Janeway had Chakotay show Demmas to one of the guest rooms; after which, Tuvok and I approached Janeway. With the two of us asking, she agreed without question and led us to her Ready Room. She continued into the room and headed straight for the replicator.
"Coffee, black," Janeway ordered and picked up the cup that materialized before turning back to us. "Alright, explain."
I could not help but smirk at the fact that she needed coffee before hearing whatever 'doom-and-gloom' I was about to tell her.
"Before I do, may I call Katye to join us, so that I can test something?" I asked.
Janeway sighed but nodded her head.
Tapping my badge, I said, "Rebecca to Katye. Can you come here via the Yin Realm?"
"I'll be there in a moment," Katye replied.
"Tuvok, can you tell me when you sense her approaching?" I asked.
He raised a pointed brow and nodded. Less than a second later, his gaze went to the direction that she was coming from, once she was within fifty feet of him.
"A bit further than I thought," I remarked as Katye stepped out of the world of darkness.
"What's up?" Katye asked with fake ignorance.
"Kes has been taken over by the consciousness of a man name Tieran and, to make matters worse, Tuvok is not the one responsible for restraining Kes's strength, meaning that they are subconscious locks," I explained, though it was mostly along the lines of what I remembered about the episode.
"Which means that some madman has control of all of her various 'kineses' and strength on par with Raven and Echo once he figures out how to use those powers properly," she sighed, explaining the danger to Janeway and Tuvok to further hide that I had any advanced knowledge.
"How do you measure her strength, if I may ask?"
"By the amount of mana inside of her. You, Tuvok, have roughly seven hundred units of mana within you which fuels your telepathic abilities, which is typical, even a little high, for the average telepath; no doubt due to your regular practice and training of Kes. If you remember when we met the Ocampa on the space station, Tanis formed a connection to her similar to the link that all of the Ocampans on the space station likely had to Suspiria. At this point, I knew that there was something special about Kes because she has two ways to build up her mana, the traditional way through meditation and her unique way, which seemed to allow her to absorb the mana of anything that enters her body. Katye and I can do something similar, on a much larger scale, but that is due to us being True Vazukuru as Raven and Echo are unable to do such," I explained, using our backgrounds as the explanation instead of the truth since it related to the nature of our powers.
"Tanis averaged around fifteen hundred, due to the link between the other Ocampans and other higher ranked abilities that they seem to have, which allows them to train faster than simple telepathy. When Suspiria was attacking you and Katye, Kes's link to the Ocampans and Suspiria herself was at its maximum, yet when she sensed her desire to destroy the Voyager, she forcibly broke that link causing the backlash that allowed you the chance to stun her with the weapon. Due to her unique ability to absorb foreign mana, she stole quite a bit of mana from that link, boosting her mana to nearly ten thousand units. While Raven and Echo actually have about half that amount of mana, the way they can wield their power is stronger than what Kes should be able to produce as it is a lesser form of what we call magic."
"How can you be so sure?" Tuvok asked.
"She is still Mortal, lacking any true Authority, which is the fundamental difference between elemental creatures and Mortals. All beings have mana inside of them, but Mortals' strength is their Will or Ego, while elemental creatures are swayed by their Authority or affinity with a particular element. Mana, Will, and Authority or, a simpler way to think of it, Body, Mind, and Soul... We can use all three while Kes, or Tieran, can only use two. Still, that does not mean that handling her, him, whatever, will be easy because her powers are mental based, which happens to be a glaring weakness of mine," I sighed.
"Katye would be the best person to send, but you were able to sense her approach through the Yin Realm which means that Kes will be able to sense her far sooner. We can't sneak up on her, well, possibly Echo, but she would likely be pushed to the point of harming Kes which no one wants. The cloaking on Katye's exo-suit has a slightly stronger mana-aura than moving through the Yin Realm, so it will be tricky for her to approach Kes."
Janeway took a sip of her coffee and set the cup down on the table, saying with a smirk, "So, you have some ingenious plan to save Kes without hurting her in the process?"
"'I'... do," I replied with awkwardness, though it was because I was claiming Katye's plan as my own.
She had a particular glint in her eye when we discussed how to capture Kes safely that sent a chill down my spine, since she melded with Alkatyenia the moment before, and then she assured me that she had a way to handle the invader. There was an innocent yet intelligent charm to Kes, similar to Katye herself, so she considered Kes like a little sister. While I was angry that someone had taken over Kes, she took it to a whole other level, bringing back the cold, calculating part of her aura that I had not sensed since the beginning of our time in 'The 100'. 'Blood must have blood' was the mantra of the Grounders while Lexa, another part of Katye, ruled, so I could only imagine the torment that she would unleash on Tieran.
I explained Katye's plan to Janeway and Tuvok, which mirrored what little I could remember of the episode, with a few additions. Tuvok would be the one to infiltrate the hall, but he would have Katye's Naru Darc mark so that she could track him with ease. The Doctor had only just started his examination of Tieran's body, but we were all confident that he would come up with something, and there was always Katye's plan to fall back on, if needed. Tuvok would either use whatever device the Doctor would create, or he could call in Katye with the mark, since she could teleport herself to his side if we were close enough. Kes would still be able to sense her right before she appeared, but it would be a sudden approach versus traveling through the Yin Realm, slowly approaching and giving her more time to react.
When the Doctor had finished his examination of Tieran's body, he informed Janeway who, in turn, called Tuvok, Demmas, and me down to Sick Bay. The Doctor has found the mechanism Tieran used to control Kes: an implant which enhanced his neural energy and sent it out through the nervous system to his hand, and then into Kes via bioelectric microfibers. He created a synaptic stimulator that should remove Tieran's consciousness; however, to be used, it would have to come in direct contact with her skin.
