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Nine Months – Amazonia
By Kudara
Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and all who sail in her belong to
Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is
intended.
Rating: Mature
Notes: The first evidence of wine production was in the
Mesopotamian culture, around 6000 bc.
Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep
writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike
about the story.
Revision History: 01/11/06; minor revision 01/05/07
Summary: The Artemis arrives at Sector 06, Beta Quadrant, 5643
light years from Earth.
*************************************************************
Chapter 46 - Stardate: 53711.57 (September 17, 2376 10:30 am)
It had been almost nine months since Voyager had disappeared
though the wormhole and sent back the message that they had
arrived safely in the Alpha Quadrant. For most of that time,
they had traveled at warp 7 though the Delta Quadrant, waiting
until the Ilanar informed them that their terraforming was
complete. Children were born, including Miral Torres-Hansen, on
July 28, 2376 and Sharon Allen-Young, on July 25, 2376, and
classes were held as they attempted to make good use of the time
by training everyone in their future fields.
Finally the message arrived, and they were directed to a
location a few light years away where a wormhole had been
formed. They sent a probe though, and as soon as they
ascertained that the other side was clear they bid the Delta
Quadrant adieu and entered the wormhole.
The Artemis exited in the Beta Quadrant, Sector 06, and 5 light
years from the planet they had decided to name Amazonia. Their
closest galactic neighbor of renown was the Crab Nebula 850
light years away. In fact, if a ship were to travel in a
straight line from Earth to the Crab Nebula, it would pass
within 15 light years of Amazonia’s star.
If the star had been visible from Earth, it would be in the
constellation Taurus. The next number available in the Tauri
series was 201, so they named the star 201 Tauri.
*********
“Thanks Karen, I appreciate you keeping Miral,” B’Elanna thanked
the dark eyed blonde as she picked up the infant carrier holding
her fast asleep 7 week old daughter.
“It’s no problem, especially after all the times you and Seven
have looked after Heather.” Karen smilingly answered. “So how
much longer?” she asked with restrained excitement.
“Until we can see the planet?” B’Elanna asked. At Karen’s nod
she did the math in her head, “Three more hours and we should be
in orbit.”
“Finally,” Karen breathed, “I’m getting tired of being on this
ship when I know there’s a planet just waiting for us.”
B’Elanna chuckled, she knew what Karen meant. It had been hard
to patiently wait while the Ilanar worked. It would have been
one thing if they could have watched, but the Ilanar laws
strictly forbid that, so they had to stay away while the
terraforming was being completed.
“Well I’d better get going, she’ll wake soon and be hungry,”
B’Elanna said, gently picking up the carrier.
“You will need me to watch her later?” Karen verified.
“As soon as she’s fed and goes back to sleep, yes. I need to be
in Engineering, and Seven needs to be on the Bridge,” B’Elanna
replied, “But it should only be for two hours, as soon as we are
in orbit I can pick her up.”
Karen grinned, “You’ll have to find us. I plan on finding a free
spot in one of the observation lounges.”
B’Elanna grinned, “Ok see you in an hour or so.”
Seven was already in their quarters when she entered, “How are
the scans going?” she asked after kissing the blonde. She
watched as Seven gently picked up Miral and cradled her against
her chest as she waited for their daughter to wake up. She hoped
one of their daughters was as fair as Seven, but knew that the
genetics were against it. Miral was lighter skinned than she,
and had slightly less prominent forehead ridges, more like how
the half-Klingon had been before the genetic engineering. The
infant had a cap of thick dark brown hair, almost the same color
as hers. Where they differed was in the eyes, B’Elanna had dark
brown ones, Miral hazel.
“Initial scans indicate no signs of any other ships, and no
signs of any other habitable planets in this area of space. They
confirm our original information; the other planets in 201
Tauri’s solar system are rich in the various metallics needed
for advanced construction such as starships, and dilithium.”
Seven informed her somewhat absently as her attention was
focused more on their daughter who was showing signs of waking
up.
“So a nice quiet neighborhood, as Elizabeth would say,” B’Elanna
commented, watching as Seven pulled open the closure of her top
and bared one breast so she could feed Miral. There was just
something about watching Seven nurse Miral that she liked. Her
daughter was definitely not a fussy or delicate eater; no she
grunted and suckled at Seven’s breast quite eagerly, while
B’Elanna gazed at them amused. Quite often Miral would even fall
asleep while nursing, mouth still firmly latched onto her
mother’s nipple.
“Yes,” Seven finally answered her, as Miral settled into
breastfeeding. She looked up at B’Elanna, a slight frown upon
her face, “The initial sensor readings of the planet, however,
differ from some of the data given to us by the Ilanar ten
months ago.”
“How?” asked B’Elanna, straightening up and focusing more on
Seven and less on her daughter.
“The planet slightly more distant from 201 Tauri, instead of
146.6 million kilometers, it is actually 157.07 million
kilometers,” Seven informed her.
