A/N: I have good news and I have bad news. The bad news this is not my favorite chapter. But that's not to say it isn't good. Believe me, it has its moments. I just miscalculated. The good news is the next few chapters are practically written so they will be posted very quick compared to my usual speed, or lack thereof. So I hope you enjoy it and thanks for all the reviews.
Quantum of Chaos
Chapter Seven: Just Dessert
On her way down the corridor toward the turbolift, Captain Janeway felt suddenly aware of the eerie quiet in the ship. It took her a few moments to register the void: the male crewmembers were all confined to quarters or in sick bay until the Chief Medical Officer determined that testosterone levels were sufficiently lower. That meant that fifty-five percent of the crew were absent, one keenly felt during the start of the Alpha Shift, especially among the Bridge Officers.
As she arrived at the turbolift, a commbadge chirp alerted her to an incoming message. "Tuvok to Captain Janeway."
She smiled at the voice of her Chief Security Officer and her friend of more than fifteen years. Tuvok, being Vulcan, was not as susceptible to hormone imbalances as an average human male and was therefore exempt from the quarantine. The Doctor had also been able to reverse most of the viral agent that the Ket'zali had infected him with. Death would have to find another victim.
"Janeway here, Tuvok. It's good to hear your voice."
"Thank you, Captain. May I request your presence in sick bay?""Is there a problem?"
"No, none that we are not already aware, Captain. However, there are two mutineers whose transgressions have required a more extensive inquiry."
"I'm on my way."
=/\=
Sick bay lights were at fifty percent. Every biobed was occupied by a crewmember, most of whom were unconscious. Tuvok, Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres and both holographic doctors were in the medical suite. Janeway bypassed them to find Ensign Samantha Wildman sitting up.
Her hair, usually adequately coiffed, stuck out wildly and dark circles stained her eyes.
"Samantha," Janeway said softly. "How are you feeling today?"
Samantha offered a wan smile. Only then did Janeway follow the length of the woman's arm, where a hand rested on a transparent case. Resting inside was an unbearably small, pallid child with a raven black tuft of unruly hair. His torso was encased by a fetal monitor that encircled his chest.
Overcome with so many emotions, Janeway's eyes teared as she tipped her head to regard the boy.
"He is so beautiful," she said. Then the Captain looked up at Samantha. "How is he doing?"
"For a child born 19 weeks too early, he's really holding his own," she said sadly.
"He looks like he could fit in the palm of my hand," she said.
"The Doctor said if he can hang on for another few weeks, then his…." Samantha sobbed, covering her mouth with a palm. Janeway offered her a sympathetic look, patting her arm in comfort.
"He's a fighter," the Captain said. "Like his mother."
Samantha looked down at her fingers, where she kneaded a blanket. "I don't feel like a fighter."
"The brave ones never do because they're doing what they must," Janeway said. "But, believe me, you are. Your son needs you and Naomi needs you."
Samantha looked up. "Oh, God," she sobbed again. "I haven't even thought about Naomi. What does that say about me?"
"It says only that you've got a lot on your plate right now. Naomi is fine. Seven is taking good care of her for you."
"Seven is such a good friend."
"The very best friend," Janeway smiled faintly. "Just hang in there, Samantha."
"Thank you, Captain."
"Thank you," she said. "Please don't hesitate to let us know if you need anything."
=/\=
Captain Janeway looked grimly around her. The others occupying the biobeds were all males. Then she saw it. The shimmer of a force field held both her First Officer and Lt. Kim. It was a grim reminder that these men, whom she had considered family up until now, were dangerous. Where will this end? she wondered as she stepped into the Doctor's office.
"Good morning," she said.
Dr. von Behring offered a perfunctory greeting, while both Tuvok, B'Elanna and the Chief assessed her closely. It took no more than a moment for it, but she knew she'd been measured and found to be sufficient.
There was a request from Samantha Wildman and Dr. von Behring excused himself to assist her. The Chief sealed the room for privacy. He leaned himself against the desk and crossed his arms, a decidedly human stance.
"What's this about?" Janeway asked.
Tuvok handed her a padd, whose data consisted of a list of seven names. "What is this?" she asked.
"Those are the names of the women I interviewed last night and this morning regarding the incident with Commander Chakotay."
"Incident?" the Chief Engineer objected. "You make this sound like a conspiracy."
Tuvok lifted a brow at the volatile outburst. "It is an incident, Lieutenant."
"No, it isn't! How can you call it that? Chakotay was the mutiny ringleader! Not some—"
"Hold on, B'Elanna," Janeway said reasonably. "Can I just get the background first before we dive headlong into a discussion about semantics?"
The Klingon crossed her arms and glared at Tuvok. "Fine, Captain."
Janeway bit back an acerbic reply. Tempers were flaring, unusually so. But hormones were the real culprit so allowances would be made.
Janeway thumbed through the padd. "I thought this was about the mutiny," she said, dropping the padd to her thigh and giving her Security Chief a dubious lift of a brow.
"Indeed," he said. "It is also about the events that lead directly to Commander Chakotay's body mutilation."
"Mutilation?" Janeway gasped.
Tuvok raised a handful of photos, but refused to release them when the Captain took them. "I warn you, Captain," he said. "These are disturbing."
Lt. Torres threw her hands up in frustration. "Perhaps they could also be called Chakotay's just desserts."
Janeway gasped again as she saw her First Officer dangling nude from a fusing piton-mounted artificial anti-gravity inhibitor. "Why—How—did they do this? I have so many questions, I don't even know where to begin."
"Why?" B'Elanna blurted. "Why? He knocked these women up, Captain!"
"Lieutenant!" the Doctor objected. "You can't just it say it like that. These are women and fetuses. Not—"
"I'm surprised Seven isn't incubating her own little, bouncing toaster," B'Elanna retorted with a smirk.
Janeway paled. She forced herself to look at the pictures of her First Officer in a compromised position instead of the woman insulting her lover and their baby.
"Lieutenant Torres," Tuvok replied after watching the Captain for a moment. "Please desist in these emotional outbursts. They are counterproductive and unprofessional."
"I knew he was screwing half the—"
"B'Elanna, please," Janeway whispered, her eyes still glued to a picture but not really seeing it.
Something in the Captain's voice gave the keyed up officer a little pause. She followed Janeway's gaze and then the Chief Engineer pointed to a belt made of black poly-xenylon fabric cinched around his chest in the picture. "This was lined with stem bolts. The anti-gravity inhibitor sensed the metal—"
"Circumventing its safety protocols to hang Chakotay from the upper deck?" Janeway said sharply.
"I thought it was pretty ingenious," B'Elanna replied.
"Were you there?" Janeway finally looked up at the Klingon hybrid.
"You know I was, Captain," she said. "I was undercover and I got front row seats to Chakotay's warp-factor smackdown."
"Lieutenant," Janeway replied sharply, flourishing the holophotos in the air. "This violates at least fifteen Starfleet regulations that I can think of."
