Miss Kathryn's Blast From The Past

I'm finally entering the Voyager City fray...
Jason — 18 Sep 1998, 6:55 PM

Be gentle, this is my first time. I hope this doesn't screw too many things up. (If it does scren things up, feel free to expunge it from Voyager City canon.)

BTW, to whoever created the large file of stories-- Thank you! I found it difficult to follow the stories (and impossible to write for the Story Tag) until that was made.

"Miss Kathryn's Blast From the Past, Part One"

TIMELINE:
This is a subplot (?) set after Terry's "Crisis in the Delta Quadrant, Part One", but before Kathryn undertakes the cattle drive to save the ranch.

Miss Kathryn looked out the window of her ranch at a beautiful day. She was alone in the house, and while she was facing many problems in her life-- not the least of which was the fact her ranch was in debt-- and she was facing a long cattle drive through Borg Injun territory to raise capital, but that was several weeks off yet. But she wasn't going to let this spoil the pure joy of having her home to herself and enjoying her home and the view.

Then, a knock came at the door. Kathryn opened it, where standing there was a young, ruggedly handsome young man in a blue uniform and cap.

"Telegram for Kathryn Janeway from the AQ, ma'am", he said.

This was indeed unexpected. She looked at the young man's name tag. Above the name "DORADO", which she assumed was his name were the letters "LMH".

A message from the AQ from the LMH? What did that mean?

"LMH?", Kathryn inquired.

Dorado said "LHM-- Long Haul Messengers. Our Telegram Company provides service across this entire continent. The best delivery service around, ma'am."

"I see", smiled Kathryn, taking the telegram and reading the address label to make sure there was no mistake. It was indeed for a Miss Kathryn Janeway, and it was from the AQ.

The AQ?

Miss Kathryn was sure she didn't know anyone from those parts-- at least, not anymore. Not since she started the Delta Ranch here with Mark those many years ago, leaving everyone and everything that she knew there behind.

Hands trembling with anticipation, she opened the telegram. She shook as she read the words. While the words themselves did not seem as such, Miss Kathryn sensed a menacing tone to what was written on the paper: "I WILL BE SEEING YOU SOON".

That was all. No more, no less. Not even the name of the sender. Miss Kathryn quickly wheeled back to the messenger boy and asked "Do you know who sent this?"

"No, ma'am. I'm just the messenger from the Voyager City Office. If there's a mistake, I'm sure it's just the fault of the AQ office."

With that, he left to continue his errands, leaving Kathryn alone. But she knew she would not be alone for long-- and for some reason she knew that she would be greeting an unwelcome visitor. Who was it? Why were they coming to see her? Was it someone from her past? Should she be anticipating some sort of vengeance for wrongs conducted in the AQ, in what seemed like another life? Miss Kathryn was suddenly chilled by the thought of... "What if this person is *already* here?"

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!

Miss Kathryn jumped at the unexpected knock at the door. She eased her way toward it, slowly opening it. Greeting her at the door was another young LMH Messenger who, despite her best efforts, could not hide the fact that she was looking a little blue. Otherwise, she seemed like a nice girl despite the long scar running down the middle of her face. Her name tag said "GOLWAT". It was an unusual name to be sure, thought Miss Kathryn, but it wasn't her greatest concern at this point.

Miss Kathryn's Blast from the Past, continued
Jason — 18 Sep 1998, 7:04 PM

Miss Kathryn jumped at the unexpected knock at the door. She eased her way toward it, slowly opening it. Greeting her at the door was another young LMH Messenger who, despite her best efforts, could not hide the fact that she was looking a little blue. Otherwise, she seemed like a nice girl despite the long scar running down the middle of her face. Her name tag said "GOLWAT". It was an unusual name to be sure, thought Miss Kathryn, but it wasn't her greatest concern at this point.

"You have a message, ma'am." Said Golwat.

"Two telegrams in one day?" responded Miss Kathryn.

