The Sato Series, Episode 3: a new Frontier

Kathryn laughed at her Klingon Chief Engineer’s taste in written material. “Here’s a bit of trivia I bet you didn’t know,” she offered, reaching for the beans. “Ro Laren’s mother was a celebrated poet on Bajor. Laren mentioned it once during bridge duty. I looked through the L-Cars system, and sure enough, she was a published poet, lauded by her peers. That was before Laren was even born, but I read some of her work and it was magnificent.”
Seven’s face lit up. “Truly? Laren’s mother? I can’t fathom that, as stoic as she is. The only time her true sensitivity shows is with Kit.”
“Ah, not so, my love,” Kathryn disagreed. “Have you seen her with the children?” The Captain gave her a knowing smile.
“I can’t say I have. Why?” Seven asked, nibbling at her corn.
“She has a very soft spot for our second daughter,” Kathryn wisely noted. “Those two are thick as thieves.” Kathryn chuckled, thinking of the Bajoran and her daughter.
“Geejay has exquisite taste in women. First Kieran, then Cassidy, and now Ro,” Seven teased.
Kathryn rolled her eyes. “Darling, I can live knowing you’re attracted to Kato. And of course, by corollary, to Cassidy. But three women in my domain is too many.”
Seven chuckled. “You forgot B'Elanna, Cameron, and Lenara,” she chided her wife. “They are all very attractive as well.”
Kathryn munched on her coleslaw, scowling playfully at her wife. “Keep talking, and I’ll delete this program.”
Seven leaned over to kiss her wife. “Please don’t. I adore our bed in this simulation. It’s so roomy, and the headboard is exactly right for clinging to it while you make love to me with your mouth,” she said quite matter-of-factly.
Kathryn nearly choked on her ribs. She coughed into her napkin, face reddening. “Don’t mince words, Seven,” she howled with laughter. “Out with your true feelings,” she encouraged her wife.
“I’m serious,” Seven replied, grinning facetiously. She loved to take Kathryn by surprise with some explicit statement when Kathryn least expected it. “In fact, if you would hurry up and eat, we could get some use out of that headboard,” she reasoned.
Kathryn only howled louder. “Subtle, darling,” she guffawed.
Seven regarded her with loving eyes. “I am surprised at how relaxed you are, Kathryn.”
“Why?” she sobered momentarily.
“The old Kathryn Janeway would be sullen today, and telling me how Naomi is too young to be having a child with Lenara Kahn.”
“Ah. Well, that Kathryn Janeway is good and gone. When you and Kieran were missing, Naomi helped me parent the girls. And she is a stellar parent. She’s patient, and nurturing, and loving. I found myself leaning on her a great deal, without you here.” Kathryn sipped her iced tea, watching her wife’s reaction. She sighed regretfully. “You and Kieran did a marvelous job of raising her.”
Seven dipped her head. “You think you had no influence on her, but you did, Kathryn. Naomi loves you endlessly.”
Kathryn nodded. “We are very close now. I only wish I had been better equipped for her when she was younger. But I suppose I can’t complain, seeing how she turned out. And I have come to realize that this inclusive marriage of hers is absolutely the right situation for her. She’s very fulfilled and the Wildwomen love her well and truly. Seeing how they rallied when you and Kieran were missing did my heart a world of good,” she admitted. “I had always conceived of Lenara as some aloof theoretician, until then, but I saw her true colors. She is so tender with Naomi, so solicitous—every bit as much as Kieran was when Na was sick. And Robin worships the ground our daughter walks on. I swear, half the time, Robbie looks at Na as if they were lovesick teenagers.”
“I’ve seen it too. Naomi deserves that level of adoration. I’m glad she has it. Of course, she’s always had it from Kieran.” Seven bit into her corn, trying not to make a big mess with it and failing entirely as the juicy kernels dripped on her chin.
Kathryn sucked in a quick breath, stunned at how erotic the image was.
Seven saw her wife’s eyes widen and her pupils dilate. “Kathryn?” she asked.
The older woman took her napkin and reached for Seven’s chin, swabbing it dry. “Sorry, lustful moment,” she said softly. “Seeing your face glistening like that…” she trailed off.
Seven laughed with delight. “I should scold you, but I put the lurid thoughts in your mind, so I won’t,” she said playfully. “Are you about finished, Captain?” she demanded, giggling.
“So impatient I can’t even eat a decent meal,” Kathryn bitched good-naturedly. “Stasis lids. I’m going to be hungry by the time you’re done with me, I’m sure.”
