Time Enough
Chapter 21: Solving for X
Waves of shimmering heat rose from the red and brown rocks in the distance. The mirage was distorted by thousands of Ket'zali troops stomping the ground toward the small band of Starfleet officers who were stranded in the middle of the Valley of Shynar on the desert planet of Gweelee.
Chakotay ground his back teeth at the awesome sight. Ket'zali formed row after row as far back at the canyon, all marching in perfect time. His jaw muscles began to jump. "Be ready, people. We've got to play this smart."
He heard Ensign Platt start to sob.
Chakotay bellowed in a deep voice. "Quiet on the line! We're not out yet, people. Steady yourselves!"
Janeway admired Chakotay's handling of the crew. He'd faced fierce fighting when he was with the Maquis and his terrible experiences were coming to the fore now.
Captain Janeway turned slightly to see Seven standing in front of Dani, her assimilation tubules swaying in the searing breeze. Her daughter was also flanked by a weary but determined Mr. Commagees and a battle-hardened Officer Apoda. To her surprise, Chief Engineer B'Elanna Torres had closed ranks around the girl, teaching Finn to swear in Klingon. The other crewmembers were assembled in a line. She pursed her lips and turned away when she unwanted realized they were standing as if they as the condemned before a firing squad.
"The hell we will!" Janeway growled when she told herself they weren't going to die here. She felt Chakotay at her elbow and she squinted to look up. "Have I ever told you I don't believe in luck?"
"Yes," Chakotay said with a hint of astonishment. "I believe you have. But I was hoping you'd tell me you believe in lizard prophecies."
She gave him a puzzled look, as she turned to see the army advancing on them meter-by-blessed meter.
"When D'goba—you remember her, right? You're sister of the—"
"I remember, Commander," she replied curtly.
"Anyway, she related to us a prophecy about the Ush'maul."
Janeway whispered the word under her breath in furious derision.
Chakotay lifted her bloodstained hand. "Ush'maul...I mean, the Resplendent Cactus, shield of the Sun People—" He shrugged at her poisonous stare. "It's their belief system and I was thinking it could help us, Captain."
She inhaled, gritting her teeth at the sharp stabs in her thigh. "Fine, we have a few minutes to..." Janeway locked gazes with Chakotay. "To kill."
"The Resplendent Cactus—"
"Cut to the chase, Commander. We don't have that long."
" 'Will open the heavens. She will destroy and create order all at once.'"
"Hmm," Janeway said quietly. "Like all prophecies, it's sufficiently vague."
"D'goba said you will accomplish this with blood and water."
"I think I've got enough for the first part," she said dryly, wiping her bloodied hand against her dry shirt. "The Ket'zali army is marching straight toward us. I'd estimate for every one of us, there are fifty thousand of them." Just as she was about to determine the likelihood of rain from a cloudless sky, the army stopped.
At that point, a single Ket'zali continued to march toward them. He was carrying a white flag over his shoulder.
"Truce?" the Captain wondered.
"Or trap?" Chakotay amended, and then added sardonically: "He does have a white flag."
"Worn as a scarf, it appears," Ensign Gilmore replied in kind with a smirk.
Janeway turned to see who could possibly be interrupting at a time like this. Gilmore was standing at Chakotay's elbow, like an appendage. While she was studying the ensign, Chakotay strode past her.
"I'll go meet him." His comment was so matter-of-fact that it took the Captain a second longer to digest that he'd just assumed command.
"Commander," she called to him.
He half turned.
"I'll go," she said, walking past him. "You stay. That's an order."
She caught the scowl as she limped passed him. But she was still the Captain, dammit. Janeway nearly cried out with every step. She wasn't sure if it was the agony of the wound or facing death without so much as a slingshot to call your own. She slowed down as she approached the Ket'zali. A red Starfleet emblem tattooed to his chest told her it was none other than Sa'feer.
"Cap ten," he whispered gravely.
"Sa'feer," she replied, raising her arms in bravura she didn't feel. "I'm still standing."
"Not for long," he hissed.
She inhaled, knowing that baiting him wouldn't protect Dani or satisfy her growing aggression. So Captain Janeway adopted the voice of the consummate diplomat. "Isn't there some agreement we can come to? My people will help you any way they could, if you would just tell us—"
"My army will demolish your puny little resistance."
"Do you need medicine? Replicator technology?" All these had been powerful trading tools in the past.
"What we need we will take. The child we will possess and your dead body we will crush under our feet."
Janeway smiled crookedly, even knowing he wouldn't understand her brashness as anything other than the last struggle of a desperate race. "I don't like threats."
Before she could even blink, the alien sprinted so fast. It was like a person hurtling at warp speed. He rammed a shoulder against the Captain as he passed. She slammed to ground with a grunt. Janeway rolled to her belly, fixing her phaser on the creature. The others had sited him and phasers were blasting away uselessly at his tough hide. Still he sprinted forward on a straight line to Eridani Janeway.
The Captain's breath hitched when he leapt effortlessly over the first line of officers. When he took the second leap to put him within the reach of Janeway's daughter, the Captain heard a faint buzzing that grew louder.
