A/N: Revised on 11/24/09
Time Enough
Chapter 11: Homeless
Dani began to shiver uncontrollably, while trying to climb into Seven's skin. Seven held an arm to the girl, but the rifle took priority.
Captain Janeway, Seven of Nine and their daughter, Dani, were surrounded by Mencari on the right and a growing swell of Ket'zali on the corridor to the left. Their backs were to the locked entry of Hangar Bay Ka'ah, where the Delta Flyer moored.
Janeway ordered Seven to cover Ba'tour with her rifle. She leveled the rifle at the squat, Mencari-like head of the approaching Ket'zali commander. She breathed deeply, trying to calm a growing sense of dread.
When she was captured on Eesh'tob, she witnessed most of her crew sliced or vaporized. Then the commander turned his attention to her. He presided over her interrogation. As he approached, Janeway noticed the use of his tail more as a third leg. He was hulking, larger than the Mencari, lithe and rangy. His latticed head sat over a blunt, slanted snout that was more chin.
Seven fired several shops at the encroaching Mencari. "Captain, your...sisters...are becoming bold."
"Hold them off, dammit!"
"Do you hear Ba'tour's war cries?"
Janeway pitched an ear toward Ba'tour and only then was she able to pick out the universal translations over the saber rattling and whispered taunts of the Ket'zali.
"Ush'maul! Your time has come. Let us serve you."
"Do you understand their comments, Captain?"
Janeway shrugged as best she could with two hands aiming for the neck of the Ket'zali commander, as he continued his advance. Memories began to surface of blue lightning jolting her convulsing body. She remembered her teeth clamping down so hard she thought she'd crush her own teeth. Her jaw still ached, but she resisted the urge to rub it. Her back had bowed so far, she remembered wondering if she could break her own spine. Janeway still star sparkles from the blinding white light behind her eyes.
She blinked furiously, trying to focus on the alien sauntering toward her, cocksure that he would crush under his boot. It was the same overconfidence he levered while she was helplessly tied to a table. In the end, he seemed surprised that all the female would divulge was her name, rank and serial number. Not once, did the female come close to revealing the whereabouts of their Holy Grail.
The only thing Janeway recalled about the lead interrogator was a blood red Starfleet insignia tattooed on his scaly chest.
The same blood red design was marching straight toward her.
"Hold it right there," she finally shouted to the commander.
"Cap...ten!" He hissed.
So he recognizes me, Janeway thought.
"Do you know him?" Seven asked.
Janeway could feel the woman against her back, facing the Mencari. Dani had slipped to the floor, nearly undone by the energy costs of cloaking herself from the Ket'zali.
Janeway and Seven each grasped unsuccessfully for an escape plan. Janeway had no doubt the plans they had for her daughter included more of the same kinds of torture they'd inflicted on her, broken bones and a reprogramming so terrifying Dani had thankfully blocked out its recollection.
"Ush'maul!" The Mencari councilor had called again.
Janeway shook her head, trying to shake off Ba'tour's voice. She needed Seven to understand what they were facing. "He slaughtered Ensign Hite and Crewman Lennox," she growled. "His name's Sa'feer."
At the sound of his name, Dani's trembling resumed. Seven lowered a hand to touch the girl's hair, gently scraping her scalp in comfort. "Calm yourself, Dani. Fear will not save us. Only logic and reason will."
"I know him," she murmured to herself against her mother. Dani had committed to memory the details of the Battle of Gamma Eridon, where her mother gave her life for the Federation.
Sa'feer was not supposed to be here. Not in this time and especially this place. He led the invasion force of Ket'zali through federation space, in a slash and burn campaign. His armada destroyed countless worlds en route to Earth.
The U.S.S. Ronald Reagan and four Federation vessels, along with a fleet of Klingon Warbirds, engaged an overwhelming Ket'zali forces at Gamma Eridon while the Klingon Homeworld prepared itself to face their foe. The Ket'zali lost nearly a third of their ships because they had underestimated Captain Janeway. But in the end, outgunned and out manned, she gone down with the ship, ramming the battered ship to take down as many as she could.
Sa'feer's name was recorded in every data stream to Starfleet Command from every bloody battle between the distant system of Gamma Eridon and Earth. Sa'feer was the Ket'zali who wanted Dani in the other reality, now in this one as well. Dani lightly tapped her head with a fist. She knew him, too.
Dani jerked to the present when she heard Sa'feer's throaty whispers.
The leader raised a paw, his restless squadron halting in Romanesque discipline. Sa'feer began a solo advance on the trio, stopping when Seven's rifle muzzle cut an arc into the bulkhead just shy of his head. Its eye turrets both focused on Janeway.
She blinked slowly, remembering how he had loomed over her, licking her ear with his long forked tongue or running a single bloodied claw down her cheek. He wanted on thing: her child.
Sa'feer's throaty whisper made Janeway's stomach roil, a reaction no one would ever see, least off the lizard. "Cap...ten," he hissed. Sa'feer's words were languidly spoken, in long, elegant vowels. It was as if he were tasting them for the first time, Janeway considered. But he seemed to know enough to suffuse his words with all of the disdain he seemed to feel for the barbarians.
