Title: Colony Author: Jemima Contact: jemimap@crosswinds.net Series: VOY Part: 16/20 Rating: PG Codes: crew, J/C Date: November 2000 Disclaimer: Copyright has expired on the works of Alfred, Lord Tennyson quoted herein. Certain of the names below have been trademarked by Paramount; be assured I am not conducting trade with them. ***** Part 16 ***** Saying, "I have hid my feelings, fearing they should do me wrong"; Saying, "Dost thou love me, cousin?" weeping, "I have loved thee long." It was strange to see people wandering over the hills of the inner surface after having had Toleighanomir to themselves for so long. A larger turbolift, doubtlessly intended for cargo, brought a new group of Leigi from the airlock to the inner surface every hour. The surviving population of Leigus Fifteenth numbered in the millions, and the few Federation shuttlecraft would never be done with the task of carrying them away from their dying planet. The moon's transporters, once B'Elanna finished testing them, would-- Chakotay's thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of the next group of Leigi. With Ovin's help, he directed the essential personnel to the appropriate local buildings. The less essential milled around, waiting to be assigned to construction crews or sent to the more distant cities of the inner surface in order to prepare them for the coming millions. Ken Dalby was running the turbolift. The controls were simple - a helix and a star denoted the two stops this lift could make - but Ken's duties were various. He welcomed the groups of Leigi, reassured them, and told them what to expect on the inner surface. Most importantly, he carried messages between the Leigan government and Chakotay and Ovin. Eventually they would figure out the moon's communications systems, but for now the engineering crews were focusing their attention on the transportation problem. It seemed Ken had brought an important message; he stood in the door of the lift, obviously waiting for his senior officer to finish speaking to the new Leigi. Chakotay left Ovin to direct the rest of the crowd and walked over to Ken. Dalby hemmed a bit before he spoke. "Chakotay," he said informally, as though there were still only seven of them in the moon, "Jenny and I are engaged." He used the Leigan word, which would be better translated as 'expecting'. Chakotay held out his hand; "Congratulations!" Ken hadn't finished, however. "Megan is the traditional sort - she doesn't approve of the Leigan way of getting married. Jenny would feel much better if you could marry us now." "Me? I'm sure Captain Janeway would be glad to marry you two." "Ovin assures me that you are the captain of Toleighanomir." It had become clear, over the course of the past few weeks, that his function on the ship was that of a captain, and that Janeway's duties were more scientific in nature. B'Elanna was content to be the Engineer, and Chakotay had avoided the issue of who was in command of the new ship - successfully so far. He hadn't expected it to come to a head in quite this way. Ken went on speaking about the Trivium and the command structure of the earliest Leigan colony ships - something he'd heard from Ovin, apparently. Chakotay forced his attention back to the conversation. "--still a Maquis under this uniform, and you're still my captain. I would prefer it if you would marry us." "Chakotay will be happy to oblige you," Kathryn's voice said from over his shoulder. "Have Neelix help you make the arrangements." She stepped forward to shake the groom's hand. "Congratulations, Ken." "Thank you, ma'am," Dalby replied, and retreated into the lift as though he had been dismissed more explicitly. ***** Chakotay turned to face her, wondering how much of the conversation she'd heard. They had been going non-stop since they'd arrived; Tuvok had summoned them directly from sickbay and the evacuation of Leigus Fifteenth had begun immediately. It seemed she'd finally found time for The Talk, and had mixed in with the Leigi refugees in order to see him. "Why didn't you tell me?" she asked. He knew she wasn't referring to the captaincy. "I didn't know." Her pregnancy had been a surprise to him - one of those surprises that you knew you should have seen coming a mile away, but a surprise nonetheless. "You knew. I thought it was just a dream." Well, she'd done her best to think so at the time, anyway. "I didn't see the need to burden you. It irritates you enough that half the crew think we're involved, or ought to be. Would you have been pleased to hear that Toleighanomir was also in the act?" "I'm your Captain. I need to know these things." "You're my science officer, Kathryn. And you didn't want to know." She did her best to ignore both points. "You weren't really worried about the ship changing course in our sleep, were you, Chakotay?" "No, not particularly. It seemed to have more parochial plans." "Well, you can sleep now. It has accomplished its objective." "Are you sure about that?" "No, but at least it can't do any more harm than it already has." He gave her his best noncommittal ship's counselor look. It was hard, but he did it. She smiled at him in response. "Cheer up, Chakotay - you're going to be a father. I suppose there are worse prices to pay for a ticket home. I used to dream that this voyage would cost me my life in the end; now my dreams are more...pleasant." She blushed. Not many people had seen, never mind made, Kathryn Janeway blush - he felt honored. He ventured a grin. She was still smiling. "Toleighanomir," she observed, "must be a Maquis ship. Not only is fraternization not against protocol, it *is* protocol." "You shouldn't believe all those rumors about Maquis