Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey  (via thelovejournals)

the cell

Killian nodded. She hadn’t thought about that other possibility. But now that Kathryn brought it up, it was a strong possibility. She really couldn’t sense anything that could suggest that they night be hiding something. 

“That is a good point” she said. Maybe this was just another one of those exceptions. If that was the case, this first contact was going to be a lot more difficult. 

“I can’t say whether or not I was getting anything that could be seen as some sort of shield, but something felt off. Maybe it was because she couldn’t really get a sense of them that this first contact had felt off. 

“If it is that they’re just not susceptible to telepathy, they may have adapted to it for some reason” That was also a possibility.  She wasn’t fully telepathic, but she was generally strong with sensing emotions. 

Kathryn listened carefully, then nodded, her eyes distant as she thought this over. 

“It’s possible. The next time you’re in proximity of one of the Xiacarian officials or guards, try concentrating as much as you can on exactly what it is that makes them feel ‘off.’ Knowing could lead us to some answers, or at least to some better questions.” She sighed. This was frustrating in the extreme. Locked up, no one to ask why, no idea where the rest of her crew was. She was concerned about Killian as well. She knew that, like her, she had once been a prisoner of the Cardassians. But Killian’s experiences were more fresh than her own. And she had no idea what techniques the young officer had employed toward her healing or what her specific experiences in captivity even were. Kathryn herself wasn’t exactly getting a homey feeling from this cell. She could only imagine how the woman next to her was feeling in this environment. 

At least they had the question of the strange ‘offness’ Killian had sensed in the Xiacarians to distract them for the moment. 

“If you reach out with your mind now, are you able to sense anything? Is there anyone close enough?” It was a long shot to be sure, but she saw nothing else to be done for the moment. 

                    “   short is more practical i suppose. mine can get rather frustrating at times.   ”     loki didn’t mention the fact he could, of course, magically change his hair at any moment   (  he could have a little EMPATHY, hmm ?  ).

          “The circumstances you find yourself in when you’re stranded on the other side of the galaxy with no backup,” Kathryn replied. “--Sometimes, I even go so far as to sleep on the couch with my boots on for simplicity’s sake. Eventually, I realized I didn’t have time to put my hair up every time an emergency woke me up in the middle of the night.” The truth was slightly more complex than that, but she wasn’t lying.

          At his comment on finding his own hair frustrating, she gave his locks another once over.

          “Well,” she hesitated a moment, still slightly off balance thanks to this unlikely conversation. “--It looks nice, if that’s any consolation.” Of course, he seemed the type to be very aware that he looked nice, hair and all, so the compliment probably hadn’t been necessary.

Out of time (Closed)

“That’s cause I ain’, strictly-speaking human.”  Bobby said.  “Genetically I am, but I don’ work like a human no more.  They done somethin’ to me.  Now, doc, my copper readings are high, an’ that’s the reason the demon ain’ here.  He don’ like copper.  My sulfur is high cause he produces Sulfur.  but without him, I don’ work righ’.  

I don’ sleep an’ I don’ have to eat, though I do, cause it’s habit, an’ cause it seems to slow down system breakdown.  When I do try to sleep it’s a nightmare I can’ wake from.”

Bobby snorted.  “You wanna do tests, be my guest but there ain’t a lot that can be done in my experience.”

The EMH reviewed the findings on his tricorder with a furrowed brow as Bobby spoke about copper and sulfur. “That may be true,” the Doctor spoke dryly. “But I very much doubt that what we’re talking about is a demon.”

“We can get to that,” Kathryn broke in before the doctor could continue, shooting him a significant look. She really didn’t want to get into an active debate with Bobby about what exactly it was that had attached itself to him. At least not right now. It could serve no real purpose. They just needed to find out what was going on and see how they could help him.

Kathryn’s troubled eyes studied Bobby’s face then turned back to the Doctor again. She gave the EMH a single nod, the signal to begin the other tests that could be done to try to determine...what the hell it was they were actually dealing with.

