This was going to be more complicated than she had expected. Or was it?
The problem seemed resolved at the moment but forced smiles and strained conversations wasn't what she wanted her relationship to be like with her first officer. All she wanted was him as her friend. Correction, all she couldhave washim as her friend. Of course she wanted more.
She knew she had to get this taken care of. She wasn't about to let an argument get in the way of her ability to captain her crew.
Once Kathryn had exited the holodeck, she walked back to her ready room. She was going to finish reading through some reports. It's not like she had anything better to do.
Once she was finished with the reports, she decided what she needed was rest. She was overworked and needed to get some sleep.
She left her ready room and walked to her quarters. Once there, she quickly stripped from her Starfleet uniform and threw on a silk nightgown. After she placed her comm. badge beside her bed, she climbed in. She let the softness of her sheets absorb her and gratefully welcomed sleep when it came.
At the end of the room was a closed door and beyond that, another room. It was a room she must get into because it had to be cleaned.
She moved toward the door, but stopped when she heard the voice of Chakotay behind her. "No Kathryn. We need you here on Voyager. I need you. You can't leave us." She turned to face him but decided she wouldn't listen to his pleading.
Ignoring Chakotay, she turned back around, only to be staring at a wall. Where had the door to the room gone? She had to find it! It had to be cleaned!
Quickly she left the room she was in, only to step into another and another and another. All of the doors for the rooms were green but that one room that must be cleaned, had a red door. That's how she would find. She would look for a red door.
But then there was also the problem of getting that red door opened. It was an old-fashioned door. In order for the door to open, one must turn a knob. But unlike all of the other doors, this one contained a lock. For this lock, you had to insert a key, a key she didn't have. But she would find that key as well. She knew it was here somewhere, in one of these many rooms. Once she had the key, she could find the red door for the room that must be cleaned and she could clean it. Finally, after all this time, searching for the key and the red door, she would be able to clean the room.
She started sprinting through and through the many rooms with the many green doors. She kept going until she finally got a pain in her side from all her sprinting. She took a seat on the mahogany colored hardwood flooring. She rested for a few minutes and then quickly set off, looking once again for the key that opened the red door and the red door itself.
Suddenly it appeared before her. The red door was there with the key laying on the floor in front of it. Finally, she could clean the room!
She leaned down and picked up the key.
Anxious to clean the room, she pushed the key into the key hole and turned it. She heard a soft click, telling her that the key had worked successfully.
The door opened with a screechy creak. There was no light beyond the door. She had to find one. The only way she could clean the room was if she could see. She felt along the wall for something that would be capable of illuminating the room. Close to the door frame, she felt a switch. She switched it so that it was facing upward and the room was cast in a gloomy glow.
She felt a wave of fear pass through her body. At first glance the room was empty. But in the far corner, if you looked closely, you could see something that looked to be the shape and size of a human.
Slowly Kathryn made her way to the form. When she reached it, her eyes widened with fear.
It was a human. The human was laying on its stomach. Quickly, Kathryn reacted to the situation, all thoughts of cleaning the room had now vanished. She grabbed the wrist of the human and checked for a pulse.
There was none.
Confirming that it was a dead body, Kathryn considered whether or not to turn the body over. The body appeared to be about five foot five. Kathryn assumed it was a female because of the flowing urban hair and the shape and form of the body.
The body was wrapped tightly in a white cloth. There were chucks of hair missing from her sculp and dried blood covered one part of the woman's head.
Slowly Kathryn rolled over the lifeless body. A gasp escaped from her lips. Her body started to tremble as she stared in disbelief.
The dead body was none other than her own.
To Be Continued . . .
Please R&R