A/N Thank you guys for all the great reviews. Like I said before the more reviews the quicker I can get this story out, it feeds my ego. Sue me, lol.

Chapter 9

Crash Course

The USS Ares hung in space like both a beacon of hope and something that could mess up an enemy vessel's day. Because of Ben and Seven it was now Starfleet's newest and most powerful vessel. It was the first of it's class to have ablative generator-technology with deploy-able ablative hull armor. It took some time and patience but they were able to extend it by three decks and upon Miles O'Brien suggestion almost a year ago it now held one holodeck.

It was an elegant and majestic ship but it was still able to maintain it's beauty from how it originally looked decades past, even with Seven's modifications. Unlike what Ben had originally planned for it, Seven had opted for a more muscular vessel with a hull that was studded with weapons, a phaser strip on top of the saucer section like that of the Enterprise D and other defensive armory. It would only take anyone a second to realize that this ship was ready for anything.

The Bridge of the USS Ares had finally been redesigned per Seven's specifications. The surrounding consoles and stations now all faced inward instead of out, giving Sisko instant access to his officers. Seven explained to him that he would be more efficient as a Captain that way. Looking around one could tell that it was almost a hybrid bridge of what Benjamin had planned for the USS Voyager.

Sisko sat quietly in the Captain's chair with his legs crossed and a pensive look on his face. Chancing a glance around at his crew, he saw Seven at a new Ops station, Lt. Valerie Archer at the helm, Chakotay at Tactical and other crew-members at their posts.

Before he could even think of how proud he was of his assembled crew the deck suddenly shuddered and the lights dimmed causing the ship to slip into red alert, making everyone tense up.

"We've been engaged by the enemy." Chakotay announced from his position at Tactical.

"Onscreen." Sisko ordered. As the main viewer kicked to life they all stared at the massive Borg cube that stood boldly before them. "Miss Sisko have they scanned us?"

"No Sir." Seven told him as she tapped at her console.

"Good, deploy ablative hull armor." he said with a smile as he leaned forward in his command chair in anticipation. "Let's see if the Ares has some teeth."

Almost as soon as the grey and red armor surrounded the ship the Borg fired at the Ares and blasted the saucer section. If only the Borg had emotions they would have stared in awe as instead of the traditional bubble shielding, the new armor of the Ares absorbed the blast and dissipated the energy across the hull, the energy now giving new power to the vessel. Even though the ship was undamaged it was still rocked by the blast.

"Ablative armor is holding." Seven reported proudly.

"Good." Sisko said not taking his eyes off of the mission at hand. "Helm, bring us about. Target Borg ship alpha four, port side battery."

"Aye, Sir." Valerie spoke up as she got the ship in position.

"Port battery, ready sir!" Chakotay reported.

"Fire!" Sisko roared.

As rapid gatling gun like phaser shots leapt out from half a dozen points along the ship's port side, they hit the Borg cube in what seemed to be non-critical areas until the massive ship exploded. Ignoring the urge to celebrate the crew merely flew through the Cube's debris and turned towards the chaotic battle surrounding them.

Without being told to, Seven put the ensuing battle on the main viewscreen. Two other Starfleet vessels were being out-flanked by a Borg cube.

"The USS Galaxy and the Dauntless have received heavy damage." Seven announced.

"Tell them to fall back." Sisko told her as the Borg vessel turned and came towards them. "Starboard battery...fire."

As soon as the other ships had moved to a safe distance the Ares fired a burst of phasers but this time, the phasers had no effect as a strange shielding appeared around the Borg ship. Menacingly the massive Borg vessel loomed closer.

"The Borg ship has modified its shields, Captain." Seven said with a raised eyebrow. "Our phasers will no longer be effective."

"Ready a quantum torpedo."

"Aye, sir." Chakotay responded as another jolt from enemy fire rocked the ship.

The Borg cube seemed to grow increasingly big on the main viewer as the Ares rushed toward it.

"Captain we have an incoming transmission from the Borg." Seven announced.

"On screen."

As Seven went to work and the viewer changed to a view of the interior of the Borg cube. It was a vast chamber crammed with hundreds of Borg drones standing upright in individual alcoves. They seemed to be everywhere, on the ceiling, walls, and the floor.

Upon seeing this Seven's blood ran cold. A couple of years ago this was what she was a part of. A species of half- man/half machine. No individual personalities. No feelings. A race that had only one goal in life: to assimilate new races into their collective. To become a Borg was to experience living death. Closing her eyes she took a deep breath and looked down at the command station, to Ben.

He had opened up his heart to her and had given her a real home. A real life that was hers. Almost as if sensing that she looked to him, he turned around and smiled at her and gave her a wink. Smiling back they both turned at the same time and listened as thousands of voices spoke at once.