If Janeway didn't know better, he sounded surprised.
"D'shevem are so puny." As nearly as Janeway could tell, D'shevem was their word for all humanoids.
"Yeah," Janeway said, with her own brand of bravado. "But we're tough."
His scales turned violet and his salivation started to spill over. During their hunt, other humanoids had crumbled like dry bones under his boots. But this human had withstood more than any he could recall. He nearly regretted the final ploy, a biological weapon now coursing through her veins. Cap-ten would have been an interesting, albeit essentially flawed, study, he brooded. It was a thought that he allowed the par'sembe "to hear."
Sa'feer leaned back on a tail, as if in repose. The nineteen Ket'zali soldiers began to twitch and shuffle between their legs. Their tails started stir, as if to run, and then pound the ground.
Seven, with her audio acuity, distinctly heard whispers from the restless squad. "Captain," she said. "They are asking for revenge."
"Revenge?" Her brows furrowed deeply. "Has Voyager ever encountered this species?"
Seven tipped her head, wondering when Voyager had ever encountered this species. Since she'd been aboard they'd never done so.
"I do not believe so, Captain. Not even the Borg had a designation for them."
The Mencari seemed to be matching the frothing of the Ket'zali. Their tail thumping grew louder and faster. Their tongues darted out, twisting and writhing before returning to the large, distended mouths. "You will not prevail, Sa'feer."
Seven's eyes grew slightly wide when the Councilor answered the Ket'zali. Despite the saber rattling on both sides, the Ket'zali leader heard his nemesis. He raised a paw and instantly, his squad became deathly still.
The Ket'zali stood to his full height, peering across the corridor edge at the Councilor. "You stole from Ket'zali," he hissed. "After Ket'zali find child...."
A cold, bitter hand squeezed the hearts of Seven and Janeway to hear the alien announce his intentions. But they were both relieved Dani was still able to conceal herself.
"Then...we seize miserable Mencari...everywhere. Take to Homeworld. To breed." Sa'feer stretched the last word out, long and taunting.
"Perhaps," Seven theorized, "Councilor, if this is a feud between distant cousins—"
The women turned back to the Mencari lizards. The Councilor spat a shrill set of words punctuated with clicks. Her warriors raised their rifles. She ordered two of her soldiers to engage them. Janeway and Seven backed up, careful not to appear to regard their young charge.
Four hulking aliens – two Mencari and two Ket'zali – slam into each other at full speed, the melee denting bulkheads and shattering transparent steel. Toothy Mencari snouts crushed down on the exoskeleton limbs of Ket'zali, squirting copper blood across the walls. Blue lightning made short streaks to electrify red scales, sending tremors through the gangly limbs of Mencari. The vicious clash saw two Mencari, stilled by the enemy's brutal weapons. While the Ket'zali soldiers stood slowly to face their leader in triumph, they suddenly collapsed, falling face down before Sa'feer.
"Fascinating," Seven said from a purely scientific background. "Those wounds looked superficial."
Sa'feer slowly twisted his blunt head to Seven. "Borg!" He spat the word. "Wicked!"
Sa'feer's gangling, bifurcated tongue suddenly darted out, flipping about frantically. "I smell she whom we seek!"
He stopped cold, along with his squadron at a small whimper from the girl. She tried to make herself small at the feet of her mother because she could feel her ability ebbing.
The Starfleet officers shared a meaningful look, after noticing the shift in speech. His words were clipped, slurred and frantic.
"D'shevem give girl."
"Now, Cap...ten!" His large head was so like Mencari and yet so different. Unlike the Mencari who used fabric and clothing, the Ket'zali were naked, not that any of the women could make heads or tails of them. Interesting dichotomy, Janeway mused as she considered their options.
Janeway raised her head from the rifle site. "Why? What does she mean to you? What does she have?"
He studied her, amazed that she still stood. Perhaps their field tests on the biological agent were flawed, he noted. Without warning, he raised a paw and a single Ket'zali broke ranks. The Ket'zali subordinate leapt into the air. His leg muscles were tight coils and his teeth bared. He was a collision course with the trio.
"Oh, shit!" Janeway yelled as she aimed at the moving target. Just as the white compression rifle found the attacker, seven other green laser beams found him. At his apogee, he was obliterated from existence, only a shower of bone bits and ocherous blood drops remained.
Janeway quickly wiped the blood from her eyes, leaving a swath of freckled skin next to dappled orange.
"I am gratified that my Velocity prowess has sufficiently prepared you for this mission," Seven noted wryly. But she remained leery of the Mencari troops that had swelled to double the number.
"Arrogant Borg," Kathryn hissed. "You don't get credit for me saving your ass."
"You have used profanity twice, Kathryn. You appear overwrought."
She looked at Seven long enough to wink and then raised her rifle, bracing it against her shoulder. "Damn right I'm stressed. It's not every day I get a bunch of reptiles attacking the woman I—." Janeway swallowed the word. What a disastrous thought to voice at a disastrous time, she realized.
"Kathryn," Seven whispered.
