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Captain Kathryn Janeway, still not recognizing her First Officer,was off and running once again... back into the maze of tunnels and caverns, following Chakotay's unsuccessful attempt to stun her...
Gazing in the direction Janeway had disappeared and lost in thought, Chakotay absently unwound the remnants of his t-shirt from around his right hand and phaser, and held the shirt up to the light. (So much for THAT shirt! I'll be lucky to have any uniform left at all at this rate... Hmhh... Reminds me of that interesting weekend I spent on Sigma IV with Ayala's twin cousins...) He sighed.
The fibers around the symmetrical phaser burn on the cloth had the same light-catching sheen he observed on the "line" that Janeway had attached to the booby-trapped phaser rifle. (Good deduction, Chakotay, even if I didn't think of it first...) He shook his head, eyebrows raised, remembering how close he had come to not seeing that line at all... and silently thanked his spirit guides for their vigilance.
Nearly snared in Kathryn's trap - and now to trap in turn...
Chakotay took out the small water flask and shook it. So little left... He savored one final swallow, wet his bandage again, rubbed the last few drops on his face and eyes, and mopped them off with the t-shirt. He needed to stay alert, and fatigue was taking its toll on him. (Gods, I hope that Kathryn is getting tired too... I need any advantage I can get, any advantage at all...)
Even though now bare-chested, he was still feeling hot and stifled. He resisted the temptation to cut his pants at the knees because of the protection they gave from the surrounding rocks. After tucking the shredded shirt in his belt and picking up the weapons, Chakotay started off after Janeway.
He gazed earnestly at his tricorder, looking for something, anything, that would suggest a plan to corner her without getting him into another firefight. He certainly did not want to injure her, nor did he really wish to stun her with a phaser blast, not knowing how far he might be required to carry her after having done so! He did not really trust his wounded arm. (Though... of course... if there was no other alternative...)
The caverns and corridors he was walking through had begun to look a bit different than before... more rugged and rough-hewn, rather than smoothly cut from the rock. Even the floor he walked on was becoming much more irregular, and he had to watch where he stepped to keep his footing. All around him once again came the sighing, rustling sounds of muffled voices, almost like distant memories echoing the past. (Go ahead and wager all you want, you... you cowardly...) He angrily pictured a number of disastrous fates for whoever the voices belonged to, and then let it go. He needed to concentrate.
Janeway was clearly slowing down, now traveling essentially blind and on instinct without her tricorder. Chakotay watched her progress slow and finally stop, and he allowed himself a small smile. (THERE...) He finally saw what he needed. (Now to corral my quarry...)
Chakotay walked as quietly as he could, knowing that Janeway was only a few meters ahead of him. She was poised at a fork in the corridor, and could not know, as he did, that the left-hand turn would end in a dead-end a bit further ahead of her. (Now to guarantee her choice of route!...) He swung the phaser rifle down and flipped the scope up, utilizing its superior range to stay out of hers. Chakotay aimed carefully from behind a spit of rock, and fired into the wall just to the right of where his Captain was standing in deliberation. The sudden attack sent her into immediate motion, away from the shot and into the left-hand corridor, as he intended her to. Watching her run toward the dead-end, Chakotay immediately strode into the right-hand tunnel, tricorder out again in search of the right place to spring his trap. Unless she did something unpredictable (like phaser through the dead-end) or decided to go back the way they'd come, he would be ahead of her from that point forward. Right where he needed to be...
(She doesn't know where I fired from, so I doubt she'll choose to double back...)
After a few hundred meters, the corridor narrowed again, before opening out into yet another small cavern. (Caves and caverns, caverns and caves... Not one good thing has ever happened to me while I was underground, spirits...) Before the cavern, in the narrowest part of the passage, Chakotay saw what he needed and his heart thumped in anticipation of what he had to do.
Quickly pitching the rifle behind a small boulder in the cavern, Chakotay returned to the corridor and painfully boosted himself up on a larger boulder that protruded from one side of the corridor wall. It was high enough for him to use to get nearly to the ceiling, almost eight feet high. Holding tightly to the boulder's tip with one hand, he shifted his weight slowly til his other foot reached a chink in the opposite wall, so that he straddled the passageway above where Janeway would theoretically walk. He then took the leather weighted bolo off his belt, wrapped one end around his tricorder, turned the audio down and set the tricorder next to him on the boulder where he could see it. He tucked the other end of the bolo into his belt, took a deep breath, and waited. Janeway had discovered the dead-end, had done her deliberations, and was again moving in his direction.
(Well, now or never... perhaps if I can take her and end this "game", these damnable gamblers, whoever they are, will lose interest and help us get out of here...)
Barely daring to breathe, Chakotay leaned like a huge bird of prey, dark eyes glittering... Soon Janeway slowly walked through the corridor beneath him in a slight crouch, tense and wary, her phaser moving from side to side, covering all she could see. In her thorough and well-trained Federation manner, she looked everywhere... except up. Chakotay timed his leap carefully, landing hard directly behind her, bolo and tricorder trailing behind him... Quickly bringing his right hand and phaser down with all his strength, he knocked her phaser out of her hand, and wrapped both arms around her from behind, pinioning her arms to her sides.
"Raaaaaaghhhhh!" Janeway shouted her frustration as she realized what had happened and began a desperate struggle to get loose from Chakotay's hold. Fatigued as both of them were, the struggle triggered reserves of strength and adrenaline - and determination. Her first abrupt movement slammed Chakotay back against the corridor wall and nearly knocked the breath out of him; remembering he was wounded, she then tried to gain the advantage by planting her feet and knocking his left arm against the rock too. The first wave of pain that hit him was incentive enough for Chakotay to throw his weight forward, and the two struggling figures staggered together into the larger cave, locked in their awkward dance of dominance.
