My Challenge Move me-challenge story Author: Yarb Rating: G-heck my seven yr-old brother could read this! Authors note: This is my answer to The Challenge, including the words: aristocracy, chocolate, handcuff, foam, spirit, and sack. The musical pieces The Moment, and You Move Me, belong to Kenny G and Garth Brooks, respectively. And the writers of them, as well. Paramount owns all of Star Trek, but at least they allow us to rent them for awhile. Especially, Janeway and Chakotay. I'd love to have feedback, but since this is the first fic I've EVER finished, go easy on me. Please. "It certainly is strange for the Doctor to call a meeting." Janeway said as she and Chakotay got off the turbolift and headed for the conference lounge, "If it was an emergency he would have told us immediately." "Maybe he has decided to cut the caffiene intake for the crew." Chakotay teased. Janeway groaned, "That would be an emergency. I'd have to handcuff myself to the replicator in protest." Chakotay chuckled, he could see her doing that. They came into the lounge to find the rest of the senior crew already there. Tuvok raised an eyebrow at the fact that they were late, not to mention they were together. He had noticed an increase in the time they spent with one another. But he decided it wise to keep it to himself. "Thank you for joining us." The Doc said in his own annoying way. Janeway shot him a glare, and he quickly got down to bussiness. "I have noticed, through monthly physicals, that the rate of stress among the crew has risen considerably." he looked pointedly at Janeway. "Continue." she said, already getting annoyed. "Seeing as how there aren't any nearby planets for shoreleave, I thought that an onboard activity might be enjoyable for the crew." Janeway felt like asking him if he was going to get to the point anytime during the meeting, but then realized she was a bit irratable lately. "Mr. Neelix and I have devised a holodeck simulation which will help each of you program a 'performance' of sorts. The assignment is to create this performance in a way which describes your personality. Much like my pictures have done." "You mean like a slideshow?" Tom said, disbelief and a touch of disgust in his voice. "In general, yes. But suited to your own personality. So as to get in touch with your inner self." The Doc replied with a flourish and a grin. He looked around at the people sitting in front of him. Only Neelix was smiling. "I hope this doesn't go on my final grade." Tom muttered sarcastically. "Is this really neccesary, Doctor?" Janeway asked. "I was hoping to see how it worked out with the senior crew. Then I could see whether or not it would be worthwhile for the entire crew." "Captain," Tom turned to her, "Do we have to go through with this?" "It is logical for one to know their personal selves, so as to understand their own actions more." Tuvok stated rationally. Janeway smiled at Tom, "There's your answer." "Is there a time as to which this program should be completed by?" Tuvok asked the Doc. "Yes, Monday at 0700 hours!" "That only gives me 4 days!" B'elanna protested. "As it does everyone else." Doc said. B'elanna glowered in response, grumbling something about the warp propulsions. "After the performances are completed, we will start on analyzing our personal selves." Doc looked around again. No one seemed too excited, but reluctance was better than having the idea vetoed. He nodded, "Dismissed." Janeway gave him an extremely stern look, to put it mildly. The others were unsure if they were supposed to leave yet. Janeway nodded this time. "Dismissed." Janeway looked at the cup Chakotay had just handed her. This wasn't what she had asked for. Chakotay sat down next to her on the couch. "I thought you should try something a little different. You always have straight black coffee." he explained. She looked back down at the cup brimmed with foam, then set it down. Chakotay shook his head in amusement. "I'm sorry, but cappucino, even chocolate cappucino, just doesn't work for me. It has to be strong black coffee." Chakotay sighed. "Have you decided on what to do about The Doctors 'assignment' ?" he asked her, changing the subject. She shook her head. "Not really, no. I don't know where to start." "Well, why don't we go see what that simulation can do?" Janeway thought a moment. "Alright, I hope it'll help at least." She stood and followed him out the door, leaving the now cold cappucino on his coffee table. The two stepped into the holodeck. "Computer, run program Doctor-epsilon-4." They were standing suddenly in a large garden. Janeway raised an eyebrow at the Doctor's choice of landscape. It wasn't that she didn't like it, it was just odd for the Doctor. Perhaps Neelix had had more influence than he had let on. Chakotay's eye was immediately caught. The dark green dress that Kathryn had worn was emphasized by the lush plants in the garden. His gaze followed as she turned, taking in the environment. He fell in love again, for about the thousanth time since he had first laid eyes on her. "Well we might as well get started." Kathryn said looking at him. "Right," Chakotay came back from the far off universe he had just been in. "Are you alright?" she asked, coming over towards him. "Yes, yes, I'm fine." "This program is designed to assist in exprssing your characteristics. the computer stated dispassionately. "There are two individuals occupying the room, therefore the program will be a combination of the characteristics." Kathryn opened her mouth to protest, but then figured it pointless to argue with the computer. Beside, she wouldn't mind working on this with Chakotay. They already knew just aboutt everything there was to know about each other. "There are three choices for this assignment: a series of pictures, audio-visual, and a live performance by the individual." "What about the audio-visual one?" Kathryn started to nod, but the computer was already speaking. "Assignment parameters: design a video to be shown along with a musical composition which defines the individual's thoughts and feelings." "Well, that shouldn't be too hard, first off we have to find a song we both like." "Why don't we choose something from Earth?" "That narrows it down to a few hundred million choices" Chakotay laughed. "How about we ask Tom what he thinks? He's the ship's expert on the 20th century. I'm sure there's something suitable from that time." Kathryn suggested. "Let's see, 20th century music..." Tom thought, "Well, that era was pretty aristocratic. So there's plenty of controversial arts to choose from. Rap, Blues, Hip Hop...love songs." At the last one he glanced at the two faces looking at him and grinned. "There you go," he said leaning back in his chair, nodding. "Thank you Mr. Paris," Kathryn said, "you've been a great help." she turned and walked out of the mess hall, where they had found him. "Well, we're no closer to finishing this project than we were an hour ago." she said. They only had four days, and they were getting nowhere fast. "Let's each see what we can find tonight, and then compare notes tommorow?" Chakotay suggested. He was tired, and could imagine Kathryn was too. She nodded. They spent the rest of the turbolift ride in comfortable silence. When they got to her door, he turned to her. "I'll see you at 0800 hours for breakfast before the first shift?" "It's a date." she replied, and he watched her disappear into her quarters. Kathryn flopped down at her desk and sighed. "Computer, download onto a datapadd a list of easy-going songs contemorary with the 20th century-from earth." She picked up the padd and read the heading. 