# Chapter 7 – Still to be Written

Kellin's security shift was almost up. As was her custom, she made Astrometrics her last stop of the day. The doors slid open and she stepped into the lab. Seven of Nine turned when she entered and then returned to what she was doing at one of the Astrometrics stations. "Right on time," Seven said.

"How's everything with you?" Kellin inquired and then looked about. The rest of the Astrometrics staff for the shift must have already left for the day.

"Agreeable," Seven replied. "Icheb discovered a double neutron star in the core of that supernova remnant we are going to pass in a few weeks, and Captain Janeway has ordered a deviation in our course to go take a look. That should be interesting."

"Another deviation," Kellin remarked, rolling her eyes in mock irritation. "I must say, we sure don't believe in the saying that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line." Kellin had been devouring the Federation database and was particularly interested in the idioms of various species and cultures. For whatever reason, this was not an area where Ramurans had developed the great variety of sayings found on Earth and Kronos. Even those worlds paled, however, to the wealth of idiomatic wisdom produced on Talaxia.

"That's not true," Seven countered. "With warped space-time, often times the shortest distance between two points are not straight lines."

Kellin sighed, but then noticed Seven was smiling and realized she was just teasing her. Kellin knew that at their core, the members of the Voyager crew were explorers. Sure, they wanted to get home to the alpha quadrant, but their necessity for exploration and discovery also needed to be satisfied. And now, she was a member of that crew as well. Voyager was her home, and although there was nothing in the alpha quadrant to draw her there and want to continue on this trek though the stars, there were most defiantly things she would miss if she didn't stay with them, with her family and friends on Voyager.

"Interested in doing something when your shift ends?" Kellin asked.

Seven appeared a little apprehensive, but then replied, "actually, Chakotay and I are planning to play hoverball later."

Kellin smiled. "That's wonderful. You two are spending a lot of time together lately."

Seven nodded, and turned back to her Astrometrics station. It occurred to Kellin that Seven seemed uncomfortable; possibly due to conflicting emotions related to her pursuing a relationship with Chakotay. She knew Seven, and knew that her own prior relationship with Chakotay loomed heavily on Seven's mind. The time to set events irreversibly along the third path had come. She went up to Seven and placed her hand on Seven's shoulder.

"You're not offended?" Seven asked tentatively.

"Of course not," Kellin replied. "I'm happy for you. How could I not be?"

Seven turned to Kellin. "I've been concerned. It has been only five months since the Tracer, and …"

"But you know I don't remember any of my time with Chakotay," Kellin interrupted.

"But I do remember," Seven replied. "I remember our friendship from now, these past five months, but I also remember our friendship from the previous five years as well. Like it or not, I do remember."

"It's OK. You love him, and he loves you. And I love the both of you too. It's not just the nanoprobes talking. You are my best friend, Seven. As for you and Chakotay being together, it reminds me of an old Talaxian saying…" Kellin stopped when Seven raised her eyebrows and then they both laughed. "I know, I know. Neelix gave me a book filled with Talaxian wisdom a few weeks ago and I just can't help myself. Anyway, the saying goes, 'don't curse gravity when the glass falls off the table'."

Kellin smiled at Seven's reaction. It was very much like how she felt with most Talaxian sayings when hearing them for the first time. Perhaps that's why she liked them so much. "What does it mean?" Seven asked.

"As with many Talaxian sayings, it depends on the circumstances and is open to interpretation. What I'm intending it to mean in this particular situation, however, is that there is no sense in fighting the inevitable. You and Chakotay are perfect for each other and there's nothing and no one you are hurting if you pursue the love you share."

Kellin noticed Seven relax and sensed she had said enough. It was precisely what Seven had to hear, and it was the truth. "I'll leave you to finish up here and get to your hoverball game," she said, and started for the door.

"Wait," Seven called back. "Could you stop by my quarters tonight after dinner? I've been working on something and I'd like to show you. We can also talk and catch up."

"I'd like that. See you later then."

Kellin stepped out into the corridor and felt a wave of relief. Her 'third path' plan had worked. Neelix had thought that after the away mission to the planet that no more orchestrating would be necessary, but she had wanted to push things along a little faster. Neelix had probably been right. When she saw the two of them now, it was obvious to her that they belonged together. Chakotay was happy, and Seven seemed to glow in his attention. In fact, it was likely that Chakotay and Seven would have eventually been drawn together even without her meddling. And yet, as she considered the past few weeks, mixed with the relief was a little sadness. As Kellin walked down the corridor alone, she began to imagine the corridor as the 'third path' she had helped build. She couldn't help but wonder how things might have turned out if she had chosen a different path. But that was, what was the Earth idiom, a burnt bridge? No, it was something to do with water going under a bridge. Ah, she'd have to look that one up again. Chakotay and Seven were now happy, and Kellin's relationships with both were now comfortable and pleasant, and that's what she had wanted all along. Wasn't it?

Kellin stepped into the turbolift. There was someone else in the back corner, but she was too busy wrestling with her thoughts to notice who. She turned to face the doors and said "deck four" as the doors slid shut.

A moment later, the person behind her said, "Computer, halt turbolift."

Kellin turned and was surprised to see it was Lieutenant Ayala. He was dressed in what looked like suit of chain mail and held a helmet in one hand and a holoimager in the other. On his belt was what first looked like a sword in a holster, but on second glance Kellin recognized it as a Klingon pain stick. Her face must have held a thousand questions, for Ayala nodded and held up his hand to indicate he would explain.

"I'm sorry," he began. "It was such a coincidence; I decided to stop the turbolift so we could talk in private. I was just thinking about you."

In that one short sentence, Ayala had probably said more to her than he had in the past month. And what did he mean by he was just thinking about her? Kellin wasn't sure where to begin. She noticed he also had a canister of fire retardant spray also attached to his belt. She decided to start with the first question that popped into her head about his strange attire. "What are you wearing?"

Ayala glanced down at his outfit as if he was as surprised as her. "Oh, well I was just going off to the holodeck to see if I can locate the famed bat'leth-billed gre'thian." Noticing Kellin's confused look, he added, "it's a bird in a holoprogram. I like birding."

"Birding?"

"It's where you go to a planet and try to identify all the birds native to a particular region. There are some that are rarer than others, and variations on their plumage and habits that distinguish between sexes and species. It's a hobby of mine."

That still didn't explain the outfit. She again swept her hand to bring his attention back to his attire. "OK, but why the helmet and suit of armor?"

Ayala laughed nervously. "Oh, of course. The birds of Kronos can get kind of aggressive," he replied. "I run the holoprogram with the safeties off, so you have to take precautions." Then, Ayala's eyes seemed to light up. "Would you like to join me?"

Was this what Ayala meant when he said he had been thinking about her? Did he just want to spend time with her? Kellin knew next to nothing about him, having spoken to him more in the past minute than in the previous five months. And yet, the thought of spending time with him appealed to her. In fact, it occurred to her there were some fairly interesting sea birds on Ramura. After some adjustments to her own holoprogram, she could take him to see.

She stepped up closer to Ayala and nodded. This should be interesting and perhaps she now knew where the third path was leading her to. The future was still to be written. Who knows what might happen…

#

THE END