While not a lot in planetary terms that was still a significant
difference. Hesitantly B’Elanna theorized, “Do you think they
might have shifted the orbit? That would give it a longer year
and a lower average temperature, making more Earth like.” She
had no idea how the Ilanar would manage something like that, but
the Federation had heard of civilizations that could move entire
star systems, so why not planets.
“That thought had occurred to me as well,” Seven admitted. “From
that data the year would now be 392.7 days instead of 306.5
days, slightly longer than Earths. We will not know what the
average planetary temperature is until we get more accurate
atmospheric readings, but it should be less than the 21 degrees
Celsius we were anticipating. The planet might be considerably
closer to Earth’s average of 15 degrees Celsius.”
B’Elanna nodded, “So instead of most of the planet being
uncomfortably warm it might be mainly habitable now.”
Seven nodded, “Could you hold Miral while I clean up,” she
asked.
“Sure,” B’Elanna hadn’t even noticed her daughter was done, but
now she grabbed a cloth from the stack they kept on the coffee
table and placed it over her shoulder. She had learned early on,
even before Miral, that babies were messy, and forgetting to use
a cloth was a certain invitation to be spit up upon.
Seven cleaned herself and fastened her clothing, standing she
came over and snuggled against B’Elanna. The half-Klingon knew
she was unhappy with the situation, but it couldn’t be helped.
“It will just be a few more days Seven, then our presence won’t
be so critical, and we can spend more time with Miral.”
“I understand, but I am not pleased by it,” Seven stated
stubbornly.
“I love you,” B’Elanna said, gently kissing her wife.
“And I love you as well,” Seven reached up and kissed her and
then placed a kiss on Miral’s back. “I must return to the
Astrometrics lab and begin analyzing the data, Elizabeth will
want a briefing on the planet and possible sites for settlement
shortly after we enter orbit.”
“Ok, I’ll take her to Karen in a bit, and I’ll see you in a few
hours.” B’Elanna watched as Seven exited the room. She had about
fifteen more minutes before she needed to return Miral to Karen
and head to Engineering. Time enough to play some with her
daughter, she lowered Miral from her shoulder into her arms,
lowered her face and gently nuzzled her daughter’s belly and
then smiled at her. “Oh, such a pretty smile,” she told her
daughter when Miral gurgled happily and smiled back at her.
Three hours later.
They were in orbit, Amazonia spun lazily below them, a blue and
green colored globe with wisps of white cloud cover. As soon as
Seven had compiled her data, Elizabeth called for an open
presentation of it in the meeting hall.
Seven began her briefing, a picture of Amazonia’s solar system
on the wall behind her, “201 Tauri is, as we were expecting, a
G2 class star similar to Earth’s sun, with a surface temperature
of 5850 Kelvin, 130 Kelvin hotter than Earth’s sun. The Ilanar
have confirmed that they shifted the orbit of Amazonia, moving
it further away from the sun. As a result Amazonia’s year is now
392.7 days long, and the average temperature 18 degrees
Celsius.”
She paused, switching the image and bringing up a picture of the
planet, “The Ilanar modified the planets atmosphere, the
composition of gasses present is now identical to Earth’s. The
Ilanar also increased the total water mass of the planet by 3
percent, resulting in water coverage of 75% of the planet’s
surface. While this has decreased the total land area, the
increased rainfall and terraforming changes have resulted in a
net 20% increase in highly desirable inhabitable land. The axis
of the planet has also been changed, from 24.3 degrees to 22
degrees.”
“I have projected how the axis change will affect the climate,”
the image shifted, the planet began to spin, “The axis shift
should result in a longer summer period, approximately 169 days,
and a shorter winter period of approximately 92 days in the
temperate latitudes.”
“The largest continent is in the North Temperate Zone,” the
picture changed and zoomed in on one land mass. “Governor
Janeway requested I find an area for the first exploration site
closest to the climate and geography of northern California on
Earth. The west coast of this continent meets those
requirements.”
Seven left the podium and went to sit with B’Elanna who was
holding a sleeping Miral.
Elizabeth stood, “The Ilanar say they will need two weeks to
build the core of the settlement for us once we choose a
settlement site. They sent over several different building
designs, we’ve already sent back our choices. They will be
building a medical facility, to include a fertility clinic, a
centralized community building that includes kitchen and meeting
areas, a power plant, water purification and sewage facility, a
building to house the plant and animal stocks they have
engineered for us, and basic shelters for every family. After
that it will be up to us.”
*************************************************************
Chapter 47 - Stardate: 53714.19 (September 18, 2376 9:30 am)
They had transported down to a site midway along the western
coast of the continent Seven had chosen, just a half mile inland
from the ocean. Bio scans had detected no large animals on the
continent, there were a few present in the planets oceans, but
they were plankton eaters, similar to earth’s whales. There were
no significant bio hazards, no dangerous toxins, plants,
bacteria or viruses.
The first thing B’Elanna noticed were the colors, the intense
blue of the sky and the deep, deep, green of the calf high
grass. To the west was the ocean, due north were craggy looking
short hills which increased in height the further north east you
went until they became the forested slopes of a mountain range.
