#but when he notices that Janeway has come out of her quarters

[trekkietales]

The scent of lust

Tuvok x f!reader

warning:smut

Request: no

Surprise! Voyager is stranded again, on account that it has broken down. Luckily for us all the planet we had to land on has exactly what we need.

As I work in my lab, Tuvok walks in. I straighten up at the sight of him entering, I always had a thing for the Vulcan. He stands on the other side of the desk.

“The Captain wants you to go on the surface to see the plant life, and note if it is safe for the crew to be around.” I nodded.

“I will be in the transporter room in five minutes.” He nods and walks out again. I get in my protective gear and head to the transporter room.

I walk in and I am told that the doctor and I are beaming down to the surface. I get in place and down we go.

When we get to the surface I find its absolutely beautiful with amazing plants. I start gathering samples of plants and each of them are close to what would be on earth or other planets that contain life. I hit my comm button.

“Plant life seem to be stable for life, I am gonna wait for the doctor before I test anything on me.”Janeway gave me the okay and I waited.

As I sat on a rock I looked over to my left and saw the most interesting flower I have seen. It was different shades of blue. I made a mental note that if its able to be moved I wanted to test it in my lab.

After the tests on me, the doctor and I deemed it safe for a whole landing party to beam down. I grabbed the flower and went back to my lab. I ran tests on it to figure it out.

I poked it and it sprayed me with some kind of pollen stuff. I noted the wonderful smell. After an hour my three favorite men walked in. Chakotay, Parris and Tuvok.

“Guys come see this plant!” All three walk over and Parris starts to touch it. “No!” All three look at me confused. “I poked it and it sprayed me with something. It doesn’t seem harmful but I won’t take the chance with you guys.” They all nod and step back.

“You do smell nice.” Chakotay noted. I nodded in agreement. I showed them my notes on the plant that I have so far.

“I noticed the smell. No side effects and nothing happened to my clothes. I did wonder if it works the same way with men that it does with women.” Parris raised his hand.

“I will volunteer to be sprayed.” Before we could protest he poked it. It seemed nothing had happened the same way it had with me. The others decided to try it to. Again the same thing. Nothing.

“Hmm, I guess it’s just harmless then.” They all had to leave, but before they left I told them that if they had any changes to come see me.

It was close to three hours when Parris commed me to ask if I was too busy to hang out. I paused my research for the night and told him I wanted to change and I will meet him at the bar. I walk up to him and smile.

“Hey Parris, what did you need?” He explained he wanted to be around me. Almost felt like he had to be with me. Life and death type feeling. I open my mouth to comment on it as Chakotay runs in and up to us.

“Hey, are you busy?” I shake my head no and Parris and I exchange looks. “What?”

“Did you feel you had to be with me? Like life depends in it?” He nods. “Both if you to my lab now.” We take off and once there i start asking questions.

“How do you feel about me?” They both answer with love, but the friendship kind. “Do you feel this way for anyone else?” The shake their head. We determined that if a female is sprayed the pollen amplifies a man’s emotions to her. My eyes widen. “Tuvok!” I go to run out the room and Chakotay stops me.

“I don’t think it would be wise to go to him right now.” I look confused and pulled my arm out of his hand.

“I have to go check on him.” I ran out but caught both men look at each other worriedly. I run all the way to Tuvok’s quarters. I knock on the door. “Tuvok, let me in please.” A few seconds pass and Tuvok lets me in.

“You shouldn’t be here.” I look confused. I take in his appearance and see his usual stoic look was gone. His uniform isn’t neat, and he wouldn’t meet my eyes.

“Tuvok are you okay?” He looked up at me and I put my hand on his shoulder. “Tuvok if you ne-.” To my surprise it was like a dam broke in him and he pushed me into the wall and started kissing me.

He broke away and looked at me. I am sure i looked scared because my eyes were wide and my breath was fast. He backed up from me.

“I am sorry, I lost control.” He turned away and started to walk to the door, probably to ask me to leave. I grab his hand and pull him back to me and continue kissing him.

I felt his hands on my hips and felt him pull me as close to him as he could.

“I need you.” He looked at me as if he looked away I would disappear.

“I am yours.” He pulled me as close as he could and his lips met mine in a passionate kiss. I could feel his desire. It hit me like a brick wall.

He motioned for me to jump, and I put my legs around his waist. Tuvok pinned me between his body and the wall. He then turned and walked me to the bed, throwing me on it. He followed and hovered over me.

“Strip” his voice was husky with need. I started to take off my clothes, after finishing I looked back at Tuvok and he too was naked.

I had no clue what I expected, but he was not that. He was toned and extremely hot. I guess I was staring a while because he asked if i approved of what I was seeing.

“Yes, absolutely.” My cheeks were flushed and I looked down. Embarrassed I had been staring. He grabbed my chin and lifted my face to meet his eyes.

“I want you to look at me. Don’t look away.” He pushed me back down on the bed and didn’t bother to wait any longer to sink into me. We both moaned at the feeling.

As he set a fast pace, he was littering my neck with kisses. He picked up his head to ask permission, I nodded and he sucked a spot into my neck.

“Now the other men will not look at you.” Apparently I had a confused ok because he continued. “You have no idea what you do to men, do you?” I shook my head. “You drive them crazy.”

He thrusted harder into me, and I moaned loudly. For being quiet ninety percent of the time, Tuvok was being quite loud. Words were falling from his lips, ones of appreciation. Like he was thanking me for saying yes to this.

I could tell he was close as his movements were becoming erratic. Without thinking I had whispered in his ear. A whisper pleading for him to cum in me. He obliged.

He rolled off me and we just laid there for a while. He then turned to me with a serious look. His fingers traced my jaw.

“I meant when I said I don’t want other men looking at you anymore.”

“I never noticed they did.” He raised his eyebrow. “I really only looked at how you looked at me.” Tuvok nodded.

“I see, you’ve liked me for a while then?” I nodded at his question. “Mine.”

“Yours”

A/N

I hope you guys liked this story. I am planning a Koss x F!reader and a Janeway x F!reader next.

[lovecanbesostrange]

Out of these choices I HAVE to vote for my beloved quartet. We never got enough interaction, even though the hilarity of it is endless. (Yes, okay, and when I put my shipping goggles on all I see is a B'Elanna/Seven & Harry/Tom doubledate, ssshhhh, not even going there now).

Harry and B'Elanna love to prank Tom. He is their guy, they are allowed. Then Seven joins in and Tom thinks for a hot minute this will even out the playing field. He is friendly towards Seven early on, he includes her, surely she must be on his side - WRONG! Sorry, pilot bro, it's team engineer against you.

Luckily Harry enjoys all of Tom's hobbies and they agree on something. Captain Proton time is important. Seven has her own Opinion about recreational activities, but while exploring her humanity and social interactions, she will have some praise for the effort Tom puts into his holodeck creations. He does thorough research and has a remarkable attention for detail. Acceptable for a human. Now Tom and Harry will find a way to make Seven enjoy the holodeck. B'Elanna gives her own suggestions that start off very sarcastic, but ugh, if this is what it takes so Seven will occupy her free time outside of HER engine room. The Doctor is so peeved when he finds out. He IS a hologram, and he oversees Seven's journey from a medical/physical/psychological perspective, clearly-- that's it, B'Elanna is so in to create the best Borg-approved simulation ever.

Seven is in peak physical condition. Her hand-eye coordination is off the charts, as the kids say. Remember the little game of ping-pong we got? More sports please! Nice 2 vs 2 games. B'Elanna and Seven team up for that, girls vs boys. For obvious reasons. Gonna wipe the floor with them. For trivia Seven prefers to team with Harry. He has a system to learn the most random things. Tom calls foul on this anyway, because Seven simply knows too much.

They are team Delta Flyer, those seats were made for their well rounded butts specifically. They should have crashed with it together at least once. (Although my favorite crash scenario involves Seven, Torres, Tuvok and the Doctor, but that's another story.) Or just imagine them on an away mission and when they return Voyager is in disarray, (like a TNG throwback; Genesis or Timescape). The energy when those four work together to solve a weird mystery while their whole Voyager family is trapped a wobbly nightmare anomaly.

There is a time Samantha Wildman gets to go on an away mission, but oh, Neelix is coming too, the designated babysitter. It's probably less than a day, Naomi will be fine, but she asks Seven to be the one with the official responsibility. Naomi responds well to Seven, Samantha knows all homework will be done and this is fine. But then Tom beeps at the door, because he knows Seven will be all about The Rules and hallo, when your Mom is out for a day it's an unspoken rule to have extra fun. B'Elanna wants to see that conversation. Harry shows up with a boardgame he liked as a kid. Naomi says she heard about Captain Proton, but Tom says she is too young for that. Harry shrugs and says they could adjust for that. And somehow now the five end up doing play pretend in the Wildman quarters. Seven points out every flaw in the story and makes suggestions how the imaginary evil party could succeed, so Harry starts to play that part (he is a band kid, but there is an inner drama kid underneath). The building of a pillow fort is involved. Naomi agrees she is too young for the real thing if there is the type of kissing involved Tom and B'Elanna showcase at some point.

Tom doesn't realize how Seven and B'Elanna use their connection to him to get around physical check-ups with the Doctor. Harry's loyalty is tested, because he notices. Rat them out and save Tom from the embarrassment?

There is a special entry in Janeway's log about the two week long prank war. Those four where at the core of it. You cannot say it was Tom's fault alone. The way Seven and Harry played with the internal sensors from Ops and Astrometrics to send B'Elanna on a wild goose chase for a malfunctioning gel pack that didn't even exist. And how B'Elanna retaliated by getting into Cargo Bay 2 and putting everything in there half an inch to the left.

Sometimes Seven takes solace in the fact she can always work with Tuvok to counteract the chaotic energy she is sucked in. But she appreciates Tom's spontaneity, B'Elanna's passion and Harry's optimism. Don't make her admit it, but they shape her view on humanity a lot.

We all know how wonderful the friendships between Janeway and Tuvok, Tom and Harry, and Janeway and Chakotay are (honestly Janeway's friendships with all the main characters are pretty interesting and get talked about at least occasionally) and of course Tuvok and Neelix's odd friendship gets attention if nothing else because of that time they shared a body (RIP Tuvix). However there's a lot going on with the other characters that I think is heartwarming and interesting.

[pilots-and-protons]

Okay but consider: 

In “Night” when everyone was bored and depressed from being in the Void, at some point Tom Paris should have definitely started humming a sea shanty until it caught on and the whole crew joined in singing.

[galaxy-class]

Star Trek Voyager Chakotay/OC

Hello! This is the first fic I’ve ever written, it’s a 6k Chakotay/OC PWP with some fluff and touch starving sprinkled in here and there. Janeway has an honorable mention in the beginning because I love her, but this isn’t a J/C fic (at least not this time lol). Possible triggers under the cut! 

Possible triggers (If you think of anything to add let me know!): Alcohol consumption, descriptions of male/female sex, themes of dominance and submission (power dynamics between commander and subordinate), mild choking (hand on throat positioning), mild restraining (holding wrists, no ropes/equipment)

A thank you to @marigoldseesstars and @burntheparameters (and other friends not on tumblr so I’m unable to tag them) for encouraging me to post! I hope you guys like it and I welcome feedback good or bad! <3 

Chain of Command (Title is trash because I am trash, thank you!)

Although the Delta Quadrant was full of new experiences and discoveries, the days between each excursion were full of the necessary, albeit mundane, tasks that it takes to run a starship. Duty rosters, shift trades, meetings… Terribly dull, and yet required for the ship to function. Captain Janeway insisted on it. Looking out of some unnamed observation window with a distant gaze, she would lecture crew members who tried to oppose her strict adherence to protocol. “I know, believe me, and I’ve thought long and hard about whether or not it’s wrong for me to impose these rules on this crew, knowing that the institution upholding them is so far away… But these rules help bring us together. They give us purpose and cohesion, and remind us of our principals while we’re so far away from order and reason…” Most people stopped listening the second she got that look in her eye, knowing there isn’t any amount of complaint or protest that could change her mind. And it isn’t too terrible a concept anyway. After all, someone has to be the one to wipe off the com panels when they muck up with the fingerprints of the crew members who insist on using the touch features rather than the voice commands, and someone else has to review the available personnel to cover for Ensign Baytart’s requested personal time off and Tuvok's mandatory fitness training.

Chakotay felt the days growing shorter, while the workload of monotonous tasks crawled on before him. The days of course, where perfectly timed on the ship’s chronometer to ensure maximum efficiency among the crew while allowing for adequate time to rest and relax between shifts. It even took into account the differing night and day cycles each species had grown accustomed to on their home planets and calculated a perfect medium between the variables. What the ship’s computer did not account for however, was Chakotay’s tendency to linger in the small moments between tasks. How he would stop to appreciate the soft thread in a blanket gifted to him by a friend, or steal an extra second to smell the spices mixed in with Neelix’s latest “coffee” blend. And so, his days grew shorter, while the soft glow of the padds laid out on his work station encroached in his peripheral vision, beckoning him to finish up this week's chores. 

Chakotay stood from his chair stretching his arms and looked down at the bottom of his mug, no longer filled with the thick brown liquid Neelix described as “Better than coffee.” He chuckled to himself about what a luxury real coffee had become in this quadrant. ...Duty roster.. Hmm… Why don’t I just go down to each station and see who’s available… Maybe the crew will have some personal insight I could use… His thoughts began to trail off and he found himself wandering towards stellar cartography. 

As the cool metal doors slipped open, light poured in from the hall onto the darkened work stations of a diligent crew, carefully mapping out this new region of space. They had their work cut out for them, creating detailed maps based on Voyager’s data and comparing them to patchwork resources acquired along the way. Slowly adjusting their eyes to the bright light silhouetting Chakotay in the doorway, spines began to stiffen at the sight of their commanding officer. Lieutenant Kelly, who’d recently been promoted to this division, tripped over a few words beginning a report of their progress. “Sir! We didn’t expect- We’re currently running a scan on the left-”

Chakotay put his hand up in protest. “I was only wondering if anyone wanted to spend tomorrow on the bridge, Ensign Baytart requested a day off, and if I have to scroll through any more names on that padd I might just go crazy.” His expression was soft and lighthearted, but the crew shared nervous glances concerning the surprise visit from the ship’s first officer. “At ease” he insisted, and held out hope for a few more seconds that anyone would take up his offer. 

“I’ve never had bridge duty before” someone spoke up from the back of the room.

“Who is that?” He asked, trying to see through the dark. 

“Ensign Salva sir, I have.. some experience with being on the conn, just not Voyager’s bridge… If no one else wants the shift that is.” 

Ensign Bobbi Salva was not tall and commanding, nor did her voice carry well in any way that demanded attention, but she was never one to pass up a new opportunity. What else are star ships for? In fact, she had found herself in stellar cartography on a similar request. Although she was trained as a medical assistant, she found ways into almost every corner of the ship. A recent favourite of hers being the aeroponics bay, where Kes had invited her to learn about cultivating plants after spending time with her in sickbay. “Growing a plant is just like treating a patient” Kes would say to her, “You just have to know what they need, and they can flourish on their own.” She liked Kes, they were similar in size and stature, but very different in personality in a way that complimented each other well. Bobbi had a square face, and curly dark hair which she tried a variety of ways to pull back into the intricate designs that reminded her of all ways her mother would style her beautiful curls. She had high cheekbones, and deep set eyes that sparkled with reflections of scarlet in the dark brown of their center. Sometimes she appeared to have a bluish tint, her father insisted that she was mixed with a Bolian on her cousin’s grandmother’s aunt’s side of the family, but mostly she had olive undertones on lovely brown skin.

"Salva… Aren’t you usually working in sick bay? I wasn't aware of any personnel changes in that area of the ship" Chakotay started. 

"Well actually sir, it's a funny story really, me and Kes were in the aeroponics bay discussing-" 

"Sir, I apologize for interrupting, but if there is nothing further we do have a few more things to get done." said Lieutenant Kelly, who was admittedly happy that Salva had found something else to do. As interesting as Bobbi found it, stellar cartography was not her strong point. 

"Of course" Chakotay responded, "Salva if you'll come with me we can go over the details of the assignment. As you were Lieutenant." With that Bobbi followed Chakotay into the hall, leaving behind her curiosity for star maps and replacing it with apprehension about serving on the bridge. 

"Sick bay, aeroponics, stellar cartography, is there anywhere besides the bridge you haven't been Ensign?" Chakotay chuckled. 

Bobbi was struck with the sudden realization that, not only was she talking to the second highest in command on the ship, but she had neglected to inform him or anyone else about her incursions. 

"I, well, only went to sections that I was invited to observe or help by other crew members, I never meant to break protocol.." 

"That's alright, I was just curious." Chakotay let out a sigh. He knew most of the crew respected him, and he trusted them. In the Marquis however, things were different. Sure, he was their captain and they followed his command like any good crew would, but there was rarely tension between him and his subordinates solely on the basis of rank. Starfleet vessels are polished and prideful, and senior officers are revered for their accomplishments. Marquis ships are built on trust and bonds between crew members fighting for a cause they believe in, and sometimes respect in senior officers is only granted because they can hit harder than you can in a bar fight. A bit far off from the Starfleet sparkle of an extra pip. 

Tired from his daily tasks and determined to have a sense of normalcy, he started again, “Are you looking to explore another career option? We could always use extra hands in engineering.” said Chakotay.

Bobbi let out a breath and relaxed her shoulders, realising how tense she had been. Chakotay’s warm voice and reassurance took away some of the stress she was carrying around while trying to maintain an aura of professionalism. “Actually I love sick bay. I’ve never felt more right than when I found medicine, I had changed my area of study so many times before…” A small smile escaped her lips, thinking of how many nights she spent worrying she would never find a place to fit in, now feeling so at home with a medical tricorder in her hands. “But as much as I love it, I’m still so curious about everything else. I want to see it, be a part of it for a small time. And seeing the other divisions in action reminds me just how much I love what I do.” she laughed, and looked up at Chakotay to see that he was smiling too. She never noticed before, how his face seemed to light up when he smiled, and caught herself holding her breath again. 

He stopped in the hall outside of his room. “I’m glad to hear you’ve found your calling. It’s a rare gift to know where you fit in. But I’m happy you’ll be joining me on the bridge, even if it’s just one shift. How about I make us some tea and we’ll go over the details of your assignment?” 

…Glad I’ll be joining him on the bridge.. ‘Joining me’ he said… Wait, his quarters? The First Officer’s quarters? Ensign Salva felt her cheeks flush, and the little slice of Bolian blue in her veins sparkled through, turning her subtle blush into a beautiful, almost purple crimson. 

He was nearly caught off guard, watching her face. She’s almost glowing, I wonder what... oh I should have realised that would make her uncomfortable… “Of course we can go in the dining hall if you prefer, I just have to get the padds, I’m sorry if-”

“No no it’s alright, I could use some tea.” She looked up at him again, settling her gaze on the part in his lips forming  what was going to be the next word in his apology, turning her glance quickly back towards the doors to his room. He smiled and welcomed her in.  

Chakotay’s room was softly lit, and sprinkled with things that had been given to him by the people he cared about. A lovely red and orange throw blanket from his grandmother, a crystal set of whisky tumblers from an old pilot he used to know, little pieces of the people who’d helped shape him. 

“Tea first, then work.” He gestured towards the couch for her to sit, and walked over to the replicator for two cups of yerba mate. A red, earthy tea, made from the leaves of a South American holly tree. One of his favourite blends that he didn’t often indulge in, because he didn’t want to spoil it. Tonight it felt appropriate. 

“Bridge duty on Voyager? Maybe I need something stronger than tea.” She could feel herself smiling nervously. Why did I say that? He’s going to think I’m not up for the challenge… 

Thinking for a second, tilting his head ever so slightly, “You know what you’re right. Let me get something… Here it is, warm vanilla brandy from a group of Bajorins that helped us restock on a very cold, very long night with the Marquis. It compliments the tea perfectly.” Adding the brandy to the tea, he joined her on the couch. ...What I wouldn’t give to see that lovely color in her face again… We’re supposed to be discussing bridge duty, I think…

As he sat down next to her she crossed her legs up onto the couch and held the tea in her lap, feeling the warm mug in her hands, letting the steam from the mixture of herbs and brandy curl up around her and closing her eyes for a second. Has he always been so welcoming and kind? Is he always this easy to be around? We’re supposed to be discussing bridge duty, I think… 

He put his arm on the back of the couch, and rested his cheek against his fist “Where are you from?” he wondered. 

“From?” she blinked 

Chakotay smiled and put his hand down in his lap, mirroring her posture and feeling the warmth in the mug he was holding. “Yes, before Starfleet, did you live on Earth?” 

“Oh no, I mean I’ve been there plenty of times, but my dad worked in one of the schools on Mars, he’s a teacher there for kindergarteners.” Bobbi laughed and looked up as if she was watching a memory play on the ceiling, “He used to tell stories to his kids about me being in Starfleet, he was always so proud of me. I wonder what he told them when…” She stopped and looked down, it wasn’t a happy memory any more, not knowing if he had given up hope that her ship would be found, not knowing if she had given up hope that they would make it back either. 

“Hey, I’m sorry.” Chakotay reached his hand out to put his palm on her knee. “We’ll make it back, I have to believe that. I’m sure your father misses you a great deal.” He let out a small smile, “Honestly I would miss you too, you seem like that type of person, who sticks with someone when you’ve gone.” He didn’t even notice that he had moved closer to her.

He may not have noticed his movement, but she was acutely aware of his hand on her leg, and the distance closing between them. She noticed that she leaned into his touch, and she noticed that she was hanging onto every word in that soothing deep tone of his. “I.. thank you sir.” Bobbi felt her cheeks flush again, and cast her eyes down at his hand. Am I flirting with the first officer? Is… Is the first officer flirting with me? She felt the brandy warming her stomach and a prickle at the tips of her fingers. Oh, this is real alcohol she thought for a second. It had been a while since she had the comfort of a genuine drink, and synthehol just doesn’t have that same feeling. 

He paused for a second at the sight of her. That wonderful color, shading the edges of her cheeks and the tips of her ears, stole the words he was trying to formulate. Chakotay didn’t usually like being called “sir,” he always thought it sounded a little pretentious, and while he understood and respected the purpose of formality on a ship, sometimes he just wanted a regular conversation. So then, why did it sound so good when she said it? He was fighting a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth, and felt that same warmth in his veins from the brandy that he hadn’t felt in some time. 

“I really appreciate you making me feel so... welcome.” She said, unsure if she should change the subject or push it further. She reached over and placed her cup on the coffee table, and watched as he mirrored her movement, setting his down as well. “I couldn’t have been your first choice for Baytart’s replacement, but I appreciate the opportunity, sir.” she finished, deciding to turn the conversation back to work. Even still, she couldn’t help but wonder where it might have gone instead. I’ve got to be reading too much into this… There’s no way he’s... I just need to get my thoughts together for a second… 

There it is again, ‘Sir’... It felt like honey coming off her lips. The way she said it, like she didn’t need to say it, like she had an inside joke and it was a challenge. “Honestly” Chakotay responded, trying not to linger too long on the thought, “I had no idea who I was going to pick. I spent so long looking at names on a screen, I just had to see someone face to face instead.” This time he did notice that his hand was still on her knee and he had, in fact, moved closer to her. He noticed too that she’d shifted positions and now the other leg was down on the floor, pushing her very slightly closer to him. Before he realised what he was saying, he started saying it. “I’m glad it was you that decided to say something, and that you came with me tonight. That subtle blue is so beautiful in your skin, has anyone ever mentioned that before?” His voice grew quieter and deeper, his eyes trailed across the line of her jaw. 

Oh… This wasn’t her over thinking anything, she realised. And now that she had figured it out, she wasn’t letting it go. Now it was a challenge, if it wasn’t before. Her eyelids lowered and she chose her words carefully, curious how far he was willing to take this conversation without her making it too easy. “Is that so? No, I don’t think I’ve been told that before.” Bobbi could still feel the heat in her face, and was finding it more and more difficult to take her focus off his lips, his shoulders, the feeling of his hand still on her leg, until she felt herself reach down and softly lace her fingers onto the spaces between his. It was almost jarring, how incredible it felt, the softness and warmth of his hand, all from a very small touch that she didn’t realise she needed until it was so obvious that she needed it. 

Chakotay could tell she was playing at something and could see the twitch of excitement on her face, even though she answered him so sparingly. …’Is that so’ Oh, I think you know it is, and I would love to see what else you know… But the feeling of her hand on his brought him out of his trance. He looked down at her delicate fingers fitting perfectly between his, knowing how good it felt to be touched. “Ensign… Bobbi. This wasn’t my intention with bringing you here. If you’re not comfortable, I would never impose…” He tilted his head back up to meet her gaze, “What I mean to say is that I don’t want to cross any boundaries you might have.” 

“Commander, I could say the same to you. But I think, if it’s alright, that I would like to stay for a little while.” She held his stare intently while she spoke, to be sure he would not miss-hear her words. No, commander, I do think I will stay here with you… I think that’s exactly what I want to do. Again, her eyes found his lips, and she moved closer to his seat, sliding his hand with hers further up to the soft middle of her thigh. His fingers tightened their grip just slightly, like he couldn’t help it, like he had to feel more of her, and she nearly lost all of her focus at once. Not yet, she thought, I want to see what you do. You’re the commander, after all, so make a decision. Make a command. Dizzy with the thoughts of what he might do, she waited, giving him no more before he would respond. 

Commander… Say it again… “Then stay.” He placed his hand gently on her cheek, using his thumb to feel the curves of her face before pulling her to him until their foreheads met. “I’m going to kiss you.” It wasn’t a question, his voice was deep and quiet, and full of desire. 

“Then do it.” She whispered. He smelled sweet like the vanilla brandy mixed with the faintest trace of eucalyptus, and his hand felt strong on her face. She could barely contain her composure, waiting for his lips to meet hers. 

Her words felt like another challenge, and without hesitation he pressed his lips onto hers and felt her whole body melt into him. His hand slid up her thigh to around her waist, pulling her deeper into him, and he moved the other hand to the base of her neck where he could feel her draw in a breath between each kiss. She let out a moan that he could feel with the hand on her throat, and he pushed her back gently, stopping her in the middle of her ecstasy. Lifting a thumb to her chin, he pulled down and parted her lips with his hand, and drew his face in close again, just barely brushing the surface of her mouth with his own. “I like that sound, does this feel good?” While he asked, his other hand trailed along the inside of her thigh, making her gasp. “No, I asked you a question. Does that feel good?” His fingers tightened their grip on her leg. 

