The Farther Shore - Christie Golden [92]
“We’re locked in battle. He wants it dry and factual, I want it juicy and interesting. I imagine we’ll meet somewhere in the middle.” She eyed Chakotay sharply. “Which now leaves just you for this mother hen to worry about.”
He pulled out a chair for her, then sat down beside [275] her. “Then you don’t need to worry,” he said, unfolding his napkin. “I’ve decided to rejoin Starfleet.”
“Well, in that case—” Janeway rose, went into the kitchen, and returned with a bottle of icy champagne. “We really do have something to celebrate.”
Now Chakotay laughed and shook his head. “I hardly think my going back to Starfleet warrants a bottle of champagne.”
“Oh, it’s more than that.” She gave him a mischievous look. “At least, I hope so.”
“After all these years, you continue to confound me. What now?”
She expertly popped the cork and poured them each two flutes, grinning wickedly at Chakotay’s open shock. “I have been authorized to be the one to offer you a captaincy.”
“A captaincy?”
“If you’ll take it.”
He seemed stunned. Obviously, he hadn’t been expecting this. Finally he asked, “What ship?”
She waited, savoring the moment before giving him the most wonderful news she could possibly imagine.
“Voyager.”
About the Author
Award-winning author Christie Golden has written twenty-two novels and sixteen short stories in the fields of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Among her credits are the Star Trek Original Series hardcover The Last Roundup, three stand-alone Voyager novels, The Murdered Sun, Marooned and Seven of Nine, the Dark Matters trilogy (Cloak and Dagger, Ghost Dance, and Shadow of Heaven), the Voyager segment of the Gateways series, No Man’s Land, the novella Hard Crash for Have Tech, Will Travel and the Tom Paris short story, “A Night at Sandrine’s,” which appeared in Amazing Stories.
In addition to Star Trek novels, Golden has written three original fantasy novels—King’s Man and Thief, Instrument of Fate and, under the pen name of Jadrien Bell, A.D. 999, which won the Colorado Author’s League Top Hand Award for Best Genre Novel of 1999. She has also done tie-in short stories for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, among many others.
She is honored and delighted to be offered the challenge of continuing the stories of Voyager’s crew past the end of the television series, and hopes that her readers enjoy her vision for Voyager’s future.
Golden lives in Colorado with her artist husband Michael Georges and their two cats. Readers are encouraged to visit her website at www.christiegolden.com.
About the e-Book
(AUGUST, 2003)—Scanned, proofed, and formatted by Bibliophile.
Table of Contents
Prologue. 7