fic: (VOY) Borrowed Time, 2/3
Borrowed Time -- Part 2
RATED NC-17
Find Part 1 here and Part 3 here.
The moment Voyager finally entered the periphery of the planet system that included the class M with their commanding duo on it, the crew discerned with much relief that the planet was there as they had left it, and everything looked absolutely normal. Even sensors didn't pick up anything unusual anymore, and although Harry couldn't help but have his doubts about this peaceful impression, he gave in to the general atmosphere of happiness.
Unfortunately, this atmosphere abandoned the bridge quickly when the ship began to shake violently.
"Report!" Tuvok demanded, an unusual undertone in his otherwise calm voice.
"I don't get any readings, sir. There's no apparent reason for the problems," Harry Kim yelled from his station, the noise on the ship making it hard to understand each other. "My best guess would be that this is the subspace distortion," the young man went on after re-checking his readings, "and... I can't explain how, but it is-"
"Pulling us in!" Tom finished for his friend, desperately trying to keep the ship from being engulfed by the invisible phenomenon. His efforts proved to be fruitless. The bridge crew tumbled and staggered as the ship was thrown around. A full five minutes they were played by the disruption in subspace like puppets, rolling and falling despite their holding on to everything they could reach and grab.
When the tremors finally subsided, the crew tried to get back to their feet as fast as possible, and Harry was the one who announced what everyone had already assumed to be the case when they got a look of the view screen.
"We're not... We are... The planet's gone. Or more correctly, we are. We were obviously thrown into a to the computer entirely unknown region of space."
"Anyone else has a déjà vu?" Tom commented dryly, and hissed when he moved his shoulder.
"You should go to sick bay, Mr. Paris," his commanding officer instantly recognized the situation, but the pilot only shook his head.
"It's not that bad. I get some readings, and I think I could get us out o-" He couldn't even finish the sentence, when the ship rocked again, like someone was grabbing it and violently throwing it aside. Against a wall, no less. It was as if artificial gravity had never been invented; again the crew practically flew across the bridge, and soon Harry announced that reports of wounded crewmen came from all over the ship... and that structural integrity was decreasing.
=^=
Chakotay himself needed a bit longer to break the enchantment that was still in control over his body and mind. Only when the light from the globes began to dim, he collapsed, feeling as if his body all of a sudden had lost all of its strength. He was barely able to hold himself upright and swim-walk back to the shoreline before slumping to the stony ground, his eyelids so heavy that he couldn't keep them open any longer.
For a full ten minutes, Chakotay remained in a state not awake, but also not asleep; it was more of battle for consciousness he was fighting with his own mind. When he finally regained his senses, he got up slowly, groaning when he detached himself from the stony bed he had been lying on and which had dug painfully into his skin.
He dragged himself, covered in his clothes again, back to the small campsite they had set up earlier, and found Kathryn sitting against a rock at the main entrance through which they had entered the tunnel system. She was staring into the sky and didn't seem to notice him arriving or walking over to her, but only looked up at him when he came to stand right beside her. And yet her gaze was empty, as though her thoughts were far away. Hesitantly he took his place beside her, ignoring her stare, but instead fixating the full moon. Only after what seemed like half an eternity, she began to speak, her voice only a hoarse whisper.
"What did we just do? Oh God, Chakotay, what did we just do?!" she wanted an answer from him he didn't have. This time, she was scared in earnest. This time, the fear and anguish in her face were real. She was visibly upset, under shock.
He understood only too well how she felt. This uncanny and disturbing incident had left him with a strange numbness he couldn't explain even to himself. Whatever this phenomenon did to people - or any life form entering the cavern, who could possibly know - wasn't pleasant. Even though it was probably meant to be. Under any other circumstances, with a clear, unpossessed mind, he no doubt would have enjoyed such an episode more than he was able to tell, or admit. But this was nothing he, they, had done voluntarily and because they wanted to.
"I think we should leave here. Who knows what else awaits us when we stay." He had to actually check whether it was really Kathryn Janeway still sitting beside him when she spoke again, her voice now so calm and composed and in complete contrast to her state only shortly before. When he stole a side glance at her, he knew what had happened - the captain's mask he hadn't seen in a good while had slipped back into place. It was her armor, her sanctuary, it wasn't surprising that it came back now - and yet, or maybe because, it troubled him a lot.
But even though he would have done everything to help her, to make her comfortable and this mask needless again, he had to shake his head at her words. "No, we shouldn't go back. It's almost dark outside and we don't know what to expect on this way through the jungle. There may very well be dangerous animals that are only active at night." He saw how she slowly nodded and momentarily looked down in an unconscious gesture of disappointment, the captain's mask weakened, it seemed.
"You're right." She grew silent for a while, her gaze again fixated on the sky and the brightly shining moon, and he sat beside her, his eyes lost somewhere between the black outline of forests and mountains. It could have been hours that had passed, but it were only a few minutes when Chakotay heard her quietly asked question: "Would you... would you mind leaving me alone for a while?"
Instead of answering, he simply got up silently and left. He returned to the camp; since it was only a few steps and around an edge away from the entrance where she was sitting, he would be alarmed immediately if something unexpected occurred.
Janeway herself waited another while, a thousand thoughts whirring and racing through her head. Only now and then her subconsciousness called her thoughts to order and their attention to a moment of regretting her loss coming from not being able to travel space anymore. She had been living and working her whole life to explore and see what was yet unknown; surely she had never imagined that one day she, being only in her late 30's, would be stuck on a planet on the other side of the universe.
A biting cold wind suddenly setting in forced her to return back inside their stony shelter as well. When she walked back into the with their campsite occupied cavern, she found Chakotay lying on his back in his sleeping bag next to the fireplace, his eyes closed, his breathing even - he had fallen asleep. She looked at him for a long moment; at his relaxed features, and how young his face appeared in the shadows playing across it, in the warm orange glow from the heated rocks.