Seven quirked an eyebrow. “Darling, wherever did you get the idea I’ll ever be done with you?”
_____________
Emily Wildman closed down her work station in the Astrometrics department, shrugging the tension from her shoulders. She had been pondering Trill scriptures all day long, running through them in her head, learning the history of her adoptive mother’s people, the foundations of Trill culture. She had decided to undertake the Prala’prem, a ceremony that would bond her to Lenara’s family line for eternity, and to the Wildwomen Lenara was married to. She had been studying for several weeks, and meeting with Lenara to discuss what she was reading, making certain she grasped the subtleties of the theology that surrounded the host-symbiont relationship.
Seven of Nine smiled at her. “Good night, Lieutenant,” she said as Emily made her way out of the lab.
Emily smiled, waving silently, her thoughts preoccupied with the recent material she had been learning. The Guardians, who tended to the symbionts in the sacred caves, had a culture and a clergical structure all their own, and it was becoming patently clear that the symbionts were considered, by Trill, a higher lifeform than the hosts themselves. Without realizing it, Emily had wandered to Lenara’s laboratory, questions festering in her head.
Lenara Wildman glanced up as she heard Emily’s footfalls, and left her workstation. “Hello, dre’cadre,” she said brightly, noting that Emily looked contemplative.
Emily didn’t bother to greet her mother. “So you were taught from a very early age that the host is a subordinate lifeform?” she asked.
Lenara inclined her head. “It is our value system,” she explained. “Before the Trill people evolved into the host-symbiont zeitgeist,” she continued, “we were directionless, purposeless. Only in the sacred bonding did our true natures become fulfilled, our potentialities realized. It’s like—” she puzzled over it, searching for an analogy, “the Borg. They assimilate other cultures to strive toward fulfillment and perfection. A Trill host similarly assimilates the symbiont, and with it, all the lives of the former hosts and the symbiont’s wealth of experience and knowledge. It’s almost as though we can swallow our predecessors whole,” she said softly, watching Emily’s reaction.
Emily bit her lip in consternation. “But Mom, the scriptures teach that your life is less important than your symbiont’s life, and you are pledged to protect the symbiont at all costs, even to your own detriment,” she worried over it.
“Yes, and even if it means sacrificing my life. And you need to understand that, Emily. When Trill speak the Be’Prem, as I did with Naomi, Robbie, and Kieran, part of their commitment is to pledge themselves to the symbiont, just as I did when I became a host. They understand that it is my spiritual conviction that the symbiont comes first, and if it came down to it, and one of them had to choose my survival or the symbiont’s, they would do the right thing, and they would save the symbiont.”
Emily shuddered. “Surely not,” she argued. “Mom, they’d die before they’d make a choice like that.”
“Wapur’on,” Lenara said gently, soothing Emily’s fear with the coolness of her tone, “my wives know me. And they know that even if I could physically survive the loss of my symbiont, which is difficult in and of itself, my psyche could not survive, not after being a joined Trill all these years.”
Emily pondered it awhile. “It would be like Seven being severed from the Collective,” she concluded.
“Exactly,” Lenara agreed. “I am so accustomed to the input from the Kahn symbiont, the constant information and internal conversation, that the sudden silence would drive me mad, I am sure,” she explained. “And as much as I love this life, I love what the Kahn symbiont can do for my life just as much. Don’t you see? I become nearly immortal, and I live on in the memories of the Kahn symbiont, even after Lenara Otner’s body is laid to rest,” she said serenely. “Dre’on, why does this upset you so?” she asked kindly, touching Emily’s cheek.
Emily leaned into her mother’s palm. “It just bothers me that you were taught you are somehow less valuable than your symbiont, Mom. How did you ever learn to love yourself, when your own people value you less than the parasite you harbor?”
Lenara gathered her into a warm hug. “The Kahn symbiont may seem to you like a parasite, but honey, think about the word symbiosis. It implies a give and take, not a unidirectional drain. I get as much as I give, I assure you. In fact, I think I have the benefit of this bargain, in the long run. I provide only one person’s perspective to the symbiont and a safe harbor for it to live in. But I am given a rich relationship to my people, to their history, to the inclusiveness of our society, all through the Kahn symbiont. I am privileged to carry it, Ems,” she assured her.
Emily regarded her intently, gazing into her gray-green-blue eyes, looking for a hint of doubt. Satisfied, she nodded. “It’s a stretch at times, accepting these things. But I try to suspend disbelief, Mom.” She leaned her forehead against Lenara’s. “I love you, you know.”
