ficlet: Vile Poison - for caffey (Janeway/Chakotay)
For my dear caffey
Star Trek: Voyager, Janeway/Chakotay, Borglettes, coffee, slight mention of hair.
Queen Arachnia and her consort Doctor Chaotica take on the Cyberlings and their half-Ktarian ally in a war of wits.
"Lieutenant Paris says there are two ways to defeat Queen Arachnia." Mezoti whispered to Naomi as they head in the monochromatic cave in the holodeck.
"Captain Proton-" Naomi corrected her. "In this game, he's Captain Proton."
"Captain Proton," Mezoti corrected, "said we have to cut her sources of power. Which means cutting her hair, or poisoning her coffee."
"We can't cut her hair, it's too pretty. It wouldn't be real poison, right?" Naomi's eyes widened in shock and surprise. They couldn't actually hurt Captain Janeway, even if she and Commander Chakotay had managed to capture Rebi and Azan while playing the Captain Proton adventure. As nice as the captain and the commander were, both of them were very difficult adversaries in holodeck.
"Holographic poison. I believe it will only dim Captain Janeway's perception of the holodeck and refuse to let her interact with other objects. She will in effect, be a ghost."
"She might still be able to beat us as a ghost." Naomi pouted. "Flotter is a lot easier."
"Flotter is not a challenge. Doctor Chaotica and Queen Arachnia are most devious adversaries. We learn more by attempting to defeat them."
While Mezoti liked the challenge, Naomi was a little sick of losing. Like they had last week and the week before. Once they'd managed to capture Doctor Chaotica but Queen Arachnia's spider ships had overtaken their rocket and taken him back.
"All right. How do we poison her coffee?"
Mezoti showed her a crude drawing she'd made in the sand on the floor of the cave. "We infiltrate the kitchens, through these caves over here and crawl through the pits of despair."
"Eww."
Finally Mezoti shared her wince. "I know. We should be able to get clean in the kitchen."
"Why won't this just kill her and eliminate her from the game?" Naomi asked, trying to memorise the map the way Mezoti had.
"Because she's a supervillain. Captain Proton said supervillains can't really die. She'll just be reborn in the Spider castle beneath the Lake of Sorrows."
"Do we get reborn if we die in the Pits of Despair?"
"We just get to play again next week." Mezoti sighed. "And we have to tell them a story instead of them telling us one."
"I'm going to run out of stories if we don't win soon." Naomi sighed along with her. Grabbing her flashlight beacon and strapping it to her wrist, she stood up resolutely. "Okay. Let's save the day."
Queen Arachnia, Monarch of the Spider People, Everlasting Sovereign of Darkness and Treachery, ran her fingers lazily across her consort's tattooed forehead.
"You know what I think, my wicked and devious love?"
He smirked and allowed her the flowery epithet. "I'd love to know, my queen."
"I was just thinking that we need to spend more time in here, trying to defeat the Cyberlings and their half-Ktarian ally. It's quiet. My throne is incredibly comfortable and all I have to do is snap my fingers-" which she did, making three servants come running.
"Coffee," she snapped at the servants, who scurried out of the way with great haste. One of them returned in moments, with coffee, cream and sugar on a smooth silver tray.
Kathryn frowned at the condiments but Chakotay grinned as he lifted his head from her lap and began serving her.
Taking her coffee, she sniffed it then took a long sip. It was a rich, extravagant blend, and because she was already in the holodeck, it took none of her replicator rations to drink it. Sighing happily, she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, everything was black.
Blinking a few times, Kathryn began to laugh before she remembered to stay in character. Dropping her cup to the floor melodramatically, she collapsed to the floor in front of her throne.
"My love, I am poisoned. The universe goes black, you shall have to avenge me!"
Chakotay caught her, holding her in his strong arms as she hammed her way through her death scene.
"Everything has gone dark...my limbs grow weak."
"Wait!" Chakotay squeezed her hand with great enthusiasm. "Wait, I can suck the vile poison from your ashen lips!"
Kathryn didn't even have time to protest before they were kissing. In her play-acted weakened state, it would have been entirely out of character for her to resist his achingly warm lips or the touch of his tongue.
To her great surprise, the holodeck reacted to his eleventh hour, fairy-tale idea, and started reducing the limits on her vision. When he bent to kiss her again, she laughed into his mouth.
"It's working." She mumbled as the kiss continued.
"Ha!" Naomi's confidant little voice carried across the throne room. "Your queen is dead, and you are defeat Chaotica."