Janeway heard the tenderness in her name. She leaned back, feeling a reciprocal pressure. It was all they could do just now.
"Later," the Captain ordered.
Meanwhile, Sa'feer and Councilor Ba'tour were trading invectives. "I will kill you," Ba'tour hissed, as her saliva began to run over her green, reptilian lips. "Rip out your genitals and feed them to you...."
"You're unworthy to become ny'sembee." Belatedly, the universal translator rendered ny'sembee as "honored mother."
Seven and Janeway understood little of the argument, considering it the origin of the hostilities. "Why is your sister baiting them, Captain?"
After a brief scathing look at Seven, Janeway shrugged. When Janeway turned her attention to Ba'tour she caught a definite gleam. "Seven," she whispered. "Did Ba'tour—"
"Yes," she whispered. "She unlocked the hangar."
Janeway's look of triumph and resignation caught Seven off guard. The Captain jerked her head toward the bay. "Get...." Janeway cleared her throat. "And get the hell out of here, Seven of Nine." When Seven hesitated only a nanosecond, Kathryn gritted her teeth. "Do it!"
Seven brushed her fingertips down the Captain's back, the only gesture she could make without alerting the lizards. She collected Dani, sprinting through the door in record time.
Janeway knew the instant the door was sealed because Ba'tour stopped arguing with Sa'feer. He turned slowly around, his forked tongue slithering and darting out and around. "Cap...ten deceives Sa'feer. Girl was here! Now gone!"
He stared at her for long minutes, his exoskeleton revealing nothing of the turmoil or fury within. Then he shouted a war cry and the Ket'zali poured down the corridor toward her.
She locked her knees, leaning forward to brace for the impact of a wall of Ket'zali. Janeway's only regret was that she'd never made love with Seven of Nine.
=/\=
Sparkles announced the appearance of Captain Janeway in the Delta Flyer, still braced. She was followed a second later by a splash of reeking greenish-brown feces that splattered on her face, hands and tunic. She gasped, reeling back as much from suddenly materializing as being slapped with putrid spray. The compression rifle thunked hard on the deck.
"Status!" she yelled, catching her balance on a nearby console. The Captain wiped the shit from her lips with a sleeve as she made her way to the cockpit.
"The lizards are walled against the hangar bay. The Delta Flyer is all warmed up and ready to ride," a scruffy Lt. Paris said, characteristically casual, even in the face of danger. He rose from the conn, as he walked toward the ramp. "Oh, Captain! Your new perfume is...lovely."
"Survivors?"
The Captain noted for the first time the plasma burns both arms, along with several rips in his trousers along the knees. His face was grimy, with split lips and a gash above one eye.
"I'm sorry, Captain," he whispered. There was only one thing Lt. Tom Paris didn't mock and it was losing a crewman. Oh, he'd laugh at Death. Rail against it with a fist and sounds of fury. Satirize Death. But never could he bring himself to be anything but feel humbled by the ultimate surrender of his friends to the darkness of the grave.
As Starfleet brats, Tom and Kathryn had grown up during the Federation Wars with Klingons, Cardassians and the Romulans. Their friends had lost parents and grandparents more times than they cared to remember. They understood the infinite loss better than most.
Pain slowly cascaded across Janeway's face, her eyes moistening. "Samantha Wildman?"
His eyes flicked over to Seven's, who was watching him intently. He pursed his lips, shaking his head. "Not that I know of."
Seven raised her head, pained at the thought that Naomi would lose her mother, just as she had when the Borg had assimilated Erin Hansen.
A brief light flickered as Tom thumbed behind him. "Tuvok and I were the only ones who made it. He's trying to open the shuttle bay."
She inhaled deeply, fortifying herself for the battle to come. "Give me a towel, Lieutenant."
Dani had been trained as a child to read the subtleties of her Starfleet mother. She'd learned quickly to know when a rug-rat under foot was a nuisance or worse, a liability. While she waited, Dani watched the interaction between Cappie and Tom keenly. Remembering every expression and every word the man ever uttered.
Her eyes watched Tom's masculine hand toss a towel to her mother. "So what was up with the flying...ah..." Tom glanced at the child, then back to the Captain. "With the flying lizard waste?"
She shrugged. "All I know is, the Ket'zali were running toward me and Ba'tour ordered someone to toss the contents of the barrel on me." A brush across Janeway's face and the blue-gray eyes found Dani staring at Tom Paris. The girl jerked back. "Cappie!" She grimaced, pinching her nose closed.
"I know," she said softly. Janeway tried to rub her uniform, but it just seemed to smear everywhere, or so she thought judging from the stench. She went to pat the girl's shoulders but withdrew, rubbing her fingers together. "We aren't clear yet, Dani." She indicated a seat for the girl at the aft workstation, as she wiped her eyes clear.
An untidy Commander Tuvok stepped into the Flyer from the ramp. He nodded to the Captain, as way of greeting. Somber obsidian eyes took in Seven of Nine and Dani. A confident Seven walked catlike to the cockpit.
"Are we ready to face the overwhelming odds?" Janeway asked quietly as she keyed in the Flyer's launch sequence.
