." she stopped, taking a deep breath. "Tell them that all is well."
The characteristic Vulcan eyebrow greeted her little white lie, but Tuvok knew better than to question her. "Yes Admiral."
The com system chirped. "LaForge to Admiral Janeway."
"Janeway here."
"Admiral, I'm not sure about this, but I think I may be able to find out where Data has gone. He took one of our shuttle and disabled the tracking signal but I've managed to find his warp signature."
"Transfer those coordinates to the helm Commander. Excellent work. Janeway out. Helm, set a course."
"Aye Captain."
"Engage at warp 6 on my mark. Engage."
*
Beverly awoke and felt her head on a firm but soft...something. It was warm, and rising and falling nearly in time with her heartbeat.
"Shit!" she exclaimed when she realized what was happening. She jumped up and cast wildly about for her uniform. She had fallen asleep, naked, on a very naked Jean-Luc. "Oh my God, oh my God," she kept repeating, more softly so as not to wake him. She could not quite remember what happened, but she had a vague image of waking up in this room before. She vaguely realized that her eyes must have adjusted well to the dark because she could see shapes and some colours close to her. As she struggled with her pants, she heard him stir. A feeling somewhat akin to revulsion went through her. She had always been terrified of things that she didn't quite understand, and this not knowing what had happened made her very touchy. The thought that she and Jean-Luc could have done...it...here...it made her very uneasy. And when Beverly was uneasy, her emotions had a bad habit of crossing over themselves. She was almost revolted by the site of her long- time friend. Deep down she loved him still, but in her jumbled brain he was someone she no longer understood, could no longer trust.
"What the hell..." she heard as she pulled her shirt over her head. Her back had been turned to Jean-Luc, but as he jumped up she turned toward him. "Beverly what the devil is going on?" he demanded.
"I don't know sir."
Jean-Luc looked at her warily. He was naked and she was fully clothed, and calling him sir. She hadn't called him sir in a long time. "Beverly where is my uniform?"
"Right behind you sir."
"Thank you." He nodded curtly at her. He was suspicious of her suddenly, suspicious of their situation. He was also a bit embarrassed by his being totally naked in from of her while she was fully clothed. What the devil had happened?
He dressed very quickly (or as quickly as one can in almost total darkness) and turned away from his friend. He needed some time to think, to try to remember what had happened.
They had suddenly become exceedingly uncomfortable with each other: layers of suspicion were burying the old camaraderie they shared. What had happened? Had they been acting on their own? Was one of them betraying the other? Neither knew. But they did know that they were trapped together in a dark room with outlines of bodies glowing on the floor.
*
Adat turned from his wall of laboratory view screens. He'd been trying to observe significant activity from Lab 116, but the human subjects there just did not seem to be doing anything. He knew them vaguely: the original inhabitant of his circuits had known them quite well: he retained fragments of memories of them. He had a feeling they would not be very conversational for a while. Humans. They were so complex.
Adat spun around in his chair to face another view screen in his observatory. It was a smaller screen than the others, marked "Playback" in several major languages. He called up the record of Lab 116 and watched with satisfaction as his favorite parts of their interaction played out. He supposed that his meddling with the test subjects had influence the outcome quite a bit, but how could he resist? The consequences were so delicious!
He had wanted to observe human mating rituals, but he knew it would probably take a long time for the two humans he had managed to capture to mate, so he simply...sped up the process a bit. He hadn't anticipated the weakness of their hormone response systems however. Since he knew that their little group...Planet Armada or something like that...was nearly completely run by humans, he gave his two human test subjects enough sex hormone to make a Vulcan horny, suspecting that the human race must be far superior in logic and emotional control even to Vulcans. Unfortunately (or fortunately for the somewhat sex-deprived android), this completely overwhelmed their senses, and each of the 7 days that it had taken for the hormone to wear off had been a constant stream of different types of mating (his highest count was 10 different ways on the third day!). The dosage of hormone effectively destroyed their abilities to form new memories however, so when they awoke on the 8th day (today), when the hormone had worn off, they hadn't the slightest idea what had happened. What was even more delicious to Adat's dramatic brain was the fact that the lack of artificial stimulation had left them both incredibly irritable and depressed, because their brains had not had time to compensate for the lack of outside stimulant. So now they were extremely suspicious of each other, and being particularly snappy.
