"Living Daylights"
Chapter 1: Adolescent Hell
A brigade of Borg cubes were hurtling through space toward the lone U.S.S. Locutus. The young captain, his left eye framed by a Borg implant, stared at the viewscreen.
A trillion calculations a second sifted through his Borg-enhanced brain. He'd taken the usual precautions. The Red Alert klaxon was sounding; shields were modulating; every crewman was armed. But he knew his ship and crew could not hold off the barbarians at the gate indefinitely.
The Starfleet science officer plucked at her blue and black uniform, scratching under the short turtleneck. Dani Janeway tossed her red hair back, as another former Borg drone traversed the Bridge.
She savored the catlike saunter of Mezoti as she crossed the deck. Mezoti's three braids framed her face, but did nothing to hide the round Borg implant at her left temple. Out of her usual biosuit, Mezoti was wearing Starfleet gold and black, as if she'd been born to wear it. In fact, Voyager had rescued her as a young drone, along with three others, less than a decade ago.
As she neared the science station, Mezoti turned her chin to the redhead as she passed, a flirtatious smile on her lips. "Jetsam, mate," she whispered, thumbing behind her.
Dani quirked a corner of her mouth at her sense of humor. Mezoti, in her thirst for knowledge, had studied every bit of Starfleet space-faring history, expanding to add Earth's maritime history to be thorough. Just yesterday, she'd explained to a dreamy-eyed Dani at the midday meal that ancient sailors would jettison useless cargo overboard to lighten the load during times of emergency. That tidbit from anyone else would have garnered a yawn from the Captain's oldest daughter, but, for Mezoti, she was enthralled.
Dani was also accustomed to dry Borg humor, having been the recipient of it often enough from her own mother.
Dani's smile vanished when her eyes met First Officer Naomi Wildman, seated beside Captain Icheb. Naomi lifted her chin in that irritating imitation of Dani's mother and flicked a brow at the viewscreen, urging her subordinate to pursue her duties.
In the next second, Borg drones materialized on the Bridge with an eerie green shimmering light. They brandished menacing assimilation tubules. Phaser fire arced across the Bridge. Some Borg were cut down and dematerialized, while some crew were being forced to their knees. Ruptured conduits and damaged console stations began to crack and pop with the invasion.
When a Borg took hold of Dani's wrists, she burst out laughing. The Borg tipped his head at her reaction, making no other moves. Dani tried to stop laughing, but when she saw Naomi's infuriated glare, she fell over in hysterics. When she opened her eyes, Naomi was standing over her, with fists on her hips. Dani wiped tears from her eyes.
"Computer, halt program," Captain Icheb said with none of the irritation present in his First Officer.
Shannon Janeway's blonde ponytail swung side to side as she marched to the Science station from her place at Communications. Her prominent chin was deeply dimpled and her skin flawless. Though only seven, she appeared to be at last fifteen years old due to exposure to radiation from a Class X nebula. Her body was showing the curves of adolescence and the promise of generous breasts, like her Borg mother. All of Voyager's children had been exposed, appearing older to the casual observer.
Shannon toed her sister's leg. "What's your problem?"
Dani pulled herself up. "This game is so old, even the holographic Borg are bored." Then she fell again to a brief paroxysm of chuckles and repeated "Borg are bored" several times.
"I didn't hear any suggestions from you on how we should spend our holodeck privilege," Naomi said.
Dani looked up at Mezoti who was leaning against a console with her arms crossed. "I've been thinking," Dani said with a playful lilt.
Mezoti raised an eyebrow, as if that were a first.
Dani squelched a laughed and rubbed her lips with a knuckle. "Why don't we invent a new game?"
"Strict control of parameters will remain the same, regardless of new scenarios," said Azan, who stood at the Security station with his arms crossed.
Mezoti offered Dani a hand that she took and jumped up to stand next to her, their shoulders touching.
"I was thinking of Velocity—"
The group of adult-like children groaned, except for Icheb. "I must terminate my amusement," he announced. "My duty shift begins in less than one hour."
He nodded to Mezoti and left. The other children stared in a mildly jealous malaise. The remaining three boys and five girls, along with the forty other children on Voyager, were still relegated to the classroom and the few diversionary outlets left to them on a ship traveling at faster-than-light speed across the galaxy.
Rebi, Azan's twin brother, threw himself into the holographic command chair. It was an oddly childish posture for someone who appeared outwardly to be a full-grown man with a shadow of facial hair. "Velocity is predictable," he said in a monotone.
"Velocity is stupid," Dukat Wildman said. He brushed his long dark hair from his obsidian eyes. The seven-year-old, like Shannon Janeway, looked to be a teenager, complete with a patchy beard and broad shoulders.
"With…" Dani counted their numbers. "With eight players. Boys against girls?" She playfully leaned into Mezoti.
"But there are only three boys here," Naomi said. "It would be unfair."
"Okay," Dani said without missing a beat. "You can be on their team."
Naomi frowned, crossed her arms and looked away.
"But we ratchet up the game to Extreme," Dani said, with a glint.
Azan pulled himself up, placing his head over the handrail behind the chair. "I hope Extreme does not mean what I think it means."
"Extreme means extremely likely to irritate Captain Janeway," Naomi replied.
Dani's smile dropped when she looked at Naomi. "This'll be different."
"How?"
"For starters we'll stay inside the ship."
"Extreme orbit surfing was kinda fun though," Shannon said with an impish grin. Dukat grinned foolishly at the blonde.
While orbiting a friendly planet, the group had used environmental suits to ride scavenged deck plates against the vertical winds of the thermosphere in a wild ride down to the surface from 380 kilometers up. They had lost holodeck privileges for a month, along with replicator rations. Dani, as the ringleader, had to scrub the EPS conduits for a few days. But she had declared to her friends that it had been worth it.
"I hope extreme doesn't mean you're going to cut artificial gravity again," Naomi replied.
Dani made to talk and then chuckled into her shoulder. "No, that wasn't as much fun with all the vomiting," she said, earning groans of disgust from the crowd.
Naomi looked away with a blush. Her stomach had been unable to take weightlessness.
"The extreme part, Commander Wildman," Dani continued, "Will be this. Reprogram the computer to count the target impacts on each of us."
"Oh, no!" Naomi said, raising her hand and turning around.
"Why not? The safety protocols are still intact," Dani mentioned.
"Only because you cannot circumvent the four layers of new security measures," Mezoti pointed out.
"No," Dani said carefully. "It's because I respect my limits."
There was a round hoots and catcalls. The only one she reacted to was Mezoti, who shook her head. Dani's intent gaze was interrupted by Naomi stomping to the exit arch.
"Don't go, Naomi! We need an eighth."
"I don't like your games," she hissed.
