Venus

In many ways, it had been the most ordinary of away missions. Captain Kathryn Janeway of the USS Voyager, accompanied by her extremely bored ex-Borg Astrometrics officer, had spent two rather excruciating days as the guests of the government of the planet Rendari hoping to exchange astrometric charts for some of the planet's abundant dilithium reserves.
The Borg Collective had not thought the Rendar worthy of assimilation and both Kathryn and Seven had come to understand why. Although they were warp capable, the Rendar had developed only the most basic society and technology and their space craft were, as Kathryn had muttered to Seven, "real buckets".
Kathryn was Starfleet trained - she was accustomed to dealing with other species and scarcely registered the rather disreputable appearance and slightly greasy green skin tone of the Rendar. She was even prepared to accept (although it came hard) that they flew around in those crates. What she could not accept and what had shocked her beyond belief was the fact that they did not have coffee.
No - it went beyond that: the Rendar had no concept of coffee, nor indeed of any other infused beverage or stimulant. No coffee, no caffeinated substitute and no opportunity to repair to the shuttle to replicate some. The Rendar beverage was enjoyed by inhalation of the soma flower, which was said to promote digestion and sleep.
The first night of their stay on-planet was difficult. At the conclusion of an official banquet in their honour, Kathryn's initial encounter with the soma flower had caused her to sneeze uncontrollably and continuously. Having steered her watery and wrung out Captain to the quarters assigned her, Seven had fruitlessly visited the kitchens to enquire about plant-based matter which might be ground and infused to provide an alkaloid stimulant.
On the plus side, caffeine deprivation had added a certain something to Janeway's already forceful negotiating style and she had swept all before her at the bargaining table. So now, three days ahead of schedule and loaded with dilithium, they were on their way to rendezvous with Voyager, which had headed off under Chakotay's command to investigate an unusual nebula in the next system.
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"But my heart is a lonely hunter that hunts On a lonely hill"
William Sharp, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
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Seven warily eyed Janeway, who sat at the helm of the shuttle happily clutching a huge Starfleet mug full of replicated coffee: "Captain, I believe that is your eighth cup of coffee since we cleared the planet's atmosphere 10.3 hours
ago. Perhaps you should slow your rate of consumption".
"Nonsense, Seven. I'm just making up for lost time"
At that moment, the shuttle shuddered and smoke and sparks began pouring from the panel in front of Janeway. "Seven, reroute helm controls to ops. I'll break out the fire extinguisher". Janeway continued to bark out instructions for the next five minutes as the environmental system gradually cleared the
shuttle cabin of smoke.
"OK Seven, what the hell just happened?"
Seven looked puzzled. "We've lost warp Captain - it seems that most of our plasma relays blew out at the same time".
"Can we fix it?"
"It would be a major repair, but provided that we are carrying a full complement of spares we should be able to complete it in 16.25 hours."
"OK, let's try to find somewhere to set down and go to it. I don't want to just drift around out here in a shuttle with only impulse power. Start scanning for an M class planet".
"Sensors show an uninhabited M class planet 7.32 hours to starboard Captain".
Janeway opened a channel to Voyager, still some days away, and told Chakotay of their change of plans.
Although she was able to set the shuttle down on the planet's surface without incident, she was utterly furious to discover the spares lockers empty.
"Check the flight manifest Seven, I want to know who cleared this shuttle for the mission. When I get back aboard Voyager, I'm going to make whoever was responsible for this wish they'd never been born and then I'm going to throw them out of the nearest airlock".
Seven consulted the screen in front of her: "Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres inspected the shuttle. Even though we do not always agree, I have to say that it seems most unlike Lieutenant Torres to have overlooked something like this
Captain"
"I agree Seven. B'Elanna has her faults, but she's an extremely capable engineer".
As they spoke, Seven lifted an access panel set in the floor of the shuttle. "I think I've found the answer Captain. These relays are not Starfleet
technology".
Janeway peered into the panel: "No they're not. They must be Rendari junk - they switched our relays and stole our spares". Her eyes narrowed in fury.
"Check the weapons lockers, Seven. Let's hope they haven't left us out here unarmed".
But the weapons lockers were intact and Janeway resigned herself to unplanned shore leave until Voyager arrived to pick them up. Seven was secretly delighted - she was always happy to spend time in the company of her Captain and the prospect of three or more days completely alone with Janeway filled her with quiet joy.
Janeway consoled herself with the fact that the planet looked as if it would be perfect for some R&R, with a mild climate of long warm days and soft nights filled with gentle rain. When Voyager arrived, she would consider granting a
general shore leave at least until the shuttle's plasma relays were replaced.
