The Sato Series, Episode 3: a new Frontier

Kit realized Emily’s own body was in perfect position for her to return the attentions, and she buried her face between Emily’s thighs, capturing her dripping sex in the heat of her mouth. Emily surged, and she moaned against Kit’s clit, forgetting herself for the moment and opening her legs wide. Kit reached behind her and found Jenny’s folds, stroking between them and discovering Jenny’s clit swollen and ready to be touched. Jenny pressed closer against Kit’s back, lifting her leg over Kit’s hip, teeth sunken in Kit’s shoulder as the need asserted itself. In a flurry of motion and passion, they loved one another, taking each other over that bright edge, only to begin again, shifting positions, the focal point changing with the passing of the hour. It had been so long, and their appetites for one another seemed insatiable, their capacity for pleasure incomprehensible. Kit remembered sucking Jenny’s clit a thousand times like this, with Jenny poised over her mouth, grasping the headboard, thighs rigid and muscles standing out, Kit’s tongue avid inside her, moving against her, slipping through fluid, lips trapping her clit to be mercilessly devoured, and Jenny so lovely, a sheen of sweat on her belly, gasping “don’t stop” until Kit brought her to orgasm, the shaking in Jenny’s legs rocking the bed as she came, clawing at the wall and crying out and begging to be eaten.
Emily held Jenny from behind, also straddling Kit’s body, moving against Kit’s fingers while she fondled Jenny’s nipples, anchoring her as Kit sent her into a spasm of ecstasy. Emily loved watching them, as much as she loved touching them and being touched, and the sight of Jenny’s sex in Kit’s mouth drove Emily half mad with need. Without realizing it, Emily had begun to touch herself, and as Jenny moved off of Kit’s mouth and collapsed beside her, she saw Emily’s fingers where Kit’s also were. Jenny was mesmerized, and sat up to add her own fingers to the mix. Emily’s clit was slick and slippery, gliding over three fingers, each jockeying for dominance, and the fierceness of it made her come loudly and violently. Kit watched in fascination as Emily’s hips bucked and thrust, and Kit eased Emily down from her knees to lie in one arm. Jenny lay down in the other, all three women draped over each other in a tangle of arms and legs. Kit pressed her lips against Jenny’s forehead, fighting tears and losing.
“What, baby?” Jenny whispered, kissing the salty drop that streaked Kit’s cheek.
Kit bit her lip, hand cradling Jenny’s head, golden eyes stinging. “I love you, that’s all,” she said hoarsely. “And I’d forgotten how good we are together,” she added, choking on the words.
Emily snuggled into her, reaching across Kit’s chest to touch Jenny. “Samurai,” she said faintly, letting Kit hug her closer. “Jenny and I never forgot.”
Jenny chuckled. “Yeah. It’s one reason we never gave up hope,” she teased, kissing Kit’s ruddy cheek.
“That’s not all,” Kit admitted, letting Emily’s dark hair absorb her tears. “I’m scared about it—about what we did, and how Laren will deal with it,” she explained.
Jenny hugged Kit’s waist. “She can’t very well give you license and then be angry,” she pointed out rationally. “And you know Lenara is working on her this very minute,” she added.
“Yeah,” Emily agreed. “I saw her talking to Mom and then she came out and told us to leave together,” she recalled. “I bet Laren got an earful and decided to give us a break.”
Kit kissed Emily’s hair, eyes closing with emotion. “I’m so sorry, Ems,” she whispered. “I didn’t ever intend for anyone or anything to get in the way of our marriage. I know this is all my fault. But I’m too weak to walk away from her. Even when she and I did break up, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. She’s just so—isolated, you know? Lonely. But since she let herself love me, she’s let other people get closer to her, and I think she sees a future for all of us, now,” she said hopefully.
Emily sighed gustily. “I hope she does, Sam. Because she has a way of getting under your skin, like a tattoo,” she said absently, touching her Trill markings at her temple. “I can’t imagine living here without her, now,” she said softly. “Can you, Jen?”
Jenny shook her head. “No. The whole atmosphere would change without her. And not for the better. But we have to keep being patient, and letting her find her way. We can’t push, especially not now. Let her come to the realization on her own that just because Kit is sexually involved with us doesn’t mean Laren gets excluded. And we need to be careful and respectful of her vulnerability, the way we were with Kit in the beginning—remember Ems?”
Kit flinched. “What do you mean?” she asked defensively.
