Disclaimer: You all know it, the characters and background story don't belong to me but to Paramount, unfortunately. No copyright infringement is intended, no profit will be made.
Language Disclaimer: English is not my first language. So, please be lenient.
Sexual Disclaimer: This is an alt story, in other words there's a consensual sexual relationship between two adult women that at one points get pretty hands-on.
Timeline: Follows the show up to season five "The Dark Frontier".
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The Brig
by
romansilence
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Chapter One
"Lieutenant Torres, do you understand the charges brought against you?" Captain Janeway asked.
Her face was set in an unreadable mask but inside her heart was bleeding. She didn't want to do what she was about to do. It just couldn't be true, B'Elanna could not have done it, not in a million years; it was not who she was. The Human-Klingon Hybrid was one of the few people she trusted completely. She had earned that trust and developed into a great officer, and though she never would tell her, without her they never would have come this far. Without B'Elanna Voyager would have been destroyed dozens of times already.
And that's why she still couldn't believe it but neither Commander Tuvok nor Seven of Nine had been able to find evidence that contradicted B'Elanna's confession or at least offered extenuating circumstances, even the gossip mill on board was conspicuously silent.
"Yes, Ma'am, I understand the charges. I killed Commander Chakotay and I am responsible for the deaths of Lieutenant Carey and Crewman Merian. I plead guilty. Please, Captain, let's just get this over with."
Under different circumstances Kathryn would have smiled at B'Elanna's impatience and no-nonsense-attitude, but they were talking about the rest of the young woman's life, and lately she began to feel more anger than anything else at B'Elanna's stubborn refusal to explain her actions.
"This is your last chance to explain yourself, Lieutenant Torres. Explain at least why Commander Chakotay had been carrying a phaser set to kill. Give me a chance not to incarcerate you for life."
"There is nothing to say, Ma'am." B'Elanna said and looked her captain directly in the eyes.
"Then you leave me no other choice. Attention, everyone!"
The court-martial had followed Starfleet's war time protocol which basically stated that the decision would not be made by a jury of the defendant's peers but by the highest ranking Starfleet officer available. The rules also recommended that the trial should be held without public, but Captain Janeway had decided against that. After everything her crew had been through in the last five years they deserved to know what was going on. So, she had allowed public attendance and the mess hall was filled to capacity with every off-duty crewmember on board and if she was not mistaken a few who should have been at their duty stations.
"Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres, for murder in the first degree in one case and involuntary homicide in two cases you are hereby sentenced to life-imprisonment. However, this ship can ill afford to lose its best engineer. So, I'm giving you a choice, B'Elanna Torres. Crewman Suder's former cell has been repaired and is waiting for you. It would afford you privacy and twenty-four hours a day to think about your actions. Your other choice is to be imprisoned in the brig, without much privacy but with the chance to continue to work in Engineering as a crewman."
"The brig, Captain." B'Elanna answered without hesitation. Then she removed the bronze bar indicating her rank from her collar and put it on the desk in front of Janeway.
"So, be it. Security, escort Crewman Torres to the brig. Everyone else, dismissed!"
Her crew quickly left the room without a single word even before the two security officers had reached B'Elanna. There were no protests, no groups lingering to speak among themselves; they just left silently. When Kathryn finally stepped out of the mess hall come courtroom she saw that they obviously had formed some sort of honour guard to the left and the right of the corridor leading to the turbolift, and later she learned that on the whole way to the brig her crew had lined the corridors and stood at attention for the prisoner.
If nothing else this was ample proof that there was something about the whole thing she still missed. It kept nagging at her, and it had ever since she had come back from Unimatrix One after rescuing Seven of Nine.
B'Elanna had been on the bridge when the Delta Flyer had dropped out of the transwarp corridor. She had been the one to fire the torpedoes that had collapsed the corridor and destroyed the Borg ship chasing them. But when they had docked a few minutes later Harry had been in charge and B'Elanna had already been in the brig.
She remembered the conversation in the shuttle bay…
"Welcome home, Captain, Commander, Tom," Harry said after snapping to the most rigid parade attention Janeway had ever seen, even from him.
"It's good to be home, Ensign. Where are Lieutenant Torres and Commander Chakotay? I expect a status report and I want the transwarp coil fitted to Voyager's engines ASAP. We should get out of here before they'll send another cube to get us."
"The transfer of the transwarp coil has already been prepared. Nicoletti and Vorik know what to do, Captain," Harry answered with his eyes slightly to the left of his captain's head.
"That's good to hear but it does not explain Commander Chakotay's absence," Janeway said and gave Harry a force five glare.