Janeway had drifted the Delta Flyer down onto a large plain covered in a grass-like plant which swayed and rippled like the surface of an ocean in the gentle breeze. Some 500 hundred meters to the west, a line of this planet's equivalent of trees marked a watercourse.
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"When I saw Eros On his way down from heaven, he wore a soldier's cloak died purple"
Sappho (translation by Mary Barnard).
*********
"I think you should call me Kathryn when we're alone together Seven. It certainly doesn't seem right for you to be addressing me by my rank when we're both naked".
"Thank you Cap- Kathryn"
They were indeed both naked and swimming in an emerald pool set in a circle of stone. Spray from a small waterfall drifted across the surface and smooth rocks sat above the pool on both banks. The sky arched over them like a delft blue bowl.
On the far bank, a huge orchid-like flower had somehow set down roots in the stony ground and its fleshy blossom lolled in a bower of multi coloured leaves.
The setting was idyllic, but Janeway found herself wishing that Seven would stop staring at her. She continually sensed the other woman's eyes on her as she explored the pool, but each time she tried to catch her staring she found Seven was not looking at her at all. Still, the feeling of being watched persisted.
As she looked at Seven yet again, the younger woman looked up and caught her eye. Janeway realised that she had only succeeded in giving Seven the impression that she was staring at her.
Not that Seven naked wasn't something to be stared at. She looked like some primitive goddess as she rose up from the foam under the waterfall. Water ran from her hair and fingertips and the sun seemed to catch a million points of light on her glistening body as she stood in the waist deep water. Kathryn's heart lurched in her chest. She knew that she loved Seven, knew that she wanted her but she also knew that she could never have her. Her command and her duty to her crew meant that she could never act on her feelings, no matter that the ache of wanting Seven sometimes seemed too much to bear.
Despite the longing that sometimes threatened to consume her, Kathryn believed she had successfully concealed her feelings from Seven and from everyone else on Voyager.
She sighed and realised that now she really was staring at Seven and that Seven, her body haloed by the waterfall's spray, was staring right back at her. For just one moment their eyes met and something electric passed between them. Then, with a scarcely perceptible shake of her head, Janeway broke eye contact and waded toward the far bank.
When she looked up again, Seven was wearing her bodysuit. She announced that she would return to the shuttle and begin to strip out the defective Rendari relays.
She told Janeway it would be an efficient use of her time. She told her swimming was irrelevant. She told her it would save time for the engineering crew from Voyager who would have to replace the relays. She told her she did not wish to neglect her duties. It all made perfect sense, but somehow Kathryn was not
convinced by any of it.
They spent the evening working on the relays and did not really talk at all.
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That night, Kathryn replayed that moment of eye contact as she lay on her bunk in the shuttle listening to the murmur of rain falling on the roof. Over and over, she saw Seven rising out of the foam in the pool, saw the water streaming down her body.
This and other images of Seven played on a loop in Kathryn's mind: her smile, the way she walked, the impossible blue of her eyes, her surprising vulnerability and her fearsome strength . She lay in the darkness hour after hour and thought of Seven until she felt her heart might break.
As she turned over for what seemed like the thousandth time, Kathryn permitted herself a grim smile: Seven was asleep on the bunk right across from her, only steps away, but the distance between them may as well have been light years.
Kathryn longed to cross that distance, but knew she never could. Instead, she lay awake and listened to the soft sound of Seven's breathing. She felt absurdly protective, watching over her as she slept.

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"Standing by my bed In gold sandals Dawn that very moment awoke me"
Sappho (translation by Mary Barnard)
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Kathryn realised she must have dozed. She opened her eyes to find the shuttle cabin flooded with the lemon light of pre dawn. Seven slept sweetly on, her cheek resting in the palm of one hand.
Janeway slipped out of her bunk as quietly as she could and keyed a request for coffee in to the replicator. Clutching the cup like a life preserver, she stepped out of the shuttle and stretched, looking around her. She thought a brisk walk might help set her thoughts in order.
Her tricorder showed some interesting mineral readings on the hill to the east of the shuttle and she set off across the rippling field of green.
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Two hours later a hot and sweaty Janeway had failed to identify any useful mineral deposits but had successfully reinforced her resolve to conceal her feelings from Seven. She returned to the shuttle Seven was gone, but the tricorder showed her biosignature down at the pool they
had visited yesterday. Janeway stripped down to tank top and uniform trousers and headed for the water to join her, determined to be matter of fact in her dealings with Seven from now on.
As Kathryn broke through the line of trees around the stream, she was stopped in her tracks by an unbelievable vision. Seven stood naked on the far bank of the pool, surrounded by foliage and with water streaming down her body.
As her eyes met Kathryn's, she ran both hands down her lean flanks and then, as Kathryn thought her heart might just hammer its way right out of her chest, Seven cupped her breasts and held them toward Kathryn as if offering them to her. Her eyes were hot with desire and she stretched out her left hand to Kathryn, continuing to run her right hand caressingly over her body.
