Disclaimer: Unfortunately for you and me, Star Trek Voyager is
the property of Paramount Pictures, but we're free to add our own
ideas right?
Author's Note: This Story is dedicated to my
Best Friend April. And the name "A New Horizon" was a
product of our twisted imagination. We were singing in the car,
when we heard those words in the song, and both turned and yelled
out "A New Horizon". Always remember, "Boy Meets
Worm":).
By Kathryn Murphy
July 1998
Kathryn Janeway hurried down the corridor leading to Sickbay.
"Computer time" she ordered, as she rounded the corner.
"Current time is 14:06 hundred hours" the female
voice replied.
*Damn it*., she swore to herself. She reached the doors
leading to the Sickbay, and stepped through, as they opened in
front of her. Her eyes traveled the length of the room, before
her gaze fell to the holographic doctor moving toward her.
"Doctor, I am very sorry. I got held up in Engineering,
and..." she started, but was quickly cut off by the Doctor,
who now stood only inched from her.
"Captain," he began, "I do realize that as the
senior officer on this ship, you have many duties and
responsibilities; however, I would appreciate that you at least
try to be on time for your appointments." he said, staring
at her.
When she didn't respond, he continued, "Now, if you will,
please lie down." he said, motioning to the nearest biobed.
Kathryn walked the short distance to the bed, and pulled
herself up to its surface, her legs dangling over the edge.
The Doctor followed her, and grabbed his medical tricorder
from the table, as he made his way to the opposite side of the
bed, "Am I to assume that Commander Chakotay will not be
joining us this afternoon?" he asked, as he opened the
tricorder.
"He was supposed to meet me here; I guess I'm not the
only one who's late!", she replied, a grin on her face,
"But he..."
"I'm right here!", Chakotay finished, as he entered
the room, breathing heavily. "Sorry I'm late Doc, did I miss
anything?" he asked, looking at Kathryn.
"No Commander, we haven't started yet." the Doctor
answered, the annoyance plain in his voice., "Sometime today
would be nice, " he muttered under his breath.
"Doctor" Captain Janeway warned, eyeing the
hologram.
The Doctor looked from the Captain to Chakotay, who only
smiled and shock his head. An unspoken agreement between the two
men; Don't argue with the Captain.
"Now that we're all here, may we begin?" he asked.
Kathryn nodded, and swung her feet onto the bed, as she lowered her back to the mattress.
Chakotay moved a step closer, as she reached over and grabbed
his hand, lacing their fingers together. She turned her head to
meet his and smiled.
His grip on her hand tightened.
The Doctor waved the tricorder over the figure lying on the
bed, and the instrument beeped and wined as he made some final
adjustments.
"There," he said, and stepped away, allowing the
couple to see the monitor located by the side of the bed. He made
a final pass with the instrument, and an image appeared on the
screen. To the untrained eye, it was no more than a haze of black
and white, palpating on the screen, but they understood.
Chakotay leaned forward slightly, his eyes growing wider at
the sight before him; his heart beating so loudly, he was sure
the Doctor could hear. He took his eyes away from the screen, to
look at Kathryn, and his knees grew weak at the sight of her. At
that moment, he could see every emotion playing across her face;
wonder, joy, love.
His grip on her tightened even more, as she raised her other
hand to the monitor, and gently brushed her fingertips across the
screen.
"Captain, Commander, I would like you to meet your
daughter."
***
She stood at the viewport, watching as the stars streaked by,
hurrying on their endless journey through the Universe. It was
something that she found a great deal of comfort in, just
standing there, watching, thinking.
And tonight was no exception. She had a lot to think about.
She felt his presence before she felt the warm touch of his arms, as they encircled her waist, drawing her close. She felt his warm breath on her neck, as he kissed her.
"That was amazing." he whispered quietly.
She smiled, as his hands began to caress her slightly swollen
stomach. "I know" she replied quietly, and turned in
his arms, to face him. She lightly brushed her index finger
across his lower lip, and slowly brought her lips to his.
"Tuvok to Captain Janeway."
Kathryn could feel his smile beneath the kiss, as she tried,
unsuccessfully to suppress a giggle. It had become something of a
game between them; who would interrupt them first.
Tuvok won today.
"Janeway here," she responded.
"Captain, we are approaching Taura Prime."
"Acknowledged. I'll be there shortly, Janeway out."
She turned her attention back to Chakotay. He smiled, and raised
his hand to her face, lightly tracing the outline of her jaw,
before pulling her mouth back to his.
"Tuvok to Commander Chakotay."
"Damn it."
Kathryn brought her head down to rest on his shoulder, and
Chakotay kissed the top of her head. He took a deep breath,
before responding. "Chakotay here."
"Sir, your presence is required on the Bridge."
"Acknowledged, Chakotay out."
Kathryn sighed, as she raised her head once more, and locked
her eyes with his. "We'll never get to finish this will
we?" she asked, her eyes twinkling with amusement.
"Later" was all he said, before taking her hand and
guiding her out the door.
***
"Acknowledged Minister, I am sending an away team to meet
with your officials. They will be down shortly."
"As you wish Captain. I look forward to your arrival.
T'lora out."
Kathryn sighed quietly, and relaxed her posture, letting her
hands slide to their customary position on her hips. She turned
to face Chakotay, who was seated at the command center, awaiting
her orders.
"Commander, I want you and B'Elanna to go down there, and
check things out. Bring Seven along too, I want to see if we can
get that part for the Astrometrics Lab." she said.
"Aye Captain," Chakotay answered. He rose to his
feet, collected his PADD, and turned toward the door.
