poly_chromatic | ii ♕ action + video

[ today finds captain janeway hit with her very first curse. she's young again, standing at the threshold of change wherein a tragedy that has yet to occur will help drive her into the captain's chair. but for now, she's simply a scientist, a recent graduate of the academy who, from her perspective, has found herself sucked into some temporal anomaly while in the midst of her first assignment. at this point in her life, she's very dedicated to her field, and has no aspirations of setting her sights on command. in fact, when commander chakotay insisted that she'd one day be wearing red with four pips pinned to her collar, she laughed, because that's not her. maybe that's another kathryn janeway, one who doesn't mind being called by her first name,but it's certainly not the one who prefers to be called katie.

after being ordered out of her uniform, katie found a decent change of clothes, pocketed her combadge and grabbed the archaic device the commander had insisted was the primary means of communication in this place, and set out on a morning jog around the city. later in the afternoon, she'd stop for a breather in xanadu and pull out her older self's cell phone to fiddle with it some and ask the network a very important question. ]

Does anyone know where a girl can get a decent bowl of ice cream in this place?

( OOC | ACTION OR VIDEO, TAKE YOUR PICK! REPLIES WILL COME FROM

deuterium. )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[She is familiar. He has a good memory for faces, that hasn't changed even if his physical sex has. He taps on something else in the room before returning to the centre of the screen, and switches the frequency.]

If you can receive this message, please respond.

[ (that gives spock a one up on even chakotay. her first officer hadn't even recognized her at first, thought she was some random ensign that got dropped off at their apartment instead of his captain herself.) she jumps when the combadge in her pocket chirps. commander chakotay had already reconfigured it to interact with the comm lines they'd set up here. she debates ignoring it, but thinks better of it. she looks left, then right to make sure nobody's around to see her fish it out and answer the summons. ]

Janeway here.

[As he suspected. The voice is younger, not yet laced with the fire and steel all captains have, that his first officer instincts can always pick up on. With a little imagination (well, he'd call it well-educated extrapolation) he figures that some kind of age change has affected her - certainly not memory loss. (He hopes).]

This is Commander Spock.

[Of course, his voice is that of a woman's, given the fact that he's cursed too, but a Vulcan's speech patterns are distinct no matter what.]

May I ask your rank?

It's Ensign, sir. Ensign Katie Janeway, USS Al-Batani.

[ unfortunately, memory loss is a factor here. kathryn -- or katie, as she prefers to be called at this stage in her life -- doesn't remember anything about being here or ascending the ranks all the way up to captain. had chakotay not ordered her out of her uniform, he might've been greeted by the sight of her in those science blues she spoke of instead of the workout clothes she has on now. ]

[An ensign, still, who isn't on the command track. Oh boy. And he thought six year old Chekov might have been a problem.]

Have you been briefed on our current situation?

[ yeah. there's a reason the borg consider her a threat, that q himself finds her so utterly intriguing. she's an unstable element when she wants to be, unpredictable, stubborn to a fault, driving by a near-blind sense of determination that nothing short of a starless expanse of dead space has ever succeeded in even coming close to squashing. ]

Yes. Commander Chakotay's filled me in on everything. [ and the apparent curse she's under. ]

[Ah, Chakotay, doing what a First Officer must. Spock is honestly wondering what the man has against him, since all their conversations seem to go in circles. They have a lot in common, as most people who have to keep their captains out of trouble do.]

Do you require any assistance, aside from locating ice cream?

[ perhaps one day, after janeway's been restored to her proper state of being, she'll expand a bit on that -- as much as one can without telling the truth about her first officer's origins. chakotay was a starfleet officer who resigned his commission, joined the maquis, and committed "terrorist" acts against the federation. her ship was trust into the delta quadrant on a mission to the badlands where she'd been ordered to capture him and her own. chakotay harbored a certain distrust for vulcans after she had tuvok go undercover and join his crew. it was one of his few, and perhaps greatest, faults: the man could hold a grudge like no other. the cardassians, vulcans, the borg-- ]

No, sir. I do have a request, though.

[Oddly enough, out of the three, Spock is the least likely to condemn their actions. Should he see logic behind the decision, it is not something he causes much fuss about. Jim provoked him to an almost homicidal rage, but there was purpose, and the man is now one of his dearest friends.]

[And he knows from personal experience how even the institution closest to his heart can betray them. Marcus did more than hurt their crew or unleash Khan, he undermined their faith in their own system.]

Please, make it.

[ being a starfleet captain demanded that kathryn condemn the maquis and view them as terrorists with harmful agendas in regards to both the cardassians and the federation. it made it hard for her to deal with her personal opinion of understanding, of being able to see reasoning and logic in the decision to turn one's back on the system and do what you felt necessary in order to protect your home from threats that weren't being dealt with otherwise. ]

Please don't tell anyone who I am. I know I'm supposed to be this captain and everything, but I don't remember it. And I've already got Commander Chakotay treating me like this person I know nothing about. I can't handle everyone doing that -- not yet.

[A pause. Well.. well. This hits too close to home (Ambassador Spock).]

You are Ensign Janeway, and no one else.

[Comfort. Not quite good at it.]

[ oh wow, it does. hello sudden feels ]

You don't think it's illogical to hide? [ vulcans. she doesn't understand them as well as she will later down the line. ]

[Plainly:] You are not hiding. As you have not yet made the decision or chosen the same path Captain Janeway has, it is reasonable to conclude that you are not exactly the same person.

[Beat.]

Allow me to illustrate: no doubt you are familiar with me in the position of an Ambassador, yet currently, I am still a Commander. It is not logical to assume Ambassador Spock and myself are precisely one and the same, and similarly between yourself and Captain Janeway.

[ okay, let's focus on the fact that you're not old like the ambassador she's seen give speeches and studied at the academy instead of the wrong gender -- of course, she knows the latter's a curse. the former's a factor in the time differentials between the varying timelines. as a quantum physicist, she understands that better than most. ]

So, you understand, then. Commander Chakotay wasn't as... [ she trails off, shakes her head and shrugs. ] I don't know, he seemed disappointed, somehow.

Yes.

[Perhaps more than others will.]

Unfortunately I do not understand human behaviour and thus cannot shed any light on the matter.

ii ♕ action + video

video; starfleet comm

video; starfleet comm

video; starfleet comm

video; starfleet comm

video; starfleet comm

video; starfleet comm

video; starfleet comm

video; starfleet comm

video; starfleet comm

video; starfleet comm

video; starfleet comm

video; starfleet comm

video; starfleet comm

video; starfleet comm

video; starfleet comm