Star Trek: Babylon

Andrew J. Talon

Admiral Janeway froze at the figure emerging from the sickbay. He turned and faced her, freezing as well. The two stared at each other.

"… Ensign Lessing,"

"Admiral," he grunted curtly. He then turned and headed off in the other direction. Janeway sighed, before continuing onwards and turning into the sickbay. Her face brightened immediately.

"Kes!" The blonde looked up from a medical console, and smiled broadly at the sight of the older woman.

"Captain! Or, should I say, admiral!" The blonde moved forward into a tight hug, which she didn't release as she moved backwards slightly and grinned at Janeway.

"I could not believe it when I heard you had made it!"

"I couldn't believe you came here! How did it… I can't believe it!" The Admiral gushed, her smile simply radiant. She then gasped, raising a few slim fingers to her ears. Her smooth, round ears. Kes swallowed slightly.

"I'm sorry… I… It's rather… Well…" Janeway raised an inquisitive eyebrow, as Kes turned away. Janeway crossed her arms.

"The captain didn't mention this in his report," the admiral observed dryly. Kes wrung her hands nervously.

"I'm afraid… Well… It's a long story," Kes murmured. Janeway looked over the Starfleet-issue uniform she was wearing, with her blue collar. The blonde turned back, frowning. She fidgeted slightly, suddenly extremely nervous.

"Q." Janeway nodded thoughtfully.

"Go on." Kes wrung her hands again.

"I evolved. I sent you closer to home. And then… I learned why the Caretaker used his weapons on Ocampa in the first place." Janeway made no movement or sound.

"Ocampa was ruled by others, who had reached my level of evolution. They behaved as gods… and had the people who didn't evolve worship them. And when the Caretaker and his people approached, for possible first contact-"

"They attacked… And the Caretaker had no choice but to defend himself," Janeway finished. "And the un-evolved members of your species suffered because your atmosphere was stripped of what it needed to make rain." Kes nodded.

"Yes… Unfortunately, not all of the evolved Ocampa were destroyed. One of them… A future version of me, you might say, took on their traits and was responsible for the attack on you some time ago." At Janeway's confused frown, Kes hurried on.

"In the realm of the evolved Ocampa, time is irrelevant. Many different versions of you can exist in it all at the same time, and versions of me also existed. One of them had spent considerable time with the other Ocampa. And she, well…" Kes looked away. Janeway sighed, shaking her head.

"Go on, Kes." Kes bit her lip before continuing.

"I found out what happened, with the other me. And I learned that the longer I stayed, the more versions of me appeared. All with my powers, all with such hatred…" The blonde sighed and looked Janeway directly in the eyes.

"I contacted Q. I wanted to return to mortality, to avoid any more versions of myself attacking or causing trouble. He said he could, but in return… I had to give up something."

"Being an Ocampan," the admiral confirmed. "Under the circumstances, I might have done the same thing." Kes looked back up at her.

"Admiral?" Janeway smiled comfortingly.

"Captain Lee seemed taken with you from the moment he recovered your escape pod. He wanted you to become his medical officer." Kes shrugged, suddenly sheepish.

"He was very kind, and needed a new doctor… And Starfleet had no problem with it." Janeway smiled.

"I'm glad to hear it. He has a certain penchant for picking up strays, hm?" Kes smiled.

"His own past was somewhat… Checkered. He seems to have little problem with others who have had similar problems." Janeway frowned.

"Ensign Lessing? Lieutenant Gilmore?" Kes's smile dimmed slightly.

"He gave them a chance no one else would, because he felt that their talents should not be wasted in jail or out in dishonorable discharges." The admiral nodded.

"Well… I just wanted to say hello. And when you get back, we'll have lots to talk about."

Kes's smile brightened up again, just as Janeway remembered.

"I look forward to it!" The admiral gave her one-time crewmember another hug, before turning. She paused at the exit from the sickbay.

"Oh, by the way. Feel free to bring along Captain Lee with you. If you loosened up the Doctor, imagine what you could do with him," the admiral departed with an impish smile and a swish of the doors, as Kes shook her head fondly, before going back to the various reports on her desk.

"Lieutenant, the communications system is not going to reformat itself, you know," squawked Commander Twee, floating menacingly over the Operations kiosk on the bridge. The young Bolian woman looked up at her XO with a hint of annoyance, blowing some stray white hair out of her eyes.

"Sir, we're in the middle of a Level 1 diagnostic. The new Borg upgrades still won't work with our communications array. We've had to take them apart and put them back together again five times already." The dolphin made a deep squawking noise and a few chicken-like clucks, shaking his nose back and forth.

"Gah! Those Borg! Worse than sharks, and now we have to act like sharks! Feh!" Twee rapidly descended into high-speed Wei'iea, what the dolphins called their language, and from the harsh whistles and barks it was obvious he was not happy. As the first officer floated away, Lieutenant Mitena Haro went back to her readings, her lips pursed in concentration.

"Ops to Main Engineering. Our secondary array is still offline. What's the story?"

"The MIDAS uplink is still being integrated. We're trying to double the output of the entire communications system." The Bolian sighed.

"You've been saying that for hours now, Gilmore." The blonde paused over the comm.

"Well, whoever did the last EPS replacement had to be on drugs. Who the hell jury-rigs the manifolds to run with the plasma coolant, crosswired with the subspace generators and God knows how many other systems?" Haro grinned.

"Well, actually, Twee did it."

"What!"