“Yes.” She whispered again. How could it not feel good? Please... The strength of his hands, his lips, his tongue, he was intoxicating, and she didn’t want him to stop. 

“Good.” His lips were still brushing hers, he felt her trying to move forward and pushed her back again. “You want more?” 

“Yes.”

“Yes what? You weren’t so shy before calling me ‘sir’ and ‘commander’. I even thought you liked it.”

Her eyes turned sharp and hungry, and she waited just a little while, testing his patience until she felt another squeez on her thigh. He wanted to hear her say it. 

“Yes, sir. I want more.” 

This time it was him that let out a moan as he pulled her back. He wanted more too, her skin, her warmth, he wanted to feel every part of her, and more than that, he wanted to make her feel good and watch her move and gasp with every new touch. She smelled like clove and she was soft, so soft he didn’t want to hurt her by gripping her too tight, but everytime he strengthened his grip he felt her lean further into it, deepening her intensity. He stopped her again, this time putting distance between them. “Stand up.” Chakotay ordered. He looked up at her and smiled with that warm inviting smile as she stood. “Good girl. I want you to take off your uniform, I want to look at you, will you do that?” 

“Yes sir.” She turned away from him, and when he started to speak out in protest she silenced him with a look. He was driving her wild with anticipation and now it was her turn. Very slowly she began to undo her clothes, leaving the back open for a few seconds before carefully pulling off one shoulder, then the other, and sliding out each arm purposefully, drawing the fabric down the length of her arms and past her hands, but holding up the front to keep herself covered. Then she slowly turned to face Chakotay. His expression was  intense, his lips parted at the sight of her and his hand was drawn up in his lap as if he was going to start pleasuring himself to her, but he stayed very still instead, watching her movements intently. She nearly forgot what she was doing when she saw him looking at her like that, like she was the most amazing thing he had ever seen. 

He waited patiently, saying nothing. She continued with her game, pulling the fabric slowly off each leg while holding the bulk of it in front of her with the other arm. Chakotay leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, eagerly watching her every move. Once the final items of clothing were removed, and she stood in front of him with only the drape of an empty uniform left to cover her, she took a step closer to him and left the last of the fabric to fall on the ground around her. He sat entranced in her shape only briefly before reaching up to grab her hand, pulling her into his lap. 

Her hands rested on his chest, and she straddled his lap. She was surprised at how comfortable he was physically, and how easy it was to follow his direction. It felt natural, like a game they were playing that they both knew the rules to, and she was fixated on his every next move. His hands began to move up her thighs, onto her hips, up her waist, and up the sides of her breasts to her shoulders. She held her breath, he wasn’t really touching her, not completely. Still dancing around the edges, making her wait, making her want him. One hand curled around the nape of her neck, and the other slid back down to her hips as she let out the breath she was holding in. 

“Look at you, you look stunning.” Both of his hands moved to her breasts and his feather light touch cupped them and brushed his thumbs over her nipples. She lifted her head back and groaned, reaching a hand down to touch herself, but Chakotay grabbed her wrist and stopped her. “No, not yet.” He was still softly stroking her hard nipple with his thumb while holding her wrist away from herself. 

“Please?” She let out a whimper. 

“Please what?” He said. 

“Please, I want yo-” She groaned again, interrupting her words and her thoughts with the feeling his hands were providing. 

He chuckled at her reaction to his touch and felt her squirm in his lap. “Please what?” he said again, and gently squeezed her breast in his hand, shifting his grip to use his index finger to tease her instead of his thumb. 

“Please, I want you to fuck me.” 

“Is that how you refer to me?” His hand moved up from her breast to her neck, with his index finger resting on the line of her jaw putting a small amount of pressure on her throat, just enough to notice. His other hand let go of her wrist daring her to try again, and moved to undo his own uniform. “You were doing so well before. If that’s really what you want then you’ll have to ask me the right way.” 

She watched as he unfastened his uniform and took the length of his cock into his hand, touching himself like he wouldn’t allow her to do, and she was breathless again. He pulled her face close to his with the hand around her neck, and continued to stroke the length of his shaft underneath her. She whimpered thinking about how good he would feel inside of her. He could feel the tension in her legs, and he knew she could only go so much longer before it would become too much. “Go on, say it.” He said between stolen kisses on her open mouth. 

“Please sir, I want you to fuck me.” 

Chakotay took his hand from himself and reached up to her pussy, feeling the wetness between her lips, sliding his fingers up onto her clit and massaging it slowly. She groaned deeply at his touch and her hips began to sway in motion with his fingers. “There, that wasn’t so hard. I want to hear you moan.” He worked his fingers faster on her clit and felt her body reacting in waves to the feeling. 

It felt so good, that’s really the best way to describe it. It felt so good and she felt herself move along with him, her muscles tensing and releasing with his changes in speed and pressure. “Mm it feels so good, don’t sto-” she moaned again, louder this time. And just as she was about to direct him not to, he stopped and pulled his hand away, back to himself. “You’re not done yet.” Bringing her up to that edge, watching her body, her face, he loved every second of it. With one hand still around her throat, he pushed her off his lap so they were both standing and kissed her deeply, letting his other hand explore her curves. 

“Wait.” It was her turn again. She pushed him away for a second and he waited to listen to her demands. “Let me take off your uniform.” He smiled as she moved her hands over the fabric, as slowly as she did for herself she unfastened his shirt and slid it off his broad shoulders, then moved to his undershirt, giving him light kisses on the stomach and chest as she pulled it up over his head. His pants, which were already partially undone, were the easiest to remove. She found herself laughing with him as he tried to step out of them after they pooled around his ankles, falling back onto the couch and taking her with him. Their laughter moved their bodies on one another in a way that brought her closer to him, and she could feel his warm skin against hers. She layed on top of him for a second, feeling him breathe, listening to his heart beat, and feeling his arms coil around her again.

His hands began to explore, and he felt her shifting on top of him. She sat up looking at him, and his hands slid back up to cup her breasts then back down again so his thumbs were resting on her sex. He began to rub her clit with his thumbs, watching her move to the feeling and moan. He reached for his cock with one hand, and pulled it up to slide between her pussy lips, not letting her have it inside her just yet, rubbing the tip against her clit and letting her wetness cover it’s length. She moaned, the most beautiful sound in the world, and grinded her hips back and forth over the length of his cock. She tried to reach down again to touch herself and intensify the feeling, but he pulled her wrist and sat up slightly, bringing both hands behind her back. “Not yet.” he whispered. He kissed up her neck, brushing his lips against her as he moved and she lifted her head back to feel his mouth and tongue on her skin. 

“You feel so good Bobbi.” Chakotay let out a moan, and wrapped both arms around her, pulling her around underneath him. His hips slid between her legs and he paused for another second, putting his hand back around her neck drawing her focus up at him. “Tell me what you want.”

She could barely form the words now, her head still spinning from the feeling of grinding on top of him. “I want to feel you inside of me, I want you to fuck me.” 

“Is that what you want?” 

“Yes, sir.” 

Her words were ringing in his ears …’yes, sir’... and he thrusted the length of his cock deep inside of her wet pussy, watching her face change as she gasped when he filled her. She moaned into his thrusts, and floated her hands up his arms onto his shoulders where she dug in her nails to his back. He felt her nails pierce his skin and thrusted deeper, and her hips matched his rhythm pushing herself harder onto him. His grip on her throat tightened slightly, and he pulled himself up to watch her body move and quiver. Her moans became louder and surrounded him, and he slowed his pace, carefully feeling every inch coming in and out of her. 

Her sex was like velvet, soft and hot around his cock, he moaned at the feeling of her legs beginning to shake. He came to a stop still inside of her and watched her hips squirm around him. Slowly pulling out, he took his hand off her neck and moved it back onto her clit, rubbing slow circles with the pads of his fingers. Waves of pleasure were washing over her as she moaned again. “Turn over.” he said, still rubbing her clit. She groaned and pushed her hips into his hand. He leaned down to kiss her, and said in a low voice in her ear, “You’re not listening, I said turn over.” taking his hand away sharply, and stroking himself instead again. She sat up to turn over, and he stopped her abruptly, thrusting his fingers inside of her pulling them towards her g-spot. “What do you say?” 

Her head was dizzy again, but she knew the words this time. “Yes sir.” she moaned. 

“Good girl.” Chakotay kissed her again. 

She turned over with one knee on the couch and the other leg extended down to the floor, not bothering to hold herself up, she let her back arch and her arms slide forwards above her head. His hands trailed her spine and the curve of her hips before he thrusted into her again. She let out a cry from the pleasure, the change in position reaching new parts of herself. He filled her again and again, grabbing her hips to thrust harder and deeper, listening to her cries and moans change with his changes. “Fuck” she moaned again, “Oh fuck” her body was starting to tense and quiver, and he responded thrusting faster. “Please, you feel so good” she mumbled into the cushion between gasps. 

It felt so good to be inside of her, but hearing her say it brought him over the edge. He started to moan, thrusting harder and deeper, and bent down over her to pull her further into him, reaching a hand around to massage her clit while she quivered and begged. He spoke into her ear again in that low commanding voice “Tell me again, the right way.” 

“You feel so good inside of me sir, please don’t stop” She barely made the sentence out before she started shaking again with waves of pleasure. 

Chakotay felt her orgasam around his cock from the tightening pulses, and slowed his pace to match her body. “Do you want me to keep going?” He asked gently, knowing she might not tolerate more. 

She lazily nodded her head, and mumbled into the cushion again “mhm.” 

He chuckled at her response, and paused inside of her. “Turn over again.” She did so without hesitation. “That’s not right, what do you say?” 

“Yes sir.” She smiled up at him, like she had almost gotten away with it. 

In that moment she had the most beautiful smile in the world. He couldn't help but kiss her again, and again, and trailed down her chest, and breasts, and stomach, kissing her all the way until his mouth found her sex. She gasped again, as he slowly dragged his tongue over her clit, moving softly and carefully. She tasted like heaven, and she squirmed as his tongue began to flick faster. He thrusted his fingers inside of her, and started to suck on her clit, looking up as her body moved and swayed with his actions. Her hands curled into his hair, pulling his face down into her pussy. He reached down with his other hand and stroked himself again, before sitting up and putting the length of his cock back inside of her. 

She let out another gasp, and he began to thrust rhythmically with her hips pushing into him. He stayed with his body pressed against hers this time, feeling her every movement. Her moans became more intense, and he moved faster letting out moans of his own from the feeling of her body pressed up against him. “I’m going to come.” no longer able to resist the feeling, he managed the words between thrusts. 

“I want you to cum inside me.” She responded, feeling the length of him and hearing his moans, knowing it was her turn again. 

He had no time to correct her with their little game, he could feel his orgasam pulsing in her as he thrusted deeply one last time, feeling the waves flow through him, and cumming inside of her. She could feel the heat from the cum running down onto her thighs, and the pulses in his cock as he remained still. They breathed deeply together, being still, feeling each other's breath, dizzy from the orgasams, and happy.

A small laugh escaped Bobbi as she felt the weight of Chakotay laying ontop of her, and he started to laugh too. Before they knew it they were both laughing together, a mess on the couch. She sat up with him and curled into his arms. It still felt so good to be touched, by someone, by anyone. They were all alone together in this quadrant, and neither of them knew exactly how much they needed it, that is right up until they knew how much they needed it.

[sharpnothashtag]

The Good Ship CrushWay, Chapter 47

Bridge: KJ, Data, Daneel, Tasha, Tom, Patrick

KJ: Conn, current speed? Tom: Warp 3. KJ: Helm, current heading? Ro: 315 mark 47. KJ: When will we be there, Number One? Data: At current speed, 2 weeks, 4 days, 7 hours. KJ: Daneel, any word from Dukat? We'll be entering Cardassian space soon. Data: In 4 days at our present speed. KJ: Thank you. Daneel: (looking down, multitasking) Dukat's last message was a strange one--we'll be picking up a couple of people who need to be ferried to DS9. His neck was very tense, and he was more articulate than usual. Patrick: Was he annoyed, perhaps? Daneel: (clearly working on something else and not concerned about this) Unclear. KJ: (blinking...realizing she is going to have to get used to someone who doesn't read emotions that well) Are there any ships we need to be aware of in sensor range? Daneel: No. (KJ turns away) However (KJ turns back, fake smiling to put her best foot forward with new Lieutenant) there is a Gamma Class Nebula right (bringing it up on the viewscreen) here if you would like to study it. KJ: Would you like to study it, Lieutenant? Daneel: I have been. (buttons) There are some dilithium crystals that could be used as bargaining chips with the Borg, provided they are in a dire enough state to need them. I have also found trace elements of Galantium. KJ: Data, isn't Galantium the normal antidote given for Lyantirum poisoning? Data: Galantium Byzantride, yes, however it is only used for extreme cases. KJ: You saw the elevated Lyantirum levels from the weapon they were using. Are those levels severe enough to cause poisoning? Data: Yes, but all the drones rescued thus far have not needed the treatment. Hypothetically, with their method and frequency of travel, it would have taken a full year for the effects of Lyantirum poisoning to take effect. However, at the rate the drones were dying due to the phase variant disease, many of them did not succumb to the effects. KJ: Tom, take us by the nebula. Collect all the Galantium we can store. I have a feeling that the Borg we are about to encounter need help, and lots of it. Janeway to Seven of Nine. Seven: Yes, Captain? KJ: Coordinate with Dr. Crusher on the information I'm sending to both of you now. We need to know how the Borg reconstruction surgery could be altered due to the effects of Lyantirum poisoning. Communicate with headquarters that we have found a large cache of Galantium and are collecting it in hopes of using it for treatment. Janeway out. (turning to Ro) Ensign Ro, you and Commander Data figure out the most efficient way to dispense the treatment to as many drones at a time as possible. Lieutenant, you're in charge of harvesting the Galantium. Get down to Engineering, and make sure everyone is on the same page. Daneel: For clarity's sake, what page is that? KJ: (typing into the padd on the arm of her chair, over this before it even starts) The page where we save the Borg's asses. Again.

(throw to commercial)

B'Elanna: Emptying the Bussard collectors is going to take time, Lieutenant. Miles: We'll be here another 6 hours just making sure that they're ready--apparently no one at Utopia Planitia thought they were important enough to test before we left. Daneel: Understood. The Captain sent me to help in any way I can. (B'Elanna nods and takes them off to help clean and test the collectors. Miles is left in Engineering to deal with the programming side of things.)

B'Elanna: Can you hand me that plasma spanner? (Daneel hands it to her. B'Elanna clearly feels awkward.) So...Miles tells me that you and Data hung out last week. Daneel: (blushing deeply) Yes, we did. B'Elanna: May I ask you in what context? Daneel: We went on a date. B'Elanna: (beaming) I like the two of you together. You are both very sweet--almost innocent. Daneel: Innocent? B'Elanna: You're both consenting adults, so it isn't a "young love" situation, but it does feel like you two are generally inexperienced. Daneel: I don't come across as cold and jaded? B'Elanna: I don't think so. But I'm not really one to judge. Daneel: You aren't? You seem neurotypical. B'Elanna: That's true. But that doesn't mean that I trust the way I interpret people's characters. If I were fully Klingon, I think I would be a better judge. But (shrugs) I'm half human. Daneel: I kind of thought that I came across that way. B'Elanna: Why is that? Obviously something in your past has scarred you, but I do wonder why you think of yourself in that way. Daneel: Have you ever found someone who understood you in a way you didn't understand yourself? B'Elanna: Yes. Daneel: Besides Tom. B'Elanna: Strangely enough, yes, besides Tom. Daneel: Wesley Crusher is that person for me. (B'Elanna cocks her eyebrow.) We met while we were in the Academy. One day at lunch, I was studying for my robotics class with the textbook that Data wrote. B'Elanna: (sarcastically) A real page turner. Daneel: (enthusiastically) I know, right?! Anyway, the seat next to me in the cafeteria was open, and Wesley just interrupted my study session.

Flashback (Those of you who know me know I am not a huge fan of Wesley Crusher. That isn't Wil Wheaton's fault. I'm about to try to do him justice. Please bear with me, nonexistent readers and Wil Wheaton.) Wesley walks past Daneel without looking at them. It is as if he isn't allowed to go past--like a video game character hitting an invisible wall.

Wesley: I know this is a really weird thing to say, but I feel like I'm supposed to sit here. Glasses: (Daneel doesn't look up from their book) Go ahead. Wesley: (blinking in surprise, sits down. Notices the book.) Oh, Data's book! I really miss him. Glasses: (deeply surprised, about to fan-person) You know him?! Wesley: Yeah, he's on the Enterprise where my mom was assigned. Daneel: Cool! What's your name? Wesley: I'm Wesley Crusher. He/him/his. Daneel: Wesley? (Wesley nods. Daneel sticks out his hand.) Daneel Akares. They/them/theirs. I have a potentially strange series of questions to ask you. Wesley: (smiling, sitting back in the chair with finger guns) Shoot! Daneel: (hearing the screams of their friends as they exploded; immediately panicked, ducking under the table) Who's shooting?! Wesley: (surprised, talking to them slowly and calmly as he sits on the ground with them) I'm so sorry--I thought you knew that slang term. I just meant to go ahead and ask me the questions you want to ask. No one has weapons here. You're safe. Glasses: I'm sorry. (Daneel is hugging their legs to their chest) I'm still processing a lot of stuff from the Occupation. Wesley: That's okay. (He scoots around under the table to sit side by side with Daneel) What did you want to ask me? Glasses: (looking around) Do you know someone called "The Traveller"? Wesley: (shocked) Yes. He and I know each other well. Daneel: He saved my life. I think he was looking for you, though. Wesley: What makes you say that? Daneel: He called me by your name. He said he was "here to help find her." Wesley: I know when that was. I'll never forget it. Stardate 44161.2. The day my mom disappeared. Daneel: Did the Traveller find her? Wesley: Yes. It was one of the scariest times of my entire life. Daneel: I had a bomb inside my chest. He defused it. Wesley: I'm so sorry. (Daneel puts their head on Wesley's shoulder, still shaking a little.) Do you want to come to my quarters and get to know each other? Daneel: I would like that. However, you should know first that I am not romantically or sexually attracted to you. Wesley: (laughing) Nor I you. Come on, let's go. (Wesley gets up, dusts himself off, and offers Daneel his hand to help them off the floor. Daneel accepts.)

Conference room: KJ, Data, Ro, Miles, Bev, Tasha, and Tom

KJ: Data, report. Data: We have devised a solution. As soon as the threat of assimilation is neutralized, we will beam as many drones as possible into our six cargo bays. Galantium Byzantride will filter in through the environmental controls. Once the treatment is complete, Seven of Nine will take a sample drone, input the command to regenerate, and then we will head back to Utopia Planitia. KJ: How long will it take for the treatment to take full effect? Ro: Only an hour. It's a wonder no one has tried this method before. KJ: Tasha, I want security teams on those cargo bays nonstop until we get back. (Tasha nods.) Doctor, will there be any side effects that would affect the reconstruction surgery? Bev: There is a 30% chance of death with our current surgical routine. Data, Seven, The Doctor, and I will have to perform several holographic simulations in order for this to succeed. KJ: Understood. Lieutenant Daneel, are the Bussard collectors prepared? Daneel: Ready, Captain. Miles: Once the Galantium is collected, Dr. Crusher and I will need to coordinate on how to make the vaccine airborne. Bev: I have a plan in place for that--I'm in the final testing stages. KJ: Good work. Daneel, start the collection process. Ro, when we start the collection, drop the shields and immediately start recharging them. Tom, as soon as we're done, I want to be out of here. Ro and Tom: Aye.

Bev and Miles in Engineering

Bev: (typing in several codes) So, I heard the lovely pieces you, Data, Jean-Luc, and Patrick played at Worf and Deanna's wedding. Would you like to play for mine and Kate's? Miles: Sure. I'd love to. As far as the rest of the quartet goes, you'll have to ask them. Bev: Oh, I already have. I talked to Keiko before we left. She specifically told me to mention it while you were doing something else. Miles: (laughing) That's my wife, alright. She knows I do better when my brain is otherwise occupied. Bev: (laughs. Quiet settles in) So, this couple that we're picking up. Do you know them? Miles: Do I ever. Bev: ...do I get an explanation for that? Miles: (pressing a few buttons in a final flourish) Not at the moment. It's time to collect the Galantium! Bev: You can't just leave me hanging in suspense like that. Miles: I'll tell you this much: there is no more confusing couple in all of Starfleet, and of the same token, they are the most loving couple I've ever known. Bev: (smiling) I suppose I can handle that. Miles: (touching his combadge) O'Brien to Janeway. We're ready to start collecting. KJ: Acknowledged.

(Exterior shot of the ship. The Bussard collectors power up briefly, and then from the nebula, a Borg sphere emerges.)

KJ: (understandably pretty freaked out) Ro where the hell was that thing?! Ro: I'm picking up traces of...synthetic Lyantirum? Data: The cloaking device. Ro: We're being hailed, Captain. KJ: Take the damn thing. Borg: We are the Borg. Your technological-- KJ: I killed your Queen, you directionless drones. You report to me. Borg: Insufficient. Your simple human mind cannot possibly organize the thoughts of millions of drones. KJ: You look at me, Borg ship. I am the only person to ever negotiate with you. I am the one that has gotten away time and time again. You keep chasing me around the galaxy. Years ago when I was ripped away from my crew, it seemed that I was almost immediately forced to deal with you AGAIN. You're almost as stubborn as I am. But notice that I said almost. My efforts to help you have finally worked. Borg: We have noticed the voices disappearing from the collective. KJ: Yes, and that's because of me. And a few hundred other very important people. Patrick: (looking for permission) Captain? (KJ nods) My designation was once Locutus. Does the collective remember me? Borg: The collective recognizes Locutus of Borg. Patrick: Does the collective remember the plans of the Queen before stardate 16147.3? Borg: To research synthetic Lyantirum as a source for a superior cloaking device. Patrick: And did the collective achieve this goal? Borg: Affirmative. Patrick: How?

One drone's voice comes above all the others.

Drone: Because they assimilated us.

Three drones walk to the front of the viewing area.

Data: Sissun? Chuti? Keriss? KJ: The members of the Lyantirum think tank on Mars. Drones 1, 2, and 3: We were assimilated, and then the collective destroyed Jouret IV. KJ: I thought you weren't on Jouret IV when it was attacked. Drones 1, 2, and 3: We were not supposed to be. However, our transport ship was delayed by a plasma storm. We were assimilated. The colony was destroyed. We helped form the Lyantirum transport device and the synthetic Lyantirum cloaking device. KJ: Those devices are dangerous to you and to the space you use them in. Borg: Enough. This discussion is irrelevant. Assimilation is imminent. Resistance is futile.

The communication is cut off.

KJ: Ro, raise shields. Tom, prepare evasive maneuvers. Data: (on communicator) All hands, battle stations. KJ: The Borg have engaged us.

[summahsunlight]

This Way Became My Journey, Ch. 21

The cave's walls were dark, thick. The only light was from the wrist torch. She moved through the tight cave, being careful where she stepped so she wouldn't slip and fall on the smooth rocks and dirt beneath her feet. 

Up ahead she could see a large cavern. There was something there that she was looking for, she wasn't sure how she knew that, but she did. She entered the deep chasm only to find more rock, more dirt. Not what she was looking for. She pressed forward even more, now a voice in the back of her head telling her to go back. It sounded like Chakotay over the comline. 'Lieutenant, don't go any further until I get there.' 

He sounds like my brother, she thought, ignoring his request. 

It was foolish not to listen. Someone or something was standing in front of her, pointing a weapon at her. It was grotesque, with skin graphs and hair falling out, almost like a decaying corpse walking around. 

The pain shot through her so quickly that she couldn't even register a scream. All that came out was a gasp for air, and then suddenly she realized, she couldn't get air. 

'Lieutenant? Can you hear me?' 

Chakotay's voice again, but she couldn't answer back, she couldn't breath, it was as if her lungs were gone… 

With a start Sarah Barrett sat straight up in bed, gasping for breath, and was relieved that she could breathe. She suddenly realized that Chakotay was indeed talking to her over the comlink and it had been what had roused her from the nightmare. Shaking, she reached out and grabbed at the combadge that was resting on the nightstand. Pressing it between her thumb and pointer finger, she responded, "Go ahead Commander."

"For a moment I thought you were ignoring me," Commander Chakotay's voice chuckled.

"Sorry, I…my mind was elsewhere," she said. "What can I do for you Commander?"

"I'm on my way to meet with the Captain before reporting to duty," Chakotay told her. "She was asking about you yesterday. Should I tell her you'll be ready to report back to duty in a couple of days?" 

Sarah got up off the bed and went into the bathroom, scowling at her mussed hair and drained appearance. "I'm going to see the Doctor this morning. If all goes like I'm hoping I'll be reporting for duty today." She reached for the hair brush that was on the sink and began to tackle the tangles that plagued her dark tresses. "I don't think I can spend another day reading, or organizing my sock drawer."

Another chuckle. "I'll let Captain Janeway know to expect you. Chakotay out."

Slipping out of her tangled nightgown she mumbled to the computer to activate the sonic shower. She preferred a good bath or a real water shower, but time was not going to permit it. She was due to report to the Doctor in less than twenty minutes. A quick sonic shower was all she had time for, to wash away the grim from a restless sleep.

It was easy to find her uniform, since she had been taken off the duty roster for a week and a half, it had laid on the dining room chair. When she had slipped out of her quarters to see the Doctor she had been clad in civilian attire, reasoning there was no point to traipsing around the ship in uniform when she wasn't on duty.

The fabric felt starchy against her skin. It also proved to be difficult to get into the tight fitting turtleneck since her rib cage was still sore from the crash. Gritting her teeth and bearing it, for she didn't care anymore how much pain she was in, she was going to report to duty that day. She was tired of so many things. There was only so much classic literature and reorganizing drawers one person could take. She had even rearranged the furniture in the living and dining areas to make the room more easily traveled. The Doctor would probably throw a fit if he knew she had done that with her tender ribs.