"Incorrect, Captain," Tuvok said. "Overwhelming odds imply there is a margin for success."
"Easy, Tuvok," she said with a gesture of calm. "I may take you for an optimist." Her intention to be light-hearted at such a crucial time was uncharacteristic, Tuvok thought with an arched brow.
If the others didn't know he was Vulcan, they would have sworn he wore a look of annoyance. The Captain jerked her head toward the child, realization dawning on the Vulcan. He was unaccustomed to the delicacies of parenting in a combat situation. His children had the good sense to remain on the homeworld with his wife, T'Pel.
He turned his un-annoyed expression on Seven of Nine. "It is highly illogical for you to have left Voyager..." He arched a brow at Dani. "With a child in tow at such an inauspicious time."
"Commander Chakotay ordered General Order thirteen," she informed him with a good measure of arrogance. "I merely complied—."
"Chakotay did what?" Janeway had whirled around; sending reeking eddies of air around her. Tuvok fixed his gaze above him on a conduit running down the corridor. This, Seven knew, as a meditation on the go for him.
Seven spoke in even tones, though they could hear the battering of the cargo bay doors. "Commander Chakotay ordered General Order thirteen." Her voice was just as flat as it had been the first time.
"Why the devil would he do that?" Janeway's voice was low and her eyes were clouded with dismay. "Was the ship...?" She glanced down at Dani, as a hand flew to her neck, feeling a small lump at the puncture site. She rubbed it angrily as she thought about the order. Her jaw muscles jumped and twitched with the effort not say "auto self-destruct sequence" in front of the girl. Damn it!
But the others understood. Captain Janeway inclined her head to study Seven's Nordic features. Her long, elegant nose, her luscious lips and her strong chin. "Was Starfleet Order two-thousand-five carried out?"
Seven considered the question. She could see distress etching deep lines along the Captain's forehead, eyes and mouth. "Before I left the ship, it was not."
"Nevertheless," Tuvok said. "You left one besieged ship for another, Seven? Logic dictates—"
"We're going back." Janeway said, sitting down firmly again at the cockpit. Seven noticed that her ailments seemed to have vanished, along with her good sense.
Seven of Nine glanced back at the men. "It is time to depart, before the Ket'zali breach the bulkhead."
"Ket'zali?" Paris intoned, shaking his head. "It sounds like a shoe brand."
"I'm sealing the shuttle," Janeway snapped.
"Captain," Tuvok said calmly. He was the only one capable of reaching her now.
She stopped her hands dancing on the controls and half turned. "Yes." Implicit in the tone was a this-better-be-damned-good.
Tuvok arched his brow and narrowed his lips. "Lt. Paris and I will exit."
"Why?" Her voice was more brittle.
"We've got a date," Tom said, with a small smirk and a gesture to port. "With destiny. There's a little deuce coupe out there. Sleek lines. Sweet engine. Tuvok and I were going to take her for a little spin...." He saw the Captain's face turn crimson so he spat, "We'llholdoffthelizardsCaptain." To her dubious expression, he added, "It's the only way."
She eyed Tuvok with a cold glare. "Do you agree?"
"Yes."
She hesitated, glancing back at the relentless battering of the hangar bay.
"Captain," Tom said, more reasonably. "We know what has to happen here. We'll cover you're launch. Now get the hell outta here. And don't come back. We'll be fine," he said to her raised eyebrow.
Janeway peered out port, seeing a reflective silver bullet-shaped shuttle, sharing the bay with Delta Flyer.
"We'll be right behind you," Tom said, as he caught unexpected fear in Dani's eyes.
Janeway slammed her hand on the controls, the hatch door re-opening. "We'll rendezvous on Voyager."
"Stay out of trouble, squirt," Tom said, tousling the red locks of the girl sprawled uncomfortably on a chair. "Don't forget that soccer game."
She smiled lethargically. "Aye, aye."
=/\=
As the Captain took the conn, her back remained to Seven, who took up a position at tactical. Suddenly, Janeway whirled. "Where will be the best place to board Voyager, based on your intel?"
Seven noted that Janeway's usually bright eyes were slightly dulled and drooping. She was blinking furiously, though Seven was unacquainted with that particular affectation.
Seven's hands glided over the controls of the tactical console. "Captain," she said coolly. "It would be inefficient to return to Voyager."
"I'm the Captain." She turned back to the console, adjusting the heading. There was a finality to the comment, but Seven failed to grasp the entire substance of it. So she made certain assumptions.
"The idea that you must go down with it is—"
"We're going."
"—Illogical. Furthermore, it is a—"
"That's an order!"
Seven waited silently, letting the silence buoy her crescendo. "Furthermore..." She met Kathryn's level ten glare with unperturbed poise. "It is a violation of Starfleet protocols."
The Captain narrowed her eyes, daring Seven to cite the reference.
She arched a brow, accepting the challenge. "Starfleet Regulation Three...a Starfleet Captain is compelled to preserve the lives of her crew by any justifiable means."
The Captain hit the launch button. The darkness of space consumed some of the artificial ambient light in the cabin of the Delta Flyer. Her hand flew over the controls as the Delta Flyer, as an eddy of exhaust left the bay.