She scrambled to her feet to see the dark cloud descend like an arrow at Sa'feer. The black column was not a cloud, noting its intentional flight deviation toward the menace. Sa'feer was airborne for a split second, only a half-meter away from his goal, when hundreds of insects swarmed him in a seemingly mindless frenzy.
The iridescent wings beat almost invisibly fast as they encircled their prey. Their fluttering was a high whine that seemed to set her teeth on edge. Not a single centimeter of Sa'feer was now visible. Then in harmony, the insects began to oscillate together. The vibrations traveled through the air toward the assembled Starfleet crew, making their own teeth chatter. The rocks around them began to jump. Sand began to kick up, making the humans cough.
Just as quickly as it had started, the half-meter insects whizzed back up, to join the growing cloud of darkness in the sky. When the prey was relinquished, the carcass fell two meters at Dani's feet. Sa'feer's mouth was frozen open. His lips pulled back from his sharpened rows of teeth. His eyes looked upward, in a ghoulish gaze of prayer.
His limbs lay twisted at odd angles. Small wisps of smoke rose from his body and Dani smelled the characteristic odor of burnt flesh.
Dani's wide eyes turned to see the murky nebula circle overhead.
Then the vibrations ceased. The insects drew away from Sa'feer and all but one had departed in a single file column.
Their attention was quickly drawn to the line of Mencari forming behind them. The reptilian race had been in a holding pattern until that moment.
"Captain," Chakotay said. "The Mencari are forming military columns."
Janeway rubbed her backside. "One of their prophecies was fulfilled."
He turned to look at her.
"Think about it, Commander. The heavens will open up."
He gestured to her festering wound that continued to leak vital fluids. The Captain's thigh was glistening from the flowing red that would not stop. Her pant leg, once a light tan, was now dark red. Where she walked, Janeway dripped her own blood.
"I'd say two prophecies," he replied. Then the Commander squinted his eyes at the buzzing nimbus of insects above them. "But who are they?"
Dani turned her head to face a single insect that appeared to be smaller than the rest. "Maybe he knows," Dani said, pointing to it. Its wings shimmering, the insect hovered just above the ground, placing it at Dani's eye level.
Phasers were leveled. Seven pulled Dani back behind her. But even behind her Borg mother, she could see the insect had two very large eyes, surrounded by smaller ones, eight in all. Dani watched the reflection of herself in the eyes, and then she noted the broad head and a white down covering the entire length of the sleek, black body. Dani focused on the humanoid hands that were clasped together along its thorax. The fingers were tiny and nearly translucent. When it flexed its hands, Dani's eyes shot up.
"Who are you?" Captain Janeway asked.
The insect's wings beat faster. The body undulated frenetically side-to-side.
The change forced Janeway to level her own gun.
"Don't!" Its voice was a reverberating buzz. The word was halting and appeared to be spoken with great effort. "Don't. Be. Afraid."
"Who are you?" Janeway asked again.
She noticed the insect stilled its wings and the body became still again. It turned to face the child, hovering behind her mother.
"Dan!"
Dani's eyes widened. Her mouth dropped. "Grub?"
"Yes!" His wings flickered, making him rise off the ground. Dani could only see a pale curtain where reason told her his wings were. His body began to pitch side to side again.
She startled when he lurched toward her. But then Grub zipped upward, in a move that appeared to be precisely a ninety-degree angle, seeming to defy aerodynamics. He flew into the air in a wide loop, stopping nearly instantaneously in front of her again.
"Sorry." His wings nearly stilled, just enough to maintain his hover. "Happy!"
The earth began to shake again, as if quaking. From the corner of her eye, Dani saw Grub's ascent. "Come back!" Dani yelled, looking up. All she could see was a shimmering black mass of insects circling above them. She could not tell where Grub had gone.
The line of Ket'zali began another slow advance. Row after row of the warlike species were minutes from overpowering and doing exactly what Sa'feer had predicted, taking Dani.
=/\=
Dani saw the black cloud descend, just as the green text predicted. Before the enemy army advanced one more step, it was swarmed in a fury by millions and millions and millions of insects. Some Ket'zali were able to swap a few of the insects away, but killing one in a sea of so many was like spooning out an ocean. The insects sent wave after wave of attacks on the Ket'zali front line. The insects blotted out the sun in the valley from their sheer numbers.
Janeway cupped an eye to behold as insects defended them to the death. She felt someone come up behind her and was relieved to hear Seven's voice.
"By Federation classification, they are hymenoptera apocrita," Seven said. "Wasps."
"Wasps," Janeway whispered gratefully. "Grub was a wasp larva."
"Who pupated, just as he predicted," she said.
"But they didn't sting Sa'feer," she said, still gazing at the stunning battle scene as a helpless bystander.
"He was cooked," Seven finally said.
"Cooked? How?"
"The creatures...." she indicated the swirling in front of them, attacking the Ket'zali in droves. "They excited his molecules to the point of overheating him."
"Vibrations," Janeway clarified.
"More precisely," Seven said. "Radio waves of two thousand five hundred megahertz. Water, fats and carbohydrates absorb the radio waves and it is converted into atomic motion or what we know as heat."
"Oldest trick in the book," Janeway replied.