"Chakotay?"
He stopped, just as he reached the turbolift doors, and turned
to face her.
"Be careful." she said quietly.
He locked his eyes with hers, communicating a thousand words
with one look. "Always" he said smiling, and stepped
into the waiting lift.
***
Kathryn Janeway reclined in her chair, letting her head rest
on the back. Her eyes traveled the length of her Ready room,
before coming to rest on the pile of PADDs at her desk.
She sighed, and closed her eyes. Truth be told, she didn't
feel like working anymore; she had been in here for over an hour
now, trying to catch up on her work, but she had yet to
accomplish much.
It was always like this when she had an away team off ship. She could never get past the feeling that something was going to go wrong. *Just another part of being the Captain* she thought, *That or you're just worried because your baby's father is down there* she smiled to herself.
The Tauran were a friendly race, as far as she could tell, but
there was something about them, the Minister in particular, that
made her uneasy.
"Kathryn, this is not getting your work done!" she
said out loud, as if scolding herself verbally would make her
work faster.
She reached to her desk, and picked up the PADD, and began to
read. "Structural integrity of the Plasma Manifolds"
This was going to be a long day.
***
A sound at her door made Captain Janeway look up. She placed
the PADD on her desk, welcoming the distraction.
"Come" she called.
The door opened, and revealed the smiling face of Tom Paris. He stepped through the doorway, and walked toward her desk. "Captain, I was just heading down to the mess hall to get something to eat, and I was wondering if you would join me?" he asked.
"Well, I was just going to..." she started.
"You really should eat more often Captain. Remember,
you're eating for two now." he stated, a twinkle in his eye.
She sighed and placed her hands on her hips, trying to hide the smile tugging at her lips. "I haven't forgotten Tom. I would be happy to join you, just give me a minute ok?" she asked.
"Take your time." he answered. "By the way, I
meant to tell you..." he started but was interrupted by a
chirp coming from Captain Janeway's comm badge.
"Tuvok to Captain Janeway."
Kathryn turned, and smiled at the Lieutenant; Tuvok was always
interrupting. "Go ahead."
"Captain, there has been an accident. The away team had
been transported to Sickbay."
Kathryn looked at Tom, frozen in place, as the smile slowly
faded from her face. A thousand thoughts went through her head,
each more gruesome than the next. *Breathe Kathryn, it's probably
nothing serious.* she told herself, but her instinct told her to
get to Sickbay.
"Captain?" Tuvok questioned over the comm line.
"I'll be right there." she answered, and started out of her Ready Room, Tom close on her heals.
***
By the time they reached the doors leading to Sickbay, both
were running; trying to get there as quickly as possible, yet not
wanting to get there at all.
They were unprepared for the sight that greater them, as the doors opened.
Kathryn's eyes surveyed the room, noting unconsciously that
Seven was sitting on a biobed, next to B'Elanna.
The young Chief Engineer was awake, and turned her head at the sound of Tom's voice.
"B'Ela" he cried, rushing to her side, leaving
Kathryn standing by the door.
She was frozen in place.
"Chakotay," she whispered.
The Doctor walked over to her, his holographic face contorted
in emotion. She knew something was wrong.
"I'm sorry." he whispered quietly. Guilt flooded his gentle features. The one person that this woman, his friend, loved more than life itself, he couldn't help.
"I'm so sorry."
Kathryn's head was spinning. She couldn't think, couldn't
speak. She wanted to yell at him. At everyone. Tell him to go
back and save him, do something; anything. But she couldn't get
the words to come out.
She was crying now. Tears tracing their way down her face, and falling to the floor.
She was aware of arms around her, and of voices behind her,
but none of that mattered anymore. She only wanted to be with
him.
"...the damage was too extensive, It won't be long
now." The Doctor said solemnly. "Captain, do you want
to see him?" he asked quietly.
Kathryn nodded. It was an automatic response. She wasn't
thinking or feeling now. She just had to get to him. See him.
Touch him. Be with him.
Someone guided her to the biobed, and she had to fight back a
wave of nausea as she looked at him. He couldn't be hurt. He was
perfect.
Where the blanket stopped, below his navel, her eyes
continued.
She saw the smooth golden skin of his stomach and chest, not the scars reminiscent of the injuries the Doctor tried to heal only moments ago. Her hand traced a path well traveled around his shoulder, never taking notice of the cloth that covered the mangled skin beneath.
And his face. So peaceful, yet hurting so much.
She brushed her hand over his tattoo, and his brown eyes opened slowly, locking with hers.
She never noticed the deep gash on his forehead, nor the dark red blood covering her hand.
In her eyes, he was absolutely perfect, and always would be.
She tried to speak this time, but instead of words, a sob
escaped her tiny form, and her tears cascaded down her pale face,
falling freely to his chest.
Chakotay raised his hand slowly, bringing it to her face. He needed to touch her one last time.
"Kathryn" he spoke softly, his voice thick with
emotion.
"No. No...I love you." she said, her voice muffled
by his chest. "I love you to much."
She raised her head to look at him. "You can't leave me." she whispered, shaking her head.
His hand caressed her face, and he slowly moved it down to
rest over her heart.
He could feel it beating.
He took a shaky breath, and raised his voice.
"Even in death, I will never leave you."
He took her hand in his, intertwining their fingers,
reminiscent of a time, not long ago, when he had first declared
his love for her.
"I love you my Kathryn."
She gripped his hands tightly with hers, leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on his lips.
He closed his eyes.
They began this way, and they ended this way.
Together.
Continue with the Trilogy
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