That was all it took. Nothing was said, but then nothing needed to be said. All rational thought drained out of Kathryn's mind as if someone had pulled a plug. Afterward, and though Kathryn knew she must have waded across to the far bank, she could never remember crossing the pool.
Just as Kathryn touched Seven's outstretched hand, a huge set of green jaws shot out of the foliage behind Seven. The maw closed on them both and, as the jaws snapped back into a reclining position Kathryn found herself laying on top of a mass of plant matter and a suddenly fully clothed Seven of Nine.
"Kathryn, is that really you?" Seven squeaked, somewhat winded by Janeway's sudden landing. "Quickly Captain, you must brush off as much of the plant matter between us as you can. Try not to touch the floor of the pod".
The use of her rank as much as the urgency of Seven's tone warned Janeway not to question these instructions and she brushed away the rapidly deliquescing plant material. The pod in which they lay was long but not wide or deep and a crisscrossed series of spines closed the pod and pressed her down on top of Seven.
"Try not to move too much Captain, the pod tightens if you struggle".
The irony of her resolution to keep some distance between them was not lost on Janeway. "Well, you're off to a great start" was her wry thought as she pressed her lower body into Seven's so that she could lever her upper body off her and brush the mass of petals and leaves from her torso. She then reversed the process, pressing her torso into Seven's and lifting her hips to brush the plant matter off Seven's belly and legs.
"There, it's all gone. You know Seven, I never knew you were such a keen gardener".
"Do not attempt humour Kathryn. This situation is serious - the plant material captured with me has dissolved into some kind of fixative and I have only been able to free my left arm from the floor of the pod. Fortunately, I managed to
turn over before the plant matter completely dissolved".
"What on earth is this thing?"
Seven was nothing if not a literalist: "The closest earth-native examples would be the plants of the family Droseraceae, specifically the North American native dionaea muscipula. Of course, the earth plants are considerably smaller than this specimen".
"And are commonly known as Venus's flytrap" Janeway contributed.
"That is correct Captain and like a Venus's flytrap, this plant has lured us to it and intends to assimilate us for our nutrient value. The chemical composition of the fixative I am laying in is gradually changing - it is becoming more acidic. I imagine that this is the next phase of the plant's digestive process". Seven's tone was scholarly, as if she were talking about something completely unrelated to her.
Kathryn was shocked: "But Seven, it doesn't hurt does it?"
"I will be able to continue to operate within acceptable parameters for some time Captain, but might I suggest that it seems futile for Captain Kathryn Janeway to have confronted the Borg Queen and repeatedly escaped assimilation at the hands of the Borg Collective, only to find herself overborne by a plant".
"Seven, was that sarcasm?"
A slightly raised ocular implant was the only response Kathryn received.
"OK, I get the idea. I think I've just about had enough of laying here swapping botanical bon mots with you anyway. I've got a phaser tucked into my right boot. Let's see if we can figure out a way to give this thing a killer case of heartburn".
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"No, Seven don't sit down - you'll only stick to whatever you sit on"
Kathryn had used the phaser to cut them out of the plant in which they had been trapped, but the plant's acidic secretions had burned through the dermaplastic of Seven's bodysuit in several places and sections of the plant still adhered to her.
"Kathryn, I think a ketone-based solvent will dissolve the gum secreted by the plant. You need to replicate a large quantity of CH3COCH3.
"I know the formula for acetone thank you Seven." Kathryn punched instructions into the replicator. "Here we go, let's get you cleaned up"
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"The bitter longing and the keen desire
And the unutterable glad release
Within the temple of the holy night."
Excerpt from Sappho: One Hundred Lyrics by Bliss Carman.
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Some hours later, having cut the bodysuit from her and swabbed her with acetone, Kathryn handed a now non-adhesive Seven of Nine a glass of replicated champagne "to celebrate their new botanical discovery".
They had agreed that Ensign Samantha Wildman would be thrilled to examine a carnivorous plant species with such an advanced ability to lure and mimic prey.
Kathryn insisted that the plant be named after Seven and suggested, only half joking, that they call it Hansen's Peril or the Seven of Nine Flytrap.
After a few more drinks, the naming contest was threatening to get out of hand. Kathryn had almost choked at Seven's suggestion that "the Lustful Leaf" might be appropriate, though she thought she made a pretty snappy comeback with "the Pulchritudinous Petal".
"But Seven, weren't you suspicious when you saw yourself on the opposite bank?"
"I did not see myself Kathryn. The plant used a different lure for me, though I suspect its actions were much the same".
"What did it use to lure you?"