Seven looked behind her, seeing pockets of groups among the crew. B'Elanna remained with Eridani, along with Officer Apoda and Finn. When she was assured they were out of range, Seven turned back again to face the unbelievable scene. "Your injury persists," she whispered.
Janeway squeezed her thigh involuntarily. "It has to wait."
Seven heard the sharp edge of command. Her lover was fully Captain Janeway and no amount of cajoling or logic would she allow to weaken her, especially at this most urgent of hours. "I fear for you." With each word, Seven's voice receded until the last word was just movement on her full lips.
Janeway turned to look at Seven. She did not appear to be sunburned like the rest of them, but perhaps Borg implants were providing a measure of protection from the intense ultraviolet rays. "I know, darling," she whispered back.
For a brief second, Seven saw the woman Kathryn. Thoughts of losing her began to crowd her mind and she had to will them back. "How can we destroy the array?"
Just as Janeway turned back to the scene, a series of loud explosions were heard in the distance. And then nothing, until seconds later, an angry wall of white water began to roar toward them from between the canyon in a wall. Streams of water shot out of the canyon wall. The sheer hydraulic force of so much water hit the Ket'zali tower like a megaton torpedo. It came crashing down in a rain of mere splinters.
"So much technology wasted by a simple force of nature," Janeway said, shaking her head at the wonder.
She heard footsteps and then the dulcet tones of Officer Apoda. "That was Gweelee City, Kat," he said.
"What do you mean?"
"Our entire water supply," he said with a hitch in his voice. "'Ppears the Council voted to blow the damn dam sky high to unleash its lethal force."
Janeway half turned to see Dani holding Finn's hand. His eyes looked parched and his lips cracked but he stood proud. "'Bout time!" Finn hissed. "I'll bet me brother Gill couldn't stand for me to be the hero!"
Officer Apoda gave a belly laugh. "That's right! I forgot Gill was a Council member."
"Why would they do that?" Seven asked, confused by the gesture.
Officer Apoda slapped her shoulder blade good-naturedly. "Because, Dep'ty Seven, m'girl. We in Gweelee City take care of our own. How many times have I told you that?"
"Exactly forty-seven times," Seven replied. "First you mentioned it the day I was deputized on Stardate—"
"Seven," Janeway whispered, giving a slight head shake.
"Very well. But it was forty-seven times that phrase was uttered."
"Don't ever doubt we love the dirty lot of ye," Finn said acerbically.
"We shall not," Seven replied flatly.
=/\=
Captain's Log. Stardate: 54250.34
Voyager is preparing to leave orbit from the Delta Quadrant planet of Gweelee, after conducting an extensive peace summit between the Mencari and the Ket'zali races over the last few days. After an unsuccessful attack on a coalition of Starfleet and Gweelee personnel, the Ket'zali ranks were devastated to the point of near extinction. So much so, that even the Ket'zali Grand Marshal—himself a member of Species 8472—disembarked from his craft and presented himself. He explained that he and his brothers-in-arms, other members of his race, were exiled from Fluidic Space because of a disease they took home with them. Examination by the EMH showed the tumors and lesions were not, in fact, a disease but a symptom of radiation exposure they suffered while in our realm. The tumors and lesions were removed in exchange for a peaceful settlement with the Mencari.
Despite the medical assistance, the Grand Marshal declared that he and his brothers no longer belonged in Fluidic Space. They wanted to remain with the Ket'zali offspring. And so they consented to an alliance, only after Mencari Captain D'goba and a Ket'zali whom she had fought in the desert returned with news that they were mates. The news had unsettled the Mencari, but D'goba already declared she was with child.
The Ket'zali have no word for "consensual" and so D'goba and her spouse G'ar will have their hands full changing Ket'zali culture and offering Mencari an opportunity for sexual reproduction.
The Grand Marshal, whose name is unpronounceable, promised that they would never hunt Elizabeth Eridani Janeway again. But he admitted they sought to neutralize her cloaking powers so the Mencari could not hide from them.
The needed repairs will keep Voyager operating at impulse for quite some time. But we will have a full complement of crew once again, for the first time in six months. Of those who survived the attack, everyone was miraculously found.
In addition, Voyager has helped the citizens of Gweelee City mine more ice in the south polar region to replace the quadrillion of deciliters of water they freed to destroy the Ket'zali interdimensional array. It is still unclear what they had planned to do with it and neither the Grand Marshal nor his subordinates would answer questions about it. The senior staff believe it may have been their final revenge on Voyager for interceding in their war with the Borg. They would have stranded us in Fluidic Space, at the mercy of their vicious brethren. Whatever the case, the array was destroyed by new friends we acquired.
Personal Log. Supplemental.
My own personal regret is the short farewells I was able to offer our new friends. Between negotiating the peace summit and overseeing mining operations, I was only able to offer a goodbye to our friends in Gweelee City via our communication system. Seven and Dani have been planet-side collecting our things and offering their farewells. I have not spoken to Seven in a personal manner since assuming command. I hope she is not angry with me.
The crew remains divided, and loyalties split. There have been several brawls already about the best captain for the Voyager. All the years we've managed to stick together have gone by the wayside in only a matter of six months. It's going to be a long haul back to the unified crew we were and to our home in the Alpha Quadrant.