"I just deliver them, not send them." said Golwat, handing her the message and continuing on her way. Janeway walked back in to her kitchen, and with even more anxiety than before, she opened the telegram, expecting some threat on her life. Her eyes fell over the latest menacing words she recieved:

"P.S. PICK ME UP AT THE STATION ON TUESDAY AT 10 AM SHARP"

Like the last message, this one ended as mysteriously as it began.

Kathryn promised herself that she would face this person head on-- not take the risk by letting the person coming to meet her find Kathryn on their terms.

True to her word, the next day, Tuesday Kathryn rode in to town, heavily armed with her son, Tom to meet this guest.

The caravan pulled in to the market square shortly after their arrival. The driver opened the door, allowing a prim, cold looking dark haired woman out of the car. Acting gentlemenly, Tom went forward and collected her baggage. As Kathryn caught a look at the woman's face, her face froze with terror.

As he collected her bags, Tom introduced himself to the woman.

She replied firmly: "I am the Lady Templeton."

Tom hadn't heard his mother mention her name before-- in fact, he'd never been aware that his mother had even ever been in the AQ before, but admitted to himself that this could be due to his life-long self-involvement more than any inclination of his mother not to tell him about having lived there or even how she met even his father.

"Never heard of ya," Tom said to Lady Templeton.

"Really?" she replied. "I'm quite surprised. Your mother and I worked together at the Burleigh Estate. I'm surprised she wouldn't have mentioned me, certainly she couldn't have forgotten." Templeton said.

Without any further interaction with Tom, she stormed off towards Kathryn.

"Greetings, Miss Janeway." Templeton said, condescendingly. She didn't bother to show any affection, and kept her (undoubtedly frigid) hands to herself, not offering them in a handshake as was the Voyager City custom. "Of course, last time I saw you, you were still Miss Davenport. Is that what you would prefer?"

Kathryn was as adamant as Templeton: "Janeway will do."

"I'm sorry to hear about the death of your husband." Lady Templeton said.

Janeway mustered her strength to shake off the heebie-jeebies that Templeton's presence gave her. "Thank you. I'm sure you've met my son Tom. Welcome to Voyager City, the folks here are friendly and I'm sure they'll do their best to accomodate you. Now what the hell are you doing here?"

Templeton was bemused: "I should have expected. You haven't changed much in all these years." Unshaken by Kathryn's forcefullness, she continued: "Aren't you going to take me to your ranch?"

Miss Kathryn's Blast from the Past, still continued
Jason — 18 Sep 1998, 7:07 PM

Kathryn chuckled: "You're welcome in this town as long as the people will have you, but there's no way in hell that you are ever going to set foot on the Delta Ranch as long as it is my property."

Templeton gave a restrained smile, which quickly reverted back to the flat, cold, lifeless poker face she had always had as long as Janeway had known her. "From what I understand, that may not be for very much longer. So, I'm sure I'll be seeing you, soon. Kathryn."

Just as coldly as she had heard this, Miss Kathryn replied: "Oh, I'm certain of it. Good day, Miss Templeton."

With that, she turned and headed back for her horse, Tom scrambling to catch up with her.

"Who was that?"

"Someone from my past. Someone I'd rather have forgotten." Miss Kathryn said.

"You worked with her?" her son asked. "Where? Doing what?"

"All of that can wait for now. We've got bigger concerns." she said, then adding, sombrely: "Something tells me we've got trouble brewing on the homefront."

She knew she probably should have shot Templeton on first sight, but she had to know why she had come all of this way to Voyager City to see her. She hoped like hell that her act of discretion in the town square would not cost her her homestead, but nonetheless she had a deep, unplacable feeling inside that she had just come a lot closer to losing her ranch.

TO BE CONTINUED....

Who is Miss Templeton?
How does Janeway know her?
What happened at the Burleigh Estate?
Is Templeton any good in a knife fight?

All of these questions yet to be answered...