Earlier, when she had sent him away to be alone, it hadn't been because she couldn't stand his presence, but because she needed time to process what had happened - and she sincerely hoped he knew that. Of course the events in the lagoon first and foremost shocked her so much because she hadn't had any control over herself anymore. Her suppressed consciousness had screamed to be allowed to react, in any way, but she had merely been a prisoner of her own body, and actions. Or non-actions. It wasn't that she resented or feared Chakotay's touch; after nearly three months on the planet she was more than willing to change her mind when it came to their relationship; certainly her heart was ready to, even if her head wasn't entirely yet. Sooner or later it had to happen; it was only natural. But only at the right time and in the right place.
Here, some alien spell or whatever one would call it had reduced them to empty hulls - and robbed them of their chance to explore a possible new chapter in their relationship at their own accord and speed. At their own, free will. She mourned this stolen chance, and she was angry at herself for not double-checking the cave and lagoon before indulging in her personal weakness for a nice bath.
She vaguely remembered that she had been bewitched by the globes the moment she had laid eyes on them. They were the real danger - and obviously, no one was able to escape their influence as soon as one saw them. It was the most logical apology to provide her own guilty consciousness with. But the reality was, even if there was a logical explanation, even if she - perhaps - couldn't have done anything to prevent it, she still felt that it was her fault. She hated the thought that this lack of responsibility she had shown too often for her taste in the past weeks was now causing harm to both of them, and could possibly damage that fragile romance that was beginning to blossom between them.
Sighing, she sat down on her sleeping back, her eyes remaining on her companion.
He was doing so much for her, tried to make their life on this planet better, tried to read her every wish from her eyes, sometimes before she herself even knew she wanted it. He was attentive and kind and a gentleman in every way. He was the best friend one could imagine, and certainly the best person to be stranded with on a far-off world - or anywhere else, for that matter.
For the past few weeks since their arrival, she had constantly been complaining, and even though it had become much less from back on their first days here, she still couldn't fully accept their fate. Sometimes it annoyed her that he had, in her opinion, given up so quickly; deep inside, however, she knew that if it wasn't for him and his unwavering enthusiasm and optimism, she hadn't survived that long with the knowledge that there lay a whole life like this still ahead. He was her anchor; he had been on Voyager, and he was now here.
While before she had just been not denying her love for him to grow, at this point, there was not even the hint of a doubt in her left what she felt for this man who once had been claimed her enemy and who she had been supposed to capture and hand over to the authorities. If everything had went as planned, he would be in a Federation prison by now, and she would be on her way with Voyager again - a thought she found now, after two years working side by side, disturbing, to say at least.
When all was said and done, he was the one person she needed in her life; and sometimes, just sometimes, she wondered how she'd done without him for so long.
Now she could only hope that this encounter in the cave wouldn't destroy everything they'd formed and grown the past two years - and even more so in the past few weeks.
Her mind still wrapped up in thoughts she lay down and fell into a fitful slumber, dreaming of light - and darkness.
=^=
Silence. Gut-wrenching silence. Silence that shouldn't have been on a space ship that had just barely escaped extinction by some phenomenon that otherwise would have been more than appealing to explorers and scientists - to those people on board the ship.
It seemed that no one even dared to breath, much less speak. Those who weren't injured and unconscious stared at the view screen, at the sight presenting itself to them instead of the planet - the sight of an enormous globe brightly glowing with blinding white light.
What is that...?, Tom Paris wondered and therefore formulated a question in his mind everyone else must have been thinking as well. No one, however, voiced it - or gave an answer. Not even Harry, who the pilot assumed was already standing at his station again and analyzing his controls. Or Tuvok, whom he could see from the corner of his eye-
From the corner of his eye.
Only now the pilot realized that he couldn't move. And so anyone else didn't seem to be able to. The silence engulfing the bridge came from people staring ahead, period. No one talked, no one checked sensor readings and informed their commanding officer, no one gave any orders as to what to do next. No one was flying the ship.
A ship that, added to every other weird occurrence, was literally rooted to the spot. They had stopped dead in space and weren't even drifting, if what they saw on the view screen was any indication.
Tom was half lying, half sitting on the ground a few steps away from helm, the pain in his arm that undoubtedly was broken a continuous, uncomfortable throbbing. His every effort to manage even the tiniest move was unsuccessful; he wanted to groan in frustration, but even that seemed impossible. All muscles in his body felt paralyzed, and his mind - his mind was slowly slipping into a state of hypnosis. The worst thing was, Paris could feel it, like he was watching himself from the outside of his worldly existence; his consciousness and control over it ran through his fingers like fine sand...
=^=
The sun had just risen enough to lift her rays over the treetops when Chakotay and Janeway started their way back to their base camp. Apart from some necessary communication they barely talked on their hike back, both lost in their own thoughts, their own musing about and pondering of their situation - and how to go on from there.
Their arrival back at their house was equally wordless. Janeway almost right away retreated to the bathroom, in desperate need of a long, hot shower - for once finding the idea of a bath not all that appealing. Chakotay, on the other hand, found himself walking down to the riverbank, cooling his face and hands in the fresh stream.
One thing both of them had in common - what they did cleared their minds and made them realize what they had to do. The only problem was that their minds sent them in opposite directions; and so Chakotay saw it as his purpose to give her space and time to rebuild her trust in him, while Kathryn...
Kathryn knew something like that in the cave mustn't ever happen again.
She was confused and worried when she left the bathroom and didn't find him in the house, or outside. Usually, when they left, they informed the other; and if only for security reasons. This time, however, he hadn't said anything, and hadn't left a note either.
"Chakotay?!" she called out from their cabin's main entrance, but unsurprisingly got no answer except for nature's background soundtrack. She resisted her instinctive impulse to run out, clad only in her towel, and look for him in the surrounding woods; he probably needed a few moments to himself, and she would never deny him this, not after what had happened between them. So she took her time to dress and then tidy up her personal area, sorting her things, and her thoughts.
