This story is the seventh in this series after 'Distress Call', 'House Call', 'Call to Arms', 'Call me Kathryn' and 'A Call from the Dark Side' and 'It's Your Call'. All stories in the series feature a relationship between two women with sexual scenes. If you don't like that, don't read this.

Tough Call

Part One

Seated in a comfortable-looking, threadbare armchair, a small, frail man held an ornately-decorated wooden box. His gnarled fingers struggled to remove the lid of what was originally a tea caddy, until twenty years ago when he had unceremoniously dumped out the tea leaves and put the container to a different use.

Around the high-ceilinged room were cabinets, cupboards and chests-of-drawers of all shapes and sizes, in which were kept the man's lifetime's work. Over his sixty-year career as a biologist and palaeontologist of some note, Dr. Grout had amassed thousands of fossils, preserved animal and plant specimens, drawings and diagrams and soil samples, each one carefully labelled and stored safely for future generations to examine.

Not labelled, however, was the item he now removed from the caddy, handling it with a mixture of wonder and apprehension, turning it over and over in his bony fingers as he had done on countless occasions since he found it. The curious metal fragment had been buried in an undisturbed layer of soil, which in itself wasn't at all remarkable. What was disturbing was that it lay beneath the almost complete fossil of a dinosaur which he and his team were excavating. This worried Grout so much that, panicked and fearing for his reputation as a credible scientist, he had hidden the find immediately and told no-one until ten years had passed.

Studying the matchbox-sized fragment with old, tired eyes, he recalled the words of a fellow scientist and best friend, now long dead. As Grout remembered, he whispered the words that had burned into his memory. "Dear boy, if you value your career, put this thing where no-one will find it, or you'll be the laughing stock of Oxford. This metal is unlike anything we know; it isn't even within shouting distance of Dmitri's blasted periodic table. For God's sake, man, keep this quiet, or we'll both look like fools!"

With the coal fire burnt down to a pile of glowing embers, the room was cooling rapidly, darkness setting in which was barely combatted by the light from two flickering candles. Breathing out a long, deep sigh, Dr. Grout placed the metal piece back in its box and set the lid back on with a soft clunk. Tomorrow he would throw the caddy and its unexplainable contents into the swirling waters of the Isis and attempt to forget that it ever existed, for he was an old man and would soon be gone, his collection left to other, younger, braver and more curious scientists.

Part Two

One-Upward was almost empty, for the hour was still early, and anyone who chanced to drift in would not, at first glance, notice the lone figure slumped, semi-hidden, at a corner table. One large hand gripped a small glass tightly, as though were it not for this firm hold the glass would wander off of its own accord. The other reached for a bottle of amber-coloured liquid, unsteadily curling thick fingers around the neck and tipping it, splashing a generous amount of whisky into the glass as well as over the surrounding table. The man grunted and clumsily wiped up the spillage with an already-damp sleeve. As he raised the glass to his lips, body swaying, his keen ears heard the sound of voices before the doors swished open. With a few muttered words, holding on to both glass and bottle, a blue light enveloped the bulky form, and within seconds the man disappeared.

Part Three

"Morning," Janeway murmured lazily, rolling onto her side to face her lover and wrapping her arms around the warm body, pulling Seven-of-Nine close and softly kissing the bare skin of the young woman's neck. Seven responded with actions rather than words, raising up onto one elbow so than she was above Janeway's naked body before lowering herself and taking a hard nipple into her mouth. She sucked briefly, then began flicking her tongue across it, eliciting quiet moans from Voyager's Captain which grew louder as the ex-Borg's wandering hands caressed the older woman's stomach and thighs.

Moving her lips across to the other small, perfect breast, Seven gave that the same treatment, teasing the nipple with her dancing tongue. Slowly, one hand crept up the inside of Janeway's leg, the back of Seven's hand lightly brushing against the triangular patch of thick, auburn hair that felt soft against the young woman's pale skin. The Captain shuddered a little, instinctively raising her hips to create more pressure against the sensitive area, and her lover obliged, rubbing the delicious folds with her palm in a rhythmic, circular motion.

Gasping, Janeway squirmed under the touch, and the blonde continued, feeling a growing wetness against her fingers as the older woman's arousal grew. Continuing to stimulate her lover, Seven adjusted the position of her hand slightly, allowing her long, slender middle finger to reach the moist opening and slip inside, penetrating her partner little by little. As Seven continued her movements, pressing harder now against the small bundle of nerves, the finger moved in and out, deeper each time, and when the Borg curled her finger up slightly Janeway's body stiffened, a yelp of pleasure escaping her throat followed by ecstatic moans as her climax took hold.

Continuing as her lover reached her peak, Seven once again took a nipple in her mouth, nipping it gently between her teeth before sucking once again, harder this time. The Captain's hips bucked and thrust, her moans laboured and gasping as the throes of orgasm washed through her, reaching every part of her with a warm flood of release. When her movements subsided, Seven withdrew her finger, caressing Janeway for a few more seconds before moving her hand and taking the older woman in her arms, kissing her passionately on the lips. The young blonde smiled as she held her lover, who still shook slightly as she melted into the ex-Borg's strong yet gentle grasp.

"Thank you," whispered Janeway, "that was…amazing."

Seven's response was to hug her partner tighter, feeling her own arousal grow as her body pressed against Janeway's.

Part Four

Though the majority of the ship was still running on night mode, the corridors dimly illuminated and sounds muted, Engineering was a blazing beacon of light and activity, with Chief Engineer B'Elanna Torres scurrying between workstations and wielding a variety of tools, barking orders and sporting a constant grin.

"Parker!" shouted the feisty half-Klingon, causing a yellow-uniformed crewman to jump, startled, before hurrying to Torres's side, perspiring heavily.

"Aye, Sir?"

"How's the warp constrictor alignment coming along?" B'Elanna demanded, continuing to work even as she spoke.

The crewman allowed himself a tentative smile as he replied. "Finished, Lieutenant. I ran several simulations without any problems, either with the QL drive or Voyager's systems."

Clapping the man heartily on the back and causing him to stumble slightly, Torres's grin widened, her eyes flashing with excitement. "Excellent," she breathed, turning to look yet again at the huge piece of technology that stood adjacent to Voyager's warp reactor, now almost fully integrated with their own Starfleet systems.

The 'Quantum Leap' drive, or QL, had been a generous gift from a grateful alien race, one of the few that the Voyager crew had encountered during their journey through the dangerous and – for the most part – unfriendly Delta Quadrant. Working on the principle of the folding of space-time, Torres had seen it in action many times during their dealings with the Talkari, and despite her fears of materialising at the other end of the universe or being turned to mush, the alien technology worked flawlessly – on their ships. The hard part, which was now into its third week, was integrating QL with Voyager's engineering technology, but little by little this had been achieved. B'Elanna was immensely proud of her crew, each of whom had put in over and above the time and effort normally expected of them. She was also tired, dirty and hungry.

"I'm going off duty for a few hours," announced the small woman, to no-one in particular, wiping her grubby hands on her even grubbier trousers. Without waiting for a reply, for every person in engineering was concentrating on their assigned tasks, Torres strode out of her domain into the cool, dim corridor beyond.