With two of the devices in hand, Janeway convinced Demmas to allow us to infiltrate the palace and attempt to stop Kes before amassing his forces. He also told Tuvok all of the outs and ins of the palace, including a few hidden ones that Tieran may not have known about. After that, Tuvok joined my crew on the Fae Dragon, and we headed down to the planet cloaked. Katye placed her mark on the inside of his palm and explained that he simply needed to tap it three times if he needed help or if he had Kes alone.
We landed not too far away from the palace and Tuvok left in a freshly replicated uniform of the palace servants. The next hour passed slowly with the only sound being the drumming of Katye's fingers on the console; her anger simmering. It had been a long time since it had been people outside our little group who were the ones in direct danger and especially someone that she was so close to.
When she stood up from her chair and started tracing out runes in the air, I said, "Katye, you can end this with the Doctor's device."
"Of course," she replied with a smirk and finished her spell, teleporting herself away.
"That's the device on the console, isn't it?" I asked with a sigh.
"Yep," Echo retorted with a smirk of her own.
"You know you'd do the same thing if it had been Madi, and do it alone if you had the chance," Raven remarked.
With a sigh, I looked back out the window with a light smirk on my face. I could not refute her claims, so all I could do now was wait to see how things would play out...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Katye was angry, but the reason went far deeper than the others knew. She, better than the others, understood what Kes was going through and the impact that it would have on her. While most of Alkatyenia's memories were sealed away by whatever spell that had split her consciousness, she still had Lexa's memories and had been connected to the Flame, a device that was not too dissimilar to what granted Tieran the ability to take over Kes, though she had dozens of former Commanders within her mind for a time. Tieran's aura reminded her a lot of Sheidheda's, so she could not help but think back to when she had to struggle against him day after day, and now, Kes was having to face it alone.
When Katye finally sensed Tuvok trying to summon, she let out a sigh of relief as she stood up and started casting a complex teleport spell that would place her at his side. Finally, she could help her friend and get a little revenge against a personal demon.
"Katye, you can end this with the Doctor's device," Rebecca reminded.
"Of course," she replied with a smirk and finished her spell, teleporting herself away.
She had no intention of taking the easy method and wanted to crush Tieran's consciousness personally. Not only would it be a way to strengthen her Ego as Alkatyenia told her, but it would be confirmation that she had grown past the old fear that she still carried. That was why she left the device behind because she refused to back down. It was just the type of person that she was; all or nothing.
In the next moment, Katye reappeared in a dimly lit cavern and immediately enhanced her perception. Kes lashed out at Tuvok, throwing him in her direction, but she had expected something similar to happen when she appeared. She shifted her center of gravity and let his body swipe by her as she threw out a hand at Kes, launching her off her feet with Katye's own form of telekinesis. Both of them hit the wall hard, but Katye kept Kes pinned with an annoyed look on her face.
"YOU! Release me, or I will kill you," Kes snarled, trying to lash out at Katye with her mental abilities.
"That's rich," Katye huffed as she shattered the attack and walked towards her. "You think that now that you have a bit of power that you are the strongest? That you can do whatever you want? Kes is just two years old, and your feeble mind can barely suppress her Ego. Let's see how long you last against someone who is a bit older."
As she spoke, she channeled mana into her hand, causing it to glow, as she reached out and placed it on top of Kes's head. She tried to pull away from her, but Katye had not eased up her hold on Kes while she charged up the spell. Although she could not cast medium to advanced spells yet without runes, forming a bridge into Kes's mind was simple enough.
Katye's mind was pulled into Kes's Mental Plane where she and a man were standing. Behind Kes was her quarters back on Voyager and behind the man was a long v-shaped table with a throne at the head of the table and a portrait of himself on the wall behind. The balance of the space had been roughly forty-sixty, with Kes at the disadvantage, but now that she had joined, Katye carved out thirty percent of the space, specifically out of Tieran's Domain.
"Katye! Thank you," Kes said, looking at her with a weak smile.
"Don't think that I am simply going to..." Tieran started.
Katye snapped her fingers, more for theatrics, and bands of violet wrapped around his ankles, waist and arms, and also his mouth.
"Be silent," she huffed then looked at Kes with gentleness. "Kes, if you need someone to talk to after this, my door is always open. I've been through a similar situation when I first awoke my powers, so I know how it stays with you. I'll handle Tieran from here, but I need a few moments to set up the spell to purge him properly, so just check on Tuvok and wait for me."
Kes nodded her head, but the disappointment in her eyes was unmistakable. Katye could only sigh before she retracked her mind, drawing along Tieran's Ego along with her. Both of them opened their eyes together, but Katye closed hers again after she removed her hand from Kes's head.
When she reopened her eyes, it was within her own Mental Plane. Hers took the form of the living space on the Fae Dragon, but there was an addition, Tieran's bound form. The spell was a sloppy use of mana, simply surrounding his consciousness with her own, but she could hold it for hours is she needed to; not that it would take that long.
"As someone who used people your whole life, I hope that you will enjoy the irony of me refining what's left of your Ego and Soul to boost my own strength. Unfortunately, it's a very painful process," Katye said, her voice overlapping with Alkatyenia, as her fingertip started to glow, preparing her spell.
A/N: So far, the story has been mostly PG-13 and, if you read my other book, you know that I'll write some NSFW chapters. I'm thinking about doing one in after the next 'episode' or so, but I wanted to see if anyone would prefer I don't. I'm not the type to write those scenes every other chapter, but a couple more could happen in the future if I do the one. Let me know your opinions and I'll post my decision with next week's chapter.