And then, just as she decided to go and look for him, he entered the house.
They looked at each other for agonizingly long minutes, both feeling that right then and there, there was so much more at stake than maybe either one of them was able to assess - until Chakotay rose to speak, using words that didn't just sound to her ears like the worst possible cliché that was: "We should talk about it."
In that moment, Kathryn knew how she had to transform her earlier decision into an action. Sometimes, one simply had to jump to learn to fly.
"No," she contradicted, making him regard her with shock and confusion. "We should resolve it." It was all he got as an explanation before she approached him and, resting one hand at the back of his head, pulled him down to lean her forehead against his. She heard his intake of breath, a sign that he readied himself to protest - but she was quicker.
"Shh..." Kathryn pressed a finger against his lips and waited for him to breathe out, release the air he had supplied his lungs with to allow him to speak, before she replaced her finger with her own lips, not doing anything else than letting them touch his lightly for a while. Only then she began to move them, opened her mouth and teased his with her tongue, asking him to give in - and he did. His mouth opened, welcoming her tongue and kiss, and allowed them and himself to melt into this first kiss that grew from tender and shy to more and more passionate by the second. Chakotay wrapped his arms around her small form and she sighed at the feel of his skilled touches and the warmth surrounding her, completely losing herself in an encounter that told of every repressed feeling they may have harbored in the past weeks, and even back on Voyager already.
But Chakotay, despite having his heart dance with joy, was soon overtaken by his rational mind again, and gently pushed her away, ending the kiss.
"I can't, Kathryn. I..." He trailed off when she shook her head, affectionately smiling at him and stroking his cheek.
"Whatever happened isn't your fault. I don't blame you for anything, so you shouldn't either. Please don't let this be our memory - us giving in to something we both know we feel while not being able to control our actions." She stole another sweet kiss. "I want a new memory." And another soft touch of lips. "A real one." Her voice was a mere whisper, her breath caressing his face as she showered it with kisses.
Nimble fingers found the hem of his shirt and slipped beneath it, then pulled the piece of clothing upwards - and he complied with her wordless request. Lifting his arms, he helped her get the shirt off him. It was thrown to the ground carelessly; there were other, more important tasks at hand than to care about clothes. He watched her attentively when she began to explore his now bare chest with her fingers first, then with her mouth as well, the whole time not moving. He was simply too struck by her, and too fascinated to do anything.
The buttons of his pants were her hands' next aim as they wandered deeper, and skillfully she opened fastener and fly, pushing the leg wear over his hips so that they fell down to end as a puddle around his feet. He actually found himself groaning when she got into a crouching position in front of him and helped him get rid of his shoes, followed by the pants that met the same fate as his shirt.
Slowly rising up again, she roamed his body with her hands and mouth, touching and caressing, kneading and scratching, kissing and licking whatever inch of his skin she could reach - only sparing the area in his middle where her touch was anticipated most.
His impatience got the better of him when she was standing before him, and he reached out to touch her, to start an exploration of his own, but she stopped his hand by meeting them with hers and holding them fast in the air between them.
"Let me be the one in control. That way we can at least prevent we're getting even." He knew she wasn't serious, could see it in the twinkle in her eyes, but still he knew that somewhere, subconsciously, she maybe didn't mean it that may, but surely felt like this. He nodded, but then loosened one of his hands and with a 'just one thing' gesture, he cupped her cheek and pulled her into a tender, loving kiss. She let it happen for the moment, but soon detached herself from him smiled at him when he lifted his hands, signaling her that it was her game from now.
Only one piece of clothing remained on his body. Save the best for last, they said, she thought to herself, and rested her hands on his hipbones, her thumbs lightly stroking his skin before slipping beneath the waistband of his briefs. Bit by bit she pulled them down, eventually letting his straining hardness spring free from its tight confines, which elicited a relieved sigh from Chakotay. The rest of his briefs' way he only noticed through the haze he found himself in when she wrapped her hand around his erection, carefully yet confidently moving her fingers along the rigid shaft.
He didn't offer any resistance when she pushed him backwards until he felt his legs hitting a chair, forcing him to sit down. That she then would step away from him and slowly start to undress herself in front of him he wouldn't even have dreamed of in his wildest fantasies. One piece of clothing by another fell from her body, revealing more and more of her smooth, white skin, her curves, the perfect beauty she was. What before his mind had only been able to register in his hypnotized state, and his eyes had only seen from behind, was now presented to him unobstructed, and it cost him everything of self-control and self-restraint he possessed to not sweep her up and love her in every way he knew.
Blood rushed in his ears, so loud it was almost deafening, when she, now entirely naked, approached him again and, with her hands on his shoulders, straddled his lap. His own hands clasped the underside of the chair's seat, still trying to respect her wish and grant her sole control.
Leaning in, she brushed her lips against his for a moment, and traced the lines of his tattoo with her forefinger, learning and memorizing the dark lines thoroughly - something she had wanted to do for a long time. Then she let her mouth wander to one side of his head, breathing into his ear what he longed to hear so much: "Now touch me."
And he complied.
Almost hungrily his hands sought out the feel of her skin, its warmth and softness, of her silky hair falling down her back like a reddish-golden waterfall, her perfectly rounded breasts, her strong and slim thighs, and finally, the heated wetness between them. His thumb stroked her clitoris while his fingers dipped between her folds, parted them and fondled them, making her pant and gasp with wetted lips open and her head thrown back. One hand pressed against her back, he held her to him when his mouth devoured her neck and breasts while his fingers, first one, then two, entered her and his hand's movements brought her to the brink of her orgasm, again and again, only to stop shortly before she could fall over the edge.
It was her who ended the teasing by regaining her senses with much effort and stopping his actions, unwillingly pulling his hand away.
