The BLTS Archive - Stairway to Heaven by Sileya (sileyathesultry@gmail.com) --- Disclaimers: All hail mighty Paramount. They own it all, I just aspire to. The inspiration for this story was the song "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zepplin. They own the lyrics, I just stuck most of them in some sort of order in here. This story is dedicated to my husband, who suggested that song when I asked him for a song with good lyrics. I had no idea that this is what would come out of it. I hope he's pleasantly surprised. I know I am. --- Kathryn stands alone on the ragged cliff edge, the hot, dry wind blowing through her hair, causing it to flutter and catch about her shoulders. Her hands rest easily on her hips as she surveys the rugged red and green land, her sparking eyes moving over the crevasses and hills with equal care. She stands high above the base camp, looking down to it and the crater where Voyager lay. Voyager. Put to ground by a freak accident. . . buried in the earth of a strange world. . . no longer flying free among the stars. A shot of pain courses through her at the memory. Kathryn's jaw tightens every time she looks at her beloved ship, her home, the home of her crew. Her eyes flash and glitter, noting the black, gaping tears down Voyager's hull, topical damage only, but enough to tear at Kathryn's soul. This strange world, uninhabited as far as they'd been able to tell, possessed enough indigenous plant and animal life that the crew was able to make do easily. After the first few weeks, they'd moved outside from Voyager, building huts and shelters, the crew split into work teams just as they had worked shifts on board. After shelter and food were found, the overwhelming desire of the crew was to heal Voyager. . . and make her fly again through the stars. Kathryn looks out to the west, to the red mountain tops striking at the blue-gray sky, the mountains which very well possessed the key to their escape to the stars. She sighs, her arms moving to clasp about her. Far below, Chakotay and Tom Paris stop in their labor of building another shelter, looking up the tall red mountain to the cliff where Kathryn stands. They both fall silent from the easy banter which had sustained them during their work, watching the iron will of the woman above. "If ever there were a Lady. . . " Tom comments solemnly, his awesome respect for Kathryn expressed so sincerely. Chakotay nods, his own eyes straining through the sunlight to make out her face. "She's looking at the western mountains again. . . I bet she's planning to go soon." Tom squats down to the ground, gathering another armful of thin, springy branches. "Do you really think there are dilithium crystals in those mountains, Chakotay?" Chakotay nods. "She believes it, and so do I. Our tricorder readings confirm it. . . those mountains, some of the cliffs glitter in the sunlight. That's our gold. She's sure of it. She won't let herself believe otherwise." Tom nods and gets back to work, crossing the clearing. Chakotay stands a bit longer, watching the solitary Captain on her protective watch. "She'll go. . . alone if she has to, so no one else is endangered. She'll buy our freedom with her life if that's what it takes. . . " he murmurs. "She'll buy Voyager's stairway back to the stars. . . to heaven. I hope I don't lose her." his face sets firmly, his eyes full of pain, and he turns to continue his work as well, trying not to think of the trip she would make across the rugged land to carve those crystals out of their home. On that mountain top, Kathryn thinks the same, watching the mountains in the distance glitter in the gleaming sunlight. "There has to be a way to send Voyager back to the stars." she thinks, fists clenching. "If I get there and there's no dilithium, if it's nothing we can use. . . " she pauses and shakes her head. "It will be there. I have to believe it. . . " she says aloud. ‘I have to believe it." her own words would make her quest true. She would get what she had come for. After descending from her watch post, Kathryn makes the final preparations to hike to the mountains. She passes Voyager on her way to her hut, noting that the ship has been mostly dug out of its hole after the two months on the surface. She smiles, rubbing her hand along the hull, thinking of Voyager's grand beauty. Moving on again, she is brought up short by a handwritten note stuck on the straw mat which serves as a door to her small hovel. She pulls the small sign from the wall, reading it quickly. She crumples it her hand, and starts off at a dead run to the other side of their base camp. She wants to be sure. . . Chakotay stands waiting for her at the bathing area, a small brook and lake surrounded and sheltered by trees. Kathryn approaches, breathing deeply. "Chakotay," she begins, rereading the note. "Is this true?" Chakotay nods. "What did you think it meant?" he takes a step toward her. Kathryn looks again at the note. "You know, sometimes words have two meanings. . . and I wanted to be sure." she steps toward him, then only separated by inches. "Kathryn, it's so dangerous. You could be hurt, or killed." he murmurs. "I couldn't let you go without telling you how I felt. It's more than just respect. I love you." His lips meet hers, and she allows him to pull her into his arms and down to the soft springy ground. They are quiet then, no words spoken, only passionate actions to express the feelings they could never vocalize. Above