PART TWO
Kathryn sagged against the sofa, breathing a sigh of relief. It had taken some effort and more to be buoyant in Chakotay's presence. He had given her querying looks the last time she had been on board Voyager and knew he was trying to divine something about her.
She could stop pretending to be cheerful and upbeat now and just concentrate on her time in the Research laboratory. She felt itchy all over, even between her legs. It had started two weeks ago, barely a week after her last visit. It brought home the fact that she'd have to make more frequent visits to Voyager. Other than sacking Chakotay and demanding that Owen Paris demote her to Captain again and hand Voyager over to her, there seemed little way out for future visits.
When they returned to the Alpha Quadrant, she had made some New Year resolutions. There were only three:
Prepare visits to Voyager.
Maintain contact with Chakotay.
Prepare visits to Voyager.
She had done that in the last year. If they noticed it as unusual, she ignored it. What to do for the New Year? Maintain contact with Chakotay. She couldn't afford to lose him. Maintain Contact with Voyager. She couldn't afford to lose him. Break up with Voyager. How?
She needed to be on her ship, needed him more and more as time went by. She was struggling to get through the daily routine of office work, most days just yearning to get back to the ship. No other ship would do.
It had to be Voyager.
It had to be Zoltán.
Sighing again, she thought how pinched Chakotay appeared when he had come to meet her in the shuttle bay. Pinched, worried and…angry? She couldn't put her finger on the anger part, and the worried look baffled her just as much. Could he suspect something? She had executed intricate security codes to ensure no one broke into her programmes. Seven of Nine would have to work hours to decode them. Besides, they respected her privacy.
Still, she was dying to get to the research lab. She had begun to suffer palpitations even during the day and knew if she didn't get to Zoltán soon, she'd be a mess within a very short time. She missed Zoltán like her very breath.
Smiling, Kathryn thought of her creation with the gravelly, yet coaxing, mellow voice. Her eyes closed as she began to quiver with need, her palms cupping her breasts, her core throbbing. She imagined he called her.
Kathryn…Kathryn…Kathryn… Come to me, Kathryn…
Reluctantly she opened her eyes, removed her palms from her breasts and headed for the bathroom. She felt sticky between her legs. She needed a long soak in her tub. Another smile crossed her features. Chakotay had reserved a suite for her and no one else used it, even when she wasn't visiting Voyager. He had installed a tub which resembled more a jacuzzi. It did have jets and the cooling pressure of the water against her skin allowed her to relax.
Strange how her thoughts kept straying to Chakotay and the way he looked. They had always been friends, great friends. Whatever she did, wherever she wandered, her footsteps seemed to bring her right back to him. She became worried when he was worried, a state of affairs that had often prevailed during their Delta Quadrant days. When he had been under pressure and having a hard time, it had affected her too. The same had happened when she had fallen into gloom. He'd be worried that she'd not snap out of it or he'd do everything in his power to cheer her up or offer pleasant diversions.
"I shouldn't worry about him…he's perfectly capable of looking after himself," she murmured to herself.
There is only one man in your life, darling Kathryn. You know I cannot exist without you…
How did Zoltán's words suddenly steal into her thoughts? Her heart began to beat faster, arrhythmic beats that made her almost cry out.
I love you, Kathryn. How can you ever doubt your Zoltán?
"I love you too, Zoltán," came her pained whisper. Closing her eyes, she allowed thoughts of Zoltán to fill her being.
***
After lunch with Chakotay, Kathryn couldn't wait to get back to her suite. Chakotay seemed preoccupied, his responses stilted whenever she addressed him. He liked her new dress though, a peach-beige ankle-length dress like the one she had worn the morning. She had smiled when she slipped the garment over her head, thinking that she was mad dressing the way Chakotay desired. Zoltán had no such qualms. He took her in anything.
She was becoming inflamed again, inflamed and breathless. She needed to visit the Research Lab, to assuage her longing. It wasn't enough that she almost went on her knees to kiss the floor and the bulkheads, press her fingers longingly against the headboard of her bed, caressing the vidcom monitor. It was madness, but she was too overjoyed to be back, even if only for a weekend. There'd be many weekends, she decided, but the time between them seemed to expire at an alarming rate. A cursory glance in her mirror made her smooth her hair, add a touch or lipstick, slip on a pair of pumps to go with the dress.
Chakotay had departed for the bridge, after which he'd scheduled a meeting with his other guests. She knew Admiral Swanson, though not too well, although he was a long standing colleague of her stepfather, and only heard of Ambassador Niemeyer. Sometime during course of the weekend she'd invite them to join her for dinner in the mess hall.
