Title: Twist of Fate: Bare Necessities
Author: Whoa Nellie ([email protected])
Series: Voyager
Rating: NC-17
Codes: C/f
Synopsis: When the Voyager crew encounters an alien
race in need, Mother Nature provides the recipe for solving their problem. Originally posted to ASC on June 10, 2004.
Acknowledgements: Paramount owns all the marbles, we just have
a lot more fun playing with them.
Feedback
is always appreciated, posted or
e-mail.
Whoa
Nellie's Romance Star Trek Fan Fiction Stories
http://whoanellie.fortunecity.com
BARE NECESSITIES
Chakotay tilted his head slightly,
deepening the kiss. One hand slipped
inside Sassy's jumpsuit to stroke the soft, flat plane of her stomach while his
other hand found the binding of her braid.
His fingers combed through the black, silky curtain of hair to loosen
it, allowing it to fall around her shoulders.
When he'd stopped by the garden after his shift, his intention had been
dinner with his wife in the mess.
Watching her finish her work, he'd sat down at the base of an apple tree
where one quick peck on the cheek had led to this. His uniform jacket was open and Sassy was laying across his lap
with her arms around him. Her breasts
were crushed against his chest and her tongue danced erotically with his. Dinner completely forgotten, his hips jerked
hungrily at the feeling of her hands pulling his uniform shirt out of his
pants. He broke the kiss abruptly and
captured her hands.
Sassy whimpered once before exhaling
deeply and opening her eyes.
"Problem? I mean, I know
you didn't just start something that you don't have time to finish."
"Not here," he remarked dropping
a kiss on the tip of her cute, little nose.
"Our little exhibition was a one time-only performance."
Sitting up, she straightened her jumpsuit
and refastened the top. "It's not
my fault that you neglected to lock the door before seducing me. Did you ever find out who it was?"
"No," he sighed. He stood, brushed himself off and offered
his hand to help Sassy up. "Let's
finish this line of thought in our quarters." Walking hand-in-hand toward the door, Chakotay's commbadge
chirped. "Chakotay here," he
responded, already knowing that they weren't going to finish anything.
Janeway's voice came over the link. "Would you care to join us,
Commander?"
"Captain?"
"We're at red alert and about to be
attacked. Would you care to man your
station?" she elaborated.
Sassy cringed. "I turned off the light and siren here in the garden. The incessant blaring was upsetting the
plants," she whispered.
"On my way, Captain." Chakotay shot her a
'we'll-definitely-discuss-this-further' look and ran toward the door only to
slam into it when the door failed to open.
"I had the computer automatically
secure the door during a red alert," she offered weakly at his expression;
"so I wouldn't accidentally go wandering around the ship during an
alert."
....................................................
"Good of you to join us,
Commander," Janeway commented dryly as Chakotay rushed onto the bridge.
Chakotay took his seat and scanned the
ship's status indicators.
"Apparently the plants didn't like the red alert klaxon so Sassy
de-activated it in the garden."
"Brace for impact," Harry called
out.
"Then they're really not going to
like this," Janeway quipped tersely, gripping the armrests of her chair.
The ship shuddered violently. Tuvok braced himself with one hand while his
other hand moved across the
console. "Multiple projectiles
have penetrated our shields."
"Hull breaches on Deck 8," Harry
reported.
"Seal--" Chakotay began.
"Bio-signs detected!" Harry
interjected. "The projectiles were
pods of some sort, we're being boarded."
Tuvok tapped several panels. "Security teams to Deck 8." Exchanging nods with Chakotay, Tuvok left to
meet his teams and Chakotay took over at Security.
Janeway scanned the incoming data. "Stop those capsules from getting
through, Mr. Kim. Chakotay, target
phasers at 50% power if necessary."
Harry spoke up. "If we interface the deflector with sensors, we can hit them
with a repulsor beam, bounce them off.
It might not catch all of them, but--"
"Do it," Janeway ordered.
.................................................
In the garden on Deck 8, Sassy was pounding the fingers trying to pry open
the garden door. Pausing briefly, she
slapped her communicator. "Sassy
to Chakotay."
"We're a little busy at the
moment," Chakotay replied.
"Well, I hate to bother you,"
she retorted, "but the garden is being invaded. Could I get some help, please?"
.................................................
Up on the bridge, Chakotay tapped several
controls and, in seconds, Sassy materialized on the bridge.
