Unworthy - Kirsten Beyer [22]
After a long silence, Seven suddenly found it easier to remember what Irene had looked like in better days, and the memory of her aunt’s patient eyes gave her strength to continue.
“I am departing Earth tomorrow,” Seven said. “I am not well, and I believe that to restore my health, this journey is necessary. I do not know when I will return.”
Seven tried unsuccessfully to swallow the discomfort that was rising in her throat. “I can never truly thank you for all you have given me. You were unexpected.”
Tears began to flow down her cheeks, but she didn’t bother wiping them away.
“Your home became my favorite place. Your memories of my father brought him back to me more clearly than all his logs ever could. Your support enabled me to adapt to my new life here, and your generosity has shown me my own deficiencies in that regard. I will miss you. But I will adapt. You would expect nothing less of me.”
Seven turned her tear-streaked face to Chakotay and saw that his eyes, too, were glistening. He took the urn from her arms so she could loosen the lid in preparation to scatter Irene’s ashes.
Seven took the urn and stepped to the edge of the shoreline. Before she emptied it, she whispered, “I do not know if you can hear me, but if you can, I want you to know that I love you, Aunt Irene. I will remember you and all that you have given me.”
Seven gently tipped the urn on its side and scattered the ashes into the bay.
She started to turn back to Chakotay when a new and frightening thought formed in her mind. She tried to accept it as part of Irene’s greatest gift to her. Annika Hansen had been little more than a blur, an indistinct memory and a semi-familiar face in old family photographs until Irene’s remembrance of her brother’s only child had been added to Seven’s own. Now that little girl was more real to her than she had ever imagined, and though she feared her power and her pain, she could not deny that Irene had brought her back to Seven in a way not even the Caeliar could have managed.
“Annika wishes you peace,” Seven finally said.
And so do I, she thought sadly.
CHAPTER FIVE
After more than two weeks of tests and tweaks, the fleet had flawlessly demonstrated to Eden’s satisfaction that traveling within the same slipstream corridor was both possible and safe. They were currently grouped not far from what had once been Deneva and was now an ashen shadow of its former beauty, and within hours would travel their first major distance to the terminus between the Beta and Delta quadrants.
Eden entered her ready room and found her ex-husband, Admiral Willem Batiste, sitting at her desk.
And this day started out so well, she mused.
Willem had remained in his quarters during most of the test period. This might be evidence of his confidence in the fleet’s commanding officers. But Eden knew his penchant for micromanagement too well to believe it. He wasn’t hovering over her shoulder because he was working on something else. Odds were, unless she managed to unintentionally get in his way, she would never know what it was.
He studied her monitor with a scowl, clearly not pleased by what he saw. His rugged face had a taut, almost pale quality this morning, and she believed his short, fine black hair was finally beginning to betray him in small flecks of white and an overall loss of sheen.
You were a lot more handsome when I married you, Willem, she thought. Up until the moment she accepted this command, Eden wouldn’t have hesitated voicing such a comment. Once he became her superior officer, everything about their relationship had changed once again. She secretly believed that the only way they would ever survive this mission together was if they both took professionalism to unexplored heights. She didn’t know which of them would break first, but she didn’t want it to