The voice of the former inhabitant of his circuits played softly in the back of his mind, "This is wrong." But he ignored it. Data had been so damn loyal to them anyway. As he turned back to his lab monitors, Adat immediately sought out Lab 116. The two humans were now fighting bitterly, staggering a bit in the dark. "They must be very sore!" he thought evilly. "I think I will keep you, my dears," he said, stroking the monitor.
Dana Katherine Scully:
Admiral Janeway was awakened later that night by the red alert sirens. Commander LaForge's voice came over the comm system as she was springing up from her bed. "Attention all crew members. The Captain and Doctor Crusher are missing. Anyone who might have information about their whereabouts, report to security headquarters immediately."
Kathryn took it upon herself to go to the bridge. "Voyager crew, report to the bridge," she said over the comm. Jean-Luc was missing, Data was...well they didn't know what Data was, and Beverly had disappeared with him. Suddenly a thought occurred to her. "Computer locate Commander Data."
"Commander Data is not onboard."
"When did he leave the ship?"
"Unable to comply. Insufficient sensor data."
Very clever Data, she thought.
*
"Commander Chakotay."
Harry Kim greeted his friend as he entered the bridge, his eyes already scanning for signs of trouble. "Where is the Admiral?"
Chakotay's sad eyes pierced Harry's cool persona, but he would not allow his discomfort to show. After a moment of staring pleadingly at Harry, Chakotay replied, "I don't know lieutenant."
"Admiral Janeway is most certainly on her way. She would not stray unless it was important," interjected Tuvok, his Vulcan logic still impeccable.
Just then Admiral Janeway burst onto the bridge. "We've got a problem. Data's disappeared. Along with those already known to be gone." Without even waiting for a reply from the officers on the bridge, she tapped her commbadge and barked, "Janeway to Commander LaForge."
"LaForge here," she heard.
"Get me all long range sensor data that might locate Commander Data."
"May I ask why Admiral?"
"Certainly. I think he abducted the captain and Doctor Crusher."
*
"Beverly," Jean-Luc croaked. His head was throbbing so hard that he couldn't open his eyes, his throat felt as if someone had poured acid into him, and he couldn't feel his feet. He was vaguely conscious of Beverly's presence, but couldn't quite recall why.
"Jean-Luc," he heard faintly. "I'm...my head aches. I can't see."
"Just a moment," he said, his vocal chords mounting a protest. "Where are you?"
"Right.....here." Her warm hand fell heavily against his cheek. Her nails bit into his flesh a bit but it was nice to feel her touch. "I think we've been injected with something Jean-Luc. I feel warm: too warm."
"Now that you mention it..." He could feel the heat beginning to flow through him, a crimson tide through his body. It felt odd. Strange and foreign, this tide of warmth spreading over him. He started to feel a bit dizzy: he could tell he wasn't quite thinking straight. His head was starting to clear up though.
After a long moment, Jean-Luc sat up and forced his eyes open. It didn't really do much good, as they were in near total darkness, but at least he knew he could. He turned to look for Beverly and found her, the line of her body at a forty-five degree angle relative to his. Almost exactly a forty- five degree angle. "Beverly, look at this!" he exclaimed suddenly. There were phosphorescent, fairly androgynous body outlines on the floor arranged in a circle on the floor, and he and Beverly had been placed into two consecutive ones. The body outlines appeared to be vaguely male and female humanoid shapes, arranged in pairs.
Beverly rose slowly into a sitting position, wincing as she went. "It appears to be some sort of....ceremonial arrangement. Possibly a ritual of some kind."
"Or a tomb," he whispered. "Most ceremonial rituals involve light of some sort, except for those relating to death. Those vary greatly, but many are performed in total darkness. Beverly, they could have placed us here to die."
*
"Starfleet command this is Admiral Kathryn Janeway aboard the Enterprise. I have contacted you to inform you of our situation." Sitting behind Captain Picard's desk in his Ready Room was uncomfortable. Sitting behind Picard's desk in Picard's Ready Room and contacting Starfleet command about temporarily usurping it....now that was just plain odd.
"The Captain and Chief Medical Officer have been abducted, we think by a former member of this crew who was presumed dead but recently reappeared. Commander LaForge is devoted to his duties in Engineering, and because of his absence and "limbo" status of the ship's command structure, I am requesting permission to temporarily command the Enterprise until we can safely recover the Captain and CMO."