"I want to feel you inside me," she murmured against his lips before kissing him once more, showing him with her tongue exactly what she planned on letting his hips do to her. Then Kathryn's arm snaked down between them, and she took his hardness into her hand, moving it up and down along it, before tightening her grip and positioning the tip of his shaft at her opening.
Slowly she sat back down from where she had been half-standing, letting a bit of his swollen flesh push into her wet heat. They both hissed at this first attempt of a union; the feeling of him stretching her tightness close to being painful, while the narrow space inside her pulled at his self-restraint, in every sense of the word. Chakotay groaned in what only could have been interpreted as protest when she rose again, momentarily losing him - but surely she wasn't about to end it here. Leaning in to claim his lips another time, she meanwhile coated her hand with her own slick fluids and wetted his member's head with them; then she took him in again, moaning into his mouth as she accommodated to his size. Finally she sat in his lap, with him fully sheathed within her, and he ended their leisure kiss to find her shoulder with his teeth instead, lightly biting down to release some of the tension he felt, tension that brought him close to exploding.
Her first movements were careful, tentative. His size was beyond everything she had ever had; that she last had had a man inside her a good while ago didn't help either; her last time had been over two years ago, to be exact. Preparations for Voyager's first mission had kept her too busy to spend much time with Mark, and especially be intimate with him; and certainly she had lived like a nun on Voyager.
Now re-discovering - re-activating - her sexuality with a man like Chakotay, with his size and girth, had her muscles and tissue protest; at least for the moment. Already she felt the initial uncomfortable feeling subside and herself accepting the intrusion by his silky steel. Pleasure replaced pain, and slow movements increased in speed and intensity when Kathryn began to rock back and forth, occasionally lifting her hips and sitting down again.
Until then, Chakotay had held back as much as he was capable of; but the friction and rippling of her inner walls around his erection eventually were too much to stand. With one arm locked around her hips while his other, hand placed on the chair's seat, served as leverage, he began to forcefully thrust up into her, gliding deeper than they both would have thought possible in this position. By now her passion and lust were beyond control, and she met his plunging by grounding down onto him with all her might, not caring about how sore she would be afterwards. The climax that began to boil inside her promised to be stronger than anything she had ever known and experienced, and she headed for it greedily, clamping her inner muscles around him, willing him to let go. He, however, was having none of it; he had plans of his own, and those included her taking him over the edge when she went herself.
And with his fingers finding their joining - and her clit - his goal was a close one to be accomplished. Skillfully he twitched and nudged the swollen pleasure nub with one hand, all the while his teeth nipped at her earlobe and his other hand massaged her buttocks - and soon enough, holding back was no longer an option for Kathryn. With a throaty scream, she forced herself down onto him one last time and clawed her nails into his shoulders while her body convulsed uncontrollably in his arms. The tremors and the vigorous grip her womanhood had on his shaft sealed it for him, and he burst inside her, following her into oblivion when their orgasms washed over them. His hot mass shooting forcefully into her had her shudder over and over again, and she whimpered and clung to him, barely able to bear the sensations ripping through her.
They remained sitting on the chair, a heap of sated flesh and fulfilled minds, until after a while, he stirred. Holding her fast and secure enveloped in his embrace, he stood up and carried her over to his sleeping area where he lay down with her still in his arms. Lazily she shifted so that she came to lie beside him, her head on his shoulder and one arm draped over his stomach.
"I'm thirsty," she murmured sleepily against his chest after a short while, and sighed when she lifted her head to look at him. He chuckled.
"Did I wear you out that much?" he winked, and she slapped his stomach gently. Affectionately smiling at her, he added, "Do you want me to get you something to drink?"
"No, that's all right, I'll take that chance to stretch my limbs a bit. Do you want something, too?" He simply shook his head, so whispering "I'll be right back." into his ear, she left his strong embrace. That she regretted soon; without his warmth cocooning her she suddenly felt very cold. Quickly she tip-toed into the main room and got herself a glass of water, gulped it contents down, then put the receptacle onto the table and almost ran back into his bedroom.
Having been dozing before, Chakotay was fully awake at once when she entered the room. Kathryn Janeway was a very beautiful woman, no doubt - he had always known that, from the moment they had first met. But as she stood there before him, unashamedly naked, hair tousled and cheeks flushed, eyes glittering with happiness and pure fulfillment, and all that because of their lovemaking, he couldn't think of anything more stunning than her. Thousands of butterflies danced in his stomach when she gracefully crawled onto the bed and back into his arms, and he welcomed her, holding her as close as possible, never getting enough of her naked skin against his.
They fell into a light slumber like this, both feeling comfortable and safe in the other one's embrace; both feeling home.
=^=
Had there been ships passing the Starfleet vessel called Voyager, probably no one could have withstood the temptation of getting everything off this repository of modern, highly-developed technology. There were enough races in the Delta Quadrant who'd start a war over a transporter or replicator, not to speak of tactical systems or the warp core.
Therefore, Voyager's crew should have felt lucky that they were far away from any other living being in this quadrant. And had they been able to recognize their situation, they might even have considered it. But, one couldn't even have described them as aware of their surroundings. They were still conscious; but only inside their heads. The picture in front of their eyes was frozen, as was every sound in their ears. All they yet had were their own thoughts.
Lying dead in space, the Alpha Quadrant spaceship showed no signs of any kind of life, inside and out. Where usually lights shone from the quarters' or also the mess hall's windows, there was now only darkness; where normally a blue glow enveloped the warp nacelles, there now was just dull, plain grey. No engines hummed inside, no comm. channels were opened, and no door chimes sounded. Red alert sounds and flashing lights had long since died down. People where standing, sitting or even lying where they'd last been the moment the transformation began, but no one moved, spoke or even, as it appeared, breathed.
As if the ship and all its occupants had been frozen in time, Voyager was like a statue in space, towed to an invisible landing pier.
Only the very slow, and very occasional blink of an eye now and then was evidence that there was still life on the otherwise dead looking starship...
