A Perfect Mate – Voyager Chapter 2

By Kudara

Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and all who sail in her belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is intended.

Warning: None.

Rating: R

Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike about the story.

Revision History: 01/14/06

Summary: Seven and Seeker visit Voyager.


The Doctor had been examining Seven with the same professional, but wounded, demeanor that he had been displaying ever since the Captain escorted them to Sickbay.

Seeker had not even noticed the behavior until she felt Seven's confusion at it through their bond. At first Seven had been perplexed and slightly hurt by the Doctors attitude, then she had realized the reason for it.

Seven wasn't quite certain how to react, perhaps she should have identified the Doctor's feelings from his behavior during their 'date,' but she had been so disappointed at his and Tom Paris's bet that she had not analyzed that night any further. Then there had been the shuttle mission, the ion storm and shuttle crash, and meeting Seeker. Except for wishing he had been there while Seeker was metamorphosing into a more humanoid form, she had not thought of the Doctor that often during the past year.

She understood that from the Doctors perspective it had only been a week since he had seen her last, but from hers it had been a year. A year during which she had absorbed quite a bit of the Rana culture and viewpoint, and from a Rana point of view what the Doctor was feeling was inconceivable. One simply did not desire someone who was not their mate. She was caught between her human understanding, and even sympathy for the Doctor's feelings, and her own and Seekers unease with them.

"So, how did you and Seeker meet?" the Doctor asked with false joviality.

"I was hunting with my rann when we saw a large object streak across the sky and crash into the earth. We went to investigate it that was when Ensign Yates fired upon my mother Scarface, when we reacted he attempted to run but he fell and struck his head upon the shuttle ramp. It killed him instantly," Seeker informed the Doctor.

Seeker was uneasy with how the Doctor had no smell, even though she knew the reason why. And more troubled by the way he was acting around Seven. Seeker understood that humans were not like the Rana when it came to how they found their mates. But actually seeing one, even one that was an artificial sentient in human form, display attraction to her mate was another matter. Seven's eyes met hers and she felt Seven's reassurance through their bond, it did not matter what these other humans thought or felt, Seven only loved her, was only her mate.

Before the Doctor could comment on Ensign Yates, Seven continued the narrative. "Seeker stayed and took care of me as I was injured in the crash and unconscious. Seekers race has the ability to evaluate the DNA of other species for compatibility and desirable genetic traits. I believe that within seconds of coming into contact with my blood Seeker's body had already broken down and analyzed my DNA and determined that I was a suitable mate."

Seven paused as the Doctor, his wounded feelings apparently completely forgotten, stepped away from her and began scanning Seeker. Seven relaxed, realizing that the Doctors professional curiosity was fully engaged, and he had apparently forgotten or at least pushed aside his feelings. Hopefully, by the time he had satisfied his curiosity, he would be able to accept that she was Seekers mate with less distress.

"The Captain mentioned there were significant structural differences between Seeker and his family?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes, Seeker looked like the rest of her race when I regained consciousness and saw her for the fist time. But internally her physiology would have already been changing to become compatible with mine; the entire process took eight days until it was complete, by the eighth day Seeker looked as she does now." Seven finished.

"Fascinating," the Doctor commented, "I need to do more testing but from what you have told me, and from what I can tell of Seeker's physiology, it appears that the Rana are extremely close to being a true polymorphic race." The Doctor paused, a thoughtful look on his face, "They might even eventually develop into one depending on their environmental pressures," he shrugged.

"Very few," Seven remarked truthfully. "The Rana, because of Katara's efforts, lead a fairly easy life. Food is plentiful, the planets weather is fair, there is little environmental pressure for them to evolve or even advance technically beyond what they have now."

"Then they might, or might not," the Doctor acknowledged.

Seven relaxed completely when the Doctor started humming an operatic tune while he set up the bio bed for some tests he wanted to run on Seeker, knowing that he was now completely involved in his work.

Since there was no good place for the children to sit in sickbay, she and Seeker had simply sat on the floor while the Doctor scanned them first with his medical tricorder. Melody and Finder were seated on Seekers lap while she held Erin.