“Thala’de’re,” Lenara echoed the sentiment.
“Have you stopped by Oasis Central, yet?” Emily asked. Oasis Central was the wellness center aboard the ship, where the staff provided massage, acupressure, Reiki, nutritional healing, cosmetic consultations, and body art.
“I did,” Lenara replied. “My vallette patterns are on file there, and you can have your familial vallette anytime you’re ready,” she said approvingly. “I think you’ll look great as a Trill, Ems,” she encouraged her with a grin.
“Me too,” Emily said fondly, touching the genetic markings at Lenara’s temples. “I decided to have the tattoos done on both temples, so I’ll look balanced.”
Lenara nodded. “And what about your Wildwomen? Are they being supportive?” she asked, eyes reflecting Emily’s.
“They are. You know Jenny supports absolutely everything I do, and Kit is so enthralled with Ro, she’s easy going about everything around her. But as for having a more Trill identified marriage, Kit seems to be immersing herself in Bajoran religion and customs.”
“Understandably,” Lenara allowed. She kissed Emily’s cheek. “I am so pleased you want this deeper connection to me,” she said softly. A glimmer of sadness passed over her face, and Emily saw it right away.
“What, Mom?” she asked.
Lenara had tears gathering in her eyes, but she blinked them back. “I was just thinking, how much I wish we had found one another sooner.”
Emily hugged her close. “Me too,” she affirmed.
______________
Kieran Wildman exhaled slowly and launched her shot, watching the basketball bank into the net. “That’s game, Kittner,” she advised her daughter, taking Kit under her arm.
Kit scowled. “You know, Mom, you should let me win just once, so I don’t get terminal low self-esteem,” she teased. “Nice game. I can blame it on your cybernetic parts, now, you know.”
Kieran stuck her tongue out. “Basketball is about finesse, and I guarantee you, my cyber-enhanced arm takes a lot more effort to control than an organic one. I think the WNBA rules about that are stupid. Cybernetic legs, I could see as an advantage. But not arms,” she complained.
Kit hugged her as they sauntered across the court. “Do you resent not getting to finish out your career?” she asked softly. “Because even though it was short, Mom, it was astonishing. I am still awed by you,” she promised.
Kieran tousled her hair affectionately. “Thanks, Kit. You know, kiddo, you’re still my hero,” she reminded her, hugging her around the neck as they walked. “I don’t resent it. I just think the standard is unfair. If they’d consult with some people who have cybernetic implants, they’d know it’s not an advantage at all. I mean, for weightlifting it would be. But not for basketball, unless I got points for hanging off the rim all day.”
Kit smiled. “Yeah. Hey, loser buys ice cream at the Astrofreeze,” she offered.
Kieran grinned. “You’re on. I want a cookies and cream glacier,” she decided.
Kit laughed. “God, Mom, if I ate like you I’d weigh more than a ton of duranium,” she teased. “How the hell do you stay so slender?”
Kieran waggled her eyebrows. “I have three wives,” she smarted.
Kit nudged her, giggling. “Lecher. I have three lovers, too. It doesn’t keep me slim,” she groused.
Kieran laughed. “No, but it keeps THEM slim.” She led Kit out of the gymnasium, past her statue. “I hate that fucking thing,” she complained. “But the grass skirt is a nice touch,” she decided.
Kieran’s statue was currently dressed in Hawaiian garb, including a grass skirt, several leis, a flowered shirt, and the basketball in her hand was a gigantic pineapple. Kieran didn’t know it, but Kit had been the one to put cardboard cut outs of adoring Hawaiian wahine, in various states of undress, gazing at her statue with desirous looks. Kit snickered to herself. If her mother only knew the depths of her involvement in the ship’s most famous prank.
Kieran kissed Kit’s hair as they ambled down the ship’s corridors toward Main Street. “So, Kittner Kyle, how goes the living together experiment?” she asked, happy to have time alone with her daughter.
“Good,” Kit decided. “Emily and Jenny are really reaching out to Laren, and they’re becoming good friends. And I think Laren is more comfortable with living as a group every day. She doesn’t bother to hide the fact that we’re lovers, any longer—I mean, she’ll kiss me in front of them, now. At first, she was a little reticent,” Kit recalled. “But Jen and Ems are so great, how could she not like them? And they adore her.”
