Cruel and Unusual
By mizvoy
Part 6: Checkmate
December 2379 (first anniversary of Voyager’s return)
The Fednews carried the celebration of Voyager’s first anniversary on their “Startfleet Update” program on a Saturday evening in the outlying territories. As an example of Starfleet success, Admiral Janeway and her Voyager crew continued to be popular topics on both the news and the celebrity broadcasts.
On Centaurus V, Phoebe Janeway Magee and her family watched in rapt attention as the announcers described and explained what was being shown on the screen. All of them were looking forward to seeing Kathryn Janeway and hearing her voice.
“When are we going to see Aunt Katie?” Six year old Kathy Magee lounged on the floor, her impatience mounting with every passing moment. “This is taking forever.”
“Soon enough, honey, just watch,” Phoebe said, turning her other daughter, age three, around on her lap so she could watch, too. “See the party, Maddie? See all the pretty balloons and the pretty ladies?”
“Cake?” Maddie asked, remembering her recent birthday.
“Cake and ice cream, too, I imagine,” Phoebe laughed.
“I hope Kathryn didn’t go to the party alone.” Mike Magee sprawled on the sofa where he was eating popcorn while the family dog, Seamus, watched him intently. “She’s too hot to spend the rest of her life getting set up for blind dates.”
“Why is Aunt Katie hot, Mommy?” Kathy wondered, getting up and snuggling next to her father—and the popcorn.
“Hot means pretty.”
“Then why do her dates have to be blind?” She stuffed a handful of popcorn into her mouth as she waited for an answer.
“Blind means she doesn’t know them. Now watch for Aunt Katie.” Pheobe gave her husband “the look” for confusing the child, and he rolled his eyes in reply.
“Pictured here is Annika Hansen, who prefers to be known by her Borg designation, Seven of Nine. She’s one of two individuals rescued from the Borg and brought back to the Alpha Quadrant by the Voyager crew. Even though she was never actually a member Starfleet, she became a valued member of the crew. The other former drone, Icheb, is now at the top of his class at Starfleet Academy. Seven of Nine works in the cybernetics labs in Oakland, California, and is married to Chakotay, the former Maquis cell leader who served as Voyager’s first officer. I don’t see Captain Chakotay with her, George. What’s the story?”
“It’s my understanding that Voyager’s command team attended a separate reception with the Federation President before the festivities began. They are expected to arrive at the celebration in the President’s limousine in the next few minutes.”
“Seven of Nine must be hot, too, right, daddy? She’s a blond bombshell with big boobs.”
“Kathy!” Phoebe scolded the girl, giving her husband yet another glare. “Where do you hear such things?”
“That’s what Grandma Gretchen said about her.”
Mike laughed, relieved that he wasn’t the one his daughter was parroting, for once. “Well, honey, that’s obviously something that Grandma can say, but you shouldn’t.”
“Hmph.” The little girl turned her attention back to the screen. “Everybody laughed when Grandma said it.”
The next film clip showed the Federation president and her husband getting out of their limousine, followed by Kathryn Janeway, dressed in a striking blue gown, and Chakotay, in the usual formal Starfleet uniform. The two paused and waited patiently while the president answered a few questions. The camera focused in on Janeway as she smiled and waved at the crowd.
“There she is, Mommy,” Kathy cried, pointing at the screen. “See?”
“I see,” Phoebe replied, studying the former command team as they resumed their walk toward the building.
“Don’t you think it’s strange that the president didn’t invite Chakotay’s wife to the dinner?” Mike asked.
“It was a professional function, I guess.” Phoebe watched as Chakotay offered Kathryn his arm and then covered her hand with his in an affectionate gesture, leaning over to whisper something in her ear. “They do make a striking couple, don’t you think?”
Mike snorted, knowing better than to risk antagonizing his wife’s lifelong sibling rivalry by complimenting her sister. “You know I prefer brunettes to redheads.”
“I mean that she has gained weight and doesn’t look quite as frazzled as she did a year ago.” Phoebe laughed, knowing perfectly well what her husband was doing by refusing to compliment her sister. “And she isn’t wearing that awful formal Starfleet tunic, either.”
“RHIP, I guess. Now that she’s an admiral, the uniform is optional for formal functions.”
“What’s RHIT mean, Mommy,” Kathy wondered, her eyes still glued to the screen.
“RHIP? Rank has its privileges, sweetie. It means that admirals get to break the rules.”
The little girl’s eyes widened as she turned to look at her parents. “In that case, I want to be an admiral, too!”
“And so it begins,” her father laughed, giving his daughter an affectionate hug. “Another Janeway sets her cap for a corner office at Starfleet command.”