I remain on guard with Commander Chakotay, as he is with me. I hope we can all put this behind us soon.
=/\=
Captain Janeway looked around the ready room. It felt strange to still see some of Chakotay's personal effects. A wall hanging of a traditional Mayan design hung where her portrait of Da Vinci used to hang. An earthen jar sat at the coffee table by the sofa. She knew why he had left them.
"He wants this job back," she whispered.
She wasn't sure what had gotten into the crew, but she was going to get to the bottom of it. But not today.
"Computer, locate Seven of Nine."
"Seven of Nine is in her quarters."
As she walked off the bridge, the Captain hoped Dani was in bed because the thought of finding Seven alone warmed her from head to toe. And since returning to space, she'd felt so cold. The Doctor had warned her that her system would still be fighting the Ket'zali toxins in her system. At least my fever's finally gone, she thought.
=/\=
In the lift, her combadge chirped.
"Doctor to Captain Janeway."
She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Yes, Doctor."
"It is urgent that I speak with you in sickbay."
"Now?"
"Yes, that's what urgent means."
She grimaced. "I'll be right there." She diverted the lift from Deck 3 to Deck 5.
Janeway stepped into the familiar surroundings of sickbay. Its antiseptic smell akin to alcohol actually calmed her more than nearly anything. But the visible signs of war were still there: black streaks still marred the bulkheads while a bio bed lay mangled on its side. Her head began to throb when she heard two identical voices shouting at each other in the medical office.
"You didn't look for a phase shift for alien proteins?" That was her Doctor. She noticed because, along with his arrogance, was a genuine giftedness.
"How was I supposed to know that?" The backup EMH was identical to Janeway's doctor in every respect, except his knowledge was lacking somehow, though no one could explain it since he had access to the same databases.
"You're right," the Doctor conceded. "It's not like you're me. Not really."
"What are you saying?"
Just then, her Doctor noticed her. "Captain, it's time to shut down the backup EMH."
"You can't do that!" he shrieked.
"Why not?" the original hologram inquired, looking at the other hologram askance.
"Because I'm a person!"
The Doctor gave him a little smirk. "What's your favorite ice cream?"
The backup doctor looked puzzled. "I don't have a favorite ice cream. I don't even have taste buds. You don't even have taste buds!"
"Mine is pistachio," he said smugly. "And do you know why?"
"You don't even have a stomach!"
"I like the brilliant color and I like the idea of pistachios."
"That's ludicrous! What does it have to do with medicine?"
"My point exactly."
Captain Janeway put up both of her weary hands. "All right, gentlemen—"
"May I speak with you, Captain?" he asked.
Captain Janeway sighed, placing her hands on her hips. "That's what I'm here for. Could you please excuse us, Doctor?"
The other Doctor appeared at a loss about what to do, until her doctor instructed the computer to deactivate the backup EMH. "This is an outrage, Captain!" he said, pacing in his office.
"What do you want me to do, exactly?"
He frowned at the Captain. "I want him shut down!"
She briefly considered the definition of sentience: intelligence, self-awareness and consciousness. The backup EMH had demonstrated these on a surface level, enough to stay an order to take him offline—a death sentence temporarily, if not permanently. She wondered if one EMH could become sentient, could two? She couldn't just dismiss the possibility without further investigation. "He stays."
Her Doctor's features contorted from a smile to a look of incredulity. "You aren't serious?" the original EMH asked.
But Janeway flashed a sardonic grin. "Live with it," she said, pronouncing each word precisely. Then she reactivated the backup doctor and broke the news to a holographic sigh of relief.
Then a perversity arose in the Captain she found difficult to suppress. She remembered the Doctor's morbid sense of humor telling her for the entire bridge to hear that she was a mother. "Payback's a bitch," she muttered.
"What did you say?" both holograms asked.
She smiled smugly at her holographic Doctor. "I said...congratulations, Doctor. You have a bouncing baby hologram."
"I have?"
The newer hologram appeared to be mortified at the thought of the acerbic doctor as his father.
Janeway shrugged, both palms up. "Yes, Doctor. He's one of your own kind." She looked between the two. "And in your own image. I am putting his education in your capable hands." Then, in characteristic Janeway fashion, she quirked a half smile. "Daddy."
The Doctor stood ramrod straight, a horrified expression directed to his counterpart. "But I'm not a father," he sputtered. "I didn't... I didn't want to reproduce. Remember, I warned...."
Janeway gave him a sad look. "Do I have to make it an order?"
The Doctor scratched his pate, looking down at his shoes. "How do I explain this?" After a brief moment that Janeway indulged him in, he looked up. "Did I ever tell you about my time on that planet that existed in a space-time differential?"
"The planet where you lived for three years and it was only about twenty minutes for us?"
"Yes, that's the one," he said.
"You only told me what was pertinent to the mission, as I would have expected. I don't like to pry into the lives of my officers, Doctor."
"I had a son," he said. He cast a disparaging look at his holographic colleague.
"You had a what?"
"Well, I was with a woman, Maritza."
"A woman?" the other hologram asked.
