Chapter 6: Marriage of the Soul SD 7608.09 Delta Quadrant U.S.S. Voyager Bridge "Captain, we're approaching one M-class planet, with a warp civilization," Harry Kim intoned from his place at Operations. Captain Janeway rubbed her forehead. She was beginning to get the start of a headache, an unfortunate afteraffect of the Yintaghian flu that she had contracted a few weeks ago. "Onscreen," she ordered, trying to get herself in the mood to deal with alien lifeforms. Harry punched a few buttons on his console, and on the viewscreen appeared a small planet, a blue and green orb. Janeway sighed at the sight of it, for it looked a little too much like Earth than she would have liked. "We're receiving a hail from the planet, Captain," Harry said. Janeway nodded to tell him to put it through, and a form appeared on the viewscreen in place of the planet. "Greetings, traveller. I am Jilana, first of the Haykt. Welcome to Haykti. May I ask your business here?" the being said. It was obviously female, from it's mannerisms right down to it's tone of voice. It even looked female, with it's long black hair and striking yellow eyes. "I'm Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager. We're trying to get home, and it's a long distance from here. We're just passing through, and we mean you nor your people no harm." The first brightened. "Well, then if you say you mean us no harm, you are quite welcome to come to our planet and collect any supplies you might need, You are also welcome to orbit our planet and take the time to make repairs. I'm sure we'll be able to negotiate something in return for any supplies you take." Janeway smiled. "Why, thank you. That's very generous of you." "We are a very generous people, Captain," Jilana replied. "I'm sure you'll learn that quite soon. In fact, why doesn't your crew come down and have a bit of a shore leave? If that's all right with you, Captain?" She smiled again. Janeway nodded. "Of course it is. It's been a long time since the crew was able to have shore leave." "Good. Then I'll see you sometime, Captain." Janeway nodded again, and signaled for Harry to end transmission. Sd 7608.09 Delta Quadrant Haykti Homeworld Communications station A few minutes after the transmission had ended, Jilana moved to get up. A technician got up as well, and went to block the exit. "Please excuse me for challenging your authority, First. But what were you doing? You know this planet's reserved for _special_ people," he said nervously, fidgeting. Jilana smiled. "You know the rules of right, as I do. And I know that it's not my place to make the right, but something about those people... I can't quite get a grasp on it myself, but there was something that was just. . .right." She paused, then looked him in the eyes. "That's why I'm allowing them access to the planet. Besides, did you see the dark haired man in the background? He seemed to be right. The captain was right, too. So I figured if there's anything that we can do for these two right people, like set them right and get them together, we should. And the Elders shouldn't have any problems against that." The technician shrugged. "All right, I guess." He didn't know much about who was right, and the whole shibang thing of it all, just that the entire system was always right. Besides, that's why they had the firsts and seconds and thirds. They could usually see who was right and what not. So he just left it up to them. Jilana's smile grew even bigger as she almost saw the wheels in his head turning. Using his contemplation to her advantage, she pushed her way past him and into the bright day outside. SD 7608.1 Delta Quadrant U.S.S. Voyager Transporter Room 2 Kathryn Janeway waved to Tom and B'Elanna as they vanished, beamed down to Haykti. Along with them were Mulder and Scully, and the four of them were going to find a bar and most likely get drunk. Janeway shook her head at the thought of it. Those people just liked to party and get drunk. Everytime there was a party on Voyager, Tom always spiked the drinks, and Kathryn usually wound up getting drunk with the rest of them. The doors slid open, and Chakotay walked in. "Hello, Commander. Come to be beamed down to the planet? I just beamed out the last group, so you'll have to wait until tomorrow," she said. He grinned, then walked over to her. "I came to find you, Kathryn. Aren't you going down to the planet for some R&R?" he asked, taking her in his arms. She hugged him, then glanced up. "No, I've got too many reports to read. I would if I could, but I can't so I won't." Chakotay grinned again, then kissed her. "Did you come up with that all by yourself?" he asked after the kiss. She kissed him back, and then he kissed her back, and in between the kisses she somehow managed to reply, "No. My grandmother used to say it all the time." "Ah, well, it's really very clever," Chakotay repied, kissing her again. "Yes, very," Kathryn said. He started to back up as her kisses became more and more insistent, but was stopped by the transporter console. The door's opening interrupted their make-out session. Lieutenant Commander Tuvok turned to one side and cleared his throat. The two sprang apart, and immediately blushed at being caught by the security officer. Tuvok paid the scene no mind. "Captain, you are receiving a hail from the planet," he said. Janeway considered what he said. "Thank you, Lieutenant. I'll be up to the bridge shortly." Tuvok turned and started to leave, but she stopped him. "You couldn't have used the comm system to