TBC
RATED NC-17
Find Part 1 here and Part 3 here.
The moment Voyager finally entered the periphery of the planet system that included the class M with their commanding duo on it, the crew discerned with much relief that the planet was there as they had left it, and everything looked absolutely normal. Even sensors didn't pick up anything unusual anymore, and although Harry couldn't help but have his doubts about this peaceful impression, he gave in to the general atmosphere of happiness.
Unfortunately, this atmosphere abandoned the bridge quickly when the ship began to shake violently.
"Report!" Tuvok demanded, an unusual undertone in his otherwise calm voice.
"I don't get any readings, sir. There's no apparent reason for the problems," Harry Kim yelled from his station, the noise on the ship making it hard to understand each other. "My best guess would be that this is the subspace distortion," the young man went on after re-checking his readings, "and... I can't explain how, but it is-"
"Pulling us in!" Tom finished for his friend, desperately trying to keep the ship from being engulfed by the invisible phenomenon. His efforts proved to be fruitless. The bridge crew tumbled and staggered as the ship was thrown around. A full five minutes they were played by the disruption in subspace like puppets, rolling and falling despite their holding on to everything they could reach and grab.
When the tremors finally subsided, the crew tried to get back to their feet as fast as possible, and Harry was the one who announced what everyone had already assumed to be the case when they got a look of the view screen.
"We're not... We are... The planet's gone. Or more correctly, we are. We were obviously thrown into a to the computer entirely unknown region of space."
"Anyone else has a déjà vu?" Tom commented dryly, and hissed when he moved his shoulder.
"You should go to sick bay, Mr. Paris," his commanding officer instantly recognized the situation, but the pilot only shook his head.
"It's not that bad. I get some readings, and I think I could get us out o-" He couldn't even finish the sentence, when the ship rocked again, like someone was grabbing it and violently throwing it aside. Against a wall, no less. It was as if artificial gravity had never been invented; again the crew practically flew across the bridge, and soon Harry announced that reports of wounded crewmen came from all over the ship... and that structural integrity was decreasing.
=^=
Chakotay himself needed a bit longer to break the enchantment that was still in control over his body and mind. Only when the light from the globes began to dim, he collapsed, feeling as if his body all of a sudden had lost all of its strength. He was barely able to hold himself upright and swim-walk back to the shoreline before slumping to the stony ground, his eyelids so heavy that he couldn't keep them open any longer.
For a full ten minutes, Chakotay remained in a state not awake, but also not asleep; it was more of battle for consciousness he was fighting with his own mind. When he finally regained his senses, he got up slowly, groaning when he detached himself from the stony bed he had been lying on and which had dug painfully into his skin.
He dragged himself, covered in his clothes again, back to the small campsite they had set up earlier, and found Kathryn sitting against a rock at the main entrance through which they had entered the tunnel system. She was staring into the sky and didn't seem to notice him arriving or walking over to her, but only looked up at him when he came to stand right beside her. And yet her gaze was empty, as though her thoughts were far away. Hesitantly he took his place beside her, ignoring her stare, but instead fixating the full moon. Only after what seemed like half an eternity, she began to speak, her voice only a hoarse whisper.
"What did we just do? Oh God, Chakotay, what did we just do?!" she wanted an answer from him he didn't have. This time, she was scared in earnest. This time, the fear and anguish in her face were real. She was visibly upset, under shock.
He understood only too well how she felt. This uncanny and disturbing incident had left him with a strange numbness he couldn't explain even to himself. Whatever this phenomenon did to people - or any life form entering the cavern, who could possibly know - wasn't pleasant. Even though it was probably meant to be. Under any other circumstances, with a clear, unpossessed mind, he no doubt would have enjoyed such an episode more than he was able to tell, or admit. But this was nothing he, they, had done voluntarily and because they wanted to.
"I think we should leave here. Who knows what else awaits us when we stay." He had to actually check whether it was really Kathryn Janeway still sitting beside him when she spoke again, her voice now so calm and composed and in complete contrast to her state only shortly before. When he stole a side glance at her, he knew what had happened - the captain's mask he hadn't seen in a good while had slipped back into place. It was her armor, her sanctuary, it wasn't surprising that it came back now - and yet, or maybe because, it troubled him a lot.
But even though he would have done everything to help her, to make her comfortable and this mask needless again, he had to shake his head at her words. "No, we shouldn't go back. It's almost dark outside and we don't know what to expect on this way through the jungle. There may very well be dangerous animals that are only active at night." He saw how she slowly nodded and momentarily looked down in an unconscious gesture of disappointment, the captain's mask weakened, it seemed.
"You're right." She grew silent for a while, her gaze again fixated on the sky and the brightly shining moon, and he sat beside her, his eyes lost somewhere between the black outline of forests and mountains. It could have been hours that had passed, but it were only a few minutes when Chakotay heard her quietly asked question: "Would you... would you mind leaving me alone for a while?"
Instead of answering, he simply got up silently and left. He returned to the camp; since it was only a few steps and around an edge away from the entrance where she was sitting, he would be alarmed immediately if something unexpected occurred.
Janeway herself waited another while, a thousand thoughts whirring and racing through her head. Only now and then her subconsciousness called her thoughts to order and their attention to a moment of regretting her loss coming from not being able to travel space anymore. She had been living and working her whole life to explore and see what was yet unknown; surely she had never imagined that one day she, being only in her late 30's, would be stuck on a planet on the other side of the universe.
A biting cold wind suddenly setting in forced her to return back inside their stony shelter as well. When she walked back into the with their campsite occupied cavern, she found Chakotay lying on his back in his sleeping bag next to the fireplace, his eyes closed, his breathing even - he had fallen asleep. She looked at him for a long moment; at his relaxed features, and how young his face appeared in the shadows playing across it, in the warm orange glow from the heated rocks.
