A/N: Sorry it took so long. Got a cold. Hope you enjoy.
Time Enough
Chapter 19: Gnash and Grind
Gweelee's yellow sun was breaking through thick, angry clouds in the west, painting the underside a dark orange. The yellow rays bathed the glorious towers of Gweelee City. Its citizens prepared for a long slumber through the heat of the day.
Five dark figures materialized near the Delta Flyer. Armed with strange rifles, the reptilian-like heads swayed about, taking in the scene. Sa'feer ambled forward, using his tail stump as a third leg. His cross-like pupils constricted to an x with the yellow spectrum light still spilling from the energizing sun. He could feel the heat prickle on his scaly hide. "Is this it?"
One of his men swept the Starfleet shuttle with a tricorne instrument. He turned his gaze to his leader and then the capital city that stood proud against the northern plateaus and basins. "The child is there."
Sa'feer lifted his down-turned chin in the breeze, as if sniffing the air. "The child must die."
=/\=
Officer Byth Apoda propped one leg on the counter, with an elbow settled on his rail-thin knee. He looked around and yawned. "I detest this post," he admitted to his partner.
Officer Kuf Sarfenti glanced at his fin-like fingers. His eyes trailed the veins upward toward his arms. "Aye," he drawled. "Like watching shite dry."
Just then Officer Apoda spotted five dark, eerie creatures ambling from the desert. "Stop the lights," he growled, nodding to the out-of-place figures "Those wankers look to bring a bit o'trouble."
Officer Sarfenti pressed the alarm button and gathered his harpoon, casually resting the barrel on his shoulder.
They watched the five lope toward them, intent on the City's gate. Just as they tried to pass, Officer Apoda dropped his harpoon across the door to block their entrance.
"Now where do ye t'ink ye're going?"
Sa'feer looked down at the harpoon that had descended for him. "We must find someone."
The Gweelee lawmen stiffened at the man's eerie whisper. "Little louder. We can hardly hear ye."
Sa'feer repeated himself. The lawmen watched his hand rest on his weapon holster.
Officer Sarfenti made a big show of lowering his ballista weapon and resting a finger on the trigger. "How fortunate for ye. You found someone. Me," he said as he slowly circled the group. "Do ye really t'ink we'd let you just saunter in our fair hamlet ugly as ye please?"
Sa'feer stared straight ahead at the door, watching others enter with impunity.
"What're your names?"
"Sa'feer."
Both officers knew they shouldn't rattle the man's chain, but the creature was too inviting. "Sa'feer?" Officer Sarfenti asked, stepping to one side to see the man's ugly profile. "Did I hear ye right?"
"Yes."
"Did ye hear that, Officer Apoda?" he asked his partner.
"Aye, sounds like a nasty ailment."
The other officer laughed loudly. His voice became a falsetto of mockery. " 'Oh, doctor, got a sa'feer on me rectum.' "
The men were curiously confounded by the stranger's lack of reaction and his complete lack of emotion. "You must be from Highdin, a humorless lot," Officer Apoda said, stepping closer to Sa'feer and studying as he went.
"As grim as death, they are," Sarfenti agreed.
"Piss-ants, all of them."
Sa'feer remained steady, implacable at least to the officers. "Are we done?"
Officer Apoda returned his gaze to the leader, hoping that their back up was close by. "Aye, we're done all right. And I can tell you, laddies, that your interest in Gweelee City is duly noted but your request to enter is denied."
Sa'feer tipped his head, not really comprehending.
Apoda sighed gustily. "Let me be perfectly blunt. Get your sorry arses on with ye. Go back to Highdin, why donchya?"
"We must find a child."
Officer Apoda's face opened in shock. "Hmm, one of them, are ye?"
"And willing to admit it!" Sarfenti bounced his harpoon on his forearm even as he kept his hand at the trigger in readiness. "Un-feckin'-believable!"
"We've got lots of children and they'll be safe tonight thanks to us." The Officer finally raised his loaded ballista to Sa'feer's head. "You should be running along back to where you came before I scatter me some fool brains on the nice s—"
"We mean you no harm," Sa'feer added.
Officer Sarfenti shared a meaningful glance with Officer Apoda, who raised his eyes quickly in search of their comrades-in-arms. Sarfenti narrowed his eyes on the leader. "Do you t'ink we're daft? When ye hafta say that, it means quite the opposite."
"We are looking for a...." Sa'feer's mind raced for the right word. "A friend."
The officers laughed. "Yeah, you'd have to pay me lots of Shades to be one of yers," Officer Apoda declared.
"Cap...ten Jane Way," he hissed.
"Know any Jane Ways?" The men asked each other simultaneously, and answered in the same rhythm. "Nope."
"No one here by that name, Sa'feer." Officer Apoda's use of the stranger's name was dripping with sarcastic provocation.
"She is here!" He repeated in a quiet whisper. Then in a split second, the five raised their weapons at once. Blue lightning arced from the Ket'zali weapons, finding the hearts of the two men who fell backward.
Bullets and harpoons began to bit into their hides, pummeling their bodies with every round. A few rounds were nothing, but the rain of projectiles began to pour down on them. Orange blood covered their bodies. "Retreat!" Sa'feer called.
As they tried to make their way back, a lone harpoon sailed through the air, striking the last man through his hip. The officer pressed the button. The harpoon hauled its dangling prey back. The other officers, who had been hiding along the upper parapet of the city wall, began to target their weapons on the ensnared creature.
One of the officers found both of the men, placing his fin to their heads. "They're alive! Get a medic." Then he walked over to the creature. "Is it dead?"
"You check, Lieutenant."
"Ugly bastards," he muttered, as he kicked it. It didn't stir.
"There's enough lead to kill a wooly mammoth."
"Cut his bleedin' head off. If he isn't dead, he will be."
