ugly bag of mostly voyager

We made plans to kiss the sun at night
Hopeless dreamers, hopeless types
One was turning, one was standing still
I won't forget what was promised here
Birds of Tokyo, Plans

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Epilogue: Ahead and Away
February, 2380


Two years after she’d stopped calling a starship home, Kathryn still found it a novelty to wake to sunlight.

She blinked sleepily and turned her face toward the window. It promised to be another scorching day on Trebus, but for now, gentle morning warmth filtered through the half-opened blinds and kissed her bare skin. She stretched luxuriantly, her lips curving into the smile that was never far away these days.

Beneath the sheet, a large hand skimmed lightly from her hip, over her stomach and onto the undercurve of her breast, and Kathryn found herself arching, eyes wide.

“Oh,” she said, breathless, and turned into Chakotay’s kiss.

His mouth moved languidly over hers and she curled a hand around his neck to pull him close, pressing herself into his roaming hands. Her lips parted, her tongue wrapping around his; her breath came in short, fractured gusts. Chakotay guided her onto her back and moved between her legs. One hand curled around her breast, his thumb rubbing her nipple into a tight peak; the other hand pushed beneath her body, his fingers spreading around the globe of her ass as he hardened against her.

A rush of heat suffused her, tingling at the points of her nipples and her suddenly tender clit. She twined her fingers into his hair to hold him to her and heard him chuckle as he eased back for air.

“Good morning,” came his roughened voice against her ear.

“It is now,” she murmured, her grin widening at his sharp intake of breath as she reached down to curl her fingers around him. “Do we have time for this?”

“You have somewhere better to be?” he growled.

“Oh, I don’t know, Captain.” Kathryn wriggled beneath him, spreading her thighs around his hips. “Seems like there might be something important happening today. Shouldn’t you be –” she broke off to gasp as his hard length dragged along her folds, the head of his cock rubbing her in exactly the right spot.

Chakotay dipped his head to nip at her jawline. “Shouldn’t I be … what?”

“Doing exactly what you’re doing,” she almost moaned as he thrust slowly, unerringly against her.

She was liquid and needy, ready for him. Her lower belly knotted, her hips tilting helplessly to meet the slick push and slide of him against her. And still he didn’t enter her; still he teased her, holding himself back, mouthing at her neck and her collarbones until a frustrated moan rattled in her throat.

“Something you want, Kathryn?” he murmured, and bit gently at her nipple.

She hissed through her teeth. “You know what I want.”

Chakotay sucked her nipple into his mouth and she shuddered, nails biting into his shoulder. He flattened a hand between their bodies and slid it down until his fingers grazed her nub – she whimpered, arching into him – and curled just inside her, making both of them groan.

“You’re so wet,” he marvelled.

“Don’t make me wait,” she rasped, “please, Chakotay …”

But instead of moving up to cover her, he shuffled further down the bed and gently pressed her thighs apart. She held her breath as he dipped his tongue to her, as he drew it lightly, lusciously along her folds and curled the tip around her clitoris.

Kathryn shuddered, desire clenching her stomach and rounding her mouth into a silent O.

Apparently satisfied with her reaction, Chakotay’s dimples appeared briefly before he bent to lick at her again, lavishly this time. She inhaled sharply. He repeated the action, simultaneously crooking his fingers inside her, and she arched her neck and moaned.

Chakotay sucked her clit into his mouth as he rubbed his fingertips against the roughened nerves inside her front wall and Kathryn cried out, hips bucking, spine bowed and twisted as he kept her on the keen edge of her peak for what felt like minutes, before gentling her down, stroking her quivering thighs and kissing her stomach.

She was still shivering, languid with the force of her climax, when he raised his head to grin at her.

He looked immensely pleased with himself, she thought, clumsily tangling her fingers in his hair, and had to admit that he had every right.

“Come here,” she half-slurred, tugging at his hair, and watched his pupils blown dark as he shifted up to lie beside her.

She wrapped her palm around his cock and smiled at his soft groan and the way he thrust involuntarily into her hand.

“Something you want, Chakotay?” she purred, parroting his earlier teasing.

He moved over her, between her thighs, leaning up on his elbows as he smiled into her eyes.

“Just you,” he answered. “Only you.”

It disarmed her, taking them instantly from playful to tender, and she pulled him down to kiss him as she wound her legs around his hips and welcomed him inside her. He ground into her and she squeezed around him, and they surged and swelled together until he shuddered, his rhythm faltering.

He opened desperate, dark eyes. “I can’t – are you close?” he pleaded.

In answer she wet the tips of her fingers with her tongue and held his gaze as she lowered them to press and circle against her clit, the stimulation making her eyes close and her mouth drop open.

Chakotay groaned, bending to capture her lips, his tongue seeking and curling around hers, his hips grinding into hers fiercely. She felt him tremble, losing his control an instant before her own shattered. Then he was burying his face against her neck and wrapping his arms around her, careful not to lean his weight on her while he wrestled back his breath.

Finally he lifted his head to look at her, a soft smile on his lips. “I love you,” he said.

“I figured,” she grinned.

He laughed, bending to nip at her jaw. “You’re trouble.”

“Oh, you’re just now figuring this out?”

Chakotay snorted, rolling onto his back and bringing her with him; she landed against his chest, her long hair falling around them. “I’m not sure this is going to work,” he teased her, “you serving on my ship, even as a civilian scientist. How am I supposed to keep you in line?”

