Deadlier than a Scorpion's Sting – Chapter 10
By Kudara
Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and crew belong to Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trademarks is intended. The only thing I lay claim to is the solar system I created for Pegasi 51, the background and culture of the Pegasian's, and the original character Alexa Nikoleon.
Note: This story diverges from the canon storyline during the events of Scorpion II, and thus is essentially, an AU story.
Rating: Mature
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: 02/19/07
Summary: Seven begins her surgeries.
Stardate 51020.2 (Tue, 08 Jan 2374 09:20 GMT)
The three officers stepped into the Cargo Bay, and immediately Alexa's eyes were drawn past Seven's still form in her alcove to the two crewmen who loitered by the stacks of supplies near the rear of the bay. Her hazel eyes, currently more brown than green, narrowed as she stared at them, wondering just how long they had been there. The two men looked over toward the doors and straightened upon seeing who had just walked in, then turned hurriedly toward the crates. They began promptly stacking supplies on the cart near them, betraying their prior knowledge of the supplies location.
Before Alexa could react, the Captain turned toward the nearest of the two security guards standing near Seven's alcove, "Lt. Andrews, how long have Crewman Dalby and Carson been in this Cargo Bay?"
Andrews looked over at the two men, surprise obvious, "I'm not sure Captain, maybe five or ten minutes."
Janeway's jaw tightened, her grey eyes hardened, and she directed one of her infamous glares toward the two unfortunate crewmen.
"Captain," Chakotay's voice interrupted drawing away the Captain's attention. "Let me handle this," he requested his face grim. The two senior officers stared at each other for a moment, and then Janeway indicated her permission with a sharp nod.
Alexa watched as the First Officer strode determinedly away, feeling a bright flare of internal satisfaction. Even if Chakotay weren't annoyed at them himself, he would be annoyed that the two Maquis crewmen had created a situation where the Captain became annoyed with their behavior and by extension him. And the Captain's annoyance definitely rolled down the ranks, usually gaining in intensity with every officer encountered.
"Regeneration cycle complete," Voyager's computer announced.
Concurrent with the announcement, Alexa felt Seven become fully aware on the subspace interlink. The Borg's gaze immediately locked onto hers, and silently over the neural link came, 'We will more thoroughly explore your reactions to varying sensory stimuli when an appropriate opportunity next occurs.'
Alexa struggled to keep her expression under control, given the actions that prompted the comment, she wasn't certain if that was a promise or a threat. Last night, motivated both by an imp of mischief and by her desire for Seven's touch, she had realized that the neural link presented a unique sensual opportunity. It hadn't taken very much to attract Seven's complete attention, just the lightest trail of a cold spoonful of ice cream on bare skin. Knowing that Seven was aware of everything she was doing had certainly heightened and sharpened her own arousal, and caught up in her desire, chocolate ice cream had not been the only thing she had played with last night. Now, to her rueful amusement, she realized that she had definitely given Seven a lot of new data to analyze.
Seven gave her one last intense look before stepping out of the alcove and addressing the woman behind her, "Captain Janeway."
"Seven," the Captain responded warmly, "I trust you are feeling better?"
"I am functioning at normal levels," Seven replied promptly.
Janeway smiled, "We're in the process of trying to find quarters for you. Lt. Nikoleon has expressed an interest in sharing those quarters, is that what you want as well? If you aren't certain now's the time to say so."
Seven's gaze moved back to Alexa, "That will be satisfactory," she replied with just the slightest undertone of smug amusement.
Alexa knew the full meaning behind the words even if the Captain didn't, 'Seven!' she silently admonished. The caution might have had more of an effect if it weren't for the fact that the Pegasian was struggling to hide a grin, as well as a sudden jolt of arousal. Seven's lips curved in the barest hint of a smirk, not at all affected by the rebuke.
"Lt. Nikoleon also indicated that you were interested in talking to the Doctor about removing your Borg implants," Janeway stated.
Jarred out of their silent exchange, both Seven and Alexa turned to her with perplexed expressions, "Incorrect," stated Seven, "I would be unable to survive if all of my implants were removed. I wish to discuss with the Doctor the most efficient way to remove my body armor and external cybernetics, as well as which implants I wish to be removed."
Janeway stared at Seven searchingly for a moment, "Alright," she replied finally, "I can take you to see the Doctor now if you want."
It took Seven a moment to determine what she believed to be a proper response and receive an affirmation, as well as some refinement, from Alexa, "I would appreciate that Captain." She was confused when Janeway's gaze sharpened and immediately shifted to Alexa, and even more confused when her friend responded by holding up her hands submissively.