The creature came back to life and tried to free itself from the harpoon. The officers hacked at its body, heavy blows nearly severing limbs until finally, his head was separated from his body.
The officers were covered in orange blood. "Good thing those harpoons are a good design."
The Chief came out, kicking the body. "He's definitely not a Highdinite. Too bulky. Wonder why they're here." The Chief scanned the horizon. "Keep sharp, laddies. Me t'inks we're in for a milling."
=/\=
Seven's eyes snapped open, as she squinted from the moonlight that beamed white onto the bed she shared with Kathryn. She half turned, seeing the red chronometer read fourteen-hundred hours. Plenty of time, she thought. She pressed her long form against the petite one beside her, eliciting a moan. Seven moved lower in the bed and waited. Right on cue, Kathryn turned toward her, placing her nipple within a lick of Seven's mouth. Deep in her throat, Seven murmured a word of triumph.
Without touching any other part of her lover, Seven's tongue flicked out. The red tip lightly touched the tawny nipple taunting her. Kathryn stirred. The tongue retreated. After a few more moments, assured that her prey was again slumbering, Seven's wet tongue grazed the nipple, lingering longer. She felt the tiniest hardening of it before the woman shifted. The tongue withdrew.
Seven counted to five hundred, slowly and methodically. At full tally, the tongue slathered its fluid on the nipple, bringing it to full attention. The woman groaned, settling a thigh over Seven's legs. Before she could count again, Kathryn's hand came up to scratch the nipple, finding it moist. "What was—?" A single gray eye opened to see the blonde locks. "Seven?"
From deep in her throat, Seven laughed. Abandoning all pretenses, she sucked the tip in, laving it with her tongue.
"Good morning, darling!" Kathryn's voice was gravelly with sleep. She curled her fingers into Seven's hair, pulling her tighter. She moaned with pleasure when she felt the warm hands cup her ass cheeks.
Seven pulled back, blowing on the nipple. "I believe, Kathryn, that your mammaries have enlarged."
"Is that good or bad?"
Seven looked up, finding her lover in quiet repose and her lashes still brushing her cheeks. "It is excellent," she said. "They will nourish our child—"
Gray eyes snapped open. "Oh, they will! Will they?"
"Of course," she replied evenly, not understanding the issue. "That is their function."
Kathryn propped herself up on an elbow. "Is that what you're doing now? Feeding?"
An amused expression crossed her Borg face. "I am not feeding as I do not take my nourishment as milk," she replied.
"So what do you think you're doing then?"
"Enjoying them," she replied, kissing each in turn. "They are larger and they...entice me as they swell."
"Are my breasts speaking to you now?"
Seven's eyes flicked up, catching the moonlight playing across the classic face. Her eyes were darkness, shadowed below the brow. But she could see the shadows accentuate the marks of laughter around her eyes and her mouth. Her pearly white teeth were gleaming.
"It is difficult to explain," Seven replied, returning her gaze to the dark points before her. She ran a thumb over one, triggering Kathryn to arch her back to the touch. "You are more sensitive."
"One of the Doctor's side effect, I presume," Kathryn said hoarsely as she threw herself back on the bed.
Seven noted that Kathryn's eyes were closed again, but her body was still arch toward her. "It is as if your breasts—your growing breasts—are iron—"
"Excuse me?!" Kathryn covered her nipples with one arm in mock indignation.
Seven tugged gently at the woman's wrist, finally prying it off. Seven licked her lips as she considered her relentless desire. "Iron is a pure metal, Kathryn. It is lustrous, silvery and quite rare." She gazed up from her perusal. "Like you, it is strong and naturally magnetic. My lips and my hands...." Seven kissed one nipple as she kneaded another. "They are drawn to them, as to you."
Kathryn laid back, raising her arms to allow Seven complete access to her chest. "You may have them at your leisure...." She lifted a head, to capture Seven's eyes.
"Is that an order?"
"Direct," she purred. The word lacked its usual sharp edge of command. She threw her head back.
Kathryn hummed her approval of Seven's oral and tactical attentions.
"Your mammaries are indeed swelling," Seven whispered, just before her tongue circled the summit in a languid and moist exploration.
Seven registered Kathryn's mirth as a deep rumble in her throat, followed by a brief mewling. She tugged a tip with her teeth, pulling it up and then descending on it again with an open mouth to vacuum it in.
Kathryn sighed happily. "I believe it's wishful thinking on your part. I'm only four weeks along, after all."
"Four-point-nine-four," Seven said. "Your breasts are exactly 195 cubic centimeters. Prior to that they were—"
"And you would know this how?" Each word was meticulously pronounced in typical Janeway fashion, as she again lifted herself up on her elbows.
"Measurements, of course," Seven said, forcing her eyes up from the enticing points. "The mass of a sphere is density times volume—"
"My breasts are not spheres, darling."
"No, but I—"
Kathryn leaned forward, pressing her lips to the woman and pushing her tongue in the woman's mouth, swirling it around greedily. Only when she could no longer breath did Kathryn pull back, leaving them both panting.
"Made differential calculations—"
"Oh, darling!" Kathryn's head fell back, drawing Seven's eyes to the corded muscles along her lover's neck. Kathryn threw an arm over her eyes and her mouth was curled. "I was trying to distract you from your ridiculous report about my mammary glands."
Seven let a hand slip down to rub Kathryn's abdomen, just below her bellybutton. Seven's eyes slowly watched her hand circle there, dipping lower each time. But the ex Borg was careful not to touch the curly auburn hairs that she knew instinctively would be moist. "Does this mean you do not wish to know how your abdomen has enlarged by exactly—?"
Kathryn took Seven's wrist in her hand, pulling her on top. The friction of Seven's naked breasts against Kathryn's was a pleasant sensation for both and Seven relaxed her arms in her lover's grip. "Will you behave?!"