"Your defense perimeter is useless. You will be assimilated."

"That's funny." Ben replied with a smile. "Because it looks like we've done pretty good so far."

"Your opinion is irrelevant." the voices told him back. "We are the Borg. Resistance is futile."

"They sound nervous, Mr. Chakotay." Ben said as he signaled to close the channel. "Let's give them something to be nervous about. Fire."

As Chakotay went to work a quantum torpedo shot out of the launcher and headed toward the Borg cube. As it oscillated and changed shape and color in open space it streaked toward the Borg ship.

As the quantum torpedo hit, it shattered through the Borg's shielding with force. But instead of exploding on the surface, the torpedo pierced the ship like an armor-piercing bullet before momentarily vanishing from view. Without dramatic fanfare the cube then exploded like a star going supernova, including the bright lights and shock waves.

Seeing the massive wave coming, The Ares rocked violently from side to side as the Bridge crew held on to their stations.

"Main power is still..." before Seven could make her announcement they all heard the sound of something dematerializing. Looking up they saw over fifteen Borg drones materialize on the Bridge.

"Computer freeze program." Ben said with a sigh as the black and white machines froze in place. "Seven what happened?" he asked as all eyes fell to her.

Feeling the weight of their stares, Seven looked down and started to tap at her console. Letting out a sigh of her own, she raised an eyebrow up and looked at Ben.

"There was a ten second gap in our ablative armor modulation." she announced, irritated. "In that small frame of time the Borg transported over before their vessel was destroyed. They are also on decks D,E, and F."

'We were doing so well.' Sisko thought to himself as he stood to his feet. "Alright people, good job. We'll reconvene back here in a couple of days."

"I believe that I can fix the problem now." Seven told him as she began to work at her console. "It will require several hou..."

"Cadet I said that's enough." Sisko said firmly. Seeing that he might have been too harsh, his features softened. "We've been here all day and everyone is tired. We'll get a fresh start in a couple of days and you can try to fix the problem then. Computer end program."

As the Bridge of the Ares faded away into nothingness, everyone started to file out of the room. Seeing that Chakotay and Seven were still in the room, Ben rolled his eyes and decided to leave them alone since they hadn't seen each other in awhile.

Blowing out a breath of relief as he saw Ben walk out of the room, Chakotay smiled as he saw Seven trying her best to avoid him. Seeing that she was about to walk out of the room he swiftly walked up behind her and grabbed her arm.

"Commander is there something you required?" Seven asked, not looking at him.

"Do we have to be so formal Seven?" Chakotay asked with a sly smile. "Chakotay will do just fine."

"Yes... Chakotay." she replied back not knowing why her cheeks were turning pink.

With an inward chuckle Chakotay just stared at the young woman before him with amusement. A year ago she seemed so confident and proud but here she was standing before him like a scared little puppy. He had to leave soon after she had kissed him to go back to the Academy to train the newest line of Ensigns and Cadets in advanced combat training, so he didn't have time to tell her how he felt. To be honest he really didn't know how he really felt.

Although he knew that she wasn't an experienced kisser there was still so much passion behind it. Passion that he had to deny because of their age difference. But since then a full year had passed and now she was eighteen. He had tried to dismiss the incident all together and even went on several dates since then, but none of them could hold a candle to what Seven offered in just that one kiss. She was incomparable in more ways then one.

'Maybe I'll just tease her a little.' he thought to himself, his smile getting even wider. "As far as what I required, I wanted to know about a certain kiss you gave me a year ago?"

As he said that her eyes got as wide as saucers.

"I wanted to talk to you about it when I got back a couple of weeks ago but you've been avoiding me the whole time." he told her as a thought hit him. "Meet me in holodeck three at 1200 hours tomorrow and don't be late."

With that said he quickly walked out of the room, leaving a very confused ex Borg drone in his wake.

Holodeck Three

The Next Day

Exactly 1200 Hours

As the holodeck doors opened and Seven of Nine walked into the room, she saw the exact same program that she had ran the day she had asked Chakotay out to the holodeck. Speaking of the Lieutenant Commander as she looked up she saw him sitting under a tree and placing bowls on a red and white checkered blanket.

"Good you're not late." Chakotay said as he heard the holodeck doors close behind her.

"What is this?" Seven asked as she walked up to him, her heart starting to pound in her chest.

"While I was gone I started thinking that we never got to finish our date." he told her as he reached into the picnic basket and took out a bottle of apple cider and two glasses. "Now have a seat. We should eat before our soup gets cold."

Nervously Seven sat down beside him as he took a small pot out of the basket and started to ladle some mushroom soup into their bowls.

"I didn't know that you were a vegetarian." she reasoned as she saw the soup and a simple salad that he was laying out in front of them.