He ignored the other doctor. "It was her son, but he needed a father and I loved his mother."
"You had a family then." Janeway's expression softened, fascinated by a glimpse into a hologram's interior life.
"Yes. I think of them often, though I know they've been dead for what amounts to millennia now." He turned his back on the Captain, resting his chin on his fingers. "I've distanced myself from children because...of the pain."
"Doctor, I had no idea."
He turned on his heels. "I hope never to know what it feels like to lose a child, Kathryn."
She watched him for a moment. "I hope I don't either," she said thoughtfully. "But that can't keep us from doing our duty."
"I've done my duty, Captain. I've cared for Naomi. I've provided assistance to Icheb, the twins and Mezoti."
She watched him fidget again. "About Dani..."
His expression became forlorn, the strain of the feelings tugging his mouth corners down. "It would be easy to...." How could he tell Captain Janeway it would be easy to love Dani because he's never gotten over Seven of Nine? He can't. "I've kept myself contained from those types of affections."
"I see," she said with a lift of the eyebrow. "Cool detachment."
"Yes, exactly. It worked for human doctors." He saw the other hologram listening avidly and loathed the idea of him hearing these personal concerns.
The Captain looked into his eyes, seeing something there she'd never seen before. She'd granted him sentience and yet, he was more human than she realized. The thought brought a profound sadness to her. That his family had been stripped away by duty. Well, dammit all! It will be duty that brings it all back, too. "I am very sorry for your unspeakable loss, Doctor," she said quietly, a tremor in her voice. "But the fact remains a person of your kind needs your help. Whether you choose to treat him as a colleague in need of mentoring or as a child in need of parenting—the process is all irrelevant to me. But what I expect as your Captain is for Junior to become a full member of this crew and I can't think of a better hologram for that task than you."
The speech was both moving and exasperating. "Well, what's his name?"
"That sounds like the first item on your agenda. Names," she said, stepping closer to the office exit. "For the both of you."
"Why can't he be deactivated?" the younger hologram inquired, as if the idea were completely workable.
She stopped dead in her tracks, turning on her heels. The older Doctor recognized the incendiary Janeway stare and school his holographic features to sufficient contrition. The other remained ignorantly defiant.
"There's an old Earth expression," Janeway said. "Two heads are better than one."
The two men look at each other horrified. Her Doctor began to sputter. "Captain, I really don't see how integrating our image matrix to produce a horrid two-headed—"
Janeway chuckled in spite of herself. "Don't like that one? How about 'there's strength in numbers.'"
Her Doctor arched a brow. "Aphorisms are irrelevant."
He sounded just like Seven. She'd definitely had an influence on the hologram. It was all Janeway could do not to give that silly smile of hers when her lover made a lame joke, which was often. She shrugged and turned around. "The order stands as is," she said blandly.
"But it's highly irregular!" The older hologram muttered. "We share the same database. He could read my personal, private thoughts."
"Don't flatter yourself," the newer Doctor said, crossing his arms.
Janeway shook her head as she neared the exit. "Logistics, doctors," she said to the door. Then Janeway pivoted toward the two holograms. "You each have a stake. Like I used to tell Dani and Grub—work it out, kids."
"Kids?" the younger Doctor replied with a puzzled expression.
=/\=
Kathryn was surprised to find the VIP Quarters locked, but she dutifully inquired within. When the door swished open, she caught her breath to see Seven, with her blonde hair cascading down in generous, bold ripples. A thin strap of her turquoise gown fell from a creamy shoulder to hang down, distorting the neckline to skew to hint at her delights. With great effort, Kathryn dragged her eyes upward to meet an astonished Seven.
"Seven." Kathryn blinked several times. "I'm not interrupting anything?"
Seven moved aside to allow Kathryn entry. "No, I have just put Eridani down for the night."
Kathryn saw the VIP quarters decorated with many of the same effects they'd had on Gweelee. The light and music wind chime hung in the living room by the window, stars distorted behind it. An orange Gweelee ball that was frustratingly unpredictable in its trajectories sat on the coffee table beside a hardbound copy of "Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court." This perusal took mere seconds.
She glanced at the chronometer that read nine hundred hours. "It's pretty late for her," Kathryn commented.
"She was having great difficulty with coming to terms with leaving Spiro," Seven said, walking toward the replicator. "Would you like coffee?"
Kathryn didn't want coffee. She wanted Seven in her arms, but there was something about Seven's demeanor that told her to back off. So coffee it was. "Yes, please." Kathryn sat on the sofa, facing the wind chimes. A small, tight smile curled her lips in memory of the thing. As Seven handed her the cup, she murmured her thanks. "Who is Spiro, by the way?" she said just before taking a sip.
Seven sat across from her on the sofa chair, her legs demurely closed as the gown covered to mid-thigh. "Grub," she said with her usual economy of words. "Spiro is his flight name."
"Hmm. I like that. Spiro."
Seven continued to study Kathryn, who was beginning to feel as if her lover were waiting for some sign from her. Maybe I should have taken her in my arms, she mused.
Seven played with the fabric on the armrest before she spoke. "Eridani is distraught. She stated she will never—followed by 'ever' three consecutive times—have another friend again."