The black of space was littered with wreckage, most of the hull fragments were Starfleet gray not the black mesh of the Ket'zali warships.
Seven seemed puzzled by her readings. "Captain, scanners show no signs of Ket'zali ships. Only debris showing Starfleet signatures."
She heard a series of shallow gasps, followed by a choking cough. "Is it—?"
"There is nothing to indicated it was Voyager. No traces of anti-matter or plasma can be found in the debris."
"But no traces of Voyager?"
Seven's Borg hand jumped energetically over the keys, reading and re-reading the findings. "No, Captain," she said.
"It appears we are alone—I'm picking up Ket'zali warships two light years starboard. They have yet to detect us."
Something fundamental in Janeway shifted at that moment. "Taking warp engine offline. We'll use thrusters. It's a longer ride but we'll blend in with space noise. Find a place for us to hide out, Seven."
Seven had already begun the necessary scans for an "M-class" planet. "Five parsecs port. Heading 090-mark-15. There is a seven-planet system. The second planet is within tolerable thresholds."
Janeway shook her head, feeling strangely displaced. "All beach, no ocean. Sounds sunny. Setting course."
=/\=
As they descended to an orange-red planet, the shuttle set down on a cliff just east of a small town. The inky sky was awash in twinkling white as the Delta Flyer came to rest atop a high cliff. "Conditions are currently five degrees Celsius," Seven noted. "Zero percent humidity. Light breeze out of the east. Interesting," she said. "The planet's rotation is retrograde. Twenty-six standard hours in a day. Two hundred twenty two days to a year."
Seven had the feeling that she was alone. She looked up to find Dani passed out on the floor and a distant look had overcome Captain Janeway. "Captain, while I prepare biomatter for our consumption, perhaps you should—?"
"Yes, good idea." She rose slowly from the cockpit, making her way to the sonic shower facilities.
=/\=
Dani remained lost to the world, tucked in a thermal blanket wrap and lying on the main deck. Janeway was seated on the stairs descending to the cockpit and she was staring out at one of the moons as it ascended above the deeply shadowed cliffs. The moon loomed large, but its landscape was all wrong. There was no crater of Tycho that scarred her southern face and there was certainly no Sea of Tranquility.
Janeway had always thought the very idea of a Sea of Tranquility was ridiculous and dull. She'd always chosen bold and exciting adventures. She wasn't Captain because she'd been a model of tranquility. It was the opposite. She pushed the envelope. She never allowed convention to dictate her responses. At Starfleet Academy, she'd been known as Wild Card Kathryn and it wasn't just for her skill with games of chance, though that's where it started. She was unpredictable. It was a tradition among the better captains. Kirk was the original, along with Picard. But they were men. They were expected to be mavericks of a sort. Even her father, Edward, had never displayed the uncanny ability to defy the odds. She believed it was these very qualities that had her posted to command the U.S.S. Voyager, the first in a new sleek, Intrepid-class design. Unfortunately, it was also a part of what got them stranded her. She breathed Starfleet protocols, but there had been a few times when Janeway had to hold her breath. It had gotten her in trouble a time or two. No doubt her decision to destroy the array that stranded them here would be reviewed and scrutinized ad nauseum when she returned to Federation Space. So be it.
But the tempest had its cost. Since coming to the Delta Quadrant, Janeway had been plagued by bouts of depression. It never affected her command. It was fuel to her fire. In fact, she'd used it to propel her through twenty-four hour days. But now to completely lose Voyager, her crew and her command. What was left? Enforced tranquility?
Kathryn Janeway loved boats that rocked. It was the appeal of the storm that attracted her to Starfleet. It sure beat the hell out of solid ground. Staid seas. Boring terra firma. Tranquil space. Bah! Give her a tempest any day.
Kathryn looked down sadly at a steaming, white teacup Seven served her. And she laughed bitterly.
Seven pulled back the steaming teacup, peering into it curiously. "Is the beverage unacceptable?" There were bits of grinds, but she'd always been told it gave the drink body.
"No, it'll do," Kathryn said, holding out both hands for the saucer and cup. "It was my own ridiculous thoughts," she said after a sip. "Hmm. Delicious. Thank you, Seven."
As Seven sat beside her, she handed her another small plate with dark bread and a pungent spread smeared on it, along with orange fruit.
"What is this?"
Seven gave her an annoyed look. "Lt. Paris has a twisted palate," she observed. "Klingon delicacies were the only selections of meat. Like most of Klingon cuisine, bregit lung is an acquired taste."
"That's love," Kathryn said, of Tom's attempts to honor one side of his lover's heritage. She took a bite of the chewy meat in a resigned, indifferent manner.
Seven took a bit, clamping down hard on her jaw to keep from expelling the biomatter. "I believe," she said after forcing the partially chewed food down, "that gelatinous nutritional supplement beta phi is less offensive."
Kathryn shrugged, setting the plate down to cradle the teacup in both hands. Seven watched Kathryn's profile and the distance in her eyes. She glanced back a few times to notice Dani still sound asleep.