"You'll like this one," Dani said trying out her most persuasive voice. "Because in Extreme Velocity you'll be able to tackle Azan." Dani raised her eyes suggestively, making Naomi blush and Azan stare at her.
"Oh, c'mon," Dani said. "We know you're warp coil hot for each other."
Naomi's jaw muscles rippled. Then she turned and fled.
The door had barely slid closed when Dani felt a hard thud at her shoulder. "That hurt," she complained to Shannon's fist.
"Why are you so mean to her?" Shannon asked.
"What? Like none of us knows that."
"We all know, Dani. We all know every damn thing about each other. But we usually respect each other enough to keep private stuff private."
"Like no one talks about how you're warp coil hot for Mezoti," Duke said.
Dani's freckles disappeared behind a sheet of red. She'd always held a soft spot in her heart for the impish son of Commander Chakotay, but this was new. Once he'd hit puberty at four, he liked to compete with her. It was fun at first, but now it was annoying and she was stuck with him because Shannon was stuck on him.
She was about to open her mouth when Shannon took the boy's hand. "Let's go, Duke." Dani recognized the look on her sister's face. You owe me. This time, with everyone trailing out after them, except Mezoti, Dani would be grateful to pay the price to her sister.
Suddenly the holodeck's gray scaffolding appeared and it became more interesting to Dani than facing the object of her latest crush.
"You are uncomfortable," Mezoti said.
Dani finally looked up at Mezoti, whose eyes were crinkled. What I wouldn't give to be immune to embarrassment, she thought. Neither Mezoti nor her Borg mother knew any shame. It was one of many injustices in the universe.
"So are you surprised?" Dani asked, barely able to keep eye contact.
"Surprised that Naomi wishes for more than friendship with Azan? I am."
"No," Dani said, looking away painfully. "That I do."
"You desire more than friendship with Azan?"
Dani snapped her head back, searching Mezoti's face. "With you," she whispered.
Understanding lit Mezoti's face. "I have never considered our relationship more than friendship."
"Is that because you don't like me?"
"You are a satisfactory acquaintance. However, I do not believe I have considered you beyond that parameter."
"Is that because you don't like girls?"
Mezoti tipped her head to one side, studying Dani with a frankness that made her blush again. "I favor everyone equally; however, I am a practicing heterosexual."
"Practicing?" Dani squeaked. She felt like she'd just been hit by a photon torpedo spread square on the chest.
"Icheb and I copulate."
Dani groaned as she looked away, rubbing her eyes with a middle finger and thumb to blot out the naked festival that paraded before her eyes.
"You do not approve."
"Well, no," she said, breathing like she'd just run a marathon. "I thought you were flirting with me."
"Your approval is irrelevant," Mezoti said, after some time as if she'd been calculating the idea using an internal flow chart of emotional response.
"So, when you walk by me and tweak my shirt with a pinky…or when you call me 'mate' like a moment ago, you were…?"
"It was neither flirtatious nor otherwise. A smile is nothing more than an expression of my pleasure. And you were dozing during the simulation. What would have been a more appropriate response than to remind you of the consequences? I do not see how any action or commentary I utilized could be construed as an open invitation for a sexual advance from you. Furthermore—"
"You know what?" Dani shouted, not really meaning to. She rubbed her mouth with a palm. "Look, Mezoti. I'm sorry. I misunderstood. Okay?"
She turned to walk away. Mezoti tried to catch her arm, but Dani yanked it back. "I'll talk to you later."
"I am confused," Mezoti said, still standing in the middle of the holodeck.
The look of bewilderment on her friend's normally placid face melted Dani's heart and she stood still at the archway. "What are you confused about?"
"Are we not friends?"
"Sure," Dani said with a shrug.
"But you are angry."
"I'm not angry."
"Ah," Mezoti said.
Dani put her hands on her hips and leaned forward.
Mezoti studied the pose in interest, oblivious to the play of emotions across Dani's face.
"Since we're still talking, why not me? Is it that you just like boys?"
"I require a certain amount of predictability and rationality from my partner. You possess neither."
Dani couldn't help the fast blinks. First, Tal marries Whats-his-yawn and then has his baby and now this.
"Are you damaged?" Mezoti inquired.
"Hardly," Dani lied, throwing in a forced chuckle.
"Excellent, as my analysis is incomplete. Furthermore, you are too—"
"I'm done," Dani said, waving behind her and exited the holodeck.
=/\=
The next day, Captain Kathryn Janeway stepped out of her bedroom, fully dressed in Starfleet red and black. The sight of her wife, Seven of Nine, dressed in peculiar clothes stopped her cold.
Her slate blue eyes traveled the length of curvaceous blonde Borg in front of her. Seven stood in front of the replicator station in their quarters. She was topped in a pale gray chambray shirt, sleeves folded a third of the way up. Some clothes were draped over one shoulder. Her long legs were clad in faded black denim and her feet were shod with brown hiking boots.
Janeway looked up in time to catch dark blue and white fabric as it sailed across the air toward her. "What's this?" she asked, as she snatched them from the air.
"Your attire," Seven replied. "Today is the first day of your vacation."
Janeway's surprise turned to confusion. "But…."
Seven's eyebrow arched vexingly.
"I'm the Captain," Janeway stammered.
Seven crossed her arms. "And captains earn furloughs, do they not?"
"But we haven't been to a friendly starbase in—I don't know how long."
"For the next seven days, we will vacate on the holodeck."
Seven days of unadulterated Seven of Nine. One hundred sixty eight hours of uninterrupted Borg. There were worse fates and no better reward. So Janeway flashed a crooked smile as she stepped closer. She inhaled the cottony, strawberry fragrance of her wife. The Captain tugged the collar of the crisp shirt back, revealing Seven's collarbone. She pressed her lips there. "You look good enough to eat," she murmured against the porcelain skin.
Seven's hand sensuously slid up and down Kathryn's hip. "That is on the agenda," Seven replied.
"What's on the agenda?" a young voice across the room asked.
The two women dropped their hands to their side simultaneously. Janeway added a droop of her head, letting out the smallest sigh. She loved the girls, but eking out one-on-one time with Seven was like waiting for a personal audience with the Borg queen.
Golden blonde beauty Shannon Janeway, sauntered in, wearing exactly the same style of gear as her Borg mother. She was a different combination of Hansen and Janeway than her sister Dani. Her skin was like porcelain with a faint chin dimple on a strong chin set between broad cheeks.
She stood between her parents, nearly eye level with the Captain, though she was only seven years old.
Seven pulled out a chair for their youngest child. "Good morning, Shannon Astrid. Your breakfast is ready."
The young girl kissed both parents on the cheek and slipped into the chair, nibbling as she did. "I'm hoping from the way we're dressed we aren't going to be subjected to that creepy Burleigh manor," she replied around a mouthful.