"Twenty four," Tuvok corrected.
"Were you a party to this?"
B'Elanna crossed her arms. "So, what about what he did to the those women? Doesn't that mitigate culpability?"
Janeway inhaled sharply. "Why don't you tell me what happened?"
=/\=
Lt. B'Elanna Torres felt the rage bubbling up inside of her, as her former Maquis Captain held his phaser up, careful to rotate the barrel at each menacing woman. "Like I said before, ladies…get back to work."
The women were sniveling, even though they had the upper hand, the warrior woman thought. She detested women who willingly yielded the higher ground. It was not the Klingon way and certainly not the Way of the Feminist.
B'Elanna could sense the women begin to doubt themselves, their right to justice. The situation was dredging up old memories for her growing up on Kessik IV. She was the only Klingon child there, among humans. That drew bullies like flies to honey. She'd found a way to survive. B'Elanna Torres had learned to give herself away, bit by little bit. When her human father had left her Klingon mother, the part of herself that she'd managed to save sunk deep inside, flooded by the grief and the rage. The howling fury had saved her, of course. She'd entered Starfleet Academy, but found her full zenith among the Maquis, where she learned to take all of herself back, through grit and spitfire.
Crewman Evelyn Romtau's question re-ignited the rage inside of her.
"Who the hell do you think you are?" Romtau asked, patting the artificial gravity inhibitor perched on a shoulder.
"Your commanding officer, that's who." Chakotay eyed his six assailants, giving each a measuring and appreciative stare. "And if you don't like that one, how about the man with the phaser who has no qualms…."
Torres was surprised that Chakotay didn't sway from his own intoxicated sense of power. It was ironic that a member of the Maquis would seek to dominate these women. The Maquis arose from the very ashes of vanquished settlers left to fend for themselves when the Federation just handed over their land to Cardassia in a despicable agreement of cowardice. Chakotay was fighting on the wrong side, she thought. It was the last thing B'Elanna remembered before she decided to intervene.
"Or I'll blast you into the next decade or—what the hell?"
A brawny but feminine arm circled Chakotay's neck and before he realized it, the man was in a Klingon headlock. Chakotay wasn't a Klingon and he was no match for her natural Klingon musculature. Under her martial hands, he was like a rag doll.The other women cried out as they swarmed him.
=/\=
Janeway studied her Chief Engineer. B'Elanna had always been a hot head. Janeway had dismissed it as a sign of culture rather than a character flaw. The Captain wondered if she had chosen her spy poorly, though she knew she had little choice at the time.
"Are you telling me, B'Elanna, that the women cried as in—?"
"It was a war cry, Captain," she said, completely unabashed. "These women were angry and, if you ask me, they had a right to be."
"Regardless," Janeway said, with a dismissive wave of her hand. "You can't take justice into your own hand."
B'Elanna's face contorted in frustration. "If they hadn't, then you'd be drifting in an escape pod, along with your daughter."
The Captain couldn't help her flush, especially where her daughter was concerned. She recognized the paradox. For the millionth time on this voyage, Captain Janeway wished that she was not gifted with the ability to see all sides of an argument. It was what made her a consummate diplomat. It also made the burden of command that much more painful to bear, particularly when her sense of justice superceded the crew's desire to return home.
Janeway sighed, holding off judgment. She looked down at the pictures again and shivered. The remaining five snapshots captured a single procedure.
"Who took these pictures?"
"Gilmore took the first two," she said.
When Janeway didn't hear any more explanation, she looked up just in time to see B'Elanna lift a defiant chin.
"I took the last five."
"Why?"
"I thought Gilmore could stomach this type of…" B'Elanna bunched her lips and looked up, pensive. "This type of effort, especially when you consider her role on the Equinox."
The history brought uncomfortable expressions to the Starfleet Officers. What Equinox crewmembers had done to survive in the Delta Quadrant—namely use the life-force of another species for propulsion—it was horrifically barbaric by any Federation standard.
B'Elanna shrugged. "For whatever reason, Gilmore finally dropped the camera when he was lanced."
=/\=
The man had been stripped and hogtied in a matter of minutes. "Let me down," Chakotay growled. "Or so help me God, I'll—"
Fernandez patted his ass cheek condescendingly. "You're a little out of your league, little boy," she sneered in an echo of his earlier taunt. "Don't you think?"
"Especially in light of this?" Harper produced a tritanium surgical pin that glittered in the bright lights of the shuttle bay.
"What are you going to do?" he asked.
Fernandez laughed at the hint of fear implicit in the question. "Ah, what's da matter?"
Chakotay looked at B'Elanna. "I took you under my wing, B'Elanna. I gave you what your own father never did. I gave you a sense of purpose, of pride and self-worth. Don't do this to me."
"You also promised to throw my husband out an airlock," she derided.Romtau slipped some gloves on. "Okay, ladies," she said. "With or without anesthesia?"
"Without," they all said in unison. "Just like our labor."
=/\=
The Captain swallowed hard and stared uncomprehendingly at her Chief Engineer.
"What?" B'Elanna asked.
"I'm just…." Janeway touched her temple, feeling a slow rise in pain. "I'm a little…shocked that grown women who are also Starfleet Officers—"
"Have you never felt that kind of betrayal?"
The letter from her once fiancé Mark Johnson fluttered in her mind. He'd lost hope, given up on her. Yes, she knew that kind of betrayal, but she sure as hell wasn't going to let that color her judgment. "That is completely beside the point, Lieutenant. There is absolutely no excuse for the kind of pain that was inflicted on this man."
B'Elanna frowned at her Captain. "This man would have taken Voyager from you and thrown you out an airlock. The same man that intended to get rid of your daughter, too. That man, you mean?"
Janeway stared at the Chief Engineer for so long that Tuvok finally entered the fray. "Lieutenant Torres, an attempted mutiny does not mitigate any crime on him. Please continue so that we may ascertain the need—if any—for an official inquest."
"Official inquest," B'Elanna said. Her cranial ridges seemed more prominent in her disbelief. "What about—?"
"B'Elanna, please," Janeway pleaded.
"Fine," she replied. The woman found the only chair in the office and threw herself in it. She crossed a leg, shaking her foot unmercifully as she continued.
"Please do help yourself, Lieutenant," the Chief sneered, gesturing toward the chair.
She slowly swiveled her head and glared at him. "I'm pregnant," she hissed. "If you'd had a chivalrous algorithm in your program, you would have offered me a chair."
The Doctor looked askance at the Klingon hybrid, whipping out his medical tricorder to wave it over her. "Well, I'd say your testosterone levels are…" He brought it closer to his holographic eyes. "Normal?"
B'Elanna smirked. "It's genetics, Doctor."
Janeway finally came to herself. "All right, people," she said. "B'Elanna, can you please proceed. Without the theatrics, this time."