Earlier, when she had sent him away to be alone, it hadn't been because she couldn't stand his presence, but because she needed time to process what had happened - and she sincerely hoped he knew that. Of course the events in the lagoon first and foremost shocked her so much because she hadn't had any control over herself anymore. Her suppressed consciousness had screamed to be allowed to react, in any way, but she had merely been a prisoner of her own body, and actions. Or non-actions. It wasn't that she resented or feared Chakotay's touch; after nearly three months on the planet she was more than willing to change her mind when it came to their relationship; certainly her heart was ready to, even if her head wasn't entirely yet. Sooner or later it had to happen; it was only natural. But only at the right time and in the right place.
Here, some alien spell or whatever one would call it had reduced them to empty hulls - and robbed them of their chance to explore a possible new chapter in their relationship at their own accord and speed. At their own, free will. She mourned this stolen chance, and she was angry at herself for not double-checking the cave and lagoon before indulging in her personal weakness for a nice bath.
She vaguely remembered that she had been bewitched by the globes the moment she had laid eyes on them. They were the real danger - and obviously, no one was able to escape their influence as soon as one saw them. It was the most logical apology to provide her own guilty consciousness with. But the reality was, even if there was a logical explanation, even if she - perhaps - couldn't have done anything to prevent it, she still felt that it was her fault. She hated the thought that this lack of responsibility she had shown too often for her taste in the past weeks was now causing harm to both of them, and could possibly damage that fragile romance that was beginning to blossom between them.
Sighing, she sat down on her sleeping back, her eyes remaining on her companion.
He was doing so much for her, tried to make their life on this planet better, tried to read her every wish from her eyes, sometimes before she herself even knew she wanted it. He was attentive and kind and a gentleman in every way. He was the best friend one could imagine, and certainly the best person to be stranded with on a far-off world - or anywhere else, for that matter.
For the past few weeks since their arrival, she had constantly been complaining, and even though it had become much less from back on their first days here, she still couldn't fully accept their fate. Sometimes it annoyed her that he had, in her opinion, given up so quickly; deep inside, however, she knew that if it wasn't for him and his unwavering enthusiasm and optimism, she hadn't survived that long with the knowledge that there lay a whole life like this still ahead. He was her anchor; he had been on Voyager, and he was now here.
While before she had just been not denying her love for him to grow, at this point, there was not even the hint of a doubt in her left what she felt for this man who once had been claimed her enemy and who she had been supposed to capture and hand over to the authorities. If everything had went as planned, he would be in a Federation prison by now, and she would be on her way with Voyager again - a thought she found now, after two years working side by side, disturbing, to say at least.
When all was said and done, he was the one person she needed in her life; and sometimes, just sometimes, she wondered how she'd done without him for so long.
Now she could only hope that this encounter in the cave wouldn't destroy everything they'd formed and grown the past two years - and even more so in the past few weeks.
Her mind still wrapped up in thoughts she lay down and fell into a fitful slumber, dreaming of light - and darkness.
=^=
Silence. Gut-wrenching silence. Silence that shouldn't have been on a space ship that had just barely escaped extinction by some phenomenon that otherwise would have been more than appealing to explorers and scientists - to those people on board the ship.
It seemed that no one even dared to breath, much less speak. Those who weren't injured and unconscious stared at the view screen, at the sight presenting itself to them instead of the planet - the sight of an enormous globe brightly glowing with blinding white light.
What is that...?, Tom Paris wondered and therefore formulated a question in his mind everyone else must have been thinking as well. No one, however, voiced it - or gave an answer. Not even Harry, who the pilot assumed was already standing at his station again and analyzing his controls. Or Tuvok, whom he could see from the corner of his eye-
From the corner of his eye.
Only now the pilot realized that he couldn't move. And so anyone else didn't seem to be able to. The silence engulfing the bridge came from people staring ahead, period. No one talked, no one checked sensor readings and informed their commanding officer, no one gave any orders as to what to do next. No one was flying the ship.
A ship that, added to every other weird occurrence, was literally rooted to the spot. They had stopped dead in space and weren't even drifting, if what they saw on the view screen was any indication.
Tom was half lying, half sitting on the ground a few steps away from helm, the pain in his arm that undoubtedly was broken a continuous, uncomfortable throbbing. His every effort to manage even the tiniest move was unsuccessful; he wanted to groan in frustration, but even that seemed impossible. All muscles in his body felt paralyzed, and his mind - his mind was slowly slipping into a state of hypnosis. The worst thing was, Paris could feel it, like he was watching himself from the outside of his worldly existence; his consciousness and control over it ran through his fingers like fine sand...
=^=
The sun had just risen enough to lift her rays over the treetops when Chakotay and Janeway started their way back to their base camp. Apart from some necessary communication they barely talked on their hike back, both lost in their own thoughts, their own musing about and pondering of their situation - and how to go on from there.
Their arrival back at their house was equally wordless. Janeway almost right away retreated to the bathroom, in desperate need of a long, hot shower - for once finding the idea of a bath not all that appealing. Chakotay, on the other hand, found himself walking down to the riverbank, cooling his face and hands in the fresh stream.
One thing both of them had in common - what they did cleared their minds and made them realize what they had to do. The only problem was that their minds sent them in opposite directions; and so Chakotay saw it as his purpose to give her space and time to rebuild her trust in him, while Kathryn...
Kathryn knew something like that in the cave mustn't ever happen again.
She was confused and worried when she left the bathroom and didn't find him in the house, or outside. Usually, when they left, they informed the other; and if only for security reasons. This time, however, he hadn't said anything, and hadn't left a note either.
"Chakotay?!" she called out from their cabin's main entrance, but unsurprisingly got no answer except for nature's background soundtrack. She resisted her instinctive impulse to run out, clad only in her towel, and look for him in the surrounding woods; he probably needed a few moments to himself, and she would never deny him this, not after what had happened between them. So she took her time to dress and then tidy up her personal area, sorting her things, and her thoughts.