"I only corrected a few words; she already knew the basics of how to respond Captain," Alexa protested.
From the Pegasian's thoughts, Seven was able to identify the next shift in Captain Janeway's features as warmth and humor.
"Undoubtedly your doing Lieutenant," Janeway stated with a small smile.
"We might have had a short discussion on the uses and necessity of social politeness," Lt. Nikoleon allowed.
The Captain snorted, "There was a Pegasian in my Interspecies Protocol class at the Academy, I somehow doubt it was a short conversation on that subject. So what was the original reply?"
"That would be acceptable, thank you," responded Seven, still intrigued by the particular sound the Captain had made, and Alexa's identification of it as an expression of disbelief.
At the edge of her field of vision, movement drew Seven's attention. The two crewmen who had come into the Cargo Bay earlier were approaching her location followed closely by Commander Chakotay. They halted a few feet from her and surprised, she turned to face them when she realized with that they were waiting for her to acknowledge them. "Crewman Dalby, Crewman Carson," she stated coolly and waited, curious as to their purpose. She had been aware of Commander Chakotay reprimanding the two, but prompted by Alexa she had classified it as irrelevant and proceeded to ignore the conversation, now she was disturbingly unaware of any reason for their current behavior.
Dalby cleared his throat self-consciously, "Ma'am I understand you overheard our comments. We didn't know that you were sick because you injured yourself helping Lt. Nikoleon, and regenerating was the only thing that could help you. I'm sorry we shouldn't have been talking about you like that, it was wrong of us." His gaze shifted immediately over to Commander Chakotay, making it obvious that the First Officer was the impetus behind the apology.
Carson immediately followed, "I'm sorry as well Seven, it wasn't right of us to say that when you risked so much to help the Lieutenant. We didn't know you weren't part of the Borg anymore."
Seven hesitated, uncertain what response was expected of her. Carson's statement confused her, she still considered herself part of the Borg even though she was not part of the Collective, perhaps he simply did not know the correct terminology, she decided.
Before Seven could correct the Crewman's impreciseness, Alexa instructed her over the interlink, 'Tell them you accept their apologies and that Carson is correct you are no longer part of the Collective, but don't mention that you think of yourself as Borg to him. I'll explain later more thoroughly why.'
Alexa's directions confused her, but she trusted that the Pegasian had a convincing reason for them. "I accept your apologies." She stated to both men, and then turned to Crewman Carson, "You are correct I am no longer a member of the Collective."
"Seven regained her ability to think for herself, to be an individual once again, at the same time as I did," the Borg felt Alexa's hand on the armor of her arm at the same time as the Pegasian moved to stand beside her. Peripherally Seven was aware that all the others in the Cargo Bay were staring at them, the two Crewmen in particular seemed inexplicably focused upon Alexa's hand where it rested upon her armored arm. The dark haired woman's voice dropped to a lower tone, "And ever since she regained her free will Seven's chosen to protect and help me, even at the risk of her own life."
By this time, Seven was looking down into Alexa's face. She suspected that the Pegasian had been manipulating the earlier conversation, the purpose though eluded her, and she suspected that was to be the purpose of the promised later explanation. This last statement, however, was different; she could feel the sudden increase in Alexa's emotions. "You are my friend, I could not permit you to terminate or be permanently damaged. The thought of either was unacceptable to me, and my analysis gave a 21.78 percent chance of success," she stated responding to those emotions. Alexa made a shocked sound and abruptly paled. Belatedly Seven realized that the Pegasian hadn't been aware of the exact percentage. The Borg turned to face Alexa, and softly she said, "I am sorry, I was not my intent to distress you, I considered the risk acceptable compared to the certainty of your termination."
Seven was not prepared for Alexa's reaction, but she did not hesitant in returning the Pegasian's embrace. She had missed this, she realized as she closed her human eye and focused on the pleasant sensations. The sheer physicality of it, the scent of Alexa, the feel of her body pressed against her body armor, the feel of… with surprise she absorbed the fragrance and feel of the softly scented, silky hair against the bare skin of her jaw. Curious she drew away, "Your hair is brown, but it also contains red pigmentation," she stated staring at the hair strands with fascination. Alexa's hair color had not been relevant to her before her assimilation, but now things were different. Seven now found almost everything about Alexa to be relevant.
"Red highlights," Alexa informed her, "My father has always said I have russet colored hair because of the red."