44,709! Great, I'll still be sitting here when we get back home, she thought. Chakotay glanced at the chronometer. He knew Kathryn would be on time, so he had decided to show up a little early. He scanned the padd had accompanied him to the mess hall. He had chosen a pretty long list, then again there were thousands that the computer had come up with. He glanced up as he heard the doors open from across the room. Kathryn strode in, holding a padd of her own. They smiled at each other. Kathryn stopped at the repli- cator for a coffee, then joined him near the window. "Well, any luck?" he asked as she sat down across from him. "I found about 20 titles that I thought might work. There could have been a lot more but I fell asleep." Chakotay looked down at his own list. This would take forever. "It looks like we'll be up late doing homework again." he chuckled as he handed her the padd. Her eyes widened. There were almost twice as many on his list. "I hope we at least get a good grade for it." she grinned, getting more into the spirit of this assignment. "Join me for dinner after your shift? Then we can head for the holodeck and tackle this." he nodded towards the two datapadds. "Alright. You know, I thought the holodeck was for recreation. We've been using it a lot more for work than for fun." That's not a problem, Chakotay thought. "Here we are again. " Chakotay said as they entered the garden. The computer started the introduction, but was soon silenced. "Computer, begin from the point we left off." "Let's see..." Chakotay looked at the padd which he had combined their lists on to. "Computer, let's hear The Moment by Kenny G. The air was filled smooth saxaphone and piano. When the music ended they went on to the next song, and the nextand the next until they reached the middle of the list. Chakotay sighed and sat down in the grass. Kathryn sat sat beside him. "Well, are there any you particularly liked?" Kathryn asked as she turned towards him. "Actually...no." he relented. Kathryn smiled. "There's only about thirty more. Then again we did choose according to title. You can't always judge a book by it's cover." "You're right, it's just that if we don't find a good song out of this." he held up the padd, "then we're going to have to delve back into those some 40,000 others. Do you really want to do that?" "No, but let's not ju8mp to conclusions. There could still be something good here. Computer, how about You Move Me by Garth Brooks." As they listened to the song their eyes met. This is how it seems to me Life is only therapy Real expansive And no garauntee So I lie here on the couch With my heart hanging out Frozen solid with fear Like a rock in the ground But you move me You give me courage I didn't know I had You move me I can't go with you And stay where I am So you move me This is how love was to me I could look and not see Going through the emotions Not knowing what they mean And it scared me so much That I just couldn't budge I might have stayed there forever If not for your touch Oh but you move me Out of myself And into the fire You move me Now I'm burning with love And with hope and desire How you move me You go whistling in the dark Making light of it Making light of it And I follow with my heart Laughing all the way Oh 'cause you move me You get me dancing And you make me sing You move me Now I'm taking delight In every little thing How you move me Chakotay looked beside him at the woman he loved. And at that moment he had to know. "Kathryn..." he started, but she raised her hand to stop him, because she knew what he was going to ask. All of a sudden she knew that now was the time to tell him. Besides, there weren't many oppurtunities like this, where they were alone together. She looked into his eyes, and gave him a sly smile. She then brought her hand up to his face, and their lips met. Chakotay's spirits soared. he had worried that she would say no, she didn't feel anything for him. All he could do was hold her. They were done putting the finishing touches on their 'assignment'. "Well, it's a relief to be done with that." Chakotay said. "I have to agree," Kathryn hugged him, "and just in time." There was only one day left before the Doc's deadline. "Maybe we should get a second opinion, though." she looked up at him. "Alright, but who?" "Well, I thionk the obvious choice is B'elanna. She's a good friend, and hope- fully he won't give us too much grief." "And she won't tell us about all the illogical points and mistakes." "Not like that won't happen with the Doctor." Kathryn pointed out. He sighed. "Oh well. At least we won't be alone, I'm sure he'll criticize every single one." "Enough of the Doctor, let's go see what B'elanna thinks." "Oh my god!" B'elanna nearly shouted at the mention of the assignment. "I worked some on it, but then forgot all about it! Oh, hell!" "Don't worry. I'm sure I can arrange something. After all, what's more important? This unofficial project, or the warp core?" Kathryn reassured her. "Alright, let me see, maybe I can get a few ideas from yours." B'elanna said with a sly grin. When she was done watching their video, she had to admit, she was impressed. "That was great Captain. I really like your choice of song. Twentieth century, right?" "And what am I" A sack of leola root?" Chakotay asked. "Oh, I didn't know you worked on it together." Then a thought hit her. The whole song was about realizing love. She gave them a questioning look. Chakotay nodded as he put his arm around Kathryn. "I'm so happy for you two. And it's about time." "Oh, I hope we only have to show this to the Doctor." Kathryn said. "Why do you say that?" "Because I don't want the gossip chain to go haywire if Tom sees it. At least, not just yet." She looked up at the man she loved, and flashed him a grin. "Well, I won't tell him. He can just stick to his betting for awhile." "Thank you, B'elanna." FINISH This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page