And then, just as she decided to go and look for him, he entered the house.
They looked at each other for agonizingly long minutes, both feeling that right then and there, there was so much more at stake than maybe either one of them was able to assess - until Chakotay rose to speak, using words that didn't just sound to her ears like the worst possible cliché that was: "We should talk about it."
In that moment, Kathryn knew how she had to transform her earlier decision into an action. Sometimes, one simply had to jump to learn to fly.
"No," she contradicted, making him regard her with shock and confusion. "We should resolve it." It was all he got as an explanation before she approached him and, resting one hand at the back of his head, pulled him down to lean her forehead against his. She heard his intake of breath, a sign that he readied himself to protest - but she was quicker.
"Shh..." Kathryn pressed a finger against his lips and waited for him to breathe out, release the air he had supplied his lungs with to allow him to speak, before she replaced her finger with her own lips, not doing anything else than letting them touch his lightly for a while. Only then she began to move them, opened her mouth and teased his with her tongue, asking him to give in - and he did. His mouth opened, welcoming her tongue and kiss, and allowed them and himself to melt into this first kiss that grew from tender and shy to more and more passionate by the second. Chakotay wrapped his arms around her small form and she sighed at the feel of his skilled touches and the warmth surrounding her, completely losing herself in an encounter that told of every repressed feeling they may have harbored in the past weeks, and even back on Voyager already.
But Chakotay, despite having his heart dance with joy, was soon overtaken by his rational mind again, and gently pushed her away, ending the kiss.
"I can't, Kathryn. I..." He trailed off when she shook her head, affectionately smiling at him and stroking his cheek.
"Whatever happened isn't your fault. I don't blame you for anything, so you shouldn't either. Please don't let this be our memory - us giving in to something we both know we feel while not being able to control our actions." She stole another sweet kiss. "I want a new memory." And another soft touch of lips. "A real one." Her voice was a mere whisper, her breath caressing his face as she showered it with kisses.
Nimble fingers found the hem of his shirt and slipped beneath it, then pulled the piece of clothing upwards - and he complied with her wordless request. Lifting his arms, he helped her get the shirt off him. It was thrown to the ground carelessly; there were other, more important tasks at hand than to care about clothes. He watched her attentively when she began to explore his now bare chest with her fingers first, then with her mouth as well, the whole time not moving. He was simply too struck by her, and too fascinated to do anything.
The buttons of his pants were her hands' next aim as they wandered deeper, and skillfully she opened fastener and fly, pushing the leg wear over his hips so that they fell down to end as a puddle around his feet. He actually found himself groaning when she got into a crouching position in front of him and helped him get rid of his shoes, followed by the pants that met the same fate as his shirt.
Slowly rising up again, she roamed his body with her hands and mouth, touching and caressing, kneading and scratching, kissing and licking whatever inch of his skin she could reach - only sparing the area in his middle where her touch was anticipated most.
His impatience got the better of him when she was standing before him, and he reached out to touch her, to start an exploration of his own, but she stopped his hand by meeting them with hers and holding them fast in the air between them.
"Let me be the one in control. That way we can at least prevent we're getting even." He knew she wasn't serious, could see it in the twinkle in her eyes, but still he knew that somewhere, subconsciously, she maybe didn't mean it that may, but surely felt like this. He nodded, but then loosened one of his hands and with a 'just one thing' gesture, he cupped her cheek and pulled her into a tender, loving kiss. She let it happen for the moment, but soon detached herself from him smiled at him when he lifted his hands, signaling her that it was her game from now.
Only one piece of clothing remained on his body. Save the best for last, they said, she thought to herself, and rested her hands on his hipbones, her thumbs lightly stroking his skin before slipping beneath the waistband of his briefs. Bit by bit she pulled them down, eventually letting his straining hardness spring free from its tight confines, which elicited a relieved sigh from Chakotay. The rest of his briefs' way he only noticed through the haze he found himself in when she wrapped her hand around his erection, carefully yet confidently moving her fingers along the rigid shaft.
He didn't offer any resistance when she pushed him backwards until he felt his legs hitting a chair, forcing him to sit down. That she then would step away from him and slowly start to undress herself in front of him he wouldn't even have dreamed of in his wildest fantasies. One piece of clothing by another fell from her body, revealing more and more of her smooth, white skin, her curves, the perfect beauty she was. What before his mind had only been able to register in his hypnotized state, and his eyes had only seen from behind, was now presented to him unobstructed, and it cost him everything of self-control and self-restraint he possessed to not sweep her up and love her in every way he knew.
Blood rushed in his ears, so loud it was almost deafening, when she, now entirely naked, approached him again and, with her hands on his shoulders, straddled his lap. His own hands clasped the underside of the chair's seat, still trying to respect her wish and grant her sole control.
Leaning in, she brushed her lips against his for a moment, and traced the lines of his tattoo with her forefinger, learning and memorizing the dark lines thoroughly - something she had wanted to do for a long time. Then she let her mouth wander to one side of his head, breathing into his ear what he longed to hear so much: "Now touch me."
And he complied.
Almost hungrily his hands sought out the feel of her skin, its warmth and softness, of her silky hair falling down her back like a reddish-golden waterfall, her perfectly rounded breasts, her strong and slim thighs, and finally, the heated wetness between them. His thumb stroked her clitoris while his fingers dipped between her folds, parted them and fondled them, making her pant and gasp with wetted lips open and her head thrown back. One hand pressed against her back, he held her to him when his mouth devoured her neck and breasts while his fingers, first one, then two, entered her and his hand's movements brought her to the brink of her orgasm, again and again, only to stop shortly before she could fall over the edge.
It was her who ended the teasing by regaining her senses with much effort and stopping his actions, unwillingly pulling his hand away.