A sense of sharp curiosity drew her attention to Melody who was staring at the Doctor with intent fascination. When the Doctor turned around to address Seeker he stopped humming. Melody let out an unhappy cry and looked up at Seeker, hoping that she would get the strange man to make the interesting sounds again.

"What's wrong?" asked the Doctor concerned grabbing his tricorder and starting to examine the child again.

"You stopped humming," Seven and Seeker said almost together. They looked at each other in amusement and Seven continued, "All Rana children are named after they show distinct personality traits, Melody is so named because of her interest in music."

"Oh," the Doctor said in surprise then his face broke out into a smile, "Well." He paused for a moment then began singing what Seven knew was his favorite aria from "La Boehme".

When he finished Melody smiled at him and gave a childish version of a rumble of approval. She struggled until Seeker let her climb off her lap, and then with utter determination she crawled over to the Doctor who with a bemused look picked her up. As Seven and Seeker looked on in amusement, feeling their daughter's fascination and delight, Melody babbled at the Doctor for a few seconds and then stopped, looking at him expectantly.

The Doctor looked at Seven, his expression slightly confused.

"She wishes for you to sing again," Seven explained.

The Doctor beamed at Melody, "What an intelligent child," he commented approvingly.


B'Elanna had at first thought the engineering crew was carrying out some elaborate joke on her, until Harry had come by and confirmed it. Seven was aboard Voyager, but she was definitely not alone, she had transported up with a husband and three children. From what Harry had heard, the husband was tall, humanoid, distinctly feline in appearance, and belonged to the native race of the planet they were orbiting. The computer didn't know Seven's location, which confused her until she realized it simply meant that Seven wasn't wearing a communications badge.

It didn't take her long to decide that Seven's most probable location was sickbay, only she couldn't think of any reasonable excuse to go there. She could of course simply walk in but then everyone, including Seven, would know that she had only dropped by out of curiosity and that was unacceptable. "Tom," she exclaimed to herself, realizing that surely he had been to sickbay and would have some information.

She found him five minutes later in the mess hall sitting at a table with Harry. "So Tom, were you in sickbay today," B'Elanna asked as soon as she sat down, looking at him expectantly.

Tom grinned at her, "I walked in and was promptly thrown out by the Doctor. Only enough time to get a look at Seven, her new husband and their three kids. I don't know what's up, but something is they've been in there for hours."

"So? What did he look like?" she asked impatiently.

His eyes widened as he looked over her shoulder, "Like that."

She turned around; walking though the doorway was the Captain, the Doctor, Seven, and a tall feline humanoid that was undoubtedly her husband. Thick reddish brown hair with catlike ears showing through it, slitted topaz eyes, tannish colored skin, thick brows that merged with a slender human looking nose, a triangular face with high cheekbones, nice broad shoulders and a muscular build, B'Elanna noted in a quick glance. The three children were carried by the Captain, Seven and the tall feline male, two blonde haired babies and one with the same color hair as the child's father. Looking at the children again she spotted the tiny ears just slightly poking up through their hair.

Even though she had known that it was true, the sight of Seven with three children and a spouse still dumbfounded her. She had never thought of the drone as maternal…her thought trailed off, and she had to honestly add…except with Naomi, the ship's only child. She remembered seeing the two playing kadis kot one time, and had been surprised by how Seven almost seemed like a regular person with the child, instead of the perfectionistic, cold woman the half-Klingon was more familiar with.

She along with the rest of the room, watched as Seven and the Doctor ordered servings of stewed peas, beans, carrots, sweet potatoes and pureed chicken and beef as if were the most interesting thing they had ever heard or seen. It was only when the Captain cleared her throat and gave the entire room a narrow eyed command glare that people turned back to their own food.

Because the Captain had chosen to sit at the back of the mess hall, B'Elanna had a clear view of the group from her seat while Tom and Harry did not. So not only could she observe Seven and the others without being obvious about it, but she got to watch the two men try and steal glances without drawing attention to themselves and getting in trouble with the Captain. Fortunately for Tom and Harry, the Captain was busy feeding the child she had been carrying, and not paying much attention to the rest of the room after the one initial look.