Seven nodded, her eyes crinkled in amusement. Carefully Kathryn released her wrists, ready to return instantly at the sound of a number.
"You informed me on Stardate 54732.3 that you...quote adore unquote...me when I am 'erratic and defiant'."
Kathryn flushed, giving her lover a crooked smile. "I believe what I said, Seven, was that I adore it when you are unpredictable and naughty."
"Is that not what I expressed?"
"No," the Captain said, starting to nuzzle Seven's ear and neck. "Not the same thing. At all."
"Explain."
"Are you sure really want to discuss it?" Then Kathryn's hand wandered down to cup on of Seven's ample bosoms. "Or do you want me to show you?"
"A demonstration would be preferable, Kathryn."
"That's what I thought."
=/\=
It was still twilight when Kathryn walked out of her bedroom, startled to find her daughter completely dressed sitting in a darkened living room. "Darling?" Kathryn whispered, looking at her room wondering if she'd overheard their early morning romp. If she did, there would be a barrage of questions, no doubt. "Are you all right?" Kathryn asked, as she came down beside the girl.
Dani stared out and only when her mother called her name did she look up, with a wan smile. "Oh, hi Capp," she said. Dani blinked several times, trying to focus on the concerned face before her and not the small green text racing across her visual centers in a loop of information.
"Dani," Kathryn said, sitting beside her and leveraging her arm against the couch. "Are you feeling well?" She put a hand to the girl's forehead.
Dani closed her eyes and smiled at Cappie's touch. "Oh, I'm okay."
"Did you have a bad dream?"
"No, I...." Dani knew she couldn't tell her parents about the messages. It would likely be considered a violation of the Temporal Prime Directive. She couldn't risk them knowing more. But the burden of knowledge felt overwhelming. "Yeah, I had a bad dream."
Kathryn's arm encircled the girl's shoulder, bringing her close. "What, darling? Tell me."
Dani inhaled her mother's scent. Since she'd come to Gweelee, Cappie had adopted the faint tangy citrus of lemon with the warmth of ginger. Dani wasn't sure if it was the homemade cooking or the natural odors of the planet. Either way, she preferred it to the sterile environmental smell on Voyager. Everyone was permeated by an oppressively sanitized smell, neither offensive nor alluring, merely disinfected. It was really an absence of fragrance. Dani nestled her face into the crook of her mother's neck. "Ah, nothin'. What are we gonna do today?"
Kathryn was stroking her daughter's back, feeling her tense as if she were on an adrenaline kick. But slowly she felt her relax under Kathryn's practiced soothing hand. "Well, I was thinking. The rains have finally let up. I thought we could paint outside. What do you say?"
"Paint?" The girl pulled back to see if her mother was serious. She groaned.
Kathryn heard the muffled strangle of dismay in her daughter's voice. "Let's take some paint, our easels and go to the plaza today and see what images speak to us."
Dani screwed her face up, her nose crinkling and her eyes becoming mere slits. "Can't we blow somethin' up instead?"
Kathryn gave her a tight smile. "I think I've neglected your liberal education. There is something to be said about the beauty of art. Geegee and Aunt Phoebe are artists, you know. You could very well have that talent locked deep inside of you, too." She scratched lightly with one nail in the middle of Dani's chest.
"Oh," Dani said, when she didn't want to hurt her mothers' feelings. "Can we blow somethin' up after?"
Kathryn stood and held out her hand. "The last time we blew something up, Officer Apoda had to show up and bail us out of hot water. Again."
Dani smiled in spite of herself. Cappie, Dani and Grub had tried to approximate a volcanic eruption. Since they didn't have baking soda and vinegar to recreate the lava, Kathryn had used the planet's version of acretia and ipher. Unfortunately, the explosion had rained red goo on the other people in central park and scared everyone into thinking that the Borg was attacking. The trio had laughed so hard that Officer Apoda finally had to threaten to call Deputy O'Nine on the scene.
Dani warmed to the memory. It was so much better than anything on the holodeck. Chaos had its own rewards; and its own set of consequences, like a protracted clean up and a goo fight between she and Grub. It was the last time she'd seen her best friend since he disappeared almost two weeks ago. "I miss Grub," she said dismally.
"I know, sweetheart," Kathryn replied with a squeeze. "Maybe we can paint and think of something else. C'mon. Before it gets too cool and starts to rain again."
=/\=
"Voyager, this is the Doctor. Come in Voyager."
"Doctor! It's good to hear your voice."
"Chakotay!" The first thing the Doctor noticed was the First Officer's longer hair. His uniform was decidedly non-regulation. The pips were replaced by metallic leaves and there were four, instead of three. The Mayan added a tattoo on his jaw, just below his first design. It was dagger-like and it pointed forward.
The observations of the changed man were nearly instantaneous and the Doctor did not have time to ponder their meaning. "The Ket'zali are nearby."
"We're on the second planet of a little system—"
"We have your coordinates, Doctor," he said. "We are on our way. Then we've got a little surprise for them—a little high colonic for fluidic aliens."
The Doctor drew his eyebrows together. Chakotay's voice was belligerent and his derogatory use for new races was uncharacteristic.
"Where is Seven?"
The Doctor raised a brow. "Seven of Nine, Captain Janeway, Eridani Janeway and I are all safe, but we are being pursued by a Ket'zali war party. What is your ETA?"
"Within the half hour."
The Doctor shook his head. "That's too long."
"We're doing the best we can, Doctor."
The Doctor touched the console controls. "I'm sending the coordinates for their likely stand."
"Hold on, Doctor. The cavalry is on the way. Voyager out."
"The Cavalry?"