"Shannon, it is customary to wait for everyone at the table," Seven replied. "And no, we will not be visiting Burleigh manor anytime soon, perhaps never."
Shannon quirked her lips. "Too bad," she said without a shred of remorse. "Dani really, really liked the frilly dress and all the tight curls."
Seven gave her daughter a half-amused, half-chiding look. "Eridani found that vacation as alluring as—"
"Cap finds the nature stuff?" She beamed a smile at Kathryn, who had nearly entered her bedroom. But she pivoted back and turned, worry etched on her brow. "Where are we going, darling?"
Seven addressed her reply to them both. "We will vacation on holographic Lake George."
A cry of protest came from the table. "I hate fishing!" Shannon looked to Cappie for support, both of them more disdainful of the rustic surroundings.
"Too damn bad!" The reply came from their eldest daughter. Dani Janeway was fifteen and nearly as tall as her Borg mother, with hair still painfully too light to be considered anything but strawberry. She was more sinewy like Kathryn, with smaller breasts.
"Why can't we go sailing or to a nice warm beach somewhere?" Shannon replied.
"Shannon," Seven replied. "It was Eridani's turn to choose. She expressed the desire to asphyxiate aquatic vertebrates by removing them from their liquid environment."
"Sorry, Cap," Shannon said with a quirk of her nose. "But Dani's turns could not be averted, even though they really suck plasma exhaust."
"Hey!" Dani said. "My turns do not suck."
Shannon gave her sister a mocking look before biting down hard on the tines of her fork. Dani narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms.
Janeway sauntered back, putting a hand on both of her daughters' shoulders before hostilities escalated.
"Remember, girls, it's not what we do. It's that we are together."
Both of them rolled their eyes at Cappie, whose head lolled forward and her arms fell to her side when she felt them punch each other behind her back. "Please tell me you two won't be acting like a bunch of—"
"Children?" Shannon asked with a raised eyebrow. "Which we are, if I may remind you?"
"Oh, there's no need to do that," Janeway replied rubbing the back of her neck as she lifted her head. "Ever. Your Mother and I are well aware of your ages."
"I'm seven, Cap," Shannon responded.
"But you act like two," Dani whispered.
"Ladies!" Janeway said pointedly. "I am ordering both of you to act your ages…" She spied down her nose at Shannon. "Not you. You can act twice your age. We…." She pointed between she and Seven. "Are not going to endure seven days of this on the holodeck. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Captain," they both said with sufficient contrition.
She didn't trust the glints in their eyes but left it at that. Dividing her attention three ways for the next week, rather than the usual three hundred ways was a helluva lot easier. And to be the recipient of Seven of Nine's laser-like focus would be heaven. Her smile was tight and mysterious as she did a springy about-face. "We leave at seven hundred," she said, before disappearing into her quarters.
=/\=
Lake George sparkled under the holographic sun. A gentle breeze from the north cooled the sisterly pair as they lounged on a bank under a densely leafed Maple tree. Four fishing poles were propped up nearby.
Shannon lay on a quilted blanket stretched out with both arms under her head. Dani sat against the tree trunk, when one of the poles tinkled a bell.
Dani sat straight up and looked around, squinting her eyes to find her mother. "Where's Mom?"
Shannon yawned around. "Dunno," she said. "I think her and Cap went over there." She thumbed in a direction toward the tents.
"Well, bloody gel pack," Dani muttered.
"You can haul your own fish, you know?" Shannon said, pushing up on her elbows. "It's only holographic fish, you big baby."
"You get it then!" Dani said.
Shannon let her shoulders shake as Dani frowned. Dani looked around again, not seeing her mother, she lifted her chin and cried out loudly. " Mom!" Dani let the word take on at least four notes. It just echoed through the holographic valley.
"I think she's ignoring you."
"Why do they come fishing if they aren't going to fish?" she asked crossly. She stomped over and yanked up the pole, unlocking the reel and slowly pulling it back. The rod bowed forward. Dani pursed her lips and tugged back. "Get the net ready, will ya?"
She heard her sister's sarcastic gurgle, but she was intent on getting that fish. She'd had Tom Paris alter the algorithm of the holoprogram so that she couldn't possibly haul in every fish. The fun was in trying.
With a flick of her wrist, a big rainbow trout came flopping out of the lake, tethered to the string. Dani leaned back and reeled it as fast as she could to keep from losing it. She swung the rod and the unruly fish toward the shore, but there was no net because her sister was still lying on the blanket.
So Dani growled as she hoisted the thrashing fish onto her sister's chest and face. Her sister's howl of fury overpowered the hum of cicadas and Dani's laughter.
"You're going to pay for that!"
"It's just a holographic fish," Dani said in mimicry.
"It reeks!" Shannon stood up. The sun glinted on her golden blonde hair, as well as the wet spots on her face and chest.
"Yeah, like you!"
Shannon launched herself at full speed, hitting Dani in the mid-section at full steam. Dani lost her hold on the rod, stumbled before finally falling backward onto the muddy shore. Shannon fell on Dani's stomach, forcing her to expel a giant "oof."
Before even catching her breath, Dani had twisted her sister over, pushing the back of her head into the mud.
=/\=
Earlier, Seven of Nine baited all four of the fishing rods and propped them up. "I must discuss an urgent matter with Cappie," she announced, drawing a startled look from her spouse. "We will return within five point three minutes."
Dani was crouched by the poles, checking their stability. She waved her mother on without looking back. Shannon was spreading a blanket out, lost in her own thoughts. "Okay, ma," she said.
Seven smiled faintly in Cappie's direction as she held out her human hand. Janeway glanced once at the girls. "Where are we going?"
Seven kissed her clasped hand. "Our tent," she whispered.
Janeway frowned as she picked her way through the thick underbrush.
"You are disappointed?"
Janeway snorted. "I was hoping you'd tell me you were going to show me your…." The Captain waggled her eyebrows suggestively.
"My vagina?"
The Captain got a pained expression at her wife's predilection to using scientific names. It usually wasn't a problem, except they weren't very sexy.
"My mammary glands, perhaps?"
"You're making fun of me," Kathryn said with a quirk of a corner of her mouth.
"I am merely inquiring about your interests with my usually incisive manner," she said with a raised eyebrow, as she stepped toward their tent.
It was a two-person tent that was orange and green. It lay at the foot of a small rock outcropping from the main hilltop. Water trickled down and around toward a small stream that fed the lake.
Seven pulled back the flap and indicated for Kathryn to enter.
Kathryn lightly patted Seven's cheek. "We've been married more than seven years, darling. I know you."