South east were more hills and a large inland forest, and due
south was more open area dotted here and there with tall trees.
“Look at this grass, the last time I saw grass this green was in
Ireland.” Morgan Smith commented. A former vintner she had been
included in the first group down because of her agricultural
expertise. “It might mean that this area has mild weather and
frequent light rain.” She bent down and pulled up a clump of
grass examining the roots.
B’Elanna started at her curiously wondering why she wasn’t using
her tricorder.
Morgan reached down and grabbed up a handful of the soil she had
exposed, it was a very dark reddish brown in color.
Seven walked over to her and began scanning it, only to stop and
stare as the brunette woman lifted the soil to her nose and
inhaled deeply. “Volcanic and silt soil I think, just like in
Oregon, lots of organic matter, and a little bit of clay,” she
said after pinching a bit of the soil together and then
crumbling it while observing it closely. “No wonder every
thing’s so green and healthy. And perfect for growing grapes,”
she commented looking off in the direction of the mountains with
a speculative gaze.
“It contains high amounts of decayed basalt, decayed organic
matter, sedimentary soil, clay, and trace amounts of nitrogen,
phosphorous, potassium, sulfur, magnesium and calcium, in
decreasing order.” Seven raised her brow at Morgan, “Intriguing,
you were able to accurately tell the composition of the soil by
appearance and smell.”
“Ah, just twenty five years of working with it, I traveled a lot
on Earth and got to see several different types of soil. This
looks a lot like the soil you would find in Oregon or
Washington, if it’s all like this we won’t have any problems
growing whatever crops we want.” Morgan commented.
Elizabeth walked over and stared at the soil Morgan was holding.
Morgan grinned, “Volcanic and silt, just like the Oregon coast.”
“Really,” drawled Elizabeth looking over towards the hills to
the northeast.
“If it’s like this over that way, give me three years and I’ll
be bottling our first wines.” Morgan promised her.
Elizabeth grinned, “Lets go take a look why don’t we.”
B’Elanna laughed, Elizabeth, Morgan and a few others had been
talking about wines and types of grape vines ever since they had
learned that the Ilanar had included them among the plant stocks
they were developing for the colonists.
“Seven and I will continue mapping out this area while you to go
snort some more soil,” she teased them.
Elizabeth and Morgan just laughed in reply and called for a
transport.
“Seven, lets go that way,” she pointed to the northwest where a
craggy hill overlooked a beach of black rocks and white sand.
**********************************************************
Chapter 48 - Stardate: 563 (August 4, 2379 6:23 pm)
If it weren’t for the fact that it would wake Seven and Miral,
B’Elanna would have laughed at herself. She felt absurdly
pleased with herself whenever she looked at Seven’s purple
stained feet and calves. It had certainly taken Miral and she
some concerted pleading to get Seven to finally agree to join
them in the large vat of grapes they were juicing with their own
feet.
Seven had labeled the practice unsanitary and inefficient, and
B’Elanna had not disagree with her, only pointing out that
Morgan would be filtering the juice before it went anywhere and
that this was a celebration of the first usable fruits of the
colonies vineyards. So they were crushing a small portion of the
grapes in the same manner as when wine had first been made by
the Mesopotamians over 8300 years ago.
B’Elanna looked through the floor to ceiling glass windows
toward the ocean, their house had been built by the two of them
on that craggy hillside they had explored three years ago. Built
of the native black basalt rock and white colored modern
concrete, it both blended, and contrasted, with its
surroundings. The house was basically a two story A frame with
angled wings on both sides.
The master bedroom, where they currently were, was on the top
floor in the right wing of the house. The side of the room
adjoining the deck was windowed from floor to ceiling, and had
an excellent view of the ocean when the heavy curtains were not
drawn. Currently B’Elanna was the only one appreciating the
view. Seven was sleeping snuggled up against her right side
while Miral was sleeping against her left, their feet, and hers,
still stained slightly purple from their earlier activity.
Glancing down at Seven’s face where she slept peacefully nestled
against her B’Elanna marveled at how beautiful her wife was,
Seven’s abdomen protruded slightly, showing her four month
pregnancy with their second child. Seven had, in no uncertain
terms, informed her that if she wanted a third she would carry
it herself, and B’Elanna had agreed. She wasn’t looking forward
to making it through the eighth and ninth months of this
pregnancy, she still clearly remembered how cranky and emotional
Seven had been during the last pregnancy at that time.
Looking down at Miral though, she recalled Lee’s words from
almost four years ago, seeing the results of it all did make it
worth the effort, after all Seven was having another. Her
daughter’s features were a perfect blend of the two of them, a
slightly squarer face and full lips inherited from Seven, and
high cheekbones and slender nose from B’Elanna.
Breathing in deeply she smiled, and looked over the ocean. Life
was peaceful, she shared her life with a woman she loved more
deeply every day, and her daughter, at least for another few
years until teenage hood hit, was a happy child secure in her
parent’s love for her. She had thought happy endings were only
in fairy tales, but sometimes…sometimes it seemed they were
real.
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