"Stay down," Chakotay whispered into her ear. He gently laid her down and stood.
"You've killed her. You've killed my queen. I have no reason to go on!" He paused and Kathryn's vision improved enough for her to see all there Borg children and Naomi pointing their ray guns at her love.
"Except revenge!!!" He reached for the console, and in the chaos as they all fired, Kathryn leapt to her feet, nearly tripping over her tight, slinky dress and managed to hit the containment rings.
"No, no, no!!" Naomi cried, tossing her ray gun to the floor.
"You have defeated us again." Azan noticed.
Rebi smirked and nodded along. "We will defeat you next week."
"You are supposed to be dying," Mezoti pointed out, curious. "How did you overcome the poison?"
Naomi perked up immediately. "Yeah, how did you do that?"
"I sucked it out." Chakotay answered, grinning wickedly.
Naomi understood and blushed bright pink. "That's got to be cheating."
Mezoti and the boys took a moment longer. While the twins looked positively appalled, the girls were amused. "I didn't think you'd go that far, Commander."
"Neither did I." Kathryn added, beaming at him. The mock poison still thought she should be dizzy, and the holodeck swirled a little around her. "It was very clever of you."
"Thank you, Captain." The children answered in unison. "We will see you tonight for a story?"
"Yes, yes, the commander and I will be there at 2100 sharp."
There were smiles on the children's faces as they left. They enjoyed their time with the captain and the commander, even if it meant they had to amuse them instead of things being the other way around.
Chakotay patted her shoulder. "We win again."
Kathryn chuckled and stoked his cheek. "Thanks to some rather ingenious thinking of yours."
"I had ulterior motives."
Now she was laughing so hard it was difficult to breathe. "Oh?"
"I'll take any excuse to kiss you, you know that."
"Well," she wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled coyly at him. "I think there's some poison you missed."
"Oh?"
"You might need to work very hard to get at it. I might have--"
His hand slipped up her thigh and stroked her belly playfully. "Swallowed it?"
"It's possible."
"Well then," he scooped her into his arms. "Transporter room, site-to-site transport from the holodeck to the captain's quarters."
"Problem, Commander?" Harry Kim asked.
"Oh no," Chakotay insisted. "The captain's just having a little trouble with her costume."
She rolled her eyes at him but let him hold her close. It was a lot faster if they transported to her quarters, after all.
Star Trek: Voyager, Janeway/Chakotay, Borglettes, coffee, slight mention of hair.
Queen Arachnia and her consort Doctor Chaotica take on the Cyberlings and their half-Ktarian ally in a war of wits.
"Lieutenant Paris says there are two ways to defeat Queen Arachnia." Mezoti whispered to Naomi as they head in the monochromatic cave in the holodeck.
"Captain Proton-" Naomi corrected her. "In this game, he's Captain Proton."
"Captain Proton," Mezoti corrected, "said we have to cut her sources of power. Which means cutting her hair, or poisoning her coffee."
"We can't cut her hair, it's too pretty. It wouldn't be real poison, right?" Naomi's eyes widened in shock and surprise. They couldn't actually hurt Captain Janeway, even if she and Commander Chakotay had managed to capture Rebi and Azan while playing the Captain Proton adventure. As nice as the captain and the commander were, both of them were very difficult adversaries in holodeck.
"Holographic poison. I believe it will only dim Captain Janeway's perception of the holodeck and refuse to let her interact with other objects. She will in effect, be a ghost."
"She might still be able to beat us as a ghost." Naomi pouted. "Flotter is a lot easier."
"Flotter is not a challenge. Doctor Chaotica and Queen Arachnia are most devious adversaries. We learn more by attempting to defeat them."
While Mezoti liked the challenge, Naomi was a little sick of losing. Like they had last week and the week before. Once they'd managed to capture Doctor Chaotica but Queen Arachnia's spider ships had overtaken their rocket and taken him back.
"All right. How do we poison her coffee?"
Mezoti showed her a crude drawing she'd made in the sand on the floor of the cave. "We infiltrate the kitchens, through these caves over here and crawl through the pits of despair."
"Eww."
Finally Mezoti shared her wince. "I know. We should be able to get clean in the kitchen."
"Why won't this just kill her and eliminate her from the game?" Naomi asked, trying to memorise the map the way Mezoti had.
"Because she's a supervillain. Captain Proton said supervillains can't really die. She'll just be reborn in the Spider castle beneath the Lake of Sorrows."
"Do we get reborn if we die in the Pits of Despair?"
"We just get to play again next week." Mezoti sighed. "And we have to tell them a story instead of them telling us one."