=/\=
"Leonardo da Vinci was a great artist and inventor," she said as they strolled hand in hand to the Plaza. Kathryn had slung the easels and paints in a bag over her shoulder while she carried two canvases in a tote.
"Who's he?" Dani slipped a hand into Kathryn's.
Kathryn wondered how she could be so content without Voyager. Never in a million years would she have thought that the domestic simplicity could be this so rewarding. For the first time, she realized now why her mother had abandoned her career in favor of child rearing. "Do you remember that faint picture in my ready room near the window?"
Dani's gaze was caught up in the sights and sounds of Gweelee City and its diversity, but she managed a small nod.
"That's da Vinci. He was a renaissance man of ancient Earth history. Brilliant. He was scientific and artistic. The perfect blend in my opinion."
"He painted the Mona Lisa?"
"Yes! Exactly. That's probably his most famous work." She studied her daughter for a moment. "You have seen the Mona Lisa. What did you think of the painting?"
She shrugged, as she swung her hand, along with her mother's. "S'kay," she replied. "But nothing happens. The girl's just kinda half smiling. Big whooptie-do."
"It's because she has a secret."
Dani stopped, intrigued. "Oh?"
"What do you think it is?"
Dani fidgeted uncomfortably under her mother's gaze. "Dunno," she replied, trying to avoid her mother's incisive study. "She put a garden snake in some snooty girl's desk?"
Janeway laughed and then suddenly furrowed her brow. "You didn't—" She shook her head. "Never mind. Don't tell me a thing." Janeway inhaled deeply, trying to remember her point. "I know! Why don't you write a short story on Mona Lisa's secret for tomorrow?"
Dani groaned, dramatically splaying her fingers across her face. "I'd rather paint a bazillion pictures than write a story, Cap."
Kathryn squeezed her daughter's shoulders. "I know, darling," she replied. "But writing is important, too. How can you be a starship captain if you can't communicate effectively?"
Kathryn's breath hitched and her throat tightened to see the flash of unbridled hatred. "But you know, you don't have to enlist in Starfleet," she whispered, as she brushed the girl's strawberry locks behind an ear. "You can be anything you want to be, you know."
Dani looked away. Kathryn wondered at the girl's faraway expression. Once again, she found herself wondering about her counterpart in the other universe and how that Kathryn Janeway could have turned her daughter against the organization that nurtured Janeways for generations.
"In any case, there will be many opportunities for you in the Alpha Quadrant," she said. "But you'll have to be able to publicly present any of your new inventions, you know?"
Dani looked around as she came to stop near the Plaza fountain. "Here's a good spot," she said. The topic change wasn't very subtle, but her mother chalked it up to being eight and extremely strong willed. So they set up their easels in front of the plaza and began to paint a scene as they discussed da Vinci's own inventions.
=/\=
Thunder had just begun to streak across the sky when four dark figures approached Gweelee City's walls. None looked in either direction, uncaring who spotted them. The hulking creatures began to scale the wall with their bare claws.
One of the officers didn't take long to spot them, considering they'd been expecting another attempted breach, but nothing this bold. They'd managed to harpoon one of them, severing his head as soon as he hit the ground.
The remaining three sped off into the city. Officers were dispatched to every quarter.
=/\=
Kathryn was laughing at one of Dani's absurd observations when she noticed Officer Apoda limping over to them. "Officer, how are you?" Kathryn asked concerned.
"Aye, a wee bit too much brawl and not enough soft pillows, I'm afraid," he said.
That comment drew Kathryn's eyebrows together.
"You see, Mrs. O'Nine," he said. His eyes were constantly searching the crowd. "I met with a..." He glanced down at Dani and tousled her hair, earning a glare. Then he turned his attention back to Janeway, as if he had all the time in the world. Yet he could see the odd fellows triangulating their position. "I met with a sorry lot of eejits, maybe Highdinites, though they look to be offworlders of the most bizarre sort. They pointed this crazy blue gun and—"
Kathryn's and Dani's eyes riveted to him. Kathryn fumbled for what Dani thought was a weapon. But it was an eye patch she used to cover her right eye.
"Ah, so you must know them then?"
"Only that they'd like to take my child," Janeway said, searching the crowd. Dani drew close and Janeway's hand circled her shoulder protectively. Now she didn't care who knew who they were. She flipped open her blouse and touched her communicator. It chirped.
"Yes, Pips?"
"Seven! It's time. Operation: Desert Feint."
"Aye, Captain."
Apoda looked at her curiously. "Captain?"
"I'll explain later," she replied. "Right now, those fiends want my daughter—"
"They'll have to kill me to get her!"
A dark, hulking creature descended on them from an awning nearby. "Watch out!" Apoda cried.
Janeway tugged Dani behind her, as they both moved away from the threatening Ket'zali. Apoda stood between them and the assailant.
"Didn't learn yer lesson, now did you?" Apoda said with more bravado than he felt.
"The child is ours," he hissed.
The crowd made a wide clearing, pushing in to see.
Apoda pointed to the crowd. "Every man on this rock will fight to defend our own."
"They are not your own. They are offworlders like us."
"In that, ye bloody cretin, ye are sadly mistaken."
Just as the creature leveled his weapon, Apoda shouted something unintelligible. Janeway and Dani ran through the crowd, who gave them wide berth, like a parting sea. Then they closed tightly behind the pair, sealing them away from the reaches of the creatures.
One of them tried to follow through the crowd, mowing down several women. But the crowd descended on him like fire. He found his body was not immune to the planet's odd assortment of native creatures with their pinchers and poison tails. "Mercy!" he cried, as a thin, hypodermic needle-like stinger burrowed into his torso. He convulsed with every pulse of venom pushed into him.
In Gweelee City no one threatened a child without suffering the most severe punishment of vigilante justice. Officer Apoda saw the creature torn limb from bloody limb. The crowd was in a frenzy and though he was bound by law to rescue the creature, Officer Apoda feigned ignorance of his fate.