=/\=
Ensign Shona Harper rolled out a blue Starfleet issue towel on the floor, under Chakotay just where he could see its contents. Long, pointed and hooked Medical instruments clanked, settling in a neat little row.
"What are you doing?" Chakotay asked again.
She held up a long, slender trocar needle, with a thick black grip. She lightly tapped his hip and Chakotay spun around. Harper looked down disapprovingly at his genitalia, his penis hanging between a raven black triangle of hair and dangling scrotum.
She glanced up at the other women, all gathered around. "We've all seen this before," Harper said.
"I haven't," B'Elanna replied. "Now I'm glad we never became lovers."
The comment brought chuckles to the women, but the First Officer burned red in fury. "When I get out of this, you are going to pay."
Fernandez smacked his bare ass cheek, the slap reverberating in the nearly empty shuttle hangar. "We're already going to pay, pendejo. Four to six months from now. All of us. But you're going to pay now."
"And later," Romtau said, her voice a soft lilt.
"Now where were we?" Harper asked. "Oh, yes. All right, crewmates. Keep him steady." She nudged his knee open and his expression became sheer terror when he saw her concentration focused on his manhood.
He thrashed with everything he had. Though his arms and legs were tied, he was still able gyrate freely when the women lost their grip on him and backed away.
Fernandez wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.
"I'm not a push over," Chakotay growled.
"You will be after we're done with you."
Before they could begin a second run on him, the ship began to rock. In the shuttle bay, the engine whine as the ship fought the pull of the light beings was nearly intolerably. The women managed to cover their own ears, but Chakotay howled in pain as he was unable to protect his own.
When the attack had ended, the women dropped their arms and regarded their pretty. He was grimacing and thrashing, forcing the women to back off yet again.
Finally, B'Elanna raised her hands, taking over the mission. "I'm not really sure what you're trying to do…." She glanced at the surgical tools in Harper's hand. "But I've got a pretty good idea. So here's what we're going to do."
She whispered some instructions and in five minutes, Chakotay's already bound hands and feet were tied together and anchored to the floor with another fusing piton. A woman stood beside each of his sinewy flanks.
Harper smacked his buttock. "Okay, little flower, open up!"
Some of the women glanced at Harper curiously. "What?" she said. "That's what he said to me…" She shrugged. "During our first time."
The women shared meaningful looks, but only B'Elanna had the temerity to ask. "Were you a virgin?"
Harper tried to act as if it didn't matter—it didn't matter that she'd given herself to a cad. It didn't matter that she was carrying his child. The baby was now hers and hers alone. To hell with him. "Yeah," she whispered, rubbing one tritanium piercing needle against the Chamberlen forceps. "I was innocent."
"You loved it," the man facing the deck rumble.
Harper pinched some dark, tender flesh between his scrotum and rectum, causing the man to howl. "Yeah, well, I loved you, asshole."
"Stop it!" he howled. "I'm sorry! Okay! I thought we all knew the risks of sex!"
Gilmore sobbed as she walked toward his head, squatting down to look him in the eye. "They're babies, Chakotay," she whispered. "Not risks. Not statistical improbabilities. Not ventures. Babies! And if you were half the man I thought you were, you would own up to what you've done."
"I'll give them my name," he said, looking into Gilmore's blue eyes. Suddenly he realized they reminded him of Seven.
His pained expression made Gilmore tip her head in wonder.
With a loud, disapproving sigh, Porter stomped over and pulled Gilmore to her feet. "His tokens are cheap, Marla," she said. "Don't you have his number yet?"
Marla brushed her blonde strands back from her shoulder, looking down longingly at the man. A well of sadness bubbled up and she reluctantly nodded. "Okay," she squeaked.
Harper again pinched the flesh at the man's perineum. His bucking and flaying were useless this time as the pitons held Chakotay firmly in place just as they would serve to anchor a shuttle during a storm.
Harper glanced at the piercing needle. In one motion, she pierced the man's flesh perpendicular to his penis, lodging a small ring. Chakotay screamed loud and long, but Harper calmly extended her palm. "I need the finishing piece."
Romtau placed the bead that would seal off the piercing with a ball to enclose the circle.
That's when the impulse engines were cut. The shove from the beings of light threw the women clear of Chakotay and then the Chief's nerve gas knocked them unconscious.
=/\=
"What purpose did this mutilation serve?" Janeway asked Torres.
She shrugged. "It's a guiche piercing," she said. "I'd never heard of it until then."
"Guiche piercing?" Janeway replied turning to the doctor for elaboration.
The Doctor handed the Captain a padd, a journal entry titled "Male Guiche" was written across the top. "I believe the women were going to perform a series of procedures beginning with the first. Their next step would have been to pierce the man's penis."
Janeway looked horrified. "Why, Doctor?" Before he could answer, Janeway turned to Tuvok. "What did the women have to say for themselves?"
"It was a male chastity belt," Tuvok explained.
"A what?" Janeway blanched, looking to the Chief for clarification. "Is that possible?"
"Oh, yes," the Doctor said. "In theory, a clip at the penis head could be anchored to the one at his perineum, making erection painful and impossible."
Janeway scratched his head. "This violates so many ethics, not to mention regulations, I don't even know where to begin." She paced the room. "If we were in the Alpha Quadrant, I would haul these women…" Janeway regarded B'Elanna Torres. "Including you…" She pointed a quaking finger at the woman. "…to the nearest Starbase for a Starfleet tribunal."
"That's the difference between us, Captain," B'Elanna said slowly and deliberately, not shying away from the fierce blue-gray gaze. "I believe that sometimes you have to make your own justice. That's what I found appealing in the Maquis."
The Captain shook her head, disgust touching the edges of her mouth. "That is a big difference," she said. "I believe in the rule of law."
"Before you convict the women," the Doctor said, earning a sharp glare from the Captain, "may I remind you they were as much victims of the theta radiation as the men."
Janeway leveled a supersonic glare at the hologram. "How can you even say that?"
He handed the Captain another padd. "I can say that because I have all the data, Captain. You do not. Here are their hormone levels. Testosterone levels were off the charts, even for a male elephant. When you factor in the typical emotional dementia that pregnancy may cause…."
Janeway pursed her lips and she paled, earning her an eyebrow raise from the Emergency Medical Hologram. But she remained silent about her situation, and so did he.
"…Then I believe you have grounds for 'mitigating circumstance,'" the Chief said.
Janeway recognized the cant of the Starfleet Advocate General. The hologram had been brushing up on his case law, no doubt concerned for all of his patients.
"In any case, Captain," Tuvok finally added, "diminished capacity does seem to play a vital role, as does a crime of passion. You, as the commanding officer, must weigh the needs of the many against the needs of the one."
Janeway scrutinized her Security Chief, surprised at his apparent shift toward lienency. "What do you mean?"
"To punish Chakotay, the leader of the mutiny would do nothing to ease crew divisions."
She raised her chin a millimeter, only now seeing what Tuvok had evidently considered the multiple factors for quite some time. "Go on."