With Chakotay gone, the bridge crew busy and most other crewmembers engaged in their various departments, Kathryn prepared to leave and make her way to Deck Six. She felt the excitement and anticipation rise in her. She was a little breathless when she reached Deck Six. It was Alpha Shift and she had only greeted a few crewmembers who passed her in the corridors. She didn't know them. They were new crew assigned to Voyager only in the last few weeks, she surmised.
She took a deep breath as she entered her code and the doors slid open. When they closed behind her, she smiled, feeling the old familiarity of the bulkheads enveloping her. Her breathing became erratic and her hands shook as she looked about her. Nothing new, but oh, so close and familiar that her eyes became moist from just the memories.
"Computer, access Janeway Beta 4-7-7".
"Accessing library computer data," responded the male voice of the computer.
"Computer, establish voice command for Janeway Beta 4-7-7."
A few beeps, and then a male voice:
"Kathryn, my love! How did you return to me so soon?"
"Soon? I only arrived today, Zoltán. But it's nice of you to miss me so."
"Ah, but you were here, twenty four hours ago."
"Really?"
She frowned, entering a few keys on the console panel, thinking that Zoltán was malfunctioning. Or, could he be so human that he could actually forget?
"I'm sorry, my love. I was mistaken. Did you touch Chakotay?"
"Who is Chakotay?" she asked, deliberately baiting him.
"You know him, Kathryn. He is my nemesis, my opponent, my enemy, my arch-rival, he is….flesh and blood…"
" Zoltán! Aren't you getting ahead of yourself? And so jealous too. Of course I touched Chakotay. I had my palm against his cheek, my fingertips brushing his tattoo, if you must know."
"I must know."
"Oh, Zoltán… You have nothing to worry about," she purred. Instantly, Zoltán became attuned to the caressing sound of her voice. She could think about Chakotay later. Right now, her nipples were hard, her breasts straining against her dress.
"What shall I be for you now, my love?"
"Main computer core…"
There was a pause, as if the programming malfunctioned, then, "You asked that yesterday, love."
"And I ask it now…" Did she hear Zoltán sigh?
The computer core appeared in the middle of the floor and Kathryn gave a cry of pleasure. She had left her seat in a reclining position the last time and now, looking at it, it signalled her. She moved swiftly to the seat and lay down on it. Immediately the seat and the wall of the computer core seemed to welcome her, enfolding her in warmth that spread through her body.
"My love…"
Already she was wet with need just listening to the caressing endearment. Taking the visor she slipped it on.
Instantly, her vision expanded into colour - swirling thick cream laced with orange, red, lilac, all merging into beauty. Her heart hammered wildly.
"Make love to me, Zoltán…"
"Anytime, my wanton little hussy."
A soft, whirring sound, then she felt the tiny pricks of light against her skin - impulses so sensual that they connected to her nervous system, sending millions of messages through her body. Her whole body arched. They touched her arms all over, her legs, her breasts, her face, penetrated deeply. They exploded into bright blue, then became soft, urgent tentacles that moved about her body like hands.
Her lips felt dry, but even this Zoltán sensed as a tentacle caressed her lips, instantly causing them to become moist. Her nipples were so hard she cried out as the electric tentacles began to prick her breasts first.
"Oh…that's good…"
Her breathing became low, hoarse moans as she arched to get maximum benefit from the pricks, burning away her dress, leaving only her skin exposed.
"No bra and panty today, I notice," murmured Zoltán as he let the light tentacles caress her mouth, her cheeks, pinch her nipples. Her legs parted instinctively. She moved up the skirt of her dress. She brushed over her core with trembling fingers.
"Wonderful. I can see your pussy throbbing. It wants me there. Do you want me there, my love?"
"Oh, yes…"
She pulled her dress high over her thighs and spread her legs so that her knees slipped off the narrow seat. She waited while the meandering and swirling colours whipped her into a frenzy, causing her to pant like mad. The walls of the main computer core became alive, moved about her, its tentacles reaching into her. She bucked her hips, impatient to be touched by Zoltán. At first, a soft tickling of her moist, dripping folds, just enough to tease her into begging.
"Yes, more…more…"
Then, her lips were prized further apart, the air whooshing around her lower body and sucking into her core. Soft caressing inside her lips, the skin slipping back from her pink, hard nub. Kathryn sucked in her breath, feeling ready to explode.
"Oh, God…fuck me, Zoltán, now!"
"Oh, Kathryn, always in a hurry to orgasm…patience, my lovely…"
"I can't…"
"Oh, yes, you can, my love."
A stream of impulses started, little pricks against her nub, flicking it back and forth, gently brushing against the inner walls of her pussy. The sensation of ecstasy became unbearable as perspiration began to form on her brow, her bosom. Her breathing was so erratic that she thought she'd expire. She was filling up, beginning to float, lifted higher and higher.