"That was very helpful," Sassy
commented. "Thank you."
"Open hailing frequencies,"
Janeway ordered, gesturing for Sassy to sit in Chakotay's unoccupied seat.
"Frequencies open," Harry
acknowledged.
"This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of
the Federation Starship Voyager. Cease
your attack and respond; there is no need for anyone to be hurt, but we will
defend ourselves if necessary."
Harry shook his head. "No response."
Janeway resumed her hail. "If you do not stop, we will be forced
to fire on you, our sensors indicate that your shields will not protect you
from our phaser weapons."
"They're responding," Harry
reported. He activated the comm system
to transfer the incoming message to the viewscreen.
Janeway stood and straightened her uniform
jacket. "Hello, thank you for
responding. Whatever problem or
misunderstanding prompted this, I can assure you that we're peaceful
travelers. Perhaps you'd like to come
aboard and discuss this in person."
.................................................
An hour later, the intruders and their
leader, a man named Nevane, sat in the conference room with Janeway, Chakotay
and Tuvok. Two security guards stood
silently near the doors. Hull repairs
were underway and the crewmembers who had sustained injuries had already been
treated.
"Vog is your title?" Janeway
asked the leader who had agreed to be beamed over at her invitation.
He nodded. "Yes, Vog is my title, Nevane is my name. May I ask why you are so calm about the
circumstances? I'm not complaining,
mind you, it's just hardly what I would have expected."
"Well, I'm not very happy about the
damage you and your people did to my ship," Janeway acknowledged. "Nevertheless, we're not in the habit
of killing people just because we're not happy. We're fortunate that no one got killed in your initial assault."
Chakotay spoke up. "Why exactly did you attack us?"
Nevane exchanged glances with his
people. "Please understand, we are
nomads, our ships are our homes. We
travel and see what we can see as our ancestors set out to do generations ago."
"What if one of your people wish to
stop traveling and settle down?" Tuvok wanted to know, thinking about the
generational ship they had encountered.
"We celebrate," Nevane
said. "We throw a party during
which everyone says their goodbyes and they are free to leave. Because of our wandering nature, the
likelihood of locating us in order to return is small so our people do not make
that decision lightly."
"That doesn't explain why you
attacked us," Chakotay said.
"Vegetation," Nevane
replied. "We have machines that
can clean poisons out of the air, but we have no machines that can create air
for us to breathe. Green plants
throughout all of our ships create that good air as part of a chemical
reaction; however, we cannot keep the plants alive indefinitely. We replace the plants and soil whenever we
get to a planet with suitable conditions; unfortunately there have been no
planets with suitable vegetation for several months and our sensors do not
detect any for at least several more months.
By that time, we will have run out of air to breathe. We detected vegetation aboard your ship and
decided to--"
"Steal it," Janeway finished for
him.
Nevane squarely met her gaze. "Your ship can go much faster than
ours, it would take you mere days to travel a distance which would take us
months to travel. With your technology,
you may not even need the vegetation to produce air. We were trying to avoid hurting anyone, although, I confess my
people were under orders to bring along the person we detected in the garden. We wouldn't have harmed them, we were only
hoping to find a way to keep our air source alive for longer periods of
time."
"Her," Chakotay said
softly. "The person in charge of
our garden is my wife."
Janeway sat forward. "What Commander Chakotay is saying is
that kidnapping any member of this crew would force us to react much more
aggressively. If you want our help,
I'll need your word that you'll stop any efforts to steal anyone or anything
from my ship."
"We are not a wealthy people,
Captain," Nevane said.
"Our people have a policy of helping
travelers in distress in any way we can regardless of any other
considerations," Janeway assured him.
"But you do have something of value
to us," Tuvok pointed out.
"Knowledge, you have generations of information on regions of space
we're currently heading into."
Janeway nodded and gestured casually. "We would greatly appreciate any star
charts or cultural information on the places that your people have been."
Nevane glanced briefly at his people who
all nodded assent. He turned back to
Janeway. "Agreed, Captain, you and
your people may have complete access to all of our ships, people and computers
to glean any and all knowledge we may be able to provide."
"In exchange," Janeway
stipulated, "we will provide you with vegetation and training from our
botanist on keeping the plants healthy."
Chakotay swiveled his chair toward
Nevane. "Why didn't you just ask
for help to start with?"