"You probably would have known it if you would have asked." he countered. "You know I ran into your grandfather while I was on Earth. In fact I used to go to his restaurant all the time. He's a stubborn man but I finally got him to start making vegetarian food at his restaurant."

"It... it sounds like you two have gotten close." Seven stated coolly.

"Yes, especially when we started to talk about you." Chakotay said as he met her gaze. "He told me why you wanted to have a date with me and about the kiss."

'Grandpa...' Seven thought to herself.

"I have two things to say about what happened." Chakotay started as he interrupted her thoughts. "I didn't mind the kiss but you should really get to know someone before doing that. For all you knew I could have been married or had a girlfriend. I'm not either by the way." he said as if reassuring her that he was single. "And... and I also wanted to apologize to you for thinking that you were somebody else. Believe it or not but something similar happened to me when I was your age." seeing that she was giving him a look of anticipation, he let out a sigh and told her the story. "When I was seventeen I had a crush on an older woman and I mistook her friendliness for flirting. I... I practiced kissing on a grape every night for a week and one day I said the hell with it and I just grabbed her and gave her the most passionate kiss I could muster."

"Then what happened?" Seven asked with a smile. At least she hadn't embarrassed herself and kissed on a grape for practice.

"Then she looked at me like she was about to have a heart attack." Chakotay said as he looked her in the eyes. "And that punch to the face from her husband didn't feel too good either. That's why you have to be careful when you approach people like that. Especially when they're older then you."

"I'll take what you said under advisement." Seven told him, feeling kind of disappointed. There he was making a show of their age gap again.

"Hey." he said taking one of her hands in his. "I hope you're not angry with me. Look let's just start all over again."

"I am not angry with you Chakotay." Seven told him honestly. "Your soup is just improperly seasoned."

"Your grandfather said the same thing when I made some for him." Chakotay said with a chuckle. "But don't worry I brought some spices so you can season it how you like."

As the two began to eat Chakotay's soup they sat back and went into an easy dialogue. Seven told him that in about six months that the Ares would be complete, as well as her plans for the future and he in turn told her that he planned to be the first Starfleet Captain ever to come from his tribe.

"Seven can I ask you something?" Chakotay asked as he leaned against the tree after they finished their meal. "When you kissed me a year ago... was that your first time?"

"Yes... yes I listened to Tom and he told me to..."

"Tom?" Chakotay asked with wide eyes. "You took relationship advice from Tom Paris? No wonder you got mixed signals."

"I do not find this amusing, Chakotay." Seven said through his bouts of laughter.

"I'm... I'm sorry, Seven." Chakotay replied as he started to sober up a bit. "And I really shouldn't be laughing considering what happened to him."

"What has happened?" Seven asked as she sat up in alarm. She hadn't known the man long but she still considered him a friend. "Is he..."

"He's no longer a part of Starfleet." he told her with genuine sadness. "I don't know all of the details but a few months ago he participated in a covering up of his own piloting error. It was an error that led to the death of three fellow officers at Caldik Prime. He came forward and told the truth of what he had done but Starfleet still forced him to resign. I haven't heard from him since."

"I see." was all Seven would say as she sat in silence. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence she looked over at him. "Why was it important for you to know if that was my first kiss or not?"

"Because I also know how it feels to have your first kiss ruined." he said slyly as he moved closer to her. "You're eighteen now and I wanted to know if it was alright if we tried again?"

Closing their eyes they both leaned in for a kiss, their lips a mere inch from each other. They pulled back however as the holodeck doors opened and Jake came running in.

"I guess fate doesn't want us to kiss right now." Chakotay whispered to her with a smile. "We'll try again another time."

"Seven...Seven!" Jake yelled as he ran up to them.

"Jake what is the meaning of this interruption?" Seven asked, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice.

"I'm sorry... hi Chakotay." Jake apologized. He had known Seven long enough to know when he was getting on her nerves. "I just wanted to tell you that I told dad how bored I was around here. He told me that he was going to take me on a shuttle so we could go on a trip around the solar system."

"I hardly see that as being a reason to... disturb us." Seven replied pointedly as she gave Chakotay a look.

"Well he told me to ask you if you wanted to come." Jake replied, excitement evident in his voice. Then a thought hit him. "Chakotay can you come too?"

"I'll have to ask your father but I don't see why not."

"Yes!" Jake yelled in triumph as he grabbed Seven's hand. "Come on Seven let's get ready to go."

"I'll get everything cleaned up here." Chakotay said even as Jake was leading his older sister to the exit. "I'll meet you three at the docking bay in about thirty minutes."

"Okay, come on Seven." Jake said still pulling on her arm.

Before walking through the exit, Seven turned and her and Chakotay shared a look. With unspoken words they silently agreed to pick up where they left off when they got back.