Tucking her hair back into a twist, she clipped her combadge onto her tunic, and with a final glance to make sure that her pips were on straight, left the quarters.

A few crewmen who were on their way to their duties stations or back to their quarters nodded their heads at her in greeting before going about their business. Everything had pretty much returned back to normal for them the moment Chakotay and Sarah had been transported back to Voyager. However, it was a different story, at least for Sarah. It was going to be a while for her to feel normal again.

The dreams were not helping her out any.

They had started when Harry Kim had come by to visit her and offered to 'cook' dinner for her. The two had shared some stories about what was going on on the bridge, how the Captain seemed ready to burst at the seams because she was solely relying on Neelix for diplomatic advice, and that the Talaxian had been bubbling about some planetoid that could go a long way in helping them with their dilithium supplies. In fact, it had been that night she had the first dream of being in a cavern, being stalked and then feeling a sensation of having her lungs ripped out of her body.

At first she had thought it was post traumatic stress. But now she was beginning to think otherwise.

"Deck five," she called out when she entered the turbolift. This trip had become routine everyday and if the Doctor was capable of making friends, Sarah was sure that they would be best buddies by now because she had been in sickbay so often the last ten or so days.

The routine was getting old, and she could tell it wasn't only getting old for her. The Doctor didn't seem practically thrilled when she showed up for her check up everyday. Then again, the Doctor didn't seem thrilled about anything unless he was in the midst of some medical crisis. So much for Starfleet's brilliant idea of leaving starships with a back up doctor; it was obvious that they weren't thinking long term solution when they programmed him. Otherwise, Sarah was convinced that the Doctor would have been programmed to be a bit more…understanding.

"You're late," the hologram snapped out when she entered. "And in uniform. Is there some change in schedule that I should be made aware of? Last I checked you weren't scheduled to report for duty for another two days."

Tom's right, his bedside manner does need to be improved if he's going to be our chief medical officer for the next seventy five years. "I'm getting sick of sitting around," Sarah replied, going to stand near the instrument table. "Just scan me, say I'm fit for active duty, and I'll go about my merry way."

The Doctor picked up a medical tricorder. "Are you in any pain?"

"Nothing I can't handle," she said.

The hologram heaved a sigh and put the tricorder down. "Why does this crew insist to go against their doctor's wishes?"

"Maybe you just got a crew with ADD," Sarah replied, with a teasing smirk.

"You're no better than the rest of them," he snapped. "I would think that the ship's counselor would hold herself above such pettiness."

"Sorry I don't live up to your high standards."

The Doctor placed the tricorder back onto the tray. "Other than the fact that your rib cage is still tender from the surgery, you're fit for duty. BUT I've already put a recommendation in that you do not go on any away missions until further notice."

Well, that is going to put a dampener on things. "You're the Doctor," she mumbled, unhappy about being restricted to the ship.

"At least someone on this ship realizes that," he returned, beginning to leave the room.

"Doctor, wait," she called out. "Can I ask you something?"

"I'm listening."

"I've been having these dreams, of being in a cave, looking for something. I hear Commander Chakotay tell me not to go any further, but I keep going," Sarah said. "I'm…I'm attacked by what I think is an alien, but I can't be sure, it looks more like a corpse. The last thing that happens before I wake up is I feel like my lungs are…are gone. Could it…could it be post traumatic stress?"

The Doctor didn't even bat an eyelash. "It's possible. But…you are the counselor, why are you asking me?"

She shrugged her slender shoulders. "I guess I just wanted a second opinion."

"I can give you something to help you sleep, but if the dreams do not go away I'd talk to someone about it," the Doctor replied.

"Talk to someone? To who?" Sarah inquired.

"You must have friends, Miss Barrett," he replied.

You're not alone. Chakotay. "Well…yes, I guess I do."

"Then my suggestion to you Miss Barrett is this, talk to a friend about your experiences on that planetoid. It wouldn't hurt you, only help."

"Hi Commander Chakotay, Mama's trying to get Ava dressed, she's being stubborn," Michael Janeway greeted, startling the first officer, who had not been expecting the boy to answer the door.

Like mother like daughter, Chakotay thought as he stepped into the quarters. Peering around the room he noticed that Tal Celes, the children's nanny, was not present. Usually when he stopped by in the morning before proceeding to the bridge, Tal was there, chipper as ever, playing with the children. "Tal isn't here yet?"

"She's sick, Mama said she was exposed to the worst germ carriers of all," Michael replied. "What do you think she meant by that Commander Chakotay?"

Chakotay shook his head, deciding to play it safe. "I wouldn't know," he replied with a smile, picturing the Captain uttering those words to her inquisitive son. "I'm sure your mother has taken care of those germ carriers, Michael."

At this moment Kathryn emerged from the baby's room, a wailing, but a fully dressed Ava, toddling after her. If the Captain was bothered by the little girl's crying, her face didn't show it. Instead, she reached out, grabbed her uniform tunic that was resting over the back of a chair and put it on. Smiling at Chakotay, she said, "Care to join us for breakfast?"

"I've already had mine, thanks," he replied, keeping his eyes on the toddler. Ava was demanding attention by clinging tightly to her mother's pant leg.

Kathryn responded by shrugging it off. "It's a shame; I heard that the rations were particularly dehydrated this morning." Her ignoring Ava only seemed to make the baby angry. She suddenly shrieked which caused everyone in the room to shiver at the high pitch. "It's also a shame that you won't have the pleasure of dining with my children, who absolutely love ration packs."

"That's not true, Mama," Michael protested, covering his ears to try and drown out Ava's screaming. "I hate them."

Chakotay chuckled. "Apparently, he hasn't learned the concept of sarcasm yet."

"He will, soon enough," the Captain drawled, finishing up with her tunic. With a final straightening of her uniform, she was all business as usual. "How much longer until we reach this planet that Neelix keeps boasting about?"

"Shouldn't be long now," Chakotay replied. "Just enough time to enjoy your breakfast with your delightful daughter."

Kathryn frowned at Ava who had now latched onto her mother's leg, wrapping her arms and own legs about it tightly. The woman pried the child free and looked sheepishly back at the commander. "I thought I was beyond this when Tal agreed to take care of them, however, I never took into consideration that children spread germs, quite frequently may I add, and she would get sick."

"Well, what's one more day in the ready room, really when you look at the grand scheme of things?"

"We're going to spend the day with you?" Michael asked, excitedly, his eyes lighting up, the thought of eating rations again for breakfast gone. "Do you think Tom will let me fly the ship?"

Kathryn and Chakotay exchanged glances. "I...I'll have to think about that one, honey. Maybe when you're older."

A disappointed look fell over the child's face but Kathryn was soon ushering them all out into the corridor and towards the turbo lift, where they would proceed to the mess hall. Ava seemed less than thrilled to be leaving, especially since her mother absolutely refused to pick her up and continued to sob all the way to the turbo lift, the ride to deck two, and the way towards the captain's private dining room. Stealing a glance at the child, who was practically running to keep up, Chakotay was struck with how much she resembled her mother, even at this young of an age.

Her eyes were just as bright a blue, just as fiery, her hair shimmered copper in the lights, and even the curve of her lips was identical of that to Kathryn. It was almost as if Kathryn had a little clone walking around. He chuckled at that thought. As if this crew needed two Kathryn Janeways.

"Commander? Have you heard anything I've said?"

Chakotay snapped his eyes up to meet Kathryn's. "I, ah…was distracted."

A smile played on her lips. "It's best to ignore her. She'll stop…eventually."

"I'm sure she will, now what were you saying?"

"We need to come up with a way of refining the dilithium, assuming Neelix is right, and that there is any on the planet we're heading too," Kathryn replied, as the walked along the observation deck.

"Lieutenant Torres has already asked permission to make modifications to the auxiliary impulse reactor," Chakotay answered her, watching as Michael went to peek out the large windows, briefly, trying to get away from Ava, who had resorted to following her brother around now since she wasn't getting a reaction out of her mother and the commander. "It could be converted into a crude dilithium refinery."

"The impulse reactor?" Kathryn repeated a grin on her face. They stopped walking, while the children peered out the large windows. "Sometimes I think B'Elanna goes out of her way to find solutions that ignore Starfleet procedures."

"Her arguments are quite convincing. She thinks it can be done safely."

"I'm sure it can," Kathryn said, starting to walk away again, not even telling the children she was moving. "Tell her I want regular reports on her progress."

Chakotay turned about to join her and saw that Michael jogged away from the window to catch up, Ava, who had stopped her crying for a brief moment while looking out the window, suddenly bawled again, and chased after him, her little feet laboring to keep up.

"Are you sure you won't join us for breakfast?" Kathryn asked him again, her eyes traveling back towards the children. "I was thinking of having eggs Benedict with asparagus, strawberries and cream…"

They stopped in front of the doors to her private dining room. Chakotay scratched his head for a moment, wondering if perhaps in all the commotion of the morning, she had forgotten that the replicators were still down from the Rupor attack a week prior.

She caught the look on his face. "I said I was thinking about it. I'm actually having ration pack number five; stewed tomatoes with dehydrated eggs."

"Mmm, sounds delicious, but I've already had my vacuum packed oatmeal this morning," he said, with a sneaky smile. Michael was making a face and he reached out and mussed his hair. "See you on the bridge."

"Bye Commander," Michael said, happily.

Kathryn watched him go for a moment, pondering the relationship that had started to sprout up between Michael and her first officer. Naturally Michael had latched on so to speak to the men, he loved it when Tom joined the children for lunch in the mess hall, and he was always asking Harry engineering questions. But for some reason, the bond between Michael and Chakotay was different. Chakotay was gentle with them, soft spoken. The children felt comfortable around him and Michael had taken to asking him life's questions, like a child would their father. This for some reason, bothered her. It wasn't that Michael was purposely trying to replace his father, the grief counselor back on Earth had told her that it would be good for him to find a surrogate father so to speak. Kathryn had always been comfortable when that roll had been filled by Gabriel Dawson, the children's uncle, but now, seventy thousand light years from home, the thought that her first officer could take on that roll, unnerved her at the same time it comforted her.

"Mama, are we going to eat?"

Eyes locking with her son's she realized she had been daydreaming. "Yes, sorry, I was thinking." She reached out and punched in the access code to the dining room. The doors swished open and the family was greeted with the smell of cooking food and smoke.

At the far end of the room, where the replicators had once been, was a couple of burners, that looked like they had hastily been put together, and were flaming. Kathryn, seeing the flames, instinctively stepped in front of her children, scooping a now shocked Ava up into her arms.

She wasn't surprised to find Neelix twittering about in the middle of this mess. "What is going on here?"

"Captain you caught me by surprise!"

"I could say the same thing," Kathryn snapped sarcastically, following Neelix back into what used to be her private dining room. "What are you doing?"

"Well, that's obvious Mama, he's cooking," Michael piped up. His mother shot him a glare and he shrunk against the wall, tucking his hands behind his back.

Neelix went on to explain that he knew the senior officers weren't happy with the ration packs so he decided to take some of the vegetables from the hydroponics bay that Kes had created and make a galley. "It wasn't easy. I had to completely reroute the Mess Hall power conduits and scrounge a lot of supplies from all over the ship, but that's my specialty making something out of nothing."

Kathryn shifted Ava onto one hip. How in the hell did he do all this without any of us noticing? "Neelix," she said, in her best command voice, gripping his arm with the hers that had been freed up by shifting Ava about,"who approved this?"

"Uh, well…no one."

"Uh-oh," Michael muttered from his spot on the wall. "Not a good idea Neelix." Being the son of a Starfleet captain, and the nephew of a Starfleet lawyer, Michael knew a lot about protocol, and that his mother was never happy when that protocol had been breached. The burners started to flame even more and he stepped back in fear of getting burnt. Neelix quickly went to drown the flames with a towel, Kathryn following behind him.

"You might have asked me first," she said, hotly. "This used to be my private dining room."

Neelix looked surprised at that. "Your, your dining room? Oh…ah I guess you'll be wanting me to get this out of your way."

"Bridge to Captain Janeway."

"Go ahead."

"We're approaching the rogue planetoid."

"On my way," she responded, turning to Neelix. "I want you to come with me. We will deal with this later." She gestured for Michael to come with her and left the room as Neelix hurriedly gave Ensign Parsons directions on how to keep the kitchen running while he was gone.

She had to admit that a galley would be nice, real food would be nice for a change, but it didn't take away from the fact that Neelix had not come to her first. Of course, how was he supposed to know such things, not being from Starfleet? The surprise of finding him cooking in the private dining room had done one positive thing; it had stopped Ava's crying. Kathryn felt it safe to put the child onto the floor of the turbo lift just as the doors opened to the bridge.

Pointing towards the empty engineering station she told Michael to call up some program that she had been working on to start his basic schooling. It wasn't much, she knew, but for now it was going to have to do. Tal had agreed to watch the children, but she had told the Captain, openly that she probably was not the best teacher for the children, seeing how Michael could do multiplication at the age of five, and she hadn't even been able to do that at the age of eleven.

The boy was eager to start the new lesson and climbed up into the seat that was too big for him, typing away at the console. Ava waddled after him and somehow managed to squeeze her little body into the chair with him.

Kathryn stole a glance at her first officer, a thought suddenly occurring to her.

"I already locked out the ship's systems. The only thing he can access is the programs you specified," Chakotay said, with a bemused look. "There'll be no action figures in the conduits today."

He has to bring that up, Kathryn thought begrudgingly. Before Tal, the children had run rampant on the ship, Kathryn not being able to keep up with them and her work. Michael had even gone as far as crawling into a Jefferies tube with Ava and playing around with a power conduit, later claiming that it had been Ava who put the action figure in it. Kathryn had never quite believed him. "What have you found?" she finally asked Harry Kim.

"We're picking up definite dilithium signatures, Captain," Kim answered. "The strongest readings are originating from ten to twenty kilometers inside the planetoid."

"It also looks like the there's a series of subterranean caves, with an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere," B'Elanna Torres reported from the Science station.

"Class-M," Chakotay stated, standing next to Paris at conn. "It'll make mining a lot easier if we can go in there without environmental suits."

"How much dilithium are we talking about?"

"It's hard to get a precise reading. It could be anywhere from five hundred to…one thousand metric tons."

"Just as I said," Neelix declared, quite proud of himself. Kathryn already annoyed with him that morning, gave him a look that he didn't seem to notice. "I bet there are a few Yallitian engineers who'd give all three of their spinal columns to know where this planet is."

Kathryn resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Commander," she addressed Chakotay, "take an away team down into those caves and do a preliminary geological analysis. Lieutenant," she said, now addressing B'Elanna, "you better get your dilithium refinery online."

"It'll be ready to go in three days."

Kathryn gave her a nod of approval while Chakotay told Harry to join him. She felt Neelix brush her arm as he moved behind her towards Chakotay. She turned towards her seat watching with amusement the look that came across Chakotay's face as the Talaxian crossed the bridge to meet up with him. Lowering her body down she heard Chakotay ask where Neelix was going.

"With you," Neelix answered, enthusiastically. "I've been studying my Tricorder Operations Manual. Lieutenant Torres has brought me up to date on dilithium geophysics." He turned towards Kathryn, who was listening to the exchange intently. "I've been preparing for this mission all week."

You can't fault him for wanting to help out. "Very well, Mister Neelix," was all she said before Chakotay disappeared into the turbo lift, with what she could have sworn was a I'll get you back glare.

Neelix sputtered after him. "I'll think you'll find me extremely helpful, Commander. I remember the first time I flew by this planet, I think it was about three years ago…"

"Deck four," Harry Kim called out desperately and the lift's doors closed.

Kathryn laughed silently and gazed at the back of Tom Paris' head. Neelix could be a little too eager which in turn made him impulsive at times, but his heart was in the right place, she concluded.

The doors to the turbo lift could be heard swishing open again and for a moment she thought that Chakotay had buckled and sent Neelix back. Turning her head she saw her counselor step onto the bridge. Kathryn couldn't help but feel warmed by her presence. The last week and a half had been awkwardly silent without the counselor there while she recovered from her injuries and infection which she had sustained in a shuttle crash.

"Reporting for duty, ma'am," Sarah Barrett said, sliding into an at ease position. "The Doctor gave me the go ahead to return to active duty."

"Welcome back, Lieutenant," Kathryn said with a smile, gesturing towards her chair. "Take a seat. We've missed you around here."

Sarah made her way down the steps and to the bench chair that she had occupied every duty shift until she had gotten injured. "Did I miss much?" she asked, with a teasing smile.

Kathryn shook her head. "No, just the same old same old. You know how it goes."

"I heard about Neelix turning your dining room into a galley," Sarah said. "If you want I can talk to him, it is after all my fault."

Kathryn raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"Before Chakotay and I left on the mission to Karva, he asked me if there was a way he could help out around here more, I told him that I would sit down and talk with him when I got back," she replied. "But, we all know how the story goes from there. I guess he got a little impatient."

The Captain brushed her off with a wave of her hand. "Don't worry about. It was hardly traumatic; a bit of a surprise, but nothing that can't be easily repaired. Besides, I'm not sure I want him to dismantle the galley just yet."

"You don't?"

"He had a valid point that the senior officers, myself included, have not been too fond of the ration packs lately," Kathryn pointed out, glancing up at Michael, who every time his mother mentioned it was meal time would scowl in disgust and groan, not ration packs again. 

Sarah noticed where she was looking and commented, "I see the cherubs are joining us today."

"I wouldn't know about any cherubs," Kathryn replied, dryly, "but the children are here. Tal's sick, and it's making me rethink the situation. I don't think it's fair to have her watch them six days a week; her only off day my only off day. Maybe I should be offering her a break, taking them two days a week. It would only work out to one day on the bridge; we can spend my day off in our quarters or on the holodeck." She saw the exasperated look that came over Sarah's face. "I know, I know, we'd have to step up security."

The young woman swallowed. "You do remember the time that Michael tried to access helm control, right? If Mister Paris hadn't been near by, who knows what would have happened to Voyager. Ma'am, I understand it's been difficult, but if Tal isn't complaining, maybe we should just…leave things alone."

"If it's not broke why fix it?," Kathryn said, with a shy grin.

"What we need is someone to be their teacher, someone aside from a babysitter, that way it gives Tal a break from having both of them all the time," Sarah suggested and immediately regretted opening her mouth. The Captain got a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Good idea, Counselor," she said. "Why don't you start working on candidates that you would think will make a good teacher? Of course I would have done it myself, but I don't know the crew as well as you do; this is a good assignment for you, and it fits in with the light duties that the Doctor suggested until you're one hundred percent back on your feet."

Tom Paris turned slightly in his chair to give her a teasing look and she felt her cheeks flush for a moment. Lowering her eyes, she focused on the gray carpet. "Yes, ma'am, I'll get working on it right away."

Kathryn laughed to herself and leaned back into her chair.

"Sickbay to the Bridge," the Doctor's persistent voice came over the comlink.

"Go ahead Doctor."

"Captain, I think you should come down here. There's been a medical emergency with the away team."

[jacensolodjo]

Pairing: Kinda Chakotay/B’Elanna

Characters:  Chakotay, B’Elanna, other crew in very minor roles (Harry Kim, EMH, etc.,) 

Warning: None unless you’re squeamish about minor injuries

Genre: Action, Drama

Summary: While on an expedition to explore what seemed to be the remnants of buildings but no actual intelligent lifeforms, Chakotay and B'Elanna find themselves crash-landed on the planet and far off course of the buildings they were planning to explore. The usual from bad to worse.

Notes: No definite timeline but around Season 5. This is for the @startreksecretsanta, requested by @kingstoken with the prompt "Chakotay and B'Elanna stranded on an away mission" but I kinda used part of one of the other prompts too haha. 1 1/2 for the price of 1 I guess. I had a hard time choosing cause ugh scotty/uhura too which honestly might come at a later date maybe. 

-----------------------

“I don’t know what you’re so worried about, Chakotay,” B'Elanna said, and he could tell by the pronunciation of his name that she was worried, too. Her voice always lilted on the first and last syllables when she was feeling particularly stressed or annoyed. He had known her longer than her own deadbeat, prejudiced father, and he had always been good at picking up changes in speech. It helped, given his rank and position.

“Who said anything about worried? Voyager is still in the system and they aren’t about to fly off without their First Officer or Chief of Engineering.” Although, that was not quite true. He flashed briefly back to when he and Janeway had been ‘left behind’, though that had been on explicit orders.

B'Elanna gave him one of her patented unimpressed looks before brushing curly hair back behind her ears. Dark eyes studied their surroundings, with the banged up shuttle as the centerpiece. She had already given up on trying to fix the shuttle’s busted engine, instead choosing to cannibalize it for comms and shelter purposes. The front window and view screen had practically exploded upon impact and it was a miracle both ex-Maquis had gotten out with just some bruises and minor lacerations to the face, arms, and hands. Made for a nice cross breeze, though.

She would say that transporting was a safer bet, but honestly she knew the odds were always 50/50 no matter which way they explored a new planet. It was one of the inevitable truths about boldly going where no one had gone before: shit happened. At least she could be secure in the knowledge that it was never shoddy engineering work that caused it.

“At least we can use the husk of the shuttle for shelter. Only problem will be staying warm,” B'Elanna admitted and a shiver chose to wrack her spine to emphasize the problem. She had not dressed for any kind of inclement weather or massive changes in temperature. Neither had Chakotay, though.

Chakotay gave a low kind of grunt in agreement before stepping down from the rock he had been standing on to try to get a lay of the land.

“Whenever this happens I always imagine my ancestors laughing at me,” Chakotay muttered, low enough that B'Elanna wasn’t certain he had meant her to hear. So she did the 'polite’ thing and chose not to say anything, instead busying herself with pulling out the emergency blankets and ration packs. Maybe a couple years ago she would have teased Chakotay a bit more. But now they couldn’t afford any discord. She supposed she had Janeway to thank for her maturity. 

When she looked up she could pick out the spot in the sky where the USS Voyager waited in orbit, waited for a proper solution to the issue that didn’t include just blindly flinging down another shuttle or trying to transport them through a hostile atmosphere.

When she looked back over, Chakotay was fidgeting, trying to decide on the next thing to do in the checklist crafted by Starfleet (with some Maquis… improvements) for just these occasions.

B'Elanna watched him as he paced, but eventually grew tired of seeing him wear a hole in the ground. Instead she took one of the emergency blankets and draped it haphazardly across the hole in the front of the shuttle. With a bit of tinkering with her phaser, she got it to adhere to the metal enough that it wouldn’t flap in a breeze. Pleased at making progress, she made sure to grab another of the blankets out of the four total that were usually stored in a shuttle.

“Hey, Chakotay, how is the whole all natural heat and light source thing coming?” B'Elanna called out as she stopped and bent to tuck the blankets against the wall of the shuttle with the least damage. She knew him, knew he would have been scouting and probably nearby again. However…

“I found a water source with a good amount of trees for the fire,” Chakotay reported over her shoulder, making her jump in surprise and swing at his face on pure instinct. Luckily, he had had time to get used to Klingon reflexes and caught her wrist before her fist made contact with his face.

“Chakotay! Don’t do that; I hate it when you do that!” B'Elanna huffed before yanking her wrist free. Chakotay merely smiled at her. At least he was still good at sneaking up on people. One point for Chakotay, grandfather.

“C'mon, the wood is heavier than I expected and without any of the carts on Voyager or even a rudimentary wheelbarrow it will take some time to get enough for a fire before the sun in this system goes down,” Chakotay explained, already setting off without her. The engineer glanced at their mediocre camp before hurrying after him and hoping there weren’t any indigenous beings around that would rob them blind at a moment’s notice.

Torres stared at the stream that Chakotay had led them to. After a quick check it was actually perfectly fine H2O, she quickly filled their canteens while Chakotay went to work felling one of the nearby trees. The sound it made when it landed on the ground was like thunder and shook the ground under their feet. B'Elanna shared a look with Chakotay.

“Heavier than expected, huh?” She asked dryly before getting to work at cutting the trunk into manageable slices and cords. Chakotay couldn’t help but laugh.

“Think of it this way, good training for your next PT exam,” he said, earning another unimpressed look.

To their advantage, night time wasn’t something that arrived quickly on the rock they had been stranded on. Unfortunately, the planet itself was not planning on doing them any favors. They had only been able to make two trips given the weight of the load when they heard what could only be described as a rattling howl. Chakotay narrowly dodged the latest load from landing on his foot as Torres dropped her end to remove her phaser.

“B'Elanna, it has to be over a kilometer away,” Chakotay said, exasperated over how jumpy she was.

“Remind me again how far a kilometer is?” Torres retorted in a low raspy voice, aiming her phaser at something over Chakotay’s shoulder. Chakotay opened his mouth to reply but was drowned out by another rattling roar that was definitely a lot closer than he had expected. He half turned before leaping off to his left just as Torres fired just a bit further to her left than where his right ear had been a moment earlier. Another rattling howl that was punctuated by a shriek of anger or maybe pain, Chakotay couldn’t tell and didn’t quite care at the moment.

B'Elanna fired again but the shot went slightly wide. The hulking creature that looked like it was half made of the trees surrounding them let out an even louder roar before bounding after Chakotay, completely ignoring the woman firing at its haunches.

Just once, Chakotay would like to not be considered the more tantalizing target.

“Chakotay, hang a left!” B'Elanna called out as she continued to fire. More roars were the response as well as the snapping of jaws that almost sounded metallic. Oh, what she wouldn’t give for a phaser rifle right about then. Chakotay to his credit followed instructions and dropped down to slide under a partially felled tree. The creature, however, practically walked right through the trunk undeterred.

Desperate, Chakotay fired a couple times behind himself blindly. An acrid smell hit his nose before a shriek of what definitely had to be anger that time. He clambered up a slight hill that quickly turned into a cliff, nearly losing his footing three times along the way. But the creature didn’t miss a single step.

“Chakotay! You’re headed to a drop that has to be at least 100 feet high!” B'Elanna bellowed over the sound of the creature and her phaser. She did her best to keep herself from thinking about how impervious this creature was to phaser blasts and thus how useful it could be as armor. There would be time later, if she and Chakotay both survived the experience.

“I know!” Chakotay was now, in quite a cliche fashion, trapped on the very edge of the cliff with the creature grumbling forward every second.