“Do you know why this demon would take you to another time? Does it communicate its intentions to you?”

    She was completely transfixed by the sight before her. A figure, taller than her mother but shorter than Tuvok, was standing straight faced in the middle of the room. He wore a suit, a very clean suit, that reminded  her of the outfit she stumbled across in the bottom of her father’s drawer. Though this man looked much older than him based on the lines in his face and the prominent white hair sticking out from the top of his head. She looked  at him. He looked at her, and said nothing. 

She turned back to her mother at her questions. The man did not. But her questions confused her, more-so than his unannounced presence into their home. He was right there. How could she not notice this stranger? She pointed a finger at him. 

    “T-T-There’s a person!” She exclaimed       with confusion. “Right there!” 

    Kathryn stared, first at her daughter, then toward the space Astrid was pointing at. Still nothing. Yet Astrid’s confusion was clearly sincere, as if she could not understand how her mother was not seeing what she was seeing. Children have imaginary friends, she told herself. But despite this reasoning, a chill went down her spine. Astrid was not an ordinary child. Just as her father was not an ordinary man. In fact, he wasn’t a man at all, but an angel. So,... Astrid could conceivably be seeing something real. 

    “What does this person look like,” she asked cautiously, getting up and making her way over to the desk. She picked up her tricorder and began a scan of the area.

the pip thief

Astrid’s little heart was racing in her  chest, partially from excitement, partially  from fear. She was just so close, and yet if  she failed now the consequences would be  much greater. Her mother had defeated the  scary robot men. What chance did she stand  if she got caught? She nodded her head furiously. 

     “I’m sure! Yes! I- I think … Harry took it!”

“Harry?” Of all the unlikely suspects... Kathryn gave her daughter her own version of the pouty puppy dog face, the “mom is disappointed” face, an expression that, in truth, she had perfected long before she’d had a child to use it on.       “What makes you think Harry took the pip?”

Bedroom Hymns Pt. 1

“Soulmates is a strong word for it.” He looked at the dim light reflecting off the ceiling, searching for the right words. “Some souls come into the world with naturally stronger bonds. It is not an uncommon occurrence. But not everyone marries the one they share this bond with, which leads to problems. Though most ‘soulmates’ who share heavens are the result of heavenly interference. — Cupids.” The thought of those shameless and touchy angels made him grimace. With the exception of lower angelic tiers, angels could be anywhere in space or time. Given they had the full power of heaven at their disposal, and a set of functional wings. 

And what if the cupids had interfered with his and Kathryn’s bond? The thought made him feel cold. He couldn’t have a bloodline with her. It was not only forbidden, it was dangerous, both for her and the universe. And the idea that their entire relationship had been all for a child made it seem so petty. So meaningless, a means to an end. His eyes traced over the thin line of light that illuminated the edge of her face. She wasn’t a means to an end. He couldn’t accept that. 

“But cupids are deployed when two bloodlines must… Converge, or when a ‘true’ soulmate match is found, and require some … Help.” He felt more and more uncomfortable explaining it, more uncertain as to the nature of their own bond. What if it’s all just an arrangement? What if nothing I’ve felt was truly my own? What if this powerlessness is just a conduit for their influence? 

                          What if … 

Kathryn had moved up in the bed so she could look up and out at the stars as she listened to him. He was talking about cupids... She couldn’t believe that cupids were actually something that existed. She wanted to ask him what they were like, how they appeared. She was curious about whether or not they looked like half naked babies. But this wasn’t the time. She didn’t want to get them off track. There were too many other questions she needed the answers to right now. No longer hidden so close by his side, could feel his eyes on her face. She wondered what he was thinking about as he looked at her. He seemed uncomfortable now, unsure. Perhaps this was something he wasn’t supposed to talk about. At least not with a human.