Kathryn offered a sympathetic smile. "She was on board so little the first time, she didn't get a chance to meet the other children."
"I have scheduled such a meeting tomorrow at nine hundred hours."
Kathryn gave a soundless "ah." Then she adjusted herself. When her fidgeting became distracting, she stood with her back against the window. Her hip was leaning on the sill.
"How do you feel?" Seven said, lifting a brow at Kathryn's belly that she rubbed absentmindedly.
She shrugged. "Tired, which the Doctor said is to be expected." Kathryn wanted to add that she felt homesick for Seven's arms, but still the awkward feeling with Seven persisted.
"Are you firmly at Voyager's helm once again?"
Kathryn saw the flash of panic cross Seven's beautiful features and in the instant it took to recognize it, it vanished. She knit her eyes together, wondering at the ex Borg's intense emotion. "I would say that my First Officer would have it no other way, but I think I'd be mistaken."
"How so?"
"I think he'd rather be Captain," she said. With you at his side, she added mentally. "He seems...different."
Seven nodded. "That is true of more than the Commander."
"Ship repairs and crew morale will be my first priorities."
Seven accepted the comment without one of her own. She let her eyes take another assessment of the Captain. "I see the Doctor repaired your damage," Seven finally said.
Kathryn shook out her formerly injured leg, rolling her ankle around in demonstration. "Good as new," she said.
"You retain hematomas around your eyes," she stated.
Kathryn touched her cheek with a finger, and then laughed. "Some things have to heal naturally, I suppose. In the meantime, Mr. Paris is calling me 'Champ'."
"What does Chakotay call you?"
"Chakotay calls me Captain, mostly."
At the mention of her ex-lover, Seven adjusted herself, placing an elbow on the armrest. Kathryn knew the two had spoken, but neither had offered any details. That was her worst fear, Seven returning to the arms of the First Officer. Better that she face it. "Seven," Kathryn said quietly. "I think we need to talk about us."
Seven stood up, edging toward Kathryn stopping centimeters from the woman. "Then I would like to commence the topic, Kathryn."
"All right," she said cautiously. "I'm listening." Here it comes, Katie, she told herself. She's returning to Chakotay.
=/\=
Seven's eyes shifted to look out of the window, the stars distorting into streams of light. How could she explain such complex feelings she had for Kathryn? Should she even try? Seven's proximity to her lover was overwhelming her senses, so she stepped away from the window and from her. She stood beside the chimes, letting her eyes dance along the alternating colors.
Slowly, Seven faced Kathryn, noting that the Starfleet tunic was fitting the woman snuggly around the top and middle. She would have to replicate a larger size soon.
"I have always respected you, even admiring you as a Captain," Seven began.
Kathryn tipped her head, looking into the fathomless blue eyes. Seven could not read into the bland expression. It was disconcerting not to find encouragement reflected there, but she managed to plod ahead.
"But our relationship grew," she said. "We became friends."
Kathryn smiled quickly in acknowledgement of something that was mutual. "Yes, I am fortunate to have you as a friend."
"And as someone who continues to play Velocity, despite your penchant for cheating."
Kathryn's lips almost curled into another small grin. "I don't cheat."
"You win consistently."
The redhead shrugged. "A talent for agility and intuition."
Seven looked away, crinkling her nose subtly at the last word. She was Borg. Intuition is a fallacy. But she did not wish to antagonize at this time index. "In any event, I have come to know you as a fiercely loyal captain who is utterly and completely devoted to the crew."
"Thank you, Seven," she said, leaning her shoulders back. She was starting to become uncomfortable with the direction. It was like a damn eulogy at her own funeral.
"Your undying devotion to the ship and your willingness to lay down your life for any member of the crew," she said. "It is profoundly humbling to work along side of someone of your excellence."
"My," she said. "Is this make 'Captain Janeway' feel good day?"
Seven regarded her curiously before choosing to ignore the comment. "Your singular wit and your tenderness had served to confuse me," she said.
Kathryn became deathly still. Gone was the sparkle from her eyes. The mischief from her lips. "I had felt many things for you. Friendship. Admiration. But my feelings added up to more than what I could identify," she said, waiting for the Captain to return her focus from behind her. "There was a variable missing. Only when Eridani showed me the possibility of us, only then did I understand."
Kathryn's respiration quickened and her heart rate sped up. These were easily discernible to the Borg. What they heralded however was another matter entirely.
Seven waited for some response from Kathryn, unsure what that would be.
Kathryn dipped her chin finally. "So what did you come to understand, Seven?"
Seven stepped closer to the woman. She could feel the heat licking off her. Seven moved closer to lightly caress Kathryn's cheek with the back of her fingers. Kathryn closed her eyes, waiting for her to be told they were done.
"To solve the mathematical expression of my life, I have employed an erroneous method to find the missing variable in my life."
Seven felt Kathryn tremble so she lightly rubbed the woman's shoulders up and down. She leaned in, her lips hovering close. "You are my mathematical constant, Kathryn," she whispered. "The missing variable was easy to solve after this revelation. X equals love."
Kathryn's eyes opened wide and her lips parted. "Oh, darling," Kathryn said in a cracking whisper. "I love you, too!"