As the creature swiped at him, Chakotay flashed back to his Starfleet training days, modified with boxing lessons. Then to the close quarters combat lessons for the Maquis. 'Use your opponent’s momentum against them’ was a tried and true method. Just not normally against creatures of this size. Looking at B'Elanna for what could easily be the last time, Chakotay ducked off to the side. The creature roared in confused rage as it quickly tumbled over the cliff. But its arm was still sweeping and managed to snag Chakotay by his uniform jacket. With a yell more out of surprise than anything, Chakotay joined the creature in tumbling off the cliff.

“Chakotay!” B'Elanna yelled, rushing forward to the edge without being in danger of falling after him. It took a short few seconds for her to hear the heavy thud of the creature landing, and possibly Chakotay too.

“Chakotay!” she yelled again, for all the good it could possibly do if Chakotay was injured or worse. She listened for a reply but heard nothing but the soft patter of debris falling into the relatively shallow water below.

Doing her best not to think the worst, she took the much safer route down the cliff and around to the water. She half expected Chakotay to be standing there with a stupid grin on his face and teasing her for being worried about him. All she could see though was the creature.

With phaser still firmly in hand, she edged closer to the creature.

“Chakotay?” she called out again, slightly softer this time. She heard a groan and jumped back, quickly aiming at the animal-plant hybrid thing. But as she watched it, there was no movement at all.

“Chakotay?” Louder this time as she skirted around the creature. Almost as if he had nestled himself there, Chakotay was in the crook of the thing’s arm–or leg, whichever it was. And again, for a second she was sure that Chakotay would pop up with a stupid teasing smile he seemed to reserve just for her until she noticed that half of him from the waist down was nowhere close to being in proper alignment.

“…Chakotay,” she mumbled, suddenly wishing she had the EMH with her. She knew battlefield first aid, but she also knew he outweighed her by a few dozen pounds.

Undeterred, she tucked her phaser away and used all the strength adrenaline and Klingon DNA gave her to drag Chakotay away from the creature and out of the water.

As she was getting to be halfway back to camp, Chakotay’s comm chirped and nearly startled B'Elanna bad enough to drop him, but managed to hold on.

“Voyager to Commander Chakotay. Chakotay do you copy?” Harry Kim’s voice filtered through, sounding a tad tinny from the damage the badge had sustained.

With a growl of frustration, Torres tapped her own combadge.

“Torres to Voyager. Commander Chakotay is unconscious right now,” B'Elanna explained, groaning halfway through the report as she returned to dragging Chakotay back as delicately as possible to prevent making his injury worse.

“B'Elanna? What happened?” Harry asked, voice instantly changing to one of extreme concern. Good old Harry Kim, worrying enough for the entire ship.

Another groan of strain before hitting the badge again.

“Well, Starfleet, Chakotay bet me he could make it to the bottom of a cliff faster than one of the native fauna. He lost. I won. Lucky me. I’m a few minutes out from our shuttle. His leg is looking really bad, like EMH needed bad. Any chance you figured out how we got swatted out of the sky and how to get us back?”

B'Elanna ignored the sharp intake of breath from Harry, having her own breathing to worry about as her strength from adrenaline began to flag.

“We think it was an almost invisible plasma storm. As you were going down we got some weird readings from the computer on the shuttle. We were actually hoping you could transfer it up to us…”

B'Elanna didn’t answer right away as she finally got to the camp and found a nice flat spot to put Chakotay close to the shuttle.

“Can it wait until I get Chakotay stabilized a bit more? Plus I have to find the data… the computer took a hit when we landed and what wasn’t fried went to comms.”

“Oh, yeah. O-of course. Captain says check in in 15 minute intervals,” Harry said, sounding even more exceedingly stressed and worried somehow.

“Is this working? Lieutenant Torres, this is sickbay. Do you copy?” The EMH’s voice suddenly broke in.

“Doctor, we talked about this–” Harry started.

“Yes, we did. As you are well aware all injuries must be reported to sickbay– that is, to me– immediately and communication with the away team becomes prioritized for the medical bay and–”

“Got it!” B'elanna cut in before Harry could reply. “Doctor, how do I stabilize Chakotay’s leg from the hip down?”

Harry wisely chose to fall silent for the time being.

“If it is from the hip down you will need to splint it for the time being from waist down to ankle. You will need a board or I suppose a thick stick would work but of course the preferred–”

“Splint! Got it, doctor! Thank you! Give me a bit!”

“I really wish people would let me finish a sentence some time…” the EMH complained before going silent.

B'Elanna stared at Chakotay a moment but was too afraid to ask if clothes could stay on or not. She assumed it would work better without the clothes in the way, not to mention checking for open wounds she may have missed thanks to the uniform color scheme, so as quietly as possible and as carefully, she slipped the man’s uniform off, wishing it wasn't a jumpsuit. It was the first time she’d seen him without pants in quite a while but she didn’t think much about it. She then grabbed one of the sticks that Chakotay had grabbed when they were bringing in the firewood and had made some comment about turning it into a spear or some such thing so they wouldn’t waste the battery packs on their phasers. All business, she lashed the branch to Chakotay’s leg. She was glad to note lack of blood, but there were some nasty bruises forming. The man moaned a little in his unconscious state but made no response otherwise. It worried her more than she wanted to admit.

’I swear if he makes me get out the medicine wheel again…’ she thought as she finished tying the last knot. She used one of the other survival blankets to cover Chakotay up.

“Torres to sickbay. Splint is in place. Now what? Chakotay is still unconscious, I thought he would wake up when the splint was getting put in place…”

“His brain may be trying to protect him from the pain. Nothing to worry about right now. In the mean time, find the first aid kit again and set him up with fluids while he is unconscious. Just because he isn’t bleeding doesn’t mean he doesn’t need to replenish his blood cells and hydration is always important anyways.”

She was starting to regret not paying much attention in battlefield first aid at the academy as she fumbled with setting up the fluids. Her pride kept her from asking for a step by step. When they started to infuse nicely, she figured she did it right.

“Please keep an eye on any swelling in the leg or even along the head. You said he fell. Just because you didn’t see his head hit the ground doesn’t mean it didn’t get traumatized from landing. And–”

“Sorry, doc, gotta interrupt you this one time. Captain says she and Seven found a way to neutralize the plasma storms to send a new shuttle down to you. But it will take another twelve standard hours to set everything up.”

So many things could happen in twelve hours. She grimaced.

“Is that the best they can do?” B'Elanna heard herself asking a tad too sharply.

Harry paused a moment, which just made B'Elanna feel like a jerk. But she was too worried to apologize just then.

“Yes, lieutenant. I’m sure it would go even faster if you were here…” Harry tried to smooth things over.

“Well I’m not, am I? Just keep me updated. Torres out.”

B'Elanna felt even more like a jerk and knew there would be some making up to do later.

With nothing really left to do except actually start a fire, B'Elanna focused on that instead of just watching Chakotay sleep. It took her enough tries she was glad Chakotay was unconscious.

B'Elanna was beginning to doze a little when Chakotay jerked awake with a surprised yell. B'Elanna couldn’t help her own small yell of surprise before rushing over to Chakotay.

“B'Elanna? What happened? I remember that tree dinosaur thing then nothing…” Chakotay brushed his hand along his throbbing thigh then flinched. Carefully he pulled the emergency blanket off, as if afraid of what he might find (or not find). He was relieved that he still had both legs (and other parts). His gaze fell on the splint, expertly tied if not placed. And he noticed his relative lack of clothing.

“Did you–”

“Nothing I haven’t seen before, Chakotay. Relax. You and I both know Maquis conditions meant a lot of getting to know each other more than expected. I’m just surprised you switched to solid colors,” she knew she would have failed not to smile so didn’t even try to prevent it. The look on her face made Chakotay roll his eyes and groan. He supposed he should be grateful, joking meant things weren’t as dire as he thought. B'Elanna didn’t tend to have gallows humor (about other people, anyways) or exaggerate.

“Anyways. The… tree dinosaur,” she supposed that was as good a description as any, ”grabbed you and yanked you off the cliff as it plummeted. Have to admire the philosophy of ‘if I’m going down you’re going with me’ also applying here in the Delta Quadrant. Kinda poetic. While I dragged you back, Harry got in touch. They’re rigging up another shuttle, this one is supposed to be able to neutralize the storm that knocked us out of the sky. Unfortunately it won’t be ready until tomorrow.”

Chakotay took in the 'sitrep’ then nodded thoughtfully.

“Ration bar?” Torres offered, holding out a brown bar that seemed to be made of granola and molasses. Chakotay made a face but took it anyways with a thanks, it was all they knew to be edible on the planet so far. After eating he pulled the blanket closer.

"I'm sorry the archaeologist in me got us stuck down here," Chakotay suddenly said. It was rare for him to take the blame like that. He was rarely self deprecating.

"Says the man with a leg that was basically turned into a number five," B'Elanna noted as she added a bit more wood to the fire.

"Who had to get here back to camp somehow and wouldn't have needed the help if we had never come."

B'Elanna knew that a younger version of herself would have probably chewed his head off about their predicament. And he almost seemed like he was expecting it. But, she was an adult...

"You're right but I think you have been punished enough for your curiosity, Cha-cat-ay."

B'Elanna realized a second later than Chakotay what she had said.

"Harry," they said together with a shared eyeroll. The junior bridge officer did tend to enjoy his wordplay sometimes. It was enough to break Chakotay out of his mood, however.

Now that she knew Chakotay wasn’t comatose, B'Elanna got up and cut up some more of the wood for the fire as well as setting up some minor defenses. She wasn't certain how long night would reign before they would get picked up in a new shuttle so they had to be prepared.

"I will take the next watch. You deserve some rest," Chakotay said.

"Torres to sickbay," B'Elanna said instead, tapping her badge.

"Please state the nature of the medical emergency."

"The opposite actually. Commander Chakotay has regained consciousness."

"Wonderful, I shall log that immediately. Don't worry, Commander, once you are back on the ship we will fix your leg good as new again!" B'Elanna was pretty sure The Doctor was being sarcastic but at the moment didn't care.

"See you then," Chakotay called out.

"Torres to Kim," B'Elanna ordered next.

"Kim here!"

"Chakotay has regained consciousness and I have fortified the area as best I can. I have also turned on the tracking beacon. Let the captain know we wait for a shuttle off this rock as soon as possible."

"You got it. Glad you are back with us, Commander," Harry said.

"Thank you, Ensign."

The night felt far longer than the day had been, and neither slept perfectly especially when they heard what sounded like another "tree dinosaur" stomping its way towards their ramshackle base camp. Luckily it either seemed to change its mind or the planet really did defy certain laws about sounds. 

The day dawned and shortly after what constituted a breakfast while on an away mission, the pair waited as patiently as possible for the call down to make sure the landing zone was cleared out. The call came in about the time B’Elanna was about to decide they might as well have lunch too.

“Y’know, I’m actually tired enough and hungry enough I’m willing to eat whatever Neelix has managed to make,” B’Elanna muttered on the shuttle ride back to the ship, trying not to flinch every time it rocked like the one that had crashed had done.

Chakotay laughed hard enough he flinched and grabbed his leg. At least it was just a break.

I still want to know what that creature’s skin was made of... B’Elanna thought as the Voyager came into view. But she was not at all willing to risk going back down to find out.

[unspectacularmarvels]

Star Trek: Voyager - the missing episodes: series two, volume three

The crew hold a bake sale in the hope of making new alien friends in the sector via the medium of cake. Neelix undertakes the challenge of baking a Sporidian soufflé (or something), whilst Tuvok breaks out his ‘legendary’ Vulcan mild-tasting nutritional baked oblongs. Unbeknownst to anyone aboard Voyager, however, the whole affair soon comes to the attention of Gastrus: the bitchiest food critic in the quadrant. If Janeway and co. can’t impress him, they face imminent destruction. Guest stars Loyd Grossman. 

Paris is put on report after he’s caught doing inappropriate things to a gel pack. Meanwhile, the replicators start dispensing nothing but Flumps. Under Chakotay’s guidance, Janeway finally makes contact with her spirit guide: Big Bird.

(Well, we’ll say a provisional Big Bird…or, I dunno: a kestrel with the voice of Ethel Merman. Whatever.)

Rumours abound of an episode filmed almost entirely on the fly as the result of an altercation on set. The story goes that, during a take, a disgruntled extra on the bridge referred to Kate Mulgrew as ‘Moody Mulgy’ just a little too loudly. Mulgrew then leapt like a crazed wolverine onto the unfortunate background actor; Robert Beltran tried to intervene, only to wind up grappling with the livid Mulgrew. After a good few minutes of them rolling and flailing across the floor of the bridge, Tim Russ allegedly leapt down and successfully administered the Vulcan neck-pinch to both parties (others say he just bitch-slapped the pair of them into unconsciousness).

Unable to stall for time, the production team simply made-up a story on the spot, where Janeway and Chakotay contract space scurvy and go nuts.

Kes wakes up aboard what appears to be an orbital convent, with no memory of how she got there. Before she can make sense of her situation she is packed off, space guitar(?) in hand, by the Mother Superior to minister to a close-knit alien race known as the Voen’tr’aaps.

At least she’s got the haircut for it… Harry has to vacuum all the carpets after failing to get out of Janeway’s headlock…again. Unbeknownst to him however, Voyager’s only-surviving Hoover has been reprogrammed by the Vidiians to sabotage the ship whenever the young ensign isn’t looking.  Someone gets in trouble for something they didn’t do on a hitherto friendly alien world. Again. That’s, like, five times now…  Janeway, Kes, Tuvok and the Doctor find themselves inhabiting the bodies of ABBA. It’s Harry and B’Elanna’s turn to babysit Kes whilst the rest of the senior staff attends a diplomatic soiree on the planet below. Ensign Snugglebunny is just a little bit gwumpy, however, because she’s a big girl now and doesn’t need looking after. B’Elanna couldn’t really give a flying f**k, so leaves it to Harry to try and look after the fussy little madam, who leads him into all sorts of hilarious (and for him, painful) misadventures in the process. Think Baby’s Day Out – except nothing like it. Tom and Harry both get spud guns and compete to see who can be the first to hit both of Janeway’s [ahem]…twin moons, without her noticing. You know I’m talking about her butt, right? It’s her butt. Paris sets a trail of gummy bears leading from Kes’s quarters to his, where he sits naked on the bed in the dark, with his balls soaked in jelly (that is, Jell-O). Tuvok finds them first, however. Curious.  Voyager encounters The Space Fonz. Voyager’s outer hull is breached during a fierce fire-fight with the Kazon Nistrim (a.k.a. the ‘I can’t believe they’re not Klingons!’). With materials for repairs running low, Harry is sent down to hammer large pieces of crooked wood across the hole and Sellotape the gaps – but sparingly, young ensign: that stuff has got to last, like, sixty-nine years. Chakotay has a vision of a man called Robert Beltran who didn’t accept a role in a science-fiction television series and whose life seems to be all-the-better for it. Meanwhile in sickbay, the Doctor substitutes the large wooden mallet he ‘just found’ for the anaesthetic spray pen that just so happens to have ‘gone missing’... When nobody senior to Harry can get to the bridge to answer the hail of an unknown ship, the young ensign takes a deep breath, stands squarely in the centre of the bridge, and opens the visual link: ‘This is Ensign Hairy Quim of the USS Vagina.’ (If only he hadn’t been flicking through that copy of Space Playboy beforehand…)                    The Doctor rigs-up an ingenious contraption in sickbay that catapults stem bolts into the groin of anyone who walks through the door. Ensign Suder, in an effort to prove he’s not-that-insane anymore, presents the crew with his latest creation: a mixed-media portrait of Captain Janeway…stark naked: a coffee cup in one hand; an Irish Setter puppy in the other. And – if you look really closely­ – you can see Voyager, pointing downward. Oh, Mr. Suder: you so cray-zeh.

[girlbattled]

hola m’angels , i’m min ! twenty-two ( aka gettin old ) , from the gmt timezone ( aka will be awake when everyone’s sleeping ) , and i use she/her mainly but i don’t mind anythin else . if anyone happens to wanna go wild with me over anime, robert pattinson / zoe kravitz as batcat, or riot games dropping way too much shit on us on the 10th anniversary pls hop into my ims or give me a little ping over on discord at 𝖓𝖔𝖊𝖑 𝖒𝖎𝖑𝖑𝖊𝖗 𝖘𝖙𝖆𝖓#0252 .

* drum roll pls * i present to you sloane janeway !

underneath the cut is a little bit about my baby gorl. her bio, fun facts, some wanted stuff, etc etc. if you fancy plotting w her it’d be super cool if you liked this or if u came to me, either in my ims or discord ! i’m super down for anything & loan is a total mess so pls throw stuff at me . ♡ ♡ ♡

trigger warnings     :     abuse,  physical  abuse,  neglect,  destructive  behaviours,  alcohol,  drugs,  sex,  overdose.  if  i’ve  missed  any,  please  forgive  me  and  let  me  know.

the new york janeway’s, you’re sure you’ve heard of them before. cyrus janeway, a stockbroker with far too little time on his hands, flanked by estrella janeway, his personal assistant turned life partner. they gave birth not longer after the wedding of the century to their eldest son, their pride and joy, cole janeway. he was to be the golden child, the heir to the estate... that was, until sloane came along.

from birth, sloane was a vicious departure from her family. she was unplanned, unexpected, perhaps unwanted was a stretch but it certainly wouldn’t have been far off the mark. her birth nearly destroyed the reputation the janeway’s had so carefully cultivated for themselves, nobody could quite believe cyrus and estrella would be so stupid, but along she came regardless. a spanner in the cogs.

for the first few years, sloane didn’t feel the difference between herself and cole. whilst he kept his distance, which she had always assumed was because she was five years younger and a girl, she never believed there to be bad blood. she was dressed up in countless fancy dresses, her golden locks repeatedly brushed and subjected to numerous chemical treatments, and even her skin somewhat speckled with makeup even as a toddler. estrella always seemed like she was trying to make up for something. it didn’t take long for sloane to notice.

she began acting out at the age of six, when she realised acting the pretty and perfect princess did not get her what she wanted. when she was quiet, she was ignored, but when she was loud? at least the help scurried to her, at least her nanny cradled her in her arms, at least cole’s personal butler gave her a look full of love rather than scorn. it wasn’t long before she was hanging out in the kitchen rather than the dining hall, the quarters rather than her own room.

as she grew older, however, her acts grew. countless times her mother woke to find her dressing room trashed, her father’s hunting trophies ripped to shreds, her brother’s endless awards from school all in the garbage. they tried to discipline her, cyrus even hit sloane a few times, but all it did was make her angry. instilled a fire within her. when they locked her doors, she climbed out of the window. when they barred her windows, she broke the door into splinters. when they replaced the door, she ripped up the floorboards. sloane was a loose cannon. and things were only about to get worse.

for the most part, she’d kept her nuisances to the confines of her “home”, only wishing to get back at her parents for neglecting her for so long. only one night, when she was fourteen years old and had finished her latest act of malcontent, it was cole who chose to deal with her. he, as a nineteen year old male who’d grown a considerable amount of bulk as star of his college football team, proceeded to beat the shit out of her. 

turns out, the brother she thought had simply never been on her wavelength had never been on the same planet as her at all. he despised sloane. despised everything she was and stood for, and made sure she knew as she was spitting up blood on their pristine carpets. 

the next day, sloane strolled into school. no makeup. joint hanging from her lips. typical upper class attire replaced with torn jeans and a shirt far too inappropriate. when people asked her what had happened, she had simply replied, ‘ you should see the other guy. ’ and birthed a new persona.

sloane’s way of coping with what her brother had done to her, and what her family had allowed him to do, was to fall deep into the cesspits of teenagedom. drugs, sex, alcohol – she’d done it all by the age of eighteen. yet somehow, the part of sloane before, the part that was simply a bratty child with a short fuse, was gone. now she was a danger. she held a wicked grin and too many scrapes to count. she knew no bounds, understood no loyalties, screamed at the top of her lungs as if she were attending the world’s wildest rager. on top of it all, sloane was the maximum party girl. nobody cared what she was going home to, because all they cared about was where she’d be at 1am on a friday night. she became the family wild child. photos of her strewn over the papers. consistent beatings and beratings from the men in her family did nothing to drown out the buzz she received from the attention she’d craved her entire life. sloane was finally getting everything she ever wanted, why did it matter where it was coming from?

as a final resort, her family shipped her off to hollingsworth. here, away from the prying eyes and judgemental glares of the horrid new yorkers, sloane somewhat thrived. forced into economics by her shithead father, but enjoying every test she aced and spat in his face, she fell quickly into gamma rho alpha and, by the time she had finished her freshman year, she was well in line to be vice president. she was still a wreck, still doing anything she could for the attention and limelight she craved, still bouncing off the walls in an attempt to get her desired adrenaline rush, but what little responsibility she’d been given allowed her to finally form connections. friends, best friends, but anything more than that? things like love, compassion, altruism? she wasn’t even sure what those were.

♡     personality.

uncritical. if there’s anything sloane is, it’s uncritical. she’s never held judgement against anyone in her life, and would never hold judgement against anyone who came to her to admit a heinous or strange deed. she’s heard all sorts, from strange sexscapades to near deaths, and to each of them she often has the same reaction – a loud chortle, followed by disbelief and a desire to know way too many details.

venturesome. to try and stop the blonde from heading out on an adventure is a task mortals would find impossible. a true ‘yes girl’, sloane has never been one to say no to anything, and to never back out of something she said yes to, no matter how bizarre or dangerous the situation might become. she’s always first into the fray, first in line of all the girls to beat the burglar up with a hair straightener, first in line into the abandoned building, first to jump off the roof into the pool.

allegiant. whilst sloane’s loyalty is almost as rare as unicorn blood, it’s possible to receive it, and when you do it’s something you’ll never lose. she sticks by those who have managed to put up with her, unable to let them go even when they do her dirty. 

graceless. a. clumsy. bitch. if you’re expecting sloane’s etiquette lessons to have stuck with her, you’re very wrong. the girl trips over her own feet more times than she can count in a day, always has at least something broken, fractured, or sprained, and has certainly won the award in gamma rho alpha for ‘most freak accidents in a single day’.

chaotic. everything about sloane is a nightmare come to life. she drags people down, deep into the depths of places they never thought they’d be, wishes for them to destroy their lives like she’s destroyed hers. to say she loves to see the world burn would be an understatement. she loves starting and watching drama, getting into fights, smashing up homes and belongings, getting into relationships she shouldn’t be in. trying to stop is nigh impossible, the chaos is almost an addiction, and she’s not ready to give it up.

needy. despite it all, she’s still the same girl who was never loved. not truly, not by anyone, and perhaps somewhere deep down she still craves that. she’ll leave you on read for days but god forbid you do the same to her. she’ll have a one night stand and dip right after but never lets her flings leave her life without something to remember her by. she drunk calls the exes she let get away, tells them she loves them and calls them a pussy in the same sentence. no matter how much she tries, she can’t hide the part of her she thinks is ugliest at all, her desire for others.

♡     fun facts.

an avid skateboarder, she picked it up in an attempt to ruin the family image even further when she was fifteen but it stuck in a surprising way. she now tends to ride it over campus, and has broken at least three in her time here.

massive stoner. whilst sloane openly dabbles in most drugs, weed’s the one that’s stuck with her, and it’s the only thing that slows her down. she’s a much nicer person when she smokes and she tends to have a preference for indica over sativa.

fucking bosses her major. economics, despite all its complexities, is something sloane is just naturally adept at. she takes a picture of every grade she gets with her middle finger in front of it, posts it on facebook and tags her father. he blocked her over a year ago.

besides that tho she’s stupid af. a lot of people think she puts it on bc of her grades and bc . . . she does everything for kicks, but no, she’s just kinda ditzy. a lot of people also think she’s just a straight up cheater and hasn’t gotten her grades herself.

nicknames are loan or jane, jane’s reserved for those she’s closest to tho!

♡     wanteds.

fellow  sorority  sisters     0/?     ⟶     self-explanatory! positive, negative, etc etc etc. i wanna plot w all her gals so bad lmao. besties, literal sisters, clothes sharers, secret smokers, party gals, enemies, girls who’ve slept w each other’s exes, all of it bABY.

economics  pal     0/1     ⟶     i’m thinking this person goes to sloane for help with everything and sloane pretty much does all their work for them. she doesn’t care bc it’s easy, and the other person blesses her and thanks her all the time. it’s a quiet agreement, so whilst it’s no secret bc sloane hates keeping them, it’s def hush hush. this person is one of the few who actually believes sloane’s as smart as they say. can also be a business student or smthn with similar classes!

super  soft  bestie     0/1     ⟶     ok so this is male only for a dumb reason i’m rly sorry. i had this plot before where my old muse sloane’s based off had a really sweet, selfless soft pal who was a dude, but they’d never slept together, she’d never even flirted somehow, and he was the one person in sloane’s life who always had her best interests at heart, and she defended him tooth and nail against anybody. the most unlikely duo ever and i want it back. she knew he never wanted anything else from her and that’s why it was so easy for her to attach, but bc this other person deals well with affection and is very reassuring, she never feels needy around them.

people  she  skates  with     0/2     ⟶     people she met down the skatepark or at a typical hangout before meeting them at hollingsworth. when she’s with them she’s pretty chill, though they’ve def been responsible for saving her ass and driving her to the ER a few times.

people  she  smokes  with     1/3     ⟶     oh shit whaddup stoner gang? lmao sorry anyway, yeah, again self-explanatory but! a lil more interesting because sloane’s very different when she’s stoned. she’s calmer, talks slower, and lets people get a word in and doesn’t try and get everyone involved w her hare brained schemes. these people probably actually enjoy her company! how wild?

new  yorkers     0/?     ⟶     sloane’s underwear has been plastered on the front page of most nyc tabloids and she’s the daughter of two massives in the industry, new york natives will know her somewhat. they can use that against her, they can empathize, or we can concoct some real dramatic shit. people who helped her fuck someone up, and now theyre keeping it quiet? someone she slept with who’s come to hollingsworth with their girlfriend/boyfriend? an addict she started on pills? yikes, lots of opportunity tho.

exes     0/2     ⟶     whew boy. we all know by now sloane’s a hot mess, right gang? so let’s see some people she’s messed up in the past. tOTALLY open to more exes and the more crazy the plot u bring me, the better. i lov angst just like anyone else does.

the  one  she  didn’t  ruin     1/1     ⟶     the one person in her life sloane walked away from without destroying, aka, the one she let get away because she realised she was going to harm someone she severely card about. she would’ve ended things with this person rather than pushing their buttons, would’ve been faithful and honest in their relationship, but dipped bc she’d let herself get involved too fast, too soon. definitely a name she’s forbidden her friends from bringing up.

lifeline     1/1     ⟶     let’s be real for a second about drug use, you can do it responsibly, but when you don’t, you can get in some serious fucking trouble. this person has always been there to stop sloane from od’ing. she only does hard drugs at ragers, so her risk is a bit lower than expected, but when she does them she does them. she’s a serious risk, and for some reason this gentle soul has taken it upon themselves to get her stomach pumped, take her home, clean her up, and give her a warm bed to stay in. they don’t speak much away from these nights where she has this vulnerability (she’s definitely mumbled things about her past to them), but that could very well change.