Emily laughed, tracing her fingertips over Kit’s chest. “Honey, you were skittish as hell in the beginning. Jenny and I had to force ourselves to remember how tentative everything was with you, especially that weekend in Hawaii.”
Kit smiled. “Yeah, because you two couldn’t keep your hands off each other.”
“Like you, with Laren,” Jenny pointed out. “Now that you know what that madness feels like, can you forgive us?” she asked, frost-white eyes intent and serious.
“Of course I can. And you’re right, I get it now,” Kit agreed. “But you guys have to understand, when I was with each of you, individually, I was still pretty messed up by my childhood. I was so used to shutting off my feelings, forcing myself to numbness, that I only let my love for you glance off the surface. The reason it was so different with Laren is that I am so much healthier emotionally,” she explained.
Jenny nodded. “You are. And it shows. I was really proud of you for not tearing P’Arth’s jugular vein out with your teeth tonight,” she complimented Kit’s restraint.
Kit’s face darkened. “It took every ounce of will power,” she confided. “I picture her slugging Kieran and I want to take her to the dojo and whip her ass,” she snarled.
Emily smiled faintly. “You and half the guests tonight. I saw Cassidy glowering at her from across the room, and Seven kept looking at P’Arth as if she were an insect,” she giggled. “And poor B'Elanna, she looks so unhinged whenever P’Arth talks to her,” she noted.
“I saw that too,” Kit agreed. “What the hell do you suppose that’s about?”
Jenny propped her head up on her hand. “Probably the contradictions in her head. She knows P’Arth is the same person who hurt Kieran, and yet, P’Arth is so—damned polite, and unassuming, especially for a Klingon. I think Lanna just hasn’t got a clue what to make of her,” she decided.
“She sure has a weird relationship with her attendant, don’t you think?” Kit put in, thinking of Detara.
“Not weird, just clandestine,” Emily observed. “They’re lovers. I’m sure of it.”
“No way,” Kit replied. “P’Arth is Mom’s age, and Detara is younger than us,” she protested.
Jenny laughed. “Yeah, the age difference is about the same as you and Laren,” she teased.
“Bite me,” Kit chuckled, gouging Jenny’s ribs.
Jenny waggled her eyebrows. “I think I just did, or have you forgotten my teeth sinking into your shoulder?”
Kit shivered. “Damn, Jen, that made me hot,” she confessed. “It was so—out of control.”
“Okay, you two, before you get all worked up again flirting, let’s get showered and hail Laren. I don’t want to make this a marathon and alienate her,” Emily scolded them.
Jenny nodded. “You’re right. We have to handle it just so.” Then she grinned wickedly, and did her best imitation of the Wicked Witch of the West. “These things must be done del-i-cately,” she cackled. “Or you hurt the spell.”
Kit laughed, hugging her close. “You are a nutjob, Corinne. Just like my mother,” she accused.
Jenny smiled smugly. “Not a bad role model, if I do say so myself,” she opined.
_____________
P’Arth had kept Cassidy and Cameron Thompson in a discussion for the better part of an hour, asking questions about the dimension they had come from, about their lives there. They graciously told her the entire tale of their move to the current dimension, though it made Cassidy squirm to be near this woman.
“And Kieran accepted you,” P’Arth stated more than asked, “as though you were the sister she had lost.”
Cassidy nodded. “It was a fair trade. My Kieran was dead, her Cassidy was dead, and we became sisters in their places,” she explained.
Cameron smiled warmly at her wife, who looked dapper in her Starfleet uniform. Cassidy was so proud to have received her ensign’s pip after months of study, she rarely went anywhere without her uniform on. Somehow, it made the younger Thompson feel even closer to her sister, if that were humanly possible.
“And how is it, serving under your sister’s command?” P’Arth wondered. “I don’t believe I could ever take orders from my brother. But then, he is a P’taQ,” she confided, chuckling and leaning closer to Cassidy in a conspiratorial manner.
Cassidy found herself at ease after such a long conversation with P’Arth, and the thought unnerved her and made her guard go back up again. “Kieran is a stellar commander,” she bragged. “I’ve never once regretted being her subordinate. But then, she never lords it over me, either. She’s not like that,” she defended her sibling. “And she has shared everything with Cam and I—her father, who acts as though I am his flesh and blood, her children, her extended family, her wealth—all of it. Kieran has never once treated me as though we aren’t related. I have no doubt in my mind that she treats me exactly as she would have her real sister,” she explained.
Cameron nodded enthusiastically. “She’s very loyal. In fact, almost every basketball player she ever coached is on this ship, except the ones who are in command positions,” she added.