Seven's eyes widened and her eyebrows shot up. Before either could say another word, Seven's lips descended on Kathryn's in an urgency they had not known. It was at once a soft expression of sweet claim and a torrid, possessive staking of territory. "You love me!" Seven whispered against Kathryn's hair, after she'd pulled the woman closer. It was a triumphant declaration.
Seven could see the unspent moisture in Kathryn's eyes when she pulled back. "Of course! My darling," Kathryn said, taking her Borg hand and kissing the backs of those fingers. "I love the sum of you, Borg and human!"
"And you feel this for me here? On the ship?"
The question was so small; it broke Kathryn's heart. "Oh, yes," she said. "Besides, did you really think I was going to let you go after you knocked me up?"
"Knocked you up?"
"Impregnated me with your child," she said, enunciating every word.
Seven looked down, tentatively drawing her hand on Kathryn's stomach. "You will continue gestation?"
Kathryn covered her hand. "How could I not? She belongs to both of us." When Seven looked up, she recognized the patented Janeway crooked grin. "And you're stuck with me now, even when I'm crabby."
"Oh, Pips," Seven whispered, drawing closer to Kathryn again. She let her lips hover near Kathryn's expectant lips. She felt the woman surge forward in her arms, searching for their union of breath, but Seven continued to tease close, flying over the lips, but not allowing them to touch. Her lips drifted lightly over each of Kathryn's eyelids and kissed the shell of each ear. Her arms rubbed the woman's back in large circles.
Kathryn lifted her chin. Seven accepted the invitation with gentle caresses and gliding her lips along the woman's chiseled chin.
"Seven!" Kathryn finally pleaded. "I want you."
Seven abruptly pulled Kathryn's arm into their bedroom, locking the door behind them. She circled Kathryn to stand in front of the bed. Seven resumed the teasing nips along Kathryn's neck and face, while a hand tugged down the zipper of her lover's tunic.
Kathryn moaned when she felt Seven's warm hand under her turtleneck, stroking the soft, warm skin. "You're teasing me," Kathryn accused with a light, affectionate tone.
"I believe I am savoring," she clarified, as her fingertips dipped below the other woman's waistband. "We have not made love for three days."
Seven recognized Kathryn's throaty moan was both yearning and frustration.
"I know, darling!" she whispered, trying to work Seven's singlesuit off. But Seven's deft arms blocked every effort by the Captain to assert dominance. "I'm so...so—"
"Aroused?" Seven asked as she unzipped Kathryn's pants in one swift tug.
"Horny as hell!" Kathryn admitted. "God! I feel like a raging torrent of hormones are flooding every cell."
Seven continued to lightly brush Kathryn's body under and over her clothes, but she was always careful to avoid the most sensitive points at the apex of the woman's legs.
"Kiss me, dammit!" Kathryn growled.
When Seven complied, she felt Kathryn's arms thread around to cup her shoulder blades and to press their bodies together tightly. Seven's tongue was sucked into Kathryn's mouth, taking it inside deeply with a long, soft cry of desire. "Please, Andy!"
Seven slipped her hand into her pants and under her cotton panties. When she slipped a finger along the sopping crease, Kathryn sobbed. "Don't make me beg, Seven!" she whispered.
Seven kissed Kathryn sweetly before whispering against the woman's lips: "Never."
Kathryn cried, trying to thrust upward to impale Seven's finger inside. "Oh, that's it, baby!" But it was followed by a growl of protest when Seven withdrew her hand.
"Shh," Seven said, as she tugged down the woman's pants and panties.
In short order, Captain Janeway was naked and lying on the bed. A knee was bent, giving Seven a lurid view of Kathryn's sex, as she undressed herself. Seven nearly came undone to see another let down of moisture from between the secret cleft. Without even having to move the lips aside, Seven could see Kathryn's prominent swell.
As Seven began to crawl up Kathryn's body, the other woman threw her head back, scrunching her eyes in anticipation. She situated her hips between Kathryn's welcoming legs, allowing her to grind the hungry woman's center. Seven braced her arms, keeping her upper body floating above the woman.
Kathryn's eyes snapped open, while her pelvis met Seven's grinding motions in perfect synchronicity. "Darling!"
Her eyes were so desperate that Seven smiled faintly. She slowly bent her arms to bring them nipple to nipple.
Kathryn's hands frantically rubbed Seven from shoulders to ass and back.
Before she claimed the woman's mouth once more, Seven whispered, "Tell me."
"Seven!" Kathryn shrieked in agonizing desire. "Fuck me! Is that what you want to hear?"
Seven shook her head, earning a frustrating rumble from her lover. Kathryn bit into her hand in frustration, while her lower body arched, swung and ground into Seven's body.
Seven reached up, cupping the woman's chin. "Tell me, love," she said. "Tell me...."
"What, Seven? I'll tell you anything you want, just take me."
Seven smiled sadly, shaking her head. "I will not take you," she said. "You must give yourself. Tell me who do you belong—"
"You!" she cried, the cords of her neck veins stood out in stark relief. "I belong to you!"
