B'Elanna tilted her head back and inhaled deeply, her keen senses sampling the air in the room. Her eyes fixed on the bare-breasted woman on the raised platform. Andy. The name came to B'Elanna with ease, though she was not aware of how she had come by that knowledge. Fury rolled from this Andy in waves, anger steeped in the delicious scent of arousal. A magnificent woman, standing straight and proud, glorious in her half-nude state, she wore her fury like a cloak of honor. Truly a suitable parmaqiai for a Klingon warrior, B'Elanna thought. To be betrothed to such a one would bring great honor. B'Elanna took an instinctive step forward to claim this woman only to halt at the realization that this woman was not for her. She felt a strong feeling of friendship for the woman and somehow knew Andy's heart was already committed to the white-haired pIntIn, Miranda, a formidable warrior in her own right. Even now, the strands of anger and lust wove around and between them. Were they Klingon their mating would be a foregone conclusion, but their human natures did not perceive the fiery emotion between them as love. Theirs would be a glorious joining. jachchoHmeh 'Iwrej penaghtaH! B'Elanna sent them a silent blessing. Mate until your blood screams.
The air reeked of pheromones and adrenaline, and B'Elanna felt her blood fever awaken in response. She glanced at the two women on the floor. Janeway and Seven, her mind whispered. B'Elanna could sense their life forces ebbing. Though Janeway was joH of B'Elanna's House, she could do nothing to save her, nor could she help Seven. Valiant warriors both, she would sing of their glorious deeds, tell stories of their great victories, and roar to announce their entry into Sto'Vo'Kor. Though they did not follow the Way of Kahless, they had earned the right to be so honored with their courage and fearlessness. B'Elanna would see that their lives were celebrated and embark on a quest in their names to prove their worthiness to enter Sto'Vo'Kor and stand at the side of Kahless. Knowing she could do nothing for them until the time of their passing, and consumed by the rising blood fever, she turned to the other two women in the room.
The red-head at her side, Emily, was fixated on the verbal battle between Andy and Miranda. B'Elanna sniffed and curled her lips in disgust. This one smelt of fear, not suitable as a Klingon bride at all. But the other one, who stood closest to Andy, she was a magnificent creature. There was no fear in this one, though she held her hands up in gesture of surrender. In fact, she seemed amused by the warring women. As if privy to a joke no one else knew or had realized. Such a one could bring honor to any Klingon House.
B'Elanna growled low in her throat and bared her teeth. She advanced towards the tall blonde with her right hand extended, prepared to enter the mating ritual with an overture of personal combat. "HIghoS!" she shouted, summoning the woman to her. Serena. Once again B'Elanna's mind provided a name she was not conscious of knowing. "HIghoS, Serena!"
B'Elanna watched as Serena, who had knelt beside the fallen Seven, glanced over her shoulder, her eyes widening. A feral grin curled B'Elanna's lips as she came to stand over the kneeling woman. "I will have you as my be'nal. It will be a glorious wedding night with many bones broken," B'Elanna promised, thumping her chest with one closed fist.
"You bleeding bitch!" Emily screeched, running forward.
B'Elanna couldn't help but be impressed by how quickly the woman moved in her ridiculous shoes. The previous stink of fear about her had been replaced by anger and the reek of jealousy. "You wish to challenge me for the woman," B'Elanna chuckled, amused by the idea.
"I'll bloody well wring your neck," Emily snarled.
"I will enjoy this." B'Elanna clenched her fists ready to throw a sharp punch to the woman's mouth.
"B'Elanna Torres, ghobe'," Seven shouted.
"No?" B'Elanna roared, irritated at having her fun interrupted. "She has challenged me. Honor requires I tear her into targ fodder."
"This woman is not meant to be your be'nal," Seven stated with a nod toward Serena. "You must look elsewhere, among your own House. Your honor is best served by helping your joH."
"I am not a healer," B'Elanna spat. "What would you have me do?"
"Activate the ring, B'Elanna Torres," Seven instructed.
B'Elanna frowned, and she held up her hands. "I have no…ring?" She stared at the strange gold band on her right hand. Where did that come from? I don't wear a ring.
"The notch. Use your thumbnail to trigger the notch. You must hurry. You must save the captain."