“There were a couple I couldn’t find room for,” Kieran supplied as she joined them. “But I’m working on it,” she laughed. “I figure if they tolerated me as a coach, they probably won’t stage a mutiny against me as their captain,” she contended, grinning. “Chancellor, is there anything I can get you?” she offered, minding her manners.
“I don’t suppose you have any real bloodwine, do you, Lukara?” P’Arth asked quietly. “Not that synthehol swill,” she added, so no one but the four of them could hear.
Kieran could not believe P’Arth had called her by the pet name she had used for Kieran when they were lovers. “As a matter of fact, Chancellor,” she emphasized the formality of the title, “I do. I’ll get it.”
Kieran went into the kitchen to search the cabinets. Cameron eyed the Chancellor suspiciously, wondering why Kieran had blushed and hurried away. “What did you call her?” Cameron asked, trying to keep her tone even, but bristling protectively.
Cassidy put a restraining hand on Cameron’s forearm, nothing obvious, but the gesture conveyed exactly what she needed it to.
Cameron exhaled slowly, calming herself and nodding at Cassidy.
“Lukara,” P’Arth replied easily. “It was a nickname for her back at the Academy,” she explained. “It’s a shame you never knew her back then.” Seeing that they were not satisfied with her answer, she continued. “Lukara is a legendary figure in Klingon mythology,” she explained. “She was the lover of Kahless. His mate. To call a Klingon woman ‘Lukara’ is a very high compliment—it is—comparable to calling a human woman an angel, or a goddess,” she detailed for them.
Cameron wasn’t Starfleet, and she didn’t feel it was her obligation to treat this woman as though she were a Queen. She pressed on. “I thought you and Kieran parted company on less than friendly terms,” she pointed out.
P’Arth bowed slightly at the waist in acknowledgment. “Is any break-up ever completely friendly?” she asked mildly. “We were both very young, and very foolish. The past is nothing more than a shadow,” she philosophized. “And certainly, Kieran has outdone herself, to be married to a scientist of Lenara Kahn’s reputation. She must be very proud of that match,” she added a bit enviously.
Cassidy’s eyebrows narrowed, her green eyes throwing off sparks. “I’d say Lenara is the one who is proud to be married to Kieran,” she corrected the Chancellor. “Pride is not something Kieran indulges in with regard to her own life. Only her children’s lives.”
Kieran returned then, a chalice of bloodwine in each hand. “Chancellor,” she handed P’Arth the drink. “To your health,” she offered, toasting the Klingon.
“And yours, Captain,” she returned, throwing back a healthy gulp. “This is excellent. Where did you get such a fine vintage?”
Kieran smiled. “A belated wedding gift from Worf,” she replied. “I hope my sister and her wife haven’t been boring you,” she said, winking at Cassidy.
“Not at all,” P’Arth said lightly. “I was explaining to them why I used to call you Lukara. Your sister-in-law reminded me we parted less than amicably,” she added, grinning at Kieran. “I told them we were young and foolish, nothing more.”
Kieran hid her reaction, but her brain screamed at her to lay the truth before this arrogant woman. You call beating me senseless the folly of youth? “You’ve done well for yourself, P’Arth,” she replied, using her name for the first time. “You have a fine son, a noble house, and you lead your people with distinction,” Kieran deflected P’Arth’s reminiscing.
P’Arth glowed with the praise. “Thank you, Kieran. I am just as taken with your daughter. She is a beautiful girl. She has the heart of a warrior.” P’Arth studied her old flame. “She has never been to Qo'noS?” she asked.
Kieran shook her head, swallowing a mouthful of bloodwine. “No. But since the Sato is going to be exploring the Beta Quadrant, she’ll get her chance,” she replied, trying to keep her irritation beneath the surface. “B'Elanna and I will make sure she has every opportunity to explore her heritage,” she added, not allowing the defensiveness to creep into her voice.
“We have exemplary schools on the homeworld,” P’Arth tried to sound persuasive. “Many children in your culture study abroad a year, do they not?” she asked.
“Abroad, yes, across light years, no,” Kieran said tersely. “Please don’t fill my daughter’s head full of dreams of going to school on Qo'noS,” she added. “She’s impressionable, and immature for her age.”
“B'Elanna coddles her?” P’Arth asked, not intending to sound offensive.
“We both do,” Kieran admitted. “We don’t see the point in her growing up too quickly. Chancellor, my wife is giving me an imploring look. Will you excuse me?” she lied, raising her glass in salute.