Then she crawled in, followed closely by Seven. Janeway sat lotus style on their joined sleeping bags. "It's lovely," she said of the holographic design of their home for the next week.
Seven leaned close into her partner, her breath raising the fine hairs of Janeway's neck. "I have recently learned of the seven year itch," she whispered, drawing a chuckle from the Captain.
"It's a myth," she replied.
Seven quirked a brow, the second in as many minutes.
"Well, I do have an itch," Janeway conceded with a voice growing huskier. "That only you can scratch but it has nothing to do with time."
Seven leaned in closer, her lips hovering deceptively close to the Captain's. "Then I believe I have the proper remedy."
Janeway tugged Seven's collar and kissed her hard. "Do you now?"
Seven surprised Kathryn by pulling away. "You must follow me."
Kathryn watched with interest as Seven crawled toward not the opening, but the opposite end. The tent shimmered when she broke its holographic surface.
When Kathryn followed her on hands and knees, on the other side, she saw first Seven's feet over finely polished marble flooring. Seven reached down and helped her partner to stand. Janeway gasped to see an entire bedroom suite hidden under the rock outcropping.
A luxurious bed dominated the room. Janeway ran her fingertips along the rich emerald Tholian silk coverlet and bronze satin underneath. She meandered to the rock fireplace on the other end, where a fire crackled and its warmth called out to her hand that she stretched out.
She glanced at the two large glass patio doors that were opened to a balcony, where the richly embroidered black curtains ruffled in the chilled breeze. Far below, foamy waves crashed on a pristine beach. "Seven, it's lovely."
"It is a replica of the galactic presidential suite for the Natlantis Hedony Hotel on Risa," she said proudly. "Or so I'm told."
"So we're staying here?" she asked coyly, slinking toward her partner.
"We will vacate in the lap of luxury," Seven replied.
"Is that fair?"
"Fairness is irrelevant," she stated. "I cannot give you a trip to Risa. So I impressed Mr. Paris into programming this bit of Risa on the holodeck for us."
Kathryn slipped her arms under Seven's to stroke the woman's back. The kiss she offered was tender and heartfelt. "I was afraid we were going to have to 'rough it' in the wild."
"You do not appreciate 'roughing it,' despite being raised by traditionalists."
"But I can do it," she whispered, kissing Seven's chin.
"Yes, you can do many things, my Captain," Seven whispered, locking her arms around Janeway's waist. "You can drive yourself to work eighteen hour shifts during emergencies. You can push yourself to read voluminous text to catch up on irrelevant paperwork—" Seven smiled faintly at Kathryn's chuckle, the vibrations echoed along the Borg's torso to inhabit the tender space between her legs. "You can donate your life's blood in the field of battle. You can raise two wonderful daughters—"
Kathryn looked up with a crooked grin. "I thought we both did that."
"We are in the process," she replied. "However, the line of reasoning is to lead you to understand I consider it my duty to accommodate some regeneration for you."
"Oh, darling," Kathryn whispered. "You do. You do so much for me."
"This illusion…." Seven waved dismissively at the room. "For seven days will be our home apart from your mistress the ship…"
Janeway's smile brightened to show teeth. "Tut tut, Seven of Nine. Jealousy is a human emotion."
"I am not envious, Kathryn. It was a mere statement of fact."
This was an old argument and Janeway knew she was walking on thin ice. But still, her partner's prickly sensitivity to an inanimate object was more amusing than it should be, especially after so long. "Go on, Seven. I apologize."
"So this illusion will be our oasis for seven days away from the ship, our duties and the children."
Kathryn glanced back at their entrance. "You don't think our dear children will find us in here?"
"Impossible," Seven said with complete conviction.
Kathryn gave her an admonishing look. Memory took her back to the last time Seven of Nine had made that declaration, also with complete confidence, about the ability of the children to manipulate a holodeck simulation.
=/\=
Seven of Nine had arranged for the family to live at Burleigh Manor for a few days of Kathryn's virtual shore leave. Kathryn had retained her identity as Mrs. Davenport, while Seven had assumed the role of Mrs. Templeton.
Kathryn remembered laughing herself into a hiccupping fit when Seven had given Dani and Shannon their "assignments" (albeit temporary) in the Burleigh household. Dani was a scullery maid, where she cleaned and scoured the kitchen floor, stoves, sinks, pots and dishes. She had found wearing the dull brown dresses, tall, tight boots and kerchiefs to be particularly demeaning.
Shannon had served as a housemaid, who ironed, washed, and cleaned the house, along with other tasks along those lines. She had enjoyed the dresses, but became ill-tempered when she could not dress in the finery of Lady Beatrice Burleigh, the Lord's daughter.
Seven had wanted Shannon to appreciate the advantages of living in the 24th Century, while Dani's duties were a punishment for mischief, namely her ill-conceived plan to coax the other children to help hack into shipsystems to disrupt artificial gravity in the holodeck.
Lt. Commander Tuvok, several members of his security team, and Captain Janeway had found nearly fifty students on holodeck two floating around in weightless suspension. Some, like Naomi Wildman and Azan, were vomiting from the gravity disruption; while others, like Shannon, Dukat, Mezoti and Dani, were shoving off of each other in a buoyant exploration of Newton's Third Law of Thermodynamics, namely for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Each collision sent both floaters careening in opposite directions. Dani had nearly liquefied with staccato guffaws, while Mezoti presented the cool and distant Borg reaction after the entire episode. That is, until Cappie appeared.
During a grueling debriefing in the Captain's Ready Room, Dani had pled her innocence. "But I was told to cut the AG," Dani had protested to a furious Captain Janeway.
The Captain had given her a warning look. "By whom?"
"The green text," she had said, with a completely benign expression.
Captain Janeway crossed her arms and glanced at Seven of Nine, who had arched a dubious brow.
Reading her parents, Dani's protests grew louder and more urgent. "I'm not blow-screening here!"
"It's too mundane, Dani," Janeway had finally said, shaking her head in disappointment.
"These messages have materialized during significant events," Seven had pointed out. They had all catalogued the messages and their timing, but found little to pinpoint their origin or rationale.
"Holodeck pranks do not qualify—and furthermore…." Janeway said, talking over her objecting daughter. "If you're going to lie, at least give your mother and I some credit by inventing a more credible answer."
So Dani's reprimand had been compounded by the actual event and the apparent cover-up; hence, the severity of the retribution.
But both girls then conspired against their parents in the simulation. Seven of Nine was technically correct that the simulation could not be altered by either child's uncanny ability to crack the sophisticated Starfleet and Borg encryption codes that Lt. Tuvok now employed against the ship's adolescents.
So Dani and Shannon did what other resourceful miscreants did. They did an end run on their Borg mother by manipulating the simulation characters indirectly.