Finally, after many long moments of listening to the sound of the ship tick, Seven stood up, taking the soiled plates and left over food to the recycling station. "Would you care for more tea?" she asked the Captain.
Kathryn shook her head, handing her the cup without turning away from the view of a moon-bathed desert valley. "But coffee would hit the spot?"
=/\=
A cool breeze hit Seven as she stepped outside to hand the Captain a thermos mug of coffee. Kathryn was facing west, where an inky horizon hinted at saffron. Seven adjusted her own internal thermostat, but noticed Kathryn shivering. The woman gratefully accepted the hot liquid, as she kept her gaze on the crowning pinpoints of white.
Kathryn pointed to a blinking star, one of the larger twinkling lights in the sky. "That's Voyager," she declared. "Chakotay and the crew have found her. They're there now." Her voice broke at the end.
Seven put on hand on her shoulder, unsure of what to say or do. Slowly, Kathryn raised a hand, interlacing their fingers. Without breaking the touch, Seven enveloped the Captain in an embrace, wrapping her arms around the woman's midsection. She felt one hand pat her forearms, as she pulled the woman to her chest and kissed her temple.
"Voyager will endure. Our first concern is survival," she whispered. "To allow the crew to find those of us who scattered."
The woman didn't respond, but Seven heard a sniffle. She squeezed Kathryn tighter.
Soon, the couple was rocking from foot to foot, slowly and gently. Softly, Seven pressed her lips to the slope of Kathryn's neck, just under her ear. She leaned over, giving Seven more space. Faintly, Seven heard and felt Kathryn's vocal chords vibrating. "Are you singing?"
"I'm humming."
"Humming?"
"A tune is going through my head and well, I...I must—"
"Vocalize?"
"Hum. Hmmm....hmmm."
Seven pressed her lips again to Kathryn's neck, letting the vibrations titillate her. "You are warm, Kathryn."
The Captain ignored the comment and the two proffered pain relievers, as she would even if the Doctor had said it. "Do you know any more Klingon swear words? Or will you start cursing in Tlaxian now?"
"I was not aware that Tlaxian's possessed profanity as they seem such a docile race."
"Just checking," she replied.
Seven could hear a crooked smile in her voice and her response was to nuzzle her hair. She fisted the pills waiting for a better opportunity. If the Captain believed Seven would not continue to press the issue, then she was unaware of Borg tenacity.
Seven again heard the murmured music. "What do you hum, if I may ask?"
"Oh, it's just a silly tune my father used to sing to Phoebs and I."
Seven waited, but Kathryn seemed content to return to the purring song. "Will you not sing for me then?"
She laughed quietly, looking down at her feet awkwardly. Kathryn laid her head back against Seven's neck and peered at the taller woman, one eye closed. "All right, but remember. I'm a Captain, not a lounge act."
"Lounge act?"
"Never mind," she whispered in a half-grin. "Sing ho for a brave and a gallant ship/And a fast and favoring breeze/With a bully crew and a captain too/To carry me over the seas/To carry me over the seas me boys...."
Seven wasn't sure how to judge music or Kathryn's rendition. The tune was proud, yet there was an unmistakable longing.
Kathryn leaned her head back again, watching the blonde again with one eye. "That bad, huh?"
Seven's eyes widened. "Oh, no, Kathryn," she said quietly. "I...I..."
"It's fine, Seven," she replied easily. "Like I said, it was a silly tune that came to mind." Kathryn had deliberately withheld some of the lyrics that spoke of trying to get to one's own true love. She was afraid she'd never see Voyager again and she was afraid that she'd mourn for the rest of her life, even in the arms of the gorgeous creature now holding her.
"I am apprehensive," Seven finally admitted after some time.
"Voyager will find us." Kathryn's echo was sad, almost disbelieving.
"Of that, I have no doubt, Captain," she said. "But you are clearly feverish and you will not allow me to tend to you."
The dark sky was shading to saffron, washing out the twinkling lights. Already, Seven could feel the heat of the planet's sun.
Janeway set the thermos on nearby rocks and turned in her embrace, not wanting to face a world without Voyager under and around her. She glanced up at Seven, who wordlessly adjusted to the Captain. The shadows on her long face were giving way to a beautiful golden. Seven seemed to radiate, making her blonde hair more illuminated. Her impossibly blue eyes were scanning the horizon, looking toward the direction of the town more southerly of their position. She had not expected a direct answer from the smaller woman. The Doctor had commented on more than one occasion Janeway's fits of rage at having to submit to yearly and routine physicals.
"What are you thinking about?" Kathryn's breath blew across Seven's throat in a most pleasant way.
Seven looked down, tracing the deep lines of worry and grief along the strong features of Kathryn Janeway. "My readings show the town sleeps during the day and rises at night."
She was somehow disappointed, wanting the woman's thoughts to be of her. How selfish, Janeway castigated herself. But the ache in her chest would not recede.
"It would be wise for us to regenerate prior to our journey into town."
"Do you think there will be much life there?"
"It will be teeming with life."
"How do you know?"
"I performed a bio-scan as we descended. If the varied life signs are any indication, I would deduce that this planet is warp-capable. Furthermore, in my experience—both personal and Borg Collective—harsh environments tend to elicit an equally fervent survival response."