Later, after the girls were in bed, Phoebe and Mike relaxed on the sofa and watched the news clip a second time.
“An eight minute segment,” Mike said, checking the file. “News items about Voyager still carry a punch, even a year later.”
“Amazing, isn’t it? I think it’s because Starfleet wants to exploit it as the first good news in awhile, after all the bad news of the Dominion War.”
“Not to mention the curiosity of the public. Kathryn and her crew did something really remarkable to get back in one piece. Are you sorry you didn’t go back for the reunion?”
Phoebe shook her head. “I wouldn’t have been able to spend much time with Katie. I mean, she wrote me and said that she didn’t even get to spend that much time with the crew—because she was dining with the President and rubbing elbows with the high and mighty.”
“I bet that was a thrill.”
“You know as well as I do that she’d rather have been with her crew. But what can she do? Tell the President no thanks? Anyway, she and Mom are still scheduled to come out for a visit next month, and we’ll have lots of time to talk.”
“She does look nice in that dress,” he said, pulling Phoebe closer. “You’d think she’d be surrounded by men.”
“That’s the truth. But, Mom says she ignores them—can you imagine?”
Mike slowed down the replay of Janeway and Chakotay as they arrived at the party. He made an appraising sound as they smiled at each other before facing the crowd. “Looking at those two, I can’t help but wonder if she’s busy elsewhere. There’s got to be more than friendship here, Pheebs. They’re both glowing.”
“Maybe they’re drunk?” She laughed and then reached over and paused the replay. “Mom and I always thought there was more to their relationship than Katie let on. When you listen to her messages from the Delta Qudrant, his name comes up too often in both official and personal matters. They must have spent hours together. And then, there’s the way she says his name—Cha-ko-tay—with such careful inflection. It’s positively breathtaking the way it comes out.”
“Yet, when they get home, he’s hooked up with Seven of Nine. Did they break up or something?”
She shook her head. “She insists that they were never a couple. You know how she is about protocol. She’d never get involved with a subordinate, not even her first officer.”
“She might not get involved, but she can’t help it if she falls in love. Look at them, Pheebs, and tell me they aren’t in love with each other.” He had the computer zoom in on their faces, bringing into focus the warm gleam in their eyes. “Can’t you see it?”
“There’s something there, all right. But he’s married, Mike, to the woman Katie thinks of as a daughter. She’d no more make a pass at him than she would at you.”
“True, but there is one big difference: I love my wife more than I love her. I don’t think Chakotay can say that.”
“Good to know,” she laughed, giving him a kiss on the cheek. “But Chakotay is just as ethical as she is. He’s married, and that’s that. I predict that nothing will ever happen.”
“That’s a shame.” His face lit up as an idea struck him. “I wonder. Your sister isn’t the type to get involved in a threesome, is she?”
“Naughty man.” Phoebe punched him in the arm as she blushed. “But, would you believe that Mom asked her the same question, right to her face? I would’ve loved to see her reaction to that.”
“Only Gretchen could get away with asking Katie a question like that. What did she say?”
“She was scandalized by the very idea, of course.” Phoebe giggled. “Who would have thought that MY mom would dream of something like that?”
“Your mom isn’t the innocent she pretends to be, Pheebs.” He switched the replay back on. “I think you missed the last minute or two of this segment.”
“That must have been when Maddie threw a fit and I took her to bed.”
“I want you to see something.” They watched the rest of the report, including some shots that brought in other members of the crew. At one point, the camera focused on Chakotay and Seven of Nine standing beside each other. As the commentators went on about what a striking couple they made, Mike pointed out that they were not touching or indicating in any way that the other was there. Just before the camera panned away from them, they glanced at each other briefly, still not making eye contact.
When the screen returned to the reporter outside the building, Mike backtracked and focused on the couple. “What do you think?”
“I don’t see much chemistry there.”
“Especially compared to the heat he was generating with your sister earlier.”
Phoebe grew quiet, studying the faces. “Maybe it was a bad moment. You know, maybe they were tired or just had a disagreement.”
“Let’s hope so, because, otherwise, they must wonder how they ended up with someone they don’t love.”
“That would be a sad situation.”
“You know it. Especially when someone you do love is so close by.”
“That would be a mess, all right. I sure hope nothing like that never happens to us.”
He pulled her close. “Not to worry. Once a man goes Janeway, he knows it’s the ‘only’ way.”
She groaned at his joke and took the remote out of his hands, shutting off the replay before tossing it onto the coffee table. “I love you, Mikey, in spite of your miserable rhyming skills.”
Even as they kissed, she couldn’t help but worry about her sister, who seemed to be caught in a terrible situation. If Kathryn had been unlucky as Voyager’s captain, she seemed even unluckier with love.