“Of course,” P’Arth acquiesced. She watched Kieran glide into the kitchen where Lenara was waiting. She shook her head. “Lenara Kahn,” she said, awed.
Cassidy spotted Laren in a corner, brooding. “I need to say hello to Laren. Honey, do you want to come?” she asked Cameron.
Cameron nodded. “Excuse us,” she said to the Chancellor, not in the warmest tone of voice.

Ro Laren had taken root in a corner chair, mind churning with images of Kit making love to her wives. She sipped spring wine, hoping to deaden the doubts and take the edge off the jealousy.

Cameron Thompson unlaced her fingers from her wife’s, stopping Cassidy. “She looks like she needs a private talk. You go on,” she urged her wife. “I’m going to make sure Kieran is okay.”

Cassidy nodded. “Thanks, honey.”

Laren only looked up when Cassidy perched on the arm of the overstuffed chair, her long legs dangling over the side. Cassidy Thompson wasn’t nearly as tall as her sister, but she was a couple of inches taller than Laren, and slender. Laren didn’t smile up at her.
“Hey,” Cassidy said softly. “You look like you’re not enjoying the party,” she offered. “What’s bothering you? Is it P’Arth?”
Laren sighed. “That, too. Damn, Cass, I wish she’d stop being so—so—”
“Normal? Unpredictable?” Cassidy ventured, smiling faintly.
“I wish she’d act like what she is—a murderer and an arrogant ass,” Laren said, biting her words off. “But she doesn’t even act like a Klingon, let alone the worst of that species,” she noted, frustrated. “But that’s not what I was thinking about.”
Cassidy slid down from the arm of the chair, and sat in the floor at Laren’s feet, resting her hands on Laren’s knees. “What, then?” she asked quietly. “Something’s got you upset.”
Laren cocked an eyebrow. “And exactly how do you know that?” she demanded.
“Laren,” Cassidy chuckled. “I know you. You’re my closest friend on this ship, other than my family. Besides, when you’re upset, your forehead wrinkles up, so that it matches the wrinkles on the bridge of your nose,” she added, reaching up and tracing the furrows in Laren’s brow. “You almost look Klingon yourself.”
“Swell,” Laren groused. She sighed. “It’s Kit.”
Laren proceeded to explain to Cassidy that she was feeling as though she would lose her lover, unless she allowed Kit to be intimate with her wives again, and that the tension in their home was palpable because of the sexual repression going on. She detailed how Lenara had counseled her to try harder to let go of her jealousy and fear.
“But you’re still jealous and afraid,” Cassidy stated. “I would be, too.”
Laren’s face softened perceptibly. “You would?”
“Listen,” Cassidy replied, “I love my sister, don’t get me wrong. But I couldn’t be in the situation she’s in for love or money,” she admitted. “I am a very possessive woman, and if anyone looked at Cam the way the Wildwomen look at each other, I’d go into a rage, I’m sure.” Cassidy glanced over at Kieran, who was talking to Cameron.
Laren smirked. “How do you manage to overlook the fact that your wife is attracted to your sister?” she smarted. “And how does she overlook your infatuation with Seven of Nine?”
Cassidy smacked Laren’s leg playfully. “Nimrod. We’re not dead, you know. But we both know where we want to be. I always know Cam is coming home to me—for starters because Kelsey would never cross a line with Cam, or vice versa. But also because Cam and I have talked about it—about the whole fanu’tremu concept, and neither of us would ever be willing to go down that particular road. I may be conceited, I don’t know, but I want to know I am ‘it’ for my lover, and she is ‘it’ for me.” Cassidy ran her fingers through her close cropped, sandy blonde hair, in a gesture reminiscent of Kieran. “I don’t blame you for being weird about Kit sleeping with Emily and Jenny.”
Laren lay her hand on Cassidy’s. “Thanks. I know Lenara must think I’m the most closed-minded woman alive, but this is really hard for me.”
“Then why did you agree to do it, Ro?” Cassidy asked softly, noting the pained look in Laren’s dark eyes. “Why put yourself through it?”
“Truthfully?” Laren asked. “Because Kit is the only person I’ve ever fallen in love with. Ever. And I was in love with her decades before I ever met her,” she said in a far away voice.
Cassidy lifted her chin. “Care to explain that?” she asked.
Laren told Cassidy all about the orb and her vision of Kit, and how she felt the Prophets had guided her to find Kit, and intended them to be together. “Only, they didn’t warn me that she would be married already,” she complained.