Admiral Nakamura was silent for a long moment. "Admiral, we can send other ships to assist you if you wish," he finally said, markedly ignoring her request.
"I do not believe that will be necessary for the time being. But I would ask you to consider my proposal."
The Senior Admiral nodded. "Consider it done. The ship's chief security officer will be able to assist you in transferring your command codes."
Kathryn nodded curtly. "Thank you Admiral. May I also request permission to install some of the former Voyager crew members in command positions? The Doctor can take over in sickbay and I'm sure Commander LaForge could use some help in engineering..."
"One step at a time Admiral. The Doctor may take over in sickbay and I presume you'll want to select a first officer, but otherwise the rest of your former crew should remain as observers."
"Sir, with all due respect..."
"That is final Kathryn."
Admiral Janeway started forcefully at Nakamura for a good long moment, then said, "Understood sir."
"Oh and Kathryn. Your first officer should be a Starfleet officer. And I don't mean those you commissioned yourself. Anything further?"
Kathryn was raging inside, but all she could sputter out was, "No sir."
*
The luminescence of the body outlines on the ground was beginning to disturb Beverly slightly. She slid a little closer to Jean-Luc, her hands nervously searching out his form in the dark. When she touched his side blindly, she felt heat radiating off of him in waves. "Jean-Luc are you alright?"
She heard his ragged breathing next to her and his hoarse whisper of, "Never better."
She herself had begun to sweat a little, but the effects of whatever they'd been given certainly were not wearing off. She became as cautious as her muddled brain would allow. "Jean-Luc what's that supposed to mean?"
She started as she felt his hot breath against her ear, "How are you, Doctor Crusher?"
"Jean-Luc, I really think...oh dear."
She had felt a slight tickle in her ear and realized that his tongue had just flicked across her earlobe. "What the hell are you doing?" she demanded half-heartedly. On the outside, she was confused. On the inside, she was cheering.
"Just...making you feel...more at home," he said as his mouth continued to flit around her outer ear. She couldn't hold back anymore. She had to...she had to do something. Turning suddenly to face him she whispered against his mouth, "I think I'll keep you." Then she kissed him. Hard.
*
"I am under orders from Starfleet command to temporarily take command of this vessel. Admiral Nakamura has asked me to choose a first officer from the Starfleet officers onboard. His definition of a Starfleet officer is one who received their commission from Starfleet Command. I disagree. Chakotay, I am appointing you as my first officer. The rest of the Voyager family has been asked by Starfleet to remain onboard as observers. Well observe you shall." Kathryn's bold speech was only halfway through, and already the crew was beginning to regain some of their old spark. "Observe and act. B'Elanna, I want you in engineering to assist Commander LaForge. Remember that he still is the chief engineer. Seven, I'll need you in stellar cartography. I'm sure you'll feel right at home. You may assist Lt. Com. Jirta and the rest of the science staff in that section. Harry, take Ops. Tuvok, tactical. Tom, you're at the controls. Ensigns," she commanded to those in those positions, "I want you to observe the actions of these gentlemen very carefully. You can learn a lot from this. As for the rest of you, I'm sure that you can find many ways to assist in your areas of expertise." Kathryn was almost breathless with the excitement of this act. She knew she would regret it later, but right now she finally felt at home again. Desks simply did not agree with her: force of habit, she supposed. "All hands this is Admiral Janeway. The actions that I am taking now are entirely my responsibility. I will take full responsibility for these events. Now get to your posts."
Janeway's commands had astounded the Enterprise's original crew, but the Voyager family members merely smiled and went enthusiastically to their stations. Finally they would have the chance to act!
"Captain," Tuvok intoned, disrupting her reverie. "Starfleet is hailing. They want to know if everything is proceeding as planned."
"Tell them...." she stopped, taking a deep breath. "Tell them that all is well."
The characteristic Vulcan eyebrow greeted her little white lie, but Tuvok knew better than to question her. "Yes Admiral."
The com system chirped. "LaForge to Admiral Janeway."
"Janeway here."
"Admiral, I'm not sure about this, but I think I may be able to find out where Data has gone. He took one of our shuttle and disabled the tracking signal but I've managed to find his warp signature."