The other creatures scaled the buildings quickly, out of reach of the surging crowd of avengers. They raced along the rooftops toward the alley through which they sensed Janeway had taken the child.
=/\=
The heavy rains had soaked the planet. Kathryn and Dani's progress through the neglected alley was slowed by the suctioning effect of deep mud on their shoes. Kathryn tugged at the girl, pulling her ever forward. "Come on, darling."
Kathryn could see the child's eyes were wide. She stumbled frequently. "You can do it, Elizabeth Eridani Janeway," she whispered.
Dani was nearly blinded by the green text superimposed over her vision. It distorted her depth perception and drove her to nearly catatonic distraction. But there was a part of her that anchored in Kathryn's strong, soothing voice.
=/\=
Seven shed her brown Gweelee uniform, with its baggy arms and legs. Underneath, she was wearing her blue singlesuit complete with the combadge. Several men looked at her dumbstruck. One tried to reach for her form. His hand was compressed by her Borg appendage until it cracked, he shrieked and fell to his knees.
"Seven! What the devil are you doing to me customers?" Mr. Commagees asked.
"I must leave," she said abruptly. "My family. They require my assistance."
"Operation Desert Feint?" he asked wryly.
"Yes, but how did you know?"
He gave her a knowing look of his bulging eyes. "Me sandskis. Let's use them."
=/\=
Apoda cleared a spot, ordering his best archers to take aim at the climbing creatures. "C'mon laddies! This is for the Family O'Nine!"
Their bits were too heavy and ballistas fell far too short of the intended assailants as they scaled the walls in their getaway. "All right, then," Apoda said. He commandeered a third rate sandski. "In the name of the Law Enforcement, I'm taking control of this."
"But it isn't paid for!" cried the woman.
"You're lucky I'm a good driver then, lass."
He sped off, the sea of people parting for him.
=/\=
Kathryn looked back down the long, gloomy alley. She could see strange movements along the upper walls, but none on the ground. She had no illusions that the Ket'zali were closing the distance. "We scouted this out when it was dry," she puffed through exertions. "We should have—"
She heard a thud and looked to see a hulking figure silhouetted against the brightening light of sunrise. "It does not have to be this difficult," he hissed. "Surrender."
Kathryn shook her head once, pushing Dani behind her. In one motion, she pulled out a small weapon.
"You cannot prevail with that."
She raised a brow, squeezing the trigger. The Ket'zali tipped its head. Its mouth dropped open at the ultrasonic sound that neither Dani nor Kathryn could register. The creature tried to cover its ear holes as it fell unconscious to its knees.
"Let's go!" she dragged Dani through a door that was hidden in the rock bed wall.
Inside, the corridor was pitch black. "I can't see," Dani cried.
"Hold on, darling." Kathryn switched the eye patch. Her once-covered eye was perfectly adjusted to the darkness.
"Mother! Don't leave me!"
Kathryn grabbed the girl's hand, tugging her close. "Shh! Dani! I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."
She was sobbing while Kathryn lit a torch that she and Seven had hidden there months earlier.
Once the spark brightened to a tiny flame and then to a blue burning torch, Dani's anxiety eased. "How could you see?"
"I'll explain later. First, let's set this trap."
=/\=
High above, the U.S. Voyager began to circle the brown planet of Gweelee. Its once pristine hull was marred by streaks of black. Some of its plating was missing, but still it traveled at warp nine to arrive at the origin of the beacon.
"Synchronous orbit established, Chakotay," Ensign Kim said, as his fingers lighted on the control panel. "We are starting to get three combadge signals at the coordinates the Doctor indicated. But they're spotty."
Tuvok coughed into a bloody rag, but still he stood at his post. "Iron ore and various other metals in the soil are interfering with our sensors, Commander."
Captain Chakotay burned at Tuvok's lack of respect for his field rank. If he didn't need the damn Vulcan, he would have thrown him in the brig. "Can we get a lock on the life signs?"
"Negative. The same distortions are interfering with transporters."
"Damn," he said, lunging out of the chair. "Harry, you have the bridge."
"Chakotay!"
The man paused on the lift to regard the ensign.
"Sensors indicate we've got a warship belonging to Species 8472. ETA twenty minutes."
"Chakotay to the Doctor!" he said as he held the lift doors open.
"Doctor here."
"Doctor, get a few doses of the weaponized nanoprobes ready. Species 8472 has left fluidic space."
"What is that?"
He sighed. "Harry? Contact the Doctor on the Delta Flyer and beam him up. I want those nanoprobes yesterday!"
"Aye, Captain," Harry said to the closing lift door.
Tuvok coughed sporadically. Blood was evident in the rag he lowered from his mouth. He gave Ensign Kim a disapproving look.
"What?"
"I did not say a word, Ensign."
"Yeah, right. One brow lift from you is like seven lectures from Chakotay." Harry turned to his console. "Just look away from me," he muttered.
Tuvok studied the usually compliant and unassuming Ensign. Harry's odd behavior was in lock step with other aggressive males the Vulcan had catalogued. The Ensign was pressing controls at his station and his once boyish face gnarled into a scowl. A saw-toothed scar along Harry's jaw line discolored to white against his olive skin. "Damn," the young Ensign whispered.
Tuvok finally looked down at his own console. Either his own illness was clouding his logic, Tuvok considered; or the symptoms he'd recorded among his crewmates belied a significant contagion aboard Voyager. In either case, Captain Janeway's rightful place at the helm would be most welcome.
=/\=
Ensign Kim recalibrated his console grid. With nearly every system failing aboard the ship it became routine to reset original parameters on everything from warp core manifolds to station console grids. But the constant repairs were wearing thin after six months in an unclassified nebula. "Voyager to the Delta Flyer."