Seven didn't hesitate. "It used you, Kathryn. I saw you the way I have dreamed of seeing you. I saw you the way I know you want me to see you".
And with that, Seven stood, pulled her to her feet and crushed her lips passionately to Kathryn's. Once again, and in an instant, all rational thought seemed to desert Kathryn and they both moaned as she slid her tongue into Seven's incredibly hot mouth.
Every nerve ending in Kathryn's body screamed "now" and she dragged at Seven's hand to pull her toward the bunks. The sheer force of the adrenaline slamming through her body caused Kathryn to reel against the bunk like a drunkard while she watched Seven peel off her body suit. As Seven straightened to step out of the suit, she ran her hands up her flanks and, with a small smile, she cupped her breasts, offering them to Kathryn.
"I swear if you're a plant I'm going to have to get a lot more involved with gardening" Kathryn laughed breathlessly as her lips closed on Seven's nipple.
"Please Kathryn, take off your uniform. I want to see you the way I have dreamed of seeing you". Seven's voice was almost plaintive. Kathryn stepped back and efficiently stripped off her uniform never taking her eyes off Seven,
who stretched out on the bunk and ran a languorous hand over her own body.
"Look at me Kathryn. I want to see you as I saw you at the pool yesterday, the way I've dreamed of you - naked and wanting me". Seven stared at Kathryn hotly and Kathryn recognised her expression from that first day at the pool.
This time Kathryn did not turn away and the jolt as their naked bodies met for the first time was visceral. They kissed long wet kisses and Kathryn bit and sucked at Seven's breasts and nipples until finally, when Seven just didn't seem like she could take much more, Janeway slid down to part her soaking lips with her fingers, exposing the glistening pearl at her centre, Kathryn immediately sucked it between her lips and began to vibrate her tongue over it in no particular pattern or rhythm, sometimes stopping and holding just the very tip of her tongue against it until it surged up against her and Seven cried out in pleasure. Kathryn continued to advance and retreat in this way until Seven was almost sobbing with need.
Kathryn pulled her head back and looked into Seven's eyes as she eased first one, then a second, finger into her. Seven's eyes were glazed and her muscles contracted around Kathryn as she began to slowly pump her fingers in and out as she rotated them. Seven was moaning almost continuously now and her eyelids fluttered as she flexed her hips in time with Kathryn's pumping hand.
When Kathryn once again lowered her head and ran her tongue over Seven's rigid clitoris, the younger woman cried out Kathryn's name and crashed into a dizzying orgasm, her vaginal muscles clutching frantically at Kathryn's fingers.
Some uncountable time later, their breathing only just returning to normal, Seven lay with her head pillowed on Kathryn's shoulder as Kathryn stroked her hair.
"I didn't know it would be like that" Seven whispered as she propped herself up on one elbow and ran a caressing hand over Kathryn's breasts and taut abdomen. "Please Kathryn, can I touch you?"
By way of answer, Kathryn kissed her deeply and guided her hand down her body.
As Seven's fingers parted her lips, Kathryn's eyes closed and she felt a rush of fresh wetness between her thighs.
Seven suddenly pulled away from her: "No Kathryn, open your eyes. I want to see what I'm doing to you. Please". Seven piled pillows behind Kathryn so she was half propped up and then kissed a path down her body, stopping to suck both nipples until they were dark and shiny with saliva.
She positioned herself between Kathryn's thighs and ran her fingers through the wetness she found there, painting gleaming trails of it down Kathryn's heaving body before licking it away, all the while keeping her eyes fixed on Kathryn's face.
When Seven finally pressed her mouth to Kathryn's groin and Kathryn's juices ran down her chin, Seven thought it was like biting into a ripe peach. She did not have the finesse, and Kathryn did not have the patience, for delay - not this first time and Janeway came powerfully almost as soon as Seven's tongue touched her.
Afterwards, she sobbed quietly in Kathryn's arms.
"Please Annika, please tell me what's wrong".
"Kathryn, I'm sorry - it's nothing, only that I've waited so long for you. I never thought that the moment would come when I could look into your eyesand see that you loved me and wanted me".
"You must see that now Annika, because I do and I have for a long time. I want us to be together. It won't be easy, but if you'll let me I want to try and make up to you for all the time we lost because of my misguided idea of duty. You must let me try".
"Yes, Captain".
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Droseracaea Gigantiflora: A giant carnivorous plant native to M class planet 422142 sector 9. The plant is typically found in nutrient-poor locations and has developed an advanced ability to sense, mimic and lure various types of prey.
Fine trigger hairs are set on the lure and contact by the prey causes the trap to be sprung. Acids secreted by the plant facilitate absorption by dissolving the prey's soft tissues.
Common Name: Heart's Desire
The Starfleet Field Guide to Delta Quadrant Flora

THE END