"If you punish the women, you victimize them again."
Janeway squeezed her eyes closed and gritted her teeth. Yet another paradox. Damn, I really hate those! Her decision to destroy the Caretaker's array came to her mind. It was her choice in that no-win scenario that stranded them here.
She heard the whirring of the medical tricorder and snapped her eyes open in a nuclear blast of a glare.
"Now, Captain," the Chief said. "I am responsible for your well-being. Don't give me that look." He snapped the tricorder closed. "In any event, you are reading normal…if a trifle tired."
She narrowed her eyes a fraction of a millimeter in warning. He raised his holographic arms in surrender. "As I said, you are fine."
"If the three of you have obviously talked about this already…." The comment was confirmed by meaningful looks between her officers. "Then what are your recommendations?"
=/\=
Janeway glanced down, the burden of command taking its toll in the twinkle of her eyes and the set of her shoulders. "All right," she finally said. "I can see all of your points. I don't like it. But I will give them all their chance."
Lt. B'Elanna Torres nodded once. "Good because these women deserve the chance."
Janeway let the comment pass, before dismissing her. The Doctor was called away, leaving her and Tuvok alone in the sick bay office.
"Captain," he said. "There is another matter that requires your attention." He handed her another padd.
"You've been busy, Mr. Tuvok," she whispered amiably, though she felt none of the mirth she projected.
As she completed the file, the Captain lifted her chin, massaging the back of her neck. "I'd heard that Lt. Kim had struck my daughter, but this…." She handed it back to Tuvok. "What happened exactly?"
Tuvok described in vivid detail the sequence of events that lead to finding Eridani Janeway and Harry Kim unconscious in the Jeffries Tube 47 on Deck 7.
"So you are telling me that my eight-year-old daughter launched herself onto the Lieutenant as he descended the ladder?"
"It was an ingenious tactic, Captain," he said. "She leveraged twenty-nine kilograms into seven hundred and ten Newton-meters."
"She's eight, Tuvok! It's not her job to defend the ship."
"Captain," he said quietly. "I do not believe it was the ship she was defending. Her tactic may have saved her own life."
"Why do you believe that?"
"If she had not resisted, if Crewman Tal and the Borg children had not helped her resist, there is no doubt that she would have been ejected into an escape pod prior to the Doctor anesthetizing the crew."
She paled and suddenly felt the need to throw Harry Kim in the brig, compound fractures be damned. Janeway turned to see Dr. von Behring running a bone-knitter over the man's femur and tibia. "How will we ever trust each other again?" she asked quietly.
"Time," he said.
Janeway looked astonished at his seemingly trite reply. "If you are suggesting that time will heal all wounds—"
"I stated nothing of the kind," the Vulcan replied. "Time is movement within the other three dimensions."
He paused to see if she were going to argue such a rudimentary point.
Janeway scratched her temple. "Tuvok," she said gently. "I really—"
"Please indulge me, Captain. And you did inquire."
She sat down and leaned out, gesturing with a hand. "Do go on."
"We could predict seasons and honor our deities according to this cycle."
"You mean because this movement was consistent?"
"Yes, and our own movements within this matrix can also be observed," he added.
She brightened. "And to give and receive trust, we must observe and be observed moving, conducting our lives, if you will."
"Yes, that is so."
"And to observe it requires esprit de corps!" She closed her eyes, a soft smile on her lips. "Tuvok, you, my friend, are brilliant."
"And you are fatigued, Captain."
"No, no," she replied, her eyes still closed. "I'm thinking."
"Captain," he finally said. "There is the third matter of your whereabouts last night."
She snapped her eyes open and stood ramrod straight. "What do you mean, Commander?"
Tuvok offered the Captain a disappointing look. "Did you really believe that Seven of Nine's computer legerdemain could be concealed from me?"
"What are you trying so hard not to say, Tuvok?"
"I am aware you spent the night in Seven's quarters, Captain."
She opened her mouth to speak and snapped it shut. Captain Janeway hesitated, sensing the uneven ground she walked. "I was with…." Something told her that Tuvok was aware of more than he revealed and that trust must begin with her own "movements" on the ship. Trust and integrity, both hallmarks of her career. Janeway knew she could not alter course now. "Yes, I was there," Janeway replied quietly.
Tuvok's expression softened a fraction. "Thank you for your candor."
Suddenly, Janeway found her fingertips interesting, a fact which annoyed her. "We are in a—Seven and I, that is," she said. After a moment Janeway forced herself to look at this man she'd known for nearly her entire Starfleet career. "We are in a…relationship."
"You share custody of a daughter," he stated logically. "Your relationship is evident."
Captain Janeway nearly groaned and wondered if the Vulcan was being deliberately obtuse to prove a perverse point. "It's more than that, Tuvok," she said carefully. "We spent the night together."
Tuvok studied the Captain for a long moment.
She knew his patience was practiced, with years of experience in the Vulcan meditation. There was no way she could win a game of diplomatic ambiguity.
"We've spent many, many nights together," she added.
Janeway sighed at the single arched Vulcan eyebrow she'd managed to evoke from the stoic man. "We are lovers."
"That explains your fatigue," he said evenly.
Janeway brushed the corner of her mouth with her thumb and made toward the door. There was no way he could know of the other small detail and she had no intention of telling him.
As she nearly sprinted passed him to get out of the office, the Vulcan spoke. "Then I shall overlook the harmless breach of communicator protocols," he said.
"Thank you," she replied wryly.
"However, Captain," he said.
The two words were spoken, just as her first foot set down outside of the medical confine. She spun around, fearful his comments may be overheard.
"Yes?"
"There is a Vulcan saying—'a slumbering lover wakes up alone.'"
She grimaced, looking for telltale signs that the unemotional man was joking. "What does that mean, exactly?"
"Do not squander this opportunity to acquire a more permanent human affiliation."
Janeway couldn't help herself. A quivering smile stretched her lips. "I didn't realize you were such a romantic, Tuvok."
"Romance is irrelevant," he stated. The phrase reminded Janeway of her lover. Her grin deepened. "But it is difficult to lead within a void."
The Security Chief stepped breezily past her, leaving her to stew with her thoughts. The Captain rubbed one eye with the heel of her hand. How could she ever introduce her lover to the crew if she could hardly do it to someone she trusted implicitly.
=/\=
The doors to Astrometrics slid open. Six feet of blonde curves stood at her post. She turned, inquiringly toward the entrance with typical Borg indifference. Janeway's stomach fluttered to see the subtle shift to complete joy.
"Good morning," Janeway said.
"Captain," she replied, turning toward the charting of the new region of space. "How may I assist you?"
Janeway leaned an elbow on a panel. "How about a good morning kiss before we get down to business?"
Seven's hands froze midway to the console and she slowly regarded the Captain. "I believe that duty has been fulfilled," she replied without a hint of humor. "Multiple times."
"Duty is it?" Janeway replied with a teasing lilt in her voice.