She took his hand loosely in her own and pulled it across the short distance between them. She played her fingers over his palm, drawing nonsensical patterns over the lines there: the life line, the heart line, the destiny line, and the other lines she could no longer recall from that phase when Phoebe had believed she could read palms. Touching him always seemed to have an unusually powerful effect on her. She wanted to ask if it was the same for him, but sometimes she thought he might not have much to compare it to. (Others times she was just scared to know the answer.)

“Why did you bring up shared heavens the day we first talked about our marriage? Did you think...,” she trailed off, her tone inquisitive but tentative.

Happy Birthday Kathryn Janeway!

Heartbeat

    He hadn’t realized he had stopped breathing until his needy lungs began to seize up. 

    This heartbeat was different from the empty projection of the girl who had come to him in his dreams. The heartbeat was real, and steady. Steadier than himself at that moment. He could only stare blankly at the tricorder as it sounded out the rhythm. 

    His eyes moved to her stomach when he saw the moment of her hand in the corner of his vision. He remembered the girl in the white dress, her hair blowing behind her. She had been a mere hologram compared to the reality of this one single sound. 

    They had seen each other a few times since then. Each time, her face a little different, but her eyes were undeniably the same. Her language had improved as well. She spoke quite eloquently to him in his dreams. She learned fast. Much like her mother. 

   But now she was no longer a beautiful phantom child, she was a living, breathing thing who he had willingly given grace to, what some might call his blood. This thing could mean the end of Kathryn’s life and his own, and he did nothing but allow it to live. And yet, now his mind wandered to the opposite possibilities. What if she turned out to be virtuous, to be humble, to use her abilities for the betterment of lives? What if she turned out to be more of her mother than himself?

      The tricorder continued. He continued to stare, unblinkingly, at the hand she had laid over her stomach, and he was suddenly thankful for the few feet of space between them on the couch. 

   He swore he could hear a child’s laughter hidden in beats. It was becoming harder to call that little brown haired girl a monster. The truth was, he didn’t know what she was. 

    Kathryn was keenly aware of the way Castiel followed the movement of her hand as it covered her abdomen. His gaze lingered there as the two of them listened, spellbound by the sound of this life they had created. Her eyes remained fixed on his. She had never longed more for his ability to read minds...

    She loved her already, their daughter. As she’d said the words, “that’s our baby’s heartbeat,” she had been astonished by the intensity of the feeling, how much she could love someone she’d never met. Our baby... Those words came with a feeling so real it was as if she already did know her. There was a sense of someone there, behind the words, underneath her hand. She could feel her. 

    She was actually a bit envious that he’d been able to meet their child, at least in a sense, through the strange dreams he’d had. She was grateful for it too though. Had their daughter not reached out to him, Kathryn wasn’t sure he would have given her the grace she needed to survive and continue to develop. She swallowed hard. All that time she had thought he wanted to destroy the life that grew inside her, he’d actually been sustaining it, despite everything he had been taught his whole (substantially long) life. Even now, he was nourishing their unborn child as much as she was. She watched Castiel’s face. His expression was serious; there was a slight crease in his brow, yet overall he was still maddeningly unreadable. Her heart was pounding. She felt breathless. Did he regret that decision now? What was he thinking? 

    On impulse, she reached across the space separating them and placed her free hand over his. One hand over her daughter, one over him. Both of them hers, safe, at least for now. Her family. She linked them in this way, through her, a very personal attempt at a peace treaty. Only she wanted something more than peace. She wanted him to love their daughter as much as she did.

    Her fingers curled around his hand. She squeezed gently.

    “I know you’re scared,” Kathryn spoke gently, knowingly. “I am too. --My daughter is going to be...Nephilim.” She dared to say the word, sounding it out carefully, watching him even more carefully still. They needed to get used to saying it, hearing it, accepting it. She needed him to get used to the idea without being so conflicted about it, without thinking that word must mean abomination. Or forbidden. “Something I didn’t even believe in before...,” she trailed off again. Before you. Her eyes searched his, earnest, as she continued in the same soft tone. “If you don’t think that’s daunting for me, you’re giving me too much credit. But, I look at you...and I can’t believe our daughter could be anything other than good.” Her lips quirked ever so slightly. “I guess you could say I have faith... I wish you could look at me and feel that too.”