"Transfer those coordinates to the helm Commander. Excellent work. Janeway out. Helm, set a course."
"Aye Captain."
"Engage at warp 6 on my mark. Engage."
*
Beverly awoke and felt her head on a firm but soft...something. It was warm, and rising and falling nearly in time with her heartbeat.
"Shit!" she exclaimed when she realized what was happening. She jumped up and cast wildly about for her uniform. She had fallen asleep, naked, on a very naked Jean-Luc. "Oh my God, oh my God," she kept repeating, more softly so as not to wake him. She could not quite remember what happened, but she had a vague image of waking up in this room before. She vaguely realized that her eyes must have adjusted well to the dark because she could see shapes and some colours close to her. As she struggled with her pants, she heard him stir. A feeling somewhat akin to revulsion went through her. She had always been terrified of things that she didn't quite understand, and this not knowing what had happened made her very touchy. The thought that she and Jean-Luc could have done...it...here...it made her very uneasy. And when Beverly was uneasy, her emotions had a bad habit of crossing over themselves. She was almost revolted by the site of her long- time friend. Deep down she loved him still, but in her jumbled brain he was someone she no longer understood, could no longer trust.
"What the hell..." she heard as she pulled her shirt over her head. Her back had been turned to Jean-Luc, but as he jumped up she turned toward him. "Beverly what the devil is going on?" he demanded.
"I don't know sir."
Jean-Luc looked at her warily. He was naked and she was fully clothed, and calling him sir. She hadn't called him sir in a long time. "Beverly where is my uniform?"
"Right behind you sir."
"Thank you." He nodded curtly at her. He was suspicious of her suddenly, suspicious of their situation. He was also a bit embarrassed by his being totally naked in from of her while she was fully clothed. What the devil had happened?
He dressed very quickly (or as quickly as one can in almost total darkness) and turned away from his friend. He needed some time to think, to try to remember what had happened.
They had suddenly become exceedingly uncomfortable with each other: layers of suspicion were burying the old camaraderie they shared. What had happened? Had they been acting on their own? Was one of them betraying the other? Neither knew. But they did know that they were trapped together in a dark room with outlines of bodies glowing on the floor.
*
Adat turned from his wall of laboratory view screens. He'd been trying to observe significant activity from Lab 116, but the human subjects there just did not seem to be doing anything. He knew them vaguely: the original inhabitant of his circuits had known them quite well: he retained fragments of memories of them. He had a feeling they would not be very conversational for a while. Humans. They were so complex.
Adat spun around in his chair to face another view screen in his observatory. It was a smaller screen than the others, marked "Playback" in several major languages. He called up the record of Lab 116 and watched with satisfaction as his favorite parts of their interaction played out. He supposed that his meddling with the test subjects had influence the outcome quite a bit, but how could he resist? The consequences were so delicious!
He had wanted to observe human mating rituals, but he knew it would probably take a long time for the two humans he had managed to capture to mate, so he simply...sped up the process a bit. He hadn't anticipated the weakness of their hormone response systems however. Since he knew that their little group...Planet Armada or something like that...was nearly completely run by humans, he gave his two human test subjects enough sex hormone to make a Vulcan horny, suspecting that the human race must be far superior in logic and emotional control even to Vulcans. Unfortunately (or fortunately for the somewhat sex-deprived android), this completely overwhelmed their senses, and each of the 7 days that it had taken for the hormone to wear off had been a constant stream of different types of mating (his highest count was 10 different ways on the third day!). The dosage of hormone effectively destroyed their abilities to form new memories however, so when they awoke on the 8th day (today), when the hormone had worn off, they hadn't the slightest idea what had happened. What was even more delicious to Adat's dramatic brain was the fact that the lack of artificial stimulation had left them both incredibly irritable and depressed, because their brains had not had time to compensate for the lack of outside stimulant. So now they were extremely suspicious of each other, and being particularly snappy.
The voice of the former inhabitant of his circuits played softly in the back of his mind, "This is wrong." But he ignored it. Data had been so damn loyal to them anyway. As he turned back to his lab monitors, Adat immediately sought out Lab 116. The two humans were now fighting bitterly, staggering a bit in the dark. "They must be very sore!" he thought evilly. "I think I will keep you, my dears," he said, stroking the monitor.