tell me?" Tuvok turned to her and shrugged. "I was in the vicinity." He left the transporter room Once the doors had closed, Chakotay and Kathryn began laughing hysterically. SD 7608.1 Delta Quadrant Haykti Homeworld Communications station "Captain," Jilana started when she saw the woman's face in the viewscreen. "First," was Janeway's reply. "So good of you to return my hail. I was curious, why aren't you on the planet? Even captain's need a vacation." "I was just about to ask her the same thing," a dark male in the background of the viewscreen said. Jilana narrowed her yellow eyes. That was not the same dark haired man that had been in the background yesterday. This one wasn't. . .right. He was all wrong. Especially for the captain. She needed the other dark haired one. Fortunately Janeway didn't notice the First's adverse reaction. "Oh, Chakotay," she said to the man in the back. She turned back to Jilana. "That's my first officer. He was just joking." "Oh, but I was serious, Captain. I expected you to be down here. I was going to welcome you to the planet," Jilana said, sticking her bottom lip out in a pout. Janeway smiled. "Oh, don't worry. I'll be beaming down tomorrow, first thing in the morning." Jilana could hear the laughter of that pesky first officer in the background and tried to ignore it. "Well, good. Then I'll see you. First gone." She gestured for the technician to cut transmission, and pulled up a picture from the earlier hails. "Here. I want you to search through all of the crew that beamed down and find this man. Once you've found him, bring him to my office. I'll be there tomorrow, after I greet Janeway." The technician glanced at the photo, printed out a copy, and nodded. Jilana nodded as well, and left the communications station. SD 7608.11 Delta Quadrant U.S.S. Voyager Captain's Quarters "Ugh!" Kathryn groaned into her pillow as the alarm went off. "Ugh!" her pillow groaned back. Kathryn's eyes immediately snapped open. To see a stomach. A bare stomach. Chakotay's bare stomach. She scrambled up off of him, gathering the sheets around herself. Chakotay groaned once more, and then rolled over onto his stomach. Kathryn sighed, remembering the night before, and tugged on the remaining sheets. Before he could groan another time, he was sitting buck naked on her bedroom floor. "Ugh! What'd you do that for, Kathryn?" he asked, rubbing his sore ass. She raised an eyebrow. "We're going to be late beaming down on the planet. I'm going to shower." "Care for some company? Maybe to reach those hard to reach spots?" Chakotay leered from the floor. Kathryn smiled besides herself. "Mm, as good as that sounds, I think I'm going to have to reschedule. We might be really late if we decide to do that. But what do you say to joining me on the planet?" Chakotay got up and wrapped some of the sheets around his waist. "I'd say yes," he replied, wrapping his arms around her and giving her a deep kiss. "Mm, then I'll see you in transporter room two in about half an hour. You're dismissed, Commander. And that's an order," she said, breaking away from him and heading to the sonic shower. "Aye, sir," Chakotay replied, gathering his clothes and getting ready to leave. SD 7608.11 Delta Quadrant Haykti Homeworld Office of the First The knock on her door brought Jilana out of her musings. "Yes," she called. The door opened, and the nervous technician entered, a man in tow. "Um, may I present Mr. Harry Kim to the First of Haykti." THe man stepped forward out of the shadows, and the First could now see that Mr. Kim was the dark-haired man that had been in the background. "Uh, that's actually Ensign Kim," he said, fidgeting almost as much as the technician did. "Well then, Ensign Kim," Jilana said, "So good of you to join me. Please, take a seat." She gestured to the seat in front of her desk and he sat. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?" he asked. Jilana thought quickly for a moment. "Well, it seems that you have won a contest that we have been holding. You have been the 47th person to beam down to this planet." "Great. So what have I won?" "A pre-paid trip to our most beautiful place; a rustic cabin in the Argongolaiyd mountains," she replied. "It's wonderful, simply the best place to relax. Your transport leaves right away." "Well, wow!" Kim said, smiling. Then his smile faded. "Um, maybe I should contact the captain, first, though." Jilana smiled. "Don't worry. We've already contacted her, and she said it was all right." "Really? Well, then I suppose it's fine. Take me to your cabin," he replied in a kind of monotone, automatic voice. The First frowned. "What? Is that some sort of idiom?" she asked. "What? Oh, yeah. A slightly distorted idiom," he replied. "So, when do we leave?" Jilana grinned widely. "How about now? My assistant will take you to the transport site." 7608.11 Delta Quadrant Haykti Homeworld Transport Site Harry was disappointed that the First wasn't able to accompany him to at least the transport site, but he understood that she had other things to do. She was beautiful, and he felt attracted to her, but he figured part of the attraction was her resemblance to Tal. After all, he still hadn't gotten over her yet. He shook his head clear of all painful thoughts and gestured to the technician that he was ready to go. The technician nodded, then hit a few buttons on the console in front of him and saluted. A few seconds later, Harry found himself in a very rustic looking cabin. He wandered around, trying to get his bearings. Glancing