"Ensign? This is the Doctor."
"Doctor, we need you in sickbay right away."
Ensign Kim explained the need for the engineered nanoprobes.
"But Captain Janeway ordered me to keep to the Delta Flyer, Ensign. She, Seven and Dani will be beaming aboard any minute."
"Captain Chakotay is ordering you to the Delta Flyer."
There was a harshness in Ensign Kim's tone that the Doctor had never heard before. "Captain Chakotay, is it? Did he give himself a field promotion?"
"Janeway's been AWOL for nearly six months, Doctor."
"Let's get our clichés right, Ensign. Captain Janeway's been stranded, not AWOL. To even suggest that—"
"I'm initiating the transporter, Doctor."
"You will do no such thing, Ensign Kim!" The Doctor could feel his holomatrix beginning to destabilize, so he pushed a few keys on the Delta Flyer consoles with his last second of solidity.
"What did you do, Doctor?"
"I've raised my shields, of course. That's a pretty customary protocol response to an invasive transporter."
"Dammit, Doctor!"
The Doctor's brows became craggy peaks over his eyes. "Are you really who you say you are?"
"Of course I am!"
"The Ensign Kim I know would not behave so forcefully."
"The Ensign Kim you know has been working 18 hour days for the last six months, on a half functioning ship inside a pea-soup nebula!"
The Doctor stared at him, considering his symptoms. His face was scruffy, from six days growth. A nick above his left eye bisected his eyebrow. The Ensign also sported a tattoo at his left temple. It was sun-like, with rays shooting in lightning jags across his forehead and down along his cheek.
Ensign Kim finally sighed. "Look, Doc," he said in that youthful voice that reminded the Doctor of happier days. "Chakotay and an away team took a shuttle to the planet's surface. Our sensors are showing Mencari, Ket'zali and now Species 8472 all descending on the coordinates you told us where we'd find Janeway, Seven and the kid."
The Doctor noted his disrespectful reference to Captain Janeway. "Times like these I wish I could replicate myself. More than one me would be very helpful." He deactivated the shield and was beamed directly to sickbay.
=/\=
Sa'feer jumped from the heights of the stone wall to stand before the door that nearly camouflaged into the wall. "This is where they entered," he said. "Well hidden from us. Clever."
One of them had smashed the sonic gun, freeing their comrade from its crippling effect.
The four gathered, as Sa'feer ordered the youngest one among them to enter the corridor. The young Ket'zali stopped dead at the door. "I cannot sense any—"
One of his comrade shoved him in. He surged forward into the palpable blackness. His screams were ear piercing as he dashed back outside. Tendrils of smoke swirled off of his scales.
"Is he on fire?" Sa'feer asked.
Slowly, they could see orange flesh revealing itself under the foul smelling smoke. "It's consuming his flesh!'
Sa'feer ordered one of his men who had thought to bring a lamp. "Inside!"
Deep shadows revealed a large broken jar, reeking of the same bad-egg smell of their comrade. "Acid!" Sa'feer hissed as he finally recalled the word. "Wicked clever," he noted begrudgingly.
=/\=
D'goba transmitted her coordinates to a legion of Mencari ships in the sector. She appended a brief message, urging haste for the child. D'goba grimaced at the red blips zeroing in on her coordinates in synchronous orbit. She was having a difficult time triangulating Delta Flyer or even Starfleet life signs.
"I'll boost the targeting scanners," she told herself, sliding a single claw down a long control and then pushing a small button at the end. The distorted flashing blue points on the display panel became solid. "I've got you, Starfleet. I'm on my way."
=/\=
Sa'feer walked behind his four men. They were slow. Two other shrewd traps had given them pause. A long branch, with four-inch thorns was pulled back against a wall. When one of Sa'feer's men stepped on the trigger, it lashed forward, striking his chins. He cried out in pain, remaining motionless in the narrow corridor. They had to work in cramped quarters to free the man from the thorns. The wounds were not sufficient to justify a mercy kill, but his injuries slowed them down, as did extricating him from the crude trap.
A second trap was a series of ropes hanging from the ceiling. The men pushed away the strings, thinking them irrelevant spider webs. One of them tugged on a cord. A rain of sharp rocks descended on him. While not killing him, it wounded him, effectively slowing them down further.
After another half kilometer, Sa'feer ordered the most severely injured foot soldier back to the ship. The stench of his rotting flesh from acid was filling the corridor.
"Three will be enough to kill the adults and take the child," he said.
=/\=
The dark corridor seemed to stretch forever as Kathryn and Dani ran along its path. Water was running down the walls, pooling in dark, smooth pockets. Janeway heard the water drips keeping time with their running pace. She heard her own breath, the huff reverberating against the walls. She heard moans from Dani.
"Dani," she heaved. "Baby. Are you...all right?"
"Hmm," the child said. Her respiration was double what Janeway's was, but there was little she could.
"Hold on!"
"Okay," she replied beside her. She squeezed her mother's hand and was rewarded with a gripping reply.
Janeway carried the torch high. Her eyes glided along the rock-hewn wall, looking for the symbol she and Seven had carved for the exit she was supposed to take. She hoped she hadn't missed it when she'd tripped a few meters back.
With her eyes intent on the upper ceiling, it wasn't until she began to loose her footing that she realized the water level had risen a few centimeters. Not life threatening, but the corridor's rock bed flooring began to slip under her. Janeway stretched out an arm to brace herself against the wall. Her right knee buckled. The torch flickered out in the small pool. Kathryn landed in the mud face down. Dani fell on her bottom beside her mother with a thud.
"Are you all right, darling?"
"I can't see," she whimpered.