Nevane shrugged helplessly. "We didn't realize you could afford to
be so generous; you might have said no and then we'd have lost the element of
surprise."
...................................................
"What?" Sassy shrieked. Her presence had been requested at a senior
staff meeting to discuss the situation.
"You want to loan me out to people who were trying to steal
me? Have you all lost your minds?"
"Aalm," Chakotay soothed. "You'll be safe, they've agreed to
accept our help under the condition that they not make any further kidnapping
or theft attempts."
"They won't need to try," she
pointed out. "You're going to give
me to them on a silver platter."
Tom piped up. "They only have impulse capacity, it's not like they could
make a run for it."
"They don't have enough power to beak
free of our tractor beam and their shields are too weak to block our
transporter," Harry added.
"They can't run and they can't hide."
Tuvok addressed the issue of off-ship
security. "You will be accompanied
by two security officers at all times while onboard the alien vessels."
Chakotay reached for her hand. "I promise you that nobody will ever
take you away from me. I will always
find you."
"I don't mind providing them with
plants, seeds and cuttings," Sassy sighed. "It's the part of this plan that requires me to beam into
the lion's den to get them set up."
Janeway carefully considered her
words. "You're a civilian, Doctor
Ceshlyta, this would be a volunteer assignment for you."
Sassy sighed again. "You all swear on everything you hold
precious that they will not be allowed to leave until all of me--not just my
communicator--is back aboard Voyager."
Chakotay drew her hand up to his mouth and
placed a kiss on the back of it.
"Promise."
Everyone around the table echoed the
vow.
"Fine," Sassy said. "Let me review what they've got and put
a report together."
"Work with Mr. Kim," Janeway
said. "One more thing, Sassy,
about the red alert klaxon in the garden."
"This ship goes to red alert
practically every other day," she pointed out defensively.
"Not quite," Janeway countered.
Sassy shrugged. "Maybe it just seems like it, but regardless, it causes
undue stress on the plants. The
lighting in the different sections of the garden is carefully calibrated as are
sound levels. The light and siren ruin
the ambience, which disrupts growing cycles.
No, before you ask, it wouldn't be enough to kill the plants but it does
decrease productivity and weaken the overall health of the garden
eco-system."
"What about a single status indicator
over the door with a short tone when it changes," B'Elanna suggested. "One of my engineers could have it done
in a couple of hours."
Janeway looked to Sassy. "Well?"
"That would work," she
agreed. "Thank you."
"All right then, Mr. Kim, status of
repairs," Janeway continued on with the staff meeting.
...................................................
"Coming to bed?" Chakotay asked
the next evening.
"Soon," Sassy mumbled
distractedly.
He chuckled and walked over to stand
beside the chair where she sat.
"This is a switch, usually I'm the one lost in PADDs and you're
trying to pull me away."
As his words sunk in, she giggled. "You have a point; but you're not
really trying very hard. You're still
fully dressed."
"You have a point," he conceded
in return. "Why don't you show me
how it's done."
"I just need to finish this
report," she said.
Chakotay pulled the PADD out of her
hands. "You just need to tell me
what's wrong."
"There are still some logistics to
work out," she said.
"Aalm."
Sassy shook her head. "It's nothing; it's stupid."
He picked her up and sat down in the chair
with Sassy on his lap. "There's
nothing stupid about being scared."
Trying to ignore the warmth of his body
and the tender strength in his hands as he began unbinding her braid, she
looked down at her hands. "I threw
a huge fit in the middle of the mess hall and we had the biggest fight of our
marriage over my being included on away missions that called for a
botanist. Now here's an away mission
that requires a botanist and I don't want to go."
He combed his fingers through her long,
dark hair. "I'd say you don't have
to go but we both know that this is voluntary, this is your choice."
Sassy snuggled against his chest and laid
her head on his shoulder. "I can't
pick and choose when I'm the ship's botanist and when I'm just your wife. You don't get to choose when you're First
Officer and when you're just Chakotay."
"I spent the day talking with Vog
Nevane and several of their elders about places they've been and cultures that
they've encountered. They're explorers,
sort of like intergalactic gypsies, there's no evidence that they're bad or
malicious. Do you know that they don't
even remember where their home planet is?
They could have originally been from the Alpha Quadrant for all we
know. Seven is working on an interface
to download their database which holds the records of more than a century of
exploration."
