NEW VOY: Golden Eggs (G) 1/1 [J/C] Title: Golden Eggs Author: Dave Rogers Email Address: daverogers@geocities.com Series: VOY Rating: G Codes: J/C Part: 1/1 Date Posted: 4th April 2000 Archive: Yes to all, anyone other than ASC please tell me. Summary: A console explodes, and Chakotay tells Kathryn a story. Disclaimer: Paramount owns the goose. This egg is mine. Acknowledgement: Thanks to Jenn for beta reading. Golden Eggs The ship was pale green and golden, and bore no identification other than three zeroes along its side. It dropped out of warp dead ahead of Voyager and opened fire without warning; and that was all Kathryn Janeway ever knew about it. Moments later she was lying semi-conscious beside the big chair, an explosion having thrown her back from where she had stood at Tom Paris's shoulder. Her conscious mind briefly registered Tuvok's announcement that he had targeted the ship's weapons array, and then the bridge turned blue and dissolved, and she was awaiting the tender ministrations of the Emergency Medical Hologram. Some long time later she awoke, feeling battered and exhausted, to see a familiar tattoo leaning over her. "Kathryn?" "Chakotay." As she saw his smile, she relaxed. The ship was safe, or he wouldn't be here; and she was safe, or he wouldn't be smiling. The only thing left to do now was get up and... Bad mistake. She laid her head gently back on the pillow and waited for the sickbay to stop tumbling. As the world steadied, she realised Chakotay was speaking. "Stay still, Kathryn. Doctor's orders." Damn him, the man was probably loving every second of this. She looked round and saw Paris in the office, engaged in a friendly argument with the EMH - friendly from Tom's side, at least. "Who's minding the store?" She just about managed to smile back, and was rewarded with a chuckle from her XO. "Tuvok's got the bridge. He's going to spend the next few hours going over the sensor logs to figure out why he can't tell a weapons array from a warp core." Kathryn drew breath sharply. This was bad. "He hit their warp core? Were there any survivors?" "There wasn't enough left to tell whether there was anyone on board in the first place." Kathryn frowned, and Chakotay's forehead creased up in concern. "Kathryn, they shot first. It wasn't our fault." "I guess not. Still, not a very promising First Contact." "Last Contact, with any luck. Anyway, I didn't come here to talk about the hostile aliens of the week." "Oh no?" Kathryn looked at Chakotay suspiciously. "So what did you come here to talk about?" "I didn't come here to talk, exactly. The Doctor says you need at least twenty-four hours' rest before you go back on duty, and I..." "Came here to make sure I got it." An even broader smile was the only answer she got. ******** "So now what?" The transporter had deposited Kathryn on her own bed in her own quarters, and Chakotay was just placing a steaming cup of Tarkelian tea - having already risked his life by refusing coffee - on her bedside unit. "Now, Kathryn, you get some sleep." "Sleep?" "It's something us ordinary people do every night. Try it. It might grow on you." "Very funny." She rolled on to her face petulantly. "How am I supposed to get to sleep when..." She racked her brains trying to think of a good reason to stay awake. "When the ship's safe and everything's under control?" He was right, she had to admit. So maybe, if Captain Janeway was away for the day, she could take a little time for Kathryn. And right now, what Kathryn wanted was a little quiet time with a friend; preferably the one who was here right now. "Okay, Chakotay, you win. But just until the Doc releases me for duty. And I'll need some company." A slow, delicious shoulder massage later, she sat back in bed with her tea. She felt like a little girl on the last day of a cold that wasn't bad enough to make her feel too ill, but just bad enough to stay off school; and she remembered how her father had responded to that situation. "Chakotay?" "Yes, Kathryn?" "Do you know any good stories?" She was impressed. He managed not to laugh out loud. "One or two. Something relaxing?" Chakotay pulled over a chair and sat down by the bed, just at the edge of Kathryn's vision. "Please." "Okay. There was once a wise man, and he had a goose." Kathryn snorted. "A goose?" "A bird. Great big bird." Chakotay held up his hands in a goose-sized gesture. "Like a chicken, only bigger. You've seen chickens?" He had to be doing this on purpose. "I know what a goose is. I suppose you're going to say it laid golden eggs?" She tried, and failed, not to sound too irritated. Chakotay, as usual, didn't rise to the bait. "What kind of a story would this be if it didn't?" "The kind I haven't heard a million times." "Trust me, Kathryn. This is a different one." "Well..." "The goose laid golden eggs, yes, provided it was fed on the finest corn. So the wise man made a deal with the corn dealer. He would exchange the eggs for corn, and the goose could keep laying." Kathryn saw a point she could sieze on. "What was in it for the wise man?" This time she got a response. "Kathryn, are you going to keep on interrupting?" There was a trace of anger in his voice. She waved a hand carelessly. "Call it interactive storytelling. Or a homage to the oral tradition." "Or a stubborn woman who likes to get her own way?" Kathryn looked round sharply, only to face a grinning Chakotay. Damn. She smiled back reluctantly. Score one point to him. "Anyway," he continued, "The wise man didn't want to keep the eggs to himself. He wanted the whole world to see them. And the whole world did. The corn dealer sold them on, and people in other towns started to take an interest. But the corn business changed, and the dealer fell on hard times. He decided he didn't want the wise man's business any more, and so he ended the deal." "No more golden eggs?" Kathryn hated to admit