out the one window that was positioned to face the north, he saw a beautiful mountain range, covered in snow-like powder. The whole scene was breathtaking. The cabin itself was small, in possesion of only two rooms. The bathroom was tiny, no bigger than a closet with a shower, sink, and a contraption that functioned as a toilet. The second room functioned as a bedroom/kitchen/living room. A corner held something that looked like an oven, and another sink. In the middle of the wall was a crevice, which pulled out to reveal a bed, and a fireplace stood along the wall. All in all, it was pretty cozy. Pulling out the bed, he sighed and decided to read a padd he had brought. Before he could settle down on it, he decided to make something to eat. Finding something that resembled tea bags in a cabinet under the sink, he started boiling water and readying his tea. While he waited for the water to bubble, he decided to go make use of the facilities. Flushing the small toilet when he was done, he walked out to see the water bubbling over the stovetop. "Shit!" he yelled, lunging to it, obviously forgetting that when the water bubbled, it meant that it was boiling and hot as hell. "OWWWWW!!!!!" was his next cry as the pot containing the boiling water fell down, and the water spilled on his hand. He let loose a string of curses that would have made even B'Elanna blush. His foot was the next thing for him to curse, after the pot fell on it. He began spluttering, and hopping up and down on his better foot. He managed to spring over to the bed, and leapt upon it with a sigh of relief. Then he sprawled out upon it, one hand cradling the other. Of course, the bed being part of the wall, it decided that it was a good moment to do some springing itself and join the rest of the wall. It mattered nothing to it that Harry was still on it. He was thrown back into the tiny crevice that there was, upside down. Harry slid down onto the floor headfirst. It was truly dark in the crevice behind the bed. Well, it was that, or he was losing consciousness, but he preferred to think that it was just really dark. "Help?" he asked the wall. 9908.11 Delta Quadrant Haykti Homeworld Cabin in the Mountains Kathryn and Chakotay glanced around the cabin after they rematerialized, wondering if the cleaning lady had been in at all recently. From the looks of it, she hadn't. There was a pot of water lying on the ground, and from the looks of it, it was fresh. There was still steam coming up from the ground beneath it. In the other room, it sounded as if water was still running. And there were scattered tea bags everywhere. "Hello? Is anybody here?" Chakotay called. When he got no reply, he shrugged his shoulders. "Guess not." Just as he was about to pull Kathryn into a kiss, a faint, "Help me," came from the wall. They broke apart, and furrowed their brows. "That sounded like Harry, didn't it?" Kathryn asked. Chakotay nodded. "The wall sounded just like Harry. But it can't be, because he was supposed to be with Tom, B'Elanna, Scully, Mulder, and Seven." There was a sound that sounded like somebody slapping himself on the forehead, then the wall said, "Ugh, I forgot about Seven and the rest of them. They're going to be so pissed off..." Kathryn looked over at Chakotay, who glanced back at her. "Harry?" she asked the wall. "Is that you?" "Yep," the wall replied. "A little help? I'm kinda stuck." "Oh, right," Chakotay said, hurrying over to the wall. He managed to find the trick to the crevice, and bring the bed down to the floor. Harry then slid out and groaned. "Ugh, thank god you guys came along. Otherwise I'd've been in there forever," he said, sitting up and rubbing his head. Then he blinked. "Um, why were you guys here anyway?" Again, Kathryn looked to CHakotay, but he shrugged and remained silent. "Um," she began, "the First wanted us to come up here- well, actually, just me, but I, well, the Commander, um...." "I insisted she shouldn't be allowed here alone," Chakotay broke in. "So I came with her. What are you doing here?" "Well, the First told me that I was the forty-seventh person to beam down to the planet, and that this meant that I received a free trip to a very relaxing cabin up in the most beautiful part of their planet." "Your idea of relaxing is sitting upside down behind a wall, Harry?" Chakotay asked with a smile. Harry flushed. "No, well, you see, that was sort of an accident. After all the other accidents." Kathryn raised an eyebrow. "So you were the one who did all this," she said, gesturing to the mess all around them. "Yes, ma'am. I didn't mean to though. I'll clean it up, and then be out of your way-" "Out of our way? You can stay in the cabin, Harry. We'll leave." Harry's eyes widened in apparent fear. "Stay in this cabin?" he squeaked. "I'd rather face down a hundred Borg cubes than stay in this death trap." And with that, he gathered his things, rather quickly, and requested that Voyager beam him out immediately. Which, because there was a rather bored transporter technician sitting in the transporter room, happened immediately. Kathryn glanced over at her companion, then back to the mess at hand. "Well, I guess we should begin cleaning things up around here." Chakotay stared back at her. "I can think of some more interesting things to do than clean up." "We're not going to make a mess of our own, Commander, are we?" Kathryn replied back, her eyebrow raised as she sauntered into his arms. "Perhaps," was his reply. -------------------------Censored---------------------------- Sorry, folks, the