What was wrong with Seven's voice? With each word there was less emotion reflected in the tones until they had sounded almost mechanical at the end. What's happening here? There's something terribly wrong. Finding the notch in her ring that Seven spoke of, B'Elanna pressed her nail into it.
The doctor materialized near the back of the room, only drawing everyone's attention when he spoke. "Please state the nature of the me…"
"Tend to the joH!" B'Elanna snapped imperiously. She watched him closely as he hurried to Janeway, affixed a small metal device to the fallen captain's neck and activated it. Convinced she had done all she could, B'Elanna turned back to Emily. "I will grind you beneath my heel," she snarled.
"And I'll skewer you with mine!" Emily threatened, taking off her shoe and holding it with the heel pointed out as a weapon. "Keep your bleeding hands off my woman!"
"B'Elanna, stand down," Janeway's raspy voice carried across the room.
B'Elanna grabbed at her head as a blinding pain tore through it. "qaStah nug?" she shouted.
"What's happening is that your body just shifted back into temporal phase, Lieutenant," the doctor supplied.
"That'll be enough, Doctor," Janeway snapped as she attempted to stand on shaky legs.
"Captain! You need to rest," he cautioned, pressing down on her shoulder to hold her in place.
"I need to make sure Seven's all right," Janeway snapped, shoving his hand away.
"I'll see to Seven as soon as I make sure you're recovering," he tried again to restrain her.
"You'll get your hands off me, Doctor, or I'll have B'Elanna remove them from your programming," Janeway ordered, rolling over and onto her knees.
"Captain, do not concern yourself. I am…fine. My limbs are reactivating," Seven assured her.
Janeway's head dropped for a moment and then, with a bracing breath, she rose unsteadily to her feet.
"Would someone please tell me what in the bloody hell is going on around here?" Miranda's voice cut through the room with icy intent.
Still furious from her confrontation with Andréa, Miranda seethed as Janeway ignored her and started toward the dais on shaky legs.
"Andy, cover your breasts, please," Janeway said as she made her way to Seven.
"Yes, Kathryn," Andy responded and pulled the bodice of her dress back into place, tying the straps behind her neck.
Miranda could almost feel the steam rising from her collar. How dare that woman order her Andréa around! And how dare Andréa obey her! Incensed, Miranda stalked over to the dais. "Who do you think you are ordering my staff to do anything," she hissed in an icily low tone.
"Get over it, Miranda," Janeway growled. "I don't have time for petty concerns." She knelt at Seven's side, ignoring the gasps from the Runway group. "Are you all right, Seven?"
"I am functioning," Seven responded calmly. "You will assist me to rise, B'Elanna Torres."
B'Elanna extended a hand and pulled Seven to her feet with a grunt. "Maybe you should try a few of Emily's cheese cubes," she joked.
"I do not believe that would decrease my weight significantly, as you well know, B'Elanna Torres…though perhaps such a meal would benefit you," Seven shot back.
With a crooked grin, B'Elanna leaned forward and spoke just loud enough for Seven's Borg enhanced hearing to register. "One day, Borg. Pow!"
"You will fail, Klingon," Seven murmured.
"Ladies," Janeway interrupted, chuckling. "Did either of you notice what happened?"
"I believe the temporal distortion was triggered by Miranda Priestly's threat to destroy Six," Seven answered.
B'Elanna nodded her agreement. "That's the last thing I remember before I started channelling my mother."
"I had suspected that the rift between Miranda Priestly and Six was the cause of the temporal variances," Seven continued.
Janeway rubbed the back of her neck. "Yes, I was beginning to think the same thing. So how do we fix it?"
"You people will never work in this industry again," Miranda interrupted before Seven could reply. "Any career you might have will end as of tonight."
Janeway threw up her hands and rounded on the other woman. "I hate to break it to you, Miranda, but you have no impact on my career one way or the other, so why don't you back off and let me talk to my staff."
"How dare you!" Miranda drew herself up, giving Janeway her iciest gaze.
"I dare a lot right now," Janeway growled, fixing Miranda with her hottest Force 10 glare.
Nigel hurried down the street toward Kathryn Janeway's studio. He had hoped to get there sooner but a last minute problem in the Art Department that would have delayed the Book had held him up. Once he had found the missing layout and gotten it to the correct person, he had decided it would be quicker to just walk the several blocks. Now he was hoping that Miranda hadn't done too much damage to her relationship with Andy. He barely glanced at the town car as he passed it, so he didn't see Cassidy peeking out of a partially open window.
