Disclaimer: All characters and locations are the property of Paramount, and are taken from Star Trek: Voyager, inspired by the work of Gene Roddenberry. All plot and dialogue in this story is my own.

Headnote: Tal Celes, Willian Telfer, and Mortimer Harren are crewmen of U.S.S. Voyager. First appeared in Season 6, taken on a shuttle mission by Captain Janeway to try and help them integrate better with the crew.

Crush

Stardate 53760

Crewman Tal Celes slumped over the mess hall table as the crew of USS Voyager bustled around her. Her mug of coffee sat in front of her, slowly radiating its heat to the environment. She hadn't touched it since ordering it from the replicator ten minutes earlier.

"Tal?" Billy Telfer leant over the table. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah." Tal's voice was muffled by the tabletop. "'m fine."

A chair scraped across the floor as Billy sat down. "You look about as 'fine' as I used to. Have you seen the Doctor?"

"I'm fine, Billy." Tal glanced up at her friend's concerned face. "It was a rough shift, that's all."

"Obviously." Mortimer Harren pulled out a chair and settled in place. "You work with the Borg, after all."

Tal scowled at him. "Seven of Nine is an excellent senior officer."

"I'm sure she's very, oh... efficient," Harren agreed, "but she's not exactly considerate, is she?" He waved off Billy's incredulous look. "What's the old saying? 'It takes one to know one'?"

"You're not being fair," Tal said. "Seven's not a bad person-"

Harren scoffed. "'Person'."

"Stop that!" Tal straightened up, glaring at him. "Just because she used to be a drone doesn't make her any less of a person. She may be..." She waved a hand through the air. "... strange, but she does her absolute best for this ship - and for her crew."

Billy raised a hand. "Ah, didn't she just tell the Captain you're 'inefficient' and should be transferred out of Astrometrics?" He ducked as Tal's glare swung to him. "I'm just saying."

"And what was the result of that?" Tal spread her hands out on the table. "I won't say Captain Janeway's shuttle mission was fun, but look how far we've come since then. Seven saw I was struggling, and she did her best - in her 'efficient' way - to help me work through it."

Harren opened his mouth, but Billy got there first. He leant across the table, peering into Tal's eyes. "You're kidding. Tal, have you got a crush on her?"

Tal's face flushed, and she pushed back in her chair. "No! I just don't think she deserves all the things people say about her. She's actually really lovely, in her own way..."

"You have!" Billy grinned at her. "You've fallen head over heels for Seven of Nine!"

Tal winced, glancing around at the other crew members in the mess hall. "Keep it down, will you?" she hissed. "And what if I have?"

"You're wasting your time," Harren remarked. "She's Borg."

"That doesn't mean she doesn't have feelings," Tal retorted. "You-"

Harren cut over her. "That's not what I meant. She's Borg. All those lovely curves you're thinking about are just armour plating under her uniform."

Tal gaped at him. "You... that's not even true!"

"How would you know?" Harren arched an eyebrow at her. "Are you saying you do know?"

"Well, I- no, but-" Tal shook her head sharply. "Seven is a wonderful person, and I won't listen to this conversation any further," she declared. "Just because you can't cope with the idea that she's different to the rest of us, or that she had a... a difficult life before she joined us, or that it's actually possible to feel affection for someone without it automatically being about sex-!"

Billy coughed. "Ah, Tal? You're shouting..."

The blood drained from Tal's face. She looked around to find that the room had fallen silent, everyone (or so it seemed) staring at her. Across the mess hall, helmsman Tom Paris turned to operations officer Harry Kim and made a low comment.

Tal Celes pushed up to her feet. She grabbed her coffee mug, scattering a few drops over the table. Then, without saying another word, she hurried out of the room.

Tal, Billy, and Harren first appeared in 'Good Shepherd', during which Captain Janeway coaxed Tal out of her low self-esteem, accidentally cured Billy of hypochondria, and persuaded Harren that at least pretending to socialise was a good idea. This chapter, obviously, takes place after that mission.

Billy and Harren were never seen again; Tal had only a single later appearance (actually set earlier), during which she was accused of messing up a diagnostic, and later attacked Harry Kim, believing him to be an alien intruder.

So why am I using Tal for this story? Because she's an interesting character. Because my wife 'ships her with Seven. Because she can be seen checking Janeway out in her first episode. And because I feel that someone who looks at Harry Kim's shadow and thinks 'the ship has been taken over by Borg!' needs a bit more time in the spotlight.

She also turns out to be one of the few minor characters with her own filter on FFn; there are 23 previous Tal Celes stories here. Let's make that 24.

Oh, and yeah, apparently 'crewman' is a gender-neutral term in Star Trek. Apparently.

Timeline: as the chapters aren't in chronological order, I thought it best to provide a timeline. The current chapter is in BOLD CAPITALS; previous chapters are underlined.

Commission - Consider - Charming - Construction - Caught - Casual - Cultural - CRUSH - Calming - Curse - Committed