"Since this is an official visit," she said, gesturing the padd in the Captain's hand, "you may order me to provide you with a suitably oral greeting."
Janeway approached her, laying the padd on the console. Her fingertips skimmed the woman's sleeves to her shoulder. Then Janeway palmed the woman's shoulder blade. "I'm not looking for suitable, Seven of Nine."
Only then did Seven notice the tension around her eyes and mouth. "What has happened, Kathryn? Is Eridani—?"
"Dani's fine. But can I have a kiss first? I'd prefer not to order—"
Seven covered her mouth in an offering of possession and comfort. Her arms slipped around the Captain, pulling her close. Just as quickly as it had started, the kiss was over and Seven stood at attention a foot away.
"You are ill," Seven replied, scrutinizing the woman head to toe.
"No, not physically," she replied, leaning the console. "I thought I should give you some news."
Seven waited quietly for Janeway, who looked away at the viewer. The star clusters Seven was mapping had never been seen by Federation eyes. It was all new.
"Kathryn," Seven said, stepping closer, but not touching. She glanced at the entrance before taking the woman's hand.
"It is about Dani," she said, looking at the long, nimble fingers of her lover intertwined with her own. "And Chakotay. He was injured when six women assaulted him."
"Assaulted him?"
"Evidently, he impregnated all six women."
Janeway wasn't sure what kind of reaction she was expecting, but it certainly wasn't the one she got.
"He is quite…prolific," she said. "What of Dani?"
Janeway elaborated on the scenario between Eridani and Lt. Kim. She felt the ex Borg's grip tighten. "Seven," she said. "You won't try to exact your own vengeance on Mr. Kim. Will you?"
Seven's distant gaze refocused on her lover. "No, I will not," she replied.
"Seven, I'm serious."
"As am I, Captain," she said with a distant expression. Then Seven inclined her head to peck Kathryn's lips. "I will not harm Lt. Kim."
Captain Janeway took one more taste of Seven's lips before she relinquished the woman. She tugged her tunic down. "I have a meeting with Chakotay and Harry in my ready room. Afterward, I want us both to sit down with Dani to discuss…."
Something in Seven's expression made Janeway rethink her plan. "On second thought, I think it would be best to meet with our daughter in the VIP quarters."
"Very well," she said. "Eleven hundred hours?"
"Perfect," she replied on her way out.
=/\=
Captain Janeway fiddled with her workstation keys in her Ready Room. Then she closed the monitor. Then she stood up, tugging down her tunic. She looked around and then at the replicator. Coffee. She felt like a dull blade underwater without it. Every cell inside of her cried out for it. She pinched the bridge of her nose. No, no. This is temporary. I am master of the coffee. It is not master of me.
This meeting would go so much better with coffee. She could not deny that thought. She would need to be at her best for this meeting with Chakotay and Lieutenant Kim. So much hung in the balance…a bright future for Voyager, crew unity and basic morale.
A soft door chime sounded. "I can do this," she replied.
Janeway noticed the changes immediately. Chakotay's hair was cut short, just as he used to wear it when they'd met. His thunderbird tattoo on his right cheekbone was gone. His uniform was completely regulation. And he walked gingerly to the reception area near the transparent steel windows.
Pictures of Chakotay strung up flashed in her mind and Janeway literally shook her head to rid herself of the images.
Mr. Kim caught her eye and she watched him look over his shoulder and then over hers as if he were expecting someone else.
Gone was Harry Kim's outlaw swagger. His baby face would never return as well, she thought remorsefully. Not with a nick on his left eyebrow. She also frowned because his supreme self-confidence seemed to have evaporated as well.
"Gentlemen," she said, offering them both a cup of tea. She sat in a lone soft chair to the side while they each occupied opposite ends of the long couch, with Chakotay closer. "How are you both feeling?"
There was a painful silence into which Kathryn wanted to pour her best wishes, her hopes for them, her aspirations for their future. But that would be a mistake. She would be seen as trying too hard. So she waited for them.
Chakotay turned to smile at Lt. Kim, his endearing dimple twinkling brightly. Janeway had missed his good-natured friendship. "Well, I suppose I'll go first, if you don't mind, Harry."
Harry's eyes widened a fraction and he cleared his throat. "Oh, no, not at all. I assumed—I mean—go ahead, Commander."
"I don't know about you, Harry, but I've been pretty tired," he said. "The Doctor says that's normal when you are being weaned off of the testosterone-adrenaline high."
Kathryn looked at Harry, who opened his mouth but remained silent. He adjusted himself in his chair and bounced a knee, spilling some of the tea on his pants. "Oh," he said, looking down. "I'm sorry!"
Kathryn was up instantly, offering him an additional cloth napkin. "It's okay, Harry," she said.
He set the teacup and saucer down on the table and daubed himself slowly.
He's stalling, she thought.
He shook the napkin out and folded it so the wet spot was up, laying it across his knee. Harry smoothed it over, watching his fingers as they pressed the cloth.
"Lieutenant Kim," Captain Janeway said.
His eyes snapped up. "I'm sorry, Captain."
"You said that already," she said with a hint of amusement.
He glanced down at the dark stain on his thigh. "No, not for the spill—I mean—wait! Yes for the spill and forhittingyourdaughter." Harry started to pant, as he tugged at the collar of his tunic.
Janeway inhaled deeply and moved forward on her seat, resting the palms of her hands on her knees. "You want to dispense with the chit chat so soon," she replied with a tremulous smile. "Fine. We can do that."
"I'm sorry," he replied again.
Janeway raised a hand to stop another round of blathering. "I have asked you both to come so that we may discuss our future."
Harry's shoulders stiffened, while Chakotay was the picture of relaxation.
"In the past two weeks, we have all done things and said things that were not within our nature," she replied. "I did not ask you here to begin an official inquest, nor a tribunal, nor a court martial. I wanted to let you know that I am aware of what transpired in the last twenty four hours—all of it. There were extenuating circumstances. You will retain your ranks, but my trust you will have to earn back."
Harry visibly melted, a tenuous smile breaking across his lips.
"But what I can do officially has its limits, gentlemen. Harry, I cannot allow a rift to remain between you, my daughter, Naomi Wildman, the Borg children and Crewman Tal."
"I'm sorry, Captain," he said softly again, averting his eyes.
"Oh, Harry," she whispered, too softly for him to hear. Captain Janeway wanted to take his cheeks in her hands and kiss his forehead, as a mother would do. But she wasn't his mother and he wasn't a boy. "My question to you is, do you think you can rebuild a relationship, not only with them but with the other crewmembers who didn't defect?"
"Yes," he said in a voice he deepened. "I can. I can do that."
She sat back, continuing to eye the young man. "I would like for you to offer a training course in self defense."
"Self defense? Me?"
"Yes, when I spoke with your mother on the day we left port…." Janeway smiled at the look of horror on the young man's face at the mention of his meddling mother. "It's okay, Harry. She just told me your were an expert in Anbo-Jitsu."