The uneven rock floor with lots of broken bits and rubble proved to be the first hazard in the cave, nearly tripping both of them up; a slipping and straining Chakotay made a superhuman effort to keep them upright, not wishing to relinquish his hold on Janeway's arms. He pulled both of them to a halt, trying with all his strength to pull her arms behind her back where he could control them. Meantime, Janeway struggled against him with all HER remaining strength, both of them panting and grunting, jockeying her weight to throw him off balance, kicking his legs with her feet, and finally resorting to butting his head with her own in an effort to break free. Aching muscles and phaser wound were hampering his movements and his concentration. Finally in a desperate move to stop her struggling, Chakotay abruptly swung her around using his weight as the pivot point and jammed her into the wall of the cave (Sorry, my sweet Kathryn, but you leave me no choice...), her body firmly wedged between his and the rock.
Janeway was momentarily stunned and knocked breathless when she hit the wall; he took that opportunity to yank her arms tightly behind her, wrap his left arm around both her arms, and with his right he pulled up the long bolo which still hung obediently from his belt. He shook the tricorder loose and quickly wrapped one weighted end around Janeway's elbows, then down her forearms, and wrapped it again at her wrists, letting the remainder dangle down her legs. For a few moments, both exhausted officers remained pressed against the wall, heads and bodies together, panting deeply from the exertion, Chakotay still with a firm hold on her arms. Then he reached up and yanked the small vial and its chain off her neck and tucked it carefully into his trouser pocket. (The doc will need to see this...)
"What do you want with me?"
"I just want to get you back to Voyager. Safely. Without any more shoot-outs."
Chakotay moved his Captain away from the wall, and turned her so that he could see her eyes. (Yes! Not nearly as red! But still definitely pink... I wonder...)
Keeping a hand on her arm, he squatted slightly to wrap the trailing end of the bolo all the way down her legs, and wound it again around her ankles. "No more kicking for you, Kathryn..." He then rather unceremoniously slung her over his shoulder, carried her into the passage to retrieve her fallen phaser and put it on his belt, and returned quickly to the cavern, where he set her back on her feet and looked at her. She peered up at him warily, then spoke in the voice she usually saved for those moments when she had to negotiate with unwilling and hostile life forms - soothing, calm, patient, eminently reasonable...
"Why won't you tell me who you are, really... surely you have nothing to fear from me now? I can't escape... but I must know... what you want... why you shot at me..."
"Kathryn, I..." (Where to begin? Gods! How to reach her?) "I don't know what to tell you. We have to get out of here, somehow, think of something..."
"But of course, I'll help you if I can, but first... tell me who you are..." She continued in her best Captain's voice, which was beginning to frustrate him. He laughed suddenly, and shook his head.
Her tone became sharper. "Why are you laughing at me! Tell me! Right now!" (Was that a flash of red in her eyes? Or just frustration? Or is this another ploy to get loose?) "Are you Cardassian? Kazon? Klingon? If you were Vidiian, I'd already be an organ donor by now... A race we haven't met yet? Or perhaps... a... a... shape-shifter? Yes... I've heard about them..."
"Kathryn..."
"REVEAL YOURSELF!!!" She spit the words at him, then turned and began to hop awkwardly away from him. He jumped to intercept her, grabbed her upper arms roughly and turned her to face him, his voice ragged.
"Kathryn!!! All right! You want the truth? Here it is! The REAL ME!! Your loyal, quiet, efficient, considerate First Officer, who has been wandering around unexplored space in a sophisticated metal box with you for over three years - talking with you, laughing with you, eating with you! Hour after hour in your company, dealing with countless emergencies, respecting you, taking risks with you, even breathing life back into your body!!! And - loving you...without even so much as a..."
He stopped his impassioned outburst abruptly, mildly surprised at how much he WAS revealing.
"Without even so much as a... kiss?" Her eyes blazed red, then pink once again, and Janeway leaned toward him so that he had to catch her to prevent her from falling forward. She slowly raised her face to him, inches away, her lips parted... "Yes... I think... I remember..."
(She's good. She's really good. And dangerous. I'm going to regret what I'm about to do, spirits, I just know it... But I want this kiss - here, now - and I don't care...)
His mouth covered hers, and for one exquisite moment he felt her entire being yield to him, as he'd always imagined it. His exhausted body surprised him by responding with a surge of desire...
Then Janeway's teeth closed on his lower lip, and bit - very hard. And kept biting, her eerie eyes glittering. Chakotay closed his eyes in pain and drew in a sharp breath, tasting the delicately metallic flavor of blood in his mouth... but continuing the kiss, slowly, not releasing his pressure or backing away, his hand cupping her neck. He felt her body stiffen against him as she waited for him to react, or retaliate, but he did neither. He simply kissed her with all the pent-up feeling he could muster, through the pain.
(Got to get through to her... somehow!...)
Slowly - he felt her start to relax again... slowly, the pressure of her bite started to release... slowly, he felt her begin to answer the kiss, her involvement increasing, her breath quickening. He began to lose himself in it, though still wary, realizing that she was not pretending now. Neither of them were.
The hand that had been holding Janeway by her upper arm slid around her back, and Chakotay was only dimly aware of her feet slipping below her... And then suddenly his feet did too, as the loose rubble under them gave way, dumping both to the ground. Chakotay landed on his back, Janeway falling on top of him. Seemingly undaunted, she shook the bolo off her ankles and legs as she pushed her body forward to reach him and found his mouth again, renewing their kiss. His hands were fumbling behind her with the leather ties at her wrists when he felt, to his amazement, the familiar tingle of the transporter beam...
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