"I know." Kathryn peeled the eye patch away. The single eye having adjusted to the darkness under the pirate patch was able to make sense of their location from the dim lights that streamed in from the wall seams. She and Seven had placed several torches along the path, but someone must have moved them. "Damn," she whispered, as she rose to her feet.
"What's wrong?"
The girl's voice was dripping in terror.
Before the Captain could answer, a thunderbolt of blue fire streaked across the corridor, illuminating it enough for Janeway to see a new torch just a meter ahead. But the weapon discharge struck her in the shoulder. The tendrils of blue bent and curved around her neck, engulfing her face in a macabre light show.
Dani gasped to see her mother's violet eyes wide as her fists and her lips stretched across her teeth in a grimace. "Cappie!"
By the time Dani's hands found her mother, the shot had dissipated into thin air. "Cappie," she whispered.
Janeway leaned against the wall, coughing. Then she heard another sizzle of weapons fire. "Down!" She held Dani's head down, while all Janeway could do was slide down against the wall.
A lightning flash of blue arced over their heads. Janeway hobbled on her feet as she triangulated the torch, but realized she'd never have time to light it and it would surely give them away. "Come on, Dani," she said in a hoarse voice. "Let's run." She urged her daughter to keep a hand against the wall to help brace them. Water splashed, echoing off the walls to surely give their position away.
"I can hear them, Cappie," she whispered.
"My darling," she huffed. "I need you to focus ahead of you. Your mother is there waiting for us."
=/\=
D'goba's view of Gweelee unimpressed her, but she touched more controls and the Silver Streak began its descent to the planet's surface. "Captain D'goba, you are hereby ordered to maintain synchronous orbit to rendezvous with the Mencari Fleet, led by Sky Marshal To'nock."
"But there is not enough time. My sensors indicate that a contingent of Evil Ones are on the surface."
Sensors began to blink red, along with a green one. All were within the same spatial grid on the planet's surface. She adjusted her course on a vector to the coordinates.
"Captain, you are endangering the mission."
"No, ma'am. You are endangering the One and her Borg Mother."
"The prophecy says Ush'maul will create order! Not D'goba the Impulsive."
"How do you know it is not D'goba the Impulsive who assists Ush'maul?"
"Because no one prophesied of you, D'goba! No one!"
"Then I prophesy, Great One. I will help her."
"Do not disobey me, D'goba. Or your fate will be worse than the Evil Ones'."
"If I fail, I will deserve it." D'goba slammed her console. "Faster Silver Bullet! Light Speed to Light!"
=/\=
The Doctor breathed in deeply, though he had no lungs to fill ambient atmosphere of Voyager's sickbay. "It's good to be home," he said, as he crossed the room toward his office.
He was stopped cold by a familiar sight. "Who are you?"
The bald man with a wreath of dark hair stood. His dark brows were veed over his generous nose. He approached his mirror image with a good dose of mistrust. "The question is who are you?"
"I'm the emergency medical hologram. That's who!"
The man's face transformed into angry indignation. "That's who I am, sir! I was activated on Stardate 54163.3." The Voyager Doctor glanced down at the man's tan clothing. "I'm in uniform."
Fresh from the Delta Flyer, the Doctor frowned. "My clothes may not be regulation, but I was activated six years ago. That means I predate you."
The back up EMH opened his mouth to speak and closed it. He leaned back in his office chair. "Well, I'm here now. That means you are superfluous!"
The last word was like a chain-mail gauntlet across the Doctor's face. He actually turned red, drawing the scrutiny of the backup EMH.
"Is that a blushing subroutine?" he asked, drawing closer to his predecessor.
"I'm not—!" The Doctor looked up, ignoring his doppelganger. "Sick Bay to Ensign Kim."
"This is Kim."
"You didn't tell me about the spare, Ensign."
"The what?"
"How dare you call me that!" the younger EMH said.
"That's what you are."
With Kim hearing the exchange, his initial response was strangled in a laugh. "Doctor—"
"Yes?" they both responded, glaring at each other once they realized it.
"Voyager Doctor," Harry clarified. "Delta Flyer Doctor is going to work with you on getting the weaponized nanoprobes ready for disbursal on Chakotay's orders."
"I'm going to work with him?!"
The V Doctor gave his colleague a smug shake of his head. The new arrival narrowed his eyes.
"He will be working with me, Ensign, since I'm the only one who knows what you're talking about." That comment wiped the arrogance from the holographic face like a Bolian razor.
"Doctors, work it out. As long as you meet with Captain Chakotay's orders. Kim out."
The Delta Flyer Doctor frowned at his desk. "Captain Chakotay? What is this world coming to?" He roughly began pushing buttons over the shoulder of the other hologram.
"Do you mind?" The younger doctor pulled back, a gravely insulted expression marring his face.
"I'm trying to work, in case you didn't recognize the activity," the older Doctor said. "I need to be in the pilot's seat. You can take up a post in the plasma injectors."
The holo man stood up, tugged his tunic down. "I won't even dignify that with a response," he growled as he stepped aside. "But it was quite inappropriate and completely unbecoming a Starfleet Officer."
"As if you'd know," the Doctor muttered.
"What was that?" the newer holographic doctor enquired.
"I'm working," he said with irritation.
=/\=
The familiar plateau was covered in three inches of mud. The yellow sun was beginning to break through the dark, angry clouds in the west. In place of rain, a scorching wind was beginning to blow.
Seven could see the Guadalquiver, where she and Kathryn had given Dani a memorable lesson on the Newton's Three Laws of Motion. But instead of a dry riverbed, raging white water swiftly swept between the canyons. Between the furious river and the howling winds, Seven did not hear Mr. Commagees, until he tugged her arm.
"Seven!"
She turned worried blue eyes on him.
"Oh, lass! We'll find those two, I promise ye on me own mother's natal stream."