"An expert? Hardly," he moaned with an eye roll. "I took lessons, like every teenager."
"Wonderful," she said. "When can you start?"
Harry frowned. "Well, I suppose I can start after the Doctor clears me. Who will be my judoka—my pupils?"
"You'll start with the children." Janeway hopped up from her chair at the horrified look. "Then the rest of the crew. But you'll do fabulous, Lieutenant."
He stood up, a little dazed. "Is this punishment, Captain?"
Janeway ushered him toward the door. "Oh, Harry, don't think of it like that," she chided. "It's togetherness. It's camaraderie. It will build trust and esprit de corps."
"I don't think I like the sound of this." Lt. Kim stood at the door and looked pointedly at the science station. He blew out some air and mumbled something under his breath.
Janeway patted his shoulder. "Oh, you'll do fine. We'll talk later."
She stared for a moment at the sliding door and then she pulled her tunic down. She turned on her heels and marched back up to sit next to Chakotay.
"You handle him very well."
"It's not retribution," she insisted.
"Of course not," he said. "Children are benign creatures." That twinkling dimple was back and Janeway couldn't help but smile at his gentle humor.
"It'll build character at the very least," she finally replied. They shared a good laugh and Janeway touched his arm. "It is so good to have you back, Chakotay."
He placed his own hand on hers. "It's good to be back. I feel like I've gone to a distant star six months ago and only just returned this morning. Though the Doctor will tell you I'm not out of the woods yet."
She pulled back, resting her chin in her hand and her elbow on the back of the couch. A leg was bent and she was twisted informally to the side to see him.
"So what's my punishment," he asked wryly.
The Captain gave him a sad smile. "Actually, you're case is a bit more complicated," she replied. "There was the matter of the assault."
He stared at her, his expression blanked to anguish. "What assault?"
She hesitated too long and he stood up, running his hand over his hair. He glanced down to see no strands in his palm. "Who did I assault?"
She jumped up. "Oh, no, Chakotay, no. Not you. The assault on you. By the women."
Chakotay closed his eyes, sucking in his lips. He touched his fingertips to his tattoo, tracing the lines from memory. "It's not their fault," he said.
"Chakotay, listen to me."
Kathryn gestured for him to take his seat. She took hers beside him, both feet fully planted. "I've gone over this with Tuvok, the Doctor and I personally spoke with an eyewitness."
"Oh, God," he hissed.
"I have decided under strong recommendations from the three that this matter be kept out of the official records."
"You would do that?"
"I feel I must, though it is terribly unfair to you—"
"It's not about me, Kathryn. These women were wronged! It wasn't me, but it was my body." He bolted upright and walked away from her. "I always wanted children, but like this?" He inhaled deeply and turned to face her. "Samantha is naming my son Dukat. Dukat!"
"A Cardassian name," Kathryn whispered.
He nodded, a brief glistening in his eyes vanished. "Of all the names she could have chosen…." Chakotay shook his head. "If I spent six lifetimes, I could never make amends to these women and to my children?"
"Don't press charges," she said simply.
He looked horrified. "No, I never intended to! I should be punished."
The Captain blew out some air. "You said it already, Chakotay. It wasn't you. I need your help to put our crew back together again."
He looked up at her, after staring at his shoes for a long while. "How?"
Janeway explained about their latest position after being flung by the fireflies. Another week would put them within transporter range of a class M planet. "It's teeming with flora and fauna," she said. "I want you to lead a mixed, multi-disciplinary team. We are going to need more plants to grow our own food if we are going to make it back as a generational ship."
"What do you mean 'mixed'?"
"Starfleet loyalists, Maquis and some of the women—can you work with them?"
"I will try, Kathryn. I give you my word."
"We also need to discuss my plan for departmental cross training," she said. "We need to cultivate our leaders, especially among the junior officers."
"What are you saying?"
"I can tell you now what I'm not saying! I'm not saying we won't make it home soon. This is a precaution. I was on the bridge when the fireflies flung us 15,000 light years further from home. Lt. Ayala froze."
"Kobiyashi Maru."
"Something like that," she replied. "I also want this cross training done for morale. I want the crewman down below to be able to integrate more readily with the rest of the crew."
"Like your best pal Harren?"
She gave him a weak smile. "I see news travels fast."
"It's a small ship," he said with a shrug and a chuckle.
"But yes, I saw him in action. Harren can lead."
"If he wants to."
"Then we'll have to make him want it."
"The same goes for Jarvin and Gennaro?"
"Oh, yes! Oh, yes. But we have to be ready for the hiccups we'll have on the way."
"Thank you," he replied softly.
"For what?"
"For giving me another chance. That other man—my Mr. Hyde—he wouldn't have given you the same opportunity."
"That's why I fired him," she said with a soft laugh.
Chakotay smiled amiably. "Do you think Seven will ever forgive me and take me back?"
Janeway felt a cold hand grip her heart. Her face went ashen and time seemed to stop. What was she supposed to say to him? His double take of her expression brought her poise back from oblivion. "If I knew what Seven of Nine would do, then I'd be the Borg Queen, wouldn't I?"
She patted him on the back, realizing he wanted to drag out the discussion. "I have another meeting starting in a few minutes, Chakotay," she said, escorting him to the exit. "I'll see you later.
=/\=
Captain Janeway glanced at the chronometer, her eyes barely registering the time. The replicator began its siren song of terrible Delta Quadrant coffee. What she wanted, what she craved was a cup of joe from the corner café in Clear Creek Township, just south of Bloomington, Indiana.
Suddenly, she felt a strong need to see her mother, Gretchen. The woman had never allowed Kathryn to take the easy way. Good thing, Janeway thought morosely. Looks like the road home is going to be long and bumpy, especially with a clashing crew.
She bit down hard on her molars. Janeway chided herself for absorbing the negative vibes. It was unproductive. "We'll get home," she whispered, patting a bulkhead as she zipped by. "Maybe not tomorrow. But soon. Very, very soon."
Janeway's dismal loop, as she called the circular thoughts that she engaged in during her saddest moments had almost run their course. Maybe a Borg kiss could alleviate the tension, she thought with a tight smile. The very thought of a Borg kiss made Janeway smile and she knew it was a silly grin because her face hurt. But the thought of sharing it with Seven did that. She was propelled forward to a near skip to the VIP quarters by the very ideas she entertained.
Janeway stepped into the quarters, as if she lived there. She was a little nervous to do so, but was relieved to see Seven sitting on a couch with a padd in hand. The beauty looked up and smiled faintly. To most people, the subtle degree of change between her polite indifference and her joy was, for Kathryn, like the difference between a flashlight and the sun.
"Hello, darling," she said.
Seven met Kathryn halfway to the living area. She opened her arms and Kathryn fell into them. Their lips met in a confident and practiced joining. "I missed you," Kathryn said against the woman's lips.