[oblio-k]

whom are your st ocs!!! tell me stuff

ive got!!!! a lot!!! because i have no self control! 2.5 crews n a bonus OC i made for my sibling’s oc crew. im going to ramble about All Of Them given this opportunity here they are under the cut.

My first (all OC) crew is the USS August AKA The USS Rejects. Basically starfleet’s former ‘best’ got shoveled onto one ship after they outlived their use. 

Captain Hyrel, a gender-neutral Axanar, is like the parent of the whole crew and refuses to court martial any of them even though they beg them to. Used to be really good at winning battles during various wars, but then gave up and said they would only take peaceful scientific missions from there on out. They’ve got a lil human son (Hyrel Jr.) they rescued when he was a baby.

Commander Petrov ‘J’ Jorge is their first officer, human dude. He was a model officer on his way to being Captain when a first contact mission went horribly wrong and he was left permanently disfigured with a head injury that completely altered his personality. Has anger management issues and wants to quit, but Hyrel won’t let him. In love with a Romulan centurion he met in neutral space.

Lt. Commander T’kae, vulcan lady. She hates J and really wants to be the first officer, but Hyrel won’t promote her. Impatient with her 2 superiors and is usually fed up with the crew, though she’d die for any of them.

Ensign Saurvin, my disaster vulcan boy!! He’s been promoted and demoted a lot, and has completely rejected logic and embraced emotion. Gets into fights a lot but cares a LOT about his friends, starts a little club on board for crewmembers who are too different from the rest of their species. He’s engaged to a Ferengi and plans to quit starfleet as soon as his bf becomes a Daimon so they can travel the galaxy together and have a blast.

Doctor Stovek, not the CMO, human/vulcan hybrid dude who resents his human heritage and hasn’t spoken to his human dad since his mother died a decade ago. Close friends with T’kae and they both try to follow the path of logic together. Refuses to join Saurvin’s club.

Counselor Fer Xeandi, betazoid guy who can’t help but read everybody’s thoughts. Really friendly and outgoing, and has a crush on J.

Ensign Kaya, betazoid/ullian hybrid girl. Fresh out of the academy and is very shy and quiet. Has a lot of family issues (her betazoid dad is really sick, she doesn’t talk to her mother, and her twin brother hates her and convinces the rest of their betazoid family to disown her) due to her not having any telepathic ability at all. She’s Saurvin’s best friend and a member of his club.

Chief of Security Arcus Nyo, a caitian dude who has a LOT of fur and is big. He hates Ensign Saurvin because Saurvin makes tons of cat jokes around him to make Kaya laugh. Has a massive crush on the chief engineer, Aaraa, and everyone knows it though he insists it’s not true. Loves arachnids a lot, owns some tarantulas & stuff in his quarters.

Chief Engineer Aaraa, an Aaamazzarite guy. Kind of quiet but firm when giving orders. His quarters are absolutely coated in his webbing which is disgusting to almost everyone but Arcus. Has no idea what a spider is, but boy does he love them when he finds out. His eventual dream is to retire, get married to Arcus, and live out the rest of their days happily on a tarantula farm.

CMO Sokaa Eri, a human woman raised by a human and vulcan couple. She’s really sweet but also terrifying when she wants to be. Deals with so much all the time, she needs a vacation but refuses to take shore leave out of fear that someone will die on board without her there.

Nurse Kive Idor, a mostly Bajoran man. His grandfather was a Cardassian, he assumes. He was raised by a Cardassian woman named Ricana Idor in Federation space after his parents died in a transport shuttle accident. Really doesn’t like being called by his first name, and doesn’t care for Bajoran culture, even though his mother made sure to teach him all about it and encouraged him to follow it if he wanted to.

SECOND CREW i made after watching ds9, the USS Akira ! A bunch of useless gays are gathered onto one ship by a captain who actually listens to his first officer when told not to go on an away mission, every time.

Captain Niko, human dude. Literally says “Oh, if I wasn’t such a nice person I wouldn’t have picked up so many strays.” and surprisingly no one around him wants to kill him for saying that because he is just a nice person. Joined starfleet to get away from his physically abusive father to try and find a faraway planet he could start a new life on, was accidentally really good at being an officer and before he knew it he was being promoted to Captain and being sent on a long exploration mission. Found and adopted a Vulcan boy, Sarin. Won’t go on dangerous missions because he doesn’t want to leave Sarin without a father.

First Officer Commander Onarog, ferengi dude. Very smart and hardworking, but not very good with social skills. Very perceptive and can always tell when someone is upset. Niko likes joking he should have been a counselor.

Second Officer Lt. Commander Qihata Xirad, a Bolian girl. She’s very friendly and loves gossip. Likes surprising people but doesn’t always realize when someone isn’t in the mood. Excitable and has a big crush on one of the nurses, Kezrell.

CMO, Meneha Adado, betazoid. Quiet lady who keeps to herself and uses her telepathy to figure out how her patients feel. Has a wife and kids on Betazed that she visits sometimes, misses. Niko’s oldest friend, but respects his wishes for her not to read his thoughts and find out about his past.

Chief Engineer Taiggok. Orion male, very nervous and doesn’t like talking to anyone but his team and the bridge crew (when he has to). Very strong, and his favorite thing is to go back to his quarters every day to take care of his pet salamander.

Chief of security, Lt. Zac Ramirez. Human/orion hybrid guy, but hides the fact that he’s half orion. Kind of withdrawn, but is best friends with his second in command and really wants to befriend Taiggok.

Security officer, Lt. jr. Vimio Zh’raqass. Andorian, they’re always by Zac’s side and are very excited. Don’t realize that they’re in love with Zac, just think they really want to be his best friend. Worries about their friends a lot, has no clue that Zac isn’t fully human.

Nurse Kezrell, an unjoined Trill girl. Is absolutely terrified of the thought of being joined. She actively avoids other Trill and falls in love with every pretty girl she sees.

Science officer, Lt. Terim. He’s a Xindi-Reptilian, and is handsome, since i was using a character generator and it said a xindi-reptilian that everyone thinks is very handsome. Thoughful/kind dude who will gladly try to cheer up anyone. Loves a friendly tussle, is very handsy with people he’s friends with, and is close friends with Onarog.

Ensign Genna, a Xindi-Arboreal. She’s always tired and is very forgetful and often confused, though she tries her best. Is friends with Terim, and tries to be friends with the rest of the crew. Is too tired to notice that her fellow ensign is in love with her.

Ensign Zura Jejo, a Bajoran girl. Pretty fearful and depressed, misses Bajor a lot. She’s really scared of Yeoman Loket, since he’s mean to her because her station is right next to his. Gets really flustered around Genna, and prays to the prophets that one day Genna will notice.

Yeoman Loket Arlat. A Cardassian man exiled after being framed for murder. Niko saved his life and he feels he owes the Captain a debt in return. Says that he’ll leave after he returns the favor, but Niko refuses to put himself in harm’s way so he’s been there for years. Pretty much like Niko’s second son. Is pretty mean to everyone but Niko and Sarin.

Bonus non crew member: Commander Rutora, an exiled Romulan who failed a huge mission. Stole a warbird and after meeting Niko and falling in love with him he follows their ship around and acts like a nuisance. Ashamed of being in love with a human and keeps promising to kill Niko, but can’t bring himself to.

The OC members of my ‘next generation’ style ship, the USS Nobility, where i gather up all the canon kids and stick them on one ship and fill in the blanks with OCs:

My life and love, my baby boy and darling Bug Man, CMO’s Assistant Doctor Yek. He’s an original species I made up called a Parasitoid, based on parasitoid wasps. Big bug boi who wears a life support suit because he comes from a class Y planet he can’t reveal the location of. Is married to Mekor Dukat and has a small lizard/bug hybrid baby with him, Saint. He would do anything for his family and doesn’t follow his people’s tradition of killing their chosen hosts and returning home. Wants to find a nice planet far away from Cardassia to raise his family.

Acting Ensign ‘Checkers.’ A two-spirit teen who comes from an alternate universe after the ship hits an anomaly. Is the fusion duplicate of Janeway & Chakotay after a transporter accident, but won’t tell anyone because they don’t want to interefere with the timeline. The entire crew adopts them.

Ensign Hoji Andu, nervous Bajoran man who joined starfleet to explore, but feels guilty about leaving Bajor and his two older siblings, who are the Cardassian/Bajoran hybrid twins (named Irza Miyo & Moha) his mother had during the Occupation. He and his father weren’t the best to them, and he regrets it and believes they hate him. He promised his mother he would look after them before she died.

Lt. T’rea, vulcan woman who is an engineer, but also acts as an unprofessional therapist for the rest of the crew when she has spare time. Very much misses her wife who lives on Vulcan, though she’d never admit it.

BONUS OC for my sibling’s crew of beautiful women who could annihilate me, a kind Vulcan man, and my nonbinary goblin who deserves an ass kicking

Ensign Alek Ch’zei, a Cardassian/Andorian hybrid who loves flirting and has yet to find a temperature they find comfortable. No one likes them because they’re rude, keep fighting people, and won’t shut up. The vulcan lieutenant (a dude named Stafuck) dates them on and off to explore emotion and a lack of Logic. When Stafuck reaches his pon farr and the Captain starts worrying because they’re too far from Vulcan, Alex unzips their shirt and goes ‘don’t worry. i’ve got this’.

[lodessa]

Rules: list the first lines of your last 10 published stories. See if there are any patterns yourself, or have other people say what they notice. Tag up to 10 friends!

Tagged by @pixiedane for this fun and exciting one!  I limited this to actual fics by setting the minimum word count at 2,000 and filtering my AO3 works.  I also may have added a little more than one line.

The most obvious thing that jumps out at me is that I usually don’t get very hard without adding dialogue, even if sometimes it is only a mental conversation the character is having with themself.

1. k’war’ma’khon (Star Trek: Discovery, Philippa Georgiou and the House of Sarek, Georgiou as Captain of the Discovery AU)

“Ambassador...” she pauses, knowing it is useless attempting to read Sarek’s face to ascertain the tenor of his intent but trying anyway, “I am sorry for the delay, this new ship is taking some getting used to.” 

2. Better Late Than Never (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deanna Troi/Will Riker with Bonus Lwaxana Troi, Post Series and Pre Nemesis) 

“I brought chocolate co-”

“Forget the chocolate.”

“Who are you and what have you done with Deanna Troi?” Will replies before following her voice into the sleeping alcove of her quarters.

3. Solace (Star Trek: Discovery, Katrina Cornwell/Gabriel Lorca, pre-series hurt/comfort)

“Kat?”

Gabriel still has the keycode for her door. She hasn’t changed it. She lets him search her quarters for her, can hear him trip over something in the minimal illumination. He’ll figure it out sooner or later.

4. Stumbling (Star Trek: Voyager, Kathryn Janeway/Chakotay, post series difficult  messy fixit)

She definitely should not have had that last glass of champagne (or the one before it… and she might as well face it the one before that either). Honestly Kathryn, you’ve been drinking longer than some of those bright eyed ensigns have been alive. You should know better.

5. Becoming (Game of Thrones, Sansa Stark/Jon Snow, Sansa and Cersei Parallels)

There was a time, Sansa remembers, when there was nothing she wanted more than to be like Cersei. She’d changed the way she wore her hair and the dress style she favored. She’d hung on to the Queen’s every word. That was before you understood what it meant to be like her, she tells herself.

6. Eye of the Storm (Game of Thrones, Sansa Stark/Jon Snow, Season 7 Fanwank/Fix)

“We can’t keep doing this,” Sansa declares, once everyone has finally shuffled out and left them alone. “It makes us look divided, and that’s the last thing we need right now.”

7. Unlikely Odds (Veronica Mars, Eli “Weevil” Navarro/Veronica Mars/Logan Echolls, Part 3 of My Threesome Series for These Three)

“I have acquired bagels… and coffee.”

It takes a moment for Eli to remember where he is or how he got there, gradually regaining enough consciousness to register Veronica’s way too chipper voice and remember that it must be Logan’s fucking arm he can feel slung across his hip. Reluctantly, he opens his eyes and there she is, looming over them with a take out tray of coffee cups in one hand and a paper bag in the other, looking cheerful and relaxed, like this is something that happens every day instead of being unprecedented, like she is used to him fucking Echolls up the ass until they both come.

8. Parameters (Star Trek: Voyager, Kathryn Janeway/Chakotay, Resolutions Fic/Lovers to In Love Trope )

Chakotay paused on his way towards the door and Kathryn could tell her had something he wanted to say, by the tension in his jaw.

“Spit it out, Commander.”  She smiled, undercutting the terseness of her words, “You obviously have something you’re itching to say.”

“I’m not sure I should.  I suspect you would find it inappropriate, Captain.” He hesitated on the word inappropriate and Kathryn was intrigued.

9. Things You Shouldn’t Be (Star Trek: Voyager, Admiral Kathryn Janeway/Chakotay, Endgame Fanwank/Fix)

“Chak-o-tayyyy…” she throws her head back, white hair falling back out of her face, “Harder, I need you to take me harder.”

He bites his lip to try and maintain control as the way she’s milking his cock threatens to overload his circuits.

Circuits. Right.

This. This certainly wasn’t how he’d expected things to go when he’d stormed into Voyager’s visitor’s quarters to confront Kathryn’s Future Admiral Self after his talk with Seven.

10. Pulled Back (Star Trek: Voyager, Kathryn Janeway/Chakotay, Seasons 3-4 Missing Scenes)

In retrospect, she should have worn her hair up. At the very least, Kathryn admits to herself, she should not have given in to the impulse that had led her to take the delicately carved, ivory-colored, barrette she kept (against her better judgement) in her nightstand and wear it down to Earth’s surface (four centuries back or not). Each seemingly innocent decision cascaded into the next: The choice of away team members. The way she’d split them up once they’d gotten down there. Small indulgences like letting herself lean into the protective shelter of Chakotay’s broad shouldered frame in the bustle of 20th century crowds.

Tagging: @joyful-voyager, @theshortywrites, @jhelenoftrek, @sophia-helix, @ghostcat3000, @romeokijai, @clonethemidwife, @talsi74656, @nerdfishgirl.

[clockscountingbackwards]

Idiosyncrasies, Part 2

Away on an away mission Chakotay and Seven decide to fake date to capture the Captain’s attention. They, however, get more than they bargained for and not so unexpected emotions crop up. Takes place after Human Error.

Kathryn woke up the next morning smiling, knowing that she was doing something to surprise Seven. She was glad she was doing something that would make life for Seven easier. She cared about Seven a lot more than Seven realized. She always would and she always hoped she could find a way to make it better for Seven. After all she was the reason Seven was here at all. She felt responsible and she wanted to make a good life for Seven. She had hoped at one point that she could make Seven’s life better by being with her. It was a hope shortly lived. Even though Seven wasn’t Star Fleet, she was still a member of the crew and the hierarchy had to remain intact. Kathryn felt that if she gave herself to someone she wouldn’t be able to continue commanding them afterwards. She didn’t know if she could separate her romantic relationship with someone with her working relationship with someone. And she couldn’t compromise her command over this ship.

           With that happy thought she got out of bed. She was still happy that she could do those little things. The candle light dinners with Chakotay. Helping Seven with her progress as an individual. She still wished she could do more with them. Maybe, only maybe if they had no other choice but to stay in the Delta Quadrant she would be able to let her guard down and make something more of either of these to relationships. Or maybe even both. She smiled to herself and headed to Sick Bay to help the Doctor.

XxXxX

Chakotay was dying to ask if Seven had any romantic interests. He guessed that at this point in her individuality she would probably have one or two or at least she was curious about it. He was still hoping to find out what made her tick. In the far reaches of his mind he wanted to see if he was one of the things, the people that made her tick. It had only been a day of getting to know you in the Flyer and he wasn’t sure if it was the right time or not. He knew though that soon he wouldn’t care if it was the right time or not. He would ask her anyways. He could be an incredibly patient man but for some reason with her he didn’t want to be. He knew he would have to be though.

           A day later he gave in and asked her.

           “So, Seven, may I ask you a personal question?” he started gently. He didn’t want her to get startled and shut down like she has in the past.

           “Isn’t that the point of getting to know one another, personal questions?”

           She was right of course. “Call it a human politeness, often when one is apprehensive about asking a question.”

           “Why are you apprehensive?”

           “For most this is a question that not everyone likes to be asked.”

           “What is this question?”

           “Do you have any romantic interests.”

           Seven was slightly taken aback. She didn’t know what she was expecting but it wasn’t this. “Captain Janeway,” she replied. She didn’t realize how true that was until she said it and she wasn’t about to admit to Chakotay that he was one of her interests.

           Chakotay’s heart sank a little at hearing this. He didn’t expect to be an interest for her but he had hoped that he was.

           “Do you have any romantic interests?” Seven knew even if she was one of his interests he wasn’t likely to say so now.

           “Oddly enough, Captain Janeway as well.”

           “I doubt she will enter into a relationship with either of us. She is the Captain after all and must retain a respectable distance from her subordinates.”

           “I may have a way to change that.” He might get his wish after all.

           “And what would that be?”

XxXxX

Kathryn walked into the quarters that she had assigned for Seven. The Doctor was there waiting for her.

           “Do you think we should do some decorating for her?” Kathryn asked and she strode around the room.

           “Something tells me that Seven will want to do that herself. I’m sure she will have impeccable taste.” The Doctor was remembering Seven’s holodeck program. He had greatly admired her taste in décor.

           “What else do we need for the device?” Kathryn asked sitting down on the couch that was soon to be Seven’s. She hoped that she would be here often.

           “A few more things but they can wait until tomorrow. After all, Seven won’t get back for another five days.”

           “Of course, Doctor. Let me know when you need me again.” She got up from the couch and walked to the door. She paused and turned back. “Seven is going to love this.” She turned back around and exited.

           “That she is.” The Doctor said to himself. He still held a little bit of a flame for Seven but he knew his chances with her were long since passed. He saw the Captain’s eagerness to help Seven. He saw the way Seven looked at the Commander. He hoped one of these would work out for her. She deserved all the happiness in the world. And by giving her this gift, the Doctor hoped he would be able to contribute to that happiness. A place to call home is always a source of peace. He walked out of her quarters and headed back to Sick Bay, anxious for Seven’s return.

XxXxX

Seven was incredulous. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

           “You want us to fake date in order to capture the attention of the Captain. How is that going to assist us? The Captain is not a jealous woman and it wouldn’t change her views on fraternizing with her subordinates.”

           “I have a feeling that it will make her want us more when it seems she can no longer have us. Jealousy has nothing to do with it. It is all about wanting what she cannot have.”

           “I have never understood the desire for people to want what they cannot have. It always seemed pointless to me.”

           “It can be,” Chakotay admitted.

           “And you think the Captain is susceptible to this?”

           “Most people are.”

           “The Captain isn’t most people.” Seven was slightly disgruntled. She did not think this plan would work in the slightest.

           “No, she is not. I still think it is worth a shot. What have we got to lose?”

           Seven wanted to say everything. She didn’t want to fake date Chakotay she wanted to actually date him. She liked the Captain yes but she also wanted Chakotay.

           He wanted her to say yes to his plan and it wasn’t just to capture the Captain’s attention. He wanted to be near her. He wanted to spend more time with her. This plan would give him the opportunity to do so and hopefully it would spark something within her. Maybe as they went along they wouldn’t be fake dating anymore.

           Seven cursed the rules of monogamy that most societies had in place for if she could she would have both of them, not one or the other both. Maybe this plan would allow her that at least in a small way. It would give her time with Chakotay and if she did capture the eye of the Captain then maybe something there would develop as well. She used her limited knowledge of human behavior to calculate her chances and no matter how much she disagreed with this plan, it seemed to be the only way that she would at least partially get what she wanted.

           “Fine.”

           “Fine?” he questioned as he looked at her.

           “We will go with your plan.”

           He turned from her so that she couldn’t see his face turn into a huge grin. He was ecstatic that she said yes. He didn’t think he was going to receive an answer so quickly. Maybe there was more going on in her head that he realized. She had a calm façade but maybe it was only a façade. He again wanted to know more but he just wasn’t sure how to get underneath her exterior. He hoped that maybe, just maybe this fake dating would help him figure her out a little more and they still had a while left on this trip. He would make sure to make the most of it.

           “We’ll need a story,” he told her.

           “A story for what?” she asked perturbed.

           “How our relationship started. If we are going to do this we might as well do this well.”

           “I agree.”

           “I thought you might,” he laughed. She glared at his back from over her console.

XxXxX

Kathryn was anxious for their return. She fiddled with her computer in her ready room not really paying attention to what she was doing. Seven’s surprise was almost done and she wanted it to be played out. She wanted to see what Seven thought of it but mainly she just wanted to see Seven. She missed the former borg. She has been this long without Seven before and hadn’t been affected but she guessed it was the fact that Seven was with Chakotay made it worse. She missed the commander too. Having both of them gone was too much for her. She knew she only had three more days, that most of her time away from them had passed, but these three days would be horrible. She pushed her chair back from her desk. She as the captain, she had to keep her chin up and not show her desire for Seven and Chakotay’s return.

           Her door chimed.

           “Come in,” she called to the person on the other side.

           It was Tuvok. “Good morning Captain.”

           “Good morning Tuvok, what can I do for you today?”

           “I have that security report you asked for.” He held out a pad for her to take.

           “Thank you,” she grabbed the device, “I appreciate this.” She sat back in her chair and started skimming the report.

           Tuvok just stood there.

           She set the pad down on her desk. “Can I help you with anything else?” She assessed his posture to see if see could guess his reasoning. She couldn’t of course but she always liked to try.

           “I was wondering how you are doing.”

           An odd statement coming from a Vulcan. They weren’t much for small talk.

           “What is your concern, Tuvok?” she asked. There was always something more with him.

           “You have been seemingly out of sorts these past few days,” he commented without further explanation.

           “Has any of the crew noticed?” It was a fear of hers that the crew should notice she was being a lovesick puppy.

           “You don’t deny it then.” Tuvok was nothing if not persistent.

           “No, I don’t.” She knew she wouldn’t be able to lie to him.

           “May I ask what is going on?”

           “Has the crew noticed?” she asked again. She needed to know that answer before anything else.

           “No, but as I am your oldest friend I know you better than the crew.”

           “Then what is the problem?” There had to be problem for him to bring this up.

           “It might not currently be one. But as a friend I am concerned it will become one. So I ask again, what is going on?” His voice softened and that note of superiority that normally grace his voice vanished.

           “Just the absence of two of my friends. Nothing to be concerned about,” she said quietly. She didn’t want to admit even to herself that there might be more going on that just that.

           “The only concern I have now is that you consider them more than friends.” He left without being dismissed.

           “How astute my old friend,” she said to herself. “I worry that too.” She got up from her desk and moved to her couch. She sat down, grabbed herself a cup of coffee and sipped it as she stared out her window wondering what Seven and Chakotay were up to now.

[fbismostunwanted1158]

Are you still taking second person prompts? I just saw you might still be taking second person prompts. If you are...everyone on Voyager remarks upon your resemblance to Captain Janeway and you know it's affecting your romantic prospects on board so you decide to secretly offer yourself to Chakotay as an intimate physical substitute. You dim the lights and tell him to pretend--you don't mind.

Okay, anon. This morphed into something crazy. And AWESOME. Thank you! I hope you’re not disappointed. NSFW. Obviously. It’s me…

 Try as you might, there’s nothing you can do. Your eyes,hair, skin, build, everything; they’re also hers. Crew members gawk, jokes aretossed around the mess hall, and Tom Paris gives you a mock salute from time totime. You got into a heated argument with Harry the other day and actual fearregistered in his eyes.  

The latest hilarity to ensue must be the greatest so far onthis seemingly endless journey home. You decided last week that you werecutting your hair, that was it, you’d had enough. Then, what happened? Youcaught sight of the Captain in the mess and there it was. Your new hairstyle.Right there. Staring back at you. She nods her head in a friendly gesture andyou return it, quickly ducking the several sneering snickers directed towardyou.

“Nice haircut, Beth.” Theirlaughter sours the tea and toast you gather from the replicator. You toss itviolently straight into the recycler and strained silence falls over the room.Embarrassed beyond belief, you about face and march straight back through the doors.

Rolling your eyes in exasperation as another ensign winks inyour direction, you continue down the hall; your dour mood weighting itself inthe stomp of your boots down the corridor. Instead of smiles, the faces ofthose that meet you avoid your heated glare and find something interesting onthe bulkheads to focus on.

You turn the corner and run directly into a solid chest. Ittakes you by surprise and knocks you straight to the ground. Bracing yourselfagainst Starfleet issue carpet, you bat at the hands that attempt to right you.

“I don’t. Need. Help,”you cough against the recycled air slowly returning to your stricken lungs.Warm firm hands grasp you anyway and pull you effortlessly to your feet.Growling in frustration, you look up to give this man handler a piece of yourmind and—

“Commander! I-I-uhm…,”he smiles brightly, nearly blinding you. Damn it, he’s beautiful. The sparklein his dark eyes takes your breath once more and concern settles into hiseyebrows.

“Are you alright, Neilson?” Holy shit, he knows who you are? Of course, he knows who you are. He’sthe First Officer! Ah! He asked you a question! SPEAK! UGH!  

“Y-yes, sir. I am so sor–,” he moves his hands up from yourelbows and brings them to rest on your shoulders.