it even to herself, but she felt a slight pang of sadness. "No more golden eggs. And for years afterwards, the wise man lived alone with his goose, wishing he could see the golden eggs again. But gradually something changed. The golden eggs the goose had laid were sold on from collector to collector, and more and more people saw them..." Something else was bothering her. "How many?" "How many people?" "How many eggs." "Oh. Seventy-nine." That sounded too accurate. "Why seventy-nine?" "Kathryn, it's just part of the story." She really had got to him that time. She fought down a grin, and let him carry on. There would be another chance soon enough. "Eventually, hundreds of people wrote to the corn dealer and asked him to make a new deal with the wise man. Now it happened that the goose was still alive after all these years, and so the deal was made. This time, there were less eggs..." "Fewer." "...fewer eggs," continued Chakotay almost without a breath, "but much larger and brighter. And another thing happened, almost as miraculous as the golden eggs." He paused, apparently waiting for something. Kathryn almost kicked herself for giving in and saying it, but... "What happened?" She could hear the satisfaction in Chakotay's voice as he continued. "The goose laid a normal egg, and it hatched. And when the chicken was grown up..." "Gosling." "Pardon?" "Gosling. A baby goose is a gosling, not a chick." Kathryn smiled triumphantly. "I learned a thing or two back in Indiana, you know." "And when the gosling was grown up," said Chakotay in a voice of strained patience, "She, too, started laying golden eggs. And these eggs were brighter and more beautiful than the eggs her mother had laid. This time there was no question of the corn merchant breaking his deal, because everybody wanted more and more of the new eggs. And so the people bought the eggs, and enjoyed them, and the wise man was happy." Kathryn laid back on the pillow and groaned. "Chakotay, I was hoping for a longer story." "Kathryn..." "And maybe one with a point to it." "Kathryn, I'm not finished. Because one day, the wise man died, and left both geese to his sons." "Oh." One point to Chakotay, and Kathryn tutted with annoyance. "Now at first his sons cared and tended for both geese well. They even found a way to hatch another egg, and raise the gosling. And the third goose laid eggs that were darker in colour, each darker than the last, until they grew as dark as finest onyx. A lot of people thought these eggs were the finest of all." "Why?" At last, this was sounding interesting. "Because the darkness of the eggs reminded them of the darkness in people's souls." That sounded too well-rehearsed. "Good answer," Kathryn teased, but got no response. She realised she was starting to feel drowsy now, and began to hope, rather wistfully, that she could stay awake for the whole of the story. "But the time came when the first goose died, and the second stopped laying so many eggs. Now the sons of the wise man didn't want to spend so much on corn, and they wanted more people to buy the eggs, so they tried to breed a fourth goose that would lay silver eggs." "Silver?" The word came out a little slurred. "Cheaper. More people could buy the eggs. Now they managed to raise a goose that laid silver eggs, but it turned out people didn't like them so much. They looked nice enough on the outside, but sometimes the silver peeled off and there was just an ordinary goose egg underneath. The few people who really cared, and took a closer look, found out that there were nuggets of gold inside some of the eggs; but most people didn't even bother to look." "Chakotay, don't stop that." He had started gently stroking her forehead, and her eyelids were dropping shut, and a soft warm drowsy gentle softness was enveloping her, and the last few words didn't seem to make much sense. "So the sons decided to raise another goose. And the eggs that this goose was to lay..." And she was asleep, dreaming of great birds and galaxies and starships. ******** "EMH to Captain Janeway." She was awake immediately. "What is it, Doctor?" "Rise and shine, Captain. If you'd like to drop in to Sickbay some time this morning, I should be able to pronounce you fit for duty." "Computer, play back recording of that last statement, time indices... one point six to one point nine, four point three to four point seven and five point two to end." If her timing was good enough, this should save some trouble. Both of them, over the open commlink, clearly heard the Doctor's voice announce, "Captain, I pronounce you fit for duty." "Thank you, Doctor. If you need me I'll be in my ready room. Janeway out." Just before she hit the commbadge, she heard the beginning of what sounded like an explosion in a coffee percolator. Still, he should be used to her by now, she reasoned. A few minutes later she was on her bridge again, and Chakotay seemed to be grinning at something again. "So, Chakotay," she said, turning to him, "Are you going to tell me the rest of the story?" "Not much to tell," he said nonchalantly. "The ship was an automated defence drone. It malfunctioned, and the Tetranians sent a destruct command just as Tuvok fired on it. There's a diplomatic mission on its way right now to give us a formal apology. Neelix is looking forward to the trade negotiations. This'll give him one heck of an advantage." Curse the man, did he do this on purpose? "Chakotay, you know that's not what I..." "Captain, the trade delegation is hailing us," reported Harry Kim from somewhere behind her. "On screen, Mr. Kim." Kathryn would have to wait; time for Captain Janeway to take over again. But as she received the Tetranian Ambassador's initial apologetic overtures, she knew that she'd have to corner her XO some time and get him to finish the story. For some reason, she was desperate to know just how it all ended. THE END