Seven rubbed the woman's back in large circles. "You remain amorous," she accused with a hint of amusement.
Kathryn stared into the blue eyes while her own hand slipped down between them. Even over her biosuit, she could feel the heat and the rising tide of moisture between the tall woman's legs as she rubbed the seam. "I'm not the only one," she said with a deep, sonorous laugh.
Seven's hips completed one slow, circular grind after another. "We cannot," Seven replied, even as she closed her eyes when two soft lips began to nibble her jaw.
"I know," she murmured. "Dani will be here any second."
That sobering thought made Janeway drop her hand. But she remained pressed against the woman, granting her lover a kiss immersed in liquid desire. Their tongues twined together, circling in a mutual anointing that made intimate promises they couldn't keep just yet.
Without warning, the cabin door slid open, followed closely by a prepubescent gasp. Dani stood rooted to a spot just inside the door, her wide eyes shifting between both parents. "What were you doing?"
Janeway cleared her throat and looked back at Seven, who merely raised an eyebrow at her lover. "We were saying hello," Janeway said. She pulled down her tunic and faced both of them. "Would you like anything to drink?"
Janeway noticed that Dani seemed dazed. "Dani, would you like a refreshment?"
Dani furrowed her brow, still staring at the spot where the two were entangled. "What were your tongues doing?"
Janeway didn't really want to have this discussion. Not now. Not ever. Then Janeway heard the echoes of the Doctor's admonition that all of the children, particularly the younger ones would be arriving at puberty sooner rather than later. The thought terrified Janeway much more than any Borg Queen or Krenim timeship. So she brutally suppressed the prognosis. "Dani? Drink?"
Dani shook her head once, her strawberry locks dancing on her shoulders. "Um, no thanks. Are you going to answer my question?"
"No," Janeway snapped as she turned to her lover. "Darling, drink?"
Seven contemplated the question, while Dani walked over to Cappie. "But why not?" Dani looked up into her mother's face, tipped her head to one side.
Janeway still smiled at Seven, as if she hadn't heard a thing.
"I do not require hydration at this time index. But thank you."
Seven sat down at the couch and patted the spot beside her for her daughter. The distraction gave Janeway the graceful exit she needed from the interrogation spotlight.
Dani frowned. "I thought you wanted me to ask you stuff." Dani asked as she nestled her back to her Borg mother. She heard Cappie order tea, Earl Grey. "Can you answer my question?"
When Janeway returned to the living area with a steaming cup of inadequate tea, she sat in the sofa chair at a right angle to her lover and daughter. Dani languidly raised her hand and let it fall playfully into Seven's palm that rested on her thigh.
Janeway nearly tipped the cup over when she finally overheard her lover.
"There are a limitless variety of greetings. This particular one is reserved exclusively for spouses."
Dani narrowed her eyes at Seven of Nine. If Dani said anything about knowing they were not legally married, unlike her original parents from the previous timeline, then Captain Janeway would begin to probe about the other differences. Not good. So not good.
Dani could tell that her Borg mother knew she'd just played a checkmate and was extremely smug, which irritated the girl. She crossed her arms and sat back, taking in the seating arrangements and the odd time of day for them to meet together.
Dani frowned to see Cappie sitting so far away, and she sighed. She knew she was facing Captain Janeway and not her mother, a disconcerting distinction, especially today when she felt tired. Dani yawned helplessly and rubbed an eye. "You're not going to make me take a nap, are you?"
Janeway shook her head as she crossed a leg. "No, that's not what I had in mind," she replied. She rested her chin on a thumb pad and stared at her daughter, wondering how to begin.
Dani grimaced as she sat forward to look at her Borg mother. "What's the matter?"
Seven merely brushed a few stray strands behind her daughter's ear. "'The matter' will be revealed, Eridani."
The girl sighed.
"Dani," Janeway finally said, "We want to talk about yesterday and your interaction with Lt. Kim."
Dani's face darkened and she sat back, cuddling closer to her mother. "I don't want to talk about him," she hissed.
"I'm sorry, honey, but we have to," Janeway said. "I want to hear from you what happened."
Dani's eyes narrowed, but she nodded once. It took her a few minutes to retell the incident, completely devoid of emotions. "Can I go now?"
"No," Janeway said. "We aren't done yet. Now I want you to tell me why you decided to take matters into your own hands."
Dani's wide eyes skittered to Seven, who just squeezed the girl's thigh encouragingly and nodded her encouragement to continue. She was going to have to lie to get out of this one. She'd never been very good at falsehoods. Besides, no matter what she said, she always got in trouble. It isn't fair, she thought. Why couldn't Naomi have this thing in her head instead?
Dani swallowed hard before beginning. "Celes told me—"
"That's Crewman Tal, to you, Dani," Janeway said a little too sharply.
Dani felt a surge of something she could never identify. Her stomach fluttered and all she wanted to do was hide under the bed. She licked her lips and her leg started to shake. "She's-she's my friend," she replied softly.
Janeway offered a small smile. "I understand that, but when you are referring to her as your teacher she's Crewman Tal. If you were to talk about what she liked to do for fun while we're at the dinner table, then you may call her Celes."
Dani tipped her head. "Why?"
Janeway inhaled sharply. "Many reasons," she said curtly. "Respect for her. I don't want any confusion about her role with you. And finally, because I ask it."
Dani scratched the side of her nose and focused on a spot just over Janeway's head. "Crewman Tal told me to run and not stop. I heard Lt. Kim firing a phaser and then I heard his footsteps behind me."
She realized she'd just repeated a part of the story and her mother continued to stare, her eyebrows craggy. That's never a good sign, Dani thought.
"What were you thinking, Dani?" she finally asked.
"That he was going to hurt me," she whispered. "Like he'd hurt Crewman Tal already."
"Go on," Janeway said.
Dani looked over at her Borg mother for help, receiving only a nod of encouragement. This is hard, she decided. "He was mean…" Dani said in a broken voice.
Janeway's façade cracked just a nanometer. "I know, darling. I know you were scared and Lt. Kim was acting irrational. But I need for you to tell me why you put yourself in danger."
Dani furrowed her brows. "I didn't put myself in danger," she said. "Lt. Kim did when he tried to take me from Crewman Tal."
Cappie was staring holes into her. Dani wondered what the magic words were to get out from under the microscope. She fisted her hand loosely and looked at her fingernails, tearing one of them with her teeth.
"Dani," Janeway said softly. "I'm specifically asking about why you launched yourself onto Lt. Kim."
Dani's eyes moistened and turned red, but no tears fell. "What was I supposed to do?" she cried, throwing up her hands in frustration. "Let him shove me in an escape pod? 'Cause that's what he was going to do, you know."
Janeway's face softened further. She leaned forward, supporting her weight on her elbows. She lightly tickled Dani's knee with her fingertips. "Yesterday was very difficult for all of us, Dani," she said. "But I need for you to understand something."