=/\=
The Burleigh children's governess, Mrs. Davenport—complete with tight auburn curls, dark matronly dress and petticoats—was conferring with the head parlor maid, Mrs. Templeton in her bedchamber.
Janeway's Mrs. Davenport had been completely bewitched by the vision of Seven of Nine as a gothic maidservant. Seven's halo of tightly wound columns of blonde curls accentuated the column of porcelain neck where Mrs. Davenport longed to place sensuous kisses. Seven's Mrs. Templeton's gray fitted dress cinched her bodice tightly around her considerable, corset-bound breasts while at the same time managing to reveal nothing of the treasure underneath. The bell shaped skirt hid layers and layers of petticoats, like a gift waiting to be unwrapped.
The vision of a Borg in petticoats was simply too much for Mrs. Davenport. Added to her bubbling need for all-too-infrequent intimacy with her spouse, the woman was bearing other stresses: the pampered, albeit holographic children of an indulgent father; and the addition of two mischievous players to the gothic setting.
It all made what should have been a relaxing three-day holiday into a seething cauldron of gothic insanity and lust.
When Seven's Mrs. Templeton had stepped into her own personal parlor on the pretext of household business, Mrs. Davenport had flirted outrageously with high Victorian flare, charming Seven out of her petticoats and frills in short order.
Both naked, Mrs. Davenport was armed with the strap-on dildo the Captain had received from the Boolarai as a wedding present so many years before. Mrs. Templeton lay receptively prone—and completely in character—as a demure Victorian servant wide-eyed with unvarnished astonishment at the governess' sexual prowess.
The governess was deeply committed between the chief maid's creamy legs, inducting her to the delights of Sapphic pleasure. Their mingling mewls were low when Lord Burleigh burst into the room.
"Merciful heavens!" he declared in a deep voice constricted with shock.
Mrs. Davenport slipped out of Mrs. Templeton. Her slicked dildo sprouting from the auburn thatch lured his eyes like a glint of gold to a greedy soul. In her haste to cover herself, Mrs. Davenport fell off the bed, her backside hitting the hard wood flooring with a thud and without so much as a blanket (or bloomers) to soften the tumble.
"Kathryn!" Mrs. Templeton had cried, reaching out a nanosecond too late to prevent her spouse's untimely, immodest and mortifying spill.
Mrs. Templeton's cry drew the antagonizing scrutiny of Lord Burleigh. In typical Borg fashion, Seven was unconcerned with her state of undress, or the signs of its recent arousal, including the taut nipples of her teats and the dew-soaked "fruitful vine."
"Mrs. Templeton!" the man shouted. "Cover thyself!"
She had managed to take Mrs. Davenport's hand, but the command made her look down at herself. Her breasts were bouncing and the widower Lord Burleigh had a full view of her mons and pubic hair at the present, notwithstanding any earlier view of her labia. Distracted, Seven lost her grip on Mrs. Davenport's hand, leaving the woman again to the brutal laws of gravity.
The governess plummeted again to the floor with a hard thud. This time, a thoroughly modern invective crossed her lips.
"Mrs. Davenport!" Lord Burleigh protested. "That is exceedingly unladylike."
While Mrs. Templeton complied with an order from the Lord of the Manor, Mrs. Davenport managed to rise to her feet, rubbing her bare backside while the glistening turquoise cock bobbed between her legs.
Removing his own silk robe, Lord Burleigh threw it at his children's governess. "Have you no decency, madam?"
"Have you none, m'lord?" Janeway's Mrs. Davenport managed to muster a great deal more dignity than she felt. "These are my personal compartments. Are you in the habit of spying on your servants—"
The man bristled. "I most certainly am not spying and I resent—!"
"For your own puerile interests?"
"How dare you, Mrs. Davenport! How dare you defile my home with your lewd behavior. How have you managed to seduce the likes of my good Mrs. Templeton…?"
Seven managed to lift a chin in pride, settling back into her role with a great deal of ease, particularly as a victim in this unexpected turn. Her reaction made it difficult for Janeway to stifle a grin.
"Is it so amusing to sully the good reputation of a gentlewoman?" Burleigh asked. Then almost as an afterthought, Lord Burleigh's blue eyes widened. "What of my children? Have you—"
"I am a fine governess, m'lord," she replied tartly. "This is a personal matter between Mrs. Templeton and I. Your children received the wealth of my knowledge and guidance—"
"I should hope not too much guidance. I shall summon a constable at once. Furthermore, it is quite apparent to me that your poor children are doomed to a hard life in the kitchens."
Janeway defied Lord Burleigh by dropping his robe and remained naked with the dildo at full mast. She stepped closer, narrowed her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "What did you say m'lord?"
He cast a cautious glance at Mrs. Templeton. Only then did both woman notice a small contraption in his hand. It was a wood plank with a small scalp of wires. At one end was a battery-like box and on the other was an incandescent bulb, shining in unadorned glory. "Your daughter, Eridani—what a peculiar name—she took a curious interest in my invention—"
He raised it, utterly disinterested now in its glow. "She said you would be interested in it as well. It's why I…"
During his explanation, Janeway had shed the sexual aid, hiding it in its small attaché while she dressed rapidly. Seven was already fully clothed.
"Computer, freeze program!" Janeway snapped. With all ambient sounds silenced, the faint echo of howling laughter could be heard on the other end of the holodeck.
A sardonic expression touched Janeway's lips. "I think we've been had."
"I was not had," Seven said, pulling out the kerchief tucked in her sleeve. She patted daintily beside her nose. "Alas, I was nearly had. And I weep at the difference."
"Alas?" Janeway asked dryly.
"T'is true," Seven replied, dabbing now the corners of her mouth.
A crooked grin spread across Kathryn's lips. "You're really enjoying this, aren't you?"
"Indeed," she whispered. "It was most pleasant until the time index when our union was frustrated."
Janeway pulled Seven to her roughly. It was an action of profound desire and not disrespect. The Captain kissed Seven hard on the lips, relinquishing her the instant she turned to the bedchamber door.
"Let's go find the culprits," she said in a voice she recognized as a starship captain.
So Janeway stopped to leisurely adjusted her skirt and smiled demurely at her companion. "Shall we?"
=/\=
Burleigh Manor was large, in a holographic sense. They could walk in circles literally on the holodeck but yet find the three stories and the cellar an endless expanse of dark, Gothic atmosphere. The program was frozen at the precise moment of a lightning strike at the front of the house, facilitating the search for their two daughters.
After ten minutes with little success, Captain Janeway usurped the command from Mrs. Davenport. "Computer, end program!"
The gray walls of the Manor dissolved into nothingness, leaving four figures—two on one end of the holodeck standing side by side in petticoats and dresses and the other two crouched in dirty dresses on the other.