Kathryn laid her cheek on Seven's chest. The thudding of her heart was calming. She knew what Seven was doing. She was drawing her into a discussion of science. It was a blatant distraction that she would willingly participate in. "Meaning varied and many offspring."
"Correct," she replied. "Reproduction will be a premium activity."
Kathryn was not expecting that reply and she pulled away, eyeing Seven sensuously. "Will that be another of your prescriptions for what ails me?"
Seven heard the playfulness, but the look of candor and intimacy in her expression told the younger woman to proceed carefully. "Perhaps," she replied enigmatically.
Janeway's face fell, as she became clouded in pain. Before she could pull away, physically and otherwise, Seven cupped the back of her head and dropped her lips to Kathryn's ear.
"I did not intend to damage you," she whispered. "My intention was honorable." Seven concentrated on infusing her words with affection. When Kathryn had relaxed again in the embrace, she pulled back to look into her eyes as she ran the backs of her fingers along the fine cheekbones. "Seduction is but one drop of water. What I desire—what I require—is the boundless and complex ocean of you."
Kathryn's face softened, her eyes jumping between Seven's. The vulnerability and brokenness she saw there wounded Seven's heart.
"I'm not sure that I could give you anything, Seven."
"You indicated such on the ship."
Kathryn was perplexed by such an indifferent response, though it was typical. "Will believe me at last then?"
Seven looked down at her own arms that disappeared around Kathryn's waist. Then she considered the feel of the woman's breast on hers and her thighs rubbing Kathryn's. "Belief is irrelevant," she said. "I will not abandon you, Kathryn. Not to your fears of intimacy or your misplaced loyalties to a militaristic organization forty thousand lights years away. Nor to your own flawed theories about what you presume about yourself."
When Kathryn tried to interrupt, Seven leaned in, softly kissing the worrisome lips to silence. "Now that we are clear, let us begin with a simple exercise," she said, raising her eyebrows and a palm holding two white tablets.
To Janeway's curious expression, Seven continued. "Allow me to care for you. Yield to me—"
"I'm fine," Janeway replied, her eyes wandering away discomfited.
Seven pinched the woman's chin between a finger and thumb. "It is plain you are not operating within normal parameters. Your core temperature is elevated. This is an inefficient state for our small collective."
"I'll be fine, Seven." She attempted to infuse her pronouncement with a tinge of command.
The ex-Borg finally allowed her own distress to show.
"If you do not rest, you will not heal," Seven said softly. She reached for Kathryn's hand. Seven wasn't sure if Janeway felt the jolt when they touched but it rendered her still for a moment. She tapped two pills onto her palm, and then folded the fingers back over them. "If you do not heal, you cannot be my 'bully captain.' "
A corner of her mouth quirked up as Janeway put the bitter tablets in her mouth, swallowing them with one gulp. Her eyes never left Seven's.
"Excellent. You are adapting," Seven said in praise, offering a rare smile. "Now I shall cleanse your neck wound. It would be inefficient if you became infected. Then you shall retire for regeneration."
Inside, Seven laid out the medkit on a table in a precise order. The Captain sat, ramrod straight as Seven's hand wiped an alcohol swab along the small, bulging wound at her neck. Kathryn winced slightly from the stinging. Then she closed her eyes to feel Seven's breath on it. The evaporation cooled her skin, but it heated her core.
"As for this ocean you seek, Captain Ahab—"
Seven raised an eyebrow in admonishment. "My pursuit is neither perverse nor insane. It is neither destructive nor all-consuming."
"Figure of speech, professor. May I continue?"
"You may," she said, returning to cover the site with a small piece of skin-toned gauze.
"This ocean you want from me...I require clarification. Does it at least include seduction and other reasonable pleasures?"
Once again, Seven was startled motionless by the question. She tipped a head to one side. "I do not dally in reasonable pleasure, Kathryn. Only irrational, savage and delirious pleasures," she said coolly, returning to her task. Abruptly, Seven lifted her eyes to the Captain's, while a hand holding a strip of tape stopped mid-air. "Before you inquire, I would prefer that particular component sooner rather than later."
"Good to know," she replied, closing her eyes. "I better get my rest."
"That is wise," she said, with an arrogant lift of a dimpled chin.
Kathryn tried to reply and smile, but she was overcome with a wide grin. She finally submitted herself to the gentle, but firm ministration of medical care. The warmth Kathryn felt multiplied when Seven tucked her into a thermal blanket with a soft kiss.
=/\=
That evening, after a small meal of Klingon qagh and rye bread, the trio gathered their supplies, sealed the Delta Flyer and climbed down to the desert valley. They arrived on the town's outskirts at dusk.
The town's rose-red face was carved into a cliff side. Columns completely cut into the cliff granite rose up to the cliff top in awe-inspiring wonder. At top each of the six columns were carvings of lion-like creatures growling and spitting fire.