"I'm going to run out of stories if we don't win soon." Naomi sighed along with her. Grabbing her flashlight beacon and strapping it to her wrist, she stood up resolutely. "Okay. Let's save the day."
Queen Arachnia, Monarch of the Spider People, Everlasting Sovereign of Darkness and Treachery, ran her fingers lazily across her consort's tattooed forehead.
"You know what I think, my wicked and devious love?"
He smirked and allowed her the flowery epithet. "I'd love to know, my queen."
"I was just thinking that we need to spend more time in here, trying to defeat the Cyberlings and their half-Ktarian ally. It's quiet. My throne is incredibly comfortable and all I have to do is snap my fingers-" which she did, making three servants come running.
"Coffee," she snapped at the servants, who scurried out of the way with great haste. One of them returned in moments, with coffee, cream and sugar on a smooth silver tray.
Kathryn frowned at the condiments but Chakotay grinned as he lifted his head from her lap and began serving her.
Taking her coffee, she sniffed it then took a long sip. It was a rich, extravagant blend, and because she was already in the holodeck, it took none of her replicator rations to drink it. Sighing happily, she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, everything was black.
Blinking a few times, Kathryn began to laugh before she remembered to stay in character. Dropping her cup to the floor melodramatically, she collapsed to the floor in front of her throne.
"My love, I am poisoned. The universe goes black, you shall have to avenge me!"
Chakotay caught her, holding her in his strong arms as she hammed her way through her death scene.
"Everything has gone dark...my limbs grow weak."
"Wait!" Chakotay squeezed her hand with great enthusiasm. "Wait, I can suck the vile poison from your ashen lips!"
Kathryn didn't even have time to protest before they were kissing. In her play-acted weakened state, it would have been entirely out of character for her to resist his achingly warm lips or the touch of his tongue.
To her great surprise, the holodeck reacted to his eleventh hour, fairy-tale idea, and started reducing the limits on her vision. When he bent to kiss her again, she laughed into his mouth.
"It's working." She mumbled as the kiss continued.
"Ha!" Naomi's confidant little voice carried across the throne room. "Your queen is dead, and you are defeat Chaotica."
"Stay down," Chakotay whispered into her ear. He gently laid her down and stood.
"You've killed her. You've killed my queen. I have no reason to go on!" He paused and Kathryn's vision improved enough for her to see all there Borg children and Naomi pointing their ray guns at her love.
"Except revenge!!!" He reached for the console, and in the chaos as they all fired, Kathryn leapt to her feet, nearly tripping over her tight, slinky dress and managed to hit the containment rings.
"No, no, no!!" Naomi cried, tossing her ray gun to the floor.
"You have defeated us again." Azan noticed.
Rebi smirked and nodded along. "We will defeat you next week."
"You are supposed to be dying," Mezoti pointed out, curious. "How did you overcome the poison?"
Naomi perked up immediately. "Yeah, how did you do that?"
"I sucked it out." Chakotay answered, grinning wickedly.
Naomi understood and blushed bright pink. "That's got to be cheating."
Mezoti and the boys took a moment longer. While the twins looked positively appalled, the girls were amused. "I didn't think you'd go that far, Commander."
"Neither did I." Kathryn added, beaming at him. The mock poison still thought she should be dizzy, and the holodeck swirled a little around her. "It was very clever of you."
"Thank you, Captain." The children answered in unison. "We will see you tonight for a story?"
"Yes, yes, the commander and I will be there at 2100 sharp."
There were smiles on the children's faces as they left. They enjoyed their time with the captain and the commander, even if it meant they had to amuse them instead of things being the other way around.
Chakotay patted her shoulder. "We win again."
Kathryn chuckled and stoked his cheek. "Thanks to some rather ingenious thinking of yours."
"I had ulterior motives."
Now she was laughing so hard it was difficult to breathe. "Oh?"
"I'll take any excuse to kiss you, you know that."
"Well," she wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled coyly at him. "I think there's some poison you missed."
"Oh?"
"You might need to work very hard to get at it. I might have--"
His hand slipped up her thigh and stroked her belly playfully. "Swallowed it?"
"It's possible."
"Well then," he scooped her into his arms. "Transporter room, site-to-site transport from the holodeck to the captain's quarters."
"Problem, Commander?" Harry Kim asked.
"Oh no," Chakotay insisted. "The captain's just having a little trouble with her costume."
She rolled her eyes at him but let him hold her close. It was a lot faster if they transported to her quarters, after all.