Throwing open the door to the studio he stepped inside and swore he could see steam rising between Miranda and Kathryn as they stood locked in a stare down. He couldn't recall ever having seen Miranda look so furious, nor Kathryn for that matter, though he didn't know her as well. He started to speak and then thought better of it. Perhaps the best move would be to minimize the potential for collateral damage.
Catching Emily's eye, he gestured for her to take the others to the back. Sticking close to the wall, he followed his friends. He'd find out what was going on from them. Whatever it was it looked like Miranda and Kathryn needed to have this out between them. He just hoped the bloodshed would be minimal and that he wouldn't be delivering the Book to Ryker's Island for the foreseeable future.
Once everyone was in the back, leaving Kathryn and Miranda to finish their stare down, Nigel looked at the others over his glasses. "Anyone care to tell their uncle Nigel what's going on around here?" he asked, then wished he hadn't as they all started talking at once, except Seven who watched the rest with a lifted eyebrow and Serena who could barely contain her amusement.
The other three were talking so fast and so hotly that all he caught was something about Andy's breasts, a bleeding cow hitting on Serena, and Emily having delusions of grandeur thinking she was a match for B'Elanna. Holding up a hand, he shouted for quiet. "Enough! Seven, Serena, do you think one of you could tell me what happened, calmly and without all the histrionics?"
He listened as the two alternated telling the story, filling in as many details as they were able, which with Seven involved was a great many indeed. Removing his glasses, he rubbed his eyes, unsurprised at the headache that had begun to pound behind them. Folding his glasses he tucked them into an inside pocket of his jacket and stared at the other three while shaking his head. Andy had a decidedly sheepish look, while Emily and B'Elanna both stood with their arms crossed defiantly over their chests and glared at each other.
"Andy, what possessed you to bare all in front of Miranda?" he asked at last, still unable to quite believe that part of the story. Such an action was totally unlike the Andy Sachs he knew. She'd practically died of embarrassment in a room full of models wearing lingerie, for heaven's sake.
"It wasn't all, Nigel. Just…" She gestured to the upper half of her body which even with the bodice firmly in place was barely covered. With it released she would have been nude to the waist.
He could only imagine what that had done to Miranda's libido feeling as she did about Andy. Miranda must have felt incredibly exposed herself and for Andy to say she was relieved to be free of Miranda - he shuddered as he thought of the pain that would have caused her. Miranda in pain could be incredibly vicious. It was no wonder she threatened to destroy the woman she loved. Unfortunately, he wasn't convinced Miranda wouldn't do just that.
"Six, you have no idea what you may have unleashed," he sighed.
Andy joined Emily and B'Elanna in their pose, crossing her arms defiantly. "I can't say that I really care, Nigel."
"Well, you'd better care and do so quickly," he advised. "You have no idea how badly you've hurt Miranda."
"Hurt Miranda?" Andy repeated, shocked. "No one can hurt Miranda. She'd have to care first, and she's not capable of that."
"Dammit, Andy, how many times do I have to tell you to grow up?" Nigel snapped, finally having had enough. "That woman in there is in love with you. You wouldn't believe what she has gone through lately trying to find a way to get you to just smile at her again. Get your head out of your ass and wake up before you lose any chance at the best thing that might ever happen to you, if you haven't already."
"She…I..Miranda? Love? Me?" Andy squeaked pointing a finger at her own chest. "Oh, shit. I need to sit down." She waved a hand in thanks as B'Elanna swung a chair under her a second before she would have collapsed to the floor.
"And as for you," he rounded on Emily, holding up a hand to stop her when she would have spoken. "No, you shut up until I'm done. You're worse than Andy. I can half understand her blindness. God knows, Miranda is hard to read on a good day, but you don't even have that excuse. Serena has done everything short of wrapping her legs around your head to get you to see she wants to be with you. Are you that obtuse or just too damned scared to take a chance? Whichever it is, get over it, Emily. Serena is possibly the most patient person I've ever met, outside of Seven here, and even she isn't going to wait forever for you!" He threw up his hands and paced back and forth for a moment before turning to them all again. "Fix this!" he shouted, missing the amused look that passed between Seven and B'Elanna, as well as their subtle nod of agreement.