"I want to feel you inside me," she murmured against his lips before kissing him once more, showing him with her tongue exactly what she planned on letting his hips do to her. Then Kathryn's arm snaked down between them, and she took his hardness into her hand, moving it up and down along it, before tightening her grip and positioning the tip of his shaft at her opening.
Slowly she sat back down from where she had been half-standing, letting a bit of his swollen flesh push into her wet heat. They both hissed at this first attempt of a union; the feeling of him stretching her tightness close to being painful, while the narrow space inside her pulled at his self-restraint, in every sense of the word. Chakotay groaned in what only could have been interpreted as protest when she rose again, momentarily losing him - but surely she wasn't about to end it here. Leaning in to claim his lips another time, she meanwhile coated her hand with her own slick fluids and wetted his member's head with them; then she took him in again, moaning into his mouth as she accommodated to his size. Finally she sat in his lap, with him fully sheathed within her, and he ended their leisure kiss to find her shoulder with his teeth instead, lightly biting down to release some of the tension he felt, tension that brought him close to exploding.
Her first movements were careful, tentative. His size was beyond everything she had ever had; that she last had had a man inside her a good while ago didn't help either; her last time had been over two years ago, to be exact. Preparations for Voyager's first mission had kept her too busy to spend much time with Mark, and especially be intimate with him; and certainly she had lived like a nun on Voyager.
Now re-discovering - re-activating - her sexuality with a man like Chakotay, with his size and girth, had her muscles and tissue protest; at least for the moment. Already she felt the initial uncomfortable feeling subside and herself accepting the intrusion by his silky steel. Pleasure replaced pain, and slow movements increased in speed and intensity when Kathryn began to rock back and forth, occasionally lifting her hips and sitting down again.
Until then, Chakotay had held back as much as he was capable of; but the friction and rippling of her inner walls around his erection eventually were too much to stand. With one arm locked around her hips while his other, hand placed on the chair's seat, served as leverage, he began to forcefully thrust up into her, gliding deeper than they both would have thought possible in this position. By now her passion and lust were beyond control, and she met his plunging by grounding down onto him with all her might, not caring about how sore she would be afterwards. The climax that began to boil inside her promised to be stronger than anything she had ever known and experienced, and she headed for it greedily, clamping her inner muscles around him, willing him to let go. He, however, was having none of it; he had plans of his own, and those included her taking him over the edge when she went herself.
And with his fingers finding their joining - and her clit - his goal was a close one to be accomplished. Skillfully he twitched and nudged the swollen pleasure nub with one hand, all the while his teeth nipped at her earlobe and his other hand massaged her buttocks - and soon enough, holding back was no longer an option for Kathryn. With a throaty scream, she forced herself down onto him one last time and clawed her nails into his shoulders while her body convulsed uncontrollably in his arms. The tremors and the vigorous grip her womanhood had on his shaft sealed it for him, and he burst inside her, following her into oblivion when their orgasms washed over them. His hot mass shooting forcefully into her had her shudder over and over again, and she whimpered and clung to him, barely able to bear the sensations ripping through her.
They remained sitting on the chair, a heap of sated flesh and fulfilled minds, until after a while, he stirred. Holding her fast and secure enveloped in his embrace, he stood up and carried her over to his sleeping area where he lay down with her still in his arms. Lazily she shifted so that she came to lie beside him, her head on his shoulder and one arm draped over his stomach.
"I'm thirsty," she murmured sleepily against his chest after a short while, and sighed when she lifted her head to look at him. He chuckled.
"Did I wear you out that much?" he winked, and she slapped his stomach gently. Affectionately smiling at her, he added, "Do you want me to get you something to drink?"
"No, that's all right, I'll take that chance to stretch my limbs a bit. Do you want something, too?" He simply shook his head, so whispering "I'll be right back." into his ear, she left his strong embrace. That she regretted soon; without his warmth cocooning her she suddenly felt very cold. Quickly she tip-toed into the main room and got herself a glass of water, gulped it contents down, then put the receptacle onto the table and almost ran back into his bedroom.
Having been dozing before, Chakotay was fully awake at once when she entered the room. Kathryn Janeway was a very beautiful woman, no doubt - he had always known that, from the moment they had first met. But as she stood there before him, unashamedly naked, hair tousled and cheeks flushed, eyes glittering with happiness and pure fulfillment, and all that because of their lovemaking, he couldn't think of anything more stunning than her. Thousands of butterflies danced in his stomach when she gracefully crawled onto the bed and back into his arms, and he welcomed her, holding her as close as possible, never getting enough of her naked skin against his.
They fell into a light slumber like this, both feeling comfortable and safe in the other one's embrace; both feeling home.
=^=
Had there been ships passing the Starfleet vessel called Voyager, probably no one could have withstood the temptation of getting everything off this repository of modern, highly-developed technology. There were enough races in the Delta Quadrant who'd start a war over a transporter or replicator, not to speak of tactical systems or the warp core.
Therefore, Voyager's crew should have felt lucky that they were far away from any other living being in this quadrant. And had they been able to recognize their situation, they might even have considered it. But, one couldn't even have described them as aware of their surroundings. They were still conscious; but only inside their heads. The picture in front of their eyes was frozen, as was every sound in their ears. All they yet had were their own thoughts.
Lying dead in space, the Alpha Quadrant spaceship showed no signs of any kind of life, inside and out. Where usually lights shone from the quarters' or also the mess hall's windows, there was now only darkness; where normally a blue glow enveloped the warp nacelles, there now was just dull, plain grey. No engines hummed inside, no comm. channels were opened, and no door chimes sounded. Red alert sounds and flashing lights had long since died down. People where standing, sitting or even lying where they'd last been the moment the transformation began, but no one moved, spoke or even, as it appeared, breathed.
As if the ship and all its occupants had been frozen in time, Voyager was like a statue in space, towed to an invisible landing pier.
Only the very slow, and very occasional blink of an eye now and then was evidence that there was still life on the otherwise dead looking starship...
TBC