"I can tell already that my
creativity will be tested in dragging you away from those files," she
commented, her voice muffled somewhat by the fabric of his uniform. His chest shook beneath her cheek with his
soft laughter.
They sat there, silent, for several
moments before Chakotay got back to the issue at hand. "Obviously Voyager could go on with or
without you--not that I would want to go back to life without you. The garden has become a much more central
component of ship's functions and resources than ever and no one on this ship
wants to lose the ample fresh fruits and vegetables or the garden itself. Every security precaution will be taken to
secure our ship's botanist."
Something he said struck her as
funny. "You're saying that you
only love me for my melons?"
Chakotay grinned. "Most of the men and a few of the women
onboard Voyager adore your melons."
Sassy nuzzled his neck. "What about the First Officer?"
He stood, holding her in his arms. "How do I love you? Let me count the ways; better yet, since
actions speak louder than words, let me show you."
Wrapping her arms around his neck, her
tongue flicked at his earlobe before pulling it into her mouth. She felt the familiar weightlessness of
being carried by strong arms followed by the softness of the comforter against
her back as he laid her on the bed.
There was no urgency, just the sensation of being safe and snug within
the haven of his embrace. Tendrils of
desire began winding their way down her body, spreading a delicious warmth and
wetness at the juncture of her thighs.
She wiggled, partly to help him and partially in response to the feeling
of his hands stripping away her jumpsuit and undergarments. When he rose to remove his clothes, she
slipped underneath the comforter and held it up in invitation.
His own clothes swiftly joined hers on the
floor and he slid into bed beside her, rolling her beneath him. He settled himself comfortably between her
lithe, tawny thighs and lowered his head, his lips brushing softly against hers
before crushing them beneath his own.
His hands held her hips and his tongue parted her lips to slide inside
as he lowered himself onto her. Completely
buried in the hot, moist depths of her body, he lay still for a moment, his
tongue parrying with hers in a passionate coupling. Only when her legs wrapped around his waist, pushing at his hips
with her heels did he begin moving. He
broke the kiss, panting slightly and thrust hard into her, nuzzling her throat
at the gasp of delight that it brought to her lips.
Sassy rested her hands lightly on the
muscled, bronze shoulders over her and rolled her head back, relishing the
pleasurable sensation of his breath and lips against the sensitive skin of her
throat while the hard length of his body drove into her over and over. Their bodies moved in concert, both knowing
the other's rhythm after nearly a year of marriage. She twisted her hips up to meet his, tightening herself around
him as he withdrew to heighten the sensations that they were both feeling. She was rewarded with a soft whimper from
Chakotay's throat and a tremor that raced through his body.
Trying to control his reaction to her
body's grip, he paused briefly, breathing deeply. After all the years that he had spent alone, he couldn't believe
how incredibly comfortable and satisfying his life was with Sassy in it. He began moving again, a slow and deliberate
pace, gripping her hips more securely when she started twisting them, trying to
speed him up. He watched her face, her
beautiful, tanned features contorted with pleasure and her big, brown eyes
closed. Leaning down, he licked her
lips to moisten them, not missing a beat in the frustratingly slow pace he had
set. She was building up to it, he
could see it in her expression and he never took his eyes off of her as she
gradually became more and more tense.
He saw her reach her climax an instant before he felt her body spasm
around him. His body demanded more so
he obliged, speeding up his own pace and driving into her several more time
before his own release ripped through him.
He collapsed against her, his hand casually trailing up her
sweat-dampened body to brush her hair back.
Sassy started to sigh contentedly and
suddenly broke into giggles.
"Laughter may be the best
medicine," Chakotay commented dryly, "but now really isn't a good
time for me."
She tenderly caressed his tattoo. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. It's not you, I was thinking about the
euphemisms we were playing with before.
A couple of entendres about enjoying the fruits of your labor and
seeding the gardener flashed through my mind and I figured out the solution to
that logistical problem that I'd been working on."
"Okay, also doesn't speak well for me
that your mind was on so many other things during what should be blissful
afterglow." He rolled to his side
and propped his head on his hand.
She arched an eyebrow. "You can't possibly still think that
every single time we engage in conjugal relations, it's a mind-blowing
experience. Enjoyable as it always is,
sometimes it isn't even a breath-taking experience."
"Why don't we go back to that
logistical problem," he suggested.