@capt-kathryn-janeway

war zones are usually somewhere the b’urtang avoid out of CONVENIENCE. don’t get drawn in  ——  don’t get WRAPPED UP in it. they’d been lost in some ridiculous solar storm for days  &  supplies were running low. so some idiotic decision is made  &  somehow the best planet available is some war torn continent no one’s even HEARD of that they MIGHT be able to steal a few things from.

     yeah, maybe trying to pull a RAID in a high terrorist threat area wasn’t a great idea.

they’re hardly even IN before some alarm starts blaring  ——  their cue to leave in fact, and the five are quickly SPRINTING OUT across open ground that this place seems to mostly consist of with whatever they managed to take. seems pretty HEAVY DUTY for just a little theft, but it’s only when the FIRING starts does it seems to dawn on katie that this has escalated into a little more than a quick heist.

a couple of orders are shouted out from one of the others   (  she can’t even tell it’s so DARK. katie wonders how the people shooting even know what to AIM at, or whether they actually do at all  )   and now they’re only running ALL THE FASTER. all katie dares is a quick turn of her head, just to see if they’re increasing distance  ———  was that a uniform ?

it’s that brief turn that finds katie’s DOWNFALL   (  quite literally, in fact  )   ——  a shot of PHASER FIRE catching her in the leg that sends her tumbling down with a shriek.

                    “   GAVET !   ”     she calls out automatically, glancing down at where clothes are BURNT RIGHT THROUGH  &  daren’t imagine what colour the flesh is   (  from how much it HURTS likely not a pretty one  ).   unfamiliar voices shout much nearer now  ——  a tongue she doesn’t recognise that SCARES her. none of her own crew have stopped to help although she practically SCREAMS after them.     “   ahikar, puqloD Ha'DIbaH !   ”

the shouts of whoever SHOT her drown out any reply she may have received,  &  although katie tries to get to her feet there’s hands far STRONGER than she grabbing at her before she can even begin to stumble away   (  not that she would’ve got very FAR  ).     “  litHa’ !   ”     good leg kicks out randomly to try  &  HIT something  ——  it’s only when she realises the one person telling her to  ‘ CALM DOWN ’  is in english that she stops in shock, looking up at EQUALLY surprised faces above her.   (  apparently they weren’t expecting a 15 year old KID  ).   some are alien  ——  features she doesn’t recognise, but some are most definitely HUMAN and decked out in uniforms that only want to make her scream again.

The girl is a fighter. Kathryn will give her that. Despite her wound, she manages to land a pretty effective kick against one of the Urvanian authorities. He grunts and raises his weapon. This is getting out of hand... 

               “CALM DOWN,” Kathryn orders as she kneels down next to the wounded girl. Just a girl. Kathryn estimates between 14 and 16... And human. A human teenager on the wrong side of the galaxy, speaking Klingon. Her mind continues to reel. When Tuvok had told her what the scanners revealed she’d felt as if she’d been hit by something massive, something that knocked the breath out of her. She had beamed down at once with a second away team. The first team, Chakotay’s team, was already on the surface participating in trying to control the violence that had broken out on the planet. Violence that apparently another group had unwittingly been caught up in. 

Kathryn holds the girl’s leg in place firmly with one hand, trying to keep her from moving as she attempts to examine the wound. Tuvok stands watchfully by her side, weapon drawn and at the ready. The battle seems to be coming under control, but some phaser fire still flames, streaking through the darkness nearby. The wound is a nasty one. The girl will need to be treated in sickbay. But the injury doesn’t present an immediate threat to her life.

     “My name is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation starship Voyager. Who are you, and how did you get here?” Questions broad and abrupt to be sure, but the environment they found themselves in simply did not allow time for anything more polite or drawn out.