"Yes," Seven replied. "You are mine." Kathryn was rewarded with a kiss that was wet and consuming. Each tongue slid against the other in a frenzied climb toward sensuous perfection.
Just as Seven's hand neared her goal, she felt Kathryn reaching for the same. She rose on her knees, offering herself. One single touch to their swollen centers sent them both hurtling over the edge in waves of such profound pleasure. Light splintered into rainbows of colors under their eyelids. Sound fused into symphony. But touch concentrated to one single point where they held each the other in orgiastic bliss. They cried out in unison. The exhalation for one was the inhalation for the other.
Their dextrous fingers continued to coax convulsion from each other long after they'd recollected themselves from the shattering effects of orgasm. Until finally, Seven collapsed on top of Kathryn, kissing the skin near her lips.
Kathryn hooked a leg around Seven's thigh, stroking her back gently. "I needed you," she said in a gravelly voice at Seven's ear.
Seven looked up, finding sweet surrender on Kathryn's lovely features. "I shall always need you."
Kathryn pecked the woman's lips quickly without opening her eyes. "Aww," she said. "If I'm you're mathematical constant, darling. Then you..." she said, trailing a finger from her shoulder to her side. "Are...my...gyroscope." She poked Seven's side playfully with the last word.
When she heard no sound, Kathryn propped herself up on a pillow to look down at her lover. She chuckled at the puzzled expression, as she traced Seven's single feathery eyebrow with a fingertip. "I'm a starship captain, darling. Not a poet."
Seven rolled toward the woman, taking her hand and kissing each finger, tasting and smelling herself on it. "Explain."
Kathryn firmed her lips and looked up in thought.
Seven's breath hitched to see Kathryn completely unmasked, revealing such love and affection, it nearly decompiled her on the spot.
"Gyroscopes..." Kathryn said as she smoothed Seven's forehead with her fingertips. "...have been used for hundreds of years to help ships navigate the endless expanse of space." The Captain added hastily that she realized that Seven was aware of the devices. "But you are my personal gyroscope because without you, my lovely Borg, I would be so inconsolably lost."
Seven kissed Kathryn's breast, just above the nipple. It was a chaste kiss of appreciation and not meant to excite. "You are a poet, Kathryn. And furthermore, you are my poet."
Kathryn cupped Seven's jaw tenderly. "I wouldn't have it any other way," she said, leaning in to offer her own kiss of affirmation.
=/\=
They made love all night long, surprised at their own insatiability. Only after they were spent, panting for breath, did Kathryn pull back from the six-foot length of gorgeous Borg next to her. Kathryn tucked wild blonde strands behind Seven's ears, earning a nonsensical mumble in reply. She watched the eyes flutter under her lids. Kathryn studied the parted lips as a pink tongue slowly slid across them to then return to its home.
Kathryn circled the woman's chin cleft with a fingertip. "Darling?" she whispered, a throaty murmur her only reply. "Before you drift off, there's one little thing."
"Anything, Pips," the Borg mumbled uncharacteristically.
Kathryn clenched her stomach, fearful about how Seven would react. "I haven't told anyone," she whispered.
When the woman's sapphire blues snapped open, Kathryn smiled nervously. "About us, I mean."
The hurt and dismay registered instantly and Seven bolted up to sitting. Kathryn followed suit, balancing her body on a braced arm, while she held Seven's hand tightly. "It's not because I'm ashamed, Seven," she tried to explain. "You are so beautiful, so desirable. I will be the envy of every man and woman on board when they find out."
Kathryn lifted her brows in confirmation to counter Seven's dubious expression. "I love you, Seven. I've said it. And I've shown you. But what I need is a little time to figure out where we fit together and with the crew. And then I'll tell them all. I'll reveal everything."
"How long?"
Kathryn grimaced slightly. "I'm not sure, but it will only be as long as it absolutely necessary," she said. "Can you help me with this, Seven? Can you gift me with your patience?"
Seven drew her legs up, resting her chin on top. "So what exactly do you require from me?"
"I want us to be discreet. I would prefer not to let anyone know we are lovers. Just yet."
"What does that mean for living together?"
"We must keep up appearances, Seven."
"So you will remain in the Captain's Quarters."
Kathryn nodded reluctantly.
"What about Eridani?"
"I didn't say it would be easy."
"What about making love?"
A pained gurgle caught in Kathryn's throat. "It will be limited," she admitted.
"That will be most difficult of all," Seven replied.
"I know, darling. Believe me."
Seven leaned in to kiss the sweet spot under Kathryn's ear. "Do not tarry in your announcement, Pips."
Kathryn cupped the back of Seven's head. "Let's start tomorrow," she said, pushing Seven down to climb on top. She suddenly pulled away, becoming serious. "But I promise you, Seven, when everything is out in the open, we will have time enough for it all."
THE END
=/\=
A/N: If you enjoyed "Time Enough," please let me know. It's encouragement to continue.
Thanks for Phoenix6787 for encouraging me to do it and for providing an interesting seed of an idea to start with.
The sequel will be a separate story under my profile, but I haven't decided on a title yet. I've written some of the scenes already. I think it will be loads of fun.
Just for more fun, I'll post "deleted scenes" as the next "chapter."