“Nothing to apologize for. Are you alright? You look a bitpale.”

“Ah,” you chuckle, “Artificial lighting. I’ll be fine. Justoff to Engineering to repair a few relays.”

“Didn’t you just come from a full shift, Lieutenant?”

“W-well, yes. There is still so much to–,” he shakes hishead and smiles.

“No more work for the evening. You look like you could usesome rest,” there’s something in his expression that you’ve never seen beforeand his intense inspection of your face is causing a blush to tint your cheeks.Yet again, you’ve never really spent thatmuch time staring at the Commander’s face. Okay, yes you have.

He suddenly breaks eye contact, removing his hands from youand putting them behind his back. The unease is palpable. He clears his throatand you both speak at the same time.

“Have you—“ “’I’m so—“

He laughs. Actually laughs. It’s wonderful. It comes fromsomewhere deep in his chest and rises to caress your ears with its gentle lilt.There’s no stopping the smile that forces its way on your mouth.

“It’s alright. There’s no need to apologize. I was justabout to ask you if you’ve had dinner.”

He waits patiently for your response, which is seriouslylacking at this point in time. Your brain stumbles to form a complete sentenceand something ridiculous slips out.

“I…uhh…erm…just came—I can’t go in there again.”

“Where?”

“The…mess, sir.”

“Why is that?”

“This…,” a deep sigh leaves you as you gesture to your newhairstyle. His gaze returns and sweeps over you. He grins deviously and appearsto be holding back his comments. After careful deliberation, he speaks.

“There is a remarkable resemblance,” his eyes return toyours briefly before closely examining your face, “Facial structure, skin tone,eye color, build; you could definitely fool some. Yet, your hair is a shade ortwo darker, she has at least three inches on you, “he pauses, taking in abreath, “And you have freckles. So does the Captain, but yours are morepronounced. How do you do that with the absence of sunlight?”

The scrutiny that your melanin deposits are under is quiteunsettling. Your blush reaches a whole new level. Freckles? Really? And he’stelling me I’m short? Am I dreaming? Is this even real?

“I apologize. I’ve made you uncomfortable. Don’t let anyonedictate your actions. People will take a chance to find anything to entertainthemselves,” he moves around you and returns to his intended path, “Let me knowif there’s any more trouble.” Oh, God. He’sleaving? Wait.

“Wait,” theCommander halts and turns at your call.

“Yes?”

“O-our last shore leave.” Jesus, what are you doing?

“Two weeks ago. Yes, what about it?”

“Th-at’s how. I, uh. My freckles. Been this way since I waslittle. I’m out in the sun for a second and they just…,” the courage to finishthis stupid thought evaporates from you. Why?Why couldn’t you have just let him go?

He processes what you’ve said; smile returning to soften hisfeatures. Your insides melt instantly and he steps back to where you’re rootedto the deck.

“Would you be comfortable accompanying me to my quarters fordinner? No one there to bother you. I have a vegetable vindaloo programmed thatI have been looking forward to all day. I’m sure there’s enough for two.”

That sounds amazing. You’ve heard wonderful things about theCommander’s cooking. But, his quarters?! You can’t even call him by his firstname; let alone having any businessin his quarters! Everything in you is screaming against the answer about toleave your mouth, yet you let curiosity get the best of your logic.

“That sounds…perfect. If you wouldn’t mind any company,”relief floods his body and his arm makes a sweeping gesture for you to proceedhim down the hallway. Complying happily, you instantly feel the heat radiatingfrom his body beside you. Close besideyou. Why does he need to walk nearly on top of you? The width of thecorridor is more than accommodating; you wouldn’t have the broad protection ofhis proximity leave you for anything.

The absence of conversation on the way to his quarters issurprisingly comfortable. You haven’t felt this calm around a member of theopposite sex in long time. In fact, this is the first social call you’ve beenon in a while. It feels nice, easy, warm—no.This is the Commander.

He keys in the code to open his door and you are envelopedin the dark heady scent of him. The tingle of the spice and sandalwood travelsstraight to the molten heat of your belly. And to think he’s going to serve youvindaloo.

“Would you like a drink? I have some cider, some wine fromour last shore leave.”

“That wine is amazing!I really loved that little–.”

“The little vineyard by the cove. Yes, it was beautiful. Ithought I caught you there,” he reaches for the bottle and retrieves twoglasses from his table. Two glasses. He only has two. Oh, God. They’re for him and—

“If I recall,” he hands you a healthy glass, “you were therefor quite a while. Alone. No one else wanted to come along?”

You take a large drink of the bold sweet alcohol, girdingyourself to make it through the night with some of your dignity left intact. Heleaves the question to hang in the air; reaching for the replicator panel, theCommander drinks from his own glass, tapping away at the controls.

“You…noticed that I was by myself?”

“Who wouldn’t notice an attractive young woman sitting nearthe beach with nothing but a padd to keep her company?”

Attractive. Jesus. Didit just get warmer in here? What in the hell is going on? Taking another swig,you press on. Give it all you’ve got.

“How do you know I wasn’t waiting for someone?”

“No one ever showed up. I can’t believe that any man in hisright mind would stand you up,” he turns to pierce you with a heated gaze. Theroom begins to shrink around you; breathing is becoming an issue.  

“Commander? I—maybe this wasn’t such a great idea,” you setthe glass half empty on the table and start for the door. Just before you reachthe sensor, he blocks your path. A look of disappointment on his face.

“I apologize. I was out of line. Forgive me. Please, call meChakotay when we’re off duty. This ship is too far from Federation space for usto not have a life outside of ship’s business,” his last statement seems to bedirected more to himself than you.  

Instinct tells you to lay a gentle hand on his shoulder,reassure him that his small talk is not the cause of your hesitancy. You tampdown that inner voice and find that you’ve both opted to stare openly into thedepths of one another’s eyes.

Warm fingers brush the hair from your face, his rough palmcoming to rest against your face. You let your eyes slip closed; so slowly youbreathe, in fear that any harsh movement will startle the moment. Soft lipsquest against yours, unsure in their pressure; your mouth opens to welcome himand his movements gain purpose.

Tongues snake together, lazily tracing, acquainting theother of preferences. He draws your bottom lip between his teeth and his handspull you closer at the moan you let escape into his hot mouth. The lower halfof your body molds to his and you feel an impressive erection resting againstyour belly.

Liquid heat pools in your panties and your hands travel downto tangle in the short hair at the nape of his neck. He hums and leans back,just enough to press his forehead against yours, watching you lick your wetswollen lips. Breaths mingle, chests heave, time stops.

“Tell me to stop. I need–,” your finger traces around tosettle over his lips, silencing him.

“I-If I tell you to stop…I’d regret it for the rest of mylife.”

He kisses your finger and brings your hand to rest over hisheart; nuzzling his face into your neck, breathing deeply.

“Mmmm…are you still hungry,” his deep mumble against yousends shivers across your body. A large hand slips down your back and massagesboldly at your ass. You groan, leaning into his accommodating embrace.

“Not for curry…”

“Perhaps I could interest you in some dessert,” the handgroping your ass slides between your legs to brush against your center. Thiscauses you to step wider and give him better access.  

“Oh, God. Yes…please…”the throaty whine that leaves your throat is so ridiculous, you feel likeyou’re in a damn holonovel. This is wrong. Sowrong. But, shit. That pressurehe’s putting on your clit is exquisite.  

“Spirits, you’re beautiful, Elizabeth. Absolutely breathtaking,” he captures your mouth and proceeds toturn you to a quivering mess in his arms. You’re grasping at his biceps to keepfrom dropping to the floor and he hauls you against his chest in one deftmovement.

No one ever calls you ‘Elizabeth’, except for your mother.The way that it rolls from his tongue, swimming on the rich honey of his voice;it melts you, warming your everywhere.

His powerful body rotates and he sets you firmly on thetable, standing between your legs. After taking another thorough inventory ofyour teeth, his fingers work at the fasteners of your jacket and turtleneck.Some sense seeps back into the foreground of your consciousness.

“Mmmm…w-wait,” hisface raises from your jaw and his hands rest over your clothed breasts, “I need to know one thing.”

“Anything,” hekisses your nose; regarding you with tender eyes, his hands rub soothingly upand down your arms, “What is it?”

“Is it—Is it because I look like her,” the question leaves you in a rush, you’re suddenly breathless.His hands cup your face, his expression takes on an air of seriousness.

“No. Initially—yes,” you attempt to hide and his fingers onyour chin bring you back to him, “The more I watched you, the further in love Ifell. Now, I see you. Your humor,talent, dazzling smile, the way you smell your tea before you take each drink,”you both chuckle at your idiosyncrasy.

“I’ve done that for a long time. Who knows why–,” his lipsseal yours, swallowing the rest of your babbling.

“I’ve wanted to taste you for weeks,” he runs his tonguealong your jaw and down the muscles of your neck. It’s provocative and you letthe whimper flow from you, grasping at his head, pulling him closer.

Now you’re down to your bra, bare from the waste up; hefeels you shiver against the cool air of his cabin. As he strokes your back togenerate warmth, he calls to the computer to change the temperature of theroom. As stupid as it sounds, this is the most anyone has done for you in months, maybe even a year. The caringgesture swells inside your chest and morphs into pure passion.

No longer an innocent bystander, you take action, threadingyour fingers through his hair and you change the angle of his head and open hismouth to you. Sucking greedily at his lips, gnashing teeth, he snarls andgrowls against you; the fabric of your bra is ripped away and your nipplesharden at the sudden temperature change.

He cups each breast, weighing it as he breaks away to starehungrily at them. You’ve been told before that you’re a ‘bit larger’ thanaverage. Judging by the dark sparkle in his eyes, he is thinking the samething. Throwing caution to the wind, you firmly guide his face to your chestand he takes the hint, closing his mouth greedily over a waiting nipple.

The fire he’s blazing across you burns straight through toyour already throbbing cunt. You haven’t been this wet in your life; this man is intoxicating,overloading every one of your senses. Watching him is just as erotic as thesensations he’s creating; his other hand fondles your unattended breast,readying it for his mouth.  

You sigh, low and long, your head thrown back as you leavehim to his work. Running your fingernails over his scalp, massaging at the hardmuscles of his neck and shoulders. He is wearing entirely too many layers. Youbring your hands around and press against him. His mouth pops off your tit witha wet smack and he looks right at you.

“I need you naked.Now.”

He drops a kiss to each of your breasts and one to your lipsbefore pulling your legs around his hips, working his hands under your ass. Youget the hint and settle against him, wrapping your arms around his shoulders,tucking your face into the warmth of his neck.

The heat in your belly makes it’s way to your heart; you snuggleimpossibly closer into him. His hold on you makes you feel safe, protected,loved. He lays you gently onto his bed; your arms recline over your head as hewatches you concentrate on his body.

He is lean, long, hard; the muscles of his chest and abdomenripple under soft caramel skin as he unfastens his trousers and pushes themslowly down his thighs. You rub your thighs together anxiously at the sight ofhis erection twitching under the thin material of his briefs.

Answering your prayers, he hooks his thumbs under theelastic of his waist band and releases himself with a hiss. Your hands travelover your breasts and tickle your belly as you reach for your own pants. Hethumbs the glistening head of his cock; your hips raise to let your pants andunderwear down your legs.

He pulls them off the rest of the way, depositing your bootsand socks on the floor, kissing his way up the arch of your foot. His tonguetickles your ankle, tracing up your leg, running flat and slow along your innerthigh. He opens your legs to him and breathes hot air over the tight wetness ofyour sex.

“Gods,” he runshis finger through your lips, opening you, “Sowet.”

Your hands grasp at his hair and he grunts, swirling histongue over your swollen clit. His hands massage your thighs and ass as he sucksand nips at your cunt. You feel him press a finger into you, a fresh rush ofwetness lubricates him as he pumps into you slowly.

“So tight. Mmm…that’sit. Ride. Take me.”

You rock against his thrusts, pulling his head up your body;he nuzzles your breasts before claiming your mouth. He’s wet and slippery withyou and you taste it on his tongue. Adding a second finger, his thumb rubsdelicately around your clit.

You shudder and shake; he’s nibbling on your neck, lickingyour collar bone, feasting on your breasts. It feels like he’s everywhere withthe masterful way he works your body. It sings as you writhe under him; yourmuscles ripple tightly with the return of his fingers deep inside you.

Gasping and clawing at his back, your orgasm tears throughyou; the surprising force of it taking your breath away. You open your eyes tosee him watching your pleasure play across your face; his fingers continue tomove carefully inside you, riding out your aftershocks.

“You’re amazing,” yourlips slowly war with his, tongues tangling, his hand roams your torso. You bitehis lip, pulling it into your mouth and he ruts his erection against your slickthrobbing slit.

“Oh, yes. Please.”

“Tell me. Tell me whatyou want,” he pants into your mouth; hand guiding his cock over your clit.You press down into him, hooking your legs around his thighs. He groans deeply,mouth to your ear, his cock nudging at your entrance.

“Is this what youwant,” you feel him push into you slowly, cunt rippling deliciously aroundthe hard and heavy cock. A moan leaves you in a rush, your legs are beingpressed back as he sinks into you down to the hilt.

“Alright,” hemurmurs in question; you adjust to his size, nodding in affirmation.

“How do you like it?” Experimentalthrusts cause your toes to curl, heels urging him at the firm globes of hisass.    

“H-ha-rd. Deep. Uhng.Yes. Oh! God! Chakotay,” finally, his name falls from your lips and itcalls his attention to your face. He grins, kissing you passionately whilefucking you into the mattress.

It’s the best sex of your life; every nerve ending isfiring, electricity skittering across your goose flesh, bursting in a searingthrob in your cunt.

Chakotay’s tongue slides along your own in counterpoint tothe steady pounding his hips are giving you. You revel in the feeling of hisbody covering you, protecting you, warming you, loving you. Hanging on to the sweaty softness of his shoulderblades, the thoughts running through your mind send you into a second series ofspasms.

He grunts hotly against your ear as your inner muscles milkhis cock for all it’s worth; drawing him deeper, waiting for him to fill you.The rhythm of his thrusts stutter and he cradles your body as he spurts, thewarmth spreading beyond your womb right to your soul.

You cling to him, something welling up inside you,threatening to break. Tears burn at the back of your eyes and a sob bursts fromyour chest. Immediately, his eyes are on you, examining, he pulls out and youwhine at the loss of contact.

“Are you hurt? What’s wrong,” hands brush the hair from yourface, firm fingers under your chin bring you to brown eyes filled with worry.He rolls to lay beside you, taking stock of your body, running hands over you.

“Shhh,” he hushes, “Breathe. Deep breaths.” Tears begin anewas he gently traces your features, pulling you to rest on his chest. Warm handsmassage at your lower back, soothing you with the thunder of his heartbeatbeneath your ear.

“I didn’t hurt you, did I,” he kisses the top of your head,his tone anxious.

“N-no. I just–,” you gasp in for air, “I…ha-ven’t b-beenthis close to an-nyone in a long ti-me,” he hums and it reverberates throughyour whole body.

“In my lifetime, I’ve had my share of sex,” you huff out alaugh and he chuckles in response, “There are few instances where my spirit hasfelt a connection.”

He pauses and combs through your hair; you can feel hishesitancy.

“I felt it too,” yourwhisper flows over his broad chest. He holds you tighter and your stomach rumblespainfully.

“I felt that. I doremember promising you some dinner,” laughter erupts from the both of you andhe brings you to sit up with him. You lay in the embrace of his arm, staring upinto his shining eyes. He kisses you once more and moves to get up.

“Stay right here. I’ll bring you a bowl,” his shapely assdisappears out the door and you snuggle deeper into his sheets, inhaling hisscent.

“What are you doingtomorrow night,” the deep voice calls from the other room.

“Nothing special,” you reply. He rounds the corner, twobowls of vindaloo, completely nude. He is the picture of perfection.

“Dinner again?”

“Certainly,” the bowl is deposited in your waiting hands,“As long as I can have dessert first.”

[voyagerafod]

Star Trek Voyager: A Fire of Devotion: Part 3 of 4: Sweeter Than Heaven: Chapter Four

Chapter Four

    Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay sat across from each other in the Captain's quarters over lunch, like they did most days, but today’s lunch was quieter than usual.     “It’s been over a week, Kathryn,” Chakotay said, finally breaking the awkward silence. “If either the Vaadwaur or the Turei were going to come after us they’d have done so by now.”     “You’re probably right,” Janeway said, taking a sip of her coffee. “Let’s talk about other things.”     “Like?”     “What are your thoughts on how the Equinox survivors are doing?”     Chakotay picked up a PADD he had put on the table when lunch started.     “It so happens,” he said, “I was planning to bring that up later myself. The engineering staff seems to think pretty highly of Marla Gilmore, though she largely keeps to herself. James Morrow has been getting by in the labs, also stays pretty quiet. Brian Sofin does his job equally as well as the first two, but is a bit more sociable. Word has it he’s got a friendship budding with Neelix.”

    “Wow,” Janeway said. “Making friends already? I’d hoped it would happen, but I also didn’t think it would happen this quickly.”     “Well,” Chakotay said with a wry grin, “remember how much you used to worry about the Starfleet and Maquis crews getting along?”     Janeway chuckled. “Good point. How long has it been since that was an issue for anybody?”

    “I don’t even remember, I’d have to look it up.”

    “Okay, so that covers three out of five. The other two?”     “Lessing is a little hard to get a bead on. He shows up on time, does his duties, then leaves. He doesn’t talk to anyone, not even the other Equinox crew near as anyone can tell. He’s not incompetent, but his department heads agree that he seems to be putting in the minimum amount of effort. He’s not being lazy, he gets things done when and how he’s told, but there’s a general sense that he could be doing better. It’s almost as if he doesn’t want to earn back any of the crew’s trust.”     “That could probably be guilt,” Janeway said. “Maybe he doesn’t feel like he deserves the second chance we’re giving him.”     “Seems likely,” Chakotay said. He sighed, then handed the PADD across to Janeway. “That just leaves Angelo Tassoni.”     “I’ve heard rumors. The word ‘asshole’ was used.”     “Sounds about right,” Chakotay said. “He hasn’t done anything we can actually throw him in the brig over, at least not yet. And he does show up for every single shift on time and does what he’s told, and does it well in all fairness. It’s his attitude everyone has a problem with. He comes across as smug, and several reports say that he still will try to defend Captain Ransom’s actions to anyone who tries to engage him in conversation. Even the other Equinox survivors don’t seem to want anything to do with him. I think we should consider reassigning him.”     “To where?” Janeway said. “The few things his file says he’s good at are things that would require more security access than I’ve allowed any of the Equinox crew to have so far. Short of just confining him to quarters, which I’d really rather not do when we’re still decades away from-”

    Janeway stopped as she noticed the lights in the room dimmed suddenly. She was about to ask why, when the ship suddenly began shuddering. The com chirped and Harry Kim’s voice filled the room.     “Senior staff,” he said, “report to the bridge.”     Janeway tapped her com badge. “On our way.”

---

    Chakotay wondered if maybe he’d been wrong about the Vaadwaur not coming after them, but if it were an attack, Harry would’ve given the order to go to battle stations first. He followed Janeway out of her quarters, and the two quickly made their way to the bridge, where Harry gave up the center chair as soon as they arrived. Both Tom Paris and Tuvok were already at their stations.

    “Report,” Janeway said.     “We’ve got level nine gravimetric distortions closing on our position,” Harry said.

    “They appear to be emanating from subspace,” Tuvok said.

    “On screen,” Janeway said. The viewscreen showed space distorting behind Voyager, close enough that the ship’s own nacelles were in frame of the visual sensors. “Shields.”     “Already done,” Harry said.     The distortion on the viewscreen soon changed as the distortion completed its exit from subspace. Glowing bright orange and roughly oval shaped, it seemed to emit both flames and electrical sparks. It appeared to be following Voyager, but for some reason all Chakotay could think was that the distortion looked familiar somehow. Not in the sense that he had seen it personally, but perhaps in a textbook or an archive video.

    “I can’t outrun this thing at impulse,” Tom said. “It’s catching up.”     “Go to warp,” Janeway said.

    “It’s disrupting our warp field,” Tom said.

    “Seven of Nine to the bridge,” Chakotay heard over the com. “I’m observing the situation from astrometrics. I recognize this anomaly from my time as a drone. We called it Spatial Anomaly 521. It’s attracted to objects that emit electromagnetic energy. I strongly advise we cut power and reverse our shield polarity.”     “Do it,” Janeway said without hesitation. The ship’s shuddering briefly got worse, then tapered off as the viewscreen showed the anomaly glide right past them.

    “That was close,” Tom said. “If it had caught up to us the gravimetric forces would’ve ripped our hull right off.”

    Chakotay began tapping away on the console by his arm, pulling up images from Starfleet records regarding gravimetric anomalies. It didn’t take him long to find what he was looking for.     “I was right,” he said.     “Commander?” Janeway said.     “I’ve seen this before too. In history books. It’s called a graviton ellipse. It travels through subspace. The Federation database confirms it. Look.” He shifted his monitor so the captain could see it.     “I’ll be damned,” she said. “It’s only been observed a handful of times. Looks like we get to add another encounter to the record.”

    “Unless there’s more than one of these, Captain,” Chakotay said, “we just found the ellipse that took the Ares Four. It was a ship from one of the early Mars missions. Its command module and pilot, Lieutenant John Kelly, were engulfed by a phenomenon that looked just like that one, according to the records we have available from 2032.”

“I remember reading about that,” Tom said. “The two other astronauts were stranded there for weeks before a rescue ship arrived. I didn’t know you read about the Mars missions too, Commander.”

“I’ve spent some of my spare time reading up on pre-Federation Earth history,” Chakotay said. “I guess I can blame you for that, Tom. You’re history buff ways have rubbed off on me.”

“You’re welcome,” Tom said, smirking.

“Captain,” Chakotay continued, “no one has ever gotten this close to a graviton ellipse and lived to talk about it. This could be a remarkable opportunity.”     Janeway smiled and nodded. “Take us down to Yellow Alert. Keep our power output at minimal levels. Match the ellipse’s course and speed but keep a safe distance.”     “Yes, Captain,” Tom said.

“I suggest we launch a probe,” Chakotay said. “and maybe see what makes this thing tick.”     “Better make it quick,” Janeway said. “There’s no telling when our friend here is going to burrow back into subspace.”  

---

    Seven of Nine could not remember a time when she had seen Commander Chakotay quite so enthusiastic about something, especially not something relating to old Earth history. That had always seemed to be Ensign Paris’ field of interest. The Commander stood next to her now in astrometrics, waiting for the telemetry from the probe they’d sent into Anomaly 521.

    “Ah, there we are,” Chakotay said, and Seven turned her gaze away from the screen to look at him and his console. “It appears to have entered a stable state, obviously temporary based on what we already know. Gravimetric forces appear to be negligible while in this state.”     “The eye of the storm?” Seven said.     “Good metaphor,” Chakotay said. “Computer, run a multispectral analysis of the anomaly's core.”     “Analysis in progress,” the computer voice said.     “The Borg developed shields to get through the gravimetric currents,” Seven said. “But they intended to use them to dissipate the anomaly from within. I would need to modify the designs if we intend to explore the anomaly rather than destroy it.”     “I don’t know if we’ll be doing either,” Chakotay said. “Might be too risky. Though I won’t lie, if I had the chance to fly through that thing, just once, I’d probably take it. I’m a bit surprised the Borg were so interested in destroying it rather than learning how it operated. Seems to contradict their stated goals.”     Seven sighed. “Don’t even get me started,” she said quietly.     “Core analysis complete,” the computer said.     Seven and Chakotay both began going over the collected data as it appeared on both their monitors.     “There are more than 2.8 Billion compounds in the core,” Seven said, openly showing surprise. “Fascinating.”     “The computer’s isolated several synthetic alloys native to my home sector,” Chakotay said.     “It could be this Ares Four you mentioned earlier,” Seven said. She saw Chakotay looking up at the graphic representation of the graviton ellipse, smiling slightly.     “Could be,” he said. “An amazing discovery, don’t you think, Seven?”     Seven of Nine was not as interested in Earth history as Chakotay or Mister Paris were, and as such could not bring herself to share her shipmate’s enthusiasm. Luckily, she knew better than to say so out loud.     “Quite,” she said.

---

    Later that day, in the briefing room, after the senior staff along with Seven had been filled in on the details of the Ares Four, Chakotay asked Seven about what she’d said to him in astrometrics about the Borg seeking a way inside the graviton ellipse.     “Do you think you could apply those shield enhancements to the Delta Flyer?” he said.     “I believe I could, yes,” Seven said. “Though I should note for the records the risks involved in going in there after the Ares Four commend module, as its value would be purely historical.”

    “Your concerns are noted, Seven,” Janeway said.

    “By my calculations,” Tuvok said, “we have less than sixteen hours before the anomaly returns to subspace.”     “We’ll have to work quickly then,” Janeway said. Chakotay was sure he heard a hint of excitement creeping into her voice. He couldn’t help but smile. The Captain had seemed to have been going through the motions the past several months. Her funk was not quite as severe as what she’d went through during their time in dark space last year, but she still seemed to be feeling emotional after effects of everything that had happened with the Equinox.     “An engineering team could help me modify the Flyer’s shields more quickly, Captain,” Seven said, bringing Chakotay’s attention back to the matter at hand.     “Agreed. B’Elanna, I want you and Vorik to help Seven,” Janeway said.     “Aye, Captain,” B’Elanna said.     “Tom,” Janeway said, “review the database from the Ares Four mission. It might tell us something about this anomaly we’ve missed.” Janeway smiled as she glanced knowingly at Chakotay. “Now, we’re going to need a mission leader,” she said.     “I volunteer,” Chakotay said, not needing any further prompting.     “I thought you might,” Janeway said. “Let’s do it.”

    Tom chuckled. “Beat me to the punch, Commander.”     “Don’t worry, Tom,” Chakotay said. “We’ll be taking the Flyer in. Can’t do that without her pilot now can we?”

    “Two history buffs in one shuttle?” Tom said. “We’ll end up getting nerd all over the bulkheads.”     “Better nerd than testosterone,” B’Elanna said.     Janeway and Harry both started laughing, while Tuvok merely raised an eyebrow. Seven just smirked and shook her head while tapping out calculations on a PADD.     “Okay, enough small talk,” Janeway said. “Get to work. Dismissed.”