them, in a swaying tree by the brook, a songbird who sings sometimes breaks into a solitary, heart-wrenching tune. --- Chakotay meets Tom at the main firepit later, at dinner, his eyes dark and wet. "She's gone." Tom nods. "Of course. We knew she couldn't pass up the chance. I would have gone if she would have let me. Any of the crew would have gone. But she already had made up her mind. Only Tuvok would have been able to stop her." Chakotay nods and sits down hard on a fallen tree which serves as a bench. "Tom. . . all our thoughts. . . are misgiven. We're all thinking the worst. Surely it can turn out for the best." he buries his face in his hands. Tom sits next to him, patting his shoulder lightly. "It can." he allows. "I think I want to pray, Chakotay, but I'm not sure how." he whispers. Chakotay looks up, eyes lit with something resembling hope. "Will you pray with me, Tom?" Tom nods, and they sit there for the remainder of the night. --- Over two weeks later, Chakotay stands on that red, craggy cliff, Kathryn's cliff, the same hot, dry breeze pushing through his hair. He's lost weight, the battered uniform hanging on him badly. He stares out to the western mountains, trying to get Kathryn back safely by force of will. "Chakotay, you have to eat." Tom insists, sitting on an escarpment nearby with some rations and fresh fruit. "I'm not hungry." Chakotay states quietly, the same litany as the last several days. He is haggard, his eyes sunken and nearly black. "Chakotay." "Tom. . . I can't. I just can't." he pauses, wrapping his arms around himself as if the wind were cold and biting. ‘There's a feeling I get, when I look to the west. To Kathryn." he murmurs roughly, "And my spirit is crying for leaving her." his head drops. "How could I let her go alone?" dry sobs wrack his frame, here where no one can see him but his friend. Tom lets silence reign for some moments before quietly speaking the obvious. "You had to stay here, Chakotay. You have to lead the crew. We need you. She knew that. If she doesn't come back. . . you're the only one who could get us back." Chakotay shakes his head miserably. "In my thoughts, my dreams, I've seen rings of smoke. . . it could mean a campfire. . . or a funeral pyre." his voice breaks. Tom just falls quiet, his own eyes filling with tears at the anguish he's been watching for weeks now. At that moment, a calling cry tears through the trees, the call of a forward lookout on the camp perimeter. Tom stands and leans to yell down at Harry Kim. "What is it?" The voices of those who stand looking echo all around the camp, sharp and loud, a cacophony of mixed emotions until a firm message comes through: "The Captain! The Captain is returning!" Chakotay freezes momentarily when he hears that, his heart pounding relentlessly against his chest. He looks to Tom. "Let's go." Tom announces, and they descend the mountain, waiting for the message to pass again through the lookouts. The whole camp is gathered around the main firepit, and it's whispered and spoken that they should prepare a celebration, call a joyful tune. . . the Captain is returning! Our leader. . . she can lead us to salvation, to the stars! A new day will dawn. . . we've waited and agonized so, so long. They break into a ancient hymn, one of glory and homecoming, their combined voices spiraling to the heavens above. The forest echoes with laughter as Chakotay stands at the outer perimeter, eyes straining into the darkened trees, his spirit and soul begging the gods for what he wants. . . what he needs to see. Finally, hours after the first outcry, Crewman Dalby emerges from the forest, Kathryn alongside, a heavy pack slung over her bowed shoulder. Kathryn stops, allowing Dalby to rush the sealed container to B'Elanna Torres, her eyes meeting and staying with Chakotay's. She, too, has lost weight, although her form has become wiry. She's bruised all over, her uniform torn and patched, but she's alive. Chakotay moves forward, hand extended, almost afraid. . . until she steps forward and takes it firmly. He pulls her to him in a rough embrace, his whispers filling her ears with loving refrain and thankfulness. Kathryn lets herself finally rest, safe in Chakotay's arms, the fatigue of the long arduous weeks filling her to overflowing. She looks up to his thinned face, lightly touching his cheek. ‘You've lost weight..it makes me wonder. . . you missed me?" Chakotay sweeps her into his arms, smiling for the first time in weeks, and turns to walk into base camp where the crew stands waiting, cheering madly. --- The next weeks were busy, everyone rushing back to the work of making Voyager fly again now that she had power. The earth's own power sprouted as well, flowers blooming as this world's form of spring came upon the dry, red earth, and Kathryn was startled one morning by an angry bird chattering at her for disturbing its nest. She just laughs. "If there's a bustle in your hedge, don't be alarmed. We'll be gone soon." she departs the camp, noting the activity all over and inside Voyager. "Spring cleaning." Kathryn thinks with a smile. As she passes close-by, Naomi Wildman stops her with a happy call. "Captain!" Kathryn walks over to the child who is industriously making flower chains. "Good morning, Naomi." Naomi stands up and with Kathryn's help, places a flower crown on Kathryn's hair. "Now you're the May-Queen!" Naomi declares. Kathryn smiles and hugs the little girl before moving along