"Parameters"
By Blue-Haired Goddess
Wednesday August 9, 2017
Based on the TV Series "Star Trek: Voyager"
Disclaimer: This fanfiction is a work of love, and no copyright infringement is intended. No money ever was or ever will be accepted for this work. "Star Trek: Voyager" and its characters are the property of Paramount Network Television and distributed by CBS Television Distribution.
A/N: This is the first chapter of possibly many. At least 2 more chapters intended.
"Parameters"
Chapter One
"Computer, lights. Full illumination."
Approximately 0.6 seconds after the starship Voyager's sickbay lights switched on, the Emergency Medical Hologram (Voyager's Chief Medical Officer) materialized into the room.
"Please state the nature of the medical emergency."
"Good afternoon, Doctor. Expertise of a medical nature is not required at this time." The tall blonde strode into the room, her pointed heels making soft tapping noises as she crossed the carpeted room.
"Seven! My favorite Borg." The hologram greeted her. "What brings you back to Voyager? I thought you'd be setting up your new office at Starfleet headquarters by now."
"I was." Seven of Nine, technically an ex-Borg, replied. "However, my work station has been satisfactorily prepared for my arrival and my consulting assignment does not officially begin for two more days. I have sufficient free time to see... a friend."
"Well, I am glad to hear it." The Doctor smiled warmly. "A friend in need is a friend indeed."
"Indeed." Seven nodded, a slight upturned curve playing briefly on her full lips. A smile, slight as it was, was a new expression for the Doctor to see on Seven's face, guarded as she had previously been for most of her for years living aboard the ship.
"So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?" He asked, guiding her into his office partition and settling into his desk.
Seven settled into the seat opposite his, smoothing out the sensible lilac-colored knee-length skirt that had become her new off-duty Earthside attire. Gone were the days of functional, and form-fitting biosuits, and yet Seven was still nothing if not practical. Her wide, blue eyes locked onto the Doctor's rounded chocolate brown ones, set deeply into his serious, but seriously expressive face. It was full of concern right now. She expected nothing less. The Doctor, aside from her former Captain—arguably more than her former Captain, who had made it a personal mission to re-integrate Seven into humanity—had been there for her more times than she could count. Almost without fail. There was one instance, however, when she had thought she'd lost his friendship forever... She pushed that thought aside. She drew in a deep breath, mentally preparing her words.
"I require your advice on a...personal matter."
"Fire away." The Doctor leaned forward, going into full counseling mode. Of course, he would help his dear friend whom he had shared so much with, who had stood by him despite his occasional lack of judgment, his ego, his humiliations. He was all photonic ears for her now. Coming home to the Alpha quadrant shouldn't disrupt their friendship. Even if that's all that it was.
Her smile faded. "My question is regarding my ability to engage in...romantic love. "
Awkwardness activated in the Doctor's emotional subroutines, and a sort of aching longing could be seen in his eyes. However, the Borg's gaze was presently averted, and the Doctor's expression remained as private as his thoughts. He did not like to be reminded of her romantic life, not since she had indicated that she saw him only as a friend, the mentor that he was more than happy to be for her. He especially did not relish the reminder since she had become involved with a decidedly un-holographic Commander Chakotay.
"Seven, the surgeries regarding the restoration of your... physical processes..." Seven glanced up, practically glowering at the Doctor.
"Cognitive ability." She clarified. "Am I even capable..." She hesitated, the Doctor perceived a new vulnerability cross her features. He remembered that far from being innocent, she now had a budding social life, and a mate to call her own. Thousands of social engagement scenarios flitted across his mind, and with it imaginings of too many possible intimate and social situations she could be experiencing in her new relationship with Voyager's former Executive Officer.
"... Am I capable of romantic love?" She queried.
"Seven," the Doctor responded, emphatically, "I happen to know from firsthand experience that you have an enormous range of emotional responses. Over the past few years that you have been aboard Voyager, you have shown an enormous growth of emotional intelligence as well. This crew wouldn't have been the same without you. You've been the parental figure to five Borg children, mentored Naomi, advocated for my creative rights and the rights of several other humanoids species as well..."
"I was only doing my job."
"Was playing kadis-kot with Naomi part of the job?"
"My friendship with Naomi Wildman began as a result of a malfunction. The vinculum—"
"Was continuing to play kadis-kot a result of a malfunction?"
"No. It was not."
"There, you see? My point is, you have shown a remarkable capacity for compassion, and dare I say, love for your fellow crewmates." The Doctor could swear he felt his simulated heart swell in his chest. "I would hope that our friendship alone would have shown you that."
"And before you ask," He continued, deftly waving a medical scanner that Seven had not previously noticed in a gentle arc above her head, "there is nothing in your physiology that would lead me to believe otherwise. Especially since we've successfully disengaged the failsafe device from your cortical node. As I've stated before, you are now free to experience the entire range of human emotions. Romantic love would be no different."
"I am not certain your assertions are entirely accurate. Romantic love certainly is...different."
"I don't mean to be indelicate," The Doctor responded. "But shouldn't the Commander be the one you should be speaking to about this? Your love life, I mean?"
"Chakotay and I have ended our previous romantic involvement. We will not be seeing each other again."
"I...see." The Doctor's behavioral subroutines internally winced—as they always did—at her informality in addressing her senior officer. Her lover, he reminded himself. Or, former lover. ButSomewhere inside the depths of his program, his matrix also buzzed with joy that she was no longer attached and also ached with sympathy for whatever she might be experiencing as a result of the romantic dissolution. "I'm so sorry to hear that." He said aloud. "May I ask..."
"We are no longer compatible partners. The affections were..." She searched for the words, "...fleeting."
"I see." He said again.
"It is disconcerting." She stated.
"The breakup?" He asked.
"The reason."
"Tell me."
"As I understand human mating criteria, we were an exceptionally compatible match. We were aesthetically comparable. As Neelix informed me, the Commander and I 'looked good together.' What's more," She continued, "He had admirable qualities. We had similar work ethics. We both came from difficult backgrounds and have overcome our respective obstacles. Apparently, that was not enough." She finished glumly.
"There is more to being a compatible partner than what's in the personnel file." The Doctor offered gently. Surely, he thought, she should know that much.
"I was not enough." She stated, bitterness tinging her already clipped voice.
"You weren't?" Curiosity and protectiveness pulled at the Doctor's processes. To him, Seven was the entire package. Beauty, brains, talent, and endless amounts of strength and potential...there was little in Seven that the Doctor could find fault in that wasn't part of her previous trauma associated with years of being a Borg drone. Even much of that had been expunged by years of experience being a fully functional member of Voyager's crew.
"According to the Commander, I am too guarded. Too... 'closed off,' or something." She waved her hand for emphasis.
"Or something?" The Doctor eyed Seven with amusement at her very un-Seven-like vernacular.
"I do not recall his exact words. Suffice it to say, we are no longer a couple."
"I would beg to disagree with that assessment. Even right now, you are showing remarkable disclosure. You are more open every day. You are truly becoming a remarkable human being. But...I take it you blame yourself for the breakup?"
"It was I who first suggested that a romantic relationship with me would bring him pain in the long run. And..." She drew a deep breath and let it out with a sigh, "It was I who stated that I do not love him."