Work Text:
When Kathryn had gone to the Holodeck for some recreation, she had not been sure what kind of program she wanted to run. As she stared at the screen, all she knew was that she did not want to play a new holonovel. She had never even finished the last one… It had seemed like too much work and it would require even more thinking to start a new one.
And the Captain was done with thinking for a while.
After the whole ordeal with the Ilari, the Captain had been in dire need of some relaxation. Of course, she had first made sure that Kes was all right. The young woman was recovering surprisingly well from her nightmare with the Warlord Tieran who had taken over her mind.
Still… Kathryn couldn’t shake the feeling that Kes would never be the same again. The Captain also wondered how her relationship with Neelix would change.
With a sigh she forced herself to stop worrying about her crew. They were always on her mind. She constantly worried about them, and this last adventure had been quite intense. First, they had lost Kes, then Tuvok had been abducted and Voyager had been dragged into the middle of a Civil War.
Thankfully, the situation had resolved itself, but it had taken its toll on everyone. So, after she had spent a few days making sure that everyone else was all right, the Captain was now finally taking care of herself.
Or trying to.
She still couldn’t decide on what kind of program she wanted to run. Finally, she just browsed through the list of recently opened programs and suddenly one caught her eye because it had quite a curious name… Palau Resort.
She quickly checked who it belonged to. Apparently Neelix had started it, but some others had made changes to it. Tom, Harry, B’Elanna… They all seemed in on it.
The Captain frowned and then checked the security of the program but there wasn’t any. It seemed like everyone was welcome to it.
With a shrug she asked the Computer to start it for her.
There was no harm in it really… If it did turn out to be awkward, and the Captain somehow expected it to be, and someone would catch her in it, she would simply explain that she was checking up on what her crew was doing on the Holodeck.
When she stepped into the sunlit program, at first she had to blink her eyes a couple of times to adjust to the bright light. Then two thoughts went through her head. The first one was that she could clearly see why her senior officers had created this program and what changes Harry, Tom and B’Elanna had made to it. The second was that she was not dressed for the occasion at all.
“Well, hello there.” A tall and gorgeous blond woman walked up to her with a smile that almost put the sunshine to shame. “Who might you be.”
“My name is Kathryn.” She replied with an amused smile. “I’m the Captain of this ship.”
“I can see that.” The woman said while shamelessly stroking her fingers over Kathryn’s Captain’s pips. “That must be a very hard job.”
“It is.”
“You must be in a dire need of some… relaxation.” Her blue eyes sparkled up at Kathryn through eyelashes that were impossibly long and luscious.
Kathryn smiled shyly before taking a step back. “I… I guess.”
“Don’t worry, Captain. Everyone is welcome here at the Palau Resort.”
“I can see that.” Kathryn looked around at all the gorgeously tanned people. She knew they were holograms but still it made her feel slightly uncomfortable to look at so much exposed skin and unabashed displays of sensuality and affection. “I’m afraid that I’m not dressed correctly.”
“I can help you with that.” The woman’s smile did not waver. “There are some changing rooms in the back.”
Kathryn’s eyes followed the woman’s outstretched arm, finger was pointed at a small boutique with clothes in every color imaginable. There were some delightful skirts on display and some very stylish bathing suits.
The Captain bit her lip as she looked back at the blonde who was still beaming at her, waiting. A million thoughts flew through Kathryn’s head, and she couldn’t stop her eyes from starting to wander…
She quickly took in a deep breath. “Computer, delete the characters.”
With a beep all the tanned beautiful people disappeared, and Kathryn was left alone in paradise. Now that the blonde was no longer smiling at her, she felt like she could finally think again.
Should she leave? She felt like she didn’t want to. But maybe she should. She was here now… There was no harm in staying. She really did need to relax after all…
The Captain of Voyager quickly stopped thinking and choose action instead.
She went into the boutique and quickly changed into a loose blouse and the longest skirt that she could find, which still only barely reached her knees. She walked back out feeling a bit sure about herself and then her eyes found the bar which thankfully still held some beautiful tall glasses with tropical cocktails.
With a smile Kathryn walked over and picked one up before making her way to a lounge chair in the shade and sitting down. She let out a deep sigh as she stretched out her legs and took a sip from the curly straw in her drink.
She had just closed her eyes to fully relax and focus on the sound of the distant waves as the unmistakable sound of the Holodeck door opening up caused her to quickly sit up straight instead.
With a start she realized she had never locked the door. Now that could have been embarrassing if she had decided to go another way with this program. She quickly checked her outfit, but her nerves calmed down, because even though she was dressed casually, she was still dressed quite decently.
“Captain!” Tom Paris’ voice boomed through the peaceful but otherwise deserted place. “Fancy seeing you here!”
Kathryn didn’t respond right away as she watched Tom walk up to her, already dressed for a visit to a resort. Behind him B’Elanna and Harry followed him, both looking as surprised as Tom but a little bit more embarrassed.
“Good evening.” Kathryn finally managed to say after clearing her throat. “I found this program and I… I wanted to see what you had been up to.”
“Well, welcome to the wonderful Palau Resort.” Tom turned around in a circle, his arms stretched out wide and a brilliant smile lit up his face. “It's so good of you to join us.”
Kathryn nodded with a slight smile of her own which apparently gave Harry the courage to relax a little bit and sit down in one of the other chairs. He accepted a drink from Tom and then looked around as if searching for something or… someone. “Wait… where are all the people?”
“I asked the Computer to remove them from the program.” Kathryn said and she smiled to see how her comment startled Harry and B’Elanna. Tom only chuckled. “Don’t worry. I didn’t delete them permanently.”
This earned her a rather nervous laugh from the Ensign. A silence followed during which Kathryn suddenly wondered if she should leave. They hadn’t come here to spend time with their Captain after all. They had come here to relax, to maybe gossip about ship’s business. She was sure that she was ruining their fun.
“I’m glad that you are here, Captain.” B’Elanna voice stopped her from getting up and the Chief Engineer sat down in the lounge chair next to hers. “I could use another woman’s opinion on this program before these two idiots completely ruin it.”
That earned her a cry of mock outrage from both men and then Tom launched into an elaborate defense of his choices for the additional holograms.
Kathryn couldn’t help but laugh as she listened to these three young members of her crew. She worried about them, all of them, constantly. But she shouldn’t. They were fine. They had each other and they were very resilient and creative.
Also, it was important for her to remember that she herself needed some love and care from time to time too. She was a Captain but also a human woman. Not that different from her crewmembers.
Looking around at the program and listening to Tom and B’Elanna fight, Kathryn started to consider some changes she would make to the program. Who knew, she thought as she took another sip from her drink, maybe she would even come back here one day.