Harry swallowed hard but then squared his shoulders and said, "There have been two incidents while you were gone, Captain. Two days after you left there was an accident in Engineering. Commander Chakotay had ordered an exercise, an emergency shut-down and restart of the warp core. Something went wrong and the shut-down process created an energy surge. A few systems in the engine room exploded but it also migrated to other systems. Holodeck One exploded and six former Maquis and two Starfleet officers who had been in the holodeck to play volleyball were killed. The energy surge also fried all of our surveillance cameras, video and audio. We only were able to get everything back up to work the day before yesterday. The reports are already waiting on your desk."
Now it was Janeway's turn to swallow hard. Eight dead! "What caused the accident?"
"We don't know for sure, Captain. Without the surveillance footage it's hard to tell where it started. We were busy with repairing the damage and didn't have the time to investigate the reason," Harry answered.
"You said there were two incidents, Ensign Kim," Tuvok asked from behind.
"Yes Commander. Two days after the accident there was an altercation between Commander Chakotay and Lieutenant Torres in Engineering. As far as I know the commander was complaining that the repairs were not going fast enough and that we needed to be battle ready at a moment's notice and Lieutenant Torres told him that it would take as long as it would take. They came to blows. Chakotay pulled his phaser but Lieutenant Torres still attacked him. Shots were fired and Lieutenant Carey and Crewman Merian who had tried to separate the fighters were killed by phaser fire. Lieutenant Torres wrestled Chakotay down and broke his neck. She is in the brig to await her court-martial, Ma'am."
Replaying the conversation with Harry in her mind on her way back to the bridge Kathryn suddenly became aware that the young man had not once looked at her then. She also realised that ever since he tried to avoid looking her in the eyes. And once again her mind ran rampant with other possible scenarios.
In moments she felt especially paranoid she was certain that her crew, her whole crew was keeping something from her, something important, but most of the time her mind came back to the one thing she really couldn't wrap her mind around.
Yes, B'Elanna had a volatile temper but she kept it under a tight lid. She shouted and cursed, she threw things and sometimes she dented an unsuspecting wall panel with her bare fist; but ever since she had broken Lieutenant Carey's nose right at the beginning of their journey she not once had raised her hand against another sentient being. Yes, she had threatened them, but she never had really done anything.
The closest B'Elanna had ever come to come to blows with someone had been in the early days of Seven's presence on board when the tall blonde had still been learning about social behaviour – and that soon had turned out to be sexual tension more than anything else.
Kathryn stepped into the turbolift. She couldn't help the smile that spread over her face when she thought about the day her surrogate daughters had shared their first kiss.
About eight months after she had severed Seven from the Borg Collective she had been called down to Engineering to end yet another of the numerous confrontations between the two women. She had been able to hear the shouting from the moment she stepped off the turbolift, and from what she heard it had been nothing special, just a variation of the average 'This is my engine room and you have to respect the rules' from B'Elanna and Seven's 'The rules are inefficient and obsolete'. But then there suddenly had been silence, utter and complete silence, and she had broken into a run. When she had rounded the corner to the main entrance of Engineering she had seen B'Elanna and Seven locked in a passionate kiss, and to this day she didn't know who had been kissing whom.
It had, of course, not completely stopped their arguments; sometimes she thought that nothing ever would, but she never again had been called down to Deck Eleven to end a confrontation. And with the help of the relationship with B'Elanna, the crew had started to accept Seven as one of their own…
No, she still didn't get it. What could Chakotay possibly have said to make B'Elanna fly off the handle this completely? The only thing she had come up with was that he might have insulted Seven or B'Elanna's honour as a Klingon warrior, but both had happened before and then B'Elanna had not lost control then. What had been different this time?
Had it been the stress of losing Seven to the Borg just when the young women had had moved in together and not being allowed to go on the rescue? Had it been her fault that three people, including her First Officer, now were dead?
The lift arriving at the bridge brought Kathryn out of her musings. Tuvok immediately rose from the command chair and Harry left his post behind the operations' console.
"It can't be over just yet. She must have taken more time to explain," he said.
"Crewman Torres was sentenced to life imprisonment for one count of murder and two counts of involuntary homicide, Ensign Kim," the captain answered neutrally but with a flat undertone in her voice.
"But… but she… she prom…" He fell silent, straightened his posture and asked, "Permission to go on an early lunch break, Captain?"
"Permission granted, Ensign." Harry was gone before she even had a chance to say, 'Dismissed'.
"Report Commander Tuvok."
"No planets, no nebulas or other stellar phenomena at all for the next sector, and according to Astrometrics for the next three sectors," Tuvok reported in his neutral voice. "Repairs are progressing according to plan and should be finished in the next forty-eight to sixty hours. Captain, would you like to discuss the upcoming changes in personnel in your Ready Room?"