---

    “Thanks for agreeing to this, Commander,” Samantha said as Naomi moved to get a better view of the screen in astrometrics. “She heard about the Ares Four and the mission to recover the command module, and now all of a sudden Earth history is her passion. This week, anyway.”     “Mom,” Naomi said defensively.     Chakotay simply laughed. “No problem,” he said, “though since this is a time sensitive mission, Tom and I will be picking up from where we left off in the records instead of starting over.”     “That’s okay,” Naomi said.     “You’re welcome to stay too of course, Sam,” Tom said.     “Sure,” Samantha said, shrugging, and moving to take a seat on the floor next to her daughter.

    The video in the center of the screen, surprisingly clear given how old it was began playing and the man who Samantha had figured was John Kelly, began describing what he was seeing, a view that the recording device was not picking up.     “It’s not a solar flare,” Kelly said. “Wow.”

    “John, can you describe it?” a female voice on the recording said.     “It’s… it’s at least one thousand meters wide. Bright.” The video started to fill with static. Another voice, this one male, chimed in.     “Your transmission is breaking up,“ that voice said.

    “It’s generating an electromagnetic radiation,” Lieutenant Kelly said. “Interfering with primary systems. I can’t get away from it.”     The lights inside the command module dimmed, but for a moment the video cleared up. Kelly reached off-screen.     “Activating the transpectral imager,” he said. “I’ll record as much data as I can.” The image began shaking violently, and the static increased. Samantha looked over at Naomi, who simply stared in open awe at the historical footage, even though all it was was a human strapped into a chair, the way pilots were in the days before artificial gravity.

    “It’s right on top of me!” Kelly said. “I’ll transmit as much I can-” the video filled with static, and all audio stopped.     “NASA,” Chakotay said, “that was the name of the organization Kelly worked for,” he added, looking at Naomi and Sam. “they received Kelly’s last telemetry at 0922 hours, October 19, 2032. The early Mars missions paved the way for humanity’s exploration of space.”

    “And now the anomaly that he saw is here in the Delta Quadrant,” Naomi said. “Wow.”     “‘Wow is right,” Tom said.     “He was certainly dedicated,” Chakotay said. “His life was about to end, but he wouldn’t stop taking readings.”     “Like a real explorer,” Naomi said. Samantha put her hand on Naomi’s head.     “Don’t go getting any ideas,” she said. “Save the dangerous exploring for when you’re older.”

    The hiss of the door to astrometrics opening distracted both of them before Naomi could respond.     “Am I interrupting?” Seven of Nine said as she entered, visibly surprised to see Sam and Naomi here, but not letting it throw her off.     “Not at all,” Chakotay said. “Are the shield modifications to the Delta Flyer complete?”     “They are,” Seven said, handing a PADD to the Commander. “We’re ready for launch.”     “We?” Chakotay said.     News to me too, Samantha thought.

    “I asked the Captain to allow me to join the mission to ensure that the Borg shield modifications can be repaired quickly if any unforeseeable problems arise,” Seven said. “I do not believe it to be likely, but give the volatile nature of the anomaly, well, I believe the phrase is ‘better safe than sorry?’”     “Can I come too?” Naomi said.     “No,” Seven and Samantha said in unison, much to Tom and Chakotay’s apparent amusement.     “Please tell me B’Elanna and I don’t do that,” Tom said.     “Not that I’ve heard at least,” Chakotay said. “Back to the subject, I wish the Captain had informed me about this before hand. Tom and I were planning to go in ourselves.”     “It is still your mission, Commander,” Seven said. “I am simply going along as... added insurance.”

    Chakotay looked at Tom, who simply shrugged. “Alright then, welcome to the team, Seven. We’ll just need to see the Doctor before we take off.”

---

    “I’m preparing an inoculant to counter the effects of gravimetric radiation,” the Doctor said, holding up a yellow vial while scanning it with a medical device that Chakotay could swear he had never seen before.     I really should know what all this medical equipment is called, he thought. I might need to help the Doctor out in a pinch, or worse. After six years you’d think I’d know some of it already.     “We’re all finished here,” the Doctor said after having applied the inoculant to Chakotay, Tom, and Seven. “except for one thing.”     “And that is?” Chakotay said, anxious to get the mission started so he could see the Ares Four up close before it was too late. The Doctor went over to one of the bio-beds, and picked up his holo-camera off the end of it. He made a move to hand it to Chakotay.     “If you want pictures, Doc,” Tom said, “you could just come with us. You know as well as anyone that the Flyer can easily seat four comfortably.”     “I asked the Captain, but she wouldn’t let me,” the Doctor said, looking dejected.     “Just take the camera, Commander,” Seven of Nine said. “If you don’t we’ll never hear the end of it.”

    Chakotay bit back a laugh and nodded, taking the camera.     “Our focus will be on recovering the module,” he said as he put the camera into the mission gear bag. “But if we can get a few glamour shots of the inside of the ellipse for you, I’ll take them.”     “That’s all I’m asking for, Commander,” the Doctor said with that big smile he would always get; the one that Chakotay would find either charming or annoying depending on the context.     “Team,” he said, “report to the shuttle bay.”     “Yes sir,” Tom said.     “Yes, Commander,” Seven said.

The three swiftly made their way to the shuttle bay to board the Delta Flyer. After one last check-up of the shield enhancements by Seven, they left Voyager and headed straight towards the graviton ellipse.     “We’re approaching the perimeter,” Tom said, “in five, four, three, two, one.”     The small craft shuddered slightly as it passed through the outer edge of the anomaly, yellow and orange gases resembling dancing flames moving across the viewport. The shuddering got worse, but that was to be expected.     “Shields are holding,” Seven said.     “Gravimetric shear is increasing,” Tom said.     “I’m reading a spot up ahead with minimal disturbance,” Chakotay said. “Tom, go to full thrusters and punch us through. We’ll be safer in there.”     “Got it,’ Tom said. Within seconds, the Flyer stopped shuddering. Chakotay looked forward, and along with the omnipresent orange glow and flashes of yellow lightning, he could see debris scattered throughout the inside of the ellipse, much of it too small to ever be identifiable.     “Chakotay to Voyager,” he said. “We’re in. I wish you could see this, Captain. It’s incredible.”

“We’re all ears,” Janeway’s voice said over the Flyer’s com system.

Chakotay needed a moment to collect himself. He had seen some spectacular things in the galaxy, even before getting stranded in the Delta Quadrant, but this was easily among the most amazing.

“It’s very calm,” he said. “No gravimetric distortions. The E.M. activity is creating a natural luminescence. Tom called it ‘mood lighting.’”     “Hey, B’Elanna,” Tom interrupted, “it’s the perfect romantic getaway.”     “I’ll take your word for it,” B’Elanna replied.

“We’ve detected asteroid fragments,” Chakotay continued, “pieces of vessels, matter from every quadrant of the galaxy. Next time I lose something I’ll know where to look. The chemical interactions here have even created a primitive atmosphere.”

“Nothing you’d want to breathe of course,” Tom said.     “Some of the matter appears to be extra-dimensional in origin,” Seven said.     “Amazing,” Chakotay said.     “Indeed,” Seven said.     “Any sign of the Ares’ command module?” Janeway said.

“We’re picking up traces of the hull,” Tom said, “but our sensor readings are being refracted by all the debris in here.”

Chakotay thought he heard a slight hissing sound on the other end of the com.     “That was a gravimetric surge,” Tuvok said, “caused by the anomaly altering its course by .006 degrees.”     “Did you catch that?” Janeway said.     “Affirmative,” Chakotay said, “but we didn’t feel anything.”     “Makes sense given how deep you are,” Janeway said. “By our estimate you have five hours and thirty-six minutes before the ellipse returns to subspace. You better hurry it up.”     “Understood,” Chakotay said.     “I’m having difficulty isolating the debris from the command module,” Seven said. Chakotay thought he picked up a hint of disappointment in her voice. He wondered if maybe some of the crew’s general excitement about the historical find had rubbed off on her after all.

“I’m laying in a search pattern,” Tom said from the helm. “It’ll probably take a few hours to cover an area this large.”     “Seven, you and I can take that time to get some samples,” Chakotay said. “We’ll get a better idea of where this anomaly been.”     “Is that the best use of our time, Commander?” Seven said.     “Our primary objective is to retrieve the module,” Chakotay said. “but until Tom can get a lock on its position…”     “Good point. Perhaps we can learn something valuable to benefit Voyager in the interim,” Seven said.  

---

Seven ran a tricorder over several pieces of ephemera beamed aboard the Flyer from the inside of the graviton ellipse. Nothing collected so far had piqued her own interest, but the Commander’s excitement with each new discovery was palpable.     “The fossilized microbes in this ore,” she said, stopping to focus on one particular piece of debris on the table in the center of the Flyer’s back room, “appear to have had metallic membranes.”     “We’ve speculated about the possibility of metallic lifeforms,” Chakotay said, “but we’ve never discovered one.”     “We still may not have,” Seven said. “This is certainly strong evidence, but I would refrain from labelling it proof just yet.”     “Fair point,” Chakotay said. “Catalogue it anyway though.”     “Already done,” Seven said. “I have been doing so as I scan.”     “Efficient,” Chakotay said.     “Naturally,” Seven said, allowing herself a bit of pride, though careful as always not to be too much so.

“Is there anything you ever just wing, Seven?” Chakotay asked in a jovial tone.     “Nothing I’m allowed to disclose,” Seven said. Chakotay snorted.     “Okay, I walked right into that one,” he said. He ran his own tricorder over the piece of ore that Seven had found the evidence for metallic life on.     “This piece of rock,” he said, “is billions of years older than Earth. From a time when the galaxy was still forming. We’re scanning a piece of history. Maybe even the beginnings of life itself.”     “Put that way,” Seven said, “perhaps I should show this a rock a bit more… reverence than I have.”     “You’re under no obligation to feel as excited about this as anyone else, Seven. I’m just hoping to convey why I’m excited. I get the feeling you don’t always ‘get’ human behavior, even after all you’ve experienced.”     “That is an accurate assessment, Commander,” Seven said. “I apologize if I’ve been ‘ruining your moment.’”     “Not at all,” Chakotay said, before going back to scanning some of the other items. “You know, I could easily spend the rest of my life studying the stuff we find in here.”     “And leave Voyager without its First Officer?” Seven asked.     “I think you’d manage without me,” he said, “but don’t worry, I’m not actually going to leave. Just saying that I could. Paleontology was an early love of mine. I wonder why I let it slide as much as I have. I don’t think I’ve ever even talked about it with anyone on the Voyager crew, not that I can remember anyway.”     “Not as many opportunities to take part in dig sites when one is constantly on the move,” Seven said. “Were the journey to the Alpha Quadrant not the ship’s priority, I imagine you would have had a number of opportunities.”     “Good point,” Chakotay said. “though even before then, it seemed like something would get in the way of pursuing it. Do you remember what you wanted to be when you were younger, Seven? Before you were assimilated, I mean.”     “My memories of that time are sketchy,” Seven admitted, “but from what I can recall, I wanted to be a dancer. A ballerina to be specific. That is why on our early dates, Samantha would often take me to live performances on the holodeck.” Seven smiled as she remembered one performance in particular, the one where Sam had said “I love you” to her for the first time     “Have you pursued that interest in your spare time since then?” Chakotay asked.     “No,” Seven said. “I no longer have the desire to perform.” She sighed. “Just one more thing the Borg took from me I’m afraid.”

“Sorry,” Chakotay said. “Didn’t mean to trigger any bad memories.”

“No offense taken,” Seven said. “Samantha and I have had similar conversations before. I am at least grateful that Naomi will likely not face the kinds of impediments to her own desires that I did.”

“Amen to that,” Chakotay said.

The com chirped, and Tom’s voice filled the back room. “Head’s up folks,” he said. “I think we’re getting close.”

    “On our way,” Chakotay said, heading for the door back to the cockpit. Seven put down her tricorder, and followed close behind.

---

    Chakotay took his seat as Tom began filling him in on what the Delta Flyer’s sensors had found.     “I’ve isolated the module,” he said. “Bearing 39, Mark 1-5. There.”     Chakotay looked out the viewport, and almost gasped at what he saw. It wasn’t just the debris of the Ares Four, it was the command module itself, largely whole, with only a few pieces floating around it.

    “It appears to be largely intact,” Seven said.     “I’m reading hull breaches and corrosion,” Chakotay said, now looking down at his console. “All things considered though, it is very well preserved. I can honestly say I did not expect this much of it to be in one piece.”     “Agreed,” Seven said. “There is no way we would be able to fit that in our cargo bay.”     “Not without breaking it up into smaller pieces,” Tom said, “which I’m assuming we don’t want to do.”     “You assume correctly, Ensign,” Chakotay said. “We can use a tractor beam to tow it back to Voyager.”     “We’d have to extend our shields around it to keep it from getting more damaged than it already is on the way out,” Tom said. “Can we do that, Seven?”     “With some minor modifications, yes,” Seven said.

    Chakotay started to tell Seven to start working on that right away, but was cut off by the voice of Captain Janeway, hailing them from Voyager.     “Janeway to Delta Flyer. We’ve got a problem. The anamoly’s on a collision course with a dark matter asteroid.”     “Captain,” Chakotay said, “we’ve located the Mars orbiter. We’re adapting a tractor beam. Just give us a minute.”     “You don’t have it, get out of there. We have no idea how the ellipse will react when it collides with the asteroid.”     Chakotay felt his heart sink, and glancing at Tom he could tell the helmsman felt the same way.     “Is the tractor beam ready?” Chakotay said.     “About, sir,” Tom said, “but-”     “Lock on to it and take us out,” Chakotay said. It would be a risky maneuver, one that would probably get him chewed out by the captain later, but he wasn’t willing to let this chance go, not yet. The view outside the forward viewport shifted as Tom maneuvered the Flyer into position.     “Tractor beam engaged,” he said.     “Good work, Tom,” Chakotay said.     “Chakotay, you’ve got less than a minute,” Janeway’s voice said.     “Acknowledged,” Chakotay said.     “The module is slowing us down,” Tom said.     “Maintain tractor lock,” Chakotay said. “Seven, how long until we clear the anomaly?”

    “At our current speed, forty seconds,” Seven said.

    “We can do this,” Chakotay said, the ship beginning to shudder as it approached the barrier.     “Chakotay, status,” Janeway’s voice said. Even through the static Chakotay could pick up on the concern in her voice.

    “We’re on our way,” he said, not even needing to ask Voyager to know that he was cutting it dangerously close.

    “Almost-” Seven started to say, but was cut off when a shockwave hit the Flyer, sending it flying backwards into the anomaly, the inertial dampeners barely managing to compensate and keep the G forces from rendering them all unconscious.     “Tom?” Chakotay said.     “The tractor beam was disconnected by whatever hit us,” Tom said.     “The shockwave must’ve been the result of the dark matter asteroid colliding with the ellipse,” Seven said. “Had our shields not held we likely would’ve been destroyed.”     “The module?” Chakotay asked.     “Still there, looks like we took the worst of it.”     “Delta Flyer to Voyager,” Chakotay said. No response.     “We’ve lost contact,” Seven said. “I can’t raise them. Propulsion is off-line as well.”     Chakotay sighed.     “Damn,” he said. “This is my fault. I put collecting a historical artifact ahead of the safety of my team.”     “I can’t say I might not have done the same thing, Chakotay,” Tom said. “Don’t beat yourself up over it. Unless we die, then yeah, beat yourself up over it.”     “Gentlemen,” Seven said, “I suggest we focus on repairs. The anomaly is showing signs of returning to subspace. We have less than two hours.”

    “That might be enough time,” Chakotay said, taking his own look at the damage report. “The engines are in really bad shape.”

    The ship shuddered, but not the shockwave this time.     “A gravimetric surge,” Seven said. “They will only increase the closer the anomaly gets to its return to subspace.”

---

    The next twenty minutes were quiet and tense aboard the Delta Flyer, but Seven of Nine did not let it get to her. She still did not care for prolonged silence, but she also knew that the situation required everyone’s focus if they were to return to Voyager. There would be time to discuss how the mission could’ve gone differently later.

“Voyager to Delta Flyer,” Janeway’s staticy voice said over the com system.

    “Excellent,” Seven said. “I was concerned that repair might not work. Voyager, this is Seven of Nine. We read you.”     “Are you alright? What’s your status?”

“We’ve sustained heavy damage,” Chakotay said. “but we’re alive. It’s good to hear your voice.”     “Likewise,” Janeway said. “Give me a full report.”     Chakotay did so, not leaving out why the Delta Flyer had not exited the anomaly as quickly as it could’ve.     “Captain,” he said, “I take full responsibility for-”     “We’ll discuss that later,” Janeway said. “Right now, let’s focus on saving your lives.”     “We’re open to any ideas, Captain,” Tom said.     “We’re working on that. Stand by.”

---

    Chakotay looked at the chronometer. Only eighty-two minutes left, and still no solution. Each passing minute only increased his self-loathing. If he’d been on this shuttle alone that would be one thing, but thanks to him not one but two of Voyager’s best crewmembers were about to lose someone they loved. Tragedy compounding upon tragedy. At least with the comm channel open again they’d all get a chance to say goodbye if the worst came to pass.     “It may be possible to modify a tractor beam to cut through the gravimetric interference,” Tuvok said.

    “You’ll never be able to get it all the way through to the core,” Harry Kim said.     “Start working on it anyway,” Janeway said.

    “You said all the energy conduits are fused?” B’Elanna said.     “Correct,” Seven said. “We can’t get any power to the engines.”     “If the replicators were working we could whip up a new plasma manifold and be on our way,” Tom said.

    “Tom, this isn’t the time to be sarcastic,” B’Elanna said “we’re trying to… hang on, I’ve just been sent a message to my PADD. It’s anonymous for some reason, why would…”     There was a long enough silence that Chakotay was afraid they’d lost the connection to Voyager again.     “Well I’ll be damned,” B’Elanna said. “How does an old plasma manifold sound?”     “What?” Tom said.     “The message I got. It said the power distribution system on the Area Four module isn’t that different from the Flyer’s I ran a check on the schematics. It won’t be pretty, and the manifold would probably be burnt out by the time you got back, but it could be enough to get you out of there.”

    “Where is it on the module?” Tom asked.     “In a control panel in the main cockpit,” B’Elanna said. “I’m send the relevant schematic to you now. It was called an ion distributor. With just a few tweaks it could be modified to channel warp plasma.”     “Do you have enough power to beam one of you to the module?” Janeway said.     “Yes, Captain,” Tom said. “I’ll go.”     “No,” Chakotay said. “I’ll do it. I got us into this mess, it’s my responsibility to get us out.”     “And besides,” Janeway said, “If another gravimetric surge hits we’ll need you at the helm.”

    “Seven,” Chakotay said, standing up and moving towards the back of the Flyer. “help me into an EVA suit and beam me over to the module.”     “Understood,” Seven said, getting up follow him. Once they were in the back, Chakotay quickly began getting into the suit while Seven checked to make sure the oxygen tank was fully connected and fully stocked.     “Let me know when we are ready, Seven,” he said. He felt somewhat nervous. A part of him felt he didn’t deserve this chance to set foot on the Ares Four, a piece of Earth history, when he had so nearly gotten his shipmate’s killed trying to retrieve it. “Perhaps you should go instead,” he said, the guilt getting to him as he reached for the helmet.     “Commander,” Seven said, “don’t allow your desire for penance to cloud your judgement. Apart from Mister Paris, you are the one most qualified to complete this mission. Don’t use your guilt as an excuse to let me take away something that is rightfully yours.”     “You make that sound like an order, Ensign,” Chakotay said.     “Write me up for insubordination when we return to Voyager. The suit’s systems are all nominal. We can begin transport at any time.”

    Chakotay affixed the helmet, turned on the suit’s wrist-mounted flashlight, and gave the order to energize. Within seconds, he was inside the Ares Four module, the first living human to have done so in over three hundred years.     “Well, here I am,” Chakotay said, as he took out a tricorder and began scanning for the ion distributor. He also looked for a data port of some kind. Perhaps, if there was time, and if the module’s computer had held up well enough over the centuries, he could download all sorts of data that would be great for the history books.

    He almost gasped when his light shone on the center chair of the cockpit. There sat the body of Lieutenant John Kelly. It was remarkably well preserved, even considering the conditions on the module. He wondered if perhaps he could bring it back with him, so the astronaut could be given a proper funeral, but first things first. He attached a portable battery device to the ship’s computer, giving it the energy it would need to run. An active data file containing log entries from Kelly opened, but he muted the sound right away. He set his tricorder to begin a background downloading of the files while he continued to look for the distributor.     Perhaps, he thought, at the end of the day all of this, even the risk, will have been worth it.

    It took Chakotay a moment to realize that he had seen the timestamp on the recording before he’d paused it.     “Tom,” he said, “did you hear that sound before I muted it?”

    “Yeah,” Tom said over the suit’s com. “Was that a recording of Lieutenant Kelly?”     “Yes,” Chakotay said.     “Thought so.”     “Tom, that log entry was recorded inside the ellipse.”     “For real?”     “I’m surprised too,” Chakotay said. “Just like his crew on Mars, I’d assumed he’d been killed instantly. I’m downloading the files now while I’m still searching for that ion distributor.”

    “Wow. Just, wow,” Tom said. Chakotay had to echo the sentiment.

---

    B’Elanna Torres entered engineering. As was usually the case during a situation such a rescue op, all hands were on deck, including people for whom this was not their assigned shift. In some cases engineers were here on their day off, but not the one who she wanted to talk to. PADD in hand, she went over to a console where Ensign Vorik and Marla Gilmore were going over a simulation of tractor beam modifications.     “Marla,” B’Elanna said, “can I talk to you for a second?”     The former Equinox engineer looked nervous, and for a moment turned to Vorik, as if she expected him to protect her.     “Yes, ma’am,” Marla said. “I’m sorry if I shouldn’t be here, but Mister Carey told me this was an all hands-”     “It is,” B’Elanna said. “And stop looking like you’re expecting a punch in the face already, you’re making me sad.”     “Ma’am?”     “Look, I just want you to know,” B’Elanna handed the PADD to Marla, whose eyes went wide when she realized what was on it, “I think I know why you felt like you couldn’t take credit for your idea regarding using the ion distributor on the Ares Four.”     Marla looked back on Vorik, who raised his hands.     “I did not inform her, as per your request,” he said.     “Then how did-”     “You did a shitty job of covering your tracks,” B’Elanna said. “I can see why you chose the Engineering Corp over Starfleet Intelligence. Took me all of two minutes to figure out who sent this.”     “I apologize, Lieutenant Torres,” Marla said, her face turning red.     “In the future, Gilmore, if you have an idea to bring to the table just bring it. I get that you feel guilt about what you did on the Equinox, but that’s a good thing. Bad people don’t feel guilty, they just make excuses. And as for your face, so long as you remain Marla Gilmore and don’t magically turn into Maxwell Burke, you don’t have to worry about me punching it.”     “Um, thank you?” Marla said.     “We’re in touch with the Delta Flyer,” B’Elanna said. “So far the plan seems to be working. Just thought you should know. Good work, Gilmore.”

---

    Chakotay had finally found what he was looking for, along with some other smaller items that he stowed in pouches on the suit, including a picture of Lieutenant Kelly and his wife. That was the good news.     “Bad news,” he said. “I’ve found the distributor but it’s fused to the hull. I’m trying to remove it without damaging it.”     “Hate to rush you,” Tom said, “but we’ve only got fifteen minutes left.”     “Working on it,” Chakotay said. “In the meantime, I’ve found Kelly’s last log entry. I can play it over the com.”     “Go ahead,” Tom said. “Not much for Seven and me to do until you get back apart from keeping the Flyer level.”

    Chakotay reached over and flipped a switch on the console, and the video began playing.

    “All systems go. Watch me, Dad. I'm flying,” Kelly said, just before making a noise imitating a crash landing. “Bad landing. Call a MedEvac team. John Kelly's first flight, not exactly A-OK. Remember that, Dad? Jumped off the roof with a parachute made out of blankets. I guess I didn't calculate the aerodynamics. Of course, I was only six. I guess this is John Kelly's last flight. This time, I can't blame it on pilot error. This time, no regrets. What I've seen proves we were right to come out here. We're not alone, I know that now. The module's losing power. I'm taking life support off-line. Re-routing whatever's left to the imager. Keep it running as long as possible. Mission Control... Dad... Whoever finds this... Do me a favor. Take all the data I've collected. Put it to good use. I hope you don't look at this as a failure. I don't. Actually, I do have one regret. I never found out who won the World Series. I'm tired. And I can't..."

    “That’s it,” Chakotay said. “It goes blank after that. I- wait, hang on. Yes, I’ve got the distributor, and the download of Kelly’s database is almost complete.”

    “Hurry, Commander,” Seven said. “We’re running out of time.”     “Good thing I had this running the whole time then. Just a few more seconds, and… Done! Beam me back. No, wait, hang on one second.” Chakotay fumbled in one of the suit’s pouches and found a spare comm badge. Most Starfleet suits had one, just in case. “Lock on to my comm badge as well as the suit’s back-up. We’re bringing Lieutenant Kelly home with us.”     “Aye, sir,” Tom said.

---

    Janeway paced back and forth on Voyager’s bridge, waiting for an update from the crew members on the Delta Flyer.     “Paris to Voyager,” Tom’s voice came through with a bit of static, but understandable.     “Report,” Janeway said.

    “We’re trying to integrate the distributor. Stand by, Captain.”

    “How long do they have?” Janeway asked Tuvok.     “Four minutes,” he said.     After a silence that Janeway could swear she actually felt more than heard, Tom’s voice came through again.     “Paris to Voyager, open the shuttle bay doors, we’re coming home.     “Yes,” Harry said cheerfully.

    “Acknowledged,” Janeway said, letting out a sigh of relief.     “Laying in an escape trajectory,” Tom said, “and away we-” The sound of sparking in the background made Janeway tense up again.     “The anomaly is beginning to return to subspace,” Tuvok said.     “The Flyer?” she said.     “Eighteen hundred meters from the perimeter,” Harry said. “They’re cutting it close but it looks like they’re going to make it.”