Kieran grinned. “Excellent,” she said with a wicked laugh. “The plan is working, my sweet,” she said in mock sinister tones. “We’ll turn her into one of US, or die trying, muahahahahahaaaa.”
Kit tickled Kieran’s ribs. “You are a major nutjob, Mom. I can’t believe they trust you running a whole starship,” she teased.
Kieran quirked an eyebrow. “They don’t. I’m not really being promoted. I’m staging a mutiny,” she declared, laughing wild-eyed.
Kit howled with laughter. “You know, Mom, you do that crazy-assed psycho routine a little TOO well,” she noted. “It’s hard to tell if you’re kidding,” she giggled. She adored Kieran when she was being silly. It was such a contrast to Kieran in command of the bridge.
Kieran sobered momentarily. “Listen, Kittner, speaking of my taking command, there’s something I should probably tell you,” she sighed.
Kit gazed fondly up at her. “Tell me what, Mom?”
“I—uh—I’m going to be taking command sooner than we thought I would,” she admitted.
Kit’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. “You are?”
Kieran nodded. “Admiral Paris wants Kathryn to assume her ambassadorial duties right after Christmas,” she explained.
“Because of the Klingons?” Kit asked apprehensively.
Kieran appraised her daughter with an approving glance. “Kittner, you never cease to amaze me. How the hell did you know about the Klingons? Do you intercept my confidential communiques?” she demanded, laughing.
Kit rolled her eyes. “Duh, Mom. I knew the second Starfleet started planning the exit of the stable wormhole into Romulan space that the Klingon’s would get their bat’leths bent out of shape. It doesn’t take a section 31 operative to anticipate that,” she opined.
Kieran breathed slowly, exhaling her tension. Now was as good a time as any to break the rest of the news, she guessed. “Kit, you know I told you I had an abusive lover when I was in college,” she reminded her daughter.
“Yeah. A Klingon named P’Arth. In fact, I looked her up in the L-Cars database. Found out all sorts of interesting things,” she added, her brows knitting.
“Whatever for?” Kieran chuckled at her daughter.
“Because if I ever meet her I’m going to kill her,” Kit said seriously, her countenance darkening. “I figure eventually, we’ll make it to Qo’noS,” she replied, indicating the Klingon Empire’s homeworld.
They turned onto Main Street, instantly surrounded by dozens of crewmembers shopping and dining and perusing the window displays of the various vendors.
“Tell me you are not going to attack her,” Kieran said sternly. “Kittner, I appreciate the protective thought, but I forbid any sort of retaliatory action,” she insisted.
“Well,” Kit licked her lips with a feral grin, “I’d have to get in line behind a dozen other people, anyway. B'Elanna, Cassidy, Robin, Seven, Laren,” she recited on her fingers. “We’ve all fantasized about beating her ass to whaleshit,” she admitted.
Kieran couldn’t resist asking. “What did you find out about her?”
Kit stopped at a table at Astrofreeze, propping one foot up on the bench seat. “P’Arth of the house of Ve’chuk,” she began. “There is a certain amount of intrigue surrounding her rise to prominence,” Kit recited. “P’Arth was married to a man named Mor’dehK, who was Chancellor of the Klingon High Counsel. He died mysteriously, and speculation ran rampant that P’Arth had him killed. She is very popular among the people, and she was allowed to take her husband’s seat on the counsel.”
Kieran whistled. “You really did do your homework, kiddo,” she said admiringly. “That’s only happened one other time, that I know of, where a female was allowed on the high counsel,” she added.
“Exactly. There’s never been any proof that she was behind Mor’dehK’s demise, but a lot of Klingons believe she was.” Kit inclined her head, indicating she believed P’Arth was guilty, too.
“Well, she always wanted to marry into power, and now she’s found a way to true glory. God save the Klingon Empire,” Kieran said darkly.
“You were telling me about her for a reason?” Kit reminded her mother.
“Right,” Kieran agreed. “The Klingons are sending her to Starfleet Command as their representative,” she confided, grinning ruefully, “which means I’ll have to see P’Arth again. It also means Kathryn is going to have her hands full, trying to appease the Klingons over the wormhole issue. And Ro is going to be watching Lenara like a hawk.”
Kit startled. “Why Lenara?” she asked, gut churning suddenly.
“I am afraid she might be a target of some sort, because without her, there is no wormhole,” Kieran said darkly. “And I cannot take the chance of any political terrorism. And as much as I know you’d love to kick P’Arth’s ass, I have to have every officer on this ship on good behavior. I cannot afford an incident to make relations worse with the Empire. And Kit, I also can’t have my first duty as a Captain undermined. Do you understand that?”