“When you decided to move in with Kit and the girls,” Cassidy probed, “what did you think would happen?”
“I didn’t think,” Laren confided. “I just knew I couldn’t stand the pain of not having Kit in my life. I had so many walls, before I met her, and once you’ve taken them down, and let a little light in the dungeon, it’s damned hard to go back to darkness.” She sipped her wine. “And I do feel close to Emily and Jenny, like they are my family, now, in certain regards. Only, I can’t imagine all of us sleeping together. It’s just too—I don’t even know the words for it,” Laren exhaled gustily.
“I think I get it,” Cassidy sympathized. “It’s hard enough to be intimate with one person, to take that risk. But several people at one time is unthinkable. I’m the same way. I have a hard time letting anyone see inside me, and Cameron is the only one, except Kieran, who ever really has.”
“Which Kieran?” Laren asked, smiling.
“My first Kieran,” Cassidy replied. “When we were kids. We were so close, Laren. But she grew up to be someone I couldn’t be vulnerable with, eventually. Something in her changed when Robin Lefler tried to kill herself—it damaged Kelsey, and she withdrew from me, and from Lenara, to a certain extent. I think she felt responsible for Robin, and it was too much. And then when Lenara started to have feelings for Robin, well, Kelsey just clammed up.”
Laren breathed deeply. “I have a hard time imagining any Kieran but ours,” she confessed. “Yours—she was a lot different, it sounds like.”
“She was angry. Bitter, even,” Cassidy agreed. “Partly because my daughter died, and Kieran was very close to her. But also because Kieran settled in San Francisco to be with Lenara, and it stymied her own career in a lot of ways. Both she and Lenara made huge sacrifices. The difference was, Lenara never thought twice about it. Kieran did. And it eroded her sense of peace with the world.” Cassidy considered a moment. “You know, the Kieran in this dimension, she’s suffered a lot, but she’s a much better person for it. My Kieran had a fairly easy life, and she didn’t grow much between high school and the time she died. When this Kieran,” she inclined her head toward Kieran Wildman, “showed up in our dimension, it was like getting back the Kieran I had wanted mine to become, if that makes sense.”
“It does, actually,” Laren allowed. “I wish I could go to some other dimension and find a Kit that was interested in monogamy. A Kit that thinks I’m enough,” she added gloomily.
So that was it. Laren equated Kit’s unwillingness to commit solely to her as tantamount to Kit saying Laren was enough, by herself, to keep Kit happy.
“Hey,” Cassidy said sternly, “That is not the issue. I know because Kit and I have talked about it any number of times. She loves you Laren. If she had met you first, she would have married you. But she didn’t meet you first, and she had solid commitments already.”
“How do I stop feeling so damned inadequate, then? Like I could never measure up to Jenny and Emily,” she confided. “That’s how it feels to me. Almost like Kit keeps me around because she feels sorry for me, not because she really wants to be with me.”
“Funny,” Cassidy noted, “because Ems and Jenny have worried about the same thing with you—that they can’t measure up. At least, that’s something they’ve both expressed to me.” She studied Laren’s reaction to that information, and clearly, Laren was stunned.
“They—think that? That they can’t measure up? But they’re so perfect, so—Prophets, Cass, those two are the envy of the ship, partly because they are married to Kit and to each other, but also because of who they are themselves. Especially Emily, because she’s so famous now for her writing.”
“Believe it, Laren,” Cassidy assured her. “Emily never forgets for a second about her past. She sees it as a huge offset to anything she accomplishes, as if the scales were tipped and she has to keep trying to even them. Jenny just feels like she’s nothing special at all.”
“But she is,” Laren protested. “Have you seen her artwork? Read her poetry?” Laren insisted.
Cassidy grinned at the defensiveness in Laren’s tone. “Honey, listen to yourself,” she said softly. “You sound like a lover defending her intended.”
Laren bit her lip. “I do?” Cassidy nodded. “How the hell do I reconcile all this in my head, Cass? Part of me is jealous because Kit is with someone else. And part of me is jealous because Emily and Jenny are with someone who isn’t me.”
“You could go join them,” Cassidy contended. She burst out laughing at Laren’s expression. “Okay, maybe you’re not ready for that,” she teased.
Chancellor P’Arth joined the two women, wondering what sort of conversation they were so engrossed in. She quickly ascertained that Laren was upset about something. She insinuated herself into their space, offering bloodwine to Laren. “Something stronger may be in order than spring wine,” she said simply.