The mothers marched up to the giggling pair, who remained crouched and regarded only the bare feet of the women. The girls were playfully poking each other and their relentless squealing was a sound that Janeway had not heard in weeks, after their encounter with an alien race that fed off the night terrors of the ship's children.
Seven's look had softened as well and Janeway shrugged to her partner, earning a faint look of amusement.
"I have two questions," Janeway had said. "How on earth did you get Lord Burleigh to visit my bedchamber?" They all knew the parameters of that timeframe in Earth history. A man of his standing would not have approached a woman's personal space. It would have been scandalous.
The girls glanced at each other and Dani covered a smile with her palm. "Um, I think he's sweet on you, Cap."
"Sweet on me?" Janeway asked.
"Yeah, he likes you. So I told him you would think his invention was interesting."
"Ah," Janeway said.
The girls studied their parents, noting none of the telltale signs of impending doom and misery. Their bodies had began to unbend from the protective shell, until the next question.
"Why did you pick this hour to send him to me?"
"To us," Seven clarified. "It is apparent you knew Cap—you knew Mrs. Davenport and Mrs. Templeton were consulting."
Dani's face reddened somewhat and she looked away. "Um…"
"Yes?" Janeway said in that annoying way that told Dani her mother was already aware of the answer.
"You were…um—"
Dani noticed that Shannon shifted back, inclining her ear intently. Dani shoved her unexpectedly, making her fall on her backside. Dani stood up, brushing her own bottom.
Cappie loomed closer. Her mother's hands were planted on her hips, Dani noticed. So not good. Dani let her eyes wander up as she cleared her throat. "I thought you might be, you know, kissing."
"Kissing," Shannon said the word experimentally, tipping her head to look at her parents curiously.
"Really?" Janeway said, her voice breaking with suppressed laughter.
The Captain studied Dani, whose burning blush had masked her freckles. It was her reaction, and not necessarily her answers, that Janeway did not expect. Sometimes it was hard to remember that her daughter was not an adult, despite her height gain on Kathryn. Her body may be nearly full grown, with all of its accompanying needs, but emotionally Dani Janeway was still very much a child. It was a relief really to discover that the idea of a mere passionate kiss could elicit that reaction.
Dani swallowed hard, trying but failing to keep eye contact under the fierce scrutiny of both mothers. Finally Kathryn looked away in benevolent relief.
Captain Janeway met Seven's eyes, an entire libretto was wordlessly and effortlessly exchanged between the happily married pair. The children's unawareness or disinterest in sexuality at this stage of their precocious development was a postponement of the inevitable, but one that Cappie and Seven welcomed nonetheless. Dealing with a childlike mind in a mature body presented all sorts of parenting challenges, including the uncomfortable task of sex education.
The reprieve infused new bravado into Dani, who had been nearly 14 years old at the time of the incident. "So what did you think I thought?"
"Never mind," the Captain relented with a wave of a hand. "Okay, ladies, let's go home."
"But we still have time to use," Dani objected.
Kathryn shook her head. "I think your mother and I have been traumatized enough, thank you."
=/\=
It was hard to believe their last vacation together had been nearly eighteen months ago. Kathryn shook her head. "Damn," she whispered.
"Is that the word of disagreement?"
"No," she said almost soundlessly. "It was a commentary on how long I've held off taking a vacation with you and my children."
Seven tucked Kathryn's auburn hair behind her ears. Her eyes were crinkled but no touch of mirth touched her plump lips. Kathryn saw Seven's eyes follow silver strands in her once purely auburn hair, as if for the first time. Now the streaks rudely announced themselves, more every day.
"I know," Kathryn said, tipping her head down and running her own fingers over the length of the white locks.
"What do you know?"
"I'm getting older, looking older and well…we're still stuck out here no closer to home than when you and I first met."
"That is incorrect," Seven replied, tilting her head to catch the Captain's watery gray eyes. She tugged the strong chin up, only now its drained strength had been reduced to quivering. "We are indeed closer to Sector Zero Zero One than when we first met. I have no doubts you will introduce me to the gourmet cuisine of Bloomington very soon."
Janeway couldn't help but laugh, but the watery pool held behind a fierce dam.
"And you are not older," Seven replied.
Janeway shook her head with a disapproving curl of her lips.
"You are…chronologically successful," Seven replied.
Janeway snorted, even as Seven moved closer to take the woman in her arms. "And captivating at any age," she whispered after a gentle kiss.
Janeway had closed her eyes, her lips offered with a gentle lift.
"And graceful," Seven replied before nibbling along her chin toward her ear.
"I'm very interested in this discussion," the Captain replied.
"It is my preferred subject matter," she whispered into an ear before pressing her lips to the shell.
Then Kathryn heard it, even as she felt the tingles of excitement shoot through her body. Seven was humming while she made love. She stroked Kathryn's breast in time with her melody. Curiosity and arousal warred with each other during Kathryn's sensuous undressing by an attentive and experienced Borg.
Seven laid a naked Kathryn on the bed and crawled up, hovering over her as she unfastened the buttons of her shirt. Their eyes were locked, but Seven's song was like the soft tinkles of wind chimes. "Darling," she whispered, rubbing Seven's still clothed shoulders. "What are you humming?"
Seven's hand froze, and wonder filled her face. "I was humming?" she said surprised. Then Seven smiled shyly. "I was indeed."
Kathryn's smile turned crooked and she let a hand cup the gentle face floating above hers. "Yes, Seven and it was lovely. I felt loved and serenaded."
"I do love you," Seven whispered. Her shirt forgotten, she leaned down to capture Kathryn's lips in a passionate, sensuous kiss of longing and desire.
"Tell me, Andy, how does the song go?"
Seven rubbed her cheek with her shoulder, staring at Kathryn. She was panting and not bothering to hide it.
"Oh, c'mon! You've sung in the holodeck a time or two. Besides…." Kathryn's voice dropped an octave. "I'm under you, the perfect audience."
"Because you are nude?"
Kathryn twisted Seven's shirt-covered nipple hard but playfully, making the Borg jump slightly. "I'm captive, silly," she replied.
"That is a hardly an endorsement," she said sardonically. "However, since I was humming about you, I suppose I could indulge your overweening ego."
"It's a professional requirement," Janeway said, weakly defending herself.
"Just you, only you In the shadowy twilight In silvery moonlight There's none like you, I adore you." Seven's song was a slow cadence and her voice was crystal clear.
When she had finished, Kathryn pushed up to her elbows. "Oh, my dear Seven of Nine, I adore you completely, too."
Then the pair heard it, the unrelenting whine of their firstborn.
"Mom!"
Kathryn's eyes widened, but not in alarm. "Seven, get your clothes off. Hurry, darling!"