the trail up the cliff, one last time to look over the land which had sheltered, nurtured and protected them for nearly half a year. About halfway up, Kathryn discovers a second path, leading around the other side of the mountain. Wondering how she could have missed it before, she considers for a moment, and then figuring that no one would miss her for a bit, she takes the new trail. "Not much time left to explore," she tells herself. Just as she begins to walk, she hears Chakotay's voice echo off the stone, and she turns back for a moment, having second thoughts about the new trail. She shrugs off the odd thought and moves along the trail, noting the beautiful statuesque formations along the cliff edge. Some small voice, out of nowhere, tells her, "There's still time to change the road you're on. . . " but Kathryn ignores it when she sees a glittering formation ahead. Her eyes widen, wondering if what they had needed had been so close by after all. Just as she reaches the crystalline rock, Kathryn hears a loud crack and the rumble of falling rock. She looks up, seeing the blue sky. . . --- Chakotay and Tom sit in the base camp, working on reconfiguring the main power modulator to the Conn station, when they hear the loud crack as well, and look up just in time to see a large piece of the mountain slide down and crash over the cliffs to the east side. They stand, Chakotay swearing and yelling for a working tricorder. They scan the area, not finding any evidence of seismic activity. Within a few minutes, Ensign Wildman comes back to camp, carrying a crying Naomi. She had been playing over by the east side of the mountain, the Ensign explains, playing in a daisy patch, when the rockslide occurred. Tom rushes over to check Naomi for injuries. "What's wrong, darling?" he asks the sobbing girl. Naomi just cries all the harder, but they finally get one word out of her. . . "Captain." Chakotay looks with horror up to the cliff on the west side of the mountain where Kathryn usually stood, only to see nothing. "Kathryn. . . " he cries, running full force to the rockslide on the east side of the mountain, Tom and several others following. Deep under the rocks, pinned and nearly crushed, Kathryn lay in the rubble, only a few thoughts passing through her mind as she dimly hears shouts. Barely breathing, she thinks, "Your head is humming. . . must be from the noise. . . and it won't go. . . " She winces as the rocks shift and crush down upon her even more, and she sees a great light above her. A voice from far away, a disembodied voice, warm and welcoming, calls to her. "In case you don't know, the piper's calling you to join him - you've done all you can. You must now make the final sacrifice." Kathryn's spirit rises into the light, hand outreached to God, who murmurs, "Dear Lady, can you hear the wind blow? And did you know, your stairway to the stars. . . " Kathryn looks up to her beloved stars which are coming ever so closer, seeing Voyager soar there, safe and protected all the way home. "Your stairway to the stars lies on the whispering wind." Kathryn takes her last breath, her spirit already drifting away with God on the wind, moving back to becomes a part of the heavens. --- Voyager sailed through the stars, repaired long ago, flying again where she belonged. Chakotay stood alone, leading them back toward home, his thoughts often back on that world which they had named for Kathryn. A much older, very tired man sits on her darkened bridge in spacedock, all the crew gone now, some final memories passing through his mind. "As we wound through space, back on the road home, sometimes the shadows of those we lost loomed taller than our own souls," he murmurs in a hush. His eyes train on the viewscreen, his spirit cries out. "There, among the stars, walks a Lady we all know -my Kathryn - who shines with the white light of love and glory and showed us the way home. Everything along our path turned to gold by her blessed hand. . . we made it home so easily after she was gone." The empty halls of Voyager are still glowing with light, still echoing with the voices of those who had lived there so long. Voyager is alive in her own right, imbued by the spirit of her first Captain. Chakotay sits alone in her chair one last time, returned here at last. "I did it, Kathryn. We made it home, just like you wanted." his hands grasp the chair with terrible longing. "And if I listen very hard - The sound and tune of your voice comes back to me at last." He swallows, breaths coming more slowly, staring out toward the stars, seeing a bright light. "We did it for you, Kathryn," he whispers. "We all acted as one for you. . . because you, one woman, were everything and all the universe to us. . . to me. I love you, Kathryn." his voice breaks as his head sags gently back against the chair, eyes fluttering closed. --- Tom, Harry and B'Elanna stand in the graveyard, the cool, damp breeze of Earth blowing around and through them. Their families wait solemnly behind them. They stare at the two headstones, solid rock side by side, finally stationary and together. "Are you sure this is what they would have wanted, Tom?" B'Elanna asks quietly. Tom nods. "Yes. These stones are a monument to their memories - they'll never be lost, never packed or rolled away. But their molecules will fly and mix among the stars, just as their spirits do." And far above them, up in heaven, those spirits look down upon them with a smile. --- The End