"What?" she asked, wiping her nose with her shoulder. Seven offered her a tissue, which she promptly wadded up in a hand.
"I know it's hard, sweetheart," Janeway replied softly. "Really, I do. But the next time, I want you to trust me, trust Mom and trust the adults."
Dani's brow creased into deep furrows. "Trust you to do what? You weren't there."
"I know we weren't there, but that doesn't mean we wouldn't have helped you at some point. You see," Janeway edged up to the end of the chair. "You added to the danger."
Dani wanted to scream. She would never have done it except that stupid green text. She believed she was in more danger if she didn't do something. It was only then that Dani realized she believed the things the Borg implant in her head told her.
Janeway mistook Dani's morphing expressions for fear and dread. "I wanted you to know that Lt. Kim and many other crewmembers were very ill—but they've all been treated by the Doctor. They're better now. I wanted you to know that."
"Mom told me," Dani mumbled.
"Good," she replied, smiling gratefully at Seven. "In his illness, he could have fired on you, Dani. I really need for you to understand that under no circumstances are you to take matters into your own hands—into your own little hands."
Dani's throat garbled something Janeway didn't quite understand and the girl's face darkened again. She batted at the tears in her eyes. "I'll try."
Janeway's voice hardened again. "You'll do more than try. Is that understood?"
"Yes ma'am," Dani squeaked.
Janeway sat back in her chair. "Do you have any questions for us?"
Dani shook her head. "No," she whispered needlessly. "Can I go now?"
Seven consulted her internal chronometer. "You are still in session on Holodeck One, Eridani," she replied. "You may rejoin your classmates."
Before Seven was finished speaking, Dani had dashed to the door, exiting while Seven yelled a farewell.
Janeway bolted to her feet, covering her mouth with a hand. "Well, that went badly," she replied. "Our dynamic feels so forced sometimes. This is not the way it was planetside."
Seven crossed her leg and watched her lover. "You were not captain there."
Janeway continued to stare at the exit, her fingers rubbing against each other while she held her middle with the other arm. "It's like I'm missing a piece of information."
Seven took Janeway's hand and tugged the reluctant woman down on her lap. The Captain was stiff in her arms, but she continued to hold her. Seven let a palm rub the woman's thigh. "I believe it is the 'agony of maturation,'" Seven replied.
"Growing pains?" Janeway said. But she was still focused on the closed door across the room. "For me or her?"
Seven took Janeway's arms and set them both on each of her own shoulders. With a hooked finger under the strong chin, Seven twisted Janeway's head toward her. Seven kissed her softly. It was a light grazing, more for comfort. "For the two," she said.
"What am I doing wrong?" Janeway asked.
Seven considered the question, as her hand rubbed the woman's thigh lovingly. "It is not solely your issue, Kathryn."
"What do you mean? I'm the only one who makes her cry."
"Perhaps I should take a more active role in providing disciplinary action. The child-rearing data I consulted suggested that I should intermittently play the role of the miscreant law enforcement officer."
Janeway repeated Seven's last phrase to herself. She chuckled when realization dawned. "Do you really think I'm the 'bad cop' too often?" Janeway considered the last few interactions. "Perhaps you're right," she said absent-mindedly.
"Raising a child is a shared burden," Seven replied. "I gladly accept it for Dani and for…." Her hand caressed the little bump of flesh beginning to form in Janeway's lower abdomen.
Janeway covered Seven's hand, as she slowly circled the flesh. "I wish I could stay like this forever," she murmured.
"You may," Seven whispered as she nuzzled the woman's ear. At the Captain's chuckle, Seven clarified. "For approximately sixty-seven minutes more, or until you conclude your meridian break."
"Yes, I do get lunch, don't I?" Janeway's voice was husky now.
After several more long minutes, Seven hoisted Janeway up, much to the Captain's surprise. "I think you like doing that."
"That is correct," she said. "I also prefer another activity—"
"Oh?" Janeway replied saucily.
"This particular activity is medically endorsed for its stress relieving benefits."
"We're talking about the same thing, right?" Janeway whispered into the woman's neck.
"Of course, I speak of copulation."
"Oh, Seven," she murmured. "That word is so…abrasive."
Seven whipped Janeway to her feet, the other woman unsteady for a moment.
"Perhaps you would prefer a more descriptive verb."
A corner of Janeway's mouth was quirked as she studied Seven. "What particular verb would that be?"
Seven's fingertips danced up Kathryn's sleeve, across her shoulders and down to the zipper of the tunic that separated their already strummed bodies. Seven opened the Captain's jacket and slipped her hands into the sleeves. As she slowly pushed the uniform from her shoulders, Seven leaned in. She nipped Kathryn's jaw before swirling her tongue in the woman's ear. "Fuck," Seven whispered. "Do you prefer that word?"
"Oh, yes," Janeway said, throwing her head back to moan. "Oh, God, yes."
Seven's mouth adored the woman's neck and lips while her hands lifted her sweater, tossing it carelessly to a corner, along with her bra. Seven's hand slipped down inside Kathryn's pants and panties to find a seeping cleft. "Oh, Kathryn," Seven whispered against her lips.
"Hurry, darling," she whispered.
Seven ripped off the woman's pants, tearing them along the seam with her Borg appendage. The gray Starfleet panties fell to the deck in tatters, leaving Kathryn naked and trembling with desire.
Kathryn lightly smacked Seven's buttock, as she lifted her head for additional oral attention. "You, too. I need you naked, too."
In one practiced, fluid motion, Seven shredded her own biosuit.
Kathryn gasped. "You weren't wearing panties!"
Seven practically waltzed Kathryn toward the bed. "It was more efficient," she replied. Then she gently dropped Kathryn to the mattress.
Seven climbed on top of Kathryn, blistering her mouth with a fiery kiss. Seven made so many demands—to ensconce herself between the woman's legs, to anchor her long form with the smaller woman's, to melt their dripping centers together. And Kathryn yielded it all, every bit of herself.
It was as if the previous night they had never kissed or licked or sucked at all. Like they hadn't climaxed four times together. This urgency was a new, but Seven pushed it out of her awareness, or rather her increasing state of arousal pushed it out.
Everything at this time index was reduced to sensations. Kathryn's nipples glossed Seven's. Two firm legs clamped around Seven's middle. Center points so bulging they slid and slipped against each other in animalistic thrusts and undulations. Scorching tongues furiously collided and then skimmed in retreat before crashing one against the other in a frenzy of rapacious necessity.
She tried to stave off her tide, but Seven failed at last. Wave after pleasurable wave crashed, covering her with bone-drenching ecstasy. Vaguely she heard her lover cry out, felt her pulsate beneath her.
Seven crumpled over the woman, weak and spent.
"Oh, Seven," Kathryn said in a hoarse voice. She rubbed the woman's back in small circles and let her feet slip down to tangle with Seven's thighs.
Seven finally rose to her elbows and kissed the woman with bruised lips. "You are beautiful," she whispered. "And mine."