"The commander was the chief engineer, and apparently, this configuration sounded 'harmonious'." Haro frowned.

"Of course, he made these adjustments after his promotion bash… And he had a few too many liquor fish…"

"Oh, swell. Our ship's a horrible mutated freak because the old chief engineer was a drunken fish!"

"Who are you calling a fish, you round-headed ape!" Squawked Twee, making Haro yelp. He had floated silently to the kiosk and had been listening to the entire exchange.

"Er, commander, I didn't mean to-"

"No, no," Twee whistled sadly. "I understand. And I am to blame for the ship's, er, irregularities. But still! Borg technology!" Twee continued making more dolphin sounds of disgust and ill-humor, floating over to his chair and sliding one of his fins into a long, white glove lying on the seat. It hardened and stretched out, before flexing like a body builder's arm. After slipping on another, Twee picked up a PADD and began typing on it. Haro sighed.

"Now you've done it," the Bolian hissed to her communicator. "He's going to sulk for the rest of the day. And then, he's going to start singing the Song of the Twleve."

"The what?" Gilmore asked. Haro groaned.

"You'll find out…"

Kes looked up from the chessboard and frowned in confusion. The captain, across from her, looked up at the ceiling of his quarters.

"What is that… Song of the Twelve?"

"Third movement, if I'm not mistaken," Lee answered, raising an eyebrow. "'The Pained Retribution.'"

Kes looked over at Lee curiously. Lee smiled wryly.

"Twee's pride was hurt so now he's attempting to deliver the same pain in sound form to those who hurt him. It's an old dolphin custom, so that the entire pod may share and acknowledge the feeling." Kes nodded thoughtfully, frowning as the eerie, beautiful, and sorrow-filled song continued.

"Twee seems very sensitive."

"Well, he's actually just very dramatic," Lee smiled evilly. "He enjoys guilt tripping the crew into doing better." Kes shook her head with a small smile.

"I thought first officers were supposed to be feared and respected."

"Oh, he is respected, but he's just too cute to be feared. So he just guilt trips everyone into staying in line," Lee observed with a smirk. "It's actually very effective. I don't particularly enjoy having the crew adore me like some god on a pedestal." Kes shook her head with a knowing smile.

"They adore both of you, Adam. Twee keeps the crew light-hearted and focused, and you keep them brave and disciplined." Lee shrugged, moving a knight forward.

"Check." Kes frowned, before moving a bishop to counter. She then looked up at the captain curiously.

"Why do you do that?" Lee frowned.

"Excuse me?" Kes sighed and glared at him.

"You always do that. Have a self-deprecating tone when I compliment you." Lee frowned, leaning backwards.

"I'm not comfortable with compliments. That's just how I am."

Kes frowned.

"I can't feel your emotions. I'm so used to this faint pressure, this background noise." Kes frowned. "And without feeling this, I have trouble understanding, why you are as you are."

"You're learning how to get along without one of your primary senses," Lee noted. "My grandmother went blind when I was twelve." Kes nodded.

"I know I gave up those powers for the greater good. I'm glad I could prevent more of me doing such terrible things. But without them…" Kes sighed.

"Being human can be… Tiring."

"Tell me about it," Lee chuckled. "Checkmate." Kes blinked, and looked down at the board. She then glared at him.

"You moved my pieces." Lee raised an eyebrow.

"Did not." Kes's glare deepened.

"Yes you did! I had a bishop right here!"

"No, not that I can recall," the captain observed. Kes reached across the table, and grabbed his wrist, pulling his hand into sight. She pulled open his fingers, and in exasperation, held up her missing bishop. Lee shrugged.

"You've been getting better." Kes crossed her arms and glared at him.

"What? There's no specific rule against 'appropriating' another player's pieces."

"Yes there is! Do you always have to win?" Lee shrugged.

"No… I don't. It just helps." Lee smiled disarmingly. "I am sorry. It was thoughtless of me." Kes rolled her eyes, shaking her head with a slightly amused expression on her face.

"Captain, really… You need to grow up."

"Growing up is overrated," Lee chuckled, setting up the pieces again. "I won't cheat this time. I promise."

"You'd better not, or I'm giving you a double physical this year," Kes threatened. Lee grimaced.

"Are you sure it's only evolved Ocampans who are evil? Because you, my dear doctor, are becoming quite the sadist." He laughed as she bounced her white queen off his forehead. Kes scowled deeply at him.

"Adam!"

"Honestly, Kes, I was only kidding! Seriously!"

"Triple physicals! With phaser enemas, I swear it!"

"You sinister fiend! OW! Hey, stop with the throwing already!"

"Take that! And that! I'll put you in the sickbay yet!"

"You need only ask! Ack!"

Crewmembers passing the door to the captain's quarters only smiled at the shenanigans of their eccentric captain, and loveable CMO, before cringing at the XO's continuing performance and hurrying on their way.

To be continued...

A/N: Here's the extended version of the chapter. Enjoy! Additionally, I'd like to note that I will be dropping culture reference gags throughout this story, much like the real writers of Star Trek. Feel free to look for them and point them out.

Oh yes: I do not like Seven of Nine. I much preferred Kes, which is why I brought her back. The Ocampans will play a part in this novel as time goes on, but how much of one has yet to be decided. And no, Captain Lee is not Captain Kirk-He's got too many issues to have a wild one-night stand, much less a steady, loving relationship. He needs to grow up a bit. At least he's got Kes to help him out, right? He'll need all the help he can get.