The large entrance was set back further into the cliff, leaving a welcoming portico. The gateway was crowned with another of the lion-like creatures. Its wings were spread and there was a curiously flowing script carved below. The city gate was well guarded by four tall, but rail thin humanoids. To the scientists, they appeared to be marine life forms, with large, dark eyes with double, nearly transparent lids that constantly opened and closed.
The trio stepped into a large boulevard, bustling with merchants and thick with varied aliens. Along the cliff walls, there were separate buildings carved into both continuous canyon walls. Each "building" separated by a change in style just as surely as they'd been constructed with brick and mortar.
"This looks somewhat like Petra," Janeway commented. The weariness in her voice was a resounding klaxon.
"The similarities to the ancient Earth city in Jordan is quite remarkable," Seven said. Her ocular implant had calculated the angles of the construct, imposing the relationship of numbers over her visual center as she spoke. "It's right angles and exacting calculations render it quite elegant," Seven replied.
Dani dusted her face, squinting from the harsh sun. She shielded her eyes with a hand and tried to look to see what her parents saw. "I wonder if they have chocolate chip cookies."
Janeway gave the girl a smirk, tugging on her hand. "Let's find out."
=/\=
Earlier that day, aboard a drifting U.S.S. Voyager, the backup program for the Emergency Medical Hologram came online, materializing as a tall man with a bald pate. "Please state the nature of the medical emergency."
"Hello Doctor," Chakotay said, as he gestured to D'goba lying on the bio-bed. "Here's your patient."
The EMH glanced down, raising an eyebrow. "I do not have this species in my database."
"The Doctor I know wouldn't care about that."
A tricorder materialized in the EMH hand, as he began to read the findings. "Well, your regular doctor isn't here now, is he?"
Harry Kim rolled his eyes, shifting between his feet. "Glad to know the EMH program is consistent."
"I am not sure what that means...." The EMH glanced up, spied the single pip with a deprecating glare. "Ensign. But I doubt it's relevant to the emergency at hand. It appears she was shot."
Suddenly the lights dimmed and they were standing in sickbay with only running lights along the flooring. "Life support systems are offline," the computer's feminine voice announced.
"Computer, is the life support system damaged?"
"Negative."
"Did someone authorize the systems to go offline?"
"Lieutenant Wildman."
Chakotay gave Harry a weary expression. "Wasn't she on the the away mission?"
"She's back."
"General Order 13 still stands," he announced. "She was supposed to abandon ship, even if she did think to return."
"So were we, Chakotay."
A single dimple deepened on his cheek, but otherwise, he tried to scowl at the insubordinate officer. "Computer, how many Starfleet personnel still aboard?"
"Three Starfleet officers and three civilians remain on Voyager."
"Identify."
"Commander Chakotay. Ensign Harry Kim. Lt. Samantha Wildman. Naomi Wildman and Morale Officer Neelix."
"Well," the Doctor remarked acidly. "I suppose I don't count."
Chakotay began to pace as he reasoned. "How many alien life forms?"
"Eleven alien lifeforms."
"Where?"
"One in sickbay. Five on the bridge. Five in Engineering."
"I'll bet Samantha is trying to flush out the lizards," Harry said.
Chakotay crossed his arms. "Why do you say that?"
"Think about it, Chakotay. On earth, lizards are cold blooded. They need external heat to survive."
"That doesn't mean—"
Harry turned to the EMH. "Doctor, can you tell me if the patient you are treating is capable of sustaining their own core temperature?"
The EMH injected the lizard with a hypospray, after lifting a scale. "No, she is not."
"How do you know it's a she?" Chakotay asked, curious.
The EMH stopped and gazed up at the Commander. "I'm a doctor, Commander. Her estrogen levels also gave her away, as did both ovaries."
"Is she going to be okay?"
"I have sealed the wounds. Unfortunately, I have no plasma for her. But yes, I believe my brilliant understanding of xenobiology has saved yet another being."
Chakotay slapped his shoulders. "Good to know you're still basically you, Doctor."
"What does that mean? Basically me? Who else could I be?"
"Ah, never mind."
"Computer, mask Starfleet and civilian personnel from Voyager sensors. Identify alien life form in sickbay as Mencari D'goba and mask her life sign. Authorization, Chakotay Phi Beta Kappa."
"Now what?" Harry asked.
"Harry, it's simple. We have an infestation problem. What do you do?"
Harry spied him suspiciously. There was no way he was going to say the "e" word. It was too radical. Too politically incorrect. They were Starfleet Officers. Citizens of the Federation. They didn't exterminate.
Chakotay read the war of ideals all over Harry's baby face. He was going to have to learn to hide his feelings a little more, if he wanted to ascend the ranks.
"It's us or them, Harry," he said quietly. Long ago, Chakotay learned that ideals were perfect. In the halls of Starfleet Academy. But in space, phaser-to-phaser with a Cardassian, ideals seemed to lose their footing. Dead men had no ideals.
"What would the captain say?"
He shrugged, thinking about how Seven of Nine looked at Captain Janeway during their last staff meeting. She'd never looked at him that way. Never. Commander Chakotay consoled himself with one thing: He wasn't going to let a bunch of creepy crawlies fondle his new best girl, Voyager.
"She's not here, is she, Harry?"