Seven fumbled with the small buttons, complaining that buttons were an inferior cloture.
"Let me help you," Kathryn said, brushing away Seven's shaking hands. She was tempted to rip it off, but how would she explain a buttonless shirt with her spouse's generous bosoms hanging out. Instead, she focused on the small white buttons, carefully removing each one.
Seven did not wait for Kathryn to finish pushing the sleeves off of both shoulders before she descended on the woman underneath. With the left sleeve still intact, Seven's lips found Kathryn's breast, as the pair rubbed their moist sexes together.
Despite feeling as if they were alone on a deserted island, the sound of Shannon's threat shattered the illusion.
"You're going to pay for that!"
Seven lifted her eyes, a nipple still in her mouth. Kathryn lifted her head and grimaced, pulling her wife tighter. "Hurry," she whispered.
Seven whipped Kathryn's leg around and straddled her scissor-style. Her breasts bounced as she rubbed her sex against Kathryn's, drenched blonde curls tangled with auburn. She slid against her, using Kathryn's bent knee for leverage. Her moans seemed to keep the melody of Kathryn's guttural whimpers. Then in a rhythm borne of many, many rehearsals, their cries culminated in an explosion of blissful harmony.
Seven fell to the bed, her arms over her head. She was still panting when Kathryn leaned up to kiss her lips tenderly. "That was some scratch," she said in a hoarse voice.
Seven's eyes crinkled and she patted Kathryn's bare back, but words were elusive. They were always inaccessible to the Borg after the unrelenting cascade of pure sensation.
When the outside had been silent too long, Kathryn heaved herself up, pushing her bare legs off the bed. "I think our five-point-three minutes have long expired," she replied. "Let's get cleaned up and then find your subunits."
=/\=
Earlier, Dani and her sister stared at each other. Mud had dried to a crackling brown around their face, neck and hands. Their clothes were still sopping from the liquid brown substance.
Dani smiled widely trying to charm a similar response from her sister. "That was fun," she whispered.
Shannon's thick lips tried to fight off its mirth, bowing and flattening repeatedly. When Dani nudged her, she relented and smiled.
Lightning fast, Dani snapped a holopicture of her sister with a small tricorder. "Oh, Duke and the others are going to just love that."
Shannon lunged for the tricorder. "Lemme have that, you organic waste bag!"
Dani easily repelled her sister. Then she smiled, jerking her body into a series of imitation Tak-Tak non-verbal gestures. She ended her non-verbal jibe by framing her face with her hands, slightly stooping and looking over her shoulder to eye her proffered posterior. "That's Tak-Tak for 'Kiss my aft thruster.'"
Shannon creased her nose in disgust. "You're sick, you know that."
"That's not what Mom tells me," Dani said with an exaggerated grin. "I'm her favorite, you know."
Shannon got a wry look, one that always told Dani to be wary. "Aww, that's very tweet! Cuddwing with your Mommy. At least someone will cuddle with you!"
Shannon knew she'd gone to far the instant Dani began to blink furiously. She turned and stalked off, and Shannon tramped after her. "Hey, I was kidding. I didn't mean anything."
"Go away." Dani wasn't sure where she was going but it was anywhere but near her sister.
Shannon followed silently until Dani flopped to a giant rock beside the lake. They could hear the lapping of the water against the rocks, frogs croaking and crickets calling.
Dani sat with her chin on her knees and her arms curled around her legs, just staring out at the sparkling lake. Shannon perched nearby.
"Was it awful? I mean with Mezoti?"
Dani laughed quietly. "Like I'm going to tell you."
"Why not?"
"Then you'll tell Duke and he'll manage to blurt it out. You know, it's what started this whole mess."
Shannon frowned. "I really am sorry."
"Now everyone will just know I'm more different than ever."
"Different isn't bad."
"Weird different, not cool different like Mom-n'-Cap."
"Whoever said that can go smoke a plasma coil. You're my sister and nobody gets to say that to you, but me."
Dani quirked a single eye at her sister, who smiled shyly.
"Was that too much?" Shannon asked of her protectiveness.
"Little bit."
"I wish Mom were here. She'd know what to say."
Dani closed her eyes and Shannon watched her lids, seeing them move underneath. Neither spoke for long, long moments, until suddenly, Dani jumped up.
"Let's go find them the old fashioned way." She gave her sister an impish grin. "Computer, create new character. A Hirogen hunter with a keen lust for Borg—"
"Mom's really going to love that!" Shannon threw her head back, laughing.
"Unable to comply."
"What? Why not?"
"That command is disabled."
"Can any characters be generated?"
"Negative."
Dani crossed her arms, staring out into the sparkling lake. "Computer, generate compression rifle."
"Cannot comply."
Dani inhaled. "Computer, generate a compression rifle with disabled—."
"Cannot comply."
"This blows reeking plasma!" Dani hissed.
"You're not weird. You're crazy."
"Oh, shut up. I wasn't going to use it like that."
"How were you going to use it?"
"Computer, create a water gun."
A sleek, white rifle, resembling the originally requested compression rifle materialized in her waiting hands. It was complete with a leather strap that hung low.
Dani smiled.
"How did you know to do that?"
"Tom Paris designed this simulation," she replied as if that explained it all. And it did.
"Water guns," Shannon said, eyeing the device.
"Computer, generate another water gun."
Shannon's hands were barely able to stretch out before it materialized in her hands.
Dani took aim at a croaking frog nearby and slowly squeezed the trigger. A stream hit the creature on his back and he jumped away.
Shannon laughed but Dani frowned.
"Computer, color the water ammunition red."
"Modification complete."
"Let's go, Spock," Dani said, slinging her rifle over a shoulder.
"You're Spock. I'm Kirk. I thought we settled that last time."
=/\=
Seven crawled out of their tent, standing to offer a hand to her spouse who followed. They peered around toward the lake, seeing no sign of their pair of children. Kathryn put her hands on her hips. "Where did they run off to?"
Kathryn raised a hand to block the holographic sun and pivoted around. When she was fully turned, she jumped. A stream of red fluid she'd not seen struck her shirt. Kathryn's mouth dropped, her hands flung up and she looked down at her white shirt. She could see the red color seeping through to her white undershirt.
Seven's eyes widened at her spouse's shirt and turned in the direction of the assault. She took several rounds to her own top and pants, narrowly escaping one to the head. Her face hardened at the two children, standing on top of the rock outcropping and giggling uncontrollably, unmercifully.
When the Captain went to say something, Seven calmly placed a hand on her spouse's forearm. "Allow me, Pips."
Kathryn gestured to them. "Be my guest."
"Computer, generate a torrential storm at grid Gamma Nine."
