Dark and Stormy First sentence: It was a dark and stormy nebula.
Written for VAMB’s Secret Drabble/Short Story exchange – Halloween 2006.
“It was a dark and stormy nebula. But it had nothing on the mood of the woman warrior. And even though this nebula was crawling with Borg, it could not compete. For there had never been anything darker or stormier recorded in the history of the universe.
You see, the woman warrior had just discovered that her beloved angry warrior was also crawling with Borg. She had learned that this very handsome man, had given up on her love and had turned his attention elsewhere – just as they’d found the gateway home. And it wasn’t just any woman who had turned the angry warrior’s head. It was a special member of the tribe. Someone the woman warrior had taken under her wing and guided personally.
The woman warrior did not like it. No, not one little bit. Her wrath was something to behold! The nebula feared it. The warp core threatened to breach under its power. Even Voyager’s bulkheads trembled.
As the woman warrior looked out the viewport at the dark and stormy nebula she raged inwardly. Darker and stormier thoughts were roiling through her mind. She began to plan. To plot. To scheme. Feelings of betrayal begat thoughts of revenge as she tried to figure out a way to tear her angry warrior from this woman who would keep them apart.
Several scenarios were considered and eventually discarded, for the beautiful woman warrior knew that she would never see any of them to fruition. She loved her angry warrior. It was as simple as that. She only wanted his happiness, even at the expense of her own. She took one last look at the dark and stormy nebula before returning to her job, which was to find a way home for her tribe.
Many days later, the woman warrior looked out the same viewport. This time the view was quite different to the one she’d had seen when she’d last stood here. She was now looking out over the grounds of Starfleet Headquarters. Voyager had landed and the crew had all been dismissed to visit with their families. Only the woman warrior remained on board. At least that’s what she’d thought until she’d heard the messhall doors open. She turned and saw her angry warrior.
He called her name, just as the thought that he was no longer *her* angry warrior struck her. She turned away from him. If anything could have made her feel worse than she already had, it was this.
He was immediately concerned because the brave and beautiful woman warrior was obviously upset and he could see that she had been crying. The angry warrior rushed to her side and pleaded with her to tell him what the problem was, but she would not answer.
By now, the angry warrior was as just upset as the woman warrior. He longed to know what was causing her distress so he could fix it, but his pleading fell on deaf ears, for she would not answer. The only sound in the room was the sound of her tears.
Finally he grabbed her and cradled her body to his own. He rocked her back and forth begging her not to cry. The woman warrior clung to him and cried that much harder.
The angry warrior realized something then. He realized that even though they were both greatly troubled, that he again felt at peace. The peace that only the woman warrior could give him. Whatever the problem was, it was temporary and they could fix it together. With her in his arms, he realized that anything was possible because he loved her.
And he told her so.
The woman warrior confessed that she’d thought that she’d lost her angry warrior. It was this thought alone, which had caused her such distress.
He kissed her and told her that it just wasn’t so. That he would always love her – had always loved her. And in that way the angry warrior brought peace to the woman who had first given it to him.
The couple kissed as they held each other. They pledged their love over and over again. And there, right there in that spot where she had raged and cried, the woman warrior took the angry warrior into her… soul.”
“And that’s how you came to be little one,” Chakotay said to his newborn baby girl as he sat holding her by Kathryn’s bed.
“And just how do you know that I schemed and plotted? I never told you that,” Kathryn said in a tired voice. She had, after all, given birth only hours before.
He smiled at her. “I know you, love. I knew when you told me your story that you’d left that bit out.”
Kathryn sighed. “I was so angry and would have done anything to get you back. But in the end, I couldn’t do it. I loved you. I wanted you to be happy. Even if it meant being happy without me.”
“As if I could be,” he said shaking his head. “I thought I owed it to the admiral to try and carry out the future she had given her life for. But in the end I couldn’t do it either. I knew I had to come to you and try one more time.”
“Those first few days back on Earth were horrible. I couldn’t stand the thought of losing you,” she said quietly. “You’ve become so much a part of me, that I didn’t think I could breathe without you.”
“I felt exactly the same way,” he confessed. “For those few days, I felt as though part of me had been amputated. I could feel it, yet it wasn’t there. And to be honest, that’s how I know that you schemed and plotted my dear. Because I would have done exactly the same thing if our roles had been reversed,” he confessed.
Kathryn reached out and caressed the baby’s soft head. “Your daddy is a very smart man.”
Chakotay took her hand and kissed the palm. “Lucky,” he said. “Daddy is a very lucky man.”
The end.