next couple of scenes have been cut, because A) I want to keep this PG-13 and B) I don't write NC- 17. The scenes came out terrible, and I deleted them. -------And now back to our regularly scheduled program------- 7608.13 Delta Quadrant Haykti Homeworld Transporter Room Jilana waited by the technician, a faux smile plastered over her face. It was time to see if Janeway and Kim had made everything right in the Aeternum Cabin. She nodded to the technician, who nodded back and began the transport of Janeway and her companion, who had signalled to her that they were ready. Orange shimmered around, and Jilana began to truly grin. If these two very right people had done the very right thing in the Aeternum Cabin, she might be in line for a promotion. Sure, the job she had now was great, but there was too much work involved in being the First. She wanted to be Reigning Regent, who was really just a figurehead. And there's no paperwork involved in being a figurehead. Jilana strained to see through the orange mist and look to the two figures who were materializing in front of her. There was Janeway, yes, and she looked very happy and content. SHe could tell by how red the orange mist was making her face look that they had in fact done the right thing in the cabin. She then looked toward Harry Kim, and there was that same telltale redness, except there was something there that hadn't been there when he had met the First. There was a tattoo on his face! And then Jilana realized that she had seen that design before, on the captain's first officer. This was awful; the captain had done the right thing with the wrong person. But then why would their faces both be red, if the commander was not the right person? It was perplexing to Jilana, who had spent her life studying what was right, and what was wrong, and never before had there been a precedent for this. She had gotten this vibe from Ensign Kim, one that told her he was the right person for Janeway. She had gotten the vibe from the commander that he was all wrong for the captain. And yet, here they were, both red faced and flushed, and the spirits would never have made both their faces red if they weren't right for each other. So she knew what she must do. She must perform the ritual that she had come to perform when Harry had been the right one, and she must carry it out to perfection. Jilana held her head up, and approached the now materialized couple. "Congratulations," she said simply. "It is time. Are you ready to begin?" Janeway glanced over at the XO. "Begin what, if you don't mind me asking?" "The ritual that wil consumate what you began in the Aeternum Cabin," Jilana replied. "The one that will make you life-bonded." "What? You mean marriage?" Janeway asked, incredulous. Jilana frowned. These two hadn't come to Haykti for romance then, like so many others had. It must have just been an odd coincedence. If Jilana believed in coincedences. "I suppose, if that's what you call it. When you made love in the Aeternum Cabin, and came back red faced, I knew that the spirits had deemed this right. They have chosen you two for life-bonds. You have no idea how lucky you are." Chakotay glanced over at Janeway. "What do you think? We don't have to go through with this if you don't want to." Jilana could tell, though, that this was something CHakotay really wanted, and knew that Janeway knew this as well. She could also almost hear Janeway's train of thoughts- 'It's too fast, it'll interfere with running the ship, what if we both regret a hasty decision tomorrow?' But then she saw a smile spread across the captain's face, and knew that she had thought something along the lines of, 'What if there is no tomorrow?' SHe also knew Janeway's decision, and so began readying herself to begin the ceremony. "Far be it for us to argue with the spirits," Janeway replied, taking the Commander's hand in hers. Chakotay smiled at her, and she smiled back. Jilana smiled as well, one of her rarely seen genuine smiles. "SHall we begin? We are gathered here, on this day, in the sight of the spirits, to celebrate the consumation of the love of these two people, whom the spirits have deemed right through the orange mist and red faces. Should anyone think the spirits wrong, let them prove their case now, or this couple will be life-bonded, forever and through the Aeternum Cabin..." 7608.15 Delta Quadrant USS Voyager Captain's quarters They were lying in bed, thinking their thoughts before trying to sleep. It would be a long day ahead of them, and a longer night after that, but they still felt they needed to take the time now to sort their feelings through. Chakotay was the first to break the silence. "Happy?" he asked. Kathryn smiled at the cliche. "Deleriously. You?" "Of course, married to you, who wouldn't be?" he replied, leaning over to tweak her nose. "Are you having any of your usual regrets?" She glanced over at him. "No. Why, are you?" "No. I just wanted to make sure that you were truly happy, that you weren't rethinking your decision." "I'm not, so don't worry." "Whose worrying?" "You. Now come on, stop worrying and let me sleep. Move over, your stomach made a very good pillow last time I used it as such," Kathryn replied, moving her head to his stomach. He smiled, then began brushing the hair out of her face. He watched her fall asleep, breath in, breath out, and wondered what he had ever done to deserve such a wonder as Kathryn Janeway. Then, thanking the spirits silently, he began to fall asleep.