Seven didn't pay any attention to the rest of the room, her attention remained focused on the blonde haired baby she was feeding, with occasional glances and comments to the Captain, Doctor and her husband. From the presence of the children B'Elanna knew Seven had to have experienced at least a year or more down on the planet, but even if they hadn't been present, she would have known that some significant amount of time had passed. Seven acted very differently than she had last week, gone was the stiff upright posture, the chill aloofness with which she had interacted with everyone but Naomi, the Doctor and the Captain. This Seven was more relaxed, she smiled, and when she looked at her children or husband her face softened with obvious affection.

When she looked up next her eyes met Sevens blue ones, B'Elanna looked automatically for the hatred she had seen there last but could not find it. Seven certainly didn't return her look with any warmth, but she didn't seem to be angry with her anymore either. Guarded, defensive, were adjectives that came to B'Elanna's mind when she looked into the blonde's eyes then Seven looked back down at the baby she was feeding and did not look her way again.

B'Elanna watched Seven and her new family for a few minutes more then reluctantly got up and exited the mess hall, she needed to return to Engineering, her curiosity about Seven and what had happened down on that planet would have to wait.


"Doctor, you have a report for us?" Janeway asked, she was tired, and it was eight o'clock in the evening, but she had wanted to hear this report as soon as possible. She had transported down with the Doctor, and Seven's family six hours ago to allow the Doctor to scan Seeker's other family members. The Doctor and she had transported back to the ship four hours ago, and he had contacted her thirty minutes ago to let her know he had a preliminary report prepared. In turn, she had contacted Chakotay and Tuvok and told them to report to the briefing room.

"I do," the Doctor nodded. "You asked specifically what changes, neurologically and chemically had occurred in Seven. The development of organs to allow telepathic communication with Seeker and her children is really the only change I can determine from my testing. Her higher brain functions and body chemistry are the same, except of course where they interact with those organs as necessary for their functioning." He paused, frowning, "Of course, determining what influence the telepathic contact has upon Seven is another matter, especially given her past." The Doctor admitted.

"I know she was starting to think about relationships, and feeling lonely," admitted the Captain, "It's why she did that study on B'Elanna and Tom."

"I agree," Chakotay commented, "She's been trying to connect with the crew more, but I don't think she's had as much success as she was hoping."

Captain Janeway glanced at Tuvok who had been silent up to this point.

It was a silent prompt, but an effective one, "Most humans would find telepathic contact with another to be influential. In this particular case Seeker fulfils Seven of Nine's need to not be alone, physically, emotionally and mentally. Accepting Seeker as a mate could be considered a logically efficient choice." Tuvok stated.

"Undoubtedly," responded the Doctor, and before anyone else could comment on Tuvok's statement he continued, "But Seeker has more than just the telepathic contact going for her. I don't think Katara left much out when it came to designing the perfect species to entice a more advanced species into accepting them as a sexual partner and having children with them. Seekers entire physiology, neurology, and body chemistry is centered around being a compatible partner for Seven."

Everyone at the table straightened in their chairs, looking at him curiously.

The Doctor preened slightly, pleased that he had their complete attention, "The Rana really are a fascinating race. The full extent of Seekers changes didn't become apparent to me until I compared her with her unmated siblings Blackfur and Swiftfoot. The Rana are intelligent, but their mental development is not quite up to our level. Except for Seeker, I wouldn't be surprised to find that Seeker is fully as intelligent as Seven," he paused with a thoughtful frown, "actually I would be surprised to find that she wasn't." the Doctor corrected himself.

"Seekers body used Seven's DNA as a type of template for what physiological changes to make in order for her to become compatible with Seven. The change in body structure is only the most evident, but comparing Seeker with Blackfur and Swiftfoot shows extensive neurological changes, and changes in DNA encoding so that Seekers is compatible with Seven's human DNA." the Doctor lectured.

"Doctor," interrupted Captain Janeway, "What would have happened had Seven not been willing to become Seeker's mate."

