by Tricia Donovan ©1999
So, you couldn't resist. Or maybe you feel that Kashyk is too 'mad, bad and dangerous to know' to behave as he did in Part One.
DISCLAIMER and RATING: See Part One
Epilogue
Some hours later Kathryn lay sated and drowsy in her lover's arms. The fire was burning low and there was a small hiss as one of the logs crumbled to ash.
The weeks of waiting and wondering were over. She was glad now that she had waited; the pleasure had proved all the sweeter for having been so long deferred. Kashyk had not disappointed her. She turned slightly, the better to see his face.
"Bridgeto Janeway."
"Ignoreit."
"I can't.But this had better be good, or Mr Paris will find himself reduced to crewman."
She began to gather up her scattered clothes. Kashyk watched her, smiling lazily, provocatively. In the firelight he was all bronze and sculpted shadows. Kathryn was tempted to do as he ask, and let Chakotay worry about whatever it was. Still, Kashyk would be here when her shift ended.
As if reading her mind, he said, "I'll be here, my love. Always."
"Yes," she said. "I know you will. Computer, end program." The snowy meadow, the cottage, the fire, and Kashyk, disappeared.
She had been working on this holonovel since Kashyk walked off her bridge for the last time. Call it ... therapy. She had surpassed herself with the concert: the best piece of programming she had ever done. It had been a stroke of genius -- and surely far, far better than the real thing (at which her presence was required that night) could ever be.
THE END
NOTE: I have been asked why Janeway would not know what is going on in her own holonovel. The answer is that this is an extremely sophisticated program that enables the simulation itself to write the narrative; the programmer can of course intervene at any time. Janeway programmed the initial events: from Kashyk's defection to the kiss in the shuttlebay. She also programmed the concert, but left the simulation to decide the outcome. Of course,had the plot not led eventually to the desired outcome (Janeway's having her wicked way with Kashyk :D), she would doubtless have intervened again.
Well, you were warned.
[ Index of Stories ] [ Fan-tastic Voyage ] [ Email ]