cover designed by: Chris
Written between February and March 2002
The story
NOTE:
This story chronicles the lives of Chakotay and Kathryn over a period of about six years. It is written in an AU scenario where there is no Caretaker, Voyager does not travel in the Delta Quadrant and most of the action will take place in the Alpha Quadrant. I know that readers are mostly used to reading J/C in the Caretaker/Delta Quadrant/Homecoming setting, or set somewhere in one of the seasons of ST Voyager. It was therefore something of a challenge I've accepted to write a story where the destinies and lives run differently from what we are commonly accustomed to.
I wrote this story in parts over a period of a year - March 2002 to February/March 2003 - with a chapter appearing each week. During that time, I had been in constant communication with the many readers who posted feedback every week and from whom I'd taken great encouragement to continue. Once I posted a questionnaire at the end of chapter 16, asking them to furnish me with personal information; it was well received and the many responses were enough to give me the impetus to continue with a certain premise within the broader spectrum of the story's many events.
"Strangers when we meet" is a mammoth story. It's total number of pages in Word is 557 pages with 283958 words. The file size is 2.46MB. This is the longest story I have written and one that left me with the most intense emotional exhaustion.
The story is novel length, divided into five books.
PREMISE:
When I considered a premise for this story, I looked at the relationship between two persons and asked the question: If a marriage had everything in place - trust, intimacy, complete faith, love, security - surely, there is nothing that can rend it asunder, is there?
SUMMARY:
When Commander Chakotay agrees reluctantly and against his better judgment to accompany a young woman he has never seen to a Command Performance for the President of the Federation, neither he nor Kathryn Janeway will comprehend fully the far reaching consequences of their first meeting, a blind date.
BOOK ONE
Beginnings
Chapter1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 [NC-17]
BOOK TWO
Tears
Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12[NC-17] Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15
Chapter 16 [NC-17] Chapter 17 Chapter 18
BOOK THREE
Abyss
Chapter 19 Chapter 20 [NC-17] Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24
BOOK FOUR
Maquis
Chapter 25 Chapter 26 [R] Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 [NC-17] Chapter 32 Chapter 33
BOOK FIVE
Post Tenebras Lux [After darkness, light]
Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 [NC-17] Chapter 38 Chapter 39 [R] Chapter 40 Epilogue
END