“Your ship?” Kathryn widened her eyes in mock outrage. “I’m pretty sure that captain’s chair is still perfectly moulded to the shape of my behind, thank you very much.” She sat up, rolling her hips against him to make him suck in a breath. “But since you asked, I think I’ve just proved I can serve under you …”

His answering laughter was rich and delighted as he cupped her face in his hands and pulled her back down to kiss him again.

===0===

Despite their banter, they had already discussed at length how their mission would work.

Kathryn had chosen to accept the Daystrom Institute’s offer of a civilian fellowship. She hadn't resigned from Starfleet, but she had informed the Commander-in-Chief that she would do so without hesitation if she wasn’t granted an extended leave of absence. Fleet Admiral Shanthi had eventually conceded on the proviso that Kathryn kept her silence about the existence of Section 31 and its part in unmasking the Entera Coalition.

Chakotay, for his part, had been ordered to assume the captaincy of Voyager. His first mission was to take the ship through the Bajoran wormhole to ferry supplies to the Federation outposts newly established in the Gamma quadrant, explore the realms of space not claimed by the Dominion, and study several astronomical peculiarities, including an interdimensional dark matter nebula in the Rakhari sector which was of particular interest to the Daystrom Institute.

He knew Kathryn had thought carefully before agreeing to the mission. It wasn’t that she expected to have difficulty taking orders from him, exactly; it was the idea of being on Voyager and not being in command – of not even being a serving member of Starfleet – that had given her pause. But in the end, she had decided that two years’ distance from the centre chair, not to mention everything she’d been through during that time, was enough to help her make peace with it.

Besides, she’d told Chakotay, she wasn’t at all eager to wave him off on a year-long adventure without her, or to be so long apart from him.

It had been a conversation with Tora Jens that convinced Kathryn that accepting the Daystrom Institute’s offer was the perfect solution. Tora had confessed to her that Shanthi wanted Kathryn to remain a Section 31 agent, and if Kathryn remained in the Alpha quadrant she’d likely be conscripted into further missions for the covert agency. After two years under the sway of Nyla Kjogo and Ryan Austin, Kathryn was in no hurry to submit to further manipulation.

She’d avoided Jens for weeks after the rescue in the Vana’diel Nebula, still furious with the lieutenant for the secrets she had kept, until Chakotay had reminded her that Jens had been under orders, and that the young woman was dealing with her conflicted emotions over fatally shooting Austin. As much as Tora detested Ryan for destroying her mother’s life and for everything he’d orchestrated since then, he’d still been her father, and with her newfound cousin Seven leaving with Harry on a two-year exploratory mission to the Beta quadrant, Tora had admitted to Chakotay that she felt adrift and disconnected.

He’d suggested she spend time at the Vega Colony getting to know her other living relatives and meeting her mother for the first time – even if Maja Hansen was unable to understand who Tora was – and then he’d offered her a job as his tactical chief on Voyager. Grasping the chance for a fresh start, and with Kathryn’s blessing, Jens had accepted.

Chakotay had wasted no time in securing his first officer and helmsman, as well as the rest of his senior staff, in readiness for the voyage to the Gamma quadrant. First, though, he and his new scientific attaché had seized the opportunity to be together as just Chakotay and Kathryn, with no rank, duty or unkind circumstances to separate them. They’d kissed on bridges in Venice and made love under the stars in the Arizona desert, and finally, had hopped a civilian transport to the Dorvan system.

Now, he stood before the mirror and eyed his reflection critically, wondering if two weeks of Sekaya’s fine home cooking had padded all the wrong places on his physique.

“You’re gorgeous, and you know it,” came a dry voice from behind him, and then a pair of slender arms wound around his waist and Kathryn stretched up on tiptoe to close her teeth lightly around his earlobe.

“Do that again and this uniform is coming off,” he growled, “and I don’t think my crew would be too impressed if their captain called in late because he was busy being seduced by the mission’s head scientist.”

He turned to take her in his arms, drinking in her wide smile, her softly pulled-back hair, her slight form draped in a shade of blue that almost matched her eyes.

“Speaking of gorgeous,” he murmured, and bent to kiss her, his lips parting hers until she sighed and clung to him.

~Voyager to Captain Chakotay.~

Chakotay pulled back slowly as Kathryn lowered her heels to the floor. He tapped his combadge. “Chakotay here. Go ahead, Commander.”

~We are in orbit of Trebus and ready to beam you and the admiral aboard at your convenience, sir.~

“Thank you, Commander,” Kathryn cut in, “but for the duration of this trip, please address me as Professor Janeway,” she paused, “or Kathryn, if you like.”

~My apologies, Professor. Are you ready to transport?~

“We’re ready,” Chakotay replied. “Standing by.”

The turbolift ride from the transporter room to Voyager’s bridge was almost surreal, and from the way Kathryn squared her shoulders and lifted her chin, Chakotay realised she felt it, too. He squeezed her hand lightly, only letting go when the ‘lift doors opened.

He almost stood back, held position behind Kathryn’s left shoulder to allow her to step out ahead of him, but she shook her head slightly with a rueful smile, indicating he should precede her.

“Captain on the bridge,” announced Tora Jens from the tactical station as Chakotay strode down to the command level.

He waited until Kathryn had taken the newly installed observer’s seat beside him before he spoke.

“Thank you, Commander Sereni,” he addressed his first officer, then turned to the helm. “Lieutenant Trabin, set course for the Bajoran system. Warp five.”

“Aye, Captain,” the young lieutenant replied.

Chakotay settled into his chair, feeling the strangeness of it, the rightness. He glanced to his right, where Kathryn was smiling at him.

“Course laid in, sir,” Trabin informed him.

“All right, then,” Chakotay said. “Let’s go.”

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THE END

(for now ... stay tuned for a sequel, someday!)