Frowning slightly, Seven slowly stepped away from Alexa, and reached up to touch her own bare scalp.
"Blonde," Alexa answered her silent question gently, "You should have the same color hair as you did as a child, remember."
It took Seven a moment to recall the fragment of memory they had found together, "Yes," she agreed. Then, "May we go speak to the Doctor now?" she asked, turning toward Captain Janeway. Suddenly she was impatient to begin the process of removing those Borg components she was willing to lose, and attain a more human appearance.
"I'll take you there right now," Captain Janeway promised, her voice unusually husky.
Stardate 51021.6 (Tue, 08 Jan 2374 20:55 GMT)
Alexa straightened, stretching out her back and taking a quick look around her old quarters to determine how much more she had left to pack. They were almost bare, only a few of her personal items remained.
She had spent the previous eight hours assisting the Doctor and Kes with Seven's surgery. Using the subspace interlink she had sent deactivation codes to Seven's implants, allowing the Doctor to remove them without starting a cascading failure through Seven's cybernetic systems as would have likely happened otherwise. As it was, there had been a frightening moment when one of several linked implants had reacted badly to the removal of another implant, sending Seven into neural shock and threatening to sever her trochlear nerve. In a moment that still awed Alexa when she thought of it, Kes had used her newfound mental powers to dissolve the malfunctioning implant and save Seven's life.
The surgeries were only partially complete; Seven had just begun a twelve-hour regeneration cycle in the Cargo Bay, a newly installed privacy screen in place in front of her alcove. There was one more surgery planned, after which Seven would need to regenerate for 48 hours.
During tomorrow's surgery, Hickman and Chapman were scheduled to move the alcove to she and Seven's new quarters on Deck 6 Section 14. Seven would then be able to regenerate in the privacy of their quarters. That didn't mean, however, that there would be no Security guards watching over her. They would instead be stationed outside their quarters, and would remain there until their neural interfaces and their link with the Borg's subspace interlink was removed or disabled. It was a rather object example of her fears for Seven, she no less than the former Borg, was susceptible to being taken back over by the Collective, yet no Security guards had been placed to watch her.
Alexa knew Seven understood why the neural interface had to be removed as soon as possible, if a Borg vessel, or more specifically its vinculum, came in range of the Sector 12 subspace interlink both of them would immediately rejoin the Collective as drones, their individuality and free will wiped out within nanoseconds. That possibility was as unacceptable at this point to Seven as it was to Alexa, but that did not mean that Seven was exactly willing to have the neural interface removed. The idea of total silence in her mind was terrifying to the former Borg. Currently Seven was analyzing different possible ways to modify their neural interlinks so that they would not connect to the Borg's subspace interlink but directly to each other's neural interlink.
The entrance chime to her quarters rang, interrupting her thoughts.
"Enter," Alexa called, looking curiously toward the door as it opened, it was Marie Hickman.
Her friend smiled, "Hey, I thought you could maybe use some help, but I see you're almost done."
"I've been working at it," admitted Alexa, "Seven's regenerating for twelve hours, then we finish up removing the rest of her armor and some more implants. I need to get this done so Ensign Ashmore and I can switch quarters early tomorrow before I need to help the Doctor and Kes with her surgery."
Marie moved further into the room and handed her a sculpture she had picked up on Sikaris during their first year in the Delta Quadrant. They had thought to obtain spatial trajectory technology there, only to realize they had been deceived and the technology was fundamentally incompatible with their own. Still the sculpture was a beautiful representation of one of their birds of prey, reminding her of a Pegasian blue-tailed hawk, so Alexa had kept it.
"Everyone's talking about the hug between you and Seven in the Cargo Bay," Marie mentioned casually.
Alexa glanced at her sharply, "I'm not really surprised," the Pegasian acknowledged. "I hadn't realized until then exactly how low the odds were that we would both survive, or how much she was willing to risk for me," she finished softly, thinking of how much she had needed that brief physical connection to remind herself that they were both alive and well.
Marie nodded, "That's been making its way around as well, it's really made quite an impression on several people. Several people who were against Seven being allowed to stay have apparently changed their minds, or at least stopped being as vocal in their objections."
The Pegasian was quite aware that her friend was watching her closely for any reaction, "That's good, I'm glad they are finally willing to looking beyond the armor and implants."
"Well you certainly seem determined that they do," Marie observed as she handed another small sculpture to Alexa for packing. "And I'd say you've made a good start on that, everyone's so off balance at the notion of a huggable Borg they don't know what to think of her now."