    “Captain, the anomaly’s submerging faster than anticipated!” B’Elanna shouted from the auxiliary engineering console.     “Tuvok, are we in tractor range?”     “Not quite. We would need to get three hundred meters closer,” he said.     “Do it,” Janeway said.     “That’s dangerously close, ma’am,” Harry said.     “Full reverse thrusters once we have a lock on the Flyer,” she said. “We can do this.”

Voyager shuddered as they moved closer to the graviton ellipse, space around it looking as it had on the viewscreen when it was first appearing.     “I have them, Captain,” Tuvok said, several tense seconds later.     “Good work. Now get us out of here.”

---

    “So in the end, we collected sixty teraquads of data on the anomaly,” Seven told Sam as they walked toward the turbolift side by side.     “Impressive work, Annie.”     “The entire team deserves credit for the effort,” Seven said.     “Well, still,” Sam said.     “Will you be joining us on the bridge for the ceremony?”     “I don’t think so,” Sam said. “I’ve never been good at funerals. Even if it was for someone I never met. It’s good that Lieutenant Kelly is going to get a proper one though. His poor family back on Earth, three hundred years ago, they probably had a memorial service, but without a body I imagine for some of them it made it hard to accept.”     “Well, since I am attending, I suppose this is where we part ways until lunch.” Seven gave Sam a kiss on the cheek. “I will see you later.”     “See ya,” Sam said, turning to head back the way they come, as Seven continued on to the turbolift to the bridge.

Once there, Seven moved to join the rest of the senior staff as they gathered around Kelly's remains, which had been put into a photon torpedo casing draped in a Starfleet Command flag.

“Are we ready to begin?” Janeway said.     “The ceremony is being broadcast shipwide, Captain,” Harry said.     “Very well,” Janeway said, clearing her throat before continuing.

“Space. Literally it means ‘nothing.’ A vacuum between stars and planets, but by the same token it means "everything." It's what connects all our worlds; Vulcan, Qo'noS, Talax, Earth. Centuries ago mankind sent its first wave of explorers into that void, astronauts like Mister Kelly. They paved the way for the first colonies, the first starships for those of us who've made space our home. We commend the spirit and the bravery of Lieutenant John Mark Kelly as we commit his body to space. He will not be forgotten.

  “Oh, and one last thing. I don’t know if Mister Kelly can hear us now, but on the off-chance he can…” Janeway smiled as she put her hand on the torpedo casing. “The Yankees, in Game Six.”

[sharpnothashtag]

The Good Ship CrushWay, Chapter 50

The drones are in regeneration mode again, and we see a big sweep of them all. One drone's eyes open. They gasp. They start pushing their way out of the formation and to the door. The security officers rush toward them. Seven of Nine stops the officers with a gesture and approaches them.

Seven: State your designation.

Drone: Two of Seven, Tertiary Monitor of Trimatrix 3510. We are malfunctioning.

Seven: State the problem.

Drone: We are experiencing the effects of empathy. It was in this drone's previous DNA--they were El-Aurian. This drone needs to be disassembled and returned to the hive hub to be used for spare parts.

Seven: You are on the USS Aiftadaa. We have come to return you to the way you were. What was your name?

Drone: Kovan.

Seven: I was once Annika. You said you were experiencing empathy. Tell me more about that.

Kovan: I felt a soul despair--as if someone they loved had died.

We see Bev lying on the floor next to KJ's body. Patrick is kneeling next to her.

Patrick: Beverly. It's been 10 minutes. We need to at least let Data know. (Bev lies there, looking into KJ's eyes, barely even blinking.) Please, Beverly. Please get up. Or say something. (no response. Patrick taps his combadge.) Patrick to Data.

Data: Data here.

Patrick: Please report to Sick Bay.

Data: Is something wrong?

Patrick: Please. Report to Sick Bay. I need your help.

Data: Understood.

Data enters Sick Bay. He sees Patrick standing next to Bev's head. He approaches.

Data: Is Kathryn still with us? (Patrick shakes his head.) Is Beverly okay?

Patrick: She's been lying on the floor looking into her eyes since she passed about 15 minutes ago. I can counsel her, but I don't know what to do with the body. Or what ship's functions should be. So I called you.

Data: First, we need to do an autopsy to determine cause of death.

Patrick: The EMH can do that. I can program him to do it without having to have the whole thing be explained.

Data: Good. Next, we need to get Beverly off the floor and into your office. I will do that.

Patrick: Good. Since you're her Number One (voice cracking) I suppose you'll have to take over. Are we going back to Utopia Planitia?

Data: I will set the course once I return to the bridge. There is no need to prematurely upset the crew, so I will tell Daneel privately and then let the rest of the crew know once we arrive at Deep Space 9.

Patrick: That's right--we are closer. Data, will you let me know when we get close? I need to take care of something when we get there.

Data: Of course. Go program the EMH. I will set up Kathryn's body for the autopsy. Then I will bring Beverly to your office.

Patrick is sitting in his office. Bev is catatonic, staring at the ceiling. Patrick's chair is by her head. He strokes her hair, not saying a word. Back on the bridge, Data enters.

Data: Ensign Paris, set a course for Deep Space 9.

Tom: Aye, sir. Is the Captain okay, sir?

Data: We will discuss the Captain's condition at a later date, Ensign. Daneel, will you join me in the ready room? (Daneel nods. They retreat to the Ready Room. As Data starts to tell Daneel about KJ, Seven calls him.)

Seven: Seven of Nine to Data.

Data: Go ahead, Seven.

Seven: I need you and Lieutenant Daneel in Cargo Bay 4. This is urgent.

Daneel: We're on our way, Seven. I guess you'll tell me whatever it was in the turbolift?

Data: That is a good idea.

in the turbolift

Data: The Captain is dead.

Glasses: (in shock, after a minute) I don't know what to say.

Data: To paraphrase a 20th century musical, "there is nothing to say. Nothing that's not been said."

Glasses: So it's alright that I am not going to say anything?

Data: Yes. Silence is a perfectly acceptable response to horrifying news.

They stand in silence and exit when the doors open. They enter Cargo Bay 4. Seven of Nine is preparing Kovan for surgery. Once she notices they've arrived.

Seven: This drone is related to Guinan. While I've never met her, I know El-Aurians are extremely powerful. Their name is Kovan. Dr. Crusher needs to perform the surgery on this drone as soon as possible.

Data: Dr. Crusher is not well. The surgery will have to wait until we return to Utopia Planitia.

Seven: Someone on the ship has died. And they know why.

Data: (addressing Kovan) How did you know about Captain Janeway's death?

Seven: WHAT

Glasses: (going to her) It came as a shock to me, too.

Kovan: We felt something leave. We felt someone's soul fall into despair. Someone on the ship died, and someone who loved them is here in anguish.

Data: What caused her death?

Kovan: Q.

Seven: Bastard!

Data: Can you help us communicate with him?

Kovan: Yes.

Data: Come with me.

Data brings Kovan to Sick Bay, interrupting the autopsy.

Data: Bring Q here, Kovan.

Kovan: We ask for the presence of the great Q, hoping the continuum will spare him.

Q: My friend, Data! You've called for me using this...impish species. What seems to be the problem?

EMH: Excuse me, what the hell are you all doing in my sick bay?!

Data: Computer, deactivate the EMH. (EMH disappears.) Q, you have explaining to do.

Q: What, Kathryn? She's safe. Why?

Daneel: Is she alive?

Q: Dead, alive...it's all the same at this point.

Kovan: No, it is not. There is someone here in complete despair. We have been a drone for 20 years, and their despair reached us. Surely a being such as yourself has seen how the Captain's loved one is grieving.

Q: Who, the Doctor? She'll live.

Glasses: Do you always play with the lives of others like this?

Data: Yes, he does. Q, what will it take to bring Kathryn back to us?

Q: I couldn't possibly bring her back.

Data: Yes, you can. You can change the gravitational constant of the universe. You can bring back the dead.

Q: I suppose "could" isn't the right word. I'm more than capable.

Data: What do you want in return for her?

Q: I want to take Patrick with me. (everyone is pretty surprised) Patrick and I have had a wonderful relationship.

Kovan: We are sensing that the joke you are attempting to tell is not funny.

Daneel: You're damn right.

Q: I want to take Patrick on an adventure. If he wants to come back and work with you all again, I'll bring him back.

Data: What would the purpose of this excursion be?

Q: I believe your beloved humans call it a "first date."

Daneel: (awkwardly) Q. Hey. The name's Daneel. Nice to meet you. It has been my understanding through my study of dating practices that both parties need to have an interest in the other on some level before a first date can happen.

Q: Not so when you're a Q. It's a bit of a kidnapping.

Data: In Starfleet, kidnapping is still illegal. Also, Q, do you want Patrick to feel the same way about you?

Q: Ideally, yes.

Data: Then you must ask him politely if he would like to go with you. Given your history, you may also want to promise that he will not be harmed.

Q: Fine. We will do it your way. (Snap. All of them are in Patrick's office.)

Patrick: What the hell are you doing here?!

Q: I must say, Patrick, it's a delight to see you again as well.

Patrick: Daneel, will you sit with Beverly for a moment while I take care of this nuisance?

Daneel: Gladly. (Daneel walks over and sits with Beverly. They play with her hair gently as the rest of the scene goes on.)

Q: A nuisance, am I? Honestly, Data, I don't know why you want to be like them so much. So rude.

Data: Patrick, it would be best if the two of you spoke alone. I am going to explain all I can to Dr. Crusher about these circumstances.

Q: Alone? Mmm. Some place a bit more secluded--perhaps this will do? (Snap. They are both in a bubble bath covered in rose petals. Patrick immediately sinks under the water trying to hide his chest.) Patrick, my dear, I've been wanting to tell you something for a long time.

Patrick: Can it be told to me while we both have clothes on and are standing at least 6 feet apart in an open space not covered in rose petals?

Q: (eye roll) fine. (Snap. They are both clothed and 6 feet apart in Patrick's quarters.) Better?

Patrick: Yes--very. What do you want?

Q: Do you remember when I first began to call on you?

Patrick: Vividly.

Q: I said originally that the Q continuum wanted to destroy you because they found you to be savage. I lied.

Patrick: (incredulously) Really?

Q: Really. I discovered you and found you fascinating. I wanted to play a little game, and you put up quite a fight.

Patrick: When an entire race is on the line, one cannot stop fighting.

Q: And that's very noble of you. I admire that about you. So I came back again and again to play and to find out more about you. And I discovered something. (Patrick gestures for him to go on.) I am attracted to you.

Patrick: (blinking) what

Q: Yes, I was ashamed, too. But I simply cannot help myself. So I wanted to get your attention.

Patrick: Is this where Kathryn comes in?

Q: Look at you, getting smarter every time you play with me!

Patrick: Just tell me.

Q: I saw Kathryn was near death. I played a little game with her. She is dead, but that isn't a permanent thing. She could come back and live with her wife for the rest of her days like she so desperately wants, if...

Patrick: If what? Please just spell it out for me--I'm rather tired.

Q: Will you go on a date with me?

Patrick: (laughing in spite of everything) What does a date look like for a Q?

Q: (inching closer and closer) For us, it could look like visiting the ruins of Jouret IV before they were destroyed. Or even before they were built. Getting to go back to LaBarre and meet this incessantly nagging Robert. We could go sailing on the pools on the rings of Saturn. All these and more. I want to show you the entire universe, Patrick. And it could all start right now.

Patrick: If I go on one date with you, you'll let me do all things I've wanted to do since I was a boy AND also bring Kathryn back from the dead?

Q: Yes, Patrick. Wherever you say, we'll go.

Patrick: You need to swear to me that no one will be hurt. No one in all of history and certainly not anyone here now.

Q: (with his right hand up) On my word as a gentleman.

Patrick: Let's go back to see Beverly. I need to talk to her first.

Q: As you wish. (Snap. They're back in Patrick's office. Bev is sitting up and rocking back and forth. As soon as she sees Q, she bitch slaps him across the face. Then she goes to Patrick.)

Bev: You have to go with him. Please.

Patrick: I owe you.

Bev: No, you don't.

Patrick: Yes, I do. I sent Jack on that mission.

Bev: Don't do this for me. Don't do this for Kathryn. Do this for you.

Patrick: Excuse me?

Bev: Go on a date, Patrick. Have fun. Do what you've always dreamed of. And make this bastard pay for taking my wife away from me.

Q: Mostly well put.

Data: Before the two of you go, we would appreciate your presence at the reception.

Q: Reception?

Daneel: We went ahead and planned one for this evening in case Patrick said yes.

Patrick: (turning to Q) Can we?

Q: You know I can't say no to that face.

KJ is in her white tux, and Bev is in a long white dress. They all look so happy as Data plays "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You."

Q: (walking over to Patrick) May I have this dance?

Patrick: You want to leave already?

Q: (...hand still out) no. I thought I made it clear that I want to dance with you. Will you dance with me?

Patrick: (reaching out to take his hand, laughing a little) Yes.

[summahsunlight]

This Way Became My Journey, Ch. 19

"Tuvok to Janeway."

The Vulcan's steady, strong voice cut through her slumber. Kathryn opened her eyes and immediately realized that sleeping on the chaise lounge had been a big mistake; her neck was aching terribly. Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes, and pressed her combadge. "Go ahead, Tuvok."

"The modifications are complete. We're ready to proceed into Rupor space on your orders, Captain."

Was it morning already? She felt like she had just laid down and had gotten no sleep at all. Stretching her neck, she told him, "I'm on my way. Hold our position until I get there."

"Understood, Captain. Tuvok out."

Kathryn climbed off of the chaise lounge and went into the bathroom to splash some cold water on her face. There would be no time for a shower today; a fresh uniform change, fixing of hair and makeup was all she had time for today. But being a mother she was used to not being able to shower in the morning. Speaking of the children, where are they? Kathryn peeked into the mirror, which gave her a clear view of the living room. Ava had moved from the chaise lounge sometime in the night and was now sprawled out on the sofa. Kathryn had no doubt that Michael was still sleeping peacefully in his room.

That won't last for long; I better take advantage of it. 

She quickly slipped out of the rumpled uniform that she had slept in, pulled on a fresh one, and shook her hair out, reaching for her brush. As she did so she heard the doors to the living room swish open and she smiled. "Morning, Tal."

The young Bajoran's face appeared in the mirror, watching as Janeway did her hair. "Good morning, Captain. Are the children still in bed?" A frustrated cry from the sofa indicated that Ava was no longer asleep. "I'll get her, Captain. Keep getting ready."

Kathryn watched in the mirror as Tal picked Ava off of the sofa and went to the dining area, picking out some ration pack that was suitable for children. After we retrieve Chakotay and Sarah, those damn replicators are getting fixed. Pinning the last bit of hair back into her bun, Kathryn touched up her make up, splashed on some perfume that had been her husband's favorite, and went out into the living room. A sleepy-eyed Michael had joined Tal and Ava at the table, and both children were looking at the ration packs pensively. Tal was telling them, quite animatedly, to just pretend that the ration packs were in fact, the best thing they had ever tasted before.

"The best thing Ava's ever tasted is that goopy cereal Mama gives her," Michael said, moving his fork about the dehydrated food. "I don't think this game is going to work, Tal."

"Oh come on," Tal interjected. "I did it this morning."

Michael looked up at his mother, pleading in his eyes. "Mama, do I really have to eat this?"

"I'm afraid honey, until the replicators are fixed, you do," Kathryn replied, leaning down to kiss the top of his dark hair. "I'll see you later."

She ruffled Ava's hair on the way out of the quarters and proceeded to the turbo lift. In a few short hours the nightmare of the past two days could be all over, she didn't know why that wasn't making her feel any better. Perhaps she was afraid of what they were going to find once they got back to that planetoid. Ensign Kim's long range sensor reports indicated that it was Class L, not the best place to try and survive for a few days while waiting to be rescued.

When the doors to the bridge swished open, Kvati, the engineer that had been assigned to lead the team modifying Voyager's shields greeted her, " Good morning, Captain Janeway, like we promised the modifications are complete. Voyager should be able to pass through Rupor space undetected for several hours."

Kathryn nodded her head in appreciation as she made her way to the command station. "Mister Paris, how far are we from the planetoid we tracked the shuttle too?"

"If we travel at warp six we could be there in two hours," Tom answered, sounding much more rested than the night before. "If we travel any faster than that we risk interfering with the shield modifications and being detected by our friends."

The Captain set her jaw. Two hours, it could all be over in two hours. "Mister Paris, set a course for the planetoid, warp six."

"Aye, Captain."

Harry Kim had been in engineering, helping B'Elanna maintain the constant change of shield variances to keep them hidden from the Rupor, when Captain Janeway had summoned him to the transporter room. Grabbing a tricorder and a phaser before he left, he told B'Elanna to wish them luck. She had responded that Klingons don't believe in luck, but offered it to him anyways.

He found Janeway already standing on the transporter pad, her own tricorder and phaser in her belt, Tuvok was standing with her. Harry bounded up onto the transporter pad, on the other side of the Captain, and she gave the transporter chief a small nod of her head. Soon he felt the familiar sensation of being broken down to the very last atom in his body. It tingled; he always had loved how it made him feel, like he was free to go anywhere he pleased.

A rocky and barren landscape soon materialized before him. Harry looked about, reaching for his tricorder and pulling it out of his belt. Opening it up he noticed a deep path cut through the rock and his tricorder was picking up traces of plasma and other alloys that were common in Starfleet vessels and shuttlecrafts. He swallowed, they had transported directly to the crash sight. "Captain, I'm not picking up any life signs," he said softly, his dark eyes searching the face of his commanding officer. Her deep blue eyes were conveying a deep sorrow, one that Harry had not seen in her before. She was on the verge of tears, he was sure of it, and he felt a strong urge to comfort her. But there were no comforting words, for he was in just as much pain.

"It's quite possible, Captain, that Commander Chakotay and Counselor Barrett abandoned the shuttle to look for supplies and a place to set up camp," Tuvok reasoned, breaking the silence. "We should have Voyager do a planet wide sweep for human life signs."

Janeway's only response was a curt nod of her head. She motioned for Harry to follow her while Tuvok made the arrangements with Voyager to scan the area for Chakotay and Sarah.

Harry walked a few meters with her before they came across the shuttle, crumpled against the cavern's walls. His heart sank at the sight. What are the chances that anyone could survive a crash like this? 

Janeway was picking her way through the open hatch, stepping over debris, scanning the area. Harry watched as her eyes took in the charred inner cabin, the smell of burnt plasma lingering in the chilled air. Suddenly she stopped and leaned down, brushing aside some ash to pick something up. When she straightened her form Harry could clearly see what she held in the palm of her hand; two Starfleet issued combadges. The sound of Tuvok approaching, his boots walking across the stone ground could be heard echoing off the walls, while Janeway ran her fingers absentmindedly over the two mangled badges.

"Voyager is scanning the area now, Captain," Tuvok stated, his eyes falling on the badges. The silence lingered, awkwardly, between the three officers.

And suddenly, Janeway's fingers closed in around the combadges, her eyes snapping up to meet Tuvok's. There was fire burning in them, Harry realized, the trace of the pain and sadness gone, replaced with a fury that was nothing like he had ever seen. "Get another team down here to search the area. Harry and I are going to go through this mess and see if we can piece together what, exactly happened."

With a nod of his head, Tuvok disappeared from the shuttle.

"Let's get to it, Ensign," Janeway said, turning about, venturing deeper into the destroyed shuttle.

Harry found that he had yet to learn how to bury his emotions like Janeway could and focus on the task at hand. His mind kept wandering to Sarah, how she had been becoming his friend, and now was added to the list of losses that Voyager had endured in just the three short weeks that they had been stranded out in the Delta Quadrant. Was this something that Janeway had learned over time, how to bury emotions? Was it the outcome of years in Starfleet? Or was it just a personality trait? Either way, Harry wished that he had the ability.

"Odd," Janeway's voice brought him out of his ponderings. He ventured into the shuttle to where she was standing, scanning the walls with her tricorder. "These conduits didn't explode because of the crash; they exploded because someone fired a Starfleet issued phaser at them to apparently catch the cabin on fire."

"So, the combadges were accidentally left behind?"

Janeway shook her head. "No, I think the combadges were left there as a ruse, to make the Rupor think the occupants in the shuttle had perished." She leaned down and started to scan the area where she had found the two badges. "Normally, there would be traces of human DNA, but I'm not picking any up where the badges where, meaning that Chakotay and Sarah weren't there when the conduits exploded."

Harry, feeling a new sense of hope, began to scan the rest of the cabin. Maybe the Commander and Counselor had survived this crash after all. Then his tricorder beeped, and he frowned, turning about to Janeway. "Captain, I think you should see this."

She picked her way through the ash towards him and began to scan the area that Harry was standing in front. With a frown she tapped her combadge. "Janeway to sickbay. Doctor, I'm sending up a piece of debris of the crash sight. I want you to confirm that it has either Commander Chakotay's or Counselor Barrett's DNA on it."

"Understood Captain," the Doctor's voice came over the comline. "I'll be ready for it."

Janeway took her tricorder and placed it on the piece of charred conduit that Harry had been scanning. She tapped her combadge again. "Voyager, lock onto my tricorder and beam it, along with the piece of conduit, directly to sickbay."

Harry heard someone answer, but his eyes were transfixed on the piece of conduit that disappeared in the transporter beam. It wouldn't take the Doctor long to determine if the traces of blood he had found on the debris were Chakotay's or Sarah's, and that would confirm, without a doubt that the Commander and Counselor had died in the crash, or been hunted down later. He felt something like a burning hatred swelling in his heart. The Rupor had murdered two officers, in cold blood. He didn't care if they had violated the aliens' twisted sense of authority. If Chakotay had been given the chance he surely would have retreated from Rupor space.

But the Commander apparently had not been given the chance. Him and Sarah had been shot down, tearing a path through thick rock until their shuttle came to a crumpled stop. If they had managed to even survive that crash, the Rupor must have gone after them, to finish the job. It didn't seem like them to just leave well enough alone.

Had their last few moments been terrifying? Painful? Or had they gone quickly? Harry prayed for the latter. He hated to think of his fellow officers, one whom he considered a friend, suffering a gruesome death.

"Tuvok to Janeway, Captain we've found something, it appears to be boot tracks leading up the mountain. Permission to continue?"

"Permission granted," Janeway answered, motioning for Harry to leave the shuttle with her. "Ensign Kim and I are transporting back to Voyager. Keep me informed, Commander, on your progress. Janeway out."

"The traces of blood on the conduit definitely belong to Counselor Barrett," the Doctor informed Janeway upon her return to Voyager. "But I can't tell you if she died in that shuttle or not."

Janeway rubbed her temples for a moment. "We didn't find any other traces of DNA, just one area with her blood. It could mean that they managed to get out of the shuttle before the conduits blew, or they made it look like the conduits had blown so the Rupor wouldn't come after them. Everything is up in the air right now Doctor."

"I wish I had more to tell you Captain."

The woman let out a frustrated sigh. It had been nearly thirty minutes since she had transported back to Voyager. She had heard nothing from Tuvok and the rescue team down on the planet's surface, and the Doctor's news wasn't what she had hoped to hear. "I'm going to assume that they're alive until otherwise notified, Doctor. I want you to be ready for causalities; who knows what kind of state we're going to find them in. The shuttle was a mess and after being stranded on a barren planet for two days their conditions may not be the best."

"Aye Captain," the Doctor replied. "I'll be ready."

"I'll be on the bridge," Janeway stated, making a quick exit out of sickbay and heading for the turbo lift. As she made her way to the safe, warm confines of the bridge, she had no way of knowing that her officers were fighting, at that moment, for their very lives.

The game of cat and mouse had been going on since Sarah had shaken him awake at dusk the previous day. Apparently their friends hadn't fallen for the destruction he had inflicted on the cabin to make it look like it had exploded in the crash. Chakotay had been forced to leave everything, but a tricorder, a canteen of water, and a blanket for Sarah, behind, and the two had left the tiny cave they had sought to seek shelter in. Now they were being stalked like prey, through the rocky terrain.

Chakotay hadn't actually seen the aliens, but he knew that they were there, the tricorder kept warning them of the life forms approaching. And every hour they seemed to gain on them. Sarah was loosing strength minute by minute, if she had even had any to begin with. For him, hypothermia had set in late that night as they braved the high winds at the peak of the mountain. Even the sunlight of the next day was doing very little to warm him up. If they didn't find a place to take shelter in that night, he was certain that they both were going to die out here. It didn't matter if Voyager was coming for them or not, they wouldn't survive long enough to see their crewmates.

"Chakotay, please," Sarah pleaded. "I need to stop. The pain…it hurts."

He shook his head, stubborn, determined to carry onward, even if his own legs were starting to give out. "We can't stop. Just grit your teeth and bear it. I promise, once we're back on Voyager I'll give you light duty shifts, but until then, just keep moving."

There was a tiny groan of protest, but she didn't say anything else. She probably didn't have the strength too. Since abandoning the shuttle the night before she had taken no medication to quell the pain or to stall the infection, both were running rampant through her body and here he was dragging her around over rough ground. I'm not making my case for First Officer of the Year, here, Chakotay thought with mild amusement, if there could be anything amusing about their current situation.

Sarah suddenly stumbled, taking Chakotay with her. "I…can't…Chakotay. I just can't…"

He felt a great weight tugging at his arm as Sarah sank to the ground. He was pulled down to his knees. For a moment he sat there, watching her as she stared up at the sky that was extremely reminiscent of her eyes.

"My father always made us lay out on cliffs to watch the clouds and stars when we were little. He liked to drag us on camping trip after camping trip; I hated every moment of it," she suddenly muttered. "Funny how the last thing I'm going to do is watch the sky."

Chakotay leaned over her and grasped onto her shoulders. "Don't you do this to me now! You're not through just yet, not if I have anything to say about it!"

She shook her head. "What's the point, Chakotay? Those aliens are only going to kill us. Let's consider it doing them a favor by dying before they get the chance."

"You are not going to die! Not when we've come this far!" Chakotay sucked in a large breath of air and tried to pull her back to her feet, but she was dead weight and he had very little strength left. With a huff he fell back onto his behind, the canteen rolling away from him, the tricorder smashing against the rock. He watched as Sarah's thick eyelashes soon closed over her eyes. It would only be a matter of time before she gave out, and he knew, that he wasn't going to be far behind her.