Kit took her mother’s hand and squeezed it sympathetically. “Mom, I love you. I would never do anything to embarrass you or humiliate you. You say you’re okay, now,” she added gently, remembering how Kieran had gotten her through that horrible period of dealing with abuse in her own life. “And I believe you. Now if P’Arth comes anywhere near you, all bets are off,” she amended.
“I am okay, kiddo. Please don’t fret on my account.” Then as if nothing at all were wrong, she changed topics. “How’s your studying going?” Kieran asked fondly. “Any questions for me or for Kathryn?”
Kit shook her head. She had been studying for the bridge officer’s exam, which would earn her a rank of lieutenant commander. “Not at all. I learned so much of this stuff in command school, I almost think I’m ready to test. But I’m working through the study guides with Laren, so we can test at the same time. Her simulator scores are really solid,” she added proudly.
“So are yours, honey,” Kieran bragged.
Kit gazed up at her, incredulous. “You check them?”
Kieran smiled warmly. “Damn right I do. You’re my kid. And my favoritest person. Besides, it’s my job to find out if you’re struggling, and help out if you are. Not that you ever do with anything,” she said appreciatively.
“Don’t give me too much credit. I struggle with lots of things,” she admitted. “I’ll order for us, if you want,” she offered.
“Sure,” Kieran agreed. She sat at the red and white umbrellaed table, watching her daughter at the window. Astrofreeze looked like a 1950’s drive-in, only it was a walk-up joint, surrounded by round tables with umbrellas. Kieran loved their ice cream. Kit just knew Kieran couldn’t resist sweets, so she indulged her mother often. Kieran needed to eat more, and Kit could always get her to.
Kit placed Kieran’s ice cream in front of her, smiling. “Here you go.”
Kieran thanked her, diving into the thick mixture of cookies and ice cream, all blended into a heavy chunk. “Mmm,” she sighed with contentment. “I should beat your ass at basketball more often,” she announced happily. “So what do you struggle with?” she prompted her daughter to confide.
Kit smacked her lips over the hot fudge sundae, swiping her napkin across them. “Well, I sure struggled with my marriage while you were missing, for one,” she confessed. “Really, that was all.”
Kieran nodded. “I am dismayed that Robbie and Naomi didn’t handle that better. They’re shrinks, for God’s sake. Do I have to do everything?” she demanded, not entirely playfully.
“Mom,” Kit lay her hand on Kieran’s forearm, touching the crescent shaped scars there. “Cut them a break, okay? Robbie was so pregnant she was practically blowing the kid across the quadrant, and Naomi had her own demons to tackle. She was trying to hide it, but damn, Mom, she was torn up over your disappearance. I don’t blame them. Shit, it’s MY marriage. I have to stand on my own two feet sometime. I just happened to screw it up.”
Kieran took Kit’s hand. “Do you really feel like your relationship with Laren was tantamount to screwing up?” Her dark brown eyes flashed sympathetically. Her daughter was not biologically hers, but oh, Kit was good at self-recrimination, just like Kieran.
Kit gazed intently at the taller woman. “Not the relationship. I don’t regret that. I love Laren. And even though I broke my covenants with my wives, I am not really sorry for that, because I think Laren is amazing, and that we belong together. And truthfully, I think Ems and Jenny love her—or that they will learn to. What I regret is how badly the Wildwomen and I communicated. That was totally my fault.” Kit considered a bit longer. “And Amy Scott says it was subconsciously my way of sabotaging the situation to recreate the conditions of my own abuse,” she admitted.
“Well,” Kieran sighed, “I know it worked out, and I’m grateful. But honestly, I think Amy is right on with that assessment, and that was exactly my thought on the matter.”
“Were you going to say anything?” Kit asked, puzzled at her mother’s silence. She studied Kieran’s expression, wondering why Kieran hadn’t voiced her opinion.
“Eventually, yes. But I’m glad Amy pointed it out instead of me. And I do think Laren is incredible, and I see how much you truly love her. And Kit, she loves you so much. I never thought I’d see her in love at all, but certainly, not ever like this. I hope she can keep opening herself to the group marriage idea. I know it would be good for her.”
Kit shrugged. “Yeah, but I can’t hang my hopes on that. I can’t afford to. For now, this is enough. Jenny and Emily are the ones losing out, because right now, Laren and I are exclusive. That feels necessary to me.”