Kathryn translated his last words to 'What I have to say is not for the ears of the crew, not even the bridge crew'. So, she just nodded and led the way.
Janeway took a seat behind her desk and Tuvok stood comfortably in front of it. Even after almost a week he looked strange to her in the red uniform, and if he were prone to such illogical Human feelings he probably also would feel uncomfortable.
She came straight to the point, "So, my friend, which changes do you object to?"
"Personally, none, Captain, in my opinion you made the logical choice."
"And as my first officer?" She cautiously asked.
"As your first officer I'm curious why you chose to disregard Lieutenant Torres' recommendation to put Lieutenants Nicoletti and Vorik in joint charge on Engineering?" Tuvok asked.
"One day Susan Nicoletti will be a good chief. At the moment she might have B'Elanna's intuition but she does not have her intimate knowledge of Voyager's systems. Vorik knows Voyager's systems but he doesn't feel them. None of them is ready to take over as Chief and despite Crewman Torres' recommendation Engineering can not be run by committee, not even a committee by two. Seven on the other hand is ready to step in for B'Elanna. She has the knowledge and she follows her intuition more often than she would ever admit. Seven of Nine is the better choice. During the last week I spent more time in Engineering than in any of the years before. The Engine Room needs a real Chief, not some people who are still learning the ropes." Janeway answered.
"As I said, Captain, your reasoning is logical, but in recent years Astrometrics has become almost as important to Voyager's survival as Engineering, and no one pays as much attention to detail as Seven of Nine, not even me." Tuvok replied.
"My decision stands, Commander, Seven of Nine will take over as Chief of Engineering and will oversee the Astrometrics' lab." The captain answered. "Dismissed Commander."
Tuvok inclined his head and left.
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"B'Elanna, please, talk to me. You promised that you would set it right during the trial. Pleading guilty won't do that," Harry said.
The young Human-Klingon Hybrid sat on the bunk that would be her new bed and smiled at her friend.
"I'll be alright, Starfleet," she said.
"Don't call me Starfleet, B'Elanna. Two people I considered my friends betrayed everything Starfleet stands for."
"Yes, Harry, they did, but you didn't. You are the embodiment of a Starfleet officer. You have nothing to be ashamed of. The fact that the Maquis no longer exist and the fact that Chakotay and his cronies betrayed not only us and our Captain but also everything the Maquis ever believed in does not make me ashamed of being Maquis. Your honour is your own, Starfleet. And pleading guilty was the only thing I could do, Harry. I killed Chakotay, and Carey and Merian are dead because I didn't do it when I should have, when I challenged him for leadership. Everyone on board of this ship has to understand that what happened can not go unpunished. Someone has to pay the price, and that's me. Seven understood, why don't you?" B'Elanna said.
"Seven has the same exaggerated sense of responsibility and guilt as you do, Lanna. Did it ever occur to you that the best thing to do would be to tell the truth?" Harry retorted.
"Harry, you promised me you wouldn't, and I count on you to keep your word. Kath… The captain is not to know, not now, not ever. It would damage her ability to command if she were to know. She would start to second-guess herself, and that's something she, and we can not afford."
"I'll keep my promise, Lanna, but I don't have to like it."
Naomi Wildman hid in a doorway when Harry left the brig. While the captain and the doctor had been gone to bring Seven back, her mother and Neelix had basically kept her in their quarters, even her lessons took place there. The only explanation they had given her was that there had been an accident and that it would be safer for her to stay in. They even had changed the door's encryption code. But after what she had just overheard she was determined to find out what had really been going on.
So, instead of going to sickbay and meet with the doctor for her biology lesson, the girl returned to her own quarters and began to check Voyager's logs, and when she didn't find what she had been looking for she started to check the back-ups. Sometimes having two of the best engineers in the Quadrant as her teachers did pay off, Naomi thought but it still took her more than two weeks to piece together what had happened. She even spoke to her friend B'Elanna in the brig who convinced her not to tell the captain. During her next shift in Engineering B'Elanna erased the brig logs of Naomi's visit.
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Captain Kathryn Janeway sat in her Ready Room, ostensibly reading personal reports. Though Tuvok would never admit it, he felt uncomfortable having to deal with the personal problems of the crew; so, Kathryn had taken over some of the duties usually relegated to the first officer – and if she was honest going over those records with Chakotay had taken longer than she needed now doing it by herself. Her mind, however, was not really on the task.
It was with B'Elanna and what could have happened to make her lose control that completely, to make her lose control to the point of killing a friend, but she was not closer to an answer than she was two weeks ago after the trial.