The Pegasian carefully wrapped the fragile piece, "I just know it's going to be hard enough for her without people prejudging her because she was part of the Collective. So, even though Seven would probably object to the characterization strenuously, I'll take what I can get if it works."
Finally, her friend broached the subject Alexa suspected she had come specifically to ask, "You seem very attached to her" Marie commented.
"I am," Alexa readily acknowledged, "she's a kind and generous person beneath her Borg mannerisms. I think the more she adapts to being an individual, and learns how to deal with her emotions, the more that will be apparent to people who don't share a subspace neural link with her."
Marie stared at her, and Alexa could see the concern on her friend's face. "I'm just concerned for you Alexa. I know you feel responsible for her and that you owe her for saving your life, but I'm concerned you're putting yourself in a position where you will want something from her that she won't be able to give you. And even if it turns out she can, that it will be years before she's ready."
Indecisive about whether or not to respond, Alexa remained silent. She wanted to tell her friend that she and Seven were already in a physical relationship, but it was not right for her to make that decision without Seven's input. Finally she replied, "I understand your concerns Marie, but that is something Seven and I will have to work out together. She is, of course, already aware of my interest."
Marie blinked, surprised, then comprehension dawned, "Your neural link."
Alexa nodded, "The neural link," she confirmed. "Seven made it quite clear that her relative lack of understanding of human culture or human emotions does not mean that she is unable to make her own decisions in this matter."
The Pegasian didn't realize how much wariness her tone carried until Marie started laughing, "Something tells me that you're not about to make the mistake of suggesting that again."
Alexa smirked, "No, once was definitely enough," she admitted then joined in her friends laughter.
Eventually the two of them quieted, "Alright, I'll stay out of it then, I just don't want to see you get hurt," Marie said solemnly.
Stardate 51023.1 (Wed, 09 Jan 2374 10:15 GMT)
"So, what do you think?" the Captain asked the two men seated on the other side of her ready room desk.
Chakotay had a small, bemused frown on his face, "When did she have time to do this?" he asked, raising the padd in his hand slightly.
"Seven asked the Doctor to delay her surgery this morning in order to complete it," the Captain answered drily.
Tuvok looked up from the padd in his hand, "The proposed changes to their neural interfaces appear to address our security concerns, if we consider this request I would suggest that Lt. Torres should look over it as well." Janeway nodded her acknowledgement of the suggestion, and he continued, "The question in front of us does not appear to be whether or not the proposal is valid, it appears to be, but whether we will consider this proposal instead of the complete removal of the neural interface." He looked at his Captain steadily awaiting her response.
Janeway smiled briefly, "It does, doesn't it," she leaned back in her chair, a thoughtful expression on her face. "It strikes me that Seven is testing the waters so to speak, trying to gauge the temperature and depth before actually diving in. She's not willing to give up everything that she's used to in order to fully embrace her humanity." She paused, "Given the changes she's facing I can't say that I really blame her."
"You believe her desire to retain the neural interface link with Lt. Nikoleon is a crutch," stated Chakotay.
The Captain straightened, "I think losing her connection to the Collective was traumatic for her and Lt. Nikoleon's presence in the link keeps her from experiencing complete silence in her mind."
Tuvok pointed out, "With these changes she would experience that silence unless the Lieutenant was within 3 meters of her location."
"As I said, testing the waters," Janeway responded calmly.
Tuvok raised one eyebrow, considering her words, "She can experience existing with complete mental silence without being permanently subjected to it, as she knows that she merely has to come into close proximity of Lt. Nikoleon to alleviate the condition." Janeway thought his expression was faintly approving; it was an eminently logical solution to the Borg's problem.
"Lt. Nikoleon has seen this and has no problems with what Seven is suggesting?" Chakotay verified.
Janeway nodded, "They came together to submit it. The changes to the neural interface that allow it to be activated and deactivated by their cortical nodes, and the command frequencies to allow us to activate and deactivate the interface, were the Lieutenant's suggestions."
"From a security standpoint, I have no objections if Lt. Torres finds nothing wrong with their report." Tuvok assured her.
Chakotay frowned, "I don't have a problem with it right now, but I think we should monitor the situation. I understand why she doesn't want to now, but I think she should learn to live without it."
Tuvok commented, "Pegasians do not have a high tolerance for weakness of any type, I believe the situation will resolve itself. The Lieutenant will not want Seven to remain dependent but will encourage her complete independence; anything else would go against Lt. Nikoleon's cultural beliefs."
"That's the only reason I'm seriously considering giving my approval," Captain Janeway commented.