"This line of conversation is not doing much for my ego."
Sassy smiled and placed a kiss on the
broad, tanned expanse of his chest.
"I love you, mi aalm. All
right, the logistical problem was regarding the issue of plant food. They use recycled water to hydrate the
plants but the primary reason their plants die is a lack of proper nourishment. Their food supply isn't suitable and without
replication technology, any plant food we give them would eventually be gone
and they'd be back to square one."
"But you thought of a solution."
"You might say that you actually
planted the seed," she snickered.
"It occurred to me that I was able to cut back on the nutrients I
used back in the coffee tree grove because of the extra-curricular activities
taking place among crew members back there."
Chakotay looked confused for a moment until
Sassy waggled her eyebrows and looked pointedly down at their naked
bodies. He closed his eyes and shook
his head. "I never want to see
that substance on a requisition form."
"Kathryn and I discussed that early
on and decided to just let nature take its course back there. Of course, if we ever need to conserve
energy, we could eliminate the replication of nutrients for the garden and
utilize Voyager's manpower . . . so to speak."
"This had got to be the most
ridiculous conversation I've ever had," he sighed.
"Assuming that their semen is
protein-based as well," she went on.
"That could provide them with an endless supply of plant food. We can provide some plant nutrients to
augment it, but--"
He covered her lips with his fingers. "Spirits, please just put it in your
report. I really want this conversation
to be over now."
................................................................
"You want me to what?" the EMH
asked incredulously.
All of the senior staff sitting around the
conference table snickered until a sharp look from Janeway silenced them. "Please continue, Doctor
Ceshlyta."
Sassy schooled her expression into her
most professional demeanor. "The
list of plants includes both cuttings and replicated plants that will provide
them with maximum oxygen production as well as some fresh fruits. The Doctor has already determined which
fruits will be most beneficial to their systems. We can provide them with a supply of nutrients, but that would
only be a short-term solution."
"There is a significant deuterium
deposit in this region," Seven noted.
"Replicating quantities would not be a strain on Voyager's
resources."
Harry nodded in agreement with Seven
before adding, "Space is the real concern, at most they can store a year's
supply."
Sassy went back to her initial
request. "If the Doctor can
determine the components in their semen, it might be possible for them to
fertilize the plants that way and stretch the nutrient supply out for several years."
Tom had a question. "Who's going to explain the intricacies
of this plan to them?"
"It should be a man," Sassy said
quickly. "To avoid any cultural
offense."
Janeway barely managed to hide a
smirk. "Well then, Doctor--"
"If culture is a concern," the
EMH interrupted, "perhaps someone with an anthropological slant should
handle the matter."
Tom and Harry glanced at each other and
broke out laughing at the EMH's choice of words.
"All right," Janeway re-asserted
order. "Commander Chakotay, you
will accompany the Doctor to meet with Vog Nevane and explain the proposal.
......................................................................
Chakotay found Sassy working on a plant
bed aboard one of the alien vessels. He
nodded to Molina and Bristow standing guard nearby. He heard her humming softly as he knelt beside her. "They were able to provide us with
information on a friendly race a few light years from here where we can allow
everyone some shore leave once we're finished here."
"Is that the First Officer telling
the Ship's Botanist to get a move on?" Sassy asked, grinning.
"I wouldn't dare," he replied
with his hands up in a gesture of surrender.
"Even I know you can't hurry nature."
Without pausing in her work, she provided
him with the update he wanted. "I
have one more ship, but Harry has already got the preparations underway there
so I should be finished with the planting by
tomorrow. I still need to teach
them basic plant care and I'm leaving a database of botanical information for
them to refer to in case of problems.
What about the supply of nutrients?"
Chakotay held up a PADD. "They're replicating it now. I talked with Nevane and we're going to beam
a supply of it onto each of the ships as it's ready. That should be all finished by tomorrow morning, so we can be on
our way in another day or two."
She watered the plant bed after settling
the last plant in place.
"What was that song you were humming
when I came up?" he asked, standing up and offering his hand to help her
up.
She thought for a moment. "Oh, that's just a silly old song
that's been stuck in my head for the past day or so." She began singing softly, "Look for the
bare necessities, the simple bare necessities, forget about your worries and
your strife. I mean the bare necessities, oh Mother
Nature's recipes that bring the bare necessities of life."
**FINIS**
1