Kathryn also had tried to speak to Seven of Nine. If there was one person on board to whom B'Elanna would have told the whole truth, it was Seven, her lover, her benal. Seven, however, avoided her as best as she could. The few times they had had to interact in a professional capacity Seven had reverted to her old Borg mannerisms and speech pattern.
There had even been moments when she had contemplated to simply go down to the lower desks, grab a passing crewmember and order them to tell her what really happened, moments during which she was utterly convinced that the whole crew was keeping the truth from her. Of course she knew perfectly well that she never would do it and that those thoughts bordered on paranoia.
She also had tried to get B'Elanna to talk, of course, more than once, but to no avail. The last time, only two days prior, had been utterly frustrating. It had been halfway through Beta Shift and she had found the security officer on duty standing guard outside of the cell block.
"Does the prisoner have a visitor, Ensign?" Janeway asked.
"No, Captain, but Commander Tuvok told us that it was alright to give Lieu… Crewman Torres some private time, especially after a long shift. She only returned from Engineering half an hour ago," he answered.
Janeway only nodded and stepped in. B'Elanna had been doing some sit-ups but immediately jumped to her feet when she saw her commanding officer.
"At ease, crewman," Kathryn ordered. "How are you, B'Elanna?"
B'Elanna's at-ease-stance was only slight less stiff than Harry's attention-posture but her voice sounded perfectly normal, almost relaxed, "I'm fine, Captain, thank you. What can I do for you, Captain Janeway?"
"I heard you just returned from a long shift. Is there anything wrong in Engineering?" The captain asked.
"I was just busy with some maintenance in Jeffries tube forty-six, Captain. You'll have to ask Lieutenant Nicoletti, Ensign Vorik or Seven of Nine for specifics about Engineering as a whole." There was a distinct note of resignation in her voice.
"It's hard being out of the loop, isn't it, Lanna?" Kathryn asked.
"The hardest part is not to be the one who is giving the orders. It hurts, Kathryn, but I brought this upon myself. You don't know how much I appreciate it to be allowed to still be useful for this ship. I would have gone crazy, locked up with nothing to do. Thank you."
"You're welcome, but it was a selfish decision. Why did you do it, Lanna? Why did you attack Commander Chakotay?"
"I killed him, Captain, that's all there is to say, and I don't regret it. I only regret that Merian and Carey also had to pay the price." B'Elanna answered.
"What did he say to you, Lanna? Why did you lose control?"
"There is nothing to tell, Captain. I'm sorry."
B'Elanna had held her eyes but had not responded to any further questions, and after a few more minutes Kathryn had left. The only thing that visit had done was to reaffirm her belief that her former Chief Engineer had not told the whole truth during her trail. She was now sure that B'Elanna wanted to be punished, and that it was not for killing Commander Chakotay. Sooner or later she would find out what was behind B'Elanna's stubborn refusal to tell her the truth.
She would find out what drove her to basically punish herself. She would get her to talk. Her gut feeling told Kathryn that on Qo'nos B'Elanna's actions would not have been prosecuted but applauded, and if she got her to admit to that she would have a justification to change the sentence, if not even declare the whole trial void. Lieutenant Worf's career on the Enterprise was proof enough that Starfleet and the Federation respected a Klingon's right to defend or revenge their mate, and B'Elanna was a daughter of the Klingon Empire. She just had to get her to swallow her pride and admit to it.
So, the next morning she ordered Lieutenant Ayala who had taken over as Chief of Security for Commander Tuvok to her Ready Room.
"Lieutenant, it has come to my attention that the regulations governing the treatment of prisoners, especially prisoners found guilty of a violent crime are not respected. From now on there will be no more guarding from a distance, no unsupervised visits, a security officer will be with Crewman Torres at all time during work. Conversation is to be limited to work related topics alone. I also saw that she is still wearing an engineering uniform instead of a prisoner's jumpsuit. See to it that all of those regulations are followed to the letter."
"With all due respect, Captain, but so far B'El… Crewman Torres has been a model prisoner. There is no reason to treat her like a common convict," Ayala said carefully.
"Lieutenant Ayala, one day you might earn it but at the moment you don't have the right to question my orders. I expect my orders to be followed. Dismissed."
"Yes Ma'am."
As soon as he was gone Kathryn took a deep breath and went to her replicator for a cup of coffee. She quietly admitted to herself that she could have handled the whole situation better. She could have trusted Ayala and told him why she insisted on this change in treatment. She could have told him that she was convinced that the only way to get B'Elanna to open up, to get her to talk was to break her first, or at least to soften her up.
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