She gave little cries of pleasure as Zoltán flicked her nub slowly, slowly, driving her mad with passion. She raised her hips, but he kept her pressed down, kept her legs spread wide. She wanted him.
Now…
Hard breathing, moaning, her head thrashing from side to side as the pressure built up in her. She began to sob.
"Come on, Zoltán, fuck me…"
Next moment she could feel the tentacles, as if merging into a thick whip like organ, pushing open her slick folds, and pressing in. He stretched her pussy, pressed agonisingly slowly into her, stretching, stretching so that it hurt. She cried out loud, begging that he hurry, lifting her hips to allow further entry. Her dripping folds closed like a clam around the thick swathe, sucking him into her.
"Oh, yes," whispered Zoltán in his incredibly sexy voice. The heat spread through her in never-ending stream, and still Zoltán spread her walls until she couldn't stand it any longer. Her sobbing increased, her body craving more, craving release from the unbearable sensation of ecstasy. Then, a final push.
"I'm home, Kathryn," Zoltán croaked in an uneven voice as he pushed her to the hilt. The walls of the computer core morphed into arm like appendages to hold her hands above her head, to offer purchase as she began to buck like a greedy whore under Zoltán.
"I love you, Zoltán," she sobbed as he began a slow thrusting, the thick lighting rod buried deep in her, pulling back, pushing in. She lost all sense of time and space and decorum as she egged him on, sobbing while she screamed at him, her body gyrating, hips lifting to keep him buried deep in her, not wanting to let him go.
She melted, the colours merging into one, single glorious sensation that assaulted her wave after wave. He thrust harder, faster, bellowing, grunting as he penetrated her, then fucked in rhythmic, shocking speed until she stiffened, unable to contain herself or control her movements. She keened as Zoltán gave a final push and sent her crashing over the edge.
And even though she climaxed noisily, Zoltán kept up his rhythmic thrusting into her pussy, on and on until her shudders had subsided and her body became still. He kept on thrusting, slowly, whipping her again a mild frenzy, but kept her body pinned down.
"This has never been so good, darling Kathryn," Zoltán whispered, all the while he kept up pushing into her.
"Never, Zoltán. You satisfy me more than I ask, more than I'll ever need," she whispered, her breathing still hard, her bosom rising and falling gently.
"I need you, Kathryn. I need you. Have I satisfied you? You felt good today, my love. Soft and pliant and willing. When will I see you again?"
Zoltán lay sprawled over her body, his face close to hers. That was the way the computer core changed about her. Unwilling to let Zoltán go, she lay there for several more minutes, enjoying the feeling of him thrusting gently in and out of her.
When she finally removed the visor, it took her another few minutes to adjust to the laboratory's light. She rose heavily from the seat, pushing her dress down and smoothing the skirt against her ankles. She had come prepared, she always did, as she fumbled with a pocket in her dress and retrieved a large tissue. Then she lifted her skirt again and wiped the moistness and discharge from her vagina. When she felt dry again, she walked to the computer console.
"As soon as possible, Zoltán. I will come again. I must make the most of the time I have here on my ship…"
"Good, sweet, loving Kathryn. I will wait for you…"
"Goodbye, Zoltán."
**********************
Her dinner in the mess hall later that evening was formal, Ambassador Grell not very talkative leaving only the rather jovial Admiral Swanson for company. Kathryn didn't mind. She needed a distraction from Zoltán, from her more than passionate encounter with him earlier. She was unwinding, slowly descending from the spiralling sensuality to which Zoltán had subjected her.
He fucked you, Kathryn…
She kept her concentration and finally, after several minutes and sipping Picard Shiraz, she mellowed and began to enjoy herself. Swanson and Grell were to remain on Zenbok IV for six months to set up talks and establish a Federation embassy there. It was interesting, and she realised how she missed this part of interstellar travel - the negotiations, the talks, the diplomacy required to deal with anything from a form of greeting to mining rights.
"And you, Admiral Janeway?" Ambassador Grell started, "will you be commissioned to deep space again?"
"Much as I'd love to, Ambassador, Starfleet Command commands that I stay behind my desk, for now."
"More's the pity. You're designed for negotiations and diplomacy. I notice you can't seem to leave your old ship…"
There was a pause. Swanson gave her a piercing look, nodding in agreement.
"I lived on it for seven years, gentlemen. It will take time…"
"I was like that once," offered Admiral Swanson. "I was commanding the USS Beresford thirty years ago, and spent five years in the Gamma Quadrant charting areas to be incorporated into the Federation. It was very hard to get off my ship…"
Kathryn smiled.