She glanced around, trying to remember the well-concealed hatch. "They should have arrived by now," she said flatly, as she jogged to the hatch.
"Lift it, lass."
The rusty hatch groaned and screeched as she opened it. She stuck her head down. Solid darkness was inside. "I cannot hear anything," Seven said into the void. When she lifted her head, she started to see three Ket'zali pointing their lasers at them.
"Oh, lass," Mr. Commagees whispered. "I'm sorry. I did not hear these bloody bottom feeders!"
"They likely materialized at an inconvenient time," she replied, closing the hatch and locking it.
"The child—!" one of them managed to whisper.
"Is not here," she replied.
"They are ugly groupers," Mr. Commagees snarled. "Bottom feeders of the worst kind."
The insults pinged silently to the ground as the Ket'zali could barely understand the spoken words. "Child," one of them reiterated.
"No child here, you pus sucking scavenger."
The Ket'zali tipped their flattened faces, studying the curiously obese fellow with the fat lips and curious whiskers. They watched his gills open and close in respiration at his neck.
Then just as suddenly, as if they'd come to a uniform decision, they raised their weapons on Finn Commagees.
"Now I've done it!" he whispered.
Seven leveled a compression rifle at them.
"Now, lass," he whispered, trying to keep his great lips from moving. "Don't let 'em shoot first."
Just as he finished his statement, Seven squeezed the trigger. She shot three short bursts in quick succession. One of the bursts took out the lead Ket'zali. He was a black heap of smoldering flesh over which the other two rocketed toward Mr. Commagees.
"Now, gents," he cooed to the two hovering close to him. Their breath felt like stinging insects on his sparkling scales. "Perhaps, I misspoke. I'll give you lunch at me restaurant..."
They studied him again. "You are not the child."
"No, I most certainly am not. You're quite astute."
"Why do you want the child?" Seven asked, lowering her weapon.
They turned their attention back to Seven. "You are Borg." It was a hiss and followed by a spasm of their bodies.
"You don't like Borg?"
"Borg hurt the fathers."
"What fathers?"
The pair uttered a guttural parade of vowels, grunts and clicks. To Seven and Finn, it sounded like "Kithabi" with additional vocal fanfare.
"That is their name and they are our fathers."
Seven studied them, surprised they wanted to talk. "Hurting is bad?"
"Yes."
"Then why do you hurt us and our child and the Mencari?"
"No, we do not hurt them. Mencari are mothers. But they hate us."
"Because you hurt them." She flicked her rifle barrel at them when they tried to step forward. They immediately fell back.
"No, we love them."
"They do not want to be loved by you."
"But we love them nonetheless."
"It is rape."
"What is rape?"
"When a woman does not want to couple with you and you force her, that is rape."
"Why would you not want to make children?"
"Because women wish to love their mates. They want their spouses to be kind and to be present in the lives of their children. They want to continue to enjoy a relationship with their own families after they marry."
"They do not want to live with their husbands?"
"No, that is not what I said. They may not want husbands at all. If they did, they would want loving husbands who do not hurt them. These husbands would understand a woman's needs."
"This is new."
"Why do you want my child?"
"Your child?"
"The child you seek, Dani Janeway. She is my daughter. You want to harm her."
"No, we do not."
"You have harmed her already!"
"It was an error."
"Harm as you have inflicted was not an error. It was malicious."
"We regret the errors."
"But why do you seek her. She is afraid!"
"The mothers! They are the reason! They seek to use her. She will show them how to hide from us. This is wrong! Is it not?"
"They are afraid of you."
"Because we rape them?"
"Yes."
"But we love them."
"They do not see it as such."
"Will you kill my child?"
"No! We merely seek to disengage her ability."
"That will kill her."
The two remained silent, watching Seven and Mr. Commagees. Then, the leader spoke again. "But we need the Mencari. We will die without them."
The Ket'zali raised their weapons. A blinding flash of light blotted out the rising sun for Seven.
=/\=
"They are getting closer, Cappie!"
The pair continued to slide their aching legs through the rising water. Their arms were braced against the wall, with Dani in front of Kathryn.
"Dani. Focus forward, darling. Please."
They stumbled, slipping so easily on the silt and mud that settled below their soggy shoes. Captain Janeway was groping the walls, sliding her fingers along the edges hoping to find the exit before the Ket'zali behind them reached them.
They heard a thunderous roar, along with sparks.
"What was that?"
"I don't know. But let's keep going."
"Where are we going?"
"Up, Dani. We are going up!"
A faint blue light cracked the darkness and that's when Janeway saw the latch. "Here we are!"
Just as soon as it flashed, the light faded. But it was enough. Janeway's nimble fingers searched for the latch to turn. It would be difficult, she remembered. But Seven had opened it several times and oiled it for good measure. Kathryn heaved up, reaching on her toes. But she was not tall enough. "Dani, I'm going to get on all fours. I need you to open this."
They groped around into position, all the while they heard panting, grunting and the unmistakable three-legged running of Ket'zali. The sound was closing in.
"Hurry, baby!"
Dani stood up, growling as she twisted the latch. Then she heaved it open with a mighty push. The light flooding in was blinding. All she could see was an arm reach in and hoist her up. "Cappie!" she yelled. Her legs kicked as she was foisted up.
Janeway stood so rapidly, she became disoriented from the blood lose and the blow to her head. She steadied herself on the wall, blinking at the porthole. She held herself against the wall as she came to stand under the pool of blinding light. That's when a dark figure hurtled through the corridor, tackling her to the ground.
Reacting on pure survival instinct, Janeway tried to shove the creature off of her. But this only incited his rage that he unleashed readily. He pounded her ribs, drawing grunts. She realized she wasn't going to be able to hold out much longer. "Seven," she whispered. "My love!" The she closed her eyes.