ships." "I suppose I'll see for myself now." Long ago he'd asked her a question; "So you *are* willing to serve under me?" he half-asked it again. "Apparently." It was his turn to blush. Having ceded so much, she decided to establish a few parameters, for old times' sake. "But when you're on *my* ship, you will abide by Starfleet protocols. That includes calling me 'Captain'." "Yes, ma'am." A full-dimpled smile escaped his careful vigilance. This was working out far, far better than he had dared hope. He silently thanked the Spirits and his aeons-dead 'brother'. ***** Woman is the lesser man, and all thy passions, match'd with mine, Are as moonlight unto sunlight, and as water unto wine-- "How are the tests going, B'Elanna?" Janeway asked. "Jarvin came through fine - in fact, the transporter seems to have removed all symptoms of radiation poisoning." Jarvin had been one of the holdouts on the surface. He had finally crawled out of the woodwork when the new moon rose over Leigus Fifteenth. To atone for his sins, he'd volunteered to be the first live subject sent through Toleighanomir's long-dormant transporters. At least, the Captain had interpreted it as a penitential gesture and accepted it as such. She assigned him duties on the inner surface, helping the Leigi of whom he was so fond. He'd be of more use there than cooling his heels in the brig for desertion. Medical benefits aside, she would have preferred to use her own cargo transporters rather than the millennia-old Leigan technology, but Voyager's transporters were undependable in the radioactive conditions plaguing Leigus Fifteenth. B'Elanna thought the Starfleet technology would be hard-pressed to evacuate a planet in any event, and Chakotay noted that Toleighanomir's transporters were designed with just such large-scale people-moving projects in mind. Janeway was outnumbered by the two of them, and overruled by him. "He's the Captain," B'Elanna said, shrugging in sympathy. Chakotay greeted all the Leigi as they arrived in great crowds on the main transporter pad of the inner surface. He, Ovin, Jarvin, and what remained of the government made the cramped housing arrangements. New buildings would be built later, once they were much farther away from the Periti. Considering that the Leigi's passion for reproducing themselves had only increased over the millennia, he figured they would be building new housing over the entire course of the trip. According to Starfleet regulations and Federation law, the inhabitants of Leigus Fifteenth had the right to remain there and die of radiation poisoning. The Leigan officials, however, wanted to evacuate everyone by force, there being no concept in Leigan culture even approaching the right to die. B'Elanna had sided with Janeway on that issue, and Chakotay had compromised for the moment. They would beam everyone up, assign them quarters, and if, when they were through, some people still wished to remain behind, he would work something out for them. Once the more reluctant Leigi found themselves aboard the ship of their ancestors, speaking to its charismatic Captain, the already-famous hero of Leigus Prime, they relented. Many decided to stay aboard for the long voyage. Only thirty thousand or so wished to reclaim Leigus Fifteenth, and these agreed to be dropped off at Leigus Forty-seventh, on the Beta Quadrant border of the Leigus Union, to enlist the aid of that colony's inhabitants for the massive cleanup operation and resettlement of Leigus Fifteenth. "He's good," B'Elanna commented. Janeway nodded in agreement. ***** The evacuation and final arrangements took more than a month, and the trip to Leigus Forty-seventh consumed two more months. They dropped off the thirty thousand, and took on half a million more to replace them. "Why?" Janeway asked Chakotay one morning; "The moon is already crowded, and if the replicators break down we'll all starve." She wasn't here on business, actually; it was a date, a picnic on his mountainside. "This is not our ship, Kathryn," he answered, "it's theirs. If they wish to travel in it, then I will take as many as is physically possible. The Leigi know the risks of colonization." "Where are we taking them all, Chakotay?" The moon was currently on a heading for DS9, but under warp power it would take them thirty years to get there. Besides, he could hardly mean to repopulate Dorvan with Leigi, could he? "That depends on whether B'Elanna can restart the space-folding drive." Considering that she would be showing soon, their fraternization hadn't progressed very far yet. They'd been busy, but that was not the real reason. Toleighanomir still reminded them of New Earth, despite the new population problem, and, just as in that other Eden, they knew they'd probably be stuck here together for the rest of their lives. They could afford to take their time. Kathryn kissed him lightly, then stood up on the ancient grass, offering him a hand up. They walked hand-in-hand back to his mountainside control center, which was, like hers elsewhere, an exact replica of the one in Engineering. She brushed her hand across the console, and, walking up to a star chart, called up an image with a few now-routine motions. "M31: the Andromeda galaxy," he read off the bottom of the screen. Seven and Ovin had managed to teach the computer Standard and Leigan names, respectively, for whatever they could identify in its database. The cold light of distant stars gleamed in Kathryn's eyes. Chakotay didn't balk at it as Tom once had. He stood beside her, smiling up at the image. "To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths / Of all the western stars..." "Tennyson." She always had to have the last word. *****