Black clouds materialized over the girls, bringing with it a downpour. The cascading water swept everything in its path, namely two girls who couldn't hold on to the slick rock. They and the water rifles tumbled a short distance to land in a small pond beside their parents' tent. The caked-on mud was thick and viscous again, darkening the pool.
Dani glared up at her Borg mother, the sludge sliding down her face. "That was cheating," she growled.
"Cheating can be more efficient," Seven replied with a rude lift of a brow. "In any event, I will brook no mutiny from our subunits." She let her eyes bounce between her daughters. "Is that acknowledged?"
Dani frowned at Cappie, who was trying to swallow her laughs or cover them in a palm. "I'm sorry, darling," Janeway whispered with a hitch.
"I will bring you soap," Seven said evenly. "To formalize your cleansing."
Seven tugged Kathryn's hand. She was still laughing and leaning a cheek against Seven's shoulder, as they walked toward the girls' tent.
=/\=
Holding a full plate in each hand, Kathryn handed one to Seven and then folded down beside her spouse next to the fire. Her daughters were across, eating their dinners. The stars glittered like diamonds. Cicadas were chirping and, if Kathryn closed her eyes, she could even smell the pine of Indiana.
"Hey, Cap," Shannon said with a mouthful. "This is really good."
"Why, thank you."
"Chakotay—Commander Chakotay—still complains about your replicator dinners."
"Please," Kathryn said. "It's mindless. So much so that I got distracted. But this is the real deal." She raised a drumstick. "It's like magic. Mother would be proud."
Kathryn and Shannon were still chuckling over her claim of sorcery, when Seven narrowed her eyes on her seven-year-old. "You have been spending a great deal of time in the company of Dukat Wildman and his family. Explain."
Shannon's mouth opened. "It's not what you think."
"What do I think?" Seven asked in dangerous monotone.
"We're fr…." Shannon hesitated when she saw the lift of her mother's eyebrow. It was a dangerous warning shot across her bow. "I like him."
Kathryn ate quietly, watching the pair as they discussed it. She'd learned long ago to never stand between a Borg mother and her sense of duty.
"Does he return this interest?"
Shannon's eyes rolled up and her mouth curled her lips. "Well, yeah."
"How long?"
Shannon bit her lower lip. "Well, we've all pretty much paired off…" Shannon's blue eyes found Dani's identical ones, as they sat at right angles from each other. "Well, almost all."
Dani set her plate down and leapt up. "I'm done. I have to…" She gestured with her chin behind her and disappeared into the darkness.
Kathryn and Seven shared a meaningful look.
"Sorry," Shannon whispered, after her sister had disappeared behind a thicket.
"Almost all refers to your sister," Seven said as she watched the branches still sway in her daughter's wake.
"Yes, but don't tell her I said so."
=/\=
Captain Janeway found Dani perched on a large rock in the middle of one of the many creeks that fed the lake. Her boots tipped a landslide of pebbles into the river's edge. "Mind some company?" Cappie asked.
Dani edged toward one end, making room. "Don't fall in."
Kathryn leapt to the first rock, her hands akimbo as she balanced herself. "One down, two to go."
Dani watched her mother with interest. "You're still pretty spry, you know that, Cap?"
Kathryn was about to make another jump, but her daughter's comment nearly tipped her off balance. "Spry? That's something you say to a 120 year old, Elizabeth. Not your mother, who is risking life and limb to reach you."
Dani frowned at the use of her first name. "Sorry," she said. "I only meant you were in great shape."
"Thank you," she said. "Your mother keeps me hopping on the Velocity court." With another heave, Kathryn landed by her daughter, who'd raised a hand that her mother gratefully accepted to steady herself.
She sat beside her, their shoulders touching. She looked around, admiring the small touches that Tom had added to the simulation. An owl hooted in the background. "This simulation is so good, I expect my mother to come traipsing through the brush with a picnic basket," Kathryn said.
The cachinnations of a monkey echoed through the valley. "I think Geegee is bringing a monkey with her."
They both chuckled at the random "Tom-ness" of the simulation. When their laughter had died down, they sat in companionable silence.
"Are you okay, Dani?"
Dani fingered the hem of her shirt, intent on the stitch design. "Sometimes, I wish…" Her voice trailed off in a soft sob.
Kathryn put an arm around her daughter, pulling her close but allowing her room enough to be herself. She said nothing, merely making her sympathy known. There were some things she could never help her children do.
Dani batted at her teary eyes. "Sometimes I wish that the messages I get…I wish it would just tell me 'This is the person. The love of your life. Hop to it.'"
Kathryn waited to see if Dani had anymore to say. But the dread of the mysterious messages her daughter had received since they'd taken her aboard descended on Kathryn like a thorny blanket. Despite every conceivable test, they were no closer to understanding the origin of the messages, but could not deny their veracity.
"That would be nice," Kathryn replied softly. "It's too bad it doesn't work that way."
"It should work that way," she insisted.
"Don't you think it would be difficult to know that someone you barely met will be the love of your life?" Kathryn thought about what she would have felt when she'd severed a confused and belligerent Borg from the Collective. Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct to Unimatrix One, was hairless with sickly gray skin. She was superior in all the worst ways, without a shred of humanity in that first moment. Kathryn shook her own head.
"Foreknowledge could be terrifying," she whispered.
Dani chuckled, despite the tears. "Foreknowledge is usually warp boring," she admitted. "But it can be comforting, too."
Kathryn pulled back to look at her daughter. She'd acquired the ship pallor, that odd coloring that humanoid spacefarers developed after being confined in a ship with artificial light. As a result, Dani's freckles had faded mostly, a happy side effect for the girl. Only a smattering sprinkled across the slope of her nose and the apples of her cheeks.
Kathryn lifted a curl of flame red hair from Dani's shoulder. The color was still too light for her daughter's liking, much to the girl's chagrin. Dani's only consolation had been that it was indeed darkening, as she aged. It just wasn't happening fast enough.
"I think you'll find someone when it's your time," she whispered. "It took me forty years to find your mother and even then I had to fight the Borg Queen for her and sever her from everything she knew. In return, Seven of Nine overturned nearly every single one of my core beliefs."
Dani heard the sense of paradoxical wonder in her mother's voice. She usually reserved it for discussions about Seven.
Dani pushed her shoulder into her mother's embrace. "Including the one where the Captain has to sacrifice her life for the ship?"
The comment was astute, particularly for a teenager and Kathryn studied her daughter's face for several heartbeats. "That's the one. How did you know?"
She shrugged, as she stared down at the ring on her mother's right hand. She fingered the symbol of her parents' union. "I see how you are with each other," she whispered. "I just hope I can find someone who can love me like Mom loves you."
Kathryn hooked her daughter's neck in an arm and brought her closer, kissing the top of her head. "That's what I want to, darling."