"I understand the feeling - "
"But soon you have to let go, Admiral Janeway. It will grow into you until your health and well-being is affected," Swanson added. He was in his seventies, still on active duty. He held her gaze, a compassionate look in his eyes. For a moment Kathryn thought of her gentlemanly stepfather, also an admiral, also in his seventies, and imagined it was his compassionate eyes on her.
She dropped her gaze in the onslaught of that look.
"Did someone speak to you, Admiral Swanson?" she asked, her insides swamped by guilt and embarrassment.
"Only because your mother and stepfather love you so much. I've known Admiral Ponsonby for many years. They are concerned…"
She nodded. Flustered and agitated, she murmured her thanks before leaving their table and hurried away to her suite, planning the rest of her weekend which included visiting Zoltán again.
*************
Chakotay was a man with a mission as he stalked into the hydroponics bay.
"Lessing!"
"Sir! Ouch!"
He waited for the owner of the voice to surface from behind one of the tanks in the far corner of hydroponics. Lesson had knocked her head as he came up and was rubbing the growing contusion. He was dressed in coveralls bearing a legend "Escaped from Alcatraz". The escapee rushed to meet him.
"What can I do for you, Captain?"
"How long has this been going on?" he asked Lessing whose drooping liquid golden eyes gave him a perpetually sad look.
"Two years, sir. Right after our sojourn on Quarra which no one could remember except a few. But it is only in recent weeks that I've learnt about Zoltán. Uh, that is what you wanted to know, sir?"
"Yes. What else?"
"You wish to know how much we know."
"Dammit, yes, man!"
"Well, Captain, each crewman and officer may visit the holodecks and work on their own programmes. It's just that Admiral Janeway made her visits very frequent. Almost too frequent. We became concerned."
Chakotay nodded again.
"She was the Captain, Lessing. She accumulated many holodeck hours. It was her right. Understand?"
"I…understand, Captain. It is everyone's right. But Admiral Janeway mentioned Zoltán when she either returned from the Research Laboratory or was planning to visit there. Is it just a coincidence?"
Chakotay remained quiet for several seconds, mentally formulating his response.
"Lessing, it is not a coincidence. But whatever the situation is, I am investigating - "
"Good, Captain. You may cure her of her addiction."
If he hadn't been drilled in maintaining a poker face while being addressed by a junior officer, he'd have gone white with rage and the knowledge that Lessing spoke the truth.
"Lessing," he said at length, "one word of this to anyone…anyone, and you're a dead man. Get that?"
Noah Lessing blanched in the face of Chakotay's sudden fury.
"Yes, Captain. I'm a dead man. Thank goodness you're going to do something. I'm sure you will succeed, because it's time Admiral Janeway realised that only Chakotay can cure her of her ills. And I say that, sir, with the greatest of respect. If I died by your hand, it would mean that Operation Zoltán was unsuccessful."
"Just so you understand."
"Completely."
********************
It was against everything he believed as a moral and upstanding officer and gentleman. It was going to be an invasion of her privacy in the most gross manner possible. He was willing to face her wrath forever, if need be. Kathryn deserved better; she deserved the best. But if he were to help her, his particular brand of help was radical and objectionable.
He knew it was one hell of a chance he was taking. He was going to take that chance because he loved her.
Kathryn was going to visit the Research Lab at least one more time before the end of the weekend. He had spoken with Lessing. He couldn't understand how he felt so reluctant to confide in any of his senior officers. Lessing had been reinstated to Lieutenant but still preferred to work in hydroponics and remain a member of the exobiology team. If he thought of Tom or Tuvok or Seven of Nine who had the least understanding of the quirks of human nature in his opinion, or even their EMH, the very thought was repugnant to him. It was Kathryn at her most private and her most exposed in the circumstances. With her he wanted to keep her private life private. Whatever the outcome, no one was going to know about it.
Noah Lessing could understand; he had the kind of listening power to inculcate total trust. Chakotay smiled grimly to himself. He admitted to liking Lessing, if only to relish that image of a shit scared Equinox officer awaiting death by gallows the way Kathryn pounced on him. The ship's gentle giant who could be humorous one moment and the next, offer solace to a grieving crewman.
He felt much better after his conversation with Lessing and with a much lighter tread he made his way to the bridge. He nodded to Tuvok and Paris, who vacated the other command chair. As efficiently as it always happened on starships, they rotated their positions on the bridge. Paris, back at the conn, gave him a broad smile.
"What are you proposing to do, Captain?" Tuvok spoke.
Chakotay frowned. "What…?" he asked.
"About Admiral Janeway."
Chakotay sucked in his breath then exhaled slowly.
"She will be helped, Tuvok."
****************
END PART TWO