The Doctor paused for a long moment considering the question, he frowned, "I'm not certain, they would have still had the telepathic bond, so Seeker would have been aware of her rejection. I'm not really certain what would have happened at that point, I suspect Seeker's body would have continued attempting to make her acceptable to Seven."

"And if that failed?" Janeway pushed.

"If you're asking whether Seeker would have tried to physically force herself on Seven, I don't know the answer to that. We just don't know enough about their psychology, and I'd say that the situation doesn't arise between two Rana." The Doctor answered helplessly.

"Captain, do you really think Seeker would have physically forced herself on Seven?" asked Chakotay with a frown.

"No, not really, not given their aversion to violence. I just wanted to know what the worse case scenario would be if this happened to someone else." Janeway answered.

"I'm sorry Captain but I don't have enough information to even make an intelligent guess." The Doctor replied.

Janeway nodded, a thoughtful look on her face, "Doctor can you determine exactly what the sequence of events are that lead to them being able to determine whether or not another Rana or other person is compatible, and how do they tell if a potential mate is already bonded and not available?"

The Doctor frowned, "I don't believe they entirely understand how they choose a mate. I get conflicting information from Seven and Seeker, and from Scarface, as to how the process occurs. I'm not certain if it's entirely by smell, or if bodily fluids are required, such as occurred when Seeker cared for Seven and came into contact with her blood. My initial theory is that scent alone is sufficient for Rana to Rana selections, but bodily fluids containing DNA are required for Non-Rana selections."

"That might indicate that bio-suits won't be needed," Chakotay said hopefully. The bio-suits were uncomfortable, and since the area they needed to search was mountainous, potentially dangerous as well since they were difficult to work and move around in.

"I'm not completely certain that bodily fluids are required though Commander, I might be wrong, the Rana are quite adaptive," the Doctor commented with a worried look.

"The searchers will be in bio-suits, I don't want to take any chances," Captain Janeway ordered.

Chakotay nodded, acknowledging that they didn't need to run any risks.

"As for your other question, I believe there is a feedback effect of some type tied to their olfactory organs. If they scent another Rana's or person's pheromones it suppresses the process by which they chose a mate. At least that's my theory at this point, I suspect it would take several months of intensive study to come to any definite conclusions." the Doctor stated.

Janeway nodded, "Is that all Doctor?" she inquired.

"Well there are some intriguing differences in their development and structure of their sexual organs." the Doctor proclaimed eagerly.

The room was silent for a moment, finally Janeway spoke up, "Do you think those differences have anything to do with Seven's acceptance of Seeker, and would any other crew member beside Seven also have reacted to them in the same way?" her voice was carefully neutral, as was her guarded expression.

"I would think so, considering the unique physical structure of the Rana sexual organs, and the two stage ejaculation process which includes a rather interesting chemical cocktail that increases the sensitivity of the sexual organs, the intensity of the second orgasm for both parties, and strengthens the telepathic contact for a short time." the Doctor nodded.

Janeway stared at him, trying to drive down the slight flush of embarrassment she was certain was appearing on her face. Controlling her reaction she asked, "Are you saying that this compound is…addictive?" she asked.

"No that that I have determined, but it certainly would be effective at encouraging continued sexual intercourse, especially since the Rana sexual organs seem to be designed to adjust themselves to perfectly fit almost any species." The Doctor stated in an admiring tone. "Really quite astonishing, not only are they hermaphroditic, but the male organ can adjust not only in length but also a wide range of widths."

"Perhaps you should just include that information in your report Doctor," Janeway interrupted before he could continue, even though she had to admit to herself that she was now rather curious as to how that particular fact was managed. "Oh and Doctor please make sure that all these files are locked to my, Chakotay and Tuvok's codes."

"Of course, I'll take care of that immediately," the Doctor nodded.

Thirty minutes later Janeway was trying desperately not to laugh too loudly, the Doctor almost waxed poetic about the advanced physiology of the Rana sexual organs, and she wouldn't be at all surprised if B'Elanna came to her complaining that the Doctor had been messing with his programming again. She was also trying to ignore the slight niggle of envy she felt when she considered the implications of the data for Seven's love life.